NOVEL NEXT Ch. 9
Chapter 9: Beheading the Enemy Chief
“Brothers! Follow me to slaughter those Great Zhou dogs outside, then we’ll come back and enjoy ourselves again!”
The bandit captain raised his arm high and spurred his horse forward, charging toward the town’s entrance first.
The rest of the bandits howled and followed behind him, their killing intent surging.
Before long, the two sides met head-on at the narrow entrance of the town.
The moment they clashed, before the bandit captain could even draw his bow—
“Whoosh!”
An arrow whistled through the air, wrapped in a fierce gust of wind, and flew straight for his face!
“You—”
The bandit captain had only uttered one word before the arrow pierced through his skull!
A bowl-sized hole gaped at the back of his head, blood and brain matter splattering outward!
The bandits, who had been ready to charge, yanked their reins in shock, but before they could turn their horses—
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
The rain of arrows from the Black-Armored Cavalry had already descended!
Under the empowerment of their Blood Qi, each arrow shot forth like a bullet, cutting through the air with a piercing shriek.
“Puchi! Puchi!”
The bandits at the front had no time to react before arrows punched bloody holes clean through their bodies.
Some were shot through the throat, others through the chest—blood blooming like flowers—while some were skewered by several arrows at once in a ghastly sight.
“Scatter the formation! Charge!”
Seeing the enemy ranks thrown into chaos, Zhang Feng drew his long blade, taking the lead as he charged into the town.
The cavalry surged forward like a flood, the thunderous hooves shaking the very earth.
Although these bandits were mostly experts of the Tempering Bones Realm, skilled in horseback archery,
the Black-Armored Cavalry were not only clad in heavy armor—their mounted archery was even more precise!
Worse still, their jet-black warhorses were unbelievably fast, overtaking the fleeing bandits in the blink of an eye.
“Damn it! What kind of horses do these Great Zhou soldiers ride? They’re faster than the wind!”
One bandit, glancing back mid-escape, saw those black-armored warhorses gaining on him rapidly.
Another turned to look as well—only to see an arrow enlarge in his vision.
“Bang!”
The arrow exploded his head on the spot!
In less than the time it took for one incense stick to burn, the over two hundred bandits in the town were completely wiped out.
Their crude arrows couldn’t even leave a white mark on the Black Armor.
When they fled, they couldn’t even organize a proper defense.
Having lost their courage, they dared not face the Black-Armored Cavalry head-on—barely even slowing them down.
When the battle ended, the surviving townsfolk looked upon the cavalry with pleading, tear-filled eyes.
Some soldiers, upon seeing the violated women and the slain children, trembled with fury.
“Beasts! These bandits deserve to be cut into a thousand pieces!”
The veins on the back of Zhang Feng’s hand bulged as he gripped the reins tightly, yet his voice remained steady. “Brothers, there are still more people waiting for us to save.”
The soldiers swallowed their rage and grief, mounting their horses and riding off under the grateful gazes of the townsfolk.
Half a day later, in a canyon.
The appearance of the Black-Armored Army had finally drawn the attention of the bandit commander.
Learning that a powerful Great Zhou cavalry force was steadily destroying his scattered troops, he could no longer sit still.
He took out a talisman and set it aflame. At the same time, the bandit captains elsewhere ignited corresponding talismans in their hands.
Half a day later, as the scattered bands gradually returned, the bandit commander’s face turned dark.
Of the forty-plus teams he had sent out, only seventeen had returned.
“The Great Zhou soldiers mean business this time. Pack up the supplies and retreat—we’ve gathered enough loot anyway.”
But just as the order was given, a rumbling sound of hooves echoed from the downstream side of the canyon.
“It’s Yan Chen!” one bandit cried out in terror.
The bandit leader looked up sharply—and saw, at the lower end of the canyon, a five-hundred-strong cavalry unit.
At the forefront rode a man in white garments brighter than snow—it was that terrifying Divine Power Realm expert who had made their name a nightmare!
Though there were only five hundred of them, the bandit commander’s face turned ashen.
His bandits knew nothing of proper formations. Against a powerhouse like Yan Chen, their annihilation was only a matter of time.
“Retreat! Great Zhou’s horses can’t catch ours!” the bandit commander shouted urgently.
But as the bandits scrambled up the canyon slopes, countless banners suddenly rose from the ridgelines ahead.
From three different directions on the upper side of the canyon, three separate cavalry battalions of a thousand men each appeared, encircling them completely.
“Hahaha!”
The bandit commander burst into laughter, raising his spiked mace and bellowing, “Men! The Great Zhou fools dared to split their forces—kill your way out with me!”
His laughter still echoed through the canyon when Zhang Feng led three thousand Black-Armored Cavalry forward like a surging black tide.
“Form up!”
At Zhang Feng’s command, the three thousand cavalry instantly changed formation.
Blood Qi surged around them, dark red energy rising from each soldier’s body, intertwining in midair to form a vast, crimson web.
This was the Black-Armored Army’s formation—Ironblood Battle Net!
The bandit commander’s pupils contracted sharply.
Though he had long plundered the borderlands, he had still heard of the fearsome power of military formations.
Such a formation could link the Blood Qi of all soldiers, allowing the commander to draw upon the strength of the entire army, erupting with power far beyond his own realm!
“Tricks and theatrics!”
Suppressing his unease, the bandit commander swung his heavy spiked mace and roared, “Men! Kill your way through!”
Several vice-commanders at the peak of the Blood Refining Realm behind him also unleashed their Blood Qi at once.
The canyon erupted into gusting winds and flying dust.
Each of these bandit elites was a ruthless killer who had survived countless battles; in personal combat, they indeed surpassed the average cavalryman.
However—
“Boom!”
The instant Zhang Feng unsheathed his long blade, the Blood Qi of three thousand cavalry surged into him like a tidal wave.
His aura, once at the Seventh Layer of the Blood Refining Realm, instantly broke through its shackles—rising straight into the Divine Power Realm!
“What?!” The bandit commander’s expression turned to horror.
But it was already too late.
“Slash!”
Zhang Feng swung his blade, the blood-colored arc like a descending Milky Way, crossing dozens of meters in an instant.
The bandit commander hastily raised his spiked mace to block—but with a sharp crack!
The iron weapon was cleaved clean in two!
The blade’s momentum did not stop—it cut through both man and horse in a single stroke!
“Commander!” the vice-commanders cried out in horror.
But Zhang Feng had already appeared before them like a ghost.
Empowered by the formation, his speed was terrifying—his Mo Blade weaving a storm of bloody afterimages.
“Puff! Puff! Puff!”
Three heads flew into the air!
Those experts at the peak of the Blood Refining Realm were utterly powerless before the might of the military formation!
At the same time, the three thousand Black-Armored Cavalry charged into the mass of bandits.
Though individually weaker than some of the bandit elites, each soldier, through the formation’s connection, could borrow strength from his comrades’ Blood Qi.
Their charge tore through the bandit ranks like a tiger through a flock of sheep—flesh and blood flying everywhere.
“Hold the formation! Don’t let them break us apart!”
The cavalry’s vice-officers shouted commands, and the soldiers grouped themselves ten by ten, forming small defensive formations back-to-back.
The bandits’ curved sabers sparked uselessly against the Black Armor, rarely managing to break through.
Meanwhile, every swing of a Mo Blade sent heads rolling.
The canyon resounded with the roars of slaughter.
The Black-Armored Cavalry, like a tightening net of iron and blood, crushed the ten-thousand-strong bandit force, halting their escape entirely.