Chapter 4: Butcher's Blood Kill

  After handing over the military affairs of Dingzhou to Li Xiao, a subordinate of Feng Jing, and the government affairs to Luo Xiang, Haotian and his party followed Pang Yan on the road to seeking talents.

  "Excuse me, National Master, are we heading in the direction of Yinfeng Ancient Castle?" Haotian asked curiously as they journeyed south. They had already approached the Yinfeng Mountains and were heading further south, where the ancient castle connected the Hexi Corridor and the Qin River Road.

  "He's almost here. He's been hiding in the Yin Wind Mountains. He's always liked his solitude, and that road isn't easy to walk either. When the time comes, just a few of you will follow me, and let the others wait outside." Pang Yan said to Hua Tian and the others beside him. This trip south, apart from himself and Xiang Xing, there were also Feng Jing Xin Ke and Tian Yi, as well as 500 personal guards following along. This was also out of consideration for safety - although Hua Tian didn't like this feeling of being surrounded by people, currently the six states of He Suo were not peaceful, apart from Ding Zhou, all the other places were territories of foreign tribes outside the pass, and without their own army in hand, even Xin Ke, who was known for his love of battle, wasn't entirely at ease.

  "The national teacher has arranged it." Haotian bowed and said. At this moment, a cavalry scout rushed quickly to the front of Haotian.

  "Reporting to Your Excellency, at a distance of three li ahead, there is a troop of Iron Eagle cavalry, numbering approximately one thousand. Their direction is unclear."

  "Iron Eagle Cavalry? Aren't they stationed in Shizhou? How did they end up here? Investigate further." Hu Tian said with a wave of his hand.

  After a moment, the scout ran back again: "Reporting to Your Excellency, that cavalry unit is not targeting us, but another man."

  "What does it mean?" she asked in puzzlement.

  "They were heading due west, while we were going due south. And they didn't have any normal vigilance or combat readiness reaction, but instead all their attention was focused on a strange man in front." The scout explained.

  "Another strange man? Is this person also an important figure from the Northern Expedition Army, or why would Iron Eagle soldiers appear here? General Hao, let's go take a look." Pang Yan said with furrowed brows. After the Northern Expedition Army was captured, in order to reduce the prisoners' resistance ability, all mid-to-high-level officers were slaughtered. He and Xiang Xing had disguised themselves as ordinary soldiers to escape disaster. So hearing about this strange person, his heart was full of curiosity.

  "What's your name?" Tianyi asked, staying behind after Haotian and others went forward on horseback.

  "Belongs to the lower ranks of Sima Yi's army. Originally a centurion in the White Tiger Army, later rescued by our lord and temporarily assigned as a scout." This Sima Yi seems to be an intelligent person, able to summarize everything with just one sentence.

  "Your analysis just now was quite good. Let me ask you, our army only has 500 cavalry, while the other side is a thousand-strong cavalry unit. If we were to clash, what should we do?" Tian Yi asked intentionally testing him. At present, the biggest shortage of Huatian's subordinates was talent, and this Si Tu Lie looked quite clever, so Tian Yi had the intention of giving him some pointers.

  "Report to the madam, if we encounter them head-on, then the bravest of the two armies will win. Although the Iron Eagle cavalry is numerous, their soldiers' quality is still a notch lower than ours, and our morale is high. As long as our army is united in heart, what does the enemy have to fear? If the opponent has not discovered us, we can ambush them based on the terrain. This place is close to the Yin Wind Mountains, the terrain is complex, if we can surprise them, we must be able to annihilate most of them." Sutu Lie said after a moment's thought.

  Tianyi's heart was slightly delighted, unexpectedly this person really had some insight. However, her face turned red, she and Haotian hadn't formally become husband and wife, so hearing this title always felt a bit awkward. After slightly calming down her emotions, Tianyi finally spoke up: "The master is currently lacking someone with your talents by his side, if you don't object, I plan to promote you as the deputy of the General of Faithful Oath, what do you think?"

  "I, your humble servant, thank you for your kindness! I will definitely do my best and not disappoint your expectations." Sutu Lie was almost overjoyed to the point of falling off his horse. From an ordinary scout to a trusted deputy in just one step, it was like ascending to heaven. In the White Tiger Army, he had talent but due to his commoner background and bad luck, he never got promoted. This time, after being defeated and captured, he thought for sure he wouldn't be spared. But unexpectedly, not only was he saved by Haotian, but also highly valued by him. Out of gratitude, Sutu Lie couldn't help but respect this future mistress even more.

  Due to falling behind and talking to Situ Lie, by the time Tianyi caught up with Huangtian, that man had already merged with a thousand cavalry. The mount under him was actually a white-browed tiger, waving a strange weapon in his hand that was like an axe but not an axe, like a knife but not a knife. Although he was surrounded, he was not flustered at all, and his mouth was filled with tiger roars, and the strange weapon in his hand was also fierce and powerful. Every time he launched an attack, blood would splatter everywhere, and the tiger under him was also invincible, galloping horizontally and vertically, almost all the horses on the battlefield were frightened and lost their minds. Along with the strange weapon in that man's hand, several unlucky nomadic cavalrymen would occasionally fall off their horses and be trampled into meat sauce.

  "The ancients said, 'Among the army of a million, take the head of the commander.' I never believed it before, but today I see it with my own eyes and know that the legend is not false. Such a brave warrior, truly invincible." Haotian exclaimed in admiration. Looking back at the thousand-year history of Shen Zhou, he had never heard of anyone who could single-handedly resist an army of thousands. Watching the man's fierce battle before him, he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of reverence.

  "Master, why don't you let us go forward and assist? No matter who this person is, as long as he can resist the strong and fight against the Hu barbarians, he should be our friend." Tianyi had just arrived and didn't understand the situation, seeing that Haotian and others were just watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but anxiously say.

  "Heaven's will, young lady, don't worry." Pang Yan smiled slightly: "Although that person seems to be surrounded, he is actually in a favorable position. The enemy army is numerous, but they are intimidated by the mighty tiger under his command and cannot approach him within a radius of one zhang. On the contrary, he is taking advantage of the weakness of the enemy's horses to launch continuous attacks."

  The heavens have heard the words and looked closely, and the situation is indeed as Pang Yan said. Although that person was fighting alone, he faced a thousand iron cavalry of the enemy army, but instead of avoiding or dodging, he charged into the enemy's formation, killing left and right, leaving a trail of blood wherever he went. Moreover, every time he launched an attack, it was always at the weakest and most chaotic point of the enemy's position. To remain so calm and composed in the midst of heavy encirclement, this person is indeed extraordinary. However, what is even more admirable is his strategy. The soldiers of the nomadic nation have been on horseback for years, and their horsemanship can be said to be unmatched in the world. They are extremely skilled at riding and shooting, especially the elite iron-armored bow-riding cavalry of the Rouran, which makes everyone worried. That man clearly understood his own strengths and weaknesses from the beginning, so he took the initiative to charge into the enemy's formation from the start. In the chaos of battle, although the danger increased, it also prevented the enemy's bows and arrows from exerting their proper power.

  "Our lord, our men and horses are already in position, should we close in for the capture?" Feng Jing reported.

  "What's the national teacher's intention?" Haotian tilted his head towards Pang Yan. Taking advantage of the conversation just now, his 500 cavalrymen had already formed a large encirclement under Feng Jing's command. After all, facing nomadic soldiers who were at an advantage and skilled in mounted warfare, unless it was a sudden attack, there was little chance of winning.

  "Now that everything is ready, General, please give the order." Pang Yan sighed and said. In recent years, due to the corruption of the imperial court, countless talents have been buried. Talented people cannot be reused, and there are many selfish and idle officials in the imperial court. Although he and several old ministers did their best, it was still difficult to stop the decline of the national situation.

  "To the General, I entrust the safety of the country to you. I'll go down and launch a fierce attack first!" Haotian bowed his head and said to Xiang, then with a swing of his long sword, he charged out immediately.

  Haotian led the charge, with a spear-wielding soldier on his left performing a flawless dance of pear blossoms, and an axe-wielding warrior on his right unleashing a fierce storm of slashes. The three of them formed a single arrowhead, shooting straight into the enemy's formation like a meteor. The cavalry unit was already demoralized from the man's previous attack, and now they were faced with this sudden emergence of a fresh force, their morale sank even lower. In the chaos, countless soldiers had been knocked off their horses by Haotian and his companions before they could even react. By the time they regained their composure, Haotian and his men had already charged deep into the enemy's ranks several times. Faced with these ruthless horsemen from beyond the borders, the Dingzhou soldiers naturally showed no mercy. Moments later, except for a few who managed to escape in time, all the remaining soldiers were killed. At least one-third of the credit for this victory belonged to that man.

  "This sturdy man, someone is the deputy of Dingzhou city guard Hu Tian. May I ask for your surname and great name?" Hu Tian urged his horse forward, cupping his fists in greeting. However, his warhorse was apparently extremely afraid of that fierce tiger, although Hu Tian tightly held the reins, it continued to back away.

  "Someone's blood has been spilled!" A middle-aged man wiped the fresh blood off his face and laughed. It was only then that Haotian had a chance to take in this robust and powerful man. The first thing that caught Haotian's eye was the other man's piercing gaze. Although he was deliberately controlling his killing aura, Haotian still saw an endless bloody energy emanating from his eyes, a pure killing aura unlike any other temperament. And the strong smell of blood wafting from his body made even Haotian shiver involuntarily.

  "Brave warriors value their martial skills. I wonder where this brave warrior is now, and whether he has a mind to serve the imperial court?" Pang Yan said as he stepped forward from behind.

  "This person has no official position, he's just a ordinary butcher in the Stone City." Blood Kill said with his hands cupped together. This sentence made everyone stunned, such an extraordinary bravery and skill, is actually a butcher? And it was only now that Haotian saw clearly, the strange weapon he used earlier, was actually a huge pig-killing knife.

  "Hao Tian asked puzzled: 'With your exceptional skills, why are you content with being just a butcher?'"

  Xue Sha smiled again: "When Master was full of art, he said that the bloody smell on my body was too strong, and I was afraid that I would hurt Tian He, so let me be a butcher to dilute the bloody smell on my body."

  Haotian was even more puzzled: "May I ask, who is the respected teacher? Since you taught him such good skills, why not let him show off his abilities?"

  "Family Master's profound meaning, someone dare not arbitrarily guess." Xue Sha shook his head and said: "As for the Family Master's name, since the Family Master has an order, someone dare not reveal it."

  Pang Yan heard the words "Blood Kill" and suddenly had a movement in his heart, and he immediately thought of someone. After carefully sizing up Blood Kill, he opened his mouth and said: "Is your master Yue Tengkong, the English Warrior?"

  Blood Kill God's expression was stunned, Yingwu Ju Shi although famous all over the world, but people who know his real name are not many. And this old man in front of him can actually guess his master's lineage with just a few words, which cannot help but surprise him.

  Pang Yan smiled slightly: "I am Pang Yan. If you are indeed a disciple of Ying Wu, then you should naturally know who I am."

  Blood Kill's expression was stunned again, but he quickly came back to his senses. With a flip of his body, he jumped off the fierce tiger and, in front of everyone's dumbfounded eyes, actually bowed respectfully in front of Pang Yan and knocked his head on the ground: "Disciple Blood Kill, greets Third Uncle Master!"

  Pang Yan hastily helped Blood Kill up with both hands: "Quickly get up! You and I, uncle and nephew, meet each other, no need to be so polite. Hehe, it's been over a decade since I've seen your master too, how has he been lately?"

  "Little nephew only meets with Master once a year, but Master's demeanor remains the same." Xue Sha said respectfully. While behind him, Haotian and others were confused, no one had expected that this man who went to the battlefield to behead the enemy general was actually Pang Yan's weak and frail old master's disciple nephew. And no one had expected that the renowned Wuyi hermit and the current national teacher were actually sworn brothers.

  At this moment, Tianyi, who was originally sweeping the battlefield on one side, also walked over. Looking at Tianyi's elegant and refreshing appearance, Xue Sha's eyes suddenly became extremely dazed, and his expression also became particularly excited.

  Highly recommended books: "The Little Prince", "To Kill a Mockingbird", "1984", "Pride and Prejudice", "The Catcher in the Rye", "The Picture of Dorian Gray", "War and Peace"

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