But Tuoba Zhu’s resistance, in Chen Mo’s eyes, was no more than child’s play.
Chen Mo didn’t dodge, allowing Tuoba Zhu’s sword to pierce, while simultaneously kicking towards him.
"Clang!"
"Bang!"
The two sounds rang out in succession, with barely a second apart. Tuoba Zhu’s stabbing sword was blocked by Chen Mo’s protective Spiritual Qi, emitting a clear, crisp sound.
Meanwhile, Chen Mo’s kick landed on Tuoba Zhu’s head, shattering his protective Innate Spiritual Qi in an instant. Just at that moment, Tuoba Zhu was rising on his horse, and under the force of Chen Mo’s kick, he was sent flying high.
With a light tap of his toes, Chen Mo leapt into the air, dodging the long spears of Tuoba Zhu’s personal soldiers stabbing in unison.
Tuoba Zhu’s warhorse was turned into a pincushion in an instant, letting out a mournful scream before heavily collapsing to the ground.
Chen Mo soared above Tuoba Zhu.
Earlier, Chen Mo couldn’t exert his full strength in that kick, so he didn’t kick Tuoba Zhu to death, but it was enough to knock him unconscious.
Under the night sky, a flash of sword light swept by.
Chen Mo’s foot pressed down on Tuoba Zhu’s body, still mid-air, as he executed the Wandering Dragon Step, drifting backwards.
Tuoba Zhu crashed heavily to the ground, splitting in two, his head rolling three or four zhang before stopping, blood gushing like a pillar from the smooth neck wound.
Chen Mo landed back on his horse, glanced at the "enemy general’s" corpse, and shouted loudly, "Your leader is dead, surrender quickly!"
Whoa!
The Jin Xia Garrison, seeing their Prince dead, completely gave up resistance, their formation began to collapse, scattering and fleeing, discarding helmets and armor.
"Zhao Liang, leave five thousand troops for me to control Haiyan Pass, and wait for Chang En’s reinforcements to arrive. The rest, follow me in pursuit!"
"Yes."
"Charge!"
...
Having taken Haiyan Pass, Chen Mo wasn’t satisfied. He planned to continue the night raid while Jin Xia was still unresponsive, intending to seize several more Jin Xia cities.
As for the fleeing remnants of the Jin Xia forces, if they weren’t on the same path, Chen Mo wouldn’t continue the pursuit; as the saying goes, speed is essential in war, capturing cities first to prevent Jin Xia from responding by fortifying and clearing the land, leaving the army without resource replenishment.
...
Midnight.
The sky was already dark, with even the moon having disappeared.
Black Water City.
This was Jin Xia’s second city after entering Haiyan Pass, separated by only fifty li.
But compared to Haiyan Pass’s towering walls and secure gates, Black Water City’s walls were merely two zhang high. Due to iron scarcity, Jin Xia’s iron was used on blades, and Black Water City’s gates lacked even a thousand-pound gate.
And because Black Water City wasn’t far from Haiyan Pass, the garrison inside numbered only a few hundred.
Plus, at this time, everyone was asleep, with only a dozen or so soldiers on guard on the walls, relatively lax, chatting and joking.
The flames in the surrounding fire basins flickered with the night wind, occasionally accompanied by bird calls from the woods outside the city.
Suddenly, the sound of many bird calls rose outside the city, and the ground began to shake.
The squad commander of Black Water City furrowed his brows slightly, approaching the wall, raising a torch to look outside.
Just then, as the night wind calmed slightly, the fire in the fire basins on the walls brightened, and what should have been an empty expanse outside the city suddenly revealed a large force, like shadow soldiers emerging from hell.
And above this large troop, was a flock of birds startled from the woods.
"Whoosh..."
The squad commander’s face changed drastically, just about to shout; the sound of something cutting through the air appeared by his ear. Behind the squad commander, a soldier lazily leaning against the battlement, sitting on the ground, saw his pupils suddenly widen, witnessing a feathered arrow pierce the commander’s forehead.
"Thud..."
The squad commander fell to the ground, blood streaming down from his brow.
"Enemy attack!"
"Enemy attack!"
The soldier who witnessed this stood up in panic, so startled that he couldn’t hold his weapon, dropping it on the ground, and hurriedly picked it up again.
"Boom boom boom..."
Some soldiers, noticing the scene, quickly beat the nearby war drum to sound the alarm.
Meanwhile, the speed of the war horses was incredibly fast. In this brief moment, Chen Mo, leading the charge, with a few Imperial Guard soldiers had already reached under the city walls.
"Break it for me!"
Chen Mo shouted sternly, slashing out an invisible blade light, and with a loud bang, the seemingly tall city gate shattered into pieces, wood chips flying everywhere.
Chen Mo led his people into the city, commencing a new round of slaughter.
Soon, Chen Mo had gained control of Black Water City.
After leaving a small force with Sun Meng to guard it, Chen Mo continued his rapid attack towards the direction of the Jin Xia Capital.
...
At dawn.
Gansha City, a major city of Jin Xia with a population exceeding a hundred thousand, located over a hundred li from the Border Pass, was peaceful, with all four gates open. Nearby and other city merchants were transporting goods over, along with commoners entering the city.
Because today was Gansha City’s once-a-month grand market, nearby commoners would come to Gansha City to trade, merchants bringing well-prepared goods to market, aiming for big profits.
As one of the more prosperous and bustling cities of Jin Xia, this city’s garrison was more numerous than Black Water City, but being away from the Border Pass, not excessively so, only five thousand, and as local troops, they weren’t deployed for external operations, hence not only was their equipment poor, but their battle experience was also lacking.
Though the sky was just brightening, the city was already extremely bustling.