Book 23 Chapter 4 – Gathering the Little Life Back

Xu Ziling and Shi Feixuan stood side-by-side on a small hill; ahead was the Great Ba Mountain Range, which lay horizontally on the mother earth, extended all the way across the plains. Under the night sky, with stars scattered about like chess pieces on the board, the mountain range appeared like a huge barrier. But if he took the sky bridge from the Great Ba, he would be able to reach Sichuan, which was acclaimed as the land of plenty.

Intoxicating fragrance from Shi Feixuan’s body assaulted Xu Ziling’s nostrils. This was the second time that he had the opportunity to stand at such a close proximity with this beautiful woman, who was as simple and elegant as a fairy.

But he did not dare to indulge himself in wild and fanciful thought, because her heartless hint at Hefei was still deeply engraved in his heart.

By nature, Xu Ziling was a free and easy man who loved to live a simple life; it was very easy for him to take an indifferent view on this kind of man-woman affair.

However, he could not deny that every word, every smile of this outstandingly stunning beauty could make him feel like he was bathing in the spring breeze, as if he was enveloped by the attractive, infatuating natural scenery of spirited rain that came out of the empty sky.

Shi Feixuan turned her pretty face, smiled, and said, “Since we parted at Hefei, Wanwan and I had many battles, one after another; she always employed guerilla tactics, fight and run, so that it seems like she is trying to ascertain Feixuan’s weight before the final battle. Although she did not appear to succeed, but even until just now, she still had plenty of strength left, but was unwilling to determine victory and defeat in an all-out battle.”

Xu Ziling looked up to meet her limpid, bottomless exquisite eyes; he spoke indifferently, “Perhaps she is waiting for the Xie Di Sheli to make its appearance!”

Slightly stunned, Shi Feixuan said, “Unexpectedly Ziling Xiong also knows about the sacred relics?”

Xu Ziling rarely saw this human-being-character side of her, inwardly he was rather proud. Nodding his head, he said, “I just heard about it by random chance. Why did Miss Shi call it Sheng Sheli [sacred relics] and not Xie Di Sheli [demonic emperor relics]? Is there any difference between the two?”

Smiling, Shi Feixuan replied, “The correct name should be Sacred Relics, because it is the emblem of the identity of the Sheng Ji Zong Sheng Di [Sheng Ji - Most Holy, Zong, maybe ‘ancestor’, ‘school’, or maybe a name, Sheng Di – holy emperor. So it could mean ‘Holy Emperor of the Most Holy School’]. It’s just that outsiders want to change Sheng Ji Zong and Sheng Di into Xie Ji [extreme evil] Zong and Xie Di; hence Sheng Sheli became Xie Sheli or Xie Di Sheli! Just think, who would be willing to call themselves Xie Pai [demonic sect]?”

Xu Ziling was amused as well; shrugging, he said, “Make sense; I was so naïve!”

Shi Feixuan looked at him deeply, as if she wanted to ingrain his appearance at this moment in her mind. Quite a while later she diverted her gaze toward the starry sky above the Great Mount Ba, and asked in a soft voice, “May I venture to ask Ziling Xiong, this is not a well-known secret at all; where did you hear it from?”

Muttering to himself irresolutely, Xu Ziling said, “I’m not sure if I should say it. Miss Shi, please don’t take offense.”

Astounded, Shi Feixuan said, “If Ziling Xiong does not wish to say it, then don’t. May I ask where is Ziling Xiong heading right now?”

Instead of answering, Xu Ziling asked, “Is it possible for Zaixia to ask a rude question first? How does Miss Shi view Hou Xibai?”

Shi Feixuan showed a touching demeanor of being deep in thought, and then she looked at him and spoke softly, “How does Ziling Xiong view this man?”

Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling replied, “I have a little suspicion that he is this generation’s disciple of Hua Jian Pai, but Miss Shi must not ask me to come up with any solid evidence.”

Shi Feixuan smiled and said, “Feixuan would never ask you for that. Because your guess is 100% accurate. From the first day I came upon him, I knew his identity and origin, and he had never concealed it from me.”

Xu Ziling was greatly shocked.

※ ※ ※

“Hold on!”

Zuo Xiaoyou stepped out in large strides to block the personal guards, martial art masters who were pouncing out from Li Zitong’s left and right.

Li Zitong simply had to give a bit of face to his top rank general, who has brought a large number of his men to realign their allegiance to him; hastily he shouted his order to stop.

After begging for forgiveness, Zuo Xiaoyou turned toward Kou Zhong, who was standing proudly in the middle of the hall, inside the siege. Laughing coldly, he said, “Shao Shuai has less than ten thousand men under your command, and your foundation is not stable yet; to achieve that is already not easy, how do you think you are going to solve our Jiangdu crisis?”

None of the generals did not nod. This was precisely the question in everybody’s heart. Du Fuwei only need to take a part of his troops to build rampart and defend it strongly, and it would be enough to wear down Shaoshuai Army coming down south to help Jiangdu by cutting their food supply.

Seeing his objective has been reached, Kou Zhong put the saber back into its scabbard; he said, “How do I address this general?”

Zuo Xiaoyou replied indifferently, “I am Zuo Xiaoyou.”

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “I already guessed it’s Zuo Da Jiangjun, I just need Da Jiangjun to confirm it with your own mouth!”

Li Zitong had just been listening to Yun Yuzhen whispering something else in his ear; he scoffed and said with a sneer, “Let’s talk less superfluous words; why don’t this king take a guess. Did Shao Shuai lead your troops west toward the Ranch, along the way you suffered an ambush which resulted in total defeat of your army, leaving Shao Shuai escaping alone, and now you come to swindle this king?”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “I already told Da Wang not to listen to women’s slanderous report; the fact is just the opposite. Yun Bangzhu’s master, Zhu Can, and Cao Yinglong’s coalition armies has been utterly defeated, each one has returned to their base camp. Cao Army has been totally wiped out by me by the bank of River Zhang. This news should reach this place very soon, only Yun Bangzhu has not received it! Ha! That is laughable indeed!”

None was not emotionally moved.

Yun Yuzhen scolded angrily, “Nonsense! With your trivial a thousand plus troops and horses, not to mention being exhausted from marching to remote regions, how could you defeat our allied armies?”

Remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, Kou Zhong said, “Yun Bangzhu is absolutely correct; however, superior army attacks using scheme. Also, there is a saying about battle of wits and not battle of brute force. Your allied armies and Du and Shen’s coalition armies have been guilty of the same sin, which is each army has selfish motives. I simply exploited this fact and they crumbled. Yun Bangzhu might want to send your men to gather intelligence; for example, by inquiring from the traveling merchants who have been there and back, to see whether I am simply babbling nonsense.”

Another high-ranking military officer spoke up, “This general is Bai Xin. May I venture to ask Shao Shuai to speak a bit more clearly?”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “The situation is exceptionally complicated, but I can explain how we are going to solve the crisis in Jiangdu; after hearing it, gentlemen will know whether it is feasible.”

Li Zitong inwardly mused that after you explain it, killing you then would not be too late. Thereupon he nodded and said, “Speak up! This king will listen with respectful attention.”

Just by listening to the tone of his voice, everybody knew that he practically did not believe that Kou Zhong really had a way to lift the siege.

But Zuo Xiaoyou’s expression showed that he was deep in thought; he interrupted, “Is it possible that Shao Shuai is thinking of exploiting the conflicting views between Du Fuwei and Shen Lun, using the driving-a-wedge-between-partners strategy? We have also thought about that, but because the two armies are separated by several dozen li, also because they are taking turn in besieging the city, we do not have a good plan on how to execute it.”

Shao Lingzhou laughed coldly and said, “If Shao Shuai can only think about the same thing, it would be best if you don’t speak up to show your disgrace.”

Kou Zhong stared at him. With displeasure in his voice, he said, “Shao Lingzhou, you are increasingly moving backward. Even Da Wang, under the instigation of a woman, still understand that he has to at least listen to me to see if I really have the ability I can show you; at most, only after listening to me he would make his move to kill me. Yet you advised me not to speak up. I wonder if you are a spy sent here by Du Fuwei? Otherwise, how could you not give the least bit of thought toward the Great Wu?”

While Shao Lingzhou was about to blow off his anger, Li Zitong already rebuked angrily, “If you dare to speak frigid irony and scorching satire to me, I will have you slaughtered first; I don’t want to hear half a sentence of your nonsense.”

Kou Zhong calmly said, “I, Kou Zhong, am not your subordinate, and am not coming here to kneel and beg forgiveness from you. If you are courteously willing to cooperate, then I might have a bit of interest; otherwise, why would I give you an advantage for nothing?”

The murderous intent in Li Zitong’s eyes flared out immediately. Qin Wenchao hastily said, “Da Wang, please calm down. Let’s see if Shao Shuai has any good proposal first.”

Li Zitong struggled hard to put his anger under control; nodding, he said, “Very well! Just consider I was wrong, Shao Shuai, please speak!”

Unless he was an idiot, everybody present knew that Li Zitong only wanted to wait for Kou Zhong to finish speaking before he would make his move.

Kou Zhong laughed calmly and said, “To use the driving-a-wedge-between-partners strategy, there must be two favorable conditions. Right now the first favorable condition had just appeared, which is Jianghuai Army’s vanguard had just left Qingliu to march toward Jiangdu; they might appear outside the city any moment. As long as we are able to know well the situation of their march, we could set up an appropriate ambush or attack their camp along the way.”

The men on Li Zitong’s side immediately broke into a commotion. They started to believe that he was not babbling nonsense at all, because they had just received the news about Du Army’s movement only half a sichen ago. Evidently Kou Zhong had setup a vast intelligence network in the area.

With a smile on her face, Yun Yuzhen said, “Du Fuwei crisscross the left of the river, if they collapsed because of your ambush, he need not come out to mingle in the world.”

Suddenly a flashing light appeared Kou Zhong’s eyes; fixing his gaze on Yun Yuzhen, who was sitting on the platform to Li Zitong’s left, he sneered and said, “You caused Su Jie’s death, and thus has become the mortal enemy that Xu Ziling and I, two boys, will never forgive, yet you can still laugh? When did I say that I would ambush and defeat Old Du’s main forces? But if the one mounting a sneak attack on Old Du is surprisingly Shen Lun’s men, what would the consequences be?”

Being at the receiving end of his stare, Yun Yuzhen’s heart trembled, so that this usually smart-tooth-and-sharp-dental woman became speechless.

However, everybody else showed skeptical expression on their faces.

For the first time Li Zitong showed that he was emotionally moved, as if he had just been awakened from animosity and women’s charm. “Is Shao Shuai thinking of posing as Shen Lun’s men and mounting a sneak attack on Jianghuai Army?” he spoke heavily, “This tactic is easy to grasp but difficult to put into practice. As soon as both sides meet and exchange information, they would know that we are the one playing ghost.”

Kou Zhong inwardly mused that Li Zitong was indeed something; in this kind of critical moment, he was not careless at all.

In the hall, the crow and peacock made no sound, everybody was quietly waiting for Kou Zhong’s response.

Kou Zhong calmly said, “If it were your men, let’s not mention that you won’t escape the eyes and ears of Jianghuai Army’s spies, even if you are dressed in Jiangnan military uniform and insignia, but you still use the swords, spears, sabers and halberds forged by Tie Ji in Jiangdu, and the bows and arrows manufactured by Chang Huilong, you would only end up as a laughingstock. Hence the reason Da Wang has an ‘easy to grasp but difficult to put into practice’ impression.”

Tie Jie and Chang Huilong were Jiangdu’s most famous weapon manufacturing companies; this was the fact no one did not know.

Seeing Kou Zhong’s card-up-his-sleeve attitude, Zuo Xiaoyou slowly said, “Listening to Shao Shuai, you must have prepared an army flawlessly disguised as Jiangnan Army; am I right?”

Before Kou Zhong answered, Yun Yuzhen already interrupted, “How would I know that you, Kou Zhong, are not just making empty promises? To find such army is not something that can be done in a mere ten days’ time. Not only they have to speak in Jiangnan accent, they must also use weapons produced by Jiangnan weapon manufacturer.”

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “Yun Bangzhu has been to Luoyang and drank Rong Fengxiang’s birthday wine; I wonder if you know someone by the name of Chen Changlin?”

Her countenance changed slightly, Yun Yuzhen said, “Never heard of it!”

Another general spoke up, “Da Wang, please understand, Chen Changlin is my fellow countryman. For many generations his clansmen are seagoing ship builders, and they have business relations with various tribes in Nanyang [Southeast Asia/South seas].”

Just by listening to his accent, others immediately knew that he was a ‘replacement guaranteed if not genuine’ [idiom: authentic] Jiangnan man.

Qin Wenchao asked in surprised, “How could Yun Bangzhu not know this man? Even I, who stayed in Jiangdu, have heard that he was an important guest who came by Wang Shichong’s personal invitation.”

Li Zitong stared blankly for a moment before letting out a stifled grunt, and then staring angrily at Yun Yuzhen, he said, “Shao Shuai, please continue.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Kou Zhong said, “The fact is, I have nothing important to say. Because Changlin Xiong was not pleased with Wang Shichong’s conduct, he came to throw his lot with me, plus he recruited a large number of brothers from Nanhai region, naturally already equipped with their own weapons, arrows and darts. Hey! I’m sorry to say, but it was they who robbed Old Ku’s five hundred Khitan steeds; Da Wang, please be aware.”

Bai Xin joined in, “Da Wang, please understand, currently Shaoshuai Army and our Great Wu are as close as lips and teeth. If Jiangdu is broken today, tomorrow it will be Liangdu’s turn. Therefore, we must not suspect Shao Shuai’s sincerity.”

Letting out a cold snort, Shao Lingzhou said, “Kou Zhong’s conduct has always exceeded all expectations, it is difficult to fathom; perhaps because he is eager to rescue certain people, he is using false words to defraud us. Da Wang, please think thrice.”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud; he met Li Zitong fierce and harsh gaze, which was like two sharp arrows shooting at him. With assurance and composure, he said, “No matter what, Da Wang will have to fight this battle. Otherwise, if Jiangdu fell, you’d have expended a great deal of effort to kill me, Kou Zhong, in vain, and still don’t have anything at all, except a group of enemies to hunt and kill Da Wang, including Chen Changlin’s several thousand brothers who are experts in naval battle. Apparently you have not considered it.”

Finally Li Zitong’s countenance changed slightly. These last few sentences were extremely heavy with threatening power, because he did have the intention that in case he was defeated, he would run away overseas.

This moment, all eyes were fixed on Li Zitong, waiting for him to make his decision.

While Yun Yuzhen and Shao Lingzhou were crying ‘Not good!’ inwardly, Li Zitong did indeed take a deep sigh, as if he was venting his anger away, and then said, “Get Gui Xiongdi, two men, out for me. I wonder if Shao Shuai still have interest to stay and drink a cup of wine water?”

Kou Zhong inwardly wiped his cold sweats. He knew that he had finally gathered his little life, which was already halfway into Yan Wang’s [Yama] hands, back.

※ ※ ※

Xu Ziling’s eyes were looking at Shi Feixuan, who was sitting cross-legged on the top of a hillock, his ears were listening to her sweet-sounding voice, which sounded like the voice of an immortal, while the enchanting night sky above was full of stars. A hard-to-describe feeling welled up in his heart.

Whether in the future they would be friends or foes, he was certain that he would never forget this moment as long as he lived.

He heard her gentle and soft voice speaking, “Hua Jian Pai has never produced any extremely vicious, exceedingly evil men. What they pursue is the art, entering into the martial way, and they see the martial way as some kind of the highest art directly related to human beings. Therefore, all disciples are multi-talented, focusing on the artistic conception of grace in the art; therefore, they are able to raise their banner among many schools and sects, and their famous reputation was not weakening for a very long time.”

Puzzled, Xu Ziling asked, “If that’s the case, how come Hua Jian Pai is classified as demonic schools’ Two Sects and Six Ways? Furthermore, it is on an equal footing with Yin Gui Pai?”

Shi Feixuan looked up at the starry sky, her pretty eyes emitted a touching multi-colored light, as if she was able to see the real righteousness through the outward appearance of the beautiful universe; she spoke smoothly, “The separation of the whole Dao [Tao, the way] is really due to the difference of ideology. During the Spring and Autumn [770-476 BC] and the Warring States [475-221 BC] periods, hundreds schools of thought vied to be the best, only then there was division of the school of thought. Since Han Wu rejected many schools of thought and revered Confucianism as the sole orthodoxy, everybody believed in Confucianism as the righteous way. Only afterwards did the division between Righteous and Demonic exist; this is purely man-made. As for where the demonic schools came from, it is difficult to pursue the source one by one. All we know is that they oppose Confucianism’s set of believe in benevolence and righteousness, propriety, wisdom and trust, and they are blaming the ignorant masses for learning the hypocrisy. After passing through long-term development, they are increasingly rebellious against orthodoxy. At the end of Han, the Yellow Turbans Peasant Uprising thieves and the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice Taoist Movement were among those. Any thought that goes to the extreme could be considered leaving the Way and entering the heretic.”

Listening to this, it was as if the murky darkness suddenly opened in Xu Ziling’s heart. Previously, it has always been very difficult for Kou Zhong and he to understand Yin Gui Pai’s conduct and deeds. Because since they were little, the only teaching they received was from Bai Laofuzi’s set of ideology, which was a mixture of Buddhism and Confucianism.

Shi Feixuan turned her pretty face around, and spoke indifferently, “Confucianism speaks about impartiality, about the doctrine of the Middle Way. Hua Jian Pai is definitely an extremist sect, believing that human’s true nature and feeling is above all morality. Mixed with art, they developed a set of ideology that the orthodox sects find hard to accept; hence people classified them as demonic sect. The fact is, Hua Jian Pai and Yin Gui Pai are inherently different.”

Looking at her absolutely beautiful silhouette, with its curves like spirited sky and deep valley, Xu Ziling asked in low voice, “So what do you think of Shi Zhixuan?”

Shi Feixuan cast her gaze back toward the distant mountain range and the wilderness, as if she was getting in touch with the load on her mind. It was a long time later that she sighed lightly and said, “I’m afraid Shi Zhixuan is one of so many different kind of demonic schools; he was holding two positions at the same time, as the head of two schools Hua Jian Pai and Bu Tian Ge. And these two sects’ martial art xinfa and the direction they are heading are fundamentally different. Until today, nobody understand how he could fuse the two sects’ martial art into one, creating unrivalled demonic skill that everybody is terrified of.”

In the end Xu Ziling was unable to bear it anymore; he asked, “Shi Zhixuan is both demonic and evil, that … that …”

Shi Feixuan had an orchid character and intelligent mind, naturally she could guess the reason he wanted to speak up but then hesitated. She spoke softly, “Did Ziling Xiong want to ask, since Shi Zhixuan was this kind of man, how did our humble school’s Bi Xiuxin become his woman? And you worry that Feixuan might follow the track of an overturned cart [fig. repeating a disastrous policy]; am I right?”

Xu Ziling’s handsome face blushed; embarrassed, he said, “I was thinking about the former question, but have not thought about the latter one.”

Shi Feixuan turned her head back to look at him; she seemed to enjoy looking at his embarrassment. A hint of smile escaped from her fragrant lips as she spoke softly, “Were it not for Xiuxin Shibo [martial (older) uncle] cherishing the worthy-of-the-greatest-admiration moral character of ‘if I don’t enter the hell, who would enter the hell’ by using herself to test the devil, this world would have been turned upside down by Shi Zhixuan, and the demonic would grow, while the Way would vanish.”

Taken aback, Xu Ziling asked, “Since that’s the case, why do Miss so admire and trust Shi Zhixuan’s disciple?”

An unprecedentedly sweet smile burst forth on Shi Feixuan’s face, with tender, innocent manner she sneered and said, “In the end there is still this question, yet you say over and over again that you have not thought about it?”

Xu Ziling’s handsome face blushed again.

Even he did not understand why in front of her clear eyes he was so out of control.

Shi Feixuan rose up to her full height, her jade countenance recovered its still-water-without-any-ripple expression. Changing the subject, she spoke indifferently, “Where is Ziling Xiong going?”

Xu Ziling understood that she was saying goodbye, he could not control the strong feeling of discontent suddenly welling up in his heart. Fighting to put his emotion under control, he stood up and said, “If Miss Shi has an important matter to do, please do as you wish!”

Shi Feixuan fell silent. Her eyes stared into the distance.

Mountain breeze blew, her dark green scholar attire fluttered in the wind, creating a rustling noise, composing a breathtakingly stunning picture.

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