Chapter 1021: Military Flag

Chu Li did not use any inner energy, but those few words he chanted echoed clearly in their ears and struck their hearts directly.

It was as though a howling wind had swept over the surface of a lake and carried away all the junk in the lake.

Their minds instantly fell silent, and they became calm and unflustered. They no longer felt restless and anxious.

This was a wonderful effect of Maha-Vairocana’s Immobility Scripture.

Xu Cihang and Fan Yang glanced at Chu Li in shock as they never expected him to have such a skill.

This skill was very useful for the situation they were in. Once they entered into a battle, those who remained calm would be the ones with the highest chance of surviving since agitated thoughts would usually affect a person’s judgments and reflexes. When a person was on the battlefield, a single decision could determine whether the person would die or survive, and such a decision was usually made within a split second.

Chu Li’s voice was calm and steady. “If we wish to leave the Sharp Vigor Battalion and regain our freedom instead of staying at the Sharp Vigor Battalion until the day we die, then we mustn’t let go of this opportunity!”

The people felt their spirits rise with hope.

Chu Li went on, “The formation you’ve been trained to use is especially powerful when it’s used on a battlefield. It all depends on whether or not you guys can seize the right opportunity!”

Xu Cihang asked, “Master Zhao, will we have the opportunity to use it?”

“Flying Cloud Cavalry is more powerful than Soaring Eagle Cavalry. If we wish to defeat them, we’ll have to kill their general,” Chu Li replied. “Turn left!”

He tugged on his reins abruptly and led them away from the main road. They reduced their speed significantly as they continued to travel down a narrow path

At that moment, Yang Ping was clad in the Shining Armor like the rest of his soldiers as he spurred his horse forward along with the central army.

Jiang Jinfu galloped over to Yang Ping and said in a low voice, “General, the Sharp Vigor Battalion has left their position. I’m not sure where they’ve disappeared to!”

“Ignore them!” Yang Ping replied calmly while staring into the distance.

Jiang Jinfu nodded.

Yang Ping frowned. Since Soaring Eagle Cavalry had been dispatched as a whole, it was impossible for him to make the Sharp Vigor Battalion stay behind and not do anything at all. Otherwise, he would be giving others a huge opportunity to criticize him. It would be easier for him to avoid getting criticized by bringing them along and putting them in charge of cleaning up the battlefield.

Everything would be fine as long as they obediently remained in their position and did not charge into the battlefield. Perhaps they had become afraid and did not dare to follow them here. In that case, Yang Ping would just forget and would ignore them. After this round of battle, he would go back and settle accounts with them!

He was unable to make up his mind about how he should deal with Chu Li. On the one hand, he hated Chu Li and did not wish to see him gain merits and become a centurion, so he desperately wanted to make Chu Li stay and rot away at the Sharp Vigor Battalion for the rest of his life. On the other hand, he felt afraid of Chu Li’s identity as a disciple of the Holy Church of Light and wished that Chu Li would get out of the Sharp Vigor Battalion as soon as possible so that he would not get dragged into any trouble in case something bad were to happen to Chu Li.

Due to such conflicting thoughts, he tried to push the Sharp Vigor Battalion to the back of his mind as he did not want to keep worrying and thinking about them.

The hooves of their horses had been wrapped in thick layers of cloth so that the horses would not make too much noise when their hooves hit the ground. However, this would only allow them to sprint over a short distance. If the distance was too long and their hooves wore through the cotton cloth, they would not be able to conceal their presence anymore.

The Qiu Dynasty’s cavalry was currently preparing to attack the city, and their military encampment was very close to Falling Autumn City. Flying Cloud Cavalry had made camp on a wide and flat plain that was less than two miles away from Falling Autumn City’s eastern gate. They could travel over this distance with a quick sprint.

Soaring Eagle Cavalry emerged from a forest and charged onto the plain, heading directly toward a military encampment on a hill some distance away. It was the campsite of Flying Cloud Cavalry.

Ten scribes, including Jiang Jinfu, surrounded Yang Ping in a protective circle.

Jiang Jinfu solemnly opened a wooden box and attached a thick and heavy black-colored flag to a pole before hoisting it into the air. A huge eagle embroidery could be seen on the black flag as it rose and fluttered in the wind

All the centurions had raised their respective flags as well. Aside from a small eagle, each flag had been embroidered with their surnames —”Zhao”, “Zhang”, “Wang”… The ten flags dispersed as the centurions moved in separate directions.

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These military flags emitted a frightful killing intent since they had been absorbing killing intent from countless battlefields over a long period of time. No one would be able to use their inner energy within a half-a-mile radius of each military flag. Without their inner energy, even Grandmasters would be no different than an ordinary person and could only depend on their physical abilities.

These military flags could only manifest their powers when they were stimulated by external killing intent on a battlefield.

Yang Ping and his ten scribes left the central army and made their way to a nearby small hill.

They could occasionally spot several small hills like the one they were moving toward on this wide plain. Flying Cloud Cavalry had set up their camps on top of a hill some distance away. They were supplied with water at the bottom of the hill, which was surrounded by a lush and green forest. That particular hill was much taller than any of the hills on that side of the plain, so the enemy could easily notice their surprise attack from afar.

“Honk…” a blaring sound of a blowing horn resounded from Flying Cloud Cavalry’s encampment.

Flying Cloud Cavalry had an extremely quick response. Before Soaring Eagle Cavalry could approach their campsite, they had charged out of their camps and divided themselves into ten teams to launch side attacks on the ten incoming teams of Soaring Eagle Cavalry. Thus, Soaring Eagle Cavalry immediately fell into a difficult situation.

Once the war-horses broke into a sprint, they would run faster and faster like a rolling snowball. If they were forced to change their direction halfway through their sprint, the momentum of their attack would be affected.

However, momentum was a crucial factor in deciding the outcome of a battle.

If they managed to build their momentum well, it would lead to a huge increase in the cavalry’s combat capabilities. If they lost their momentum, their combat capabilities would be reduced instead.

Flying Cloud Cavalry had quickly neutralized Soaring Eagle Cavalry’s advantage by skillfully responding to their surprise attack, and the twenty cavalry teams instantly got into a messy battle. The war-horses kept running around in circles as the riders felt out their opponents while waves after waves of arrows rained down on them.

Occasionally, a few unlucky riders would fall off their horses whereas some horses would get shot in the eye and would collapse to the ground. The riders from each cavalry maintained a certain distance between themselves and their opponents as they shot arrows at each other while keeping their horses moving to avoid getting hit by their enemy’s arrows.

They would only engage in close-range, hand-to-hand combat as a last resort because engaging in hand-to-hand combat would cause both sides to suffer great losses. Every rider’s life was very precious to each cavalry, so they would resort to hand-to-hand combat only as a final option when they were at their wits’ end and wanted to make sure that neither side would win.

The side that had the upper hand would strive to prevent this from happening since long-range archery skills were the most essential element of light cavalry.

As Flying Cloud Cavalry and Soaring Eagle Cavalry continued to battle with one another, a horse would occasionally collapse to the ground, and a rider would fall off their horse every once in a while. However, after so many shots had been fired, only a few riders had actually fallen off their horses. Most of them suffered minor injuries but were still riding on their horses. All of these riders had excellent horsemanship, so they were very good at avoiding getting shot down.

As Yang Ping sat silently on his horse while observing the battle situation from a distant small hill, his expression gradually grew dark.

They had failed to gain the upper hand by launching this surprise attack. Instead, Flying Cloud Cavalry had placed themselves in a more advantageous position. The horsemen of Flying Cloud Cavalry were much more well-trained and were capable of dodging their opponents’ attacks while making accurate bow shots with skill and ease.

After a while, Soaring Eagle Cavalry had lost twenty riders whereas Flying Cloud Cavalry had lost only five. If the situation were to go on like this, they would fall into an increasingly disadvantageous position. It seemed like Soaring Eagle Cavalry was going to lose this round of battle.

He glanced at a hillside a mile away and saw a huge flag fluttering in the wind there. That was where the flag of Flying Cloud Cavalry’s general was located.

As Jiang Jinfu held up their flag, he glared resentfully at the battlefield from a distance and wished he could personally take part in the fight.

The horses neighed and whined endlessly as they continued to run around in circles while the riders kept shouting at one another to boost their own courage. In the meantime, some of the soldiers that had fallen to the ground were also screaming miserably. This mixture of noises cast a chill over the onlookers.

Chu Li said, “Hurry up! Faster!”

He spurred his horse faster and made his way into a forest at the bottom of a hill.

“Change your armor!” Chu Li instructed.

The others quickly got off their horses and took off the armor they were wearing before opening the bags on their horses and putting on a set of Flying Cloud Cavalry’s armor. These armors used to belong to Flying Cloud Cavalry’s outpost soldiers who had been killed over the years, so the armors were all covered in scratches and dents.

Chu Li was not sure if this plan of his could lower the enemy’s guard and earn them more time to get closer to their target. It would be too obvious if they were to keep wearing the Shining Armor since their enemy could easily tell that they were from Soaring Eagle Cavalry from afar, and this would cause their surprise attack to backfire.

“Wrap the hooves of your horses!” Chu Li ordered.

The men reached into their bags and took out some thick cotton cloth to wrap the hooves of their horses. Then, they leaped back onto their horses and discarded their original armor in the forest.

Chu Li swept his gaze over the others and calmly said, “After traveling over this hill, we’ll be able to find the flag of Flying Cloud Cavalry’s general on the next hill. If we manage to cut off the head of Flying Cloud Cavalry’s general, we’ll gain great merit!”