Chapter 7 – Breaking the Cauldrons and Sinking the Boats[1]
Kou Zhong looked with concern at Xu Ziling, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed, tending to his injury. “How is it?” he asked.
This place was Ke Dazhi’s secret hideout in Longquan. Without him needing to explain, the two already guessed that it was the hiding place used by Tujue spies, an unremarkable single-story house located in a small lane on the eastern neighborhood of the city.
Xu Ziling nodded slightly and replied, “It’s not going to kill me yet.”
They were wearing night-walker warrior outfit provided by Ke Dazhi. Other than their unsightly countenance, there was nothing unusual on the surface.
Ke Dazhi spoke in astonishment, “Ziling’s healing skill is indeed out of the ordinary, you are able to apply your power and raise your qi this quickly. But if you don’t rest well for the night, you may suffer long-lasting effect in the future. Ay!”
“Why sighing voice, wailing breath?” Kou Zhong asked.
Ke Dazhi replied, “I am afraid in the future you, LaoGe must write your name backward.”
Kou Zhong’s two eyes lit up, he asked, “Did you find out where Shen Mohuan is?”
“Still unknown,” Ke Dazhi replied, “The first time I left the Palace, I immediately sent my men to notify Du Xing, to tell him to cancel tonight’s plan. Ay! I hope he’ll come to his senses!”
Smiling bitterly, Kou Zhong said, “Good kid! You, this kid, are really good toward your Du Dage that I have nothing to say.”
By doing this, Ke Dazhi was a bit like not wanting to face the reality, afraid that Du Xing might be just like Kou Zhong said, not only he was deceiving Kou Zhong, but deceiving him, Ke Dazhi, as well.
Ke Dazhi patted Kou Zhong on the shoulder, and then he lightly put his right hand on Kou Zhong’s broad shoulder, saying, “Afterwards I found Yin Xianhe, who was lurking on the side. That fellow is more easily identifiable than I thought. I asked him to trail anybody who looked to be Mu Ling, because she is easier to identify, while I would be in charge to watch for your safety. Later on I sneaked out of the city, but actually it was only my men, while I turned back to follow behind you, to see who might deal with you in the dark.”
Stunned, Kou Zhong asked, “Why didn’t you show up earlier then? Perhaps the three of us could join hands, and then we could slaughter that muddled-egg demonic monk who loves to expound religious teachings while the troops arriving, the saber going.”
Smiling wryly, Ke Dazhi said, “You don’t say. You, two Dage flashed away so quickly that you threw me off. Fortunately, from the smell of blood from your wound, I was finally succeeding in following your tracks to this place. I really never expected Funantuo’s Tianzhu Mo Gong to be that formidable. I tried out my saber strike and was still unable to retain him; otherwise, how could I let him escape alive?”
Kou Zhong hated it so much that his teeth itched; he said, “Really a pity. Even if Yin Xianhe succeeds in finding Shen Mohuan’s location, we simply have to stare blankly and miss him.”
Xu Ziling opened his eyes and said, “You and Ke Xiong can just leave, don’t worry about me. I have enough strength to defend myself, in such a short time, Funantuo has no way of finding me hiding here.”
He has not told Kou Zhong about him sensing the Demonic Emperor Relics, because he was afraid it might negatively influence his healing process. However, Kou Zhong has not forgotten this matter, “Did you sense it or not?” he asked.
Although Ke Dazhi noticed the strange question, he thought Kou Zhong was inquiring about Xu Ziling’s injury.
Untrue to his convictions, Xu Ziling shook his head and said, “Everything is very good, don’t worry, just go! But you must be very careful, your condition is not much better than mine.”
After hesitating for half a day, Kou Zhong nodded decisively and said, “I will come back before dawn. You must not think about anything else, focus your mind completely to heal.”
Finished speaking, he quickly left with Ke Dazhi.
Xu Ziling knew that the two men would investigate thoroughly, far and near, until they were sure that there was no enemy coming here, and only then they would go in peace to do their things. Therefore, he urgently continued the healing process. After the time needed to drink a cup of small tea, he quietly set off in the direction where the Demonic Emperor Relics emerged.
Ke Dazhi returned to the hiding-at-the-edge-of-the-woods Kou Zhong’s side. They stood together gazing at the prairie north of Longquan City under the moonlight. “If my guess is correct, Shen Mohuan ought to be hiding in the Wolong Bie Yuan [lit. hidden dragon (fig. emperor in hiding) other courtyard],” he said, “The reason is very simple, Shen Mohuan is relying on Han Chao’an’s protection, and Han Chao’an’s Gaoli is full support of Bai Ziting. From this, it could be inferred that Shen Mohuan is Bai Ziting’s man, or at least they formed a temporary alliance.”
Kou Zhong sighed and said, “We can’t find the secret marks Yin Xianhe is leaving, ay! This is really worrisome. This kid can’t be that bad, can he?”
Ke Dazhi smiled and said, “The more formidable the enemy, the more exciting it is; I am doubly excited. Do you want to take a look at the Wolong Bie Yuan? If Yin Xiong was killed by them, the two of us ought to wash it with their blood.”
Hearing that, Kou Zhong shivered inwardly. Ke Dazhi was adventurous and loved to take risk; if they became enemies, he would be a very dangerous enemy. He responded indifferently, “That Wo something Bie Yuan, isn’t that the manor located in the only valley north of Longquan?”
Astonished, Ke Dazhi said, “You also know such place? It was built only three months ago, an easily-guarded, hard-to-attack valley fort.”
Kou Zhong said, “Do you know that when Ling Shao and I left the palace, Bai Ziting pulled us aside and made an exhibition of himself, acting like he has a card up his sleeve? What kind of enlightenment does it give you?”
Snorting coldly, Ke Dazhi said, “Such a fellow who overestimates his capabilities, what enlightenment he might possibly have?”
Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “Seeing that you have just saved Xiaodi’s little life, I am going to point out a bright way for you to take. Bai Ziting is absolutely not a does-not-know-the-immensity-of-heaven-and-earth, ridiculous-self-importance fellow; rather, he is a standing-tall-and-see-far, with-rigorous-schemes-and-deep-foresight astute commander-in-chief. Just by looking at how he chose the rainy season to found his kingdom, we know that this person has brilliant insight. How could you despise such a person?”
Ke Dazhi obviously remembered today’s pouring rain, he also felt the wet and slippery grass under his feet. He nodded and said, “Bai Ziting is indeed a crafty old fox. I am looking forward to seeing what kind of tricks he is going to play.”
Kou Zhong shook his head and said, “If you are holding to that kind of attitude, you will only become valiant general charging and breaking through enemy lines, but not a commander-in-chief devising battle plan in a tent. This is called ‘know yourself, know your enemy’ [from Sunzi’s Art of War], you will emerge victorious in every battle. Tell me, under which circumstances will the unequalled-across-the-prairie Wolf Army might suffer losses?”
Knitting his brows, Ke Dazhi said, “Little Chang’an is not the real Chang’an at all. The city wall is no more than five zhang. Just like us suddenly escape the difficulty a moment ago, we could simply jump over the wall. What does Bai Ziting rely on that might make us lose the war?”
Kou Zhong smiled and said, “He is relying on precisely your miscalculation of the situation of the enemy positions. The reason Bai Ziting has such a high confidence and not afraid of the battle is that he must have something that he could rely on.”
Shaken, Ke Dazhi said, “Are you saying that there is another army that are coming to help? But that’s impossible. Right now, the only one dares to help him is the Gaoli King Gao Jianwu, but he is under our strict surveillance; no troop movement can be hidden from us. The same is true of other Mohe great tribal chiefs; they are all under our close watch.”
Kou Zhong said, “Have you forgotten Gesuwen that Du Xing mentioned? He also said that Han Chao’an is in collusion with him. If I am guessing correctly, Gesuwen is precisely Bai Ziting’s wonder troop [troops appearing suddenly in a raid]. Just think, the moment you are going all-out to attack Longquan and then suddenly a big rain is coming. The ‘Wu Dao Ba’ [five-saber hegemon] personally leads his elite troops braving the rain in sudden and violent attack on your back, and Bai Ziting seizes the opportunity to come out of the city to attack. Caught off guard, how do you think your situation will be?”
Ke Dazhi said, “That is indeed a worrying situation. If Gesuwen is coming in secret by boat from the sea, it would be the gods do not know, the ghosts do not perceive. We must pay attention to this aspect.”
Kou Zhong shook his head and said, “Don’t bother. If I am guessing correctly, Gesuwen and his men have already arrived and are hiding inside the recently built mysterious manor courtyard ‘Wolong Bie Yuan’.”
Emotionally moved, Ke Dazhi said, “Now I begin to understand why the Great Khan and Li Shimin have such a restraining fear toward Shaoshuai. I must report this matter to Great Khan immediately, to tell him to beware. Hey! Xiaodi is really grateful.”
And then he heaved a sigh and said, “Thinking that in the future I might meet Shaoshuai in person on the battlefield, even Xiaodi is a little bitterly disappointed.”
Kou Zhong said, “There are things that you hear but do not enter your ear. For the sake of Xiufang Dajia, also for the sake of the innocent people of Longquan, forcing Bai Ziting to give up his plan of founding his kingdom, to tear down the city wall, and hand over the Five-Color Stone is not much different than beating him into total defeat of his army and razing the city of Longquan to the ground.”
Ke Dazhi was silent for half a day. He said, “I understand what you mean. But this matter can only happen with the Great Khan’s nod. I realize that I do not have the ability to persuade him according to what you said.”
“In that case, let me persuade him,” Kou Zhong said, “But first, we must obtain accurate intelligence, starting with the Wolong Bie Yuan.”
Aghast, Ke Dazhi said, “Knowing full well that Gesuwen is keeping watch, yet we charge in, so what’s the difference to throwing away our lives? Your, LaoGe’s honorable self is not up to par, even if you want to flee in defeat you can’t do that.”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Didn’t you say the more formidable the enemy, the more exciting it is. You don’t want people to write my name backward, do you? Besides, Yin Xianhe is waiting for us to rescue him. His Niang’s! I am more convinced than ever that Bai Ziting, Shen Mohuan, Ma Ji, Gesuwen, your Du Dage, Da Ming Zun Jiao, Huyan Jin, and the others’ men and horses have formed an alliance to reverse the situation of the prairie through the establishment of the Bohai Kingdom. Shen Mohuan and Huyan Jin, two muddled-eggs must have joined later, because these two muddled-eggs are at the end of their rope, hence they are taking this risk in a gamble.”
Stunned, Ke Dazhi said, “Reasonably speaking, Da Ming Zun Jiao and Funantuo should be the two cannot exist together due to their religious conviction, why are they willing to work together with Bai Ziting?”
Kou Zhong said, “The reason is very simple. First of all, Gongqi, who is Cui Wang in disguise, must be Da Ming Zun Jiao’s man. Next, Bai Ziting sent Gongqi to rob Da Xiaojie’s eighty-thousand sheets of sheepskin, not only it’s a trap to lure me and Ling Shao to come here, it is also a means to eliminate Rong Fengxiang’s business competitor, because Da Xiaojie’s rise is too quick, her business is growing bigger and bigger, perhaps one day she might even take Rong Fengxiang’s position as the leader of the Northern Business Association. With great wealth comes great power. Recruiting soldiers and buying horses need money. In order to seek wealth to build his kingdom, Bai Ziting has no choice but to be unscrupulous.”
Shaking his head, Ke Dazhi said, “That is indeed hard to believe. What benefit will Da Ming Zun Jiao get for supporting Bai Ziting? Plus Ma Ji is a Tujue, Du Dage is at least half a Tujue. If Bai Ziting took the risk to become a hegemon, how could they have a place to live. Aren’t you excessively dualizing things?”
“Look at it from a different angle,” Kou Zhong replied, “Place yourself on the outside looking in. Don’t you think your honorable Khan Xieli is too overbearing? Why did he become enemies with Tuli? How did the Tujue split up to become two Khanates?”
Ke Dazhi’s countenance alternated between clear and dark. He muttered to himself irresolutely for half a day, before dejectedly said, “Your remark is not without any reason. In order to expand his armed forces, our Great Khan indeed made a lot of requests to all the smaller Khans and those who must look at his face to conduct themselves. Ay! Even if he is not happy, I must remind him of these problems and the consequences.”
And then he snorted coldly and said, “All these happen after Zhao Deyan becomes the Guoshi. His granny’s!”
Kou Zhong went on, “Bai Ziting and Funantuo are two quite different things. In my opinion, they have the appearance of unity, but are divided at heart. The reason is quite possibly because Bai Ziting is in collusion with Da Ming Zun Jiao. That’s complicated enough! If there is one more person, it might develop into error-on-top-of-error relationship, not to mention it is many-sided men and horses, while also involving each party’s benefit. Your Dage is quite possibly being dragged in by Xu Kaishan. Da Ming Zun Jiao originally wanted to borrow your honorable Great Khan’s hands to get rid of us, who would have thought that he failed to steal the chicken while already spent the rice? Instead, we facilitated his restoring his relationship with Tuli. Just by looking at this point, Ma Ji, the one threading the needle in the middle, must be colluding in the dark with Da Ming Zun Jiao and Bai Ziting.”
Speaking to this point, Kou Zhong’s entire body relaxed. A lot of things that he could not guess before, this moment it became like a clear outline of the possibilities suddenly appearing.
Smiling wryly, Ke Dazhi said, “Momentarily I still cannot digest your words, I will have to not think about it for the time being. I will make an arrangement so that you could meet with Great Khan to explain everything clearly.”
Patting the Moon in the Well in his back, Kou Zhong said, “Come! We will act as the scouts, visit Wolong Bie Gong [palace] in the night, to see whether there is a magnificent army with thousands of men and horses hiding inside. If that is the case, as long as we break through the palace, Bai Ziting’s only share will be to obediently listen to our instructions.”
Xu Ziling somersaulted over the city wall and landed in the darkness by the wall. Fortunately Longquan city wall did not have any moat. Otherwise, in his currently injury-weary and worn-out strength condition, he must waste a lot of energy.
Relying on his superhuman senses, he accurately estimated the gap within the changing of the guards, in the-gods-did-not-know-the-ghosts-did-not-perceive way he jumped over the wall and went out. Otherwise, if he got entangled by guards, it would not be easy to get away.
This moment he no longer sensed the location of the Demonic Emperor’s Relics. It was unclear whether it was due to his power was greatly reduced, or because of other reasons. Furthermore, he was not sure what would be the purpose of him rushing over, but for Shi Feixuan’s sake, he simply must disregard everything and go. Just as he was the only flaw in Shi Feixuan’s Heart of the Sword Brightly Lit, Shi Feixuan was the worry that he could not throw away.
Just now he lied to Kou Zhong for the first time, because he did not want to drag Kou Zhong down, to let him to take this risk; besides, it was not suitable to let Ke Dazhi know about this matter.
And just like Kou Zhong and Ke Dazhi, he also vaguely guessed that Shen Mohuan has formed alliance with Bai Ziting, because the responsible party for the assassination attempt on them was Bai Ziting, hence the reason Shen Mohuan and the others did not appear.
After regulating his breathing and settling his qi, Xu Ziling headed toward Jingpo Lake, neither slow nor rushing. He must carefully take advantage of this journey to regulate his breathing well, so that by the time he saw Shi Zhixuan, he would at least have the strength to stake it all, and if he had to die, he would die beautifully.
Normally, under any circumstances, he did not have to worry about Shi Feixuan, but since the opponent was Shi Zhixuan, it was another matter altogether.
No one knew whether Zhu Yuyan’s ‘burning both jade and common stone’ strategy would really work as she said, that she would die in such a way that Shi Zhixuan would also perish.
In his heart, Xu Ziling suddenly felt ominous, which shocked him, knowing that this restlessness was not triggered by his injury at all. If whatever situation that was causing this continued, he might fall dead on the prairie any moment. Hastily throwing out all distracting thoughts, he focused his attention to guard one point of clarity on his lingtai, and while rushing along, he also circulated his qi to continue the healing process, relying on the Huan Ri Da Fa, which attached most importance to the Three Meridians and Seven Chakras to obtain divine efficacy.
Under the magnificent, enchanting night sky, his mind slowly advanced into the Moon in the Well realm.
Surprisingly, he still did not sense the Demonic Emperor Relics’ location. What exactly was going on here?
Right this moment, he felt someone was approaching quickly from behind.
From the other side’s speed, Xu Ziling immediately knew that this newcomer must be a first-class martial art master whose skill was not inferior to his normal state, but there was not the slightest bit of fear in his heart.
He must try to throw off this person who was following his tracks with ill-intention, otherwise not only he could not reach the Jingpo Lake, he might even lose his life without knowing Shi Feixuan’s good or bad luck.
The other person was still about two li away from him. Without the time needed to drink a small cup of tea, this person should not be able to catch up with him. Such a short period of time was enough for him to do a lot of things.
He did not turn his head around to look back, he did not accelerate either; he only deviated from his original route, toward a dense forest on his right side.
Upon entering the forest, he headed to the northwest first, until he was out of the forest before turning back and hid among the thick branches and leaves of a big tree at the edge of the forest.
A figure quickly arrived. Surprisingly, it was his ‘old friend’ Liexia.
Arriving at the edge of the forest, Liexia quickly scanned the surrounding area with his eyes, which were flashing with demonic light, he also looked up to sniff the residual scent of blood from the wound on Xu Ziling’s body. Only then did he hurriedly enter the forest, without missing the slightest bit the route that Xu Ziling took a moment ago, to pursue into the forest.
‘Close call!’ Xu Ziling cried inwardly.
He did not know why Liexia was following behind him, but it could not possibly be a good thing.
However, as soon as Liexia found out that he had been duped, he would turn back to pursue him, and the possibility that he would be able to catch up was quite high.
Thinking about this possibility, Xu Ziling exerted himself to raise his qi to lighten his body, and soared into the air to land on the branch of another big tree about three zhang away.
Only in the high altitude of the tree would an expert in following the tracks like Liexia not able to smell his scent. On the prairie, all outstanding hunters knew how to use their noses to seek and catch up with the enemy.
Xu Ziling raised another mouthful of qi. He leaped continuously from tree to tree, until he was more than twenty zhang away from the original tree when he suddenly felt dizzy and nearly fell off the treetop. Promptly he wrapped his arms around the tree trunk.
With a gust of wind, exactly like he expected, Liexia returned.
Xu Ziling no longer had any strength to do anything. Holding on to the tree trunk, he slipped down to sit on a horizontal branch, while silently applying his power. Losing a large amount of blood has made his Long Life Qi to also lose the rapid divine efficacy in healing injuries.
Another gust of wind.
Liexia leaped onto the tree where he was previously hiding, naturally he could not find him. But there was no joy in his heart, because Liexia could look for him to this place. This fellow was just too formidable.
Therefore, the possibility was extremely high.
Xu Ziling suddenly steeled himself. After circulating his qi for three rounds, he somersaulted over a five-zhang distance and landed on an open space outside the forest.
Since he could not escape, only by confronting the enemy would he have a sliver of the opportunity to live.
[1] Chapter title: idiom, fig. to cut off one’s means of retreat.
