A General Dies in a Hundred Battles

Watching Zhang Yuan stand before the city gate with his saber held horizontal, howling into the sky, Ouyang Xu, seated upright on horseback, felt the corner of his eye twitch.

Only a true soldier could sense such glory on the battlefield.

No regrets in life or death, wrapped in horsehide.

"Kill—"

He struck the horse's flanks with both legs, and the black warhorse instantly charged out.

Ouyang Xu raised the spear in his hand, borrowing the force of the charging warhorse to thrust at Zhang Yuan's chest.

His weapon was one zhang and five chi long, with a crescent-shaped side blade beneath its tip. Though called a spear, it was more properly a halberd.

"Clang—"

Zhang Yuan raised the hilt of his saber before his chest, blocking the crescent blade.

A tremendous force surged through the shaft. Zhang Yuan's body was forced back three zhang.

The sinews and bones in his arms split apart, and blood spurted from his mouth.

Ouyang Xu's thrust, empowered by the galloping warhorse and augmented with Xiantian True Essence, carried more than the Strength of Three Bulls!

Six Thousand Jin per Strike—even boulders would be blasted apart.

Moreover, Ouyang Xu had clearly cultivated an exceptionally profound technique. When he thrust, the force penetrated and condensed, all its power erupting the instant the spearpoint struck.

"Puh—"

Having steadied himself, Zhang Yuan spat out another mouthful of blood.

Ouyang Xu's charging thrust had not only injured Zhang Yuan's arms, but shaken his internal organs as well.

"I thought you were truly in the Xiantian Realm." Ouyang Xu tugged the reins, making the warhorse rear on its hind legs, and pointed his spear at Zhang Yuan. "But at your age, surviving one strike from me is enough to be proud of."

The warhorse kicked and stamped restlessly, seeming dissatisfied that it had failed to kill Zhang Yuan in a single blow.

Ouyang Xu gently patted the warhorse beneath him with one hand, then swept his spearpoint.

The cavalrymen circling nearby thundered forward, raising their curved sabers as they charged at Zhang Yuan.

There was no need to swing their sabers. So long as they charged past on horseback, the blade edges would sever Zhang Yuan's head.

Zhang Yuan stood where he was, his vitality and blood surging around him.

His arms could no longer exert any strength.

In his mind, a Demonic Energy Bead shattered, followed by a True Essence Bead. Two streams of blue-gray power rapidly repaired the split sinews and bones in his arms.

But their repair was slower than the charging warhorses, slower than those razor-sharp curved sabers.

The instant a blade swept past, his head would fly high into the air, spraying a burst of hot blood. His body would be sent flying and crash outside the gates of Fengtian County City, which he had guarded for Three months.

A General Dies in a Hundred Battles.

He, Zhang Yuan, was not yet qualified to call himself a general.

Raising his head, Zhang Yuan looked towards the galloping warhorse.

He could see the killing intent in the eyes of the cavalryman behind his faceplate.

Cold and chilling, as though he had come only to kill an ant.

Was he, Zhang Yuan, an ant?

Unable to wield his saber, was Zhang Yuan an ant?

"Kill—"

Zhang Yuan drove the hilt of his saber into the hard earth outside the gate, freeing both hands and clenching them into fists.

His horse stance shifted into a half-step bursting stance. Facing the charging cavalry, Zhang Yuan stepped forward.

His feet borrowed power from the ground, his waist bent like a bow. Force rose from his hips and legs as his body half-turned, his right shoulder driving forward to collide with the charging horse's neck.

Ironclad Fist, Iron Mountain Lean.

"Boom—"

Zhang Yuan's feet dragged five chi across the ground.

Ahead, the charging warhorse suddenly flew into the air, only crashing down after rising half a zhang.

Before it fell, its neck bones had already snapped.

At the Great Perfection Level, the Ironclad Fist move, augmented by True Essence, had exceeded Two Thousand Five Hundred Jin in force.

"A fierce general indeed... what a pity." Ouyang Xu murmured, watching the rider who had fallen from the horse flip to his feet, hold his curved saber horizontally, and charge at Zhang Yuan.

With such speed and strength, this man was at the Houtian Mid-stage.

Breaking a saber barehanded?

Zhang Yuan's hands had yet to recover their strength. He did not even have the chance to break the blade.

The curved saber swept horizontally at Zhang Yuan's waist.

Though Zhang Yuan's armor was thick and heavy, it could not possibly withstand that sharp curved saber.

A curved saber's slash was not merely about brute impact, but the biting chill drawn out by the dragging curve of its blade.

This was a certain death situation.

Zhang Yuan had seen such a situation before.

It had been in the memories of a Yan Army soldier he had slain.

That Yan Army soldier had once killed a Qin Army soldier whose hands were clasped behind his back.

At the instant he swung his saber, that Qin Army soldier swept with his leg and launched a flying knee, nearly killing him in return with moves from the Ironclad Fist.

Unfortunately, that Qin Army soldier lacked sufficient force. His flying knee was blocked, and his chest was ultimately pierced by a single saber thrust.

The curved saber swept across.

Zhang Yuan lowered himself and swept out with his left leg.

"Smack—"

The Yan Army soldier swinging his saber was sent flying more than two chi into the air by that kick. His slash changed trajectory as well, turning upward.

Zhang Yuan had barely withdrawn his left foot when his right foot stamped down heavily.

"Boom—"

A flying kick, his knee slammed into the soldier's chest.

Ironclad Fist, Sky-Piercing Knee.

The instant his knee struck the soldier's chest, the scale armor over it shattered.

The crack of rib bones shattering reached his ears. The soldier, sent flying by the impact, landed five zhang away with his entire body twisted grotesquely.

Vitality and blood surged around Zhang Yuan as his fists slowly clenched.

More than half the Injuries to his arms had already healed!

At this moment, two cavalrymen from the other side came charging in.

Zhang Yuan turned and ran, rushing to his war saber. He reached out, pulled it free, and held the long saber horizontally in hand.

"Clang—"

A curved saber slashing at his neck was blocked. The rider on the other warhorse did not dare approach as Zhang Yuan drew his saber, instead pulling the reins and making the horse rear before him.

Zhang Yuan ignored those two riders and turned his gaze to Ouyang Xu.

"Kill—"

Holding his saber in both hands, blade pointed forward, he lowered his waist. Each step covered five chi, his vitality, blood, and True Essence merging as a faint sheen of flowing light spread over the blade.

Ouyang Xu did not move.

At least twenty warhorses had already charged before him, blocking Zhang Yuan's path.

Zhang Yuan did not retreat.

It was not that he could not retreat. He simply did not want to.

"I cultivate the Mountain Yue Saber Technique, founded upon the strength of mountains. Its saber forms condense immense force. Everyone, be careful."

Zhang Yuan's voice sounded.

Those were the words Yu Lin had spoken when he faced three enemies alone in the short woods.

For Zhang Yuan, this might be the final battle of his life. He needed to unleash his strongest saber technique.

As he advanced, Vitality Beads and Insight Beads shattered one after another in his mind.

Zhang Yuan

Identity: Ninth-rank Black Robe Guard of Luyang Prefecture, Great Qin; Crimson Scale Army Conscript

Cultivation: Peak late Houtian Realm (beginning breakthrough)

Martial Way Cultivation: Cape Saber Technique at Great Perfection Level, Cannot Upgrade; Ironclad Fist at Great Perfection Level, Cannot Upgrade

Mountain Yue Saber Technique at Great Perfection Level, Cannot Upgrade; Mountain Yue Fist Technique at major mastery, requires twenty Insight Beads to upgrade

Battle Formation: Azure Wolf Formation at major mastery

Chaos Space: Fifty-two Vitality Beads, sixty-eight Insight Beads, thirty-one True Essence Beads, six Demonic Qi Beads

Chaos Auxiliary Battle: Activated

Between life and death, Zhang Yuan shattered Vitality Beads to elevate his cultivation.

The Mountain Yue Saber Technique was also forcibly pushed to the Great Perfection Level.

Half-step Xiantian.

Not yet the Xiantian Realm, but he could already wield Xiantian power.

The power released by one True Essence Bead after another poured into his body's meridians, then surged into the long saber in his hands.

Saber Qi trembled, giving off a chilling sheen of light.

"Raising his cultivation with a secret technique?"

"A worthy opponent, indeed."

Through the wall of men, Ouyang Xu murmured softly.

He raised his head and looked into the distance. Dust was billowing there, along with the aura of a Xiantian Realm expert.

"Young Commander, it is the Crimson Scale Iron Cavalry." Behind Ouyang Xu, several Xiantian Realm generals wore grave expressions as they spoke in low voices.

Great Qin iron cavalry: a thousand riders could sweep Cloud-Rolling Ridge; ten thousand riders were invincible.

"No matter. He will not hold out until the Crimson Scale Iron Cavalry arrives." Ouyang Xu spoke calmly, deep light shining in his eyes. "And even if the Crimson Scale Iron Cavalry arrives, what can they do..."