Chapter 45: Rivers of Blood

"A monster! A total monster!"

"Don't push me, don't squeeze!"

"Ah—"

The vanguard had collapsed. They could not comprehend how this single archer could be so terrifying.

The relentless rain of arrows seemed unending, shot in rapid, unbroken succession. The front-rank riders fell in rows like harvested wheat.

Even worse, the narrow path was instantly choked with corpses, depriving them of any chance to charge forward.

"Haha, one comes, one dies! Two come, a pair perishes!"

"No—run! Run for your lives!"

Su Yao advanced step by step.

"Get out of the way, all of you, out of the way—yaah!"

Death descended upon them head-on.

"Don't push, stop shoving, wae—"

The voice was cut short mid-cry.

"I surrender, I su—"

Swish, swish-swish-swish.

"No, don't kill me, ah—"

Within arrow range, no living thing remained.

...

The Stone Gorge, as the name suggested, was a passage where sheer rock walls flanked a rushing stream.

As the vanguard was blocked and plunged into panic, Xiao Puye, who was holding the center array in the gorge section, was still sitting on the ground resting with his comrades.

They too had arrived via a forced march and had yet to catch their breath when shrill, miserable screams echoed through the valley.

Immediately after, the stream running through the river valley ahead began to wash down numerous men and horses, flailing and wailing as they drifted downstream.

"What is happening up ahead?"

As these wretched victims drifted down from the upper reaches, panic spread rapidly. The formation, totaling over fifteen500 men, suddenly erupted into turmoil.

"Wae! Run... run quickly, the demons are coming!"

Demons?

A horde of fleeing soldiers suddenly appeared on the path ahead, blindly charging into their own center formation.

"Halt! Stop running around!"

Xiao Puye hastily stood up, pressing his back hard against the rock face behind him to avoid being pushed into the water, and grabbed a passing soldier.

"What's going on ahead? Where is my father and the chiliarchs?!"

Amidst the clamor, the soldier violently jerked twice, realizing he couldn't break free, and cried out with a desperate, miserable face.

"They're dead, they're all dead! The people ahead were all killed by the demon!"

It would have been better if he hadn't shouted; the moment he yelled, the crowd around them exploded in terror. The instant Xiao Puye loosened his grip on the soldier, the man let out a piercing scream and tumbled, man and horse alike, into the river channel, drifting away with a trail of bubbling gurgles...

The collapse spread.

To survive, the people jammed in the path began pulling every trick in the book.

Those at the head of the column, driven by the immediate threat of death, mustered every ounce of strength to push backward, even drawing their blades against their comrades or leaping into the river rather than turning back to face Su Yao.

Driven by these individuals, a storm of panic sweeping through the entire army quickly took shape. More and more people drew their weapons to slaughter one another or shoved their comrades off the mountain ledge, all to distance themselves just a little further from the unknown crisis behind them.

Yes, the truth was that most of them had no idea what was happening ahead; they only saw the vanguard fall into chaos, heard the frantic cries to run, and blindly joined the stampede.

Seeing that a horrific massive trampling was about to occur, Xiao Puye clenched his teeth, swung his saber, and roared fiercely:

"Hold your ground! Anyone who charges the rear guard will be executed without mercy!"

Xiao Puye was, after all, of a military background, and his response was relatively decisive. After he and his personal guards cut down over a dozen rioting soldiers who were charging the center, the crisis was finally stabilized...

For just a brief moment.

Yes, all his efforts were pronounced doomed by a sprinting figure on the cliff wall.

"Wh-What kind of monster is this?!"

Su Yao had arrived!

This was a nearly vertical, sheer cliff face!

Xiao Puye's heart pounded violently as he watched the humanoid monster, draped in blood, sprint along the cliff face in a zigzag pattern, leaving behind a spray of blood and severed heads.

Was this monster more agile than a mountain ibex?!

"This is impossible! Stop him, stop him, stop him!"

No one could stop him!

The terrain here was practically tailor-made for Su Yao. The men below could barely number three or four abreast, packed tightly together and unable to form a coordinated defense, while Su Yao could use leverage to dash swiftly across the cliff face and attack them from above.

And whenever the barbarian soldiers tried to shoot Su Yao with arrows as he sprinted along the rock wall, Su Yao would leap back down into the crowd, kicking up a storm of blood and gore.

Having fully recovered his stamina, Su Yao dropped his blades with absolute ruthlessness and zero hesitation, not only turning himself into a creature drenched in blood but even going through several swords due to sheer wear and tear.

Total army collapse!

However, such a tragic spectacle no longer required Xiao Puye's concern.

As he roared a second time, attempting to salvage the situation, a scimitar came spinning directly through the air and cleanly severed his head. Xiao Puye would never need to worry about military crises again.

"A demon, a monster!"

"Mother, I want to go home!"

"O Heavens—"

A terrifying assault!

These largely conscripted herdsman soldiers had never witnessed such terrifying slaughter. Their morale completely collapsed beyond any hope of recovery.

Thus, the barbarian raiders began their desperate, fatal flight, hoping only to outpace their comrades in distancing themselves from that demon. They plunged into frenzied mutual slaughter, and the number of those trampled or drowned in the river was countless, dwarfing the casualties directly inflicted by Su Yao.

By the time deep silence fell over the night, within the Stone Gorge section of the Yangxiang Path, not a single living soul remained standing except for Su Yao.

In this blocking action, Su Yao achieved an epic victory of 2 against 1,500+.

...

"What?!"

"The squad leader routed the enemy?!"

"And there were only the two of you?!"

Inside the mountain fortress, the officers who had been agonizing over how to manage both ends with such a piteous handful of men—blocking the road while guarding the stronghold—had their eyes bulging out in shock.

"Strictly speaking, I was just responsible for carrying his bow and handing him arrows..."

Jin Fangyan rubbed his left cheek. Even though he had mentally prepared himself, he was still deeply shaken by such a battle record.

The man who had collapsed before the fortress gates last night seemed like an entirely different person, capable not only of endless archery but also of sprinting continuously along the cliff face, killing from one end of the road to the other, single-handedly slaughtering an army of over 1,400 to near-total annihilation:

"One man guards the pass, and ten thousand cannot get through? No, that was more like the Gates of Hell advancing forward. Truly, whoever stood in his path perished instantly; there was not a single match for him.

Not only were the dead choking the path, but even the river water was dyed completely crimson..."

Utterly terrifying.

Jin Fangyan had only one thought at that moment: never, ever provoke Su Yao in this lifetime.

"Is this for real?" Song Xian touched his head.

Phrases like "one man guards the pass, and ten thousand cannot get through" were usually just exaggerated literary flattery by scholars, weren't they? How could anyone actually pull that off?

And what was that about the Gates of Hell advancing? What nonsense was that?

"I'd love to say it's a joke, but unfortunately, this is reality."

Jin Fangyan shook his head.

"The Stone Gorge section is barely over an hour's walk from here. If Squad Leader Song doesn't believe me, you can go look for yourself."

"Th-Then... do we still defend this fortress?"

Song Xian was numb. It wasn't that he didn't want Su Yao to win.

It was just that because of this feat, all the defensive strategies they had just discussed, coordinated, and wrung their brains over—even their mutual resolve to face life and death head-on—instantly seemed like the antics of clowns, rendered completely useless by their commander's peerless divine prowess.

Cheng Lian fell silent and said:

"Th-This must be what the squad leader meant by 'the best defense is offense'..."