The old things I repaired have become fine

Chapter 703 The Battle of Hulao Pass: I Scavenged for Trash on the Battlefield

Shen Le slowly approached, squatted down beside Qingzhui, and softly chanted the Rebirth Mantra. As she chanted, she carefully observed Qingzhui, trying to memorize every detail:

Wet almond-shaped eyes, matted mane, a chest whose rise and fall were gradually disappearing, and a hindquarters soaked in blood...

While memorizing, I tried to depict it in my mind, to depict its current appearance, and also to depict the broken and missing lines on the Six Steeds of Zhaoling stone carvings.

The forehooves weathered away, the horse's tail blurred by time, the lower abdomen and saddle no longer flowing smoothly due to cutting and damage...

The wind howled across this small battlefield, and for a short time no one spoke; the only sounds were the wind tearing at the flags and the gentle snorting of the warhorses.

The generals present either stood silently with His Highness the King of Qin, or seized this rare rest time to soothe the horses, wipe their sweat and give them water, and feed them a little bit of fine feed and maltose in their palms.

Or perhaps, they are busy gathering cavalry, reorganizing the troops, comforting the soldiers, and bandaging their wounds in a more distant place.

Or, check your weapons, quickly replace the dull blade of your longsword or the broken spear, grab a piece of armor from the ground, flatten it, and tuck it into your bosom as a temporary breastplate...

In short, no one felt that victory was already assured. For these soldiers and generals, this was merely a small pause in the midst of a great battle, a brief respite and adjustment.

After a while, Shen Le finished reciting the Rebirth Mantra and tried to stand up, supporting himself. He swayed and tried twice, then felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as someone grabbed him and lifted him upright.
"Young Taoist priest, can't you stand up?"

Shen Le: "..."

It's not that I'm incompetent, it's just that this armor is just too heavy!
I have reason to suspect that it has exceeded my limit for weighted squats!

He stretched his arms and legs, turned his head to look, and saw Li Shimin release the horse's head and stand up easily, but the look in his eyes as he looked at his beloved horse was still heartbreaking.

Shen Le thought for a moment, then took a step to the side and softly comforted him:

"Find the best painter to create a painting of it, and then carve it into stone. For thousands of years to come, people will remember it."

Li Shimin suddenly looked up and quickly glanced at Shen Le, his gaze so sharp it could almost leave a mark.

Shen Le almost leaned back under his gaze, subconsciously shifting her eyes away. She then saw several generals surrounding her exchanging meaningful glances, each with a hint of delight in their expressions…

What did I just say?

What did I just say?!

They won't think I'm a charlatan, will they? They won't believe that my saying this means His Highness Prince Qin will definitely become emperor in the future, will they?
Although there's nothing inherently wrong with it, I don't want to be branded as a charlatan and steal the jobs of people like Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfeng...

Is it too late for me to click "Undo" now? Oh, there's no "Undo" button, then never mind...

Shen Le almost wanted to slap himself twice. However, no one questioned him in detail. Someone brought over another tall horse, and Li Shimin mounted it, looking around.

Almost all the generals followed him, observing their surroundings, except for the one who had previously lifted him up, who turned to look at Shen Le:

"Young Taoist priest, aren't you coming along?"

"I really can't run anymore..." Shen Le swayed and sighed, begging for mercy. No one tried to persuade him, nor did anyone pull him onto his horse. Perhaps these Xuanjia soldiers also knew that the road ahead was treacherous, and that following them might not be a good thing.

As Li Shimin raised his arm high, instantly all the generals and knights quickly mounted their horses, forming a powerful charging formation around him.

Li Shimin glanced down at his horse, Qingzhui, on the ground one last time, then bent down slightly and patted the mount's neck.

"Shifachi, let's go. — Let's go! Let's fight another battle!"

"Following Your Highness!!!"

The generals roared with earth-shattering fury. Their hooves thundered, kicking up dust as they charged forward. The troop that had charged with Shen Le followed without hesitation, moving at full speed to keep up.

Shen Le stood there stunned for a moment, not yet able to react, when she was choked by the smoke and dust and coughed repeatedly, tears streaming down her face.

It was quite a while later, until the Xuanjia Army had vanished from sight, that he stopped coughing, wiped away a tear, and looked at the horse lying sprawled on the ground:
"Qingzhui, now it's just me left with you again." Shen Le dared not squat down any further, afraid she wouldn't be able to get up, so she could only lower her head and gently raise her hand to stroke it.

"Wait a moment, just wait patiently... Your prince will definitely come back to get you after this battle. He will have your portrait engraved in stone, so that everyone in the future will remember you for generations to come!"

A long wind howled. The steed, Qingzhui, lay motionless, completely lifeless. Shen Le bowed deeply, bidding farewell to the dead horse. When he looked up again, a sudden light flashed in his eyes:
"What's this!"

On the ground, amidst the tangled weeds, a glimmer of light appeared. This light was not the light of the sun, moon, or stars, nor the light of fire or water, nor even the flashing of weapons that Shen Le had become accustomed to seeing as he charged through battlefields—

Rather, it was a kind of light that Shen Le was very familiar with, one that he had frequently encountered over the years. Shen Le's heart skipped a beat, and he activated his full mental power, quickly walking in that direction:

"It really is it!"

Amidst the tangled weeds, a glimmer of white light shimmered on the broken spear. Shen Le approached step by step; the angle at which the spear tip reflected the sunlight constantly shifted, yet that glimmer of white light remained constant, maintaining its sharp luster.

Finally, Shen Le confirmed its identity and clenched his fist tightly:

"Hardware Elite!"

These are the metal elites that can only be forged on the battlefield, specifically on a battlefield of considerable scale and intensity, where morale and fighting spirit are highly concentrated!

However, considering Li Shimin's victory at Hulao Pass, where he defeated ten thousand troops with a hundred cavalrymen and captured two kings in one battle, there's no way such a treasure couldn't have been formed...

Shen Le let out a long breath, bent down with difficulty, and picked up the broken spear. He weighed it in his hand, feeling that it was still quite heavy, and then gently stroked it.

Once he was certain that only the tip of the spear had solidified, he drew the flying sword bestowed upon him by his sect, regulated his breathing, and slashed down with the sword!
With a crisp "clang," Shen Le's lips twitched. Just by condensing a tiny bit of the finest metals, the entire spearhead's texture had undergone a complete transformation.

When the flying sword strikes down, it's not that it can't cut through anything, but it's far less satisfying than cutting through ordinary weapons—if you strike too many times, it might even damage the essence of the flying sword!
"Fine, a little tiredness is fine, a little cumbersome is fine." Shen Le sighed, changed the direction of his flying sword, and slashed at the spear shaft.

With a soft thud, like cutting rotten wood, the entire spearhead fell to the ground, where Shen Le carefully picked it up and held it in his hand.

Looking around, in this place where Li Shimin and the Xuanjia Army soldiers had once stood, there were scattered, tiny white lights everywhere—

Pick it up!
Hurry up and start picking them up!
My senior brother and I came down the mountain precisely for these things, didn't we?
Blades, knife edges, spearheads, even blood-stained, grooved arrowheads. Shen Le bent over and haphazardly picked them up. Once he had collected them all, he was shocked to realize he had dug himself into a huge mess:

I can't get it!

These things are impossible to carry by hand, and to bind them with rope—what kind of rope could bind so much sharpness?

I need a metal box, and if possible, a pickup truck would be best...

Shen Le groaned silently in his heart. Helpless, he could only tear off a piece of leather armor from a corpse, tie the bottom tightly to make it into a tube, stuff all the loose metal pieces inside, and then try his best to seal the opening with leather rope.

After tying it to the back of his saddle, he hurriedly climbed onto the horse's back, looking around anxiously.
Where are Li Shimin's troops?
Where is the Xuanjia Army?

Ah, there they are! They're nearby, and once again they've broken through the enemy lines and are hurtling towards us!
"Hey! Wait for me!"

Shivachi!

That's what?!

The other of the Six Steeds of Zhaoling was also the warhorse that Li Shimin rode in the Battle of Hulao Pass—this earth-shattering battle destroyed two precious horses at once…

He desperately followed, rushing into the ranks. Only then did he realize that the place where the great banner had temporarily stopped was now behind Dou Jiande's army formation.

In other words, the charge led by Li Shimin earlier had broken through the enemy's thick formation.

The moment the flag was raised high behind Dou Jiande's army, the psychological impact on the enemy was, "We have lost..."

Even though the enemy's formation was already scattered, the Xuanjia Army still needed to conduct several more penetrations to completely break down their organization. Therefore, after a brief rest and changing horses, Li Shimin mounted his horse again and charged forward!

This charge, in Shen Le's opinion, was a little easier than the last one—but not by much. Shen Le urged his horse on desperately, barely managing to catch up with the group, but it was no longer possible for him to get close to Li Shimin; he could only fight on the periphery.

After breaking through the enemy lines again, Shen Le looked up and saw Hulao Pass. He rode closer and saw that Shi Fachi had also been hit by five arrows. His ribs were heaving heavily and his head was hanging on the ground.

As soon as Li Shimin dismounted, it collapsed to the ground with a thud, letting out a low wail, clearly unable to hold on any longer.

This time, Li Shimin didn't even have time to spend much time with it. He simply bent down and touched its head before taking another warhorse brought by his subordinate, mounting it, and charging into battle once more...

Shen Le plopped down on the ground. He stroked the tangled mane of Shifachi and the ribs of the warhorse, which were about to stop moving.

The ground was wet to the touch, and it was impossible to tell if it was blood. All that was clear was that the red warhorse's body was completely soaked.

Upon closer inspection, the palm was slightly red and had a faint smell of blood, yet the arrow wound on the horse was still quite far from its ribs...

Shifachi, Shifachi... The Chan River is not yet calm, the axes and halberds display their might, the crimson-clad warriors gallop, the blue banners return in triumph...

Although he wasn't as fast as Qingzhui, he was an exceptionally strong child. He had been hit by five arrows, four of which were in his chest—how dangerous that must have been...

Even so, it exerted all its strength to carry its master back in triumph, only to die of exhaustion after returning to the fortress...

Shen Le kept stroking it until it slowly stopped breathing. He continued to trace its muscle lines with his fingers, imagining it running at full speed, imagining its expression as drawn on paper or carved in stone.

People came and went around him from time to time, and some pointed and whispered, but he was completely oblivious, lost in his own thoughts.

"What a fine Akhal-Teke horse. What a pity."

Someone sighed softly beside her. Shen Le turned her head, instinctively jumping up, but before she was halfway there, she sat down on the ground.
"Brother!"

"You took too much risk!" Lou Yun's brows furrowed tightly, remaining furrowed for a long time.

“That’s the battlefield! It’s a charge on horseback! Our magic is useless on the battlefield! What did you tell me before? Just to look, to look from afar on the mountain, not to get close? Do you know what I mean—”

When I heard you rush out, I was terrified!
He wanted to curse a few more times, so Shen Le staggered and crawled a few steps on the ground. He crawled to the side of the warhorse he was riding and tugged at a strange package that had been taken off the saddle and was lying on the ground.

Untie the rope forcefully and toss it outwards:
"Brother!"

Lou Yun choked instantly. He bent down and carefully examined the flashing white light inside the package, then reached out and touched the bag from the top to the bottom along the outer edge of the leather armor.

A shimmering white light danced within his grasp. After a long while, he asked, his voice trembling slightly:
"so much?"

"There's definitely more than that." Shen Le, having given up all hope, simply slumped to the ground, panting heavily.

"Senior brother, this is just what the King of Qin left behind when he rested after his first charge and first break through the enemy lines. The second and third times, and even during the charge itself, there must have been many more..."

He strained his neck, looking up from his current position, slumped on the ground:
"Where did they rush to..."

"Don't go anywhere else." Lou Yun's face darkened. He picked up the leather armor tube with his left hand and Shen Le with his right, and strode towards the pass.

"Let's go back first and find a place to rest. I'll take care of the hardware elites and all that!"

"Don't!"

Shen Le struggled and broke free from her senior brother's grasp, sliding away like a fish:

"Senior brother, you don't know any combat martial arts! You stay inside the pass, I'll go! I just charged with them for a round, and they treated me like one of their own. At least I know how to protect myself on the battlefield!"

He shouted and dodged left and right, finally managing to get on the horse's back. He spurred the horse with his knees and galloped off. He circled twice, passed his senior brother, and tossed out a sentence:
"Senior brother, have you considered confronting His Highness?"

He dashed off. Lou Yun sighed, but it was too late to grab him. She could only watch him disappear into the distance before sighing and walking back.

These weapon fragments, though they look like a big bag, only yield a small amount after extraction, which is actually not enough.

To accumulate enough weight, we need to search this battlefield thoroughly, and may even need to use large-scale magic—the problem is, how do we tell His Highness the King of Qin?
Judging from that prince's character and conduct, at the very least, he is incorruptible, and it would be impossible to lie to him... Or should we wait until this battle is over and everyone has left before searching slowly?
Also, what should I say to His Highness Prince Qin later? Should I call someone from my sect?

(End of this chapter)