152: Chapter 152 A Devastating Defeat

He looked at the figure in the distance, who appeared like a demon god and was insufferably arrogant; instead of feeling any fear, a blazing Battle Intent ignited in his eyes!

He knew that he could not avoid this battle.

This was not just a duel determining the outcome of the war, but a battle of kings that would decide the future hegemony of the entire Northern Territory!

If he retreated, then everything he had done, all the prestige he had built up, would collapse in this instant!

The morale of the defending army would plummet, while the morale of the Heavenly Wolf Army would climb to an unprecedented peak!

By then, Ji City would be in danger!

"Open the city gates."

Gao Feng slowly untied the cloak on his body, revealing the black martial attire he had already put on underneath.

He took the "three-pointed, double-edged blade" he hadn't used for a long time from his personal guard beside him.

"I will go and meet this Wolf King Ashina Kuotai of the grasslands."

His voice was calm, but carried an unquestionable determination.

"Creak—"

The heavy city gates slowly opened.

Gao Feng also rode out alone from the city gates.

When the two figures representing the strongest hegemony of the Northern Territory stood facing each other before the two armies, the entire noisy battlefield fell eerily silent at this moment.

Everyone's gaze was focused on them.

Ashina Kuotai looked at his opponent, who was even younger than he had imagined; a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, which then turned into deep disdain.

"You are Gao Feng?"

"You are Ashina Kuotai?"

Gao Feng asked back, his voice as calm as water.

"Very good! You have guts! Much better than those soft-bellied southerners who only know how to wag their tongues that I imagined!" Ashina Kuotai sneered, "As a reward for your courage! This King will let you strike three moves first!"

"No need."

Gao Feng slowly raised the "three-pointed, double-edged blade" in his hand, the tip pointing directly at his opponent.

"Make your move."

"Arrogant!"

Ashina Kuotai was furious!

He stopped talking and kicked his horse's belly hard!

The black warhorse beneath him let out a long neigh, like a black lightning bolt, charging wildly towards Gao Feng!

The blood-colored scimitar in his hand drew a strange and tricky arc in the air, carrying a domineering and sharp Aura like the wild winds of the grasslands, aiming straight for Gao Feng's throat!

This strike was fast! Accurate! Ruthless! It contained all the killing techniques he had honed over decades of life on horseback!

However, facing this earth-shattering strike, Gao Feng remained steadily seated on his Wuzhui horse, as immovable as a mountain.

Not until the cold blade was about to touch his skin did he move.

The "three-pointed, double-edged blade" in his hand struck upwards with terrifying speed, arriving after the initial move!

"Clang—!!!"

A deafening sound of metal clashing exploded!

Sparks flew everywhere!

A visible, terrifying shockwave erupted from the center where their weapons met!

The hard frozen ground beneath their feet instantly cracked like a giant spider web!

Both magnificent warhorses let out a cry of pain under the terrifying counter-shock force and retreated several steps each!

One strike, a draw!

"Good! Good! Good!"

Ashina Kuotai felt his tiger's mouth go numb, but even more excited light erupted in his eyes!

"You really didn't disappoint this King!"

He roared and urged his warhorse to charge again!

This time, his blade technique became even more violent!

Each strike faster than the last! Each strike heavier than the last!

The sky-filling blade light seemed to turn into a terrifying sandstorm sweeping across the world, intending to completely swallow and tear Gao Feng apart!

But Gao Feng was like a towering mountain within that sandstorm.

Let your wild winds rage, I remain unmoved!

The "three-pointed, double-edged blade" in his hand was broad and open, steady and heavy.

Every block accurately predicted the opponent's attack trajectory, and every counterattack contained terrifying power sufficient to split mountains and crack rocks!

"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"

The two exchanged hundreds of moves in an instant!

The dense sound of weapons colliding was like the most passionate and deadly symphony of death!

The entire battlefield fell into a deathly silence under the inhuman, terrifying duel between these two.

Everyone's heart was in their throat!

"Damn it! How is this southerner so strong?!"

Unable to break through after a long time, Ashina Kuotai began to feel anxious.

He discovered that the opponent's strength and endurance were like a bottomless pit!

No matter how frantically he attacked, he could not shake the opponent's mountain-like defense!

He even felt that the opponent wasn't using his full strength at all, but was using him as a whetstone!

This realization dealt an unprecedented insult to his arrogant self-esteem!

"Gao Feng! You have successfully angered this King!"

He let out a beastly roar that didn't sound human!

"Next, let me show you the true forbidden power of my Tianlang Tribe!"

He bit the tip of his tongue hard and spat a mouthful of bright red essence blood onto the blood-colored scimitar!

"Hum—!"

The scimitar let out a strange hum!

A terrifying Demonic Qi, as black as ink and filled with tyranny and slaughter, erupted from his body!

Behind him, a huge and ferocious black wolf head phantom slowly emerged!

The wolf head howled at the sky!

"Tianlang Transformation!"

Ashina Kuotai's body began to undergo drastic changes!

His muscles expanded crazily at a speed visible to the naked eye, causing his hard Wolf King armor to creak!

His eyes instantly turned blood red!

His fingernails became as sharp and long as a beast's claws!

His strength soared crazily at this moment, even faintly touching the threshold of the legendary Sixth-Rank Grandmaster!

"Die—!!!"

He let out a roar that had completely lost all reason!

His whole person seemed to merge with the warhorse beneath him, turning into a blood-colored afterimage almost invisible to the naked eye, appearing in front of Gao Feng in an instant!

The scimitar in his hand, carrying terrifying power sufficient to tear the Void Realm, slashed fiercely at Gao Feng's head!

Too fast!

This strike was truly too fast!

So fast that even Gao Feng only had time to hold the "three-pointed, double-edged blade" horizontally in front of his chest to block!

"Clang—!!!"

A terrifying, loud noise, several times louder than any previous collision, exploded!

Gao Feng felt an unprecedented, terrifying force coming from the blade!

He could no longer maintain his immovable posture, and he and his horse were sent flying by this violent strike!

He drew a miserable parabola in the air and slammed heavily onto the ground dozens of feet away!

"Pfft!"

A mouthful of scalding blood sprayed from his mouth!

And on his left shoulder, a terrifying wound deep enough to see bone was left!

Blood instantly stained half of his body red!

"My Lord!"

"Governor!"

On the city wall, Du Wei, Liu Chengfeng, and others saw this scene and let out cries of horror and despair!

They wanted to rush out to rescue him, but were stopped by Gao Feng's cold gaze!

Meanwhile, a frantic cheer erupted from the Heavenly Wolf Army's formation!

"The King is mighty!"

"Kill that southerner!"

...

"Cough... cough..."

Gao Feng struggled to climb up from the ground.

He could clearly feel that the bones in his left shoulder were already shattered.

The wound was still attached to an extremely sinister Demonic Qi, which was constantly eroding his flesh and vitality.

The immense pressure of life and death, like two invisible mountains, pressed heavily on his heart!

However, under this immense pressure of life and death, the Myriad Dao Unity Art in his body seemed to be stimulated by something unprecedented, and began to operate at a near-crazy speed!

The insights he once had when dueling with Cao Zhang's domineering and peerless Imperial Dragon Qi!

The experiences he once had when dealing with the Wang Family Old Ancestor's mysterious and unpredictable space power!

The pure understanding of power he had when he pointed a finger and shattered the sword-testing stone that had been passed down for hundreds of years at the Tingfeng Sword Pavilion!

Everything, every battle, every realization...

At this moment, like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, it was completely mastered!

It was as if an invisible shackle in his mind had been shattered!

His martial will broke through the final Bottleneck at this moment!

Although his Realm did not improve immediately, his level of power and his understanding of martial arts had stepped onto a brand new level!

If the previous Gao Feng was an impregnable, towering mountain, then he was now an active volcano containing the power to destroy the world!

His eyes changed.

They became deep and vast, as if containing the starry Universe, the birth and death of ten thousand Daos!

"So... that's it."

He slowly raised his head, looking at Ashina Kuotai, who was walking towards him step by step with a ferocious and cruel smile on his face, and muttered to himself.

"Thank you for letting me see the path ahead."

"Huh?"

Ashina Kuotai seemed to sense the strange change in Gao Feng, and he stopped walking, a flash of doubt appearing in his blood-red eyes.

"Playing tricks! Go to Hell, this King!"

He roared and turned into a blood-colored afterimage again, the scimitar in his hand carrying the Aura of death that would end everything, slashing towards Gao Feng!

However, this time, Gao Feng did not block again.

He just slowly raised the "three-pointed, double-edged blade" in his hand, and then swung it forward gently with a speed that seemed slow but was actually extremely fast.

This strike had no earth-shattering Aura, and didn't even bring up the slightest sound of wind.

But the moment this strike was swung, the entire world seemed to lose all color at this moment!

Only that extreme blade light, which fused the elegance of wind and the violence of thunder, remained!

"Chi—!"

An extremely faint sound, like cloth being torn, rang out.

The insufferably arrogant blood-colored afterimage instantly solidified in mid-air.

Ashina Kuotai's ferocious and crazy expression also stiffened on his face.

He slowly lowered his head and looked at his own impregnable chest, where a fine blood line had appeared, not knowing when.

The blood line expanded rapidly!

"How... how... is it possible..."

He spat out the last few words of his life with difficulty.

Then, his sturdy body, along with the huge wolf head phantom behind him, shattered inch by inch like a sand sculpture weathered by the wind!

Turning into blood mist and black energy filling the sky!

In the end, only a head with endless horror and disbelief remained, rolling onto the ground with a rumble.

Gao Feng, whose strength had transformed, launched a desperate counterattack.

With a supreme strike that fused the intent of wind and thunder, he broke the "Tianlang Transformation" and, in front of the one hundred thousand Heavenly Wolf Army, decapitated the wolf head that symbolized the hegemony of the grasslands with a single blade!

The whole scene was dead silent!

Time seemed to stop completely at this moment.

Everyone's gaze stared blankly at the head rolling in the dust, and the figure standing with the blade, covered in blood but like an invincible god of war.

Their king... is dead?

That undefeated legend who led them to trample the Great Qian Great Wall and slaughter millions of living souls... just died like that?

"The King... is dead..."

It was unclear who was the first to murmur as if in a dream.

Following that was a massive panic, like a landslide or tsunami!

"The King is dead! Run!"

"The Azure Wolf King is dead!"

"The sky has fallen!"

After losing their only spiritual pillar, the 100,000-strong Heavenly Wolf Army completely collapsed!

They threw away their helmets and armor, let out terrified screams, and fled frantically toward the direction of the grasslands like a swarm of headless flies!

The defeat was like a collapsing mountain!

And just at this moment!

"Woo—woo—woo—!!!"

A desolate yet resonant horn blast soared into the sky from the ramparts of Ji City!

That was the signal for the Panshi Army's all-out attack!

As this horn sounded, across that vast scorched earth, along the path that the retreating Heavenly Wolf Army was forced to take...

Behind seemingly dead hills, beneath dried riverbeds, and within charred forests...

Countless figures draped in camouflage, like vengeful demons crawling out of Hell, suddenly stood up!

It was Du Wei's Tiger Guard Battalion!

It was Wulu's Green Wolf Battalion!

It was Luo Qi and Gong Qianxue's Divine Mechanism Battalion!

It was all the Panshi Army guerrilla units that had long been lying in ambush everywhere outside the city, waiting for days like the most patient hunters!

At this moment, they launched a full-scale assault!

"Soldiers!"

Du Wei took the lead, riding his tall warhorse, holding high the giant mountain-cleaving axe already stained with enemy blood, and let out a heaven-shaking roar!

"The moment for our revenge has arrived!"

"For our deceased parents, wives, and children!"

"For our burned-down homes!"

"Kill—every—single—one—of—these—animals!"

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Tens of thousands of Panshi Army soldiers had crimson eyes, letting out roars of anger that had been suppressed for months, sweeping toward the already routed Heavenly Wolf Army like a bursting flood!

An epic, hundreds-of-miles-long grand pursuit began!

The routed Heavenly Wolf Army, like a frightened flock of sheep, scattered and fled across the vast wilderness.

However, they soon discovered in despair that this land they had once ravaged had long since become a massive graveyard carefully prepared for them!

A unit of several thousand retreating Heavenly Wolf soldiers had just escaped over ten miles.

"Boom! Rumble!"

A series of violent explosions suddenly occurred on the seemingly flat road ahead!

That was the chain minefield already set up by the Engineering Battalion!

Hundreds of Heavenly Wolf cavalry were instantly blown off their horses, their flesh and blood flying everywhere!

And just as they fell into chaos.

"Swish! Swish! Swish!"

Arrows rained down from the hillside on the flank!

Luo Qi and Gong Qianxue's Divine Mechanism Battalion had long been waiting here!

Those ruthless armor-piercing heavy crossbows, like the Grim Reaper's scythe, were frantically reaping their lives!

Immediately following was Wulu's Green Wolf Battalion, charging out from behind them like ghosts!

Scimitars were like snow!

Heads rolled!

In just half an hour, this unit of several thousand retreating soldiers was completely divided, surrounded, and annihilated!

On the other side, an elite unit led by a high-status Ten Thousand Household Commander of the Tianlang Tribe attempted to carve a bloody path out, relying on their superior equipment and formidable personal strength.

However, they ran head-on into Du Wei's Tiger Guard Battalion!

That Mo Dao phalanx, like a steel fortress, appeared before them once again!

"Cut!"

There were no superfluous words, only that cold and ruthless blade!

Mo Dao raised!

Mo Dao fell!

Men and horses were shattered!

That Ten Thousand Household Commander couldn't even put up a decent resistance before being split in two, along with his armor, by a single axe blow from Du Wei!

The Panshi Army was like a group of the most efficient and ruthless hunters.

Utilizing their absolute familiarity with the terrain and the collaborative tactics they had practiced countless times, they continuously divided and surrounded the massive retreating Heavenly Wolf Army, then slowly eroded and annihilated them bit by bit!

This pursuit lasted for three whole days and nights!

The battle line stretched from outside Ji City to the Yousu border hundreds of miles away!

Blood stained every inch of land, and corpses paved every valley.

The once arrogant Heavenly Wolf Iron Cavalry let out their final wails of life beneath the blades of the Panshi Army, which were filled with the fire of vengeance.

In the end, fewer than 10,000 remnants managed to escape back to the grasslands.

And what they brought back, besides their scars and an indelible fear, was the terrifying legend of Gao Feng and his Panshi Army, who were like demon gods.

When the smoke of war finally dissipated, and the news of victory spread throughout the two prefectures of You and Yun, all the soldiers and civilians were plunged into an unprecedented celebration!

They had won!

They had actually defeated the seemingly invincible, disaster-like Heavenly Wolf Iron Cavalry!

Not only had they defended their home, but they had also created a glorious miracle worthy of being recorded in the annals of Great Qian!

And when the detailed battlefield report was delivered to Gao Feng's desk, even he, a transmigrator who had long been accustomed to great storms and waves, couldn't help but gasp.

In this battle, the Panshi Army achieved a perfect, glorious victory at the minor cost of fewer than 5,000 casualties!

They not only completely crushed the main force of the Heavenly Wolf Army, but also took over 70,000 heads!

Furthermore, they captured a massive fortune that would make any warlord envious, or even drive them mad!

First, the warhorses!

A full 30,000-plus extraordinary grassland warhorses!

These warhorses were all robust, with thick and powerful limbs, and their endurance and explosive power were far beyond what ordinary horses from the Central Plains could compare to!

Among them were even thousands of top-tier steeds capable of carrying heavy armored cavalry!

With these warhorses, Gao Feng could even assemble a large-scale, terrifyingly powerful heavy cavalry legion in a very short time!

This held immeasurable strategic significance for his grand ambition to conquer the world in the future!

Secondly, the armor and weapons!

Over 50,000 sets of well-preserved Heavenly Wolf standard armor!

These armors were mostly crafted from a mixture of hundred-refined steel and high-quality cowhide, with astonishing defensive capabilities!

Especially the wolf-head breastplates worn by those Chieftains and Ten Thousand Household Commanders, whose sturdiness was not inferior to the black iron heavy armor crafted by the Panshi Army itself!

There were also hundreds of thousands of sharp scimitars, powerful horn bows, and heavy wolf-tooth arrows specifically designed for piercing armor!

These excellent weapons and equipment were enough to arm Gao Feng's hundreds of thousands of reserve troops to the teeth!

Taking his army's overall combat power to a whole new level!

And what surprised Gao Feng the most were the captured cattle and sheep!

A full 200,000 cattle!

500,000 sheep!

This was the entire military food supply carried by the Heavenly Wolf Army on this southern expedition!

Now, all of it had become Gao Feng's spoils of war!

What did this mean?

It meant that for a long time to come, Gao Feng would no longer have to worry about the problem of food and fodder!

He had sufficient capital to support an even larger-scale campaign!

In addition, there were the tens of thousands of rescued Great Qian commoners and the captured Heavenly Wolf prisoners.

They would all become the most valuable human resources within Gao Feng's territory!

It could be said that after this battle, not only was Gao Feng not severely weakened by the war, but instead, it was as if he had taken a potent tonic!

His overall strength underwent a terrifying, rebirth-like transformation!

The war was won, but the purge was not over.

Just when the whole city was still immersed in the joy of victory, Gao Feng issued a cold and ruthless order.

"Seal off the entire city!"

"Order Du Wei to lead the Law Enforcement Team in coordination with the 'Skynet' secret agents to arrest people according to the list!"

"All families and individuals who had any form of contact with the Heavenly Wolf Army during the war, leave none behind, and take them all!"

"Anyone who resists, execute without mercy!"

As soon as this order was issued, the entire Ji City instantly fell from the heaven of celebration into the cold Hell!

Those last few Youzhou noble families who had harbored wishful thinking during the war, believing their petty actions were unknown to anyone, finally faced their long-overdue doomsday trial at this moment!

Xu Changqing's "Skynet" had long since investigated all their evidence of crimes clearly.

Which Family had secretly sent people out of the city to supply grain to the Heavenly Wolf Army.

Which one had written the city's defense intelligence on notes and shot them outside the city.

Which one had even reached a secret agreement with the high-ranking members of the Heavenly Wolf Army, promising to open their own manor gates to welcome the "royal army" after the city fell...

Everything was recorded, and the evidence was as solid as a mountain!

Du Wei's Law Enforcement Team was like the Grim Reaper descending from the sky.

Holding cold arrest warrants and gleaming steel blades, they stormed into one high-and-mighty noble mansion after another.

Facing those detailed, hair-raising evidence of crimes, those noble patriarchs who had been celebrating the victory just a moment ago instantly turned ashen and collapsed to the ground.

They wanted to resist, but in front of the tiger-and-wolf army that had just fought their way out of a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, their pathetic house guards were simply like a flock of lambs waiting to be slaughtered.

They wanted to quibble, but in the face of iron-clad evidence, any words seemed so pale and powerless.

"I... I am wronged! I am loyal to the Governor, heaven and earth can testify!"

A prestigious old nobleman was dragged out of his luxurious mansion by two fierce law enforcement officers, his voice hoarse from crying and screaming.

However, Du Wei just looked at him coldly and took out a yellowed secret letter from his pocket.

"Old Mr. Wang, this letter of allegiance written to Ashina Kuotai, the handwriting on it is 90% similar to yours."

"Also, the grain in your cellar that is enough for thousands of people to eat for a year, it seems you haven't reported it to the Governor's Mansion, have you?"

Old Mr. Wang's crying and screaming stopped abruptly.

All the color drained from his face, and only endless despair and fear remained in his eyes.

That night, Ji City flowed with blood.

Dozens of noble clans that had entrenched themselves in Youzhou for hundreds of years were uprooted!

Their core members were publicly beheaded for the "crime of colluding with the enemy during wartime"!

All their Family assets were confiscated!

Thus, all internal hidden dangers in the two prefectures of You and Yun were completely cleared!

No other force could ever again hold back Gao Feng's will!

This vast northern territory finally became completely and entirely his own world!