Chapter 1 – Shock at Every Step

Xu Ziling barely stepped out of his room when he immediately wanted to step back inside. It was not because he suddenly changed his mind, or perhaps he suddenly curbed his murderous intention, but because he suddenly sensed that he was facing an extreme danger.

In that split second, he knew that his secret ident.i.ty has been penetrated, and that the enemy was laying out flawless ultimate troop disposition, to let him fall into the trap by himself.

The seven, eight zhang-long corridor was empty. By the time the door behind him was closing, all around him was closed doors, leaving only the decorated window on the east end of the corridor on his left, and the stairs leading down to the lower level at the west end of the corridor on his right.

The evening breeze was blowing gently into the corridor from the east window, so that the three palace lanterns hanging along the corridor were swaying. The sound of string and woodwind instruments, the laughter and voices of people chatting and clamoring faintly penetrated the doors of the other five rooms on their wing. Even from the room at the western end of their wing, where the enemy was, came the extremely graceful sound of Zheng [guzheng, long zither, with 13 to 16 strings].

On the surface, everything was so happy and moving, charming, gentle and romantic. But the ‘Secret to Long Life’ has triggered spirit of consciousness in Xu Ziling, enabling him to accurately grasp the layer upon layer of murderous intent set up with him as the target.

He put his saber on his back and slowed his movement down, while his mind was churning at lightning speed.

The biggest problem in front of him was that he must not avoid the problem by walking away from it. Apart from protecting Gui Xiliang and Xing Rong, he also had to protect Madame Yuling, who did not know martial art.

The first thing that came to his mind was how did his ident.i.ty get exposed.

Lu Miaozi’s mask could be said to be completely flawless, it could be absolutely pa.s.sed off as genuine; otherwise, how could he deceive Zhu Yuyan?

Slowly he reached the middle of the corridor. Taking a deep breath, his gaze fell on the last room at the western end of the corridor.

Even if Li Zitong, Shao Lingzhou, and the others got suspicious because of his surrept.i.tious conducts, they could not be 100% sure that he was Xu Ziling in disguise. Even if they had a sliver of suspicion, they would not dare to take risks by killing him in such an unusual time. Because supposing they killed the wrong person, they would suffer Kou Zhong and the real Xu Ziling’s revenge.

Upon further contemplation, as far as Li Zitong was concerned, protecting Jiangdu was his top priority. Even if he knew for sure that he was Xu Ziling, he would not lightly and presumptuously use force, to avoid saving a little only to lose a lot, and to invert root and branch [i.e. to put the cart before the horse].

Ruling out Li Zitong, only Xiao Xian’s side remained. Immediately Yun Yuzhen’s lovely countenance appeared in his mind.

Many things, which were previously vague, immediately became clear.

When he stepped out of the door just now, he sensed five enemies were waiting in the dark, ready to deliver him a fatal blow.

Two men were lying in ambush behind the door on either side of the western wing room. The other two were separately hiding behind the door of two empty rooms.

But the most threatening enemy was hiding outside the decorative window on the eastern end of the corridor. This person’s martial art skill was high; it should not be inferior in any aspects to Xu Ziling’s. He was certain that this person was the ‘Pa.s.sionate Prince’ Hou Xibai.

This was really not because he made a.s.sociative connection with Yun Yuzhen’s arrival, but it was purely his feeling; some kind of hard-to-explain feeling, a feeling he started to sense that Hou Xibai was lurking like a glaring tiger watching its prey somewhere outside the east window, just like outside Luoyang, when he closed his eyes, he could see in his mind that Hou Xibai and Ba Fenghan were facing off against each other.

As for the other four enemies, it was due to the fact that their bodies emitted invisible, yet real, true qi, which aroused his alertness.

He could even detect the strength and weakness of each individual enemy; he was even able completely grasp the subtle changes in their ‘intention’.

As all these thoughts and perceptions were flashing through his mind at the speed of lightning, Xu Ziling had already taken steps toward the west wing.

The enemy’s killing momentum immediately elevated and condensed one step further. Except for one person, they were all highly controlled and filled with subtle calculation, waiting for him to step into the deathly gate of the siege, at which point their power would just reach the peak, so that they would be able to deliver the most severe attack, and put him in the land of perdition.

The exception was, quite naturally, Mai Yunfei. Not only his skill had heaven-and-earth, cloud-and-mud difference with Hou Xibai, he was also far inferior to the Da Li Shen [t.i.tan] Bao Rang, the Vicious Dog Qu Wuju and the Exiled Disciple Su Chuo, three men. He practically put his internal strength to its limit immediately, and was unable to remain in that state, so that he was revealing the fluctuation in his energy level.

Up to this point, Xu Ziling had not even seen the enemy’s shadow, yet he was able to completely grasp the actual layout of the enemies, so much so that he could deduce that by the time he advanced five or six steps forward, the enemies would go all-out in attacking him.

And he was even more clear, knowing beyond the shadow of doubt, that he had no ability to deal with five enemies, where Hou Xibai was one of them.

Even if it were a face-to-face confrontation with Bao Rang, Qu Wuju and Su Chuo, he was completely without any odds of success either.

The only sliver of hope was to exploit Hou Xibai’s ‘must not be exposed’ secret ident.i.ty.

Unless Hou Xibai was 100% confident that he could ‘kill people to shut his mouth’, he would never show himself to Xu Ziling as an enemy.

Of course this was only is estimate. If he guessed wrong, Xu Ziling would have put his life to an end.

‘Chi! Chi! Chi!’

Xu Ziling took three steps in succession, pa.s.sing the first enemy hidden in the side room on the left.

From the emitted overbearing, well-trained true qi, he was positive that behind the door was the overbearing, well-trained ‘Da Li Shen’ Bao Rang.

Although the other party deliberately restrained his qi to hide, there was no way he would be able to evade Xu Ziling’s close to magical induction and efficacious senses.

It should be noted that when martial art masters were having a face off, other than the substance of the physical exchange, the greater key was the invisible battle between the essence, qi and spirit, three aspects. To martial art master like Xu Ziling, whose senses were unusually supernatural, there was practically no such thing as sneak attack. As soon as the murderous intent arose in the opponent’s heart, it would immediately generate reaction. Even Yang Xuyan, an expert in concealing his presence, was unable to hide from him. Much less Bao Rang and the others, who were not really experts, but temporary asa.s.sins.

This moment Xu Ziling was taking his fifth step, and was coming to the door where an enemy was hiding behind the door to his right.

The enemy’s qi momentum immediately sped up and thickened, hence he knew exactly that based on his current speed, within two more steps he would reached the ‘death point’, where the enemy would attack in full force.

Xu Ziling sensed that behind this door ought to be the ‘Exiled Discipe’ Su Chuo, because his sawtooth saber’s blade was exuding a cold qi. Quickly he focused his attention, and entered the ‘no person no self’ state, the realm where his spirit reached the extremely quiet boundary, before taking the next step forward.

Life or death, victory or defeat, would be decided within these two steps.

The sail boat turned around to return to Liangdu at full speed. Kou Zhong and Lup Fang were standing on the bow, discussing important matters. [Translator’s note: the original did not have separator here.

Luo Fang said, “Xiao Xian appointed top rank great general under his command, Dong Jingzhen, and the Commander-in-Chief. He deployed nearly thirty thousand elite troops to enter Yiling. Also using civilian ships, they might cross the river to the north any moment.”

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Then how come he has not crossed the river yet? Is it because he is afraid he might convenience Li Zitong?”

Evidently Luo Fang was unable to reply to his question. Shaking his head, he said, “I am not too clear about that. But other than having misgivings toward Du Fuwei, Xiao Xian still have to deal with Dong Ting’s Lin Shihong. The longer he can’t pacify the south, the longer he can’t go up north with all his strength.”

Pondering deeply, Kou Zhong said, “What exactly is the relationship between Xiao Xian, Zhu Can and the Three Bandits? Could it be that Zhu Can and Cao Yinglong did not know that if they let Xiao Xian gains stronghold north of the River, later on they need not come down to the arena?”

Luo Fang was much more familiar with this aspect; like an unceasing torrent he replied, “Currently the situation south and north of the River is unprecedentedly complex. After Du Fuwei taken over Jingling, he holds back his troops without moving. In turn, he joined Shen Faxing to attack Jiangdu violently. Those with discerning eyes can see that he wants to divide east and west, two routes of going north. Therefore, in case Jiangdu fell, by using Jingling as his base of operations, he ought to move his troops toward our Ranch and Zhu Can, Cao Yinglong, and the others, to stop Xiao Xian from crossing the River. Under this kind of circ.u.mstances, if Zhu Can and Cao Yinglong are willing to cooperate with Xiao Xian, it would not be surprising at all.”

Kou Zhong said, “But everybody knows that the Ranch does not have any ambition to fight over the world. Those you have ambition to have the Ranch should be because they wanted to obtain your warhorses; therefore, if they really attacked the Ranch, who will reap the benefit?”

Scratching his head, Luo Fang said, “This is not too clear; they must have some agreement.”

Kou Zhong shook his head, “There can’t be any agreement,” he said, “After obtaining tens of thousands warhorses, who would be willing to hand it over? Therefore, I still say that Xiao Xian, Cao Yinglong, and Zhu Can still harbor ulterior motive, each one carries out all kind of strategies, and this is precisely the crucial point; it is also the key for us to gain victory. We may be able to deal with Shen Faxing’s same old stuff, and shift our attention to deal with Zhu Can and Cao Yinglong, to ensure they all have grey hair on top of their head.”

His spirit greatly aroused, Luo Fang asked, “How?”

Kou Zhong reached out and put his hand on his shoulder; smiling, he said, “Let’s talk some more when we get back to Liangdu! If we can make the arrangement tonight, tomorrow we will go to the Ranch at full speed. At that time we can carefully investigate this matter!”

Shang Xiuxun’s absolute beauty jade countenance suddenly emerged in his mind, while a strange fleeing floated in his heart.

While Xu Ziling appeared to be taking a step forward, with his right hand tightly gripped the saber behind his back, he twisted his wrist outward, so that he held the saber backhandedly across his back, the blade facing the door behind which the enemy was hiding.

His stored up true qi, which had reached its peak level, erupted from the palm of his hand, enormous, without-equal force shot from his wrist out, the saber turned into a streak of lightning, striking and the door and burst in.

At the same time, without the slightest hesitation Xu Ziling changed direction from moving forward slowly to flying backward, like a ghost, with the speed that was indiscernible by naked eyes, returning to the door where the ‘Da Li Shen’ Bao Rang was hiding. Twisting his body around, he sent out a full-force punch at the enemy, separated by the door.

All these consecutive and complex movements were done in the blink of an eye, and everything was completed before the enemy even began to be alerted.

The first to react was Hou Xibai, who was hiding outside the window at the eastern end of the corridor. His murderous aura immediately rose up to its peak, his true qi shot out, but he was still one step too late.

‘Whoosh!’

As if going through a thin sheet of paper, the steel saber effortlessly penetrated the door and went all the way in, up to the handle.

Almost at the same instant, Xu Ziling’s seemingly powerless, light-as-a-feather fist, struck the wooden door right at the face of the standing ‘Da Li Shen’ Bao Rang.

‘Craack!’

A crack in the shape of the core of a spider web appeared on the wooden door where the fist hit, followed by cun-size fragments raining down on Bao Rang’s iron-like thick and solid stature, as well as his horrified beyond-belief face.

“Ah!”

Miserable hiss came from behind the door where the saber was breaking into, followed by the sharp crack of another door being shattered; the scream quickly went away.

‘Bang!’

Xu Ziling’s punch exploded on Bao Rang’s arms, which he crossed in panic to block the strike. Gentle and soft spiraling energy was condensing into a beam of straight power, which turned from slow to fast, like a hammer shattering the well-trained qigong shielding his body, with which Bao Rang went on the rampage around the south, and straight into his meridians.

Bao Rang let out a m.u.f.fled groan as he met the fist and staggered back. Suddenly he spurted a mouthful of blood, his back crashed heavily against the window some distance away opposite the door, and fell down to the lower level.

All across the second floor, the voices of people and the sound of music suddenly stopped.

‘Bang!’

Only this moment did Mai Yunfei and the ‘Vicious Dog’ Qu Wuju charge through the door.

Xu Ziling moved to the middle of the corridor. Although he was facing Mai Yunfei and Qu Wuju, who had a big hammer in each hand, Xu Ziling’s mind was focused on Hou Xibai behind him.

Compared to before, Mai Yunfei’s martial art has progressed tremendously. His footwork and sword technique matched seamlessly. Although the slashing sword did not look magnificent, it carried a kind of advancing-courageously momentum.

Qu Wuju was much more cunning. This man was tall and thin, with long horse face that made people less than impressed. His two eyes were so narrow that they looked like slits. His nose and mouth were separated quite far on his long face, so that if one would suddenly catch sight of him, he would think that he just came across the Diaosigui [ghost of a person who died by hanging] who had just escape stealthily from the netherworld. He deliberately fell behind a little; obviously he wanted to let Mai Yunfei become the vanguard to bear the full brunt of Xu Ziling’s attack, while he would reap the benefit from the side.

Inwardly Xu Ziling cried thanking the heaven and thanking the earth.

If the two men worked as one in fighting desperately against him, forcing him to focus all his attention to deal with them, then Hou Xibai, who was watching from behind, would have the opportunity he could exploit. But with Qu Wuju being a smart aleck like this, Hou Xibai lost this rare opportunity.

Xu Ziling suddenly flashed away; not only he evaded Mai Yunfei’s sword stabbing at his chest, he even flashed into the gap between the two opponents.

While Mai Yunfei and Qu Wuju were startled, Xu Ziling already moved his palms, so that the palm shadows filled the air, separately slapping the sword and a pair of iron hammers coming at him with different moves.

The two enemies staggered and fell back.

Mai Yunfei’s skill was far inferior; he spun around and fell into the room where Bao Rang was hiding. The palm of his hand cracked from the shock, the sword fell from his hand.

Qu Wuju was worthy to be called a martial art master; although his two hammers were hit as if they were struck by lightning, he was still able to hold on to them, albeit with difficulty. While retreating toward the stairs at the western end of the corridor, he simultaneously created layers of hammer shadow to guard against Xu Ziling pursuing to follow up the victory.

Actually, even if Xu Ziling did his best to fight, Qu Wuju would have been able to hold his ground for ten moves, eight styles. The problem was that he had seen Su Chuo and Bao Rang, whose martial art skill was more outstanding and superior to his, were wounded and had to flee far away, so in his heart he already grew timid. And then with magical shenfa Xu Ziling flashed near him, he was unable to unfold and unleash the formidable power of his iron hammer. His courage fell, he then decided to run away.

Xu Ziling did not pursue at all, he simply stood still in the middle of the corridor, while at the same time he knew for sure that Hou Xibai has already left

Hence the battle of the House of Heavenly Fragrance ended without clear conclusion.

Evening of the next day, Luo Qifei, who had been out to scout the enemy situation, returned to report to Xu Ziling, “Just received Shao Shuai’s secret order; there is a change of plan.”

Xu Ziling jumped in fright, and quickly asked for details.

After explaining the current situation, Luo Qifei said, “Shao Shuai is asking whether you, Xu Ye is able to get away and come with him to the Flying Horse Ranch. The situation over there is unusually critical. Zhu Can and Cao Yinglong separately attacked Yuan’an and Dangyang, two cities, making it difficult for the Flying Horse Ranch to deal with both at the same time. If their entire force came out at once, we are afraid the enemy might enter by exploiting a weak spot.”

Recalling Shang Xiuxun, Fu Dajie, Xiao Juan, Luo Fang, Liu Zongdao, Xu Laotou [old man Xu] and other good friends, a strong emotion welled up in Xu Ziling’s heart. Ever since Susu pa.s.sed away, he especially treasured the friendship that came along his life on earth, because it was so heartbreakingly fragile!

“Luo Xiong, what do you think?” he asked indifferently.

Luo Qifei said, “In here, we have the battle of wits, not the battle of strength; you can leave everything to me. In the Ranch over there, it is a hard and continual battle that extremely in need of Xu Ye’s a.s.sistance. The only problem is to find a good excuse to tell Li Zitong, to avoid unnecessary complication.”

Inwardly Xu Ziling was happy for Kou Zhong, because by seeing that Luo Qifei dared to shoulder such a heavy responsibility, he knew that Luo Qifei had guts. This kind of talent was indeed something that can be encountered, but cannot be sought.

Currently, there were not a few capable people serving under Kou Zhong; Xu Xingzhi, Xuan Yong, Jiao Hongjin, Luo Qifei, Bu Tianzhi, Chen Laomou, Chen Changlin, Ren Meimei, were among the prominent ones, each with his or her own strength. These were originally recalcitrant people, yet they were all willing to throw their lives in for Kou Zhong. Naturally it was because of Kou Zhong’s outstanding charisma and his communicate-with-the-heavens ability. But more importantly, it was because Kou Zhong sincerely treated them well, absolutely unlike w.a.n.g Shichong, who exploited people in everything-for-self-and-selfish-profit way.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Ziling nodded and said, “That’s easy. I came here merely to pa.s.s on the letter and to get in touch with Li Zitong. Now that the mission is accomplished, naturally I can leave.”

After a short pause, he asked, “Do you have any problem in cooperating with the Zhuhua Bang people?”

Smiling wryly, Luo Qifei said, “I certainly trust Gui Ye and Xing Ye, but I dare not guarantee that other people are not the spy that Shao Lingzhou planted. Therefore, I intend to, together with the other brothers, leave together with Xu Ye, and then secretly heading toward the rendezvous point with Bu Fu Bangzhu. Otherwise, if their spy keep a close watch over us at every step, the whole set of great ideas will go down the drain.”

Xu Ziling nodded his agreement, thinking that he ought to find time to talk with Gui Xiliang and Xing Rong, two kids.