Chapter 383 - 209: Returning to the Carefree Jianghu of Old

Chapter 383: Chapter 209: Returning to the Carefree Jianghu of Old

Xie Yunliu also joined the bird-gathering brigade, muttering as he worked, "My brother-in-law is so damn picky. Me? I don’t mind if they’re not warm... This’ll do!"

Don’t let the barrenness of the Great Desert fool you; these vultures were not small at all. Each one was meaty and solid, weighing several pounds with bone and skin included. With a single, casual gesture, the old fisherman Dugu Yibai had provided everyone with over a hundred pounds of meat, alleviating their most pressing crisis.

...

A group of Knights used their Qinggong to reach the cliffs above the Valley, where they crouched low. In the distance, a massive, dense army surged like a sea of heads. The sunlight glinting off their fine Armor was a terrifying, brilliant sight.

In the distance, rows of bulging military tents had been pitched, and soldiers from the Western Regions patrolled back and forth.

"There are far more than ten thousand of them." Chu Chengfeng and Xie Yunliu had both fought on battlefields before. Just by eye and the number of rising columns of cooking smoke, they could roughly estimate the enemy’s numbers.

Xie Yunliu nodded and pointed into the distance. "Behind them, there are tracks from supply wagons. The hoofprints lead far back. They have an unending supply line. If we want to win, our only chance is a night raid. We’d have to hit them once—hit them so hard and so viciously that they’re too scared to recover for the next year or two."

Chu Chengfeng said, "Capture the king to defeat the army?"

Zheng Xiu shook his head. "We’ve tried. For one, the enemy commander knows we have someone skilled in Archery, so they’re already on alert and rarely show themselves. For another, on our side, no one besides Xie Luohe can shoot that far. It’s just that..."

As Zheng Xiu spoke, his voice trailed off.

"It’s alright. Let me try."

Xie Luohe stepped forward and drew her Longbow to its fullest extent.

She closed her eyes, tilting her head to listen.

At first, her ears were met with total silence. Then, gradually, a clamor of many voices filled the air around her.

After a moment, the fully drawn Longbow in Xie Luohe’s hands began to tremble slightly.

"Forget it. Don’t force yourself."

Zheng Xiu smiled and gently placed his hand on the back of Xie Luohe’s, encouraging her to lower the bow.

Xie Luohe’s gaze dimmed. She lowered her head as the bowstring slowly went slack, her voice full of apology. "Husband, it’s my fault."

"It’s not your fault. For ten years, you’ve been resisting it. It’s better that you’ve forgotten how."

In truth, Zheng Xiu had long since noticed that Xie Luohe’s heaven-defying Archery was gone. When he’d asked, Xie Luohe confessed that ever since she had put down her bow, she could no longer grasp the knack for it. ’That seems to make sense,’ Zheng Xiu thought. ’After all, she hasn’t followed the rules for so many years. It’s not surprising her Archery isn’t what it used to be.’

As for the night raid Chu Chengfeng had suggested, that was nothing but a fool’s dream. They had discovered on their very first night here that as soon as darkness fell, the enemy’s temporary encampment was lit up with torches everywhere, turning night into day. Forget a person, you could see a single bird flying overhead with perfect clarity.

The army of the Western Regions seemed unaware that a group of long-over-the-hill grandmasters from the Martial World had arrived in Richan Valley.

To avoid revealing this, Zheng Xiu had to be secretive even about cooking the birds for an extra meal. He kept the number of cooking pots the same, lest a sudden increase in the columns of smoke expose their true numbers.

「On the third day after Chu Chengfeng’s "supergroup" of Knights arrived in Richan Valley.」

Horns and drums sounded once more from the Western Regions army. War banners waved as several hundred-man units charged toward Richan Valley in what seemed to be a probing attack.

"Fire arrows!"

The people of the Sun Tribe followed the command, lighting fire arrows and loosing them at the Western Regions army.

But even fire arrows did negligible damage to the well-equipped army of the Western Regions. After a few of the enemy soldiers fell, Zheng Xiu saw them closing the distance and once again reluctantly cut his own arm.

Grand Painter Gongsun’s Paint Becomes Truth activated. Hideous phantoms materialized from the rock face, a sight that made many jaws drop.

"The rumors were true after all!"

"The countryside is haunted!"

People whispered among themselves.

In the distance, when the few hundred-man units from the Western Regions saw the phantoms drifting out of the Valley, they were scared out of their wits. Even with the upper hand, they had no desire to continue the fight. They yanked on their reins, and the herd of War Camels galloped back without a second glance.

The dozens of Fierce Ghosts that Zheng Xiu had painstakingly painted dissipated dejectedly into the air before they could even accomplish anything.

"Younger Brother Gongsun, this Blinding Technique of yours..." Fatty Jiang muttered. He thought it was an illusion and asked in a low voice, "It can’t travel very far, can it?"

’You have got to be fucking kidding me. He saw through the Miracle Technique’s Restriction at a glance.’ Zheng Xiu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, so he didn’t answer. But his silence was a tacit admission, and Fatty Jiang nodded without asking any more questions.

Judging by the reaction of the Western Regions army, he knew that using the Miracle Technique to break their forces on the first day had, in hindsight, been a case of shooting himself in the foot. His Miracle Technique was too grand, too bizarre; it had terrified the soldiers of the Western Regions.

The new commander wasn’t Arturo. He didn’t understand the ways of Mystics and saw Zheng Xiu as some kind of demon, preferring to dig in and defend rather than take any risks.

In any other battle, the side at a disadvantage would be happy to see this result. But now, they were the ones defending Richan Valley to the death. As their numbers grew, food and water were becoming an increasingly tight problem. Furthermore, the weather in the Great Desert was fickle. If they were forced out of Richan Valley’s natural protection, a single sandstorm would be enough to kill them all.

"Night raids are impossible! A frontal assault is impossible! We try to hold our ground, and those bastards won’t even attack! They just poke at the Valley entrance all day and then run off! What kind of garbage is that? Are we really going to be starved to death here?!"

Three days ago, the old fisherman had suddenly attacked the vultures in the sky, giving them all a full meal. But ever since then, the sky had been bare. Not a single bird dared to loiter above Richan Valley.

Their water supply was still holding out, but their food was in critical condition. Even on half-rations, after Chu Chengfeng and the others arrived, they could only last another five days at most. After five days... the food would be gone.