Book 42 - Chapter 7 – Los
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Duan Yucheng sat on a table at a corner inside the restaurant, his expression gloomy. When Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, two boys sat on his left and right, respectively, his pair of eyes was still fixed on the Xiangshui rice wine rippling inside his cup. He still looked as handsome as before, with clear silhouette, only his a-bit-too-slim face looked like lifeless stone carving.
Seeing his unusual bearing, the two boys felt something was amiss.
Kou Zhong looked at him in consternation for half a day, and he still did not show any movement. After randomly ordered some food and drink, Kou Zhong leaned over and said, “Yucheng! Do you have something on your mind?”
Because it was past busy lunch hour, and dinner time was still a couple of sichen away, out of the seventeen, eighteen tables in the restaurant, only three were occupied, including theirs.
The wine shop was in a tranquil, lazy afternoon atmosphere.
Duan Yucheng raised the cup and drained it in one gulp. Acting as if he finally made up his mind on some difficult matter, he put the empty wine cup upside down on the table, and spoke in heavy voice, “Two Bangzhu, I want to separate myself from Shuang Long Bang. This is the last time Yucheng call you as Bangzhu.”
Hearing that, the two looked at each other. Out of all the guesses they made beforehand, they had never thought that the first thing he said would be to sever all relations with them.
The refined light in Kou Zhong’s pair of eyes flaring greatly, he spoke indifferently, “Stay when there is an agreement, leave when there is disagreement. If this is your own decision, and not because Da Ming Zun Jiao’s female demons deceiving and leading you astray, then I will respect everything, and definitely will not say another word.”
The lightning light in Duan Yucheng’s eyes suddenly appeared, he met Kou Zhong’s sharp gaze without yielding the slightest bit, and coldly said, “I was once your subordinate, you want to beat me, you want to scold me, I have no complaints. But you can’t insult them [feminine], and they are not female demons, but people who understand light very well in this turbid darkness world. Are they [generic/masculine] all dead?”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “I also hope that what you are telling is the fact. Your last question, are you referring to Zhifu and the others? They are all no more! Ay! You ought to know who killed them.”
Duan Yucheng slowly said, “You killed them.”
“What?” Kou Zhong blurted out.
“How did we kill them?” Xu Ziling spoke softly.
Duan Yucheng replied word-by-word, “If you and us did not separate along the way, they did not have to die.”
Hearing that, the two you look at me I look at you, they lacked the word to respond. If this was how he’d like to think, then he would not listen to any reason. However, Duan Yucheng’s remark indeed made the two feel a twinge of guilt, because if they had not selected the four of them to journey together, Bao Zhifu, three men would not be killed.
Kou Zhong sighed and said, “But isn’t the one directly causing their death is your honorable Cult’s Shangguan Long?”
Letting out a cold humph, Duan Yucheng said, “He is just a traitor; were it not for Xinnaya saving me, also putting her heart and soul to heal me, I’m afraid it would be difficult for me to sit here today, speaking with two gentlemen. That’s all I have to say. Remembering your kindness of imparting your skills to me in the past, I only have one word for you, which is you must leave this place immediately.”
He stood suddenly. Without even looking back, he hurriedly left, severing all relations with them, leaving the two boys sitting blankly in the corner.
The fine wine was on the table.
Kou Zhong raised his cup and took a big mouthful. Smiling wryly, he said, “His granny’s! I am beginning to think that we should not dare to underestimate Da Ming Zun Jiao. Yucheng is definitely not a fool, among the four, his aptitude is at the top. My Niang! You see how radically he has changed; he is no longer the Duan Yucheng that I know.”
“Laoxiong!” Xu Ziling hissed, “You seem to forget the key principle of wine and wound do not mix.”
Kou Zhong put down the cup, lowering his voice that it could not go any lower, he leaned close and said, “This mouthful of wine, half is for the enemy to see, half is for myself. Ay! How did Yucheng become like this? Did you notice his eyes when he looked at us just now? This kid’s skill has advanced greatly, it won’t be easy for us to put him in order.”
And then, knitting his brows, he muttered, “Xinnaya! This name sound familiar.”
Searching the memory inside his mind, Xu Ziling said, “Zhu Yuyan mentioned that name once. She is the Du Shui [poisonous water] of the Five Kinds of Demons. Together with Liexia, they are the outstanding figure within the Da Ming Zun Jiao who had received personal instructions in Da Zun’s pinnacle skills, her martial art skill is not inferior to the Shan Mu [benevolent mother] Sha Fang.”
Slapping his forehead, Kou Zhong exclaimed, “I remember now! Ay! Religion could be another form of aggression that is more difficult to block than saber, spear, sword and halberd. But Yucheng can still maintain a bit of clear spirit, at least he did not betray the secret of Zhandao and the others sneaking into Chang’an first, plus just now he advised us to leave immediately. Do you have a way to get him back to normal and recover completely from this kind of evil cult disease?”
Xu Ziling shook his head and said, “Both religion and love have incomparable power over a lonely and losing-its-meaning spirit, they could make people blindly losing their reason to distinguish right and wrong. When both are added together, the power is even more without equal. Xiongdi, we are not immortals; in a lot of things, we are simply powerless.”
Kou Zhong nodded and said, “You are right. Because his newly-wed wife was raped and murdered by the Sui soldiers, he had been living in great pain. And now, it seems like after many years of struggle drifting along in the sea of bitterness, he suddenly swam into a beautiful island, he no longer cares about any other things. Ay, it hurts me deeply, a good brother suddenly becomes an enemy.”
Footsteps were heard.
Upright and unafraid, a man walked in. Unexpectedly it was Kunzhihuang, the valiant general under the Qidan Great Tribal Chief Abaojia’s command, wearing traditional Han attire, which had been enhanced with a thousand Longquan-specific styles that covered not only the entire person, but his eyes and ears as well.
The two boys shivered inwardly. Just by looking at how quickly Kunzhihuang was able to find them and came here, then they knew that the Qidan had quite a power in this place, their eyes and ears were numerous.
Kunzhihuang calmly came to the table, smiled and spoke in Tujue language, “Can I sit down?”
Inwardly Kou Zhong cried, ‘Bad!’ but he had no choice but to brace himself and put on a smiling face as he said, “It’s not too late to welcome you here. Waiter, more wine!”
Kunzhihuang cheerfully sat down and said, “Perhaps a pot of tea would be a bit better; wine is definitely not appropriate for the two gentlemen.”
Inwardly, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling cried, ‘Not good!’ even more, knowing that he did not come with good intention, and he knew that their injuries were not light. Most likely his information came from Shen Mohuan, because they had joined hands in ambushing the two boys outside Hualin, hence it should not be surprising if they were still in contact. Since Kunzhihuang was here, then Huyan Jin, who had a deep enmity with them, should not be too far away.
But they had not been caught in the disadvantageous position where they were powerless to strike back yet. Just now outside the courtyard house they put on a demonstration of their skill, scaring the group of three men keeping watch over them away. Therefore, although Kunzhihuang received confirmation from Shen Mohuan that the two boys were indeed seriously injured, he still did not know the current situation of their recovery, hence he came in to try finding the bottom.
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “You, LaoGe, are really strange; if we drank wine and disaster came upon us, wouldn’t we fulfill the desire of your heart?”
Kunzhihuang was slightly startled. With a smile on his face, he said, “There is no animosity between us and the two gentlemen. The conflict between us is simply because of the Five-Colored Stone. If two gentlemen agree to hand over the Five-Colored Stone, henceforth we will all be friends.”
This time it was the two boys’ turn to be surprised, and then inwardly they cursed Shen Mohuan for being despicable. Unexpectedly he did not tell Kunzhihuang that the Five-Colored Stone has been returned to Meiyan Furen. At the same time, they felt that they had no room to advance or to retreat; if they told him the truth, it might convinced Kunzhihuang even more that they were unable to fight because of their injury, hence they pretended that the Five-Colored Stone was not in their possession. This way, the consequences would be hard to fathom. If they had direct confrontation, even if they were lucky enough to escape, they would definitely add injury to their injury, then their recovery time would be greatly prolonged.
Noticing that Kunzhihuang’s eyes, seemingly carelessly, swept over the wine cup that he had just drunk more than half, Kou Zhong knew that he was checking whether Kou Zhong was really drinking the wine, or whether he was just pretending. Immediately his confidence soared; he calmly said, “If based on LaoGe’s one word we agreed to hand over the Five-Colored Stone, Huyan Jin did not need to have us burn his camp and let him off; even more, there was no need to fight the battle in the wilderness outside Hualin. Kunzhihuang, don’t you feel like you are talking in your dream?”
Under the table, Xu Ziling’s right foot was stretched out to touch Kou Zhong’s foot. Internal energy immediately surged inside Kou Zhong’s body, giving him the power to fight at any time. What they were most afraid right now was that Kunzhihuang would attack forcefully, so that without any support, Kou Zhong could not hide his lack of strength.
Letting out a cold snort, Kunzhihuang said, “I, Kunzhihuang, dare to come here to talk with two gentlemen, naturally I have complete confidence. I just don’t want people to say that I am taking advantage of someone else’s precarious position, hence I am giving you good advice. I don’t want the two gentlemen, instead of drinking the wine proposed in a toast, you insist on drinking the wine as the result of having lost a bet.”
These sentences were spoken in Han language, brimming with intimidation overtone, but the two knew that the other side had not had a good grasp on the condition of their injuries, hence he spoke those words to test their reaction.
Obtaining Xu Ziling’s support in secret, the refined light in Kou Zhong’s pair of eyes flared greatly. Suddenly he stretched out his finger to point across the table at the space between Kunzhihuang’s eyebrows, creating a ‘Chi! Chi!’ noise of finger wind splitting the air.
Kunzhihuang had never expected that the wounded Kou Zhong would dare to take the initiative to attack. His countenance sank, he shouted, “What do you mean by this?”
While speaking, his right palm slashed urgently, the finger power and the palm wind clashed, producing a clear ‘Bang!’, the upper part of Kunzhihuang’s body swayed slightly, evidently he suffered some losses.
Kou Zhong did not sway the least bit, yet at the bottom of his heart he actually shivered; he did not expect that in such a sudden move, Kunzhihuang was able to completely block his finger power. Both in terms of strength and skill, he was extremely brilliant.
Kou Zhong laughed and said, “What I mean is of course to weigh whether you, LaoGe have enough weight and qualifications to say such words.”
Knowing that Kunzhihuang was proficient in Han language, he also responded in Han language. The finger turned into a palm, he caught Kunzhihuang’s hand.
Kunzhihuang knew that he must not withdraw his hand, otherwise Kou Zhong would seize the opportunity to pursue and attack; he promptly flipped his hand into a claw. Two hands caught each other above the table.
True qi directly clashed against each other.
Kunzhihuang’s tiger-body shook violently, his countenance changed, he said, “Your injury is fake.”
Kou Zhong smiled and said, “You found out too late!”
Only Xu Ziling knew that Kou Zhong would not be able to hold out much longer; with a large amount of blood loss plus the damage to his meridians, if Kou Zhong rushed his true qi to press on, inevitably his injury would become more serious. Acting as the peacemaker, he said, “Practically the Five-Colored Stone is not in our hands, I wonder if Kunzhihuang Xiong is willing to believe.”
Kou Zhong knew when to stop; taking advantage while he was occupying the phony upper hand, he simply pulled his hand back and spoke indifferently, “Laoxiong, are you aware that Tuli and Xieli have made peace? Even if you snatch the Five-Colored Stone, in the end I am afraid you would still be forced to hand it over, to avoid the Tujue using it as a pretext to move their troops against you.”
Kunzhihuang’s tiger-body shook again.
The two boys, you say one word I speak one sentence, each one was a formidable move in this psychological battle.
This moment Kou Zhong was like an arrow at the end of its travel, his strength was spent, yet Kunzhihuang thought the other side was letting him off. Hurriedly letting go of his grip, he said, “Are you telling me the truth?”
Kou Zhong secretly breathed a sigh of relief, crying ‘Close call!’ inwardly. He spoke with serious expression, “We see you as a good person, unlike Huyan Jin, who rapes, pillages, does not shrink from any crime, hence we told you candidly. Have you ever heard anybody mentioning that I, Kou Zhong ever tell a lie?”
Kunzhihuang took a deep breath, his pale face returned back to normal, a clear display of his deep foundation. “Didn’t Meiyan entrust you to deliver the Five-Colored Stone to Bai Ziting? Why did she ask it back?” he spoke in heavy voice.
Xu Ziling replied, “I am afraid she is the only one who can answer that question.”
The two boys were very sure that Kunzhihuang was willing to beat the return drum. After all, between Abaojia’s clan and the two of them, there was no real unsolvable enmity, but even if there was, so what? Kunzhihuang could only put aside any personal grievances and put the overall situation as the top priority. Tuli and Xieli renewing old cordial relations, they no longer had any misgivings toward the various tribes of the northeast. If they saw somebody not pleasing to the eye, they could simply move their troops to teach them a lesson. In this kind of situation, if they killed the two brothers Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, the consequences could be easily imagined.
After his countenance alternated between clear and morbid indeterminately for a moment, Kunzhihuang nodded and said, “Two gentlemen are heroes and outstanding figures, I certainly believe what you say. Ay, were it not for the Five-Colored Stone is the symbol closely related to our Qidan people’s honor and disgrace, how could my humble superior be willing to be enemies with two gentlemen?”
And then, lowering his voice, he said, “Watch out for Huyan Jin and Shen Mohuan; they are united to put you to death by all means. It was they who ambushed you today.”
“Formidable!’ the two cried inwardly. Kunzhihuang’s mind was able to move so fast that it was even beyond the two boys’ expectation. Not only he was able the grasp the whole situation after Tuli and Xieli’s reconciliation, but he was also able to grasp this only chance to express goodwill toward the two, in order to resolve the grievances of the ambush outside Hualin. Furthermore, it also contained the killing-with-a-borrowed-knife scheme, because Huyan Jin, whom Abaojia always loathed – had no more usefulness, thereupon he hoped that Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling would be able to get rid of him, and thus removing a threat toward Abaojia’s territory.
Not the least bit surprised, Kou Zhong asked, “Where is Huyan Jin hiding at?”
Kunzhihuang swept his gaze around at the diners on the other two tables, the closest being six, seven tables away, hence they did not need to worry that they might hear their intentionally lowered voice; he spoke straightforwardly, “Huyan Jin is hiding inside the dense forest region about five li north outside the city, but tonight he is coming into the city to see Shen Mohuan. As for when and where, only those two know.”
“How many men are with Huyan Jin?” Xu Ziling asked.
“Only about a dozen men,” Kunzhihuang replied, “But none is not genuine martial art master.”
Kou Zhong smiled and said, “Laoxiong’s intelligence is very useful. Please!”
Kunzhihuang also knew that he should not tarry too long, he quickly said, “Shen Mohuan already left the foreign guesthouse where the Gaoli people stay, should be because he wanted to hide elsewhere. If I receive further information, I will definitely notify gentlemen.”
Rising to his full height, he saluted and left.
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “It’s only now that I understand what is called one side is happy, the other side is worried.”
Xu Ziling dejectedly agreed.
The happy side was that their young martial aunt did not shelter Shen Mohuan, hence Shen Mohuan had to find a safehouse outside the foreign guesthouse. The worry side was that they did not know where Shen Mohuan was hiding.
Holding his head in his hands, Kou Zhong said, “This time we simply have to find Meiyan, that woman – to be used as a bait.”
Xu Ziling stood up and said, “Looking for something that give us headache is not a bad thing, at least we won’t have time to think about Yucheng. Come on, let’s go see our good friend Yuekepeng, to see how he is doing. After saying hello, we’ll go meet the appointment with Ke Dazhi and Du Xing.”
Kou Zhong leaned back into his chair. Spreading out his arms, he said, “I am very tired, can’t we take a short nap?”
Xu Ziling put the wine money on the table, he smiled and said, “Frankly, that is exactly what I seek but fail to get. What I wanted the most right now is to steal a bit of time to see Shi Feixuan, to unload a few of what’s in my heart to her.”
Kou Zhong sat up straight; looking at Xu Ziling in disbelief, he spoke in astonishment, “Unexpectedly the power of love is his granny’s huge. I never thought that you would speak more frankly than me, but now you do!”
Laughing involuntarily, Xu Ziling said, “Quickly get the hell out of here and stop talking nonsense. We don’t have much time, let’s go see Yuekepeng!”
Kou Zhong sprang up, wrapped his arm around his shoulders and stepped out the door, entering the endless stream of people and vehicles on the street. Straight ahead was the south gate, from which people from various places who wanted to enjoy the festivities did not stop pouring in.
Kou Zhong said, “You go ahead to see your Xianzi, Xiaodi is the most fair and reasonable man in the world. In love, you are braver than I am. Usually once I stumble, I am unable to rise; yet you, LaoGe keep on fighting despite continual setbacks. My utmost admiration, my utmost admiration.”
Xu Ziling took Kou Zhong toward the foreign guesthouse at the northern end of the Vermillion Bird Boulevard; sneering, he said, “You seem to forget how useless you are right now; do you think we can separate?”
Slapping his forehead, Kou Zhong said, “That’s right! I am extremely happy that I forgot my shape! Ay! Yucheng! I really don’t understand.”
He was still depressed because of Yucheng’s sudden outburst.
In order to distract him, Xu Ziling said, “Do you think that in Shen Mohuan and Huyan Jin’s alliance, Xieli was behind them, acting as the middleman?”
The gentle and soft sunlight was shining on them. The sun, which had been hiding for nearly half a day, a bit shy, was appearing behind the thick and uneven layers of cloud. The long wind was blowing into Longquan from the northeast direction, but there was still a large area of dark rain clouds looming over the horizon, making people feel that a good thing won’t last forever.
Kou Zhong pondered, “Very difficult to say; looking at Xieli’s appearance, he is an ambitious and ruthless character, he can’t possibly lose the big for the sake of the small, causing damage to the still fragile relationship with Tuli, plus taking the risk to offend Bi Xuan. What do you say?”
The fact was that Xu Ziling was only looking for something to say. Shrugging his shoulders, he said, “What you said is very reasonable. Because Huyan Jin did not want Abaojia, who has acknowledged allegiance to the Tujue – as an ally, yet Shen Mohuan is Xieli’s hunting dog, both sides ought to be brimming with hostility, hence I was thinking that someone must have been threading the needle [fig. to act as a go-between], so that they can join hands to deal with us.”
Kou Zhong’s divine light appearing, he spoke in low voice, “Could it be that guy Ma Ji?”
Shaken, Xu Ziling said, “That possibility is quite high.”
Ma Ji was the receiver of stolen goods with the biggest power in the prairie, plus he had close relationship with both Shen Mohuan and Huyan Jin. Under the current circumstances, Xieli’s side detested Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, and Ba Fenghan with passion, yet they could only swallow this anger. However, Ma Ji knew that Kou Zhong and the others definitely would not let him off; not only they wanted him to hand over the sheepskin, they also wanted him to supply the men who robbed the sheepskin, hence he was forced to strike first and gain the upper hand, by using Huyan Jin and Shen Mohuan to get rid of them.
Huyan Jin and Shen Mohuan did not have any choice either. Ba Fenghan was their greatest threat. Coupled with Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, the situation became even more desperately serious. Gaining the initiative by striking first, moving later to control the opponent. In the matter of life and death, under the enormous driving force of new enmity and old hatred, even if previously Huyan Jin and Shen Mohuan did not have any animosity, they had no choice but to temporarily set everything aside to cooperate nicely in order to survive.
The speaker did not have the intention, the listener was interested, the two boys suddenly came to see the truth.
Leaning close to his ear, Kou Zhong said, “I am sure they are going to make their move tonight, when we are leaving the Palace after the feast is over.”
Xu Ziling nodded in agreement. It would just be like this morning, when they were ambushed on the way to their meeting, the enemy already clearly grasped their timing and their route; moreover, the enemy could not possibly miss the golden opportunity while Ba Fenghan was not with them, plus the two were seriously injured.
As for Bai Ziting, he was wishing that someone would be able to get rid of these two brothers of Tuli, naturally he would not interfere.
Suddenly a horse-drawn carriage galloped near the two boys, and then a voice came from inside the carriage, “Two Dage, please get into the carriage.”