Chapter 5: Let Sword God and Mule walk in the middle of the team

  I've said it before, I had a dream since childhood, that is to fly. I think flying is the ultimate interpretation of freedom! Think about it, we spread our arms, face the wind, feel the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, throw away all worldly worries, carefree, the clear wind blinded your eyes, but polished your heart. We don't know where we're going, we're flying, where doesn't matter, what matters is that there are birds singing beside us, clouds touching us, free and easy. At this moment, the noise of the world has left you far behind, body and mind completely relaxed. In the sky, I thought about many problems like a philosopher, height gave me wisdom. However, later on, I was still troubled by one question - flying so high, how am I going to get down?

  Let's put it this way, I'm not doing well in heaven, and I didn't think about such a heavy problem at first. However, the distance of 10 li is much closer than usual at this moment. I stared at Lüoyan Mountain right under my feet, and only then did I remember that I had learned to fly, but hadn't learned how to land yet. Now that I think about it, Su Jing was probably shouting at me to tell me about this problem back then.

  At first, I tried to withdraw my sword energy, and the whole person fell straight down. The scene was too scary, so I quickly flew up again. At this time, I finally calmed down. It turned out that flying wasn't as beautiful as I had imagined - now the wind is blinding my eyes, but my heart is even more confused. There are birds chirping around me, and there's also crap everywhere, which doesn't seem very pleasant either. Most importantly, I couldn't just fly aimlessly like this; I had to land accurately on the south peak. I tried twice, but still didn't get it right, so I had to jump up again. At this moment, I suddenly remembered many jokes about parachuters who didn't wear their backpacks. The punchline of these jokes was always abrupt and tragic - after the paratroopers jumped down with their schoolbags on their backs, nobody bothered to ask what happened next. But I knew that what came next wasn't funny at all, because whether they landed headfirst or feet first, it would still be a mess... I also remembered a beautiful legend about a bird born without legs, living in the wind, and dying the moment it touched the ground. Now this legend didn't seem so beautiful after all - who knew which bastard wrote it? I was going to become that kind of bird soon, but damn it, I clearly have feet!

  Like this, I circled around the Camel Mountain again and again, like an airplane that couldn't find a runway. I steeled myself, gathered my energy, and charged towards the southern peak of the Camel Mountain. This was what I thought: even if I died, I wanted to die in front of my own people, and I hoped they would be careful when collecting my body... When I was still about 100 meters away from the ground, I almost unconsciously lifted up again, flying high into the air. This action was completely natural, like someone waving their hand in front of your eyes and you closing them, or water reaching your throat and triggering a swallowing reflex. Through this attempt at taking my own life, I finally grasped a little secret: although this up-and-down motion couldn't help me land safely, each time I did it, I could effectively lower my altitude by a bit. Just now, I was still in the high air of 3000 meters; after doing this, I had dropped by about 50 meters or so. In my heart, I secretly calculated: if I lowered 50 meters each time, from an altitude of 3000 meters, it would take me around 60 times of this up-and-down motion.

  I also found that if I rushed down like that, I wouldn't be able to reach the south peak at all. The speed during flight is incredibly fast, and in order to land with a purpose, you have to calculate the lead time well, and at least not use the air above the south peak as a deceleration zone.

  I stared at a huge boulder on the mountain as my imaginary destination, descended, climbed up, and then descended again, back and forth for over a dozen times, roughly got a feel for it, before returning to the sky.

  As I did this, people below naturally discovered me. Although I couldn't see their faces clearly, I could tell that the people at the bottom were starting to gather together one after another, probably pointing and gesturing at me.

  At this time I also sadly discovered that in order to land on the south peak, it is necessary to start decelerating from the north peak, which is exactly where the Black Gigas army's headquarters is located!

  Time no longer allowed me to make more experiments, the sword energy might lose its effect at any moment. After dozens of dives, I could see the dark mass of troops gathering on the North Peak. I had no choice but to grit my teeth and sweep towards the North Peak. The people and objects on the ground were getting closer and closer, and I could clearly see those soldiers wearing black armor. This was the first time I saw the Black Geese's army. Their tents covered the entire North Peak. As I approached, someone finally shouted: "Enemy raid!"

  The entire Hei Jie Si army camp suddenly boiled over! Countless soldiers shouted loudly, and I could even see the expressions of many of them. Their faces were filled with astonishment, as if they hadn't reacted yet to why someone had fallen from the sky. As the first person shouted, others followed suit: "Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" The camp of 100,000 people was almost shoulder-to-shoulder, and at the same time, the soldiers surged out of their tents like a tidal wave, causing chaos everywhere.

  But the Black Hawk troops were well-trained, and the rioting crowd was quickly brought under control by mounted officers riding back and forth. One of the military officers saw me barely clear his head, immediately drew his bow and nocked an arrow, I heard the sound of the bowstring, a wolf-tooth arrow shot towards my face without warning, perhaps it was too far away, when it was still more than two meters away from me, it fell down.

  That officer saw that I wasn't hit, and immediately shouted loudly: "Form arrays, form arrays!" The Black Armor Army heard the order, and almost as if it were an instinct born from their usual training, they instantly formed several tens of thousands of people into square arrays. Next, under the command of the officers, a swarm of arrows flew towards me like locusts in the sky. I was so scared that I quickly jumped up, and just heard a burst of dense sounds beneath my feet. Those incoming arrows actually bounced off one after another like they were shot at bulletproof glass. After being stunned for a moment, I immediately understood: now my surroundings are all filled with sword energy, these arrows naturally can't hurt me, but instead many of their own people were mistakenly injured.

  It was at this moment that I suddenly felt a twitch in my dantian, which was the precursor to my sword energy going overboard. My heart sank even faster than my sword energy, and I was about to fall into this place where being cut into a thousand pieces would be my best destination!

  As the sword energy dissipated, I fell down, but instead of landing on the ground or stopping in mid-air, I found myself hovering half-dead above the heads of the soldiers. With a great effort, I flipped my legs over and started running forward, stepping on their scalps as I went. The crowd erupted into chaos, immediately drawing their weapons to slash and stab at me. With one swift motion, I heard the sound of curses filling the air. It was as if I was suspended by an invisible steel wire, dodging the attacks from below while taking advantage of the opportunity to kick the packages off the heads of those beneath me. To put it nicely, I had already transcended life and death; to be realistic, I just wanted to take a few more advantages before dying.

  I turned blue with rage and shouted, "Damn it, I've been killed by you!" It's unknown whether it was the sword energy that communicated with human nature or not, but at this critical moment, my body suddenly felt light, and I jumped up high again, soaring straight towards the northern peak. I heard a burst of gasps behind me, and the Black Geese Empire's soldiers forgot to curse. This time, they witnessed with their own eyes someone rising into the air like wings sprouting from his ribs, and were deeply shocked.

  An officer in the queue probably thought I came to deliberately tease them and started shouting loudly.

  As for this point, I actually want to explain that if it weren't for being forced, I wouldn't be willing to step on their heads and run away. Although people's heads are round and smooth, they're completely different from the massage stones in a hot spring - when you step on them, they'll still move, feeling strange. Moreover, I'm not the kind of person who likes to tease my opponents, I'm a very low-key person.

  I turned around in mid-air and saw him yelling with his mouth wide open, none of my immediate family members or close relatives were present, I was also furious and couldn't help but kick him hard with my right foot, the shoe on my foot flew off and landed squarely on his mouth. This pair of shoes had a history, before I traveled to the Honglie Empire, I bought them as a souvenir for myself, and I wore them every day, walking through the post stations and across the Gobi Desert, never leaving my feet for a moment. So it's easy to imagine, a tourist shoe that had been covering my foot for a week was suddenly stuffed into someone's mouth - the officer let out an "ah" and fell off his horse, losing consciousness on the spot... I also jumped up to the top of Beifeng Mountain, where there was another row of barracks built along the mountain. The golden phoenix flag with the word "feng" fluttered in the wind, the people on the opposite mountain noticed the commotion but didn't know what had happened because they were too far away. At this moment, a crowd gathered at the edge of the cliff to watch, and suddenly someone shouted: "Release the arrow!"

  I'm so angry! The enemy is shooting at me, that's understandable, but these little girls are also shooting at me. I waved my hands in the air and shouted: "Don't shoot, don't shoot, we're on the same side!"

  At this time, many of them suddenly realized that the so-called thing was actually a person. Surprised and stopped in their tracks, I lost my balance and rushed into the crowd with a loud shout, those people below me were shocked and didn't know whether to catch or dodge. I shouted loudly: "Get out of the way!" Those few people only scrambled to get out of the way after hearing my shout. I tumbled down from above, my upper body's great inertia sent me tumbling to the ground. I ran forward on all fours for nearly 20 meters before falling onto my buttocks and sat dazedly on the ground, muttering: "Fortunately, my face didn't hit the ground first."

  The Flying Phoenix Troops on the mountain surrounded me with their swords in hand, and a female general hesitated for half a day before cautiously asking: "You... who are you?"

  I clutched both hands and said: "I am your Sword God." Just now, I rolled and crawled, both of my hands were scratched, and my right foot was stabbed painfully.

  "That woman immediately said: 'Nonsense, who doesn't know that on the mainland there is only one sword god, our Lord Su?'"

  I weakly said: "No time to explain to you all, I want to see your General Zhang Hentu."

  The woman then whispered with her companions for a while, and then loudly questioned me: "What if you are a spy of Kalgis?"

  I smiled wryly and said, "Have you ever seen a spy like me who just dropped from the sky?"

  The woman was stunned for a moment, then ordered her subordinate: "You go and inform General Zhang, we will watch him here!" The man rushed away.

  The woman grasped the hilt of her sword and asked me warily, "How did you get up here?"

  "I helplessly said: 'Didn't you see? I flew up here.'"

  That woman looked up at the sky and then at Beifeng across from her, half-believing and half-doubting: "The commotion on Hei Jisi's side was caused by you?"

  "I nodded and said, 'Alright then.'"

  The woman asked: "Can you really fly?"

  "Uh-huh."

  "Then fly us another one."

  "I waved my hand and said, 'Not now, wait for the next batch.'"

  The woman was stunned, this was probably the first time she had heard of it.

  At this time, a rough voice came from outside the crowd: "Make way, make way. I want to see who dares to impersonate the Sword God."

  The soldiers parted to reveal a tall and stately female general, nearly 1.8 meters in height, wearing a qilin helmet on her head, a brocade scale armor on her body, and a large knife at her waist. Her face was not unattractive, with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a straight nose bridge. However, her voice was coarse and unpleasant to the ear. She pushed through the crowd and came before me, saying in a rough tone: "So you're the little brat who's impersonating the Sword God?"

  I innocently said: "I am really your Sword God!"

  "This is probably Zhang Heng's female general, who said: 'Are you crazy? You came to deceive us without even investigating how many sword gods there are on the entire continent?'"

  I sighed and said, "There used to be only one, but haven't you heard that your Su Jian Shen went to find the Reincarnation Sword God?"

  Zhang hurriedly scratched his head and said: "Is this really happening?"

  One of her deputy generals whispered: "It seems to be, but before we set out, Su Jian didn't move, and now it's only been a few months, how can it be so fast?"

  They had been stationed at the border for several months and had recently been trapped in the mountains, unaware of any outside news, so they hadn't heard about my daughter's recent appearance in the country.

  Zhang Heng didn't believe me and looked at me sideways, saying: "Where is Su Jian?"

  I said: "She will meet you at the foot of the mountain."

  "What brings you here?" Zhang asked hurriedly.

  "The general wants me to inform you that tonight at midnight, you will lead the army in a breakout. She will be outside and coordinate with you from inside."

  Zhang Heng hurriedly stretched out his hand and asked: "Is there a letter?"

  "No."

  "Then how can I trust you? And how did you get up here?" Someone immediately whispered in her ear, pointing and gesturing at me, Zhang Hentu's eyes widened as she said: "Are you sure he flew up here?"

  He looked at me and said with some hesitation: "I think it's more like something that fell down."

  "Anyway, it's from heaven?" Zhang Hengyu finally hit the nail on the head, and that person nodded immediately this time.

  Zhang Hengyu asked me again: "How did General Zhang know we were surrounded?"

  I said: "The man you sent out to deliver the message has already handed the military report over to the general."

  Zhang Heng said: "What did General say after reading it?"

  I said: "The general scolded you severely."

  "Zhang Heng's eyes flashed and he asked: 'Why?'"

  "It's clear that the 50,000 Flying Phoenix Troops were trapped on Camel Mountain, but you said they were completely annihilated. We only found out from the messenger that you hadn't died after all. General Bai was worried for nothing, saying that you're clever at leading troops, but just not learned or skilled."

  Zhang Huhu's face turned red, her doubts dispelled, she burst out laughing and shouted loudly: "Sisters, the general has brought people to rescue us!"

  The mountain suddenly became a scene of jubilation. It turned out that they were cut off from information and had no idea that their mother was leading people to come and help them, so they felt extremely encouraged at this moment.

  Zhang Heng asked me: "How many men and horses did General bring this time?"

  "I said: 'The 150,000 Flying Phoenix Troops have all arrived and are now just 10 li outside the mountain, waiting for tonight at midnight to launch a pincer attack from above and below.'"

  Zhang Hun was moved and said: "The great general has used all his old capital for us, and Old Zhang's face can't be placed anywhere."

  I: "......" I still heard a woman call herself Old Zhang for the first time... Zhang Henghu looked at me, his big hands patted my head, and laughed: "Grandpa's, it took half a day to realize it was a misunderstanding. This is a family member not recognizing their own family." She glared at the two guards beside her, "Don't you hurry up and help Sword God up?"

  The two guards hastily came over and helped me up. I had been dizzy for half a day, but now I felt much better. I stood up, staggering along, saying: "I can walk by myself."

  Everyone saw that I had lost a shoe and they all generously offered me theirs, but the Flying Phoenix Army were all delicate-footed female soldiers, which one would fit me? Zhang Hentu seeing this took off his own pair of leather combat boots and threw them to me saying: "Here, wear mine."

  As a result, I put it on and looked at it, but it was still one size larger... Zhang Hengyu climbed up a huge rock barefoot and shouted loudly: "Sisters, General and we agreed to break through tonight at midnight. Now pass my order, everyone bury the pot and cook rice, except for the sentry soldiers, eat their fill and go to sleep, there is still a hard battle to fight tonight!"

  "Yes sir!"

  Zhang Hengyu jumped down from the stone, changed into a pair of shoes, and saw that my hands were covered in blood. She pinched my arm and said: "Aren't you the Sword God? How did you end up in such a mess?"

  "I'm afraid I said with embarrassment: 'Just arrived at your place, my sword energy is still not very obedient...'"

  "Ha ha, well, you're on your own tonight. Even if we all die, nothing will happen to you, you're our treasure after all. By the way, are you hungry?" She casually instructed her subordinates, "Prepare a small stove for Sword God."

  The people of the mountain gathered to have dinner together, what puzzled me was that they didn't seem to be starting a fire. Before long, a soldier brought over a ceramic basin with two hard pancakes and said: "Sword God, please eat, the conditions on the mountain are simple, you'll just have to make do."

  I took a look and saw that the bowl only had some wild vegetables floating in a small amount of clear broth, not even a drop of oil, let alone meat. I couldn't believe this was what they called "small stove". But after taking a glance around, I immediately believed it: except for me, all the other female soldiers were eating a hard flatbread with cold water.

  I exclaimed in surprise: "Is this all you're eating?"

  Zhang Hun hurriedly took a bite of the pancake and said, "No way, after staying on the mountain for over 20 days, all the vegetables and meat were eaten up long ago. The limited wild vegetables are just these last few roots." Indeed, she only had one pancake in her hand, and these few wild vegetables were already VIP treatment.

  I took a look around and saw that those female soldiers all had pale faces, walking with a fluttering gait. It was clear that the so-called monthly rations were only enough to sustain the most basic standard of living. For over 20 days, they probably didn't even dare to eat their hard biscuits openly.

  With such physical condition, can you still fight?

  Zhang Hengyu was chewing on a pancake, looking thoughtfully at the mountain below. At this time, it was already late afternoon, and the Black Geese Army on the North Peak began to light torches and lanterns. The large camp of 100,000 people covered more than half of the mountain peak, and from a distance, it looked like a giant cigarette butt that was burning brightly in the night sky.

  I asked Zhang Henghu: "General Zhang, what's your plan?" I knew that General Zhang seemed rough but was actually meticulous and could get a compliment from Old Mother, he wasn't an ordinary person.

  Zhang Hun suddenly came back to himself and said, "Oh, I was thinking about how to minimize casualties." She pointed at the narrow mountain path below us and said, "You see, there's only one way down the mountain. The enemy is guarding the entrance, it won't be easy for us to rush past them."

  I took a closer look and saw that the small path wound its way all the way to the northern peak, with narrow sections where only two people could barely squeeze through, and the widest parts could accommodate no more than four or five people. Such a narrow road would take 50,000 troops several hours to pass through, not to mention facing twice as many enemy soldiers blocking their way.

  Zhang Hun hurriedly said with a gloomy face: "At the beginning, I should have fought them to the end, and now there is no way to go up to heaven or down to earth." She clenched her fists and said angrily, "I, Old Zhang, have been fighting for half my life, but I've never been so humiliated!"

  "I also did something else that I shouldn't have - originally, the general wanted to send someone to meet with you without anyone knowing, but I accidentally revealed our plan too early. Now Hei Jisi is definitely on guard."

  Zhang Hentu patted me on the shoulder and said, "Don't say that, I think the difference isn't that big, let's just go with the flow!" She stood up and said, "I'll go discuss with my subordinates, you take a rest too - by the way, what should I call you?"

  "My surname is Long."

  "Dragon Sword God, can you protect yourself for a while?"

  "I said: 'Don't mind me.'"

  Zhang Heng immediately beckoned and summoned a dozen soldiers, loudly telling them: "When descending the mountain, your mission is to protect Long Xiang's safety. From this moment on, you are not allowed to leave him half a step."

  I exclaimed in shock: "I can protect myself!"

  Zhang Hun said dejectedly: "These are all sisters who have followed me for many years, originally I had nearly 1,000 guards, but after the breakout, only these were left."

  Those guards' eyes shone with tears as they replied in unison: "Yes, sir!"

  Zhang hurriedly walked two steps forward and then came back saying: "Later let Sword God and Lu Zi walk in the middle of the team."

  I was speechless... After Zhang Henghu left, a female soldier explained to me: "When we climbed the mountain, most of the horses couldn't make it up, only a few mules responsible for transporting supplies made it up. The general treated them like treasures and didn't even eat during the hardest times. He let Long Jian Shen and the mule walk in the middle of the troops, that was the general's sincere intention."

  I sighed and said: "Tell your general that I and Luohan thank her."

  Obviously, due to some personal issues of mine, this Sword God is far inferior to Su Jing's status in their minds, but still higher than ordinary soldiers, and is on par with Lu Tuo.

  I sat on the ground, feeling depressed and worried not only for myself but also for the uncertain fate of Fei Feng Army. The terrain of Luo Tuoshan was treacherous, a classic case of one man holding off an entire army at a narrow pass. All they needed to do was station a few hundred archers at each intersection to block our way. Mother wanted to launch a frontal assault, but the Flying Phoenix Troops on the mountain were already weak and exhausted. I had no idea how many of them would survive in the end. No one knew how many people would die in this battle, but there would definitely be significant losses.

  I sat there stupidly, in front of me a caterpillar was trying to climb down from a smooth stone, the stone wasn't big, but the caterpillar didn't know its depth, every time it poked its head out, it would shrink back, anxiously circling around the stone. I let out a bitter laugh, isn't its situation just like ours? Just as I was about to reach out and help it, someone ran by, shaking the ground, a small pile of dirt next to the stone suddenly collapsed, piling up right next to the stone. The caterpillar circled around again and arrived at the edge of the mud, instantly overjoyed, wriggling its way down from the stone.

  I suddenly had an idea and muttered to myself, "If we can't pass through the North Peak, why don't we choose another route?" What was originally an unconscious remark was overheard by the guard beside me, who couldn't help but laugh and say, "Sword God, you really think we're fools. If there were another way, why would we have waited until today?"

  My face turned red, and I immediately said: "What if we open a road?"

  "What road? From where?"

  I waved my hand in all directions: "Any way is fine."

  That female soldier thought I was crazy and simply stopped talking to me.

  I sprang up and shouted at her: "Quickly call General Zhang over!"

  "What's going on?"

  "Hurry up!"

  She looked at me strangely and left hesitantly.

  It wasn't long before Zhang Heng hurried over with quick steps: "Is there something going on, Dragon Sword God? In half an hour we should be leaving."

  "I'll take you away!"

  "What? What does it mean?"

  "I spoke incoherently: 'If we go down the mountain from the south, won't we avoid encountering the Black Geese Army of North Peak?'"

  Zhang Hengyu laughed and said: "You want us to collectively die for our country - the south is a cliff!"

  I grasped her hand and said: "If I can whittle it down to an angle, won't we be able to go down like walking on flat ground?"

  "Can you just say what you want to say?"

  I clapped my palm downward with force: "I'll chop off the south side of Camel Mountain to make a slope, and then we can all go down together."

  Zhang Heng rubbed his head and pondered for half a day, suddenly saying to the guard: "Do you know what he's thinking?"

  "I know..."

  "Then why did you call me here?" Zhang Heng shouted angrily.

  The guard muttered: "I thought Longjian Shen was trying to play a joke on me..."

  Zhang Heng hurriedly patted his head and exclaimed: "It's all over, it's all over! Lord Su finally found such a helper, only to have him get knocked silly."

  I tightly grasped her and wouldn't let her go, quickly saying: "Listen to me, splitting the mountain is something I used to do often. Although I'm not confident about such a high one, I can at least try, it's better than you suffering heavy casualties, right?"

  Zhang Hengyu picked up a stone and threw it southward, and after more than ten seconds in the darkness, he heard a "click" sound. He pointed to the cliff and said, "Did you hear that? We are at least two kilometers away from the foot of the mountain. Now you tell me to split the mountain? Do you think I would believe you, General, and still let me lead the troops?"

  Alright, splitting the mountain is now a done deal. To give you a heads up, Long Xiaoyang will continue to split mountains in various ways from now on...