The world of martial arts, the immortal swordsman in the mortal realm.

Chapter 168, 183: Blood Rain! The Demon God Dominating the Battlefield!
Li Mi's main camp was only about 20 li away from Yanshi, backed by Mangshan Mountain, with a sparse forest in front where horses could run, and a flat wasteland beyond that.

After several days of marching, especially the all-night march last night, Li Mi's 40,000-strong main force was exhausted and in dire need of rest.

Li Mi, overconfident in his brilliant plan, became arrogant and complacent. When his main force was resting, he did not set up any fortifications, not even the simplest defensive structures such as wooden palisades or chevaux-de-frise. The entire army set up camp without any cover.

Of course, if Wang Shichong's army in Yanshi were to fall for Li Mi's deceptive tactics and rack their brains to figure out how to quickly defeat him in his three large camps that actually only housed 60,000 new soldiers, then Li Mi's main force would have enough time to rest and recover.

Unfortunately, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling paid too much attention to Li Mi, studying him over and over again, not letting go of any detail, and finally saw through the true intentions behind Li Mi's series of operations.

He then personally led a reconnaissance mission, spending three days and three nights to finally locate Li Mi's main force.

The initiative has now shifted to the Yanshi army. Kou Zhong's more than 200 former members of the Wagangzhai Longtoufu have even ambushed Li Mi's camp on the mountain behind it, but Li Mi is completely unaware and even believes that victory is in his grasp.

On a gentle slope.

Li Mi, clad in heavy armor, halted his horse on a gentle slope, surrounded by a large group of strategists and generals, including Shen Luoyan, Pei Renji, Pei Xingyan, Zu Junyan, Chen Zhilue, and Fan Wenchao, as well as skilled guards such as the "Changbai Twins," Fu Zhen and Fu Yan.

Looking at the strategists and generals around him, all of whom were among the best in their field, and then at the densely packed camp below that stretched as far as the eye could see, Li Mi felt a surge of pride.

The 20,000 elite troops in Yanshi were Wang Shichong's last remaining asset. Once this last obstacle was removed, Luoyang, the eastern capital, would be his for the taking, easily within his grasp!
Having seized Luoyang and forged a marriage alliance with the Song dynasty, among all the warlords in the land, only the Li Tang of Guanzhong and Dou Jiande of Hebei could be considered his rivals. Leaving Dou Jiande aside, now that Luoyang was in his hands, the Li Tang dynasty could only be effectively contained within Guanzhong!
"Who can rule this vast and beautiful land?"

Li Mi was filled with heroic spirit, and he thought to himself:
"Who else would it be than me!"

At this moment, Li Mi felt that his life was about to reach its peak.

The next moment, a faint sound of thunder came from the direction of the sparse woods and grassland directly in front of the gentle slope.

The thunder was initially faint and indistinct, as if it were thundering from a very far place, but it rolled on and kept moving towards this direction.

Li Mi and his generals all changed their expressions slightly. Many generals put their feet in the stirrups, straightened up, and looked in the direction from which the thunder came. Soon they saw the dust rising.

"It's the cavalry!"

……

Two thousand elite cavalry slowed their horses and passed through the sparse woods in an orderly fashion. They could already see Li Mi's army camp in the distance, as well as the enemy infantry who were hastily forming ranks three hundred paces in front of the camp.

Seeing the enemy's flags in disarray and their troops in disarray, and looking at the camp in the distance that had no wooden fences or barricades, and was filled with shouts and neighing horses, the morale of the Yanshi army soared. They knew that they had caught Li Mi's army completely off guard.

Commander Yang Gongqing's face turned bright red, and he raised his gun and roared:
"Li Mi's cleverness has backfired; he has fallen into the enemy's strategist's trap! Victory in this battle is assured!"

The entire army shouted in unison:

"We must win, we must win, we must win!"

The shouts were like thunder, shaking the heavens and the earth, while the Li Mi army camp ahead was in even greater chaos.

Yang Gongqing pressed his spear down, giving the order to advance. Two thousand elite cavalrymen spurred their horses on, trotting slowly.

As the thunder of hooves grew heavier and more frequent, the momentum of the two thousand elite cavalrymen's charge also increased from slow to fast.

The thunderous hoofbeats shook the earth, dust billowed, and the ground trembled slightly.

Two thousand iron cavalry transformed into an unstoppable, invincible torrent of steel, seemingly capable of crushing even mountains, charging towards Li Mi's army, which had just been roused from their slumber, hastily deployed to form ranks, and whose formations were still in disarray, flags and drums unclear, and whose shield walls, spears, and crossbows were not yet in place.

On a gentle slope.

Looking at his own crooked and twisted infantry formations, a hint of annoyance flashed in Li Mi's eyes.

We should build barriers first.

No matter how exhausted the entire army is, they should still set up the fortifications first.

If there are fortifications, why fear the enemy cavalry's charge?

Our own infantry and cavalry can calmly line up behind the ramparts and wait.

Why would we need to send out an elite force to be charged and slaughtered by enemy cavalry, in order to buy time for our side?

Despite his frustration, Li Mi still doesn't believe he will lose.

The enemy cavalry was few in number, only about two thousand. Even if they caught him off guard, he was confident that he could wear them down layer by layer, and eventually annihilate them here.

At most, the losses will be severe, and a brilliant scheme will have been rendered futile.

But soon, Li Mi's eyes widened as he looked at the human bodies and blood spray flying up from his own lines, and he exclaimed:
"what is that?"

……

That was Lu Chen.

When he took it seriously for the first time, he discovered that he had made a small mistake.

That is, his weapon, though powerful, was too short, making it inconvenient for him to fight infantry while riding a tall horse.

After knocking down two enemy soldiers on horseback, Lu Chen simply dismounted and charged on foot, swinging his sledgehammer fiercely as he charged.

Bang!
Amidst the tooth-grinding explosions, a row of enemy soldiers in front were instantly reduced to dust, their severed limbs scattered across the sky.

Lu Chen strode forward, wildly sweeping and smashing with his double hammers.

Wherever it went, shields turned to dust, swords and spears broke, limbs flew everywhere, and blood rained down.

This was exactly what Li Mi saw from afar.

Lu Chen, charging on foot, was even faster than the cavalry, and in the blink of an eye, he tore a huge gap in the enemy formation in front of him.

Dugu Feng and Wanwan, who were right beside him, immediately rode up to follow.

Having already gained experience in battle, Dugu Feng carried a long sword on her back and held a steel spear, continuously stabbing and slashing to kill enemy soldiers and widen the gaps in the enemy formation.

Wanwan slashed with her sword for a while, but felt it wasn't very effective, so she grabbed a steel spear and wielded it with great power.

However, the combined killing efficiency of the two of them was still less than that of Lu Chen alone, and their deterrent power was far inferior to his.

As Lu Chen blasted through another row of enemy soldiers, the enemy soldiers behind him, who had been drenched in a rain of blood and limbs falling from the sky, saw Lu Chen wielding two hammers and approaching at a speed faster than cavalry. They immediately let out a shout and turned to flee.

Li Mi's army hastily formed a battle formation, which was already unstable. Lu Chen's attack tore open a gap in the formation, and then Wanwan and Dugu Feng, two great masters, followed up to widen the gap, allowing cavalry from the rear to pour in.

Under the onslaught of the iron cavalry, the vanguard of Li Mi's army collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Chen Zhilue, a former general of the Xiaoguo Army, led his personal guards back and forth, killing deserters and shouting for a fight to the death, trying to stabilize the army's formation.

Upon seeing his banner and armor, Lu Chen recognized him as a great general and immediately charged forward. Ten feet away, he stomped heavily on the ground, causing it to crack open. He then leaped into the air, sweeping across ten feet, ignoring the arrows and spears thrown by Chen Zhilue's personal guards. He flew directly above Chen Zhilue, raised his double hammers high above his head, and slammed them down on Chen Zhilue.

Chen Zhilue was shocked. He never expected that someone would dare to fly around on the battlefield and be impervious to swords and spears. No matter whether it was a heavy arrow or a javelin, it could not even hurt the skin of this person!
Bang!
With a deafening explosion, a pair of massive hammers slammed down. Even before the hammers arrived, the violent shockwaves generated by their impact struck Chen Zhilue, causing his face to tremble violently, his eyes to glaze over, and his breath to catch in his throat.

what--

Chen Zhilue roared in anger, frantically channeling his inner energy and exerting all his strength to raise his iron spear horizontally, attempting to parry the attack.

clang!
Amidst the deafening clang of metal clashing, Chen Zhilue's iron spear shattered and his arm bone broke. Lu Chen's massive bronze hammer, however, was not hindered at all. It first struck Chen Zhilue's head, blasting his skull apart, then pulverized his torso piece by piece, and finally even blasted his warhorse in half from its back.

A great general, in the end only his two legs were still intact.

Such a gruesome manner of death left Li Mi's army's front line with no chance of recovery, causing it to completely collapse. Under the charge and slaughter of two thousand iron cavalry, the army even rolled backwards towards the rear ranks.

Seeing Lu Chen break through enemy lines and slay generals, leading the cavalry to rout the enemy, even achieving a feat like a curtain being rolled up in reverse, the veteran general Yang Gongqing, who had fought bravely, laughed heartily:
"My lads, do you see? We have the Divine Sword Prince! The Divine Sword Prince who slays Wang Pojun and is unparalleled in charging into battle! In this battle, we will not only win, but we will also annihilate Li Mi without leaving a single piece of armor!"

To the enemy, Lu Chen was an invincible killing god who destroyed morale.

For allies, Lu Chen is the only true god on the battlefield!
The already high morale of the two thousand elite cavalrymen was now at its peak. Following the terrifying figure that stirred up a storm of blood and sent limbs flying everywhere, they shouted excitedly, "Charge! Charge! Charge again!"

Even Wanwan couldn't help but be infected by the atmosphere. Watching the demon god charging ahead on foot, sweeping through thousands of troops, dominating the battlefield, sprinkling blood rain, and controlling life and death, she trembled in her heart and mind.

On the gentle slope, looking down at the vanguard as they swept away the enemy's formation, Li Mi's eyes twitched uncontrollably.

He pointed to the black-clad figure charging ahead on foot, leaving a trail of broken ranks and a rain of blood in his wake, and asked Shen Luoyan in a strained voice:

"Who... is that person?" With Li Mi's skill, he had naturally seen the person's appearance and guessed who it might be.

But he had never met that person and couldn't believe, or rather, didn't want to believe, his own guess.

Unfortunately, Shen Luoyan shattered his illusions.

“That’s…Lu Chen.”

Shen Luoyan's face was pale, and her eyes were full of pain.

“Lu Chen…”

Li Mi was momentarily lost in thought.

Before the enemy cavalry appeared, he was still full of ambition and high spirits, thinking that the Eastern Capital was within reach and that he would be the master of this great land.

When the enemy cavalry appeared, he remained calm despite the alarm, still confident of victory. He was only secretly disappointed that his plan had been seen through by the enemy, and that the battle might result in significant losses.

And now...

Watching Lu Chen's unstoppable and ferocious figure, Li Mi's heart sank. He felt that his dream of Dongdu, which was so close at hand, was gradually being shattered by that man's pair of bronze hammers.

Lu Chen's momentum was unstoppable. Leading two thousand iron cavalry, he continuously broke through enemy lines and even forced many of the Xiaoguo soldiers to abandon their weapons, kneel down and surrender, or even defect on the spot.

To make matters worse, a small but fierce cavalry force suddenly charged down from the mountains behind Li Mi's camp. They stormed into the rear camp and set fire to the tents everywhere with oil cans, sulfur, straw, and other flammable materials, causing the camp to be engulfed in flames and billowing thick smoke.

Inside the camp, there was still a group of elite troops who, having not yet been attacked by cavalry, had temporarily maintained their morale and had even formed a well-organized military formation. However, when they suddenly saw the fire in the rear camp, their morale immediately wavered.

This means that the enemy is attacking from the rear, and they will soon be attacked from both sides, caught in a pincer movement!
When they saw a female general among the cavalry charging out from the rear camp, wielding a large broadsword, with a slightly ugly appearance but a heroic spirit, many of Li Mi's elite troops exclaimed in surprise:

"Miss?"

The female general was none other than Zhai Jiao, the daughter of Zhai Rang, the leader of Wagang Village.

The appearance of Zhai Jiao also gave some of Li Mi's elite troops a reason to convince themselves to surrender.

Li Mi's rise to power was illegitimate. We were originally subordinates of the Grand Dragon, but we were forced to join Li Mi's ranks.

Now that the young lady is leading the troops into battle, Li Mi is caught in a pincer attack and is on the verge of defeat. It is time for us to set things right!

Many former Wagang soldiers immediately defected, not only clearing the way for Kou Zhong and Zhai Jiao to lead more than two hundred cavalrymen to rampage through the camp, but also following behind them to set fire to the camp, making the camp even more chaotic.

On the battlefield, the army was in complete disarray, and fires broke out everywhere in the camp. Li Mi, standing on the gentle slope, had a face as cold as frost, and his whole aura was as cold as an ice sculpture exuding icy coldness.

He couldn't understand why his army had become so vulnerable, even collapsing so easily.

Your commander is none other than Li Mi, the invincible warrior!
Under my command, how many powerful enemies have you defeated? How many miracles have you created?

Why have we become so weak and helpless today?

Just because of Lu Chen?
No matter how strong he is, he is still just a person. As long as he is still a person, he will eventually be worn down and killed!

But why...

Why are you so afraid of him?

Why are thousands of troops avoiding that black-robed figure?
Li Mi roared with anger in his heart, yet he still refused to admit that he himself had created the current situation.

He has become aloof and no longer shares weal and woe with his soldiers as he did at the beginning of the uprising. Instead, he has gradually become unfair in his rewards and punishments, and harsh and ungrateful.

He was proud of his undefeated record and smug about his ingenious strategies, but he forgot that it was his soldiers who, with their blood and lives, helped him realize those ingenious plans and earned him his reputation for invincibility.

He now shows no regard for how long his soldiers have fought or whether they are physically and mentally exhausted.

He grew increasingly arrogant, even disregarding the military principle of "considering defeat before victory," boasting that no one could see through his military strategy and that his ingenious plans were bound to succeed. When he set up camp, he didn't even build any defensive fortifications...

All of these factors have led to the current situation.

This unfavorable situation also exposed the problems that existed in his army—the Xiaoguo Army was originally a surrendered army that could follow him to win battles, but when the battle situation was unfavorable, how could they be willing to fight to the death for him?
Even the old Wagang army from Zhai Rang's era would decisively betray him, surrender, or even turn against him when the situation was unfavorable.

Lu Chen, who dominated the battlefield, rapidly amplified and magnified all unfavorable factors.

just now.

Apart from Li Mi's core force of 8,000 troops stationed at Pushan, the remaining 32,000 main force was on the verge of collapse and was beyond repair.

The mountains and fields were covered with defeated soldiers.

The Yanshi army grew larger with each battle. As more and more members of the Xiaoguo Army and the old Wagang Army defected, the Yanshi army, which originally numbered only two thousand cavalry, had exceeded five thousand.

And the final showdown has finally begun.

When the four thousand elite cavalry of Pushan Public Army clashed head-on with the two thousand Yanshi Iron Cavalry, the Yanshi Iron Cavalry, which had been advancing with unstoppable momentum and suffering very few casualties, finally felt the pressure.

But not much, just a little bit.

The once-powerful Pushan Public Company was ultimately not a tireless puppet.

They were just as exhausted as the rest of Li Mi's army. Although they were more resilient and enduring in battle, their physical and mental exhaustion made their swords slower, their spears less powerful, and their reactions less swift.

Even their warhorses were just as exhausted.

So after the initial pressure subsided, the same thought inevitably arose in the minds of the Yanshi cavalry:
Is this all that the famous Pushan public enterprise is?
The already high morale exploded to a new peak.

Lu Chen continued to charge forward on foot, facing off against the cavalry. Wherever his double hammers passed, flesh and blood flew, and men and horses were shattered.

Dugu Feng and Wanwan rode alongside him, acting as his protectors. Xu Ziling also followed, joining him in the attack on Li Mi.

They cut through another troop of Pushan public cavalry, and ahead appeared an infantry formation, with shields like a wall, spears like a forest, and powerful bows and crossbows all aimed at Lu Chen.

A beautiful female general, clad in light armor, rode her warhorse into the center of the formation, staring intently at Lu Chen and asking resentfully:

"why?"

Looking at this female general who had treated him well from beginning to end, genuinely recruited him, and even personally visited to deliver gifts, Lu Chen answered her question:
“When Li Mi sent Chao Gongcuo and Mei Tian to my house to steal the He Shi Bi jade, they destroyed my newly built waterside pavilion.”

"?"

Shen Luoyan opened her eyes wide in disbelief and exclaimed:

"that's it?"

Lu Chen nodded:

"that's it."

After thinking for a moment, he added:
"An invincible man cannot be humiliated—if saying this will make Military Advisor Shen feel a little better."

Shen Luoyan bit her lip, her body trembling as she held back for a long time, but tears still welled up in her eyes and streamed down like a broken beaded curtain. She just bit her lip and didn't cry out.

Her lifelong dream was to assist Li Mi in unifying the world and prove that women could be just as capable as men.

But today, that dream has been shattered for a reason that sounds almost absurd.

Lu Chen charged towards the infantry formation, braving the barrage of crossbow bolts and the wild thrusts of spears. He reached the front of the formation in two strides, smashed two large shields, and with a swift swing of his hammer, he shattered the infantry formation into pieces.

He let Shen Luoyan stab him twice, as a way of repaying the favor she had given him.

Then he smashed her warhorse to death with a hammer. As she fell from the horse, two sword energies shot out from her Jingming acupoint, striking her pressure points. He then activated the sword wind force field, throwing her aside.

He continued to stride forward towards Li Mi, who was not far ahead.

As he charged forward, he used the sword wind force field to pull up the swords and spears that had fallen to the ground and bounce them toward Li Mi. Each strike was as powerful as a giant arrow fired from a ballista.

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(End of this chapter)