Ocher Face

Exiting the Sima Gate, they left Taicheng behind.

However, the mission had yet to be settled.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat astride his horse, seemingly lost in thought as he gazed at the broken walls and shattered tiles before him.

A familiar line of black text appeared before his eyes.

[Leave Taicheng before November 1st]

Why?

A flicker of doubt arose in Zhu Yuanzhang's heart.

A low growl, heavy with fury, reached his ears.

"These Xianbei slaves!"

He looked at the men and women tied in two rows before the Xuanyang Gate, their expressions numb.

Fu Qi, disguised as a slave trader and attempting to slip through the Xuanyang Gate to rendezvous with the reinforcements of Xiao Lun, cursed under his breath from atop his horse.

At this moment, as fires ignited at the four gates of Jiankang City.

Most of the Xianbei soldiers originally stationed here had already been conscripted and moved elsewhere.

Only a few Zahu soldiers, dressed in Kuzhe Garments and wearing Tuji Hats, remained at the gate, inspecting those passing through.

It was different from what one might imagine.

Long influenced by Central Plains culture, the Xianbei were actually more inclined toward plundering wealth and capturing people to sell as slaves.

Without a specific reason, they would not kill at will.

In contrast, those who took pleasure in killing were the Zahu, such as the Qiang, Dingling, and Jie.

The Xianbei possessed a stable, clear, and healthy core; the five tribes of Xianbei that had long entrenched themselves in Liaodong had achieved a considerable degree of Sinicization even before moving south.

The Zahu, meanwhile, was a collective term used by both the Xianbei and the civilization of the Central Plains for the various nomadic peoples constantly migrating from Central and Western Asia.

Their internal composition was chaotic, lacking stable or defined territory, bloodlines, or culture.

They possessed no strong sense of national identity.

They were armed gangs wandering between the steppe tribes and the cities of the Han, surviving by theft, robbery, burglary, and fraud.

They lacked organized skills or structure, and even more so, any sense of law or morality.

They existed long-term in the dark zones outside of civilization.

Simply put, they were humanoid beasts governed by their own desires.

The three of them were, without question, intercepted.

Two Zahu soldiers walked over, reaching out to grab the reins of Zhu Yuanzhang's horse firmly.

They then extended their hands, signaling for Zhu Yuanzhang to provide them with some money.

Zhu Yuanzhang feigned ignorance of their gestures.

He sat blankly on his horse, motionless, as if he had been frightened out of his wits.

On the other side, Fu Qi took out the money bag he had prepared in advance, along with a transit token purchased from the Xianbei, and handed them to the Zahu soldiers who had surrounded his horse to prevent him from leaving.

The Zahu soldiers licked their lips, took the token and the silver, and began haggling with Fu Qi in a language Zhu Yuanzhang could not understand.

After a moment, with a grim expression, Fu Qi took two more silver ingots from his robes and signaled that he had no more money left, which finally caused the Zahu soldiers to stop their pestering.

Among the Zahu, the one who appeared to be their leader gave a wink.

He signaled the others to keep a close watch on Zhu Yuanzhang and his companions.

Then, he climbed the gate tower, and with a fawning expression, presented the majority of the treasure and Fu Qi's token to the Xianbei officer stationed at the Xuanyang Gate, requesting that the gate be opened.

However...

Clack!

Bright red blood showered down from above.

Looking at the corpse of the Zahu leader on the city wall, who had been decapitated by a single strike, and the cold, icy gaze of the Xianbei officer as he slowly sheathed his blade.

Fu Qi realized in an instant.

"Damn it!"

In a flash, from the darkness beyond the reach of the bonfires.

More than a dozen Xianbei cavalrymen, both men and horses clad in heavy armor, charged toward them.

It was already too late to turn their horses around.

He saw the Xianbei officer on the wall kick away the head of the Zahu leader, draw his bow, and nock an arrow, aiming directly at the Prince of Yuzhang, who was being pulled by the Zahu soldiers and was on the verge of falling from his horse!

No!

The Xianbei token was a fake!

Those cunning northern barbarians!

They had intentionally released fake tokens just to capture the court ministers and Xiao Liang nobility fleeing from Taicheng!

Looking at everything around him, Fu Qi understood in an instant.

His face turned deathly pale!

There was no other explanation!

Otherwise, there was no way to explain why the Xianbei reacted so quickly!

However, Zhu Yuanzhang's reaction was faster than the Xianbei.

Facing the two Zahu soldiers who, following the Xianbei officer's shout, tried to seize his arms and drag him off his horse.

The next moment, a thick, putrid stench—like a whale carcass rotting on the shore for days—wafted from Zhu Yuanzhang's body.

In the terrified gaze of the Zahu soldiers.

A pair of bone claws covered in scales instantly sheared off the two men's arms, then gripped the tops of their heads.

Squelch!

The two heads exploded in Zhu Yuanzhang's hands like overripe watermelons smashed against the ground.

They had been crushed to pieces!

Zhu Yuanzhang caught with one hand the arrow the Xianbei officer on the ramparts had fired at the Prince of Yuzhang.

The immense force made his body tilt slightly backward, and he shouted to the Prince of Yuzhang.

"Follow me!"

He then vaulted off his horse, letting the waist-sabers of the Zahu soldiers surrounding Xiao Dong strike his body, sparking a shower of flames.

A few black scales fell away.

They took with them withered, dead skin, rotting flesh, and a small amount of brownish pus.

Zhu Yuanzhang threw a backhand punch, his fists piercing through the center of a Zahu's chest; his scaled palms burst through the shoulder blades, clutching a still-beating heart.

Splatter!

Blood sprayed everywhere!

The remaining Zahu soldiers let out a few terrified cries at the sight.

Realizing their attacks were ineffective, they shouted in a language Zhu Yuanzhang could not understand and scattered in all directions.

On horseback, Xiao Dong watched Zhu Yuanzhang's display of might, his hands involuntarily tightening around the reins, his eyes filled with a hint of envy.

But he dared not hesitate, spurring his horse to follow closely behind Zhu Yuanzhang as they charged toward Xuanyang Gate.

In the darkness, the sound of heavy hooves approached.

The very earth seemed to tremble.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked up.

On both sides, a total of ten Xianbei knights were galloping toward them in a "three-two," "three-two" formation.

Both men and horses were draped in heavy armor woven from iron rings and chains.

They made a clattering sound of metal colliding.

"Dingguang Demon-Subduing."

Flames danced upon Zhu Yuanzhang's knuckles.

They transformed into fire arrows, shooting straight toward the Xianbei knights.

But the Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire, which had always been invincible against the strangeness of Hualin Garden, grew smaller and smaller upon meeting the Xianbei knights, eventually sputtering out into nothing more than a few thumb-sized sparks.

The line of Xianbei knights did not slow their pace in the slightest, continuing their charge toward the Prince of Yuzhang behind Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Stay close!"

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly.

He warned the youth riding behind him.

On the other side, Fu Qi pulled some kind of medicinal powder from his robes and scattered it toward the surrounding Zahu soldiers, who immediately clutched their eyes and let out miserable screams.

Fu Qi took the opportunity to break free from the Zahu soldiers' entanglement and spurred his horse to reunite with the Prince of Yuzhang.

"Mountain Shrinking!"

Ensuring that both Fu Qi and Xiao Dong were within his protective range, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his fist.

He fixed his gaze on the line of Xianbei knights charging out of the darkness.

He slammed his fist down hard against the warhorse of the Xianbei knight who was leaning sideways, blade raised to hack at him.

Bang!

A cacophony of men and horses tumbling erupted.

Warhorses clad in heavy barding were struck down head-on.

One of the knight's legs was pinned beneath his mount, making it difficult for him to rise due to the weight of the armor and the horse.

Squelch!

The spears of the Xianbei knights, who had flanked him from both sides, ruthlessly pierced through the body of Zhu Yuanzhang.

These gleaming, refined steel spearheads actually tore directly through the tough skin of the Deep One and scales that were as hard as metal.

They pinned him to the ground in a crisscross pattern.

Zhu Yuanzhang finally saw the attire of these Xianbei knights.

Every one of them wore bronze masks with bizarre expressions, clad in full sets of armor and black cloaks.

The expressions on the bronze masks were either joyful or furious, but without exception, they were all hideous and eerie.

Through the side of their faces not entirely covered by the masks, Zhu Yuanzhang saw faces covered in vibrant red and black striped greasepaint.

That was the "Ocher Face" from the ancient shamanic culture of the Xianbei people.

It originated from the "Ocher Stone," a mineral abundant in the Great Xianbei Mountain.

The Xianbei believed that the "Ocher Face" would grant them extraordinary power.

It would ward off the harm of ghosts and gods, and intimidate enemies during battle.