Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 126: Greetings
Yan Zhengqing roared furiously, and the flying sword in his hand suddenly spiraled wildly, instantly shredding the surrounding dozen or so personal soldiers of Guo Guibang. He immediately shouted, “Teams One, Two, and Three, hold the rear. The rest follow me; we cannot let the city gates close!”
Teams One, Two, and Three, consisting of thirty men, immediately lined up in a row, fiercely blocking the remaining fewer than eight hundred enemies. Yan Zhengqing himself led seventy men directly toward the half-closed city gate.
“Clang…” Dozens of guards surged out of the city gate, standing in front of it. Although they faced the enemy in haste, Guo Guibang still had some elite soldiers on hand.
Yet Yan Zhengqing suddenly let out a long roar, and the flying sword in his hand shimmered as it suddenly expanded from a three-foot-long azure blade to a gigantic sword of ten feet in size. As the giant sword rolled, it swept across the area in front of the city gate. Dozens of soldiers who had just rushed out of the gate were instantly cut in half!
“Magical treasure! This is a magical treasure! I actually saw a magical treasure!” Guo Guibang on the city wall was already numb.
Yan Zhengqing struck down the soldiers in front with a single sword and led the charge, directly rushing into the city gate; the seventy men followed in a line.
Seeing the situation develop to this point, Guo Guibang finally gritted his teeth and said, “Use the talismans to force them out of the city!”
Talismans were expensive, and Guo Guibang was reluctant to use them unless absolutely necessary; but now he had no choice.
There were many types of talismans, including yin-yang, five elements, four symbols, ghost-repelling and blessing, sword techniques, and strange supernatural powers, almost all kinds were available. Most of the talismans used on the battlefield were of the five-element type, especially ice and fire.
As a dozen talismans were used in the small city gate, the inside of the gate instantly turned into a gigantic furnace of flames, with high temperatures melting even the nearby bricks and stones.
Naturally, Yan Zhengqing and his group had talismans on them; a flurry of freezing talismans was released, instantly extinguishing the intense heat.
But before Yan Zhengqing and his group could continue fighting, the enemy also released a batch of freezing talismans, instantly turning the gate from a fiery hell into an icy hell.
Yan Zhengqing was furious. With this delay, they had wasted the best opportunity; he finally said angrily, “Listen up, throw all the freezing talismans out! You like freezing, huh? Let’s see how you stay in this place!”
Another large batch of freezing talismans was scattered, instantly freezing the entrance to three feet thick. Just breathing in would cause one to freeze into a ball of frost. Those below the foundation establishment stage would instantly freeze upon stepping into this area, turning into ice sculptures in the blink of an eye.
Yan Zhengqing led more than seventy men to retreat and immediately turned around to attack those personal soldiers.
As for Guo Guibang, seeing the city gate’s entrance turn into an ice cave, he immediately ordered the elite troops to jump down from the city wall to rescue those who had already suffered heavy casualties among his personal soldiers.
When Yan Zhengqing saw that the advantage of a sudden assault had disappeared, he knew that continuing to entangle in battle would be disadvantageous, so he immediately led the assault team to retreat. However, the retreat was not a direct one; they would fight while withdrawing. If the enemy pursued, they would run; if the enemy did not chase, they would fight! This infuriated Guo Guibang, who was cursing incessantly—such entanglement made it impossible for the crossbowmen on the city wall to shoot.
They continued this entanglement until they exited the range of the crossbows, at which point Yan Zhengqing led his soldiers to retreat. After an intense clash, a hundred elite attackers had lost twelve men, and the remaining soldiers were all injured.
The brief skirmish had been extraordinarily brutal and intense, lasting no more than a few moments.
Yan Zhengqing led the remaining eighty-eight men and watched from a distance of two miles from the city wall, while Guo Guibang did not send anyone to continue the pursuit. Instead, he commanded his soldiers to quickly complete their defensive preparations. The frozen city gate was directly melted with flame talismans and closed again. Once the gate was closed, there were no gaps in the wall, and the formations became more complete, significantly enhancing their defensive capabilities.
The two sides thus confronted each other.
In front of the city gate lay a scene of devastation. Yan Zhengqing had lost twelve men, but Guo Guibang’s side had over four hundred dead! The ground was stained red!
After a while, Yan Zhengqing sent two men to clean up the bodies; Guo Guibang also dispatched people for the same task. This was a rare moment of peace in war, marked by a tragic calm. However, while collecting the bodies, Guo Guibang’s side, with its numerical advantage, forcefully seized the magical weapons and talismans from the hands of the soldiers from Anyang.
Standing on the city wall, Guo Guibang observed the twelve magical flying swords lined up in a row and gradually discerned some patterns—same shape, same luster, same material—all were top-tier magical artifacts. “Standardization!” Guo Guibang recalled a recently emerging term, one of many that came with the concept of industrial and commercial development.
Guo Guibang looked up and gazed far into the distance, locking eyes with Yan Zhengqing.
From afar, Yan Zhengqing clasped his hands in a salute to Guo Guibang as a form of acknowledgment; however, his posture was quite proud, and after the casual salute, he no longer paid attention.
Guo Guibang snorted in anger and suddenly said to the crossbowmen beside him, “Everyone, greet the warriors of Anyang!”
The soldiers, already tense and somewhat fearful, immediately fired at this “command.” The powerful crossbows could shoot bolts the thickness of an arm up to two miles; however, beyond that distance, they had no lethality, causing the soldiers from Anyang to burst into laughter.
Yan Zhengqing was also laughing, but he occasionally glanced back.
After waiting in this standoff for about two quarters of an hour, or half an hour, the silhouettes of motor vehicles finally appeared in the distance. One hundred and fifty vehicles quickly came into view before Yan Zhengqing, lined up with sniper rifles, cannons, and more.
“Hey, Lao Yan, why do you look so disheveled?” Liu Leigang called out from a distance.
Yan Zhengqing pointed at the crossbow bolts ahead. “Hurry, the enemy is greeting us; we should return the gesture!”
“Ha ha, I love greeting! Back in the day, I greeted the border soldiers of Cai Country, and now many in the army know me! I heard a cannonball almost landed on Lu Chenggang’s head back then. Too bad I never got the chance to ask him how it felt; by the time I had the time, he’d already been redeemed.”
Mentioning Cai Country darkened Yan Zhengqing’s expression, memories he wished to forget flooding back. He then grew a bit angry. “Enough chit-chat; can’t you see the soldiers are furious?”
“Right, right!” Liu Leigang quickly directed ten cannons to line up. “Let’s fire three volleys, aiming… let’s aim at that Guo Guibang.”
With one hundred and fifty strange motor vehicles from Anyang arriving, Guo Guibang certainly saw them; these vehicles were no longer a secret. So when he noticed the ten cannons aiming in his direction, his face changed immediately. Forgetting his general’s pride, he ordered everyone to jump over the wall and take cover behind it.
Just as Guo Guibang landed, a series of violent explosions erupted outside the city wall. The not-so-strong wall of Qingniu Town shook violently, and the ground trembled slightly.
Soon, thick smoke billowed into the sky, and a large amount of dirt and debris fell, covering Guo Guibang.
However, before Guo Guibang could rise and make any arrangements, another explosion occurred; this time, it was on top of the wall. The parapet of the wall shattered and flew into the air, dirt and sand swirling everywhere. Many soldiers from Luliang Prefecture cried out in fear, losing control as new recruits faced such chaos for the first time on the battlefield.
Guo Guibang watched in horror as dozens of bodies fell to the ground like broken dolls, gasping in disbelief.
Yet before he could process this shock, ten cannonballs soared over the city wall and landed behind it! This moment left Guo Guibang with an indelible, horrific memory.
The ten cannonballs dropped into the terrified ranks of soldiers, instantly clearing a radius of a hundred meters, sending thousands of soldiers scattering in all directions.
When the explosions subsided, cries of despair filled the air!
Guo Guibang’s eyes turned red with fury. “No, this can’t continue! Right, we need to lead the elite experts in the Foundation Establishment stage and go out to fight!”
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