219 Get on the Horse and Yousre a Thief VII (2/2)

Ning Que gave up attempting to interact with her. He said directly, ”Prepare to launch a sudden attack. My horse can only take another one with me, and I'm taking Cat Girl. You shall settle your own men.”

Mo Shanshan asked, ”How about those Yan and civilian soldiers who had battled with you for so long?”

Ning Que answered, ”They are just my acquaintances, not friends.”

Mo Shanshan gently shook her head and said, ”I'll not leave.”

Ning Que gazed at her and said suddenly, ”Didn't you realize that the ultimate target for those Horse Gangs on the meadow is to kill you? Besides you, who else deserve them to risk their lives in this lousy troop?”

Mo Shanshan looked at him and said calmly, ”If their target is me, those people died is because of me. That's why I shouldn't leave them alone here.”

Ning Que raised his brows and added, ”Idiot. If you're gone, those Horse Gangs would follow you. Why would they attack those defenseless Yan and civilian soldiers?”

Mo Shanshan smiled and replied, ”Don't you try to trick me. I already have a taste of how cruel these Horse Gangs can be.”

All of a sudden, Ning Que felt that her usual restless eyes became extraordinarily clear and determined, as though they could easily see through his thoughts. He looked at her for a long time before he turned and left.

The Horse Gangs on the meadow were now gathering for discussion. Perhaps they would have another wave of attack again.

He used his palm to roughly wipe off the coagulated blood on his face and changed a new mask for himself, as he walked past the camp filled with lying bodies and broken limbs. Whether it was the Yan soldiers or the civilian soldiers, when they saw him covered in blood, they automatically shrank away to one side. Even for Zhuo Zhihua and the ladies from Great River Kingdom, they could only look at him with respect, and with fear.

The battle with the Horse Gang till today, other than the Fire Talisman that helped to protect the camp with the grain supplies, the main credit should go to Ning Que, for numerous Horse Gang thieves were slaughtered under his podao.

Many people had seen how he had killed the Horse Gang thieves and knew how silently and quickly he could slaughter them. However, what really made people trembled with fear was the calmness he displayed when he killed those Horse Gangs. That calmness in him seemed to bring out the cold attitude he had towards life.

Though he could feel that weird stares all around him, especially with the terrifying look on the Cat Girl's face, Ning Que did not explain. Instead, he softly instructed the men to amend the laager, while at the same time, observed the meadow and his surroundings. He was brainstorming the route to escape.

The Horse Gang was afraid of death, so was him, but he was much clearer about a fact than most of the Horse Gang thieves — the braver you were when faced with death, the more difficult it was for one to die. This was a precious lesson he learned after numerous years of experiencing life and death since young.

As for his cold attitude towards life...he was always cold towards the life of the Horse Gang.

The reason why those Horse Gang by the Shubi Lake were afraid of him even though he was just an average soldier in City of Wei at that time, was that when he left City of Wei and entered into the Wilderness, the moment he got onto a horse, he became a thief.

After all, Ning Que and his partners in City of Wei were born as thieves of the Horse Gang, and they belonged to the most ferocious kind.

In those years, he had killed numerous Horse Gang thieves. If at that time he had a famous female Talisman Master with him like now, perhaps he would stay longer to play with those thieves.

But not today.

Because he was feeling rather uneasy. Not due to the large number of Horse Gang thieves, not due to the horrifying scenes in front of him, but the fact that he felt someone was watching him. He felt that the person had watched him for a long time.

Not just a day or two, but for many days.

...

...

At the east of the meadow was the highest peak. On the peak, there were more than ten Horse Gang thieves stood quietly, observing the chaos below them.

Most of these Horse Gang thieves had only arrived on this land last night, and it was their presence that caught Ning Que's attention. Unlike the average Horse Gang thieves, they had their faces covered with cloth, as though they were unwilling to let anyone see their true appearances.

Obviously, these thieves were the leaders of the 600 Horse Gang thieves. However, for whatever reason, even if those Horse Gang thieves died at the gorge, or killed by Yan cavalries, or stomped to death by falling horses, they remained calm and quiet.

When the Fire Talisman started to burn in the camp, shocking expressions were finally revealed on the faces of these Horse Gang thieves. All but one leader in the front row, who maintained his composure.

The gaze of this Horse Gang thief looked old, and he was clearly in his middle age.

”Indeed, there was a powerful Talisman Master in the troop that was delivering the grains. Perhaps it was that lady Talisman Master. Those Black Ink Garden disciples' swordsmanships were excellent, no doubt they were taught by the Master of Calligrapher.”

The Horse Gang leader said coldly, ”It has already been so many days. Even if that person was the legendary Calligraphy Addict, her Psyche Power should be running dry soon. Let the men below be prepared for another wave of attack.”

The main purpose of the continuous attacks during the day and night was to drain out the Psyche Power of the lady Talisman Master hidden in the troop. It was vivid that this leader was very patient in his planning. Now that he was non-hesitant to send his subordinates to drain off the last bit of Psyche Power of the lady Talisman Master, which also showed how heartless he was.

Sensing the hesitation from his subordinates who were beside him, the leader slightly frowned and said in a cold voice, ”The Central Plains are now planning to cooperate with the palace. Besides the Desolate Man, the next most unlucky party would certainly be the Horse Gangs that are under your lead. Kill those who deserved to be killed and stop the cooperation. To accomplish this goal, it is worth sacrificing some lives.”

One of his subordinates did not understand and commented, ”I doubt Chanyu and the Divine Hall would be deceived by such an obvious trick.”

The leader continued coldly, ”What I want is the truth. The truth is more convincing than any sayings. Kill these people below and the cooperation would not be able to continue.”

Suddenly, the people on the meadow thought of that bigwig and instantly understood what the leader meant.

The leader gazed at a point in the camp and said, ”Continue with the attack. If the person with the big black horse attempted to escape, it's time for us to attack him ourselves. Remember, the goal of this operation is to make sure that person dies.”

The thieves only knew that the person whom the leader was referring to was the male disciple from Black Ink Garden. Prior to that, though he had revealed his strong capabilities, no one knew about his true identity. As such, many were confused upon hearing the leader's words. They thought that in order to create a big commotion in the Wilderness, their target should be the lady Talisman Master in the carriage instead.

A thief who stood behind the leader hesitated for a moment, before he mustered his courage and said, ”Sir, too many subordinates were killed in this operation. There is no way for us to battle further. I'm afraid that if we push them too hard, these thieves may break down.”

It was a strange way of addressing, for it didn't sound like how Horse Gang thieves should address one another. It was more like how officers addressed one another.

The leader of the Horse Gang took a glance at him and said, ”If you guys have been leading these thieves for nearly the past ten years yet failed to command them, that what's the purpose of letting you guys stay alive?”

That Horse Gang thief was taken aback by his look. He shivered, kept silent and dared not speak of another word.

The Horse Gang leader looked down at the camp and said without any emotion, ”These thieves do not know where they stand and thought that they were the real Horse Gang thieves. However, you guys must not forget your own identity.”

”Up the horse as a thief, and down the horse as soldiers. As for all of you, all of you are the General's soldiers.”

Upon listening to this, there was a moment of silence on the meadow. After a long time, someone questioned.

”Sir, how do we deal with the lady Talisman Master in the carriage?”

”No matter how strong a Calligraphy Addict is, as long as she's not into Knowing Destiny State, it will be useless. Once she runs out of Psyche Power, she's like an average person. Let's say even if she has the ability to battle further, do you think she can stop us from killing that young lad?”

...

...

Since the beginning of the battle till today, the thieves that were quietly standing on top of the meadow had finally left separately and returned to their own troops. They were beginning to prepare for their final, and also the strongest wave of attack. Only the Horse Gang leader was left alone on the meadow.

The Horse Gang Leader lifted his right hand and pressed the bamboo hat on his head lower as he quietly gazed down at the young lad who had knives and arrows on his back, covered in blood and was wearing the Black Ink Garden uniform. He remained silent for a long time and suddenly let out a complex smile.

From last year in Chang'an till now, he had been observing this lad named Ning Que for a long time. Though he had yet to find evidence that pointed Ning Que towards the death of the censor Zhang Yuqi, nor had he discovered anything that proved that he was in bad terms with the General, for whatever reason, he just felt that this young lad was indeed a trouble.

Because Ning Que was suspicious. Moreover, the fact that he entered the Second floor of the Academy, became the only successor for the Divine Talisman Master, Yan Se, and being adored by his Majesty, even if he was just 1/10 suspicious, there was still a need to be alert for remaining 9/10.

It was especially when Ning Que came to the frontier fortress in the North of Yan Kingdom. No one knew if his arrival was due to secret order from the Emperor, and no one knew what this would mean to the Academy. Hence, a trouble turned into a stress. There was no point suspecting the suspect, no need to investigate whether this person was involved in the sensor case, and no need to find out if this person was against the General in the dark. They could only, and should only do one thing, which was to help the General to wipe off any threat.

With such a thought, the complex smile on the Horse Gang leader's face was gradually gone.

Should it be a different time or location, no one in this world would dare to have the intention to kill a disciple from the Second floor of the Academy in a bright daylight. However, now they were in the Wilderness, and no one knew the relationship between the Horse Gang and the General.

The imperial court was already suspicious of the General and those Horse Gang must be cleared off no matter what. Today, they planned to kill Ning Que and stop the cooperation. In the process, they had cleared off most of the Horse Gang thieves. This was indeed a great plan to use one stone to kill several birds.

Hence, when Ning Que pretended to leave Blue Water Battalion and when the news of Black Ink Garden disciples guarding the grain troops to the wilderness was spread to General's Mansion, he immediately, without much rest, rushed to Tuyang City to lead the matter himself.

This was a great opportunity given by Haotian. If he missed it, he would certainly be punished.

...

...

Just as the Horse Gang decided to launch another wave of attack, Ning Que was prepared to escape with his horse. When the Horse Gang leader was about to take advantage of the opportunity to slaughter him, galloping noises were heard once again from far away by the meadow in the Wilderness.

Everyone, including the Black Ink Garden disciples and the civilians from Yan Kingdom who were below the meadow and was ready to defend themselves for any waves of attack, as well as the Horse Gang thieves who were preparing to charge down from the meadow, had the same reaction. All of them slowed down on what they were doing and gazed in the direction of the galloping noises.

In the west of the meadow, a troop of cavalries came charging towards them.

There were not many cavalries in the troop, about a hundred. However, both the soldiers and the horses were equipped with gorgeous black armors rimmed with gold. They appeared magnificent and strong, as though there were a million of them.

They were the strongest cavalries in the world, the Papal Cavalryman Troop from the Divine Hall.

Cheers were heard echoing below the meadow.

On the other hand, the Horse Gang rapidly gathered their troops and were ready to retreat.

Yet, what happened next were out of anyone's expectation.

A frail-looking hand was stretched out from the horse carriage situated in the middle of the cavalryman troop of Divine Hall. The hundred cavalryman of Divine Hall slowed down their pace. Keeping the distance of more than a thousand feet apart, they stared coldly at the meadow without launching an attack towards the Horse Gang.

The people within the Grain Troop camp were shocked and cheers gradually subsided. It became a dead silence. Some had guessed the intention of these cavalrymen of Divine Hall and revealed a disappointed and unbelievable look on their faces.