The blood-red setting sun turned Eagle Beak Cliff into a slaughterhouse. Shen Mingyue clutched the blood-stained command flag, watching the enemy forces scramble in the valley like rats. Her throat was too raw from screaming to produce a coherent sound. Behind her, the watchtower had been bristling with stray arrows like a hedgehog, and the coiled dragon flag on the mast snapped in the wind as if celebrating the victory. "Order all battalions to pursue the retreating enemy!" she commanded, her voice raspy yet firm as metal striking stone. "General Gu, lead the cavalry to hunt them down. The rest of you, clear the battlefield!"
Gu Jinghong’s silver armor glowed a dark red in the twilight, as if forged from cold iron dipped in blood. He flicked the reins, and his red-maned warhorse let out a neigh that shook the plains. Leading three thousand elite cavalrymen, he surged forward like an arrow released from a bow. The horses trampled over piles of corpses, the blood splashing up against the sunset like blooming spider lilies—dazzling and tragic. "Don't let them escape alive!" he roared, waving his dripping spear. His voice rang out like a thunderclap, igniting the soldiers' blood. Ahead, the remnants of the enemy forces abandoned their armor and weapons; their formations were shattered, and broken banners lay strewn in the mud. Weapons scattered across the ground shimmered with a cold light in the dusk, a silent testament to the rout.
Upon reaching Black Pine Forest, the enemy …
Chapter 116