What with the downpour in the middle of the night the day before, every inch of the ground in the encampment of the Wan army was muddy. It had been several days since the army had broken out of the Formation deployed by the enemy, but the troops still hadn’t recovered from their battered morale. When they looked at the towering ramparts of Shengzhou Pass, they could no longer feel the great ambition that they had arrived at this place with. All they could feel now was fear.
To make things worse, the army led by Yuwen Tong had crossed the Wan River already and was closing in on the capital.
Xue Chi and his lieutenants had hushed it up, so the soldiers were unaware of it, but even so, the Wan army was still inevitably shrouded in a mood of pessimism.
“Father, should we continue to attack Shengzhou Pass?”
When Xue Chi and Xue Yi were the only ones left in the main tent, the latter asked his father about their next move. At the beginning of the war they had held the garrison of Shengzhou Pass in contempt, but now they had been forced into cowering in their encampment. The whole thing felt like a bad dream. Xue Yi was indignant and unreconciled to the defeat but was also unavoidably wary and scared of the enemies in Shengzhou Pass, his mind filled with uncertainty about whether or not they still had enough strength to take Shengzhou Pass. Of course, Xue Yi wouldn’t admit that he was shrinking from another fight. The excuse he made for himself was that they had suffered heavy casualties, and the army led by Yuwen Tong had crossed the Wan River, so it was pointless to resume the attack; what they should do was retreat and join hands with Chen Jing’s men to drive Yuwen Tong out of the Wan Kingdom and recover the lost cities and territory.
However, Xue Chi shook his head and told him explicitly, “That’s not an option. We cannot make another retreat.”
Xue Yi was bewildered. “Why?”
Xue Chi looked at him with sorrowful eyes. “As things stand, the moment we retreat, the gates of Shengzhou Pass will open immediately, and we’ll turn from the hunter into the prey. Yuwen Tong’s men are attacking Chen Jing’s army. You think the North-western Army in Shengzhou Pass would let us leave to help Chen Jing intercept Yuwen Tong? It’s too late. We’ve already been mired in this situation. To retreat is suicide. Only by resuming the attack will we stand a chance of survival.”
Xue Yi’s heart gave a huge leap. “W–We really couldn’t just retreat? But…”
‘But do we really still have a chance of taking Shengzhou Pass? And will Chen Jing’s army really be able to keep Yuwen Tong at bay?’ Both these questions were what Xue Yi wanted to ask, but for some reason, he was unable to ask either of them, though the words were already on the tip of his tongue. It was as if he had come to know the answers to them already.
Xue Chi looked deep into his eyes and said, “The war is not lost yet. That underhanded weird thing they deployed outside Shengzhou Pass has lost its effect, and there’s no way they could use it again. If we regroup our forces and launch another all-out attack on Shengzhou Pass, we might be able to survive this. If we win, we’ll turn the tables, and even if we lose, we’ll die a glorious death on the battlefield. You’re my son. For several generations the Xue family have been serving our country as loyal fighters, and there has never been a single coward in our family. We must fight until our last breath! What you just said must not be repeated. When you walk out of this tent, you will straighten your back. Now go and summon all the officers here to have a meeting. We’ll reformulate our plan of attack before we go into the final battle with the enemy in Shengzhou Pass!”
The last remark convulsed Xue Yi’s frame. After his eyes met Xue Chi’s, he slowly balled his hands into fists. “Yes, Father!”
Xue Yi soon had all officers gathered in Xue Chi’s tent. Shan Congyi was also among them.
Xue Chi was right about the situation. Currently the only way that his army could survive the war was if they took Shengzhou Pass with an all-out attack. However, strategically sensible as his plan was, before he could carry it out, the gates of Shengzhou Pass opened and the North-western Army, full of mettle, charged out heading for the encampment of the Wan army.
In the tent, Xue Chi was the first to sense that something was wrong. Before any of the sentries rushed to the tent to report, he paled visibly at the faint quake of the ground and, without saying anything, abruptly dropped himself, pressing his ear against the ground and listening hard. The next moment, with an ugly look on his face, he quickly rose to his feet and cautioned aloud, “An army is coming from the east! It’s the North-western Army from Shengzhou Pass! Everybody get ready to fight!”
All people present changed color. Having no time to say anything else, they all hastened out of the tent in a great hurry as the ground quaked more and more detectably.
Xue Chi, who had also exited the tent, yelled, “ENEMY APPROACHING! GET READY TO FIGHT!”
Shan Congyi was the only one staying in the tent. He had also felt the quake of the ground which was getting more distinct. His face which had been disfigured in the explosion was at this moment even more hideous than usual. He had come to this place with the army with a burning desire to take Shengzhou Pass, march straight south to the capital of the Great Wen and kill Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong to avenge what they had done to him, but so far he had achieved none of the objectives! Were Xue Chi not still useful to him, Shan Congyi would have killed Xue Chi when they had been trapped in that large-scale Formation outside Shengzhou Pass.
“Good-for-nothing! Good-for-nothing!” Shan Congyi overturned Xue Chi’s desk with a kick and everything on it fell to the ground with a crash.
Xue Chi, who hadn’t gone far away, heard the noise from inside the tent, flicked a backward glance at it with a sepulchral face and eventually walked off. His army was about to stage a last-ditch counterattack against the North-western Army from Shengzhou Pass. If he survived, he would figure out a way to get even with Shan Congyi; if he died, it would be meaningless to hold grudges because of these things.
…
The clatter of the Northwestern Army’s horses’ hoofs sounded like the beat of numerous large drums. The ground was quaking. Having been given the permission to attack after standing by in the fortress for such a long time, the troops enjoyed such high morale as though they were an army of tigers who had just been set free from their cages. The army flag was fluttering in whistling wind to the battle cry of soldiers which was making the welkin ring.
The army swooped down on the encampment of the Wan army like a rising tide.
Ling Zhang, Jiang Ke and Jiang Xi were galloping abreast. Snowflake, Ling Zhang’s mount, was faster than any of the other horses.
The encampment of the Wan army was very close. Xue Chi was leading his army that had just been mustered in great haste. At the sight of the North-western Army who were charging at them with daunting momentum, Xue Chi, without pausing to say anything, directly gave the order for the archers in battle formation to shoot!
“Shield unit move forward! Keep charging! Nobody stops!” commanded Jiang Xi. The army immediately charged its formation. Those with shields moved to the front to parry the arrows from the enemies which were raining down on them. Meanwhile, numerous arrows were fired at the encampment of the Wan army.
Only by charging at full speed would they be able to minimize the casualties. Therefore, the North-western Army kept advancing braving volleys of arrows without pausing for a moment, pushing on towards the enemy’s encampment as fast as they could.
Ling Zhang mobilized all his internal energy, forming it into an energy field which shielded both him and Snowflake from the arrows, wielding his sword, galloping forward amid the rain of arrows. He was the first to reach the enemy’s encampment. The twenty-four bodyguards of his, who were on his heels, formed up into a formation and quickly followed him into the encampment of the Wan army amid salvos of arrows.
“Kill them!”
Ling Zhang raised his sword, took a flying leap from his saddle and heavily gave a sword strike. His powerful internal energy, like a thick wall, directly smashed into a team of Wan cavalrymen who had just charged over to intercept him. Those cavalrymen, along with their horses, were instantly thrown to the ground and soon wiped out by Ling Zhang’s twenty-four bodyguards who quickly galloped over. Blood splattered in all directions, across the soldiers’ armor or on the ground. The strong smell of blood felt as though it were warm, but the ruthless cold blades of the bodyguards had been swung at the next team of cavalrymen.
The fact that Snowflake was an intelligent horse was more obvious at this moment than ever before. Carrying Ling Zhang on her back, she continued to dodge amid the rain of arrows, keeping galloping towards the Wan cavalry. When Ling Zhang reached the front of the enemies, the archers had stopped firing arrows for fear of friendly fire. With each gust of wind generated by Ling Zhang’s palm strike, a cavalrymen was downed before being killed by one of Ling Zhang’s bodyguards, every slash of whom was a life taken.
When Ling Zhang and his men breached the defensive line of the cavalrymen at the front, the team led by Jiang Xi arrived and staged a frontal attack on the Wan cavalry.
The war drums had been sounding for quite some time, the steady beat reverberating around the whole battleground. The volleys of arrows from the Wan army failed to stop the North-western Army. Instead, they served to boost the North-western Army’s ferocity. In terms of morale, the North-western Army had an overwhelming advantage over the Wan army, and there was nothing the latter could do to turn the tide.
As the two sides engaged at close quarters, an intense fight started and soon got into a full swing.
With the instinct to survive, the Wan army made a frantic counterattack, fighting the North-western Army with all their might.
This battle lasted a solid afternoon. The North-western Army had charged into the Wan encampment from the very beginning. The whole encampment had been reduced to a slaughterhouse. The Wan army’s defensive line, which had been outside the encampment at first, backed away into the encampment before the troops started retreating. Dead bodies of the Wan soldiers carpeted almost the whole encampment.
Ling Zhang, whose armor had some time ago been dyed dark red by blood, was emanating an air of bloodthirstiness. Even his face which was the color of white jade was now blood-spattered, the corners of his bright eyes red with killing aura. Right now he bore no similarity to the elegant dashing young man he usually was. Instead, he looked like a killing machine. Eventually, the very sight of him frightened Wan soldiers into spinning around to make their escape. Barely anybody dared fight him.
When Ling Zhang caught sight of Shan Congyi, the latter was retreating under the escort of a team of soldiers.
At that time there was still a long distance between Ling Zhang and him, but Ling Zhang had sharp eyes and instantly spotted a familiar figure whom he soon confirmed was Shan Congyi.
Back at the time when he had been informed that Shan Congyi was still alive, that he somehow had survived the explosion and managed to elude the soldiers Xiao Jiangyue had sent to search the wood outside Xiaofeng Village, Ling Zhang had been quite angry and made up his mind to kill Shan Congyi and confirm his death personally the next time he saw him.
Before the war started, when he had been told that Shan Congyi had come with Xue Chi’s army to attack Shengzhou Pass, he had made preparations to capture Shan Congyi. Now that he had seen Shan Congyi, he naturally wouldn’t let the latter escape.
All the twenty-four bodyguards of his were very much in his confidence and knew what he was thinking. Ling Zhang pointed in the direction of Shan Congyi and with that they immediately charged forward.
Shan Congyi, who was retreating under protection of some soldiers, sensed a murderous air closing in on him from behind like a sharp blade. He involuntarily looked back and caught sight of Ling Zhang. As his eyes met Ling Zhang’s which were red with bloodthirstiness, he gave a shudder in spite of himself. Recalling the pain he had suffered during the explosion, he muttered through gritted teeth, “Ling Zhang!”
Nobody knew what he was thinking, but he actually reined in his horse, stopped retreating and forcibly turned his horse around to face Ling Zhang who was charging in his direction.
“Your Highness? We need to leave immediately, before it’s too late! You must not go back there!” yelled the man beside him, terrified by his unexpected act.
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