The Bow Sounds the King of Hell's Decree

"Whoosh!"

A shrill whistle approached at high speed, the wind of death rushing toward them.

Zhao Cheng snapped back to reality, his eyes sharp and hands quick as he yanked Feng Quan off his horse. A razor-sharp arrow grazed the back of Feng Quan's head, slamming straight into a tree stump behind them, the arrowhead burying itself deep!

Feng Quan broke into a cold sweat, staring in terror at the arrow behind him. He had been so lost in shock that he hadn't even noticed an enemy scout creeping up nearby!

Seeing that he had been discovered, the scout immediately spurred his horse and fled!

His position had been at the very limit of effective archery range, and now that he was running at full speed, he vanished beyond the reach of a normal scout in the blink of an eye.

"Trying to run?"

Zhao Cheng chuckled, drew his bow, and fired!

The arrow flew like a shooting star, reaching the scout in an instant!

The scout could never have imagined that this man's range was so vast. By the time he realized the danger and looked back, it was already too late; the arrow pierced straight through his forehead, spraying a mist of blood.

The scout collapsed instantly, his horse startled and bolting away.

Zhao Cheng scanned the distance, and seeing no other scouts, said to Feng Quan, "Go cut off his head."

"Yes, sir!"

Having just escaped death, Feng Quan was ready to kowtow to Zhao Cheng; he was filled with absolute admiration. Hearing the order, he rode over eagerly and severed the head.

But when he went to hand it to Zhao Cheng, Zhao Cheng said, "Hang it on your horse."

Feng Quan was pleasantly surprised, yet embarrassed. "That doesn't seem right..."

Zhao Cheng was speechless. "My horse is already carrying too many heads; it affects my mobility. Keep it for now, and give it to me when we return to camp."

Feng Quan was stunned—he had become a head-carrier.

But thinking about it, it made sense. This youth was practically a Yama; those scouts who were usually so difficult to kill were as good as dead the moment they were spotted by him.

Under his watch, not even a fly could slip past!

When scouts met, killing the opponent was no easy task. Because their mobility was so high, they usually kept their distance and traded shots at the edge of their range. Even those with good archery skills had no confidence in hitting a vital spot, and in complex terrain, it was difficult to even hit the opponent's horse.

Unless an enemy scout ventured deep behind lines and was surrounded by friendly forces, they were hard to kill.

There was no one like Zhao Cheng, who could kill with a single shot from such a distance the moment a head popped up.

These battle-hardened elite cavalrymen had fought many wars, but this was their first time encountering such a situation, and their minds were completely blank.

Before they could even express their thoughts, Zhao Cheng had already spurred his horse forward, weaving through the complex terrain like a gust of wind.

The other cavalrymen had no choice but to chase after him with all their might.

"What? Another headless scout?"

"Hiss... another entire squad dead at the same time, no more than ten paces apart. It's bizarre. Usually, even one scout is a nightmare to kill, so how are they dying in droves today?"

"I heard the Han Army's defenses were lax and weak, but I didn't expect their scouts to be this pathetic."

"But if they're that weak, why haven't we encountered any?"

Behind Zhao Cheng's team, a ten-man scout squad encountered another pile of scout corpses and couldn't help but feel bewildered.

Just then, another friendly scout squad approached after verifying their identities at a hidden post.

Seeing the scene on the ground, they looked astonished.

"Hey, you guys have this here too?"

"Yeah, you have corpses on your side as well?"

"Heh, quite a few. You're ahead of us, so I thought it was your doing. Since it isn't you, it must be that squad further ahead... the one with that new recruit squad leader!?"

"It must be. Feng Quan and the others are a bit better than us, but only slightly. Aside from that man, there's no other explanation."

"He's too strong! No wonder he was made a squad leader right away!"

"Strong? It's clearly just that the Han scouts are too weak."

"Not necessarily. Our squad encountered enemy scouts earlier who were very cunning; they used decoys to lure us in. We were almost ambushed, and if we hadn't seen through it, we'd be dead. Their experience is definitely not inferior to ours. You lot shouldn't underestimate them."

Hearing this, the squad in front turned solemn. After exchanging glances, their expressions became much more serious.

Just then, the faint whistle of an arrow piercing the air echoed from the distance ahead.

"That sound... it's not the first time we've heard it. It sounds like the bow carried by that youth, Zhao Cheng!"

"Let's go, take a look!"

A moment later, both squads arrived at a spot littered with an entire squad of scout corpses and met up with two other squads.

"You heard it too?"

"It's that Battlefront Zhao Cheng's bow!"

"How many squads is this now?"

"Just from what we've seen, there have already been two squads."

"I've seen a pile of corpses myself, plus three scouts..."

"Whenever the bowstring sings, someone dies..."

"If it's a full squad, the whole squad dies; if it's just scouts, the scouts die. I haven't seen a single incomplete set of corpses yet..."

"How much military merit must that be?"

"No, has anyone here actually caught up to the vanguard?"

The group looked at each other in silence, all shaking their heads.

It was too strange. When a vanguard engages in battle and collects war trophies, it inevitably delays their progress and time, yet they hadn't been able to catch up to them even now!

This speed was simply too fast; how could they, as elite cavalry, fail to catch up even when doing nothing but sprinting?

The elites all felt their faces flush, feeling a sense of shame.

They were battle-hardened veterans, yet they couldn't even catch a glimpse of the horse tails of these newcomers.

"Let's keep moving. I have a premonition that the merit for the first to breach the line is going to be snatched away."

In this short span of time, scouts from other directions had all, to varying degrees, seen the headless corpses of the enemy. Those closer had even occasionally heard the sound of the bow.

Whenever the bow rang out, it wouldn't be long before they found the bodies.

They wanted to catch up and exchange words with the vanguard, but they simply couldn't close the distance.

The scouts communicated through secret whistles, sharing information, and gradually, they all realized the truth of the situation.

Meanwhile, the scouts on the far flanks were trapped in difficult, grueling skirmishes and psychological warfare.

If the entire scout cavalry formation was shaped like a "person" character, with the team of Zhao Cheng as the tip and the other teams fanned out on both sides, then the fighting at the very ends of the "person" was the most intense and drawn-out.

"Damn it, a feint! It was just a single scout!"

"Is your leg alright?"

"It's fine, just a graze!"

"Why is it turning black?"

"The arrow is poisoned! It's eating the flesh!"

"Hmph!"

Just then, the sound of a secret whistle drifted from afar.

Li! Li-li...

The men exchanged glances and began to signal back.

Li-li! Li...

A moment later, their expressions turned bizarre.

"Something like that is happening??"

They were being toyed with by a single scout on their end, while the central vanguard had been wiping out entire scout squads along their path??

Is that even right?

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The whistling of arrows was incessant. The highly recognizable, explosive sound of Zhao Cheng's bowstring rang out continuously; every time it cracked, it meant another enemy scout had died!

If it rang more than twice in a row, even the scouts in the distance knew that the enemy had lost at least a full squad!

Zhao Cheng kept drawing his bow, reaping lives while simultaneously seizing their lifespans!

[You have killed an enemy. Lifespan seized: 3 years!]

[You have killed an enemy. Lifespan seized: 27 years!]

[You have killed an enemy. Lifespan seized: 16 years!]

[Current remaining lifespan: 782 years]

The closer they got to the Southern Foothills of Fang City, the denser the enemy sentries and scouts became.

But Zhao Cheng's sprinting speed was extreme, and once he laid eyes on an opponent, no one escaped alive. Often, the enemy scouts couldn't even send out a signal before being shot down by Zhao Cheng from a distance.

In this way, to the enemy, the vanguard scout cavalry was no different from being invisible.

Currently, the information the enemy scouts were gathering was all from the deep rear. Even if they sent word immediately, the Qin Army scouts were keeping them tangled up, and they couldn't match Zhao Cheng's speed. They couldn't even catch up to the scouts following in the wake of Zhao Cheng's killing radius.

After all, one side was still locked in combat, while the other was sprinting at full speed without any obstruction or pressure.

This turned every team within the radius of Zhao Cheng's light cavalry into a surprise force.

The muffled sound of hooves trampling on piles of dead leaves gradually faded. As the noise grew quieter, the area beneath the wall on the south side of Fang City became increasingly silent.

"Squad leader, that is the south side of Fang City ahead. If the Han garrison moves troops to support Ye County, their defensive strength here will surely be insufficient. Even if they don't move to defend, we can launch a surprise attack on the Southern Foothills of Fang City to create chaos and help our main army lure the tiger away from the mountain!"

Feng Quan traced his finger across the map and spoke to Zhao Cheng.

At this moment, his horse was already laden with severed heads, and even the mounts of the two squad leaders behind him, Du Ren and Feng Ruo, were nearly covered in them.

In total, there were forty-eight enemy heads.

Such a feat, even if achieved by an entire platoon of fifty men, would be enough for a platoon leader to earn a promotion in rank.

Yet, this had been accomplished single-handedly by a newcomer who had just joined the Assault Cavalry Battalion. After this battle, relying on this merit, he would surely be promoted to Centurion, skipping over the ranks of Gongshi, Shangzao, and Zanniao to be directly enfeoffed as a Bugeng!

How terrifying!

Zhao Cheng looked up; at the end of the River Valley, the walls of Chu Fang City took a turn, utilizing the terrain to form a natural barrier. However, the southern hillside was densely vegetated, and while there was no proper path for horses, one could climb by grasping vines and clinging to rocks, which offered the advantage of a surprise attack.

While still at a distance, Zhao Cheng signaled for everyone to stop galloping and proceed at a slow pace.

They were too close to Fang City now; the garrison on the walls could already be faintly seen. However, the dense vegetation provided cover, and by hiding in the shadows, it was difficult for the enemy to spot them from the bright sunlight.

Zhao Cheng directed the men to quietly enter a secluded area within the woods, then waited in silence.

Along the way, every scout and hidden sentry they encountered had been wiped out by Zhao Cheng, who had also left markers along the route indicating the direction for the Assault Cavalry to assemble.

He estimated that it would not be long before the rear forces gathered, at which point they would creep up and seize the Southern Foothills of Fang City in one fell swoop.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the Assault Cavalry from the rear gradually converged.

Since there were no more enemies left to kill, the trailing units had slowly gathered together, now dispersing to follow the markers and rendezvous with the vanguard.

When they saw that lead team with their three horses hung full of heads, they all drew a sharp breath.

Even the two Centurions were visibly shaken, inwardly sighing that they had never witnessed such a scene before.