Shen Leng swung his sword; Nie Yuan could feel the ferocity of his attack and did not dare to face it head on. Furthermore, at the dock, he had seen that there was something fishy about Shen Leng’s sword. It was a lot better than the standard sword given to the soldiers. Hence, he dodged the attack and swung his sword right towards Shen Leng’s back.

After missing, Shen Leng quickly turned around and swung his black cord sword upwards. Both swords clashed into one another, creating sparks.

“High-grade tempered sword.”

Shen Leng was unable to break Nie Yuan’s sword. Immediately, he could tell that it was a high-grade tempered that was given to Great Ning’s battalion commanders, and other higher ranked military soldiers, except that Nie Yuan removed the black and red cords on the sword.

“You are still using this sword?” asked Shen Leng as he drew his sword back.

It had to be mentioned that not only was Great Ning’s art of weaving matchless in the world, its weaponry forging techniques and skills were top-notch too. Shen Leng’s black cord sword was sharp enough, but it was not easy for it to break a high-grade tempered sword. The blade of a high-grade tempered sword was thick enough. The edge of the blade was made from a steel of excellent quality. Even though it was nicked a couple of times by the black cord sword, it was still as sturdy as before.

Nie Yuan was forced to retreat several steps back. He lowered his head and looked at the jagged edge of the blade of his sword. He went slightly pale.

Bai Shangnian had given this sword to him when he was promoted to a battalion commander. Not only was it a good sword, it also represented the years of his life that he could never forget.

He ran his fingers along the edge of the blade. The jagged areas cut his fingers, but his heart was in pain instead.

“I used to fight on the battlefield on behalf of Great Ning. I am worthy enough to use this black cord sword.”

Nie Yuan peeled his gaze away from his sword and looked into Shen Leng’s eyes. “You only joined the military very recently. Who do you think you are to say such a thing to me?”

Shen Leng’s sword landed. “You are not worthy of the black cord sword. And you are even more undeserving of bringing up your past.”

Clank. Nie Yuan was forced to retreat once more.

His eyes went red. He started to counter attack in a frenzy. Attack after attack, his speed was getting faster and faster. Shen Leng continued to block the attacks without halting. Amidst the sounds of metal striking each other, sparks flew in all directions.

After he swung his sword dozens of times at him, Nie Yuan stopped. He was slightly panting.

The edge of his black cord sword had already become like a sawtooth. It evoked a different type of sorrow.

“Die!”

All of a sudden, Nie Yuan tossed the black cord sword at Shen Leng. Shen Leng swung his sword and struck it aside.

“All you have going for you is a good sword.”

Nie Yuan took out a dagger from his boots. “But you will still die.”

Shen Leng stuck the black cord sword into the ground. Similarly, he drew out a dagger. “I want to know, when you kill your comrades, did your heart ache?”

“It’s none of your business!”

Nie Yuan moved forward; he was about to stab Shen Leng in the heart, but was blocked by Shen Leng’s dagger. He rammed his shoulder forward and hit Nie Yuan in the chest. Nie Yuan moved backwards upon impact; he brandished his dagger incessantly, blocking Shen Leng’s continuous attacks.

“You are only but a seven.”

Shen Leng’s lips curled upwards. After he advanced, his dagger was like a poisonous snake – it kept making sudden violent attacks. The dagger was used entirely differently from a sword. After he advanced, he became faster and more menacing. It was unlike how he brandished the sword.

Their exchange was extremely fast to the point that their actions could not be scrutinized by the naked eye. It was too much for the human eye to observe their constant evasion and attacks.

And precisely because of this battle, Shen Leng started to suspect his judgment pertaining to his previous opponents. Nie Yuan was his strongest opponent thus far – he was even stronger than the drunkard of a leader of Liu Lang Dao in Changan city. Of course, if he was ten years younger, Nie Yuan would be no match for him at all.

Thinking of the leader, Shen Leng rated him a seven. The elderly man who launched a sneak attack on Meng Changan in the forest was also rated a seven as well. As for Nie Yuan, he was a seven according to Shen Leng’s first impression…

Is Nie Yuan truly that strong? If Nie Yuan is already at a seven, what about Bai Shangnian? How many people are more powerful than Bai Shangnian? Nie Yuan would probably be easily killed off by the four great generals – northern border’s Tie Liuli, western border’s Tan Jiuzhou, southern border’s Shi Yuanxiong and eastern border’s Pei TIngshan.

Am I too ignorant?

It was Shen Leng’s first time realizing this.

However, the martial arts skills of the great generals of the four borders were not the strongest. There was still the great general of the imperial guards, who had not left the capital in more than ten years, Tantai Yuanshu. When he fought against Pei Tingshan, he gave himself a handicap by only using one hand.

The world was very big. The best writer was just as hard to be determined as the second best fighter. It was hard to accurately judge who was the most powerful and strongest combat fighter.

When Shen Leng was thinking about all those things, the speed at which his hand was moving at did not slow down. In this fierce close combat fighting, both daggers constantly struck each other. Sparks flew around both parties and continued flickering; their figures shuttled fleetingly.

Within a few minutes, they had exchanged so many blows that they could not be counted. After Shen Leng was forced to take a step back because of Nie Yuan’s dagger, they halted temporarily. Shen Leng stood there, breathing slightly harder than usual. As for Nie Yuan, there were beads of sweat on his forehead. He was bending down such that his body was almost at a 90 degree angle. He was breathing so hard that his chest was exaggeratedly moving up and down.

“You are very outstanding.”

Nie Yuan suddenly laughed. “Within Great Ning’s military, there was never a lack of qualified successors.”

Shen Leng looked at him and said every word clearly, “Are you still immensely proud of Great Ning’s combat soldiers? Do you think you’re still the same person you were back in the day, who was proud of himself?

Nie Yuan’s face was somewhat pale. He lowered his head and looked at the dagger in his hand. “Sometimes, the person who defeats you is not your opponent, and the thing that polishes you is not the battlefield. You are way too young…”

Shen Leng shook his head. “Don’t make it sound so tragic. You were the one who made the decision.”

Nie Yuan lifted his head. “Do you think that you’ll win for sure?”

He stood upright. “Bodies of all the young men who have died in my hands could pile up as high as the city wall.”

Shen Leng rotated his dagger and attacked once more, “In that case, you shall be the foundation of my city wall.”

Shen Leng pushed his dagger downwards. Once, twice, three times…after being attacked for the third time, the dagger in Nie Yuan’s hand flew upon impact. The part of his hand between his thumb and index finger had ripped open. He retreated a few steps back and wanted to pick up the black cord sword that he had tossed aside earlier. However, Shen Leng was faster than him…Shen Leng leapt over and elbowed Nie Yuan in the chin as hard as he could.

Nie Yuan flipped backwards. Before he landed onto the ground, Shen Leng’s second wave of attack came. He stabbed Nie Yuan in the chest continuously, at two stabs per second. Every time he pulled out the dagger, blood spurted out.

When Nie Yuan fell to the ground, Shen Leng had stabbed him ten times in the chest.

Nie Yuan cried out in pain. He kept kicking with both legs in a frenzy, forcing Shen Leng to back away. His chest was a bloodied mess. He sat there trying to press against his wounds in a flurry. However, his blood continued to flow out from between his fingers.

The scariest thing was that in all ten consecutive attacks, Shen Leng did not deal a fatal blow to him.

“You want to torture me?!”

Nie Yuan’s eyes were bloodshot. He stared at Shen Leng. As he spoke, there were traces of blood on his teeth.

Shen Leng stood there, looking at him. “You should have known this.”

Nie Yuan lifted his chin, and attempted to maintain his last ounce of pride.

He thought about the unnoticeable soldier he killed last night. That fella was obstinate and brave enough. He had been on the battlefield for so many years and experienced such a situation several times before. He knew very well that in moments like those, human nature could become extremely ugly. However, that ordinary soldier was pure even till the very end. That made Nie Yuan admire and respect him, in that brief moment.

Nie Yuan used both hands to press against the ground in a bid to support himself up. Gradually, he stood up. He could no longer straighten his body. He was bending down a lot, and his blood flowed out of each and every single wound on his body. Blood started overflowing from his mouth too. However, he still had a cold look in his eyes.

“We are not done fighting.” He spoke, somewhat malevolently.

Shen Leng shook his head. “Don’t try so hard to maintain your last shred of dignity. I have never once viewed you as an opponent. You are the enemy.”

Nie Yuan spat out a mouthful of blood. He started staggering and let out a grieved howl, akin to a lone wolf that was heavily injured and lowered his head as he charged towards Shen Leng.

Shen Leng moved to one side. As Nie Yuan was charging past him. He grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. Thereafter, he stabbed Nie Yuan in the artery on his thigh.

Just like that, he lifted Nie Yuan and walked next to a big tree. With a loud thud, the dagger in his right hand stabbed firmly into the tree trunk. After that, he hung Nie Yuan on the shaft of the dagger.

Shen Leng took a few steps back and sat on the ground, slightly gasping for air. At this moment, Nie Yuan was covered in blood.

Nie Yuan wanted to lift his head but he did not have any strength left. Right now, he realized what the soldier, who he tried to scare the night before, said was true.

His wounds felt extremely hot to the touch. His body was becoming colder and colder, it felt as though something was rapidly leaving his body. His vision started to become blurry.

“Mu Xiaofeng no longer have an old soldier like you by his side. Where did he find you?” asked Shen Leng.

Nie Yuan’s lips curled upwards. “You…cough, cough. Do you think that I will tell you?”

Shen Leng stood up and walked in front of Nie Yuan. “Last night, you stabbed my brother, Li Tuming, in his artery three times. When you see him in hell, you will have at least ten times more wounds than he does. Only then will he rest in peace.”

Shen Leng drew out his dagger and stabbed him repeatedly, leaving behind more than ten wounds on Nie Yuan’s body.

“You…are f*cking ruthless…cough, cough.”

Blood started dripping down from Nie Yuan’s mouth. He flipped his eyelids and struggled to look at Shen Leng. It seemed as though he was trying to see clearly what kind of ferocious beast resided in that young man’s heart.

“Sir said that revenge should be taken as soon as possible. We must never be kind or merciful towards enemies – that is the job of a deity. I am a soldier, all I know is an eye for an eye.”

Shen Leng took a few steps back. “You are Bai Shangnian’s man, right?”

Nie Yuan lifted his head abruptly. In an instant, he actually lifted his head!

He glared at Shen Leng hard. It seemed as though he wanted to bite Shen Leng to death.

“In the future, I will pay him a visit.”

Shen Leng placed the dagger back into the leather scabbard on one of his boots. He turned around and picked up the equipment of the other men before tying them to his body. However, he did not leave. He stood there quietly and waited.

Nie Yuan, who was gradually losing consciousness, suddenly became awake. He realized why Shen Leng refused to leave.

He laughed ruefully. More and more blood accumulated in his mouth.

Indeed, it was the military soldiers’ tradition in Great Ning.

Nie Yuan’s head drooped down limply. His face was so pale that there was no sign of blood at all.

Shen Leng cut off the heads of every single corpse and put them through a rope as he carried them. He took a deep breath and walked back in the direction he came from. The corpses on the ground had already bled dry. Perhaps this was something they had never thought of before – that one day, their heads would be cut off by a Great Ning soldier.

In doing so, Shen Leng might come across as cruel. However, this was something he had to do. He had to take these heads back for Li Tuming’s memorial service. He also had to place them on the Xiong Niu battleship for every single person to see.