Chapter 00128: Layers of Obstacles
# Layers of Obstacles
Chapter 128
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 128: Layers of Obstacles
He wasn’t stupid.
As he fought Wu Shaoyi, he began to piece things together.
It was most likely that dog official He Chunhua who had pulled some strings behind the scenes, inciting Wu Shaoyi and Pei Xinyong to join forces against him.
Wu Shaoyi had old grievances with him, and it didn’t take much to stir up trouble.
The scheme to sow discord had been effortless.
Lu Yao pointed toward the mountainside on the western path. “Chase them! Once we catch up, kill them all—except for that dog official!”
He sneered. “The dog official is mine.”
￥￥￥￥￥
Suddenly, light filled the world.
Sweat dripped down as He Lingchuan rubbed his eyes, only to realize that the first rays of dawn were breaking in the east.
The first light of morning struck the mountain wall and also fell upon him.
He Lingchuan gasped for breath, unable to believe that his group of thirty or so men, relying on a dozen battered carts, had managed to hold out for another hour!
No, it wasn’t thirty anymore.
Only nine remained.
The severely wounded couldn’t move anymore.
The long blade in his hand was still dripping with blood—both from the bandits and from his own soldiers.
As he watched his comrades fall one by one, one soldier had taken advantage of the chaos to slip away, mounting a horse in an attempt to flee.
Zhao Qinghe, seeing this, roared in anger and yanked the man off the horse.
He Lingchuan arrived from behind, not bothering to listen to any excuses, and with a single stroke, beheaded the man!
In a narrow path, the brave prevail.
If you don’t kill deserters, there will be no bravery.
Sure enough, as the head rolled to the ground, the atmosphere on the battlefield shifted.
The soldiers looked at He Lingchuan with a mix of fear and respect.
But he felt neither joy nor sorrow, simply raising his blade to continue the fight.
Lu Yao had finished rallying Wu Shaoyi’s former troops and immediately brought them to pursue the government soldiers, only to be blocked by He Lingchuan and his men halfway up the mountain.
This was a terrain He Lingchuan had carefully calculated.
As long as the cart formation held, no matter how many bandits there were, only the front twenty or thirty could effectively attack.
The rest would be stuck behind.
Because of this, the bandits’ assault reached an unprecedented level of ferocity.
The carts couldn’t be moved, so the bandits tried to hack them apart.
After all, there were plenty of strongmen in their ranks.
Little did they know that the He family’s possessions were all about understated luxury and quality.
This was reflected in the carts, which were made of exceptionally sturdy materials.
The base was crafted from old rosewood from the Blade Mountain, soaked in medicinal liquid and then polished through over a dozen processes.
Ordinary blades would only chip slightly upon striking, and pulling them back out was often difficult.
These carts could even withstand wildfires.
After all, they were originally meant to carry the He family’s vast wealth across hundreds of miles.
They had to be durable.
Even if the horses pulling them collapsed from exhaustion, the carts themselves would remain unscathed.
The bandits hacking at these carts were nearly brought to tears.
Moreover, He Lingchuan and his men weren’t pushovers.
They wouldn’t let the bandits chop away freely.
So the bandits had to wield both axes and shields, using the shields to block the hail of arrows and spears coming from the gaps in the carts, only occasionally finding a chance to swing their axes.
There were clever ones among them too.
Seeing how fiercely the government soldiers were resisting, they simply went through the motions, swinging their axes half-heartedly, not daring to actually chop.
As a result, their efficiency was abysmal.
Lu Yao, growing impatient, reprimanded a few of his men before grabbing a giant axe and joining the fray himself.
His strength was immense, and he hacked through the carts much faster than his subordinates.
But wielding such a heavy axe left him vulnerable.
In truth, he had protective qi and wasn’t afraid of facing Wu Shaoyi.
But when it came to the government soldiers’ spears, he was deeply wary.
The reason was simple: these soldiers were imbued with primordial energy!
Primordial energy was specifically designed to break through an opponent’s true energy and divine powers, unless the opponent also possessed primordial energy to counter it.
Lu Yao was furious.
If the Saint Master were still here, they too could wield primordial energy.
These toy-like obstacles and weakling soldiers wouldn’t stand a chance against him!
As his rage grew, so did his attack power.
When the first cart formation was nearly destroyed, He Lingchuan quickly ordered, “Fall back to the second formation!”
Yes, he had taken inspiration from the battles in his dreams.
While Lu Yao was busy subduing the remnants of Wu’s forces, He Lingchuan had prepared the second and third cart formations.
They could easily climb over the carts, but when the bandits finally broke through the first formation and Lu Yao pushed aside the wreckage to charge forward, he was stunned:
There was another formation!
This happened again and again.
He Lingchuan commanded with authority, and the soldiers looked to him as their leader.
He personally joined the fight, constantly boosting morale, and the cart formations significantly reduced their pressure… This was how they had barely held on until now.
Of course, the soldier’s head he had personally severed had also crushed any thoughts of desertion.
Rewards and punishments must go hand in hand to win hearts.
But as dawn broke, even the third cart formation was on the verge of collapse.
With limited resources, the soldiers had used villagers’ ox carts and horse carts for the third formation.
These were of much lower quality than the He family’s carts, far less durable.
Some of the cart bodies were made of thin planks, shoddily constructed and blatantly cutting corners.
A single spear thrust from the bandits could pierce through, nearly opening a bloody hole in Maotao’s arm.
He recoiled in fear, shouting to He Lingchuan, “Young Master, we can’t hold on!”
Zeng Feixiong had clearly instructed him and Zhao Qinghe to lead the battle, but somehow, command had long since shifted to He Lingchuan.
Under Lu Yao’s command, the short and agile bandits climbed over like wild monkeys, engaging in close combat.
Corpses littered the ground—both bandits and soldiers.
As the battle raged on, it fell into a rhythm familiar to He Lingchuan.
From behind the carts, Lu Yao’s bloodshot eyes locked onto him. “You’d better run fast! Once I catch you, I’ll cut off your head and your father’s to use as wine cups!”
He Lingchuan touched his head, then glanced at the red sun rising over the eastern mountaintop.
He sighed. “Mount up! Retreat!”
Unlike in his dreams, this time he didn’t plan to fight to the last breath.
Dreams were dreams, and reality was reality.
In dreams, one could be heroic and unyielding.
In reality, death was final.
Finally, the order to retreat! The soldiers let out a collective sigh of relief, nearly shedding tears of gratitude as they scrambled onto their horses.
The group’s mage ran up the path about fifteen feet, crouched down, and placed his hands on the ground, beginning to chant.
Under Zhao Qinghe’s direction, all the soldiers’ primordial energy was transferred to him.
The mage’s aura instantly intensified.
Then, the ground beneath his hands began to freeze, spreading downward.
Yes, even as He Lingchuan prepared to retreat, he intended to leave one last obstacle for his enemies.
“Hurry, hurry!” He Lingchuan urged. “We’re by the lake—the moisture should make it faster!”
As the cart formation was about to break, the sweat on his back poured even more freely.
“My true energy is limited. This is as far as I can go…” the mage gritted his teeth.
His spells were meant for killing, not paving roads!
True energy limited? He Lingchuan was struck by inspiration.
He quickly pulled something from his pocket and shoved it into the mage’s mouth. “Can you use this?”
It was a dark green profound crystal.
In critical moments, Young Master He always had something up his sleeve.
(End of Chapter)