This was a world of martial arts. Ordinary soldiers were basically martial artists at the Martial Disciple realm, and quite a few Xiongnu soldiers were stronger than him.
When picking persimmons, one had to choose the soft ones to squeeze. Sheng Huai'an began acting like Old Six.
Seeing others locked in battle and unable to spare attention, Sheng Huai'an stabbed a Xiongnu soldier in the left side of his waist from behind.
"You?!"
The Xiongnu soldier turned to look at Sheng Huai'an, blood spilling from his mouth.
Damn it, what an Old Six!
One strike straight through the kidney. This Xiongnu soldier died a stifled, miserable death.
He had never imagined that one day, he would be stabbed to death through the kidney.
The allied soldier facing that Xiongnu warrior felt a chill run through his own waist when he saw how cleanly Sheng Huai'an had stabbed him.
Sheng Huai'an smiled at him. There was no time for idle greetings, and he continued searching for his next victim.
No, his next target!
Seeing Sheng Huai'an's innocent smile, the man could not help shuddering. He silently decided to stay farther away from this person.
Sheng Huai'an spotted a Xiongnu soldier who had just climbed up the wall and only poked his head over.
He stepped forward, his blade swift as the wind. Before the Xiongnu soldier could even draw his weapon, Sheng Huai'an cut him down with one slash, sending him tumbling off the wall.
A Xiongnu soldier saw Sheng Huai'an guarding the battlement opening and raised his blade to chop at him.
The Xiongnu troops who made it onto the wall were mainly there to hold the battlement openings, allowing more Xiongnu troops to climb up and seize control of the wall.
Then they would kill their way down, open the city gates, and let the army through the pass.
As the enemy charged at him, Sheng Huai'an raised his blade and hacked. There was no technique or form to his attacks; he relied entirely on brute strength.
This Xiongnu enemy was only at Martial Disciple Early Stage. He was soon forced back step by step by Sheng Huai'an, who seized the opening and killed him with a single slash.
Two more Xiongnu enemies climbed up through that battlement opening. Seeing Sheng Huai'an kill their comrades and kin, they joined forces to attack him, their gazes fierce.
After cutting down several enemies in succession, Sheng Huai'an's blood boiled, and his confidence soared. Naturally unafraid, he faced the two of them alone.
Very quickly, Sheng Huai'an began to struggle. He knew no saber techniques, no fist or kicking arts, and had little combat experience. Relying only on brute force, he gradually fell into a disadvantage.
After cutting down an enemy, blood still dripped from Wang Wu's blade as he saw Sheng Huai'an being surrounded and pushed back.
"Hold on, Brother Huai'an! Your big brother is coming to help!"
Wang Wu strode forward and took on one of the enemies, easing Sheng Huai'an's burden.
With Wang Wu coming to break the encirclement, Sheng Huai'an's pressure instantly lessened.
"Damn it, you think you can bully me because I don't know saber techniques and lack experience?" Sheng Huai'an seized the opportunity and launched a fierce barrage of slashes.
Now that he faced only one enemy, Sheng Huai'an went on the offensive. After ten exchanges, he cut down the Xiongnu enemy with a single slash.
Wang Wu had long since slain his own opponent and was now locked in fierce battle with another Xiongnu enemy.
Wang Wu's saber techniques and movement were both sharp and fierce, nothing like Sheng Huai'an, who only knew how to use brute force.
Seeing this, Sheng Huai'an decided that once they drove back the enemy, he would ask Old Soldier for saber techniques, movement techniques, fist arts, and other martial skills.
Otherwise, even with his realm and strength, he would have trouble dealing with enemies equal to or stronger than himself.
"Kill!!"
The cries of battle atop the wall shook the heavens. Blade light and sword shadows flashed everywhere as the Xiongnu enemy troops continued climbing the wall at any cost.
Facing the growing number of Xiongnu enemies, the defenders began continuously sending reinforcements up to block them.
Sheng Huai'an had learned to be clever. Sneakily stabbing kidneys was still safer.
Whenever he saw a Xiongnu enemy fighting an ally, he found the right moment and struck with one blow—fast, precise, and ruthless—piercing straight through the kidney.
Before long, more than a dozen Xiongnu enemies had died from kidney stabbings.
"Screech!!"
After stabbing a Xiongnu enemy to death, Sheng Huai'an skillfully pulled his blade from the man's waist.
"Thanks, brother. But your killing blade technique is rather... unique." Zuo Gu thanked him after watching his opponent get stabbed to death by Sheng Huai'an, though his gaze was more than a little strange.
How could anyone specifically target other people's kidneys? Could he have some peculiar fetish?
"No need to thank me. We are all comrades-in-arms, killing enemies together for our country." Sheng Huai'an grinned, flashing his pearly white teeth.
After saying that, Sheng Huai'an did not continue talking with Zuo Gu. This was the perfect time to hunt Xiongnu enemies and gain Slaughter Value.
Watching Sheng Huai'an go back to eyeing the Xiongnu soldiers' kidneys, Zuo Gu could not help shuddering. In his heart, he mourned for the Xiongnu enemies.
Sheng Huai'an drifted across the battlefield like this, stabbing someone whenever he found an opening.
He saw Zhang Da Niu fighting a Xiongnu enemy, driving him back step by step and leaving him no time to look elsewhere. Sheng Huai'an gripped his blade and waited for the right moment.
His hand rose and his blade fell, stabbing into the man's waist.
The Xiongnu enemy looked at the blade lodged in his waist, then at Sheng Huai'an. His eyes were filled with fury and unwillingness.
"You despicable bastard! You launched a sneak attack! You have no martial virtue..."
Sheng Huai'an felt apologetic. On the battlefield, the goal was to kill the other side. Who cared whether it was a sneak attack or not?
When he pulled out his blade, he nearly dragged the man's kidney out with it.
Zhang Da Niu's mouth twitched. Sheng Huai'an looked refined and handsome, yet his heart was so twisted that he specifically targeted other people's kidneys.
"Brother Huai'an, the battlefield is dangerous. You must be careful," Zhang Da Niu reminded him.
Stabbing people in the kidneys like that was bound to earn resentment.
"Heh heh, thanks for the reminder, Brother Da Niu. I know." Sheng Huai'an gave him an innocent smile.
Zhang Da Niu looked at Sheng Huai'an's smile and dearly wanted to say, Brother Huai'an, perhaps you should stop smiling. It is frightening to look at.
After crossing paths with Zhang Da Niu, Sheng Huai'an resumed his grand kidney-stabbing enterprise.
In this chaotic melee, it was easy for him to pick up scraps. He needed to kill a few more enemies, accumulate Slaughter Value, and improve himself.
The battle continued until dusk. Every Xiongnu enemy who climbed onto the wall was slain there by the defenders, and the Xiongnu army failed to seize the wall.
Seeing that they could not take the wall, the Xiongnu army could only sound the gong and withdraw their troops.
Watching the Xiongnu army retreat like the receding tide, Sheng Huai'an looked at the blade in his hand. It had already been chipped from all the cutting.
Corpses covered the top and bottom of the wall—Xiongnu enemies and defenders alike.
At this time, the Xiongnu sent out small units to collect the bodies of their soldiers.
The two sides entered a tacit pause in the fighting to gather their fallen soldiers.
"Whoosh, whoosh~"
The north wind howled, and the banners atop the wall snapped and danced.
The fiery red sun shone over the earth, staining the land with a touch of crimson.
Looking at the retreating Xiongnu army, the defenders neither cheered nor rejoiced. Their faces were filled with solemn gravity.
Sheng Huai'an looked at the setting sun, then at the soldiers clearing the battlefield and moving one corpse after another.
The Xiongnu soldiers' corpses were simply carried over and thrown beyond the wall. The defenders had no such kind hearts as to collect the bodies of Xiongnu soldiers.
Once tossed off the wall, the Xiongnu would naturally come to collect their dead.
Blood had dyed the paving stones atop the wall red. Under the glow of the setting sun, it evoked an indescribable feeling.
"The setting sun was like blood, the crescent moon like a hook; how many loyal souls lay buried in late autumn!"
"Stop putting on that act of a poor scholar. Move, return to the ranks," Old Soldier called to Sheng Huai'an.
Sheng Huai'an put away his sorrow and followed Old Soldier and the others off the wall. It was time to change shifts; soldiers from another camp had come to defend the wall.
On the way back to camp, Sheng Huai'an noticed that of the ten men Old Soldier had led, four were missing.
That meant four comrades-in-arms from their squad had died in the afternoon's battle.
Everyone was silent on the way back.
The battlefield was a meat grinder, endlessly mincing lives within it.
They did not know on which day they, too, would fall.
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