Chapter 671

The Qiang people feinted with a spear, thinking they had picked a soft persimmon, little knowing they had picked two madmen.

Xie Fengxian did not dodge or evade; when the Qiang charged at his rear, he instantly performed a Divine Dragon Great Tail Swing, turning the rear into the front in an instant, and then charged head-on into the Qiang formation.

And bringing up the rear was none other than the Southwest Chu Wang, Feng Lingchuan.

This former County Assistant, in less than a month, had relied solely on his pair of iron fists to rise to become Xie Fengxian's top warrior, and was no longer far from commanding his own army.

However, the Chu Wang today wasn't playing with fists; he switched to picking up his long spear.

He seemed to finally remember that he still had a family heirloom long spear.

Feng Lingchuan cast aside the rear army, charging alone on horseback into the Qiang formation, his long spear swaying left and right, no one daring to touch its sharp edge.

That long spear felt light as a feather in his hand, yet when it struck an enemy it felt as heavy as a thousand jin.

Anyone who got near ended up not intact.

With that spear he produced an effect you would only see in movies and TV shows.

While engaging the enemy here, Chen Wuji also led the central cavalry from behind to charge up.

The melee instantly entered a fever pitch.

The Qiang people had no intention of lingering in battle; after only a brief clash they changed direction again, trying to go around below Wuyang City.

But how could Xie Fengxian let them have their way? The left wing instantly split in two.

Xie Fengxian personally led the vanguard to cut off the Qiang's retreat, while Feng Lingchuan led the rear to keep gnawing at the Qiang's middle, like a dog-skin plaster already applied—no matter how the Qiang changed formation or direction, Feng Lingchuan with his troops clung tightly to them.

At this moment, the central army and the right wing finally caught up.

"In this fight, I, Tang Yu, seem to have become a useless man, you Qiang dog—look at your grandfather's face, see if my face is black or not?" Tang Yu roared, then did the same as Feng Lingchuan: he abandoned his infantry under his command, and alone on horseback charged straight into the Qiang formation.

"You still look down on me, don't you? Let your mother see if I'm not looked down on—how fast is this spear, Laborers?"

Tang Yu raved like a madman, shouting while fighting, his long spear moving so fast it left afterimages.

His spear technique was completely different from Feng Lingchuan's.

Feng Lingchuan uses a heavy spear, with great force and sinking power, rarely thrusting, almost entirely chopping and hacking motions, relying on the spear's weight to smash enemies to pieces.

Meanwhile Tang Yu follows the Technical Stream, his long spear swift as the wind, mostly making point thrusts.

On Chen Wuji's side, the main army pressed forward, and the Qiang's room to maneuver and shift was gradually compressed.

Yet they still had not given up on breaking out.

They lunged left and right, trying to tear a gap in Chen Wuji's position to fight their way out.

Chen Wuji fought while keeping an eye on the battlefield's movements, issuing orders at any moment to adjust positions and limit the Qiang cavalry's activity; when the warhorses could not run, the difference between cavalry and infantry became small.

At that moment, a unit of Qiang clad in leather armor suddenly charged straight toward Chen Wuji's side; their attire differed greatly from ordinary Qiang soldiers, making them look more noble.

"Capture the bandit by capturing their leader, right? Perfect, that's exactly what I was thinking!" Chen Wuji curled the corner of his mouth into a cold arc, spurred his horse forward to collide head-on.

"We've fought this long—report your name!" As the two armies were about to clash, Chen Wuji shouted loudly, suspecting that the commander leading the opposing forces was his pen pal he had never met, Langdu.

When the Qiang cavalry were still dozens of paces from Chen Wuji, they reined in their warhorses.

The leading figure, a burly man resembling a blind bear, sized up Chen Wuji with two glances and asked, "Are you Chen Wuji?"

"It's me!"

"Looks like I guessed right—you have guts, daring to personally lead the charge!" The man first praised Chen Wuji, then suddenly shifted tone and said, "If I were you, I definitely wouldn't do that; you have guts, but you're also foolish."

"Show some manners; the Qiang lack ethics and know no propriety, which I understand, but you should at least know this basic courtesy—give your name!" Chen Wuji shouted.

This damned thing actually ended up teaching him a lesson.

Observing Langdu's use of troops, he seemed not to be that sort of arrogant and rude person.

"My name is Langdu!" the Qiang commander shouted, raising his head, "Chen Wuji, your death is imminent; do you have any last words? Speak them now, or you'll lose the chance."

Chen Wuji smiled and said, "You're not bad, actually! But I'm also disappointed; seeing how you command troops, I think you're not bad as a person, but your mouth—your reputation doesn't match reality, it's rather trashy."

"Well then, since you've given me face and want a moment to leave your last words, I'll return the favor and give you a chance to leave yours as well. Hurry up and speak; if you don't, you'll lose your chance too."

Langdu looked at Chen Wuji with disdain, "Chen Wuji, do you think I'm moving all these troops just to break out and withdraw?"

"Oh? From what you say, you have other purposes?" Chen Wuji really became curious.

He and Xu Zengyi had nearly wrung their brains dry, yet they still guessed wrong.

Langdu raised his hand and pointed at Chen Wuji, "All this massive mobilization is entirely for you! I originally thought finding you might take some effort, costing several thousand of my Qiang sons."

"I never expected you, this wretch, to dare bring such a pitiful little force and charge personally—it actually saved me a great deal of trouble; honestly, I need to thank you."

"It seems my ploy of feigned confusion still works; I don't know what you think I intend to do—break out of the encirclement and withdraw, or lead you around in circles in Nan Jun, waiting for a chance to destroy you?"

Chen Wuji nodded repeatedly, "You really do have something; I thought I had already highly overestimated you, yet I still underestimated you. But for you to lay down such a huge stake for me, isn't that going too far? I'm not worth that much silver."

"Chen Wuji, stop spouting that nonsense; even if you die, Nan Jun is still mine to come and go as I please—don't be overly self‑deprecating, you're still worth some silver." Langdu barked.

Chen Wuji gave a dry, heh‑heh laugh, "Really, thanks for the face. But honestly, I underestimated you, and you overestimated yourself—do you really think I'm easy to kill?"

"You're certainly hard to kill; otherwise I wouldn't have gone to such lengths. But now I think you're not hard to kill—I'll stab you twice and you should be dead." Langdu said with a sinister grin.

Although Chen Wuji was still alive and well before him, he seemed already dead.

Chen Wuji looked on silently, wordlessly, and quietly took two iron lumps from the leather pouch beside his saddle, lit them with a tinder spark, and flung them away.

The next time Xu Zengyi expresses that kind of lament, he will have a ready‑made example to cite.

Langdu's calculations were already sufficiently detailed.

But he still omitted some very important things.

For example, this iron lump that just blasted Wuyang City into a toothless old lady.