Chapter 32: Neither of them is willing to give in!

  This strike, Zu Mao's two hands, swung out with just one knife.

  But this knife is made up of two blades combined together.

  No one would have thought that two ordinary-looking knives could transform into a pair of soft, flexible blades made from the finest steel, and when combined, they become a single, extraordinary sword capable of cutting through gold and jade as if they were mud!

  A black air flashed, Zhou Cang let out a mournful and shrill cry, his body flew backwards horizontally, falling off the narrow city wall. With a loud crash, he landed on a soldier who was transporting supplies, instantly crushing that unlucky little soldier, breaking his bones and tendons, bleeding from all seven orifices in the head, with only exhaling breath, no inhaling breath left.

  At that moment, Zhou Cang's mind had no pain, only the scene of how the opponent's knife was made and how it was cut. In Zhou Cang's mind, there were only two words for such a knife:

  Breathtaking!

  Fatal stunning!

  If it weren't for his body's instinctive reaction, he would have been cut open by the knife handle held in front of his chest. Zhou Cang was probably already cut open at this moment. He managed to escape with his life from such a slash, and even afterwards, Zhou Cang still felt that he was extremely lucky.

  Zhou Cang has been defeated! Crushingly defeated!

  However, Zu Mao also did not win.

  He made a move that left his opponent in awe, and Zu Mao's body suddenly disappeared. He hastily leaned against the battlements of the city wall to avoid falling to the ground.

  "Great abundance!......"

  "Hurray!......"

  Zhang Kuang and Sun Jian almost simultaneously shouted loudly.

  Just now, Dian Wei and Sun Jian faced each other head-on, exchanging blows for over a dozen rounds, the fierce battle was in full swing. For Dian Wei, Zhang Cang's original plan to "surround and kill Sun Jian with four people" was not direct enough, it didn't suit his style. So when Zhang Cang's plan was unexpectedly disrupted and turned into a one-on-one duel between Dian Wei and Sun Jian, Dian Wei's spirit lifted greatly, and he struck out happily.

  The two men exchanged blows briefly before falling into a stalemate.

  To Sun Jian, the opponent's "Double Iron Spears" were like two mountain peaks, blocking his knife edge. No matter how Sun Jian's "Gu Ding Dao" changed, he could not break through these two thick and solid mountain peaks.

  For Dian Wei, the opponent's fine steel long knife was like a green wood dragon, shuttling freely in the mountains. No matter how Dian Wei's "Double Iron Halberd" hooked and grabbed, he could not lock down the opponent's solid blade.

  Each time the two weapons meet, a chunk of the brown earth attribute "Battle Aura" is erased by the dark green wood attribute "Battle Aura".

  But this little loss, for Dian Wei who had already successfully advanced to become a "thousand-man enemy", was like digging away a basket of dirt from a great mountain.

  Although Sun Jian was also a strong "thousand-man enemy" level, the attribute of his "war aura" still subtly restrained his opponent, yet he was still countered by his opponent's thick and powerful strength, causing him to feel extremely uncomfortable.

  After more than a dozen moves, Sun Jian still seemed to have the upper hand, but in his heart, he clearly understood that he might not be able to gain any advantage over this exceptionally powerful man.

  It is said: Avoid its sharpness and strike at its sluggish return. Now that the situation is unfavorable, I should temporarily avoid the brunt...

  Sun Jian, who was secretly thinking of a counter-strategy, suddenly heard a series of rapid-fire sounds like stir-frying beans. He glanced sideways and saw his trusted general Zu Mao leaning limply against a stack of hay bales, as if he might collapse at any moment.

  Sun Jian's heart was stirred, and he shouted "Great honor!" He made a false move to Dian Wei, turned around and left. Just as Dian Wei caught sight of Zhou Cang, who had flown out from the city wall over two zhang high, his life or death unknown, and without the heart to continue fighting, he lightly let Sun Jian go and looked down at Zhou Cang at the foot of the city wall.

  It's okay, Zhou Cang happened to bump into a small soldier with a back pad when he fell. With the sacrifice of this life, although Zhou Cang was still unavoidable being shaken and bruised all over, his life was safe.

  However, on his chest, there was a terrifying wound over a foot long, with blood gushing out. If it weren't for the iron-plated armor he wore, which was quite good quality, Zhou Cang's internal organs might have spilled out of his chest cavity to take a look around and get some fresh air.

  Although Zhou Cang's wound looks terrifying, it is actually just a superficial injury. With the superior medical skills of "Tai Ping Dao", as long as he recuperates for one or two months, he will be able to jump around again.

  Compared with him, Zu Mao's body was fine. He had just overexerted himself and temporarily lost strength. After a good night's sleep, he would recover more than half of it.

  Of course, the city wall is not a good place to rest.

  One hand held onto Zumo, Sun Jian swung his sword with the other, striking back Yu Jin's long spear that had suddenly thrust out. Sun Jian was secretly annoyed in his heart - this enemy was truly shameless, a single Dark Iron Spear, every move not leaving an inch of space for Zumo to counterattack. He also parried another cold arrow, and Sun Jian worried that the iron tower-like giant from earlier would also come to attack him, so he hastily shouted loudly:

  "Tigers' justice is done! Retreat!"

  Just now, in that brief skirmish, "Mighty Tiger Heroes" achieved a victory by killing more than twenty people, and gave the Heavenly Balance Army a good lesson. However, facing the cost of three deaths and six injuries, the "Mighty Tiger Heroes" felt that this battle was a huge loss.

  Although there were many brave warriors, they were not willing to give up and wanted to continue fighting. However, since the leader had already given the order, the "Mighty Tiger Warriors" did not hesitate and turned around to leave. In an instant, more than 20 people who had already climbed onto the city wall left without a trace.

  Only a few Tianping soldiers who had narrowly escaped death were left, staring at their own reinforcements coming up from under the city wall, still not daring to believe.

  "The clouds: 'As swift as the wind, as gentle as a forest, as fierce as fire, as immovable as a mountain, as mysterious as a shadow, and as startling as a thunderclap.' Sun Jian led his troops, truly living up to his ancestors' reputation!"

  After examining Zhou Cang's body, Zhang Fei finally put his mind at ease and evaluated the enemy's actions.

  Sun Jian's troops retreated in an extremely orderly manner. Under the cover of Cheng Pu's northern army's crossbowmen, they even managed to pull back two intact cloud ladder carts to their own camp.

  Seeing this scene, Zhang Kuang's subordinates around him, although they were suffocated in their hearts, could not refute his evaluation.

  "The tiger of Jiangdong", indeed lives up to its reputation...

  Today was barely made it through. But I don't know what tomorrow will bring, how much more loss there will be?

  Seeing the Han army return to camp in formation, Zhang was anxious and uneasy. Even the usually carefree Dianwei did not express his usual disdain for the enemy.

  Will tomorrow be a day of bloodshed and carnage?

  PS: By the way, Zu Mao's combat power is actually not above Zhou Cang. If comprehensively evaluated, Zhou Cang's martial arts may be slightly stronger than Zu Mao.

  The author wants to describe a battle that is not just about who has the strongest martial arts, but also about how the two sides perform on the spot, often with a great deal of unpredictability. As the saying goes, "killing one thousand enemies, while losing eight hundred oneself". When the martial arts skills are similar, the final outcome of the battle still depends on the performance of both sides at the scene.

  I hope this writing style can be accepted by everyone.