Book 12 Chapter 3 – Tiele Eagle
Astonished, the three men stood up. As soon as they were able to see what it was, they were all stunned.
Under the moonlight high above their heads, they saw that it was a small boat with pointy bow and stern. There was a bamboo pole stuck in the middle of the boat, and there was an octagonal palace-style lantern hanging from the pole. But other than these, the boat was totally empty; not even half a shadow of ghost was seen.
The strangest thing was that the boat seemed to be driven by somebody swimming underwater, because even sailing through the winding river, around the most dangerous sharp bend, it was sailing smoothly, and was still moving toward them; it was extremely creepy.
Blowing out a mouthful of cold air, Kou Zhong said, “This is called the non-spirit don’t do along with ugly spirit. The outcome of this is definitely not something we can hold in our hands.”
Staring at the empty boat, which was still around three hundred chi away, Xu Ziling spoke in heavy voice, “There must be someone steering the boat underwater, why haven’t you thought of a way to evade?”
Reaching out to grab the oar, Ba Fenghan said with a cold laugh, “I don’t care who he is, I, Ba Fenghan, don’t believe in ghost. I want to see what kind of trick he is going to play.”
This moment Kou Zhong steered their boat toward the left bank; who would have thought that as if it had eyes, the empty boat immediately changed its course as well, still sailing swiftly straight toward them.
Sweeping the bank with his gaze, Kou Zhong said, “There must be an ambush on the shore. If we get separated, we’ll meet again at Luoyang.”
The strange boat was only about sixty chi away, and still rapidly approaching.
Ba Fenghan shouted, he threw the oar in his hand with all his might.
The two boys fixed their gaze at the flying oar. Like a streak of lightning the oar flew across the twenty chi distance, very close to the water surface. The water split, cutting about a chi deep groove on the water, like a big white water dragon shooting toward the small boat. It was an amazing use of strength, which made people gasp in amazement.
Xu Ziling grabbed the other oar and moved back to the stern, where he plunged the oar into the water. Their boat immediately sped up; if the opponent hid on one side of the boat, they would seize the opportunity to crash onto it.
Under the three men’s six eyes’ gaze, the empty boat sped faster than the oar Ba Fenghan threw, chi by chi, cun by cun, the distance was diminishing constantly. The empty boat did not show any sign that it was going to evade the collision.
‘Bang!’
The oar and the bow of the boat collided and exploded into splinters of wood filling the whole sky; evidently the energy Ba Fenghan was using was the hard, rigid type.
The water splashed into the boat.
The three immediately felt something was not right.
It was too easy.
Right this moment, the three felt strange sensation on their feet.
“Enemy below the boat!” Kou Zhong roared.
Ba Fenghan laughed aloud. He gathered his entire strength and concentrated it at the soles of his feet. The boat suddenly slid about a zhang sideways.
‘Bang!’
A column of water rose up more than twenty zhang into the air from the original position of the boat, and then the water rained down again.
Having a clear grasp of the enemy’s position underwater, Xu Ziling threw the oar with a spiraling energy into the water.
With both palms Kou Zhong struck the surface of the water behind the boat, splashing the water everywhere. Propelled by the reaction force, the boat flew swiftly upstream like a runaway horse on the plain, and in an instant it passed the empty boat, which, by this time, was sinking down, leaving the smashed up palace-lantern above the water, scattering the flames floating on the surface of the water; it was such an extremely strange scene.
All three men’s eyes were focused on the spot where the enemy was supposed to be hiding, yet they did not hear any noise of the oar hitting the enemy, while the boat continued sliding rapidly away.
They felt strange sensation on their feet again.
Kou Zhong roared wildly. The Moon in the Well left its scabbard hanging on his back. Leaping off the stern, his saber hacked down into the water; he went so deep that even his arm entered the river.
Underwater, the Moon in The Well went sideways and collided with the oar, creating a dull thud as the two streams of energy clashed.
It was the most vulnerable point, where the saber had just collided with the head of the oar.
‘Bang!’
As if he was struck by lightning, Kou Zhong’s entire body was jolted backward. Hastily he seized the chance to somersault twice, returning to the boat. Even after his feet touched a solid surface, he still staggered two steps backward. After taking a deep breath to suppress his churning qi and blood, with changed countenance he said, “Who is it?”
Underwater, the oar made a few turns before disappearing down into the river.
Ba Fenghan drew his Beheading Mystery sword. Returning to his calm demeanor in facing the enemy, he smiled and said, “We’ll find out soon!”
Before he even finished speaking, a streak of dark shadow shot out from the water about ten zhang away, carrying water with it that water droplets filled the whole sky, like a shooting star it flew toward their boat along the surface of the river. Such speed seemed to be beyond physical limitation.
Although the three men knew the enemy would pursue them, they were still unprepared mentally to see this kind of speed with this kind of astonishing power.
Before they even had any chance to see clearly the enemy’s appearance, a powerful, unequalled force pressed down violently. Tens of millions dots of energy, as sharp as knives, following the strong wind, attacked the three men; chopping, piercing, cutting and slashing silvery droplets stormed in that they were powerless to guard against it.
It the first time that the three encountered this kind of internal energy,
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong shouted at the same time. One sword and one saber filled the air with a net of sharp lights, just like opening up an umbrella, to meet the attack from above.
Xu Ziling lowered his torso in a horse stance and sent his punch upward; a burst of vortex of qi shot out from the only hole in the center of the virtual net created by the sword and the saber, straight toward the enemy.
The man had his back to the moon, so that his back was suffused with the golden light from above, while the front part of his body was kept in the dark, giving the impression that he was in an indescribable state between the good and the evil.
‘Boom!’
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong staggered back and fell, the protecting net dissipated.
While blocking the opponent’s monstrous-without-equal storm, although the two managed to jolt his powerful qi back, like a needle concealed in silk floss, the enemy’s droplets of qi flowed via the sword and the saber to penetrate the two men’s body. In shock they hastily circulate their internal energy to neutralize it.
Such a strange internal energy, they had never encountered it before.
The man was about to launch the second round of attack when Xu Ziling’s vortex of energy arrived.
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong’s combined assault, which managed to jolt him back, was definitely not a small matter. Although the enemy was formidable, it was quite strenuous for him to cope. And now that a vortex of energy arrived, he did not dare to be careless, and thus was forced to change his offense into defense. His palm met Xu Ziling’s blade-sharp vortex of qi.
‘Boom!’
The vortex of qi dispersed.
The man let out a stifled grunt and flew toward the shore.
‘Thump!’
Xu Ziling fell sitting down on the deck, while spurting out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong had just diffused the droplets of energy invading their body; promptly four palms moved together to strike the water surface behind the boat. While the water splashed, the bow of the boat rose up to the air, the keel cut the waves as the boat flew against the current.
As if by prior agreement, all three of them cast their gaze toward the terrifying, overpowering enemy.
The man landed on a large rock by the river. Turning around, with his hands behind his back, he threw his head back and laughed loudly, “The hero of youth, no wonder you can make Laofu [old man] suffer the pain of losing my son. Qu Ao won’t accompany you much longer!”
With eyes opened wide and mouth agape, the three watched Qu Ao’s shadow gradually became smaller and smaller, until finally it disappeared behind a bend in the river.
※ ※ ※
With one hand on the rudder Kou Zhong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, “Turns out it’s him; no wonder people say that his martial art skill approaches Bi Xuan’s!”
Wiping the bloodstain from the corner of his mouth, Xu Ziling stood up and said with a smile, “Since Qu Ao already made his move, Zhu Yuyan can’t be too far behind. Gentlemen, do you have any suggestion?”
Ba Fenghan slowly returned his sword into its scabbard. “This is inevitable. Other that ‘the troops arrive we fight, the water arrive we build earthen embankment’, what else can we do?” he said proudly.
But Kou Zhong sat down and shook his head, “If we only flaunt reckless courage, I have no doubt that we will die tonight. We have ‘multitude enemies, few friends’ [an idiom from Mencius], plus among the enemies, there are at least three, four people who could defeat us easily. This is called ‘know yourself, know your enemy’ [idiom from Suntzu].”
Ba Fenghan was dumbstruck and unable to reply. He pondered silently that in terms of resourcefulness and the ability to act differently under different situations, he was no match to these two boys.
Standing erect at the bow of the boat, Xu Ziling stared fixedly ahead, while circulating his qi and regulating his breathing. The river breeze blew that his clothes were fluttering in the wind. There was a calm, magnificent, proud-and-aloof-above-the-crowd, moving charisma surrounding him. Remaining tranquil and calm, he said, “The reason Qu Ao was able to intercept us a moment ago must be that as soon as he received the information about us, because of his eagerness to avenge the death of his son, he immediately rushed over to act alone, leaving the rest behind.”
Letting out a cold snort, Ba Fenghan said, “I am sure that when we appeared to snatch the boat, the female demon Bai saw that from her hiding place; therefore, she immediately dispatched flying pigeon or similar method to send information to Qu Ao and the others.”
Kou Zhong joined in, “Therefore, if we abandon the boat and go ashore right now, the enemy will momentarily lose our track. Plus we are turning the table, from being in the light, we are now in the dark, so that we will be able to seize the initiative.”
Obtaining tacit understanding, the three looked at each other, and then sent out their strength to their feet at the same time.
The boat immediately disintegrated and slowly sank into the river.
The tree soared into the air and flew toward the dark forest at the right bank of the river. An instant later they disappeared without any trace.
The river returned to its tranquil condition. The surface of the water flickered with the reflection of the bright moonlight.
Not long afterwards a big ship sailed swiftly along the river, its hull pushed the waves over the place where the boat sank, as the ship continued its voyage downstream.
Chapter 3 - Part 2
After passing through the sparse forest reaching to about fifty li beyond the shore, they saw ahead of them a range of hill extended as far as their eyes could see, practically blocking their way.
Naturally the three men were not scared of high mountain at all, on the contrary, they felt that the hills could screen their path; therefore, they ran even faster.
Running next to Xu Ziling, Kou Zhong asked in concern, “Did Qu Ao’s palm injure you? Do you want to take a rest? We’ll have a good his mother’s night rest.”
Shaking his head, Xu Ziling replied, “That palm is nothing; it only injured my inner organs and blood vessels. After throwing out blood, I felt better already. Once I be able to circulate my internal energy to heal the wound, I will recover about 70, 80%. It’s a trivial thing.”
Ba Fenghan, who was running ahead of them, was touched; he said, “The brotherly love between the two of you is indeed something that nobody can match. In my opinion, only Xu Xiong could make Kou Zhong delay his plan of rushing toward Luoyang at top speed; am I right?”
Kou Zhong shook his head, “Wong!” he said, “I, Kou Zhong, value yiqi above everything else. If you, Old Ba, were the one who is injured, I would do the same to you, because now we are comrade-in-arms who will go life and death battle together.”
Ba Fenghan did not slow down; after a moment of silence, he suggested, “How about we call each other by name? It sure beats calling Xiong this and Di that [older and younger brother, respectively] like addressing outsiders.”
Xu Ziling gladly replied, “In that case, just call me Ziling, we’ll call you Fenghan. That would be a lot more amiable!”
Kou Zhong frowned deeply; he said, “My name only has one character, Old Ba can’t simply call me ‘Zhong’; that would be so unpleasant to the ears!”
Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling could not help feeling amused; the former laughed and said, “In that case I’ll call you Zhong Shao, you can still call me Old Ba, because I am several years older that you are anyway.”
Kou Zhong was greatly delighted. The three were chatting and laughing. The prairie under their feet appeared to be flowing backward like a tide. Very soon they arrived at the foot of the hills. They stopped and looked up to admire the mountain.
It was not a particularly high mountain, but it rose steeply like a wall, extending straight up for hundreds of zhang. Even qinggong expert like them had to groan at the prospect of climbing such a mountain.
While they were about to walk along the foot of the mountain to find a good spot from which they could climb, Xu Ziling found the entrance to a gorge. Shouting to attract the others’ attention, he rushed ahead toward it.
Upon reaching the entrance, he saw that someone had carved three big characters on the left wall some distance away from the ground, ‘Tian Cheng Xia’ [Heavenly City Walls Gorge]; the strokes had the grandeur of a dragon or a snake.
Xu Ziling led the way into the gorge. They noticed on both sides the cliff wall was steep and smooth, as if it was cut with a knife. The path extended about half a li. The farther north they went, the narrower the path became, until at the northernmost end the path was so narrow that only one person could pass through; it was indeed an inaccessible stronghold.
After they were out of the gorge, Kou Zhong sighed and said, “If we could lure the enemy to enter this gorge, our one hundred hidden troops would be able to wipe out the opponent’s tens of thousands of powerful army division. It can clearly be seen that failing to understand the geography, the war will be lost for sure.”
Meanwhile the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon. Ahead were endless rolling hills, bathed in the pale morning mist, brimming with an indescribable natural beauty, filling their heart with unspeakable yearning.
Pointing to a big mountain spanning several dozen li over the plains on their left, Ba Fenghan said, “That mountain is called Yintan Mountain [lit. hidden pool]. Beyond that mountain is Xiangcheng [county, Henan]. Luoyang is about a hundred li north of that city, I have been there once before, the scenery is quite beautiful.”
Xu Ziling said, “We should have been thrown the enemies off by now; if I were they, nowadays I would have no choice but to set up a road block south of Luoyang to intercept us. Therefore, while we are forging on, we might want to travel in a large circle to enter Luoyang from the other three directions. It’s just that by doing this, we will have to spend several more days.”
Kou Zhong spoke resolutely, “We will go to Yintan Mountai first, take a rest for a while, and when the night falls we will go straight to Luoyang; let’s see what they can do to us.”
By nature, Ba Fenghan was an aggressive man; he laughed cheerfully and said, “Now that’s a real man’s conduct. Come on!” Without waiting for the others he took the lead by dashing out first.
※ ※ ※
A sichen later, the three penetrated deeply into the mountains.
Only now did Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling understand why this mountain was called ‘Hidden Pool’. Turns out in the depths of the peaks vying to be the most beautiful against each other, due to the topography of the mountain, the springs formed more than a dozen pools, big and small, becoming a chain of clear, pure water streams numbering in hundreds or even thousands.
The highest pool was located at a flat peak, where the gathering water formed a lake. Around the lake pine and cypress grew in abundance, painting a quiet and secluded scenery.
More amazing was the cliff between pools was like a standing screen, with caves and ravines everywhere, collecting water full to their brims, and flowed out swiftly that they became flying springs, adding unlimited liveliness to the serenity of the Yintan Mountain.
In such a good place where the birds congregated and the beasts took their shelter, the three felt their spirit was greatly roused, and their exhaustion seemed to be washed away.
Following their original plan, they climbed to the highest pond and waited quietly for nightfall.
Without the slightest hesitation all three of them bathed in the pool. After picking up wild fruits to eat, Xu Ziling found a secluded place to heal his internal injuries, which were not completely recovered yet.
Kou and Ba, two people, climbed to a peak in the north to scout their surroundings. They looked as far as their eyes could see to the north, and were overwhelmed with the vastness of the heaven and the earth, and felt their heart and mind were as vast as the wide open space.
Looking down from this angle, range upon range of emerald mountains and tens of thousands peaks as far as their eyes could see. Outside the mountains fields and farms scattered around, about a dozen villages were nestled among the forests.
Pointing to a big city, which was built next to a long river that flowed across the big earth, in the distance, Ba Fenghan said, “That is Xiangcheng, the river is Ru Shui. Left of Xiangcheng is a mountain called Mount Ji, a very majestic-looking mountain.”
Kou Zhong blew out the heroic emotion and the pride bubbling out in his heart, like a halberd his finger pointed to the north and said, “And north of that is the Eastern Capital Luoyang. Whether I, Kou Zhong, am a dragon or a snake, I will have to go there to see how I will conduct myself.”
Ba Fenghan laughed aloud and said, “This world belongs to people with lofty aspirations. Me and you, Zhong Shao, are people unwilling to accept the ordinary. Only this way life will have more variations and be more colorful. In Wulin history, Luoyang has never been like its present day situation, where dragons and snakes mingle, becoming the hub where those who have their eyes on the world gather. Whoever can capture Luoyang will be able to have the convenience of advancing in any directions. However, this moment Zhong Shao has neither troops nor generals under your command, how can you compete against those warlords vying for supremacy?”
Having a card up his sleeve, Kou Zhong smiled and said, “My biggest advantage right now is precisely that my strength is completely invisible, but has been secretly manipulating the development of the situation of the world. As for the details, for the time being it is really hard to explain.”
Ba Fenghan was well aware that Kou Zhong would never confide his secret to him. Smiling, he said, “Just by listening to Zhong Shao expressing your confidence, I know that you already have a plan in your heart. Ha! Come to think about it, this is quite interesting. If anyone could see us standing right here right now, who would think that one is an unbeaten-throughout-history fighter to the throne of the emperor, the other is clambering toward the pinnacle of the martial art way.”
Kou Zhong suddenly asked, “Legend has it that whoever obtain the Jade Annulus of He Clan will obtain the world. I wonder if you, Old Ba, have any comment on this matter.”
Scoffing, Ba Fenghan said, “Only stupid men and foolish women would believe such thing. But there’s always the other side of the story. Precisely because there are a lot of stupid men and foolish women who believe this rumor firmly without any doubt, plus the Jade Annulus of He Clan was indeed the seal of the past dynasties emperor, and its origin is mysterious beyond understanding; therefore, whoever can obtain it must have multitude power to rally supporters, and enormous strength and capital to contend for the world. This fact must not be ignored.”
Kou Zhong sighed in admiration, “Talking with you, Old Ba, is indeed a pleasure. That was precisely the reason I wanted to obtain the Jade Annulus of He Clan.”
Ba Fenghan said, “I usually do not have any interest of such treasure, only this Jade Annulus of He Clan can affect my mind, like it can broaden my horizons. But if this jade annulus is in Ning Daoqi’s hands, our chance of ever coming across this Jade Annulus of He Clan is next to nothing.”
“The speculation circulating in Wulin is that Ning Daoqi may come to Luoyang to personally hand over this Jade Annulus of He Clan to Ci Hang Jing Zhai [see Book 1 Chapter 7] representative Shi Feixuan [see Book 8 Chapter 5]; do you think this might be just some busybody’s plain fabricated rumor?” Kou Zhong asked.
Hearing the name Shi Feixuan, Ba Fenghan’s spirited eyes brightened; he spoke in heavy voice, “In my opinion, this is absolutely true, and it was originated by Ning Daoqi and Ci Hang Jing Zhai themselves to drum up the interest of the future true master.”
“What?” Kou Zhong blurted out.
Ba Fenghan smiled and said, “Zhong Shao can’t think of this thing, all because you don’t understand Ci Hang Jing Zhai’s relationship with the political atmosphere of the world. Since the Earthly Nun founded Ci Hang Jing Zhai, the peaceful monastery [jing zhai] has become the supreme representative of the righteous [orig. white way] of the Wulin world, both the religious and seculars [orig. out/withdraw from and enter the world]. From the religious side, there rarely has any disciple treading the Jianghu, so they won’t be drawn into any dispute, and thus maintaining their aloof attitude.”
After a short pause, he continued, “From the secular side, they tried to maintain control over the strongest among the devil cults Yin Gui Pai from the distant, not to let them come out to cause any wind and rain, and bring harm to mankind. However, in case they encountered the whole country in rebellion, the peaceful monastery would make an attempt to assist the rightful emperor ordained by heaven that will benefit tens of thousands of people, and thus turning the world from chaos to order.”
Kou Zhong was greatly astonished, “Old Ba, how did you know about such a secret like the back of your palm?” he asked in amazement.
Ba Fenghan replied indifferently, “I headed off to the east to the Central Plains this time, other than it’s a necessary step in my cultivation, it was also because of my admiration to your distinguished country’s civilization that goes back to the dim and distant past; therefore, I pay particular attention to this kind of time-honored sacred place like Ci Hang Jing Zhai, so I know a little more than average person.”
“I rarely hear you speak with such modesty,” Kou Zhong said in surprise.
Ba Fenghan laughed involuntarily and said, “You and I are merely people who grope in the dark to find our ideals, if we are not a bit modest, how can we make any progress? Hey! How about me going out to hunt some wild animals for our dinner? That way when we rush into Luoyang, we will do so with enough vitality.”
Kou Zhong roared in laughter and said, “Conversing with a gentleman, the benefit I, Kou Zhong, reap is indeed not shallow, so I should be the one who goes to hunt for our dinner.”
Ba Fenghan burst out laughing and said, “I was just thinking of getting away on my own to think in peace and quiet! I’ll see you later.”
Finished speaking, he flashed away and disappeared from the peak.