Chapter 45: The City of True Gods and Ghosts

Just like that, three Demon-Slaying Guards were dead.

Even Pei Yunquu inside the house felt a bit dazed.

Were these the same Demon-Slaying Guards who had sent her weapon flying with a single thrust?

Gu Shiwu had clearly taught her about the casualty ratios between the Tang border army and the Demon-Slaying Guards.

Across the northern desert, Hexi, and the Tianshan Mountains, including the territories of the Arabs, Uyghurs, and Turks, the combat effectiveness of the Tubo Demon-Slaying Guards was second only to the Turkic Black Cavalry!

Yet these three Demon-Slaying Guards had been stabbed to death by Gu Liubai as if they were fools.

Under the exact circumstances just now, even if she hadn't been using her Shadow-Green sword, even if she had just picked up any random spearhead, the result would have been the same—these three Demon-Slaying Guards would still have been poked to death.

Li Xizhi inside the house was wide awake.

He saw clearly what had happened.

This boy who grew up on Mibai Slope was far too calm, his train of thought far too clear, his advances and retreats far too methodical, and his swordsmanship simply too exquisite.

Earlier, after meeting Yin Shiniang, Pei Yunquu had despised him. But now, seeing Gu Liubai's swordsmanship from the Canglang Sword Sect, he continuously despised all the swordsmen of the Canglang Sword Sect he had ever known in his heart.

In this Shura field where several thousand people were frantically slaughtering each other and flesh and blood were flying everywhere, if these Demon-Slaying Guards were to stab at those people, those people would probably hold their swords with trembling hands, unable to hit a forehead properly, and aiming for an eye might end up poking a nostril instead.

Compared to this youth, it was quite literally a difference between heaven and mud!

……

Along this main avenue inside the East Gate, the Tubo people had actually gained an absolute advantage.

Of the two thousand-plus Tang soldiers, at most eight hundred remained. Even though they were locked in brutal close combat with the Tubo troops, in a little while, the Tubo people would completely snap back to their senses.

"That murderous fiend is here!"

Right at this moment, many Tubo soldiers began to retreat desperately, to the point where they were even crowding and trampling each other.

Xu Tuibei had charged over.

To conserve his strength, two soldiers had found an ox cart for him.

He had engaged in intense combat all last night and had taken too many arrows. Not only were those wounds devouring his strength like parasitic worms, but even every bone in his body was radiating a sour fatigue.

Yet last night, he had not worn armor.

Today, a full suit of armor concealed his excess flesh, giving off an aura of chilling majesty and severity.

This ox cart was originally meant for hauling rations, but because he was naturally tall and sturdy, standing up on the ox cart gave no sense of discord whatsoever—only a crushing, world-despising oppressiveness.

A tree casts its shadow, a man casts his renown.

The last person to give these Tubo soldiers the exact same sense of oppression had been Qiubu.

Qiubu could easily flip two oxen with his bare hands.

Yet last night, Qiubu's head had been severed by this very man.

Those Tubo warriors whose eyes met Xu Tuibei's felt their calves instantly turn to jelly.

Xu Tuibei paid them no mind.

As the border army general in the city who best understood Gu Liubai's strategic intentions at this moment, he naturally knew very well what was needed most right now.

"Hahahahaha!"

The wild, maniacal laughter erupted once more!

"You dogs, come hone this grandpa's blade first!"

He leaped directly from the ox cart. His heavy body, made to look like a small mountain by the armor he wore, soared high into the air. The giant *Modao* saber flashed like lightning, and with a single strike, he cleaved a Tubo cavalryman—along with the warhorse beneath him—into two halves!

Thud!

His feet hit the ground, and the earth itself seemed to tremble.

Actually, his legs were also trembling. Delivering that full-strength blow left his body feeling hollow and his knees barely able to support him, but he put on an overwhelming display of sheer momentum. He let the tip of the *Modao* strike the ground to prop himself up, and at the same time, he roared like a thunderclap, "Zanzhuo, you turtle grandson, do you still not know that you came here just to die?"

That ferocious roar could be heard even outside the city. A chill surged through the hearts of many Demon-Slaying Guards. For a moment, the remaining Tang soldiers roared in response, and to the Tubo troops outside the city, it sounded as if tens of thousands of troops were charging into battle.

……

Several of Y妥·Zongzhe's subordinates were pacing anxiously in circles.

They were still trying to find a way to break through and risk their lives fighting Gu Liubai.

A few dozen paces away, Gu Liubai had already crawled out from a breach in another house.

Taking advantage of the fact that these Demon-Slaying Guards hadn't reacted, he launched a sneak attack from behind and stabbed one to the ground with a single sword stroke.

Actually, it wasn't quite a sneak attack; the youth's movement technique was simply too fast. That Demon-Slaying Guard had clearly sensed someone attacking from behind, but still hadn't managed to turn around before a sword was thrust into the back of his neck.

The armor they wore was very sturdy, but it also made them relatively clumsy in infantry combat.

Those subordinates of Y妥·Zongzhe didn't have so many twists and turns in their minds. Suddenly, they screamed out in sheer terror toward one direction: "General Cuojie·Duoji, look out!"

That exact spot happened to be where the retreating Gu Liubai was facing.

The Demon-Slaying Guard general they warned wasn't conspicuous at all.

Although the warhorse he rode was slightly larger than those of the other Demon-Slaying Guards, when he caught a glimpse of Gu Liubai quietly killing his way out of the house, the man remained extremely calm and shrank his body slightly.

As a result, those idiots actually shouted right at him!

I fucking thank you so much!

The Demon-Slaying Guard general trembled with rage.

Are you trying to drag me down to be buried with Y妥·Zongzhe?

In an instant, all his fighting spirit vanished; he just wanted to press close to a Tubo general not far away.

That man was called Gesang, the highest-combat-capability warrior among all the Demon-Slaying Guards.

Whenever they marched in the wild, the Tubo commander even slept in the same tent as Gesang.

Yet the moment he turned his head, an arrow landed with terrifying precision right on the back of his head.

With a loud crack, his entire skull was shattered by that single arrow.

At the top of an arrow tower not far away, Granny Long quietly pulled back her body, hid herself well, and revealed an exceptionally satisfied smile.

With so many people present, no one even noticed where that arrow had come from.

……

The sudden intrusion and disruption caused by Xu Tuibei threw all the Tubo formations into total chaos, while preventing them from realizing that the Tang soldiers in the city were almost entirely wiped out.

Tubo was not lacking in skilled archers.

Among any given number of bowmen, one or two extraordinarily talented individuals capable of piercing a willow leaf from a hundred paces away would always emerge.

In a patch of shadow atop the city wall, a Tubo archer had already completed over a dozen deep breaths.

He had precisely calculated the wind conditions at that moment.

He watched Xu Tuibei, having even ceased his own breathing.

He had high confidence that he could kill this madman of the Great Tang who had mocked them all night with a single arrow.

His left hand slowly raised his long bow to avoid drawing anyone's attention, while his right hand naturally reached toward the quiver at his back.

However, his hand grasped empty air.

This routine had long become second nature to him, so it was only when his empty right hand rested against the bowstring that he finally reacted.

Where did my arrows go?

Where are my arrows?

In disbelief, he turned his head to look at his quiver.

His breathing was as labored as someone suffering from consumption.

There was not a single arrow left in his quiver; instead, there was only a single plume.

A plume that had originally been stuck in Mangbuzhi's hat.

Someone had secretly taken all the arrows from his quiver and replaced them with a plume from Mangbuzhi's hat.

If someone could pull off a trick like this, why didn't they just kill me?

The Tubo archer felt as though he was losing his mind.

At that moment, he saw in the shadow of the distant city wall a woman wearing blue cloth garments smiling shyly at him.

Every hair on his body stood on end!

……

Blue Yufeng handed a bundle of feathered arrows to Chen Tu.

"Why didn't you just kill him, gah?"

She couldn't understand why Chen Tu had only made her steal arrows instead of directly killing the man.

Under those circumstances, stealing things from these people was actually extremely difficult.

Killing people was relatively simple.

Chen Tu, hiding in the shadows, said in a chilling voice, "Because Gu Shiwu's strategic layout is designed to make the Tubo people deeply paranoid. Although I can't be certain yet that doing this will definitely secure victory, just lasting until this stage means we haven't lost. Therefore, the arrangements I need to make are simply to cooperate with his tactics and drive these Tubo people even further into paranoia."

Hearing her evaluation of Gu Shiwu, Blue Yufeng smiled happily. Then she added softly, "Actually, I just noticed on the city wall that another person belonging to Gu Shiwu is hiding there, gah."

Chen Tu was startled. "Who?"

Blue Yufeng said, "That one-armed guy named He Huoluo, gah. He's hiding up on the city wall, and it looks like he's been staring at a few people in the Tubo army. When I went past, he noticed me too, gah."

Chen Tu suddenly chuckled involuntarily. "That son of a bitch Gu Shiwu."

……

The entire city of Peshawar was in a boiling uproar.

Aside from the East Gate and West Gate, Tubo cavalrymen were riding in and out of both the South Gate and North Gate, continuously hauling out supplies looted from the city.

Near the South Gate, by the city wall at the end of an alley, a Tubo general clad in silver chainmail looked toward the east with a hint of puzzlement.

He had fought dozens of battles, but not a single one had been this bizarre.

To the east, battle cries shook the heavens, and the stench of blood even drifted over this way, yet on this eastern side, he hadn't seen a single shadow of a Tang soldier. Even the armory area was left unguarded. Originally, his hundred-odd men had been sent to haul silk and tea, but upon seeing that there were still plenty of ready-to-use sabers, spears, iron clubs, and other armaments inside this armory, he had immediately grown excited.

Iron, copper, silk, medicinal herbs, tea—these were all things they needed, but none of them could compare to ready-made weapons!

His hundred-odd men immediately set about moving the armory supplies out first.

Cavalrymen came and went without encountering any resistance.

If things could be looted at will, what was the point of fighting a war?

Why did they even bother breaking through and slaughtering the city?

Wasn't slaughtering the city precisely because these Great Tang border troops would stubbornly guard it to prevent them from taking their loot, fighting them to the death?

Yet earlier, they had even driven out the very warhorses the Great Tang emperor valued most.

What was going on here?

For a moment, the Tubo general was thoroughly bewildered.

Then, he suddenly noticed a woman appear right beside him.

Startled, he instinctively opened his mouth to shout, but the moment his mouth opened, a short spear thrust straight down his throat.