The General’s Little Gher 12

The next morning, the three assigned teams went to their respective location. Since their objective had changed, Huo Zhang brought more soldiers with him to go to the waterfall.

Nobody tailed them this time. Instead, not learning their lesson, some princes aimed for Tian Qing-Shan's and Wang Ke's location, but they were already notified.

Just in case, they left half of their soldiers at a decoy location while a third of them continued to the waterfall. If their manpower wasn't enough later, they could lure out the crystal-horned beast to the decoy since traps were made there as well.

The waterfall was abundant and rapid, making it impossible to see what was beyond it. The scout members led the group to encircle the pond and showed the narrow gap to slip past through. Behind the waterfall was a cave mouth, the one Xue Liang found. Passing the entrance, the cave was very dark with no gap for a fraction of light to enter. Crystal-horned tigers were very sensitive to heat, so they could only light up a small fire with 2 oil lanterns, one at the front and one at the rear.

Both Bai Liang and Huo Zhang could see perfectly in the dark, one better than the other, so they led in the front while Jiang Si-Nian, the private unit's second-in-command, held the lantern behind them.

Bai Liang spread out his spirit, guessing it was how crystal-horned tigers tracked their prey. However godly their nose was, it sounded too unusual for them to be able to distinguish a gher from 1,000 men. But spiritual energy was different.

He motioned Huo Zhang to stop and stepped forward. Huo Zhang loaded an arrow and prepared to shoot with his senses sharpened.

Bai Liang stopped 10 steps away from Huo Zhang and held his parasol with 2 hands. The soldiers didn't know what he was trying to do and were all anxious seeing a gher standing alone at the front. Still, the general didn't say anything, so they could only shut up and watch.

Soon after, they heard a low growl from up ahead. Jiang Si-Nian grabbed the hilt of his sword but was frozen by a glance from Huo Zhang. He stopped everyone from drawing their blades with a silent command, but they didn't drop their stance, hands ready on the hilt of their sword.

Bai Liang launched a burst of violent qi, and the crystal-horned tiger roared from the scare. It stretched its body taut and flashed towards its prey in half a blink.

Unfortunately for it, anything slower than the speed of light was a slow motion in Bai Liang's eyes, and he could see every minute detail of its movement. The way it bared its fangs, the way it brandished its claws, and the way its horns were lighting up was all too clear for him.

When its claws were a few inches away from him, he pulled the hilt of his parasol and took out a cold, glinting blade from its body. Shifting his foot, he dodged the tiger's claws in an arc and swung his blade with a graceful spin. In the tiger's eyes, its prey suddenly vanished from its sight and attacked nothing but empty air.

Once Huo Zhang got a clear aim, the string had been prepared at its limit and without a second delay, the arrow was shot. It flashed like lightning towards the tiger's glabella and pierced through its skull. Without losing momentum, it whistled past Bai Liang and landed on the solid ground with a thunk.

Bai Liang caught the crystal horn he cut off when a loud crash ensued behind him. He turned to see Huo Zhang had dodged the tiger and let it crash into the soldiers behind him.

Studying the horn in his hand, Bai Liang found it had a very pure qi inside it. Even after it got cut, the qi stayed within and didn't leak out the slightest bit. It wasn't that crystal-horned tigers were physically tough, they armoured their bodies with qi which resulted in normal weapons being unable to pierce through them. That was why the Heavenly Star Bow could easily harm them since it was a 10,000-year-old spiritual weapon. From the accumulated qi, the tiger they just killed was only around 300 years old.

Bai Liang sheathed his sword back into his parasol and gave it a twist to lock it in place. The original Lan Jing wasn't only lazing around, painting and reading, in his courtyard. He also practised his martial arts so that he could at least protect himself when things went awry. He customized this blade to hide it from Lan Qi-Yuan.

He went back to Huo Zhang while Jiang Si-Nian was sent to retrieve the arrow and handed the horn. "General, this is the tiger's crystal horn. Although it won't be as powerful as the Heavenly Star Bow, you can make it into a spiritual weapon."

The soldiers at the back couldn't believe their eyes and thought they were hallucinating. The horn of a crystal-horned tiger was 100 times tougher than its body. They were already shocked as it was to find the parasol he kept bringing was actually a scabbard. How could a gher cleanly cut what was basically a diamond with such a thin blade!?

Their eyes couldn't catch up with the tiger's movement earlier, but the general's wife moved so fast that it seemed like he teleported. Before they knew it, the tiger which was said to be a powerful mystical animal was dead within a second.

As expected, the general's wife wasn't a simple person. If not, how could he make a fierce general fall head over heels for him? They would gladly kneel without complaint to this powerful beauty.

Huo Zhang studied the horn until his subordinate appeared with a box and stored it. Bai Liang planned to cut off its horn since the beginning, so they readily brought a box for it. They wrapped the tiger up to be carried out and promptly left. Since this was a nest, it wouldn't be wise to linger for too long.

They had just arrived at their horses when a wounded soldier rushed towards them from afar. He stumbled to the ground and saluted with much difficulty.

"General Huo, His Highness is under attack by the second prince's people."

Without asking any questions, Huo Zhang mounted his horse and pulled Bai Liang up to sit behind him. The two of them rushed away, and Jiang Si-Nian arranged everything before following behind them with 4 other special soldiers.

They arrived at Tian Qing-Shan's location at full speed. Bai Liang took the Heavenly Star Bow from Huo Zhang's back before Huo Zhang jumped down with his sword. Bai Liang took over the rein and stopped the horse.

2 li in front of them was Bei An, sitting on his horse with his bow and arrow. Once they entered his view, he swiftly shot three arrows towards Huo Zhang.

Bai Liang wasn't worried whether Huo Zhang could dodge or parry it. He loaded two of Huo Zhang's normal arrows and shot them towards Bei An in return.

Bei An didn't expect the little gher to be an expert in archery but his battle instinct let him react on time. He drew his sword and parried the two arrows in one fluid motion. Seeing another one coming, he also struck them away only to find another arrow hidden behind it, following closely at its tail. His right shoulder was hit, and the arrow pierced through until its end.

While he was busy with Bai Liang's attack, Huo Zhang reached him and slashed his horse leg. It jumped from the pain, toppling Bei An off his saddle, and ran away. Huo Zhang didn't wait until Bei An regained his stand and struck an attack towards his torso. Bei An timely blocked it and kicked Huo Zhang back before rolling away and standing back up to his feet.

Bei An broke the arrow's tail off his shoulder and plucked the arrow out. "Interesting wife you have there, General Huo. I was thinking of killing him to see you in despair, but now I want him for myself."

Huo Zhang's eyes darkened, and he began his assault. The clashing of metals echoed throughout the forest as the two generals attacked and defended. Bai Liang lowered the bow when Jiang Si-Nian arrived and stopped his advance. "Search for His Highness. We'll handle things here."

Jiang Si-Nian had received orders that Bai Liang's words were equal to Huo Zhang's himself and nodded. "Yes, Madame."

He quickly left with the rest of the soldiers.