Staggering Journey (6)

Zhang Xing froze in bewilderment.

Aunt Liu, however, reacted swiftly and shoved the newcomer. "Yuan Da, what nonsense are you talking? Qin Bao has always conducted himself uprightly..."

"It's precisely because he's always upright that he decided to report it. He's afraid the authorities will hold him accountable for sheltering this deserter and bring trouble on the village... Aunt Liu, you know perfectly well that although the Qin family has fallen on hard times, they're always fussing over these ridiculous rules." The newcomer's sneering explanation left Aunt Liu speechless.

Then he turned to Zhang Xing, who was still bewildered, and continued:

"Deserter, there's actually something else Aunt Liu didn't tell you: I, Yuan Dalang, am the one in this village who's never behaved uprightly. But it's precisely because I don't that I came to save you... To tell you the truth, I've long disliked Qin Erlang. That bastard relies on his archery and his family's willingness to spend money on his amusements. First he cultivated True Qi and trained in martial arts at a martial school in town, and then they even bought him a horse. He spends all day swaggering around the village... Come with me. I'll get you out of the village and knock him down a peg, at least."

Aunt Liu was utterly at a loss. Although Zhang Xing had recovered his wits and given the matter some thought, he could only sigh-he could not risk staying here. It was not a matter of gambling or trust. If he left now, whatever happened would be his own affair; if he stayed, even the slightest danger might implicate Aunt Liu.

He had received her kindness and could not repay it. How could he bring undeserved trouble down on her as well?

With that thought, Zhang Xing turned straight back to fetch his helmet, dagger, and brow-tipped saber... Even he had not noticed how profoundly his encounter with a True Dragon in the ruined temple and the bloody clash in the mountain village had changed him.

There was no time for anything. Zhang Xing put away the Compass inside the room. Though he felt an urge to use it, he could hardly reveal anything in front of this Yuan Da, whose background he did not know, so he hastily tucked it into his belt. When he reached the main room, Aunt Liu stuffed plenty more cornmeal buns into his bundle. He barely managed a word of thanks before pulling on his boots and heading out.

Outside, the two moons each hung halfway up the sky. It was hardly bright, but neither was it dark.

Zhang Xing hurried to push the cart, only for Yuan Da to call him back. "Someone's guarding the main entrance. We have to climb over the earth embankment outside the gap in the fence. The cart won't get through..."

Without a word, Zhang Xing circulated a little True Qi and easily hoisted Du Meng's body onto his back. He would carry him rather than leave him behind.

Yuan Da stared for a moment, then gave a sneer, but he stepped forward and took a brow-tipped saber and helmet from the cart. Then the two hurried off into the night, one behind the other, without even time to say goodbye to Aunt Liu.

They first climbed over the fence and earth embankment, then turned onto the main road west. They encountered no obstacles whatsoever; indeed, things went almost too smoothly.

Not until just before dawn, when the sky had lightened slightly and they approached a grove beside a fork in the road, did Yuan Da stop and look back. "Rest here a while. I'll go check the signpost, then take you a little farther before heading back."

Zhang Xing nodded, set Du Meng's corpse beside the road, and sat on the ground panting... Although this body belonged to a typical trained soldier and possessed that True Qi business, which was plainly a supernatural power, he had slept only half the night and spent the other half carrying the exceptionally burly Du Meng's corpse. He was exhausted already. How could he not want a rest?

Besides, the most dangerous nighttime hours were almost over. Daybreak was near, and being on a main road was reassuring.

Yet as he watched the man jog away, carrying the long saber and wearing the helmet, something stirred in Zhang Xing's mind. Still seated, he felt that something was wrong and hurriedly reached for the Compass again.

"Taishang Laojun, swiftly, swiftly, as the law commands!"

At those words, the Compass needle suddenly sprang up and pointed straight back the way they had come.

Zhang Xing's scalp prickled, and his instinct was to leave. But when he looked back at Du Meng's corpse, which gave off a chill, his spirits sank. In fact, as he cast that glance, the Compass needle dropped straight down.

Every thought arose from the heart, and the heart's thoughts could change in an instant.

He did not have to wait long for the outcome. Only moments later, just after Zhang Xing had tucked his dagger into his boot, rustling came from the grove beside the road. Yuan Da, who had disappeared at the fork, emerged from it with four armed men in plain clothes.

Seeing Zhang Xing sitting motionless, they hesitated before slowly surrounding him.

"Why didn't you run?" Yuan Da asked, surprised and suspicious.

Zhang Xing said nothing, merely jutting his chin toward the corpse beside him.

Yuan Da burst out laughing. "You really are a fool! I wanted to laugh at you earlier. He's dead already-what's there to fuss over? If you've got a conscience, just bury him beside the road. Why burden yourself?"

"I was a soldier, and I've learned the basics of martial arts." Knowing he could not reason with someone like this, Zhang Xing spoke only of consequences. "There may be more of you, but if you force me to fight for my life, even if you win, I'm afraid two of you will have to die with me... I haven't a penny to my name. All I want is to take my companion's body home. I don't even know what you're after."

"Times are bad. We take whatever we can get," Yuan Da sneered. "A fine iron helmet and an army-issue brow-tipped saber are useful, quality goods you couldn't buy even with money. And leaving those aside, robbing you will deal a heavy blow to that bastard Qin Bao's pride... Did you think everything I said earlier was a lie? I really do resent Qin Erlang!"

Zhang Xing kept shaking his head.

"Forget it."

Seeing this, Yuan Da laughed all the harder. "Since you're a man of loyalty, we won't fight you. But we can't have come for nothing either... Behave yourself and leave the saber, helmet, and bundle here, and we'll let you take your companion away!"

Zhang Xing considered briefly, nodded, and dropped all three things, then picked up Du Meng and prepared to leave.

But after he had taken a few steps, Yuan Da suddenly called out again:

"What's that at your waist? Is it copper? Leave that too."

Zhang Xing looked down. It was the Compass. Anger flared within him, but without another thought, he reached to his waist, unfastened it, and tossed it aside.

It was obvious enough when he thought about it. Poor Du Meng had only been thinking that everyone had been soaked by heavy rain for days and could not hold on much longer, so he had urgently wanted to take them to a village he vaguely knew of. Yet the moment the routed soldiers got some rest, their conflicts had intensified, costing him his life.

Today had been no different. Zhang Xing had only wanted a hot meal, and he had gotten one. Who could have expected that, as a conspicuous outsider in the village, he would also catch the attention of these thugs and bandits?

Thus, after discarding the Compass, Zhang Xing actually felt lighter all over.

"Wait!"

He had barely taken a few more steps when Yuan Da spoke again. "Those are regular soldiers' army boots, aren't they? The double-layer cowhide kind? Leave those too!"

At last, Zhang Xing laughed in anger.

There was no other reason. The boots themselves did not matter. He had even thrown away the Compass-would he care about the boots' value? But without boots, how was he supposed to take Du Meng home?

As for taking Du Meng home, to him, someone who had crossed into this world barely ten days earlier, it was by no means merely a matter of repaying kindness, nor simply a man's promise being worth a thousand pieces of gold... Repaying kindness was a reason, keeping his word was a way of putting it, but beyond those two things, something mattered more: since arriving in this world, this was the only thing he could hold on to, and seemingly the only absolutely right thing he could do.

Unless he brought Du Meng home, he could not persuade himself to drop anchor in this brand-new world, establish himself, and begin a new life.

With that thought, Zhang Xing instead let go completely. He tilted his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, then gently set Du Meng's corpse down, turned toward the other man, spread both hands, and lifted one foot slightly.

"Yuan Da, right? I won't hide it from you: I've got a dagger in my boot. If I take it off myself, there might be a misunderstanding. Even without a misunderstanding, once I have a sharp blade in my hand, I might just lose my temper, and that wouldn't be good for anyone... If you really want these boots, come and take them yourself!"

Yuan Da paused, then curled his lips. He passed the long saber to a man behind him, had him follow with the weapon, and strode proudly over, preparing to bend down and remove the army boot.

But in the blink of an eye, as Yuan Da lowered his head, Zhang Xing suddenly drove Qi through his limbs. His foot rose high, then slammed down hard on the man's shoulder, almost stamping his entire body into the ground.

His kick struck home. Yuan Da howled, and everyone around them was caught off guard, but Zhang Xing did not pause. Using Yuan Da's shoulder as a springboard, he hurled himself into the saber-wielding man behind him and snatched the weapon from his grasp. With the brow-tipped saber in hand, on the open road at dawn, Zhang Xing drew on the soldier's muscle memory, raised the blade, and hacked down with all his strength in a standard military killing stroke.

The other man was still dazed and stumbling when the great saber, imbued with True Qi, struck his neck and instantly severed his head.

In the flash of a spark, Zhang Xing had subdued one man and killed another. Even he was a little astonished at this body's strength and fitness.

But there was no time to think. The men behind had been stunned by the sight. When they came to their senses, though there were still three of them, they had no thought of revenge and scattered in flight instead. Zhang Xing reacted and immediately gave chase, easily cutting one down in the woods, then turning back to kill another beneath a drainage ditch where he had fled blindly in panic. Finally, he returned to the road, mustered all his True Qi, and pursued the last man at full speed. It took nearly half a quarter-hour, with most of the sun already above the horizon, before he caught up a hundred zhang away and hurled the saber through the man's back.

Yet perhaps because of that pursuit, when he forced his True Qi into motion and hurried back, he stumbled and nearly fell... Clearly, circulating True Qi despite his exhaustion had pushed his body to its limits again. The old trouble from the ruined temple had returned.

By then, Yuan Da had stood up, his face covered in blood. He stared at the approaching man in terror, his legs likewise trembling, not daring to move an inch. When he spoke, there was even a hint of a sob in his voice. "Sir! A great man like you must have a generous heart..."

"Don't you think it's a little late to say that now?" Zhang Xing quickly stopped circulating his True Qi and moved over, planting the long saber heavily with each step. In truth, he needed it to support his body while he recovered some strength, but his imposing air did not diminish at all. "I only wanted to avoid bringing trouble to Aunt Liu, so I yielded to you again and again. Yet you took an inch and demanded a mile..."

"Sir!"

The morning sun was just rising. Yuan Da's face was a spectacle of blood, mud, tears, and snot, and one of his arms seemed broken too. "Please spare me once more for Aunt Liu's sake... If you kill me, we're all from the same village, and Aunt Liu won't be able to explain it to the others."

As though those words had struck home, Zhang Xing suddenly stopped five or six paces in front of him. After thinking for a while, he finally threw down the brow-tipped saber in indignation.

"Get lost!"

Yuan Er, who had stood frozen there, turned and staggered away as though granted a pardon.

Having recovered some strength through his earlier movements, Zhang Xing watched him coldly. He waited another seven or eight breaths, until he saw that the man was indeed fleeing in panic without watching his back. Only then did he lower his head and retrieve the dagger from his trouser leg. Suddenly circulating Qi, he surged forward, caught up behind him, and drove the dagger into his back.

Yuan Da turned around. His already spectacular face twisted to some new extreme, and beneath the blood and grime there seemed to be a trace of disbelief.

It was as though he were saying, Shouldn't the word of someone like you carry the weight of nine great cauldrons?

"Sorry. I have no choice either," Zhang Xing said, seemingly somewhat ashamed. "If I let you go back and then leave myself, heaven knows whether you'll seek revenge on Aunt Liu. Thinking it over now, all I can do is cut you, you scum, out by the roots."

As he spoke, Zhang Xing pressed him down onto the road and carefully stabbed him another seven or eight times before collapsing into a sitting position beside him.

The morning sun rose over the flat, open countryside, with several corpses scattered around the fork. Knowing he could not delay, Zhang Xing rested only briefly before forcing himself to drag the three nearby bodies into the woods. He searched them a little and found a few copper coins and cornmeal buns, which he stuffed into his bundle... Then he ate a bun, drank some water from the ditch, and prepared to set off again.

Of course, as the saying went, a stumble into the pit made one wiser. This time, Zhang Xing did not even dare take the helmet. Of the two long sabers, he also discarded the one he had used to kill. He merely tied on his bundle, shouldered a brow-tipped saber, concealed a dagger, and turned to lift Du Meng onto his back again.

Yet after all that, when he reached the fork, he turned back with a bitter smile and picked up the Compass he had deliberately ignored. He recited the incantation before setting off once more.

Four or five days passed. Leaving aside Zhang Xing's arduous journey, hiding by day and traveling by night as the Compass directed, that afternoon in the grove beside the fork where the killings had occurred, Qin Bao, his face dark as still water, seven or eight other young village men carrying bows and swords, and several village elders and county clerks sitting idly nearby suddenly heard a dense clatter of hoofbeats, and all reacted differently.

Clearly, the prefectural officers they had been waiting so long for had arrived.

The village elders and county clerks merely felt relieved, thinking they could finally pass on this hot potato. Qin Bao, however, could not help feeling surprised. The killings had happened five days earlier and been discovered four days earlier. The village elders had delayed until dusk before hastily gathering able-bodied men like them to secure the scene. Then the county clerks had only belatedly arrived yesterday and sent word to the prefecture. He had thought they would have to wait another two or three days before seeing prefectural officers, yet they had arrived today.

With these thoughts, Qin Bao followed the village elders out of the woods to greet them, only to freeze on the spot again. There was no other reason: a full seventeen or eighteen riders had arrived, all in brocade robes with longswords, each looking valiant. One glance made it clear they were no ordinary constables. And although their leader wore men's clothing-a close-fitting outfit and a cap binding her hair, with no makeup-at close range, one could still tell at once that she was a woman.

Or rather, a wandering swordswoman just past twenty.

The woman had slender brows, phoenix eyes, an oval face, a single dimple, and an unblemished complexion. She wore regulation brocade robes in a plain color and a Warrior Cap, and carried on her back a longsword marked with one sun and two moons, signifying her origins in the Three-One Orthodox Church. She rode as swiftly as the wind and dismounted cleanly. To look at her, she was three parts heroic, three parts graceful, three parts approachable, and one part noble.

Yes, her voice seemed very pleasant too. Otherwise, her first words would hardly have left Qin Erlang weak on the spot:

"Were you the ones who reported the case? I'm Bai Yousi, Vermilion-Sash Inspector of the Jing'an Directorate. I happened to be passing through your prefectural seat on official business, and when I heard there had been a multiple murder involving bandits here, I came to investigate."

The newcomer seemed like an immortal and possessed an imposing presence besides. The county clerks and village elders could only murmur their assent. Even Qin Bao, who usually fancied himself a hero hidden among the common folk, wanted to make an impression but did not know how to respond. Instead, his mouth opened soundlessly, and then his face flushed crimson with shame.

Seeing this, the female inspector smiled with measured, open grace. "Please don't trouble yourselves. I'm actually what you commonly call a Red Sash of the Jing'an Directorate. If there's nothing else, I'm sorry to ask you for further effort, but please take me to see the bodies."