Du Xing was worthy to bear the name ‘Hegemon King’; he was tall and straight, his build carried some kind of stalwart and intimidating spirit, which surpa.s.sed ordinary person by a large margin, insinuating that he was not at all a man who was bold but not very astute. He appeared to be in his early forties; although could not be considered handsome, he was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with masculinity and was glowing in spirits.

Underneath his rough and bushy eyebrows was a pair of sharp eyes, there seemed to be nothing could be hidden from him. He came with his hands behind his back; outside his yellow warrior outfit he wore an overcoat and a cape. His feet were inside a pair of leather boots; he surely had ample overbearing air [note: ‘ba’ can be translated as hegemon or overbearing; same word applies to Yue Shan].

Under three men’s sharp gaze, he did not show the slightest amount of uneasiness; on the contrary, he was carefully sizing up the three. However, it was obvious that he did not know which divine character Ba Fenghan was; his gaze lingered on him the longest.

Kou Zhong laughed calmly and said, “I wonder if Du Dangjia was such in a hurry that you left your Hegemon Axe at home?”

Upright and unafraid, Du Xing sat down opposite to the three men. He also laughed calmly in return and said, “This time Xiaodi is here to talk business, why would I want to bring the Hegemon Axe?”

His eyes fell on Ba Fenghan, he said, “And this gentleman is …”

Ba Fenghan rose up to his full height and said with a proud smile, “A no-name small soldier, there is not enough reason to mention. Three gentlemen, please carry on as you wish.”

Finished speaking, he walked over to the back of the shop to be with Ren Jun, who was there to feed the horses.

Du Xing regained his gaze, with which he stared at Ba Fenghan’s majestic back. Meeting Kou Zhong’s gaze, he spoke heavily, “This time Shaoshuai’s good-self coming to the north, is it to bring Ol’ Du bad luck, or to act on Zhai Xiaojie’s behalf to talk business?”

‘Formidable’, Kou Zhong cried inwardly. Du Xing came to deal with them according to Jianghu rules, which put them in disadvantageous position instead. Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “If Du Dangjia could provide explanation on why you closed Da Xiaojie’s branch and pulled the people away that will make others accept wholeheartedly, I, Kou Zhong, will pour wine to pay my respect to you, LaoGe.”

Du Xing slapped the table with his palm, producing a loud noise that surprised even Ba Fenghan and Ren Jun and made them look. But the wine on the table did not splash a single drop, which showed that not only his martial art skill was out of the ordinary and has entered the Arhat stage, but also his inner power skill was strange beyond human comprehension.

With this little demonstration, immediately Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, and Ba Fenghan had to greatly revise their impression on him, which made Kou Zhong’s hands, just like Ba Fenghan, itching. Such a worthy opponent, it was not easy to seek; it definitely worth a try.

Du Xing’s voice and expression turned stern, he shouted, “Closing the shop and pulling away the people, how could it be my Niang’s fart matter? Did you, Kou Zhong, see me, Du Xing did that? Your granny’s bear, were it not for Ol’ Du giving consideration to Jing Kang, how could I have the spare time to mind Zhai Jiao’s business? Now I painstakingly persuaded the opposite side to make them obediently hand the sheepskin back, yet you came shouting abuse in the street like a fishwife, shouting and yelling, making so much noise that the whole city knows. What kind of man am I, Du Xing? I don’t care if you are the Tianw.a.n.g Laozi [the old man, emperor of heaven], or the Jade Emperor himself, if you are unpleasant to the eye, I will chop you off to seven, eight pieces and eat you to accompany my wine. You have the cheek the accuse me falsely, let’s see if I don’t come to look for those small soldiers to vent my anger.”

Being at the receiving end of the sudden outburst of his haughtiness-reaching-the-sky counterstrike, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were dumbstruck; momentarily they did not know how to respond, hence they could only meet his pouring the dog’s blood [fig. torrent of abuse] scolding head on.

Even if they were fully aware that he was the man behind the scene driving the wolf-bandits, fully aware that he was the one closing the shop and pulling away the people, also prohibiting the hotels in Shanhai Pa.s.s from receiving them, yet these were all baseless conjectures, without any concrete evidence.

Ba Fenghan’s voice came over, “Du Xing, it seems like you really cannot guess who I am, unexpectedly you dare to open your eyes and speak big words to my brothers in front of me.”

Inwardly Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling cried, ‘Not good!’; they knew Ba Fenghan’s temperament very well, knowing that when his murderous intent was stirred up, one wrong word and fight would ensue. How ferocious and ruthless Ba Fenghan’s sword moves were? As soon as they fought, how could he be lenient?

If Du Xing was killed, their effort to retrieve the sheepskin would certainly fizzle out, and then how could they answer Zhai Jiao?

Du Xing’s reaction was even more beyond their expectation; he suddenly stood up, both hands grabbed the edge of the table, while taking a slight step backward, he pulled the big wooden table so that all four legs left the ground, and then he threw it up in anger. As if it was weightless, the whole table, along with the cups and dishes, soared straight up and crashed heavily onto the big beam of the roof. The table, the cups, and the dishes immediately shattered into smithereens, and fell down like rain on the floor, as well as on the two boys.

With his finger pointing to Ba Fenghan like a halberd, Du Xing roared, “F*ck your eighteen generations of ancestors. Who dares to lift their breath against me, Du Xing in here? I, Du Xing, am a man whose word worth nine sacred tripods, whose promise worth one thousand in gold. Right now Laozi is not interested in your G.o.dd.a.m.n business [orig. bird business; as I said earlier, Chinese have certain fascinations with birds]. Let Zhai Jiao and the others lose their family fortune, their reputation swept over the floor. His granny!”

He turned around and walked away.

Kou Zhong sprang up and rushed after him outside the shop. Suddenly a lot of men, so many that even if anybody wanted to count he would not be able to count – appeared from the roof of the shops around, as well as from the streets and alleys, in orderly and uniformed manner, their bows were bent, the arrows were aimed at him. With just one order from Du Xing, they would shoot Kou Zhong and turn him into a hedgehog.

Kou Zhong acted as if he did not notice the hundreds of arrows aimed at him at all. Reaching into his robe to take the Moon in the Well out, he pointed his finger at Du Xing, who was walking to the middle of the street, and shouted loudly, “I also don’t care whether you are overbearing heaven or overbearing earth; whoever embezzled the sheepskin, Laozi has enough skill to make him vomit it out. If you, Du Xing, did it, don’t think that you can mingle in Jianghu anymore.”

The originally bustling street suddenly became as empty as a ghost domain. Only the wind lanterns hanging outside the shops were swaying and flickering in the cold breeze blown from the northern desert. Nearly five hundred archers were waiting with stored-up momentum, yet not a single rapid breathing was heard. Evidently Du Xing’s men were not ordinary gangs and societies’ mob at all.

This bunch of archers consisted mostly of foreign tribesmen from Tujue and Qidan; none was not valiant, calm and collected. Such strength was greatly beyond Kou Zhong’s expectation.

Du Xing was turning around slowly. He had no choice but to move slowly, simply because Kou Zhong’s saber momentum was locking at him tightly; any slight mistake, Kou Zhong would immediately pounce on him in full power.

He was watching quietly; as soon as, due to the multiple arrows pointing at him, Kou Zhong’s momentum was slightly weakened, he would order the arrows to be released immediately. Too bad not only Kou Zhong’s saber qi did not weaken the slightest bit, it was constantly increasing instead.

The two men’s eyes met. They both could see the loathing, hatred, and murderous intent toward each other.

Kou Zhong appeared to be holding the initiative, but he was actually groaning inwardly. If he brandished his saber to strike, if Du Xing was able block his saber head-on, due to all his mind was focused on Du Xing, he would definitely be unable to evade the nearly five hundred powerful arrows shooting at him from four sides, eight directions – to keep his life.

If he returned to the shop, he would fall into the disadvantageous position where he could only take a beating. It would be even more difficult for their beloved horses to avoid calamity. If Du Xing could set up his men at the shop’s front door, the back door would certainly be heavily surrounded as well. Du Xing indeed had the air of a hegemon.

On the other side, Du Xing was filled with regret as well; he regretted that he did not carry the Hegemon Axe with him, so that he had no confidence that he would be able to meet the Moon in the Well head-on.

Standing ten paces away, Du Xing laughed coldly and said, “I wonder if Shaoshuai is afraid?”

Kou Zhong laughed calmly and said, “Not only I am afraid, I am scared to death. Actually, I am most afraid of the dark; therefore, even when traveling on the road, I always look for someone to keep me company.”

Inside the shop, Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan did not show the least bit of movement. They knew that with any slight movement, the resulting changes would be difficult to antic.i.p.ate. Therefore, even though Ba Fenghan was valiant, he still did not dare to move lightly, and had no choice but to let Kou Zhong deal with it alone.

While resisting Kou Zhong’s astonishing saber qi pressing down on him, Du Xing threw his head back in long laughter and said, “Good. I, Du Xing, has proclaimed myself hegemon inside the Pa.s.s for more than ten years, this is still the first time I encountered a man full of guts like Shaoshuai. Now I give you two way-outs; one is to fight immediately, the other is to get lost as far away as possible, and afterwards don’t let me see your face again, ever.”

“Nonsense!” Kou Zhong thundered, and was ready to brandish his saber to deal a heavy blow.

Right in this critical moment where a thousand pounds hung by a thread, a sweet-sounding voice like heavenly music, gentle and soft, was coming from the end of the long street, saying, “I wonder if two gentlemen be willing to give Feixuan a bit of meager face, and cease the hostility?”

Kou Zhong and Du Xing were shocked; they both looked at the direction of the voice. And there, wearing men’s clothing, simple and elegant like a fairy, was Shi Feixuan, walking over gracefully.

None of the archers was not distracted; they turned to look, and thus greatly diluted the taut-bow-ready-to-be-released tense atmosphere.

Kou Zhong had never imagined that Shi Feixuan would suddenly appear in such a secluded county town at the northern border; he nearly wanted to call Xu Ziling out to verify his eyesight.

However, Du Xing’s face was alternating indeterminately between gloomy and clear; he was hesitating and could not make up his mind. His troop disposition was originally had enough power to deal with Kou and Xu, two boys. With the addition of Ba Fenghan, whom he still did not know which divine character he was, he already missed his calculation. Now that Shi Feixuan was here, the situation turned into two battlefronts, with one ready to commence. In the end he lost confidence.

Shi Feixuan came to a stand behind the archers’ formation; she smiled and said, “Du Dangjia, Shaoshuai, what do you think?”

Kou Zhong put the saber back into its scabbard. After covering it well with his robe, he said with a grin, “Xianzi’s order, naturally Xiaodi will have to listen to the instruction and obey.”

All eyes were now on Du Xing, to see how he was going to react.

Du Xing angrily said, “Looking up on Shi Xianzi, you guys may stay in Shanhai Pa.s.s for only three days; otherwise, don’t blame me, Du Xing, for being impolite. At that time, I will ask Xianzi not to intervene.”

Unwittingly he followed Kou Zhong’s example by addressing Shi Feixuan as immortal/fairy.

“Go!” Du Xing thundered. Finished speaking, he brushed his sleeves and turned around brazenly. The archers retreated, dispersed, and were gone in the blink of an eye, not a single one remained.

Shi Feixuan calmly moved over in front of Kou Zhong. Her beautiful eyebrows knitted lightly, she said, “Why did Shaoshuai come this far?”

Lowering his voice, Kou Zhong asked, “You are not angry at us anymore?”

Shi Feixuan sighed lightly and said, “How could Feixuan have the leeway to be angry at you?”

Ba Fenghan’s voice came over, “Since Shi Xiaojie’s immortal self has arrived, why don’t you come in to have a chat here?”

After casting Kou Zhong a sidelong glance, Shi Feixuan stepped into the shop.

Inside the restaurant, they selected a table by the door and sat down, with Ren Jun serving them fragrant tea.

The most excited person tonight was Ren Jun. In one day, he consecutively came across the exceptional hero Ba Fenghan, and the out-of-the-ordinary, looking-askance-at-the-vulgar-world fairy Shi Feixuan. It was just like a dream.

The most natural and calm was Ba Fenghan. Simply because he did not know that now Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s grat.i.tude and grudges were intertwined with Shi Feixuan, that they were in a complex relationship that they themselves could not explain.

Shi Feixuan maintained her usual cold and composed manner. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were well aware there was a gap growing between them that was difficult to mend. Xu Ziling had no choice but to greet her with a smile as if nothing had happened.

Ba Fenghan started the conversation by saying, “Who would have thought that Shi Xiaojie might show your fragrant footprints in this place? How long has Xiaojie been here?”

Shi Feixuan responded indifferently, “Feixuan has just arrived. Did Ba Xiong agree with Kou Xiong, Xu Xiong to meet up here?”

Ba Fenghan replied, “I specifically came to meet with them, but they had no idea that I would be here.”

Kou Zhong respectfully said, “What n.o.ble errand brought Feixuan here? It can’t be because you want to cultivate and refine yourself by experiencing the desert beyond the Great Wall, can it?”

Hearing Kou Zhong acting familiar by calling her by her first name, Feixuan, this beauty’s pretty eyebrows slightly knitted, she cast him a displeased stare and said, “Why Feixuan must go to Shanhai Pa.s.s, you ought to know better than anyone.”

Scratching his head, Kou Zhong said, “The tone of Feixuan’s voice implies blame and displeasure, as if you are here to bring harm to us. Hey, it shouldn’t be like that?”

Secretly, he gave Xu Ziling a kick.

Xu Ziling could not guess the reason Shi Feixuan went to Shanhai Pa.s.s either, but of course, unlike Kou Zhong’s wishful thinking, he did not think that Shi Feixuan did not hesitate to take the long and difficult trek to seek him, Xu Ziling.

“What else but for Shi Zhixuan,” Shi Feixuan replied nonchalantly.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were greatly astonished.

Based on Shi Zhixuan’s ability and wisdom, and his demonic skill, even if Ning Daoqi personally undertook the task, perhaps it would still be difficult to cling to his tail and pursue him all the way to Shanhai Pa.s.s.

Shi Feixuan’s beautiful eyes emitted a determined look, she spoke slowly, “We decided that whether we will have to chase him to the end of the sky or to the corner of the ocean, we definitely will not let Shi Zhixuan settle down to train the demonic skill from the Xiedi Sheli.”

Ba Fenghan was listening with blank face; but since he knew that this matter concerned the demonic master of this generation ‘Demonic Emperor’ [sic] Shi Zhixuan, he was greatly interested.

Avoiding Xu Ziling’s eyes, but meeting Kou Zhong’s gaze, Shi Feixuan said, “Feixuan is unsure whether to scold you or thank you. Were it not for you guys believed yourselves infallible and ran amok, the Relics would not have fallen into Shi Zhixuan’s hands; but were it not for you rescuing Jin Huanzhen, they, husband and wife, would not have taken the initiative to seek us to cooperate, which enable us to rely on their secret method to follow Shi Zhixuan’s trail.”

The two suddenly saw the light.

Jin Huanzhen succeeded in rescuing her husband, she did not let Zhou Laotan to be harmed by An Long. Afterwards, whether it was because they wanted to exert themselves in mending their ways, or because they wanted to exploit the orthodox path’s power to help them s.n.a.t.c.hing the Relics back, they sought Shi Feixuan and were willing to cooperate with her, relying on their marvelous skill to detect the Relics within a hundred li radius, and thus forcing Shi Zhixuan to run away outside the Pa.s.s.

According to reason, Shi Zhixuan ought to go out of the Pa.s.s via the northern border, because from Guanzhong, whether he headed west or north, he would enter the Western Tujue or Eastern Tujue’s territory; both could be considered unwise.

Kou Zhong asked in low voice, “I wonder if San Ren, the Senior, is coming with Feixuan?”

Shi Feixuan replied casually, “Time was pressing, Feixuan did not have time to notify anybody else.”

“What?” Xu Ziling blurted out.

Shi Feixuan’s sword technique definitely had reached the out of the ordinary and entered the Arhat stage, but to kill Shi Zhixuan, it was still an impossibility. Based on Shi Zhixuan’s power and his bloodthirsty character, he would devour her just for fun instead.

Shi Feixuan cast a glance toward Xu Ziling, as if she was saying, ‘Do you still care about me?’ Her expression was subtle.

Ba Fenghan could not help blurting out, “What the h.e.l.l are you guys talking about?”

“I’ll explain it to you, LaoGe, later,” Kou Zhong replied. Turning to Shi Feixuan, he asked, “Where are Jin Huanzhen and Zhou Laotan?”

Shi Feixuan spoke without any emotion, “Along the way, they and I maintained an inseparably close contact with each other, I followed Shi Zhixuan’s trail by following the secret markings that they left behind. But they suddenly disappeared near here, no further secret markings were left, the reason is unclear.”

Kou Zhong drew a mouthful of cold air; he said, “I am afraid they stepped onto Old You’s trailing dust [fig. course in life], and met with calamity under Shi Zhixuan’s poisonous hands.”

Instead of responding to his remark, Shi Feixuan asked, “What n.o.ble errand brought you to Shanhai Pa.s.s? Why did you have such a stiff confrontation with Du Xing?”

Kou Zhong explained briefly; he also mentioned the wolf-bandits and Da Ming Zun Jiao.

It was only then that Ba Fenghan understood a little bit.

Shi Feixuan revealed a grave expression. She said, “About Da Ming Zun Jiao, Feixuan heard a little bit. It originated from a certain descendant of feudal aristocrats in the Persian capital Taixifeng [Persepolis?], who wrote the book ‘s...o...b.. Luo Qian’ [sorry, no idea], introducing the ‘Two Schools Three Relationships Theory’. The two schools are Light and Darkness. The three relationships are past, present, and future. They believe that the highest G.o.d is the Da Ming Zun Shen [lit. great brightness revered deity], and the highest expression of four kinds of virtues to be the G.o.d, the light, the power and the intelligence. Under the Da Ming Zun Shen are Shan Mu [benevolent mother], Yuanzi [origin/atom], five names and five kinds of demon, and so on. The organization is secret, their strength enormous. If Du Xing is related to this Cult, it won’t be like it appears on the surface, only worshiping the deity according to his faith, but it is extremely likely that he would deploy a large-scale invasion in the name of religion.”

Kou Zhong was speechless. “Currently the demonic schools in the Central Earth is stirring the wind, disturbing the rain,” he said, “With the addition of Huihe evil cult, it will really bring us headache.”

Rising to her full height, Shi Feixuan said, “Since three gentlemen are here, I am sure you won’t sit idly by. Feixuan still have some business to be done; when there’s a chance, we will meet again.”

The three stood up in a hurry.

With a wry smile Xu Ziling said, “About Shi Xiaojie dealing with Shi Zhixuan, is it possible to let us exert a little bit of strength?”

Shi Feixuan met his gaze. Her beautiful eyes emitted a complicated and sad emotion, she spoke gently, “Since you yourselves are too busy with your own business, when you have the time and the mood, you can try to find the don’t-know-where-he-is-hiding Shi Zhixuan.”

Finished speaking, she floated away.