Chapter 45 - Gu Hai's Summoning
In the vicinity of the Hundred Years Longevity Peach Tree...
BOOM!
On one side was the defenders, the natives, while on the other side was the attackers, the outsiders. The swarm of ferocious beasts clashed, roaring and killing each other.
Following Meng Tai's suggestion, almost everyone's eyes had turned red as they pressed ahead, stepping forward as another fell, for this great battle would decide the victor and loser. Moreover, the ones at the forefront would be the ones most likely to get the Golden Saturn peaches. Although the position was certainly dangerous, the Golden Saturn peaches were well worth it.
Over these past few days, Chen Tianshan had been constantly fighting, his thirst for the Hundred Years Longevity Peaches had already reached the utmost apex. He also let out a loud battle cry just like a majority of others as he spared no effort to control the giant bull to press forward.
"Senior Chen, hold on!" shouted Gao Xianzhi in worry as his facial features distorted.
However, Chen Tianshan was simply unable to control himself and pressed forward crazily.
An ugly expression appeared on Gao Xianzhi's face. He wanted to call out to Chen Tianshan, warning him not to charge so fiercely. However, at this moment, everyone's will was united, Gao Xianzhi absolutely could not speak such discouraging words, or they would become the targets of everyone.
"Gao Xianzhi, keep up the pace, this time we will certainly crush them! Hahaha!" Chen Tianshan's excitement knew no bounds. He wanted to be the first one to acquire the golden saturn peaches.
ROAR!
Atop the hydra, Ninth Young Master's eyes flickered with a savage look. The hydra swung its tail, commanding all natives to begin fighting.
Chen Tianshan was among the fastest of the bunch. Gao Xianzhi grew anxious, but he simply could not stop Chen Tianshan, all he could do was helplessly follow him.
In contrast, the initiator of this attack, Meng Tai, slowed his giant dragon down, the Ascendant Hall disciples following suit. Bit by bit, Meng Tai's team fell to the last position...
Meng Tai watched the great battle happening before him with an icy chill in his eyes.
All the hot-blooded people, like Chen Tianshan, were the first ones to crash into each other.
BANG BOOM BANG!
ROAR!
ROAR!
ROAR!...
The cloud beasts at the forefront immediately bit each other fiercely, while the cloud beasts at the back pushed towards the front with everything.
In contrast, Ninth Young Master and Meng Tai stood at two extremes of the battlefield, coldly gazing at the center.
AHHHH!
AHHHH!
AHHHH!...
As many cloud beasts at the center of the battlefield continued to suffer defeat, cultivators tumbled towards the ground one after another.
Chen Tianshan was up against an exceptionally fierce cloud tiger that was even tougher than his giant bull.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!...
After having launched a series of attacks, Chen Tianshan noticed that he was about to suffer defeat.
Gazing at the Golden Saturn peaches not too far away from him, an unwilling look showed up on Chen Tianshan's face.
"NO, NO, NO, WHY, ARRRRRRRGH!" Chen Tianshan cried out unwillingly.
BOOM!
The cloud tiger tore open the neck of the giant bull with its claws, before opening its jaws to bite the giant bull.
"F**K OFF, F***K OFF!" cried Chen Tianshan desperately.
I am unwilling. Won't I lose the opportunity? Doesn't it mean I have to give up the weiqi piece and plummet straight towards the ground? Maybe even devoured by the cloud tiger?
As expected, following the giant bull's defeat, the giant bull was immediately sucked into the cloud tiger's jaws.
"I am not willing, I cannot be reconciled, you cannot eat me!" roared Chen Tianshan with wide open eyes. He was unwilling to discard the golden weiqi piece.
Seeing that Chen Tianshan was about to enter the cloud tiger's stomach...
BOOM!
A dragon struck the cloud tiger's body with a loud crash, promptly stopping the cloud tiger from devouring the giant bull.
"Quickly let go, Chen Tianshan, you've lost, quickly jump to my side!" shouted Gao Xianzhi furiously.
Chen Tianshan only came to his senses after turning his head and looking at the furious expression on Gao Xianzhi's face.
ROAR!
The cloud tiger snarled as it sped up devouring the giant bull.
SWISH...
The golden weiqi piece was swallowed together with the giant bull by the cloud tiger.
BANG!
ROAR!
Gao Xianzhi immediately caught Chen Tianshan.
BANG BOOM BANG!
Suddenly, seven or eight cloud beasts came swarming at Gao Xianzhi from all directions, natives and outsiders both.
"Any deserter will be killed immediately!" came a cold shout of an outsider from behind them.
The rain dragon was caught in between a thousand cloud beasts and was enduring pincer attacks at this moment. A retreat was not an option, it could only advance. However, there were still the extremely fierce cloud beasts in front of them. If he advanced, he would be no more than cannon fodder.
"Chen Tianshan, we are now in a jam just to save you!" shouted out Gao Xianzhi in anguish.
Under the pincer attacks, Gao Xianzhi could barely keep the enemy at bay. Previously, they were allied, but now, everyone was fighting their own battles; it was only a temporary alliance, after all, and it could not last for long. No one came to save Gao Xianzhi after seeing him in danger.
The rain dragon was exceptionally fierce in battle. It still had the room to counterattack even after getting pincered from both sides; it came out unscathed again and again amid the repeated fights.
Gao Xianzhi was drenched in sweat already; he was up against too many cloud beasts, after all.
Chen Tianshan also finally came to his senses.
Now surrounded by countless cloud beasts and standing in the center of all danger, Chen Tianshan came to deeply regret his decision.
"I'm sorry, Gao Xianzhi, I lost my cool to temptation!" apologized Chen Tianshan sorrowfully.
"Now is not the time for nonsense, sigh! If only Throne Master was here! Throne Master would have certainly given birth to a super cloud beast with his weiqi skills," lamented Gao Xianzhi, wearied and tired from all the fighting.
Gao Xianzhi himself wasn't sure how long he could last, for he was facing tens of cloud beasts alone. Even if it was Gao Xianzhi's huge cloud beast, it could not persist.
Once the rain dragon is defeated, what are we going to do?
Gao Xianzhi grew increasingly anxious. In contrast, Chen Tianshan was free as he didn't have a cloud beast. He turned his head to look towards the Carefree Valley .
Chen Tianshan's eyes immediately went wide, for he saw flames sprouting out of the Carefree Valley, just like a volcanic eruption. The tinted red sky was exceptionally dazzling.
"F**k, f**k, Throne Master has met with a mishap!" cried out Chen Tianshan, terrified.
"What?" Gao Xianzhi's facial features distorted as he turned his head to look and saw the huge fire.
BOOM!
BANG!
BOOM…!
ROAR!
The rain dragon gave out a heartrending cry as it suffered multiple wounds due to the momentary lapse in its maker's concentration. Its figure quivered, it was almost about to fall.
Gao Xianzhi's countenance became ugly immediately. He had no choice but to control the rain dragon to keep on fighting. However, the rain dragon seemed to have suffered grievous injuries, and the subsequent fights grew increasingly difficult.
"Finish him, this rain dragon is about to die!"
"I want this rain dragon, it will definitely make my cloud beast stronger!"
"Since this rain dragon can not hold on anymore, it might as well be devoured by us instead of the natives!"
Both sides stared at the rain dragon with greed; all of them wanted to devour the rain dragon.
Even Meng Tai and Ninth Young Master at the rear of the two sides had a fire lit in their eyes as they slowly approached the rain dragon.
"Throne Master, what happened to Throne Master?" shouted Gao Xianzhi anxiously, his entire body drenched in sweat.
"I am looking, ah, there he is, Throne Master is releasing the flames. Nothing happened to Throne Master, but Little Rou, on the other hand, is unconscious!" Chen Tianshan's eyes lit up as he cried out in surprise.
"Nothing happened to Throne Master? Very good!" Gao Xianzhi's face beamed with happiness.
BOOM!
BANG!
BOOM…!
Under a series of impacts, the rain dragon had once again suffered grievous injuries, it had been attacked again and again, and seemed it soon would not be able to hold on.
"Gao Xianzhi, are you alright? What do we do now?" asked Chen Tianshan, looking anxious.
"Throne Master, help!" shouted Gao Xianzhi at the top of his lungs.
"THRONE MASTER, HELP!" The rain dragon let out a sky-shaking roar, reverberating in every direction.
"Throne Master?" Meng Tai, who was just about to come over, had a horrid look on his face; turning his head, he scanned in all directions.
On the other side, a solemn look also appeared on Ninth Young Master's face, his figure momentarily stopped as he recalled the scene of Carefree Valley, when Gu Hai broke the game, right, that person...!?
Meng Tai and Ninth Young Master, both looked about, and slowly their gazes came to halt at a far away valley that was spewing fire. Soon after, they noticed Gu Hai at the summit of a hill, with one arm around the unconscious Little Rou.
"En?" a solemn expression showed up on both their faces.
Though Gu Hai's one hand was full with Little Rou, his other hand was pinching a golden piece that he raised towards the sky; seemingly about to summon a cloud beast!?
"Still haven't summoned a cloud beast? Hahaha, you are pretty late to the party, the thousand cloud beasts here have already gone through a big slaughter. Each has devoured a fair number of other cloud beasts and have enriched themselves with hundreds of cloud beasts. A cloud beast that has just congealed could not amount to anything, humph!" stated Ninth Young Master with cold disdain.
Meng Tai's eyes also flickered with scorn. Obviously, he held the same opinion as Ninth Young Master.
An anxious look showed up on Chen Tianshan's face. In contrast, Gao Xianzhi's face beamed with great joy.
Although Ninth Young Master and Meng Tai did not hold Gu Hai summoning the cloud beast this late in good regard, they still wanted to see what cloud beast would Gu Hai summon in the end.
BANG!
Suddenly, innumerable clouds emerged above the summit as Gu Hai placed the piece, congealing his very own cloud beast by mobilizing the heaven and earth force through his weiqi skills.
Slowly, an enormous horse head emerged from the waning clouds.
"A horse's head?" Meng Tai and Ninth Young Master were taken by surprise for a moment. Gu Hai had summoned a horse?
NEIGH…!
An ear-deafening whinny echoed out of the far away fire.
BOOM!
A hundred-zhang long horse appeared from the vortex of clouds.
"A hundred zhang? Just a hundred zhang? Hahaha!" Ninth Young Master broke into contemptuous laughter.
After all, his hydra was more than six hundred zhang long. Even the cloud beasts that were recently devoured were bigger. The cloud beasts of Meng Tai and the others were also five hundred zhang. Furthermore, the remaining cloud beasts here were no less than four hundred zhang in length.
However, the horse summoned by Gu Hai was just a hundred zhang in length? So small!?
"That's not right, it's not just one horse, there is also a person riding the horse!?" Chen Tianshan was caught by surprise.
"Eh?" Ninth Young Master and Meng Tai were taken by surprise as well.
What kind of cloud beast was that? There was a person riding the horse!? A combination of a cloud beast and a cloud human? How could there be two? Or was it a centaur, or nuckalavee?[2]
Atop this cloud human, with half of his body sunk into the cloud human's head, stood Gu Hai, embracing Little Rou. Wielding a Fang Tian Hua Halberd[1], furiously glaring at the sky, the cloud human gave off the impressive air of a general.
"Humph, a creature that resembles neither human nor a demon, so what? Isn't it just a hundred zhang long!" rebuked Ninth Young Master coldly.
Meng Tai also had the same look on his face. Even if it was a combination of a human and horse, so what? It was too small; his giant dragon could swallow it in one bite!?
NEIGH!
NEIGH!
Another two long whinnies echoed forth as two cloud horses once again crawled out from the waning clouds around Gu Hai; riding the two cloud steeds were two soldier-like cloud humans.
"Eh? How…how did he summon three cloud beasts? How is he controlling them all at the same time?" Another look of surprise showed up on Meng Tai's face as he wondered aloud.
NEIGH!
NEIGH!
NEIGH!...
Amid the waning clouds in the vicinity of Gu Hai, mounted horses kept on emerging, and their numbers grew and grew. Watching all this, Ninth Young Master, Meng Tai, Chen Tianshan, and the eyes of others grew wider and wider...
Three cavalry, ten, fifty, eighty, a hundred, two hundred cavalry...
Ninth Young Master's and Meng Tai's eyes gradually became completely round as ghastly looks appeared on their faces, like they had seen ghosts.
What...what was going on? Could he still pull up more?
"Didn't Throne Master only have one golden piece? There…there are hundreds of cavalry, how can he summon squadrons of cavalry? What the hell is going on?" Chen Tianshan's jaw dropped in surprise.
"Let's go!" shouted Gu Hai.
"Hyah!" Wielding the Fang Tian Hua halberd, the cloud beast general spurred his horse, a great knight leading a charge.
BOOM!
Carrying Gu Hai and Little Rou, the knight galloped towards the sky, followed closely by the army. Vigorous and valiant, the imposing discipline of the hundreds of horsemen shot through the sky. Hundreds? No, their numbers were still increasing...
Although each horse was only a hundred zhang long, what Gu Hai had summoned was not just one cloud beast, but rather a mighty army.
"What weiqi skills!? How can he do that? How can he summon so many cloud beasts?" Ninth Young Master's eyes, already wide with shock, nearly popped out with his cry.
Indeed, it was a mighty army! That surging might, the thunderous gallop, along with the intense murderous intention from the riders; the invading cavalry looked as if Heaven's might was about to fall upon their foes.
"Impossible, how can he summon like this?" the Ninth Young Master screamed in disbelief, staring helplessly.
At this moment, the great battle of cloud beasts also came to a stop, albeit only momentarily. Everyone was gazing at this shocking, unbelievable scene.
One person alone had summoned a great army of cavalry with just one golden piece!?
The mighty squadrons charged forward with a momentum that shook the sky. Surprisingly, a cloud of dust had also been congealed. The horses were all Ferghana horses, while the warriors riding them had faces filled with murderous intentions. All the warriors wielded long sabers, while at their forefront, the general leading them wielded the Fang Tian Hua halberd.
More importantly, at the center of this mighty army, a banner was also hoisted, with a massive "Xiang(项)" written on the commander flag. [3]
RUMBLE!...
Hundreds of horses galloped, shaking the sky and quaking the earth, a roll of thunder that did not end…
Recalling their own summoned one hundred-zhang long cloud beasts, that were now a few hundred zhang long only after going experiencing countless slaughter and swallowing many clouds beasts through battles of wit and might...
And look at that man, who had also summoned a hundred-zhang long cloud beast. But how could he summon hundreds or thousands more than they could? This...this was cheating!
At this scene of hundreds of cloud-horsemen galloping together with slaughter qi soaring to the sky, many people felt their scalps tingle.
How was this possible?
"Crap! Can we even still fight?" someone shouted in shock and alarm.
______________________________
TL Notes:
[1] Fang Tian Hua Halberd - Often associated with general Lu Bu, even though he never used it. It is the quintessential Chinese halberd (although in the West it would be called a glaive). Its pole is decorated as well. More info - .
[2] Nuckalavee - A horse-like demon from Orcadian mythology that combines horse and human elements.
[3] Xiang - May refer to General Xiang Yu, not sure about it.