Big Moon Ballad

Chapter 2691 Ambush
The moment the birdsong began, a loud wolf howl rang out from the Qin army ranks.

The cuckoo in the forest seemed startled and paused for a moment.

The next moment, countless arrows rained down from both sides of the canyon.

The moment the wolf howls rang out, the vanguard troops raised their shields on both sides.

A bird that makes a bird call is not a bird, and a wolf that howls is not a wolf.

"His Majesty!"

Ying Baoyue sat upright in the carriage, and heard Li Meiniang's secret voice in her ear, "They've arrived!"

"I know, you did a great job. You're in full command; get through this!"

Why would there be cuckoos in the northern mountains and forests at this time of year?
Ying Baoyue closed her eyes and sensed the surging energy on both sides of the mountain forest. The call of the cuckoo was the order for the enemy to launch an attack, and the loud wolf howl just now was issued by Li Meiniang to alert all the soldiers.

Li Meiniang had been stationed at the border for many years and was well-versed in various military codes, making her extremely quick to react.

It was a ridiculous scene: the Western Rong people imitated bird calls, while the Qin army used wolf howls as commands.

Despite being prepared, the overwhelming rain of arrows was beyond the protection of mere shields. As they were vanguard cavalry, neither the soldiers nor their horses wore heavy armor, and cavalrymen and horses were constantly being struck by the arrows.

To avoid blocking the road, if a cavalryman or warhorse was hit by an arrow, the ten men in front of and behind each squad would use their true energy to throw the comrade and warhorse blocking the way into the mountains and forests.

This is a duty even more devastating than killing the enemy; it requires personally eliminating comrades who are still alive ahead, simply because they might block the way.

The vanguard consists of squads of ten men, each led by a Silver Cicada Guard of rank seven or higher.

Li Meiniang made this arrangement because she considered that the most terrible thing would be if there were blockages and trampling in the narrow road.

Despite the Silver Cicada Guards' relentless and merciless elimination, the vanguard continued their advance, shields raised, without slowing down significantly.

"What terrible military discipline."

Chunyu Ye, draped in a black cloak, stood atop the highest tower of Juyong Pass. He gazed silently at the Qin army stretching out in the distance like a long dragon, and spoke softly.

“After all, she is General Plum Blossom, who has struck fear into the hearts of the Western Rong people for more than a decade,” a burly man with a scar on his face said with a sigh, standing next to him. “I never expected that the King of Qin would let her lead the charge instead of that young brat.”

The man spat on the stone wall, "I thought I wouldn't meet her until I got to Shanhaiguan."

"You've fought her before?" Chunyu Ye glanced at the burly man. "Who won?"

This man was named Helian Bo. He was a genuine nobleman of the Western Rong, whose family had served the First Royal Court for generations. He was originally a subordinate of the Great Di King.

Helian Bo's scars furrowed, and he remained silent, his face tense.

"Looks like you lost," Chunyu Ye sneered. "Even if you met her fifteen years ago, you would have been twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old then. You couldn't beat her?"

“Back then, my uncle was the commander-in-chief,” Helian Bo said, his chest heaving. “He wasn’t very good at fighting.”

"Really?" Chunyu Ye snorted. "I remember he was the number one warrior of the Helian family back then."

It is said that the Chunyu clan is getting worse with each generation, and the Helian family, as one of the four noble families, is no exception. Helian Bo's uncle, Helian Lun, had more military achievements than him, but his military achievements mainly came from the civil wars between the various royal courts of the Western Rong.

Chunyu Ye stared at the Qin army, who, despite the rain of arrows, continued to march out of the canyon, disregarding the lives of their comrades.

Even if the Silver Cicada Guards only had one-tenth of their strength, they still possessed such combat power. No wonder Helian Lun was no match for them back then.

It's hard to imagine just how strong the Silver Cicada Guard and the Black Tiger Army were at their peak.

“Arrows alone won’t stop them,” Chunyu Ye said, staring at the hundred cavalrymen at the forefront who had already charged out of the canyon. “Prepare to roll the stones!”

The most deadly thing in the canyon area is rolling boulders. A boulder as tall as a person can be pushed down and crush any man or horse in the valley into mincemeat.

If possible, Chunyu Ye would have preferred to use rolling stones from the beginning, but Juyong Pass, though strategically located, was a historically significant border fortress, and all the usable stones on the mountain had been used up by his predecessors.

The Western Rong army began preparations three days ago. The only way to obtain the massive stones was to quarry them from the mountain. Only cultivators could quarry and move stones weighing over a thousand pounds. After three days and three nights, they had only prepared twenty or thirty stones. "Your Majesty!"

As the shadow of the boulder appeared from the mountaintop, Li Meiniang led the vanguard out of the canyon and immediately called out to Ying Baoyue.

"Don't worry, just keep charging forward."

Ying Baoyue, inside the carriage, opened her eyes and gripped the Red Lotus Sword at her waist. "Ru Niang!"

The boulder crashed down, and for the first time, horror appeared in the eyes of the cavalrymen in the valley.

More than a dozen dark figures instantly disappeared from beside Ying Baoyue's carriage.

Chunyu Ye squinted his eyes from the city tower.

A dozen or so dark figures moved like ghosts, all heading straight for the boulder. In an instant, cold light flashed and sparks flew everywhere. The boulder, which was originally more than a person tall, shattered halfway and turned into countless boulders that rolled down.

"High-level cultivator..."

All of this happened extremely quickly, but Chunyu Ye could see it clearly from a distance. The dozen or so dark figures that left Ying Baoyue's carriage were all high-level cultivators of rank five or above.

These high-level cultivators used their swords to forcefully cleave the boulders in two.

"how is this possible?"

Helian Bo's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. "How can there be so many Heavenly Rank cultivators?"

It's not unusual for cultivators to split rocks, but to shatter a rock larger than oneself into fragments in such a short time is something that cannot be done with a single sword strike.

In an instant, several arrows were fired, cutting through the rocks as easily as chopping melons and vegetables...

In Helian Bo's experience, this was something only a Heavenly Realm cultivator could do, but even if the Qin army had abundant combat power, it was impossible to have more than a dozen Heavenly Realm cultivators at the same time.

“Those aren’t at the Heavenly Rank, at most they’re at the Divine Dance Realm,” Chunyu Ye took a deep breath. “I really don’t know how that guy trained.”

Do Ying Baoyue's personal guards practice chopping rocks every day?

Even though the dozen or so guards were highly skilled, they still couldn't stop seven or eight boulders, which then rushed down with the force of thunder.

The cavalrymen closed their eyes, resigned to their fate.

Just then, a sudden gust of wind swept in.

Amidst the raging winds, a tremendous force surged through the narrow mountain path like a flood, with a resounding bang!
The boulders that were resting halfway up the mountain exploded in an instant!

"We...we're saved?"

This time, the boulder did not turn into rocks, but instead turned directly into dust.

"Brothers! Charge out!"

The bizarre scene before them only fueled the soldiers' enthusiasm. The surviving cavalrymen wiped the stone dust off their faces and charged recklessly out of the canyon.

"Ying Baoyue!"

Chunyu Ye, standing atop the city wall, stared at the several stones in the distance that had instantly turned to dust, gritting his teeth in fury.

He hadn't expected Ying Baoyue to intervene. She was clearly the commander of a multinational coalition, and a second-rank divine being; how could she have so easily intervened in the battle?

Such powerful abilities shocked everyone.

The problem is, if Ying Baoyue takes the initiative to participate in the battle, then he must also participate.

These are the rules set by Yun Zhongjun, and he has no room to disobey them.