Book 7 Chapter 10: Street Assassination

Book 7 Chapter 10 - Street Assassination

Kou Zhong brashly, but with elegance, helped Yun Yuzhen climbed to her mount, and then he himself also flew up onto the horseback. Side by side they galloped together out of the General Mansion's main gate.

"Beautiful Shifu," he said with a laugh, "You look more and more beautiful!"

Yun Yuzhen lightly squeezed the horse's belly; glowering at him, she said, "Since when did you pick up this bad habit of speaking in flowery language?"

Kou Zhong laughed involuntarily. He shook his head and sighed, while looking at the busy street ahead, full of carriages and pedestrians. "This is called 'it is easier to change mountains and rivers than to alter one's character'," he said indifferently, "Fortunately, the disciple's small fault in the eye of Beautiful Shifu might just be disciple's strong point. Although on the surface Shifu looks sad, in reality you are delighted inwardly. Otherwise, your stern glance would not be so sweet and charming, so captivating."

"Pfft," Yun Yuzhen could not help laughing. "I don't have this kind of inferior disciple who's an expert in 'infatuated with self' skill," she said crossly, "Henceforth you are expelled from my school, never to be readmitted."

Kou Zhong turned his head around toward Xu Ziling and cried out, "Xiao Ling! We are being expelled from Beautiful Shifu's school! Henceforth we can do whatever we please."

Xu Ziling laughed and said, "Don't bother me! I am enjoying the scenery of the city."

Seeing Xu Ziling was unwilling to respond, Kou Zhong turned his attention to Yun Yuzhen and lowered his voice, "I can do whatever I please; Yun Bangzhu, are you scared?"

Yun Yuzhen boldly met his gaze. Giving him a coquettish glance, she said, "If I am scared, I won't personally come with you to Jiujiang. In my eyes, you and Xiao Ling are big kids who will never grow up."

Kou Zhong pretended to be surprised; he said, "Beautiful Shifu forgot that I have kissed you, I have also taken the liberty of running my hands and feet all over you."

Yun Yuzhen's pretty face immediately blushed. In great anger, but in a mosquito-like voice she said hatefully, "Are you forgetting that this is a big street? There are people all around us; shame on you for saying such a scoundrelly words."

Seeing her embarrassment, Kou Zhong cheerfully said, "Enough provoking each other! Which man can incite such an intense reaction from Beautiful Shifu?"

While Yun Yuzhen was unable to ward off, the two of them reached the street with two-story buildings on both sides. Kou Zhong also felt the alarm went off in his heart.

The changes happened so suddenly.

One of the big, finely carved windows facing the street on the covered porch on the second floor of the building, which bottom was approximately two zhang from the ground, suddenly exploded into millions of wood fragments, each one was infused with powerful qi, shooting toward the caravan passing through the street below.

Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong, who were already on guard, were the first to react.

In the instant before Yang Xuyan made his move, Xu Ziling has already ascertained that this most terrifying assassin's target this time was not them; rather, it was Xiang Yushan.

This was no doubt a carefully planned mission, not an operation that was executed at the spur of the moment, because they arrived at Baling just the previous night. Unless Yang Xuyan was some kind of an immortal, how could he know that they were going to pass by here and pay him a visit?

Xiang Yushan was an important figure within the Baling Bang. Just like Shen Luoyan of the Wagang Army, his main responsibility was intelligence.

Ever since its founding, Baling Bang has always been engaged in brothel business; the pleasure houses under its banner covered the whole nation, therefore, their news network was very fast and abundant, it could even be said that no other entity could surpass it. The reason Xiang Yushan was promoted to be a general was precisely because he was responsible for this critical task.

If he were assassinated, Baling Bang's striking power would suffer a very heavy blow.

Xu Ziling did not dare to be negligence; while pulling the 'Severing Jade' dagger from inside his trouser leg, he shot up to meet Yang Xuyan midair. Like a thunderbolt Yang Xuyan's sword flashed down amidst the rain of flying wood fragments, his target was Xiang Yushan.

As the alarm went off in his heart, Kou Zhong looked up and saw a blinding light. In that instant, based on previous experience, he knew that he was looking at Xu Ziling's body, but his eyelids were subjected to the pressure from the sword's qi, so that he was unable to see anything.

Were it not for he knew this deceitful trick, by this time any other person would definitely be thrown into panic. But Kou Zhong was cool-headed, like the moon in the well water. 'Whoosh!' The whip in his hand lashed out to the air, carrying with it a sharp whistling noise, ferociously whipping toward the source of the sword qi.

Xiang Yushan, Yun Yuzhen, and all the personal attendants were thrown into confusion. First of all, they were shot by the wood fragments, so that several attendants, who were comparatively weaker, had the qi protecting their body shattered so that they suffered a crushing defeat.

Those with outstanding power like Xiang Yushan and Yun Yuzhen, because their mounts were also being attacked that their legs buckled, they were thrown down in such a sorry state, so they could forget about launching a counterattack.

'Ding!'

Xu Ziling's 'Jade Severing' dagger parried the tip of Yang Xuyan's ten-thousand jun [1 jun ~ 30 catties] lightning bolt sword strike.

Yang Xuyan's sword immediately generated a stream of strange sucking force, so that not only Xu Ziling was complete unable to use his strength, the 'Jade Severing' dagger was nearly knocked off of his hand.

Apparently this world famous assassin had never expected anybody to be able to block his sure-kill sword strike. By the time he was about to follow-up with another killer strike, the tip of Kou Zhong's whip has already arrived on his back.

Even with his skill level, Yang Xuyan was helpless to continue his attack toward Xu Ziling, while dealing with Kou Zhong's killer move at the same time. Sighing inwardly, he suddenly soared into the air.

'Swish! Swish! Swish!'

Just before he soared into the air, Xu Ziling suddenly launched three dagger strikes. Yang Xuyan met these three strikes head-on, while at the same time borrowing the reaction force to propel himself toward the broken window on the second floor.

Meanwhile Kou Zhong also pursued behind him, the long whip in his hand shot toward Yang Xuyan's feet trying to coil it around his ankles. To Kou Zhong's surprise however, with some unknown technique, Yang Xuyan suddenly threw his outer robe down; it descended upon Kou Zhong like a cloud.

While Xu Ziling was being forced to fall back to the ground, and Kou Zhong was shifting to the side to evade the enemy's strange tactic, Yang Xuyan disappeared into the hole.

From the time the fight began until now, what everybody saw was Yang Xuyan's ghost-like shadow; nobody was able to see his appearance.

It was only now did Xiang Yushan finally pulled his sword and shouted his order, "After him!" But he himself knew that relying on his astonishing qinggong, Yang Xuyan had already gone that not even his shadow could be found.

Xiao Xian, wearing the yellow royal robe, personally led his personal attendants to go out the door to receive them and lead them to the main hall. Finished listening to the thrilling narration of assassination attempt toward Xiang Yushan, he sighed and said, "Yushan's good fortune is indeed flooding the heavens. If the two Xiao Xongdi were not by your side today, inevitably there would be more chance of misfortunes, less chance of good. It can clearly be seen that my Great Liang Dynasty bears the Heaven's blessing, and no human power can alter it."

This Emperor of the Great Liang's physique was thick and solid; he looked formidable. His height nearly surpassed Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, his age looked to be around thirty-five or thirty-six. Whether he was really enjoying the Heaven's blessing or not, his entire being seemed to glow, his vigor seemed to illuminate other people. It was obvious that his qigong cultivation has reached first-class master's level. Sooner or later he would be able to compete against Du Fuwei and the others in the struggle over the world.

An eternal smile seemed to freeze on his face. Perhaps this was due to the upturned corners of his mouth that made him looked friendly and cheerful. But if one was looking deep into his eyes, one would find some kind of calm and collected composure, as cold as ice and frost, which would make others feel the chill in the air.

This man was definitely not a simple, ambitious and ruthless character of the underworld.

Yun Yuzhen, who was walking behind him, was puzzled, "In the past, when Emperor Yang was still alive, it could be said that Yang Xuyan's operation was under that muddleheaded ruler's order; but nowadays, who is he working for?"

"Most likely Wang Shichong," Xiang Yushan replied, "I heard that Wang Shichong's daughter is an outstanding beauty [orig. national grace, divine fragrance], a beauty whom Yang Xuyan admires."

Meanwhile the procession had reached the main hall. As soon as they stepped in, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were stunned.

They were expecting civil and military officers to line-up on either side, with imperial bodyguards standing around to protect them; who would have thought that not even half a guard was even seen in the main hall. The strange thing was that Xiao Xian took them straight passed the main hall, and into a small hall in the back, where two sets of rosewood table and chairs were arranged in a simple, yet elegant, royal atmosphere.

Even more surprising to the two boys was that Xiao Xian halted his steps, sighed, and said, "This dragon robe and crown is really annoying; so uncomfortable to wear."

And then two attendants served him in taking off his hat and robe, revealing the scholar attire underneath, immediately giving Xiao Xian some kind of refined, scholarly look.

Noticing the two boys stared at him, dumbstruck, Xiao Xian burst into laughter and said, "I proclaimed myself Emperor because I was forced by the situation. If you don't declare yourself Emperor, others would think that you lack ambitions; not only would they not be willing to attach themselves to you, they would not be afraid of you either. Therefore, in front of outsiders, I always put an act as the Emperor. But since Kou Xiao Xiong and Xu Xiao Xiong are one of our own, there is no need to do more than is required."

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged glances; they both were able to see the fear in each other's heart. Xiao Xian was indeed not a simple man, his technique in winning others over was brilliant yet subtle; his amiable character attracted others' favorable impression.

Xiao Xian smiled leisurely and said, "Come! Sit down first so we can continue chatting!"

Following his lead, Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Yun Yuzhen and Xiang Yushan sat themselves around the table.

Chapter 10 - Part 2

Xiao Xian was sitting with his back toward the window overlooking the big garden outside resplendent in bright sunlight. He shook his head and sighed, "It is indeed a pity, Yushan told me that two Xiao Xiong have no intention of joining our army. But everybody has his own ambition; naturally I, Xiao Xian, respect the two Xiao Xiong's decision. Much less two Xiao Xiong and I have made friendships, for which I am very grateful."

Kou Zhong slapped the table and sighed, "No wonder under Er Dangjia's [see Book 4 Chapter 9] leadership, Baling Bang's prestige far surpasses the former glory. Now that I have met Er Dangjia, I suddenly know the reason why."

Xiao Xian chuckled and said, "Kou Xiao Xiong really know how to flatter people. Back to the topic at hand, why do the two Xiao Xiong have so much confidence that you will be able to assassinate Ren Shaoming?"

After a short pause, he continued thoughtfully, "His meteor hammer ranks among the fantastic skill amazing arts, his mastery has reached perfection, suitable for both long-range attack and close combat. In all his life, other than crushing defeat from the 'Heavenly Saber' Song Que that he was chased out of the Lingnan area [old term for south Shina, esp. Guangdong and Guangxi], he had never met his match."

Kou Zhong revealed a smile full of strong confidence; he said indifferently, "If one does not take a bit of risk, how could he accomplish great things?"

Hearing his heroic, passionate and swelling-with-pride speech, and watching his somewhat hard-to-describe charming smile, Yun Yuzhen's graceful eyes shot a perplexed expression.

Kou Zhong seemed to sense this; he cast her a glance filled with meaningful smile. This beautiful Gang Leader suddenly felt her cheeks were burning. Angry and bashful at the same time, she hung her head low; her demeanor was graceful, charming, and alluring.

Xu Ziling, who was watching her, was touched as well. His perception on her was slightly improved.

Xiao Xian, on the other hand, acted as if he did not see anything. His gaze landed on Xu Ziling's face and he asked warmly, "Xu Xiao Xiong seems to be a man who values his words like gold."

Full of confidence, Xu Ziling shrugged his shoulder leisurely and said, "Xiao Dangjia misunderstood, I just do not know what to say!"

Xiao Xian roared in laughter. "Well said! I like it best when I make friends with true-natured people. Two gentlemen are both passionate men, men with character, which can be clearly seen from your sister-brother relationship with Madame Susu. Currently, whether the two of you can successfully assassinate Ren Shaoming it is still too early to say, but if it is too dangerous, Kou Xiao Xiong and Xu Xiao Xiong must tolerate him for the time being, let us temporarily drop this subject."

Inwardly Kou Zhong praised Xiao Xian for being formidable. He nodded and said, "Er Dangjia's sincere advice, we, two brothers will engrave it in our hearts."

Xiao Xian said, "This time you are going with Yushan, you may utilize all manpower and physical resources to your aid. Other than being wary of Ren Shaoming, you ought to also keep an eye on Lin Shihong. Not only this man has superior martial art skill, he is crafty, vicious and ruthless. Plus the martial art masters under his command is as numerous as a cloud. One in particular is Cui Juexiu, whom he appointed Guoshi [master/teacher of the state ], a man well versed in letters and military skill, whose knowledge and scheming skill surpassed others. You must be especially mindful of him."

Xu Ziling asked in surprised, "It is really not necessary for General Xiang to risk this danger alongside us."

"I am the only one who is clear about Jiujiang's situation," Xiang Yushan interjected, "I can make the most suitable arrangement. If it were some other people, it would be difficult for them to take on this task."

"If you can advance, then advance; if you must retreat, then retreat," Xiao Xian decisively said, "Without Yushan accompanying you, how could I feel at ease? Two Xiao Xiong must not refuse."

Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong looked at each other with a wry smile; they both thought that if any mishaps should happen to Xiang Yushan, how could they explain it to Susu?

At dusk that day, a Jukun Bang's medium sized fast ship departed Baling, going downstream to the east.

Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong were standing at the stern, looking at the splashing, rippling water on the ship's wake. The sad scene of Susu bidding them farewell sorrowfully was still playing in their heads, making them nearly wanted to turn back to comfort her, to tell her that they would be by her side forever.

They felt that the heavy burden of Xiang Yushan's safety has now rested on their shoulders.

Kou Zhong sighed and said, "I did not expect Xiao Xian to be such a formidable character; he did not mention even a single word about the 'Duke Yang Treasure'. Apparently he adheres to his position previously stated in his letter [again, see Book 4 Chapter 9]."

"This man is very difficult to fathom," Xu Ziling said, "He is somewhat enigmatic. I am sure he is a first-class master in both martial arts and tactics. Compared to the Ol' Die he is a lot slicker."

Kou Zhong giggled and said, "If there is a master, there must be subordinates. Now I know where that Xiang kid stole his skill from."

Xu Ziling silently stared at the as-beautiful-as-a-painting distant clouds and mountains, which were dyed red by the twilight sun, for half a day, before he said in a low voice, "Why do we dislike Xiang Yushan this much? Is it because some kind of prejudice? Or perhaps of jealousy, because he took Su Jie away from us?"

Kou Zhong was slightly taken aback. He pondered over it for quite a long time before finally saying, "Perhaps the first impression is very important. In the first place, he is a businessman who operates brothel and casino; very few of these men are upright gentlemen. Secondly, he abused his power to sell us to that gaudy woman Ren Meimei of Pengliang Hui, so in our hearts we always see him as someone we should not rely on. Ay! Right now we can only hope that his feeling toward Su Jie is sincere, and not just exploiting her to scheme us."

And then he laughed and said, "How about not discussing this kind of things that will give you headache and make you upset? Very soon we will have the opportunity to leave the ranks of 'green [or young] head', one lifetime two brothers, I will let you have the first chance. Have some yiqi!"

Xu Ziling stared blankly for a moment, after half a day he finally understood what Kou Zhong meant; frowning, he said, "You should know the answer. I would rather you go to a pleasure house girl than doing it with Yun Yuzhen."

Kou Zhong smiled and said, "One big difference between Beautiful Shifu and a pleasure house girl is that she has the freedom to select her opponent from the forest. Besides, women as beautiful as her are extremely rare in the pleasure house. Xiao Ling, you really have no reason to fight against it."

Xu Ziling replied indifferently, "There is another big difference: you deal with the pleasure house girl using money, while you deal with Yun Yuzhen using emotion. I want to see who will pay higher cost in the end. If you want to exploit her to take control of Jukun Bang, my heart will be very uncomfortable."

Kou Zhong was silent for half a day. Finally he said in low voice, "Supposing I really like her?"

Xu Ziling sneered and said, "If you really like her, you would not compare her to pleasure house girls."

Kou Zhong said with a wry smile, "Power struggle over the world is something where you cannot yield even for one cun. If I follow your example of always emphasizing principles in everything, my hands and feet are tied. And if I had to contend for supremacy against Li Mi, Wang Shichong, those vicious and merciless, treacherous and cunning foxes, there won't be much difference to delivering my life to die."

Xu Ziling reached out and placed his hand on Kou Zhong's shoulder; he smiled and said, "On this, I understand completely, hence I advised you not to mingle in this turbid pond water. But since you already established great aspiration, I can't possibly stop you from within, so that your hands and feet are bound. But since you asked for my opinion, it is only natural that I won't speak anything against my convictions just to make you happy."

River breeze blew, their clothes created rustling noise.

Kou Zhong stared blankly at the river flow; he muttered, "Sometimes I really don't know what I am doing. So much so that I wanted to abandon everything and just hanging around with you everywhere, passing the free and unconstrained days. But if I did that, I would miss countless exciting things. Furthermore, I really want to spend a bit of my heart and strength for this chaotic world, so that all the people can have days of peace and happiness. Did you forget that we have witnessed firsthand the dreadful catastrophe brought by the fire of war?"

Xu Ziling said, "This is called 'everybody has his own aspiration'. But if you really want to bring happiness to all the people, you can choose virtuous deeds; add to it your zeal, and you can still reach your cherished desire."

Kou Zhong scoffed at him and said, "With that muddleheaded ruler Emperor Yang as an example, I will not trust anybody lightly, especially those people from respected school and big clans, those who practically look down on us, people who came from marketplace. Ay! It's late! We should go to bed and have a good night rest."

Xu Ziling sighed inwardly, thinking that that would be the last time he persuaded Kou Zhong to give up his ambition of vying over the world. Henceforth he would not mention this subject nor persuade him anymore.

Back to his room, Kou Zhong's mood was extremely downcast; he knew in his heart that due to different goals, the difference of opinion between him and his brother was growing wider.

Problem is neither side was willing to change.

He paced back and forth in the narrow, limited space of his cabin. Very soon he entered the state of 'nothingness, forgetting self', in his mental cultivation.

His and Xu Ziling's style of cultivating internal energy were the exact opposite of each other. One moving, the other still. Perhaps it was precisely the difference between him and Xu Ziling. One was seeking excitement, the other was seeking peace and quiet. In the end it turned into Kou Zhong was striving toward hegemony of the world, while Xu Ziling only wished to retreat to some remote mountains.

'Knock! Knock!'

A knock on his door roused Kou Zhong up from deep within his internal cultivation. Pulling the door open, he saw Yun Yuzhen, smiling coyly, standing quietly outside the door.

If this happened before he has had a talk with Xu Ziling, with Yun Yuzhen delivering herself to his door, it would be no time before Kou Zhong would welcome her with open arms. But now not even half a desire between a man and a woman remained in his heart. He simply spoke indifferently, "Not sleeping yet?"

Yun Yuzhen replied softly, "I have just had a talk with Yushan. May I come in to chat with you?"

Neither for nor against it, Kou Zhong simply let her in.

After she was seated, Yun Yuzhen said, "Latest news: Lin Shihong at present remains in Poyang. The day after tomorrow Ren Shaoming may return to Jiuyang first ahead of him, because he has such a crush on the most popular 'auntie' of the Chun Zai Lou [lit. spring in the second floor], Huo Qi."

His spirit greatly aroused, Kou Zhong asked, "Does Chun Zai Lou belong to Baling Bang?"

"How can there be such an ideal situation?" Yun Yuzhen replied, "The first day Poyang Army's main force entered the city, Baling Bang's four casinos and two pleasure houses big and small were razed to the ground. And now Baling Bang people in there have to make their living sneakily; if their identity is discovered, they would immediately lose their lives."

Frowning, Kou Zhong asked, "How are we going to enter the city then?"

"That's easy," Yun Yuzhen replied, "Because we have Tieqi Hui's main force at Panyu under control, and Du Fuwei's Jianghuai Army is forcing Lin Shihong to deploy his troops to Xin'an County south of Liyang, Jiujiang's military force is not strong, the city defense is lax. Moreover, due to Lin Shihong's tyrannical rule and he condones powerful disciples of Tieqi Hui raping local women, he does not enjoy local support, to such an extent that the discipline of the newly recruited people's militia to guard the city degenerates substantially. No one willingly throws their lives in for Lin Shihong. Among those people, we even managed to bribe some of the military officers."

After pondering for half a day, Kou Zhong said, "In that case we must seize the opportunity before Lin Shihong arrives to assassinate Ren Shaoming. Do you know if there are any martial art masters by his side?"

Yun Yuzhen said, "Ren Shaoming is very conceited over his own martial art prowess. He always like to travel light with just a small escort of only four, five attendants. But these people are all first-class martial art masters. And if either one of the Evil Monk Fa Nan or Amorous Nun Chang Zhen is by his side, the risk of our mission will increase many times over."

Kou Zhong asked, "Who are these two, actually? How come they are so formidable?"

Yun Yuzhen replied, "These two are Ren Shaoming's ministers who have given outstanding service during the establishment of the Tieqi Hui. It is rumored that either Ren Shaoming has some Tiele [see footnote, Book 5 Chapter 3] blood in him, or that Tiele King sent him with covert identity to come to the Central Plains to stir up havoc, because he is extremely cruel to us, Han people. The Evil Monk Fa Nan used to be big bandit of Jiangnan; he killed and burned, raped and looted, and would not stop at anything. Afterwards because he incited the wrath of the people, he finally seek refuge under Ren Shaoming's wings, while continuing his evil deeds and going on the rampage. Until now, nobody is able to do anything to him."

Kou Zhong was puzzled, "Isn't he a man who has left his family [to become Buddhist monk or Daoist priest]?"

Yun Yuzhen simply shrugged her shoulders, "Nobody's clear about that, nor do any schools or sects acknowledge him as their disciple. All that we know is he loved to wear crimson kasaya [Buddhist robe], plus he shaved his head clean, and he keeps calling himself pinseng [lit. impoverished monk; humble term used by Buddhist monk to call himself]; hence he is known as the Evil Monk."

With great interest Kou Zhong continued asking, "And how about the Amorous Nun? Is she really beautiful and alluring like a flower, but poisonous like a viper or scorpion?"

Yun Yuzhen gave him a vicious look. "You, men, are really incorrigible; as soon as speaking about beautiful women you give out a malicious, lustful look."

By this time Kou Zhong had already forgotten about his unpleasant talk with Xu Ziling a moment ago; giggling, he said, "With Beautiful Shifu here, how could I have spare time to think about other women?"

Yun Yuzhen cast him a sweet and charming glance before continuing, "The Amorous Nun is the Evil Monk's woman. But oftentimes she also fools around with other men, leaving everything in a tremendous mess [orig. foul black smoke atmosphere], yet Fa Nan seemed to be 'see no evil, hear no evil' [orig. not to hear, not to question]. We suspect that Chang Zhen belongs to the world's most mysterious, most sinister sect, the Yingui Pai.[see Book 5 Chapter 12], even Fa Nan is of the same origin; but we have no way of confirming it!"

Kou Zhong was greatly surprised.

Yun Yuzhen went on, "This pair of wicked monk and nun is Tieqi Hui's protector of the law, just like Ren Shaoming's right and left arm. In the past, were it not for them risking their lives to protect Ren Shaoming, it was quite probable that he would lose his life under the 'Heavenly Saber' Song Que's hands."

Kou Zhong said heavily, "In that case let's just get rid of them once and for all!"

Yun Yuzhen snapped at him, "Evil Monk and Amorous Nun are practically public enemy number one, but up until now they are still alive and well; do you think it was merely due to their good fortune?"

Kou Zhong stretched; his entire body rose up as he said, "It's late! We'd better sleep!"

Yun Yuzhen also stood up; she said, "Sleeping early is also good; once we get to Jiujiang, it will be difficult to find such an easy time like this."

With pomp Kou Zhong swaggered toward the door, pulled the latch, stretched out his finger and lightly flicked it, the oil lamp immediately went off and instantly the room sank into darkness.

Yun Yuzhen jumped in fright. "What are you doing?" she whispered.

Kou Zhong suddenly moved behind her. His long arms snaked out from behind and embraced her. His pair of hands gently stroked her lower abdomen, while he bit her small ear and said, "Shifu, please give me pointers!"

Embraced by him like that, Yun Yuzhen's tender body weakened. In her daze, he wrapped his arm over her waist and brought her over to the bed. She could not even utter half a word of protest.