Chapter 1862: The Courage of the Wushang! (I)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
“Ha! Finally coming!”
In the opposing army, Bashabur sensed that surging energy, and as he glanced over, a cold and callous light gleamed in his eyes.
“Let me see how powerful these so-called Wushang Cavalry really are!”
Bashabur had already heard that even when Arabia’s strongest cavalry force, the Mamelukes, sent forth all its elites, it still lost to this eastern cavalry force.
This had never happened before in the Arabian Empire.
For the elite fighting force of the west to lose to the east was something that the entire western world found unthinkable.
This battle no longer concerned only the Mamelukes. It concerned the pride and dignity of the entire western world.
The Battle of Talas marked an immense disgrace for all of its generals, and the best way to wash away this disgrace was to kill the Wushang Cavalry and conquer the eastern world!
Boomboomboom!
As Bashabur led the Mamelukes forward, the air suddenly howled. Without any warning, ballista bolts streaked through the air and toward Bashabur and the Mamelukes behind him.
Plush! Plush! Plush!
Horses shrieked as the bolts pierced through flesh, and several hundred Mamelukes were instantly slain.
At the same time, at least four ballista bolts were aimed at Bashabur himself.
In a bloody flash of light, Bashabur extended his arm, actually managing to snatch these ballista bolts out of the air.
Those unstoppable ballista bolts unexpectedly posed no threat to Bashabur.
With one glance, Bashabur saw the sharp edges and unique veined patterns on the tips of the bolts and coldly laughed.
“Wootz Steel? No wonder they’re so sharp that they can even pierce through Meteoric Metal armor!”
Wootz Steel!
This was an extremely sharp metal that almost everyone in Arabia knew about. Even an Arab general like Bashabur who had been in seclusion for many years had to admit to its sharpness.
Alas, only the Great Tang knew how to forge weapons like this.
One of the most important objectives for this eastern expedition in Bashabur’s eyes was to obtain the secret to forging Wootz Steel so that the Arab army could be further strengthened.
As these thoughts passed through his mind, Bashabur quickly issued an order.
“Scatter! Charge their formation!”
The twenty thousand Mamelukes scattered and began to attack the Tang soldiers around the Behemoth Army.
Boom!
At this moment, the Mamelukes revealed that their strength was still not to be underestimated. With the assistance of the meat shields that were the Behemoths, they quickly routed the soldiers on the Great Tang’s right flank.
“Kiiill!”
Several hundred Mamelukes formed into a small group and charged into a Tang infantry line, instantly plunging deep into its ranks.
“Ah!”
With a terrible scream, a Tang shield soldier was sent flying through the air.
They could block wave after wave of attacks, but they were incapable of standing against the sharp and well-trained offensive of the Mamelukes.
The thousands of Mamelukes battered against the Tang soldiers, encountering no resistance.
“These scoundrels!”
In the distance, Su Hanshan and Li Siye both frowned.
Neither of them had expected the Mamelukes to give up on a fight with the Wushang Cavalry and attack the other Tang soldiers. With the two forces in melee, if Su Hanshan continued attacking, his ballistae were bound to hit the men on his own side. As for Li Siye, now that the Mamelukes had changed strategies and hidden behind the Behemoths, his Wushang Cavalry faced a dilemma.
If the Wushang Cavalry continued forward, they would be certain to suffer the direct attacks of the Behemoth Army. Even though the Wushang Cavalry were armed to the teeth, they were still insignificant in front of the Behemoths. The massive strength of those beasts could easily inflict massive damage on the Wushang Cavalry.
And if he just sat back, the Mamelukes would quickly overrun the right flank. The Behemoth Army combined with the Mamelukes formed an unstoppable force, and Li Siye and the Wushang Cavalry could only watch as their allies were killed.
“Hyah!”
Li Siye’s eyes flashed with cold light, and then he firmly took the giant Wootz Steel sword from his back and gave his order.
“All soldiers, charge!”
Li Siye spurred his horse into a gallop, the air booming as he rode toward a massive Behemoth.
“Kiiill!”
The thousands of Wushang Cavalry closely followed, churning up a great cloud of dust.
One thousand feet, eight hundred feet, five hundred feet… the two sides were getting closer and closer, but Li Siye and his men showed no signs of stopping. This sort of decisiveness surprised even Bashabur.
But with a cold snort, Bashabur turned around and began to charge at this Tang general.
“What a fool! Let me see what you’re capable of!”
The Behemoths were immensely strong, every movement bursting with strength that no other horseman could resist. In charging over like this, the Wushang Cavalry were certain to sustain significant damage, and this was exactly what Bashabur wanted.
Three hundred feet! Two hundred feet! One hundred feet!
Roooar!
A massive ape Behemoth with extremely long hair and crimson eyes roared and then turned upon the Wushang Cavalry. Its two massive hands opened, covering the sky like dark clouds as they slammed at several hundred Wushang Cavalry.
Neeeigh!
A gust of wind swept over the earth. Even before those two palms had landed, they created an immense pressure that made the earth groan. But the Wushang Cavalry remained undeterred, not slowing down in the slightest.
“Just what are they up to?”
At this moment, even the distant Saleh noticed this development, and there was a look of confusion in his eyes. The current actions of the Wushang Cavalry seemed nothing short of suicide.
Fifty feet! Thirty feet! Twenty feet!
But a moment later, the inconceivable happened…
Boom!
Just as the ape hands were about to slam down, the thousands of Wushang Cavalry suddenly scattered in every direction, just barely dodging the ape Behemoth’s attack.
Rumble! The earth shuddered and dust surged as the hands slammed down, pulverizing the hard earth like it was mud and leaving two deep, hand-shaped depressions.
Before the ape Behemoth could attack again, there was a resounding clang. A massive Wootz Steel sword slashed at the ape Behemoth’s head from a height of more than one hundred feet in the air.
Milky-white Sword Qi swept across the ape Behemoth’s head like a bolt of lightning. In immense pain, the ape Behemoth immediately changed directions in a frenzy to attack the Behemoth Slayer on its head.
But before its hands could strike, several giant ballistae fired, their bolts thudding into the Behemoth’s body.
The Behemoth howled and ceased to care about the Wushang Cavalry.
Behind it, giant feet were slamming into the earth. Rhinos, lions, bulls… Behemoths of various forms were spread across the region. At times, their instinctive movements would cause them to pose an even greater threat, as their actions were growing more unpredictable. Anyone who made a single misstep might end up being crushed into paste.
At this level of ‘battle’, there was no suspense. To be struck meant death. Not even Meteoric Metal armor or a powerful cultivation could prevent this fate.
But at this moment, the Wushang Cavalry displayed the strength that made them the best cavalry on the continent.
The Wushang Cavalry maintained a scattered yet disciplined formation, agilely moving like civet cats to weave between the Behemoth attacks, always managing to just barely dodge them no matter how unpredictable they seemed.
As the Behemoths howled, the Wushang Cavalry continued to ride forward as if they were unimpeded, smoothly passing through the Behemoth Army without a single injury. Such ability left the Mamelukes and even the Arab Governors and Deputy Governors utterly flabbergasted.
Though they had long ago heard about this special unit of Wootz Steel cavalry, seeing it with their own eyes still left them stunned.
“How could this be?”
The agility displayed by the Wushang Cavalry had gone beyond the limits of their imagination.
Cavalry emphasized flexibility, but this and that were two entirely different things. Not even the Mamelukes could achieve this level of agility.
But on the other side, Li Siye, Xue Qianjun, and the others seemed completely unperturbed.
The Wushang Cavalry were capable of all this not because of any halo or cultivation technique. It was because Wushang Village was located amongst precipitous mountains, and the movements trained by growing up in this environment had made them more agile than any other cavalry on the continent.