Book 46 Chapter 10 – The Art of War Into the Saber
Kou Zhong walked over toward the main entrance of the main hall, immediately he knew that something was not right, because after crossing nearly half of the open space, there were still no Rong Mansion people stopping him; it extremely did not make any sense.
The only explanation was that Rong Fengxiang already knew that he would drop by to cause trouble, thereupon he prepared a ‘Hongmen Banquet’ in the main hall to welcome his honored self. [Note: I believe there have been a couple, if not more, references to the Hongmen Banquet, but if you don’t remember, simply Google it.]
A deep hatred welled up in Kou Zhong’s heart, from Duan Yucheng, who was supposedly throwing his lot into Da Ming Zun Jiao, Bao Zhifu, Shi Jie and Ma Gui, three men being murdered. His heart was burning with high fighting spirit and heavy murderous intent. Snorting coldly in his heart, he set foot on the long white jade steps of the main hall.
The hall was brightly lit, from time to time, there were happy sounds of people toasting each other and drinking and laughing, but suddenly it grew so quiet that a falling needle would have been heard. Obviously they just discovered that he, Kou Zhong, has appeared in the flesh.
Kou Zhong strode into the hall. Six pairs of sharp, brimming with hostility – gaze immediately fell on him at the same time.
A set of banquet tables was arranged at the other end of the door of the empty and spacious hall, where all six people of all kinds of shapes and sizes were sitting facing the door. In front of each man was a set of bowl, chopsticks, and wine cup. Just by looking at this kind of arrangement, Kou Zhong knew that his guess was unmistaken.
Sweeping his gaze around, out of six people, he recognized five of them. Rong Fengxiang, who was the embodiment of the demon Taoist Pi Chen, taking his position on the left, revealed a hint of cold smile on his face, his pair of demonic eyes narrowed as he carefully sized Kou Zhong up.
On the other side was the former boss of Luoyang Bang, Shangguan Long, who had been heavily injured by Kou Zhong. His countenance did not look too bad, he ought to be completely recovered already. His pair of eyes shot profound hatred, like a vicious beast that wanted to devour Kou Zhong whole.
The two persons in the middle were the ‘Ziwu Jian’ [Meridian Sword] Zuo Youxian and ‘Yunyu Shuang Xiu’ [Cloud and Rain Double-Cultivation] Pi Shouxuan, respectively; both were elder-level figures of the demonic school. The former was closely related to Fu Gongyou, the latter, in term of position within Yin Gui Pai, was second only to Zhu Yuyan.
The person sitting by Rong Fengxiang’s side, Kou Zhong had to think for a while before remembering who he was. This man was Wang Bo’s subordinate, known as ‘Bing Shusheng’ [Sick Scholar], Jing Zhaoning. In the past, Kou Zhong had met him once in Luoyang. At that time he already felt that this person was not to be trifled with, who would have thought that tonight he came across him again under this kind of situation.
The person he did not recognize was a big middle-aged man with one eye, robust, tall and sturdy, thick jaw, slightly bald, and a bit shifty-eyed; the impression was that he was valiant but ruthless. The thing that captured Kou Zhong’s attention the most was that leaning against the back of his chair was a heavy Guan saber [from Guan Yu, Romance of Three Kingdoms], about eight chi long, so that people would feel that the weapon never left his side, that he might stake everything in a you-die-I-live battle at any moment.
Kou Zhong cried for his Niang inwardly, because any one of the men here, in a one-on-one duel, he still had enough confidence that he would prevail – they could not possibly more difficult to deal with than Funantuo, could they? However, if any two of them joined hands, there was a great chance that he would suffer defeat and be humiliated.
Since the other side specifically set up this layout to deal with him, naturally they would not speak about Jianghu rules and would use anything, by fair means or foul. Six men joining forces was not a laughing matter, perhaps even a powerful man like Shi Zhixuan could only stake everything in order to escape.
He could not help scolding himself for being too daring; it could be imagined that the enemy still had ambushing troops under Rong Jiaojiao’s, who had not showed herself – leadership, to have the main hall heavily surrounded, hence the reason they were not afraid that he might break the siege and escape.
This was not the first time that Kou Zhong fell into a dangerous spot. Discharging all distracting thoughts from his mind, he laughed aloud and walked over toward the table where the six men were sitting. “I’m sorry for troubling gentlemen to wait for a long time!” he called out loud and clear.
Rong Fengxiang smiled as he stood up and saluted, saying, “We were waiting for Shaoshuai’s honorable self while drinking and chatting, so it was quite delightful. Shaoshuai, please sit down, let Ol’ Rong introduce these several friends to Shaoshuai.”
Zuo Youxian laughed proudly and said, “Shaoshuai’s fame is already like thunder piercing the ear, Pindao [impoverished Taoist] Zuo Youxian has met Shaoshuai before.”
Kou Zhong swaggered and sat down opposite to the six.
The ‘Sick Scholar’ Jing Zhaoning stood up and leaned over to pour wine for him; he laughed and said, “Shaoshuai’s guts indeed surpass others; you have just arrived in Luoyang and immediately come to the meeting. Jing Zhaoning is full of admiration.”
Kou Zhong stared at the steel-boned umbrella hanging on his back; pretending to be puzzled, he said, “Was it raining just now?”
The one-eyed man laughed aloud and said, “Shaoshuai talks cheerfully and wittily; meeting in person is indeed better than hearing about your fame. Jing Laoshi’s [teacher] umbrella is not used to protect him from the rain, but to kill.”
Kou Zhong’s gaze fell on him; smiling, he said, “And this Dage is …”
Snorting coldly, Shangguan Long said, “Shaoshuai is not from Guanxi [western Pass, see also my earlier note on Guanzhong (middle Pass) and Guandong (eastern Pass)], no wonder you cannot tell from Zong Xiong’s Guan Saber who the master is.”
Kou Zhong still could not think of any martial art master from Guanxi who used Guan Saber; letting out a hollow laugh, he said, “The farthest place Xiaodi has visited is Chang’an; as for what west of Chang’an looks like, please forgive Xiaodi for being ignorant and inexperienced.”
The Cloud and Rain Double-Cultivation Pi Shouxuan said, “The Guan Saber users in the world, who could surpass Zong Luohou? Even without going to Guanxi, you ought to hear about him!”
Kou Zhong was shocked inwardly; of course he had heard about Zong Luohou. This man was the unequalled great general under Xue Ju’s command, he had repeatedly defeated the Tang Army, his military accomplishment was magnificent. Afterwards Xue Ju, father and son, were defeated by Li Shimin at the Qianshui Yuan [lit. shallow water plain], so that the situation developed into Guannei [inside the Pass] domination. He thought Zong Luohou had been slaughtered by Li Shimin; who would have thought that unexpectedly he was sitting in here? Needless to say, he must be coming for revenge toward Li Shimin.
Laughing aloud, he raised his cup and said, “Turns out it’s Zong Xiong; let me toast you a cup.”
“All right!” Zong Luohou shouted and raised his cup to drink together with him.
Rong Fengxiang smiled and said, “This time Shaoshuai’s honoring my humble residence with your presence, I wonder if it’s as simple as just to drink a couple cups of watered-down wine?”
Kou Zhong put down his wine cup and said with a nod, “That’s right! Consider this as peaceful measures before using force! Xiaodi is coming to settle old debts, whether you will move together or one by one, Xiaodi will be extremely pleased.”
And then he turned toward Pi Shouxuan and said, “Due to using the burning both jade and common stone move to the fullest in dealing with Shi Zhixuan, instead of rendering merit, Zhu Hou perished; I thought I’d let Pi Lao know.”
Immediately Pi Shouxuan’s countenance changed; he wanted to speak but was at a loss for words.
Rong Fengxiang, Shangguan Long, and Zuo Youxian revealed a shocked expression at the same time.
Their reaction confirmed Kou Zhong’s suspicion that these people have joined hands with Yin Gui Pai, they were unwilling to acknowledge allegiance to the ‘Demonic King’ Shi Zhixuan. The only thing he did not understand was Yang Xuyan and Rong Fengxiang’s close relationship.
Zong Luohou pushed the table and stood up, he said, “Let Ol’ Zong to be the first to experience Shaoshuai’s Eight Methods of the Well, which fame shook inside and outside the Great Wall!”
The room was furnished gorgeously. There was a big bed in the middle. Under the illumination of a lantern on a small table by the bed, a beautiful woman was seen, sitting cross-legged on the bed in meditation, circulating her qi and flowing her power.
What stunned Xu Ziling was that this woman was Zhu Yuyan’s other female disciple, Bai Qing’er, Wanwan’s younger martial sister. Three golden needles stuck on her head, which reminded him of the Seven Needles to Control the Mind – suddenly filled his mind with doubts.
Why would Bai Qing’er appear here? Reasonably speaking, Xiang Yushan should be leaning on Zhao Deyan’s side, but due to the Demonic Emperor Relics affair, Zhao Deyan and Yin Gui Pai ought to be like water and fire, Bai Qing’er should not be in Chi Shengchun’s bedroom cultivating her energy. Secondly, the three golden needles on Bai Qing’er’s head apparently came from some technique similar to the Seven Needles to Control the Mind. Could it be that Yin Zuwen had come to Chi Shengchun’s house to treat Bai Qing’er with the needles? Momentarily Xu Ziling was unable to figure out what was happening.
Warning sign went off in his heart. Actually, he could not hear the slightest bit of footsteps, only he felt that someone was coming. He shivered inwardly, thinking that if the newcomer was Chi Shengchun, then his martial art skill was definitely much more superior than Xiang Gui or Xiang Yushan.
No longer dared to peek inside, he stood against the wall, restraint his essence and qi, and changed from external breathing to internal breathing.
A moment later, a male voice was heard from inside the room, “Qing’er’s progress is better than my expectation. Next step we can increase the number of stimulated acupoints to five. When all ten needles can be used together, we can expect the Chanu Xinfa [lit. beautiful girl heart/center/core method] to be successfully accomplished.”
Hearing that, Xu Ziling’s eyebrows were deeply knitted. Just by hearing the name Chanu Xinfa, he knew that it must be some kind of strange method of the demonic school, and the practicing technique was so heretical and overbearing, so definitely it was not a good martial art method. It seemed to be very dangerous, why would Bai Qing’er want to take this risk?
The man’s voice sounded so familiar, it seemed that he had heard it before, but momentarily he could not think of who he was.
Another voice, a woman’s, said, “This risk is worth taking; only by mastering the Chanu Xinfa will we have the full confidence of being able to kill without a trace and without a form. This time it’s all thanks to our Yin Gui Pai and Mi Qing Dao [lit. exterminating refinement way], two schools’ scriptures joined together before we could obtain the complete appearance of the Holy School’s secret method that has been lost for nearly a hundred years.”
Xu Ziling recognized the voice as Wen Caiting, an elder-level figure of Yin Gui Pai. He mused, wasn’t Mi Qing Dao the school/sect belonging to the ‘Heavenly Lord’ Xi Ying, whom he already killed? In that case, the man inside the room ought to be an important figure of Mi Qing Dao proficient in applying needle technique on the acupoints on top of the head, just like Yin Zuwen. It was also highly likely than Yin Zuwen himself belonged to this faction of the demonic school.
Laughing coldly, the man said, “Perhaps we ought to be grateful to Yue Shan. Were it not for him striking and killing Xi Ying at Chengdu, our alliance might be blocked by him. Only an outstanding talent can recognize current trends [idiom]; the current situation of the world is one in a thousand years golden opportunity for our Holy School to unify the world. If the various Ways of our Holy School are still like a tray of loose sand, we would suffer the painful loss of this golden opportunity.”
Wen Caiting said, “Xu Xiong is right.” [Translator’s note: not Xu Ziling’s ‘Xu’.]
The man surnamed Xu said, “Wen Shimei should stay here to guard Qing’er, it’s time for me to return to Six-Happiness!”
Hearing that, Xu Ziling groaned inwardly; if Wen Caiting was keeping watch inside the room, wouldn’t his grand plan of stealing the painting tonight go down the drain?
Lifting the Guan Saber with both hands, Zong Luohou took a stance.
The other five men spread out around the main hall, vaguely forming a siege with the two men, who were going to fight, in the middle of the hall. Guarding the main entrance was the ‘Ziwu Jian’ Zuo Youxian, one of the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way.
Kou Zhong’s mind was moving at the speed of light, he understood. ‘Formidable!’ he cried inwardly.
On the surface, the opposite side appeared to be following Jianghu rules by only sending one person into the arena. However, it was actually a brilliant strategy. He could imagine that when he and Zong Luohou were engaged in fierce battle that was difficult to stop, like a tiger watching its prey, the enemy on the side watched for fortunate timing, taking advantage of the person on the spot is baffled, the onlooker sees clear situation, they waited for a gap to make their move; and if they attack in rotation, how long would he be able to cope?
Figuring out the enemy’s crafty scheme, Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Excuse me, I must leave!”
When the enemies heard it, none was not stunned. The Moon in the Well left its scabbard on Kou Zhong’s back, turned into a long rainbow, and swiftly hacked toward Zuo Youxian guarding behind him.
Zong Luohou was the first to roar in anger. Both feet left the ground, he pounced from the air, the Guan Saber was thrust toward Kou Zhong’s back. Immediately strong wind was whistling with ample momentum. If Zuo Youxian was able to block Kou Zhong, then he had confidence that he would be able to put Kou Zhong to death within a few moves.
‘Bang!’
The ‘Sick Scholar’ Jing Zhaoning’s steel-boned umbrella opened up, but immediately closed down. It swept toward Kou Zhong from the left side. From different directions, Pi Shouxuan, Rong Fengxiang, and Shangguan Long, separately pounced toward Kou Zhong, none was not making his move with all his strength, to do everything they could to stop Kou Zhong from escaping out of the main hall.
Kou Zhong’s move has affected and altered the original situation.
Zuo Youxian let out a cold snort, he pulled the Ziwu Sword, and pointed the blade to the fast-approaching Kou Zhong. Immediately sword qi flared out, the positive Ziwu Qi shot out following the sword to strike toward Kou Zhong’s chest. Even Kou Zhong did not dare to doubt that Zuo Youxian did not have enough skill to prevent him from charging out the door.
If Kou Zhong came to Luoyang only to cause trouble and show off, right now he would give everything he had to break the siege and flee; too bad he had a more far-reaching target, which was to help Wang Shichong to beat back Li Shimin. If he simply executed the ‘if everything else fails, retreat’ move and slipped away, later on he still had to deal with this bunch of people who wholeheartedly wanted to put him to death, plus Wang Shichong might secretly agree to support their operations, then he would have many powerful enemies creating troubles for him that he could not guard against.
Therefore, the moment he pulled the Moon in the Well, he hardened his heart and determined to establish his might, to do everything he could, relying on an even more brilliant strategy, to contend with the enemy to the end, to subdue and intimidate the enemy.
Kou Zhong entered the Moon in the Well realm; in that split second he already calculated the enemy’s distance and the next position. Suddenly the true qi within his body changed rapidly, beyond enemy’s expectation, unexpectedly he changed direction and forced Zuo Youxian to swiftly retreat. With a spin of his body, he effortlessly escaped from the dangerous spot of the enemy’s siege. With the Striking Strange style, he met Zong Luohou’s chopping-from-the-air Guan Saber instead.
None of the enemies did not have his countenance changed, because nobody expected that the moment he was attacking Zuo Youxian at full strength, unexpectedly he was able to change style in a nearly impossible yet extremely brilliant manner.
Amidst the angry shouts and cold snorts, one after another the enemies changed their moves and altered their directions to strike Kou Zhong, yet all were a tad too late.
Zong Luohou did not have time to change move to meet the attack head-on, he could only stare blankly as Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well, following a mysterious trajectory, in accordance with the natural law – in the air, slashed toward his Guan Saber.
It appeared to be premeditated, but at the same time seemed to be fortuitous as well, the momentum carried some kind of mystery within a mystery, an unfathomable secret sensation.
The hard cultivation during the trip outside the Great Wall was a very important stage in Kou Zhong’s saber technique cultivation. Under the life and death threat, his Eight Methods of the Well have been completely fused together with the Art of War, turning it into an absolutely unique saber technique since the dawn of time to today.
‘Dang!’
The Moon in the Well chopped at an angle at the sharp blade of the Guan Saber, Zong Luohou felt as if the pit of his stomach was shaken by a sledge hammer, the difficult-to-resist vortex of energy carried the Guan Saber, along with the wielder, and pulled it to the side. It was indeed the first time in his life that he encountered that kind of uncomfortable and a having-the-strength-but-difficult-to-use helpless feeling.
‘Wah!’ he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood, staggered aside, and fell.
Zong Luohou himself was certainly a martial art master. Kou Zhong inflicted a heavy loss on him that made him feeling useless and under impossible situation, the problem was that he did not have time to change his move, thus the originally full of momentum move became old-army-division-without-merit and mistakenly-grasping-what-is-true-and-what-is-false-of-the-enemy losing move. While on Kou Zhong’s side, his calculation was accurate, with enough stored-up momentum; hence he was able to subdue the enemy in one strike.
When martial art masters fighting each other, it was precisely this hairsbreadth difference that affect the outcome.
A powerful opponent like the ‘Tianzhu Kuang Sheng’ [mad monk] Funantuo also nursed a grievance under Kou Zhong’s saber because of this, let alone Zong Luohou, who was unfamiliar with Kou Zhong’s style.
Kou Zhong roared in laughter and said, “This is called the Number One Guan Saber Expert in the World? Watch for Laozi’s Cheating Troops.”
While speaking, his body swayed in all direction for a moment, as if he wanted to escape from a certain direction, but in the end he still stood on the original spot.
This move was a variant of the Cheating Troops, which he copied from Funantuo’s unique skill, so that the enemy did not know where he would attack, they did not know where to guard even more.
Sure enough, the enemies were fooled, none did not slow down a hairsbreadth, no one dared to attack recklessly.
This moment, Zuo Youxian, Rong Fengxiang, and Shangguan Long took their position by the door behind Kou Zhong, quite some distance away.
Jing Zhaoning and Pi Shouxuan separately took position to the left and right of Kou Zhong, but Jing Zhaoning was the closest.
Kou Zhong’s body swayed again, as if he was about to pounce on Pi Shouxuan on his right.
Rong Fengxiang’s eyesight was brilliant; he shouted loudly, “Jing Laoshi [teacher], watch out!”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Too late!”
Unexpectedly he swiftly darted to the side and sent backhanded saber strike to sweep across the umbrella-wielding Jing Zhaoning, whose attack was the first to arrive.
His strategy was that he absolutely would not allow the opponents to form a siege where they could attack together. If his tactic worked, then he could strike and break the enemies one by one, otherwise he would be undoubtedly dead.
This moment Zong Luohou was struggling to steady his footing. When Kou Zhong’s taunting remark entered his ears, he remembered the illustrious name that he built his entire life has completely gone under Kou Zhong’s saber, he spurted another mouthful of blood and was no longer able to continue fighting.
The abstruse, exquisite and marvelous changes in battle situation between the two sides were indeed not something that onlookers would be able to understand. At this time, if someone was watching the battle from the side, they would only see that everybody’s position was changing continuously, speed against speed, without the slightest bit of delay.
Jing Zhaoning let out a cold snort, the steel umbrella suddenly opened, it was spinning to meet Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well head-on.
Inwardly Kou Zhong knew that this kind of heretical ambushing troops would certainly have strange techniques and moves; if there were only the two of them in decisive battle, he would be happy to carry out all kinds of technique to test the enemy, to measure the enemy, to see what kind of trick the other side was playing. But this moment powerful enemies were waiting around him, he did not have such leisurely frame of mind. Suddenly he flipped over to the side and came above Jing Zhaoning’s head.
Jing Zhaoning was worthy to be called a martial art master; immediately he changed his move to meet the attack, the edge of the umbrella was slicing the lower part of Kou Zhong’s body; it was fierce and severe to the extreme.
The tip of Kou Zhong’s foot tapped the edge of the umbrella, creating a muffled ‘Pop!’ while at the same time he soared into the air and laughed aloud, “No attack!”
Jing Zhaoning’s entire body was severely shaken. Although he was not like Zong Luohou who vomited blood and sustained injuries, but his qi and blood were surging; it was uncomfortable to the extreme point. The spiraling true qi that Kou Zhong sent into his body was the combination of the Long-Life Qi, the Jade Annulus of He Clan, and the Demonic Emperor Relics; it was indeed not an ordinary qi.
Although Jing Zhaoning was a martial art master of one region, compered to Kou Zhong, a figure whose name shook the world, he was still some distance away.
Zuo Youxian, Shangguan Long, Pi Shouxuan, and Rong Fengxiang, knew inwardly that the situation was far from good, they were afraid Kou Zhong might break through the roof and escape; one after another they leaped to pursue him, so that now it became every man for himself, they no longer had the momentum of a siege.
Kou Zhong’s cry no attack was precisely to play such a trick on the enemy.
With one somersault, the tip of Kou Zhong’s foot tapped the beam, man and saber became one, he swiftly dove down toward Shangguan Long, the defeated-under-his-hand general.
Although three of his comrade-in-arms were midair in the main hall, Shangguan Long felt that he had become isolated and without help, and could only rely on his own power to deal with Kou Zhong’s startling-the-heaven-moving-the-earth strike.
Previously, he was not Kou Zhong’s match, and now Kou Zhong’s power has advanced greatly, compared to before, he was a different person. Before the saber arrived, the biting cold saber qi already enveloped and locked Shangguan Long tightly. His courage entirely gone, Shangguan Long’s dragonhead steel staff changed from offense to defense; other than trying to save his life, he was asking for nothing else.
‘Qiang!’
Kou Zhong and Shangguan Long collided. The latter was thrown to the side like a kite with cut string, while Kou Zhong, borrowing the impact force, flew sideways to catch up with Rong Fengxiang, who was changing direction to drop straight down, his saber slashed.
After all, Rong Fengxiang could not be compared to Shangguan Long. His long sword swiftly poked upward, ‘Dang!’ it hit the Moon in the Well squarely.
Kou Zhong let out a long laughter; unleashing his deflecting force skill, he forced Rong Fengxiang to fall down, while he himself borrowed the reaction force to soar some more.
This moment Zuo Youxian and Pi Shouxuan already used up their true qi, so they could only continue falling down to the ground, helpless to stop him.
‘Bang!
Shangguan Long fell onto the floor. The dragonhead staff left his hand and rolled to the side, creating a loud grinding noise, while the blood on the pit of his stomach felt like gushing. Even without examining him carefully, everybody knew that he only had a few mouthful of injured qi left.
It looked like Kou Zhong was about to break through the roof and escape, but he laughed aloud again, the tip of his foot tapped the beam again, and he changed direction to pounce onto Zuo Youxian, whose feet had not touched the ground yet.
His guts and brilliance were not something that the enemies had ever dreamed of before the battle.