Chapter 1: The Sun Rises for the Third Time Section 3

  A mournful sound of a cow horn suddenly echoed across the grassland. Li Hong had a special feeling towards this low and melancholic sound of the cow horn. He had been listening to it every day since he was young, and he felt that the sound was desolate, majestic, and could calm people's restless and tense mood. He liked listening to it, and also liked blowing it himself, but now, hearing this sound in his ears made him feel extremely uncomfortable. They had been discovered by the pursuing soldiers.

  Murong Feng grasped his long spear and shouted loudly: "Charge forward and kill!"

  More than thirty cavalrymen immediately let out a loud battle cry, each holding their weapons, with Murong Feng as the center of the arrowhead, in a line, advancing towards the pursuing troops that had appeared vaguely in their field of vision.

  As they drew closer, about 150 paces apart (one pace in the Han Dynasty was roughly equivalent to 1.4 meters today), Li Hong heard a loud horn sound coming from the middle position. The iron wolf on his left let out a loud cry: "Draw your bow!"

  Li Hong was extremely nervous and a bit flustered, after all, in his short memory of just a few months, this was the first time he had faced an enemy head-on in a life-or-death battle.

  The effect of Iron Wolf's usual training was now apparent. Li Hong, after a moment of tension, steadied his bow hand. His legs tightly clamped the horse's belly (during the Han Dynasty, there were no stirrups), his body slightly tilted, arrow on string, right hand drawing back the bow, taking aim at his target, waiting to fire at any moment.

  The horse's speed is getting faster and faster, with the sound of wind whizzing past my ears. The dense hooves are flying up and down on the grassland, making a deafening roar.

  The loud bugle sounded again, with both sides about a hundred steps apart. The Iron Wolf let out a loud roar, causing Li Hong's whole body to shudder, and a chill ran through his entire body in an instant.

  "Let go...!"

  "Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..." The whistling sound of the arrow cluster tearing through the air drew a beautiful arc in the sky, shooting far away towards the enemy approaching from the opposite direction.

  Murong Feng's men were all seasoned generals who had been through many battles, with martial arts skills better than those of ordinary soldiers. Their arrows also flew farther than those of ordinary soldiers. Therefore, Murong Feng ordered his men to fire first and gain the upper hand. Immediately, the sound of horns rose and fell on the grassland, and both sides shot arrows back and forth for three rounds, with casualties on both sides. Soon the distance between the two sides was only 40 or 50 steps.

  Iron Wolf let out another earth-shaking roar as his own horn sounded: "Charge...!"

  Li Hong's ears were filled with the dull thud of colliding warhorses and the screams of soldiers on both sides, the tearing sound of spears piercing flesh, and the shattering sound of swords striking bodies. In an instant, Li Hong broke through the point of contact, and all he could hear was the wind and the rapid pounding of hooves.

  Li Hong killed the second person he had ever remembered. It was a middle-aged strong man, whose long spear flying over was dodged by Li Hong hiding under his horse's belly, and then Li Hong's war knife quickly swept across the man's chest and abdomen. The corner of Li Hong's eye saw the man fall under the horse. The fresh blood on the war knife was gently stroked by the cool wind on the grassland, and soon solidified into a shocking purple-brown color.

  Li Hong pulled hard on the reins, stopping the warhorse's frantic gallop.

  On the battlefield, whoever can launch a second attack in the shortest time will have an absolute advantage. With the help of galloping war horses, the wielded weapons rely on the inertia of speed, and the power is multiplied countless times. On the battlefield, if the war horse does not start running in time, even a great general may be killed by a nameless soldier who rushes over with the help of a galloping horse.

  Li Hong's riding skills were well-trained by Tie Lang. The warhorse borrowed the inertia to run sideways, and immediately flew up again.

  The sound of slaughter echoed across this green grassland.

  The other side was a team of scouts under Mu Ye's command, with more than 20 people. They were killed by Murong Feng and his men in just two rounds. Four or five people on Murong Feng's side were shot by arrows, and Li Hong killed two people.

  The cavalrymen who followed Murong Feng had always looked down on this Han boy with long hair. In their eyes, the Han people were weak and contemptible. If it weren't for the face of Iron Wolf and the fact that this kid had helped save Murong Feng, they would have already spoken ill of him. But now things are different. This tall and sturdy kid is extremely formidable, skilled in archery, swordsmanship, and horsemanship. The Xianbei people, like all barbarians, respect those who are strong and brave. They can now accept Li Hong. Li Hong suddenly found that these people's gazes towards him were much softer and more affectionate.

  Li Hong dismounted his horse to help gather the weapons, while several men were searching and rummaging through the dead soldiers for their money.

  Murong Feng sat on his horse, gazing at the distant dark sky, silently pondering his own thoughts.

  As dusk approached, a qianhu of the Hu tribe, Ke Ju, led over 200 men to chase them from afar. Murong Feng and his men were outnumbered and didn't dare to stop and fight, so they urged their horses to gallop wildly.

  In the distance, a forest appeared. Murong Feng waved his hand, and everyone understood, turning their horses to rush into the forest. After entering the forest, everyone dismounted to find a hiding place to prepare for an ambush. Murong Feng ordered a wounded cavalryman to leave from the side of the forest and go to Bailu Plain thirty miles away to seek help from the Iron Cavalry who were ambushing there.

  Ke Ju led the troops in pursuit to the outside of the forest, without any hesitation, and immediately ordered everyone to quickly dismount and enter the forest to kill the enemy. More than 200 people against more than 30 people, no matter how powerful the enemy was, they were likely to escape death in the end.

  As soon as Li Hong walked into the forest, that familiar feeling in his heart burst out. This familiar feeling made him extremely confident, and he even felt that he could dominate all life in this forest. He didn't think much, and quickly merged his body into the dense undergrowth.

  The soldiers of the Tiger Tribe were extremely cautious, holding small shields and advancing in a staggered formation.

  Li Hong hid behind a tree, and without hesitation, he raised his hand and shot an arrow. A soldier fell to the ground, the sharp arrow deeply embedded in his throat. Immediately, countless long arrows whizzed towards Li Hong's hiding place. Next, Mo Rongfeng's men, hidden everywhere, aimed at the enemy and shot a fatal arrow.

  Li Hong found his reactions suddenly became more acute, and his movements more agile. After the long arrow left the string, he quickly shifted to a new position and shot another arrow. An enemy soldier was hit in the forehead, and before he could even let out a cry of pain, he fell backwards. Li Hong jumped up and down, running back and forth, using arrows to kill five enemy soldiers, but then unfortunately got intercepted by Ke Ju.

  Ko Chyu walked along the side of the troops, staring intently at a Han slave with long hair. The Xianbei people, regardless of age or sex, did not wear hats, and were all bald except for a lock of hair on top of their heads, which they called "kun tou". It was probably because the Hu people wanted to be convenient that they intentionally shaved their heads, and after many years it naturally became a custom of their tribe. Now that Ko Chyu had fixed his gaze on Li Hong's long hair, Li Hong was very easy to recognize.

  Li Hong let out a loud roar and aimed at Ke Ju with his knife. A simple and clean cut, a powerful and forceful cut.

  Ke Ju raised his great knife, exerting all his strength to block the attack. For a moment, sparks flew wildly and the sound of metal clashing shook people's eardrums. Ke Ju's hands were numbed by the shock, and he suddenly felt that this person had an enormous amount of strength. Li Hong's knife moved in a slanted direction, following the long handle of Ke Ju's great knife as it chopped towards his left hand. Ke Ju let out a loud, shrill cry, his face pale with fear. In order to protect his left hand fingers, he was forced to release his grip, but his chest and abdomen were immediately exposed in front of Li Hong's knife.

  Just then, someone suddenly attacked Li Hong from behind with a knife. Li Hong had no choice but to abandon his attack on Ke Ju and counterattacked with one stroke of the knife. The attacker probably didn't expect Li Hong's strength to be so great, and the knife in his hand was immediately knocked askew. Li Hong took advantage of the momentum to turn around and slap the attacker's neck with a palm, causing him to let out a miserable cry, his neck cracking as it broke, and he fell to the ground headfirst.

  Li Hong didn't even look, and with a swift kick, he kicked Ke Ju's waist. Ke Ju let out a loud cry, and his knife chopped into the ground at an angle. Li Hong immediately sprang up and kicked Ke Ju's neck with his right foot. Ke Ju flew into the air and heavily crashed into a large tree, spitting out a mouthful of blood. Ke Ju stared at Li Hong with wide eyes, disbelieving, and died instantly.

  Several tiger tribe soldiers found Ke Ju being knocked down and rushed over to rescue him, shouting wildly. Li Hong casually threw out the long knife in his hand and killed one of them from a distance. The man had a knife inserted into his chest, with blood splashing everywhere, and still managed to run for several steps, with an astonishing momentum. Next, Li Hong very naturally took out an arrow from behind him, quickly drew his bow and shot it out, shooting through the throat of the enemy who was only one step away from him. At the same time, Li Hong's left foot picked up a war knife that had fallen to the ground and fiercely clashed with the enemy who was rushing over. At this moment, more soldiers found Ke Ju lying on the ground, they furiously roared and rushed over to rescue their leader.

  Li Hong's movements became more agile, his mind not needing to think, his hands and feet instinctively making swift and deadly reactions, even a single elbow movement could end a life. Li Hong fought with abandon, without using weapons, only his hands and feet, every part of his body that could be used was turned into a weapon. He felt that the big men in front of him, although armed and strong, were stupid and not worthy opponents. In an extremely short period of time, Li Hong had already killed two with his knife, kicked three to death when they weren't paying attention, and smashed one's face.

  Just then, he heard a familiar voice yelling in the distance: "Someone's coming, someone's coming......" It was Iron Wolf's cry.

  The enemy was too numerous, and Murong Feng and his men were at a disadvantage except for the initial sneak attack. One person resisted six or seven enemy soldiers, and ordinary soldiers couldn't do it unless they had super strong martial arts skills. More than a dozen of Murong Feng's men were killed by the enemy in a very short period of time.

  Murong Feng himself was surrounded by more than a dozen enemy soldiers. Although his martial arts skills were strong, he couldn't withstand the sheer number of enemies and had to constantly be on guard against someone shooting a cold arrow at him, so he quickly got stabbed by a sword. Ti Lang followed closely behind him, occasionally using his divine archery skills to help Murong Feng out. Seeing that the general was injured, he became anxious and didn't care if he exposed himself, opening his mouth to shout loudly.

  Li Hong was just a short distance away, attacking the enemy. When he heard the shouting, he thought Iron Wolf was in danger and rushed towards where Iron Wolf had shouted. From afar, Li Hong saw Murong Feng being hacked at with a knife, and instantly charged forward like a madman, swinging his battle knife to chop. He had long since entered a killing frenzy, his entire person dizzy and confused, wielding the knife as if chopping firewood, completely without any technique or method. But his chopping-people-like-firewood style was indeed enough to make one's blood run cold.

  Murong Feng's subordinates quickly gathered from all directions, protecting their general as they killed their way out of the encirclement without a hitch.

  When they encountered this group of fugitives who didn't want to fight, the enemy became fearful. Now that their leader Ke Ju is dead, the pursuing troops have lost their commander and are without a leader, at a loss for what to do. Since there's no one in charge to urge them on, no one wants to go forward and die for nothing. The pursuers immediately slowed down their pace, while the fugitives ran faster and faster, with the distance between the two sides growing farther and farther apart.

  "You idiot, can't you think before killing? First protect yourself, then go kill." Iron Wolf scolded Li Hong, who was following closely behind him. Li Hong's entire body was covered in blood, even his long hair was stained with blood. He gave Iron Wolf a silly smile, but he felt deeply moved inside. He knew that Iron Wolf was saying this because he cared about him.

  "Laugh, laugh, all you know is laughing. You idiot."