Chapter 98: Battlefield of Overlapping Blood Colors

"I gained insight into two moves."

Cheng Xiazi held up two fingers, then retracted his middle finger.

"But one of the moves is not convenient to use. If you are interested, I can only show you the other move."

Chu Tianshu smiled: "Okay, do you want me to practice with you?"

"No need."

Cheng Xiazi said, "At the moment of gaining insight into the move, I must be with the blade soul, using a move with all my strength like never before."

"However, after the move insight is successful, even if I don't hold a blade, I can use the essence of that move."

He held the bottle mouth with his thumb and index finger, and swayed the wine bottle in front of him.

Thud!!

Cheng Xiazi flicked the bottom of the bottle with his right hand, making a muffled sound, and then flicked three times on the side of the bottle.

The three landing points were different, and the sounds produced were crisper and sharper than the previous one.

Chu Tianshu heard the subtlety, watched intently, and noticed that the wine bottle was vibrating slightly at an amplitude difficult for ordinary people to distinguish.

Cheng Xiazi also listened with his ears, seemingly looking for an angle, and suddenly pursed his lips and blew.

Bang!!

The lower half of the black porcelain wine bottle shattered on the spot.

Fine debris splashed, and a few grains even stuck to Cheng Xiazi's face, all the size of mung beans.

Chu Tianshu was quite moved.

He saw clearly that although Cheng Xiazi's momentum was like an arrow, what he blew out was just a stream of air.

Relying on the breath blown from his mouth, nearly two feet away, he shattered this kind of thick-bottomed wine bottle.

With the strength of Chu Tianshu's internal organs, he probably couldn't do it.

Cheng Xiazi blew this breath just now, but it was an easy look.

The point is definitely not the strength of the air current.

Chu Tianshu thought for a moment: "Is it because of your few flicks, and... the landing point of that air current?"

"Right."

Cheng Xiazi said, "This is the move I gained insight into, Loulan Slash!"

During the Western Han Dynasty, countries like Loulan often colluded with the Xiongnu to rob and kill Han envoys and plunder Han property.

Fu Jiezi was sent as an envoy to Loulan, killed the King of Loulan, and brought the King of Loulan's head back to the imperial court.

This mission, the whole process seems to have only made a killing move in the Loulan country, but in fact, he observed the customs along the way, visited several nearby countries, and beat the Western Regions officials.

With the small number of troops Fu Jiezi brought, these things he did seem to have little effect, but they intertwined to produce miraculous effects.

This allowed him to withdraw safely after killing the King of Loulan. Afterwards, Loulan and several nearby countries not only did not take revenge but also submitted to the Han Dynasty.

The true mystery of Loulan Slash lies in this point.

It can destroy the fierce momentum of one side with a few subtle forces.

Chu Tianshu thought carefully and felt that this should be a kind of application of stress.

When an object is affected by external influences, whether it is temperature or humidity changes, or direct strikes.

Various parts within the object will produce a kind of interaction force, which is stress.

Because of various differences in material, shape, etc., sometimes the point being hit is not necessarily the point where the stress is most concentrated.

When hitting multiple times, the stress concentration point will also constantly change.

But if someone hits accurately when this stress concentration point is constantly changing, they can destroy solid things with less force.

The theory is simple, but even with the technological level of Chu Tianshu's hometown, bringing a bunch of equipment to test objects, it is a big deal.

It may not necessarily be able to do this kind of thing, after a few precise strikes, just relying on blowing a breath to shatter the bottle.

This seemingly ordinary blade soul move insight, in a sense, is more suitable for combat than Zheng Hui's "Empty Drum Flying to Heaven," which looks outrageous at a glance.

Chu Tianshu could almost imagine it.

Cheng Xiazi meets a strong enemy, touches the opponent's weapon a few times, and on the third time, he directly breaks the opponent's weapon and severely damages the soldier spirit.

Or, when the opponent uses a weapon and creates a stress concentration point himself.

Cheng Xiazi's first strike can hit the weak point, shattering the weapon and killing the person.

"That year, on the battlefield, I met a man using a wolf-tooth club. He used the forty-pound wolf-tooth club as fast as a light wooden stick."

Cheng Xiazi said, "It was in that battle that I gained insight into Loulan Slash."

"One blade blocked the wolf-tooth club, and the second blade split him and the club."

"After the war, I was promoted to captain. The general came to see me, helped me name this move, and told me that the old Di Renjie, Di Gong, was famous for his mace technique, and the move he gained insight into had similarities with this move of mine."

Cheng Xiazi sneered and shook his head.

"Di Gong is such a big official? At that time, I was young and vigorous, and I really dared to listen to any good words."

He threw the remaining half of the wine bottle into the air and suddenly drew his blade.

Clang!!

The half wine bottle was hit by a blade, did not shatter, and directly collapsed into a pile of powder in the air.

When the wind blew, the powder was still rolling in the air.

Clatter, the blade was already sheathed.

Chu Tianshu saw that this blade was sent out with anger.

I am afraid that when he left the army that year, it was not just because of his eye disease, but because of some other anger-inducing matter.

Chu Tianshu did not ask more, chatted about other things, and asked: "Since you gain insight into moves, what you need are new moves. How did you feel about the moves I told you when we were in the restaurant a few days ago?"

Cheng Xiazi nodded: "I have also been pondering in my heart for a while, but I am afraid it is still far from gaining insight into moves from it."

Whoosh!!

Zheng Hui's figure suddenly swept into the courtyard, his face full of anxiety.

"Are both of you here?"

Zheng Hui said urgently, "Something big happened, I want to invite you two to go with me."

The muscles in Chu Tianshu's calves flicked, and his body straightened.

Cheng Xiazi's blade sheath pointed to the ground, and he also stood up.

Zheng Hui was also anxious, and seeing them willing to go together, he immediately turned to lead the way.

The three of them were fast, passing through the stream and forest, and leaving the mansion from the side.

Outside the mansion, there were already several guards and three empty horses waiting.

After getting on the horses, Zheng Hui galloped while explaining.

"During this period, I discussed with the monarch and contacted the Great Tang. A mission has already entered the country in advance."

"This mission is full of experts, coming here, not only to show their intentions but also to help us."

"For this reason, we also strictly prevented the news from leaking, and even watched the Duan family closely to ensure that they did not receive news and have any unusual movements against the mission."

Zheng Hui let out a low drink, and for a moment, suppressed the sound of the horse's hooves.

"But just now, I received a pigeon message that the mission was intercepted and killed by a group of black-clothed people a hundred miles away!!"

Chu Tianshu held the reins with one hand, letting the horse gallop, and frowned upon hearing this.

It takes time for the mission to release pigeons to ask for help, and for the pigeons to fly over.

By the time they rush over, that battle must have already ended.

I don't know if this mission group has held on.

The horse's hooves rumbled, and the wild grass in the jungle by the road flew backward.

Zheng Hui was very clear about the location of the mission and ran at the forefront all the way.

As the sun hung high, everyone arrived at the foot of a mountain.

The camp on the mountainside came into view.

A large open space was cleared there, trees were felled, more than a dozen carriages were in the center, and there were traces of bonfires around.

But the horses pulling the carriages had all fallen to the ground.

Most of the carriage compartments were damaged, and there were corpses everywhere.

Those bonfires were almost extinguished by corpses and blood.

Arriving here, the horses were too slow.

Zheng Hui jumped up, his figure already pouncing toward the mountain road.

Chu Tianshu and the others also jumped off their horses.

Passing through the mottled light and shadow in the forest, when they arrived at that open space.

The rich smell of blood made everyone's footsteps pause.

The mission itself had dozens of people, and every time they arrived at a place, they would have guards sent by the local Nanzhao to take turns guarding.

There were more than a hundred corpses in the field.

It seemed that the first to die were the light-armored guards of the local Nanzhao. They were patrolling on the periphery and were all killed by throat-slitting.

The corpses on the inside had more varied states of death.

Some were covered in blood, holding broken swords, leaning against overturned carriages, dying with their eyes wide open.

Some were pressed by dead horses, with the back of their heads sunken.

Some had their upper body clothing shattered, lying in the unburned wood, their chests seemingly hit by heavy objects, bloodstains mottled.

There was also an old man holding a flag spear, with white beard and white hair, both stained with blood, staring, seemingly looking at the enemy.

The spear tail was deeply inserted into the soil, and the old man's corpse leaned against this spear, not falling.

His injury was a blood hole pierced through his chest, front and back bright, as if pierced by someone with a palm.

"Is that, Brother Jiang?"

Zheng Hui had met this old man a few times, and the last time they formed an alliance, the envoy was this old man.

When he walked to the old man's corpse, he seemed to be a few years older, his beard trembling.

"How could it be like this? Where did the Duan family get the manpower... is it Tubo..."

"But even if it is the Duan family and Tubo, how could they clearly know the route of this mission group?!"

Zheng Hui's thoughts turned sharply, turning more and more chaotic, "Also, these people are all experts, how many people would Tubo have to send to kill them all?"

"Could it be that a whole army was sent to infiltrate Nanzhao?!"

Chu Tianshu scanned the battlefield, and in the rich smell of blood, walked to the west side.

There were several corpses here, dying in a miserable state, with limbs and torso broken.

Because of this cruel state of death, everyone did not pay much attention to this side for a while.

Chu Tianshu stared and looked, but found something wrong.

The Nanzhao guards were in light armor, and the mission group people mostly wore robes.

And these corpses, they should have been wearing black clothes before they died.

Chu Tianshu walked along this route to the west, entered the forest, walked a few steps, and his expression changed.

"Come and see!"

Zheng Hui was startled by him, came back to his senses, and led everyone to this side.

In this forest, scattered, there were also many dead people.

Some were lying on tree stumps, some were lying under mountain rocks, the difference was that the corpses here were all wrapped in black clothes.

"They are the ones who attacked the mission group."

Zheng Hui forced himself to calm down, "Not bad, when they attacked the mission group, they must have also suffered damage. They should have taken the corpses away when they left, but..."

Not right.

If these corpses were all losses when attacking the mission group.

Since they wanted to take the corpses away, why did they throw them down again after moving them to here?

"These people were mostly killed by the same person."

Chu Tianshu looked at the blood-red skin of those corpses and the palm prints on their chests, pondering the battlefield situation in his heart.

"These people succeeded in a sneak attack, killed the mission group, and were preparing to leave when another person arrived here."

Chu Tianshu said while observing the traces of the battle in the forest.

Everyone followed behind him unknowingly.

The further they walked, the more obvious the traces of the battle.

The black-clothed people obviously reacted.

They launched a siege on the person who broke in later.

The weapons of these black-clothed people included iron rods, chains, and curved blades, all of which were extremely fierce.

A tree as thick as a person's waist was cut off by a blade, and the cut was as flat as a tabletop.

On a stubborn rock half a person high, there were traces of iron chains whipping, reaching a depth of more than two inches.

Zheng Hui picked up a chain and identified the scriptures as thin as ants on it, his heart shocked.

"The Binding God Chain of the Tubo Great Monk."

He looked around, stunned, "Are these dozens of black-clothed people all royal guards, Tubo great monks who climbed the snow mountain naked?"

But these people were all dead, either with sunken heads or sunken chests, killed with one blow.

However, up to here, cloth other than black clothes also appeared.

There was a piece of red silk wrapped around a chain.

There was a wisp of white cloth bitten on someone's teeth.

The end of this battlefield was a big tree that three people could hug.

The burly monk, more than eight feet tall, had no clothes on his upper body, and his whole body was embedded in the tree trunk.

This person's head was slightly pointed, his eyebrows were as thick as reed flowers, his white beard hung down, and he was actually an old monk.

But his physique was so strong that it made people completely unable to associate him with words like "aging."

Zheng Hui looked at this old man and let out a long breath.

"Great Priest! The one who can lead so many great monks is indeed the Great Priest. Tubo has such great courage!"

The way this Great Priest died was surprisingly similar to the Great Tang envoy, also with a blood hole blasted through his chest.

Someone dug out his heart with one hand.

However, the bloodstains on this old monk's hands obviously did not belong to him.

Especially his right hand, which was still clutching a large piece of red paper with a bamboo frame.

"Folding fan?"

Chu Tianshu walked close, his gaze cast over, "No, it's an umbrella."

"Half of the umbrella surface of a red paper umbrella?"

Zheng Hui had been too surprised just now, and now it seemed he could no longer be surprised.

After hearing Chu Tianshu's questioning voice, he only answered in a certain tone.

"Who else could it be? With one's own strength, killing the Great Priest and more than thirty great monks."

"It can only be the number one expert of the Great Tang, the commander of the Right Division of the Inner Guards..."

Zheng Hui said this, but could not help but take another breath.

"But even if it were him, I had never thought before that he could really kill so many Tubo top experts with a single red umbrella."

Cheng Xiazi's face also changed, knowing who it was.

"Blood sea surging, Red Emperor coming from the east, it is, Hai Donglai!"

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 99 =====