Chapter 27: Fate Is a Wonderful Thing

Zheng Fan wasn’t deliberately cracking a joke in the middle of such a tense situation. As Liang Cheng’s “secondary creator”—rather like Gao E to Cao Xueqin—he had some understanding of Liang Cheng’s background.

Liang Cheng was a zombie who had survived from ancient times all the way to the present. Although only a tiny fraction of his strength had recovered, the foundation of his bloodline should still be intact.

It was like having completely ordinary stats but an extremely high level. Most of the time, that was useless as hell, but when facing weaker members of the same kind, it might produce miraculous results.

Like the bloodline suppression high-level magical beasts exerted over low-level ones. Here, “high” and “low” referred only to the grade of their bloodline, not actual strength. It was the same reason a strong adult slave still had to kneel and kowtow before a noble child.

The white-robed woman gave Zheng Fan’s side no further time to prepare. The two living corpses transformed from the barbarian men charged forward with savage force.

The white-robed woman moved beside the two children and watched the battle.

The reason she had not attacked from the beginning was that two of the three men opposite her had given her a sense of pressure from the moment they met.

As for the man who seemed to be their leader, he was obviously useless.

Of course, there was nothing unusual about the one in charge being useless.

Why else would he need to bring subordinates whenever he went out?

At first, both sides had managed to restrain themselves, clearly wary of one another. But after entering the shelter, she had seen the horses the three men had tethered inside. The marks branded onto them could not be faked.

From that moment on, at least in the white-robed woman’s eyes, there had been no room left to retreat.

After learning of the conflict between the Marquis of Zhenbei and the Shatuo Tribe, the Royal Court had dispatched her to mediate. But by the time she arrived, the two sides were already at war. Worse, she had arrived just as a Yan cavalry force charged directly into the tribe while all its able-bodied men were away. She had only managed to rescue the two descendants of the Shatuo chieftain.

All she wanted now was to take these two children back to the Royal Court.

Who could have imagined that on the return journey she would actually suffer another interception by men of the Marquis of Zhenbei!

Facing the two charging living corpses, Liang Cheng did not rush to attack. Instead, he clenched both fists. A profound darkness began swirling through his eyes, while wisps of baleful qi seeped from around his body.

The next instant, Liang Cheng opened his mouth.

Two fangs emerged.

Facing the two living corpses charging toward him, he unleashed a roar!

“ROAR!!!”

Under that roar, the two corpses that had been charging so fiercely suddenly froze as though someone had pressed a pause button. They stopped dead in their tracks. Perhaps because of their momentum, they even began swaying backward and forward in perfect unison like two roly-poly toys.

The white-robed woman’s eyes widened.

The sight had already exceeded her imagination.

She had grown up within the Royal Court and become one of its Barbarian Shamans.

Of all the curse arts she had mastered, refining living corpses was the one in which she was most accomplished. She certainly did not believe her corpses were invincible, but she had truly never imagined that living corpses she had only just refined could be seized from her control right before her eyes.

It was like painstakingly developing a new weapon only to discover that the firing button was in your enemy’s hand.

“Barbarian Curse—Open!”

The white-robed woman pressed her left palm against her forehead. White light immediately surfaced in both eyes.

At that moment, the world changed before her vision.

Her two living corpses radiated a gray light.

But the man who had just roared his body was a deep, ink-black!

More than that, she could distinctly sense that the two living corpses she had just created were actually experiencing a strange, indescribable emotional fluctuation toward the man before them.

In modern terms, it was probably something like:

Hug me! Pick me up!

“Whew...”

Xue San slowly began edging sideways.

Quietly.

Silently.

“ROAR!!!”

Liang Cheng roared again.

The two living corpses immediately spun around and, following Liang Cheng’s rhythm, roared with him.

Then they charged straight at the white-robed woman!

Instant betrayal.

Devouring their master on the spot!

The white-robed woman did not dare delay. She bent down and scooped up both children.

No one knew the strength of those two living corpses better than she did. At least for this brief period after their creation, they were practically impervious to blades and spears!

“Hehehe.”

At that moment, the sinister chuckle of a minor villain sounded behind her.

Almost the instant Liang Cheng turned the corpses against their master, Xue San had already appeared behind the white-robed woman. The dagger in his hand became a streak of cold light and stabbed directly into her back!

There was not the slightest hesitation in this ambush over the fact that she was still holding two children.

That was what killing was.

There was no room for softheartedness.

Besides, if Liang Cheng had not happened to run into his “relatives,” then right now it would have been their group being hunted by those two living corpses.

Clang!

The dagger struck the white-robed woman’s back, but Xue San felt as though he had stabbed a slab of steel. A violent rebound jolted through his wrist.

Her white robe suddenly billowed outward and swept toward Xue San.

More terrifyingly, silver needles embedded throughout the robe glittered with cold light.

“Fuck!”

Heaven knew whether those needles were poisoned.

Xue San was no Liang Cheng; he had no intention of testing poison with his own body. He immediately retreated with admirable cowardice.

Where there was life, there was hope.

For an assassin, withdrawing after a failed strike and waiting for a second opportunity was practically instinct.

But when Xue San dodged the falling white robe and glanced to the side, his entire body froze.

What the fuck what am I looking at?

“Master!”

At that moment, Zheng Fan had only three questions in his head:

Who am I?

Where am I?

What the hell am I doing?

When Liang Cheng’s zombie roar had driven the two living corpses into rebellion, Xue San had not been the only one to move.

Zheng Fan had moved too.

Saber in hand, he had charged from the other side.

He did not know why he had charged.

Maybe because this was a gang fight.

Ignoring the two children, it had originally been three against three.

Once the two corpses switched sides, however, it became five against one.

If you didn’t rush in now and kick the enemy while she was down, what were you waiting for?

And then, Zheng Fan realized he had screwed himself.

First, the white-robed woman dodged the two living corpses.

Then she shed her robe like a cicada slipping its shell to escape Xue San’s ambush.

And then the woman, now dressed only in tight red underclothes, flashed directly in front of Zheng Fan.

If you wanted to flatter him, you could say Zheng Fan had anticipated everything, seen through the battlefield situation, moved ahead to occupy the crucial position, and sealed off the enemy’s retreat!

More realistically:

Fuck, I showed off too hard!

Fortunately, Zheng Fan had spilled blood on the battlefield only a few days ago and had already killed people.

Almost by instinct, he gripped the saber hilt with both hands, raised it, and chopped at the woman rushing toward him!

The woman apparently had not expected someone to circle around and block her escape in advance.

But her response was equally ruthless.

She hurled the little girl in her arms directly at Zheng Fan straight toward Zheng Fan’s blade.

Time seemed to freeze.

If this had happened in some hypothetical situation where Zheng Fan had enough time to think and analyze, there was a chance he really would have chosen to ignore age and sex and simply cut straight through without mercy.

Mercy toward the enemy was cruelty toward oneself!

Morally questionable, perhaps.

But whatever!

Reality, however, did not slow itself down to suit your needs.

Without time to think and harden his heart beforehand, Zheng Fan saw a little girl being thrown toward him, a child who might be cut in half across his razor-sharp blade in the next instant.

His wrists turned.

The edge shifted aside.

The flat of the saber slapped into the little girl.

In that instant, he had still... gone softhearted.

Reason might be powerful, but emotion ran faster.

The woman seized that instant.

While Zheng Fan turned his blade aside, she closed the distance.

Her left arm still held the little boy, but her right hand caught Zheng Fan’s saber blade. Her arm twisted, turning the edge backward and drawing it almost across Zheng Fan’s throat.

She was using your own saber to invite you to kill yourself!

Life and death balanced on that single instant.

Zheng Fan had no time to regret his earlier softheartedness. All he could do was clamp both hands around the hilt with everything he had.

Hum!

The blade stopped a hair’s breadth from his neck.

The woman looked surprised.

She had not held back.

The man’s grip strength had simply exceeded her expectations.

This useless weakling before her was not merely useless.

He was... a useless weakling with one hell of a grip.

Behind her, the two living corpses had changed direction and were charging again.

The little dwarf had also vanished from sight.

The woman knew she could not waste another moment.

She pressed her palm down and exerted force.

Zheng Fan, who had been straining with everything he had in the contest of strength, suddenly went—

Clang!

His saber hacked into the ground.

Then came a crisp little sound.

Hiss...

My back...

The woman did not pause.

She did not even retrieve the little girl from the ground.

Holding the remaining boy, she leapt away, trying to escape the shelter.

The instant her figure moved away, Xue San appeared behind her again.

The woman’s heart jolted, but she had no time to think.

Pfft!

Xue San’s dagger plunged into her back.

Yet her momentum did not falter in the slightest. She kept moving forward.

The strike had failed to kill.

Xue San made to chase her, but Liang Cheng suddenly barked, “Don’t!”

Xue San stopped and watched the woman flee the shelter with the boy in her arms.

“Roar!”

“Roar!”

The two living corpses stopped moving.

At the same time, their skin began rotting at terrifying speed. Pus dripped from them in streams, their bodies rapidly melting away like chocolate under heat.

Liang Cheng dropped to both knees with a thud.

Clearly, controlling those two living corpses had consumed far too much of his strength in his current condition.

The reason he had stopped Xue San from pursuing was precisely because Liang Cheng himself had already lost his ability to fight.

He had even become a burden.

If Xue San chased after the woman as well, there would be no one left capable of guaranteeing Master’s safety.

Zheng Fan braced one hand against his saber hilt and pressed the other against his lower back as he slowly sat down, sucking in sharp breaths through his teeth.

Xue San walked to the little girl.

For some reason—perhaps the woman had drugged her beforehand—the girl was still fast asleep.

Then Xue San stepped around her and came to Zheng Fan’s side.

He asked with concern, “Master, are you all right?”

Zheng Fan shook his head and immediately asked, “Was your dagger poisoned?”

Xue San’s mouth formed an “O.”

He really liked this wicked side of Master.

Unfortunately, he still shook his head.

“It used to be poisoned, but after killing people on the battlefield a while back, I used up almost all of it. I did smear the last little bit on there. It might kill an ordinary person, but that woman? Probably not.”

As he spoke, Xue San held his remaining dagger out for Zheng Fan to inspect.

There was a tiny recess at the end of the dagger. Pressing it with a finger opened another channel. Poison was stored inside. The instant the dagger pierced an enemy, pressing the mechanism would inject the poison into the target’s body like venom from a snake’s fang.

Simply smearing poison over the blade would be far too wasteful, and the effect was poor.

If you were going to do that, you might as well smear feces on it instead.

Don’t laugh.

On ancient battlefields, smearing feces onto arrowheads was a common dirty trick.

After all, there was no penicillin back then.

Once a wound became infected, whether you survived or died was up to heaven.

“Forget it. She got away, so she got away.”

Zheng Fan turned toward Liang Cheng.

“As soon as the sandstorm stops, we leave immediately and head back.”

The outside world was far too dangerous.

Ah... my back hurts.

...

Although the sandstorm had already passed its most violent stage, even its tail remained terrifying.

The woman had no horse and was carrying the boy.

She could only force her way through the endless storm.

Xue San’s dagger was still lodged in her back. Her muscles had already clamped around the wound, but as she walked, she found her vision gradually beginning to blur.

She knew the dagger was poisoned.

But to prevent pursuers from catching up, she could only use her own strength to suppress the spread of the toxin.

Fortunately, the poison was not particularly potent.

No matter what, the Royal Court’s mission had to be completed!

After walking for roughly half an hour, the woman could only rely on experience and instinct to judge her direction. She had no idea how far off course she might actually be.

Then she heard hoofbeats ahead.

The woman tensed at first.

But when she heard the crack of a riding whip coming from the same direction, she immediately relaxed somewhat.

The two riders had clearly noticed her as well and soon entered her field of vision.

The woman forced her eyes wide.

Neither rider wore armor, only ordinary robes.

These were the men she had arranged beforehand to receive her.

They were disguised as a merchant caravan and operated year-round between Tiger Head City and the Royal Court.

“I am Barbarian Shaman Ayi. Where is your leader?”

The woman announced her identity.

“Greetings, Lord Shaman!”

One caravan guard immediately dismounted and bowed.

The other guard was enormously built and also climbed down from his horse, but he looked somewhat slow-witted. First he cupped his fists. Then, seeming uncertain what to do, he appeared ready to kneel as well—only for his companion to have already stood up.

Caught in between, he awkwardly ended up in a horse stance.

“Reporting to Lord Shaman, our leader is a little over ten li from here. When Your Lordship failed to meet us at the agreed time and the sandstorm arrived, the leader ordered us to split up and search the surrounding area for you.”

“You’ve done well.”

The woman handed the boy in her arms to the caravan guard before her.

“Have your leader gather every useful man you have and head northwest. There are assassins from the Li Clan there. There aren’t many of them. Deal with them for me.”

“Yes.”

At that moment, the woman noticed the big, slow-looking brute standing directly in front of her.

He was blatantly lowering his head and staring at her body.

Her white robe had been discarded when she was attacked.

She had escaped wearing only close-fitting underclothes, then been battered by the wind and sand all the way here.

By now, a great deal of skin was exposed.

Was this stupid brute truly that stupid?

He actually dared stare openly at her body?

She was an exalted Barbarian Shaman, yet a lowly servant dared look at her like this.

For a moment, she did not know whether to become angry or laugh.

But the big fool kept staring.

The woman raised her head.

She looked at him.

Her gaze turned cold.

Then she asked, “Like what you see?”

The big fool had been staring all along at the dagger lodged in her back.

Hearing her question, he nodded.

“Yep.”

Then he raised the axe in his hand...