Shi Lei didn’t waste words with her. He already had a premonition that today, either she would die or he would perish, so he viciously struck at her…
The two exchanged seven or eight moves in an instant. Everyone intentionally avoided the pair. Dusk had arrived, and the setting sun reflected on Zhao Hanzhang’s spear, making it appear even more blood-red. She thrust her spear through his ribs, while at the same time Shi Lei also stabbed a blade into her shoulder. Zhao Hanzhang paid no attention to the blade in her shoulder. She was faster than Shi Lei—the spear tip twisted, then pulled back, and the long spear whooshed toward his neck…
Shi Lei also wanted to press his advantage and pull out the blade to kill her, but he was a step too slow. The extreme danger made him instinctively fall backward, and the long spear barely scraped past the front of his neck.
A moment later, a line of blood seeped from his neck. An ordinary person might not even notice it, but Shi Lei’s hand trembled slightly as he reached up to touch his neck. Seeing the fresh blood on his fingertip, he covered his left ribs, staring at Zhao Hanzhang with bloodshot eyes, his voice hoarse as he said, “General Zhao truly lives up to her reputation.”
Zhao Hanzhang turned her head slightly to glance at her right shoulder where the armor had been stained red with blood, then smiled at Shi Lei. “General Shi is not bad either.”
Shi Lei let out a hearty laugh, turned his great blade in his hand, and shouted loudly, “Again!”
Zhao Hanzhang spun her long spear and was about to meet him when suddenly Fu Tinghan called out to her with some surprise and panic, “Hanzhang—”
Zhao Hanzhang’s heart tightened. She instinctively twisted her head to look north, and saw in the distant horizon, under a strip of orange-red slanting sunlight, something like a dark cloud covering the clouds in the sky, and it was rapidly approaching them at an alarming speed.
And in front of that dark cloud, there was a mass of black things rapidly moving toward them. From a distance, it seemed as if the cloud was chasing the things on the ground…
Shi Lei had wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to give her a slash—after all, he was no gentleman. But seeing her turn her head and widen her eyes, he couldn’t help but turn to look as well. With just one glance, he froze.
His heart felt as if someone had gripped it. He asked in terror, “What is this?”
Zhao Hanzhang instantly came back to her senses and immediately turned around, shouting loudly, “Cease fighting, cease fighting—”
“Everyone retreat into the forest, quickly!” After Zhao Hanzhang shouted, she saw that some people still hadn’t stopped their blades. She immediately thrust her spear forward to block them. She paused, ultimately deciding not to kill that Shi soldier. Instead, she kicked the person away and grabbed her own soldier, pulling him toward the roadside. “Retreat into the forest, take cover, quickly!”
Shi Lei also reacted, his voice sharp as he called for his people to cease fighting and immediately enter the mountain forests on both sides to take shelter.
They had all seen clearly now—the mass of black on the ground was people, and the dark mass in the sky was locusts that blotted out the sun.
Those locusts stretched as far as the eye could see with no end in sight. The people also formed a large dark mass. Based on Zhao Hanzhang’s experience, there had to be twenty or thirty thousand people.
This road was narrow—Shi Lei had specifically chosen this ambush location for Fu Tinghan because Fu Tinghan had brought many cavalry, thinking this place would be difficult for charging and more advantageous for his hasty escape.
But now, if tens of thousands of people suddenly rushed through, this narrow official road…
And the people currently fighting on the official road…
The wuwu sounds rang out front and back as both Zhao’s Army and Shi’s Army sounded the gongs to withdraw troops.
The soldiers heard the gong sounds and stopped their actions one after another, retreating warily. However, some had killed until they lost their senses, seeming to hear nothing in their ears, still wildly killing.
Fu Tinghan pulled seven or eight people out of the chaotic battle, forcefully ordering them to cease fighting and retreat into the forest to take shelter.
Zhao Hanzhang glared hatefully at Shi Lei, instructed the banner to turn back, gathered her soldiers, and quickly left this passage. But in less than a quarter hour, the locusts in the sky had already arrived. They flapped their wings with a rustling sound as they flew over their heads. Some flew low and struck people’s faces, necks, and bodies like stones…
This was Zhao Hanzhang’s first time seeing so many locusts. It was like a sudden violent snowstorm, so densely packed it was impossible to count how many there were. They had a determined destination, heading forward. Unless there were plants they liked to eat along the way, they would flutter their wings and descend. In just a moment, when they rose again, the ground was left completely bare…
The locusts blotted out the sun. Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but wave her hand to swat away the locusts before her eyes. With one wave, she swatted down at least a dozen locusts. When she opened her mouth, locusts flew into it…
The warhorses were being battered by the locusts. Some were frightened, neighing and lifting their hooves to run. The soldiers couldn’t hold them back no matter how hard they pulled.
The army that had not yet fully formed also became somewhat chaotic. Zhao Hanzhang parted the locusts while running toward the soldiers. As soon as she turned around, she collided with a Shi soldier.
If even she was like this, there was no need to mention the others.
The enemy and ally sides that had just separated a little, their boundary line became blurred again, and the two sides were mixed together once more.
Shi Lei was also struggling to maintain the situation, wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to lead his people away.
In the end, he only managed to gather fewer than two hundred people. He looked back at the remaining Shi soldiers mixed among Zhao’s Army, steeled his heart, and left. But after he led his people only a few hundred meters, they ran head-on into the mass of black people on the ground.
This was a rapidly moving group that nevertheless had very distinctive refugee characteristics. Running at the very front, most were pushing handcarts with old people, children, and luggage piled on them…
Those behind also carried bundles, dressed in various clothes.
There were those in ragged clothes, and also those without a single patch, wearing fine hemp clothing. There were even some wearing silk, though all were filthy.
When the two groups encountered each other, both were somewhat dazed.
The refugee group had spotted people here from afar, but at first they were too far away to see clearly what the people were doing. It was now dusk, so visibility wasn’t that good anyway. When they got closer, the locusts arrived ahead of them, and with the sky blotted out, they could see even less clearly.
Now facing each other at only a few dozen paces distance, they finally saw the bloody weapons in the others’ hands and the armor they wore on their bodies.
Fear instantly arose in their hearts. Those in front wanted to turn and retreat, but how could those behind agree?
They couldn’t see what was ahead and only wanted to quickly get through this official road, away from the locust swarm overhead and to the next city. So those behind didn’t stop but pressed forward…
Those in front had no choice. There were mountain forests on both sides. Unless they retreated into the forest, otherwise they had to move forward, or else they could only be pushed down and trampled.
During their flight, they had encountered such situations before, especially when fighting over food.
The large refugee group continued forward. Under this seemingly endless stream of people, Shi Lei could only temporarily yield. He wanted to go against the flow to leave, but the increasing number of people surging from behind made him unable to move even an inch. Before he even realized it, he had been pushed next to Fu Tinghan.
When enemies meet, their eyes blaze with fury.
As long as Shi Lei thought about how this was Zhao Hanzhang’s fiancé, his eyes became particularly red. So he reached out to grab him.
Shi Hongtu, who had been protecting Fu Tinghan all along, extended his hand from the side to block him, even gripping Shi Lei’s hand.
Seeing him, Shi Hongtu was also very excited. Heedless of being in the crowd, he clenched his fist and struck toward Shi Lei’s eyes…
If he could kill Shi Lei here, this would be a great achievement!