Chapter 50

No time to explain!

You all, step back quickly!

The two young men let out a low growl.

His firm tone left the people near the cave entrance with no choice but to obey.

Xiao Qidi appeared like a ghost behind the two young men and drew the sword at his waist.

The people near the cave entrance were baffled, discussing:

"Who is this person wearing strange armor?"

"Is he trying to chop the chains on the fence?"

"Impossible! The chains the barbarians use are supplied by Yu Guo, forged of pig iron—even an ordinary pig-iron great sword can't split them……"

Clang!

A crisp crack rang out, sparks flying.

The sturdy pig‑iron lock and chains were severed into pieces by a single blow before them!

Xiao Qidi single‑handedly pulled open the heavy wooden fence that normally takes two or three people to move, then quickly told those inside the cave: "Follow these two and leave Yaowang Gu at once!"

"Hurry up!" the two young tribesmen urged.

Without time to thank him, they hurriedly grabbed elders and children, and about four hundred people surged out like a tide from the cave that had imprisoned them.

Xiao Qidi struck a fire folding tool, went inside, and had a look around.

Looking around, the cave bore some resemblance to the Immortal Cave in Lin Xian Village, with no other entrances or exits and a fairly spacious interior.

After confirming no one was left behind, he left the cave, found a concealed high spot nearby, opened the drone on his back, and sent it soaring.

Earlier he had ordered the three‑thousand Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army to draw the barbarians' attention.

That recent explosion was deliberately set off by the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers using explosives.

He believed several hundred of the Lian clan could escape safely.

As for him, he would use a method to fundamentally deal with the hundred‑thousand barbarians.

Although the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army's equipment far surpassed that of the barbarians, its numbers were too few; a direct clash would offer little chance of victory.

At this moment, near the entrance of Yaowang Gu.

Already over a hundred barbarians lay in pools of blood.

They were taken down by a dozen or so Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor cavalry.

The Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor cavalry, holding lances, shouted loudly, "Isn't there a single fighter among you?"

"Aren't you supposed to be fierce?"

"Is that all you've got?"

"Where's the vigor you showed when slaughtering civilians?"

"Get out here and die, you lot! A bunch of useless beasts!"

These dozen or so act so arrogantly solely because they are following His Majesty Xiao Qidi's orders.

They were really getting into their taunts, while the remaining Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers lying in ambush in the dark secretly broke into a cold sweat.

Although it felt satisfying, if they provoked the barbarians too much and drew out all hundred thousand, the three‑thousand Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Army would likely all perish here.

Not long after, a noisy tread sounded.

Several thousand barbarians poured out of Yaowang Gu.

They wore a haphazard mix of animal hides and coarse cloth; because of the heat, they were bare‑chested and bare‑bellied, with only pig‑iron armor from Yu Guo protecting vital spots.

Although most barbarians were slight of build, their bodies were pure muscle.

Plus their dark skin, sunken eyes, and snarling savage faces made them look, in the torchlight, like a band of demons.

"Kill them!" a barbarian commander bellowed.

He couldn't be bothered to ask who they were.

Could they put up with that?

At the sound of the command.

The first wave of barbarians that arrived surged forward.

Several thousand barbarians let out strange cries, eyes wild, brandishing their pig‑iron great swords as they charged at the dozen or so Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers.

"Kill!" the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor squad didn't waste words, roared, and met the enemy on horseback with lances.

The first Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldier to rush out thrust his lance fiercely downward at an angle.

The lance, over a zhang long, had a blade longer than an ordinary sword.

Just a single charge on his warhorse drove the lance's blade through the chests of three barbarians!

The tremendous impact flung other barbarians aside, instantly tearing a huge gap in the charging crowd!

A barbarian who merely hesitated for a moment had his head split in two by the lance's blade in an instant!

Another dozen or so Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers, unwilling to be outdone, charged into the barbarian mass in succession, slaughtering on all sides!

The Shaoyue barbarians had hardly any tactics; in battle they relied solely on a blood‑thirsty, reckless ferocity.

Because they received iron armor and weapons from Yu Guo, they could charge heedlessly, caring only about killing and not self‑preservation.

Thus, until now, the Shaoyue barbarians had been a shadow in the hearts of Xuan Guo's soldiers and civilians.

But now.

The pig‑iron armor they wore was, before the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers' lances, almost as flimsy as paper.

Their iron swords couldn't pierce the Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers' protective gear, and even when they tried to block or parry, the lances would cleave the blades in two!

Soon, several thousand barbarians were cut down by a dozen or so Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers as easily as slicing melons and vegetables.

The remaining few could still breathe, but hardly any could stand.

The land was soaked in fresh blood, and the air was filled with a thick, lingering stench of blood.

A dozen or so Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers' arms were so sore they could barely lift them, and the warhorses they rode were huffing and puffing.

Having slaughtered so many barbarian troops in succession, though unharmed, their stamina was utterly exhausted.

The barbarian officer who had just issued the order only realized something was wrong after personally seeing his several thousand troops suffer such a crushing defeat.

"Who… who are you?!" he exclaimed, bewildered and uncertain.

A Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldier shouted back: "We're the ones who want your dog's lives! Having only killed this few beasts, I haven't had my fill yet! Send out as many as you have!"

Upon hearing this, the barbarian officer flew into a rage and immediately summoned nearly ten thousand more barbarian soldiers.

"Slaughter them!" the barbarian officer roared.

A dark mass of nearly ten thousand barbarian soldiers surged forth like wild beasts.

A dozen or so Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers jerked the reins and turned to flee.

They came to draw attention, not to die.

Even ten thousand pigs would be more than these dozen or so could handle.

Moreover, after the previous two battles—one large, one small—they were already exhausted to the point of collapse.

Seeing them actually try to run, the ten thousand barbarian soldiers would not let them go, brandishing their swords and sprinting after them in a frantic pursuit.

After chasing roughly half a li, the barbarian soldiers gradually fell behind.

After all, even though the barbarians were agile and good at running, they could not catch up to four-legged warhorses in a short time.

Once they had opened a certain distance from the barbarians.

The Xuanjia Armor Armor Armor Armor Soldiers lying in ambush nearby hurriedly lit the fuse.

Hiss—

Several thin lines of fire quickly spread across the ground.

Boom!

A loud explosion!

Amid the barbarian crowd, flames shot skyward, and severed limbs flew everywhere!

Boom! Boom! Boom!!

Immediately after came several more violent explosions.

The ten thousand barbarian soldiers who had given chase were, in just a few breaths, blown apart into a panicked rout.

The number killed outright by the blast was not actually large.

Rather, the sheer number of them, startled, suffered severe trampling upon each other.

Or they were accidentally wounded by weapons in the chaos.

After the turmoil, the total casualties far exceeded those killed instantly by the blast.

Not long after, fewer than two thousand remained, fleeing back in utter disgrace.

The barbarian officer tasked with handling this sudden situation felt his heart turn cold; he had thought it was merely a dozen or so unknown cavalrymen seeking death, but he never expected that, in a short time, he would lose over ten thousand men!

Such a situation was beyond the control of a low-ranking officer like him.

He hurried back to the valley to find a superior officer one rank above him and report the situation.

Upon hearing it, the other officer flew into a rage, called him a worthless fool, drew his sword and cut him down on the spot, then sent someone to swiftly report the matter to the great leader of the hundred‑thousand barbarian army.

Inside Yaowang Gu, in the tent of a certain encampment area.

Lian Qingbai was being pressed down by two barbarian officers, kneeling on the ground.

Before him sat a burly man with a tiger's back and bear's waist, his beard bristling; beside him stood a huge bronze cauldron, firewood burning beneath it, meat simmering inside.

A meaty aroma with a hint of gaminess wafted through the tent.

The blazing firelight flickered, casting the bearded man's cheeks alternately bright and dark.

The bearded man plucked a piece of half‑cooked meat from the boiling water with his bare hands, took a bite, and chewed, filling his mouth with bloody foam.

He ate it with great relish, causing the barbarian officers present to secretly swallow their saliva.

Lian Qingbai, however, frowned, feeling nauseous, and could not help but say: "You've established the Sha Yue state for nearly a century, yet you remain crude and uncouth… you cannot change the barbaric nature in your bones."

The bearded man paid no heed to those words, continuing to eat meat as he asked, "Do you know who I am?"

Lian Qingbai stared coldly, "I heard that the one leading the troops through this area this time is the second son of the Sha Yue ruler, the barbarian supreme commander Ba Meng—could that be you?"

"Since you know it's me, why don't you kowtow?" Ba Meng snarled, his eyes fierce, his voice like thunder.

Just that oppressive aura was enough to terrify an ordinary person into losing their wits.

Lian Qingbai, however, arrogantly lifted his head, spat forcefully, and said: "Pah! A petty Sha Yue brat—what right do you have to make a person of Daxuan kowtow?"

Slap!

The barbarian officer beside him swung a slap.

Lian Qingbai, though advanced in years and still fairly sturdy, could not withstand such force; he immediately spat blood and collapsed to the ground.

"Old fool!" the barbarian officer raised his foot to stomp on Lian Qingbai's head, snarling, "Supreme Commander Ba Meng is the foremost warrior of our Sha Yue nation, commanding a hundred‑thousand‑strong army! How dare you act insolently in his presence!"

Lian Qingbai spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and coldly said:

"Insignificant Sha Yue folk… had it not been for the benevolence of the King of Daxuan a hundred years ago, you'd still be living in the wilds, eating raw meat and drinking blood! A bunch that reaps benefits yet knows no gratitude, betraying trust and abandoning righteousness—where does any so‑called valor come from?"

"And you still claim to be the Sha Yue's number one warrior? How many people do you even have altogether?"

"A hundred‑thousand‑strong army? Hah! It's merely a mob that even you yourselves don't regard as human! This must be all the troops Sha Yue possesses—how dare you flaunt it before me? Ridiculous to the extreme!"

A string of cold sneers and rebukes left the barbarian officers present with faces twisted in anger.

"Want to die? I'll grant you that! I'll crush your head under my foot!" The officer stomping on Lian Qingbai's head prepared to exert force.

Ba Meng's gaze darkened, "Move aside!"

"Yes… Supreme Commander…" the barbarian officer, eyes flashing with fear, hastily moved his foot.

Ba Meng tossed the half-eaten meat back into the bronze cauldron, strode over to Lian Qingbai, looked down, and said, "Old thing, don't think that because I find you and your clan somewhat useful, I won't actually kill you all."

Lian Qingbai sneered, "The Lian clan never fears death—go ahead and kill us!"

In Ba Meng's beast-like eyes, killing intent surged.

He needed only a finger to stab to death the elderly man beside his foot.

But he restrained himself, squatted down, stared fixedly at the old man's eyes, and asked, "Do you know why I personally led the army through this place?"

Lian Qingbai snorted coldly, "What does that have to do with me?"

"You're not from Xuan Guo, are you? Of course I have to tell you." Ba Meng gritted his teeth, "My elder brother, Ba Yong, actually died at Xuan Guo's Xi Tun Guan!"

Lian Qingbai's eyes instantly lit up with delight, "Hahaha! Good riddance!"

Ba Meng reached out and grabbed Lian Qingbai's neck, saying, "Upon marching here, I learned that there are still several hundred Xuan Guo people living in Yaowang Gu. I should have slaughtered you all, just like the Xuan Guo people of Xi Tun Guan I intend to exterminate, and used you all as offerings for my brother!"

"But I also learned that you people know how to grow medicinal herbs and understand medicine—I need you for my campaigns."

"It is said… you still preserve the medical classic left by the ancient Shen Nong."

"Is that true or not?"

Being choked, Lian Qingbai's old face turned purple-red.

Still defiantly proud, he said, "Exactly! My Lian clan's ancestors were Shen Nong's medicine boys—this is our clan's glory! We have indeed kept the Shen Nong medical classic as handed down by our ancestors!"

"Where is the classic? Hand it over!" Ba Meng loosened his thick, rough hand.

Lian Qingbai gasped heavily, his eyes filled with hatred and mockery: "You've already ruined Yaowang Gu like this, plundered countless precious herbs, and still want us to help a tiger? You even want to obtain the medical classic of our Huaxia ancestor Shen Nong? sheer shamelessness, worse than beasts! Go on with your delusional spring‑and‑autumn dreams!"

Ba Meng exhaled a foul hot breath from his nostrils, the killing intent in his eyes about to overflow: "Old thing, it seems I must give you a lesson."

Having said that, he grabbed Lian Qingbai by the back of the neck and lifted him to the side of the bronze cauldron.

The bronze cauldron was boiling hot; merely getting close caused Lian Qingbai's beard to begin curling.

Waves of scorching heat and steam from the rolling meat soup smoked the old man, making him utterly miserable.

"Come, take a good look." Ba Meng grabbed the old man with one hand and, with the other, fished out a skin‑damaged, flesh‑rotted head from the meat soup, saying, "This is a Lian clan member we slaughtered yesterday—do you still recognize it?"

Lian Qingbai instantly burst into tears.

He certainly recognized it……

In this place, only the Lian clan are Xuan Guo people.

And the Xuan Guo people are the Zhong Yuan Huaxia ethnicity; their bone structures share the same characteristics.

They are clearly distinct from the barbarian tribes surrounding Zhong Yuan.

This head… has a full, square heavenly court and earthly gate, completely unlike the Shan Xiao‑like skull of the Sha Yue tribe.

"Beast… beast!" Lian Qingbai gazed at the hollow eye sockets of the skull before him and cried out in grief and fury, "If the Sha Yue state does not perish, where is heavenly justice? Where is heavenly justice? Where is heavenly justice!!!"

After shouting "Where is heavenly justice?" three times, the old man spat out a large mouthful of blood!

A voice like a soul being torn apart—anyone who hears it will shed tears.

But to Ba Meng and the few barbarian commanders beside him, it elicited a ferocious grin.

Their innate barbaric cruelty made them enjoy this feeling of abusing prisoners.

"Old thing, I won't let you die too quickly." Bameng's smile grew more ferocious. "I'll first boil one of your arms, and let you watch me eat it."

Having said that, he drew the saber at his waist, aimed at Lian Qingbai's shoulder joint, and was about to chop down hard……