The Pitiful Bones by the Wuding River

The two armies charged again, crashing into each other.

Sheng Huai'an led the charge, plunging into the enemy camp. His spear had become a killing machine, constantly felling Xiongnu Cavalrymen.

He alone was worth a thousand, even ten thousand, riders.

After several clashes, all the Xiongnu Cavalrymen were dead. Behind Sheng Huai'an, only about five hundred riders remained, almost all of them wounded. If they hadn't captured a large supply of healing pills, even more would have died.

The battle was incredibly fierce. Sheng Huai'an was not a god, though he fought desperately, cutting down Xiongnu Cavalrymen.

However, the Xiongnu Cavalrymen outnumbered them, and casualties were inevitable.

On the ground, broken spears and lances lay scattered, and the Yinma River was stained red with blood.

"Rumble!"

Before Sheng Huai'an's contingent could catch their breath, the sound of charging cavalry echoed from the distant grasslands.

Seeing the approaching Xiongnu Cavalry, everyone could only grip their sabers and spears tighter.

Fortunately, they had desperately dealt with the previous three thousand cavalrymen. Otherwise, if this new contingent had joined the fight, they would have been in grave danger of annihilation.

"Brothers, let's fight to our heart's content today!" Sheng Huai'an shouted with powerful momentum.

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill!"

Sheng Huai'an unhesitatingly spent five hundred Slaughter Value to raise his cultivation to the Houtian Martial Practitioner limit.

He increased his strength to thirty-five thousand jin, significantly boosting his power once more.

Only by becoming stronger and killing more Xiongnu Cavalrymen could he ensure that more of his soldiers survived.

"Kill!"

Sheng Huai'an led his troops in a charge, his remaining five hundred riders glaring with fierce eyes.

They were all strong individuals who had fought their way out of death. Those who survived were the strong; the weak had already been killed.

The opposing Xiongnu army was another force of two thousand iron cavalry.

Seeing Sheng Huai'an's contingent still charging without any sign of retreat.

Leaving Sheng Huai'an's contingent on the grasslands was the mission of many Xiongnu Cavalrymen; they would not hesitate to die.

No one had ever dared to slaughter their Xiongnu grassland tribes with impunity and then return unharmed.

Five hundred iron cavalry, following Sheng Huai'an, charged towards the enemy formation of Xiongnu iron cavalry, four times their number, with utter disregard for their own lives.

This contingent of two thousand Xiongnu cavalry was led by a Houtian Grand Perfection Martial Practitioner.

He swung his saber and charged at Sheng Huai'an, fighting with exceptional ferocity.

"Boom!!"

Sheng Huai'an unleashed a spear strike, his immense strength of over forty thousand jin sending the enemy commander flying, crushing a large number of Xiongnu Cavalrymen.

The enemy commander, even in death, couldn't comprehend why Sheng Huai'an's spear strike possessed such terrifying power.

That pure strength of forty to fifty thousand jin was destructive and unstoppable.

With one spear strike killing the enemy general, Sheng Huai'an was now invincible.

He then plunged into the Xiongnu cavalry formation like a ferocious dragon, killing dozens of Xiongnu Cavalrymen in moments.

No one could withstand Sheng Huai'an's immense strength. He alone charged into the enemy formation, breaking the Xiongnu cavalry's charge formation.

Guo Xiaoping, Hu Bing, Wang Wu, and others followed Sheng Huai'an, charging and slashing fiercely, also killing countless enemies.

With the Houtian enemy general dead and no more high-end combatants, Guo Xiaoping and Hu Bing, with their early Houtian cultivation, also went on a killing spree within the enemy ranks.

With Sheng Huai'an, Guo Xiaoping, and Hu Bing killing the vast majority of the Xiongnu enemy forces, the death rate of ordinary soldiers was greatly reduced.

After the battle, only about three hundred riders remained standing behind Sheng Huai'an.

Even though he alone had killed six to seven hundred Xiongnu soldiers, the enemy's superior numbers still gave them an advantage.

Even a one-for-one exchange would have cost them many men.

These were two thousand fully armored Xiongnu elite cavalry. To achieve such a glorious record was already something they could be proud of.

"Brothers, we have won!" Sheng Huai'an roared, his voice echoing across the grasslands.

In this battle, with less than nine hundred cavalry, they had faced five thousand Xiongnu cavalry and completely annihilated them. This achievement, not just at Anning Pass, but on the entire northern battlefield, was a great victory.

"Victory!"

"Victory!"

The surviving soldiers shouted, venting the surging blood within them.

After the brutal battle, only a third of them remained. Two-thirds of the soldiers had been left forever on these grasslands.

The banks of the Yinma River were filled with corpses, blood staining the soil and seeping into the river, turning the water red.

Sheng Huai'an looked at the piles of corpses and remembered that line of poetry.

The poor bones by the river, still the people in spring dreams!

Nearly six hundred of his subordinates were buried here forever.

They were all passionate young men with a long road ahead, perhaps with wives waiting for them at home.

The woman in the deep boudoir would never wait for the person who returned victorious.

"Huai'an, we need to hurry. If we get surrounded by Xiongnu Cavalry again, the remaining brothers won't be able to escape."

Seeing Sheng Huai'an silently looking at the bodies of his fallen comrades, Wang Wu said, holding his blood-stained saber and dragging a wounded arm.

Their whereabouts had been exposed, and the Xiongnu Cavalry had discovered their intention to return. Every minute they lingered on the grassland was another minute of danger.

They didn't even have time to collect the bodies of their fallen comrades.

Sheng Huai'an could only order them to continue their journey.

Taking three thousand warhorses, they left the Yinma River.

They were too few. There were still four to five thousand ownerless warhorses on the grassland. If they had more men, they certainly wouldn't abandon them.

But now they had only over three hundred men, and taking too many warhorses would only become a burden.

Less than two quarters of an hour after they left, another group of Xiongnu Cavalry arrived.

Seeing the ground covered in corpses and ownerless warhorses wandering around, Helan Ziyang's expression turned cold. They were too late.

"Captain!"

"Captain Tuoba, Captain Hu, and Captain Yi are all dead. Five thousand warriors, not a single one survived, all sacrificed heroically."

"How many enemies died?" Helan Ziyang's face was as cold as dripping water.

"About five hundred and seventy bodies, less than six hundred."

"With such casualties, how strong was the opponent, and how many men did they have?" Helan Ziyang was somewhat bewildered at this moment.

These were five thousand elite Xiongnu iron cavalry. Facing thirty thousand Great Wei infantry, they dared to charge directly, but now they were all dead by the Yinma River.

A ten-to-one casualty ratio, this was a terrifying number. He could no longer gauge the opponent's strength.

Perhaps the scout's information was false; this was not an ordinary Wei army at all.

"Could it be that there was a Xiantian expert in this group? Otherwise, how could three captains, all Houtian Grand Perfection, have died?" a Centurion asked.

Helan Ziyang fell silent. The only ones who could kill three Houtian Grand Perfections were Xiantian Martial Practitioners.

This undoubtedly indicated the presence of Xiantian experts among the enemy.

"Are we still going to pursue?" another Centurion asked.

Pursue, and the enemy force likely had Xiantian experts. If they pursued, they would be sending themselves to their deaths.

Not pursue, and they would face the Left Virtuous King's reprimand.

"Pursue!"

Helan Ziyang finally decided to pursue, but the speed of their pursuit slowed down.

They galloped all the way, not resting. When a horse couldn't keep up, they switched to another. Only by escaping the grassland could they survive.

When they entered the Great Wei territory and no pursuers were behind them, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Sheng Huai'an glanced at his subordinates. Before leaving the pass, there were one thousand and fifty to sixty men; now only over three hundred remained.

Seventy percent had died, over seven hundred lives forever left on the grassland. Sheng Huai'an felt heavy-hearted.

Of the remaining three hundred-plus men, the vast majority were Martial Practitioners.

Only those with strong abilities could survive on such a brutal battlefield.

Although they were now a remnant force, their aura was incomparable to what it was before.

Having fought their way out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood, the transformation they underwent was immense.

The remaining men were the true elites!

He continued towards Anning Pass with the survivors.

At night, they rested at the foot of a mountain.

Near the border, there were few people. With the Xiongnu army besieging the pass, they saw almost no one.

"Don't blame yourself too much. For us soldiers, dying on the battlefield is our destiny, our fate."

"Besides, the battle achievements we send back will amaze the entire Great Wei. They will receive the honor they deserve." Wang Wu saw Sheng Huai'an's silence and spoke to comfort him.

"I could have brought them all back," Sheng Huai'an said slowly.

"One's strength has its limits. You are not a Grandmaster, not even a Great Grandmaster," Wang Wu said, patting Sheng Huai'an on the shoulder.

Sheng Huai'an remained silent. Their original order was to attack the Xiongnu's supply troops. After failing to do so, he should have led the troops back to Anning Pass, and then so many people wouldn't have died.

"War is just that cruel. From the day we enlisted, we were prepared to die. You don't need to blame yourself. Remember this hatred, and we will make the Xiongnu pay with blood in the future."

Sheng Huai'an nodded silently