The Nine Cauldrons

Book 3 Chapter 41 Army of Thousands of Men and Horses

“Don’t listen to the mounted gangsters’ bragging. Everyone, quickly shake them off!” Zhu Chongshi exclaimed.

In an instant, the coachmen whipped their horses, in an attempt to speed them up.

The carts jolted furiously. Fortunately, the crates had already been secured to the carts with ropes. Because the horses were being whipped, all the carts and the chariots quickly picked up speed. This was the only moment they had to escape, and thus no one acted with hesitation. On the other hand, the Black Armored Army followed at the back, preventing the mounted gangsters from catching up to the company.

“There are two thousand mounted gangsters ten Li away?” Du Hong gasped. “Qingshan……”

“It is hard to tell if what the gangster said was true.” Teng Qingshan sighed to himself as he saw the speed of the carts and chariots.

Even if the carts were rushing at full speed, Teng Qingshan could not help but feel frustrated. If it was only the Black Armored Army, they would have left with the wind, but with the carts holding them back, it became more troublesome to escape.

“Haha, you don’t believe? Seems like you won’t give in until you’ve reached the end of the road. I will take my time chasing behind you, and in turn, let you see for yourself if what I said was the truth!” The voice crackled and resounded deeply. To be able to project his voice from so far away, the person was definitely an expert with strong inner strength.

Teng Qingshan turned his head around——-

Truly, the mounted gangsters were slowly following from behind. At the pathetic speed the carts were moving at, it would not be long before the mounted gangsters caught up.

“Seems like there really is an ambush.” Teng Qingshan frowned.

“This spells trouble.” Du Hong was also worried by what was in store for them.

……

“Hmph. I will kill all of you. The greater the number of lesser men that are sacrificed, the better.” The Great Master rode on slowly with his warhorse. He was leading three thousand men from his side, but only one thousand of them were equipped with warhorses. Since their overall speed was slow, since they decided to have two men share one warhorse.

This would allow for the two thousand mounted gangsters to catch up while the remaining one thousand followed behind.

“When our men surround them from both sides, it will be impossible for them to escape!” The Great Master felt increasingly proud of himself.

……

The company escaped with all their lives, but after a short while, all the color faded from their faces.

Rumble~

Strong earth-shaking vibrations came from the front.

“There is really an ambush, and the number of gangsters is quite high!” Zhu Chongshi glanced and saw that in the far distance, there were numerous, densely packed shadows heading towards their direction at rapid speed. Even from so far away, the company could feel the vibrations caused by the moving gangsters, which went to show how high the frightening number of mounted gangsters truly was.

Zhu Chongshi looked to the front before turning around to look at the back.

Behind them, that Great Master was leading on his men and following the company with ease.

“These mounted gangsters from Xuyang County really dare to get involved with the cargo protected by the Black Armored Army.” Zhu Chongshi felt deep regret. This batch of goods was of high importance to him, and he had considered a lot before deciding to enlist the help of the Black Armored Army. From Zhu Chongshi’s viewpoint, weak bands of mounted gangsters were helpless against the prowess of the Black Armored Army.

Even strong bands of mounted gangsters should recognise the Black Armored Army!

They should also understand that if they got involved in the goods escorted by the Black Armored Army, they would face the Army’s wrath and revenge! Zhu Chongshi had thought that the strong mounted gangsters would have reservations and would not dare to get themselves involved.

However……

Zhu Chongshi made a miscalculation!

The mounted gangsters frequently put their lives at risk, so all of them were not afraid to brave any dangers. While there may be strong bands of mounted gangsters who had reservations towards the Black Armored Army and kept out of their way; Xuyang County was one of the two most disorderly counties amongst the thirteen counties in the whole of the Yangzhou. The county also contained the most influential mounted gangsters.

It would not be surprising for there to be one maniacal group of mounted gangsters.

……

“How will the Gui Yuan Sect find out who the killer is once they are annihilated?” The Great Master laughed coldly as he looked on. In the far distance, the carts came to a stop.

They were surrounded by the mounted gangsters from both sides.

The land beside them was all muddy farmland. Once a person stepped inside, he or she would definitely sink into the ground. Regardless if it was a warhorse or a cart, once they enter, it would be very hard for the company to move forward. With thousands of mounted gangsters surging in, there would be no escape for them.

……

“Haha……I am a reasonable guy! So long as you leave your goods and money behind, we will let you off!” The Great Master’s voice resounded in the air.

“Fellow experts, even if we give you the goods, you will not be able to use them.” Zhu Chongshi called out cheerfully. “How about this. Let us leave with our goods, and we will pay you a hundred thousand taels of silver! This way, it would not affect our amiability. Should we start to fight, it will not be worth it to have many casualties. Wouldn’t it be better to be able to get a hundred thousand taels of silver without any unnecessary death?”

From one mounted gangster’s perspective.

“Big brother, his suggestion makes sense. We can ask for more money without making any sacrifices.” One of the mounted gangsters spoke out. The Great Master cast him a glance and reprimanded, “Third brother, is your head filled with sh*t?”

The Great Master immediately called out, “Like I said, leave the goods and all the money, and we will let you live.”

At this moment——

“This must be the sect’s Great Master.” Teng Qingshan coldly spoke out from his Crimson horse. “Stop attempting to bewitch us with your words! Leave our goods and money? I’m afraid that even if we did agree, you will still take the opportunity to catch us unaware and attack us while we are handing over the goods.”

The Great Master’s face paled, since that was indeed his plan.

That was because……

Those who dare to rob the goods and money escorted by the Black Armored Army would not possibly allow any survivors. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if they were to return to seek for revenge.

“Listen up!”

Teng Qingshan spoke coldly on his Crimson horse, “No one has any rights to rob the goods under the protection of the Black Armored Army! You have been blinded to even dare to think of robbing from us! I am the lieutenant of the third battalion of the first division in the Gui Yuan Sect! I’ll say it outright. If you dare to attempt to rob the goods from us, then……your gang will be turned to dust within half a month!”

The Great Master gasped.

Teng Qingshan laughed coldly. “Don’t even think of annihilating us. If I wish to escape, none of you will be able to stop me! If you know what is good for you, then clear the path and let us leave. If not…hmph, once our Black Armored Army comes, we will stamp your gang down.” Each of Teng Qingshan’s words contained a trace of fury.

The voice resounded in mid-air, and the thousands of mounted gangsters could hear them loud and clear.

All of the mounted gangsters started to panick.

Even the Great Master felt unease.

“Brothers, we have always been risking our lives, what are we afraid of? Death is nothing to fear!” The Great Master hollered with a sinister look on his face. “Damn it, what reputation will we have if our five thousand men let such a small number of people go off alive? Let’s just kill them all!”

“Right, we have five thousand strong men, we are not afraid!” All of them started to shout out.

“Damn it, those who dare to retreat are cowards!!!”

The shouts turned the eyes of the mounted gangsters red. The life of a mounted gangster had always been one of savagery and turmoil, and they hated to be called cowards the most. They had five thousand men. What was there to be afraid of?

“Archers, shoot!” The Great Master commanded.

……

The faces of Teng Qingshan and the company paled.

Zhu Chongshi roared, “Protect the chariots!” Immediately, most of the nearby guards each took up a huge square-shaped shield.

Using the shields, they surrounded the chariots to protect them.

“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”……

Dozens of archers stood in a line from both ends, some even stepping into the farmland. The archers from both sides shot a massive volley of arrows, which dropped from the sky like rain. The Black Armored Army put down their visors and lowered their heads the shield themselves from the onslaught.

The were not harmed at all as the arrows fell on them.

On the other hand, it was tougher for Teng Qingshan. He rode to side of the chariots and used the chariots as a shield to block the arrows attacking from behind. Against the arrows coming from the front, Teng Qingshan used his spear to defend himself.

However…… Teng Qingshan would remain unscathed even if the arrows were to fall on him. The arrows probably wouldn’t even be able to pierce through his skin. It was just that Teng Qingshan did not wish to expose his secret in front of thousands of witnesses.

“Kill!” Teng Qingshan commanded.

“Attack!” Both ten-man teams charged once again. Even if they were to face with thousands of enemies, the Black Armored Army wouldn’t even flinch.

“Bang!” “Bang!” “Bang!”……

With a huge bang, a huge, iron-forged weapon with the length of almost half a metre appeared at the frontlines of the mounted gangsters. Its sharp spike was aimed towards the warhorses that were charging in its direction.

“Cheval de frise!” Teng Qingshan’s face paled.

With the large numbers of chevaux de frise, set up in many layers, even if the Black Armored Army was able to charge past the first layer, they would still be stopped by the layers behind, there was no way that they could charge forth since they would only end up getting surrounded and knocked off their steeds. When that happens, everyone would be goners.

“Stop!” Teng Qingshan shouted out.

“Haha……warhorses? With these chevaux de frise, there’s no way you can charge with your warhorses!” The Great Master laughed. “Brothers, kill them!” Immediately, many of the mounted gangsters jumped off their mounts and charged forward. The chevaux de frise would prevent the charging of the warhorses but had little impact on humans.

“Brother Qingshan, what should we do?” Zhu Chongshi panicked at this sight.

He could not accept this!”

What had he been roaming abroad all these years for? He could not accept the fact that the goods were going to be taken away from him.

“Everyone, stay back and protect Ninth Master Zhu.” Teng Qingshan said coldly.

“Yes!” The men from the Black Armored Army replied, but they were all confused. What was Teng Qingshan planning to do?”

“Rumble~”

At this moment, a massive number of mounted gangsters came surging in like waves from both sides.

“Hu!” Teng Qingshan leapt from his warhorse, shooting forward as if he was a sharp arrow. Upon landing on the ground, he took large strides to charge in the direction of the mounted gangsters.

“Haha……challenging our thousands of troops single-handedly? He must think that he is an innate master. Men, kill! Kill him!” The Great Master laughed.

Facing the surging waves of mounted gangsters, Teng Qingshan charged forth alone.

“Attack!” The mounted gangsters waved their weapons fiercely as they charged towards Teng Qingshan.

Teng Qingshan glared at the Great Master coldly, finally moving the spear in his arms.

At the age of ten, even a pack of wild wolves was unable to lay a single finger on Teng Qingshan. How could these mounted gangsters kill Teng Qingshan with his current power?

Spear Art —- Transmutation Unity Law!!

“Bump!” “Bump!” “Bump!”

The mounted gangsters in front of Teng Qingshan were all sent flying. The large number of mounted gangsters were like surging waves while Teng Qingshan was like a battleship thrusting forward through the fierce waves.

Unstoppable!

“Kill him! Quickly, go forth and kill him!” The Great Master was in a big shock. “Steel chains! Use steel chains, bind him up!”

“Boom!”

Teng Qingshan thrust forward, as if he was a porcupine with spears instead of spines all over. Those who were knocked over by him were sent flying with cavities all over their bodies. No one could stop the progression of Teng Qingshan.

“Quick, stop and kill him!” The Great Master had already thought about retreating, while the few elites next to him concurrently started to wave their steel chains about.

“Die!”

Teng Qingshan bellowed and abruptly, like a sudden clap of spring thunder, his speed suddenly increased, and he jumped.

“He jumped?” A few elite mounted gangsters gleamed as they threw out the steel chains in their hands.

“Swish!” “Swish!” “Swish!”

Three flying blades killed four elite mounted gangsters, with one of the blades pierced through two men at the same time. Fear radiated in the four men’s eyes, but, they died in an instant.

Teng Qingshan stepped on the head of a mounted gangster, and charged towards the Great Master as if a sudden gust of strong wind.

“Die.” The Great Master swung his blade towards Teng Qingshan, who was still in the air.

“Hmph!”

Teng Qingshan shook his spear fiercely, and sent more than ten mounted gangsters within two Zhang distance flying, as if it were a wheel of fire. The Great Master himself was also sent flying! At this point, he was still unable to believe what was happening. “I, I am also a Postliminary Realm expert myself. This, this……” The point on his palms between his thumb and forefinger had been torn.

He fell heavily to the group, full of disbelief.

“Hu!” Teng Qingshan moved as if he was a mirage!

Teng Qingshan grabbed the Great Master’s throat single-handedly as he lifted him up.

“Stop!”

Teng Qingshan’s loud bellow resounded in the air as his piercing glare swept across his surroundings. The mounted gangsters were all astonished. Even the Black Armored Army, the guards, as well as Zhu Chongshi and company were all in awe at this scene.

All the mounted gangsters stopped their attacks as they stared blankly at this scene.

Teng Qingshan stared at the Great Master in his hands as he spoke out coldly, “I said before, none of your men would be able to fend me off.”

“Ah, I…” The Great Master wanted to say something, but he was being held by the throat and had trouble speaking properly.

In the history from Teng Qingshan’s past life, in a battle involving thousands of men, there were plenty of examples where the leader was captured.

And today, Teng Qingshan did the same. With his skills with the spear, these mounted gangsters were not even able to stop his movements, but in order to protect Zhu Chongshi and company……

That was why Teng Qingshan decided to first capture the leader of the enemy with lightning-fast speed.

To get rid of the followers, one would have to capture the ringleader first!

“Hmph!” Teng Qingshan tossed the Great Master aside. The Great Master fell back a few steps before regaining his balance.

The Great Master looked at Teng Qingshan in great astonishment. He did not understand……why was there such a huge gap between the two of them? Were all the warriors in Gui Yuan Sect so powerful?

“Lieutenant, lieutenant!” The Great Master gulped and quickly said, “We have overestimated ourselves! I will have my men leave immediately instead of stopping you any further!” He was full of fear for both Teng Qingshan’s skills with his spear, as well as the methods used to kill the four elites in an instant.

“Yes, we’ll retreat, we’ll retreat now.” The second leader and company also stuttered in awe.

“Everyone, clear a path and allow the lieutenant and company to leave!” The Great Master called out.

Immediately the mounted bandits cleared a wide path in the middle of the road.

Temg Qingshan stared coldly at the Great Master. “Oh, getting us to leave just like that? It’s the death penalty to attempt to steal goods that are being transported by the Black Armored Army. You want to treat it as if nothing had happened?”