Chapter 113: Hero, Please Step Into the Pit

There were plenty of horses in the stables outside the relay station.

There were also two carriages.

Xu Wenzu’s Pi Beast, however, was nowhere to be seen.

Perhaps because Hero Chen felt his current left leg was ill-suited for horseback riding, and because he also needed to bring another person, he chose a carriage.

Hero Chen drove.

Zheng Fan leaned against his side at an angle.

The carriage raced forward.

The cold wind of a winter night slapped endlessly across their faces like an unbroken series of open palms.

To prevent Zheng Fan from bleeding to death, Hero Chen had sealed the circulation of blood qi throughout Zheng Fan’s body.

But the sensation was extremely unpleasant.

Even breathing became difficult.

Every breath made Zheng Fan feel as though his lungs were bellows, booming and buzzing inside his chest.

Every beat of his heart sounded like someone swinging a huge hammer down beside his ear.

Hero Chen handled the carriage fairly well.

He lacked the Blind Man’s effortless ease, but perhaps the horses themselves understood how to seek benefit and avoid danger.

All three galloped at full speed.

Zheng Fan’s eyes kept scanning their surroundings.

Unfortunately, no sound of pursuing cavalry came from behind.

One thing puzzled Zheng Fan deeply.

The relay station stood in Yin City’s outskirts.

True, Yin City, despite being the commandery capital, suffered from a reputation somewhat like Haikou compared with Sanya in later times technically the capital, but not the most famous place.

Even so, Yin City was still a major city.

And Yin City possessed a garrison.

Xu Wenzu had left long ago.

Unless he was an idiot, he should have gone straight to Yin City to bring troops.

Once Yin City’s soldiers deployed, whether surrounding the relay station or catching this carriage should have posed little difficulty.

Yet everything remained unnaturally quiet.

Hero Chen seemed able to see what Zheng Fan was thinking.

He said, “I don’t know why either.

“But I know the relay station will remain quiet all night.”

“Why… why?”

Zheng Fan forced out the question with considerable difficulty.

In truth, it was not as though he could not imagine an explanation.

For something like this to happen, some internal faction within Yan had clearly colluded with these assassins.

It had arranged their entry and concealed their movements.

A relay station was not exactly a strategic military fortress, but neither was it an ordinary inn.

If something happened here, by normal procedure, the relevant authorities should quickly notice.

And they should respond immediately.

That meant the Yan faction colluding with the assassins possessed considerable influence.

But that was exactly what confused Zheng Fan most.

Why would some powerful faction bother targeting him?

Zheng Fan was certainly no saint.

From the perspective of anyone ruling this world, ordering Zheng Fan and all seven of his subordinates executed could even be described as “extremely wise” and “remarkably farsighted.”

The problem was, Zheng Fan did not think any faction currently had sufficient reason to deal with him on this scale.

Yet Hero Chen, sitting right beside him, was unquestionably real.

As for Chahe Village, Zheng Fan truly knew nothing about it.

He genuinely had never ordered a village massacre.

But by now Zheng Fan was too lazy to argue the matter with Hero Chen anymore.

If he again insisted that he had never slaughtered Chahe Village, with the way Hero Chen’s brain worked, the man might suddenly roar:

So you already killed Xiaohua, Niuniu, and Dani too?

And then, Hero Chen would bring down his sword and immediately end Zheng Fan’s sinful, filthy life.

The carriage thundered forward.

They encountered several merchant caravans along the road.

They also saw commoners traveling through the night.

Zheng Fan did not shout.

He was too lazy even to try sending covert hints.

In fact, Zheng Fan rather hoped Hero Chen would safely bring him all the way to the vicinity of Willow Fort.

Perhaps because Zheng Fan behaved obediently during the journey, Hero Chen’s attitude toward him softened slightly.

He really was a good man.

Not “good man” in the sense of a rejection card.

A genuinely good man.

That was something even Zheng Fan the man Hero Chen intended to kill could not deny.

But Zheng Fan truly had not planned to trap this honest fool.

This honest fool had come intending to kill Zheng Fan for a crime Zheng Fan never committed.

“You Yan people really don’t have many sword practitioners.”

Zheng Fan hesitated.

Was this bastard trying to chat with him now?

After thinking about it, Zheng Fan painfully replied, “Sabers… are better for chopping barbarians.”

“I’ve always heard the barbarians of the desert are formidable.

“I have never seen them.”

“If you get the chance, you should go take a look.

“The desert possesses an entirely different order and a completely different atmosphere.”

“Really?”

“Yes.

“Once you’ve seen the desert and the barbarians, you’ll understand the people of Yan much better.”

“The way you speak is unusual.”

“Does it have a certain flavor?

“And sound nice too?”

Hero Chen was an honest man.

He heard this, nodded, and said, “Yes.”

“You could choose not to kill me.

“I could talk to you every day.”

Zheng Fan was not being overly sentimental.

Truthfully, he did not particularly want to trap such an endearing idiot either.

If they could turn hostility into friendship, that would obviously be preferable.

“You must die.”

“Fine.

“I understand.”

“Actually, in my view, Yan people, Qian people, Jin people, and Chu people are no different.

“They’re all people.”

“They’re different.

“An orange grown south of the Huai becomes an orange, but grown north of the Huai, it becomes a bitter orange…”

“I know what oranges and bitter oranges are.

“But where are the south and north of the Huai?”

“Legend says there is a river in the heavens called the Huai River.

“South of the Huai means its southern bank.

“North of the Huai means its northern bank.”

“Oranges grow in the heavens too?”

“There are rabbits up there too.

“Supposedly when Chang’e flew to the moon, she brought one male and one female rabbit with her, and they produced many descendants.”

“Why did Chang’e raise so many rabbits?”

“Because she liked braised rabbit heads.”

“Oh.

“Really?

“I’ve never heard that version.

“Your Yan version of Chang’e flying to the moon has such detailed lore?”

“The barbarians heard the story and distorted it while passing it around the desert.”

“Oh.

“So that’s how it happened.

“Barbarians truly are barbarians.

“No sense of elegance.

“What a pity.

“On this journey I had originally planned to stop at Chahe Village first, eat two more bowls of noodles, then travel through Yan into the desert.

“Who could have known the village would be gone?

“So I thought I would come to Yan, kill you, then continue to the desert.

“Who could have known I’d lose a leg too?

“After I take Huahua and the others away, I’ll have to return to Qian and settle them somewhere.

“With one leg gone, riding is inconvenient.

“I probably won’t be able to go to the desert anymore.”

When Hero Chen mentioned losing his leg, there was no resentment in his voice whatsoever.

It sounded as though he were discussing some completely ordinary matter.

For the kindness of two bowls of noodles, he had come to Yan to avenge a village.

Then, for three girls he barely knew, he spared the Blind Man and Xue San even though they were directly responsible for forcing him to amputate his own leg.

Zheng Fan knew perfectly well that he himself could never go that far.

He also believed most people in this world could not.

“Which sect in Qian are you from?”

“I don’t belong to any sect.”

“Self-taught?”

“When I was young, I fell from a cliff and didn’t die.

“At the bottom of a ravine, I found a sword manual.

“I practiced it myself.”

“…”

Zheng Fan.

Zheng Fan suddenly had the feeling that he was currently sitting in the carriage of this world’s “protagonist.”

And this world’s protagonist wanted to kill him.

“Where is that sword manual now?”

“Why are you asking?

“You’re going to die anyway.”

“Curiosity.”

“I gave it away.”

“You… gave it away?”

“Years ago, many people came looking for the sword manual.

“They said that if I didn’t give it to them, they would kill me.

“It was only a sword manual.

“So I gave it to them.

“Later, they said it was merely a very ordinary sword manual.

“At first, many people didn’t believe it.

“They thought the one I gave them was fake.

“So they came looking for me again.

“They wanted to capture me and kill me.

“I had no choice.

“I killed them instead.

“Afterward, perhaps they realized there was nothing special about my sword techniques.

“So they believed me.”

“Or maybe you simply killed enough of them to scare them away.”

“That sword manual truly was ordinary.

“I once studied at the Sword Pavilion in Jin.

“I read many exquisite sword manuals there.

“Only then did I realize the manual I originally found really was an ordinary thing.”

So this was talent?

“What a pity.

“After entering Yan, I found that Yan people generally don’t like carrying swords.”

“I remember I already explained why.”

“But that explanation does not convince me.”

“An old man selling scallion pancakes will think scallion pancakes are the most delicious food in the world.”

“Mm.

“I understand.”

“In truth, swords really aren’t very suitable for killing.

“Except for Sword Cultivators like you.”

In the earliest, most chaotic eras, the distinction between swords and sabers had not been especially clear.

The two often overlapped.

Later, as forging technology improved, the saber gradually surpassed the sword in practical battlefield use.

In the present age, the sword served much more as a symbol.

That, and as the weapon of people like Hero Chen.

The two men sat together on the speeding carriage, speaking one sentence here and another there.

They sounded almost like friends who had known one another for years.

A long time passed.

“Willow Fort should be close now,” Hero Chen said.

“Oh.”

Zheng Fan answered casually.

“I changed my mind.”

“You won’t kill me?”

Then I can change my mind too.

“You still have to die.

“But after killing you, I can dig you a grave and erect a marker.”

“Heh.

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.

“You’re quite interesting.

“If I come to Yan again someday, I can use your gravestone to find you and talk to you again.”

“Great idea.”

……

The stars over Willow Fort shone brightly.

A’Ming and Liang Cheng sat atop the fortress wall playing Chinese chess.

The freezing wind howled around them, but neither cared.

After all, both could be considered “cold-blooded creatures.”

“Master still hasn’t returned.”

“Maybe he was so happy reuniting with Comrade Deep Sea after such a long separation that Comrade Deep Sea kept him there and they’re all sleeping under the same quilt.”

“You only dare gossip about Master behind his back.”

“I spent a whole month as a showerhead.

“Every time I drank water, it felt like I was taking a bath.

“Is talking behind his back really that excessive?”

“No.”

“Exactly.”

“But I’m still worried Master might run into trouble.”

“It’s fine.

“If something happens to Master, there are really only two possible outcomes.

“Either you and I keep playing chess and chatting, then suddenly look at each other and drop dead together.

“Or nothing happens at all.

“We go lie in our coffins, sleep for a night, and wake up to a brand-new day.”

“And then?”

“If you and I suddenly drop dead together, that’s not so bad.

“There probably wouldn’t be much suffering.

“If nothing happens, that proves Fan Li’s earlier suggestion was correct.

“And all of us would be… free.”

“Play.

“It’s your turn.”

“I’m done.

“I lost.”

“Heh.

“Playing chess with you is boring.”

“Then why don’t you play with the Blind Man?”

“Playing him is even more boring.”

“True.

“The Blind Man might be stronger at chess than AlphaGo.”

“Mm?

“Did you hear something?” Liang Cheng suddenly asked.

A’Ming tilted his head and listened.

Then shook it.

“No.”

“No.

“There is a sound.

“I’m certain.”

A’Ming listened carefully again.

Still nothing.

But then he lay flat on the ground and pressed one ear against the surface.

“Hey.

“There really does seem to be something.

“Underground.”

“Yes.

“Underground.”

“Could the foundations be shifting?”

“If it were the foundations, the movement wouldn’t be this faint.

“Besides, the Blind Man supervised the construction of this fortress personally.

“The quality should be fine.”

“Hard to say.

“Hard to say.

“Oh, right.

“I looked at the Blind Man’s plans.

“There’s a secret passage under this fortress.

“He deliberately had one dug.

“The other end connects to the willow grove opposite us.”

“For use during a siege?”

“A city is dead.

“People are alive.

“We don’t have enough integrity to die fighting for Great Yan just because a fortress is surrounded.”

“Actually, we chose a decent starting faction.

“If our spawn point had been in Qian, life would probably be much more suffocating.”

“Maybe.

“No.

“That noise is still there.

“Could rats have gotten into the tunnel?

“Or maybe some kind of deer?”

“Why don’t you go look?”

“No.”

A’Ming shook his head immediately.

“Why?” Liang Cheng asked.

“The room containing the secret-passage entrance was originally my room.

“Later, under the Blind Man’s arrangement, I swapped coffin rooms with Shatuo Queshi.”

At that point, A’Ming and Liang Cheng both froze.

They looked at each other.

Almost simultaneously, they said, “Don’t tell me Shatuo Queshi moved?”

……

“Which village?”

The carriage had stopped inside the willow grove.

Zheng Fan had asked for that.

“Don’t rush.

“Once we leave this grove, we’ll almost be at the village.”

“Are you waiting for soldiers from your fortress to come save you?”

Clearly, Hero Chen was not completely stupid.

“Did you see me send them any messages along the way?

“Besides, I’m injured this badly.

“How would I even send a message?”

“That blind servant of yours seemed able to communicate without speaking.

“And servants usually learn most of their abilities from their master.”

“You really think too highly of me.”

“Even if your troops receive a message, they won’t arrive in time to save you.

“I dared bring you back here because I’m not worried about accidents.

“At the slightest disturbance, I can cut you down with one sword.”

“I know.

“I know.

“Hero, the reason I asked you to stop here is because I want to fulfill one final wish before I die.

“I want to plant a willow branch here.”

“If you plant a willow branch in winter, will it survive?”

“Maybe.”

“Fine.

“Hurry.

“Don’t delay the time I need to dig your grave later.”

“Oh.

“Speaking of graves, could you dig it a little bigger?

“Make it spacious?”

“I’ll try.”

“Hero, do you know why the fortress I guard over there is called Willow Fort?”

“No.”

“Then let me tell you.”

“Fine.

“But your grave will be smaller.”

“That’s all right.

“Getting to say a few more words before dying still counts as profit.

“Legend has it that a hundred years ago, the first Marquis of Zhenbei planted a willow branch here.

“He hoped that by the time the willow grew into a tree, he would be watering his horse at the imperial palace in Shangjing.”

“Delusion.”

“Hah.

“I thought you didn’t care about things like that either.”

“I am from Qian.

“How could I not care?”

“But that won’t change anything.

“What could not be accomplished a century ago may very well be accomplished today, a century later.

“What a pity.

“What a pity.

“I won’t live to see it.

“To mount a warhorse and expand Great Yan’s territory—destroy the barbarians, pacify Qian, drive out the Royal Court, break Shangjing—that has been my dream since childhood.

“Hero Chen, you may kill one Zheng Fan today.

“But Great Yan has tens of thousands upon tens of thousands of Zheng Fans.

“You cannot kill us all.

“You can never exterminate us!”

Hero Chen looked at Zheng Fan.

A trace of admiration appeared in his eyes.

“Today, I want to plant a willow branch here.

“I believe that someday, when this branch grows into a tree, the Qian Emperor and his imperial consorts will be escorted past this place as captives and may rest beneath it.”

“Although I intend to kill you, I must admit that from the standpoint of Yan, you truly are worthy of respect.”

With that, Hero Chen held his sword and offered Zheng Fan a half-salute.

Zheng Fan rolled his eyes at him.

This kid was so ridiculously easy to fool.

No wonder somebody had somehow convinced him to come all this way to kill Zheng Fan.

So was lacking a few screws actually the prerequisite to becoming a master?

“Hero, break off a willow branch for me.”

Hero Chen heard this and climbed down from the carriage.

He reached out and snapped off a willow branch.

“Plant it there.

“In that low depression.”

Hero Chen nodded.

Although he had left the carriage, although Zheng Fan was now alone in it, that distance still meant nothing to him.

One sword was enough.

Even if a swarm of cavalrymen burst from Willow Fort right now, Hero Chen could still cut off Zheng Fan’s head and leave with ease.

Only people with real ability possessed this kind of confidence.

Hero Chen planted the branch into the soil.

Then he stood and dusted off his hands.

Zheng Fan leaned against the carriage and looked at him.

Very seriously, he said, “The people of Chahe Village really weren’t killed by me.

“I swear.”

Hero Chen’s expression immediately darkened.

“At a moment like this, you still want to quibble?”

“I’m not quibbling.”

“Tell me where Xiaohua and the others are.

“I can still dig you a grave.”

“Hero Chen.

“I’ll ask you one more time.

“Will you spare me?”

Hero Chen raised his sword.

“Are Xiaohua and the others already gone?”

Zheng Fan shouted, “If you spare me today, I guarantee you safe passage out of Yan!”

“Xiaohua and the others are already dead or sold, aren’t they?”

Zheng Fan shook his head.

“No.

“I didn’t sell them.

“I didn’t kill them either.

“I can guarantee that.”

Hero Chen released a breath.

“Good.

“Then hurry and take me to get them.

“I can dig you a spacious grave.

“You’ll be able to lie comfortably.

“I’ll make sure you’re satisfied.”

Zheng Fan smiled.

He gritted his teeth.

Then, using every last scrap of strength remaining in his severely wounded body, he shouted, “Hero Chen!

“Courtesy demands reciprocity!

“This is the pit I specially prepared for you.

“Please—accept it!”

From beneath the earth, a sudden roar erupted.

“ROAAAAAR!!!”

(End of Chapter)