In the evening, the army had already marched towards the valley under the order of Leng Changxi in accordance with the established plan. They didn’t dare to move forward rashly towards the pocket-shaped valley. Leng Changxi had ordered two teams of cavalry and archers to take a shortcut to both sides of the valley in the morning. The horses they rode were not ordinary horses that were only good at running, but pony horses which were commonly used for transporting tea in the southwest region. And these horses were good at climbing and walking on steep mountain roads.
Leng Changxi rode a horse in front, and behind him was the Leng Army who had fought side by side with him for countless times. Qin Yunuan got out of the carriage and rode on a gentle maroon mare. The black cloak covered her hair which was fluttering in the wind, and her fair face stood out among the loess and brownstones.
Suddenly, there was a gust of wind, and there seemed to be a strong burst of evil air in the distance, which forced Leng Changxi’s horse retreat two steps. It was an extremely open space which was just like the big pocket in the center of the pocket-shaped valley. It was surrounded by layers of brown rocks which accumulated in the course of time. It was just like a huge trigram circle, and more than a thousand soldiers of the Leng Army seemed to be trapped in this big brown circle like lambs which were to be slaughtered. While none of them dared to retreat. They gripped the weapons in their hands tightly, while Heiying just looked ahead indifferently, “Don’t be afraid.” But what he said then made the more than a thousand people who had been on the battlefield for many years can’t help being afraid, “The rock gate strategy is coming.”
Qin Yunuan also frowned slightly when she heard that. The strategies they encountered before always tried to attract them to enter which were usually passive. It seemed that this strategy was really unique since it took the initiative.
While they were talking, several huge rocks just dropped from the skies, landing in some place. Their instant appearance was just like some weird spell, which made the soldiers more worried. But then, almost at the same time, several stones as high as a person and as wide as two arms rose from the soft sand just like new trees, blocking every key place. The position of the stones changed constantly. Some of them moved as fast as the wind, while others as slow as the paces of an old man.
Someone couldn’t help asking Leng Changxi, “General, what should we do? This strategy is more complicated than what we have studied before. It does not have a fixed arrangement at all, and it is constantly changing.”
“No.” Heiying said, “It is just a ploy and a part of the strategy. In fact, they are all fixed.”
“How… How is it possible?”
“It’s very simple. I’ll prove it to you.” Heiying directly drew out the crossbow he put on the saddle. Heiying was originally a swordsman, but his arm was injured at this time, and he couldn’t hold a heavy iron sword, so Leng Changxi borrowed him his crossbow for temporary use. However, Heiying’s arms were weak, and the crossbow almost fell to the ground, which was firmly held by Leng Shuang on the side then.
Leng Shuang picked up the crossbow swiftly. She had used this crossbow for so many times, but its recoil force was indeed greater than that of ordinary crossbows, and her arm would be sore every time after she used it.
“Let me help you. Where are you going to shoot?”
Faced with Leng Shuang’s help, Heiying was expressionless all the time, but just said gloomily to her, “Why you come here as a woman? Can’t you just stay in the camp with the logistics team and cooking team like Shuihan?”
Hearing the name of Shuihan, Leng Shuang’s heart sank. She held the crossbow stiffly in her arm and didn’t know what to do next. Then Heiying ordered a soldier who served him, “You’ll do this. Shoot the third moving stone which is slowest on the left. Remember that you have to hit the exact center of it without deviation.”
The soldier looked thin, saying with dodging eyes, “Vice-general Cang, I’m just an ordinary logistics soldier. I don’t know how to shoot arrows, and I don’t know how to use this crossbow as well.”
There was a swish when they were talking. The sound of firing an arrow attracted everyone’s attention, and a slap could be heard from a distance. It was the sound of an arrow made of black iron shooting into a stone. Although the black iron was extremely hard, it was definitely not easy to shoot from such a long distance and hit the target perfectly.
The stone that was still moving fast in the distance suddenly stopped. Not only did this one stop, but the corresponding third stone on the right also stopped.
It was really strange. Just as everyone was astonished, Leng Shuang had already put away the crossbow in her hand silently. She was a little angry when she shot the arrow just now, but with her ability, she knew that she would make it certainly. Except for the slight pain in her arm, she looked very calm.
“Here you are.” Leng Shuang leaned over and handed the crossbow to Heiying. The corner of Heiying’s scarred eye twitched abruptly, and then Leng Shuang said in a respectful tone which sounded alienated, “Mr. Cang, it’s my fault. I will go back now, and please don’t be angry.”
She no longer called him Heiying, but called him Mr. Cang as a servant, which seemed to pull them far apart.
“No.” Qin Yunuan stopped her in time when she saw this, “Why women can’t take risks? Leng Shuang, you stay. You are not a burden. And I am a beginner in swordsmanship, so I need you to protect me.” After finishing speaking, Qin Yunuan looked at Heiying tentatively, “Mr. Cang, what do you think about that?”
Heiying turned his head and looked ahead, as if he was still studying the principles and rules of the movement of these stones, “Just stay here. If you go back, we’ll have to find someone to escort you. It’s even more troublesome.”
Leng Changxi coughed softly from the side and reminded Heiying, “Mr. Cang, it seems that who goes and who stays should be up to me.”
The corner of Heiying’s mouth twitched unnaturally, “I just think that it’s really trouble to have an unwise woman here. I’m sorry. It’s up to you certainly, General.”
Leng Changxi nodded in satisfaction, and glanced at Leng Shuang who looked cold and said, “So Leng Shuang, you will still stay with Mr. Cang and take care of him for the time being.” After speaking, he looked at Qin Yunuan as if asking for her permission, “What do you think?”
Qin Yunuan nodded with a smile, “It’s great.”
Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan looked at each other and smiled silently, ignoring Heiying who was with a sulky face and the embarrassing Leng Shuang.
After hitting the first stone, they got the rules by parity of reasoning. During the period, there had been a few difficult problems or missed shots. While after Leng Changxi took over the crossbow, no shot was wasted.
After watching for a long time, Qin Yunuan suddenly understood that the scene of dazzling stones was caused by the mirror-image theory. It seemed that they were surrounded by stones, but in fact, the rock gates just occupied a half circle. The other half of the circle was a mirrored rock gates generated during its movement. Its speed and shape were the same as the real one, while its movement direction was exactly the opposite. So logically speaking, there should be some object or energy source in the middle which could cause the mirror-image scene.
And the energy source should be at the center of the entire rock gates, because only in this way could the balance of the entire rock gates be maintained.
When Heiying explained to Leng Changxi and Qin Yunuan, most of the stones in the rock gates had been fixed by the crossbow. However, the two largest stones were still moving fast. They moved fastest, and they were the strangest.
Although the two stones were exactly the same, they were both moving around the valley in a full circle, like two children who were running fast. If it was the case, it was impossible to tell which the real rock gates were and which was derived from mirror-image.
Just when everyone was puzzled, the sun started to set gradually, and the stones that were temporarily stopped by arrows began to vibrate, which meant that the rock gate strategy would change with the sun again. If they couldn’t find out which one was the real rock gates in time, their previous efforts would be wasted then.
At this moment, with the sound of tight and rapid footsteps and the clang out of the friction of armors, a pure white throne appeared above the valley. The throne was half-a-person high, and the armrests were inlaid with beautiful enamel. Who would use such a heavy and impractical throne in this empty valley?
In an instant, a thousand soldiers of the Leng Army took out their weapons together, looking sternly at the dark shadow which was moving towards them above the valley slowly.
It seemed to be a sedan chair. It was not an easy task to carry a sedan chair up along such a rugged valley.
As soon as the sedan curtain was lifted, a handsome man wearing scarlet clothes with a jade crown on his head walked off the sedan chair slowly and glanced at the situation in the valley enchantingly. With an imperceptible smile, he slapped the hemline of his dress and turned to sit on the white throne. The maid beside him immediately bowed and served him with a plate of washed grapes. There was no table in the mountains, so the maid knelt down in front of the scarlet-clothed young man respectfully for him to enjoy the food.
Leng Changxi squinted at the bottom of the valley, staring at every movement of the young man. Then he shook his head, thinking that Xu Ji was really effeminate.
Xu Ji smiled suddenly and said towards the bottom slowly, “General Leng, I know you admire me in your heart. You are praising me for my talent. To be honest, I also admire myself.”
Leng Changxi bowed his head with embarrassment, thinking that he was not only effeminate but also conceited.
Seeing that Leng Changxi lowered his head, Xu Ji smiled more charmingly, “In fact, General Leng, you don’t have to be self-effacing. I have heard of you before.” After speaking, he turned to look at Heiying whose eyes had already been furious, pretending to be suddenly enlightened, and exclaimed, “Oh! It turns out that the descendant of Cang Family is also here. How many years have you been driven into the mountains? I’m surprised that you can be like a human being now. It seems that the old man was really good at choosing a tomb for himself. You can break my twenty-seven slabs, but you may not be able to break the last one. So you’d better fold your hands for capture.”
