Chapter 163: The Outbreak of War Between Song and Liao (Part III)

On the other side, Gao Qiu rode his horse at a gallop, occasionally looking back over his shoulder to check for pursuers. He had no choice; Liangshan's previous offensive had terrified him beyond measure.

Could the imperial court's most elite border troops ever match such momentum? Gao Qiu dared not say for certain. The very moment the two forces clashed, he knew the imperial army was bound to lose this battle!

If only Tong Guan could buy some time!

Thinking this, Gao Qiu whipped his horse again, wishing the beast could sprout wings and fly directly to the nearest town, where he might finally feel safe.

Yet, the next instant, a sudden sensation of weightlessness overtook him, and his whole body was sent flying. A massive net materialized before his eyes, expanding as it rushed toward him. The moment it contacted his body, it snapped shut instantly, binding him tightly.

He had fallen into a trap after all!

Gao Qiu closed his eyes, letting out a cry of pain as his body slammed hard against the ground. He had never imagined that Liangshan would go to such lengths just to capture him, even setting traps along these very paths!

When he fled, he had naturally avoided the main roads and taken the lesser-used trails instead. To be captured even here meant either that his movements had been calculated down to the finest detail, or that the enemy had laid snares across every single route available!

"Grand Marshal Gao, do you still recognize this humble monk?" a gruff voice demanded.

Gao Qiu opened his eyes to see a broad-shouldered, stout, bald monk! The Zen staff in the man's hand was pointed directly at his head; at the slightest sign of resistance from Gao Qiu, it would undoubtedly smash down.

"Master, now that I have been captured, Gao Qiu has nothing to say." He truly had no idea who this person was or what grievance existed between them. At present, the surest way to preserve his life was to be taken before Song Jiang. Since Liangshan desired amnesty, Song Jiang would never execute him.

"Hmph! If Brother Song Jiang hadn't explicitly forbidden it, I would take your dog's life right now to avenge my brother Lin Chong! Take him away!" With that, he commanded the surrounding lackeys to hoist Gao Qiu up, suspending him from a bamboo pole like a pig destined for the slaughterhouse.

As for Gao Qiu's personal bodyguards, they were simply killed on the spot. Liangshan only needed Gao Qiu; the rest were prisoners of no particular value.

Meanwhile, Liangshan had shattered the imperial battle array, pursued the enemy all the way, and breached the imperial encampment—a resounding and total victory.

However, after Lin Chong captured Tong Guan, Song Jiang issued strict orders to take the imperial soldiers captive rather than engage in excessive slaughter. After all, they were still pursuing amnesty; killing too many now would easily breed deep resentment in the future. Moreover, these men would eventually be needed to serve the country.

Inside the main tent, Tong Guan's complexion was extremely grim, for Song Jiang and his companions had not untied his ropes, choosing instead to gawk at him as if he were a caged monkey.

Song Jiang turned to Lin Chong beside him. "Brother Lin Chong, Gao Qiu surely cannot escape the Military Counselor's calculations and will be captured and brought back very soon. Then Brother can thoroughly vent his anger!"

At that moment, Lu Zhishen's booming voice echoed from outside. "Brother Lin Chong, look who I've caught!" He strode into the grand tent and tossed Gao Qiu unceremoniously onto the ground.

Lin Chong cupped his fists toward Lu Zhishen. "Many thanks, Brother!"

Lu Zhishen waved a hand dismissively. "Thank the Military Counselor instead!"

Lin Chong then cupped his fists toward Wu Yong before reaching down to yank Gao Qiu to his feet. "Gao Qiu, did you ever imagine you would end up in this state?"

Gao Qiu glared at Lin Chong. "Though I caused you to suffer in the courts, I never truly harmed your life. Commissioner Tong and I represent His Majesty to offer amnesty. If you dare take my life—"

Before he could finish, Lin Chong struck him across the face. "I am not taking your life either, just as you say you never harmed mine." Lin Chong stared fiercely, his intense aura pressing down upon Gao Qiu alone.

Coupled with the tightening grip of Lin Chong's hand around his neck, Gao Qiu broke out in a torrential sweat.

"Eh? Why is there a smell of urine?" Li逵 suddenly blurted out, prompting Lin Chong to fling Gao Qiu back to the ground in disgust.

As he rolled toward Tong Guan, Tong Guan involuntarily shifted his body away, a sight that sent the heroes of Liangshan into roaring laughter.

Song Jiang's mouth twitched slightly, and he said with a helpless sigh, "Men, take them away to rest and recuperate. Inventory the supplies and prisoners, and let us return to the stronghold." The theatrical display was finished for now; what remained was the amnesty.

Along the journey, the heroes chatted amongst themselves about Gao Qiu and Tong Guan, recalling their wretched plights, which lifted their spirits even further. Watching all this, Song Jiang let out a quiet sigh of relief. Everything had gone smoothly thus far; once they accepted the amnesty and defeated the Liao state, his brothers should finally be able to accept becoming officials of the imperial court, right?

On the Song-Liao border, the small towns originally used for trade had been reduced to ruins. Seizing the opportunity before hostilities officially commenced, the Liao forces had rounded up all the Song merchants who harbored wishful thinking, seizing vast amounts of wealth in the process.

As for the previously captured city, it had already been abandoned by the Song. Had Li Qingmeng not brought the personnel of the Vulture Palace and various martial artists from the pugilistic world to hold the ground, the Liao troops would likely have broken through long ago. Since Li Qingmeng was no longer tied to the destiny of Western Xia, defending against the attacks of the Liao army without the protection of national fortune was exceptionally difficult.

Coco Laru gazed out at the military encampment beyond the city walls. She had previously attempted to use magic arrays to guide weather magic for bombardments, but the enemy camp housed scholar-officials whose literary Qi worked in tandem with the army's formation to interfere, reducing Coco Laru's weather magic to little more than atmospheric effects. Though the wind, rain, hail, and low temperatures kept the enemy holed up in their camp rather than pressing the siege, the results were far from satisfactory. If the enemy truly committed to an all-out assault, this level of interference would not be enough to stop them.

"How is it? Can the new spells produce any effect?" Li Qingmeng walked over and asked. Having witnessed the potency of her previous magic, she held a high regard for Coco Laru's capabilities.

"While direct spells are weakened by the enemy army's array and national fortune, natural tectonic shifts cannot be directly defended against," Coco Laru said with a confident smile.

Li Qingmeng frowned slightly. "And what kind of result will that bring?" Although she now possessed the strength of the early Third Tier, she had not undergone the comprehensive life evolution that Sun Meng and the others had achieved. Coupled with a significant gap in her mastery of esoteric knowledge, she struggled to fully grasp Coco Laru's intentions.

"The spell I'm casting will thin the subterranean strata beneath their encampment. Just a tiny external force will be enough to instantly create collapsing trenches. Combined with a sustained vibration spell to disturb the underground layers of the camp, it will indirectly produce the effects of an earthquake," Coco Laru said, looking toward the Liao army's camp. Fearing that the enemy might detect her actions in advance, she had deliberately used magic to conceal the shifting of the earth below.

Inside the grand tent of the Liao military encampment, the scholar-officials assigned to the army sat upright in their chairs, their expressions tense and their eyes closed.

Nearby, several Liao generals watched the scene with growing anxiety. Heaven knows what methods the enemy had employed; even with the protective shield provided by their formation's Qi, the harsh weather conditions had thoroughly sapped the soldiers' fighting spirit. For now, they could only rely on these few scholar-officials to dispel the weather anomalies, yet the enemy seemed locked in a war of attrition, continually sustaining the atmospheric changes.

Clearly, there were no longer any Song officials left inside the city, so how could such powerful figures still exist here?

This was the discrepancy born of differing power systems. The cultivation methods of the scholar-officials here relied primarily on spiritual force to manifest atmospheric phenomena, whereas Coco Laru constructed precise magic arrays. Since they only focused on disrupting the weather phenomena rather than destroying the magic arrays, how could they possibly resolve the problem?

Yet, if this consumption continued, the enemy would soon sense the existence of the magic array itself, Coco Laru thought to herself. She began chanting an incantation, and the earth began to tremor.

Previously, she had simply followed Sun Meng and the others to reap rewards, and her personal strength had not seemed particularly formidable, but she was a Third-Tier entity after all! During her earlier large-scale magical attacks on the Liao forces, she had realized that her style of combat was uniquely suited for large-scale military engagements.

Perhaps, after this battle, she could find a combat style and positioning that truly suited her, ensuring her place within the team rather than remaining a dispensable figure kept purely out of personal sentiment.

Within the Liao camp, several scholar-officials coughed up blood simultaneously, their faces turning deathly pale. They had just discovered the source of the enemy's ability to continuously alter the weather and were preparing to break it, only to find that the opponent's array had spontaneously collapsed, unleashing a spiritual backlash that directly injured them.

The next moment, the ground began to shake violently, and a roar rang out from outside the tents:

"An earth dragon has turned over!"