The years when I explored the fairyland.

Chapter 121: 118: The War Begins (Two in One)

It's the day,

early morning.

The sky was covered with dark clouds, with faint flashes of thunder and roars, accompanied by continuous drizzle, wetting the entire sky and earth.

The fresh rain in early spring should herald the end of winter and the arrival of spring, when all things revive.

But on this day, there was also a biting cold wind and a chilling atmosphere, as if heaven and earth knew that there would be a great battle today and countless people would lose their lives.

Anyue City, outside the south of the city, in the mountains and forests.

Zhou Wu was still wearing the purple Taoist robe, with an upright figure and an imposing manner like a mountain.

Behind him, a dense crowd of hands continued to gather.

Some of them were dressed in black with hoods covering their faces; some were wearing armor and holding sharp weapons and shields; some were dressed like pure bandits and looked very powerful; and there were also well-dressed warriors driving various horse-drawn carriages.

The chaos and confusion of Wenxiang Temple are fully reflected in the clothes of these people.

However, they all had a red scarf tied on their arms, which was extremely conspicuous. Almost everyone had one, except Zhou Wu.

This is how they identify themselves, simple and practical.

Outside the forest, on the flat open ground, disciples of the Yunya Sword Sect, dressed in uniform, were entering in an orderly manner.

They wore green shirts and white scarves, held long swords in their hands, stood in a line with their chests folded.

They were much more orderly. The Yunya Sword School had a tradition of sword dancing in the early morning, and this formation was the norm.

They chose this vacant land to make use of their strengths.

Thousands of swordsmen stood in neat rows here, and the oppressive feeling was indeed incomparable to that of Wenxiang Temple.

Standing in front of these swordsmen was naturally the head of the Yunya Sword Sect, old man Yun Lie.

He was still wearing a long red robe, with a bald head and a long beard. He did not look like an old man, and his aura was even more outstanding.

The difference is that he also held a long sword today. It looked plain on the outside, but a red light seemed to shine through the simple scabbard.

He and Zhou Wu stared at each other across a hundred feet, both silent, yet filled with murderous intent.

Surrounding him were several people with the highest power in the Yunya Sword Sect, including the sect's grand elder, inner sect elders, true disciples, and the masters of each hall.

These people are all innate warriors with great reputations, so needless to say.

What really caught people's attention was the old men who walked out of the sedan chairs and gathered together on the other side.

Some of them use crutches; some have hunched backs; some have almost lost all their teeth; some have age spots all over their faces.
But they all held swords, looked around, with different postures, but their expressions were arrogant and domineering.

In fact, few people dared to look them in the eye, simply because the innate true energy surging through their bodies was not fake at all.

The Yunya Sword Sect invited a total of six such elders.

Everyone knows that after this battle, even if these old men did not die in battle, they would be exhausted to death. But anyone who sees these six people will be scared!
This is the foundation of the Yunya Sword School. The six old men look half dead, but they are six innate warriors.

Originally, Wenxiang Temple gathered everyone's strength, and the innate warriors had one more person than the Yunya Sword Sect.

But now, with one positive and one negative, there are five fewer people, and they are not afraid of life or death.

When these old guys appeared, they even caused a commotion at Wenxiang Temple.

Even the innate warriors, such as Cao Bao, the King of Divine Hammer, Zhongli Linghui, the innate worshipper, Zuoqiu Tong of the Tiger Demon Pavilion and others, could not help but frown.

Zhou Wu seemed to be able to sense their restlessness. He turned around, and swept his calm gaze over everyone, and then said: "If you believe in me, then follow the plan. In this battle, victory will only belong to us."

His words seemed to have a strange magic that could convince everyone.

After calming down his restlessness, he turned around again, narrowed his eyes slightly, and raised his head slightly.

His sight had already shifted away from the Yunya Sword Sect, and he was looking further away. It seemed that he had already crossed Anyue City, and reached the endless palaces and towers on the Yunya Mountain.

No matter what, the Yunya Sword Sect must be destroyed today.

What Zhou Wu said, no one can stop it!

……

This "life and death competition" was indeed different from ordinary life and death competitions. It took more than an hour just for both sides to enter the competition.

Thousands of warriors, dozens of innate warriors confronting each other, the pervasive aura alone was enough to make the gloomy weather even gloomier.

Even King Gongye, who was acting as a notary, was shocked by the lineup put forward by the Yunya Sword Sect and Wenxiang Temple.

The two sides have really reached the point of a fight to the death.

Seeing that fewer and fewer people were following, he waited for a moment. When he was sure that no new people would join, he muttered something, and the sound reached the ears of old man Yun Lie and Zhou Wu.

At the junction of the mountains and plains, King Gongye stood with his hands behind his back, waiting quietly.

But in a moment, old man Yun Lie and Zhou Wu turned into a gust of wind and arrived. The three parties met here.

Prince Gongye turned his gaze slightly and looked at old man Yun Lie, and asked: "Master Yun, is your Yunya Sword Sect ready?"

"Of course it's fine!"

"Master Zhou, what about you?"

"Everything is OK!"

"In that case, then sign it!"

As he spoke, he waved his hand and a scroll unfolded. The exquisite true energy controlled the scroll to spin in the air, allowing everyone to see clearly the three big words at the beginning - Life and Death Warrant!

Yes, in the ring, life and death are determined by fate, and no one can retaliate afterwards.

At the end, a series of names were recorded, all of whom were participants in this life-and-death competition.

Old Man Yun Lie and Zhou Wu knew of this step, so they didn't waste any words. They stretched out their hands and blood gushed out from their fingertips, and they each wrote in the air.

Finally, the bloody words were printed on the scroll, scarlet and eye-catching.

King Gongye waved his hand again, and the scroll rolled up again and returned to his hand. He looked around and asked, "Do you two have anything else to say?"

"Talk is useless!"

"The winner is a king, the loser is a bandit!"

"In that case, you two go ahead and wait for my order to start the battle!"

"it is good!"

"I'm OK."

Two more strong winds arose from the ground, and Zhou Wu and old man Yun Lie disappeared from their original places, while the elegant middle-aged man walked forward step by step.

His innate martial spirit surged throughout his body, his true energy poured out like mercury, and he actually walked up to the sky step by step.

This was not the 'light and agile leap' that should be associated with Qinggong, but it was really stepping on the void, rising step by step up to the sky until it reached the center of the battlefield.

He lowered his head slightly, exhaled and said: "The arena is set, life and death are determined, the martial arts battle will not stop until one dies!"

"This competition starts from now on!"

The mighty voice echoed between heaven and earth. With just one order, the atmosphere suddenly became ten times more tense.

But the stalemate between the two sides seemed to have started at some point, and it became unusually quiet and tense.

This silent and tense atmosphere lasted for a full cup of tea. It seemed that even the dark clouds in the sky felt bored and started to roar and explode with thunder.

Along with the thunder came the roar of old man Yun Lie: "Fire!"

Boo hoo hoo hoo hoo…

In an instant, the arrows breaking through the air were like rising dark clouds. Countless black shadows, with a shrill sound of breaking through the air, drew graceful arcs and fell into the woods.

The disciples of the Yunya Sword Sect were seen spreading out to both sides, revealing a number of sophisticated crossbow carts.

These crossbow carts can fire forty-nine arrows at a time, with a range of up to two hundred feet, and are powerful enough to pierce metal, stone, and trees.

At a glance, the Yunya Sword Sect had prepared dozens of them, with round quivers placed next to them for rotation.

With just one volley, thousands of arrows fly into the air. Although the accuracy is limited, is accuracy still important at this density?
Of course, this weapon does have its shortcomings. One is that it is too heavy and inconvenient to move.

This thing has too much recoil and cannot be placed on a carriage. It has to be firmly rammed into the ground before it can be used.

Another problem is that it is not easy to string the bow. Under normal circumstances, it has to be pulled by a cow. Moreover, it cannot be used repeatedly, otherwise the bowstring will easily break.

But no one knows how long the Yunya Sword Sect had been planning, but they actually installed a number of crossbars on the crossbow, and stood on each side, four people in front and back, a total of sixteen warriors, who shouted loudly and lifted up this thing weighing tens of thousands of pounds.

They continued to move forward amid the sounds of "Hey Yo Hey Yo". After walking about several feet forward, they stopped and chiseled the cornerstone again.

The arrow holes were replaced as a whole, and then the four Tongmai great martial artists used up all their internal strength to draw the bowstring, and finally shot it out with a "bang".

This happened repeatedly, with rain of arrows rising into the sky, getting farther and farther away, like mercury pouring on the ground, penetrating every hole, and even denser than raindrops.

In the sky, King Gongye sat cross-legged, the true energy in his body circulated like a ball, maintaining a floating state.

This is the hallmark ability of a quasi-grandmaster. When the true Qi is strong enough, one can fly in the air.

However, even he was frightened by the rain of arrows, and almost instinctively jumped up a distance.

This kind of crossbow cart is not something that should be used in martial arts fights. It is clearly a powerful weapon that can only be used when two armies are fighting each other.

The Wenxiang Temple suffered a loss. It would have been fine if they were just masters, as they either waved their weapons to block or used their Qi to protect their bodies. They were fearless.

But when the meridians are unblocked, even a martial artist who practices internal martial arts may be shot into a hedgehog by the rain of arrows if he fails to protect himself properly, and his screams of agony will be heard everywhere.

Only Zhou Wu remained expressionless, and even had a hint of sarcasm on his face.

He raised his hand slightly and waved it backwards, as if giving an order.

So, everyone who heard the fragrance retreated quickly, with the disciples of the Husha Pavilion, wearing armor and holding sharp weapons and shields, standing behind to block, while the others quickly escaped from the range of the rain of arrows.

However, although the venue of this life and death arena is extremely large and wide, and cannot be compared with ordinary arenas, it is also limited in area.

Given the Yunya Sword School's shooting skills and the large number of arrows, they could escape for a while but could not hide forever.

But Zhou Wu never thought of escaping!
At the back of the battlefield, at the edge of the arena, several trees were suddenly broken, boulders were moved away, and the camouflaged grass was lifted up, revealing a dark gun barrel.

A black bullet the size of a human head was stuffed into the barrel, and the torch ignited the fuse.

boom!
With a loud bang, the earth shook violently, pushing the cannonball out.

But this time the angle was wrong and it flew too far, landing behind the Yunya Sword Sect, creating a huge dent. It bounced a few times on the ground before hitting the city wall and stopping.

But this incident also made many people from the Yunya Sword Sect stunned on the spot.

This is artillery!

Artillery!!!
But this was just a test of the gun, and the position was adjusted. A professional observer immediately shouted loudly: "Move the muzzle down, adjust two degrees, calibrate, calibrate..."

"Salvo, salvo!"

Boom boom boom boom!
This time, it was not just one cannon, but a row of twenty cannons firing at the same time.

Moreover, the shells are not just ordinary solid shells, but also many shrapnel shells.

After landing, it will explode directly, and the caltrops inside will shoot out in all directions with amazing power.

That’s not all. Wenxiang Temple has more than twenty cannons. After a round of salvos, someone has to clean the barrels and cool them down. It will take some time to use them again.

But in the rear, another twenty artillery pieces were ready, ignited, and fired.

Behind them, there are twenty more artillery pieces ready to go...

With up to sixty artillery pieces, using three-stage firing, they can just complete a round of complementary fire, almost without stopping, firing round after round...

On the Yunya Sword Sect's side, the formation had already been disrupted. In some places, where the solid bullets bounced past, the path was crushed into a bloody path.

In some places, the explosives shattered and under the shock wave, countless caltrops scattered everywhere. If you were not defeated, you would become a hedgehog.

That way of dying was not much better than a rain of arrows.

Of course, Wenxiang Temple is not without any way to deal with it.

For example, if you are a congenital swordsman, you can rely on your keen perception to lock onto the trajectory of the shells and then swing out sword lights.

As for the effect, of course there was one. When the sharp sword energy passed by, many shells shattered and exploded.

But the number of innate warriors was too small, and their true energy was not infinite, and the continuous artillery fire really meant that they were not prepared to give them a chance to survive.

What's more, Wenxiang Temple had prepared enough ammunition, enough to plow the land outside the south of the city and still have some left over.

This is Zhou Wu’s preparation!

He had never expected that there would be a day when he would face the challenge of life and death, but the most troubling thing about targeting the Yunya Sword Sect was the extremely steep terrain of Yunya Mountain, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack.

This cannon is one of his countermeasures. He purchased it secretly a long time ago and hid it in Wenxiang Temple using various methods.

Until today, it can be considered a great achievement.

In the sky, King Gongye couldn't help but rise up again. He looked down and really wanted to complain, you guys really know how to have fun!

On one hand, they put up the crossbow carts, and on the other hand, they directly brought out the artillery. The deep hatred was almost written on their faces.

He actually thought about going down to stop it, but when he thought about the various agreements in the life and death arena, it seemed that there was no prohibition on the use of artillery.

Moreover, he felt that it was fine to let them fight to the death.

Down below, in the Yunya Sword Sect, the situation reversed in just a moment, and old Yun Lie, who had been so complacent just now, was now almost torn apart.

"Master, Master, we can't stay like this. The loss is too great."

A middle-aged man with a long and narrow face and even longer and narrower eyes waved the sword in his hand, using sword lights to protect himself, and rushed to the front of old man Yun Lie.

He blocked a solid bullet for old man Yun Lie. The powerful impact made him step back a few steps. He said, "Think of a way, think of a way quickly. We can't do this any longer."

"Find a way... Charge! Charge forward!"

Old man Yun Lie raised his eyebrows slightly and shouted loudly. The sound contained his true energy and was clearly heard by all the disciples of the Yunya Sword Sect even in the chaotic battlefield.

"Disciples of Yunya, charge! Charge forward! Kill them all!"

As soon as the order came out, almost all of Yunya's disciples began to charge forward. It seemed like an instinct, and also a way to survive.

They all used their martial arts skills and rushed as fast as galloping horses directly into the forest.

It is not quite right to call it a forest, because almost everything in sight has been destroyed by crossbows.

By charging like this, they also avoided the effect of artillery shells bombarding the ground. After all, it was the lowest level of artillery, not easy to operate, and turning was even more troublesome.

At this moment, the disciples of Wenxiang Temple had already finished their preparations. They faced the disciples of Yunya Sword Sect and raised their weapons without showing any weakness.

Ding!
When the first sound of metal colliding was heard, countless other sounds of metal clashing were heard, becoming more and more frequent.

Starting from this line, countless people rushed forward, and countless people resisted. The entire battlefield was completely out of order and turned into a melee.

After all, they are just a group of warriors. It would be really difficult for them to expect them to advance and retreat and practice military tactics.

The best that can be done is for two or three good friends to get together and form a small battle formation to deal with enemies from all directions.

But even so, the battle between thousands of warriors was an incomparable spectacular scene.

Of course, this is the world of Chinese martial arts after all, and there are experts here.

Zhou Wu stood there without moving. The Qi in his body poured out like water, forming a flying tiger with wings outside his body, which lay on the ground.
When he looks around, he has the majesty of a king.

The disciples of the Yunya Sword Sect would consciously give way when passing by here, and no one dared to provoke him, even those old men.

After the two sides had completely entangled each other, he finally raised his head and said, "Master Yun, how are you?"

Old Man Yun Lie took a few steps forward and said softly, "What happened at Wenxiang Temple back then was indeed not instigated by us. It was just done privately by Elder Wu and has nothing to do with the Yunya Sword Sect.

So, when you killed him later, I didn’t dwell on it too much.”

"I know, I know, but so what?"

Zhou Wu had a smile on his face, but his eyes were almost filled with murderous intent: "I killed that old dog Wu, skinned him, cut off his descendants, and even dug up his grave, but so what?
My master can no longer teach me Taoism, and my uncle can no longer take me shopping. They are all dead, and I still remember the misery before they died.

Therefore, revenge is useless, but I can't help but send your Yunya Sword Sect to the netherworld."

Old Yun Lie's face trembled, and he could only sigh: "In this case, there is nothing more to say."

"There's nothing to say!"

Yun Lie finally drew out the sword in his hand, and a dazzling rainbow light burst out, just like a fire dragon dancing in the air, twisting its body and roaring incessantly.

Zhou Wu's flying tiger with wings condensed into substance in an instant, and with a flap of its wings, it flew into the sky.

He pounced from the air again, stretched out his tiger claws, the air continued to explode, and he collided with the fire dragon.

　It’s a bit late, that’s all for today!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)