Chapter 1115: Within Expectations
Shen Liangyu responded by staying close to Bai Qingyan, his peripheral vision noticing Bai Qingyan's already empty quiver, and a surge of uncontrollable admiration arose in his heart.
He had been sticking close to Bai Qingyan all along, yet he couldn't even catch sight of the remnants of Bai Qingyan drawing and shooting arrows... Just like that, the quiver at Bai Qingyan's waist was empty.
Shen Liangyu was utterly shocked; even the former Vice Commander Bai Qishan likely couldn't match the current level of Young General Bai!
He couldn't help but clench his fist, recalling Bai Qingyan untying the sandbag from his arm, the thud reverberating underfoot upon its drop, and realizing the iron sandbag must be heavy, yet it brought about remarkable training effectiveness. Shen Liangyu already thought of applying the training method of Young General Bai to the soldiers of the Huying Camp, perhaps it would yield extraordinary results.
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Ansan.
In the dense forest shadowed by dark silhouettes, fluttering snow, flashes of fire flickered intermittently.
From afar, the clash of weapons and cries of slaughter echoed in the mountain pass.
After round after round of arrows, the Huoyun Army was nearly wiped out, while the soldiers of the Huying Army charged down from the high slopes, engaging the Huoyun Army in a bloody melee.
Yun Poxing was already shot off his horse, clutching his chest tightly, blood continuously gushing from his fingers, the Huoyun Army dragging the severely wounded Yun Poxing back, struggling to cut through the arrows flying their way.
Yun Poxing bit his teeth tightly, his mouth filled with the taste of blood, his heart trembling; where on earth did this Bai family army emerge from?!
Just as he detected the ambush, he thought perhaps this was the defense army of Pingyang City, its fighting strength surely inferior to his Huoyun Army, using himself as bait and ordering part of the Huoyun Army to go back first to rescue their Emperor of Xiliang, Li Tianjiao.
But who would have thought that the suddenly attacking force was indeed the Bai family army led by Cheng Yuanzhi, splitting his forces instead trapped Xiliang in a predicament.
The Bai family army led by Cheng Yuanzhi had fighting strength... surpassing the Huoyun Army.
They were all ambushed on both sides of the valley, hidden in the trees, silent as shadows, without even the sound of breath... which led him deeper into the trap without realizing he'd been outmaneuvered!
At this time, Yun Poxing was even more worried about his son and grandson!
If Cheng Yuanzhi was ambushing here, it seemed the opened gates of Pingyang City were indeed another trap laid by Bai Qingyan.
The fear of being trapped by Bai Qingyan with only a few men left during the Wengshan battle surged once more, even stronger this time...
Now, Yun Poxing had no retreat, heading deeper into Ansan trying to rescue Li Tianjiao, not only to face the Zhou army sent by Bai Qingyan to capture Li Tianjiao, but also to be pursued relentlessly by the Bai family led by Cheng Yuanzhi.
But turning toward Pingyang City, the outcome was the same!
However, as Xiliang's Auxiliary General, he could not leave the Emperor of Xiliang to be captured without rescue.
Yun Poxing gritted his teeth, shouting loudly, "Soldiers, fight back and rescue His Majesty! Our Emperor of Xiliang must never be captured alive by Zhou! We have no retreat, at any cost, carve a path through blood! Kill!"
Cheng Yuanzhi pulled his treasured blade from the body of a Huoyun Army general, causing blood to splatter wildly, he could no longer discern whether the blood on his body was his own or that of the Huoyun Army.
"Still refusing to surrender?!" Cheng Yuanzhi's voice, already rough, bellowed with all his strength, making people feel even the trees tremble, snow pattering to the ground, "Yun Poxing, your defeat is assured today for Xiliang, if you surrender... I might spare your life and save your soldiers!"
But Yun Poxing was no Bai family general, less willing to entrust the lives of his soldiers to the promise of the enemy general. He pushed away the Huoyun Army supporting him, snapped the arrow at his heart, drew his scimitar, knowing he could not retreat!
He gritted his teeth, ignoring the bleeding arrow wounds, leading his soldiers forward into battle with an apparent intention to confront Cheng Yuanzhi directly.
Cheng Yuanzhi, seeing Yun Poxing with scattered hair and bloodied body charging directly at him, his battle spirit surged, wielding Bai Qingmo's improved sharp blade in his hand, capable of slicing through iron like mud and cutting hair with ease, taking down Huoyun Army soldiers one by one.
Hatred boiled within him, remembering his own Vice Commander's severed head hung in the Xiliang military camp by Yun Poxing, recalling Bai family's youngest, number seventeen, who was disemboweled...
Cheng Yuanzhi's eyes were blood-red; today he would use Yun Poxing's blood to honor his Vice Commander... honor Bai family's seventeen, and honor the fallen brothers of Bai family army!
He gripped his blade tightly, letting out a terrifying roar, charging at Yun Poxing with all his might.
The clash of two blades, the sound of metal scraping accompanied by sparks, Yun Poxing's scimitar was already snapped in two, he desperately holding the hilt to fend off Cheng Yuanzhi, hurriedly retreating a step, pulling a Huoyun Army soldier to shield him from Cheng Yuanzhi's deadly strike.
Yun Poxing staggered back two steps, dropping the broken blade from his hand, pulling another from the corpse of a Huoyun Army nearby, assuming a stance to face Cheng Yuanzhi.
Cheng Yuanzhi despised Yun Poxing's act of using his own comrades to block blades; on the battlefield, Yun Poxing had not only once used his soldiers as shields!
Bai family generals protected their soldiers, and Cheng Yuanzhi had been saved by his Bai family army's Vice Commander.
Cheng Yuanzhi acknowledged the importance of a military commander; soldiers as subordinates should indeed risk their lives to protect the commanding general. Yet while Yun Poxing's act of pulling his soldiers in face of danger had the same end result of blocking arrows and blades, it was purely detestable!
With such a commander in Xiliang, defeat... was only natural.
Cheng Yuanzhi was unwilling to hold back against Yun Poxing, almost putting all his strength into each strike as a fatal attack, with such fierceness that one could feel fear in their heart, he was completely unafraid of the potential harm from surrounding Huoyun Army soldiers, aiming only at Yun Poxing.
Huying Army soldiers kept Cheng Yuanzhi guarded among them, clearing obstacles for Cheng Yuanzhi...
Cheng Yuanzhi's target was clear, seeing Yun Poxing staggering due to severe blood loss, Cheng Yuanzhi leapt up, stepping on the shoulders and heads of Huoyun Army soldiers, charging at Yun Poxing with all his might.
Yun Poxing watching Cheng Yuanzhi charging with blade in both hands from above... and rapidly retreating...
"Clang——"
The clash of the blades caused Yun Poxing's blade to snap again, Cheng Yuanzhi's sharp blade pierced Yun Poxing's armor, lodging firmly in Yun Poxing's shoulder, had Yun Poxing not blocked with his hardest elbow armor... his arm would've been severed.
Yun Poxing's pupils trembled, he hadn't expected Cheng Yuanzhi's blade to be so sharp after such a short time, even sharper than Tianfeng Kingdom's blades! What on earth was going on?
Cheng Yuanzhi's bloodshot eyes locked onto Yun Poxing, exerting brute force to press Yun Poxing onto his knees.