Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 57 Hunting the Pig 2
"Haven't they found that pig yet?"

"No, that boar disappeared after entering the wasteland. We've interrogated many people these past few days, and we've captured quite a few traitors, but they know nothing about the boar spirit."

Zhang Min glanced at his subordinates, who dared not speak their anger, and said with a gloomy face, "Think about what you will get if you capture that pig and torture him to find out about the Dragon Spirit. I think you won't feel tired then."

The spy spread his hands and said, "We are severely understaffed, and the troops in Sheyang City are more concerned with how to annihilate the rebels than with capturing the wild boar spirit. We also can't tell them that this boar spirit is related to the Dragon Spirit."

"Your Excellency, I suggest that we dispatch troops from the Panxing Tower in Chuyun Prefecture, equipped with celestial eyes. Even if more people become aware of this, the credit will be diluted, but it wouldn't be as bad as this situation where we've gained nothing."

"Still no news from the Sheyang River?"

"No, the pig demon didn't travel by water. At the same time, the pig demon's companions have also disappeared. We've searched almost the entire area within a fifty-mile radius, but we haven't found any information."

Zhang Min pondered for a moment and said, "I'll give you three more days. If you still can't find it, then inform the Panxing Tower in Chuyun Prefecture and send out the Heavenly Eye."

With a joyful cry, Eji jumped into a pool below the waterfall. Naked, she swam freely in the pool like a fish. Sometimes, she would deliberately stand on a rock and shout to attract Yun Ce's attention before jumping into the water. Each time, she would earn Yun Ce's disdainful look, but she never tired of it.

Yun Ce stood in the stream downstream of the pool, washing the mud and sweat off the chestnut horse. Sometimes the chestnut horse would drink some water and spray it on Yun Ce.

This is a secluded paradise.

The distant mountains are dark green, the grasslands are lush and green, and shrubs grow in layers. Although it is wild, Yun Ce always felt that this place had been taken care of.

If Gouzi hadn't told him that there were no outsiders here, he would definitely have searched the place himself.

Some purple berries are growing on the shrub; they should be ripe now, as most of them are quite dark in color, almost turning deep purple.

Each fruit was about the size of a fingertip egg, and tasted sweet and sour. He collected some, but most of the fruits fell to the ground, or perhaps satisfied the appetites of the birds.

Eji swam naked through the gap in the pool to Yun Ce. The chestnut horse lowered its head to bite the white thing, but Eji screamed and pushed the long face away.

Yun Ce grunted, scooped the naked E Ji out of the water, threw her next to the blanket, placed her on it, and rolled her up in the blanket.

His original plan was not like this. For their safety, he wanted to secretly integrate Eji into the escape team as well. Unfortunately, Eji refused to agree and wrapped her arms and legs around Yun Ce, making it impossible for him to tear her off.

A group is naturally very conspicuous, but if you break up a group and let the people in the group blend into other groups, they will not be so conspicuous. Especially after Feng An and Liang Kun carefully selected An Ji to become the daughter of a family, and the other girls gradually became the daughters or maids of other families. In a larger environment of three thousand people, who would care that someone else's family suddenly has an extra daughter or male servant?

A drop of water is only truly safe when it merges into the ocean.

Not to mention that Yun Ce also saw Hong Guniang and Pei Chuan disguised as a couple in this large group of three thousand people. They were originally from poor backgrounds, so it was most appropriate for them to disguise themselves as a pitiful pair of lower-class free people pushing a cart.

Feng An agreed to Yun Ce's request that, if necessary, they would be used as shields to create some chaos and provide a safer environment for their group.

Such a scheme is not particularly brilliant; Yun Ce only hopes it will be useful.

"You shouldn't have come along," Yun Ce said, slapping E Ji on the head in frustration.

Eji covered her head in grievance and said, "What if you run away?"

"I won't run away!"

“You can’t run away. I can already smell the stench of other women on you. Besides, I heard what you were saying to Feng An and the others. You still want to catch that stinky woman Zhang Min and kill her. You’re not allowed to do that to her. If you want to do that, you should come to me.”

Yun Ce looked at E Ji's slightly changed body with disdain, and then patted her head again.

"We captured Zhang Min so we could get in and out of Yunzhou City. I always felt that this woman was very strange, like she was very powerful. Maybe she could help us get rid of these troublesome things."

"Since it's troublesome, we can make a living in the wasteland... just the two of us."

"Dream on. I want to travel all over the world and see everything. If I'm just here to live with you, then I've come for nothing."

“You just won’t speak to me properly. Angie said that a good man should speak sweet words to a woman in order to win her heart.”

Yun Ce looked at E Ji in surprise and said, "What would I do with your heart? Keep it safe in your chest and don't give it to anyone else. Without it, you will die, and I hate you without a heart and dead."

"If you want it, I can give it to you."

"No, the bloody mess doesn't look good."

Talking about love with young girls is exhausting. They're often excessively enthusiastic, like a raging fire that melts not only itself but also tries to melt you away. "Screech—"

A mournful bird cry echoed from the sky. Yun Ce looked up and saw a huge bird, an enormous bird, that had appeared overhead at some point. This thing, as big as a small airplane, flew over Yun Ce's head and even blocked out the sun.

Eji had already rolled up her blanket and hopped off to get dressed, while the chestnut horse had also come ashore from the stream and was vigorously shaking off the water.

Yun Ce stood on the shore, holding the pair of heavy meteor hammers and staring intently at the giant bird flying overhead. When the giant bird circled in the sky once and flew over again, Yun Ce extended the chain of the chain hammer to its longest length, raised the hammer head, and smashed it down on the giant bird.

The giant bird's claws grabbed the hammerhead, carried Yun Ce through the air for a moment, then dropped the hammerhead. Before Yun Ce even landed, the bird swung the chain around in the air and threw the hammerhead up again.

This time, the giant bird flapped its wing at the chain hammer, and the hammerhead lost its power and fell from the sky.

Yun Ce turned and left, picked up E Ji and threw her onto the horse's back, then leaped onto his own horse. The chestnut horse neighed and galloped away along the mountain road.

Yun Ce was certain that the bird was kept by a person. The reason was simple: there was a person sitting on the bird's back, and there was a rein on the bird's head.

The chestnut horse galloped and leaped along the mountain road as fast as lightning. When it saw a ditch, it didn't stop, but instead neighed and carried him and Eji across.

The giant bird followed him like a shadow, swooping down from time to time, forcing Yun Ce to repeatedly throw his hammer up to smash it.

The arrows were completely ineffective against this bird. He fired three arrows in succession. Two of them hit its belly, but were blocked by its armor there. The other arrow hit its wing, but not a single feather fell off. Only when the hammer struck it did the bird dodge slightly.

The chestnut horse was very clever. While Yun Ce was busy fighting with the big bird, it carried Yun Ce and E Ji and plunged into a grove of trees.

The forest resembled a pine forest, with tall, straight trees and a thick layer of fallen leaves beneath them, devoid of weeds. After wandering around the woods for a while, the horse slyly stopped.

"Wow—"

The giant bird in the sky lost sight of Yun Ce and cried out once more. Yun Ce strongly suspected that the bird was summoning its companions.

Yun Ce looked up at the bright sun in the sky. It was only slightly westward, and there were still at least eight hours until dark.

Yun Ce pulled a suit of armor from the dragon pearl and haphazardly wrapped it around E Ji. He then used armor-binding ribbons to tie the two of them tightly together. If they encountered a fierce battle after leaving the forest, and E Ji fell off her horse, she would have no chance of survival.

"Tie me to your back. If you tie me to the front, it will hinder your combat. If you tie me to the back, I can shield you from arrows."

"Get lost, I'm tough as nails, I don't need you to shield me from arrows."

Yun Ce looked down at his wristband and said, "Dog, help me kill that big bird."

“I can’t fly that high. You lie on the ground and play dead. When it falls down to eat you, I’ll have my chance.”

Eji couldn't hear Yun Ce's communication with the wristband; she just kept twisting and turning, trying to get behind Yun Ce.

Yun Ce ignored Gouzi's bad idea. After listening quietly to the sounds outside the forest for a while, he urged his chestnut horse to jump over a small ravine and then climb up the mountain in the direction Gouzi indicated. The road here was rugged and a large cavalry force could not make it up.

"damn it."

Upon reaching the summit, Yun Ce couldn't help but curse. Only then did he realize that it was a flat and long isolated mountain, standing like a fan on the plain, completely unsuitable for guerrilla warfare.

"You pig demon, you can't escape now!"

Sure enough, Zhang Min's voice came from the back of the big bird. Yun Ce couldn't see her, but judging from her tone, this woman was very proud of herself.

"Is this the woman you wanted to... you know?"

Eji nestled in Yun Ce's arms and asked secretly.

Yun Ce was just thinking about how to provoke this woman and make her get off the giant bird when he heard Zhang Min say again, "This time, I brought five hundred armored soldiers. Pig Demon, I advise you to surrender quickly. Considering how difficult it was for you to become a demon, I can spare your life."

Hearing Zhang Min say this, Yun Ce felt relieved. The more someone boasts about their strength, the less powerful they actually are. He gently urged the chestnut horse, and it bounced and hopped down the mountain from behind, galloping towards an even larger mountain in the distance.

A crossbow bolt struck Yun Ce squarely in the back. The bolt was powerful, and when Yun Ce looked back, he saw Zhang Min lying on the bird's back, using her feet to cock the crossbow.

(End of this chapter)