War Is Just Accounting

Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh...

Several dozen dense, snake-shaped crossbow bolts shot out simultaneously, emitting a sharp hiss like venomous serpents flicking their tongues as they bit toward Han Wang.

As an elite of the Black Tiger Battalion, Han Wang was well prepared for this.

With a shifting sequence of steps, he kicked a dozen corpses of fallen soldiers into the air.

This was not to use them to block the bolts, but to serve as mid-air footholds.

Swish, swish, swish-

Han Wang leaped upward, stepping on the airborne corpses to twist and maneuver through the air, evading the vast majority of the incoming snake-shaped crossbow bolts.

The remaining few were all deflected by the specialized armor and protective gear covering his body.

"How is this possible?! Could there really be such an expert among the Zhuhu cultivators in this place?"

Han Wang's fluid maneuvers were beyond the capabilities of ordinary army cultivators; he was clearly an elite of the Zhuhu forces.

"Damn it! If the Snake Crossbows don't hit, the Human Mines cannot track the target!"

After firing a round, the Snake Crossbows began to reload.

"Fourth realm! I will go slay him!"

Just as the Donghuang forces prepared to make their move, two figures that had been lying in ambush suddenly burst forth.

"Not good, there is-"

Pfft!

A Donghuang cultivator had only opened his mouth halfway before his body was utterly crushed by a tremendous force.

After instantly killing this sixth-realm cultivator, Yang Guanfeng rapidly closed the distance toward the two late-stage, eighth-realm Qi Gathering cultivators on the Donghuang side.

"Courting death!"

"Arrogant!"

The two were enraged, immediately hurling two techniques forward.

Yang Guanfeng neither dodged nor evaded. Using his body as a shield, he relied on his powerful physical constitution to weather the two techniques head-on.

Though the impacts left two more bloody wounds on his flesh, they allowed him to close the distance. He threw two streaks of spiritual light onto their bodies, completing the mark.

On the other side, dozens of golden threads shot across the area the exact moment Yang Guanfeng struck.

As a princess of the Wangchao, Yingxuan practiced cultivation methods and techniques that were entirely of Spirit Communion quality. Even though she had not yet mastered the Spirit-Commanding Method, their power was still terrifying.

Her eyes gleamed with golden light as she chanted a technique formula, then suddenly pulled her hand back with a fierce jerk.

The golden threads danced in a wild frenzy. In an instant, every cultivator below the fifth realm of Qi Gathering and all mortal soldiers within reach had their bodies severed into several pieces.

"Run!"

Seeing the tide turn against them, the remaining two late-stage cultivators prepared to flee the area.

Yet the moment they turned around, a low, howling whistle rushed toward them like the whisper of death.

"Get down!"

Bang! Boom-

Yang Guanfeng slammed Yingxuan, who had reacted a beat too slow, to the ground. A split second later, a deafening explosion erupted, causing the earth to shudder.

Once the blast subsided, Yang Guanfeng pulled up Yingxuan, who had taken a mouthful of dirt, and rushed toward the center of the impact zone.

Guided by the spiritual light marks, the Tiger Cannon had struck the two fleeing Donghuang cultivators squarely.

At this moment, one's body had been blown completely in half, while the other had sustained heavy injuries to his left side and had fallen into a deathly unconsciousness.

Ignoring his own bleeding arm, Yang Guanfeng immediately took out a life-preserving healing Pill and sent it into the unconscious cultivator's mouth.

"Squad Leader, use this."

Yingxuan wiped the mud from her face and drew a green Pill from her waist. "Once you swallow this, your wounds will heal instantly without leaving a single scar."

Yang Guanfeng knew the quality of her Pill was bound to be extraordinary, but he did not accept it. "I appreciate the sentiment, but put the Pill away. For wounds of this degree, there is no need to use such a good thing."

With that, he drew a paper packet from his Storage Bag and smeared a handful of gray powder across the gashes on his arm.

The two wounds left by the enemy techniques quickly stopped bleeding, beginning to scab over under the effects of the medicinal powder.

Seeing this, Yingxuan could only retrieve her Pill. Following Yang Guanfeng's instructions, she hoisted the heavily injured Donghuang cultivator onto her back.

Without the restriction of the Snake Crossbows, the threat of the Human Mines to Han Wang and the others plummeted. The battlefield quickly became a one-sided situation, and the Donghuang soldiers began to flee in defeat.

But in the rear, they were intercepted by Yang Guanfeng and Yingxuan. Before long, the Donghuang troops threw down their weapons one after another and surrendered as captives.

With this victory, the Zhuhu forces lost one mid-stage cultivator and suffered over three hundred and forty casualties among the soldiers.

They had slain one early-stage, three mid-stage, and one late-stage Donghuang cultivator, captured one late-stage cultivator alive, annihilated over four hundred enemy soldiers, and taken more than two thousand eight hundred prisoners.

While sweeping the battlefield, Yang Guanfeng patted the shoulder of the surviving cultivator.

"Now I can ask you. What is your name?"

The cultivator blanked, his voice trembling slightly. "Squad Leader, my name is Fang Yu."

Han Wang also walked over with a smile at this moment. "Brother Fang, welcome to the front lines."

"Th-thank you."

Fang Yu looked at the severed remains of the cultivator who had been laughing and chatting with him just hours ago, now stuffed into a bag, as well as the fallen soldiers lying all over the ground. He felt somewhat bitter in his heart.

"Squad Leader, since we have a weapon as formidable as the Tiger Cannon, why couldn't we simply open fire in this direction from the start? Wouldn't that have saved many lives?"

Fang Yu hesitated for a moment before finally asking the confusion in his heart.

Han Wang let out a snort of laughter, while Yingxuan opened her mouth to explain, "Because it isn't worth the cost. The cost of a single Tiger Cannon shot is around five thousand Spirit Crystals. If it cannot kill two or more late-stage cultivators, it is purely a waste."

"This... five thousand!?"

Fang Yu revealed a look of astonishment, suddenly realizing just how naive his thoughts had been.

"To put it plainly, war is actually just calculating accounts-how to use as little money as possible to exchange for more of the enemy's money."

Yang Guanfeng called for the group to return, speaking as they walked. "Why do we not eat Pills when injured and only apply medicinal powder? Why can we not use the Tiger Cannons on a massive scale? Why do we not carry Talismans on us? In the end, it all comes down to controlling costs."

"On the front lines, human life is the cheapest thing. We might be worth a bit of money, but not much."

He pointed toward the sack holding the remains of the cultivator killed by the Human Mine. "His family will receive a casualty compensation of four hundred Spirit Crystals. You and Yingxuan are also at this price. Han Wang has more military merits on him so he's slightly more expensive-probably around eight or nine hundred. As for me, I might be worth over three thousand."

"Being able to capture a late-stage cultivator alive to take back today is considered a profit."

"It is the same for Donghuang. They have actually developed something with the same power as the Tiger Cannon, but because they lack our Zhuhu's core techniques, a single shot of that thing costs nearly ten thousand Spirit Crystals. Unless late-stage cultivators gather in a crowd and stand still waiting to die, using it is purely burning money."

After Yang Guanfeng's explanation, Fang Yu revealed a look of sudden realization.

"So that is how it is. Thank you for the guidance, Squad Leader. I have learned much."

Once the four returned to the garrison, Yang Guanfeng, as the cultivator squad leader, reported the details of the battle to the camp commander.

The subsequent distribution of military merits would be issued in a few days.

"Squad Leader, we are missing one person now. Will another be assigned to us?"

During the night patrol, Fang Yu asked.

Yang Guanfeng shook his head. "According to the scale of the military camp here, five army cultivators is already exceeding the standard. Four is barely justifiable. However, since we captured an enemy late-stage cultivator alive this time, the superiors might assign someone else down."

"I see..."

Fang Yu's eyes dimmed somewhat.

When he learned that Yang Guanfeng and Han Wang had already stayed on the front lines for ten long years, he felt that his future was pitch black, and it was even possible he would die right here.

"Since You Have Come, Settle In. Neither you nor I have a choice. Since we have no choice, we must do our best and play this terrible hand of cards well."

Yang Guanfeng saw his low spirits and spoke up to comfort him.

Fang Yu nodded heavily. "The Squad Leader is right! Rather than adding useless worries, it is far more practical to establish more military merits!"

In the month following this battle, the garrison where Yang Guanfeng and the others were stationed went through six more small-scale skirmishes.

Under the four's increasingly skilled coordination, they successfully resisted the Donghuang army's attacks, concluding with minor victories.

The second month, their entire garrison received orders to head to the central front lines to participate in a large-scale campaign.

This campaign was fought for a full twenty days. The corpses of the dead and injured soldiers from both sides piled up four or five layers thick on the grand plains.

In the end, even Condensed Origin cultivators were dispatched to fight like immortal gods in the sky.

The final result of the battle ended in a tragic, pyrrhic victory for the Zhuhu side.

In this battle, Yang Guanfeng's waist was pierced through by a sharp blade.

Yingxuan took several blades to her chest, back, and legs. Had she not carried a life-saving magical treasure on her, she would have almost been decapitated by someone.

Fang Yu died in battle.

Han Wang, in order to snatch his corpse back, took a hit from a Human Mine in the chaotic melee and suffered heavy injuries.

This cultivator from the Molin region had indeed put his resolve into practice. In the final moments of his life, he completed a life-for-life trade with a sixth-realm cultivator, winning a military merit reward for his family.

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