Chapter 4: Narrow Road Encounter

  "Slap!" Chu Feiyang slapped Huang Zhi with a loud slap, sending him tumbling to the ground on his right side. He then cursed loudly: "Black-mouthed! Whatever you say comes true! Pass down the order! Retreat!"

  Huang Zhi covered his swollen face and scrambled to get up, rushing out of the tent and shouting loudly: "Brothers, retreat quickly! Everyone run for your lives!"

  "Hurry up!" The soldiers of the Imperial Guard, who were collecting their belongings by the light of candles in the camp, threw away what they had in their hands and ran out of the camp, crying and shouting "Run for your lives! The Jin army is coming!" Another chaotic scene ensued. A few generals tried to stop them: "Don't run wildly! Pick up your weapons and come this way!" But the situation was too chaotic and uncontrollable.

  Chu Fei heard the chaos outside and knew that the situation was already lost. He thought about how they were originally evenly matched, but now they had all been defeated by a single sneak attack. Moreover, the original General Tong was still hiding from him, afraid that he would take his head in the midst of the army... His heart was filled with resentment and unwillingness to accept defeat.

  "No! I won't back down like this!" Chu Fei sat alone in his commander's tent, clenching his fists and shouting to vent his emotions. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration: Ah-ha! I can also launch an ambush on him, after all, I can come and go freely among the ten thousand soldiers! Hmm, it'll be at that mountain valley where the fire is burning, that's the only route they'll take to return.

  "Guards, follow orders! Bring your weapons and come with me!" Chu Fei grasped the spear beside him and rushed out of the door, shouting loudly to pass on the order.

  There were two hundred guards, all of whom had practiced some martial arts and had always admired and trusted Chu Fei's skills. They had also received guidance from Chu Fei, so not many dispersed with the scattered soldiers, only more than fifty people.

  As Chu Fei shouted loudly, all the guards who were not present gathered around. Then, Chu Fei led more than 140 guards to quickly retreat in a swarm, and as they retreated, surprisingly, more than 220 people watched this team's neat formation and followed suit.

  It turned out that the sun was about to come out, but today's fog was even thicker, with visibility of only over 100 meters. Chu Fei led the more than 360 people away from the crowd and disappeared into the mountains. After drilling through thousands of meters of mountain forest, the sun broke through the fog, and the forest began to clear up. At this time, the vigilant people discovered that they were being led in a circle back, and hurriedly stopped and turned around, wanting to run in another direction.

  He had just turned and run four or five steps when he heard a "whooshing" sound, then felt a sharp pain in his left chest. He was pinned to the ground by an arrow that had pierced his left chest, passing through his heart, with some blood flowing into his lungs, bubbling up from his trachea and out of his mouth, while another part flowed down along the arrow. The soldier's mouth opened wide, unable to speak, and only spat out some blood before struggling a few times, staring blankly ahead, unmoving - for him, the world had gone dark.

  At this moment, Chu Fei shouted: "Who else wants to escape? Stand up now!" The soldiers were frightened and did not dare to speak out. Those who had the idea of escaping also shrank their heads.

  Chu Fei glared around in a circle, seeing no one responding, shouted: "With me here, what are you afraid of? Let's go!" and turned to continue on his way.

  After crossing mountains and rivers for more than two hours, Chu Fei led more than 360 brave warriors - this was Chu Fei's self-proclaimed title, whether they wanted to come or not, dared to come or not, in short, those who came were considered brave warriors! - finally arrived at the top of the mountain in the valley.

  It's unclear whether it was due to the humidity or the limited amount of flammable materials set by the Jin army, but the fire in the valley only burned half of the mountain and suddenly stopped. Chu Fei also secretly rejoiced: Fortunately, there are still some trees left on this side that didn't get burned, otherwise we'd be screwed!

  He thought so, but his soldiers didn't think so. They looked at the charred mountain in the distance and the scattered smoke that hadn't been extinguished, smelling the fragrant and pungent smell of roasted meat, and some people couldn't help but sob, while others knelt to the ground, probably because they had relatives who died in this mountain fire...

  Chu Fei flew back, his heart filled with remorse, and squeezed out two tears. He knelt down on the ground, shouting sadly: "I, Chu Fei, am incompetent, causing my brothers to die here. Please accept my bow!" After bowing for a while, he lifted his head again, his face set in determination, shouting: "Chu Fei will not be defeated! I swear to destroy Old Dog Tong to avenge my brothers!" The soldiers who heard the voice were stirred up, and some followed him, shouting: "Swear to destroy Old Dog Tong!"

  Chu Fei stood up, turned around to face the soldiers, and said: "Today I take revenge, Chu Fei is alone, and cannot force you all to come forward. I am ashamed in my heart, please accept a bow from me! Also, please use your strength to take revenge!" After finishing speaking, Chu Fei knelt down to kowtow to the soldiers.

  "It's not good for the general!" The several guards who were close by quickly knelt down and shouted: "General, please get up! We can't take it, it will shorten your lifespan!" Seeing that Zhang Fei didn't move, they hastily shouted: "We swear to follow the general to death!"

  The other soldiers saw this and were indignant in their hearts. They also quickly knelt down and shouted: "We swear to die following the general!"

  Several guards who were approaching knelt down and helped Chu Fei up. Chu Fei stood up with the momentum, a smile also appearing on his face, and continued to say: "Brothers, please get up quickly, in a moment we will launch a surprise attack and everyone must fight bravely, don't hurt your knees on the stone!" ——It turned out that he was afraid of hurting the stone, not afraid of hurting his knees.

  After a while, the heavenly soldiers were under Zhu Fei's command, starving and hiding in the trees of the mountain valley.

  Tong Dashuai led the Central Army to charge into Haotian's military camp, seeing that Haotian's army was in great chaos. After charging and killing for two rounds, he handed it over to Qin Hao, who arrived later. He instructed: "Qin Hao, the pursuit of Haotian's defeated soldiers is now up to you, I'll return to the camp to see how things are going and wait for good news."

  Qin Hao knew that Tong Dashuai's body was no longer as robust as it had been a few years ago, and he hastily replied: "Yes sir! I guarantee that the Heavenly Gate will not be attacked again!"

  "Hehe, okay! I believe you can complete this task, go ahead, be careful not to get hurt by Huang Tian's Chui Fei." Tong Da Shuai emphasized some precautions again.

  "Thanks for your concern, General! I'll take care of it!" Qin Hao replied before turning around and chasing after him.

  Tong Da Shuai nodded in satisfaction, his eyes narrowed into a smile as he watched Qin Hao lead the troops away. Only when they were out of sight did he turn back to face the two hundred neatly lined up imperial guards and give the order: "Begin our journey back to camp!"

  Lei Meng stood silently beside Tong Da Shuai, his emotions complex as he faced so many dead bodies for the first time. There was nothing more to say, war was just that cruel, either you die or I perish. Prosperity brings suffering to the people; death also brings suffering to the people.

  At noon, Tong Dashuai led the guard team to walk towards the unnamed valley under the scorching sun. Looking at the half-green and half-blackened valley, smelling the distant smell of burning, Lei Meng couldn't help but feel a little sad: these dead people were so innocent. But what can be done? The lives and deaths of civilians and soldiers are mostly decided by those in power... Perhaps, perhaps if I lead the people here, their lives will be better...

  "Thunder, are you feeling numb and shocked? It's understandable, you're still young and haven't experienced many battles. Once you've seen more, you'll become desensitized too." General Tong said to comfort Thunder, who had a wooden expression in his eyes.

  "Hmm, it's a bit sad for the dead." Leiming replied, then asked: "I don't know what caused the war between the two countries this time. It seems that the two countries have been at peace for over ten years."

  Young General stroked his beard and sighed, "Yes, it's been fourteen years of peace. I'm not clear about the specific reasons, but I heard that the Emperor was dissatisfied with the envoy from Huatian, so he declared war on Huatian; Huatian was defeated, and the Emperor also sent more troops to garrison. The two countries have had victories and defeats in their battles, but neither has gained much land."

  "Alas, how many more will die?" Lei Meng sighed.

  "Yes, the longer we fight, the deeper our hatred grows, and the more fiercely we fight, the more people die."

  It's time for revenge... Lei Meng thought to himself.

  Suddenly, a group of Huangtian soldiers rushed out from the mountain forest on the left side of the team, shouting "Kill!" as they charged.

  "Contract and await the enemy!" General Tong shouted loudly.

  The guards listened to the order and quickly gathered around Tong Da with a sword to welcome the enemy. Chu Fei led more than 360 people down the valley, surrounded and killed, seeing that the Jin army was small, the crowd of heavenly soldiers was extremely excited, using many to fight against few, and the beheading was even more powerful.

  Chu Fei used the three-meter-long spear in his hand to kill five or six Jin soldiers, charged forward two steps, and saw Tong Wen in the crowd. He thought he had a chance to avenge himself, and was overjoyed, shouting loudly as he charged forward: "Chu Fei is here! Come on, old dog Tong, let's fight to the death!" As he spoke, he killed another five or six Jin soldiers.

  Tong Dashuai was shocked to hear Chu Fei's shout, and hastily retreated backwards, shouting: "Quickly retreat, we will join forces with Qin Hao!" Fortunately, they were surrounded, and the Jin army had nowhere to go, otherwise this sentence would have caused chaos among the guards.

  "Halt, Commander!" Little Thunder grasped General Tong's left hand and said in a crisp tone: "It's too late to retreat now! Let me meet with Chu Fei first!"

  "Attention everyone, our reinforcements have arrived, let's fight to the death!" He then turned around and faced Che Fei, who had challenged him four times in a row.

  Ten meters away, Chu Fei saw Tong Dashuai turn around to leave, his heart suddenly anxious, and then he saw him being pulled back by a short-haired and slender little kid, turning around, his heart turned joyful, but his mouth still cursed: "Tong old dog, don't run!" He thought that the more chaotic the Jin army was, the better, the more people surrounded, the fewer would be killed, Tong Wen would not be able to escape.

  Chu Fei once again charged and killed five Jin Yuan guards, only five meters away from Commander Tong. Chu Fei saw that Commander Tong had not escaped, was overjoyed, but also feared he would suddenly leave, so he forcefully shot an arrow step forward, knocking down the ten guards in front of him, and casually killed another one, arriving just a meter away from Commander Tong. He's really within reach! You can't escape now, old dog Tong Wen Zheng! Haha! Chu Fei indulged in his fantasy for a moment, then raised his gun and stabbed it into Commander Tong's left chest.

  Tong Dashuai was greatly shocked. His position as a general was based on his brain, he was the commander-in-chief of the army, and his physical abilities were limited. Being able to keep up with the back-and-forth killings without falling behind was already quite impressive. He drew out his copper sword, ready to make a desperate last stand.

  Suddenly seeing the long spear coming, it swerved to the left, and then heard a "hong" sound. It turned out that Lei Meng had swiftly drawn his Tang knife, took a step forward, and chopped off the long spear.

  "Huh? It didn't break!" Lei Meng was shocked. An ordinary wooden spear should have snapped in two, which meant that this spear must be made of pure metal. It seemed that Chu Fei's strength wasn't bad either.

  "Huh!" Chu Fei also shouted out in surprise, he was surprised that the gun had been deflected, even more surprised that it was done by a small kid, and when he pulled his gun back, he saw a knife mark on the barrel which made him even more astonished. After his astonishment passed, he roared: "Where did this stinky brat come from? Come here and die!" Chu Fei wielded his spear from top to bottom, striking straight at Lei Ming, without any mercy in his heart, even though it was a child.

  Lei Meng raised his head and glanced at it. The sun was a bit dazzling, so he didn't harden the ball. He made a sideways jump to the right and dodged two meters away.

  With a "peng" sound, Chu Fei's long spear stirred up a cloud of dust. On the side, Tong Da Shuai looked anxious and hastily ordered his guards to come and assist, but they were all blocked by the Huan Tian Army and couldn't move forward, which made Tong Da Shuai curse: "Fool! Fool!"

  Lei Meng took a look at the dust raised and the depth of the mud pierced. Fortunately, this person's strength was far from mine, Lei Meng made this judgment.

  With a sigh of relief, the serious face from earlier turned into a smile as he said to Chu Fei, "Come on!" After finishing speaking, he took a glance at the surrounding battlefield and it seemed that the Jin army was about to collapse.

  Chu Fei was enraged and swung his long spear at Lei Meng with a loud whoosh.

  Lei Meng didn't want to drag it out any longer, fearing too many casualties. He wanted a quick end, but was also afraid of getting blood on his clothes and having no spare set to change into. So, as Chu Fei swept his gun around, Lei Meng sheathed his Tang knife. Tong Da Shuai and the others nearby were engaged in fierce fighting, but they couldn't help but notice that both Jin Yuan and the soldiers from the Hengtian Army looked stunned. What was he thinking? Was he trying to get himself killed?

  Suddenly, everyone saw the spear sweep through Lei Ying, but there was no sound. Then, Lei Ying disappeared and a "peng" sound came from Chu Fei's body. Chu Fei spat out a large mouthful of blood mist, and his left chest sprayed out a stream of blood and flesh as he fell backwards. The blood mist that had been sprayed out flew back in the face of Lei Ying, who had suddenly appeared.

  It turned out that after Lei Ying put away his Tang knife, he used his inner energy to jump right in front of Chu Fei. He raised his left hand to block Chu Fei's sweeping right arm with his knife sheath. Before Chu Fei could react, Lei Ying took a bow step and struck Chu Fei's heart area with a powerful blow.

  Chu Fei's heart, nearby ribs, and flesh were all smashed to pieces in an instant. Lei Ying was afraid of getting dirty, so he used his inner energy to disperse the blood mist.

  The long spear swept away unimpeded, and with inertia, it injured several soldiers who were fighting, causing them to cry out in pain "Wa wa".

  Chu Fei fell to the ground, feeling his vitality suddenly being sucked out of his heart. He stared blankly at the scorching sun in the sky, opened his mouth, and convulsed twice before everything went black.

  The surroundings quieted down for a moment, then suddenly Huang Tianbing loudly shouted: "Ah! The general is dead! Quickly escape!"

  "Chu Fei is dead, everyone hunt him down!" Tong Da Shuai also gave a loud order at the right time. He was overjoyed, as Chu Fei had left a terrifying shadow on him, and he often chased him relentlessly in his dreams.

  The defeated soldiers were like a collapsing mountain, the imperial guards were running wildly everywhere. Those who ran slowly or tripped and fell were stabbed to death one by one by the excited Jin Yuan guards. The ones who didn't die could only struggle and cry out "ahhh~". There was wailing and cursing, mournful screams, the valley was in a state of utter chaos and clamor...

  It took an hour, and the guards who had been chasing and killing returned to General Tong's side. After counting the number of people, they found that only eighty-three were left, all of whom were injured - except for General Tong and Lei Meng.

  Tong Dashuai was originally excited when Chu Fei was killed, but when he saw the returning wounded soldiers and the dead guards all over the ground, his face turned into one of despair and sadness. These imperial guards had been with him for a long time, and they had developed some emotional bonds. It was because of his own carelessness, or perhaps Chu Fei's ruthlessness, that so many of them had died! He felt guilty! Tong Dashuai couldn't help but deeply blame himself.

  "General, don't be sad. It's unavoidable for soldiers to die in battle. Let's hurry back to the camp and prepare food, waiting for good news from Deputy General Qin." Lei Meng consoled.

  Tong Dashuai slightly lifted his spirits and ordered: "Everyone listen, return to camp! We'll send someone later to bury the fallen brothers..."

  At that time, Tong Da-shuai led the remaining soldiers to cross over the ground covered with blood and corpses, trampling on charred dead bodies and rotten flesh, smelling the stench of burnt meat as they passed through the valley and returned to the Jin Yuan military camp.