Chapter 562: - Swordsmith

“Coo... coo... coo...”

A bird called softly in the sky.

On the ground, however, a young man dressed entirely in black was puffing his cheeks in and out in the same rhythm.

Great Chu had Twelve Grand Shamans. They were not all spirit-mediums who danced themselves into trances. Their disciplines had split into many different branches, all of which traced their origins back to the same root: wu, shamanism.

The young man’s name was Sun De. He had originally been an adopted son of the Gongsun Clan. Later, he entered the tutelage of Yang Baishou, one of the Twelve Grand Shamans, and became his personal disciple. Yang Baishou had spent his entire life obsessed with the study of beast-taming.

One secret whispered within Great Chu’s imperial palace said that the “beast” carried by the Regent of Chu was actually a “spirit,” and that it had only been successfully subdued with Yang Baishou’s assistance.

After the late emperor died, the imperial princes rebelled. The Gongsun Clan, which had controlled the Beast-Taming Directorate for generations, followed the First Prince in rising up inside Ying Capital. The Imperial Clan Guards of Chu exterminated them directly. Only one woman of the Gongsun Clan escaped. Later, in the mountains, she happened to encounter Count Pingye while he was fleeing back to Yan with the Princess, and he brought her along with him.

Sun De’s original name had been Gongsun De.

After the Gongsun Clan was destroyed, he changed his surname and became Sun De. Because of Yang Baishou, he escaped implication in the rebellion. When the Regent rebuilt the Beast-Taming Directorate, Sun De was even appointed acting head.

Sun De had originally accompanied the imperial entourage. Yesterday, however, he had left Juyang City after sensing a demonic aura and pursued it.

Unfortunately, the creature had been too fast. He failed to capture it.

When he returned, he discovered one Yan camp after another standing outside Juyang City.

Shocked, Sun De used a falcon he had raised himself to investigate the situation. He had already established contact with the city once and confirmed that the Regent remained safe.

This was exactly what Gou Moli had meant when he said their troop strength was too small to cover everything.

Their cavalry numbers were limited as well, so their scouting screen could not spread very far. Otherwise Sun De would never have had the chance to investigate them in this fashion.

Within the Prince of Jingnan’s great army, there were actually no shortage of strange talents. Cats had the paths of cats, rats had the paths of rats. Whatever trick one side produced, the other side could usually find someone capable of answering it.

But Count Pingye’s force had embarked upon a strategic gamble.

Everything had been rushed.

Its composition could only be incomplete, never comprehensive.

Fortunately, Count Pingye had more than the Sword Saint at his side.

He also had several Demon Kings.

In a battlefield charge, Fan Li could still encounter danger.

The Blind Man could only evade.

A’Ming could, at best, take a few extra arrows.

Even the Sword Saint, faced with an ocean of troops, could merely hold out somewhat longer.

But away from army formations, experience, knowledge, and methods mattered differently.

Even though their strength remained heavily restricted because of Master, they could already accomplish a great many things.

Compared with Count Pingye’s caution, the Demon Kings were the ones who were truly insane.

Especially when they were bored.

Sun De continued echoing the falcon overhead.

The next moment, A’Ming appeared behind him.

But just then, a venomous snake suddenly shot out from the earth and bit directly into A’Ming’s calf.

With his back toward A’Ming, Sun De smiled.

A’Ming smiled too.

Sun De froze.

Then his entire body sprang forward.

But A’Ming’s nails still struck his back.

Thud!

After landing, Sun De felt a chill spread across his back.

Blood streamed down it.

A’Ming lowered his gaze in mild surprise and looked at the nails of his left hand.

They had bent slightly.

This man actually shared one of Master’s habits.

He wore soft armor beneath his clothes.

Because the soft armor had blocked the blow, A’Ming’s nails had failed to achieve their full effect.

Yet compared with A’Ming’s surprise, Sun De was the one who had truly been shocked.

He had personally raised that snake from birth for one purpose alone: that explosive discharge of venom in a single bite.

No one knew better than he did just how terrifying its poison was.

Sun De had detected A’Ming long ago.

He had sensed A’Ming approaching as well.

After all, the falcon had remained in the sky, looking down upon everything below.

And A’Ming had also long since realized that Sun De knew he was there and knew he was approaching.

In a one-on-one fight, there were actually very few variables.

A’Ming bent down, seized the snake, and lifted it before his eyes.

After emptying all its venom, the snake had already become weak and dying.

Even if no one touched it, death was all that awaited it.

A’Ming casually tossed the snake aside.

Then he used one nail to cut open his own palm.

He turned his palm downward.

Black blood flowed out.

A snake’s venom entered the body, merged with the blood, and spread through the circulation.

A’Ming’s ability was to control blood.

He was not Liang Cheng.

He could not make himself immune to all poisons.

But this venom could not injure him at the root.

Black blood dripped for a while, then stopped.

A’Ming drew back his hand.

The wound in his palm had already scabbed over.

He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his palm.

As he wiped, he smiled at Sun De ahead of him.

Sun De lowered his body.

A short blade appeared in his hand.

A short weapon.

Close combat?

A’Ming shook his head, tucked the handkerchief back into the breast pocket of his clothes, and deliberately left half of it showing.

He had originally intended to fold it more neatly, but Sun De had already lunged.

The short blade came fast.

The attack was brutally direct.

A’Ming did not retreat.

He advanced.

His entire body slammed straight into Sun De.

Bang!

Their bodies collided.

Sun De’s short blade stabbed directly into A’Ming’s chest.

Crack!

The blade entered flesh.

A’Ming shifted slightly sideways and trapped the weapon between his ribs.

Sun De’s eyes filled with shock.

Since beginning cultivation, this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre opponent.

A’Ming’s nails extended.

From the front, they stabbed into Sun De’s chest.

You stab me once.

I will not die.

I stab you once.

You probably will.

There were tens of thousands of techniques beneath Heaven, but the strongest technique had only one name: the right one.

Use the most suitable method.

Preserve yourself as much as possible.

Then kill your opponent.

A vampire’s way of fighting was exactly this simple, dull, and tedious.

Especially to someone fighting a vampire for the first time, because all the combat experience he had accumulated before was suddenly overturned.

Pshk!

Ten long nails stabbed into Sun De’s chest.

But the sensation felt strange.

The soft armor should already have been broken.

Yet the slickness beneath it did not feel like blood spilling out.

It felt more like some soft mass squirming inside.

Rip...

The cloth over Sun De’s chest split apart.

A black, octopus-like soft-bodied creature covered in tentacles was clinging to his chest.

It had blocked A’Ming’s attack for him.

Without it, Sun De would already have been disemboweled.

“Oh?”

A’Ming made a faint sound.

Not fear.

Not alarm.

More like someone who had discovered a novel new toy and found it interesting.

The creature’s tentacles stabbed into Sun De’s body.

No blood flowed.

At the same time, the creature began growing hot.

Sun De’s body reddened with it.

Sun De clenched his other hand into a fist and punched A’Ming directly.

Bang!

Before absolute strength, many things became pale and meaningless.

A’Ming was hurled away by the punch.

Very far away.

Because he had made no attempt to block it.

That allowed him to shed the force more effectively.

When he landed, A’Ming lay facing upward.

Then he got up and very naturally stood again.

The short blade remained trapped in the left side of his chest.

From the right came the grinding sound of broken ribs.

A’Ming even deliberately swayed his body slightly.

Partly to check exactly which places were badly damaged and which parts could still be used.

Partly because he thought the sound was rather pleasant.

“What the hell are you? What are you!”

Sun De nearly roared the question.

For a very long time, that was normally a question other people asked him.

This was the first time he had asked it of someone else.

A’Ming did not answer.

He was still calculating which parts of his body remained usable, and what movements and speed he could still employ when they exchanged blows again.

At the same time, A’Ming had also seen through something.

The sticky tentacled creature’s effect on Sun De probably had a time limit.

He could wait.

Wait until Sun De’s period of heightened excitement passed.

But Sun De very quickly came to his senses.

And once he did, he did not charge at A’Ming.

He turned and ran.

A’Ming looked faintly surprised.

By ordinary reasoning, the other man’s strength was greater than his.

Of course, fights were not decided simply by comparing cultivation grades, just as wars between states were not decided by counting soldiers and declaring the larger army the winner without fighting.

Perhaps A’Ming had simply given the man too much pressure.

Enough that, even while knowing he held an advantage, Sun De still did not dare remain entangled with him.

A’Ming began running.

He gave chase.

There was a high chance he would not catch the man.

But he still had to try.

Otherwise, going back empty-handed after deliberately controlling his steps and arranging such a handsome retreating silhouette when he left camp would be far too embarrassing.

Yet after chasing for a while, A’Ming stopped.

Not because he could no longer continue.

He had seen a short figure shoot diagonally across the road ahead.

That dwarf who had claimed he was going to sneak into Juyang City that night had not gone to Juyang City at all.

He had followed them here to steal the kill.

If one had to describe that dwarf’s conduct in three words, it would probably be: kill-stealing dog.

So A’Ming stopped chasing.

He remained where he was.

If he did not continue after the man ahead, Sun De would probably relax his vigilance somewhat.

That would conveniently create an opening for the dwarf.

But A’Ming still shouted:

“Bring the blood back.”

The kill?

You can steal it.

But his blood?

Leave that for me.

True, that man’s blood might contain poison.

And considering all the things hanging off his body, it might be somewhat disgusting.

But A’Ming already treated blood like wine.

And didn’t some medicinal wines contain snakes and all kinds of other bizarre things?

Same idea.

Try something fresh.

Afterward, A’Ming used his hands to feel his ribs, adjusted their positions slightly, and began walking back.

...

By then, Count Pingye had already awakened.

One afternoon nap had lasted until the moon was bright and the stars were sparse.

“You’ll reverse day and night like this,” the Sword Saint said.

“Who knows? Once we start shifting positions, reversing day and night may become normal.”

Fourth Lady came over carrying the evening meal.

It was roasted flour.

When circumstances did not allow refinement, Count Pingye could still endure hardship.

Roasted flour with hot water filled the stomach.

“Master, someone came out of the city during the first half of the night. They descended from the wall in a hanging basket and delivered a box of preserved fruit on the Regent’s orders.”

“Oh? My elder brother-in-law is pretty interesting.”

“Regret it?” the Sword Saint asked.

“There has to be some order of arrival, doesn’t there?”

Count Pingye looked toward Fourth Lady and pointed at the roasted flour in his palm.

“Send some roasted flour to my elder brother-in-law too. Oh, remember to tell them that this was made from Jing City’s grain.”

“This subordinate understands.”

Fourth Lady immediately arranged for someone to deliver it.

“Today should remain fairly peaceful. Tomorrow will probably be about the same. The day after tomorrow at the latest, we’ll have organized Chu formations to deal with.”

“It takes three days for Chu reinforcements to arrive?” the Sword Saint asked doubtfully.

This was the capital region.

Great Chu was not the old State of Jin.

The Yu imperial clan’s actual sphere of influence had eventually shrunk to that tiny piece of capital land, itself only what remained after the Three Families divided the country.

Yan’s capital region was Tiancheng Commandery.

Chu’s capital region was also an entire commandery.

The old Jin capital region, by contrast, had eventually been reduced to the imperial city and a handful of surrounding villages.

“If the Chu aren’t stupid, they won’t feed troops into us piece by piece. We have more than ten thousand fighting men here, after all. Besides, the Chu may not know we have no warhorses. Based on how they estimate the fighting ability of Yan’s Zhenbei and Jingnan elites, they can certainly dispatch small groups of reinforcements very quickly. But those small groups would be easy for us to swallow through point-siege and reinforcement ambushes. If we break them one force at a time, the people of the capital region may suddenly believe the main Yan army truly has broken through. The entire situation would collapse in an instant. So if the Chu have someone competent and sufficiently important organizing the response, and if they confirm Juyang City is not in immediate danger of falling, they will first gather their forces. Only after making sure they possess enough strength will they encircle us. Yes. Encircle us. Not merely try to defeat us. As for us, we break out on the third day, just as the Chu encirclement is beginning to open around us.”

“Sounds a little like fleeing with your tail between your legs.”

“It’s about preserving our strength. So long as this force of ours is not completely annihilated, we can keep drawing away enormous amounts of Chu attention. Besides, the true battlefield was never here.”

Count Pingye sent the last of the roasted flour in his hand into his mouth, then licked the residue from his palm.

After that, he picked up a twig beside him and drew a circle on the ground.

“Once Zhennan Pass falls, by ordinary reasoning Shanggu Commandery is basically already inside our Yan army’s pocket. Because the Wei River lies there, if the Great Yan court does not want to continue expanding the war, it may very well stop after achieving that objective. But a century ago, after the first Marquis of Zhenbei defeated Qian Emperor Taizong’s northern expedition, Yan faced too much pressure from the Barbarians in the desert. The State of Yan did not have the strength to split off forces toward Yinlang Commandery, so it could not continue south and attack Qian. Even so, the first Marquis of Zhenbei did not merely plant a willow branch at Cuiliu Fort. In truth, he personally led troops across Qian’s Three Frontiers and looted enormous amounts of population, wealth, and grain before returning home. So by the same logic, if Zhennan Pass is in our hands, then Shanggu Commandery is ours. Even if Great Yan does not want to expand the scale of the war and wants to end things early after achieving its strategic objective, that is fine. Great Yan’s iron cavalry can still drive straight in, cross the Wei River, enter the heartland, and kill their way all the way here into Chu’s capital region. Coming to rescue us would not be a problem at all. The only issue is that they could fight their way here but could not hold this place. At that point, to avoid being pinned here by the Chu and to avoid the pressure of an impossible supply line, the army would certainly withdraw again.”

The Sword Saint understood.

He nodded.

“I think Tian Wujing would definitely come save you.”

Count Pingye laughed.

“Of course.”

“But if Tian Wujing learns that you knew the Chu emperor was inside that city, refused to attack, and instead sat here bragging with me, he’ll probably slap you to death.”

“...” Zheng Fan.

“Heh.”

The Sword Saint laughed.

Just then, Longyuan Sword, resting beside the Sword Saint, suddenly gave a faint trembling hum.

The sound was weak.

But at this distance, it was perfectly clear.

“An assassin?”

Count Pingye immediately grew alert.

The Sword Saint shook his head.

“Longyuan usually reacts like this when it encounters someone it likes.”

For example, that child in the Count’s Residence at Snow Sea Pass.

Even the Sword Maid, a natural sword embryo, had never made Longyuan this excited.

“Him?”

Count Pingye thought of one person.

This was Chu, and more specifically Chu’s capital region.

That man had forged this sword.

“He is here,” the Sword Saint said. “He is using Longyuan to tell me he has arrived and wants me to meet him.”

“Where?”

“To the southeast, I think. If I remember correctly, there was a grove there when we came. He should be waiting for me inside.”

“You’re going?”

“I should. Whether by affection or by reason, I ought to go see him.”

“It’s your business. You decide.”

The Sword Saint nodded.

He picked up Longyuan, stood, and walked three steps toward the southeast.

Then he stopped.

With his back toward Zheng Fan, the Sword Saint said:

“I can walk very slowly.”

Count Pingye smiled.

He nodded.

“Someone! Pass this Count’s military order to Fan Li. Have him lead three hundred armored soldiers and search that grove to the southeast.”

“Yes!”

Count Pingye stood and brushed off his trousers.

The Sword Saint turned his head and looked at Zheng Fan.

“Is what I’m doing inappropriate?”

The Sword Saint of the past would never have done this.

But the Sword Saint of today understood that only after this war ended could the soldiers and people of Snow Sea Pass continue living good lives.

And in the future, under the governance of the man before him, more people across eastern Jin would live better lives.

He had once hoped to use his sword to support a state in the Jin lands.

That was why he had agreed to lend Situ Lei his sword and helped kill the old head of the Situ Clan.

Yet in the end, the Situ Clan had failed to hold Snow Sea Pass.

Half the Jin lands had drowned in blood and misery.

This time, the Sword Saint would no longer trust others.

He would trust only what his own eyes could see.

A sword flying through the sky was merely beautiful to watch.

Only a sword held in a man’s hand possessed true sharpness.

Yu Huaping was an arrogant man.

But arrogance had nothing to do with pedantry.

And even less to do with stupidity.

Count Pingye shook his head.

He did not answer immediately.

Instead, he looked toward another personal guard beside him.

“Pass this Count’s military order. Gou Moli is to take over the camp defenses and remain alert for a breakout from Juyang City. Jin Shuke is to draw two battalions of troops and follow behind Fan Li, encircling that grove.”

“Yes!”

Only after issuing the second order did Count Pingye look toward the Sword Saint again.

“Let’s make a bet.”

“On what?”

“I bet there isn’t only a Chu Swordsmith in that grove. Very likely there is also a small but extremely elite group of Chu cavalry. Only a small cavalry force could have slipped past our outer scouting net and arrived this quickly. Only a force like that would possess the confidence to issue this kind of greeting. If nothing unexpected happens, they intended to exploit the situation in the grove, defeat one portion of our army, tear open a gap, then use the night to charge out, create chaos in our camp, and coordinate with the Chu troops inside the city. You’re on the first level. He is actually on the second.”

The Sword Saint frowned slightly.

“You’re on the third?”

Count Pingye sighed.

He lowered his head, as though genuinely looking down.

“Hey, can you hear me?”

“What?”

“The echo.”

[End of Chapter 562]