Chapter 377: 351 Wild Swordsman

Having been scolded for no reason, Tang Zhao was quite displeased, but remembering it was a misunderstanding, he said loudly, "I am a Human Realm Swordsman, an Instructor of the Training Camp directly under the Inspection Division of the Gaoyuan Marquis. I am not some Wild Swordsman! I was summoned by General Cui of the Pixiu Sword to take a troop transport vehicle to deal with the Broken Domain Tide. I have proof right here."

He held up... a piece of Pixiu Hair.

There was no help for it; the Pixiu had come in such a rush that there were no tokens on hand, and in the end, it had only plucked out a tail hair for him.

It was, after all, the hair of a divine beast; although thin, it actually shimmered in the faint light of dawn, recognizable at a glance.

As they spoke, the convoy moved forward, and the Six Dragon Carriage that Tang Zhao rode also moved forward; both sides maintained a relatively parallel position, the roar of their engines intertwined in the quiet night.

The effect of him pulling out the hair was quite good; the convoy fell silent for a moment, and no one spoke again.

The leading vehicle was silent for a moment, then someone said, "Our vehicle is already full. Which brother behind has space left? Take him on."

At this, someone behind immediately said, "We are full here!"

"Us too!"

"No empty seats!"

For a time, there was a clamor; over ten vehicles made noise, and while they were eager to speak, not one said they would take him.

At this, the person on the leading vehicle said, "That Sword Guest, you heard it. There is no room for you on the vehicles. Wait for the next batch. There are others lagging behind; some who aren't at full capacity might be willing to take you."

Tang Zhao explained, "I am..."

Someone on a vehicle behind shouted loudly, "We know you were summoned by the Pixiu Sword, so what? We are also acting on the orders of the Pixiu Sword to provide reinforcements. Look here, who isn't acting on orders? Do you think you are the only one with a military order? Right now, there simply isn't a seat for you; do you expect one to appear out of thin air? Stop blocking the road, hurry and move aside!"

Tang Zhao braked with a "Screech—" sound, wanting to say something, but in the end, he only exhaled a wisp of white mist into the night.

The Fire Seed Carriage convoy swept past him without stopping, driving further and further away, and Tang Zhao ultimately did not drive his carriage to follow behind.

Even if no one needed him to be transported to the battlefield, he would eventually head to the battlefield alone—but there was no need to insist on following behind others, right?

Those not of the same path need not travel together.

Not until those Fire Seed Carriages finally disappeared into the dawn's night did Tang Zhao restart the Six Dragon Carriage.

That blinking light began to flash again.

In the sky gradually turning to daybreak, the light remained bright.

He suddenly drove forward alone, and gradually, his mood also settled.

At this moment, the familiar rumbling sound behind him rang out again.

Tang Zhao looked back and saw the same type of Fire Seed Carriage driving over again, this time only one.

Moreover, perhaps because the daylight was getting brighter, the details of this vehicle could be seen clearly; Tang Zhao felt this vehicle was old and battered.

Seeing the Fire Seed Carriage approach, he heard a loud voice shout, "Kid in front, move aside! We are a vehicle heading to the front line to fight!"

Tang Zhao was startled, thinking this must be the kind of lagging vehicle the previous convoy mentioned. He hesitated for a moment and asked again, "Are you also going to rescue the Broken Domain Tide?"

The loud voice said, "That's right. You Wild Swordsman, don't get any ideas. Such an urgent mission, with the Pixiu Sword sitting in command at the front, they've mobilized the main army of Moyun City; they won't let you lot follow along to take advantage."

Tang Zhao was both angry and amused; the people here kept saying "Wild Swordsman" with every breath. What is a Wild Swordsman? How could they tell he was a "Wild Swordsman"?

Those Sword Guests in the Human World with incomparably lofty status probably wouldn't imagine that on the front line, a Sword Guest could so easily be associated with the word "wild."

Before he could speak, another, gentler voice came over, saying, "That Sword Guest, I see you are young; you must have just become a Sword Guest recently, right? It is the age for steady cultivation; why learn from those hopeless opportunists who take risks and shortcuts? People die for wealth, birds die for food. Don't listen to people saying there is great fortune in the Broken Tide; the dangers within are beyond what you can imagine. We are all prepared to risk our lives; you are still young, turn back from your misguided path early."

Tang Zhao was helpless; this person spoke with good intentions, at least not making one feel annoyed, so he could only raise that seemingly useless Pixiu Hair again and say, "I am not a Wild Swordsman; I am a legitimate Sword Guest summoned by the Pixiu Sword. Look, this is Pixiu Hair!"

Believe it or not, this time the Fire Seed Carriage stopped with a boom.

Tang Zhao was taken aback instead, naturally stopping the Six Dragon Carriage as well.

The door of the Fire Seed Carriage opened, and a burly man climbed out, wearing casual clothes, his shirt open to reveal his chest, a sword hanging at his waist; he was clearly a Sword Guest, dressed with a bit of a "wild" style, and said, "Pixiu Sword? Truly the Pixiu Sword? The Pixiu Sword summoned you?"

Tang Zhao waved the Pixiu Hair and said, "Look, Pixiu tail hair."

The big man stepped down and ran a few steps closer, widening his eyes to look, and said, "So this is Pixiu Hair? It's shimmering! Lao Qiao, come look, is this Pixiu Hair?"

As he said this, another person came out of the carriage door, about thirty years old, looking slightly middle-aged and plump, also a sword-wearing Sword Guest, who also trotted over, staring at that white hair and saying, "Ah, so this is Pixiu tail hair? It's quite pretty!" The voice was exactly that of the gentle person.

... So neither of you recognizes it?

Watching the two Sword Guests surrounding a single hair and clicking their tongues in wonder, Tang Zhao faintly felt something was amiss.

He coughed lightly and said, "So the two of you don't recognize it. Does the Pixiu Sword not usually use Pixiu Hair to summon Sword Guests?"

That Lao Qiao said as a matter of course, "Naturally not. Think about how many people he has summoned? If he gave one hair to each person, wouldn't it have been plucked bald long ago? He usually uses the Moyun Sword Order, the one hanging on our carriage."

Tang Zhao saw the Sword Order hanging in front of the Fire Seed Carriage, in the shape of clouds and a sword, confirming they were indeed legitimate Moyun City Sword Guests, and said, "That's right. I just saw the Fire Seed Carriage convoy, and every vehicle had a Sword Order."

Lao Qiao said, "That's natural, otherwise how would we do the mission? We recognize the order, not the person." Having said this, he was suddenly enlightened and said, "You encountered the convoy just now? Why didn't you get on a vehicle?"

Tang Zhao tried his best not to sound dejected and said, "They didn't have any space."

Lao Qiao and the big man were enlightened. The big man looked at Lao Qiao and said, "Then do we have space...?"

... Is the inquiry that obvious?

Lao Qiao stared at him and said, "We do... yes!"

He hesitated slightly in the middle, but ultimately made the decision; saying there was space meant accepting Tang Zhao's addition, so he immediately followed up with, "Come on board."

Tang Zhao breathed a sigh of relief. He had finally caught up.

Putting away the Six Dragon Carriage, Tang Zhao boarded the passing Fire Seed Carriage as he had hoped.

This was a standard troop transport vehicle operating on the front line, with two levels; the upper level had five rooms for a standard five-person squad, and the lower level accommodated ordinary soldiers, which could squeeze in over a hundred people.

Many established Sword Guest squads would drive such a Fire Seed Carriage to gallop and patrol on the front line, hunting Heavenly Demons and Phantoms, and even crossing that line of life and death to conduct guerrilla warfare on the other side.

However, this vehicle clearly wasn't full; not to mention the lower level seemed empty, even the Sword Guests on the upper level were only three. Besides that Lao Qiao and the tall, sturdy Sword Guest surnamed Shan, there was another Sword Guest in their own room who didn't come out to meet anyone. The interior decoration of the carriage was similar to the outside, old and battered, looking like it had seen many years. It seemed this was indeed a squad that wasn't doing well.

That Lao Qiao looked about thirty, but was actually over fifty, so calling him "Lao Qiao" was absolutely fine. After he agreed to let Tang Zhao board, he patted Tang Zhao with great familiarity and said, "Young Brother Tang, you can choose one of these two empty rooms."

Tang Zhao didn't care about the rooms, because it wasn't far from the tide, and they would arrive in at most a few hours, so resting or not didn't matter, but he still thanked Lao Qiao for his kindness.

Lao Qiao continued, "The number of Sword Guests a vehicle can carry is limited. It's not that the rooms are limited, but that the number of people the Fire Seed Carriage's array can protect is limited. On a vehicle like ours, if there are more than five Sword Guests, the array will overload and disintegrate, and the vehicle will break."

The Shan Sword Guest put his arm around Tang Zhao's shoulder from the other side and said, "What our Lao Qiao means is, those people not taking you might have really had their Sword Guest seats filled and couldn't fit you, it wasn't all just an excuse."

Lao Qiao said angrily, "Get lost, do you need a blockhead like you to explain for Young Brother Tang?"

He explained further, "It's just that there are many situations like this of flagging down vehicles on the side of the road. There are Wild Swordsmen everywhere on this Hongshi Pingyuan; they are the kind of Sword Guests with no faction affiliation, of unknown origin, and even of unknown friend or foe status. Usually, you don't see them fighting Heavenly Demons properly, but as soon as something like this happens, they get spirited, coming over as soon as they smell something, trying to squeeze in to get on a vehicle and fish for benefits from us, and if they encounter danger, they might even backstab us. For people like this, let alone taking them, if we see them, we'll run a sword through them, and it wouldn't be a wrongful killing."

The Mountain Sword Guest said, "Lao Qiao, are you saying..."

Lao Qiao glared at him.

Tang Zhao explained himself, "Many thanks for your guidance, Senior Qiao. I understand; it is not that other passing friends would not give me a ride, but rather my fault for being new here, knowing nothing, and acting in a way that aroused suspicion. If I follow the procedure next time, I won't cause any misunderstandings."

The Mountain Sword Guest clapped his hands and said, "Well said! Sword Guest Xiao Tang is truly reasonable. They didn't misunderstand at all; you were just being extra, Lao Qiao."

Lao Qiao waved his hand at the Mountain Sword Guest and laughed, "Xiao Tang is a new Sword Guest who just arrived at the front lines, right? That spirit of a newborn calf not fearing the tiger is a bit unusual, isn't it? Since you've boarded my vehicle, and I, Lao Qiao, often take on newcomers, just follow me; I won't lead you into a ditch."

Tang Zhao cupped his hands in thanks, and Lao Qiao led him, saying, "Let's go. You must be tired from traveling late at night. While it's still early, go up and get some more sleep."

Tang Zhao was taken aback and said, "Aren't we going to provide reinforcements? Military intelligence is as urgent as fire; shouldn't we prioritize that over sleep?"

Lao Qiao said, "Of course we are in a hurry. But the vehicle can't be rushed. You see, this vehicle of ours has a few minor issues. It was damaged in the frame last time and still hasn't recovered. A tire blew out this morning, so we were in the vehicle dock for repairs. We were still patching the tire when we heard the assembly bugle. By the time we got out, the main force had long since departed. There's no way we can catch up with this vehicle, so don't think too much about it. Fortunately, there are enough people this time; everyone who could come out of the city has come out. It makes no difference to the victory if we are missing a few. Let's just keep a calm mindset. A campaign has a vanguard, a main force, reinforcements, and a reserve force; it's fine for us to be the reserve force. Don't learn from this blockhead and push yourself too hard; getting some sleep to recharge is just as good."

Tang Zhao was lost in thought and said, "You two brothers, do you want to rest, or do you want to be the vanguard?"