The place that Zhang Chong had fled to was an upland covered with thorny bush. For some reason, the whole area was full of thick thorns and thistles ridden with barbs extremely prone to hurt people, making it almost impossible to get through.
Driven by an overwhelming desire to survive, Zhang Chong steeled himself and ordered his men to cut through the thorny bush. At the cost of dozens of soldiers’ lives, they made it through the area and fled into woods.
The main road leading to the east was right on the other side of the hill. Once he got over it, it would be rather difficult to catch him. As a result, Dai Cheng was hotly pursuing him sparing no effort, and there had been several occasions when he was within an inch of intercepting Zhang Chong successfully.
“Should we lend Dai Cheng a helping hand, Marshal?” asked one of the men covertly following Dai Cheng.
“There’s no hurry. Dai Cheng could be counted as an experienced commander. We shall stand by unless he really fails to catch Zhang Chong.”
However, Yuwen Tong, who regarded Dai Cheng as an experienced commander, ended up being disappointed. Despite the fact that Dai Cheng was within an inch of catching Zhang Chong for several times, he still failed to stop Zhang Chong from getting out of the woods. What was more embarrassing was that Dai Cheng himself was trapped in the woods by Zhang Chong who managed to advantage himself by making full use of the terrain!
The corners of Yuwen Tong’s mouth twitched. “What a bunch of good-for-nothings.”
His bodyguards didn’t dare to utter a word.
“Let’s move,” ordered Yuwen Tong. He ignored Dai Cheng and his men who were trapped, led his bodyguards out of the woods and successfully intercepted Zhang Chong who had already reached the main road.
At this time, apart from his two surviving deputy commanders, Wang He and Dou Li, Zhang Chong had only a dozen personal guards by his side.
As the interceptors popped out of nowhere and blocked their path, faces of Zhang Chong and his men changed drastically with alarm. “Who are you!”
Since Yuwen Tong was in inconspicuous clothes and also wearing a mask, Zhang Chong and his men didn’t recognize him.
“People who are going to kill you.” Yuwen Tong flicked a glance at a bodyguard beside him, who then answered Zhang Chong’s question.
Right at this moment, Ling Zhang, carried by another bodyguard, also arrived. Seeing the two sides confronting each other in the front, he didn’t precipitously run over. “Wait a moment.”
The bodyguard put him down.
Ling Zhang looked around and noticed the absence of Dai Cheng, which brought him into the realization that Dai Cheng must have been lost by the targets.
“I don’t think there are any feuds between us. Why do you want to kill me?” said Zhang Chong flintily.
“You’re a rebel. Do I need a reason to kill you?” replied the bodyguard standing beside Yuwen Tong, and with that, in a cold voice, he instructed the others, “Finish them!”
Immediately, all bodyguards launched their attack.
Yuwen Tong’s bodyguards were all highly experienced kung fu experts with numerous confirmed kills. And their combat capability was far greater than that of common soldiers. Soon, Zhang Chong and his two deputy commanders were the only ones still alive.
“I surrender. Please spare me.” Unexpectedly, Wang He dropped his weapon and capitulated.
Zhang Chong, went angry. In his disgust for those who betrayed him or surrendered to the enemy, he tried to take Wang He’s life.
Yuwen Tong’s bodyguards stopped him. “Zhang Chong, surrender yourself or die.”
“Just kill me if you can! In no circumstances will I surrender!” Zhang Chong brandished his weapon and charged forward.
Dou Li knitted his eyebrows. Surprisingly, he didn’t capitulate but followed Zhang Chong launching an attack.
“Since they are impenetrably thickheaded, kill them,” instructed Yuwen Tong in a low voice.
‘This voice sounds familiar.’ Zhang Chong became suspicious and, surprisingly, managed to fight his way up to Yuwen Tong with sheer brute strength.
Since Zhang Chong had come at him, Yuwen Tong naturally wouldn’t choose to draw back. The two of them started fighting.
Seeing this, all bodyguards took a few steps backward, making room for them.
Far from a match for Yuwen Tong, Zhang Chong was soon reduced to the losing side, but he still refused to give up. Naturally, Zhang Chong’s efforts couldn’t cause Yuwen Tong any restrictions, and neither did Yuwen Tong show him any mercy.
All of a sudden, with some kind of weird move, Zhang Chong managed to grab Yuwen Tong’s mask and tore it off.
“I knew it’s you! Yuwen Tong!” Zhang Chong yelled in rage.
The look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes went cold and with that he decisively took Zhang Chong’s life with one blow.
The deadly blow was caused by a sword that had gone through Zhang Chong’s chest. In the last few moments of his life, he was still glaring at Yuwen Tong in fury. “It was you… You did all this.”
Yuwen Tong flintily watched him, making no response. Zhang Chong glared fixedly at Yuwen Tong. Eventually, he fell to the ground with a thud and breathed his last.
Seeing this, Ling Zhang standing in the distance abruptly exhaled deeply. He felt that something that had been restraining him suddenly loosened.
Zhang Chong died and he finally got his revenge.
Dou Li also didn’t last long. He was killed by the bodyguards and fell down to the ground.
Wang He, who had surrendered, was the only one left.
“Marshal, please don’t kill me. I surrender. I can testify to all Zhang Chong’s doings!” offered Wang He immediately.
Yuwen Tong briefly knitted his eyebrows. This kind of man disgusted him.
“Take him back,” said Yuwen Tong.
“Yes, Second Master.”
“Marshal, Dai Cheng is coming. Please leave here first.”
A sudden commotion came from afar.
A bodyguard heard the noises and hurriedly informed Yuwen Tong.
Yuwen Tong nodded, took a flying leap and left.
Ling Zhang patted the shoulder of the bodyguard who had carried him to the scene. “Let’s go out there.”
Carrying Ling Zhang, the bodyguard gave a bob of the head, leaped off the slope and landed on the main road.
“Childe Ling?”
“What did you come here for, Childe Ling?”
Ling Zhang flicked a glance at the bodies on the ground and replied, “Two of you may stay. Others should leave lest any suspicions be aroused in Dai Cheng when he sees this.”
“Ur… All right.” The bodyguards nodded. One of them stayed, along with the one who had carried Ling Zhang to this spot.
Instead of checking the bodies of Zhang Chong and Dou Li, Ling Zhang gazed at Wang He, the look in his eyes somewhat weird, which made it hard for others to tell what he was thinking about.
“Childe Ling?” The two bodyguards were rather puzzled.
“Will it cause Yuwen Tong any trouble if this guy tell others he saw Yuwen Tong?”
This question sent one of the bodyguards into a brief trance. He pondered over it for a while and responded, “It’s okay. I think the Marshal can handle it.”
“But he’s still a risk,” Ling Zhang frowned. “Kill him.”
Wang He rounded his eyes. “No. Ling Zhang, you can’t kill me!
I won’t do that. I won’t disclose anything!”
“I don’t believe you,” replied Ling Zhang flintily.
The two bodyguards thought for a while and believed that Ling Zhang had got a point. “Then let’s get this over with. Dai Cheng will soon arrive.”
In the knowledge that they were really going to kill him, Wang He immediately rose to his feet and attempted to flee, but he had only ran two steps away when a sword was run through his heart.
“You…”
Before he could finish his sentence, he breathed his last and fell down to the ground.
Ling Zhang withdrew his sword, tossed it to the side of the body on the ground, then flicked a glance in the direction where sounds of people running were emanating from and said, “Let’s go.”
Both of the two bodyguards were fleetingly taken aback by the decisive action of Ling Zhang. Then they exchanged glances, nodded and left, one of them carrying Ling Zhang on his shoulders.
Almost as soon as they left, Dai Cheng and his men arrived and were greeted by the three corpses on the ground.
“They died?”
“Who killed them?”
With a serious expression on his face, Dai Cheng kept silent for a while before ordering, “Take these bodies back. Remember, it’s us who killed them.”
“Yes, Second Master.”
