Calculating Cultivation

Chapter 104: Too Large To Surrender

Enough of the blockage in the canal was cleared for the ship to continue. My progress would not be halted, no matter what. The more time I seemed to have, the more it seemed to so easily slip through my fingers.

Armies marched up both sides of the canal. The army on the Leaf Empire’s side was much smaller, only being used to organize forces on that side of the canal to go to the other, where the army advanced in pace with my ship, securing the fortresses and towns behind them. These soldiers helped remove blockages from the canal and ensure my ship wasn’t attacked as it sailed over the water bridge between the two seas.

After breaking the initial resistance, the Wood Empire was moving to regroup ahead of us. The massacre had unsettled me. While I was willing to fight quite a bit, killing so many helpless people left a bad taste in my mouth that wasn’t easily washed away.

I had been hitting up for so long, that I was unused to being in a position of absolute power, where life and death were so easy to decide. While these people might look different from me, they were no beasts. There were no easy answers, except the answer I had learned from my long experience with cultivators, that might makes right. There was a knock a on my cabin door.

“Enter,” I called out.

“Senior Yuan Zhou, there are reports that the enemy forces are mobilizing in large numbers ahead of our position. At around the halfway point along the canal,” Vice Leader Tan explained with a bowed head. I had considered taking up the mantle of Sect Leader, but that title had connotations I did not wish to take on.

The cultivators who were traveling with me, were under my protection, but ultimately they could leave whenever they wished. This was a journey to the center of the Great World, one I would undertake on my own if needed. Having to care and worry for these people as a Sect Leader would only hold me back with more attachments. My mind drifted to a colored portrait made from long ago.

The silence stretched out as I knew what would be needed. “Senior?” Vice Leader Tan hesitantly asked.

“I am thinking about many things. How large is the force arrayed against us?” I asked.

“Their mortal army out numbers ours by at least five times. They have over 200 cultivators. It is said that three elders of the Wood Sect will be present to face you directly.” That was a lot of people. The upcoming battle would decide the fate of the two Empires and our passage along the canal.

“We are currently a third of the way along the canal?” I asked.

“Yes, Senior,” Vice Leader Tan said. “The canal is mostly clear along the middle portion, only being blocked at either end. If the enemy army didn’t delay our passage, we could sail most of the way along the canal without much trouble. Only debris from the decades of conflict have created issues with traversal.”

“I am guessing that Lord Governor Ting is concerned,” I speculated while thinking of the commander for the Leaf Empire’s forces that were marching with us.

“He has merely reported information to me as it has come in. Three of the cultivators under my command have been present in his war meetings. Until now, there was no need to disturb you, since resistance has been limited, Senior.” I nodded slowly at this. My ally of convenience was not fickle at the very least. “There is another minor matter. A messenger has delivered a missive from the opposing side.” A folded piece of paper was handed over to me. Vice Leader Tan had already read the message, which I didn’t mind.

There was no need for me to be disturbed about every little thing. Learning to delegate was something I had no qualms about doing. Focusing on my cultivation and working through my troubled thoughts was far more important.

“They are willing to let us through the canal, if we depart immediately,” I set the letter aside. Vice Leader Tan did not say anything. We could abandon our current allies and accomplish my goal and I would not have to do much myself. Or I could fight and commit another massacre.

Either way a lot of people were going to die. The fact the opposing side was willing to go this far, showed they were willing to do anything to stop me. The conclusion was obvious. If I did not agree to move on through the canal, they would attempt to trap me. A battle not to win, but to exhaust me.

That or some kind of powerful weapon, but against my level of cultivation compared to these cultivators, there was nothing they had that could threaten me.

“I will fight,” I said. I would not abandon my allies. I may be many things, but fickle was not one of them. “We are using a scout ship ahead of us?” I asked.

“Of course. I have also assigned a cultivator to scout the terrain ahead on either side of the canal for additional ambush points,” Vice Leader Tan said.

“Then, come get me when the battle is about to occur and I will fight the enemy cultivators,” I replied. He gave another bow and left my cabin. I let out a small sigh. The entire situation was an unpleasant one, but one that I chose to create for expediency. If I hadn’t arrived the stalemate could have continued for much longer. Or it might not have.

Shaking my head, I knew that thinking about the consequences of my actions was pointless to think about. Leaving behind Yang Heng at the edge of the Great World was a far more impactful decision. Both in terms of my future and in terms of the number of lives impacted. That was the weight of an immortal, with power and time, regular lives were but candles compared to a sun.

I focused back on my cultivation, working to sense my energy at an even deeper level. To keep dividing a portion over and over until the smallest piece was smaller than anything previously. There was little to no progress, but there wasn’t much else I could do while traveling.

As I focused on my body, trying to understand how energy interacted inside a cell, there was another knock on my door.

“Enter,” I said and focused my attention back on the present.

“Senior, our forces are about to meet. You are needed to stabilize the situation,” Vice Leader Tan said. I mentally frowned.

“How much time has passed since you last disturbed me?” I asked.

“About twenty days. You left orders not to disturb you unless it was urgent, senior,” he said. Either my focus was increasing, or I had lost myself in my cultivation. Something that had never happened before. I had always felt the passing of time in full, or I had let my attention drift. Yang Heng had never mentioned something like this happening, but he did go into hibernation on a regular basis.

Most senior cultivators weren’t as active or engaged, but I figured that was due to them becoming detached, not something involving cultivation and energy. As I got up and picked up my sword by my side, I considered this issue even as I walked out to face the opposing army and cultivators.

Looking off the side of my ship, I saw a large army under the Leaf Empire’s Banner forming up next to the canal and the stone road there. Ahead of that army, I saw a much larger army, that was positively massive behind trenches and other defensive fortifications. They also had several ships in the canal as well. The Wood Empire was pulling out all the stops, since if they lost this battle, the war was effectively over. They wouldn’t have the strength to effectively resist.

I leapt off the side of my ship and kicked off of the water. I quickly made my way to the shore. Lord Governor Ting had called to a halt for his army, just outside the artillery of the enemy forces. He looked at me and gave me a deep nod. I glanced at him as I made my way to the front of the army. I advanced across the stone road, with the canal to my left. My sword was sheathed in my left hand, with my right hand free, and ready to pull forth my blade.

I slowed my rapid advance to walk, while looking at the massive army arrayed in front of me. Thousands upon thousands of soldiers. Two older men and one woman in martial robes with the symbol of the Wood Sect advanced past the front lines towards me. Behind them, I counted another 150 cultivators following them. The lesser cultivators were armed with bows.

The 3 senior cultivators hadn’t gotten past their first bottleneck and were like the other senior cultivators I had met, like Vice Leader Tan. We slowly approached each other. The woman took point and spoke up once we were in range to speak and not shout at each other. “Senior Yuan Zhou, your reputation proceeds you. I am Elder Caihong of the Wood Sect.”

“You can’t win,” I calmly stated. I looked at their forces and their energy. It would be an annoying battle, but it wouldn’t be difficult. My cultivation was too far ahead of their cultivation for the possibly of a single chance at victory.

“We ask humbly ask, that both sides cultivators step aside and let the armies decide this matter,” she said and inclined her head towards me.

“Shameless!” I declared loudly and they took a step back. “You think you can drag me down with all of this?” I gestured at the forces arrayed against me. “If there was even the slightest chance of victory, I would acknowledge that you have the capability to negotiate. But there is none. My cultivation is far beyond what your Sect possesses.”

The silence stretched out, since I was hoping they would surrender in front of my confident declaration. I slowly lifted my sword up and put my hand on the hilt. “Or we can fight?” I asked to put more pressure upon them.

“We are prepared for our deaths. But we also swore oaths to the Wood Empire. We will not back down,” Caihong said. I inclined my head towards her the smallest of fractions to indicate that I respected her choice of death.

There was no more need for discussion. I kicked off the ground. Her two companions both had metal spears. They stabbed at me. I swung my sword, cutting their weapons apart as I went directly for Elder Caihong.

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She pulled out a blade, but it was futile. I cut through her sword, down across her face and chest, splitting a portion of her apart vertically. She didn’t even have time to cry out in death. Arrows with metal tips flew at me. Both the remaining elders rushed at me and I stabbed out. I was surprised that one of them accepted the blade into his chest and then grabbed my sword with both hands.

He was going to die in seconds, but was giving time to pin my blade in his hands in hopes of pinning me to this location, so I could be riddled with arrows. I yanked on my blade and it slid free of the soon to be corpse easily enough. Fingers fell onto the ground. He probably that it was a regular metal blade, not a rank 5 weapon, which was far superior to normal steel.

I spun and ducked under the wild swing of the third cultivator. I brought my sword up at an angle, cutting through his side, shoulder blade, neck, and then head. It was a gruesome death. The corpse fell onto the stone road, bisected at an angle. I moved forward as the remaining cultivators kept firing arrows. They were far too slow.

That was when I noticed several cultivators with large flintlock rifles. They had been hiding behind their bow counterparts, but it didn’t matter. I counted ten flintlock guns. I didn’t sense any energy from the weapons, which meant they would be annoying, but couldn’t really hurt me. I was confident I could survive a metal ball hurtling at me at high speeds. That didn’t mean I wanted to test if my cultivation was enough.

I grabbed the Caihong’s corpse off the ground by the back of her robes since the front was a bloody mess. I had to let go of my sheathe when I did so, but I would get it back after the battle. I held her in front of me as I raced forward. The flintlock rifles fired. The corpse was hit several times and that was when the arrows landed, turning the shredded corpse into a pincushion. The opposing cultivators spread out even as they continued to rain down attacks at me from a distance.

When I moved towards a group, that group retreated, or made sure I couldn’t kill them all in a single attack. They were trying to wear me down. The problem was they weren’t strong enough. I changed out corpses as more attacks were sent in my direction.

It made me wonder if the term cultivator came from how easy it was to harvest lives, instead of describing growing ones power through a systematic methodology. Both armies watched as I cut down cultivator after cultivator. They couldn’t outrun me. Even with the flintlocks in support, they clearly had trouble aiming as I move through their lines, cutting down their fellow cultivators.

Once they had lost half, their morale began to break. After losing a 100 cultivators, the remaining 50 began to flee. I let them go and turned to face the enemy army. I shook my head and went to pick up my sword sheathe. If it got lost, that would be very annoying. Just as I picked it up, that was when the enemy army unleashed barrels of flaming oil with their trebuchets. Looking up at the sky and the projectiles I shook my head. They were smart to have the artillery in the back, where it would be protected from the fighting.

The problem was they had fired flaming barrels of oil at me. I swung my sword, and four of them broke open above the enemy army. The flames on the outside of the barrel lit the oil. The slight breeze spread out the raining oil, which rained down upon the enemy formations. I shook my head as I rushed forward.

“One Swing To Sperate Heaven And Earth.” Hundreds of soldiers died while the rest were in panic from the flaming oil coming down upon them. Leaf Cultivators rushed forward across the field of battle to attack the enemy lines which were in disarray, while the rest of the Leaf army followed up behind them. Trebuchets were rushed forward to be assembled and fire on the enemy positions. I noticed the enemy trebuchets had stopped firing after I had broken the barrels in the air.

I leapt up onto top of a forward defensive tower that had been built and easily killed the soldiers manning the ballista in the tower. I looked out over the battlefield. I could have kept fighting and carved a path straight through the enemy forces, but there was no need. Killing the majority of the enemy cultivators and breaking their morale had given my side’s cultivators free reign inside the disorganized army lines.

Metal weapons cut through wood armor with ease. The cultivators each killing their way forward, creating massive gaps in the enemy’s formation, which the Leaf army took advantage of. The strength of a mortal army was based on their formation. The whole being greater than the sum of its parts. I saw officers trying to organize defensive lines. Soldiers trying to rally around fortifications that had been built.

But none of it was enough. The Wood Empire’s army was too large. They couldn’t bring enough of their soldiers to bear at once. The front lines were collapsing and trying to fall back while the rear lines were ordered to push forward, creating a massive traffic jam.

Each second hundreds of soldiers died in the battle. The screaming made it impossible to hear anything else except the explosions as both sides started to unleash with their trebuchets. The enemy had probably decided that firing their artillery was more important than their front line troops and my side had moved their artillery up far enough to begin firing deep into the enemy lines.

Looking to my right, at the flank off in the distance, a massive cavalry battle was occurring, with cultivators from my side making the difference against superior numbers. The same was occurring in the canal, with the cultivators who had been following me easily killing enemy soldiers on board their ships and subduing them.

The enemy’s plan had been to delay me while their flanks won the battle. The problem was that I had broken the enemy cultivators too quickly, which threw their entire battle plan into disarray. The front was only fighting due to the number of enemy soldiers, the same with the flanks. They just had so many people it was hard to kill them all.

Looking across the battlefield, I didn’t see any enemy cultivators taking action. They had committed everything to stopping me and failed. Now the cultivators on my side would tip the entire battle in our favor. The battle was too large for me to have an impact anymore.

If I leapt down of the tower fortification and killed hundreds, or even thousands of soldiers, the battlefield was too large and the noise too much. Standing on top of the tower as a threat and as a symbol was more than enough. I only took personal action once more, when a cluster of four barrels went flying towards my side. I shattered them all mid-flight, raining down more flaming oil onto the enemy’s side.

Also, this was not my fight. While I had helped, I did not have a personal stake in it. I would soon be gone from these lands and this place would become a distant memory. The more I watched, the more I was glad I had decided to stay in this tower fortification. A battle of this size was beyond compare. Even if there were modern communications, it would still be near impossible to manage.

The Life Light continued to shine down upon the battle. There was no night, which meant there was no natural break to the fighting. I did note that the Leaf Empire did a better job of moving forces up to replace the soldiers who were exhausted near the front, but that only helped slightly. Exhaustion was very real and I saw several soldiers just collapse.

The canal was in a stalemate as several ships burned, creating a blockade. The opposite flank had descended into complete chaos, with cultivators running around trying to kill soldiers on horseback. The cultivators in the center had pulled back to recover. I noted several of them had been overwhelmed in the complete and utter chaos. I also noted several kept battling their way forward through the enemy lines attempt to reach the enemy commander. They would probably die from exhaustion.

I could have done something like that, but these cultivators were too weak. The energy empowering them was nowhere near enough. Each of them probably believed they would kill the enemy commander and become legends. Perhaps even being given rewards for their contributions. A few might live or even succeed if they were lucky enough, but I did not think so.

The number of people brought to fight into this conflict was so immense, that fighting would continue without stopping for several days. I could already see both sides bringing more soldiers up to fight, while the enemy was busy preparing new fortifications in the distance.

Perhaps I should have rushed forward and ended things, but even I would be at risk after fighting for so long. Enough ants could bring down an elephant. A messenger ran up the fortification tower, asking for permission from Lord Governor Ting to move the command post to this location. I agreed, since I wasn’t going to be acting personally anymore.

A short time latter the command post for my side had moved into the stone tower. “Senior Yuan Zhou, thank you for your help,” Lord Governor Ting bowed deeply along with all his attendants.

“Hmm, the battle is not yet over,” I replied loudly. The fighting was happening not too far away, but if we talked loudly, we could hear each other. He straightened up and came to my side to look out over the battlefield.

“Their supply lines have been cut by forces moving across the canal. They clearly hoped to smash us aside and advance, but they are losing ground. Now they are being attacked from the front and harried at the rear. With both flanks deadlocked, but in our advantage, we will win in time. Already our trebuchets are being moved forwards and their trebuchets have been destroyed.”

“Will the fighting stop?” I asked.

“Not while their commander lives and they have the number advantage. And I can’t let up and allow them to reform their front lines. If they do, we will be at a huge disadvantage. As long as their front lines remain broken and in chaos, we can keep pushing them back despite their superior numbers,” Lord Governor Ting explained.

“They won’t try to move soldiers where the cavalry is?” I asked while looking at the left flank.

“All the spare cultivators have gone there to turn it into a killing field. And my troops are right there, ready to counter a large flanking maneuver. No. Their only hope is to reorganize to stabilize the center long enough that they can win through attrition.” A messenger than ran over and kneeled.

“Speak,” Lord Governor Ting said after glancing at me. I didn’t object to him commanding the battle.

“The trebuchets have moved forward and are in position to fire,” the messenger said. Lord Governor Ting had one of his staff members wave a banner, ordering the siege equipment to open fire once more. Flaming barrels flew through the air, impacting the enemy lines, shattering the formations that were trying to come togeather.

Lord Governor Ting really wasn’t going to give them a moment to reorganize. It was a smart but brutal strategy. It was also the only way for him to counter the massive numbers arrayed against him with a smaller force.

There wasn’t even the opportunity to surrender or discuss terms. To let up for even one moment would turn the entire situation against us. I listened in as more orders were given, but they were all about moving up the support lines as the front lines kept advancing. Soldiers were dying from exhaustion as the battle continued.

I noted that the enemy forces stopped trying to regroup and reform up in the rear. Some time after that a messenger came, reporting that the enemy commander had been killed along with a portion of the command staff by one of the cultivators who had rushed through the enemy lines. The cultivator in question had died, but the enemy army’s chain of command was broken.

“Order the front line to fall back. Advance all reserves,” Lord Governor Ting ordered. With the enemy command in disarray he was taking the time to rotate out the soldiers fighting. Loud horns blew as the command was given. Falling back while in combat was asking for a disaster, but the enemy troops were exhausted as well, but were directionless. The local officers wouldn’t risk pulling back without orders from above, since it could lead to an even greater disaster. Still, I saw some trying which led to even more confusion in the enemy lines.

The reserves Lord Governor Ting sent forward had clear gaps between the soldiers, so the men on the front lines could rush back to the rear. The fresh reserves moved forward and hit the confused and tired enemy lines that were in disarray. “Yes, we have them!” Lord Governor Ting said excitedly as the enemy forces began to go into a complete rout. “Send everything forward, we must seize their main camp with their supplies! Move our camp forward. The field behind us is clear enough for our main camp.”

The tower had been situated at the enemy’s front line. That meant the battlefield behind us was muddy, but there weren’t mountains of corpses like there were in front. I looked at the canal, which had a pink tint to it from all the blood that had been spilled.

As the burning ships in the canal sank, the enemy forces were in full retreat across the entire battlefield. The screams took on a new dimension, since they were screams of pain. I left the tower without a word to Lord Governor Ting or anyone else and made my way back to my ship, which had stayed in the rear.

“Senior, all enemies have been driven from the canal,” Vice Leader Tan said with a bowed head.

“I will leave our journey in your hands. But I wish to leave this conflict behind. If there is significant resistance, please let me know,” I said as I returned to my cabin. It had been a long couple of days. While it had been tempting to return sooner, it would not do for me to leave the field of battle until victory was assured.

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