Chapter 59: Encounter Battle
The sky was gloomy and the sea wind howled; the air was thick with the stench of rotting flesh and blood.
This was a vast plain. The once fertile and beautiful land had been ravaged by hordes of Corpse Soldiers. On the flank of this massive army, a scouting party of Qi Cultivators was clashing with a squad of Evil Cultivators, while scouts from two nearby squads patrolled the edges, recording intelligence.
This was the third day after the battle of Yuma County Town...
After Wang Ping’s division captured Yuma County, they used a mountain stronghold in the canyon behind them as a supply relay station. They then advanced south for over a hundred li, clearing out the Corpse Soldiers along the way. Yesterday, they captured Huiping County, a key transportation hub, opening up the main road to the main army. This morning, they once again headed south.
「A quarter of an hour later...」
Having obtained the intelligence they wanted, the Qi Cultivator squad promptly retreated with their wounded. The Evil Cultivators did not pursue. They shrouded themselves in Taiyin Qi, blended into the ranks of the Corpse Soldiers, and coldly watched the cultivators retreat.
Half an hour later, the main army twenty li to the rear received the intelligence brought back by an express rider. General Li Rong immediately ordered a halt to their advance and commanded the Government Soldiers to don their gear with all speed and find a forested area on high ground to form up.
On the periphery of the military array’s right flank, Wang Ping sat cross-legged atop an old tree, occasionally glancing up at the sky. It was incredibly dark. The weather manipulation by the great power from the Yuqing Sect had side effects; a torrential downpour of unknown duration was brewing in the clouds.
"This atmosphere is so oppressive."
Yu Lian had returned to her original length. Most of her body was coiled around the tree trunk, her head resting listlessly on Wang Ping’s lap.
"This is the reality of this world..."
"That’s true."
Yu Lian lifted her head to look at a river in the distance. "After the battle’s over," she said, "I’m going to the river to catch shrimp."
Wang Ping nodded with a smile and looked down at the militia squads that had finished forming up. For many of them, this was their first time in a large-scale battle. Their inexperience made the military array look uncoordinated, causing the officers in charge to start screaming curses.
Next, Wang Ping glanced behind him. The Qi Cultivators of Qianmu Temple were all crouched in the treetops, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. Zhao Qing and Liu Shuang were at his left and right, respectively.
"Stay alert... Stay alert..."
Below, Order Officers ran back and forth, relaying the commander-in-chief’s orders. Their voices were so drawn-out they almost sounded like they were singing.
Wang Ping took out his moon blocks and carefully cast a divination. The reading indicated that while there would be difficulties ahead, there was no real danger.
This was the type of reading Wang Ping liked the least. He tried casting a few more times, but the results were chaotic and jumbled, with no clear reading at all.
’Calm heart, quiet qi...’
Yu Lian shrank to a foot in length and coiled around Wang Ping’s left wrist.
The emotions of two thousand soldiers and tens of thousands of militiamen easily swept Wang Ping up, making him feel anxious while simultaneously craving a cathartic, all-out battle.
Such emotions might have been beneficial on an occasion like this, but they didn’t align with the path Wang Ping cultivated.
Soon, Wang Ping calmed his mind. His Wood Spirit True Essence began to spread slowly outward through the old tree beneath him. Meanwhile, Yu Lian rapidly grew larger and hovered around Wang Ping, the Spiritual Qi on the surfaces of their bodies quickly merging as one.
Liu Shuang watched her master with an envious expression. She had wanted a Spirit Pet for a long time and had often wondered if Yu Lian could have offspring. She’d wanted to find an opportunity to ask her master, but Yu Lian always seemed to appear right when she was about to bring it up, staring at her with those unsettling eyes until her skin crawled.
"Your disciple is eyeing me again."
Yu Lian complained in Wang Ping’s Spirit Sea, "You make so much money. Why don’t you just spend a few tens of thousands of taels and buy her a Spirit Pet?"
Wang Ping had been considering this problem as well. The issue was that Liu Shuang hadn’t yet decided whether she would cultivate the Wood Gathering Skill. If she didn’t cultivate this Secret Technique, she couldn’t choose a water-attribute Spirit Pet, or their elements would clash. Slowed cultivation progress would be a minor issue; a severe case could lead to the collapse of her Qi Sea.
"We’ll talk about it after she decides on a direction for her Secret Technique."
As Wang Ping replied to Yu Lian, his gaze drifted to the far end of the wide, rice-paddy-covered plain. The sky there seemed even darker. Just then, a Qi Cultivator on the highest cliff in the forest gave the signal that the enemy had been spotted.
The Central Army received the signal and dispatched dozens more Order Officers, who continued to shout, "Stay alert... Stay alert..."
The Order Officers’ calls steadied the resolve of the tens of thousands of soldiers. Then, the ground began to tremble faintly, and a horde of Corpse Soldiers with rotting skin appeared on the horizon.
In the world of Spiritual Energy, their march was accompanied by countless sharp, whistling sounds, like a howling wind. It was the sound of Netherworld Spiritual Objects tormenting the living beings of the material world.
The battle began with an attack from Mars Taoist and his disciples. As a group, they communed with fire spirits to ignite the flowing Spiritual Qi, setting off controlled blazes in the midst of the dense Corpse Soldier army.
A nauseating stench then drifted into the forest on the sea breeze. Some of the men with weaker constitutions fainted immediately upon smelling it. In the end, it was Yuanqing Taoist who took action, constructing the Yuqing Sect’s Wind Control Array to blow the odor away and stabilize the army’s morale.
The second wave of the battle was led by the two thousand Government Soldiers. As the Corpse Soldiers charged, their iron frontline pressed forward decisively, meeting the brunt of the assault head-on. Spurred on by their example, the Militia on the left and right flanks could only grit their teeth and follow.
Meanwhile, the Qi Cultivators were locked in a standoff with the Taiyin Evil Cultivators across the field, maintaining a delicate balance.
As for the archers... they were completely useless in a battle against Corpse Soldiers. Even if you riddled them with arrows until they looked like pincushions, they would just keep on charging!
After the battle had raged for an hour, the Corpse Soldiers retreated like the tide. They fell back to the horizon and began to wander aimlessly.
「A quarter-hour later.」
General Li Rong gave the order: "Withdraw."
Of course, before they could withdraw, they first had to set a great fire to burn all the remaining corpses and rotting flesh from the battlefield to cinders.
The army retreated all the way back to Huiping County.
While resting that evening, Wang Ping received the casualty report for the day’s battle. The armored Government Soldiers had suffered only twenty-six deaths, but over six hundred were wounded. Moreover, all of them were infected with corpse poison and required Wang Ping’s ’Cyan Wood Technique’ for treatment.
As for the Militia’s casualties... they had not yet been tallied due to the lack of time.
When Wang Ping returned to the Qianmu Temple encampment after treating the wounded, Guangxuan was already waiting for him. He was injured and had not participated in the day’s battle.
"We’ve received military reports from the other divisions. All of them were blocked by Corpse Soldiers today."
After Wang Ping sat down, Guangxuan began his analysis. "The Taiyin Secret Technique can’t control this many Corpse Soldiers at once. It must be the effect of a certain Demon Soldier, and the cost of using it must be immense."
Wang Ping had the same suspicion, which was not good news for him.
Zhao Qing, who was standing nearby, voiced Wang Ping’s concern aloud. "Right now, the best solution is to find this Demon Soldier... and a job like that is definitely going to fall to us!"
"If that’s the case, I’d guess we have three days at most before we have to move. The higher-ups will use these next few days to exhaust whatever price the enemy pays to use that Demon Soldier... Or, if the decision-makers are ruthless enough, they could achieve the same result just by throwing away the lives of our Government Soldiers!"
Guangxuan’s tone suddenly turned cold. "It all depends on the trade-offs the higher-ups are willing to make..."