Friendship that transcends life and death
A heavy silence fell over the entire venue. Although tensions were high on the platform, no one dared to utter a sound.
Everyone knows that the Divine Mastiff Battalion, and indeed the entire Jianzhang Division, is currently facing a major split since the founding of the army.
That is, the conflict between the Pei family's military forces, represented by Pei Ao, and the forces led by Pei Yu, which can be considered to be part of the pro-imperial court faction, had reached its peak with the death of Pei Yuanli.
Pei Yu made a final effort, saying, "The Northern Qiang are about to invade. I hope you understand that at this moment, the Southern Dynasty should unite rather than split."
Pei Ao's smile remained unchanged as he said, "Therefore we must hurry. As soon as I heard that Sister Yu was going to summon the successor of the Junior Master to the Divine Hound Camp, I immediately began to make arrangements. It was the perfect opportunity to kill her and establish our authority, to show the world the Jianzhang Army's determination to punish those who offend us and eliminate those who oppose us!"
Pei Ao's plan was to kill A Qiu first, intimidate the court and the public, and quickly take control of the Southern Dynasty under the Jianzhang Army. Then, once the war of unifying the North from the South broke out, it would definitely be led by the Jianzhang Army, and all other forces would have to follow its lead and obey its orders.
If his plan comes to fruition, the Southern Dynasty will break away from its centuries-old tradition of rule by powerful clans and instead be governed by warlords. For military men, this would represent a leap in status. The only question is whether he can actually pull it off.
Pei Yu sighed inwardly, looked at A Qiu, and said deeply, "I'm sorry." At the same time, her left hand left the spear and made a gesture without making a sound.
After saying this, she immediately leaped up, flew away from the spot, and rushed towards the high platform where Pei Ao was.
When Yin Shang heard Pei Yu's words, he knew that Pei Yu had made a decision to sacrifice A Qiu in order to maintain unity among the Jianzhang Army and prevent further division. He immediately moved to protect A Qiu. The remaining dozen or so people also followed his lead and, seeing him move, each took up their weapons and prepared to step forward to protect A Qiu.
A Qiu knew perfectly well that he had miscalculated the enemy's situation today, and he could not be so lucky. He could not let his senior brother Mo Yimingyue's hidden troops in the Divine Hound Camp perish here. He shouted sharply, "Get back!" At the same time, he swung the Carved Moon Sword straight at Yin Shang, forcing him to leave the area in front of, behind, to the left and right of him as soon as possible.
At the same time, he shouted, "Pei Ao wants my life. Anyone else who doesn't want to die, get as far away as possible!"
To onlookers, her fight with Yin Shang appeared to be Yin Shang using the opportunity to stall her and prevent her from escaping. In reality, A Qiu's men weren't putting in their best effort. Yin Shang drew his sword and clashed with hers again, a flicker of emotion appearing in his eyes. He shouted, "Let's retreat!"
The Lanling Hall's motto, aside from times of "examination," is that subordinates must always serve their superiors. In life-or-death situations, subordinates must protect their lords even at the cost of their own lives. Although A Qiu is not the head of the Xingfeng Hall, since Yin Shang saw her in danger here, he had no reason to stand idly by.
But once these dozen or so people make a move, not to mention whether they can save A Qiu, their identities will undoubtedly be exposed.
But Ah Qiu told him to step back, meaning she didn't want them to be exposed for her sake.
He also clearly saw Ah Qiu's lips move, as if he were lip-reading and saying to him, "Please give my regards to my second senior brother."
Yin Shang and the others had just retreated three zhang away when Pei Yu, wielding his spear, leaped and charged towards the high platform, already halfway there.
Seeing that he could no longer harm his own people, Pei Ao immediately waved his hand, and a hundred crossbows behind him fired simultaneously, the powerful arrows shooting straight towards A Qiu in the center of the field like a sudden rain.
A-Qiu stood still, sword in one hand, surprisingly calm as still water.
The Moon-Carved Sword trembled slightly, emitting a constant whistling sound.
It felt as if the ground beneath my feet was trembling.
In fact, if she wanted to escape at this moment, she would have many ways to do so. One would be to blend into the Divine Hound Camp soldiers and create chaos, or to grab a few people to shield her from arrows.
But strangely, she didn't want to do that.
Perhaps he remembered Pei Yu's words: "You cannot avoid facing the Jianzhang Army, the central army of our Southern Dynasty, forever, nor can you hide your strength forever."
The retreating Divine Hound Camp soldiers, including the dozens of officers who had initially entered the fray, couldn't help but feel respect for her when they saw her standing there alone with her sword, focused and determined, showing no intention of fleeing. No matter how much they had previously regarded her as an enemy, they couldn't help but feel respect for her at this moment.
Faced with a seemingly inescapable situation, he did not panic and flee, nor did he sacrifice innocent people to save his own life. Instead, he remained calm and composed, demonstrating the composure befitting a successor of Gu Yi.
Ah Qiu is waiting.
She would do her best to block the first volley of arrows as they reached her.
In this way, we can buy Pei Yu time to leap onto the high platform.
Pei Yu's hand gesture before leaving clearly told her: hold on, stall, and wait for her to deal with Pei Ao.
The training ground was a flat, open field with no cover whatsoever. No matter where she fled, the outcome would be the same: she couldn't escape the hail of arrows unless she used the Divine Hound Camp as shields. Otherwise, she had no choice but to fight them off.
Although there were many crossbows, they couldn't fire continuously. After firing this volley of arrows, the soldiers needed time to reload.
Hopefully, Pei Yu can seize control of the arrow platform before that happens.
Pei Yu had no other choice; if he didn't abandon her, he would be shot dead on the spot along with her. But Pei Yu was not one to sit idly by and wait for death, to be manipulated by others.
As she left, she gave A-Qiu a deep look, a silent plea for her to hold on and not give up.
Otherwise, it wouldn't just be a simple matter of Ah Qiu dying; the political landscape of the Southern Dynasty would be rewritten, and it might even collapse.
Since the Southern Dynasties were pacified, the most important factor has been the reputation and influence of Junior Tutor Gu Yi.
If news were to spread that the young master's successor had been beheaded, all factions would likely be terrified and at a loss, and everyone would feel that the days of peace and tranquility had come to an end.
She focused intently on her sword, gazing ahead as Pei Yu's figure drew ever closer to the high platform.
A dense, dark mass of arrows shot towards them; the first volley of arrows had arrived.
Just as A Qiu was about to rise with her sword, she saw a figure in white descend from the sky, and the sword light flashed, deflecting most of the arrows in front of her.
A Qiu recognized it at a glance as Shangguan Zhijian "Binghuang," and the person blocking her way was Shangguan Yuqi. Overwhelmed with emotion, her nose tingled, and she couldn't speak.
Just now, Pei Yu and she both intentionally or unintentionally ignored Shangguan Yuqi, the notary, because the situation was already complicated enough, and neither of them wanted to involve the Shangguan family, a family with a history of hundreds of years, in the process, especially since the result might be another life lost for nothing.
In truth, Ah Qiu secretly hoped that Shangguan Yuqi would stop interfering in the affairs here and take the opportunity to leave.
If the Divine Hound Camp were under Pei Ao's control today, and the three armies were united in their determination to deal with them, even if Pei Yu, A Qiu, and Shangguan Yuqi joined forces, they would not be able to break through.
However, Pei Ao still considered Pei Yu's kinship and hoped that Pei Yu would return to his side. In addition, A Qiu stated that he would take full responsibility for the consequences of this matter and that it would not involve the other members of the Divine Hound Camp. Furthermore, Yin Shang led the group to intentionally or unintentionally suppress their formation and prevent others from getting close. Currently, the only force launching an attack with arrows is Pei Ao's personal guards on the arrow platform, and their purpose is only to shoot and kill A Qiu. The situation is still under control.
When Shangguan Yuqi's "Ice Bamboo" danced with all her might, it was like a waterfall of mercury, with thousands of sparkling lights spinning endlessly.
In such a dense and impenetrable place, even Ah Qiu, who was protecting her from behind, could hardly feel that she was walking through a forest of arrows.
Shangguan Yuqi was simultaneously twirling her sword to deflect the rain of arrows and running forward at breakneck speed, shouting, "Keep up!"
A Qiu already knew their intentions. If they remained stationary, they would be waiting to die. Although the crossbows couldn't fire continuously, if they waited for the people on the arrow platform to reload and fire repeatedly, their stamina would eventually run out. It would be better to turn the tables, deflecting arrows while trying to rush onto the arrow platform and kill Pei Ao, thus ending the matter once and for all.
A Qiu had thought about this before, but in her estimation at the time, she was alone. The distance between here and the arrow platform was about thirty feet. If she were to withstand such a powerful crossbow attack by herself, and fight while moving, she would probably collapse halfway through and be riddled with arrows.
But with Shangguan Yuqi's help, her confidence soared. Knowing this was the only way out, she replied, "Okay!" Without touching the ground, she rushed straight in front of Shangguan Yuqi, her sword flashing with countless sword flowers, blocking most of the rain of arrows in front of Shangguan Yuqi.
Shangguan Yuqi, who had been exerting all her strength and whose forehead was covered in sweat, was now able to smile and say, "I originally thought I would hold them off for a while, and then you could take over when I was exhausted. Since you're so eager to be second best, that's fine too. This way we can get to the high platform faster."
Ah Qiu's throat tightened, and she said, "Miss, you really didn't need to take this risk for me. If you perish here today, I..."
Shangguan Yuqi interrupted her, saying, "It's nothing for me to perish here; I'm not the only daughter in the Shangguan family. But if you perish here, that would be truly terrible."
Ah Qiu couldn't understand what she was so important that Shangguan Yuqi valued her more than his own life, but she didn't have time to think about it. The two of them each brandished a ball of sword light and charged forward.
On the high platform, Pei Ao saw that such a powerful arrow formation could not stop the two men from charging forward with a death-defying momentum, and he also gasped.
The dozens of crossbows behind him were all modified at great expense by the master craftsmen of the Divine Machine Battalion. They were incredibly powerful and were originally designed for use on the battlefield, specifically to deal with martial arts masters. Ordinary soldiers could only manage to block three or five crossbow bolts with their swords and shields, let alone dozens of crossbows firing at once, which could practically pierce through walls and shatter rocks.
But Shangguan Yuqi and Aqiu Jianhua continued to parry the arrows with unstoppable speed and fluidity, as if cutting melons and vegetables. Their precision, strength, willpower, and tenacity were unprecedented not only among the members of the Divine Hound Camp but also in Pei Ao's life.
Pei Ao considered himself a skilled soldier with a strong will, but if he were to face such a desperate situation with thousands of arrows raining down on him, he probably wouldn't have the confidence or the mental strength to endure it.
But at this moment, he could only sigh and regret that he was about to destroy two of the most outstanding young masters of the Southern Dynasty.
Without making a sound, he took out a command flag with a taotie pattern from his bosom and unfurled it in the wind.
That was the command flag of the Divine Hound Camp commander. As long as he raised the flag and gave the order for a full-scale attack, not only the archers on the high platform, but also the three thousand people in the field at this moment would have to obey the military order and kill A Qiu and Shangguan Yuqi.
This is about eliminating political enemies, not a personal feud. Pei Ao will not give A Qiu and Shangguan Yuqi the opportunity to rush onto the platform and assassinate him, nor does he intend to concern himself with heroism or fairness.
After Yin Shang withdrew as instructed by A Qiu, he did not make a move, but remained hidden among the Divine Hound Camp soldiers watching the battle from the sidelines, keeping a close eye on the situation.
The moment he saw Pei Ao take out the commander's flag, he knew what he was going to do. His eyes widened in fury, but he was too late to stop him.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
