A Halberd Seizes the Soul, A Stray Dog

South of the Kunyang Mountain range, a massive army of nearly one hundred thousand snaked its way forward.

The leading general was tall and burly, with the long arms of an ape and the waist of a wasp. Clad in heavy armor, he moved with ease; this was Xiang Tuo, known as the Tiger of the Xiang Clan.

The Chu Army led by Xiang Tuo marched at a faster pace, having already put some distance between themselves and the Han Army from Wan City.

"Report! We have made contact with enemy scouts ahead; one unit of our scouts has ceased responding."

"Report! The Qin Army is currently assaulting Ye County."

"Report..."

One scout after another galloped back to deliver intelligence.

As Xiang Tuo listened, he already had a clear picture in his mind.

It seems Meng Wu already knows reinforcements are coming, which is why he is in such a rush to take Ye County.

According to his plans, it should have taken him another three days to fully starve out Ye County. By force-marching here to catch him off guard, we have thrown his formation into chaos.

It is too late for him to try and take the city by force.

"All troops, increase your speed! Coordinate with the defenders of Ye City and annihilate the Qin Army!"

The Chu Army accelerated further.

Xiang Tuo took the lead, galloping toward the east of Ye City.

Separated by a single mountain, Zhao Cheng's unit of ten thousand cavalry sat in silent stillness.

Feeling the faint tremors of the earth, Zhao Cheng and Meng Tian exchanged a glance, both seeing the smiles in each other's eyes.

The enemy has entered the trap!

From the sky, a vast number of Chu troops could be seen leading the Han Army deep into the pocket laid out by the Qin Army.

Some time later, Chu Yun had arrived at the east of Ye City. Looking from afar, the Qin Army was in the midst of a fierce siege; both sides were locked in a chaotic melee, their battle cries shaking the heavens.

Clearly, Meng Wu had been driven to desperation, attempting to force the capture of Ye City before the reinforcements could arrive.

"Hahahaha! To be so flustered—and he dares call himself a famous general?"

Xiang Tuo naturally could not let such an opportunity slip by.

He immediately ordered the Vanguard Battalion to press forward, intending to shatter the Qin formation amidst the chaos and slaughter them piecemeal.

With a siege failing in front and reinforcements flanking from behind, even if the Qin Army were a force of tigers and wolves, two such strikes should be enough to break them.

"Follow me into the charge!"

Xiang Tuo personally led a thousand of his elite warriors into the enemy ranks, piercing through them like an awl.

A man of peerless strength, he wielded a Great Spear, hacking through the formation and slaying enemies with unstoppable momentum.

The thousand elite warriors behind him, personally trained and cultivated by him, were each capable of taking on ten men.

This sharp, thousand-man spearhead cut into the Qin Army instantly, carving a massive gap and leading the tens of thousands of troops to drive deep into the heart of the Qin forces.

As the two armies clashed in close quarters, the battle reached a fever pitch in an instant.

The further Xiang Tuo charged, the more he felt something was wrong. This Qin military formation was dense on the outside but hollow in the middle.

While it had been difficult to break through at first, the deeper he pushed into the enemy ranks, the easier it became.

"So, they are strong in appearance but weak in reality!" Xiang Tuo sneered, assuming the Qin Army had suffered too many losses during the earlier siege.

They had only set up this formation to intimidate him, pretending to have greater numbers to delay his offensive rhythm and buy more time for the siege.

"A simple-minded plan."

Like a dragon or a tiger, Xiang Tuo was bathed in blood, leading his army in a continuous, relentless charge, meeting no one who could withstand a single blow.

In terms of raw strength, he was indeed formidable.

But soon, he encountered stubborn resistance.

Just as the Chu Army passed through the center of the formation, the Qin resistance surged. Under Meng Wu's command, the massive Qin military formation began to rotate like a millstone, grinding toward Xiang Tuo's position.

If Xiang Tuo's unit had been flowing downstream like a tiger descending a mountain to tear into the ranks, they were now struggling against a violent torrent. Within this torrent, one could see layers of the Wave-Layering Formation—one wave after another.

Layer upon layer, endless and suffocating, they closed in to crush him.

Even Xiang Tuo felt his stamina rapidly depleting, and he grew increasingly alarmed as he fought.

He looked up and saw that the Han troops on the city walls had stopped fighting, and the besieging Qin Army had also ceased their assault. At such a critical moment, they had both stopped simultaneously.

Even more, the Han troops opened the city gates and led a large force to merge with the Qin Army, adding fresh strength to the Qin's Wave-Layering Formation and making his charge increasingly difficult.

"Damn it! The Han troops have defected? Are they conspiring with the Qin to trap and slaughter my unit here!?"

Xiang Tuo's heart skipped a beat. He looked back, terrified that the Han unit from Wan City was also in league with the Qin.

Fortunately, the unit from Wan City had not defected; they were still fighting, locked in combat with the Qin. Seeing the Ye County Han troops join the Qin, the Han generals there looked just as bewildered.

Xiang Tuo's mind raced as he observed the state of the battlefield.

Although he did not understand why the Ye County defenders had suddenly defected, the force that had emerged from the city was not large. He had already pushed deep into the Qin formation; as long as he could break through and have his flanks close in, he could still divide and annihilate the enemy!

With this thought, he continued to charge and slaughter with all his might.

The Qin Army formation was dense on the outside but hollow in the center; even with the Wave-Layering Formation directed by Meng Wu to grind them down, the Chu Army was slowly pushing deeper, showing signs of insufficient reserves.

Meng Wu, however, remained calm and unhurried. Seeing that the rear guard of Xiang Tuo's unit had also pushed deep, and that even the reinforcements from Wan City had fully entered the encirclement, he finally waved his command flag!

Amidst the enemy's astonishment, twenty thousand light infantry surged out in an instant, closing in from both flanks.

The Qin Army had suddenly formed a pincer movement.

Only then did Xiang Tuo realize the danger, his expression changing drastically.

Damn it, isn't this the Triple-Layer Formation that my cousin is famous for!?

The vanguard lures the enemy deep, the center holds firm with the Wave-Layering Formation, and the two flanks envelop and slaughter!

He was far too familiar with this battle formation. The moment he identified it, he decisively ordered the entire army to retreat and break through!

He also reacted with lightning speed, leading his vanguard to turn their spears and charge toward the direction of the breakout at the rear flank.

As he charged, he issued constant commands.

The adjutants beside him waved the great banners according to his orders, and the formation shifted rapidly. Even in the ever-changing chaos of battle, they executed a seamless transition to break out, responding with remarkable aptitude.

Furthermore, because he had seen the situation early, the pincer movement from the flanks had not yet fully formed when he began to break the deadlock.

Consequently, the Chu Army managed to charge out through the gap before it could close, firmly seizing this path to survival.

At this moment, the battle reached a stalemate.

The Qin Army forces pressed forward continuously, attempting to sever the Chu Army's path of survival.

The Chu Army, knowing that losing this path meant certain death, fought with their backs to the river, holding the route desperately and steadily expanding it.

With Xiang Tuo's unit charging everywhere and concentrating forces for key breakthroughs, the path widened further. More and more Chu soldiers broke out of the encirclement, fighting as they retreated.

As he charged, he roared, "Behind us is the canyon formed by the two mountain forests! It is easy to defend and hard to attack. Once we retreat there, the Qin Army won't be able to do a thing to us!"

Hearing this, the soldiers felt their spirits soar. Their morale surged once more, as if they were ready to smash their cauldrons and sink their boats, fighting to the death!

They bit off piece after piece of that path to survival.

The ferocity of their military spirit was evident.

However, at this very moment.

From the mountain canyon behind the Chu Army, a dense, thunderous sound erupted.

The sound grew louder and more urgent, closer and more intense, until the sound of hooves rolled like a great flood.

Xiang Tuo's heart skipped a beat, and he narrowed his eyes to peer into the distance.

First, a black Qin banner appeared, fluttering in the wind, and beneath it, a general led the Flying Cavalry at the forefront.

The fair-skinned young general wore gilded scale armor, wielded a twelve-foot Great Halberd, and leaned low over his horse. He kicked up dust, charging like a sword, his Sha Qi soaring to the heavens!

Ten thousand light cavalry followed closely behind, their horses galloping at such speed that they struck like a piercing arrow!

The military aura of this force seemed to roll into one, rising to the sky, shattering the clouds, possessing the momentum of a tiger swallowing ten thousand miles!

Seeing this, Xiang Tuo's expression finally changed completely!

The appearance of this cavalry unit was like a divine intervention, instantly severing the only remaining path for the Chu Army and sealing the only gap in the Qin Army's great pocket!

With this, the Chu Army was completely trapped in a dead end!

Xiang Tuo hardened his heart and made a split-second decision: "Break through immediately! Bring up the main force and charge the canyon!"

This was a desperate act of cutting off one's own arm to survive. At this moment, the path had not been fully cleared and remained narrow, with a large number of Chu troops still trapped in the enemy formation, struggling to break out.

If he concentrated his forces to charge the canyon, a large number of troops in the rear would certainly be slaughtered.

But if he didn't charge, the entire army would be annihilated.

Xiang Tuo led eight hundred death-defying soldiers to take the lead, charging head-on against the cavalry in the canyon.

First charging the formation, then breaking out—under such high-intensity combat, hundreds of his thousand-strong elite death-defying soldiers had already fallen!

But it didn't matter; Xiang Tuo was still confident he could break through.

"The enemy general is a mere child, yet he dares to imitate me by charging at the front. I shall cut him down from his horse, shatter his army's morale, and wipe them out in one stroke while they are leaderless!"

He grinned hideously, galloping toward Zhao Cheng.

When the enemy general was hidden within the formation, he could still charge and slay him.

This brat dared to be so arrogant, charging at the very front—did he not know the reputation of the Tiger of the Xiang Clan?

The two sides charged toward each other, their speed reaching the absolute limit.

Zhao Cheng was already charging at full speed, and Xiang Tuo's horsemanship was also excellent; in a short time, he had accelerated his mount like an arrow released from a bow.

In the blink of an eye, the distance between them closed rapidly to thirty paces.

Then twenty paces.

Ten paces...

Xiang Tuo could already see the heroic arches of Zhao Cheng's brows and the corners of his eyes, and even more, his youthful, jade-like face.

He thought to himself, this person is so young and fair-skinned, what kind of skill could he possibly have?

Holding that Great Halberd looks fierce enough, but it's surely just for show.

The thought had barely flashed through his mind before they clashed at close quarters.

As the two horses collided, Xiang Tuo let out a roar like a tiger, the muscles in his arms bulging as he brought his Great Spear crashing down like a mountain, the wind howling in its wake.

Zhao Cheng, however, remained silent; he calmly raised his hand and swung his Great Halberd, cutting through the air with a swift, preemptive strike!

Clang!

The sound of grinding metal rang out as the Great Halberd instantly bit nearly halfway into the Great Spear.

At the same time, an unimaginable force surged through; as the Great Spear bent, Xiang Tuo felt a sharp pain in both arms, his body instantly thrown backward to its limit until he could no longer control himself and went flying sideways.

Under this single blow, he was sent soaring through the air like a tattered sack.

What kind of divine strength is this!?

Stunned, Xiang Tuo slammed into several of his own death soldiers before he managed to grab his horse's neck with great difficulty and scramble back into the saddle, his palms already streaming with blood.

Looking up, he saw Zhao Cheng had already swept aside seven or eight soldiers with his halberd, charging into the formation as if entering an empty land, heading straight for him!

Seeing this, Xiang Tuo felt a chill run through his entire body, his scalp tingling.

Am I going to die here!

Such divine might was truly unheard of!

His weapon was inferior, and his martial prowess was inferior as well.

If he didn't run now, when would he?

He turned his horse around and retreated desperately into the depths of the formation, no longer caring about the state of his morale...