Chapter 551
Chapter 551
*Swish, swish, swish.*
All the shields shattered, and even the elite soldiers of Chu in the front rank were torn to pieces. They were brutally cleaved in two, from head to torso, armor and all. Before the supreme greatsabers weighing over a hundred pounds, the armor worn by Chu's elite soldiers was sliced through like paper, and their bodies crumbled even more easily, as if they were made of mud. Those who had undergone the bloodline transformation could split a large tree, a foot thick, in a single strike. What chance did a frail human body have against such power?
*‘One slash, two pieces!’*
*‘Cut them down, cut them all down!’*
Bright red blood splattered everywhere. Every body was cleaved in two; not a single intact corpse could be found. The shield wall of Chu, which had seemed so solid and indestructible, was shattered in an instant. The two thousand divine soldiers of Yue, led by Gao Duhuan, seemed less like an army and more like a meat grinder on the battlefield. This wasn't a battle; it was a one-sided slaughter.
The elite soldiers of Chu were utterly despondent. They had truly fought with all their might. The soldiers holding shields in the front were all incredibly strong men, and the shields in their hands were made of wood reinforced with iron plates, weighing a good forty to fifty pounds. They had conducted countless drills and tests with these shields. They were designed not to split and couldn't be pierced even by powerful longbows. But they had never imagined that the madmen of Yue would come wielding such large, heavy, and sharp greatsabers. A single swing split their sturdy shields in two, and a second swing cleaved a man in half.
Despite this, the soldiers of Chu resisted desperately, trying to stab them with long spears and cut them with their swords, but it was all meaningless. Spear tips broke, and the edges of their battle swords chipped, yet the madmen of Yue were not harmed in the slightest. The steel produced by the Jin Clan was now renowned throughout the world, spurring great advancements in the ironworking techniques of various nations, and many countries had begun to use equipment made from it.
Of course, while the steel of Chu was considerably inferior to that of the Jin Clan, the disparity they were witnessing was truly astonishing. The helmets and armor worn by the two thousand elite soldiers under Shen Lang were shockingly strong.
In fact, other nations were still using iron plates to make their armor. Steel production was extremely limited and its price prohibitively high, so it was typically used for making battle swords, with the best quality steel reserved for the blades.
However, the armor of the bloodline-transformed soldiers under Shen Lang was crafted from several millimeters of the highest quality steel. Money was no object; they had poured all their resources into it, creating armor that was impervious to spears and swords, and forging supreme greatsabers that could shatter any armor, no matter how sturdy. Wielding a greatsaber weighing over a hundred pounds with immense force, they could cut through anything, shattering it to pieces.
And so, the two thousand divine soldiers who had undergone the bloodline transformation advanced, forward and forward, maintaining their initial pace. They swung the supreme greatsabers in their hands once per second.
*Swish, swish, swish, swish.*
Wherever they passed, bright red blood shot into the sky, and the bodies of enemy soldiers littered the field. No words could describe how spectacular, shocking, and overwhelming the scene before them was. The supreme greatsabers still moved in perfect, orderly unison, cutting down their enemies with the same rhythm, the same angle, and the same speed. The two thousand soldiers of Yue looked like a single, astonishing Behemoth—the land beast from the Old Testament said to be impervious to any blade. They steamrolled over everything, presenting a performance of the sublime aesthetics of war. After a very short time, they had killed all two thousand elite soldiers of Chu, and the Chu infantry was completely annihilated. Of course, some soldiers, unable to withstand the psychological pressure, had fled for their lives. The battle between the infantrymen was over in just a quarter of an hour.
***
A deathly silence fell over the battlefield. The envoys from the various nations had originally predicted this battle would be a one-sided slaughter, and their prediction had come true. Of course, it was only a half-correct prediction, as the outcome was the complete opposite of what they had expected. First, they had predicted the battle would be over within two hours. In reality, the two thousand elite soldiers of Chu were annihilated in less than half an hour. Second, they had predicted the wrong side would be slaughtered. Watching the battle unfold, everyone felt their scalps tingle and a chill run down their spines. It was too shocking, too terrifying.
The great army of Yue steamrolled forward, and no one could stop them. The two thousand soldiers of Chu were not a weak rabble; they were the elite of the elite. How did it come to this? It was a completely one-sided, despair-inducing slaughter. While they were astonished and terrified by this sight, their blood also ran hot. Because the scene presented by the Yue army was so spectacular and shocking that just watching it made one's blood boil.
This battle was the pinnacle of the aesthetics that bloom amidst war. An army devoid of any killing intent slaughtered their enemies without a hint of hesitation, massacring them all. And the beauty revealed in the collective movement, each time their thousands of greatsabers cut down the enemy, was enough to give one goosebumps.
The officials of Yue who had accompanied them to this battle had their eyes wider and their mouths more agape than anyone else. They couldn't believe the scene unfolding before them.
*‘Th-this is our Yue army? Why didn't I know we had such a powerful force? Weren't they useless imbeciles? They're breathtakingly strong!’*
Soon, a cold sweat ran down the backs of the five thousand Imperial Guards of Yue. On the way to the battlefield, the Imperial Guards had insulted them so harshly it was hard to listen. Useless fools, idiots, imbeciles. Many had even cursed the divine soldiers to their faces, but they hadn't gotten angry, merely lowering their heads and saying nothing. To be insulted and not even talk back. If the situation hadn't forbidden it, the Imperial Guards would have surely beaten Shen Lang's trash army, and they wouldn't have fought back. They didn't retaliate when hit and didn't talk back when insulted; they were no different from the most incompetent of men. But upon entering the battlefield, they steamrolled everything, creating a gruesome yet beautiful result through a one-sided slaughter. The fear in the hearts of all the Imperial Guards did not subside.
*‘Should I go and apologize to them now? No, no. Absolutely not. They won't remember me. If I go and beg for forgiveness, they might remember my face. From now on, I have to stay far away from them. Otherwise, they might perform their ‘one slash, two pieces’ on me, and my head might fall to the ground.’*
***
The person most thrilled by Shen Lang's army was Zhong Yao. He had predicted that Shen Lang might not lose easily, but he had never imagined his army would be this strong. They felt like a terrifying presence, worthy of being called the nightmare of the battlefield. Zhong Yao automatically began to calculate in his head how many troops and what tactics he would need from his Western Army to defeat Shen Lang's two thousand soldiers. The result was extremely surprising. He might not be able to defeat them even if he mobilized over ten thousand men.
*‘Shen Lang, is this guy that amazing? His previous success in the civil and martial examinations was because he found the last remaining people with Jiang Li's bloodline; it wasn't entirely his own achievement. But this time, to train those two thousand useless men into invincible soldiers in just three months… This is an unbelievable miracle. An elite army, they are a truly elite army!’*
***
Of course, the person most horrified and shocked by this spectacle was the King of Chu. He had sensed something was amiss when he rained arrows upon the divine soldiers of Yue, only for them to remain completely unharmed. Then, at the scene of his army being slaughtered, his entire body turned ice-cold, and a thunderstorm raged in his mind.
*‘I’ve fallen into a trap, I’ve been had! But how on earth did Shen Lang do it?’*
The King of Chu wanted to kill all the spies he had planted in the State of Yue. According to the daily reports from those spies, the two thousand men Shen Lang recruited were useless, swung fake swords around like they were dancing every day, and practiced only a single move.
*‘They said they practiced only one move for months. They said they were as stupid as pigs, complete trash. Of course, looking at it now, the information they sent was impeccably accurate. Shen Lang's divine soldiers do indeed seem to have practiced only that one move. But… damn it! That one move is all they need. I never imagined that when thousands of men perform a single motion in unison, it would produce such infinite power.’*
“Your Majesty, Your Majesty…”
It took a while for the King of Chu to come to his senses after the ministers beside him called out loudly.
“Your Majesty, the battle is not over yet. What should we do now? What must we do?”
The ministers beside him exclaimed loudly.
*‘That’s right, the battle isn't over. I still have three thousand heavy cavalry, don’t I? Cavalry is invincible on the open field, let alone heavy cavalry. When they charge the enemy lines, no infantry can stop them; they’ll fall like rotten weeds.’*
Countless wars throughout history have proven this point. Without exception, the nations of the world considered their heavy cavalry units to be their most elite forces.
*‘That's right. I haven't lost yet! I haven't lost! Mobilizing three thousand heavy cavalry may seem shameless, but it's worth it to win. Shen Lang, a man with monstrous wisdom like you should not exist. And that monstrous divine army shouldn't exist either.’*
At that moment, the King of Chu shouted loudly.
“Heavy cavalry, charge the enemy lines! Annihilate the entire Yue army!”
Hearing this, everyone present glanced sideways at the King of Chu.
*‘King of Chu, are you really that shameless? You're actually deploying the heavy cavalry? And it's three thousand against two thousand?’*
Everyone knew that cavalry was invincible in open-field battles. When cavalrymen on warhorses charged at the enemy at high speed, they generated an incredible force. What army in the world could stop them? Even Shen Lang's monstrous divine army would not be able to stop them. At least, until now, no infantry had ever defeated cavalry in an open field battle. So what chance did they have against heavy cavalry?
*‘King of Chu, you truly will stop at nothing to win.’*
At the King of Chu's command, three thousand heavy cavalrymen of Chu moved out. The warhorses began to pick up speed with a specific rhythm, going faster and faster. Finally, they charged toward the enemy lines at an astonishing speed.
But then, two giants clad in steel armor suddenly burst out from the ranks. These immense figures, a full two and a half meters tall, were clad in over two hundred pounds of the finest heavy armor and each held a three-meter-long wolf-fang mace, an ancient weapon resembling a spear studded with iron spikes. Those wolf-fang maces weighed a staggering three to four hundred pounds.
The two were twins, possessors of a special bloodline. Their names were Tu Da and Tu Er, and they were the Crown Prince of Chu's phenomenal Reapers. In every battle, the two of them would kill hundreds of men, rampaging across the battlefield. With no one to match them, they were considered monsters of the battlefield. Soon after, a general in a silver robe shot out from among the cavalry like a bolt of lightning. He held a very beautiful silver spear in his hand. This man was Huyan Ye, a great general of Chu, a top graduate of the military examinations, and the best young general of his generation in Chu. Furthermore, he was also a war orphan, so if one's guess was correct, he too was likely a remnant of Jiang Li, a possessor of a special bloodline.
This alone showed how formidable the Overlord Jiang Li had been. The majority of outstanding military commanders in the various nations of the world were remnants of Jiang Li's forces. With Jiang Li's fall, only the other powers of the world had profited.