Chapter 6 – Pivotal Breakthrough

Because they were intimidated by Yun Shuai’s alarming-the-heaven-moving-the-earth qinggong skill, the two boys were completely unaware that after it lost control, the official ship was crashing to the shore. By the time they realized what happened, they were falling down following the mast, seemingly into the bottomless abyss, or straight down into the nether world.

Things had happened so suddenly that even with their current skill, they lost their balance and rolled upside down on the deck and could only hold on to the railing ropes. The wind was screaming by their ears, suddenly they were high in the air, while underneath their feet was the surging, turbulent river. And then suddenly they found that the lower half of their body was already submerged in the water. The next moment the two boys were rising on the cloud, riding the fog, more than ten zhang in the air. It is thus clear how bad the hull was jolted left and right.

Other than the sound of shattering hull against the rocks and the terrifying sound of the water wreaking havoc, they could not hear the battle between Yun Shuai and Bai Qing’er and the others. All around was so dark that they could not even see the fingers in front of their face.

‘Crack!’

With a loud, crisp snap, the mast finally broke away from the hull. The two boys fell into the water together.

Naturally the two boys did not have time to worry about Yun Shuai and the others’ victory or defeat; they struggled with everything they had to swim toward the opposite bank. By the time they crawled up on a rock on the beach and looked across the river, they saw the silhouette of the broken ship stranded among the rocks, and could only look at each other with wry smile on their faces.

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “This time it could be said that our troop deployment is unfavorable. We wanted to take advantage of riding the boat, who would have thought that we caught a shipwreck? We wanted to steal something, yet the firearms caught water; it’s useless to fish it up the water.”

Xu Ziling said, “Exactly because the firearms might catch water that they used material like peach wood to seal it up; moreover, they must have taken measure to waterproof it. It’s just that Bai Qing’er already lost the hostage, she won’t be willing to give up this batch of firearms; snatching it away does not seem to be very prudent. Therefore, I’ll say you’d better forget your intention.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Kou Zhong said, “Whatever you say. Ay! If we could train qinggong skill like Yun Shuai, it would greatly benefit our trip to Guanzhong. What do you think about this idea?”

Xu Ziling stared fixedly at the opposite bank, where the dark shadow of the shipwreck blended with the dark clouds overhead. Knitting his pair of delicate and slender eyebrows, he pondered silently for a moment before saying, “This matter, if we say it’s difficult, it’s not difficult at all; if we say it’s easy, it’s not easy at all. Problem is: after leaving the Xueyi Tan [lit. beach to learn a skill (or art), see Book 2 Chapter 9], we have never focused on how to improve our lightness skill method. What idea do you have inside your belly?”

Wiping a drop of water hanging on his eyebrow, Kou Zhong said, “Just now when Bai Yaonu pounced on Yun Shuai, it looked as if Yun Shuai was also going to leap high to meet the enemy head-on; who would have thought that just like a bat, he spun around to evade, giving the impression of some ‘man between the heaven and the earth’ principle. The fact is, when you throw a stone or shoot an arrow, it will fly toward the target following a certain natural curvature. Evidently this is the law of physics. Based on the shape of the object and the method of exerting the force, if we speak about the force application itself, naturally straight line is the quickest, but saber strike in an arc is the most difficult to guard, as well as the fiercest.”

Xu Ziling was shaken. He said, “Your remark made me think about when Yun Shuai was spinning in the air, his outer garment swelled. This is similar to when you pick a flat rock and toss it out following its shape, naturally it will acquire a certain trajectory.”

Kou Zhong looked at Xu Ziling’s skintight water armor, and then he looked at his own, and said with a wry smile, “Your deduction is eighty-, ninety-percent, not far from a hundred-percent – accurate. Too bad we have no way of testing it immediately. However, we have grasped a little bit of trick. Combined with our ability to take a breath and change direction midair, it shouldn’t be difficult to surpass Yun Shuai in term of spinning-while-flying technique. It’s just that in term of vertical lift, it is still difficult to compare with him.”

Xu Ziling smiled and said, “That’s just because we did not meticulously pursue it! Based on our internal qi power. If we could make efforts in both force-exertion and raising qi to lighten the body, two aspects, we will definitely make a breakthrough. Did you feel that although that fellow Yun Shuai was being surrounded and attacked from all directions, he still maintained some kind of calm and composed feeling? In my opinion, it was because he was using some kind of strange way to breathe, hence he can run fast and jump high, while we are just the opposite. You also know that when we are being entangled in battle, our footsteps might be slow and heavy.”

Emotionally moved, Kou Zhong said, “Good kid; indeed your power of observation surpass others. From this, it is clear that previously we did not understand how to properly utilize the treasured qi power within our body to the finest detail. If we can pass this crucial point, our martial art skill will be fully upgraded. As our meridians have been transformed by the Jade Annulus of He Clan, the intensity of our qi power has already surpassed a lot of people. Question is, how are we going to use and display it to the fullest extent?”

Xu Ziling pondered for a moment. Suddenly he said with lowered voice, “Do you remember Yun Yuzhen’s Niao Du Shu [Bird-Crossing Technique]? The secret is positive and negative forces [or inside and outside], but her positive and negative forces also refer to external force; obviously it belongs to lower Buddhist sect. Our true qi, which originated from Taoist school, emphasizes inner breathing, which can be turned into the positive and negative forces within the body. The reason Yun Shuai’s shenfa can surpass ours is precisely for this principle.”

Kou Zhong stood up suddenly and said excitedly, “How about competing in foot power?”

Xu Ziling followed him up. His eyes shooting mysterious lightning light, he said, “Our understanding tonight is no small matter; how can we stop only at foot power competition? We have to compete in martial art skill. How’s the condition of the qi power within your body?”

Patting his belly, Kou Zhong replied, “It is circulating around in the Dantian’s ocean of qi. The feeling is like a burst of motive power is going to move my body at any moment; it could be used to attack the enemy or raising the qi, totally different from before. Turns out devoting our thought is so important.”

Xu Ziling said, “I agree that spirit and mind are the most important. The so-called uniting essence, qi, and spirit is precisely this kind of realm. When our qi is impure, we will fall, just because the true qi within our body does not continue. But as long as when unleashing our shenfa we could utilize the pulling and mutually striking positive and negative qi within our body, we would get unexpected result. But like what you are doing now, you concentrate the true qi into one place where you have control over it, compared to before, the difference is not much.”

Severely shaken, Kou Zhong said, “I understand! It’s done, I now divide the qi into two; one circling to the left, the other turning to the right. It should be like what you said, positive and negative qi!”

Stunned, Xu Ziling said, “Unexpectedly it is that easy?”

Kou Zhong theatrically replied, “This is called qi turning as one wishes. If you don’t believe me, try it yourself.”

Xu Ziling was silent for a moment, quietly circulating his divine power. Suddenly, like dead leaves being blown by the wind, he floated away, and said with a long laugh, “Good kid! Come on!”

Kou Zhong shot out like a stone bullet; drawing the Moon in the Well from his back, he called out, “Even if I have to chase after you to the end of the heavens, I will catch up with you.”

Before his feet touched the ground, Xu Ziling suddenly changed direction; he disappeared into the woods.

Fast as lightning Kou Zhong flew to the shore and kneeled on the ground. Gasping for breath, he said, “Nearly exhausted to death, but very happy; I have never been this happy before.”

Inserting his saber into the ground, he used it to prop himself up.

Xu Ziling came to his side and plopped his butt onto the ground. From the cliff edge he looked down, and saw, under the light of the dawn – the ship that ran aground on the rocky beach still had its hull mostly intact, yet he did not see any trace of human. Displeased, he said, “You, this kid, still won’t give up on that batch of firearms; after making a long detour you brought me back to this place. You want to transport those things as soon as possible? You will let people come back and see us looting a burning house, and that will be extremely embarrassing.”

Gasping for breath, Kou Zhong laughed and said, “That is precisely my only intention.”

The two boys rushed over for one day and one night before reaching Jiangxia, another big city by the Great River, west of Jiujiang. Taking the boat going north from here, they would reach Jingling in just one day.

Before Jingling fell, this city already fell into Jianghuai Army’s hands, and remained under their control until today. Upon entering the city, they looked for an inn to stay for the night. After settling down, they went to the restaurant next door to eat lunch.

After their tummy was full, Kou Zhong muttered irresolutely, “Until now we are still unclear whether Yun Shuai have rescued Lian Rou or not?”

Xu Ziling said, “Of course he succeeded in rescuing Lian Rou. Otherwise Yun Shuai would not dare to open monastic discipline against killing. This man is extremely skilled in scheming, using Sun Huacheng blocking the river and interrogating them, attracting Bai Yaonu and the others’ attention, he utilized his reaching-pinnacle lightness skill to infiltrate the ship; the-gods-did-not-know, the ghosts-did-not-perceive he rescued his daughter out.”

Kou Zhong continued his analysis, “This fellow was even able to guess that the enemy might transport his daughter away by land route, thereupon disguising himself as his daughter he seized the opportunity to mount a sneak attack. This time Yin Gui Pai certainly have given away the bride, but lost his army on top of it [idiom: suffering a double loss after trying to trick the enemy]. No wonder the Western Tujue could hold the Eastern Tujue in a stalemate, simply because Tong Xiehu has a capable person helping him.”

Xu Ziling laughed and said, “But the one obtaining the real advantage is us. Were it not for receiving Yun Shuai’s enlightenment, how could me make a breakthrough in the shenfa department?”

Kou Zhong patted his shoulder vigorously; nodding his head, he said, “We are certainly the benefiting party. But back to the topic, our plan of hitching a ride on the boat fizzled out, now that the world does not know our real face, we could just swagger into the city. Naturally we could also invite endless trouble. Perhaps even tonight Shi Xianzi [fairy] plus the Four Great Baldheads might besiege us. Tell me, what should our next step be?”

Frowning, Xu Ziling said, “Calling them Four Great Baldheads is too harsh! How about showing some respect to those men who had reached the holy monk status?”

Readily following good advice, Kou Zhong smiled and said, “I forgot you have predestined affinity with Buddhist school; Ling Shao, please forgive me. Oh, nearly forget to tell you, your Luoyan Jiejie [elder sister] has arrived in Guanzhong.”

Emotionally moved, Xu Ziling said, “Li Mi has really surrendered to Li Shimin?”

Kou Zhong nodded in affirmative. He explained, “It was Ol’ Die who told me. But how could Li Mi be someone who live out of someone else’s resources? No matter how courteous the Li Family treated him, it is useless. But Li Mi’s skill is certainly no small matter, plus he hates us to the bones. To him, we are the enemy that he simply must guard against. Before, defeating him was just pure luck, not because our ability and wisdom could really surpass his or even Shen Luoyan’s.”

Amazed, Xu Ziling said, “It’s rare that you are so modest. From this, it is clear that in our trip to Guanzhong, you are not as confident as what you are showing on the outside.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Even though I am so brassy, I also know that the difference in power between the enemy and us is simply too far; if we revealed our track, I am positive that we will lose our lives in Chang’an. The worst thing is that until now, I still don’t have a foolproof plan to enter Chang’an. I could only think of like right now, take it one step at a time. Naturally I feel so useless.”

Xu Ziling agreed; he said, “My usual practice is that if it is not good, then don’t think too much. In the past, things were not as pessimistic as you said. As long as we could get inside the city, there will be Gao Liang and the others providing support. At that time, we make open enquiries and secret search, holding on to our disregard of gains and losses, esteeming the treasure. We’ll bet on your, LaoGe’s luck; I want to see if you will scrupulously abide by your promise of if we fail to find the treasure, you will obediently remove your armor and return to the farm.”

Gao Liang, Niu Fengyi, Xing Jie [sic. Previously, it was Gao Zhandao, Niu Fengyi and Zha Jie, Book 6 Chapter 11] and the others were Shuang Long Bang men. Following Kou Zhong’s master plan, they have already entered Chang’an for many years to make preparations, so that after the treasure was found, they could transport the large quantities of money and valuables, as well as weapons, out of Chang’an.

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Ling Shao, don’t worry. I can break promise to anybody in the world, but I will never dare to break my promise to you. As for Gao Liang and the others, unless we can really find the Duke Yang Treasure, I am not planning on making contact with them.”

Surprised, Xu Ziling asked, “Why did you make that decision?”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “Whether I can find Duke Yang Treasure or not, I do not have the least bit confidence. If we can’t find it, everything ceases; in which case, why not let them put down their roots in Chang’an, passing their days in peace and happiness. Otherwise, if they are being implicated because of us, they might nurse a grievance in Chang’an.”

Xu Ziling spoke in delight, “Zhong Ye [master] is definitely not an ‘everything for self and selfish profit’ fellow; otherwise, you wouldn’t have consideration for other people first like this.”

Suddenly his eyes flickered brightly, Kou Zhong looked intently at Xu Ziling, and then said with a wry smile, “The fact is that Ling Shao is pro