Dragon Canon

[1]

Watching the two sides battling in the distance, Wei Yuan fell deep into thought.

The timing was right, the location was right, and the fluttering banner of the State of Zhao confirmed that they had the right target—but what was the story behind these two groups fighting each other? One side even looked like horse bandits and fought like horse bandits, but he was sure they weren’t horse bandits.

Wei Yuan had a keen eye. Since when were horse bandits armed exclusively with standard-issue military weapons and equipped with identical, standard-issue warhorses? There might be a slight possibility for the weapons and armor—for instance, Wei Yuan himself was currently clad in standard-issue armor—but the warhorses? That was just impossible.

His own meager cavalry force of three hundred rode a motley collection of warhorses, with every breed and color imaginable. It was clear at first glance they were a mixed bag. The warhorses ridden by those horse bandits, though, were all of the same breed and roughly equivalent in quality—a capability only a country or a great noble clan possessed.

What did it mean that a fake bandit group had beaten him to his target? Was this part of the test, or was someone trying to steal his opportunity?

It took Wei Yuan only a bit of thinking to dismiss the latter possibility. Who would covet the meager resources of the consort kins if they could amass thousands of standard-issue military steeds? Unless they were as penniless as Wei Yuan, who would go clinging to the consort kins’ skinny thigh?

Hell, in the Western Jin court, the consort kins’ thigh was barely thicker than the Qingliu’s leg hair.

The more Wei Yuan thought about it, the greater his headache became. So, he turned to Cui Yu and asked him, “When your clan holds trials and tests, or when a family tries to prove their mettle to the clan or whatever, what do you usually do?”

Cui Yu was a bit puzzled as to why Wei Yuan would ask this question, but he answered, “It’s simple. The best way to prove yourself is to have all your opponents come at you at once, then beat them all to the ground.”

Wei Yuan understood.

He put on his mask, gripped his spear, and yelled, “The enemies aren’t many[2]. Try to take them alive if possible, but if someone truly is beyond redemption, do not hesitate to give them a miserable death! If you run into any experts, remember to head my way. That’s all. Ready? Charge!”

[3]

The three hundred cavalrymen, all clad in black armor and wielding long spears, radiating a brilliant light as their aura surged. Over time, their aura actually condensed into an army aura so potent that it would normally require an elite troop of ten thousand to create!

This time, Wei Yuan did not spare any expense. He granted every cavalryman a wisp of fortune, and the fifty core members three. At the same time, the Great Realm materialized before them, and Outlawed by Heaven and Earth was activated. Under the dual blessing, each cavalrymen grew twice as large as they charged viciously into the battlefield like tigers!

The momentum of three hundred Dao Foundation-stage cultivators charging together were scary to put it mildly. A pillar of blue qi rose straight into the heavens, piercing into the clouds!

In an instant, countless elites on the battlefield felt their hearts skip a beat and turned their gaze in that direction.

Inside the carriage, the young woman’s eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the pillar of blue qi, exclaiming, “Is that army aura? Three hundred men can generate such an army aura? It’s almost on par with Father’s Royal Guard Hawk Cavalry, isn’t it?”

The old man, his eyes still half-lidded, replied vaguely, “It’s not bad, but it still falls short of the Royal Guard Hawk Cavalry. Everyone in that unit was handpicked by your father himself from the battlefield—men who had fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood[4]. There aren’t any greenhorns among them[5].”

The young woman hummed in acknowledgement, but her gaze was fixed intently on the scene.

Three hundred cavalrymen, yet their charge resembled that of a ten-thousand-strong army! The two forces, still locked in fierce combat, were so surprised by the sudden appearance of the charging cavalry that they instinctively slowed their movements.

Sitting steadily atop his blue steed, Wei Yuan calmly pointed a finger toward the two forces and materialized a jade hill in the air. It crashed toward the center of the battlefield and sent thousands of soldiers screaming and scattering in all directions.

The jade hill suddenly disappeared when it was one zhang away from the ground. Wei Yuan didn’t actually want to crush these ordinary soldiers to death after all. However, the jade hill’s descent was so overwhelming that the resulting gale still blew hundreds of people in the vicinity off their feet and knocked over just as many horses. With this, a path for the charge was cleared.

There was no need for Wei Yuan to issue an order. The three hundred cavalrymen automatically divided into ten squads The first squad of thirty cavalrymen charged through the enemy ranks like thirty galloping war elephants. Every rider raised their spears in unison and slashed downward with all their might, unleashing a streak of spear qi that was over ten zhang long and crushing everyone in its range!

Any veteran with even a bit of keen eye felt chilled to their core—they were all Dao Foundation stage cultivators!

The old man in the carriage widened his eyes slightly.

No sooner had the first squad of cavalrymen broken through than the second squad of thirty followed ho on their heels. Once again, thirty spear beams mowed down a swath of soldiers, making no distinction between friend and foe.

Another thirty Dao Foundation-stage cultivators!

The young woman’s eyes were wide with shock at this point. She had balled her hands into fists instinctively, afraid to miss even the slightest detail.

In the blink of an eye, the third and fourth squad of cavalrymen punched through the military formation. Sixty spear beams swept across the field, and over one thousand men were lying motionless on the ground.

The old man in the carriage coughed once and slowly sat up.

The fifth squad of cavalrymen charged in right after. Their formations were spreading wider and wider, and so was the breach they were tearing open. In the blink of an eye, the gap had grown so big that it spanned more than half the battlefield—you couldn’t even call it a gap anymore.

Just then, a flash of saber suddenly flashed among the horse bandits, sweeping away seven spear beams in a single stroke!

A young man wearing a lazy smile stepped forward, saber in hand, and said, “I knew there would be a twist. Good thing I was cautious and came over to take a look. You’re all quite good, it’s just a pity you ran into m—”

Before he could finish, a figure suddenly appeared in front of him.

She was a girl wearing a mask and holding an unusually long saber. Although her face was hidden, her long hair was flowing freely behind her back, and her exposed neck and hands looked as fair and delicate as snow. One could only imagine that the face beneath the mask was equally beautiful.

The young man smiled even more brightly and said, “You use a saber too? That’s perfect—I can teach you a thing or two. My name is Wang Ziyan[6]—”

The girl had no intention of speaking with him, though. With a flick of her wrist, a slender, gentle beam of saber shot toward him.

Wang Ziyan let out a long laugh and declared, “The saber is the sovereign of all weapons. This is how it should be used!”

Holding the saber with both hands, his aura surged suddenly as he swung down with seemingly enough ferocity to cleave mountains and splitting peaks!

In that instant, even if a mountain or an ocean were standing before him, he could have cleaved it in two with a single stroke!

When the tyrannical saber beam and the slender, gentle saber beam clashed, they produced an ungodly roar that seemed capable of punching holes in heaven and earth; as if two mountain giants were swinging iron hammers with all their might and striking them together!

Wang Ziyan felt as though he’d been struck by the colossal hand of an ancient expert. His entire body shook violently, and his arms instantly went numb. His massive treasure saber in particular soared several hundred zhang into the air in a single breath, before suddenly exploding into countless shards.

For a moment, Wang Ziyan’s mind was completely blank.

The girl did not press her advantage. Instead, she paused for a moment to think before pulling out a flattened bag of snacks from her shirt and tossing it before Wang Ziyan, asking, “How many days has it been since you last ate? Why don’t you have a bite before we continue?”

Wang Ziyan didn’t know whether he was weeping or bleeding inside. When he saw the girl raising her long saber once more, he cried out in bitter defeat, “I surrender!”

The girl pondered again before saying, “I don’t know if we take prisoners. Just lie down for now!”

Before Wang Ziyan could protest, he felt a heavy, heavy blow to his back. The girl had struck him with the flat of her blade and knocked him to the ground. She then stomped on his back and drove him deep into the earth before sweeping the loose soil back into place with a flick of her blade.

The force of her stomp was such that it sent shockwaves through Wang Ziyan’s sea of consciousness, shook his primordial spirit, and cracked every bone in his body. Naturally, he was completely immobilized. He could only watch helplessly as he was buried alive. Fortunately for him, his Dao Foundation was still intact; being buried for a day or two wouldn’t kill him.

1. Mencius 6A:4. ☜

2. Dude is so desensitized by the insane numbers the Shamans throw at him that being outnumbered 10 to 1 is just another Tuesday. ☜

3. How the movie 300 should’ve gone. ☜

4. What a coincidence! So are Wei Yuan’s men! ☜

5. What a coincidence! So are Wei Yuan’s men and women! ☜

6. Refer to chapter 172. ☜