Chapter 8: Departure
Zhou Yan had already prepared himself to be torn to shreds by the Yao Race, and secretly vowed in his heart that even if he was torn apart, he would chop down a few more Yao Race members to get his money's worth. He hadn't expected anyone else to come.
He suddenly remembered what Li Zhiwei had said about two reinforcements.
He thought of the talisman she had given him.
'Two reinforcements?'
'Did that little girl already guess this possibility, and that's why she gave me that talisman…'
With these thoughts in mind, Zhou Yan immediately relaxed. As he relaxed, the surging strength and his last burst of emotion dissipated, and fatigue and stinging pain washed over him like a tide.
One burst of Qi, then a decline, then exhaustion.
That surge of energy could no longer be mustered.
The man's face was unshaven, his eyes bloodshot, and he smelled of blood, as if he had been fighting continuously before this. His black mountain-patterned armor was imposing, but a gruesome gash could be seen on the front.
It seemed to have been struck head-on by a heavy battle saber.
The Yao Race members were startled by this man and reacted sluggishly. The man's saber vibrated in his hand, and without stopping, he horizontally sliced open the head of a demon-ghost, then vertically chopped, splitting one Yao Race member's head in half, and then pulled it back.
Used like a saw, that Yao Race member died a miserable death.
The horizontal saber was withdrawn, its blade covered in fine nicks and stained with blood, exuding a fierce and murderous aura.
After swinging his saber to protect Zhou Yan, the man asked, "You're still alive. Are there any other common people inside?"
Zhou Yan said, "When I escaped, I didn't see any."
"Is that so?"
"Then I'll get you out first. Hold on tight to me."
The man wielded his horizontal saber, protecting Zhou Yan. Like Pei Xuanbao at the time, he retreated without hesitation. All the Yao Race members blocking the retreat path had almost no room to resist against that horizontal saber and were completely cut down.
His saber technique involved horizontal and vertical slashes, broad and sweeping, with extremely high lethality.
But as they retreated, a voice rang out.
"In the Fang City, people come and go, and business is fair."
"Guests are welcome to do business with me here, but to kill my Fang City's employees and then try to just walk away, isn't that a bit too arrogant?"
The voice was initially calm and distant, but then it grew closer and louder, finally exploding in Zhou Yan's ears like thunder, making his head ache and his vision blur in waves.
Whoosh—
The man protecting him turned around, his combat boots sliding forward on the ground. He stomped his right foot down fiercely, and a continuous, fragmented cracking sound instantly erupted. Then, cracks in the earth spread towards the manor.
From these cracks, sharp earth spikes burst forth, densely spreading forward. The lesser Yao Race members who couldn't dodge in time were all impaled. The man stood firm, spun, and, with the momentum, swung the horizontal saber in his hand.
The horizontal saber was enveloped in a black aura, and the earth spikes rising in front instantly burst apart.
Boom!!!
Fragments of earth spikes, mixed with a brown surge of Qi, were enveloped in the saber's momentum, transforming into a saber glow at least three zhang long, slashing towards the direction from which the voice came.
The Yao Race members in front screamed and howled, dodging the attack.
Zhou Yan heard the man's panting, realizing that this strike had also caused him immense exhaustion. The Yao Race members in front dodged, the ground cracked, and the wind pressure from the saber glow dissipated.
A fair, slender hand with a touch of crimson on its nails gently pressed on the saber glow, then exerted force.
This powerful saber glow shattered.
Flowing ribbons and sashes swayed slightly. A snow-white foot stepped into the air, then another. An extremely graceful beauty walked in the air, holding a lady's fan, swaying it unhurriedly: "Guest, such a temper."
"Even that General just now didn't have such a temper as you."
"I was originally just thinking of collecting some meat, but I didn't expect to stir up such a big trouble."
Zhou Yan's gaze was slightly stunned. The jade book in his consciousness remained still, not revealing anything related to this Yao Race member, nor did it react. However, upon seeing the woman, Zhou Yan's body felt an instinctive fear.
This woman was, without a doubt, stronger than this reinforcement.
No wonder Pei Xuanbao ran so fast.
The woman looked at Zhou Yan and smiled, "What a handsome young Lang Jun."
"I wonder how much he's worth."
She reached out to hook Zhou Yan's chin, but was forced away by the blade of the horizontal saber.
The man protecting Zhou Yan held his horizontal saber diagonally and said, "People are not your 'goods,' Qing Ming Fangzhu."
Qing Ming Fangzhu composed herself and smiled, "So you know my name."
"Oh? This attire…"
Qing Ming Fangzhu looked at the man and said languidly, "Since you know my name, then you should also know my rules here. Fighting to the death is meaningless. If you want to take him away, it's easy to say, just pay the price."
The man pressed his horizontal saber forward and instinctively said coldly,
"I don't have a habit of making deals with Prodigies."
Qing Ming Fangzhu smiled, "I can see that you are brave and not afraid of death, but you have this resolve, what about the child behind you?"
"You clearly know this is my Dao field, yet you broke in with such severe injuries."
"Being so reckless, it must be to save the common people, right?"
The man looked back at Zhou Yan, seeing him utterly exhausted. Zhou Yan also saw his face, seeing the fatigue from battle, as if he hadn't rested in a long time, but even more so, a spiritual exhaustion.
The man's face had cold, hard lines. Finally, he said, "…What do you want?"
Qing Ming Fangzhu said unhurriedly,
"One of your arms, one of your eyes, and your archery skills."
"You know my name, so you should know my cultivation. This place values fair trade."
Zhou Yan saw the man look at Qing Ming Fangzhu, then say, "Alright."
He plunged his saber into the ground, then turned around, his cloak swirling. He reached out with his other hand and covered Zhou Yan's eyes, saying softly, "It is a great Yao Race member with successful cultivation. Its Fang City follows the principle of trade."
"Don't be afraid."
Zhou Yan felt the man's body let out a muffled groan, and then warm blood fell on his face, slowly trickling down. The smell of rust filled his nose. Zhou Yan's pupils contracted, and then came the man's voice, saying, "Is that enough?"
Qing Ming Fangzhu smiled slightly, "…Alright, go."
Zhou Yan realized what was happening. He wanted to open his eyes, but the man gently covered them, whispering, "Don't look, go."
His strength was still immense. Not to mention Zhou Yan was already utterly exhausted, even if he were perfectly fine, he couldn't resist the man's strength and was led out.
The man, one big and one small, the two men walked out like that.
The Yao Race members did not stop them, allowing them to leave.
A young man gracefully walked out from among the Yao Race members and said,
"Fangzhu, you didn't kill them?"
The beautiful woman's body swayed, then her entire body glowed, and with a rumble, the earth shook. Then the entire ground cracked open, and a giant beast slowly rose.
Even so, most of its body remained below, with less than one-tenth exposed above ground.
That manor was on the scales of the giant beast's neck.
And behind the manor, faintly, there were continuous buildings, hidden by a layer of dark clouds. The giant beast looked majestic, and a fleshy tube extended from behind the beauty to the giant beast's body.
This beauty, who was so charming in every expression, was actually just an organ of this giant beast.
The young man was also looking at this giant beast.
This was the Great Yao Race member, 【Qing Ming Fangzhu】.
But Fangzhu still spoke in the beauty's identity, not mentioning the anomaly she had felt, just saying languidly, "I value fairness. They paid the price, so let them go."
"Besides, that man… killing him would cause trouble."
Trouble?
Zhu Zicheng, the godson of Zhi Niang, Aunt Three, raised his eyebrows.
"Speaking of this man, he actually willing to pay such a price for a stranger?!"
Qing Ming Fangzhu said, "He probably committed the biggest mistake in his life. When he was at his lowest, he could only do good deeds to maintain his state of mind from collapsing and to comfort himself."
"People are always like that."
"As for what mistake."
Qing Ming Fangzhu reached out and beckoned—next to the severed arm, there was also a waist token, enveloped in a layer of green light, which flew into Qing Ming Fangzhu's palm. He looked at the waist token, his eyes solemn.
Then he threw the waist token into the young man's hand and said, "You see for yourself."
Zhu Zicheng was initially indifferent, but after a glance, his expression changed dramatically:
"What?!"
"He, they…"
He slowly raised his head and said, "I thought he was just a random soldier, but, they… weren't they almost completely wiped out north of Xiangji Temple?! Could it be a mistake?"
Qing Ming Fangzhu said faintly, "He is from Chang'an."
The waist token was very ancient. One side bore the large characters 【Anren Army Shen Cangming】.
The other side had an imposing character.
【Tang】
Zhu Zicheng said, "The Anren Army, that Border Army unit stationed by the Great Tang to guard the border? It seems that some of the last Anren Army were also swept into the An-Shi rebel army, believing they were saving the Great Tang, yet they fought a bloody battle against the Great Tang's Central Army."
Qing Ming Fangzhu said languidly:
"Are you referring to the Great Tang's Central Army, mixed with nearly half of the Western Regions and Uyghur troops?"
Zhu Zicheng merely said, "He is from the Anren Army."
"From Chang'an."
"Is it true that he survived that battlefield, north of Xiangji Temple?"
Zhu Zicheng repeatedly confirmed the waist token:
"He is a cavalry commander of the Anren Army."
"The Central Plains Border Army that exchanged fire with Tibetan cavalry and did not retreat for thirty-eight years."
Qing Ming Fangzhu picked up the waist token and whispered,
"The last elite of the Great Tang?"
She released the waist token, and the bronze waist token fell downwards, landing on the ground of the Yao Race Fang City, making a soft clink. The character 'Tang' thus fell into the blood and filth, creating ripples that spread out in circles.
【Gengzi, all armies moved out; Renchen, they arrived west of Chang'an City, arrayed north of Xiangji Temple and east of the Li River. Li Siye was the vanguard, Guo Ziyi was the central army, and Wang Sili was the rear army. The bandit army of 100,000 was arrayed to their north…】
【From noon until dusk, 60,000 heads were taken, and the bandits were utterly routed.】
——《Zizhi Tongjian·Tang Ji·Thirty-six》