The cavalry commander's fists collided, making a sound of metal clashing. He leaped up, and the wind from his fist tore through the air, heading straight for Xu Yunfan's face. The power of this punch was enough to split mountains and crack rocks!
Xu Yunfan did not dodge or evade, but gently raised the golden hammer in his right hand.
"clang!"
The collision of fists and hammers produced a loud noise like a huge bell.
The cavalry commander's fist was instantly covered in blood, and his finger bones were shattered. He screamed and retreated, but saw that Xu Yunfan did not move at all, and even the corner of his clothes was not lifted at all.
Xu Yunfan shook his head as he watched. Although he was much stronger than before, his brain was much slower.
With one push, the golden hammer on the drum jar turned into a stream of red light.
Before the hammer head arrived, the wind from the hammer had already kicked up a cloud of dust. The cavalry commander hastily raised his arms to block, but there was a "crack" sound, and both arms were broken at the elbows.
The hammer continued to strike with unabated force, hitting him squarely in the chest.
The heavy black iron armor shattered like paper, the cavalry commander's chest collapsed, blood mixed with internal organs spurted out of his mouth, and he fell heavily to the ground, the life in his eyes quickly fading.
Xu Yunfan's cold gaze quickly fell on the cavalrymen charging towards him from all around. Since his commander was already dead, he would naturally not let these people go.
Half a minute later, Xu Yunfan, who was chasing the fleeing soldiers, pulled out the heavy hammer that was deeply embedded in the body of a black-armored elite soldier and shook off the meat scraps on the hammer.
He turned his head and saw that the team of thirty black-armored warriors had been completely killed by him.
Xu Yunfan no longer hesitated, jumped on his horse, and galloped south.
As the dusk turned bloody, a black cloud of cavalry rolled across the official road.
Three hundred heavily armored war horses trampled the remains on the ground, and the Incense Sect's battle flag with gold embroidery fluttered in the bloody wind.
On the black carriage at the head, the old man in purple robes suddenly raised his hand, and the nine ghost-faced horses pulling the carriage stood up at the same time.
"Disciple!"
The hoarse roar shook the crows off the branches.
The leader of the Xianghuo Sect placed his skinny palm on the cavalry commander's sunken chest, and the residual heat from the heavy black iron armor made his palm hot.
The edge of the hammer mark that pierced the chest was extremely smooth, and only a heavy soldier with extremely powerful force could cause this.
"What on earth is…?"
The old man in purple robe turned around abruptly and stared at the direction where Xu Yunfan left. There was a very fresh horseshoe print winding away there.
Xu Yunfan's chestnut horse stepped on the broken armor on the ground, and the horseshoes made a crisp sound when they collided with the stones on the ground.
This is the third day since leaving Dingbei City, and all we see along the way are broken walls and ruins.
The locust trees on both sides of the official road were hung with knots, and under each knot hung a swollen corpse, swaying gently in the cold wind.
The sound of metal clashing came from afar, and Xu Yunfan reined in his horse and stopped.
I saw more than twenty riders coming out from behind the mound in front of me. Their black iron armor was stained with pieces of meat, and bloody sacks were hanging beside their saddles.
The leading standard-bearer held up the battle flag of the "Demon-Slaying Heavenly Army" with a red background and golden patterns. A large "卍" character was painted on the flag with white paint.
The leading centurion picked up a female corpse with the tip of his spear.
"This woman just hid half a wheat cake."
The sound of a young child whimpering could be heard from inside the sack, and seven or eight little legs were kicking at the mouth of the sack.
The cavalrymen burst into laughter.
Xu Yunfan touched the horse's neck and found that the chestnut horse's warm muscles were trembling.
He took off the leather bag and took a sip of liquor, shaking the golden hammer in his hand, stirring the air and making a buzzing sound.
Seeing this, the centurion shook his spear and laughed, "Hey man, come here and get yourself killed."
Before the laughter died down, Xu Yunfan had already spurred his horse to charge.
He clamped his legs around the horse's belly, his thigh muscles tensed like a bowstring. The chestnut horse under his crotch felt the power of its master, and its four hooves kicked the ground hard, shooting out like an arrow.
The golden hammer came flying through the air, and the leading centurion hastily raised his gun to block it.
The muscles in Xu Yunfan's right arm were knotted and veins bulged. The moment the hammer head hit the spear barrel, the centurion's knuckles broke and the spear flew out of his hand.
Xu Yunfan exerted force from his waist and abdomen, and with the momentum of his horse, he swept his left hammer across. The three cavalrymen exploded like ripe persimmons, and both the men and the horses were shattered.
The chestnut horse raised its front hooves, and Xu Yunfan took advantage of the momentum to jump off the horse.
He stepped on the ground with both feet, his calf muscles contracted like springs, and his whole body shot out like a cannonball.
As the Golden Hammer was swung, the muscles in his shoulders and back undulated like waves, and each swing mobilized the strength of his entire body.
When the last cavalryman was nailed into the ground by the hammer, the mouth of the tied sack was broken free, and a boy with a bloody face crawled out.
The child stared blankly at Xu Yunfan fiddling with the corpse with a long sword he picked up, and suddenly pounced on it and bit his companion's body.
"How far is Jilei Mountain?"
Xu Yunfan lifted the child's chin with the handle of the hammer.
The boy let out a beast-like growl from his throat, and pointed his finger, which was covered with brain matter, to the south.
There was a column of smoke rising straight up, and below the column of smoke the roofs of the continuous military camps were faintly visible.
Xu Yunfan nodded slightly, then let it go and rode his horse out of the boy's sight.
At noon on the seventh day, Xu Yunfan saw the first heavily armored corpse of the Wuzhou Army.
The headless corpse was kneeling by the stream, holding a Mo Dao, with seventeen broken arrows stuffed in the gaps of its iron armor.
Half a mile ahead, the stream water was dyed dark red, and the corpses of hundreds of Xianghuo Sect cavalrymen were piled up into a low wall. It was obvious that a remnant of the Wuzhou army had defended this place to the death.
Xu Yunfan stopped for a moment and then headed south of Wuzhou without stopping.
Lice and fleas grew in the armor, and thousands of people died.
Bones are exposed in the wild, and no rooster crows for thousands of miles.
If one out of a hundred people dies, the thought of that one will break one's heart.
What we see today is even worse than before. Wuzhou has become a purgatory.
It was not until the tenth day, after traveling 1,500 miles, that Xu Yunfan finally saw living people. Although their faces were pale and their expressions were a little numb and worried, they were still living relatively normal lives.
From time to time, one could see scouts of the Wuzhou army in light armor coming and going, looking at Xu Yunfan riding a tall horse with scrutiny.
There were even leaders who came forward to question him. Xu Yunfan naturally explained the purpose of his visit to Jilei Mountain and took out the token of Tianchan Sect.
Looking at the token in Xu Yunfan's hand, the vigilance on the scout captain's face faded a lot, but he still had doubts and bowed politely.
"So it's someone from Jilei Mountain."
After saying this, he politely let him go.
Xu Yunfan did not cause trouble. He nodded and prepared to continue on his way. When the scout captain learned that Xu Yunfan came from Qingzhou, he could not help but ask.
"What's going on in the north of Wuzhou?"
Xu Yunfan was silent for a long time before he spoke: "When the Xianghuo Sect captures a city, they kill and ravage the city, looting countless people. They chop off the able-bodied men and women, impale infants on spears and make them dance in circles as a form of entertainment. Wherever they pass through, the land is barren, and spring swallows return to nest in the trees."
The scouts were so angry that they were shaking all over. The scout leader had red eyes and gnashed teeth.
"I will definitely drink the blood and eat the flesh of this Xianghuo Sect!"
After leaving, Xu Yunfan went to the nearest Dayi city to replenish his dry food, and then walked another three hundred miles before finally arriving at the foot of Jilei Mountain.
Looking around, Xu Yunfan looked a little dazed. He had seen a lot of scorched earth and blood these days, but rarely saw such a peaceful scene as the one in front of him.
At the foot of Jilei Mountain, fields are crisscrossed.
The lush green rice fields stretch out like a green carpet, and the breeze makes the rice waves surge.