Book 12 Chapter 8 - Rushing to Yanshi
Soon the people outside were going to break the door open and enter in. Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan already prepared some countermeasure. But suddenly the sound of hoof beats came from the south side toward the entrance to the village. The men under Du Ganmu's leadership immediately stopped their search operation and stood guard in full alert.
Frowning, Kou Zhong said, "Xiao Ling seems to be talking with a woman back there; what's going on?”
Ba Fenghan turned his head around and glanced toward the open door and the wide-open space of the courtyard; staying calm and unruffled, he said, "As long as it's not female demon Wan or Zhu Yuyan, we don't need to worry about him!”
The sound of hoof beats from the south side was getting louder; the horses must have just come through the top of the hill like them. Without any mountain range to separate them, the sound was a lot clearer. The incoming riders numbered around fifty or sixty people.
Kou Zhong said, "Perhaps these new comers are the enemies looking for us; it would be best if they don't agree with Du Ganmu and break into a fight, and then we will reap the fisherman's benefit.”
From his angle of view, Ba Fenghan was able to see the incoming riders ahead of Kou Zhong; smiling, he said, "Looks like your wish can come true! Because the incoming people are Wagang troops.”
This moment the incoming riders entered Kou Zhong's line of sight. The graceful, pretty and elegant Shen Luoyan caught his eyes.
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Dong Shuni coquettishly cast Xu Ziling a sideways glance; a bit bashful, she said, "Do you know who I am? How come you have not introduced yourself to me?”
This moment Xu Ziling also heard the hoof beats coming from the southern end of the village. Seeing her maintaining her naïve and spoilt child's demeanor, as if she could not care less of everything that was happening outside, he could not help feeling somewhat at a loss; he replied, "I am Xu Ziling …”
Dong Shuni's beautiful eyes lit up, "I have heard a lot of people mentioning your name,” she said excitedly, "They say you and Kou Zhong are two of the most promising men of the younger generation. In that case, the one outside must be Kou Zhong. Hee …! I am lucky I am hiding in here; you must take up the responsibility of protecting me!”
Xu Ziling did not know whether he should laugh or cry; but even if she was not Wang Shichong's niece, he still could not refuse to lend a hand. Thereupon he asked, "If you want us to protect you, you must answer a few questions first: who is going to hurt you? And why did you flee to this place alone?”
In distressed, Dong Shuni knitted her black eyebrows; she sighed and said, "They are King of Yue's men. The King of Yue wanted to kill my uncle, and I found out about it. The King then sent his men after me to kill me, hence Shuni took a boat to escape; who would have thought that the troops overtook me. Hee …! Luckily nujia's qinggong is not bad, thereupon I escaped to this place, and luckily I came across you guys.”
Xu Ziling was astonished, "Why did King of Yue want to kill your uncle? Isn't he only a lad of about ten years old?”
Dong Shuni shrugged her shoulders and said, "Great meritorious service shakes the master and provokes traitors; it has been like this since time immemorial. Nujia is heading to Yanshi to see Uncle; will you go with nujia? And who's that good-looking man who does not look like a Han?”
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Shen Luoyan and another man flew off their horses. Just by looking at the double-point spear in that man's hand, Kou Zhong knew that he was Wang Bodang, the other valiant general who shared the same fame and prestige with Pei Renji.
Recalling Susu's humiliation, Kou Zhong's right hand reached out to his back to grab the hilt of his saber.
Ba Fenghan reached out and pressed his shoulder lightly, telling him not to act rashly; he whispered, "Something is amiss here, let's listen to what they have to say first.”
Du Ganmu stepped forward to meet the two and said, "We have followed Shen Junshi's direction: from the Great River we searched to this place, yet we have not found any trace of her.”
Kou Zhong carefully sized up Wang Bodang.
He casually hung the double-point spear over his shoulder; whether it was the way he flew off his horse, or the way he moved about, it was clear that he was a bold and powerful man who did not have any regard to anybody else.
As soon as Kou Zhong's gaze fell upon him, he appeared to be reacting by turning his gaze toward them; luckily the two had already anticipated this and were one step ahead of him by dodging behind the window.
Outside, Shen Luoyan's tender voice spoke up, "General Du, please be assured that we have laid out inescapable nets within fifty li radius of this place. Even if her qinggong is brilliant, or even if she grew wings, she cannot fly away. But be aware that she might have martial art masters protecting her, otherwise my bird would not have its left wing wounded.”
Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan looked at each other and smiled; both thought that luckily that strange bird could not talk, otherwise it would have revealed their secret.
Somewhat displeased, Wang Bodang said, "Such a classified information, how could it leak to Dong Shuni who only knows how to seduce men?”
As if they agreed by chance, both Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong cast their glances in the direction of the rear courtyard, while thinking how could there be such a coincidence?
The distressed Du Ganmu replied, "Precisely because there's someone in the imperial court who was obsessed with her beauty that he used this to curry her favor and leak the secret to her; fortunately we found out in a timely manner. Now as long as we can catch her back, it is not too late to mend the pen after the sheep are lost.”
Listening to this point, since Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong were holders of the pearl of wisdom, they were able to guess the gist of this matter.
Due to Yuwen Huaji leading his troops returning to the north, King Dong of Yue formed an alliance with Li Mi to fight their common enemies. And Li Mi also received the title of Wei Guo Gong [Duke of State of Wei] bestowed by the King Dong of Yue.
After Li Mi's costly victory against Yuwen Huaji, Wang Shichong saw an opportunity they could exploit, so he led his elite troops to Yanshi, thinking that he could seize this opportunity to attack Li Mi.
Who would have thought that people from the King Dong of Yue's camp feared Wang Shichong far more than they were afraid of Li Mi? As a result, they colluded with Li Mi to conspire against Wang Shichong.
But the confidential affair became not a secret anymore and Dong Shuni found out about it; hence she wanted to go to Yanshi to notify Wang Shichong. Unfortunately her entourage fell into the pursuing troops' ambush and was repeatedly hunted down until she was the only one remained and relying on her superior qinggong she was able to escape to this place.
Kou Zhong no longer interested to listen further; after discussing his plan with Ba Fenghan, he slipped out from the rear door.
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‘Creak!'
The double-door opened. Ba Fenghan strode out, stretched his limbs, and swept his gaze around at Shen Luoyan, Wang Bodang, Du Ganmu, and the hundred or so men from both parties, who were stunned to see him. Laughing aloud, he said, "Such a confidential matter, yet gentlemen are talking about it on the street in broad daylight as if it was a trivial matter. Very funny, very amusing!”
Du Ganmu's countenance changed, "Ba Fenghan!” he exclaimed.
Throwing his head back, Wang Bodang laughed aloud and said, "There's a path to paradise you didn't want to take, there's no door to hell yet you insist on breaking in. We happen to receive an order to catch you. Where are the other two kids?”
Shen Luoyan, on the other hand, looked doubtful. Signaling with her hand, she commanded about a dozen or so of his men to fan out to surround Ba Fenghan, who was still standing in front of the house.
Ba Fenghan chuckled calmly and said, "Since I dare to come out and stand here, naturally I have confidence in dealing with you.”
A big man with an especially fierce and tough appearance on Shen Luoyan's left suddenly charged forward, his broadsword hacked down on Ba Fenghan's head.
Ba Fenghan laughed proudly; without anybody seeing how he moved, the Beheading Mystery Sword suddenly appeared in his left hand. Without even moving his head, by only relying on his hearing to listen to the wind to determine position, he swung the sword to meet the enemy's saber. The man was shaken and his arm turned numb. By the time he hastily withdrew in shock, the light from Ba Fenghan's sword suddenly flared out.
The fierce and tough man was jolted as if he was struck by lightning; blood splashed from the pit of his stomach, he was thrown back and fell to the ground.
Everybody's countenance, including Wang Bodang's, changed.
Actually, even Ba Fenghan himself did not expect his sword qi to be this formidable.
The man had already withdrawn a zhang away, yet the sword qi still split his chest that he died; something that previously was difficult for him to accomplish.
After the hard training on the mountain for ten days plus repeated bloody battles, unwittingly he had made a breakthrough, which he had never even dreamed of, in martial art cultivation.
In that instant, flashing through his mind were series of events where he was with Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, and they were treating one another with absolute sincerity; a warm, happy feeling burst out in his heart. To him, who was usually very cold and detached toward interpersonal relationship, this was a highly unusual feeling.
‘Qiang!'
Returning the sword to its sheathe, Ba Fenghan coldly said, "I, Ba Fenghan, have been through thousands of battles, big and small, but nobody has been able to take my life. I want to see if you can be the exception.”
Wang Bodang's expression became even more incomparably heavy. His double-point spear shot out and twirled in the air, before returning to his chest, which he pointed toward Ba Fenghan.
The other men leaped onto the roof, some broke through the windows into the house behind Ba Fenghan, forming layer upon layer of heavy siege around him.
Shen Luoyan took a step forward and shouted tenderly, "Where did Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling go?”
Ba Fenghan laughed involuntarily and said, "I am in charge of the killing, they are in charge of creating disturbance; is Shen Junshi clear now?”
"Not good!” Shen Luoyan blurted out.