Chapter 147: Changing Transportation

The Mountain and Marsh was furious, "You dare!"

Water cedars grow slowly. The five trees these humans had previously cut down were all over a hundred years old, and one was even over two hundred—a junior it had watched grow up.

"Why wouldn't I dare?" He Chunhua said expressionlessly, "If you harm me, you will lose this position of Mountain and Marsh!"

The Mountain and Marsh fell silent.

Honestly, the position bestowed by the state was very easy; humans rarely sought it out for anything, and on the contrary, the divine position of Mountain and Marsh brought it primordial energy that was highly beneficial to its cultivation.

Being able to grow five or six zhang taller than its peers was largely due to that primordial energy.

Having tasted the sweetness of primordial energy, it did not want to lose it.

"Fine, but my power can only last for two hours at most! At most!" the Mountain and Marsh said leisurely, "You had better move quickly."

"Many thanks!" He Chunhua bowed to it and turned to order the carriage column to move forward.

Ahead was a long downhill road, with the sunlight blocked behind the mountain, so this side was immersed in shadow.

Milky white thick fog drifted out from the mountain forest, rapidly covering the path the government troops had walked.

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During the journey, the giant crocodiles contributed another wave of flashy maneuvers: when they encountered a lagoon, they didn't dodge or detour, but simply strolled down from the sandbank, crawled from the water onto the sand, and from the sand back into the water, swimming again.

The smallest crocodile here was over a zhang (more than three meters) long, so even strolling on the beach, they were like moving fortresses, full of dominance.

Everyone gave them a thumbs up, praising them repeatedly.

A so-called lagoon is a shallow bay formed when the bay mouth is blocked by silt. Ordinary boats encountering a lagoon blocking the way would have to make a huge detour to find another route, absolutely unable to walk directly over the mud and sand like these giant crocodiles, moving in a straight line.

With this, the distance was shortened by at least ten li.

The brothers on the other boats could only take the long way around.

The crocodile's movement was steady, so He Lingchuan closed his eyes to rest, seizing the time to recover his energy—there might be another fierce battle to fight later.

Just after passing the lagoon, the trees on both banks were lush, their crowns almost covering the water surface.

Lian Deng got his nose stuck by a spider web coming at him and sneezed violently.

Just as he was about to take a deep breath, a swallow from who knows where skimmed over and actually shot straight into his mouth! "Agh, ptooey, ptooey, ptooey!" Lian Deng spat several times, spitting the bird out.

He liked eating meat, but he didn't like meat that had legs jumping straight into his mouth and sticking feathers to his teeth!

The spat-out swallow rolled twice on the crocodile's back and actually didn't fly away, but instead huddled under the crowd. The space on the crocodile's back was limited, and there were many people who needed to sit, so everyone had to squeeze together.

Two more white birds flew toward each other, panicked, and actually collided.

With a "splat," both fell into the water.

Wu Shaoyi frowned, "Something is not right."

This was a bird paradise, and there were countless birds shuttling back and forth over the river. At this moment, startled by something, they had all retreated into the dense forest.

Some even landed directly on the crocodile's back, hiding in the shadows under the humans.

Compared to humans, they seemed even more afraid of something else.

"In the sky!" He Lingchuan's heart stirred, recalling the strange situation when the support army entered County Magistrate Village yesterday evening. Tired birds returning to their nests should have been full of chirping, but at that time, the surroundings were dead silent, as if all the birds were afraid of something.

Just like now.

Reminded by him, everyone looked up, and sure enough, a bandit soon pointed, "West, by the mountain peak!"

Everyone turned their heads and indeed saw a lonely figure in the sky, moving like lightning.

"A red falcon!" Wu Shaoyi's expression changed, "No good, it's a bird demon raised by Lu Yao! It will report back to its master, and Lu Yao likely knows our whereabouts."

County Magistrate Lake had abundant prey, and many birds of prey passed through, but one capable of scaring all the birds into this state was likely a demon with cultivation.

This was the reaction only seen when encountering a powerful natural predator.

Lian Deng pulled out a bow and arrow, aiming at the red falcon, but sighed after a few breaths, "No good, it's out of range."

During this time, the red falcon flew higher and higher, and everyone had to strain their eyes to see it.

A falcon's eyesight is better than a human's; it clearly discovered someone below raising a bow, so it climbed higher to avoid danger.

At this moment, He Lingchuan remembered Hu Min from the Panlong Secret Realm.

That kid could shoot a willow leaf from a hundred paces; he wondered if he could hit this flying falcon?

He Lingchuan's original body had also hunted before and knew that falcons and hawks were agile and alert birds of prey; some were even faster than arrows, let alone dodging them.

Especially since the one in the sky had some cultivation.

If he had good archery skills, taking out this red falcon would be like blinding one of Lu Yao's eyes. He Lingchuan secretly thought his long-range attack training should be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

Speaking of which, he suddenly remembered the unknown archer and the two arrows that followed like shadows when he first entered the Panlong Illusion.

He Lingchuan subconsciously pressed his throat; if that archer were here, shooting down this red falcon should be a piece of cake, right?

He felt inexplicably confident.

Everyone was cursing and swearing.

He Lingchuan glanced sideways, "That Lu fellow, how come he has such good relations with demons?" First the Crocodile God, then the Falcon Demon. By comparison, Wu Shaoyi only had a small sable.

No wonder the chickens in the coop he had touched in County Magistrate Village had been shivering—they had seen a natural predator.

It seems demons have a very prominent role on the battlefield; used well, they are a surprise force. He Lingchuan also wanted to get one for himself.

In the blink of an eye, the red falcon disappeared into the horizon.

"It seems it is also on its way."

Wu Shaoyi's expression was ugly, "It's also heading west; it's either sending a message to Pei Xinyu or reporting to Desheng Town. We are in trouble."

Their original plan was to raid Desheng Town and get some mounts to pursue Pei Xinyu and the government troops. If the bandits stationed in Desheng Town were prepared due to the red falcon's warning, their attack would be difficult.

Regardless, the opponent was likely more than five hundred men by now.

Everyone looked at each other, unable to think of a good solution for a moment.

Just then, the Crocodile God suddenly spoke, "You are going to Desheng Town—to kill people or to steal horses?"

"Both... but stealing horses is the main goal." He Lingchuan patted its broad back, "Do you have any good ideas?"

"There is an abandoned town not far ahead; there might be horses, but only a few." The Crocodile God said, "Two days ago, my child saw horses wandering there, and even ate one; the others were startled and ran into the forest."

He Lingchuan and Wu Shaoyi said almost in unison, "That's enough."

"Horses are nostalgic; if they run away for a moment, they will go back later." Wu Shaoyi pondered, "The plan has changed: Eldest Young Master He, just ride a horse to pursue your own people; I will take my men on the crocodiles and continue to Desheng Town."

He Lingchuan was startled, but realized in an instant that he intended to pin down Lu's bandits in Desheng Town so they couldn't head east to reinforce their leader. Pinning down five or seven hundred men with two hundred troops would greatly reduce the pressure on the eastern front.

"Many thanks!"

A surprise attack is one tactic, and a delaying battle is another.

Wu Shaoyi had been through a hundred battles, so this was no problem for him. He added, "Even if our whereabouts are discovered by Lu Yao, we actually still have an advantage, as long as the subsequent actions go smoothly."

The abandoned town mentioned by the Crocodile God was reached quickly, less than a hundred zhang from the shore.

He Lingchuan stuffed a small paper packet into Wu Shaoyi's hand, "Inside is a Dragon-Tiger Golden Pill; take it and you will be full of vigor... for two quarters of an hour, even more powerful than usual. But once the effect wears off, you will be withered, at least for three days, and that 'thing' won't be usable for two months. Considering your current physical condition, don't swallow it unless absolutely necessary."

Wu Shaoyi looked at him deeply, "Many thanks. I wish Eldest Young Master He success."

He casually summoned the purple sable and said to Lian Deng, "You are a local; guide Eldest Young Master He. My sable will go with you, which can also dispel Pei Xinyu's suspicions."

Lian Deng agreed, and the purple sable jumped onto his shoulder, boarding the shore with He Lingchuan.

The giant crocodile turned and continued swimming into the distance.

This stretch of beach was very flat, and they reached the abandoned town in less than a hundred zhang.

Looking at it, this town was originally of a scale of over a hundred households, but now it was empty, and grass grew on the roofs. He Lingchuan saw a mark on a doorpost of one house, which looked like... a water level line?

He didn't know which year it was, but County Magistrate Lake had flooded and washed this town away.

The disaster-stricken humans had no choice but to abandon this small town.

He Lingchuan and Lian Deng walked through the town toward the forest, but they hadn't gone deep before they heard snorting sounds.

The Crocodile God was indeed right; there were horses here! He Lingchuan grabbed two handfuls of tender grass from the ground and took a wine skin from his storage ring, sprinkling a little wine on the grass, and said to the shadows in the forest, "Little darlings, come to Grandpa!"

This was fruit wine, less spicy and more fragrant; even Lian Deng swallowed his saliva smelling it, let alone the horses in the forest.

They had originally been raised by humans, so they walked out after smelling it. Seeing that He Lingchuan and his companion had no ill intent, they stretched their necks to reach for the grass in his hands.

Compared to the support army's warhorses, these horses' coats weren't as sleek, and their legs weren't as long, but He Lingchuan had no room to be picky.

He fed the two tallest and strongest horses with the grass and then asked Lian Deng, "Can you ride a bareback horse?"

These horses had likely escaped during the flood; let alone saddles, they didn't even have bits.

Lian Deng grinned, "Piece of cake!"

He Lingchuan didn't dare feed them more wine, fearing the horses would get weak-legged, so he fed them two apples instead and spoke a few soft words to soothe them. Once calmed, the horses became docile.

Everything went surprisingly smoothly.

Behind the town, the villagers had long ago cut a mountain path, which was now overgrown with vines and grass. The two led the horses over the rugged gravel road before flipping onto their backs.

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Pei Xinyu and Lu Yao rode side by side, followed by their respective subordinates.

They had already rendezvoused at Langming Cave and changed to the side path from there, preparing to pursue the government troops.

There were many side paths on the West Mountain road; why were they certain the government troops had fled this way? It was simple: the carriage tracks on the sandy ground were clear and continuous; clearly, several carriages carrying heavy loads had passed through not long ago.

It's launched, it's launched, please give me monthly tickets!

Starting today, the daily update will increase from two chapters of 4000 words to two chapters of 6000 words, with cautious additional updates.

I also want to update more, update a lot more, but I have self-awareness; I am neither a fast writer nor a master. For me, slow work produces fine results...

We, *cough*, will plan slowly; only by walking steadily can we go far.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 148 =====