Wei School's Three Good Students

Chapter 201 The Second Wave of Liu Ren

While the human race was taking a precious break after the Battle of the Bamboo Men, the second wave of the Treant group was regrouping.

Compared to the first wave of bamboo men who charged with spears, the second wave of willow men used softness to overcome hardness.

A "pop" sound, like firecrackers, rang out in the marching ranks of the willow people as they cleared away the bamboo people blocking their way.

The four- or five-meter-tall willow figure swings out a willow branch that can extend significantly like a lizard's tongue, reaching up to ten meters when thrown out, and the swinging end can produce a sonic boom.

The first wave of battle that the Liu people fought was not against Xuan Chong's troops, but against the retreating Zhu people.

Those bamboo figures had just endured a scorching battle and were extremely thirsty; they simply wanted to take root and absorb some moisture from the soil to catch their breath. But now, standing in front of the irritable willow figures, they were directly broken in half (broken, not severed; Xuan Chong paid special attention to this detail).

On the expeditionary force's side, the officers of the Wu family army, upon seeing this, began to discuss the fighting prowess of the willow-tree men. If a willow-tree man, four or five meters tall, could swing a ten-meter-long whip, wouldn't the others, each ten meters tall, be able to swing whips twenty or thirty meters long?
In response, the officers quickly ordered the halberdiers at the front to retreat; the hook-and-sickle spearmen had already switched to large scythes with blades half a meter long. This long blade allowed the willow branches to wrap around the blade when the whip was lashed out. With a slight twitch, the flexible branches could be cut as easily as grass, preventing the blade from getting entangled.

This method was devised by the non-commissioned officers.

Nowadays, it is no longer solely Xuan Chong's responsibility to think for the military. Through the reasonable decentralization of military authority, non-commissioned officers are taking on the responsibility of thinking for the military during combat.

Just as Liu Shuren was "cleaning house," the blades of Wu Jiajun's weapons had already been replaced, and everything was as smooth as a repairman changing a screwdriver.

About an incense stick's time later, the willow men formed a two-kilometer-long line. Soon, the willows formed an imposing array, like an overturned bowl pressing down on the Wu family army's position! The willow men at the forefront, like cowboys lassoing horses, were already swinging willow branches overhead with great force, like helicopter fans, from fifty paces away.

These willows were clearly intimidating the small human army. And this particular variety of willow is called the Underworld Willow, which possesses the ability to fight ghosts. There are currently no ghosts in the army, but they will be possessed by spirits.

On the human side, they were facing a wave of seventeen battle groups of Willowmen.

The infantry at the front were clearly under immense pressure after engaging the willow men. The long willow whips lashed out, and the tremendous impact caused many soldiers to crack their knuckles as they gripped their weapons. In these rounds of whipping, if no one could stop them within ten moves, the soldiers would stagger and be unable to withstand the blows. Even those with armor were prone to internal injuries.

The man who was chosen stood there stunned, taking a breath to recover. "Don't stand there, you NEET!" the officers shouted urgently, urging the hit soldier to recover quickly, even using their scabbards to slap him, giving him a wake-up call.

Of course, twenty minutes into the battle, Xuan Chong ordered the Dragon Horse Cavalry in the air to move out, with three riders in a group, each carrying a long bamboo strip, and they plunged into the Liu Ren group.

As early as when he judged that the second wave was Liushu people, Xuan Chong seized the time to make use of these enemy "discarded materials" and processed them with a machete.

The harvested bamboo stalks were cut with various patterns, similar to the cuts made along the body of a sausage when grilling it.

If you carve diagonally along the same direction on a bamboo stick, and then rub it against the direction of the carving, you will experience the wonderful feeling of inserting a fine thorn into your hand.

Wen Siting: Tsk tsk, boys always fight over a pretty stick when they're little.

Wen Siting had a neighbor who was physically strong from a young age and used his strength to steal things. Wen Siting, on the other hand, had always been mischievous. One day, after learning to be even more cunning, he obtained a bamboo stick and maliciously left a splinter with a knife. Just then, his neighbor, who was full of "tiger" traits, came to snatch it. He deliberately held the stick by the other end, "accidentally" letting his neighbor grab the splintered end.

Wen Siting vaguely recalled: "The stick was eventually snatched away by the neighbor with brute force; but for most of the next day, the 'fat tiger' who got the stick was secretly picking at his hands, trying to pick out the splinters inside."

Back to the present, this type of carved bamboo would be very "sticky," similar to the common "cat's tongue" structure on clothing.

Furthermore, these bamboo pieces have "/////" marks on one side and "\\\\\\" marks on the other. Why are they done this way? It's to cause the bamboo to rotate due to the difference in force when whipped by willow branches. This rotation will make the branches wrap around each other more tightly.

When the whip strikes, it gets stuck on these thorns. Instead of the bamboo reacting and swinging back, it spins and twists the willow branches.

Bamboo with artificially increased "physical viscosity" was dropped from the air by cavalry.

These willow trees of the underworld paid no heed to such bamboo, for they had already broken off the bamboo figures that had fled.

This time, it still broke. Each bamboo stalk was split into three or four sections in mid-air. But bamboo is resilient; it breaks but doesn't snap.

The bamboo that had been snapped earlier collapsed, but now that these bamboo stalks were pulled up, they couldn't be shaken off; the willow branches, oblivious, continued to swing, causing the bamboo to become entangled, and the bamboo, in turn, spun and became entangled with even more willow branches.

Before long, several willow trees were covered in what looked like the long hair of several poor girls that had been glued together with a piece of chewing gum by a naughty child.

As the branch is pulled back, it is also pulled back along with it, and the order of the thorns on both sides of the bamboo is exactly reversed; the bamboo pole is subjected to opposing forces on both sides, and it is still rotating when it returns. (If one tank track rotates forward and the other backward, it will rotate in place.)
The bamboo pole spun, entangled with the branches of other willow trees. Soon, several willow branches were involved, tangled together. The more violently the willow branches moved, the more branches the bamboo entangled with.

The pressure on the sickle soldiers fighting on the front line was greatly reduced; they used to have to endure four or five twitches of willow branches every ten breaths.

Now that it's not even twitching, and as these willow branches begin to shake off dirt as if "tidying their hair," a sickle can easily cut off large sections of branches.

The frequency of Huang Quan Liu's decrease is not a decrease of a few percent, but rather a qualitative change.

Consider some game bosses, which are often designed with high attack speed and low attack frequency. This allows players to use their skills during the brief intervals between attacks to solo the boss without taking damage, slowly whittling down its health bar without losing any themselves. However, if the damage is reduced and the attack frequency is increased, while theoretically the "output per unit time remains the same," players will definitely be furious.

The imposing willow pruning at the forefront was quickly completed. Large numbers of willow branches fell to the ground, resembling a scene of willow pruning in a 21st-century park.

The soldiers, who were in battle formations of twenty men, were initially afraid of being whipped and couldn't let loose.

Experienced soldiers of the Wu family army, when faced with whipped willow branches, would work in groups of two or three, using long halberds to prop up a fallen bamboo pole and hand it to the willow branch. Once the willow branch and pole were retracted, the bamboo pole would be ready to be used.

Seeing this, the other soldiers would follow the willow branches like harvesters, pruning them, and the military merit would be theirs for sure.

As a result, everyone's faces lit up with smiles.

Aside from the unlucky guys who were knocked to the ground earlier, these guys have now been dragged to the rear battlefield for a medical check-up. Leaning against the stretcher, they slapped their heads repeatedly, wondering, "Why were we so reckless?" "Why didn't we take a closer look before we started fighting!"

Of course, they soon received a reassuring report from command! Command would award each of them with a reward ranging from 0.05 to 0.7 merit points, depending on the severity of their injuries. They would also receive post-injury medical care.

Shen Wanqing, who was overseeing the battle from the front lines in four hundred-man formations, saw Liu Ren being completely stripped bare and muttered, "Is this even possible?"

As a cultivator, when fighting against tree spirits like elm and willow, he only considered using methods like igniting talismans; however, a military strategist only needs to use local resources to turn a disadvantage into an advantage.
…Soldier against soldier, general against general. …In the rear of the Willow Clan, the leader of the Yellow Spring Willows, a thirty-meter-tall poplar waterfall, saw his fellow tree spirits first bare and then hooked and collapsed. This tree spirit lord, who had lived for hundreds of years, was enraged.

Originally positioned at the rear of the position, it began to unfurl countless willow branches, followed by a burst of green light. This green mist was actually a cloud of tiny tree seeds it had sprayed.

The clouds touched the green willow branches and seemed to receive a sudden infusion of energy, causing numerous new buds to sprout from the willow's scars, attempting to grow even more branches.

Of course, such a "healing" skill is too overpowered in battle.

Xuan Chong: Playing with magic, huh?

Xuan Chong unleashed a beam of fire into the sky, and then the Nine Phoenixes appeared in the sky. However, the Nine Phoenixes' heads were quickly scratched back by the peacock's claws, and the giant peacock made its appearance.

The peacock swooped down, its beautiful tail feathers descending from the sky like colorful ribbons from a fairy's sleeve. This divine creature landed right next to Xuan Chong, who then grabbed a tail feather and, propelled by it, soared into the air.

Along with it came a three-meter-long steel cannon barrel that Xuan Chong was carrying. Climbing into the peacock-like cockpit constructed from the downy feathers on the peacock's back, Xuan Chong's nano-combat suit ejected a mechanical tool arm, propelling an egg-sized projectile into the cannon barrel.

Fiery runes appeared on the sniper cannon barrel. Xuan Chong put on his goggles and locked his gaze on the willow tree that was causing trouble nine hundred paces ahead.

At first, Xuan Chong couldn't distinguish the willow tree commander because there were eight giant willow trees of the same size.

They lay flat on the plains, their roots sinking deep into the ground; their roots communicated with each other. And on the surface, these eight willows, of uniform height, were always the "masters of the shadows," all their branches swaying in unison.

Now, the willow-covered waterfall begins its spell. Xuan Chong's keen senses detect that this enormous willow, the third one from the east, is the center from which all the willows in the grove are channeling their energy. This confirms the spell's location.
A burst of intense heat erupted from the cannon barrel. The tip struck Yang Chuipu directly.

The towering tree, which took three people to encircle, was struck as if by a pressure point, with a powerful bullet hitting its center, but then an inextinguishable flame erupted from it.

The peacock seemed to understand as well, for a crimson light descended from the sky and struck the Yellow Spring Willow, causing flames to burst forth from its entire body, creating a dazzling display of light and color.

The entire Liuren Group, which had been swaying and regenerating like a grand symphony, suddenly stopped, as if the main power supply had failed.

The Willowman line, which had maintained its strength for only three-quarters of an hour, collapsed. During their advance, the Human warbands shattered the Willowman line and then, in turn, partially surrounded the Willowmen, forcing them into clusters.

After the Willow People, who originally formed a two-kilometer battle line, split into five clusters, the human artillery began to launch crimson iron balls, and these Willow People groups immediately burst into flames.

The humans then created a circle around the burning willow people, causing them to run back and run right into the third wave of cypress people charging towards them.

Wanting to maintain the situation, the Feathered Queen sent her troops to provide support, but the five hundred Feathered cavalrymen who rushed forward were whipped away by the indistinguishable Willow People.

The Tree People could never distinguish between the Feathered Race and the Xi People. Normally, in the forest, the Feathered Race would gain the Tree People's acceptance by the scent of the plants that parasitized them. But now, the Tree People had all been burned, and they had lost their sense of smell.

At this moment, for the tree people, it was like a human being unable to distinguish between a kitten emerging from the mud and a venomous snake.

Moreover, the willow people are the most irritable tree people. Even if other tree people get in their way, they will whip them without mercy.

…the final blow sealed the deal…

The cypress trees blocked the group of crazed willow people. But then a roar came from the sky, and a group of ghost chariots appeared. These six ghost chariots had bright feathers, but their bellies were deep red. They flew very clumsily, and their bellies looked bulging.

The reason is simple: the ghost cars were thoroughly fed by Xuan Chong when they arrived. They had stored enough jet fuel within their bodies.

Upon its appearance, the commanders of the human forces on all fronts began to sound the retreat. After confirming the signal from the rear, each commander had someone take out cotton balls, moisten them with saliva, and prepare to plug their ears.

From Xuan Chong's aerial perspective: After the Ghost Chariot arrived, most of the human army immediately huddled together, converted into a column, and began to run backward. Xuan Chong tapped the peacock on the back.

The peacock unleashed a beam of yellow light, which transformed into a wall of dust, blocking the enemy from reaching the retreating soldiers of the Wu family army. However, just before this wall of dust separated the two armies, about four lightweight tree-man battle groups still managed to cross the dust belt that "divided the two worlds."

These saplings, each as tall as a person, chased the humans to their second line of defense like mad dogs. But they were quickly stopped by the Wu family army, whose flags changed from front to back (they all turned around).

Spears and shields blocked these little tree-men (tree demons) who were still potted with the flesh and blood of the winged race and other animals. The sap that flowed out of these things after they were poked was stained with blood and disgusting.

The sound of massive wings flapping in the sky grew increasingly muffled, each flap seeming to grip everyone's heart. The ghost chariot crossed the first barrier and directly penetrated the rear of the Treant battle zone.
The six ghost chariots began to descend to a height of one hundred meters, their nine heads aimed at the area where the willow and cypress tree people were mingled together. This was the area where the tree people's reinforcements were piling up and blocking the way to enter the battlefield. It was a full seven hundred paces away from the second barrier.

Six of the ghost cars exhaled first. These beaks, capable of swallowing goats, spewed black smoke towards the ground like a tractor starting up.

The plume of black smoke was rich in carbon black, instantly obscuring everything except for the black gas covering the entire area. The next three nozzles then emitted white gas streams, which were highly volatile alkanes.

Then came a flash of lightning. An extremely bright flame erupted from the black smoke, forming a powerful shockwave around it. Countless broken branches of cypress and willow trees were blasted out from within.

As for the smaller tree-people weighing less than 200 kilograms, those within a 100-meter radius of the explosion were instantly charred. However, at the epicenter, there was no charring; instead, the tree-people's final postures were imprinted on the ground.

A mile away from Wangfeng Mountain, the Feather Clan Queen, who had not yet arrived at the battlefield, witnessed the explosion of clouds unfolding on the ground.

As the shockwave struck, a large, pink-leaved tree-man spread its branches, embracing the queen like a protective bird. However, her other winged guards sent to the front lines fared less well. Being within the area previously enveloped by the black smoke, they were blasted into the air by the shockwave.

Returning to the second barrier, the armored soldiers, a full seven hundred paces from the explosion's epicenter, only encountered strong winds due to the numerous small and medium-sized tree-men blocking the shockwave and the dust barriers created by the peacocks.

Those saplings that had made their way through the sandstorm also encountered a fierce wind; as if they were being charged from behind by cavalry, they staggered and fell flat on their faces in front of the second barrier.

The Wu family army did not give them a chance. Within ten breaths of the shockwave from the explosion, the human soldiers on the battlefield heard the sound of heavily armored rhinoceros cavalry charging, their iron palms pounding the ground.

Ten breaths after the explosion, there were not many Treemen left on the front lines of the battlefield; most of them had been lost in the blast.

To the due east, some mountain demons, who had just recovered from the shockwave and were still busy searching for the Waterfall Hermit, were struck by a charge of eighty charging cavalrymen. A third of them were sent flying, while the other half were crushed into dust.

(End of this chapter)