Chapter 1104: Fight to the Death

Pang De's troops, who had been consistently training under his command, immediately charged forward upon hearing his orders. As part of Ma Teng's personal army, once they regrouped with Ma Teng's main forces, they moved in perfect unison.

"Where are my Eight Banner Riders!" Han Sui, seeing Ma Teng issue his command, wasted no time either. At this point, he and Ma Teng were fully aligned in their strategies.

Liang Xing, Cheng Yin, and others immediately stood up, ready for action. Han Sui gave his order, "Lead your troops into full attack! There's no need for concentrated formations. Scatter and strike to distract the Xianbei and create opportunities for Yanming and Lingming!"

"Understood!" Liang Xing and the others saluted in unison, then quickly turned and charged out.

Similarly, Yan Xing saluted Ma Teng and Han Sui before rushing off, combining his forces with Han Sui's personal guards. Like Pang De, they charged toward the Xianbei army.

"The rest of you, the Qiang tribe leaders, follow me and Wenyue with the full might of the army! Strike the Xianbei with all your strength! Those who fail to do their best will meet the same fate as this table!" As he spoke, Ma Teng drew his sword and cleaved the table in two.

The Qiang leaders looked at each other but quickly responded in agreement. They had heard Zhong Yao's words—they needed to prove their loyalty!

"Everyone, follow me!" Ma Teng and Han Sui strode out of the camp, with the Qiang and Hu tribal leaders quickly mustering their forces to follow. Soon, the gates of the camp were thrown open, and countless soldiers and horses charged out in a roar.

"Yanming, I’ve never fought side by side with you before!" Pang De tugged on his reins and sneered. He didn’t have a high opinion of Yan Xing, but he acknowledged that Yan Xing was a professional soldier who wouldn't let personal feelings cloud his judgment.

"Hmph, just focus on killing the enemy!" Yan Xing pulled on his reins and spurred his horse forward. Pang De laughed loudly, feeling a surge of energy welling up inside him.

At the same time, the black hue of his inner energy deepened, taking on an even more sinister and chilling gleam. As his energy expanded, a dark aura extended from Pang De, enveloping his three thousand elite soldiers before finally coming to a stop.

"My heart is as solid as iron, and I will fight to the death!" Pang De roared, and his army, shrouded in the dusk-like aura, accelerated toward the Xianbei forces.

Spears clashed and arrows flew, but Pang De's elite soldiers showed no signs of fear. They followed Pang De closely and crashed head-on into the Xianbei army.

There was no probing or tactical maneuvers—Pang De’s sheer will to fight infused every soldier with the determination to battle to the death. From the onset, it was a brutal and merciless clash.

In any era, a true fight to the death is the ultimate test of a soldier's resolve. Even in later times, when soldiers were trained more scientifically, close combat rarely lasted long.

During the cold weapon era, melee combat often didn’t result in high casualties. To truly fight a battle down to the last soldier, it would require an overwhelming force of at least ten times the opposition.

After Pang De's elite forces, bolstered by his indomitable will, began their fierce assault, the Xianbei troops facing them crumbled in less than the time it took to drink a cup of tea.

It wasn’t just Pang De's willpower but also his soldiers' strength and reflexes that overwhelmed the Xianbei. At this moment, Pang De's troops exhibited qualities comparable to the most elite forces, especially their sheer determination. With each swing of their blades, they suppressed the Xianbei soldiers.

In an instant, the rear of the Xianbei army was filled with screams of agony. Pang De's elite soldiers, fighting like men possessed, cut down the fleeing Xianbei, pushing deeper into their ranks.

"Unbelievable..." Yan Xing drew a sharp breath. The combat power displayed by Pang De’s troops wasn’t particularly terrifying—facing three enemies at once was nothing unusual—but their fighting spirit was terrifying.

Yan Xing saw with his own eyes one of Pang De's soldiers impaled by a Xianbei spear through his abdomen, yet the man continued to swing his blade, disemboweling the Xianbei soldier before him. With a furious roar, he killed another terrified Xianbei soldier and threw his weapon at a Xianbei centurion, killing him before collapsing.

This kind of battle spirit, combined with morale that was nearly overflowing, made these troops truly worthy of the title of elite soldiers, even without an increase in physical combat power.

"Kill them all!" As one of the strongest under Han Sui and Ma Teng, Yan Xing had been surpassed first by Ma Chao and now by Pang De. He couldn't remain indifferent.

His spear danced in the air, forming a whirlwind of strikes. As he spun his horse around, he cleaved through the enemies, and his elite soldiers followed him in a fierce charge straight toward the Xianbei rear guard under Mo Hutuo's command.

The moment Pang De and Yan Xing launched their attack, Mo Hutuo, already aware of the assault on his rear, felt a sense of impending doom. He hastily maneuvered his forces to respond, but before his orders could be fully executed, the Xianbei rear guard was simultaneously attacked by the Eight Banner Riders and the Qiang and Hu tribes in over a dozen places.

"That brute must be stopped!" Mo Hutuo shouted, glaring at Pang De. "Follow me, rear guard!"

Meanwhile, on the other front, Zhang Xiu led his personal troops in a full-on charge toward Kebineng's main force using the signature tactic of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry.

This time, Zhang Xiu endured the discomfort in his body and harnessed a foreign energy within him. His ice-blue water attribute inner energy intertwined with fiery red fire attribute energy, forming a new energy—an exquisite and mysterious purple hue. This energy surged through the Iron Cavalry, turning their battle aura into a radiant purple.

"Phoenix Ascends the Sun!" Zhang Xiu unleashed a massive purple sun, sending a swarm of phoenixes surging forward, tearing through everything in their path. The Xianbei camp was obliterated before they could mount any meaningful defense.

"So strong!" Both Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan were shocked by the display. Such a powerful attack could have easily taken them down if they had been the target.

Zhang Xiu had no time to care about how others viewed him. His master’s plan had been for him to gradually balance the opposing water and fire energies, absorbing their traits to form a new type of energy.

This method, a gift from Tong Yuan, allowed Zhang Xiu to continuously improve until he could potentially merge the two energies into a powerful new form, whether it became a combination of ice and fire or a burning flame. This could have propelled Zhang Xiu to the final step before reaching the pinnacle of cultivation.

However, Zhang Xiu found this method too slow. His water attribute inner energy was already at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage, and so was his fire attribute energy.

To harmonize the two, Zhang Xiu would have to maintain his current cultivation level for an extended period, which was intolerable for him.

Thus, Zhang Xiu abandoned that method, opting instead to continue cultivating both energies separately. In battle, he simply forced the two energies together when needed!

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