knife

Chapter 729 A strong man breaks his wrist
Cui Shu had only recently advanced to the Innate Realm when Li Dachui struck him on the head with a blunt weapon, wiping out one of his arms. Since it was his right hand that was missing, Cui Shu's strength was greatly reduced.

Fortunately, Yang Rong also advanced to the Innate Realm after Yang Jian died in the Battle of Luoyang. He was stronger than Cui Shu, but not by much.

The two were locked in a struggle, and Cui Shu, disregarding all pride, was determined to stall.

We cannot allow Yang Rong to have the opportunity to go to the other side of the city wall to help the army attack.

This made Yang Rong very frustrated.

You attack, he dodges; you leave, he chases. He's like a stubborn plaster, impossible to get rid of or shake off.

When a master of innate talent becomes shameless, there's really nothing you can do about it.

Looking back at the fight between Li Dachui and Li Guohua in the direction of Qingxin Pavilion, Yang Rong couldn't help but feel terrified.

These two individuals are shattering everyone's understanding of how innate masters fight each other.

There has always been a consensus among masters of innate talent that in a one-on-one situation, as long as one side is unwilling to fight to the death, the other side cannot force them into a corner, because at the very least, the weaker side can still leave.

But after witnessing the fight between the two men, Yang Rong realized that he would likely be unable to escape if he faced either of them, and would be beaten to death.

The battle on the city wall was raging fiercely, with Li's troops gaining a significant advantage and having made breakthroughs in seven or eight places. In two of these locations, the fighting had even extended from the city wall into the streets and alleys below.

In fact, Li's troops had already breached the Cui family's old residence.

Yang Rong, however, was not happy at all.

Because the resistance from the Cui family remains fierce.

More importantly, their resistance was not chaotic, but organized and orderly. Even after the city walls were breached, reinforcements would occasionally pour in and kill any stragglers in Li's troops as they fought house to house.

Moreover, among those houses, there were no elderly, weak, women, or children; the houses were full of soldiers, all of them young and strong.

They were indeed very well prepared.

They were indeed defeated, but they did their best to hold off Li's army.

The purpose is self-evident.

They were waiting for the reinforcements led by Gu Xiaoman to arrive.

As Li Bu ventured deeper and deeper into the Cui family's old residence, a strong sense of unease suddenly welled up in Yang Rong's heart.
This is no ordinary city; this is the old residence of the Cui family. Those who live here are either surnamed Cui or are relatives or friends of the Cui family. They know what awaits them if they are utterly defeated, so they will resist to the very end. They will not yield.

A sudden thought flashed through his mind, and an idea crept into his head.

Since things are already beyond saving, why keep entangled here?
If they fail to take over the entire Cui family mansion before Gu Xiaoman arrives, the fate of their thousands of elite troops will be dire.

He couldn't shake off Cui Shu's entanglement.

Li Guohua also had no way to defeat Li Dachui.
However, the several thousand elite troops of Li's army held an absolute advantage on the battlefield.

They can withdraw from the battlefield at any time if they wish.

If they retreat from the city, do you think the Cui family's army would dare to pursue them? If they really had that kind of guts, they could easily achieve their goal outside the city.

Without the old armored warriors, could the Cui family withstand a single charge from Li's elite troops in open battle? Turning to look at Li Guohua's side, white light and blue starlight intertwined, moving east and west with lightning speed, making outsiders think they could shrink the distance between them. However, their skills were weaker than each other, and neither could do anything to the other.

"General, things are hopeless. What are we waiting for? Order a retreat! If we drag this out any longer, we'll both be all alone!" Yang Rong shouted.

A word to wake up the dreamer!

Li Guohua, who was arguing with Li Dachui, suddenly realized his mistake.

It's too late!
"Want to leave? Not so easy!" Li Dachui laughed loudly, and his attack suddenly became more ferocious than before. If Li Guohua was the main attacker and he was the main defender before, after Yang Rong's shout, the offensive and defensive situation immediately reversed.

Li Guohua pursed his lips and whistled.
The whistling sound echoed across the entire battlefield.

On the city wall, atop the already captured tower, beneath the banner guarded by a troop of soldiers, the officer holding the banner pulled a bull's horn from his waist after hearing the whistle.

A long, drawn-out horn sounded.

Xiao Zhu slashed horizontally with his longsword. His opponent raised his shield to meet the attack. With a loud bang, the opponent was sent flying, and a large hole was torn in his shield. However, Xiao Zhu's greatsword, with its serrated blade, snapped in two under the force of the blow. Without hesitation, he threw the broken half of the blade away, piercing through a young man who thought he had found an opportunity. With a flick of his toe, an unclaimed steel sword flew up from the ground and landed in his hand. Just as he was about to swing the sword again, he suddenly heard the sound of a horn.

He paused, then turned and left without the slightest hesitation.

On the battlefield, Li's thousands of soldiers, with the exception of a very few, all broke away from their opponents without hesitation after hearing the bugle call and quickly retreated towards the outside of the city.

On the contrary, the Li clan's elite soldiers and the Yang clan's white-feathered soldiers did not react immediately. It was only after the Li clan's elite troops had retreated quite a distance that they realized what was happening. However, the consequence of their slow reaction was that those who retreated slowly were surrounded by the bloodthirsty Cui clan's army.

Five thousand soldiers attacked the city, fought for about a watch, and decimated the Cui army. Then they left without warning. When they formed their battle formation outside the city, the army inside the city indeed did not dare to pursue them.

In fact, the battle that had just broken out in the city had already terrified them. Now that the enemy had finally taken the initiative to withdraw from the city, Cui Peng, who was in charge of the operation, believed that the enemy was trying to lure them out of the city.

They naturally refused.

Yang Rong swept down from the city wall like a shooting star. This time, Cui Shu did not pursue him but stayed on the city wall, watching Yang Rong.

All eyes were drawn to the two beams of light atop the city wall. Then, with another deafening roar like thunder from the heavens, the towering main city tower collapsed amidst gasps of alarm. The flying bricks and broken wood turned into countless fragments before they even hit the ground.

Li Guohua landed at the front of the army formation and looked back at Li Dachui, who stood on the city wall with his sword in his hand.

The soft sword in his hand was now only half intact.

In order to completely get rid of Li Dachui's entanglement, he finally paid the price.

"Let's go!" Li Guohua whispered.

"Back to Boling County?" Yang Rong asked.

Li Guohua shook his head: "There's no going back! We're leaving Boling!"

"The other troops in Boling County City don't want their supplies anymore?" Yang Rong was shocked.

“If we keep thinking about them, we’ll end up getting ourselves killed!” Li Guohua said. “The army here is the skeleton, while the ones in the county town are just flesh and blood. The skeleton is still there. Losing the flesh and blood will hurt for a while, but it can be rebuilt eventually.”

"We have no choice but to make a tough decision!" Yang Rong sighed.

(End of this chapter)