Cunning General Si Ning
Chapter 252: Climb

Chapter 252: Climb

"Take a rope and tie it securely around your waist, I want ten groups in total, choose strong men to stand in the middle of each group and a born leader to stand at the front, a light person to stand at the back, those strong men in the middle will have the power to pull those at the back in case they slip while the others pull them up, the leader at the front have to check where he steps on." Si Ning instructed as he watched one of his men handing over ropes. "All of you have to strap your bows and arrows and be ready to bring them forth so each step must be stable and it must count!"

"Yes General!"

The reserved force was no small soldiers, they were the best of the best hand-picked from his army, they could use swords to fight accurately, bows and arrows to shoot their target down, precise throwing of a spear, fast use of dagger and this team formed as the reserved force would be where Commanders were chosen so they were the best in the army, they do not go to war, they were always needed for special operations which involve being a spy, sneaking around, being an assassin, getting information, blending in with the crowd, being born actors because they could act any role in terms of getting information and they do work in pairs, never alone.

The mountain was bare with no sign of vegetation, the base of the mountain wasn’t that smooth, it could be walked on as long as they watch their steps but Si Ning knew it wouldn’t be like that when they get to the top of crossing to the other side, the mountain was the only thing blocking Si Ning from his enemy and he couldn’t wait so he clenched his fist till his shaky hand was stable.

"Demons are not real so whatever animal may be lurking on that mountain we will bring it down!" Si Ning told them. "The climbing may be tough but you will scale through, I will see you all at the end of the mountain." He ended his instructions.

"Yes General!"

Si Ning gave out his orders then he moved over to Yi Chen who was tying a rope around his waist, he was at the front of a group of nine to make it ten, he nodded at Yi Chen then turned to Jiang ChenMu who was also going to lead a group of ten, Xiao Pei who held Si Ning’s bow and arrow secured himself to stand at the back of Si Ning because his only purpose was to protect Si Ning while Song was attached to stand at the back of a strong soldier and behind him was another soldiers, they were the two soldiers that had no group, they were the smallest group of five.

"Please let me stay behind you." Song Feng told Si Ning when Si Ning came to stand in front of him.

Si Ning didn’t say a word, he had no interest in replying to Song Feng, he tied the rope between the soldiers and Song Feng to secure them together, and Song Feng sandwiched into the middle, Song Feng might be a disturbance to Si Ning but he had proved useful in using his medical skills to treat Si Ning so the Empress wasn’t about to lose him because Song Feng was no soldier so he would never have the stamina like others and he was likely to get tired first that was the purpose of him being in the middle so in case of any slip the soldier in front of him and at the back would rescue him. Si Ning would have loved to put Song Feng into a larger group but when the groups were forming it was Song Feng that kept shifting, isolating himself and not sticking to a group while watching him from the corner of his eyes and immediately he saw the group Si Ning would be, he came flying and made sure they were in the same group.

They started to climb the mountain but before they got to the top the wide surface became narrower and the only path turned out to be walking on a thin path at the side of the mountain because the mountain was so high and if they tried to climb it vertically they might fall because just as Song Feng said, the surface was cold and slippery, the weather was also cold it was sipping through Si Ning’s cloth, the thin path wall surface had little holes in them as the same height of an average man’s shoulder which shows it must be what some climbers made so they could hold with their hands to prevent them from falling so they started walking at the edge, only few had gripping hook and it was unable to cut into the solid rock so it proved useless, it was almost like they were on a suicide mission because the air was now harsh hitting them on the face, each person trying to use the person at their front to block the cold and Si Ning that was at the front of all groups was feeling it sipping through his armour, his armour was now a cold plate he wanted to shiver but he couldn’t unless he was planning to shake and fall.

They had reached a high height that turning back was impossible but with each heavy step reminded Si Ning so much of his dream of trying to scale through in the heavy snow to meet his other-self. Each step it was almost at the tip of Si Ning’s lip to call out for them to turn and return but missing a few hours they might use to catch their enemy was what Si Ning doesn’t want so he gritted his teeth, watching each step, his eyes watering due to the wind, his vision blurry yet he couldn’t use his hand to wipe it because if he doesn’t grip the surface of the rock, he might lose balance yet he had to look down at where he should step on while he tried so hard to ignore looking past his feet because he would see how high they were and how scary it was.

"Ya...!" Someone shouted.

"Pull him up!" A command was yelled. "Pull!"

That was the third time someone had slipped on the mountain, the others couldn’t turn to look at the back so they could only wait and hear how the other pulled them up until they were all stable again.

"The others are slipping!" One yelled out.

"Seven in total, we can’t lose them!"

"Next group to them pull them up!" Si Ning yelled out at the top of his voice, he was about to lose a group. It was so cold yet he was sweating, his palms full of blistered made by the surface of the rock, he bit his lip regretfully because he couldn’t turn to look behind him even if he successfully does, there was no way he could see the group falling.

"Ya!"

"Ya!"

"Ya!"

"Grab!"

"Hold on!"

"Go... Pull!"

"Ya!"

"All safe!" The leader at the front of the group that was about to collapse yelled out.

Si Ning sighed in relief as they continued their climbing, the climbing was getting more dangerous, they were getting tired and there was no cave to rest so they had to keep going, Si Ning’s sweat entered his eye making his eyes itch, his hands were red due to the rock he was placing his hands on to grip firmly and finally after a few steps they rounded to a flat surface they could still walk with a slim chance of an accident of falling occurring. That was when they got the chance to wipe their sweat, some even sat down to catch their breath, Song Feng forced himself to move forward just to quickly grab Si Ning’s hands, which forced their group of five to untie their rope. Si Ning only watched as Song Feng brought out some medicine from his bag and a bandage. Si Ning didn’t say a word because he was tired and his hands really needs tending to, Ah Dai spent a lot of time giving him manicures and he could almost picture Ah Dai’s spirit crying just because Si Ning’s palm was bleeding a little from the cuts. Song Feng cleaned the wounds, wiping the palm gently and clean then he wrapped the bandage on Si Ning’s hands while Xiao Pei came forward to wipe Si Ning’s sweat with a handkerchief, during that process Si Ning noticed Song Feng’s palms were as bad as his but instead of Song Feng to treat his hands he moved over to treat Jiang ChenMu.

"Wooo wooooo wooooo hu...man!...." Si Ning’s eyes widened when he heard the inhuman voice, Song Feng stopped what he was doing, and eveybody jumped up, alert, and starting to look around for the source of the voice. Song Feng stopped bandaging Jiang ChenMu’s hands because he jumped in the front of Si Ning bringing out a dagger his other free hand extending protectively in front of Si Ning just to keep Si Ning from moving forward making sure Si Ning would be protected behind him. It was quite funny a bit to see a doctor acting like a guard.

"Woooo wooooo woooo hu..man... Yo..u dare! Yo..u die! eat!.. food Hu...mans... del...icious... meals... yo...u die!

o"

"General." Xiao Pei called softly because when he turned to Si Ning for instructions he was a bit surprised to see that Si Ning was smirking.