That was a dense flock of flying beasts, with the scarlet bird clan led by Hongying, the eagle clan led by the golden eagle, and the crane clan…
They made up the flying army of the Ten Thousand Yao Kingdom, surging from the horizon like a swarm of locusts, blotting out the sky.
At the same time, sentries ten li, five li, and three li outside the Southern Kingdom City blew their horns in succession, then abruptly fell silent.
“The Yao, the Yao are coming…”
The voices of the garrison atop the city wall echoed out into the night, swirling around the lofty ramparts.
Immediately after, a drumbeat sounded “thud thud thud”, deep and resonant, carrying out into the darkness.
Batch after batch of troops hurried up the steps to the wall.
Some calmly prepared to defend the city, setting out fire oil, spiked logs, rolling stones, and so on.
Others pushed out repeating crossbows onto the battlements, aiming at the grove a hundred metres away.
Southern Kingdom City was built atop Wanyao Mountain. When the walls were first constructed, the western region people had felled all trees within a hundred metres outside the walls, clearing a buffer zone.
This design was to prevent the Yao clan from using the terrain to sneak close to the walls.
There was no wind that night, but the dense forest in the distance shivered and rustled beneath the moonlight.
In the darkness, none could say how many foes were approaching.
A squad leader drew an arrow, rolled its head in the fire, coating it with oil until it blazed.
He shot the arrow skyward: as it flew, the Qi gathered within exploded, creating a burst of firelight that illuminated the surroundings.
Below, in the firelight, a dozen grey wolves sneaking up on the wall instinctively looked up at the sky.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
They were immediately covered by a rain of arrows and shot dead on the spot.
This was like the fuse that set the great battle aflame. Shadow after shadow burst from the treeline, charging towards the city gate.
Most ran on all fours. Some, a minority, were humanoid.
“Loose!”
The archers atop the wall released their bowstrings at once, the trembling twang ringing out over the ramparts.
Under the barrage of arrows and repeating crossbows, swathes of dark figures fell, dying in the first assault.
The deaths of their kin could not daunt the Yao clan. The fire of vengeance and longing for their homeland made them fearless of death.
“Loose!”
A second volley of arrows fanned out, this time, the “dark clouds” gathering in the sky had also entered range.
The garrison aimed skyward and groundward both, sending dense flights of arrows.
One after another, bird Yao fell from the sky with shrill screams.
“Loose!”
A third storm of arrows swept out, claiming several hundred more Yao lives.
By now, the “air force” of bird Yao had reached the ramparts, about to tear open the garrison’s defence.
Buzz!
At the peak of Wanyao Mountain, Nanfa Temple erupted with a golden pillar of light piercing the clouds.
It unfurled high in the sky, forming a golden barrier that enveloped the entire southern city.
Bang, bang, bang… Hundreds of bird Yao crashed into the shield, their bodies pulverised and covered in blood, feathers flying.
Hongying and other avian Yao leaders, with their battered remnants, soared upwards, circling the heavens in unwilling frustration.
Just as the defenders breathed a sigh of relief, they collectively froze, faces blanching with terror as they looked ahead.
A gigantic panda sprawled atop the wall, much like a child pressed against a shop window.
Its head was round, its ears too; the underlying fur was white, but its eyes, nose, and rounded ears were black.
Its gaze was a little vacant, giving it a simple, honest look, if not for its enormous size.
“Awooo…”
The giant panda gave a calm cry. Its body kept swelling, so that the wall grew ever shorter: from level with its head, to chest, to waist…
The panda raised its paws and tapped the golden shield.
It did not budge.
Apparently angered, it tapped again, still unmoved.
Bang, bang, bang… It struck harder and faster, its goofy round face twisting feral as fangs jutted out.
The golden barrier shuddered violently under the monstrous power unleashed.
“Boom!”
The barrier shattered, exploding in a spray of golden motes.
The blast sent a shockwave sweeping out, all but knocking the panda sprawling, sending it tumbling.
“Shriek!”
With the barrier broken, the bird Yao screamed and dived, braving the arrow rain as they swooped down at the garrison.
The defenders tossed aside their bows and drew their blades to hack at the bird Yao, but were soon overwhelmed, pecked in the skull, their necks snapped.
With no more arrows shooting down, the Yao attacking below scaled the wall, fighting hand to hand with the defenders.
A giant python, a thousand feet long, slithered atop the ramparts. Its tail struck again and again, sending cracks splintering through the wall.
A snow-white giant hound led the wolf tribe up the wall, rampaging wildly.
From cracks in the walls, emerald vines sprouted, striking at the Western defenders.
Chaos reigned atop the ramparts: Buddhist warrior monks and elite defenders resisted fiercely, while fire oil set the walls ablaze, lighting up the night.
At that moment, a hundred and eight golden rays beamed down from the mountaintop, hanging over the fighting.
A hundred and eight monks, their bodies sheathed in golden light, hovered cross-legged in mid-air, encircling a gaunt, long-browed old monk at the centre.
The monks meditated, eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the slaughter below as they recited sutras.
The chanting, quiet at first, gradually drowned out the killing and animal howls.
Soon, only the sound of mantras echoed between heaven and earth.
Spurred by this, the Western region defenders and Buddhist monks fought with doubled strength. The Yao clan, in contrast, suffered splitting headaches, writhed on the ground trembling, or lost all killing intent, sapped of their will to fight.
The defenders seized the moment, swinging their sabres to claim Yao lives by the dozens.
“Hehehe…”
Suddenly, a soft, magnetic laugh broke the rhythm of the chanting.
Beneath the moonlight, a seductive silhouette swayed forward, stepping through mid-air. As she neared the monks’ formation, nine fox tails unfurled behind her, gently brushing.
At once, hypnotic music echoed across the ramparts.
The defenders suddenly saw before them enchanting women, their alluring movements and smiles clouding the senses. Bewitched, they lost themselves to fantasy and pleasure.
The tide instantly reversed. The Yao army counterattacked, slaughtering defenders and warrior monks alike.
Arhat Du’e frowned, opened his eyes, and rebuked in a low voice:
“Executioner!”
Both Buddhist and bewitching songs dissipated at once.
The black-and-white panda slowly got to its feet and charged at the monks’ formation with a roar.
Hum!
It crashed against the golden barrier again, and was forced back, stumbling away.
Within the formation, Arhat Du’e’s mental wheel of coloured light abruptly brightened. He stretched forth a palm.
Above the Bear King, a golden Buddha palm appeared and crashed down.
The Bear King immediately raised its paws, resisting the Buddha palm, but could not withstand this palm imbued with executioner phala.
The golden palm pressed down foot by foot, the Bear King’s massive body shrinking until it reverted to normal size.
At that moment, a flash of fire flared behind it, the firelight innate to a Vajra body.
Al-Asura had appeared behind the Bear King at some point, and, with hand like a sabre, chopped at the Bear King’s neck. The dark gold blade glimmered with seven-coloured radiance.
Sensing the danger, the Bear King tried to free a paw to block.
Al-Asura intoned a mantra:
“Put down your butcher’s blade!”
The force of the precept fell upon the Bear King, breaking its defence.
“Thunk!”
The round, furry head flew up, dropping to Al-Asura’s feet.
At the same moment, the golden Buddha palm smote down, smashing the Bear King’s body to pieces.
With the combined strength of two second-ranks, they dispatched a third-rank Yao with ease.
“Bear King!”
“No, this can’t be…”
The Yao in battle cried out in dismay.
Never had they imagined their Bear King would be beheaded as soon as battle was joined, its body torn apart, powerless before the two Buddhist champions.
Yet neither Al-Asura nor Du’e halted. The former produced a golden bowl to seal the Bear King. The latter pressed his palms together, gazing up at the Nine-tailed Celestial Fox and intoned:
“You shall not kill!”
With the power of the one hundred and eight zen monks’ formation, he amplified the force of the precept to the utmost, sapping the Celestial Fox of her will and briefly preventing her from aiding her kin.
Al-Asura aimed the bowl at the Bear King, about to activate the artefact, when suddenly a wave of drowsiness hit. His eyelids felt like they weighted a thousand pounds, his consciousness blurred, aching to collapse into sleep.
At the same time, the martial artist’s danger sense triggered.
At Al-Asura’s feet, a shadow expanded into the shape of a man.
Is this its innate divine power? No, must not sleep, danger… Al-Asura’s thoughts grew sluggish.
Xu Qi’an emerged from the shadow, stepped forward with his right foot, entering a bow stance. In his left hand he held an ancient sword with a wooden scabbard, right hand pressing the hilt. He collapsed all his Qi and stilled all emotion.
His eyes were utterly expressionless.
After a few seconds, Xu Qi’an’s arm suddenly swelled twice in size. A “Ding!” rang out, as the brass sword unsheathed, as thin as a hair.
The sword-light flashed forth and vanished.
Al-Asura’s sleep-ridden body went stiff, and a moment later, his head slowly rolled off.
Second rank executioner phala, on top of the Vajra divine art’s resilience, could easily gravely wound a third rank Yao. Al-Asura had really taken it easy last time… Xu Qi’an did not strike again, quickly retreating before drowsiness could grip him.
The Bear King’s innate power is indeed formidable, even Al-Asura had been affected. Pity this art cared not for friend or foe, or I might have taken the chance to seal Al-Asura… The Sovereign Sword’s edge, with my Broken Jade and the explosive power of Strength Gu, made cleaving the third-rank Vajra body no hard task, though I doubt it could cut through Al-Asura after invoking his Asura bloodline…
Xu Qi’an’s strength quickly ebbed.
Broken Jade’s predecessor was One Blade from Heaven and Earth, a technique for fighting above one’s station, at the cost of a period of weakness after.
But at third rank, such weakness was dramatically lessened: with vigorous qi and blood, he could recover in a dozen seconds.
Under normal circumstances, I’d best not use Broken Jade, or even a brief weakness could mean being killed in a single chain of moves.
Xu Qi’an gently exhaled, glanced once at the defenders and Yao atop the wall, and quietly took off the fire ring from the back of his head, swinging it wide.
The flames fluttered and whirled into a blazing cloak.
In that moment, to the Yao and Western defenders alike, he resembled a god of war.
“Xu Qi’an…”
Arhat Du’e murmured softly, his tone complex.
Comments for this chapter. You will need a GitHub account. Please follow all terms and conditions of GitHub issues and maintain etiquette in the comments. Cookies are required for this functionality.
If you want to talk with other readers about Nightwatchers (or other cultivation type books) you can join our cultivation groupreading discord server!
I also have a Kofi, which for legal reasons is definitely for supporting my digital art only (promise!): ko-fi.com/yanxin ... plus I guess server space isn't free, and I don't want to put ads/trackers... ever, so thank you if you do!