Chapter 135 - The Bloody Flying Mallard (Part Two)

A tree as thick as a bowl was broken in half by Lin Jiulao, and the tremendous force propelling him finally dissipated.

Lin Jiulao flipped his wrist, twirling his zhanmadao in a flourish, and pushed off the ground with his foot. His entire body shot forward again like an arrow!

In Ye Beizhi's eyes, Lin Jiulao approached swiftly and arrived in an instant. A glint flashed in Ye Beizhi’s eyes as he grabbed a tree branch beside him with his left hand, leaving five deep marks in it, halting his momentum abruptly.

Lin Jiulao kicked off multiple times between the trees, building his momentum as he went. In a flash, he was above Ye Beizhi. Raising his blade high with both hands, he slashed down at Ye Beizhi’s head!

At that moment, Ye Beizhi was hanging without a foothold; his left hand gripping a branch.

As the blade came down towards him, he thrust his Tang blade upward with his right hand, the tip meeting the descending blade with perfect accuracy.

He released the branch with his left hand decisively, using the impact to rapidly descend toward the ground.

Boom—

Dust flew up from the ground, obscuring Ye Beizhi's figure.

"Stormqueller! What are you waiting for?"

Lin Jiulao stood on the branch Ye Beizhi had previously grabbed, staring at the swirling dust below.

"Hurry up and show me! What is the world's greatest blade technique really like?!"

As the dust settled, a figure gradually emerged.

Ye Beizhi stood under the tree, holding his blade.

Swish—

A flash of blade light passed by, swift as lightning, and the tree in front of Ye Beizhi let out a creak that set one's hair on end. A trunk that was large enough to require three people to encircle it was chopped through in a single slash. It slowly began to topple over.

"Come down." Ye Beizhi looked up at Lin Jiulao above him. "I'll show you."

The tree trunk was already tilting, causing Lin Jiulao to lose his balance. He leapt down with his blade, the tip aimed straight at Ye Beizhi’s head!

"Come on! Show me!!"

***

Blade techniques were split amongst sweeping, slashing, parrying, slicing, swiping, avoiding, chopping, and thrusting.

"You call that using a blade?" The commander snatched Ye Beizhi's military-issue blade and pushed him aside.

"Commander... I...I don’t know how to use a blade." Ye Beizhi lowered his head, unable to meet the commander's eyes.

"Damn it, you keep talking nonsense. If you knew how to wield it, would I have you train with a blade?" The commander’s voice was loud, and spittle sprayed all over Ye Beizhi's face.

"Yes, yes..." Ye Beizhi nodded submissively.

The commander's brow furrowed again, as if even angrier.

"Yes, yes, yes, you idiot. Are you really a man or not? Let me check... you little brat, do you even have the stuff?" As he spoke, he reached his hand toward Ye Beizhi’s crotch.

Ye Beizhi was shocked and backed away repeatedly, shouting, "I'm a man! I'm a man!"

The commander spat on the ground and tossed the military-issue blade at Ye Beizhi's feet. "If you're a man, then pick up the blade!"

Ye Beizhi nervously picked up the blade and held it in his hand and almost inaudibly whispered, "But, but... I don't know how to use a blade—"

"Then just wait to die!" The weathered commander swore, "Damn it, how can you be dumber than me? When did I ever ask you if you knew how to use a blade?"

"

Huh

?" Ye Beizhi was a bit dazed.

"Huh my ass!" The commander slapped Ye Beizhi on the shoulder, making him grimace in pain. "I’m telling you to pick up the blade to kill people! Do you think you’re going to become some kind of martial arts master by swinging it around?"

Ye Beizhi stammered, unable to speak, as the commander pointed at the rest of the camp and yelled, "Go ask around! In the Flying Mallard Battalion, how many of them know martial arts? Damn it... Do you understand now? We pick up our blades to kill, not to practice fancy techniques!"

Ye Beizhi nodded hastily. Even if he didn't fully understand, he wouldn’t dare to admit it now.

The commander picked up a blade nearby and demonstrated while explaining to Ye Beizhi, "Using a blade is just about these few things. Sweeping, slashing, parrying, slicing, swiping, avoiding, chopping and thrusting.

"There's nothing else to it, and even if there was... I wouldn't know! Besides, when you're on the battlefield, who's going to give you time for all those fancy moves? Are you planning to dance before fighting? Just stick to these basics, straightforward and direct. As long as it can kill."

Ye Beizhi felt a bit lost in the explanation. He felt like he understood a little but not completely. He roughly gathered that the commander was telling him to kill, and using those basic moves like sweeping, slashing, and thrusting was enough to do it.

𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Killing seemed like something far removed from him.

He still didn’t quite understand.

His confusion didn’t last long.

The day after the commander taught him how to kill, they received orders from above. It was said that the Northern Qiang army had set west, where the defenses were thin, and reinforcements were urgently needed. The Flying Mallard Battalion was ordered to break camp and set out immediately.

Ye Beizhi was well aware that the Northern Qiang would come every year around this time to raid for supplies. He never thought that one day, he would experience it firsthand.

The battalion marched rapidly and finally reached its destination by midday on the third day.

Before they had time for a midday meal, the deputy general in charge of the city ordered the Flying Mallard Battalion to go out and meet the enemy immediately.

Ye Beizhi could hear the commander next to him complaining under his breath that the soldiers had been marching through the night without eating a single grain of rice. Morale was at its lowest, so how could they go straight into battle?

But the commander was outranked by the deputy general, so their entire battalion still left the city.

As soon as they reached the battlefield, Ye Beizhi couldn’t help but recall the previous horrific scenes he had seen of blood, flames, severed limbs, spilled organs, and corpses everywhere.

His body began to shake uncontrollably.

Ye Beizhi swallowed and quietly tugged on the commander’s sleeve, and whispered, "Commander... will I die?"

He didn't receive the scolding he had imagined. The commander remained silent for a moment before saying, "If you can kill your enemies, then no one can kill you."

Ye Beizhi now understood his commander's wisdom.

The Northern Qiang were skilled horsemen, and for a small battalion like the Flying Mallard, which wasn’t a heavy infantry unit, facing cavalry units was their worst nightmare.

When Ye Beizhi saw the waves of cavalry surging toward him, he was once again frozen in shock.

Someone flew from the front lines, landing at Ye Beizhi’s feet. He looked down to see that the person’s chest was completely caved in, and blood foamed from his mouth, as the man spat out chunks of flesh.

In his daze, someone gave him a hard shove, and the commander’s angry shout echoed in his ears.

"What are you staring at?! Get out of the way!!!"

Ye Beizhi involuntarily stumbled sideways. Turning his head, he saw the commander leaping in the opposite direction after pushing him away, as a massive horse barreled past both of them.

Ye Beizhi looked around and saw that the Flying Mallard Battalion had already been divided into several small groups by the Northern Qiang cavalry, who were encircling and devouring them one by one.

The sound of blades digging into flesh, hooves galloping, and battle cries filled the air.

Surrounded by screams, Ye Beizhi felt as if he were in an endless hell of bloodshed and violence.

So this is war...

Ye Beizhi stood motionless, as if he were carved from stone.

Thud—

An exhausted horse collapsed at Ye Beizhi's feet. The rider struggled for a moment before getting up. When he spotted Ye Beizhi, he immediately drew a curved saber from his waist to lunge at him.

Ye Beizhi's mouth hung slightly open, and a look of terror gradually spread across his entire face.

"Draw your blade! Cut him down!!!"

A loud shout exploded in his ears, jolting Ye Beizhi back to his senses as if waking him from a stupor.

As if by instinct, his hand flew to his waist, and in the blink of an eye, the military-issue blade was in his grasp. The next moment, he swung the blade...

Swish—

Ye Beizhi had never seen such a brilliant light before. It was beautiful and dazzling, yet it lasted only a moment, like a fleeting flower.

A severed head rolled to his feet. Ye Beizhi stood there, holding the blade in one hand, as beads of blood slowly dribbled down the blade and into the earth.

So... this is what it feels like to kill.