Book 24 Chapter 1 – The Nightmare Began
The distance between the two groups was very close. Xu Ziling had two options: one, running behind the dozen or so martial art masters of Yangtze River Alliance under Zheng Shuming’s leadership, or two, relying on his outstanding sense of hearing and perception, he could follow An Long quietly from the side. The former approach would guarantee that he would not lose them, but he would only follow the Yangtze River Alliance people. As one of the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, even if An Long was carrying two Cao Yinglong, he would definitely have a way to escape, otherwise his name would not be on the list.
Among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, Xu Ziling had fought Pi Chen, who was disguised as Rong Fengxiang, Zuo Youxian, and You Niaojuan, three persons, one after another. Except for You Niaojuan, the former two were only limited to one contact and before stopping, yet he already felt their deep and immeasurable demonic power. An Long was the Tian Lian Zongzhu [headmaster of Heavenly Lotus (School)], and he had mastered the Tian Xin Lian Huan [Lotus Ring in the Center of the Sky, see Book 22 Chapter 5] that Fu Gongyou was deeply afraid of. Despite his huge build, plus he was carrying a load, these people should not be able to follow him this close; he must have been playing trick.
Xu Ziling quickly raised a mouthful of true qi, and then as fast as a shooting star he ran along the narrow alley; listening to the noises to distinguish direction, he follow An Long’s trail from the ground. Fortunately An Long was running toward the area where there was no crowd, otherwise he might bump into people. But now, even if they came across people wandering around to have fun that night, as soon as they saw a blur in front of their eyes, he would already be far away.
By this time, Xu Ziling had gained deeper understanding of the Two Sects Six Ways of the demonic schools. Moreover, among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, he already knew ‘Empress Yin’ Zhu Yuyan, ‘Demonic King’ Shi Zhixuan, ‘Fat Merchant of Sichuan’ An Long, ‘Demonic Taoist’ Pi Chen, ‘Ziwu Sword’ Zuo Youxian [see Book 21 Chapter 1], and ‘Dao Xing Ni Shi’ [going against the tide, see Book 20 Chapter 5] You Niaojuan. There were still two persons that he did not know.
Just by looking how strong You Niaojuan, who ranked at the bottom of the list, was, it was not difficult to deduce that An Long was not to be provoked.
In Hefei the other day, even with Fu Gongyou, Zuo Youxian and Pi Chen joined hands, they still did not dare to force him into a trapped-beast kind of fight. This was another proof of his strength.
Therefore, in dealing with him, Xu Ziling could only try to outsmart him, and not trying to engage him in a desperate fight. Otherwise, not only he would not be able to rescue Cao Yinglong, perhaps he would even pay it with his own life.
Right this moment, there was a slight change in the wind generated by An Long’s flight, signaling that he had jumped from the roof and landed on the ground.
The wind was getting stronger again; it looked like he leaped at an angle toward another roof, and then rapidly ran far away. He heard the rustling sound of Yangtze River Alliance people’s sleeves as they chased after him in hot pursuit.
Xu Ziling suddenly stopped. ‘Lucky!’ he cried inwardly. Were it not for him completely relying on hearing ability to follow the trail, he would have fallen into An Long’s ‘grafting flowers onto a tree’ tactic.
Turned out from the subtle change in the sound of the wind, he was able to accurately verify that An Long and Cao Yinglong were being substituted by another pair of men, and that the person posing as Cao Yinglong did not have his acupoint sealed. Although his body was limp, he was still awake; naturally he was regulating his qi to make his body light to yield to his companion’s leading. But the weight difference immediately exposed the flaw that Xu Ziling was able to detect.
It could be imagined that as these two subordinates of An Long suddenly appeared and ran someplace else, the pursuing troops were at a loss to know what to do, hence they quickly lost their targets. After all, Chengdu was An Long’s territory; shaking off outsiders following their trail should not be hard.
After his two helpers and their pursuing troops had gone far, An Long, still carrying Cao Yinglong in his arm, walked out leisurely. He passed through the left and turned to the right into the side streets and narrow alleys, and soon afterwards he arrived at a residential area and entered a house.
Very carefully Xu Ziling followed behind him. If it were Kou Zhong or Ba Fenghan, even if their martial art skill was higher than his, perhaps they could not do what he did: following a trail mostly by his senses, so that even a superior martial art master like An Long did not realize that he was exposing his trails.
He was about to flash out of the side alley when the alarm went off in Xu Ziling’s heart; hence he promptly halted his steps. He saw a shadow, so blurry that it appeared real, yet appeared imaginary at the same time, appeared on top of the wall of the target house, rapidly scurrying along the wall, until finally it leaped onto the roof and swiftly went around the house several times, before disappearing altogether.
Even with his bravery, Xu Ziling still needed to suck in a mouthful of cold air, because he recognized the shadow, which was that of a man wearing black clothes and black cape – as the ‘Shadow Assassin’ Yang Xuyan.
If he had hastily leaped onto the wall, it would definitely be difficult to escape Yang Xuyan’s eyes and ears. And if he and An Long joint hands in pincer attack, it would be difficult for Xu Ziling to escape with his life intact.
After crying inwardly, ‘What a close call!’ Xu Ziling checked the surrounding area and waited for the fortunate timing. And then without the slightest hesitation, staying close to the wall, he flitted toward the rear courtyard of the house. Creeping closer to the house, he focused his power into his ears, and happened to catch An Long’s voice.
This high-ranking-martial-art-master-among-the-palace-hall-of-the-demonic-way spoke in heavy voice, “Obviously this traitor has dispersed most of his power voluntarily, hence after meeting with him face-to-face only twice, I was able to stretch a hand and grab it. Otherwise, I would have to waste my strength, and then if we fell into the Yangtze River Alliance’s hands, it would be far from good.”
Yang Xuyan seemed to be examining Cao Yinglong’s condition; he spoke softly, “Long Shu [uncle, Cao Yinglong] waited upon Shizun [revered master] since he was young, and has always been loyal and devoted, but now suddenly he is like becoming another person. We must understand what happened clearly. If you, Old Long [An Long – different ‘Long’], have no objection, Xuyan will wake him up.”
Just by listening to this exchange, it was clear that An Long and Yang Xuyan had a close relationship, and that Cao Yinglong was Shi Zhixuan’s attendant, and that in the past he was also loyal to Yang Xuyan.
“Hold on!” An Long said, “If Yinglong refuses to cooperate, should we treat him ruthlessly to force his confession?”
Yang Xuyan replied indifferently, “Since he has no heart, I won’t hold on to loyalty; he has no one to blame but himself.”
Hearing that, Xu Ziling’s heart turned cold. Using torture to force confession was extremely common; it was a daily occurrence, especially in time of war like this. But Yang Xuyan spoke about it without any emotion at all, especially when the target was a fellow disciple with whom he had had a long time relationship. From this, it can clearly be seen that this man had a heart of stone and no humanity at all. No wonder he could become the most outstanding assassin of the present age.
An Long laughed aloud and said, “You are worthy to be Shi Dage’s proud disciple. Come!”
And then there was a sound of slapping palm, followed by the sound of Cao Yinglong’s groan.
Xu Ziling also groaned inwardly; if these two big devil heads, one old the other young, were starting to torture Cao Yinglong, would he be able to stay eavesdropping on the side without doing anything?
Yang Xuyan’s voice rang out, “What had happened? How did Long Shu fall into such plight?”
Groaning, Cao Yinglong said, “I lost! Troops in defeat like a landslide, everything’s finished!”
An Long spoke with a cold laugh, “I hear Xu Ziling let you go. Because of this, he had a fall out with that Shang beauty of the Flying Horse Ranch; Yinglong really have such a big face.”
Cao Yinglong replied with a bitter laugh, “Long Ye [master, as in master/slave relationship] please be lenient to me! I snatched this little life of mine back using the treasure I plundered for many years and by crippling my own martial art skill; it has nothing to do whatsoever with whether I have a big or a small face.”
Yang Xuyan spoke heavily, “So much wealth, you simply offered it with both hands to someone else?”
Cao Yinglong replied, “Shaozhu [young master (‘master’ as in owner/superior)] had me drew the location of the six treasure storages in a roll of map. At that time I was carrying the map with me. If I was killed in battle, they could always get the map from my dead body anyway. This is as simple as a case of ‘greedy for life, afraid of death’, which is a human nature. Shaozhu should empathize with my wretched state and situation.”
An Long spoke indifferently, “Since you believe that you are ‘greedy for life, afraid of death’ disciple, we have nothing to blame you with. I just don’t understand why Xu Ziling would immediately rush to Sichuan? And just now when you see Ol’ An, you immediately resisted me; isn’t it because you have committed some shameful deed?”
Cao Yinglong replied, “I do have something that I need to apologize to Shaozhu, which is: I left a batch of money and valuables in Chengdu to be used when I retire. As for Xu Ziling entering Sichuan, Yinglong completely have no idea what he is doing.”
Beyond Xu Ziling’s expectation, Yang Xuyan laughed and said, “Turns out it is just a misunderstanding. Since that’s the case, we cannot bear to argue with Long Shu. You may go!”
Cao Yinglong was stunned for half a day. “My whereabouts is already out in the open,” he spoke in distressed, “If I go like this, ay! Shaozhu, please don’t fool around with me! Shaozhu must not let me fall into outsiders’ hand, you might as well do to Xiaoren as you pleased!”
‘Ah!’ A muffled groan, but it was quickly cut short. Obviously Cao Yinglong was knocked unconscious again. And then An Long said, “His story does not have any flaw that I can see; do you believe him?”
Yang Xuyan laughed coldly and said, “Based on Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s style of conduct, how could they have a fallout with the Flying Horse Ranch for the sake of money and valuables? This traitor must have sold our secret in exchange for his life. This is very serious, fortunately as soon as I heard the rumor, I invited Qingxuan to Chengdu to talk. Even if Xu Ziling went to the secluded forest of the small valley, he would only be pouncing on an empty space.”
Listening from the outside, Xu Ziling’s heart shivered. Now he knew that Shi Qingxuan appearing in Chengdu was to meet her appointment with Yang Xuyan. Fortunately he overheard it quite by accident.
The strange thing was that this place was An Long’s territory, how could he not know that Xu Ziling has arrived in Chengdu? But then he relaxed, because except for Yang Xuyan, An Long and his men did not know what Xu Ziling looked like.
But how did Yang and An, two men, know that Xu Ziling was going to Sichuan? They must have a spy among the Yangtze River Alliance’s men; hence also the reason they were able to promptly capture Cao Yinglong back.
Lowering his voice, An Long said, “How much confidence does Xuyan have that Shi Qingxuan would be fooled?”
Undisturbed, Yang Xuyan replied, “One-hundred-percent confidence. Because since she understood the ways of the world [dictionary also says that it is an euphemism for ‘sexuality’], she only saw Shizun’s face; that was when she was no more than ten years old.”
Xu Ziling’s heart was greatly shaken. He understood what kind of trick Yang Xuyan was going to play against Shi Qingxuan. Although she was exceptionally intelligent, she might still fall into Yang Xuyan’s evil scheme.
An Long sighed and said, “If at that time Shi Dage hardened his heart and struck his palm to finish her off, he would have reached the ‘untouched emotion’ realm, ‘Immortal Print’ method would then be mastered to perfection; who would have thought that one move could make such a difference? Ay!”
Yang Xuyan coldly said, “Shizhang [teacher] has something on his mind, the disciple will toil for him. But Shizun must never know about this matter. Therefore, we must find out from this traitor’s mouth first how much secret he revealed to Xu Ziling. If necessary, we have to change our plan, or perhaps kill Xu Ziling first; otherwise, you and I can forget about living.”
Xu Ziling’s whole body relaxed. Although, if the two of them acted separately to deal with Shi Qingxuan and Cao Yinglong, how would he separate himself? Anyway, presently Shi Qingxuan’s situation was not too urgent; if he managed to rescue Cao Yinglong, while the two already had some misgivings, maybe they would not dare to act blindly without thinking to do anything to Shi Qingxuan.
At the same time, he had a feeling that Yang Xuyan and An Long were afraid of Shi Zhixuan, thus he could surmise that Shi Zhixuan’s natural character was demonic and terrifying. However, Shi Zhixuan obviously could not obliterate the father-daughter sentiment toward Shi Qingxuan.
“Don’t worry!” An Long said nonchalantly, “Based on his current level, as long as I use the ‘li hun gong fa’ [lit. departing soul skill method], I guarantee that he won’t be able to hide even half a bit of secret. Let’s meet in half a sichen at my old shop at the southern market.”
“That’s settled then,” Yang Xuyan agreed, “Let Xiaozhi [little nephew] open up a path for Old Long.”
Hiding outside, Xu Ziling knew Yang Xuyan was about to go out, hence he hurriedly fled far away.
Kou Zhong woke up suddenly; he had a splitting headache, his throat was parched, his body was drenched in cold sweats.
He had just had a terrifying nightmare. In his dream, he came into a huge hall, where the light was unusually glorious, as bright as day, while a band of musicians were playing like demons staking their lives, yet there was not the slightest sound of music. They looked like males, yet not quite males, females, yet not quite females. But when he got a closer look, he found out that their faces were full of deep wrinkles, as if they already had one foot in the grave.
The hall looked like the palace hall where Emperor Yang of Sui was murdered, it could hold several hundred people, and it was full of guests gathered in clumps, chatting and laughing in loud clamor. When he looked closer, in his astonishment he saw Li Shimin, Tuli, Fu Qian, Wang Shichong, Li Mi, Xiao Xian, Xiang Yushan, and the others. He knew them all, yet they did not seem to see him; they just continued drinking and being merry.
Suddenly someone spoke with laugh by his ear, “You finally came!”
Kou Zhong turned his head around to look; unexpectedly it was Li Xiuning. He wanted to talk, but nothing came out. And then Li Xiuning suddenly morphed into Song Yuzhi, who was staring closely at him with resentment in her eyes.
He wanted to throw himself at her, but the scenery changed. The magnificent hall became a battlefield with thousands of men and tens of thousand horses, where everybody was fighting hand-to-hand in desperate battle. He and his comrade-in-arms were in disadvantageous position, and were trying to get away. The people around him seemed to be Xuan Yong, Chen Changlin, Xu Ziling, and the others. One by one their blood splashed and they fell from their horses.
He wanted to pull his Moon in the Well, but there was only half the Moon in the Well remained. And then he woke up with a start and was breathing hard.
The moon sprinkled its light onto the windowsill and the entire courtyard, the autumn cicada’s cry was flourishing and still in the ascendant; he also heard the faint gurgling noise of the creek in the middle of the forest not far outside the courtyard wall. His headache gradually diminished, Kou Zhong sat up on the bed, only to find out that he was still holding the unopened letter written by Li Xiuning, which she passed on to him via Shang Xiuxun. He could not help shaking his head while smiling ruefully, and put the letter back into the bundle of waterproof cloth in which he kept the stuff Lu Miaozi left behind for him, and hid it well inside his clothes.
He was about to get up when Luo Qifei hurriedly came over and said, “Just received the news: Du Fuwei’s light cavalry has just crossed the Yangtze River, and are advancing toward Shen Lun’s camp; we must set out immediately. Would Shao Shuai please make your decision?”
Recalling his nightmare, Kou Zhong pulled the treasured and heavy Moon in the Well from under his pillow. Nodding, he said, “We will set out immediately.”
After waiting for half a day, Xu Ziling knew that something was amiss, because contrary to his expectation, Yang Xuyan did not come out to look around.
Xu Ziling soared at an angle; with two jumps, up and down, he was back to the place where he was eavesdropping just now. As expected, inside the house, not a soul was in sight.
Xu Ziling leaped onto the roof, and looked around as far as his eyes could see.
If the opposite party left via some secret way, the exit ought to be in one of the dozen or so houses nearby; it could not be in a very distant place. And the house where the exit was must have a carriage and a horse prepared in it, in order to facilitate transporting Cao Yinglong away from ‘the danger zone’, so that An Long could fully use his demonic method on him in peace.
He has just had this thought, when a horse-drawn carriage was starting out of the gate of the courtyard house several hundred paces to the south. The horse was clip-clopping its way to the street, and then turned and continued to the east.
Xu Ziling crouched down hurriedly and focused his attention to watch.
Two figures leaped up from the courtyard at the same time; it was An Long and Yang Xuyan, two men, they were as fast as a ghost, and separately landed on the roof of the houses to the left and right, and then disappeared into the shadow. If someone were following the carriage, he would not have escaped their eyes and ears.
Xu Ziling laughed coldly inwardly. He memorized what the carriage looked like, and then he jumped back down to the ground. Taking a roundabout route, he chased after the carriage to intercept it.
Kou Zhong was standing on the stern; his clothes were fluttering in the river breeze, yet he himself was absolutely still like a stone statue. If Li Shimin was allowed to capture Bashu, his potential would become like another Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng [260-210 BC, first emperor of China], and the situation would be like the Great Qin reappearing before the Warring States period. With Guanzhong’s territory encompassing rugged terrain, the troops and horses of the northwest, Guanzhong’s riches and Bashu’s copper and iron, who in the world could strive against them? This would make the Duke Yang’s treasure become more important.
Kou Zhong was indeed too careless; unexpectedly he had not thought about the strategic significance of Bashu. Ay! But even if he had known earlier, what could he do?
His only hope was that the ‘Wulin PanGuan’ Xie Hui would be an ambitious man that he would not be willing to submit himself under the Li Clan, or perhaps the Song Family’s influence could persuade him to remain neutral, or at least to take a wait-and-see stance.
However, if Shi Feixuan personally made her move, the Li Clan’s chance of success was really extraordinarily big.
He began to understand a little bit why he was having such a terrifying nightmare just now.
The carriage was getting closer.
There was no other way to do it. Xu Ziling was ready to go all-out to break the carriage and rescue the person inside. He dared to be certain that An Long and Yang Xuyan were not coming. As long as these two, one old one young, were not here, he had full confidence that he would be able to snatch Cao Yinglong back.
The driver was a big man. Although the Taiyang acupoints on his temples were high and protruding, he could only be considered as an ordinary martial art master of Jianghu, if he could block three strikes from Xu Ziling’s hands, it would be greatly surprising indeed.
The risky thing was the person inside the carriage. No matter how he applied his power to listen, he could not hear any other unusual noise except for Cao Yinglong’s irregular breathing. But he was so sure that there was someone else inside, because the big man, the driver, repeatedly turned his head around to make reports toward the person inside the carriage.
Since An Long had enough confidence to have this person escorting the prisoner, this person definitely had enough capability to accomplish it.
He had not had much chance to think; if he did not take the opportunity to make his move while An Long was not here, he might not have any opportunity at all. At first he was a little curious as to why An Long did not simply do his trick where they were, but then he relaxed after thinking that people of the demonic way were always suspicious of each other, plus by doing it An Long might have to consume considerable power, hence he did not want Yang Xuyan to be by his side; moreover, he would definitely not want to fight with anybody before his strength was recovered. Hence it was necessary that he found some other secret place to do it.
The carriage was about three zhang away from the street it was heading to. On the roof, Xu Ziling was ready to make his move. Suddenly a shadow flashed. Someone suddenly appeared from nowhere and blocked in front of the carriage.
Shocked, the driver promptly pulled the rein.
The person looked to be twenty-four, twenty-five years old, with the back of a tiger and the waist of a bear [i.e. tough and stocky], extremely bold and powerful. Although he could not be considered handsome, his facial features were quite proportional, his slightly upturned lower lip showed his conceited and extremely strong personality. He stood with strong presence, leaving deep impressions on others.
The big man driving the carriage was about to rain curses on him, but as soon as he stopped to look, his face showed recognition. Immediately swallowing the foul language back into his belly, he called out in surprise, “Xie Shaoye [young master]!”
Inside the carriage, Cao Yinglong’s uneven breathing suddenly stopped, followed by someone pulling the carriage curtain open, and then she spoke tenderly and softly toward the man who was blocking the carriage, who, by this time, was walking toward the side of the carriage, “Qie is Ruhua [lit. like flower], young concubine of An Ye. Gentleman ought to be Xie Wenlong, Xie Shaoye. I wonder why did you stop Qie’s carriage?”
Xu Ziling’s scalp immediately went numb; he knew that he had been fooled.
