Great Zhou Wensheng

Chapter 42 A Lone Rider's Overwhelms the Upper Dormitory!
The outskirts of Jiangyin.

Ten acres of rice paddies are bathed in a milky white veil of mist, like a hazy ink painting spreading out.

Along the edge of the field, several wild rice stalks drooped, glistening with dew.

On either side of the field, thirty students from the outer dormitory, led by Jiang Xingzhou, were fighting in formation with thirty puppet soldiers.

On the other side were thirty elderly students, led by Zhou Guangjin from the upper academy.

The students looked towards the opposite side, but even from hundreds of steps away, they couldn't see clearly under the thick white fog.

"Brother Jiang! The fog is too thick. Could they be using some kind of trick?"

Gu Zhimian stood to the side, looking worried.

"It's alright! We can't see clearly, and neither can they. Ten acres of paddy fields are a small area, so there's not much room to implement any schemes. We'll just have to proceed cautiously!"

Jiang Xingzhou said calmly.

"Imperial Edict—!"

A sudden flash of cold light appeared in the fog.

The longbows of the bamboo-armored cavalrymen were still trembling, and the sharp sound of arrows piercing the air had not yet dissipated.

"Pfft~!"

Thirty paces away, in the hazy morning mist, a grass-leaf spearman was instantly struck by a grain-ear arrow, which pierced his breastplate and exploded into a plume of smoke.

[Killed an enemy Leaf-type Spearman, score +1!]

The scattered stems and leaves have not yet fallen to the ground.

The bamboo-armored cavalry, brimming with the momentum to kill the enemy, suddenly rushed to the front of the formation and fired a spear forward.

The twelve-foot-long ice spear raised a ball of cold light, which was neither iron nor jade. The tip of the spear trembled with the profound ice energy tempered by the cold dew of the hour of Yin.

"Snap!"
A sword-and-shield puppet soldier raised its shield, but the heavy wooden shield was pierced by an ice spear, cracking instantly. Ice shards spread, freezing the puppet soldier into an ice sculpture along the cracks.

[Killed an enemy sword and shield puppet soldier, score +2!]

The warhorse reared up with a neigh, its iron hooves, as big as bowls, crushing the ice crystal sword and shield puppet soldiers, and sending a sword-step puppet soldier who was trying to sneak up flying.

"Boom~!"

The sword-wielding puppet soldier was knocked away by the bamboo-armored warhorse. His straw body scattered in the air like a shower of flowers before crashing heavily to the ground, scattering grass and trees everywhere.

[Killed an enemy sword-wielding puppet soldier, score +3!]

Just then, the sound of hooves clattering came from the opposite direction, and another enemy light cavalryman charged forward, his silhouette gradually becoming visible in the mist.

The bamboo-armored knight flicked his wrist, sending his ice spear tracing a crescent-shaped arc in the air.

A single shot swept across, and frost billowed everywhere.

"Crack~!"

"boom!"

The enemy light cavalry, along with their horses, were cut in half by the ice spears. Before they even hit the ground, they turned into ice shards that mingled with the morning dew and sprinkled onto the green rice leaves in the fields.

The light cavalry puppet soldier fell from his horse and died in battle.

[Killed an enemy light cavalry puppet soldier, score +4!]

In the misty rice paddies, four clumps of grass and wood debris exploded one after another, startling several egrets into flight from the depths of the fields.

The thirty elderly students in the upper dormitory, their faces reflecting a bluish light, were all filled with fear.

"What domineering bamboo armor cavalry!"

"Four plant and wood puppet soldiers couldn't even last half an incense stick's time against it?"

Several elderly students' jaws chattered slightly, and they unconsciously took a half step back, their cloth shoes already stepping into the slippery paddy field ridge.

If this were a real battle, these bamboo-armored cavalrymen would probably already be upon them.

A sense of fear washed over me, and my lower abdomen and legs began to tremble.

at this time,

Jiang Xingzhou's bamboo armor cavalry still leaped and charged across the fields, their ice spears destroying everything in their path.

The twelve-foot-long black spear transformed into a cold moon, its sweeping motion causing the plant and wood puppet soldiers to explode. Where the horses' hooves pounded, not a single puppet soldier could withstand a single round. In the fields, the dozens of puppet soldiers in the upper quarters were thrown into disarray, their movements chaotic and disorganized.

"Heavy infantry puppets, move forward and hold it off!"

Immediately, a heavily armored wooden shield soldier, his thick wooden armor clattering as he tried to intercept the bamboo-armored cavalry.

Its defenses are the most robust.

However, the heavy armor slowed its pace, making it unable to keep up with the speed of the bamboo-armored cavalry.

"Quick, fire rockets together and burn it!"

Zhou Guangjin reacted extremely quickly, immediately shouting and reorganizing an offensive.

The dignity of all the old students in the upper hall will be trampled underfoot by Jiang Xingzhou's bamboo-armored cavalry.

The five old students in the upper dormitory, controlling the bow puppets, abandoned their other opponents and immediately pointed with both hands, urging their respective bow puppet soldiers to fire arrows.

In an instant, five rockets ignited the mist, transforming into five streaks of firefly-like fire that shot towards the bamboo-armored cavalry.

"Swish~"
Five arrows, trailing fierce flames, pierced through the thick fog and struck the bamboo-armored cavalrymen simultaneously, but upon contact with the bamboo armor, they emitted a clear, cracking sound.

The three bamboo shoots were deflected by the bamboo armor and landed in the field.

Two rockets pierced the bamboo armor of the lancers, emitting wisps of black smoke, but the flames were swallowed by the cold air—the ice bamboo, soaked in the dew and snow for seven days, had transformed the essence of the fire into wisps of white frost.

"how so?
Even plant and wood puppets fear fire attacks, so why isn't this one?

Zhou Guangjin's pupils contracted sharply. He clearly saw several rockets hit the bamboo armor, but they had almost no effect.

The bamboo-armored cavalrymen unleashed their spears like rainbows, their twelve-foot-long icy blades striking the center of the heavy shields of the heavily armored puppet infantrymen.

"Bang!"

The heavy shield golem's shield was now covered with spiderweb-like cracks.

It was clear that the bamboo armor cavalry puppets were about to wipe out his heavy shield soldiers.

Zhou Guangjin groaned, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.

Li Yunxiao's lips curled into a sneer as he looked at the terrified faces of the thirty old scholars opposite him.

These old students from the upper dormitory must have finally experienced what despair and fear truly mean!
During the county examination, he and Han Yugui and Cao An, these "geniuses born in the 19th century and proud sons of noble families," were ruthlessly crushed by Jiang Xingzhou, but even more desperate than that was.

How similar was Zhou Guangjin's staggering and backward scramble to his feet!
It seems that neither genius nor the old scholar's more than ten years of experience are very effective against Jiang Xingzhou.

It wasn't just the old scholar from the upper dormitory who was stunned by the beating.

Even the dozens of newly recruited young students in blue robes in the outer dormitory were somewhat bewildered.

They had prepared for a fierce and evenly matched battle with the old scholar from the upper dormitory. They anticipated a hard-fought victory after a bloody struggle.

However, the situation changed so quickly that they were somewhat unable to keep up.

"Didn't we agree it would be thirty against thirty? How did it become one against thirty?"

Zhang Youyi, an old scholar with white hair and a beard covered in cold dew, looked utterly astonished.

"In just half an incense stick's time, Jiang Xingzhou's bamboo armor cavalry had already destroyed five of their puppet soldiers!"

"Across from us, the old scholar from the outer dormitory is almost mentally broken!"

Instructor Zheng Shuqian stood by the field ridge, holding a record book for the Spring Equinox mini-exam, recording the performance evaluations of the students in the outer and upper dormitories. "Jiang Xingzhou, performance: 1, 2, 3, 4."

"The seventh body"

That's it!

No need to write it down!

He reluctantly put down his wolf-hair brush.

In just a short while, the bamboo-armored cavalry charged into the enemy's puppet army formation and slaughtered seven of the puppets.

If this continues, it is estimated that at least half of the thirty puppet soldiers of the old scholar in the upper house will be wiped out by Jiang Xingzhou's bamboo armor cavalry.

In the county's annual "Every Tree and Grass Seem to Be an Enemy" martial arts competition, Jiang Xingzhou's name undoubtedly ranks first in terms of combat record.
-
P.S.: The title has been changed from "The Sage of Literature" to "The Great Sage of Literature of the Zhou Dynasty"! The original title was more fantasy-oriented, while the new title is more suitable for a Confucian and Taoist theme.

(End of this chapter)