After finishing his training, Yun Qiang spent some time bathing before coming back to his tent. Only a few hours were left before the sunset, and it was time for his daily meditation. However, today's meditation didn't last long since Sun interrupted him.
"Qiang, get up, we need to group up on the eastern wing of the camp."
Yun Qiang opened his eyes and looked at Sun. His figure was still clean and orderly as ever, making him look like the perfect soldier.
"We are moving out at this hour of the day?"
"Yeah." A hint of displeasure could be heard in Sun's voice. "You should prepare yourself, I heard some captains say that we are going to attack a large group of enemies during this patrol."
Yun Qiang wasn't surprised by this, he had expected something similar when Sun had called him. What caught his attention was something else that Sun had said.
"Some captains? We are not alone in this patrol?"
Sun shook his head. "No, 9 other teams will come with us. In total, we are 100 soldiers and 10 captains. This battle will be bigger than our last skirmish."
Yun Qiang took a few seconds to process this information before he got up and started checking his gear. With that number of soldiers, it wasn't a simple patrol anymore but a full-fledged battle; even if one hundred soldiers didn't sound like much, their encampment only held three hundred soldiers, they were mobilizing one third of their forces!
The outcome of this battle was going to influence the morale of the entire legion...
He was about to ponder how this battle would influence their legion and his team's future deployment, but he suddenly stopped. Whatever the case, it didn't matter, he only had to survive. If they lost the battle but he managed to survive, he could still rejoin the legion and go onwards from there. As for the outcome of the war? He didn't care, even if a series of losses led to the Rose Kingdom's fall, it didn't matter to him. His only objective was to survive for three years, then go back to his village and cultivate in peace.
Maybe I can ask Sun to come with me after we finish our sentence...
He looked at Sun, who sported a confident look, and shook his head. Now it wasn't the right time to ask such things; they had to gather their team and reach the eastern wing of the camp.
He finished checking his gear.
"Let's go and call the others. We can't arrive late to our first battle."
Sun nodded, and they started searching for the other members of their team. Luckily, it didn't take them long, and after ten minutes, they were already in formation behind Voss.
Soon they started to march.
Voss walked at the front of the hundred-man group, the formation they had chosen for this fight was an aggressive one that positioned all of the leaders at the front while the normal soldiers followed behind them in a formation that resembled a square. Not every group was directly following their team leader, some of them were simply following normal soldiers.
They really trust their intel this time...
He briefly closed his eyes, formations like this were extremely weak to ambushes or attacks from the side and were rarely used in combat situations. If they were used, it either meant they were in a hurry and needed to reinforce an ongoing battle, or they really trusted their intel and didn't think the enemy was going to ambush them.
Still, the weakness of their formation didn't make him feel uneasy. He had followed Company Lord Tang through hundreds of battles and knew the man would never trust intel blindly.
According to the intel, their target was a small regiment that had set up a temporary camp in a clearing a few hours away. Their numbers were small, about fifty or sixty men in total. The plan to attack was simple, march together, then split into two groups; the first would engage the enemies from the front while the second one would circle around the clearing and surprise their enemies from behind.
Voss smiled, this kind of situation was eerily similar to the first battle he had fought during his second war five years ago.
At least they won't die in an attack like this...
He glanced behind; his team was following right behind him, their look a mixture of determination, anxiety, and fear.
It's normal, it's their first war.
However, even if he thought this, he couldn't help but take pride in them. Even if they had a fearful and anxious look in their eyes, his subordinates still walked with their backs straight and their heads high.
They are growing.
Even if they had only served for four months, Voss had followed them throughout their entire journey and could see their improvement compared to their first day at the Shard.
He had seen them in their best and worst states, he had seen their anxious look during their first night outside, their relief after the skirmishes, and their joy when they received their first pay as official soldiers.
He slowly shifted his gaze to each of them, silently comparing them to their past selves. Each of them had given their best during their training and had noticeably improved, even soldiers like Sun and Hai Ming who were very proficient in fighting from the start had improved a lot, making them even stronger. Besides this, their realm had also improved; Hai Ming was at the third stage of Qi Gathering while Sun was at the fourth stage.
However, they improved less than him.
He shifted his gaze toward Yun Qiang. Unlike the others, Yun Qiang still hadn't reached the first level of Qi Mastery, and he still had a long way to go when it came to fighting experience. Even so, after their first long patrol, he had begun spending most of his days training and sparring with Voss. Each day, Voss spent half his time drilling the entire team and the other half working with Yun Qiang alone, covering everything from physical training to sparring and Qi practice. The latter hadn't shown much progress, but Voss had seen the effort Yun Qiang put into improving himself.
Even now that I can't train with him, he spends most of his days in the training grounds with the soldiers from Pendemiss...
He suppressed another smile and stopped looking at his subordinates, even if their mission wasn't very dangerous, they were still fighting a war, and there was still a slight possibility that their intel was wrong and they were walking into an ambush. He looked at the sky, the sun was about to set, and it wouldn't be long before it completely disappeared, forcing them to engage in the dark.
Fighting in the dark like that time...
A few images made of blood and shadow flashed before his eyes. His face darkened as he shook his head to drive away the memories of that day. He couldn't afford to lose himself now; he had to stay strong and, above all, clear-headed. He blinked a few times, refocusing on the march, then signaled to the other captains to increase the pace. He didn't want to engage the enemy at night.
Luckily, the others seemed to share the same idea, and the group began to move faster.
--An hour later--
Voss looked up at the sky and breathed a quiet sigh of relief. The sun was just beginning to set behind the surrounding forest, letting the last lights of the day illuminate the clearing they were in.
Good. One less thing to worry about.
He gazed at the enemies in front of him. In total, he could count forty-seven of them. The intel was right; this was just a temporary camp with a low amount of troops. He wanted to breathe another sigh of relief, but he couldn't get complacent just because of the enemy numbers. The first rule of war was to never underestimate your enemies for a reason.
He took a deep breath, tightened his grip on his spear, then charged the enemies.
He took two steps.
Battle cries started sounding around him. The war cries of soldiers and captains alike mixed in a sound similar to ocean waves that filled him with adrenaline. He sped up.
Five steps.
He located the enemy captains. The five of them didn't try to hide their presence or mix with their troops; instead, they were lined up and ready for battle. Behind them stood normal soldiers, their look a mixture of courage, fear, and determination. He ignored them, focusing all of his attention on the captains in the first line; dealing with normal soldiers wasn't his job. Once their leader died, the enemy Qi Gathering cultivators would either flee or surrender. The few brave ones that decided to fight till the end would die when the ones they called comrades retreated, leaving them behind.
Six steps.
He locked eyes with an enemy captain. He was built like a mountain and held a huge sword on his shoulder as if he were holding a toy. The enemy smiled and charged toward him; as the giant moved, Voss could almost distinguish the clanking sound of the blue armor his enemy wore. He sped up again and prepared his strike.
Eight steps.
Voss ducked, then engaged with a low sweep. The man reacted fast, jumping over the strike and using the momentum of his charge to bring his sword down in a downward arc. Voss quickly sidestepped away from the blow. The sword slammed on the ground, leaving a small crater in the place where he had stood before.
He countered immediately, launching a series of fast lunges and swipes. The giant blocked the first few strikes with the hilt of the sword, but he couldn't keep up with Voss's speed and was forced to take a few steps back after getting hit on the shoulder.
Voss smiled. The giant was strong but lacked speed. He was about to attack again when a small movement caught his attention. He instantly switched to a defensive stance, ready to deflect the attack that was coming for him.
However, just as the incoming fist was about to connect with his spear, it stopped, transforming into a light push, pushing him away while letting the newcomer slip past him.
"Why did he—"
He was about to say "pass me by," but another attack interrupted his words and forced him to swallow his surprise. Only after deflecting the attack did he have enough time to turn around in search of the man that had just passed him.
His pupils contracted in shock. Yun Qiang was sent flying into the air by the man.
He is targeting the normal soldiers?!
Yun Qiang looked around the small clearing with shock in his eyes. The enemy had already formed a tight formation and seemed ready for battle.
Were they waiting for us? Is this a trap? Did they see us come from the forest?
He suppressed the anxiety that was blooming in his heart. Even if this was a trap, it was too late to escape it; he could only fight his way out of it. He took a step forward.
I must survive.
As he took the second step, battle cries started emerging from everyone present on the battlefield, suppressing anything that wasn't a war cry or a loud scream. Even his heart seemed to make no sound among the growing chaos.
In that moment, he felt as if he were part of the sound. His emotions were no longer his own, but just an extension of the war cry, pushing him forward, filling him with anticipation and adrenaline.
In an effort to control his emotions and keep his mind clear, he tried focusing all of his attention on what was in front of him. Their captains were running simultaneously toward the enemy, trying to find and engage the enemy captains.
In the time it took him to take a few steps, all five of them had already found their targets. The enemy also had five captains, making it an even fight among the two forces.
That is, until our reinforcements arrive.
Nobody had briefed him about the mission, but he knew that the group that had split off from them was probably hiding somewhere to launch a surprise attack or prevent enemy reinforcements from coming. For a second, he felt as if victory was already within reach and he only had to wait for the captains to fight it out, but reality wasn't like this. The captains played a huge role since they had a higher cultivation realm than normal soldiers, but they weren't the only deciding factor in a battle.
Even if all of the enemy captains lost, there were still fifty Qi Gathering cultivators that could fight and pose a threat to the injured captains.
Enough ants could kill an elephant.
He briefly looked at Voss, who was fighting against an extremely huge man. In his heart, Voss had already reached an unbeatable status that was only below Golden Core cultivators. So when Yun Qiang saw him fight, he felt neither anxiety or tension, only respect and admiration.
Every time he had seen Voss face an enemy captain, the man always looked in control. His movements were orderly, precise, and methodical. But above all, they looked inspiring. When looking at him, Yun Qiang didn't see emotional struggle or panic; to him, Voss's fight looked more like duels between proud cultivators instead of life and death struggles. It was something that was difficult to describe. It was the awe that only a good leader could inspire.
He shifted his gaze away from Voss; all of their captains had already engaged the enemies, and now it was his time to act.
However, he had only managed to take a few steps toward the side of the battlefield where Qi Gathering cultivators fought when a movement in Voss's direction caught his attention.
He turned around, his body instinctively shifting to a defensive position. What he saw left him extremely confused and shocked at the same time. A man was running toward him, his speed higher than anyone on the battlefield, his figure already a blur in Yun Qiang's eyes.
A brief thought passed through Yun Qiang's mind.
A sixth captain?
However, even before he could finish this thought, the man had already appeared before him, and a fist was barreling toward his chest. Before getting hit, Yun Qiang's eyes briefly locked with the man's eyes. In them, he could see various emotions: happiness, excitement, and greed.
Yun Qiang didn't have time to think about this. The fist instantly connected with his body, sending him flying into the air above his comrades and brothers-in-arms. In the brief moment he was in the air, he didn't feel any pain; he could only feel the heat brought by the last rays of sunlight from the setting sun behind the thick forest. In that brief second, it felt as if it was all a dream, then it all came crashing down.
The moment he hit the ground, the pain, the sound of panicked cries and excited screams, and the smell of the humid ground all surged toward him, overwhelming his senses as he rolled on the ground. When he finally stopped rolling, he lay there for an unknown amount of time, silently enduring the pain while he waited for his view to stop spinning.
Only after the sky had stopped spinning and he tried to get up did he realize what had happened.
A man had appeared out of nowhere and attacked him. Luckily, the man's fist had hit the shaft of his spear and then his armor, losing some of its power when it landed. But the weakened hit was still enough to send him flying across the battlefield.
The pain assaulted him once again, forcing him to kneel down. He groaned.
There's no way his raw strength is that high. He must have used a technique to power up his fist!
He had to get up, or he was bound to die on this battlefield. However, as he tried to get back on his feet, a feeling similar to electrocution reached him, making his heart palpitate. He fell to his knees once again.
He suddenly remembered the violet lightning arcs that seemed to follow the man's fist.
Yeah, definitely a special technique.
He gritted his teeth, trying his best to ignore the pain, and got up.
Even if the constant cries and screams that surrounded them distracted him, he tried his best to focus his mind and remember what Voss had taught him before. However, his thoughts were cut short when another man fell close by and landed a few meters from him.
After seeing the body land on the ground, Yun Qiang instantly got close to him and checked if he was still alive. He didn't do this out of generosity or kindness; he did it because he recognized the flying man. It was Lee.
He knelt close to Lee. He seemed still alive; however, his state wasn't good. His head was bleeding, and his arm was twisted in an almost inhuman way.
"Lee, can you hear me?"
Lee only responded with a groan. He was conscious, but it probably wouldn't last long.
"Good, try to stay conscious. I will try to cover your head wound, okay?"
Lee didn't respond. Instead, he reached out his hand.
"Your chest..."
Yun Qiang looked at his chest. His armor had a fist-sized hole in it where it was hit, and his exposed flesh seemed burned. He was shocked by this; however, he couldn't waste time. He had to patch Lee's head with a bandage to slow down his bleeding.
His hands trembled because of his own injuries, and he wasn't an expert medic, but he still tried his best. Lee would probably die if he didn't do anything now. He tore off a piece of his clothing that seemed clean and started bandaging Lee's head while trying not to hurt him too much.
Every time Lee groaned or said something, Yun Qiang tried to reassure him by saying things like "Don't worry," "You need to hold on," and "I'm almost done," all the while making his touch more delicate and focusing even more of his attention on bandaging his companion.
In truth, this kind of action was against his principle of trying his best to survive the war. The right way to do things would be to pick up a weapon, find a calm spot, and wait it out, letting Lee bleed out on the mushy ground. But he still did it, without thinking deeply about his principles and motives.
However, his help didn't last long, and when he had finished bandaging Lee's head and was about to check Lee's arm, he saw an enemy soldier approach him.
He briefly closed his eyes, picked up Lee's spear from his twisted arms, and got up.
In that moment, the noise that he had managed to ignore when healing Lee started sounding again, becoming louder and louder. Yun Qiang's heart started to beat faster and faster, slowly syncing itself with the screams surrounding them.
He got into an offensive stance, his mind filled with a determination that he had never felt before. This wasn't a skirmish where he could lose control and win by getting lucky.
This was a true battle.