Chapter 5 Crossing the River at Night to Take Chencang

  Lei Meng led Liao Yun and Lin Chong to charge back and forth five times in the vanguard of the Huan Tian Army, killing countless people. After that, the vanguard of the Huan Tian Army was finally defeated. Qin Hao led the left army to counterattack, and for a time, blood flowed freely, and everywhere they looked was red with blood.

  Liu Jin was itching to get in on the action, this was much faster than he had anticipated, and it wouldn't achieve his goal of exhausting the Jin Yuan elite troops. —— Because just now, the vanguard of the Hua Tian army that rushed up only had about 30,000 people, while the Jin Yuan army had about 20,000 people on both sides. After subtracting the nearly 10,000 people who were stabbed to death, if each of the remaining survivors could stab two or three people to death, they would be able to thoroughly defeat the Hua Tian army, turning the riverbank into a scene from hell. A few dozen scattered Hua Tian soldiers panicked and ran back.

  The soldiers behind Lei Meng were all panting heavily, covered in blood, their eyes like veiled red gauze, staring at the vast army of Huang Tian with a fierce and bloody gaze.

  Without waiting for the Jin army to rest, Liu Jin ordered: "Charge! Kill for me!" The vast army looked at the Shura field in front of them, although they were afraid in their hearts, but also excited, and as they shouted and charged forward, they became more and more frenzied!

  Liu Jin had only sixteen guards around him - actually, they were not ordinary soldiers, but all high-ranking experts! Liu Jin's reliance on charging and breaking through the enemy lines! Although several of them died in the previous mountain forest chase, it didn't have much impact on him, because only one of the powerful ones died, and the others were still there. Moreover, he himself had not made a move yet.

  Luoyang Tian saw the entire army of Huangtian rushing over, shouting: "Life and death are right in front of us! The central army will follow me to charge!" As a result, the central army rushed to the front of the remaining troops on both sides, ready to meet the enemy. ——Those who were left behind just now were all elites, can't they be stopped by other soldiers?

  The flood crashed, the giant stone stood still, only the missing parts were gradually ground down. The Jin army was hit hard in this impact, and several layers of skin were lost at once. Almost all the people in the front three rows fell down, but it also allowed the people behind to hold on, and their deaths often came one after another. Because they didn't set up any defense, they just rushed forward with the idea of perishing together. - It's probably useless to defend anyway.

  Looking at the soldiers in front of them, who resolutely used their bodies to welcome the enemy's long guns like a forest, they stood up straight and stabbed the enemy's body with determination. The soldiers behind them couldn't help but have tears in their eyes, thinking that if they could survive and return, they would definitely find a way to take care of their parents, wives and children.

  The thunderous sound of the impact had stopped, and all around were soldiers fighting. The Heavenly Army was numerous, and it would be necessary to break through the Heavenly Army again. So he let out a clear whistle: "Heavenly Army, follow me!" The voice spread throughout the entire array, and also reached the ears of the 3,000 elite soldiers who were ambushing. They had been anxious in their hearts when they heard the battle cry, but they had not received Yang Tian's order, so they endured without rushing out.

  Lei Ming quickly led Liao Yun and Lin Chong to kill their way out, with the Jin army troops following closely behind. Before long, they charged into the vast sea of soldiers, creating a large gap.

  Liu Jin found that Lei Meng and the others were too powerful, although they were surrounded by a sea of soldiers, but they still killed gods and pierced through without any hindrance. So, he made a hand gesture and led sixteen top experts to sneak towards Lei Meng.

  Yang Tian had been hiding in the tree, watching the two armies clash fiercely, but neither side dared to make a move because Haotian's army had not yet emerged. Now that he saw Haotian's army emerge and their commander following behind, he waved his hand to signal the launch of the surprise attack.

  Liu Jin originally wanted to hide in the crowd and launch a sneak attack on Lei Meng, but the soldiers around him naturally parted to one side, leaving him and the sixteen people behind him exposed. Lei Meng, who was observing all directions, immediately noticed them. Although he felt a strong and heavy aura, somewhat dangerous; however, if he didn't confront them and let them charge into the Jin army, it would be a massacre. Moreover, the principle of capturing the bandits and their leader was at stake, so he had to charge towards them.

  Lei Meng hummed a low warning to Liao Yun and Lin Chong behind him, "A strong enemy is coming, be careful!" Then he exerted his strength with his left hand, taking in a fierce gust of air that surged into his dantian, causing the surrounding soldiers to stumble. Next, he guided the air upwards, following the meridian along his right arm and Tang knife as it thrust out in a series of rapid stabs, forming a sword energy wall that swept towards Liu Jin's direction.

  Liu Jin had fifteen or sixteen soldiers in front of him, but before they could retreat, he suddenly felt a strong gust of wind hit his body, and his body was torn apart in pain. In an instant, a thin figure flashed to Liu Jin's right rear side, and with a burst of energy, he drew out a sharp sword. With a "whooshing" sound, he danced a green sword net, and with a series of consecutive ringing sounds, the scattered flesh and remaining sword energy were swept away.

  The dark face of the man had just revealed a faint smile, and Lei Meng suddenly made a flying leap, his right hand raised high with the Tang knife chopping down. The fierce momentum came straight at him, and the man's feet hurriedly stood firm, with his sword held horizontally to block. This was the best way to defend against an attack that couldn't be dodged.

  Liu Jin stared at the short and stout Lei Meng, who was holding a "sword" in mid-air, feeling the oppressive atmosphere that was approaching. He turned his eyes around and thought it would be better to make a move while Lei Meng was catching his breath. So he made a hand gesture behind his back, indicating that they were ready to launch a surprise attack.

  "Huang~" The copper sword broke in two, the thin and dark figure was shocked, hastily dodged to the right, a "pu" sound, his left arm felt a sharp pain, it turned out that his left arm had been slashed by Tang knife.

  Just as he was rejoicing in his heart, five gleaming swords came stabbing straight at him. It was too late to retreat, so he might as well use the Tang knife's sharpness to chop off their swords. He stretched out his left hand to absorb the energy, channeling it through his dantian and into his right hand and sword, concentrating but not releasing it. His feet stood firm, and with a fierce swing of his knife, he rolled forward to meet the incoming swords. The Heavenly Heaven's skilled hands were many, but they didn't worry about him rolling open their swords; after opening them up, each person stretched out one foot, which was enough for him to bear. So they didn't change their moves and instead added more strength to their hands.

  "Clang, clang, clang!" The sword and knife collided, the sword broke off a section and fell to the ground. Haotian swung his sword at Lei Meng's five masters, who were shocked and hastily used their feet to forcefully push off the ground to retreat. Just as Lei Meng was about to counterattack, ten long swords stabbed out from both sides! A short and sturdy man also flew up from above, stabbing downwards with a reversed grip.

  Unable to resist, Lei Ming thought to himself and suddenly retreated, standing in front of Liao Yun and Lin Chong. The joint attack eased slightly. The rest of the soldiers consciously pulled back, keeping a distance from the fierce battle scene, lest they suffer the same fate as the fish in the pond.

  "Both of you hold down the left!" Lei Meng shouted. Liao Yun and Lin Chong hastily adjusted their breath, turned to the front-left together, and raised their swords at an angle.

  Suddenly, the shouting from the east grew louder, and the Huan Tian army became chaotic. It turned out that Yang Tian's 3,000 elite soldiers had arrived. Under Yang Tian's leadership, they charged into the Huan Tian army like a sharp knife, killing their way forward, and all the soldiers they encountered were knocked to the ground. The Huan Tian soldiers who rushed up from both sides also fell one after another, causing the Huan Tian soldiers in the distance to retreat unknowingly.

  Liu Jin heard the cries of killing from the east and hated it so much that his teeth ached, yet with such a small number of troops, he still managed to divide them up to set an ambush, making a living force!

  "Up! Kill these three men first!" Liu Jin's arm waved, shouting and pointing at Lei Meng's three people. The sword-wielding Haotian stepped forward with a swift step, stabbing again, as long as Lei Meng couldn't take the first blow, they could press on step by step.

  Lei Meng looked at the formation of both sides and knew that retreating again was not an option, so he decided to cut off their swords once more. He raised his left palm to the left and exerted a strong suction force, causing the five experts on the left to lose their balance and stumble forward. Liao Yun and Lin Chong seized the opportunity, with one rolling out his sword and the other thrusting, scaring away the five experts who hastily retreated after clashing swords.

  At the same time, Lei Meng took advantage of this momentum to support his right arm and swept it against the five masters on the right side, cutting off the swords in their hands. The five men also retreated back.

  "What a divine weapon!" Liu Jin, who was just about to launch a fierce attack on Lei Meng, took in a breath. He couldn't help but think that with such a divine weapon, the ordinary iron sword in his hand might as well be useless, and since Lei Meng's martial arts skills were no worse than theirs, it would be better to retreat.

  Ambitious Liu Jin's heart had given rise to a mind of retreat, and just as he was hesitating, he noticed that the morale of the Haotian Army on the east side had greatly decreased, with a tendency to disperse. Withdraw! Delaying will lead to changes! Liu Jin made up his mind in an instant, raised his voice and shouted: "The whole army withdraws!"

  The voice shook the entire arena, and the Western Heavenly Army was stunned, unable to understand why they should retreat when their troops were outnumbered; The Eastern Heavenly Army heard this order, like a startled deer, opened its legs and ran back.

  Liu Jin shouted and stared fiercely at Lei Ming before turning around and leading the crowd of experts away. The surrounding Haotian soldiers also retreated in succession.

  Lei Meng furrowed his brow, watching Liu Jin leave under the slanting sun. He swept a glance at the chaotic pursuit of the Jin troops and felt a shiver in his heart. This was an old tiger; he could only watch as it left, but if it were to be forced into a desperate situation, it would pounce back with great ferocity.

  "Fall back!" Thunderous voice echoed through the mountains, shaking off many dry leaves and stunning all soldiers for a moment. Then, the Imperial Army continued to retreat in an orderly manner, while the Jin Yuan Army also retreated in disarray.

  Yang Tian looked at the inexplicably retreating Haotian army, rubbed his head and muttered: "Why did they leave as soon as we started fighting? My three thousand soldiers haven't even had a chance to show off yet."

  Then Yang Tianming ordered his men to wait, and he rushed to Lei Ming's side, who was staring at the vast army of Huangtian, and asked: "Lei Ming, why didn't you pursue?"

  "Take a good look at how many of us are left?" Lei Meng said calmly without turning his head.

  Yang Tian took a glance and found that within a radius of one thousand meters, the ground was littered with crimson corpses, on top of which stood Jin Yuan soldiers, their bodies stained with blood, staring blankly, as if there really weren't many soldiers left.

  Yang Tian felt a sense of desolation in his heart, and he was stunned for a moment. Suddenly, he heard the sound of low sobbing coming from afar, and it was spreading gradually. The sorrowful emotions spread out, making his nose slightly sour, and tears were about to well up in his eyes. He endured it and looked towards the south, where there was no longer any sign of the Huan Tian Army.

  Lei Meng Ti Dao snapped out of his daze, wiped his eyes with the sleeve of his right hand, gazed at the sunset that was gradually dipping below the horizon and turning red, took a deep breath, and gave the order: "Brothers! Dig the pit!"

  The cries ceased, and the Jin soldiers stopped their sorrow. With swords or long spears in hand, they dug holes on the blood-soaked ground. An hour later, the wide riverbank was covered with raised blood-red mud packages. All the fallen warriors were laid to rest. The Jin soldiers stood silently in front of the mud packages, smelling the pungent smell of blood. The sunset shone brightly on the riverbank, casting a fiery color over this corner, covering up the sorrowful atmosphere, and making the birds returning to their nests in the mountains less startling.

  Jin Yuan's army roughly counted the remaining people, only 11,000 were left. Lei Ming and others discussed and decided to continue heading west. Soon after, Jin Yuan's army left this sorrowful land, walked another section to the west, and rested on the spot for a night as the sky turned dark.

  The next day at noon, the Jin army turned over a mountain and looked west along the five-meter-wide road. In the distance, they saw a black giant city occupying more than half of their field of vision, stretching across the sky and earth, with an oppressive momentum that took their breath away.

  "What a magnificent city!" Mr. Wen exclaimed.

  "I wonder where we will go and what we will do?" Luoyang Tian looked at the massive city, glancing at the dry packages on the soldiers' bodies around him, which didn't contain much.

  "We can't take this city!" Yang Tian said firmly, "Let's go around it instead."

  "This city is called Tianyuan City, it's the central city that supplies the front line for Huangtian. 40 kilometers north of here is Yaocastle, northeast is Liuhua, which is a garrison point. To the west and south, you have to walk over a hundred kilometers before there are any cities. Maybe we can head towards Yaocastle." Huang Chu stroked his beard and looked far away as he introduced the city.

  Lei Meng swept a glance around, finding everyone looking at him, and said: "Then let's go to Yao City." He paused for a moment before continuing, "However, this time we'll have to take the mountain forest route again. If we don't, a large army will surround us, and I'm afraid many more people will die."

  Everyone was disheartened and saddened, who would have thought that this expedition would be abandoned? The feeling of being a useless and helpless abandoned soldier is so heartbreaking! And yet they still had to struggle on in desperation.

  "Perhaps... perhaps we can occupy a small city and survive. Or maybe surrender to Huan Yue..." Mr. Wen said slowly.

  "Let's go, let's not starve to death first." Luoyang Tian shook his head and said, he couldn't muster up the enthusiasm to join Huang Yue.

  The Jin army again drilled into the mountains and forests, quietly detouring to rush towards Yaocheng. Perhaps they could find something to eat there, allowing them to live a few more days, or perhaps it was still not enough to eat, and they would have to continue fleeing...