However...

The moment the first soldier of the western tribes leaped out of the snow, Shen Cangfeng, as if he had been prepared for this, swiftly retreated three steps on the snow. It took almost no time to reach the side of his mount. Within a blink of an eye, his spear was in his hand! Meanwhile, Shen Die suddenly lifted up the thick blanket spread on the snow. With his arms raised, he threw the blanket like a discus towards where the arrows came in the thickest clusters!

They could hear the sound of arrows hitting the blanket. Nobody knew how many arrows the blanket caught. However, although the arrows easily tore through the outer layer of the blanket, they didn't penetrate it. Amidst the enemy's shouting, they could hear metal clanking from beneath the blanket!

The rest of Shen Cangfeng's men also responded quickly only a little later than him. No matter whether they had been resting on the ground or standing guard, all of them, without exception, drew out their swords and charged towards their enemies despite the arrows coming at them!

"What a bunch of fools!" The guide sneered lightly, thinking the soldiers from the Great Vi must have thought that the soldiers from the western tribes had been hiding for a long time in the snow so that their bows were wet and the arrows might not be as powerful since they had shot them in a hurry. This was why they had the courage to charge towards the arrows raining down on them, "These are the most elite warriors of Muxiuer Chanyu! Every one of them is a champion hunter on the grasslands and has much experience of hunting for wild animals for a long time in heavy snow. They would never misjudge the situation! Do they really think that the arrows are just a cover for them so that they could get out of the snow?!"

Even though he seemingly glimpsed a layer of metal inside the thick blanket, he was unimpressed, "It's merely a blanket that they have already thrown away. It can never stop the warriors of Muxiuer Chanyu!"

The guide's sneer quickly froze on his face.

They were only twenty steps away from each other. Although they were not on their horses, they engaged each other immediately. As the soldiers from either side began close fighting, the first person who cried in pain was actually from the western tribes!

That soldier was tall and sturdy. His bare face and arms were covered in intricate tattoos, and he had a fearsome scar from his forehead to his cheekbone, looking extremely fierce. He had a wide broadsword, about one and a half meters long, the blade of which glinted with a frightening color on the snow. The guide vaguely remembered this man. He was one of the ten bravest warriors of Muxiuer Chanyu, known as one of the King's Ten Eagles.

Muxiuer Chanyu had ordered three of the King’s Ten Eagles, who were renowned and fearsome, to carry out the ambush. After all, as Shen Cangfeng would be the next Family Head of the Shen Family in Western Liang, no matter whether they killed or captured him, exchanging the three warriors' lives for Shen Cangfeng’s life would definitely be worthwhile.

If Muxiuer hadn't been worried that soldiers from the Great Vi would discover the ambush, he would have personally led the King’s Ten Eagles here.

But now, this warrior from the western tribes, well-renowned among his own people, who even once had had such a reputation as to stop the children in the Great Vi from crying at night, had his head smashed by the overwhelming blow from the long spear!

Shen Cangfeng's new spear, which had not before tasted human blood, was stained red and white with the blood and brains that instantly gushed out. There were even a few steaming drops splashed across his face, contrasting with his fair skin and making him look even more terrifying.

Shen Cangfeng had no time to wipe them off, nor did he care about it. Loudly and sternly, he shouted, "Kill them!"

"Kill them!!!" Having heard him, his men who had been silent, charging towards their enemies and letting out a loud shout in unison! They were so imposing that the snowflakes that had started to fall in the sky at some point trembled!

"A troop of elites!" A person, seeming to be the leader of the soldiers from the western tribes, shouted with a weird accent in the language of Zhongtu, "But there are too few of you. Our Chanyu is personally waiting with five hundred horsemen ten kilometers away in our territory. Every hour, a traitorous Han scout will be sent over here, so you will surely die!"

The response he got was from Shen Cangfeng's stunning spear, which had just been stained with the blood of its second enemy.

Having been distracted, the leader could make no adequate defense against Shen Cangfeng's attack. Being angry and frustrated, he didn't bother to think about how to say long sentences in Zhongtu, waving his long sword in his hand and shouting briefly, "Surrender and live, or die!"

The long sword and the spear exchanged frequent blows, and sparks flew everywhere.

The leader was of high status in his territory, and his long sword was considered to be extraordinarily good. But they weren't good at smelting this long sword. How could his sword be as good as the spears used by descendants of the distinguished military families, like that of Shen Cangfeng?!

Soon, the blade of the long sword became blunted.

Although the long sword was clearly inferior to the spear, the leader, who was deeply sad about his usual weapon, kept attacking Shen Cangfeng while cursing him loudly in Hunnish. Being in a rage, he didn't notice that Shen Die, who had wrapped himself in the ragged blanket that had been pierced by the arrows, had sneaked up to him under the cover of two soldiers from the Great Vi.

There was a soft clink, but only a few people noticed it as everyone was focused on the brutal battle. Having heard it, it was as though someone had poured a big bucket of ice water over the leader's head!

He wildly drove Shen Cangfeng and Shen Die away from him with a few slashes and roared in Hunnish!

His men around him also took their chance to turn in the same direction, roaring. In that direction, there was a small black dot in the distance, almost at the limit of view amidst the snowstorm. The small black dot seemed to be struggling to get up from the ground.

The small black dot stumbled in the snowstorm towards them. Only when he got very close did they see that it was a boy from the western tribes, no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. But he was holding a bow about his height, and a quiver of red-feathered arrows was on his back.

The boy was wearing a thin piece of sheepskin clothing. His lips were blue because of the cold, and he was shivering in the snowstorm. But his hand holding the bow was steady. He walked close to them. Instead of joining the battle, he stood on the side, calmly and thoughtfully gazing at the fierce fight. At that moment, several people from the western tribes turned their heads to shout at him, and some even spat at him, but the boy ignored them and spoke loudly to the leader in Hunnish.

On hearing that, the leader became furious, spat on the ground, and then spoke to him in a loud voice. Shen Cangfeng had learned Hunnish, but the two people were speaking very fast. In the middle of the battle, he had no time to concentrate on thinking. He could only understand some of what they were talking about. It seemed that they were blaming the boy for his interfering. Though the boy said to the leader that he had saved his life, the leader was angry, thinking he did not need the boy to save him. However, the boy thought that if he had not helped, the leader would have been seriously injured or even killed by Shen Die's attack.

The two were having a serious argument. Finally, one of their men could not stand it any longer and asked his companion to help him stop the soldier whom he was fighting with. He left the battle, pointed his sword at the boy, kept cursing the boy, and said something angrily, which made Shen Cangfeng stunned to hear. He said, "The children from the Great Vi are truly evil. Now we are deep in battle, but you, as one of the Chanyu's soldiers, are not helping us. Instead, you are here arguing with the leader, distracting him! You don't even behave like one of us! Chanyu has really misjudged you!"

Shen Cangfeng slowed his movements. He couldn't help but glance at the boy several times. However, the snowstorm was getting stronger, so he couldn't really see things clearly a few steps away from him. Although the boy wore less than the others, he had a hood, which covered most of his face. Shen Cangfeng was thinking that when he had glanced at the boy earlier, he had not noticed that he looked like the people from the Great Vi.

As he was wondering, he heard the boy's shrill retort. Apart from the curses, his reply was, "That was Ketanmu's order. He was worried that I would diminish your credit. On the way here he threatened me with my mother, saying that I could only watch from a distance and do nothing. If it hadn't been for Chanyu, I would never have saved him just now!"

It seemed that the boy's archery skills were so good that he could take most of the credit away from them. Having heard his argument, the person who had scolded him was suddenly discouraged. He raised his sword, cursed, but went back to help his companions in the battle.

The boy didn't say another word but held his bow and watched in silence.

He did not rejoice at the death of the people from the Great Vi, nor did he grieve at the death of the people from the western tribes. He stood there like a stone monument. Soon, he became like a snowman because of the snowstorm.

It seemed that they had been fighting for centuries. The snow was so trodden that they had turned into dirty puddles, splashing around from time to time. The snowstorm became heavier, but they could feel a slight vibration from the snow that had been compressed by their feet.

The vibration soon became obvious.

"Muxiuer Chanyu!" The guide, who had not entered the battle like the boy, was the first to react, exclaiming excitedly, "It must be Chanyu with his warriors! Ketanmu, Your Excellency, I... Er!"

The bowstring twanged in the wind and snow, followed by the guide falling helplessly to the ground. The people from the western tribes on the edge of the battlefield who saw the scene were shocked and enraged, shouting, "Moye, what do you want to do? You are going to betray Chanyu? You don't care about your mother?!"

The rest of them were shocked by the words and turned their heads to look, only to see that the boy who had been watching the battle had killed the guide. He started running away in the opposite direction where the vibration had come from, and the word he left behind in the wind was simple and brief, "Run!"

"D*mn it!" The person cursed angrily, "That b*st*rd! We'll certainly report this to Chanyu. When we catch up with him, we'll cut off his arms and legs and feed him to the hungry wolves in the snow!"

But soon their anger turned to horror. As the rumbling of the vibrations approached, there were vast figures in the snowstorm amidst dogs' barking. As the barking approached, they didn't see the mastiffs of their Muxiuer Chanyu's own cavalry. Instead, in front of everyone, there appeared dozens of sleds pulled by hundreds of large dogs!

The sleds were filled with fully armed soldiers from the Great Vi. There was steam over everyone's head, creating a cloud of fog in the snowstorm. When they got closer, people could see red ice on their armor. Clearly, this army had just been in a battle!

On the first sled, an old general with gray hair and beard, who apparently had enjoyed the previous battle, had removed the upper part of his armor regardless of the cold weather. Bare to his waist, he showed his scarred upper body. He was holding a Xuan Hua ax in his hand. Two fresh arrow wounds on his square face had only just stopped bleeding. Though he had small eyes, there was a fierce look on his face!

Seeing the general, the leader immediately looked worried, shouting to his men in Hunnish, "It's Shen Youjia! A general of the Great Vi! No wonder Moye killed the guide. We've been tricked! Let's go!"

"Go?" The general named Shen Youjia, who had been stationed on the frontier for many years, understood Hunnish well. On hearing what they had said, Shen Youjia laughed hideously and shouted in Hunnish as well, "Your general Shen is here. You little rats are still dreaming of getting away?"

The sleds were like arrows, swooping around the battlefield and keeping everybody in the center. At this moment, Shen Cangfeng, who was covered by his men, left the battlefield. He greeted Shen Youjia, clasping his hands together in salute with the spear in one hand, "My Lieutenant General, thank you for coming to the rescue!"

"My pleasure!" Shen Youjia was full of hatred and contempt for the people from the western tribes. But as he saw Shen Cangfeng, he immediately smiled. Carrying his Xuan Hua ax, Shen Youjia jumped off the sled and let out a resonant laugh. He excitedly walked towards Shen Cangfeng and patted him firmly on the shoulder with his empty hand free of his ax. Although Shen Cangfeng was excellent at martial arts, he almost fell over onto his back. He quickly used his internal qi to resist the impact in case he would lose face in front of his men.

Shen Youjia said cheerfully, "Lieutenant Shen, thanks to the fact that you acted as the bait for this battle, Muxiuer didn't want to miss this opportunity! He had not only sent three of the King’s Ten Eagles to ambush you but also had been waiting with his best horsemen in a valley a few kilometers away! It's funny that Muxiuer was so eager to ambush you that he had forgotten that there was only one exit from the valley. What a fool! I led my men to block the exit and then caught a turtle in a jar! It was just like catching a turtle in a jar!"

At that moment, the soldiers from the Great Vi led here by Shen Youjia loudly warned their companions to retreat. All of them drew full bows. Suddenly, arrows rained down. Though the people from the western tribes were brave, in a few moments they all became hedgehogs, dying in a horrendous way.

The leader was especially tough. He pulled out an arrow from his right eye with his bare hand, cried loudly, and charged towards the nearest bowman. Looking calm, the bowman smiled and gestured at his companion who was controlling the sled. The sled was suddenly pulled away by the dogs at a lightning speed, and the leader's sword was slashed into the snow.

The bowman drew his bow again, and this arrow went straight towards the side of the leader’s neck. The leader, who only had one eye left, could not truly tell where the arrow was, so he simply ignored the arrow flying towards him. With his full strength, he threw his long sword at the bowman. The bowman was horrified, telling his companion to turn the sled. However, though the sled was fast on the snow, how could it match the speed of the long sword, which the leader had thrown with his full force?

With a few cracks, the long sword was plunged into the bowman's chest. As if it had been cutting a piece of tofu, it went through his back and even pinned his companion behind him, who was driving the sled, to the sled!

The sled, without its driver, was instantly out of control. Shocked, the soldiers from the Great Vi on the sled were all thrown to the snow while the dogs pulling the sled barked wildly and ran away.

There wasn't just one bowman who was aiming at the leader now. As the leader was about to take advantage of the situation to kill them, bowstrings vibrated and arrows flew from all directions towards the leader. Even though several of his men shouted and leaped up, trying to protect him, their leader was killed on the spot!