While this rock was fairly low, a child would still have to tip-toe in order to reach it. His skinny little arm was only about two fingers wide, and clearly didn't have much strength in it at all. Although he scrabbled at the rock face persistently, that little rock didn't budge an inch.
Zhou Fei asked: "What are you doing?"
The child trembled in fright at the sound of her voice. He warily spun around to face her, pressing his back as tightly as possible against the rock like a cornered animal.
With a rueful sigh, Zhou Fei slung her intimidating-looking sabre on Yang Jin's back. She walked towards the child and grabbed that protruding rock, yanking it downwards…but it didn't budge an inch either.
A little surprised, Zhou Fei pulled on that rock even harder, till the veins on the back of her hand were bulging from the exertion. She was using about eighty percent of her maximum strength, causing the soil and sand on this large outcropping of rock to come raining down on her, yet that protruding rock simply refused to budge. When she'd seen the child grab the rock with great certainty, she assumed that it had simply been loosely lodged within the rock face. She hadn't expected it to be joined to the larger rock.
Wu Chuchu crouched down so that she was at the child's eye level. Looking warmly into his eyes, careful not to startle him, she asked gently: "Why did you grab that rock? Is there something there? Or perhaps you've seen other people remove it before?"
While the child was afraid of Zhou Fei, he was much better with Wu Chuchu. He lowered his head and remained silent, his fingers scratching nervously at the cracks in the rock behind him. He glanced furtively at Zhou Fei before giving a quick nod. This made Zhou Fei's brow furrow. Sure, she'd focused exclusively on honing her Snow-Breaking Sabre for the last few years, but that didn't mean she was hopeless at everything else. After a pugilist's martial arts had reached a certain level, doing well in one branch generally meant an across the board improvement in strength and basic skills – if even she couldn't dislodge that protruding rock, then how on earth had those ordinary farmers managed to do it?
If they'd been powerful enough to do so, they certainly wouldn't have been killed so easily.
Li Yan bent down to look at the child, asking: "Eh? Why hasn't he said anything at all? It doesn't look like he's got any problems running around, and he understands what we're saying – he should be able to speak."
The child shrank back further.
Zhou Fei said thoughtfully: "Perhaps those people living in the valley did indeed use some of these rocks as markers to guide them, but this child doesn't remember the correct ones. Why don't we search this area for them?"
Yang Jin never missed an opportunity to mock her: "Ha! Admit it – you can't move the rock, right?"
Zhou Fei refused to react to this absurdly competitive idiot. She readily stepped aside and said: "Be my guest."
With a derisive snort, Yang Jin placed Skies Shatter gingerly and with great reverence on the grass, then drew his goose-wing sabre. He was an outlier amongst the short and squat denizens of the southern frontiers – he was tall and broad-shouldered, with arms that spanned a whopping seven feet. When he brandished his mighty goose-wing sabre like this, he was a fearsome sight indeed. Taking a half-step back, he lowered his shoulders into a fighting stance.
The 'Thirteen-Stroke Lone Goose Sabre' was far more than just a fearsome sight. Yang Jin lunged forward with a low roar, swinging his large sabre mightily down with force enough to split this entire mountain in half. It howled like a banshee as it sliced through the air, the cutting wind that it created making Li Yan's arm smart even from where she was standing a metre away. Muttering 'barbarian' under her breath, she quickly scooped up the child, who was cowering against the rock face in utter terror, and ducked to the side, setting him down a safe distance away.
Yang Jin's blade struck the rock face with a tremendous, teeth-chattering clang that echoed endlessly through these mountains. The tip of the blade wedged itself precisely within a slender crack in the rock which had been obscured by a layer of soil and dirt. The entire rock face quaked violently with the force of that earth-shaking blow…but it wasn't of much use either.
Sheer brute force from the Lone-Goose Sabre had deepened this fissure by about half an inch, yet the small rock which the child had been scrabbling at remained just as it was.
With another furious roar that made him go completely red in the face, from the tips of his ears all the way down to his neck, Yang Jin made to withdraw his blade to try again.
Li Sheng hadn't managed to stop him in time just now, but he couldn't bear to see the man embarrass himself any further. He quickly said: "Brother Yang, even if those people in the valley had really used the rocks here as markers, since they're full-grown adults, why would they choose a rock this low? Are you…you…"
Zhou Fei finished for him with a snicker: "Are you dumb or what?"
Yang Jin: "…"
Fearing that they were about to descend into endless bickering, Wu Chuchu hastily stepped in to mediate: "But at least this means that the child must have seen his parents remove a rock like that, right? If the child was mimicking what his parents did, could this mean that they also had to stand on their tip-toes to reach the rocks?"
Zhou Fei rose up onto her toes and stretched both hands out towards the rock face, feeling around the entire expanse of rock up there. But every single rock here seemed to be firmly lodged in place, and she couldn't tell if any one of them had been altered.
"Still nothing," said Zhou Fei with furrowed brow. "Could this child have gotten this place wrong as well?"
"Probably not," said Wu Chuchu gently. "There's a fork in the road just up ahead – look, even Yan knew to make a mark below that tree over there, although she's never been here before. If those people in the valley really did leave markers along the way, they must have done so near each fork in the road."
Five pairs of eyes were instantly fixed on the child, which only made him even more ill at ease, as he curled himself into a ball and buried his face in his knees. It would clearly be impossible to get anything out of him right now, and in any case a child so young might not be able to explain clearly to them what he'd seen before.
Then Li Yan said: "Could it be that…"
Everyone's heads simultaneously swivelled towards her.
Li Yan shrank back slightly: "That…ahem, I'm just guessing that, that is, Fei…perhaps…perhaps you- you…aren't tall enough?"
Zhou Fei shot her a look, while Yang Jin glanced sideways at the top of Zhou Fei's head, a condescending smile on his face.
Li Yan quickly thrust out her chin at Yang Jin and said forcefully: "But what's the point of being so tall anyway? Who would want to be a big dumb fool! What I meant was…why don't you try reaching a little further up?"
The big dumb fool in question scowled at her.
Why on earth did he insist on keeping such detestable company, time and time again?
Li Sheng said: "Let me try."
But before he finished his sentence, Zhou Fei had already sprung lightly off the ground and ascended the rock face. Her every step was light as a feather, so gentle that not a single particle of soil fell from the poor harassed rock. Li Sheng knew full well that qinggong had never been one of Zhou Fei's strengths, but watching her deft display of it today, her movements as weightless as air, all he could think of was: 'The Wind Passes Without A Trace'.
And for some reason, it made him think of Xie Yun.
"Stop staring," said Zhou Fei as she hung effortlessly off the rock face. "Pass me my sabre."
Shaking himself from his reverie, Li Sheng quickly handed Skies Shatter to her. Zhou Fei was in the midst of tapping its hilt across the rocks up there, when all of a sudden she heard Li Yan shout: "Watch out!"
A fist-sized rock had come tumbling down from above. Zhou Fei caught it just in time, and flipped off the rock face to land back on the ground. There was now a little hollow where the rock in Zhou Fei's hand had been, revealing a little metal spring within. If someone tapped the fist-sized rock in front of it, the spring would automatically be released and push that rock out. While this spring was slightly rusty with age, fortunately Zhou Fei had scrupulously passed her sabre over these rocks several times, else she might have missed it.
Li Sheng asked: "What's on that rock?"
"There seems to be some directions drawn on it," said Zhou Fei. "What is this thing?"
"Let me have a look," said Li Sheng as he took it from her. A eight-sided bagua diagram was carved into this little rock,[1] densely annotated with tiny words that were practically overlapping each other. Some of these words were so incredibly obscure that even Zhou Fei wasn't confident she could read all of it.
How could those refugees in the valley have come up with something like this?
Taking this diagram in at a glance, Li Sheng saw that the person who'd carved it into the rock had – for fear that the reader might not understand – left a small space amidst this complex tangle of annotations, in which a crude arrow was drawn. It said 'out' on one end, and 'in' on the other.
"It's a signpost," said Li Sheng. "I guess this valley is man-made after all, and the secret pathways for entry and exit were created by the same people…could it be the Qimen Sect's secret base? But since it's secret, why would they have allowed in so many outsiders?"
All of them agreed that they should take a look at it first regardless, so they swiftly dispatched of that Turtle Dove scout, and proceeded to follow the directions indicated on the rock. Each time they reached a fork in the road, they would use the same rock-tapping method to search for the signpost, and Li Sheng even copied down all of their complex bagua formations as well as the accompanying annotations. While they moved as quickly as they could, they still ended up spending a good four hours going round and round this place. All the mountains and rocks and trees and grass around them looked exactly the same, such that if the annotations on each new signpost weren't all different, they might have suspected that they were in fact going round in circles.
So they kept trudging on, from sunset, till dark, till even dew started to form on the trees and grass. And then, at last – this seemingly endless forest path finally made a sharp bend, leading to a wide expanse of space. While Li Yan was completely worn out by now, this sight was such a relief that she was about to whoop in delight, when Zhou Fei promptly clamped a hand over her mouth. Li Sheng pointed towards a shadowy spot at the side of the road, and the rest of them quickly followed his lead in hiding themselves there. The child was extremely well-behaved, opening his big eyes wide and not making a single sound.
A moment later, they saw a figure flash past the end of this path. Someone was patrolling this area.
Li Sheng nodded at Zhou Fei – they'd found the right place.
Brandishing Skies Shatter, Zhou Fei leapt lightly up onto the branches above, not rustling even a single leaf. The sky was dark tonight, the moon and stars barely a glimmer through the clouds. Poised on a branch like a watchful bird, she stayed there motionless for a few seconds before darting away.
She was an expert in sneaking around under cover of night by now. Moving swiftly and silently through the darkness, she had neared the entrance to the valley in short order. Peering down from her treetop perch, Zhou Fei saw that more than a dozen soldiers were guarding the entrance – more even than most city gates. These soldiers were all heavily armoured and armed, but every single one of them was facing the valley. They evidently weren't concerned about intruders, but about escapees from within.
This entire valley was lit up bright as day, and there was a huge pile of chopped-up tree trunks and branches near the entrance. These were all from trees that had been freshly cut down, as the leaves on them were still a bright green. They'd probably been felled after some of these refugees had gotten away using the dense foliage for cover.
The distinct sound of armour clinking as the guards paced back and forth was carried towards her on the wind. This place was being guarded like a fortress. She was certain now that large numbers of troops were stationed here.
Just then, Zhou Fei heard the familiar chirping of a bird. Looking up in the direction of that sound, she saw something flash at her from the mountain rocks just above. Li Sheng and the rest had managed to climb to higher ground.
Zhou Fei understood her cousin perfectly. Reaching into her pocket for a handful of beans that she'd used to feed the horses, she flung these forcefully into the air. They clattered noisily as they struck the surrounding outcroppings of rock. The soldiers instantly brandished their weapons in alarm, and started to search the area.
Zhou Fei leapt off the tree to land softly on the ground. The soldiers saw a dark figure dart past them, although they couldn't make out who it was. They made a great din as they charged towards it immediately, and the guards' shrill whistles rang out all around. This entrance was momentarily plunged into chaos. Taking advantage of Zhou Fei's diversion, Li Sheng and the rest quickly ran across the mountain rocks, past the exposed path to get closer to the entrance. Thankfully, not all of the trees on this mountain had been chopped down yet. Only those near the entrance had been cleared, so once they managed to sneak past this area unnoticed, there should be plenty of places to hide further in.
Zhou Fei led these soldiers on a wild goose chase for a bit, before finally, they followed the source of the noise to close in cautiously round a large pile of chopped wood, weapons in hand. The chief sentry in front made a series of gestures to his men, before taking a sudden step forward and with a roar, thrust his long spear into this heap of leafy branches. There was a tortured squawk from amongst the branches, which made these soldiers thrust their weapons further forward in fright. But when the chief sentry withdrew his spear, all they saw was a large bird impaled on it. The bird was still alive, flapping its wings in its death throes.
"A bird?" said the chief sentry as he scratched his head in bemusement. "We're done here, return to your posts, all of you…is that a crow? Why's it so big? What bad luck this is!"
The entrance to the valley quickly returned to calm after this 'false alarm'. But finding the sudden appearance of a frighteningly large crow in the dead of night to be a highly inauspicious omen, the chief sentry brought that massive bird to the fire, intending to burn it to ashes. Humming to himself, he thrust his long spear over the flames. He didn't see the tiniest gleam of metal slowly emerge from the shadows behind him, pointing right at his back.
Just then, the sudden patter of footsteps was heard, as the team of soldiers that had been patrolling the valley made their way back here. Greeting him from a distance, they called out: "What're you cooking? Sneaking a bite, eh? That's fine, as long as you don't slack off!"
This chief sentry yelled back in the affirmative. He didn't see that gleam of metal behind him slowly withdraw into the shadows again.
Zhou Fei turned around to survey this expansive valley. There were quite a number of shabby little houses here, some of which had been torn down and replaced with army tents. The largest tent had been erected in the very centre of this valley, looking particularly imposing under the flickering firelight. There were towering piles of supplies and straw here, and teams of warhorses were neatly lined up…this was so far removed from what she'd imagined the 'Qimen Sect's secret base' to look like – especially those shabby little houses that hadn't yet been demolished. These had clearly weathered the elements, and were starting to crumble from age. From her treetop perch, she could even see several broken bricks and roof tiles lying scattered on the ground, as well as a sagging cattle pen.
The Qimen Sect had always been extremely secretive, and its 'secret base' was even more of a mystery – the Black Judge hadn't even found a single clue as to its location despite being with them for years. Could there be a bunch of peasants inside, farming the land and rearing livestock as they pleased?
That would be utterly absurd.
Unable to contain her disappointment, Zhou Fei let out a small sigh. The past day and night had been a complete waste of time. Although now that she thought about it, how could it have been this easy to stumble upon the Qimen Sect's secret base? If she'd had that kind of good fortune, she wouldn't have had to scour the land for the last three years in vain. Zhou Fei dispiritedly sheathed Skies Shatter. Glancing back at that Northern soldier – who was blissfully unaware of how close he'd gotten to losing his life tonight – she inched along the rock face of the mountain, pressing herself as tightly as possible against it, and slipped silently away.
Since the Northern Dynasty's troops were assembled here, this was no longer an affair for pugilists like them to meddle in anymore.
Zhou Fei thought to herself: We'd better go back out the way we came while it's still dark.
As Li Sheng had Wu Chuchu and a young child in tow, he hadn't dared to go too near to the valley. He'd cautiously stayed a good distance away, using the rocks and trees here for cover as he surveyed the area, feeling more worried the more he saw. He whispered: "Look, they've got sufficient supplies of food and weapons, and all the soldiers here are strapping young men, with not a single old or weak one in the entire lot…that scout was wrong, there are at least 40,000 troops here already, mostly cavalry and archers."
Yang Jin and Li Yan stared at him with incomprehension – he certainly couldn't expect a response from them.
Only Wu Chuchu replied: "But there are very few soldiers for logistical support – it looks like they don't plan to camp here for long."
Li Sheng sighed in gratification at having finally found an intelligent soul. Wu Chuchu pointed towards a spot in the valley, asking: "What's going on over there?"
Having all developed excellent night vision from years of practicing martial arts, they promptly looked in the direction that she was pointing at. There was a heavily-guarded area in a corner of this valley, surrounded by an iron fence. Several figures in tattered clothes were vaguely visible through the bars.
Just then, Yang Jin heard a soft rustling from behind him. Someone tapped on the surrounding rock with a sabre's hilt, causing him to jump in fright. He whipped his head around to find that it was Zhou Fei, and only then did he lower his Lone Goose Sabre. She said a tad impatiently: "Let's leave now. There are only five of us here, and we've even got a child in tow. We'll be in deep trouble if we're found out – cousin, I'll search for the Qimen Sect another time. You'd better hurry back to find my father first, that's more important."
"Hang on," said Wu Chuchu. "Look over there, what are they planning to do?"
A soldier came running out of the large tent in the centre of the valley. As he neared the fenced-off area, he raised his hands high in the air.
When they saw the soldier approach, the guards seated round this iron enclosure all got to their feet. They seemed to be communicating with each other, and shortly after that, the soldier turned back around and left, while the guards started to light the torches around them. As this iron enclosure had been erected in a dark corner of the valley, at first Li Sheng and the rest could only make out several people inside, and had assumed that this was just a small section of the valley that was flush against one side of the mountain. There were probably only about a few dozen refugees imprisoned here.
But as torch after torch was lit, all of them froze in astonishment.
This iron enclosure hadn't been erected against the foot of the mountain, but at the entrance to a large cave. This cave appeared to extend deep into the mountain, and was crammed full of refugees – people of all ages, every one of them in filthy and tattered rags, with bleak looks of despair on their faces. There seemed to be a few hundred people here at least, who were being caged up like animals behind these iron bars. A human head was impaled on the sharp spike of one of these bars, which had rotted away to reveal bits of white skull beneath!
Li Yan said in utter shock: "My…my god, why are there so many people!"
Yang Jin said curiously: "Are these refugees? Why are they locking so many up instead of killing or releasing them? For fun?"
"My guess is that when Merak and Alkaid first arrived here, they must have realised that this valley was manmade, and as they couldn't figure out why just yet, they couldn't be sure if there were other secret passageways leading out of it," whispered Li Sheng. "As there were so many refugees here, if they started killing everyone at once, should these refugees know of other secret exits and a few of them manage to escape, their whole plan would be ruined."
Wu Chuchu said in horrified wonder: "So they're trying to calm these refugees down first."
"That's right. These Northern troops must have adopted a carrot and stick approach: they could've first declared all of these refugees traitors for fleeing south, deserving of death, and killed one of their leaders to make an example of him. Then after killing him, they would pretend to show mercy to the rest of them, conveniently pushing all of the blame onto the dead person and condemning him for leading the rest astray. They would tell the rest that if they truly repented, they would be forgiven for their crimes." Li Sheng pondered this for a while before adding: "If I were in their position, I would pretend to register their citizenship again, telling them that after the war the imperial court would be re-allocating large plots of abandoned land, and that those who registered themselves would each be given a piece of this land when they returned. In this way, the refugees would feel more at ease, and I would also get a complete headcount of every single person here, preventing anyone from slipping away unnoticed."
Yang Jin looked down at his arms to find that Li Sheng's words had made goosebumps appear all over them – these people from the central plains were bone-chillingly ruthless.
Having been dealt both the carrot and the stick, this flock of now-leaderless sheep would be like lambs to the slaughter. As most of these refugees were likely simple and timid folk, all they wished for was a safe place to stay, and unless their lives were being threatened, they wouldn't attempt to rashly escape or put up any resistance. As long as they had food to eat and water to drink, and weren't being beaten, they would stay here obediently and without complaint. Some of those who were more easily swayed might even be convinced to help these Northern troops find the other secret pathways leading out of this valley.
And once the Northern troops had more or less gotten the lay of the land here, they could finally drop the act – by this point, these refugees would have long since been drained of what little courage and strength they might have had at first, and would be like putty in the hands of their captors. The troops could do with them whatever they wished – slaughtering and silencing them, or engaging them in hard labour.
Alas, even in a seemingly homogenous horde, there were still bound to be a few anomalies – such as those who had escaped with the child. While these might not necessarily have been the smartest or most courageous of the lot, perhaps they'd had some particularly pressing reason that had driven them to make a break for it, and had somehow succeeded by some amazing stroke of luck.
But as the Northern army was almost done assembling their troops here, they absolutely could not afford to have their plan leaked at this crucial point in time. Li Sheng could just imagine how furious Gu Tianxuan and his men must have been. They'd therefore had no qualms about sending out squad after squad of soldiers to go after a couple of humble peasant folk. At the same time, since these refugees were of no use to them anymore, they'd decided to kill all of them at once to prevent something like that from ever happening again.
The soldiers standing guard outside the iron fence dutifully strapped on their armour and raised their gleaming sabres – Zhou Fei and company had stumbled right upon this scene of slaughter.
The child started to wriggle about in Wu Chuchu's arms once more. Wu Chuchu was better prepared the second time round however, and managed to hold onto him tightly to prevent him from getting away. In desperation, the child let out a little whimper, like that of a small creature, and lowered his head to bite her hand. But before his teeth could sink into her flesh, a hand gripped him roughly by the chin.
Zhou Fei forcibly shut the child's mouth and raised his small face to hers. Staring coldly into his eyes, she flicked a finger at a precise spot on his neck. The child's eyes instantly reddened, yet with no means to resist her, his eyelids drifted shut against his will. The tears that had gathered in his eyes trickled silently down his face.
Wiping a teardrop off her fingertip, Zhou Fei said lowly: "Li Sheng."
Li Sheng forced himself to look away from the valley. He hesitated for a moment, before saying firmly: "The martial arts world has always sworn against interfering in imperial court affairs. That is the code – let's go."
Li Yan's eyes widened in disbelief: "Brother?"
Li Sheng ignored her cry, grabbing her by the shoulder and pushing her gently forward, while reaching a hand out to Wu Chuchu: "I'll carry the child. You girls walk in front."
Those 'lambs to the slaughter' in the valley below seemed to have finally understood what was happening, as panic started to sweep over them. The horde that was packed into the dark cave started to scream and shout and jostle each other. The sounds of their pleas and curses filled the air, resounding all across the valley and rising up to the mountains above, right into the ears of these young pugilists.
Li Yan glanced over her shoulder towards the valley, and nearly tripped over her feet at a shove from Li Sheng.
"What are you still looking at!" said Li Sheng crossly. "Watch where you're going!"
Li Yan couldn't help but cry: "Li Sheng, have you gone blind? They're going to kill them! Weak and defenceless people, who have been fleeing for their lives…there are so many of them, a whole cave full of them, Fei! Say something!"
Zhou Fei paused in her tracks, but she remained silent.
Li Yan thought that perhaps Zhou Fei hadn't heard her, and kept calling out to her again and again, but Zhou Fei continued to ignore her. And in that one horrible moment, Li Yan suddenly understood. As she stared speechlessly at Zhou Fei, and then at Li Sheng, the light in her big eyes gradually dimmed in shock, like a fire snuffed out with cold water.
After a good long while, she said hesitantly: "Aren't we…aren't we going to do anything about them?"
Li Sheng said coldly: "Do you want us to get ourselves killed?"
Li Yan said with deep distress: "But-but in Jinan District, didn't Fei still manage to save that gentleman from Tong Kaiyang's clutches?"
Zhou Fei lowered her head, fidgeting with the hilt of Skies Shatter.
Li Yan turned to Li Sheng again: "And as for you, weren't you just boasting on the way here about how you led a whole bunch of pugilists in fending off the Iron-Faced Devil, you…"
"Are you done talking?" snapped Li Sheng. "Fei had already fought with Tong Kaiyang several times prior, so she knew what to expect before she drew her sabre. And as for what happened at the Liu Manor, all of us had already agreed beforehand to join forces against Yin Pei. Do you know what 'joining forces' means? If not for the fact that the various sects have been hopelessly divided in recent years, there's no way Yin Pei would still be running rampant today – and look down there!"
He pointed an angry finger towards the valley below: "How many people do they have? And how many do we have? There's only five of us, with a little child to boot – and you, who is hardly of any use. Let me be frank – Li Yan, even if aunt and all of our seniors in the 48 Zhai were here today, they wouldn't dare to so recklessly attack tens of thousands of elite Northern troops."
While Li Sheng was often cross with her, he rarely ever rebuked her as fiercely as this. Li Yan stared at her brother in shock, stunned by his sudden outburst.
Taking a deep breath, Li Sheng forced himself to lower his voice a tad: "And even if you were powerful enough to move entire mountains, and could subdue all forty thousand of these troops somehow, then what? Look at all those people – most of them can barely even stand. How are you going to bring all of them away, huh? Li Yan, you aren't a child anymore. When will you ever learn to think before you speak?"
A very long time ago, Li Sheng had wanted nothing else but to make a name for himself, and get far ahead of everyone. He'd brooded over this day in and day out, so much so that he'd run away from Old Madam Wang's party. At the time, he'd truly and sincerely believed that the abilities of Young Master Li were peerless and unparalleled, and that he would one day be capable of rending the very skies above. He'd rather die than admit that Zhou Fei's martial arts were better than his. But now, he'd learnt how to put the 48 Zhai's defenses in order, how to truly win people over, how to wisely keep his head down, and that being 'peerless' and 'unparalleled' weren't necessarily good things…he'd even fled in terror after a few complimentary words from Madame Cirrus.
He had grown up.
A very long time ago too, Zhou Fei had been blissfully ignorant of fear, always charging headlong into danger. Equipped with a barely decent Snow-Breaking Sabre, she'd recklessly confronted the Azure Dragon Lord against Xie Yun's strong objections. At the time, she'd truly and sincerely believed that she was being incredibly noble and principled. She'd thought that 'since there was no such thing as law and order in this ruthless world, if even heroes cowered in silence, then what hope was there for the weak and defenceless who were struggling to survive?'
But now, even as she'd mastered her 'Inconstant' Snow-Breaking Sabre – Mu Xiaoqiao had even said that 'Li Zheng might not necessarily best her' – it felt like her hands were often tied. She now knew that she should avoid unnecessary battles with Tong Kaiyang, that she should keep herself hidden while other pugilists were attacking Yin Pei…and sometimes, she'd even been consumed by paralysing doubt, unsure of what to do – if anything at all – about those tangled events of the past which were shrouded in mystery.
Li Sheng had to return to the 48 Zhai, where myriad responsibilities still beckoned. Li Jinrong would not be able to keep that flimsy little boat sheltered from the wind and rain forever, and was steadily shifting the weight of this responsibility onto the shoulders of the younger generation. And Zhou Fei had to find the Qimen Sect's secret base, in search of that last faint glimmer of hope. Over the last year, she'd been assailed with an inexplicable feeling of urgency, as if something was telling her that if she didn't hurry up, Xie Yun wouldn't be able to wait anymore.
Wu Chuchu was well aware that given her meagre martial arts skills, she would already be a great help if they didn't have to worry about her safety. No matter how much injustice she was feeling, she certainly didn't dare urge them to save those people. All she could do was listen in silence as the Li siblings argued.
None of them was alone in this world – even if they truly were willing to sacrifice their own lives for a heroic cause, they still had to think of all those people that relied on them, who needed them to stay alive. How could they so recklessly and needlessly try to play the hero here?
While this treacherous world might not exactly reduce heroes to petty cowards, it could often make them into people who steered clear of trouble.
With a choked sob, Li Yan called out, almost instinctively: "Fei…"
Avoiding her gaze, Zhou Fei didn't agree with Li Sheng, nor did she take Li Yan's side. She cut in stiffly: "Are we taking the same way back out?"
Indecision was written all over Yang Jin's face, as his features scrunched up into a deep frown.
Glancing down again at the valley, Wu Chuchu deliberated for a good long while before she couldn't help but break her silence: "Behind those iron bars…there don't seem to be any women."
There would definitely have been both men and women, old and young amongst those fleeing the North. These refugees in particular, who had settled down in this valley to farm the land, couldn't possibly have been limited to men alone. Then since the women weren't here, where had they gone?
This entire valley was full of hot-blooded young soldiers – the answer was self-evident.
When Wu Chuchu said that, everyone immediately fell silent.
The iron bars opened with a clang, amidst the captives' cries and shouts.
Right at that moment, on the tranquil shores of the Eastern Sea, Xie Yun was holding a sabre to the light, turning it over this way and that as he examined it: "Shishu Chen, what exactly do you think makes a 'good sabre'?"
Without Bone-Deep Frost running through his veins, the roaring furnace here was making Chen Junfu sweat buckets. Removing his shirt to wipe the sweat dripping off his chin, he said as calmly as ever: "What do you think?"
"Well- firstly, it has to be made from good iron. Then the craftsmanship has to be good, such that its blade is sharp but not brittle, strong and unyielding; it has to slice smoothly through the air, while not being easily buffeted by the wind…it also has to be sturdy and durable, of course – that is a good sabre." Xie Yun paused here, before adding: "And if it has a powerful owner, causing its name to spread far and wide, then does it become a legendary sabre."
Chen Junfu smiled.
Xie Yun asked: "What is it?"
Chen Junfu said: "You don't wield a sabre, so all that you've said is just theoretical. If Fei heard it, she'll laugh at you for sure."
Not embarrassed in the slightest, Xie Yun said: "We all have different areas of expertise, I don't mind – Shishu, then would you care to share a 'non-theoretical' opinion?"
Chen Junfu said: "Many years ago, a young girl with deep pockets came to Penglai and begged me to spare no expense in making a pair of weapons – a sword and a sabre – which she said were a gift for friends. The sabre was named 'Mountain', while the sword was named 'Snow'…"
Xie Yun said: "Ah, I've actually had the privilege of beholding them before."
"That sabre, 'Mountain', was a truly majestic sabre," said Chen Junfu. "I'd never seen the original that it was supposed to be modelled after, so I made it according to what I could gather from that young girl's descriptions. She was a lively and spirited girl, frank and vivacious, who had a charmingly rapid-fire way of talking. That pair of weapons which she described had been wielded by two heroes who she deeply admired. I don't want to brag, but the sabre and sword which I forged were elegance and dignity personified, imbued with the kind of tremendous regard you might feel when toasting a great friend with fine wine – now that was a good sabre, and a good sword. Another example would be…the cursed sabre 'Skies Shatter'."
Xie Yun said: "Ah, a legacy of the great master Lu Run. I'd seen it once in my younger days, in the Emperor's quarters."
"Lu Run was an incredible talent who accomplished magnificent things in many fields, ranging from martial arts to literature to governance, yet nothing in his life went the way he wanted it to: he died feeling like he'd done wrong by his country, his friends, and himself, and even hundreds of years after his death, it was precisely because of his great accomplishments that his own sect, the Great Medicine Valley, was targeted and decimated by Cao Zhongkun." Chen Junfu continued: "Lu Run was completely at the mercy of the heavens, the world, and the fates, with no way of escaping his wretched destiny no matter how hard he strained against it. So he chose to close his eyes and his ears entirely, cutting himself off from the outside world. This is why the sabre that he created, 'Skies Shatter', sought to crush everything in its path, like a tidal wave of grievous resentment. Even though it had never been sharpened for use before it was Fei's, it already possessed a vicious hostility capable of splitting the earth and shattering the skies."
Xie Yun furrowed his brow.
"But that too is a good sabre, a truly exceptional one in fact," said Chen Junfu. "Both of these sabres were made from good iron of the rarest kind, with excellent craftsmanship; their blades are all extremely sharp and incredibly strong, they certainly 'slice smoothly through the air, while not being easily buffeted by the wind', and are both very sturdy and durable – yet the two are as different as night and day. Do you understand now?"
Patting Xie Yun on the shoulder, Chen Junfu said: "Well then- a sabre of splendour, or a sabre that destroys – which kind do you wish to forge?"
Zhou Yitang had told Zhou Fei the story behind Skies Shatter when he'd handed it to her in the Shu Mountains: it was about a man's brief but painful life, his rapid rise and fall, the unsentimental passing of time…and just another one of fate's cruel jokes in the end.
And while Xie Yun was pondering his response, those refugees in the valley were frantically jostling their way as far back into the cave as possible. The weapons of the Northern soldiers had formed a wall of gleaming steel just outside the iron bars of the cave. One of these soldiers stepped forward, and unfurling a scroll so long that the end of it hit the ground, he started to read out the names that were written on it. If there was no response to a particular name, those soldiers which had entered the cave would start to crack a spike-covered whip across the packed horde of people in here. In this way, even if some didn't dare to respond at first, they would eventually be pushed out by their own comrades who were running helter-skelter to avoid the savage stings of the whip.
The soldier reading out the names had a booming voice which echoed all throughout the valley, such that even Zhou Fei and company could hear bits and pieces of it from above – just as Li Sheng surmised, the troops had indeed taken down all of these refugees' names to ensure that they didn't miss anyone.
The loud thwacks of the whip were especially jarring in the quiet night. Wu Chuchu quickly realised that she'd said too much, and bit down on her bottom lip, lowering her head: "Don't listen to me, I only…"
Li Sheng didn't lash out at her the same way he'd done to Li Yan. Looking down, he said softly: "First things first, we need to inform uncle and General Wen of this as soon as possible, because we'll be in big trouble if our troops are attacked on all sides. Else even if we were to die here today, it'll still be of no use at all."
Li Sheng was the kind of person who defended his decisions even more fiercely the worse he felt about them. He would desperately try to find a whole bunch of good reasons for them, and force himself to say these out loud no matter how hollow they sounded to himself and to others – he would have plastered the words 'I AM BLOODY WELL RIGHT' onto his forehead if he could. Yang Jin wasn't good with words, while Zhou Fei was typically reserved, so neither responded to Li Sheng although they both knew that he was uttering nonsense – the need to convey this information to Zhou Yitang was clearly an excuse. If it was of paramount importance to report this to the Southern troops, couldn't they just have gotten Li Yan and Wu Chuchu to leave first? Jiangling wasn't too far from the 48 Zhai, and no matter how unskilled Li Yan was she had after all managed to earn her identification badge from Xiushan Hall. With someone as steady and dependable as Wu Chuchu to keep her in line, wouldn't they be able to find one of the 48 Zhai's secret posts to deliver the message?
Li Sheng's flimsy excuse hung in the air between them, sounding flimsier to him by the second. Glaring furiously around at everyone, he decided to take his frustrations out on them: "Why isn't anyone saying anything! Have you all gone mute!"
Zhou Fei ran over in her mind all the things that she still needed to do: she needed to find the Qimen Sect's secret base, she needed to find a cure for Bone-Deep Frost, and she needed to return to the 48 Zhai.
Yin Pei wasn't dead yet, Old Madam Wang hadn't been avenged, and 'Sea Blends Into Sky' was a nagging cause for concern that might blow up at any time…but even as she listed all of these things one by one, she knew that she couldn't utter any of them, because even if they loomed larger to her than the towering Tai Mountains, they would immediately sound trivial and insignificant once said out loud.
But Yang Jin suddenly spoke up: "Brother Li, stop rambling on – what you mean is that you don't dare to stay, yet you feel guilty about leaving, isn't it?"
If this were daytime, they would all have seen Li Sheng's face turn a bright tomato red.
"Well, I feel the same way too," said this southern savage candidly. "Hey, Zhou Fei, you aren't dumb either, 'fess up to it too."
Zhou Fei didn't reply. Li Sheng felt like he was truly delusional to have expected these two to say anything constructive at all. Sighing heavily, he turned away to put them out of his sight, firmly pushed this entire valley to the back of his mind, and started to trudge back down the same path they'd taken to get here. He was just a lowly youth from the 48 Zhai. He wasn't the Sword of Mountains and Rivers, nor was he the former Master of the 48 Zhai Li Zheng; and neither was he the leader of the martial arts world, nor was he of royal blood. Perhaps he was even destined to be an insignificant little nobody, huffing and puffing away in mundanity for the rest of his life. Why then should he bear the guilt of heroes?
No matter how many people died down there, weren't they all just strangers? What did they have to do with him?
But just when he had turned to leave, Yang Jin said: "I've got an idea."
Yang Jin was the very opposite of someone who one might expect to 'have an idea'. When he said this out of the blue, everyone looked over at him in shock.
Yang Jin said: "But all of you need to turn away from me first."
Zhou Fei said: "What are you going to do?"
Yang Jin waved dismissively: "Just do it, we don't have much time."
Once everyone had obediently turned away, Yang Jin bent over and plucked several long and slender blades of grass. He tore off the roots of four of them such that they were of roughly the same length, while the fifth one was longer than the rest with its roots intact. When he was done, he gathered them together in his hand and thrust this fistful of grass in front of the others.
A corner of Li Sheng's mouth twitched: "…Brother Yang, what is this?"
Yang Jin explained: "Back home, we believe that all things have a life and a spirit in them. During our festivals, or whenever we encountered any major problems, we'd always get a shaman to perform divinations. While I don't understand all of the gibberish they utter during the rituals, I know that the basic principle is to simply let the heavens decide – so let's draw lots. All of you take one each, and if one person draws the one that's different than the rest, then we'll leave immediately. But if nobody ends up drawing it, and it remains in my hand, then let's try to come up with a plan to save them, alright?"
Everyone was rendered speechless by this – even Li Yan rolled her eyes at him.
Li Sheng would never have thought of a solution that was so 'outside the box'. Coughing awkwardly, he said as delicately as possible: "Ahem, well, Brother Yang…"
Zhou Fei brusquely finished his sentence for him: "Are you crazy?"
A single vein bulged at Yang Jin's temple. But before he could fumble for a clumsy retort, Zhou Fei suddenly reached out and drew one of those drooping blades of grass in his hand. She uncurled her fingers to see a rootless blade of grass, and said: "Not mine."
Li Sheng: "…"
Whose side was this girl on!
When it came to crunch time, Li Yan had always followed Zhou Fei's lead, so she too drew a blade of grass: "Not mine either."
Wu Chuchu was next: "Not mine."
Yang Jin thrust the last two blades of grass towards Li Sheng: "Are you going to pick one?"
Just metres away from enemy troops, they were playing a lot-drawing game to decide on a matter of life and death – how ridiculous was this! Li Sheng couldn't help but bemoan his life choices: If he didn't stop hanging out with this bunch of idiots, he would be heading for an extremely premature death.
And so there was nothing left to do…but to throw his hands up and pick one out of the remaining two blades of grass, very slowly drawing it out of Yang Jin's fist. That fragile green shoot could never have imagined that so heavy a responsibility would one day rest on its shoulders. It quivered gently in the night breeze, as if it would break at any moment. Five pairs of eyes were glued to this slender blade of grass.
Li Sheng's blade of grass had been cleanly sliced off just above its roots. Yang Jin opened his hand to reveal a blade of grass that still had its long roots attached. It lay innocently in the centre of his tanned palm, little bits of soil still stuck to the uncut roots. The two young men looked at each other in silence for a moment, before quickly and simultaneously flinging their blades of grass away. In a complete about-face from his irascible demeanour just moments ago, Li Sheng said briskly and evenly: "We can't all stay here. Yan and Miss Wu should take the child and leave first – Yan, do you know where the nearest secret post is?"
Li Yan had just tagged along with him to survey every single one of the 48 Zhai's secret posts from west to east, so she said readily: "Yes."
Li Sheng continued: "Leave the same way we came, and you'd better do so while it's still dark. There may be scouts from the Big Dipper patrolling this area. These scouts are extremely sly and would probably be in disguise, so you'd better keep your faces covered and ride away from here as fast as possible. You must make it seem like you're in a dreadful hurry, make all of the weapons on you clearly visible, and don't stop at all costs, no matter who calls out to you. If anyone blocks your way, swing your blade at him without hesitation. And if you encounter anything that you truly can't handle, release your signal flares at once. Should someone from the 48 Zhai or a friend of the 48 Zhai see it, they'd be able to come to your aid."
Zhou Fei stood there for a while, deep in thought. Then she walked a little further into the forest, behind several large trees, and re-emerged moments later with a shimmering silver set of body armour in hand, so light and gauzy that it looked like it was made of silk. She brushed her finger along the hem, sweeping its row of dangling clamshells into the palm of her hand. Tucking those shells securely away, she tossed the armour to Wu Chuchu and said: "This body armour is called 'Sunset Clouds', and it was forged by the same master craftsman who made Madam Yin's 'Clouds of Dusk' many years back. No weapon can pierce it, nor can it be damaged by fire or water…but it can't protect you from hard knocks of course, so if you encounter any top pugilists who can crush you with one blow you'd better run. Take it with you, and decide amongst yourselves who should wear it."
Then Zhou Fei rummaged around in her little travel sack, and pulled out an iron wristguard. This wristguard was made for a teenage girl's slender wrist, and looked like a delicate cuff bracelet with its exquisite craftsmanship: "This device was made by the same master craftsman. It releases a little dart, with a range of about three metres, and can be used to protect you should you encounter any danger. As long as you don't panic and aim well, you should be able to hit pugilists like your brother."
This earned Zhou Fei a glare from Li Sheng.
As Zhou Fei wasn't in the habit of using such concealed weapons, she demonstrated its use to the girls somewhat uncertainly. Flipping open the wristguard, she saw that while its mechanism seemed to be working fine, its secret compartment was completely empty. Just as she was staring down at it in embarrassment, Yang Jin handed a small paper packet to her: "Would this do?"
Li Yan took it from him with great curiosity, unwrapping it to find that it contained a handful of fine needles.
"Some of these are coated with snake venom, and some with tranquilizers. But I can't tell them apart, so they've all been lumped together like that. If you need to you can use them and see what happens," said Yang Jin, scratching his nose awkwardly before adding: "It's the work of those dumb herb farmers."
Li Sheng said: "We'll create a diversion at the entrance to the valley so the two of you can slip away. Who's going to do it?"
"I will," said Zhou Fei gamely. "I'll go down there and issue a direct challenge to the two Northern dogs. Lu Yaoguang and Gu Tianxuan aren't real generals, so they'll definitely show up once they hear that somebody wishes to challenge them to a fight. Yan and Chuchu can seize this opportunity to leave, while the two of you can take the chance to save those people."
Yang Jin said in astonishment: "Are you capable of beating two of the Big Dipper all on your own?"
"Of course not," said Zhou Fei frankly. "But they would look pretty bad in front of all these Northern troops if they were to gang up on a junior like me. As long as I appear to be a lot weaker than them from the very beginning, they might refrain from battling me together, out of consideration for their reputations."
Li Sheng furrowed his brow: "I agree that they wouldn't come at you together, but only because they will most likely get their men to shoot you to death instead. What kind of a horrible plan is this?"
"It would of course be extremely easy for them to shoot me to death. But if they wanted to capture me alive, there's no way they could trust their soldiers to do it." Zhou Fei said: "If I make them think that there's something fishy about my sudden appearance, Gu Tianxuan and Lu Yaoguang might start to suspect that this is part of a secret plot by the South, and so for the sake of questioning me or holding me hostage, they would need to come at me themselves."
"I get it," said Li Sheng with a sigh. "Subterfuge and obfuscation, with you out there doing all of it on your own – forget about it, it's far too dangerous."
Zhou Fei: "Then what do you think we should do?"
While Li Sheng did indeed have the makings of a great general, he certainly couldn't make bricks without straw. Looking around him at this pitifully small handful of pugilists, he was truly at a loss.
"Well, I've got this," said Yang Jin, pulling from his pockets two round pellets. "Those herb farmers made these too. They're supposed to release a large cloud of powder when smashed onto the ground, which causes temporary blindness. But they might have gotten a little damp, so I'm not sure if they'll still work. We could lob this into the middle of all those soldiers outside the iron bars, and while they are thrown into confusion we can take the chance to let everyone out. That's the best we can do, I think – whether they manage to escape in the end will depend on their luck. We don't have to do everything for them."
Li Sheng considered this for a while, before saying tentatively: "I still have several of the 48 Zhai's signal flares with me. As these produce a shower of sparks, if we release them they might think that we are planning to burn their camp down, which could throw them further into disarray…but no, this plan is far too foolhardy, I really think that it wouldn't work. We'd have to be as quick as lightning, and have everything in our favour: the Northern troops would have to react slowly, their generals would need to be fools, and…either Gu Tianxuan and Lu Yaoguang at least would need to care enough about his reputation to refrain from attacking Fei alongside the other, else she wouldn't be able to cope. Do you know how much luck we'd need to pull off something like this! We'd need Lady Luck and Providence and all the gods above to be smiling down upon us in order to succeed."
Zhou Fei added: "And those refugees have to be sufficiently sharp as well, such that they react quickly enough to know what to do and where to run – I agree that it's far too risky."
These young men and women fell silent once more. Li Yan finally realised just how difficult this really was, and how thoughtless she'd been just now. She said in a small voice: "So does this mean that we'd better…"
…not get involved?
After several moments had passed in silence, Li Sheng finally said: "I believe it must have been the will of the gods that none of us drew the long blade of grass. And since it's the will of the gods…they would lend us a little bit of luck at least, don't you think?"
That last sentence was said uncertainly. He shot a pleading look at Zhou Fei.
Gripping the hilt of Skies Shatter, Zhou Fei slapped a hand on Li Yan's shoulder and said: "Come on, I'll send you two out of here."
Li Yan suddenly had the urge to cry, deeply regretting her foolishly immature outburst of righteous indignation. But Zhou Fei didn't afford her any time to sob. She weaved her way stealthily through the trees, expertly using these for cover, and in the blink of an eye had led Wu Chuchu and Li Yan back down to the spot near the entrance where there was no more foliage to hide amongst.
Zhou Fei turned to Li Yan and said: "I was even younger than you are now when I first left the 48 Zhai. My martial arts was a joke, and I also had to deal with two of the Big Dipper who were after me. I swore then that I would escort Chuchu safely back to the 48 Zhai…and she could barely run at the time. Now that she's a disciple of Mistress Li, she no longer needs you to escort her at least."
Li Yan discreetly wiped away her tears.
Wu Chuchu nodded at her: "Don't worry about me."
The faintest hint of a smile emerged on Zhou Fei's face. Then she turned to Li Yan and said: "Should our luck today run out, then please…please make a trip to the Southern Imperial College and let Scholar Lin know."
Li Yan opened her mouth to say something, but Zhou Fei gave her one last parting glance before leaping away into the trees, a shadowy figure melting into the dark night.