kingnovel Chapter 2261 Crisis!
Chapter 2261 Crisis!
Chu Ning didn't look at them, her gaze still warily scanning the approaching enemy figures, but her tone softened, even carrying a hint of casual inquiry:
Are you scared?
These two simple words, in this chaotic environment, seemed to carry immense weight.
It asks them about their fear of the almost certain death they face, and whether they have ever regretted or hesitated in following themselves to this point.
Upon hearing this, Guan Yun abruptly stopped his Green Dragon Crescent Blade, which plunged deep into the blood-stained ground at his feet, splashing up a few drops of mud.
He straightened his towering, iron-tower-like body, his face, with its bushy beard and bristling hair, remained unwavering, displaying only a steadfast resolve.
He turned his head, his gaze fixed intently on Chu Ning's profile, his voice resolute, each word seeming to be struck with a hammer:
"Your Majesty, what makes you say such a thing? Since the day I began following Your Majesty, my life and destiny have long ceased to belong to me!"
"To be able to serve His Majesty with sword and halberd, and to protect him, is the greatest honor of Guan Yun's life!"
He paused, his tiger-like eyes widening as he scanned the approaching enemy forces, his killing intent palpable.
"With Guan Yun here, even if it's a mountain of knives and a sea of fire, or a demon and monster, they will not dare to cross the line and harm His Majesty in the slightest!"
"Fear? This humble general only regrets that his blade is not fast enough to wipe out all these traitorous barbarians and put Your Majesty's mind at ease!"
Guan Yun's words, though lacking in ornate language, were filled with the almost blind loyalty and utterly pure devotion of a classical military general.
It is a resounding oath that completely disregards personal life and death, taking the safety of the monarch as the highest principle.
Ran Ming, who was standing to the side, was stunned for a moment after hearing this, and then burst into loud laughter. His laughter was hoarse but full of unruly and heroic spirit, even overpowering the shouts of killing around him.
His bald head gleamed, his face was covered in blood, and he crossed two axes in front of his chest, exuding a fierce and savage aura like that of a desperado.
"Hahaha! Afraid? Your Majesty, you greatly underestimate me, Ran Ming!"
He laughed so hard he almost choked, but his eyes burned with an intensely fiery passion: "I should have lost this life when I was young and still in the martial world."
"It is His Majesty's appreciation that has given me the opportunity to make meritorious contributions and bring glory to my ancestors!"
"These past years, following His Majesty on campaigns in the south and north, I've fought to my heart's content and lived to the fullest! I've already made a fortune!"
He abruptly stopped smiling, a rare seriousness flashing across his face.
But this was quickly replaced by an even more flamboyant madness. He pointed his axe at the densely packed enemies around him, then patted his muscular chest and roared:
"If I really do die here today, then it's my fate, Ran Ming! But Your Majesty, please rest assured—"
His eyes, as big as copper bells, glared, and he spoke slowly and deliberately, his voice booming like thunder: "Even if I die, I will still wield these two axes and slaughter them until there are mountains of corpses and seas of blood!"
"If anyone is to meet the King of Hell, it must be me, Ran Ming, who will go first and pave the way for Your Majesty on the road to the Yellow Springs!"
"Anyone who wants to harm His Majesty will have to step over my dead body first! Hahaha!"
Ran Ming's answer was full of the ruggedness and righteousness of a chivalrous outlaw, a perfect combination of loyalty to the emperor and personal courage.
It expressed his determination to protect to the death, and also carried his unique indifference and disdain for death.
As Chu Ning listened to the two beloved generals' completely different yet equally resounding answers, the corners of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly—perhaps a smile of utter exhaustion mixed with immense satisfaction.
He said nothing more, but gripped the silver spear in his hand tightly, raising the tip once more to aim at the surging enemy tide ahead.
Guan Yun pulled the Azure Dragon Blade from the ground, Ran Ming gripped his double axes, and the three of them reassembled that small but unbreakable triangle.
No further words are needed; the trust and affection between master and subject, who entrust each other with life and death, are fully demonstrated in this darkest yet brightest moment before dawn.
What follows is only a bloody battle, a fight to the death.
The blood-red dawn on Changting Slope seemed to have been stretched into eternity by the endless fighting.
Chu Ning, Guan Yun, and Ran Ming were like stubborn rocks in the eye of a storm, struggling to hold on against the final, frantic, desperate attack of the allied forces of Helian Hui, Li Shiming, and Chu Xuan.
The position had shrunk to less than ten feet in radius, with layers upon layers of corpses of both the enemy and ourselves underfoot, and every step we took was in sticky blood and mud.
Chu Ning's silver spear was still sharp, but his breathing became heavy between swings.
Guan Yun's Green Dragon Crescent Blade brought with it the sound of wind and thunder with each strike, yet he could not hide the slight tremor in his arm.
Ran Ming's twin axes remained wild, but the heavy breathing mixed with his roars became increasingly noticeable.
The encirclement tightened, and the flashing blades almost grazed their armor, adding new wounds to their bodies every moment.
At that critical moment, when the defense line was about to completely collapse—
"Your Majesty—!! This humble servant is late!!!"
A roar like that of a wounded lion, filled with boundless anger and anxiety, suddenly exploded from the northwest side of the battlefield, the direction that Helian Hui's main force had been holding back!
The sound was so familiar, so powerful, that it instantly drowned out all the shouts and cries of battle around it!
Immediately following was a somewhat chaotic yet incredibly powerful thunder of hooves, and a familiar, earth-shattering battle cry spoken in a Xiliang accent:
"Soldiers of Xiliang! Slay them! Save His Majesty!!"
To the northwest, the once-thick encirclement of the Scorpion Clan cavalry had been torn open with a bloody gap!
A cavalry force of about two thousand men, all covered in blood and with tattered armor, yet exuding a murderous aura, surged out like a flood bursting its banks!
The leading general was none other than Ma Chao, who was covered in blood, with his beard and hair bristling, and his eyes bloodshot like a demon!
The spear in his hand was mostly broken, and he was now wielding a heavy curved sword that he had somehow seized, the blade of which was bent and twisted from each strike.
But his charging momentum was more ferocious than ever before!
It turned out that after Ma Chao's Xiliang cavalry was tightly entangled by Helian Hui's main force, he saw His Majesty in a desperate situation and his heart was burning with anxiety.
Instead of engaging Helian Hui's troops in a regular battle formation, he broke up the remaining Xiliang cavalry into dozens of suicide squads.
Ignoring casualties, they launched suicidal assaults from multiple directions towards the junctions and weak points of Helian Hui's formation!
Their only goal is to break through the enemy lines and get closer to His Majesty, no matter the cost!
In order to launch a full-scale attack on Chu Ning, Helian Hui concentrated his most elite forces on the front, inevitably leaving gaps in the defenses on the flanks and rear.
Ma Chao seized this fleeting opportunity and personally led his most valiant group of Xiliang warriors to a point where the enemy was slightly weak due to insufficient rotation.
At the cost of almost the entire army being wiped out in that area, a passage was painstakingly built up with the lives and the corpses of warhorses!
The two thousand-odd cavalrymen who followed him out of the fray were the last elite of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry, and the fierce soldiers who survived the most brutal breakthrough.