The second pony was startled, spinning wildly in the mud. The Helian outrider on its back could only pull hard on the reins, holding his curved blade across his chest in an attempt to steady his formation once again.
But Xu Zhan did not give him a second chance to strike.
Pushing off the ground with his left foot, his figure surged forward. Amidst the splashing mud, his tall frame shot out with explosive force.
He swung the pitch-black meteoric iron mace, tearing through the thick fog and bringing with it a dull, howling wind as it smashed squarely into the man.
In an instant, the warhorse's four hooves left the ground. Both man and horse were sent flying over ten feet away, crashing heavily into the reed marshes without another sound.
Seeing this scene, Qian Fugui lay flat in the mud, his whole body shaking uncontrollably as he wondered what kind of god-like man this was.
Trembling, he wiped his face haphazardly with his mud-caked sleeves, finally getting a clear look at the newcomer.
The man was extremely tall, with broad shoulders and a wide back, wearing an old military robe that was washed pale and had frayed edges.
His right sleeve was completely empty, tied in a dead knot at the bottom, swaying back and forth in the river breeze.
Yet his remaining left hand held a pitch-black, lusterless iron mace upside down.
"This... this good sir, may I ask... who..." Qian Fugui's teeth chattered, unable to squeeze out a complete sentence for a long time.
Xu Zhan glanced at him.
"Xu Zhan, Vanguard Camp of Zhenbei City."
Qian Fugui's mind buzzed.
Xu Zhan?
The legendary Hundred-Man Commander Xu Zhan of the Vanguard Camp, the same Xu Zhan who night-raided the Helian vanguard camp and burned down Huyan Ba's three thousand shi of military rations!
The very Xu Zhan who was thrown into the death row and almost killed by He Minghu!
The Imperial Envoy's...
"You... you are the Imperial Envoy's second brother?"
Xu Zhan did not say a word, only nodding very slightly.
Qian Fugui's tears instantly fell, mixing into a mess with the muddy water all over his face.
"The Imperial Envoy is truly a living immortal! She calculates without missing a detail; she said someone would receive us in the southwest, and it's actually you, Commander Xu, coming personally to save my life!"
"Cut the nonsense, can you stand up?"
"Yes! I can stand!"
Qian Fugui scrambled up from the mud on his hands and knees. His legs were still shaking, but his spirit had returned.
With a flip of his wrist, Xu Zhan hoisted the heavy iron mace onto his shoulder and blew a short, secret whistle toward the thick white fog behind him.
About thirty silhouettes emerged silently from the depths of the reeds. Most were men bearing old wounds; some walked with a limp, some were missing fingers, and all had rough, weathered faces.
Qian Fugui recognized them; these were the remnant soldiers of the Vanguard Camp!
He had seen these people a few times at the posthouse. At the time, he only thought they were a group of half-crippled, useless men, but it turned out they were Xu Zhan's subordinates.
Wrapped in the thick fog at this moment, each of them silently gripping their blades, the gloomy aura they exuded sent chills down Qian Fugui's neck.
"Commander Xu, over by the riverbank... Zhao Si and the others..."
"It's best if they are all dead."
"Follow me."
...
Wild Fox Shoal, by the border river.
The one-sided massacre had already ended.
Zhang Tiezhu knelt in the muddy water, his knees sinking into the crevices of the crushed stones. His right arm had been severed cleanly at the elbow by a single blade strike, and the stump had stopped bleeding.
Around him lay eight corpses scattered in disorder.
They were all personal guards who had followed Zhao Si out of Zhenbei City seeking wealth.
Of the twelve guards, only he and two others were still breathing.
But clearly, those two were not faring much better. One had his shoulder cleaved half open by a curved blade, and the other had taken a kick to the stomach, curled up on the ground vomiting blood.
The four carriages were then tightly surrounded by the Helian men.
The leader walked over, stepping on the crushed stones, the soles of his black boots grinding through a pool of blood.
He stopped in front of Zhang Tiezhu, raised his right foot, and stepped on Zhang Tiezhu's face with the sole of his boot.
Applying force from his ankle, he ground down viciously.
The crushed stones dug into Zhang Tiezhu's cheek. He let out a muffled groan, his neck twisted to the side under the pressure.
This man seemed to immensely enjoy the thrill of trampling a Daqian soldier beneath his feet.
He bent down, the scar beneath his hood that ran from his brow bone to the corner of his mouth twisting as he revealed a row of yellowed teeth.
"The border army of Daqian, is this all you amount to?"
Zhang Tiezhu clamped his back teeth together tightly, refusing to make a sound.
The man sneered, wiping the blood off his boot sole against the crushed stones in disgust, and turned toward the carriages.
A Helian outrider quickly stepped forward, respectfully presenting a rosewood box with both hands that had been searched out from Zhao Si's boat.
The leader flipped the clasp and opened the lid of the box.
In the mist, a gleam of light shone from within the box.
A glazed wolf sculpture lay quietly on the purplish-red velvet lining, its entire body clear and flawless.
The faint daylight pierced through the fog and refracted upon it, actually creating fine, mesmerizing spots of light around it, dazzling the surrounding Helian soldiers into subconsciously narrowing their eyes.
The mysterious man reached out his rough, large hand, carefully lifting the wolf sculpture out and weighing it in his palm.
He parted his lips and smiled.
"Hahahahaha!"
The laughter was extremely arrogant, echoing back and forth across the open riverbank.
"The Imperial Envoy of Daqian exhausts all her schemes, only to play with these trivial tricks of ingenious craftsmanship."
But as he held the wolf sculpture high, repeatedly examining it against the daylight, greed and contempt intertwined in his eyes.
"You thought a few pretty pieces of glazed glass could be exchanged for the warhorses and livestock of my Helian Royal Court? You Han people's bones are truly soft to the marrow."
Seeing this scene, Zhang Tiezhu closed his eyes in despair.
It was all over.
Zhao Si was dead, the imperial envoy's goods were hijacked, and the brothers were almost all dead.
The sweet dream of promotions and titles, along with Zhang Tiezhu's immense wealth for the rest of his life, had all turned into illusions on this Wild Fox Shoal!
Just then.
Deep within the heavy, leaden fog, a sudden rustling sound emerged.
The leader's wild laughter abruptly stopped. He stuffed the glazed wolf sculpture back into the wooden box and reached back to draw the silver-studded fine steel scimitar from his waist.
"Formation."
Over thirty Helian elites quickly fanned out, scimitars unsheathed, facing the depths of the thick fog.
The footsteps drew closer and closer.
First, a figure walked out from the vast white curtain of fog.
Tall, with broad shoulders and a wide back, dressed in a tattered military robe.
However, his right sleeve was empty, and his left hand gripped a dark, heavy iron mace pointing downward.
Closely following him, the thick fog seemed to be sliced open by a sharp blade.
One figure after another walked out in silence.
Over thirty maimed veterans, holding a motley assortment of weapons.
Shields, spears, and even long poles resembling brooms.
These dozens of disabled soldiers, regarded as trash by the Great Qian military garrisons, simply formed a loose yet flawless horizontal line.
The Helian leader swept his gaze over the group. Beneath his hood, his brows furrowed for a moment before relaxing.
"Has the Great Qian imperial court truly run out of men?"
He raised his chin, spitting out the words one by one in heavily accented Mandarin.
"To actually send a bunch of crippled trash to Wild Fox Shoal to die?"
But Xu Zhan's gaze bypassed the Helian ranks and landed on the corpses scattered haphazardly across the gravel shoal.
Then, he slowly raised the meteoric iron mace in his left hand.
The meteoric iron mace, weighing dozens of pounds, was leveled in the air.
On the dark body of the mace, enemy blood had already congealed into a crust in the early morning wind of the Northern Frontier.
Only at this moment did Xu Zhan's gaze finally shift to the leader's face.
In those eyes, there seemed to be not a shred of human emotion left, only an absolute and pure killing intent.
