Humanity’s Great Sage

another few more times and after every time, the Qin defense squad would emerge looking worse for the wear.
This incessant harassment was taxing, if not humiliating enough, yet even so, the sullen squad leader could do nothing but mutter words of expletives under his breath.
Xie Jin and his squad had all the advantages and initiative on an open field.

 

But all was not lost.
He had received word that a nearby defense squad was inbound towards their position to reinforce them.
So long as both squads could regroup, then they’ll have nothing to fear from this blasted raiding squad!

 

[Very well then! We’ll hold the ground here and await our reinforcements!] the Qin defense squad leader thought quietly. 

 

But another message arrived just when he thought he saw a silver lining.
One that was enough to shatter what confidence he just discovered. 

 

Apparently, the Green Feather Mountain vanguard squad that he was expecting to join up with this raiding squad had circled around them to attack the hillock they were originally assigned to hold!

 

The defense squad first received orders earlier to ride with all speed to support their beleaguered vanguard squad.
But by the time they arrived, there was nothing they could do hence they withdrew, not wanting to get caught up in the massacre just now. 

 

This defense squad was half of the original defense squad defending this hillock area.
This half was commanded to ride first while the other was supposed to be acting as rearguard and come meet up with them.
The total number of the entire defense squad was thirty-men strong. 

 

Yet, the Green Feather Mountain vanguard squad had intercepted the defense squad rearguard!

 

All three contesting factions each had Ninth-Order Cultivators keeping an eye on the Shadow Moon Disc.
Any troop movements in the field were no secret at all, but one could expect delays for messages to reach their intended party. 

 

The Shadow Moon Disc shared between all contesting factions was a key reason why losses were able to be kept to a minimum.
Whenever things went south, the Ninth-Order Cultivators would immediately make proper adjustments to prevent further casualties to their respective factions.

 

But the first battle between the Green Feather Mountain and Qin raiding squads had turned out to be a complete surprise, catching Qin Wan Li off-guard, so he did not manage to react in time.
By the time the order for the Qin vanguard squad to retreat reached them, it was already too late.
The lopsided slaughter had already begun. 

 

And that was hardly the end.
The dominoes were still falling one after another. 

 

Right now, the Green Feather Mountain vanguard squad was assailing the hillock.
The information the Fifth-Order squad leader received told him that the enemy vanguard squad had a few shy of thirty men, whereas his rearguard only had about half that number.
The entire rearguard could very well be exterminated if a battle were to break out right now. 

 

The Fifth-Order squad leader peered around.
The enemy raiding squad which had been harassing them was gone.
They had gone missing.
“Where are they?!” he asked.

 

“Um, they haven’t appeared yet,” answered one of his men meekly. 

 

“Oh, Heavens!” the squad leader yelped, realizing something was amiss.
[Have they gone to regroup with their vanguard squad to support the offense?!] “QUICK! WE NEED TO GO!” he yelled frantically. 

 

As he wheeled around, he sent another quick message to ascertain the whereabouts of the five-man enemy raiding squad.

 

Five seconds passed like an eternity before the answer finally came.
“The enemy squad closing in fast from the slopes!”

 

The squad leader only just digested what he just read when approaching cascades of padded thuds of mounts thundering towards his position could be heard.
He looked up and there was the Green Feather Mountain raiding squad charging down the inclination!

 

“TALISMANS AT THE READY! WE MUST SURVIVE!” he roared. 

 

A series of whooshes filled the air around them as the defenders immediately activated seven to eight talismans and hurled them as quickly as possible at their enemies.
One after another the talismans erupted like dynamites blowing up once their sparks finished off the last of their fuses, dispensing destruction and woe. 

 

But Lu Ye and his squadmates were already prepared.
As soon as they saw the barrage of talismans heading their way, they dispersed at once, relying on the agility and mobility of their mounts to avoid the blasts of the magical paper-made incendiaries.

 

That was the end of the first exchange.
The raiding squad breezed past the gauntlet virtually undeterred and unharmed, with Song Xie as the only exception when he was caught in a blast that knocked him off his scorpion.
Still, it was fortunate that the blast did not manage to hurt him at all. 

 

“AGAIN!” the Fifth-Order squad leader bellowed and his squad let loose another volley of talismans.

 

This second barrage proved no more useful than the last.
Lu Ye and his squadmates had managed to reach the cover of the woods that they could use to shield away from many of the blasts. 

 

Just as the second barrage ended, Lu Ye and everyone else peeked from their covers, readying their own talismans while they channeled their powers so that they could activate them on the fly. 

 

The talismans they used were all provided by Xie Jin, showing how Green Feather Mountain was well-supplied with an abundance of resources and arms. 

 

All five talismans detonated into a flurry of projectiles of various elements – serpents of flame, scythes of winds, spears of ice –  that rained down amongst the Qin defense squad.
Qiao Qiao Er’s was a Golden Wheel Talisman Paper that she employed with brutal but no less impressive efficacy when she doled out death and despair to the poor Qin Cultivators amid her shrill and triumphant howls of laughter. 

 

The Qin Cultivators ran helter-skelter everywhere to evade the bombardment, but without mounts, they were not able to avoid being hit like Lu Ye and his squadmates.
By the time the raiding squad’s retaliation ended, one of the defenders was killed with a handful more injured. 

 

But there was no respite.
Before the Qins could reform their lines, the entire hillside forest shuddered with the same rumbling of padded thuds they heard before the skirmish began.
The Fifth-Order squad leader looked and beheld with dismay the sight of the raiding squad galloping towards them at full speed and fury. 

 

The entire defensive line was in total disarray and nothing could restore discipline back to the chaotic situation.
That practically made the Qin Cultivators sheep ready for slaughter as the raiding squad steamrolled through their disorganized lines. 

 

Lu Ye wheezed by an enemy, lopping off his humongous head as easily as driving a hot knife through butter.
Song Xie’s scorpion whipped its deadly tail around and speared its tip through another, eliciting loud anguish screams of pain while Qiao Qiao Er had another enemy pinned down with her whip coiled around his neck, although he managed to free himself and escaped. 

Xie Jin and Tao Tian Gang barely got any kills, but the former managed to keep the enemy Fifth-Order squad leader at bay while the latter helped to divert the attention away from the others during the first run.

All five members of the raiding squad plowed through their enemies and halted about a hundred meters away before they wheeled around at Xie Jin’s signal and resumed their positions back at the slope just over the discombobulated and scattered mass of the enemy defense squad for their next charge.