"What was wrong, Captain?!" Tang Yunshan asked.
Sheng Huai'an tossed down his saber. "Nothing. Go ahead."
Then he walked off to one side.
No one knew what was wrong with Sheng Huai'an. They did not dare say much, nor did they dare ask.
Tang Yunshan and the others slaughtered every boy in the Wumu Tribe taller than a cartwheel, leaving none alive.
The women and elderly who rose up in resistance were also mercilessly slain by Tang Yunshan and the others.
The remaining people were filled with terror and no longer dared resist. Cries and wails filled the entire Wumu Tribe.
Sheng Huai'an watched as the soldiers led the horses back. There were over fifty fine warhorses and sixty or seventy ordinary horses, all of them brought over.
Horses were rare and precious resources of war. They had to be taken away.
The grain, gold, and silver within the Wumu Tribe were also thoroughly looted.
They took away twenty sheep and slaughtered five cattle, dividing up the meat to bring with them.
For the time being, they left the remaining cattle and sheep here, letting the Xiongnu raise them for them.
The conditions did not allow it this time. Otherwise, they would have wanted to take everything away.
After Sheng Huai'an and the others left, the Wumu Tribe was a complete wreck, with nothing left but corpses and weeping.
This was war between two nations and races, filled with savagery and bloodshed.
When the Xiongnu tribes broke through the passes and marched south, they would likewise slaughter countless Wei civilians, plundering wealth, food, and women.
After leaving the Wumu Tribe, they did not continue searching for Xiongnu tribes.
Instead, they found a place to rest and cooked beef.
Smelling the fragrance of the beef, quite a few soldiers could not help swallowing their saliva.
In Great Wei, cattle were tools for plowing fields and could not be slaughtered.
It was very difficult to get beef to eat.
"Waiter, bring me two taels of beef"—such a thing would never happen.
If a cow died accidentally, the powerful and wealthy would buy it all up. How could it ever make its way to a tavern?
Sheng Huai'an sat off to one side, silently looking at his golden finger.
Name: Sheng Huai'an Race: Human Realm: Martial Practitioner Late Stage Cultivation Methods: "Ferocious Ox Strength" (Minor Mastery) "Blood Fiend Saber Technique" (Minor Mastery) Strength: Four thousand jin Talent: Silver Archer Slaughter Value: 35
By killing those young cavalrymen of the Wumu Tribe, he had gained twenty-two points of Slaughter Value.
Killing that boy had not produced any Slaughter Value.
This left Sheng Huai'an deeply puzzled.
Wasn't Slaughter Value obtained by killing enemies?
That boy from the Wumu Tribe had also been an enemy, yet killing him had produced no Slaughter Value.
Could it be that killing people without cultivation did not generate Slaughter Value!?
Or perhaps indiscriminately slaughtering innocents did not generate Slaughter Value!?
Coming across a mute, incomplete system was also troublesome. He had to explore everything himself.
Seeing Sheng Huai'an sitting alone to one side, Wang Wu walked over.
"What, was your conscience bothering you!?" Wang Wu said bluntly.
Hearing Wang Wu's voice, Sheng Huai'an turned to glance at him.
"Don't burden yourself mentally. If the Xiongnu broke through the pass and marched south, they would kill many of our compatriots and family members too. What they do would only be more vicious than what we have done," Wang Wu said, trying to comfort him.
"What you did was right. Xiongnu boys taller than a cartwheel would soon grow up, pick up steel sabers, march south, and invade us."
Sheng Huai'an felt embarrassed. So his thoughts about the golden finger had caused Wang Wu and the others to misunderstand.
As for a mental burden, there was indeed a little, but not much!
"No, I was thinking about something else." Sheng Huai'an smiled and shook his head.
"Then what were you thinking about so intently? Don't tell me you were thinking about the girl in your heart." Wang Wu teased.
"Brother Wang Wu, are you making fun of me? Once the war settles and we return, I'll order ten girls at Yichun Tower and squeeze your entire fortune dry." Sheng Huai'an said with a laugh.
"Haha, you brat, you underestimate me. Even twenty would be no problem." Wang Wu laughed heartily.
"Captain, Brother Wang Wu, come eat." Tang Yunshan called out.
"Coming!"
Sheng Huai'an and Wang Wu returned to the camp and feasted heartily on beef with the soldiers.
They devoured the meat from five cattle in one meal. They were all martial cultivators with enormous appetites. Even if they ate without restraint, five cattle were not enough for over sixty of them.
After lunch, they set off once more.
They would not remain in one place for long. After all, this was Xiongnu territory.
When that Xiongnu cavalry unit arrived at the Wumu Tribe and saw its miserable state, the Xiongnu cavalry captain's fury shot straight to the crown of his head.
All the young and able-bodied men in the tribe, along with every boy taller than a cartwheel, had been completely slaughtered.
This was cutting off the roots of the Xiongnu!
"How many enemies were there?" Tuoluo Ou asked an elder from the Wumu Tribe.
"My lord, there were more than sixty enemies." The elder's eyes brimmed with tears.
His grandson had died in battle. He had not dared step forward to resist and avenge his grandson, instead surviving in cowardice.
"More than sixty men dared act so wildly? They simply do not hold our great Xiongnu warriors in their eyes! I, Tuoluo Ou, swear that I will tear them to pieces!" Tuoluo Ou said furiously.
"Which direction did the enemy go?" Tuoluo Ou asked.
"That way!" The elder pointed in the direction Sheng Huai'an and the others had left.
At that moment, he desperately hoped that this cavalry unit would catch up to Sheng Huai'an and the others, slaughtering them all to avenge his grandson and his tribe.
"Follow me! Pursue the enemy! Hyah!" Tuoluo Ou led the cavalry in pursuit toward the direction Sheng Huai'an and the others had gone.
Sheng Huai'an and the others roamed the grasslands. Whenever they saw a small tribe, they charged in, killing the able-bodied Xiongnu and every male taller than a cartwheel before looting gold, silver, supplies, and warhorses, then leaving.
Along the way, they swept through six or seven small tribes.
The horses they possessed had already exceeded five hundred.
Each person had to lead ten or so horses.
Just these warhorses alone, if brought back and handed over to the defenders of Anning Pass, would count as a great deed of Military Merit.
If sold, these warhorses would fetch quite a bit of silver.
With so many warhorses in tow, their marching speed slowed, and the traces they left behind became increasingly obvious.
Seeing their abundant gains, the soldiers were both delighted and worried.
They were now on the Xiongnu grasslands. With so many horses, being discovered was only a matter of time.
Sheng Huai'an had not expected their gains to be so plentiful.
It could only be said that these vast grasslands had enjoyed peace for too long.
Every year, the Xiongnu marched south to invade Great Wei's frontier, while Great Wei had rarely entered the grasslands in recent years. This had made the Xiongnu on the plains forget danger, forget that Great Wei's armies could also penetrate deep into the grasslands.
At dusk, they spent the night in a stretch of desert, still eating beef and mutton.
After dinner, Sheng Huai'an arranged for scouts to stand watch.
Their tracks were difficult to conceal now. For safety's sake, they had to send out scouts to investigate the situation within a radius of ten li.
After sweeping through six or seven small tribes, Sheng Huai'an's Slaughter Value had risen to one hundred and twenty-seven once again.
Name: Sheng Huai'an Race: Human Realm: Martial Practitioner Late Stage Cultivation Methods: "Ferocious Ox Strength" (Minor Mastery) (+) "Blood Fiend Saber Technique" (Minor Mastery) (+) Strength: Four thousand jin Talent: Silver Archer (+) Slaughter Value: 127
One hundred and twenty-seven points were no longer enough to raise his cultivation.
He could now raise the Blood Fiend Saber Technique. This saber technique was quite good, as if it had been created specifically for soldiers in the army to cultivate.
Sheng Huai'an directly added points to upgrade the Blood Fiend Saber Technique, consuming one hundred points of Slaughter Value and raising it to Major Mastery.
With the Blood Fiend Saber Technique raised to Major Mastery, Sheng Huai'an's strength increased considerably once more.
Now, he had the confidence to defeat a Martial Master Mid Stage opponent.
During the day, the Xiongnu army had dispatched twenty thousand soldiers to attack the city and had even sent Grandmaster Realm martial experts to join the assault.
Yang Ye, General Who Pacifies the North of Anning Pass, made his move and stopped the Grandmaster Realm expert among the Xiongnu army.
The two battled high in the air for two hours, neither able to do anything to the other. In the end, the Xiongnu army retreated, leaving behind several thousand corpses.
"Captain! Captain!"
Sheng Huai'an, who had been cultivating by drawing in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and converting it into Martial True Essence, was called awake.
"What is it?"
"Captain, one of the scouts we sent out has returned. He says that a cavalry unit is ten-odd li behind us and heading this way. He suspects they are coming after us," Tang Yunshan said.
"What time is it now?!"
"The end of the Tiger Hour."
Sheng Huai'an looked at the sky. Dawn was about to break. The end of the Tiger Hour meant it should be around five in the morning.
"Wake all the soldiers," Sheng Huai'an said.
Tang Yunshan swiftly went to wake every soldier.
"What is it, Brother Huai'an?" Wang Wu asked.
"Captain, what happened!?" Hai Dahe asked as well.
"You tell them." Sheng Huai'an had the scout who had come over speak.
"Yes, Captain. Behind us, there are roughly a hundred Xiongnu cavalrymen heading in our direction. I suspect they are coming for us, so I hurried back to report," the soldier said.
"It seems we were discovered after all," Wang Wu said.
Along the way, the traces they had left were all obvious.
"Gentlemen, there are merely a hundred cavalrymen. Do you dare face them in battle with me?" Sheng Huai'an looked at the sixty-odd men under his command.
What they faced now were true Xiongnu cavalrymen, the elite of the Xiongnu army.
"What is there to fear? Even through mountains of blades and seas of fire, I, Wang Wu, will lie my way through them with you," Wang Wu immediately declared.
"Just a hundred cavalrymen. What's there to fear? Fuck those Xiongnu bird-men!" Having fought several victorious battles with Sheng Huai'an, Tang Yunshan had gained confidence as well.
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
"Fight!"
The soldiers looked at Sheng Huai'an with steadfast gazes. In every battle, Sheng Huai'an had charged at the very front.
They had already fought several victorious battles. Even against Xiongnu cavalry, they felt no fear.
They believed that Sheng Huai'an would surely lead them to victory.
"Good. Worthy of being soldiers I led. These are men who dare to fight. We will win." Sheng Huai'an waved his hand in satisfaction.
Then he began arranging their tactics.
Though they also had over sixty men and lacked no warhorses, there was still a considerable gap between them and true Xiongnu cavalry in mounted combat.
Sheng Huai'an immediately led the soldiers onward and found a patch of grassland.
On the grassland, Sheng Huai'an used ropes and had the soldiers set up tripwires for horses.
Then they dug horse-trapping pits behind the tripwires.
These were all the wisdom their ancestors from his previous world had left behind for dealing with cavalry.
To resist cavalry with infantry, they had to outwit them. This group of theirs consisted of infantrymen who had only recently been turned into cavalry.
Sheng Huai'an did not want too many casualties, so he came up with this plan.
Once the traps had been laid, Sheng Huai'an and the others mounted their horses and waited for that Xiongnu cavalry unit to arrive.
In the east, a streak of fish-belly white appeared. Soon, a crimson fireball rose, illuminating heaven and earth.
Beneath the countless rays of dawn, a cavalry unit came riding through the glow.
Tuoluo Ou looked at the troops waiting in strict formation ahead, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
After traveling beneath stars and moon, they had finally caught up with this pack of Wei rats.
"Warriors, those people ahead are the damned Wei.
They slaughtered our tribesmen and plundered our resources. Now follow me in the charge! Cut off their heads and take them back to sacrifice to our tribesmen, so as to proclaim it to their spirits in heaven!" Tuoluo Ou shouted loudly.
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
"Kill!"
The Xiongnu cavalry erupted with battle cries that blanketed the sky and earth.
Sheng Huai'an and the others silently watched the Xiongnu cavalry, whose cries of slaughter shook heaven and earth.
"Warriors, follow me and kill the enemy!"
"Charge!"
Tuoluo Ou shouted as he took the lead in charging forward. The hundred-odd Xiongnu cavalrymen behind him also spurred their warhorses into a charge.
Kill!!
Watching the charging Xiongnu Cavalry, Sheng Huai'an smiled.
The rising sun had just crested the horizon, painting the sky crimson. It was the perfect time to kill the enemy!
Watching the fierce Xiongnu Cavalry charge, everyone sat motionless atop their horses.
Tuoluo Ou, who had launched the charge, saw that the other side had not moved at all and felt that something was off.
Could these Wei rats have been frightened witless by the charge of the great Xiongnu cavalry? They neither fled nor charged.
With that thought, Tuoluo Ou drove his warhorse even faster.
"Hya!"
"Hya!"
If Sheng Huai'an had known that Tuoluo Ou was thinking this way, he would certainly have laughed out loud.
Was this what they called meeting the protagonist, where every villain suddenly lost their wits?!
Seeing that the other side still had not moved in the slightest, even Tuoluo Ou realized something was wrong.
Unfortunately, once cavalry began charging, it was not easy to stop.
He knew the Wei people were cunning, but he could not guess what plot Sheng Huai'an had in store.
Very soon, he found out what that plot was.
Tuoluo Ou was lucky enough to leap over the tripwire. The shaman god had blessed him, allowing him to narrowly avoid the horse trap pits.
But the cavalry behind him were not so fortunate.
The riders at the front were tripped by the ropes and sent tumbling head over heels with their horses.
The cavalry behind them had no time to rein in. Some crashed directly into the fallen horses ahead, while others rode into the horse traps and were thrown into a chaotic heap of men and horses.
Tuoluo Ou's eyes nearly split apart when he saw that scene.
The cavalry was moving far too fast to stop. Horses kept stepping into the trap pits or crashing into the fallen horses ahead.
When the soldiers behind Sheng Huai'an saw this, their admiration for him deepened. The traps they had set had actually worked.
At first, they had been uneasy, thinking this would be useless. Who would have thought the results would be so excellent?
In the end, only around forty riders made it through the traps.
Seeing that only around forty riders remained behind him, Tuoluo Ou's heart bled.
"Ah..."
"Damned Wei dogs, you are vile and shameless!" Tuoluo Ou cursed furiously.
Sheng Huai'an smiled and raised his middle finger at Tuoluo Ou.
Come over here!
"Damned Wei dog, I'll kill you!"
Tuoluo Ou was driven mad with rage and charged forward regardless of everything.
The Xiongnu Cavalry behind him had no choice but to continue charging after him.
Sheng Huai'an drew his saber and raised it high.
The soldiers behind him also drew their sabers.
"Brothers, charge with me! Kill the slave raiders!"
Sheng Huai'an spurred his horse and charged wildly forward.
As the two armies charged, warhorses thundered, iron and steel clashed, and hot blood boiled.
In his previous life, everyone had dreamed of galloping on horseback, of iron and steel, of fighting across the battlefield.
Now, none of it was a dream. This was real—true iron and steel, fighting the enemy upon the battlefield.
He circulated the Martial True Essence within him, and blood-colored Killing Intent surged along his saber.
Tuoluo Ou likewise activated the Martial True Essence within him and charged toward Sheng Huai'an.
Soldier against soldier, general against general!
Clang!
Only the sound of weapons colliding was heard. One figure flashed past, while another fell from horseback.
The Xiongnu Cavalry were shocked when they saw the fallen figure.
Their captain had been defeated in a single exchange.
Their captain was at Martial Practitioner Great Perfection, yet he had been cut down from his horse by the enemy commander in one stroke.
When the soldiers behind Sheng Huai'an saw the Xiongnu cavalry captain slain by Sheng Huai'an's single saber strike, their morale soared like a rainbow. They urged their horses into a wild gallop, following closely behind Sheng Huai'an as they charged into the Xiongnu cavalry ranks.
When enemies met on a narrow road, the brave won. The Xiongnu Cavalry had first encountered the traps, then watched their captain die, and their momentum plummeted.
After one charge swept through, the iron cavalry thundered like rolling storm clouds. Behind Sheng Huai'an and the others, only warhorses remained.
All forty-odd Xiongnu enemies had perished.
The riderless warhorses stopped and lowered their heads to graze.
The September morning sun beyond the northern frontier was not warm.
White dew still clung to the grass.
The north wind howled, and the animals of the grasslands hid in their dens, avoiding that terrifying blood Killing Intent.
Before you continue