Chapter 114: Shatuo Queshi and Hero Chen

The Blind Man had put a great deal of thought into Willow Fort’s design.

In truth, defensive strength had never been his highest priority. He had never imagined there would come a day when they would stubbornly defend this place while waiting for reinforcements. Qian was unlikely to take the initiative and attack them in the first place, and even if an enemy army truly came someday, if the opposing force was too strong, they could simply take their men and belongings and run.

But when it came to certain details, the Blind Man had invested a great deal of effort.

That included this secret passage.

He had reported it to Zheng Fan before and had even personally taken Zheng Fan through it once.

The room above the passage had originally belonged to A’Ming.

But when Zheng Fan went into Qian, the Blind Man had A’Ming and Shatuo Queshi swap rooms.

That was how Zheng Fan had later walked into the wrong room after returning and accidentally poured out his “heartfelt thoughts” to A’Ming.

The Blind Man had later explained his reasoning.

First, Shatuo Queshi’s coffin could suppress and guard this extremely important secret-passage entrance.

Second, it would also make it easier for Shatuo Queshi to get out.

Perhaps Shatuo Queshi’s earlier entrance—like “Sister Lin falling from heaven”—had left an especially deep impression on the Blind Man back in Meijiawu while he was performing Yue opera together with Xue San.

According to the Blind Man, if there ever came a day when they genuinely had to place their hopes on Shatuo Queshi, then whether or not Shatuo Queshi would awaken was one question.

Assume the best.

Assume he woke.

Assume he was willing to help Zheng Fan, which meant helping all of them.

Then at the very least, you had to make it easy for the man to get out.

Generally speaking, once someone became a zombie, the brain tended to become somewhat sluggish.

It would be ridiculous if Shatuo Queshi woke up wanting to come out and save someone, only to have to smash through the wall first.

So Shatuo Queshi’s room not only had the secret passage below.

Above, there was also a large ventilation shaft connected directly to Willow Fort’s kitchen chimney.

That way, if Shatuo Queshi ever truly woke, whether he wanted to go up or down, he could get out quickly.

No need to demolish the house first.

And Zheng Fan’s purpose in luring Hero Chen here was simple.

He wanted to use a taller mountain to crush the mountain that had already nearly broken himself, the Blind Man, and Xue San.

As for whether Shatuo Queshi would actually “wake,” whether he would choose to save Zheng Fan, or even whether he could sense what was happening here at all—

Zheng Fan did not know.

Shatuo Queshi was not his godfather, after all.

The man was already dead.

He had already become a zombie.

Whether he would still act like before—helping Zheng Fan smash Xu Wenzu’s carriage for the sake of a few meals, or cooperating with Zheng Fan to “save” the Sixth Prince as part of an act—nobody knew.

But this truly was the only option Zheng Fan had left.

Hero Chen was simple-minded.

He was not mentally disabled.

Zheng Fan was certain that if he tried to trick the man into going to Nanwang City, Hero Chen would cut him down without another word.

Even when Zheng Fan had Hero Chen plant the willow branch directly over the secret-passage exit, he still had no idea whether Shatuo Queshi was actually below.

When Zheng Fan shouted, “…please accept it,” he had already mentally prepared himself for the possibility that his attempt to act impressive would fail and he would simply be cut down.

But the instant his words ended, a roar came from beneath the ground.

Zheng Fan knew then.

He had won the gamble.

Warmth immediately surged through his heart.

Even if you counted relationships between husbands and wives, parents and children how many people in this world would willingly protect you even after death?

Unfortunately, Zheng Fan’s emotion did not last long.

Hero Chen’s sword came.

Hero Chen’s sword was fast.

Extremely fast.

He had told Zheng Fan earlier that no matter what trick Zheng Fan tried, he could cut Zheng Fan’s head off in an instant.

He had every right to say such a thing.

He possessed the ability.

Yet just as Hero Chen’s sword was about to pierce Zheng Fan beneath his feet, a terrifying mass of baleful aura erupted.

Hero Chen’s sword could indeed kill Zheng Fan.

But if he abandoned all defense to do it, then in the next instant, the being below would tear him apart.

It was not cowardice.

A man who could remain calm after losing a leg did not understand cowardice.

Hero Chen simply believed he could not die yet.

He still clung to the hope that Xiaohua and the others were waiting for him to save them.

So Hero Chen withdrew his sword.

And retreated.

Only after retreating more than ten zhang did he stop.

Then he saw that where he had been standing beside the carriage moments ago, a deep pit had appeared.

Beside that pit stood a middle-aged man wearing a beast-hide robe.

The man was enormous.

Broad and towering.

Most striking were his eyes.

Only pure black flowed within them.

Dense baleful aura rolled around his entire body.

Leaning weakly against the carriage, having just escaped death by a hair, Zheng Fan stared at Shatuo Queshi’s back before him.

His heart was filled with complicated emotions.

If he could choose, how much he wished Shatuo Queshi were still that slovenly man from before.

The man who appeared more punctually than a dog every mealtime, waiting for food to be served.

But some things could never return.

Zheng Fan understood that.

After becoming a zombie, Shatuo Queshi could no longer strictly be considered the same Shatuo Queshi from before.

He was more like a beast that retained fragments of his former thoughts and awareness.

It was not completely impossible for Shatuo Queshi to become a zombie capable of independent thought and inheriting all of his former memories.

But the difficulty was enormous.

The sole hope lay in Liang Cheng eventually recovering his full strength and, as a progenitor of zombies, altering Shatuo Queshi’s zombie fate.

But that was far, far too distant a possibility.

Hero Chen held his sword horizontally in front of himself.

He said, “You deceived me.”

For some reason, hearing those words genuinely made Zheng Fan feel a little ashamed.

Honest men good men really did make people feel guilty.

But Zheng Fan had truly had no choice.

If he did not deceive Hero Chen, if he did not lure him here, then Zheng Fan, the Blind Man, and Xue San would all die beneath that sword.

“You can go.

“I don’t want to kill you.”

Zheng Fan spoke.

Ever since awakening in this world, Zheng Fan had been growing darker.

He had killed people.

He had incited the soldiers of Tiger Head City to wipe out entire households.

He had led troops into Qian territory.

But at this moment, Zheng Fan wanted to soften his heart once.

It was not because he lacked confidence in Shatuo Queshi.

He simply hoped this swordsman might survive and leave.

“I won’t go.”

Hero Chen remained stubborn.

Zheng Fan sighed.

“Fine.

“I’ll dig you a very spacious grave.

“I’ll erect a marker for you too.

“On this day next year, I’ll bring wine and come talk to you.”

These were the exact funerary promises Hero Chen had made Zheng Fan earlier.

Now Zheng Fan returned them unchanged.

“Heh.

“Fine.”

Hero Chen moved.

He raised his sword toward Shatuo Queshi.

Earlier, Zheng Fan had been the one getting beaten.

Truthfully, he had spent so much effort simply surviving that he had not possessed the spare attention to appreciate Hero Chen’s swordsmanship.

Now he finally saw it clearly.

Sword flowers coiled around Hero Chen’s blade.

Streams of light seemed to spill outward.

That was terrifying sword aura.

Enough to shred several suits of fine armor apart in an instant.

Shatuo Queshi did not retreat.

Instead he stepped forward.

“Boom!”

His foot struck the ground.

The earth throughout the willow grove trembled.

Violent baleful aura began condensing in front of Shatuo Queshi.

Even light itself seemed to be dragged inward and distorted as it passed through that space.

Hero Chen’s sword qi surged.

Sword auras danced like silver serpents.

Yet despite their terrifying momentum, every stream of sword aura disappeared inside the vortex of baleful energy before Shatuo Queshi.

Shatuo Queshi raised one hand.

His fingers closed into a fist.

Zheng Fan had seen Shatuo Queshi knocking at the gates of the Marquis of Zhenbei’s estate.

He had also seen Shatuo Queshi charging through thousands of elite Zhenbei cavalrymen.

Even back then, Shatuo Queshi’s fighting style had been simple and brutal.

Now that he had become a zombie his methods were even more direct.

The ground beneath his feet seemed to boil.

When Shatuo Queshi raised his fist and began charging, even the wind around him seemed to retreat and make way.

This was a fist faster than a sword!

Hero Chen, who had previously been pressing the attack, began retreating instinctively.

His life and principles did not permit him to retreat in matters of conviction.

That did not mean he had to charge mindlessly forward during a fight.

As he withdrew, Hero Chen’s sword instantly laid down thirteen layers of sword-aura defense before him.

That alone showed how seriously he regarded this terrifying being who had suddenly appeared.

Yet the charging Shatuo Queshi did not even use his fist to break through those defenses.

Instead, he thrust out his chest.

Raised his head.

And with utterly tyrannical arrogance used his own body to smash open a road!

“Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Layer after layer of sword aura slammed into Shatuo Queshi.

Feng Siniang was a perfectionist.

She had not merely woven Golden-Thread Soft Hedgehog Armor for Zheng Fan.

She had made one for every other Demon King as well.

She had even woven a protective layer into Shatuo Queshi’s beast-hide robe.

But in this instant, the robe covering Shatuo Queshi’s upper body was torn completely apart.

His bare torso endured repeated impacts from the sword aura.

It sounded like metal violently grinding against metal.

Harsh shrieks of friction tore through the air.

White marks and cracks appeared one after another across Shatuo Queshi’s chest.

Yet he continued forward without hesitation.

Martial Artists and zombies shared one common trait.

Their bodies were their true foundation.

On the battlefield, what commanders feared most was not some powerful magician, qi refiner, or similar cultivator.

It was a Martial Artist.

Other kinds of powerful cultivators could certainly be terrifying.

But in large-scale war, they were still fragile.

Sometimes, a stray arrow was enough to kill a powerful magician.

Martial Artists were different.

High-grade Martial Artists unless you used someone of the same level to trade with them, you had to mobilize soldiers and horses to wear them down.

A genuine high-grade Martial Artist with the body as his foundation was simply too difficult to kill.

Of Hero Chen’s thirteen layers of defense, Shatuo Queshi smashed through nine in an instant using nothing but his body.

And because Hero Chen’s left leg was now only a scabbard prosthesis, his movement and footwork were badly constrained.

As his defenses shattered one layer after another, he failed to widen the distance between himself and Shatuo Queshi.

Instead—

Shatuo Queshi only closed in faster.

At last, the fist Shatuo Queshi had been holding raised for so long came down.

Three of the remaining four defensive layers collapsed like paper.

Only the final layer remained.

And even that one teetered on the verge of breaking.

This was the awkward weakness of the Sword Cultivator.

The path of the sword was universally acknowledged as fierce and sharp.

Their bodies were certainly far stronger than those of magicians and qi refiners.

Yet compared with genuine Martial Artists they still appeared fragile.

When Shatuo Queshi’s fist descended, his presence sealed every direction around them.

Hero Chen’s path of retreat had been completely cut off.

He had no choice.

It was like two vehicles colliding head-on.

If you turned the wheel at the last moment, you would only die worse.

You could do nothing except grit your teeth and crash straight into the other side.

Hero Chen had no road left.

As a swordsman, he had never expected that in their first clash, the first exchange the opponent would use overwhelming force without the slightest attempt at probing and drag him immediately into a decisive battle.

Hero Chen thrust his sword forward.

The tip aimed directly at Shatuo Queshi’s fist.

All the blood qi in Hero Chen’s body poured into the sword.

The blade trembled and gave a sharp cry.

Every sword possessed a soul from the moment it was forged.

Perhaps not every one could become a peerless divine weapon like Gan Jiang or Mo Ye.

But in the hands of a true swordsman, sword and master often reached a unity of conviction.

A pale phoenix seemed to appear around the blade.

It spread its wings.

Then screamed forward.

“BOOM!”

Sword tip and fist collided.

“Crack…”

Cracks began appearing across Shatuo Queshi’s fist.

Even the body Liang Cheng and Feng Siniang had repaired together began loosening.

Yet after giving one mournful cry, Hero Chen’s sword—

“Bang!” shattered outright!

Why had the sword always been inferior to the saber in practical warfare?

Because it was too brittle.

Too easy to break.

And in this moment, it broke again.

Even though the man holding it was a powerful swordsman.

The instant the blade shattered, Hero Chen spat out a mouthful of blood.

His entire body trembled.

Then, like a kite with its string severed, he flew backward.

Blood seeped from every pore of his body.

Before he even struck the ground, his clothes had already been dyed red with his own blood.

Shatuo Queshi was certainly nowhere near his peak.

The sacrifices of the Barbarian Royal Court’s High Priest and other priests had called him back.

Liang Cheng, a zombie progenitor, had repaired his body.

But Shatuo Queshi still could not compare with how he had been when alive.

Hero Chen, however, had only just crippled his left leg.

He was already gravely wounded.

And from the opening instant, Shatuo Queshi had forcibly dragged him into a direct, head-on contest.

There was really nothing strange about Hero Chen ending up in such a miserable state.

Perhaps the only thing Zheng Fan had not expected was that the fight would end so quickly.

There had been no battle lasting hundreds of exchanges.

No furious rampage like Shatuo Queshi’s old charge through thousands of cavalrymen.

Only one exchange.

You attack once.

I attack once.

And the result was decided.

“Hyah!”

From outside the willow grove came the thunder of hooves.

The people inside Willow Fort had sensed the disturbance and were rushing over.

The commotion caused when Shatuo Queshi emerged had naturally carried far.

There was no possibility the fortress would fail to notice it.

The barbarian soldiers poured into the grove.

At their head were Feng Siniang, Liang Cheng, A’Ming, and Fan Li.

The instant they saw Zheng Fan leaning against the carriage, they spurred their horses straight toward him.

Shatuo Queshi continued walking forward.

Hero Chen lay on the ground, unable to move.

The victor had been decided.

Now came the victor’s harvest.

Zheng Fan hesitated.

Then shouted, “Stop!”

Shatuo Queshi stopped.

Feng Siniang leaped from her horse onto the carriage and immediately checked Zheng Fan’s injuries.

“Master, how did you get yourself hurt like this again?”

The surrounding barbarian soldiers closed in as well.

Some of them appeared to recognize Shatuo Queshi.

When they saw their Left Guli King standing here, a disturbance immediately swept through the ranks.

Some men even seemed ready to dismount and kneel.

“There is only one Master here!

“Even your Left Guli King obeys Master’s commands!”

Liang Cheng immediately shouted in the barbarian tongue.

The barbarian soldiers swiftly controlled themselves.

Their reaction was understandable.

Shatuo Queshi’s existence had never been revealed to them.

All the way from north to south, Shatuo Queshi had remained sealed inside his coffin.

“Who’s that?”

A’Ming looked curiously at the blood-soaked figure lying on the ground.

His tongue unconsciously slid across his lips.

That blood smelled incredibly fresh.

“Kill him!”

Feng Siniang immediately shouted.

The surrounding barbarian soldiers prepared to charge over and cut off Hero Chen’s head.

“Stand down.”

Zheng Fan spoke.

His voice was very weak.

So Feng Siniang immediately repeated the order loudly.

“Master orders you to stand down!”

The barbarian soldiers retreated at once.

“Carry me over.”

Feng Siniang heard him and immediately lowered both hands.

“Different position.”

Zheng Fan had no interest in being princess-carried by Feng Siniang in front of all his subordinates.

A’Ming beside him immediately reached out and supported Zheng Fan against his own body as they climbed down from the carriage.

This looked much better.

“Take me over.”

Under Zheng Fan’s instruction, A’Ming supported him past Shatuo Queshi and toward Hero Chen, who lay nearby like a man made entirely of blood.

“Tsk, tsk. What a sword fanatic. That prosthetic leg really is distinctive.”

A’Ming could not resist making a comment.

“I… didn’t massacre Chahe Village.”

Zheng Fan spoke.

Hero Chen painfully raised his head.

He looked at Zheng Fan standing behind Shatuo Queshi.

His mouth opened.

Bloody teeth appeared.

“You… come closer… say it to me…”

A’Ming did not move.

Zheng Fan gave no order to move closer either.

Hero Chen smiled.

With great difficulty, he said, “Come closer…

“I won’t… won’t kill you…”

A’Ming was just about to laugh.

Then he suddenly heard Zheng Fan say, “Take me closer.”

A’Ming stared at his Master in astonishment.

Had he gone insane?

“Take me… closer.

“That is an order.”

A’Ming hesitated.

Then gritted his teeth and supported Zheng Fan past Shatuo Queshi.

They stopped directly in front of Hero Chen.

Everyone present held their breath.

Especially A’Ming and the others.

They genuinely did not understand why Zheng Fan would take this kind of risk.

They knew exactly what sort of person Zheng Fan was.

If he could retreat, he retreated.

He was not someone obsessed with saving face.

Looking down at Hero Chen, Zheng Fan said with absolute seriousness, “The people of Chahe Village really were not killed by me.

“You definitely got the wrong man.”

The smile vanished from Hero Chen’s face.

He said, “You… deceived me earlier…”

Suddenly a blood-red sword formed in Hero Chen’s palm.

An appalling killing intent erupted from it!

A’Ming instantly dragged Zheng Fan behind him and placed himself in front.

Terror appeared in Zheng Fan’s eyes as well.

Fuck!

This idiot learned to be devious!

Endless regret instantly filled Zheng Fan’s chest.

This might genuinely have been the first time in his life that Zheng Fan had been this “willful.”

He had wanted to act heroic for once.

Show a little courage.

Display some personal charisma.

Instead he had once again failed to act impressive and was about to get screwed for it!

Naturally, Zheng Fan had no time to think about exactly who Hero Chen had learned this trick from.

Nor what kind of “beating from life” the man had just endured in order to grow this much.

The air seemed to freeze.

Shatuo Queshi moved.

Feng Siniang, Liang Cheng, and Fan Li moved as well.

Even the surrounding barbarian cavalrymen raised their bows.

But because of the distance they were too late.

They could not make it.

There was no time.

Yet in the next instant, the blood sword that had just condensed in Hero Chen’s palm simply dispersed.

The danger vanished.

The killing intent disappeared.

Hero Chen’s head fell back to the ground.

With almost no strength left, he said, “You know how to deceive people…

“But I…

“Hero Chen… have kept my word all my life.”

(End of Chapter)