Chapter 53: 'Miss' Ying

Who on earth had decided to join this party?

At first, Li Sheng thought that he'd misheard due to the ringing in his ears. While he was still standing there in a slight daze, he saw Chief Yang come scampering hastily back towards him, in a complete reversal of his thunderous advance towards the exit. Yang Jin's face had turned an ashen grey, and he seemed completely oblivious to the oozing arrow wound on his shoulder as he said tremulously: "Why are there so many snakes over there!"

Li Sheng: "…"

He'd showed no fear before tens of thousands of soldiers, yet was cowed by a handful of snakes – Chief Yang really was the oddest fellow.

Yang Jin said with complete seriousness: "I think, for our safety, shouldn't we retreat and find another way out of here?"

Li Sheng said: "There are too many enemy soldiers, and they've already started to close in on us. I'm not even sure if a retreat is possible. Now that you're here, make yourself useful and help me fend off these soldiers."

As long as Yang Jin didn't have to come face to face with any terrifying snakes, he would have readily gone forth even if someone had asked him to storm the Northern capital all by himself. At Li Sheng's request, Chief Yang promptly charged towards the horde of Northern soldiers behind Li Sheng, the Lone Goose Sabre slashing and hacking its mighty way through them. The refugees, who had started to despair as they were surrounded, quickly gathered round their newfound saviour.

The snake-fuelled frenzy had spread from the northwest corner of this valley. Still leaderless, confusion started to sweep through the tens of thousands of troops here when they heard those frantic shouts.

As the Jiangling region was hot and humid in the summer, its forests were indeed teeming with all kinds of snakes and critters. But most creatures were leery of humans, and rarely did they approach human settlements in large numbers. Moreover, the numerous armed soldiers here clearly gave off a menacing aura, and the flaming arrows they'd just fired had scorched nearly all of the grass in this valley, sending clouds of smoke billowing everywhere, with the fire still spreading…why would any snakes in their right mind choose to come here now?

Li Sheng found this extremely puzzling. Using as a shield one of the soldiers who he'd run through with his sword, he ducked left and right through the ranks of troops while wondering out loud: "What exactly is in that northwest corner?"

While he'd been talking to himself, he heard someone reply in a mournful voice: "My sister is there, all of them are locked up over there!"

Li Sheng flung the soldier's corpse over his shoulder, sending it right smack into several more soldiers who had crept up on him from behind. Turning to see who had spoken, he found that it was the teenage boy who had been the first to take up a weapon and charge out after him. This boy seemed to be having pretty good luck today at staying alive, and was fairly bright. He'd stayed close to Li Sheng all this way, and while there was a great deal of soot on his face, he was almost entirely unharmed.

Li Sheng said in astonishment: "What did you just say?"

This teenage boy had a thin, sallow-skinned face, and long, gangly limbs. His body seemed oddly elongated, as if it'd undergone a growth spurt that had faltered midway through, failing to reach his face, and was now frozen in this unfinished, half-child state.

At Li Sheng's question, the boy burst into tears: "They seized my sister…and…and the others…and locked them up in the northwest corner of this valley. I wanted to fight them, but the rest held me down, telling me not to create any trouble. They told me that in this world, human lives can be bought and sold for the price of a few steamed buns, so it's better that the women go with them, because at least they'd be fed, and alive. They told me not to make things difficult for her, and that my resistance would only hurt her…"

Li Sheng looked at the boy in silence, deflecting several arrows that came hurtling their way. He didn't know what to say to that.

When people lived peacefully in cities and villages, they were called 'peasant folk', or 'townsfolk' – they were recognised as humans. But once they were expelled from their homes and lands, they were reduced to mere chattel, and no one would care even if thousands of them died. No wonder those peasants near Yueyang, who they had encountered while travelling with Old Madam Wang all those years back, would rather stay in their dilapidated villages than move elsewhere.

However…since there was only a bunch of poor defenceless women over there, why were all of these soldiers so spooked? Those women couldn't possibly have turned into snakes, could they?

The situation in this valley was growing more unpredictable by the minute. The hundred or so refugees following Li Sheng and Yang Jin merged with the pandemonium spreading from the northwest region of this valley, and it seemed like the Northern troops were on the verge of losing control. War horns started to sound from all around, and several heavily armoured officers hurried to the main tent, stepping out from the crowd of watching soldiers. One of them, whose rank was indiscernible – but who clearly had the most guts – called out to Gu Tianxuan and Lu Yaoguang: "Your excellencies, we need to think of the bigger picture here – please, there's no need to waste your time with such lowly pugilists!"

His words made Gu Tianxuan start to sweat a little – while these officers learnt martial arts as part of their military training, they were nothing like real pugilists. They had mistaken this highly lethal duel with Zhou Fei, where a single wrong step could cost the two of them their lives, for them stubbornly persisting in this fight as a matter of pride. They were probably finding it quite strange that while such impetuous behaviour might be expected of Alkaid, Lord Merak was usually quite level-headed – what was up with him today?

Gu Tianxuan feinted to the side, in an attempt to draw Zhou Fei towards Lu Yaoguang.

But neither Zhou Fei nor Lu Yaoguang fell for this. Lu Yaoguang gave his sabre a swing that seemed to be directed at Zhou Fei – although the lethal wind it created was in fact aimed slyly at Gu Tianxuan. Refusing to engage, Zhou Fei simply spun away with steps guided by the Mayfly Formation. Her long sabre was imbued with the spirit and soul of the Snow-Breaking Sabre, yet also displayed the keen cunning of the Northern Blade's 'Slicing Water and Tangling Silk'. Her blade appeared to dart coyly around, yet seemed to be everywhere at once. If her opponents made just the tiniest of missteps, they could have their throats sliced open in a flash.

With each of them highly suspicious of the others, none were able to withdraw from this deadlock of a fight.

And while they fought on, Li Sheng had finally discovered the source of the mayhem – lo and behold, a group of women in tattered clothes had indeed come running over from the northwest corner of the valley!

All of these women had the wan and sallow complexions of the malnourished, and they were utterly unkempt – exactly how one might imagine refugees to look like. Yet there were bright splashes of colour at their necks and wrists, which Li Sheng soon realised weren't an extravagance of necklaces and bangles, but a variety of poisonous snakes both large and small!

These snakes seemed to have gained sentience, as not only did they show no fear despite the hordes of people and spreading flames, they were being extremely aggressive. If anyone other than these women came close to them, they would immediately rear their little triangular heads and angrily bare their fangs. In addition to those snakes coiled round the women's bodies, a similar variety of snakes were slithering on the ground around them, fierce as can be, as if they were duty bound to defend these women.

The two groups of refugees soon converged. Li Sheng heard the teenage boy beside him cry out "Sister!", before running madly towards the women. In his haste, the boy nearly stepped on a snake making its way through the grass. That sinuous critter reared nearly half of its body off the ground, and savagely opened its jaws wide to bite. Li Sheng quickly grabbed the boy by the back of his collar and dragged him to safety.

Upon seeing the boy, a young woman with a colourful python coiled round her exclaimed: "Xiaohu,[1] don't come near us, and don't step on the snakes! Keep a safe distance and follow the Snake Maiden!"

Li Sheng: "…the Snake Maiden?"

The shrill trilling of a flute could be heard coming from not too far away, and as it played on, even more snakes seemed to come slithering out from beneath the ground, forming a veritable stream of serpents that made one's skin crawl. They hissed menacingly as they advanced through the valley unchallenged. Squinting a little to get a clearer look, Li Sheng saw that the person playing the flute was tall and lanky, with a rather odd-looking hairdo that was a confused cross between that of a woman's and a girl's. This person was pale of face and fine of feature…and looked strangely familiar!

This seemed to be 'Doctor Poison' Ying Hecong, who Li Sheng had last seen in Yongzhou City more than three years ago!

Li Sheng called out: "Ying…" Standing there in amazement, he was nearly impaled by several Northern spears, managing to dodge these just in time. Finding it impossible to utter the words 'Brother Ying', he stammered: "Ying…erm, eh, you, have you been a girl all along?"

Well he'll be damned! Li Sheng was sure that he'd never seen a lady like this who could look so much like a man!

Ying Hecong glared darkly at him and said: "Say that again and you're dead meat!"

But once Ying Hecong spoke, Li Sheng felt like all was right with the world again, as while this voice wasn't exactly a booming baritone, it was fairly low, and didn't sound like it could belong to a woman at all. Xiaohu's sister seemed greatly surprised by this, and exclaimed: "Oh! Snake Maiden, I didn't know that you could talk!"

"Everyone shut up!" growled Ying Hecong, the veins at his temple bulging. "We need to leave now!"

Not only was the great and mighty Doctor Poison disguising himself amongst a bunch of refugees for some inexplicable reason, he'd even chosen to blend in with the women. And for fear of exposing his true identity, he'd pretended to be mute all this while!

This was just so bizarre.

But the dire straits they were presently in didn't afford Li Sheng the time to puzzle over this. He shouted: "Beware of the archers and cavalry – head for the main tent!"

The snakes wriggling all over the ground were simply too terrifying – while these two groups of refugees had now merged into one, neither side dared to get too close to the other. Ying Hecong reached into his pocket for a handful of something, which he sprinkled onto Li Sheng. Those slithering snakes steered clear of Li Sheng at once, treating him as one of their own.

When the women saw this, they quickly followed Ying Hecong's lead, sprinkling this snake-repelling powder on their friends and family. With this protection, all of them felt much more at ease – apart from the still-petrified Yang Jin.

Ying Hecong said: "While my snakes can help to clear the way for now, if they withdraw their troops and order the archers to fire more of those flaming arrows at us, there's nothing I can do. We'd better think of a plan…although why have they stopped firing? Have they run out of oil?"

Li Sheng said: "They're afraid of hitting their own men."

Outside the main tent, those two so-called 'commanders' were still refusing to get out of the way. The officers and soldiers surrounding them could only wring their hands and watch, while the archers above dared not fire into the valley.

Ying Hecong gave him a puzzled look, and was just about to ask more questions, when Li Sheng took a deep breath and shouted in a booming voice that echoed across the valley: "Zhou-Fei!"

Zhou Fei's ears twitched. While she didn't turn to look at him, she could roughly discern where Li Sheng was from the direction of his voice. Gripping the hilt of Skies Shatter tightly, she sent the Withered-Glory chi surging through her blade. This long sabre emitted a high-pitched whine that sounded almost exuberant, and seemed to glow under the dim torchlight.

And then she appeared to have lost her mind, as she turned away from Lu Yaoguang, risking a blow to her back from him, and thrust her sabre at Gu Tianxuan.

Which top pugilist of their level would have so willingly turned his back to an opponent, leaving it vulnerable? Lu Yaoguang immediately suspected a trap. And as Gu Tianxuan had been trying time and again to get his comrade to bear the brunt of Zhou Fei's blows, Lu Yaoguang secretly felt a little gleeful that Zhou Fei was targeting the treacherous fellow now.

These feelings of suspicion and glee caused Lu Yaoguang's movements to drag somewhat. And while he hesitated for the briefest of moments, Gu Tianxuan was forced to parry a whopping fourteen blows from Zhou Fei delivered in sudden and rapid succession.

The two of them were moving so fast that their motions were a blur even to themselves, till they were moving purely based on instinct. Unable to withstand this fierce onslaught, Gu Tianxuan's iron fan shattered on the spot, the jagged metal fragments covering his hand with bloody gashes. He gave a furious roar – and only then did Lu Yaoguang's much-delayed sabre reach Zhou Fei's shoulder.

Zhou Fei remained as unperturbed as ever, even though Alkaid of the Big Dipper had swung his sabre at her back – it was almost as if she'd forgotten that her body armour was now with Wu Chuchu instead. The very instant the tip of his blade grazed the fabric on her shoulder, she slid away from him with the steps of the Mayfly Formation. Gliding forward almost phantomlike, she thrust her sabre up at Gu Tianxuan's chin with unflinching precision.

Empty-handed now, and with one hand badly injured, Gu Tianxuan had no choice but to grit his teeth and reach his other hand out to grab the dull edge of Skies Shatter. Zhou Fei leapt away from his outstretched hand, also placing herself just out of reach of a second blow by Lu Yaoguang. She circled behind Gu Tianxuan, using him for cover.

As Gu Tianxuan had struck out at her sabre just now in desperation, he'd used maximum force, and so he couldn't retract his hand in time – he could feel the Snow-Breaking Sabre hovering at his throat already.

Gu Tianxuan stiffened in shock. Lu Yaoguang too was stunned. Even Li Sheng, who had fought his way towards the main tent with much difficulty, halted in his tracks –

Who would have thought that the fearsome Merak of the Big Dipper, who'd had the martial arts world at his feet all these years, would one day know the feeling of a blade pressed against his neck.

As Zhou Fei had been completely in the zone while battling the two of them, entirely absorbed in the duel, now that she came to a sudden stop it finally hit her that she'd already been pushed to her absolute limits. Her body finally crumbled – her limbs and senses seemed to realise belatedly that they had been overtaxed and overstretched, as cold sweat started to pour off her now, dehydrating her to such an extent that her lips started to crack.

But regardless of how awful she might look right now, it didn't change the fact that Skies Shatter was currently pressed against Gu Tianxuan's neck.

Zhou Fei's chest was still heaving violently, and there was a splitting pain at her temples, but she gritted her teeth and held on despite the discomfort, forcing her lips into a sneer: "Since you so insist on sending us on our way, your excellency, it'd be rude of us to refuse."

As she said this, Zhou Fei's free hand darted lightning quick across Gu Tianxuan's body, sealing his major pressure points. With her blade still pressed firmly against the side of his neck, she looked at Li Sheng from afar before bellowing: "Move!"

While tens of thousands of elite Northern troops were assembled in this valley, their commander had been taken hostage right in front of his tent. If word of this got out, every single soldier here would probably have to kill themselves in shame!

Zhou Fei said slowly and emphatically: "Make. Way."

The hordes of Northern soldiers here had no choice but to let them pass. Zhou Fei pushed Gu Tianxuan's rigid body forward. She took one step, which already felt like she was walking on a bed of knives – excruciating stabs of pain were shooting up her legs all the way to her abdomen. Discreetly drawing a deep breath, she managed a sneer of derision at Lu Yaoguang, before marching slowly away right under his dark gaze.

Looking at Zhou Fei in awe, the refugees and their snakes in tow followed her through the path that the Northern soldiers had cleared for them.

Zhou Fei was feeling thoroughly wretched right now. Her over-exertion of the Withered-Glory chi was starting to get to her, yet she couldn't show any of this in front of Gu Tianxuan. Trying her best to distract herself from the pain, she caught sight of the funnily-dressed Ying Hecong and stared at him curiously: "Why have you become a woman now?"

Ying Hecong: "…"

This girl and that offensive lad were most certainly related.

Looking over at those snake-adorned women, and then back at Ying Hecong, Zhou Fei seemed to understand what had happened: "Ah, so you've been with them all this while? Why did you come all the way here?"

"It's a long story," said Ying Hecong flatly. "I came on other business, but happened to get trapped in here with them. If you hadn't barged in like this today, I probably couldn't have broken these women out even if I had more snakes with me."

"Mm," Zhou Fei cut in tactlessly: "Of course – I know that you're hopeless at fighting. My oh my, Young – Master, I suppose – Ying? Or is it Miss? Eh, whatever it is – you do seem to need others' help with your work quite often, don't you?"

Ying Hecong's eyes started to twitch violently. A familiar-looking bright red snake poked its tiny head out from his collar, and savagely bared its fangs at Zhou Fei.

Li Sheng cut in: "Hey, hey, that's enough, Fei, don't tease…"

Li Sheng suddenly stopped mid-sentence. He was looking past Zhou Fei at the expansive valley behind her. As the grass and trees where the soldiers' arrows landed had turned to ash, the fire was starting to spread towards other parts of the valley, revealing the bare mountain rocks and soil beneath. From a distance…these seemed to take the shape of something quite familiar!

Li Sheng suspected that he might be hallucinating from extreme fatigue, and rubbed his eyes hard – on their way here, there had been straightforward symbols on the hidden signposts at every fork in the road, with easy-to-understand markings of 'in' and 'out' on them. But each of these had also been accompanied by a complex bagua diagram. While Li Sheng had merely given these a cursory glance at the time, since learning the Qimen Sect's tactical formations from Chong Yunzi he'd taken a keen interest in such things, and so he'd painstakingly copied down every single one of these annotated diagrams, intending to save them for future study.

And now, the longer he stared at those large patches of freshly scorched earth, the more they seemed to look like a section of those bagua diagrams!

Quickly scanning his surroundings, Li Sheng concluded that based on the dimensions of this newly exposed section of the diagram, then this entire valley was probably one gigantic bagua. If this was indeed the case, then who had constructed this valley? And what had it been constructed for?

Were the hapless refugees and the Northern troops aware of this valley's secret?

Shivers of excitement ran down his spine.

Li Sheng reached a hand into his pocket, to pull out the piece of paper which he'd copied the diagrams on.

Just then, there was a cry from somewhere beside him. Shaken out of his reverie, Li Sheng felt someone give his shoulder a hard shove. An iron arrow came hurtling through the air, to land right where he'd just been standing.

Ying Hecong, who had pushed him aside, yelled: "Watch out!"

Li Sheng looked up to see that the Northern troops in the valley had already regrouped into orderly contingents. Their archers were standing in neat rows with their bows poised, and had started to fire at them without regard for Gu Tianxuan's safety!

At a signal from Lu Yaoguang, hordes of Northern soldiers swarmed towards the entrance of the valley, blocking it off. The archers above readied their barrels of oil once more, and with a hiss, the first fiery arrow sparked into flame as it whizzed through the air, making a glowing arc against the gradually lightening sky. Even if Ying Hecong were able to pull a colossal dragon out of his hat right now, it still might not suffice to save them from the impending inferno.

Zhou Fei had opted to seize Gu Tianxuan precisely to prevent something like this from happening.

Because she knew that if she had taken Lu Yaoguang hostage instead, the sly old fox Gu Tianxuan wouldn't even have let her take three steps before firing on them, killing them both right then and there…however, while Lu Yaoguang was indeed an impetuous fool, he could be as ruthless as his partner.

Gu Tianxuan hadn't expected his comrade of so many years to stab him in the back like this. He was so mad that he could have gnashed his teeth in rage, yet with his pressure points sealed, he was unable to make a single sound. All he could do was stew in livid silence till he was purple in the face.

Those iron arrows rained down on them one after the other, causing the refugees to scatter in panic.

Seeing an arrow heading towards them, Zhou Fei reached out to yank Gu Tianxuan away. But just then, she felt pain constrict her chest, and choked on a mouthful of smoke, causing her to let him go as she stumbled to the side.

She heard a muffled thump beside her. Her eyes widened – that iron arrow had pierced Gu Tianxuan's abdomen.

He stood there stiff as a board, the veins at his neck bulging angrily, as though they wanted to burst through his skin in fury. There was a soft gurgle from his throat, and then blackish-purple blood came trickling out the corners of his lips and down his chin…he seemed to be on the verge of implosion, either from his wound or pure rage!

But Zhou Fei couldn't be bothered to worry about him at this point. Staggering away, she bumped into a middle-aged woman who was crouching on the ground, frozen in terror. Hauling the woman to her feet, she yelled: "Don't stay here, run!"

Zhou Fei had never been the kind of pugilist who wielded vast reserves of internal strength capable of toppling mountains with one blow, and moreover she was currently exhausted. She could forget about trying to repel these arrows with a powerful burst of chi. All she could do was swing her sabre about her in an attempt to deflect the arrows one by one, trying the best she could to shield these refugees. Glancing over her shoulder at where she'd been standing just now, she saw that those fiery arrows had already set the grass there ablaze. The flames were spreading with wild abandon, devouring anyone in their path.

Gu Tianxuan was standing ramrod straight amidst that sea of flames, numerous of his own soldiers' arrows now buried in his chest, abdomen, and all four of his limbs. The firelight cast flickering shadows of his proud figure on the surrounding mountain rocks.

He had once towered amongst men.

As there was nowhere in the valley to take cover, the fleeing refugees were forced to make for the trees lining both sides of it.

But how could this ragged bunch possibly outrun thousands of elite troops? The Northern soldiers had them surrounded in short order. They marched towards them from the periphery of this valley, just waiting for them to run right into their clutches. In his desperation, Li Sheng used a bit too much force to sweep aside yet another barrage of arrows, causing the heavy sword he'd been wielding to break upon impact. As he stumbled backwards, the piece of paper which had been halfway out of his pocket came loose, fluttering to the ground in the sharp night breeze.

A blazing arrow came hurtling past him, lighting up his surroundings bright as day and illuminating the paper's bagua diagram before Li Sheng's eyes. Another arrow pinned that diagram to the ground with a thump, setting the paper on fire instantly. Yang Jin yanked him back by his collar: "Don't just stand there!"

Li Sheng's gaze was glued to that piece of paper, which was rapidly turning to ash. In that moment, he suddenly saw the astounding connections between those tactical formations which Chong Yunzi had explained to him, almost as if he were describing a game, many years back in a little village outside Yueyang City; the one big bagua diagram that this valley constituted; the valley's maze-like entrance; as well as what the scorched earth here had revealed…

"I've got it!" Li Sheng abruptly broke free of Yang Jin's grasp. "I've got it!"

Yang Jin looked at him in bewilderment: "Ah?"

Li Sheng tore madly away: "Follow me!"

While nobody knew what he was planning to do, none had any better ideas. Moreover, he seemed extraordinarily sure of himself – so they decided to follow him.

They charged right at the ranks of Northern soldiers waiting for them at the periphery of this valley, like a suicide squad barrelling towards certain death.

Yang Jin declared with glee: "What are we doing now? Breaking out of here by force, eh? Leave that to me – I'll lead the charge!"

Ying Hecong had caught up to them at some point, and now furrowed his brow as he said: "There's too many of them, and they're all over the valley. I'm afraid this won't work."

At the sound of Ying Hecong's voice, Yang Jin instantly went rigid. Casting a terrified glance back at that snake charmer, he inched a full metre away from him, before taking off at full speed in the opposite direction, calling out over his shoulder: "Zhou Fei, Zhou Fei! You take the lead instead, I'll bring up the rear!"

Ying Hecong looked strangely at the fellow's departing figure, wondering what on earth he'd done to offend him.

Zhou Fei swiftly swapped positions with Yang Jin, moving to the front of this stampeding horde. Like a sharp knife, she pierced right through the formation of enemy soldiers. The sky was already beginning to brighten. Zhou Fei's pale-coloured top was almost completely dark with blood by now – both hers and others'.

Li Sheng was mumbling something under his breath as he continued to scan the valley. Seeing Zhou Fei in this state, his eyes widened: "Are you alright?"

Zhou Fei was darting in and out through the ranks of soldiers, taking out anyone in her way. She replied coldly: "Well, I'm not dead yet."

"Help me with this then," said Li Sheng unsympathetically. "Listen to me: 'When the first winter sun rises, it proceeds from the left of the kun trigram, from the north'…"

Zhou Fei said reflexively: "Ah? Shouldn't it be from the southwest instead?"

Li Sheng said: "No, that's for the 'Later Heaven' bagua. This place seems to be arranged according to the 'Earlier Heaven' bagua instead…"[2]

Zhou Fei had only obtained a general idea of what the bagua was while attempting to study the Mayfly Formation years ago. All that she knew of it had been blindly memorised, as it was still a puzzle to her. At Li Sheng's mention of concepts like 'Earlier Heaven' and 'Later Heaven', she could immediately feel a headache coming on, and quickly cut him off: "Just tell me what you want me to do."

Li Sheng pointed towards a particular area of the dense forest on the mountains up ahead: "If you go up there, you'll come across a tree that is different from the rest, perhaps either thicker or thinner than the others. You've got to uproot that tree!"

Zhou Fei looked where he was pointing. She didn't see any odd tree there – just steadily growing ranks of Northern troops.

Gently rolling her shoulders back, she inhaled deeply and then exhaled, which sounded very much like a weary sigh. Then she said to Li Sheng: "Brother, I guess this really is the end for me. Bring some flowers to my grave every year?"

And with that, Zhou Fei did exactly as he asked – no matter how absurd his request seemed. Taking another deep breath, she concluded that she was like an infinitely elastic bow: each time she thought herself already stretched to her absolute limits, she somehow found it possible to stretch just a little bit more. Leaping into the air, her clothes stiff with dried blood, she skimmed over the heads of the numerous soldiers rushing towards her.

The archers in the forest had already drawn their bows, which were aimed at her from all directions. Tsking softly, Zhou Fei brandished Skies Shatter, swinging and slashing it so rapidly that it was a veritable fence of gleaming metal. The countless arrows and weapons striking her blade produced a tremendous din that rang loudly in her ears. Ignoring the growing numbness in her throbbing wrists, Zhou Fei managed to get to the inner reaches of the forest in a matter of seconds. She blinked hard to clear her vision, which was starting to blur. An arrow had lodged itself in her shoulder, but as she couldn't afford to yank it out right now, she made do by hacking off its shaft. Scanning her surroundings, she found that there was indeed a tree here which was different from the rest – as this valley appeared to have been around for a long time, most of its trees had grown so thick that one could barely wrap one's arms around them. But one of these trees had a trunk that was as slender as a child's arm, even though it was as tall as the ancient trees around it. It blended in with the verdant foliage here, as inconspicuous as an errant branch that had sprouted from a neighbouring tree. If Li Sheng hadn't told her about it, she would probably have missed it completely.

Ducking her head to avoid yet another arrow, she darted towards that slender sapling and grasped its trunk hard, intending to fell it in one swift motion. But just as she applied the slightest bit of force, it rotated a whole half-circle in her hands.

Zhou Fei looked at it in astonishment.

Just then, a whole division of Northern soldiers came charging out at her from the surrounding trees. With one hand still on the slender tree trunk, she pivoted round it in a half-circle, sweeping Skies Shatter out in a massive arc that took down seven of them. And as she did so, this tree trunk rotated yet another half-circle along with her, completing one full rotation. With a soft click, as if a spring had been dislodged, this tree came loose from the earth. Swaying a little on her feet, Zhou Fei stared dumbfoundedly at the uprooted tree in her hand, thinking to herself: When did I gain the superpower to uproot whole trees without using any chi?

Looking down, she noticed that a strange-looking rock was lodged in the ground amidst the gnarled roots of this tree. There was a row of sharp blades around the base of this rock, which glinted under the moonlight. They had sliced apart the tree's tangled roots, which appeared to be freshly cut, and the soil around this 'rock' had been overturned…recalling that soft click just now, Zhou Fei concluded that she had set in motion some kind of mechanism, releasing that row of sharp blades which severed the roots, allowing the entire tree to be lifted clear off the ground.

Zhou Fei tentatively prodded that 'rock' with Skies Shatter.

It made a muffled thump…

Was it hollow inside?

Zhou Fei dragged the tip of her blade over the surface of this rock. As expected, she found a small fissure that ran all the way around its upper circumference. Jamming her blade into this crack, she prised it open – the lid of this strange 'rock' was raised to reveal a little mechanism that looked very similar to what Elder Yu had used to control the stringed machine in the Ink-Washing River.

As Zhou Fei stared at this in surprise, yet another batch of Northern soldiers had come charging towards her. She instinctively flicked the lever inside this rock.

All of a sudden, this entire valley began to shake. The ground began to rumble thunderously, like the groans of a wakening dragon, as if an earthquake was upon them. Zhou Fei looked up to find that one whole side of the valley had sunk into the ground, this unexpected upheaval sweeping numerous Northern soldiers off their feet. And right then, Li Sheng pulled on a similar lever located not too far from her, which sent yet more rumblings through the earth. The ground on the other side of the valley came rising up to slam with a resounding crash against the mountain rocks above, causing those archers there to tumble down from their perches and crushing their large barrels of oil, spraying the flammable liquid all over the trees here. Sparks flew as the rocks grinded against each other – that side of the mountain was ablaze in a matter of seconds.

This valley was akin to a life-sized clockwork diorama – whoever held the key to it could manipulate it as he pleased.

Li Sheng yelled: "Zhou Fei! Destroy that lever at once, stop dallying!"

Zhou Fei split the lever open with her sabre. Then ignoring the pain from her multiple injuries, she leapt into the air again, swooping up and over the heads of these Northern soldiers still in disarray.

Li Sheng: "The sun follows the trigram gen…Fei, I believe that there are seven key nodes here which control this valley, corresponding directly with the Qimen Sect's 'Inverted Big Dipper' formation."

"Big Dipper?" said Zhou Fei lowly. "How apt."

She followed Li Sheng's directions to find the third tree, doing the exact same thing she'd done with the first. The ground at the valley's centre instantly rose towards the sky, bringing Lu Yaoguang's large tent with it. The flagpoles around it strung with the flags of the Big Dipper came crashing down from up above, right smack onto a bunch of soldiers that failed to run away in time.

Clambering atop his horse, Lu Yaoguang yanked viciously at his bridle and bellowed: "Seize those two, dead or alive!"

Left alone for the moment, both refugees and snakes stopped in their tracks, looking around them in confusion.

Seeing hordes of soldiers swarm towards the two Li cousins on the mountain slopes, Yang Jin immediately headed over to help them. Flinging aside the Lone Goose Sabre, which was all bent out of shape by now, he picked up two large choppers lying abandoned on the ground and dashed up the slopes, ramming his way right through those ranks of soldiers to reach Zhou Fei's side: "I'm here to help, what should I do?"

Drawing Skies Shatter back, Zhou Fei deftly uprooted the fourth tree and flicked the lever beneath.

This time, the slope they were on started to quake violently. The two of them nearly lost their footing as one side of this slope sank downwards while the other rose upwards, creating a massive fault in the ground that sent those soldiers who had been after them tumbling to their deaths. Zhou Fei grabbed onto a tree to steady herself just in time as she yelled to Yang Jin: "Ask Li Sheng!"

Yang Jin carefully worked his way across the uneven ground to find Li Sheng, but before he could find him amidst the chaos, someone worked the fifth lever – and the ground promptly disappeared from under his feet. Letting out a shout, he dug his chopper into a nearby tree trunk with a loud thump, barely managing to hang on for dear life. He looked down to find that the entire slope had split in two beneath him to reveal a gaping cavern.

Just then, he felt someone haul him up – he looked up to see that it was Li Sheng, who was presently covered in a great deal of soil and dirt. Pulling him onto solid ground, Li Sheng rubbed at the grime on his face while saying: "Lead them out through that cave, hurry!"

He didn't actually need to, however – once that cavern appeared, all of the snakes on the ground below started to slither towards it. And as Ying Hecong had always trusted animals more than humans, he immediately hustled the refugees inside after those serpents.

This massive hole opening up in the rock face hadn't gone unnoticed by those Northern troops of course, who certainly weren't blind. Once Ying Hecong and the refugees started to run towards it, the soldiers around them swiftly followed suit.

But at least the soldiers no longer had those barrels of oil. As long as the flame-spitting arrows were no more, Ying Hecong's snakes could still prove themselves useful. Entranced by the sound of their charmer's flute, they surrounded these refugees in a wide circle, fanning out towards the Northern soldiers with their fangs bared and forcing them back. Glancing down at this, Yang Jin said to Li Sheng: "Let go of me."

Then steadying himself, he sprang off the slope with a majestic leap, reaching the ground in a cloud of dust. He swiftly bounded away to land just beyond this barrier of serpents, while shouting to Ying Hecong: "Hey, snake guy, leave things here to me – get inside as fast as you can!"

If his voice hadn't cracked at 'as fast as you can', he'd actually come off pretty badass.

While about half of the soldiers in this valley were in disarray, the rest split into two groups, one heading towards the new stone passageway to block it off, and the other lining both sides of this valley.

Even the most powerful of pugilists would have started to fatigue after an entire night of fierce fighting. Li Sheng's four limbs were so numb that he could barely feel them anymore, and his mind was in a haze. He tripped over a stray rock and landed on all fours, struggling in vain to get to his feet again.

He had long since been separated from Zhou Fei by this horde of soldiers, and had no idea where she was now. As he remained doubled over on the ground, dozens of spears and swords were thrust at him at once, determined to slice him to pieces.

Desperately mustering up every last ounce of strength still left in him, Li Sheng grabbed a halberd lying on the ground with a mighty roar. He raised it high above his head, managing to bring it up against the cluster of blades that bore down on him. He heard a crack upon impact, loud and clear, and then an excruciating pain shot up his arm – it had been dislocated perhaps, or broken.

The 'Inverted Big Dipper' tactical formation had a total of seven key nodes. Now that they'd already found five of them with tremendous difficulty, how could he possibly give up now? Moreover the door to that secret passageway below still hadn't been sealed. If he were to die here right now, it would make no difference whether those refugees entered it, as the soldiers would still be able to follow them in and kill them there…

Li Sheng didn't know where on earth he drew the strength from – clenching his jaw so hard his gums bled, he used his other arm to keep that halberd up against those weapons overhead, while shakily reaching his injured arm towards his pocket to retrieve a 48 Zhai signal flare. With trembling hand, he brought it up to his mouth, giving it a tug with his teeth to ignite it before flinging it across the ground.

The flare gave a loud hiss and pop, blazing to life amidst this horde of soldiers and sending a flurry of sparks flying.

Caught unawares, the soldiers felt flames lick at their clothes before they could even get a good look at what had come barrelling into their midst. The pressure bearing down on Li Sheng instantly lessened. He seized this opportunity to let go of that halberd and roll out from under them, as that pile of weapons atop him came crashing to the ground.

Just then, a bright glimmer of something flashed across his vision, dazzling him. He jerked his head up to see Skies Shatter trace an elegant arc through the air. Even after a night of battle, no stains of blood tarnished this legendary sabre. Its blade gleamed faintly with the earliest rays of breaking dawn, which shimmered all the way across the metal to its glinting tip, refracting all around them.

The arrow that had pierced Zhou Fei's shoulder was fused into her flesh by now. Not a single spot on her body had been spared from blood and grime, save for her eyes and that shining tip of her blade. They were as scintillatingly bright and clear as ever, as if a fire blazed strong inside her mortal body, roaring flames that could keep burning on for all eternity.

For some reason, Li Sheng felt tears sting his eyes. Zhou Fei wiped her bloody hand dry as she said: "Why so weak, brother – you've always been a wimp outside, eh?"

Li Sheng's vision was beginning to go black. Taking a few ragged breaths, he grabbed Zhou Fei's outstretched hand to pull himself up as he said lowly: "If my calculations are correct, the next node should be in the southeast…"

Zhou Fei interrupted him before he could finish: "Brother, do you think this could be Qimen's secret base?"

Very rarely had Li Sheng heard the word 'brother' from Zhou Fei's lips so many times. A sense of foreboding suddenly came over him. He couldn't help but get goosebumps all over every time someone called him that – nothing good ever seemed to follow.

Li Sheng said: "The Inverted Big Dipper is indeed the Qime-"

"That settles it then," said Zhou Fei with a smile. "Since we're already at its doorstep, I'll never be able to rest in peace if we don't go in and take a look at least – so there's no way I'm letting myself die here today. Do you believe that?"

Li Sheng exclaimed in shock: "Hang on, what are you…"

Shaking off his loose grip on her arm, Zhou Fei declared at the top of her lungs: "So the sixth lever is over there? Got it!"

Weaving her way lightning-quick through the crowd of soldiers, she headed in the exact opposite direction of southeast.

When those soldiers heard her say that, they instantly went after her like men possessed, as they knew that they absolutely could not allow her to create yet another upheaval in this valley.

Li Sheng cried out: "Fei!"

Along the shores of the Eastern Sea, piercing sunlight reflected off the ocean waves, landing on a piece of crimson jade where it grew mild again, suffusing the vibrant red gemstone with a warm and lingering glow.

Xie Yun was sitting cross-legged atop a large boulder on the shore, a long sabre placed horizontally across his knees. He slowly opened his eyes.

Shading his eyes from the brilliant morning sunlight, the old fisherman weaving his nets by the sea looked up at the young man.

"I've been thinking, all this while, what it means to be 'born under a bad sign'." said Xie Yun out of the blue.

Without batting an eyelid, Chen Junfu asked: "So what does it mean?"

"A peasant, who works and lives off the land, could in peacetime settle down with a wife and children, reaping the fruits of his daily toil, and finding joy in the pleasures of a simple life. But the same peasant, in wartime, faces expulsion from his home and land, is forced to sell his own children off to survive, and lives in constant fear for his life. So too are the plights of pugilists who roam the martial arts world, and even noblemen and royals are not spared such turmoil. Do you think that perhaps, if one is born during times of war and strife, one is automatically inferior to those born in times of peace and prosperity?"

As this sounded a lot like Xie Yun feeling sorry for himself, Chen Junfu smiled and said: "Day and night are the natural course of things, as is the waxing and waning of the moon; there is a time and season for everything, for grief and parting, but also for joy and reunion, as there is a time for war and a time for peace. This world is in a constant state of change – and we cannot choose where or when we are born."

"Then those born just before the break of dawn must be the luckiest." Xie Yun's eyes crinkled into a smile. Delicate icicles had formed on his brows and at the corners of his eyes, making them sparkle in the sunlight: "They would spend their whole lives watching the sky grow brighter and brighter with each passing day."

Chen Junfu pondered this for a while, then asked: "Are you referring to Fei?"

Xie Yun smiled: "Nope, I meant myself."

Then he hopped off this large boulder onto the shore, flipping behind him his long hair which he'd left untied, and shaking the frost from his clothes: "Shishu, I've thought of an inscription that would suit this sabre."

Chen Junfu asked: "What should it be?"

Xie Yun said: "Dawnbreaker."

Chen Junfu looked slightly surprised for a second, asking curiously: "How so? Have not the ancients bemoaned the faint rays of dawn as being too dim to illuminate the road ahead?"

"When you know that dawn is about to break, even if the sky is still dark, what's there to complain about?" Waving his hand dismissively, Xie Yun strode off without a backward glance: "We should be content with what little we have."

Indeed, if this was to be the end of the road for him, he would be quite content.

The Buddhist sutras which his shifu recited said that 'All things in existence are like dream, illusion, bubble, shadow; And as dewdrop or lightning; They should be regarded as such'. So if his spirit and soul could somehow attach itself to this sabre, like the stuff of all those folk tales which people were so fond of, would he not become a glittering dewdrop forever lingering upon the break of dawn?

He supposed that having your spirit haunt someone for all eternity could still be considered being together forever.

Xie Yun couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. He decided that he would put that in his next letter to Zhou Fei.

At this moment, back in the hidden valley, Zhou Fei had succeeded in drawing most of the soldiers away from Li Sheng all by herself. But even though she had already bolted several metres away while loudly misdirecting them, the soldiers rapidly moved in on her from all directions, attempting to hem her in with their sheer numbers. It wasn't long before they had her trapped, impeding her advance.

Yet these soldiers surrounding Zhou Fei were like a house of cards – while they appeared formidable at first glance, her mighty sabre ripped through their ranks, its brilliant tip tearing a bloody swathe through them. Her gaze was fixed upon a particular spot in the distance, cold and hard and unblinking, as if she were set on mowing down whoever dared stand in her path, be they deity or devil.

The officer commanding this division of soldiers dared not go anywhere near Zhou Fei. With cold sweat trickling down his brows, he shouted: "If you can't seize her, back away and shoot her dead with all the arrows we have!"

Zhou Fei abruptly turned towards him when he said this, her eyes flashing like lightning. Jumping in fright at her murderous gaze, the officer took an involuntary step back, nearly tripping over an errant tree root. He bellowed furiously: "The trapped beast refuses to surrender – fire – now!"

At their superior's command, the archers swiftly retreated and took aim, all firing towards her even at the risk of wounding their own. Zhou Fei spun through the air as she leapt off the ground, like a falling leaf caught in a whirling tornado. That dense shower of arrows closed in on her like a massive net of metal, but Skies Shatter met every single one of them head-on. The clanking of arrow after arrow colliding with her blade sounded like strings of precious pearls clattering upon a hardwood floor.

This barrage of arrows fell harmlessly to the ground along with Zhou Fei. Her chest was heaving violently, her thick, quivering lashes stopping the copious amounts of sweat pouring off her brows from stinging her eyes. She lowered her eyelids for an instant, as if the sheer weight of their voluminous lashes was too heavy to bear. Then she raised them again, to find that Skies Shatter's still-gleaming blade now sported two faint scratches. There was the tiniest of chips at its sharp tip.

Could the greatest of weapons crumble and fall apart after all?

Yet these soldiers could not give her a moment of silence to grieve this invaluable sabre. Regrouping in short order, they thrust their myriad weapons towards her at once. Zhou Fei tightened her fingers round the hilt of Skies Shatter. Knowing that she was nearing the end of her rope, she dared not face them head-on anymore. She manoeuvred her way out of these ranks of soldiers with great difficulty, using the Mayfly Formation as best she could.

"Fire at her! Fire! Don't let her get away!"

Zhou Fei could hear the creaking of the bows as they were loaded once more. Her back stiffened; the next round of arrows was already hurtling towards her.

She felt a sharp pain across her back, and toppled forward – she had failed to dodge a soldier's chopper in time, and had a massive gash on her upper back now to show for it. Ignoring the wound, Zhou Fei rolled away through the grass, slicing Skies Shatter through the numerous legs in her way. Using those straggling soldiers still around her as human shields, she successfully dodged the second barrage of arrows while tumbling clumsily across the ground.

Zhou Fei kept rolling on, till she finally came to a halt beside a small copse of trees, her shoulder's collision with a thick root breaking her momentum. Grabbing the tree's trunk for support, she painfully pulled herself to her feet. Yet the third batch of arrows were almost upon her now, affording her no time to catch her breath. Zhou Fei took a deep, shuddering gasp of air, intending to use her qinggong to dart away to safety. Alas, she truly seemed to have reached her limits now, as before she could even finish taking that breath, her chest convulsed with excruciating pain, and she felt like her organs were being crushed with a sledgehammer.

Zhou Fei's vision went black. Blood surged uncontrollably up the back of her throat, flooding her mouth. The very next second, she felt a sharp pain shoot up her leg. An iron arrow had pierced right through her thigh, pinning her onto the tree behind her.

Zhou Fei instinctively thrust Skies Shatter into the ground for support, yet it was trembling like a leaf in the wind, and a crack was starting to inch its way up the blade from the chip at its tip. She reached her hand towards her thigh to try to pull that arrow out, but everything had gone blurry, and though she kept groping about her leg, she just couldn't seem to find the shaft.

"Made to eat my words so soon…" Zhou Fei mumbled to herself deliriously. In that very moment, she thought she must have fainted, her consciousness detaching itself from this bloody battlefield and conjuring up the strangest of mirages – in her dazed state, she thought she could see Xie Yun standing before her, holding a slender sabre in his hand.

"Ah yes," she thought to herself, "That idiot still owes me a sabre."

Then all of a sudden, Zhou Fei felt as if she was plunging downwards, and the earth seemed to be moving beneath her feet as everything around her appeared to flip on its head. Those arrows which were just inches away had abruptly veered off course, hissing harmlessly past her.

Zhou Fei thought that she was hallucinating at first, but then she felt something slam heavily into her, knocking her consciousness right back into her body with a rude shock. Blinking her eyes to clear her vision, Zhou Fei found that she and the tree she was pinned on had now shifted such that they were parallel to the ground – and were sinking rapidly down!

Li Sheng had moved the sixth lever!

This was not a pleasant surprise, as if the tree continued hurtling downwards at this alarming rate, she would be flattened into a pancake in mere moments. She frantically grabbed ahold of that arrow which was keeping her pinned to this large tree. As she plummeted downwards with increasing speed, Zhou Fei didn't know where she managed to find the strength – but even though her hand clenched so tightly round that shaft the veins in them seemed on the verge of bursting through her skin, and her whole body shuddered with pain, she yanked that iron arrow inch by agonizing inch out of her thigh.

Blood spurted out of the wound, streaming down her wrist and leg.

The very next second, the sprawling branches of this tree hit the ground with a tremendous crash.

And right before its trunk slammed into the ground as well, Zhou Fei finally managed to break free. Pushing off the tree trunk with her uninjured leg, she leapt off it onto the slope above, landing several metres away just in time. Her legs gave out from under her, bringing her to her knees.

By this point, she couldn't feel or hear or see anything anymore. She was getting colder and colder by the second, her body spasming with chills, and none of her limbs were listening to her impassioned pleas to move – still she didn't dare slip into a dead faint, though dying right here and now actually felt like it might be sweet release.

Just then, a pair of hands hoisted her to her feet. Zhou Fei instinctively struggled against them. While she was exerting every ounce of her strength, all she'd done was twitch a little.

Those hands carried her up off the ground, and a voice that seemed like it was coming from miles away yelled: "Fei!"

"Eh, you frightened me half to death, Granny Li…" slurred Zhou Fei inaudibly. Skies Shatter slipped out of her hand as she finally lost consciousness, its blade breaking to pieces the instant it hit the ground.

Li Sheng's heart was in his throat. Now he was frightened half to death – he reached a trembling hand to her nose to check if she was still breathing.

And right then, thanks to the sixth lever that Li Sheng had pulled, a stone door emerged above the entrance to that secret cavern. It continued moving downwards at a stately pace, threatening to slam shut in minutes.

Yang Jin was standing guard by the cavern, wielding a large chopper with one hand and a shield with the other, planting himself firmly before its entrance like an immovable mountain. He shouted: "Brother Li! Hurry up!"

While Zhou Fei's breathing was too shallow for Li Sheng to detect anything, he was left with little choice but to dash towards that rapidly-closing entrance with her in his arms.

However, with so many Northern soldiers in the way, it would be impossible for him to reach it in time.

Just when he was about to despair, a shrill note rang out clear across the valley, so sharp that it made one wince. Legions of venomous snakes suddenly came swarming out of that cavern, coiling themselves round each other, gaining speed and size as they snowballed into a writhing serpentine mass. Within seconds, they had formed a veritable ball of snakes half a grown man's height, which careened right into the ranks of soldiers.

Yang Jin didn't immediately register what had just gone right past him. When he realised belatedly what it was, he broke out into a cold sweat, his knees nearly buckling right under him. These soldiers had never before witnessed a 'monster' of this kind, and were promptly knocked over by the barrelling ball of snakes, clearing a path for Li Sheng.

Then the flute's melody abruptly rose in pitch, so high and piercing that it was almost a screech. At this, the ball rolled right into the centre of those troops and exploded with a bang, sending numerous snakes flying every which way, to land on the faces and bodies of the surrounding soldiers. Their shouts and cries could be heard from all around.

Gritting his teeth, Li Sheng sped up towards the entrance of the cavern, his qinggong carrying him along as fast as humanly possible. He kept his eyes tightly shut as he sprinted straight through those flying snakes. He could feel their cold scales brush against his face and neck again and again, but thanks to Ying Hecong's powder, none of them bared their fangs at him.

Yang Jin bellowed in dismay: "Snake guy, have you gone mad – "

Reaching his arm out with a look of utter dread on his face, Yang Jin grabbed Li Sheng – together with the handful of snakes wriggling over his shoulders – and yanked him into the cavern, through the now three-foot-high space below the door. He thought he could feel a slippery snake's tail slither past his arm, and all the hair on his head that hadn't yet been burnt off immediately stood on end.

The very next moment, the steel sabre that Yang Jin had wedged beneath the stone door to slow its descent was dislodged with a clang. The door slammed shut with a tremendous crash, cutting this cavern off from the outside for good.

But before everyone could heave a sigh of relief, they started to hear rumblings from beyond this door – the Northern troops were preparing to ram their way through.

Li Sheng was still out of breath. Kneeling on the ground with a still-unconscious Zhou Fei in his arms, he could barely get any words out, and was reduced to pointing towards the centre of this stone door and gasping: "The…the last…"

By the glow of a torch that one of these refugees had lit, Yang Jin looked up to see that there was an inverted diagram of the Big Dipper right above this stone door.

There was a massive thud on this stone door, which quivered upon impact. The soldiers had already begun to break the door down.

The loose soil and rocks above the door started to rain down upon them. Without a moment's hesitation, Yang Jin leapt up high onto this stone door, clinging to it with his hands and feet. Reaching his long arm up towards the inverted diagram of the Big Dipper he frantically felt around it, pressing and prodding it all over until he heard a soft click. A little chamber sprang out from the rock face here, revealing a lever within. Yang Jin pulled it at once. The ground began to shake beneath their feet, and slowly sink downwards.

This cavern of stone that had emerged all of a sudden was now steadily descending in its entirety – leaving the entrance to it up there!

It finally came to a stop before what appeared to be a wide and dark expanse of space. The lad named Xiaohu raised his torch high up overhead to see what lay ahead of them. A long flight of stone stairs had presented themselves, as many as a few hundred steps, which hugged the sides of the mountain rocks here as they led all the way down to a gigantic bagua diagram that was as large as the valley above.

Ying Hecong murmured: "This is…the real secret base of the Qimen Sect…"