A man cladded in black armour, with robes swaying to the impact, had stepped forwards. His every movement brought a heavy indent to the ground. This man's figure was masculine. His robes were tight around his body, and his hair blew in the wind.
Pei Ming gave a handsome smile, the kind that would charm ladies from miles away.
By his waist, he'd drawn his sword.
Without mercy, he pointed it at the ghost soldiers. "How many of you guys want to die—I mean, turn into ashes...?"
The ghost soldiers were a bit stunned. Where did this man come from-
They were interrupted, as a huge force directly pummelled them into the dust. "What-" a ghost soldier was caught by the ankle and flipped upside down. A pair of callous hands gripped onto his face, and a pair of inquiring eyes examined him.
"Hm... not pretty." Pei Ming discarded that ghost, then slashed him into ashes.
He turned around at the other ghost soldiers, "All of you are unpleasing to the eyes." He scowled. Then, his sword spun in his grip, and he dashed through the summit of ghosts.
One by one, ghost soldiers were slain by his sword. Pei Ming's running figure gradually became something to fear of by the ghost soldiers. His silhouette danced vividly, underneath the silver butterflies' light. Pei Ming blocked ten swords at once, then delivered ten blows simultaneously, killing the group of ghost soldiers.
"He's... really strong." Wei Wuxian felt speechless.
Xie Lian glanced at him, and smiled cheekily, "He is a General and a Martial God."
Meanwhile, Pei Ming turned to look at the army that he was protecting. The Qinghe Nie disciples were all crowded into a small huddle. They didn't dare to step forwards, but also didn't dare to step down. With their puny amount of courage, they looked at the General.
"Huh?" All of a sudden, dissatisfaction fell all over Pei Ming's face.
His eyes were brimming with mockery, as he scowled, "What are you all doing in the back?"
The Qinghe Nie disciples shuddered.
Pei Ming began to move towards them. Every step caused the ground to shake, making the disciples double over from imbalance.
"You're telling that this entire time, you have not brandished your swords and fought like true warriors?" The sword that Pei Ming held had broke in half. Xie Lian had to toss him a second sword to use.
The look in Pei Ming's dark and handsome eyes was truly—scary.
"I have never seen such impudence and cowardice." Pei Ming sneered. He pointed his sword at the skies, which were swarmed in silver butterflies. "You are soldiers. Whether you die or not, whether I die or not, we always fight. Because on the battlefield," Pei Ming raised his voice, "Your cowardice doesn't matter to the enemies!"
The Qinghe Nie disciples flinched.
"Do you think that the enemies will find you pitiful if you cry to them?!? Will they stop and spare you? No, they won't!" Pei Ming threw his second sword on the ground angrily, resulting it to snap in half.
Xie Lian threw him a third one, "Please don't break this one, General..."
Pei Ming ignored the Crown Prince, and shot an ugly glare at the Qinghe Nie disciples. "On the battlefield, you will sacrifice your lives for your clan! I'm not that nice of a person to sacrifice my own life for your war." He turned around, with his handsome cape flying up in the air. A ghost soldier had sneaked up behind him, throwing a claw at him.
Pei Ming indifferently slashed that ghost into shreds.
"If you're not a coward, then fight!" He left those words behind, then rushed to the battlefield. Every ghost soldier that met his sword had been slain.
Puffs of ashes had flown up in the air.
In the back, the Qinghe Nie disciples were still shaken to the core. They are cowards... but they really don't want to die...!
"AHHHHH!!!!!" All of a sudden, a Qinghe Nie disciple rushed out from the crowd. His eyes were bloodshot, and his cheeks were flushed in red. His hair wildly danced to the crackling music of death, and his footsteps left indents in the crippled ground.
"CHAAARGE!" That disciple ignored all signs of incompetence, and raised his sword.
Behind him, a few more disciples gathered. They all ran together, with their swords unsheathed. "CHAAARGE!!!" They called afterwards.
More and more disciples raced into the battlefield. They were all moved.
The three couples were stunned.
Wei Wuxian sighed, "It seems like Nie-xiong hasn't trained them that well. The blood of cowardice runs in their veins after all."
Lan Zhan patted him on a shoulder. "Mn."
Luo Binghe wiped away a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Hmph, but those dumb disciples are doing better than expected."
A ghost soldier and Qinghe disciple duelled it out. Their swords clashed against one another, with their bloods rushing to their heads. This was the thrill of the battlefield...! The Qinghe Nie disciple threw a kick at the ghost soldier's abdomen, with his grey robes flailing in the air.
The ghost soldier was thrown off his feet.
A sword stabbed straight through his face, and cracks gradually formed over his body. Then, the ghost soldier turned to ashes.
"FIGHT FOR QINGHE NIE! FIGHT FOR QINGHE NIE!" The disciples yelled.
Their chaotic voices had overthrown the battlefield. The ghost soldiers did not recede, and only more forces added. The troop of five thousand ghost soldiers had increased to ten thousand.
The sounds of weapons clashing against one another had exploded. Metallic sparks had brightened up the night, as blood sprayed all over the battlefield. Pei Ming swung his sword around his wrist. It was so fast that only past-images were left behind.
He cut the heads of several ghost soldiers down.
The three couples had also rushed into the battlefield. Shen Qingqiu slashed his Xiuya sword, preventing any of the ghost soldiers to get close to his lover; the Demon Lord.
Luo Binghe just pitifully clutched onto his Shizun's sleeves.
A white figure spun in the air. It was Lan Zhan, with his merciless sword, Bichen. He gave two slashes, which obliterated fifty ghost soldiers at the same time. Wei Wuxian unsheathed Suibian, assisting his lover in the battle.
Xie Lian avoided many ghost soldiers' attacks. While they weren't anticipating it, he gave them a strike of his palms!
The ghost soldiers recoiled in shock—then burst open from inside. Their fleshes splattered onto the ground, squirming around, as if still alive, just like maggots and worms. Hua Cheng naturally found it disgusting. With a disapproval look from his crimson red eyes, the flesh and blood vanished into ashes.
The number of ghost soldiers increased. More and more of them had spilt onto the battlefield. There were at least 20,000 of them...!
And those ghost soldiers had all changed towards one person... Pei Ming!
The General's face turned colour, as he was knocked off his feet. In an instant, he was swallowed by the swarm of ghost soldiers. The disgusting sensation of metal clashing against metal had overwhelmed him. The ghost soldiers had thrown their claws at him, with their drool and bloodshot eyes washing upon him.
Pei Ming scrunched up his face in disgust.
He dodged to the left, but a ghost soldier had clamped down his jaws on his arm. A trickle of blood had spilled down from the General's limb.
Pei Ming clicked his tongue on the roof of his mouth. He attempted to shake off the ghost soldier, but another one grabbed his other arm. The force had almost swept Pei Ming off of his feet. He glared at the two ghost soldiers, then sneered.
All of a sudden, a sword had stabbed at Pei Ming's abdomen. The blade didn't manage to stab onto any flesh. Instead, it came in contact with the General's armour.
The General snickered, "Did you think that you could kill me so easily?"
He mustered up spiritual energy, then finally swung a ghost soldier off of his arm. Taking his released arm, he grabbed onto the other ghost soldier, breaking his jaw in one swift motion.
Pei Ming threw a punch at the ghost soldier, blowing it into merely pieces of flesh.
The defeated ghost soldiers had dissipated into ashes.
He turned to look at the remaining ghost soldiers—a large amount of twenty-thousand. Pei Ming sneered, then brandished his sword once again.
Meanwhile, Wei Wuxian was dodging attacks after attacks. His red and black robes had a thread missing, with a cut left on his cheeks. Lan Zhan was in no better shape either. The two cultivators fought against the ghost soldiers, who didn't seem to be backing down anytime soon.
A large gash had torn into Wei Wuxian's arm. The latter had shook off the injury, leaping around the battlefield to avoid his enemies.
All of a sudden, he felt the ground shake. At that moment, Wei Wuxian knew that something grand was about to happen. To have the ground shake was no easy feat. Upon his arrival from earlier, Pei Ming only made the ground shake temporarily.
This time, the ground was shaking on and on and on...
It never seemed to stop!
"...what is going on?" Wei Wuxian was surprised. Could this be another earthquake? However, he dismissed that idea, since he already knew the history behind the first one that occurred.
The sound of footsteps—no, not footsteps. It was the sound of hooves.
In the distance, a calamity of dust poured past the battlefield. The sound of horses neighing at the spilt blood, sweat, and screams, had intensified. Horses continued charging forwards, trampling several ghost soldiers over. Wei Wuxian almost got trampled over as well.
However, it was as if the horses recognized the disciples.
The horses narrowly avoided all of the Qinghe Nie disciples, and only focused on trampling the ghost soldiers. A stampede concurred.
Wei Wuxian lost his balance. He watched how thousands of horses raced past him, with only their past images flickering before his eyes. The ground didn't stop shaking. It was as if the earth bounced up and down, heaving like a beating heart.
The Yiling Patriarch tripped and fell-
He was swept off his feet. Something moving, warm, and alive had enveloped his body. Wei Wuxian was wide-eyed, as he laid on top of a familiar person—sorry, not person.
"Little Apple!" Wei Wuxian blurted.
The donkey gave a happy screech, "NEIGH!"
Wei Wuxian rode Little Apple, and the two narrowly avoided all of the other racing horses. Controlling their directions, Wei Wuxian rode over to his husband. "Get on!" With no hesitation, Lan Zhan flipped onto the donkey, sitting right behind his lover.
Lan Zhan's figure was more masculine and towering, compared to Wei Wuxian's. This way, he seemed to be protecting the back of his lover.
"Where did all of these horses come from?" Lan Zhan questioned.
In his own little corner, Pei Ming defended himself from the ghost soldiers' slashes. Their swords were automatically deflected by the General. Their skills and speed were superb. Not even the naked eye could follow after their movements.
Pei Ming's sword had withstood against fifty, then deflected them all at the same time.
The General couldn't help but sweat. He'd been fighting against the ghost soldiers for so long, but it still felt like nothing was happening...
The sound of hooves had crashed in the horizon.
Pei Ming sighed. Why is there a stampede of horses all of a sudden?
Out of nowhere, the scent of bamboo and the dwelling of dew had winded around. It was humid, with warmth suffusing in the earth. A clear lull had chimed in the surroundings. The dirt, blood, scrapes, and pain had all faded away into nothingness.
The sound of wheels croaking had bypassed the crowd.
Indeed, a carriage began to row past the running waters of land. A black ox walked forwards. Many ghost soldiers tried to ounce at the ox, but there was a spiritual barrier preventing them from doing so.
From the carriage, an elegant woman jumped off. She landed lightly on the ground, resembling a feather. A green bamboo hat draped over her obsidian black hair, like a basin splashing water over itching grass. The woman stood poised, with her verdant green robes remaining aloof to the chaos of war. An old scar was ripped across her neck, but it had long faded into merely scabs.
Yushi Huang looked at Pei Ming, who was on his last stand.
The Lord Rain Master said without batting an eye, "Need a ride?"
Author's Little Theatre:
How do you feel about 「Lord Rain Master」「The Princess Who Slit Her Throat」「Yushi Huang」?
Shen Qingqiu: ...why does she have so many aliases?
Luo Binghe: She wears green, just like Shizun
Shen Qingqiu: ๏̯͡๏ No shit, Sherlock
Luo Binghe: Who's Sherlock?
Shen Qingqiu: (• ◡•)
Wei Wuxian: Shen-xiong, you also have a lot of aliases.
Shang Qinghua: I can testify! There's Peerless Cucumber, Cucumber Bro, Qing Jing Peak Lord, Peak Master Shen, Shizun, Shen Qingqiu, Shen Jiu, and Shen Yuan—
Xie Lian: She is a kind woman who lent me her artifact during my most desperate times.
Pei Ming: Lord Rain Master... she...
Pei Ming: ( ͡👁️ ͜ʖ ͡👁️) sHe'S nOt LiKe OtHeR gIrLs, hO Ho hO