"What the hell? Are they kidding us? I thought they were going to ambush us!"
"Those flat-feathered bastards, just trying to scare people. They can act tough in the Eastern Kingdom, but in front of the Black Moon Kingdom's army, they're nothing."
The soldiers of the Black Moon Kingdom cursed one after another. They had spent ages getting into formation, only for that flock of Sword Birds to fly right past without even dropping a single feather.
"What the hell!"
However, the general commanding the formation didn't dare let his guard down and didn't order the formation dismissed. A full quarter-hour passed, and still there was no sign of the Sword Bird army turning back, only then did he give the command.
"Dismiss the formation!"
Clang and clatter, the formation was dropped. Amid the grumbling, everyone sat back down, back to back in pairs, ready to rest right where they were.
This was a military campaign. During the day they had to march, and at night, even if they couldn't lie flat on the ground, they at least needed to sit and rest.
They hadn't been sitting for even a quarter-hour when suddenly that piercing horn sounded again.
"Enemy attack! Up, form the formation, form the formation!"
This time, another wave of Sword Birds came speeding from the direction of the Eastern Kingdom. Once again, there were roughly several thousand Sword Birds, all silver-winged Sword Birds led by a golden-winged Sword Bird. Not a single one was a green-winged Sword Bird.
"There are people on the birds' backs! This time it's a real attack!"
"Formation ready — spear formation, prepare to strike!"
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
Chirp, chirp, chirp!
That black mass of Sword Birds once again played tricks on the Black Moon Kingdom's army. This time, even though there were people sitting on the birds' backs, they still didn't launch any attack. They glided past at such a high altitude that even the best archers couldn't reach them with their arrows.
Tricked once more.
The Black Moon Kingdom's soldiers were getting anxious and irritated. They had barely dozed off when two waves of Sword Birds flew over in succession, never actually fighting, just flying back and forth — what the hell were they playing at?
The formation was dismissed, and this time nearly half an hour passed before—
Suddenly, that piercing horn once again jolted the soldiers from their sleep.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack! Everyone up, form the formation, form the formation!"
In a panic, the formation was activated again. Fortunately, these were well-trained soldiers, and even bleary-eyed, the speed and efficiency of their formation weren't slow.
Clang and clatter, the formation was quickly reassembled. And the spotted Sword Bird army came speeding in once again from the direction of the Eastern Kingdom.
"This time it's probably just harassment again, right? These Sword Birds are only a few thousand — they don't have much killing power. If they actually tried to fight, our outer formation alone could wipe them out."
"Of course they won't fight. These beasts are purely here to cause trouble and keep us from sleeping properly!"
"Disgusting! The Eastern Kingdom has no real strength, so they resort to these underhanded tactics?"
"When two armies clash, you should face each other honorably. Pulling these petty tricks — how shameful!"
The soldiers cursed one after another, but there was nothing they could do. Who ever said two armies in battle couldn't resort to underhanded tactics? As the saying goes, all is fair in war.
The commander of the Black Moon Kingdom was himself a war god who excelled in the art of deception.
"Ugh, dismiss the formation. It's all harassment anyway. They don't have the guts to face our Black Moon warriors head-on!"
"The Eastern Kingdom is all cowards!"
"Trash of the Eastern Kingdom! If you've got the guts, come down and fight! Flying around overhead — what kind of skill is that?"
The soldiers below shouted their taunts, trying to provoke the Eastern Kingdom warriors riding on the Sword Birds.
"You want a fight? Let's fight!"
From high above, a voice answered. Suddenly, all the warriors on the Sword Birds drew the longbows from their backs. The arrows, tipped with burning oil, rained down on the camp below like a storm.
Several thousand people firing at once, each loosing around twenty arrows — that was a full hundred thousand arrows.
A hundred thousand arrows in such a confined space — the destructive power was enormous.
Although the battle formations below blocked the majority of the arrows, a portion still managed to land on the tents.
These oil-soaked arrows ignited the moment they hit the tents, burning furiously.
Then soldiers caught fire.
After a devastating volley, the Sword Bird army didn't linger for even a moment, roaring off into the distance. All that remained was a sea of flames on the ground.
"Fire! Put out the fire, quickly!"
A hundred thousand flaming arrows — even if over half were destroyed mid-flight, several thousand still made it to the ground, enough to ignite vast swaths of fire.
In an instant, the interior of the army was thrown into mild chaos by the inferno.
Ren Feilong immediately issued orders: "Black Crow Knights, prepare! Secure the airspace. If you encounter Sword Bird units, engage immediately — victory is mandatory, defeat is not permitted!"
In truth, the Black Moon Kingdom also had its own aerial forces, known as the Black Crow Knights.
However, the Black Moon Kingdom had limited resources in this area and had barely managed to train a force of three thousand. While the Black Crows were far inferior individually to the golden-winged Sword Birds — at best comparable in quality to the silver-winged Sword Birds — the personnel selected for this unit were all high-level True Qi Realm practitioners, with extremely high selection standards and a rigorous training system.