Chapter Sixty-Seven: The Battle on the Chariot

“Damn it!”
Yan Luo’s brazen display ignited a storm of fury among all the athletes.
You feel intense emotions:
Anger +1
Anger +1
…
“There are no cowards in Tuli Yi!” A chariot swiftly closed in on Wang Dongwei’s vehicle—a two-wheeled chariot, bearing not just a driver but two athletes, one wielding a shield, the other a spear.
“Woo…”
The thick white waxwood shaft swept through the air with a low, ominous whistle as Yan Luo brandished a six-meter Macedonian spear, slashing fiercely.
Now that the chariots were in motion, it was difficult to wield such a lengthy weapon effectively. Yan Luo treated the spear as a staff, sweeping it sideways with immense power, the elasticity of the waxwood shaft amplifying his force. Both athletes on the opposing chariot were knocked off, sent flying. Even though Yan Luo braced himself, he nearly lost his balance and toppled over.
“I can’t keep swinging like this!”
With that thought flashing through his mind, Yan Luo lowered his center of gravity. He noticed another chariot approaching and, inspiration striking, thrust his spear directly into the spinning wheel of the enemy chariot.
“Crack, crack, crack…”
Chariot wheels of this era were entirely wooden, and the spear snapped several spokes instantly. The wheel burst apart, sending the chariot careening into another nearby vehicle. The athletes atop were thrown into chaos, sprawling across the ground, unable to rise.
Recognizing the effectiveness of his tactic, Yan Luo stabbed at any chariot wheel within reach with his long spear. The 6.3-meter Macedonian spear was a game-changer; its length made it impossible for other athletes, whose spears were only two or three meters, to counterattack.
“Shameless!”
Seeing this foreigner destroy several chariots in short order, all by jamming his weapon into their wheels, athletes from every city-state seethed with rage. At that moment, the Arcadians’ chariot drew near. Cornelius shouted, “Cut his weapon!”
Yan Luo extended his Macedonian spear once more, but the Arcadian chariot carried four men. They raised their curved swords and hacked at the waxwood shaft, which was no match for steel—it splintered, a segment chopped off.
“Hahaha, Yan Luo, how about that? Today, Cornelius will repay you for the shame you gave me!”
Arcadia’s foremost warrior laughed loudly and seized the remaining spear shaft. His excitement dulled his wits; with a sudden yank, Yan Luo felt the force transmitted through the shaft, hesitated briefly, then let go. The five-meter remnant was wrested from him.
But the force transferred was too much. The muscle-bound man, standing on a speeding chariot, lost his footing, tumbled backward, and crashed to the ground.
“Ahhhh…”
Cornelius let out a wretched cry. The next chariot couldn’t avoid him and crashed over his body—the two horses pulling it struck him with lethal force, leaving him bloodied and twitching on the ground. Then another chariot, drawn by two horses, trampled him again.
Losing the 6.3-meter Macedonian spear was like losing a divine weapon. Yan Luo snatched up the coiling dragon staff from his chariot.
The silver-gray staff was adorned with black iron powder, swirling like a dark serpent. The 2.4-meter iron rod crushed all other weapons of this age, its weight providing Yan Luo greater stability atop his four-wheeled chariot.
“Brutians, attack!”
Throwing weapons were forbidden in the chariot race. The attacker from the Brutian chariot wielded a three-meter thrusting spear. As their chariots drew close, he lunged at the driver’s head.
“Fatty!”
Wang Dongwei, driving the chariot, shouted. Zhu Xiaoyong responded, “Got it!” gritting his teeth and raising his large shield to block. The spear glanced off the shield’s surface. Yan Luo saw that the two chariots were only a meter apart, and in an instant, thrust his staff into the enemy chariot’s body, pressing down hard, then lifting!
At this moment, his mask was set to “anger,” and above his head shone the title of Bronze-ranked General.
The opposing chariot, the smallest model drawn by two horses, lost balance under the combined force. One side lifted off the ground, rolling twice before crashing down, wood splintering everywhere.
“He actually flipped a chariot?”
The spectators outside the arena erupted in excitement! Standing atop a speeding chariot and flipping another with a single blow—even if it was the smallest model—was an awe-inspiring spectacle for all who witnessed it.
“Rumble, rumble…”
The chariots raced on, wheels pounding the earth with thunderous sound and tremors. Yan Luo gripped his staff with both hands, steadying his breath—his explosive attack had taken a toll, even he felt the strain. The coiling dragon staff was heavy.
Fortunately, his feat had stunned many athletes. For a time, none dared approach his racing chariot.
Out of more than forty chariots, Yan Luo had knocked out several. Some crashed into others during the race, resulting in destruction and casualties. In less than a kilometer, over ten chariots had been lost. The spectators, however, reveled in the wild, brutal spectacle!
“Oh, oh, oh!”
Cheers resounded throughout the arena, the very air vibrating. Many shouted Yan Luo’s name, swept up in the fervor. Their anger and frustration, together with their desire to defeat Yan Luo, drove several chariots to close in.
“Boom!”
“Boom!”
The coiling dragon staff, a sixty-two-pound iron rod, swung by Yan Luo—no shield could withstand its force!
Yet Yan Luo himself was panting heavily. Repeated explosive attacks with the iron staff sapped his stamina, especially atop a moving chariot, not on solid ground, requiring extra effort to maintain balance.
“He’s panting?”
Felicius of Messenia, a burly man in his forties, noticed Yan Luo and his eyes brightened. He ordered his chariot to close in. The Messenian chariot was the largest: four wheels, drawn by four horses, sturdy and imposing, carrying six men.
“Defeat him! Take down this outsider!” The Messenians’ eyes gleamed with murderous intent.
“No, I can’t keep using the coiling dragon staff—my stamina won’t last.”
With so many rivals vying for the championship, Yan Luo knew he couldn’t show weakness. He set down the iron staff and took up the twin mandarin duck knives—short blades, barely longer than daggers.
Zhu Xiaoyong was confused. How could such short weapons be effective? But the next moment, his pupils contracted sharply. Yan Luo bent his knees atop the chariot, then leaped with all his might! Like a gazelle soaring from a cliff, his figure traced an arc through the air, landing heavily more than four meters away on the massive Messenian chariot.
“What?”
The spectators gasped in shock. This race forbade bows, javelins, axes, and other ranged weapons, but nothing prohibited jumping onto another chariot—so long as one didn’t touch the ground, the competition continued. Still, no one expected someone would actually leap onto another chariot in combat.
Yan Luo’s leap was perilous—he launched himself from a speeding chariot, landing on another equally fast-moving vehicle, spanning a gap of over four meters!
But he succeeded. Upon landing, his chariot rocked violently, crashing into an athlete and sending the unfortunate man tumbling to the ground, where he rolled several times from the momentum.
“He actually jumped onto our chariot?”
You feel intense emotions:
Shock +2
Shock +2
…
While the Messenians were still stunned, Yan Luo launched his attack like lightning. The twin mandarin duck knives were ideal for the relatively cramped space atop the large chariot, despite its crowd. As his blades danced, spurts of blood sprayed.
He couldn’t stab hearts or throats during the competition, so Yan Luo targeted the arms holding weapons. His twin knives moved with astonishing speed. Except for the experienced Felicius, who blocked with his round shield, all the other athletes’ wrists were sliced open, blood streaming and cries of agony filling the air.
Yan Luo had severed their tendons.