Captain

"Stay away from there, a wisp of true essence from a Xiantian Martial Artist can slaughter us." Wang Wu spoke up.

"I'm not an idiot, charging up there with a head made of iron." Sheng Huai'an gave Wang Wu a sidelong glance.

"Stop wasting breath, hurry up and kill the enemy. These damn Xiantian thieves are growing more and more numerous." Wang Wu raised his saber and hacked toward a Xiantian enemy soldier.

By this time, more and more Xiantian enemy soldiers were scaling the city walls.

The two battalions of four thousand main forces called up also rushed to the city wall, barely managing to suppress the Xiantian army.

Seeing that the city could not be taken after a long siege, the Left Virtuous King dispatched another five thousand troops to attack the city.

"Send another garrison guard to take part in the siege, and fiercely deplete the living strength of the Anning Garrison for me." The Left Virtuous King instructed the officers below.

"Yes!"

The messenger issued the royal command once more, and a force of five thousand Xiantian soldiers marched out of the great camp, beginning their charge as they surged toward the city wall pass.

"Wuwuwu..."

The battle horns of the Xiantian army echoed across the heavens.

Ten thousand Xiantian soldiers pressed forward, continually climbing up the city walls.

At this moment, Sheng Huai'an faced the joint siege of over twenty Xiantian soldiers.

It was simply because he was far too ferocious. In less than a moment, he had already slaughtered over a dozen Xiantian enemy soldiers, performing too conspicuously and naturally drawing focused attention.

"Kill!"

A centurion of the Xiantian army led a team, surrounding and attacking Sheng Huai'an.

Fighting until now, he had also fallen into a bitter battle.

Seeing Sheng Huai'an surrounded, Wang Wu slew his opponent and rushed over to help relieve Sheng Huai'an's predicament.

Brother Huai'an, don't be afraid, big brother is coming to save you.

However, before Wang Wu could charge over to Sheng Huai'an's side, he was entangled by the surrounding Xiantian army.

Seeing that Wang Wu was also surrounded, Sheng Huai'an actually breathed a sigh of relief. Why did this guy always think about stealing his kill counts?

The Blood Fiend Saber Technique was wielded by Sheng Huai'an so tightly that not a drop of water could pass through. The Xiantian enemy soldiers surrounding and attacking him fell one after another, completely unable to get close to his body.

That Xiantian enemy centurion also possessed the cultivation of an initial-stage martial practitioner, utterly powerless against Sheng Huai'an.

Slaughter became the color upon the battlefield, fresh blood dyeing those hues crimson.

With a single move of Saber Strike Sparrow, Sheng Huai'an beheaded the Xiantian centurion, cleaving his entire body in two from bottom to top.

This caused quite a few Xiantian soldiers to grow cold with terror.

This was the first time they had ever witnessed such a method of death.

Slaughtering that centurion with a single blade, the remaining Xiantian soldiers who surrounded and attacked him were quickly massacred to the last man by his hand.

The war lasted until dusk, yet the Xiantian army still failed to capture the city wall.

"Dong dong dong..."

Within the Xiantian army, the sound of drums signaling a retreat echoed out. The Xiantian soldiers who failed to scale the city wall retreated like a receding tide.

Those five Xiantian experts of the Xiantians were powerless against the five brigade generals of the Anning Pass garrison, and could only fall back. The Xiantian soldiers who failed to retreat in time upon the city wall were successively slaughtered by the garrison troops.

Looking out across the corpses covering the ground, blood flowed like rivers into a scene of utter scarlet.

At this moment, the garrison troops still able to stand upon the city wall numbered only around three thousand.

Of the over ten thousand Xiantian soldiers who attacked the city, fewer than four thousand ultimately retreated back.

Sheng Huai'an propped himself up with his saber, gasping for breath. Having fought from noon until now, he was already utterly exhausted, with over a dozen wounds on his body bleeding freely.

Fortunately, the injuries were not severe and would not cost him his life.

"The Xiantian enemy troops have retreated!" A soldier suddenly burst into loud laughter, though his face was covered in tears.

Of the four battalions numbering eight thousand men who defended the city today, only about three thousand soldiers could still stand by now. One could well imagine how arduous their defense had been.

Many soldiers looked upon the corpses of their fallen comrades, as well as the bodies of the Xiantian enemy soldiers, their faces filled with deep sorrow.

Perhaps tomorrow, the ones lying down would be them.

"Soldiers, do not grieve. Today we won the battle, slaughtering many Xiantian thieves without a single Xiantian thief breaching the city. They sacrificed themselves to protect the families and country behind them; they are all heroes." A brigade general appeared upon the city wall to comfort the garrison.

"General, can we really hold the city wall?" A soldier asked with a tremor.

In just a single day today, they suffered five thousand casualties. If this goes on, how many more days can we hold out?!

"We can, we certainly can. The General Who Pacifies the North shares life and death with us, swearing to defend Anning Pass to the death and never allowing the Xiantian thieves to cross into the pass." That brigade general stated with an expression of resolute determination.

Sheng Huai'an recognized that general, one of the five generals who resisted the Xiantian experts.

"This is the General Who Breaks the Barbarians, one of the five major brigade generals of the garrison, a Xiantian middle-stage martial artist." Wang Wu stood beside Sheng Huai'an and spoke in a low voice.

Sheng Huai'an nodded. A brigade general held a sixth-rank official post. To be promoted to brigade general, one must first break through their cultivation to the Xiantian martial realm.

Secondly, one had to accumulate sufficient military merit before being promoted to brigade general.

A brigade general commanded a regiment of five thousand men.

The Anning Pass garrison possessed only five regiments totaling thirty thousand men.

Now, having fought for half a month, as the war grew increasingly intense, fewer than twenty thousand soldiers remained.

The four battalions that participated in the battle today were all withdrawn to the military camp to rest and recuperate.

Clearing the battlefield, transporting corpses, and treating the wounded were all tasks being handled by the soldiers of another battalion who had been rotated up.

Sheng Huai'an and the others returned to the military camp, where the wounds on their bodies received nothing more than simple applications of medicine and bandaging.

Sheng Huai'an's body was wrapped up like a mummy.

"Brother Huai'an, you really push yourself too hard." Zhang Da Niu looked at Sheng Huai'an, sustaining over a dozen injuries, and could not help speaking up.

"It's fine, these aren't any very serious wounds." Sheng Huai'an waved his hand.

Every single member of their ten-man squad was wounded. Li Bu San suffered severe injuries and was sent to the military medical station in the city for treatment.

Li Bu San, Zhang Da Niu, Wang Wu, and the old soldier sustained relatively minor injuries and recovered fine after being bandaged.

The four newly replenished soldiers had already died in battle.

"You brat, don't be too fierce, be careful of drawing the targeted hostility of the Xiantian powerhouses." Zhang Da Niu warned.

Had the old soldier not been stationed around Sheng Huai'an to block the powerhouses within the Xiantian army, Sheng Huai'an would have long since been targeted by the powerhouses of the Xiantian forces.

Of course, Zhang Da Niu did not voice these words aloud.

"It's fine, my life is tough, heh heh." Sheng Huai'an chuckled.

"Wuwu..."

From unknown which barracks, the lingering notes of a Qiang flute drifted out.

Melodious, winding, and touching!

Hearing the sound of the Qiang flute, everyone stopped speaking and fell silent.

The atmosphere inside the barracks turned somewhat gloomy for a moment.

Inside the camp of General Who Pacifies the North Yang Ye, several senior generals of the Anning Pass garrison had gathered at this moment.

"General, can Jubei Pass really dispatch no reinforcements?" The General Who Breaks the Barbarians Sun Hao inquired.

"Jubei Pass has twenty thousand men from the Northern Garrison Army after all. Could it be they are unwilling to spare even one or two thousand reinforcements?" Another brigade general also spoke up.

"Sigh, over at Jubei Pass, the Great Chanyu of the Xiongnu is leading thirty thousand Xiantian troops in an attack on Jubei Pass." General Who Pacifies the North Yang Ye sighed.

"At Qishan Fortress, the Xiongnu Right Worthy King is also leading a hundred thousand troops to pound at the gates. How can you expect the General Who Guards the North to send reinforcements?"

As Yang Ye's voice fell, the five brigade generals grew silent.

Without reinforcements, how much longer could the remaining few people at Anning Pass hold out?

"What about the imperial court's army?" A brigade general asked unwillingly, refusing to give up.

Yang Ye did not speak, his gaze looking into the distance.

The other four brigade generals also fell into a bout of silence.

After a long time, General Who Pacifying the North Yang Ye finally spoke. "Have someone go notify the commanderies and counties within the pass, telling them to dispatch county soldiers and commandery soldiers to come reinforce us. Tell them that if Anning Pass falls, things won't go well for them either."

"Understood, this subordinate will go notify them right away." Sun Hao stood up and walked out of the camp.

After lying down to sleep, Sheng Huai'an checked the light screen.

Name: Sheng Huai'an
Race: Human
Realm: Martial Practitioner Limit (+)
Techniques: Ferocious Ox Strength (Minor Accomplishment), Blood Fiend Saber Technique (Minor Accomplishment)
Strength: Two thousand catties
Talent: Bronze Archer (+)
Slaughter Value: 95

His slaughter value had increased to 95 points. Ferocious Ox Strength and the Blood Fiend Saber Technique still lacked plus signs behind them, clearly indicating that this bit of slaughter value was still insufficient for improvement.

His cultivation, however, could be upgraded once again.

Seeing that his cultivation could be advanced, Sheng Huai'an did not hesitate to allocate points to raise his cultivation realm.

In an instant, sixty points of slaughter value were consumed.

At the same time, a powerful force surged into his body, continuously tempering and strengthening his physique.

Every single cell cheered and leapt with joy, and the wounds on his body rapidly healed as well.

Simultaneously, a stream of true essence was generated within his body. That true essence coursed through his Dantian and, following the circulation of his technique, traversed his entire body, strengthening his flesh, blood, bones, and sinews.

That stream of true essence was none other than martial true essence. Unawares and silently, he officially stepped into the martial practitioner realm.

Name: Sheng Huai'an
Race: Human
Realm: Initial-Stage Martial Practitioner
Techniques: Ferocious Ox Strength (Minor Accomplishment), Blood Fiend Saber Technique (Minor Accomplishment)
Strength: Two thousand nine hundred catties
Talent: Bronze Archer (+)
Slaughter Value: 35

Seeing his strength increase to two thousand nine hundred catties, this was already approaching the Martial Practitioner Great Perfection.

He never expected this golden finger to be so formidable; he had just broken through to the martial practitioner realm, yet he already rivaled a powerhouse of the Martial Practitioner Great Perfection.

Perhaps this is the benefit of breaking the martial practitioner limit? Sheng Huai'an thought to himself secretly.

He did not fully understand this situation either, especially since he himself had only just come into contact with the martial path and had never studied or understood it systematically.

He relied entirely on the golden finger to directly add points and cultivate.

If he could not figure it out, he simply stopped thinking about it. In any case, the enhancement of his own strength was solid and real, so why bother worrying about so much?

At this moment, Sheng Huai'an felt that his body possessed an inexhaustible well of strength.

Right now, he felt terrifyingly strong, and fighting a hundred men would pose no problem at all.

He fell into a sweet sleep, spending the night without dreams.

Waking up early the next morning, after completing morning drills, he ate breakfast.

Today their battalion was resting and recuperating, exempt from going into battle as other battalions rotated to the front lines.

After all, their battalion of two thousand men had fought until now, and currently numbered fewer than a thousand.

"Wuwu..."

"Dong dong dong..."

Outside the city, the Xiantian army began its siege once again.

Unfortunately, Sheng Huai'an and the others were likely not going to be arranged for combat today.

Otherwise, he would have to slaughter two hundred Xiantian enemy soldiers today.

That was just how terrifyingly strong he was!

While everyone was resting, the upper echelons replenished over a thousand men down to them, bringing Sheng Huai'an and his battalion back to full strength.

At the same time, several captains were promoted, with Sheng Huai'an among them.

"Sheng Huai'an, step out of the ranks!" the martial commandant shouted in a loud voice.

Sheng Huai'an was slightly stunned, before being pushed out by Wang Wu.

"Present!"

Pushed out into the open, Sheng Huai'an answered loudly.

The martial commandant looked at Sheng Huai'an; he did not remember having such a fierce general under his command!

However, regarding the appointment issued from above, it was not easy for him to voice any objections.

"This is your letter of appointment. Starting today, you are the captain of the tenth squad." The martial commandant spoke up.

Sheng Huai'an could hardly believe his ears. Counting it up, had he only been a soldier for two or three days? And he was getting promoted just like that?

He was even promoted straight to captain.

A proper triple promotion in a single bound!

Whatever the martial commandant said afterward, he did not hear clearly at all, completely immersed in the joy of being promoted to captain.