With No Road Left to Retreat

According to survivors who had escaped from Ji Town, it had been an ambush no one had anticipated.

In the dead of night, while everyone slept soundly, thunderous hoofbeats had rung out. Then hordes of armored soldiers had charged into the town. Wielding curved blades and maces, their eyes blood-red, these armored men slaughtered anyone they saw. In mere moments, the outskirts of Ji Town had become a living hell.

Completely unlike the wars of old, this time, the grassland barbarians had not intended to leave anyone alive.

Some Ji Town residents who had jolted awake from their dreams had luckily fled into the city. After all, whenever war came before, this was what they had done. With tall city walls and the garrison of the Jizhou Governor's Office, those barbarians would not be able to break in anytime soon.

Once the signal smoke rose and reinforcements arrived, the barbarians would fear the edge of the relief army and scatter in all directions.

But this time had been completely different.

Even when the barbarians who had stormed Ji Town saw the signal smoke rising, they showed no intention of leaving. Instead, an armored barbarian general rode out, passing through the ranks of blood-eyed soldiers.

"Is this all?"

The barbarian general, clearly leaner than the other grassland soldiers, raised his head to examine the formidable city before him and its heavy gates, which had already been sealed shut.

"You southerners are only capable of this much?"

According to the defenders atop the walls at the time, they had seen a flash of blood-red light.

That armored barbarian had merely swung his saber at the city gates, yet crimson light had torn them apart.

Against monsters that had ceased to be human, so-called city defenses meant nothing.

The war had barely begun before it descended into brutal street fighting within the city. Though the defending soldiers fought desperately, the hastily organized defense could not stop those blood-eyed grassland warriors at all.

Within the darkened city, the eyes of those grassland soldiers were like clusters of ghostly flames. Wherever they passed, a bloody storm followed.

And before that rain of blood could become a raging tempest, Liu Yanran, the military governor of Jizhou, finally led his personal guards out in formation.

But everything had already been too late.

"How could there be someone like that? How could there be someone like that..."

Within the fortified compound of Yang Family Fort, the survivor who had luckily escaped Ji Town was now trembling in all four limbs, foam spilling from his mouth.

The terror in his mind had frightened him to death on the spot.

Closing the survivor's eyes, Du Chengfeng rose to his feet.

Though the survivor had ultimately failed to live, he had at least revealed the most important piece of intelligence at the very end.

The man named Hexi Qing had exchanged only one strike with Commander Liu.

With one slash, sword broken, man dead.

"Really..."

Du Chengfeng silently clenched his fists.

What plans, what methods—only now did he realize that every one of those plans was bullshit. His opponent would not be stupid enough to act according to his expectations. What he faced was a true monster.

Just when he had thought that the man named Hexi Qing would come looking for him to avenge his brother at the first opportunity, the other man had instead chosen a time no one could have imagined to lead troops in a surprise assault on the Jizhou Governor's Office.

The slaughter outside the city had already allowed Hexi Qing to complete the initial stage of Sha Qi entering his body... no, perhaps Hexi Qing had made all the preparations long before he even marched out.

And after sending out his troops, Hexi Qing had not chosen to attack a place like Yang Family Fort, which would alert the enemy, to avenge his younger brother's death. Instead, he had rationally chosen to throw everything into attacking the Jizhou Governor's Office, seeking to settle it with one hammer blow.

If Yang Family Fort ran into trouble, the Jizhou Governor's Office could still send troops to aid it. But if the Jizhou Governor's Office, together with all of Ji Town, fell... what could Yang Family Fort possibly do?

"We're doomed! We're all doomed!"

At Du Chengfeng's side, the aged Yang Xuan had clearly thought of this as well. He dropped onto the ground on the spot.

With Ji Town fallen, Yang Family Fort's route south had been completely cut off. Even if the Yang Clan wanted to flee now, they could not escape.

If one did not act, so be it; once one acted, it was like thunder rolling across the sky.

At this moment, Du Chengfeng and everyone in Yang Family Fort finally understood what kind of killing trap they faced.

It was an overwhelming strength that drove people to despair.

"Warrior, you..."

The aged Yang Xuan had only just raised his head when the words that burst from his mouth caught in his throat.

He had originally wanted to place his last hope in the strongest fighting force Yang Family Fort possessed. But then he remembered what kind of monster they were facing.

Du Chengfeng was strong, but could he truly protect Yang Family Fort against a monster of that level?

"Warrior, why don't you come with us?"

Gritting his teeth, Yang Xuan struggled to his feet.

"We'll load up the carts right now and gather everyone. We'll go west and skirt around Ji Town. As long as we run fast enough, we can survive... Warrior? Warrior, where are you going?"

"Going back to rest."

Du Chengfeng walked toward the small courtyard without looking back.

"I'm not leaving. Just help me take my old brother and his family with you... Take good care of him. Don't let them die."

"What about you?"

For a moment, Yang Xuan stood dumbfounded, as though he were meeting the man named Du Chengfeng for the first time.

Throughout this time, he had already seen that although Du Chengfeng possessed great strength, whether it was his gentle manner of speaking or his mild, desireless temperament, he was no more than an ordinary man one might find anywhere—Yang Sanlang, who had challenged him, had not even been killed. That alone showed that Du Chengfeng was no decisive, bloodthirsty hero of the wilds.

Yet now, this man had chosen to stay.

He had chosen to do something Yang Xuan could not understand.

"Then... take care."

Watching that departing figure, Yang Xuan finally bowed deeply.

Since the other man had made such a choice, there was no need to force him to serve as the Yang Clan's protector on their westward journey.

After all, the Yang Clan of Jizhou had already owed this warrior far too much.

"You must survive!"

Yang Xuan raised his head and shouted aloud.

"You must survive!"

"I will."

A voice drifted back on the wind.

"If fate allows it, we'll meet again."

With that, Du Chengfeng pushed open the gate to his small courtyard.

Broken Horse, the ancient great axe, the Phoenix General's Banner—one weapon after another went into his saddlebag. He put on the robe fitted with seventeen daggers. He even dug out the broken sword tip left behind by the swordsman Cui Yuan, wrapped cloth around it to make a hilt, and tucked it into his sleeve.

Was he afraid? Perhaps he was. Did he feel dread? Perhaps that dread still lingered in his heart. Otherwise, he would not have packed so many weapons. After all, every extra weapon brought a little more sense of security.

Against an opponent of this level, claiming he was not afraid, claiming he felt no dread at all, would be somewhat self-deception.

But no matter how afraid or how dread-filled he was, he still had to fight.

Since there was no road left to retreat, then there was no need to retreat any longer.

"I won't die here. I won't die in a place like this..."

As he spoke, Du Chengfeng gently stroked the wine jar beside him.

"Besides, this is our chance too, isn't it?"

Bang—

In an instant, the enormous wine jar shattered.

Amid the rich aroma of wine, a heavy two-handed war blade dropped into Du Chengfeng's grasp.

"I believe in you."

In Du Chengfeng's hand, three feet of blazing flame suddenly ignited along the heavy blade.

The dancing firelight seemed to answer Du Chengfeng's words.

It wanted to kill too.