Chapter 281: Crash Through Heaven, Earth, and Air

"Spit it out!"

The gluttonous beast just kept chewing, glaring at him.

Just then, a hornbill flew down and landed on the bull's horn. It squawked twice, and only then did the bull reluctantly spit out a pile of half-chewed leaf debris.

Meanwhile, the phoenix tree finally stopped growing.

"As expected, the phoenix tree can withstand it longer," Lingguang said, collecting a few leaves of each color and placing them with some bark.

"Withstand it longer?" He Lingchuan frowned. "What were you experimenting with before?"

As they spoke, the giant phoenix tree began to shake violently again.

This time, it was contracting inwards.

It was as if invisible hands were pressing and twisting the entire tree, wringing it like a towel.

With crisp cracking sounds, branches snapped and even contorted into strange, gnarled shapes.

Onlookers shivered. Though it was just a tree, they felt as if it were enduring immense suffering, reaching out its limbs like desperate arms pleading for human help.

No one knew how to save it.

The phoenix tree soon stopped its self-destructive breaking, but then its leaves began to wither.

As leaves fell, the entire tree slowly became nothing but bare branches.

Its bark turned from purple to gray, and large clumps of dark brown powder fell from its cracked fissures. The surrounding soldiers coughed and quickly retreated further.

The entire camp fell silent, waiting for what would happen next.

After a while, the large tree showed no further unusual activity.

Only then did Lingguang step forward, pick up some of the brown powder, put it in a bottle, and say, "It's dead."

"What happened?" Anyone with eyes could see that the great tree was dead.

From sprouting to magnificent, then from magnificent to grotesque, and finally decaying to death, it had taken barely more than fifteen minutes.

Everyone with eyes was now fixated on Lingguang's every move.

"The drug, diluted a hundredfold, can stimulate living organisms to grow. But the direction of growth is uncontrollable, or rather, it deviates from the parent," Lingguang explained. "For instance, this phoenix tree mutated after being stimulated; it's completely different from its original form."

"This is actually good," Lingguang said, ticking off fingers like a person. "Last time, I experimented with four rabbits: one grew three butts; another's skin grew inside out, leaving it covered in blood; a third had teeth longer than its ears; and the last one exploded into a bloody mist as soon as it took the drug. Of course, they all died in the end, in less than fifty breaths. So, it seems the phoenix tree seeds can contain more powerful vitality, allowing them to resist the drug's effects for longer."

The listeners were silent for a long moment. Finally, He Lingchuan angrily asked, "So, the four live rabbits I caught the day before yesterday were stolen by you?"

Zhao Pan stepped forward and kicked the dead tree. "This thing won't cause any more trouble, will it?"

"No, it won't."

"Then what are you still looking at? Get back to work!" Zhao Pan glared at the surroundings, and the soldiers turned and shuffled back to their posts.

At that moment, the Xinzhou camp on the opposite bank also sent someone over by boat to inquire.

Zhao Pan gave a few perfunctory replies and was about to send him back when a gasp came from behind him, followed by a shout: "General, look out!"

Zhao Pan was startled but, feeling a rush of wind behind him, didn't dare to think twice and lunged to the side.

With a "whoosh," a huge, dark mass brushed past him.

The Xinzhou envoy hadn't even fully registered what was happening before he was tossed into the air, leaving only a drawn-out scream of "Ahhh—!"

Seeing this scene, both He Chunhua and his son thought three words:

"We're screwed."

It was a wild bull that had charged.

The very same bull that had just been chewing phoenix tree leaves like betel nuts.

Anyone with eyes could tell there was something wrong with that phoenix tree, yet this creature had still dared to chew on it.

When the hornbill stopped it, the bull did spit out the debris, but a small amount of the leaf juice had already gone down its throat and into its stomach.

Everyone else was focused on the tree, not expecting the bull to suddenly erupt now.

After goring the man, the bull charged wildly through the camp, its eyes red, white steam clearly visible spewing from its nostrils in the night.

Seeing this bulldozer-like monster charge, the soldiers in front hastily dodged.

It knocked over three tents in a row. The tent fabric covered its face, which didn't calm it down; instead, it became even more agitated from not being able to see.

Torches fell, setting tents ablaze, and the fire on its snout fully amplified its frenzy.

The previously orderly main camp was thrown into chaos. Generals shouted commands, but it was largely useless when everyone was concerned for their own safety.

This was their own, no, their own bull. Who would dare to stab it with a sword or spear?

Fortunately, the tent fabric was so long it was like a foot-binding cloth, wrapping around half the bull's body. Its forward speed was greatly reduced, and it even stumbled and slipped on the fabric several times.

Zhao Pan, his face ashen, turned and gave orders. Several soldiers immediately took up mallets to smash the camp stakes, managing to loosen a large wooden log three feet in diameter.

A Chun Yung Pavilion disciple appeared from somewhere, muttering incantations to summon a Green Turban Strongman, then blew a loud whistle at the bull.

These strongmen are summoned beings, divided into many tiers; the Green Turban type is the lowest, capable only of brute labor. The charm used to summon them is commonly known as a "Grass Head Charm."

The whistle was particularly sharp. The bull, hearing it as a challenge, braced itself and charged towards the sound, despite being unable to see.

Dust billowed around its feet. Just as it was about to collide, the strongman swung the log in a wide sweep, smashing it heavily onto the bull's head!

With a deafening "thud," wood splinters flew everywhere.

The strongman himself lost his footing, staggering ten feet away, then "poof" transformed into a palm-sized straw figure and dropped to the ground.

The bull fared worse. Its head was knocked askew, it lost its balance, and it went into a sliding squat, crashing like a bowling ball into the camp gate.

The gate collapsed with a roar, and the bull also passed out, lying motionless.

Soldiers swarmed over, tying its four legs.

This bull had thrown the military camp into utter disarray, but that wasn't the biggest problem.

The Xinzhou envoy, whom it had gored and tossed, plunged with a splash into the river.

Such commotion could not be hidden from the opposite bank. A stir arose in the Xinzhou camp too. When soldiers rushed to the riverbank and saw that the Yuan people had actually thrown their envoy into the river, they exploded in uproar. How could this be tolerated?

Seeing the man bobbing in the water, likely injured by the bull and unable to swim to shore himself, Zhao Pan quickly found someone to retrieve him.

The unfortunate thing was that the commander of the Xinzhou camp had the same idea. As Zhao Pan's men rowed out, three Xinzhou soldiers also entered the water, swimming to rescue their comrade.

Who knows what the other side was thinking, but suddenly two arrows whizzed over; one struck the bow of the boat, and the other pierced the boatman's arm.

Seeing him fall back, hit by an arrow, the Yuan camp also erupted, demanding battle.

The Xinzhou people, moreover, saw flames leaping high in the Yuan camp, as if something was happening, and then the camp gate crashed down, a wild bull charged out, shook its head for a couple of steps, and then also collapsed.

With trouble on the opposite bank, should they seize the opportunity to attack?

This thought circled repeatedly in the minds of the Xinzhou people.

Zhao Pan also knew that the chaos in his camp must have been observed by the enemy. Sometimes victory or defeat hinges on seemingly insignificant factors, so he became highly tense, ordering his soldiers to prepare for battle.

The two camps, which had been peaceful, suddenly became highly confrontational. Now there had been bloodshed and accidental shots fired; all that was left was an all-out melee.

He Chunhua looked at his son and Lingguang, his eyes blazing with fury: "Look at the fine mess you've made!"

"Causing trouble on your very first night at the front lines!"

He certainly didn't want his eldest son to be the fuse for this battle. If they were held accountable later, could his son bear the consequences?

He Lingchuan lowered his gaze, pulling Lingguang, who was trying to slip away, by the arm. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Who knew one drop of the liquid could be so powerful!"

"One drop?" He Chunhua's anger was momentarily suspended. "It only took one drop to stimulate such a strange tree?"

"Indeed!"

Meanwhile, the Yuan and Xinzhou armies faced each other across the river, the atmosphere so tense it felt like water could drip from it. The armies, surprisingly, were no longer clamoring.

Zhao Pan was trying to salvage the situation. "What exactly happened just now?"

He Chunhua sighed and explained the incident's cause, then said, "This boy has caused great trouble, General Zhao. Feel free to punish him as you see fit—kill him, flay him, whatever you wish!"

Zhao Pan glanced at He Lingchuan, his face expressionless.

The camp's recent abundance of food was all thanks to He Chunhua. Could he really flay the son of the newly appointed superintendent?

At that moment, a whistling arrow was shot from the Xinzhou camp. It flew in an arc and struck a Yuan camp pole.

This type of arrow whistled as it flew, signaling everyone to "clear the way, clear the way," purely for communication, without any malicious intent.

A guard handed him the note tied to the arrow's fletching. Zhao Pan read it quickly and said, "Nian Zanli asks me what's going on?"

"Nian Zanli!"

Both He Chunhua and his son felt a jolt at the mention of that name.

Was their great, unseen enemy finally about to appear?

He Chunhua's eyes flickered. "Are you going to meet?"

"Meet? What meet?" Zhao Pan sneered. "My men were playing in the camp and accidentally knocked away the person sent from the opposite bank. The man isn't dead, so the matter is settled." With that, he had someone write a reply, tie it to the whistling arrow, and shoot it back.

Presumably, the other side accepted his explanation, because the troops standing on the bank soon withdrew to their camp, and their gate dropped shut.

The standoff concluded hastily, and everything seemed to return to how it had been half an hour earlier.

Clearly, neither side was prepared for battle.

Zhao Pan also ordered his men to return to camp and stay alert, while saying to He Lingchuan, "Young Master He, it certainly gets lively around here when you arrive!"

He spoke his mind quickly, saying whatever displeased him.

He Chunhua quickly apologized.

Zhao Pan said a few more words and let it go; he wouldn't truly do anything to the superintendent's son. Just then, there was more movement in the bushes, and several bulky figures pushed their way out.

The herd of wild bulls had arrived.

Seeing their comrade tied up and thrown on the ground, several of the bull spirits were displeased.

When they got angry, the entire herd became agitated, and it seemed as if the ground would be trampled to dust.

The nearby horses became agitated and restless.

Zhao Pan feared that the camp, which had just barely settled down, would face new trouble. These bulls were extremely stubborn and hard to persuade. Just one bull could cause chaos, and if all three hundred-plus of them went berserk, the Yuan camp would be destroyed even without the other side's intervention.

He almost gritted his teeth as he said to He Lingchuan, "Quick, find a way to cure that bull!"

He Lingchuan immediately turned and grabbed Lingguang: "Cure that bull!"