Chapter 403: Encounter

Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

Scared out of their wits by the elusive Qi Haoran’s team, the Jin soldiers had already failed before they could face the enemy.

At this moment, the Jin Kingdom’s general knew that it was impossible to kill the Qi brothers. If they did not leave the mountain as soon as possible, they did not even know if they could survive.

He could only grit his teeth and ask the guide to bring them out of the mountain. When they reached the grassland, he would definitely reap the lives of the Qi brothers.

But the worst thing was that their guide had lost his way!

The Jin general kicked the man away and roared, “How can you get lost? Aren t you a guide?”

The guide swallowed the blood in his mouth and cried, “But you’re too deep in. I’ve never walked here before. Usually, I can still rely on the sun or the stars and moon to determine the direction, but… but now it’s a cloudy day. Not only is there no sun, but I’m afraid there won’t be any moon or stars at night.” He felt even more bitter, okay? These Jin soldiers were led by the nose into the deep forest mountain by the Han soldiers. At first, he was afraid of alarming the ferocious beasts, but clearly, the ferocious beasts were also afraid of them. Seeing the thousands of men rush in, even the wild beasts were smart enough to stay away.

People died from time to time around them, but they couldn’t even see the shadow of the Han soldiers. In his fear, how could he pay attention to the road? Naturally, he followed the battalion and fled. No, he chased after them. He didn’t even know where he had gone. How could he get out if he couldn’t distinguish east from west in this dense forest?

This news undoubtedly added another straw to the despair of the Jin soldiers. Everyone looked at the Jin general in silence. They were walking with their backs facing each other and did not dare to underestimate the situation behind them. They were moving at a slow speed to begin with. If on top of that they got lost, when would they be able to walk out?

The worst thing was that they didn’t have much rations left.

The Jin Kingdom general’s eyes darkened. This was not a grassland, but a forest. If they were on a grassland, they would not be afraid. They could walk out with their intuition and their horses. However, this was a forest with trees all around, and they could only see the forest ten steps ahead.

The Jin general looked at the deputy general.

The deputy general said in a low voice, “General, we left many traces along the way. Let’s follow them out.”

The guide smiled bitterly. “General, there are traces of us everywhere since we’ve been walking in circles. How do we know which way to go?”

The general and deputy general’s expressions changed again. They couldn’t help but wonder if they had been set up by Qi Haoran from the beginning.

At this moment, Qi Haoran was hugging his sword and sleeping soundly in a small cave.

Now that the Jin soldiers had wised up, he decided to look for them at night.

At this moment, Mu Yangling had just brought her men into the forest…

The next morning, the despairing Jin soldiers were finally greeted by the sun. Now able to identify the direction, the guide led everyone down. There was no choice. Having chased after Qi Haoran previously, they were almost at the top of the mountain.

Qi Haoran had been following them all this while. From time to time, he would lead his men to do something, either causing the enemy to lose manpower or causing them to deviate from their original direction.

The Jin general and deputy general also came back to their senses. They knew that Qi Haoran didn’t want or dare to let them leave. “General, they’re afraid that we’ll take revenge after we leave the mountain. Since they’re so afraid, we should give them a ruthless blow.”

The Jin Kingdom’s general’s face was ashen. This time, he did not object to the deputy general’s idea. He gave the order to not worry about anything else and advance at full speed.

Then, they encountered Mu Yangling.

Mu Yangling didn’t expect to find them so quickly. She returned to the cave where she and the others were hiding and found the message Qi Haoran had left nearby. He said that he would lead the enemy to the northeastern mountain, so she didn’t waste any effort searching. She followed the traces and marks up the mountain, and she had just walked for about two hours when she heard a commotion.

At this moment, they were halfway up a mountain. If they encountered the Jin soldiers, it would be disadvantageous to them. Thus, she could only order her men to retreat and get a scout to investigate.

A large number of Jin soldiers were discovered ahead. They seemed to be fleeing for their lives and were coming over at full speed.

As time was too tight, Mu Yangling did not have time to make any more arrangements. She could only get people to lie in ambush below and in the west, while only half of the people in the east were left behind to leave a gap for them. Then, they would quickly lie in ambush.

She had no time to think about where Qi Haoran was now, but her intuition told her not to let the Jin soldiers go down the mountain hke this.

Hence, the Jin soldiers, who were rushing down the mountain, encountered a rain of arrows.

Qi Haoran and the others, who were chasing after them, were overjoyed to see that their reinforcements had arrived. Qi Haoran glanced at the dense rain of arrows and knew that Mu Yangling had left a gap for them in the east. Pointing at the gap, he said, “Go there and ambush. When they disperse and escape, kill as many of their men as possible.”

More than 90 people instantly dispersed.

As the Jin Kingdom’s general chopped down the arrows that flew in front of him, he ordered his men to retreat to the east. Mu Yangling took out her broadsword and shouted, “First team of archers, snipe the escapees. Second and third teams follow me.”

Qi Haoran looked at Mu Yangling, who had rushed to the battlefield to kill the enemy. After watching for a while, he narrowed his eyes and looked at the general and deputy general of the Jin Kingdom.

He wondered if they knew who the spy was.

Initially, Qi Haoran had not expected to capture the two of them. He’d only hoped to exhaust their troops as much as possible so that they would not be able to cause trouble for the commoners even if they went out. But now, since Mu Yangling was here, it was better to get rid of those two.

Qi Haoran led three men to chase after the Jin general and deputy general. The people Mu Yangling brought weren’t completely well-rested, but compared to the Jin soldiers who had searched the forest for three days and lived in fright for two days, they were in a much better situation. Therefore, even if the Jin soldiers were generally stronger than the Han soldiers, the two sides were still evenly matched at the beginning.

However, with the incredibly strong Mu Yangling in the picture, she could fight one against three with a broadsword. It was almost as if she was cutting melons. Seeing the terrified Jin soldiers, the Han soldiers’ morale was boosted, in addition, under the protection of the guards, the Jin general and deputy general abandoned their battalion and fled first. With the change in morale on both sides, the Jin soldiers took a severe beating from the Han soldiers.

As for the Jin soldiers who escaped, Qi Haoran’s team reaped their lives in the dark, so less than one in 100 Jin soldiers successfully escaped in the end. When the two teams met up, Mu Yangling asked with a frown, “Where’s Qi Haoran?”

The people on the other side looked at each other. “Little General only asked us to ambush the escapees. We don’t know where he is.

Mu Yangling frowned and glanced at them. She said, “Count how many of you there are and see how many people left with Little General.

“Report, there are three of them.”

Frowning, Mu Yangling thought for a moment. Knowing that Qi Haoran had gone to chase after the Jin Kingdom’s general, she ordered, “Clean up the battlefield, bandage your wounds, and rest on the spot. Captain of Team One, bring your men to follow the traces to reinforce Little General. Captain of Team Two, select 50 people and bring the injured soldiers over.

Mu Yangling already knew that Qi Haoran had arranged for the injured to stay in a cave, so she asked a soldier who knew the place to bring them there.

Mu Yangling sat cross-legged on the ground and waited for Qi Haoran. When Qi Haoran returned, his face was a little pale. Seeing that there was only one person behind him, she asked, “Did you let the Jin Kingdom’s general escape?”

“No.” Qi Haoran sat beside Mu Yangling and said respectfully, “He committed suicide..”