Book 14: Chapter 69
Slimeball Among Slimeballs Among Slimeballs (Part 5)
After crawling out from the shrubs in confusion, Che Gulu witnessed people flying, some horses neighing in pain, horses speeding off into the distance, four originally-healthy horses on the ground foaming at the mouth and people, presumably their riders, strewn across the floor groaning.
He massaged the spot he took the kick as he stumbled over to the dirt, where Bai Ju was standing stationary.
“Uncle Ju, what just happened?”
“Your horse fell. That Tang kid kicked you away.”
“So…”
At the same time Tang Ye kicked Che Gulu away, his own horse succumbed to injuries and fell. Xun Feng’s trio raced off, while Tang Ye and Su Xiao robbed the horses of neighbouring competitors to catch up.
“My horse is done, too. I was just waiting for you.”
“The horses are innocent! How could they be so ruthless?!”
cried Che Gulu. The Kiliya nomads were emotionally attached to horses as they learnt to ride on horseback from a very young age, and Che Gulu was no exception. He hugged his steed around its neck and cried,
“What did those slimeballs do to you?! Tell me!”
“Based on my inspections, they…”
Bai Ju took a step back. A putrid fountain of brown matter burst from the horse. Che Gulu was just about to say he was lucky the horse’s anus wasn’t aimed in his direction, only for the other three horses to blast their toxic faeces waves.
Che Gulu temporarily withdrew from the contest. Xun Feng and Su Xiao’s teams led the pack by a large margin, with the remaining contestants trailing behind.
Su Xiao and Tang Ye didn’t plan to implement their strategy straight away, and Che Gulu was never their target; they weren’t sure how strong he was, after all.
On the other hand, they had witnessed Xun Feng and Ling Shaoxuan in action. As for Bai Yumo, Tang Ye heard enough about Valley of Yearning to warrant preparing several backup plans.
Tang Ye, however, never foresaw his and Su Xiao’s horses being drugged. Nevertheless, as a man who could defeat Lu Bu, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei with his quick thinking on the fly, Tang Ye immediately attacked Che Gulu, followed by two other students hailing from noble families for their horses.
What Su Xiao and Tang Ye lacked in equestrian skill, they made up for in martial prowess.
Moreover, Tang Ye discovered something with the passage of time. With Bai Ju and Che Gulu removed from the contest, Tang Ye was arguably the best jockey remaining. Although Xun Feng’s trio was slightly ahead, Tang Ye was confident he could easily catch up. The only problem was whether Su Xiao could catch up or not.
Therefore, Tang Ye held back so that Su Xiao could keep up, only to discover that Su Xiao was able to keep up without Tang Ye having to hold back as much as he predicted. As Tang Ye gradually increased his pace, Su Xiao was still able to keep up, even once he maxed out.
To the contrary, Su Xiao was close to catching up. Had it not been for the time constraint, Tang Ye would’ve given Su Xiao his horse since his was a tad better than Su Xiao’s.
The last thing he expected was for the lesser rider to surpass him on a lower-performance steed. Noticing the duo closing in on them from behind, Ling Shaoxuan shouted, “They switched rides! I told you drugging the horses wouldn’t work! What now?” Grumpy Miss Bai responded,
“Then why did you drug them?! I feel sorry for them!”
“We’re about to lose. If we lose here and at the exams at night, who’s going to feel sorry for us?”
“You don’t deserve any pity! My parents wouldn’t scold me for something so trivial. They’d only scold me if they found out I conspired with you two to drug innocent horses.”
“Can you stop? They’re right on our heels.”
“Stop arguing,” ordered Xun Feng.
“And stop worrying. Brother Ling, how many horses did you drug in total?”
“Four.”
“Okay, you were quite hard handed, then. No wonder why the horses collapsed so fast. They should’ve only collapsed after some distance, so you were quite generous with the dose.‘
“Uh… So…” Tang Ye’s horse neighed loudly, and then Tang Ye went rolling onto the ground.
“Hahaha, good going, Venerable Monk!” While Ling Shaoxuan drugged four horses, Xun Feng drugged his neighbours’ horses. Ling Shaoxuan looked back to enjoy the miserable reactions of his opponents, only to blurt, “Sheet!”
“Brother Ling, there’s no need to voice your joy.”
“Joy, my foot! Look for yourself!”
Xun Feng could already hear horse hooves hitting the ground comparably to thunderclap, but he was stunned when he finally saw Tang Ye sitting behind Su Xiao as the two of them zoomed towards the trio.
“What the?!” Xun Feng clearly remembered the drugged the four houses next to Tang Ye and Su Xiao. The drug he formulated was enough to bring down the healthiest of horses, so Su Xiao’s horse should’ve been out of commission. Frankly, Tang Ye was equally puzzled.
Tang Ye realised he was fooled the moment before his horse dropped, and the horse he snatched was also drugged. All of a sudden, he saw Su Xiao reach a hand out to him, so he mounted Su Xiao’s horse without a second thought.
Even more surprising was how the horse was able to run so fast with an extra passenger.
Su Xiao was oblivious to the unbelievable-ness for he didn’t realise his hands on the reins and his legs were leaking potent, harmless true qi that gave the horse a boost.
On top of that, the horse was able to expel the harmful substance through sweating.
Despite him lacking skill at riding, his horse fired on extra cylinders to catch up. Tang Ye watched Ling Shaoxuan as a hunter watched its prey.
“Ling Shaoxuan! Take this!” Ancient Cold appeared in Su Xiao’s eyes.