t
Under the solemn gaze of the more than fifty murderous-looking warriors escorting them, the three, leading their horse along, upright and unafraid, walked over to the main tent, about sixty paces away.
Xu Ziling whispered in Ba Fenghan’s ear, “Have you ever heard anybody mentioning that Ma Ji knows how to speak Han language?”
Ba Fenghan’s expression changed, he slowly shook his head and spoke heavily, “Never heard.”
Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “If I am guessing correctly, the speaker just now must be Tonyukuk.”
His words were like scorching thunder on the plain, making the two men’s brains were like being struck by thunderbolt, like a flash of lightning illuminating their mind. The reason they came to Yan Yuan Ji was because Xu Kaishan said that Gomiko, who was killed in order to shut his mouth, was Ma Ji’s subordinate, and that he had information about the wolf-bandits he wanted to sell. Therefore, when they suddenly lost the wolf-bandits’ tracks on the road southeast of Yan Yuan Ji one night, they automatically thought about coming to Yan Yuan Ji to look for Ma Ji for some information, as well as to try their luck.
At that time they did not think too much about this matter, because basically they did not consider Ma Ji to be worthy in their eyes. But as soon as Xu Ziling made that remark, the two men were suddenly awakened.
Due to their carelessness, they had fallen into the enemy’s evil schemes, while also had no choice but to admit that the opponent was indeed brilliant.
From Yuyang to this place, everything that happened was practically a string of plots; one scheme failed the next one was carried out. Their visit to the pleasure house to seek Jian Dashi asking for the bows – had exposed their whereabouts, which triggered the enemy, headed by Du Xing and Xu Kaishan, to launch their operation.
The wolf-bandits and Sao Niangzi’s mission was not targeted at Yin Xianhe, not even Qiu Nanshan or various gangs and societies’ people – but at them.
Sao Niangzi, who was adept at astronomy and the use of poison – had given everything she had, and successfully, inside a fully enclosed environment – poisoned and harmed everybody, only too bad for her that Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were a-hundred-poison-cannot-invade type of persons, hence the enterprise was ruined for the sake of one basketful, and they had to pay with the Madam’s life and broken soldiers.
One scheme failed the next scheme commenced.
Du Xing originally planned to go all out to strike and kill the two at Shanhai Pass, only because of Ba Fenghan and Shi Feixuan’s appearance that Du Xing’s troops disposition was thrown into a mess. He had no choice but to change plan by sending Xu Kaishan into the arena, cleverly luring them to pursue the wolf-bandits outside the Great Wall.
All along the wolf-bandits had been leading them toward Yan Yuan Ji before vanishing in its vicinity without any trace, forcing them to come here to look for Ma Ji. This was practically a plot to consign them to eternal damnation.
Myriads of thoughts flashed at lightning, flint-spark speed in Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong’s mind. At every most critical juncture, Xu Ziling was always able to display his outstanding intelligence and his mystical intuition.
When they were about twenty paces from the main tent, Xu Ziling focused his voice into a line and sent it into the two men’s ears, saying, “Strike first and gain the upper hand!”
Ba Fenghan stood in place, threw his head back in long laughter, and spoke in Tujue, “Tonyukuk, get out here for me!”
All around, the men were stunned, and then ‘Qiang! Qiang!’ an unending string of ringing noise fell incessantly on the ear, as everybody pulled the most popular weapon beyond the Great Wall, all styles of cavalry sword. They scattered away a little bit first, before pointing the blades at the three men.
The reaction of these people has confirmed, without the slightest bit of inaccuracy – Xu Ziling’s assessment.
Without waiting for Tonyukuk’s answer, the three immediately leaped onto their horseback. The matter of life and death was going to to be strived for in this very brief period of time [orig. the time it takes for a shadow to move a cun (about an inch)].
If they let the enemy to easily layout their troop disposition to guard the court, next year today would be the first anniversary of their death. Merely Tonyukuk, one person was already not easy to deal with, not to mention the opposite side has plotted actively; this time certainly the whole nest came out to fight, even Bi Xuan might be hiding inside the tent. This was surely not a laughing matter. If they nursed a grievance in this place, Ren Jun, Uncle Li, and the others would certainly lose their lives as well.
Only by defending their lives and staying alive would make Du Xing not daring to strike treacherously.
‘Bang!’
A man broke through the top of the tent and soared into the air, straight up for about four zhang, and thundered with powerful voice, “Great Khan’s order! Attack!” Naturally he was speaking in Tujue language.
This man’s build was a bit like Yin Xianhe, as thin as a match, tall like a white crane [Siberian crane (Grus leucogeranus)], but he was a bit more good-looking than Yin Xianhe. He was clothed in snow white wide robe, which freely fluttered high in the air blown by the straight wind of the prairie. Within his imposing and amazing appearance, there was a hint to graceful intelligence.
Looking at him either horizontally or vertically, he could not possibly be more than thirty years old, but the three had a feeling that he was precisely Tonyukuk; otherwise, who could have such a mighty presence?
A martial art master who was indeed a martial art master; replacement guaranteed if not genuine.
Tonyukuk suddenly changed from rising to falling, just like a vulture or a hawk gliding down from the sky, diving to snatch its favorite culinary delicacy on the prairie. His pair of eyes pouring out deep emotion, yet a hint of self-confidence, haughty smile escaped from the corner of his mouth.
The Perished Moon Bow appeared in Ba Fenghan’s hand.
Xu Ziling leaned forward and stuck his hands into the two leather bags full of iron bullets hanging on both sides of his horse’s back; letting out a long laugh, he said, “Shaoshuai, you get your wish so soon; what more is there to regret?”
Ba Fenghan sent out his true power, the Perished Moon Bow, as if it had a life of its own, opened up automatically. With his other hand Ba Fenghan fetch an arrow from the quiver, so fast that no one could see his movement clearly, the arrow was already on the string.
The three warhorses in triangular formation, it changed position so that now Kou Zhong became the vanguard – charging toward the left side of the main tent. Ba Fenghan, who was originally at the front, now brought up the rear along with Xu Ziling, so that Tonyukuk now was striking down toward their right-rear side.
Following his leaning-forward body, Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well chopped down on the enemy, while his other hand shot a string of iron bullets swiftly in succession, yet he still had time to respond to Xu Ziling, saying, “Ling Shao really know how to crack jokes; I thought one step at a time would be a bit better. Ha!”
With the bow loaded, Ba Fenghan’s hands made changes so subtle that made people gasping in amazement. But in the eye of Tonyukuk, who was falling down from the sky, the shooting arrow’s angle and timing were constantly changing, so that he felt that it was beyond his capability to fathom. Suddenly, Tonyukuk knew that he had fallen into the disadvantageous position.
‘Swish!’
The powerful arrow left the Perished Moon Bow, it flitted across the two-zhang distance, shooting toward Tonyukuk as fast as lightning, so that there was no trace he could find, there was no place he could evade to.
Such an archery technique, it could be called the mighty on the prairie.
Holding the iron bullets, Xu Ziling’s pair of clean, beautiful, sparkling and translucent, slender and graceful hands performed thousands and tens of thousands different hand images, like the Qian Shou Guanyin [Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva of Compassion] sprinkling the iron bullets like drops of rain filling the sky, shooting toward the more than fifty Tujue warriors pouncing toward the three like wolves and tigers.
Some of the iron bullets brushed past Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan, yet none could hurt the two men. It was accurate like following the heart’s desire so that it was hard to believe.
‘Bang!’
Tonyukuk had no choice but to send his true qi into his gown and sleeves, and met Ba Fenghan’s full-powered arrow that was shot by the Perished Moon Bow – head on. Two streams of power clashed. The long arrow shattered into cun-sized pieces. On the surface, Tonyukuk seemed to be occupying the upper hand, but the reaction force from the impact jolted him away, so that the distance to the three men was quickly widened.
The success or failure of this arrow was an important key; if they let a super-martial-art-master like Tonyukuk get near, at least one of them would be entangled to death, then the consequences would be really difficult to imagine.
After Tonyukuk’s shout, “Attack!” from all around, nearly fifty tents were flipped at the same time, followed by six, seven hundred men rushing out. On top of that, there were also Tujue elite troops, which masqueraded as various other tribes’ warriors outside the camps covering the whole area, bringing the total to over one thousand men, each one, using the fastest possible time, flipped over the warhorses. The camp area, which was originally covered in great numbers of tents, was transformed back to a wide-open grassland by the Buir Lake and a battlefield where the sound of battle cry shook the heavens.
The change was both abrupt and shocking.
From the main tent, more than a dozen people rushed out. Surprisingly, Zhao Deyan was one of those people. Every single one of the other people had intimidating shape, so that in just one glance it was obvious that they were all genuine martial art masters; the enemy’s main force was right here.
Among them was a man wearing golden robe, his outer appearance attracted attention, not only because he was bald, but he had wide backbones and brimming-with-valiant-flavor countenance, which outline left a profound impression in others. Furthermore, there was the inducing-fear bearing and strong self-confidence, which gave the impression that he was the kind of person who was decisive, tenacious, and possessed unlimited energy, as well as mighty, capable, and knowledgeable, an ambitious and ruthless character who would do whatever it takes to achieve success.
Nearly without any difference who moved first and who moved last, Zhao Deyan and the golden-robed bald man soared into the sky, somersaulted over the warriors dashing-on-bravely-with-no-thought-of-personal-safety to attack and block the three men; all the other martial art masters were a hair slower than these two men.
One after another, the more than a dozen warriors charging toward Kou Zhong, three men, fell back and died; if not their faces, then either their throat, chest, or other vital parts were hit by the iron bullets.
Even the usually-did-not-kill-anybody-wantonly Xu Ziling did not show leniency, because if he yielded even the least bit, the first to suffer calamity would be the beloved colts they were riding on.
Like tidal wave the Tujue elite cavalry swarmed in from the wilderness, which was inundated by the mountains, on the east side, opposite to the Buir Lake – treading over the collapsed tents.
Because on the south side the enemy’s strength was rather weak and had slightly less resistance, this was the direction the three chose to force their way out of the encirclement. Whether they were able to get away from being entangled by the enemy’s main force would define their success or failure.
‘Dang!’
Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well hacked a blocker, sending both the saber and the person flying backward. Under Kou Zhong’s full-force saber strike, the qi power broke out like a mountain flash flood, fresh blood seeped out of the man’s eyes, ears, mouth and nose, his body refused to follow its master, he knocked over seven or eight of his companions that they fell to the east and tumbled to the west in a heap.
“Jump!” Kou Zhong roared. Abruptly pulling the rein, he sent his true power according to the secret method Ba Fenghan personally imparted on him toward the horse’ legs. The Thousand-li Dream jumped straight nearly a zhang above the ground, over six, seven enemies, traversing more than a three-zhang distance, pouncing toward the even-farther-away enemies.
The two boys’ minds were interlinked. Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan immediately urged their horses to jump, like celestial flying horses, leaving the ground, and were finally able to break away from the entanglement of the fifty infantry warriors.
This move was greatly beyond the enemy’s expectation. Immediately their troop disposition was thrown into great chaos, they lost the central core of their attack.
Where the three horses landed, the enemies were forced to scatter in all direction. Zhao Deyan and the golden-robed bald man were falling far behind. Iron bullets did not stop shooting from Xu Ziling’s hands. The enemy cavalry attacking from the east was hit; they fell from the horseback one after another, men and horses piled up into a hill, so that it was difficult for their companions behind them to leap over the thunder-moat [or pond; no idea, must be an idiom] even for half a step. Unable to break through the three men’s triangular battle array, they were forced to fight individually.
Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well turned into saber light filling the air. He focused on the attack from the front. The attackers were swept by the wind, wherever the saber light passed through, the enemy riders would either be dead or injured. He was like the ship’s bow cutting through the raging waves, through the angrily surging wild billows, constantly urging his horse to press on.
Ba Fenghan had the bow in his left hand and the sword in his right. Unleashing his expertise, one-heart-two-uses [multitasking] technique, he blocked the enemy pursuing from behind from getting close, as well as pressing down a small number of enemies attacking from Buir Lake direction.
The three broke out of the siege along the coast. This was the best strategy under such circumstances.
Traversing the zhang-and-a-half distance, the Chain Water Caltrop [i.e. rhombus shape] Spear shot out of Zhao Deyan’s hand, flying silently toward the back of Ba Fenghan’s head. [Note: in Book 36 Chapter 1, it was called ‘A Hundred Changes Water Caltrop Spear’.]
Ba Fenghan had just beheaded an enemy. As if he had eyes at the back of his head, his sword swept backward at the tip of the Water Caltrop Spear, while he shouted, “Shaoshuai, watch out, Xieli is coming to get to know you better!”
The golden-robed bald man was rushing over from the shore; laughing aloud, he said, “When I, Xieli established my might in the great desert, you were still kids whose smell of your mother’s milk not yet dried.”
Finished speaking he soared at an angle, in the blink of an eye he already rushed over to Kou Zhong’s right side. The cavalry sword in his hand turning into a dazzling white light, he chopped the left side of Kou Zhong’s neck; it was extremely bold and powerful.
Ever since Tonyukuk shouted, “Great Khan’s order!” Kou Zhong had already guessed that Xieli had personally come, only he did not expect that Xieli’s saber technique was formidable to such a level. The saber qi already locked on him firmly; he sighed inwardly. Unable to block another lance that was attacking his chest, he abruptly twisted his tiger-body, the Moon in the Well swept to meet the strike head-on, he laughed aloud and said, “Kou Zhong pays his respect to Great Khan!”
If they were stopped by Xieli even for a moment, the enemy cavalry charging from the left side would block the escape route ahead, and then they would lose the opportunity to leave.
‘Ding!’
Ba Fenghan’s Beheading Mystery Sword heavily swept Zhao Deyan’s Chain Water Caltrop Spear away, but he had to pay the price as well; two more wounds appeared on his body.
Xu Ziling was also able to see the threat Xieli was posing on them, and he also judged that Xieli had enough power to hold them. Shooting all the iron bullets in his hands out, he shouted to Kou Zhong, “Change position!”
‘Qiang!’
The Moon in the Well shocked Xieli’s cavalry sword head-on. Kou Zhong laughed aloud. Completely beyond Xieli’s expectation, he borrowed the reaction force from the impact to spring out of the Thousand-li Dream; not only to evade the spear and saber attacking him from the front, but also to throw himself toward Xu Ziling’s Ten-thousand-li Spots.
Xu Ziling flew horizontally. Before Xieli had any chance to change his move, his hand pressed on the Thousand-li Dream’s back, with his leg supporting him horizontally, he swiftly attacked Xieli’s face.
When Xieli was soaring into the air to pursue, relying entirely on a mouthful of qi, he had already prepared a good strategy to deal with Kou Zhong. He wanted to carry out the to-shoot-the-person-one-must-shoot-the-horse-first tactic. First, he forced Kou Zhong into a more-than-one-can-attend-to situation, and then using heavy-hand technique he would kill the Thousand-li Dream. Who would have thought that ‘man proposes but God disposes’, Kou Zhong was suddenly replaced by attacking-full-force-supported-by-a-single-foot Xu Ziling.
Roaring angrily, he changed to use the saber’s hilt to strike Xu Ziling.
‘Bang!’
The Treasure Vase Qi Power burst out suddenly. Although Xieli’s martial art cultivation has reached grandmaster level, still he had never thought that there was such a mysterious qi power on earth, so highly concentrated to the point of hard to believe. Immediately he suffered pent-up unspoken grievances; his hand was jolted that his arm went numb, plus his mouthful of qi was depleted, he was thrown sideways like a kite with cut string.
This moment Xu Ziling has become the sharp point of the triangular troop-disposition. The Treasures Vase Qi burst out again, two enemies received his punch and fell off their horses. Immediately the pressure was loosened, the enemy formation on the south side has finally cut open to become a gap from which they could flee for their lives.
Under the brilliant, enchanting starry sky, on the desolate sand-covered earth, the eye-catching grey and yellow Little Gobi half-desert, the three urged their horses to speed along.
Since fleeing for their lives from Yan Yuan Ji, they have been rushing along without stopping to rest for one day and half a night. Xieli and his personal guards, the elite cavalry of Tujue, were pursuing relentlessly at their tail.
Before arriving at Yan Yuan Ji, they already ran the whole night, while the enemy was preserving and nurturing their spirit inside the tents by the Bui Lake, waiting respectfully for their arrival. Were it not for Ba Fenghan’s ‘man and horse as one’ xinfa, even heavenly steeds like their horses would have fallen dead on the yellow sand.
This moment both men and horses were unbearably weary. The night wind was blowing the sand into the air, hitting them right on their faces; it felt dry and rough, difficult to bear, as if they were enduring the torment of the living hell, suffering the torments of Buddhist hell while still alive. Other than holding on to the little bit of barely-there willpower and hope, there was nothing else to hold on.
After fighting with all their might, the three men, whose bodies were covered all over with wounds – still had to use their true qi to support their horses, the wear and tear to their true energy has approached the lantern-with-dried-up-oil stage, while the enemy was still pursuing relentlessly from the eye-could-not-see distance behind them. On top of that, the falcon that Xieli had released was hovering at the invisible hundred-zhang elevation above their heads, bringing about an enormous pressure and threat to their spirit and willpower.
It was just like their past experience, the history was repeating itself, with the addition of the barren land beyond the Great Wall, where it was even more difficult to go into hiding.
Shouting against the wind, Kou Zhong said, “The horses won’t be able to endure much longer!”
Ba Fenghan replied, “Our only way to survive is to reach Deguaru, the only green area in the Little Gobi Desert – as quickly as possible, and we definitely cannot stop.”
Kou Zhong said with a sigh, “Hopefully we are not lost!”
Ba Fenghan looked up to the sky to look at the stars. “Xiongdi!” he spoke confidently, “Trust me. With the constellation of stars in the sky as a guide, I will never lose my way.”
The three strenuously supported the horses under their crotch to gallop speedily toward the wilderness where the sand and the stones reached the sky. Suddenly a strip of green line appeared on the horizon ahead.
Greatly delighted, Ba Fenghan said, “Ha! Xiongdi! In the end Xiaodi does not fail you. Look!”
The two boys’ spirit was greatly aroused.
They cast their gaze into the distance, where a miracle-like scenery appeared before their eyes. The green lines seemed to be following them, pushing ahead to become a vast area of green jungle; vertical and horizontal, each strip, each line standing tall, so full of life. The breeze coming at them carried the scent of tender and moist grass, so that they felt as if they were coming out of hell and returning to the beautiful world.
The perfectly straight poplar trees and the lush elms and Chinese scholar trees [Sophora Japonica] grew together in dense, mixed clusters, forming a natural, sand-proof formation. Lush green plain suddenly opened up, covering the shore around a small lake like a piece of green rug falling from heaven.
The horses, on the verge of falling dead from exhaustion, stopped at the edge of the lake to drink the water and eat the grass. The three regulated their breathing for nearly half a sichen, their physical strength and spirit recovered for the most part, their heart was filled with abundant will to fight and confidence again.
Kou Zhong looked up into the sky at the falcon that only looked like a black dot spiraling in the air, “How much time do we have?” he asked.
Ba Fenghan replied, “Based on Xiaodi’s experience, we ought to be faster than the opposite side by nearly two sichen. No matter how amazing Xieli is, he can’t possibly catch up to this place in less than one sichen.”
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “That should do it! As long as we could kill this flat-feathered beast, we would be like a bird out of the cage, a divine dragon returning to the sea, throwing off Xieli and his men.”
Xu Ziling also looked up at the falcon. Knitting his brows, he said, “This is the second falcon that Xieli released. Getting rid of one, we still cannot evade the pursuit of the other one.”
Having a card up his sleeve, Kou Zhong said, “Supposing we can injure the falcon without killing it, and then it returns to Xieli’s side, do you think Xieli would dare to release the falcon to follow our trail? Training a falcon is not something that can be done in ten days, half a month.”
Smiling wryly, Ba Fenghan said, “Do you have the confidence to shoot a falcon flying at a more than a hundred-zhang altitude, a falcon that know how to evade arrow?”
Kou Zhong took out the Extinguished Sun Bow and spread the bowstring, he let out a long laugh and said, “If it were only me, Kou Zhong, one person, without the divine bow that Jian Dashi refined, naturally this is not possible. But now there is the Arrow God Ba Fenghan, who shot Tonyukuk back with just one arrow; the situation is greatly different.”
Ba Fenghan’s countenance did not change, but his pair or eyes emitted an awe-inspiring divine light, he breathed out a long-drawn breath, and said, “If you guys can send me forty zhang up into the air, Xiaodi can try.”
After making quick calculation on the distance, Xu Ziling said, “At most we can send you up twenty zhang.”
Kou Zhong said, “If we could lure the falcon to fly a bit lower, won’t something impossible become possible?”
Ba Fenghan took the proffered Extinguished Sun Bow, rose up to his full height, and said, “Right! How do you know you can’t do it without trying? If we hide in the woods, we are not afraid the beast won’t come down to see.”
