Ocher Face

They left through Sima Gate and departed Taicheng.

But the mission still hadn't been settled.

Zhu Yuanzhang sat astride his horse, seemingly gazing intently at the broken walls and crumbling tiles before him.

A familiar line of black text appeared before his eyes.

[Leave Taicheng before November 1]

Why?

A question rose in Zhu Yuanzhang's mind.

A furious, low growl came from beside him.

"Those Xianbei slaves!"

He looked at the men and women bound in two lines before Xuanyang Gate, their faces numb and blank.

Disguised as a slave trader, Fu Qi had tried to slip out through Xuanyang Gate and join up with Xiao Lun's reinforcements. Now he sat on his horse, cursing under his breath.

By then, fires had broken out at all four gates of Jiankang City.

Most of the Xianbei soldiers who had originally been stationed there had already been conscripted and sent away.

Only a handful of Zahu soldiers remained beneath the gate, dressed in Kuzhe Garments and wearing Tuji Hats, inspecting those who passed through.

It was different from what one might expect.

Long exposed to Central Plains culture, the Xianbei generally preferred to rob people of their wealth and capture them to sell as slaves.

They wouldn't kill without a clear reason.

By contrast, the Qiang, Dingling, Jie, and other Zahu Barbarians took pleasure in killing.

The Xianbei had a stable, distinct, and healthy core. The Five Xianbei Tribes, who had long occupied Liaodong, had already become considerably sinicized even before moving south.

Zahu Barbarians was a general term used by the Xianbei and the Central Plains civilizations for the Hu people who had continually migrated from Central and Western Asia.

Their ranks were a chaotic jumble, with no stable, clearly defined territory, lineage, or culture.

Nor did they have any strong sense of ethnic identity.

They were armed gangs who wandered between steppe tribes and Han cities, making a living through pickpocketing, robbery, theft, and fraud.

They had no organized trades or structures, much less laws or morals.

For a long time, they had dwelled in the dark borderlands beyond civilization.

Simply put, they were a pack of human beasts ruled by their own desires.

The three of them were stopped without question.

Two Zahu soldiers came over and grabbed Zhu Yuanzhang's reins.

Then they held out their hands, demanding money from him.

Zhu Yuanzhang pretended not to understand what they were doing.

He sat motionless on his horse, staring blankly, as if he'd been scared witless.

Meanwhile, Fu Qi produced the purse he'd prepared in advance, along with the travel permit he'd bought from the Xianbei, and handed them to the Zahu soldiers surrounding his horse and blocking his way.

The soldiers licked their lips, took the permit and silver, then haggled with Fu Qi in a language Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't understand.

A moment later, Fu Qi grimaced and took two more silver ingots from his robes. Only after he indicated that he had no money left did the soldiers stop tugging at him.

A Zahu leader signaled to the others.

He told them to keep an eye on Zhu Yuanzhang and his companions.

Then he went up the gate tower to the city wall, smiling obsequiously as he presented most of the valuables and Fu Qi's permit to the Xianbei officer guarding Xuanyang Gate, asking permission to open the gates.

But then...

Crack!

Scarlet blood sprayed down from above.

The Zahu leader's body lay on the wall, his head nearly severed by a single stroke.

The Xianbei officer slowly sheathed his blade, his gaze cold.

Fu Qi realized at once.

"Damn it!"

In an instant, a dozen Xianbei riders emerged from the darkness beyond the firelight, their horses and riders clad in full armor.

There was no time to turn their horses around now.

He saw the Xianbei officer on the wall kick the Zahu leader's head aside, nock an arrow, and take aim at Prince of Yuzhang, who was being dragged by several Zahu soldiers and was about to fall from his horse.

This was bad!

The Xianbei permit was fake!

Those treacherous northern barbarians!

They had deliberately issued fake permits to capture palace ministers and nobles of Xiao Liang fleeing Taicheng!

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

His face went deathly pale.

There was only one explanation!

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

But Zhu Yuanzhang reacted even faster than the Xianbei.

At the officer's shouted command, two Zahu soldiers reached for Zhu Yuanzhang's arms, trying to seize him and drag him from his horse.

The next moment, an overpowering stench rolled off Zhu Yuanzhang, like the rotting carcass of a whale stranded on the shore for days.

The Zahu soldiers stared in horror.

A pair of bone claws covered in scales sliced off both their arms in an instant, then seized them by the head.

Squish!

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

He had crushed them with his bare hands!

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

The tremendous force tipped his body slightly backward. He shouted to Prince of Yuzhang,

"Follow me!"

Then he leapt from his horse, letting the Zahu soldiers surrounding Xiao Dong slash at him with their waist knives. Sparks flew.

Several black scales fell away.

They took with them his withered dead skin and rotting flesh, along with a little brown pus and blood.

Zhu Yuanzhang swung a fist behind him, driving both fists into the Zahu soldier's chest. His scaled hands burst through the man's shoulder blades, one clutching a still-beating heart.

Squish!

Blood sprayed everywhere!

The remaining Zahu soldiers cried out in terror at the sight.

When they realized their attacks had no effect, they shouted in a language Zhu Yuanzhang couldn't understand and scattered in every direction.

On horseback, Xiao Dong watched Zhu Yuanzhang unleash his power. His hands tightened around the reins, and envy flickered in his eyes.

But he didn't hesitate for a moment. He galloped after Zhu Yuanzhang toward Xuanyang Gate.

In the darkness, heavy hoofbeats rang out.

The ground seemed to tremble beneath them.

Zhu Yuanzhang looked up.

Ten Xianbei riders charged toward them from either side, in two groups of three and two.

Both the men and their horses wore heavy armor woven from iron rings and chains.

Metal clattered against metal.

"Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire!"

Flames danced along Zhu Yuanzhang's knuckles.

They formed flaming arrows and shot straight at the Xianbei riders.

But Dingguang Demon-Subduing True Fire, which had always been effective against the uncanny things in Hualin Garden, shrank as it met the Xianbei riders before him, until it fizzled into a few sparks the size of thumbs.

The line of Xianbei riders didn't slow at all. They kept charging toward Prince of Yuzhang behind Zhu Yuanzhang.

"Stay close!"

Zhu Yuanzhang narrowed his eyes slightly.

He warned the youth riding behind him.

Meanwhile, Fu Qi pulled some kind of powder from his robes and scattered it over the Zahu soldiers nearby. They clapped their hands over their eyes and screamed.

Fu Qi seized the chance to break free and rode over to join Prince of Yuzhang.

"Mountain Shrinking!"

Once he was sure Fu Qi and Xiao Dong were within his reach, Zhu Yuanzhang raised his fist.

He watched the line of Xianbei riders charge out of the darkness.

One rider ahead of him turned sideways and brought his blade down. Zhu Yuanzhang slammed his fist into the warhorse beneath him.

"Bang!"

Men and horses crashed to the ground.

The warhorse, encased in heavy barding, was knocked over head-on.

One of the rider's legs was pinned beneath it. The weight of his armor and horse kept him from getting up.

Squish!

The long spears of the Xianbei riders flanking him drove straight through Zhu Yuanzhang's body.

Their gleaming steel spearheads tore through the Deep One's sturdy skin and metal-hard scales.

The crisscrossing spears pinned him to the ground.

At last, Zhu Yuanzhang got a clear look at the Xianbei riders.

Every one of them wore a bronze mask with a bizarre expression, along with full armor and a black cloak.

Some masks looked happy, others angry, but every expression was grotesque and unnerving.

Through the parts of their faces the masks didn't cover, Zhu Yuanzhang saw skin covered in vivid red and black stripes of paint.

It was the ancient Xianbei shamanic practice known as "Ocher Face."

It came from the abundant mineral deposits of Great Xianbei Mountain—ocher stone.

The Xianbei believed "Ocher Face" granted them extraordinary power.

It protected them from spirits and demons and struck fear into their enemies in battle.