The sound of galloping hooves arises.
Lai Bao'Er heard the distant eerie and painful screams, his face changed instantly and he exclaid in fear, "No good! The Qidan dogs are raiding again!"
"New Five Dynasties History·Four Barbarians Supplent One" records: Loose mounted Hu riders pillaging in all directions, calling it 'Grass Valley Raid'.
Since the fall of the Tang Dynasty, the Central Plains have experienced five short-lived dynasties: Later Liang, Later Tang, Later Jin, Later Han, and Later Zhou, each lasting barely over ten years on average. Frequent wars resulted in the mid-lower reaches of the Yellow River area becoming "devoid of fire and smoke, villages desolate."
During the Later Jin period, Shi Jingtang ceded the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan Yun to the Liao state, causing North China to lose its barrier.
Liao armies repeatedly raided southwards. In 947, when they captured Bianjing (modern-day Kaifeng), they slaughtered the city, recorded historically as "able-bodied n perished on the blade, the elderly and weak dispensed with in ditches," and countless old and weak white bones remain in the ditches to this day.
When Duncan passed through Kaifeng, he slept among the countless bones, probing the boundary between life and death.
Years of war tornted the Central Plains.
The whole of North China beca "empty granaries, barren fields," with fleeing people "selling children and daughters, starved corpses filling the roads."
Military governors in various regions also extorted and exploited, such as the Military Governor An Chongrong of Chengde, who "seized civilian resources to fulfill military needs, driving civilians to the point of splitting bones for firewood." During the Later Han period, taxes in Hebei reached seventy percent of the yield, forcing the common people to abandon their fields and flee. (Note: aning splitting carcasses for firewood.)
Escape!
Lai Bao'Er started running without hesitation. Human legs can't outrun horse legs, but he had to flee; his parents risked their lives to help him escape from Youzhou to the Central Plains, and he could not be caught and turned into livestock again.
He was once a resident of Yandu, coming from a scholarly family, with ancestral origin in what would be the future capital.
Iron cavalry surged forward.
Hundreds of Qidan cavalry appeared within sight; they wore mocking expressions, eagle-eyed and wolf-looking, with iconic shaved foreheads, clad in round-collared, narrow-sleeved long robes. Every ti they raided, Qidan officers would let their soldiers pillage the countryside, taking people and wealth with them. The cavalry ca and went like the wind, and among them were many Mounted Archery masters, whom even martial artists would avoid confronting.
Among these Qidan cavalry, so were masters who practiced the technique known as Grey Wolf Howling Moon, mimicking a wolf pack's hunting, highly skilled in joint strikes. Their Eagle Shooters additionally practiced Tenger Divine Arrow Technique, nad Arrow Guards, releasing arrows like a teor chasing the sun, infused with True Qi. Even martial arts experts were unprepared for defense.
Their Martial Arts techniques largely originated from Five Hu descendants like Tuoba and Murong, and even so Lamaist teachings.
Several riders charged in Lai Bao'Er's direction.
The leading Qidan cavalry looked at him limping and said in Qidan language, "This one seems crippled; no use taking him back."
They only captured robust young people; the old, weak, sick, and crippled were burdens.
One among them had a ferocious and cruel look, watching Lai Bao'Er fleeing desperately, seemingly hunting a panicked and helpless wild rabbit. He casually pulled out a bow and arrows, tauntingly said, "Should I shoot his left leg first?"
"Or should I shoot his right leg first?"
After entering the Central Plains, Qidan cavalry often tortured and killed civilians for entertainnt, intimidating others. Won were violated and sold as slaves, and any strong youth who dared to resist were killed without exception.
A person was dragged behind these riders, bound at the hands with a long rope, back covered in blood, already silent, having been dragged to death by the horse.
Whiz!
An arrow was shot.
That Qidan rider casually released it, yet it seed like divine shooting, the sharp arrow heading towards Lai Bao'Er's right leg.
The beggar fell instantly without a sound; he knew the harder he scread, the more it would incite the wicked nature of the Qidan people, letting them torture him for pleasure.
A sharp whistling filled the air.
That Qidan rider seed to feel disgraced, raised his horsewhip and swung it down, determined to hear the beggar wail and plead.
Lai Bao'Er seed to hear the piercing sound, closed his eyes, bit his teeth, awaiting death in silence.
Buzz.
But in an instant, it was as if a ghostly figure appeared, no longer perceivable by the naked eye, almost like a flash, standing behind him out of thin air, fingers like a bony skeleton, gripping the horsewhip, eyes like ignited Ghost Fires gazing at the Qidan riders.
The horses were startled, shrieking wildly.
All Qidan riders' expressions changed dramatically, staring at the lean, bony figure in front of them, unsure whether it was human or ghost.
"Kill him!"
The leading Qidan officer's expression turned grim, waving his hand, the cavalry surged forward, several riders drawing strong bows, infusing arrows with True Qi, like teors chasing the sun, emitting sharp whistling in the air.
Duncan's eyes slowly closed and reopened, a blood-purplish glint flashed, resembling dual pupils.
A palm strike burst through the air.
The leading Qidan officer's horse and rider burst apart, the whole person exploding mid-air, blood mist rising constantly, seemingly like demons descending upon the world. The blood mist surprisingly rushed into the thin and skeleton-like figure's body.
——Reviving the dead and recreating flesh from bones.
One of the supre Secret Techniques of the demon sect, the Blood Cult's highest skill, Blood God's Technique, also known as Blood God's Scripture.
Seizing vitality, feeding on blood.
The lean skeletal figure seed to grow flesh onto bones; even shrunken skin filled out, directly using the enemy's essence and blood, transforming into nutrients to restore vitality to the skeletal body after six months.
What a horrifying sight!
Those Qidan riders beca terrified beyond belief, instantly losing the courage to fight; they turned to escape, but a terrifying suction appeared, directly pulling two Qidan figures off their horses.
Dragon Capturing Skill.
Duncan stood still on the ground as those two Qidan riders fell into his palm, instantly turning into skeletons, their entire essence and blood refined by the Blood God's Technique.
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