Watching the retreating border army, Yang Zhenshan's eyes involuntarily narrowed.
This was a cavalry unit, but since they had entered mountainous terrain, they had abandoned their warhorses.
Even though they were fleeing, their advances and retreats were well-coordinated, and they occasionally struck back using the terrain, which indicated they were a well-trained elite force.
However, what really caught Yang Zhenshan's attention was the leader of this border army.
The leader wasn't tall and appeared rather thin, wearing a blackish-brown cotton armor. At first glance, the person didn't seem remarkable, but all the soldiers were protecting him.
Moreover, this person's strength was not to be underestimated; with every move, Jin Qi burst forth.
A Postnatal Realm Martial Artist!
"Dad, they are coming over here!"
While Yang Zhenshan was speculating about the leader's identity, his son Yang Mingzhi to his side spoke up tensely.
Yang Zhenshan stroked his inch-long beard and said, "Gather everyone here, get ready to meet the enemy in battle!"
According to the enemy's movement, they would likely soon reach the hilltop, but they probably wouldn't head for Yang Family Village.
For these border soldiers, fleeing into the mountains was undoubtedly the best choice. With the complicated terrain in the mountains, there was a great possibility for them to escape complete annihilation.
But once the border army had fled into the mountains, Yang Family Village would suffer.
Yang Zhenshan did not believe the Northern barbarians would simply leave after finishing their business.
Instead of waiting for these Northern barbarians to come over on their own, it would be better to take advantage of having a force of elite border soldiers present to join forces with them and eliminate these Northern barbarians.
Moreover, they could now occupy a terrain advantage. The Northern barbarians had abandoned their horses, so they could absolutely hold the high ground and block the enemy.
After receiving Yang Zhenshan's command, Yang Minghao, while running down the mountain, began blowing a sharp whistle.
Yang Zhenshan divided the hundred or so strong men of the village into three groups, with about thirty-five men each. Yang Minghao did not belong to any group and was running errands alongside Yang Zhenshan.
He was not considered a trusted aide but at best an errand runner.
After all, he was young.
As the whistle blew, a series of whistles were also heard from the village.
The whistle pattern—two short followed by one long—meant to assemble.
Soon, the village's guards hurried towards the back mountain.
In under three minutes, the guards previously dispersed to defend the village were assembled in the training ground at the back mountain.
"Ming Hao, what's the situation?" Yang Minghui, after completing the assembly, asked Yang Minghao.
"Dad is waiting on top of the mountain. Let's go up there first!"
Yang Minghao didn't have time to explain and took the lead running up to the mountaintop.
Yang Minghui quickly waved his hand and shouted, "Follow up, quick!"
When they reached the top of the mountain, the two fighting sides on the slope were less than two hundred meters away from the mountaintop.
"Fall in!"
Yang Zhenshan didn't have time for talk and gave a direct command.
By then, the young men had seen the border army and Northern barbarians fighting on the slope, but they showed no signs of panic or fear; instead, they seemed eager.
The young still fearless like newborn calves, and these young men were trained in martial arts from childhood and had long harbored the desire to test their skills.
With the hard training they had undergone over the past month, they were all the more eager for a big battle.
Even faced with a bloody battlefield, they astonishingly had not a trace of fear.
Following Yang Zhenshan's order, the hundred or so young men immediately formed into two neat columns at the top of the mountain.
Their arrival also caught the attention of the fighting border army and Northern barbarians.
Seeing a group of commoners in coarse linen suddenly appear, Zhou Lan was first stunned, then a surge of exasperation rose within her.
"Move out!"
She let out an angry bellow with a voice that, perhaps due to exhaustion, sounded unusually hoarse as if tearing up cloth, and utterly unpleasant.
"What are you fools doing here? Waiting to die?"
At this moment, Zhou Lan was truly furious, even more so than when they were surrounded by the Northern barbarians.
She simply couldn't understand why a group of peasants would appear here, standing in line atop the hill waiting for death.
Indeed, in her eyes, the able-bodied men of Yang Family Village were nothing more than ordinary peasants, even though each of them was holding a long spear, she still didn't believe that this group of ordinary peasants had any combat ability.
Not just her, the Northern barbarian horsemen behind her thought the same.
Seeing a group of peasants clad in common cloth, the Hu Clan soldiers were not the slightest bit panicked, instead they all revealed ferocious smiles.
Just when Zhou Lan was about to charge up the hill to disperse these peasants first, a whistling sound tore through the air.
A short spear over a meter in length flew over her head, piercing into the chest of a Northern barbarian with a thud.
She followed the direction from which the short spear had come and looked up, only to see a burly man poised to throw another short spear.
Indeed, this burly man was Yang Zhenshan.
Although the original body was somewhat weak, after months of nourishment and recuperation, today's Yang Zhenshan had become a strong man with a muscular build.
His face had filled out, and his complexion no longer looked as pale and ashen as before.
In just a few breaths, Yang Zhenshan had thrown all ten short spears from his body.
Six of the ten short spears hit their targets, buying a moment of respite for the border army soldiers who were in battle.
"Come up!" Yang Zhenshan didn't pay attention to Zhou Lan's roar, and calmly shouted instead.
Zhou Lan paused, her dusty face showing a touch of surprise, but she quickly recovered.
"Follow me!"
Yang Zhenshan's actions had proved that these people in front of her were not ordinary villagers. Although Zhou Lan was still very worried, there was no time to waste now.
Yang Zhenshan clasped a steel spear, his gaze firmly fixed on the area below.
At this moment, he was glad that these Northern barbarian horsemen did not carry bows and arrows. Perhaps they had abandoned them when they entered the mountains, or perhaps they were simply not adept at horseback archery, but either way, their lack of bows and arrows was a good thing.
The young and strong men of Yang Family Village had no armor to protect themselves and would not dare to face an enemy wielding bows and arrows directly.
It was for this reason that Yang Zhenshan dared to gather everyone to meet the enemy head-on, otherwise, he would have preferred to fight a defensive battle in the village.
The enemy was getting closer, and Zhou Lan had reached the front of Yang Zhenshan.
However, Yang Zhenshan didn't spare her a glance at all, allowing her to walk to the back of the formation.
"Kill!"
Suddenly, Yang Zhenshan let out an angry roar.
He took a bold step forward, pouncing down like a fierce beast, his long spear piercing straight toward a Hu Clan soldier who was charging at him.
From a higher position, he leaped over ten feet in one jump, which the Hu Clan soldier had not expected at all; the soldier's face still held a vicious smile.
The next moment, a sharp pain pierced his chest as the iron spear entered it, and before he could even react, the spear was withdrawn, quickly followed by a large foot stomping on his face.
"Charge!"
With a thunderous bellow, Yang Zhenshan took the lead, creating a sensation of slaughtering in all directions.
Behind him, the young and strong men of Yang Family Village, following their usual training, charged in groups of five, spreading out and launching their assaults.
At the same time, the border army soldiers, who had been fleeing, also turned around, weaving through the young men, coordinating with them in attacking.
Although there was no communication between the two sides, their cooperation was surprisingly tacit.
Of course, this was not because the villagers were well trained, but because the border army soldiers were real elite forces. They knew how to coordinate with each other and recognized that this was the best time to launch a counterattack.
Compared to them, the young and strong men were merely relying on their passion and the most basic training, still far from being true elites.
Even so, this still gave Zhou Lan pause for thought.
She had never imagined that a group of ordinary peasants could possess such fighting power.
But soon, she could no longer concern herself with the young men around her, as having gained a brief respite, her slightly thin figure leapt out like a cheetah, her long knife sweeping out with a white sharp edge.
It was just when she leapt out that Yang Zhenshan's figure flew backward like a sack of grain.
Damn it, he had been careless!
Yang Zhenshan held the long spear across his chest, his face flushed with a surge of red, his body uncontrollably falling backward.
He had really been careless, only thinking of boosting the morale of the young men and taking the lead, yet he had neglected the fact that these Hu Clan soldiers were no ordinary enemies.
Even Zhou Lan, a Postnatal Martial Artist, had been chased and fled by these Hu Clan soldiers, let alone him, a Body Refining Realm Martial Artist who had not yet stepped into the threshold of the Postnatal Realm.
He had just charged forward when a curved blade flew towards him, the crescent-shaped blade aiming straight for his face.
Luckily, his reflexes were quick. With his spear held horizontally, he managed just in time to block the incoming blade.