The sky was overcast with leaden clouds hanging low. The group wrapped their clothes tightly around themselves, still keeping a low profile as they hurried along the road.
The weather grew increasingly cold. Yang Xingjian shivered with cold, even pulling out his silk-lined robe from the bottom of his trunk. Shisan Lang advised him to get off the cart and walk around to get his blood flowing properly. But Yang Xingjian complained that his healed leg still ached, refusing to get down and dirty his feet either way.
Shisan Lang laughed: “Don’t say that in front of Fourth Senior Brother—if he hears you disparaging his handiwork, he’ll definitely break your other leg in revenge.”
For some reason, Bao Zhu felt inexplicably irritable and restless today. She said to Wei Xun: “Take out that pill formula and let me look at it again.”
“You’ve already looked at it a hundred times,” Wei Xun sighed helplessly.
Bao Zhu countered: “So what if I look at it for the hundred and first time? I ate two meals yesterday, but I still have to eat today.”
Wei Xun had no choice but to retrieve the yellow paper from his saddlebag and hand it to her.
Actually, to avoid losing it by accident, Bao Zhu had long since memorized the contents by heart, remembering clearly even the dosage of each medicinal ingredient. Only the three characters “Phoenix Embryo” had no annotations whatsoever.
In the corner of the yellow paper’s back, the two characters “Paradise” were written alone, their purpose unknown. She had asked Wei Xun about it, but he just shrugged and said he didn’t know—after all, Zhou Qingyang was penniless, so writing a prescription on used waste paper was normal.
This thin sheet of paper was Wei Xun’s life.
No matter what, “paradise” was at least a good word, Bao Zhu thought. “Paradise Formula”—it sounded like a beneficial medicine that could bring peace to the world and comfort to the people. She gently folded the prescription back to its original form and returned it to Wei Xun’s hands.
Looking up, she saw a convoy bearing Chengde military flags approaching slowly from the opposite direction, escorting seven or eight mule carts. The military flags were embroidered with fierce tiger patterns, the tiger’s head bearing the character “wang” (king), representing the surname of Chengde Military Commissioner Wang Chengwu.
During their journey, they had often encountered convoys transporting supplies and grain, so this was nothing unusual. With the unstable situation and roving bandits everywhere, even regular troops dared not slack off when escorting materials.
Bao Zhu, riding her donkey, took a quick assessment and saw the opposing force had about a battalion’s strength—roughly five hundred men. Their troop composition was no different from field combat units: infantry, crossbow troops, and cavalry each comprising about thirty percent, with four or five vanguard soldiers holding long spears and shouting to clear the way for pedestrians.
The road was narrow, so Bao Zhu’s group had to move aside and let the escort convoy pass first. She saw that battalion of soldiers in full armor, with a staff sergeant in bright armor bringing up the rear. As the convoy passed by, Bao Zhu noticed the mule carts were covered with cloth canopies, their wheel ruts deeply embedded in the mud, clearly indicating the materials loaded on the carts were quite heavy.
She secretly speculated: Perhaps it was military pay for the soldiers—no wonder the security was so tight.
The material escort convoy passed by without even glancing at the travelers by the roadside. Dust clouds rose where the men and horses passed, and Yang Xingjian waved his hand to fan away the air, quietly complaining about the choking dust.
However, just as they found themselves in the middle of the military formation, disaster struck suddenly. The soldiers who had already passed ahead turned around without warning, instantly transforming from a single-file snake formation into a square encirclement, intending to trap them in the center.
Wei Xun’s reactions were razor-sharp. He dropped the reins, raised his hand to slap the donkey’s rump, and shouted grimly: “Go!”
Bao Zhu understood, spurring her donkey to gallop madly toward the wide fields beside the road. Shisan Lang followed close behind, escaping before the square formation could completely close.
Previously on the road, they had encountered groups of vagrant bandits and deserter soldiers several times, gaining experience in dealing with rabble. Relying on Wei Xun’s fierce attacks to capture and kill leaders, Shisan Lang’s protection, and Bao Zhu’s archery support, they usually only needed to kill three or five people before the opponents would scatter like birds and beasts. Alternatively, Yang Xingjian would produce his fish tally and silver belt ornaments to reveal his official status, using pressure and persuasion.
However, this time they faced well-trained regular troops.
The ox cart was cumbersome and couldn’t turn quickly, while Yang Xingjian’s legs were inconvenient, making escape even more difficult. He hurriedly pulled out his silver fish bag and raised it high, shouting at the top of his lungs: “I’m a court official! If you want money or goods, we can negotiate…”
Before he could finish speaking, a cavalryman spurred his horse forward and drew his ring-pommel sword, slashing down fiercely. The blade struck Yang Xingjian’s head, penetrating more than an inch into his brain. Blood gushed like a spring, and he immediately fell silent, toppling backward without a sound. Infantry came forward to search his body, taking away all identity-proving items like fish bags and appointment documents, then kicked the corpse into the roadside ditch with a single foot, their actions ruthless and merciless.
The entire battalion had no intention of negotiating, launching into battle without warning.
Wei Xun killed three or four men bare-handed, catching sight of Yang Xingjian’s immediate death from the corner of his eye, his heart filled with shock. These soldiers coordinated seamlessly—seeing comrades fall didn’t cause panic, but instead they immediately formed battlefield formations with armored infantry holding shields and long spears to repel enemies while crossbow troops formed lines in the outer perimeter, launching volleys of bolts like rain, surrounding him tightly.
Lushan Duke spread all four hooves, carrying his master in a mad gallop like a creature possessed. Bao Zhu gripped the donkey’s belly tightly with her legs, reached back to draw an arrow, turned around to nock her bow and shot.
After killing two unarmored foot soldiers, she was startled to realize that ninety percent of this group wore armor—far exceeding normal military unit configurations. She had originally thought such specifications were for escorting military pay, but now suspected there were other hidden circumstances. Arrows couldn’t penetrate heavy armor to cause effective damage, so she could only target their horses instead.
On the other side, Wei Xun was surrounded by hundreds of men, his killing intent aroused. Fish Intestine silently left its sheath. Brilliant cold light flashed as the divine weapon passed through armor, Wei Xun’s form moving like a ghost, weaving through enemy ranks and instantly slashing the throats of more than ten men.
While fighting desperately, he anxiously watched the direction of Bao Zhu’s escape. He saw over a hundred cavalrymen like hungry wolves tightly pursuing her and Shisan Lang, galloping in fierce pursuit, while he couldn’t break free for the moment.
Wei Xun turned to survey the enemy formation and saw the staff sergeant in bright armor hiding at the rear supervising the battle. Immediately stepping on an enemy’s long spear, he leaped into the air, braving the forest of spears and rain of arrows, charging over recklessly.
Shisan Lang’s qinggong was insufficient to keep up with the donkey’s speed, gradually falling behind. Bao Zhu looked back anxiously, frequently providing covering fire by shooting horses. Shisan Lang took two arrows in the back—though they didn’t penetrate vital areas, he was still in a sorry state, shouting to her: “You go first! I won’t die…” Before he could finish, he was stabbed down by a long spear.
Subsequent waves of cavalry surged forward, the horse herd trampling in chaos. His small figure was instantly swallowed in the dust kicked up by iron hooves, disappearing without a trace.
Bao Zhu felt cold all over. Reaching for her arrow quiver, only a few arrows remained. Just then, the galloping donkey suddenly stopped, rearing up on its hind legs with a neighing cry, nearly throwing Bao Zhu off.
She quickly grabbed the saddle and bridle, turning to look ahead. Among the shrubs between field ridges, she saw chevaux-de-frise positioned everywhere. If not for Lushan Duke’s quick reaction, the person and mount colliding at high speed would certainly have been impaled by the spear points on the chevaux-de-frise.
It was a trap!
Seeing these obstacles, Bao Zhu awakened as if from a dream. She had originally thought these Chengde soldiers were moved by greed to rob travelers along the way, but how could these sharpened palisade-like chevaux-de-frise possibly appear here by coincidence?
The battalion had clearly premeditated this, lying in ambush ahead on the road. When her group passed by, they pretended to escort supplies, brushing past them, then took advantage of their unpreparedness to surround and annihilate them. All troop types coordinated closely without any gaps. If anyone escaped, they would be intercepted by chevaux-de-frise positioned ahead on the road.
The cavalry pursuing closely behind had now caught up. They weren’t eager to shoot and kill Bao Zhu, instead putting away their weapons and taking out lassos. Overwhelming nets of rope fell down. Bao Zhu used her last arrow, but both person and donkey were pulled down to the ground, falling unconscious from the impact.
Like a blue ghost, Wei Xun moved mysteriously through enemy ranks, invincible wherever he went, wielding Fish Intestine to carve out a bloody path. Crossbows had mechanical assistance, their power exceeding arrows and easy to control—they were the perfect weapon for common soldiers to deal with martial arts masters. Though they had the disadvantage of being unable to fire continuously, the opponents had planned ahead, dividing into three shifts for rotating shooting and arrow-nocking. Even with Wei Xun’s unparalleled qinggong, it was difficult to escape unscathed from this rain of arrows.
By the time he reached that staff sergeant, he had already taken two arrows. Wei Xun swooped down like an eagle catching a rabbit, instantly capturing the man and pressing Fish Intestine to his throat, shouting loudly: “Everyone stop!”
However, an extremely bizarre scene appeared. Though the soldiers’ eyes were filled with fear of the blue-robed man despite their commander being captured, they didn’t care about his hostage. Crossbow bolts continued flying at him like locusts, clearly only wanting to immediately eliminate this ghostly blue-robed assassin.
In this chaotic life-or-death situation, Wei Xun suddenly remembered Bao Zhu had once mentioned to him that commanders must have personal guards nearby. To prevent battlefield collapse due to lack of command, the military had always maintained strict orders: if a commander died at enemy hands, the personal guards would be buried with him. Therefore, whenever a commander was in danger, personal guards would desperately block and rescue him.
But today, this staff sergeant he had captured alive, though wearing conspicuous high-grade bright armor, had no soldiers fighting desperately for him nearby.
It was bait!
Wei Xun instantly realized, his heart burning with anxiety. Holding this fake commander as a shield, he looked again toward Bao Zhu’s escape direction. The scene that met his eyes made his soul scatter in terror:
The cavalry had captured Bao Zhu. They had bound her hands tightly, with the other end of the rope tied to a horse. As soon as the horse moved forward, she would be dragged to death.
“Surrender quickly! Hand over that treasure that can overturn the world! Or we’ll drag her to death!” The fake commander in his grip shouted at the top of his lungs. Because he wore armor, he hadn’t yet been killed by stray arrows.
When Wei Xun heard what they were demanding, his heart sank. After a moment’s hesitation, the cavalry dragging Bao Zhu began to move slowly forward, and she immediately let out a scream of agony. That sound cut into his heart like a blade, but immediately afterward, the cry stopped abruptly.
Rough stones on the ground scraped countless wounds on her back. Under severe pain, Bao Zhu awakened from unconsciousness and screamed. But at the same time, she realized that any sound she made would certainly distract and shake Wei Xun’s resolve, so she bit down hard and forcibly swallowed back her screams.
Overthrowing the Tang Dynasty, bringing chaos to the world—the allure of this mysterious object was like the Raksha bird, with other jackals and tigers following the scent of blood to find them one by one.
In that instant, Bao Zhu already understood that this group intended to keep one or two alive. Otherwise, they would have launched volleys of crossbow bolts and cavalry sword attacks from the start of battle, and without any preparation, the few of them would have been completely eliminated immediately. Using dragging torture on her now was to disturb Wei Xun’s mind and make him surrender without resistance—they weren’t truly intent on putting her to death.
As long as he could escape this calamity alive, there was still hope.
Bao Zhu’s mind was made up. She opened her throat and with all her life’s strength screamed heart-rendingly:
“Run!!!”
The cavalryman raised his whip high. Wei Xun watched helplessly as the horse dragging Bao Zhu was about to gallop. He knew clearly that even if he now charged through enemy ranks regardless of everything and caught up to that horse at the fastest speed, Bao Zhu might still have a breath left, but would certainly be skinned and mangled, severely injured beyond recovery.
Just in this desperate situation with no way forward or back, he suddenly felt a chill in his abdomen.
A giant crossbow bolt over seven feet long, shaped like a long spear, whistled through the air, instantly piercing through the fake commander in his hands. With momentum unspent, it actually skewered both men together, pinning them firmly to a tree trunk behind.
The crossbow troops pulled down the cloth camouflage covering the mule carts. The heavy objects loaded on those carts weren’t copper coins for military pay—the cart beds had been modified into base tracks, mounting siege ballistas. These enormous heavy crossbows capable of destroying city walls were today being used to snipe a few isolated and powerless travelers.
Wei Xun looked toward Bao Zhu, his lips slightly parted, wanting to say something to her. However, great gushes of fresh blood surged from his throat, choking him so he couldn’t breathe. Those words that never left his mouth were ultimately drowned by blood.