Chapter 134: The Long Sword Transforms into a Rain of Rainbows

"Hush!" Li Dong looked around cautiously. Seeing the garrison soldiers moving to and fro like a shuttle in the camp, and a dozen blacksmiths not far away intently practicing combat moves, he pressed a finger gently to his lips, warning Qin Qiong not to make a sound. "There is plenty of time ahead. Let us understand each other without speaking it aloud; we must keep our composure first."

Qin Qiong nodded and walked back to the blacksmiths as if nothing had happened, resuming his guidance over their training.

Instead of putting the rations back, Li Dong concealed them inside his tunic and carried them back to the armory with an air of utter nonchalance. Casually tossing the rations aside, he drew the meteoric iron longsword from behind his back.

Li Dong flicked the blade lightly with his finger, producing a faint, resonant hum. He pondered inwardly: *It is only the second day of the campaign, and morale has already plummeted to such an extent. Is this not a heaven-sent opportunity for me? Is it calling upon me to make a brilliant display of my abilities?*

*Tomorrow, when we join the attack on the city, I must find a way to boost morale and achieve peerless merits, so as to win Emperor Yang's favor and trust. Then, I shall seek an appropriate opportunity to explain the true circumstances of the defeat at the Salsu River to the Sui Emperor, absolve my two sworn brothers Dou Jiande and Liu Heita of their crimes, and rescue them from dire peril.*

*I must proceed with utmost caution and care, making sure not to reveal any flaws to General Lai and Fei Wuben. Otherwise, should they maliciously obstruct me, it will prove extremely disadvantageous, and it is not entirely impossible that I might suffer their blows and marginalization once more.*

Having made up his mind, he wrapped the dark iron sword tightly in a tattered cloth and thrust it diagonally behind his back.

Once the training session concluded, Qin Qiong returned. The two men put their heads together and conferred in low, secretive whispers for a long while.

After listening to Li Dong's plan, Qin Qiong's face revealed a mixture of astonishment and admiration, and he showered Li Dong's strategy with praise. Then, he offered several supplementary techniques and patched up a few minor loopholes to make Li Dong's plan even more consummate and flawless.

When their consultation ended, the night had grown very late. Only then did Li Dong and Qin Qiong lie down to sleep, well-satisfied.

Around the Mao hour the following morning, the sky grew brilliantly bright. Inside the camp, the din was like a boiling cauldron; men cheered, horses neighed, voices answered one another, and the scene was exceptionally bustling.

The twenty-three armies, each ten thousand strong, were divided into three waves—left, center, and right—and advanced successively toward the walls of Liaodong City. The left army launched the attack first, with the center army acting in support. Then the center army took over as the main attacking force, with the right army acting in support. Finally, the right army formed the last wave to assault the city.

More than two hundred thousand troops were divided into three waves to attack the city one after another, pressing closely behind each other without giving the enemy a single moment to catch their breath. The strategy was simply to exhaust the defenders through sheer numbers.

Emperor Yang of Sui, Yang Guang, was extremely confident. Bolstered by this great display of military might, he was certain the enemy city would be captured. Once this battle was won, it would wash away the gloom of yesterday's defeat, boost popular morale, and greatly heighten the prestige of the nation and the throne.

Yang Guang had invited Qeshn Khan, King Boya of Khotan, as well as envoys dispatched by Baekje and Silla to spy on the true strength of the Great Sui, to stand in attendance behind the triple army under ceremonial canopies to observe the enemy and watch the battle. The purpose was to overawe and terrify them: *Behold! Such is the miserable fate of those who offend the majesty of the Great Sui, with a million-strong army attacking you! In the future, you had better obediently remain loyal subjects and citizens of the Great Sui! Ah, do not bring disgrace and destruction upon yourselves!*

The walls of Liaodong City stood some four to five zhang high, with a wide moat running beneath them. The ramparts were crowded with soldiers, and sabers, spears, swords, and halberds flashed everywhere. Under the sunlight, they chilled the soul to the bone, demonstrating that the military might of Goguryeo was not to be underestimated either.

At this moment, the left-route army began its assault. Several hundred garrison soldiers hoisted more than a hundred scaling ladders and propped them up against the walls of Liaodong City. Densely packed like a colony of ants moving their home, they fought desperately to climb the ladders and storm the city.

Because Emperor Yang of Sui was watching the battle from the rear, the generals recalled the reprimands they had suffered yesterday and trembled with fear. Terrified of being executed for another defeat, they drove the garrison soldiers relentlessly forward in desperate charges. Anyone who showed cowardice and hesitated to advance would be beheaded as an example to warn the rest of the troops.

These garrison soldiers performed admirably as well, all eager to display their prowess in front of the emperor, slay a few more enemy soldiers, and earn military merits that would please the imperial heart and secure a rapid promotion.

Some garrison soldiers, while halfway up the scaling ladders and before even reaching the ramparts, were shouted at loudly by the men below to move faster, as the latter feared their chances of glory would be stolen and their golden dreams shattered, leaving them with nothing after all their frantic efforts.

Naturally, there were also timid cowards who shrank from battle and feared death. Wielding their weapons, they spun around in circles, shouting "Charge!" and "Kill!" at the top of their lungs, yet lacking the courage to actually rush forward. Those who had buried their military rations in the grass were likely garrison soldiers of this weary and cowardly sort.

Beneath the city walls, Great Sui garrison soldiers were everywhere. As far as the eye could see, they resembled a pale-yellow carpet surging upward with the overwhelming momentum to sweep across the realm. At that moment, the sounds of killing shook the heavens and pierced the clouds, a dense thicket of swords and sabers flashing with dazzling brilliance.

Li Dong and Qin Qiong, belonging to the center army, stood in attendance upon a cloud chariot, waiting for the order to replace the left-route army and charge bravely into the assault.

The cloud chariot stood four stories high, each level approximately one zhang tall, matching the height of the enemy ramparts—roughly equivalent to a modern seven-story residential building. Standing inside the chariot, the garrison soldiers could engage the enemy on the city walls in direct hand-to-hand combat.

Aboard the cloud chariot, Li Dong saw that the Great Sui garrison soldiers were both numerous and valorous, and he guessed in his heart that the Goguryeo army would likely struggle to withstand this assault. Yesterday, they had wiped out so many Great Sui troops and killed three generals. Once the city was breached, the inhabitants within would meet a grim fate. Driven by a desire for revenge, the garrison soldiers would undoubtedly massacre every last soul in the city.

The Goguryeo soldiers defending the ramparts also realized this. Each and every one of them fought with the ferocity of ten men, casting aside all fear of death to grapple with the garrison soldiers, refusing to yield a single half-step or give the attackers an opening. If they retreated by even half a step, the garrison soldiers would press forward. To protect their parents, wives, and children from humiliation, they had no choice but to fight desperately.

The vanguard left-route army's assault met fierce resistance, suffering catastrophic casualties. After about an hour of bitter fighting, they still failed to capture the city.

The Sui Emperor issued a command ordering the center army and the left-route army to attack the city simultaneously.

Aboard the cloud chariot, Li Dong and Qin Qiong both drew their weapons, their expressions solemn.

Garrison soldiers on the ground pushed the cloud chariot right up against the city wall. The enemy swarmed forward, thrusting and stabbing all manner of weapons directly into the chariot. Great Sui garrison soldiers were caught off guard and met their ends, their miserable shrieks rising in an endless wave.

With a look of fiery passion, Li Dong brandished the longsword in his hand and shouted to Qin Qiong, "Charge!" Without a moment's hesitation, the two men threw themselves into the battle. Treading upon the corpses of their comrades, Li Dong was the first to rush to the edge of the wall, instantly becoming embroiled in a melee with the enemy.

An enemy blade lunged toward him. Li Dong swung his sword with force to parry it, intending merely to deflect their weapon. To his surprise, the moment his longsword met the enemy's blade, with a crisp "clang," the enemy weapon was cleanly severed into two halves.

The enemy soldier stared in jaw-dropping disbelief, utterly unable to believe what was happening before his eyes!

This was the very first time the meteoric iron longsword was being put to use since its creation. Seeing how sharp the blade was, Li Dong was inwardly startled as well: *How can the meteoric iron sword be so formidable? It cuts through iron as if it were mud! Truly, it is a peerless precious blade hard to find under heaven!* Filled with profound delight, he deliberately used the longsword to sweep and parry left and right, chopping through the enemy's weapons like cutting vegetables and melons, snapping nearly all of them in two.

Unable to match Li Dong's divine valor, the enemy soldiers retreated in terror. Unleashing his mighty prowess, Li Dong sliced through forest after forest of spears and swords, closing to within three feet of the enemy.

However, more and more enemy soldiers gathered on the wall. Nearly a hundred weapons stood erect like mountain peaks, thrusting out unpredictably and leaving one defenseless. The space within the cloud chariot was cramped, and comrades stood right behind him, making it impossible for Li Dong to swing his arms freely for fear of injuring his own men.

Consequently, a dense wall of blades blocked Li Dong's path on all sides, while he was simultaneously restricted by the garrison soldiers behind him, unable to stretch his limbs and fight with all his might. Several times he was nearly stabbed by enemy weapons, escaping disaster by a hair's breadth.

covered in cold sweat, Li Dong remembered that the space atop the cloud chariot was relatively more spacious. He shouted to Qin Qiong, "Hold your ground! I shall be right back!"

With that, he clamped the blood-stained longsword firmly between his teeth, slipped out of the cloud chariot, and swiftly climbed to the roof. Grasping the long wooden pole from which the Great Sui banner hung, he nimbly scrambled upward a full zhang like a monkey.

Spotting the densest cluster of enemy soldiers, Li Dong hesitated not a single moment and leaped down with a bound. Before his feet even touched the ground, his longsword swept outward. Under the brilliant sunlight atop the ramparts, the longsword flashed like a rainbow—only this rainbow was terrifyingly lethal. Anything that touched the blade, regardless of the weapon, was instantly snapped in two. Whoever crossed paths with that rainbow light instantly lost their life.

Severed limbs and broken bones scattered in an instant, flesh and blood flew everywhere, and a sheet of crimson light soared into the sky as a gruesome rain of blood fell thick and fast over the ramparts. The Goguryeo defenders were slaughtered amidst continuous shrieks of agony, and no one remained who could withstand Li Dong's divine valor.

At this moment, Emperor Yang of Sui, watching the battle from the rear, felt a great surge of gratification. Pointing at Li Dong, who was fighting recklessly and fearlessly atop the wall, he instructed those around him with a joyful smile: "After the battle, if he is still alive, bring him directly before me! I must take a good look at what kind of hero this is, that he should so gloriously enhance the martial prestige of my Great Sui! Hahaha!"

Qeshn Khan, King Boya of Khotan, the envoys of Baekje and Silla, and the princes and grand ministers of the Great Sui were all struck dumb with astonishment as they watched! The garrison soldier atop the city wall looked like a heavenly deity descending to earth, a wrathful Vajra; wherever he passed, the enemy soldiers invariably retreated a full thirty paces! He was simply too awe-inspiring!

Hearing the Sui Emperor's uninhibited laughter and knowing how highly he admired the hero on the wall, they curried favor by chiming in: "For the Great Sui to possess such a stout warrior is truly the blessing of Your Majesty, the fortune of the realm, and the bane of Gao Yuan!"

Hearing this, Emperor Yang of Guang grew even more delighted, stroking his sparse beard as he smiled triumphantly.

Meanwhile, General Lai Hu'er, who was directing the battle, was shaken to his core. He was consumed by doubt: *Who is this person? From his movement techniques, he seems extremely similar to Li Dong. Could it be him? What if he wins the Emperor's favor? Will not Qingnu and I meet with misfortune next?* For a moment, a chaotic flurry of thoughts rushed through his mind like a tangled hempen rope.

Realizing the situation was turning dire and that Li Dong was far too valiant for a mere ten or twenty men to handle, the Liaodong defending soldiers quickly changed tactics. Gathering dozens of men, they surrounded Li Dong in a semi-circle, let out a great roar, and thrust their weapons at him simultaneously.

This caught Li Dong completely off-guard; even his clothes were pierced. The footsteps of death drew closer, and the scent of mortality grew steadily heavier.

Facing the enemy soldiers with his back to the outside of the city, Li Dong saw dozens of weapons thrusting at him all at once. To hack them all apart in the blink of an eye was harder than ascending to the heavens. He had no choice but to hack and slash while retreating, trying to clear a larger space around himself so he could fight the enemy troops with all his strength.

After retreating about ten paces, Li Dong was forced right to the edge of the city wall, with no further path of retreat! Yet the enemy soldiers continued to surge forward endlessly, placing him in mortal peril. Glancing back over his shoulder, he saw the wide moat below; if he did not jump, certain death awaited him.

Gritting his teeth and opening his eyes wide, Li Dong leaped downward without a moment's hesitation!

Standing atop the cloud chariot and witnessing this exact scene with his own eyes, Qin Qiong's body swayed violently. His soul nearly left his body, and he almost tumbled over. Yang Guang and the civil and military ministers felt their hearts leap into their throats as well! It was over, completely over—this brilliant hero was finished! *(To be continued...)*