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At first he thought it was only a few li away, but after running across an expanse of prairie and a river, and climbing over a small hill, he began to know that the fire was at least still ten li away.

Yet unexpectedly he was able to hear the cries. Evidently the feeling that his power was advancing was really not an illusion or his own wishful thinking.

A burst of faint battle cry, carried by the wind – entered his eardrums. The tragic scene of defeated Sui Army retreating while killing and burning, raping and looting – floated on the sea of Kou Zhong’s mind. The murderous intent in his heart flared even higher. After sweeping down the slope and passing through a wide expanse of open field, he ran along a small trail by the winding creek that bore through the woods like a sheep’s intestine.

Suddenly he heard the miserable scream of women mixed with the evil laugh from many men ahead, on the other side of the woods.

‘Boom!’

Anger exploded inside Kou Zhong, straight to the tip of his hair, which made him drawing the Moon in the Well and sweeping into the woods. But his state of mind returned to its bright and clear state, not contaminated by even half a shred of distracting thought.

Torchlight was visible from the other side of the woods; he could even see shadows of people. Before he was even out of the woods, two men, with torches in their hands, dressed in black tight warrior outfit – were walking into the woods.

One of them said with a laugh, “These two Liao women are really not bad; I hope we can find a few more over there as good as them, enough to make our brothers happy!”

The other one had just responded with a ‘Ha!’, when Kou Zhong stormed through the space between the two like a tornado before they had time to react, without even stopping for a moment – out of the forest.

The two men did not even have time to scream, their throat had been sliced open, and they slumped down to the ground, immediately died on the spot.

Outside the woods was a wide expanse of prairie, with thickets growing everywhere. The northern end of the prairie was where the smoke and fire originated.

Two naked female corpses were lying by a thicket, while more than twenty men in black, carrying flickering long saber in their hands, having not fully expressed themselves, were taking turn in continuing their deeds.

Kou Zhong thundered, “Give your life to me!”

In an instant he charged into the crowd of men, who did not have time to defend themselves, brandishing his saber and hacking down ferociously.

When the man who bore the brunt raised his saber to block, fast as lightning the Moon in the Well hacked down on the opposite party’s face. The blocking saber immediately fell to the ground.

The crowd was dumbstruck with great alarm, while their vicious character was also aroused, so they swarmed to counterattack.

Kou Zhong hissed in anger, while also giving vent to his indignation that he arrived too late to save the innocent women. The treasured saber in his hand showed no mercy; he flashed forward toward two sharp blades coming to attack him. Swinging his saber backhandedly, he scored another victory.

That man clearly felt that he successfully blocked Kou Zhong’s blade, yet the blade seemed to be able to slip through the gap, while he could only stare blankly as the terrifying enemy’s saber meandered upward through the crack and entered his chest, as if he was delighted to deliver the pit of his stomach to feed the saber.

After killing four men in succession, Kou Zhong’s true qi passed through his saber, while his waist sank down in a horse stance, and then using his right foot as the axis, he swept his saber in a circle, striking the attacking four sabers and sending them flying away into the distance. Not only the besieging men felt the palms of their hands were cracked, they also spewed out fresh blood from their mouth, and were thrown backward. They were shaken to their death just by his power alone.

Kou Zhong’s murderous intent flaring out, his saber momentum whirled around swiftly, like a demon he weaved in and out of the crowd of men. Everywhere he went, everybody responding to his attack had his saber fell, his blood splashed, and his body fell down; unexpectedly not a single one was able to withstand.

When only one man remained alive, Kou Zhong hacked down the weapon in his hand. He reached out to grab the pit of the man’s stomach, and lifted him entirely off the ground. Kou Zhong’s qi power invaded his meridians, the man was so much in pain that his face twisted, bean-sized beads of sweat trickling down from his forehead.

Kou Zhong shouted coldly, “If you want to live, answer my questions. Otherwise, I’ll pull your egg out. Understand?”

The man nodded in pain.

Kou Zhong’s eyes were flickering with divine light, he asked in heavy voice, “Who are you? Which group do you belong? Let me tell you frankly, I am very clear of your ins and outs, I just want to test your honesty.”

The man groaned and said, “Daye [big master], please spare my life, we are from Hai Sha Bang [sea sand gang, see Book 2 starting in Chapter 4].”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Obviously you don’t want to keep your egg! Let me help you by taking your pants off first. I will only cut your egg, and definitely won’t cut anywhere else.”

The man was aghast, “Daye, spare my life,” he said, “I am indeed from Hai Sha Bang.”

Kou Zhong said with a sneer, “Still want to deceive me? Do you know who laozi [I, your father] is? The ‘Mermaid’ You Qiuyan is my old friend whose lips I have kissed, the ‘Fat Assassin’ You Gui and ‘Charging General’ Ling Zhigao have both had their buttocks kicked by me. The entire Hai Sha Bang, from top to bottom, all know me, you still dare to talk drivel? Last chance! Your Daye don’t have time to waste on your eggs.”

The man’s face was devoid of any color; he said with trembling voice, “Xiaoren will talk! It was Lin Ye who sent us out.”

“Which muddled egg [i.e. scoundrel/[email protected]] is Lin Ye?” Kou Zhong shouted.

The man busily said, “It’s Lin Shihong Daye!”

Kou Zhong’s heart was shaken. Now he understood what’s going on with this pirates business.

When Zheng Shiru saw Xu Ziling, who was disguised as Yue Shan, his countenance changed slightly and he halted his steps.

When the others looked at him in amazement, Xu Ziling stopped in the middle of the street and spoke coldly, “Zheng Shiru stays here, the rest take a hike for Laofu.”

Immediately those several people appeared to be angry. But when they were about to vent out their anger, Zheng Shiru promptly curbed it by saying, “Gentlemen, please give Xiaodi a bit of face. Hey! This is Xiaodi’s senior. Please go first, in a moment Xiaodi will go to San Hua Lou [lit. dispersing flowers building (reminder: lou is a multi-story building)] to apologize to everybody.”

Those several young master were dressed like influential Wulin family’s younger generations. Half believing half doubting, they sized Xu Ziling up and down several times before – under Zheng Shiru’s urging – leaving unhappily.

Zheng Shiru saluted and said, “I did not know Qianbei [Senior] has graced us with your presence; please forgive Shiru for being negligent.”

Xu Ziling snorted a stifled grunt from his nostrils. “Come with me!” he spoke heavily.

Helplessly shrugging his shoulders, Zheng Shiru followed behind him into a deserted alley.

Afraid that Zheng Shiru might recognize his back, Xu Ziling turned around and spoke indifferently, “Xiaozi, what is your actual duty within Yin Gui Pai? Which color do you belong to?”

Zheng Shiru’s barely-there suspicion vanished immediately; he sighed and said, “Not concealing anything from Qianbei; strictly speaking, Shiru really is not Yin Gui Pai disciple.”

Actually, Yin Gui Pai heavily observed the distinction between seniors and juniors. The Sect was divided into three levels: ‘Heaven, Earth, and Man’, and the martial art taught to these three levels were also entirely different. White Sky, Black Earth, Yellow Man, were the three colors: White, Black, and Yellow. Only disciples of White grade would have the opportunity to take a peek into the demonic secret manual. Within Yin Gui Pai, other than Zhu Yuyan’s personal disciples, only people like Bian Bufu, Wen Caiting, and the like, elder-level martial art masters, would have this distinction. The number could not exceed nine. Nine was precisely the highest level of Heaven.

Figures like Amorous Nun, Evil Monk, and so on, who had quite a bit of head and face [i.e. some prestige/reputation] in Jianghu, were just in ‘field agent’ level.

He learned all these things from the scroll that Yue Shan left behind, hence when he talked, he looked like he knew what he was talking about.

Xu Ziling laughed coldly and said, “Nonsense! If you are an outsider, how could Zhu Yuyan trust you?”

Zheng Shiru smiled bitterly and said, “It’s complicated and not easy to express succinctly. But if Qianbei wanted me to communicate a message, there is absolutely no problem.”

Nodding his head, Xu Ziling said, “Xiaozi is quite astute, you knew that I wanted you to communicate a message for me.”

Zheng Shiru calmly said, “This time Qianbei is returning to the fray after a period of inactivity. Let’s not say about Song Que and Xi Ying, two men, rushing in, this moment Qianbei suddenly appearing in Chengdu, you must have heard the rumor concerning Xi Ying. Is Wanbei [junior] wrong?”

“Where is Xi Ying?” Xu Ziling asked.

Frowning, Zheng Shiru said, “Qianbei should know Xi Ying’s character better than Wanbei; he can’t possibly disclose his whereabouts to anybody.”

With a card up his sleeve, Xu Ziling laughed and said, “Perhaps Bian Bufu is the only exception?”

From Yue Shan’s legacy scroll, he knew that for a period of time, Xi Ying had a close contact with Bian Bufu, together, with all the majesty of an emperor [i.e. recklessly] they roamed the pleasure quarters and cluster of flowers [this is literal translation, but I believe you guys understand what it means, right?]. Villains collude together, hence he made that remark.

Stunned, Zheng Shiru replied, “I am not too clear about that; Qianbei ought to know that I am Zheng Hantang’s son.”

Xu Ziling groaned inwardly; naturally Yue Shan could not possibly put all the names of the people he had had a dealing with in the scroll. But listening to the tone of Zheng Shiru’s voice, obviously his late father had some connection with the real Yue Shan. Without any choice he thickened his face and asked, “Is Hantang still alive?”

Zheng Shiru sadly said, “My humble father passed away ten years ago. Qianbei naturally understand why he, the Senior, could not have a good ending.”

Xu Ziling remembered Xiang Yushan’s father, Xiang Gui’s bitter experience, who, because he inadvertently heard some gossip about Yin Gui Pai from a certain Yin Gui Pai elder in an idle chat after drinking together – was nearly killed. His heart moved, he said, “Must be because Hantang wanted to quit! Am I right?”

Zheng Shiru dejectedly said, “That’s exactly right. Otherwise, how could Die’s death be so shady? Not to conceal anything from Qianbei, right now Xiaozhi [little nephew] is merely feigning civility, quietly waiting for the opportunity. The thought in the bottom of my heart, this is the first time that Xiaozhi divulge it to anybody, simply because in the past Qianbei has done a great favor for Die. Xiaozhi really cannot bear to see Qianbei fall into the trap and nurse a grievance in Chengdu. I am asking Yue Lao’s [old Yue] understanding!”

Although Xu Ziling was finally able to verify Zheng Shiru’s real identity, but inwardly he was groaning. If Zheng Shiru persisted in not willing to communicate a message for him, would he have to go everywhere to shout, ‘Yue Shan is here!’, or perhaps write these four-word mantra on the walls and street corners?

Treading on the wild grass and using the trees as cover, from his hiding place on the seaside Kou Zhong stealthily moved toward the Li Liao village where the raging flames were soaring to the sky.

There were two ships moored by the sea; by his estimation, each ship ought to carry more than a hundred of these Lin Shihong’s men – who disguised themselves as pirates – to bring the total between three to four hundred men. Although Kou Zhong was quite confident in himself, he was not one who overestimated his own capabilities. In direct confrontation, plus the opposite side must be under some martial art masters’ leadership, although escaping alive should not be a problem, he definitely could not gain any advantage either.

His best bet would be to carry out a guerilla tactic [orig. using dark to confront bright], with hit-and-run style. Therefore, his action must be extremely careful.

Obviously Lin Shihong’s maneuver this time was to shift the blame to the Eastern Wu [idiom from the Three Kingdom], a stratagem to kill two birds with one stone: both to loot the grains, cattle and sheep, and horses of the ethnic groups inhabiting the coastal area of the southern Yue [Canton (Guangdong)], and to destroy Shen Faxing’s relationship with various Li Liao ethnic groups. Perhaps he could even provoke the Song Clan to have direct confrontation against Shen Faxing, because everybody in the world already knew that Hai Sha Bang was Shen Faxing’s pawn.

In term of area, this Li Liao village, which was facing imminent catastrophe, was at least twice as big as the village where Kou Zhong slept. By this time, most of the several hundred houses in the entire village have turned into ashes, and the fire was making its way toward the dense mountain forest surrounding the village, producing loud crackling noise.

Kou Zhong was completely unable to understand the perpetrators’ mentality; how could they callously commit such crime that made others’ hair stand up in anger like this?

As soon as he entered the village limit, he sensed the unusual situation. Hiding behind a building, which could be considered quite intact, he peeked out to see, and saw in the clearing at the heart of the village there were two groups of a hundred to two hundred each – armed men facing each other in hostility.

One side was Li Shihong’s men disguised as pirates in black tight warrior outfits, the leader was Cui Jixiu, Lin Shihong’s Guoshi [teacher of the state] with whom he had met once during the assassination of the ‘Green Dragon’ Ren Shaoming. Standing behind him, tall and short, were more than a dozen characters, which in just one glance, he knew to be martial art masters. The rest of his men were spread in fan formation on the northern end of the Liao village. The dead bodies of the Li Liao village victims were strewn on the ground; a spectacle too horrible to endure.

Cui Jixiu and the others must have come so very suddenly that the poor innocent villagers did not have time to flee the misfortune.

The other side had smaller number of people, there were only about a hundred of them, wearing the bright colorful clothes of Li Liao martial outfits. The most eye-catching was that the leader was unexpectedly a sweet, fair, and graceful, slim, with beautiful shoulder length hair – Liao beauty. Draped over her tender body was, impressively, tiger skin, so that amidst her delicate appearance, there was a hint of awe-inspiring heroic spirit.

All Li Liao warriors revealed grief and indignation on their faces. The battle could happen at any moment.

Kou Zhong suddenly relaxed, thinking that visiting the mountain, Cui Jixiu has encountered the tiger; the Li Liao warriors have assembled and rushed over to fight back.

At the same time, he felt something strange. No matter what, Cui Jixiu was Lin Shihong’s Guoshi, how could he playact as twisted senior, subdued nobility, and came disguising himself as a lowly raping and pillaging pirate?

He heard a long laugh, followed by Cui Jixiu’s unhurried voice saying, “Unexpectedly it is the ‘Hu Yi Hong Fen’ [lit. tiger-skinned rouge and powder (fig. the fairer sex)] Ouyang Qian Da Xiaojie who graces us with her fragrant presence.”

Kou Zhong thought that Ouyang Qian’s name sounded so familiar, but immediately remembered that either Chen Changlin or Bu Tianzhi had mentioned that she was one of the three major leaders of the Li Liao; the other two being Wang Zhongxuan and Chen Zhifei. Who would have thought that he would run into her here by chance? And she looked so pretty.

Obviously Ouyang Qian had just arrived here. Her gaze slowly scanned the disaster area where the people were in a terrible situation; her beautiful eyes emitted grief and indignation. She spoke slowly, word-by-word, “Report your name to me,” with very articulate pronunciation and vocalizing, totally unlike the Li Liao girl he met earlier.

Putting his saber back into its scabbard, Kou Zhong laughed aloud while leaving his hiding place and walking over toward the crowd. He responded on behalf of Cui Jixiu, “I am Cui Jixiu, the Guoshi under Lin Shihong’s command. This time coming here to kill and burn, other than because of my savage character, also to shift the blame onto Shen Faxing. Ha! Cui Xiong! Was my answer on your behalf wrong?”

All several hundreds pair of eyes around the battlefield immediately fell on him. As soon as Cui Jixiu saw Kou Zhong, the blood was drained from his face, his eyes revealed a panic-stricken look.

Xu Ziling’s mind was churning at the speed of light; he quickly pretended that he had planned in advance, saying, “How could Xi Ying conceal his trick from Laofu’s [this old man] eyes? Since hearing the news about this dog-thief Xi Ying, Laofu knew there is something else in it; Xianzhi [worthy/virtuous nephew] needs not worry about Laofu. Does Xianzhi by any chance know where Xi Ying is staying?”

Still concerned, Zheng Shiru replied, “Yue Lao must not take this lightly. They want to deal not only with Song Que, but also with you, Senior. Were it not for the fact that Zhu Yuyan was unwilling to personally kill her daughter’s father, how could Yue Lao escape so easily that day? After the fact, they scoured the entire Luoyang, only they failed to find Yue Lao!”

Xu Ziling mused inwardly that Yue Shan practically did not exist; naturally they could not find him.

His eyes flashing with sharp light, he spoke in heavy voice, “When we first met that day, Xianzhi’s voice carried an inquiring overtone; what did you mean by that?”

After years of encountering cheating tricks in each color and each form, he has learned from experience.

Zheng Shiru replied in low voice, “Yue Lao appeared so suddenly; it was not until Zhu Yuyan confirmed Yue Lao’s identity that Xiaozhi was willing to believe. But by that time I could not find Yue Lao.”

Xu Ziling nonchalantly said, “Yin Gui Pai has never allowed outsiders to share their secrets, how did you know so many things?”

Zheng Shiru replied with a sigh, “If I were in Yue Lao’s shoes, I would have the same doubt. Problem is, although I am absolutely not a Yin Gui Pai disciple, I am not an outsider at all. For the last ten years I did not show the slightest bit of suspicion on my humble father’s violent death, while deliberately pretending to be infatuated with Zhu Yuyan’s disciple Bai Qing’er, plus they wanted to draw support from Xiaozhi’s talent in politics and economy to govern Xiangyang, this important fortified city, for them; therefore, Zhu Yuyan was willing to put me in an important position.”

Xu Ziling finally began to believe Zheng Shiru; muttering to himself irresolutely, he said, “Why did Xianzhi come to Chengdu this time?”

Smiling wryly, Zheng Shiru replied, “This matter is hard to explain in a few words. The simple explanation is that I finally met the love of my heart, also because I felt that avenging my father’s enmity is a hopeless case; therefore, I have the heart of withdrawing from Jianghu, and just happened to encountered Xi Ying’s affair. It would be best if Yue Lao immediately keep him at a distance, and try to find Xi Ying to settle the account in the future. I might report Yue Lao’s appearance here later, but naturally I would word it differently.”

Shaking his head, Xu Ziling said, “Xianzhi may set your heart at ease. If Laofu does not have any confidence, I would never come here to take risks. Xianzhi needs not worry about anything, just tell them tonight at the third watch of the night [11pm to 1am], I will wait for Xi Ying at the Da Shi Temple.”

Shocked, Zheng Shiru said, “Yue Lao must not do so. This moment the Four Great Elders of Yin Gui Pai are all in Chengdu. And then there is Wanwan, the proud disciple of Zhu Yuyan. It would be difficult for Yue Lao to get the desired outcome.”

Xu Ziling felt a big headache. Whether it was spoken to Xu Ziling or Yue Shan, Zheng Shiru was giving a word of advice; it’s a pity that no matter how much danger he had to risk, he simply must lure Xi Ying out of his hiding place. At best, when the time came, he could keep a close watch from a secret place to see if he could follow Xi Ying back to his hiding place, and then find a way to deal with him alone.

Reaching out to grab Zheng Shiru’s shoulder, he leaned closer and spoke with determination, “Laofu has a sense of propriety. It’s crucial that Xianzhi pass on Laofu’s words as things really are to Bian Bufu; otherwise you’ll make a botch of things.”

Zheng Shiru’s eyes flitted over his palm; severely shaken, he said, “Yue Lao has indeed mastered the ‘Huan Ri Da Fa’; no wonder you have such confidence.”

Following his gaze, Xu Ziling looked over, and was so frightened that his heart was shaken. His usually fair-skinned, slender hand looked as if it has shed its mortal body and exchanged its bones, like its muscle was scraped from the bones and its marrow was washed, to become sparkling and translucent, as glossy and bright as a jade, with some kind of transcending-the-world, shedding-the-dust-of-the-mortal-world luster.

Zheng Shiru spoke in low voice, “But Yue Lao must be careful. I hear that Xi Ying has been greatly successful in amassing skill from various Western Regions’ schools, and created the so-called ‘Zi Qi Tian Luo’ [lit. Purple Cloud (or ‘qi’) Heavenly Gauze], an overbearing demonic skill. After testing it, Zhu Yuyan did not stop praising him, commending it as the most brilliant self-created gongfa of the demonic school after Shi Zhixuan’s ‘Immortal Image’.”

Xu Ziling vigorously patted him on the shoulder and said, “Go and act according to plan; you must not hold things up.”

Zheng Shiru wanted to talk, but in the end he held his peace. Seeing his resolute expression, which was beyond persuasion, he sighed helplessly before steeling himself to turn and continue on his way.