A Thousand Li Books 1-3: An Omnibus Collection for a Xianxia Cultivation Series (A Thousand Li Omnibus)

by Tao Wong

  It was serviceable. The weight was slightly off, a bit farther toward the pommel than Wu Ying would have preferred. It made the sabre’s weight a little more unwieldly, made cutting a little harder. The metal itself was of low quality, adequate but likely to chip after vigorous use. And it had no sense of style at all, looking similar to the hundreds of daos that lay around the encampment. Even if most soldiers used the spear as their primary weapon, the dao was the preferred secondary weapon since its single cutting edge and heavier blade design required less training and could be used more effectively in a shield wall. The jian, once popular as the main side-weapon of the army, had decreased in popularity as closed ranks and more formal shield walls had been adopted.

  Those cultivators and martial artists like his family who stayed loyal to the jian were growing rarer each year. Even if the lighter weapon had been the more popular weapon to begin with, the dao’s adoption by the army had seen the jian’s slow decrease in popularity—at least among soldiers and the general populace. On the other hand, while martial styles for the dao were increasing in number, for the highest tier sword arts, it was said that one needed to study the jian. But…

  “Good enough?” Chao Kun asked.

  “Yes. In the end, a sword is a sword,” Wu Ying said, belting the scabbard to his body as he replaced his own weapon. It was both an ultimate truth and lie, depending on the circumstances. As any true sword stylist would tell you. For what came next, this would do. “What is my role?”

  “You’ll be part of the first wave,” Chao Kun said. He puckered his face as he had eaten something sour before leading Wu Ying away from the blacksmith’s to where the army waited, talking all the while. “You, your friends, and a small number of other cultivators—mercenaries and other Sect members mostly—will be held back in reserve but near the front of the line. When our army reaches the walls with their ladders, you will be sent to scale the wall.”

  Wu Ying’s eyes widened. Assaulting the walled city, even if it had been softened up with the fire from the numerous trebuchets, was no easy feat. And on their first assault, it was unlikely the army would succeed.

  “There aren’t any holes yet,” Wu Ying said as he tried to recall how many sky cloud ladders he had seen. Not enough. Not without more holes in the walls to split the army’s attention.

  “The general believes that using cultivators in the initial breech might surprise the defenders,” Chao Kun said.

  His tone was entirely neutral, but Wu Ying could not help but glance at his friend. Finding his friend’s face entirely still, Wu Ying sighed. In the end, whatever they thought, they were still under military law. They had orders to follow. And that was it.

  “Where will you be?” Wu Ying asked.

  “We will be watching for retaliation by other cultivators.” Chao Kun gestured down the line to the left. “My team will be deployed with Elder Po.” Chao Kun paused then added, “Do not expect us to take action unless a Core cultivator or worse shows up. Pray that we don’t have to reinforce you.”

  Wu Ying nodded, trying to relax. At least the Core cultivators would be dealt with. If the city used them. Now, all he had to do was survive the arrows, spears, and swords of their opponents as they assaulted the wall.

  ***

  “About time you got here,” Li Yao said to Wu Ying, punctuating her greeting with a hug.

  They had regrouped under the awning of an assault wagon, hidden from the prying eyes of their enemy. Chao Kun had dropped Wu Ying off with his team before marching off to inspect a few other wagons.

  “I came as soon as Chao Kun got me.” Wu Ying eyed the group, noting how they were all dressed like him in the standard army uniform. It was probably so they weren’t targeted by archers. Yet as he let his gaze rake over the group of familiar and unfamiliar faces, he stopped on one unexpected addition. “Senior Liu?”

  “Wu Ying.” Liu Tsong nodded to Wu Ying.

  “What are you doing here?” Wu Ying said. From what he gathered from Chao Kun—more between the lines than directly—this was a punishment. Surely his Senior had not done anything that deserved her presence here.

  “There are more contribution points here.” Liu Tsong shrugged. “I’ll be providing us cover during the last stages.” She smiled as she tapped her ring, drawing Wu Ying’s gaze toward it. “I have a few tricks that should help.”

  Wu Ying frowned but nodded. He was quickly drawn into greeting the rest of his friends.

  When Wu Ying got to Tou He, his friend pulled him close to whisper, “Senior Li’s being modest. She was sent here because she demanded our release from the lieutetant general.”

  Wu Ying’s eyes widened, then glanced at the junior apothecarist. It was obvious that her actions had resulted in failure, but still, he was grateful for the attempt. Finding friends who were willing to risk their standing was rare. Or so he was told.

  Because as Wu Ying looked around the small enclosure, his gaze falling on his friends in turn, he realized he was lucky. Lucky to find people willing to risk so much for him. Lives. Standing. Time.

  “Thank you,” Wu Ying said.

  The words caught the attention of a few, with Yin Xue sneering and Bao Cong shrugging. Li Yao just offered him a grin and hugged his arm quickly before she released it to point at the unfamiliar faces.

  “This is Yan Bai Hu, Xu Gong, and Huang Zu from the White Tiger Sect in the lower Ru province,” Li Yao said.

  The three members had ruddy, dark faces, looking more like peasants or bandits than the noble sect members Wu Ying was used to. Certainly, the daos and thick axe-blade polearms they held suited their coarse appearance. They offered him curt greetings, which Wu Ying returned before Li Yao continued.

  “Lady Pan is an itinerant cultivator who will be joining us,” Li Yao’s curt introductions grew a little softer when she reached the woman.

  Lady Pan was well shaped, reminding Wu Ying of a wine gourd even under the formless wear of the army. When Lady Pan caught Wu Ying’s wandering gaze, she raised a single eyebrow and smirked, making the peasant blush.

  Li Yao glanced between the pair then punched Wu Ying in the arm, though her smile continued to stay on her lips. “And this is her companion, Yan Qing.”

  Yan Qing, on the other hand, was a handsome youth, six feet tall with red lips, thick eyebrows, and broad shoulders. The youth looked to be in good spirits and sported a straight sword, though its hilt and blade were longer than the traditional form, allowing him to wield it two-handed. Near his side, a beautiful, unstrung bow rested.

  “You’ll watch over us, right, Brother Long?” Lady Pan asked. She blinked her clear brown eyes at him.

  When Wu Ying stuttered, Li Yao laughed and elbowed him in the side. “Stop it, Sister Lian. Wu Ying is quite innocent and won’t be able to take your jokes. He’ll be too distracted.”

  “Oh, we wouldn’t want our brave hero to be distracted,” Pan Jin Lian said, her eyes twinkling.

  Yan Qing rolled his eyes as he checked over his bow and arrows.

  Her introductions done, Li Yao leaned in to continue her chat with Jin Lian inside the siege weapon.

  Released from their teasing, Wu Ying escaped to the other side of the small enclosure. Outside of the cultivators, the enclosure contained a few soldiers who stood silently, waiting patiently for the signal under the watchful eyes of their unit leader. At first, they seemed calm and still, but on closer inspection, Wu Ying noticed the shifting feet, the hesitant words the soldiers passed between one another. Rather than witness their discomfort, he turned away to stare out the back, where he saw the remaining members of the army waiting patiently, and the clouds.

  “Hopefully we start soon,” Wu Ying muttered.

  “Oh?” Li Yao said, cocking her head. “You see something?”

  “Rain,” Wu Ying said, nodding to the sky.

  Li Yao frowned, eyeing the few clouds and the occasional gusting wind. “I don’t see it.”

  “It’s coming.”

  “Not
according to the general’s soothsayers,” Yin Xue, who was lounging near the exit, said.

  “It’s coming,” Wu Ying insisted.

  Yin Xue looked at Wu Ying and nodded. Perhaps he recalled Wu Ying’s previous occupation. But he then studied the ground in more detail. Wu Ying could already tell him what it was like. The lush grass beneath their feet hid dark brown river soil. Of course, the river itself no longer overflowed as often, as canals and dykes helped pull it from the banks, so the alluvial soil beneath their feet was old and settled. None of the gray soil from often-flooding rivers, perfect for growing, with touches of nearly black soil from the mountains farther upstream. All of which meant that when rain came, it’d soak into the soil and run off the grass without any issue. For the grass. Not so much for their footing.

  Now that that discussion was over, Wu Ying turned to Li Yao, who’d made her way back to him, and dropped his voice to ask, “That’s all?”

  “All?”

  “Us cultivators.”

  “Oh!” Li Yao shook her head. “No. There are more cultivators in the other assault covers. But the general decided to split our attack in hopes that one of us will break through.”

  “And once we do?” Wu Ying said.

  “We hold the wall until reinforcements arrive. Widen the gap when we can and link up with the next cultivator group. The more sky ladders fix to the wall, the more soldiers will arrive, so providing aid to neighboring ladders will be nearly as important as holding our own,” Li Yao said.

  Wu Ying nodded slowly, then whispered, “What are our chances?”

  Li Yao shrugged.

  He could only hope that they had not been sent to die without any hope of success or retreat. It was unlikely. No matter how much the vice-general disliked him, wasting their lives would cause more problems than the man could bear. In that sense, being part of a powerful Sect was protection in itself.

  ***

  The start of the true attack began without fanfare. For a half hour after Wu Ying had arrived, the trebuchets had fired on the walls, hammering at portions of the obstruction and the towers that guarded the defense. But as the morning sun finally rose a quarter of the way to its zenith, the signal drums beat a new rhythm.

  Wu Ying cocked his head, watching the signal flags echo the commands of the drum. Even if he did not have significant experience with the army or the drums, this command was easily recognizable.

  Advance.

  The creak of wooden wheels being pushed forward broke Wu Ying from his reverie, making the cultivator turn forward. To his initial surprise, their assault cover was not moving—until he realized that they had to wait. Ahead of them, the initial assault cover wave had to approach, reach their positions under fire, and deploy their men. Only then would the next wave, including the sky ladders, begin their approach. Only once those were close would Wu Ying’s cover move forward. No point sending them until then, to stand under fire with nowhere to go.

  Realizing his foolishness, Wu Ying pushed forward to peer through the small gaps at the front of the wagon. He had to elbow aside Bai Hu as he did so and received a silent glower in return. But Wu Ying was a little too excited to pay proper attention to the man’s displeasure as he tried to catch a glimpse of what was happening outside.

  “You there. Soldier. Let him take your place,” Bai Hu growled. He dropped a hand on the soldier who was meant to be steering and watching from the front and yanked him back, creating space for Wu Ying. “If he wants to push, then let him.”

  “Honored cultivator, I…” the soldier stuttered, caught between duty and the displeasure of the glowering cultivator. One could see his head lopped off for disobedience. The other might see his limbs broken, from the way Bai Hu’s fist rose.

  “It’s fine,” Wu Ying said, stepping into the gap. “I wanted to see.” He flashed the soldier a grin then gave Bai Hu a narrowed eye look. “Better view here. And I have no problem pushing a wagon. Better work than pushing a plow behind an ox.”

  “Definitely less shitty,” the other soldier beside Wu Ying muttered under his breath. He probably thought Wu Ying could not hear, not realizing how sharp cultivator senses grew.

  Wu Ying decided to dissuade him of that notion by leaning over and murmuring, “Definitely.”

  He watched the soldier flush, stutter an apology, before Wu Ying turned his attention back to what he could see in the gap. Luckily, their assault cover had been set on a slight rise in the surroundings, giving them both a rolling start when needed and a slightly better view of the battle going forth before them.

  In the time he had been speaking with the soldiers, the first wave of assault covers had covered a hundred yards under the insistent beat of the drums. Wu Ying saw, already, how the formation had grown a little ragged. Wagons that had better terrain, stronger teams, or were just better put together took the lead while others lagged behind. As much as their superiors might desire the first wave to arrive at the same time, reality ensured that it was not possible.

  A change in the beat of the drums had the second wave—the sky ladders—begin their slow journey forward. They would take longer to arrive, so their staggered approach was required. Wu Ying knew that soon, they too would begin the advance. But in the meantime…

  A harsh snap and whistle, as if someone had cracked a single, large string, broke through the hubbub. As if the first wave had passed an invisible line, the defenders on the wall acted, sending the first of many volleys of arrows at the assault covers. Rising high above, so high that Wu Ying lost sight of the glinting arrowheads, the arrows rose.

  And fell.

  The actual strike of the arrows as they landed was muted by the all-encompassing noise of the army on march. It only sounded, to his ears, as though a cloud had broken open in the distance, dismissing its wet attendants to the earth. Dozens of light drops, all rolled together such that a single one could not be picked out. The fall of rocks as defending trebuchets released their own payloads was louder and more insistent in being heard.

  If the noise of the battle was less than astounding, the sight was eye opening. Wu Ying watched the arrows land, striking at assault covers and bouncing off or raining upon the ground, creating wooden sprouts in the field. Impediments for the oncoming army. And if one wave of arrows finished landing, others arrived soon after. The rocks from the trebuchet were majestic, striking the ground and bouncing. Wu Ying watched one particular rock land almost directly ahead of their route, skipping off the ground and ploughing into an assault cover. It crushed a wagon wheel, leaving the siege weapon to list to the side.

  Moments later, soldiers spilled out of the damaged assault cover, holding shields above their head as they ran forward to their assigned position. One caught an arrow in the neck, dropping to the ground as an improperly raised shield failed to save him. The others ran, ignoring the fallen body as infantry paired together with archers in a mad dash to their position across the no-man’s land of arrows.

  “Push!” the soldier beside Wu Ying barked at the cultivator.

  Wu Ying blinked, then realized he had missed the signal. He hastily gripped the handy wooden divot ahead of him and added his strength to the effort. The covered wagon rolled forward, at first at a snail’s pace but picking up speed when the simple cloth brake holding them still released.

  “Not too fast! We have to wait for the sky ladders,” warned the soldier. He was already breathing hard, though whether it was due to fear or effort, Wu Ying could not tell.

  Wu Ying slowed down as requested, making sure to not add too much strength. Before him, the war raged, arrows and cast stones landing amongst the assault covers and the newly arrived sky ladders. Already, Wu Ying saw the bodies of soldiers littering the ground, some still moving as they writhed in pain and attempted to crawl back to the safety of their lines. Protective cover or not, the occasional arrow managed to make its way through gaps in the protection or—when used by a powerful cultivator—through the protective coverings directly.

 
; As the assault covers grew ever closer, more and more soldiers were forced to disembark damaged vehicles and risk the fire of the walls under cover of shield and armor. Still, the covers had allowed a good portion of the first wave to arrive unscathed and get into position. Already, some of the archers were returning fire, helping suppress the attacks raining down on them.

  A new sound arose—the start of drumming, fainter and deeper than the drums of their own army. Wu Ying frowned, inadvertently slowing. He noticed a slight pause in the arrow fire as the drums signaled a change. Even as the cold thread of dread grew in his stomach, Wu Ying saw a new flight of arrows rise up from the walls.

  “That doesn’t look right,” commented Lady Pan. Somehow along the way, the female cultivator had managed to join them at the front of the assault cover.

  “I don’t see it.” Wu Ying tried to gauge what it was that Lin Jian had seen before the arrows disappeared from his view. He was still trying to figure it out when they started landing, bringing with them flaming fury.

  The arrow storm was much smaller in size, the attack concentrated on the covers themselves rather than spread out across the siege engines and soldiers on foot. Each arrow, upon striking, released a small explosion. Not all the arrows exploded, but a large majority did so, and soon the dried and clay-coated roofs of the siege weapons caught fire, along with portions of their walls.

  “What was that?” the soldier beside Wu Ying exclaimed. He released his grip on the wagon, stumbling to a halt only to be pushed forward by the passengers behind. Reminded of his task, the soldier found himself taking hold of the wagon and pushing with Wu Ying once more.

  “I…”

  Taking pity on Wu Ying as he hesitated, Lady Pan said, “Talisman arrows. Expensive to wrap each arrow with a talisman, but they’re extremely useful for war. If you want to set fire to siege weapons, it’s the easiest method—unless they’re by the walls. Then, of course, there’s oil. They’ll probably fire on the siege ladders soon.”