Chapter 105: Fierce Battle, One Move Ahead

In the ancient legends of the Northern Di Kingdom, the Owl Eagle was said to be a beast from primordial times, born for battle, savage by nature, astonishingly swift, and wickedly alert. Once it entered the fray, it would cling to its enemy until death, yielding neither side until one was utterly destroyed.

Helian Cheng had named this cavalry force the Owl Eagle for a reason that was all too clear.

“That brat Helian Cheng is truly despicable beyond all measure!” Wenren Yuan spat out an oath most unbecoming when he saw the formation the Owl Eagle had set.

Shen Qianmo understood his anger perfectly.

For the spearhead formation the Owl Eagle had taken up was precisely the one the Flying Cloud Cavalry customarily used in battle.

It was obvious that Helian Cheng had thoroughly studied the Flying Cloud Cavalry’s methods, then adapted them to the strengths of the Northern Di army and refined them into this unit, creating it specifically to counter the Flying Cloud Cavalry.

At that moment, beneath the walls of Jinyang Pass, the Flying Cloud Cavalry and the Owl Eagle stood in identical formations, like two sharp arrows poised to fly from the bow, facing one another in tense stillness.

“Who would have thought that in these seven years, the Northern Di have honed their forces to such a degree?” one of the Jinyang Pass commanders said with concern.

This Owl Eagle was disciplined, well-trained, and far removed from the ragtag, undisciplined barbarian troops the Northern Di had once been. The difference was as great as heaven and earth.

“Helian Cheng’s tricks are getting more and more elaborate,” Cao Xun muttered. Then he asked Wenren Yuan, “General Wenren, how certain are you of this battle?”

Wenren Yuan’s thick brows were drawn tight. “If it were as before, I would be certain of victory. But the Flying Cloud Cavalry has marched hard for days and has not yet rested. The men and horses are exhausted. The Owl Eagle is different: they have been stationed in Licheng for several days already, fresh in spirit and strong in horseflesh. Today’s battle will be a fight to the death.”

“No.” Shen Qianmo’s voice was calm, but unshakable. “Helian Cheng has one hundred thousand men, while we have only thirty thousand here. If he makes no other move, then today’s battle is merely a test of us. We must fight, and we must not lose, but we must also preserve our strength as much as possible and minimize casualties.”

Compared with the Northern Di’s hundred-thousand-strong army, their current numbers were far too few. To meet them head-on and suffer mutual devastation would be no wise choice.

“I wonder if the Princess Consort of Prince Xuan has any good plan?” Cao Xun found that he was growing more and more convinced by this woman, who seemed gentle and fragile on the outside, yet was in truth steadfast and composed.

From afar, Helian Cheng gazed at that small, composed figure atop the city wall. The corner of his mouth lifted ever so slightly, and his dark eyes were as deep and unfathomable as a cold abyss, giving his handsome face a hint of sinister charm.

He would like very much to see how capable Meng Yuanheng’s woman truly was.

He saw her turn to whisper a few words to a white-robed young man beside her. The man tilted his head to listen, then in a blur of motion vanished from sight.

The next moment, the massive, heavy city gates opened slowly. There, the white-robed man from before appeared seated upon a white steed, elegant and dashing, with a noble bearing, descending like a god sent from the heavens.

Behind him, five black horses stood in a row, each bearing a man dressed entirely in black, their expressions stern, their gazes restrained. These were the elite shadow guards of Cloud-Sleeping Manor.

Seeing Yun Yi make such a showy entrance, Shen Qianmo did not know whether to laugh or cry.

That Yun Yi really never missed a chance to look impressive.

Sword in hand, Yun Yi sprang onto his horse and rode to the very front of the Flying Cloud Cavalry, where he leaned in and spoke quietly to one of the deputy commanders.

The deputy commander nodded in understanding, waved the signal flag in his hand, and gave a loud order.

“Change formation.”

The black command flag, marked in the center by a white auspicious cloud, was the emblem of the Flying Cloud Cavalry.

The flag swept up and down, left and right; this was the signal to change formation understood only by members of the Flying Cloud Cavalry.

In the blink of an eye, the three thousand riders moved like flowing water. The spearhead formation they had originally deployed was already changing.

The three thousand cavalry split into six squads. Centered on the white-robed, white horse-mounted man, they closed in all around like six petals encircling the flower’s heart.

In truth, the meaning behind Shen Qianmo’s words to Yun Yi and the others could be summed up in four words:

Break the formation apart.

Helian Cheng’s handsome sword brows tightened slightly.

What kind of formation was this?

But whatever it was, the Owl Eagle was now like an arrow already set to the string. No matter what, today’s clash with the Flying Cloud Cavalry could not be avoided.

Helian Cheng was eager to test his mettle. He wanted very much to know whether the Owl Eagle he had spent years training could truly match the Flying Cloud Cavalry.

Yun Yi, trapped within the formation, was equally stirred by hot blood. This was the innate fighting instinct of men.

A man’s iron bones were meant to be wielded on the battlefield, sword-point raised toward mountains and rivers.

At the command, both sides surged forward at once.

In an instant, the vast plain before Jinyang Pass was filled with thunderous hoofbeats like rolling thunder, and the sound of battle shook heaven and earth.

The Flying Cloud Cavalry moved like a black storm, while the Owl Eagle was like the borderland’s flying sands, wind whipping sand, sand wrapping wind, the two sides entangled in a savage struggle.

This was a contest between the strong.

Blades clashed in earnest, flesh-to-flesh combat erupted, blood splashed through the air, and Shen Qianmo narrowed her eyes slightly.

There was nothing to be done. This was an age of cold steel, and war had always been this brutal, this merciless.

The battle began at noon and continued on until dusk, and even then it still had not ended.

The Flying Cloud Cavalry fought chiefly on the defensive. Their six independent squads shifted in unpredictable ways, their formation endlessly changing. Now square, now round; now vertical, now horizontal; their heads and tails answered one another, each part supporting the whole, like a copper wall or iron rampart. The Owl Eagle launched several assaults, yet found no opening through which to break in.

As time wore on, the Owl Eagle’s riders inevitably grew restless and impatient.

That was the flaw in the Northern Di temperament.

They were bold and direct, fierce and unrestrained, but they lacked patience and were prone to impatience and short tempers.

What the Flying Cloud Cavalry needed to do was use this formation to wear down the Owl Eagle’s patience, to make them restless and disrupt their own order.

Clearly, their aim had succeeded.

Then the moment to strike had come.

Shen Qianmo exchanged a glance with Wenren Yuan. Wenren Yuan nodded, raised the curved blade in his hand toward the sky, and issued the order to attack.

A clear and piercing whistle rang out, cutting through the air. In that instant, the six small formations of the Flying Cloud Cavalry changed together.

Six compact spearhead formations, like six razor-sharp swords, followed Yun Yi and the five shadow guards from Cloud-Sleeping Manor as they drove forcefully into the ranks of the Owl Eagle.

Yun Yi and the shadow guards of Cloud-Sleeping Manor were among the finest experts in the martial world. In one-on-one combat, how could ordinary soldiers compare? Leading from the front, they were the first to break through the Owl Eagle’s defenses, bringing the Flying Cloud Cavalry with them.

Reversal came just that suddenly.

Under the Flying Cloud Cavalry’s relentless attacks from left and right, the Owl Eagle’s ranks fell into chaos, and their casualties mounted rapidly.

The shrill cries of horses cut down and collapsing to the ground, the pained screams of soldiers being thrown from their saddles, mixed with the sparks flying from clashing weapons, seemed enough to make heaven and earth change color.

This was the weakness of a single formation: once the ranks were thrown into disorder, it was extremely difficult to reform them, and the consequence was often utter rout.

Helian Cheng’s brows furrowed deeper and deeper.

At this rate, this Owl Eagle force would be wiped out in short order.

He had spent enormous time and effort training the Owl Eagle to counter the Flying Cloud Cavalry. Whatever happened, he could not allow his painstaking labor to be wasted.

“Recall the troops.”

His face was cold as iron, his teeth clenched, yet he made the decision at once.

“General...” one of the commanders beside him was unwilling and sought to dissuade him.

Helian Cheng gave him no chance to continue. “I said it before: today’s battle is only a probe, and also a trial by fire for the Owl Eagle.”

“But Jinyang Pass is within our grasp...”

“Enough. Let alone Jinyang Pass, I would even yield Licheng if need be. It only depends on whether the Flying Cloud Cavalry has the courage to come take it.”

A flash of cold light crossed Helian Cheng’s star-bright eyes. He looked once more toward the figure on the high wall, then turned his horse and rode away in a storm of dust.

There would be time enough yet.

Meng Yuanheng, the Flying Cloud Cavalry—he had all the time in the world to defeat them.

And that woman could not be underestimated. She would surely become a great aid to Meng Yuanheng.

Therefore, he must never allow Meng Yuanheng to have her.

As the last drift of yellow dust kicked up by the horses sank back into the earth, Jinyang Pass at last returned to its former stillness.

By then the sun was sinking in the west, and the remaining glow bled red as blood, leaving only the bodies of the fallen on the yellow earth.

“Do not speak to me of titles and rewards. One general’s success is purchased with the bones of ten thousand men.”

Emperors and ministers, generals and lords—all appear dazzlingly glorious and infinitely splendid. Yet who knows how many white bones are piled beneath their triumph?

“General Wenren, send the bodies of these Northern Di soldiers back to Helian Cheng,” Shen Qianmo said gravely, her tone soft and even.

To Shen Qianmo, there were no such distinctions as friend and foe before these men who had given their lives for their country.

Every soldier who had died on the battlefield in loyal service to his nation deserved respect. She could not allow them to lie exposed in the wilderness.