Gao Haoyu hesitated.
If this boy had appeared and immediately called for help, they would have dismissed it as a bluff and cut him down without a second thought. Yet here he stood, facing the two of them with nothing but a mediocre presence, a mere fourth-tier esteemed Foundation Realm cultivator, and still he neither called for reinforcements nor retreated from his position.
Everything about his posture made one thing clear.
He intended to guard this place.
And that was precisely what made no sense.
Gao Haoyu himself was an eighth-tier exalted Foundation Realm cultivator, and even his Xiaosi stood at the sixth tier, already at the peak of Si's current realm. By all logic, this boy should have been trembling.
So where did this confidence come from?
"He must be bluffing... Let me test him. If he is truly who he claims to be, I will risk my life to hold him off while you escape," Feng whispered beneath his mask.
In his mind, if this youth were truly General Zhèn Huá, he would have attacked the moment he saw them, not stood in place like a gatekeeper. This behavior reeked of delay, of someone buying time for reinforcements to arrive.
Gao Haoyu frowned, clearly reluctant.
Feng was loyal, unwavering to the core. He had no desire to sacrifice him.
But this was war.
Sacrifice was inevitable.
They had both come here prepared to die. To hesitate now was meaningless.
"Hm."
Swoosh!
The moment Gao Haoyu gave the slightest nod, Feng exploded forward like a released arrow. His gauntleted fists slammed together, releasing a faint brown qi that wrapped tightly around his spiked gloves.
"Boulder Strike!"
As the distance closed, Feng launched himself into the air and brought his attack down with ruthless intent.
"Hmph... relying on a mortal-grade technique to challenge this general? COURTING DEATH!"
Si's voice thundered across the darkness as he stomped the ground, his stance solidifying as he prepared to receive the blow head-on.
The Boulder Strike technique was a common Jinshan martial art, one that increased the weight behind the user's fists, amplifying the destructive force of each strike. By taking to the air, Feng intended to maximize that power.
It was a clever choice and a foolish one.
If Zhèn Huá himself stood here, Feng would have been erased without even the courtesy of movement. These men had clearly underestimated the general based on rumors of his physique.
Even as a slave with no loyalty to Yunhe, Si could not ignore this slight. Yunhe was his foundation, the ground upon which he would rise. One day, the Blue Tiger Army would answer to him.
He would not allow such disrespect to stand.
"Ossuary Guard!"
Extreme yin qi surged through his body, flooding into his bones. His leg thickened, hardened, and expanded as his skeletal structure transformed into something far denser than flesh.
Bam!
The impact rang out like metal striking metal. Feng's spiked gauntlets collided with Si's reinforced frame, producing a resounding crash that echoed through the camp.
Both Feng and Gao Haoyu froze.
"Such a high-grade bone tempering technique!" Gao Haoyu gasped.
From that single exchange, he knew this boy was not Zhèn Huá. A True Martial Realm expert would have obliterated Feng instantly and yet, that did not make him ordinary.
On the contrary, it made him more enigamtic. This was no slave.
This was someone who possessed a treasure-level technique far beyond what his station should allow.
However, this realization did nothing to improve Si's situation. Now that Gao Haoyu had confirmed he was not General Zhèn Huá, the hesitation in his eyes vanished, replaced by decisive intent as he finally made his move.
Swoosh!
From the corner of his vision, Si caught only a fleeting blur rushing toward him, too fast for the eye to fully grasp. Yet he paid it no mind. He had already made arrangements to deal with Gao Haoyu.
And there was no one better suited for that task than the young general of the Bi family's Death Banner Battalion, Weijie.
Peng!
The sharp clash of steel rang out as blades collided with violent force. Sparks scattered across Si's side, briefly illuminating Gao Haoyu's figure as he struggled against Weijie's cracked swords, his saber grinding fiercely against them.
Feng had been right about one thing. The objective had never been to win.
It was to endure.
To create enough disturbance that the entire camp would be alerted.
Weijie stood at the seventh tier of the exalted Foundation Realm. Though he was a realm below Gao Haoyu, and despite the clear disparity in the quality of their martial techniques, he was no ordinary cultivator. He was the leader of the Death Banner Battalion, a man who had survived countless battlefields drenched in blood, a savage forged in the harshest crucibles of war.
Even if he could not defeat Gao Haoyu, he would hold him.
And that was all Si needed.
Weijie's sudden appearance caught all of them off guard, stealing their attention for the briefest of moments. That instant was all Si needed.
Swoosh!
With a sharp motion, he withdrew the arm he had used to block Feng's strike. The sudden loss of resistance threw Feng off balance, robbing him of leverage and sending him stumbling forward toward Si with no room to retreat.
"Junior! Take my fist!"
Si's unassuming strike shot forward, precise and merciless. Feng twisted midair, attempting to evade, but his adjustment only shifted his body slightly to the right, exposing the area just beneath his arm.
Bang!
Pain twisted Feng's features beneath the mask as his body jerked violently under the force of an unseen impact. He landed on his feet, but his momentum betrayed him. He staggered, struggled to stabilize himself, and then dropped to one knee.
One punch.
Gao Haoyu immediately disengaged from Weijie and rushed to Feng's side. His eyes swept over his subordinate, only to find Feng's left arm hanging uselessly, swaying without strength.
At his shoulder, the outline of a dislocated bone pressed visibly against the skin, distorting its shape into something grotesque.
Gravebreaker Punch.
Both Gao Haoyu and Feng were stunned by the sheer power concealed within that slow, almost harmless-looking strike. Only Weijie remained unmoved, for he had already witnessed that same fist bring down Qiang.