Chapter 130: The Fall

The horse let out a mournful cry, suddenly stumbled while running at high speed, and flew sideways off the cliff!

His prized beast, a mount worth its weight in gold that could travel a thousand miles a day, was just gone like that. He Lingchuan seemed to have a sudden realization.

That thing had been aimed at his lower back. Because no matter how a rider dodges on horseback, the waist and rear are basically stationary. If not for his sudden flash of inspiration to jump off the horse, he would likely be a mass of blood mist right now.

But now... his fate would probably be to fall and become a pile of meat paste, which wouldn't be much better than exploding into blood mist, right? He Lingchuan could still hear the screams of Mao Tao and the others from the cliff above; the wind whistled in his ears as he fell faster and faster.

This cliff edge was actually bare; there wasn't even a single tree!

Below, there was a slightly protruding rock face. He Lingchuan gritted his teeth, drew his long saber, aimed for a crack in the stone, and stabbed it in with all his might.

He had seen this in movies before; this trick was supposed to work.

With a "clang," the long saber snapped in two quite cleanly, breaking right at the hilt.

?! Was it all a lie?

Fortunately, he still had one more saber.

At least he could try one more time.

He Lingchuan pulled out the broken blade and stabbed it into the next crack.

It went in!

The hard rock wall was sliced open, leaving a long gash.

There were no sparks flying, but it felt as satisfying as sawing through a hard loaf of bread.

With this saber to slow him down, He Lingchuan slid down another two zhang or more and finally came to a stop.

Below him were jagged, crisscrossing rocks extending out from the lake surface. If he had fallen directly from the cliff, he probably would have been smashed to pieces here, right? At least, that's what he saw happened to the horse that fell just before him.

He hadn't reached the lake surface yet, but there was an irregular small hole, or perhaps a gap, in the cliff face directly in front of him, and a chilly breeze was blowing from the hole onto his face.

What now? He Lingchuan wasn't sure he could climb back up the cliff, and besides, Lu Yao would definitely lead men in pursuit; climbing up right now might not be a good idea.

As he hesitated, that familiar chill returned.

This time, it came from directly above.

The thing that had just shattered the shield and killed his mount was targeting him again.

He Lingchuan cursed under his breath, pulled out the broken blade, and jumped into the small cave in front of him.

It was even narrower inside; his head hit the stone wall, leaving him bloodied and with a bump.

But he had finally made it inside.

Just as he pulled his legs in, that white shadow "whooshed" past the cave entrance, scorching the soles of his feet.

What on earth was that thing!

It seemed like he could hear the shouts of Mao Tao and the others from above, but He Lingchuan didn't dare to peek out, and even less dared to stay. Seeing that the crevice ahead was quite deep, he quickly crawled inside using both hands and feet.

After only a few steps, there was a loud crash outside, as if a landslide had occurred.

It turned out the rocks at the edge of the mountain were already weathered, and after being struck by He Lingchuan's mount, a large section collapsed instantly.

As luck would have it, two large boulders fell and happened to land right there, blocking the crevice he had entered.

The crevice was winding and difficult to navigate, and it was pitch black, with two branching paths. He Lingchuan didn't hesitate and chose to proceed in the direction the wind was coming from.

At this moment, his mind was still clear; he knew that the source of the wind was the only way to survive.

After crawling for a while longer, the divine bone necklace suddenly grew hot.

Was there something ahead? Everything was pitch black, and he couldn't see a thing. But He Lingchuan kept his guard up and slowed his crawling.

A moment later, the space ahead suddenly opened up, and his left hand pressed into empty air.

Fortunately, he had been on high alert, which kept him from falling.

Below... it was empty.

At the very least, the space was large, and he could hear the sound of water.

The wind was blowing up from below.

This meant that this mountain had caves or fissures connected to the lake water.

He Lingchuan let out a sigh of relief; perhaps he could find a way out from here.

What now? Jump down?

Judging by the sound, he wasn't far from the water surface, at most two or three zhang.

He Lingchuan leaned forward, just about to jump, when he heard strange movements below.

￥￥￥￥￥

He Lingchuan's accident happened so suddenly that the other soldiers didn't react in time.

By the time Mao Tao and the others looked back, the Young Master He had already fallen off the cliff, horse and all.

The horse's mournful cry before death was exceptionally shrill, so much so that few people heard He Lingchuan's shout.

Zhao Qinghe was scared out of his wits and immediately reined in his horse, rushing to the cliff edge to look down.

Below was empty; a protruding giant rock blocked his view, preventing him from seeing the bottom of the cliff.

But... it didn't look good.

He searched back and forth and soon spotted the horse carcass lying on the pile of rocks, fresh blood staining the lake water red.

Mao Tao also jumped off his horse and rushed to the cliff edge. He looked down and cried, "Oh no, Young Master!"

Zhao Qinghe hurriedly asked, "Where is he?"

"I, I don't see him." Mao Tao stretched his neck, "Could he be pinned under the horse?"

"..." Zhao Qinghe pulled out a coil of rope, "I'll go down and take a look."

"I'll go! I'm thinner than you and more agile." Mao Tao snatched the rope, tied it around his waist, and tied the other end to the saddle. He slid down the cliff wall, his movements indeed nimble.

The mountain bandits also noticed the situation here and began firing arrows. Zhao Qinghe called for everyone to step forward and guard the perimeter: "Protect the horses!"

After a while, he shouted down to the cliff, "Did you find him?"

For the first few times, Mao Tao answered "No," but later, as he slid too deep, the sound transmitted up was muffled, so he had to pull the rope to signal.

Zhao Qinghe and the others struggled to pull him back up.

As soon as Mao Tao climbed up, he said, "There are saber marks on the cliff wall, but I didn't see the Young Master!"

Everyone's mood was heavy.

Just then, with a "clatter," the last layer of the wagon formation was forcibly split open, and the bandits charged over.

The first two charged too fast and, *whoosh*, slipped and fell.

The remaining crowd stepped on the ice; it was solid but very slippery.

However, they were now only five or six zhang away from the soldiers; never mind flying arrows, those with strong arm strength could reach them by throwing flying axes.

How could they save anyone under these conditions?

A soldier said anxiously, "We have to go; we can come back when it's safe..."

He couldn't finish his sentence. Come back to collect the body? Zhao Qinghe looked at the bottom of the cliff, then at the howling bandits, and knowing there was no other way, he had to order everyone to mount their horses.

Finally able to retreat, the soldiers whipped their horses, wishing the horses could grow two more legs.

Watching the soldiers disappear in a cloud of dust, Lu Yao looked at the ice-covered road five or six zhang (less than 20 meters) ahead and sneered, "Small tricks, you think this can stop us?" With that, he swung his axe and smashed it hard into the ice.

With a *crack*, an ice hole appeared.

He chiseled two more, and he could step on them.

The other bandits followed suit; for a time, the ice was filled with the sounds of *ping-ling-pang-lang* as they chiseled the ice.

In fact, some of the mountain bandits possessed magic, but a small fireball hit the ice and extinguished, leaving only a shallow mark.

The ice blocks condensed using Yuan power were hard and durable, making them difficult to deal with using ordinary magic.

Despite it being an uphill road and the speed being a bit slow, with footholds to step on, everyone walked up one hole and one footprint at a time.

(End of chapter)