Beginning with the Ubume Bird

Chapter 52: Chapter 6 Chaos

Editor: Larbre Studio

“`

The man in the fur robe looked at Deng Tianxiong, “A person from Great Ming?”

Deng Tianxiong’s mind buzzed.

The four men with fiery red scabbards were utterly baffled.

Wang Sheng was the first to react!

The youth’s half-crouching body lunged forward in an instant. His jaws clenched tight, the fine fuzz on his lips quivered as his sword struck out like the abrupt crack of spring thunder, aiming for the man’s legs.

“Ah~”

“Eh?”

The room immediately descended into chaos. A soldier flipped a cauldron, and the boiling water soared into the air, while Deng Tianxiong’s feet pushed off from a long sword, his soles forcefully flicking outward, and the blade whooshed through the air, its tip aiming directly between the man and the fiery red scabbard guards!

The sound of the wind was subdued by the burning fire pit, the flames twisted and trembled wildly. The room darkened instantaneously, casting everyone’s shadow long and thin.

Wang Sheng’s blade had already grazed the man’s calf. The nearest red scabbard guardsman, yelling in an incomprehensible bird language, whipped his slender blade into a ghastly red arch but was blocked for a moment by Deng Tianxiong’s sword, failing to protect his master.

Wang Sheng’s indifferent face remained unfluctuating, his grip on the sword tightened by a fraction. Suddenly, his neck turned cold as the slithery chill spread through his body in an instant, and the strike, so close at hand, seemed impossible to deliver.

The onlookers’ eyes were wide with shock. A tangle of wet black hair, appearing out of nowhere, had wrapped around Wang Sheng’s neck. The youth’s eyes bulged as his grip weakened helplessly, and before the sword hilt could drop, a blaze of red sword light had already risen from below, lashing toward the youth’s face!

“Bang!”

The lingering sound meandered, the mournful wail of the sword blade incessant in their ears as the warrior kept stepping back, his hands shaking non-stop…

Li Yan held a gun in both hands, the black muzzle aimed directly at the man in the fur robe, his resolute cheeks reflecting the firelight into a fiery red.

…

“You’re out of bullets, so what are you still aiming at me for?”

The man appeared calm and collected.

“Bang!”

Firelight erupted, the man’s eyebrows twitched, his face a picture of shock.

The bullet grazed past his hair, the burned scent faint but discernible.

Li Yan’s gaze was fierce: “Why don’t you guess whether I’m out of bullets yet?”

The man looked down, then suddenly began to laugh. His pale hand reached out swiftly towards Wang Sheng.

“Bang! Bang!”

Firelight burst forth in quick succession, two bullets scraping past the man’s neck, the smell of gunpowder overpowering the scent of food in the air.

Not just the man, even Deng Tianxiong and the others were left dumbstruck.

Li Yan raised his gun slightly.

“Guess again?”

Deng Tianxiong rushed over and pulled Wang Sheng back, ripping off the strange black hair from his neck and desperately pinching his philtrum.

“There’s something off about this guy, I was obviously aiming for his chest.”

Li Yan maintained his composure, but internally he was puzzled.

At the moment he fired, Li Yan had a vague feeling that the bullet seemed to pass through a shadow…

From the first shot, Li Yan had aimed for the enemy’s vital points, but the shot was deflected by the warrior with a sword – more precisely, the bullet hit the sword’s edge.

Even with the aid of Hook Star, Li Yan wouldn’t dare claim he could slash a bullet with a sword.

The subsequent shots were even more bizarre; to others, it seemed like Li Yan was toying with his prey, but Li Yan had no such leisure – he simply hadn’t hit the target and was only pretending to be impressive.

A Fleeting Glimpse, activate

Red Guard Warrior! A special force from the Country of Kai.

Status: Without Armor (Defense reduced by 70%, Agility increased by 40%)

Expertise: Military Skill 77%

Skills: True Shinin-ryu Sword Skill

Soul of Kai

Strong Army (Group combat strength increased)

Threat Level: Light Red

Threat Level*4: Deep Red

Kobayakawa Masakazu, the youngest of the Kobayakawa family.

Status: Daimyo’s Blood (Protected by Demonic Strength, all damage reduced by 10%, damage reduced by 25% when walking on Yan Fu)

Expertise: Ancient Swordsmanship 79% (Shinto Munen-ryu)

Skills: Ghost Taming Technique (Nanako)

Threat Level: Red

Ghost Taming Technique?

Li Yan flexed his fingers.

The shock on Kobayakawa’s face would not fade for a long time: “The firearms of Great Ming have advanced to this extent?!”

“No!”

“`

Kobayakawa quickly came to his senses, because the man’s accomplice had a surprised look on his face, just like his own.

His eyes shifted, gazing at the Colt Pistol with insatiable greed.

“The Wanli Emperor’s army seems to be quite far from Pyongyang.”

He didn’t care about the barrel of Li Yan’s gun and said leisurely, “Are you the remnants of the routed army?”

Deng Tianxiong spat on the ground, “Japanese dwarf, you’ve learned Mandarin quite well.”

“Did you hide in the mountains to avoid our search?”

Kobayakawa took two steps forward, and Li Yan took a step forward, lifting the gun slightly. The meaning in his eyes was very clear.

The man showed no fear, he looked around, tilting his head: “And your men are badly injured.”

Apart from Diao and Song Translator, the remaining seven were all wounded, already struggling from the long march. Probably only two or three people like Deng Tianxiong could handle a few rounds with these vigorous Red Guard warriors.

“One shot each, how much trouble could that cause?”

Li Yan’s face showed disdain.

“Then why don’t you shoot?” Kobayakawa asked with a smile.

“Bang!”

Li Yan turned the gun and fired at the warrior farthest from Kobayakawa!

The bullet entered the man’s shoulder, and blood splattered out.

The warrior cried out in pain, and Deng Tianxiong and the others clearly saw a withered hand that came from nowhere block the bullet before it hit the warrior. The bullet passed through the hand and was deflected off course.

Li Yan realized something and roared, “Fall back,” and all the Ming Army soldiers quickly distanced themselves from Kobayakawa.

At the same time, Kobayakawa grimaced and beckoned his warriors closer to him.

The unknown always incites fear, but Li Yan was an exception.

The Ghost Taming Technique, Nanako, was, frankly, no different from the Serpent.

When Li Yan shot at Kobayakawa, Nanako moved almost too fast to see. When he shot at the warrior further away, Nanako’s speed slowed considerably.

However, one was a fierce attack, while the other was akin to a curse.

The situation suddenly became deadlocked.

Kobayakawa glanced at the roof without showing any trace.

On the beam above, a woman with reversed joints, white–dressed and black-haired, was hanging upside down and slowly crawling towards Li Yan and his men…

“Lord Kobayakawa, let’s rush over together!”

A warrior whispered.

Kobayakawa gave him a look as if he were an idiot and said with a fake smile, “I certainly won’t die if he shoots me carelessly…”

“Lord Li, that little Japanese is haunted,” whispered Song Translator.

Li Yan touched his neck without changing his expression, the itch had imperceptibly turned into a stinging pain.

It’s never the good spirits that come through; he cursed inwardly, licking his lips and saying, “It’s already dark. Old Diao should have been back by now.”

Meanwhile, Kobayakawa also frowned, “Why hasn’t Yamamoto come back?”

Both comments dropped at almost the same time, and they both gave each other a surprised glance. Their expressions changed rapidly.

…

Nanako had already crossed the beam, her body seeming to sprout from the wall itself, like a mother spider choosing her prey. With her resentful eyes hidden behind thick black hair, she dead-eyed Wang Sheng, who stood against the wall with pale lips. Her withered claws reached out slowly…

A delicate white hand wrapped around Nanako’s withered palm, and a charming face pressed against Nanako’s black hair, forcefully standing between Wang Sheng and Nanako.

“Heh, hah~”

The eyes of the woman in front of him were tender like water, smiling sweetly at him.

Nanako opened her mouth in a silent scream. She looked no more than a fourteen or fifteen-year-old girl, while the woman before her was a voluptuous beauty, likely in her twenties. She held Nanako in her arms…

…

Past the fence, an unfathomably dark entrance presented itself, the semblance of warmth blown away by the cold wind without leaving a trace.

Footstep after footstep was imprinted in the snow, blood seeping through clenched fingers. A red katana was carried on the back, the arms wrapped in shifting bandages, tangled hair danced wildly, and turbid eyes bulged outward.

His purple and cracked lips were tightly sealed.

“We’re almost there.”

…

“Wait!” Kobayakawa said, his gaze eerie.

“We can’t wait anymore!” Li Yan gripped the Ring Dragon Han Sword tightly, clenching his teeth hard.

“Crack~”

The smell of gunpowder was tangible, and the sound of boots entering the room was pronounced, immediately drawing everyone’s attention.

Diao Xiayan was soaked in blood, his vividly red abdomen heaved with his breaths, his disheveled and dry hair hung over his shoulders, and his cracked and reddened hands clutched a braid, with the bloody head at the end of the braid swinging in the wind.

The old man stood straight, his single eye filled with a murky red.

“General Li, the Japanese have gone up the mountain.”