Chapter 9: The Peerless Warrior Zuo'an — Section 13: Storm in the Zhou Capital (Part One)

Section 13 — Storm over Zhou Capital (I)

“I heard Zuoban Luobi doesn’t want any spoils from the Zhou campaign. Could he have some other aim?” Shaoyuan asked, then mused to himself, “If not wealth, does he want fame? Or women? Or something else?”

“There is an old friend of mine in the Zhou capital. I only want to rescue him. His identity is rather unusual, and for that I’m willing to give up all profit.”

Shaoyuan nodded repeatedly. “Zuoban Luobi truly is a good man.”

Bu Jingxian was caught between laughter and tears. He hadn’t expected that even after serving as Luobi for so long, Shaoyuan’s disposition would remain much the same as before. He noticed that on Shaoyuan’s table lay a black round stone, utterly ordinary in appearance, and at first he paid it no attention. When they had eaten and drunk, Shaoyuan picked up the black stone and held it in his hand. A faint red light glimmered over his left arm—clearly he was cultivating his inner arts by the method Bu Jingxian had taught him all those years ago.

But at that very moment, the black stone in Shaoyuan’s grip suddenly took on a layer of red glow. Bu Jingxian distinctly saw that the energy-light of Shaoyuan’s Soul Decision technique seemed to resonate with the black stone. Every time the energy flowed into the stone and then back into the left arm’s meridians, its power multiplied severalfold!

“What treasure is this, to be so formidable? Doesn’t it make cultivation with Soul Decision twice as effective with half the effort?” Bu Jingxian marveled inwardly, and could not help staring carefully at the black stone in Shaoyuan’s hand.

“Does Zuoban Luobi also fancy this stone?” Shaoyuan said, stepping down and handing the black stone to Bu Jingxian. The latter took it in hand, secretly channeling the Soul Decision’s energy to test it. Indeed, when the Soul Decision energy entered the black stone and emerged again, it increased many times over! “No wonder Shaoyuan progressed so swiftly in Soul Decision!”

“What treasure is this?”

Shaoyuan grinned. “I found it while playing in the Long River on the way back from North Spirit Mountain. Holding it during practice turned out to be very helpful.”

Bu Jingxian was both astonished and envious. He realized that the master of a treasure was indeed decided by fate long before—such an unremarkable object had lain buried beneath the Long River for who knows how many years, yet it had to be Shaoyuan, with his love of black, who discovered it.

“Could Shaoyuan’s mighty martial reputation come from using this black stone to break through the seals? That my own chief disciple should become one of the great obstacles to defeating the Great Luobi in the future—what irony…” For a moment, Bu Jingxian felt that fate was playing tricks on him.

When the appointed time arrived, the Black Wolf tribe’s five hundred thousand troops crossed the river and assembled. Scouts saw that on the moonlit walls of the Zhou capital, silhouettes thronged thickly and the guards had doubled, so they hurried back to report that the King of Zheng had indeed arrived—the defenders on the walls were twice as numerous as before.

The Great Luobi was overjoyed and gave the order to attack.

The army divided into four routes, surrounding the Zhou capital so tightly that not even water could leak through.

Bu Jingxian led a hundred and fifty thousand troops against the north gate. From afar he saw countless figures on the walls and was inwardly puzzled. He assumed the King of Zheng would rather sacrifice great numbers of soldiers to make his deception seem real. But when he drew closer, he saw that the figures on the walls stood as still as wooden posts, making no movement at all. Only then did he realize they were all dummies!

“Ghost-Fearing! Heed my command: attack the walls immediately, no need to set up siege engines! Zhao Ji, heed my command: lead troops over the walls and open the gates! Zhao Tian, heed my command: once the gates open, lead fifty thousand men straight to the imperial palace—do not set one step inside, and allow no one in or out…”

Ghost-Fearing’s men pushed scaling ladders and climbed swiftly. Zhao Ji’s suicide squad hurled grappling hooks, clambered rapidly up the walls, and shouted, “They’re all dummies!” before sliding back down with their hooks and opening the gates from within. Zhao Tian’s fifty thousand elite cavalry galloped straight toward the imperial palace.

After entering the city, Bu Jingxian ordered men to search everywhere for anything flammable. In a moment, someone reported that dry hay was piled everywhere. His heart sank—he had not imagined the Zheng army would be even more vicious than he expected.

“Sound the gong to withdraw Zhao Tian. All of you, wait outside the city. Ghost-Fearing, quickly take men to warn the Great Luobi that the Zheng army has laid a cunning scheme and means to burn the city!”

So saying, Bu Jingxian asked the soldiers for several dozen waterskins and hung them on his horse. He rode alone into the city, and relying on the diagrams of the Zhou capital drawn in Ao Pan’s letter, he quickly found the imperial city. On the way he met Zhao Tian retreating, and without time to explain, only told him to withdraw.

The gates of the imperial city were tightly shut. As Bu Jingxian was about to smash them open by force, Zhao Ji actually caught up with him and handed him a grappling hook. The two of them swung it onto the wall, climbed over, and crossed.

“Why did you not obey orders!”

“I dare not defy the Luobi’s command, nor dare I defy the priest’s command. If I am punished by military law because of this, Zhao Ji has no complaint!”

Bu Jingxian knew at once that Baimoon had instructed them to protect him. No sooner had they crossed the wall and opened the gates to let the horses in than he heard Zhao Tian’s shout behind him—sure enough, he too had come.

They galloped toward the imperial palace while taking stock of the situation inside the imperial city.

Not a single person was to be seen in the palace, but dry hay and tattered cloth were piled everywhere. The buildings all had oil poured over them.

Every great hall, house, and courtyard had its doors tightly shut. Bu Jingxian feared Ao Pan had already fallen victim!

“Split up and search for the Son of Heaven of Zhou. Take some waterskins, and if a great fire breaks out, douse your clothes, hair, and mounts. When you find him, whistle to pass the message.”

With these orders, Bu Jingxian halted his horse in the palace square, pondering where the emperor would be most likely hidden, and deducing how the Zheng officers obeying their orders would act. After a moment, he spurred his horse straight to the imperial audience hall.

The hall doors were indeed locked. He dismounted and kicked them open. Inside there was indeed a large crowd, who all burst into cries and shouting for help when they saw him.

The golden dragon throne was gone. Ao Pan, dressed in a dragon robe, sat slumped helplessly against the wall, holding in his arms a woman in a phoenix robe. He raised his face, saw who it was, and wept for joy.

“You’ve finally come…”

Bu Jingxian let out a long whistle to signal the others, then helped Ao Pan mount his horse. There had been several dozen people in the hall, evidently civil and military officials of the Zhou capital, and each scrambled desperately to flee through the doorway. Bu Jingxian told them to leave the palace by the west gate and exit the city through the north gate. After helping Ao Pan onto the horse, he saw the emperor still gazing at the phoenix-robed woman, who remained in the hall too weak to walk—the one he had been holding.

“Your Majesty, go now! Don’t mind me. Zhou cannot be without Your Majesty…”

Ao Pan’s eyes brimmed with tears. He was about to beg when he saw the siblings Zhao arrive, and his face lit with joy.

Bu Jingxian had Zhao Ji lift the Queen of Zhou onto her own horse to ride together, and he too mounted up. As he was about to leave, he suddenly remembered something important and asked Ao Pan, “Did the Zheng army seize the imperial seal?”

Ao Pan quickly said, “I hid it beneath the fake rock in the imperial garden.”

Bu Jingxian hurriedly told Zhao Tian to escort Ao Pan out of the city, then exchanged mounts for Zhao Tian’s horse and galloped straight to the imperial garden.

Without the imperial seal, even the Son of Heaven was as good as useless.

He searched for a long while before entering the imperial garden, but it was full of rockeries and lake scenes. He searched one place after another for a long time without finding the seal. Gradually he heard the sounds of soldiers and horses, and soon cries and wailing rose everywhere in the imperial city. He guessed the Black Wolf army had burst into the imperial city and was plundering and ravaging throughout. Fearing a great fire would soon break out, he hastily drenched Zhao Tian’s horse with water.

When he had entered the city, he had considered whether to inform the Great Luobi of the city’s deadly scheme. But he reasoned that the Duskcloud tribe was not yet strong enough to dominate the others. If the Great Luobi were burned to death now, the Black Wolf tribe would fall into chaos, and if the Zheng army attacked then, the situation would be extremely dangerous. Yet if the men of the other Luobi were burned to death in great numbers, that would do him no harm and only bring benefit. Hearing the sounds of looting, he reckoned that those Luobi forces would surely suffer heavy casualties this time.

Meanwhile, on a hill ten li south of the Zhou capital, large numbers of Zheng troops waiting in reserve fitted crossbow bolts to their bows and set the heads aflame. At the commanding general’s shout, a volley of more than a thousand fire arrows soared high into the sky, then arced down upon the Zhou capital. Before that volley landed, another rose after it.