Chapter Thirty-Seven: I Have a Little Sword

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Xu Tuibei was displaying an arrogance beyond all measure.

Yet not far below him, the western gate of the city had already fallen!

The Tibetans who had realized what was happening surged madly toward the gate below. Dozens of Tang soldiers were swallowed up within the space of a few breaths.

The gate collapsed with a thunderous crash. Yet the Tibetans outside did not immediately charge through into Black Sand City.

Dozens of Tang cavalrymen came racing from the far end of the road with the resolve to die. At their greatest speed, they hurled their long spears, their own flesh and blood, and even the warhorses beneath them into the mass of men.

Within the gateway, flesh slammed against flesh. Warhorses collided into grotesque shapes. Amid the thunder of crossbows, the ballista carts that had been brought over fired volley after volley without distinction between friend and foe, driving shattered bodies together with icy bolts of metal.

What chilled the blood of the Tibetans charging down from the walls was the sight of hundreds of Tang soldiers wielding Mo sabers surging back like a tidal wave.

For a time, the battle at the gate had actually become a situation in which the Tang forces outnumbered the enemy.

While the Tibetans on the western side cried out in astonishment and terror, unable to comprehend what was happening, the eastern gate on the opposite side of Black Sand City also fell.

The eastern gate was Black Sand City’s principal entrance and exit. Larger carriages usually passed through it, and the road beyond was the broadest avenue in the city.

The Tibetan vanguard that rushed through the eastern gate encountered almost no effective resistance.

The first group of Tibetan cavalrymen to enter with heavy shields saw only several campfires still smoldering along the avenue.

They swiftly spread out ahead and formed a defensive line.

The surging tide outside the city had suddenly found an outlet, and great numbers of cavalrymen poured toward the eastern gate.

Seeing no sign of a Tang counterattack, the shield-bearing Tibetan cavalry immediately continued advancing into the city. In an instant, they had pushed forward another mile.

The ease with which they had breached the city sent them into delighted howls and frenzied laughter.

After all, monsters like Xu Tuibei were not encountered every day.

Their ears were filled with thunderous hoofbeats.

Apart from the hoofbeats, there was not a sound to be heard.

The more horses they heard, the more excited they became.

What could possibly stop them from ravaging this city?

Suddenly, the Tibetans sensed that something was wrong.

Besides the hoofbeats behind them, even more seemed to be coming from ahead—from the alleys on either side of the street.

Countless warhorses, lacking even reins or saddles, appeared in their field of vision. Like swarms of headless flies, they rushed toward the Tibetans and hemmed them in until the soldiers were utterly at a loss.

The sky seemed to have grown redder and brighter.

A thin mist seemed to be rising throughout Black Sand City.

Pei Yunqu and Gu Liubai stood motionless atop a drying platform.

The granary had already begun to burn.

The damp grain did not produce a very large fire. Yet somehow, through means known only to Chen Tu and the others, the smoke was extraordinarily thick.

This was a signal arranged beforehand. Once smoke rose from the granary, numerous houses and alleyways throughout the city also began sending up plumes.

“Now we begin killing.”

Gu Liubai gazed at the Tibetan cavalry advancing along the avenue. “They have not yet established their footing. They will be easiest to kill once they are swept up in the smoke. We should target those wearing chain mail whenever possible. Those are the Tibetan officers. Do not linger—kill and move on. Lend me your sword for a moment. I have one of my own, but it would attract attention, so I did not bring it with me. Yours is light and nimble; it will let me advance and retreat quickly.”

Without a word, Pei Yunqu handed him her sword.

It was a famous blade.

The sword was the pride of the Luoyang swordsmiths, and it was called Shadow Azure.

Pei Yunqu liked it, though only because it was beautiful enough. The hilt and blade alike possessed a captivating luster.

It was also sufficiently valuable. The Luoyang forge had made no second sword like it, and it suited her status perfectly.

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But the sword was barely five feet long, delicate and almost feminine.

If she were to kill people on a battlefield like this, she felt that the sword was inferior to any saber she might pick up at random.

With every inch shorter came another inch of danger. If she possessed strength like Xu Tuibei’s, she would certainly obtain a Mo saber of her own.

Gu Liubai reached out with his left hand and took the sword.

The instant his fingers closed around the hilt, Pei Yunqu suddenly felt that his bearing was no longer the same as usual.

Smoke had begun spreading from the direction of the granary, advancing like the tide.

Gu Liubai quickened his pace.

He walked toward the approaching smoke, toward the avenue on the eastern side of the city.

All along the eastern avenue, the Tibetans shouted furious curses.

Large numbers of riderless warhorses split the Tibetan cavalry into scattered groups. Many of the soldiers even leapt from their mounts to drive the animals away.

People who spent their lives on horseback had many ways of herding warhorses.

But with the sudden surge of thick smoke, they could no longer distinguish the lead horses. The animals had clearly been tampered with, for they were exceptionally agitated, shoving and charging in every direction.

A Tibetan officer in silver chain mail, carrying a green spear, was choking so badly on the smoke that tears streamed endlessly from his eyes.

At that moment, he suddenly saw a young man appear ahead of him.

The youth covered his mouth and nose with a damp cloth. A strange green light glittered in his eyes.

In the space of a single dazed breath, the youth and the officer were already close enough to touch. Without the slightest hesitation, the officer thrust his spear at him like a bolt of lightning.

The spear struck nothing.

The force shuddering through the shaft punched a hole in the smoke.

Through that opening, the Tibetan officer saw Pei Yunqu.

Pei Yunqu, meanwhile, saw Gu Liubai transform into something like a cat.

With astonishing agility, he twisted aside and evaded the thrust. As the shaft swept across in the aftermath, the sword in his hand had already severed both of the officer’s hands.

The severed hands fell together with the spear. Gu Liubai sprang lightly into the air like a civet cat, and the blade drove viciously into the Tibetan officer’s eye socket.

She stared in shock as the officer collapsed. Two words surfaced in her mind:

“A little understanding.”

Three nearby Tibetans noticed something was wrong only when their officer fell from his horse. They rushed forward, waving their sabers.

Gu Liubai flicked out two blossoms of sword light and instantly stabbed two of them down. Pei Yunqu, following close behind, cut down the remaining man with two blows.

Even beneath the cover of smoke, the bright silver chain mail worn by Tibetan officers was easy to identify. Gu Liubai effortlessly selected his next target and charged toward him.

Six or seven Tibetans along the way were all pierced and felled by a single stroke each. Pei Yunqu followed behind him, their spurting blood splashing across her body.

Her expression was extraordinarily complicated.

In the space of a few moments, he had killed eight or nine men as easily as slaughtering chickens, including a fully armored Tibetan officer—and this was what he called merely having a little understanding of swordsmanship?

With her little sword, no less!

Yet the most shocked person of all was Li Xizhi, who followed close behind.

Li Xizhi and several colleagues had been positioned around Pei Yunqu the entire time.

Amid the smoke, they could not see the finer details of the movements, but they could tell that Gu Liubai’s footwork was unusual. Every step forward resembled a great leap, yet whenever he came to a halt, his movements became incredibly light. He advanced like wave after wave rolling toward shore, and behind each wave lay the corpses of minor soldiers.

The swordplay of the Canglang Sword Sect!

After studying under Guo Beixi for only two or three years, he had actually reached such a level?

To kill while strolling through a garden, advancing with such natural ease and confidence—how many people in the Canglang Sword Sect could do that?

But then they discovered another matter that was equally astonishing.

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They discovered that two officials from the Celestial Historians Bureau were clinging tightly to Pei Yunqu’s heels!

Those two officials from the Celestial Historians Bureau were actually charging forward behind Pei Yunqu and Gu Liubai with bare hands!

Since when had the officials of the Celestial Historians Bureau become so brave?

Neither of them looked as if they had mastered any formidable martial arts.

The two officials were suffering bitterly inside, but had no way to say so.

At first, each of them had picked up a weapon. But after trying to run along with swords and spears, they discovered that they could not keep up with Pei Yunqu and Gu Liubai. In the end, they had been forced to throw their weapons aside and continue after them empty-handed.

Their ferocity was terrifying!

Several Tibetans burst out of the smoke and suddenly saw two men in official robes charging toward them with nothing in their hands. They gave a frightened shout, turned, and fled.

By their understanding, among the Tang people, anyone who disdained even to use a weapon was generally terrifying. If such a person was wearing official robes, he was certainly a powerful cultivator.

If they did not run now, when would they?

Gu Liubai had already reached the second Tibetan officer in chain mail.

The officer had no time to think. His reaction was identical to that of the first Tibetan officer who had been killed: he shouted furiously, then thrust his spear like a dragon.

Then both his hands were severed.

Next, a sword was driven viciously into his left eye socket. Brains and blood burst from the wound, and he died in precisely the same manner.

Pei Yunqu’s face had grown dark with anger.

She was furious.

That bastard was a complete liar.

He had actually dared deceive her!

Had Gu Liubai known what was going through her mind at that moment, he would probably have admired her.

Even at a time like this, she still had the energy to sulk.

Truly, only the Pei family could produce such an otherworldly person.

The smoke grew thicker and thicker.

A Tibetan officer who had dismounted from his warhorse stared at the corpses on the ground, his brows drawing tightly together.

He realized that several men who killed with extraordinary speed must be somewhere nearby.

Just then, he heard the repeated sound of heavy objects striking the ground.

The instant he turned his head, he saw a woman in gray appear behind him like a ghost.

The Tibetan officer had only just reached for the hilt of his saber when it felt as though an ice block had been thrust into his throat.

“Was I stabbed?”

“What kind of sword is this?”

“What kind of cursed sword can move so quickly?”

Three thoughts flashed through his mind. Then he sank to his knees and died instantly.

Yin Shiniang, who had altered her figure so that her height was now much like that of an ordinary woman, walked past his side.

She, too, was following Gu Liubai.

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