In the contours of the dark night, a brief and violent clash—blood flew, a corpse crashed into the scattered brush. Under the faint starlight, pursuers surrounded from unknown distances, shouts tearing through the forest, countless sounds echoing.
Two silhouettes lunged from different directions. The moment one of them struck, his entire body was flung away, slamming into a tree trunk two zhang off and rolling to the ground. As he tried to get up, in the darkness there, faint light traced the outline of the two figures locked in combat. His companion’s wolf-tooth club, swung through the air, spun out of sight with a whoosh and smashed into the trunk of a distant tree. The woman struck like lightning, crackling blow after blow breaking open the frontal assault of a burly man a head taller than her.
Fists, palms, claws, joint locks, tears, hard strikes—yet her feet never stopped pressing forward for even a moment. Her strides were short but fierce and swift, one after another like an iron ox plowing the earth, aimed straight at the center, kicking left and right at shins and groin. In the blink of an eye she drove the man back more than a zhang, and the instant his back touched a tree trunk, a savage punch smashed into his throat. The tree shuddered under the starlight, leaves rustling down.
More companions rushed over. By the time “Nine-Patterned Dragon” Shi Jin circled around to flank her, the woman had already vanished from sight. He shouted, “Everyone, over here!” and pressed forward, straining to track her. In the grass beneath the trees several zhang away, a blade swept sideways—just two swift slashes—and a great swath of wild grass flew up flat through the air. Of the two Liangshan soldiers at the edge of the grass, one suddenly dropped a head shorter, and the other’s arm was severed clean at the elbow, blood spraying into the air amid the flying weeds.
“Aaah—!”
The cold gleam of an iron spear thrust out, trying to block the woman’s escape route. But after only a few exchanges, her figure burst through the interception, running like a hunting leopard. Around her, more than ten silhouettes closed in from the forest.
Blades, spears, swords, halberds, ropes—one figure hurled a handful of powder into the darkness, and then, with a boom, flames erupted among the trees. Yet even as the fire rose, the man at the forefront trying to cut her off saw her shape suddenly loom larger before him, and then a palm pressed against his face. A sense of mortal danger surged up from his heart—but in the next instant, she was already behind him, dragging him backward.
More than ten men rushed over, trying to strike at the woman retreating behind their comrade’s back. But the woman, gripping the back of this elite Liangshan soldier, kept only a pair of eyes showing past his shoulder, retreating with incredible speed all the while. Then the soldier began screaming madly, “Aaah—!”
The ancient sword, even as she kept retreating, moved behind him against his body like a spirit snake gliding across his limbs at lightning speed. Hand tendons, foot tendons, the sinews of all four limbs were torn open one after another, blood scattering backward little by little as they moved. In the blink of an eye, the soldier’s limbs were entirely drenched in blood in midair. Only then did the woman press a palm into his back, sending him flying toward the others. Her body wove and darted through the trees, vanishing within a few breaths—even Lin Chong, Shi Jin, and the others could not catch up.
They chased for a while before hurrying back. The wind blew through the trees as everyone gathered together; besides curses, all that remained was a chorus of pained cries. Lu Zhishen let out a shout and swung his staff into a nearby tree trunk. One could tell that among those curses, there was fear as well as anger.
Ever since that day they had inexplicably provoked this woman, that very night their camp had met with disaster. She had come raiding under the stars, and the one or two soldiers on perimeter watch had been no match for her at all—caught off guard, several had lost their lives beneath her sword. After that, the group, knowing the urgency of the matter, kept moving, gathering a few more brothers scattered after Liangshan’s defeat. Yet whether by night or day, the woman came and went almost at will, entirely at ease. Under her sword, one Liangshan brother after another was either killed or crippled. Within a few days, everyone’s exhaustion had built to its peak.
Unable to win, unable to flee, unable to catch her—having inexplicably provoked a grandmaster-level expert was already a stroke of terrible luck in itself, and on top of that, once this woman made her move, she seemed to hold nothing back. Recalling the words she had spoken to them that day by the riverbank, both Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen probably felt regret in their hearts—that had perhaps been the only chance they’d ever had, but by the time they understood, it was already too late.
“If you are truly people who understand reason, turn back today and let go of this grudge, and I will spare you…”
Only now, seeing the corpses littering the ground and the maimed brothers throughout the camp, could they begin to grasp how precious that offer had been.
In truth, over these past few days, although the woman had shown little restraint in some ways during the fighting, what she had actually formed was a fighting style as cold and effortless as a blade’s edge. Killing, crippling hands and feet, using the wounded to drag down the movements of others, scattering everyone’s attention—one person chasing down dozens, methodically slaughtering her way through. What lay within it was, in truth, a mastery and presence similar to Zhou Tong’s. Zhou Tong, in a fit of rage, would kill; this woman killed methodically and without haste—yet the sense of oppression each inspired was, in truth, quite similar. At this level, there was no longer much difference to speak of in method.
“Come out! If you have the guts, fight me one on one—!”
As Shi Jin’s furious roar echoed through the sprawling forest, on a slightly higher ridge nearby, the woman washed herself by a stream, cleaned the blood from her sword, and dried it with a cloth. Then she went to the edge of the ridge, leapt up into a tree, found a fork in the branches to sit, and gazed down at the firelight in the forest below, sensing the fury there as she settled into meditation.
Such anger meant that fear had already taken root in her enemies’ hearts, and where such fear existed, death was not far behind. Still, that talk earlier about a “demonic obsession” left her somewhat concerned—if that rumor spread, it might well cause him no small amount of trouble. Given his current skill, he might not be able to handle it…
Thinking this, under the faint starlight, she gradually settled into a state half-vigilant, half-relaxed…
…
The third day of the seventh month, the start of autumn. In the region of Yunzhou, the flames of war still spread.
In the afternoon light, burned villages, weeping crowds. Ning Yi stood at the edge of the village entrance, watching a physician who had rushed over bandage a child who had lost his right hand and had fainted from crying several times over. The supply convoy from Dulong Ridge was still moving further in, salvaging whatever could still be used from the village.
“Tally up the dead and the living. Tell Brother Zhu’s group up front not to go too far—have them set camp and defend. Hand out some candy to the children…”
The relief efforts had by now settled into a routine. Over nearly ten days, Song Jiang and the others’ pattern of plunder had remained consistent, and the number of people they killed during their flight kept climbing. With their base gone, the people of Dulong Ridge tracked them relentlessly from behind while government troops blocked them from the front, and the anxiety among the fleeing men kept building.
Though Song Jiang and the others had tightened military discipline, that only applied within their own ranks. When they plundered villages, they had already begun killing without hesitation, and cases of women and girls being raped were becoming more frequent as well. In the very village Ning Yi and the others had just reached, a woman had thrown herself down a well because of this; after being pulled out, she still wanted to kill herself.
Sometimes people would ask, with some resentment, why the government troops couldn’t simply wipe out the Liangshan men, so that they wouldn’t be running rampant like this. For such questions, people were arranged to explain things to the crowds.
“…Do you think that if you don’t provoke them, they’ll really spare you!? Do you know what it looked like when Fang La rose in rebellion down south? Once such a thing gains momentum, it leaves ten households out of ten empty—he only gets people to follow him once they’ve lost everything! Our Dulong Ridge is the first step in their rising, just like you! If they had taken Dulong Ridge, sooner or later it would have been you, it would have been all of Yunzhou, Jizhou, this whole region of Shandong—do you know how many of us have died? This is a blood debt! Only the men of Liangshan can repay it—”
Compared to the government, Dulong Ridge had no obligation to actively help these people—if anything, it was easier for them to direct the people’s hatred in a unified direction. Still, though ruthless in ordinary times and never blinking at killing, when Ning Yi saw the many things unfolding before him, he couldn’t help but feel a stirring of pity—perhaps a feeling that, as a modern man, he simply couldn’t shake off. In a true age of chaos, human life really did count for very little. Sometimes, seeing children who had died or been maimed, or women weeping and begging for death after being violated, he too wished the whole affair could end sooner.
But military strategy, after all, was not his strong suit. In these recent days, he had managed to weave the overall situation together thread by thread—over twenty villages and settlements, organizing relief and finding people places to go, directing their resentment toward Liangshan, while simultaneously applying pressure in the opposite direction on the government and the military. This had further swayed the sentiments of many bandits and mountain strongholds throughout the Yunzhou region, laying the best possible foundation for cornering Song Jiang’s more than three thousand men to their deaths.
But public sentiment and the broader situation were one thing; in the end, there would inevitably still be a fierce battle. Those bandits and mountain strongholds would certainly turn hostile toward Liangshan, but at most they would pass along information—they would absolutely not be willing to take up arms themselves. On the other hand, after the great battle at Liangshan, the Wurui Camp had sent out two more forces of five thousand men each. They knew this battle would have to be fought, but there was still, to some degree, a mindset of preserving their own strength—partly because Ning Yi had managed the broader situation too well.
If things continued to develop this way, Song Jiang’s more than three thousand men would sooner or later collapse psychologically, because their killing and burning had all been done in vain, with everyone around them baying for their blood—the resentment toward them in Shandong, at least in Yunzhou, likely wouldn’t fade for more than ten years. Only once they truly realized the hardship of their flight and the futility of their efforts would their spirits break. Otherwise, even with over ten thousand men against Liangshan’s three thousand elite fighters, in a situation requiring them to surround and fight to the death, this side would still inevitably suffer great resistance and losses.
As for the Wurui Camp stationed in the area, the mountain strongholds and villages here were largely unruly and difficult to govern—a bunch of stubborn commoners, as far as they were concerned. With Liangshan running and burning village after village along the way, and Dulong Ridge left to clean up the mess afterward, there wouldn’t be too much complaint from the government side either—truly an outcome that suited everyone. So even when Ning Yi went to ask about the timing of engagement, He Rui and the others leading this campaign, though extremely warm toward him personally, would always say, when it came to timing, that it was better to wait a while longer.
In truth, even if Ning Yi had insisted strongly on engaging as soon as possible, He Rui and the others would likely have been stunned for quite a while, unable to understand why someone so clever would come up with such an unwise idea.
On the other hand, while pity was one thing, Ning Yi would absolutely not allow these three thousand men any chance of survival. Break their morale outside the battlefield, kill some on the battlefield, and even if some were ultimately forced to surrender as war merit, they would still have to be brought to the capital or elsewhere and executed to the last man on charges of rebellion. Otherwise, it truly would become a case of “to become an official, kill and burn until you’re granted amnesty.”
Given his recent relationships with the surrounding prefectures and counties, his connection with Qin Siyuan, the public sentiment he now controlled, and the achievement of settling Liangshan within two months, pushing matters to this conclusion would not be difficult.
Beyond the front lines, the Wurui Camp had set up checkpoints everywhere, and reports on the search for fleeing Liangshan bandits in the surrounding area kept trickling in with progress. Those fleeing alone were either caught nearby or betrayed by other villages and bandit forces eager to kick a man while he was down—there were gains to be had every day. Along with this, however, came certain reactions stirring within the world of bandits and outlaws, particularly concerning the matter of the “demonic obsession,” which was now just beginning to show its first signs.
“…Around Qilu, nearby—I hear it’s gotten rather intense lately. I heard that a few great figures among the outlaws, like Yan Zhenbei of Jinfu Escort Agency and others, have been saying that the Liangshan battle involved too much scheming, that it forced brothers to turn on each other, and where is the code of honor among outlaws in all this—I’ve also heard some say they want to kill you, to rid the outlaw world of a menace…”
This news had been brought over by Zhu Hu, who was in charge of liaison between the two sides. Speaking of the outlaws of the Qilu region, Dulong Ridge itself was one part of it, and in the past the Five Tigers of the Zeng family at Zengtou Market could also be called a force that shook all of Shandong. Ning Yi found this news rather interesting, and had someone write it all down excitedly, treating it as a bit of a hobby to pass idle moments.
“Oh, Yan Zhenbei—that name sounds quite impressive. How’s his martial skill? Where would he rank in the world?”
“The world… I couldn’t say. But to be able to run an escort business throughout Shandong, he must be on good terms with all sides, and he’s certainly got some skill under his belt. But he’s lived in comfort for years now, so he definitely can’t compare to Instructor Luan. Still, a man with good connections and many disciples isn’t to be underestimated.”
“From the sound of it, he’s just a weakling… never mind, I’ll remember the name for now. If there’s time, let’s get Instructor Luan and A’Biao to go smash up his place…”
“That we absolutely must do! When has Dulong Ridge ever been afraid of anyone!” Inside the village, people were still being rescued, and as Zhu Hu spoke of this, Zhu Biao had also returned and listened in. He thumped his chest and declared, “I’ve seen Jinfu Escort’s convoys before—once this is all over, I’ll smash them up every time I see them!”
Zhu Hu pursed his lips. “Also, because of this whole Liangshan affair, some places have really gotten out of hand. Around Sanhua Shop, the government has no reach, and there are people harboring Liangshan men, fighting with the locals—it almost turned into an all-out feud between several small mountain strongholds. Because word of the Liangshan affair has spread, it’s not just Yan Zhenbei. I hear that some rather famous figures in our Shandong outlaw world—people like Chen Jinxia and Lu Wenhu, real fierce characters—have apparently been making moves too, secretly gathering outlaws and friends, possibly wanting to get rid of Liheng. Anyway, Brother Ning, you’d best be careful these days. Men who live by the blade only start to value their lives once they’ve made a name—but to make that name, there’s nothing they won’t do…”
Ning Yi nodded. Zhu Hu went on, “The rest is more or less as expected—after this battle, all of Liangshan’s enemies have come crawling out of the woodwork too. I heard that at Majia Market the other night, over a hundred men were mobilized just to capture two Liangshan leaders. Near Zengtou Market, people are also hunting down fleeing Liangshan men, and anyone caught gets burned alive. Among the Liangshan leaders, there’s a pair of brothers, Zhu Fu and Zhu Gui, who fled all the way to Fengping County, where they ran into a wealthy local family surnamed He who had an old grudge against them—they gathered men and ambushed them on the road, surrounding and killing them. There’s also that Panther Head Lin Chong, and Flowery Monk Lu Zhishen—they’ve run into some tough opposition too, and they’re also being hunted down…”
“Wow!” Ning Yi blinked. “Lin Chong and Lu Zhishen, huh? They’re pretty formidable—how many people are hunting them down?”
“Not sure, but the story going around outside makes it sound almost supernatural—they say it’s just one person. Somehow they provoked a woman, and word is she’s extremely skilled, chasing them down relentlessly, hacking off the hands and feet of the men around them. Oh, and apparently that Nine-Patterned Dragon Shi Jin is with them too… these few can’t hold her off, they can only fight and retreat, and several of their brothers have had their limbs cut off—there’s nothing more they can do. Over near Zhuxi County they finally had to enter the city to find a physician. Zhuxi doesn’t have much of a military presence, and no one there really dares provoke them. Then they ran into Zhuxi’s ‘Swift Sword’ Lin Qi—he’s quite famous in Zhuxi County, with plenty of disciples too. I hear this Lin Qi had also received an invitation from people like Chen Jinxia and Lu Wenhu, and was about to set out already—since he had old ties with Liangshan, he wanted to help smooth things over this time, went to talk to the woman about… you know, sitting down to discuss matters properly, saying that too many people had already died and hoping she’d let it go…”
“And then?” Zhu Biao, finding this amusing, urged him on eagerly.
“And then Lin Qi got killed in one sword stroke! He figured, since Zhuxi was his own turf, he went out in the afternoon to buy some marinated pig ears, brought along his three most capable disciples, and ran into the woman coming from the other direction. He finished talking, drew his sword—and he and his three disciples all died. What Lin Qi said was something like, ‘In the world of outlaws, strength has always been what’s respected, and misunderstandings happen sometimes—but even when there’s a misunderstanding, there are still rules to follow, one shouldn’t kill without mercy…’ Probably trying to get her to back down a bit. And the woman said, ‘I don’t care for your rules.’ Tch, this version’s been exaggerated way too much, I don’t think it’s very reliable, might be made up…”
“Ooh, does that woman have white hair?” Ning Yi asked, thoroughly curious, patting Zhu Hu on the shoulder.
“White hair? No, if she had white hair, word would’ve spread even further, wouldn’t it? Does Brother Ning happen to know a white-haired expert?”
“‘Red Beauty, White Hair’ Cui Xiaolü—just as formidable as Zhou Tong. Uh, other than her, the only one I can think of is someone called Sikong Nan, but I hear he’s very old now, might already be dead—maybe it’s a disciple he trained… Of course, it’s not like the world’s experts are limited to just these few—that Chen Jinxia and Lu Wenhu you mentioned must be quite something too…”
Ning Yi privately thought that if Lu Hongti had come, she’d probably be just as formidable—though here they were saying the woman hacked off hands and feet. In his memory, Lu Hongti’s killing style had always been quite clean and efficient, without showing much sign of excessive violence or bloodlust. Of course, it couldn’t be such a coincidence—she’d only just gone back not long ago, and still had the Lüliang Mountains to build up.
“Whatever the case, Zhuxi County is in an uproar now. This is exactly the kind of thing where everyone piles on once a man’s down on his luck—the moment people saw them running into bad fortune, old grudges and old scores all came pouring out. That woman, skilled as she is, probably never had a chance to strike at Liangshan in the past, but this time she’s finally found her opening. Heh, this Lin Chong bunch really have the worst luck imaginable, to provoke an enemy like that—makes you wonder if they accidentally killed someone’s husband back in the day… hahahaha, karma’s a thing, isn’t it…”
“Exactly, exactly… provoking Brother Ning was already bad enough for them…”
“Haha, news travels far, there’s bound to be some exaggeration along the way—this is really over the top…”
By the carriage, the three of them chatted about these tales from the outlaw world, laughing without a care.
Meanwhile, not too far from there, in a camp set up on a mountain peak, Wu Yong listened to the reports brought back by his spies, trembling all over…
Over the following days, Liangshan’s military situation suddenly shifted.
At the same time, the turmoil among the outlaws stirred up by Liangshan’s collapse kept spreading, little by little. During this period, the figure of one woman gradually became more and more prominent, and when, a few days later, the waves grew larger still and Ning Yi received the first firsthand account, he nearly dropped his jaw in shock.
Starting on the twenty-fifth of the sixth month, the sword-wielding woman in red had pursued and killed Lin Chong’s group all the way, successively slaying dozens of men including Fan Rui, Xiang Chong, and Shi En. On the first of the seventh month, she killed ‘Swift Sword’ Lin Qi in Zhuxi County, shaking the whole county and drawing a group of his disciples to join the hunt for vengeance against her. On the third of the seventh month, ‘Sick Yuchi’ Sun Li joined forces with Lin Chong’s group to fight the red-clad woman together and drove her back. On the fourth of the seventh month, the great outlaw figure ‘Six Harmonies Fist’ Chu Feng, a close friend of Lin Qi’s, joined the group as well, and that night, during the effort to surround and capture the woman, ‘Twin-Headed Snake’ Xie Zhen was beheaded by a single sword stroke.
On the fifth of the seventh month, during the ongoing flight, ‘Iron Caller’ Yue He fell behind alone and was killed by a sword through the heart.
On the night of the sixth of the seventh month, both sides fought a fierce battle, and several of Lin Qi’s disciples were killed.
On the seventh of the seventh month, ‘Twin-Tailed Scorpion’ Xie Bao suffered internal injuries in the fighting, and Lu Zhishen died. Xie Bao vomited blood and died on the morning of the eighth; that same day, Lu Wenhu and Chen Jinxia arrived and joined the others in hunting down the woman.
Most shocking of all was that on the night of the seventh, the woman finally left behind words revealing her identity.
“…If my martial skill were low, you wouldn’t listen to reason from me. It’s only because my skill is high that you now want to talk rules with me—so why should I bother with any of you. Since you want to talk about people coming to your door to bully you—Ning Liheng is my disciple, and I, Lu Hongti, have come to collect this debt on his behalf. What is owed shall be repaid! What is due shall be given!”
It was said that not long after she spoke these words, both sides fought a fierce battle. The woman fled and then returned, engaging the isolated Lu Zhishen in several more exchanges—severing his hand with one sword stroke, then shattering the crown of his skull with a single palm strike. By the time Lin Chong and the others rushed over, she had already drifted far away.
This news reached them because it involved Ning Yi, and by the time it arrived, it was already the morning of the tenth, sunlight rising from behind the eastern ridges. Ning Yi sat by the carriage window for a good while, almost able to picture the expression on the face of the woman who called herself his master as she spoke those words, and finally burst out laughing, not quite sure what else to say. By the carriage, the troops broke camp and set out—only three days remained until the final battle with the Liangshan forces, and everything was closing in around them.