Online Game: Unrivaled Gods

When Sun Rui arrived at their final destination with the main group, he could see many soldiers standing outside the camp from a distance, which surprised him. He didn't understand why they were standing outside.

"Are you waiting for the soldiers you sent out to return in triumph? If so, you'll never see them again," Sun Rui thought to himself after seeing this situation.

The commander-in-chief leading the team was not surprised. He tightened the reins and charged ahead of the enemy, with Zhou Duo's soldiers following closely behind.

"Brother, did you hear anything?" said the soldier standing guard with his gun.

"No way..." The other soldier being questioned started to say, but his eyes widened and he shouted, "Enemy attack! Prepare for battle!"

At the soldier's shout, all the soldiers sprang into action, picking up their weapons to prepare for battle, but upon hearing the approaching hoofbeats, they all panicked.

"Retreat, retreat, retreat behind the horse trap," a man who appeared to be the leader commanded.

"No, sir, we don't know where those hidden archers are. If we go back, we'll become sitting ducks," the man's adjutant advised from the side.

"Damn it, are all the men we sent out incompetent? No, we have to go back, or the casualties will be even greater." The leader of the guerrillas cursed as he made his decision.

"retreat."

Although the retreating troops were swift, some of them were too far from their camp to escape the archers hiding in the mountains, and thus never made it back to the horse trap.

More than a thousand cavalrymen caught up with the retreating troops in the blink of an eye. After killing more than four hundred of them, the commander-in-chief ordered a halt to the advance because the remaining soldiers had crossed the horse trap.

"Whoosh..." The soldiers had just returned to their camp when the archers in the mountains launched their attack, and a volley of arrows took away more than a dozen lives.

"Stop!" the captain shouted, ordering the archers hiding in the woods to cease their attack.

"Those who surrender will not be killed. Surrender now." The commander-in-chief said to the remaining soldiers in the camp, his voice echoing in the empty mountains, adding a bit of pressure to the remaining soldiers in the camp.

As the commander-in-chief tried to persuade them to surrender, the remaining soldiers hesitated. Their leader, sensing their hesitation, shouted, "What are you afraid of? These are cavalrymen. Once they dismount, they are nothing. With these horse traps, we are safe."

After his words calmed his soldiers down, Liu Bingling felt much more at ease. Just as he was about to mock the opposing general, he felt a gust of wind and then felt nothing at all.

"Thump..." A heavy sound echoed through the mountains, followed by a profound silence between the soldiers and cavalry. Everyone felt a chill as they looked at their commander, who was pinned to the ground. For a moment, the only sounds in the mountains were the wind and the chirping of cicadas.

The sky was like a clean, dark blue cloth, with stars like glittering gold dust scattered on it. Moonlight fell on everyone's faces, each with a different expression. Even Sun Rui, the instigator of this whole affair, was stunned. Before the cavalry charged, Sun Rui realized he couldn't hold the enemy at the pit. So, he accumulated internal energy during the battle. After two days of training and these two battles, Sun Rui understood that fancy moves were useless; only speed, accuracy, and ruthlessness mattered. The useless movements of the Surging Wave Spear Technique became fewer and fewer in his hands, and the moves became more and more concise. Finally, while the commander of the troop was distracted by talking, he used his internal energy to unleash the straight thrust of the Surging Wave Spear Technique with his Xuan Tie Spear, releasing the Condensed Water Rush. The heavy Xuan Tie Spear, combined with Sun Rui's strength, the 5% damage increase from the Nine Revolutions of Overbearing Qi, and the 5% damage increase from the Surging Wave Spear Technique, resulted in the instant kill of the troop commander—something Sun Rui hadn't anticipated before making his move.

Seeing the consequences he had caused, Sun Rui was stunned, but the seasoned commander-in-chief did not remain stunned for long. He shouted, "Those who surrender will not be killed, and those who disobey will suffer the same fate as this man."

With the deterrent effect created by Sun Rui, the commander-in-chief's persuasion to surrender went very smoothly. More than 2,000 remaining soldiers threw down their weapons, knelt down and surrendered, and the soldiers also dismounted and began to recruit the surrendered personnel.

Sun Rui was also assigned a task: to follow Wang Huan and lead soldiers to search for supplies and spoils of war.

"Young Master, I'm truly impressed. You always manage to redefine my understanding of you." Sun Rui followed Wang Huan to the grain storage area. Wang Huan had sent the remaining soldiers to search the tents for anything. Only then did Wang Huan look at Sun Rui with a sigh.

"I didn't expect this outcome. I was just hoping to hurt that commander. I never expected..." Looking at his hands, Sun Rui felt a bit incredulous. Just two days ago, he was struggling with a Qi Condensation stage general. Now, he had instantly killed a Qi Condensation stage general. The growth rate gave Sun Rui an unbelievable feeling. Although Sun Rui felt that this was something that could not be replicated, he still felt a surge of joy.

"Fifteen thousand units of rations, all tallied." After recording the quantity of rations, Wang Huan took out the Qiankun bag he had received from the captain and put the rations away. Then he turned around and said with a helpless expression, "I was just thinking, young master, you really dare to dream. Those are generals in the Condensation Stage, not common cabbages. Sigh, different people have different fates."

"Report to the captain: 315 gold coins, 2 silver coins, and 3542 copper coins were found in the camp."

"Report to the captain: 154 broadswords, 86 wooden longbows, 216 spears, 3 arrows, 215 sets of leather armor, and 254 pairs of leather boots have been seized from the armory."

"Reporting, Captain..."

The soldiers Wang Huan sent out to search also reported their findings one after another. Sun Rui, who was standing aside listening, immediately thought it was money, but then he quickly dismissed the thought.

"I've made enough money, and I can't break this habit," Sun Rui thought to himself.

"War profits are indeed the easiest to make," Sun Rui said, revealing his true feelings.

"Young Master, you can't say that. War is a good way to plunder wealth, but don't forget that we're also burning money. If we hadn't unilaterally crushed them this time, the result would have been that we would be locked in a stalemate with them, slowly wearing them down, and all of that would cost money." Wang Huan quickly reminded him after hearing Sun Rui's sigh.

"Okay, I understand. One day you get rich, the next you get poor."

Hearing Sun Rui agree with his point of view, Wang Huan's eyes lit up, and he said with a grin, "Young Master, you're so strong, I'll become your apprentice."

Sun Rui was stunned by Wang Huan's sudden change of heart, and couldn't quite follow Wang Huan's train of thought. How could these two things be connected?

The soldiers around Wang Huan rolled their eyes, clearly frustrated by their captain's change in thinking.

Sun Rui said with a wry smile, "Captain Wang, are you making fun of me? Apart from having an extra internal skill, I'm nowhere near as experienced as you."

"Young Master, look, you're so powerful just because you have one more internal skill than me, there must be another reason. Teach me."

“The rest is talent; you’re born this way,” Sun Rui said earnestly.

Upon hearing Sun Rui's words, Wang Huan's face stiffened, and he knew from Sun Rui's expression that he was not lying.

"Young Master, you're really infuriating! Don't you know that the words 'talent' and 'innate' are the most hateful?" Wang Huan said helplessly.

"Captain Wang, aren't you alright?"

"That's because I can't beat you, otherwise I would have done it long ago." Wang Huan revealed a vicious expression when he heard Sun Rui's question.

"Oh." Sun Rui scratched his head, smiled sheepishly, and then fell silent.

Seeing Sun Rui's appearance, Wang Huan also lost his spirit and said weakly, "Let's go back. We still need to report to the captain."

The size of this roving soldiers' camp was about the same as the military camp where Sun Rui was stationed, but the facilities were not very complete. There were many large open spaces without tents. Looking at this scene, Sun Rui could imagine how these roving soldiers lived. However, Sun Rui did not feel sorry for them. On the way here, Wang Huan had already told him about the origins of these roving soldiers.

These wandering soldiers were originally soldiers under King Baekgu of Goguryeo, but after Baekgu surrendered, they began to roam around. It was believed that most of them were composed of hooligans and thugs who had no ability to support themselves, so they became wandering soldiers, no different from bandits.

When Sun Rui and Wang Huan returned to the group, Sun Yang had already led the prisoners to regroup with the main force. Looking at the dark mass behind Sun Yang, Sun Rui didn't count them carefully but estimated there were about a thousand prisoners.

All the team leaders returned and reported their gains to the commander-in-chief. The commander-in-chief compiled the reports, and finally a list was compiled and made public so that the soldiers would know about their gains and then bonuses would be awarded.

"In this battle, we killed 1864 enemy soldiers, captured one enemy general, and took 3157 prisoners," Li He told his soldiers about the results of the battle.

Upon hearing this, Sun Rui sighed inwardly, "The difference in combat effectiveness between the troops is so great. A mere thousand cavalrymen defeated a 5,000-strong guerrilla battalion."

"This time, I gained a basic internal energy manual and a Crescent Moon Blade Technique, a martial art for the Qi Accumulation stage..." After recounting the battle, Li He began to talk about his gains.

"Each person will be rewarded with 15 silver coins for this battle." The rewards for each person were announced at the end. Upon hearing the rewards, Sun Rui thought to himself that the rewards were truly generous; 15 silver coins per person for over a thousand people would amount to nearly 3 gold coins. Based on Sun Rui's understanding of the world, 15 silver coins was enough for a family to live on for a month.

"Oh!!! Your Excellency is wise." The soldiers were very satisfied with the reward and shouted in unison.

"Lu Bu, come here." The captain looked at Sun Rui and called out.

"Here, this is your reward." The captain took out two books from his person and handed them to Sun Rui.

Ordinary internal energy cultivation: Can be cultivated to the Celestial Realm. Requirement: 1 points of martial arts strength.

Crescent Moon Blade Technique: A martial art for the Qi Accumulation stage. Requirement: A general in the Qi Nourishment stage.