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The voice sounded familiar; as Kou Zhong looked up in surprise, turned out the driver was the Deputy Gang Leader of Jukun Bang, Bu Tianzhi, an old acquaintance.

He was well aware of who was inside the carriage, but recalling that Beautiful Shifu Yun Yuzhen was Dugu Ce’s girlfriend, this woman’s position was dubious. Thereupon he took one step closer to the window, with its screen hung low, and knocked three times and said with a laugh, “Shifu, would you let Xiaotu [small/lowly disciple] take a look at Senior’s flowery countenance to comfort the pain of my yearning heart?”

The corner of the screen rose up, revealing Yun Yuzhen’s delighted and angry jade countenance. Her jet-black eyebrows slightly knitted, she pouted playfully, “You, this low-grade disciple who loves to defy his superior, why haven’t you jumped in? Do you want Shifu to expel you from my school?”

Putting on an act as if he was extremely terrified, Kou Zhong stole a glance inside, and after making sure that there was no one else in the carriage, he pushed the door and got inside the compartment.

He barely closed the door, not even seated properly yet, Yun Yuzhen already threw herself in his bosom.

The gentle, fragrant scent assaulted his nostrils, Kou Zhong struggled to sit down on the seat and immediately looked down to look for her fragrant lips.

The carriage started to move.

After the extremely dangerous, intense situation of last night, his heart was moved by this romantic situation.

By the time Kou Zhong’s mouth left her lips, this Gang Leader of a big gang was panting, her face turned fiery red.

Smiling, Kou Zhong asked, “When did Beautiful Shifu arrive? Why didn’t you send word, so that Xiaotu could act as the host?”

Burying her pretty face in his chest, her starry eyes were half closed as she spoke crossly, “Are you Luoyang’s landlord?”

Laughing involuntarily, Kou Zhong said, “Just that restaurant, the House of Dong. Why did you stay outside and did not come in? Didn’t you know that your other disciple was inside, drinking wine?”

Yun Yuzhen struggled to free her tender, charming and soft body from his embrace; looking up, she cast him a glance, and then pressed her jade cheek back onto his chest. Wrapping her arms around his sturdy back and waist, she spoke tenderly, “I just arrived yesterday; you don’t know how difficult it was to find you!”

Kou Zhong looked out from behind the screen.

On the street, pedestrians, horses and carriages braved the rain, coming and going in a hurry; looked like it was going to be another busy day.

Kou Zhong asked casually, “Beautiful Shifu, where are you staying? Has Su Jie’s baby born yet?”

Yun Yuzhen happily replied, “Your Su Jie and Yushan’s baby is fair-skinned and chubby; he is very active and cute.”

Kou Zhong was greatly delighted, “In that case I really have to thank the Heaven and thank the Earth!” he said, “Hey! Let me go back and tell Xiao Ling!”

Displeased, Yun Yuzhen said, “There’s no rush, it won’t be too late to tell him later. I have something important to discuss with you.”

Kou Zhong took another glance outside. Frowning, he said, “Tell me where we are going first.”

Unconcerned, Yun Yuzhen replied, “Are you afraid I might kidnap and sell you?”

Giggling, Kou Zhong replied, “Of course I am; very much. Currently I, Kou Zhong, worth a few pennies.”

Sneering, Yun Yuzhen said, “Kou Ye, your value nowadays has risen dramatically; you worth far more than a few pennies. Ay! Can’t you seriously listen to Yuzhen for a moment?”

Hearing her soft, beseeching words, Kou Zhong smiled ruefully and said, “As long as you don’t ask me to surrender to Dugu Ce, that stinky kid, other matters can be discussed slowly.”

Yun Yuzhen’s tender body suddenly bolted up from his lap; she spoke angrily, “Where do you think you are going? My, Yun Yuzhen’s real feeling toward you, you, this ungrateful man, still do not believe it?”

How could Kou Zhong believe her that easily? However, on the surface he smiled apologetically and said, “Beautiful Shifu, please calm down, I was just joking. Ha! You have not answered my question: where does the horse pull this carriage to?”

Yun Yuzhen went from anger to happiness; she said, “Seeing that you still know how to sweet-talk people, I’ll let you off this time! But just this once.”

After meeting Kou Zhong’s expectant eyes, Yun Yuzhen revealed a deeply meaningful smile, leaned over and whispered in his ear, “I am taking you to see someone.”

Kou Zhong was stunned.

※ ※ ※

Xu Ziling slipped quietly into an alley. Raising his qi, he unleashed his qinggong, like an arrow he sprinted over approximately ten ­zhang distance; suddenly taking a breath, unexpectedly he changed direction just like that, and leaped over a tall wall on his left. After passing nobody knows how many backyards drenched in the endless rain, he leaped out of the wall on the other side of a courtyard, jumped over buildings and passed through several roofs, and finally turned back into the Heavenly Street from a small alley.

Flashing into a ready-made clothing store, with the fastest speed possible he bought a hat and an outer robe. And then by the time he was back into the Heavenly Street and walked long the Luo River, he had become an old man with stooping back, who, unable to bear the beating rain and blowing wind, had the hat pushed low toward his eyes.

Ba Fenghan was still more than ten zhang ahead, walking briskly; he did not seem to notice, nor was he interested in finding out, whether someone was following him.

That was, quite naturally, not the case.

Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong were still inferior to Ba Fenghan.

Ba Fenghan was looking for his prey.

Tuli’s target was Ba Fenghan; surely he would dispatch his men to closely watch Ba Fenghan. It would be quite likely that as soon as Ba Fenghan was alone, Tuli would personally seize the opportunity to make his move.

Ba Fenghan’s false statement that he was going to see Shan Wanjing was just a ruse to get Xu Ziling off his back, so that the people who hated him would be lured out.

Ba Fenghan suddenly turned to the west, wandering along the Luo River under the wind and the rain; his majestic figure looked proud, but alone.

On this segment of the street, other than the trees on either side, there was nothing protecting the passers-by from the rain, hence there were very few pedestrians, only horses and carriages passing by.

Xu Ziling was not afraid Ba Fenghan might detect his presence; rather, he was afraid the people following Ba Fenghan might detect his presence.

Sweeping his gaze around, an idea popped up in his heart; hastily he jumped down the dike, and climbed into an unmanned small boat moored to the riverside. An easy drive on a familiar path; he sailed west along the river, shadowing Ba Fenghan, who was walking alone, from a distance.

In the boundless drizzle, the buildings along the river loomed high on his left and right; ships and boats were moored on the piers along the river. Xu Ziling was suddenly overwhelmed by snapping-the-soul, depressing feeling.

One ‘Secret to Long Life’ book has completely changed his and Kou Zhong’s fate.

If he could go back in time, would he snatch that thing away for himself?

He really did not know!

If it were the time of peace and prosperity, they could not possibly meet Susu, Li Jing, and the others, so much so that they were now in the difficult situation where it was difficult to distinguish gratitude and grudges. Sister-in-law Zhen would still sell meat buns on the street of Yangzhou, rather than her whereabouts was unknown.

And then the lucid and elegant jade countenance of Shi Feixuan appeared in his mind!

Was her injury serious?

After she recovered, would she look for him to settle their account?

Heaving a deep sigh, the small boat has entered the gate of the famous Luoyang’s Western Park.

※ ※ ※

Frowning, Kou Zhong asked, “Who do you want me to see?”

Dodging his question, Yun Yuzhen laughed and said, “After the City of Jingling fell, you and Ziling, two guys, slipped away safe and sound, while leaving such a huge mess behind. And then you came to Luoyang stirring up the wind and the rain through the town, so that everybody wanted to beat the hell out of you, two boys.”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Your Big Boss Xiao ought to thank me. Although in the Battle of Jingling I lost the city, but Ol’ Die only got a tragic victory; otherwise his Jianghuai Army today would have been moving to the Eastern Capital, and then how could you and I have some intimate time inside the carriage like this?”

Yun Yuzhen’s pretty eyes blushed slightly; casting a sidelong glance at him, she said, “Do you or do you not want to listen to me?”

Kou Zhong has not heard any news pertaining to Du Fuwei for a long time; he would be lying if he said that he did not care about Shang Xiuxun and those officers and soldiers who have fought alongside him, who have escaped from Jingling.

Thereupon, suppressing his anger, he spoke in low voice, “Beautiful Shifu, please continue.”

Yun Yuzhen appeared to be a bit unable to restrain her emotion; falling into his arms again, she spoke dreamily, “When I first met you, you were still ignorant kids whose smell of mother’s milk has not yet dried. Who would have thought in merely a few years you became influential figures who, opening up your hand you create the cloud, closing in your hand you create the rain.”

After a short pause, she continued slyly, “Although Du Fuwei gained victory, it was definitely a defeat; what he obtained was just an empty city, making him temporarily unable to move north, and had to change his plan into attacking the southeast.”

Kou Zhong asked impatiently, “How’s the situation between the Flying Horse Ranch and the Four Big Bandits? Ah! I should have said Three Big Bandits, because the one called something like ‘scorched rice for a thousand bowls’ Mao Zao was killed by Xiao Ling.”

In his embrace, Yun Yuzhen let out a silver-bell like tender laughter; she angrily cursed for a moment, and then said, “What do you have to do with Shang Xiuxun? Did you seduce her and have your hands on her? Quickly confess!”

Kou Zhong inwardly thought, ‘Women will be women’; unexpectedly under these circumstances they still did not forget to drink vinegar [i.e. jealous]. Smiling wryly, he said, “You consider me a sex-hungry ghost? Seducing women everywhere? Quickly report the military situation to me, otherwise, if I punish you, I guarantee your white butt will bloom like a flower.”

Yun Yuzhen raised her flower-like jade countenance with coquettish glance and spoke in an alluring voice, “The Three Big Bandits suffered defeat in their first battle, plus Flying Horse Ranch has the advantage of dangerous terrain, so after going on the offensive for only a month or so, their provision depleted and they withdrew their troops. More important reason was that the Three Big Bandits might grow in power, hence he did not want to deploy this troops to help. Also, Xiao Bangzhu is setting up his forts at the upper reaches of the Great River, dragging their hind legs, so that your Ol’ Die does not dare to act blindly without thinking. Otherwise, perhaps the Flying Horse Ranch was already finished early on!”

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Kou Zhong said, “You nearly scared me to death. Turns out the situation in the south is still good.”

Yun Yuzhen sighed and said, “Exactly the opposite. The situation in the south is currently quite critical; otherwise I wouldn’t be here asking you a big favor.”

Kou Zhong was startled, “What happened?” he asked.

※ ※ ※

The Western Park was located in the middle of Jicui Pond, and was filled with landscape garden of all kinds of architectural style.

By the time Ba Fenghan entered the Western Park, the drizzle was getting heavier, bringing in the spring chill, so that the tourists disappeared.

The Jicui Pond, with more than ten li perimeter, mixed with the misty rain, it was as boundless as the heaven and earth.

The piles of stones in the lake looked like mountains; some of them were more than a hundred chi above the water surface. In the vast and hazy drizzle, they were faintly discernible, like the fabled mountains of the immortals in the Eastern sea: Penglai, Fangzhang and Yingzhou.

The thing that cause people to daydream the most was that there were pavilions built on all three stone mountains, connected to each other by nine-bend bridges, and this strongly increasing the profound sense of far-reaching and empty-space feeling.

North of the lake, there was a channel leading into the lake. On either side of the lake, residential buildings stood in great numbers; halls, mansions and pavilions, none was not extremely gorgeous.

The river channel was about twenty paces wide, with a flying bridge spanning above it.

With grim expression, Ba Fenghan was stepping onto the flying bridge. Ahead was a landscape garden full of willow trees interspersed with tall bamboo trees. In the middle of the garden was a small pavilion. The drizzling rain blurred its beauty, so that it looked even more bleak and cold.

Ba Fenghan set foot on the gravel path, walking slowly toward the pavilion.

Right this moment, a woman flashed out of the pavilion.

He was not surprised at all; he keep walking toward the pavilion, neither slowing down nor speeding up.

The woman was tall, willowy, and elegant; she was wearing beige gown with narrow sleeves, her waist was tied by a dual-color broad belt, red and white, making her slender waist appear even slimmer.

She was wearing a rain cloak. But because her tender back was facing Ba Fenghan, he could not see her face. However, anybody could tell from her beautiful figure that she must be the most beautiful thing.

The woman was speaking in Tujue. Her voice was deep, melancholy, and moving.

Ba Fenghan stopped when he was about ten paces away from the pavilion. He sighed and replied in Chinese, “And what is the reason for all of these?”

The woman turned around like a whirlwind; her left hand rose up, a flash of golden ray like a thunderbolt shot toward the pit of Ba Fenghan’s stomach.

※ ※ ※

Yun Yuzhen spoke softly, “Presently Du Fuwei is forming an alliance with Shen Faxing in preparation of big war. The one bearing the brunt will be Li Zitong.”

Kou Zhong’s worried heart wound down; breathing a sigh of relief, he said, “I thought it was a serious matter. Li Zitong is not a good person. Letting them ‘ghost beating ghost’ is the most ideal thing.”

Amidst the sound of the rain, the clippity-clop of the hooves continued along the street.

Kou Zhong’s impression of Li Zitong was a bit vague. It happened many years ago, when they, the two brothers plus Susu, were onboard the ship to Jiangdu, arranged by Xiang Yushan, with the intention of stealing the Dong Ming Pai’s account book to implicate Yuwen Huaji, but they were intercepted by Li Zitong on the Big Stream. They even fought with him. It’s just that Li Zitong had quite an elegant demeanor; even when he did not achieve what he wanted to do, he retreated politely [see Book 6 Chapters 1 & 2].

Yun Yuzhen sat her tender body up; she spoke in disdain, “I thought you are a somebody, turns out you are this shortsighted.”

Reaching out, Kou Zhong pinched her cheek and said with a sneer, “Your reverse psychology is ineffective against me, Zhong Shao. Hey, since when did Li Zitong become your relative? How come you are so concerned about him?”

Yun Yuzhen angrily said, “Get out of here! In the future, I don’t want to talk with you, this ignorant disciple.”

Kou Zhong giggled and said, “Again I am asking Beautiful Shifu to calm down. Li Zitong is certainly a key character. In himself, he is nothing, but the Jiangdu in his hands controls the hub of the north-south traffic, plus he has the convenience of marching to the north via the waterway. Hmm! That is indeed a problem.”

Naturally Yun Yuzhen knew that he was only speaking half-heartedly; astonished, she said, “Do you really understand, or just pretend to understand? If Du Fuwei took Jiangdu, your Ol’ Die would want the entire Jiangdong and Huainan territory, and then he would seize the signal path from the Great River out to the sea. You are from Jiangdu, you ought to know how important that place is, and how you can make a fortune out of that place.”

Kou Zhong sat back comfortably on the seat; stretching out his limbs, he said, “This situation only occurs if Jiangdu fell. Presently Ol’ Die strength has taken a big beating; otherwise he would not need to suck up to Shen Faxing. And Shen Faxing has had a clash with Xiaodi; no matter how you look at him, he is not a good material. Although Li Zitong is also not a good thing, but supporting him for a year or a half shouldn’t be a problem. Right now I have enough to worry about, how could I have time to care about something that is happening so far away? Besides, it is not my place to care about that; since Xiao Xian is currently doing nothing anyway, let him handle this matter!”

Yun Yuzhen took a glance out of the window; snorted coldly, she said, “This is called since you don’t know yourself, naturally you don’t know others. In himself, Shen Faxing is not trying to save oil lamp; on the contrary, he put forth his brilliant, a divine talent in military, son, Shen Lun, a fine scholar and soldier, so that his prestige enjoys great boost. Your Ol’ Die’s partner Fu Gongyou is enlisting large number of new army recruits, he appears to secretly strike his gongs and beat his drums, gearing up for war. If we let them attack Jiang Jun [county], Li Zitong will be finished. Your Shang Changzhu [ranch master], Shang Meiren [beauty] will immediately become the second target. Why don’t you think about that?”

Knitting his brows, Kou Zhong said, “This, at most, can be considered as ‘not knowing others’. What do you mean I ‘do not know myself’?”

Yun Yuzhen let out a stifled snort and said, “We’re here! I’ll let him talk to you!”

The carriage drove into a side street, and turned into a courtyard.

※ ※ ※

Ba Fenghan reached out unhurriedly; his movement seemed slow, but without missing a fraction he caught the golden light shot by the Tujue young woman right between his fore and middle fingers. The golden light turned out to be a gold hairpin.

With voice as cold as ice and snow, the woman spoke in fluent Chinese, “This gold hairpin is hereby returned to its rightful owner. From now on, Ba Dai’er no longer has anything to do with you, Ba Fenghan.” [Translator’s note: just so you know, these two ‘Ba’ characters are not the same.]

Ba Fenghan stared blankly at the gold hairpin in his fingers, all sorts of feelings welled up in his heart. Sighing, he said, “Did Dai’er come here to return this gold hairpin to me?”

Compared to before, Ba Dai’er was clearly thinner, although she still possessed the same beauty that made him fall in love with her at first sight.

She was only fifteen then, the young betrothed wife of Tuli Khan. When Tuli and the martial art masters under his command were out to the desert to hunt and kill Ba Fenghan, they were caught in a big sandstorm, which caused her to lose her way. It was when she was wandering alone that she was captured by Ba Fenghan.

Her slender and fully developed, beautiful naked body, her seductive, as if they could speak to him, big eyes, her unyielding and brimming with challenge expression, were intensely attractive to Ba Fenghan, and has awakened the sensual desire hidden deep within him. And thus the most intimate relationship arose between the two.

Afterwards, Ba Dai’er was hell-bent on falling in love with him; she even followed him roaming around the desert and the prairie for some time.

Nowadays Ba Dai’er has become Tujue King, Xieli Khan’s military counselor Zhao Deyan’s disciple, receiving direct martial art instruction from him. Ba Fenghan actually learned to speak Chinese from her, which also brought up in him the yearning for the Central Plains’ wide-ranging and profound culture, and thus made him decided to come to the south.

In his pursuit of the martial art way, in a dispirited, soul-wrenching night, he finally quietly left her.

Ba Dai’er was the only woman who could make him remorseful.

Every single cun of her tender, smooth, ivory-colored skin currently wrapped inside the cloak was able to evoke his sweetest memory!

This pretty girl was so attractive to him not only because of her captivating beauty, but for her talent, her open-mindedness, her straightforward character or even her naiveté, which, combined, formed an incomparably magical power of attraction, making him unable to stop himself from falling into the snare of love.

And the beauty he was madly attracted to was originally the enemy.

But now everything has changed.

Ba Dai’er has become Tuli’s woman. And now there was only hatred in her eyes, not love.

From the speed and the force with which the golden hairpin was shot, he knew very well that within the five years after he left, Ba Dai’er has been diligently training her martial art skill. With her outstanding innate ability and intelligent, she has become his terrifyingly formidable opponent.

Ba Dai’er’s jade countenance quickly returned to its calm and composed condition. After staring deeply into his eyes, her pair of big eyes underneath her thick eyelashes was burning with hatred and fury, as she spoke word by word, “I want to kill you with my own hands!”