Rebirth of a Star General 111
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On the martial arts field, Wei Huan’s knife and Wala’s stone axe were glued together.
One was a young and simple recruit from the Forward Battalion of the Central Plain while the other was one of the fierce and tyrannical battlefield veterans in Western Qiang. Even though Wei Huan’s sword skills were outstanding, he lacked actual battle experience. What’s more, the other party was a powerful man.
Compared to Wei Huan’s nimble knife, Wala’s stone axe was huge and heavy, with no particular pattern of attack. The stone axe looked bulky and had great attack force; every time Wei Huan dodged, the stone axe would hit the ground, splitting the crack into it.
Wei Huan’s physical strength gradually could not keep up.
After all, he was young and not as strong as Wala. In facing such rampant attacks, it wouldn’t take much time for him to parry. Besides laying a scratch on the other’s face, Wei Huan couldn’t even get close to his opponent – who was also wearing armor!
This was not a fair fight. Wei Huan’s body accumulated more and more wounds. While Wala didn’t directly kill him, every hit he made was a point or two away from just piercing through his vitals and making Wei Huan scarred all over.
It was like a game of cat-and-mouse, chasing the prey while not being eager to eat it all at once, playing until the mouse was exhausted before swallowing.
This was simply a one-sided abuse.
When Shen Han saw the situation, his fists clenched making creaking sounds. He was about to go forward, but was blocked by Ridamuzy.
A sturdy man born like a vulture leaned on his horse with a bloodthirsty smile, “Instructor, you’re not allowed to help.”
Shen Han pulled out his sword.
“What? Do you also want to fight with me?” Ridamuzy smiled, his gaze was gloomy, “Then, I would certainly be most welcomed to.”
Around the martial art arena, a group of Qiang soldiers were intentionally or unintentionally gathered. If the recruits of Liangzhou Guard wanted to go up to help, these Qiang’s would fight with the recruits so even if the recruits could help, it would be too late.
On the stage, Wei Huan’s vision became slowly blurred. His movements in dodging the pursuit were also getting slower and slower, his strength was rapidly decreasing. He huffed and puffed, gasping for breath while dodging, as Wala’s axe cut his right leg, the pain came, but he suppressed from making a sound.
Wala came to his front, Wei Huan had no strength to escape. He saw Wala looking at him from above, like a butcher looking at a lamb on a chopping board, Wala said, “Tsk, it’s over so soon. It’s no fun. People from the Central Plain are so weak and can’t even match a finger of the Qiangs.”
Wei Huan did not speak. Large drops of sweat oozed from his forehead, mixed with the blood on his face. He looked very miserable.
“Don’t worry, it won’t hurt,” Wala licked his lips and stared at him greedily, “This Axe will smash down and your brain will fly out. It will be beautiful. Too bad you won’t be able to see it yourself.”
As he said, he waved his huge axe, trying to take Wei Huan’s head straight from his neck!
“Wei Huan!” Ma Damei exclaimed. Before Wei Huan entered the Forward Battalion, he was under his command and they had a deep relationship. He wanted to go forward to save him, but a Qiang soldier pulled out a sword to stop him and he could only look at the scene and watch Wei Huan die.
At this moment.
Behind the martial arts arena, there was a leafy banyan tree. Even though it was winter, there was no hint of it withering. All the crowd gathered in front of the martial arts arena, never noticed that there was a person sitting on the tree.
When they noticed, the person was like a black shadow with lightning speed, grabbing the cloth tying it to the tree to use it as a swing, he jumped in mid-air. It all happened too fast, he swept along to the front of the stage, and kicked the axe that was going to cut through Wei Huan’s neck –
With the inertia, both Wala’s strong body and axe retracted. The axe was heavy and sharp, as it retracted it pierced the owner. If not for his strength to be great, the stone axe might have pierced a little deeper as he stepped back two steps to maintain balance.
“He Yan?” Wei Huan muttered.
The recruits of the Liangzhou Guard also froze.
He Yan was previously locked up in the dungeon of the Liangzhou Guard because of the incident on Bai Yue Mountain that everyone knew about. How could he suddenly appear here? Has he been released?
Wala looked at the person in front of him.
The young man in the black uniform crossed his arms and said with a crooked smile, “Your Excellency is too fierce. If I didn’t make a move just now, this brother of mine would not have been able to keep his head.”
The new recruits of the Liangzhou Guard all regarded them as a thorn in their side, and because of the extermination of all the sentries, they were full of hatred. Seeing them all red-eyed, the best was only Wei Huan’s expressionless face. Yet this teenager was smiling as if nothing happened, so Wala grew a trace of interest as if he had found new prey.
“And who are you?” He asked.
The black-clothed teenager brushed his head of disheveled hair and smiled, “I, He Yan, came first in the Liangzhou Guard in the flag competition some time ago.” She looked at Wala, “Maybe you don’t know what it means to compete for the flag, but it doesn’t matter, you just need to remember that I am the first in the Liangzhou Guard.”
“First?” Ridamuzy on the stage narrowed his eyes and said, “really you?”
He Yan after all looked, a little too short and thin. If Wala and Wei Huan stood together like a sturdy tiger and a lamb, then He Yan, who looked even weaker than Wei Huan, was like a chicken and an eagle compared to Wala.
“Sorry, I’m a little late. What are you guys doing?” The young man said with a smile, “If it is a martial arts competition, it would be a waste to find someone else instead of me.”
Wala laughed loudly, “You are really shameless!”
“He Yan!” Shen Han called her.
“Chief Instructor Shen,” He Yan looked at him, “I have been holding my anger for the past few days, so it’s good to have a fight to cool off my anger.”
Shen Han had nothing to say.
Amongst the new recruits, there were not many who could fight apart from He Yan. There were people with outstanding skills, butlack combat experience, while those who have combat experience were older and lacked physical strength. The fact that He Yan’s martial arts was excellent and that his mind was dexterous and wise, he already has a great chance of winning.
More importantly, this might attract the attention of the Qiangs…
He Yan said, “May I ask if you would like a sparring match now. If so, can I replace this brother of mine?”
“You?”
“Yes. I am number one in Liangzhou Guard. Defeating me would be much more fulfilling than defeating him,” He Yan glanced at Wei Huan on the ground, “right?”
The Western Qiangs on the stage laughed out loud.
Ridamuzy looked at her, “I like this man’s temperament! Change him on!”
He Yan said, “Someone, please carry this brother down.”
Wei Huan was carried away. As he was carried away, he looked at He Yan and whispered, “Be… careful.”
He Yan, “Got it.”
On the high stage of the martial arts arena, there were two people left again.
The new recruits below the stage watched and were all sweating for He Yan.
In the past half a year, He Yan has been in the limelight not once but twice, and there were those who truly admired and worshipped her, and those who were jealous and displeased with her. But at this moment, the recruits of Liangzhou Guard were all in the same boat, hoping that she could defeat Wala and show the Qiangs that Liangzhou Guard was not easy to bully!
The recruits outside the stage were on edge, but He Yan on the stage was unsettled. She smiled and said, “By the way, I don’t know what the prize is for this competition. Let me make a suggestion. How about this – if I lose, I let you guys dispose of me but if you lose,” she thought of the teenager in her memory, chuckled and said, “You will have to call me father.”
Now, the recruits of Liangzhou Guard laughed out loud.
Liang Ping was worried and proud, “What situation is this? Still being stinky!”
None of the people on Ridamuzy’s side could laugh. Wala looked at He Yan gloomily and wiped the blood from the corner of his lips. He said, “We don’t need a bet. Three matches, the loser dies, the winner lives. That’s the rule.”
“Bet on life and death?” He Yan said.
“What? Are you afraid?”
“Not really.” He Yan said, “Instructor, throw me a whip. A long one!”
Shen Han grabbed the longest whip from the weapon rack and threw it over.
“Oh.” Wala sneered, “But are you sure you don’t want to switch to swords? A whip won’t kill anyone.”
The young man’s lips curled slightly, “It’s enough to kill you.”
The young man suddenly came at him with a whip, and then he laughed and swung his axe forward to meet him.
The teenager rushed to the front, but did not strike, just toe-tapping and avoiding the stone axe attacks. She walked around the back of Wala. When Wala turned around, he swung the axe and stepped aside to avoid the whip.
She seemed to take the initiative but did not strike; the whip was wrapped around her hand, not knowing what was she planning, just circling around Wala. But after a while, she turned and ran. Wala followed, just when he lifted his foot, he felt his foot being wrapped by something, making it hard to maintain balance, and he fell to the side.
But the big man reacted quickly and realized that his foot was entangled in He Yan’s whip. Then, he tried to stabilize his pace, but He Yan would not give him a chance and directly put the whip behind his back and pulled it hard like a camel carrying cargo.
Wala could no longer support himself. His body was huge and bulky. He tried to steady his two feet but with one foot losing balance, the other foot became difficult to stabilize. Furthermore, He Yan was pulling on the other end, so he fell to the ground with a “thud”.
The whip seemed to be just a person long, he wouldn’t know how He Yan did it. As she pulled from underneath Wala, the whip easily returned to her hand. She did not stop. She rushed to Wala, walked around his neck with the whip in her hands, the whip wrapped around Wala’s neck in a circle.
Wala subconsciously went to pull it.
He Yan squeezed her hands.
After throwing stone locks, the strength of her arms was not something to be underestimated. Wei Hou was wearing armor, but his neck was not covered with any. After all, ordinary flesh and blood is the most vulnerable place and that he was not exactly made of steel or iron.
The people in the martial arts arena only heard a toothsome “cackle…”
Wala’s head hung limply.
“You’re not a human being. You’re a beast,” He Yan whispered, “So, the whip is enough to kill you.”
She raised her head again. Though she smiled, there was a coldness in her eyes. He Yan looked at the crowd on the stage calmly as she spoke, “He is dead. I won. The winner is already decided. Next.”
In the martial arts arena, the situation has changed.
Just then, Wala abused Wei Huan like a cat playing with a mouse, delaying the final blow. He probably did not expect that he would die in the hands of this seemingly weak young man in front of him.
How long does it take to kill a person? That of drinking a cup of tea? Burning an incense stick? Or a quarter of an hour?
It didn’t even take that much.
The recruits of the Liangzhou Guard knew that He Yan was powerful, and the images of the previous match with Huang Xiong, Jiang Jiao here were still fresh in their minds, but the current He Yan, and the past “sparring” He Yan did on the martial arts arena seemed totally different. When this teenager puts away his mischievous expressions, he is totally cold with a fierce aura that one dares to even take a glance.
She laughed and said, “The battlefield does not need fancy performances. Think clearly on how to kill, then you can do it.” Her eyes fell on Ridamuzy.
Ridamuzy stared back at her.
Slowly, the Liangzhou recruits on the stage reacted and said excitedly, “He Yan won! He Yan has killed Wala!”
“Brother He is amazing!” Cheng Lisu was caught, but he still didn’t forget to call out to He Yan, “Kill them all!”
Liang Ping and Ma Damei looked at each other, the speed of He Yan’s killing, even if he was a natural talent, was still a little too fast.
“Are you guys,” the teenager stood on the high platform, looking at the Western Qiang people and smiling, “chickening out now? Who’s next?”
At the Western Qiang’s end, no one spoke for the time being.
She then smiled again – a smile with a little provocation, “I know, betting on life, is a little scary. I didn’t expect that the warriors of the Western Qiang, who claim to be fearless, would also have times when they are afraid to take the stage. But it does not matter, I, a son of the Central Plains of Wei, have always been kind-hearted. If you really do not want to, you can admit defeat. As I said just now, just call me father, and this sparring match will end here. How about it?”
“But who is going to call me father?” He Yan stared at Ridamuzy, “Since you are their leader, how about you call?”
“Bastard!” A soldier behind Ridamuzy stepped forward and angrily rebuked.
He Yan was not afraid at all and spoke innocently, “Can’t this work?”
Wang Ba whispered, “How pleasant!”
“He is deliberately provoking his opponent,” Huang Xiong said in a deep voice, “It’s just that, in this situation, it didn’t seem necessary to do so.”
He Yan’s nature has always been this arrogant and confident. In the past, others only attributed this to her juvenile nature. Now in this situation, provoking Ridauzy was not a good step.
“I’ll compete with you.” A voice rang out from behind Ridamuzy, “Commander, Ba Zhi is willing to fight.”
Ridamuzy looked at him, without any change in expression and only said, “Go ahead.”
The man named Ba Zhi went up to the high stage of the martial arts arena.
Although he was fit, he was not as big as Wala, and he was older than Wala – in his early thirties. His body was covered in a dark cloak with his head hidden in the veil, revealing half of the chin, and even his eyebrows were not very clear. The whole person looked pale and strange, like a ghost. His voice was hoarse as if burned by fire, hard to hear as a crow’s cry.
He kicked Wala’s body off the high stage of the martial arts arena and cursed, “You’re in the way.”
The Wala’s corpse rolled down with a grunt, and he did not even look at it, but said to He Yan, “You have wounds on your body.”
He Yan’s heart sank. This man called Ba Zhi is a little more tricky than Wala.
Wala was nothing but a man with brute strength who didn’t know how to adapt to the situation. To deal with this kind of person, as long as one could catch his weakness and strike, the battle will soon be over. The most fearful thing in every battle is to meet an enemy with a brain, like the one in front of you. He can find the weaknesses in the opponent, so that every step that follows will have restraint.
He slowly raised the knife in his hand, He Yan wrapped the whip around her hand and rushed towards the other side.
In the case of Wei Huan and Wala, He Yan was in the audience and had seen the weaknesses and shortcomings of Wala in advance, so that when fighting with Wala, she could quickly and accurately settle him off. And now, she had not seen Ba Zhi, while Ba Zhi had seen everything when Wala fought against her.
In other words, Ba Zhi knew He Yan, but He Yan knew nothing about Ba Zhi.
Under his cloak, it seemed to hide a lot of other things. He Yan was cautious but this person was also very cunning. He never collided with He Yan head-on. After gaining experience from the fight of Wala, he always kept a distance from He Yan. Whenever the whip swung towards him, Ba Zhi would quickly change direction, his body was much more flexible than Wala. For a while, the iron whip could not get closer.
He Yan’s waist was already aching.
She had been injured in a fight with Ding Yi when she was in Liangzhou City previously. Then she was tricked by the traitor to go to the Bai Yue Mountain, and fought with him who was hiding in the shadows. Several times, the original wound that was about to heal, has long been cracked. To make matters worse, she was thrown into the prison of the Liangzhou Guard. The prison didn’t allow Shen Muxue to send medicine every day and due to the cold and dampness in the prison, the wound deteriorated.
When killing Wala, the force used was too great and affected the wound. For a short period of time it was okay but when it came to a longer duration just at this moment of her and Ba Zhi’s battle, it felt more and more painful. The feeling was almost reaching to the bone.
Ba Zhi smiled and said, “Why don’t you look too good? Is it because of the old wounds on your waist?”
He Yan was startled. The knife in the hand of Ba Zhi was wrapped around her whip, pulling He Yan forward. Everyone in the audience exclaimed. The knife in the hand of Ba Zhi was entangled, but the other hand did not hesitate to strike He Yan’s old injuries on her waist.
He Yan received a sturdy palm strike, but the action did not stop, the whip on her hand loosened and rolled towards Ba Zhi’s face and was avoided by him, but his veil rolled off, revealing the man’s face.
The two men stood back in unison.
The palm was firmly attached to her old wound, He Yan barely swallowed the blood in her throat, still with a smile on her face, looking at the person in front of her, mockingly said, “Tch, really ugly.”
There was no more veil to cover up Ba Zhi, revealing his true face. Half of the man’s face was good and handsome, but the other half of his face was burned by fire, pitted and pockmarked with dark red scars like centipedes, growing on his face, squeezing his features out of place.
Some people on the stage were so frightened that they cried out in shock.
The veil was removed by He Yan, his true face was exposed to the people. Ba Zhi’s face became extremely ugly, staring at He Yan’s as if he wanted to eat He Yan’s flesh and drink blood.
He Yan smiled and hooked her finger at him, “Come again!”
Ba Zhi sneered and rushed over.
The moment she moved, she knew it was not good. The strikes of Ba Zhi did not show mercy, and now her blood has fully soaked her clothes. Luckily she was wearing Lei Hou’s black suit, so it was not visible even if the blood flowed. But, if this goes on, she doesn’t know how long she will last.
In fact, the competition in the martial arts arena was never the point. Her intention was to use these “sparrings” to buy more time. If no one can withstand the Western Qiang’s scimitar, it would just become a one-sided massacre, then everything that follows will become irreversible.
She has to kill Ba Zhi then only there will be a third match.
Western Qiangs make good use of scimitars. Each person’s scimitar will be adjusted according to their body strength. Ba Zhi’s scimitar tends to be flexible, and it was not easy for He Yan’s whip to wrap around his knife.
He Yan’s whip went to wrap around Ba Zhi’s leg, and Ba Zhi said contemptuously, “To use the same move on two people, you’re too naive!” After saying that, he went around He Yan and slashed his scimitar down towards He Yan’s neck.
Unlike Wala, Ba Zhi was aiming at He Yan’s life from the very beginning and showed no half-hearted moves. He Yan pulled the whip with her two hands and the scimitar was also pulled along. Ba Zhi grinned and stepped back. He Yan couldn’t avoid but to watch the man’s right hand going inside his clout to take out another knife.
This knife was only as long as a person’s thumb and as thin as paper. Rather than a knife, it was more like a blade. If one was not close, the knife would be difficult to see. The palm hit He Yan’s waist, but apart from her, no one knew the sharp weapon was also pressed in her flesh.
She felt the pain in her waist, and suddenly her fist punched past, the face of the Ba Zhi, he was close to her eyes, as he laughed, “Does it hurt, if it hurts you should just–“
His words stopped abruptly.
He Yan’s tightly clenched fist was against his throat, and she wouldn’t let go of it.
Ba Zhi struggled frantically, but he didn’t know when He Yan tied his legs to her legs with the whip. The more he struggled, the more his eyes turned white, and in the end, he spat blood and gradually stopped moving.
With a blank expression, He Yan pushed her fist in again. Only after confirming the person beneath was no longer breathing, then did she let go of her hand.
Ba Zhi’s neck revealed a little iron-like thing, only a little part, the rest can no longer be seen, as it was inserted deep into the throat. It was a thistle.
When He Yan came, she picked it up from the ground.
There are only benefits and no disadvantages in concealing weapons on the body anytime and anywhere. One does not know what kind of enemies they will encounter, or what kind of things will come next or when they will encounter them. The only thing one can do is to increase the chances of living.
She couldn’t get close to Ba Zhi, because Ba Zhi was always guarding against her. The last blow was nothing more than a strategy of hurting the enemy by 800, self-loss of a thousand. It was a lose-lose situation. But she was in a better situation than Ba Zhi – she only had a blade inserted in her waist’s old injury, while Ba Zhi has lost his life.
“Since you have an ultimate card, why would you think I don’t?” She muttered.
A few moments later, He Yan pulled the whip out of Ba Zhi and herself with difficulty, rewinding it back around her wrist. She stood up dressed in black, she was not as lively as when wearing the red suit but was a bit more solemn. She also stood upright, not looking half tired, playing with the iron whip between her wrists, smiling lightly, saying exactly the same words as before.
“He’s dead. I’ve won. The winner has been decided. Next.”
