Three men were crouching inside the forest at the eastern edge of the hilly region, looking into the distance at Huyan Jin’s camp. Under the sunlight, one side of the camp facing the sun was dyed red with the rose-tinted color of sunset, while the other side was casting lines of long shadow on the prairie. There was some kind of hard-to-describe poignant beauty, yet it also appeared particularly tender. Only it’s a pity that the owners of this camp regarded killing and looting as nothing out of the ordinary [orig. simple home-style meal], horse thieves who obliterated humanity.
Kou Zhong’s mood was cheerful due to Ba Fenghan had died but came back to life, his power exhausted but was recovered; moreover, he recovered his self confidence. Smiling, he said, “The camp only had four, five hundred men. The rest must be toiling-the-army, moving-the-crowd, treading around the grassland – looking for us. Really ridiculous to the extreme.”
Sidestepping the issue, Ba Fenghan spoke indifferently, “I lost! Ha! I finally tasted real defeat.”
Xu Ziling smiled and said, “Without this defeat, you will never beat Bi Xuan. This man’s martial art skill is really high, it already reaches snatching-the-heaven-and-the-earth, ascending-to-the-great-heights realm. Although each of the three of us has the power to stake it all, ultimately we will undoubtedly lose, and that is the final conclusion. Remember that time Qu Ao nearly seized your life, but that was precisely the turning point where you were able to defeat Qu Ao. Qu Ao’s mistake made him unable to kill you. Bi Xuan will make the same mistake.”
Ba Fenghan sighed and said, “The taste of dying and coming back to life is profoundly unforgettable. Now I can put life and death outside the Way, because I have seen death’s true identity. Because of Huan Ri Da Fa, now my old martial art foundation has evolved into a new gongfa, which I call ‘Tou Tian Da Fa’ [Great Method of Stealing the Heaven]. Henceforth the Beheading Mystery Sword is also changed to ‘Tou Tian Jian’ [Stealing the Heaven Sword], representing the brand new me.”
Kou Zhong happily said, “Stealing the Heaven is definitely much better than Beheading Mystery. After grabbing the horses back, we must see a couple of moves from you, to see how stealing–the–heaven-and-exchanging–the–sun your sword technique really is.”
Letting out a cold humph, Ba Fenghan said, “Why wait until we retrieved the steeds? When I, Ba Fenghan chop Huyan Jin’s stinky head, you will see for yourself Xiaodi’s new changes.”
Grabbing Ba Fenghan’s shoulders tightly, Kou Zhong excitedly said, “Just by looking at how after suffering a crushing defeat your confidence unexpectedly surpasses your former confidence, I know that LaoGe’s Stealing the Heaven Sword Technique is definitely not a small matter. However, confidence comes back to confidence; if you are eager to excel and force entrance into the camp, you still have to think thrice.”
Smiling, Ba Fenghan said, “Ling Shao, what do you think?”
Shrugging his shoulders, Xu Ziling said, “If we can’t win by force, we must win by wits, transforming the impossibility into possibility; it’s all in the head.”
Kou Zhong cheerfully said, “Since Ling Shao is also in favor of slaughtering the camp, how could Xiaodi not keep you company? In this battle Old Ba is in charge, the two of us will be his lackeys [orig. the foot soldier running before a carriage].”
Ba Fenghan suddenly changed the subject, saying, “When Bi Xuan knows I am not dead, I wonder what kind of blow will his confidence take?”
They were waiting for the night to come in order to raise their chance of success in evading the night guards. They were hiding near the enemy camp; hence they were in an extremely fine mood and had free time to talk about whatever they were interested in.
Xu Ziling said, “Not only he won’t be able to grasp, as well as understand, why you did not die and your power is doubled, potentially you are planting the seed of defeat in his heart. Just like Shi Zhixuan’s Bu Si Yin Fa, which is no longer without any flaw.”
Full of admiration, Kou Zhong said, “Such a penetrating thought. Therefore, we absolutely must keep Old Ba mastering the Tou Tian Da Fa in secret; we can’t let the fourth person know.”
Ba Fenghan said, “Give me a year, I will wipe away this hatred.”
And then, sweeping the camp with his gaze, he said, “Huyan Jin is no longer an ordinary horse thief; rather, because his looting continues to grow, he has turned into armed tribe able to play a critical role in the prairie. Taking advantage of this golden opportunity, we could casually wipe them out, to rid of one big trouble. As long as we can kill Huyan Jin, the men under him will not submit to anybody else, they will definitely be all split up and in pieces. Once they stumble, they will lose the vitality. Other tribes who have suffered enough from their oppression and humiliation might flock together and attack them.”
Kou Zhong’s tiger-eyes flashed with refined light, he asked, “How are we going to make our move?”
Ba Fenghan replied, “If we can find the three horses, Huyan Jin’s commander tent will be nearby. Huyan Jin’s natural disposition is crafty and paranoid; unlike Xieli, he won’t let people find out his tent position in just one glance.”
Xu Ziling felt a headache, “There are more than two hundred tents in here,” he said, “Approximately twenty tents forming one cluster, each cluster is separated by more than a thousand paces of distance, arranged in serpentine battle array, in deep conformance with the art of war. How are we going to find the three horses like panning for gold from the sand, and scout the location of Huyan Jin’s tent at the same time?”
Ba Fenghan smiled and said, “Watch me!” Sucking in some air, he let out an owl hoot-like cry, which spread far into the distance, scaring the two boys that they jumped in fright.
In response, they heard a horse neigh. Looking at the direction of the sound, they saw at the third cluster on the left end, Ba Fenghan’s beloved horse Taklamakan was raising its head high and neighing wildly. Since it was tied among a big flock of warhorses by the camp, if it did not raise its head and neigh, it would be very difficult to find its location.
Very scared and on edge, the two boys looked around. After seeing that the enemy did not care at all, Kou Zhong said, “This move is really formidable. Perhaps even when Huyan Jin arrived at the netherworld, he still did not know how we could find him.”
Xu Ziling nodded in agreement. If they could not find the location of the command tent, relying on their three men’s strength, it was indeed impossible to make their move. But now the entire situation immediately became another matter altogether.
Suddenly Kou Zhong frowned and said, “Huyan Jin hates us to the bone, can he not make the move to leave the camp to personally search for us?”
Ba Fenghan said, “Precisely because he hates us that he must stay here to preserve and nurture his spirit, to give the horses and the men a chance to have a good rest. When his men discover our track, they will send information back using either rocket or homing pigeon, and then he will immediately rush over at full speed. If we rely on our two legs to cross the mountain area without stopping to rest, by the time we reached this side, we ought to be too tired to even move!”
Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “Then let us, three brothers give him an unexpected nice surprise, I guarantee that he will never forget it for the rest of his life.”
The sun finally set, the night enveloped the earth, campfire sprang up everywhere across the camp, the aroma of roasted mutton floated to this side.
Ba Fenghan said, “Taking advantage of the time the enemy is busy eating and drinking, we will use arrow first to eliminate a few small thieves on sentry duty in the surrounding area. But each arrow must take one life, don’t let him make any noise. And then we’ll set the serpentine camp on fire; we’ll throw the burning-red bonfire wood onto the tents, to create chaos as much as possible. We then fish in troubled water by getting rid of Huyan Jin.”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Are you thinking of repeating old tactic?”
Ba Fenghan cheerfully said, “Using penetrating tactic to strike and scatter, using speed to control the slow, only then will the few win. Remember not to be greedy, as long as we snatch the horses back and behead Huyan Jin, then the goal of this battle is accomplished.”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “And you don’t consider that greedy? Let’s go!”
‘Swish!’
The bowstring twanged lightly. Two powerful arrows shot out of the Extinguished Sun and Perished Moon bows, across the grassland, and pierced two enemies’ throat. Without making any noise the two men fell backward in the dark, outside the reach of the campfire.
The three men darted out; unleashing their shenfa, like a phantom they swiftly headed toward the group of tents where Huyan Jin’s tent was located.
Huyan Jin’s horse thieves’ attention was focused on plains’ side, their precaution toward this side was only perfunctory. Furthermore, who could have thought that the three were able to figure out what is true and what is false! And with their guts reaching to the sky, the three even dared to shake their nearly a thousand-man army.
Suddenly Ba Fenghan flitted forward swiftly. By the time the more than twenty horse thieves eating roast lamb by the campfire detected something unusual was happening, the Stealing the Heaven Sword already arrived. Nearly half of the men did not have time to fetch their weapon, tragically they were beheaded by Ba Fenghan, while the rest were attacked by Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling tailing closely behind Ba Fenghan so that their breathing stopped and their bodies perished.
The horse thieves in the camp were beginning to realize that they were under attack; hastily they met the enemy head-on.
Without stopping at all Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan stormed into the camp. Xu Ziling fetched the glowing-red firewood from the campfire, and then, using the flower-rain-filling-the-sky technique he sprinkled it over the enemy camp.
Both Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong, because Huyan Jin snatched their horses away, were having a bellyful of anger; seeing the horse thieves were flocking to meet the enemy, how could they show mercy? They swiftly pounced on them, killing everybody on their way.
“Where’s Huyan Jin?” Kou Zhong shouted sternly, “Get out and receive your death!”
His saber slashed out, fierce and severe without equal, no need to be mentioned, but the most frightening thing was the fully concentrated spiraling energy. The little leader of the bunch, who was first to arrive, was hacked that the person and the saber were lifted up from the ground and were thrown backward, his life perished on the spot.
Ba Fenghan was even more unstoppable than before, the Stealing the Heaven Sword simply swiped the enemy’s shield from below, and conveniently entered the enemy’s chest. On top of that, his leg flew, he kicked the enemy’s dead body to knock down the enemies swarming in from the rear. The enemies coming to help were thrown to the east and fumbling to the west, their troop disposition was in big chaos.
But all of a sudden the front and back, left and right, were ferocious horse thieves, their battle cry shook the heavens, swords and axes met and waited upon them, everybody’s eyes were bloodshot, they would do everything to put these two to death.
Yet Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan remained calm and were unafraid; one saber and one sword, everywhere they went dead bodies filled the ground, dyeing the tender green spring grass red with their blood.
The chain of tents constantly caught fire. Xu Ziling launched another set of tactics; relying on lifting-up technique, one moment he leaped up the top of the tent, and the moment he bounced down, he landed on another bonfire, and kicked the burning wood onto another tent; the next moment he already soared into the air again. The moment chaos started to ensue, he set on the fire everywhere to create more disturbance. He did everything he could to make the enemy could not figure out where he was going to attack, and thus they did not know where to defend.
The flame on the tents that were set on fire earlier were blazing high, emitting great amount of thick smoke, which was carried by the wind, pervading the wide expanse of the prairie where the camp was standing, giving Xu Ziling maximum advantage as he carried out his operation. The destruction he created spread from one end of the long-snake-shaped camp to the other end. Momentarily the people shouting and the horse neighing, the horse thieves some distance away from the command tent thought a large number of enemies were coming to carry out night raids; they rushed about in panic, battered and exhausted.
Although there was a group of men chasing Xu Ziling, but there was no way to stop him.
‘Bang! Bang!’ Two enemies met his fists, spurted blood and fell to the ground.
Xu Ziling flashed toward another campfire. The ember splashed into the night sky like fireworks, and landed on top of the tents all around.
Sometimes the smoke and fire debris were thick, another time were thin, enemy and us difficult to tell. Their entire body blood-soaked, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan killed their way toward the command tent. Although they looked terrifying, most of the blood dyeing their body was actually from the enemies; on themselves, they only had a few skin and flesh wound. Their power was extremely high, plus they knew how to avoid the important and dwell on the trivial; even if the enemy’s blade was just about to touch their body, it would not cause any serious injury.
There was a roar ahead, Huyan Jin’s voice shouted sternly, “You are actually tired of living!”
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong were greatly delighted. The former shouted, “Shaoshuai go get the horses!”
The man and the sword became one, he swiftly charged ahead, totally ignoring the enemy troops coming to attack him. Everywhere he went the horse thieves fell to the east and tumbled to the west. Suddenly there was a group of men coming straight toward him. One of them had long hair, which was draped over his shoulders, his body was wrapped in jujube-red combat robe, with battle armor inside it; his waist was tied in steel rope, his facial features fierce. This was precisely Huyan Jin, the most notorious chief of Qidan horse thieves. But they did not see Liang Shidou’s son Liang Shunming.
‘Bang!
The thief blocking the way, using hard technique, met Ba Fenghan’s slashing sword head-on, but he only fell back two steps, showing his extraordinary skill.
Attacking to this point, this was the first time that someone was able to meet force with force, and yet did not sustain injuries.
Two axes and one spear attacked from left and right, so that he was unable to unleash his killer move on the hard-to-defeat enemy in front of him. Behind him, he did not know how many weapons were going to meet him.
Letting out a fierce whistle, Ba Fenghan soared into the air, while seizing this opportunity to sweep his gaze around. The whole camp was engulfed in the blaze and thick smoke, men were rushing and horses were running everywhere. Quickly focusing his attention again, he dropped back down, and pounced toward Huyan Jin, who was surrounded by the horse thieves.
This moment Kou Zhong landed on the saddleless back of Thousand-Li Dream. The beloved horse recognized its master, it skipped around and neighed happily. The Ten-thousand-Li Spots and Taklamakan were separately tied on both sides. The Moon in the Well pared down, it cut the three pieces of rope. Without even stopping it continued to hack down on the enemy’s long saber coming over to attack. The enemy’s saber broke immediately, while bloodstain appeared suddenly on the pit of his stomach, as he dejectedly fell to the ground.
Kou Zhong seized this golden opportunity while the enemy’s main force was being held back by Ba Fenghan. Curling his lips, he let out a long whistle, ordering the Ten-thousand-Li Spots and Taklamakan to follow behind the Thousand-Li Dream. Taking the lead, he charged toward the other side, the blockers were swept away by the wind. Due to the thick smoke covering their eyes, by the time the enemy found out that he was the enemy and not a friend at all, the Moon in the Well already hacked down on him.
‘Qiang!’
Huyan Jin’s long spear swung upward to block Ba Fenghan’s Stealing the Heaven Sword head-on. Borrowing the impact force, Ba Fenghan shot up. Three thief generals immediately soared up from Huyan Jin’s left and right. Two sabers and one axe stormed in, so that Ba Fenghan was unable to carryout his killer move.
Unexpectedly Huyan Jin’s feet were trapped in grassy ground nearly three cun deep; his face turned white, he suffered internal injury.
The sword strike carried the concentrated power of his entire body; it was intended to take Huyan Jin’s dog life, naturally it was swift, powerful, fierce and severe to the extreme point.
Seeing Huyan Jin was still able to stand without falling down, Ba Fenghan could not help crying, ‘What a pity!’ inwardly; he did not expect Huyan Jin’s martial art skill to be this brilliant. He knew that he had missed the only difficult-to-come-by chance to kill Huyan Jin.
‘Woah!’
Finally Huyan Jin could not help vomiting a mouthful of blood, he nearly dropped down on his butts on the ground. “Quickly kill him for me!” he roared in Qidan language.
Ba Fenghan’s qi and blood were also surging due to the shock of the impact force, but his three meridians and seven chakras were cycling, he immediately recovered. The Stealing the Heaven Sword hit the big axe that was the first to attack him. Borrowing the reaction force, he soared into the air, while at the same time letting out a sharp whistle, notifying Xu Ziling to retreat immediately.
And then the tip of his toes tapped on the top of an unburned tent, he somersaulted, and without-alarm, without-danger he landed on the bare back of his beloved colt, while shouting loudly, “Huyan Jin, listen to me, I, Ba Fenghan will definitely take your dog life with my own hands. I swear!”
Shouts were spreading widely across the camp that was turning into a raging inferno.
In the blink of an eye, two men, three horses, like a hot knife through butter, cut through and left the camp, galloping toward the dark grassland on the northeast. Behind them, the flame and thick smoke covered the sky and concealed the moon.
Like a meteor catching up with the moon [idiom: swift action] Xu Ziling ran after them. He flew onto the horseback, the three laughed heartily, extremely carefree.
Hundreds of enemy riders were pursuing them from behind, but it was just a false bravado.
Shouting against the wind, Ba Fenghan said, “I hope the good-for-nothing Huyan Jin would be burned alive.”
Naturally the two knew that he was just joking.
Laughing aloud, Kou Zhong asked, “Where can we fit some saddles?”
Unleashing the man-and-horse-as-one technique, they left the pursuing troops far behind; all they could see was the flying dust being kicked by the horses’ hoofs.
Ba Fenghan said, “At the border between Qidan and Shiwei, there is a big river called Heishui [Black River], which is where the two tribes living together. We are going over there to try our luck.”
Amidst the laughter, the three disappeared into the darkness of the prairie.
In the sparse forest region with tall grass and tall undergrowth, a small stream, as if it was playing hide-and-seek with the people, meandered along the big earth, flowing into a small lake, lying quietly among the grass and the trees, as if in a dream. Along with the sun, which had just been awakened from its sleep, the birds were circling in the air, singing, brimming with the vitality of the early morning.
Ba Fenghan, Kou Zhong, and Xu Ziling, three men were swimming freely in the lake, washing their clothes. The three horses, which were lost and then regained, were drinking water and grazing by the lake. After tossing and turning all night, they all felt how carefree and precious this moment was.
Kou Zhong said, “Isn’t Shen Mohuan Xieli’s man? And Xieli is supporting Bai Ziting founding his kingdom in order to strike Tuli. Why did Huyan Jin say that Shen Mohuan would come to rob the Five-Colored Stone?”
Ba Fenghan was rubbing vigorously to wash the bloodstains off his body; hearing the question, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “That is very hard to say. After all, Shen Mohuan is not Xieli’s direct subordinate, if he does not follow the order, it’s not too surprising. The Five-Colored Stone is just like the Jade Annulus of He Clan, it has become the emblem of the sovereign king, who would not want to seize it for himself?”
Xu Ziling said, “I wonder if there is a way to lure Shen Mohuan to a certain place and then kill him. This way we could resolve the hatred in Jian Dashi’s heart.”
Ba Fenghan said, “Shen Mohuan’s ominous name surpasses Huyan Jin’s, plus he is very crafty, I am afraid he won’t fall into the trap that easily.”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “If he is eager to get the Five-Colored Stone, why afraid that he won’t fall into the trap? We are going to go on the rampage across the prairie, wherever we go, we’ll strike there, deliberately display our presence ostentatiously. He and Mu Ling, this couple of husband and wife will naturally want to look for us to rob the treasure.”
And then he sneered and said, “They come and go like the wind, how could they beat us who come and go like lightning.”
Ba Fenghan cheerfully said, “Since Shaoshuai has this intention, we might as well go to Hualin [lit. flower forest], which is the grandest country fair town on the south bank of the Black River, under the joint-authority of Tuli, Ku Ge’s Die Mo Hui, and the South Shiwei big tribal chief Qing Mugua [lit. clear papaya]. People of all ethnic groups far and near come to that place to make transaction; just like another Yan Yuan Ji. Due to its delicate situation, no one dares to take large number of men and horses to that place to do business, precisely the best place to lure the enemy.”
“How far is Hualin from Longquan?” Kou Zhong asked.
“Only about ten days by horse,” Ba Fenghan replied, “The fish over there are especially tasty, I guarantee Shaoshuai can gorge yourself.”
“I wonder if we will be able to meet Yuekepeng over there?” Xu Ziling said.
Ba Fenghan nodded and said, “That possibility is quite high.”
The three suddenly felt warning sign in their heart. Looking west, they faintly saw the dust rising at the edge of the prairie.
“So annoying,” Kou Zhong muttered, “We can’t even sleep.”
Ba Fenghan spoke leisurely, “You ought to thank them. So many live targets knocking on your door for you to practice your archery skill.”
The three shouted together and scrambled to the bank of the lake, and quickly put on their wet clothes. The clothes were already unsightly, and they were uncomfortable as well.
Kou Zhong said, “When we get to Hualin, we must buy a few sets of new clothes.”
Ba Fenghan sneered and said, “Shouldn’t you go to Luoyang or Chang’an instead? Get some ready-made clothes. Only heavily-loaded people can afford tailor-made clothes.”
The riders were clearly visible; there were approximately a hundred men, precisely Huyan Jin’s horse thieves.
Xu Ziling said, “After killing the enemy, won’t Shaoshuai be able to sleep?”
Opening up the Perished Moon Bow, Ba Fenghan said, “This time shoot the people don’t shoot the horses. They rob other people’s belongings and snatch other people’s life, we ought to pay them back a tooth for a tooth. We’ll take their healthy horses to be exchanged for new clothes and fresh fish, also to replenish our quivers.”
The powerful arrow streaked across the sky, hitting the horse thief at the head of the convoy.