C20 (1/2)
Kong Sheng suddenly turned back to look and saw a young lady wearing a red snow white cloak standing outside the door looking at them. It was the Lady Xiu’er he had seen earlier, who had entered the city with the food delivery team.
”Who are you? How did you get in?! ” The group of people shouted at the same time, a few Apprentice Knight who had yet to get on their horses pulled out their blades and rushed towards the young lady.
”Stop!” Kong Sheng stopped his men's actions, dismounted and walked to the front of Xiu'er, frowning he said: ”Lady Xiu’er, this is an important place in the army camp, you are not allowed to enter.”
As he said that, Kong Sheng glared at the few soldiers guarding the door. Five to six young lad, can't you see a girl coming in?
The soldiers looked ashamed and doubtful. They really didn't know why this girl would appear here.
Xiu'er said softly, ”Master, I heard what you said just now. Let me go with you. ”When I was young, I learned a bit of kung fu and could ride horses. I can help you guys.”
Kong Sheng was shocked at first. To be able to know of his arrangements showed that this girl had been here for a long time, and no one really noticed her? Then, he said carefully, ”I appreciate your kindness, but it's just a military operation. Warriors have practiced together for many years. If I let the girl join in now, I'm afraid there might be a mistake.” After he finished speaking, he didn't wait for Xiu'er to speak anymore. He extended his hand and beckoned to the two Apprentice Knight s, ”Take Lady Xiu’er out. Be a bit more courteous.”
Seeing that the Xiu'er had walked out of the camp unwillingly, Kong Sheng jumped back onto his horse and waved to the soldiers, ”It's getting late, let's go!”
Over two hundred thin and weak mounted war horses quietly left the Phoenix City Pass in the dusk. Due to Qu Feizhi's previous recklessness, both sides of the mountain wall were now covered with mechanisms. It was impossible to repeat the scene of Qu Feizhi riding the fire stone thrower alone again. Thus, Kong Sheng and Ling Zilu decided on a two-pronged strategy: under Ling Zilu's lead, twenty to thirty elite Apprentice Knight s would lead everyone into the trench, under the cover of the night, to slowly approach the Moqiu Army Battalion. As for the majority of them, under Kong Sheng's lead, they would circle around the cliff from a further distance, and after the two sides met up at the agreed position, they would charge towards the Moqiu Army Battalion to snatch the food.
Ling Zilu and the twenty to thirty Apprentice Knight s had another important mission, which was to plan the route back to the city for the main group. This task was the most difficult one, the night was dense and the ground was filled with trenches.
Kong Sheng took the lead and nodded slightly towards Ling Zilu, then turned around and climbed up the mountain cliff first. He stuck his body to the pitch-black mountain wall, and quickly disappeared into the night. The rest of the soldiers came over to salute Ling Zilu, then followed behind Kong Sheng and climbed up.
Ling Zilu bowed in return, and then silently watched as they climbed up the mountain cliff, until everyone's figures disappeared into the night. Only after that did he wave his hand, and shout in a low voice, ”Let's go as well.”
Zhao Handong stood on top of the Arrow Tower, watched as the group of figures disappeared into the distance, lowered his head and sighed, then ordered the Border Army soldiers to place two posts at night, making him be more careful. And at a place where Zhao Handong couldn't see it, a red figure flashed past.
Kong Sheng already could not remember when he climbed up the mountain last time, or perhaps he had never climbed up like this before. His fingers dug into the cracks of the rock tightly, exerting force throughout his body. Due to overexertion, his fingers were already a little white, the muscles on his forearm bulged, and from time to time he would jump up and down due to overexertion. However, he did not dare to relax. He even wanted to exert a bit more force because what he stepped on was a cliff that was not even half a foot wide.
The flower petal like cliffs were layered with layers upon layers, and each layer was higher and higher. Some of these ”flower petals” were about two feet wide and some were less than half a foot wide, but the difference between them was at least a hundred feet apart. In the night, Kong Sheng and the others had to be careful with every step. At this moment, the usually majestic and magnificent Wu Lian Mountain was filled with killing intent. At this time, Kong Sheng truly experienced what it meant to be as though he was walking on thin ice while facing the abyss.
Kong Sheng cautiously stuck his head into the cliff and saw that there was no more road ahead. He signaled the soldiers behind him to stop first and then took out a torch from behind him with a wind shield to carefully observe the situation on the road ahead.
The good thing was that the cliff was wider, so he would have a chance to rest once he passed. The bad thing was that there was nothing between the two sections of the cliff that could be used as leverage. It would be even more difficult to jump over by just relying on one's strength.
Kong Sheng let out a light sigh as he returned the torch to his waist, and casually unsheathed the blade at his waist, adjusting his balance slightly. After walking a few steps quickly, he exerted his strength and jumped, and just as his body was about to sink, he suddenly waved his right arm, and sheathed the blade and sheath, and inserted them into a selected crack in the rocks. Then, he swung his body forward with this force while raising both his legs at the same time, and stepped onto the flat ground on the opposite side. This turn of events was extremely dangerous, even Kong Sheng's face was pale as he panted for a long time, before daring to turn back and call for the soldiers.
The following steps were much smoother, the soldiers jumped over one by one, using the edge of Kong Sheng's blade as leverage, then with a tug from Kong Sheng's hand, they could smoothly make their way over. In the middle, Kong Sheng purposely stopped to reinforce his blade to prevent others from falling down due to it being loosened. This place was a few hundred feet from the ground, and there was not even a tree in the middle. If he were to fall down, there would be no path for him to live.
After passing through this ”Broken Bridge Road” without any surprises, Kong Sheng and his group finally reached the mountains, and their journey became much easier now. Only when it was time to go down the mountain did he face the second test, which was how to go down the mountain.
This part of Wulian Mountain Range was basically made of shale, the rocks were like pages of books, layer after layer, and they cracked everywhere. This type of rock could be said to be hard, but it was incomparably hard. Its sharp edges were like those of a famous sharp sword. Even though they were extremely fragile, some of them would peel off layer upon layer like the skin on a cake when touched. Furthermore, it was easy to climb up the mountain, but difficult to climb down. One could even try using their hands to grip the mountain, and if they were not careful, they would fall down along with the rocks.
Kong Sheng thought for a while, then took off the leggings of himself and the other two soldiers, twisted them into a rope and tied one of them to a relatively sturdy stone. With the other one in hand, he slowly went down the mountain. Kong Sheng smoothly descended to the cliff below, and lightly swung the rope a few times. The rope was loosened from the stone and was caught by Kong Sheng.
Using this method, Kong Sheng consecutively went down two levels of stone cliffs. Only after recognizing that there were no problems did he call three to five soldiers to form a group and use his leggings to take turns descending the mountain. It was already the early hours of the morning, and the bright moon was setting in the western part of the night. However, if they were delayed any longer, when the sun rose, they would have nowhere to hide, and would only be hanging on the mountain wall as live targets.
Kong Sheng, on the other hand, was nervously paying attention to everyone's safety. He was afraid that something bad would happen, and that they were all following his good brothers and fellow soldiers, killing the enemy and wrapping up their corpses on the battlefield was one thing, falling to their deaths on the cliff, what was going on? Moreover, he was also a little worried that he would alarm the enemy.
Therefore, Kong Sheng called for the people at the top to be careful of their safety, and instructed them to keep an eye on the enemy's camp. Right now, the situation was similar to that of a half-crossing master. No matter how strong the army was, they were still afraid of this.
As the saying goes, do what you fear. Just as Kong Sheng was flustered, the situation he was most worried about happened. The rope in one of the soldier's hands suddenly snapped, and his entire body first fell down beside Kong Sheng's feet, before jumping up again and falling down the cliff.
Kong Sheng subconsciously reached out to grab it, but he was just a bit too slow. His fingers would touch the clothes of the soldier, and then, he helplessly watched as the soldier fell to the ground. And what hurt Kong Sheng the most was that the soldier had almost given up on saving himself when he fell. He stuffed his palm into his mouth and bit down hard, not allowing himself to make even the slightest sound.