Chapter 134 WanShou Wolf Cavalry! (2)
Chapter 134 WanShou Wolf Cavalry! (2)
Zhou Weiqing thought for a moment and said: “Only when we know both our own strength and the enemy's strength, can we be be certain of victory. [1. This is a famous line from the Sun Tzu Art of War]. I definitely want to experience these WanShou Wolf Cavalry Troops for myself, to see how strong they really are. Alright, here is the plan. Wei Feng, bring seven of the best horses here, as well as nine of those personal guard armour sets we had previously. We will disguise ourselves as an ordinary patrol from the Northern Armies and fight with these Wolf Cavalry Units. Even if we lose or aren’t able to kill all of them, we will not reveal the existence of our Peerless Battalion or our position.”
Wei Feng hesitation for a second, then nodded. Thinking about how Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er had faced nine six Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Masters and greater without losing, he regained some confidence.
Wei Feng had seen all the changes that the Peerless Battalion had undergone since Zhou Weiqing had arrived, and towards this young Battalion Commander, he definitely had respect and approval. He also knew that he had earned that too, of the entire Battalion. At least, Zhou Weiqing was able to let them eat their fill, have warm clothing, and even some unexpected profits. More importantly, Zhou Weiqing had given them something they had never even dreamed for. A hope. A hope that they would one day leave this godforsaken place.
Zhou Weiqing said: “Old Wei, you can bring the others to hide around the trees far off to see how we fight. These few here are my teachers. This time, they are here to be all of your archery instructors. This is a good opportunity to witness the godlike archery of these teachers of mine.”
Hearing that these few were actually Zhou Weiqing’s teachers, Wei Feng’s look at them instantly changed. Zhou Weiqing was already so disgustingly powerful, how could these few be weak?
In a manner of moments, the horses and equipment were sent to them. The Heavenly Bow Unit members, plus Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er, all changed into the Sixteenth Regiment Personal Guard armour. Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Fei’er mounted their Ghost Demon Horses, while the others mounted the ordinary warhorses, before all nine of tehm charged down the hill together, heading towards the plains.
“Master Hua Feng, you direct us.” Zhou Weiqing said to Hua Feng.
Hua Feng smiled faintly and said: “Just a hundred wolf cavalry troops, that shouldn’t require much direction. You and Lady Fei’er just take care of our defense, and deal with any who might actually succeed in closing in on us. Leave everything else to us.”
Just a few simple sentences, but it displayed the Heavenly Bow Unit’s absolute confidence. Although they only numbered seven, and their enemies were the powerful Wolf Cavalry Troops that they had not faced before, but do not forget that the Heavenly Bow Empire had once depended on these seven to put fear into the Kalise Empire, even the Bai Da Empire. Previously, Hua Feng had not told Zhou Weiqing about the unit of Heavenly Jewel Masters that had been sent to kill them. The leader of that unit was actually a Heavenly King Jewel Master. From that alone, one could imagine how much importance the Bai Da Empire had placed upon the Heavenly Bow Unit.
Indeed, the Heavenly Bow Unit members might not be strong in terms of cultivation and personal power, but they had already trained their archery to an ultimate maximum. When the seven of them were together as one and with enough distance, they could even have a chance against a nine-Jeweled Heavenly Jewel Master.
Shangguan Fei’er remained beside Zhou Weiqing. She was extremely curious as to what sort of abilities or powers these teachers of Zhou Weiqing’s had. With her cultivation level, she could easily sense that none of them had Heavenly Energy that even equalled hers, and more so, none of them were Heavenly Jewel Masters, only ordinary Jewel Masters. Yet, she could clearly sense the respect and admiration Zhou Weiqing had for them.
Right at that moment, far in the distance, a cloud of dust could be seen, heading in their direction at an extremely high speed.
“So fast!” A glint of surprise flashed in Zhou Weiqing’s eyes. Without question, that was the wolf cavalry unit. Just from observing the formation of the dust cloud and the speed it moved, he could tell that these wolf cavalry were even faster than ordinary Ghost Demon Horses, almost the same speed as his own single-horned Ghost Demon Horse. Furthermore, when these wolves were running, they were extreme silent. Although he could already see the dust cloud ahead, he could not hear anything, unlike the loud hoof stomps for normal cavalry units.
All of their vision were far superior to any ordinary person, and at this point, they could see all hundred of the Company of wolf cavalry soldiers speeding along, about a thousand yards from them.
The war wolf mounts had a greyish black fur, much larger than any ordinary wolves, about three metres of body length and almost as tall as an ordinary warhorse. Although they were sitll a distance, they could sense a wildly ferocious aura from them.
The cavalry soldiers mounted upon the war wolves were dressed in simple leather armours, and the most striking part of their appearance was the dual-horned helmet they were wearing. Each of them were rather massive as well, ferocious looking with a wild look in their eyes. In their hands, they held a huge, nearly two metre long, cavalry sabre.
The speeding wolf cavalry troops also seemed to adjust their direction the moment Zhou Weiqing and the others spotted them. Clearly, they had also seen Zhou Weiqing too. At that point, their speed actually increased, charging forth towards them.
“Arrow Tower, Cannon[2. In case anyone has forgotten, Arrow Tower is Han Mo, Cannon is Gao Shen], you two are in charge of offense. Yi Shi, battlefield support. Rogue, you finish off any leftovers or those trying to escape. Any that reach within two hundred yards, Shui Cao and Mu En you two take care of them. I will swap around as necessary.” Hua Feng’s voice rang out lazily as he swiftly did a quick arrangement. In truth, with their years of cooperation and fighting together, even if he didn’t give the instructions, they would not have any problems.
...
Yamcha was one of the finest warriors of the WanShou Wolfman Tribe, and with the military deeds and contributions on the battlefield, he had risen to the position of Company Leader. At this point, he just needed a few more battlefield merits and he could possibly rank to Vice Battalion Commander.
The WanShou Empire population was far less than the ZhongTian Empire, but their entire population was able to fight in the army. This time, Yamcha had brought his entire Company to sneak into the ZhongTian Empire borders, hoping to kill a few patrols or scouts.
The food that they had plundered last autumn had been almost finished, and their wolfman tribe was struggling a little to make ends meet. Although they were disdainful towards the ZhongTian calvary, those horses were still great as food. Furthermore, if they managed to kill more enemies, perhaps he might even be able to become the Vice Battalion Commander.
This was not the first time Yamcha had done something like this. With the superior speed of their war wolves, they were often able to move in past the border for a swift guerilla strike and gain. In Yamcha’s eyes, this time would not be any different.
In the distance, he spotted a small troop of the ZhongTian Empire army, likely a patrol of cavalry units. Thinking to himself, he cackled: Haha, they all have horses! This time is going great! Once we grab all those horses back, it will be enough food for the tribe for several days.
Instantly, Yamcha gave the order and their entire Company veered off and charged towards the little patrol of ZhongTian soldiers.
Their charge had barely started for a while and all of a sudden, Yamcha had a sinking feeling in his heart. As wolfmen with the bloodline of wolves, they all had stronger senses than any ordinary humans, and more so for fine warriors like him.
Right at that moment, an earsplitting sound rang through the air, and an arrow came speeding right at his face.
Yamcha was indeed worthy of being one of the finest of the Company Leaders of the Wolfman Tribe. In such a critical time of danger, he almost subconsciously lifted up the cavalry sabre in his hands; the thick blade just barely blocking the arrow.
*Clang* A loud sound as the arrow hit, and Yamcha’s cavalry sabre shook so hard with the shockwave that his upper body was sent reeling back.
Such strength! We’ve met the human Jewel Masters!
This was Yamcha’s first judgement. Next, he saw another arrow, glowing with red light, whiz past him.
Another huge explosion, and a wolfman soldier exploded into flames, thrown off his war wolf’s back. His reaction was not as fast as Yamcha, and the front of his leather armour was ripped apart totally, revealing a torn mess of flesh.
However, this moment also displayed the fine warrior spirits of the WanShou Wolf Cavalry. The wolfman soldier who had been thrown off his horse flew towards two other wolfmen cavalry soldiers, but they easily wheeled to the side, avoiding him without causing any clash. The ones behind those had more time to react and were able to catch their companion.
“Damnit, those are ZhongTian Jewel Master archers! TuLuLu!” Yamcha shouted loudly, the cavalry sabre in his hands sweeping up. In that instant, a green light appeared above both him and the war wolf mount below him, and their bodies also grew larger.
“TuLuLu!” A similar shout rang out from all the other wolf cavalry soldiers.
In the WanShou Empire, there were no ordinary Jewel Masters, only Heavenly Jewel Masters. That was to say, they did not have singular Physical Jewel Masters or Elemental Jewel Masters. It was either ordinary soldiers or Heavenly Jewel Masters.
However, that was not to say that they were lacking any way. The various tribes of the WanShou Empire all had their own advantages, the power of their totemic bloodlines. For the wolfman tribe, the incantation to evoke their bloodline powers was ‘TuLuLu’.
The wolfman tribe bloodline worked on both them and their war wolf mount, allowing their defense and speed to increase for a time.
…
On the other side, Han Mo and Gao Shen, who had each released one arrow, had looks of surprise on their faces.
The arrow that Yamcha had blocked was shot by Han Mo, and the one that had knocked the other cavalry soldier away was naturally Gao Shen’s arrow, imbued with his Fire Attribute.
Although both sides were around seven hundred yards apart, the two were extremely clear and confident about how powerful their arrows were. Yet, their Company Leader had been able to block Han Mo’s arrow so easily, and although the ordinary wolfman soldier had been struck by Gao Shen’s arrow, he was still not dead, just heavily injured.
Shouts and cries rang out from the hundred wolf cavalry units, and in flashes of green light, their war wolf mounts all sped into a sudden burst of speed, charging ferociously towards them.
“No wonder they are all able to win against ordinary soldiers at a one versus ten disadvantage. These soldiers of the WanShou Empire are indeed strong and valiant indeed.” Hua Feng was still with his usual refined, quiet elegance, but a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
Shangguan Fei’er looked on from the side, also extremely shocked inwardly. However, for her, the surprise was not the strength of the wolf cavalry troops, but rather Han Mo’s and Gao Shen’s archery.
That was a distance of seven hundred yards! For an ordinary person, trying to look from such a distance, they would likely only be able to see a tiny black dot. Furthermore, with the weather in the chill north, the winds were extremely strong. Yet, even at such a distance and conditions, the arrows they shot out seemed like they had eyes on them. This was not just any ordinary master archer. For Zhou Weiqing to describe their archery skills as godlike was truly not an exaggeration indeed.