Chapter 1170 - 308: Outsmarting the Miasma to Turn the Tide, Courageously Wielding the Blade to Secure Victory

In late spring, Bozhou should be a time of blooming mountain flowers, yet Yang Yinglong’s military camp seemed shrouded in gloom.

Outside the leather tents, copper bells hung on withered tree branches swung without wind, emitting a teeth-grinding creaking sound.

When the news of Yin Jiuniang’s death reached them, the entire camp fell into silence, pierced only by the sporadic sound of hooves in the distance, which strained everyone’s nerves even further.

Inside the central army tent, the tallow torches illuminated Yang Yinglong’s single eye, turning it fiery red. The rebel leader stared at the sheepskin map on the table, his knuckles whitened with pressure, having crumpled the map’s edges deeply with his grip.

Footsteps suddenly approached from outside. The Five Poison Sect’s Vice Sect Leader, Lan Qin’Er, moved gracefully, the totem of a venomous python embroidered on her scarlet gauze appearing and disappearing in the firelight. "Why worry, General Yang?" Lan Qin’Er’s lips parted slightly, her voice as sweet as honey yet threaded with coldness, "Though Yin Jiuniang is dead, isn’t it still possible to defeat our enemies in this Bozhou land?"

Her fingertips lightly tapped Feima Pass on the map, leaving a vivid tint on the sheepskin with her bright nail polish.

Yang Yinglong’s single eye turned, a flash of ruthlessness appearing in his gaze: "What brilliant idea does Master Lan have? With Shi Feiyang occupying Feima Pass and the Imperial Court’s army advancing relentlessly, both my Fire Ox Array and Poison Corpse Technique have failed!" He seized the wine pouch from the table, tilted his head back, and drank a large swig of liquor, which dripped down his mouth, soaking the wolfhead embroidery on his chest.

Lan Qin’Er covered her mouth with her hand and laughed, her laughter as crisp as silver bells, yet causing the people in the tent to shiver: "Does the General know why spring brings so much miasma?" She waved her delicate hand, and a wisp of pale purple mist floated into the tent, "Our Five Poison Sect has a secret concoction, the ’Bone-Eroding Miasma’; it dissipates in the presence of spring sunshine and adheres to people. All it takes is to spread this miasma on the path the Ming Army must pass..."

She leaned closer to Yang Yinglong, whispering a few words into his ear. As Yang Yinglong listened, a sinister smile gradually appeared in his single eye: "Good! Good! Once this is done, those Imperial dogs, and Shi Feiyang’s Heroic Sakura Association, will be doomed to die in this Bozhou land!"

He slammed the table, causing the military tokens on the surface to jump.

Outside the tent, the beautiful military advisor Yun Wuyue hid quietly in the shadows, her heart filled with shock. She clenched her slender hand, her nails almost digging into her palm.

As Bai Zhi’s junior sister, she knew all too well Shi Feiyang’s importance to the Bozhou battle situation. If Lan Qin’Er’s poisonous plan succeeded, the Ming Army would surely be defeated, and the Heroic Sakura Association would find itself in an irreparable situation.

At that moment, a spring breeze brushed over the camp, bringing a hint of warmth, yet unable to disperse the sinister and poisonous atmosphere inside the tent.

Yun Wuyue gazed at the clouds stained blood-red by the setting sun, silently resolved: No matter what, she must convey this news. Shi Feiyang is a good man, rich in patriotism and love for his country, no wonder my senior sister ended up with him. Through the previous battles and my probing of Shi Feiyang’s character, I’ve come to understand him as someone who can achieve great things and is worthy of assistance!

The days that followed were strange on the battlefield.

Yang Yinglong’s rebel forces ceased their raids on Feima Pass, leaving the front of the pass in complete silence.

Yet in the distance, the battlefield was becoming ever more chaotic. The Ming Army troops were inexplicably facing difficulties, their soldiers becoming weak, coughing up black blood, and their combat effectiveness sharply declining. Their previously orderly formations became mired in disarray, their screams echoing continuously.

Shi Feiyang stood atop Feima Pass, gazing at the chaos in the distance, his expression solemn.

He was well aware that beneath this tranquility, a greater conspiracy was brewing.

While Yun Wuyue, at this time, was racing through mountain forests on horseback.

Her mind held only one thought: She must ensure that Shi Feiyang receives the message before Lan Qin’Er’s poisonous plan fully takes effect.

As night fell, within Yang Yinglong’s camp, Lan Qin’Er gazed at the crescent moon in the sky, a smug smile playing on her lips.

She knew her poisonous plan had already begun to take effect. And under the seemingly peaceful night, a greater crisis, like a surging tide, was sweeping toward Feima Pass, toward Shi Feiyang, and indeed toward the entire Bozhou land.

In the twilight haze of the Miao Ling mountain path in late spring, Yun Wuyue’s bay horse crushed the ground covered with azaleas, the sound of its hooves startling the resting birds among the trees.

Her plain white hem had been frayed by the mountain wind blowing the grit, and the secret message wrapped in three layers of oil paper remained damp from cold sweat.

Suddenly, a trembling of copper bells echoed along the mountain path, and three vibrant figures, like poisonous flowers, floated down from the gnarled branches of millennia-old pines, their scarlet hems brushing against the ground turning the slate stones into a dark purple hue.

"Where is Master Yun headed?" Lan Qin’Er’s silver-cornered phoenix crown’s jade pendant swayed gently with her words, and the scarlet silk thread entwined around her fingertips was slowly tightening into her palm, the blood beads along the thread forming sinister runes.

As the Vice Sect Leader of the Five Poison Sect, she wore a hundred-centipede skirt embroidered with Miao designs, each centipede embroidery embedded with jewels ground from living human fingernails, shimmering coldly in the dusk. Behind her, the Five Poison Sect’s elder, Baguru, revealed half of a face covered in insect bite scars, beneath a deep indigo-dyed headscarf, with numerous Bamboo Green snakes in the pouch at his waist, flicking their tongues; the Five Poison Sect’s elder, Ah Yina, had her face covered with a black veil, her wrist adorned with nine copper bells etched with grotesque demonic faces, trembling subtly with her breath.

Yun Wuyue gently pressed the hilt of her sword, revealing three inches of her Cyan Blade, its cold gleam causing her eyelashes to tremble slightly: "Master Lan would be wise to step aside."

Before her voice faded, Ah Yina suddenly swung her arms, and the copper bells emitted a piercing shriek.

Seven poisoned silver needles enveloped in a foul wind rushed forward, their tips glowing with a peacock blue poisonous light.

Yun Wuyue spun on the saddle, her three-foot Cyan Blade executing a "Shooting Stars Chasing the Moon," its tassel like a spiritual snake pointing at the silver needles.