Chapter 29: The Real Elite Troops
Fang Jie didn't have the mood to discuss with Da Quan about how many times a month he had period pain, so he found a quiet place to sit down and carefully recall what Xiao Yao said earlier. He always felt that he vaguely understood something, but what Xiao Yao said sounded very superficial yet seemed to be shrouded in a layer of fog. Fang Jie actually also knew what this layer of fog was, because he couldn't cultivate so he couldn't see the essence of cultivation clearly.
The person who waved at them from the front with a red sleeve was also cooking in the parking lot, they ate their own food and never invited Fang Jie Sanren. Instead, the old cripple occasionally came over to chat with Xiao Yao, who always had an attitude of not caring. Since the northwest burn in the old cripple's wine gourd decreased at an alarming rate, even the old cripple rarely came again.
Every time Mu Xiaoyao shows disdain to the old cripple, Fang Jie gets angry and really wants to spank Mu Xiaoyao's butt a few times. In Fang Jie's opinion, this is similar to rich people not understanding the hardships of poor people, it's really infuriating.
He can't cultivate, while Mu Xiao Yao is able to cultivate and has a good innate talent. Moreover, she has the guidance of a master who is estimated to be a 9th rank strong practitioner, yet she doesn't seem too enthusiastic about it... This is the difference that makes Fang Jie sometimes sigh in dismay when he thinks about it.
It hurts.
Fang Jie suddenly thought of this crucial point.
He had never felt the kind of tearing pain that came with his meridians being widened, but he could imagine it in his mind. He sat back on the grassy slope, behind him was a soft dry grass, closed his eyes and imagined... As a parachuter into this world, Fang Xie had read many of those fantastical web novels in his previous life. The descriptions of cultivation were all over the place, but they all boiled down to one thing: it was an exciting and cool thing to do.
Why in this world does pain accompany one's practice for life?
The Qi Hai has inner energy, penetrating the four limbs and hundred joints...
He closed his eyes and began to fantasize about what the Qihai might look like. Something that exists in words, but is hard to imagine a specific shape. For example, the Qihai that exists in everyone's Dantian, even an old Chinese doctor who has practiced medicine for a lifetime may not dare say he knows what it looks like.
The Qi Sea is formless, the inner strength is formless, but this formless thing can make the physical body strong and robust. Once the Qi in the Qi Sea can flow through the four limbs and hundred bones, it will eventually change the meridians, refine the blood and flesh, and then it's not difficult for a person to tear tigers and leopards apart with bare hands. It is said that during the 15th year of the Da Sui dynasty, when General Luo Yao of the Left Front Guard was attacking Yongzhou, he slapped three cultivators of the Shangguo royal family into meat paste.
It also includes an eighth-rank symbol master.
The symbol master on the eighth rank is an absolute strongman who is rarely seen in the world. It is said that if one's symbol cultivation exceeds the eighth rank, they can already influence the outcome of a small-scale war. In fact, back then, this eighth-rank symbol master single-handedly guarded the gate of Yongzhou Imperial City and blocked the advance of hundreds of elite Great Sui warriors, who were unable to break in despite repeated fierce attacks.
One spark of fire, and the dozen or so Wei soldiers who had rushed forward first were instantly turned to ashes.
A burst of electricity, and the sturdy shields in the hands of the Yu Lin soldiers who were advancing in a phalanx formation were shattered, their sharp steel knives even being scorched red-hot, unable to be grasped.
A fossilized symbol, dozens of city bricks suddenly changed shape, turning into sharp stone thorns that flew out quickly, stabbing to death more than a dozen Sui soldiers who had lost their shields.
A eighth-rank talisman master stood in front of the city gate, and hundreds of well-trained soldiers from the Duiwei Prefecture couldn't get close. The army immediately urgently summoned two seventh-rank superior repair generals, but even with their combined efforts, they were unable to withstand three talismans; one was crushed into a meat paste by a giant stone, and the other was burned into a ball of charcoal.
It was precisely because of this that the guardian of the last gate, the Emperor of Shang, could take advantage of the opportunity to escape from the other side of the palace. Although... his final outcome was still being strangled to death with a rope by Luo Yang's men.
Just as the Taoist was about to withdraw upon learning that the Emperor had already left the city, General Luo Ya arrived.
He felt Luo Yao's icy killing intent, and Fu Shi didn't dare to hold back at all. The first symbol transformed into a lightning spear, with five consecutive strikes, stabbing towards Luo Yao's chest with a speed that was almost impossible for the naked eye to follow. The second symbol transformed into two massive boulders, suddenly appearing on either side of Luo Yao, like two heavy gates slamming shut. The third symbol transformed into a wall of flames, raging fire burning in front of Fu Shi, blocking his figure from view, and after casting these three symbols, Fu Shi immediately turned around and fled.
Luo Yao's gaze remained fixed on the figure that was faintly visible behind the wall of flames as he walked forward slowly.
Two massive boulders came crashing down, Luo Yao didn't dodge or flinch. The boulders heavily collided with his body, and then... the boulders shattered into a pile of rubble. The hard rocks couldn't leave even a scratch on Luo Yao's body. The second symbol transformed into lightning arrived in an instant, Luo Yao still didn't dodge or flinch, he didn't even stop his forward footsteps for a moment, his pace remained steady, each step seemed to be calculated, astonishingly consistent.
Lightning struck Luo Yao's chest, and after a violent flash, the light gradually dissipated.
Luo Yao continued to move forward, only the upper half of his clothes were burned by lightning. Under the sunlight, that ancient bronze-colored skin had a cold and eerie metallic luster.
Boulders shatter, lightning falls.
Luoyao struck out with his hand and punched through the firewall.
Then he turned around and left without even looking back, not saying a single word.
After the fire wall dissipated, the large number of Wei soldiers who rushed over searched for a long time at the city gate but couldn't find that eighth-rank symbol master. It wasn't until they charged into the city gate that everyone was shocked to discover that the symbol master's corpse was embedded in the stone steps in front of the imperial palace's great hall. From the city gate to climbing up the great hall's stone steps, there was at least a distance of fifty meters.
It's also unknown whether the monk was punched into the stone steps after running 50 meters, or if he was punched and flew 50 meters before being embedded in the stone steps.
This story Fang Jie heard when he was in exile in Nan Yan Dali City, and every time he thought about it, the image of Luo Yang's domineering punch would appear in his mind, making him unable to calm down. Although in Fang Jie's opinion, this story had been exaggerated a lot after being passed down for fifteen years, it did not affect Luo Yang's determination to become his target in his heart.
Luo Yao cannot cultivate, he also cannot.
Vital energy is formless, but the body has form.
Can't feel the Qi Hai...
Slowly opening his eyes, he looked up at the sky... Then he simply stopped thinking about it, for a human body is originally an extremely strong weapon.
……
……
Just as Fang Jie told himself to give up on cultivating the Qi Sea, in the second horse-drawn carriage with a red sleeve flag, a slender hand holding a jade cup suddenly stopped for a moment and couldn't help but glance in Fang Jie's direction. Her gaze couldn't penetrate the carriage compartment, yet it seemed as if she saw something.
She put down her jade cup and gazed at Xi Dangiang who was meditating with his eyes closed.
The old lady smiled slightly and shook her head: "With Master Lu here, it's all right."
The jade hand holding the jade cup slowly lifted up, and the jade cup touched those two red lips: "This time... it seems that even Master Luo can't afford to pay."
The old lady gasped, got up, rummaged through the compartment and pulled out a delicate purple sandalwood box. She opened it and took out something from inside.
"It's been ten years since I last used it, I don't know if it still works or not."
Her tone was somewhat desolate, as if it had stirred up some memories.
It was at this moment that Mu Xiaoyao, who had been sleeping in the carriage, suddenly sat up with a start. Her face changed color as she leapt down from the carriage and appeared beside Fang Jie in an instant.
Fang Jie saw Mu Xiao get off the horse carriage and was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "How is it? Can you not only sense the strength of a master, but also sense that I, such a strong and determined person, have made an unprecedented decision? Is it because this decision has changed the surrounding air and formed a powerful aura?"
"Go and invite him over."
"Alright, let's go!" he said with a self-mocking tone, his expression becoming exceptionally solemn.
At some point, the big dog also emerged from the bushes. He stood beside Xiao Yao's waist, looking towards the southeast direction, his two already sparse eyebrows almost knotting together.
"The killing intent is too thick... we can't block it at all."
Just then, Fang saw that the big dog's hands were already wearing a pair of steel-studded gloves. The red ribbon that had been hidden somewhere on Miao Xiaoyao's waist was now wrapped around her waist.
"I don't feel like there's anyone particularly strong."
Mei Xiao Yao looked at Da Quan and said in confusion.
"This is the second time in so many years that I've smelled such a strong killing intent. I really don't dare to imagine how much blood will be on the hands of the person who's about to appear before me, and how many lives they'll have taken. Xiao Yao... don't laugh at me, my legs are trembling right now. Why don't we retreat to the Red Sleeve Invitation? That old cripple's abnormal strength might still be able to hold them off... if not, we'll escape immediately."
"Good!"
Mei Xiao Yao didn't say another word, grabbed Fang Jie's waistband and turned around to leave.
When the three of them rushed to the Red Sleeve Camp about a hundred meters away, they found that the old cripple was already standing at the outermost part of the team. He was holding that huge and unbelievable wine gourd in his hand, with his eyes slightly narrowed.
Fang Jie didn't feel any shame at all about being pulled over by Xiao Yao's waistband, and naturally stood behind the old cripple.
After standing for a while, he thought about it and retreated a few steps to stand behind a horse carriage.
The old cripple snorted coldly, full of disdain.
"How is it? Can you feel it?"
He asked Mu Xiaoyao.
"One sixth-grade, twelve fourth-grades, the rest are all no more than second-grade people, most of them are first-grade."
The old cripple nodded, but his face didn't look any more relaxed.
Fang Jie couldn't help but ask: "Since most of you are just first or second-rate people, why are you treating us like a formidable enemy?"
Her gaze was fixed on a distant place, and she lightly spat out a few words: "More than five hundred people."
……
……
I'm not used to seeing hundreds of men gathering together in a grand scene, but even just dozens of people wearing the same clothes can be quite impressive.
At Fanggu, he was a qualified candidate.
Fan Gu had eight hundred border troops. What Fang Jie liked to do most was to find a place to sit down during the training of the border troops and watch them practice in neat rows. The number eight hundred doesn't seem like much, but when you see eight hundred border troops wearing uniforms practicing in unison, you will truly understand the power that this number embodies.
In the third year of Fanggu, Fang Jie still felt that it was very cool when the 800 border troops gathered. The border troops of the Great Sui were very powerful, and there were as many as 2,000 cavalrymen in Niepan City on the Wolf's Milk Mountain side. From this, we can see how much the people of the Mongol Empire valued the border troops of the Great Sui.
Fang Jie is not an inexperienced person, at least he often sees eight hundred border troops.
But when Wu Xiao Yao's five hundred men appeared before Fang Lie just now, he still involuntarily opened his mouth wide.
If the 800 border soldiers of Fang Gu Cheng were the most elite troops that Fang Jie had ever seen in his life, then these 500 soldiers who came with the dust would make Fang Jie re-recognize the two words "elite". They were not cavalry, but infantry. It was precisely because they were not cavalry that Fang Jie's shock would become irreparable from the first glance.
Five hundred infantrymen trampled out dust smoke like cavalry passing through, a black line in the vast yellow sand like a wave surging.
Five hundred infantrymen ran with a speed that was as fast as galloping horses! Just as the black line appeared, the wave arrived in an instant.
Five hundred infantrymen, suddenly stopped and yet their formation was not disordered in the slightest! At such a rapid speed they had been running, but at one command afterwards the soldiers immediately stopped in their tracks. The square formation was still a square formation; the distance between the soldiers had hardly changed at all.
Moving like thunder, still like a mountain.
A dense phalanx of five hundred men came to a halt, with the dust swirling forward and then dispersing. As the dust cleared, the true appearance of the black-armored soldiers was revealed. There were no war drums, no bugles, not even a single person speaking; it was so quiet that one could almost hear their own heartbeat.
No golden dragon banners were seen, but within the borders of Great Sui, such elite troops could not have come from anywhere else.
Fang Jie looked at those soldiers and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
This is the real elite troops.
