Comprehensive Martial Arts: Read to become a sage, use martial arts to break the ban

Chapter 174
When Dong Shao personally arrived at the shallow battlefield, the three of Xiao Luo had already hidden in the sand dunes.

This sand dune is very wide, except for the official road in the middle that has been opened up for thousands of years, many of the sand dunes on both sides are living sand, which is constantly moving with the monsoon and heavy rain.

Unfamiliar locals often get stuck in the sand and are swallowed by live sand, let alone cavalry.

With the power of war horses and people, it is easy to collapse the entire sand dune.

Dong Shao asked the sergeants to hold up torches and light them along the official road. There was no sign of the Central Plains assassins, and they disappeared into the sand dunes.

The night passed slowly.

A few pale clouds rose from the sky, and day came.

As far as the eye can see, there is no shadow in the endless sand dunes, even a bird is unwilling to land on the sand dunes.

Dong Shaoping has never suffered such a defeat in his life.

"Calculate the number of casualties, and head south in an hour!"

In Dong Shao's 30-strong army, there was a deputy commander named Hua Yongsi who came from Beiliang.

It is said that his father was an important general under the King of Beiliang, and he was severely punished by the King of Beiliang for making a small mistake. His father felt humiliated and burned himself to death after returning home.

Hua Yongsi's mother is from Beimang, and took him back to Beimang.

When he was full, he was asked to join the army, vowing to let him fight back to Beiliang, and kill Xu Xiao to avenge his father.

There are also two commanders, Damtie and Sha Youseng, both his childhood partners, native grassland men.

Dong Shao was born in a poor herdsman family. He has two older brothers and one younger sister.

They did not have their own cattle and sheep, and their father took their elder brother to work for the lord in exchange for food for the family of six.

One winter, when a blizzard came, my father and elder brother were engulfed by the blizzard in order to protect the flocks of sheep in the lord's house.

When the snow melted in the spring of the second year, I saw the statue of the father holding the lamb in his arms.

The two elder brothers hugged each other tightly. They had been frozen for so long that they couldn't be separated after the snow melted.

The lord did not give Dong Shao's mother a pension because of this, but because of the death of the flock of sheep, he took his sister away to pay off the debt.

My sister was only 11 years old that year.

Not long after, when Dong Shao finished his work and went to visit his younger sister, he found that the younger sister had already dressed up as a woman.

The younger sister became the lord's youngest concubine.

Within two years, my sister became pregnant and had dystocia, resulting in two deaths.

When the mother heard the news, she sank into the river by herself.

In a family of six, Dong Shao was the only one left in three years.

After hastily burying his mother, Dong Shao joined the army, fought in the army for 20 years, and finally became the military god of Beimang.

He didn't have the opportunity to learn martial arts, and even the saber and long spear commonly used in the army, he couldn't make them better than others.

But he is still the best commander in the hearts of the Empress.

On the day he was promoted to commander-in-chief, he found the tribe where the lord lived, dragged the lord out, and hanged him on a tree stump.

All the property was given to the herdsmen, and several sons and daughters of the lord accompanied the lord to the underworld.

No one dared to comment on Dong Shao's killing.

The sun rises.

Hua Yongsi, Damutie, and Sha Youseng brought over the list of personnel they had counted.

"Dong Shuai, among the [-] Iron Buddhas, [-] died, [-] were injured, [-] escaped, and [-] remain."

"Fifteen thousand hussars died, thirty-four thousand were wounded, twenty-eight thousand fled, and 22 remained."

In other words, one person killed an iron pagoda and more than 7 Qingqi.

Dong Shao's heart sank.

It has been a disastrous defeat before sending troops, how to fight this battle?
Not to mention how to explain to Her Majesty the Empress, such a tragic death has caused the morale of the entire army to fall to the bottom, and no one will believe that this battle can be won.

Even when he heard the number just now, Dong Shao wanted to run away.

If he has a way to escape.

"Dong Shuai?"

Damtie's cry brought Dong Shao back to his senses.

"How long will it take for the people from Qijian Yuefu to arrive?"

"I don't know, if calculated according to the fastest time, we can arrive here in a few hours."

"Damtie, you and Fifth Fox stay here, and when the people from Qijian Yuefu arrive, let them search this dune."

He said to Fifth Fox again: "Dunhuang City Song Xiaoyu is optimistic about me, and the logistics supplies must be available."

The two took orders separately.

Dong Shao glanced at the distance again, there should be a golden carriage parked there.

"Send someone to tell Ninth Prince that he will follow the army, and when he reaches the border, he still needs his Northern Li spies."

Damtie arranged for someone to go.

"The army is assembled, let's go, go straight down to Cloud City."

More than 20 troops quickly adjusted their formation, like a long snake, lined up on the passage from Beimang south to Beili.

Among the quicksand.

Xiao Luo carried Li Fan on his back, Li Hanyi supported Xiao Luo, and the three of them trekked hard.

"Fan's poison may need to be treated by a doctor."

"I've heard about Tianmowu before. It's not a poison that kills people immediately. It just makes people insane. If they have evil thoughts, it's hard for gods to cure them."

"Fan has practiced Taoism for many years, and besides, he is in the half-light, so he should not be eroded too deeply by the demon dance."

"But he never woke up."

Xiao Luo's blood was already in the air, his whole body was exhausted, and he trembled almost every step he took.

But he still went on step by step.

On the contrary, Li Hanyi slowly regained some of his strength after recuperating these days.

The two bypassed the official road, picked up those sand dunes that no one seemed to have walked before, and walked slowly forward.

"Xiao Luo, have you noticed the weirdness of this sand dune?"

"You mean, the Northern Mang cavalry didn't come after them?"

"Well, they clearly know that you can't hold on anymore, and if they don't chase you, it may have something to do with this sand dune."

Not long after the words were spoken, Xiao Luo fell rapidly.

He was carrying one person on his back, and the weight of the two of them had already exceeded the bearing of the living sand. In an instant, his feet sank, reaching his knees.

Li Hanyi stretched out his hand to pull, and then slammed it vigorously, pulling Xiao Luo out and throwing him onto another sand dune.

Unexpectedly, that piece of sand dune has fallen into it with a rush, and Li Hanyi himself has also sunk into the sand dune after all the hard work.

"It's living sand!"

The Tianzhan in Li Hanyi's hand went downwards, and with this force, he pulled himself out first.

Then he jumped to Xiao Luo's side and pulled him out again.

"Lie down!"

Xiao Luo had been prepared for a long time, the moment he left the sand dune, he rolled down on the spot with Li Fan in his arms, and quickly slid down the sand dune.

Although it was living sand, lying on it, the weight of the body was spread evenly, coupled with the rapid sliding, it avoided falling again.

The two of them rolled down to the bottom of the dunes before climbing up.

Fortunately, the bottom of the valley is solid.

After some shaking by them, the sand dunes sank in several places, one after another, affecting one by one, and soon, the entire sand dune changed its original appearance.

Like an earthquake, mountains become valleys, and valleys rise into peaks.

"Amazing."

Li Hanyi glared at him, full of regret: "I didn't die at the hands of Beimang people, but almost died in the sand dunes, what a miscalculation."

"Hahaha."

"You can still laugh."

"We finally made it out alive, didn't we?"

"Go on. There is no water or food here. We have to get out of this dune before dark. Otherwise, if we encounter live sand after dark, we will definitely die."

"If you encounter a sandstorm, you will die."

"Why do you have a crow's mouth like Li Fan's?"

Where is Xiao Luo's crow's mouth, he tried to hold back his exhaustion, just to pass on the optimism of life to Li Hanyi.

Today is a sunny day.

Although the scorching sun evaporated the last drop of water from their bodies, it also gave them the correct orientation.

Go south in the direction of the hot sun.

Every step he took, Xiao Luo felt that this was his last step.

But after each step, he took one more.

Li Fan on his back was like a mountain, and he stretched his neck desperately to take a breath for himself.

The endless desert.

Boundless yellow sand.

Infinity, infinity and infinity.

Finally, before the last rays of sunlight disappeared, a piece of green appeared in front of Xiao Luo's eyes.

They have reached the mountains in the clouds.

Feeling relieved, the last bit of strength disappeared, and Xiao Luo passed out.

When he woke up, he was already in the forest.

The sun leaked a few feeble rays of light from the forest.

Xiao Luo leaned against the trunk of a big tree, and Li Fan leaned on his shoulder.

He licked his lips, Li Hanyi was feeding him water with a piece of taro leaf.

He greedily drank the water from the leaf before asking, "Is there a source of water here?"

"Well, good luck, there is an underground cave here, and a little clear water came out."

"Feed some to Li Fanbing too."

Li Hanyi nodded, walked three or four feet away with the taro leaves, and bent down to catch the water.

After a long time, he came back carefully holding the taro leaves.

Xiao Luo raised Li Fan's head and poured clean water into it.

"He drank it."

Xiao Luo breathed a sigh of relief.

"After all, if you are a cultivator, the demon dance poison in him is not too heavy."

"Maybe in a day or two, he'll wake up on his own."

Because the Yunzhong Mountains are located on the border between the two countries, they are often patrolled by the army. To the north of the mountains are sand dunes, almost uninhabited.

The south of the mountain stretches for hundreds of miles, and there is Yunzhong Army Town. Except for the military and logistics personnel, there are almost no ordinary people living there.

Therefore, these thousands of miles of mountains are extremely quiet.

There are many wild animals in the forest, as well as mushrooms and fruits. Especially in the current season, there are bright red fruits everywhere.

They didn't have silver needles on their bodies, and they didn't dare to eat most of the fruits except the apricots and pears they knew.

Time is blocked in the forest, and it is not as easy to identify the direction as in the wilderness.

However, according to the lushness of the branches and the growth direction of the moss under the tree, it is possible to distinguish the north from the south.

After a night of rest, drinking some water and eating a few fruits, Xiao Luo recovered a lot of energy and blood.

"Let's go on."

Still carrying Li Fan on his back, he took Tian Zhan back and used it as a crutch.

Li Hanyi asked softly: "Your red sword, after sucking your blood, can you temporarily enter the Immortal Ascension Profound Realm?"

"Yes, this is also the reason why I can kill those masters."

"I didn't expect such a secret technique to exist in the world."

Xiao Luo thought to himself, this is not a secret method, but a system, it is a pity that it cannot be shared with Li Hanyi.

Thinking of the system, he felt melancholy again. This year's mission has not yet been handed in. After the year, the chaos will be quelled, followed by the defeat of Yuzhou, and then thousands of miles away to Beimang. He really has no time to read.

He could only ask Chen Deming for advice after returning to Tianzi.

I don't know what's going on with Tianzi now, can Wei Yun deal with Emperor Ming?

Alas, it's useless to think about it, I'd better rush to Yunzhong, the Beimang army has already fought over.

What Xiao Luo and Li Hanyi didn't expect was that this mountain range was really too big.

The branches and leaves are lush and uninhabited, and it is difficult to find a small path. In addition, I can't take Li Fan to rush forward, so I can only be patient, use Tianzhan and Iron Horse Glacier to cut out a path that can accommodate walking, and move forward with difficulty.

The next day, they hunted a plump pheasant, cooked it over a fire, and had a hearty meal.

Most of the pheasant was eaten, and the calories were supplemented, and Xiao Luo instantly felt that he was revived with full blood.

On the third day, another rabbit and a newborn roe deer were hunted.

Li Hanyi couldn't bear it very much.

Xiao Luo had no choice but to put the roe deer back into the nest.

Instead, I went to the tree to dig out a few bird eggs.

No oil or salt, no matter whether it is hare or pheasant, it tastes tasteless, only bird eggs are not affected, and after roasting, there is a tangy aroma.

Xiao Luo had a hearty meal.

Just after they finished eating the eggs, and within half a day of walking, people from Qijian Yuefu chased after them.

A skinny man in black picked up a bird's egg shell on the ground and smelled it a few times.

"Xijiangyue, is that them?"

The eyes of the man in black flickered, and his tone became urgent: "It's them, only the people in the Central Plains like to eat it cooked, and the herdsmen in Beimang prefer to drink raw bird eggs."

"Finally caught up with them."

Following the man in black were two swordsmen, an old man and a young man. The old man was over fifty, he was Taiping Ling's junior, and he hadn't been out of the rivers and lakes for ten years.

His ci card is Wind into the Pine.

Before Taiping Ling left for Yinshan Mountain, he was specially invited out of the mountain to do his last bit of effort for Chess Sword Yuefu.

The youngest one is Feng Rusong's sword attendant, he doesn't have a name for his poem, and he doesn't belong to Qijian Yuefu, his name is Le'er.

Xi Jiangyue served as the commander-in-chief of this hunting mission. There were 38 people above the King Kong level in Qijian Yuefu, and all of them were dispatched this time.

Divided into three roads to chase the cloud.

There were originally 13 people on Xijiangyue's road, but after entering the forest, they were divided into three roads again.

The other two roads each had five people, and Xi Jiangyue led Feng Rusong and his disciples forward together.

Seeing that it was getting late, Feng Rusong hesitated. He was good at tracking and rarely lived in the wild. His intuition told him that it was easy to make mistakes in the forest.

But Xi Jiangyue insisted on chasing him.

"Li Hanyi was seriously injured in the battle with Huang Qing, and another Taoist was hit by the demon dance, all supported by Wei Lang. But when Wei Lang rushed out of Dunhuang City, he had exhausted his strength, even if his realm did not fall, he would still lose his strength. If you don't catch them at this time, you will be in the cloud if you walk out of the mountains."

"General Dong's army should have arrived outside Yunzhong City at this time, and he will throw himself into a trap when he returns."

"However, if General Dong wins, the credit will not be credited to Chess Sword Yuefu, and we will still face punishment."

Feng Rusong sighed, he knew Xi Jiangyue was right.

"Let's go then."

Feng Rusong took Le'er's hand and protected Le'er by his side.

Originally, he didn't want to bring this sword servant, but Le'er insisted on following him.

Xi Jiangyue lit up the fire folder, showing the traces of the sword slash in front: "It's in this direction, you can see that the traces are still fresh, we will soon catch up with them."

(End of this chapter)