Chapter 190: Unthreatened

Qin Donglai coughed heavily.

Each time harder than the last, and he felt cold all over, with weakness in his hands and feet.

Even his head throbbed a little.

He looked at the wound on his shoulder; although the iron splinters mixed with wood had been removed and the area bandaged, it was slightly swollen, and he felt a throbbing pain there now and then, like a heartbeat.

He sighed softly and said to the adjutant beside him, "Go fetch the medical officer."

Not long after, a strangely dressed southern barbarian shaman approached.

This blackened, emaciated old man examined Qin Donglai's body, muttered a few gibberish words that neither the Qi people nor the southern barbarians could understand, then said, "You are possessed by an evil spirit; you have been cursed."

Qin Donglai frowned: "How could that be... Taowu Zhenjun did not attack me at the time, and although my opponent was a Spirit Hunter, he used the majestic Thunder Art; it is impossible he would use such a lowly curse technique."

"But you are indeed possessed," the shaman said, rolling his eyes.

Qin Donglai sighed: "Then help me exorcise the evil."

"Very well!"

The southern barbarian shaman took some very strange medicinal ingredients from a pouch he carried with him.

Such as dried eyes, a segment of white bone, and some insects.

He crushed and mixed these ingredients, ground them into powder, then brewed them with spring water from the mountainside near the camp, and finally brought the mixture to Qin Donglai.

Qin Donglai looked at the black paste, upon which floated strands resembling white ribbons—the "medicine soup"—and instinctively frowned.

Because it stank.

"Drink it," the shaman said coldly. "Once you drink it, you will recover."

Qin Donglai gritted his teeth, tilted his head back, and downed the bowl of medicine soup in one go.

The shaman left, quite satisfied.

Qin Donglai sat in place, recalling the events of the past few days.

Li Lin's figure appeared in his mind.

Then came images of purple lightning striking down.

A few beads of cold sweat formed on his forehead.

This was the first time he had truly, in the real sense, felt the terror of the Spirit Hunters.

Such techniques and spells are utterly unreasonable.

At least, that is how he felt.

But soon he realized that the unreasonable one was actually that young man; it was not that he lacked Spirit Hunter techniques, but that he possessed ones with such immense power.

Even a disciple of the Daoist Sect, at that age, would not be so formidable.

Because the attack on Yulin County had failed, his official rank had been demoted by one level, and he was now escorting about twenty thousand Qi commoners back to Yuecheng.

These captives could not only serve as laborers but, when necessary, could become military rations.

He stood on high ground, looking at the group of Qi people not far ahead.

In his view, these commoners were all exceedingly cowardly.

Over twenty thousand people, yet they were tightly controlled by only a few hundred; if those twenty thousand truly rose up in revolt, the few hundred could not possibly hold them back.

But the problem was, these people simply dared not revolt.

"The Qi people are naturally cowardly... like chickens and dogs."

Yet immediately afterward, he frowned again, knowing his words were not entirely correct.

If the Qi people were truly cowardly by nature, how could he have "failed"?

He indulged in some wild speculation for a while, then suddenly realized... his body did not seem to feel so unwell anymore.

Nor did he feel cold as he had just moments ago.

The southern barbarian shaman truly had some skill!

He immediately grew excited, waved his hand, and felt that his shoulder no longer hurt.

Amazing!

Qin Donglai took a deep breath, feeling that his body had become much more comfortable.

He was about to fetch a bow to test whether his strength had fully recovered, when suddenly, he saw a wave of fire arrows flying toward them from the distance.

"Enemy attack!"

Someone let out a piercing shout.

All the southern barbarian soldiers sprang into action.

This wave of fire arrows numbered about two hundred, scattered around the entire camp.

As an archer, Qin Donglai immediately understood that the purpose of these fire arrows was not to inflict casualties, but... illumination.

The fire arrows ignited flammable materials in the southern barbarian camp, such as tents and grain supplies, and the flames grew larger, lighting up the entire camp as if it were day.

Then came the rumbling sound of hooves.

Several dozen cavalrymen charged forward first, their silver lances thrusting out, directly piercing through the southern barbarian formation, then hovering at a distance.

At least forty southern barbarian soldiers were stabbed to death by the cavalry, and more than thirty were trampled by the horses.

And this all happened in less than the time it takes to burn a stick of incense.

Afterward, several hundred Qi soldiers charged forward.

Qin Donglai, holding a large bow, leaped out from the camp, brushed off the sparks of fire burning on his clothes, and then looked into the distance.

He drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and released it.

Ding... the arrow was deflected.

The Qi infantry had already formed ranks; the front line consisted of shield-bearers, and a portion were armored soldiers.

Compared with the local militia in Yulin County a few days ago, their equipment was clearly far superior.

He tossed aside the great bow, picked up a long spear from beside the corpse of a Southern Man soldier, then roared, "Everyone, follow me up and fight those cowardly Qi people to the death."

Immediately, a large number of soldiers swarmed around him.

At a time like this, having a superior officer who stands up is enough to easily create a bandwagon effect.

Before long, more than two hundred Southern Man soldiers had gathered around Qin Donglai.

"Fight back."

Qin Donglai roared.

He immediately launched a charge against the Qi people, and the Southern Man soldiers followed.

Qin Donglai moved quickly; he exerted himself and sprinted, and before long he reached the shield-bearers of the Qi people.

At that moment, he felt his whole body light and floating, as if he could take flight with just a little effort.

Then... he truly 'flew'.

With the motion of a starving dog snatching feces, he dove straight onto the ground before the shield-bearers and lay motionless.

This sudden turn of events left not only the Southern Man soldiers, but even the Qi shield-bearers, stunned.

Li Lin, standing behind the shield-bearers, broke his hand seals.

He had wanted to cast a Fallen Thunder Incantation directly at Qin Donglai, but the other man had fainted first.

Does he have hidden injuries?

It didn't matter that Qin Donglai fell; the two hundred Southern Man soldiers following him instantly froze in place.

They could neither run nor flee.

At that moment, a shower of arrows shot out from behind the Qi army, felling the majority of these Southern Man soldiers.

"Stop!"

Suddenly, someone shouted, his voice so loud it spread across the entire battlefield.

Li Lin turned his head to look; the one who spoke was a burly man standing on a high platform, pointing down at the twenty thousand shivering Qi commoners as if pointing at twenty thousand lambs awaiting slaughter.

"If you dare attack us again, we will kill them."

Beside the twenty thousand civilians stood over a hundred soldiers... holding long spears in a posture ready to thrust downward.

The twenty thousand people looked expectantly at the Qi army, at Li Lin.

After all, Li Lin wore official robes, looking like a high-ranking official.

The Qi people stopped.

"Very good." The burly man on the command platform sneered, "Now, all of you drop your weapons... and surrender."

Li Lin sighed lightly and said, "Continue the attack!"

The Qi army advanced forward once more.

The Southern Man burly man flew into a rage, shouting, "Kill those civilians! Kill them quickly!"

Over a hundred soldiers, like starving wolves, charged into the group of captives and began killing.

The captives screamed, scrambling backward, all trying to make others stand in front of them.

Li Lin's face grew grim as he began forming hand seals.

Purple heavenly thunderbolts fell one after another.

Twenty-three heavenly thunderbolts... killed twenty-three executioners.

Li Lin had done his best.

There was no more spiritual energy left in his body.

The power of an ordinary person still had too little impact on the battlefield.

But the other Southern Man people were not frightened away; they continued killing among the crowd.

Only after the Qi army had cleared all enemies from the outer perimeter of the battlefield did they have time to turn toward those Qi captives.

(End of this chapter)