Heroes' Triumph and Defeat, Crossing the River

Whoosh!!!

The corpse came hurtling through the air. Adjutant Zhou was already on high alert and instinctively swept his saber at it.

With a bang, he sent the corpse flying into a nearby tree. Its jacket tore apart completely, revealing the soft golden armor worn beneath it.

Adjutant Zhou's saber had struck the soft golden armor, which was the only reason it had not mangled the corpse.

"Commander?!"

Adjutant Zhou realized what it was, and his heart lurched.

He had already adjusted to the rhythm of fighting off the group and was prepared to rely on his armor, taking a couple of blows to less vital parts of his body so he could cut Zhong Jinqiu down first.

But the sudden sight of Commander Xu's corpse shocked him so badly that his fighting spirit plummeted.

Old Yu suddenly sprang to his full height and shouted. With his saber in his left hand, he brought it down at Adjutant Zhou's head with the force of a blow splitting Mount Hua.

"Die!"

Earlier, given his condition-one arm, one saber, and blood loss-if he had dared use such a wide-open move against Adjutant Zhou, he would probably have been cut in two before he could finish raising his saber.

But at that moment, faced with the descending saber and its wielder's shout,

Adjutant Zhou could only raise his own saber instinctively to block.

Clang!!

Sparks flew as the two broadsabers collided.

Zhong Jinqiu had appeared at his side. His narrow saber stabbed straight under Adjutant Zhou's armpit.

Half the blade plunged into Adjutant Zhou's torso.

Adjutant Zhou's body went rigid.

Zhong Jinqiu twisted the blade, pulled it free, and retreated quickly.

Blood sprayed out in a great sheet.

Adjutant Zhou collapsed to the ground, his broadsaber falling beside him. Gasping, he said, "I never thought my big brother and I would be brought down by the likes of you..."

"Back in town, I was even thinking of letting you off the hook and not holding it against you..."

"Heh, but you were the ones who wouldn't let me go!"

Zhong Jinqiu flicked the blood from his saber and sighed. "I'd already become a man of leisure, holed up in a small town with no grand ambitions. You have only yourselves to blame: commit enough injustices, and your own deeds will bring you down."

Adjutant Zhou pushed up his faceguard, revealing a face pale from blood loss. Yet his eyes were still dark, with an undiminished fire in them.

"What the hell do you mean, commit enough injustices? My brothers and I worked our hearts out to get where we are today. When all's said and done, the victor becomes king, and the loser an outlaw..."

"Bullshit!"

Chu Tianshu cut him off, watching from among the trees.

"Throughout history, there have been plenty of people who met defeat and disgrace yet were still remembered as heroes by the people."

"Whether the living or the dead use that excuse about victors becoming kings and losers outlaws, all they're doing is trying to drag brilliant, glorious heroes down into their mud pit to give themselves a little shine."

Adjutant Zhou glared fixedly at Chu Tianshu, blood streaming from his mouth, but his gasps grew weaker and weaker.

Then he caught sight of Old Yu sending Zhong Jinqiu over to Commander Xu, where the two of them began stripping off the soft golden-thread armor.

"I... I never even got to wear it!"

Adjutant Zhou spat out a great mouthful of blood and fell over.

As for Chu Tianshu, he had said only those few words before turning away from the scene to check on Little Huo's injuries.

Meng Daizong had knocked Little Huo flying, leaving him unconscious.

But his injuries did not seem to be from the impact. It was more as though his internal organs had been squeezed.

The "squeeze" force in Taiji Fist was the least harmful force in the hands of someone with shallow training, but the most vicious in the hands of a master.

A single squeeze had displaced all five of his internal organs. Though none had ruptured, the pain was all the worse.

Chu Tianshu had intended to use needles on him, but after examining his injuries, inspiration struck. He recalled the common ground he had been pondering between Palm Thunder and his needle technique.

Internal force could displace the five organs, and it could also put them back. In that respect, it ought to work even faster than the needle technique.

Chu Tianshu carefully reached out and massaged Little Huo's chest and abdomen a few times. Little Huo coughed up a little blood and came to, though he was weak all over and still could not get up.

Over there, Shopkeeper Ma unharnessed the donkey, leaving the cart in the woods.

Cai Shanjun had planned carefully. Back at the Wu Clan Stronghold, he had prepared potent tonic pills for the donkey to take in conjunction with the Control Character Formula.

The group settled Little Huo onto the donkey's back and hurried toward the docks.

There were several sailboats by the docks.

If anyone were willing to brave the great risk of entering the water elsewhere and then cutting diagonally across the river to a safe route,

the soldiers originally stationed at the docks would need fast boats at the ready to pursue and intercept them in time.

Now those boats came in handy for Chu Tianshu and the others.

Following Cai Shanjun's directions, Shopkeeper Ma and Zhong Jinqiu raised the sail and adjusted its direction.

The wind did not necessarily blow straight from one bank to the other, but if the sail was angled properly, it could draw from the wind a force directed straight toward the opposite shore.

The sail billowed high, and the boat picked up speed, slicing through the water.

Before long, the group was well away from the shore.

Chu Tianshu sat resting on the gunwale, watching the wind sweep the white clouds across the sky, spreading, scattering, and rolling them away. Then he looked at the angle of the sail.

He seemed to remember some physics problems from high school, and could not help remarking on it.

"Grand Commander, you really can do everything."

Out on the river, Cai Shanjun had relaxed considerably too. He smiled. "I can't fight with my fists, or I'd have charged in back there as well."

Chu Tianshu glanced around and, finding nowhere suitable to lie down on the boat, pounded his neck a little in disappointment.

"Who says you can't fight with your fists?"

Chu Tianshu held out his fist and gazed toward the opposite bank.

"A punch like mine can't reach the other shore, much less the capital."

"But when you gather your forces and stand against the traitors, that will be a truly heavy punch."

"In fact, the moment Yi Province raises its fist, word will spread across the land, and those people surnamed Yuan will start squirming in their seats, won't they?"

Chu Tianshu's eyes shone, his face alight.

"You could call it the fist that protects the nation, the fist that guards the nation. Throughout recorded history, it would rank among the most satisfying punches ever thrown."

Cai Shanjun's expression shifted slightly, and he gazed into the distance.

"The most satisfying?"

Cai Shanjun said thoughtfully, "A war that must be fought for a righteous cause is indeed both painful and satisfying."

He watched the surging river, as though he could also see the flames of war spreading everywhere in the days to come.

The spray was like sparks, the river like a battlefield.

Would the river ever run clear? Would there ever be a time when the world was free of war?

Still, the surging river did not stagnate because it kept flowing. People had to act before they could know whether that day would come.

"Even an iron fist will rust one day. If I could choose, I'd rather be a wave in a great river."

A sudden interest came over Cai Shanjun, and he asked with a smile, "If you looked to the world and nature, what would you all want to be?"

Though Little Huo was lying down, he was the quickest to answer.

"A bullet. I want to be a bullet, following one path my whole life, never swerving or changing, certain to hit the bullseye."

Old Yu laughed. "I'd still want to be a person. Being human is pretty good. Forget the rest."

Shopkeeper Ma said eagerly, "I want to be a wine cellar, with a thousand jars of wine in my belly and treasures hidden inside. Unassuming, but with plenty of goods."

"Then I'll be a turtle."

Zhong Jinqiu swished the soft golden armor in the river, draped it lazily over the side of the boat, and yawned. "I hear there are turtles in the sea, too."

"Outsiders probably wouldn't disturb them in the deep sea. A family of turtles would live long, peaceful lives."

Shopkeeper Ma looked at Chu Tianshu. "Little Chu, what do you want to be?"

"Me?"

Chu Tianshu drew out the word, then smiled. "I'd like to become the wind."

Shopkeeper Ma considered it. "I thought you'd want to be a blazing fire or the sun, something like that. But the wind? Isn't it a little too elusive and fickle, too complicated and changeable?"

"The wind may be changeable, but every autumn and winter, the cool wind arrives on time, and after the new year, the spring breeze always comes as promised."

"Free as the wind, keeping promises like the wind," Chu Tianshu said. "Wouldn't that be nice?"

He had just fought battle after battle, his mind focused and clear. Now that his body and mind were relaxed, his thoughts bounced back into a stream of daydreams.

As he spoke of the wind, a thought suddenly occurred to him.

Earth seemed to have extreme weather disasters like little ice ages. At times like those, neither the cool winds nor the warm winds were very normal.

If he really wanted to keep his promises like the wind, would he have to smash those troublesome bouts of extreme weather along the way?

Ha, now that really was beyond what a human could do.

After crossing the river, the group did not linger. They traveled another hundred li by a roundabout route.

That evening, they reached another large city with troops stationed there.

Cai Shanjun had already shown his true face, and as soon as they arrived, their treatment changed.

Not only was Commander Xie, who led the regiment, one of his former subordinates, but most of its company- and battalion-level officers had attended his lectures at the Military Academy. A few had even gained experience at the Grand Commander's Residence.

They were basically his students.

Though they had not yet entered Kunming, now that they were here, they could be considered completely safe.

He had the local regimental headquarters send telegrams directly to many people in Kunming.

Chu Tianshu and the others also settled in at the regimental headquarters.

When Chu Tianshu entered his room, he was pleasantly surprised.

There was an electric light in the room.

It was only a light bulb hanging from a wire wrapped directly around a ceiling beam, and it looked rather crude.

But Chu Tianshu had not seen any electrical equipment in two months, so the sight really did feel familiar.

After turning on the light, he sat down at the table and summoned the token's screen.

Xu Youjiang and Meng Daizong had been martial artists through and through. Even those ninjas had only trained their Mind Power on their own and supplemented it with drugs; none of them had any evil spirits on them.

Although he felt that his experience with fist techniques had improved again after the great battle, he had gained nothing in the evil spirit materials column.

The fate column, however, had made rapid progress today.

When they left the Wu Clan Stronghold, it had still been only a little over halfway full.

During today's battle, the river crossing, and their arrival here at Commander Xie's headquarters, the fate column had surged three times.

Chu Tianshu remembered that on the journey after crossing the river, the fate column had already risen enough to meet the requirement for one trip home.

He had opened it then and found a note underneath saying that he could choose to return at any time within three days.

And now the fate column had even overflowed.

Below the progress bar required for his return, a separate line displayed a small amount of fate.

[Upon returning, should the token holder wish to bring any tangible, material object besides himself, its value shall be deducted from the overflow fate.]