As the group proceeded farther in, the terrain grew steeper and harder to traverse. Yet the girl leading the way continued to almost fly across the path, not slowed in the slightest.
As the rest of the group watched from the back, they felt that the girl navigated the rocks as agilely and nimbly as a civet cat.
Gao Feng and the others were growing more and more astonished. At the start, none of them had thought much about Wang Chong's decision to make Wushang his fief and build a city there, but now, none of them dared to believe that the decision was made so simply.
No wonder Young Master chose to build a city here. It's probably for this Wushang Village, Gao Feng mentally speculated. As he followed Wang Chong, he gradually began to understand that every one of Wang Chong's decisions was never as simple as it seemed.
A girl of only eight or nine already possessed such shocking talent. Whether in speed or dexterity, she already far exceeded the rest of the party, and even Gao Feng and Nie Yan felt like they wouldn't be able to keep up with her. One could easily imagine how powerful the rest of the people in Wushang Village were.
Gao Feng and Nie Yan were finding this Wushang Village to be more and more curious.
As they followed the girl, they gradually began to hear more and more noise.
"Who goes there? You dare intrude on our Wushang Village!"
A thunderous voice suddenly rose from a distant peak. As the voice was still echoing in the air, there was a rush of wind. Before anyone could react, a boulder was suddenly tossed toward Wang Chong from a mountain several hundred zhang away.
In a flash, that boulder was falling over Wang Chong's head. At this moment, everyone could clearly make out that this boulder was longer than a zhang and a half in diameter and weighed at least two thousand jin.
If such a massive boulder crashed down, even steel would crumple, much less a body of flesh and blood.
Buzz!
At this sight, Wang Chong couldn't help but mentally smile. Without a movement from him, a wave of energy rolled out and stopped the rock while it was still one zhang away, freezing it in mid-air.
For a moment, everything was quiet, and even the distant mountains were silent. Everyone looked at that massive boulder and Wang Chong in shock.
Even the little girl turned her head and looked at him with mouth agape.
The girl suddenly turned toward the distant mountains and bellowed in anger, "Uncle Jiu, you big dummy, why are you hitting my friend?"
"What friend? Xiaoyan, they aren't people from the village. You've been tricked!"
An extremely vexed and furious voice came from a distant cliff. He seemed even angrier than the girl.
"'Friend', I don't know who you are or what you came for, but you should quickly go back, while you still have time."
"Uncle Jiu! Why can't I talk sense into you!" The girl put a hand on her waist and continued her tirade, her eyes spitting fire. "I said that he's my friend, and he even has a friend with Grandpa. They even gave me wujian grass and knew that my fox is called Luoluo. Stop making trouble and let them by!"
"Luoluo?"
The voice seemed to pause and then dwindle away. From a distance, one could hear muttered words.
"How did these fellows know? Could they really be friends that the chief made on the outside?"
Not many people in Wushang Village knew that this girl's fox was called Luoluo, but Uncle Jiu happened to be one of them. It was impossible for anyone who wasn't part of the village to know of the name 'Luoluo'.
Wang Chong silently smiled, calmly watching as the girl talked with her clansman.
She was already like this when she was young; no wonder she grew up to have such a violent temperament.
In the distance, the person that the girl called Uncle Jiu finally made a choice.
"Since you know of Luoluo, then you at least aren't bad people. Forget it; I'll let you in."
With these words, a figure suddenly emerged from the smooth face of the cliff from a hidden crevice.
Thwishthwish. That person climbed over the smooth cliff like an ape, spanning ten-some zhang with every leap. The several-hundred-zhang-tall cliff was like flat land to him, not hindering him in the slightest. In the blink of an eye, he had vanished.
"!!!"
Gao Feng and the other ten-some guards were all flabbergasted.
Not even Profound Martial experts were this agile.
"I can't believe it! How can this impoverished and remote village have experts like this! How were they trained?"
Gao Feng and the others wouldn't have believed such a place existed even if they were beaten to death, but they had seen it with their own eyes.
"Get used to it. These people aren't even the best experts of Wushang. And besides, the entire village knows how to climb cliffs and mountains, treating them like flat land."
Wang Chong's face was calm. The Wushang were his future subordinates, so how could he not be clear of their capabilities?
The things that Gao Feng and Nie Yan had witnessed were their most ordinary abilities. Without even abilities like this, the Wushang would have never been known as the world's strongest cavalry.
Awooo!
While they were talking, cries that seemed both ape-like and human came from the distance. In the blink of an eye, the deserted mountains were suddenly filled with ape-like figures emerging from their hiding spots and climbing away over the cliffs.
With these strange cries, more and more people emerged before the group and then vanished into the mountains.
Wang Chong's followers could only watch in stupefaction. The place that Wang Chong had led them to had completely surpassed their imaginations.
"Follow!" Wang Chong ordered them, and quickly followed the girl.
The girl's mind was not as occupied with such complicated thoughts. While the group had been dumbstruck, she had already run one-hundred-some zhang.
If it weren't for that large iron chest serving as a constant waypoint, they might have already lost sight of the girl.
As if retracing his steps through an old home, Wang Chong was in a most relaxed mood. This place gave him a very familiar feeling, but it was also a little different.
Uncle Jiu is probably Fang Xiaoyan's uncle, Fang Jiuqiu. I heard from Fang Xiaoyan many times that this uncle spoiled her the most. Alas, in that calamity…
This time, I might as well bring him and Fang Xiaoyan with me. This way, the matter from later can be avoided and one of Xiaoyan's dreams can be fulfilled.
Wang Chong's steps did not slow as he thought, and he kept close behind Fang Xiaoyan.
Whether it was in clothes or demeanor, Wang Chong's group stuck out like a sore thumb in Wushang Village. As a result, an endless stream of people emerged to intercept them.
At times like these, Fang Xiaoyan's influence and status in Wushang Village revealed itself. No matter who appeared, Fang Xiaoyan would continue to use one hand to hold the large chest on her shoulder and stick the other hand on her waist while she berated them. Through sheer force of will, she scolded the would-be interceptors and smoothly delivered Wang Chong's group toward the center of Wushang Village.
More and more Wushang began to appear, all of them rushing about with astonishing speed and dexterity.
"Look over there!"
While still some distance from the village, a guard suddenly noticed something and gestured into the distance. Following his gaze, the group saw that on a several-hundred-zhang cliff to the right of the road, a bare-chested twenty- or thirty-year-old villager was currently sweating as he trained.
This villager and his fellows each wielded a massive rock in one hand, exhaling and shouting as they trained. Those rocks were all craggy and weighed at least one thousand jin, but these Wushang villagers seemed to wield them as if they weighed nothing. Raise, withdraw, raise, withdraw… the massive stones were as steady as Mount Tai in their hands, not even trembling.
Each of these people used this unique method to train their
bodies, and some of the stronger villagers were using rocks that weighed two or three thousand jin, constantly raising them and putting them down, up and down, up and down…
"These fellows… just where did they come from!"
"Not even in the great clans would someone dare to use such a method to train!"
……
The guards behind Wang Chong were once more stunned.
The training methods of the Wushang would truly make the training methods used by many of the Great Tang's famed military clans blush with shame, and the toughness of this training definitely surpassed that of many of the capital's great clans.
Even these elites who had participated in the war of the southwest and been refined on a battlefield of hundreds of thousands were left speechless.
Wang Chong only gave a slight nod of recognition, not at all surprised.
People were raised according to their environment, and the barren and steep mountains where the Wushang resided were a harsh environment indeed. In these circumstances, training according to local needs was the best choice. Whether it was their ability to traverse cliffs like flat land or their use of rocks weighing several thousand jin to train and hone their strength, it was all the result of their environment.
Living in this sort of environment year in and year out, it was not unusual to end up defeated by the environment, but if one adapted to it, grew comfortable in it… It wasn't strange at all for the Wushang to be such powerful, agile and swift warriors.
Chapter 698: Qin Qicheng, the Great Divine Ape
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
Wushang was cut off from the outside world and the villagers were extremely united. In the army, these qualities would make for very loyal and obedient subordinates, and on the battlefield, they would be soldiers who could silently work together and cooperate.
Five thousand Wushang Cavalry had come and gone like the wind, and they were fierce in battle, their strength far surpassing the strength of any other soldiers, including the Turkic armored cavalry and the Tibetan highland steeds. Moreover, they worked together as a cohesive whole. If one added to their abilities Wang Chong's attainments in the art of war, one could easily imagine the might they could display on the battlefield.
What Wang Chong wanted the most was to obtain this kind of strength.
The calamity had still not arrived, so he still had this chance.
While Wang Chong was occupied with his thoughts, the girl up ahead suddenly spoke. "We're here! The village is just up ahead! I still need to give the wujian grass to Uncle Shisan, so I can only bring you here."
With these words, she turned back around and charged forward. A group of Wushang villagers had gathered there, and a young man who appeared to be their leader was currently speaking with them.
The girl walked over and began to speak to that leader youth while pointing at Wang Chong's group. The youth turned to glance at Wang Chong, a harsh light in his eyes, but he quickly turned his head back around and nodded, apparently agreeing with the girl over something.
"Haha, Brother Qi, then I'll leave everything to you. I'm going first!"
With an excited shout, the girl waved at Wang Chong's group and then turned in another direction and charged off with the large chest. In a few moments, she had vanished amongst the rocks.
"Get ready. We might have to fight soon!" Wang Chong suddenly said.
"Eh?!"
"But didn't that girl say that she had finished delivering us?"
Gao Feng and Nie Yan were both flabbergasted. On the way here, they had grown used to the girl opening the path for them, blocking all the potential interceptors. How was it that the moment she left, they immediately had to get ready for combat?
"Don't worry so much. Just do as I say," Wang Chong lightly said. With a wave of his sleeve and a faint smile, he began to walk toward the plaza paved with square stones, toward the group of Wushang youths. The journey to Wushang could be considered to have reached its destination.
Wang Chong also knew that the excuse he had given the girl and his chest full of wujian grass had also lost their effectiveness. Moreover, he had run into that particularly observant fellow.
On the other side, the youth that the girl had called Brother Qi walked over.
In contrast to when he was speaking to the girl, Brother Qi now had a much harsher and colder expression.
"Surround them!"
The first thing Brother Qi did was wave his hand and have Wang Chong's group surrounded. Whoosh! The group of youths at his side suddenly leaped into the air. In an instant, they had completely encircled Wang Chong, Gao Feng, Nie Yan, and the other ten-some guards Wang Chong had brought from the capital.
"Careful!"
Clangclangclang! With a flash of cold steel, Gao Feng, Nie Yan and the other guards quickly surrounded Wang Chong.
'Brother Qi' glanced at the weapons in the hands of Gao Feng and the others, his eyes filled with contempt.
"Uncle Jiu and the others said there were outsiders. They were probably talking about you! The chief's friends… hmph, this excuse can only fool Xiaoyan! We've captured a few outsiders recently, so you probably came because of them."
Brother Qi's gaze was extremely sharp, and in a glance, he had seen into the hearts of Wang Chong's group. His words immediately made Gao Feng and Nie Yan pale.
"Hmph, as expected, I'm right. Put down your weapons and wait to be captured, and I might still let you survive. Otherwise, kill them all!"
These last words were spoken to his fellow Wushang villagers.
"You would dare!"
"Do you know not know who our young master is?"
"To dare attack an appointed official of the Imperial Court, this is a capital crime!"
……
Before Wang Chong could say anything, Gao Feng and Nie Yan had already reached their breaking point, with the other guards also showing expressions of rage. Wang Chong was the descendant of ministers and generals, the Young Marquis whose title had been personally conferred by the Sage Emperor. Everyone in the world knew that he was the Son of Heaven's disciple, his status most revered.
That these people would dare try and kill a noble of the court with barely a word was a naked contempt for the laws of the land.
"Hmph, I don't know anything about some Imperial Court. I only know that this is our Wushang Village and you're intruders. You even brought in weapons, so you must be killed!"
As Brother Qi spoke, his eyes turned even colder. He waved his hand, and then with a gust of wind, those bare-chested villagers who had been training on the nearby cliffs began to rush toward the plaza.
They moved with such speed that it took them only a blink of an eye to add to the numbers surrounding Wang Chong's group.
The faces of Gao Feng and the others went cold while their hearts fumed. With this array of forces, it seemed like the villagers really were intent on attacking. If they had not seen it with their own eyes, they would have never dared to believe that there was any faction in the Central Plains that was so brash and untamed that it would completely disregard the laws and majesty of the Imperial Court.
"That's enough!"
Just when Gao Feng and Nie Yan were ready to strike, Wang Chong extended a palm and stopped them.
"Let me handle this matter."
It was widely acknowledged in his last life that the Wushang were an unyielding and forthright people. A wild stallion would never be easy to tame, and this was even more true for the Wushang.
Although Gao Feng and Nie Yan found this hard to accept, for Wang Chong, this was the true appearance of the Wushang.
"Qin Qicheng, you really haven't changed one bit!"
Wang Chong smiled, and his first words immediately caused the expression of 'Brother Qi' to shift.
"Just who are you? How do you know my name?"
Qin Qicheng's pupils constricted, his face turning grim.
Wang Chong chuckled and said, "Haha, not only
do I know that you're called Qin Qicheng, I even know that you often break the rules of the village and sneak out into the outside world."
"Speaking nonsense!"
Qin Qicheng instantly paled, the corners of his eyes beginning to twitch. It appeared as if his deepest secrets had been revealed.
"Brothers, seize them!"
Before anyone else could strike, Qin Qicheng pressed his body against the ground and began to shoot forward like a snake. Buzz! Metal began to clatter as a halo emerged from his body. In an instant, he was engulfed in a thick smoke that wrapped around his body and blocked Wang Chong's vision.
Swishswishswish!
In a flash, a pitch-black palm thrust out of the smoke, dragging countless afterimages behind it. Although it was just a hand of flesh and blood, the five fingers gave off a metallic shriek as the palm thrust through the air, and it seemed like those slender fingers were disgorging a sword that was more than a foot long.
Wang Chong had no doubt that even steel would end up with five new holes if it were stabbed by these fingers.
The Halo of Mists!
The Gloom Hand!
At a glance, Wang Chong had recognized these as two high-class techniques of Wushang Village. The Halo of Mists could obscure the vision of opponents but had no effect on the user's sight. On the contrary, it would make them faster and more agile.
Meanwhile, the Gloom Hand needed to be used with the Halo of Mists. When it was used, one's entire hand would turn as black as ink and as sharp as a sword.
With the black mists obscuring the opponent's vision, it would be easy to give a swift and fatal strike.
Many of Wushang Village's would-be invaders ended up dying to this combination of techniques. But to Wang Chong, these moves were like the games of a child.
Bang!
With just one kick, Qin Qicheng was sent flying into the air. Boom! He smashed into the ground seven or eight zhang away, the impact sending debris flying.
Bzzt! For a moment, everything was quiet. All the Wushang stared at the domineering figure of Wang Chong with deep shock in their eyes.
Although Qin Qicheng wasn't the strongest or most formidable person in Wushang Village, amongst his peers, he was definitely one of the more formidable experts. Moreover, it wasn't like the combination of the Halo of Mists and the Gloom Hand never came away empty-handed, but it had never been like this, where someone had broken it with a single move.
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