Book 14 Chapter 6 - Taking a Break From Danger
Sitting down by Xu Ziling's side, Ba Fenghan asked, "Who's that man just now? Both in terms of build and poise he showed a lot of lofty quality. Although he was walking away furiously, I was standing behind the willow tree yet still could not hide from him. Indeed he is a rare martial art master.”
"He is Li Jing,” Xu Ziling replied, "During our debut, it was from him that we learned our Ten-Style Saber Technique.”
Ba Fenghan has had discussion about martial art with him on the mountain, so of course he knew the ‘Bloody Battle Ten Styles'. Emotionally moved, he said, "If a few years ago he has already been able to create such a powerful, overbearing saber technique, he must be even more out of the ordinary now. I really wish for an opportunity to try the ‘Bloody Battle Ten Styles' directly from his hands.”
Smiling bitterly, Xu Ziling said, "We have had life and death friendship with him; it would be best if Fenghan Xiong did not look for him for a fight.”
Sneering, Ba Fenghan said, "Right now it is not that I want to look for him for a fight, rather, he won't let us off; a soft way [orig. ‘wen', literature, civil] will not accomplish as much as a hard way [orig. ‘wu', martial art, military]. I hear Li Jing's wife has an outstanding martial art, an expert in using red brush[?], her origin is a mystery. Hey! How come I haven't seen Kou Zhong?”
Frowning, Xu Ziling asked, "What news did you get? Why did you say that Li Jing want to fight with us?”
With a cold humph Ba Fenghan replied, "If that kid Li Shimin is still unclear that we are against him, do we still need to come out to announce that we are contending over the world? From the tone of Dong Ming Princess' voice, that Li kid is very afraid of the three of us. If he could not use us, he will disregard everything to have us killed to nip the problem in the bud.”
Xu Ziling noticed that when he mentioned Shan Wanjing, the tone of his voice was cold, unlike before, where he used to call her ‘Wanjing' or ‘Princess' with intimacy. Astonished, he asked, "Is there something wrong between you and Shan Wanjing?”
Ba Fenghan fixed his gaze on a speedily passing boat, his eyes flashed with cold rays as he sighed and said, "I had a big fight with her.”
Xu Ziling was stunned, "Why did you fight?”
With a rueful smile Ba Fenghan said, "Of course it was because of the Jade Annulus of He Clan. But when all is said and done, it was because of that Li kid. At first she was very nice; she blamed me for hanging around with you, and thus was drawn into this tight knot that cannot be untied. She also said that Li kid is destined to be the Son of Heaven ordained by heaven itself, and wanted me to hand the Jade Annulus of He Clan to him. Humph! Who did she think she is to talk to me like that?”
Blurting out laughing, Xu Ziling said, "Treasure of the heart is a sin, this saying is surely not an empty words. Suddenly friends become enemies; really interesting.”
Ba Fenghan smiled and said, "Just like the Jade Annulus of He Clan, that kind of treasure, only the virtuous can obtain it, it never belonged to anyone. I will never surrender to the authority, who have the ability may give me all he got, right now I am terribly itchy.”
And then he sneered and said, "I thought that after parting company with you this morning there would be someone coming to get even with me; at least there should be people like Tuoba Yu and his pretty Shimei, or perhaps Dugu Feng and the likes who would love to try their luck. Who would have thought that I did not encounter even half a shadow? It's so disappointing.”
Xu Ziling laughed and said, "You, Lao Ge, fully displayed your capabilities last night by forcing back Qu Ao; whoever wanted to mess with you would have to figure out their own weight first.”
Shaking his head, Ba Fenghan said, "In my opinion, that was not the case. Rather, it was because Wang Bo has already issued a decree in Jianghu, and he has Ci Hang Jing Zhai and Jing Nian Chanyuan behind him, hence everybody wanted to give him face, by letting him figuring out a way to get the Jade Annulus of He Clan back. Pushing toward the deadline of zi hour [11pm-1am] tonight, we may feel nervous because nothing is happening.”
Xu Ziling said, "Don't forget that Wanwan can't possibly be subject to any restriction; perhaps she'll come first to give us bad luck, while conveniently see whether she could force the Jade Annulus of He Clan out from us.”
Ba Fenghan delightedly said, "That is exactly what I've been looking for. As long as we can capture one of her men, we will have a way to find out Junyu's whereabouts. What I am afraid the most is that Yin Gui Pai would want to reap the fisherman's benefit by waiting until the zi hour tonight before taking any action against us.”
Thinking hard, Xu Ziling said, "Right now people on the street are our enemies. With multitude of enemies and few friends, our only strategy is to deal with them using martial art power; does Fenghan Xiong have any clever move?”
Ba Fenghan calmly said, "If my expectation is correct, Shi Feixuan is the mastermind behind all these. Her objective is to make us ‘a thief lacking in confidence', and bring the stolen goods far away from the city. But we will definitely not give her what she wished for; we will remain here and deal with her to the end. Ha! Who would have guessed that the Jade Annulus of He Clan is practically not in our hands? Afterwards, it will not be in anybody's hands either.”
Xu Ziling was baffled, "In this kind of situation, plus you just had a fallout with Shan Wanjing, how come your mood seems to be better than before?”
Ba Fenghan smiled and said, "Quite possibly you and Kou Zhong are not aware yet how much benefit we gained from the Jade Annulus of He Clan; it has never happened in the history of Wulin inside and outside the Central Plains. Currently the three of us, each one is a living miracle, as well as a witness to this matter. Don't you feel the wonderful feeling of ‘shedding one's mortal body and exchanging one's bones'?”
Astonished, Xu Ziling asked, "Is it as amazing as you described it?”
Ba Fenghan took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It was quite awhile later that he opened his eyes and said, "What I said was very modest. As the legend says: the Jade Annulus of He Clan is a divine object from the outer space, with terrifying mysterious power hidden inside, but this power is now owned by the three of us. Not only it expands and strengthens the meridians and acupoints throughout our entire body, it also enables us to extract some kind of power and the essence of the universe. As long as we strive untiringly, there will be a day when we will surpass anybody else. Because in itself the power inside the Jade Annulus of He Clan already surpasses martial art's model and resources. That I am able to obtain this amazing opportunity, how could I not be in good mood?”
And then he added, "As for my disagreement with Shan Wanjing, it's a trivial thing. Having a fall out with her is actually a kind of painful pleasure. As long as we can get Junyu back, I, Ba Fenghan, will no longer care about it. At that time Kou Zhong will fight for his world, and you will roam the four seas to seek after the joy of life, I will return to Tujue to challenge Bi Xuan. Each one of us will pursue our respective goal and aspirations. Life at this point, a man should return to his quest. Thinking about our dreams all of a sudden become palpable reality, how could my mood be bad?”
Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, "Let us see whether we can survive after the zi hour tonight to talk about it!”
Ba Fenghan let out a smile brimming with air of arrogance; he spoke nonchalantly, "Tonight at zi hour the three of us will find a place to drink and be merry. Whoever has the ability, let him come to take my, Ba Fenghan's life away. But bear in mind that no matter what, we must not admit that it was us who stole the Jade Annulus of He Clan, because then both sides, the enemy and us, will have no wiggle room to turn away.”
With deep frown on his face, Xu Ziling said, "I am not afraid of anyone, but I do not wish this matter to turn into rivers of blood.”
Sighing, Ba Fenghan said, "Do you think I really like to kill people? But you don't want to kill people, people want to take your life. All we could do is to act according to the circumstances! What I can promise you is that unless I absolutely have no other alternative, I will not randomly cause anybody's death.”
Xu Ziling was deeply touched.
Ba Fenghan was coming from horse thieves' background; he has always been vicious and merciless. He was able to speak those words, it was purely for Xu Ziling's sake; what else could he say?
This moment Kou Zhong arrived. Squeezing himself in the middle of the two, he sat down and laughed aloud and said, "Aren't you going to look for a place you can hide your Niang for a while, to lie low until the fuss dies down?”
※ ※ ※
The three wandered around Luoyang's most prosperous Heaven Street in a triangular formation [orig. 品 (pin) character].
Xu Ziling was in front, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan walked side-by-side behind him.
The shops along the Heaven Street were meticulously decorated, the ledges and the room blended well, with magnificent screen and canopy spread over the treasures, utensils, and all kinds of goods. The shop attendants dressed in bright, colorful and splendid uniforms were busy hawking their merchandise.
The most attractive thing was that among these sales people, there was no lack of gorgeously dressed young girls [orig. lovely scene of blossoming plants swaying in the breeze], so that the eyes cannot take it all.
Even the street vendors also displayed their wares on dragon-themed carts; uniform and aristocratic looking.
Each of the three men had distinctive appearance. Xu Ziling was casual and elegant, Ba Fenghan was stalwart, magnificent, unusual yet grand, Kou Zhong had an overbearing air around him. Walking together, naturally the passers-by could not help casting an admiring glance toward them.
While talking and laughing, the three were also pointing and gesticulating toward things that attracted their attention. Sometimes they even stopped to look at certain things. From the outside, nobody would have guessed that they were racking their brains on how to deal with the disproportionately powerful enemies.
Smiling at a young upper-class lady passing-by on a sedan chair, making her blushed, Kou Zhong laughed and said, "Luoyang is indeed a good place. The most wonderful thing is that no matter where you look, you will see beautiful girls. Ha! What is it?”
The last sentence was spoken in a low voice, which he focused using his internal energy, then sent it toward Xu Ziling's ears.
Sidestepping a bunch of children chasing each other, Xu Ziling replied in soft voice, "There are at least five groups of people following us; they dress as all kinds of people, and are constantly moving around to avoid our suspicion.”
Ba Fenghan praised, "I only know that we are being followed by a lot of people, but I cannot tell that they belong to five different forces; how did you do it? And what puzzles me most is that unlike me and Kou Zhong, you did not look around at all, yet nothing seems to escape your attention.”