Nightfall

It was a random moment at dawn when the Horse Gang, who had followed them for more than ten days, finally made a move to attack. The sound that pierced through the dawn light was not a horn, but the whistling of an arrow.

Hundreds of arrows fell in an arc from the meadows, tearing through the cold air and the remnants of sleep in the camp.

While the grain team was prepared both mentally and physically, it was still a mess. In the rain of arrows, people screamed in fear and hid in all corners of the camp, trying to wriggle their way to the shields at the side.

Sharp arrows pierced through the thick boards and could not move further. However, some pierced through the bodies and limbs of the civilians and army. Blood splattered, followed by painful groans. The arrows caused significant damage in just seconds.

The Yan cavalry at the utmost south of the low-lying plains was not in the camp and suffered an ambush at the same time. It was only due to Ning Que’s warning last night, did they manage to react fast enough. They held up round shields before their bodies or crouched behind large rocks, watching anxiously as the arrows flew over their heads.

The horses of the Yan riders screamed and trampled all over the camp. Several were injured and fell to the ground heavily. Ning Que ordered all the riders to ignore the arrows raining down on them. At that point, the rain of arrows had become less dense. They were to quickly get on the horse at the fastest speed possible.

“Everyone, get on the horse. Prepare to move ahead!”

Ning Que flipped himself onto the big black horse. He lifted his head and looked at the edge of the meadow at the north.

He was familiar with the ways of the Horse Gang in battle. The lazy thieves did not have the habit of bringing food and back up arrows with them. Even though they had planned this for long, they could not attack from a long distance alone. They would need to attack the camp eventually.

A patch of dark forest appeared on the looming meadow on the north-east edge. Hundreds of Horse Gang members appeared silently in their leather armor and thick clothing. The curved blades in their hands reflected the first ray of sunlight. It felt extremely cold. It was so cold that the breaths of those standing on the low-lying plains turned heavy.

On the slopes of the meadow, a single masked Horse Gang member rose the blade of his knife and issued a command to charge forward.

Ning Que noticed that the blade in the leader’s hand was not curved, but straight.

Hundreds of Horse Gang members sprinted wildly in the direction pointed by the straight blade. The slightly messy sound of galloping horses became denser as their speed increased and eventually fell into an orderly trot. The ground shook as thousands of horse hooves trampled into it.

The empty plains of the Wilderness at dawn seemed like a large drum with no ends. The clip-clop of horse hooves landing on the ground sounded like a heavy strike at the drum surface. The ground tremored with every strike. Each step sounded like a clap of thunder.

The camp which had just experienced a baptism of flying arrows raining upon them have gradually calmed. The soldiers and civilians wielded swords and even wooden sticks in their hands as they guarded the laager. They felt the ground tremor beneath them and listened to the thundering sound of horse hooves striking the ground. They looked at the Horse Gang who descended upon them like a tsunami of dark waters with sinking despair.

At this moment, the disciples of Black Ink Garden from the Great River Kingdom drew their swords and stood up. They yelled for the soldiers and civilians to raise their weapons and walk behind the carriage.

These disciples were young men and women in their teenage years. They had never seen such cruel or bloody battles before they received edicts from the Divine Hall and their teachers to train in the Wilderness. However, they had been greatly inspired by the Tangs and were firm and unafraid.

There was naught a trace of nervousness or despair on their faces as they watched the Horse Gang rushing towards them. They looked at the cruel faces of the House Gang and the shiny curved swords listened to the arrogant yells and were even more determined as they faced it with quiet grace.

The quiet determination of the Great River Kingdom girls affected the army and civilians in the camp. They held up the crude wooden spears in their hands. Even though they trembled, they still had the courage to face their cruel enemy.

The sound of hooves meeting ground got louder as the Horse Gang approached. The dust storm in the meadow at dawn got thicker and the air got colder. The atmosphere was tenser too, as everyone in the camp watched on with fear and hope. Their breaths got shorter and shallower as they awaited the moment the Horse Gang would reach their laager.

Ning Que was waiting as well. It was just that the moment he was waiting for was a little before the others.

He watched as a hundred over Horse Gang members appeared in the North-West of the meadow. It was unknown when they had arrived last night. They did not approach the Yan riders. It was obvious that they were there to round them in, in order to ensure that the five hundred other members of their gang can successfully attack the camp at one go.

Ning Que would not fight with them. He turned to look at the dust that had gotten thicker in the north. The Horse Gang was about to reach the low-lying plains. He pressed down on the bamboo hat on his head, drew the podao from his back and prepared to charge with the two hundred strong Yan army.

“Don’t ask how. Just charge with me.”

He looked at the Yan soldiers beside him who looked extremely nervous. He did not do anything else to prepare the men. With those words, he signaled with his hand and kicked his horse forward with his right arm outstretched, holding on to the podao.

The big black horse neighed lowly. It kicked his hind legs back and shot forward like an arrow.

…

…

The five hundred men of the Horse Gang descended upon them like an avalanche of dark waters. They sped up at the steep slopes and rushed down onto the flatlands.

The dark ground on the flat land looked sturdy and stretched out over a hundred feet. The grain team had camped right in the center of it. It would take the Horse Gang mere minutes to reach them at their current speed. What was even scarier was that if they had no traps or trips to stop the horses or men to reduce their speed, they would easily be flattened by the hundreds of riders.

There were no horse trips or traps. There were no hindrances to the Horse Gang on the flat and sturdy plain. The soldiers and civilians watched on as the features of the Horse Gang became clearer as they approached. Their bodies froze and the hands that held on to spears trembled. If they weren’t sure that they would die if they surrendered or tried to escape, they would have thrown down the weapons in their hands at the first suggestion.

The enemy had a one up on them. The grain team was unprepared and situated in a terrain that was undesirable. How would they be able to stop the Horse Gang? It seemed that there was no way to save the lives of the team. Even though there were two hundred Yan riders heading in their direction, they would be long dead by the time they arrived.

But, the two hundred Yan riders did not ride in a straight line towards them but were headed east to the meadows. What were they up to? Heading up the steep slopes was time and energy consuming. Were they painting themselves as targets for the Horse Gang’s arrows? Or… were they trying to escape?

As she thought of Ning Que’s insistence on not setting traps or horse trips and watching the two hundred riders sprinting towards the east, Zhuo Zhihua began to think of the worst. She did not want to admit that the Senior Brother from the Academy was such a horrible person. But what else could explain this weird move if not that he was afraid of dying?

There was no time for Zhuo Zhihua and the other girls of the Great River Kingdom to get angry or sad. She spared a last glance at the big black horse sprinting at the forefront and turned her eyes to the impending battle.

The Horse Gang descended upon them like rolls of dark clouds, the hooves of their horses kicking up a storm of black dust.

…

…

There was a long deep sound.

The Horse Gang member who sprinted at the forefront fell to the ground, lifting up a storm of dust. The war horse groaned and could not stand. Its front legs were broken.

Following that, a steady stream of groans sounded. The first ten riders all fell like the first. The valley descended into chaos.

Zhuo Zhihua held onto her sword as she watched the scene before her in confusion. It gradually turned into joy as she watched more and more members of the Horse Gang fall to the ground.

…

…

The Horse Gang sprinted from the steep meadows and were at their highest speed when they arrived at the low lands. This speed would have been perfect in a normal situation. However, the problem was that this situation was nowhere near normal. This flat land was not your normal flat land.

It was unusual to see a valley between two stretches of meadows in the Wilderness. This spot used to be a river many years ago but had dried up in the last thousand years, leaving behind the remnants of a seabed. The last traces of the river could not be seen as sand brought along by wind covered it up. The two river banks had become the meadows while the river bed became solid gravel soil land.

Even the Horse Gang who had traversed the Wilderness did not know that this used to be a river. Ning Que did not either. However, he discovered that there were bright and smooth circular pebbles beneath the thin layer of sand when they were setting up camp last night.

The middle of the watercourse was slightly deeper and had accumulated a thicker amount of sand and mud over the last ten thousand years. It was not difficult for one to travel on horseback after the land had been covered with grass. However, near the river banks, which was the edge of the meadows, the land was covered by a very thin layer of stone sand. Should one exert a slightly greater amount of pressure, or if the wind blew slightly harder, one would see round pebbles as well as the natural potholes beneath.

This was not a trap, not a trap set by Haotian for the Horse Gang. Even the heaviest Southern Mountain horse carrying two people on its back would not be trapped in this if it wasn’t traveling at high speed. However, the Horse Gang was propelled by the steep incline from the meadow, and the horse hooves met the ground at high impact.

Which was why the low lying land between the meadows became a trap set by Haotian for the Horse Gang.

…

…

The horse hooves which moved so quickly they were like darting shadows landed heavily on the flat land. The strong hooves dug into the ground and slipped further in before they could extricate themselves. Due to the high speed, the war horses were unable to keep their balance and fell with their riders on to the ground.

The hooves kicked up the black pebbles and mud but were trapped between the layer of rocks beneath. The horses could not stop their momentum and their heavy weight pressed on their forelegs. There were loud snaps as several legs were broken, revealing blood, flesh and stark white bones.

The riders behind those who have fallen have realized that there was a problem. However, they were unable to stop moving forward for the same reason- they were galloping at high speed. Their horses fell one by one at the edge of the low-lying plains, groaning at the impact.

If the first hundred riders rushed down from the meadow like a tidal wave, the seemingly normal black pebble ground surrounding the camp was like the famous breakwaters by the seaside of Song Kingdom. Their rounded rocks breaking the waves mercilessly.

The waves rushed over and over and faded into froth over and over. The waves at the front moved forward, the waves at the back followed. Each wave was higher than before and crashed onto the previous wave. Each wave that followed was in a more terrible state than the previous one.

The sight at the slopes of the valley was gory.

Several horses laid on the ground with broken legs and necks. Their riders have fallen with them, legs broken by their own horse landing on them. They pushed at the horses with all their might to no avail. The lucky ones have fainted or died, those who were not as fortunate laid on the ground, groaning. Those who rushed down at high speed at the back of the team suffered the worst impact as they began to pile up above one another. Fresh blood flowed onto the ground, like juice being squeezed out of flesh.

…

…

The Horse Gang’s ability to fight was better than that of the grain team. Even though they have lost over a hundred riders in the first wave, they would still pose a significant danger if they took the time to regroup or even if they abandoned their horses and charged on foot.

If the grain team consisted of a hundred soldiers from the elite troop of Tang, or even if they were ordinary soldiers, they might be able to turn the situation around by taking the opportunity to rush at the laager and kill a few Horse Gang members.

However, it was a pity that most of the people who made up the team were civilians. They might have the courage to hold up their spears behind the protection of the shield. However, they had no guts to rush up to kill the enemy. The point was, the three hundred Horse Gang members at the back who have managed to avoid the natural trap at the low-lands. They were holding on to their bows and arrows while surveying the camp alertly.

As such, all hopes of defeating the Horse Gang lay in the hands of the two hundred riders on the south. Everyone in the camp knew then, that the two hundred riders who chose to ascend the meadows were not trying to run away, but were trying to avoid the trap that Haotian had laid in the old river course.

…

…

The two hundred yan riders started moving off. However, it took a lot of effort and was slow moving as they tried to ascend the steep slope. This was especially so when compared to the big black horse running in the forefront.

The Horse Gang who had been watching the Yan riders intently moved when they did. They sped down the meadow at their fastest speed, trying to attack the Yan riders from the side. However, they did not expect that they would ride up the meadows instead of through the valley.

The Horse Gang looked at the Yan riders that they had no way of chasing. They whipped the riding crops in their hands and whistled for the troop to speed up. The hooves of their horses thundered through the land as they met the same fate as their comrades who sped down from the north.

Their faces burned as the bitter cold winds lashed out at it. Ning Que heard the painful wails behind him and knew that the Horse Gang would not be able to catch up with him. He started to think of weird questions as he gradually loosened up.

The wind was able to make one’s face burn. Was it because of heat resulting from friction? If this was the only reason, then how thick must his own skin be?

Facing the storm with calm was used to describe someone who had an extremely good disposition. However, this could be learned in later life. Ning Que had faced death since he was a child and experienced many difficulties. He had learned to think about useless things when faced with big issues that had to do with death so that he would eventually calm down.

It was like how he held the boxwood bow with both hands calmly even though the wind lashed out at him. He did not tremble even slightly.

…

…

He moved his feet into position.

Straightened his body.

Held up his bow.

He placed his fingers on the string.

Tightened it.

And released it.

The arrow left the bowstring like a dewdrop dripping off a leaf. It fell slowly before changing shapes slightly. The arrow burgeoned out as it spun. The arrowhead wavered, its fletchings shook unsteadily. It followed a complicated trajectory and eventually flew in a straight line, tearing the air as it flew towards its target in the distance.

The arrowhead touched dark, rough skin that had been tortured by the strong sun and winds. It tore through layers of skin and muscles like paper just as it tore through the air, bringing with it broken bones and a stream of blood and only stopped shaking when it wedged itself deeply in his throat bone. The fletching continued to shake even faster, humming lightly.

Three members of the Horse Gang were shot down consecutively. Blood flowed on the lands as they fell off their horses without a sound.

Ning Que’s eyes were emotionless as he watched the scene around him. His bamboo hat was tied tightly with a string and did not move even when met with the strongest winter gale on the Wilderness. He stared at the nearing Horse Gang through the slit above his mask.

Almost two hundred members of the Horse Gang were trapped in the round stones on the periphery of the low-lying lands looking extremely pathetic. The three hundred members behind tried to salvage what they could but to no avail. Their formation was extremely messy, and the defense on the sides was extremely weak. They would definitely be defeated if a large knife cleaved at them at this moment.

He led two hundred riders up the meadow to become this large knife.