Chapter 140: Inscriptions on the Great Tree

Four crossbow bolts whizzed through the air, carrying a rushing wind that whipped up a trail of dust on the ground as they sped straight toward the main gate of the bandit stronghold.

Before Wan Hu and the score of bandits standing atop the wooden palisade wall could figure out what was hurtling toward them, a continuous series of four dull thuds—*bang, bang, bang, bang!*—rang in their ears. Four holes, each the thickness of a forearm, burst through the wooden gate. A chorus of startled shrieks—“Aargh!” and “Oh mother!”—erupted from the hundred or so bandits who had been crouching in reserve right behind the gate. Four bloody trails sprayed across the crowd of bandits, accompanied by a string of damage numbers popping up above their heads, until the four crossbow bolts finally exhausted their momentum and clattered onto the flat ground inside the stronghold.

"What on earth is that? So vicious!"

"How should I know? It nearly skewered me to death!"

"Damn it, you idiots still have time to chat here? Run for your lives!"

With a loud *swish*, the bandits who had been crammed behind the wooden gate hurriedly scattered to both sides. At that very instant, another four crossbow bolts tore through the gate. The slower bandits were once again strung together like candied hawthorns, letting out endless shrieks of agony.

The bandits on the ramparts rubbed their eyes in disbelief, staring at the bizarre turn of events. Enraged, Wan Hu fiercely slapped the face of the bandit standing next to him and roared, "What the hell are you still staring at? Drop the rolling logs right now!"

The surrounding bandits scrambled like frightened rabbits, hurriedly cutting the ropes and releasing the heavy logs jammed against the palisade walls. The logs, as thick as water vats and over a meter long, bounded and crashed as they hurtled down the mountain path.

Dancing Fish waved the triangular flag in his hand with a rushing wind, just about to shout "Fire!" when he saw six or seven rolling logs bounding down the mountain path toward them. He hurriedly screamed, "Hold your fire! Hold your fire! Quickly carry the ballistae to the sides!"

The soldiers and players scrambled in a flurry, lifting the four ballistae and retreating to either side of the mountain path. The players and government troops in the rear also hastily cleared the central path, swiftly withdrawing to the left and right.

No sooner had they cleared the mountain path than six or seven thick rolling logs came barreling past them at breakneck speed. This left the players and government troops with lingering fear, especially those who had previously suffered at the hands of the rolling logs; their hairs stood completely on end. Heavens, the feeling of being run over by those things was not something one easily forgot.

Time marched on. The raging fire had already spread deep into the stronghold, swallowing six or seven wooden houses in a sea of flames. The entire stronghold was illuminated by a fierce red glow.

The remaining bandit chieftain stood right beside Wan Hu. Watching the fire consume the stronghold, he anxiously urged Wan Hu, "Chieftain, we can't go on like this! We should take the initiative and launch a counterattack!"

Seeing that four or five rolling logs had failed to crush even a single enemy, Wan Hu was already furious. He gripped his short club tightly, turned his head toward the chieftain beside him, and said, "Very well. I will take a group of foot soldiers down to meet these damned government dogs. Second Brother, you take charge of controlling the fire inside the stronghold. Also, why has Third Brother been gone for so long without returning? Send someone to check on him first!"

The bandit chieftain acknowledged the order, instructed a portion of the bandits to rush and put out the burning buildings, and led a group of over forty men straight toward the back mountain.

Wan Hu assembled around two hundred bandits. At this point, there were no reserve bandits left inside the stronghold; aside from these two hundred, about a hundred more had been taken by the chieftain to the back mountain, while the remainder were fighting the fire.

The two hundred bandits wore terrified expressions. The enemy forces numbered three thousand, while they had mere two hundred. Could they possibly pull this off?

Wan Hu stood before the bandits, brandishing the gleaming golden staff in his hand, and shouted, "You have nothing to fear! With this magical club, even if the imperial court sends ten thousand soldiers, they will not be our match. Everyone, follow me and charge out!"

Having experienced the victory over the allied forces of Yang'an and Yingchuan, the bandits stared fixedly at the short club in Wan Hu's hand. As if instantly regaining their courage, they raised their weapons aloft and roared in unison.

With that, Wan Hu took the lead and dashed toward the stronghold gates. Four guards stationed there hastily swung the doors open, and Wan Hu charged out at the head of the two hundred bandits, heading straight down the mountain.

Howling battle cries, the bandits lunged down from their elevated position toward the government troops and player forces at the foot of the mountain. The four ballistae had just been reloaded with bolts and aimed at the stronghold gate. Seeing the bandits swarming out from the gateway, Dancing Fish frantically waved his triangular flag and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Fire, fire, fire! Let them fly right now!"

Four crossbow bolts shot forth in response, kicking up four sprays of blood amidst the bandit ranks. High-spirited, Dancing Fish was just about to order the eight soldiers operating the ballistae to reload and prepare for another volley when the solemn sound of a bronze bell echoed from the foot of the mountain—the official command for everyone to make a tactical retreat.

Dancing Fish, Ocean Girl, and the multitude of players were utterly baffled. The numerical ratio between the bandits and themselves was less than one to ten; they had wanted a direct confrontation with the bandits and worried the outlaws wouldn't dare show their faces, yet now that the enemy was serving themselves up on a silver platter, what sense did it make to order a retreat?

The players lacked experience fighting these bandits and naturally knew nothing of the terrifying power Wan Hu's short club possessed. The government soldiers, however, knew it all too well. Upon hearing the gongs sound from the base of the mountain, they scrambled back in a tidal wave. Fortunately, Shen Kuo had instructed the soldiers of Yang'an County beforehand to protect the four ballistae at all costs. As these troops retreated, they did not forget to haul the siege engines along; groups of seven or eight men hoisted a single ballista, rapidly withdrawing down the mountain under the protection of surrounding troops.

Reaching the base of the mountain, the government forces fell back another five miles, firmly planting their battle formation to stand in strict readiness against the opposing bandits. Dancing Fish squeezed his way to the side of Shen Kuo, the Magistrate of Yang'an County, and asked, "Lord Magistrate, the battle was going so well! Why did we retreat?"

Shen Kuo recognized Dancing Fish, seeing as he had been personally appointed by Li Jing as the commander of the four ballistae. After a moment of thought, he replied, "This official heard from the Magistrate of Yingchuan that once this bandit leader launches a charge, his momentum becomes unstoppable, and the soldiers generally grow terrified and freeze in place. What the exact situation is, you and I will both witness shortly." Shen Kuo had never faced the bandit chieftain in battle before, so the finer details remained obscure to him. Looking thoroughly perplexed, Dancing Fish returned to the four ballistae and joined Ocean Girl in keeping a close eye on the front lines.

Facing a force of over three thousand men, Wan Hu wore an air of complete nonchalance. Once the bandits behind him had all gathered, he cast a contemptuous smile at the crowd before him and roared, "How dare you burn down my Niutou Stronghold! Today, I will make all of you die right here!"

With that, he drove his short club forcefully into the ground. Seeing this move, the government troops immediately stirred in confusion, but a moment later, finding no strange sensations on their bodies, they turned back to stare suspiciously at Wan Hu.

Wan Hu also began to realize that the short club's passive or active skill had not triggered. He hurriedly thrust the club into the earth two more times with fierce intensity, yet still, absolutely nothing happened.

Sweat began to bead on Wan Hu's forehead: Could this damned short club's attached skill have a limited number of uses and finally run out? If that were truly the case, he was utterly doomed. Once the enemy forces swarmed forward, they would instantly trample him into mincemeat.

By this time, the government soldiers had also perked up. Several squad leaders and platoon commanders were already leading their subordinates forward, eager for a fight. "Heh, this fellow's club doesn't seem to be working anymore." "In that case, what the hell are we afraid of? Let's go up there and hack him to pieces!"

The players were even more bewildered:

"What is that bandit leader doing? Laying foundations for a building?"

"Maybe he's from some special ethnicity performing a ritual before battle." At this moment, the foot archers and mounted archers received orders, sprinting up from the rear to draw their bows and take aim at the opposing bandits. The bandits hurriedly raised their wooden shields to shelter Wan Hu in their center.

Amidst this tense standoff, Wan Hu drove his short club forcefully into the ground for the seventh time. A bizarre phenomenon occurred: taking the point of impact as its center, a pale blue ring of light rapidly expanded outward. Wherever the halo swept, whether players or NPC government soldiers, everyone felt a sudden numbness throughout their bodies. The status tag "Abnormal State - Paralysis" appeared across their attribute panels, though some suffered mild paralysis, others general paralysis, and a few severe paralysis.

The expansion radius of the halo was roughly five hundred meters. The bandits within this five-hundred-meter range were also afflicted with the paralysis status, but they recovered remarkably quickly, returning to normal within three to five seconds, which showed that the skill could accurately distinguish between friend and foe.

The government troops and players did not recover nearly as fast. Even for mild paralysis, the system countdown lasted up to twenty seconds, while severe paralysis stretched as long as a full minute. Under the paralysis state, movement was sluggish: mild paralysis reduced speed to one-half of normal, general paralysis to one-third, and severe paralysis to a mere one-fourth.

With mild paralysis, one could occasionally counterattack against an enemy's advance; with general paralysis, one was reduced to sluggish parrying; and with severe paralysis, a person became entirely like a puppet, awaiting slaughter at the enemy's whim.

However, if a player or NPC possessed a higher level, the probability of being paralyzed was reduced. Moreover, even while paralyzed, higher-level entities always recovered faster than lower-level ones.

At last, the players understood why Wan Hu had dared to openly defy the authorities of two counties simultaneously. With such an overpowered short club in hand, anyone would swagger with arrogance.

Three to five seconds later, the bandits had already recovered one by one. At Wan Hu's command of "Kill them all!", the outlaws rushed forward behind him with bizarre shrieks, plunging straight into the ranks of the government troops and players who remained trapped in paralysis.

The bandit chieftain whom Wan Hu called Second Brother had led a squad of some forty men down from the back mountain, marching all the way to the riverbank. Not only did they fail to find Third Brother, but they did not catch sight of a single soul.

The surroundings were dead quiet, leaving the chieftain feeling rather uneasy.

At that moment, one of the bandits suddenly cried out, "Second Chieftain, look! It seems there are words carved onto this large tree."

Curious, the chieftain walked up to the tree. Guided by the faint, shimmering starlight of the early dawn, he saw that the bark of a large tree growing by the river had been stripped away, exposing a large patch of white wood upon which a line of red characters was written.

"Did any of you bring a fire starter? Light it up so I can see," the Second Chieftain ordered.