Chapter 53 Hes III

　　—To kill in order to establish authority has been the way since ancient times.

　　In the afternoon the vanguard force led by Yuan Ao entered a region of continuous rolling hills and gullies, traveling through a dry ravine.

　　The hills on either side of the ravine were not high; everywhere were exposed rock and broken sand and stone, with almost no green vegetation—like the face of a weatherbeaten old man covered with the gullies of memory.

　　Wherever the eye could reach there was only broken walls, ruined embankments, and dry decay—lonely and desolate.

　　In this silent, lifeless environment the vanguard force felt ever more oppressed and gloomy; Yuan Ao ordered several EagleGods to fly into the air to reconnoiter the path.

　　Before long the scouts reported that this ravine stretched for several dozen li and that no living creature could be seen in the surroundings.

　　Deputy Ba Long’s face was full of doubt: “Could the intelligence be wrong? The scouts said that in the past Wei Hao had been seen appearing here.”

　　Yuan Ao looked around and said: “Wei Hao’s lair should not be here. From what I know of the Giant Clan they prefer to live in cool caves; here there are no high mountains—only hills. Transmit my command—pass through this place rapidly.”

　　The entire afternoon the vanguard force traveled through the gullies. Upon some sand dunes several caves half the height of a man appeared unnoticed; Yuan Ao and his men, eager to press on, paid them no attention.

　　Several hours later the vanguard force finally emerged from the gullies and entered a basin surrounded on all sides by tall mountain peaks.

　　Yuan Ao felt his field of vision much wider and let out a long breath. Earlier, traveling through the gullies, he had felt greatly oppressed; now wishing to relax a little he ordered a brief rest here.

　　Just at that moment a sudden sound of a flute reached his ears. While Yuan Ao was still astonished he saw a great mass of huge crawling creatures surging down from the mountainside—a black expanse rapidly crawling toward them.

　　Yuan Ao looked carefully and cried out that the situation was bad: it was a swarm of giant poisonous scorpions and poisonous spiders, each about the size of a camelhorse. These venomous creatures crawled very quickly and in the blink of an eye had surrounded Yuan Ao and his men.

　　“Prepare for battle!” Yuan Ao shouted; the BullHeads and EagleGods drew their weapons one after another.

　　The venomous creatures formed a semicircle surrounding Yuan Ao and his men yet did not immediately attack. At that moment another sound of a flute arose from somewhere unknown; the venomous creatures successively opened a path.

　　Yuan Ao raised his eyes and looked; three even larger crawling creatures came crawling toward them, three Giants seated upon the three animals.

　　Yuan Ao hurriedly looked carefully: the foremost Giant carried a huge wooden club upon his shoulder and sat crosslegged upon the back of a giant spider. This Giant was none other than Wei Hao.

　　Wei Hao at that moment also recognized the newcomers and laughed loudly: “I wondered who it was—so it is my old acquaintance General Yuan Ao.”

　　The spider beneath Wei Hao stood more than three meters high; the other two Cyclops sat upon two giant poisonous scorpions.

　　Yuan Ao raised his head and lifted his scepter: “Criminal Wei Hao, seeing the scepter bestowed upon this Grand Marshal by the celestial gods—why do you not kneel?”

　　“Humph—Yuan Ao, our Giant Clan possesses the divine strength that splits mountains; even the earth trembles before us. Upon the continent of Mu we Giants kneel only to the celestial gods. What are you birdheaded people?”

　　Wei Hao directly called the EagleGod Clan “birdheaded people,” his eyes full of contempt: “The history of our Giant Clan is far more ancient than that of you birdheaded people. When we Giants were created by the celestial gods you birdheaded people were still in your mothers’ bellies.”

　　“Yuan Ao, I tell you: upon the continent of Mu only the Creator dares call himself ‘Celestial God.’ If any other race dares call itself ‘halfgod,’ it can only be our Giant Clan.”

　　“Insolence, Wei Hao—receive this!”

　　Deputy Ba Long flew up from his camelhorse, swinging the HellScythe scepter to strike. Before he could act Wei Hao’s left hand rose; a flash of lightning passed through the air and Ba Long was entangled by a glittering long whip.

　　Little did Ba Long know that the long whip in Wei Hao’s hand was made of the heavenlysilkworm silk spun by these giant celestial spiders—far beyond comparison with an ordinary whip. He was about to circulate his energy and struggle free, yet although the heavenlysilkworm whip was very fine it was extremely tough and could not be broken.

　　The more force he applied the tighter the heavenlysilkworm whip bound him; the whip was sharp beyond measure and cut into his flesh; blood flowed freely and he screamed in agony.

　　Wei Hao had no intention of giving Ba Long a moment’s respite. His left hand jerked the long whip back; his right hand raised the huge club and with a single “pa!” struck Ba Long squarely upon the crown of the head. Ba Long’s brains burst; the corpse toppled to the ground.

　　The vertical eye upon the forehead of the OneEyed Giant Clan was precisely the celestial eye. When they were created by the Green Clan celestial gods the celestial eye was also locked, yet Wei Hao had followed the Green Clan celestial gods for many years and had learned a certain amount of the arts of controlling animals.

　　The valley to which Wei Hao had fled was called the “Valley of Death”; the caves on every side were filled with poisonous spiders and poisonous scorpions of every size. After controlling these venomous creatures by means of the celestial eye and a wooden flute, Wei Hao frequently manipulated them to the main traffic routes of Skull City and lived by plundering the supply columns of Skull City.

　　Seeing how formidable Wei Hao was, Yuan Ao knew he was no match; he shouted “Retreat!” wheeled his mount, and fled first toward the exit of the gully. The rest of the troops, seeing their commander flee first, also scrambled desperately to flee back the way they had come.

　　These EagleGods fled in such panic that they even forgot they themselves were halfgods who could fly in the sky; every one of them fled blindly upon camelhorses, racing for their lives.

　　At that moment the sound of the flute again rose in their ears; poisonous spiders and poisonous scorpions of every size pursued closely behind.

　　After Yuan Ao had fled for a while inside the gully upon his camelhorse he discovered the situation was bad: the road ahead was entangled with layer upon layer of white spider silk, sealing the path.

　　Yuan Ao and his subordinates successively raised their Hell Scythes and chopped at the spider silk, yet little did they expect that this spider silk was extremely hard.

　　The Hell Scythes of the EagleGod Clan were invincible; no ordinary thing in the world could withstand them. Yet upon meeting this heavenlysilkworm silk they lost their effectiveness; no matter how the EagleGods chopped they could not cut through.

　　By then the pursuing poisonous spiders and poisonous scorpions had drawn near. Only then did the EagleGods remember that they could still fly; they successively abandoned the BullHeads, spread their wings, and fled into the sky.

　　The BullHead soldiers below silently groaned: now there was no path forward and no retreat; the EagleGod lords had wings and could escape, while they themselves could only fight to the death.

　　Just at that moment great chunks of flesh suddenly fell from the sky; blood rained down like water. The BullHead soldiers successively raised their heads to look upward and at once froze.

　　They saw the bodies of those EagleGods flying in the air being cut into several pieces by some unknown thing in the sky; huge chunks of flesh continually fell from the air.

　　It turned out that after Yuan Ao and his men had left the gully Wei Hao had secretly ordered the celestial spiders inside the gully to spit heavenlysilkworm silk and seal the exit, while at the same time covering the space above the gully with countless strands of heavenlysilkworm silk. The silk above was as fine as hair and could not be detected at all.

　　Heavenlysilkworm silk is fine as silk, hard as steel, and sharp as a knife. The EagleGods who flew into the sky to flee for their lives, choosing their path in panic and flying too violently, struck the heavenlysilkworm silk in the air with their momentum and were instantly sliced into chunks of flesh.

　　By then the gully had been turned into an inescapable net. The remaining EagleGods, seeing that even with wings they could not fly free, could only join the BullHeads in desperately fighting the venomous creatures upon the ground.

　　The number of venomous creatures was too great; Yuan Ao’s force was soon overwhelmed and in a short while was completely annihilated.

　　An EagleGod scout reconnoitering from the air reported the battle inside the gully to Hes. Before this Hes’s main army had remained halted at the entrance of the gully and had not advanced.

　　It turned out that after Hes’s main army reached the entrance of the gully they too had wished to enter. Tuohong stopped them: “Young Lord, the terrain here is extremely treacherous—the best place for an ambush. We must not enter rashly; better wait here for news of the vanguard force.”

　　Indeed, when the scout reported that Yuan Ao’s vanguard force had been completely annihilated, Hes could not help raising a thumb in secret, praising Tuohong’s miraculous calculation.

　　Now that Yuan Ao had been eliminated by Wei Hao the purpose of Hes’s expedition had already been achieved.

　　Yet he had not expected Yuan Ao’s force to be so useless that it was completely annihilated in so short a time—this was beyond Hes’s expectations.

　　If he simply withdrew the troops and returned to Skull City without avenging his brothers, Hes’s prestige would be swept away.

　　Just as Hes was hesitating whether it was necessary to advance, a giant poisonous scorpion crawled out from the entrance of the gully.

　　This poisonous scorpion stood more than two meters high; its tail with the poisonous sting rose like a flagpole high into the air.

　　Upon that flagpole something was densely hung. When the poisonous scorpion drew near Hes finally saw clearly that what was hung were one bloody head after another.

　　Wei Hao had cut off the heads of Yuan Ao and his subordinates, hung them upon the tail of the giant poisonous scorpion, and sent it crawling out of the gully to demonstrate against Hes’s main army.

　　“Do not let this venomous creature escape.” Hes ordered.

　　Numerous EagleGods flew into midair and employed their scepters to strike at this poisonous scorpion. The carapace of the poisonous scorpion was so hard that even the invisible bladeenergy of the scythescepters could not split it.

　　The poisonous scorpion also attacked the EagleGods; one EagleGod, slightly careless, was pierced clean through by the tail of this giant scorpion.

　　The corpse of that EagleGod and the more than two hundred heads hung upon the tail of the giant scorpion affected the flexibility of its tail. One EagleGod seized the opportunity and with the invisible bladeenergy of the Hell Scythe cut off the needlelike poisonous sting upon the tail of the giant scorpion.

　　The giant scorpion thrashed its tail in pain; the venom it sprayed splashed upon several EagleGods flying in midair. Those EagleGods immediately suffered ulcerating skin and unbearable pain and fell from the air to the ground.

　　The giant scorpion whose poisonous needle had been broken seized the opportunity to turn and flee back into the gully.