Ch44.1 - Lone Fight

Translated by Elestrea
Edited by juurensha, namio

This battle could easily be called the pinnacle of Xiang Shu’s life. One lone man challenging 60,000 men; it was comparable to that unbeatable Martial God who had charged alone seven times through the enemy’s ranks in the ancient battlefield of Dangyang nearly two hundred years ago. No matter how many he had killed, the Rouran cavalry just kept coming and coming, and Xiang Shu, who had been fighting alone, was losing his strength. When he heard Chen Xing’s words “You can’t beat them all, just run!” it was like there was a mouthful of blood inside his chest. Contrary to the words’ original intention, they instead stirred up the blood all over his body. He wasn’t afraid of death and once again went all out at the bottom of the cliff! saIdk7

Chen Xing climbed up with both his hands and feet, and from below, he could see Xiao Shan trying to pry up the stone pillar; his whole person jumped up and down on his claws, and he was using all his strength to step on them. But then, Che Luofeng picked up his blade and aimed it straight towards Chen Xing who was still climbing! Chen Xing dared not shout, fearing it would distract Xiang Shu, so he had no choice but to grit his teeth and swing on the cliff.

Che Luofeng was fuming with rage: “Han dog, the time of your death…”

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Then the stone pillar on the platform fell over and smashed into Che Luofeng’s waist.

Before Chen Xing could clearly see what had happened, he felt something flash before his eyes. He saw Che Luofeng with open arms and a stone pillar following behind him directly fly towards him. Che Luofeng’s face looked ferocious as he fell past Chen Xing. CNoFe9

Chen Xing: “???”

Chen Xing immediately looked up and shouted: “Xiao——”

He had yet to finish when the thousands of jin stone pillar dragged the iron chain down with it and woosh! —— Chen Xing also got pulled down and flew straight to the bottom of the cliff! Chen Xing felt the sudden pull must’ve distorted his facial expression.

Chen Xing: “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA——”

Xiang Shu’s right hand was trembling from exhaustion, so he switched the sword to his left. When he was about to urge his horse to go up the mountain, he saw a stone pillar rolling down from behind the Rouran army. It made the ground tremble as it dragged the chained Chen Xing down the cliff!

“Beware of falling stones…” Chen Xing, who was dragged by the chain like a kite drifting in the wind, shouted from a distance.

Zhou Zhen, who was commanding the army, suddenly turned his head only to see a massive stone rolling down and crushing nearly ten thousand Rouran cavalry. This turn of events wasn’t good at all, so he quickly dodged away to avoid that huge pillar that was falling from the top of the mountain. Xiao Shan had immediately gone after it, and Sima Wei, with black armor covering his whole body, rushed down from the top to chase after him. Desperate, Sima Wei detached and threw his black shield. It spun as it flew over, aligning perfectly with Chen Xing’s feet.

“AAAAAAAAAA——” Chen Xing’s tongue almost flew out in the wind. With the pillar still dragging him downhill, he stepped on the shield and began to ski down: slide to the left, avoid to the right —— all while still handcuffed. The pillar crushed anything it ran into, and there wasn’t enough time for the Rouran cavalry to dodge it. Just like a rolling pin, the pillar flattened both riders and horses into meat pancakes. CiPR6W

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

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Zhou Zhen changed his horse’s direction and came face-to-face with Xiang Shu.

“Heart Lamp!” Xiang Shu roared. z12Wyv

Chen Xing was dazed from all the dragging, and he kept seeing stars in front of his eyes. When he heard Xiang Shu’s shout, he instinctively started the Heart Lamp.

The Heart Lamp’s brilliant light flashed inside the dark canyon. Xiang Shu lifted up his broadsword and pointed towards the horizon. From it, white light burst out and swept across the surroundings; the blade of the sword shone bright, each character of the Nine Syllables of Tao appearing on it in succession——

——Zhou Zhen’s eyes opened wide. When he was met with Xiang Shu’s sword glare, he raised his hand to block out the light.

“Go back to wherever you came from,” Xiang Shu’s voice sounded in his ear. Then, the sword split him down. Amidst his loud scream, Zhou Zhen suddenly burst into glimmering dust before scattering in all directions. sVGWIv

Meanwhile, the stone pillar dragging Chen Xing rolled into the forest before crashing into a big boulder —— it immediately shattered into almost ten pieces.

Along the way, whenever Chen Xing wasn’t being obstructed by branches, he was sliding in the snow. He had almost fallen to the side but managed to step on the shield again and avoid danger, unexpectedly stopping without the slightest injury. Then, he kicked the shield up and caught it with his hands. His hands were still bound by the iron chain and now he was tied to a huge stone pillar’s remains that still weighed around 60 or 70 jin; his whole face turned pale, and he gasped for breath.

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When Xiang Shu eventually caught up with Chen Xing, he suddenly grabbed his hands. He was covered with black blood from head to toe. They both didn’t say anything.

“You… you…” Chen Xing looked at Xiang Shu and didn’t know what to say. neJE s

“Me, me what?” Xiang Shu grabbed Chen Xing’s wrist and wouldn’t let go —— unconsciously hurting him a little. Looking around, he could only see chaos everywhere. Most of the Rouran cavalry had been taken care of by Chen Xing’s Iuppiter and was now regrouping in a panicked rush. He quickly said: “Now is not the time to talk, let’s go!”

Chen Xing: “Xiao Shan…”

Xiang Shu: “He can protect himself!”

Chen Xing also thought that Xiao Shan’s speed was indeed very fast. Since Sima Wei couldn’t catch him, Xiao Shan should be able to protect his own life without much trouble. Now, the most important thing was that he couldn’t fall into the enemy’s hands and become a hostage again, or else it would only put Xiao Shan and Xiang Shu at more of a disadvantage. YWnEI5

Chen Xing ran until he was out of breath. In the depths of the woods, a cave appeared.

“Ah!” Chen Xing was about to say “Nice!” when Xiang Shu pressed his head down and motioned him not to speak. The two of them went in.

The cave was pitch-black, and it was covered with frost. Chen Xing lit up a small area with the Heart Lamp.

“Why is it just the two of you?” Chen Xing asked. S3Xy5Z

Xiang Shu: “I didn’t let Xiao Shan come! He followed me! Am I alone not enough to save you?”

Xiang Shu was practically furious with Xiao Shan. Back then, he had been ready to rescue Chen Xing, but Xiao Shan kept following him around. So, Xiang Shu had to change his plans. He challenged the enemy head-on to distract their attention while Xiao Shan climbed up the peak to quietly rescue Chen Xing. The end result: Xiao Shan went up, went wild, and made such a big mess in the end.

“How about Karakorum?” Chen Xing asked.

“It’s guarded.” Xiang Shu walked ahead, one hand carrying the boulder and pulling the chain along. He vigilantly looked around, watching for an ambush. NjxLy9

Chen Xing finally calmed down. He frowned and said: “You’re taking too much risk. You came here alone?”

Xiang Shu: “I don’t want my people to risk or even lose their lives just because they followed me to save you. You have a problem with that?”

Chen Xing felt a little guilty when he heard this, and he didn’t know why, but he felt very stuffy when he looked at Xiang Shu. If I hadn’t helped defend the city for you people to begin with, would I have been caught?  But this was merely a passing thought. Looking at Xiang Shu’s armor that was covered with black blood and his disheveled hair, he looked more like a ghost who had crawled straight out of the underworld —— it made Chen Xing slightly uncomfortable.

He had wanted to reply with: “Then why did you still come?”, but he faintly picked out something else from Xiang Shu’s words. The feeling was the same as when one plucked out a string; it gave out a barely audible, hard-to-discern vibrato. He wanted to listen attentively, only to discover that the guqin sound had long been gone and what remained was just the echo —— feeling similar to the feeling that appeared when one was tasting an illusion of reciprocated love. 1xG8VC

They both went silent again for a moment.

“Are you feeling better?” Xiang Shu asked harshly.

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“What?” Chen Xing was at a loss. “I’ve always been fine.”

“Bullshit!” Xiang Shu turned around and said angrily, “You were vomiting blood!” Sq5RdZ

Chen Xing then realized that Xiang Shu was talking about the time when he had fainted because he had exhausted his heart’s power for the Heart Lamp. He felt as if he had been slapped hard, so he hurriedly said, “It’s nothing. It was just because back then, I had overused the Heart Lamp’s power, it made me unable to breathe for a while… Let’s just go ah! Or you’re going to hit me now?”

Xiang Shu carried the boulder and dragged down the chain. The two walked towards the windy part of the cave and in less than a quarter of an hour, they saw a light. They had unexpectedly entered a spacious ravine in the heart of Yin Mountains.

This ravine had weapons and armor scattered everywhere. Chen Xing murmured, “Where is this?”

“The sinners’ pit.” Xiang Shu looked around. He saw that the ravine was in the shape of a half-moon; it was surrounded by several peaks and in the distance, there was a dense forest covered in snow. He said: “Inside the Chi Le Covenant, people who have committed a crime are not granted sky burials and must be buried instead. This is where they are all buried.” mrgQh2

Chen Xing looked towards the sky. The sky was so overcast that he couldn’t even tell the difference between east, west, south, and north. How could they leave the mountain? While he was pondering that over, the sound of a stone falling to the ground suddenly came from the side. Xiang Shu supported himself with his sword as he slightly gasped for breath. It was clear that the battle had taken a toll on him, and he couldn’t walk anymore.

Chen Xing hurriedly made Xiang Shu sit down and undid his armor. There were bloodstains inside and out, and even the garment inside the leather armor had been soaked purple and black by blood.

“How many did you defeat?” Chen Xing recalled that astonishing scene.

“I don’t know.” Xiang Shu leaned against a big tree with his eyes closed as he replied coldly, “No time to count. Help me take off my armor.” eTMv B

Xiang Shu wore a Tiele heavy armor. Not long after he had entered the canyon, the warhorse was shot by an arrow and it couldn’t hold on. This armor was made of hardened steel by the Tieles’ and the Rourans’ craftsmen. It was deformed from all the arrows and swords, but it had still protected his body well.

Chen Xing bared Xiang Shu’s chest. Xiang Shu took a deep breath and gasped for more air.

“Have a rest,” Xiang Shu sat under the tree and with his back against it, he closed his eyes then said, “Guwang is too tired, too tired…”

Guwang is too tired, Guwang’s wife keeps running away atqxIk

namio will help us edit from now on! You might’ve seen her already as she does many cursed beautiful arts of Dinghai, just like that… Ducksheng… and one more, we also have a new translator coming in, ice will translate starting from Chapter 50! Welcome, everyone!