Chapter 55: The Liao Army Withdraws

  "My goodness! That soul is definitely going to die!" Ma Cheng led the defeated soldiers back to the formation, looking at Gong Sun Ce standing on the hill of corpses, fighting bravely against the enemy. Although he was shocked by Gong Sun Ce's martial arts skills, he also knew that Gong Sun Ce wouldn't last much longer.

  "Go to hell!" Gong Sun Ce was stabbed in the chest and abdomen, but thanks to Shan Weng's absolute defensive power, this knife did not harm him. His feet were covered with sticky corpses, and he was also knocked over by this knife.

  Gongsun Ce fell among the corpses, and the heavy armor around him cheered. They finally brought down this butcher covered in blood! These heavy armors had already lost their minds, what beheading the enemy general, promotion of three ranks, had been completely forgotten. They just wanted to chop Gongsun into minced meat, avenging their fallen comrades!

  Watching the chaotic knives fall, Chu Mengmeng's hands and feet turned cold on the city wall, and he lost his ability to think for a moment. He saw Gong Sunce's potential and found that his temperament was very much to his liking, so he defected to Gong Sunce. He also wanted to emulate Guo Jia and Cao Cao's old story, with the two joining hands to create a new career together.

  "Master!" Gao Shun's eyes widened in anger, and he let out a loud roar. The long spear in his hand shook violently, and a string of spear flowers flew out. Seven or eight heavily armored men who were blocking his way fell to the ground, clutching their necks, with blood gushing out from between their fingers. Before Gao Shun could rush forward, another group of heavily armored men surrounded him, making it impossible for him to move an inch.

  "You owe me one!" The dry voice of the ghost-faced green shirt entered Gong Sun Ce's ears, this voice was calm, but in the chaotic battlefield, it appeared clearly beside Gong Sun Ce's ear.

  Only to see a ghostly face in a green shirt, with one sword on his back, split open a heavily armored man who was about to chop down Gong Sun Ce. The heavy armor immediately split in two. The ghostly face blinked and passed through the body of this heavy armor, standing in front of Gong Sun Ce, sweeping out with one sword, the heavy armors surrounding Gong Sun Ce beheaded one after another, their heads rolling to the ground at the same time, headless corpses falling down.

  "Is Song Pei's will enough?" Gong Sun Ce stood up and saw that the ghost-faced Qing Shan had already cleared the surrounding area, and the Liang army's heavy armor did not dare to advance, but only surrounded them in a circle.

  The demon-faced man in green shook his head and stretched out his index finger: "A life for a life, very fair."

  Although he saved Gongsun Ce, Gongsun Ce did not intend to exchange his life for his. As for the words of Gui Mian Qing Shan, he did not agree or disagree. He just gripped the Wushan sword tightly and launched another attack on the heavy armor.

  Guimian Qing Shan disagreed and followed Gong Sun Ce closely, coordinating with each other in a fierce battle.

  "Who is that swordsman?" Song Pei saw Gong Sun Ce stand up again, and in his heart he was disappointed with Gong Sun Ce to the extreme. It was hard to believe that a swordsman without any armor could dominate the battlefield just by relying on the treasured sword in his hand!

  "Reporting to the Grand Commander, I, Ma Cheng, have heard Gong Sun Ce mention that person before. That person has no name and no surname, claiming to be Ghost Sword Guest Qing Shan, his whereabouts are uncertain, elusive and difficult to find." Ma Cheng returned defeated and knelt in front of Song Pei's tent.

  Song Pei listened, took a step back and forth, furrowed his brow in thought, then slapped the table and said incredulously: "Ghost Sword Guest? How can the Ghost Martial Legacy appear in the mortal world?"

  Gongsun Zan and Gui Mian Qing Shan formed a team, Gao Shun and his troops formed two battle groups. In the heavy armor array, they fought each other, making it impossible for the Western Army's elite heavy armor to form a favorable battle formation, and could only mix with the three thousand halberd soldiers, suffering huge losses.

  The heavy armor of the Liang army belonged to General Song Cheng, who was being attacked by Chen Shu and was retreating steadily. He was unable to effectively command the entire army, allowing the heavy infantry to fight on their own, making it impossible for them to exert their power and only barely holding on to the battlefield.

  "Ma Cheng, I'm giving you a chance to redeem yourself! Take my personal guard and drive those Qin cavalry away!" Song Pei saw that Song Cheng was surrounded, and it was possible that Gong Sun Ce had not yet died. If Song Cheng were to fall first, the central army would inevitably collapse, and killing Gong Sun Ce would become an empty phrase.

  He knew Gong Sun's symbol soldiers, and naturally also knew that as long as Gong Sun didn't die, the symbol soldiers would be manufactured endlessly. So as long as he killed Gong Sun or crippled him in one move, as long as Gong Sun didn't have powerful fighting strength in his hands, he wouldn't be able to collect soul energy, without soul energy, it was naturally also impossible to manufacture new symbol soldiers.

  "General Ma has received the order!" Ma Cheng stood up, leading two thousand Song-armed guards, and charged towards the battlefield five hundred meters away. His main task was to drive away the Fu cavalry and rescue Song Cheng from danger. After that, under Song Cheng's command, the Liang army's heavy armor troops could exert their due combat effectiveness.

  "Release arrows!" Half of the halberd soldiers under White Tower joined the ranks of surrounding and killing the heavy armor of Liang Jun, leaving only more than 700 crossbowmen to control the continuous crossbows.

  The five arrows of rain shoot indiscriminately at friend or foe, all heading straight for Song Cheng's location!

  The first wave of arrow rain fell, and the heavy armor that was fighting against Yu Qi suffered heavy casualties, with more than half of them killed or wounded. The light armor Yu Qi cavalry suffered even heavier losses, nearly annihilated.

  Immediately after the four-wheel arrow rain, Fu Qi stopped in his tracks, and only a few deviated crossbow arrows took away the lives of several Fu Qi. However, the heavy armor of the Liang army that continued to move towards Song Cheng suffered heavy losses, and even Song Cheng was shot off his warhorse by a crossbow arrow and nailed to the ground by subsequent crossbow arrows.

  "Kill!" Cheng Shen led the attack with less than six hundred Yu riders after the fifth round of arrow rain, charging straight at Song Cheng. He felt that killing Song Cheng would bring him great benefits, not just military merit, but also another kind of benefit.

  Song Cheng's pain was unbearable, and as he turned his head, he saw a general riding towards him on horseback. With one swift motion, the general pulled out the crossbow bolt that had been lodged in Song Cheng's chest, tightly connected to the soil beneath him. Just as Song Cheng sat up, General Cheng arrived, his long spear hooked around Song Cheng's neck, lifting his head high into the air, his eyes bulging with pain. His severed head sprayed a jet of black blood as it fell to the ground along with his lifeless body.

  "We must win!" Cheng Sheng held up Song Chong's head, and another general beheaded the vanguard of the Zhongjian army and snatched their flag! The heavy armor around them saw the life and death of their generals, and the battle spirit that had been integrated into their bodies lost their will to fight. They immediately lost their courage and fled in disorder.

  "We must win!" The five hundred elite cavalrymen raised their spears and shouted in unison, each one covered in blood. This loud cry caused Gongsun Zan's hot blood to surge in his chest as he fought, and with one swing of his sword, he beheaded the commander of the enemy's central army, Sima, and also raised his voice in a mighty roar: "We must win!"

  Gao Shun shot one arrow and hit a heavily armored officer, whose identity was unknown. He also shouted loudly: "We must win!"

  The troops were now reduced by half, and the wounded soldiers all shouted in unison: "We must win!"

  Behind them were three thousand halberdiers, led by Li Gui and Cao Teng, who shouted in unison: "We must win! We must win!"

  The Qin army's wave after wave of cheers made the heavily armored men, who were still trapped in the encirclement and did not know that their commander had died, look at each other in dismay. They turned their heads to look around, wanting to know the reason for the Qin army's cheering. Looking left and right, they couldn't even see their own commander's flag, let alone their commander Song Cheng.

  There were also sharp-eyed ones who pointed at the spear that pierced Song Cheng's skull, and Cheng Shen shouted loudly: "The general is dead! The general was killed by that cavalry!"

  All the Qiang Ironclad warriors who knew of Song's death had their battle souls extinguished, and they lost all will to fight. Without the support of their battle souls' willpower, these ironclad heavenly soldiers were devoid of any desire to fight, and some even knelt down to beg for mercy.

  "Defeated! How infuriating!" Song Pei was extremely angry, his trump card had been broken.

  He was very angry and also very sad.

  It's infuriating that he lost again, losing to a young man, a new recruit who had been in the military for less than a month! What's even more infuriating is that Song Cheng was beheaded! His most powerful pillar was beheaded!

  His anger was also sorrow, he had been fighting all his life, but he lost three times in front of Gongsun Zan. Although each time Gongsun Zan's victory had an element of luck, it couldn't change the fact that Song Xian lost every battle. What made him even more sorrowful were the two words "luck". Many heroes died unnamed in the wilderness, not because they weren't capable, but because they were unlucky.

  "Could it be that my Da Leng really has no chance of revival? Heaven is so unfair, giving me a chance with Song Pei and then adding another nemesis for me!"

  "It's unfair! I, Song Pei, refuse to accept this!" Song Pei couldn't suppress the turmoil in his heart, he looked up at the sky and stamped his foot, pointing at the heavens. Three consecutive failures made Song Pei realize that heaven's will was not on his side, and his heart was filled with darkness.

  This battle has already been lost, and even if the main force escapes, there will be few remnants. The main force and the large shield are his two sharp tools to deal with Gong Sun Ce. He originally planned to use the shield array to consume the physical strength of the Qin army, and then use 3,000 heavy armor to directly attack Huang Long, either severely injuring or killing Gong Sun Ce, best of all capturing him alive.

  Without the main force, there was no way to suppress Gong Sun's strategy afterwards. He didn't even have a chance later on. This battle defeated most of Gong Sun's cavalry, but the losses were not proportional, and Gong Sun was far from being severely injured, and he could recover his strength after resting for a while.

  He failed to quickly defeat Gongsun Zan and even if he won tactically, he had already lost strategically.

  "Kill!" Gong Sun Ce stood in the midst of the heavenly soldiers, issuing the order to pursue and kill. Three thousand halberd-wielding soldiers bravely pursued and killed, their large halberds directly facing the heavy armor. Although they were no match for it in terms of strength, they were extremely lethal during the pursuit. The long halberd stabbed out, and with one hook, it could hook and break the legs and feet of the heavily armored warriors.

  The heavy armor that lost its mobility was more fragile than an eggshell in front of the halberdiers. The Shu-Shen cavalry was even more ruthless, galloping horizontally among the scattered heavy armor, using their long spears to either hook and kill or knock down the fleeing heavy armor with a single thrust. The warhorses were majestic, neighing loudly as they charged forward. This caused the heavy armor to become completely disordered and at a loss for what to do.

  "Kill!" Ma Cheng led two thousand elite cool soldiers to kill, blocking Yu Qi and the halberdiers who followed, protecting the remaining five or six hundred heavy armored defeated soldiers while fighting and retreating.

  "Little boy, do you think you can still surpass me? Song Pei has already turned pale with fear. If he's like this, what hope is left for the State of Liao?" Gong Sun Ce stopped Fu Bing from pursuing and shouted loudly at Ma Cheng in front of him.

  "You're a demon, you've changed, no longer the Gong Sun Ce I knew! Next time, I absolutely won't hold back!" Ma Chengzhu stood with his spear, panting heavily.

  "Hahaha!" Gong Sun Ce laughed loudly towards the sky, his entire body covered in bloodstains, his face filled with dark red scabs, making him look exceptionally terrifying, no different from a demon.

  "How did I become a demon? I do what I should, and ignore what I shouldn't! The moral fabric of society has collapsed, don't you know? On my journey west, I've seen countless tragic scenes, and learned that human nature is even more sinister than what we read about in books!"

  "You kill people like flies, cold-blooded and brutal! Do you know that the people you killed are all your fellow townspeople from Liangzhou!" Ma Cheng raised his long spear and pointed at Gong Sun Zhan, who was seven or eight meters away, shouting loudly.

  "How could I not know? Everyone has their own master! I will take the road to heaven, this road requires a layer of white bones to be paved, and even my own skeleton is needed!" Gong Sun Ce walked to the front of Ma Cheng's gun and said in a condensed voice.

  "Is it? And what about the remains of Ma's certain person?" The spearhead quivered and pointed at Gong Sun Ce's brow.

  "That's right, whoever blocks my way, I'll make him thoroughly go to hell!" Gong Sun's words made Ma Cheng's body tremble with rage, he really wanted to thrust his spear out and immediately kill this butcher who had killed countless people.

  "You should know, such an opportunity is hard to come by in a thousand years! I've finally encountered it with great difficulty, how can I not strive for it with all my might?"

  "I want to be king, and I also want my old man to be the supreme king, as well as my mother! They raised me for twenty years, apart from keeping them safe, I also want them to enjoy all the glory and wealth in the world! I want to stand above everyone's head, the only ones who can stand above mine are them!"

  "I also want my son to be king, and let him enjoy the eternal glory! I want all those who follow me to make a name for themselves, and their descendants to flourish!" Listening to Gong Sun Ce's words after his experiences of killing and fighting, he poured out the repression in his heart, revealing his ambitious wild ambitions.

  Ma Cheng fell silent, and the long spear in his hand was withdrawn.

  Gongsun Ce still thought he had changed his mind and wanted to join him. At this moment, Gongsun Ce's spirit was very unstable, in the cruel killing, he encountered danger one after another, with great pressure in his heart, he needed to vent, he wanted to confide in his good friend, eager to get his understanding. Hoping that the two of them would fight together for their ideals.

  "Let's join forces and conquer the world together! Let's reign supreme together! How about it?" Gong Sun Ce implored Ma Cheng.

  Ma Cheng just shook his head and remained silent. He also had his own dreams, and he was not willing to be inferior to others. He just knew how to hold back and deeply hide the wild ambitions in his heart.

  "Gongsun Ce sighed to the sky: 'The human heart is always dissatisfied! There are many people in the world who are stronger than me, and you can't even compare to me. What qualifications do you have to participate in this game?'"

  "Don't be stubborn! What's the benefit of being loyal to Liang State? You're just a small officer now, why not come to Qin State?"

  "Spare your efforts, Commander Song has a life-saving favor on me, I should repay it with my own life!" Ma Cheng said, gesturing to his troops to retreat. He then slowly backed away, and Gong Sun Zan took a step forward to chase him. With a flick of his spear, the sharp blade cut through Gong Sun's armor straps.

  "A demon? I have not forcibly seized the people's wealth, nor have I allowed my soldiers to burn and kill. I have adhered to the principles in my heart, yet in your eyes, I am a demon?" Gong Sun Ce's tone was despondent as he turned around and led the Qin army away.

  Song Pei and others watched as the Qin army cleaned up the battlefield, sighing in dismay. Because Gongsun Ce had ordered the heavy armor of the fallen soldiers to be stripped, and after collecting all the crossbow arrows on the ground, he took the wounded soldiers back to the city. After this battle, Gongsun Ce would have a large number of heavy armored soldiers, which was like adding insult to injury for the Liang army.

  Liang Jun was naturally unwilling, but seeing the formation of Ge Bing and Nu Bing waiting for battle at any moment. Song Pei, who had already lost his killer mace, did not want to lose his soldiers in vain, and his generals were also frightened, developing a psychology of fear towards Gongsun Zan.

  Afterwards, the Xia army arrived, and the Liang army retreated. Gongsun Zan defended Huating and began a standoff with the Western Xia army.

  At the same time, Dong Zhuo's 8,000-strong Pingxi army was fully armed and set out after transporting supplies from Xianyang to Gongsun Zan. Guo Liang and Liu Wei accompanied him, as well as two of Gongsun Zan's generals, Jiang Peng and Li Zixi.

  As for the Xianyang Gongsun Mansion, due to An Meng's arrival, it fell into a strange and eerie atmosphere.