Chapter 308: A Hundred Ways to Die

Bai Ze, who had already squatted back, stood up again and glanced at the opposite side; his dark purple eyes flashed, and the Great King felt he could just lie flat.

What a good day this is—before the fight even began, the opposite side suddenly exerted all their strength and cut themselves.

The Great King's mouth had just opened when he heard Bai Ze threaten: "If you let him escape, humph!"

"Huh? You're not going to do it yourself?" The Great King stared blankly—how was his plan to win by lying down supposed to work now?!

Bai Ze squatted where he was and grunted: "Does he even deserve it?"

The Great King angrily turned to the male peacock: "Who are you? How presumptuous! You use Bai Ze to pull your carriage—why not let the Jade Emperor come down to help you hold the horse? Clueless! You don't even dare to raise a banner, and you won't even give your name!"

The man standing on the carriage rack finally shifted his gaze from Bai Ze to the Great King and said, "Lan He." Seeing that arrogant attitude made Wei Shen furious, but Wei Ke gave him a look, so he swallowed the curse that had risen to his throat.

"Is there only one of these? We need an even number." After giving his name, Lan He was still dreaming of forming a team with Bai Ze, thinking that the Great Jin indeed had a vast variety of things, and only the magnificent mountains and rivers of the south could breed such spiritually rich beasts.

Wei Shen had calmed down, but as soon as those words were spoken he had already imagined five or six gruesome ways for Lan He to die, each one miserable.

Since hearing Lan He announce his name, the Great King had grown too lazy to bother with his nonsense, and actually showed a smile: "You're Lan He? From far away you don't even look much like Lan Yizhi! I don't know whether, after your defeat and capture, you'd cry like him."

Wei Shen and the owl cavalry beside him burst out laughing together.

Upon hearing that, Lan He finally gave the Great King a look; hearing that, he wasn't angry but slowly said, "You don't resemble your father either."

As soon as he mentioned the Ningde Emperor, the Great King became annoyed. Although that father had been gone for a long time, if I'm not mistaken, the day after tomorrow is the day the Ningde Emperor will be formally interred in the imperial mausoleum. Hearing the enemy bring it up still leaves a thorn in the Great King's heart.

He directly raised the Sun-shooting Bow and aimed it at Lan He: "A father's killer cannot share the same sky. Today is your death day! I've heard the renowned Left Virtuous King's martial arts are unmatched—today let this king see for himself. If you have guts, don't run! This king's bold proclamation has already been issued: whoever beheads Lan He will be made a marquis! Don't spoil the fun!"

Lan He's wide black robe fluttered in the north wind as he stood there facing it, laughing loudly.

Laughing at the arrogant offspring of the Bai Li family.

Lan Yizhi was captured because his skills were lacking; his cousin's abilities were negligible, but Lan He still had a sense of them.

"Not a small tone!"

The Great King aimed at the carriage curtain beside his ear and let loose an arrow: "Just pretend, why laugh facing the wind? I'll fill you with wind!"

After firing the first arrow, he didn't pause but quickly nocked another, the swoosh of three arrows piercing the air—he had already loosed three in succession.

Lan He hadn't missed seeing the Great King raise the Sun-shooting Bow; he thought the bow's extravagant, exaggerated shape meant no need for caution. Besides, this position was already beyond bow range, and the opposite side was just a kid—how much strength could someone that age possibly have?

Who would have thought the Great King would put all his strength into those three arrows, firing them rapidly in succession, and blast three punctuation marks around Lan He all at once?

The golden bowstring leapt continuously, carrying a beautiful rhythmic arc—just watching the Great King's motion, one couldn't imagine how powerful it was.

The Sun-shooting Bow was astonishingly fast; Lan He felt the sonic boom was already too late to dodge, he barely avoided the first arrow, and the second arrived in an instant!

The first arrow directly blasted a huge hole in the wooden carriage; as Lan He twisted his waist to dodge the second arrow, the drawback of his flamboyant robe showed— the arrow pierced through and the fletching got caught on the fabric, pinning it to the carriage!

Lan He, in a sorry state, tore apart his robe and fell from the carriage to evade the oncoming third arrow!

The Great King aimed the third arrow at the spot where Lan He had just stood; having fallen from the carriage to dodge, the arrow struck the carriage's ornate cover and ripped it off!

The Xiongnu cavalry surrounding the carriage hadn't even reacted when Lan He's splendid carriage was blown into a heap of wreckage.

And the master himself also tumbled down from the carriage in a sorry state!

In the midst of Wei Shen's clamor, Lan He rolled once, got to his feet, and stood straight; glancing at the carriage now reduced to ruins, the careless look on his face vanished completely, and he finally sobered up.

If it weren't for him, anyone else would already have at least two holes in their body and be dead as a doornail!

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Don't look at me for not updating—I've been counting. Keep voting, thanks, you can keep track.

-6000

This way, my trigeminal nerve is aching again, which really affects my proofreading for the Great King(-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩___-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩-̩̩̩)

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Addendum 20250215：

Those light brown eyes locked onto the Great King sharply, and the Great King, smiling narrowly, raised the Sun-shooting Bow and continued.

With this bow, the Great King's carriage isn't even enough as cover; Lan He no longer felt at ease, he darted away and ran straight for the warhorse tethered behind the carriage.

Lan He's weapon is a not‑short ring‑pommel sword; he climbed onto the horse's back, drew his sidearm, and pointed it straight at the Youzhou cavalry.

"Not a single one left!"

The Great King slighted Lan He's dignity, and the Youzhou cavalry's momentum surpassed that of the opposite side.

The Great King also raised the Sun-shooting Bow: "This king's words count—whoever beheads Lan He will be made a marquis! Kill!"

"Kill!"

Wei Shen followed with a shout: "Exterminate the Xiongnu! Kill!"

"Kill!"

"Kill——!!!"

Covering Heaven rushed ahead before the two armies mingled, flying to the enemy's rear camp and crashing through twice; the Xiongnu in front heard waves of screams and cries from behind, but seeing the enthusiastic Youzhou cavalry charging forward, they had no spare attention for what was happening back there.

In the field battle, the Youzhou cavalry charged even more fiercely than the Xiongnu, and Lan He stood in the ranks with a gloomy gaze.

It seems their previous successive overturns weren't just due to overconfidence after victory; this cavalry is unlike any of the Great Jin armies he had encountered before.

Including the renowned Duke of Su's Shuofang garrison.

He ordered his nearby officers: "Be cautious above all; if the situation is wrong, retreat promptly—this king will meet the Bai Li clan's youngster!"

Lan He thought it was a good plan, but getting close to the Great King's side is no easy feat.

The Great King set down the Sun-shooting Bow, slipped it into the saddlebag on his horse's back, and picked up his wolf-tooth spear. At this moment the Great King also gazed at Lan He and sighed, "Is being ennobled as a marquis that attractive?"

Not only Zhou Ke and Wei Shen, these young men, rushed straight toward Lan He's direction, but even Wei Ke also went that way.

The Great King always leads from the front in battle; he no longer picks opponents, grabbing his wolf-tooth spear and charging in. Before entering the melee he only shouted "Ling Yin," telling him to watch the Wei brothers and the Xue brothers—mainly the Xue pair, whose skills are inferior.

Lan He initially kept his eyes on the Great King; seeing him produce a spear that long, Lan He was not unmoved.

If the bow just now could be a supreme treasure to unleash such power, then his ability at such a young age to wield a spear that long is purely his own strength.

He watched in person as the opponent thrust the spear into the chest of an armored soldier!

Armor-pierced…

Lan He's eyes flashed; he couldn't help but think, and ahead the Youzhou cavalry had already broken a gap, and in a moment someone had rushed up close to him—it was the Wei brothers.

He parried and counterattacked; in close combat, comparing their horses, the opponent's warhorse stood a head taller than their steppe horses, leaving them naturally at a disadvantage.

His chest suddenly throbbed violently; today he had a vague sense that something was off.

As soon as Wei Shen engaged, he realized this person truly had skill—not comparable to whatever Hulyen Kun had been—and he immediately exchanged glances with his elder brother, and the two moved to surround Lan He together.

Lan He's close aides also joined in to help, and in an instant several people were tangled in a melee.

Even outside the fighting circle, the Great King was also surrounded, yet he still had leisure to stare at Lan He in the distance.

This band of Xiongnu also quickly discovered the uncanny aspect of the Youzhou cavalry: armoring up to the face was bad enough, but their armor could not be cut through! Their prized sabers, normally swift at harvesting lives on horseback, couldn't even nick that armor.

These Youzhou troops not only wore armor themselves, they even wrapped their warhorses in it!

Before they could even exchange a few blows after the first clash, the enemy's warhorse had already pierced the throat of their mount!

After just a moment of combat, the Xiongnu began to panic!

Something's off!

These are Jin people?!

Lan He also quickly realized the Youzhou cavalry's "bug": he clearly struck Wei Ke's upper arm, but the opponent only paused a moment before continuing to fight back, showing such agility that he seemed uninjured—indeed, it was Lan He's own chest clothing that was slit, not that he dodged quickly enough to avoid a gash to his torso.

His uneasy heart finally settled, as if a bucket of icy winter water had been poured over it.

Looking around, all the fallen were their own people.