Chapter 1964: The Yeluohe!
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
On the Youzhou mission, the leader of the squad was undoubtedly the most seasoned and most capable of the soldiers, far above the rest in both experience and strength. All of the others were extremely confident in him. But to their surprise, with one strike, their leader had been heavily injured without even the opportunity to dodge.
In a flash, everyone turned their heads to the other side.
Gallop!
Hooves thudded against the ground, the sound several times heavier than before. As the wind gusted past, two points of red light appeared in the darkness. Soon, a horseman that was much taller than an ordinary man slowly emerged from the night.
He wore armor completely different from the rest of the Youzhou army, and he exuded an intimidating pressure that made him into a fearful existence in the night.
But the most disconcerting fact was that none of them could sense the energy of a normal person from this horseman.
Yes!
Whether one was an ordinary human, a part of the Youzhou cavalry, one of Wang Chong’s men, an Arab, or a Turk, so long as one was a living creature, they would all share the same kind of energy, but this creature was different.
When they all looked at him, they instinctively classified him differently from the other Youzhou cavalry, not as a simple matter of race, status, or martial art. It was a difference that had its basis in life itself.
“The Yeluohe! It’s the Yeluohe!”
(TN: Historically, the Yeluohe were an elite force set up by An Lushan. In Turkic, Yeluohe means ‘the brave’.)
Before Wang Chong’s ten-some soldiers could take action, the Youzhou elites who had been fiercely pursuing this entire time suddenly began to rapidly scatter in alarm, like mice encountering a cat.
This was the first time in this long pursuit that they had appeared so terrified.
Gallop!
The earth shuddered even more as more thudding horse hooves sounded in the darkness.
Behind that strange horseman, more and more horsemen wearing the same kind of armor appeared like ghosts.
All of these horsemen were equipped with the same armor, were the same height, and had the same energy. Even those pairs of glowing red eyes in the darkness were the same.
These eerie horsemen said nothing as they spread out in a row to block the advance of Wang Chong’s men.
Whoosh!
At this moment, there was a piercing whistle in the air. A heavy meteor hammer flew at one of the horsemen’s hands, the thick metal chain curling around his wrist.
The sight of these strange opponents made Wang Chong’s men turn grim and wary.
None of them knew who the Yeluohe were, but if they could send their leader flying with one strike of a hammer, then they were no ordinary individuals and had to possess astonishing strength.
Gallop!
More and more horses could be heard in the darkness. By now, the other Youzhou cavalry had completed the encirclement, and the seven ‘Yeluohe’ began to charge forward, their expressions silent and cold like ghosts.
“Kill!”
Finally, in this stifling pressure, several of Wang Chong’s elite cavalry furiously roared and charged at the ‘Yeluohe’.
“Stop!” a weak voice called out from the rear. Even though he was heavily injured, the squad leader still raised his body and yelled, blood trickling from his mouth, but it was too late.
Bang! Bang!
There were two heavy thumps. Those horsemen that had charged out had barely been able to get halfway before they were knocked back by the meteor hammers, instantly flying backward like ragdolls.
The others could only watch as the two crashed to the ground, their armor shattered and blood gushing out.
Wang Chong’s elites had participated in the border incident, and they had managed to completely overwhelm the Youzhou cavalry, but these powerful soldiers were almost made of paper in front of the mysterious Yeluohe, so weak that they couldn’t even fight back.
Moreover, it was apparent that these eerie Yeluohe were not even using their full strength, yet they had easily managed to heavily injure these two horsemen.
“Little Six!”
“Little Five!”
The others charged over to the two, their expression stricken with grief.
An outsider would have been stunned to see this sight, that there was a force in the world that could completely overwhelm the soldiers of the King of Foreign Lands. This alone could be taken as proof that the Yeluohe were an extremely powerful force of soldiers.
At this time, though, the Youzhou elites were unsurprised. For them, the moment the Yeluohe appeared, these horsemen were dead.
On the contrary, the ones they truly feared were their own men, the Yeluohe.
The moment the Yeluohe took action, the Youzhou cavalry all subconsciously backed away, instinctively wanting to keep their distance from the Yeluohe.
Clipclop!
One of the Youzhou elites subconsciously took two steps forward, but he was quickly pulled back by his captain.
“Ignore them!
“These fellows are dead! Can’t you see that the Yeluohe have already moved out?”
Not too long ago, their young commander had set up a force made up of the cream of the crop, the Yeluohe. These fellows had boundless strength and didn’t even seem human.
Those who lived in Youzhou were all unruly individuals. When the young commander set up the Yeluohe, many of the soldiers were upset to learn that they had not been included.
Later on, some of them broke into the Yeluohe base, one of them being an elite horseman who could use a bow with either hand and unleash an arrow that could shatter stone. He used this chance to attack a Yeluohe, loosing an arrow at a fatal point while slashing with a saber that dug deep into his armor. But that Yeluohe warrior had not even trembled after being struck in a fatal point, and even though there was a saber buried in his body, no blood flowed out. In fact, with a single palm, he killed the Youzhou horseman who had ambushed him.
This incident sent shockwaves through the Youzhou army.
It wasn’t because the Yeluohe had killed a warrior of Youzhou, but because they didn’t seem like humans. A normal person, no matter how formidable, would still bleed if they were struck by an arrow or saber.
And as time passed, they realized that the Yeluohe didn’t even eat. No one in the Youzhou garrison had ever delivered food to them.
Various legends began to spread about the Yeluohe that made all of the Youzhou elites fear them. On normal days, even when the sun was out and the sky was clear, no one dared to get within several thousand feet of the Yeluohe base, and these Yeluohe rarely descended from their mountain.
For the Youzhou elites, the Yeluohe charging down the ten-some horsemen signified the end of this battle.
“Fight to the death!”
As the inhuman Yeluohe got closer and closer, Wang Chong’s men had nowhere to run. The ten-some horsemen turned red in the eyes as they prepared to fight to the death.
Neigh!
Just when these horsemen were about to be exterminated, a sharp neigh cut through the sky, and then the earth shuddered with the rumble of approaching cavalry.
Thwishthwishthwish!
The air shrieked as five arrows cut through the air and accurately struck five Youzhou elites.
Plush! Plush! Plush! Without even a chance to make a sound, the Youzhou elites were shot through the head, the arrows entering through the backs of their heads and emerging from their foreheads. Their eyes widened in disbelief as their bodies toppled to the ground.
“Watch out! They have reinforcements!”
As the others cried out in alarm, the deafening clatter of a halo filled the air. A storm of energy wreathing a man and his horse approached with incredible speed.
Boomboomboom!
Before anyone could react, the Youzhou cavalry in the back screamed as they were tossed into the air like leaves, blasted aside by what seemed like a maddened dragon.
There were so many of them, but not a single one of them could hold fast!
“Stop him!”
“Kill!”
The area fell into chaos!
In a flash, one of the Yeluohe reacted, fiercely turning around. He gripped his spiked meteor hammer and sent it flying at the approaching enemy.
Bang!
The air rumbled as the meteor hammer flew out, leaving a long white trail in the air. But a moment later, an even stronger energy collided with the meteor hammer and knocked it back.
This newcomer was unhindered, continuing to approach with astonishing speed. Swiftly, he struck that Yeluohe warrior, his terrifying Stellar Energy sending the Yeluohe crashing into the dirt.
“Everyone, follow me! Retreat!”
A vigorous roar bursting with energy rumbled across the sky like a peal of thunder, throwing the air for one thousand feet around into turmoil.
“Milord!”
Upon seeing that heroic figure with his symbolic white tassel, everyone rallied.
This was none other than the general commander of this mission, General Guo Ziyi!
“Hurry! Cui Qianyou will be here soon! We don’t have much time! Leave at once!” Guo Ziyi sternly said, his hair flying about in the wind. The air exploded as he swung his spear and thrust it at the nearest Yeluohe warrior.
Plush! The powerful Yeluohe was simply no match for Guo Ziyi, and a large hole was immediately punctured through his armor.
Guo Ziyi raised his spear, throwing the Yeluohe through the air. The Yeluohe drew a massive arc in the air before finally crashing more than a hundred feet away.