Chapter 306 Fight!
Feihong Bodhisattva knew the Holy-child King’s temperament very well, and this child nearly became her retinue that very year. This child, who had stolen the True-fire of Samadhi in the Mountain of Flames, got a much fiercer temper than the real flames. In previous, even the Monkey King could not convince him. How could he follow Li Ye’s order now?
Feihong Bodhisattva had envisioned that the Holy-child King and Li Ye would conflict with each other once they met in order to fight for the dominant right. Compared with the Holy Child, the cultivation level of Li Ye was relatively weaker. Thus, the Holy Child certainly would beat the hell out of him. The best was that neither of them would give in. Then, they would part in discord after making a scene, though the possibility of which was quite low. After all, they were in the face of powerful enemies. Therefore, they were most likely to be apparently of one accord but divided in heart. Such a tepid relationship between the Holy-child King and Li Ye would greatly benefit their united army’s offensive against the Qinzhou City.
However, Feihong Bodhisattva found it hard to accept the reality, which was clearly different from what she had imagined. Thus, she even began to have doubts about Li Keyong’s words. Then, the Dragon-subduing Arhat came over to greet her. Because Dragon-subduing Arhat had a much higher cultivation level than Li Keyong, he knew the whole process much clearer and more thoroughly than Li Keyong. After he described the entire thing again to Feihong Bodhisattva, she soon understood the whole story.
“Li Ye is indeed crafty!” Unexpectedly, after she learned the whole struggling process between Li Ye and the Holy Child, she didn’t stamp her feet in disappointment. Instead, she showed her appreciation. “Although the cultivation level of the Holy Child is pretty high, he is still a child after all. Thus, he cannot play tricks as well as Li Ye, which makes sense.”
Dragon-subduing Arhat asked, “What should we do next?”
Lightly, Feihong Bodhisattva responded. “This question should not be a headache for us, but for Li Ye. No matter how large-scale his army is at present, it will be useless if his army cannot make its way to Taiyuan.”
Speaking of this, Feihong Bodhisattva glanced at Dragon-subduing Arhat and Li Keyong. “Can you hold the Qinzhou City?”
The voice of Dragon-subduing Arhat was still as smooth as before, but it was full of murderous intents now. “If Li Ye dares to attack the city, I will revenge for Crouching-tiger Arhat myself!” As Crouching-tiger Arhat’s Senior Brother, Dragon-subduing Arhat certainly had a much stronger strength.
But Li Keyong’s eyes became gloomy because he was not satisfied with Feihong Bodhisattva’s words. “Why did she say that it was useless if Li Ye’s army could not make its way to Taiyuan? Once the war begins, my Hedong Army will suffer heavy casualties. Moreover, the war will consume our supplies and ordnance. All of this will be a blow to my force.”
Li Keyong did not say anything. He felt that Feihong Bodhisattva must have hidden something from him, but he asked her nothing. Since she was not willing to say anything, it would be useless to ask her.
Looking out of the city, Li Keyong was thinking. The fact was that the Qinzhou City’s defense was already solid enough, so it was not difficult for them to block Li Ye.
Li Keyong’s cultivation could not compare with Li Ye. But since he was born and brought up in the frontier army, Li Keyong looked down on Li Ye because he believed that his ability to arrange arms and embattle was much better than Li Ye’s. This time, the cultivators from both sides had almost the same strength. And after experiencing the Huang Chao Uprising, the Hedong Army also got some military generals. Therefore, Li Keyong had the confidence to win the war if they were going to compete on their principal generals’ ability to deploy military forces.
As for other things, Li Keyong had no time to think about them for the time being. But as long as Li Ye was defeated and escaped from Hedong, Li Keyong knew that he would have the chance to know the actual intention of Feihong Bodhisattva and others.
With this in mind, Li Keyong gripped his sword firmer. And his look became as hard as steel. Facing the endless camps outside the city, he stood upright.
“Hedong is mine. I am the real master here, and I will never let anyone take my Hedong! Li Ye wants to attack and occupy Hedong. What a wild idea! There is also no chance that I will let Buddhism Sect from Land Buddhism make me a mere puppet in their hands, even if they are Immortals!”
Li Ye did not let Li Keyong wait too long. The same day, Li Ye got all demon clan’s members that the Holy Child brought settled in his army. And the next day, he ordered the Zhaoyi Army to attack the city from its three sides.
The war began at sunrise. By using the catapults, the Zhaoyi Army first bombarded the city walls for several rounds. But their enemy masters, all of whom were above the Spiritual Master Realm, stood out and intercepted those boulders that had reached the mid-air. After this, the Zhaoyi Army stopped wasting their time in sending rocks. Instead, thousands of soldiers rushed directly to the city’s edge and intended to swarm over the city like ants.
At the beginning of the fierce war, the Holy Child took out his Long-flames Sharp Spear and led many of his men out of the camp. They were going to break up the Qinzhou City’s defense. Of course, by shouting a harsh reproach, Li Ye stopped their reckless action on the halfway.
“Why did you stop us? Let me stab all of them to death!” The Holy Child looked very unhappy and impatient. “They are nothing but merely a group of ants. As long as I go out to fight, they are all bound to go down without a fight!”
“Feihong Bodhisattva is right in the city. Would you like to try to fight with her?” Li Ye teased him.
“Feihong Bodhisattva?” The Holy Child was stunned a little. Kept flowing away, his original imposing momentum instantly became lower and lower like the stored water in the reservoir, which was discharged continuously. The Holy Child still did not believe that and asked, “Is she really here? Why cannot I feel her breath?”
Li Ye looked at the top of the city wall. “Feihong Bodhisattva has a high level of understanding of the Great Tao, so it is an easy job for her to hide her breath. If she wants you to think that she is just a stone, then you have to think in that way. I have fought with her before. Thus, I know that she must be there.”
“Have you fought with Feihong Bodhisattva? But you are alive and kicking. Why hasn’t she crushed you by her fingers?” The Holy Child looked at Li Ye as if he were a monster, his eyes full of surprise.
Li Ye squinted at the Holy Child and said lightly, “But we have also fought with each other.”
“You!” The Holy Child opened his mouth to say something, but he nearly bit his tongue.
He had Sky Immortal Realm cultivation, but Li Ye still defeated him. Since Li Ye could do that, he could beat Feihong Bodhisattva.
The Holy Child took back his Long-flames Sharp Spear, and he said with his spirit quenched. “Feihong Bodhisattva is mighty. What should I do now?”
As the greatest youth of the demon clan, the Holy Child had always been proud and overbearing. Only with the Sky Immortal Realm strength, he dared to fight with the Monkey King, and more importantly, he made the monkey suffer. But apparently, he was at a loss what to do in the face of Feihong Bodhisattva. Previously, he could throw the Monkey King into a panic because he had the True-fire of Samadhi and the Magic Treasures that he was born with, each of which was of great value. But the monkey had not a single piece of Magic Treasure at the time.
The Monkey King had the Sea-stabilizing Magic Cudgel. But in fact, it was useless. Although the cudgel could get longer or shorter, it was only an ornamental function of little value and was of no use at all in real combats. The battle the Holy Child had with the Monkey King at that time was essentially a battle between a wealthy second generation of Immortals and a poor scattered cultivator from the rural village. And finally, the rich Holy Child stunned the poor Monkey King merely by making use of his money.
To be honest, the monkey was pathetic.
But these Magic Treasures that the Holy Child relied on were not very useful when he dealt with Feihong Bodhisattva. The reason was simple enough. Feihong Bodhisattva was much richer than the Holy Child, and so her Magic Treasures were much powerful than his. Not to mention anything else, merely her mutton-fat jade pot was exceedingly powerful. Besides, Feihong Bodhisattva had given the Holy Child a harsh lesson. Hence, even though the Holy Child had already known that Feihong Bodhisattva’s realm had significantly been reduced, he would not dare to challenge her at all.
Seeing that the Holy Child was already a little scared, Li Ye comforted, “Although Feihong Bodhisattva is powerful, her realm has been greatly reduced at this time. Her mutton-fat jade pot is infinitely useful, but it is used better in defense. It is not capable of launching many sharp attacks. Moreover, I had seriously injured her the day before yesterday. Thus, she cannot possibly restore her fighting capacity in less than a month.”
The Holy Child was suspicious about his words and asked anxiously, “Have you truly injured Feihong Bodhisattva? But that was Feihong Bodhisattva!”
Li Ye shrugged. “You can ask You Daxiao.”
On the side, You Daxiao nodded rapidly in succession. With a solemn face, he said, “I saw it with my own eyes! That day, Feihong Bodhisattva ran away very fast. If it were some other people, Prince An must have killed him or her already!”
The Holy Child looked Li Ye up and down several times and finally gave him a thumbs-up. “You’re ruthless enough! Since Feihong Bodhisattva no longer has high combat effectiveness, why did you stop me just now?”
Li Ye said, “Now that Feihong Bodhisattva’s strength is much weaker than before, and I have seriously injured her. But, after all, she was the Daluo Golden Immortal before she descended into this world. Therefore, no one knows how many secret tricks that she still has. If you go directly there to kill, I’m afraid that she will fight with you to death.”
“Then, what should I do?” the Holy Child asked again. Suddenly, he found that he could only ask such kind of questions now, which didn’t fit his usual overbearing style at all. One should know that the Holy-child King was the top genius who stood out from all the demon clan’s members.
Li Ye had made a plan. “You don’t need to come out to fight. Instead, you can just stay here to act as a diversion to Feihong Bodhisattva. Not only that, but it will be even better if you don’t allow these cultivators that you brought to fight with them. In this way, we can confine the strength of those cultivators on both sides who will fight within the Ground Immortal Realm. ”
After looking around to check, the Holy Child said with surprise, “There are only less than ten Ground Immortal Realm cultivators on our side, but our enemy army has eighteen arhats.”
Waving his hands, Li Ye looked at the battlefield and said slowly, “As long as the cultivators who will go out to fight are below the Ground Immortal Realm, we can have an absolute advantage!”
The Holy Child was stunned for a while. A little puzzled, he looked at You Daxiao with doubts. He wanted to ask him if Li Ye had some follow-up arrangements. But without saying anything, You Daxiao only gave him a gentle simile as a reply. He appeared to be very mysterious. Slightly frowning, the Holy Child was a little annoyed because You Daxiao kept him guessing.
To enter Hedong, they should take the Qinzhou City first. Thus, this battle was crucial. Although the main force of the first battle was the Zhaoyi Army, the Pinglu Army did not stay idle. They were ready to enter the battle at any time.
The Zhaoyi Army attacked fiercely. As the battle went on, it continued damaging the Qinzhou City’s defense works and consuming the city’s defensive installations. One after another, the arrow towers in the city were destroyed. Many of the wolf-fang bats (a large thick wooden plank covered with 15 cm long iron nails hanging on the city wall, which was used to thump those wall-climbing enemies) were so overused that they had to be scrapped. There lay layers of arrowheads outside the city, spreading like a carpet.
After fighting continuously for several days, the Zhaoyi Army, which spared no efforts to fight, had suffered heavy casualties, and thousands of its soldiers were killed. However, it seemed that the Qinzhou City only lost a layer of its defensive installations. What it lost the most were only the city’s defense works and ordnance. Not many guards in the city were killed.
Li Keyong, who was standing above the center of the city, could see the situation of the battlefield outside the three sides of the city wall. He had already anticipated the situation in front of him long ago, and so he was delighted. At sunset, generals such as Li Cunxiao and Li Sizhao came to Li Keyong to report the progress of the battle. All of them looked quite exhilarated.
“They all said that Li Ye was a superb military commander who had numerous strategists and brilliant generals under his command. That was why he had won every battle that he joined and had captured each city that he wanted. In my opinion, these words are nothing but flattering compliments from dirty dogs, which were untrustworthy at all!” Li Cunxiao said loud, “So many days have passed. The Zhaoyi Army has suffered a heavy loss, but they haven’t even successfully climbed up to the top of the city walls. Obviously, Li Ye is merely an incapable leader!”
Li Sizhao echoed, “Li Ye is great only in name but not in reality. His fame is merely based on the nonsense said by some people who wanted to butter him up!”
On the spot, all the other generals agreed.
Li Keyong waved his hand. “Needless to say, Li Ye is not completely useless. It is just that the Zhaoyi Army and the Weibo Army are not comparable to the elite troops of the Hedong Army. Besides, the defenses of the Qinzhou City are strong such that it is only wishful thinking of Li Ye to take this city!”
Up to now, Li Keyong felt quite pleased about the battle situation. As the Zhaoyi Army’s casualties increased, his confidence kept growing with each passing day.
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