Chapter 557: Premature Performance

Xu Chu and Xu Huang split their forces into two routes, and when they rushed into Bai Lang's camp they also lit torches, but the camp was so scattered that before they could kill many of the sleeping cavalry, they were discovered by roaming cavalry and dogs, so Bai Lang's entire army woke up. The dispersion of the camp reduced its defensive capability but also prevented a camp fire; the cavalry in the distance, unable to don armor, simply took weapons and mounted, while some did not mount and quickly prepared to gather.

And Bai Lang's roar instantly echoed throughout the camp, a tiger's roar bearing endless ferocity, immediately becoming the army's backbone. Bai Lang's momentum was overwhelmingly domineering; a fierce tiger strode forward proudly, and beneath that momentum Bai Lang came brandishing a long spear, swaggering. "You two thieves, stop fleeing! Face me in battle!" Bai Lang spotted Xu Chu and Xu Huang at a glance and shouted.

Xu Chu and Xu Huang naturally would not evade; the outcome of this raid was uncertain, so they decided to fight Bai Lang first. When Bai Lang stood on the ground, that was his true moment of power, for ultimately he was a foot‑combat general. At present his techniques unfolded in myriad variations, instantly pulling the two generals into his grasp and even drawing in their personal guards. Bai Lang swung his long spear, rotating like a wish‑fulfilling rod, constantly splashing blood.

Those killed were all the personal guards who got drawn in; even though they surged with fighting spirit, they were still no match for a single strike from Bai Lang. After Xu Huang and Xu Chu urged their horses forward, they became rather clumsy. "Dismount!" Xu Chu roared. Their horses, like Bai Lang's green pheasant horse, could not compare at all with the spirit of the Red Hare. So they had to fight on foot; otherwise staying on horseback might cause them to be speared to death by Bai Lang using the horse as cover.

Although the two were cavalry generals, their foot combat was not weak at all. At that moment they also swung swords and axes to flank Bai Lang. This is precisely the offensive‑defensive method Bai Lang excels at; he is not an alien nor does he have cheat abilities, and does not need others to fake‑fight. Bai Lang's long spear was as fierce as tiger fangs and claws, one thrust against two opponents, steadily gaining the advantage. Xu Chu and Xu Huang merely gritted their teeth and fought bitterly, and from time to time their personal guards gave their lives with a strike to block Bai Lang's killing moves.

By night the raid had reached this point, and Bai Lang's troops had gradually turned the tide, even though they initially wore no armor and fought in a chaotic clamor, their extreme bravery allowed them to repel Cao's army. At this moment Bai Lang already had victory in hand, and after ten rounds he was confident he could cut down either Xu Huang or Xu Chu before his eyes. Yet at that instant, from another direction, battle cries rose again as Dian Wei and Cao Xiu led the tiger‑and‑leopard cavalry charging in.

Cao Xiu shot an arrow; Bai Lang reached out and grabbed the arrow, and at that moment Dian Wei roared and performed a leaping slash, forcing Bai Lang to palm‑block the strike. The ground trembled; Bai Lang watched as Cao Xiu fired another arrow, which Bai Lang ultimately blocked with his arm, and Xu Chu and Xu Huang, having received aid, also mustered their spirit to fight Dian Wei against Bai Lang. Up to now Bai Lang still maintained an unbeaten stance, but Cao Xiu, seeing Bai Lang temporarily unable to act, immediately led the tiger‑and‑leopard cavalry to launch raids and set fires.

Bai Lang thrust three spear points in one breath; the three senior generals of Cao's camp all retreated, and Bai Lang turned and scattered the tiger‑and‑leopard cavalry before him, rallying his own troops, then gradually pulling the soldiers back… Through the night until dawn, Bai Lang's soldiers were exhausted and had to abandon the camp, retreating with their warhorses dozens of li to a lower camp to rest, while sending someone to hasten supplies. Although the Cao army's losses still exceeded those of Bai Lang, CaoCao laughed, "Victory and defeat are in the palm of my hand!"

Bai Lang's anger flared; he immediately lit the torches of the cavalry still able to fight, "You all rest here for now; I'll go raid the Cao scoundrel later!" The troops he summoned numbered only three hundred, and Bai Lang rode them straight to charge the Cao camp.

At this moment CaoCao was crossing a river; the water was shallow and not wide, so the cavalry could ride across while the infantry built several floating bridges. CaoCao ordered a portion of the tiger‑and‑leopard cavalry to cross first, Dian Wei led the infantry to set up a defensive line again, then each unit crossed the river separately; when about half the troops had crossed, Bai Lang arrived. Bai Lang ignored everything else, seeing CaoCao's banner he shouted, "Don't run, Cao scoundrel!" and charged straight at CaoCao's central army.

From Cao's camp came the two generals Xiahou Jie and Yan Ming; Xiahou Jie stood eight chi tall wielding a long spear, while Yan Ming was over one zhang tall, charging on foot with a great sword. Bai Lang urged his horse forward and with a spear thrust he snapped Xiahou Jie's spear, sending him off his horse, and on the return swing he cleaved Yan Ming's great sword and beheaded him. The two together lasted only one round before Bai Lang. Bai Lang roared like thunder, transforming into a white tiger that surged into CaoCao's central army.

The white tiger's pressure dominated all sides; although CaoCao's central troops were elite, with four or five out of ten capable of bursting Qi, they were useless before Bai Lang. Bai Lang fought with waves rolling like a great dragon splitting the sea, heading straight for CaoCao on his war chariot. Three hundred cavalry followed Bai Lang, scattering the Cao army outright. At this moment the killing aura emanating from Bai Lang merged with the three hundred cavalry, their battle spirit soaring into the sky as a white‑tiger banner.

Instantaneously fear, pressure, and killing aura surged everywhere as Bai Lang stamped his formation. One after another, Cao's battle formations were broken under his steps; several colonel‑generals were cut down by Bai Lang's formation, and Cao's morale collapsed. The three hundred cavalry's morale kept rising, and a massive Cao formation was shattered in a single strike. After Bai Lang beheaded a colonel standing a zhang tall before him and looked up, he saw that CaoCao was no longer on his war chariot. Bai Lang roared and charged straight forward.

"Where did CaoCao go?!" Bai Lang hurled dozens of finely armored CaoCao's personal soldiers, shouting angrily, while the cavalry beside him simultaneously killed and scanned, "General! CaoCao is fleeing over there!" Bai Lang looked in that direction and indeed saw a short‑statured fellow riding the famed horse Jueying he had once seen, sprinting wildly under the guard of dozens of cavalry. "Don't run, CaoCao!" Bai Lang spurred his horse forward.

A sudden thrust of dozens of Cao troops emerged; Bai Lang blinked and scattered them, and when he looked up again the Jueying horse had a different rider. A grown‑up could tell at a glance that unless CaoCao had somehow grown taller, this was clearly a horse swap to escape. Bai Lang glared, "Aha, Mengde! You think changing horses makes a difference? I can see your brocade robe clearly! Bring your head!" Having said that, CaoCao's personal guard sent out more than ten tiger‑and‑leopard cavalry to charge Bai Lang.

The tiger‑and‑leopard cavalry, exploding with Qi, charged recklessly, launching a mutually assured destruction attack. Someone even tried to block Bai Lang's spear with their body, but Bai Lang's martial skill was not limited to a single spear; his hands were also terrifying weapons. In just a few breaths Bai Lang slaughtered those cavalry, and when he looked again the brocade‑clad CaoCao was gone. Bai Lang kept pursuing, having already pierced through CaoCao's central army; he saw a man with a beard that looked like CaoCao's, and Bai Lang was about to shout.

That man had already raised a knife and cut off the beard…

At that moment a Xu Chu came in from a slanting thrust, risking his life to block Bai Lang, and then the senior generals of Cao's camp rushed in one after another. After a hard fight Bai Lang could only retreat step by step; the Cao army's broken troops fled far away, and Bai Lang scattered the central forces of Cao's camp, but the rear forces had already set up a camp and used powerful crossbows to block him. In this raid Bai Lang slew thousands of Cao soldiers, the central army collapsed in a chaotic trampling of over ten thousand dead, he beheaded dozens of Cao's war generals, and even CaoCao was almost caught up by Bai Lang…