Book 13 Chapter 6: Helping People Like Fighting Fire
Book 13 Chapter 6: Helping People Like Fighting Fire
Like a specter Wanwan was standing beautifully at the door, her pretty eyes were gleaming with unusual radiance that was hard to explain, as she fixed her gaze at the two boys.
Kou Zhong took a step forward; pointing the Moon in the Well at Wanwan, he said, “Your Bian Shishu has abandoned you and left. Today we are going to settle the old debt and new animosity between us once and for all.”
Wanwan knitted her jet-black eyebrows, her expression was very cute and moving, in perfect harmony with her beautiful and elegant physique, something that nobody could match, the bewitching beauty that came only from a certain school. Even though Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong were standing in opposition to her on the battlefield, they could not but admit that she was extremely moving.
Against his will, Kou Zhong’s murderous intent decreased by thirty-percent.
Wanwan sighed lightly, as if she felt sorry for their ignorance. She said slyly, “How could Bian Shishu be easily deceived like that? It’s just that he saw your extremely flourishing acute spirit, and decided to temporarily avoid you! It was nujia who told him not to show his face, so that nujia can chat with you for a moment!”
Then she burst out into a giggle and said with a tender laughter, “I did not know you wanted to vie over the world like other people!”
Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Unless you release Yucheng and the others immediately, there will be no talk. We will decide life and death on fists and kicks, saber and sword.”
Wanwan slowly moved forward until she was about half a zhang away from the two boys. With a gentle, captivating laughter she said, “If we can cooperate honestly, releasing those four kids is not a big deal.”
Recalling the Flying Horse Ranch people like Shang Peng, Shang He, and the others, who lost their lives in her hands, Xu Ziling shook his head resolutely and said, “You don’t seem to realize that there is this inextricable deep enmity between us. The only way to settle this is if one side was completely wiped out. Just call your Bian Shishu back! Otherwise, don’t blame us for dealing with you two against one.”
As if nothing had happened, Wanwan simply turned her attention to Kou Zhong, and spoke indifferently, “What do you say?”
Astonished, Kou Zhong replied, “My Xiongdi’s word is the same as my own. Did Miss Wan find out about it only today?”
Wanwan nodded and said, “I understand. There will come a day I will make you regret what you said today. Nujia takes my leave now!”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling pounced on her together.
Wanwan let out a burst of tender laughter. Producing a ribbon from the sleeve of her right arm, she separately brushed away Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well and Xu Ziling’s incoming palm strike.
Borrowing the reaction force, like a burst of wind Wanwan flew to the top of the roof.
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Didn’t you brag a few days ago that you were going to get rid of us within the next seven days? It’s nearly seventy days now! How come your words remained to be unfulfilled?”
The two boys knew that even they fought together, killing Wanwan was still more difficult than ascending to the heavens. If she wanted to leave, there was no way they could stop her. But for the sake of Duan Yucheng, four people, how could they let her slip away?
Xu Ziling added, “Don’t forget that next time you want to kill us, it will be even more difficult than this time.”
With a thousand tenderness and a hundred charms Wanwan laughed sweetly, her beautiful eyes looking deep into their eyes, she said, “Shizun [master] told me that if this time we still cannot get rid of you, she would personally undertake this task. Based on Shizun’s usual practice, chances are at that time you will reach the state of ‘seeking life yet won’t get it, seeking death yet can’t obtain’. Can’t you be a bit more patient?”
Both Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling shivered in their heart.
Wanwan was this formidable, wouldn’t Zhu Yuyan be even more desperately serious?
Suddenly Wanwan sighed grimly and said, “Kou Zhong! If you are willing to work together with nujia’s school, won’t the world be in your bag already? Why do you haggle over every ounce with several human lives? Real men conducting themselves in life, why bother over trivial matter? Besides, when two parties battle each other, there bound to be people injured or even killed!”
Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Obviously you only have regards on my treasure, yet you said you have regards on me. Female demon Wan, why don’t you go back to sleep with your Bian Shishu?”
A murderous aura flashed through Wanwan’s beautiful eyes, which was quickly replaced by a more complicated emotion. Revealing a bitter smile on her face, she suddenly floated away and disappeared behind the roof.
The two boys exchanged glances; they both saw the heaviness in the other’s heart.
The enemy was really too difficult to deal with.
Kou Zhong took a sharp intake of breath. “Did you smell something?” he asked in a low voice.
Xu Ziling nodded and said, “Some kind of a very strange fragrance. Female demon Wan is, after all, a woman.”
Kou Zhong giggled and said, “Whether Yucheng and the others are able to escape this calamity depends on whether the great tracking skill taught by Ol’ Ba is really effective.”
The two boys became the Scarface Hero and the Pockmarked Face Big Bandit, respectively, and changed into warrior outfit commonly wore by Wulin people. They were sitting in a teahouse, sipping tea and carefully watch a magnificent mansion house diagonally across the street at the mouth of the Xinzhong Bridge.
Pointing at the said building, Kou Zhong asked the waiter, “Whose house is that? Looks a bit imposing.”
After casting him a sidelong glance, the waiter replied, “You must be new in Luoyang that you don’t even know the mansion house of the Da Longtou [big boss] of Luoyang Bang [gang].”
When the waiter left to attend to the guest at another table, Kou Zhong leaned over and whispered to Xu Ziling, “Tonight, after meeting the Old Ba, we’ll come here on a rescue mission. You don’t have any problem with that, do you?”
Xu Ziling pondered for half a day; finally he replied in low voice, “I am afraid in her rage female demon Wan might execute Yucheng and the others right away. Do you think it’s likely?”
Kou Zhong said, “This is called anxiety to the level of confusion. Did you notice that? The waiter that talked to us just now is slipping out. Perhaps he is going to tell Luoyang Bang people that we are stepping on their plate.”
“Isn’t Luoyang Bang a big organization within the eight-gang ten-society?” Xu Ziling said, “If we can confirm which side Shangguan Long is leaning to, we might be able to exploit the delicate situation currently going on in Luoyang to deal with him.”
“I can always go back to Wang Shichong to find out the answer to that question,” Kou Zhong said, “Plus I can also take a look whether there is any development concerning Dugu Feng. We’ll meet again at the appointed place we’ll rendezvous with Ol’ Ba! Ay! I wish I don’t have to leave you alone.”
Xu Ziling burst out laughing, “Screw you!” he cursed, “Since when did I become your girl? Get lost!”
After Kou Zhong left, Xu Ziling pondered over a lot of things.
Ba Fenghan once mentioned that Yin Gui Pai had a man in Luoyang, someone who, on the surface, is an important figure [orig. have head, have face], while secretly he was a Yin Gui Pai’s ‘undercover agent’ working in the Wulin of the north, with specific responsibility of intelligence-gathering.
This perhaps explained why Duan Yucheng, four men, could not escape Wanwan’s evil clutch.
Thinking to this point, he heard footsteps approaching. Five big men, wearing blue warrior outfit, were stepping into the teahouse. Their eyes quickly found him, and then they went straight toward him.
Without even casting a glance from the corner of his eyes, Xu Ziling continued drinking his tea.
Upon seeing this, one after another the other patrons of the teahouse paid their bill and left in a hurry. Even the waiters were gone.
Arriving in front of Xu Ziling, two of the men stood behind him, while two others stopped right in front of him, pulled the chairs, and sat down on the table to his left and right. In short, he was surrounded.
The last one, a man who looked like he was in his forties, wearing two slanting moustache above his lips, without any trace of politeness sat down across the table from Xu Ziling. With ominous glint in his eyes, he said, “Xiaodi Chen Lang, the Xiangzhu [fragrant master] of the Xuanwu Hall [Black Tortoise, one of the seven mansions of the north sky (in Daoism)] of Luoyang Bang. I hear that the friend here is inquiring about us. May I ask what is friend’s affiliation?”
Xu Ziling leisurely sniffed the fragrant steam rising up from his cup of tea, glanced nonchalantly at the man, and then said with a smile, “I wonder if Chen Xiong is merely making a big fuss over a minor issue. I was just noticing the particular look of your honorable Bangzhu’s mansion house, and thus I was asking out of curiosity. Is there any crime committed? Are we going to fight just because of this?”
Seeing his calm demeanor, Chen Lang was taken aback. Frowning, he said, “This is not about asking too much, surely friend knows it, right? Currently Luoyang is in an unusual time, if friend does not harbor any evil intention, just report your school or sect, your name and surname. If this is just a misunderstanding, we certainly won’t make things difficult for you.”
This kind of talk came from a Luoyang Bang man, who was used to go on the rampage around Luoyang region, it could be considered very polite. It was simply because Chen Lang noticed that Xu Ziling was carrying himself in the manner of a martial art master of major sect that he spoke those words, to make it easier for both sides to step down.
If Xu Ziling was indeed what he appeared to be, he would definitely take this opportunity to beat the gong to recall the troop, so as not to arouse his suspicions and thus ‘beat the grass to scare the snake’. But now, of course, was another matter.
Xu Ziling’s gaze fell onto the long saber hanging on Chen Lang’s back. Smiling unhurriedly, he said, “My mood today is not too good, I was wondering if Chen Xiong would be willing to lend me your saber, so that I can borrow it to break my vow against killing.”
While Chen Lang and his four men’s countenance changed abruptly, Xu Ziling had already stretched out his hand slowly toward Chen Lang’s throat.
The two big men on his left and right pounced on him angrily. Who would have thought that the table suddenly snapped, and split into two halves, separately knocking against them.
The two men from behind drew their sabers and ferociously hacked down on the back of Xu Ziling’s head. Xu Ziling only smiled. Suddenly the chair he was sitting on shot back like a bullet and crashed against the two men’s legs; knocking them down in a crushing defeat.
Now there was no barrier between Xu Ziling and Chen Lang. The teapot and teacups have been falling to the floor. Using the tip of his toes fast as lightning Xu Ziling kicked, sending the pot and cups safely onto the adjacent table, as if the waiter had carefully set them down on the table in front of the guest. The way he control his power was very ingenious that others could only gasp in amazement.
By this time Chen Lang was miserable.
On the surface there was nothing special in the way Xu Ziling was reaching out to grab him, but the fact was that the opponent’s finger technique was exquisite, carrying with it five strands of swift and severe finger winds, completely sealing off Chen Lang’s escape path.
The most formidable thing was that the opponent’s body emitted a stream of impossible-to-withstand deep, cold murderous aura, making it difficult for him to breathe, increasing his heartbeat, and making the blood in his entire body seemed to freeze, so that his body was unable to move the slightest bit.
In that instant, Xu Ziling suddenly understood that after going through perilous situations for the last several months, he had made an all-around breakthrough in the martial way.
Even Wanwan, while she momentarily lost her spirit and was caught off guard, he had, step-by-step, managed to gain the upper hand.
And his progress could be divided into two aspects.
The first aspect was mental/spiritual.
After undergoing unceasing danger and fierce battle, he had cultivated iron will and steel confidence, and could face anything without any fear.
But more importantly, he had developed the fantastic skill of having foresight.
Every time he was battling the enemy, oftentimes he was able to be one step ahead by grasping the changes of the moves the enemy was using to advance and attack or retreat and defend.
It was an inexplicable thing; he could only give credit to the magical effect of the Secret to Long Life.
The other aspect was the martial way.
Because Kou Zhong’s and his martial art moves basically did not follow any method, they also did not suffer the limitation of a particular set of method.
Each time they were facing the enemy for the first time, their martial skill would progress one layer up. Until now, each move and every style was uniquely directed at the situation at hand, as the moves came out freely, following their hearts’ desire. Even a martial art master of Wanwan’s caliber would find it hard to fathom, causing them to struggle to cope with the two boys.
But the biggest breakthrough was that he was able to control both the speed and the intensity of the spiraling energy.
This has given him the confidence in the ingenious use of this fantastic qi power, so that others were unable to make any sense of logic behind the changes of his spiraling power.
This has been highly beneficial to him whenever he wanted to hide his identity.
Rescuing people are like fighting fire. He did not have the patience to wait until tonight.
“Ah!”
Chen Lang let out a miserable grunt as his throat was grabbed by Xu Ziling, and his entire body was lifted up that his feet were dangling about half a chi above the floor.
Xu Ziling laughed aloud, and then, still carrying Chen Lang by the throat, he went out the back door.
※ ※ ※
Kou Zhong removed his disguise, back to his original self as he returned to the gate at the end of the Imperial City. He noticed the tight security on the gate, with layers of guards, with the intensity of the atmosphere before the storm clouds approached.
Inside the Imperial City, even more teams of soldiers were pushing logs [to be rolled down in defense of the city], cloud ladders, armored vehicles to block arrows, and other battle equipment, forging ahead toward the Palace City.
Lang Feng was extremely busy. Seeing Kou Zhong returning, he only said that Wang Shichong was waiting for him in the Shangshu Mansion, hence Kou Zhong went to the Mansion alone.
Under the escort of more than a dozen city guards, Kou Zhong went to see the radiant looking Wang Shichong inside the heavily guarded private room inside the Shangshu Mansion.
After he was seated, Wang Shichong said with a cold laugh, “I have already sealed off all the gateways into the Imperial City, to force Yang Dong to hand over Yuan Wendu and Lu Da, two men. Currently the Palace City is completely dependent on Dugu Family’s support. As long as I can eliminate Dugu Feng, the Palace City will crumble without any attack, I am not worried that Yang Dong will not surrender.”
Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “If we could sever Palace City’s supply line, how many days are they going to survive?”
Wang Shichong replied, “The Palace City has always had large quantities of army provisions in store, plus Dugu Feng has already had an intention to confront me. I am afraid two, three months would not be a problem for them.”
“Does Li Mi’s side show any activity?” Kou Zhong asked.
Wang Shichong replied, “Although on the surface Li Mi seems to hold back his troops without moving, but secretly they are mobilizing the troops and horses, as well as amassing provisions. Looks like your scheme to lure the enemy has shown some results.”
Delighted, Kou Zhong said, “The day Li Mi succeeded in burning down our fake granary will be the day he will deploy his troops. At that time we must launch a surprise attack. Therefore, our top priority right now is to send people to investigate the situation around Yanshi, to gather intelligence on his marching route.”
Wang Shichong spoke without restraint, “Li Mi’s surprise attack and his scheme to entice the enemy are well-known throughout the world. This time, if we could use his trademark method back against him, it will be extremely delightful.”
And then, changing the subject he said, “These past ten days a lot of Jianghu figures have arrived in Luoyang. Because our focus was in dealing with the Dugu Clan, we have not been paying attention. Do you have any information or perhaps an opinion?”
While cursing ‘Old Fox’ in his heart, Kou Zhong’s mouth was saying, “I have just found my Xiongdi, Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan, and together we went all over the place, stepping on plates and scouting information. Right now the most important thing is your safety. As long as Shangshu Daren is safe and sound, victory will be ours.”
Wang Shichong laughed and said, “You don’t have to worry about me, but there is one thing that I’d like to ask you to do.”
Stunned, Kou Zhong asked, “What is it?”
※ ※ ※
‘Bang!’
Chen Lang’s back knocked against the courtyard’s wall, he slipped down along the wall to the ground, fainted.
Xu Ziling looked up to the heaven; his heart was filled with grief and indignation.
Using thunderous method of reversing the blood and qi, Xu Ziling has forced Chen Lang’s confession on Duan Yucheng, four men’s tragedy.
Turned out they arrived in Luoyang six days ago, and that very night were besieged by the martial art masters under Shangguan Long’s leadership.
The four men showed great progress in their martial art skill, they managed to engaged Shangguan Long and his men in fierce battle.
The end result was Shi Jie and Ma Gui died in the battlefield, Bao Zhifu was seriously injured and was captured. Only Duan Yucheng managed to escape albeit heavy injury.
Comparatively speaking, Bao Zhifu’s fate was more tragic than Shi Jie and Ma Gui, who heroically sacrificed their lives in the battlefield; he was cruelly tortured by Shangguan Long, and after giving out everything, Shangguan Long personally pinched and shattered his throat that he died.
After sharing delights and common hardships for a period of time, Xu Ziling grew fondness toward Duan Yucheng and the others. Today was the first time that he learned about their tragic fate, how could his heart not filled with fury? At the end of the day, didn’t Bao Zhifu, three men, lose their lives because of them?
Taking a deep breath, Xu Ziling suppressed his anger completely before leaving the alley, and walked over to Shangguan Long’s mansion in large strides.