The Tianshou King’s army, in the two days they stayed in Hua County, was not peaceful at all.
On the first night at the fourth watch, several tents mysteriously caught fire, and then “assassins” broke in, causing a huge commotion.
The incense master, protectors, and holy maiden of the Holy Lotus Sect searched through the night, putting on a fierce display, vowing to capture the assassins.
The camp was filled with alarm; at daybreak, banners covered with runes were hung everywhere.
When the Tianshou King’s soldiers asked why, the Holy Lotus Sect’s protector answered, “Evil spirits were at work.”
They claimed that some demon used sinister magic to turn into a mortal, intending to murder the reincarnated Ziwei Emperor and the many star officers and generals under him.
This was the tribulation faced by one bearing the mandate of heaven, and the faithful needed to guard the Ziwei Emperor with care.
That demon would not harm ordinary people. If someone got assassinated or suddenly died of disease, it had to be the demon’s doing and meant the victim’s destiny was extraordinary.
Mo Li: “……”
That explanation sounded impressive.
Though people ate grains and vegetables, and it was natural to fall ill, very few in this rebel army got sick from the unfamiliar climate.
It was not that the so-called holy maiden’s exorcisms worked; rather, these people had been poor, had lived through famine, and for some, they were the only survivors in their family. Then they followed the Holy Lotus Sect and the Tianshou King, wandering from place to place, half-starving from day to day, eating even roots and bark, nearly gnawing on clay.
They did not fear death or illness; they only feared hunger.
In the eyes of this rebel army, the people of Jiangnan and even Jingzhou barely counted as human. Instead, they were like walking granaries. If they hacked and burned them, a limitless supply of food went into their bellies.
As for cities, those were just larger granaries. Not only could they eat one meal, but they could live there and eat well for years or even decades, never having to worry about going hungry again.
This rebel army was still “hungry” to this day. That hunger did not come from the stomach but from within.
As long as they had not looted to their hearts’ content or killed at will, their thirst for slaughter was endless.
Facing famine and poverty, these people might have abandoned their relatives or even traded their own children to be butchered and cooked, all so they could live until now. The Holy Lotus Sect had clouded their minds; the Tianshou King had fueled their greed, making them brutal and frenzied like ravenous ghosts unleashed from hell.
Yet on such a long road, among so many people, someone was bound not to make it to the end.
The soldiers who fell ill or were directly killed by Su Li all became “extraordinary in destiny” and were hailed as heavenly warriors.
After the Holy Lotus Sect’s proclamations, some in the rebel army even envied those who died at Su Li’s hands. Why did they not have such good destinies? Usually, there was nothing special about those “heavenly warriors,” so how did they become so remarkable?
The Holy Lotus Sect’s protector held a golden drum and a magic conch, shouting to the crowd, “……That demon had a hideous face, resembled a furious ghost, and came and went like the wind.”
Hiding in the shadows, the swordsman instinctively touched his face, not understanding how he had been exposed.
He had covered himself so thoroughly; there was no way anyone could have seen his real face!
Su Li felt his heart sink, thinking that the Tianshou King might already know his identity. After all, there were not many assassins as skilled as he was in the entire martial world. He immediately abandoned his plan of spying on the Holy Lotus Sect’s higher-ups and turned around to find Mo Li.
Working with the swordsman separately, the physician Mo watched the rebel army’s generals, trying to see which might be the Tianshou King: “……”
The physician Mo felt that this rumor about a demon’s hideous face was just a coincidence.
Su Li did not think so, because the Fengxing Pavilion had indeed accepted a deal to assassinate the Tianshou King once upon a time. Many in the martial world knew about it, so the news had likely leaked. It was only natural for the number-one killer—the Fengxing Pavilion’s golden trademark—to fall under suspicion.
Mo Li thought about it and found some logic there.
“Since that’s the case, what did you plan to do?”
“……Physician Mo, who did you think looked like the Tianshou King?”
In all honesty, everyone had seemed to fit, yet each also had something that did not match.
Su Li had not even spared those who served as ‘dogheaded military advisors’ beside the rebel generals.
Because no matter how the Tianshou King had hidden himself, he could not have done without sources of information. If he had chosen to mingle with ordinary soldiers, he would not have been able to respond quickly to the changing military situation. In that case, would this still have been his army?
Mo Li did not understand military matters, so he could not sift through every clue to find his target, yet he still set his sights on Zheng Tu by instinct.
Zheng Tu was different from the others. He always seemed composed and calm, never once losing his cool.
Also, the orders he gave worked well. Half of the rebel generals believed in him, while the other half feared him.
Mo Li pointed him out to the swordsman.
“Oh, that was Elder Qingwu’s disciple. Because he defected to the Tianshou King, another person in Cangfeng Temple named Liu Changqing took over the title of Elder Qingwu’s primary disciple. Actually, this man’s martial arts… should have been very formidable.”
Su Li suddenly got stuck, and there was a rare hint of uncertainty in his tone. “Didn’t he also go look at those blade marks you left under the city walls?”
Mo Li slowly nodded.
He had indeed heard about Zheng Tu before, but he had simply not met him in person until now.
Because Elder Qingwu was an ambitious man, the disciples he took in were the same kind of people. Naturally, Mo Li believed this one was also an opportunist who had set his sights on the Tianshou King’s power, hoping to use the rebels’ unchecked violence to further Elder Qingwu’s absurd scheme of ‘severing dragon veins, cultivating spirit, and attaining immortality.’
Now that Elder Qingwu had failed and Cangfeng Temple had collapsed, Zheng Tu simply started to work on his own, which was only logical.
“Before Zheng Tu pledged allegiance to the Tianshou King, this rebel army had already existed, and it was no small force.” The swordsman had not suspected Zheng Tu before precisely for that reason.
Zheng Tu’s ‘seniority’ in the rebel ranks was not that old. He was indeed skilled, but in this kind of ‘raising the banner in revolt’ affair, most of the rebel leaders had been illiterate laborers, with only the leader himself as an exception. No matter how capable someone was, they would still be bossed around as a subordinate by them.
Unless the leader held that skilled person in high regard and constantly spoke on his behalf, unless that person then fought two or three brilliant battles, solved four or five shortages of grain and troops, best if he killed seven or eight corrupt officials, and then they all drank themselves into oblivion a dozen times, only then could that person be smoothly accepted as ‘one of them.’
Mo Li did not understand the workings within. He merely felt the rebel generals behaved oddly toward Zheng Tu.
“This General Zheng seemed to have something to rely on…”
“What do you mean?”
The swordsman grew even more confused. Could it be that Zheng Tu had something on them they could not afford to reveal?
That did not make sense—this was not the court or even the martial realm. They were rebels who killed and burned indiscriminately, so what leverage could he possibly have had?
Even if Zheng Tu’s martial arts were excellent, would those people understand that?
For all they knew, Zheng Tu was just a river pirate in their eyes.
“How about we burn their grain stores?” Su Li suggested.
“…They would just go out and loot,” Mo Li replied.
Mo Li had read in historical records that, let alone a rebel army like the Tianshou King’s or barbarians from beyond the passes, in times of chaos, any army lacking rations and unconcerned with morality could do anything. Grave-robbing for gold was commonplace. Forcibly seizing grain and plundering the people was common. The most horrifying was the consumption of human flesh.
Influenced by Meng Qi, Mo Li had naturally considered the issue of rations long ago, but that plan obviously only worked on armies with some sort of limit.
Otherwise, no matter how tightly the rebels guarded their provisions, they could not have stopped him and Su Li.
Once the rebels turned to raiding the towns around Hua County instead, the city of Nanping Prefecture would indeed get a moment of relief, and the Tianshou King’s army would further splinter and lose momentum. But would that mean those common folks should just die for it?
If the rebels suffered casualties in front of Nanping Prefecture City, or if they failed to break through the city walls within three days, those who had looted and ‘profited’ from sacking the smaller counties would certainly waver, becoming fearful and reluctant to fight. This tough battle would become much easier, probably benefiting the bigger situation, but did it mean that the people near Hua County should be sacrificed for it?
Mo Li gave up on the thought.
—Who was he to make such a choice? For the sake of saving one city, or even all of Jiangnan, could he decide who died more meaningfully?
“Double fists could not overcome four hands, once an army of fifty thousand split up to attack the various villages and towns, even if the two of us had three heads and six arms, we could not stop them.”
There were no high mountains or great rivers near Hua County, so any plan to topple cliffs or flood seven armies would not have worked.
“Zheng Tu was the most suspicious one. Do not act yet. Let us wait and see,” Mo Li said in a low voice.
The physician Mo vaguely felt that he had grasped a pattern, only there was still a layer of veil he could not lift. Perhaps he lacked some key point.
At that time, he did not know that what he missed, and what the whole world missed, was the crucial point that the Tianshou King who first raised the army had already died.
He had died quietly and without explanation.
Because the Holy Lotus Sect and Zheng Tu both decided that they did not “need” that arrogant Tianshou King, they came up with the notion that the Ziwei Emperor had descended to earth, encouraged the Tianshou King to grant titles to his subordinates, letting them indulge in pleasure, drunk day after day, ultimately rendering them powerless.
Anyone who lost their use or was foolish enough to babble blindly all went “back to the Celestial Court” to serve the Jade Emperor.
***
Wood popped and crackled in the fire.
On the second night of the Tianshou King’s army’s stay in Hua County, the notion of demons wreaking havoc still caused some of the soldiers to panic.
The Holy Lotus Sect immediately ordered bonfires to be lit, holding a massive ceremony to worship the heavens.
At every bonfire, seven or eight people dressed as the Holy Lotus Sect’s followers danced about, chanting ceaselessly.
Some knelt and crawled forward on their knees, first raising both hands to the sky, recounting their misery and poverty to the night sky—how they were oppressed by the authorities, forced to pawn their wives and sell their children, and watched their parents starve. After each lament, the holy maiden or incense master presiding over the fire ceremony repeated in a booming voice, “The Ziwei Emperor has descended.”
Everyone then repeated this over and over, their eyes gradually reddening, caught up in fervor.
Lord Luo sat high on the stage, the firelight revealing only his figure, with a bizarre mask painted with a white lotus upon his face.
At first glance, it looked like a common Bodhisattva or Arhat statue in a temple, yet the expression was not solemn; the corners of the mouth curled slightly, as if smiling.
The mask was painted in gold and color, done with exquisite detail, but under the firelight, it made people feel a chill.
“No.”
The swordsman suddenly spoke. “The army is about to march out. Hua County is the best chance. Once they return to the open camp outside the city walls, whether for hiding or assassination, it all becomes several times harder. It does not matter who the Tianshou King really is. The Holy Lotus Sect is the scourge, so we kill a Lord Luo first—there’s no mistake.”
As soon as he finished, before Mo Li could react, he sprang forward toward the high platform.
Lord Luo lifted his head slightly, and the corners of his mouth curled under the mask.
The fish finally took the bait.
Author’s note:
Su Li: As a killer, I could not return empty-handed. If I could not kill the boss, killing someone else valuable would also do.
Lord Luo: The fish took the bait.
Mo Li: It was just my teammate acting too hastily, and that did not represent all of us fish.
