182: Chapter 182 Breaking the Hu on a Snowy Night

However, just as he was about to order the entire army to retreat, a terrifying roar, filled with endless cold and murderous intent, rang out once again from high atop the Yanmen Pass gate tower!

"All troops, attack!!"

"Rumble—!!!"

The heavy, massive gates of Yanmen Pass, which had been tightly shut for days, swung open with a thunderous crash at that very moment!

The tens of thousands of Panshi Army soldiers, who had long been assembled within the city, roared like Vicious Beasts released from their cages, launching a tidal, devastating counterattack against the Wei Army, whose morale had already shattered and whose ranks were in chaos!

Leading them were the three thousand heavy infantry of the Divine Power Battalion, who looked like ancient demons!

Xiang Hao took the lead, his bloodshot eyes burning with a raging Battle Intent capable of incinerating the entire world!

The specially crafted giant hammer in his hand glinted with a heart-stopping, bloodthirsty cold light under the sunset's afterglow!

"Wei dogs! Your lives are mine!!"

A tragic, bloody massacre of pursuing the fleeing enemy was thus staged in the most direct and shocking manner upon this land, which was already stained red with blood.

Just as the battle at the Peak, which would determine the course of the entire southern war, reached its most tragic and critical moment before Yanmen Pass, with blood flowing like rivers and corpses piling up like mountains.

A thousand miles away, on the vast, snow-covered plains beyond the Northern Great Wall, another war—one without smoke but even more dangerous and cruel, and equally vital to the survival of the Northern Territory—had already quietly begun.

The biting cold wind cut across people's faces like the sharpest knives, causing searing pain.

The endless snow plains stretched to the horizon between the vast heaven and earth, revealing nothing but a monotonous, despairing white, with no other color in sight.

However, deep within this seemingly dead snow plain, a group of over a hundred Eastern Hu Tribes scouts, cloaked in white camouflage and riding sturdy snow horses, exuded a ferocious, wolf-like Aura as they moved like ghosts, silently traversing the complex hills and gullies covered by wind and snow.

Their goal was to bypass the seemingly impregnable Northern Great Wall defense line, infiltrate the rear of the Panshi Army, scout the troop deployments, sabotage the logistics, and find a fatal path for the main force of the Eastern Hu Tribes, which was about to launch a massive southward invasion, to strike directly at the enemy's heart!

Leading them was Bahe, the most renowned Centurion scout under the command of the King of Donghu, known as the "Fox of the Snow Plains."

He was just over thirty, but his wind-weathered face was etched with a cunning and sophistication that belied his age.

His sharp, hawk-like eyes vigilantly scanned the surroundings—the snow plains that appeared calm but were actually fraught with hidden Killing Intent—missing not even the slightest clue.

"Keep your eyes peeled!" Bahe lowered his voice and said coldly to his subordinates,

"According to intelligence obtained by the King, this defensive sector is garrisoned by a brute named Wulu from the Panshi Army. That guy may have some brute strength, but he's a simple-minded idiot! As long as we are careful and bypass his main force, this snow plain will be like our own backyard, allowing us to come and go as we please!"

His words were filled with contempt and disdain for Wulu.

However, he never dreamed that not far behind him, on an inconspicuous, snow-covered hill, a pair of eyes—equally cold, cruel, and wolf-like—had already taken in the movements of their team!

Wulu, draped in a white bear-skin cloak that blended with the snow, lay quietly on the ground. His usually honest face was now filled with a cold, cruel, and chilling Killing Intent!

Beside him were thousands of Green Wolf Battalion soldiers, wearing white camouflage and already completely blended into the snow plains, lying in ambush!

On his other side, an old veteran from the Gray Wolf Tribe, also draped in snow wolf skins with strange totems painted on his face and appearing to be a guide, pointed at the slowly moving Eastern Hu Tribes scout team in the distance. He lowered his voice to Wulu, speaking through gritted teeth with a tone full of bone-deep hatred:

"General Wulu! The one walking in the front is Bahe! That bastard nicknamed the 'Fox of the Snow Plains'! Back then, he was the one who led men to slaughter our Black Horse River Tribe! My father, my mother, and my son who had just learned to walk... they all died by his blade!"

Two lines of hot, bloody tears streamed from the old veteran's eyes!

Upon hearing this, Wulu's copper-bell-like eyes instantly turned red!

He suddenly reached out his terrifying, fan-sized hand and heavily patted the old veteran's shoulder. His voice was hoarse but filled with unquestionable firmness!

"Rest assured."

"Today, I will make sure he never returns! I will use his dog head to pay tribute to the spirits of your tribesmen!"

After speaking, he made a simple yet bloody tactical gesture to the messenger behind him.

"Pass on my order! Proceed according to the original plan!"

A bloody hunt, planned long ago and carefully prepared for this group of self-righteous "Foxes of the Snow Plains," thus began!

Bahe led his scout team, carefully advancing a few more miles.

The journey was calm and peaceful, without encountering any obstacles.

This caused his usually vigilant heart to gradually relax.

"Hmph! It seems that idiot named Wulu really doesn't live up to his reputation! Such a large defensive sector, and he doesn't even have a decent hidden sentry! He's simply trash!"

Bahe's heart was filled with endless triumph and disdain.

However, just as he was about to lead his team through the seemingly calm, complex terrain ahead formed by several low snow hills.

A sudden change occurred!

"Whoosh—!!!"

An extremely faint yet piercingly sharp, terrifying sound of something breaking through the air—as if it would pierce one's eardrums—flashed without warning from behind a snow hill hundreds of paces to his left!

Bahe was, after all, a battle-hardened Centurion scout!

In the instant the lethal crisis descended, relying on his beast-like intuition, he violently leaned his body to the other side of the horse's back!

"Pfft!"

A dull sound of a sharp blade entering flesh was heard!

A terrifying, pitch-black arrow with a primitive design, which seemed to absorb all light, grazed past his cheek with agonizing closeness!

Then, it shot fiercely into the throat of a personal guard behind him!

That personal guard couldn't even let out a scream before the terrifying force contained in the arrow dragged him off his horse and pinned him firmly to the snow several yards away!

Bahe only felt a searing, intense pain on his cheek!

He reached out to touch it, and his hand was covered in hot blood!

He was injured!

"Ambush!!"

Bahe let out a roar filled with endless shock and fury!

He never dreamed that he would encounter such a terrifying, lethal sniper attack in this place he thought was the safest!

And just as his terrified roar was still echoing over the snow plains.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Dozens more black arrows, equally filled with the Aura of death, whistled out from behind that seemingly calm snow hill like the hands of death reaching out from Hell!

Each arrow seemed to have eyes, shooting with pinpoint accuracy at those officers who looked like minor leaders within the Eastern Hu Tribes scout team!

For a moment, screams rose one after another!

That Eastern Hu Tribes scout team, which had been aggressive just a moment ago, instantly fell into a state of leaderless, massive chaos under this round of pinpoint sniping that was both extremely fast and extremely ruthless!

"It's the Divine Archer Battalion! It's the Panshi Army's 'Divine Archer Battalion'!"

A lucky surviving Eastern Hu Tribes soldier looked at his companions lying in pools of blood and let out a shrill scream filled with endless fear!

The Divine Archer Battalion!

That terrifying sniper unit personally led by Gong Qianxue, which had left a fierce reputation across the entire grassland!

Every time they appeared, it was inevitably accompanied by the mysterious and sudden death of the enemy's main commander!

They were the common nightmare of all the grassland tribes!

Behind the snow hill, Gong Qianxue, draped in a snow-white fox fur cloak, had a face of stunning beauty that seemed not of a Mortal, now covered in cold frost.

She slowly lowered the divine bow in her hand, and a trace of imperceptible regret flashed in her eyes, which were as bright as obsidian.

"What a pity, he actually dodged it."

A deputy general beside her quickly bowed and said: "General, do not mind it! Although we failed to kill Bahe with one arrow, we have successfully taken out all their commanders! Now they are just a group of headless flies, not to be feared!"

Gong Qianxue nodded indifferently upon hearing this.

She knew her mission was already accomplished.

What followed was the hunting time for the Green Wolf Battalion, which had long been impatient and hungry!

"Retreat!"

She did not hesitate at all. With a single order, she led the hundreds of elite soldiers of the Divine Archer Battalion under her command and vanished silently into the vast snow plains like ghosts, as if they had never appeared.

And at the very moment Gong Qianxue retreated!

"Kill—!!!"

Roars filled with endless wildness and bloodthirst exploded like thunder on flat ground from behind the seemingly calm snow hills all around!

Thousands of Green Wolf Battalion soldiers, who had been in ambush for a long time, rushed out like grassland wolves released from their cages, launching a tidal, devastating charge from all directions toward the Eastern Hu Tribes scouts, whose morale was already in chaos and whose formation had collapsed!

Leading them was none other than Wulu, who looked like a demon god descended to the world!

The two large battle axes in his hands glinted with a heart-stopping, bloodthirsty cold light under the reflection of the snow!

"Bahe! Your life is mine!!"

Ba He looked at the enemies swarming in from all directions, several times his own number, and watched the terrifying figure charging toward him like a demon god; in that moment, his usually cunning heart was completely filled with an unprecedented, immense fear and despair!

He knew he had fallen into a trap, a dragnet specifically set for him!

"Retreat! Retreat quickly!"

He let out an inhuman, shrill scream, violently turned his horse's head, and tried to flee frantically back the way he came!

However, it was all too late; how could Wulu possibly give him that chance?!

A tragic and inhumane chase and hunt was now brazenly unfolding on this vast, boundless snowfield in the most primitive and cruelest of ways!

Although the soldiers of the Green Wolf Battalion were not as well-equipped or disciplined as the Tiger Guard Battalion, every one of them was a born hunter who had grown up fighting against heaven, earth, wild beasts, and enemies in the mountains and forests!

They were familiar with every inch of land and every gully on this snowfield, and they knew even better how to utilize this harsh weather and complex terrain to exhaust the enemy's stamina and disintegrate their will.

During the pursuit, they would sometimes scatter like sparrows on the grasslands, constantly harassing and ambushing the exhausted Eastern Hu Tribes scouts from various unexpected angles; at other times, they would regroup, utilizing the terrain they knew by heart to set lethal traps and ambushes on the paths the enemy had to take!

Ba He and his remaining dozens of defeated soldiers were chased on this snowfield, which had long since become a death maze for them, with no way to heaven and no door to the earth!

Their numbers were constantly dwindling, their stamina was rapidly fading, and their will was being worn down and destroyed bit by bit amidst the omnipresent ghostly enemies and the hopeless white that seemed impossible to ever escape!

Finally, after enduring a whole day of inhumane torment, at dusk, when the last ray of pale sunlight was about to disappear below the horizon, Ba He and his remaining fewer than ten personal guards were cornered by Wulu in a dead-end canyon surrounded by mountains on three sides.

"Ba He, where else do you want to run?"

Wulu sat on his spirited warhorse, looking down from above at Ba He, who was already in a wretched state like a stray dog, his honest face filled with endless satisfaction of revenge!

Looking at the thousands of murderous soldiers of the Green Wolf Battalion blocking the canyon exit completely, Ba He knew he had no way to escape, and his once sharp eyes were left with only the grey despair of death.

However, just when everyone thought he would give up resistance and surrender, a flash of hideous malice and madness suddenly crossed his desperate face!

"Wulu! You idiot! Do you think you've won?!" He let out an inhuman, shrill roar and violently pulled out a signal arrow he had prepared from his bosom. "I tell you all! We were just bait! Our King's main force of fifty thousand has long since, under the leadership of that traitor Zhao Yu, bypassed your defense line and headed straight for your empty rear! By now, they have probably already trampled your Yan King City to the ground!"

"Hahaha! All of you, be buried with me!"

After saying this, he violently pulled the signal arrow in his hand! But at the very moment that the sharp whistling arrow was about to soar into the sky!

"Whoosh!"

A pitch-black arrow, as if traversing the distance of time and space, arrived first despite being shot later, piercing his wrist with incomparable precision!

"Ah—!!!"

Ba He let out a shrill scream filled with endless pain and unwillingness, and the signal arrow in his hand fell onto the snow with a "clatter."

Wulu looked at the terrified Ba He, a cruel smile filled with pity and disdain appearing on his honest face.

"An idiot? You are the real idiot." He said coldly, "Did you think our Prince wouldn't have anticipated you pulling this trick? Did you think General Zhao Yu would really betray us? I tell you, from the first day you stepped onto this snowfield, your fate was already sealed."

And just as Wulu was toying with his prey, which was already in the bag, like a cat playing with a mouse, hundreds of miles away, the main camp of the Eastern Hu Tribes army was also facing a catastrophe that would change the future pattern of the entire grassland!

It was a terrifying night with wind and snow, so dark one could not see one's own fingers; the violent cold wind, mixed with goose-feather-sized snow, raged crazily across the vast grasslands, as if wanting to completely swallow the whole world.

Inside the camp of the Eastern Hu Tribes army, apart from a few torches swaying in the wind and snow, ready to be extinguished at any moment, and a few squads of patrol soldiers who were already shivering and drowsy from the cold, no other living things could be seen.

Everyone was hiding in their relatively warm tents, resisting the terrifying bitter cold that could freeze a person to death alive.

They never dreamed that in such harsh weather, when even ghosts wouldn't go out, a terrifying cavalry of tens of thousands, draped in white camouflage cloaks and looking like ghosts in the snow, were sneaking silently under the cover of the sky-filling wind and snow, along a secret mountain path known only to the most experienced hunters, to the rear flank of their camp, which seemed as solid as a fortress!

Leading them was the young general with spear skills like a Dragon, decisive in killing, Zhao Yu!

His usually cold and murderous face was now covered with frost, and his eyes, sharp like a hawk's, flashed with a heart-palpitating, bloodthirsty cold light in the darkness!

He looked at the Eastern Hu Tribes camp, which appeared so quiet and defenseless in the wind and snow, and a curve of death, filled with endless coldness and cruelty, hooked at the corner of his mouth.

He knew he had bet correctly!

He bet that the naturally arrogant and self-righteous King of Donghu would inevitably become complacent after achieving an overwhelming victory over the Grey Wolf Tribe and would not take him, a "defeated general," seriously!

He bet that in such harsh weather, the enemy would never think that he would, or dare to, launch a surprise attack!

And now, he had won!

He slowly raised the profound iron spear in his hand, which had long been famished, and then made a simple, yet infinitely murderous, tactical gesture to the tens of thousands of "ghost" cavalry behind him, who were also filled with surging Battle Intent!

Target—the main camp tent!

Decapitation!

At the Yin hour in the early morning, it was the moment of the day when people were most exhausted and least on guard.

The King of Donghu was still in his warm and luxurious golden-topped tent, embracing the charming concubine he had just snatched from the Grey Wolf Tribe, dreaming his great dream of unifying the grasslands and entering the Central Plains.

However, the next second, a terrifying sound of horse hooves, like an earthquake, enough to make the whole earth tremble, exploded in his ears like a thunderclap from the Nine Heavens!

"Kill!!!"

That terrifying roar, filled with endless coldness and monstrous Killing Intent, like a death sound from Hell, instantly tore through the silent night sky!

The King of Donghu was shocked and jumped up from his warm bed!

He didn't even have time to put on his armor before grabbing the scimitar by the bed and rushing out of the tent.

Then, he saw a scene filled with endless fear and despair that he would never be able to forget for all eternity!

He saw the black, endless mass of ghost cavalry, who had somehow broken through his seemingly impregnable camp defense line, and like a red-hot iron rod inserted into butter, easily split his army of fifty thousand in two!

Wherever they passed, men and horses were overturned, and blood flowed like a river!

Those Eastern Hu Tribes soldiers who were still in their sleep and unaware of death did not even have a chance to react before they were ground into flesh and blood by the ruthless hooves and sharp sabers on the spot!

And the young general leading them, wearing silver armor and holding a ferocious spear, was like a peerless demon god who had slaughtered his way out of Hell!

The profound iron spear in his hand seemed to have turned into a black Dragon, choosing people to devour, and every swing inevitably brought up sky-high blood pillars from several Eastern Hu Tribes warriors!

He was like entering an empty land, invincible!

And his target was clearly the main camp tent where he was!

"Zhao... Zhao Yu?!"

The King of Donghu looked at the demon god figure, which appeared so familiar yet so terrifying under the reflection of fire and blood, and his heart, which had always been full of pride and bravery, was completely filled with an unprecedented immense fear and disbelief at this moment!

He never dreamed that this pathetic traitor, who in his eyes was nothing but a fawning, cowardly wretch, would actually, and dare to, launch such a fatal backstab against him at such an unexpected moment!

"Protect the King! Someone, come and protect the King!"

The King of Donghu let out an inhuman, shrill scream, threw down the scimitar in his hand, and tried to flee in a panic toward the back of the tent!

However, how could Zhao Yu possibly give him that chance?!

"King of Donghu! Pay with your life!"

Zhao Yu let out a terrifying roar filled with endless coldness and monstrous hatred!

He squeezed the horse's belly with his legs, and the warhorse beneath him let out a high-pitched neigh, instantly crossing the distance of tens of zhang like an arrow off the string, appearing in front of the King of Donghu!

The profound iron spear in his hand was like a venomous Dragon exiting its cave, carrying a tragic Aura of pressing forward and never dying until the end, fiercely stabbing toward the King of Donghu, who had already been scared out of his wits!

"No—!"

The King of Donghu let out a shrill scream filled with endless despair, watching helplessly as that ferocious spear filled with the Aura of death magnified infinitely in his pupils!

"Puchi!"

A dull sound of a sharp blade entering flesh came!

That profound iron spear fiercely pierced through his left shoulder, pinning his entire body firmly to the flagpole of the golden-topped tent, which symbolized his supreme power!

"Ah—!!!"

The King of Donghu let out a shrill, inhuman scream filled with endless pain and humiliation!

And this scream, like the last straw that broke the camel's back, completely crushed the last shred of resistance in those Eastern Hu Tribes soldiers, whose army morale was already in chaos and whose formations had already collapsed!