abnabooks Chapter 173 The Youth Army Marches Through the Mighty Wolf Pass
Chapter 173 The Youth Army Marches Through the Mighty Wolf Pass
Three days after the competition ended, three thousand young soldiers stood in neat formation on the training ground of the martial arts arena on the outskirts of Xingwu City, filling the entire hard earthen ground wet with morning dew.
The armor was distributed overnight, uniform jet-black plates with a narrow silver trim along the collar and shoulder edges. Newly cast, the rust on the plates hadn't been completely worn away, reflecting a bluish-gray light in the thin morning light. Weapons were carried out of the armory box by box, distributed to each person, pulled from their sheaths for inspection, and then shoved back in unison. The clanging of metal against metal echoed across the open drill ground, rising and falling like a compressed rain shower. Three thousand men stood there, no one whispering, no one adjusting their armor straps, their hands resting on their newly distributed weapons, forming thirty hundred-man square formations.
Lin Chen stood at the very front of the command platform. When he put on the specially made silver-trimmed commander's armor, the fit was faster than he expected. As the shoulder armor pressed down, the weight on both sides rested perfectly on his shoulder blades, neither slipping nor digging in. He glanced down at the Martial Arts Alliance emblem engraved in the center of the breastplate, then pressed his hand against it. The metallic feel traveled through the armor plates to his fingertips—cool and hard. Su Muyue stood to his left, dressed in a light blue outfit. Her array flags were neatly stacked in a specially made flag pouch on her back, the twelve flags stacked taut, revealing the bronze tips of the flagpoles. Leng Feng was half a step behind him to the right, his black armor plates covered by a worn dark gray cloak, his battle sword slung diagonally at his waist, the scabbard close to his thigh. Chu Fan stood on the side of the formation, looking down at an array plate. Su Ling'er stood beside him; her medicine box was new, larger, with a thin layer of iron inlaid on the surface and reinforced with rivets at the corners.
Chen Feng ascended the command platform, the alliance's order unfurled in his hand, his voice amplified by his inner energy, each word landing steadily in every corner of the training ground. The order was short, summarizing in just two sentences: The Youth Army shall immediately proceed to the Northwest Tianlang Pass defense line to assist in military operations and eliminate the evil race's strongholds. After reading the order, he closed the page, turned to face Lin Chen, and whispered instructions, speaking more slowly than when he had read the order. "Tianlang Pass is one of the most dangerous defense lines in the Northwest, opposite which lies one of the three vanguard battalions of the evil race. General Han Polu is a veteran general at the peak of the Fusion Realm, upright and skilled in battle; you should consult him frequently. Also—the battlefield is not a competition arena; life and death can be decided in an instant. Preserving the lives of your team members is always the top priority."
Lin Chen nodded, saying nothing more. The bugler below the platform sounded the horn; the first note was deep and long, trailing off slowly in the morning mist. Three thousand men turned simultaneously, footsteps echoing from one end of the drill ground to the other, horses' hooves crushing the still-damp dew on the ground.
The group traveled westward along the official road for half a month.
Cities along the way lined both sides of the official road to welcome them. An old man stood by the roadside, carrying a bamboo basket filled with boiled eggs and coarse flatbread. Some people tiptoed to stuff the food into the hands of cavalrymen, while others handed water bags to infantrymen. A young woman carrying a swaddled baby stuffed a still-hot bag of bread into the arms of a young soldier, patted the dust off his armor, and left without a word. Su Ling'er lifted the carriage curtain and saw this scene. Her nose tingled slightly. She lowered the curtain, remained silent, and simply turned her gaze back to her medicine box.
The group traversed plains, hills, and the last sparse woodland before the outline of Tianlang Pass emerged from the edge of the wasteland.
The city wall, built of massive black stones, stood dozens of feet high. Every hundred paces along the wall was an arrow tower, its rooftops adorned with tattered banners, their fluttering straight in the wind. The wall was covered with marks of chisels and axe blows, and dried, dark brown bloodstains, layer upon layer, old and new, some so aged they had turned black and gray, embedded in the stone's texture. From dozens of miles away, the oppressive, chilling aura of iron and blood pressed down, like an invisible veil spreading from the direction of the wall, enveloping the entire wasteland.
Han Polu personally went out of the pass to greet him.
The old general was over sixty, his hair and beard completely white. A sharp scar ran diagonally across his cheekbone, from his eyebrow to his jawline, its edges clean and crisp, left by some kind of sharp blade. Even his eyebrow hadn't grown back where the scar had pierced. The rivets on his worn-out black iron armor's shoulder plates were loosely attached to the iron rings, but each plate was polished to a gleaming shine. A thick-backed machete hung at his waist; the leather straps on its scabbard had been replaced more than once, the joints between the new and old straps worn smooth. As he raised his hand to clasp his hands in a fist salute to Lin Chen, the iron plates of his arm armor emitted a series of soft clicks.
Han Polu led his troops into the pass. On either side of the steps inside the gate stood two rows of soldiers taking turns resting. Their armor was worn, the stitches large and tight; some were missing half a wrist guard, others had patches of mismatched iron on their arm guards. A few veteran soldiers resting against the wall saw the new recruits enter the city; some sat up straighter, others merely glanced over, their eyes showing neither hostility nor fervor, only a calm acceptance of having seen too many new faces fall within days, only to be replaced by even more. At the entrance to the wounded soldiers' camp, a stretcher was carried out, covered with a white sheet, its outline quiet beneath. The stretcher bearers walked steadily and quickly, turning the corner of the barracks and disappearing into a narrow alley on the other side.
That evening, Han Polu hosted a banquet at the general's mansion. There were no delicacies or fine wines, only simple food and drink. He pushed the sand table to the center of the table, lit an oil lamp, and the flame, its wick burning, was slightly tilted by the wind seeping in through the cracks in the wall. His fingers traced the location of the evil clan's stronghold to the route of the supply route, then marked the terrain nodes to the usual tactics. His speech was neither hurried nor slow, and he explained each point in detail and solidly. When he reached a crucial point, he would tap the edge of the sand table with his knuckles as a pause. The evil clan had three generals at the Fusion Realm, and a commander at the Breaking Void Realm was stationed in the rear. They had held out for three years, barely managing to keep the pass intact. After the banquet, the five of them walked up the steps to the pass wall. The night wind swept in from the wasteland, carrying the dry smell of sand and a faint stench of decay.
They stood against the wall, and in the distance, deep in the wilderness, a few eerie green flames occasionally flashed, flickering and uncertain, like shimmering light on the water at night, fleeting and elusive.
Lin Chen spoke first, his voice low and without pause, as if he had already planned it out since observing the situation inside the pass during the day. "Divide the forces. Leng Feng will lead 500 melee specialists to assist the garrison in guarding the pass walls and practicing tactics. Chu Fan will lead 200 array masters to improve the pass's defensive arrays, focusing on reinforcing the array patterns for protection against evil spirits and beast tides. Ling'er will lead the alchemy specialists to assist the military medics in treating the wounded and improve battlefield elixirs to increase healing efficiency. Mu Yue will lead 300 men to set up early warning arrays ten miles outside the pass to detect the movements of the evil race in advance. The remaining forces will be personally led by me to form a mountain patrol battalion to clear out the outer evil race strongholds and reopen supply routes."
The four nodded simultaneously in the night breeze, without argument, hesitation, or further questions about details. Leng Feng's hand rested on the edge of the wall, his thick fingers meeting the texture of the stone. Chu Fan unfolded a fortification diagram by moonlight, his other hand holding a charcoal pencil, and began to scribble something in the corner. Su Ling'er leaned against the wall, her breathing shallow, her gaze fixed on the distance, the strap of her medicine box leaving a straight mark on her shoulder.
Lin Chen withdrew his gaze and glanced once more at the desolate plains beyond the pass. The eerie green flames in the distance still flickered, rising and falling at the edge of his vision, neither approaching nor extinguishing. The night wind whipped up the fine sand from the corners of the pass walls, causing it to rustle softly against the armor plates.