Chapter 245: War God

“Leader Yang, Captain Lu is too fast! We can’t even see him anymore. We’d better not go the wrong way.”

A contingent of Huben Army soldiers followed behind Yang Xiao and Shi Yong, chasing in Lu Bai’s direction.

After a short while, Lu Bai had completely vanished from their sight.

Yang Xiao and Shi Yong gradually slowed their pace.

If they were moving on the ground, they would surely leave behind clues—broken branches, trampled grass, or footprints.

They could follow such traces to track them.

But Lu Bai and the Witch were flying. Now, in the boundless night, it was impossible to determine their location after losing sight of them.

Just then, a brilliant light erupted in the distance. It was like a rising sun, its radiant beams scattering the darkness!

“Over there!”

Yang Xiao’s eyes lit up.

Just as he was about to move, Shi Yong suddenly stopped him. With a grave expression, he said in a low voice, “Wait. Something’s not right about that direction.”

After a moment’s thought, realization dawned on Yang Xiao. “That’s the medicinal garden occupied by the Great Li Country!”

“Correct.”

Shi Yong nodded. “A few years ago, we fought the Great Li Country for this medicinal garden. Both sides suffered over a thousand casualties. The losses were considerable.”

Yang Xiao said resentfully, “If that Witch fled to the Great Li’s medicinal garden, doesn’t that prove our theory? The Witch was hired by the Great Li Country! With old grudges and new, we should seize this opportunity to take the garden back!”

“You’re not wrong, but we need to think this through carefully.”

Shi Yong said, “We came with a thousand men. Five hundred are still guarding the mining area. With only five hundred brothers left, it’s impossible for us to capture the medicinal garden.”

“Besides, we don’t even know how many Great Li Army soldiers are garrisoned there. If we attack rashly and lose too many men, only to return empty-handed, neither of us can bear that responsibility.”

Their mission this time was simply to follow Lu Bai and retake the Spiritual Ore mine.

Attacking the medicinal garden and engaging the Great Li Army would be mobilizing troops without authorization.

If they succeeded, perhaps there would be some leeway.

But if they failed and suffered heavy casualties, they would be held accountable. According to military law, they could lose their heads for it!

Yang Xiao fell silent.

Lu Bai had slain the Fierce Ghost and the Fuhu Camp had retaken the mining area. Their mission was technically complete.

Any further action would require them to return and request orders from Yue Qianshan.

Especially a move as major as proactively attacking the Great Li Army’s medicinal garden.

Yang Xiao frowned. “Judging by the commotion, Brother Lu has likely already engaged the Great Li Army. By the time we go back for orders and return, it’ll be dawn.”

“Are we just going to abandon Brother Lu to fight the Great Li Army all by himself?”

Shi Yong was silent.

Lu Bai had wiped out the Fierce Ghost, saving not only their lives but also those of their many Fuhu Camp brothers. He had also avenged Han Lie and Zhou Heng.

Even though Lu Bai hadn’t been with the Fuhu Camp long, the two leaders and the men behind them had completely accepted him. They saw him as a brother-in-arms, one to whom they could entrust their very lives.

Shi Yong turned to the five hundred men behind him and said in a low, serious voice, “Brothers, ahead of us is the Great Li Country’s medicinal garden. Captain Lu is fighting the enemy there as we speak. This path is incredibly dangerous. I don’t know how many of us will make it back.”

“If we turn back now, there’s no glory, but no blame either. What’s your choice? What do you say, brothers?”

“Leader Yang, Leader Shi, we’ll follow your lead.”

“Back in the mining area, if it weren’t for Captain Lu, we’d all be dead already.”

“He’s our brother-in-arms. How could we abandon him? I can’t bring myself to do that.”

The men all voiced their agreement.

Yang Xiao and Shi Yong exchanged a look, their decision made.

“Good!”

Yang Xiao shouted, “In that case, we’ll charge in! We’ll fight alongside Brother Lu and take on that damn Great Li Army!”

At the same time, Shi Yong ordered a few men to head back and report the situation to the Huben Army as quickly as possible.

Then, Yang Xiao and Shi Yong led the Huben Army soldiers in a rapid advance.

As they drew closer to the medicinal garden, they could smell the faint scent of blood on the breeze.

But the darkness ahead was deathly still.

There was no sound of fighting.

A sense of dread crept into Yang Xiao and Shi Yong’s hearts.

‘Are we too late?’

‘Could it be that Brother Lu is already…?’

If Lu Bai were dead, there would be no reason to continue.

But without seeing it for themselves, they couldn’t give up, and a sliver of hope remained.

They had witnessed Lu Bai’s combat prowess.

In a one-on-one fight, they believed few in the entire Great Li Army could be Lu Bai’s match.

But a battlefield is nothing like a sparring match.

Amidst the flash of blades, where lives are traded for lives, the slightest misstep means instant death!

To fight one against a hundred, let alone a thousand, was simply unrealistic—unless one’s Realm was an entire major level above their opponents’.

After running for a while longer, Yang Xiao, Shi Yong, and their men finally reached the vicinity of the medicinal garden.

The area around the garden was silent. Through gaps in the woods, they could vaguely make out the light of a few fires burning inside.

The men drew their blades, holding their breath with wary expressions.

Yang Xiao and Shi Yong exchanged a few hand signals.

Immediately, a dozen figures broke away, melting into the darkness to scout the perimeter of the garden.

The dozen scouts quickly returned.

“Leader Yang, Leader Shi, no sign of an ambush.”

Yang Xiao and Shi Yong took a deep breath, signaling for the men to spread out as they cautiously approached the garden.

Only after passing through the forest and reaching the garden gate could the men see clearly.

The ground before the gate was littered with bodies, all of them Great Li Army soldiers, strewn about in every direction. The blood-soaked earth was a shocking sight in the dark of night.

The men swallowed nervously and continued forward into the garden.

As they advanced, everywhere they looked, there were only the corpses and severed limbs of Great Li Army soldiers. There wasn’t a single living person in sight!

When they reached the center of the garden, they saw a tall, burly figure standing by a bonfire, his back to them.

The man was covered in blood, one foot resting on a severed head. He held a jug of wine in one hand and an iron skewer in the other, happily eating a piece of fragrant, sizzling roast meat that was dripping with fat.

The scene was utterly bizarre.

A sense of the absurd washed over the men; for a moment, they wondered if they’d run into another ghost.

Hearing the noise behind him, the man turned his head, nodded to them, and said casually, “You’re just in time. Clean this place up a bit. I got hungry after that fight, so I’m grabbing a bite.”

They could now see clearly. Though his face was spattered with blood, it was unmistakably Lu Bai!

“B-Brother Lu… the Great Li Army in this garden…”

Yang Xiao asked instinctively.

“I killed a bunch of them. The rest ran off.”

Lu Bai took a bite from his skewer, followed it with a large swig of wine, and then kicked the head at his feet toward them. “This is the head of that Witch,” he said. “The one responsible for the deaths of Captain Han and Captain Zhou.”

The hundreds of Huben Army soldiers were utterly silent.

Only a single thought remained in their minds.

Not only had Captain Lu wiped out the Fierce Ghost, but he had also single-handedly chased the Witch for miles, cut down an entire Great Li Army detachment, and seized one of the Great Li Country’s medicinal gardens in the process!

‘Where in the world did General Yue find this War God?’