Still with his hands behind his back, Yuwen Huaji stood at his original spot. Standing behind him, tall and short, were eight martial art masters, his personal bodyguards. They appeared to be the elite figures, the inner circle of the Yuwen Clan.

Fu Junqiang still chose guerilla-war technique; she flew from the top of the palace hall among the corridors and wooded areas to control large number of enemies, the dead bodies she killed were everywhere, the postures of the corpses were fantastic oddities of every description, some corpses were even hanging on the trees. It is thus clear how desperate the battle was. But obviously her attack on Yuwen Huaji just now did not return any merit.

This Gaoli beauty’s body also suffered multiple injuries. The situation was not optimistic at all.

Yuwen Huaji personally, by way of bugle horn, conducted the operation to surround and block the four persons.

The three men flew up to the top of the palace hall, and met again on the roof. Immediately another situation emerged. By the time the enemies from everywhere frantically pursued and attacked, the three also moved out to meet the enemy head-on. Automatically they formed a triangular battle formation. Because there was no fear of trouble in the rear, the three were able to have a free hand in facing the enemies attacking violently from the front, killing them that dead bodies were strewn all over the roof, flesh and blood splashing, dyeing the snow on the roof of the palace hall red with fresh blood, including the blood from their own wounds, old and new.

‘Dang!’

Kou Zhong sent out a swift saber chop. The snow-covered top of the palace hall was slippery and did not provide any traction. Although the attacker was a martial art master among the enemies, his martial art skill was outstanding, he was barely able to block Kou Zhong’s saber strike, but the soles of his feet was not obedient, hence he slipped down the slope of the roof, and fell onto the ground.

Suddenly there was no enemy on the roof, leaving only shocking-the-eye, astonishing-the-heart bloodstains, as well as few dozen dead bodies strewn along the roof ridge and rood edges.

Bugle horn sounded again. Following the order, the soon-to-be-scattered enemies once again laid out a defense on the public square between the main palace hall and the hall where Yuwen Huaji was standing. The number of men was greatly reduced to about a hundred men.

The square was nearly forty ­zhang wide; to kill Yuwen Huaji, one must break through this barrier first.

Yuwen Huaji indeed had rigorous schemes and deep foresight; seeing the turn of events was not too encouraging, he immediately changed strategy. To the Wei Army, the s.p.a.cious and open wide square was definitely greatly beneficial to regroup just like during the training.

Under the snowflakes swirling in the air, the sound of clashing weapons of the fierce battle between Fu Junqiang and the troops pursuing and attacking her was still coming from a distance place that they were unable to see behind the palace hall where Yuwen Huaji was standing, a clear sign that momentarily she would not be able to pose any threat toward Yuwen Huaji on this side.

The torches were burning in the public square, illuminating the plaza as bright as day, while also heightening the somber and desolate situation of the Wei Imperial Palace under the frigid wind and bitter snow.

Standing on the back of the roof, Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai looked into the distance at the decisiveness with which Yuwen Huaji was conducting the operation; they were groaning inwardly.

It was clear that Yuwen Huaji was carrying out a delaying tactic, waiting for the Wei Army guarding outside the city wall to be transferred back. If there were two or three thousand more men in here, they could forget about getting away.

The three also knew that they had brought suffering to themselves. By killing their way to this place, particularly the fierce battle during which they were charging up to the top of the palace hall, they had added more than a dozen cuts on their bodies. Although these were all skin and flesh injuries, but it still adversely affected their strength greatly. Gradually their true energy consumption was accelerating, forcing them to regulate their breathing to recover their qi. For the time being they simply could not launch their second round of violent attack.

Even more unfavorable was that after killing and injuring nearly seventy martial art masters of the enemy’s side, their acute spirit gradually disappeared; from the bottom of their hearts, there appeared the compa.s.sion, as well as weariness after killing people, which substantially weakened their will to fight. If the battle continued, in order to save their own life, they would not have the time to have this kind of feeling instead.

This moment the b.l.o.o.d.y battle was stopped somewhat; in their physical and mental fatigue, were it not for their blazing hatred supporting them, perhaps they would have broken the siege and run away early on, and given up the ma.s.sacre.

Suddenly a figure came to Yuwen Huaji’s side and spoke in low voice. Immediately Yuwen Huaji’s countenance changed. After listening to some orders, the man submitting the report left immediately.

Kou Zhong’s heart was moved, he shouted, “Yuwen Huaji, is it the Tang Army’s solders at the city walls, so that you are unable to transfer your men back to defend your dog’s life?”

Immediately the Wei Army in troop formation at the square was abuzz; evidently Kou Zhong’s remark has stirred up the troops’ heart.

Yuwen Huaji let out a string of laughter with a hint of desolation inside; he thundered, “Even if I, Yuwen Huaji, am going to die, I will pull you along to be buried with me. Release the arrows!”

The more than twenty archers at the front of Wei Army formation put their arrows on the bow; the tw.a.n.ging of the bows rang out continuously, arrows and darts filled the sky, piercing the rain of snow, shooting toward them.

Kou Zhong rushed forward, the Moon in the Well turned into ten thousand streaks of yellow light, single-handedly he blocked the powerful arrows shooting in. Were it not for the arrows were concentrated, that is, they were shot only from the front, even with Kou Zhong’s ability, he would not be able to display such an eight-sides prowess.

From the back, Hou Xibai spoke in low voice, “We’ll circle around and attack from the back, their troop disposition will collapse.”

Xu Ziling had his gaze fixed on Yuwen Huaji, who was standing on the other palace hall’s roof, across the public square, without letting any micro changes on his expression slip by; he spoke heavily, “That is precisely what he wants us to do, so that he could slip away to the city wall outside.”

Hou Xibai’s pair of eyes lit up, he said, “I have a way to beat him at his own way; if I am guessing correctly, Yuwen Huaji will leave together with Wei Furen. Ziling understands my wish and kindness?”

Kou Zhong retreated to the other two, he spoke in low voice, “Let’s seize the victory!”

Just before the second round of arrows and darts were released, the three somersaulted down the palace hall roof and pounced on the enemy ranks. They were just like the rock on the surface of flowing water; immediately they stirred up the waves of war. The archers at the front row separated to the left and right, the more than a dozen axe-and-shield-wielders from behind rushed forward to attack, holding the shield on their left hand and axe on their right, a.s.sisted by twenty spear- and lance-wielders, using the ten-thousand-jun-thunderbolt momentum closing in toward the three men.

By this time the three already had deep understanding of the battle formation’s formidable power. Each one of these axes weighed no less than a hundred catty, their blades flickered brightly; if they got hacked, no matter how formidable the true qi protecting their body was, due to the direct shock, there was no way that they would suffer only skin-deep injury.

Furthermore, because their long shield thoroughly protected their neck, chest, abdomen, and the vital point on the lower part of their body [orig. yin – genitalia], they were able to focus their power to attack the enemy. Combined with the spear- and lance-wielders’ offensive, their destructive power was doubled. One long, the other short, whether it was close-distance combat or long-distance attack, they occupied the ultimate superiority.

Kou Zhong took the first position to rush out; the person following the saber, the saber turning into yellow light, like a streak of violent lightning it arced down into the middle of the enemy ranks, producing a loud ‘Dang!’ shaking the entire palace, like the sound of the death knell announcing the demise of the Yuwen Clan.

The iron shields disintegrated, the enemy’s big axes flew off their hands, and they tumbled backwards. By the time the two lance-wielders on his left and right found out that they had lost the shield protection, before they had any chance to raise their lances in counterattack, Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well already slashed the side of their neck, sending them into their instant death.

This fierce and severe, hard-to-believe saber technique immediately chilled the enemy’s guts; upon self-inspection by putting themselves in other people’s shoes, they knew that they would also end up stricken and dead.

Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well flared out in hundreds and thousands rays of light again, forcing the attacking spear-, lance- and saber- and axe-wielders away. Letting out a long laughter, he said, “I know who is coming! It’s Dou Jiande! Am I right? Huangshang [Your majesty the emperor]!”

The enemy ranks burst into another uproar; unexpectedly they withdrew some more, not only they were intimidated by Kou Zhong’s direct attack, but they were disturbed by Kou Zhong’s words.

Kou Zhong also retreated to Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai’s side. ‘Qiang!’ the Moon in the Well returned to its scabbard. Kou Zhong’s pair of eyes shot two streaks of lightning as he gazed at Yuwen Huaji standing on top of the palace hall across the battle formation on the public square.

Xu Ziling shouted coldly, “Yuwen Huaji, what kind of character are you? Rather than waiting for Dou Jiande to kill you, why don’t you take the chance to see if you could kill us? You could even seize the opportunity to escape. But you only know how to send your men to throw away their lives for you. You are really despicable.”

Hou Xibai was also a man of similarly above average ability and wisdom, he immediately understood the two boys were carrying out psychological tactics, striving to disturb Yuwen Huaji’s men’s fighting spirit. Greedy for life, afraid of death was human nature; just how many people can really put life and death outside the sphere of their consideration?

As long as they were able to affect half of the men here, not only they might be able to kill Yuwen Huaji, they might also be able to easily escape afterwards. Just now Kou Zhong charging into the enemy ranks and opening up a gap appeared to be effortless, but in reality Kou Zhong had to pay a great price, which was considerable wear and tear to his true energy.

Under current circ.u.mstances, if Kou Zhong was asked to simply repeat his feat three more times, it would be guaranteed that he would drop down in exhaustion. Since they could not win by force, it’s only natural that they must outsmart the enemy.

Thinking to this point, Hou Xibai opened up his Fan of Beauty, and casually fanned Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling on his left and right sides. In this bitter snow and intensely cold night, his action appeared to be absolutely absurd; but Hou Xibai was doing it so naturally and elegantly, without the slightest bit of pretense. He sighed and said, “There is only one explanation on why Huangshang does not make his move personally, which is Dou Jiande’s soldiers are at the city walls, since Huangshang can retreat from Weixian, naturally you also can withdraw from Xucheng to other places to evade. Therefore, as long as Huangshang has your men entangling us, Huangshang can take the opportunity to slip away.”

These words were even more formidable; it had enough power to wake up the Wei Army, to remind them not to be Yuwen Huaji’s scapegoat.

Kou Zhong thundered, “Wei State has fallen, you haven’t run for your life?”

His voice echoed over the Wei Palace.

Snowflakes sprinkled down on the Wei Army in the square, everyone was as dumb as wooden chicken, the crow and peac.o.c.k made no sound. Even after Kou Zhong’s voice disappeared, it still echoed in every single one of their hearts.

The harsh light in Yuwen Huaji’s pair of eyes flared greatly, ‘Pei!’ he spat in fury, and roared, “You have the cheek to mislead the public with rumors, to disturb my soldiers’ heart. The day I, Yuwen Huaji, am still here, the Great Wei has not perished.”

With equal harshness, Xu Ziling said, “Why did Huangshang call yourself ‘I’ and not ‘Zhen’? Could it be that you no longer dare to shamelessly declare yourself a lone way [not sure]?”

Yuwen Huaji was nearly at a loss for words. Presently, among the hegemons of all sides who had some weight [i.e. importance], it was he who had the most difficulty in declaring himself the Emperor; the reason was because after murdering his superior, Emperor Yang, he always suffered defeat in battle, while his breathing s.p.a.ce, just to be able to survive – was shrinking day by day.

In the Battle of Liangdu, unexpectedly the two feather-head kids that he disdained as beneath contempt before managed to return in low spirits following a failure to achieve their ambitions [idiom], so that he even lost Yuwen Chengdu and Yuwen Wudi, two lives, which led to a fallout with his uncle, Yuwen Shang. The latter led his troops to leave him, vowing to find Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling to settle the account, which caused his strength to weaken one step further. And now finally the sun was setting over the western hills [idiom: the end of an era], he had reached the stage where he was only prolonging his remaining breath; how could he still have the face to call himself the emperor?

Staring blankly into the distance, he forced himself to squeeze out a confident smile, as he snorted coldly and said, “I don’t have time to talk nonsense with you. Charge!”

Kou Zhong roared like a clap of thunder on the plain; immediately he overwhelmed the Wei Army, which did not know whether they should fight or run for their lives. Even Yuwen Huaji also felt that the turn of events was not too encouraging; he knew that his troops’ heart had been swayed by the opponent, hence they did not immediately carry out the order that he issued.

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “Gentlemen, please listen to Xiaodi: Dou Jiande’s soldiers at the city walls is definitely true, hence your brothers guarding the city walls cannot spare time to come and help you. Between me and …”

Seeing the deteriorating situation, Yuwen Huaji roared wildly and said, “Don’t let him poison your mind, even if there’s enemy coming to attack, we can still get rid of these men first before facing the enemy. Attack!”

His men and personal bodyguards your eyes look at my eyes, but no one moved.

Since Weixian was taken by the Tang Army, the troops’ morale has been sinking to its lowest point, and now with his own mouth Yuwen Huaji admitted that Dou Army was coming to attack. The Wei State, which barely remained in Xucheng, was sandwiched with enemies on both sides; any pa.s.ser-by would be able to see its ending, there was no more hope.

All the warriors at the very front of the battle formation had seen Kou Zhong’s prowess just now when he decimated three men of their side in one move; who would dare to be the first to attack?

The torches made crackling noise, the snowflakes fluttered in the air, more than a hundred men in battle formation, their qi deflated, stood blankly in awkward silence.

The sound of fighting between Fu Junqiang and the pursuing troops was still coming intermittently from the distance behind the palace hall where Yuwen Huaji was standing.

“Who dares to disobey Huangshang’s order?” one of the imperial bodyguards by Yuwen Huaji’s side shouted sternly.

Finally the front row of the Wei Army started to move, slowly advancing toward the three. Their expression showed that they were unwilling, yet they had no choice.

This moment, if there was one person to be the first to desert, it could be guaranteed that the entire battle formation would scatter like a swarm of bees; yet clearly there was no such opening.

In this critical moment when the battle clouds were rising again, ‘Dong! Dong! Dong …!’ urgent and powerful battle drums shook the heavens from the direction of the northern part of the city, striking straight into the bottom of everybody’s heart.

The barely moving Wei Army stopped immediately; everybody looked at each other in dismay.

The sound of drum stopped.

‘Dong! Dong! Dong!’

The battle drum arose again. This time it came from the distant place east of the city.

Kou Zhong raised his arms and shouted loudly, “You haven’t slipped away quickly? Your father and mother, wife and child are at home, waiting for you!”

Xu Ziling also shouted, “Great Wei is no more, our business with Yuwen Huaji will be settled only in accordance with Jianghu rules.”

No one knew who started it, but when the drums from the west shook the heavens, only the last group of personal guards who were loyal to Yuwen Huaji remained in the square, everybody else dispersed in confusion; they were gone completely.

The strange thing was that they did not see Fu Junqiang appearing; the three had no time to think about her, since Yuwen Huaji, leading the eight martial art masters, his personal guards – was already jumping down from the roof. Vicious light shot out of his pair of eyes, obviously he was really angry. No longer cared about anything else, good or bad, he wanted to kill the three at all cost.

By the time Yuwen Huaji was only about three zhang away from them, Kou Zhong said with a laugh, “There’s one thing that I nearly forget to tell you: a moment ago outside the city, we saw your esteemed younger brother Yuwen Shiji, leading more than two hundred men, leaving to the west first, before taking a detour to the north. I thought he was acting on your behalf to make peace and surrender to Dou Jiande. But now I am starting to realize that he is going to betray you.”

Finally Yuwen Huaji’s countenance changed; now he knew how the Emperor Yang felt when the people were rebelling and friends deserting. He shouted loudly, “Stop talking nonsense. Everybody here is willing to abandon his head and spill his blood for me, Yuwen Huaji.”

Eight major martial art masters and personal guards shouted at the same time, together as one, determined to fight to the death.

Since Fu Junchuo’s death, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had been waiting for this opportunity, how could they suppress the overflowing-to-the-sky hatred in their heart? They rushed at the same time to attack the enemy under Yuwen Huaji’s leadership together.

Hou Xibai opened up his folding fan, but he did not follow the two boys into the battle arena, instead, he circled around to the enemy’s behind, and launched a pincer attack from the back, so it became an even greater threat.

Throwing away all misgivings, Yuwen Huaji shattered the dragon robe he was wearing into pieces, exposing the skin-tight black warrior outfit inside, and his thin and straight formidable build. Both hands opened up, he stepped in mysterious footwork, and sent out palm strike without any sign of fear to meet the two boys head-on. Laughing nastily, he said, “Let’s see if you have the qualifications to take my life?”

‘Bang! Bang!’

Three men, like three streaks of lightning – clashed together. Yuwen Huaji’s body was greatly shaken. Although he was able to block the two boys’ offensives, he could not withstand two boys’ combined, irresistible power. Were it not for the two boys’ true energy has been depleted, merely this contact would have sent Yuwen Huaji vomiting blood and suffering internal injury. But now it could only shock Yuwen Huaji, sending him staggering and tumbling backward.

The eight major martial art masters and personal guards divided themselves into two groups of four men each, one group attacked Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, blocking them from seizing the opportunity to attack, and the other group turned around to attack Hou Xibai, in order to avoid falling into the disadvantageous position where they had enemies in front and behind them.

Inwardly Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling shivered greatly; after experiencing Yuwen Huaji’s Mysterious Ice Energy, they knew why it was worthy to be called the Yuwen Clan’s unique skill to subdue the clan [before you ask, this is what the text says鎮閥絕活]. Even with the two joining hands, killing him would require a hard work.

The four men coming at them, not a single one was not a genuine martial art master. One of them was a middle-aged man with long beard wielding a spear; his move was fierce and severe, his power deep. His spear swiftly stabbed Kou Zhong, carrying cold and raw power with strong gust of wind, enough to terrify people. Another man used his sword to slash across Kou Zhong’s waist from the side. His sword also created a gust of wind, fast like lightning flashes. His coordination with the middle-aged spear-wielder was like seamless heavenly clothes.

Kou Zhong was well aware that this was the crucial point to determine success or failure. If, before Yuwen Huaji recovered his qi, he failed to take care of these two martial art masters, not only he might lose the opportunity to kill Yuwen Huaji, most likely the three of them would be the side that was defeated and dispersed.

The two men attacking Xu Ziling, one used a hook and the other used saber. They both looked to be around thirty, the Taiyang acupoint on their temples was high and bulging, their skill was supported by una.s.sailable footwork, full of energy.

Xu Ziling had the same idea as Kou Zhong’s; he understood the importance of grasping the fortunate timing. Unexpectedly he somersaulted over the two enemies’ head, his left and right hands simultaneously launched the Treasured Vase Image, transforming complexity into simplicity, forcefully shocking the enemy.

Kou Zhong’s left hand cut out, he blocked the sharp sword slashing horizontally head-on, while his right hand’s wrist shook powerfully, the Moon in the Well turned into yellow light, it swiftly hit and lifted the enemy’s spear.

While Yuwen Huaji was still unable to maintain his stance as he was tumbling backward, Hou Xibai kept pressing forward, carrying out the guerilla tactic, luring the four martial art masters pursuing and attacking him away from the battle arena.

The battle for revenge was finally pulling its curtain up.