Chapter 44 : Qin Qiong Slays the Blue Wolves
Chapter 44: Qin Qiong Slays the Blue Wolves
From the northwestern horizon, a sky-shrouding cloud of dust suddenly rose.
The earth began to tremble, pebbles leaping upon the Gobi plains, as if the entire wasteland quivered in dread of the impending clash.
“The Black-Armored Army! It’s the Black-Armored Army!”
Though the remnant soldiers of Beiting were puzzled—wasn’t the Black-Armored Army stationed to the south? And why did their numbers seem so much greater than before?
It did not matter.
A hoarse cheer erupted among them.
A tide of black iron cavalry, surging like a flood, came galloping through the twilight.
At the forefront, a general wielded a spear over eight feet long; his gilded bright armor gleamed blood-red beneath the setting sun—none other than the Black-Armored Army’s Commander, Qin Qiong!
The Blue Wolf valiant general who had fought Iskandar earlier turned pale, his bloodstained fingers unconsciously tightening around his horse-slaying saber.
The gash torn open across his chest by a wind blade still oozed blood, yet he had no time to bind it. He shouted anxiously, “Form the Wolf-Devouring Formation! Quickly!”
The remaining fourteen thousand Blue Wolf cavalrymen swiftly changed formation.
The heavy black armor clashed together with a deep, thunderous sound.
Every hundred riders formed a small wedge, and dozens of these wedges interlocked—seen from afar, they resembled a vast bloodstained maw filled with jagged fangs.
Qin Qiong watched the shifting enemy lines with a cold gaze, then suddenly raised his spear high.
The charging speed of the Black-Armored Cavalry increased sharply once more; the foremost heavy riders leveled their three-zhang-long armor-piercing lances.
Even more terrifying—the cloud patterns engraved upon their armor lit up with a dark crimson glow.
It was the unique “Ironblood Battle Net” of the Black-Armored Army in motion!
“Boom!”
The two strongest heavy cavalries collided with a deafening crash.
At the instant of impact, the air within several hundred zhang rippled visibly to the naked eye.
The Blue Wolf wedge formations indeed tore into the Black-Armored Army’s front line—but the riders who pierced the formation soon realized in horror:
Their blades and spears, when striking enemy armor, had their force dispersed by some strange power throughout the entire formation!
“Break!”
Qin Qiong swept his spear in a wide arc; three golden arcs of Qi burst forth in a fan shape.
Over thirty Blue Wolf riders and their mounts were cleaved cleanly in half, their blood bursting into a crimson mist.
The Black-Armored Cavalry behind him seized the opportunity to thrust forward, their armor-piercing lances aimed precisely at the slits of the Blue Wolves’ visors.
Just as the wounded Blue Wolf general prepared to block them, a sudden volley of arrows struck from the flank.
Seven thousand Queshe Warriors had already flanked around the battlefield—their arrows targeted the hind legs of the Blue Wolves’ warhorses.
The valiant general slashed to parry, but one black-feathered arrow slipped cunningly through his guard and thunked into his horse’s haunch.
The beast reared in pain, nearly throwing him from the saddle.
“General Wusun!” the valiant general shouted urgently, “There’s something strange about this Black-Armored Army’s formation!”
At the rear of the Blue Wolf formation, a towering man clad in golden wolf armor slowly raised his head.
A bronze wolf mask covered his face, revealing only a pair of green-glowing eyes.
This was none other than the Blue Wolves’ Right General—Wusun Tuo, a mid-stage Divine Power Realm cultivator!
Though he found it odd that the Black-Armored Army differed from intelligence reports, his pride remained unshaken in the face of such strength.
“Useless trash!” Wusun Tuo’s voice grated like grinding stones.
He slowly drew the bizarre curved blade from his waist—the weapon forged from the spine of some monstrous beast, its bony segments writhing faintly.
Qin Qiong sensed him at once; their gazes met across the chaos of battle.
Both were veteran generals of the mid-stage Divine Power Realm, and even their locked auras made the surrounding riders instinctively retreat.
“Blue Wolf cur! Today I’ll show you what a true heavy cavalry charge is!”
Qin Qiong sneered, crimson lightning coiling suddenly around his spear.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, the fight reached its fever pitch.
Iskandar led seven thousand Queshe Warriors and four thousand Beiting remnants against over thirty thousand rebel cavalry.
Though outnumbered, the tactical prowess of the steppe riders shone brilliantly.
“Brothers of Beiting, stay with me!” Iskandar roared.
The curved blade in his hand erupted with several-zhang-long wind blades, cleaving an onrushing rebel rider and his mount clean in two.
The Beiting General, seeing this, charged forward with his guards—their spears thrust like dragons, picking off enemy riders trying to encircle them.
From the rebel ranks, two fierce generals suddenly burst forth—
One wielded twin halberds wrapped in green venomous mist; the other brandished a spiked chain hammer.
They were both Divine Power Realm generals from noble clans!
“Dog general of Great Zhou, die!” the halberd wielder leapt into the air, his poison mist turning into dozens of serpent-like tendrils that lashed toward Iskandar.
Unfazed, Iskandar formed a hand seal; a whirlwind arose, sweeping all the poison away.
His curved blade rose in a sudden upward slash, the wind blade clashing against the twin halberds in a burst of sparks.
The Beiting General lunged to strike—but the chain-hammer general intercepted him midway, and the two locked into fierce combat.
At the heart of the battlefield, Qin Qiong and Wusun Tuo finally clashed weapons.
Wusun Tuo’s bone blade was dreadfully strange—each swing carried an eerie ghostly wail, and the bony joints could stretch freely, attacking from impossible angles.
“Petty trick!” Qin Qiong roared, lightning bursting from his spear.
Wusun Tuo retreated hastily, only to find that the lightning did not dissipate—it condensed midair into dozens of thunder spears that shot toward his vital points.
“Wolf God’s Protection!”
Wusun Tuo tore off and crushed the wolf fang necklace around his neck.
A blood-red wolf phantom appeared, devouring all the thunder spears.
He seized the opening to charge; his bone blade disassembled into hundreds of jointed whips that coiled toward Qin Qiong.
Unperturbed, Qin Qiong drew a short spear from his saddle and hurled it with all his might.
It struck the bone whips with a resounding crack, shattering several segments.
“Kill!”
Qin Qiong seized the moment—his spear thrust forth like a venomous dragon, straight for Wusun Tuo’s throat.
In that instant of life and death, Wusun Tuo’s bronze mask suddenly fell apart, revealing a face covered in twisted patterns.
To the soldiers’ astonishment, he opened his mouth and bit down on the spearhead!
Crack!
The steel spearhead snapped between his jaws. Wusun Tuo lunged forward, bone blade aimed at Qin Qiong’s heart.
But before the strike could land, a scarlet arrow shot from the side—
It pierced Wusun Tuo’s wrist precisely, fire flaring along the wound, searing flesh with a hiss.
“Iskandar?”
Wusun Tuo turned in rage and disbelief, spotting Iskandar hundreds of zhang away lowering his longbow, a cold grin on his face.
“Damn archer!”
Before Wusun Tuo could react, Qin Qiong would never miss such a chance.
He abandoned his broken spear and drew the Mo Blade from his saddle.
The blade’s engraved words—“Demon-Slayer”—flared with dazzling golden light.
“Die!”
A flash of gold—Wusun Tuo’s bronze wolf mask split neatly in two.
The Blue Wolves’ Right General staggered back; a thin red line traced from his forehead to his chin.
He touched his face in disbelief, then let out a bestial howl:
“I’ll kill you al—”
Before he could finish, the red line burst with golden light, and his body split cleanly down the middle.
Even as he fell, those fierce wolf eyes still glared at Qin Qiong.
The entire battlefield fell silent.
The Blue Wolves’ Commander—was dead.