"Soldiers, hold fast! Dingtao is just ahead." Xiang Liang had no intention of letting the troops rest; without Fan Zeng's nagging nearby, he found leading the army exhilarating.

"That's right, the enemy is right in front of us." Xiang Yu was simply built this way; he disliked any form of procrastination in achieving his goals.

"Report..." Suddenly, two cavalrymen returned from the front, dismounted before Xiang Liang, and knelt, "Reporting, Lord! We have spotted Qin forces ahead."

"Oh! They’ve arrived?" Xiang Yu turned to look at Xiang Liang and commanded, "Yu’er."

Xiang Yu had already noticed the dark mass slowly approaching across the main road, and the banners they carried were clearly visible: a large, bold 'Zhang' character.

"Form up!" Xiang Yu raised his great sword high and barked the order, "Thousand Horse Flow Formation."

"What formation?" Ye Xiu had never participated in cavalry training; this time he was only there to make up the numbers. At Xiang Yu's sudden shout, he froze in confusion.

"Halt, halt." At this moment, the cavalrymen in the front began maneuvering their horses to split left and right, and the rear troops immediately filled the gaps that opened up. The horses whinnied and reared, and within moments, the entire contingent formed an inverted triangle, with Xiang Yu at the apex. Xiang Liang promptly retreated to the very rear, joining Ye Xiu in a square formation.

"Kill, kill!" Just then, the Qin army slowly approached. Strangely, their formation was chaotic; the distance between each horse was vast, making them look like nothing more than disorganized rabble, completely lacking any fighting spirit.

"Soldiers, charge!" Xiang Yu paid little attention to their disarray; he raised his great sword and led the Thousand Horse Flow Formation charging toward the enemy.

"Kill, kill!" In an instant, the quiet plains of the river bottom erupted with war cries that shook the heavens. The dust kicked up by the Thousand Horse Flow Formation completely engulfed the entire column. As the Qin troops saw the Western Chu army charging, they showed no desire to engage, instead rearing their horses and turning to flee. It turned out the space they had deliberately left open was for their escape—no! It wasn't an escape; this was clearly a deliberate lure to draw them deep into the trap. Ye Xiu quietly positioned himself at the very rear of the cavalry group, calmly observing Xiang Yu's engagement from the side. He knew Xiang Yu had fallen into a trap this time.

"Zhang Han, you brat, quickly accept your death!" Xiang Yu paid no heed to the surrounding confusion; he was already galloping out in front, driving straight toward a Qin general. The entire purpose of the Thousand Horse Flow Formation was the sheer speed of its penetration. The principle was simple: it was like race cars—this formation was designed to maximize the reduction of air resistance.

"Hah!" Xiang Yu roared, and with a single thrust, he impaled the standard-bearer of the Qin army on his great sword. In that instant, the tens of thousands of cavalry behind him plunged like a steel needle directly into the Qin formation. Following a cacophony of shouts, piercing sounds, crushing impacts, and screams, that contingent of Qin soldiers was swallowed whole by the horse formation.

"Haha, excellent!" Xiang Yu was elated. It seemed the Qin army was indeed like loose sand, terrified into flight before any real clash. Looking up, he saw the ancient city of Dingtao in the distance, and instantly, the blood in his veins boiled over. "Brothers, kill! Leave none alive."

"Roar! Roar!" The Chu army was greatly inspired, pushing forward relentlessly.

Suddenly, on the open plain, a series of horns sounded—the Qin army's assembly call.

"This..." Xiang Yu stared intently at the gates of Dingtao, but when he glanced up, the entire sky had darkened, his vision blocked by colossal stones.

"Boom! Rumble!" The massive stones rained down mercilessly into the Thousand Horse Flow Formation, instantly overturning men and horses; flesh and dust flew together.

"Bad! Disperse quickly!" Xiang Yu finally realized that the countless huge stones were coming from within the city. He hadn't expected the Qin to possess such terrifying weaponry.

"Ah, charge!" Many soldiers tried desperately to wheel their horses and break formation, but it was too late. That initial column of Qin troops had merely been bait, clearly designed to draw the main Western Chu force into the range of the catapults.

"Crash..." Another wave of earth-shattering impacts followed. The Western Chu cavalry on the main road suffered countless casualties; the ground was littered with dust and gore.

"Catapults?" Witnessing such a spectacular scene, even Ye Xiu was stunned. The once clear blue sky was now filled with merciless boulders, and wherever the stones landed, anything beneath them was reduced to ash, mere ash.

"Aargh!" Xiang Yu was furious. He looked again at the tightly sealed gates of Dingtao; the Qin forces had no intention of engaging in any direct confrontation. Frustrated, he could only try to dodge the impact zones of the falling stones while urging his horse backward.

"My Lord, retreat quickly!" The cavalry columns behind them were beginning to falter. A flying stone was now descending directly toward Xiang Liang's head.

"Ah..." Xiang Liang looked up, his body instantly weakening, unable to even muster the strength to spur his horse.

"My Lord, quickly!" The guard soldiers beside him reached Xiang Liang, leaping over to tackle him off his horse.

With a "thud," the rear reserve contingent of the Chu army, which had maintained formation moments before, was instantly scattered by the massive stone. The dead were dead, the wounded were wounded, and a wave of bitter lament filled the air.

"Rear flank, quickly to the rear!" Finally, even Xiang Liang could not endure the terrifying spectacle and attempted to flee the battlefield. "Sound the horns for a full retreat to the rear."

"Alas!" Xiang Yu was intensely angry but powerless. He could only race back to Xiang Liang’s side to protect him, while Ye Xiu also ducked back into the rear cavalry units. The Western Chu army was in complete disarray.

"Woooo... Wuuuu." Instantly, across the vast expanse, a signal of one long and two short horn blasts echoed—a sound like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, or perhaps the death knell for all Chu soldiers. In a flash, the bright river valley was suddenly overcome by waves of black mist.

With several "whoosh" sounds in quick succession, another large group of cavalry fell from their mounts, their backs riddled with arrows.

"Ah, ah!" Xiang Liang turned back to look; the dark mass of arrows filled every corner of the sky. Where the arrows landed, there were only the corpses of Western Chu soldiers.

"Clang!" At this moment, Ye Xiu could no longer remain composed. He drew his sword and deflected an arrow flying toward him, but the soldiers beside him were not so lucky, shot full of holes. The Qin strategy was now perfectly clear: first, send bait to lure the Chu army into catapult range, then shut the gates and refuse battle. Under duress, the Chu army had to retreat, and in doing so, they presented their backs, making them easy targets for the endless rain of arrows.

"Withdraw! Retreat!" Xiang Liang was already paralyzed by fear. However, their horses had already been abandoned, and the relentless barrage of arrows was about to engulf him entirely.

"Uncle!" Xiang Yu arrived, ignoring the arrow wounds he had sustained. He raised his sword to block several incoming shafts for Xiang Liang, but a few still struck Xiang Liang’s legs.

"Heaven's Will: Raging Sea!" Ye Xiu suddenly roared from within the throng, drawing his sword and flying toward Xiang Yu and Xiang Liang. Waves of purple sword energy, surging like a tide, forcefully deflected the next volley of arrows.

"Ah, I owe you one, Brother Ye!" On the battlefield, Xiang Yu was deeply grateful for Ye Xiu's timely intervention once again. The immediate priority now was escorting Xiang Liang away swiftly.

Ye Xiu made no promises to Xiang Yu. He didn't even know why he felt compelled to save the uncle and nephew, but just then, the Qin archers abruptly ceased fire. After another rapid horn signal, the gates of Dingtao unexpectedly swung wide open. Banners vividly marked with the character "Qin" fluttered in the wind before the Chu army. Zhang Han's main force had formed up and charged out for the pursuit.

Xiang Yu gritted his teeth, shot Ye Xiu a glance, and roared fiercely: "Leave half the men to meet the enemy; the rest will escort the Lord away."

"Charge!" Although the Western Chu army’s morale was completely shattered, at Xiang Yu’s furious shout, many still turned, raising their sabers, and charged back toward the Qin line.

"My Lord, let's go." Ye Xiu didn't concern himself with the fighting. He pulled Xiang Liang onto his own horse; he was determined to save him, even if it contradicted history.

Under the blazing sun, Ying Bu's army continued to traverse the treacherous ravines. The soldiers' stamina was limited, and their pace was already agonizingly slow.

"All soldiers, quicken your steps!" Ying Bu commanded his men with his sword, but no matter how loudly he shouted, the soldiers were utterly exhausted and could not speed up.

Ying Bu, eager to gain merit in this campaign through haste, had underestimated the difficulty of traversing the gorge. Unable to tolerate these useless men, he casually pulled two over, killing them instantly with one strike: "Anyone else moving this slowly will meet the same fate."

"Ah!" Just then, someone suddenly screamed—it was rolling stones again.

The sound of "Rumble, rumble" echoed through the confined space of the gorge, like rolling thunder from the heavens, shaking the earth as if the mountains themselves were collapsing.

"An ambush!" By the time someone managed to shout this, it was too late. Endless stones poured down from the cliffs above. The Chu soldiers perished beneath the rubble before they could even make out the Qin insignia.

"Argh! Hurry!" Ying Bu knew salvation was impossible. He stepped forward, intending to lead his remaining men in a desperate break, but the soldiers, already spent, had no strength left to dodge. They were buried one after another in that narrow confines, crying out in agony.

"Alas," Ying Bu lamented, forced to abandon his troops and flee for his own life.

On another front, Long Ju's army had successfully climbed and crossed the ancient plank road. The mountainous terrain here was indeed perilous, just as Fan Zeng had warned—there were no ambushes. This contingent advanced smoothly, nearing Dingtao. Just as they approached the city gates, they heard the fierce fighting raging outside. Long Ju surveyed the scattered, ruined state of the Chu forces, quickly organized his troops, charged into the chaos, and joined Xiang Yu in protecting the withdrawal of the advance troops.

The combination of these two forces, coupled with the bravery of Long Ju and Xiang Yu, bought crucial time for Xiang Liang's retreat. Just as Ye Xiu believed Xiang Liang would survive the ordeal at Dingtao, countless sharp needles suddenly rained from the sky, striking the retreating soldiers, wounding and paralyzing them where they fell. Ye Xiu’s own horse was not spared, pierced through by the flying needles. Fortunately, Ye Xiu managed to pull Xiang Liang down, and with a flourish of 'Heaven's Will,' he swept away the attack coming toward them.

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