Sword Roaring in the Sky

Chapter 276 Temple Assassins

A man wearing an earth-yellow robe suddenly emerged from the ground. Before he could even swing his curved knife, a large club weighing seventy or eighty pounds, thirteen or fourteen feet long, and as thick as a wrist swept across his chest, instantly shattering his sternum.

Sun Yanwan frowned slightly and said in a low voice, "These temple assassins are really annoying."

On his way to the Northern Yan royal court, he finally clashed head-on with the army of Bo Shi Kingdom, and also encountered the famous temple assassin group of Bo Shi Kingdom, which was renowned throughout the western continent.

Bo Shi Kingdom is different from Da Lang, Bei Yan, and Nan Xia. Although it has a king, the king only controls taxation and wealth and does not have strong control over the local powerful families. Many wealthy people who occupy a city have considerable autonomy.

However, if we're talking about the most powerful entity in the Bo Shi Kingdom, then it can only be the Temple of the Sun.

The temples of the sun god in various places have taken in countless homeless and destitute people and trained them in the most cruel ways. In addition to the priests, each temple of the sun god has a group of temple assassins that are feared by all.

In every foreign war, the king of Boshi Kingdom would not only recruit troops from local powerful families, but also rent temple assassins from local sun temples.

These temple assassins, who have devoted their lives to studying the Golden Sutra of the Sun, possess formidable martial arts skills, and have undergone brutal training, are elusive and ubiquitous on the battlefield. They are one of the most powerful means by which the Kingdom of Boshi swept across the western continent.

Often, before the two armies even clashed, the enemy's leader would be assassinated by fearless temple assassins, and the army would collapse without a fight.

Even the Northern Yan royal court suffered greatly at the hands of the Temple Assassin Group. The reason why Longzang Temple held such a supreme position in Northern Yan was largely because the nobles and princes of the Northern Yan royal court needed highly skilled monks from Longzang Temple to protect them. Even the system of selecting a Heavenly Consort was created by the Temple Assassin Group.

The monks of Longzang Temple could not follow these nobles of Northern Yan every day, especially when they were sleeping. They could only stay by their side day and night. The only ones who accompanied these nobles were their highly skilled princesses.

Sun Yanwan killed countless temple assassins along the way, but these creatures were like cockroaches, impossible to eradicate completely, with several emerging from the ground every day.

Most of the country of Bo Shi is desert, so temple assassins have a custom of hiding under the sand and patiently waiting for the enemy to pass by before suddenly jumping out to assassinate them.

In the past few days, Yang Diao'er has also killed seven or eight temple assassins. She said in a low voice, "We have lost dozens of people in the past few days, all of whom were killed by these reckless assassins. Although they will have no chance of survival under the siege of the army once they are exposed, if this continues, it will be difficult to maintain morale."

Sun Yanwan held the big stick in her hand and sighed. The foundation of Bo Shi Kingdom's ability to dominate the western continent and become a powerful country that overwhelmed Bei Yan was not something that could be easily broken.
There are just too many temple assassins. Their martial arts skills may not be very high, but every assassin goes out with the idea that they don't want to go back alive, so their lethality is really amazing.

In particular, these temple assassins are often the elderly, the disabled, or the seriously ill. To the Kingdom of Bo Shi, they are not important members of the population, so they don't care how many die or are injured.

Sun Yanwan did not dispose of the temple assassin's body, but only took his weapons and a small amount of supplies. On the grassland, even if he was buried deep, he would be dug up by roaming wild animals soon, so there was no need to waste manpower.

Sun Yan climbed onto the elephant that evening, placed the large stick across its back, and began her rare period of cultivation.

The large club in his hand was made from a rare red dragon wood tree, a find even on the vast grasslands. This tree grows slowly, often taking decades to reach a height of one or two zhang (approximately 3.3-6 meters), but its wood is incredibly hard, impervious to swords and blades. Freshly cut red dragon wood is a sandy white, but with age, it turns a rich reddish hue, and the longer it is handled, the harder it becomes. Sun Yanwan lacked a suitable weapon; a longsword was unsuitable for battle, so he cut it down and crafted it into a large club.

After entering the grasslands, Sun Yanwan's cultivation became intermittent, but his martial arts progress was not greatly affected. On the contrary, he comprehended a method to cultivate by circulating true qi anytime and anywhere, which was a step further than replacing sleep with meditation. He could cultivate while walking, sitting, or lying down.

Sun Yanwan suddenly felt the camel beneath him stop. He opened his eyes and saw that the army had already begun to set up camp. He jumped off the camel and went to find Yang Diao'er. Yang Diao'er had already arranged the camp setup. When she saw him coming, she ordered people to prepare food and wine.

Sun Yanwan removed his golden mask, and Yang Diao'er removed her silver mask, but both of them still wore human skin masks. Sun Yanwan looked like a young man in his late twenties, exuding great authority, while Yang Diao'er was a beautiful young woman with a scar on her face, which added to her allure.

Sun Yanwan took a couple of bites and said in a low voice, "This face isn't as good-looking as your real face."

Yang Diao'er chuckled and said, "Do you think you've grown up?"

Sun Yanwan sighed. He had indeed grown up, but on the vast grasslands, there was always the possibility of assassins from the temple of Boshi Kingdom appearing at any time. How could he possibly have time to eat Yangmao?
These temple assassins have many secret techniques to conceal their presence. Even if they possess the extraordinary ability to hear the earth, they can still occasionally make mistakes. If they were to be assassinated in such a situation, it would be a huge joke.

Seeing his dejected mood, Yang Diao'er quickly reached out and grasped Sun Yanwan's arm, saying softly, "The person will always be yours, why be anxious?"

"Tomorrow our army will enter the battle zone with the two Bo Shi Kingdom's military camps. Have you thought about what to do?"

Although Yang Diao'er herself was proficient in military strategy, she still tried her best to teach Sun Yanwan how to command a large army. She naturally had her own ulterior motives, but fortunately, Sun Yanwan learned quite well.

After a moment's thought, Sun Yanwan said, "We currently have about 20,000 troops at our disposal. Although I have been constantly recruiting grassland warriors and accepting the surrender of soldiers from the Bo Shi Kingdom along the way, too many people have fallen behind during the long march."

"These two military camps of the Bo Shi Kingdom each have more than 10,000 people. It is said that the owners of the two military camps are the top richest people in the Bo Shi Kingdom, and they are said to be among the top ten merchants in the Bo Shi Kingdom."

"His troops are very powerful, and they have likely hired many temple assassins. Whether it's a direct assault or some kind of tactic, it will be difficult to deal with them."

The two discussed military affairs for a while and were about to retire for the night when they heard whistles coming from all over the military camp, and there was a slight commotion in the various camps.

Sun Yanwan picked up the red dragon wooden club, stepped out of the tent, and shouted: "It is the temple assassins of Boshi Kingdom who have attacked the camp. Soldiers of all camps, do not panic, hold your camps."

As soon as Sun Yanwan stepped out of the tent, a cold light like a full moon entered her pupils. The assassin who made the move had concealed his life force perfectly, but at this moment it burst forth, unleashing his most brilliant attack.

(End of this chapter)