The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 201 The First Battle (2)

The two Arrow Formations were like two giant arrows. They became two sharp arrows, shooting at each other on the broad plain. The momentum of the arrows was very mighty, causing the dust to rise in clouds.

The rumble of galloping horses was like the sound of thunder, eclipsing all other noise. Two Arrow Formations composed of fine cavalrymen in armors drew closer and closer—100 steps, 50 steps... Finally, they clashed.

The moment the two armies faced each other, their long spears were on the line before their horses. The two opposing teams of cavalrymen stuck out their long spears beyond their horses’ heads and stabbed at their enemies.

The whinnies of the horses suddenly arose. Shining spears clashed, generating a clear sound. The sharp point of their spears penetrated armor and body. Sad, shrill cries mixed with the sounds of horseshoes, covering everything and shielding all senses.

The cavalrymen in the forefront of the two armies passed one another. Some of them fell onto the ground; some of them remained on their horses. They charged toward the center of their enemy’s formation. All the soldiers at the frontline saw was a vast sea of iron armors and a forest of long spears.

The battle formations caused two clouds of dust to collide with each other, integrating into each other and then separating. The horses were galloping at top speed in the battle formation, creating one dust line after another. The dust lines ran vertically and horizontally through the black horses and armors, like the crisscrossing footpaths between fields.

The screams and shouts became louder and louder, covering the rumbling sound of the galloping horses. The sad, shrill cries rose one after another, making people’s heart tremble with fear.

The battle formations, which were originally very tight, crisscrossed as the horses run. Gradually, sporadic, linear or stretches of empty space began to appear. The horses were still running in the battle array, but the cavalrymen were gone.

None of the soldiers who fell in the battle formation stood up, whether dead or alive. In an instant, they were trampled by enemy or friendly horses turned into muddy flesh.

The scarlet blood dyed the ground.

Li Ye was right next to Shangguan Qingcheng. The Senior and Junior Priestesses were right behind Li Ye. Shangguan Qingcheng’s personal soldiers followed them closely. As the head of the Arrow Formation, their pressure was the greatest, and they were also the strongest part of the formation.

As a cultivator at Level 9 of Qi-refining, Li Ye was not afraid of any long spears stabbing at him. As his horse ran rapidly, the figures and faces of his enemies passed him quickly. They popped up before him, and then instantly brushed against him. So Li Ye could only cast a passing glance at them.

Each long spear stabbing at Li Ye could not break the defense enchantment he set. They either broke or deviated from him. Li Ye knew very well the key to charging a formation as a cavalryman. He carried the long spear steadily and did not even change the position of the spearhead. His spear was pointed at one direction all the time.

Enemies who charged at his spearhead directly fell from their horses and died.

Only practitioners who were at the Qi-refining Stage could avoid his spear. Only those elite soldiers who bowed down and stayed close to the horseback could avoid his spearhead.

There were many sounds coming from the battleground. Sound produced when the spear swept past the armor, sound produced when soldiers fell to the ground, the screams and shouts of soldiers who were trodden by horses...They appeared one after another, like the sea waves sounding in Li Ye’s ears. Li Ye could appraise the loss of his and his enemy’s troops without even looking around or turning back.

The head of the Arrow Formation formed by Li Ye was indestructible. No one could destroy it. Soon they penetrated their enemy’s Arrow Formation. When there were no enemies ahead, Shangguan Qingcheng adjusted the horse’s direction skillfully and turned her cavalrymen’s formation around.

After the first round of charging, the speed of the cavalry certainly slowed down.

The two Military Formations intersected and passed each other, leaving hundreds of bodies in the empty land behind. The flood of iron armors was like a dragon. They turned around in the empty field, then charged toward their enemy again.

During this process, they finally had the opportunity to appraise their loss. Li Ye frowned. The loss of the Wolf-tooth Troop was great, much higher than he had expected. He originally thought that with the great proportion of cultivators in his troop, his troop would become invincible.

Now he realized that even cultivators could not guarantee a win when they are confronted with charging cavalrymen in their formation. As long as their cultivation was not very high, they could not control the situation of the war. When the cavalrymen were fighting, they were very close to death and sometimes, even the slightest move would decide whether they could live or die.

Only the elite troops who had experienced hundreds of wars could know the secrets of war, which could not be described by words. They had to bring maximum damage to their enemy while staying alive.

The soldiers of Wolf-tooth Troop had undergone enough training, and they nearly had no chance to rest. They also had suppressed bandits many times. But judging from the practical situation, no soldier could be called elite soldier without real war experience. And the soldiers who survived the war would be the best soldiers of the elite troop.

Sometimes, the experience and skills obtained in real wars were even more important than their armaments.

The soldiers began to adjust themselves for a new formation. The spaces caused by the death of soldiers were refilled by the surviving soldiers. Thus, they kept the orderly shape of the formation. In the real war of formations on the battlefield, the result of the war depended on whether the array was complete or not.

Li Ye turned around and looked ahead. He looked serious and determined. The two army formations were going to fight against each other again. The horses trod over the bloody battlefield and ran toward the other party again.

Li Ye was not at ease. Zhu Zhen was even calmer and more determined. He stared at the front row of Wolf-tooth Troop. It looked as if his eyes were going to burn.

The Charging of the Array Formation was the best array for a cavalry to fight against infantries. But in fact, when two cavalry troops were fighting against each other, it was not the best choice. The two troops both chose the Charging of Array Formation only because both of them were confident that they could tear the other side apart by their Charging Formation and end the war.

However, Zhu Zhen discovered in disappointment that after the first round of the Charging Formation, the array of the Wolf-tooth Troop was still complete. The number of their dead was much smaller than he had expected, while the number of the dead in his own troop was far higher than he’d expected.

Zhu Zhen originally thought that the Wolf-tooth Troop was made up of new soldiers who were easily defeated, but he realized how wrong he was.

The Wolf-tooth Troop not only had a large number of cultivators who could cause great harm to his troops but were also well trained. After a round of fierce fighting, their formation was still intact. Their soldiers’ performance at war was only slightly inferior to his experienced elite troops.

He could imagine that after experiencing several more wars, this cavalry troop before him could become a real elite cavalry troop.

Zhu Zhen also discovered that among the 3,000 cavalrymen, was a group of backbone soldiers who were real experienced veterans in war. They were the skeleton of the troop and helped to keep the order and thrust of the troop.

Those experienced veterans accounted for 1/4 of the 3,000 cavalrymen. While fighting against them, he clearly felt the strong murderous look and the brave, determined spirit emitting from them. They were the true experienced soldiers. They were even more elite than his own troops.

“Under Li Ye’s command, how can there be such an elite troop?”

Zhu Zhen quickly remembered. “Is it the troop left by Li Ye’s father Li Xian, the previous Prince An?”

This sudden thought gave Zhu Zhen a start. “If it is true, then I have to pay a higher price than I could ever imagine if I want to win.” With this thought, Zhu Zhen no longer hesitated. He did not want to follow the prescribed order. If he wanted to win this war, he had to apply some good tactics.

While crossing the battlefield littered with bodies, Li Ye cast a glance them and counted the number of his loss in his heart. During the previous formation charging, his 3000 cavalrymen fought against the 5000 on the other side, and his loss was not less than Zhu Zhen’s. The number of his soldiers was smaller than Zhu Zhen’s. If he fought like this again, this disadvantage would gradually be more conspicuous. Once he lost a certain percentage of his soldiers, his Wolf-tooth Troop would be defeated.

Li Ye decided that he would no longer follow the prescribed order.

“Qingcheng, step back, I’ll lead the troop!” Li Ye spurred his horse and sped up to switch his position with Shangguan Qingcheng. Although Shangguan Qingcheng was a military general, her cultivation and the realm she had achieved was not enough. If she was in charge, she would not be able control all 3,000 soldiers. So her leading the formation would not be fully effective.

Li Ye took over from Shangguan Qingcheng and stayed at the very front. The Senior and Junior Priestesses stayed at his left and right to protect him. Although their cultivation methods were not suitable for the formation fight, they were at Level 9 of Qi-refining. Therefore, ordinary cultivators could not possibly defeat them.

Li Ye put the spear back on the saddle. Such an ordinary weapon was of no use to him. He took out his Luke Sword and in a flash, held it in his hand.

The two troops charged forward rapidly and were about to clash. Li Ye could clearly see the hideous look of murder on the enemy soldiers. The horses were galloping fast, their muscle fiber quivering fast and powerfully, full of the beauty of strength.

Li Ye used his Qi-refining to light up the dense runes on his sword. He was fully prepared and was ready to go.

Suddenly, in the front row of Zhu Zhen’s formation, numerous lights of Spiritual Qi appeared. A large number of cavalrymen flew from their horsebacks.

They all held spiritual swords. They rose to the sky and used their spiritual sword to chop and cut. After that, a dozen Spirit Wind Swords shot forward! At their foot, a dozen fireballs were formed, they shot at the enemy behind the Spirit Wind Swords!

The distance between the two troops was less than 100 steps. For the fast-moving cavalrymen formation, they could across the distance in a moment.

A dozen beams of Sword Qi and fireballs flew towards them. Each Sword Qi was longer than three meters; each fireball was larger than a wax gourd. And some of the cultivators were at the middle level of Qi-refining. So the fireballs and Sword Qi they produced were even greater!

Obviously, if these beams of Sword Qi and fireballs fell on the cavalry formation, at least a hundred soldiers would be dead or injured and hundreds of soldiers would scatter. If this happened, the fast-moving cavalry formation would immediately collapse!

Placing the cultivators in front and letting them attack the enemy with techniques before the two formations clashed was a very practical method, though it was not new!

Zhu Zhen held the spear firmly in his hand and looked crazed. It was obvious that as long as his cultivators successfully attacked the enemy, he would charge forward and attack further!

All soldiers of the Wolf-tooth Troop look solemn. A number of them looked panic-stricken. The cultivators in their formation did not gather in front. How could they cope with such a severe attack?

Fortunately, the soldiers were well trained. Although they looked frightened, they did not panic or try to flee and ruin their formation. They didn’t slow down one bit. They still spurred their horses and charged forward. They knew that if they turned around or slowed down in panic, the soldiers behind them would be affected, which would cause greater chaos just like stone tossed in the water would raise a thousand ripples.

Faced with the attack of the techniques, Li Ye still remained calm. Before he reacted, the Senior and Junior Priestesses had flown up in the air. They performed a seal with both hands at the same time, and then pushed forward. After that, a great image composed of yin and yang was formed and shot fiercely into the air!

The fireballs and Sword Qi were mixed in the yin and yang image, which caused a huge explosion. In mid-air, the dazzling light of the Spiritual Qi scattered around the sky, resembling brilliant fireworks and shooting stars.

After the yin and yang image exploded and dissipated, the dozen fireballs and beams of Sword Qi also disappeared.

The faces of the Senior and Junior Priestesses turned pale. It was clear that fighting against the technique used by a hundred people was really stressful, even if they were at Level 9 of Qi-refining.

Suddenly, Li Ye rose into the sky. The Luke Sword in his hand was shining brightly with a 30-meter long sword light. He vehemently sliced down with his sword. Once, twice, three times in an instant.

The three beams of Sword Qi were altogether 60 meters long. They were connected to each other and formed a huge inverted triangle. The inverted triangle was just enough to cover the head of Zhu Zhen’s formation as it shot into the formation.

Confronting the Sword Qi that fell down suddenly, those cultivators who attacked first were appalled and terrified. Some of them hurriedly formed a Spiritual Qi Shield; some did not respond in time and died. No matter how they reacted, the three beams of Sword Qi cut directly into the military formation.

The airwave caused by the three beams of Sword Qi exploded covering the sky and sun with a green light. A huge roar drowned out the cultivators’ screams. Blood and flesh flew along the three lines of Sword Qi. The red blood and the green light radiated each other, forming a splendid yet scary and cruel scene.

After the green light totally dispersed, three huge gullies appeared among the formation. All the cavalrymen and horses around the gullies fell to the ground. Hundreds of them were killed on the spot and were smashed into pieces. Hundreds of them were wounded by the power Li Ye produced. Due to the sudden great confusion, there were also hundreds of cavalrymen who fell from their horses as their rides fell on their knees.

In the past, Nangong Diyi became accomplished in sword skills. He went to the northern pass with his Awaken Sword. He killed 800 enemies in armor with three sword strikes and made the Northern barbarian tribes attacking the border flee in a hurry.

Li Ye now directly crushed the head of Zhu Zhen’s formation with three beams of Sword Qi sending the whole formation into chaos. The cavalrymen of Wolf-tooth Troop took the opportunity, charged into their enemy’s formation and began to kill brutally.

After Li Ye sliced three times with his sword, a vague shadow appeared in the sky before Li Ye withdrew his sword and returned to his horse. Li Ye’s expression instantly changed. He immediately erected the sword before his chest. But it happened so fast that he didn’t have time to guard against himself. He was pushed back a hundred steps by the mysterious shadow.