Nanjiang.
Ashen South City.
Although Nanjiang was situated in a plains area, it did not mean there were no mountains in Nanjiang.
The White Mountains was a big mountain range that traversed Nanjiang, even Sun City was within the boundaries of its coverage.
...
The car slowly moved into the Ashen South area.
In the car, Tang Feng said calmly, “These people have been besieged in the Ashen South area up till now, their back to the White Mountains.
“The stronghold you all have to surround is located at the foot of the White Mountains. It was originally a village, but it was eventually deserted.
“The villagers came out to work and moved to the city. Only a few old people were left to take care of it...”
Somebody frowned and said, “The old people...”
“Were killed.”
A girl could not resist asking, “Teacher, didn’t you say we’ll drive the opponents to a spot in an orderly fashion?”
Tang Feng stated calmly, “No matter how detailed the plan, it won’t always go the way you want it. The original plan was not to drive the enemies to this village but to a completely deserted village in the middle of the mountain.
“However, things don’t always go as expected with humans. The plan isn’t going according to what we thought.
“With something unexpected like this happening... I’ll say something cold-blooded. It’s still within the reasonable boundaries.”
Nobody had words to counter this. Compared to many martial artists from evil sects being hemmed in here, a few old people dying seemed a fair enough price to pay.
For the people who had been sacrificed, though, did they find it worth it?
Tang Feng changed the subject. “The village is at the foot of the mountain. We’ve put down a line of defense in the depths of the mountain and other entrances.
“However, they’re none nearby.
“This means that the other party can escape up the mountain at any time. The mountain terrain is more complex. At the end, you all may be involved in a jungle pursuit.
“All of you must be careful. The terrain is complex and so is the environment, which means the dangers are even greater!”
Fang Ping opened his mouth and said, “How many people are there in the village? Are they all martial artists?”
“No, there are some normal people... However, currently, no matter if they’re normal people or martial artists, kill them all without question!”
Tang Feng’s tone was serious as he said, “Remember. Don’t let them escape alive! Kill them all!
“As for manpower, they have around 300 people. For now, we can’t tell how many of them are normal people.”
“300 people?”
Everybody was a little taken aback. Yu Xianghua piped up, “Teacher, how many people do we have on the martial arts university side then?”
“MCMAU has 97 people, CCMAU has 80 people, and the three martial arts universities in Nanjiang has gathered 40 people. Other martial arts universities, mainly the three southern provinces’ martial arts universities, Nanhu and Nanze have about 60 people.”
“That’s close to 300 people...”
Yu Xianghua thought for a moment before saying, “Our numbers are similar to theirs, and our weakest are Rank-2 martial artists. They still have regular people...”
Would this experience really be that grueling?
Tang Feng scoffed lightly and said, “Don’t underestimate anyone. Otherwise, you’ll be dead before you know it!
“Not to mention there might be more than a few Rank-3 martial artists among these people.
“The details need to be investigated by you yourselves.”
Fang Ping interrupted. “Are there any martial artists of the three middle ranks?”
“I don’t know.”
Fang Ping was speechless. What did that mean?
He did not know?
In other words, there might be?
With a group of Rank-2 martial artists and a single Rank-3 martial artist, meeting martial artists of the middle-three ranks would be extremely dangerous unless they put their lives on the line to fight.
...
As they talked, the sky became darker.
At 1 o’clock in the morning, the car stopped at the Ashen South suburbs’ makeshift military base.
Just as MCMAU’s car arrived, a few other cars stopped at the door after that.
Fang Ping and the others stepped out of the car and borrowed the light from the door to look over at the other side.
As it turned out, he saw a few familiar faces.
Some distance away, Fang Wenxiang glared hatefully at Fang Ping.
Seeing this, Fang Ping stretched his hand out and rubbed his fingers together, saying, “Pay me back!”
Fang Wenxiang’s face went dark, but he averted his gaze.
Fang Ping pouted. This bastard owed him a pill. He remembered that what he had swallowed at the time was a Rank-1 Vitality Pill. Now that he was Rank-3, the water level had risen and so had the boat, so it should be at least a Rank-3 Vitality Pill.
Aside from Fang Wenxiang, also present was Han Xu, Li Ran, Zhang Zhenguang and most of the other students who had participated in the championship previously.
It had been 4 months since the championship. The Peak Rank-1 martial artists then were almost all Rank-2 now, some even not in the beginning stages.
Other than CCMAU and MCMAU, the other martial arts university students from other places had arrived already.
When Fang Ping and the others entered the base one by one, some of the other martial arts university students were woken up. A few people walked out of the barracks.
Consequently, Fang Ping received many eye-rolls!
The people of NMAU all had looks of indignation when they saw him.
“Sore losers, huh? What are you looking at!”
Fang Ping huffed impatiently. What were they staring for?. He had won in a challenge. Could it be that this too was illegal?
“Everyone should be able to accept defeats!”
The moment he opened his mouth, somebody from NMAU retorted angrily, “It’s not that our NMAU students have never lost before, but you, Fang Ping, bullied people too much and insulted NMAU’s students!”
Fang Ping was at a loss for words. Fu Changding snickered, saying, “You were asked to do it. It would’ve been fine if you just beat them straight, but you had to run your mouth.”
Previously, at NMAU, Fang Ping had angered Lan Caiye so much that she nearly spat blood, and another martial artist was not allowed to announce her name. This was one of the reasons the NMAU stared indignantly at him.
Of course, this also had to do with NMAU’s recent rough days. These Rank-2 martial artists had all been tossed around to the brink of death recently.
Fang Ping could not be bothered to retort and just stopped looking at them.
Very quickly, everybody followed the instructors and military officers into a big tent.
...
In the tent.
Tang Feng and a few others along with the base’s military officers discussed in soft voices for a while, then very quickly, somebody opened their mouth and said, “Stop delaying. Get the other martial arts university students up and gather up!”
After those words fell, nobody went to round them up one by one as a powerhouse straightaway roared, “Everybody, gather up!”
Fang Ping and the others all jumped in shock and could not resist picking their ears. Fang Ping chuckled and said softly, “This line should’ve been given to Teacher Tang to shout. He knows the Lion’s Roar, after all, an essential skill.”
Chen Yunxi suddenly shoved Fang Ping from the back. Fang Ping was a little surprised and looked up, which was when he saw Tang Feng looking at him.
Fang Ping was speechless. ‘There are so many people talking, yet you could hear this?’
Tang Feng did not deal with him. Everybody was waiting. Very soon, a steady stream of students stepped inside.
Seeing that the tent was overcrowded, an unknown person suddenlyy pulled out the tent and shouted, “What do a group of martial artists need a tent for to hold a meeting! Being under the open sky is fine!”
When the tent was removed, the place became a lot more spacious.
Soon, one of the military officers who had been chatting with Tang Feng stood up and announced, “I appreciate all of you for coming to my Nanjiang and lending a hand to eliminate its problems.
“I think all of you are aware of the present mission.
“Your mission target is the Boulder Village 15 kilometers away from here.
“We did not fix the method of extermination. According to your martial arts universities, you all will make these arrangements yourselves.
“Whether you all move together or go solo, it’s all up to you.
“We only have three requests.
“First, don’t attack your combat allies. The moment this is noticed, either you’ll be assigned to the Catacombs, or worse, you’ll be killed on the spot!
“Second, these grounds have already been designated as a war zone.
“Now that everybody’s entered this place, we can only move forward and not retreat. We will be setting up a line of defense in all four directions. You must not cross it!
“Third, all loot must be dealt through central processing.
“During battle, you’re not allowed to selfishly hog any loot you find. Wait until after the battle and central processing are completed, and they’ll be allocated based on your contribution!
“Don’t worry. The loot is all yours. How much you’ll get is based on your own performances.
“Don’t let it become a situation where you’d stab your allies in the back for a few medicinal pills! Once this is noticed, you’ll be dealt with sternly!”
The military did not set many rules. They did not even enforce any disciplinary requests. As for the issue with the loot, it was just to prevent in-fighting before the enemies were all killed. That would really start a riot.
When he finished speaking, Tang Feng opened his mouth and added, “This time, the instructors aren’t going to join the fight. We still have other missions.
“You all have now been informed of your mission.
“After this, this last-minute base is in your hands. All the decisions are yours to make.
“You’re all Rank-2 and -3 martial artists. You’re not newbies anymore, nor are you rookie martial artists. All of you are the elites of your schools.
“If you can’t exterminate a group of evil sect martial artists who have roughly the same numbers as you, how can you possibly take on the Catacombs’ creatures!”
Tang Feng spoke straightforwardly and did things straightforwardly too. When he was done speaking, he turned to the other instructors and said, “Everyone, we can leave now!’
The instructors did not hesitate, and the military staff were all quick too. With a cluster of footsteps, all of them were gone in no time!
A few minutes later, all that was left was a group of students staring at one another.
Nobody had expected that they would be left fully in charge.
Eventually, somebody spoke up, “We should discuss how we’re going to attack and how to surround them...”
“There aren’t many opponents, so let’s just go together...”
“Idiot!”
“I say, let’s all attack the way we want to. Martial artists aren’t military folk. We’ve never experienced fighting in such a big team. If we force ourselves to stick together, it’ll just lead to chaos.”
“If we don’t move together, won’t it just be a mess...”
“...”
As everybody debated fervently, somebody suddenly yelled, “Everyone, our first order of business shouldn’t be about contemplating anything else. Let’s first get to know each other—don’t be a group of people who don’t recognize their own allies. If we somehow find the wrong target in the end, we’ll be fish in a barrel!
“We’re all martial artists, and our numbers don’t reach 300 people. Let’s simply introduce our names. This also prevents us from just shouting ‘Hey’ when we’re asking for help.”
Everybody dissolved into laughter then. This was true.
Swiftly, this person introduced himself. “I’m Yu Chen, a Peak Rank-2 martial artist from Capital City Martial Arts University.”
“Zhou Jian, CCMAU, Peak Rank-2.”
“Wang Dan, CCMAU, Peak Rank-2.”
“...”
“Han Xu, CCMAU, Peak Rank-2.”
“...”
Over at CCMAU, there were many Peak Rank-2 martial artists, and they even had 5 who were Rank-3. However, they had all entered Rank-3 not long ago. Most of them were still in the early stage.
Han Xu had also entered Peak Rank-2. This rate was also extremely shocking.
This meant in less than 4 months, this guy had honed over 60 bones. Strictly speaking, it was less than 110 days.
This meant he honed one bone in an average of less than two days.
80 people came from CCMAU. There were 5 Rank-3s, 12 Peak Rank-2s, and the rest were martial artists who were Middle-stage Rank-2 and above.
From MCMAU, there were 97 people. They had 4 Rank-3s, 14 Peak Rank-2s, and among the rest, there were a few freshmen who had yet to enter Middle-stage Rank-2.
Among the 4 Rank-3s in MCMAU, aside from Fang Ping, Yu Xianghua, Chen Pengfei and another junior-year student had all broken through to Rank-3.
Zhang Ziwei had stopped at Peak Rank-2 and had not broken through.
From Nanjiang Martial Arts University, they only had one Rank-3 martial artist. It was someone Fang Ping was familiar with, Gu Xiong.
From the other schools, there were 5 Rank-3 martial artists. The rest were all Rank-2.
With 15 Rank-3 martial artists and 274 Rank-2 martial artists, the total was 289 people.
These were also the elite students in Rank-2 from the martial arts universities of the three southern provinces, CCMAU and MCMAU. As for these Rank-3 ones, most of them had broken through recently.
The exceptions were one Middle-stage Rank-3 martial artist from CCMAU, as well as Fang Ping, but Fang Ping did not speak up.
The Middle-stage Rank-3 martial artist from CCMAU was called Zhao Yang. After everybody finished their introductions, Zhao Yang looked over at MCMAU’s side and said, “Do you all have any thoughts for what’s next?
“This is an assessment for all of us. It’s not just purely looking at our martial strength or how many people we kill.
“The schools want to see more than this.
“Starting from now, our every move will be monitored in the martial arts universities. If we want to perform well, then we have to showcase our worth.”
Yu Xianghua picked up where he left off and said, “Say what you mean.”
“My meaning is simple. Right now, we have 15 Rank-3 martial artists and around 50 Peak Rank-2 martial artists.
“These 60-plus people should form an ambush squad!
“We’ll start killing from the front of Boulder Village. The others will hold the perimeter, preventing the sect martial artists from fleeing...”
Yu Xianghua scrunched his brows together and said, “What if the opponents enter the mountain from the back then? I think we should lure them into fighting us, then we should take them down in one move. We shouldn’t expose all the strength we have at the start...”
Fang Ping sneezed and was at a slight loss for words, saying, “I say, you guys, do you really think our victory is secured?
“You must be joking!
“The martial arts universities gathered so many students to gain training experience by letting us sweep through the opponents?
“If my guess isn’t wrong, in Boulder Village, eight or nine out of ten of them would be Rank-4 martial artists. Of those in Rank-3, I’m afraid they’d be Upper-stage or Peak Rank-3 martial artists.
“You guys though, what are you thinking?
“As martial artists, one powerhouse can oppose a hundred weak martial artists!
“If you don’t think of targeting Boulder Village’s powerhouses first and focus only on winning, aren’t you afraid the game will be over by the end?”
Everybody’s eyebrows rose slightly. Zhao Yang said seriously, “What you mean is...”
“The Rank-3 martial artists don’t need to restrain themselves. When we see the other party’s Rank-3s, catch them and kill them.
“If a Rank-3 martial artist appears... Yu Xianghua, Chen Pengfei and I, three of MCMAU’s Rank-3s, will fight them. You guys send a few too.
“Honestly speaking, against a Rank-4, three might not be enough. We have to gather seven or eight people and surround them.
“My intuition is very astute. I can almost guarantee a Rank-4 martial artist will appear.
“Of course, if not so, then that means there would be at least three Upper-stage and Peak Rank-3 martial artists!
“If it’s really so, MCMAU will be responsible for one, CCMAU will be responsible for one, and the other martial arts universities will join hands to oppose the other.
“When the time comes, the other Rank-3 martial artists will go against the evil sect’s Middle- and Lower-stage Rank-3s. For the Peak Rank-2 martial artists on the ranking, if there are excessive Rank-3 opponents, you guys go up against them. I think it’s not too big a problem for you guys to oppose these people.
“Also, I recommend the Middle- and Lower-stage Rank-2 martial artists to stay on the periphery and act as the second echelon.
“Moreover, even we still need to replenish Vitalities. It’s best if we divide into two teams. We can’t all go together. If our Vitalities are depleted and the other party suddenly sends out fresh troops, we’ll be waiting for death!
“We have to leave behind at least a third of our army in order to prevent any accidents from happening.
“Last but not least, I want to ask, does the other party have firearms or explosives?”
Everybody sunk into silence. After a beat, somebody said, “Probably not. Of course, it’s not impossible, but even if they do, there would be few. The danger to us would be limited...”
“It’s limited now, but once we’ve used up half our Vitalities, we’d be exhausted, and our reaction speed would decrease. One soldier with a gun could riddle all of us with bullets.
“We have to be more cautious. All of us should keep a way out for ourselves. Don’t die without even knowing how it happened.
“This isn’t a friendly match, nor is it a battle stage competition. If you surrender, it’s over.
“We can’t hold back against when fighting the evil sect martial artists, but with so many people, we shouldn’t put in all our strength either.”
NMAU’s Gu Xiong said, “Let’s split into three teams. One team will guard the periphery while the other two take turns in battle. The Rank-3s will be the reserve powers.”
Fang Ping smiled. “That’s exactly what I wanted. I think the girls should be in charge of the periphery. Zhang Ziwei, take charge of this team then.”
Zhang Ziwei glared at him. Fang Ping said casually, “It’s for your own good. You’re girls, after all. Being at the periphery is pretty good. You’re strong too, so you can be considered a trump card. Who knows if the other evil sect martial artists from the outside will enter suddenly from the back?”
Zhang Ziwei scowled but did not say anything.
“For the two main attacking teams, you guys decide yourselves who’ll be responsible for commanding. It’s fine if we Rank-3 martial artists are in charge of rescue as well as fighting the opponents’ Rank-3 martial artists.
“Last but not least... I suggest we create a smaller group of people to be a reconnaissance team who’ll go survey a little in the village.
“Martial artists whose pole-standings are at the elevated stance run fast too. What do you all think?”
Everybody exchanged glances. Somebody nodded and said, “Investigating a little is good too, but entering the village is a little more dangerous...”
Fang Ping smiled and said, “Since I suggested it, count me in then.”
Fu Changding and the others looked at each other. Did this guy have a personality transplant?
Fang Ping did not mind and continued, “Of course, the evil sect martial artists know they’re herded beasts. Unless the other party is dumb as a doorknob, they’ll put up a strict defense.
“My thoughts are that if we do some investigation in the village, we can divide more loot later on.”
Toward this, nobody had many objections.
The evil sect martial artists were not utter fools. They were all like agitated birds struck by arrows before. A slight breeze and movement of grass would definitely stir up a lot of activity.
Entering the village was indeed more dangerous.
After that, a few others volunteered to enter the village to survey it, so the plan was considered settled.
As for the time, everybody was set to take action the following night.
...
When everybody scattered, Fu Changding said quietly, “You actually took the initiative to request entering and surveying the village. That’s not like you.”
“Why not do something that has benefits?”
“I still can’t believe it...”
Fang Ping was amused and said, “What can’t be believed? Frankly, I feel that entering the village is not necessarily very dangerous. It would be much riskier if we fought without understanding anything about our enemies’ situation.
“If we stir things up a little, the number of evil sect powerhouses will emerge too.
“It’s not as if we must stand and fight to the death. If we see the situation’s not good, we’ll run.
“At least we’ll get a good estimate of their forces. I don’t want to die cluelessly when three or four middle-ranked martial artists suddenly emerge.”
Fu Changding nodded but added angrily, “Why can’t we enter the main attacking team?”
“Wait till you become Upper-stage Rank-2 before talking. Isn’t it shameful? Han Xu’s already Peak Rank-2.”
“I’m nearly there! In a few days, I’ll be an Upper-stage Rank-2 martial artist!”
“I’m nearly there too! After a few days, I’ll be Upper-stage Rank-3!”
Fang Ping shot back at him. Fu Changding’s expression was sheepish. ‘As if I’d believe that!’