Sheng Huai'an set the war rolling onward. It was a grand meat grinder.
People on both sides kept dying.
As Xiantian-level powerhouses entered the fray, the battle reached a white-hot pitch.
Five Xiantian Martial Artists from the Xiongnu army charged onto the city walls.
The five great experts among the defenders also struck one after another, intercepting the Xiongnu Xiantian powerhouses.
The Houtian warriors in the Xiongnu army were naturally handled by the Colonels among the defenders.
Sheng Huai'an entered an unrivaled slaughter mode, massacring his way madly through the ranks of Xiongnu soldiers.
Even Martial Master-level experts found it hard to stop him.
As his strength rose, the enemies he slaughtered grew more and more numerous.
When his Slaughter Value climbed past three hundred, Sheng Huai'an did not hesitate. He spent one hundred and fifty points of Slaughter Value to raise his cultivation to the limit of the Martial Warrior realm.
His strength now rivaled Martial Master Great Perfection.
So long as Houtian warriors did not intervene, no one could stop him.
Name: Sheng Huai'an Race: Human Realm: Martial Warrior Limit (+) Techniques: "Ferocious Ox Strength" (Minor Mastery) (+) "Blood Fiend Saber Technique" (Major Mastery) "Overlord Spear Technique" (Beginner) (+) Strength: Five thousand jin Talent: Silver Archer (+) Slaughter Value: 167
Seeing that his Slaughter Value could still raise his cultivation, Sheng Huai'an did not hesitate in the slightest and continued adding points.
Name: Sheng Huai'an Race: Human Realm: Martial Master Early Stage Techniques: "Ferocious Ox Strength" (Minor Mastery) "Blood Fiend Saber Technique" (Major Mastery) "Overlord Spear Technique" (Beginner) Strength: Five thousand eight hundred jin Talent: Silver Archer Slaughter Value: 17
After spending another one hundred and fifty points of Slaughter Value, Sheng Huai'an swiftly broke through to the Martial Master Early Stage.
Only after breaking into the Martial Master realm did Sheng Huai'an gain the tiniest scrap of security in this world.
Of course, only the tiniest scrap. Not a bit more.
With his cultivation breaking through and his strength surging, Sheng Huai'an raised his saber and charged into the Xiongnu ranks.
He was like a humanoid tyrannosaur. In his hands, the Blood Fiend Saber Technique had reached the height of perfection, ceaselessly reaping the lives of Xiongnu soldiers.
Dozens of Xiongnu soldiers surrounded him, intending to mince him to death, but every last one was cut down.
"Fall back! I'll deal with him!" A brawny man covered in muscles stepped out from among the Xiongnu soldiers.
"Commander of a Thousand!"
The Xiongnu soldiers retreated, clearing out space.
"With the Commander of a Thousand making a move, this man is dead for sure."
"The Commander of a Thousand is only one step away from breaking into the Houtian realm. At Martial Master Great Perfection, killing this Wei dog will be as easy as turning his hand over."
"Kill him! He has slain so many of our tribesmen!"
The Xiongnu soldiers shouted one after another.
Hutuhao gripped a long saber, his sharp gaze fixed on Sheng Huai'an.
Sheng Huai'an's battle robe had already been soaked scarlet with blood, all of it Xiongnu soldiers' blood.
As Hutuhao watched Sheng Huai'an, he sensed a faint hint of danger from this young Wei man.
Yet the aura around his opponent was clearly only at the Martial Master Early Stage.
"Kill!!"
Hutuhao brandished his long saber and charged at Sheng Huai'an.
Seeing his opponent's surging blood and qi, like a vicious wolf, Sheng Huai'an held nothing back. His own blood and qi roiled as Baleful Intent spread through the air.
He raised his saber, and the Blood Fiend Saber Technique flowed from his hand with divine mastery. Every move shifted through countless variations, savage and razor-sharp.
The two fought, exchanging dozens of moves in an instant.
Hutuhao's expression changed slightly. Even the hand gripping his saber trembled.
His opponent's strength exceeded his own. Though he was two minor realms lower, his actual strength was somehow greater.
Could he have been born with divine strength?
And that terrifying saber technique—the killing intent it carried was exceptionally heavy, its fierce saber momentum pressing down on him until he could barely breathe.
"Shhk!!"
After more than a hundred exchanges, Sheng Huai'an severed Hutuhao's left arm with one slash.
"Ah..."
His left arm severed and blood pouring like water, Hutuhao's face turned pale with unbearable pain.
The gazes of the surrounding Xiongnu soldiers shifted into fear as they looked at Sheng Huai'an.
Even their Commander of a Thousand, at Martial Master Great Perfection, was no match for him. Could they possibly fight him?
"Whoosh!!"
Sheng Huai'an cut off Hutuhao's head with one stroke, though he himself was injured as well.
In his final counterattack before death, Hutuhao delivered one last hate-filled blow, leaving a wound across Sheng Huai'an's abdomen.
Killing an enemy at Martial Master Great Perfection had not been easy. Sheng Huai'an had also expended a tremendous amount of blood and qi.
He took a healing pill from his robes and swallowed it, stopping the wound from bleeding.
He still preferred crushing battles. Fights where the sides were nearly evenly matched were truly exhausting.
Like Martial Apprentices and Martial Warriors—one slash each. How simple that was.
"Still, the stronger they are, the more Slaughter Value they give!" Sheng Huai'an felt gratified. Killing an enemy at Martial Master Great Perfection had earned him twenty-five points of Slaughter Value.
After killing Hutuhao, there were no more Xiongnu experts around him. The rest were Xiongnu soldiers in the Martial Apprentice realm, with very few even at the Martial Warrior realm.
"Kill!!"
Baleful Intent enveloped Sheng Huai'an's entire body. Like an unmatched god of slaughter, not one of the surrounding Xiongnu soldiers could withstand a single slash from him.
Before long, the Xiongnu soldiers on this stretch of wall had been slaughtered clean.
Corpses carpeted the ground, and blood dyed the bricks of the city wall crimson.
War held only life and death!
Cold and iron-blooded!
Watching Sheng Huai'an slaughter in all directions, the defending soldiers could not help cheering.
The more Sheng Huai'an killed, the fewer enemy soldiers they had to face.
"Clang!!"
Sheng Huai'an was blasted back by a saber strike, his arm going numb. He steadied himself and looked at his opponent. Huyan Ting's eyes were cold, devoid of the slightest emotion.
"Fall back. He is not someone you can handle." Colonel Lin stepped in front of Sheng Huai'an.
Sheng Huai'an nodded and turned to deal with the other Xiongnu soldiers. This man gave him an extremely dangerous feeling. He was certainly a Houtian warrior, and one of the stronger ones at that—not someone Sheng Huai'an could face yet.
"Whoever dares block me dies!" Huyan Ting charged at Colonel Lin with icy eyes.
"Come and try. Let's see who dies first!" Colonel Lin raised his saber to meet Huyan Ting.
Both were Houtian warriors. As they clashed, everyone around them quickly moved aside, yielding them space to fight.
In the sky, the three Grandmasters were still battling, their might as terrifying as an abyss.
Fortunately, the battlefield was in the sky. Had it been on the ground, the mountains would likely have already collapsed and the earth split apart.
Yang Ye's Overlord Spear Technique forced the two Xiongnu Grandmasters to join hands merely to resist him, his might unmatched.
He alone could hold back an army of a thousand troops and ten thousand horses.
Without him guarding all of Anning Pass, it would have long since been trampled flat beneath Xiongnu iron cavalry.
After fighting for a long time, the two Xiongnu Grandmasters still could not do anything to Yang Ye and could only retreat helplessly.
Watching the two Xiongnu Grandmasters withdraw, Yang Ye turned and flew back to the top of the gate tower. He stood there with his blood-red battle robe billowing and his golden armor gleaming, exceptionally dazzling.
That presence was like a mountain standing guard there, impassable even to a thousand armies and ten thousand horses!
Yang Ye was the stabilizing pillar of Anning Pass.
Within the Xiongnu army,
the Left Virtuous King watched the two Grandmasters return empty-handed, furious yet helpless.
That Yang Ye was absurdly strong. Even facing two opponents alone, he did not fall into the slightest disadvantage.
Either kill Yang Ye and break the pass in one sweep like rotten wood, or break the pass and force Yang Ye back. Otherwise, taking Anning Pass would be no easy matter.
The battle continued until evening. The Xiongnu army still failed to seize the city walls and break through the pass. Leaving behind several thousand corpses, they could only withdraw.
The defenders atop the walls felt no joy at having repelled the enemy.
Of an entire battalion, fewer than three hundred soldiers remained. One could imagine just how brutal the war had been.
More than half of Anning Pass's defenders had already been worn away. From Colonels below to generals above, no one felt joy. Every one of them was filled with worry.
If this continued, the soldiers of Anning Pass would be exhausted within ten days.
Sheng Huai'an looked at the corpses covering the ground. These had been comrades who fought alongside him, yet now they had become cold bodies.
These soldiers had families too, loved ones too, people waiting for them to return.
Behind them lay how many families!?
They were human too. They missed their families, missed the woman from their dreams.
Yet when faced with the enemy army, they had never taken a single step back. They too were hot-blooded men.
"Speak not to me of being granted a marquis; beneath one general's success lie ten thousand withered bones!"
This was war!
He dragged his heavy steps down from the city wall.
His battle robe was torn, his armor covered in saber marks. His hair was disheveled, and his face was smeared with filthy blood.
"Speak not to me of being granted a marquis; beneath one general's success lie ten thousand withered bones!" Colonel Lin watched Sheng Huai'an's retreating back.
"What a fine line. This lad is truly gifted in letters. I heard that he used to be a scholar."
He looked at the corpses on the ground—some enemies, some officers and soldiers under his command.
Of his Fifth Battalion, only a little over two hundred wounded and crippled men remained. The casualties had nearly surpassed ninety percent.
These were not cold numbers, but living lives, one after another.
Colonel Lin fell silent. Was this Sheng Huai'an's realization?
Truly: speak not to me of being granted a marquis; beneath one general's success lie ten thousand withered bones!
A single line of poetry had painted war's cruelty in all its merciless detail.
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