Chapter 331: The 331st Chapter: Women 2

This counts as Bai Lang's unexpected delight: a woman took the initiative to flirt with him, and Bai Lang can't be called a cad—he's always unassertive but responsible— as for his past force‑taking of civilian women, that wasn't done in a playful mood, and Bai Shaobao could also be a dandy.

Besides, what does it matter if the Leopard‑Head snatches a few civilian women? If he doesn't go, I'll be done with him; not paying means it's not prostitution, which is already pretty good—if the official Xue Lei lets others say "Sir, I want you," that would be terribly bad, wouldn't it? By contrast, Bai Shaobao's words are almost absurdly proper.

Although Shang Xiufang volunteered and threw herself into his arms, she is still a person of principle, so she could never bed Bai Lang together with Wei Zhenzhen; and when Bai Lang gets a beauty, his spirit soars, and the next day he almost wipes out all the small camps outside Zhu Can's main camp on the battlefield, forcing Zhu Can's army to shrink back.

In a one‑on‑one duel Bai Lang defeated Shi Zhixuan, and news of his ascent to Grand Master spread; like the Turk war‑lord Bi Xuan, Bai Lang is a Grand Master on the battle array, and Bai Lang has gone even farther than Bi Xuan. Though Bi Xuan's Flame‑Sun Extraordinary Skill is strong, nothing on the battlefield matches the might of Bai Lang's Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist.

The name Southern Dipper White Tiger Fist has never been spoken of for Bai Lang, but he once claimed his martial art was… of course half a lie; what he told others was the Thirteen Tai Bao Golden Bell Shield. Yet at that moment who knew what the Thirteen Tai Bao were, or who the thirteen people were? A technique called Horizontal‑Practice Golden Bell Shield sounds exactly like something sold by itinerant jianghu peddlers.

Whether true or false, the only publicly known martial art Bai Lang is said to practice is this Thirteen Tai Bao Golden Bell Shield. Bai Lang has cultivated this skill to the Grandmaster realm and can already commune with spirits. His whole path of divine skill is now hailed as the world's number‑one hard skill, dubbed the top killer on the battlefield.

Bai Lang truly feels exhilarated at joyous occasions, and becomes wilder in the heat of battle; this time he slaughtered two camps and then abandoned horse‑step tactics, brandishing his Pu Dao for swift killing, smashing the rear camp gate with iron fists, and charging straight in. Amid his triumphant, maniacal laugh, he created a massive sea of blood and flesh.

Any enemy daring to block his way was cut down with a single slash; at that moment Bai Lang's whole body was sealed with white‑tiger killing aura, making his rage explode yet unable to burst out, scorching his own eyes yellow as golden flames burned fiercely within his pupils. The flame self‑immolated, and he was oddly delighted, his body twisted.

The twisted Bai Lang wanted nothing but carefree slaughter; after all, everything before him was sub‑human, and each kill brought a little more peace to the world. Bai Lang vaulted over ditches as if walking on flat ground, ran faster than a horse, and everyone knew his body was impervious to blade and spear— the world's number‑one hard skill trapped the formation like a deity.

One could say that day was a straight‑through charge, just like Emperor Wei Wu Di's praise of Xu Huang and Xu Gongming breaking the siege of FanCheng by GuanYu. Bai Lang saw soldiers kill soldiers, generals kill generals, and led his eighteen riders to pursue Zhu Can's routed army, only being stopped by a Nine‑layered Deer Antlers formation and a Triple Moat before reaching Zhu Can's main camp.

Along the pursuit he broke eighteen strongholds, crushed armies and generals. He broke nine formations, beheaded dozens of Zhu Can's officers, over a thousand soldiers, seized thirty‑seven flags, and dragged back over a thousand heads. All forward outposts outside Zhu Can's main camp were smashed, the camps burned to ash; continuing the fight would mean taking Zhu Can's main camp itself.

At this point Zhu Can's army was caught between a rock and a hard place: advancing meant morale already collapsed and the whole force was in disarray, looking unable to cross the river; retreating meant fearing the Twin Dragon Army and the Flying Horse Ranch would chase them down for hundreds of miles. Zhu Can's troops were brutally ruthless toward ordinary civilians, yet they guarded their own lives very tightly.

So surrender and lose half? The reputation of Zhu Can's Garuda army is so foul that any ambitious power would never take them, lest they tarnish their own name. "Sunset, desperate, reverse‑doing—that's exactly the kind of beast Zhu Can is," Bai Lang laughed heartily while drinking, with Shang Xiufang leaning beside him, toasting and serving dishes.

Up to now Bai Lang has never seen the so‑called world's number‑one artisan appear, and it doesn't matter whether he shows up— even if he does, Bai Lang doesn't think he could save him; his martial skill can kill, but saving lives isn't that satisfying. Moreover, the battle is about to be won; as long as Kou Zhong leads his troops to strike, Bai Lang will send another cavalry wave, and then they will start collecting Zhu Can's heads to build a capital view‑tower.

"Hey? Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, I haven't seen those two kids for a while. By the way, Zhenzhen, have you met them lately?" Bai Lang asked, and of course Wei Zhenzhen shook her head to deny. Those two kids have now become the heads of a regional power; although they've shrunk a lot, they're probably very different from before.

Bai Lang has no intention of meeting them; the current Zhu Can army is just a broken house that will collapse with a single kick on the gate— it's not a side‑quest…

Shang Xiuxun was a bit displeased about the matter of Shang Xiufang, but Shang Xiufang is an artist while Shang Xiuxun has to manage a ranch that feeds several thousand people, so when Bai Lang returned from the battlefield and said Zhu Can's army would collapse within days, Shang Xiuxun began moving about like a dancer, urging the stewards to ready the warhorses for the final strike on Zhu Can's troops— under Bai Lang's lead.

At this point there were no dissenting opinions; things like letting the Twin Dragon Army fight, we only need to hold our position and watch it happen, since we had already shattered Zhu Can's morale and outer camps— that could have been said, but once Bai Lang was confirmed as Grand Master, such nonsense vanished the moment he appeared.

If Bai Lang fights, then the Flying Horse Ranch must fight; the market master should probably crawl into Bai Lang's bed tonight— that's what the stewards think.

Later that day, Bai Lang finally met his future "father‑in‑law" Lu Miaozi— this person was described as ancient and lofty, a concept drafted by the world‑building port‑kid, and to Bai Lang he looked like a thick‑lipped, forehead‑sloping Beijing ape; that's what "ancient" meant. "Not ugly, but rather peculiar— this daughter somehow didn't inherit… no, she did inherit those bright eyes."

Bai Lang thought, the father and daughter's eyes were alike, both extremely bright— in Lu Miaozi's case it seemed like endless wisdom, in Shang Xiuxun's case it was a hungry gaze. Lu Miaozi also sized up the new Grand Master before him, tall and robust, with a heroic, fierce look, a beard and thick, hanging eyebrows that fit traditional aesthetics. "Indeed a beautiful whiskered beard," Lu Miaozi praised, feeling a bit sorry for his wife and daughter, so Shang Xiuxun could naturally curb this unreliable old man.

Shang Xiuxun realized that Lu Miaozi had no say— the old man had been badly beaten by a woman, his father's voice had long gone to waste. Bai Lang gave Shang Xiuxun a glance, guessing the girl was also too embarrassed to speak, so he took the initiative to grab Lu Miaozi.