Chapter 37: Wu Shan's Sword

  "The enemy has collapsed! Big brother won! He won!" An Meng saw Gong Sun Ce's right wing defeat the enemy army head-on, and Cheng Shen pincer-attacked the enemy central army. The enemy central army directly dispersed, dispersing like a plague rapidly spreading among the enemy troops. Even the enemy right wing fled without fighting when they saw Gong Sun Ce's cavalry approaching, being chased and killed by Ge Bing's troops.

  Kuang Liang smiled calmly, with a hint of regret that he couldn't participate in this battle. But he could feel it, such wars would accompany him for the rest of his life. He turned to look at An Meng who was running and jumping around, as if looking at his own sister.

  "No one can stop his footsteps, and his pace can destroy all obstacles in the way." Chu Mengmeng took out her watch and looked at the time, saying: "This battle is indeed swift, we have been here for less than twenty minutes. General Gong Sun has defeated an enemy army twice as large as his own, using fair and square combat. The weak defeating the strong, he is indeed a worthy successor of Lü Bu!"

  An Meng said with a pout: "It was Big Brother who defeated the enemy army, not Lü Bu! Besides, if Big Brother wasn't strong, would Lü Bu have passed on the legacy to him?" Guo Liang and the others heard this and smiled slightly, but An Meng's angry words seemed to make some sense.

  "That guy runs fast, but how far can he run?" Gong Sun Ce drank water, looking at the enemy general who was hiding in the crowd of fleeing soldiers and escaping with a sly smile. The battlefield is not very big, now the situation is clear, that enemy general is wearing a bright golden armor, too eye-catching. It's not easy to escape by relying on two legs.

  "Kill them all!" Gong Sun Ce drank in one gulp, raised his whip and urged on his horse, leading the Yu riders in pursuit.

  Gao Shun rode on Guo Liang's war horse, bursting with extreme strength, charging at the forefront, and scattering the defeated soldiers of the enemy. He charged straight at that enemy general, but unexpectedly, the enemy general heard the sound of horseshoes behind him, and just as Gao Shun was about to thrust his spear over, he suddenly turned around and swung his sword horizontally.

  "Go to hell!" The enemy general roared, his face ferocious, staring at Gao Shun with a gaze that seemed to invite death. The long sword in his hand was also a treasured object, and with one swing of the sword, it blocked the escaping soldiers within its range, cutting them down at the waist one after another. Seven or eight fleeing soldiers were cut down consecutively, without any sign of weakening, as the sword hacked fiercely towards the chest of the warhorse that was about to collide with him, extremely sharp and menacing.

  This is a treasured sword, exceptionally sharp. The enemy general will believe that this one sword can not only behead the warhorse with one stroke, but also cut in two the mounted Gao Shun.

  "A trivial skill!" Gao Shun changed the direction of his spear and parried the incoming sword blade. The enemy general's treasured sword almost flew out of his hand, and he was forced to hold it with both hands.

  Gao Shun's horse was extremely fast, and the two of them passed each other in an instant. Even when Gao Shun pulled hard on the reins, he still slowed down only after a dozen or so meters, due to the fleeing soldiers being knocked flying everywhere. The enemy general saw Gao Shun halt his horse, turned around and charged towards him, shouting loudly as he ran several steps before leaping into the air and striking out with his sword.

  In mid-air, the enemy general saw that Gao Shun had not yet turned around, and he was greatly pleased in his heart. As long as he could cut down this enemy general with one sword, snatch his warhorse, and he would be able to escape with his life. Just as Gao Shun turned around, he discovered the enemy general charging at him with his sword raised, but it was too late to dodge, and all he could do was stare with wide eyes, full of unwillingness.

  "It's not a monkey, why are you jumping so high!" At this critical moment, Gongsun Zan, who was following closely behind Gaoshou, naturally discovered the enemy general's trick. He rode his horse to chase up and stabbed out with one spear, directly piercing the enemy general's shoulder pit. The enemy general suddenly lost balance in mid-air, and the precious sword in his hand also fell to the ground.

  Gongsun Zan took advantage of the horse's momentum, holding a halberd in one hand and charging forward with the enemy general for twenty or thirty meters before stopping amidst a pile of routed soldiers. The enemy general wailed in agony mid-air, flailing his limbs wildly. Gongsun Zan smiled cruelly, then suddenly pulled back his halberd, but the small branch on the halberd head got stuck in the enemy general's shoulder bone, and together they fell to the ground beneath the horse.

  He drew out the Qinglong spear once more, and a large chunk of flesh and bone fragments were hooked out. Looking at the piece of flesh stuck to the spearhead slowly rotting away, Gong Sun Ce furrowed his brow. He hadn't expected these revived spirits to recover so quickly; their current state was already similar to that of a corpse that had just died. It seemed that it wouldn't be long before these generals fully recovered their human forms, and that would be the true beginning of the disaster.

  Seeing the enemy general struggling on the ground, trying to get up, he thrust his spear out and stopped at the opponent's neck, asking in a cold voice: "Which country's army are you? Who are you?"

  "Great Qin, I am the great..." The general lifted his head and shouted loudly, with a face covered in dust and pain, looking like a defeated general.

  Gongsun Zan thrust his spear into another shoulder of the enemy general, causing him to scream in agony. Gaoshou reined in his horse beside Gongsun Zan, keeping watch all around, while the surrounding fleeing enemy soldiers were cut down by the pursuing Yu cavalry, who continued their pursuit without relenting.

  The place was empty, with only three people left. Gong Sun Ce had vented his hatred and finally pulled out the Qinglong spear. The enemy general lay on the ground, barely holding onto human form, with wounds all over his back that Gong Sun Ce had pierced, continuously spewing out dark, thick blood, his entire body convulsing non-stop.

  Gao Shun was the first divine general under his command and also the first great general who could stand alone. If Gongsun Zan had arrived a little later, even if it was just one second later, Gao Shun might have been killed by the enemy general. It's worth noting that in order to awaken Gao Shun's divine general soul pearl, it wasn't enough for him to just kill countless soldiers on his own, he also needed to add the soul energy released by Lü Bu after he killed Hao Meng. Only with so much soul energy was he able to awaken Gao Shun's divine general soul pearl.

  If Gao Shun's body dies, he will turn back into a Divine General's Soul Pearl, and he doesn't know if he can get it again, nor does he know when he'll be able to accumulate enough soul energy to awaken the Soul Pearl. So in his heart, he has already sentenced this enemy general to death, even if he could make the enemy general on the ground surrender, he wouldn't want to.

  "Remember, I am the one from the Great Qin camp! You think you can be a great Qin too? Tell me, is it Former Qin or Later Qin? Or perhaps Western Qin?" Gong Sun Ce was just making an excuse. It's not easy to deal with an enemy general without a reason. Unprovoked venting of hatred would make his own name synonymous with brutality. He thought his reputation still had some use and couldn't be tarnished for nothing. So he made an excuse to humiliate the enemy general who was lying on the ground.

  "General Fu Miao of the Great Qin! Whether to kill or behead, it's all up to you!" The enemy general, Fu Miao, was also a brave and fierce warrior. He gritted his teeth and stared at Gongsun Zan, only wanting a quick death. Gongsun Zan had obtained the information he wanted, and Fu Miao had lost any other value. Now, all that remained was a head that could serve as powerful evidence of Gongsun Zan's military achievements.

  Gao Shun jumped off his warhorse and picked up Fu Miao's treasured sword. Standing beside Fu Miao, Fu Miao struggled to get up, swaying unsteadily as he stood, spitting out large mouthfuls of dark black blood. Turning his head to face Gongsun Zan, he said: "You're very strong! Your luck is even stronger! Ha ha, but even the most prosperous luck will have a day of decline. A dynasty's flourishing era lasts for dozens of years, let alone you being just one person!"

  As he finished speaking, Fu Meng gazed up at the sky and slowly fell backwards, his body laughing loudly: "The fame of a thousand years is nothing to boast about, in the end it all flows away like water!"

  Gao Shun's face was stern and he suddenly swung his sword.

  The sword fell, bloodless. The sword body was as smooth as jade, with dense black diamond patterns on the cyan material, and a murderous aura emanated from the elegant texture. Gao Shun sheathed his sword, and Fu Meng fell backwards, his head leaving the neck stump only after he hit the ground, rolling to a stop, a sad smile still gazing up at the azure sky.

  Afterwards, Fu Miao's corpse slowly rotted away, even the red gold armor on his body began to corrode and weather. Strangely, Gao Shun's long sword in his hand, as well as Fu Miao's head on the ground, did not rot at all. Gong Sun Ce dismounted his horse, took out a cloth bag from the saddle, and stuffed Fu Miao's severed head into it.

  "What a pity, such a brave man should have been recruited instead." Gong Sun Ce's anger in his heart has dissipated, and now he feels some regret. Killing Fu Meng was just a simple sword strike, but recruiting such a talented person is not that easy.

  Gao Shun retrieved the scabbard and, with both hands, presented the sword to his lord, saying: "My lord, a warrior like Fu is willing to die for what he holds in his heart and chest. If you were to spare his life, even if he lived, it would be a life of suffering. It's better to let him die."

  "It's also true that people can't just live for the sake of living. Dying for a faith in one's heart is also happiness. It's much better than an inexplicable death, an unwilling death!" Gong Sun Ce sighed deeply about life and faith, Gao Shun listened silently, and then hung his cloth bag on the horse's saddle.

  Gongsun Ce had just drawn out his long sword and first saw the inscription on the blade: Wushan Sword!

  The sword body is narrow and long, with a cyan color, covered with black diamond patterns, about three feet five inches long, the hilt is half a foot, a true long sword. Gong Sun Ce happened to not have a sword on him, he had already experienced the sharpness of this Wu Shan sword. So he was very satisfied, and directly hung it on his waist buckle.

  The entire battlefield was without a single drop of blood, only a vast expanse of withered grayness. From the direction of the county town, shouts and screams continued to echo, indicating that this war was still ongoing.

  "My lord, do you know the origin of this Wushan sword?"

  "I don't know, is he very famous?" Gong Sun Ce and the other two led their horses slowly towards the logistics team, chatting as they walked.

  Along the way, there were still many seriously injured Fu soldiers who were consuming the soul energy stored in their bodies to heal their wounds. There were also Fu soldiers who did not have enough soul energy and died from serious injuries. There were also enemy soldiers who were seriously injured but not dead, and were killed by the recovered Fu soldiers. Gong Sun Ce had become numb to these scenes.

  "The Wushan Sword was a bronze sword cast in the county of Wushan during the reign of Qin Wuwang, with a total of sixteen swords produced. Eight were awarded to the royal family surnamed Ying, and the remaining eight were distributed among the high-ranking generals of the Qin army. At that time, the Wushan Sword was renowned as a divine weapon, capable of cutting through iron like mud." Gao Shun mentioned that this bronze sword was surprisingly stronger and sharper than an iron sword. Gong Sun Ce seemed to believe it, nodding his head in understanding.

  "Your Excellency, the Wushan Sword has a special significance to the State of Qin. Therefore, I implore you not to use it lightly and not to let people with ulterior motives know about this matter." Gao Shun thought that the best solution would be to send the Wushan Sword along with Fu Meng's head to Xianyang, but seeing how much Gong Sun Ce liked the sword, he gave up on this idea.

  Gongsun Zan stroked the scabbard of his sword, seeming to understand Gao Shun's unspoken meaning. He said somewhat disapprovingly: "Qin is in a situation where they need people, and besides, what can they do to us? On this western expedition, when we return to Xianyang, I will be considered strong and powerful. The world is in chaos, with no peace for even a day, so Qin won't deal with us without reason."

  "Big brother!" An Meng rushed to Gong Sun Ce with a thermos box in her arms and asked, "Are you hungry? Hurry up and eat something to replenish your energy." Gao Shun saw An Meng coming over and led the symbol horses of himself and Gong Sun Ce to one side to feed them grass.

  Gongsun Ce saw that the thermos box contained steaming hot clear stewed beef, cut into small pieces. Honestly, at this moment he was moved by An Meng. He wolfed down the soup and devoured the beef in big mouthfuls, finishing off the contents of the thermos box in just a few breaths. Looking at An Meng with sympathy, it turned out that going to battle really did consume a lot of physical energy. He made up his mind that no matter what, he would not let Gongsun Ce go to battle on an empty stomach.

  "We're entering the county town, let's have a good search today!" Gong Sun Ce patted his bulging belly and led the logistics team towards the county town. He sat in the horse carriage with An Meng in his arms, feeling quite pleased to have a lovely sister by his side.

  Skirmishes were still taking place within the county seat, all involving Yu troops who thoroughly carried out Gongsun Zan's order to annihilate the enemy.

  Du Yuanzheng and Liu Wei started their long-planned action, following the plan made on the map, and carried out a thorough search of gold and silver jewelry stores and banks in the county town.

  Gao Shun took the Yu Bingwei guards and found the crowd imprisoned in the county town, starting to select soldiers who could satisfy him.