Book 11 Chapter 9 - The Bloody Battle of Xiangyang
Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
When the three of them left the Dahong Mountain, they all had a feeling that they had become a completely new person. Although Ba Fenghan was extremely daring, he had become cautious and timid as he used all kinds of trick to look carefully at the enemy's track, so that they would not fall into an ambush.
After hastening toward Xiangyang for one day, they looked for a hilltop to stay for the night, and filled their stomachs with Huangjing [King Solomon's Seal (genus polygonatum)] berries.
Under the starry sky, Ba Fenghan suggested, "Even with female demon Wan's outstanding intelligence, she could not have guessed our temperament that we were willing to hide for ten days. She must have guessed that we are already heading north to Luoyang; hence we should not be in any apparent danger along the way.”
Kou Zhong, who was sitting against a rock, nodded lazily and said, "Let us take the quickest route to Luoyang. I am afraid Yucheng and the others are unbearably anxious waiting for us. Ay! Perhaps they had fallen into female demon Wan's hands.”
"Don't worry!” Ba Fenghan said, "Those four brothers of yours have been with you for a long time, and they knew the danger they are facing, so they should have hidden their track. To tell you the truth, the reason I have such a high regard on you was when Junyu and I started to pursue you and failed, which was practically an impossibility. At that time our qinggong surpassed yours, yet after pursuing you for a long time we still could not catch up with you. I still don't understand why.”
Xu Ziling replied nonchalantly, "Supposing that time you caught up with us, would Ba Xiong really get rid of us?”
Ba Fenghan freely and carelessly smiled and said, "Mortal beings will die eventually; whether they die sooner or later, it is still the same death. If you have lived the life I was living at the great desert, among the horse thieves, you would also have an apathetic view of life and death; do you understand what I mean? On this earth only the strong can rule the world, others are just a fake.”
Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, "If strength is really a virtue, wouldn't that be better than using force to subdue people?”
Sneering, Ba Fenghan said, "Strength is strength, everything else is nothing more than a means to achieve a certain goal and strategy. Just look at the emperors and hegemons who succeeded throughout history, which one was not a vicious and merciless person? Compared to Bi Xuan who kills people like scything flax, the Ol' Ba is still far inferior!”
Xu Ziling cast Kou Zhong a glance, but seeing him looking up at the sky without saying anything, he could not help feeling bitterly disappointed.
Ba Fenghan said calmly, "Everybody has his own conviction and style of doing things. Don't think that because I am dauntless and combative I would not distinguish between red-green or black-white, and kill people indiscriminately. All right! Go back to the topic at hand. After reaching Xiangyang, I don't care whether we will have to buy, to rob openly or steal sneakily, we must obtain a boat and go up north along the River Wei; this will save us a lot of leg muscles. What do you think?”
Kou Zhong cast him a sidelong glance, "Doesn't Ba Xiong's purse have enough gold in it? Robbing and stealing are not a hero's conduct.”
Ba Fenghan laughed in spite of himself, "If you have misgivings about this, just let me take care of it,” he said, "Ol' Ba can't possibly treat anybody who is willing to sell his boat to me with meager hospitality.”
A cool night breeze blew; the three of them felt comfortably safe and free.
Kou Zhong said, "Listening to Ba Xiong, seems like you packed a plenty, it won't be exhausted in this lifetime; you made Xiaodi extremely envious. I wonder if I could ask Ba Xiong for some way to make money?”
Ba Fenghan laughed aloud and said, "We will still be together for a few days; just watch carefully!”
And then a sinister smile appeared on the corner of his mouth as he said in a heavy voice, "As long as I can capture a Yin Gui Pai people, I have a way of forcing him to reveal where Yin Gui Pai lair is. At that time, we can flip the situation: they will be in the light while we are going to be in the dark. We will use the assassination method of seeing-one-killing-one, so that Zhu Yuyan will know the consequences of offending me, Ba Fenghan.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged some glances; they both shivered in fear inwardly.
Ba Fenghan might not be a bad person, but if he was offended and the offense turned into enmity, he would definitely become a dreadful enemy.
※ ※ ※
At noon the following day, the three men arrived at Xiangyang.
Xiangyang's city gate has been reopened, business was back to normal. They paid the tax and entered the city, and looked for an inn to stay the night.
After freshening up, the confident Ba Fenghan went out to take care of the boat for them to go up north. Since the two boys had nothing to do, they went to a nearby store to buy two or three sets of new clothes, and afterwards they looked for a restaurant to sit down. Each one of them ordered a bowl of meat soup noodle, and gobbled it up heartily.
Because it was already past lunch hour, the restaurant was quite empty. Other than the two of them, only two other tables were occupied.
Kou Zhong spoke in a low voice, "I have never had any thought like the present that contending for hegemony over the world is such an out-of-reach goal. But more than ten days ago, when I stood on Jingling's city wall, I felt like the world was acknowledging allegiance under my feet, and that I would never be struck down. Ay!”
Xu Ziling said, "That's because you are the kind of person who is unwilling to be left out. These more than ten days, you withdrew to a secluded place and lived a life of cultivation; you must be depressed.”
Kou Zhong mused, "I don't think that is the case. These more than ten days, I was as absorbed as you were; I enjoyed the excitement of the clashing of the blades, and I reveled in the tranquility of quiet meditation even more. Sometimes I even forgot about Li Xiuning, Song Yushi, and the others completely, I was as relaxed as the swimming fish and the flying bird, so carefree and without worries. Sometimes my inner energy even felt like it could control the speed of spiraling qi. It made me felt I am rather like Ning Daoqi, that I have become the number one martial art master in the world.”
Xu Ziling slapped the table and said with a sigh, "Supposing we can control the speed of the vortex; slow first and then accelerating, for instance, or fast first and then slowing down, perhaps the Ol' Ba would not be able to hold on too long. But to reach that level, I am afraid we still have a long way to go.”
Kou Zhong was surprised, "Turns out you are also thinking about this wonderful possibility; I thought it was just my imagination?”
Xu Ziling happily said, "This time we spent many days and nights with the Ol' Ba, whether it was our fortune or our bad luck, I cannot say. All I can say is that there is a great benefit in front of us. At least it let you experienced the happiness and relaxed state of mind where there was no burden at all, which somewhat lowered your ambition of hegemony over the world; otherwise, how did you come out with the idea that contending for hegemony over the world is such an out-of-reach goal?”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, "Brother, you are making fun of me again. But it has also led to another heaven-sent wonderful idea in my mind. If I could succeed in contending for hegemony over the world, while at the same time maintain the ‘forgetting worry, no-anxiety, considering life and death, honor and disgrace, outside my sphere of consideration' state of mind, who could be my adversary then? His mother's! I can use the Yijian Technique in the battlefield; it will become Kouzi's Art of War [play on words: Sunzi's (Sun Tzu's) Art of War]. At that time the world will become mine.”
While speaking the last sentence, his pair of eyes shone with spirited light; it was really intimidating.
Frowning, Xu Ziling said, "It's easy for you to say, but the fact is, it's difficult to put into practice. For example, when we were standing on Jingling's city wall that day, facing Jianghuai Army's thousands troops tens of thousands horses besieging the city, can you really relax?”
"I couldn't,” Kou Zhong admitted, "Because I was overwhelmed with the scene of death and destruction all around me; my mind was in great turmoil. But if I consider the whole battlefield as a big chessboard, all the soldiers and generals are chess pieces, and I am relaxed and comfortably playing the game, won't that be superb?”
And then he smiled and said, "The first stratagem of the Kou Tzu's Art of War: the first and foremost xinfa is deploying troops with chatting and laughing.”
Tuoba Yu replied, "They are merely a bunch of people from their group. Kou Xiong, Xu Xiong, please be careful!”