Book 16 Chapter 3 – Inescapable Net
‘Whoosh!’
The sound of bowstring.
At first it sounded like the whistle of just one powerful bow, but it was actually four bows shooting together. Because they were shooting simultaneously, it sounded as if it was only one bow.
From the top of four multistory buildings towering on both sides of the bridgeheads, like flashes of lightning four powerful arrows shot down at an angle over a distance of more than a hundred zhang, the moment Wanwan’s tender shout was still lingering in their ears, toward the two men’s backs and chests, so that they were practically surrounded by the arrows.
‘Dang! Dang! Dang! Dang!’
Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan brandished their saber waving their sword, while standing back-to-back, knocking down the four flying arrows attacking them from the front and behind.
The saber and sword clashed with the arrows, creating sharp ringing noise reverberating along the more than a hundred thirty steps long Tianjin Bridge spanning across the Luo River.
The four arrows ricocheted and flew down into River Luo.
Kou Zhong felt the palm of his hand went numb; in shock, he said to Ba Fenghan, whose back was sticking to his back, “Who are these people? How come their archery skill is this formidable? And there are four of them.”
With grave expression Ba Fenghan kept his gaze fixed on Wanwan’s face, whose jade countenance hid a delighted expression; he replied in low voice, “If I am not mistaken, they ought to be the ‘Iron Arrow Guardian’ under Tiele King, considered top martial art masters of Tiele. I never thought that they would come to the Central Plains.”
Kou Zhong shivered in fear inwardly. The two blocked the arrows while standing on the ground, and it was already very hard; wouldn’t it be a lot more dangerous if they were shot while soaring high in the air? If the opponent only had one person, they could evade the arrow by rapidly taking a breath in the air, the skill bestowed by the Jade Annulus of He Clan. But under four arrows shot together, and the opponents were top-level experts, whether they could block all four, was certainly a big question mark.
Laughing tenderly, Wanwan said, “These four arrows were just a greeting, a gift to you for your first meeting. The real show is coming.”
A long laughter came from some distance away, from the other side of the bridgehead where Wanwan was standing.
Kou Zhong turned his head to look at that direction, and saw one man and one woman flashed by from across the bridgehead. The first one had flying hook hanging on his waist, a bit eccentric; he was Bi Xuan’s direct disciple Tuoba Yu.
Standing by his side was the pretty Chunyu Wei; on her waist hung a slightly curved saber, which Tujue people love to use, most suitable to attack the enemy from horseback. The expression on her face looked like she was angry, yet she was not exactly angry, it was more like a helpless look, as she gazed faintly at Kou Zhong.
Tuoba Yu bowed respectfully with clasped hands toward Kou Zhong first; he smiled and said, “This time we join hands with others in dealing with Kou Xiong, it is really because we have no alternative. Last time in Xiangyang Xiaodi was trying to persuade kindly: do not go with this thief Ba Fenghan; too bad Kou Xiong turned a deaf ear. But Xiaodi still think fondly of our friendship, and to this day I have not interfered. If Kou Xiong leaves immediately now, Xiaodi and Shimei are definitely not going to stop you.”
Kou Zhong sighed inwardly. Although this Tuoba Yu’s appearance was weird, he was definitely not a scoundrel [orig. bad egg]; on the contrary, he was quite charming. Now that they had no choice but to face each other in life or death battle, thinking about it made his heart ached. Dejectedly he said, “Tuoba Xiong joins hands with Yin Gui Pai, whose evil reputation spread far and wide, aren’t you afraid of harming your revered master’s name?”
Chunyu Wei’s pretty eyebrows knitted tightly; displeased, she reproached him, “How could you swallow ancient learning without digesting it? We came to the Central Plains, our main purpose is to capture this Ba thief and bring him back to Tujue; whether we want to do anything else, it depends on our mood. Ba thief is most repulsive, each time we intercept him, he desperately escaped, nearly infuriate me to death!”
What else could Kou Zhong say? With him and Xu Ziling as companions, Tuoba Yu’s party basically could not anything to Ba Fenghan. The only way was to join hands with powerful sect like Yin Gui Pai, only then would they have the chance to accomplish their mission.
Standing behind Kou Zhong, Ba Fenghan softly said, “I was mistaken! The archers on top of the four multistory buildings are not Tiele’s ‘Iron Arrow Guardian’, but Tujue martial art masters who have received Bi Xuan’s personal instruction.”
Immediately Kou Zhong’s countenance changed. “How many are they?” he asked in heavy voice.
This time, accompanying Tuoba Yu, martial brother and sister to the Central Plains were the ‘Eighteen White Horse Riders’, who were trained personally by Bi Xuan, specializing in group-war siege technique; every one of them was dauntless beyond human comprehension. Therefore, even with his overbearing character, each time Ba Fenghan came across them, there was only one method he could use: flee to the wilderness.
But after repeated battle, Ba Fenghan managed to kill and injure some of the Eighteen White Horse Riders, hence Kou Zhong’s question.
Smiling ruefully, Ba Fenghan replied, “Should be twelve master archers, rather than four.”
Kou Zhong’s tiger body shook. Now he understood why Wanwan was confident that they could not slip away.
If the other archers were as formidable as the four that just shot the arrows, as soon as they flew to the air, they would become the fat goose, the target of these hunters’ arrow. He could not help regretting running up to the Tianjin Bridge.
This was definitely a carefully laid trap.
From their angle of view looking up, they could not see the situation on top of the buildings, while they were plainly visible to the enemies. The advantages and the disadvantages of their situation need not be mentioned.
Moreover, they also saw two big ships moored along the embankments on the left and right of the Bridge, and these ships did not seem to have any good intention.
Ba Fenghan continued, “Why do they seem to stall for time?”
Kou Zhong’s countenance changed again. He had a faint feeling in his heart that the situation at hand was not as simple as it appeared on the surface; i.e. the enemy did not simply want to kill them for some kind of revenge.
On both sides of the Bridge, the lanterns were suddenly lighted; the originally dark ships suddenly had more than a dozen lanterns on their bows lighted at the same time.
As the two men glanced down, they could not help sucking in a mouthful of cold air. They knew that this time, unless the gods and spirits were looking down on them, or perhaps Ning Daoqi, Shi Feixuan and the others appeared together to help them, they could forget about leaving this place alive.
Both ships started to leave the bank, moving toward the middle of the River. These ships, along with Tuoba Yu, martial brother and sister, and Wanwan, separately standing on the north and south bridgeheads, plus the twelve White Horse Riders on top of the four multistory buildings around the Bridge, formed an inescapable net with the two men right in the middle.
※ ※ ※
By this time Xu Ziling was hiding near River Luo dike west of Tianjin Bridge, watching a dozen or so strong men on the shore pulling ship’s mooring rope to bring the ship to the middle of the river.
As an ‘outsider’, he was able to see the situation more clearly than Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan. Looking at the enemy’s arrangement, he knew that their main purpose was to prevent the two from escaping by way of the river.
But it was also the only escape route.
Thinking to this point, without hesitation he quietly slipped into the river.
※ ※ ※
On the lookout deck of both ships there were more than a dozen people, either standing or sitting, all their eyes were staring coldly at Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong, who were fully illuminated by the lanterns on the ships, just like they were watching a monkey show.
On the bow, other than men raising high the lanterns in their hands, there were also more than a dozen strong men with bows and arrows, adopting a stance that showed that they would never let the two men escape.
Under similar situation, even with the addition of Tujue master archers on top of the buildings, perhaps they still could not do much to Ba and Kou, two men.
But since there were other martial art masters like Wanwan on the side, if they wanted to break the siege and escape, these archers on top of four buildings all around plus the ones on the ships on either side of the Bridge would pose a deadly threat to them.
No matter which way they choose, the only ‘barely available’ escape route was either the north or south bridgehead.
‘Thud!’
From the lookout deck of the big ship on the west came the dull thud of a staff striking down the floor; everybody’s ears were immediately buzzing.
You Chuhong, who was acclaimed as the number one martial art master of the Dugu Clan, was sitting on an imperial tutor chair on the deck. The bright rays of light from her eyes shot across the approximately six zhang of river toward the two men standing on the Bridge. Knocking the jasper staff in her right hand on the floor, she let out a shrill, filled with thick guttural laugh like a screeching owl, first, let out a dry cough, and finally spoke in her hoarse, cold voice, “Where’s Xiao Ba [i.e. Dugu Ba]? Did you two play a trick on him?”
Behind her stood more than a dozen people, men and women, tall and short; the most eye-catching was the beautiful Dugu Feng [phoenix]. The only other one that Kou Zhong knew was Dugu Ce. They were all smartly dressed; apparently these were the top martial art masters of the Dugu Clan.
Merely these people would be more than enough to deal with the two.
On the other ship opposite the Dugu Clan’s ship were Tujue people under the leadership of Tuli. Their number was no more than ten. But every single one of them had eyes like lightning. Evidently they were all martial art masters. But not a single one was woman. Naturally Ba Dai’er was not among them.
Ever since Tuoba Yu and Chunyu Wei made their appearance, the two already guessed that the ‘Tornado’ Tuli could not be too far behind.
Among the men with him, there were two that Kou Zhong recognized: the ‘Twin Spears General’ Yan Lihui and the ‘Dauntless Lion’ Mu Tiexiong. In the past these two conspired with Li Mi and Zu Junyan by kidnapping Zhai Jiao, and then in an abandoned village they plotted against Zhai Rang, which resulted in Zhai Rang suffering disaster, which eventually killed him. [See Book 3 Chapter 2]
This moment, Tuli’s eyes were shining with delight; laughing aloud, he said, “Lao Furen [old madam], there’s no need to be worried; as soon as we capture these two kids, having them kowtow to you and cry out to their Niang can be accomplished in just one word.”
Standing on the Bridge, Kou Zhong drew a mouthful of cold air; he whispered to Ba Fenghan, who was standing behind him, “Looks like this is the Tiele conspiracy that kid Fu Qian was talking about.”
Before he finished speaking, from Wanwan’s side came the sound of rustling sleeves; four people swiftly came over, the leader was surprisingly the ‘Eagle’ Qu Ao, behind him were his three disciples, Changshu Mou, Hua Lingzi and Genggehu’er.
The four of them stopped and stood behind Wanwan; cold and silent, acting as if they would definitely gobble the two men.
Now, in the air, on the ground, on the river, all escape routes have been sealed tight, a heavenly trap earthly net that even if they grew wings they still could not escape.
Only then did the two realized that the enemies actually represented four powerful factions, who had joined hands made secret agreement earlier to deal with the three of them. Fu Junyu’s rescue was simply the trigger that led to the current situation.
Since leaving Ren En’s nest earlier, their movements have already fallen under the enemy’s watch. As soon as the enemy knew that they were heading toward the Tianjin Bridge, they mobilized men and horses from all sides, determined to intercept them at this transportation hub with roads open in all directions.
And now finally they managed to force the two into a corner. Other than fighting with all their might to the death, there was no other possibility. This was beyond their imagination.
Wanwan’s pained and hazy beautiful eyes shot complicated expression; she sighed faintly and said, “Nujia no longer has any business here, ladies and gentlemen, brilliant Seniors, please do as you see fit! Nujia has something important I have to deal with.”
Tuli saluted and said, “Miss Wan, please do as you wish. When we have the opportunity later, I hope to know Miss Wan better.”
Just by looking at his expression, they knew that he was deeply moved by Wanwan’s beauty.
As a matter of fact, all the men present, none did not look bewitched by her.
Wanwan gazed deeply at Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong, and then sighed again and said, “Ba Xiong, Kou Xiong, please take a good care of yourselves!”
She disappeared in a flash.
Although the two knew that she was going to hunt and attack Xu Ziling, they were powerless to even defend themselves, hence they could only stare blankly as she left.
Qu Ao took three steps forward, and stopped where Wanwan was standing a moment ago. Pulling up the hem of his robe, he tied it with his belt, and then throwing his head back in hearty laughter, he said, “For every grievance someone is responsible, for every debt there is a debtor. Today let me, Qu Ao, clear and purify the hatred of you killing my son. Kou Zhong, let laofu [old man] see, other than running away, what skill do you have?”
Kou Zhong turned around from behind Ba Fenghan’s back. Patting the Moon in the Well on his back, he laughed aloud and said, “Old man Qu surely has guts. I only want to know, if fighting one-on-one you are not my match, will others come out to bail you out?”
Tuli on his right burst out laughing and said, “What an ignorant fellow indeed. Death is near at hand, yet still dare to speak conceited nonsense. Qu Dashi [great master], please make your move immediately, let me see if his blade is really as hard as his mouth.”
By only these few words it could be seen that Tuli was extremely shrewd. Because if he let Qu Ao answer himself, based on his rank, how could he let others to intervene? And if that happened, it would certainly be bad. As long as Kou Zhong was able to fight until both sides suffer, it would be a problem for anyone else to intervene or to help. Yet Tuli’s remark also took Qu Ao’s face into consideration, while blocking Kou Zhong’s further remark at the same time. It was just a perfect diversion.
Standing behind Qu Ao, Changshu Mou laughed complacently and said, “I don’t know if Kou Xiong is really muddleheaded or pretend to be muddleheaded. How could this time be an ordinary duel in accordance with outmoded Jianghu conventions? Two renxiong are crafty villains who deserve punishment to the death from everybody here; there is no need to use any etiquette and rules toward you.”
Although he was speaking with a hint of smile on his face, anybody could hear the deep resentment he had toward the two, so deep that all the water from three rivers and five lakes would not be able to wash it clean.
Kou Zhong laughed calmly. First, he cast a glance toward Ba Fenghan, whose expression was cold and stiff like a rock, and then he swept his gaze around the numerous powerful enemies surrounding them in siege so tight that even water could not leak through, and finally his eyes landed on Qu Ao. He said in astonishment, “Didn’t Qu Dashi have a duel appointment with that kid with dragon beard at zi hour? What time is it now? You must not be delayed due to injury or maybe even death, otherwise uninformed people might think that Qu Dashi is afraid of the duel!”
Everybody, including You Chuhong, secretly admired Kou Zhong’s guts. If it were other people, under this kind of circumstance, where he had become the target of a multitude of arrows, fully aware that it would be difficult to escape disaster, who could be like him, not only remaining calm and composed, his mouth was still very sharp, and acted as if he was immensely proud of himself?
Qu Ao was, after all, a grand master of a reputable school; at this critical moment before the battle, facing the opponent’s frigid irony and scorching satire, he did not get angry. Leisurely pressing forward, he smiled and said, “To take care of you, do I need half a sichen? Make your move!”
Relentless momentum immediately burst out from his body.
Kou Zhong’s spine bent slightly, his eyes ablaze with strange light; it was focused on Qu Ao, just like a leopard watching its prey approaching.
In the sky the moon and the stars compete with each other in showing off their splendor. The River Luo under the Bridge continued to flow. In this originally beautiful, bright and clear night, thick cloud of battle was looming over the Tianjin Bridge, spanning across the River Luo, connecting the north and south parts of the Eastern Capital.
The battle could happen any moment.
※ ※ ※
Xu Ziling stayed close to the riverbed right underneath the big ship of the Dugu Clan; he hesitated.
With martial art masters of You Chuhong and Dugu Feng’s caliber on board, as soon as he pressed his hand on the hull of the ship and exerted his power, he might provoke the opponents’ alertness, much less boring a hole on the bottom of the ship.
But he had no other choice.
He held out both palms and pressed them on the bottom of the ship; his ocean of qi continuously amassing true qi.
At the bottom of his heart, he was a bit nervous. Although true qi and palm power were oftentimes described as sharper than saber blade, whether it could be really used to cut just like using saber, especially when the object to be cut was as solid as the hull of a ship, still remained to be seen.
After all these years of studying meticulously, combined with training painstakingly, he had reached the level where he could send out and retract his true qi at will; strong or weak, fast or slow, even the way of sending out his power, spiraling or turning to certain direction, he could control it freely according to his heart’s wish.
But he had never thought about controlling his true qi so that as it was being sent out, it would have a firm, yet supple and sharp, character.
During a battle with the enemy, he could rely on the changes of his fingertips, fists, and palms, to implement the true qi according to circumstances, but still had not tried sending out his true power in different form.
With his current level of cultivation, it was not a difficult thing to forcibly shock the hull of the ship to create a big hole, or perhaps using the tip of his palm to bore through the bottom of the ship. But by doing this, he would definitely not able to conceal his presence from the top martial art masters on board the ship.
And if that happened, his magic trick would not be effective anymore.
By this time his body was already full with explosive energy. Xu Ziling fiercely clenched his teeth, and let out a spiraling energy.
Originally his qi power flowed out of his palms rapidly and was yang and hard in nature, but now he changed it to unhurried, yin and soft. The force covered an area about six chi radius on the hull, with his palms at its center.
Unexpectedly the center responded to his palm; the hull sank, without creating disintegrating-wood sound.
Even Xu Ziling did not expect this to happen. Subconsciously his fingers stretched out toward the depressed part and jabbed into the hull. His fingers went straight into the wood, as if it was soft cookie dough.
Xu Ziling himself jumped in fright; he did not expect his internal energy to be this formidable.
He pulled his fingers out, leaving deep holes in the shape of his fingers. But since the hull was quite thick, it has not been penetrated yet.
He was just about to add a bit more power, when he suddenly discovered that on the depressed part, the wood was dissolving layer by layer.
While he was cheering inwardly, suddenly the alarm went off in his heart.
Ripples of waves came; obviously there was some kind of human activity under water.
Xu Ziling shivered inwardly.
He was being very careful; could it be that his presence has been detected by the enemy?
※ ※ ※
Although Kou Zhong was putting on a carefree, fearless act, without moving his lips too much, he asked Ba Fenghan, who was standing behind him to the left, leaning against the railing, “Which direction?”
Naturally Ba Fenghan understood what he meant, but he could only respond with a wry smile.
The enemy’s power was really too strong. The only way out was to break the siege and escape. But choosing which direction they were going to run away was the most difficult decision they had to make.
On the surface, Tuoba Yu, martial brother and sister, who were guarding the southern bridgehead, were the weakest. But quite possibly it was a trap.
Ba Fenghan cast his gaze toward one of the multistory buildings; he saw a shadow flashing backward. “River Luo!” he answered in heavy voice.
Kou Zhong nodded to indicate he understood.
‘Qiang!’
The Moon in the Well left its scabbard, and dashed toward Qu Ao, standing about three zhang away.
This moment, Ba Fenghan also shouted coldly, “Qu Ao, since when did you become Tujue people’s running dog [orig. hawk and hound]?”
Even with his experience, Qu Ao was still startled by this extremely sarcastic remark; his momentum was immediately weakened by twenty percent.
It should be noted that the Tujues were powerful, while the Tieles were weak; hence Tiele people acknowledged allegiance to the Tujues; it was a reasonable and fair matter. Yet because Ba Fenghan brought up Qu Ao’s association with the Tujues, his momentum appeared to be diminished.
Without waiting for anybody to respond, Ba Fenghan (although he started later, he arrived first) darted past Kou Zhong. The Beheading Mystery Sword, with the ten-thousand-catty thunderbolt momentum, hacked down on Qu Ao.
Angry shouts rose up all around. The enemies rushed over one after another trying to help. Ba Fenghan was only playing a trick, yet the entire situation was changed.
The more chaotic it was, the greater their chances of survival.
※ ※ ※
Looking at the situation unfolding before his eyes, Xu Ziling’s scalp went numb, while inwardly he cried, ‘Lucky!’
As it turned out, the enemy was setting up two large net full with barbs inside the river on the left and right under the Tianjin Bridge, floating about half a chi below the surface. If Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan jumped into the river, it would be strange indeed if they were not captured alive.
Realizing there was no time to lose, from the bottom of the river Xu Ziling swam past the hidden net covering the water.