Free Web NovelChapter 208: Chapter 183: Vanguard Forces, An Army of Ten Thousand_2
Step 1: Contextual Analysis
Literary genre: This appears to be a Chinese cultivation/martial arts web novel (xianxia/wuxia)
Language style: Fairly standard narrative style with dialogue and action sequences
Tone: Serious, with some tense moments and strategic plotting
Plot keywords: martial artists, bandits, attack on a city, drug dependency, evacuation, clan warfare
Characters:
- Wu Liangchen (武良辰): Male protagonist, appears to be skilled in combat and strategy
- Chen Bamei (陈八妹): Female character who seems to be working for/controlled by Wu Liangchen through some medicine/drug
- Third Village Chief Pan Wei (潘威): Leading an attack on Dinghai City
- Fifth Village Chief Jiang Aotian (蒋傲天): From a family in the Capital, accompanying Chen Bamei
- Third Master Liu and Third Granny Liu (刘三爷, 刘三奶奶): Elderly couple who refuse to evacuate
- Dongchuan (东川): Mentioned character who sent his wife and children to the countryside
Setting: Around Dinghai City, which is facing an imminent attack from the Cyan Cloud Mountain bandits.
Step 2: Integrated Translation and Polishing
Now I’ll translate the text, following all guidelines and rules.
The text describes how Chen Bamei is using clay balls as weapons, and Wu Liangchen shows up to get information about the impending attack on Dinghai City by forces from Cyan Cloud Mountain. Wu Liangchen gives Chen Bamei more medicine/antidote that she needs, and then heads to Dinghai City where many people are evacuating. The Chapter ends with an elderly couple refusing to leave despite the danger.
I’ll now provide the full translation:
If these were replaced with iron pellets or caltrops, the lethality would certainly be astonishing.
Meanwhile, after teaching a lesson to the two foul-mouthed bandits, Chen Bamei stood on a large tree, scanning the distance.
These clay balls were a little invention she had developed based on Wu Liangchen’s stone-throwing techniques. After using them for some time, she found them quite handy.
After all, not every situation called for a bow and arrow.
In some scenarios, these clay balls or stones were far more practical than arrows.
At this moment, Chen Bamei felt rather irritated.
This feeling had grown increasingly worse since discovering that the pills in the small box would only last for one month.
When Wu Liangchen had let her go, he’d made it clear that he would find her when her medicine was running low.
But now the medicine was almost gone, and there was still no sign of Wu Liangchen.
To make matters worse, she had already left Cyan Cloud Mountain and was on her way to Dinghai City, making it difficult for him to find her even if he wanted to.
This filled Chen Bamei with anxiety.
Just then, a harsh caw came from a large tree in the distance.
Recently, these carrion birds had become increasingly numerous, sometimes blackening the sky in swarms—an ominous harbinger of impending doom.
Chen Bamei despised the sound of these birds, as they stirred up unpleasant memories.
So with a flick of her wrist, she tossed several clay balls.
THWACK!
Several crows were struck and fell, startling a large flock into flight.
Chen Bamei frowned, resisting the urge to draw the bow from her back, and instead took out all the clay balls from her pouch, ready to unleash carnage.
At that moment, a thin black shadow suddenly flew past at extreme speed, piercing through several crows before embedding itself in the tree trunk right next to her cheek.
Chen Bamei was startled at first, then overjoyed.
Because only one person could shoot an arrow like that.
With a leap, she jumped down from the treetop and ran in the direction from which the arrow had come.
After traversing through forests and over ridges, she soon arrived at a mountain stream.
Though the prolonged drought had reduced it significantly, a pool of clear water still flowed.
On a large rock by the stream stood a figure.
His posture straight as a sword—it was none other than Wu Liangchen.
Chen Bamei stopped in her tracks, suddenly at a loss for words.
By all logic, she should hate Wu Liangchen.
But with her life in his hands, how could she dare show any dissatisfaction?
Yet she couldn’t bring herself to flatter and fawn like others did, so she found herself caught in an awkward silence.
Wu Liangchen paid no mind to her internal struggle and spoke directly: "How many troops has Cyan Cloud Mountain mobilized this time?"
"Including the advance forces, about ten thousand."
Hearing this number, Wu Liangchen felt a chill in his heart.
This was completely different from the refugee uprising. Back then, despite numbering over a hundred thousand, the refugees had been nothing more than a disorganized mob.
But this time, Cyan Cloud Mountain had deployed trained bandits who, despite varying in quality, were far superior to refugees.
"Who’s leading them?" Wu Liangchen asked.
"Third Village Chief is in command!"
"Oh? What about your Great Village Chief and Second Village Chief?" Wu Liangchen frowned.
He hadn’t expected that even for such a major operation, this mysterious Great Village Chief would remain hidden.
"The Great Village Chief rarely leaves the mountain, and the Second Village Chief needed to stay behind to guard our base, so Third Village Chief Pan Wei was sent to take full charge of this operation."
After saying this, Chen Bamei added:
"This Pan Wei has always prided himself on his strategic mind. Plus, he’s assisted by the Fourth and Sixth Village Chiefs, not to mention countless minor leaders, so he’s absolutely confident of success."
Three Martial Artists at least at the Third Realm leading an army of ten thousand, including numerous First and Second Realm fighters—the situation was indeed serious.
Fortunately, Wu Liangchen had no intention of single-handedly resolving this crisis threatening all of Dinghai City.
To him, it didn’t matter who controlled Dinghai City as long as those who had shown him kindness remained safe.
As for the wealthy families and corrupt officials, the more of them that died, the better.
"Who else is operating with you?" he asked.
"Fifth Village Chief Jiang Aotian as well. He comes from the Jiang family in the Capital and is quite capable," Chen Bamei explained concisely.
Wu Liangchen nodded slightly. "Good. Keep observing the situation. If anything important comes up, send word via carrier pigeon."
For this excursion, Wu Liangchen had specifically brought Guiding Incense, allowing him to receive the latest updates about Cyan Cloud Mountain’s movements at any time.
Chen Bamei was momentarily stunned upon hearing this, then asked cautiously: "Are you planning to go to Dinghai City?"
"Yes."
Chen Bamei was thoroughly confused, unable to guess what this cunning young master was planning.
But that was no longer her concern.
She looked at Wu Liangchen expectantly, wanting to ask for the antidote but afraid of angering him.
While she was still hesitating, Wu Liangchen casually tossed a bottle to her.
Chen Bamei was startled and quickly caught it.
"This is three months’ worth of antidote. If your performance continues to be this excellent, next time I can give you a six-month supply," Wu Liangchen said.
Chen Bamei treasured it like a priceless artifact, clutching the small bottle tightly and nodding.
"Understood!"
"And... your clay ball skills are impressive!" With these words and a smile, Wu Liangchen leaped up and soon disappeared into the vast forest.
Only when Wu Liangchen was out of sight did Chen Bamei finally let out a long breath. She carefully tucked the bottle into her bosom and returned to where her troops were resting.
This time, no one dared to speak out of turn.
After all, those two men with bloodied mouths and several missing teeth served as vivid examples.
Jiang Aotian, unaware of what had transpired, saw Chen Bamei’s return and immediately rose to say: "Let’s continue!"
While their unit marched toward Dinghai City, Wu Liangchen was also making his way there.
He planned to first ensure Third Master Liu and the others were settled safely, then return to act when the opportunity arose.
With his current speed, he covered over three hundred miles in just half a day, successfully reaching Dinghai City.
The city now looked different from a few days ago.
During his previous visit, although the city had been in decline, people could still live normally.
But this time, the streets were filled with people carrying bundles, preparing to flee.
Occasionally, large groups of carriages would leave the city—clearly the wealthy families were evacuating as well.
The atmosphere in the city was extremely tense, with almost all shops closed.
After all, Cyan Cloud Mountain had mobilized a full ten thousand troops to capture Dinghai City.
Given the city’s depleted defenses and incompetent officials, defeat seemed virtually certain.
And once those bandits entered the city, heaven knew what would happen.
So anyone with the means to leave had already gone.
Meanwhile, many thugs and hooligans took advantage of the chaos to cause trouble, smashing shops and looting valuables, even openly engaging in arson, murder, and kidnapping.
Thus, even before Cyan Cloud Mountain’s forces arrived, Dinghai City had already descended into chaos, with its social order completely collapsed.
Among all this, there were undoubtedly spies from Cyan Cloud Mountain fanning the flames.
Wu Liangchen avoided the crowds leaving the city and quickly made his way to the vicinity of the courtyard.
He didn’t enter immediately but chose to observe from the perimeter.
The courtyard gates were wide open, and from the street, one could see the chaotic scene inside.
A group of people carrying large and small bundles were tearfully saying their goodbyes.
"Fifth Brother, who knows if we’ll ever meet again after this parting."
"Third Sister-in-law, please forgive my past loose talk!"
These were the old neighbors who had lived in the courtyard for most of their lives.
It seemed they all planned to flee Dinghai City.
Wu Liangchen scanned the crowd and spotted Third Master Liu and Third Granny Liu wiping their tears.
"Third Grandpa, you should come with us. Cyan Cloud Mountain is a den of bandits—who knows what will happen when they enter the city."
"Yes, you should leave quickly. If nothing happens, we can always come back!"
The neighbors urged them.
"Thank you all for your kind concern, but we old folks have decided to stay. We’ve lived long enough, so even if these bandits eat people, we accept our fate," Third Master Liu said with remarkable composure.
"That’s right. I’ve already had Dongchuan send his wife and children to the countryside. Now it’s just us two old bones left—I doubt Cyan Cloud Mountain will bother with us anyway."
