Chapter 327: Scalding!

The savage army had been exhausted from the road.

On top of that, the nearby forests outside Snow Sea Pass had either been cut down or burned.

So Limuer did not bother sending men farther out to gather timber and build a proper fortified camp.

For one thing, when savage tribes fought and swallowed one another across the snowfields, they had never possessed many rules to begin with.

To a certain extent, their habits and methods of warfare still belonged to a comparatively primitive era.

The Savage King had spent many years serving as an auxiliary soldier beneath the Marquis of Zhenbei in Beifeng Commandery.

And the generals beneath him had all been personally selected as outstanding men.

Because of that, the Savage King’s own direct troops actually fought with considerable structure and sophistication.

But the savage forces stationed farther behind the main army were composed mostly of warriors contributed by the great tribes that had submitted later.

First, they had never undergone proper centralized training.

Second, the savages had won battle after battle throughout the past year.

They had first broken the Situ Clan.

Then they defeated the Yan army beside the Wang River.

They were currently in the exact state described by the phrase an arrogant army swollen with victory.

Even after losing Snow Sea Pass, Limuer had not truly regarded this Yan force as much of a threat.

His camp possessed practically no defenses.

Once the attackers entered, all they would find were rows upon rows of tents.

It was a formation that had willingly rolled over and exposed its belly, inviting someone to slash it open.

Fan Li, his body engulfed in flames, charged into the savage camp like a “fire ox.”

He brandished axes in both hands, but made no deliberate effort to kill anyone.

Instead, he smashed into one tent with overwhelming brute force, burst through the other side, then charged into the next.

He had turned himself into a moving source of fire.

Behind him, eight hundred Shengle cavalrymen followed closely and used the torches in their hands to help the savages hold a grand bonfire festival.

Screams erupted throughout the camp.

Everyone had been deep asleep.

No one had imagined the Yan would pull something like this.

And at night, the confusion became absolute almost instantly.

Once Liang Cheng saw that the fires had spread and judged the timing sufficient, he wheeled his horse around and began withdrawing.

The other Shengle riders, having thrown their torches and created the necessary chaos, retreated according to the original plan.

Most of the oil paste on Fan Li’s armor had already burned away.

Then he threw himself onto the ground and rolled several times, extinguishing the last flames.

Smoke still pouring from his body, he opened his stride and sprinted back.

North of the savage camp, the cavalry re-formed.

Zheng Fan gripped his saber.

His palm was slightly sweaty.

During the first attack, when everyone had been setting fires, General Zheng had not penetrated deeply.

He had merely ridden along the outside and thrown a torch at one tent.

But now, he had to charge straight forward together with everyone else.

Only by punching all the way through the camp could they emerge safely on the other side.

If his horse went down halfway through, or if anything else delayed him, then he would be left alone inside a chaotic enemy camp to pray for his own survival.

Zheng Fan raised his saber.

Then he roared:

“THE WILL TO BREAK THE ENEMY LINE!”

The riders around him shouted together:

“DEATH BEFORE RETREAT!”

Then, the second charge began!

Unlike the first attack, this time there were no reservations.

Every man squeezed the utmost speed from the horse beneath him.

During the first fire attack, they had approached from the eastern side of the camp.

The second charge came from the north.

For the savages already trapped in chaos, this made it extremely easy to believe they had been surrounded on all sides.

Limuer was currently leading his personal guards and gathering the panicked warriors around him.

He was moving eastward, toward the place where the fires had first started.

Who could have imagined that from the north, a cavalry force would suddenly smash straight into the camp with utterly unreasonable violence?

The charging horses did not slow.

Savages in front of them were either sent flying by the impact or trampled beneath hooves.

The Shengle riders on horseback merely followed through with a saber strike.

There was no need for a mighty swing.

Simply holding the saber out and borrowing the momentum of a galloping warhorse was enough to split through the savages’ mediocre armor and cut men down.

The chaos inside the savage camp intensified instantly under the second assault.

Limuer’s luck was terrible.

He and the several hundred personal guards and warriors around him happened to stand directly in the path of the Shengle charge.

At this point, there was nowhere to hide.

They could only grit their teeth and face it head-on.

But one side was already charging at full speed with overwhelming momentum.

The other had been caught in confusion and was reacting in panic.

The moment the two groups collided, the outcome became obvious.

Many of Limuer’s clansmen were smashed aside or cut down outright.

The little bit of organized formation he had barely managed to gather the force he had intended to use to stabilize the entire camp was scattered again.

And at that exact moment a warhorse came charging directly toward him.

Becoming a Ten-Thousand Household Commander certainly depended partly upon the standing of one’s tribe.

But anyone capable of commanding a tribe’s military forces still had to be recognized as a true warrior by his own people.

Limuer had committed an enormous mistake by underestimating the enemy.

But his personal strength was unquestionable.

The instant the warhorse charged toward him, his body reacted almost instinctively.

He stepped sideways.

His saber swept low and severed one of the horse’s legs.

As the rider pitched downward, Limuer’s left hand seized the man’s armor and ripped him directly from the saddle.

General Zheng had never believed himself to be someone “favored by destiny.”

At times, General Zheng’s cowardly caution was so excessive that even the Demon Kings whose lives were bound to his could hardly stand watching it.

But reality proved that General Zheng’s caution made perfect sense.

He genuinely did not possess the sort of heaven-defying luck that allowed a man to charge through ten thousand enemies as though walking through an empty field.

Yes.

The rider Limuer had just dragged from his horse was Zheng Fan.

Only several seconds earlier, an arrow had flown toward them.

A’Ming shifted his body and took the arrow for Zheng Fan.

Because of that, the distance between the two instantly opened.

At cavalry speed, even a small gap expanded in the blink of an eye.

And A’Ming lost the ability to continue protecting his Master.

Then, by sheer rotten coincidence, Zheng Fan charged directly into the face of the enemy commander!

Limuer had no idea what kind of enormous fish he had just hooked.

He certainly would never have believed that this man whose armor and warhorse looked no different from those of any ordinary Yan cavalryman was actually the true commander of the Yan force holding Snow Sea Pass.

But that did not prevent him from immediately sweeping his blade toward Zheng Fan’s neck.

The armor was weakest there.

Everything happened in a single instant.

And General Zheng was decisive.

The moment he felt his horse pitching forward and realized he was about to fall, he shouted silently in his heart:

*Son!*

If there was even the slightest possibility of danger, Zheng Fan would never hesitate to summon the Demon Child.

Fortunately, General Zheng did not hesitate at all.

The Demon Child immediately poured his strength and consciousness into Zheng Fan’s body.

So just as Limuer’s saber was about to cut into Zheng Fan’s neck and just as Limuer himself had already begun raising his head to observe the surrounding battlefield, completely convinced the Yan rider beneath him had no remaining ability to struggle—

Zheng Fan’s ten fingers suddenly dug deep into the earth.

Using both arms as leverage, his entire body contracted downward.

In the instant before Limuer’s blade descended, he slipped beneath it.

Limuer felt his saber cut through nothing.

He was just preparing to pull the weapon back when a pair of legs suddenly appeared in front of his face.

His gaze shifted downward.

The Yan rider he had just ripped from horseback and prepared to kill was now upside down before him head toward the ground, legs pointing upward.

*BANG!*

Zheng Fan’s legs locked around Limuer’s neck.

Using those legs as a pivot, his lower body swung toward him.

Both hands became fists.

They hammered directly into Limuer’s abdomen.

*BANG! BANG! BANG!*

Limuer felt as though an enormous iron hammer had smashed into him repeatedly.

His eardrums rang with pain.

A sweet, metallic taste began spreading through his nose and mouth.

But he truly was an exceptional warrior.

Even now, he had not released his saber.

Though Zheng Fan was striking him violently, Limuer still instinctively raised the weapon and stabbed downward.

*PUFF!*

The blade drove into Zheng Fan’s armor.

And with that single thrust, Limuer immediately realized the Yan soldier in front of him was not ordinary.

The armor looked completely unremarkable from the outside.

But its internal structure was clearly anything but ordinary.

His saber had actually become stuck.

The force that should have driven the blade straight through Zheng Fan’s body managed to penetrate only a little.

Then Zheng Fan opened his mouth and released a piercing shriek.

In an instant—

Limuer felt violent pain explode inside his head.

His vision began turning black.

This was a mental attack from the Demon Child.

At such close range, and launched without the slightest warning, it struck Limuer cleanly.

At the same time, Zheng Fan’s legs tightened again.

His entire body rotated from its inverted position until he was almost sitting atop Limuer’s shoulders.

Just as the Demon Child—using Zheng Fan’s body—prepared to seize the opportunity and twist Limuer’s neck apart, he suddenly saw Fan Li charging toward them at a horrifying speed.

Once Fan Li put on his specially made iron-can armor, no ordinary warhorse could possibly carry his weight.

Only a Pixiu could manage it.

So whenever the others fought on horseback, Fan Li usually ran on his own two legs.

Fortunately, his speed and endurance were both inhuman.

He could keep up.

Earlier, two savages had blocked him briefly, causing him to fall behind.

Now, seeing his Master in danger, Fan Li immediately gave a deep roar and charged.

“ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!”

The Demon Child—inside Zheng Fan—roared furiously again and again.

But Fan Li could no longer stop himself.

*CRACK!*

Zheng Fan twisted Limuer’s neck apart.

The next instant—

Fan Li smashed directly into Limuer.

Limuer and Zheng Fan were both sent flying.

*BANG!*

Zheng Fan crashed onto the ground.

Fan Li’s momentum did not slow.

As he thundered past Zheng Fan, he reached down with one hand, grabbed him, and threw him onto his own back.

Apparently, Fan Li intended to use himself as a horse and carry his Master out of the camp.

“HISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS...”

A wave of scorching heat instantly struck Zheng Fan.

“ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!”

The Demon Child howled in fury.

One had to remember that Fan Li’s armor had spent a long time covered in burning oil.

It might no longer be glowing red like a branding iron, but the temperature was still anything but low.

After roaring for a while, the Demon Child simply withdrew his consciousness and power back into the stone, allowing his dear father to regain control of his body and his senses.

A moment later, a furious curse rang out:

“FUCK!

“YOU’RE SCALDING ME TO DEATH!”

[End of Chapter 327]