The earth trembled.
This was not the charge of a few hundred men, but the resonance caused by thousands of heavily armored cavalrymen charging together. The black torrent was like a river bursting through its banks, crashing viciously into the Barbarians' flank with unstoppable force.
"North Guard Army! The North Guard Iron Cavalry!!"
The surviving defenders let out heart-rending cries. Some threw away their broken blades and dropped to their knees in pools of blood, wailing their hearts out.
They were saved.
Beneath that enormous command banner bearing the character "Qin," countless long lances advanced like a forest. Great Liang's most elite border army had finally bared its fangs at dawn.
"Damn it!"
Hulei clutched his still-spurting neck wound and watched the black torrent, extreme unwillingness flashing through his eyes.
Under normal circumstances, he would not have feared this heavy cavalry force with the Wolf Cavalry's mobility. But he was badly wounded now, his vision blurred, and his command structure had been thrown into chaos by Ji Ye's mad, suicidal assault.
If this continued, his entire army would be wiped out.
"Retreat!!"
Hulei let out a muffled roar and was supported by his personal guards as he mounted a spare warhorse.
The Barbarians' horns became urgent and shrill. The Barbarian soldiers who had still been encircling and slaughtering Ji Ye's remnants felt as though they had been granted amnesty. They abandoned their opponents one after another and protected their commander as they fled north in a mad dash.
The wolf pack retreated.
Leaving behind corpses strewn across the ground and dying flames that still burned.
At the center of the battlefield.
Pockmarked dragged one broken leg as he frantically searched through the piles of dead.
"Boss! Boss, where are you?!"
His hands blistered from scorched charcoal and were cut open by broken blades, but he felt none of it.
At last, beneath a Barbarian soldier's corpse, he saw that familiar black sable cloak, already soaked through with blood.
Ji Ye lay in the mud, the broken Horse-Chopping Saber embedded in his chest. His face was as gray as paper. His breathing was so faint it was almost imperceptible, and with every rise and fall, bloody foam bubbled from his wound.
"Boss..."
Pockmarked dropped to his knees, utterly at a loss. He wanted to pull out the saber but did not dare. Tears mixed with blood and grime as they ran down his face.
"Don't... don't move him..."
A weak voice came from behind them. It was the surviving private soldier from before, who knew a little first aid. "The blade is lodged in the bone... if you pull it out... the bleeding won't stop..."
Just then, a burst of rapid hoofbeats came to a halt beside them.
A magnificent white horse snorted down at them from above.
A young general in silver Brightlight Armor sat atop it. He was handsome, his expression arrogant. The riding crop in his hand lightly tapped against his riding boot as his gaze swept over Ji Ye on the ground as though he were examining some curious object.
"This is the man who wounded Hulei?"
The young general's voice was cool, carrying the innate nobility unique to the children of great clans.
"Yes... yes, our Captain Ji..." Pockmarked raised his head, hope in his eyes. "General! Please save our captain! He defended this city! He was the one who fought Hulei into this state!"
"Defended the city?"
The young general gave a derisive laugh, his gaze sweeping over Black Stone County behind him, riddled with holes and nearly reduced to ruins.
"A ruined city, several thousand dead commoners, in exchange for Hulei being severely wounded. Not a bad bargain."
He casually waved a hand. "Someone, carry this man back. Have the military physician see whether he can still live. If he lives, then he is lucky. If he dies..."
He paused, his tone as casual as though discussing a dead hunting dog.
"Report his name and grant him a posthumous honor. After all, forcing an Organ Tempering expert like Hulei into such a state, this mad dog... is somewhat interesting."
"Yes, Commander!"
Several North Guard Army soldiers dismounted and roughly lifted Ji Ye onto a stretcher.
Pockmarked tried to stop them, only to receive a whip across the face.
"Get lost."
The young general gave him a cold glance. "From this moment on, Black Stone County is under the North Guard Army's control. All irrelevant persons, stand aside."
With that, he tugged the reins. The white horse neighed and turned toward the city.
Behind him, great ranks of the North Guard Army filed into the city, treading upon the bloody road the defenders had paved with their lives as they took over this surviving lone city.
Banners fluttered, armor gleamed.
It formed a stark and bitterly ironic contrast with the surviving defenders, covered in blood and grime, their clothes in tatters.
Pockmarked covered the burning lash mark on his face as he watched that retreating figure. His fingernails dug deep into the mud.
They had fought with their lives and bled themselves dry.
In the end, all they received was a single sentence: "Somewhat interesting."
Three days later.
North Guard Army camp, wounded soldiers' tent.
The place reeked of medicinal herbs and rotting flesh. Ji Ye lay on a hard cot in the corner, his bare upper body wrapped in thick bandages. The wound piercing his chest was still horrifying to behold.
"What a tough life."
An old military physician with grizzled whiskers was changing his dressing. Looking at the wound that was slowly healing, he clicked his tongue in amazement. "Four ribs broken, breastbone shattered, internal organs displaced... anyone else would have been dead beyond saving. This kid's flesh is like forged iron. It actually forced the broken bones back into place."
Pockmarked kept watch beside the bed. He had not closed his eyes for three days, and his eye sockets were deeply sunken.
"Doctor, when will our captain wake up?"
"Wake up?" The old physician snorted. "That depends on fate. He overexerted himself too severely, his vital energy and blood are both depleted. Whether he can endure tonight's fever is the real gate of hell."
The moment he finished speaking.
The corpse-like man on the bed suddenly twitched a finger.
Then Ji Ye abruptly opened his eyes.
There was no confusion, no weakness.
A savage gleam erupted from his eyes in an instant, like a beast under attack. His right hand instinctively reached to his side, searching for a blade.
"Boss! It's me! Pockmarked!"
Pockmarked jumped in fright and hurriedly pressed him down.
Ji Ye's hand froze in midair. The savage gleam in his eyes slowly faded, and his focus returned.
"Hulei... where is he?"
His voice was hoarse, as though he were chewing sand.
"He ran." Pockmarked hurriedly said, "The North Guard Army came and scared him away. We... we won."
Won.
Ji Ye let out a breath, and only then did the muscles throughout his body truly relax. Immediately afterward, overwhelming pain crashed over him like a tide. He let out a muffled groan, cold sweat instantly covering his forehead.
"System..."
He murmured inwardly.
That familiar pale-blue panel appeared before his eyes.
[Current Status: Seriously Injured (Recovering)] [Predicted Evaluation for This Reincarnation: A (Repelled the Barbarian vanguard, severely wounded an Organ Tempering commander, and changed the course of a local battle.)]
A rank.
Still not enough.
Ji Ye looked at that letter, and there was not the slightest ripple in his heart.
He had fought for his life, trained himself into this ghostly state, and had even nearly truly died, all for an A?
Just how high was the threshold for SSS rank?
"That North Guard Army..." Ji Ye closed his eyes, recalling the hoofbeats he had heard before losing consciousness. "Who led them?"
"I heard it was the Qin family's third young master, Qin Wuji." Pockmarked lowered his voice, hatred in his tone. "That brat is arrogant as hell. He claimed all our credit for himself. Everyone outside is saying he led his troops to repel Hulei and lift the siege of Black Stone. As for us..."
Pockmarked gritted his teeth. "We became Local Militia who 'assisted in defending the city.'"
Stealing credit.
Ji Ye was not surprised. This was officialdom. This was Great Liang.
Yet he was not angry. Instead, a cold smile curled faintly at the corner of his mouth.
"Qin Wuji..."
He remembered that name.
"Help me up," Ji Ye said.
"Boss! Your injuries..."
"Up." Ji Ye's voice allowed no doubt. "I want to eat meat. No matter whose credit it is, as long as I don't die, this debt... will be settled sooner or later."
He struggled into a sitting position. The wound on his chest split open, blood seeping through the bandages.
But he did not care.
From beggar to constable, from constable to commander defending a city.
The next stop should be the stage of Great Liang's chaotic age.
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