Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Lu Yuan and his men had also finished preparing to leave the city.
Early on the third morning, when he arrived at the city gate,
he saw his subordinates already lined up and waiting. Zhou He was there, of course, dressed in sturdy leather armor with iron plates set into the chest. Two packhorses stood behind him, still carrying baskets for hauling supplies.
Wei Yong, the first Squad Leader under Lu Yuan, stepped forward at once. "My lord, everyone is here."
He was dressed just like Zhou He, in squad leader armor.
There were more than twenty people like them in the ranks, nearly thirty.
Their chances of reaching the Entry Realm were already very high.
The others were all seasoned veterans, strong young men skilled with bow and horse.
At the very least, they had all been on the battlefield and tasted blood.
This troop was fundamentally different from the one he'd had before, and Lu Yuan was quite pleased.
"Move out!"
At his command, the troop began advancing slowly.
By now, tender grass had sprouted across the Wasteland, unfurling green leaves.
From a distance, it made for a rather pleasant sight.
When they passed the Pine Forest, Lu Yuan glanced at it but left no mark.
That meant Wu Han hadn't come by in all this time.
Strangely enough, the man had gone silent ever since they parted last time. Lu Yuan had no idea what he'd been up to lately.
But Lu Yuan wasn't curious. At the very least, with his strength, Wu Han could protect himself out in the Wasteland.
They passed through the Pine Forest and had gone less than thirty li when they spotted a band of Northern Barbarian scouts. With the Iron Sparrowhawks around, the troops of the three cities had suffered one loss after another, and the Northern Barbarian scouts had grown rampant.
There were far more of them than before.
Often, they even joined forces to attack villages. Every village had its own militia, but even so, they were hard pressed to beat these cavalrymen.
They were often robbed of a great deal.
The Northern Barbarian scouts before them had clearly just come away with a haul.
Their clothes bulged with plunder, and one of them even had a human head impaled on his spear, shouting as he rode.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan showed no mercy.
He waved his hand. "Cut them down!"
There were only a dozen or so of them. Against Lu Yuan's troop, they had almost no chance to fight back. One charge was all it took to cut them all down.
After collecting the heads and sorting through the spoils, they continued onward.
Over the next few days, Lu Yuan and his men encountered Northern Barbarian scouts almost every day, in groups both large and small.
They slaughtered them all.
And their spoils kept growing.
Warhorses, armor, weapons, silver, jewelry.
All in all, they'd made quite a haul.
Lu Yuan's strength was also improving rapidly. Fighting these Northern Barbarians gave him a great deal of proficiency.
In short, this trip out of the city hadn't been a waste of time.
Even if they didn't kill any Iron Sparrowhawks, they could still call it a bountiful harvest.
More than ten days passed in the blink of an eye. On the vast plains, finding a troop was no easy task.
Even when both sides were looking for each other.
That day, Lu Yuan sat beside the campfire, roasting a piece of dried meat as he drank with Zhou He.
The latter rubbed his hands together. "We've been out here for more than ten days now, and we've killed hundreds of Northern Barbarian scouts. How come the Iron Sparrowhawks still haven't shown up?"
"What, eager to meet them?" Lu Yuan asked, picking up his wineskin for a sip and turning to look at him.
"With you here, what's there to fear? Everyone's made quite a haul this time. When I get back, I can trade for supplies and should be able to reach Bone Forging Realm. The others haven't earned enough military merit yet, but if we wipe out the Iron Sparrowhawks, that should just about do it.
Everyone's spirits are high."
Zhou He spoke softly.
They really had made quite a haul on this trip. Many people couldn't save up this much in a whole year, yet they'd managed it in just ten days.
They didn't say "follow Lu Yuan and you'll eat your fill" for nothing.
"They're probably looking for us too. We'll keep searching a while longer. If we still haven't found them in another ten days, we'll head back."
The time allotted by their superiors was one month. Another ten days would bring them close to the deadline.
By then, they might not need to be involved anymore. Their superiors would likely send in true elite troops.
But if that happened, both the Helian Clan and the Zhou Family would lose a great deal of face.
"I'll follow your lead." Zhou He now obeyed Lu Yuan without question.
After all, in his eyes, Lu Yuan truly had the skills to back it up.
Just as they were eating,
Old Huang, who had been keeping watch on the perimeter, came rushing back.
"My lord! My lord! The Iron Sparrowhawks are close!" His voice was urgent.
After all, these were no ordinary troops.
They were the elite Northern Barbarian cavalry that had terrorized three fortress cities.
"Are you sure?" Lu Yuan dropped his wineskin and stood up.
"Absolutely. There are around a hundred of them. Their horses are different from ordinary Northern Barbarian mounts—their hoofbeats are heavier. They're only five or six li away."
"Everyone, mount up and form ranks at once!"
Lu Yuan's voice rang out.
His men didn't dare delay. They dropped everything and mounted their horses.
It was midday.
The sun shone on their faces, and every one of them wore a solemn expression.
The troop had only just finished forming ranks
when the dark silhouette of another troop appeared far in the distance.
A thin black line gradually became a field of moving dots.
As they drew closer, shouts could just barely be heard.
Weapons swung wildly through the air.
Lu Yuan could even smell the blood on them.
He was now certain: these really were the Iron Sparrowhawks.
He licked his cracked lips and spoke in a chilling voice. "Brothers, the chance to earn military merit is here. Whether you can reach the Entry Realm when we return depends on this battle. If we win, our troop will become an elite scout unit no weaker than the Night Scouts or the Silent Cavalry. If we lose, I, Lu Yuan, will never retreat. I'll live and die with you!"
His words roused everyone behind him.
They all knew that although the troops sent out by the three cities had been repeatedly defeated, the officers leading them had escaped.
It was always the low-ranking soldiers who were sent to their deaths.
Now that Lu Yuan had made such a promise, his men's morale soared.
Meanwhile, at the General's Mansion in Yan Province, Zhou Hongling had once again been summoned. Helian Tielin was there today as well, along with his son, the Captain of Yellow Sand Fortress City, Helian Shang.
Zhou Ren sat in the seat of honor and looked at them. "I called everyone here today to discuss the Iron Sparrowhawks again. Based on the latest assessment, the Iron Sparrowhawks who've appeared aren't ordinary Iron Sparrowhawks. They're Silver-Armed Iron Sparrowhawks. So I suggest we stop sending our elite troops out to die.
Even if we recalled the Night Scouts from the Zhou Family and the Silent Cavalry from your Helian Clan, they might not be able to deal with them.
I've already reported the matter to the Marquis. He'll send people to investigate, and once they've confirmed the situation, a special unit will be sent to exterminate these Silver-Armed Iron Sparrowhawks."
As Zhou Ren spoke, his face was bitter. If he could, he would very much like to wipe out this Northern Barbarian force. That would let his daughter rise another step and expand the Zhou Family's influence. But against an equal number of enemies, they simply couldn't muster the right elite troops.
They could only pull officers from the lower ranks, but that would come at too great a cost. The Zhou Family didn't want this incident to leave a large gap in its ranks of junior officers.
The consequences would be too great.
Silver-Armed Iron Sparrowhawks were an upgraded version of ordinary Iron Sparrowhawks. It wasn't that they had much higher cultivation; every one of them had simply fought dozens of bloody battles and gained exceptionally rich combat experience.
Under normal circumstances, an Iron Sparrowhawk had to defeat two others to qualify as a Silver-Armed Iron Sparrowhawk.
Their strength spoke for itself.
Helian Tielin said gravely, "I've received word too. This mission has been abandoned. As for the Marquis's punishment, I'm willing to accept it."
As the two men finished speaking,
Helian Shang of Yellow Sand Fortress City let out a breath of relief.
He had worried that his father would order him to keep sending men out of the city. He truly didn't have many elite troops left.
Zhou Hongling, however, turned pale.
She had thought that even if Lu Yuan couldn't win, he could at least bring all those men back safely. But now that she'd suddenly heard they were Silver-Armed Iron Sparrowhawks, she felt that Lu Yuan was likely in danger.
But the Northern Frontier was vast. How could she find them and get them to return?
If they ran into those Iron Sparrowhawks, she hardly dared imagine what would happen.