My Cultivation Starting from Archery

So that...

the Beiliang Navy didn't even need to continue charging forward.

"Stop advancing!"

They controlled the formation, anchored from a distance, watching the enemy army turn to ash and feeling the ship's position gradually descend. Only after over seventy percent of the enemy ships were burned did they sail small boats in for the final harvest.

Almost...

Bloodless victory!

The battle raged on until dawn.

This Abnormal Fire, unbelievably, evaporated the lake water of East Han Lake overnight, leaving even the muddy lakebed dry and cracked, as if a drought had struck, and part of the Beiliang Navy's ships found themselves stranded.

The lakebed bore no trace of bodies or ship remnants, only ashes drifting with the wind and a large number of broken and damaged Ice Blades, attesting to the battle that had occurred here.

At dawn, the metallic clouds in the sky dispersed, revealing a bright and clear scene.

On the twenty-ninth of the twelfth month, seventy-seventh year of the Old Calendar Longqing, under the binding chains of Iron Chain, the Beiliang Army set Chibi ablaze, reducing the forty-thousand-strong navy of the former dynasty to ashes overnight. The Abnormal Fire blazed until dawn, drying up the lake and cracking the earth as if a drought demon had passed through, causing the Luoxiao River to reroute, and from then on, East Han Lake ceased to exist.

Two days later.

"Everyone!"

"Abandon ship and go ashore!"

"Pursue the enemy to the last!"

The Beiliang Army had long returned to the shore and, without a moment's rest, started splitting into eight groups under the command of various generals, heading off to block the remnants of the court's forces at various key points.

Along a small, deserted path in the wilderness.

Beside Prince Qi of the Great Sheng, only a dozen or so battered soldiers remained, squatting in the forest, dust-covered, gnawing on dry rations to replenish their strength.

"My forty thousand strong army!"

The injured Prince Qi wailed almost tearfully: "Gone, all gone!"

"Your Highness need not despair!"

Third Brother Nie Yuan consoled: "The court still has a million strong army! As long as we escape back to the Capital City, there still is a chance for revenge!"

"Your Highness!"

"Pursuers!"

"Chen Sansi has arrived!"

"..."

The scout, covered in blood, stumbled back to report, immediately causing another stir among the battered soldiers.

"Your Highness, quickly, Your Highness!"

The soldiers drew their swords, ready to give their lives to cover.

"No, I can't..."

The tattered-clothed Prince Qi lay on the ground, his pale lips trembling as he uttered weakly: "I can't move anymore. General Nie, you all just go; no need to worry about me..."

"How can that be?!"

Without a word, Nie Yuan hoisted the prince onto his back, gritting his teeth as he dashed into the dense forest ahead.

"General Nie."

Prince Qi coughed up fresh blood: "Put me down, this will only slow you down, and perhaps none of us will escape."

"How can that be?!"

Nie Yuan, while desperately fleeing, roared back: "I, Nie Yuan, as a servant of the Great Sheng, cannot abandon the Royal Family for my own survival! Your Highness needn't say more; even if I die today, I shall die before the prince!"

"General Nie!"

Prince Qi was so moved that tears streamed down his face: "If all were like General Nie in the Great Sheng Dynasty, how could today's defeat happen!"

"Stop!"

A harsh shout came from behind.

Nie Yuan ran even faster.

Struggling, Prince Qi said: "General Nie, why does this voice sound somewhat familiar to me?"

"Your Highness must have heard wrong!"

Saying this, Prince Qi directly jumped off a cliff with someone on his back, intending to escape via a more rugged path.

And behind them.

Zhou Rong was leading his old servant and a cultivator, giving their all in pursuit.

"Why are they running?!"

Qiu Xin, full of bewilderment: "Aren't we on the same side?!"

"..."

Zhou Rong watched as Nie Yuan's figure vanished, understanding now that this person must be a spy hidden amongst them!

From the start, he had actually harbored suspicions about this white-robed senior brother, but after numerous tests, Nie Yuan's behavior was flawless.

Take, for example, the Iron Chain.

Even if Nie Yuan hadn't suggested it, he would have done so anyway. Later, when Sima Yao almost successfully feigned surrender, this person still spoke out, making it seem unlikely for him to be a spy.

Yet looking back now, it was precisely because of his presence that it further lowered his guard!

This man, Nie Yuan, had been guiding all along!

Now, deliberately shaking them off, further verified this thought.

After figuring it all out, Zhou Rong stopped fleeing and instead stood in place, smiling bitterly in rage.

What a flawless plan, what a commander of enemy forces!

Although it appeared he had cornered the enemy multiple times, the defeat was predestined from the start.

In fact...

There never was any chance of winning!

"Damn the heavens, so unjust!"

Zhou Rong raised his sword to the sky: "I, Zhou Rong, have great talent; in any other place I'd be remembered in history as a Master of War for the ages! Why, why was I born in this Eastern Continent?!"

He had lain dormant for over ten years, waiting for an opportunity to become famous throughout the land.

Instead, he met with a kingdom teetering on the brink, only to face a white robe!

With enormous talent, there was nowhere to apply it!

After a bout of furious shouting.

Zhou Rong weakly discarded his sword, coldly laughing at himself until, exhausted from laughing, he let out a long sigh: "If born with glory, why was Shanshi born too!"

"Young Master, victory or defeat is commonplace in military affairs; why be so despondent?!"

The old servant consoled: "We could regroup upon return to the Capital City!"

"Exactly, Brother Zhou!"

Shengyun Sect's Qiu Xin urged: "The pursuers are almost upon us."

Yet.

No matter what they said.

Zhou Rong just stood there, unwilling to take another step.

"The spiritual heart is shattered, no saving it!"

Qiu Xin shook his head, no longer bothering, and was about to escape on his flying sword, but barely having covered a few feet, a fire dragon came at him, instantly shattering the defensive magic he had cast, piercing him through and killing him instantly.