Chapter 3: Slipping Away and Seizing Opportunities

"This..."

How invigorating!

The woman in the green-clothed ghost mask charged through the ranks, her blade flashing like lightning to sever an enemy's head in an instant, dazzling and mesmerizing all, combining strength and beauty to the utmost.

Zhou Ping'an grasped the essence of it and nearly blurted out his admiration.

A shout reached his throat before he realized something.

That's not right.

I'm on the side of the Fiery Flame Messenger, and the leader is slain, and defeat looms like a toppled mountain, isn't that disaster?

Damn it.

Then, he saw a large group of rag-clad "comrades" who looked fearsome moments ago, being slaughtered, crying for their fathers and mothers, like startled rabbits, and pushed back their way.

Crying and fleeing, whimpering, they still remembered to wield knives and spears against those who blocked their path.

In their frantic escape, they wished their parents had given them more legs.

Hooves thundered like thunder.

Blades gleamed like snow...

In front of him, two men had their necks half severed, spattering him with blood like a waterfall. Zhou Ping'an secretly lamented, thinking that if he kept running like this, he'd likely be chopped down. Surviving three or four miles would mean he was incredibly fortunate.

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the youth with the red bandana, who had been shouting slogans earlier, had now disappeared…

On closer inspection, he found the fellow lying in a ditch, fervently dragging two bodies over himself, his body twisted in an odd arc, eyes barely closed, tongue sticking out quite far.

Brilliant.

That really is brilliant.

Zhou Ping'an hurriedly followed suit, scrambling a few steps, silently landing underneath a Red Lotus Archer soldier whose body had been flung aside and bled out, and quickly collapsed into the bushes, deliberately smearing a great deal of fresh blood on his head and neck, sprawling into a twisted "dead body".

Playing dead.

Who couldn't do that?

There was no denying that playing dead was the best strategy at the moment, as the opposite City Guards didn't have the custom of collecting heads for military merits, and the battlefield was a mess, making it unclear who was truly killed and who was still alive. This provided a glimmer of hope.

Running with the stream, back to the pursuers, with cavalry behind, he would be caught sooner or later.

Resistance would be futile.

The opposing side had masters.

Playing dead really was the best strategy.

Lying on the ground, eyes slit open, he could see the female general in green clothes and a ghost mask, her horse speeding by like the wind, whisking past him.

Right after, a large troop of cavalry passed, followed by infantry.

Zhou Ping'an secretly broke out in a cold sweat.

Taking a long breath.

The pursuers came fast and left as swiftly.

They all rushed forward, the cries of agony blending into one.

Possibly eager to achieve merits, neither soldiers nor commanders from the other side came to deliver a coup de grâce or, in other words, clean up the battlefield.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of rapid footsteps nearby.

Zhou Ping'an slightly opened his eyes and saw, about seven or eight yards to his side, the young man with the red bandana, sprinting, using hands and feet, climbing up a hill quickly while carrying a long blade, heading towards some nearby woods.

"Good chance."

The moment the man got out the range of an arrow, someone noticed and galloped after him.

Zhou Ping'an couldn't pretend to be dead any longer, hurriedly moving the body of the Red Lotus soldier that was on top of him to the side, quickly stripping off gray clothes and pants, dressing as swiftly as possible, and tied a knot. He picked up a bow and decided to flee in a different direction into the woods.

Glancing back suddenly, he saw not far ahead, a red-robed, headless corpse that had fallen from a horse, dead in a valiant posture...

Looking closer, there appeared to be something bulging in the chest of the corpse.

In that moment, his movements were faster than his thoughts...

He rushed forward, reaching into the red robe, and pulled out a small silk-wrapped parcel.

Without a detailed look, he hurriedly stuffed it into his chest, and Zhou Ping'an strode towards the woods.

"I need to survive at least ten days..."

When he first arrived, other than his underpants, he had nothing; he needed to scavenge for anything useful, or else, even if he wasn't killed, he would starve.

Zhou Ping'an was a graduate of the East Forest Police Security Academy, being the cream of the crop in the Class of '88, not only having perfect scores in combat and shooting classes, but also in survival and tracking, marking him as one of the best among the graduates.

In his graduation assessment, he was recognized for his outstanding agility, sharp mind, and meticulous thinking…

If it weren't for this, he wouldn't have been assigned immediately after graduation to the Special Operations Third Group of Dongjiang City and also gained the heavy trust of Inspector Tang Tang, a senior schoolmate.

Whether it was sheer luck or his low-key movements, he had almost reached the edge of the woods before someone spotted his tracks, and City Defense Soldiers started chasing after him, calling loudly.

Zhou Ping'an didn't look back, nor did he have any intention of fighting.

Even though he had a bow and a quiver of arrows...

At this point, any delay could be dangerous, as more pursuers would only complicate matters.

The greatest threat was, after all, those few masters on the opposite side.

Carrying a hammer weighing dozens of pounds, leaping up to seven or eight feet high, Zhou Ping'an had never seen such a person in his life.

And then there was that female general...

With a saber capable of beheading horses, she created sonic booms and was able to change the position of her cuts mid-stroke as smoothly as flowing water, altering speed and direction in a way that made onlookers feel nauseated.

He knew he absolutely couldn't defeat her.

Although Zhou Ping'an had joined the East River Dragon Tiger Xingyi Boxing Gym to learn martial arts at the age of fifteen and had even won first prizes in both Dragon Shape Fist and Six Harmonies Sword Technique at the 33rd Southern Mountain Province Youth Martial Arts Competition,

he knew that it was still a competitive display of martial arts routines, focused on the aesthetics of the performance rather than actual combat prowess.

He participated in those competitions only to earn extra points for his specialized college entrance exams in '84, never intending to make a living from martial arts.

The battle unfolding before him was with real swords and spears, where the commanders fought with greater skill than those of legendary martial artists...

Zhou Ping'an was aware of his limits and never considered testing them.

To try would be to die.

No doubt about it.

So why think about anything else when he could escape?

After all, his current identity was that of a "rebel," someone who must avoid the light. Fortunately, no one could recognize he was the one, as long as he wasn't caught at the scene.

He hid in the forest, and finally the pursuers stopped chasing him.

"I've finally escaped danger for the moment."

Zhou Ping'an estimated the direction and continued deeper into the mountain forest for several miles...

until the mountain path became too difficult to traverse, with brambles and vines closing off the small path, and he had to stop.

He found a water source and washed the blood off his body.

There was nothing he could do about his clothes; washed, they couldn't dry, so he had to make do and keep wearing them.

It was still early spring, and even though his physique was strong, he couldn't stand wearing wet, coarse clothing.

Calm returned slowly, and Zhou Ping'an recalled the package he had taken from the corpse of the Red Robe Leader. His eyes lit up.

Silver.

And two or three fine little jade vials.

He weighed the bits of silver, which totaled several taels.

The vials were sealed with cork and wrapped in silk. Upon opening them, he found red and black pills that had a strong smell, but their use was unknown.

Besides these items, the package also contained a rolled-up silk map.

The silk map was peculiar, the size of a handkerchief, with indistinguishable material. It depicted a red lotus, but merely glancing at it made his eyes sting...

Zhou Ping'an quickly closed his eyes, then looked again without that feeling, and noticed a row of small characters beside the lotus: "Red Lotus Purification, Karmic Fire Engulfing the Body."

"This map is quite remarkable..."

Thinking of the slogans shouted by the Red Lotus Army he had heard earlier, Zhou Ping'an pondered for a long while but couldn't decipher anything. He just carefully put away the silk map next to his body, sensing that it might be extraordinary.

Once he settled down, he would gather more information and study it slowly.

...

The sun set, and the moon rose.

By the time the morning light was bright the next day, Zhou Ping'an was extremely hungry, having spent the previous afternoon without finding a single wild rabbit or chicken, wasting the bow and arrows he had picked up.

Luckily, he found some familiar green fruits and forced himself to eat them despite their sourness, which only made him hungrier.

Seeing the bright daylight, he decided to consider leaving the mountain.

"Hiding in the mountains is not a solution. Considering the direction the City Guards came from, the city should be nearby. Even if it's a bit risky, I should head into the city."

Following the path he remembered taking, Zhou Ping'an walked for about an hour, seeing the forest thin and spotting a plain ahead.

In the distance of the plain, there were signs of habitation and the shadow of city walls.

"This is the right direction."

Zhou Ping'an felt exhilarated, just about to leave the forest, when he heard the sound of cracking twigs about thirty meters away.

He turned to look.

From the side of the forest, a man with thick eyebrows and phoenix eyes, broad shoulders, and long legs, emerged.

The man's gaze was sharp, which quickly softened into a mild look with a smile on his face as he asked,

"Who might you be?"

"Do we not remember those we have once met?" Zhou Ping'an shook his head.

"The way is shared under the heavens; shall we each take half?"

"Agreed."

Zhou Ping'an saw the man throw his iron sword into the forest.

After a moment's thought, he also threw his bow and arrows into the bush.

The two men, maintaining a distance, simultaneously left the woods and headed towards Qingyang City.