Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan

Book 61 Chapter 11 – Grasping the Initiative Again

Xu Ziling sat down quietly on the edge of his bed, he watched attentively at the floating-in-like-a-ghost-or-a-demon Wanwan without saying anything. The latter, with smile on her flowery countenance, gentle and soft demeanor, sat down by his side. She spoke softly, “Shi Feixuan is gone! Is Ziling heart-broken?”

Xu Ziling was a little afraid that she was this close, because Wanwan had deep knowledge of the ins and outs of his Long-Life Qi. If she did not have good intentions in her bosom, with her already-reached-the-pinnacle Tianmo Da Fa, she could bring about hard-to-fathom harm to him. After seeing with his own eyes that she was hiding from them that she was having a secret meeting with Shi Zhixuan, he could no longer trust her. Moreover, she had always avoided him; now she suddenly appeared, definitely things were not usual.

Rising to his full height, he stepped over to the window sill and cast his gaze to the beautiful scenery of the garden outside. He spoke indifferently, “Why do you say such thing?” The answer immediately rose in his heart. Wanwan wanted to disturb his mind; this deduction has given him a big shock.

Like a shadow following the body, she walked behind him, exhaling her breath that smelled like orchid, and spoke faintly, “Just consider Wan’er wrong, all right? I invoked the wound in Ziling’s heart! Fortunately, Ziling is still not worried about loneliness, because Shi Qingxuan is here!”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “Did you come to see me just to say these words?”

The tone of Wanwan’s voice became even more tranquil, she said, “Ziling doesn’t want to hear it, I won’t mention it again! I heard that Song Que and Yue Shan had a duel, and both sides suffered. Unexpectedly Yue Shan can injure Song Que? It’s really hard to believe, can you confirm whether it is true?”

Xu Ziling’s heart was severely shaken, but on the surface he did not reveal the slightest bit of trace. He intuitively felt that how he answered the question, the implications would be profound. If he wanted to convince Wanwan that she could still successfully pull him and Kou Zhong to her side, he should not lie about this matter. This way, whatever else he told her, Wanwan would believe firmly without any doubt. He spoke slowly, “The one injuring Song Que was not Yue Shan at all, but Ning Daoqi.”

Even with her calm, cool-headed demeanor, Wanwan still could not stop her tender body from trembling slightly. “Ning Daoqi?” she blurted out.

Xu Ziling said, “They fought their decisive battle at the Jingnian Chanyuan, and indeed both sides suffered. Song Que did not want to die in such a way that someone else also perished, therefore, out of the nine saber strikes agreement, there was still the last saber strike left. In accordance with their agreement, Song Que returned to Lingnan, no longer care about the things of the world. Otherwise, where did the idea of forming an alliance come from? Furthermore, we could not possible tarry here.”

Wanwan spoke in displeasure, “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Remaining tranquil, Xu Ziling replied, “You should understand the reason. The less people know about this matter, the better. But since you have inquired, I had no choice but to tell you the truth.”

Wanwan said, “Although the news of Song – Yue’s duel is not completely in line with the facts, it has already reached Li Yuan’s ears. What plan do you guys have?

Xu Ziling already had the answer prepared, he replied calmly, “Kou Zhong’s patience with Li Yuan is running out. Had Bi Xuan not led his group to leave, he would have brushed his sleeves and left the city tonight, but if Li Yuan still doesn’t make a decision tomorrow, we will not be sitting here and waiting for death.”

He went on in low voice, “If we had not had prior engagement with Fu Cailin, I’m afraid we wouldn’t have waited until tonight.”

Wanwan said, “Aren’t you guys going to help Li Shimin ascend to the imperial throne? Why are you planning to leave again?”

Xu Ziling secretly applied the Bu Si Yin Fa; without Wanwan being able to detect, he entered a state of high alert, because he regarded Wanwan as another Zhu Yuyan, in order to revive the demonic school, she would commit all manner of crimes, stopping at nothing.

Smiling wryly, he said, “In the current situation, other than that what else can we do? Liao Kong made his position clear to Kou Zhong. If we choose to leave, he will definitely not blame us. Therefore, rather than staying here and waiting for death together with him, if the alliance breaks down, there will be a sliver of chance for Li Shimin instead, when the allied armies go down south, Jiancheng and Yuanji will repeatedly suffer defeat, Li Yuan will have no choice but to reinstate Li Shimin. At that time, we still have the possibility of success.”

Wanwan spoke indifferently, “Do you think Li Shimin’s little life can remain until that moment?”

Xu Ziling replied, “That will be up to Laotianye to decide. This time Kou Zhong was willing to come to Chang’an, mostly it was to facilitate me, Xu Ziling. How could I have the heart to let him risk his life by staying here in danger while doing this meaningless thing? Besides, under these circumstances, Li Yuan would not dare to deal with Li Shimin, not only he will make the army’s heart unstable, but he will also make various generals connected to Tian Ce Fu outside the Pass [Guanwai] to throw their lot with Kou Zhong. With us leaving, it will protect his life instead.”

Wanwan was silent for half a day, and then spoke serenely, “You guys are really completely without any plan to fight back?”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “To be honest, until just now, we still had delusion toward Li Yuan. It was only when Mei Xun came to ask about Song Que at Fu Ju Lou earlier that we knew that this matter had spread, we could no longer rely on it; only then did we decide to wait another day at most. Kou Zhong is not here at the moment, because he wants to inform Qin Wang of our decision. I have exhausted mental and physical efforts for Feixuan, but unfortunately the circumstances do not work out, she should understand my difficulties.”

Wanwan fell silent again.

Xu Ziling was on full alert.

Wanwan called softly, “Ziling!”

Xu Ziling pretended to think of Shi Feixuan; absentminded, he said, “What is it?”

Wanwan spoke softly, “I want you to remember, in the world, you are the only man who can make my heart move.”

Xu Ziling felt Wanwan’s pair of palms pressing against the vital acupoints on his back, Tianmo energy flared out.

Zhou Laotan spoke softly, “Don’t believe that yaonu [lit. demonic woman; beautiful woman, witch]!”

Kou Zhong immediately understood, Zhou Laotan and Jin Huanzhen were still the same Zhou Laotan and Jin Huanzhen, they were still everything-for-self-and-selfish-profit [idiom], and not that they became kindness-must-be-repaid big good people. In the end, it was merely due to their carved-in-bones and engraved-in-the-heart hatred toward Zhu Yuyan that they borrowed the paying-a-debt-of-gratitude name, to exploit him, Kou Zhong to take revenge for them. One thing he could be sure on was that under the demonic school conspiracy, the benefit they derived was not much. It was due to their style, which was if they could not obtain it, then they hoped that nobody could obtain it, much less their foe?

His heart was moved, he asked, “Did Wanwan restore her relationship with Zhao Deyan?”

Zhou Laotan and Jin Huanzhen could not hide their shocked expressions. Zhou Laotan only mentioned the word ‘yaonu’, two characters, Kou Zhong not only guessed it was Wanwan, but also pointed out that Wanwan and Zhao Deyan had put aside the animosity over the fight over the Demonic Emperor’s Relics, and once more joined hands to work together.

They didn’t know that Kou Zhong had already known that since Wanwan could cooperate with the ‘foe who killed her master’ Shi Zhixuan, naturally she would not have any problem to be villains-colluding-together with Zhao Deyan. The demonic school was about relentless abandonment of righteousness. In the major premise of revitalizing the demonic school, no one or nothing could not be sacrificed.

Examining the spirit observing the countenance, Kou Zhong knew that his words had a miraculous effect. The two people were forced not to dare to hide it, because they were unclear how much inside story Kou Zhong knew.

Pretending to gain a sudden understanding, Jin Huanzhen said, “So Shaoshuai already had the heart to guard against that yaonu.”

Deploying another wonder troops, Kou Zhong asked, “Tell me first, how do you want me, Kou Zhong to help you.”

Zhou Laotan did not dare to hesitate, he said, “We are unable to leave the city. Yin Zuwen, that son of a bitch [lit. raised by mother dog] has done tricks on us. Even if we manage to escape successfully outside the city, in the end it will be difficult to flee that yaonu chasing to kill us.”

Frowning, Kou Zhong asked, “What trick?”

Smiling wryly, Jin Huanzhen replied, “It’s the ‘Qian Li Suo Hun’ [searching/locking the soul for a thousand li], one of the Seven Strange [or unusual] Techniques of the Mie Qing Dao [Extinguishing Feeling (or Destroying Love) Way]. Yin Zuwen injected the toxins extracted from Sou Hun [same characters as above] Grass into our bodies, causing us to continuously emit a unique scent within a hundred days. The enemy can easily track us.”

Puzzled, Kou Zhong asked, “Since they don’t trust you, why not just kill you?”

Zhou Laotan said, “Because we still have our worth of being useful; more importantly, only these ignorant husband and wife remaining of the Tian Xie Zong [heavenly demonic/heretic school, I think previously it was Tian Xie Dao (Way)]. If they kill us, the ‘Dao Xin Zhong Mo Da Fa’ [lit. great demonic cultivation method of the heart of the way, see Book 20 Chapter 10] will be like scattering clouds, disappearing smoke – with us. Therefore, although Wanwan and Zhao Deyan are suspicious of us, they still have to give us a little sweet taste [benefit], to let us tell the secret of ‘Dao Xin Zhong Mo Da Fa’ willingly.”

Jin Huanzhen spoke sternly, “But how could we endure this kind of humiliation?”

Kou Zhong understood, he sniffed a few times, knitting his brows, he said, “How come I don’t smell any strange scent?”

Zhou Laotan said, “Try silently observe the zhuntou and renzhong, two acupoints.”

Kou Zhong did as he was told, he nodded and said, “Not only I can smell the strange scent coming from you, but also smelled the same scent permeating the whole house. The secret art of the demonic school indeed more and more emerges.”

Jin Huanzhen said, “Shaoshuai may be wondering why since Yin Zuwen and the others do not trust us, yet they are still willing to let us participate in their affairs.”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “I will listen with respectful attention.”

Zhou Laotan spoke in heavy voice, “The reason is very simple, because we have always had a close relationship with Zhao Deyan, so Zhao Deyan placed us in Chang’an, in the name of helping him, but in reality it is to keep a close watch over Yin Zuwen and others, in order to protect Zhao Deyan’s safety and interests.”

Jin Huanzhen said angrily, “Yet Zhao Deyan unexpectedly allowed Yin Zuwen to use that technique on us, so any close friendship we have toward him has been obliterated completely.”

Kou Zhong said, “I understand! This whatever his Niang’s ‘Qian Li Suo Hun’ is indeed extremely sinister. Although I have a way to get you out of the city, I am unable to find a solution to this technique.”

Zhou Laotan chuckled evilly and said, “Yin Zuwen underestimated us, husband and wife too much, or I should say that he underestimated our Xianshi [late master] too much. Xianshi had extensive mastery of all kinds of techniques of the demonic school, he had already researched how to break this technique, only too bad our power is not up to par, if Shaoshuai is willing to help, breaking it will be as easy as a hand’s turn.”

Laughing aloud, Kou Zhong said, “Deal! Quickly say something useful to coax me. Remember to be honest, I, Kou Zhong, am by no means easy to deceive.”

Wanwan’s extremely yin and soft true qi directly destroyed Xu Ziling’s heart meridian, but its energy path and severity were completely in Xu Ziling’s control, however, if he had not learned the Bu Si Yin Fa, he would definitely not dare to take such a strange risk. He was willing to take this Wanwan’s blow, because he wanted to show his trust in Wanwan, using himself to face the danger to make Wanwan completely believe every word he just said. Even more important was that he made Wanwan mistakenly thought that he was seriously injured, and then demonic school would instigate Jiancheng, Yuanji and even Li Yuan, in misjudging his side’s situation – to rush to make their move.

As expected, because Wanwan was afraid that he would sense the strike one step ahead, she did not send out her energy until the true power really pressed on his back, however, the power she could sent out was only about 20-30% of her strength.

Naturally this strike was no small matter; without the freedom to act independently, Xu Ziling fell forward, he seized the opportunity to crash through the window and fell to the corridor outside the window, and rolled toward the lawn.

The extreme of life is death, and the extreme of death is life.

Originally, the qi and blood in Xu Ziling’s entire body were surging over, he saw stars, and his heart meridian was about to burst, but Bu Si Yin Fa was fully deployed, suddenly his whole body was empty and fluttering, Wanwan’s stream of true qi bursting his heart to split was diluted by the qi within his body, in an instant, it was expelled out of his body at a high speed, and the next moment, the innate qi pierced through the crown of his head and passed through to his feet.

At this moment, Wanwan flew overhead, she cried out in distress, “Ziling, don’t blame me, this is Xianshi’s [late master] final wish [of the departed].”

Both palms struck down.

Xu Ziling pressed the ground with one palm, he flew across to evade, narrowly escaped Wanwan’s full-strength strike that even the Bu Si Yin Fa would be unable to neutralize. At the same time he broke away from Wanwan’s highly concentrated Tianmo Field.

Xu Ziling forced himself to spurt out a mouthful of blood, pressed his palm to the ground again, sprang up midair, and escaped toward the main building.

Wanwan was about to chase after him, two figures swept over, one of them was Hou Xibai. Wanwan flashed away and disappeared.

Hou Xibai grabbed Xu Ziling in his arms, he spoke with great alarm, “Ziling, did you fall into her plot?”

Seeing Xu Ziling’s bloodless face, close-to-death terrifying look, Ma Chang was at a loss to know what to do, his mind was in chaos.

Xu Ziling closed his pair of eyes, his face gradually turned rosy, he let out a sigh of relief and said, “Has she gone?”

Soon after he straightened his tiger-body and said with a smile, “Don’t worry, have you forgotten that I am another Shi Zhixuan?”

Kou Zhong returned to Xing Qing Palace and immediately went up to the top floor of the Shuang Hui Lou to see Xu Ziling, Hou Xibai and Ma Chang. He laughed and said, “Can you guess who I met?”

The Chang’an City map supplied by Li Shimin was spread out on the table. Hou Xibai waited for Kou Zhong to sit down, he also laughed and said, “Can you guess who Ziling met?”

Stunned, Kou Zhong asked, “Who?”

Xu Ziling narrated Wanwan suddenly attacked murderously, in conclusion, he said, “Tonight at the earliest, and tomorrow at the latest, Li Yuan will definitely deal with us.”

Greatly delighted, Kou Zhong said, “Ziling is awesome, Li kid and I were worried about when the other side would be willing to make their move, now naturally all our worries are gone. His Niang’s, in the world, only Ziling, one person has the ability to deceive Wanwan. Your story is of course superb, but my gain is not lacking much either.”

Thereupon he told the story of Zhou Laotan and Jin Huanzhen. Afterwards he said, “Under Yin Zuwen’s vigorous instigation, the demonic school’s two sects and six ways headed by Shi Zhixuan, Wanwan and Zhao Deyan have finally united and tried hard to dominate the world. Yin Gui Pai re-confirmed Wanwan as Zhu Yuyan’s successor, the demonic school is now united as never before, and has drawn up a comprehensive plan to take over the world.”

Xu Ziling said, “In such a situation, what role will Yang Xuyan play?”

Kou Zhong said, “He is not regarded as a demonic school people, only he has his worth of being useful to them, to influence Li Yuanji through him, nothing more. Their wishful thinking is to kill Li kid and us first, and then use Bai Qing’er unleashing the honey trap [sexual entrapment], relying on the demonic school’s secret method to kill Li Yuan. The next step was to instigate Jiancheng and Yuanji, two big idiots to fight for the throne and create internal strife. Due to Yuanji’s title was illegitimately conferred, he would have no choice but to ask for the demonic school’s help. The demonic school could thus enter by exploiting a weak spot, and took control over Jiancheng and Yuanji instead. At that time, the allied armies will go down south straight to pounce on Chang’an. Jiancheng and Yuanji being no match for them, they had no choice but to abandon Chang’an and escape. Yang Xuyan, by virtue of his identity as Yang Yong’s orphan, could take over Chang’an and restore the Great Sui with the full support of Xieli. This really is not an impossible case.”

Frowning, Ma Chang said, “Naturally the demonic school will not allow Yang Xuyan to really be the emperor, so who will be the emperor?”

Kou Zhong said, “We must first analyze the situation. Although Xieli has the strength to go on the rampage in the Central Plains, to rule the land by force as the king, it is still beyond his reach; without any better option, he will have to follow Zhao Deyan’s proposal to support a puppet emperor. This person is Yang Xuyan, who will raise the old Sui’s military banner. Supposing I was buried in Chang’an, the Shao Shuai Army would certainly be utterly defeated, unable to withstand Xieli’s invasion to the east of the Pass [Guandong]. Lin Shihong from the south, together with Xiao Xian, will go all out to control the Song Family’s army. Due to my father-in-law cannot go on military expedition, he could only sit and watch the allied armies beyond the Great Wall ravaging the North. And Liang Shidu’s waiting-with-stored-up-momentum army will go down south from Taiyuan, attack cities and occupy lands, to nibble away at the Great Tang. Can you imagine the awful circumstance in which the whole country is in rebellion and people are in terrible situation?”

After a short pause, he continued, “Let Yang Xuyan have a taste of what it is like to be an emperor, it is merely a plan of convenience. The person Xieli set his heart on is Liang Shidu, because he not only has blood relationship with Tujue people, he could be considered half a Tujue, he also has Zhao Deyan’s full support, because his real secret identity is Zhao Deyan’s Shidi [younger martial brother], the two men’s master was Zhangsun Sheng, hence they drew up a plan that when Yang Xuyan loses his value of being useful, Liang Shidu will replace him. However, according to Zhou Laotan, husband and wife’s view, Wanwan and Shi Zhixuan are deeply aware that relying on the Tujue people’s power, it will be very difficult to obtain the world’s approval, however, in order to stabilize Xieli and Zhao Deyan, they temporarily pretend to agree, and their ideal candidate is Lin Shihong. If they could eliminate the Song Family and Xiao Xian, one day, Lin Shihong would be able to unify the south and the north.”

Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, “Could it be that this is the so-called Wanwan’s grand plan to accomplish Zhu Yuyan’s last wish? But at that time, she was still suffering enough from the demonic school’s various factions’ rejection.”

Kou Zhong said, “I don’t care about his Niang! Now the most important thing for us is to find Li kid. We all sit down and face the city map and come up with the entire succeed or die trying grand plan of the uprising. Let’s suppose that Li Yuan is going to make his move before we go to see Shigong tonight, what do we do?”

Xu Ziling shook his head and said, “If I were Li Yuan, I would definitely not personally intervene in this matter, rather, I would acquiesce Jiancheng and Yuanji to proceed with the help of Tujue martial art masters such as Bi Xuan and the others, then it would be hard for anyone to blame him afterwards. He can also pretend to punish the two sons to quell public anger, therefore, he will not let things happen inside the Taiji Palace.”

Kou Zhong nodded and said, “You’re still more clear-headed, I was just too excited. How about I go alone to see Shigong tonight?”

Xu Ziling said, “Since I’m ‘severely injured’, naturally I can’t go to the meeting. Lao Ba should also stay and protect me. Let Xiao Hou accompany you! He can ease the tension between you and Shigong.”

Shaking his head, Kou Zhong said, “It’s still not right. The enemy’s martial art masters are as numerous as a cloud, leaving only Lao Ba, one person, even if you add Xuanshu and thirty brothers, your strength is still not enough. It will make people suspect whether you are really injured.”

Hou Xibai said, “In that case, I might as well go alone to explain to Shigong, to change the appointment to tomorrow night. This way, it will be one move, two gains even more. His Yijian Technique is really not a joking matter.”

Xu Ziling said, “This can still be considered a feasible plan, let’s do this. Xibai does not need to see Shigong, as soon as you enter the palace, let Yu Yi inform Shigong, that should do.”

Hou Xibai stood up cheerfully and said, “I’ll go immediately!”

Footsteps were heard on the stairs, Wang Xuanshu hurried over and said, “Feng Daren is here to speak on Li Yuan’s behalf!”

Immediately Kou Zhong’s spirit was greatly aroused, he slapped the table and said with a laugh, “Just like Li kid and I expected, Li Yuan finally gives his nod to the alliance.”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling and the others were perplexed.

Kou Zhong cheerfully said, “The time we completely lose our wariness is the time the enemy will make their move. This is called attacking when we are being unprepared. Ha! All problems will be like bamboo splits when it meets the knife’s edge, we can grasp the most suitable fortunate time for the uprising to act and give Huangshang a nice surprise.”

Turning to the bewildered Wang Xuanshu, he said, “Why haven’t you immediately invite Feng Daren to come up?”

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