Reincarnation Girl Becomes Immortal

The camp's granary was engulfed in flames, and the cattle and sheep grazing nearby scattered and fled at the sight of the fire.

The large, robust red-maned horse trampled over the blazing fire on the ground and turned westward.

The cavalry followed behind, galloping together under the thick darkness toward the nearest Zhao military headquarters—Qiming City.

……

As dawn broke, the dark clouds in the sky gradually dispersed, and finally, a few outlines of the sun could be seen again.

Xi Heng and dozens of cavalrymen trekked through mountains and rivers to a high point on the hills, where they could finally see the distant city in the distance.

These northern fortresses and cities were mostly small, much smaller than the large cities in the south, but their walls were tall and thick, and they were situated on strategically important terrain, making them easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Yan Meng's army, which was not good at attacking cities, was quite troubled by this. They had already set up camp in a nearby town, but had not been able to decide on how to attack the city for a long time.

Qiming City was not yet truly surrounded. The Tabai Guards, serving as vanguards and scouts, left through a small gate in the side forest and returned to the city via the same gate.

Horses trod across a mountain path hidden by dense forest and arrived at the base of a broad city wall, where a side gate, just wide enough for two horses to walk side by side, gradually opened.

Xi Heng, dressed in blood-stained red robes, stepped into the room on horseback.

Not far from the gate, a famous General Zhao, having heard the news, came from the rear of his residence.

The officer of the White Guard cavalry quickly dismounted, strode forward, clasped his hands, and knelt to report:

"General He, the grain route to Beizhou and its main camp have been breached!"

"Well done! This campaign will surely terrify the enemy general Lou Guwang." The general looked at the few remaining troops and appeared sorrowful.

"List the fallen soldiers as heroes, include them in the memorial book, and arrange for their compensation."

The civil official behind the general responded and approached to inquire about the casualties.

Then, the general looked at Xi Heng, who was sitting on his horse behind the cavalry officer, and asked:

"You must be the princess that General Wanli often talks about, who killed the rebel general Fang Tiande on the battlefield."

An officer standing nearby responded first, praising: "If it weren't for Her Highness the Princess, they could never have accomplished such a great feat."

The girl nodded and introduced herself:

"Zhao Xiheng".

"Your Highness, may you be blessed. I am He Yuanze, the military governor of Hejian. I am currently in charge of guarding Qiming and annihilating the enemy's attacking army, and cooperating with the soldiers of the other two cities to attack the enemy."

The other party, being a high-ranking general, merely bowed and paid his respects.

"I've come here to help you destroy Yan Meng's army," Xi Heng said frankly. "Give me a hundred cavalry, and we can crush the enemy's thousand-man battalion."

"Your Highness, please come with me." The armored, white-haired old general did not respond directly, but turned around and returned to the mansion he had just left.

Xi Heng dismounted, handed his red-maned horse to a nearby cavalryman, and followed the general inside.

The mansion was spacious, with only weapons displayed in the courtyard and nothing else for leisure or play. A lion statue stood there, giving it a solemn air.

There were only two or three younger attendants in the room, and no other people.

Upon arriving at this secluded spot, the general waved for his attendants to serve tea. He then stood by a long table covered with a map, pointed to a town in the northern part of the three cities on the map, and said directly:

"Our army is preparing to use three military formations to jointly annihilate the 30,000 enemy troops stationed in Shoumi Town outside Qiming City."

"Your Highness need not lead troops to attack the enemy during this period. Resting for the next few days will increase our chances of victory in the subsequent battle."

"Has a counterattack plan already been decided...?"

It turned out that the Zhao military was not as weak as she had imagined.

"With Your Highness's arrival, we now have an additional expert at the Transformation Realm, which greatly increases our chances of victory," General He Yuanze said.

"May I ask what cultivation method Your Highness practices?"

"Bloodline Sword Technique".

"As expected..." Even though he had already heard about it, the old general couldn't help but show a little surprise: "To achieve the Transformation Realm with the Bloodline Sword is by no means an easy task."

"Indeed, no one in the world but me could have accomplished this."

Xi Heng accepted the praise and added, "In the first half of the year, I went to the sea to search for immortal techniques and obtained a fire technique, which may increase our chances of winning important battles."

"Fire magic?" the general asked. "Like the Blood Sea Great Magic?"

"You know magic?"

"More than a decade ago, Princess Qianqiu acquired magic and used it in the army."

This general, who held military power, clearly knew more about supernatural events than ordinary people.

"Now that you know, it's simple." Xi Heng continued explaining:

"Fire magic can create explosions in an area, like a catapult throwing oil, but with a slightly greater impact, and it can be activated simply by imprinting the spell runes on the soldier's hand like a tattoo... However, the stock is limited, and only two hundred can be equipped."

Two hundred fire spells are the usable reserves of one spirit stone.

She only had three and a half usable spirit stones on her, and needed to use them sparingly, so she gave a rough estimate first.

"Two hundred oil jets... How accurate are they? How far can they be thrown?"

"The accuracy is extremely poor; a range of fifty meters is optimal."

"Such power and effectiveness may not be as good as the throwing chariot, but it has the advantage of being lightweight. Your Highness, please pass this method on to the military generals so that they can use it as a risky move in battle!" The other party quickly came up with a plan.

Xi Heng nodded.

"Please wait patiently in Qiming City for the next few days, Your Highness."

The other party walked to the cabinet next to them and took out a flat, round silver token with dragon patterns on the edge.

"This is the badge of the Imperial Guard General. From now on, Your Highness will be a military general and can serve as the vanguard commander leading five hundred elite soldiers."

"If we win the great battle later, Your Highness can use this order to lead the troops."

……

Next, Xi Heng bought a residence in the city and, after a simple two-day stay, went to the General's Mansion. He used spirit stones to strike the backs of the hands of many generals who had reached the Great Perfection of Ming Jin or An Jin, creating spark patterns as if striking flint.

The flickering fire patterns appeared on the back of the hand, and later even the generals who had reached the Great Perfection of Ming Jin were covered with them, so another batch of martial artists who had not yet reached the Great Perfection of Ming Jin had to be called in to imprint them.

Xi Heng used up the entire spirit stone as if stamping it, feeling a little regretful.

If I still had a hundred full spirit stones like before, I naturally wouldn't care about this small amount of spiritual energy.

But now, we have to use it sparingly.

"There will probably be a lot of enemy corpses after the big battle... Could I use them?"

If she could have an army of tens of thousands under her command, who could assist her in moving corpses and drawing magic arrays after each victory, perhaps after the war with Yanmeng Kingdom ended, Xi Heng could once again amass a sea of ​​blood that would overturn the heavens.

However, the Blood Sea Technique is, after all, a strange and evil art. If one wants to establish prestige and reputation within the military, it would be better to first establish a more positive image.

If the military were to find out that she was the legendary Blood Demon, it might negatively impact her prestige.

Before ascending the throne, Xi Heng wanted to maintain his image for the time being.

Three days later, at dawn.

Ten thousand troops gathered in Qiming City.

The Zhao soldiers, stretching as far as the eye could see, formed a long, serpentine marching formation along the city roads, with elite generals in front and chariots and new recruits behind, steadily advancing towards the city gate.

In recent days, a number of Zhao generals from other military units have been secretly entering the city, and now the number of internal strength martial artists in the city has expanded to over a hundred.

There was even a martial arts master who came from the northern countryside.

To date, there are three experts in Qiming City who have reached the Transformation Realm.

With the addition of tens of thousands of Ever Victorious Northern Frontier troops stationed here, Qiming City is probably the strongest military stronghold in the entire Great Zhao Dynasty.

Even so, the old general He Yuanze still dared not say that victory was certain. The closer he got to the start of the battle, the more serious he became.

Qiming City is located in the mountains, while the enemy's garrison outside the city, Shoumi Town, is situated in a plain with relatively gentle hills, making it difficult to launch a surprise attack.

Furthermore, such a large-scale march would be easily detected by the enemy with just a few scouts.

The enemy was unaware that the number of generals in the city had changed, nor that they had sent elite troops to the other two besieged cities and two key locations in the rear.

Today's march is practically a head-on confrontation, a test of whether the enemy general will accept the challenge.

Once the battle begins, a victor will be decided.

If we retreat without a fight, the enemy's morale will inevitably weaken, their camp supplies will be depleted, and we will lose control of the area surrounding Qiming City.

The soldiers advance.

After Xi Heng became a military general, she also changed into a light armor for female generals. Her scale armor made a soft rustling sound when she walked, but the armor was still light enough not to affect her movements.

Ordinary arrows are difficult to penetrate armor, so if you are accidentally hit by an arrow, you don't have to worry about your clothes being damaged, and it will also reduce the amount of protective energy consumed.

The wide city gates were opened. Tens of thousands of soldiers marched out.

Some of the officers and soldiers who had been dispatched through the side gate also joined the main army on the way.

As dawn broke in the east, rows of bright red flags bearing the character "Zhao" fluttered in the wind.

Several chariots were moved to the front of the battle line, pulled by oxen and horses, all covered with hard rattan armor.

Other supplies, such as gunpowder and kerosene, were placed at the rear, accompanied by catapults that followed the army formation.

At the forefront of the army were numerous fully armored elite soldiers on horseback, similar to Yan Meng's Iron Pagoda cavalry.

To deal with the enemy's heavy cavalry, besides using powerful generals to suppress them, perhaps the best option is to also deploy heavy cavalry.

The girl glanced back at the tens of thousands of troops stretching as far as the eye could see behind her, then turned her gaze back to the road ahead.

In the past few days, she has already read the enemy intelligence provided by the general.

As a military general, Xi Heng only needs to pay close attention to the enemy's Transformation Realm warriors and those who have reached the Great Perfection of Dark Realm.

The enemy's general, Lou Guwang, was a master of the Transformation Realm, who cultivated the Tiger Crouching and Coiling Dragon Technique.

This is an extremely robust body-refining and protective method. No matter if there is a landslide or a tsunami in front of you, you will remain calm and composed. No matter how fierce the attack is, it will be difficult to shake you.

This man was also an anomaly among General Yan Meng. His military tactics were relatively calm and steady, unlike other generals who were arrogant and domineering like bandits. His military tactics were orderly and methodical, with everything focused on stability.

Therefore, the military force he led was the most difficult to defeat the enemy with surprise attacks and risky strategies.

This prudent military strategy and rich experience in leading troops made him one of the top generals in Yan Mengguo in terms of the number of troops he commanded.

He had experienced the war with the State of Zhao more than a decade ago, and still had many veterans under his command, so he was no stranger to the tactics of the State of Zhao.

With so many factors combined, a fierce battle is inevitable.

The second possible martial artist in this area is Yan Yinmu, the Left Supervisor of the Yanmeng Kingdom. He is on par with General Lou Guwang, but he is a clever and brave warrior. The martial arts he learned is the authentic Yan family sword technique of the Yanmeng royal family. He is skilled in using many kinds of swords to deal with various situations. On the battlefield, he often wields a long-handled broadsword and rides his horse to charge and kill enemies. He personally participates in almost every battle. He is arrogant and conceited.

As for other martial arts masters at the Transformation Realm, he probably wouldn't encounter them here; Xi Heng only glanced at them casually.

While he was thinking, the surrounding military formations had already gathered.

The sun rises in the east, shining brightly on the broad and majestic banner of the Great Zhao.

With the general's order, the army accelerated its advance.

The town where the enemy was encamped was not far from Qiming City. After walking for a quarter of an hour, you could see several plumes of smoke rising in the distance.

Beneath the thick, dark gray smoke, the enemy troops were already lined up in battle formation to meet them.

A vast army, no less than the soldiers of the Great Zhao, covered the entire plain ahead, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Yan Meng's army was not used to fighting defensive battles in towns, so they abandoned the low city walls and set up their formation on the plains.

Yellow and green flags fluttered in the wind, with a large character "Yan" (颜) hanging above them.

As the Zhao army headquarters approached within a hundred meters, a general in the distance roared in a strange accent, prompting countless soldiers around him to draw their swords, spears, bows, and arrows, and shout in unison, their imposing presence resounding throughout the area.

A middle-aged general, carrying a Miao sword, rode a fine horse and leisurely walked out of the army formation. Judging from his physique, he seemed to be a martial arts master of the Transformation Realm.

He had an unruly temperament, a slightly thin build, and a rugged appearance.

He raised his head and scoffed:

"Who dares to challenge my army?"

"I am He Yuanze, the military governor of Hejian in the Great Zhao Dynasty, and I have come to punish the bandit Yan Meng."

The old general responded in accordance with battle salute:

“You Yan Meng are nothing but remnants of the Eastern Mongols. You have gained power by chance, yet you bully your former master and do not think of benevolent governance or righteousness. You plunder and pillage like mountain bandits and sea pirates. Your actions are extremely rebellious and must be punished! Now, my Great Zhao is leading an army of 100,000, and we will start with you—”

..........................................