Chapter 340: Before Parting

Turkic cavalry poured in like a tide, not even setting up a camp in the distance, raising two great banners, "Jili Kehan and Tulih Kehan… together they must have at least forty to fifty thousand men." The onlookers were veterans, so they could immediately gauge the enemy's approximate strength.

If they're all cavalry, it's troublesome; forty‑to‑fifty thousand horsemen can spread the line far and keep looking for a breach. The Tang troops cannot keep widening their formation, so they are forced into a pincer. Bai Lang rides alone; his great horse has armor on its front half while Bai Lang himself is unarmored, only holding a Zao Yang Spear.

Since they're all cavalry, if the horsepower runs low, just kill and take their horses, but Bai Lang must be careful not to kill both rider and horse together, which would be a problem. Behind him, Li Er is followed by over a hundred cavalry; a close look would startle anyone, as they are almost all the Tang's elite generals.

Bai Lang first raised his Zao Yang Spear, let out a long roar, and spurred his warhorse; he immediately charged toward the Turkic army, and Li Shimin also let out a howl, drew a bow from one side, and with his legs pinning his horse, surged forward. Behind them, the other cavalry commanders followed in the charge.

The Turks saw Bai Lang: a man without armor or helmet, only wearing a war crown, his face and massive beard unmistakable. His hair fanned out on both sides of the war crown, and his hanging eyebrows blazed like fire. Holding a Zao Yang Spear, the Turkic cavalry immediately shouted, and some even turned and fled.

The cavalry that turned to run were instantly beheaded or impaled by the centurions behind them. Under the shouts of centurions and millennial commanders, the Turkic riders clashed with Bai Lang. With sharp bone whistles, the Turkic cavalry drew bows and volleyed arrows at Bai Lang.

"Don't you know some sect has a divine skill that makes swords and spears ineffective?" Bai Lang laughed wildly, but what can you do against those Turkic cavalry? Even if they know Bai Lang's blade immunity, they can't just let him charge in; there must be a way to counter. The arrows shot were accurate, and Bai Lang swung his Zao Yang Spear to block them.

Most of the arrows aimed at the warhorse were deflected, a few lodged in the horse's armor and could not pierce, and the arrows aimed at Bai Lang were repelled by his divine skill, all stopped outside. His clothing did acquire many holes, yet none of this could halt Bai Lang's advance.

"Kill!" the White Tiger Star Lord roared, brandishing his Zao Yang Spear and charging in, instantly sending men and horses sprawling in a spray of blood and flesh. Immediately behind him, Li Shimin unleashed a rain of arrows, like meteors striking the ground, taking rider after rider's life—his arrows could even pierce several cavalry in a single shot, a feat of extraordinary martial skill.

Bai Lang drew almost all of the enemy's attention; his killing was as fierce as a waterfall, his warhorse surged forward, and Bai Lang swung his Zao Yang Spear left and right, smashing riders and horses, even laughing wildly as he tossed forward men and horses—this action immediately drained the strength of the horse beneath him…

Sensing his horse's legs weakening, Bai Lang said little; after a swing of the Zao Yang Spear killed several men, he scanned for anyone on a fine mount—such riders were usually millennial commanders—once he selected a target, Bai Lang surged forward, employing Lightness Skill as if a thousand pounds were dropping to the ground, pouncing on the millennial commander.

A single footstep meant a life; the Turkic rider his foot struck collapsed instantly, often taking his warhorse with him… Each time Bai Lang leveraged his force, it covered at least three to five zhang, and in a few motions he was airborne, landing atop the millennial commander's head.

Li Shimin rode his horse in a serpentine pattern, shooting left and right to fell cavalry one by one; his charge was no slower than Bai Lang's, and behind him a host of killing gods sliced through the Turkic formation like cutting fruit, protecting Li Shimin's flanks and rear.

Bai Lang alone surged forward wildly; as he landed he smashed the millennial commander's skull, grabbed the corpse and tossed it away, spun his toe to sit atop the warhorse, then after a tug turned and charged again. Bai Lang roared ferociously, a thousand men fell, and many Turkic cavalry abandoned armor and fled.

Li Shimin, seeing this, exclaimed to the surrounding commanders, "Today I finally understand what a common man's bravery is! Minister Bai truly is like the White Tiger Star Lord descending to the mortal world." Li Shimin also pressed forward bravely, and soon after he and Bai Lang had cut through the entire Turkic formation; when he turned back, the whole Turkic army was in a frantic retreat…

Bai Lang was drenched in blood, his warhorse under him already the third mount, the Zao Yang Spear smeared with flesh to the point its tip was barely visible. How many did he kill? Bai Lang didn't count; he no longer wielded dozens of zhang of force to kill at a distance, relying solely on his weapon to hack and smash, so his killing efficiency was modest. "Probably around three hundred in total? Still not as legendary as the Grand Historian describes in the Chronicle of Xiang Yu…"

Li Shimin's arms were also sore and weak; that day he shot with gusto, and surely two to three hundred people fell to his arrows. Emperor Taizong now felt extremely exhilarated, his mood excellent—this merely reaffirmed that he loved martial formations, a ruler born for war.

Bai Lang slowly turned his horse, but the warhorse let out a whinny and collapsed, frightened by the tiger-like aura his slaughter had awakened. Even the generals and Emperor Taizong's own warhorse retreated. Bai Lang shook his body, flailing limbs to dislodge the clotted blood, and removed his war crown, its heron feathers drenched in blood and sagging.

Everyone watching Bai Lang's actions felt as if a giant insect were shaking its head and tail, flinging water droplets from its body; Bai Lang lifted his head to glance around, and the onlookers were all startled. After the Turks withdrew, Bai Lang shut himself away and did not go out.

He could not live to see ten years; earlier Kou Zhong married Song Que's daughter and Xu Ziling married a Li Tang princess, and Bai Lang had attended the weddings. What truly astonished Bai Lang was that all three women became pregnant! "People from two different worlds can conceive?" Honestly, this was completely beyond Bai Lang's expectations.

The three women also conceived in the same year; at the moment of conception Yu Yu glowed faintly as if about to come alive. Bai Lang, experienced, knew that after reaching the pinnacle he had only a year or less before returning. The three women were overjoyed, but Bai Lang could only be astonished. "Is this karma?" he didn't know what to do, whether he could return to this world—at his current cultivation level, it was impossible.

In short, amid Bai Lang's mixed joy and worry, the situation progressed to the first pregnant Shang Xiuxun going into labor; Bai Lang and Lu Miaozi waited outside—this old man was supposed to die, yet he still lives and seems even healthier, his injuries unexpectedly improving, and no one knows why.

Bai Lang sat upright in the garden, his mind unsettled, when the maids of the other two women shouted that the madam was about to give birth. Bai Lang's head swam, and as he paced back and forth like a tiger in a cage, a surge of qi suddenly steadied him…