Chapter 4 – Yuanji, King of Qi

By the time Li Yuanji and his men strode toward Kou Zhong and the others, other than Kou Zhong, three men, the shack was empty of other diners. After taking Kou Zhong’s ‘compensation’, the owner of the shack ran even faster than anybody else.

In fact, everybody in that entire relay station left as soon as possible, simply because they knew that this was not an ordinary Jianghu vendetta, but a battle between the Li Clan and the Shao Shuai Army.

Kou Zhong put the wine cups on the table and arranged them in a triangle. Remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, he said, “This is the most formidable battle formation. Each one of us could become pointed edge of the formation, and we could change formation at any time.”

Xu Ziling could not help remembering Ba Fenghan. This was similar to that night in Luoyang, when they were waiting for Shi Feixuan, who was going to punish them because of the Jade Annulus of He Clan – and were planning on how to break the siege. But because the situation changed, they could not carryout their plan; finally today they would be able to use it. Only instead of Ba Fenghan, they had Tuli.

Kou Zhong went on, “Khan’s Eagle-Subduing Spear is most suitable for attacking, if you have nothing to worry on the rear, you can unleash the strong points of the spear. Therefore, at the start of breaking the siege, Khan is in charge of striking the head of the formation.”

Li Yuanji and his men, fifteen people altogether, were standing in fan formation about four zhang outside the shack, facing the three from a distance. They were not anxious to attack at all. This has given the three the opportunity to look at the enemies.

Surprisingly, they did not see either Kang Qiaoli or the rest of the Tujue warriors. They did recognize some, who were Li Mi’s lackeys in the past, like Two Malevolent of Changbai, Fu Ye and Fu Yan, two brothers [previously it was Fu Zhen and Fu Yan, Book 12 Chapter 2]. These two’s martial art skill was outstanding, showing that Li Yuan’s reinforcement troops of martial art masters have arrived. No wonder as soon as they received the news, they did not have any misgivings in rushing over with threatening att.i.tude.

To Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, it was the first time that they met everybody else. There were three who particularly attracted their attention, of which a short and thin old man looked the weirdest. This old fellow’s height only reached the big-and-tall, mighty-looking Li Yuanji’s shoulders, and he appeared to be skin-and-bones thin, as if a bit stronger breeze would sweep him up into the air. However, from his sparkling eyes, it was clear that this man’s internal power has reached the great heights. He ought to be a martial art master of Li Mi, Du Fuwei, and the likes’ level.

He was standing proud to Li Yuanji’s right; there was a sword hanging on his waist, his manner was leisurely and comfortable, which showed that he did not have any regard of the three men.

Noticing that the two boys were sizing up this gentleman, Tuli spoke in low voice, “This man is ‘Old Monkey’ Li Nantian, a martial art master of elder level within the Li Clan, Li Yuan’s cousin [orig. tangxiong, older male cousin from father’s side]; even more, he is the boss of Li Yuan’s personal bodyguards. Who could have thought that even he also came here.”

Kou Zhong asked, “Who are those two on Li Yuanji’s left?”

Tuli replied, “The man with the broadsword on his back, with long face like a horse, is called ‘(Sound of) Thunder Saber’ Qin Wutong, a famous fierce general within the Tang Court, skilled in ‘Leiting Dao Fa’ [(Sound of) Thunder Saber Technique], his name shakes Mobei [north of (Gobi) desert, i.e. Outer Mongolia]; he shares the same fame as the other martial art masters of the Heavenly Policy Mansion like Pang Yu, Yuchi Jingde, and the others. The other man wearing black with a spear is called Qiu Tianjue, Li Jiancheng’s favorite general; his martial art skill is more outstanding than Qin Wutong, a Guanzhong’s local rising young martial art master.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had deep knowledge Pang Yu and the others’ level of expertise. Since Tuli compared these men to them, the two boys were able to clearly grasp the depth of these three men’s martial art skill, while at the same time understood the reason why Li Yuanji was this confident.

Looking at the other nine, none could not be included in the rank of martial art masters. In term of overall strength, they had enough power to leave the three far behind. Moreover, Li Yuanji’s reinforcements were rushing over. Therefore, the one anxious to fight ought to be the three, rather than Li Yuanji’s side.

Kou Zhong rose up to his full height and laughed heartily. He said, “Li Yuanji, since you are so full of yourself, I wonder if you dare to fight one-on-one against me, Kou Zhong.”

One of the men behind Li Yuanji rushed forward, drew a long, curved-bladed willow-leaf saber, and shouted loudly, “No need to kill a chicken using a butcher knife. Kou Zhong, you want to seek death, but it is not easy; let me fulfill your wish.”

This was the first time Kou Zhong encountered an opponent using willow-leaf saber. Laughing aloud, he said, “Since you have the impertinence to brandish broadsword in front of Guan Ye [referring to Guan Yu of the Romance of Three Kingdoms], I’ll use you as a warm up exercise. Report your name; Laozi’s Moon in the Well has never killed a nameless person.”

Hearing the last sentence, which was borrowed from Ba Fenghan’s heroic pa.s.sion, magnificent talk, Xu Ziling smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt. To boost Kou Zhong’s morale, he said, “Li Yuanji, do you dare to make a bet against us, brothers? If your honorable subordinate can block Kou Zhong’s three saber strikes head-on, we will have our hands tied and wait to be captured. But if not, you will pack up and roll back to Guanzhong, don’t bother us here anymore.”

When Tuli heard Xu Ziling called him ‘brother’, a hard to describe, burning feeling welled up in his heart. And then he also noticed the heroic-spirit-shooting-straight-to-the-heavens word ‘making a bet’, the blood in his entire body boiled over, his fighting spirit soared to its peak. Copying the two boys, he no longer cared about life or death, gains or losses; he only hoped to have a big fight right then and there.

Everybody in Li Yuanji’s side looked at each other in shock. The man representing Li Yuanji to challenge Kou Zhong was called the ‘Willow-Leaf Saber’ Diao Ang, one of the three major martial art masters under the Sect Leader of Longxi Pai, the biggest sect in Guanzhong. He was known to everyone in Guanzhong. If anybody said that he was unable to block Kou Zhong’s three saber strikes, n.o.body would believe it, so it was indeed a gamble.

The problem was: man has a name, tree has a shadow.

Such a local martial art master like Diao Ang versus Kou Zhong, whose name shook the land under heaven, basically it was difficult to compare. If Xu Ziling, who never liked to blow his conch sh.e.l.l, dared to ‘utter wild ravings’, naturally relying on his superior eyesight, he was able to see that Diao Ang would not last more than three strokes under Kou Zhong’s hands.

The elder brother of the Two Malevolent of Changbai Mountain, the ‘Long-handled Axe’ Fu Zhen, who was well aware that Kou and Xu were able to produce marvelous skill and strange moves in innumerable succession – rushed forward in front of Li Yuanji and shouted coldly, “Diao Xiong, don’t be confused with his words, just have a free hand in attacking the enemy to seize victory.”

Diao Ang’s confidence already suffered setback, now it was weakened thirty-percent more, knowing that Fu Zhen, who had fought against the enemy, was not optimistic about this three-move bet.

On Li Yuanji’s side, everybody’s eyes lost their l.u.s.ter; they all felt that under the circ.u.mstances, Xu Ziling’s light, offhand remark, has put a lot of pressure on them that their many-men-with-flourishing-momentum was unable to lift up.

However, clearly they could not change the situation. Could it be that they need to pull Diao Ang back and have someone else to fight, or perhaps, disregarding their face, the entire crowd would attack together?

The fact was that their reinforcement was rushing over from everywhere, Li Yuanji would be more than happy to stall for time. However, staring blankly at the man from his side being humiliated was just too upsetting!

This moment, Kou Zhong had already stepped forward and stopped loftily about a zhang in front of Diao Ang. Giggling, he said, “How should I address Xiongtai?”

Diao Ang groaned inwardly, knowing that if he could not withstand the opponent’s three saber strikes, he did not need to mingle around the Li Family anymore. Rousing his own spirit, he shouted, “Diao Ang of Longxi Pai, asking to experience Shao Shuai’s saber technique!”

Suddenly his saber moved to sweep across Kou Zhong.

A renowned expert making his move, indeed it was not an ordinary move. Not only the power was sufficient, the angle was tricky. The most particular aspect was that the willow leaf saber’s elegant and swift characteristics were displayed to extreme saturation. There was softness in the midst of hard, and changes produced in the midst of soft, the momentum was difficult to fathom.

However, compared to Yun Shuai’s crescent moon saber, the difference was like heaven and earth, cloud and mud.

Kou Zhong slightly swayed aside, as if he was flashing to the left, but also looked like he was about to move to the right, so much so that the impression was that he was about to retreat swiftly, but suddenly he was already at Diao Ang’s left side, missing the opponent’s swift and fierce saber strike by a fraction of a hairsbreadth.

Diao Ang was about to seize this opportunity to pursue and attack, when somehow, Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well was suddenly moving to his right and as fast as lightning chopped down on his head.

The Fu brothers’ countenance immediately changed. They saw how both in terms of saber technique and shenfa, Kou Zhong was even more outstanding than before; how could their hearts not turn timid and cold?

Diao Ang’s soul flew away and scattered. He sidestepped and swiftly retreated, while sweeping his saber again with all his might.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud; his feet moved in strange footwork, unexpectedly he changed from offense to defense.

‘Clang!’ he blocked the willow leaf saber.

While Diao Ang was at a loss of what to do, the two sabers clashed; a burst of energy completely deflected his saber force. It was a feeling more bitter than if he was unable to block the opponent’s saber force. He only felt that his own strength was bursting out like tidal waves, making him unable to maintain his stance, sending him tumbling down.

When everybody on Li Yuanji’s side was crying inwardly for the situation that has turned from bad to worse, Kou Zhong sent his power into his saber and made a twist; Diao Ang’s willow leaf saber immediately left his hand and flew up into the air while spinning continuously.

Lightly and effortlessly Kou Zhong knocked Diao Ang’s, who was tumbling down, shoulder with the hilt of his saber, seemingly very gentle and without any power, yet the latter was immediately thrown aside for about a zhang like a kit with cut string, and finally fell to the ground without being able to rise again, stirring up a cloud of dust around him.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud. Without casting even half a glance toward Diao Ang, he returned the saber into its scabbard. With his hands behind his back, he faced Li Yuanji, whose countenance, which was unsightly to begin with, has become even more unsightly. Shaking his head, he said with a sigh, “Ling Shao overestimated him too much!”

Two men pounced forward from Li Yuanji’s side, using iron chain clamped onto a cudgel and awl spear, respectively, to attack Kou Zhong.

These two were martial art masters under Li Yuanji’s command; they knew that if they failed to recover a little bit of face on Li Yuanji’s behalf, they would be done for.

The willow leaf saber, which was falling from the air, had just landed about five chi in front of Kou Zhong. Kou Zhong strode forward; poking with his left foot he hit the willow leaf saber’s hilt, the willow leaf saber turned into a rainbow. Following a dark-colored natural curvature, it shot up from the ground, as fast as lightning, unfathomably swift and fierce like a marvel.

At the same time, Kou Zhong launched the Sudden Strike from the ‘Eight Methods of the Well’, the man and the saber fused into one, becoming a streak of yellow light, swiftly meeting the two men. It was so strange that even brilliant masters of the opposite side like Li Yuanji and Li Nantian could not even tell which one was the real target of Kou Zhong’s attack.

An indescribable feeling welled up in Xu Ziling’s heart, knowing that ever since Kou Zhong had the opportunity to peek into the secret of the saber way of Heavenly Saber Song Que, and then going through study and practice these past few days, his saber technique finally made an all-around breakthrough, reaching the realm of great mastery.

It happened so fast that even the eyes were unable to keep up. ‘Qiang! Qiang!’ two rings exploded like a string of pearls, two martial art masters of the Li Family, one was. .h.i.t on the thigh by the saber that he screamed miserably and fell back, the other one was even more unbearable; he was. .h.i.t twice by Kou Zhong’s saber. He was hacked that his body and his clamped cudgel were lifted off the ground and thrown away, and landed in the middle of Li Yuanji’s troop formation, seriously injured.

In the blink of an eye, the enemy had three persons wounded in defeat. Such military success, n.o.body could even begin to expect.

Kou Zhong’s murderous intent flared out, he walked straight toward the enemy ranks, the enormous-without-equal saber qi intimidated the enemy from a distance. Throwing his head back, he let out a long laughter and said, “Who wants to kill me? Give me all you got!”

Li Yuanji roared angrily; waving his hand, he tossed his outer robe aside, revealing tight warrior outfit wrapping his st.u.r.dy body. Holding his spear across his chest, he said, “I don’t need any help!”

Finished speaking, he strode forward carrying his spear to meet Kou Zhong, until he was only a zhang and a half in front of Kou Zhong, and proudly said, “Kou Xiong’s name is indeed not in vain. This spear of Yuanji is called ‘Splitting Horse’; it is made of black [or mysterious] iron undergoing numerous tempering process, weighing a hundred and twenty catties. The front part of the spear body has blood repellant; even if it pierces Kou Xiong’s body, it will be difficult for Kou Xiong’s blood to flow along the spear, so it won’t stain my hands.”

The divine light in Kou Zhong’s eyes was flashing, he fixed his gaze without blinking on Li Yuanji, whose aggressiveness soared to the sky. An elegant smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, a hint of tiny, barely discernible smile – grew into colorful, brilliant-like-the-sun smile, as he shook his head and said with a sigh, “Qi w.a.n.g is willing to give me, Kou Zhong, such convenience, I am extremely grateful. Please!”

Li Nantian, Qin Wutong, and everybody else behind Li Yuanji, none did not show nervous expression. Although they had full confidence in Li Yuanji, his opponent this time was the running-amuck-around-the-world, no-one-can-withstand Shao Shuai, Kou Zhong. Leaving the crowd, Li Yuanji taking the risk of stepping out alone to attack him, they would be lying if they said they were not worried.

Tuli and Xu Ziling, on the other hand, cheered inwardly. This was a one-in-a-thousand-year golden opportunity to injure, or even strike dead, Li Yuanji; Kou Zhong could not possibly miss it.

But Li Yuanji was not a fool. After witnessing Kou Zhong’s saber technique yet he still dared to challenge him in one-on-one duel, he must have real skill under his hands.

This battle was like an arrow on the bow; the momentum must be released.

Li Yuanji had his own calculation. As soon as he received the information about Kou Zhong, three men, he guessed that Kou Zhong wanted to turn from pa.s.sive to active, by testing their ability to meet a contingency; therefore, although he failed to a.s.semble the strongest force, he still rushed over immediately, in case the three men slipped away, and then it would be very difficult to intercept them again.

But if he could hold Kou Zhong, three men in this place, he could wait for the reinforcement troops’ arrival, and then even if the opposite side grew wings, it would be hard for them to fly away.

In that moment, Li Yuanji focused his attention; he discharged all the distracting thoughts from his mind, without anything else in his heart, his spear stabbed forward as he took the initiative to attack.

Kou Zhong was already waiting; he wanted to test the fantastic skill of deflecting-force, borrowing-energy that he and Xu Ziling developed the previous night. He speculated that by using this marvelous skill, he would be able to seize the initiative. And then by relying on the Eight Methods of the Well, even if Li Yuanji was exceptionally talented, he would be caught off-guard, so that even if he did not die, he would be seriously injured.

He would never dare to belittle Li Yuanji, simply because knowing how formidable Li Shimin was, he could surmise that Li Yuanji, who was acclaimed to be a martial art master more outstanding than his older brothers, was not easy to deal with.

However, it was not until he fought Li Yuanji for real, while he was in close proximity to experience Li Yuanji’s spear attack, that he knew the extent of Li Yuanji’s formidability.

The spear turned around again, it rotated slowly at first, and then it moved faster. The hands that held the spear appeared to be maintaining the momentum and angle of the spear. When the heavy iron spear, which was equipped with blood repellant, was stabbing halfway, it became like a roll of violent wind. A stream of energy in the shape of a vortex was blanketing Kou Zhong from a distance.

The most terrifying thing was that Li Yuanji’s spear did not attack in a straight line at all; instead, it looked like an arc, following a certain trajectory in the air that corresponded with the curvature of the earth, circling around toward Kou Zhong. Just like Kou Zhong’s own remark, it was a hundred times more difficult to block compared to an attack following a straight line.

In just a quick glance Kou Zhong knew that deflecting-force, borrowing-energy on this kind of fantastic, as well as bold and powerful without equal spear technique was no more than a fool’s dream, so much so that he even hesitated whether he ought to block the spear directly.

Xu Ziling and Tuli, who were watching with rapt attention, were emotionally moved. Tuli, who himself was a spear-user, was even more severely shaken. He had never expected that Li Yuanji would have this kind of startling-the-heaven-and-the-earth, terrifying-demons-and-deities – exceptional spear technique.

Kou Zhong moved back swiftly, while at the same time pulling the Moon in the Well from his back. It poked forward at an angle, from bottom to top.

Li Yuanji roared, all the hair on his body stood on its end; his entire being appeared to become extremely mighty. From the impossible situation, the Splitting Horse Spear turned into defensive and loosened up, as it missed the saber blade dangerously close. And then it changed again from another angle, spinning continuously as it attacked Kou Zhong.

Even with Kou Zhong’s guts, he could not help shivering inwardly.

When his poke missed the tip of the opponent’s spear, the feeling was really uncomfortable; it was the kind of helpless feeling where the acc.u.mulated qi power in his entire body had nowhere to go. Fortunately he was adept in controlling the true qi within his body; otherwise he would have vomited blood and received internal injury.

The Splitting Horse Spear attacked from the right, the qi power splitting the air.

Kou Zhong’s thought that this time it was no longer how to kill the enemy and score a victory, but how to preserve his own little life first. He waited until the sharp tip pa.s.sed by a little before attempting to find a gap to launch a counterattack.

In other words, under Li Yuanji’s hard, violent-without-equal, powerful-strike and solid-attack spear technique, his originally rainbow-like momentum suffered serious setbacks.

The strange light in Li Yuanji’s eyes flared out, a clear sign that he was circulating his true qi to its peak, as he was striving to do his best to kill the enemy within several spear moves. “The spear can change in a bizarre way; Kou Xiong, what do you think?” he shouted coldly.

‘Dang!’

Kou Zhong’s saber cut across. The instant the spear tip was about to touch his body, he flashed sideways to evade, while at the same time, without missing a fraction, he accurately hit the point of the spear, controlling the tip so that the entire spear could only turn once and was unable to spin anymore. A stream of spiraling energy penetrated the spear in opposite direction of the rotating Splitting Horse Spear and invaded in.

It was only now did Xu Ziling breath a sigh of relief on Kou Zhong’s behalf. Only he could see clearly that Kou Zhong nearly failed and was almost wiped over the floor. The crucial point was whether Kou Zhong could chop the opponent’s spear tip, which was also the point where the two combatants doggedly pitted themselves against each other.

If Kou Zhong could not break this spear strike, Li Yuanji would be able to unleash the full capability of his spear technique, and he would not stop until Kou Zhong nursed a grievance under the spear. No one could change this situation.

Unless Xu Ziling and Tuli disregarded Jianghu rules and made their move, in which case the other side would not sit idly by either.

Li Yuanji’s entire body was severely shaken; he retreated as fast as lightning. With both hands he grabbed the body of the spear tightly. The dreadful vortex of energy finally stopped.

Kou Zhong was also jolted by the qi power of the spear tip striking back at him that he staggered backward, hence it was difficult for him to seize the opportunity to pursue and attack.

The two combatants stared at each other as they returned to their original faceoff position. But the expression on their faces was like they had just seen each other for the first time.

Grinning, Kou Zhong said, “Qi w.a.n.g’s spear technique has already reached the acme of perfection. Able to meet an opponent like Qi w.a.n.g, it was indeed the blessing of three lifetimes for Xiaodi.”

Prince Qi, Li Yuanji haughtily said, “Even with lotus flower tongue, it will still be difficult for you to escape the misfortune of being defeated and perishing. But you were able to break my spear strike, you could be considered as having a real skill. Watch the spear!”

The two-word ‘watch the spear’ [kan qiang] barely left his mouth, the Splitting Horse Spear exploded into spear shadows filling the air, covering the sky, as it pounced on Kou Zhong.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Qi w.a.n.g is tired! Unexpectedly you can no longer use the spinning spear technique.”

Launching the Sudden Strike of the ‘Eight Methods of the Well’, suddenly man and saber became one, becoming a streak of yellow light, striking at the deepest and tightest point of the spear shadows.

The sun had just sunk behind the western hills, the heaven and the earth was dark and hazy, cold wind blew, increasing the bitterness of the battle. Men and horses from both sides watch the battle holding their breath, calming their qi. There was no one else in such a big relay station; it has turned into a cold and cheerless place.

Other than Xu Ziling, no one else present understood Kou Zhong’s remark. Just now his vortex of energy, which was spinning in the opposite direction of the spear, invaded Li Yuanji’s Splitting Horse Spear. Because it was the first time that Li Yuanji encountered such a vortex of energy, he was caught unprepared. Although he made an effort to strengthen his defense, it was extremely strenuous, so much so that it was possible that he suffered internal injury, and thus it was difficult for him to repeat the same trick.

‘Bang!’

Qi power clashed. The spear shadow filling the air dispersed like light smoke blown away by the wind. While Qin Wutong and the others were on edge, they saw Kou Zhong’s saber moved like the wind, pursuing the fighting and retreating Li Yuanji with a chain of saber strikes. Momentarily the air was filled with the sound of swishing spear, while the saber wind whooshing continuously.

On the surface it appeared that Li Yuanji had fallen into a disadvantageous position, and that he was scampering away under Kou Zhong’s attack all around him. Only Kou Zhong knew that the opponent’s defense was as tight as a city protected by a wall of metal and a moat of boiling water, so that Kou Zhong was unable to gain any advantage.

Once he showed any weakness or slackened his offense to defense, the opponent would immediately strike back, and if that happened, it would be extremely difficult to withstand.

Li Yuanji’s formidability was greatly beyond his expectation.

Just as the battle became more intense, suddenly they heard the sound of hoof beats rapidly coming near.