Chapter 140: The Vanguard Arrives

The first to arrive at Shaolin was Yang Xin and his entourage. However, they did not reveal themselves, instead hovering high up in the sky. Standing upon a cloud of sand, the people on the ground could not see them at all, catching sight of nothing more than a massive patch of clouds.

Next to reach Mount Shaoshi were the heroes of Five Bully Ridge, led by Linghu Chong. During the march, Linghu Chong had crammed intensively on military strategy. Though still lacking in tactical command of actual warfare, he at least understood the principle that grain and forage must precede the movement of troops and horses.

Before the heroes led by Linghu Chong had even crossed into Shaolin territory, he had already instructed Ji Wushi and the others to requisition provisions locally. Practice makes perfect; having once collected grain near Five Bully Ridge, this second requisition went smoothly and familiarly.

Perhaps the heroes had grown addicted to gathering grain, or perhaps they simply wished to witness once more the fervent gratitude of the peasant families, but the moment Linghu Chong issued the order, they eagerly snatched the land deed scrolls from his back and sprinted to the local government offices to verify the holdings.

With the land deeds verified, the heroes, guided by local yamen bailiffs, began collecting the grain. Perhaps because they were so close to Shaolin's sphere of influence, Shaolin itself had not levied any grain tax, allowing the heroes to acquire their provisions with ease.

Amidst the heartfelt gratitude of countless peasant families, they effortlessly took a surplus thirty percent of the grain and turned away. However, Linghu Chong did not hand these provisions over to the local officials; instead, he kept them to serve as army rations for his forces.

With grain in hand, one's heart knows no panic!

Leading the heroes step by step, Linghu Chong requisitioned provisions locally wherever they arrived with the cooperation of local officials, pushing forward all the way until they finally reached the foot of Mount Shaoshi.

Upon arrival, the first thing Linghu Chong did was not to attack the mountain, but to whip the military discipline into shape. The disciples of the Sun Moon Divine Cult had spontaneously formed the Five-Element Flags. Since these flags were already embryonic military units bound by martial regulations, they could barely manage to follow Linghu Chong's commands. Yet there were others completely incapable of enduring the constraints of military rules, forming spontaneous, unruly cliques that committed every sort of atrocity and completely ignored his orders.

During the grain collection, Linghu Chong had repeatedly admonished them to act peaceably and refrain from taking human lives without cause. These rogue factions, however, paid him no heed; upon entering a peasant household, they would either steal chickens or purloin dogs just to have a feast. Bad as that was, they treated human life as worthless, actually wounding and killing people. Linghu Chong had continuously suppressed his rage, but now that they had reached the foot of Mount Shaoshi, he resolved to use their heads to straighten out the military discipline.

"Bring them down!" Linghu Chong said coldly.

Bound tightly and led to the front were over a hundred men, headed by the Two Bears of Northern Mobei.

"The Two Bears of Northern Mobei have a penchant for cannibalism. During the grain requisition, in direct defiance of my orders, they brutally beat and killed all five members of a tenant farmer family and cooked them. Their crimes are unforgivable and merit death!" Giving them no chance to speak, Linghu Chong stepped forward and delivered two palm strikes to their chests and abdomens.

Linghu Chong's palm force was not exceptionally powerful, and these two strikes were not meant to kill; rather, they were intended to injure the corpse-devouring worms inside the bodies of the Two Bears without causing instant death. The assaulted worms went berserk, burrowing into their brains and beginning to tear and bite.

Howling in agonizing torment, their eyes turning blood-red like ghosts or demons, the Two Bears actually snapped their ropes and lunged frantically in all directions. Afflicted like rabid dogs, they bit and gnawed at anyone they encountered. Turning pale with fright as if they had seen ghosts, the surrounding crowd scattered in panic to avoid them.

With a cold snort, Linghu Chong took two steps forward, facing the maddened Two Bears head-on. Having completely lost their sanity, the two lunged toward him with wild, frantic screeches.

"Eighty-Eight Sixty-Four Palms!"

A massive Taiji diagram materialized beneath the feet of Linghu Chong and the Two Bears. Linghu Chong did not strike; instead, the Taiji domain formed by the palms slowed the Two Bears down, immobilizing them entirely.

For a full hour, the Two Bears shrieked in wretched agony, gnawing away their own hands and legs until they bled to death.

A cold wind seemed to sweep through the area. Glancing at Linghu Chong's jade-like face and thin lips, the crowd involuntarily shuddered, stepped back, and lowered their gaze, not daring to meet his eyes.

"As for the rest who disobeyed military commands..."

Before Linghu Chong could finish, shrieks filled the air as men begged frantically for mercy. Yet Linghu Chong remained entirely unmoved. Seeing this, some attempted to flee, only to be hacked down by Ji Wushi and his men. Others, terrified of the torment threatened by the Three-Corpse Brain-Spirit Pill, chose to end their own lives. But the majority, stubborn to the end and believing that the law could not punish a crowd, simply looked on with cold indifference.

"Execute!"

At Linghu Chong's command, Ji Wushi, the Old Ancestor of the Yellow River, Blue Phoenix, and others led their squads forward, decapitating the rule-breakers one by one.

Heads rolled, and blood flowed like a river! With this ruthless, iron-fisted display, Linghu Chong enforced military discipline, finally wielding the heroes of Five Bully Ridge with the effortless precision of moving one's own fingers.

"Ji Wushi, meticulous in your work, leaving no detail to chance, and utterly dedicated—you deserve a reward!" Knowing full well that a stick must be accompanied by a carrot, Linghu Chong rolled his white eyes and stepped behind Ji Wushi, striking him in the middle of the back with a palm.

Just as the promised reward turned into a physical strike and left the heroes utterly bewildered, Ji Wushi coughed up a large mouthful of blood. Wriggling within the gore were three fat, elongated corpse-devouring worms. Ji Wushi immediately stepped forward and stomped those three worms until they were utterly dead.

The crowd looked upon Ji Wushi with eyes burning with envy, jealousy, and hatred. Why had the heroes come here in the first place? Wasn't it to cure the poison of the Three-Corpse Brain-Spirit Pills within them? Yet Ji Wushi, positioned near the water, had obtained the moonlight first, receiving his cure ahead of everyone else. As for the Old Ancestor of the Yellow River, he had spared no expense when hosting Linghu Chong at Five Bully Ridge, even daring to offer up his own daughter. And Blue Phoenix—heh, everyone understood that.

The gathered crowd cast burning, eager gazes toward Linghu Chong. If they had harbored lingering dread when the Two Bears were being tortured earlier, right now their eyes were wide, ablaze with fervent sparks of light, and they were ready to obey Linghu Chong's commands from the very bottoms of their hearts.

Leaving his white eyes activated, Linghu Chong scanned the Shaolin Monastery atop Mount Shaoshi. He discovered that the monastery had been entirely abandoned; not a single shadow stirred within the sprawling temple complexes, though a massive horde of monk-soldiers had gathered halfway up the mountain.

In an instant, Linghu Chong saw through Shaolin's strategy: they had deliberately allowed his forces to ascend the mountain, planning for the monk-soldiers halfway up to seal off the roads and trap them inside the monastery. With nearly ten thousand men and horses consuming provisions by the tens of thousands, a siege lasting just a few days would reduce his forces to helpless sheep waiting to be slaughtered at will.

A brilliant plan, a ruthless stratagem! Whoever laid this trap was deeply versed in the essentials of military tactics!

Pity that the people of Shaolin did not realize the world had changed, and changed drastically. Sitting at the bottom of their wells and watching the sky, they had no idea that this world possessed a cheat-like visual technique such as the white eyes. Linghu Chong had long since seen right through Shaolin's deployment, nor did Shaolin know that his force of nearly ten thousand men had already brought along ample provisions.

Just as Linghu Chong resolved to bypass the encirclement entirely and turn the tables by putting Shaolin under a tight siege halfway up the mountain, a lone raven unceremoniously dropped down to rest upon his shoulder.