Chapter Five: Charging Forward

  He squinted his eyes and stared at the small black dot in front of him, who was recklessly charging among his own men. His slightly hooked nose let out a hum, and he pointed with the whip in his hand to Zhang Zheng's location, humming: "Actually letting such a wild dog mix into the wolf pack! That brave warrior, bring me that dog's head!"

  Behind Xū Bó Gǔ, a tall and sturdy Hú man emerged, bowed to Xū Bó Gǔ, then drew his curved knife and galloped towards the direction where Zhāng Zhèng was, shouting angrily. Xū Bó Gǔ looked at him and laughed, saying to the people around him: "Ah-ha! That wild dog is dead for sure! Haha! Not just that wild dog, before dawn breaks, I will be standing on the city wall of the Han people's castle! Sound the horn, launch a full-scale attack!"

  As soon as the words of Xū Bó Gǔ fell, a person behind him immediately picked up the ox horn hanging from his waist and blew it loudly! The melodious sound of the horn echoed across the battlefield, seeming to bring a bloody storm to the entire battlefield.

  Just then, Zhang Zheng, who had just beheaded a barbarian, also heard the sound of the horn. He furrowed his brow and glanced in the direction of the sound, but immediately turned around and continued to charge in another direction! The sound of the horn was clearly a tool used by the barbarians to command their troops, and the place where the sound came from must be where the enemy leader was located. The more he went in that direction, the more barbarians there would be! Zhang Zheng's goal was to escape, so he naturally chose to break through in the direction with fewer people!

  As the horn sounded, more and more barbarians began to dismount and charge towards the city wall! Zhang Zheng had changed direction, but there were still many empty warhorses waiting for him ahead! After running wildly for several steps, a cold light suddenly appeared in the corner of Zhang Zheng's eye. He immediately ducked down, and a curved knife flew over his head, cutting off the simple helmet on his head, revealing a short hairdo! The barbarian was taken aback by Zhang Zheng's unusual short hair, but Zhang Zheng didn't give him time to react. With a swing of his steel knife, he cut off the barbarian's legs!

  That barbarian let out a mournful cry and fell directly to the ground, but Zhang Zheng didn't pay him any mind and continued charging towards his target! However, that barbarian wasn't able to escape disaster because of this. The one who had fallen to the ground was soon trampled into a pulp by his companions who were rushing over from behind!

  Without the helmet to disguise him, Zhang Zheng's short hair was even more conspicuous. More and more barbarians began to notice Zhang Zheng, and he was no longer as relaxed as before! The steel knife in his hand flew left and right, blocking the curved knives that were chopping towards him while launching a counterattack. His feet didn't stop for half a moment as he charged towards those war horses!

  "Clang!" A clear sound, Zhang Zheng's steel knife in his hand suddenly broke into two pieces! Zhang Zheng tilted his head, dodging the rebounding half of the blade, and with a flick of his wrist, he threw the other half of the steel knife forward! The steel knife directly inserted into the face of a Huren in front, cutting off half of his head, and all sorts of red and white things spurted out!

  While Zhang Zheng was also rolling on the ground, dodging the slashing of those three or four curved knives, he pulled out another steel knife from his waist. The long spear he had picked up earlier on the city wall had already been broken, and the four steel knives now only had two left, one still tied to his waist and the other in Zhang Zheng's hand! Zhang Zheng stood up from the ground, swung his arm, and the steel knife immediately swept across the throats of the three Hu people, bringing up a string of blood beads! Taking advantage of this moment, Zhang Zheng looked up towards the front, those war horses were still about fifty steps away from him! Zhang Zheng didn't want to drag it down anymore, he knew that he was getting more and more attention, if he dragged on any longer, what he would face might be all the Hu people!

  Gritting his teeth, Zhang Zheng directly jumped up from the ground and flew into mid-air, with both feet tapping on the heads of several Huns in front of him, flying over a distance of more than ten steps! It wasn't until those Huns reacted and started raising their curved knives to chop upwards that Zhang Zheng finally landed on the shoulder of one of the Huns with a powerful stomp, his steel knife raised high as he roared downwards at the Huns below, chopping down in a single motion! The blade fell straight from the Hun's forehead, actually cutting him in half! Meanwhile, Zhang Zheng didn't care about the blood splashing onto his body, turning around and forcing back the enemies close to him once again, continuing to charge forward!

  Just that one jump, Zhang Zheng at least saved ten steps of distance! But Zhang Zheng was very clear in his mind that this move could only be used once! And it was also successful because of the unexpectedness! In the midst of thousands of soldiers and horses, especially in front of these skilled archers, jumping into mid-air would only make him a living target! Zhang Zheng did not want to taste the flavor of the Huns' short arrows! So from now on, Zhang Zheng took it one step at a time, hacking and advancing forward!

  In the eyes of all the Hu people who stood in front of Zhang Zheng, the steel knife in Zhang Zheng's hand was like a symbol of death, taking their lives! Of course, these Hu people were not really one-dimensional, and when they saw that they couldn't deal with Zhang Zheng head-on, they began to think about attacking him from behind. However, when they went around to Zhang Zheng's back, they found that his shadow was suddenly in front of them, then suddenly behind them, and sometimes even on the left or right side! A large group of people could only chase after Zhang Zheng non-stop!

  Actually, Zhang Zheng as a top killer in later generations would not be careless. He intentionally created this illusion for those barbarians to alleviate the pressure ahead! Now that he has achieved half of his goal, Zhang Zheng directly took off and charged forward! In one breath, he rushed out more than twenty steps! At this point, the distance between him and those war horses was less than twenty steps, and even though Zhang Zheng remained calm, a hint of joy appeared in his heart.

  Just as Zhang Zheng was about to grab the war horses, a loud shout suddenly came from his right side! Zhang Zheng felt a strong gust of wind blowing directly past his ear, and instinctively, he dodged his head to the side. Immediately after, he felt a chill run down his ear as a sharp curved blade slid by! Then, Zhang Zheng heard another loud shout: "Han dog! Watch as Ah Ha Ba takes your life!"

  Zhang Zheng's entire body rolled directly onto the ground, dodging the enemy's attack range. Zhang Zheng didn't care about dignity or not, in his view, only survival was the true truth on the battlefield! After dodging the enemy's attack, Zhang Zheng stood up and looked around, seeing a burly man riding a tall horse blocking the way between him and those war horses! The burly man held a curved knife in his hand, looking at Zhang Zheng with a ferocious expression, shouting: "Han dog! Your Ah Ha Ba grandfather has arrived, why don't you stick out your neck? Otherwise, you'll suffer more later!"

  For the insult from this Huren named Ahaba, Zhang Zheng's face didn't change at all. His eyes had already passed over Ahaba and were staring directly at the war horse behind him! As long as he could grab the war horse, Zhang Zheng was absolutely confident that he could escape the encirclement of the Huren! However, this Huren who suddenly appeared in front of him clearly didn't intend to let Zhang Zheng succeed. Seeing Ahaba's arms, which were as thick as a child's waist, Zhang Zheng took a deep breath. This man in front of him was absolutely more formidable than that Bali who had just died at his hands! Therefore, Zhang Zheng also didn't dare to be careless. The steel knife in his hand was held horizontally across his chest, and with one point of his feet on the ground, he shot forward like a cannonball towards the robust man!

  "Hmph! Looking for death!" Seeing Zhang Zheng dare to charge forward head-on, Aha Ba let out a cold hum and swung the curved knife in his hand towards Zhang Zheng! This knife was swung with the force of a thousand jun, and it was indeed much stronger than the knife from just now!

  "Clang!" The sound of impact rang out as the knives collided, and Zhang Zheng's body immediately flew backwards in the opposite direction. The steel knife in his hand was twisted beyond recognition! On the other hand, Ah Ha's curved knife had a notch on its blade, but it wouldn't affect its sharpness at all! This first exchange clearly showed that Zhang Zheng was at a disadvantage! However, Zhang Zheng flipped himself over in mid-air and landed steadily on the ground. He looked around and saw that the barbarians seemed to believe Ah Ha could defeat him after his appearance. So they gave up their plan to continue attacking Zhang Zheng and instead continued their assault on Ling Shi City.

  "Ptoo!" Zhang Zheng spat out a mouthful of saliva, which was mixed with deep red blood, clearly showing that he had also suffered some internal injuries from the intense fight. After spitting out the saliva, Zhang Zheng once again held up the broken curved knife in his hand and placed it at his chest, coldly humming: "That scoundrel, dare you to fight me again?"

  Aha Ba listened, hahaha laughed, his eyes filled with disdain, the curved knife in his hand swung forcefully, and he snorted: "With that little strength of yours, even if you fight a hundred times, I'm not afraid! Come on!"

  "Hey!" Seeing Ah-ha-ba accept the challenge, Zhang Zheng also followed with a cold smile, switching the half steel knife in his hand to his left hand, and pulling out the last steel knife from his waist with his right hand! With a grit of his teeth, he charged towards Ah-ha-ba. As he rushed forward, the steel knife in his right hand had already been waving continuously in front of him, instantly creating a large area of light that completely obscured Zhang Zheng's body! Wearing this halo of light, Zhang Zheng revealed himself within it, making it impossible for the surrounding barbarians to see his figure clearly. Seizing this opportunity, Zhang Zheng made his move! His body quickly flew to Ah-ha-ba's face, and the dazzling light in the surroundings of the torches made it extremely eye-piercing. Ah-ha-ba subconsciously narrowed his eyes. At that moment, a shadow suddenly flew out from within the light, aiming straight for Ah-ha-ba's chest!