The Glory After Rebirth

Chapter 336: The Defeat of the Luohai Kingdom and the Resolution of the Crisis

With Shan Congwen’s death, the morale of the Wan Kingdom’s troops thoroughly collapsed and they were soon trounced by the army of the Great Yue.

Yuwen Tong was walking through a crowd of soldiers, and Yao Yi was hurrying towards him, followed by a group of men. All of a sudden, the situation took a turn for the dangerous.

“Watch out, Marshal!”

Several men in black appeared out of nowhere and came at Yuwen Tong from different directions with sabers in their hands.

Eyes going cold, Yuwen Tong did a twirl like greased lightning, brandishing his long knife, generating an elemental outward wave of internal energy which deflected the couple of sabers and at the same time forced away all soldiers within a several-dozen-meter radius around him.

The four black figures flew at him once again. The expressions in these people’s eyes were obviously different from those of common solders. They were apathetic and ruthless and were aiming to kill with their every blow, and they didn’t seem to care about their own lives at all, as though determined to achieve their ultimate goal of taking Yuwen Tong’s life at all costs. These people were neither solders nor common kung fu experts. They were professional killers who would stop at nothing to get the job done.

Yuwen Tong could tell at a glance what these four men were capable of. The reason why he had used his long knife to force the others away from him was because he didn’t want any innocent soldiers to get trapped in this ring of encirclement. Then he heavily stuck his long knife into the ground, causing a violent quake with his powerful internal energy, throwing the four killers backwards once again. While they were uncontrollably backing off, Yuwen Tong gave his long knife a kick, which was sent rotating and shooting towards one of the killers. Meanwhile, Yuwen Tong launched himself forward, grabbed the hilt of the long knife, gave a downward slash and with that the blade went into that man’s shoulder!

When the long knife approached him, the man was moving backwards and, unable to dodge the blow, he had no alternative but to raise his saber and swing it at Yuwen Tong’s long knife. However, his countenance changed drastically as he felt the dauntingly potent internal energy spreading from the knife. His saber was snapped in two and he himself received a downward slash from Yuwen Tong and died of the grievous wound on the spot.

A companion dead, the three surviving killers were evidently much more cautious, their attacks growing quicker and more callous. They were not scared of Yuwen Tong’s long knife, and neither was any of them afraid of death. All they wanted was to deliver a lethal blow to Yuwen Tong. Faced with this kind of suicidal fighting style, Yuwen Tong, naturally, wouldn’t let any of them get close to him. Fortunately, his weapon was a long knife, and when he brandished it, an airtight shield of internal energy was formed, keeping the three killers from closing in on him.

At this moment, Yao Yi and some others had hurried over and joined the fight.

The three killers’ kung fu skills were pretty good, which showed that they were top-notch professionals hired at high prices, but there was not much they could do when the opponent was Yuwen Tong. In addition, Yao Yi and some others had arrived in time. Under their concerted attack, all the three killers were disposed of.

“WATCH OUT!”

As the last killer was seriously wounded and the crisis was about to be resolved, an urgent voice came from rear of flank and at the same time a long knife was heavily hurled over!

CLANK!

An almighty clang was heard.

An arrow was violently parried by a saber thrown from a distance. The sharp arrowhead hit the flat of the saber, making a harsh scraping sound.

Yuwen Tong jerked his head around just in time to see the saber deflect the arrow, and then he caught sight of a Luohai archer sitting on the back of a tall horse far away, who was staring at him coldly. Meanwhile, the second arrow had been fired, heading squarely for his heart.

“MARSHAL!” Yao Yi yelled.

Yuwen Tong’s eyes fell cold and he wielded his long knife and fended off that arrow. “Yao Yi, parry his arrows,” he instructed.

Yao Yi finished off the killer with a cut and then turned around to deflect the arrows shot from the distance with the others. Yuwen Tong jabbed his long knife deep into the ground, conveniently took the bow and the quiver of arrows from a dead archer lying on the ground, and then fixed the Luohai archer in the distance with a glacial stare.

“Marshal, he’s that marksman of the Luohai Kingdom,” said Yao Yi anxiously.

Gazing in the direction of that archer, Yuwen Tong said flintily, “Stand still.”

Yao Yi and the others, though confused, subconsciously braced themselves by adopting the Horse Stance. Then Yao Yi felt a gust of wind soar up behind him and with that someone stepped onto his shoulders and almost at the same time fired three arrows in rapid succession, all of which whizzed towards that Luohai archer with unstoppable momentum at an amazingly great speed!

The Luohai archer gave a start and abruptly tried to dodge. However, he had just sidestepped the first arrow when the second and the third ones arrived, leaving him no time to dodge. There arrows were far faster then he had expected!

“ARGH!” An anguished cry issued from the distance. Two of his vital parts pierced by the two arrows, that crack shot of the Luohai Kingdom breathed his last and fell off from his horse.

Twirling in mid-air, Yuwen Tong shot all the arrows in the quiver before he landed on the ground. His last arrow was aimed at Dong Gao, the general-in-chief of the Luohai Kingdom who was in the farthest part of the battlefield.

Dong Gao was besieged and still unable to extricate himself from the ingenious formation of the Great Yue’s army, not a shred of pride or arrogance on his face. At this moment, an arrow whizzed over from the distance, ripped into his back and through his chest. It all happened in an instant and he didn’t have the time to react at all.

“Who…did…this…” Dong Gao started from head to foot, looking incredulously at the arrowhead protruding from his chest which was bleeding profusely, his eyes growing unfocused. Even in the last moment before his death, he still wondered who was the one that fired this arrow which claimed his life.

On seeing that Dong Gao was hit by his arrow, Yuwen Tong coldly shouted, “Dong Gao, the general-in-chief of the Luohai Kingdom, is now dead. Kill all the others.”

His icy voice resonated through the whole battleground. The morale of the Great Yue’s troops were boosted and they started to steamroller their way to victory. The army of the Luohai Kingdom, which didn’t have many surviving soldiers, were demoralized to such a degree as though they’d been reduced to puppets abandoned by the puppeteer, and it didn’t take a genius to know how they would end up.

After landing on the ground, Yuwen Tong tossed the bow back to the body of its original owner, pulled his long knife out of the ground and looked in the direction of a blue-robed figure standing in the distance, his icy eyes instantly becoming so fervent as though they were as hot as the noon sun. Staring fixedly at that person, he made towards him.

It was Ling Zhang who was standing in the distance. After he had taken Wang Dashan and the others out of the city, they had made a beeline for the encampment, his anxiety deepening as he got closer to it. Eventually, heedless of his bodyguards’ efforts to dissuade him, he had insisted on going to the battlefield. By the time he had arrived, Shan Congwen had died, the army of the Wan Kingdom almost wiped out, that of the Luohai Kingdom ringed, battle cries filling the air on the battlefield strewn with corpses. His heart hammering, he had searched for Yuwen Tong constantly.

Wang Dashan and the others had also anxiously helped him look for Yuwen Tong. It had been only when the fight between Yuwen Tong and the four killers caused the ground to quake and his occasional upward leaps arrested their attention that they located Yuwen Tong.

Ling Zhang, after seeing Yuwen Tong safe and sound, had felt a sense of relief, intending to go to his help, but unexpectedly, he had just started walking and his feeling of relief hadn’t ebbed yet when his heart suddenly fluttered as though warning him something very bad was about to happen. He had subconsciously jerked his head aside to look in the direction of the source of his intense foreboding and seen a man in Luohai military uniform on a tall horse aiming his bow at Yuwen Tong in the distance. Having a very strong premonition that that person was the very reason for the unease that he’d been feeling all this time, Ling Zhang had unhesitatingly yelled, warning Yuwen Tong to be careful, and at the same time whipped out Wang Dashan’s saber, concentrated all his internal energy in his arm, leaped forward with all his might and then hurled the saber at the arrow that had just been fired.

Fortunately, he had successfully intercepted that arrow. After that, he had unblinkingly watched Yuwen Tong perform the series of subsequent actions, not daring to lower his guard for a split instant. It hadn’t been until that Luohai archer was shot to death and Yuwen Tong walked towards him with his eyes fixed on him that he abruptly heaved a sigh of relief, but unexpectedly, he had just relaxed when he buckled at the knees and, not even having enough strength to remain standing, limply sank to the ground, as though drained of energy. Meanwhile, all his meridians were aching dully, and so was his Dantian.

“Young Master?”

“Young Master!”

Taken aback, Wang Dashan and the others hurriedly clustered around him. Qiu Bing quickly held Ling Zhang’s wrist to feel his pulse.

At this time, the countenance of Yuwen Tong who was in the distance also changed drastically and with that he took a flying leap forward, making a beeline for Ling Zhang like the wind. “Brother Zhang!”

On landing, Yuwen Tong caught sight of Ling Zhang who was pasty and feebly sitting on the ground. His insides did a horrible somersault and he tossed his long knife aside and pulled Ling Zhang into his embrace from Wang Dashan’s arms. “Brother Zhang! What happened to you?”

On seeing that Yuwen Tong didn’t look very well, in order to spare him the worry, Ling Zhang hurriedly replied, “I’m not dead, just a little exhausted.” However, his voice was rather weak, which concerned the others even further.

Qiu Bing’s brows were knitted as he said, “Young Master overused his internal energy by hurling the saber just now. It almost drained his Dantian of internal energy instantaneously. Right now he’s suffering from overfatigue, and some of his meridians were damaged as well. We need to get him back to the encampment and let him take a medicated bath as soon as possible.”

Yuwen Tong hastily scooped up Ling Zhang and said to Yao Yi and some others who had followed at his heels, “Brother Zhang is hurt. I’m bringing him back to the encampment. You are to cooperate with Jiang Xi and handle the rest of the Luohai troops.”

Yao Yi was startled. He didn’t know any details about Ling Zhang’s injury, but he could tell from the grave expression on Yuwen Tong’s face that the situation was serious, so he immediately answered, “Yes, Marshal. Please just take Childe Ling back right away.”

Shan Congwen was dead, and the Wan Kingdom had suffered a disastrous defeat, with their whole army annihilated. Dong Gao had also kicked the bucket, and the main force of the Luohai Kingdom was as good as exterminated. Even without Yuwen Tong directing the troops, Jiang Xi and the others could also handle the rest.

Carrying Ling Zhang in his arms, Yuwen Tong quickly returned to the encampment and streaked into the main tent.

Qiu Bing directly went to the infirmary to get required medicinal herbs. An hour later, the preparation for a medicated bath was finished. Yuwen Tong carried Ling Zhang into the “bathroom” that Jiang Xi had specially pitched for Ling Zhang. The bathing barrel in it had already been filled with medicated bathwater.

“It’s a little hot, but Young Master still needs to get in there straight away, because it’ll be useless when the water cools down. I’ll go and prepare some herbal medicine. When it’s ready, I’ll bring it here and let Young Master drink it,” said Qiu Bing.

Yuwen Tong inclined his head. “Go. Right now Xie Shi is on the battlefield. Tell him to come here to see me when he comes back.”

Qiu Bing nodded. “Okay.”

After saying this, Qiu Bing took his leave. Yuwen Tong undressed Ling Zhang and put him into the bathing barrel.

Ling Zhang gave a start from the scalding water, clenching his teeth, enduring it, some color back in his previously pallid cheeks because of the heat. He gasped in pain and said, “‘A little hot’? This is boiling! Qiu Bing is such a liar.”