One Man Draws a Thousand Troops
"Xing Lan, I've been discovered. Before I leave, I'll divert the Federation's attention, hide Jing Heng, and protect myself."
Ye Xinglan stood behind the door, looking at Tang Wulin through a slightly ajar crack.
The emergency lights in the corridor were off; only the moonlight filtering in through the window illuminated half of his face, making it appear pale.
He changed into a very ordinary dark short-sleeved shirt, without a cape on his shoulders or anything that could identify him.
He carried only a worn-out gray cloth bundle, looking just like one of the day laborers in Heaven Dou City who had to leave the city before dawn.
But his eyes were so bright that anyone could recognize him in a crowd at a glance.
"When are you leaving?" Ye Xinglan's voice was very soft, as soft as a breeze seeping through a crack in the door.
"Now," Tang Wulin said.
He glanced quickly into the room, his gaze landing on Yun Jingheng for a moment.
Yun Jingheng remained seated cross-legged in the moonlight.
He turned his gaze back to Ye Xinglan, his voice low and steady. "The teacher has already made arrangements. I'll go underground and leave the city before dawn."
"After leaving the city, I will deliberately cause a big commotion to lure them south. Once they catch up, the pressure on Heaven Dou City will be relieved."
Ye Xinglan's fingers slowly tightened around the door frame.
She looked at Tang Wulin as if he were a fellow disciple about to walk alone into the wind and snow.
"I will protect him," she said.
Tang Wulin nodded.
He took a tiny black cloth bag from his pocket and stuffed it into Ye Xinglan's hand. "This is from your teacher. Inside are three Cold Flame Signal Flare. If anything happens, place one to the north, and I'll see it."
Ye Xinglan took the cloth bag and held it tightly in her palm.
The cloth bag still carried Tang Wulin's body heat, like a small piece of charcoal burned from the past.
Tang Wulin took a step back and smiled at her.
His smile was the same as when he was at Shrek Outer Court —gentle, clean, and with a touch of clumsy earnestness. "Xing Lan, Jing Heng is in your hands now."
"When he wakes up, tell him for me that I'm waiting for you in the Far North. Don't... don't let him do anything reckless."
He laughed first when he said, "Don't let him do anything reckless."
He knew that saying those words was as good as saying nothing at all.
Ye Xinglan smiled slightly, a very faint smile, like a ripple on the surface of a lake at night, stirred by the wind.
"Let's go," she said.
Tang Wulin glanced at Yun Jingheng again, then turned and walked towards the end of the corridor.
His steps were steady, one step at a time, as if he were stepping on some unseen rhythm.
He didn't look back as he turned the corner.
Ye Xinglan closed the door and returned to the window.
She put the three Cold Flame Signal Flare into her pocket.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, and Yun Jingheng's shadow, just like every night before, was cast quietly on the floor.
The wind outside the window picked up a bit, causing a copper bell under the eaves of some house to ring very softly.
She closed her eyes.
The night of Heaven Dou City pressed in from all directions, but she blocked it from view through the window.
Behind him, Yun Jingheng's breathing remained steady.
It was still dark.
Tang Wulin has already left.
And what she must protect is still here.
The tunnel exit was hidden in a patch of waist-high weeds, covered by two old wooden planks hollowed out by insects.
Tang Wulin pushed open the wooden board, first peeking out half his face, his eyes quickly scanning the surroundings.
To the south of the city, several abandoned brick kilns lie silently in the night like sleeping giants.
Every so often, a lantern hung on the city wall, its dim light swaying in the night wind.
He quickly determined the location: the nearest garrison was less than two miles away, separated by a dried-up moat and several dirt roads.
He rolled out and moved along the ground through the grass, his "Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track" silently unfolding beneath his feet. He was like a wisp of dark gray smoke, appearing and disappearing between the brick kiln and the earthen mound.
As the patrol car's lights occasionally swept across the area, he would take the opportunity to slip into the shadows.
He deliberately didn't head directly north, but instead circled around halfway west of the city, creating the illusion that he had sneaked out through a small gate on the west side.
There were sentries at several corners of the wall. He calculated the distance carefully and slipped across the darkest section of the earthen embankment between two sentries.
"Something's happening!" one of the sentries suddenly shouted.
Tang Wulin deliberately let him see half of his back before immediately disappearing behind a collapsed brick kiln.
Then, he stopped hiding it.
Blue Silver Grass surged forth from his right palm like a tidal wave, golden light spreading rapidly along the blades of grass.
Tang Wulin pressed his palms to the ground, his entire body enveloped in golden Soul Power, and he suddenly soared into the sky like a small sun that suddenly exploded.
"Roar--!"
He let out a clear whistle, which was enveloped in Soul Power and exploded in the sky above the south of the city, even shaking the lanterns on the city tower.
He landed in front of a military outpost, clenched his left fist, and slammed it into the ground.
The Golden Dragon's power was like a meteorite falling to earth, causing the entire stone slab in front of the guard post to be lifted up, with fragments of stone flying like rain.
Before the soldiers could react, they were thrown over by the blast wave and rolled several feet away. Although they were not in mortal danger, they were unable to get up for a while.
The two military vehicles hurriedly turned around, but before the cannons on the roofs could even turn, the two strands of Blue Silver Grass that Tang Wulin had thrown out got tangled in the axles, and with a pull and a tug, they flipped directly into the ditch.
With a loud "boom," the flames shot up, illuminating the entire dirt road as if it were daytime.
"Someone has broken into the camp!" Whistles, gongs, and bugles sounded simultaneously, making the entire garrison look like a beehive that had been overturned.
When the soldiers rushed out, they only saw a golden figure stepping on the top of the collapsed guard post, with dragon patterns flowing around his body, and Blue Silver Grass dancing wildly in the night wind like countless living snakes.
The figure seemed to glance at them, then lightly touched the ground with its toes and sped south like an arrow.
"They're remnants of Shrek Academy! Chase them!" someone shouted.
This is exactly what Tang Wulin wanted.
He didn't linger any longer, turned around and sped towards the official road to the south, deliberately knocking over the headlights of several military vehicles along the way, smashing several sections of old fences in half, and even leaving several very deep footprints on the official road.
The Golden Dragon's aura stretched out like an extremely bright tail in the darkness, long and gleaming, as if guiding the pursuers.
He was incredibly fast, yet he always maintained control of his pace, ensuring that those behind him could keep up without actually overtaking them.
Every time the pursuers thought they were about to surround him, he would change direction a split second in advance, slipping through the mesh like a golden eel.
Three li, five li, ten li.
The flames and vehicle sounds behind them grew denser, and more military vehicle lights illuminated the direction of Heaven Dou City. Troops poured out of the city gates, like an armored torrent pulled by the same thread, frantically gathering towards the official road to the south.
Countless car headlights and searchlights tore the night sky of the southern suburbs to shreds.
Tang Wulin ran to a small earthen slope, then suddenly stopped and looked back.
Heaven Dou City was already far behind, but the headlights of those cars were still chasing after them, like an extremely long, unyielding fiery serpent.
He took a few breaths, sweat dripping from his chin onto his clothes.
The Blue Silver Grass slowly retracted, and the golden light also disappeared into its body.
He gazed in the direction of the pursuers and muttered something under his breath, as if talking to himself, yet also as if addressing the two men far away in the city:
"I can only drag this far. The rest... is up to you."
After he finished speaking, he leaped into the boundless night and headed towards the Far North.
Behind him, the pursuing troops from Heaven Dou City were still roaring, as if the entire city was being dragged along by him, rushing wildly southward.