Faced with the Iron Army, whose numbers held a massive advantage, the prowess of the Mastiff-Lion Regiment, the Hu Kingdom's most elite corps, was displayed to its fullest...
Their inherent strength surpassed that of the Iron Army soldiers, and having survived numerous battles, they knew far better how to kill effectively on the battlefield than these martial artists comprising the Iron Army...
If they hadn't been inexplicably thrown from their mounts moments ago and had maintained their formation, they could have turned the tide and achieved victory...
But even now, the scattered Mastiff-Lion warriors fought on undaunted, their long scimitars in hand, each man facing four or five Iron Army soldiers almost single-handedly...
Chen Baxian had joined the Mastiff-Lion Regiment two years prior. From a reservist to possessing his own mastiff, becoming a full member, and then rising to a squad leader, he had experienced no less than a hundred battles, large and small, alongside the regiment, encountering every kind of danger imaginable. Yet, never had he felt so humiliated: first losing more than half their strength to the enemy's fire attack, then having over a thousand mastiffs terrified by some unknown small beast, leading to this current predicament...
However, fear remained absent from his eyes. He firmly believed that the invincible Mastiff-Lion Regiment would ultimately triumph. Gripping a massive three-foot scimitar, he charged toward Wang Yu, an Iron Army soldier ahead of him...
With a flick of his blade, devoid of any flourish, he swung directly toward Wang Yu's head. Wang Yu, having trained as a warrior for several years, sneered faintly at such a straightforward move. He rapidly twitched his military saber, weaving intricate, dazzling blade patterns. He expected Chen Baxian to cautiously retract his strike, but unexpectedly, Chen Baxian's scimitar suddenly accelerated, slicing down from Wang Yu's forehead under his terrified gaze...
H-how could he do that? Such a question flashed through Wang Yu's mind...
"Idiot..." Chen Baxian’s curse echoed. On the battlefield, all martial techniques and skills were useless; any move that ensured a kill was the best move...
"You’re not much smarter yourself..." At that moment, another Iron Army soldier materialized behind Chen Baxian, plunging his cutlass mercilessly into Chen Baxian’s left flank. He then violently twisted the blade, causing Chen Baxian to feel a searing agony, but Chen Baxian barely registered it, desperately hacking toward the man before his death...
The soldier hadn't anticipated such brute force; that Chen Baxian would still fight after taking such a wound. In a moment of stunned surprise, he was cleaved across the head by Chen Baxian’s blade. White brain matter splattered out; he was undeniably dead...
"Seeking death..." Just then, another soldier appeared behind Chen Baxian and drove a blade straight into his back...
A wave of pain overwhelmed Chen Baxian, and the scimitar slipped from his grip as his body pitched downward...
The soldier was about to join the fray elsewhere, but the fallen Chen Baxian clung desperately to his ankle and lunged, sinking his teeth into the soldier’s calf...
"Ah..." The soldier had not expected Chen Baxian to be so ferocious, resisting so fiercely even after taking such a blow. Intense pain shot up his leg, and in a fit of rage, he thrust his saber again into Chen Baxian’s head. The sharp military blade pierced straight through, spraying scarlet blood and white brain matter, yet Chen Baxian’s eyes remained wide open, his teeth locked tight on the soldier's calf...
At this moment, another Mastiff-Lion Regiment soldier rushed over, cleaving the soldier Chen Baxian had bitten clean through with a single strike, before rejoining the surrounding melee...
Every warrior of the Mastiff-Lion Regiment, just like Chen Baxian, showed utter disregard for the Iron Army’s blades. Even in their final moments, they fought with every fiber to take one enemy down; if they couldn't kill, they would create the best possible opening for their comrades...
Some Mastiff-Lion warriors, even after having an arm severed, resorted to kicking; those who lost both legs bit down with their teeth. As long as they lived, they inflicted maximum damage upon the Iron Army fighters...
The Iron Army soldiers, all martial artists themselves and hardened veterans, were not intimidated by the ferocity of the Mastiff-Lion warriors. Instead, it stoked their own bloodlust. Ignoring whether this was a battlefield or a simple brawl, they charged fearlessly at the Mastiff-Lion Regiment...
The entire battlefield was chaos—cries of slaughter everywhere, the clang of steel on steel, the piercing screams of absolute agony, the sickening sound of weapons plunging into flesh...
Blood stained the earth crimson...
A thick stench of gore permeated the field. Countless mutilated corpses lay piled on the ground, and immense resentment gathered into a swirling mass in the sky, as countless heroic souls ascended from the earth...
Ye Jingyu’s arms ached from killing; his military saber was long gone. He now clutched the blackened iron blade, his entire body smeared with gore, fragments of what might have been his comrades or Mastiff-Lion warriors clinging to his hair...
Watching the soldiers fighting madly all around, observing the Iron Army soldiers constantly falling, seeing the proud warriors cut down, his eyes filled with sorrow...
Is this war? Is this the brutality of war?
Even though he was accustomed to death and had witnessed all manner of savage acts, facing this level of bloody combat for the first time still deeply shook his core...
By this time, Weihaya was cornered. His body was covered in wounds; had it not been for the unyielding fighting spirit burning within him, he would already be dead...
After all, a Xiantian Wushi facing two Xiantian Wushi of similar strength, coupled with an exceedingly powerful Fourth-Level Warrior, spelled almost certain doom. With sporadic poison darts flying in as well, this Xiantian Wushi had no chance of a comeback, not even the chance to drag one or two enemies down with him...
Blood-soaked, Weihaya stood atop a pile of rubble, which was itself saturated with blood, as if several basins had been overturned upon it...
His expression was utterly dejected, and his eyes reflected endless exhaustion. That unyielding fighting will, that flame of never accepting defeat, was gradually fading...
Gazing at the nearly annihilated Mastiff-Lion Regiment soldiers nearby, at the two Xiantian Wushi and the Fourth-Level Warrior standing not far before him, at the strange beast that had frozen over a thousand mastiffs in fear, and at the young general, whose face still held traces of childhood innocence, walking toward him step by step...
Weihaya knew the undefeated myth of the Mastiff-Lion Regiment was broken...
"Ah..." Suddenly, Weihaya let out a long howl to the heavens. The remaining Xiantian True Qi within his body circulated wildly, and the cry grew louder and louder...
"Ah..." The few remaining proud warriors on the battlefield also ceased their fighting, ignoring the tips of the Iron Army blades thrusting toward them. They all emulated Weihaya, howling toward the sky...
Though fewer than a hundred remained, their roar was astonishingly resonant, tragically heroic, sounding like thousands of cavalry...
Their cry was filled with infinite melancholy...
Their cry was filled with infinite pathos...
And their cry was filled with infinite unwillingness...
Unwillingness for the undefeated myth to shatter...
Unwillingness for the destruction of the Mastiff-Lion Regiment...
"You are a true man... all of you, every one of you, is a true man..." At this moment, Ye Jingyu had approached Weihaya personally. His eyes were filled with admiration. His own soldiers had suffered over three thousand casualties just to slay the thousand-plus members of the Mastiff-Lion Regiment; not a single one had surrendered during the process...
Every single one had launched their final strike with deadly resolve...
Such fighting will, such spirit, deeply struck Ye Jingyu...
If not for Xiao Taotao being by his side, perhaps these thousand-plus warriors, aided by their mastiffs, would have been enough to annihilate him completely...
The fighting capability of the Mastiff-Lion Regiment was indeed extraordinary...
Hearing Ye Jingyu’s words, Weihaya ceased his howling. He looked up at his surroundings and saw that the few dozen remaining Mastiff-Lion warriors had all been killed. The entire battlefield fell utterly silent, surrounded only by the Shu Yun Kingdom's troops clad in black iron armor...
His most elite Mastiff-Lion Regiment was completely wiped out...
Disbelief flickered in Weihaya’s eyes, but resignation was stronger—resignation to the outcome, resignation to fate...
"Thank you..." Finally, Weihaya uttered this single word. The True Qi within his body erupted suddenly, shattering his heart meridians instantly. Blood streamed from all seven orifices as his body slowly listed backward...
Thank you?
Thank you for my praise? Or thank you for letting you taste failure?
Watching Weihaya slowly collapse, a wave of sorrow washed over Ye Jingyu...
"Wuu..." Just as Ye Jingyu was about to order the clearing of the battlefield, urgent howls erupted from the cliff above. Ye Jingyu looked up and, with vision far surpassing that of ordinary men, saw Ying Xiaoxiao’s face etched with anxiety, his eyes fixed toward the east...
Nearby, Chen Qi’s expression also shifted drastically...