novelraw Chapter 100 : Ambush
Chapter 100 : Ambush
Chapter 100: Ambush
And Jiang Zhaoming’s clear attitude of “only executing the chief culprits while sparing the coerced” was like a massive boulder cast into the still waters of a tranquil lake.
Within the ruling class of the Yutian Plains, it stirred up immense waves.
Panic and calculation intertwined in their hearts.
The Zanpu and the royal court were far away on the Tianwu Plateau. Facing the advancing forces of Anxi, not a single elite legion had descended from the mountains to offer aid.
Only imperial decrees were repeatedly sent down, ordering the local families to raise their own soldiers to resist—sending those plain armies to their deaths again and again.
This was plainly forcing them to use their own flesh and blood to clash head-on against the battle-hardened iron army of Anxi Prefecture.
Watching as the Anxi Army advanced with unstoppable momentum—taking cities and fortresses as easily as slicing melons—and their family’s privately trained soldiers, built up with such effort, were slaughtered wholesale, they knew that continuing to resist would mean nothing but the extinction of their clans.
If—if they were to submit to the Prince of Anxi, Jiang Zhaoming, now… could they perhaps win themselves a chance to live?
Could they even preserve their family’s foundation?
Hearts wavered; undercurrents surged.
The nobles upon the plains found their minds in utmost turmoil.
The faith in the Kingdom of Sunlight still remained, but the instinct for survival and the preservation of one’s lineage fiercely clashed against that loyalty.
Atop the Tianwu Plateau, the royal court of Yutian was shrouded in a suffocating silence.
Facing the crumbling situation in the northern frontier, the Zanpu and his most elite legions remained motionless, as though that vast and fertile plain were not their own territory.
They seemed determined to make the plains a quagmire to wear down the Anxi Army.
They merely kept urging the local families and the poorly trained garrison forces to march to their deaths.
Until late December, when the drifting winter chill became bone-piercing.
The royal court finally moved.
It was not the Zanpu who personally took the field, but rather the High Priest Sangji Jiacuo himself.
He led the might that shook all four directions of the Kingdom of Yutian— the Iron-Winged Vulture Sky Cavalry Legion numbering one hundred thousand.
At last, they departed from the City of Sunlight, bearing both a sacred radiance and a chilling murderous intent, swooping toward the blood-stained battlefield of the north.
On the fourth day before year’s end.
At the northern front line, upon a temporary high platform overlooking the field of war.
Jiang Zhaoming stood, holding the Fortune-Appraising Treasure Mirror in hand, surveying the northern mountains and rivers of Yutian, recording the hidden veins of minerals.
As his own power continued to increase, his command over this divine artifact had become ever more skillful.
The range that the treasure mirror could now perceive extended to a radius of three thousand li.
The mirror’s surface rippled like flowing water, the shadows of mountains and terrain shifting unceasingly.
In a flash, Jiang Zhaoming’s gaze froze upon the southern edge of the image reflected in the mirror—about three thousand li from where he stood.
A dazzling point of fortune light was moving swiftly.
Among them, several pale-violet columns of fortune stood out most strikingly.
At the very center, one deep-violet column—solid and immense, as if condensed into substance—emanated an oppressive aura that made one’s heart tremble.
Such scale, such speed, such purity of fortune concentration—its identity was beyond doubt.
「The main force of the Vulture Sky Cavalry… and a Golden Body seated within—so the High Priest has come in person.」
Gazing at the cluster of fortune light representing Yutian’s strongest power, rapidly approaching his position,
Jiang Zhaoming murmured, brilliance flashing in his eyes, and a smile blooming at the corner of his lips.
The icy winter wind carried grit and sand, lashing against the wind-eroded cliffs of the gorge, producing a wailing, mournful sound.
This vast canyon, lying between the Yutian Plains and the Tianwu Plateau, was a labyrinth of complex terrain.
Towering stone pillars had been sculpted by millennia of wind and sand into twisted forms.
Narrow passageways wound between the giant rocks, while the sky above was split into irregular fragments.
Jiang Zhaoming stood alone at a concealed lookout on the western side of the canyon, the light of the Fortune-Appraising Treasure Mirror glimmering in his hands.
Within the mirror, far to the south a thousand li away,
the deep-violet point of fortune light that represented Yutian’s Vulture Sky Cavalry main force was speeding toward the Wind-Eroded Valley.
At its core, that deep-violet column symbolizing High Priest Sangji Jiacuo shone like a beacon in the dark night.
The mirror clearly reflected the densely packed fortune lights of the vultures—numbers several times greater than his own Gryphon Riders.
In a direct confrontation, win or lose, the Gryphon Riders would suffer grievous losses.
Thus Jiang Zhaoming would certainly never choose to fight head-on.
His thoughts moved slightly, and two invisible spiritual links instantly spanned across space.
「General Yue, the target is locked. It is entering the Wind-Eroded Valley along the preset route. Proceed with the planned harassment and delay.」
「By your command!」
Yue Fei’s steady reply resounded directly within Jiang Zhaoming’s sea of consciousness.
「Lilian, hurry to 『Eagle-Beak Rock』 and await orders. The target is about to enter the final ambush circle. The High Priest is yours and General Yue’s to handle.」
「Understood, my king. The stage is set—just waiting for the lead actor to appear.」
Lilian’s reply came with a trace of lazy amusement, then the link cut off.
Deep within the canyon, Yue Fei stood suspended in midair, his armor glinting faintly under the pale winter sun.
He waved the command flag in his hand. Behind him, tens of thousands of Gryphon Riders silently dispersed, taking cover behind the massive wind-carved pillars of stone.
When the vast swarm of vultures, like dark clouds blotting out the sky, surged into the wider middle section of Wind-Eroded Valley, sudden change erupted.
「Swish! Swish!」
Sharp sounds of arrows tearing through the air burst forth from behind the towering cliff walls on both sides.
These arrows, inscribed with armor-piercing and tracking runes, guided precisely by the Gryphon Riders,
specifically targeted the slower, less-protected individuals at the flanks and rear of the vulture swarm.
「Enemy attack! Evade!」
The alarmed cries of the vulture riders rang out amidst the chaotic flapping of wings.
However, the arrows were too swift, their angles too fierce.
With a series of wet thuds, dozens of vultures and their riders were pierced through, screaming as they plummeted from the skies, smashing into pulp upon the rocky valley floor.
The swarm fell into turmoil; its formation inevitably grew disordered.
Upon one vulture’s back, Sangji Jiacuo, robed in vestments embroidered with sun, moon, and stars, had his face veiled in a faint radiance, concealing his expression.
He did not panic. Instead, he slowly raised his withered hand and gave a light wave.
A ripple of invisible spiritual energy spread outward, imbued with a calming force that instantly steadied the panicked swarm.
His deep eyes swept toward the direction from which the bolts had come—there, only the ridged stones of the cliffs.
「Accelerate through this area.」
Under his will, the swarm forcibly regrouped, their speed not only unbroken but increasing as they sought to rush past the perilous airspace.
Just as the vulture host was about to burst out from the central section into the narrow sky-slit ahead, sudden change struck again.
High above, almost clinging to the crevices atop the gorge, the shadows of hundreds of gryphons appeared like ghosts.
「Throw!」
Yue Fei’s cold command echoed through the short-range sound array into every Gryphon Rider’s ear.
Without hesitation, the riders hurled down the alchemical fire-oil bombs long prepared in advance.
The specially crafted clay jars spun through the air, tracing deadly arcs, falling precisely into the dense center of the vulture formation below.
「Boom! Boom! Boom!」
A thunderous series of explosions resounded.
Thick, searing flames of burning oil spread like the fires of hell.
In an instant, dozens of vultures had their feathers and flesh ignited.
Shrill screams of birds and the agonized howls of riders intertwined, the stench of charred flesh filling the air.
The burning vultures, like living fireballs, thrashed and collided wildly, spreading chaos and flame to more of their kind.
This strike was far deadlier than the rain of arrows.
The very center of the vulture host was as if cast into a blazing furnace—utterly consumed in chaos.