Returning Laden with Spoils

"Quick, treat the wounded!" Sheng Huai'an said.

In cavalry battles, casualties were inevitable on their side as well, but fortunately, they were not severe.

Two men had been killed, and around ten had been injured.

After all, they were not proper cavalry. Compared to the Xiongnu Cavalry, there was still quite a gap.

This was only because Sheng Huai'an had charged at the front and slain quite a few Xiongnu cavalrymen.

Otherwise, the casualties would only have been greater.

Tang Yunshan and the others began treating the wounded.

After the injured men took healing pills, their wounds would heal quickly.

As for the two fallen soldiers, they could only bury them where they lay.

After wiping out a hundred-man unit of Xiongnu Cavalry, they gained over sixty uninjured warhorses.

They also stripped away the sabers, armor, and other equipment to take with them.

They had plenty of horses now, so all the supplies could be carried on horseback.

They slaughtered over ten injured warhorses and took the horse meat with them.

The rest were left to fend for themselves on this grassland.

After cleaning up the battlefield, Sheng Huai'an led the soldiers away and continued changing locations, lest a large force of Xiongnu Cavalry track them down.

Taking their horses and supplies with them, everyone left happily. They had won another battle and killed over a hundred Xiongnu riders.

Their Military Merit from this would not be small. Perhaps they could even receive quite a bit of reward money.

Around noon, Sheng Huai'an and the others encountered another Xiongnu force transporting supplies.

Seeing that supply convoy, Tang Yunshan and the others looked at Sheng Huai'an.

"Captain, do we hit them!?"

Now, whenever they encountered Xiongnu, they no longer wondered whether they could win. They just wanted to beat the hell out of them, then seize everything they had.

"Brothers, there's a fat chunk of meat right in front of us. What do you say—do we eat it or not?" Sheng Huai'an turned back and said to the soldiers with a smile.

"Eat!"

"We have to eat!"

"Captain, give the order. I can't wait to charge!"

The soldiers' eyes burned with fighting spirit, each of them itching to charge.

"Good! Brothers, charge with me!" Sheng Huai'an shouted, spurring his horse forward at the head of the charge.

The injured soldiers stayed behind to watch the horses. Everyone else followed Sheng Huai'an into the charge.

The horses flew like the famed Dilu; the bowstrings cracked like thunderbolts!

As they charged, when they drew near the Xiongnu army, everyone nocked arrows, drew their bows, and fired.

By now, every one of Sheng Huai'an's men carried a bow on his back, all seized from the Xiongnu.

Only when they saw the charging cavalry and the incoming arrows did the Xiongnu supply force belatedly realize what was happening.

"Enemy attack!"

The commanding general shouted.

The soldiers among the Xiongnu army quickly dodged.

But the ordinary herdsmen who had been conscripted could not evade in time, and more than twenty were shot dead by the arrows.

There were very few archers among Sheng Huai'an's subordinates, and many did not even know how to use a bow, resulting in a terribly low hit rate.

"Mount up and counterattack!" the enemy general shouted.

The cavalry within the Xiongnu army mounted their horses one after another and charged toward Sheng Huai'an's group.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

Facing the hundred-plus cavalrymen charging at them, Sheng Huai'an and the others showed no fear. They drew their sabers and met them head-on.

Judging from the other side's reaction speed, they had run into an elite force.

Sheng Huai'an charged at the front, his battle robe fluttering in the wind, his iron armor gleaming with cold light beneath the sun.

Bloody Baleful Intent coiled around his saber, turning it crimson.

True essence surged within him, and his blood roared. He was going all out to kill the enemy commander in a single strike. Otherwise, the battle would be unfavorable for them.

After all, the enemy outnumbered them two to one.

Clang!

Splurt!!

The sabers collided, and blood sprayed into the air at the same time.

The Xiongnu commander's head flew up and fell to the ground.

A martial cultivator at the Martial Practitioner Late Stage had no ability whatsoever to resist his full-force strike.

Sheng Huai'an's current strength was comparable to the Martial Master Mid Stage. Against cultivators in the Martial Practitioner Realm, he was simply bullying them.

After killing the Xiongnu commander with one slash, Sheng Huai'an charged into the Xiongnu cavalry like a ferocious tiger. Wherever he passed, people died.

Seeing Sheng Huai'an slaughtering in every direction, Wang Wu, Tang Yunshan, Hai Dahe, and the others refused to be outdone and raised their sabers to kill as well.

"Kill!"

Sheng Huai'an's saber techniques were fierce. Every slash took the life of a Xiongnu soldier.

The Blood Fiend Saber Technique, cultivated to Great Mastery, had become utterly exquisite in his hands.

As more and more enemy soldiers fell to his blade, the bloody Baleful Intent around him grew heavier and heavier.

Watching Sheng Huai'an's Blood Fiend Saber Technique reach such a level, Wang Wu was filled with astonishment.

As expected of a monstrous prodigy. How long had it been, yet the Blood Fiend Saber Technique had already advanced this far?

He had practiced the Blood Fiend Saber Technique for two and a half years, yet he had only barely reached Minor Mastery!

Sheng Huai'an was like a god of slaughter, killing until the Xiongnu enemy troops trembled with fear.

He moved as though entering an uninhabited realm. No one among the Xiongnu could stop him. Of the hundred-plus charging cavalrymen, he alone killed more than sixty.

After the hundred-man cavalry charge was wiped out, Sheng Huai'an led his men against the other Xiongnu soldiers.

With even their most elite cavalry dead, the remaining soldiers and herdsmen had no power to resist and were slaughtered by Sheng Huai'an's group.

During this, Sheng Huai'an also killed a herdsman with no cultivation. He noticed that killing this ordinary herdsman had not earned him any Slaughter Value.

Over the course of the battle, Sheng Huai'an alone killed more than a hundred Xiongnu enemies.

Seeing the Killing Intent covering Sheng Huai'an's entire body, Wang Wu and the others all felt somewhat afraid.

Wang Wu in particular felt that sometimes, the gap between people was even greater than the gap between a dog and a human.

He had practiced martial arts for ten years and had only now broken through to the Martial Practitioner Late Stage.

Yet Sheng Huai'an had begun practicing martial arts as an ordinary person right before his eyes. In only a few days, he had caught up to him, and his strength now surpassed his by several times over.

"Clean up the battlefield. Take everything we can carry!" With more than enough horses now, Sheng Huai'an was unwilling to burn anything and waste it.

He planned to lead his men in raiding several more small Xiongnu tribes before returning to Anning Pass.

If they waited until the main Xiongnu army reacted and sent large cavalry units to surround them, they might not be able to escape the grasslands.

After destroying this Xiongnu supply transport force, Sheng Huai'an led his troops onward in search of small Xiongnu tribes.

Over the course of the afternoon, they raided another five or six small tribes and reaped abundant gains.

The strong young men and warriors of those small tribes had all been drafted onto the battlefield. The old, weak, sick, and disabled who remained could not withstand their military edge at all.

Looking at the thousand-plus warhorses and the mountains of supplies, Sheng Huai'an decided to return to Anning Pass that very night.

Only after bringing these gains safely home could they be considered true gains.

Naturally, their route back had to avoid the main Xiongnu army before Anning Pass.

Looking at their haul, every face was wreathed in smiles.

"Captain, we obtained gold, silver, jewelry, and ornaments worth thirty thousand taels of silver in total.

"Over a thousand warhorses, quite a few pills, and so many other supplies that they can't be counted," Tang Yunshan said happily.

"Once we return, convert the gold, silver, and jewels into silver and divide it among the brothers. The fallen brothers must receive a share too—give them a little more and send it back to their families," Sheng Huai'an said.

"As for the pills, keep the healing medicines. Distribute the cultivation pills and those that can help break through realms to the brothers, so they can raise their strength."

"Yes, Captain!"

When the other soldiers heard Sheng Huai'an's method of distribution, they were overjoyed. Following a commander like this, they could win battles, and the gains were shared with the subordinates. Whether it was their future prospects or their prospects for wealth, both were bright.

That evening, after dinner, they did not linger and continued on their way.

With so many horses and supplies, every additional moment spent on these grasslands meant an additional measure of danger.

During the day, the main Xiongnu army continued attacking the pass. The Left Virtuous King had sent out two martial cultivators of the Grandmaster Realm, yet they still could not do anything to Yang Ye, the defending general of Anning Pass.

The Xiongnu army's assault on the city had suffered another setback.

Even the Left Virtuous King's favorite vase had been smashed by him.

"Useless trash! Damn it! You can't even take a tiny Anning Pass! How many days has it been already!?" the Left Virtuous King roared impotently.

The generals below did not even dare breathe loudly.

If this tiny Anning Pass had been so easy to take, they would have taken it long ago. Did he really think Great Wei was some soft persimmon to be kneaded as he pleased?

The generals below could not help muttering inwardly.

"Reporting to the Left Virtuous King, there is military intelligence." A messenger officer entered the Left Virtuous King's royal tent.

"Speak!"

He thought the grasslands were urging him to take Anning Pass quickly, and his mood was extremely foul.

"Great King, two supply transport units in our rear have been attacked. One hundred-man cavalry unit has vanished, and more than ten small tribes have been raided. Those reporting say enemies are suspected to have entered our rear," the messenger officer reported.

"What?"

"Enemies have infiltrated behind us? What audacity!" The Left Virtuous King flew into a rage.

Did they really think he was made of clay!?

"Send out two thousand cavalrymen. You must find them and wipe them out." The Left Virtuous King's chest heaved with rage.

More than half of the supplies had already been destroyed during the camp raid, and now they actually dared send troops to attack his supply transport forces.

Without sufficient supplies, if the soldiers could not eat their fill, what would they use to assault the city and kill the enemy?

Sheng Huai'an and the others did not know that this matter had already been reported to the Left Virtuous King.

And the Left Virtuous King did not know that Sheng Huai'an and the others, now carrying their abundant spoils, had already begun taking a detour back to Anning Pass.