ChangNing’s Imperial Army

When he was twelve years old, a few ships in the Nanping River started to be consumed by raging fires in the middle of the night. The young man named Shen Leng held a small unsharpened hunting knife in his mouth and charged into the waters bravely without caring for his personal safety.

Thereafter, he found out that in the most turbulent moments, he had the ability of becoming unusually calm.

In the next four years, a man named Shen Xiaosong tried his best to teach everything he knew to Shen Leng. Of course, this was not solely because he felt that he owed it to that young man. Could it be that it was not related to the young man who leapt into the night that fateful year?

Mr. Shen saw the heart of the young man for what it was. Hence, he felt that even if he were to fight with his life, it was worth it.

Not long ago, a young man named Li Tuming gritted his teeth and held in there. He told himself time and time again, not to be afraid. He would rather die than betray Shen Leng.

Shen Leng was Mr. Shen’s choice. Shen Leng was also Li Tuming’s choice.

This night, Shen Leng charged into the darkness, with his black cord sword strapped to his back. His eyes were reddened and filled with sorrow, coupled with anger, as well as murderous intent.

Li Tuming collapsed in Chen Ran’s embrace as he looked up to the sky. The bright star light within the darkness filled his eyes. He felt as though the entire world was bright.

Shen Leng was filled with murderous intent. Hence, this night was exceptionally icy cold.

Nie Yuan was not afraid of Shen Leng. He had once been through all kinds of challenging experiences in the underworld, and he had fought on the battlefield, drenched in blood too. Ever since the day he was chosen to be Bai Shangnian’s trusted aide, he knew that there were only two things he had to do in life – kill for the general, and protecting the general.

He looked down on Shen Leng. He felt that that young man was only a fool with very good luck at best. Even though he was skilled in martial arts, he did not go through the kind of hardships and tribulations, as well as life or death situations, like he did.

Little did he know the extent of how Mr. Shen trained Shen Leng every season for years. He did not just cover everything from every land, to city, to generation and dynasty, he also taught him the experiences of the victors and the mistakes that the people who got defeated made ever since times immemorial.

Mr. Shen had not had a good night’s rest in a very, very long time. His lazy and indolent self was attributed to extreme exhaustion. He said that Shen Leng started late, hence he wanted to make sure they made full use of every minute and second they had. That was why Shen Leng was this outstanding.

A person’s experiences and the books he read, as well as his understanding of life, were hidden within his temperament and personality. However, within Shen Leng’s, there was Master Cha, Shen Xiaosong, and the combination of all four borders and depositories.

Nie Yuan?

Must be killed!

Distance was not constant. The person in front ran, while the person at the back chased. It all boiled down to who was able to last longer.

Shen Leng’s eyes were very red; he seemed like a wild beast that hunted all night without rest. On the other hand, Nie Yuan and his men did not have such a strength.

When the sky was dimly lit, Nie Yuan and his men panted hard and gasped for breath. They stopped at the jungle near the river bank. He had almost reached his limit, and the other five subordinates did not have an ounce of strength to run any farther.

Fortunately, nobody from the Navy had caught up with them. Nie Yuan’s subordinates were old soldiers who had been through life or death battles with him from the start. Ever since they started working for Bai Shangnian, killing for silver, they had severed all ties with the military.

“Battalion commander, let’s take a rest. I can’t run anymore,” said one of the men in black as he gasped for air.

They were used to addressing Nie Yuan as battalion commander. It had been several years – it was not easy to change their ways.

Nie Yuan nodded. “It’s far enough…let’s rest for a while. Drink some water and eat some rations to replenish some physical strength. After this, we will go to the small town in front and look for a ship to head down to the south. We will look for an opportunity to attack them. A few of our brothers died in the hands of Shen Leng. We must avenge their deaths.”

The other man in black looked somewhat distracted. He thought of the method Shen Leng killed their men at the dock. He could not help but trembled. “Originally…we could have avoided this feud.”

Nie Yuan had a cold look in his eyes. “Are you afraid?”

The man in black shook his head. “Battalion commander, you know it. When are we ever afraid, whenever we work for you…However, this time it’s different. We are facing a group of people like us. Combat soldiers.”

Even though the remaining people did not say a single word, they lowered their heads at almost the same time. They did not want Nie Yuan to see the look in their eyes.

Indeed…their opponents were combat soldiers too. They had sworn before, that fellow combat soldiers were like brothers. They must not kill each other.

“We are no longer combat soldiers.”

Nie Yuan spoke in a low voice. “Perhaps all of you have forgotten what we said before when we placed our hands together. Since we were unable to get honor and glory on the battlefield, we should use our abilities to lead a better life. We are no longer wearing the military uniform…arguably we might still be soldiers, but we are the general’s soldiers, not Great Ning’s soldiers! The general might not honorably and openly give us meteoric success in our careers, but are we lacking?”

Everyone lowered their heads, and did not utter a single sound for a long time.

Nie Yuan let out a long breath. “Gao Hai and Meng Da, both of you be on the alert. The rest of you seize the moment to take a rest. An hour later, Li Can and Yue Shanfeng, take over. Song Lei, sort out our food and equipment before planning a route. We will set off in two hours.”

After he finished his words, he leaned against a tree trunk and closed his eyes. “Everyone, remember. You are no longer wearing the military uniform.”

All five of them responded in unison. But everyone knew clearly that they were combat soldiers at their very core. And it was the blood of a soldier coursing through their veins. Even now, they still addressed Nie Yuan the same way. How could they abandon their background that easily?

Gao Hai and Meng Da rested for a while to recover some physical strength. Thereafter, they split up – one went to the left and the other went to the right. They had sufficient experience when it came to following trails and pursuing. That was because they used to be military scouts!

If combat soldiers were the elites in all branches of the military in Great Ning, the scouts would be the elites of the elites.

Gao Hai took out a roll of very fine string from his backpack and tied it around a few trees. The strings were akin to a spider web. After he was done tying the trees, he hung a few extremely small bells on them. After he was done setting up, he climbed up a tree. He chose an area where the leaves were densely packed together and sat on a branch. He lifted his head and looked at the sky through the gaps between the leaves…

The day before at the dock, he noticed that the uniform of the Navy combat soldiers looked very familiar. It felt close and dear. However, the emblem on the chest was different. Subconsciously, he lifted his hand and touched the left side of his chest. There used to be an emblem embroidered there. It was the symbol of a combat soldier’s glory.

Gao Hai let out a long sigh. Thereafter, he sensed something amiss. The sky was dimly lit, so why was the light that shone through the gaps between the leaves so glaring to the eye?

A moment later, he suddenly realized that it was not the sun – it was blade light.

However, before he reacted, someone landed before him and squatted down. The branch shook slightly…The person was holding a sword behind him, and his blade stopped right in front Gao Hai’s neck.

Shen Leng looked at Gao Hai’s right hand. It was holding onto the shaft of a sword.

“Are you not used to using the huan shou dao (Note: The name of a type of sword in ancient China)? You are holding it as though you are holding a hengdao. Indeed, you must have been from the military. I guessed it when we exchanged blows at the dock.”

Shen Leng’s gaze landed on Gao Hai, as he looked into his eyes. Evidently, a light flash across the other party’s eyes.

“Kill me.”

Gao Hai said those two words.

Shen Leng replied, “I will kill you. From your setup earlier, I can tell that you used to be a scout. I don’t want to know why you left the military, and neither do I want to know what difficulties you have. I only know that you deserve to die.

Gao Hai’s left hand suddenly moved; he drew out a dagger from his back and wanted to pierce it into Shen Leng’s chest. Shen Leng drew his sword horizontally…Gao Hai’s throat was sliced open and blood started spurting out.

At the same time, Shen Leng’s left hand grabbed Gao Hai’s left wrist. He twisted and pushed it – the dagger in Gao Hai’s left hand pierced into his own chest instead.

A few arrows passed through the leaves and flew over. Shen Leng flipped himself over and jumped onto another tree branch.

“Someone’s here!”

Meng Da held his repeating crossbow and continued shooting at the tree leaves. He swiftly shot all nine arrows from his quiver into the air. His eyes were fixated on the area behind the leaves that had detectable movement.

With a loud thud…Gao Hai’s corpse fell from the air and landed at Meng Da’s feet. His face was planted onto the ground, with a couple of arrows pierced into his back.

Meng Da was completely taken aback. When he lifted his head, it was already too late.

A dazzling blade light landed from the sky, like lightning. Meng Da, who was a scout, had an amazingly rapid response time. He swiftly lifted his right arm and flipped his wrist. A knife appeared in his hand.

Clank. The black cord sword struck the knife, before breaking it. Thereafter, it landed on Meng Da’s right hand.

Meng Da turned his hand over and blocked the attack with his knife. However, he did not expect the sword to be so powerful. It looked like an ordinary black cord sword, but yet it was extremely sharp. After it struck his knife away, it cut his hand off. He could not feel any pain in that moment, only fear.

“Great Ning’s military had taught you people sufficient skills to kill people. And yet you used it on your comrades.”

Shen Leng’s black cord sword swung up and he held his sword backwards before pressing it downwards with all his might…The black cord sword cut into his right shoulder, near his neck. Instinctively, Meng Da took a huge step back. He lifted his left hand and grabbed the black cord sword, and wanted to pull it out…

Shen Leng’s left hand pressed his right wrist down and exerted all his strength. The black cord sword cut through his shoulder at a slanted angle and sliced out of his left rib. A part of his upper body was sliced off and fell onto the ground. Blood gushed out of his thoracic cavity immediately. It was an extremely bloody sight.

He collapsed to the ground with only one arm, a head and half a chest. At this moment, Meng Da was not dead yet. He looked at the bloodied black cord sword and thought about how he used to have one.

He closed his eyes slowly. So this was how death felt. The moment he closed his eyes, he felt as though he saw himself in the military uniform, with a red combat soldier emblem embroidered on his chest.

After Shen Leng killed two people consecutively, he went behind the tree. The people who pounced over from a distance to provide assistance lifted their repeating crossbows and continuously released their arrows. Pew pew pew. One by one, the arrows shot right into the tree trunk. If Shen Leng was a tad slower, he would have been shot by the arrows.

Nie Yuan gripped his sword and charged over from afar. He crouched down and looked at Meng Da who was slashed into two by him. And looked at Gao Hai who was lying not far away on the ground. His eyes were as red as Shen Leng’s.

“Found him!”

Nie Yuan stood up abruptly. His hand was trembling. It was anger that could not be suppressed.

“Yes!”

Li Can, Yue Shanfeng and Song Lei moved together – one in front, and two behind. They had their guard up while they bent their bodies forward while holding their repeating crossbows. As for Nie Yuan, he jumped onto a big tree and swiftly climbed to the highest point before squatting down and sweeping his gaze all around.

Below the tree, the three fellas, who used to be scouts, moved at a speed that was not very fast. This was because they knew that the other party was here to take revenge. It was a blood feud. He was not going to rest till he killed them all.

And right now, the three of them were acting as the bait. When their opponent appeared, the battalion commander would shoot his arrow too. The other party would definitely get shot to death!

This was the trust they had in Nie Yuan.