Xu Ziling was hiding by a warehouse near the pier, behind a pile of junk. There were dozens of warehouses of all kinds and sizes near the pier, from open-style bamboo shed to large warehouse of wood construction in front of him; everything that should be here was here. And the reason he chose this particular closed warehouse was simply because Ma Ji’s men were constantly loading the cargo from the warehouse to the ship.
The docks were so active, nearly three hundreds porters were busy loading and unloading the goods. Taking advantage while Zong Xianghua, Ma Ji, and the others’ attention was focused on the three large cargo ships coming into the harbor, Xu Ziling had a free hand to act.
He watched for a porter carrying a wooden box on his shoulders and calculated accurately the moment his foot stepped out of the warehouse to shoot a burst of finger wind toward the porter’s vital point. The porter was hit by the finger and fell forward, throwing the heavy wooden box in front of him. Remaining calm and unhurried, Xu Ziling shot another burst of punch power, at the precise moment the corner of the box touched the ground, the force hit the wooden box.
The wooden box was shattered instantly; immediately the contents’ original identity was fully revealed. Surprisingly, it was sheet after sheet of sheepskin.
Ma Ji’s men supervising the works from the side could not see Xu Ziling playing tricks in the dark, they thought the porter lost his footing, and the nails on this wooden box just happened not to be fastened securely. They simply shouted to call the other men to pick up the dropped sheepskin from the ground.
Xu Ziling nearly turned around to run after Yin Xianhe, but he could not help suppressing this idea down, because no one knew when Ma Ji’s ships were going to sail, hence he must deal with this matter alone.
The fact before his eyes made him happy. Whether it was Ma Ji buying this batch of sheepskin, which belonged to Da Xiaojie Zhai Jiao, from Bai Ziting’s hands, or it was Bai Ziting who gave it to him or entrusted it to him to be shipped out somewhere to make big profit, in the end it was Bai Ziting who sent his men to rob the sheepskin. They no longer needed to guess on this.
This batch of sheepskin was an enormous wealth; it could make Zhai Jiao lose her family fortune, while it could also make Ma Ji a big fortune.
Amidst the ‘rumbling’ noise of the sail being lowered on the mast, the three ocean-going ships slowly reached the shore.
Xu Ziling watched with rapt attention. Although the ships did not fly any flag, but looking at the sailors’ clothes and appearance, he was certain that these were Gaoli people.
Xu Ziling’s heart was moved. He could guess that Ma Ji’s sheepskin was to be sold to Gaoli. In such a bitter cold place like Gaoli, certainly highest quality sheepskin worth more than gold.
Thinking to this point, no longer hesitated. He backed off and slipped toward the part of the harbor where he did not see anyone, and into the ice-cold seawater. Staying close to the bottom of the sea he swam toward Ma Ji’s big ship.
Outside the Vermillion Bird Gate, there was a team of fully armed cavalrymen, more than twenty Mohe warriors, each one was cool-headed and grave in manner. Surely these were martial art experts, one chosen from a hundred, under Gongqi’s leadership, striding high on the horseback, waiting for Kou Zhong.
Kesubie leaned close to Kou Zhong and said with a smile, “Shaoshuai, please don’t take offense, we as officials [in feudal court] can only carry out the imperial orders. Da Wang’s wish is that Shaoshuai will leave the city immediately.”
Kou Zhong acted as if he did not hear anybody speaking to him, his eyes were fixed on Gongqi, sitting on the horseback, looking coldly at him. Acting relaxed, he said, “In the past year, how many days did Gong Jiangjun spend in this place?”
The pupil of Gongqi’s eyes narrowed, the divine light was flickering, his hand pressed on the cavalry sword on his waist, he spoke heavily, “What is Shaoshuai referring to? I wonder if you could speak a bit more clearly.”
Kou Zhong come over to about half a zhang away from the horse’s head and stopped, upright and unafraid. Indifferent and at ease, he laughed aloud and said, “Gong Jiangjun, please don’t misunderstand. Just because hearing Gong Jiangjun’s spoken Han carries a bit of Central Earth’s northeast accent, you reminded me of a very interesting person in Shanhai Pass. Other than that, there is no other meaning.”
He thought that if Bai Ziting wanted to kill him outside the city, his purpose was to raise the troops’ spirit. In the future, the storytellers would tell this segment of history as something like ‘Bai Ziting slayed Kou Zhong outside the gate of Longquan’. By killing him, he wanted to announce to his original tribe, as well as to the other Mohe tribes, that this action was to break the cauldrons and sink the boats [idiom; fig. to cut off one’s means of retreat], that he did not hesitate to fight to the last soldier, the last pawn, as well as to show his valor and determination to resist the Tujue. He wanted to rouse the generals and the soldiers’ will to fight to the death, to put everything to death and then go back to live. If by using this kind of not-sparing-anything spirit he could influence the entire Mohe division, plus the legend of the Five-Colored Stone, Gesuwen’s ambushing troops might really be able to create a miracle, so that Mohe division could take the Tujue’s place to become the new generation of grassland hegemon.
Bai Ziting was familiar with Central Earth’s military campaign; naturally he could not possibly forget the famous ‘breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats’ stratagem, which has been passed on throughout all ages. After killing Kou Zhong, he would no longer have any margin to redeem the situation with the Tujue.
Kou Zhong’s conjecture was really not because he was in critical circumstances that he suspected everyone; it was simply because escorting him out of the city was this gentleman, the vicious man who, in the open was Gongqi, in the dark was Cui Wang. And the men behind him, if they were willing to shed off their military uniform, he was sure that their entire body would be covered in the tattoo of Huihe wolf-bandits.
Inside Bai Ziting’s territory, to remove him from Longquan, Kesubie and a random group of Mohe soldiers would be more than enough; there was no need for him to send out Gongqi and his wolf-bandits men.
Listening attentively, the expression in Gongqi’s eyes turned harsh, he spoke coldly, “No other meaning? This is not the first day that Shaoshuai mingle in Jianghu, you ought to know that you cannot speak ambiguously; if it pertains to other people’s clean reputation, you ought to explain clearly even more.”
His twenty-two men grabbed the hilt of their saber at the same time, putting on an act that one wrong word, they would immediately make their move. The atmosphere quickly turned tense, brimming with the smell of gunpowder.
All the imperial guards at the Vermillion Bird Gate turned their eyes toward them, everybody’s eyes revealed ominous glint, which heightened the murderous aura even more.
Kesubie, standing by Kou Zhong, calmly said, “Gong Jiangjun, please calm down a little bit. In this lowly official’s opinion, this is just a misunderstanding. May I venture to trouble Shaoshuai to say a few words in order to dispel Gong Jiangjun’s doubt?”
Hearing that, Kou Zhong was more convinced that his guess was correct, precisely because Gongqi and his men’s ‘guest’ status that Kesubie could only use this approach to advise Gongqi, to tell him not to act rashly, to wait until they were outside the gate before they made their move to kill Kou Zhong, because that was Bai Ziting’s order.
Killing Kou Zhong at the palace gate concerned only Kou Zhong and Bai Ziting’s personal grievances; it would be difficult for Bai Ziting to explain to Shang Xiufang. But killing Kou Zhong at the city gate concerned the entire army and people of Longquan. There was a big difference in its significance and what it stood for.
While Kou Zhong was pondering why Bai Ziting did not seem to be overly concerned about the batch of bows and arrows, two imperial guards led a horse walking toward him. When the horse saw Kou Zhong, immediately it reared its head and neighed, and skipped over joyfully. Kou Zhong sighed inwardly; he stepped over to pull his beloved horse Thousand-Li Dream’s head down and embraced it tightly.
Bai Ziting was really formidable; without making any sound, he had the whole situation under control. The Thousand-Li Dream was returned to his side at this moment, it was precisely to tell him that Shuwen and his Shiwei brothers have all been arrested and detained. Naturally he still had Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan’s beloved horses.
Laughing aloud, he said, “What good explanation do I have? If Gong Jiangjun is totally innocent, why would he be concerned just because Xiaodi is making an associative connection?”
Finished speaking, he flew to mount the Thousand-Li Dream, while his eyes were fixed at Gongqi without blinking at all.
Intense murderous aura flitted across Gongqi’s eyes, his grim countenance revealed a hint of smile brimming with anger, hatred, and ruthlessness. He said, “In that case, please Shaoshuai be on your way.”
Kou Zhong understood that his hatred stemmed from a large number of his brothers was killed by them at Shanhai Pass. Blurted out laughing, he urged his horse to trot slowly out of the Vermillion Bird Gate.
The scenery before his eyes was so different from the one he was accustomed to see, which made him jump in fright.
The entire Vermilion Bird Boulevard was devoid of any pedestrians, the shops were closed, Mohe soldiers were lining up both sides of the street, forming two long lines of men spreading out all the way to the south city gate. Seeing Kou Zhong coming out of the Vermilion Bird Gate, they immediately shouted in chorus, “Bohai will win, long live Da Wang.”
Their shout shook the whole city, their voice soared into the sky; the timid would certainly be startled and fell from the horseback.
Kou Zhong suddenly felt that he had become a prisoner being escorted to the execution ground to be beheaded. If he could not change this situation, he would indeed end up being executed outside the city gate.
Gongqi and his cavalry were riding on his left, right, ahead and behind him, pressing him in the middle. The clip-clopping sound of the hoof beats rang out along the Vermilion Bird Boulevard.
Kesubie, staying at the palace gate, raised his voice and said, “Shaoshuai, take care of yourself, please forgive this lowly officer for not sending you off!”
Kou Zhong laughed bitterly in his heart. How could he ever imagine that laying his cards on the table with Bai Ziting would end up like this? He could not even talk with Luo Yi and the others. If he could see them again, the first thing he was going to tell them was for them to immediately go as far away as possible.
Gongqi came to him to ride alongside him slowly. His expression grave, he closed his mouth without saying anything.
Kou Zhong circulated his true qi, while at the same time racking his brain, arousing the seeking-survival-in-the-midst-of-death fighting spirit.
Since Bai Ziting wanted to eradicate me completely, how could I, Kou Zhong, not reciprocate?
The gods did not know, the ghosts did not perceive, Xu Ziling’s head emerged out of the water. Clinging to the hull of the ship, he swiftly climbed up. One somersault later, he slipped through a cabin window. Even in broad daylight, if one was not watching with full attention, even if he saw Xu Ziling flashing in front of his eyes, he would think that he had blurry eyes.
Xu Ziling landed in the cabin, which, most likely, was Ma Ji’s personal cabin. Sweeping his gaze around, immediately he knew that his guess was accurate, so he was quite proud of himself. His starting point was the structure and architectural method, by seeking the cabin with the best view on the ship, the least affected by the wind and the waves, and determined that it must be Ma Ji’s room.
This cabin must be the largest accommodation on the ship; the anteroom and the rear chamber were separated by a bamboo curtain. The carpet and the hanging decorations were extremely exquisite, quite a dazzling sight [orig. gold and jade in glorious splendor]. It was precisely the kind of uncouth luxury that Ma Ji loved the most, as if Ma Ji’s tent was moved from the land to this ship. Besides, on the carpet of the outer hall, there was a large bowl of Ma Ji’s favorite fresh fruit.
The bed was scented with sweet-smelling grass; the smell was so thick that Xu Ziling nearly wanted to close his breathing.
Xu Ziling looked out via the hanging curtain. A row of three large metal trunks was placed by the wall of the small living room, all the trunks were locked, he was certain that the contents must be some particularly valuable articles, otherwise, no one would want to put three of such unwieldy metal trunks in such an exquisite place.
Xu Ziling stepped through the curtain out to the living room. Without touching the three large metal trunks, he focused his entire attention to detect any movement, far and near.
This cabin was located on the top deck of the ship, at the stern, hence both the bedroom and the living room had windows. He entered the cabin via the window facing the sea. This moment he moved to the window on the other side to look at the pier outside.
The three Gaoli merchant ships were docking, opposite to this, Ma Ji’s ship. Xu Ziling’s heart was moved; he thought that eighty thousand sheets of sheepskin could not be a small number. Ma Ji’s ship carrying twenty thousand would already be strenuous, therefore, it was very likely that after the Gaoli ships unloaded their cargo, they would transport the eighty thousand sheets of sheepskin back to Gaoli, so much so that this whole business deal might be a barter transaction.
Other than loading and unloading the cargo, the Gaoli’s seagoing ships have journeyed through the wind and the waves, they must replenish food and fresh water, plus performing the necessary maintenance; therefore, they could not possibly set sail today.
Zong Xianghua, Ma Ji, and a Gaoli man, who appeared to be the director of the fleet, were talking in low voice on the side. From time to time they raised their head to look up at the sky. Because of the distance, even with Xu Ziling’s ability, he was unable to eavesdrop even half a sentence.
Xu Ziling knew that these people were experts in observing the wind, the cloud, and the color of the sky [i.e. the weather]. Taking a look, he discovered that the clouds in the sky were moving faster than before; the white clouds were replaced by comparatively dull grey clouds, gradually covering the sunlight. This was precisely the prelude to the storm clouds approaching.
Xu Ziling was amused inwardly, thinking that everything has its pros and cons. Bai Ziting picked the rainy season to establish his kingdom, undoubtedly it was advantageous to defending the city, but if the heavy rain suddenly came at the wrong time, it could hinder his progress in preparing for war.
Sure enough, Ma Ji called out to his men, “It’s raining! Stop moving the goods.”
Xu Ziling mused, ‘It’s time to leave’. When he came back, it would be a brutal and bloody occasion, because if he wanted to get the eighty thousand sheets of sheepskin back, that would be the only choice.
‘Boom!’
On the distant horizon, the first lightning split the sky, followed by an ear-splitting clap of thunder. Suddenly the horizon over yonder became a rolling, turbid band of black clouds, spreading and covering the sky on this side.
Immediately the docks were thrown into chaos. Under Ma Ji’s men shouting the order, the porters hurriedly brought the cargo that had not been loaded onboard back into the warehouse. Zong Xianghua and Ma Ji hurriedly followed the Gaoli man climbing aboard one of the Gaoli merchant ships.
Xu Ziling swiftly left.
While regulating his breathing and circulating his qi, Kou Zhong also thought about which martial art master could be waiting for him outside the city gate? Would it be Bai Ziting himself and the ‘Tianzhu Mad Monk’ Funantuo?
Bai Ziting himself was extremely crafty, he ought to learn from Huyan Jin that Kou Zhong loved his horse like his own life, therefore, he especially, under these circumstances, had the Thousand-Li Dream returned to Kou Zhong, so that it would be difficult for him to abandon his beloved colt and use his shenfa to escape into houses. If that was the case, even if ultimately Bai Ziting could find him and have him killed, he would waste a lot of manpower and time, not to mention he would lose the shock effect of the blitzkrieg operation.
Therefore, if Kou Zhong wanted to escape with the Thousand-Li Dream, he would have to wait until they were out of the gate before making his plan.
Kou Zhong felt that the Thousand-Li Dream’s flesh and blood was closely related to his own. Asking him to abandon the horse, which selflessly loyal to him, and let it be caught in danger of being captured and killed by the enemy venting their anger, even if he could escape from the death and flee for his life, he simply refused to do so.
If they had to die, they would die together.
Ahead, the south gate was in sight.
Gongqi, with wooden expression, was slowly riding by his side. The Mohe soldiers on both sides of the street stopped shouting. Everybody’s eyes emitted staunch, fanatical expression. Kou Zhong had no doubt that they would be willing to sacrifice their lives for Bai Ziting.
Kou Zhong’s heart gradually calmed down. Putting life and death aside, he entered the Moon in the Well realm. Suddenly he felt that Gongqi’s body was wriggling restlessly, while looking up to the sky.
Hastily Kou Zhong also looked up. Laughing aloud, he said, “Da Wang is absolutely right. The fourth month is Longquan’s rainy season.”
The sky quickly turned dark.
Gongqi looked at him. The ominous glint in his pair of eyes flickered. He also looked left and right to see the situation; obviously he was hesitating whether they ought to change plan and kill Kou Zhong inside the city.
If he let Kou Zhong go out of town, while another howling wind and torrential rain like yesterday came, Kou Zhong might break the siege and get away.
Kou Zhong cried, ‘Bad!’ inwardly. If he let Gongqi issued the order to close the city gate in time, he would undoubtedly die. Thereupon he busily said, “Isn’t Gong Xiong a Huihe? Why are you willing to work for Bai Ziting, while also disguise yourself as Cui Wang and help him breaking into a house for robbery [idiom], having no regard for human life [another idiom]?”
He was not trying to anger the other side at all, but simply wanted to divide his attention, so that before making decision, he temporarily forgot to issue the order to close the city gate.
At the city gate, both sides of the city gate tower were densely packed, crowded to bursting point with archers guarding the city. The city gate itself was heavily guarded even more. Under normal circumstances, even for a martial art master of Kou Zhong’s caliber, it would be difficult to crash through the barrier and escape. But if torrents of rain came, Kou Zhong’s chance of fleeing for his life would increase significantly.
As expected, Gongqi’s train of thought was disturbed by him, he suddenly exploded in anger, “If Shaoshuai cannot produce any reliable evidence …”
Kou Zhong did not let him continue. “Ha!” he said, “By saying that, you, LaoGe, indicate that you have a guilty conscience. Otherwise, you would scold me directly for talking nonsense, or perhaps saying that you don’t understand what Xiaodi is talking about. Ha! Just because in your heart you are wondering how did I see through that you are Cui Wang, hence as soon as you open your mouth you are talking about whether I have his granny’s reliable evidence. Ridiculous! Totally ridiculous!”
He spoke nonstop, precisely not to give Gongqi any opportunity to think too much.
Gongqi’s men all showed ominous glint in their eyes, but because Gongqi did not issue his order, they still held back their troops without moving [idiom].
Speaking about ability and wisdom, there was still a big chunk of difference between Gongqi and Kou Zhong. Kou Zhong was like the worm in his belly; every sentence was aimed at the thought inside Gongqi’s heart, so that he felt as uncomfortable as if he was standing naked in front of the crowd! Momentarily he forgot about the imminent arrival of the wind and the rain. He spoke coldly, “Death is near at hand, you still show off your mouth and tongue skill. You …”
This moment they reached the south gate. As long as they passed through the approximately three-zhang deep gateway, they would reach the world outside the city.
The group of city guards, which originally crowded the city gate, moved to both sides to open up a passage.
When the words ‘Death is near at hand’ was finally spoken, Kou Zhong saw that success was within sight, naturally he would not let the opposite site have spare time to think deeply; he interrupted again by inventing crazy nonsense, “I wonder if Huyan Jin has a share in waiting for me outside? It’s hard to come by that your Da Wang is willing to give Xiaodi this convenience. Xiaodi might as well cut his stinky head.”
Gongqi was stunned again. It was only this moment that he realized that Kou Zhong already saw through that he was going to be killed outside the city.
Suddenly his imposing body shook. He looked up at the sky and shouted loudly, “Close the gate!”
When he shouted his order, which would have sealed Kou Zhong’s fate, a streak of lightning split the black cloud densely covering the sky, followed by the ear-splitting, explosive clap of thunder, which completely drowned Gongqi’s shout. Only Kou Zhong, one person, was able to hear him.
‘Crash!’
The gale rolled over, heavy rain poured down, thunder and lightning came one after another, the earth turned dark, the sky hazy, the approaching momentum was violent, not inferior in any aspects to the thunderstorm the previous day.
Kou Zhong thought that success or failure, life or death, would depend on this moment. Taking advantage of the confusion, both his legs kicked out left and right, he fiercely pushed the belly of Gongqi and his men’s horses, while at the same time injected his true qi into the Thousand-Li Dream’s body, unleashing his ‘man and horse as one’ technique, rushing toward the city gate, while yelling loudly, “Rain! Get out of the rain!”
Gongqi on his left and a wolf-bandit on his right, both the men and horses fell outward. On top of that the thunderstorm and the gale threw the entire squad escorting Kou Zhong into chaos, no one knew what exactly was happening.
Gongqi leaped in front of his falling down horse and shouted loudly, “Stop him!”
It’s a pity that another clap of thunder drowned his voice once again.
By this time Kou Zhong already urged his horse to rush into the city gate.
Lightning light flashed, blinding everybody’s eyes that no one could see anything.