Chapter 42: Another Wave Rises

Zhang Jiawen put away his smile and said, "I'm telling you, kid, don't be too careless. Jingshan is not as peaceful as our place here; Mongol cavalry are roaming about everywhere, or else I wouldn't have sent you. Be careful."

Lin Shize nodded solemnly. He would never joke with the lives of his subordinate soldiers.

After the battle of Qier Mountain, Lin Shize now commanded three hundred cavalrymen. This time, he prepared to set off with Zhao Dahu, Goudan, and one hundred armored cavalry.

As soon as the group crossed the boundaries of the main camp, they encountered a squad of Mongols. With a charge by the hundred cavalrymen, ten more warhorses and spoils of war were added to their procession.

By now, a dozen or so Mongols were no longer regarded as a threat by them at all.

It wasn't until noon on the third day that Lin Shize reached the Jingshan military garrison. Along the way, they had encountered the enemy no less than five times, which showed that the situation here was indeed far from peaceful.

It had been a very long time since they had last encountered such small roving bands of Mongol cavalry.

After verifying their identities and stepping into the garrison, a middle-aged captain hurried over and asked, "Are you the ones sent by Regional Commander Zhang Jiawen to reinforce us?"

"Indeed we are!"

With an anxious expression on his face, the middle-aged captain said, "I am Zhu Xu, the captain leading this detachment. The Vice-Envoy has vanished!"

"What do you mean by vanished?" Lin Shize asked with a frown.

Zhu Xu replied, "We haven't seen a trace of the Vice-Envoy since we arrived at the garrison yesterday noon."

Before his voice had even faded, a personal guard rushed over in a panic and reported, "Captain, there is news! Several soldiers said they saw the Vice-Envoy leave the garrison yesterday with a dozen bodyguards and head straight west."

Lin Shize had not expected such a simple matter to encounter yet another twist and turn.

"There is no time to lose, Captain Zhu. We must immediately send out men to find them."

"Old Liu, have the brothers split into squads of ten and begin searching westward. Whether you find them or not, return to the garrison by tomorrow morning. Once you find them, stand by in place."

Lin Shize took the map and assigned respective sectors to each of them. If any squad failed to return by the next day, the men returning to the garrison would immediately reinforce that particular sector.

The men mounted their horses one after another and galloped out of the camp. There were simply far too many Mongols in this region; they needed to find the Vice-Envoy as quickly as possible.

If they were to run into the Mongol forces, it would spell severe trouble.

They searched for an entire afternoon without Lin Shize catching even a glimpse of a person. Seeing that darkness was falling, he decided to first enter a deserted village ahead to rest.

Forming a defensive array, the men slowly moved into the desolate settlement.

The entire village was deathly quiet, save for the steady clip-clop of warhorses treading on the ground.

"Who's there!" Suddenly, Lin Shize's ears twitched. He drew his bow, nocked an arrow, and loosed it toward a nearby earthen wall.

Swish!

The arrow missed its target. A figure executed a swift swallow-like somersault, and a gleam of cold light came flying straight at Lin Shize. The soldier in front of Lin Shize raised his shield to parry.

With a crisp clang, a flying blade fell weakly to the ground.

Lin Shize did not release his second arrow because he discovered that the figure before him was not a Mongol.

A man dressed in gray, continuously spinning a flying blade in his hand, stood in place and watched them.

Shortly after, five more men dressed in the identical fashion emerged from the courtyard.

Lin Shize swept his gaze across the courtyard. These individuals were remarkably skilled at concealing their presence. Judging by their attire and the flying blades on the ground, they did not look like military men, but rather martial artists from the pugilistic world.

How dare pugilists attempt to block his path? Where did they get the audacity?

The leading man tightly gripped his flying blade and demanded, "What people are you? What are you doing here?"

Lin Shize answered, "We come from the Jingshan military garrison, here to look for someone."

Hearing that Lin Shize hailed from the Jingshan garrison, the man's expression changed.

He waved his hand as if shooing away flies and said, "There is no one here you are looking for. Be off with you."

Lin Shize sneered and said, "Do you live by the coast that you feel the need to manage things so broad?"

The man smiled grimly and said, "Since you put it that way, don't blame us for being impolite."

Lin Shize retorted, "Oh? I'd like to see how you plan to be impolite."

The man raised the flying blade in his hand, pointed it at Lin Shize, and said, "Kid, even if you are border troops, I advise you not to provoke me. You cannot afford to offend the person behind me."

Hearing the man say this, Lin Shize understood why these pugilists dared to act so arrogant—they apparently had powerful backers.

"You are pointing a blade at me? You dare point a blade at me?! You want to fight me?!"

The man reversed his grip on the flying blade, and just as he was about to rush forward, a square-jawed, burly man beside him reached out to stop him.

"They are border troops after all. Calm down."

He then turned his gaze to Lin Shize and said, "Whether the person you're looking for is here or not is not for you to decide. You should leave immediately."

Lin Shize said, "Whether they are here or not is not up to you to dictate. I am going in to take a look."

"I see you're refusing a toast only to drink a forfeiture!" The man tightened his grip on the flying blade, shoved past the square-jawed man, and lunged forward.

"Stop!"

A clear, ethereal voice drifted over from the other side. Lin Shize was momentarily stunned; the voice sounded somewhat like that of a woman.

Turning to look, he saw a spirited and heroic-looking woman striding over. Pointing at those few men, she scolded, "I told you to keep a low profile, what on earth are you doing? Are you trying to start a fight?"

Seeing the woman flare up, the previously arrogant men instantly shrank like mice meeting a cat, not daring to utter another word.

Lin Shize looked at the woman in surprise, not expecting these burly men to be so terrified of her.

Having finished reprimanding the men, the woman turned, cupped her fists toward Lin Shize, and asked, "Are you brothers from the border garrison? Is there something bringing you here?"

Lin Shize replied, "I came here to look for someone."

The woman nodded and said, "It is already late. You might as well lodge here for the night and discuss it tomorrow."

One does not hit a smiling face. Since the woman's attitude was so courteous, Lin Shize did not say much more. The group walked into the desolate village and arrived at a courtyard.

To their surprise, there were eight more people inside the courtyard, particularly a man among them who was adorned in a luxurious set of brocade robes.

Seeing them approach, the man leaped up and asked excitedly, "Shantong, did you see any Mongols?"

The woman shook her head and replied, "I didn't see any. They are some brothers from the border garrison."

Disappointed, the man flopped back onto a soft blanket on the ground and muttered listlessly, "How boring. We didn't even run into any Mongols along this entire road. I wanted to cut down a couple just for fun."

Lin Shize could not help but ask, "You are looking for Mongols?"

Zhao Shantong smiled bitterly and nodded. "Yes. This is my young master. We were originally supposed to go to the border garrison camp, but the young master insisted on hacking up a few Mongols for amusement, which is why we left the military camp."

Lin Shize could now be certain that this was the absolute fool who had run away from the army, Chu Luolong.

Instead of revealing his own identity, Lin Shize advised them, "You had better hope you don't run into Mongols."

The man who had been playing with the flying blade earlier let out a disdainful laugh upon hearing Lin Shize's words.

"What? You might be afraid of Mongols, but that doesn't mean we are. We've long heard that the border Mongols are invincible; today, we Thirteen Taibaos want to see it for ourselves."

"Young master, rest assured. If the Mongols don't show up, fine; if one comes, I'll kill one; if two come, I'll slay a pair. Ever since we Thirteen Taibaos emerged from seclusion, we have never encountered a match."

Lin Shize sighed and shook his head. This blockhead had no inkling whatsoever of what the outcome would be should they encounter swarms of organized Mongol cavalry.

Without saying anything further, he turned and led his men to another courtyard.

Seeing Lin Shize leave, the flying-blade man spat on the ground and sneered, "The only reason the Mongols are rumored to be god-like is because of trash border troops like this."

"What kind of raging storms haven't we seen? Back in the day, fifty men besieged us, and in the end, didn't we still hack our way back out..."

The flying-blade man gushed endlessly about their heroic exploits of yesteryear.