Chapter 65: Charge with the Army

Xiao Yu was already decisive and swift in her movements.

When Bo Yue Sanren Zhou Lang fled in panic, she guessed that Miao the Monk intended to flood the camp.

She immediately ran away.

But she had ultimately underestimated the power of Daoist magic.

At first, the rain was ordinary rain.

By the time she picked up Kong Zan’s head, she was already planning to loot a corpse—she hadn’t had time to do so earlier because Zhou Lang had been nearby.

Raindrops landing at her feet swelled instantly into bundles as large as quilts.

One such bundle could fill the bathtub of her past-life home.

Countless raindrops struck the ground, swelling manyfold, and in an instant, she was buried under a flood.

The water wasn’t just abundant—it carried immense kinetic force, surging toward the valley mouth.

Any ordinary person would have been wiped out by this wave.

Even if they didn’t drown, they’d be like leaves caught in a tornado, helplessly tossed and battered by the current, losing all sense of direction and control over their bodies.

But Xiao Yu was the “Black Stripe Beneath the Waves” of Liusha River—white stood out too brightly against the murky depths, and she feared encountering demons, so she always wore black hemp robes or real fish-skin suits when diving.

If Liusha River had no demons, then “Sand Savage Yu” was the “Little Tyrant of Hexi.”

Xiao Yu couldn’t even explain why she was so extraordinary.

She had been playing by Liusha River since age two, and on her first attempt at diving, she held her breath for over ten minutes.

She assumed “all beings in the divine-mortal world were superhuman,” since Sand Savage warriors could dive for over half an hour.

But as she kept trying, her limits kept shattering.

It wasn’t like Olympic athletes breaking world records—difficult and incremental; she shattered her limits with ease.

For example, her first dive lasted over ten minutes; after half a month, she could hold her breath for half an hour; before turning three, she could stay submerged all afternoon.

Worse still, she wasn’t sitting in meditation underwater to reduce oxygen consumption.

She could perform strenuous, complex underwater activities even in the most violent, turbulent currents.

At first, she was thrilled, convinced she had awakened a divine bloodline—perhaps the “Diving Holy Body” or the “Water Monkey Frame.”

Yet no matter how skilled she became at diving, the Sand Savages’ gaze and evaluation of her remained “utterly ordinary.”

The Sand Savage warriors might not dive as well as she did, but their physical strength and speed had long shattered the norms she brought from her past life.

Over time, seeing more and more, Xiao Yu herself came to think this diving talent wasn’t special at all.

Liusha River’s water was “light,” easily whipped into towering waves by the wind.

Those were true waves—hundreds of meters high, like a mountain crashing down from the sky.

Xiao Yu had endured and grown accustomed to such storms and waves.

Miao the Monk’s flood, though massive and powerful, still paled beside Liusha River.

So Xiao Yu’s return to the Yangyang Marquis’s camp was not difficult.

She merely feared the Eight Immortals of the West might add some “seasoning” to the flood—like Jiujiu Huolun Lei from Lei Yuanzi.

The Yangyang Marquis did not disappoint her.

A towering Qin Juhan, one zhang five chi tall, clasped his hands in seals and summoned a “water membrane” covering nearly half the camp.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

She pounded the water membrane with her fists while raising her right hand and waving at the giant.

Bao Shengshui was stunned.

He was using the Water-Repelling Spell to protect the camp and knew perfectly well how fast the flood flowed and how strong its impact was.

Even stones from the mountains and foundations of inns had been ripped up and slammed into the water membrane like cannonballs.

Yet she had stabilized herself in such a violent current and swam over to wink at him for help… Wait, she wasn’t just winking—what was she holding in her hand?

Seeing her waving right hand, Bao Shengshui was stunned again.

In Xiao Yu’s right hand, she gripped a clump of hair—belonging to a severed head.

The lifeless, wide-eyed face was unmistakably Kong Zan, the Hunter-Flag Immortal.

“Did you kill the Hunter-Flag Immortal?” he cried out.

Xiao Yu nodded vigorously.

“Heaven above! Kong Zan, the Hunter-Flag Immortal, is dead—killed by this little girl… She’s the adopted daughter of the traitor Xiang Huchen, right? How old is she? Could she be lying?” The soldiers in the camp were all shocked.

—At least the Hunter-Flag Immortal’s head was real.

Bao Shengshui hesitated for an instant, muttered a incantation, and rapidly formed hand seals.

“Pop!”

Xiao Yu pushed a bubble outward from the water membrane; the bubble detached and burst upon hitting the ground.

With a splash of clear water, she flipped nimbly forward, landed on both feet, and stood firm.

“Miss Yu~~”

Many black-armored cavalrymen and Xisha Garrison soldiers who knew Xiao Yu couldn’t help but cry out in astonishment.

“You’re the adopted daughter of Xiang Huchen—Guan Yu?”

At this moment, Military Secretary Cai Fengnian also approached.

He found the name “Guan Yu”—so unexpectedly martial—hard to pronounce.

Xiao Yu raised Kong Zan’s head high above her head and shouted at the top of her voice: “I am Guan Yu, daughter of the late Qiduwei Xiang Huchen of Shu! The traitor Kong Zan has been slain by me—I come to present the enemy commander’s head to the Yangyang Marquis!”

—Don’t mistake me for a refugee fleeing disaster; I’ve come to present the head of a celestial being—I am a hero!

Have any of you mortals ever seen the head of a celestial being in your lives?

Open your eyes wide and look well—this is the head of a celestial being, slain by me!

Xiao Yu lifted her chin, puffed out her small chest, and held Kong Zan’s head aloft, gazing defiantly in all directions.

She hadn’t wanted to be so conspicuous, but now and in the future, the Eight Immortals of the West would hate her with every fiber of their being.

Since she was destined to have no ties with the Eight Immortals of the West, she might as well cultivate goodwill with the Eastern Great Qin.

To be honest, Cai Fengnian, the top-ranking officer under the Yangyang Marquis in the Fire Crow Army, had planned to test her.

But seeing her display the enemy’s head with such pride and vigor, he didn’t know what to say or how to face her.

Cai Fengnian rubbed his nose and asked: “Kong Zan was a celestial being—how could you kill him?”

—I’ve been waiting for you to ask!

Xiao Yu’s expression turned solemn, her voice clear and loud: “My lord, I was born with a Sword Bone, consumed the Divine Spirit Pill from Qingsong the Ancestor, and received my adoptive father’s family secret, the Tiger Soul Seven Killings, which I have now partially mastered.

Today, my adoptive father bestowed upon me the Ninefold Bone Transformation Pill—I swallowed the divine pill, and my Sword Bone reached full maturity.

The traitor Kong Zan, desperate to seize the Ninefold Bone Transformation Pill, grew reckless and blinded by greed—he mistook me for an ordinary child and carelessly fell victim to my counterattack, the Tiger Tail Sword strike, which pierced his vital point.”

—The divine pill has been swallowed! The divine pill has been swallowed! The divine pill has been swallowed! Did you hear that?

Important matters must be emphasized three times!

Stop scheming for the divine pill. Stop plotting.

Having proven her merit before all soldiers, Kong Zan’s head held no further use for Xiao Yu.

She solemnly handed it to Cai Fengnian.

“So that’s how it was…” Cai Fengnian took the head half-heartedly, a flicker of regret passing through his eyes.

He had no innate divine talent; he had arranged for Li Qing, Wang Bao, and others to seize the divine pill to please Gao Xianjue.

On the surface, as Military Secretary, he held the highest rank in the Fire Crow Army.

But Military Secretary was merely a temporary steward appointed for the western campaign.

Once back in Great Qin and within the Fire Crow Army, he was merely a captain of a hundred men.

Cai Fengnian did not doubt Xiao Yu’s words.

A being born with divine talent who swallowed the Bone Transformation Pill—yet was mistaken for an ordinary little girl by Kong Zan—he died foolishly, but not unjustly.

“Guan Yu, as the daughter of Xiang Huchen, you are barely a Shu female general. Your battlefield merit against Kong Zan is recorded.”

“Thank you, General!” Xiao Yu imitated a martial officer, clasped her fists, bowed deeply, and declared solemnly: “Loyal to the Marquis, serving Great Qin—Long live the Emperor!”

The Emperor just died—what do you mean by “Long live”?

Cai Fengnian’s lip twitched, and he asked again: “Where is your adoptive father? Is he still alive?”

“My adoptive father still had a breath left—I placed him in the wine cellar behind the quarters. After I left, the traitor Kong Zan found him, murdered him, and tried to kill me—but I killed him instead,” Xiao Yu sighed.

“If your adoptive father is still alive, why didn’t you stay in the cellar to care for him?” Cai Fengnian asked.

“Precisely because he’s still alive, I came out to find the Red Smoke Steed. It can travel three thousand li a day—it can carry my adoptive father to the interior to find a Shu divine physician.”

It was the truth.

Moreover, the story of a lone girl braving a celestial battlefield to find a horse and save her father would strengthen her image as a filial daughter.

So Xiao Yu spoke loudly and clearly.

But the moment she finished, the expressions of the Qin officers froze, and the camp’s atmosphere turned strange.

Xiao Yu felt puzzled.

A faint voice came from the command tent: “I will pursue the last remnants soon—I need a good steed to conserve my strength. After this battle ends, I will return the horse to you.”

Xiao Yu peered into the camp—and her expression froze.

A tall general in dark-red armor, sharp and formidable, sat astride the Red Smoke Steed, gripping his halberd.

The Red Smoke Steed was perfectly still.

—That man is the Yangyang Marquis, isn’t he?

Oh, how embarrassing.

Xiao Yu’s expression was calm. “Your Lordship, feel free to take it—my adoptive father is dead...”

—Adoptive father, I did my best. But the opponent is the Yang Flame Marquis. If you’re watching from the afterlife, curse “Yu Yu, you unworthy brat” as hard as you can—don’t blame me for not trying!

“Boom—boom—boom~~~”

Xiao Yu was still pondering: Should she kill two birds with one stone and simply gift the Chiyan Steed to the Yang Flame Marquis, so that, moved by her adoptive father’s recent death and her lonely, helpless state, he would take her in as his adopted daughter?

Lei Yuanzi moved.

As she had feared, countless pineapple-sized red-purple lightning orbs descended, bathing the entire “underwater world” in violet-red light.

The lightning didn’t just travel through the water.

Bao Shengshui’s Water-Repelling Spell could repel water—but not lightning.

Dense bolts of lightning pierced through the “water membrane” and struck the heads of the soldiers below.

The Three Thousand Fire Crows formation remained intact; all lightning was blocked by giant, flame-shaped shields.

Even Xiao Yu was protected.

“My L—ord~~”

Bao Shengshui seemed struck by invisible thunder; his face, larger than Xiao Yu’s washbasin, rapidly drained of color.

His fifteen-foot muscular frame began to tremble.

The key problem: the transparent water bubble created by the Water-Repelling Spell began leaking extensively.

Lei Yuanzi’s Nine-Nine Fire Wheel Thunder hadn’t struck him—but it severely disrupted his Dao technique: the Water-Repelling Spell.

Xiao Yu suddenly recalled a scene from Journey to the West: Sun Wukong could cast the Water-Repelling Spell, yet he deeply disliked fighting underwater.

The Yang Flame Marquis tilted his halberd toward the northern sky, his voice echoing across all directions: “All soldiers, heed my command! Cast aside distractions and charge with me!”

The Qin Juhan warriors hesitated not at all; they moved with practiced ease to the rear of the Chiyan Steed, forming their charge formation.

The remaining Western soldiers, under their commanders’ orders, swiftly aligned with the Yang Flame Marquis into a “Spearhead Formation.”

—How do you charge underwater?

Xiao Yu wondered this in her mind—but her movements were swift.

She spotted the Lu Ye Guard’s Iron Cavalry unit at once, sprinted to Song Changqing’s side, and said: “You’re down to just this many men—surely you still have plenty of horses left? Give me one.”

Earlier, the Hunter Flag Immortal had commanded the Eight Trigrams Heaven Blade Array, raining “Heavenly Blades” upon the camp. Many Western soldiers with weak faith in the Yang Flame Marquis, whose qi links to the Three Thousand Fire Crows formation were unstable, had been found vulnerable by Kong Zan and slain by the “Heavenly Blades.”

The Western nations’ soldiers suffered heavy losses; the Shu forces fared best, especially the Lu Ye Guard’s Iron Cavalry, who had suffered almost no casualties, having joined the Fire Crows Army months earlier under Xiang Huchen.

Xiao Yu said “you’re down to just this many men” because she knew Li Qing, Wang Bao, and others were dead.

Their horses must now be unoccupied.

“Miss Xiao, you don’t need to join us,” Song Changqing said, unmoving.

“Do you think I want to follow you?”

What other choice did she have now but to charge with the Fire Crows Army?

“No spare horses left,” Song Changqing said.

Xiao Yu looked left and right—sure enough, she found no saddles unoccupied.

She didn’t know that after she killed Kong Zan, the Yang Flame Marquis had begun reorganizing the army, preparing for the charge.

The Yang Flame Marquis himself had mounted Xiang Huchen’s Chiyan Steed; other soldiers had brought their own horses.

The remaining horses, supplies, and corpses of soldiers slain by the Heavenly Blades had long been swept away by the flood.

“Advance!”

The Yang Flame Marquis had no intention of waiting for Xiao Yu to prepare.

As the Spearhead Formation took initial shape, he immediately spurred his horse into a furious charge.

“Water-Control Spell—rise~~~”

Bao Shengshui roared, simultaneously forming the Water-Repelling Spell and the Water-Control Spell; water gathered beneath his feet, and his body began rising rapidly.

As the ground beneath him turned into a raging flood, the water bubble sustained by the Water-Repelling Spell also began to float upward.

The current pushed the soldiers upward, and with the Yang Flame Marquis leading the Fire Crows Army in a charge, the result was a “fire dragon” surging at high speed from the depths.