Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 147 - 142 Why Should I, a Scholar, Speak of Martial Virtue?

Chapter 147: Chapter 142 Why Should I, a Scholar, Speak of Martial Virtue?

Sky Shattering Bombs were a type of firearm used by the Sheng Army, and they came in various forms.

Generally, these firearms were spherical, with a diameter reaching up to 20 centimeters and weighing more than 20 jin. They were cast from pig iron and filled with gunpowder, ignited by a fuse.

In fact, the Sky Shattering Bomb was not originally invented by the Great Sheng Dynasty; previous dynasties had them, but they were often made of materials like pottery or porcelain. It was not until the Great Sheng Dynasty that they began to be cast in pig iron.

There were many ways to use them: they could be thrown like grenades or used as landmines.

According to historical records, General Deng had once developed a special mechanism called "steel-wheel fire ignition." The principle was to use a steel wheel and flint to detonate landmines. Once the enemy troops triggered a mechanism, the dropping weight inside the mechanism would rapidly fall, turning the steel wheel and creating sparks with the flint to detonate the landmines.

However, this advanced invention would not be available until General Deng went to guard the Northern Border.

Given General Deng’s task at the Northern Border was to prevent invasions from the Northern Barbarians, firearms were used for defense, and it was in this context that the steel-wheel fire ignition device proved useful.

But after all, the bandits were roving the southeast committing crimes; even if they wanted to plant landmines, they wouldn’t find too suitable locations.

Thus, when combating bandits, the Sky Shattering Bombs were mainly thrown by soldiers.

Nanhe City itself had ample supplies, not only of armor and weapons but also some Sky Shattering Bombs. Although not numerous, if used properly, they could also play a role in reversing the situation.

At that moment, the Sheng soldiers on the rooftops were all holding alight Sky Shattering Bombs.

Moments later, they uniformly threw these gunpowder-filled iron balls down!

"Boom!"

"Boom! Boom!"

After the Sky Shattering Bombs hit the ground and rolled a few times, they erupted violently!

A series of huge blasts were accompanied by the screams and wails of the bandits.

In the instant the Sky Shattering Bombs exploded, gunpowder smoke rose, and shrapnel flew in all directions. The force of the gunpowder blew the bandits to pieces.

These bandits, to prevent assassination, were standing in rather dense groups. A few Sky Shattering Bombs thrown at them resulted in either death or severe injury!

Xia Ruoling was hiding in the shadows, silently witnessing it all. She had intended to move in for the kill if any bandits were lucky enough to survive, but now it seemed such worries were unnecessary.

She immediately moved to find her next target.

Several ambush points had been arranged by her in this residential area.

Xia Ruoling’s mission was simple: find isolated bandits to assassinate. And if multiple bandits pursued her, she would use her familiarity with the terrain to lead them into one of the ambush points, where the Sheng soldiers lying in wait would deal with them using the Sky Shattering Bombs.

A skilled assassin would learn to make full use of everything around them to perform an assassination, including taking advantage of favorable terrain.

And the allies lying in wait with Sky Shattering Bombs... that should count as part of the terrain, right?

...

Meanwhile, the battle at the city wall was also reaching a fever pitch.

Lu Heng, who was playing Wang Zongchang, wore armor, wielded a shield and a waist sword, and was fighting valiantly.

Yun Ying was acting as a Deputy General, covering for him.

Every player who made it onto the ultimate Trial Illusion leaderboard generally had something special about them.

After all, they had Meng Yuan, the bona fide Sorter, as the selection standard.

Meng Yuan could use all of his identity-exclusive talents, as well as carry three different Sorter talents. Furthermore, his combat ability also improved with repeated clearing attempts.

Players who could defeat Meng Yuan were generally quite skillful.

The reason Lu Heng stood out in the ultimate trial of this instance was simple: he scored very high in his portrayal of Wang Zongchang!

Despite being a scholar player, Lu Heng’s close quarters combat ability was not weak at all and differed significantly from that of purely scholarly players like Chu Ge.

He was a third-rate actor in real life and had experience in both drama and action roles. In addition, he had another important identity: he was an enthusiast of unrestricted fighting.

Yun Ying was also a fighting enthusiast in real life, but there was a clear distinction between the two.

Yun Ying had learned traditional martial arts as well as various striking techniques both domestically and internationally, making his fights look both professional and impressive. In ancient times, he would undoubtedly have been considered a great hero.

Lu Heng, however, was different. When filming action scenes, he used choreographed routines, but his actual combat ability came solely from learning unrestricted fighting.

Action choreography was his job, unrestricted fighting was his life.

Unrestricted fighting, as the name implies, is truly without limits and allows the use of any and all ruthless methods to defeat an opponent.

Or to put it another way, unrestricted fighting is a set of combat skills geared towards ordinary people because it is relatively easier to master.

When he passed the four basic Trial Illusions and gained his identity, Lu Heng, like Li Hongyun, took some detours.

Originally wanting to try the roles of a foot soldier, Ranger, or assassin, he found that his unrestricted fighting skills were not easily applicable in those two instances.

As an actor, his acting was certainly good enough, but his combat skills fell short of the requirements needed by combat professions.

Unrestricted fighting was, after all, an unorthodox style and ineffective within foot soldier formations. Against Wandering Warrior instances featuring Xue Tianba’s overwhelming physical presence, it wasn’t practical.

The only promising instance for assassination, the assassin instance, also resulted in failure at the final stage.

Frustrated, Lu Heng decided to try the scholar instance and unexpectedly succeeded by leveraging his decent acting skills and script recitation.

Considering the limited positions, he just went with the flow and chose a scholarly identity.

However, the problem was that his scholar persona was purely a result of copying others’ work; while his acting and dialogue skills were not bad, his puzzle-solving and analytical abilities were nowhere near that of players like Chu Ge.

But it didn’t matter because the "Trial Illusion" instance provided him with a character that was a perfect natural fit—Wang Zongchang!

Of course, the historical Wang Zongchang was a bona fide sword-wielding man who didn’t use unrestricted combat, but Lu Heng, as a scholar holding a sword and fighting, was already a very high match for the role.

The core was highly similar; the specific form was different, but it didn’t really matter.

So when it came to allocating roles, he unhesitatingly chose Wang Zongchang.

In the city, a series of explosions erupted in the residential area near the city walls. Lu Heng and Yun Ying both knew that these were pre-arranged Sky Shattering Bombs taking effect, effectively delaying the enemy brigands.

Therefore, for the time being, they didn’t need to worry about being attacked from both front and rear.

However, the pressure from the front was not to be underestimated.

Many soldiers had already died on the city walls, and more and more brigands were continuously setting up ladders and attempting to climb up.

Seeing that the defensive line was about to collapse, Lu Heng exchanged a glance with Yun Ying and, with great tacit understanding, they both moved forward to hold the line.

"Don’t retreat! Drive the brigands off the walls!"

Lu Heng shouted, instantly activating his righteous scholar’s energy and boosting the morale of the troops.

But as a result, he also drew the attention of many brigands.

A seasoned Wandering Warrior made his way toward Lu Heng’s position!

Yun Ying was entangled with three brigands and found it difficult to come to his aid.

"Don’t worry about me," Lu Heng said.

As he spoke, he stepped forward to meet the challenge.

The eyes of the Wandering Warrior were tinged with a faint black, clearly having received an amplification effect from demonic forces.

In fact, all the brigands attacking Nanhe City had been enhanced with Demonic Qi.

Seeing Lu Heng, playing the role of Wang Zongchang, not only didn’t retreat but came to meet him, the Wandering Warrior was very disdainful; after all, he was not facing a well-arranged Sheng Army squad equipped with great weapons like Wolf Whiskers, nor a battle-hardened General, but merely a scholar in makeshift armor, holding a standard rattan shield and a waist saber.

The long Yi Dao sword sliced down fiercely!

Lu Heng raised his rattan shield high, blocking it steadily.

The Wandering Warrior was unconvinced, as he had dealt with many rattanshield-wielding Sheng soldiers before, so he quickly retreated out of Lu Heng’s saber range, seeking another opportunity to strike.

But at that moment, he heard Lu Heng, in the role of Wang Zongchang, bellow, "Shall the lands of Huaxia tolerate the mischief of demons? All evil beings, disperse!"

Lu Heng’s shout was full of confidence and naturally activated the effect of righteous scholar’s energy!

Normally, righteous scholar’s energy had no significant lethal effect on brigands; at best, it shook their will and dampened their fighting spirit.

But at that moment, the brigands were imbued with demonic forces.

The righteous scholar’s energy directly scattered the Demonic Qi from the brigands body, causing his mind to go blank instantly, and his body seemed to have been drained of a portion of its strength, suddenly weakening!

Righteous scholar’s energy was a special weapon against demons.

After the scholarly talent ability was upgraded, righteous scholar’s energy could be used without the specific form of poetry, and its effect could still be fine-tuned based on the content of the words spoken.

Sometimes it amplified allies, other times it struck at enemies.

And what Lu Heng shouted was specifically targeted to drive away demons.

Taking advantage of the moment when the Wandering Warrior’s demonic influence was scattered, and he appeared listless, Lu Heng’s saber had already slashed over!

The Wandering Warrior was taken aback. If it were an ordinary brigand, this blow would have been fatal.

But, the Wandering Warrior, having refined swordsmanship, still instinctively raised his Yi Dao sword to block the slash, even in the face of death.

Lu Heng’s combat skills were much higher than the average scholar, but still not quite at the level of the top-tier fighting soldiers.

But it didn’t matter; as the brigand parried the saber, Lu Heng’s right leg powerfully kicked out, targeting the brigand’s groin!

For unrestricted combat, this was just a subconscious attack pattern.

The Wandering Warrior was only armored on his upper body, his lower half bare, consistent with the usual style of brigands.

However, when facing Lu Heng, who specialized in attacking the lower body, this weakness was infinitely magnified.

The Wandering Warrior’s face turned red instantly, his body suddenly doubling over in unspeakable pain, losing control over his limbs for a moment.

With a "puff," Lu Heng’s saber pierced through his chest.

The Wandering Warrior glared at Lu Heng with wide eyes, as if to say: "You have no honor!"

To use righteous scholar’s energy to break through demonic qi and cause stiffness was one thing, but to kick in the groin? Who fought like that?

Lu Heng withdrew his waist saber, coldly smiling, "Evil demons should be slain by all, why stick to specific techniques or forms?

"Besides, I am a scholar, why should I adhere to the code of martial honor?"