Chapter 375: 349 Encounter on the Road

The night was deep, and on the vast Pingyuan covered in brown stones, a troop of cavalry was marching tensely.

Sixty or seventy cavalrymen could only be considered a small detachment as an army, not even meeting the minimum requirement of a "Hundred-Man Squad" for large-scale operations, but their orderly formation, the spirited state of the riders, and the discipline of not scattering while marching in the night all showed that they were a troop of elite soldiers.

Even more eye-catching was a huge, blocky Talisman Puppet at their rear, rumbling as it moved through the dark night like a city wall pressing forward; everything in its path was flattened, sweeping the tail of the formation and adding momentum to the cavalry.

These were precisely the students who had withdrawn from the Pingyuan examination area.

Their expressions were solemn, their discipline clear, and the night blurred their features, masking their youth and making them look entirely like heroic warriors seasoned in battle.

Because Huo Chaoqun had been appointed as the Main Rider, he felt the responsibility on his shoulders and did not relax for a moment. To keep the troop from scattering during the night march, he took the initiative to slightly deviate from the route, marching along a riverbed, and patrolled back and forth within the ranks, watching to ensure not a single person wandered off, observing and correcting every detail.

"Keep up, keep up, don't break formation."

"Watch the ground while marching at night."

"Battle robes, watch your battle robes, I said to cover your whole body, leaving only your head exposed. When the tide strikes, we might have to rely on the battle robes to save our lives, how can you be slack at a time like this?"

In the dark night, only his shouting could be heard in the troop; if not for his good Inner Qi, his voice would have been hoarse by now.

Under his efforts to maintain order and Ouyang Zhou's tail-guarding, the troop moved forward methodically.

Although the abrupt end to the examination was baffling, although the unknown Broken Tide was chilling, although some top students regretted not being at the top to show off before others, and although others like Ouyang Zhou were suspicious and worried about their missing companions, none of this could change the orderly advance of the troop.

Because they were well-trained, because they were promising talents, and because they were undoubtedly the future of Yunzhou.

After several hours of forced marching, the intersection leading to the Yi Zi Qu examination site was already in sight. This signaled that their examination was nearing its end.

Huo Chaoqun breathed a slight sigh of relief at this point, but his heart immediately tightened again—

Once they reached the destination, could everything go smoothly?

What if the Fire Seed Carriage meant to pick them up didn't come?

Wait in place in the freezing night wind?

If it didn't come, what if the tide came first?

The tide was silent and soundless, difficult to observe in the darkness, and on the vast Pingyuan, there was truly nowhere to hide.

If they ran all the way back to the starting point, it would take a day or two; now the troop lacked supplies and hadn't rested for a whole day, how could they...

Just as he was thinking this, a flash of brilliant light suddenly appeared overhead.

It was Sword Light!

In the night sky, the Sword Light was bright and dazzling, illuminating almost half the sky. It did not look like a fleeting meteor, but rather like another sun.

The students riding on their horses almost all looked up at once and let out exclamations.

There was no other reason; this brilliant light was too bright, especially in the deep darkness on all sides, almost instantly giving people a sense of hope.

"This must be a Sword Hero."

Qu Huan hadn't spoken for a long time, but he couldn't hold back now; as he opened his mouth, a puff of white mist escaped.

"How did you... oh." Beside him was not his lackey, but Qin Yongcheng; after a start, he remembered: in the Suiyu, even a Sword Guest could not casually fly with a sword; one who could fly so brazenly must be a Sword Hero.

Moreover, there seemed to be only one such beam of light; in the Suiyu, Sword Guests were like packs of wolves, and only Sword Heroes could be solitary tigers and leopards.

"It's a Sword Hero from Moyun City who has set out to deal with the tide. Everyone is saved!" Qu Huan continued, "I just don't know who was dispatched? Moyun City has quite a few Sword Heroes, right?"

In front of him was a young man from the New Sharp Battalion, who turned back at this moment and said: "Not that many. You can count them on two hands, and they can't all gather together. So they probably dispatched one Sword Hero first, I wonder which one? Maybe it's..."

Before he could finish, a roar like thunder shook their eardrums, and a monster leaped down from mid-air.

The monster was only about a person's length, the height of an average person, with a body like a tiger or leopard, a head like a dragon, a single horn, and folded wings on its back.

That is...

"Pixiu?"

Qu Huan, Qin Yongcheng, and the others said in unison.

The person from the New Sharp Battalion in front turned back, glared, and shouted in a low voice: "Shut up!"

The Pixiu spoke in human language and barked: "Who are you people? Why are you marching here in the middle of the night?"

Huo Chaoqun stepped forward, his expression respectful but without any sign of shock, and said: "Reporting to the General, this subordinate is Huo Chaoqun, a trainee of the New Sharp Battalion, here to take the examination. These are my fellow examinees; because we are avoiding the tide, we are under orders to relocate to the Yi Zi Qu mountain pass."

Upon his report, the students from the government offices like Qu Huan immediately realized that this Pixiu was clearly the Sword Image of some general from Moyun City, one of their own from the Yunzhou Army; Huo Chaoqun and the others all recognized this person, no wonder they weren't surprised at all.

The Pixiu's voice was like a great bell as he said: "It seems there is such a matter. Since you are here for the exam, you are already more than half a soldier. Seeing that you are about to serve, do you retreat instead of charging forward when encountering a disaster?"

He questioned them directly, and Qu Huan and the others felt unhappy in their hearts, as if he were saying they were afraid of hardship and avoiding battle.

Huo Chaoqun stood straight and said loudly: "General, the order we received was to relocate to the Yi Zi Qu pass! If the orders change, my group of seventy examinees will go through fire and water, and never turn back!"

The Pixiu paused slightly and said: "Since that is the case, you..."

Just as he was about to continue, the riverbed to the side lit up.

It was an ancient great river, the riverbed was very wide, but as time passed, the river gradually disappeared into the desert, and now only a dry riverbed and a trickling stream remained.

To keep the troop together, Huo Chaoqun had been marching along the riverbank, but he had never cared about what was in the water; even if there were piranhas in the water, it had nothing to do with the current situation.

However, at this moment, the river water lit up.

It wasn't a drop of water that lit up, nor was it a section of the riverbed, but the entire river lit up. In the night sky, it looked like a brilliant Yin He that had fallen onto the dark, boundless desert. It was not much inferior to the brilliant light that had just illuminated the sky.

A beam of light shot out from the riverbed, at a small angle, slanting onto the riverbank. The crowd's eyes followed the light, staring at the end of the light.

The next instant—

People suddenly appeared in the light.

Nine people suddenly appeared at the end of the light, crashing toward the bank.

If one viewed the light as a track, they seemed to have slid over along it, but the movement was too fast for anyone to see clearly; the crowd only felt a 'swish', and the people appeared, then crashed toward the bank due to inertia.

At the critical moment, the youth at the very front pushed back with his hand, and a burst of Sword Essence struck the bank, instantly providing a counter-thrust to dissipate the force; the nine people stopped their momentum, twisted ninety degrees in the air, and flew backward onto the bank.

When the nine people landed on the ground in a heap, Qu Huan and the others immediately recognized the youth at the front and said with pleasant surprise: "Instructor Tang!"

These people were, of course, Tang Zhao, who had traveled through the river from the underground cave, along with a few students and Fan Haiyu. He also hadn't expected that the end of the light would happen to coincide with the students, so he couldn't help but say happily: "Ah, what a coincidence? Is everyone alright?"

Although there was a Pixiu blocking the way, the students of the Land Inspection Department who had the deepest bond with Tang Zhao still cheered one after another: "Instructor, we are all fine! Not a single person is missing!"

When the Pixiu saw Tang Zhao appear, he was also startled, but then he began to size up this "Instructor". At this moment, the light from the riverbed had not yet faded, and he could clearly see Tang Zhao's features; he couldn't help but look with surprise at this Sword Guest who was shockingly young, even for the Suiyu.

At the same time, Tang Zhao greeted the students and immediately noticed the Pixiu; although this divine beast was petite in stature, it was vivid and fully furred, a true manifestation rather than an illusion, clearly the Sword Image of a Sword Hero, so he hurriedly and politely asked, "I wonder who this senior is..."

Huo Chaoqun hurriedly tried to introduce him, but the Pixiu Sword said, "I am the Pixiu Sword Cui Yinsheng, Vice Governor of Yunzhou and City Guardian of Moyun City."

Tang Zhao let out an "Ah," because due to the difference between the Qianxian and the Human World, his knowledge of the Suiyu was limited, to the point that he did not know exactly which big figures were in this Moyun City, but he understood this official title:

This was the person in charge of Moyun City, the commander-in-chief of the Yunzhou Qianxian, the second-in-command only to the Gaoyuan Marquis, with an extremely high status.

In this day and age, apart from the Emperor, high status meant strong power; the Pixiu Sword was definitely the most outstanding kind of Sword Hero.

He bowed and said, "Tang Zhao, Instructor of the Jiandisi Xunying, pays his respects to General Cui."

The Pixiu, the Sword Image of Cui Yinsheng, nodded and said, "Was that your Sword Art just now? Was it teleportation or an Escape Technique?"

This was a slightly rude but still normal question, and Tang Zhao replied, "It is an Escape Technique."

The Pixiu said, "Good speed. Is your Sword Image 'Light'? Is your speed as fast as light?"

To tell the truth, he hadn't even seen Tang Zhao's speed clearly just now, and his reaction was the same as the students'; in the blink of an eye, the person had suddenly appeared, for after all, the speed of light could not be identified by human eyes, not even by a Sword Hero.

Tang Zhao explained, "I dare not claim it is the speed of light; it is still far from that, not even sub-light speed."

Never mind that he couldn't reach the speed of light now, even if he could, he wouldn't dare to try it easily.

According to Chen Zong's teachings, once speed reaches the speed of light, very magical things happen.

The Pixiu said, "That is not bad either, after all, no one can say for sure how fast the speed of light is. Can your Escape Technique carry people?"

Tang Zhao said, "I can. But at most one squad."

His Sword Art allowed him to carry people to wherever light could shine; as long as the medium was transparent to light, he could ignore obstacles.

In fact, the upper limit for the number of people he could carry shouldn't be that low, it was just that his Sword Essence was insufficient, and carrying people was very tiring.

The Pixiu said, "That is still considered useful. Able to fight and able to flee. I have not seen you before, are you a new Sword Guest? Where are you going now?"

Tang Zhao said, "I have not yet joined the army; I just came from the Human World, and I am under military orders to send these children back to a safe Earth District."

The Pixiu pondered for a moment and said, "That is fine. They are all mere children, their teeth haven't even fully grown, what use are they?"

If Tang Zhao did not have that prestige, someone would surely be secretly grumbling at this moment: Instructor Tang is about the same age as us; if our teeth haven't fully grown, has his?

Now, no one would think that way; at most, they felt that this Pixiu seemed to want to conscript them just now, but now seemed to have changed his mind?

Just a moment ago, he said they seemed to lack a sense of the big picture and should have rushed up, but now it seemed they would only be a hindrance and should stay behind; had he changed his mind so quickly?

The Pixiu then said, "You already know about the Broken Tide; you are a Sword Guest and are already at the Qianxian, can you really stay out of it?"

This questioning tone was also strangely familiar.

Tang Zhao had a similar reaction to the students just now; the battlefield did not allow for other expressions, so he immediately said, "Being at the Qianxian, I should naturally put military orders first, and if there are any commands, I will obey them. However, as an Instructor, I must ensure the safety of these children; I would like to send them to a safe area first."

The Pixiu glanced at the sky; his own Sword Light had already flown far away, and he had no heart to say more, so he said, "Very well. The Fire Seed Carriage has already arrived ahead, presumably to pick up the students. After you send them off, come to the site of the Broken Tide to report. Take my token as a conscription order. If you encounter other Sword Guests who failed to arrive in time, you shall bring them along."