Book 4, Chapter 151: Breaking The Lines Again

Chen Chuan rode pretty quickly. The horse crossed mountains and rivers as if they were flatland. It also had great stamina and practically didn’t need to stop to eat.

Perhaps it had also been given drugs, because most of the merged space creatures stayed out of its way. It was no wonder why the imperial army loved dragon-nose horses so much.

While the Great Shun Republic also reared dragon-nose horses and Chen Chuan had ridden on one after coming to the merged space, his horse couldn’t compare to this one, though he could sense that the key behind it was the drugs.

This was the advantage of the imperial army.

It made sense, though. If they didn’t have any advantages, they would have been wiped out by the Great Shun Republic a long time ago. At the same time, Chen Chuan thought of something else. The Great Shun Republic itself might have played a huge role behind why the former royal family was still around.

Plenty of companies and organizations had ties with the former royal family. Without them, they wouldn’t be in a stalemate right now.

The battle involved more deeply rooted interests and conflicts, which was why it couldn’t be resolved.

Chen Chuan didn’t bother to conserve the dragon-nose horse’s stamina and rushed it after the light. Finally, before night arrived, he reached the area where the light shone. Now, he could continue riding instead of having to set up camp.

He was a distance away from Xu Chan, but the light was still moving forward, so Xu Chan had to be fine for the time being.

However, even after he got rid of their pursuers at the back, they needed to be on guard against attacks from the front and the flanks.

Based on what Xue Shou said, the imperial army had stationed battalions in every direction, even before the Great Shun Republic campsite. Because of it, no matter where Xu Chan’s group went, they were bound to run into the enemy.

Chen Chuan snapped the reins again to rush the horse toward Xu Chan. Just then, an airship flew over him.

From its direction, it was headed for Xu Chan, and it was likely to have elites on it.

Fortunately, most of the imperial army was still in a standoff against the Great Shun Republic, so they had to station a good portion of their troops to keep the campsite down, which meant that they couldn’t send multiple airships from all directions to attack them. Otherwise, this would have been a problem.

The light ahead slowed down. Even though it wasn’t too obvious, Chen Chuan noticed it immediately.

Without a doubt, Xu Chan had run into enemies, and if an airship showed up at this point, they were likely flying to join the unit who intercepted him. They were going to launch a pincer attack on him.

Upon seeing this, Chen Chuan pressed a hand on the side of the dragon-nose horse’s neck to stimulate its mutated tissue. In an instant, its eyes became bloodshot, and it sped up.

***

The soldiers in the campsite saw the light moving toward them, and they came to the realization that this most likely meant that their group had found the artifact. Otherwise, the light wouldn’t be headed their way.

“The light is so obvious that the imperial army is bound to intercept our group. I suggest sending a unit to meet up with them,” a military officer said.

“We’re shorthanded right now and can’t free up anyone. The imperial army is waiting for us right outside. If we send anyone over, we’ll just be pushing them to their deaths,” another rejected the idea.

“We’re here to liaise with the group getting the artifact and to transport it to base. If we don’t do anything, what’s the point of us staying here?”

“No. There’s a point in us being here. We’re holding back a part of the imperial army’s forces. We also don’t know the situation, so we need to send this information to base. Unless the group arrives in front of us with the artifact, I won’t let any of you send a unit forward without orders from the superiors,” a military officer in an overcoat said. He was the highest-ranking officer present, so the others couldn’t argue. They just had to wait for a telegram from the base.

***

The airship from the imperial army chasing after the light lowered itself, and ropes fell down.

Soldiers climbed down them, and once they were a certain distance away from the ground, they jumped off with their various equipment. Upon landing, they swiftly moved into formation.

They were covered in thick white armor and were exceptionally tall. They were all around 2.5 meters and carried two plug-in-type hand cannons with them. By their waists were two throwing axes, and beside them were several beasts that were half leopard, half tiger. When they landed, they did so nimbly and without a sound.

The creatures were Crimson Leopards, a domesticated merged space beast. They had sensitive noses, were swift, and born with mutated tissue. Even the Great Shun Republic’s development squad had to be careful when going up against them.

After the imperial army domesticated, reared, and trained them, they were much stronger than the wild Crimson Leopards, because they had received more comprehensive nutrition and had stronger bodies.

They served under the White Javelin Unit, which was made entirely of martial artists. All of them were elites recruited from various fiefdoms, who were at the Third Limit. There were a total of twelve of them.

Further ahead was the Speckled Snake Unit, which was in charge of holding back the man with the artifact.

The Speckled Snake Unit was a rapid assault unit famed for its speed. They could use all sorts of long-distance weapons, like guns, bows, and javelins, and were skilled in pincer attacks and interception. Their task was to stall the person with the artifact, while the White Javelin Unit came from the back.

An elite cavalry unit led by an assistant general was ordered to join them as well. They should arrive soon.

Once the three units joined hands, they were bound to kill the person with the artifact.

What they didn’t know was that the cavalry unit was already wiped out. Their plan to surround Xu Chan from three sides could never come to fruition.

***

Chen Chuan galloped after the airship. Soon, he was behind it, and there was no hiding the thundering of the dragon-nose horse’s hooves.

Even though the White Javelin Unit’s target was in front of them, that didn’t mean that they left their rear unguarded. Besides, Chen Chuan came like a thunderstorm. In the beginning, they thought that the cavalry had arrived to meet up with them, but soon, they found it suspicious. The horse wasn’t slowing down, but kept on galloping towards them.

They formed two squads of six and formed two slightly slanted rows with each person being five meters away from all others. The members inserted their arms into the hand cannons and brought them up to point the muzzles in the direction of the incoming horse.

Chen Chuan soon appeared before them. They didn’t do anything right away, but when he was around one hundred meters away, they pulled the triggers at the same time.

Boom!

White smoke shot out of the muzzles, and despite their strong bodies, they trembled from the backlash.

An innumerable number of smoke bombs shot out of the muzzles and covered the area ahead.

Chen Chuan kept his gaze trained ahead. In that instant, the world slowed down, but he didn’t get into a head-on clash with the elite squad. Instead, he abandoned the horse, dashed to the side, and flanked one of the squads. The muzzles had only begun to release the white smoke.

He ducked down into the position of a charge while keeping his eyes on the squad and rushed forward. A blast of air shot out from around him, and the entire row of martial artists was blasted high into the sky when Chen Chuan came at them at the speed of a train. Their limbs became twisted, and their armor as well as other items shattered.

When Chen Chuan reached the end of the row, he smelled something vile. A Crimson Leopard extended its claws and lunged at him.

Beasts were only strong against regular martial artists. After obtaining spirit sense, the creatures in the merged space could hardly pose a threat to Chen Chuan, regardless of whether they were mega creatures or creatures that attacked in swarms.

He stomped down, and a pit formed under him. The Crimson Leopard shot past him. Chen Chuan reversed his grip over the Frost King Saber and delivered a diagonal slash to cut it in half.

It was only at this point that the other six-man squad reacted to the situation. They immediately threw their throwing axes at him, but Chen Chuan only smacked them away with his saber. The first axe shattered when it came into contact with the Frost King Saber while the others were redirected to the trees behind him. Chen Chuan positioned the saber horizontally before him and jumped forward. Behind him, the trees that were struck by the axes exploded, as if they had been hit by a cannonball. They collapsed in rows.

The six-man squad was well-trained. After throwing their axes, they spread out into a semi-circle and removed their javelins from their backs before positioning them in front of them.

Chen Chuan reached them before they could do anything more and slashed each one of them.

Since he was too fast, they thought they saw multiple of him in the area.

When he stopped, he still had the saber positioned in front of him. The six-man squad froze for a moment before collapsing.

Their brains had been split in the middle, and even the vitalized brains inside were cut apart.

In just a short moment, the entire unit perished.

Chen Chuan flicked his saber and straightened his back to train a cold gaze up. The airship hadn’t left, so the people up there had seen what had happened.

The airship crew felt a chill crawl down their spine. The captain gulped and ordered, “Send word to General Wei about what happened.”

Then, he cast a glance at the blasted apart dragon-nose horse. In a quivering voice, he said, “Also, I think I saw Assistant General Wei’s Moon Chaser. Verify the status of the cavalry unit and tell the base that the enemy appears to be incredibly fearsome. We won’t be able to fight him.”

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