The Final Battle (Part 2)

Li Yuanba, the Prince of Zhao of the Western Palace, in the 'Complete Tale of Shuo Tang', fought the million-strong army of eighteen rebel kings alone at Mount Siming. He defeated the third-ranked Pei Yuanqing in three hammer strikes, slew fifty enemy generals, and killed countless soldiers.

Furthermore, the Gao Yuan currently possessed by Li Yuanba was facing only a few thousand Western Kang soldiers.

It was truly like cutting through melons and vegetables. Under his onslaught, the Western Kang people quickly retreated from the breach. However, Gao Yuan still did not stop; at this moment, he had entered a state of frenzied madness.

His guards stood far away, watching their Commander's majestic display and occasionally crushing a few stray enemy soldiers they came across.

"Crack!"

With a crisp sound, the wooden handle of the stone hammer, unable to bear the burden, snapped into two pieces.

Seeing this, a general holding a mace felt his opportunity had come. He squeezed his horse's flanks and charged forward with a roar.

"Clang!"

Gao Yuan held the stone hammer horizontally to block the fatal blow. The enemy general and his horse were forced back several steps, nearly losing their footing. The skin between the general's thumb and index finger split, and blood flowed out profusely.

Taking advantage of his weakness to end his life, Gao Yuan closed in and struck the horse's head with a hammer. The warhorse let out a miserable cry and crashed to the ground, leaving its master dazed and disoriented.

Gao Yuan followed up by hammering away the soldiers trying to stop him. He stepped forward and flattened the enemy general's chest with a heavy stomp.

Picking up the mace from the ground, Gao Yuan gripped it in his hand and revealed a silly smile.

"This is good, I like it. Kill!"

Everyone was dumbfounded; who had ever seen such a god-of-slaughter-like existence?

"Run! Quick, run!"

Someone shouted, and the Western Kang people dropped their weapons one by one and turned to flee. At this moment, they all wished their parents had given them two extra legs.

Li Ji desperately tried to stop the routing army, but it was all in vain.

What made them most desperate was that they no longer even had a chance to escape. To the north of the main camp, an army appeared—an army flying banners with the names 'Liu' and 'Xia'.

"Commander Li, the situation is lost. Run!"

"If we don't run now, we'll lose our lives!"

"Lijiang and Dali are lost, and tens of thousands of elite troops have been decimated. How can I face the Lord of the State again!"

Letting out a long howl to the sky, Li Ji looked with bloodshot eyes at the beautiful man holding a stone hammer in one hand and a mace in the other, his face covered in blood and wearing a foolishly idiotic smile.

"Gao Yuan, do you dare to fight me!"

The response was a whistling mace flying toward him. Li Ji hastily raised his large saber to block the heavy blow.

With just one strike, he understood why so many people couldn't block him; this strength was definitely not human.

Although Li Ji was a Commander-type general, his martial prowess was not poor, and his strength far exceeded that of ordinary men. But at this moment, he felt his strength was so minuscule before Gao Yuan.

Gao Yuan scanned him with the system: an A+ rank Commander talent. He paused and grinned, laughing.

"You're not bad. Follow me, and you can eat your fill of osmanthus cake!"

Li Ji felt wretched. He couldn't understand how he could lose to such a foolish person. In his shame and anger, he raised his saber and slashed.

"Take this!"

"No fun!"

Gao Yuan complained. He silently activated Peerless in his mind, and his eyes immediately became even more clear and foolish.

"Host has used the skill Peerless (Li Yuanba Version). Strength increased to SSR, Agility increased to SSR, Endurance increased to SSR. All other attributes have dropped to their limit."

Li Yuanba was already like a cheat code, and a Li Yuanba who had activated his 'cheat' was truly world-shaking and ghost-terrifying.

Gao Yuan raised the mace and smashed it down fiercely!

After a loud boom, Li Ji's refined steel saber bent to its limit and then snapped in two, but the momentum of the mace did not slow as it continued to smash down.

Before he could even let out a scream, Li Ji—Great General of the Western Kang State and the number two power figure of the Tuoba tribe—became a mangled corpse.

With Li Ji's death, the Western Kang people completely lost their spirit. They didn't even bother to run, sitting paralyzed on the ground waiting to be incorporated into the Nanzhou Army.

"Gao Yuan!"

With a loud shout, a figure came running and threw herself at him. Even armor could not hide her graceful and beautiful figure.

Gao Yuan gave one last silly smile and then collapsed onto the ground.

The trial card had expired, and he was completely drained of strength.

The girl was terrified. She quickly held him, crying like rain on a pear blossom while checking him from head to toe.

The soldiers nearby gave ambiguous smiles and went off to clean up the battlefield.

After confirming that Gao Yuan was just exhausted and not injured, Little Chili Pepper finally broke into a smile through her tears and hugged his neck.

"You scared me to death, waaaah!"

Feeling the moisture on his neck, Gao Yuan struggled to raise his hand and pat the girl's back.

"It's okay, it's okay. It's all over. Take me back to rest."

She found a few soldiers to carry Gao Yuan back to the Commander's tent and ordered people to boil hot water. Putting him in the bath, the girl ignored any concerns about propriety between men and women and personally washed his body.

"In the future, you must never do this again. Do you know how much you scared me?"

"I know, I know..."

As he spoke, Gao Yuan's voice faded, followed by a burst of thunderous snoring.

At this moment, the sky was also filled with thunder and lightning, followed by a torrential downpour. The bloodstains remaining on the ground were washed away by the rain, quickly gathering into crimson streams that eventually flowed into the rivers.

In just one night, the traces of the tragic battle vanished completely, as if it had never happened.

Exhaustion was not something one could recover from in a single day. Gao Yuan lay in his room for three whole days, and the girl took care of him for those three days without even changing her clothes.

Using a Li Yuanba card and only getting the kill of an A+ rank Li Ji in return, Gao Yuan felt it was a loss no matter how he thought about it.

Fortunately, the system did not disappoint him and gave some consolation.

When he woke up on the second day, the system popped up.

"Congratulations to the Host for achieving the achievement: Slayer of a Hundred. Reward skill obtained: Pursue and Attack."

"Pursue and Attack: Whenever the Host kills an enemy soldier, a small portion of stamina can be recovered. The effect is doubled when killing an enemy general of Rank C or above."

"Not bad, at least it gave me a skill. But why couldn't it be Peerless?"

Thinking about Li Yuanba's incredibly powerful active skill, Gao Yuan was truly envious. It could directly max out Strength and Agility. Although it made him a bit silly, it was still acceptable.

Suddenly, he seemed to think of something.

"System, an S- rank gives an S-rank card. So what rewards do S and S+ ranks give?"

His system had one good point: it answered all questions.

"An S-rank rating rewards an S-rank martial soul Trial Card of a specified type. An S+ rank rating rewards an additional S-rank Gacha Card."

His heart ached so much he could hardly breathe. Gao Yuan felt the pain of missing out on ten billion.

It was too late for regrets now. The war was over, and Gao Yuan didn't feel like staying any longer.

He handed the task of selecting a new site to build a fortified pass to Liu Rengui. On the fifth day after the battle ended, he began his return with a hundred guards.

With over ten thousand surrendered soldiers who were jubilant because of their change in status, holding the two newly occupied prefectures should not be a big problem.

Eager to return home, the group traveled quickly on captured warhorses.

In less than a day, Dehong City was already in sight.

However, the usually lively Little Chili Pepper seemed a bit listless now, appearing unable to lift her spirits.

"What's wrong, Qingqing? Are you tired? Do you want to stop and rest?"

Mu Qing looked up at Gao Yuan, lowered her small head and shook it, saying in a muffled voice,

"It's nothing. Let's hurry back."

"Alright then, let's get back early. Having been out for so long, I really do miss home."