Chapter 158

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…

Dozens of serpent crossbow bolts shot out in a flurry, hissing like venomous snakes as they lunged at Han Wang.

As an elite of the Black Tiger Camp, Han Wang had prepared for this.

He shifted his stance and kicked over a dozen soldier corpses into the air.

These weren’t meant to block the bolts but to serve as footholds for mid-air movement.

Swish, swish, swish—

Han Wang leaped upward, twisting between the corpses to evade most serpent bolts.

The remaining ones clattered harmlessly against his reinforced armor.

“Impossible! Since when did Tiger-Chasing cultivators have such elites?”

Han Wang’s maneuvers surpassed ordinary accompanying cultivators—this was clearly Tiger-Chasing’s finest.

“Damn! If the serpent crossbow misses, the human thunder can’t lock on!”

As the crossbows reloaded, someone growled, “Fourth level! I’ll take him down!”

Just as Eastern Wilderness forces stirred, two lurking figures erupted from hiding.

“Ambush! We’re—”

Thud!

An Eastern Wilderness cultivator’s warning died as great force shattered his body.

Yang Guanfeng, having obliterated the sixth-level cultivator, charged toward the two eighth-level Gathering Qi late-stage cultivators.

“Fool!”

“Overconfident!”

They hurled techniques at him.

Yang Guanfengh tanked both strikes without flinching, his body weathering the blows.

Bleeding but relentless, he closed the gap and slapped spiritual markers onto them.

Meanwhile, golden threads snaked through the battlefield the moment Yang Guanfeng struck.

Yingxuan, the dynasty princess, wielded Spirit Communication methods. Though unskilled in Spiritual Manipulation, her power chilled bones.

Golden light blazing in her eyes, she chanted an incantation and jerked her hand.

The threads whirled like blades. Every cultivator below fifth-level Gathering Qi and ordinary soldiers fell in pieces.

“Retreat!”

The surviving late-stage cultivators spun to flee.

As they turned, death’s whisper hissed in their ears—a haunting “woo woo” crescendoing behind them.

“Down!”

Boom! Crash——

Yang Guanfeng shoved Yingxuan to the ground as she reacted a split second too late. A deafening explosion rocked the earth beneath them.

When the dust settled, Yang Guanfeng hauled Yingxuan—still spitting out dirt—toward the blast crater. Guided by glowing markers, the fleeing Eastern Wilderness cultivators had taken direct hits from the Tiger Cannon. One now lay in two charred pieces, while the other sprawled unconscious with his left side mangled.

Ignoring his own bleeding arm, Yang Guanfeng shoved a life-sustaining Healing Elixir between the injured cultivator’s lips.

“Squad Leader, take this.” Yingxuan wiped grime from her face, offering a cyan elixir from her belt. “Instantly heals wounds. No scars.”

Though aware of its superior quality, Yang Guanfeng shook his head. “Save it. This scratch doesn’t need fancy medicine.” He rummaged through his storage bag and slapped coarse gray powder onto his wounds. The bleeding stopped instantly, forming rough scabs.

Yingxuan sighed, stowing her elixir before hoisting the unconscious Eastern Wilderness cultivator onto her back as ordered.

With the serpent crossbows disabled, the human thunder devices lost their edge against Han Wang’s team. Eastern Wilderness troops broke ranks, fleeing until Yang Guanfeng and Yingxuan cut off their retreat. Soon, weapons clattered to the ground as soldiers surrendered.

The Tiger-Chasing forces counted their losses—one mid-stage cultivator dead, over 340 soldiers killed or wounded. Their tally showed one early-stage, three mid-stage, and one late-stage Eastern Wilderness cultivator slain, another late-stage captured alive, 400+ enemies killed, and 2,800 taken prisoner.

Yang Guanfeng approached the surviving cultivator during cleanup. “Name?”

“F-Fang Yu, Squad Leader.”

Han Wang ambled over grinning. “Welcome to the front, Brother Fang.”

“Th-thanks.” Fang Yu’s gaze lingered on bagged corpses—comrades who’d joked with him that morning—then shifted to the field littered with dead.

“Squad Leader,” he blurted, “if the Tiger Cannon’s so powerful, why not fire it everywhere? Save more lives?”

Han Wang snorted. Yingxuan answered, “One shot costs five thousand spiritual crystals. Unless it kills two late-stage cultivators, it’s wasted.”

“Five thousand?!” Fang Yu paled.

Yang Guanfeng gestured for them to move out. “War’s about math. Spend less, make them lose more. That’s why we use powder instead of elixirs, conserve Tiger Cannons, skip talismans. Human lives?” He kicked a charred corpse. “This one’s family gets four hundred crystals. You and Yingxuan? Same. Han Wang’s worth eight-nine hundred for his military honors. Me? Maybe three thousand.”

He nodded at their captive. “Catching this late-stage alive? That’s profit.”

“The Eastern Wilderness side is similar. They’ve developed something as powerful as the Tiger Cannon too, but without Tiger-Chasing’s core techniques, each shot costs nearly ten thousand spiritual crystals. Unless late-stage cultivators stand clustered like sitting ducks, using it’s just burning money.”

After Yang Guanfeng’s explanation, Fang Yu’s face cleared with understanding.

“Now I get it. Thanks for explaining, Squad Leader. Learned something new.”

When the four returned to camp, Yang Guanfeng reported the battle details to the commander as the cultivator squad leader.

Military honor allocations would be announced days later.

“Squad Leader, we’re short one member. Will they send a replacement?”

Fang Yu asked during night patrol.

Yang Guanfeng shook his head. “Five accompanying cultivators already stretch this camp’s capacity. Four’s barely passable. But since we captured an enemy late-stage cultivator, command might assign another.”

“Oh…”

Fang Yu’s eyes darkened.

Hearing Yang Guanfeng and Han Wang had survived ten years here made his own future seem bleak – he might die in this place.

“We’re here now with no choice. When there’s no choice, we play the bad hand we’re dealt as best we can.”

Noticing the gloom, Yang Guanfeng offered comfort.

Fang Yu nodded sharply. “You’re right! Better focus on earning military honors than stewing!”

Over the next month, their camp weathered six minor clashes.

Their polished teamwork repelled Eastern Wilderness assaults each time, securing minor victories.

The second month brought orders for their entire camp to join a major battle in the central region.

The clash lasted twenty days. Corpses piled five deep across the plains.

It ended with Condensing Essence cultivators dueling in the skies.

Tiger-Chasing claimed victory at brutal cost.

Yang Guanfeng took a blade through his waist.

Yingxuan suffered multiple chest, back, and leg wounds – a life-saving artifact alone prevented decapitation.

Fang Yu died in combat.

Han Wang sustained severe injuries retrieving his body, caught in human thunder’s blast during the fray.

The Molin cultivator kept his vow – trading his life for a sixth-level cultivator’s in his final moments, earning military honors for family matters.