Lao Nanfeng wove through the fleeing bandits like a demon let loose.
One slash.
Another.
Four or five minor bandit chiefs fell in rapid succession—Qingbei Lang, Yunzhong Shou, Jin Gang Zuan…
Each time he took a head, he dipped a finger into the blood on his saber and dragged a horizontal line across his face.
Before long, his face was striped red and black, like some feral beast freshly painted for war.
"Where's Zijing Liang?!" Lao Nanfeng roared.
"Only the biggest bandit chief is worthy of the greatest glory!"
His men shouted back at once:
"Northeast!"
"Northeast!"
"Boss, Zijing Liang's banner is over there!"
Lao Nanfeng's eyes lit up.
"Good!" he bellowed. "Chase him! Glory, silver, and honor are all under that banner!"
The Guyuan border army answered with a thunderous roar.
Ever since their release from labor reform, these men had followed Lao Nanfeng into Puzhou—the so-called Center of the World. They lived well, ate well, drank well, and were paid on time.
Gao Family Village never defaulted on wages, unlike the imperial court.
Their lives were already enviable.
But human desire was endless.
Who wouldn't want to climb even higher?
"Kill Zijing Liang!"
"Take the chief general's head!"
"That's where the real merit is!"
The Guyuan border troops charged like rabid wolves, tearing after Zijing Liang's banner.
From afar, Cheng Xu was leading his flintlock soldiers, methodically shooting down fleeing rebels. He glanced toward Lao Nanfeng's direction and couldn't help shaking his head.
"Damn," he muttered. "Those guys are terrifying. My unit would never dare charge like that."
Nearby, Xing Honglang also glanced at her own flintlock formation.
Flintlock soldiers are strong, she thought, but they're meant for steady advance and positional warfare. Charging with sabers out, screaming like madmen… that's not our way.
Even Li Daoxuan silently evaluated the scene.
In an era without automatic weapons, flintlocks simply can't compete in a pure charge.
This kind of glory?
No one could dispute it with Lao Nanfeng.
…Or so it seemed.
Because someone did intend to compete.
The White Pole Soldiers moved.
They, too, were a melee force.
After the Gao Family Village troops arrived and broke the encirclement, the rebel army collapsed. Amid the chaos, Zhang Fengyi snapped out of her daze.
She vaulted onto a rooftop, scanned the battlefield, and instantly locked onto Zijing Liang's banner.
"Pursue!" she shouted, pointing.
A thousand White Pole Soldiers surged forward as one.
Lao Nanfeng heard furious footsteps behind him. He glanced back—and nearly blew a fuse.
"The White Pole Soldiers?!" he shouted.
"I just saved your lives, and now you're trying to steal my glory?!"
He roared at his men, "Run! Faster! If the White Pole Soldiers get there first, every one of you loses enough silver for two visits to a—"
"Boss!" a soldier yelled. "Dao Xuan Tianzun forbids brothels!"
Lao Nanfeng instantly corrected himself.
"Then ten concerts!"
The Guyuan border army gasped.
Ten concerts?!
That's ruinous!
"Ao—ao—!"
They exploded forward like lunatics, accelerating so hard that even the legendary Wudang Cloud-Climbing Steps would hang its head in shame.
Behind them, the White Pole Soldiers suddenly noticed the Puzhou garrison pulling away.
Zhang Fengyi was stunned.
"They're… speeding up again?"
She felt a fire ignite in her chest.
"Sichuan White Pole Soldiers!" she shouted.
"Look at them! The Puzhou forces are fighting with their lives! Are we going to lose to them?"
The White Pole Soldiers roared back:
"Ao—ao—!"
"The Sichuan Army will not lose!"
The name Sichuan Army was no empty boast.
They surged forward again, legs churning like wind-and-fire wheels, fast enough to make even the famed Lingbo Drifting Steps beg for mercy.
Up front, Lao Nanfeng nearly lost his mind.
"They can still accelerate?!"
"Damn it, do they really have to be this desperate just to steal my glory?!"
The Guyuan border army screamed back:
"Can't lose!"
"Run!"
White Pole Soldiers: "Impossible! They're still faster? Charge harder!"
Guyuan border army: "I refuse to believe this!"
White Pole Soldiers: "Charge!"
Guyuan border army: "RUN!"
Two elite melee forces—like twin blades fitted with rocket boosters—plunged straight into the routed rebel army from opposite directions.
The clever bandits immediately realized something was wrong.
Both blades were aimed at one target.
Zijing Liang.
Those with sense quickly split off to either side, abandoning the banner entirely.
No one dared block their path.
It didn't take long.
From left and right, Lao Nanfeng and Zhang Fengyi arrived simultaneously beneath Zijing Liang's banner.
Zhang Fengyi shouted, "Bandit chief! Don't you dare run!"
Lao Nanfeng roared, "The glory is mine!"
Both charged forward—
Only to freeze.
Standing beneath the banner was a man clad in Zijing Liang's armor.
His eyes were tightly shut.
Blood trickled from their corners.
Blind.
It was Ge Goufei.
He stood there trembling, utterly lost.
Freshly blinded, he hadn't yet learned to rely on sound. He only knew Zijing Liang had dragged him along, thrown armor on him, and fled.
Everything else was darkness.
Zhang Fengyi's heart sank.
"Damn it… Zijing Liang used a blind man as a decoy."
Lao Nanfeng cursed loudly.
"Shameless bastards. Selling out their own comrades without hesitation."
Ge Goufei panicked.
"Who's there? Who's speaking? Where am I? Where's the boss? Boss Zijing Liang?!"
Zhang Fengyi hesitated. "What do we do with him?"
Lao Nanfeng snorted.
"What do you think?"
His saber fell.
Ge Goufei screamed once—then fell silent forever, trapped in eternal darkness.
Lao Nanfeng wiped his blade and drew another bloody line across his face.
Zhang Fengyi looked at the crisscrossed marks and knew he had personally slain countless bandit chiefs today.
She couldn't help but admire him.
What a brutal… and valiant general.
Lao Nanfeng sighed.
"So dull. So anticlimactic."
"The biggest glory escaped."
"I've lost my motivation."
Zhang Fengyi scanned the battlefield. Rebels were fleeing in all directions, flooding mountains and plains alike.
Finding Zijing Liang now was impossible.
She exhaled slowly.
"Sound the retreat."
"Sound the retreat!"
Gongs rang out across the battlefield.
The Gao Family Village forces and the White Pole Soldiers began to withdraw, each army regrouping as their generals converged once more on Houjia Village.