The two led their troops in the charge, their eyes locked tightly on each other.
Helan Guanshan hardened his heart, determined to kill Sheng Huai'an.
At the instant they drew close, Sheng Huai'an suddenly leaped from his horse, swinging his spear down at Helan Guanshan.
"Overlord Spear Technique, Thousand Jun!"
Its force weighed a thousand jun, enough to split mountains and sever seas.
Seeing Sheng Huai'an suddenly leap up and bring his spear down with a mountain-toppling, sea-overturning force, Helan Guanshan swiftly raised his saber to block.
He had never expected Sheng Huai'an to unleash such a killing move.
"Boom!"
The iron spear crashed down. Its savage force sent man, saber, and horse flying, smashing them to the ground and kicking up rolling clouds of dust.
Sheng Huai'an leaped back onto his horse. When the dust settled, Helan Guanshan had already drawn his last breath. Every bone in his body was shattered, his flesh mangled beyond recognition—a horrific sight.
He did not look back. True experts never looked back. After unleashing that all-out blow, every cell beneath his skin trembled.
That strike had already reached the limit his body could endure.
Helan Guanshan, a Houtian Martial Artist at Great Perfection, had died by his hand, granting him forty points of Slaughter Value.
Seeing Sheng Huai'an blast apart a Xiongnu commander at Houtian Great Perfection, Guo Xiaoping and Hu Bing were filled with shock.
That was a Houtian Great Perfection expert, yet he had been killed just like that. Just how strong was this young Battalion Commander?
With Helan Guanshan utterly slain by Sheng Huai'an, the morale of the Xiongnu Cavalry plummeted.
Meanwhile, the Anning Iron Cavalry's momentum surged. Their blood boiled as they followed Sheng Huai'an's lead and charged into the ranks of the Xiongnu Cavalry.
"Kill..."
Sheng Huai'an charged at the front alone, like a god of slaughter. With Helan Guanshan dead, no one could stop his peerless, savage might.
By himself, he slew more than three hundred Xiongnu cavalrymen.
Not a single one of the two thousand Xiongnu Cavalry survived. Every last one fell in battle.
The ground was strewn with severed limbs. Broken spears and snapped sabers jutted half-buried from the earth, while blood stained the wild grass red.
"Oh... we won! Hahaha!" An Anning Cavalryman laughed heartily.
"Anning Iron Cavalry, mighty!"
"Battalion Commander Sheng, mighty!"
The Anning Iron Cavalry kept roaring in celebration of their victory.
With one thousand cavalrymen, they had faced two thousand elite Xiongnu cavalrymen, annihilated the enemy, and suffered only a little over one hundred casualties.
What a tremendous victory!!
Since the Anning Iron Cavalry had been formed, they had never won such a great victory.
Watching the cheering soldiers, Sheng Huai'an slowly calmed the boiling blood within him.
Golden spears and iron horses, waging war upon the battlefield—what boundless heroic spirit.
"Wind!"
Sheng Huai'an raised his still-dripping spear and shouted.
"Great Wind!"
"Great Wind!"
The soldiers shouted along with him, their momentum soaring like a rainbow and sweeping into the clouds.
After clearing the battlefield, they took away everything that could still be used. The unharmed warhorses were taken as well.
The horses with broken legs or other injuries neighed miserably. Before long, the corpses covering the ground and the stench of blood drew vultures from the sky.
This victorious battle transformed this force of Anning Iron Cavalry, making their spirit, will, confidence, and strength all the more formidable.
They did not halt their march to war. They had not forgotten their mission of campaigning upon the grasslands.
Sheng Huai'an led his cavalry onward, continuing to raid Xiongnu supply convoys.
That day, they swept through eight Xiongnu transport units and seized countless supplies.
The supply convoys had been attacked and the grain provisions cut off, forcing the Xiongnu army to halt its assault on Anning Pass.
Anning Pass welcomed another peaceful day.
"Have the enemies attacking our grain supplies been dealt with?" The Left Virtuous King asked impatiently.
Qishan Fortress had already been breached by the Right Virtuous King three days ago.
An army of one hundred thousand had marched south, invading the three provinces of Yanzhou, Qizhou, and Dengzhou.
Yet he remained stalled before Anning Pass. How could he not be furious at being outdone by the Right Virtuous King?
The Left Virtuous King and Right Virtuous King had always been rivals. The future Great Chanyu would be decided between the two of them.
Once the Right Virtuous King's merits surpassed his own, he, the Left Virtuous King, would have to become the Right Virtuous King.
The generals under the Left Virtuous King's command looked at one another, but not a single one dared speak.
"Speak! Why have you all become mute?" The Left Virtuous King fumed as he looked at the generals standing there with their mouths shut.
"Reporting to Your Majesty, there is... there is still no news," one general said, forcing himself to answer.
"Trash! It has been two days, and you still have not solved it! Are you the eagles of the grasslands? Are you warriors of the grasslands?" The Left Virtuous King roared. A mere thousand men were wreaking havoc across the grasslands—where was he supposed to put his face?
"You must deal with them within two days. Once Iron Grandmaster arrives, the whole army will attack. I will take Anning Pass in a single battle."
The Xiongnu army sent another ten thousand iron cavalrymen back onto the grasslands to join the encirclement and suppression of Sheng Huai'an's force.
After a day of fighting, Sheng Huai'an's force had slain more than seven thousand enemies and fought their way across two hundred kilometers.
That night, Sheng Huai'an's force made camp beside a river.
Their string of victories had eased the grief of losing more than a hundred men in battle.
Sheng Huai'an's force now had just over nine hundred men remaining.
In the camp, the soldiers gathered together to eat meat and drink soup. After dinner, those assigned to patrol went on patrol, while the others began cultivating.
Having seized a large quantity of pills, Sheng Huai'an ordered many of them distributed among the soldiers so they could cultivate.
As time passed, their situation would grow increasingly dangerous.
Only by increasing their strength would they stand a chance of surviving.
At that moment, Sheng Huai'an was in his own tent. He alone had killed more than five hundred Xiongnu enemies that day. Added to what remained from yesterday, his Slaughter Value had already surpassed two thousand.
Name: Sheng Huai'an Race: Human Realm: Houtian Early Stage (+) Cultivation Techniques: "Great Sun Heart Sutra" (Beginner) (+) "Ferocious Ox Strength" (Minor Accomplishment) (+) "Blood Fiend Saber Technique" (Major Accomplishment) (Deduce) "Overlord Spear Technique" (Minor Accomplishment) Strength: 15,000 jin Talent: Silver Archer (+) Slaughter Value: 2238
Seeing that his Slaughter Value had exceeded two thousand and that a plus sign had only now appeared behind the Great Sun Heart Sutra, Sheng Huai'an's mouth twitched. He had a bad feeling about this.
It had taken two hundred Slaughter Value to reach Beginner. Would Minor Accomplishment not require two thousand?!
That made Sheng Huai'an afraid to add points to the Great Sun Heart Sutra.
He chose to raise his cultivation instead. Spending five hundred Slaughter Value, he advanced to the Houtian Middle Stage. His strength increased by five thousand jin, and the power of one arm reached twenty thousand jin.
At the same time, his bones and skin were continuously strengthened and toughened, gleaming with golden light.
After raising his cultivation to the Houtian Middle Stage, Sheng Huai'an did not continue upgrading it.
His strength was improving far too quickly. It had only been two days since his last breakthrough, and he had already broken through another minor realm.
If he continued raising it, that would be a little too monstrous.
After spending five hundred Slaughter Value, he had one thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight points remaining.
Killing enemies now truly brought in Slaughter Value by the cartload. He had never felt so wealthy before.
With another breakthrough in strength, so long as no Xiantian Martial Artists intervened, Sheng Huai'an dared call himself invincible.
Early the next morning, Sheng Huai'an led his men onward. Over the whole day, they only destroyed three Xiongnu supply transport units.
"Battalion Commander Sheng, it seems the Xiongnu have changed their strategy. They have sent large forces to protect their provisions," Guo Xiaoping said.
Over the course of the day, they had encountered only three small transport units.
However, from afar, they had spotted a transport force of twenty thousand men.
That transport force had a full five thousand cavalrymen guarding it.
Against such a powerful transport force, their small number could not possibly contend with it.
Their plan to cut off the Xiongnu army's supplies had come to ruin here.
"Screech..."
A clear eagle's cry caught Sheng Huai'an's attention.
This eagle overhead seemed to have been circling above them ever since they destroyed one of the Xiongnu grain transport units.
"Do the Xiongnu tribes have methods for training eagles?!" Sheng Huai'an asked uneasily.
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