Chapter Twelve: Retreat

  Ma Tianyuan's tent had been lit all night, and for some reason, he felt a sense of crisis in his heart. He couldn't sleep on the left or right side, so he got up and went outside to take a look.

  Hoo! Ma Tianyuan's heart skipped a beat in his tent, the smell of blood, and the air was filled with a bloody scent. Ordinary people would find it difficult to detect this subtle smell of blood, but Ma Tianyuan's cultivation method was a wind attribute method, so he was particularly sensitive to smells.

  "Bad." Ma Tianyuan's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly followed the smell of blood in his nose to a large tent where one of his subordinates was.

  "Damn! I've been discovered." Zhang Huaming silently cursed to himself, having just taken out an enemy commander. He stood quietly in the enemy's tent, his Wu Zong realm allowing him to sense that someone of equal level had arrived outside.

  "Wu Zong boundary?" Ma Tianyuan stood quietly in front of a tent, because he felt the strong sense of danger coming from inside the tent. There was an aura stronger than his own inside, and among the three Wu Zong cultivators in his army, his cultivation was the highest. Without a doubt, the person inside the tent at this moment must be an enemy.

  One second has passed

  Ten seconds have passed...

  Inside and outside the tent, the two men seemed to be in a stalemate. Neither of them made a move, Zhang Huaming didn't dare to make the first move for fear that if he failed to take down his opponent with one blow, he would fall into an encirclement. He was waiting for an opportunity to escape. Ma Tianyuan also didn't dare to make a move, as he was worried about the enemy inside the tent. If he made the first move, he feared that the enemy inside the tent would take advantage of the situation and strike first. So he waited, thinking that if one of his two companions arrived, they could join forces to delay this person, and once their main army moved out, this enemy would surely be captured. At this moment, he probably also thought about who had infiltrated their military camp.

  "As General." A team of well-equipped patrol soldiers passing by saw Ma Tianyuan appear, and they all saluted.

  "What a good opportunity." Zhang Huaming, hiding in the tent, saw that the timing was ripe. He immediately exerted his strength and slapped out a palm with Wu Yuan, and his figure flashed out of the surroundings like a wild goose.

  "Terrible." As soon as the soldiers saluted, Ma Tianyuan's heart sank. A powerful aura rushed towards him, and without thinking, he directly used his martial arts to slap out a palm at the opposite side. Then, he loudly shouted at his stunned subordinates beside him: "Quickly move aside, sound the alarm."

  BOOM!!! A fierce explosion suddenly erupted, and in an instant a powerful gust of air surged out in all directions.

  "Ahh!! Ahhh!!! Ahh!!" Ma Tianyu's figure flashed back over ten meters before stabilizing, but that group of over thirty patrolling soldiers were done for. In that brief instant, only a handful of the thirty-odd people remained standing unscathed, while the rest lay on the ground wailing in agony. The dozen or so soldiers closest to Ma Tianyu were torn apart like they had been ripped limb from limb.

  Bang, bang, bang!!! Within a short period of less than three breaths, Zhang Huaming and Ma Tianyuan had already exchanged several moves. At this moment, the soldiers' cries of grief were particularly loud in the quiet night, and suddenly the entire military camp was filled with the sound of footsteps.

  Two powerful auras suddenly appeared around Zhang Huaming, without a doubt, these two powerful auras must be the other two generals of Dongguo.

  "General Ma, we're here to lend you a helping hand." Two loud shouts rang out at the same time, and two figures rushed towards Zhang Huaming.

  Bang! Zhang Huaming collided with Ma Tianyuan three times in a row, his figure flying backwards in mid-air like a wild goose.

  "Thanks, General Ma, no need to see me off, haha!" Zhang Huaming laughed loudly in the empty space and left a loud remark. The next moment, his figure disappeared into the dense forest.

  "There's no need to chase anymore." Ma Tianyuan stopped his two companions from taking another step forward with a dark face.

  "General Ma, are you alright?" Leng Xiao and Nian Geng quickly came up to Ma Tianyuan's side and asked.

  "Pffft!" Ma Tianyuan's expression changed, and he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood.

  "General Ma." Seeing this scene, Leng Xiao and Nian Geng's expressions changed in an instant. They quickly supported Ma Tianyuan on both sides and asked with concern. Others thought that Ma Tianyuan was just a general of Dongguo, but people at their level were very clear that Ma Tianyuan's true identity was not as simple as his appearance. They firmly believed that if Ma Tianyuan died here, their own lives and positions would also come to an end.

  Ma Tianyuan waved his hand and said: "I'm fine, immediately have someone carefully search the surroundings, and immediately summon the generals to come over."

  "Yes." Nian Geng waved his hand and summoned a team leader from the back, passing on the orders of his immediate superior one by one.

  A thousand kilometers away from the Winter State's main camp, a figure flashed by quickly. When it reached a group of burly men, the figure stopped in its tracks and spat out a mouthful of blood before collapsing to the ground.

  "Chief of Staff, what's wrong with you?" Wang Xiong asked with a tense expression. He had guaranteed the Chief of Staff's safety in front of his general and three brothers, but now the Chief of Staff was seriously injured.

  Zhang Huaming's face turned pale, and he took a deep breath before speaking: "Wang Xiong, order Qian Duoduo and the others to retreat immediately. March at full strength, without any hesitation."

  "Yes, Chief of Staff. I will convey the order immediately." Wang Xiong immediately conveyed his Chief of Staff's order to a deputy officer beside him and then quickly ran towards Longhua City with Zhang Huaming on his back.

  In the Winter Country's headquarters, Ma Tianyuan was furious as he looked at his subordinates standing below him and a report on the desk in front of him. His heart was bleeding at the thought of 23 generals being killed, over 300 outer patrol troops, and over 100 inner guard troops, while the enemy had escaped unscathed. This was like a slap in the face, and what made it even more unbearable was that the enemy seemed to have a deep grudge against him, almost wiping out all the small and large team leaders in his army, while Cold Smile and Nian Geng's armies only lost a few names. It was as if he had seen a ghost. This situation was more painful than being stabbed a few times. Most of his subordinates were personally trained by him, and it wasn't easy to cultivate a high-level subordinate. Now, everything had returned to the starting point overnight.

  Leng Xiao and Nian Geng sat silently on either side of Ma Tian Yuan, not speaking a word. As generals, they understood Ma Tian Yuan's emotions at this moment. If it were them in his shoes, they would probably erupt in anger. So, whoever spoke first would be unlucky.

  "Hoo-ah!" Ma Tianyuan took two deep breaths of cold air, suppressing his angry heart. Half a moment later, he said in a cold voice: "Pass on my order to assemble the troops and divide them into three routes. I will lead one route with General Leng and General Nian each leading their own routes to conduct a carpet search. We will kill anyone who resists."

  "Yes, General."

  "Depart!" Under Ma Tianyuan's big hand waving, the entire Dongguo people divided into three giant dragons, illuminating the entire forest entrance like daylight. The three human dragons marched towards the dense forest.

  In the depths of the forest, a team of hundreds of people appeared, and from time to time, small teams joined around them. In less than an hour, this team had nearly a thousand people.

  "Squad leader, how did you gather us all here?" a squad leader asked with a puzzled expression, looking at Qian Duoduo.

  Qian Duoduo shook his head, a hint of coldness on his face: "The Chief of Staff infiltrated the enemy camp alone and was seriously injured."

  "What?" The several people surrounding Qian Duoduo all cried out in surprise.

  "Captain, is the chief of staff all right?" several squad leaders asked anxiously.

  "The captain is temporarily fine, he let Vice General Wang convey the order to stop all actions behind and ordered us to quickly retreat back to Longhua City according to Plan II." Qian Duoduo's face showed a hint of unwillingness.

  "Captain, are we retreating already?" a squad leader asked with an unwilling expression. In this short day, they had been extremely successful, ever since they learned those tactics from their chief of staff and became invincible in battle. They were eager to stay in this vast forest and engage in actual combat, for such good opportunities for actual combat were hard to come by!

  Qian Duodu saw the look on his subordinate's face, and his heart trembled slightly. He immediately shouted in a stern tone: "Wang Xiaohu, shut up! Can we guess the orders of the Chief of Staff? And you few, remember that on the battlefield, it's not about showing off for a moment, but every order represents the lives of hundreds of brothers behind you. If I find out next time that any of you dare to show off and harm your own brother's life, I will personally send you on your way."

  Wang Xiaohu and others heard their captain's cold words, and they immediately responded in unison: "Yes, Captain."

  "Retreat immediately along the Chief of Staff's planned route, go." Qian Duoduo waved his hand, and the thousands of people and horses that had been accumulating around him instantly dispersed into ten teams, retreating in all directions.