Chapter 7 – Marquis Wu[1] Reincarnated

Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling stepped over the threshold and stood on either side of Kou Zhong; they were stunned as well.

The furnishing of the reception hall was simple. There were only a table and a few chairs, and some other essential things.

Leaning against the large window on the south side was a long bench where Xu Xingzhi was sitting motionless with his eyes closed.

His long hair was undone, and Wanwan, in her plain white clothes, was standing behind the chair, with a comb in her hand, and a gentle and soft expression on her face, combing his hair with utmost care. It was an extremely weird scene.

With a thousand ways and a hundred plans the three were able to break away from their pursuers; who would have thought that in this place, which they thought would be the Peach Blossom Spring [i.e. utopia, a hidden land of peace and prosperity] in the midst of chaotic world, and the Holy Land where they could retreat in peace, they were welcomed by their terrifying archenemy?

Wanwan’s deep gaze was fixed on Xu Xingzhi’s hair. With breathy voice that came out of her purple-red lips, she said, “What took you so long? I have been waiting here anxiously!”

The three looked at each other; they all felt that they had fallen into an absolutely disadvantageous position.

Unable to think of any way to deal with the distressing situation in front of their eyes, Kou Zhong stretched out his limbs, and sat down on a chair on the opposite corner from where Wanwan was standing; he said, “You really have some ability. How did you find this place?”

Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling separately sat down on the chairs left and right of the main door; they have regained their composure.

Wanwan still did not look up; her eyes were following the movement of her comb along Xu Xingzhi’s hair. “Since you are smart,” she said tenderly, “If you think it through, you ought to know the answer. But enough chitchat, I want you to look at something interesting.”

“Ah!” Nobody knew what kind of trick Wanwan was playing, but Xu Xingzhi suddenly opened his eyes and regained his consciousness. But he was still unable to move a single step.

Wanwan hung her small cicada head low; looking at Xu Xingzhi’s profile from the side, she chuckled and said, “Whatever you say now, Mr. Xu will be able to hear every single word without missing anything. Let us play am imteresting little game now.”

Xu Xingzhi seemed to understand what kind of game Wanwan was talking about; his eyes revealed a pained and helpless expression.

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “You seem to have a bad habit of breaking into others’ warm homes. Spit it out! [orig. you have a fart, let it out]”

Wanwan still did not look at them; she calmly said, “How could you be so foul-mouthed toward a girl? I just want to ask you one thing: which one is more important: the Jade Annulus of He Clan, or Mr. Xu’s life?”

Immediately the three felt big headache.

Currently, Wanwan’s manner and movement were graceful and elegant, extremely touching. Her white clothes and black hair matched very well with her bare feet and exceptional countenance. She was the epitome of feminine charm, beauty and tenderness. But the three knew that she could make her move any time, and when she killed, she would not be tenderhearted at all.

And the most formidable part of her plan was to let Xu Xingzhi hear Kou Zhong’s answer with his own ears, so Kou Zhong could not play any trick.

Holding his head in his hands, Kou Zhong painfully said, “The Jade Annulus of He Clan is really not in my hands, how am I supposed to hand it over to you?”

Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling also looked at each other with wry smile on their faces.

Hearing Kou Zhong’s response, Wanwan was stunned; raising her beautiful face, she looked at the three men, and then her tender body shook severely. Her beautiful eyes, which appeared to be eternally shrouded in dense fog, shot a look of disbelief, and her combing movement stopped.

On the other hand, Xu Xingzhi’s eyes revealed a hopeful look.

Ba Fenghan interjected, “Not in our hands means not in our hands. For the sake of Mr. Xu’s life, I, Ba Fenghan, will make an exception of swearing an oath that the Jade Annulus of He Clan is really not in our hands. If you still insist on taking Mr. Xu’s life, I, Ba Fenghan, vow that I will kill every single person of Yin Gui Pai.”

Wanwan appeared to regain her composure; her beautiful eyebrows knitted together, she asked, “What happened to you? How come your expressions look like you have shed your mortal body and exchanged your bones?”

The three shivered inwardly at the superiority of Wanwan’s eyesight; at a single glance, she was able to see that in mental cultivation, they had made a comprehensive breakthrough.

Tranquil and calm, Xu Ziling responded, “Even if we tell you, you won’t believe it. Last night we went to Jing Nian Chanyuan to steal the treasure; it’s a pity that before we even see the Jade Annulus of He Clan’s shadow, Liao Kong already detected our hiding place that without any better option we sounded out the difficulties and retreated to avoid defeat. Afterwards, with nothing else to do, we trained together following the Secret to Long Life’s technique. Totally unexpected, we actually made a breakthrough. But the Jade Annulus of He Clan is really not in our hands.”

In their hearts, Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong cried ‘Wonderful!’ Coming from Xu Ziling, who had never lied, these words were more convincing than if it was Kou Zhong who said it.

Wanwan seemed to be deep in thought, a facial expression that was enough to make others lost in wild and fanciful thoughts. With a faint sigh she put away the comb, and spoke softly, “You may not believe this, but I really believe that the Jade Annulus of He Clan is not in your hands, because I know ‘listening to the sound to distinguish emotion’ technique. Just now Kou Zhong was sincere, but Ziling Xiong’s remark has a not completely dishonest nuance. But since it has nothing to do with the Jade Annulus of He Clan, nujia naturally has no time to think about it. Anyway, who stole the Jade Annulus of He Clan? Of course you did not have this ability.”

The three heaved a sigh of relief, but at the same time their heart was overwhelmed with horror.

Secret consummate skill of the demonic school emerged more and more, turning their hearts cold.

Kou Zhong spoke in distress, “If Shi Feixuan had the same ability as you to tell the truth from the lies, we would not need to carry this black pot on our backs!”

‘Pow!’

Wanwan’s palm slapped Xu Xingzhi’s back. The latter immediately regained his speech and movement ability. Naturally he understood the gravity of the situation that he did not dare to act blindly without thinking.

Wanwan turned her tender body around, so that her milky white back was facing four men. Looking at the small garden in front of the wall, she said softly, “This time even if you wash yourself in water you can’t be clean. However, according to what I heard, I still feel it strange: how come the thief was only one person and not three? Yet Liao Kong was adamant that it was the three of you who did it. He must have his reasons.”

Ba Fenghan coldly said, “And now, what do you want?”

Wanwan shrugged her fragrant shoulders slightly. Laughing tenderly, she said, “If you are willing to tell me the secret of Duke Yang’s Treasure, I can help you get out of here safely. Currently, other than us, who dares to offend those women from the Jing Zhai?”

With a bitter smile Kou Zhong said, “I’ll say your ‘listening to the sound to distinguish emotion’ technique is not always effective. That time our Niang did not have time to tell us the secret of the treasure before she passed away. And now what do we have as an exchange to your help?”

‘Pfft!’ Wanwan laughed tenderly, and turned her tender body around. Full of tender feelings, she looked at Kou Zhong and said, “You are still lying! Don’t forget that we obtained all information about your Shuang Long Bang [double-dragon gang] from your subordinate!”

Xu Ziling let out a cold humph; his tiger-eyes flashed with sharp rays.

Were it not for Xu Xingzhi was still under her control, hence he ‘refrained from shooting at the rat for fear of breaking the vase’, he would have made his move immediately.

Wanwan cast her gaze on Xu Ziling’s out-of-the-ordinarily outstanding handsome face. Sighing gently, she said, “Two sides fighting each other, if you didn’t kill me, I would kill you. However, due to changing circumstances and vital interest, can’t we temporarily work together?”

Ba Fenghan laughed aloud and said, “I wonder if Miss dares to have a one-on-one duel with me, other things can be discussed after victory and defeat is decided.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other in surprise; they did not expect Ba Fenghan would make this move.

Although in term of power they had enjoyed tremendous advancement due to the Jade Annulus of He Clan, yet they still needed to digest and train diligently. At that time they might have enough power to fight one-on-one against Wanwan. But right now their chance of victory was really very little.

Wanwan laughed calmly, “Either you were born with self-destructive character, or you were born an idiot,” she said.

Ba Fenghan revealed a smile full of confidence; he responded indifferently, “You are free to say anything you want to say. The Ol’ Ba just wants to know if you have enough guts to accept the challenge.”

Frowning, Wanwan stared at him for half a day. Finally she nodded and said, “It was because you have seen right through me that I can’t possibly fight with you right now that you spoke conceited nonsense like that. But be careful since I might suddenly change my mind, and take Shi Feixuan’s place in taking care of you.”

Ba Fenghan’s eyes were gleaming with sharper-than-saber-blade rays as he stared deeply into Wanwan’s beautiful eyes. Shaking his head, he spoke heavily, “I also know that not only you can’t possibly fight with us, you do not dare to do so. The most subtle reason is because your decisive battle against Shi Feixuan is near at hand; therefore, both sides want to save your energy. Under this situation, do you dare to fight to the death against me, Ba Fenghan?”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had a sudden understanding; they were both crying ‘wonderful!’ inwardly.

The biggest problem right now was that the initiative lay entirely in Wanwan’s hands.

She could both ‘throw stones at somebody who fell down a well’, by announcing the location of their hideout, or make her move by killing Xu Xingzhi, to vent her resentment for their refusal to cooperate with her.

But Ba Fenghan had pointed out her only weak spot, which was afraid to have a hard battle and suffer damage of her strength, which Shi Feixuan could exploit to her advantage.

[1] Marquis of Wu (Wu Hou) or Marquis of Zhongwu is another name of Liang (181 – 234), courtesy name Kongming, was a chancellor (or prime minister) of the state of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period. He is recognized as the most accomplished strategist of his era. (Wikipedia)

Chapter 7 - Part 2

HPC, Ysabel, Jaya, Lao Qianbei, Anh, you are welcome. Here's the end of Chapter 7.

If it were another place another time, this threat might not be effective. But now that they were in the middle of the city where Shi Feixuan might appear anytime, how could Wanwan not have any apprehension?

Therefore, as soon as she harmed Xu Xingzhi, the three would not hesitate to immediately stake everything they had to fight her, and would definitely not be lenient to her.

‘Pfft!’ Wanwan burst out in giggles and spoke tenderly, “I am afraid Ba Xiong misunderstood me. I did not have any intention to kill anybody. I just had nothing to do, so I wanted to chat a little with you to relieve boredom!”

Kou Zhong rose up to his full height and laughed aloud, “Nothing can be better than that!” he said, “Come! Let us drink a cup of fragrant tea! After all, you are our guest!” While speaking, he walked over to the table in the middle of the hall.

Xu Xingzhi seized this opportunity to leave the bench. He said with a laugh, “As the host, Zaixia should be the one pouring out tea.”

Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling had their eyes on Wanwan, while storing up their power to deal with her.

Wanwan floated out of the window and landed on the courtyard. Laughing tenderly, she said, “I wish you good luck!”

Finished speaking, she disappeared in a flash.

Xu Xingzhi heaved a sigh of relief and sat down. Still palpitating with fear he said, “That demoness has a really good memory. Previously at Jingling she had seen me from a distance, so she knew who I am. This morning when I made contact with Xu Ye, she must be nearby, so as soon as she saw us, she knew what’s going on.”

Frowning, Ba Fenghan asked, “So did she have you in her control just this morning?”

Nodding, Xu Xingzhi said, “She followed me to this place, and then I lost consciousness. Really strange, why didn’t she use some dirty tricks to force some confession out of me?”

Ba Fenghan spoke heavily, “You might have already done that. All Demon Cult people know some kind of evil bewitching, soul-altering skill that can make you reveal all kinds of secret while you are sleeping or in some dream-like condition, and will not have any recollection of it afterwards.”

Xu Xingzhi said, “No wonder my head still feel unbearably weird.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Because she saw great increase in our power, female demon Wan momentarily had no choice but to relent and withdraw. But since Yin Gui Pai has been known to always exact revenge, there must be some other tricks with which she will deal with us. This place does not seem to be appropriate to stay for a long time, but where can we go to hide?”

Letting out a long laughter, Ba Fenghan said, “Our biggest barrier right now is that we feel that we are in the wrong, hence we always look for a hiding place to take shelter from the wind. While in fact, as long as we can overcome this barrier, we can just wait here for the zi hour with large bowl of wine and large bowl of meat, to see if anybody will be able to take one of life’s great pleasures from us.”

Puzzled, Xu Xingzhi asked, “What exactly happened?”

Putting his hand on Xu Xingzhi’s shoulder, Kou Zhong asked, “Do you have any wine?”

Xu Xingzhi laughed and replied, “How can a house be without wine? Let me go to the back to get some wine.”

Kou Zhong accompanied him to the back and explained to him what happened.

Ba Fenghan and Xu Ziling sat quietly for half a day, and then as if by prior agreement they both moved to the chairs in front of the table. The former spoke coldly, “If I am guessing correctly, next time we come across Wanwan, it will be a hard fighting.”

Xu Ziling nodded in agreement, but he knitted his brows.

Because of the great advancement of their skill, they have become a serious threat to Yin Gui Pai.

Wanwan did not make her move immediately, it was because she was hoping they would fight a hard battle against Shi Feixuan until both sides suffer, and then Wanwan could reap the fisherman’s benefit.

Noticing Xu Ziling’s pensive look, Ba Fenghan wondered, “Are you thinking about something unusual?”

Returning to his senses, Xu Ziling replied thoughtfully, “Just now Zhu Yuyan must be at the rear courtyard somewhere. If she had confirmed that the Jade Annulus of He Clan was in our possession, she would immediately snatch it away. Fortunately the Jade Annulus of He Clan is really not in our hands.”

Taking a deep breath, Ba Fenghan said, “That makes sense. Just before we made a breakthrough, Wanwan already had no capability to deal with the three of us fighting together. Therefore, she must have another backup that she dared to wait for us in here.”

Sucking a mouthful of cold air, Xu Ziling said, “Only one Wanwan is enough to give us headache, if there was Zhu Yuyan waiting on the side glaring like a tiger watching its prey, won’t our days become a lot more difficult?”

Laughing heartily, Ba Fenghan said, “Tomorrow’s sun will be the one thing we are most eager to see. Only by living like this will life be interesting. Only in the face of death will we appreciate that life is precious. And in martial art way, only by defying death will we gain life. Only by not being afraid of death will we overcome death and won’t be conquered by death.”

Xu Ziling gladly said, “What a heroic remark and powerful speech! We must use wine to liven things up.”

‘Bang!’ Slapping the table with his palm, he called out, “Where’s the wine?”

Kou Zhong scampered over holding a pot of wine in his hands, “Coming! Coming! Two Daye please be patient.”

Xu Zingzhi set the cups for everybody. Kou Zhong was in charge of pouring the wine.

‘Ding!’

Four cups clinked against each other, and then they were drained in one gulp.

Looking at the bottom of the cup, where not a single drop remained, Ba Fenghan praised, “Good wine!”

Kou Zhong pretended to be unable to hold alcohol; slumping on the table, he moaned, “What kind of person is Wanwan? Can she still be considered a human being? Does she have human being’s seven emotional states and eight desires? How come I always feel that she is not a human being with flesh and blood?”

Surprisingly, it was Xu Xingzhi who responded, “Devil School’s people have been trained since they were young, and rarely left their homes halfway. Therefore, every three years they have ‘selection process’, where martial art masters of Elder-level went out everywhere to abduct small children who did not understand human affairs to be their disciples. Merely this cruel act has made God knows how many fathers and mothers have their hearts shattered and their souls broken.”

After a short pause, he continued, “Therefore, all Yin Gui Pai people whose instinct is dead; but in order to achieve their goal, they would do anything, by hook or by crook.”

Xu Ziling looked at Ba Fenghan, who was slowly raising the wine pot and pouring the wine into his cup; he said, “Instinct can’t be dead, but it can be replaced and suppressed. From time to time Wanwan’s eyes revealed an indescribably complex emotion, but her hands are definitely not lenient.”

Putting down his cup, Ba Fenghan turned toward Xu Xingzhi and asked in astonishment, “Mr. Xu’s remark must be a secret that Yin Gui Pai would be afraid if others would know; I wonder how did you obtain it?”

Xu Xingzhi took a quick glance at Kou Zhong, who was still crouching on the table. A sad expression flitted through his eyes as he spoke in heavy voice, “Old affair needs not be raised again. Suffice it to say that there is a very deep enmity between me and Yin Gui Pai; hence with thousand ways, a hundred plans I investigated everything related to them.”

Kou Zhong sat up straight and spoke in earnestness, “In that case, Mr. Xu and us are kindred-spirit.”

Xu Xingzhi smiled and said, “Just based on the fact that Kou Ye is willing to confide in the Ol’ Xu with entire sincerity, so much so that you did not conceal anything pertaining to the Jade Annulus of He Clan, I, Xu Xingzhi, will not fail to live up to Kou Ye’s deep affection.”

And then, revealing a vehement expression, he laughed and said, “For the past many years, I, Xu Xingzhi, have roamed the world, but have never seen heroes like the three gentlemen. Even if I had to deliver my life in Luoyang together with three gentlemen, I will have no regret.”

Raising his cup in a toast, Ba Fenghan said, “Isn’t Mr. Xu also an outstanding hero? Otherwise, how could you speak with such heroic passion? We salute you with a toast.”

After draining another cup, two red clouds appeared on Xu Xingzhi’s face, his eyes were flashing with the radiance of wisdom as he said, “This time it could be said that we are caught in the passive, take-a-beating, the lowest possible position. If we only rely on courage and strength, ultimately we might end up fighting with all our might and perish. Have three Daye thought about any plan on how to deal with it?”

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Of course we have. But other than taking up the challenge or escape, two ways, I really can’t think of the third way. Hiding in here cannot be considered a solution.”

Xu Xingzhi laughed calmly and said, “The complicated situation in Luoyang nowadays is unprecedented. For instance, Yin Gui Pai is willing to watch with folded arms, simply because the situation dictates it to be so. If we are able to take advantage of it, perhaps we can find a way to survive.”

Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong asked, “What should we do?”

Fiddling with his moustache, Xu Xingzhi smiled and said, “Let me analyze the situation first. The most important factor is naturally the triangular relationship between Wang Shichong, Yang Dong and Li Mi. Although they do not seem to have direct relationship with the Jade Annulus of He Clan, but if they knew that after getting the Jade Annulus of He Clan Shi Feixuan was going to bestow it to Li Yuan’s second son, Li Shimin, they would definitely wish for the Jade Annulus of He Clan to fall into other people’s hands rather than letting Li Shimin have the advantage.”

Pondering deeply, Ba Fenghan said, “Mr. Xu’s remark is very logical. Presently the people from three sides are most afraid of Li Yuan, whose fame and power grow more flourishing by the day, whose occupation of Guanzhong, overlooking Hudou, is table. And the most outstanding among the Li Clan is precisely Li Shimin. In such situation, they would never allow Shi Feixuan to obtain the Jade Annulus of He Clan and hand it over to Li Shimin.”

A short pause later, he went on, “But the problem is that the three sides are pinning down each other that they are in deadlocked situation; who would dare to take the risk of offending Ci Hang Jing Zhai by thwarting Shi Feixuan’s effort to retrieve the Jade Annulus of He Clan? Plus let’s not forget that Shi Feixuan also has Ning Daoqi on her back, the great master of martial art that no one dares to mess with.”

Having a plan up his sleeve, Xu Xingzhi said, “Perhaps they won’t dare to directly intervene this dispute, but they might mobilize their own men and the Sects, Schools, Gangs and Societies who have some ties with them to indirectly meddle with this matter, or perhaps trying to bluff their way to thwart Shi Feixuan’s operation. If that happens, won’t we have to face so many different battle fronts?”

Kou Zhong nodded and said, “In theory, that is certainly something that can be exploited. But the biggest problem is that we won’t admit that the Jade Annulus of He Clan has fallen into our hands, while we want others to believe that Shi Feixuan recovered this ghost thing from us. Won’t these two situations be in contradiction with each other?”

Letting out a deep sigh Xu Xingzhi said, “Have three gentlemen ever thought that Shangguan Long might have great value to us?”

By this moment, the three’s confidence toward this advisor [orig. zhi shi, wisdom scholar], who retained five strands of long beard, with a somewhat immortal air, and a highly educated flavor, has been boosted considerably. Hearing what was said, they all listened with rapt attention.

Xu Xingzhi was quite satisfied with their reaction; he slyly said, “To resolve the difficulty raised by Kou Ye, we certainly have to go all out. As long as we can separately broadcast two separate information, we will be able to achieve the effect of ‘deploying troops to mislead the enemy’, so that it would be difficult for them to distinguish true from false.”

The three were men with high intelligence; it was just because they were right in the middle of this situation that Xu Xingzhi had the advantage of ‘spectator sees more of the game’. Hearing that, they immediately understood.

Xu Xingzhi’s eyes lit up as he continued indifferently, “The first information is to make people believe that you knew the Jade Annulus of He Clan was hidden in Jing Nian Chanyuan from forced confession out of Shangguan Long’s mouth. This way, Yin Gui Pai will be directly drawn into this circle!”

The three could not help slapping the table and shouting with praise.

It should be noted that last night, in front of several hundred witnesses, they abducted Shangguan Long, and afterwards immediately went to Jing Nian Chanyuan to steal the treasure. Despite the fact that these two matters had nothing to do with each other, outsiders were not aware of it.

As for Shangguan Long was immediately rescued by Zhu Yuyan, even if someone knew about it, who would dare to be sure that in such a short period of time they did not manage to get some secret out of his mouth?

The most wonderful thing that no one knew that they did not kill Shangguan Long on the spot, but took the effort to kidnap him away, was simply to find out about Fu Junyu’s whereabouts.

Therefore, if they could broadcast such information, any party would grow suspicious of the other ones, because Yin Gui Pai has always been known for their diversion tactics and was notorious for their strategy of framing other parties.

If Shangguan Long knew where the Jade Annulus of He Clan was, naturally Yin Gui Pai also had people who were qualified to steal the treasure.

In the Devil Cult, capable people were numerous; finding someone to impersonate Xu Ziling was definitely a highly possible matter.

Therefore, the release of this information would certainly trigger all parties to make associative connection of the different parts of the puzzle.

And then the attention focused on the three would be divided; both the three and Yin Gui Pai would be equally suspected.

Ba Fenghan praised, “Mr. Xu’s wisdom, even if Zhuge Liang is reincarnated, he would be nothing more than this. I wonder if the other information is that Shi Feixuan has selected Li Shimin as the true master of the Jade Annulus of He Clan, and thus all others who are not selected will become discontented?”

Frowning, Xu Ziling said, “That seems to be a bit too unscrupulous!”

Remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, Xu Xingzhi said, “Since Xu Ye has this misgivings, we can make slight adjustment: let’s just say that Shi Feixuan has already selected the recipient of the Jade Annulus of He Clan, but let’s not be specific on who. That should be enough.”

Slapping the table, Kou Zhong said, “This move is even better. But how are we going to broadcast these two information so that the entire Luoyang will hear it before the zi hour?”

Xu Xingzhi was about to answer when they heard ‘Knock! Knock! Knock!’ It sounded like wooden staff striking the ground.

The first knock came from an unattainable distant place. The second one sounded like it came from outside the wall of the rear courtyard. By the time the third knock was heard it definitely came from just outside the door.

When the four men’s countenance changed, ‘Bang!’ the sound of the courtyard door shattering into pieces pierced the four men’s ears.

Just this momentum alone was enough to snatch anybody’s soul.

Could it be that Ning Daoqi himself has arrived in person?