Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 480 A man's heart is as firm as iron until death; who says a scholar is not a man?
The soldiers of the White-Robed Army transformed their grief and anger into strength, and their sorrow into sharp weapons, unleashing terrifying fighting power.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, the two thousand Heavenly Slaughter Army soldiers lay dead on the ground, completely wiped out.

The soldiers removed their blood-stained white robes, carefully wrapped the heads of their fallen comrades, and tied them tightly to their backs.

They gently touched the knots tied around their chests, the tough man's eyes filled with tears, and he said softly, "Brother, I'll take you home."

On the bloody battlefield strewn with corpses, only this murmur proves that this is still the human world.

~~
As Gongsun Lu had predicted, just as the soldiers were about to withdraw from the battlefield, they saw dust rising all around them, and the Tianlu Army had indeed formed an encirclement.

Seeing the overwhelming wolf cavalry approaching, the white-robed soldiers put their helmets back on, drew their iron spears from their saddles, and prepared to fight the enemy to the death!

"Form a wild goose feather formation and break out to the southwest! Keep the flanks tightly packed, and don't linger in battle!" Gongsun Lu roared, "Don't hesitate, run away as soon as you see an opportunity!"

"Didn't you just write 'The brave warrior goes forth, never to return'?" Chen Baxian teased.

"Bullshit, Vermilion Bird! Better to live a wretched life than die a good death." Gongsun Lu glared at him and said, "As long as the green hills remain, there will be firewood to burn. You'll be the vanguard!"

"Alright!" Chen Baxian nodded, then turned to Yang Zhong, who was covering the rear, and said, "Did you hear that? Don't fight to the death. If you can't win, surrender. It's not shameful. What if Ku Tao asks me for more men?"

"Get the hell out of here!" Yang Zhong glared at him and spat, "You can't expect anything good to come out of a dog's mouth."

"How dare you talk to your brother like that?" Chen Baxian laughed loudly, "We'll meet again while you're still alive!"

"See you again if we live!" Yang Zhong nodded, his eyes suddenly welling up with tears. He and his two brothers had spent years together, day and night. He never imagined that in a single day, they would be separated by life and death. He didn't know if they would ever see each other again in this life.

"Brothers, follow me!" Unlike Yang Zhong's sentimentality, Chen Baxian was full of heroic spirit. He whistled, and flames rose three feet high around him, even the tiger under his feet was engulfed in purple flames!
He charged ahead, his body ablaze with flames, into the densely packed enemy ranks. Sparks flew as his tiger pounded through the air, crashing into the enemy lines like a molten furnace. The scales of the Heavenly Slaughter Army sizzled and melted in the intense heat, screams mingling with the stench of burning flesh, a truly invincible force that routed all who touched it!

He actually managed to smash a deep hole through the steel barrier.

The soldiers followed closely behind, cutting down countless Heavenly Slaughter Army soldiers, and finally fought their way out!
Having finally captured them, the Heavenly Slaughter Army was naturally not going to let them go easily. Under the command of the Erzhu brothers, they launched wave after wave of counterattacks.

However, Yang Zhong and Gongsun Lu led a hundred iron cavalrymen to cover their retreat and held them off fiercely.

But the Heavenly Slaughter Army was simply too numerous, seemingly endless. The more stubbornly they resisted, the more Heavenly Slaughter Army would be drawn to attack.

They launched a frantic attack after attack, eager to wipe out this small group of white-robed soldiers so they could continue pursuing the main force.

Yang Zhong raised his hand and lifted up stone walls to shield his soldiers from the dense rain of arrows.

But his brothers around him were dwindling, while the Heavenly Slaughter Army continued to surge forward like a raging torrent. He gave a bitter laugh and said, "It seems that we really have no chance of ever returning."

"A true man should die on the battlefield, wrapped in a horse's hide, to die a worthy death!" Gongsun Lu laughed loudly and wrote a line of bold and stirring words:

"With a long sword and a Qin bow at my side, though my head and body are severed, my heart will not yield!"

The large characters transformed into countless golden rays, blasting the surging enemy soldiers to their deaths!

"Death is inevitable for everyone; some deaths are as weighty as Mount Tai, while others are as light as a feather!" Gongsun Lu then wrote furiously:
"Though the body is dead, the spirit lives on; the soul is resolute, a heroic ghost!" Let Qu Yuan's "Elegy for the Fallen" serve as our elegiac couplet! Gongsun Lu's vigorous and powerful handwriting, bathed in the setting sun, seemed as if it had been forged in blood and fire!
Upon seeing this, the white-robed soldiers roared furiously, raised their longswords whose blades had already been dulled, and met the overwhelming Heavenly Slaughter Army.

Yang Zhong frantically unleashed his Xuanwu Divine Power, shielding his comrades from the vast majority of attacks. However, even the strongest fists cannot fight off a pack of wolves, and he still could not stop his soldiers from falling one by one, until in the end only he and Gongsun Lu remained…

The crimson sandstorm stirred up by "The Song of Yi River" carried the tragic and bloody atmosphere of "The Tragedy of the Nation," seeping into Yang Zhong's cracked Xuanwu armor. His warhorse had long since fallen, and the heavy iron halberd in his hand was dulled, yet it still spun wildly, emitting a deadly silver light.

Hundreds of corpses of the Heavenly Slaughter Army lay at Yang Zhong's feet, yet more Heavenly Slaughter Army soldiers continued to rush forward.

Yuan Tianmu, who was watching the battle from a distance, was stunned and couldn't help but exclaim, "This person is so brave. I wish he were one of ours!"

Hebasheng, who was standing to the side, had already heard Yuwentai and Dugu Xin introduce Yang Zhong's situation. As the eldest brother of Wuchuan Town, he quickly said, "That is Pu Liuru, the number one warrior of our Wuchuan Town. He was just captured by the Southern Dynasty."

"I knew it! The White-Robed Army was so valiant. It turns out they were composed of people from my Northern Dynasty," Yuan Tianmu said in realization.

Seeing that more than a dozen generals were unable to subdue the two, Yuan Tianmu finally disregarded his status, leaped out, and personally joined the fray!

With a loud bang, Yuan Tianmu manipulated the several-zhang-tall Vajra puppet with both hands to land in the arena, and stepped on Gongsun Lu.

With no way to avoid it, Gongsun Lu had no choice but to hold up his pen with both hands and stab it at the giant Vajra foot.

With a clang, sparks flew, Gongsun Lu's tiger's mouth split open, and the giant brush broke into three pieces. The Vajra puppet, however, remained unharmed and stomped down on him again...

"Master Gongsun!" Yang Zhong exclaimed, trying to rush forward to shield him, but was struck squarely by the Vajra puppet's heavy punch.

Yang Zhong immediately coughed up blood and flew through the air. His Xuanwu Armor, which was already under immense strain, completely collapsed, and fragments of the tortoise-patterned armor fluttered like butterflies.

In the instant he was severely injured and unconscious, he saw Gongsun Lu being trampled to the ground by that giant Vajra foot, blood splattering everywhere, his limbs and head in a bizarre position...

~~
When Yang Zhong woke up again, it was already ten days later.

He stared blankly at the light veil covering his head, not knowing where he was.

"Ah Zhong, you're awake!" Dugu Xin's joyful shout rang in his ears: "Black Otter, come quick!"

Yuwen Tai rushed in from the outer room like a whirlwind and excitedly said to Yang Zhong, who was wrapped up like a rice dumpling, "That's great, that's great! We've finally saved your life!"

"Where is this?" Yang Zhong asked with difficulty.

"Luoyang, ah." Yuwen Tai said with a happy smile, "Ten days ago you were seriously injured and unconscious. We picked you up, vouched for you, and brought you back to Luoyang to have the imperial physician treat your wounds. Don't be too touched, this is what brothers should do."

“Brothers…” Yang Zhong’s eyes darted around slightly, and he finally remembered what had happened. He hurriedly asked, “Where are my brothers in the White Robe Army? We didn’t sacrifice ourselves in vain, did we?”

"No." Dugu Xin said with solemn respect, "You one hundred men withstood the attack of tens of thousands of men, successfully buying time for the main force to retreat."

"That's good..." Yang Zhong finally breathed a sigh of relief and lay there with a sense of relief.

(End of this chapter)