Chapter 51: Heavenly Lightning Defense The dying cavalryman was actually still trying to attack another enemy! But before he could kill one of the sand bandits, Zeng Feixiong’s blade flashed, cleaving off half of the cavalryman’s skull, causing it to finally crumble to dust.
Faced with such savage foes, the soldiers from Heishui City lost all will to fight and quickly fell back. They were here on an official expedition, not to throw their lives away in a desperate battle.
He Chunhua quickly calculated that even if they managed a victory, it would be a pyrrhic victory. Besides, the cavalry officer still looked as vigorous as ever. It looked as though he could probably take on another twenty or thirty men without breaking a sweat.
Sun Fuping seemed to read his mind and said, “Don’t worry. As long as you wield the power of fate, you can hold out for a long time.”
Zeng Feixiong had led the surviving troops back into the formation. His entire arm had nearly been severed. A deep gash ran along his left arm, yet he barely seemed to notice. At this moment, he lifted his blade and shouted skyward, “Together as one, defend Great Yuan!”
The others all roared in unison, “Together as one, defend Great Yuan!”
Instantly, the beast head blazed with dazzling light.
It was a pale green with a hint of gold, so brilliant that all the wrathful souls nearby recoiled, shielding their faces as if the radiance stung their eyes. Even their mounts grew restless, tossing their heads and stamping their hooves.
This was the state fate imbued in He Chunhua’s Yuan Coin, now unleashed by a state preceptor’s magic!
It was the collective spirit of all the living souls of Qiansong Commandery, fused with the morale of Zeng Feixiong and his soldiers, transforming at once into a mighty force of righteousness!
Had their dozen-odd opponents been ordinary wrathful souls rather than battle-hardened heroic spirits, that light alone would have obliterated them.
Zeng Feixiong, however, turned and barked at Situ Han, “Why aren’t you shouting?”
Situ Han was taken aback. “We, we’re supposed to join in?”
“You’ve been drafted into Heishui City’s army. You’re one of us now, not bandits or outlaws!”
So the conscription was for real? Now that life and death were on the line, Situ Han turned to his men, and they joined the soldiers in shouting the slogan.
With these dozens more voices, a qualitative change followed the quantitative.
The light coming from the beast head suddenly converged, then it threw back its head and let out a roar toward the sky.
An azure orb of light shot from its mouth, and, swelling in the wind, transformed into a massive azure bird over fifteen meters tall, with a regal crest and radiant tail feathers. It was both majestic and beautiful.
The azure hawk circled above the group, then soared into the clouds overhead.
This was the guardian divine beast after which Great Yuan was named.
Of course, the real Azure Kite was still guarding the capital. The one that appeared here was merely a manifestation of destiny.
As it vanished into the clouds, the dense gray sky began to churn. A vortex formed and electric serpents writhed within, and the clouds lit with flashes of blue and purple.
Many wrathful souls still wandered in the air, but at this, they scattered in all directions, like a school of fish fleeing from a great white shark.
A few breaths later, a thick bolt of lightning crashed down from the heavens, striking the center of the talisman array with pinpoint accuracy.
The lightning snaked through the array Sun Fuping had drawn. From above, the entire array now glowed with bright silver light.
All these changes took but a few dozen breaths, though they seemed endless to those within.
Confronted with such a display, even the heroic spirits of the Gale Army finally showed fear, retreating step by step.
In life, they had surely witnessed countless magical feats, but in death, nothing inspired awe quite like the might of heaven.
After all, they were now but ghosts.
The cavalry officer gave a flick of his head, and at once, one of his cavalrymen charged forward.
The horse’s hooves had barely touched the array when a flash of lightning incinerated both rider and mount on the spot.
The cavalry officer, refusing to yield, hurled his spear like a javelin at the array.
The sharp crack of thunder boomed in everyone’s ears as the spear was reduced to nothing before it could even reach within a meter of the array.
This was the Heavenly Lightning Defense that Sun Fuping had summoned with the mandate token. The stronger the fate carried by the token, the greater the array’s power.
The might of an entire commandery was more than enough to face a mere dozen heroic spirits.
“Commandery Administrator He, I leave things here to you.” Sun Fuping patted He Chunhua on the shoulder, then turned and made for the pool.
“Wait!” He Chunhua called out, seeing he meant to slip away. “I’m coming with you!”
“You cannot.” Sun Fuping pointed to the staff planted in the array. “If the mandate token strays more than three hundred meters from its master, it will lose its power. I need every one of you to hold the line here and keep the wrathful souls from following into the pool.”
Only now did everyone realize that the old man had actually been quite busy at work earlier. He had somehow managed to include the entire pool in the Heavenly Lightning Defensive Array. As long as the array held, the wrathful souls would not be able to return to the pool.
State Preceptor Sun wanted to dive in and seize the treasure himself, but he was leaving them out here to guard the door. He Chunhua’s expression darkened. Of course, he had brought so many people precisely for this, but still—
“I’ll look after your son. You and he will be reunited soon, I promise!” Sun Fuping, pressed for time, tossed this hasty reassurance to He Chunhua before jumping into the pool.
With a splash, he vanished too, leaving only the candle burning faintly at the edge of the pool.
Situ Han fumed, “That old man is using us!”
He Chunhua’s expression flickered, and then he called Zeng Feixiong over and said, “Take a few men and go help Chuan’er.”
He Lingchuan had always been a child of fortune, but now he was alone in unknown peril, and Nian Songyu and Sun Fuping’s intentions were yet unclear. As his father, He Chunhua simply could not rest easy.
Zeng Feixiong answered at once, quickly picked five men, and leaped into the pool after the others.
Staring at the pool’s surface, He Chunhua realized that he had been played yet again. Sun Fuping had deliberately left him and the Heishui City troops outside. It was an open scheme meant to keep the Gale Army’s heroic spirits at bay, barring his hundred-odd men from entering the pool. Yet, was there really anything he could do about it?
As he withdrew his gaze, he suddenly started. “Why does it seem like one soul is missing from the Gale Army?”
Situ Han replied, “While you and the state preceptor were talking, one slipped away.”
He Chunhua’s heart sank, but he forced himself to rally the troops. “No matter how powerful the Gale Army was when they were alive, they’re only soul bodies now. They’re rejected by heaven and earth, bound by the limits of divine techniques and spells! As long as we remain calm and resolute, the Heavenly Lightning Defense will be an impenetrable wall!”
A military unit’s morale stemmed from the confidence of its constituents, and to keep the mandate token’s power effective, he had to boost their spirits.
Everyone had witnessed the might of the heavenly lightning, and, reassured, the beast head at the top of the staff began to glow even brighter.
Just then, Situ Han pointed at the horizon and asked, “What’s that?”
Night had fallen, and the lightning and thunder in the clouds had faded. However, in the sky to the west, an eerie red glow flickered.
That light drew closer.
After a short while, He Chunhua finally saw what it was clearly, and his face instantly changed. “It’s reinforcements. That heroic spirit that left must have gone for help.”
What’s with these souls of the Gale Army? They aren’t like the other wrathful souls at all. They don’t seem to have lost their wits. Not only did they manage to figure out how to harm the living, but they even knew how to call for backup. This is trouble. He Chunhua sucked in a sharp breath as a new wave of Gale Army souls approached quickly.
* * *
He Lingchuan was startled as he hit the water.
He tried to swim back up, but his body would not respond. Additionally, a mysterious force was dragging him downward with all its might.
The dark red water was murky and dim. Even with his eyes wide open, he could hardly see anything at all.