Chapter 714: The Yan Army's Crushing Defeat

The disguised general nodded, turned, and made a hand signal to the small team accompanying him.

Someone in the group released four Goldenwings. Another six men spread out in a ring atop the mountain, facing in every direction. Each took out a bone flute. No two of the six flutes were alike.

They raised them to their lips and began to play.

Some produced low, mournful notes. Others gave sharp piping sounds. Still others emitted sounds so faint they were difficult to distinguish.

The one hundred thousand civilian laborers on Bulao Mountain were the first to panic.

"Snakes!" someone shouted.

So many snakes!

And not only snakes. Large numbers of rats crawled from holes and corners. All manner of insects and ants emerged from the mountain as well, more and more by the moment.

The sight of snakes, insects, rats, and ants pouring out everywhere made the scalp crawl.

The terrified laborers cried out wildly with nowhere to flee, but they soon discovered something strange. So long as they did not move about recklessly, the creatures flowing in groups would go around them. The discovery left them both frightened and amazed.

It seemed every snake, insect, rat, and ant on Bulao Mountain had crawled out. Gradually, they gathered into tides and surged away in all directions.

Even on the battlefield where the two armies were fighting, snakes, rats, insects, and ants kept emerging.

At first, men on both sides were fighting with bloodshot eyes and paid them no attention. But as more and more appeared, both armies began falling into disorder.

Snakes repeatedly slithered in and bit at men. Maddened rats leaped onto bodies and tore with their teeth. Insects and ants crawled over men, slipped inside their clothing, and stung and bit them. Some even tried to crawl into ears and nostrils. The sensation was enough to drive a man mad.

Some kicked and slapped frantically. Others dodged. Still others jumped and scrambled in all directions.

"Attack!" Chen Shaotong shouted angrily from the mountain.

The Song army began forcing the men in combat to ignore the harassment of the vermin and press the attack.

The military-law enforcement troops started killing men.

Driven forward with no other choice, the Song soldiers soon discovered something new.

The snakes, insects, rats, and ants did not attack them at all.

They attacked only the Yan soldiers.

The discovery sent Song morale soaring.

The Yan army descended into chaos, men flailing in every direction, and the Song troops seized the opportunity to kill.

It was not only snakes, insects, rats, and ants. More and more birds appeared in the sky. Flocks of every kind flew in and threw themselves at the Yan army, clawing and pecking at the faces of Yan soldiers.

Under this torment, the Yan troops were nearly incapable of defending themselves against the Song assault.

The battle situation reversed in an instant.

Chen Shaotong drew his sword and pointed toward the Yan command position. "Meng Shanming is very likely over there. Gentlemen, I leave it to you!"

A group of cultivators shot into the air and flew straight toward the position of the enemy commander's great banner.

Su Qitong was dumbfounded.

His army had launched its full assault and had barely begun surrounding Bulao Mountain when it fell into this situation. Not even in his dreams had he imagined such a thing.

Large numbers of snakes, insects, rats, and ants had appeared around their own position as well. Birds swooped down from the sky with suicidal ferocity.

A large number of cultivators guarded the senior commanders, so the harassment did not affect them much. The cultivators could deal with it. But the soldiers under their command were far less fortunate. Everywhere, men waved their arms wildly, hacking and slashing in all directions.

"Retreat!" Meng Shanming shouted decisively, one hand gripping the armrest of his wheelchair.

Gong Lince was guarding him personally, occasionally sweeping out a sleeve to blast things away. His expression was iron-dark.

No one knew where the swarms of bees had come from. They stung anyone they saw.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Gongs sounded the retreat.

The Yan army began fleeing madly. Men ran while dodging, crashed into one another, and the utterly abnormal retreat dissolved into chaos.

Some soldiers ran with venomous snakes still hanging from their bodies. Before they had gone far, foam spilled from their mouths. They staggered and collapsed.

Gradually, wild beasts began charging in from the very direction of retreat.

Five or six tigers roared as they plunged into the crowd. The moment they knocked a man down, they sank their jaws into him savagely.

Packs of wolves came racing in as well, charging into the mass of soldiers and tearing at them.

The Song troops pursuing from behind were now free to cut loose. Anyone they caught was hacked down as easily as chopping melons and vegetables.

At this moment, the Yan army had fallen into complete chaos.

It was not only the men. Even the Goldenwings they released fluttered back to attack their own side. They could not even summon large flying mounts to come and extract them.

A group of Song cultivators rushed in. They did not know Meng Shanming by sight, but the wheelchair was far too distinctive. They launched a furious assault around him.

"Go!" Gong Lince shouted.

He personally seized Meng Shanming and led a group of Yan cultivators away while fighting as they retreated.

For a time, protecting Meng Shanming became the most important task of all the cultivators around him. As for the soldiers below, there were simply too many. The cultivators could not possibly look after them all.

Goldenwings could not be sent out, so even calling for reinforcements was impossible. Several cultivators had no choice but to leave first and go find help in person.

A group of cultivators fought their way out of the mountain forests while protecting Meng Shanming. The Song cultivators pursued them onto the open plain and still refused to give up, harrying and attacking all the way.

Chen Shaotong had clearly come well prepared for this battle. He had arranged quite a number of experts in advance and was plainly determined to kill Meng Shanming if the opportunity arose.

The Yan cultivators, however, had to carry important commanders with them. Their speed was inevitably affected, making it difficult to shake off the pursuit.

They barely held on until cultivators from the other Yan regional armies received the report and rushed over to reinforce them. Only then did they successfully make contact, force the Song cultivators back, and extract Meng Shanming and the others.

The important commanders had escaped.

In reality, they had escaped by abandoning several hundred thousand soldiers under their command.

The commanders got away, but those hundreds of thousands were not so fortunate. Harassed by birds, beasts, venomous insects, and vermin, with pursuing troops pressed tight behind them, their fate was easy to imagine.

Out in the wilderness, several thousand Yan cavalry arrived and came to a stop.

Meng Shanming sat on horseback, expressionless as he looked toward the direction of the battle.

Su Qitong stood leaning on his sword, eyes bloodshot with fury, waiting and watching as scattered survivors finally escaped the battlefield and straggled back.

A little over five hundred thousand men had entered the fight.

By the end, only a little more than ten thousand returned.

Some collapsed as soon as they arrived, their faces darkening blue-green as their bodies convulsed from venomous snakebites.

Others had faces swollen like pig heads, or hands and feet puffed red and swollen from the stings of venomous bees and insects.

Cultivators hurried forward, dragging the injured aside for emergency treatment.

When large numbers of reinforcements finally reached the rear, no more Yan soldiers from the battle returned.

Everyone understood that the rest were probably never coming back.

They did not even dare send large flying mounts to investigate the situation. They feared the creatures would fall out of control as well. Two mounts sent ahead earlier had never returned.

Five hundred thousand men.

Gone just like that.

With a thud, Su Qitong dropped to his knees on the grass, bracing himself on his sword and facing the battlefield. His lips trembled.

In all his years, this was the first time he had fled a battlefield after abandoning several hundred thousand soldiers under his command.

He wanted to weep, but no tears came.

Shen Yuhong, the Xiaoyao Palace Elder who had taken over Haozhou's power, bared his teeth as he glared bitterly at Su Qitong, looking every bit like a man furious at someone for failing to live up to expectations.

Except what enraged him was not that Su Qitong had failed to fight hard enough. It was that he had failed to know when not to fight.

He had insisted on rushing forward and volunteering to attack. As a result, this single battle had nearly annihilated the Haozhou troops that had gone to war.

Still mounted, Meng Shanming finally spoke, his face ashen. "Birds and beasts, snakes, insects, rats, and ants appeared in tides to aid the Song army. Can any cultivator tell this old man what happened?"

Gong Lince said each word through clenched teeth. "Myriad Beasts Sect!"

Meng Shanming had already suspected the same, but he still had doubts. "Doesn't the Myriad Beasts Sect never involve itself in disputes among the states?"

Gong Lince's expression twitched. How could he explain the reason now?

Meng Shanming asked again, "Is there a way to counter it?"

Gong Lince said, "We will have to find one."

Meng Shanming looked again toward the battlefield and said slowly, "This Chen Shaotong does have some ability."

On the facts alone, Chen Shaotong had indeed received help from an extraordinary force, but the reason he had been able to wipe out five hundred thousand Yan troops in one battle was still that they had fallen for his trap. Otherwise, those snakes, insects, rats, and ants could never have inflicted casualties on such a scale.

If the battle had taken place on open plains, the enemy would have had great difficulty gathering this many venomous creatures and vermin. Meng Shanming did not even know whether creatures on such a scale had been prepared in advance.

It was obvious that from the beginning, Chen Shaotong had intended to destroy a large body of Yan troops in a single strike. To achieve it, he had not hesitated to sacrifice his own soldiers to lure the enemy in.

In the end, they had taken the bait and Chen Shaotong had succeeded.

"Withdraw!" Meng Shanming turned his mount and decisively gave the order to retreat.

As for destroying the Song force, there was no point even thinking about it until they had found a way to neutralize this strange weapon. They should count themselves fortunate if the enemy did not come looking for them first. Surround and attack them? Forget it.

...

"Great General, Meng Shanming had too many expert guards around him. Even Gong Lince, Sect Leader of Zijin Cave, was personally at his side. He still got away."

The Song cultivators who had pursued Meng Shanming returned. One of them walked over to Chen Shaotong and cupped his hands apologetically.

"Killing Meng Shanming would certainly have been best, but it was inevitable that he would have large numbers of experts protecting him. Letting him escape was not entirely unexpected. Elder Liu, you and the other cultivators have already done everything you could." Although Chen Shaotong felt endless regret, he still cupped his hands and comforted them.

He could see that many of the cultivators were injured. Some had even been carried back with severe wounds. Their losses had not been light.

Across the battlefield, the snakes, insects, rats, ants, birds, and beasts gradually dispersed.

Chen Shaotong led men through the field to inspect it.

Corpses lay everywhere.

When the final counts came in, they had destroyed nearly five hundred thousand enemy troops in this battle, while losing close to one hundred thousand men themselves.

The Yan army had suffered a crushing defeat.

One of the Song generals said excitedly, "Great General, why don't we pursue the victory?"

"An opportunity for a victory like this is already gone." Chen Shaotong looked up at the sky and sighed.

He understood perfectly well that in a pursuit, snakes, insects, rats, and ants could not possibly follow the army at speed. They would be of little use.

And with the fighting quality of his own troops, chasing after the Yan army would simply be seeking death.

Nor was there any chance of luring the enemy into the same trap again. The Yan commanders were not fools.

That was precisely why Chen Shaotong had been willing to pay such enormous casualties to lure the enemy in. An opportunity like this would not come twice. If he was going to strike, then he had to strike hard, dealing the Yan army a crippling blow in one move.

He had destroyed a huge number of enemy troops and dealt a severe blow to Yan morale, making the enemy unwilling to provoke him lightly again.

From the beginning, he had never expected this rabble to destroy Yan's more than two million elite troops.

Winning one brilliant battle that would satisfy everyone above and below, then staying on Yan's heels and entangling them long enough for Luo Zhao's army to return safely—that was the true objective.

With the deterrent created by this victory, only now did Chen Shaotong dare lead a rabble like this after the Yan army and bite at its heels.

...

Deep in the mountain forest, Niu Youdao slowly turned around after hearing the message Gongsun Bu had sent. Surprise covered his face. "A crushing defeat? The Myriad Beasts Sect intervened?"

He found it difficult to believe that someone as experienced in warfare as Meng Shanming had actually been dealt a crushing defeat by several hundred thousand Song rabble.

"Yes. Five hundred thousand men lost in a single battle. Read it yourself." Guan Fangyi handed him the paper carrying the detailed report and sighed.

After reading it, Niu Youdao frowned. He muttered, "Why would the Myriad Beasts Sect involve itself in a conflict like this?"

Yuan Gang, standing nearby, tested the waters. "Master Dao, let me go try."

[End of Chapter 714]