Book 7 Chapter 2 - Alarming Change On The Salt Boat
Not long after the salt boat entered the Yangtze River, the weather turned bad, a drizzle fell continuously.
Because Duan Yucheng and the others, four men were on duty, Xu Ziling went to the kitchen to prepare a meal. He and Kou Zhong have worked as cooks before, so it was a very easy task for him.
Kou Zhong went up the deck to patrol a few times; for some unknown reason, he had a strange feeling that someone was watching them in secret, although there was no other boat in sight, the banks were also devoid of any trace of human presence.
After telling Ma Gui and the others to raise their vigilance, he went to the kitchen at the aft to find Xu Ziling.
The dishes were nearing completion. Seeing Kou Zhong came to see him, Xu Ziling knitted his brows and said, "I also have a very ominous feeling; from time to time my heart alarmed, my body leaping, and I can't calm down.”
After focusing his spirit to listen all around, he spoke in Xu Ziling's ear, "I suspect the enemy is already hiding on the boat; perhaps it's even that fellow Yang Xuyan. Remember we had a strange feeling this morning, but did not see anybody?”
Xu Ziling nodded in agreement. Yang Xuyan was called the ‘Shadow Assassin' because he was skilled in hiding, was able to come and go without any trace, and only he had that kind of ability.
Kou Zhong went on, "Fighting one-on-one, neither one of us is his match, but if we join hands, we have a chance to stake our lives against his; therefore, from now on we must not separate.”
Xu Ziling's eyes revealed a determined look; he shook his head and said, "If we are like that, we will never be martial art masters who are able to assume personal responsibility.”
Kou Zhong stared blankly. "You are right,” he said, "Since that the case, it will be better if we gain the initiative by striking first, we'll try to force him to come out and decide life and death. Ay! I wonder which side has this kid thrown himself into; the muddleheaded ruler is dead, why didn't he simply retire?”
Xu Ziling was dissatisfied, he said, "Just by listening to your last three sentences, I know you have trepidation in your heart. Didn't Niang teach us to place ourselves on a field of death and fight to live? [an idiom from Sunzi's Art of War] Only by forgetting life or death will we be able to bring out our skill to the finest detail. Someone like you, who is timid even before fighting, will be defeated for sure.”
Kou Zhong painfully said, "Don't forget that Yang Xuyan that kid even dared to assassinate Ol' Die. If we train our martial art skill for several more years, we might be comparable to Ol' Die, but right now we are not.”
Xu Ziling heaved a sigh. "Honestly,” he said, "I am deadly afraid as well. But this is precisely the purpose of our trip in transporting the salt, to place ourselves on the field of death, to seek survival with all our strength, to advance in the martial art cultivation by the most rigorous practice. Do you understand?”
Kou Zhong took a deep breath. Patted his chest, he said, "All right! I'll listen and obey. Let's just be a bit more careful!”
Finished speaking he turned around and left.
After finishing up the last dish of rice with vegetables marinated in soy paste, and as he was about to bring the dishes out, he seemed to hear a faint sigh that sounded like a woman's coming from the doorway.
Xu Ziling was shocked.
Based on his current mental cultivation, who could possibly come this close to him and was still able to fool his acute psychic senses?
As he turned around abruptly, the lights suddenly went out.
At the exact same time, a chilling malicious spirit's howling pierced his ears, as if from the land of the living he was suddenly whisked away to the nether world.
Xu Ziling stayed motionless while collecting his spirit; focusing his power to his eyes, gradually the surrounding became brighter, and he was able to see everything with double clarity.
Immediately his tiger body was shaken severely.
Because he saw a woman with long hair and white clothing was standing at the door. Although because her head was hanging down he was unable to see her face, but her bearing, her build, and most of all the strong deja vu vibe that she exuded, bore extremely strong resemblance to Fu Junchuo.
Momentarily forgetting that Fu Junchuo had died early on, Xu Ziling blurted out, "Niang!”
The woman trembled slightly, but then she suddenly disappeared.
Xu Ziling bolted out of the door.
The corridor was pitch-black; there was no trace of the woman.
With a gust of wind Kou Zhong flitted over; with calm and composed expression he simply said, "All four of them have disappeared. Huh? What happened to you?”
Xu Ziling was about to answer when suddenly, ‘Splosh! Splash! Splosh! Splash!' one after another the sound of something hitting the water came from both sides of the boat.
The two boys cried out, knowing something bad happened, and rushed out of the corridor. But just as they crossed the door and stepped into the deck, they halted their steps in extreme shock with their eyes fixed toward the bow.
Under the drizzling rain, a lovely woman wearing white, a long sword hanging on her back, her beautiful hair like a cloud, was sitting calmly hugging her knees, as if she was the only one left in the world, at the tip of the bow.
From their angle of view, her silhouette looked at least 90% like Fu Junchuo, especially her long hair and her posture; plus there was this overwhelming déjà vu feeling in their hearts.
Having seen her before, Xu Ziling was a bit better, but Kou Zhong simply lost himself as he cried out, "Niang!”
The woman slowly turned her face around.
It was a dignified and gentle face, with graceful and delicate, straight nose right in the middle between her pair of sweet and charming bright eyes, so bright that she seemed to be able to look deep into their soul.
To their surprise, it was the same mysterious, beautiful woman who had come together with Ba Fenghan the other day. At that time the boys had already had a feeling that she looked a lot like Fu Junchuo. But tonight she deliberately imitated Fu Junchuo's dress style, so that one after another Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong were fooled and called her ‘mother'.
The salt boat was without anybody steering it, but it kept sailing upstream due to the tailwind. For the time being, since the river course was straight, it was not a problem, but as soon as they encountered any twist or turn, the boat would crash into a cliff for sure.
Kou Zhong came to his senses; he saluted and asked, "May I ask Miss, what did you do to our four brothers?”
"Throw them away!” the woman replied indifferently.
Hearing that, the two boys looked at each other in dismay. If Duan Yucheng and the others had their acupoint sealed and were thrown into the river, wouldn't their death be guaranteed?
The woman let out a cold snort and said, "You, these two kids, are more crafty than I thought. Harming my Shijie [martial (older) sister] is not enough, you called her ‘Niang' in front and behind her back, and have confused eyes and ears.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were greatly surprised; the opponent was unexpectedly Fu Junchuo's Shimei [martial (younger) sister], so they also groaned inwardly, because now they could not avenge Duan Yucheng and the others.
Kou Zhong smiled wryly and said, "Turns out it's Shi … hey! What should we call you? How about Shiyi [martial aunt (mother's sister)]?”
The woman's jade countenance sank. "Shut up!” she bellowed, "You may deceive others, but don't ever dream of deceiving me, Fu Junyu. Shijie hated Han people the most, plus she was a virgin, how could she admit you as her sons? Not to mention telling you, Han dogs, the secret of ‘Duke Yang Treasure-trove'.”
Xu Ziling hastily said, "Shiyi must not misunderstand, before her death Niang confirmed us as her sons, and has passed on our precious school's basic skill. If you don't believe me, you can test us a bit.”
Fu Junyu coldly said, "Very well! Tell me, what is Yi Jian technique?” [yi - ancient name for ‘go' (Chinese chest), jian - sword, see also Book 1 Chapter 3, Yi Jian Dashi.]
The two boys were dumbstruck; they were speechless.
Kou Zhong said, "Niang only taught us the internal cultivation of the first level of Jiu Xuan Da Fa [Great Method of Nine Mysteries] before she was heavily injured and passed away; she did not tell us anything about Yijian technique.”
Fu Junyu looked up at the rainy night, she said indifferently, "Using sword is just like playing chess. Each sword move is just like moving a chess piece, and the battlefield is just like a live chessboard, ever-changing. If one fails to grasp the overall situation, cannot estimate the enemy's next move, then he cannot grasp the chance of victory. This is a very important principle, Shijie did not tell you?”
This moment the boat was swerving out of the middle of the river and was slowly leaning toward the left bank.
Xu Ziling said, "Niang only told us about the ‘every change of divine power' and that ‘the treasure trove hidden deep within oneself is self-sufficient'.”
Fu Junyu's charming body trembled slightly; she hung her head low in deep thought.
The salt boat was only less than four zhang away from the shore; fortunately a wind blew, sending the boat back toward the middle of the river; it was exceptionally thrilling.
The Korean beauty's cherry lips suddenly blurted out, "I will kill you!”
"You still don't believe us?” the two boys cried out involuntarily.
Fu Junyu's jade countenance turned extremely cold, but surprisingly the tone of her voice was extremely gentle, "It's because I believe you that I must kill you. Ay! Shijie, how could you pass on our divine skill to Han dogs? Now Junyu will have to clean up our school for you and keep this matter from reaching Shifu's ears.”
The last two sentences were spoken with her face toward the heavens.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling felt their scalp went numb.