Chapter 902: Beheading the general and seizing the banner secures the victory; Gao Jiong coldly records the battle damage

That scream surged from the depths of Tuoba Lie's chest, like the roar of a bull with its tendons cut before it died, hoarse, coarse, and carrying an unbelievable tremor, forcing everyone who was fighting within a dozen steps to pause for a beat.

Tuoba Lie's body staggered back three steps. Blood sprayed from the section of his severed wrist, drawing a fan-shaped red mist in the rain silk. His left hand clutched the right arm above the elbow joint, trying to stop the bleeding, but that intact palm couldn't constrict the thick artery spraying blood at all.

"My lord!"

Tie Muzhen rushed over from behind the circle formation, the short saber in his hand still dripping blood. He tore off the cloth strip at his waist and wrapped it around Tuoba Lie's severed wrist. When the cloth strip touched the wound, Tuoba Lie's body twitched violently, and a shattered muffled roar erupted from his throat.

Qifugu didn't give them any chance to catch their breath.

The curved saber still had muscle fragments from Tuoba Lie's severed wrist hanging on it. He rushed over holding that bloody saber, the wound on his left shoulder being pulled even larger in the run, a section of white bone exposed from the flipped-open meat, but he didn't even glance at it.

Tie Muzhen pushed Tuoba Lie back one step, blocked the first slash from Qifugu with the short saber in his hand. The force of the two blades hitting together made his left arm, which had already been injured, swing outward, and the sound of the broken tendons and bones dislocating under the flesh made his face turn gray instantly.

Qifugu's second slash didn't give Tie Muzhen a chance to return the saber. The curved saber bypassed the defense of the short saber from the side, and the blade stabbed into the gap between Tie Muzhen's neck armor and shoulder armor. Tie Muzhen's body arched violently, the short saber in his hand fell, and when his knees hit the gravel, his eyeballs had already lost focus.

Qifugu twisted and pulled out the curved saber he had stabbed in. Tie Muzhen's body fell to the side, the wound on his neck flipping open like a pried-open clam, blood surging out, and he didn't move after his mouth opened twice without making a sound.

Tuoba Lie was pushed three steps away. His left hand was still clutching his severed right wrist, the cloth strip already soaked through by blood and not stopping anything at all. His face color changed from iron-blue to waxy yellow, his legs trembling but he was still standing.

Qifugu stepped over Tie Muzhen's corpse and walked to his front.

There was only a distance of one step between the two. Tuoba Lie was half a head taller than Qifugu, but at this moment his back was bent and his shoulders collapsed, his whole person shrinking a circle, and the blood from the severed wrist section watering the gravel under his feet into a pool of black mud.

"Qifugu... you killed this general... Nuhe Ti won't let you go..."

Tuoba Lie's voice shattered into slag, every word carrying blood foam squeezed from the depths of his throat.

Qifugu's curved saber sent forward half a foot, the blade touching the exposed throat section under Tuoba Lie's neck armor.

"You should have died on the road long ago."

The curved saber wiped horizontally.

Tuoba Lie's body stood in place for the duration of a breath. The cut on his neck was like a mouth that was opening, blood spraying out with a force that soaked Qifugu's front, the hot liquid pouring onto his skin that had already been chilled by the rain. Then his legs softened, his knees hit the ground first, and his whole person fell forward onto the gravel, the gold-patterned iron armor hitting the stones with a final muffled metallic sound.

Qifugu bent down and grabbed the leather rope binding the hair on the back of Tuoba Lie's head, and the curved saber made two more cuts at the already broken cut on his neck. The sound of flesh and tendons breaking was muffled and unpleasant. After three slashes, that head was completely separated from the neck.

He held that head that wouldn't close its eyes high above his head, blood flowing down his arm from the section, mixed with rain flowing into his sleeves.

"Tuoba Lie is dead!"

Qifugu's voice exploded from the very bottom of his chest. That roar hit the cliffs on both sides of Stone Valley three times before dissipating.

Everyone on the battlefield who was still fighting paused for a beat.

The Royal Court iron-armored soldiers who were still holding on in the circle formation looked up and saw their own commander's head held in the enemy's hand. Those wills that were holding on because of discipline and honor shattered at that moment. The iron shields of the circle formation changed from tight to loose, from loose to each looking out for themselves. Some started running toward the direction where the valley tail was blocked by giant stones, and some threw away their shields and wanted to climb the cliffs.

The Qifu tribe soldiers erupted into a howl fiercer than a wolf pack hunting. Those herdsmen who had broken their sabers rushed up, using their fists to smash, knees to hit, and heads to bump, knocking the scattered Royal Court soldiers onto the gravel from behind and beating them to death.

The circle formation completely collapsed within a dozen breaths after Tuoba Lie's head was held up. The remaining two hundred-plus Royal Court soldiers were divided into seven or eight small groups, each group surrounded and bitten by a dozen Qifu tribe people.

The slaughter continued for another half an hour.

The rain gradually increased, changing from fine threads to bean-sized water droplets hitting the gravel and corpses with a 'slap' sound. The accumulated water at the bottom of the valley rose from the ankles to the calves, and the color of the water in the moonlight was dark red to black.

The last Royal Court soldier was pressed into the accumulated water by three Qifu tribe herdsmen, face down, until bubbles no longer emerged from the water surface before they let go.

Stone Valley quieted down.

It was so quiet that only the sound of rain and the occasional gurgling sound from the throat of some corpse that wasn't completely dead remained.

Qifugu stood on the pile of corpses piled highest in the middle of the valley, covered in blood. Tuoba Lie's head was still clutched in his left hand, the curved saber in his right hand pointing at the gravel to support his body weight. The deep-to-the-bone wound on his left shoulder was being washed by the rain, the flipped-open meat already changing from red to pale white.

His gaze slowly swept across the entire Stone Valley from the pile of corpses.

Corpses everywhere.

Royal Court's, Qifu tribe's, mixed together, stacked together. Some still maintained the posture of fighting, curved sabers stuck in the opponent's body without being pulled out, fingers still clutching the opponent's lapels.

There were more Qifu tribe corpses than Royal Court's.

Many more.

Amu Ri crawled over from beside the pile of corpses. The curved saber on his right shoulder had its blade pulled out by someone, but the wound was still seeping blood. The arrow on his lower back only had half a shaft exposed, the other half still buried in the flesh along with the arrowhead. His left leg didn't know when it had been hit, his whole person tilting to the side when walking.

"Great Khan, it's over."

Qifugu didn't respond to him, his gaze still sweeping over the corpses at the bottom of the valley, sweeping for a dozen breaths before stopping, stopping beside a Qifu tribe soldier's corpse at his feet.

That corpse was clutching a broken horizontal saber hilt, the leather armor on his body torn into several pieces like it had been torn by hand, the hemp rope at the seams rotted away without even leaving residue.

Qifugu threw Tuoba Lie's head onto the ground, squatted down, picked up the broken saber hilt, turned it over to look at the hollow wooden pin cross-section in the middle, and inserted his finger into the hole to stir it, stirring out a pile of wood shavings that had already been soaked rotten by water.

He raised his head, his gaze passing through the rain curtain to look toward the direction of the hidden high ground covered by bushes in the middle of the eastern cliff.

Gao Jiong stood up from the platform behind the bushes. His body was clean without a drop of blood. Beside him on the flat stone were an empty copper pot and two coarse pottery bowls, as well as half a cold lamb leg he had gnawed half of.

Songqi followed behind him, holding the silk strip filled with two columns of scratches, and the two walked down the stone cracks on the cliff wall step by step, walking into the accumulated water at the bottom of the valley.

Gao Jiong's boots stepped into the blood water with a sticky 'gurgle' sound. He didn't even lift his trouser legs, just waded through the red water that was over his ankles and walked toward Qifugu.

Qifugu stood up, the broken saber hilt still clutched in his hand, the captured curved saber held in the other hand, the blade pointing toward the direction Gao Jiong was walking.

Amu Ri's hand touched the short saber at his waist.

Gao Jiong stopped ten steps away from Qifugu, looked down at the broken saber and armor pieces soaked in blood water under his feet, and then raised his head to look at Qifugu's face, which was so covered in blood rain that his features were almost unrecognizable.

"The Great Khan has won."

Qifugu threw the broken hilt in Gao Jiong's direction. The broken hilt spun twice in the air and landed in the blood water one step in front of Gao Jiong, splashing a piece of dark red water.

"Lord Gao, the saber you gave this Khan is hollow."

Gao Jiong looked down at the broken hilt that fell into the water, didn't bend down to pick it up, and raised his gaze back to Qifugu's face.

"The Great Khan has won."

Qifugu's curved saber sent forward an inch, the tip pointing at Gao Jiong's chest.

"More than a thousand of my men died! The leather armor rotted as soon as it was soaked in water, the horizontal sabers fell apart after a dozen strikes, everything sent by your Great Zhou is trash!"

Songqi's hand touched the hilt of his waist saber, his body moving half a step in front of Gao Jiong, and was pushed away by Gao Jiong.

Gao Jiong looked at the blade tip Qifugu was pointing at him; the expression on his face did not change at all. There was neither fear nor guilt, and the words that spilled from his throat were as flat as a bowl of spilled cold water.

"Great Khan, think clearly before you act."

Qifugu's wrist tightened, the tip of the saber sending forward two points.

Gao Jiong didn't retreat, the temperature in his voice colder than the accumulated water at the bottom of the valley.

"Without Great Zhou's intelligence, the Great Khan wouldn't know that Tuoba Lie only brought three days' rations, wouldn't know which road he took to enter, and wouldn't know that Stone Valley was his death trap."

He raised his chin toward the battlefield behind Qifugu that was piled full of Royal Court iron-armored corpses.

"Without Great Zhou's strategy, the one lying here today would be the Great Khan himself."

Qifugu's curved saber hung in mid-air for five breaths. The water and blood dripping from the blade fell drop by drop in front of Gao Jiong's boot tip.

Gao Jiong took another step forward, walking to the distance where the tip of the saber touched his front lapel. The cold of the blade penetrated through the fabric into the skin of his chest.

"The Great Khan wants real steel-forged Mo sabers and Mingguang armor? Then bring something to exchange."

Qifugu's breathing was as rough as a bellows, the heaving of his chest tearing the blood scabs on his front lapel.

"Exchange with what?"

Gao Jiong stretched out a hand, his index finger pointing in a circle at the Royal Court iron-armored corpses at the bottom of the valley.

"Heads, battle merits, intelligence. This official collects whatever the Great Khan has in his hands. Once the Great Khan gives Great Zhou enough weight, the real military equipment will naturally arrive."

His index finger retracted from the corpses and flicked the back of Qifugu's curved saber lightly.

"Great Zhou never raises useless people. If the Great Khan thinks he is qualified, hand over the next letter of allegiance."

Qifugu stared into his eyes. There was no panic in those eyes from being forced by the blade, only a coldness and indifference that seeped from the bones, as if looking at a dog with a rope tied around its neck—no matter how it bared its fangs, the other end of the rope was always held in someone else's hand.

The curved saber was withdrawn from Gao Jiong's front lapel.

Qifugu's arm hung down, the tip of the saber inserted into the gravel cracks at his feet. His whole person seemed to have a bone pulled out of his spine, bending down two points. The wound on his left shoulder was soaking in the rain, already starting to go numb.

"When will the next batch of military equipment arrive?"

Gao Jiong turned around and walked toward the direction of the giant stone pile blocking the valley entrance, his boots stepping into the blood water with a sticky sound at every step.

"Once the Great Khan collects Tuoba Lie's head and the iron armor of those one thousand men and sends them to this official's tent, this official will immediately send a letter back, and the new goods will arrive within ten days."

He walked five or six steps and added the last sentence without looking back.

"This official guarantees that the goods for the Great Khan this time won't be broken."

Qifugu stood in the blood water watching Gao Jiong's retreating back. The force of his fingers clutching the hilt made his knuckles creak. The taste of being held by the throat and having to bow his head surged from his stomach to his throat, souring it.

Amu Ri dragged his injured leg and squeezed over, lowering his voice.

"Great Khan, this Gao..."

Qifugu pulled the curved saber out of the gravel cracks, turned, and walked toward the camp, looking back at Amu Ri after walking two steps.

"Strip all the Royal Court's iron armor, don't lose a single set. Pickle Tuoba Lie's head in salt and put it in a box."

Amu Ri was stunned for a moment.

Qifugu's voice squeezed out from between his teeth, grinding every word. 【902-89

"Whatever he wants, this Khan will give him, once this Khan has obtained real blades and armor."

He did not finish the rest of his sentence, turning to wade through the bloody water toward the valley entrance. The eagle feather on his silver-skinned crown was broken in half by the rain and hung over his forehead. His entire silhouette shrank into a silent, black shadow in the curtain of rain.

Gao Jiong had already reached a rain-shelter stone hollow next to the giant rock pile at the valley entrance. Songqi handed over a piece of dry cloth, which he took to wipe the mud and water from his hands, then fished a bamboo tube and a palm-sized piece of silk from his bosom.

The charcoal pencil scratched rapidly across the silk.

"One thousand elite Royal Court troops completely annihilated. Lead general Tuoba Lie killed in action. Deputy general Tie Muzhen killed in action. Qifu Tribe suffered over fourteen hundred casualties out of three thousand deployed. Weaponry more than half depleted and unusable. Qifugu himself severely wounded in the left shoulder but not fatal."

He folded the silk into a narrow strip one finger wide, stuffed it into the bamboo tube, and sealed the opening with wax. He raised his head to look at the sky; the rain had already eased, and a line of grayish-white light leaked through a gap in the clouds.

"Boss, can the pigeon fly if it's soaked in the rain?"

Songqi squatted nearby, the piece of silk covered in battle damage scratches folded up and tucked into his inner garment.

Gao Jiong stood up, clutching the bamboo tube, and walked toward the temporary pigeon coop they had hidden above the cliff wall.

"It can fly. The Mingjing Si's pigeons are tougher than human lives."

When he climbed to the mid-cliff, he looked back at the valley floor. The Qifu Tribe soldiers were rummaging through the corpses of the Royal Court troops in the rain, tearing the iron armor off the bodies piece by piece and piling it on the rubble. Blood flowed from the gaps in the armor plates, soaking the pile of iron into a small, dark-red mound.

Gao Jiong tied the bamboo tube to the carrier pigeon's leg. The gray pigeon flapped its wings twice in his palm, shaking off the raindrops from its feathers, and he tossed it into the sky. It flapped away toward the southern horizon, growing smaller and smaller until it became a gray dot that disappeared at the edge of the clouds.

The silk strip tied to that pigeon was flying toward the Xiazhou Governor's Office, and the words on it would land on Chen Yan's desk within two days.

A storm capable of shattering the foundations of Wen Geti's Royal Court was already on its way.