"Listen to my command! Fasten your doumaru, put on your fighting helmets, no charging like wild boars!"

The slanting sun trailed rosy light over the water, the Luwei brushed a halo along the shore. Fang Official Shiba Zhenwei stood upon solid ground, yet a heavy unease welled up in his heart, rocking like a lone boat on the sea. Wearing a helmet in the image of a Buddhist Heavenly Dog, he widened his fierce eyes and strained to gaze into the depths of the Forest along the bank.

In this moment he so wished that in the sparse Ezo Mountain Forest there would truly emerge a Shandan ambush, proving the uneasy intuition he had honed through years of slaughter. And as long as one Shandan Tribe unit showed its head, he could, with perfect justification, immediately declare a retreat and fall back to the safety of the customs ships. Unfortunately, he delayed and watched for a long time, yet saw not the slightest stir of grass or wind. All the ill omens, it seemed, were just as Master Juehui had said—phantoms born of his lack of Buddhist Law and the fear in his heart...

"Dong! Dong-dong!..."

"Exorcise demons and defend the Way, safeguard the True Dharma!"

"Seize the gold and offer it to the Buddha!"

The urging war drums boomed from the customs ships behind. Spurred by faith and gold, the Monk Soldiers let out fanatical shouts, like frenzied wild boars impossible to rein in. Even though these Monk Soldiers had been trained by his own hand, their underlying nature was still that of the Tiantai Sect’s devout Disciples, not samurai retainers of the Shiba Clan. Fang Official Shiba Zhenwei could only tug hard at his Heavenly Dog helmet in helplessness, point toward the Shandan Camp two Li away, and bark harshly. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"Hold formation! Keep your footing steady—close to within two hundred paces, then wait for my order to charge!"

"Dong! Dong-dong!..."

The Monk Soldiers’ footsteps kept time with the drums on the ships, from quick march to trot, then from trot to full sprint. Very soon, the ferocious faces of the Shandan People appeared behind the crude fence. And when over a hundred devil-like Shandan Hunters raised their Horn Bows, the Monk Soldiers also roared with their most fanatical cries, erupting into an uncontrollable charge to the death!

"Charge! Kill the enemies of the Buddha!"

"Vaisravana, grant us protection!"

"Swoosh swoosh swoosh!"

A sharp rain of arrows hissed in; the first volley loosed from over a hundred paces away carried off the lives of more than twenty Tiantai Monk Soldiers. Yet in the midst of this most frenzied atmosphere, death seemed a shortcut straight into the Pure Land, only driving the Monk Soldiers madder, more ferociously unstoppable.

Fang Official Shiba Zhenwei’s eyes stayed wary as his steps wordlessly slowed. In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Monk Robes surged past him, those gleaming Naginata thrusting straight toward golden death!

"Swoosh swoosh swoosh!"

"Urgh... huh... kill..."

"Swoosh swoosh swoosh!"

"Kill!..."

The fanatic Monk Soldiers hurled themselves forward; the speed of their courage was beyond doubt. The Shandan Archers had barely loosed three arrows in the field before the Monk Soldiers closed to near range. The fallen wounded still groaned and cried out, while the red-eyed Monks let out wild boar-like roars. After paying nearly a hundred casualties, the Naginata of the Vanguard Monk Soldiers began hacking wildly at the camp’s rope fence. And once they broke through this paltry obstacle, before that Golden Treasure Tree there would be only a bit more than a hundred death-seeking enemies of the Buddha left!

"For the Chief Divine—kill!"

Behind the rope fence, Ryuzoji Temple Jia Hong’s face flushed red as he gripped a Long Spear in both hands, the soul of the Martial Family blazing bright. No matter how cunning he had behaved before, at this moment on the brink of battle his mind burned into a single mass—leaving only thoughts of charging and fighting to the death. Unfortunately, the two little fingers he had offered to the Chief Divine had greatly diminished his Martial Arts. With his current skill, if he truly crossed weapons with those fanatical elite Monk Soldiers, he would hardly show the bearing of a Great General, and would be nothing more than an extra pawn on the field.

"Kill what? Withdraw!..."

Zuwaro stretched out his palm and smacked Jia Hong of Ryuzoji Temple hard on the forehead. Before fighting these Japanese, they had woven so many "schemes and stratagems." How was it that once real fighting started, all that was left was "wild-boar-style battle to the death"?

Look at the numbers of those so-called "Temple Guards" opposite, look at the doumaru and Naginata the Monk Soldiers were equipped with, then look at that fearless, frenzied fighting spirit! If they simply met them head-on with hot blood, brawling and hacking in a melee, how many of the Kingdom’s main force would they have to lose?

"Retreat! Fall back! Back to the ship barriers!..."

"What? Retreat?!... Back to the ship barriers?..."

Jia Hong of Ryuzoji Temple stared wide, his blood-drenched will to die shattered to pieces by a single slap. He looked at the Tiantai Monk Soldiers hacking at the fence before him, looked at the Shandan Archers at his side who had already turned and run, then looked back at the Golden Treasure Tree blazing with Treasure Light behind him, and asked in disbelief:

"Lord Priest! If we pull back, the one thousand jin of gold on this tree?!..."

"Fool! We’re letting them take it on purpose!..."

Zuwaro stopped explaining and, gathering the Archers of each unit, sprinted toward the ship barriers on the other flank. The Shandan Hunters were all too familiar with this kind of nimble withdrawal. And the remaining two hundred of the Kingdom’s Warriors had long since drawn up in full battle array around the ship barriers, raising their Samurai Greatbows.

Very soon, behind the retreating Shandan Archers, a wave of fanatic cheering erupted, mingled with crazed shouts.

"The fence is down! The Shandan People have run!"

"The Shandan People are beaten! One charge and they broke!"

"We’ve smashed the Shandan Camp!"

Four hundred Monk Soldiers screamed like madmen, pouring over the toppled fence and charging straight at the objective of this landing—the Golden Treasure Tree at the center of the camp. That shining Golden Light was like the most marvelous Buddha-light, illuminating the hundred forms of mortal obsession, and in an instant shattered the order of the battle formation beyond repair.

"By order of the Mage! Take down the Gold and offer it to the Buddha!..."

"Treasure Tree! Treasure Tree! A Golden Treasure Tree!..."