Breaking Through to the Houtian Realm

The wind blows and the grass is low, with no cattle or sheep!

Near the border, it's all buffer zones, and the Xiongnu nomadic tribes won't come here to graze.

Entering the grassland, led by the army's guide, they headed into the depths of the grassland.

A young man in high spirits, his horse's hooves fast, a cherry spear in hand, a red robe on his body!

Sheng Huai'an rode a white horse, clad in a red battle robe, holding a long spear, exuding heroic spirit.

Anyone who saw him would have to say: what a handsome young man.

"Battalion Commander Sheng, shouldn't we cut off the Xiongnu's grain and fodder first?" Guo Xiaoping asked.

Sheng Huai'an looked behind him at Guo Xiaoping, who held a halberd and wore a black battle robe.

This man was also a Battalion Commander and a Martial Master Great Perfection, now under his command.

"No rush, we're a bit close to the Xiongnu army right now. If we make a commotion, and the Xiongnu send their elite cavalry, our small force won't be enough to be slaughtered by the Xiongnu cavalry," Sheng Huai'an said.

If we're going to kill, let's kill deep into the grassland and cause a massive upheaval.

This troop of cavalry, though called elite, was far inferior to the Xiongnu elite cavalry.

They only had one warhorse, their armor wasn't heavy, and the soldiers' cultivation wasn't very high.

The elite cavalry Sheng Huai'an imagined would surely be heavy cavalry, with three warhorses as standard.

The charge of the army would be a steel torrent, invincible and unstoppable.

The army continued deeper into the grassland. The lone wolves of the grassland seemed to sense danger and fled from afar.

"Battalion Commander Sheng, there's a small tribe ahead, should we go around it?" a scout who had gone to reconnoiter rode back to report.

"Go around it!"

Now was not the time to attack small tribes. He led his troops and continued forward.

By the afternoon, they had penetrated two hundred li into the grassland.

This grassland was exceptionally vast. Sheng Huai'an used to think this world was a parallel world or a replica of another world.

But when he truly understood this world, he realized how wrong he was.

This grassland was three to four times larger than in his previous life.

The grassland tribes bordering Great Wei had two overlords: one was the Xiongnu, and the other was the Rong Di.

"Captain, there's a situation. Twenty li ahead, there's a Xiongnu supply transport team," the scout reported upon returning.

"How many people?" Sheng Huai'an immediately asked.

"About a thousand or so, carrying a lot of supplies, estimated to be a hundred carts," the scout replied.

"A thousand people!"

Sheng Huai'an's eyes narrowed. More people meant more supplies. They would use this Xiongnu team as their first target.

"Prepare for battle!"

As Sheng Huai'an spoke, the soldiers behind him instantly prepared for battle.

Cavalry moved quickly. Twenty li took less than half an hour.

From a distance, they saw the Xiongnu transport army ahead.

"Charge!"

The cavalry charged, swift as wind and fire.

Sheng Huai'an led the charge, taking the lead.

The rumbling sound of hooves instantly alerted the Xiongnu army.

The Xiongnu leader saw the charging cavalry's attire and banners and realized they were not their own.

"Enemy attack, be on guard!"

Unfortunately, it was too late. From the cavalry formation, a rain of arrows was also unleashed, covering the Xiongnu camp.

The reason Sheng Huai'an dared to charge openly was that he had a thousand cavalrymen and didn't need to engage in petty skirmishes.

By the time the Xiongnu army hastily organized their resistance, it was already too late.

Sheng Huai'an, leading the charge, burst into the enemy camp.

The long spear in his hand pierced directly into the enemy, its sharp tip easily tearing through their chests.

The introductory level of the Overlord Spear Technique was more than enough to deal with ordinary Xiongnu soldiers.

He led the charge, bursting into the enemy camp and slaughtering indiscriminately. His long spear was like the Grim Reaper's scythe, continuously harvesting the lives of Xiongnu soldiers.

The cavalry, like a steel torrent, directly smashed the Xiongnu camp to pieces.

With one charge, there wasn't a single living Xiongnu enemy left in the camp.

On such flat grasslands, facing cavalry, a thousand against a thousand was a complete annihilation.

Not to mention that the Xiongnu transport army was entirely a second-line force.

Sheng Huai'an's cavalry were the elite iron cavalry of Anning Pass.

The battle ended with an easy victory. The leader of this Xiongnu army was a Martial Master, but Sheng Huai'an split his head open with a single spear thrust.

"Clear the battlefield!" Sheng Huai'an shouted.

Tang Yunshan and Hai Dahe quickly stepped forward, leading the soldiers to begin clearing the battlefield.

"Wang Wu, take the scouts and spread out to continue gathering information," Sheng Huai'an ordered again.

"Yes!"

Wang Wu, along with a few scouts, quickly disappeared back onto the grassland.

Sheng Huai'an had appointed Wang Wu as a Platoon Leader, leading a scout squad.

"Captain, Cap... no, I should call you Battalion Commander now."

"Battalion Commander Sheng, we have pills, lots of pills!" Tang Yunshan shouted happily.

Sheng Huai'an had now been officially promoted to Battalion Commander, commanding a thousand men.

Guo Xiaoping and another Battalion Commander, Hu Bing, became instantly happy upon hearing about the pills.

It was known that the garrison at Anning Pass seemed to have been forgotten, as they hadn't received any pills from the imperial court for two to three years.

"Let's go take a look." Guo Xiaoping and Hu Bing followed Sheng Huai'an.

The boxes on the four carriages were filled with pills.

Most of them were healing pills, with a portion being for auxiliary cultivation.

"Breakthrough Pills, there are some Breakthrough Pills here!" Tang Yunshan said excitedly.

"Breakthrough Pills?"

"Let me see!"

Guo Xiaoping and Hu Bing eagerly stepped forward to examine the Breakthrough Pills.

"Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pills."

"Haha, Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pills..." Guo Xiaoping laughed heartily.

"What, Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pills?" Hu Bing exclaimed. He was stunned for a moment, then began to tremble with excitement.

Both of them had cultivated to the Martial Master Great Perfection realm and had been unable to break through for a long time.

If the imperial court had supplied pills, they would have broken through to the Houtian realm long ago.

Seeing the Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pills now, how could they not be excited?

A Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pill was enough for both of them to break through to the Houtian realm.

A single Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pill started at a bid of 100,000 taels of silver in the black market, making it a truly rare resource.

"Why are there only two!?" They looked at each other, then at Sheng Huai'an.

They knew that Sheng Huai'an was also at Martial Master Great Perfection, and moreover, he was the Battalion Commander of this unit.

This meant that Sheng Huai'an had the final say on how these pills would be distributed.

"What's wrong?"

Sheng Huai'an asked when he saw them looking at him.

"Well, Battalion Commander Sheng, there are only two Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pills," Guo Xiaoping said.

"Two is two, as long as we gained something."

Sheng Huai'an thought Guo Xiaoping felt the haul was too small. After all, they had snatched them from the Xiongnu.

"No, that..."

"If you have something to say, just say it. Why are you two hesitating?" Sheng Huai'an said, seeing their hesitation.

"How should these two Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pills be distributed?" They wanted them badly but were too embarrassed to say it.

Sheng Huai'an understood that they wanted these two pills but were too embarrassed to ask, especially since they were now his subordinates and had to obey his every command.

"You are both at Martial Master Great Perfection, aren't you?" Sheng Huai'an asked.

"Mm!"

Guo Xiaoping and the other nodded vigorously.

"Then I'll give them to both of you. Strive to break through to the Houtian realm. With us behind enemy lines, it will also increase our safety," Sheng Huai'an said.

The two were overjoyed upon hearing this.

"What about you, Battalion Commander Sheng?" Hu Bing asked.

Sheng Huai'an was also at Martial Master Great Perfection.

"Me? You don't need to worry about me. I can break through without pills right now," Sheng Huai'an replied.

"Alright, these two pills are for you. Hurry up and break through."

"Yes, Battalion Commander Sheng. We will obey any future commands without hesitation," Guo Xiaoping said solemnly.

The two of them were very grateful to Sheng Huai'an in their hearts. Without the pills, with their aptitude, it would have taken at least two years to break through to the Houtian realm.

Sheng Huai'an waved his hand and then said to Tang Yunshan, "Distribute all the pills to the soldiers. Make sure every soldier has healing pills and cultivation pills. For the first, second, and third-grade Breakthrough Pills, distribute them to suitable individuals to maximize their cultivation."

"Yes, Battalion Commander Sheng!" Tang Yunshan happily accepted the order.

Being entrusted with such an important task showed that the Battalion Commander still had him in mind.

"Battalion Commander, we have a lot of supplies – meat, grain, weapons, arrows, so much. What should we do?" Hai Dahe ran over to ask.

"Take all the horses. For the grain, meat, and weapons, take as much as you can. Burn the rest, then retreat and leave," Sheng Huai'an immediately ordered.

The supplies that couldn't be taken, along with the corpses of the Xiongnu soldiers, were burned to ashes.

Sheng Huai'an led over a thousand iron cavalry, roaming the grasslands, specifically targeting Xiongnu supply troops.

A day later, over a dozen supply armies were wiped out, and the Xiongnu army's provisions were suddenly cut off.

Once he made a move, Sheng Huai'an would swiftly annihilate over a dozen Xiongnu supply armies, causing the front-line Xiongnu army's provisions to run out.

"Report, Left Virtuous King, our supply troops have encountered problems."

The attack on Anning Pass today still hadn't yielded much effect, and the Left Virtuous King was already in a bad mood.

Now, hearing that the supply troops had encountered problems again, he was filled with rage.

"What happened to the supply troops?"

"Today, over a dozen supply troops were ambushed, their supplies were burned, and all personnel were killed," the reporting soldier replied.

"What?!"

"What exactly happened? The supply troops were on our grasslands, so how could they be wiped out?"

"Was it the Rong Di, or did some tribe harbor rebellious intentions?" the Left Virtuous King roared.

"The specific situation is unknown!" The messenger soldier felt sweat pouring down his back.

The Left Virtuous King's fury was suffocating him.

"Send people down to investigate clearly, and then send two thousand cavalry to find this group of people. They dare to oppose me at this time; I will grind them into dust." The Left Virtuous King smashed the table with a single palm.

Sheng Huai'an, leading his troops to destroy over a dozen Xiongnu supply armies, was quickly discovered by the Xiongnu army.

Meanwhile, he was currently leading his subordinates in celebrating by cooking beef and mutton.

A bunch of martial artists, eating beef and mutton to their heart's content, was like a festival.

After dinner, Sheng Huai'an arranged for guards to take turns on watch, while he himself began to cultivate.

No, he was going to add points to break through and improve his cultivation.

He could have broken through long ago; his Slaughter Value was more than enough to improve his cultivation, but at Anning Pass, Sheng Huai'an did not continue to improve and break through.

His strength was increasing too quickly, and sometimes, increasing too fast wasn't a good thing.

Name: Sheng Huai'an

Race: Human

Realm: Martial Master Great Perfection (+)

Cultivation Techniques: [Great Sun Heart Sutra (Beginner)] [Ferocious Ox Strength (Minor Accomplishment)] (+) [Blood Fiend Saber Technique (Major Accomplishment)] [Overlord Spear Technique (Beginner)]

Strength: 9,000 jin

Talent: Silver Archer (+)

Slaughter Value: 432

After breaking through to Martial Master Great Perfection yesterday, he had killed three Houtian Martial Masters and many Xiongnu soldiers. Today, he had killed many Xiongnu soldiers during the day, and his Slaughter Value had increased to 432 points.

Now, on the grassland, he could continue to add points to break through.

With a single click, consuming two hundred Slaughter Value, a vast power continuously forged his flesh, physique, and bones.

The blood energy within his body surged like a dragon, and the Martial True Essence in his dantian continuously increased and solidified.

After breaking through to the Houtian Martial Practitioner limit, his strength increased to 10,000 jin.

This strength had already reached the standard of a Houtian Martial Master Great Perfection.

Of course, this was only his strength; his actual combat power should be comparable to a mid-to-late stage Houtian Martial Practitioner.

Seeing that he still had over two hundred Slaughter Value, Sheng Huai'an did not continue to add points.

He had a Fourth-grade Breakthrough Pill, bestowed upon him by General Yang Ye. Now was the perfect time to use it, and it would also save him Slaughter Value.

Taking out the pill, Sheng Huai'an swallowed it without hesitation. The powerful medicinal properties dissolved, impacting the barriers of his realm.

Sheng Huai'an circulated the Great Sun Heart Sutra cultivation technique, mobilizing all his blood energy and True Essence to activate the medicinal properties, fiercely impacting the realm barrier.

"Pop!"

Like an eggshell cracking, Sheng Huai'an successfully broke through to the Houtian realm.