36: Chapter 36 Sitting on the Mountain and Watching the Tigers Fight

His words instantly calmed the hearts of everyone, which had been hanging due to the powerful enemy.

That's right, with the Stockade Master here, what is there to fear?!

"Pass on my order!"

Gao Feng's voice became resolute.

"The entire stockade is to enter Level One combat readiness! All combat troops, be ready to mobilize at any time!"

"Slim Monkey!"

"Here!"

"Immediately dispatch all the experts from the scout team and have them sneak near the battlefield! I want to know every detail of the battlefield! The deployment of the Government Soldiers, the response of Dushan Stronghold, and even which leader let out a fart, I want to know it all clearly!"

"Yes!" Slim Monkey accepted the order, his eyes shining with excitement.

"Luo Qin!"

"Here, Brother!"

"Go and organize the troops immediately. Blade-shield soldiers, spearmen, and archers, take your respective positions! Await my orders at all times!"

"Understood!"

"Old Qiu, Luo Shu!"

"Here!"

"The two of you, take charge of the stockade! Pacify the people and manage the logistics well! We are fighting at the front, so the backyard must not catch fire!"

"Rest assured, Stockade Master!"

Orders were issued in an orderly manner. The entire Panshi Stockade once again operated at high speed like a war machine with its springs tightened.

As for Gao Feng himself, he changed into black, tight-fitting clothes suitable for action and strapped his beloved overlord spear onto his back.

"Slim Monkey, lead your team and come with me."

"Alright! Stockade Master!"

He wanted to go and see for himself.

See exactly how much substance these Qinghe County Government Soldiers really have.

And also see who exactly this hegemon that has entrenched itself in Ghost Sees Sorrow for many years—Dushan Stronghold—really is!

Watching the tigers fight from the mountain.

What he wanted to do was not just watch the fight.

He wanted to find that perfect moment during this struggle, transform into the final oriole, and in one gulp, swallow both of these tigers that had fought each other to mutual destruction!

...

Gui Jian Chou Mountain Range, Dushan Stronghold.

The danger of the mountain terrain here was far from what small hills like Black Wind Stockade could compare to.

On three sides were cliffs as if cut by knives and axes, with craggy rocks on the cliffs that even monkeys found difficult to climb.

The only passage was a narrow valley known to locals as the "Yama's Path," which could be described as one man guarding the pass, ten thousand unable to open it.

After more than a year of management, the bandits of Dushan Stronghold had long since turned this place into a true war fortress.

The towering stockade walls were built entirely from giant mountain rocks, with thick and exceptionally sturdy wall bodies.

On top of the stockade walls, arrow towers and sentry posts were arranged in a scattered yet orderly fashion, and rows of dark defensive crossbows, like dormant Vicious Beasts, exuded a deadly chill.

Behind the stockade walls, there were all kinds of sinister traps and poisoned mechanisms; one slight carelessness would result in being left without a corpse.

However, at this moment, outside this impregnable fortress, flags were waving and the Killing Intent was soaring to the sky.

Five hundred Government Soldiers wearing standard leather armor formed tight infantry phalanxes on the flat ground at the foot of the mountain.

The front row consisted of shield soldiers holding high tower shields, the back row consisted of spearmen holding long spears, and both flanks were supported by archers. The formation was strict, clearly having undergone formal training.

At the very front of the military formation, four Jianghu people with powerful auras and arrogant gazes were surrounding a young man dressed in silk and satin.

It was the County Magistrates Young Master, Zhang Yang.

He looked at the impregnable stronghold in the distance, his face wearing an expression interwoven with resentment and excitement.

"This is it! I would recognize it even if it turned to ashes!" He pointed at the stronghold and shrieked, "The four uncles my father hired for me, and Commander Wang! Today, we must flatten this Dushan Stronghold and tear that bandit leader into ten thousand pieces to relieve the hatred in my heart!"

Beside him, a middle-aged general wearing iron armor and carrying a long saber at his waist was none other than the Government Soldiers Commander, Wang Kui.

He looked at the perilous stronghold, frowned slightly, and said to a middle-aged scholar with a sword beside him, "Mr. Li, the terrain of this Dushan Stronghold is dangerous, and the defensive works are airtight. A forced attack will likely result in heavy casualties."

The one called Mr. Li was none other than one of the four great Tier 3 experts that Zhang Dingtian had spent a large sum of money to hire, "Flowing Cloud Sword" Li Chunfeng.

Li Chunfeng stroked his goat beard and said with an arrogant face, "Commander Wang need not worry. Mountain bandits are ultimately mountain bandits, just a mob. The four of us will take action and directly take the head of the bandit leader. By then, with the group leaderless, this stronghold will naturally collapse without an attack."

The others were also full of disdain.

They were all long-established Jianghu experts, and they didn't take these so-called mountain bandits seriously at all.

Just as they were discussing, a row of figures appeared on the towering stone walls of Dushan Stronghold.

The leader was nearly nine feet tall, with a tiger's back and a bear's waist, like a moving iron tower.

He was shirtless, revealing bronze-colored muscles full of explosive power, and carried a giant mountain-splitting axe taller than a person on his shoulder.

He was the Chief Leader of Dushan Stronghold, "Mountain-Splitting Bear" Bear Overlord!

Behind him stood the Second-in-Command "Ghost Shadow" Nie Kong, the Third-in-Command "Iron-Faced Judge" Du Wei, and the Fourth-in-Command, the strategist "White Fan" Liu Chengfeng.

"Big Brother, it's the Government Soldiers from Qinghe County." Liu Chengfeng shook the white paper fan in his hand, but his brows were tightly locked. "Something is wrong, very wrong."

"What's wrong?" Bear Overlord asked in a muffled voice, looking at the Government Soldiers below the mountain as if looking at a group of achievements that had delivered themselves to his door.

Liu Chengfeng's eyes were full of confusion: "Big Brother, our Dushan Stronghold has not provoked the government recently. Why would this Zhang Dingtian suddenly mobilize his entire force and set up this posture of fighting to the death to attack us?"

"This matter is suspicious everywhere; there must be a reason we don't know about."

"Hmph! To hell with the reason!"

Bear Overlord let out a cold snort like muffled thunder, his voice full of disdain, "Do these officials need a reason to suppress bandits? Maybe some blind brat accidentally touched their grain and grass, or maybe some new county magistrate wants to use our Dushan Stronghold's heads as stepping stones for his promotion!"

He took a sudden step forward, his eyes bursting with fanatical Battle Intent: "Why think so much! If soldiers come, block them; if water comes, cover it with earth! Since they've delivered themselves to our door, we'll take them! It just so happens we are short of weapons and armor; if we slaughter them, won't these things all be ours?!"

He looked at the group of Government Soldiers below the mountain as if looking at a moving treasure trove.

Strategist Liu Chengfeng could only smile helplessly upon hearing this.

He knew his Big Brother's temper; reason would not work, he only believed in the axe in his hand.

"Big Brother is right."

Liu Chengfeng had to go along with his words, but still cautiously reminded him, "However, those four Jianghu people opposite have strong auras, they should all be Tier 3 experts. The Government Soldiers' formation is strict, not like a mob. We should focus on defense, relying on the geographical advantage to wear down their spirit."

"A strategist is just a strategist, with less courage than a woman!"

Bear Overlord waved his hand impatiently, "A mere few Tier 3s, daring to act presumptuously in front of me! Today, I will let them know who the true master of this Ghost Sees Sorrow is!"

As he said this, he suddenly grabbed a huge cowhide drum beside him and pounded it hard with his fist!

"Dong—Dong—Dong—!"

The dull drum sound, like the heartbeat of a god of war, resounded through the entire valley!

"Brats of Dushan Stronghold! The government's weaklings have delivered themselves to our door! Grab your weapons and come with me to slaughter them!!"

Bear Overlord's voice was full of wild incitement.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

On top of the stockade walls, hundreds of bandits raised their weapons and let out earth-shattering roars!

That fierce spirit of fearing not death actually made the well-trained Government Soldiers at the foot of the mountain feel a palpitation, and the military formation showed a slight disturbance.

...

In the distance, on a hidden hillside one mile away.

Gao Feng and Slim Monkey were lying motionless in the grass like two rocks, observing every move on the battlefield with binoculars.

This was a simple pair of binoculars that Gao Feng had polished from two crystal pieces in his spare time; although rough, it was enough for him to see the general situation of the battlefield clearly.

"Goodness... this bandit leader of Dushan Stronghold is ferocious!"

Slim Monkey looked at Bear Overlord, who was like a demon god in the binoculars, and couldn't help but click his tongue.

Gao Feng did not speak, but his heart was also churning with stormy seas.

His eyesight was far superior to ordinary people.

He could clearly feel how immense the Qi and blood power emanating from the bandit leader named Bear Overlord was! It was a kind of pure, condensed-to-the-extreme physical power!

Tier 4!

Definitely a Tier 4 hard-training expert!

Gao Feng's heart sank suddenly.

He had originally thought that the strongest in Dushan Stronghold was at most at the Tier 3 Peak.

But he never expected that a genuine Tier 4 expert was entrenched here!

No wonder they could run rampant in Ghost Sees Sorrow, and even the government could do nothing about them!

The existence of a Tier 4 powerhouse was enough to change the direction of a local war!

"It seems that today's play is even more exciting than I imagined."

Gao Feng muttered to himself, but his eyes became even sharper.

The stronger the opponent, the higher the Battle Intent in his heart became!

The battle at the foot of the mountain was on the verge of breaking out!

"All troops! Attack the mountain!"

Government Soldiers Commander Wang Kui, seeing that morale was being seized, immediately ordered a forced attack.

"Raise shields! Advance!"

"Kill!"

Five hundred Government Soldiers, under loud orders, began to act.

The shield soldiers at the very front slammed their huge tower shields in front of them, forming a moving shield wall, covering the spearmen and archers behind them, and began to advance steadily toward the stronghold.

Their steps were steady, and the formation was not chaotic, clearly not so easy to deal with.

However, they soon paid a bloody price for their attack.

Just as the shield wall advanced within a hundred paces of the stockade wall, the strategist Liu Chengfeng calmly waved the white paper fan in his hand.

"Release!"

With the order, the bandits who had been prepared immediately activated the mechanisms!

"Rumble..."

Only to see a large area of the ground in front of the stockade wall suddenly collapse, revealing huge pits several meters deep!

The pits were filled with sharpened bamboo spears!

The dozens of shield soldiers rushing at the front, although holding shields, found no footing and, caught off guard, fell down screaming, instantly being pierced into bloody hedgehogs!

This sudden scene caused the following Government Soldiers to pause their steps.

And this momentary pause was fatal.

"Shoot!"

On top of the stockade walls, hundreds of archers pulled their bowstrings at the same time.

A rain of arrows came covering the sky and earth!

Although the archery skills of these bandits were far less precise than those of Panshi Stockade, they won in having a huge quantity and wide coverage.

Arrows were shot from a high place, crossed over the shield wall, and accurately landed into the military formation of the Government Soldiers.

"Puff! Puff! Puff!"

The spearmen and archers in the back were hit by arrows and fell to the ground one after another; for a time, screams of being hit by arrows rose and fell.

"Hold! Hold the formation!" Wang Kui commanded from the rear, hoarse and exhausted, "Archers, suppress and return fire! Shield soldiers, continue to advance, fill the pits!"

The Government Soldiers' archers also began to return fire at the stockade walls, but because of the upward shooting, the power and accuracy were greatly reduced, and the effect was minimal.

"A bunch of trash!"

"Flowing Cloud Sword" Li Chunfeng snorted coldly and could no longer watch.

"We will take action, and end this quickly!"

Before his voice fell, his whole body was like a weightless flowing cloud, floating up, his toes lightly tapping on the top of the heads of the soldiers in front, and he crossed the pit, shooting toward the stockade wall!

The other three Tier 3 experts also showed their Divine Abilities and followed closely behind.

"Well done!"

On top of the stockade walls, Bear Overlord saw this scene, and instead of being surprised, he was happy, letting out an earth-shattering wild laugh!

He suddenly grabbed the giant mountain-splitting axe beside him, his huge body, like a cannonball, jumping straight down from the nearly ten-zhang-high stockade wall!

"Boom—!"

A loud noise!

His huge body slammed heavily onto the ground, actually smashing a huge cracked pit into the hard ground!

And he himself was unscathed!

The body of a Tier 4 hard-training expert was his most powerful weapon!

"Die!!"

Bear Overlord's eyes were red, like a crazed giant bear, waving the giant mountain-splitting axe, actively welcoming the four Tier 3 experts!

A battle truly belonging to top powerhouses erupted instantly!

Li Chunfeng's sword was as fast as flowing light, elegant and agile, with every sword strike never leaving the vital points of Bear Overlord's body.

Another expert using a saber had a saber technique that was open and closed, powerful and peerless.

There was also one person whose palms were flying, and the palm wind was fierce.

But their attacks, falling on Bear Overlord's bronze-colored skin, could only produce bursts of "clanging" sounds of metal clashing, and at most, could only leave shallow white marks!

"Hahahaha! Just this much strength? Are you scratching an itch for me?"

Bear Overlord laughed wildly, completely ignoring the siege of the three, his blood-red eyes locked tightly onto the fourth one, who was also the strongest Tier 3 Peak expert!

He stamped his foot, and the earth trembled for it!

The giant mountain-splitting axe in his hand, with the momentum of tearing Mount Tai, slashed down toward that expert's head!

The Tier 3 Peak expert locked by Bear Overlord was the famous "Mountain-Suppressing Hammer" General Zhao Wuji around Qinghe County.

He held a pair of eight-sided gilded hammers made of pure steel, following a fierce and domineering path.

Seeing Bear Overlord's axe slashing down like a landslide, General Zhao Wuji not only did not retreat, but the Battle Intent burned fiercely in his eyes.

"Well come! Take my hammer!"

He roared, the Qi and blood of the Tier 3 Peak exploded without reservation, the muscles of his arms bulging, the double hammers in his hands, with whistling strong winds, one up and one down, crossed to meet the giant mountain-splitting axe!

He wanted to go head-to-head with this bandit leader!