Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors

At the same time, a thick arrow shot out from the formation of wagons, heading straight for the warhorse beneath Lord Qin.

"Neighhhhh—"

With a long neigh, the warhorse stood on its hind legs, pulled up by Lord Qin, and the arrow whizzed past, nailing itself into the ground brushing the horse's belly.

From within the wagon formation, Li Hongyun, who had just released an arrow, was shocked.

"What kind of dog luck is this?"

He had always been very confident in his own luck.

However, today, meeting someone with even better luck, he finally understood that itching hatred people felt when they looked at him.

Lord Qin's gaze swept across like lightning, and he immediately spurred his horse into motion to maintain maneuverability while drawing his large bow and returning an arrow.

"Thud!"

A dull sound rang out as the arrow struck a wagon, penetrating several feet deep.

Li Hongyun, upon seeing Lord Qin draw his bow, had already sensed danger and quickly ducked behind the large wagon to avoid the arrow that could have potentially taken him down.

Meanwhile, many in the Black Armor Army cavalry also drew their bows to retaliate, their dense volley of arrows temporarily suppressing the firepower from the wagons.

Although the range of a footbow was longer than that of a horsebow, the cavalry could use their movement to concentrate their fire and target a weak spot, so in terms of fire suppression, the cavalry still had the upper hand.

Lord Qin did not linger and once again led the cavalry away from the scene.

Circling behind the wagon formation, he took a wide detour and looped back towards the front.

Upon seeing Lord Qin leave, Li Hongyun finally breathed a sigh of relief. While commanding his soldiers to hold the wagons, he drew his bow and aimed at other Liang Army cavalries.

Fighting against someone so lucky meant always having to be on full alert.

One could unwittingly give away a vulnerability and be overwhelmed in one fell swoop.

If it had been anyone else commanding the troops, the outcome would have already been decided.

Li Hongyun had already instructed his cavalry on both flanks to encircle and cut off the enemy's retreat while the center held solidly in formation.

Although the cavalry unit led by Lord Qin was elite, its vigor had been dampened after several clashes.

Typically, if cavalry forces were encircled by the summer army's troops like this, their morale would collapse, and their formation would fall into disarray.

Even if they chose to break through, they were unlikely to return by the same route but rather charge towards the rear army.

In that case, even if that cavalry force managed to break free, they would be cut off from communication with Hulaoguan Pass.

Then, Li Hongyun could order a fierce assault on Hulaoguan Pass and capture it without much effort.

But this was the elite Black Armor Army, with several tough generals like Yuchi Jingde among them.

They may not have been able to breach the wagon formation, but they wreaked havoc around the wagons, cutting down summer army's infantry and cavalry alike as if they were slicing through melons, unstoppable.

Lord Qin had no intention of breaking through the rear. It seemed he planned to forcefully cut a path through Dou Jiande's cavalry!

By now, the cavalry on both flanks had regrouped the routed vanguard and reorganized to intercept Lord Qin's cavalry unit.

Within the military formation, Li Hongyun directly had Su Dingfang mount his warhorse and lead his soldiers in an attack from the rear against Lord Qin's cavalry unit.

This was still the summer army's turf after all, with their numbers tenfold that of the Liang Army.

As long as the central unit had not collapsed and the organizational integrity remained intact, various commands could still be conveyed.

The battlefield was chaotic, and Li Hongyun had already played his last card. Apart from cowering in the formation and shooting arrows, there was nothing else he could do.

He had no intention of leading a charge himself because such an action would be pointless.

Even in this situation, which was essentially a guaranteed victory, he remained on full alert, as a reversal of fortune from his opponent was still possible.

Finally, the battle raged on from noon until the approach of nightfall.

The Liang Army, led by Lord Qin, fought with relentless ferocity, unbelievably breaking through the summer army's encirclement and returning to Hulaoguan Pass.

However, this battle cost the Liang Army its greatest losses since the campaign against Wang Shichong.

More than half of the 3,000-plus cavalry were lost, with Lord Qin himself struck by several arrows and having changed his warhorse twice.

But still, they had managed to break through.

When Li Hongyun received this news, he wasn't too surprised.

Immediately after, he ordered a fierce attack on Hulaoguan Pass while the momentum was in their favor!

Having driven back the Liang Army, the summer army's morale soared, and with the Black Armor Army suffering heavy casualties, the defensive strength within Hulaoguan Pass was significantly weakened.

The massive 70,000-strong army launched wave after wave of attacks, from nightfall to dawn, and continued fighting into the afternoon.

During this time, various generals took turns leading the assaults and then rotated to rest and eat.

Finally, in the afternoon of the second day, the summer army achieved their goal and captured Hulaoguan Pass.

As for Lord Qin, seeing the situation as hopeless, he led the elite Black Armor Army in retreat.

And at that moment, as Li Hongyun stood atop Hulaoguan Pass, he once again saw that immense, layered orb of light in his vision.

With a crisp "snap," the first layer of protection broke open!

At the same time, everything around Li Hongyun stopped moving, the soldiers' triumphant smiles freezing on their faces as time seemed to stand still.

The second layer of dark energy emerged, waiting for Li Hongyun to make contact.

...

"Did I beat the level?"

Happiness came so abruptly that Li Hongyun felt it was almost unreal.

But when he thought about it, the outcome had been decided as soon as the script he had planned reached the point where Lord Qin could no longer penetrate the formation.

The fact that Lord Qin could still defend with the remaining Black Armor Army and the original defectors within Hulaoguan Pass for two days was already quite astonishing.