Chapter 21: Burning the Boats

  The last time Qin Yang and his friends climbed up the cliff.

  Dai'er looked up, the towering mountain cliffs that pierced the clouds, cold and imposing in front of her, the steepness making people feel an intangible pressure coming at them even when standing below.

  A dozen climbing ropes hung down from the cliff, swaying with the mountain peak.

  Dai'er reached out and tugged on one of the climbing ropes, which was tied very securely.

  She beckoned with one hand, and four female special warfare team members responsible for sentry duty quickly approached from behind her.

  "Now there are only five of us, I've decided to go up and fight with the instructors. What about you guys? If you don't want to go, now is still a good time to back out!" Daili said calmly, looking quite majestic like a great general.

  "Captain, we are all members of the Special Warfare Brigade, personally trained by the brigade commander. Can we retreat now?" a round-faced female team member spoke up.

  "Yes, the instructors are going all out up there. If we shrink back and don't dare to move forward, how can we still mix in the battlefield?" A girl named Huo'er also nodded in agreement.

  Several people didn't object, Dai'er nodded. She was about to say something when Xiao Yue suddenly cried out in surprise at the edge of the cliff.

  "Captain, come quick and take a look!" Xiao Yue squatted on the ground, pointing to a place and saying.

  Dai'er pushed through the crowd and ran to where Xiao Yue was, lowering her head to look at the ground.

  On the ground, there was a patch of bloodstains, scattered and dotted, which seemed to have dripped down from above.

  She stretched out her hand, pinched a bit of dry bloodstain, and put it to her nose to smell. It was definitely from several hours ago.

  Dai'er raised her head to look up, and saw that the bloodstains were arranged in a straight line along the rock wall, extending upwards continuously. At a distance of over ten meters from the top of the cliff, there was a striking patch of crimson handprints. The handprints continued the direction of the bloodstains, accompanied by a faint stone mark all the way to the top of the cliff.

  "It's Qin Gege, it must be Qin Gege!" Dai'er's head spun and her body swayed, luckily Xiao Yue supported her, otherwise she would have fallen over.

  "It must be Qin Ge, he must have forced himself to climb up, with that much effort, his wound must have torn open and bled so much!" Dai Er's mind was a mess, she forced herself to calm down, "No way, I have to rush to his side immediately, I have to!"

  She pushed away Xiao Yue's support, stretched out her hand to grab the rope that Qin Yang had thrown down, and climbed towards the top of the cliff.

  The four team members behind looked at each other and climbed up the cliff along a rope.

  ……

  Qin Yang grasped the large knife with both hands, facing off against Ito. The two of them stared each other down like fighting cocks, neither daring to make a careless move.

  Before joining the army, Ito was a young master of Japan's Ittoryu and had received careful instruction from Yokota Senjin, known as Japan's greatest martial artist. His swordsmanship was pure and refined, and in his two previous battles, he had already felled two soldiers from the 29th Army with his Eastern-style war sword.

  Like a fierce tiger, Qin Yang naturally entered his line of sight. Seeing the Japanese soldiers falling one after another under Qin Yang's swift and ruthless slashes, the warrior's competitive heart made him spare those 29th Army soldiers and block Qin Yang.

  Qin Yang also noticed him and was secretly shocked by the sinister dominance of Eastern Ocean Swordsmanship, wanting to exchange blows with him.

  Since both of them had this intention, the battle unfolded in an instant.

  After three rounds of fierce fighting, Qin Yang had two more wounds on his left ribcage, and a large area on his back was bruised by the hilt of Dongyang's war knife. Meanwhile, a shocking bloodstain ran across half of Ito's face from his forehead.

  The two people are basically evenly matched!

  Ito blinked hard with his right eye, which was blurry from the fresh blood flowing down his forehead. He secretly felt a lingering fear in his heart. If he hadn't ducked quickly just now, Qin Yang's knife would have split him open.

  Two people kept moving their feet, neither daring to take the initiative to attack. The loud killing sounds were right next to them, but they didn't hear it because they were too focused.

  After a brief stalemate, Qin Yang finally couldn't hold back any longer. With his limited time, he let out a loud roar and took a step forward, swinging his large blade down at Itou with reckless abandon.

  Ito let out a loud cry, his body flashing to the side, avoiding Qin Yang's large knife. From their earlier exchange, he had already understood that Qin Yang's strength was much greater than his own, and the wound on his forehead was a result of him using his knife to forcefully block it.

  Seeing Ito flash by with a big knife, Qin Yang's two eyebrows stood up, his wrist flipped over, and the big knife swept horizontally towards Ito's throat.

  Ito held the Eastern sword upright, clashing with Qin Yang's large knife. Just as they were about to make contact, his wrist slightly trembled, and the Eastern sword eerily stuck to Qin Yang's large knife. As Qin Yang's large knife drew an arc, it seemed to be chopped into cotton, being led to one side. Immediately following, Ito's Eastern battle sword fiercely stabbed towards Qin Yang's abdomen.

  "Good hit!" Qin Yang's large knife brushed back, and with a clang, it knocked open Itou's war sword. The two people each retreated one step.

  Qin Yang's heart was getting anxious, the Japanese army was constantly rushing up from the foot of the mountain, while the warriors on the mountain were falling one by one. The special forces were incredibly powerful, but they were all covered in wounds and probably couldn't hold out for much longer. The more time dragged on, the more unfavorable it would be for them.

  Moreover, this entanglement with Ito has caused one of his important plans to be unable to proceed, which was originally intended to alleviate the current situation.

  "We must end this quickly!" Qin Yang thought, as he clashed with Ito once again.

  Ito's Eastern War Sword thrust towards Qin Yang, just as he was about to block it, a long knife with an ancient style flew out from the slant stab and accurately pointed at the tip of Ito's sword.

  Ito's hands trembled and he involuntarily retreated several steps backward. He was both shocked and angry, and hastily looked up.

  "Big Brother Wan!"

  Qin Yang was overjoyed in his heart

  Out of nowhere, a sudden and mysterious figure emerged, wielding an extraordinary swordsmanship.

  With a calm glance at the tense and vigilant Ito, Wan Lai's voice said to Qin Yang behind him: "I'll take care of this guy, you go do what you should do!"

  Qin Yang responded with a loud "Yes!" and charged into the battlefield.

  A thousand voices stood tall, his left hand casually behind his back, the long knife in his right hand naturally hanging down, the tip of the blade almost touching the ground, his eyes slightly narrowed as if he was asleep.

  Ito held up a Japanese sword and slowly turned around in a circle, surrounded by the sound of ten thousand voices, but the sound seemed to be invisible, motionless.

  Ito quickly became drenched in sweat, and the person before him gave him a feeling similar to that of his master, Yokota Senjin - as if he were an unshakeable, towering mountain.

  He gritted his teeth to hold on, but his legs kept trembling, as if he might collapse to the ground at any moment. But the spirit of Bushido and a soldier's honor wouldn't let him give up.

  "Come on, let's see what real Chinese knife skills are!" Wan Lai said calmly, but every word was clearly transmitted to Ito's ears.

  At last, Ito could no longer bear the immense pressure, and with a loud yell, brandishing his war sword, he charged forward.

  Wan Leng's mouth curled up in a faint, cold smile. His right hand shot up like lightning, and the long knife seemed to float across the space between the two of them like a cloud. In an instant, Ito's body shook violently as he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

  Looking at the ancient long knife that had pierced his chest from behind, Ito's face showed a mix of regret and admiration. He dropped his sword and fell backwards to the ground.

  Wan Langsheng drew out his long knife and with a swift motion knocked down a Japanese soldier passing by, then plunged into the battle.

  At the same time as the sound of gunfire subsided, Qin Yang had already returned to the artillery position behind the array, but he was not preparing to be a deserter, instead, he took out that shell from the ammunition box.

  Qin Yang's final plan was on this shell.

  He took aim at the target he had measured several times before, Qin Yang shook the recoilless gun and aimed it forward. He held the shell with both hands and carefully loaded it into the recoilless gun.

  With a dull thud, the muzzle of the howitzer spewed out a thick smoke, and the barrel shook violently.

  The shell flew down the mountain like a meteor.

  Qin Yang kicked over the mortar and picked up his large knife. He knew that the time for a final decision on life or death had arrived.

  A loud noise came from the mountain road, and the flying rocks smashed some Japanese soldiers who were climbing up the mountain road, causing them to bleed profusely. Some even rolled down the mountain.

  The smoke cleared, and the Japanese soldiers near the blast site only then discovered that this shell had not landed directly among the Japanese troops, but had deviated from its target and fallen on the rocky wall on one side of the mountain road. They secretly thanked the great god Amaterasu for escaping a disaster, but did not expect an even greater disaster to befall them soon.

  A loud rumbling sound came, and the soldiers who were fighting each other couldn't help but stop and listen carefully.

  The sound was very muffled, as if the wooden box was lightly moving on the ground, the sound started very small, but quickly grew louder and louder, until even the entire Mengzi Ridge was slightly trembling in the sound.

  A Japanese soldier on the mountain road looked in the direction of the sound, his already pale face suddenly turned purple, he trembled with his lips, pointing upwards and unable to speak.

  "Ah!"

  The Japanese soldiers on the mountain road raised their heads and looked up, almost simultaneously letting out a blood-curdling scream, collectively pointing their fingers at the rock wall.

  On the rock wall where Qin Yang had just bombarded, a huge boulder as high as three floors was slowly rolling down from the rock wall. As it rolled faster and faster, the loud rumble was the sound it made when it rolled.

  In the blink of an eye, the boulder fell onto the Japanese soldiers' heads, who were staring in horror, and instantly rolled over their bodies, rolling down the mountain road.

  The Japanese soldier on the mountain road turned around and ran down the mountain like crazy, but compared to the speed of the boulder, he was much too slow, and soon caught up and crushed.

  The boulder was like a giant steamroller, rolling all the way, with a carpet of fresh blood and flesh mud behind it.

  Finally, near the waist of the mountain, the boulder was stuck by the narrowed rock wall and stopped. The intense impact caused the rocks on the rock wall to fall off, blocking the gap between the boulder and the rock wall tightly. If you want to clear a passable gap, it may not be possible for ten days or half a month.

  This was Qin Yang's final plan, using the last shell to blast through the rocky wall supporting the boulder on the cliff, causing it to lose its balance and roll down, eliminating a portion of Japanese soldiers while also blocking the only path up the mountain. By doing so, as long as they could eliminate the devils that had rushed up the mountain, they could temporarily ensure their safety.

  However, this also means that the 29th Army of Yamashita will not be able to climb up to Mengzi Ridge either.

  Qin Yang and his group seem to be in a desperate situation!

  After a moment of astonishment, the Japanese soldiers and Chinese soldiers on the mountain top almost simultaneously let out a loud shout, then charged at each other.

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  Today, the network went wrong, and I had to ask for leave to run to the internet cafe to post two chapters together. I hope everyone will like it, considering how hard it is for me, shouldn't you all support me a bit? Just give some recommendations and collections, as for the number, just look at it, of course, the more the better!