He was no longer the clueless newbie who had just crossed over. He had already gained a preliminary understanding of this world.
This world possessed not only martial cultivators, but also cultivation systems such as the Daoist, Buddhist Sect, and unorthodox paths.
Elixirs were refined by practitioners of the Daoist, Buddhist Sect, or unorthodox paths. They could heal injuries, aid cultivation, or help one break through realms.
"Yes, Captain, there are elixirs!" Tang Yunshan shouted excitedly.
He could not help being excited. Elixirs were extremely precious, and the Anning Garrison had not received any for two or three years.
Moreover, only those with Military Merit could receive the elixirs that were distributed.
Sheng Huai'an strode over to Tang Yunshan's side.
Inside the large chest on the ground were smaller chests, and inside those smaller chests were jade bottles.
Sheng Huai'an picked up a jade bottle and opened it. Inside were pill after pill, exuding a fragrant medicinal aroma.
"Quick, put them away first. Take every last one with us. Don't leave behind a single pill," Sheng Huai'an said.
They could abandon the other things, but these elixirs had to be taken away.
"Hehe, we've struck it rich! We've struck it rich!" Tang Yunshan giggled foolishly.
Two whole chests of elixirs—if they sold them, they could fetch at least ten thousand taels of silver.
Sheng Huai'an ordered the soldiers to quickly collect the supplies. Anything useful or necessary had to be taken; they would carry away as much as they could.
Wang Wu and Hai Dahe returned with the cavalry. The fleeing herdsmen had all been slain.
How could two legs possibly outrun warhorses with four?
To prevent those fleeing herdsmen from leaking news of them, Sheng Huai'an had issued a death order, telling Wang Wu and the others to wipe them out completely and leave no survivors.
Once they had gathered the supplies they needed, everything they could not take was burned in one great blaze. Not even a single hair would be left for the Xiongnu.
"Take the wounded and the bodies of our fallen brothers. We need to leave this place quickly," Sheng Huai'an said.
They loaded the goods onto horses for transport, then each man mounted a horse and swiftly departed.
Two and a half hours later, a hundred-man cavalry unit arrived at the battlefield.
They looked at the supplies destroyed by the blaze and the corpses littering the ground.
"Damn Wei people, they scurry about like rats. They actually managed to raid a supply convoy, and we arrived too late." The Xiongnu Cavalry captain's eyes burned with fury.
"Chase them! We must find them and bring back all their heads."
After Sheng Huai'an and his men left the battlefield, they had no idea that a cavalry unit was pursuing and searching for them from behind.
With horses, their marching speed increased greatly. Only after riding more than fifty kilometers did they find a concealed spot to stop and rest.
The northern frontier grasslands were vast enough anyway. They could ride wherever they pleased, so long as they avoided Xiongnu tribes.
Sheng Huai'an and his men had done the opposite of what was expected, riding deep into the grasslands. Even if the Xiongnu were beaten to death, they would never imagine that their enemies had such nerve.
After stopping, Sheng Huai'an gave his orders. "Bury our fallen brothers. Give the wounded the injury-healing elixirs to treat them."
"Yes, Captain!" Tang Yunshan answered.
Tang Yunshan went to tend to the wounded and bury the fallen soldiers.
Hai Dahe led the soldiers in setting up tents.
"Brother Huai'an, is it really all right for us to head this deep into the grasslands?" Wang Wu asked as he stood beside Sheng Huai'an.
"Brother Wang, have you ever heard the saying, 'Do the opposite of what is expected'?" Sheng Huai'an replied.
Looking at Sheng Huai'an, Wang Wu felt that the man's courage was far too great.
He had led more than seventy men to ambush five hundred, and had even won with ease.
Now he had brought them deep into the grasslands. This was Xiongnu territory. One careless step, and they would be wiped out on these grasslands.
Once the tents were set up, Hai Dahe busied himself making a fire to cook dried meat for dinner.
Tang Yunshan led the soldiers to bury their fallen brothers on the spot. Then he found injury-healing elixirs among the pills and gave them to the wounded soldiers.
After that, he began sorting the elixirs, placing the healing ones to one side.
There were quite a lot of healing elixirs. After all, these had been sent to the Xiongnu army at the front lines, where injury-healing medicine was needed in greater quantity.
Of the remaining portion, some were elixirs for cultivation, while several bottles were meant for breaking through realms.
Dinner was lavish that night: stewed dried beef and dried mutton.
They had been fighting continuously, and many soldiers had not eaten meat for several days.
After dinner, Tang Yunshan finally asked Sheng Huai'an how to handle those elixirs.
"Captain, how should we deal with the elixirs? Should we use them ourselves, or keep them and bring them back to sell?"
He had counted them. This batch of elixirs could easily sell for one hundred thousand taels of silver on the black market.
Among them, the several bottles of realm-breaking elixirs were particularly valuable.
If they brought them back and sold them, they would each receive quite a bit of silver.
These were spoils seized while they were out in the field, so they did not need to hand them over.
"What kinds of elixirs are there?" Sheng Huai'an asked.
"There are quite a lot of healing elixirs, some cultivation elixirs, and several bottles of elixirs that can break through realms," Tang Yunshan answered truthfully.
"Bring me the realm-breaking elixirs for a look," Sheng Huai'an said at once.
Tang Yunshan went to fetch the elixirs.
Sheng Huai'an poured out a pill the size of a pigeon's egg. The white pill gave off a rich medicinal fragrance.
He swallowed one directly. A tremendous medicinal force rapidly transformed into true essence within his body.
Unfortunately, he did not break through. His true essence merely grew and condensed considerably, increasing his strength by a few degrees.
"Why didn't it work?!" Sheng Huai'an asked in confusion.
Wang Wu, Tang Yunshan, Hai Dahe, and four or five Platoon Leaders looked at Sheng Huai'an as though he were an idiot.
"Wait, what kind of looks are those? Why are you looking at me like that?" Sheng Huai'an found it baffling.
"Huai'an, you need to know that realm-breaking elixirs are also divided into grades.
These elixirs work for Martial Disciples and Martial Practitioners, but once you reach the Martial Master realm, they are no longer enough. You need higher-grade elixirs.
And breaking through a realm means taking the elixir only when your cultivation has reached the point where you can break through, allowing you to do so smoothly.
Otherwise, it merely increases your Martial True Essence. It does not mean that eating a realm-breaking elixir will definitely let you break through a realm. Elixirs are not that heaven-defying. If they were, the entire world would be full of experts," Wang Wu said earnestly.
This little brother did not understand anything. Wang Wu felt exhausted too!
"You should've said so earlier! Why didn't you tell me sooner?" Sheng Huai'an set down the jade bottle of elixirs, looking somewhat embarrassed.
"We thought you already knew," Tang Yunshan said faintly.
That had been a realm-breaking pill, worth several thousand taels of silver each. Sheng Huai'an had wasted it just like that, and Tang Yunshan's heart ached terribly.
No, it was his kidneys that hurt!
"Check how many brothers in the unit have reached the threshold for a breakthrough. Hand out all these elixirs and let everyone raise their cultivation," Sheng Huai'an decided immediately.
In his eyes, letting these elixirs sit unused would be a waste.
"Yes, I'll go ask right away," Tang Yunshan said happily.
He immediately got up and went to ask the other soldiers.
This was a rare opportunity.
"I'm currently at the Martial Practitioner Mid Stage Peak. I can break through to the Martial Practitioner Late Stage at any time," Wang Wu said somewhat bashfully.
A realm-breaking elixir could save him a great deal of cultivation time.
"How many do you need?" Sheng Huai'an asked.
"One is enough. It's only a breakthrough to the Martial Practitioner Late Stage," Wang Wu said with a grin.
"Take it, and break through as soon as possible!" Sheng Huai'an directly handed Wang Wu a realm-breaking elixir.
"Um, Captain, I've been stuck at Martial Disciple Great Perfection for a long time," Hai Dahe said, rubbing his hands together.
"Everyone will get one. I won't keep them all for myself. We won these with our lives; everyone gets a share," Sheng Huai'an said.
Upon hearing Sheng Huai'an's words, the several Platoon Leaders were delighted as well.
What soldiers feared most was a commanding officer above them eating alone while they did not even get a sip of soup.
Fortunately, Sheng Huai'an was not that sort of person.
After Tang Yunshan counted the number of people who could currently break through, he distributed all the realm-breaking elixirs. He kept some of the cultivation elixirs and distributed the rest to the soldiers below for cultivation.
Now, he only hoped that this unit would grow stronger as quickly as possible.
Only when the soldiers in the unit became stronger would they have a chance of defeating more enemies.
After receiving their elixirs, everyone went off to cultivate or break through.
Sheng Huai'an checked the golden light screen.
Name: Sheng Huai'an Race: Human Realm: Martial Practitioner Mid Stage (+) Techniques: "Ferocious Ox Strength" (Minor Mastery) (+) "Blood Fiend Saber Technique" (Minor Mastery) (+) Strength: 3,400 jin Talent: Silver Archer (+) Slaughter Value: 163
During the daytime ambush, Sheng Huai'an had shot and killed two Centurions at the Martial Practitioner Early Stage, then slain Wuligou, who was at Martial Practitioner Great Perfection. That had earned him twenty points of Slaughter Value.
He had figured it out by now. A Martial Practitioner Early Stage opponent gave five points of Slaughter Value, while Martial Practitioner Great Perfection gave ten.
Martial Disciple Early Stage gave one point, Mid Stage gave two, Late Stage gave three, and Great Perfection gave four.
The daytime ambush had earned a total of seventy points of Slaughter Value.
Seeing that his cultivation could be raised again, Sheng Huai'an did not hesitate. He immediately spent points to increase his cultivation.
He had fought tooth and nail to kill enemies precisely to gain Slaughter Value and raise his cultivation.
This time, one hundred and fifty points of Slaughter Value were consumed at once. Immense power surged through his entire body, continuously strengthening it.
The true essence in his body also kept growing and condensing. He felt warm all over, as though every cell in his body were cheering with delight.
His strength continued to rise.
That day, the Xiongnu army was still resting and reorganizing. They were unable to continue their assault on Anning Pass.
The two days gave the Anning Garrison a chance to catch its breath and recover.
At the same time, the commanderies and counties to the rear received General Who Pacifies the North Yang Ye's request for troops and dispatched Commandery Soldiers and County Soldiers toward Anning Pass.
With an additional five thousand soldiers, Anning Pass recovered some of its vitality. The number of soldiers capable of defending the city rose to over twenty thousand.
Early on the third day, the Xiongnu army once again sent troops to attack the city.
"Today, Anning Pass must be taken. I do not want to see another failure," the Left Virtuous King told the gathered generals and soldiers.
He had led an army of one hundred thousand to attack the pass, yet had now lost fifty thousand soldiers without taking Anning Pass. This was naked humiliation.
"Great King, Anning Pass has high walls and strong troops, and Great Wei's General Who Pacifies the North Yang Ye is stationed there. With our army having suffered such losses, taking it will not be easy," the Left Valley Marquis said.
"It does not matter. The Anning Garrison should have only ten thousand men left now. Can our fifty thousand men truly fail to take a single Anning Pass?"
"I will send experts to hold off Yang Ye!" The Left Virtuous King was determined to seize Anning Pass.
The Left Valley Marquis wanted to dissuade him, but the Left Virtuous King's attitude was resolute. Proud as he was, he would not allow himself to fail.
"Woooo—"
"Boom, boom—"
After two days of silence, the Xiongnu army's attack horns and war drums sounded once more.
After breaking through, Sheng Huai'an also circulated his technique and cultivated through the night.
Name: Sheng Huai'an Race: Human Realm: Martial Practitioner Late Stage Techniques: "Ferocious Ox Strength" (Minor Mastery) "Blood Fiend Saber Technique" (Minor Mastery) Strength: 4,000 jin Talent: Silver Archer Slaughter Value: 13
One hundred and fifty points of Slaughter Value had raised his cultivation to the Martial Practitioner Late Stage.
His strength had also reached four thousand jin, and the Martial True Essence within him was abundant. Even if he faced someone at Martial Master Early Stage now, he would not be afraid.
Even against a Martial Master Mid Stage opponent, though he was confident he could not win, he still had the ability to fight.
Once dawn broke, they would need to move again, lest Xiongnu Cavalry bite onto their tails.
To avoid being found by Xiongnu Cavalry, they could not remain in one place for too long.
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