Chapter 553: Who Says We Have No Clothes? We Share the Same Robes

The rain cleared, and the hunter squad, having rested for a night, set off again.

To obtain supplies, Lan Yu led his team members through the mountain gullies, rushing toward the nearest town.

The mountain roads after the rain were muddy, and the group's speed was not fast.

Lan Yu and Old Zhang were still chatting about last night's topic:

"The Northern Barbarians are too poor; even if the Western Continent were willing to sell them weapons, what would they use to buy them? They can't even get enough to eat themselves."

"Indeed, as long as we can block these barbarians and not let them plunder things, they won't have money to trade with the Western Continent."

"If you ask me, it's also unlikely for the Grassland Royal Court to trade with the Western Continent; the distance is too far."

"Going by land, large quantities of goods are easily discovered. Going by sea, how far would the Western Continent have to detour on the ocean?"

"That makes sense! In that case, the only ones most likely to trade with the Western Continent are the two great desert nations."

"Hmm, the southern border is not something for us to worry about."

"..."

Regarding the possibility of the Western Continent selling weapons, Lan Yu was truly concerned.

After thinking for an entire night, he finally reached this conclusion.

This made his anxiety ease slightly.

"When will we be able to produce such guns ourselves?"

Lan Yu spent the whole journey fantasizing about himself holding a new type of weapon and killing enemies on the battlefield.

Slap!

The sound of a heavy object hitting the ground broke Lan Yu's fantasy; he turned his head to look and saw a soldier carrying a wounded man accidentally fall into a mud pit.

The teammates around hurriedly went up to help the two of them up, but the wounded man had suddenly stopped breathing.

"Quick, save him!"

"Medicine!"

"What happened—"

After a flurry of activity, the wounded man ultimately could not be saved.

The man was already severely wounded, and that fall had completely cut off his breath.

"It's all my fault! It's all my fault..."

The soldier responsible for carrying the wounded man was full of tears of guilt.

Lan Yu walked to the soldier's side, looking at the hideous scar on his face.

Fighting until now, everyone in the team was wounded; it was just a difference between light and heavy wounds.

This soldier who was crying was named Geng Yong, the youngest in the team, only twenty-one years old this year.

In that battle in the jungle yesterday, Geng Yong's face had been slashed by a knife, and his mouth had almost been cut open.

When eating at night, the man shivered from the pain, but he hadn't shed a single tear.

Lan Yu grabbed Geng Yong: "It's not your fault; Brother Xu was already barely holding on."

"It's all my fault..."

Geng Yong was already completely trapped in feelings of guilt and couldn't extricate himself.

The Brother Xu he carried had saved him more than once, and as a result, he had caused Brother Xu's death.

"Little Geng."

"It's all my fault..."

Slap!

Lan Yu suddenly slapped Geng Yong heavily across the face, causing the wound on the man's face to split open again, with blood flowing out.

This slap woke Geng Yong up.

Lan Yu glared at him like an angry lion:

"Are you awake now?!"

Geng Yong stood up silently, wiping the blood and tears from his face.

"Continue forward!"

Lan Yu issued the order.

They had no time to bury their teammate, because they could encounter Northern Barbarians in this area at any time.

They needed to obtain supplies as soon as possible.

Brother Xu's corpse was placed by the side of the road, and the team continued forward in the muddy mountain stream.

"Enemy ahead!"

The scout's warning suddenly came from the front.

Lan Yu immediately grabbed his two Bertening pistols and hurried forward.

But the scene in front was different from the battle he had imagined:

Thick smoke obscured the morning sun; Lan Yu and the others crawled on the hillside, poking their heads out to look below.

A burnt, fishy sweetness drifted in the morning mist; a village in the mountain hollow was sending up pillars of black smoke, and orange-red firelight danced beneath each pillar of smoke.

The screams of women pierced the mist, wrapped in the intermittent crying of children, like a dull knife scraping across the eardrums of every soldier.

"Damn it!"

Old Zhang gripped his rifle tightly, his knuckles turning white.

These days, they had passed through several villages plundered by Northern Barbarians, leaving behind only a mess.

There were no living people, and no corpses.

This was the first time they had encountered a village being plundered.

Lan Yu's Adam's apple bobbed; his eyesight was extraordinary, and through the broken fence in the distance, he could clearly see Northern Barbarian warriors wrapped in fur coats dragging a young girl toward the granary, the girl's embroidered shoes leaving winding bloodstains on the muddy ground.

On the threshing floor east of the village lay over a dozen corpses; the oldest elder was nailed to a millstone with a spear, his white hair soaked in a pool of dark red blood.

Several Northern Barbarian warriors were using curved sabers to hack and kill villagers for fun; as the silver light of the blades flashed, arms flew onto the haystacks...

Making a rough estimate, there were about two hundred Northern Barbarian warriors below, and the tattoo totems on some of them clearly showed they were Tuo Dou warriors, meaning martial artists, and the proportion was very high!

Not to mention that this hunter squad had already suffered more than half casualties, even at full strength, it would be very difficult to defeat such a Northern Barbarian team.

Lan Yu's breathing gradually became heavy.

"Captain."

Old Zhang grabbed Lan Yu's arm, gritting his teeth: "The situation with this Northern Barbarian team is a bit strange; the number of Tuo Dou warriors is too high. It's possible there's a big fish inside. We can't be impulsive; we must transmit the military intelligence back!"

He used such a reason to persuade Lan Yu, and at the same time, he was also persuading himself.

These hunter squads also needed to transmit intelligence so that the generals above could deploy tactics and dispatch troops based on the military intelligence.

Lan Yu turned his head to look at Old Zhang, then turned to look at his teammates, looking at these faces they had lived and worked with day and night:

The arrow scar on the left cheek of the scout Chen Ping was twitching, the single eye of the oldest veteran, Old Zhao, was glowing with blood, the body of Geng Yong, whose mouth was still oozing blood, was trembling, but not because of fear.

Even the slickest team doctor, Xiao Liu, had bitten his lip...

They had fought bitterly for several days, were wounded, and were short on ammunition.

Lan Yu could see deep exhaustion and uncontrollable anger in their expressions, but he didn't see any retreat.

He suddenly smiled.

To be able to fight side-by-side with such a group of brothers, this life was worth it.

"As soldiers, we can't tolerate this!"

He also gave himself a reason:

"Old Zhang, you take a few people and the wounded in the back to evacuate, and transmit the intelligence here back."

"Damn it!"

Old Zhang was furious the first moment.

"This is an order!"

Lan Yu roared back in a low voice:

"The rest of you, follow me to kill these barbarians!"

"Yes!"

Everyone gripped their weapons tightly, their expressions relieved.

"I'm not leaving!"

As the deputy captain, Old Zhang was the only one who dared to question Lan Yu. "If we die, we die together!"

Lan Yu glared at him: "You just said these people below are strange; someone must transmit the intelligence back!"

"..."

Old Zhang couldn't speak.

He was the deputy captain and also the second-strongest combatant in the team.

He was the best candidate to lead the team to transmit the intelligence back.

"Stop talking nonsense, get out of here, and transmit the intelligence back!"

Lan Yu urged.

There was no such thing as being overly sentimental on the battlefield; Old Zhang left with bloodshot eyes.

"Open fire, draw them all up, everyone find a good position, pay attention to crossfire."

Lan Yu simply deployed the tactics.

They only had a dozen people in total; charging down directly wouldn't make any waves.

Only by utilizing the terrain to attract the Northern Barbarians below to charge up could they cause the greatest damage.

Estimating that Old Zhang and the others had already left a certain distance, Lan Yu fired the first shot.

But the village below was over a thousand meters away, already exceeding the range of the guns, so this shot was just to attract the attention of the Northern Barbarians.

Sure enough, as soon as the gun fired, all the Northern Barbarians who were reveling in the village were startled, and their movements stopped.

Lan Yu stood up directly, holding a piece of human skin embroidered with a tattoo high in his hands.

This was the totem on the body of the Northern Barbarian warrior of the Qi-refining level he had killed yesterday; it was his trophy and also proof of his military merit.

Among the Northern Barbarian warriors below, there were also those with extraordinary eyesight; after seeing the human skin in Lan Yu's hands, they immediately let out roars, pointing at Lan Yu and cursing loudly.

Soon, a small squad of about thirty Northern Barbarian warriors split off from the village and charged toward the hillside where Lan Yu and the others were.

"Prepare!"

Lan Yu crouched down again, holding both guns level.

Six hundred meters, five hundred meters, four hundred meters...

"Fire!"

After the Northern Barbarians entered the three-hundred-meter range, Lan Yu shouted to fire.

Intense gunfire rang out.

Those who could be selected for the hunter squad were all elite veterans.

Even if they weren't martial artists, their marksmanship was very outstanding; over a dozen people fired at the same time, and more than half hit their targets!

Half of the Northern Barbarian warriors charging in a scattered formation fell.

The remaining dozen or so were fearless and continued to charge.

They were very clear that as long as they charged into close quarters and entered close-quarters combat, they would have the advantage.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The unique gunshots of the Bertening pistols rang out clearly and rhythmically.

Lan Yu picked off the few Tuo Dou warriors who were charging the fastest one by one!

After these Northern Barbarian warriors charged to close range, the rest of the soldiers switched to revolvers and fired continuously.

All thirty-plus Northern Barbarian warriors finally fell on this hillside; the Northern Barbarian warrior who charged the furthest ahead had his blade only a few meters away from slashing Lan Yu.

This was the advantage brought by weapons and equipment.

If they set aside the battles of top powerhouses, if the million-strong Northern Barbarian army combined their forces in one place, they might be directly broken by the ten thousand Northern Frontier border soldiers!

The village below sent out even louder roars, and more Northern Barbarian warriors began to charge toward this hillside.

The previous battle had already let them see clearly that there were no traps in the terrain, and the number of people like Lan Yu was also very small, so the rest had no more concerns.

Before these Northern Barbarian warriors entered the range, a figure swept out at an extremely fast speed, charging to the very front.

The opponent had no intention of dodging in a curve at all, charging straight toward the hillside, leaving behind trails of afterimages!

His speed had already exceeded the reaction limit of the rest of the soldiers; in the team, only Lan Yu could barely keep up with the opponent by fully unleashing his own extraordinary abilities, and then rely on his gun sense to shoot.

The moment Lan Yu aimed, a red internal energy erupted from the opponent's body.

Lan Yu hit the same landing point with four bullets in a row, but failed to break through his protective internal energy.

The distance of several hundred meters was quickly swept across by this Northern Barbarian warrior; the air was torn apart, and the turbulent airflow brought up dust, forming a dirt-yellow long dragon that spread straight toward the top of the hillside!

"Tu Dou warrior?!"

Lan Yu's heart sank.

Northern Barbarian Tuo Dou warriors were equivalent to Dao Ji realm powerhouses in the Central Plains!

Lan Yu hadn't expected to encounter such a powerhouse here.

"It's a pity, no chance to use that new type of rifle."

Such a thought flashed through Lan Yu's mind.

He fired three more shots, still failing to break through the opponent's protective internal energy, and this Tuo Dou warrior had already charged in front of Lan Yu with a bloodthirsty face.

He didn't give Lan Yu a chance to react at all; he grabbed Lan Yu by the throat and lifted him up, his feet leaving the ground.

This Tuo Dou warrior could actually have killed Lan Yu directly from a distance with internal energy, but he didn't do so.

He wanted to use the most cruel way to torture and kill this ant who used a gun bit by bit!

With a sweep of red internal energy, over a hundred wounds were cut open on Lan Yu's body, turning him into a bloody person.

Seeing this scene, the soldiers around were furious, and they all drew their sabers to kill toward this side.

Geng Yong, whose face was still bleeding, charged at the very front:

"Come on! Kill me first—"

Swish—

A golden sword energy appeared out of thin air, like a hot knife cutting through butter, breaking through the Tuo Dou warrior's protective internal energy, then piercing through his head, splitting him into two halves!

Warm blood splashed onto Lan Yu; he sat on the ground in a daze, seeing the most shocking scene of his life:

Streaks of sword energy crisscrossed among the group of Northern Barbarian warriors at the foot of the hillside.

Amidst the crisscrossing sword energy, whether it was ordinary Northern Barbarian warriors or Tuo Dou warriors who had become martial artists, they were all torn apart like rags!

In the blink of an eye, over a hundred Northern Barbarian warriors turned into corpses all over the ground.

Those Northern Barbarian warriors who still remained in the village didn't even have time to feel fear before golden sword energy appeared above their heads, picking them off one by one!

The battlefield, which had just been clamorous, became incomparably quiet at this moment.

"Are you Northern Frontier border soldiers?"

A gentle voice brought Lan Yu back to his senses; he turned his head to look and saw a young man wearing a golden robe, his brow full of righteousness.

Lan Yu felt inexplicably nervous; he nodded and stood up from the ground:

"We are the hunter squad of the Northern Frontier border soldiers, ordered by the Provincial Military Commander to hunt down invading Northern Barbarians in the rear. Who are you?"

"I am Li Fei."

The person who came said calmly.

Lan Yu and the surrounding soldiers widened their eyes upon hearing this, doubting their ears for a moment.

But combined with that shocking scene just now, they soon believed it.

"Subordinate pays respects to Marq—"

Lan Yu endured the severe pain, stood straight, and gave a military salute to Li Fei.

He had intended to address Li Fei as "Marquis," but as if possessed by a ghost, he changed the title:

"Pay respects to the Grand General!"

The dozen or so soldiers around also saluted Li Fei one after another, saying in unison:

"Pay respects to the Grand General!"

This "Grand General" came from the bottom of everyone's hearts.

Not only because Li Fei's position was Grand General of the Northern Expedition, but also because of his record of fighting seven alone in Lanling City, which had spread to the Northern Frontier.

As soldiers, Lan Yu and the others were all boiling with blood!

Upon learning that Li Fei would lead an army north to fight side-by-side with them, Lan Yu and the others felt even more honored!

Li Fei was silent for a moment.

Since he took over the position of Grand General of the Northern Expedition, this was the first time he had been addressed this way.

"Pay respects to the Marquis," although respectful, still carried a sense of alienation.

"Pay respects to the Grand General" meant they were already comrades-in-arms!

Li Fei's gaze swept across these soldiers; he guessed what was going on at a glance from the situation on the scene.

So he solemnly returned a military salute to Lan Yu and the others:

"You've worked hard, well done!"

Hearing this, the youngest, Geng Yong, shed tears again.

He hurriedly turned around to wipe his face.

The Grand General is watching; he can't lose the face of the Northern Frontier border soldiers!

A gentle green light suddenly shrouded the soldiers on the scene.

The over a hundred wounds cut open on Lan Yu's body began to heal at a speed visible to the naked eye; the wounds on the others were the same, and their exhausted spirits were also soothed, becoming incomparably relaxed.

A moment later, Li Fei stopped using "Qing Shen."

"Grand General—"

Lan Yu's eyes turned red; he really wanted to say that they weren't worth Li Fei expending so much power.

Li Fei waved his hand: "I have things to do, I'll go first."

How would Lan Yu and the others dare to delay Li Fei; they saluted and thanked him again and again.

"Grand General."

Just as Li Fei was about to soar into the air, Lan Yu suddenly shouted.

Li Fei looked at him.

Lan Yu took a deep breath and said loudly:

"It is our honor that you could come to the Northern Frontier and fight side-by-side with you!"

Li Fei smiled and also said solemnly:

"It is also my honor to be able to fight side-by-side with soldiers like you!"

After speaking, he nodded to Lan Yu and the others, then soared into the air, soon disappearing into the horizon.

Lan Yu and the others all looked up at the sky.

Slap!

A slap suddenly rang out.

Lan Yu turned his head to look and saw Geng Yong, whose facial wounds had already healed, slap himself:

"Am I dreaming?"

"Damn it, this life was worth it!"

"If I can live to go back, I can brag about today's events for a lifetime!"

"Hehe, suddenly I'm reluctant to die."

"..."

Everyone spoke in a jumble, all full of excitement.

Lan Yu was somewhat puzzled.

According to the marching speed, the Northern Expedition Army coming to reinforce should still be on the road.

How could Li Fei have arrived in Beichuan Province alone?

After thinking for a while, Lan Yu stopped thinking about it; anyway, it wasn't his turn to worry about it.

He looked up at the direction Li Fei disappeared again, his gaze resolute.

Although the Great Lan Dynasty was currently facing enemies on all sides, because Li Fei was here, it was still full of hope!

Above the sea of clouds, Li Fei, who was flying fast, was also recalling Lan Yu and the others he had just seen.

A dozen people launched an attack on enemies several times their number.

Knowing it couldn't be done, yet doing it anyway!

At this moment, Li Fei also had a thought in his heart:

With such a group of people in the Great Lan Dynasty, there was still hope!

He recalled the conversation with Lan Yu at the end, feeling the sword intent in his chest surging, wanting to let it all out:

Who says we have no clothes? We share the same robes.

This feeling is worth a sword strike!

Boom—

Li Fei suddenly accelerated, turning into a golden light and speeding forward.

In the air, the sea of clouds was split open.

Sword energy whistled for a thousand miles, and heaven and earth were struck by thunder!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 554 =====