Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1784 - 1777: Duel on 2 Fronts

Chapter 1784: Chapter 1777: Duel on 2 Fronts

No time to think, Ichuan Fei opened fire while the Eastern Barbarians’ cavalry had already closed in on the group. Jiuyun Ying hurriedly readied his bow and arrows, but compared to invisible bullets, the Eastern soldiers were much more familiar with arrows. Seeing the opponent shooting arrows, they immediately ducked, dodging the arrows in the midst of galloping.

Although a general of the Wen Family, Jiuyun Ying’s military capabilities were not inferior to the Wu Family’s generals. He continuously shot arrows at the cavalry and successfully hit one.

The cavalry was incredibly fast; despite the snow impeding them, they maintained high speed. Soon, they got close to Jiuyun Ying, who immediately tossed aside his bow and drew his waist knife from his belt.

He focused and gathered Qi, followed by a sweeping strike, the force from the blade slicing through the air towards the cavalry, slicing off several horse legs in a row.

The horses neighed and fell, and the cavalry rolled into the snow. Jiuyun Ying’s performance made these Eastern soldiers realize he was not easy to deal with, so those who hadn’t been attacked quickly changed direction, distancing themselves from Jiuyun Ying.

However, those Eastern cavalry who had already fallen off their horses had no time to spare; they directly wielded their long knives and charged at Jiuyun Ying.

They were equipped with long blades over 1.2 meters, with a blade-to-handle ratio of approximately three to one, somewhat similar to the Miao Dao.

Logically speaking, Jiuyun Ying wouldn’t have the advantage with just the waist knife in terms of length, but being a cultivator, these Eastern soldiers were very cautious, not directly rushing in to slash blindly.

Elsewhere, the Eastern cavalry avoiding Jiuyun Ying kept busy; noticing Ichuan Fei and the others hiding behind, they began to maneuver and pulled out bows, shooting arrows towards them.

Responsible for protecting the three, Gaofeng Yang noticed a snow-covered grove nearby, so he waved his hand and loudly shouted, "Get into the woods, don’t stay here!"

At the same time, he was not idle either, pulling out his bow and arrows from his waist and began counterattacking. Although unable to effectively suppress the enemy’s firepower, it was at least better than not resisting.

If these cavalrymen realized the four couldn’t resist, they would immediately launch an assault.

In such a battle, the limitations of firearms were very apparent. After firing two shots, Ichuan Fei had no chance to reload, relying on Luzun Qian’s equally slow-loading crossbow.

In fact, anyone slightly familiar with firearms history knows, the appearance of guns didn’t effectively eliminate cavalry.

Cavalry was truly made obsolete with the emergence and widespread use of machine guns. Their rapid rate of fire erased the cavalry’s charge advantage, causing nomadic tribes to become adept at singing and dancing.

But it was proven that the appearance of guns did indeed change the battlefield’s dynamics. Because in the West Outer Heaven War a decade later, although the Demon Clan troopers were still passive against the Dongsheng cavalry, they gradually gained upper hand on major battlefields, eventually forcing the Dongsheng troops to retreat from West Outer Heaven entirely.

With scattered arrows shot over, although Gaofeng Yang was somewhat tense, he was not worried, as his armor was sufficient to efficiently block direct arrow shots, let alone long-range ones.

His only concern was the three entirely unarmored Ichuan Fei and the others; without protection, once hit, they’d likely bleed immediately.

In the snow, cavalry mobility was somewhat affected but still quite agile. Attracted by Gaofeng Yang, they didn’t attack Ichuan Fei and the others retreating to the woods but focused on firing at him.

Elsewhere, facing Jiuyun Ying with his waist knife, an Eastern soldier finally couldn’t restrain himself, initiating a probing attack. Confirming Jiuyun Ying had little magic reserve, other Eastern soldiers gathered courage, waving blades at Jiuyun Ying.

Jiuyun Ying indeed had limited magic reserves, which was why he hadn’t easily used Royal Dao techniques. According to East Continent’s cultivation standards, when cultivators lack magic power, they should first use magic to ensure their safety, not initiate attacks.

Thus, though Jiuyun Ying’s magic reserve could still power a few slashing strikes, he’d then be defenseless due to lack of magic, putting him in a passive state.

In an instant, both sides fought to a deadlock; Jiuyun Ying, facing the attack of enemy long knives, though disadvantaged in weapon and numbers, managed to block enemy attacks with deployed protective True Qi, even if he took a few hits.

Eastern soldiers had experience against cultivators like Jiuyun Ying. Their attacks were grand, aiming to hit Jiuyun Ying and deplete his protective True Qi, while cautiously retreating after each strike, maintaining distance from Jiuyun Ying.

Through seamless cooperation, when one retreated another would immediately fill the gap, leaving Jiuyun Ying overwhelmed and unable to mount effective counterattacks.

The Eastern soldiers’ approach was classic in East Continent, standard style against Ba Path cultivators, aiming to deplete the opponent’s magic reserves and stamina for eventual encirclement and kill.

Once Ichuan Fei and the others hid in the woods, Ichuan Fei immediately had Luzun Qian and Huayu Xuan load their guns. His arm was injured, so he couldn’t reload effectively, relying on the two of them.

Huayu Xuan clearly underwent systematic firearm operation training, quickly reloaded the gun, inserted the igniting powder, and passed the gun to Ichuan Fei.

Ichuan Fei said nothing more; he took the gun and rested it on a nearby branch, aiming at the roaming cavalry.

Since it was a smoothbore gun, its trajectory was extremely unstable, so Ichuan Fei wasn’t aiming at a single target before firing, but making sure they were clustered together to fire, thus maximizing hit potential.

Soon, he found an opportunity, pulling the trigger instantly. The gun fired with a deafening roar, hitting a horse directly on the head, sending it toppling without even a sound.

The cavalry, still reeling in the snow, didn’t have time to rise before being struck by an arrow from Gaofeng Yang, causing their body to cease moving, falling in the snow.

These were only light cavalry; riders lacked armor, most wearing leather armor, unable to block direct arrow shots, let alone powerful gun bullets.

The cavalry’s death made other riders realize the three in the woods were the main threat, so abandoning Gaofeng Yang, they charged at them.

The Eastern cavalry targeting Ichuan Fei and the others wasn’t surprising; firstly, leaving these three unchecked posed too great a threat. Importantly, none of them wore armor and appeared unlike cultivators, seeming easily handled.

Gaofeng Yang strained to shoot arrows in obstruction, but faced with galloping cavalry, his attacks resembled suppressive fire, unable to hit the enemies.

Ichuan Fei remained calm, seeing Luzun Qian had finished reloading. He snatched the gun, rested it on the branch again, and fired at the cavalry racing towards him.

Ironically, the shot roared impressively but missed, the bullet whisking past the cavalry’s scalp.

Though, it wasn’t Ichuan Fei’s fault, as the smoothbore gun rarely hit, hitting consistently would be odd.

However, as the cavalry neared, Gaofeng Yang finally showed prowess, pulling out multiple arrows, quickly shooting at the cavalry. Each arrow hit, knocking down a rider.

The cavalry fell off their horses one by one into the snow, writhing painfully, while the unattended horses stopped and stood still.

"Seize those horses, we have tools now!" Gaofeng Yang shouted towards the woods while pulling out more arrows from his quiver.

Under Ichuan Fei’s direction, Luzun Qian and Huayu Xuan stumbled out of the woods towards the horses. Meanwhile, Gaofeng Yang kept shooting until all cavalry ceased moving.

While Gaofeng Yang achieved victory there, Jiuyun Ying also began making breakthroughs. These Eastern soldiers couldn’t maintain patience, resorting to brute force attack. As a result, Jiuyun Ying abandoned defense for total counterattack, taking a few hits before successfully slaying all Eastern soldiers.