Molting the Mortal Coil

The retreating enemy forces didn’t seem to care much about what the many third rank Jade Horde troops were doing. To them, it looked like the weaker forces were retreating to the transport vessel to prepare for a getaway. There were so many of them, so it made sense for them to get on board while the stronger cultivators covered them. They figured that when they pulled back, Lang Sheng and his forces would get aboard the Flying Ship and flee for their lives. Most of the rank and file were upset that they wouldn’t get rewarded for achieving their objective, but so many of them had died already that they were merely glad to not be counted among the casualties.

Wan Ling’s plans, on the other hand, were definitely not about organizing an orderly retreat. When the thousands from the Jade Horde marched onto the Flying Ship, the ramp they used to board was lifted back up and the ship lifted into the air. Then, instead of turning away, the prow spun to face the retreating enemy forces. At that moment, the forces in the middle of an orderly retreat suddenly found something was wrong. The Flying Ship started to accelerate towards them and the one armed genius, Fu Zedong, was the first to shout out a warning, “Scatter! The fools are trying to ram us!”

A Flying Ship was a very expensive Magical Tool, but it was created for carrying people over long distances. It was a transportation device, not a weapon. Flying Ships would usually have a few defensive formations and required the passengers to defend them. They were simply too large to do any more. It was already a difficult task to assemble rare and precious materials in order to build a weapon, let alone gather a quantity large enough to build a ship hundreds of feet long. That was why they were all so surprised when they heard Fu Zedong’s shout and recognized that the ship had turned their way and started picking up speed.

Flying Ships were built to maintain speed over long distances, they weren’t built with rapid acceleration or armaments in mind. Who in their right mind would try to ram someone with one of them? The Fu Clan, Violet Light Sect, Artful Life Alliance and others were initially surprised, but then they scattered to either side, readying their weapons and forming hand seals to prepare their attacks. Many were even somewhat excited. Who else ever got to attack and destroy a Flying Ship? Magical Tools on a Flying Ship’s scale were extremely expensive and a Sect or Clan usually heavily defended their investment. Almost as one, the various groups realized that they might even be able to steal the Flying Ship. Especially the cultivators from the Artful Life Alliance, and Whitestaff’s Disciples. The Fu Clan and Violet Light Sect had a few Flying Ships in their possession, but their smaller groups did not. They were immediately excited to try and claim it for their side.

The thousand cultivators split in half, rushing to either side to avoid the prow of the Flying Ship. For this particular Flying Ship, only the large central beam running along the keep and up the bow was obviously made of metal. The rest of the hull was some sort of green wood. With that visual as a reference, they aimed to launch their attacks towards the softer wood. There were many secret messages being exchanged, and the majority of them planned to first dodge the charge of the ship and then attack it from the sides as it passed. Of course, some were a bit more foolish and they started attacking as the ship approached, but they quickly realized their folly when the ship turned towards a large group that felt they were far from the center of the massed forces and started to attack rapidly. The ship turned towards them and they became part of a rare group in history, those run over by a Flying Ship.

A dozen cultivators lost their lives while the rest scattered to either side. The Flying Ship was like a wedge, parting the small army to either side of it. The scattered cultivators released their attacks, blade lights, sword beams, energy lances, fireballs, wind blades, ice arrows, acid jets, poison sprays, and a whole multitude of other types of attacks smashed against the Defensive Formation of the Flying Ship like multicolored hail. The barrier shield rumbled and flickered from the fierce offensive, but it held long enough for the army of cultivators to realize that the Flying Ship wasn’t as helpless as they thought.

Upon the deck of the Flying Ship, dozens of large objects were placed. They had pedestal-like mounts and from the way the Hoplites were holding them, and the shimmering arrow heads at their front, they seemed like ballista without the bow arms. The sounded out with a loud hiss and low whump, releasing the spear from their barrel at high speed. A cloud of steam entered the air as it fired and the Hoplites standing to the sides of each weapon quickly stuffed another spear into the barrel and rammed it home. At the same time, hundreds of other Hoplites opened the small windows along the Flying Ship’s hull and fired their Stumblebows towards the crowds to either side of the ship.

The crossbow bolts were blocked easily by the high rank cultivators, but the shots from the steam ballista were powerful enough to punch through the defensive Qi techniques of a Core Formation Cultivator. After the first few shots punched through their comrades, the others quickly learned to dodge them, but with such a crowded battlefield it was easy to have one’s vision obscured. The armaments that Wan Ling had prepared for the Flying Ship had little chance of massacring their enemies.

What it did do was create an opportunity for the others on Sage’s side. When they saw the huge ship charge fearlessly into the enemy ranks they were confused, but when it suddenly brandished so many weapons and started attacking the enemy they were amazed. Almost instantly, Song Lu Tian, Chong Xiezi, Kang Min, and Zhu Jiao reacted. None of them were in command of the forces backing up Sage, but they all unanimously agreed to charge. Despite having just made their difficult enemy flee, they still recognized a superior position and rushed to take it. Their whole force rushed towards the smaller half of the enemy force. With the Flying Ship splitting them into two groups and occupying their attention, Sage’s other allies took them unaware and smashed against their rear. With the ship as the anvil, they took the job of hammer and their surprise attack killed a hundred of their enemies almost instantly.

Even if the Defensive Formation of the Flying Ship could only hold up for a few minutes against such a large enemy force, there was a pissed off woman who didn’t care about the expense. Those on the side of the Flying Ship that weren’t being attacked from behind were in fact the larger force and seeing their allies being overrun they redoubled their efforts. The Flying Ship’s shield suddenly shattered far faster than Wan Ling had thought it would and hundreds of Hoplites died from the wave of attacks that fell upon the deck. At that moment, the smaller force of Dragoons rushed out from below deck, pushing upon the doors and surging into the air. They spread out into the sky and held up shields in front of themselves, using their bodies to block the flurry of attacks from striking the Flying Ship.

By sacrificing their bodies, they bought time for another wave of Hoplites to rush onto the deck and man the steam ballistas once again. They lifted and moved them all to one side of the ship and fired them into the furious enemy forces, turning them away from their allies on the other side and allowing them to fire indiscriminately. The force of Dragoons were quickly wiped out, and the hull of the Flying Ship was covered in huge holes and tears. Parts of it were burning, causing a huge cloud of smoke to form as it limped away. The enemy forces were eager to take the Flying Ship for themselves, so most of the attacks were aimed towards the soldiers on the deck rather than at the ship itself. By the time the majority of the Jade Horde was dead and most of the ballista destroyed, the other half of the enemy force was also gone.