Chapter 109: Black Feathers And Red Crests
Translator: Ninetales Editor: Fish Creek
The disciples of Dragon Rider Sect had already kept watch at the front, waiting to clean up the people that had slipped through the net!
The snakes spreading out everywhere over the hills and dales slithered forward. The scene caused their hairs to stand on end. Wei Yong's expression turned pale white and muttered, "What's the capital city doing? All kinds of demons and monsters had come running out, where are the guards of the capital city?"
At this moment, a booming sound suddenly came from the capital city. Qin Mu's heart moved slightly and immediately grabbed Hu Ling'er and placed her into his backpack and whispered, "Fall back!"
Wei Yong fell back at once and just as the two of them retreated three hundred yards away, the snakes suddenly began to stir restlessly as if they had suffered an extreme shock and slithered frantically over to them! Other than the snakes, the disciples of Dragon Rider Sect also got into a panic and jumped on the heads of the snakes. The huge snakes slithered like they were flying as they pounced on Qin Mu and his friends!
"Back to back!"
Qin Mu cried out and Wei Yong understood and immediately came back to back with him. Taking down the sword case on his back slamming it heavily onto the ground, Wei Yong closed both his hands and each hand had two fingers joined together as he clutched his sword secrets. His sword case opened up and swords rose up one after another with the tips of the swords facing down.
With a sword hum, the swords separated and circled around Qin Mu and him, the sword's tips spinning rapidly outwards!
Qin Mu was astonished. This move from Wei Yong wasn't taught by the school and was much more intricate compared to the sword skills cultivated by the scholars in the school. It should be a sword skill passed down through his family. Wei Yong had said that the Wei Family was a reputable family in River Tomb and it seemed that he wasn't bragging about it.
The snakes swarmed over and Qin Mu's vital qi burst forth. Golden rings appeared both in front and behind him and sword lights came shooting out towards the huge snakes and the disciples on the snakes' heads that were swarming over!
This was a skill that he had learned in the ancient temples of Border Dragon City. It was like divine arts yet it was not divine arts. Its attack power was not weak, and once the huge snakes were injured by the golden sword light, they would avoid them and slither away to one side. Meanwhile, the disciples of Dragon Rider Sect were disrupted by his sword light and had no time to attack back.
These people and snakes didn't seem to be attacking them and looked more like they were trying to escape. However, there were simply too many snakes that were swarming over and it was also hard for Qin Mu to avoid all the huge snakes. These huge snakes swarmed over like flood and were about to inundate the both of them!
Wei Yong cried out loudly and his flying sword revolved around the both of them rapidly to slice at the snakes that were swarming over. With flames and sparks fizzing, huge snake's scales flew around from getting sliced and there were even huge snakes that had their flesh sliced open, looking very miserable.
The pressure on Wei Yong suddenly increased, making it hard for him to withstand it. Qin Mu immediately changed his move and with his palms intersecting each other, his vital qi was like a huge raging river as it turned into currents and crashed into the huge snake's bodies. In his backpack, Hu Ling'er executed spells and raised tornadoes which swept up the huge snakes.
The pressure on the two people and one fox grew larger and larger and at this moment, the booming sound grew closer. Huge birds with black feathers and red crests sprinted among the mountain like they were flying. These huge birds were like moving hills and their beaks were several yards in length. Walking in the forest were like walking in the bushes to them. Their sharp claws shattered the mountain rocks and their huge beaks pecked on the huge snakes, swinging them in all directions!
On the back, the birds stood five to six soldiers with quivers on their waist and longbows on their hands. They continuously shot at Dragon Rider Sect's disciples who got swung away and every disciple who got swung off the snake's head would instantly become a hornet's nest!
With the quivers at their waists, they didn't need to stretch behind to retrieve their arrows and only need to lower their hands to pick up another arrow to shoot, therefore their shooting speed was extremely fast.
The huge birds charged around violently and dispersed the snakes. As their huge bird claws came down, they could grab onto the huge snakes and the sharp claws would stab deeply into the huge snakes' bodies and tear the red crown snakes apart.
The flock of birds chased the snakes until they reached Qin Mu and his friends. Wei Yong exclaimed in delight, "It's the bow and arrow cavalry of the capital city's guards!"
The flock of birds soon reached in front of them as they sprinted over. When the few archers saw Qin Mu and Wei Yong, they were startled and pull the reins at once to make the huge black feathers and red crest birds avoid them. They then shouted loudly, "There are still scholars alive. Everyone be careful not to crash into the scholars!"
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh! Huge flags along with the flagpoles came shooting down from the back of the birds and stuck in front of Qin Mu.
"Splendid abilities!"
The few soldiers on the back of the bird exclaimed in admiration when they saw Qin Mu's palm skills and Wei Yong's sword skills, "To be able to survive from the ambush of Dragon Rider Sect's snakes, these scholars indeed have some abilities!"
When the flocks of birds charging behind saw these flags, they immediately detoured to both sides and avoided Qin Mu and the rest.
After some time, the flock of birds and the snakes all left far away. Qin Mu let out a sigh of relief and Wei Yong who was behind him put his flying swords back into his sword case. Slumping down on the ground, he panted heavily. Qin Mu looked back and saw huge beasts fighting fiercely in the forest. The huge snake was like a dragon turning and twisting in the woods with terrifying impetus. The young sect master of Dragon Rider Sect Long Jiaonan must have met with the bow and arrow cavalry and ended up fighting.
A moment later, the follow-up troops from the capital city slaughtered their way over. The ones who were here this time were the sword guards. As the sword pellets rose into the sky, their radiance was blinding and ten of thousands of flying swords shot downwards, causing great casualties to Dragon Rider Sect. Long Jiaonan brought her huge snake and retreated with countless of smaller sized snakes which slithered onto the huge snake's body. Many of the Dragon Rider Sect's disciples rose into the sky and also landed on the huge snake's body.
The huge snake actually spat out a demon cloud with thunder and lighting, and rose into the air and rushed off. The sword guards chased after it. They soon left further and further away.
"Are there still scholars that have survived?" A voice asked in the forest.
"Yes, I saw two scholars just now!"
"There are only two scholars?"
The voice fell silent.
"Where's the ship from?"
"Should be from River Tomb County, the hometown of Imperial Preceptor…"
"Damn it! Dragon Rider Sect attacking the scholar's ship from River Tomb County was clearly to bring down the Imperial Preceptor's prestige. It's also our fault. We didn't guard it poorly… Follow me, let's go and meet the two scholars."
...
A moment later, a few huge birds sprinted rapidly over to Qin Mu and his companions. A high ranking military officer clad in armor jumped off the bird's back to look at Qin Mu and Wei Yong. With his booming voice, he asked, "Two scholars, do you know how many people were onboard."
Qin Mu didn't count precisely and hesitated for a moment, "About three to five hundred people."
The corners of the military officer's eyes twitched, "Three to five hundred scholars…"
Wei Yong immediately said, "General, there are many divine arts practitioners among the scholars that know how to fly. I saw many people flying out from the ship. They should have survived."
The general shook his head, "None of them survived. They were eaten by the flying snakes of Dragon Rider Sect in mid-air. You are the only two left…"
Wei Yong jumped in shock and looked towards Qin Mu. If it wasn't Qin Mu who had been quick-witted and threw him off the ship, he would have died on the ship. After throwing him down the ship, Qin Mu had brought him to step on the wind to rush down to the forest below. He was still bewildered at why Qin Mu hadn't continue sprinting in the air where it would be faster. Never would he think that all the scholars who were flying in the air were dead and only the two of them were left alive.
"Brother Qin, my life is given by you! From today onwards, you're my blood brother…"
Hu Ling'er was bewildered, "Fatty Wei, was it your parents who had given you life?"
Wei Yong immediately said, "Like a second parent, second parent! Little fox, don't always create trouble. I was about to say my heartfelt words and now I've completely forgotten after getting interrupted by you!"
The military officer was astonished, "Your surname is Wei? The Wei of River Tomb's Wei Family?"
Wei Yong nodded, "I'm indeed from River Tomb's Wei Family."
The military officer gave a sigh of relief and said, "You're really the family member of Duke Wei. Young Master Wei, Duke will definitely be happy to know that you're fine. This little brother's surname is Qin? Could it be the Qin of capital city's Qin Family?"
Qin Mu shook his head and smiled, "My Qin is not the Qin of capital city's Qin Family. I'm from Lizhou Prefecture."
The military officer said, "So you are from Lizhou Prefecture. May both scholars try to get to the capital city soon, Dragon Rider Sect has a great power and there might still be remnants. Anybody there? Send these two scholars to the capital city!"
A huge bird came over and the soldier on the back of the bird smiled, "May both scholars come up the bird."
Qin Mu and Wei Yong leaped onto the bird's back. They saw that the back of the bird was very wide and there was even a wide deck secured onto the bird's back for people to stand on.
This black feather and red crest bird strode and rushed towards the capital city.
The military officer let out another sigh of relief and muttered to himself, "Duke Wei is a first ranking high official of the Imperial Family. Lucky his family member is fine or else my official position would be at stake… The other youth with the surname Qin is not from Qin Family? His clothing looks pretty good and his power is also extraordinary. Only powerful families can train out such a remarkable child. Could it be that Lizhou Prefecture has another Qin Family?"