Chapter 38: Battle in the Wasteland
By the time Lu Yuan’s voice fell, the Cloud-Rushing Crane Wing Array was already in formation. With Lu Yuan at its head and a dozen men behind him, they formed the crane’s beak.
The rest were split to either side as the Crane Wings, responsible for reaping the scattered Northern Barbarians.
Their roles were clearly defined.
Just as their formation was set, the Northern Barbarian contingent appeared in the distance.
Manyan Hun was one of the Manyan Tribe’s young warriors. He was the fiercest of them all, wielding an Eight-sided Warhammer that weighed three hundred and eighty jin.
Behind him followed the warriors of the Manyan Tribe. There were over eighty of them, all clad in leather armor and wielding various weapons.
On this campaign, Manyan Hun had reaped great rewards, killing hundreds of Dayong warriors.
The spoils of war were innumerable.
What vexed him, however, was that he had yet to find any Iron Kites to kill.
If he couldn’t take a worthy head back as a trophy, this campaign would ultimately feel incomplete.
The thick flesh on his face rippled like waves with every jolt of his warhorse.
Just then, a group of riders in the distance caught his eye.
A Centurion at his side pointed it out. "It’s a Dayong squad."
"I can see that," Manyan Hun boomed.
Then, he turned and roared to the men behind him, "Charge!"
He paid the enemy squad no mind. In recent days, he’d lost count of how many Dayong scouts he had slain.
Whether they numbered in the dozens or in the hundreds, he had routed them all, sending them fleeing in disarray.
Thus, he was just as certain of victory this time.
SKREEE!
At that moment, Lu Yuan’s Cloud-Rushing Crane Wing Array was fully deployed. They charged toward the Manyan Tribe’s contingent at incredible speed.
As they broke through the air, they faintly emitted the cry of a crane.
Empowered by the Military Array, every warrior was energized, as if on a powerful stimulant. They felt divinely aided.
Not only was their speed far greater than usual, but their strength had increased significantly as well.
Lu Yuan brandished his Tiger Head Heaven-Swallowing Blade, charging at the very front. As the crane’s beak, his role was crucial. He had to break the enemy lines in the first wave of the charge. Otherwise, the wings would be unable to unleash their power, and there was even a risk of them being "clipped."
Therefore, his expression was grim, every muscle in his body tensed.
A faint golden light shimmered on the surface of his skin.
The moment the two forces neared each other, his saber slashed down at Manyan Hun. The blow was incredibly heavy, the third stance of the Five Tigers Array-Breaking Saber: Fierce Tiger Descending the Mountain.
The roar of a tiger seemed to echo from the blade’s edge.
With the momentum of his charging horse, the force of his attack was terrifying.
Although Lu Yuan was only at the Bone Forging Realm, his strength and speed had long surpassed the limits of the Tendon Refining Realm. Combined with the enhancement from the Military Array, he now swung his blade with all his might.
The result was nothing short of terrifying.
Manyan Hun, however, was unfazed. He raised his warhammer to meet the attack.
CLANG!
As the two weapons collided with a spray of sparks, the Eight-sided Warhammer was sent flying from his grip. His arm trembled violently, the webbing between his thumb and forefinger split open, and his palm was drenched in blood.
Before he could react, he saw the massive blade growing larger and larger in his vision.
A sharp pain flared in his neck, and then he lost consciousness.
To the onlookers, they only saw the two clash for an instant before Manyan Hun’s head was lopped off. Blood geysered from the dark stump of his neck.
Without pausing, Lu Yuan caught the flying head with his left hand, tossed it into a burlap sack on the right side of his warhorse, and continued his charge.
A Bone Forging Realm warrior behind Manyan Hun was caught by the sweep of his blade. The man’s chest armor and flesh were split open in an instant, and blood sprayed from his torso as he tumbled from his horse.
Lu Yuan didn’t even bat an eye. With a hard thrust from the pommel of his blade, the sharp Armor-Piercing Awl pierced through another Northern Barbarian warrior’s abdomen.
He lifted the man and flung him aside.
He was like a red-hot knife plunging into snow; any obstacle in his path melted away in an instant.
The Northern Barbarian cavalry behind him scattered out of habit.
But what met them were the waiting Crane Wings.
A forest of spearheads slammed into them. There was no need for fancy techniques; they simply had to hold their spears steady, and an enemy would be impaled and thrown from his horse.
Seeing this, Zhou He said to the men behind him, "Don’t say I never give you a chance to earn merit! Killing one of them is worth triple the military honors, and my brother has already completely shattered the Northern Barbarians’ formation."
"We won’t charge the main force head-on. Just pick off the ones that try to escape from the sides."
"How many heads you collect is up to you."
With that, he eagerly led his men toward the flanks of the battle.
A single head was worth triple military honors and silver rewards. To be honest, killing just one enemy would earn them more than they made on an entire previous sortie.
And it was practically risk-free.
The men naturally followed Zhou He, charging forward with whoops and hollers.
At this point, this elite force of Northern Barbarians had become fish in a barrel for Lu Yuan and his men.
And all the while, the system’s voice was ringing continuously in his mind.
[You have slain an opponent. Five Tigers Array-Breaking Saber Skill Level +10]
...
[You have blocked an opponent’s attack. Iron Bone Golden Bell Shield Skill Level +10]
...
[You have executed a formation charge. Cloud-Rushing Crane Wing Array Skill Level +10]
...
Lu Yuan could clearly feel his power growing.
At the same time, Zhang Zhe’s first battle after arriving in the Northern Border had nearly cost him his life. Just as he was excitedly leading his troops in a charge against the enemy, he discovered that his opponents were not the Manyan Tribe’s elite cavalry, but the Iron Kites—each with eyes like a wolf and a battle spirit as sharp as a blade.
Fortunately, Bai Hong, riding behind, managed to grab the charging Zhang Zhe in time, saving his life. The others were not so lucky.
The elite troops he had brought from Yunzhou, unaware of the situation, continued their charge. In a single exchange, more than half of them were shot down from their horses by the Iron Kites.
The rest broke and fled in chaos.
Zhang Zhe and Bai Hong used their own men as human shields, fleeing desperately for an entire morning before they managed to make it to a location not far from Yellow Sand City.
By then, both men and their horses were utterly exhausted.
Staring at the handful of men who had managed to follow them, Zhang Zhe swallowed hard. "Master, we’ve failed. Everyone’s dead. How am I going to explain this when I get back? It’s all over."
Bai Hong, after straightening his robes, replied, "Don’t panic. We were supposed to engage the Manyan Tribe’s elite cavalry, but we ran into the Iron Kites. This isn’t your fault. Anyone else would have fared no better in your situation."
"The Helian Family won’t blame you for this. The fact that you faced a full formation of Iron Kites and made it back alive is a credit to you in itself."
Seeing that Zhang Zhe was still fearful, he continued to console him, "Yun Mo of Huqiu City led a hundred elites against just a few dozen Iron Kites, and he was forced to flee back, grievously wounded. Yet no one dared call him incompetent."
"So how could they say that about you? Just calm down. In this world, aside from a few legendary Renowned Generals, there is no such thing as an undefeated general."
After hearing this, Zhang Zhe finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Leading his few remaining soldiers, he headed toward Huangsha Fortress.
Meanwhile, Zhou Hongling was urging her horse toward Icefield City. She called out to a messenger behind her, "Send a carrier pigeon to Sai City at once! Have them dispatch men into the Wasteland to find Lu Yuan’s party. Once they’re found, tell them the situation has changed. He is to return at once and not linger in the Wasteland."
"As you command!"
Upon receiving the order, the messenger immediately dismounted and began to write hastily. He then took a pigeon from a cage on his back, tucked the paper slip into its message tube, and released it into the air.
Watching the pigeon fly off into the sky, Zhou Hongling couldn’t help but think, ’I hope it’s not too late.’