"That must be Xu Shiren, mustn't it?"
Still atop the central earthen hill, behind the newly raised plank wall, Xue Changxiong watched the tooth-grating spectacle on the battlefield ahead and turned to ask.
Although one corner of the Exorcising the Dragon rebels' Chessboard Camp had been broken, the other four camps still relied on their earth-banked plank houses to hold the line, maintaining a basic exchange of blows with the government troops, who had erected plank houses on Earthen Hill. Only the commander directing the archers and crossbowmen at the front had clearly changed. He likewise used River-Cutting True Qi, and his archery was likewise astonishing, but its power surpassed his predecessor's.
Never mind the soldiers perfunctorily tossing torches back and forth between the lines-even officers on the earthen hills were killed outright if they so much as showed themselves.
Naturally, this immediately brought to mind an anticipated Core Formation expert of the Exorcising the Dragon Gang whose presence had been exposed yesterday when he threatened Pingchang City: Xu Shiren, the Lu Commandery Great Hero.
"It's him," Murong Zhengyan answered without hesitation. "He's a little older than me, but we entered the pass in the same year and worked together in Daxing for several years. Later, I was the first to receive an outside appointment to a Commandant Province and went to Longxi. We never met again... but I still recognize his methods."
Xue Changxiong narrowed his eyes slightly, his thoughts wandering inexplicably astray.
Come to think of it, although Murong Zhengyan came from a distinguished family, and members of the Murong clan had wandered north and south even in its heyday, the main branch's roots and history lay in Hebei. When Eastern Qi fell, Murong Zhengyan had been taken to the Western Pass for essentially the same reason as