Chapter 213 (2/2)

Listening to these words, Ning Que shook his head and walked to the Big Black Horse's side, saying, ”These barbarians may look like Horse Gangs, but they may actually be cavalries from the Left-Tent palace.”

Zhuo Zhihua and the girls next to the horse carriage were all amazed at his words.

Ning Que did not explain but looked at those gra.s.sland Horse Gangs wandering in the deserted wilderness and the three Yan cavalries speeding out like arrows, and said, ”It might be successful to send messages by envoys in the frontier fortress of Yan territory in the south, while they are deep in the gra.s.sland, it will be impossible to out run the three cavalries. ”

After they defeated the monk in the lakeside of Shubi Lake, in addition to their shared experiences recently, girls from Great River Kingdom increasingly trusted in Ning Que. They subconsciously believed his judgment. Cat girl even surprisingly jumped on the horse carriage, watching with worry as the distance between the three Yan cavalries grew farther and farther.

The reaction of the generals from Yan Kingdom was not slow, but it was precisely because of the fast speed that Ning Que was unable to change the fate of the three cavalries, not to mention that he was now just an ordinary disciple of Black Ink Garden of Great River Kingdom.

As the sun gradually set, the daylight on the gra.s.sland became dimmer as the twilight became thicker. The three cavalries turned into tiny silhouettes on the blood-red canvas. No one knew whether they were shot by arrows or stopped by nooses, but they then suddenly fell to the ground, and there was no movement later on.

Some time later, dozens of Horse Gangs came over from the gra.s.sland, and the bodies of the three former envoys were dragged by ropes behind the horses occasionally hitting the low-lying area and mounds on the ground. They were so badly mutilated that others could hardly bear the sight.

The two groups of gra.s.sland Horse Gangs converged and burst into loud laughter, the so-called braying.

This sort of scene on the gra.s.sland was not new to Ning Que. That year he had also seen the corpse of the chief of Horse Gangs dragged at the Shubi Lake as a demonstration for a week, so he was not moved by this scene. However, such a ghastly secne might make the young girls and civilians in the grain-delivery team have nightmares at night, and Ning Que could hear their breathing getting more fiercer and flurried.

As for the 200 cavalries of the Yan Kingdom, the sight of their comrades being brutally killed and humiliated caused a great commotion and they were only able to settle down under the force of their officers, who fought on the gra.s.sland. No one was an opponent of these savages, at least until the Desolate Man moved southward. The previous scene was proof that although the Yan forces and the disciples of Black Ink Garden were superior in numbers, the crowd could only hold back their anger and fear and set up a rough formation of wagons with their grain convoys and set up defensive offensives as fast as they could, waiting for the gra.s.sland Horse Gangs to attack.

The atmosphere in the camp became extremely depressing, as did the dozens of Yan cavalries after they had returned to camp. For all men, if not themselves, had heard of the cruelty of the gra.s.sland Horse Gangs on the gra.s.sland, especially when the peasants on the grain-delivery team looked ashen and trembling and unable to carry out even the simplest work.

Surprisingly, these Horse Gangs did not attack at sun-set when the crowds in the camp had lost morale. Instead they just looked coldly on the busy crowds, staying a few arrows from the camp while holding the reins in their hands. Three of the Horse Gangs who looked like chiefs stopped in the forefront were waving their horsewhips, pointing and making judgements with arrogant looks on their faces.

As night gradually fell, the bonfire in the camp was lit, and the Yan general himself set up a surveillance post. The soldiers looked nervously at the outer edge of the pitch-black periphery of the gra.s.sland, thinking that they would never awaken once they fell asleep owing to the danger close at hand. It was almost certain that no one would be able to sleep peacefully as they feared that there would be a surprise attack by the Horse Gangs at night.

Ning Que understood the behavior style of Horse Gangs. Be it the true Horse Gangs or the palace cavalry disguised as Horse Gangs, once they got on the horses and became thieves, they would firmly act in accordance with the behavior style of Horse Gangs - Horse Gangs would not launch an attack in the evening - Ning Que set up a tent for himself next to the carriage, and got ready to have a nice sleep, in order to meet the b.l.o.o.d.y battle tomorrow morning.

The night wind blew, and lifted the curtains of the carriage, and his eyes narrowed, for he saw that the carriage was empty, and that the girl in white,Mo Shanshan, was nowhere to be found.

He quietly climbed to the top of the carriage, looking out to the periphery of the camp by the dim light. There was a a circle of burning bonfires there, and a faint figure could be vaguely seen on the other side of the flames.

No one but he, who had a keen eye, could have seen the thin figure on the Winter Plains.

Under the light of the flames and the starlight, the white clothes on the figure seemed thinner as if they would fly away with the night breeze. It was like a ghost or a spirit, and no one knew what it was doing.

Ning Que stared in silence, deep in thought.

Then he jumped off the carriage and fell asleep with his clothes on.

As the night came to an end, suddenly there were several screams from the southwest part of the camp as well as the wild howling of horses. Cavalry of Yan Kingdom in the north who had been vigilant looked blankly towards that place in a state of horror.

Ning Que sleeping in the tent next to the horse carriage had awakened.

He listened for a moment, and looked through the cracks in the curtains at the girl's figure cut out by the candlelight in the carriage. Gradually the light came on. He smiled, and then closed his eyes and went back to sleep peacefully.

In his dream he wondered when he became capable of writing such a powerful fire talisman.

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