Walking the Ten Thousand Daos

Chapter 10: Assault

What’s going on!?

Why are there over a dozen people missing!?

Losing two or three might be possible but over a dozen, nearly twenty? How could that be!?

“Stay sharp, something’s wrong!” He immediately turned back to the haulers and shouted, his voice loud, no longer concerned with stealth!

Almost at the same moment, a muffled thunderclap rang out in the air.

A boulder weighing over five hundred jin came hurtling from a dark corner at astonishing speed, so fast it made the air itself groan from the pressure!

Then, it crashed directly into the crowd!

Crack! Crack! Crack! Crack! The sound of tendons snapping and bones breaking rang out in succession, just like a boulder launched from a catapult striking its mark.

Agonized cries filled the air. In an instant, four or five men spewed blood from their mouths, clearly beyond saving. About ten others were caught in the impact, suffering injuries of various degrees.

“Form up!” Lu Shan roared, then leapt forward, charging toward the spot from where the stone had come.

At once, a second boulder howled through the air!

Lu Shan met it from the side. At the last possible moment, he lashed out with a kick, sending the rock skidding off to the side, where it smashed into the ground.

The haulers, having been stunned at first, now snapped back into action.

Following the formation Lu Shan had taught them, they grouped up in units of ten, with the extras forming a second line, creating a strange but organized formation.

Lu Shan, meanwhile, rushed forward and shoved aside a thin wall made of wooden planks.

And there, he saw a man over eight chi tall, so hulking he scarcely resembled a human, more like someone whose muscles had been inflated like a balloon.

He had never seen such a physique.

Most importantly, through the faint ambient light, he could vaguely make out the man’s face.

It was Li Qi.

Li Qi!? What was he doing here!?

And how had he become like this!? Wasn’t he only about seven chi tall before? His build had just been well-proportioned at best, when had he become so massive!?

But Li Qi, seeing Lu Shan enter, grinned broadly and spoke: “Big Strong Shan, didn’t expect this, did you?”

Lu Shan froze.

Li Qi seized the moment of distraction and launched a sneak attack.

With a wild charge like a mad bull, he slammed into Lu Shan, sending him flying.

But what surprised Li Qi was, his sneak attack had failed!

The two burly men collided but Li Qi felt the impact zone oddly light and floating, lacking the solid sensation of a true hit.

Lu Shan, however, soared backward, retreating far away. He used the momentum to roll twice, dissipating the force, then stood and returned to the formation of haulers.

Then he looked at Li Qi.

In that flash of insight, Lu Shan immediately grasped the situation.

A dozen men missing… Most likely, they’d been ambushed and captured by Li Qi along the way!

That strike just now must’ve had at least six thousand jin of force. Even he couldn’t match that.

A spell technique, this had to be a spell technique!

Could it be that very one he’d been guarding!?

“Li Qi is right there! Kill him!” he roared, his voice even cracking from the force: “Use what I taught you! We’ve got over twenty men, he’s just one!”

With that, Lu Shan led the charge himself, rallying dozens to storm toward Li Qi.

As for Li Qi, everything was still within his expectations.

Lu Shan had sent men to kill him tonight. That fact alone spoke volumes.

So, he had faked being wounded without hesitation but had also deliberately let it be known that he was still alive.

Lu Shan wouldn’t let him live. He would definitely bring the Strong-Force Gang to kill him.

A single spell technique, anyone could guess how much it was worth. Normally, the authorities could suppress the three-way gang rivalry, but with a spell technique in the mix, the authorities wouldn’t be able to keep the balance anymore.

Besides, the Strong-Force Gang had always been strong.

They were already the most powerful of the three gangs. Lu Shan had long harbored ambitions and watched the others with hungry eyes.

On top of that, he was smart and strong. Before Li Qi arrived, the Wave-Breaking Gang had been having a rough time. Even the Water-Horse Gang had it bad. It was only because the two of them together could barely hold balance that they hadn’t been crushed.

The only reason the Wave-Breaking Gang hadn’t been steamrolled was that they could operate in water, once submerged, the Strong-Force Gang couldn’t do anything. As for the Water-Horse Gang, they were thick-skinned and durable. Though lacking offensive strength, they were more than capable of defending themselves.

After Li Qi joined, he had repeatedly foiled Lu Shan’s schemes, which was how he had risen to become the Wave-Breaking Gang’s number two.

So when it came to Lu Shan’s personality and likely actions, Li Qi believed he understood him well.

Lu Shan wouldn’t wait quietly. He wouldn’t give Li Qi time to slowly comprehend the divine will inheritance.

He wouldn’t even wait until the next day, because by then Li Qi might have fled.

Lu Shan likely thought Li Qi would go into hiding to comprehend the technique in secret, then return once he had mastered it. At which point, he’d have the power to stand against him again.

That’s why Li Qi was certain Lu Shan would act decisively, strike while he still knew Li Qi’s whereabouts, and eliminate the threat before it grew.

Thus came Li Qi’s motto: “Strike first to seize the initiative.”

If Lu Shan could act decisively, why couldn’t he?

After all, he had already mastered Bull Strength Art!

So, he had preemptively traveled through a tributary of the Li Prefecture and infiltrated the Strong-Force Gang’s camp.

Originally, he had planned to launch a night raid and assassinate Lu Shan.

But unexpectedly, he had run right into Lu Shan leading an assault team.

From there, everything unfolded naturally. He stealthily tailed them, and whenever a straggler fell behind, he pounced and snapped their neck.

Under the power of Bull Strength Art, it took less than a second, and no one made a sound. It was like wringing the neck of a baby chick.

He trailed them for over ten minutes. By then, he’d already burned through the second usage of the technique and had refreshed it for the third time, silently killing over a dozen people.

This third time was the final opportunity of the day. Just ten more minutes.

So, Li Qi decided to strike.

He found two boulders, launched his assault to seize the initiative, and in his sneak attack, killed another four or five, only then was he discovered!

Watching the enemy shrink from over forty to just a little more than twenty, nearly half lost, Li Qi bared a ferocious grin. Two white jets of breath puffed from his nostrils, conspicuous in the winter air. With his flushed red skin, he looked utterly terrifying.

Seeing Lu Shan still dare to lead the charge, Li Qi launched a counter-charge without hesitation!

Like a mad bull, every step he took cracked the earth, booming like thunder!

Where did they find the courage to clash head-on with him?

Right now, his skin was thick and impervious, knives and spears could not pierce him, even a dagger wouldn’t go in. His strength surpassed that of a bull, measuring at 6,800 jin of raw brute force, enough to lift a small car with ease!

In his own estimation, he believed that with this charge alone, he could probably ram down two whole layers of fortress walls.

With such power, his wild rush sent tremors through the haulers’ hearts. They couldn’t suppress the terror rising from their cores.

But then, they suddenly realized something:

They couldn’t stop charging.

It was as if a rope bound them, tying their bodies into a single unit through some strange formation, forcing them to function as one. Under Lu Shan’s lead, they surged forward with a resolve to be smashed to pieces, and rammed straight toward the mad bull in front of them!

(Chapter End)