Chapter 1325 – Defeating Huang Song, Unifying Dongqing (Sixty-Six)
Non-human!
Is this still considered human?
For a whole half an hour, he continuously wielded his blade, killing people—didn’t the Lord feel a bit sore in the arm?
He could see it all too clearly, his Lord didn’t falter in the frequency of wielding the sword. On top of that, she had to fend off sneak attacks from the enemy. No matter how sharp her blade was, severing flesh and bone requires immense strength. How many people had she killed tonight? How many times had she swung her sword? Xie Ze didn’t know the exact number, but he could roughly estimate it was enough to make even him tremble!
This was simply beyond human capability!
Xie Ze suddenly thought back to that sneak attack at Shanweng City, where he was the commander, only for it to end in failure. Before that defeat, he thought he could muster all his strength and risk his life to kill Jiang Pengji—little did he know, she had indeed been merciful to him!
Forget risking his life, even if he risked ten lives, Xie Ze doubted he could have taken her down.
“Lord, we captured several dozen prisoners—”
Xie Ze held back his urge to complain and earnestly went to attend to Jiang Pengji.
The enemy suffered heavy casualties. Holding a torch, Xie Ze surveyed the area and nearly stared in dumbfoundedness.
In typical circumstances during a battle, the death toll isn’t high on the spot; most soldiers perish due to lack of treatment afterward.
Xie Ze thought he could capture quite a few injured soldiers, but to his surprise, there were only a few surviving enemies on the ground, with most of them completely lifeless.
He looked more closely and found that the enemies’ corpses shared a striking uniformity—either their necks were slashed cleanly, or they suffered precise strikes to vital points, almost all of them meeting the King of Hell on the spot. Not even a celestial being could save them—seeing this, he gasped. Xie Ze prided himself on his martial arts skills; when he sparred with Li Yun, they were usually even unless they were going all out.
Even so, he wouldn’t dare say he could end an enemy’s life with a single strike.
Killing one person isn’t hard, but killing someone with precision?
His Lord had done it!
The problem was, she was the Lord, not a military general charging into battle.
The Lord was the one orchestrating the big picture, with strategists offering advice, and military generals attacking and seizing territories, clear roles for each side.
And the result?
As a military general, Xie Ze found himself being utterly crushed and humiliated in his own expertise by his own Lord.
Could Xie Ze honestly say that he was worried about losing his job?
Despite the countless complaints bubbling inside him, he maintained a serious and composed demeanor on the outside, exuding a sense of reliability.
Jiang Pengji was sitting on a small stool, her blade carelessly stuck into the ground beside her. Upon hearing Xie Ze’s voice, she looked up at him.
“There are actually surviving prisoners?”
Xie Ze: “…”
As expected, his Lord’s every strike meant death, clearly not intending to let the enemy live.
Jiang Pengji wiped a smear of blood from her hand. Although she was full of energy, the fierce action earlier had made her sweat.
The sweat mixed with enemy blood nearly turned her face into a mess.
“Let’s take them back and lock them up,” Jiang Pengji said as she wrinkled her nose in disgust, wiping the blood off her armor. She then used relatively cleaner parts to wipe her face, the sensation of blood on her skin was truly unpleasant. “By the way, let’s interrogate them. If we can gather any intel about Boge, that’d be great. If not, we can keep them until the great battle ends—”
Xie Ze clasped his fists and replied, “This subordinate obeys!”
Jiang Pengji asked, “By the way, did we capture any enemy generals?”
Xie Ze turned and waved his hand, immediately having soldiers bring over two captives tied up like dumplings.
These two were not far from Jiang Pengji, and military generals generally had keen hearing, so they clearly heard Jiang Pengji and Xie Ze’s dialogue. Most importantly, Xie Ze’s reference to Jiang Pengji as “Lord”—what did that imply?
The two wore expressions of disbelief, their gazes dull as they forgot about their various injuries.
Who would have thought that the rumored Lan Ting would personally lead troops, chasing down enemies in the dead of night?!
If they had known Jiang Pengji was this reckless, they would have thrown everything into the fight, fixated on her alone.
Three words: take her down!
Jiang Pengji casually glanced at the two, offering a friendly smile, “Are you under Boge?”
The two fell silent. They had seen Jiang Pengji before.
Years ago, Jiang Pengji and Huang Song had teamed up against Meng Zhan of Cangzhou; their forces had even celebrated the New Year together.
But alas, it was nighttime, and from such a distance, who could recognize Jiang Pengji’s bloodied face?
Not to mention them, even her own mother wouldn’t recognize her!
One person stiffened his neck and said, “Kill or maim, do as you please. No need for needless chatter!”
To everyone’s surprise, Jiang Pengji nodded and said, “You do have a point. Keeping you two would only waste our rations. After all, food is scarce; two more mouths to feed would be a burden. However, I’m a lover of peace, not keen on killing—”
With a smile revealing a set of neat white teeth, the surrounding atmosphere sank into an awkward silence.
Xie Ze could hardly contain himself as he turned away, covering his face.
His Lord saying she loved peace and didn’t like killing—even if he could suppress his conscience and say that, the corpses of fallen enemies scattered around them certainly wouldn’t agree!
Wasn’t this a bit too heart-wrenching?
The two captives were also stunned into speechlessness by Jiang Pengji’s antics, unsure of how to respond.
In short, they were without words.
Just then, they heard a distant sound of galloping hooves; both of their eyes brightened before quickly dimming again.
The arrivals weren’t Huang Song’s troops, but rather those coming to support Jiang Pengji.
“Lord—”
Jiang Pengji stated, “This situation has been resolved. Send someone to clean up the battlefield; all the corpses need to be dealt with, don’t leave any behind.”
The corpses of enemy soldiers would be burned or buried on the spot, while those of their own could at least receive proper ashes, allowing their souls to return home in the future.
She waved her hand and leaped onto the back of Xiao Bai.
Fatigue washed over her, and she couldn’t help but yawn.
Jiang Pengji’s routine was always strict; after half a night of exertion, she was feeling rather sleepy.
On the way back to the camp, she asked for a bucket of clean water to wash away the bloodstains.
Get clean, then sleep tight.
Post-battle affairs could be handled by Han Yu and Wei Ci; she was in charge of restoring her strength.
After a workout, a shower, and good sleep—such was the recipe for quality rest.
Huang Song was not so lucky; tonight’s nighttime raid had been a long-planned scheme aimed at striking back and raising declining morale.
He sat anxiously in the main tent, unable to sleep, and as dawn broke, his heart sank lower.
“Report—”
Just when he was feeling despondent, a commotion outside caught Huang Song’s attention, jolting him awake.
“Quickly, speak! What’s the battle situation?”
The messenger replied dejectedly, “The enemy was already prepared; our troops were caught and couldn’t retreat in time…”
Huang Song staggered back in disbelief, nearly losing his composure if not for his hand bracing the table.
His breathing became rushed, and he said in a heavy voice, “Summon everyone; we need to discuss matters in the main tent!”
