Chapter Eighteen: Pyrrhic Victory

At this moment, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry in black armor instantly became the focal point of the entire battlefield. Like a sharp blade, they plunged fiercely into the heart of the Qin army’s main force. Advancing relentlessly, wherever they passed, blades rose and fell, leaving scarcely a soul alive in their wake.

In just a short while, the massive force of a hundred thousand Qin soldiers had been torn open by this crimson giant tiger, leaving a gaping wound in their ranks. Compared to the Green Forest Army that Li Qiutong and her companions had once faced, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry exuded an even greater sense of oppression, moving with more swiftness and aggression. Moreover, Huo Qing was an exceptionally powerful commander. If Bai Qi was the most feared general of Qin, then Huo Qing was the most highly revered general of Han.

While others in Han were still entangled in struggles for power, each fighting their own battles, Huo Qing flatly refused to join their internal conflicts. He rejected recruitment offers from all three sides, resolutely leading his troops to the frontier, where he has stood guard over Han’s borders ever since.

Since his arrival at the Moonlit Pass, Huo Qing had repelled nearly a hundred invasions from Qin, without suffering a single defeat. To the common people of Han, he was more than a general—he was Han’s guardian deity, a hero. But to the people of Qin, Huo Qing was an insurmountable wall; countless assaults had failed, and this undefeated war god remained an ever-present shadow in the hearts of Qin’s commanders.

Now, that very shadow stalked the battlefield like the Reaper himself, mercilessly harvesting Qin lives. The crimson tiger’s fangs would once again leave a searing memory on the Qin ranks. Even Bai Qi’s near-suicidal soldiers, faced with certain death, began to falter, jostling to distance themselves from this demonic force. Though they had forced themselves to overcome their fear of death, the airborne roar of the giant tiger awakened in them a primal dread of the truly strong.

Only moments before, the Qin army had marched in neat, fearless formation. But now, wherever the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry advanced, the Qin troops scattered in panic. A few true zealots rushed to meet them head-on, only to perish like moths to a flame, falling beneath the blades of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.

“The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry fears nothing! Kill them all!”

While the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry reveled in the slaughter, no one noticed that among the fleeing Qin soldiers, some were not retreating to the rear but instead making for Moonlit Pass.

On a distant mountain, Bai Qi watched the battle below with an expressionless gaze. The cold night wind made his guards shiver uncontrollably, but the biting gusts only ruffled Bai Qi’s hair; he stood motionless, as if carved from stone, utterly undisturbed by the chill.

“General, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry are almost at the central camp,” a nearby officer said, unable to bear the sight any longer.

Bai Qi remained silent, his eyes fixed on Huo Qing as he fought fiercely in the melee.

Seeing that Bai Qi gave no reply, the officer dared not speak further and stood quietly by, bracing himself against the cold.

Meanwhile, Huo Qing, having just slain a master warrior, realized he had ventured too deep into enemy lines. It would be unwise to press further. Raising his long blade, he shouted to his men, “Retreat!”

At his command, the thousand-strong cavalry did not hesitate or question, instantly shifting direction and cutting their way back along their original path. The corpses of Qin soldiers carpeted the land around them. Even the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, perpetrators of this carnage, felt a shudder at the sight. Such slaughter, so reminiscent of harvesting wheat, was a staggering spectacle. The death toll, perhaps not the highest in the history of Eastern Martial Continent’s wars, was nonetheless a massacre of a kind not seen in nearly a century.

Perhaps it was a sign that another era of chaos was soon to begin.

As Huo Qing and his men broke through the Qin ranks, intending to bring news of victory back to the city, they suddenly saw, just a hundred meters ahead, thousands of troops clad in black-gold armor, brandishing pitch-black halberds, the gleaming gold catching the eye even in the night. The golden dragon banners fluttering above them left no doubt: these were the Iron Cavalry of Qin.

“How could this be? How could the Qin Iron Cavalry suddenly appear on the road back to Moonlit Pass?”

In that moment, a chill gripped Huo Qing’s heart. Ordinarily, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry’s speed meant they could escape the heavily armored Qin Iron Cavalry, even if they couldn’t defeat them. The Iron Cavalry, being heavy troops, could never catch the light cavalry of the Tiger and Leopard. But now, the armored horsemen blocked the only route back to the city, while the reorganized, 100,000-strong Qin force pressed from behind.

Huo Qing was trapped, unable to advance or retreat. He could only marvel at Bai Qi’s ruthless stratagem: hiding five thousand Iron Cavalry among the ordinary vanguard, sending waves of regular soldiers to die under the blades of the Tiger and Leopard, all to buy time for the Iron Cavalry to gather and block the path of retreat.

Now, Huo Qing had no choice but to fight through, taking his thousand Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to face five thousand Qin Iron Cavalry head-on.

“Brothers, are you afraid?” he shouted.

The answer was unanimous: “The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry fears nothing!”

Ahead, Zhu Long stared grimly at the approaching Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. As their commander, he himself had not known of Bai Qi’s plan until his men arrived one by one from the fleeing soldiers. Only then did he realize the ferocity of Bai Qi’s move. But there was no time to ponder; the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was upon them.

A golden dragon soared into the air, outwardly resembling Zhu Long’s martial spirit, but far greater in size and realism than before. Every scale was visible, each whisker danced in the wind, radiating a majestic aura.

The two armies clashed. The five-clawed golden dragon and the blood-red giant tiger tangled together in midair. Huo Qing’s great blade once more met Zhu Long’s battle halberd. But this time, Zhu Long was not alone—five thousand warriors stood in formation behind him.

“How now, General Huo? Did destroying my troops just now please you?” Zhu Long taunted.

Huo Qing retorted, “Vanquished foe! I should have ended you with a single stroke!”

“Try it!” With a surge of strength, Zhu Long’s golden martial energy overwhelmed Huo Qing’s crimson force, sending Huo Qing and his mount reeling back dozens of paces. The weaker cavalrymen were knocked to the ground, the giant tiger ensnared by the golden dragon, unable to break free.

“By my command—switch to wedge formation! Pierce their line!” At his order, the thousand cavalry closed into a wedge behind Huo Qing and charged forward once more.

It was the best option Huo Qing had; the worst likely outcome was that at least half would not make it out alive. The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry hurled itself against the iron wall before them, not one flinching or hesitating, plunging into the mass of armored horsemen.

Their light armor could not withstand the Qin’s blows; countless Tiger and Leopard Cavalrymen were cleaved down by heavy halberds, dying just as the Qin soldiers had fallen to their blades before.

The red tiger struggled desperately, but the more it fought, the more its form began to fade.

With every meter they advanced, one more comrade fell. Huo Qing’s heart was heavy with guilt; he had not even time to look back to see who had died, only hearing the familiar screams, choking back tears and pain as he pressed on. Outnumbered five to one, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry paid a terrible price, but finally broke through the enemy line.

The giant tiger that escaped was battered and incomplete; only five hundred Tiger and Leopard Cavalry made it to the safety of Moonlit Pass.

Zhu Long watched them flee, but gave no order to pursue. Even if they could catch them, the city walls bristled with archers, making pursuit fruitless.

Releasing his martial energy, Zhu Long glanced at the bodies of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry around him and sighed. “They are truly a formidable force, in both strength and spirit. But such is war.” He looked up at Bai Qi, calm and unruffled atop the distant ridge, a hint of regret on his face, before leading his troops away.

On the mountaintop—

“General, shall we withdraw our troops?”

“Yes, the objective has been achieved. Zhu Long did well—record him for first-class merit.” With that, Bai Qi turned and walked down the mountain.

Meanwhile, Huo Qing, having returned to Moonlit Pass, stood atop the city wall, gazing silently at the field where countless soldiers had fallen, an inexplicable pain welling in his heart.

The night’s fierce battle had finally ended. The Qin army on the other side had withdrawn, leaving behind only corpses strewn across the field and streams of blood that ran like rivers.

Sunrise bathed the battlefield in golden light, illuminating the scene that had been hellish only hours before. The rays fell on Huo Qing’s weary face, where blood still trickled down, not yet dried.

“General, our casualties have been tallied,” his deputy reported cautiously.

“Speak.”

“Over five hundred Tiger and Leopard Cavalry killed, more than a hundred city defenders dead, and countless wounded.”

Huo Qing closed his eyes in resignation, silent for a long moment.

Eventually, he spoke, his voice heavy and exhausted: “Give every body the best burial we can. Use the savings from these years to pay their families the highest compensation.”

“Yes, General.”

Wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve, Huo Qing turned and left the wall.

In the Qin camp, the deputy, too, was reporting to Bai Qi.

“General, in last night’s battle, we lost about ten thousand regular soldiers. The Iron Cavalry suffered no casualties.” The deputy himself was shocked by the figure. The day before, their army had seemed invincible, but now a tenth was gone. Only now did he truly realize the man before him was a god of slaughter—ruthless to both foe and friend.

“I see. Send a full report back to the capital,” Bai Qi replied, without the slightest ripple of emotion, as if the deaths of ten thousand meant nothing to him.