Chapter 333

After saying these words to calm each other's minds, they really had to move on to the actual matter. "When fate brings us together, we part when fate ends." These words were spoken voluntarily by Shang Xiu Xuan, her tone quite firm, while Shang Xiu Fang also nodded, and Wei Zhenzhen did the same. Bai Lang looked up at the sky, and what he thought was, "Old me being sentimental—I shouldn't have restricted myself like this in the first place!"

In just a few days, the cavalry of the Flying Horse Ranch had completed their preparations, the ferry boats on the river were in place, and overnight they were linked together into a pontoon bridge with iron chains. Bai Lang led the eighteen cavalry first across. But a single shout from the general scattered the Zhu Can troops who were still trying to block the pontoon bridge; the remaining cavalry directly crossed the river from the three pontoon bridges, while Bai Lang had already taken the lead with his eighteen cavalry, charging straight to the front of Zhu Can's main camp.

Bai Lang was the first to dismount, using the jujube‑wood spear in his hand to lift and split the antler obstacles, then he was the first to charge in through the opened path. He paid no heed to the arrows and bolts, casually blocking them as he fought his way to the gate. The gate, made of thick logs, weighed a thousand jin and was sheathed with iron plates and nails. Bai Lang thrust his spear, punching a hole and breaking one log; he reached inside, braced himself, and lifted the gate upward.

The thousand‑jin gate was thus lifted by Bai Lang; when it reached chest height, he let out a tiger's roar, exerted force with both arms, and the gate began to crack and splinter from where he held it. He pulled his hands back, exhaled sharply, and slammed both palms onto the gate. Heavenly drums boomed; amidst the explosion, the entire gate shattered into countless fragments that sprayed inward like grapeshot— the rear‑rank soldiers screamed as they were knocked down in droves.

The wooden spikes were already sharp, and with the heavy blow they became even more lethal; anyone struck would surely be killed or wounded, and some were even pierced through by the spikes. Amidst the chaos of men and horses overturned, Bai Lang's eighteen cavalry seized the chance to charge in, forming a sweeping arc that cut through the enemy. Bai Lang flipped back onto his horse, ready to launch a second wave at any moment. His actions ignited a wild morale, and the Feima Ranch soldiers went mad, spurring their horses forward and pouring in en masse through the gate Bai Lang had smashed.

For a moment the passage was even blocked; if Zhu Can's army could have launched a full counter‑attack then, they might have wiped out the Feima Ranch in one blow, but Zhu Can's forces no longer had that capability—they themselves had been thrown into disarray by Bai Lang's eighteen cavalry. The eighteen cavalry, with both men and horses fully armored, were heavy armored shock troops, the kind meant for a single, all‑out charge, hence their armor was exceptionally thick. They charged straight ahead, trampling everything; when their horses could no longer sustain the momentum, they dismounted to fight on foot, letting their steeds wander loose—after all, someone would always be there to round up the horses.

Bai Lang taught them martial arts, giving them boundless strength and enduring stamina, and their running speed increased considerably. Though they had not yet cultivated the ability to strike empty space, their combat ability while wielding heavy weapons was already exaggerated— the troops who had defected to Wang Shichong had been formed into an elite unit that repeatedly earned merit in the campaigns against Wagang Fort. Moreover, some had gone north to join the Li clan, apparently to become part of Li II's core, the Black‑Armed Mystic Cavalry.

Bai Lang watched as the eighteen cavalry halted their charge; by then they had already carved a lane of flesh and blood behind them, their warhorses snorting repeatedly from fatigue, while the eighteen men dismounted like iron towers, gripping long blades and great axes to begin fighting on foot. Bai Lang let out a long whistle, spurred his horse forward, and launched his own assault.

The steward of the Flying Horse Ranch shouted orders to the clansmen not to crowd the gate, quickly organizing the troops to advance in an orderly fashion, while also assigning men to begin dismantling the side walls. Meanwhile Bai Lang had already taken the lead, riding past the eighteen ranks of infantry and sweeping his jujube‑wood spear in a level arc that sprayed a long string of flesh and blood fragments straight into the depths of Zhu Can's army. As the Feima Ranch cavalry finished their regrouping and began to assault the camp, Zhu Can's entire force started to collapse.

Bai Lang pressed straight ahead, cutting down everything before him; when his mount could go no further and lost its front hooves, he leapt into the air, landed, and kept pressing forward, seizing another horse to continue the fight. The following cavalry could not keep up with his pursuit, and Bai Lang cut straight through layer after layer of enemy formations until nothing lay ahead but backs. Zhu Can's army collapsed, and Bai Lang had to make sure that the man‑eating demon king Zhu Can did not escape.

Like a tide, the defeated troops fled back the way they had come; Kong Zhong's Double Dragon Army also noticed the situation and immediately launched a full‑scale sortie, striking the fleeing Zhu Can forces from the flank. This time Bai Lang slowed his pace, assigning only a detachment of cavalry to give chase while the rest simply followed closely to conserve the horses' strength. In this rotating pursuit, Zhu Can's army melted away like spring snow, corpses stretching from the main camp for dozens of li……

Zhu Can was still captured; his daughter Zhu Mei's whereabouts were unknown, but Zhu Can had not fled, nor did he make a last‑ditch stand—his spirit and energy had already been taken by the crushing defeat, and even if he tried to use his martial arts he would likely lose to an ordinary expert. By the time Bai Lang arrived, Zhu Can was sitting off to the side, head bowed and spirit broken. Bai Lang said nothing more, drew the straight sword at his waist, and walked over. Zhu Can tried to kowtow and beg for mercy, but a flash of Bai Lang's blade severed the beast's head, blood spraying more than a zhang away.

The pursuit was ruthless and merciless; for an army that ate human flesh, the only proper treatment was to exterminate every last one. Neither the Flying Horse Ranch nor the Double Dragon Army took any prisoners—after they saw the main camp filled with white bones that had been picked clean and even boiled.

Zhu Can's army had been destroyed, and the report that arrived was that Li Shimin, after rebelling within the Li clan, also displayed a talent for warfare. Perhaps the world line had indeed shifted—the "true" Li Shimin had "revised" this world's Li Shimin, correcting the joke that the Hongkong‑born writer had penned. This young Li II demonstrated such exaggerated combat ability that in the blink of an eye he routed the enemy, led his troops straight into Guanzhong, and was on the verge of taking Chang'an.

"This is the true Son of Heaven on horseback." Bai Lang, seeing this, also nodded in praise. By now he had already left the Flying Horse Ranch, and Shang Xiu Xuan likewise gritted her teeth and abandoned the enterprise—"It cannot be held." This was something Bai Lang had made clear to her from the start: the ranch's military strength could not sustain itself; it could only survive by attaching to a major power. The Li clan had long wanted to swallow the Flying Horse Ranch—otherwise, how could Li Shining have come to be her bosom friend?

It's just too far away, so for now it can't be swallowed. The Flying Horse Ranch can only band together with the surrounding forces, making the Double Dragon Army an option as well—there are plenty of troublemakers in the ranch, something Shang Xiu Xuan is well aware of, and Lu Miaozi also doesn't want to stay any longer; since Shang Xiu Xuan is leaving, he'll leave too. So this fellow simply put together a very exquisite carriage, preparing to travel the world with his daughter—of course, Bai Lang is preparing to go to the grasslands to slay Bi Xuan.