Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 250 The Terrifying Liu Changsheng

"I am the governor's chief..."

Once Yun Ce started, he showed no sign of stopping. The young man in armor spoke as his long sword slashed at Yun Ce before he could finish speaking.

Yun Ce deflected the longsword with one hand and punched the head of the armored warhorse. The warhorse let out a mournful cry and collapsed to the ground. Yun Ce's fist followed the momentum and landed on the head of the man, whose identity as a governor was unknown. He expected the man's head to be smashed to the ground as well, but unexpectedly, this was right next to the foundation of the grain and oil shop's signboard. The ground was full of thick granite. The man's head exploded after being squeezed by the fist and the granite, and his brains splattered onto the stone base, pinkish-white mixed with a little red.

At the same time, seven or eight spears came down at Yun Ce without saying a word. Yun Ce took several steps back, leaned against the thick banner of the grain and oil shop, and with a backhand, he uprooted the banner and swept it away without thinking.

A banner five zhang high, with flags displaying the types of grains and oils on it, could be swung with more than a thousand jin of force. Cavalrymen who had just approached Yun Ce were all knocked off their horses by the banner.

On a whim, Yun Ce disregarded the fallen cavalrymen, brandishing a heavy banner of grain and oil, and swept through the streets, knocking the seemingly fierce cavalrymen to their knees.

"OK--"

Yun Ce vaguely heard someone cheering. Although he didn't know who was shouting, a smile appeared on Yun Ce's face. He twirled a grain and oil banner that was as thick as a human leg and five zhang long. Any cavalrymen within the range of the banner fell off their horses and were smashed on the head by Yun Ce like whack-a-mole.

"OK--"

More cheers erupted, and this time Yun Ce heard them very clearly.

So he waved the grain and oil banner more frequently and with increasing force until the banner swept a cavalryman wielding a saber and his horse against the wall.

Cheers erupted.

The street, which originally only had Yun Ce and his cavalry, suddenly became crowded with people. Yun Ce suspected that the entire street had come out to watch the scene of him torturing the cavalry. Some of the bolder people even secretly picked up the weapons that Yun Ce had knocked away.

The cavalry was small, only a hundred-man squad. By the time Yun Ce put away the grain and oil banner, there were no cavalrymen or horses left on the ground.

Some of the cavalrymen weren't so serious when they were attacking, and they're still alive. However, they can only hide among the corpses and pretend to be dead, too afraid to make a sound.

Yun Ce glanced at the people on the street, then put the blood-stained grain and oil sign back on its base and prepared to return to the inn to continue sleeping.

Just then, the window of the brothel across the street opened, and the madam shouted at him, "Hero, let's go! You just killed Han Chuang, the eldest son of Governor Han Qi. The governor will not let you get away with this."

Yun Ce nodded, then tossed out a gold ingot, which was embedded in the window frame next to the madam.

"Here you go, I never owe a bitch money."

The people on the street watched as Yun Ce dragged back the logs that the cavalry had pulled away and used them to block the gate again. Although they couldn't understand the meaning of what this hero was doing, they scattered as soon as the hero was gone. Several blood-soaked people crawled out of the pile of corpses and ran along the street.

Because Yun Ce was careful about hygiene when he committed the murder, his clothes were basically unstained by blood. However, his hands were covered in blood. He washed them twice with water, but still felt they weren't clean enough, so he found a brush and carefully scrubbed the crevices under his fingernails.

There's nothing we can do about it. Shehuo (a traditional folk performance) is great in every way, but it can't stand the bloodshed.

"If we kill them again, the people in the city will probably dare to rebel."

The dog clearly understood Yun Ce's thoughts.

"I don't care if they resist or not, what I care about is whether I can attract Han Qi so I can slaughter him in the street!"

Yun Ce raised his hand and looked at his fingernails in the light to make sure there was no bloodstains inside before nodding in satisfaction.

"The troops in Taizhou are weak. I couldn't find a single one of the cavalrymen I just encountered who was qualified to be absorbed by me. However, their armor was very well made."

After hearing Gouzi's words, Yun Ce asked doubtfully, "You mean to say that the Taizhou troops look very elite, but are actually quite vulnerable?"

Gouzi said, "Think about how you killed Yan Fei's men, and then think about how you killed Gui Fang's hundred-man team. Compare them, and you'll easily come to the conclusion, won't you?"

Yun Ce frowned and said, "According to the military law of the Great Han Dynasty, in the troops of this state, only a general with 100 men can command 100 cavalrymen. This is the foundation of the army. It is illogical that a cavalry unit of 100 men does not have a general with 100 men."

The army is the sharpest spear in the hands of a provincial governor. A governor cannot allow his army to run rampant; without an army, a governor is like a toothless man—that's utterly abnormal.

"You killed the governor's son. I estimate that the governor will soon send his real fighting force to seek justice for his son."

Yun Ce glanced at the darkening sky outside and said to Gouzi, "Never mind that for now, Shehuo is urging me to hurry up and go to the Divine Dragon Palace."

"It can't wait," said the dog. Yun Ce also felt the wristband getting hot, so he replaced the charcoal in the charcoal brazier in the room with new charcoal, told the chestnut horse not to run around, and then climbed over the wall and left the inn.

Looking down from a high vantage point, I saw that Taizhou City was a vast expanse of white, with hardly anyone on the streets. Taking advantage of the last glimmer of light, I ran frantically toward the city lord's mansion.

Climbing up the high wall, he found that the wind and snow were getting stronger. Some flags planted on the city wall were pulled up by the wind along with the flagpoles. Yun Ce stopped and took a few breaths, and found that the air was also bone-chillingly cold.

Such weather shouldn't exist in a city protected by Shehuo (a traditional folk performance). It's as if the Shehuo felt threatened and were putting on a show of defiance.

Thinking that his own gate had been smashed by the governor's men, Yun Ce lifted a thousand-pound statue and smashed it against the governor's gate as he passed by. Only after the gate was smashed to pieces did Yun Ce feel at ease and jump into the Divine Dragon Hall, so that the chestnut horse left in the inn would be safe.

Unlike last night, the Shenlong Temple was packed with people today. There were not only Taoist priests praying and chanting scriptures around the firework display, but also more than a dozen strong men sitting cross-legged on prayer cushions with various weapons. Their bodies were covered with snowflakes, and if you didn't look closely, you would think they were sculptures in the Shenlong Temple.

The local folk performance struggled to emerge from the dragon ball, and it was assumed that, like last night, it would fly straight to the Taizhou folk performance to begin its plundering.

Unexpectedly, it just stayed quietly on the wristband, glowing like a firefly, without moving.

"It's a little scared," the dog explained to Yun Ce.

"afraid of what?"

"There are too many people..."

Is it shy, or scared?

"Both are true, you should help it lure the people away first."

Yun Ce stood up and kicked the head of the Sky-Gazing Beast on the eaves. The beast's head immediately broke off and, with a piercing shriek in the cold wind, crashed towards the main hall of the Divine Dragon Temple.

Before the beast head could harm the Divine Dragon Palace, a snow-covered sculpture suddenly awoke, its long sword flashing as it cleaved the beast head that Yun Ce had kicked out in two.

Four more sculptures awoke, and after stomping on the wall, they climbed up the high wall. Turning around, they saw Yun Ce standing on the eaves and then split into four groups to surround him.

Yun Ce stomped hard with both feet, breaking through the solid roof. He was covered in dust, and the bricks and tiles fell into the side hall of the Divine Dragon Palace.

Immediately, more snow sculptures in the courtyard awoke and quickly surrounded the side hall. Yun Ce covered his head with his right hand, and his left arm swiftly transformed into a dragon claw, fiercely slamming into the wall.

The dragon claw was indeed indestructible. Guided by it, Yun Ce smashed a large hole in the wall like a wedge. Just as he passed through the wall, a middle-aged Taoist priest angrily threw an incense burner at him.

Originally, I wanted to kick the incense burner over to force the Taoist priest to make way, but the Taoist priest didn't dodge or evade. He even spread his arms to block the fire pit, showing that he would rather die than back down.

Yun Ce had no choice but to kick again, this time at a tile. The tile, though kicked later, struck first and was knocked away just as the incense burner was about to hit the Taoist's chest.

The Taizhou folk performance in the hearth suddenly burst into flames, the flames rising two zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) high, reaching the top of the Shenlong Hall. After being suppressed by the top of the hall, the flames scattered in all directions.

Yun Ce saw his own folk performance wobbling and flying into the flames of the Taizhou folk performance.

He didn't linger. Before his men could completely block his escape route, he slammed his head against the back wall. As a large hole appeared in the wall, Yun Ce's figure quickly disappeared into the night sky.

In the Shenlong Hall of Chang'an, Liu Changsheng looked at the Taizhou Shehuo performer, who was being torn apart by a dark red candle flame, and sighed as he reached out to block the flame.

Despite the candle flames burning his hands, he refused to let go of the road.

“Little rascal, you can’t do this. One time is enough. If you keep devouring, it will cause irreparable disaster to Taizhou.”

You need to understand that in a good set of rules, it is absolutely not the case that whoever is stronger is right. Just because you are stronger than Taizhou Shehuo now means you can bite them, but what if you encounter Yongzhou Shehuo who is stronger than you? Can't they also devour you?

The power of Shehuo comes from the lights of thousands of homes, from the merits you create by summoning wind and rain, and from the gratitude people feel towards you under your protection.

These things represent the hard work and dedication of Taizhou Shehuo over the past thirty years; you cannot steal them.

Yun Ce's Shehuo seemed unwilling to listen to Liu Changsheng's nagging, and turned around and burrowed into the body of the blazing ancestral fire. Just when Liu Changsheng thought that the matter was over, he saw Yun Ce's Shehuo pass through the thick flames of the ancestral fire and once again fiercely pounce on the Taizhou Shehuo hiding in the corner, not daring to move.

A faint dragon's roar seemed to echo from the Dragon God Temple in Taizhou, causing the entire temple to tremble violently and appear to drop a considerable height.

Yun Ce, who was playing hide-and-seek with the experts dressed as snowmen, suddenly heard Gouzi anxiously say, "Shehuo has escaped back! Something is chasing it! Run!"

　Let's watch the military parade together tomorrow! I bought a flag and invited a group of people to watch it together. Let's cheer for the most powerful army in the history of China!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)