Fierce Battle on the Wasteland

Lu Yuan led his team, grabbing a quick bite to eat as they neared Guhe Village before pressing onward.

By the afternoon, they finally approached the village.

However, at that very moment.

"Whoa!"

Lu Yuan, in the lead, pulled hard on his reins.

A corpse lay on the ground, clad in the standard armor of the City Guard. Its chest had been crushed by a blunt weapon, caving in entirely to reveal jagged, white bone shards.

Before his warhorse's front hooves had even touched the ground, he had already leaped from the saddle.

Old Huang and Wei Yong followed close behind.

"These are men from Huqiu Fortress. Judging by the wound, their chests were smashed in by a mace," Wei Yong said, touching the corpse on the ground.

Lu Yuan looked toward the distance and spotted another body ahead.

"Leave immediately. We're aborting this mission."

His voice was sharp and hurried.

Though he didn't know what had happened ahead, the death of Huqiu Fortress soldiers here meant certain danger.

He could not risk the lives of his dozen men.

Wei Yong and the others did not hesitate, immediately mounting their horses to retreat.

There was no room for luck in such matters; any mistake would be paid for with their lives.

Once Lu Yuan was back in the saddle, he prepared to head back the way they came.

But they hadn't gone far before he stopped again.

"Clatter, clatter..."

In the distance, he saw cavalrymen closing in from the front, cutting them off.

Sweat beaded on Wei Yong's forehead: "Sir, Northern Barbarian scouts. There are about thirty of them."

Meanwhile, inside the Commandant's Office at Ice Plain Fortress, Yun Mo was carried in, battered and bruised. His iron armor was shredded, and an iron arrow was embedded in his shoulder. He collapsed to the floor the moment he entered.

Zhou Hongling and Zhou Ming walked out. Seeing the scene, the latter frowned: "What happened?"

"Sir, the centurion led us out of the city to wipe out the Iron Sparrowhawks. We were ambushed after engaging them. Out of the entire century, fewer than ten of us escaped; everyone else was killed."

Yun Mo's personal guard trembled as he spoke.

If they hadn't broken through toward the nearest Ice Plain Fortress at the final moment, they would likely have died on the battlefield.

The Iron Sparrowhawks, originally only fifty strong, had gathered all the nearby scout teams at Guhe Village. Even though Yun Mo and his men were formidable and had slain nearly a hundred Northern Barbarian scouts, they were ultimately defeated.

They had been nearly crushed by the Iron Sparrowhawks.

This battle was the Waterloo for this Young Tiger.

"It's a miracle you made it back. Quickly, help your commander inside to tend to his wounds," Zhou Ming said, his expression grim.

Zhou Hongling frowned from the side: "To be able to wound Yun Mo like this, the Iron Sparrowhawks truly live up to their reputation."

"Naturally. You are still young and haven't faced them head-on. Every Iron Sparrowhawk is one in a hundred, extremely cunning and highly skilled with the bow—at the very least, they are all at the Minor Mastery stage. They are the absolute elite of the Northern Barbarians. A thousand Iron Sparrowhawks could even slay a Xiantian expert. You tell me if they're formidable or not. To this day, our Great Yong has never managed to wipe out an entire unit of them. Yun Mo was too greedy for merit this time."

After Zhou Ming finished speaking, he walked toward the room where his disciple was being treated, clearly worried.

A grave look appeared on Zhou Hongling's face. The presence of such a Northern Barbarian elite force near the fortress posed a grave danger to any City Guard units sent out on missions.

Yet, she could not act rashly. With the current standoff against the Northern Barbarians, a large-scale deployment could trigger a proportional counter-response, leading to an all-out war—a responsibility she could not bear.

But she could not allow the Northern Barbarians to continue running rampant.

The only solution was to select an elite force to eliminate these Iron Sparrowhawks.

With that, she hurried off to her study.

At the same time, Lu Yuan and his men were surrounded by the Northern Barbarian scouts who had returned from chasing Yun Mo's group. The Iron Sparrowhawks were bold and had pursued them quite far, so they had not yet returned.

However, the thirty-plus scouts before them still put immense pressure on Lu Yuan and his men.

"Don't panic. Prepare the Arrowhead Formation."

Lu Yuan said calmly, then took a large pear-wood bow from his horse's back, gripping a wolf-hair arrow in his palm.

"Creak."

The bowstring groaned as he drew it.

"Whoosh!"

As the sound of the air being torn apart rang out, the feathered arrow flew toward a Northern Barbarian warrior with blinding speed.

"Hiss!"

A Northern Barbarian scout who charged forward had his neck instantly pierced by a feathered arrow, his body toppling over.

Ever since his archery reached mastery, the arrows in Lu Yuan's hands were simply not something ordinary Northern Barbarians could block.

"Whoosh! Whoosh!"

A rapid succession of arrows tore through the air as Lu Yuan's palm continuously reached for the quiver on his horse's back.

The Northern Barbarian cavalry shouted as they charged forward, only for one after another to fall from their mounts.

In Lu Yuan's mind, the system notification chimed.

[Host fired an arrow, Wolf-Chasing Archery proficiency +10]

Wei Yong and the others nearby watched Lu Yuan display his might, their initial panic settling slightly as more than a dozen Northern Barbarian warriors were shot from their horses in such a short time.

"Bang!"

But the next moment, the bowstring could not withstand Lu Yuan's strength and snapped directly.

The bow frame also broke into two pieces.

At this moment, the Northern Barbarian cavalry was drawing closer and closer to them.

Lu Yuan shook his head helplessly. He had spent ten taels of silver on this bow and had thought it would last for a while, but as his strength increased, it could no longer support his power.

If he could make it back this time, he would definitely replace it with a better bow.

"Swish!"

Discarding the broken bow, he drew his long saber and said to the men behind him, "Brothers, the Northern Barbarians outnumber us. Prepare to fight for your lives."

Wei Yong and the others had already drawn their weapons.

"Kill!"

After Lu Yuan shouted, he led his men in a charge. If one looked closely, they would notice that under his lead, the dozen or so men were faintly forming a massive, transparent arrowhead shape.

With the blessing of the military formation, the speed of their warhorses increased, and Wei Yong and the others felt more invigorated; the panic in their eyes vanished completely, replaced by a burning fervor.

Opposite them, the remaining twenty-plus Northern Barbarian warriors collided with them in an instant.

"Hiss!"

Leveraging the momentum of his horse, Lu Yuan's blade precisely sliced across the chest of an entry-level expert. At the same time, he ducked to avoid the opponent's mace, and then watched as the Northern Barbarian squad leader's body was cut in two, a mist of blood spraying out.

Wei Yong's Armor-Piercing Hammer also slammed into the body of one of the enemies.

They were like a sharp arrow, piercing into the ranks of the barbarians.

[Host killed an enemy with a saber, Blade-Breaking Eight Styles proficiency +10]

[Host charged a formation, Arrowhead Formation proficiency +10]

[Host blocked an opponent's attack, Golden Bell Cover proficiency +10]

The sounds rang out incessantly.

Lu Yuan's movements never ceased. It was his first time facing so many enemies, and it would be a lie to say there was no pressure.

However, as the battle continued, his movements became increasingly proficient, and his combat power grew rather than diminished.

He was actually stronger than when he had first started.

His strength was progressing rapidly.