Chapter 222 - Horses on the Rampage, an Emergency on the Back Hill (1/2)

Chapter 222: Horses on the Rampage, an Emergency on the Back Hill

There were open areas on the Back Hill behind the Imperial College, but they had to ride around a hillock, on which there was a small wood. Since the view here was just average, and the ground was rather b.u.mpy, students didn’t typically hang out on this hill.

But this time, maybe because he had specially pet.i.tioned the emperor for resumption of the horse race, the princ.i.p.al had become a lot more compet.i.tive than before. Students were, in batches, taken to the Back Hill to practice riding.

When Ling Zhang and his cla.s.smates arrived, they found that there were some unfamiliar faces present, as well as some familiar ones, such as Jiang Yu and his followers.

Yuwen Jin’s face was the first to fall. Ling Zhang admonished him, “Keep your s.h.i.+rt on. This is not the right time to kick up a stink.”

Jiang Yu and his cronies had also seen Ling Zhang and the others. There was ill-concealed hostility in the eyes of both sides, but none of them made any provocative remarks as they had done previously. They just ignored each other’s existence.

Near the opening s.p.a.ce on the Back Hill was a small valley with a brook flowing through it. Beside the brook were water meadows covered with gra.s.s which was horses’ favorite. A lot of students would lead their horses there for a stroll in breaks between riding sessions. Ling Zhang patted Snowflake on the hip, sending it to the meadows to have a saunter. Snowflake went there but for some unknown reason soon returned. It seemed to have taken an instant dislike to the valley and wasn’t even willing to approach it.Read more chapters at ReadNovelFull.com

Ling Zhang didn’t think much about it, believing that Snowflake just didn’t like walking with those “mediocre” horses. After all, Snowflake was of uncommon blood and would be the head horse if placed in a herd, so it was fairly haughty.

Half the afternoon pa.s.sed, and all students were somewhat sweaty. A lot of them appeared rather tired.

At first there was something wrong with a student’s horse, which suddenly went restless and a trifle out of control. Caught flat-footed, the student on horseback, who had just finished the tenth lap and was sweating buckets, nearly fell off.

Someone on the side reminded him to be more cautious, believing that it was merely a minor accident, but unexpectedly, more horses grew agitated and refused to obey their riders, rearing and jumping uncontrollably. Worse still, some even started rampaging. Students on horseback failed to react in time, screaming in fright.

Ling Zhang, Yuwen Jin and the others, who had just finished a lap and were having a break, were not on their horses. On seeing this, they were all taken aback and hastened to their schoolmates’ help.

Fortunately for them, half of these horses, which had suddenly went fretful, had no students on their backs. Also, the riding instructors all reacted very quick. One after another, they helped those students dismount their horses, but those restless horses were still in fidgets and started running around madly in all directions. Some of them even hurtled into the wood.

“AAARGH!!! HELP!!!”

Cries for help came from the other side of the wood. Faces of students still suffering from the shock changed again. “d.a.m.n it. Some are still practicing. They are on the other side of the wood.”

Although a lot of horses had suddenly started fidgeting, there were also many horses unaffected, such as Snowflake.

Ling Zhang took a flying leap, landed onto Snowflake’s back and galloped forth.

The sight of this brought Yuwen Jin and the others back to their senses. They quickly went to their horses, mounted and followed Ling Zhang.

Some relatively bold students also got on their unaffected horses and followed in their wake.

The rest of the students were nearly frightened out of their minds. On top of this, there were horses rampaging all around and anyone run over or stamped by one would no doubt sustain serious injuries, so they hastily rushed towards safer areas. Riding instructors and guards were having a hard time trying to bring those horses back under control, their faces drenched with sweat.

Snowflake, galloping like the wind, soon carried Ling Zhang into the wood heading squarely towards the place where the cries had come from.

Distantly, he saw where the disturbance was happening. As he dashed up, a couple of students in their panic were running madly in his direction. When they saw Ling Zhang on horseback streaking over, their eyes lit up first and then fell fairly disappointed, maybe because they believed that Ling Zhang’s arrival wouldn’t make any difference.

“Those horses ran wild. Some were thrown off their horses and got trampled. Jian–Jiang Yu’s horse has gone mad as well. He’s still on horseback. It’s getting out of control.”

Though disappointed, those students still gave an account of what was going on.

Ling Zhang, with a frown on his face, told them, “You guys go back as quick as possible. Be cautious on you way back. Horses at the opening s.p.a.ce have also run wild. Be careful not to be run over.”

After saying this, he yelled “Giddy up!” and tore forward with Snowflake.

On reaching the scene, he found that, unsurprisingly, half a dozen students on horseback were too scared to approach it. A black horse was chasing them like crazy, and they had no choice but to ride around trying to dodge it. A man was being dragged by the black horse, one of his feet stuck in a stirrup, unable to free himself, half-dead due to the mad horse’s dragging him.

Ling Zhang dismounted and walked straight towards the frenzied black horse.

“Stop! Don’t go over there!” yelled someone frantically.

Ling Zhang’s face grew serious as he mobilized all his internal energy and concentrated it in his right palm. While the black horse was charging straight at him, he stood still on the spot.

“Run!” One of his schoolmates shouted.

“Brother Zhang!” Seeing this, Yuwen Jin who had just arrived was thrown into such fear that his heart was in his mouth, veins standing out on his neck from the bellow.

Right at the time when the darting black horse was merely a couple of feet away from Ling Zhang and everybody present thought that he was going to be run over and trampled by it and die where he was, Ling Zhang made his move.

At this instant crucial instant, Ling Zhang threw a palm strike with all his might and hit the black horse on the head.

Bang!