My Cultivation Starting from Archery

Chapter 82 A Lone Knight Slays a General

This time, three spears were thrusted towards him simultaneously.

Chen Sansi moved like a ghostly apparition, in the blink of an eye he was no longer atop the horse, instead, he clutched the saddle with one hand, his body fully suspended at the flank, narrowly evading the strike without harm.

Before the opponent could retract their spears, Chen Sansi harnessed the strength of his waist and, like a spring, vaulted back onto the horse, trapping the wooden shafts of the incoming spears under his arm, his arm muscles coiled like dragons. The blood of the Dragon Elephant, paired with the Nine Dragon Living Veins, erupted with astonishing power; he easily snapped the wooden shafts.

"Huff—"

The sound of a sharp weapon drawing near came from behind.

Relying on his hearing, Chen Sansi surmised that this assailant was clever, realizing that his agile body was difficult to hit, so they aimed directly for the White Swan Horse instead.

"Go!"

He leapt into the air, thrusting his long spear and impaling a spearman who had lost his weapon, claiming his horse, and using the corpse as a weapon to crash into those behind him.

With the White Swan Horse unburdened, its speed surged forward rapidly, successfully dodging a slash from behind.

Heart and mind as one!

Not until actually battling on the field did Chen Sansi truly understand how important this was.

He jumped back onto the White Swan Horse, stabbing to death three cavalrymen in succession and once again breaking through the encirclement.

No more than a few seconds had elapsed.

Six or seven cavalrymen lay dead.

"My lord!"

The barbarian cavalry hesitated for a moment and did not immediately launch a third charge but simultaneously looked towards their Hundred Households leader for instructions.

But before they could receive any commands,

it was the White Horse military officer who took the initiative and charged forth.

In the chaos,

Chen Sansi's vision was filled to the brim with bladed weapons of all sorts, the air was thick with killing intent from all directions, and enemies were everywhere. He had no time to distinguish between military officers and rank soldiers as he continuously swung the reed-leaf long spear, spearing one barbarian after another, whilst also fending off attacks from all sides. The air was thick with blood, akin to a macabre rain.

In such a state, with all guns blazing, it was an incredibly rapid expenditure of Qi-Blood for any martial artist.

Martial artists, aside from their physical bodies, rely on Qi-Blood to enhance their attacks.

This was equivalent to constantly using skills, draining the mana bar.

Once the mana runs dry, one can only rely on the strength of their physical body.

Fortunately, his mana bar was a little bit larger than average.

With the blood of the Dragon Elephant coursing ceaselessly, Chen Sansi's body was ablaze with heat, but he felt no fatigue; his lunging spear grew ever more stable, accurate, and ruthless. In front of him, one after another, the cavalrymen fell, with cries of agony rising in succession.

"Keep going!"

The barbarian Hundred Households held his curved blade tightly, closely observing the situation, ready to further deplete the opponent's Qi-Blood before personally taking action.

After a martial artist breaks through to the Bone Forger Realm, the main enhancements are to defensive power, physical strength, and speed, not much to Qi-Blood.

Therefore, theoretically speaking,

trying to kill a bone training martial artist with just cavalry would be incredibly costly.

But the lives of twenty or more cavalrymen could roughly deplete about half of the opponent's Qi-Blood. At that point, if he made his move, he would have the upper hand, and with someone assisting in a sneak attack, decapitating the enemy would be easy!

Trading twenty or so lives for that of a bone training General's was quite the deal.

However, very soon…

The barbarian Hundred Households realized something was amiss.

For this young Dasheng military officer seemed to show no difference from his initial state, having slain more than twenty cavalrymen without any sign of diminished Qi-Blood, not even making use of the unique defensive abilities possessed by bone training martial artists.

To put it bluntly, not even the skin was scratched!

It was impossible to tell at which stage of the Bone Training Realm he was.

"Impossible! The information the spies sent back two months ago only mentioned a young Hundred Households who had just started with the Bone Strengthening Skill. Where did this kind of combat power come from? A breakthrough in just two months? And this looks to be the strength of small achievement, or even Great Success!"

The barbarian Hundred Households was rendered speechless.

It was because of this report that he decided to quickly surround and kill the enemy.

But now it seemed the information was faulty.

"No time left!"

In the time they hesitated, the Dasheng cavalry were about to catch up.

"Retreat!"

The barbarian Hundred Households bellowed, leading the retreat.

The remaining thirty or so barbarians, having long lost the will to fight, turned their horses one after another, fleeing to the north.

"My lord!"

"He's still pursuing!"

"What?!"

The barbarian Hundred Households glanced back as he turned slightly, and indeed, he saw the White Horse rushing forward at a ferocious speed, any cavalryman that dared to block his path was screaming as they toppled to the grassland, unstoppable, and in the blink of an eye, he was less than thirty feet away from him.

"Are you courting death?!"

Furious, the barbarian Hundred Households, after all, was a Bone Forger with some achievement; he had refrained from acting, simply seeking stability.

There was no need to retreat any further!

While Chen Sansi was still retracting his spear after killing another cavalryman, the Hundred Households took the opportunity to charge, his curved sword casting a black moonlight in the sky, swinging down from above straight toward the throat.

"Whoosh—"

The reed-leaf long spear stabbed out at an extremely tricky and unreasonable angle, managing to arrive at the enemy General's heart before anything else could, in an instant.

The barbarian Hundred Households' face turned pale with shock.

There was no time to dodge, so he could only block with his arm that was wrapped in a bracer.

"Crack—"

The bracer shattered as if it were made of paper, and the sturdy arm bone was effortlessly pierced through.

The Barbarian Hundred Households endured the severe pain, trying to grab the spear shaft with his hand to limit the opponent's movement, and exchange wound for wound.

Unfortunately, he didn't get the chance.

A weapon over three meters long should be very cumbersome, yet in the enemy's hands, it was as flexible as a dagger. Before he could even see it clearly, the spear blade disappeared from his arm's flesh and bone, and when it reappeared, it had pierced his chest cavity.

"Crack, crack!"

Chen Sansi released the Qi-Blood coursing through his body, which explosively erupted, his strength converging in his sinewy arms and then transferring to the reed leaf long spear. The spear tip, like a drill, stirred and ground the bones to pieces before pounding into the heart.

He hoisted the dying body of the Barbarian Hundred Households high into the air, swinging it around in the sky like a flag, then threw it out, toppling a Cavalryman trying to escape, horse and all.

In one move!

The many Barbarian Cavalrymen were dumbstruck.

Their Hundred Households, not the match for this man in a single move!

"Retreat!"

"Retreat quickly!"

With the Main General dead, morale collapsed.

The Barbarian Cavalry panicked, their formation in disorder, fleeing on their horses.

But the White Swan Horse blocked them ahead, and any who dared come close were stabbed to death.

Additionally, more than a hundred Dasheng Cavalry were in hot pursuit from behind.

With no way to go forward and enemies chasing from behind.

It was clearly a road to death.

"We surrender!"

"Mercy, my lord, we are willing to surrender!!"

One of the Barbarian flag officers took the lead, and the others followed suit,

dismounting one after another.

"Surrender?"

Chen Sansi frowned: "Who allowed you to surrender?!"

"What do you mean?"

Before the Barbarian Cavalry could react, they saw the White Swan Horse charging at them again, compelling them to fight like trapped beasts.

...

"What's going on?"

Finally arriving at the battlefield, Zhao Kang looked at the White Swan Horse charging back and forth and the bodies strewn everywhere, taking a long time to come back to his senses.

One man, one horse.

They had made more than fifty Cavalry flee in disarray.

More than fifty Cavalry!

Even a martial artist in the Bone Forger Realm would be drained of Qi-Blood, having to rely solely on their physical prowess to fight brutally!

But that was not even the main issue.

The key was that the enemy also had a Bone Forger Hundred Households!

If Chen Sansi showed even the slightest flaw, he would have been beyond redemption!

It was a critical situation, not a time for shock.

Zhao Kang led his men into the fray: "Brothers, kill them all, don't let a single one escape!"

...

The chase ended within half an incense stick's burning time.

The fifty plus Barbarian Cavalrymen that came did not return, most of them slain on spot, leaving only two alive for interrogation.

They also captured more than twenty warhorses and a number of spears and long knives.

"Hundred Households Chen, this is a bit too exaggerated," Zhao Kang said, feeling ashamed. "If it were me, I definitely would have been worn down by the Cavalry, then the enemy General would have taken advantage of my weakness and killed me with chaotic slashes.

"You alone killed more than thirty Cavalry, plus you crossed realms to kill the enemy General...

"After we return, not to mention the standard rewards, a promotion is definitely in order."

"You flatter me, Hundred Households Zhao."

Chen Sansi was covered in blood, feeling exhilarated.

His exhilaration wasn't because of the merit he had achieved, but because the fight had been so effective! His body's meridians were nearly purged of poison, and his spear technique had improved tremendously.

It appeared that bloody combat, especially when triggered by being surrounded, unleashed potential that was many times more effective than regular martial arts sparring!

To put it simply, fighting was exhilarating!

[Skill: Undying Golden Snake Spear - Upper (Adept)]

[Progress: 205/1000]

The Spiritual Grain within his body fully absorbed, directly leaping forward in proficiency, equivalent to several days of hard practice.

Zhao Kang directed his men to clear the battlefield, then quickly returned, triumphant.

But what greeted them was not celebration and elation, but a solemn and stern atmosphere.

"An urgent war report over eight hundred miles!"

"The grassland's Four Clans secretly formed an alliance and, five days ago, suddenly declared war on all three states of the Northwest Border!

"Additionally, Prince Tuoba, leading fifty thousand Iron Cavalry, is marching straight for An Ding Prefecture!"

"Yunzhou is in peril!"