Chapter 45: Earth Unleashes Murderous Intent, the Stench of Blood Fills the Path

Even in the usually warm Southern Empire, the dawn breeze of early winter carried a chilling, heart-stopping bite.

In this ungodly hour of dimming twilight, Jose Tebili, Deputy Commander of the Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps, rode his armored warhorse through a mountain of withered branches and fallen leaves until he reached the crest of the hill, his lance tucked firmly beneath his arm.

He hadn’t come to deliver a speech. He had come to slaughter.

Deputy Commander Tebili took a deep, passionate sniff of the air. Though his nose only caught the dusty scent of dead wood and decaying leaves, he felt as if he could already taste the sweet tang of blood. The ambush on the Igor Family convoy was to happen right here, right now! He opened his eyes, taking in the surrounding terrain.

The Southern Empire was renowned for its flat landscapes, but this was one of the few saddle-shaped chokepoints along Nelumbo Avenue. To either side of the southbound road, a gentle hill swelled from the earth, tightly squeezing the avenue between them to form a rather unsightly geographical feature.

The hills weren’t particularly high—barely a hundred meters—and their slopes were entirely free of sheer cliffs or jagged rocks. Anyone could charge from the peak straight down to Nelumbo Avenue without encountering a single obstacle.

Though the late autumn had stripped the trees of their leaves, the dense thicket of bare branches still provided the hills with perfect cover. For travelers on Nelumbo Avenue, the interlacing twigs completely obscured any view of the hilltops or their reverse slopes.

In The Art of War, such treacherous terrain was known as a "pass," dictated by the principle: "He who occupies it first shall heavily garrison it and await the enemy." It meant that whichever side seized the high ground flanking the road would win the favor of the War Goddess!

Though he had never read Earth’s The Art of War, Deputy Commander Tebili had developed a sharp military intuition for terrain through years of raiding. In his personal tactical dictionary, this saddle valley was called the "Guillotine." The central dip of the saddle was the head block. Any enemy passing through was simply offering up their neck for the slaughter. And his own cavalry, charging down the slopes with the sheer speed and momentum of the high ground, would be the unstoppable blade!

Deputy Commander Tebili, clad in Leather Armor, gripped his steed with his thighs and leveled his lance with a sinister grin. Behind him, on the reverse slope, thirty lightly armored Knights of the Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps stood ready. Across Nelumbo Avenue, hidden on the opposite hill, lay another thirty elite cavalrymen! All sixty-one of them wore light armor, tucked lances under their arms, and were elite Mercenaries baptized in countless bloody battles of life and death!

As soon as the Igor Family convoy passed through this unavoidable chokepoint, these sixty-one ambushing Lance Cavalry would plunge down from both sides of the road, delivering a fatal strike to the defenseless caravan!

Aside from the lances they currently wielded, each man wore a sabre at his waist. Lances were fiercely devastating, but their utility lasted only for the brief moment of the initial charge. Once the enemy formation was shattered by the thrust, the Knights of the Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps would swiftly discard their lances, draw their sabres, and swing their arms wide to reap head after head from horseback! This was the ever-victorious cavalry tactic of the Desolate Wind Mercenary Corps!

Using these exact sixty-one men and an identical roadside ambush under Deputy Commander Tebili’s leadership, they had once routed an imperial supply convoy of over five hundred regular soldiers! In war, morale was paramount. Two squads of Lance Cavalry suddenly crashing down the mountain dealt catastrophic psychological damage to the enemy. Once the first strike succeeded, the Desolate Wind cavalry didn’t use their sabres to fight the enemy head-on—they used them to slaughter the fleeing stragglers!

Deputy Commander Tebili recalled their past glories, his laughter growing even more arrogant atop his horse. There was absolutely no way the Igor Family convoy, protected by only a handful of Guards, could withstand a surprise attack from the Desolate Wind elites! Still, using a sledgehammer to crack a nut and going all out even when hunting a rabbit were Tebili’s personal creeds! Today, the bastards of the Igor Family were dead meat! He would make sure of it!

"They’re coming! They’re coming!" a Scout beside Tebili suddenly whispered urgently.

Deputy Commander Tebili strained his eyes. Sure enough, in the distance, he spotted the dust kicked up by the approaching convoy.

"Get ready!" he barked at his subordinates, his face twisting into a ferocious scowl.

Hearing the command, the thirty elite cavalrymen tucked their lances beneath their arms, bracing for the charge. As they were not a regular army, their movements were far from uniform and even downright messy. Yet, it was the callous indifference to death and the wicked bloodlust in these veteran Mercenaries’ eyes that Deputy Commander Tebili admired most!

Watching the Igor Family convoy wander helplessly into the kill zone, Deputy Commander Tebili could no longer suppress his excitement. With a deafening roar, he leveled his lance, spurred his horse, and charged straight down the hill!

Thunderous hoofbeats erupted simultaneously from the slopes on both sides of the road! Dust plumed into the air amid sky-shaking battle cries! The lethal guillotine blade—forged from warhorses, Mercenaries, and cavalry lances—slammed down with apocalyptic momentum!

During the brief sprint, Deputy Commander Tebili locked his lance tip onto a target. Right in the middle of the convoy sat a remarkably large carriage! The driver, suddenly hearing the thunderous hooves, was still tugging at his reins, looking around in bewilderment. This humble farmer, whose family had tilled the Igor Family’s land for generations, could not fathom why a peaceful journey had suddenly been interrupted by billowing dust on the hills and an earthquake-like roar crashing down upon him.

But on the precipice between life and death, there was no time for hesitation! Hesitation meant death!

Fueled by the lightning momentum of his charging horse, Tebili’s razor-sharp lance pierced cleanly through the driver’s chest, hoisting the wretched tenant farmer into the air like a ragged cloth doll!

The immense force of the impact carried over to the horse beneath the driver. With a pitiful whinny, the beast collapsed, violently dragging the carriage behind it! With a deafening CRASH, the heavy wooden cabin flipped onto its side!

Almost simultaneously, the light cavalry behind Tebili used their lances to accurately skewer the drivers of every other carriage! They had rehearsed this exact sequence countless times in bloody battles. In the blink of an eye, dozens of drivers were hoisted into the air, impaled on lance tips! Chaos erupted as horses tumbled and men were thrown, leaving the road in absolute devastation.

The people of the Igor Territory scrambled frantically from the overturned carriages, scattering in all directions like madmen. The raw terror in their eyes was Deputy Commander Tebili’s favorite nourishment!

"Drop lances! Draw your sabres!" Tebili roared hoarsely, his eyes burning with fanaticism. "Kill them all!"

Yet Tebili himself didn’t discard his lance. He simply flicked his arm, tossing the driver’s corpse to the dirt, and tucked the weapon back under his arm. For a man with Deputy Commander Tebili’s astonishing physical strength, reaping lives with a lance was no more difficult than using a sabre! What was more, he had already singled out a new target!

Crawling out from the very carriage he had just overturned was a flaxen-haired little maid, her eyes brimming with panic. Clutched tightly against her chest was an unmistakably vibrant, purple plant tuber. As a seasoned veteran who knew his goods, Jose Tebili instantly recognized it. It was a piece of the priceless Purple-leafed Ginger he had seen at an auction in Yanxi City!

Without a second thought, Tebili thrust his lance forward, driving the cruel steel tip straight through the little maid’s slender throat!

With a heavy THUD, both the maid and the Purple-leafed Ginger crumpled to the ground.

Tebili let out a hideous laugh. He withdrew his blood-soaked lance and was just about to use its tip to scoop up the plant tuber when a sudden gust of wind screamed past his ears, and his vision violently darkened!

It was a Rune Giant Sword hurtling rapidly toward him, wreathed in the very aura of death!