Chapter 2 – The Truth In The Rain

Under the hazy moonlight, Xu Ziling unleashed his footwork, hurrying along the southern bank of the Huai River, heading west, toward the place he and Kou Zhong were going to rendezvous.

After taking his leave from Gui Xiliang and Xing Rong, he officially notified Li Zitong, before going on board the ship, together with Luo Qifei and the others, and left. Naturally in the end only an empty ship returned to Liangdu, since one after another Xu Ziling, Luo Qifei, and the others left the ship along the way, everybody hastening onto his separate destination.

Xu Ziling left the ship at the intersection between the Hang Gully and River Huai, and travelled at full speed for nearly six sichen, through the night and day before finally reaching the jungle region at the foot of Jia Mountain at the southeast of Zhongli County.

He lit a fire and made a signal.

Immediately there was a response from the mountaintop half a li away. First it was a spark of light, followed by two other flashes of light, indicating Kou Zhong’s hiding place.

Warmth flowed through Xu Ziling’s heart; Susu’s misfortune, Ba Fenghan’s leaving far away, had strengthened his feeling that he and Kou Zhong were mutually dependent for survival. At the same time, he was not without an emotional stirring; in a mere few months, Kou Zhong had successfully established his own power. The people gathered by his side were not a random group of mob, but a group of organized and highly efficient powerful masters.

It was not only obvious from the accurate signal transmission just now, but also in his ability to deploy his troops across the river in such a short period of time, in one breath hastening over nearly a hundred li to come to this place. Merely the speed of the marching army was enough to make people clicking their tongue.

In the blink of an eye he rushed into the sparse forest area at the edge of the jungle, where the Shaoshuai Army was resting against the tree, under cover of the dark, dense jungle. Everybody was holding their breath and calming their qi, while the horses were eating the grass quietly.

Led by a squad leader, Xu Ziling ran up a small hill, where Kou Zhong, awe-inspiringly, stood under the bright moon, with Xuan Yong and more than a dozen generals by his side.

Looking at Kou Zhong’s profound, standing-tall-high-mountain-peak majestic silhouette, a peculiar feeling appeared in Xu Ziling’s heart.

Kou Zhong now was not the Kou Zhong of the past, naturally he was not the Kou Zhong who stood on top of Jingling city wall facing the Jianghuai Forces’ magnificent army with thousands of men and horses, whose heart continuously wanted to beat the retreating drum. Kou Zhong has now become the commander-in-chief, who viewed war as a game of chess, who moved his troops while laughing and joking, who, in the future, would become more than a formidable opponent to the warlords contending for hegemony over the world.

Kou Zhong suddenly l