Chapter 68: Preparing for Battle
The five of them did not stay at the city entrance for long and immediately returned to Liushanmen. After all, the entrance was full of people from minor sects and schools, and the information one could gather from them were messy and incomplete. If they wanted detailed information, they could only obtain it at Liushanmen.
Walking into Liushanmen and reaching the area where the Great Constables Corps was stationed, they saw hundreds of disciples from major and renowned sects gathered on the field busily discussing the nine Cloud Piercing Arrows.
Seeing the return of the disciples from the Five Mountain Sword Sects with four of them having multiple injuries on their bodies, the crowd were slightly surprised but did not say much about it. Only Monk Jueyuan glanced at them and snorted coldly in his heart.
Very soon, the Chief Constable of Liushanmen arrived. With a solemn expression, he said: "We have received news that large numbers of demonic cult disciples have gathered outside Lanzhou City to hunt down disciples from our righteous faction. Great Constables, it is time for you all to take action."
"Exterminate the demonic cult disciples and make them retreat back to their nest in the Western Region!"
"The Renowned Constables will be following you all into action, as well as some other heroes and well-known figures from Jianghu who are currently in the city."
Upon hearing the Chief Constable's words, Monk Jueyuan shouted: "Understood!"
Then he turned to face the other Great Constables and said: "Amitabha, this humble monk Jueyuan is willing to lead the disciples of Shaolin to slay the devils and vanquish the demons outside the city."
"Everyone, the opportunity to exterminate evil and make a name for yourselves has come. What are you all waiting for? Who among you is willing to follow me to slay the evildoers?"
As he rallied the crowd, large numbers of disciples from various sects responded to his call.
"Master Jueyuan is right, why did we come to Lanzhou City for? Wasn't it exactly for the sake of exterminating evil and to hone our skills? Now that large numbers of demonic cult disciples have gathered outside the city, it is the best opportunity for us to prove ourselves! I, Murong Yun of Murong Clan from Gusu, am willing to lead the disciples of my clan to exterminate the evil outside the city together with Master Jueyuan of Shaolin!" A youth wearing a blue garb held a fan in his hand responded with grace.
The Murong Clan of Gusu was pretty well-known in Jianghu, and with Murong Yun joining in, more disciples from other sects joined in as well.
"Disciples of Duan Clan from Dali will follow Master Jueyuan!"
"The Golden Saber Wang Clan from Luoyang will follow Master Jueyuan!"
"So will the Beggar Sect disciples!"
"Disciples of Quanzhen Sect…"
All at once, with the exception of Wudang, Emei, Qingcheng and Five Mountain Sword Sects, nearly everyone else responded, greatly bolstering the impetus of the Shaolin forces.
The Chief Constable was grateful to Monk Jueyuan. All the members of Great Constables Corps were great talents from major sects and the authority of the Liushanmen Chief Constable was too insignificant to order them around. The only thing he could do was to make a request of them.
If they were unwilling to take action, Lanzhou City would surely descend into chaos.
Although there were many people from the righteous faction in Lanzhou City, they were only willing to take action if the major sect disciples did so. Otherwise, they wouldn't dare to face the demonic cult disciples by themselves. To put it simply, they needed someone to take the lead. The tens of thousands of people of Jianghu in Lanzhou City were like a pile of sand, unable to do anything without the leadership of a strong power.
Seeing that the crowd was responding enthusiastically to himself, Monk Jueyuan felt proud and satisfied of himself. He laughed coldly in his heart as he glanced at the five lonesome disciples from Five Mountain Sword Sects, and he was filled with venomous hatred for Lin Yi.
"Since everyone has decided to take action, I will take my leave and inform the other heroes in the city so that they may cooperate with everyone in this operation." The Chief Constable then left hurriedly.
All the major sect disciples from the Great Constables Corps also left one by one to make their own preparations for the upcoming battle.
Yun Taizi, Lu Buping, and Mo Yu had a gloomy expression. Only the little nun was filled with joy at hearing that she could once again do battle with the demonic cult disciples outside the city.
Lin Yi glanced at the little nun and laughed in his heart as he led them towards the Liushanmen's storage facility.
Although he was also excited at the opportunity to earn large amounts of battle experience, having experienced the era of chaos personally in his previous life, he was well aware that the larger scale the battle, the more one had to remain calm.
Earning huge amounts of experience seemed like a sweet prospect, but there was similarly great danger within the prospect. A single mistake could easily lead to his death. Since he only had one life now, he had to be extra careful and prepare himself as well as he could.
Arriving at the facility, he replenished his arrows and filled several more quivers with hundreds of arrows before hanging them on the white horse.
At the same time, he told the four of them to take one set of soft armor and one set of heavy armor.
As the little nun put on the bulky heavy armor which gave off a metallic shine, she said unhappily: "Senior Brother Lin Yi, this heavy armor is so bulky and inconvenient. How can we fight the demonic cult disciples while wearing such a heavy thing?"
Before Lin Yi could reply, Lu Buping happily put the heavy armor on and laughing replied: "Senior Brother Lin Yi is truly thoughtful and meticulous. With this heavy armor, we no longer have to be afraid of those scoundrels from Blood Saber Sect! Haha, can those damn blood sabers even penetrate these armor?"
Songshan Sword Art was a type of sword art suitable for the battlefield with its wide strokes and large areas of effect instead of an agile and fluttery style. Heavy armor was very well-suited to Lu Buping's tastes.
On the other hand, although Mo Yu and Yun Taizi were satisfied with the protection that the heavy armor provided, once they thought of chasing their opponents while wearing them, their faces also revealed bitter expressions. They also had similar thoughts as the little nun regarding the inconvenience of these armors.
Seeing that the three of them were looking at himself with a puzzled gaze, Lin Yi explained: "This time, the demonic cult disciples are coming in unimaginably large numbers. There will surely be sufficient prey to hunt. However, if we do not encounter that many of them, we can then leave the heavy armor on our horses and hunt them with soft armor. Besides, you don't need to be constantly wearing the heavy armor. Just leave them on the horses and wear them when you need to. I will strive for some time during the battle so that you all may switch to these armors."
Upon hearing his explanation, the three of them were reminded of Lin Yi's superb archery skills, thus they had no doubt that he could delay the enemy sufficiently long enough. If that were the case, it was indeed much safer to bring along a set of heavy armor. At least, they no longer needed to fear getting surrounded.
Lu Buping smiled widely and said: "Following Senior Brother Lin Yi is the best, there is no need to worry about anything at all. Heh heh, I wonder if the other major sect disciples, especially that Monk Jueyuan, will even think of bringing heavy armor?"
At the mention of the monk, the little nun was unhappy and said with a hateful expression: "This bald donkey Jueyuan is pretty good at building up the atmosphere. With a simple rally, he is able to receive the response of so many people. There must be hundreds of them who followed this bald donkey I think? There's only five of us here in comparison."
Apparently, the little nun was displeased at the fact that there was nobody following the Five Mountain Sword Sects. After all, as a genius disciple, the little nun had enjoyed the praise and attention of others in her own sect.
Lin Yi did not pay much heed to it. The Five Mountain Sword Sects have always been the first line of defense against the demonic cults. It sounded like a prestigious duty, but they were nothing more than cannon fodder in the eyes of many other major sects. If anything happened, just let the Five Mountain Sword Sects handle it. The other major sects were not willing to become cannon fodder like them.
It was so much better to follow the monks from Shaolin. All they needed to do was to use their mouths and not fight with their skills and they could gain reputation in Jianghu with ease.
Because of this, although Five Mountain Sword Sects were truly major sects both in name and strength, they were not regarded highly by the other major sects.
Lin Yi was not worried about this situation at all. Once the era of chaos begins, all the other sects will know very quickly which major sect has the most solid foundation and staying power.
Since he had become a Huashan disciple, he was going to change the fate of Huashan and the Five Mountain Sword Sects. He was going to transform them into true giants of the righteous factions!
But, it was still too early to talk about this matter. Right now, what he needed the most was to grow his strength as fast as he could and become the chief disciple of Huashan.
After they were done with arming themselves, Lin Yi led them to the pharmacy and collected some medicine for healing injuries. Then he spent a fortune buying medicine that could heal internal injuries at the medicine shops. These were all essential things to bring along in a great battle, and the other four disciples understood it as well.
However, they were puzzled by what happened next. Lin Yi actually bought great quantities of rations, salt, and flint. Looking at the numerous large packages, the little nun was stunned. "Senior Brother Lin Yi, we are going to a great battle, not an excursion. What are these for?"
"That's right, Senior Brother Lin Yi." The other three had similar expressions of doubt.
Senior Brother Lin Yi wasn't really going to bring them on an excursion outside the city, was he? What was the point of bringing these things to a great battle?
Lin Yi smiled and explained: "Do all of you wish to go exterminating evil on empty stomachs? Who knows how long this battle will last, but one thing is for sure, it won't be a short amount of time. When that time comes, what will you eat? If not for the limited capacity of the horses, I wanted to bring even more. Now we have no choice but to bring some salt and flint so that we can hunt wild animals to eat once we finish our rations."
Hearing the explanation, the four of them were fully convinced. "Senior Brother Lin Yi is truly meticulous!"
"Yes, too meticulous!"