Chapter 835: Seeking One's Own Death

"Brother Lin, this can't go on."

"Right, we haven't even crossed blades a few times. In ten days at the shortest, half a month at the longest, the main army will arrive, and by then there'll be even less room for us."

Inside a camp tent, seven or eight scions of noble houses and descendants of military merit gathered together, all with unwilling expressions on their faces.

The one at the head was precisely Li Lin.

They were a step behind Li Qi and her group, and as a result could only stand by and watch the excitement during this period.

Watching "Marquis Nine Phoenix" and the Jia family girl continuously establish merit, shrinking to one side with envy beyond measure.

Li Lin also frowned.

His relationship with his own sister wasn't too good; his sister had the personality of a female tyrant, and Li Lin used to be a bit afraid when he saw her.

Later it just became dislike.

Fortunately they grew up together from childhood, so at least no grudges were born.

Growing a bit older, both sides matured, and the relationship actually improved considerably.

This time Li Qi also didn't rely on her marquis rank to suppress Li Lin and the others; these people could still go to the battlefield if they wanted to.

Going up a few times, their performance was originally passable, with wins and losses on both sides; overall added together it was at most slightly inferior to the Great Yin side by a margin.

With their "Heir Apparent" status, as long as this national war isn't a crushing defeat when the time comes, even if they just don't win, suffer a small loss, they still have merit to their name.

It just so happened the Jia family girl's performance was excessively dazzling, winning every battle, her limelight boundless.

Titles like Weeping Death God Lin Daiyu, Smiling Yama Xue Baochai, Proud Rakshasa Qingwen, and the others' names had already spread.

Making these noble scions become trash, with no one inquiring after them.

Apart from Li Lin, when the others walked out, the border soldiers and generals didn't even give them a proper look.

But these arrogant soldiers and fierce generals, when mentioning the Jia family's Grand Protector, all raised their thumbs, saying "A son should be like the Jia family girl."

Now the minor skirmishes have basically ceased; the Great Yin side has temporarily been beaten into withdrawing their heads, both sides awaiting the arrival of the main armies.

At that time, these people will just be a tiny spray in the great wave, with no special position anymore, unless they perform a mighty feat, they won't be able to establish merit.

But are mighty feats that easy to accomplish?

This time both Great Yin and Great Qian have respectively committed hundreds of thousands of troops; unless one is a Grandmaster, there's no way to perform an astonishing feat in a great battle with "the power of a single person."

The rest are all just component parts of the great army.

"Brother Lin, what do we do?" someone looked at Li Lin.

Li Lin frowned: "Things having come to this, if we still want to establish merit and career, we must take a desperate gamble with our troops."

"Oh?"

Everyone turned their gazes over.

"Before troops move, provisions go first." A ruthless glint flashed in Li Lin's eyes, "We'll pull together a fifty-man squad, all elites, and launch a surprise raid on Great Yin's supply troops!"

Everyone listened and felt a chill.

Everyone knows the importance of the granary; the number of soldiers on the supply convoy isn't large, but they are all elites among elites.

Raiding supplies, the greatest possibility is getting oneself folded in.

Don't look at how protagonists in various documents often carry out such surprise raids or decapitation actions to turn the tide and settle the victory.

But in reality, truly successful cases are few and far between.

"Don't panic." Seeing everyone's expressions, Li Lin smiled and continued, "Naturally we aren't really going to burn the provisions; we don't have that ability. What we need to do is create a show of force."

Everyone heard this and understood in their hearts.

To really cause some major loss, they couldn't do it even if they staked their lives there.

But to make some noise, create an impact, isn't fundamentally impossible.

Being able to cause unrest in Great Yin's army morale is also a great merit.

"Done!"

A group of fearless, self-proud yamen scions glanced at each other, their hearts greatly settled.

Half a month later.

Great Qian and Great Yin's hundreds of thousands of great armies formed up at the border, momentum vast.

Not to say all are martial artists, but at least eighty percent of the soldiers are martial artists.

Such scale and quantity of martial artists, the murderous intent radiating out, even flying birds no longer appeared passing nearby.

Inside the Great Yin main camp's commander tent.

Lu Junyi wore a full suit of armor and military attire, sitting calmly at the head seat; this man's eyes were bright, his brows shaped like the character 'eight', his body nine chi tall like silver, awe-inspiring in bearing, appearance like a heavenly god.

First among cavalry and infantry, most honored among the Heavenly Gang numbers, a malignant star sent down by heaven. Eyeballs like dotted lacquer, face like engraved silver. A zhang-two steel spear with no enemy, riding a swift horse soaring through clouds, both talent and martial arts surpassing the crowd. Liangshan's Lu Junyi, Great Yin's Jade Qilin.

Martial Dao Grandmaster, strength unfathomable.

Below sat Entering Cloud Dragon Gong Sunsheng, Golden Spear General Xu Ning, and others, as well as deputy generals and messenger officers.

"Tomorrow separate out a hundred thousand troops, fight a battle first." Lu Junyi spoke, voice steady.

A great battle of this level, even if upright and proper, presses people with "momentum."

So-called clever stratagems aren't something that can play a role at just any time.

The accompanying messenger officers and deputy generals received the order and left, leaving only the Hundred and Eight Stars people inside the tent.

"Big Brother, why not let me chop up those few scoundrels as a sacrifice to the flag first?" Black Whirlwind Li Kui had the heaviest killing nature, and spoke.

On the way they had captured a few ignorant, heaven-high-earth-thick little devils.

Strength mediocre, but status not low, just right to kill as a sacrifice to the flag.

"No, tomorrow bring them before the battle, make the best use of everything." Lu Junyi said.

"Fine." Black Whirlwind scratched his head, pressing down his killing intent.

"Tomorrow you all go up." Lu Junyi said, "The first battle, we must directly beat Great Qian flat!"

A fierce glint flashed through his eyes.

Great Qian actually dared to send a yellow-mouthed child who hadn't reached the Grandmaster realm to humiliate him; then let them know what war is, what pain is!

"Tomorrow I'll have to ask for Daoist Brother's assistance."

Finally, Lu Junyi said to Gong Sunsheng.

Gong Sunsheng was dressed as a Daoist, eyes closed nurturing his spirit the whole time; only when Lu Junyi spoke did he open his eyes and smile: "We're all family brothers, what's this talk of assistance."

The next day.

Both great armies formed ranks, a dark mass; despite no shouting or killing sounds, a grim killing intent permeated the air.

Even the sky seemed to have turned overcast.

This scene was enough to scare a hundred Jia Baoyus to death.

The two sides were separated by an arrow's flight; all the vanguard generals were in front, the commanders slightly further back, yet still in the front ranks.

In the current age martial dao flourishes; those able to serve as commanders are mostly martial dao experts — how could they hide inside the army formation?

Over time, this formation with vanguards in front and commanders behind became the norm.

On Great Yin's side, Black Whirlwind Li Kui, Golden Spear General Xu Ning, Vanguard Pioneer Suo Chao, and Red-Haired Ghost Liu Tang served as vanguards, at the very front.

Further back, Lu Junyi sat atop an exceptionally tall steed.

This horse was extraordinary, comparable to many divine steeds of Great Ding.

Further back still was a high platform built on a carriage, fully fifteen meters high; Gong Sunsheng sat cross-legged, a Seven-Star Sword laid across his knees.

He looked like a living target.

On Great Qian's side, the Jia Family's Thirteen Taibao and Marquis Nine Phoenixes stood in front as vanguards, their numbers exceeding Great Yin's by quite a lot.

However, the commander-in-chief's side looked weird no matter how you looked at it, making one feel uncomfortable all over.

Opposite, Lu Junyi rode a tall horse, his imposing aura astonishing.

This side? A huge luxurious carriage, not a horse carriage, roofless and uncovered.

Duke of Xuan State Jia Rong just sat there lazily.

On both sides stood two "personal guards": one an old man (Jiao Da version Zhu Bajie), the other a half-grown youth (Jia Huan version Ao Yulie).

In front crouched a man with weird hair eating a peach; needless to say, it was the genuine Sun Wukong, Sun the Great King.

It didn't look like they'd come to fight a war at all.

The deputy generals beside him felt too ashamed to watch, eyes fixed straight ahead staring at the Great Yin army formation, wishing they could order an attack immediately.

Feeling that every moment of delay weakened their own morale by a fraction.

Lu Junyi's sharp gaze swept across, and he spoke slowly, voice like a great bell: "The Qian ruler is without the Way..."

A pile of pre-battle rhetoric, nothing more than pinning the previous Great Yin Emperor's death on Great Qian to find a just cause for sending troops and boost morale.

After Lu Junyi finished speaking words that weren't really all that comprehensible in classical Chinese, it was Great Qian's turn.

As a result, Tang Luo merely waved his hand.

There, Sun Wukong opened his mouth and spat; a peach pit flew out, whistling through the air, striking the ground before the Great Yin army and sinking a full meter deep: "If we're fighting then fight, what's with all this nonsense?"

Back when a hundred thousand heavenly soldiers pressed against Flower-Fruit Mountain, Taibai Jinxing still held a jade edict wanting to read it aloud.

As a result, Sun Wukong directly lifted his Golden-Hooped Rod and attacked; Taibai Jinxing couldn't even finish speaking.

What harsh words to spew — isn't it better to just start fighting?

The opponent's conduct like this made Lu Junyi's face darken; he raised his right hand in a signal.

Immediately soldiers behind dragged up seven or eight people covered in blood and filth.

"Heard these are your Great Qian's qilin children?"

Black Whirlwind grabbed one of them, grinned savagely: "Li Lindao that scoundrel's son? Not much to him. Tiger father, dog son — Great Qian has no successors left."

The axe in his hand gestured at Li Lin's neck.

"It really is them!"

"These idiots!"

Great Qian's side erupted in commotion; those soldiers wished they could rush over and hang Li Lin and the others up for a beating.

Arrogant and overconfident, acting on their own; now they've become tools in the enemy's hands to strike at morale.

"Release my younger brother!" Marquis Nine Phoenixes Li Qi spurred his horse forward: "Bullying a child — what skill is that? Long heard of Black Whirlwind's name; dare you fight me?"

Before Black Whirlwind could say anything, golden light flashed; Xu Ning's spear pierced through one person's body.

Amid their miserable scream, he lifted them on his spear, spurring his horse out through the crowd.

Then he flung his golden spear, smashing the person down before Li Qi.

Full of provocation.

"Let this guy get the advantage." Li Kui grumbled discontentedly, slamming Li Lin hard onto the ground.

"What nerve!"

Li Qi flared with rage, about to act.

A horse's neigh came from behind; a black horse charged straight at Xu Ning, imposing aura astonishing.

"Jia Family, Xue Baochai!"

The voice appeared mid-way; Smiling Yama Xue Baochai had already ruthlessly attacked!

Under Sun Wukong's tutelage, the Jia Family women's feminine patience had long since been almost entirely worn away.

"Go meet the real Yama and tell him the Golden Spear General Xu Ning killed you!" Xu Ning wasn't to be outdone, spurring his horse into a mad gallop, thrusting his spear.

Gold and black twin spears clashed; the ones unable to withstand it were the two horses.

Each let out a mournful cry and collapsed.

The two simply dismounted, wielding their long spears.

Xu Ning's golden spear flashed in rapid succession, moving like a swimming dragon, its grace laced with chilling killing intent.

Xue Baochai, however, barely moved; the black spear in her hand swept wide and struck heavy, each blow impacting like a mountain peak, forcing even the "Golden Swimming Dragon" to retreat several times, completely unable to do anything to her.

The two sides appeared evenly matched; victory or defeat would not be decided in a short time.

Lu Junyi turned his head and glanced at Gongsun Sheng on the high platform.

Gongsun Sheng understood instantly, stood up, and waved the Seven-Star Sword atop the platform, dancing and gesticulating as if performing a shamanic ritual.

On the Great Qian army's side, however, dark clouds overhead suddenly thickened, pressing down black and heavy; muffled thunder rolled in waves, lightning slashed across the sky, and a fierce wind howled bitterly.

Black clouds press on the city, the city about to crumble!

A situation like a natural disaster caused the soldiers' morale to waver.

"Hahaha!" Ao Yulie suddenly laughed loudly, a whirlwind swirling around him as he "rose from the ground."

It was only fitting that he steal the limelight.

Before this true dragon of his, calling wind and summoning rain, commanding clouds and rain?

One can only say the Daoist is courting death.

————

The following word count is free.

Master Tang has upgraded to a four-star character and can now have a custom gift — the one in the gifting section of the character page.

Here I'm soliciting opinions from everyone as a reference to see what custom gift would be most suitable.

1, Xuan Bian (those who want this leave a comment here, once is enough, don't spam repeatedly)

2, Merit Jade Lotus (same as above)

3, any whimsical gift ideas leave a comment here; must have appeared before and be related to the protagonist.