novelhk Chapter 51: Crisis in the Back Mountain
Chapter 51: Crisis in the Back Mountain
The flaming log stood straight up in the woods where the archers were.
At this point, the true energy attached to the outer layer of the log had also been exhausted.
In order to enhance the explosive power of the flaming log, Ye Chengfeng used his own true energy to cover the entire log.
This creates a more enclosed space inside the log.
In this way, more heat will accumulate inside the log, creating pressure!
Once the true energy is exhausted, the rolling log comes into contact with oxygen, and its power is unimaginable.
With a loud bang, the area within a radius of several meters centered on the rolling log turned into a sea of fire.
Countless pine nuts scattered in all directions like fiery meteors.
In the blink of an eye, the entire forest was transformed into a sea of fire.
The archers closest to the rolling log suffered the worst fate, being burned and screaming in agony, rolling on the ground and running around in all directions.
This behavior not only failed to extinguish the flames on his body, but also caused the burning area to expand.
In particular, the grease inside the logs ignites as soon as it comes into contact with air.
"Wow, Old Ye is amazing!"
Not only Fan Xian was amazed, but even the Gundams who were engaged in battle saw it.
The martial artists were stunned, and their morale visibly plummeted.
They showed signs of wanting to retreat!
"Don't stand still! The road up the mountain isn't blocked yet. It'll be too late by the time they react. Quick, fire a few more rounds!"
The purpose of setting fire to that grove was simply to deal with the enemy archers who possessed ranged attack capabilities.
In this way, it would make sense to block the road up the mountain.
Otherwise, if those archers were allowed to shoot arrows up the mountain, what would Ye Chengfeng and his men do if the enemy launched fire arrows?
If the fire were to spread up the mountain, Ye Chengfeng and the others might not be burned to death, but they would certainly be in danger due to lack of oxygen.
"Okay, this time you don't need to throw it that far. I'll place the logs there. You can get some rest."
Fan Xian could also see that Ye Chengfeng had over-consumed his true energy.
Therefore, I did not ask Ye Chengfeng for help again.
The logs thrown next don't need to be thrown too far. As long as they don't explode prematurely, they can achieve their purpose by simply relying on inertia to roll down the mountain pass.
It might even roll down and ignite the dry grass and trees along the way, which would be even more effective.
In his next throw, Fan Xian was noticeably faster because he no longer needed to aim precisely; a general direction was enough.
The remaining dozen or so flaming logs were all launched by Fan Xian in just over ten minutes.
By the time the martial arts masters who had been lying in ambush discovered Fan Xian's purpose, it was already too late!
The flames at the entrance to the mountain were more than ten meters high!
Even a martial artist of the sixth or seventh rank could not possibly leap such a height using their lightness skill.
Even if an eighth-rank martial artist could jump over, they would be a sitting duck while they were jumping.
They don't have many eighth-rank martial artists; coming in would be suicide.
"Damn it, they actually set the mountain on fire! If this fails, how are we going to explain ourselves when we get back? Does anyone have a solution?"
For a moment, nearly twenty eighth-rank martial artists fell silent.
Of these people, only seven or eight were true assassins; the rest were former江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the martial arts world) people who had gathered together for money.
"Boss, how about we climb up the mountain from the back and launch a surprise attack?"
The ambush leader remained silent, even though only a little over a hundred of the delegation's guards remained after the earlier clash.
Even if they could safely ascend the mountain from the back, they wouldn't pose a threat to Fan Xian.
"My lord, I believe it's feasible. We can gather all the experts—dozens of seventh-rank masters—plus us eighth-rank masters, and perhaps we can succeed!"
"Oh well, I'll give it a try."
They couldn't think of a better way, so they had no choice but to give it a try.
The leader was filled with regret. If he had launched a full-scale attack from the beginning, he wouldn't be in this situation now!
Meanwhile, on the mountain, Fan Xian was leading the remaining guards of the delegation to clear away weeds and dead trees.
Although the wildfire is temporarily unable to reach the mountain due to wind direction.
However, the heat generated by the fire will quickly affect the wind direction, making it impossible to observe which way the wind is blowing.
The initial safe zone was too small, considering the need to guard against sneak attacks from martial arts practitioners.
Fearing that they would discover something amiss, they didn't dare to carry out a large-scale cleanup.
Now that they can't go up the mountain, they naturally have nothing to worry about.
They cleared a safe area of over 100 meters before stopping to rest.
Nearly an hour had passed since Wang Qinian requested help.
The sky had completely darkened, but the surrounding wildfires illuminated the area brightly.
"Old Ye, do you think they might launch a surprise attack from the back of the mountain?"
After finishing his work, Fan Xian found Ye Chengfeng to discuss what to do next!
"Impossible! Although this hillside is not high, it is still over a hundred meters high, and the back of the hill is extremely steep. Even an eighth-rank martial artist would have to put in a lot of effort to get up here."
"Besides, even if a dozen or twenty Rank 8 cultivators came up, it wouldn't make a difference with our strength."
"Yes, maybe I'm overthinking it."
After Ye Chengfeng said that, Fan Xian realized he had been overthinking things.
However, Ye Chengfeng became wary because of Fan Xian's words.
"What you said makes sense. If they came up to us while we were resting, it would be quite dangerous."
"Then why did you say that just now?"
"It's just talk. Besides, those people are all martial arts practitioners. They might not be able to handle a direct confrontation, but we might not be able to defend against an assassination attempt."
After discussing it, the two decided to set up some traps on the three cliff edges just in case.
Even if it doesn't injure the attacker, it can at least serve as a warning, giving them some time to react.
Just as Fan Xian and Ye Chengfeng finished setting up the trap, they saw a grappling hook flying towards them from the cliff behind the mountain.
"Are you really planning to climb up the mountain from the back?"
Ye Chengfeng's eyes widened, and he said in a low voice.
"See? I told you those people wouldn't let this go."
"Then what are you standing there for? Hurry up and call someone!"
Ye Chengfeng rolled his eyes!
That guy was actually showing off his foresight to Ye Chengfeng!
When Fan Xian went to call for reinforcements, Ye Chengfeng discovered that the other side had only set up one grappling hook!
Ye Chengfeng guessed that they might be afraid of making too much noise and attracting their attention.
Before long, the first person climbed up.
Meanwhile, the other side found the rope that Gao Da had previously ordered people to prepare on the edge of the cliff!
"We planned to ambush them from the back of the mountain, but we didn't expect they were also preparing to escape from there!"
"Unfortunately, it benefited us."
The man secured the rope and threw the other end off the cliff.
As time went by, a dozen or so people gathered at the cliff!
Perhaps it's because of the ropes that we no longer rely solely on grappling hooks.
They changed their plans at the last minute.
If relying solely on claw hooks, only seventh and eighth-rank martial artists could ascend.
But with ropes, even a sixth-rank martial artist can climb up.
Although these sixth-rank martial artists lost more than two hundred men during the previous attack on the mountain, they still had seven or eight hundred men remaining.
Even if only half of them come up, their chances of winning will be much greater.
If everyone comes up, Ye Chengfeng and his group will truly have nowhere to escape.
Of course, this is assuming that Ye Chengfeng and Fan Xian did not discover their sneak attack.