Chapter 00264: Encountering the Old Rival Again
# Encountering the Old Rival Again
Chapter 264
Novel: After the Immortals Disappeared
Chapter 264: Encountering the Old Rival Again
The opposing side hurled dirty insults, but He Lingchuan merely raised his middle finger at him, knowing that his successful strike was partially due to Mao Tao’s arrow distracting the opponent.
But when in a brawl, who would care about sneak attacks or one-on-one fights? Everyone who can fight should join in, and no opportunity should be missed.
He felt no shame in his victory.
Behind him, Shan Youjun was blocked by He Lingchuan's view, and he did not see how the East Family master was chopping down the enemy.
He attributed it to the extraordinary sharpness of the Floating Life Blade.
Of course, he was right about six out of ten.
Only He Lingchuan knew that the "Brokering Commander" trait of the Floating Life Blade had actually been triggered!
This trait could ignore the opponent's elemental power and divine abilities, directly inflicting real damage without mitigation, but the chances of it occurring were pitifully low.
Pitifully low meant that He Lingchuan could wield the blade hundreds of times without triggering the effect a few times.
This time, he had genuinely hit the jackpot—only one strike had provoked this ability.
It served that Lord Baili was out of luck; the intense fluctuations of elemental power around him had become mere decoration.
Just from the faint glow on him, He Lingchuan could tell that this person’s military rank was not low.
The first real battle debut of the re-forged Floating Life Blade would be marked by the blood of an enemy general!
He Lingchuan also had strong suspicions that this was a trial run of its unique ability.
At this moment, He Chunhua’s military order finally echoed in waves, with shouts resounding everywhere, “The Xunzhou army has only a hundred riders!”
The grain transport team vastly outnumbered this, what were they afraid of?
The generals of the Xia Prefecture were finally rounding up their troops and preparing to counterattack.
After all, the grain transport team occupied an advantage in numbers, while the Xunzhou army had already infiltrated the enemy camp, with insufficient depth in their assault, and the momentum of that initial powerful charge had not met expectations.
Soon, they would bear the consequences of declining morale.
At this time, the elemental colors on the Xia Prefecture army gradually darkened, changing from light green to deep green.
This too signified that their morale was continuously building and rising.
He Lingchuan’s own guard had already gathered, led by Shan Youjun and Jiao Tai, following closely behind the East Family master as they surged forward.
Having accompanied He Lingchuan in exorcising demons day and night, they exceeded the Xia Prefecture army in ambush and joint attacks, making their presence valuable now.
Once the tide of offense and defense changed, this Xunzhou surprise troop might find themselves end up in a tight spot.
Both sides were well aware of this, which was why the general who had lost his right arm, despite blood streaming down his shoulder and his face turning pale, still directed his subordinates to attack He Chunhua with all their might.
He had been helped off his horse but was still struggling to stay conscious, while his personal guards were anxiously trying to staunch the bleeding.
To catch a thief, first catch the leader.
Lord Baili understood clearly: today, encountering an ironclad defense during the surprise attack had to be blamed on the fact that the highest-ranking commander of the grain transport team was still alive!
The Xunzhou troops had not anticipated that the commander of the grain transport team would not attend the banquet.
They had only cut off the snake’s tail, failing to strike the head.
He Chunhua had not expected that his intention to secretly visit and understand the people's situation would allow him to escape disaster.
Otherwise, it would have been him dead in the tavern.
Both sides were engaged in fierce confrontation.
The enemy wanted him dead, and how could He Chunhua not want their lives? With a wave of his hand, he casually issued a bounty: “Kill the enemy general, a reward of one hundred taels!”
In response to the Northern Line war, the Xia Prefecture had newly issued a conscription order, significantly increasing the soldiers' pay.
Yet, a low-level soldier who put their life on the line might earn only twenty silver coins a year— a salary already considered undisputedly high in that area.
A hundred taels of gold equated to fifty years’ worth of income for these soldiers!
With such rich rewards, surely there would be martial men; moreover, the tide of their own side had already turned.
To the soldiers of the Xia Prefecture, the severely injured enemy general suddenly appeared as a shining bar of gold.
He Lingchuan let out a soft hiss because the deep green light surrounding the Xia Prefecture army suddenly shifted to deep blue, even slightly yellowing.
In contrast, the not-so-wealthy Lord Baili seemed a bit at a disadvantage.
Fortunately, at this moment, a monkey chewing an apple appeared on the cart at the back of the Xia Prefecture army.
This brown-skinned monkey wore a thorny collar around its neck and was bulkier than usual.
It did not seem unusual, but the rock wolf beside He Lingchuan suddenly turned its head and began barking wildly at it.
Lu Xin’s anomaly instantly raised He Lingchuan’s vigilance, and he looked over.
To him, monkeys all seemed almost alike, and this one was certainly not as round and silly as his family’s medicinal ape, Lingguang, but the thorny collar on its neck was indeed somewhat familiar.
Where had he seen it before?
It was a bit far away; if he could zoom in two more sizes to see…
What? Zoom in?
He Lingchuan’s pupils constricted suddenly, and without hesitation, he bellowed at He Chunhua: “Be careful of the ghost ape, it’s behind you!”
Before he could finish his words, the monkey rapidly expanded, morphing from a creature less than half a human height into a gigantic ape over a zhang tall, with bulging muscles!
With a mournful neigh from the horse, the two thousand plus pounds of weight instantly crushed the cart beneath it.
This creature was none other than the old acquaintance, no, the old monkey of the He father and son, a formidable enemy that even the luck-endowed General of Chariots and Cavalry, Ke Jihai, had difficulty defeating—the number one enforcer under the Demon Puppet Master, Dong Rui—the Ghost Ape.
The last time He Lingchuan and Ke Jihai had teamed up to injure it—though the term “team up” meant that He Lingchuan had used the Walnut Boat to suppress the beast—afterwards, the Demon Puppet Master had taken it away, and it had since vanished like a stone sinking into the sea, with no trace despite the official search efforts.
As soon as the Ghost Ape transformed, it casually grabbed nearby heavy objects—carts, horses, supplies, or even uprooted wooden fences, hurling everything directly toward He Chunhua!
This was its innate divine skill: each object was heavy and powerful, each projectile moved with force, and their accuracy was terrifyingly good, requiring no practice whatsoever.
He Chunhua was protected in the center, surrounded by many like stars encircling the moon, and the flickering light beside him was likely due to someone activating a magic formation to prevent him from being harmed by stray arrows.
The Ghost Ape was about seven zhang (twenty meters) away, and most of the objects thrown traveled in parabolas, falling from a height and adding momentum, hitting the ground with a continuous series of thuds, shaking even the earth several zhang away.
It even hurled several fully loaded grain carts; the grain bags burst open in midair, dust flying like a snowfall.
Dozens of people gathered around He Chunhua could not escape; they were instantly buried under a heap of debris.
Glancing over, He Lingchuan saw someone struck down by the thrown horses, with only their legs writhing outside.
The scene descended into chaos, with the Xia Prefecture soldiers frightened and instinctively retreating, none wanting to incite the heavy-throwing demon ape.
This caused their formation to collapse, and the Xunzhou army was overjoyed, with Lord Baili rallying his troops to charge at the grain transport team.
This fleeting opportunity, who didn’t know?
He Lingchuan felt a chilling numbness on his scalp, but this was not the time for panic.
He instructed the rock wolf, “Go find Dong Rui and tear him apart!” and then spurred his horse toward He Chunhua’s position.
At this moment, a rain of arrows showered down from the Xia Prefecture army, pelting toward the Ghost Ape.
Everyone was afraid to get close, but a few long-range attacks would not be a problem.
The Ghost Ape was utterly unconcerned; its body bore natural bone armor, and ordinary arrows would snap upon impact.
It only needed to protect its eyes.
What puzzled the Xia Prefecture soldiers was that the arrows they shot were infused with elemental power, providing an additional armor-piercing bonus against monsters.
So why did they seem to be ineffective against this giant ape?
Taking advantage of the crowd's fear, the Ghost Ape skipped its signature chest-beating move and jumped twice, landing right in the middle of the arena, its iron fists raised high, ready to smash down on the pile of rubble.
Regardless of whether He Chunhua lived or died, it decided to deliver a finishing blow first.
With its muscle-bound body, no one would doubt the strength behind those fists.
Even if the people under the rubble were not dead, being struck a few times would surely turn them into a meat paste.
Just then, something moved beneath the rubble, and suddenly, a cart flew up, smashing hard against the giant ape’s face, splintering into pieces.
Clearly, something below had sent the cart flying, stunning the giant ape.
After the cart was flung away, He Lingchuan focused his gaze, and to his surprise, there was a thin light curtain covering a few people in the middle.
There was He Chunhua, two of his closest guards, and several disciples from the Cloud-Soaring Pavilion.
Right, and Elder Liang from the Cloud-Soaring Pavilion!
Taking advantage of the Ghost Ape’s moment of confusion, he leapt high and struck the Ghost Ape’s brow!
Although there were some small gaps on both sides, He Lingchuan couldn’t help but let out a cheer.
Elder Liang’s strike was indeed a stroke of genius, the key move that turned the tide!
However, his face quickly fell, for the Ghost Ape shook its head as if regaining its senses and angrily roared at Elder Liang and He Chunhua, bringing down a powerful palm!
So Elder Liang was just dusting its face?
Why did he not use a weapon?
Elder Liang looked somewhat surprised, as if he had underestimated the Ghost Ape’s audacity.
However, He Lingchuan also noticed that where Elder Liang had struck, which was the center of the Ghost Ape’s forehead, a red character lit up.
In comparison to the giant ape’s size, this character appeared excessively small.
Fortunately, with He Lingchuan's sharp eyesight, able to shoot arrows and throw knives at 5.2 vision, he finally made out that it was the character “Stagnate”!
Moreover, it was inscribed in ancient immortal script, its red glow flowing like mercury.
Once this character lit up, the movements of the Ghost Ape slowed by two beats, and that fierce downward strike looked as if it were in slow motion.
Its furious roars continued, and its muscles bulged even more, but its speed did not increase.
The red character on its forehead emitted a stronger light, clearly struggling to bind the creature.
He Lingchuan suddenly recalled the word magic used by the “celestial” who possessed the young pine jade in the Panlong Mirage.
Both had a commonality; they could use linguistic arts to affect enemies.
However, Elder Liang’s word magic seemed to have imposed no great burden on himself.
At least he was still quick to pull He Chunhua away from the ghostly ape’s attack range.
He Chunhua appeared unharmed, evidently having benefited from He Lingchuan’s timely warning.
Elder Liang had activated the protective barrier for him.
Adjusting his skewed hat, he shouted sternly, “What’s the panic! Others, go claim the bounty, Elder Liang, you hold the Ghost Ape down and kill it!”
(End of Chapter)