Beginning with the Ubume Bird

Chapter 56: Breakthrough (1)

Although Interpreter Song’s words may have seemed absurd at first, all of them had indeed run into something supernatural over the night, so they had no choice but to believe it. After all, the hut and the woman had both vanished without a trace overnight. This couldn’t be explained with normal logic.

But what Interpreter Song could not figure out was why this Ming Commander seemed so suddenly and deeply interested in Joseon folklore and mythology as he peppered him with questions as they journeyed.

He seemed especially interested in the old wives tales and legends of rogue spirits and deities that circulated in the villages. There was nothing concrete about those stories, but he still did not grow tired of them after asking multiple questions.

There were hardly any problems in their journey after they left Haengju Mountain.

Their small line of men was not a large target to begin with. With Wang Sheng and the rest scouting the area carefully, there were only a few occasions where they saw troops with banners carrying the family crest of various daimyos from afar. Other than a few frightened groups like these, there was no danger at all.

Until…

Will-o’-the-wisps dotted the entire expanse of hills in front of them, swaying in the air, while a bright moon hung above them in the night. From Li Yan’s foot until as far as his eye could see was an endless sea of corpses.

These bodies were mostly pierced by long spears or by arrows. Blood drained from the wood of the arrow or spear and dyed the ground in blood. The crows perched on the corpses did not leave even when they saw humans. Deng Tianxiong waved his long sword and scattered them in a flurry of black feathers.

Wars in the era of cold weapons were brutal. Just like using a blunt knife to break a person’s bones, it was brutal and hard to watch.

“Do we have a chance?”

Li Yan asked Wang Sheng.

Wang Sheng shook his head, crestfallen.

“Song, are you trying to make a fool of us?” Deng Tianxiong questioned rather angrily.

As Interpreter Song had said, the hills that lay in front of them weaved up and down endlessly. The only place where troops could be stationed were along the two main roads, each with only a few dozen troops stationed at a time. As long as they avoided the main roads, there should be little difficulty crossing the hills.

However, the reality was that the entire area was guarded carefully by the Japanese like a tightly sealed pocket. Just in the immediate surrounding area, Wang Sheng had scouted hundreds of Japanese. Li Yan looked ahead at the fires that lit up like a starry sky, and he feared there were at least a few thousand.

“I don’t know why it’s like that either. There’s no way there are normally this many people stationed here.”

Interpreter Song was panicking as well.

“Unless…” interrupted Li Yan, “the Ming Empire’s troops have come much sooner than we thought.”

Everyone was shocked by those words.

“Are you saying that this is the battlefront?”

Interpreter Song asked.

Li Yan squinted and pointed at the expanse of corpses in front of them.

“I think, once we cross these hills, we will be able to see the main camp of the Ming Army.”

It was clearly a situation that they had not expected, but with a few words from Li Yan, everyone was riled up once more.

“But how do we get across?”

Interpreter Song’s voice was dry. Just the sight of those corpses turned into porcupines by all those arrows made his skin crawl.

Li Yan patted him on the shoulders.

“We are simply crossing the hills, not fighting the Japanese. If we’re fast, it shouldn’t be that dangerous. We just need horses.”

Interpreter Song did not consider how true Li Yan’s words were, he simply asked the first thing that came to his mind.

“Where are horses?”

…

The Japanese soldiers around the fire laughed and talked loudly as they cleaned their armor, looking relaxed.

Not far from the camp, over thirty glossy brown war horses were tethered to posts.

“Commander Li, are you serious about this?”

Even Blind Diao, who was still unable to move and carried by another soldier, had an expression of shock.

“Remember what I taught you all. My life really is in all of your hands now.”

They looked at the clearly outlined, oval-shaped objects in their hands and swallowed. They nodded their heads seriously.

“Kill the men. Grab the horses. And steal the armor.” Li Yan said, pausing at each phrase for emphasis.

…

“This is boring. Anyone with any brains knows that there’s no way we could be attacked from behind.”

“Compared to patrolling, it’s much more comfortable to sit by the fire and play dice.”

“Hey Saito, you’ve lost, hahaha.”

“What…”

The man mumbled and fished for some copper coins out of his waist pocket. The coins had Chinese characters on them.

That’s right, these were copper coins from the Ming Empire. The Japanese didn’t have the expertise to forge their own copper coins.

Then, he saw something out of the corner of his eye and suddenly shouted, “Hey! who’s that?”

“Hey, are you trying to get out of paying us, Saito?” someone said unhappily, but was immediately prodded by another person next to him. The clashing sounds of metal against metal filled the air.

All of them looked cautiously.

A figure was approaching, his face blurred and his shadow stretched long.

“Is it that thing again?” said one of the soldiers, trembling.

“It’s already the third time. Should we report to the general?”

Every so often, horrifying monsters were born out of the corpses littered across the battlefield. Saito had encountered such a creature once, a walking corpse, decayed all over but with inhuman strength. It had killed and injured over a dozen soldiers before finally being slayed by the general himself.

There were also demons that fed on corpses, as well as a woman’s wails in the middle of the night. Saito had only heard of these monsters, but the stories were enough to cause his insides to freeze up.

“Hey Saito, go take a look.”

“You… you’re joking right? Bastard…”

A beam of moonlight shone on the approaching figure’s face. It was a man. The Japanese soldiers looked much more at ease.

“What is this?”

Saito walked over with his spear and waved the tip in front of the man’s chest.

“Hey, where are you from?”

One of the soldiers behind Saito saw the man’s arm move, revealing a glint of metal, and the soldier’s eyes widened in surprise.

Ring of Dragon slashed through the air, the tip of the sword just barely reaching Saito’s throat. Saito’s long spear could have easily pierced through the man’s chest from that distance, as the spear clearly had a longer attack range than a sword. However, by the time Saito had a chance to react, he was already clutching his throat and collapsing to the ground, his face distorted.

“Enemy attack!”

The soldiers cried, lighting and raising their torches into the air. A number of sleeping soldiers grabbed their swords and spears and leapt to their feet.

A soldier reached for his quiver, notched his bow, and aimed for the enemy, only to find that the enemy’s sword was already in front of his eyes.

The foe seemed almost inhuman, as his nimble footwork moved him around like a ghost. Every time the long sword swung through the air, blood was sure to follow.

“Shuuu!”

Eventually, an arrow managed to graze Li Yan’s scalp. There were several bows aimed at Li Yan, but by that time, the Ring of Dragon had already claimed five lives.

Li Yan’s sword pierced through a soldier who had not even managed to put on his armour yet. Immediately after, Li Yan turned and sped away. A few arrows landed where he was moments ago, but he was already out of sight.

“Is he a demon? How is he so fast?”

“It’s only one man!”

“Chase him!”

The soldiers got onto their horses, donning whatever armor they could and fastening the saddles. They hurriedly chased after Li Yan.

Some soldiers were quicker and not far from where Li Yan began his attack. Just as Li Yan decided to retreat, they got on their horses and gave chase.

Others, however, were just stirring from their sleep. They moved groggily and had not yet gotten to their horses.

The squad of dozens of people was separated just like that.

An inconspicuous object flew silently through the night air and into the crowd of soldiers.

“Bang!”

There was a large explosion, and shrapnel tore through each of the Japanese soldiers. Bits of flesh flew through the air and the panicked horses neighed loudly and stomped their hooves.

Grab the ring, pull, and throw!

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

The sound of explosions followed closely, loud enough to be heard for miles. The Ming soldiers stared in disbelief at the explosives, which were both easy to use and extremely lethal. But Deng Tianxiong knew that time is of the essence in the battlefield.

“Kill the men! Steal their armor! Grab the horses!”

…

The dust that was kicked up was like a long earthy dragon. The Japanese soldiers notched their arrows and drew their bows while on horseback.

“Shuu! Shuu! Shuu!”

The man in front of them was running at unbelievable speed, but their horses still caught up. Their arrows flew through the air before piercing through the grass and kicking up gravel.

“Thock!”

An arrow seemed to have hit the man’s neck. He fell onto his back and rolled down the hill!

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Over twenty riders rode down the slope. They frowned as they looked left and right, only to realize that they were sandwiched between high ground on both sides. As they pulled the reins of their horses to retreat, a few round objects with small flames flew towards them!

Earth and rock crumbled around them, and a cloud of dust covered the air.

The tremors had caused a landslide. Li Yan got to his feet with an arrow clenched between his teeth. There were beads of sweat on his forehead.

He spat out the arrow in his mouth and shouted towards Wang Sheng, who was running towards him.

“Strip their armor, we’re breaking through!”