HMHSE - 89

Late at night, when everything was quiet, countless ropes were lowered from the city gate, and figures silently slid down.

After landing, the figures, like shadows, stealthily entered the wild forests of the steep mountains in the dark night, passing through them and heading straight for the area outside the pass.

As the sky gradually brightened, the wind was still fierce outside the pass, and the dust was swirling, hitting several abandoned and collapsed earthen platforms.

Behind one of the platforms, the figures of the people who had just arrived were crouching.

“Chief, why are we coming out of the pass like this? And why are we dressed like this?”

It was Hu Shi Yi who asked the question.

He was squatting with a small team of a dozen people behind a side wall of an earthen platform. They were all wearing rough, short-sleeved clothes, and they were staring at Shan Zong, who was in front of them with his back turned, facing a certain spot.

“To find someone,” Shan Zong said, crouching on one knee in a short, coarse gray and black uniform with his sleeves tied with ropes. He propped himself up with one hand on his saber. “To find my soldiers.”

“Soldiers?” Hu Shi Yi was shocked. “When did we have soldiers left outside the pass?”

The Youzhou army had clearly never fought outside the pass.

Shan Zong remained still. “My former soldiers.”

Before Hu Shi Yi could say anything, a沧桑 voice spoke in a low tone. “Are you sure you can find them?”

He turned to look back. It was Jia Chen San who spoke, with deep lines etched on his forehead.

Among the “monsters,” all eighty of them, except for the four who were too severely injured, had come this time. They were squatting one after another, almost filling the area under the several broken earthen platforms. They were all wearing rough gray and brown clothes, looking like crouching beasts. Together with the people Hu Shi Yi brought, there were exactly one hundred people.

Shan Zong did not turn his head. He stared at the movement in front of him and suddenly let out a low laugh. “I have waited for four years for this uncertain matter.”

The area was dead silent.

Hu Shi Yi suddenly remembered the time he followed him to Hedong to find Jin Jiaojiao, and what he said on the way back to Youzhou: “There are many things you have to try even if you know they are hopeless. You can only say you have no regrets after you have done them.”

It was the first time he felt a connection with him, so he remembered it very clearly.

At that time, he thought he was only talking about Jin Jiaojiao, but now, connecting it with this sentence, he felt that it had a different meaning.

No one said anything else. The distant sound of horse hooves could be heard.

The sky was gloomy, and the sand was thick. It was hard to see clearly, but it was certain that a large army from outside the pass was on the move.

By the time the sound of horse hooves gradually faded away, the sky had brightened, but the wind and sand were still fierce.

“Let’s go,” Shan Zong said, pulling out a cloth from his chest. He wiped his forehead and tied it on, then stood up, propping himself up with his saber.

The others followed his lead, tying cloths to their foreheads just like him. They looked no different from the outlaws who traveled in the wild.

The group moved forward quickly, with Shan Zong leading the way, facing the wind, breaking through the dust and sand.

He stopped at a fork in the road, where the sky was filled with sand and dust, making it look hazy.

“What’s wrong, Chief?” Hu Shi Yi asked in a low voice.

Shan Zong identified the direction in the wind and sand before continuing. “Nothing. I just remembered the last time I came here.”

He was thinking of Shen Rong.

She wasn’t there to guide him this time, but fortunately, he still remembered the route clearly.

________________________________________

The wind was still fierce, blowing away the horse hoof prints left by the army from outside the pass.

In the distance, a large army from outside the pass, with commands in a mix of foreign languages, was retreating to the more distant deserts in the north, which was the territory of the Khitan tribes.

A line that looked like a city wall stretched across the horizon. Nearly a hundred figures passed through the mountains and forests, heading to the right of it.

No one spoke. Only Hu Shi Yi, in the middle of their journey, glanced at the horizon through a gap in the branches and quietly muttered, “Isn’t that the direction of the old city, Jizhou?”

He couldn’t tell if it was his imagination, but he felt that after he muttered that, the surroundings seemed even quieter, especially the group of monsters. They didn’t say a word, and the only sound was their heavy breathing from the journey.

Shan Zong was still walking at the front. He stopped only when he left the forest and the outline of a lush green mountain ridge appeared on the other side.

“A few people come with me to a nearby place first. The rest of you stay here and wait,” he said in a low voice, wrapping a cloth strip around his scabbard.

Hu Shi Yi immediately said, “I’ll go with the chief.”

Shan Zong nodded and glanced at the silent figures behind him. “Pang Lu, you come with me too.”

Jia Chen San walked out, tucking his short saber into his waist. He said, “Luo Chong can also come.”

Shan Zong glanced at the people behind him, turned his head back, and started walking. “Then follow along.”

Wei Shen Wu had a strange smile on his face and followed.

________________________________________

Time passed. A small town gradually came into view. It looked a little unreal in the gloom, a hazy illusion.

The wooden entrance to the town was still there, but no one could be seen entering or leaving, and not a sound could be heard. Only a few old crows were cawing on the half-dead crooked neck tree at the town entrance.

Shan Zong looked around, listening for any sounds. He suddenly turned and tugged at Hu Shi Yi, who was the closest to him. “Over here!”

Four figures quickly went around to the side.

From behind, the sound of fast horses came from a distance, accompanied by shouts in a foreign language.

A group of five or six soldiers from outside the pass, with disheveled hair, were likely Khitan people. Judging by the number, they were a regular patrol.

Under a desolate earthen slope on the side, Shan Zong took apart his saber. His eyes were dark as he stared at the group slowing down in front of him. He whispered, “The only clue is there. Let’s finish them in one go.”

Jia Chen San was also taking apart his saber. “Leave the one on the left to me.”

“The one on the right...” Hu Shi Yi was about to say, but he turned his head and glared at the side, because Wei Shen Wu had spoken at almost the same time.

“I’ll leave him to you,” Wei Shen Wu sneered. “The one in the back is mine.”

With a clang, Shan Zong’s straight saber was out of its sheath.

The wind and sand swirled. The few enemy soldiers shouted at their horses and lingered.

Suddenly, one of them saw a shadow flash under the earthen slope and shouted. He urged his horse and charged over.

His companions behind him were drawn by the shout and also followed. But they saw the fastest horse neigh, its front hooves stumbled, and the person on its back was dragged down the slope, never to be heard from again.

The ones behind were too late to rein in their horses. Just as they reached the edge of the slope, a figure darted out in front of the horse, dodging them. Another came from the side. The wide, curved saber in his hand was half-drawn. The shout was still in his throat, and the person had already fallen off his horse.

Several people were killed.

Shan Zong pulled his saber out of one person’s chest, and Hu Shi Yi dragged the body and hid it under the earthen slope.

He wiped the blood from his saber, went over to lead an enemy soldier’s horse, and mounted it.

Without a single command, everyone immediately got on a horse and followed him.

They rode at a gallop, circling the entire town.

In the hazy, sand-swept wilderness, a few horses galloped onto a bumpy dirt road.

“Where is the only clue?” Wei Shen Wu spat out some sand.

Shan Zong dismounted and looked at the side of the dirt road. “There it is.”

A person was sitting there.

It was the madman. He was still there.

He was still sitting, ragged and disheveled, with a messy head of dirty gray hair covering his blind eyes and ruined face. By his broken leg, a chipped and mud-stained bowl held half a piece of a dry, hardened bun. In his mouth, he was still humming that song in a hoarse voice. “One old year, one new year...”

Perhaps he heard the sound of horse hooves. He stopped singing and kept shrinking back.

Footsteps approached.

“Who?” The madman shrank back even more. His voice was hoarse. His injured mouth was crooked. He spoke in a garbled Central Plains dialect. “There’s a war outside. A lot of soldiers have come. They all ran away. They all ran away...”

Shan Zong stood in front of him. “Why didn’t you run?”

“I can’t run. I can’t run. I still have something important to do...” The madman suddenly stopped. He stretched out his hands and groped the ground. “You speak the Central Plains dialect? You’re from the Central Plains. I know you. Your voice sounds familiar!”

This time, Shan Zong didn’t deliberately lower his voice. He squatted in front of him. “We didn’t finish our conversation last time. I’ve brought people back to find you now.”

“Who are you?” The madman seemed extremely agitated. He pushed his messy hair aside and reached out to him. “Who are you exactly?!”

“My name is Shan.”

“Shan?” The madman’s scar-covered face began to twitch little by little. His crooked mouth trembled. “Shan...”

Shan Zong said in a low voice, “Where is the Lulong Army?”

Suddenly, the madman grabbed his arm and cried out hoarsely, “Shan Zong! You are Shan Zong!”

“Yes,” Shan Zong nodded, even though he couldn’t see. “I am Shan Zong.”

The madman started to laugh, one after another, but it sounded more like crying. “You came to find the Lulong Army! You finally came! Those treacherous dogs cut off all the news. There was no way to get a message out. This is the one thousand three hundred and sixty-second day. I knew you would come. You would definitely come...”

The three men behind them stood and watched this scene, speechless.

Jia Chen San unconsciously took a step forward. “You’re also a Lulong Army soldier.”

“It’s you!” The madman listened to his voice and turned his head to find him. “Pang Lu, it’s the Commander Pang! Who else is here? Who else?”

The white scar on Wei Shen Wu’s face twitched slightly. His face was pale with a hint of green. He gritted his teeth. “I’m here too.”

“Commander Luo, Luo Chong! You’re here too. You all came...” The madman’s whole body was trembling. He laughed and cried. “I finally waited for this day...”

Hu Shi Yi was already wide-eyed with shock.

The madman suddenly became sober. “The Lulong Army, the Lulong Army is still here, still here...”

He felt the ground, his fingers gesturing, and trembling as he drew on the ground. “From here, they and I were separated. They are hiding here...”

Shan Zong looked at the path he drew, unmoving.

After the madman finished gesturing, he suddenly backed away. He groped to push his hair up, as if to tie it up like a Han person’s hairstyle, but he was trembling too much. Then he hurriedly straightened his clothes, pulling the left lapel out and tucking it into the right, trying to stand up straight. He held his fists together and bowed towards Shan Zong. “The Sixth Cavalry Camp of the Lulong Army, all present.”

Silence fell, with only the sound of the wind remaining.

Shan Zong squatted in front of the madman like a statue. A layer of sand and dust was on his shoulders, but no one could see his expression.

After a long time, he said in a low voice, “Sixth Cavalry, report for duty.”

The madman stood straight. His head slowly drooped, and his hands fell. He became still.

“Chief...” Hu Shi Yi called out softly.

Jia Chen San and Wei Shen Wu unsheathed their sabers and lowered their heads.

Shan Zong said nothing. He carried the madman on his back, stood up, and said, “Let’s go.”

In the gloomy world, the wind and sand howled.

The dutiful soldier had completed his final mission and closed his eyes in peace.

In the wind, a song seemed to linger from an unknown place, like a sob: “One old year, one new year, how many years have passed? When will the Central Plains army arrive? Year after year after year...”

As night fell, the others who were waiting in ambush received the order and headed to the lush green mountain ridge in the distance to rendezvous.

A new grave had already been set up in the ravine.

The vanguard of the Sixth Cavalry Camp, Zhou Xiao Wu, was not old at all. He was still very young.

Now, outside the pass, he was finally recognized, but he was left with a body of injuries, his appearance and voice were ruined, and his hair was gray. He had become an old and mad beggar.

To avoid revealing his identity, there was only a scar on his right arm, and the tattoo of the Lulong insignia was gone.

But Shan Zong still recognized him.

There was no need to worry about being buried outside the pass. This was his homeland.

He sat by the grave, propping himself up with his saber. Beside him, a group of figures stood solemnly, their forehead cloths removed.

“Chief,” Hu Shi Yi said, bringing him a paper-wrapped packet of jerky rations. “Have you been using those outlaws in Youzhou all these years to find them?”

Shan Zong took the jerky, bit into it, and placed it in front of the grave. “Yes.”

“Then why did you never mention it?”

Shan Zong’s eyes in the night were as deep as a pool. “If I could have mentioned it, I wouldn’t have had to wait until now.”

Hu Shi Yi was silent.

The wind was still blowing, no longer bringing any news of troop movements.

Shan Zong suddenly stood up and drew his saber. “Follow me.”

After only a brief pause, he continued on his journey.

In the dark night, a hundred figures followed him, walking straight into the depths of the mountains.

After an unknown amount of time and distance, it was almost dawn again. They were still in the mountains, and no one had spoken.

When they were surrounded by towering cliffs, Shan Zong followed Zhou Xiao Wu’s instructions and went to the right, towards the deeper part of the mountains.

It was as if they had plunged into an earthenware jar with no sky. Even the dust and sand from the outside couldn’t get in.

Dense trees were twisted and tangled, and thorns were everywhere. In many places, only one person could pass through at a time.

This area was sparsely populated. Even the mountains seemed to have been untouched for hundreds of years.

Shan Zong suddenly stopped and raised his hand.

The people behind him stopped.

“We have entered the formation,” he said in a low voice. Then he shouted, “Get down!”

Suddenly, a flurry of arrows shot towards them.

The people reacted quickly, getting up from the ground, but they still couldn’t see anyone.

“The left, middle, and lower routes. You should be familiar with them,” Shan Zong said, gripping his saber and rushing out.

Not just the eighty men, but even the people Hu Shi Yi brought were familiar with it. This was the military formation they had practiced during their training.

The crowd moved with him, instantly scattering and attacking, avoiding the traps and mechanisms on the ground.

“Close in!” Shan Zong commanded from the front.

Someone appeared in the distance, flashing past from a dark corner.

The formation was broken.

Instantly, firelight flickered in the distance, lighting up one after another. In the dense mountains, it was like a will-o’-the-wisp at first, but it quickly turned into a line of fire.

It was as if countless people were pouring in, silent but with a terrifying momentum.

Shan Zong, however, went straight to meet them.

It was another formation, with arrows flying everywhere, overwhelming and chaotic.

A soldier next to Hu Shi Yi was hit by an arrow. He immediately cursed, “Damn it, what a vicious shot!”

He pulled out the arrow and, in the dim light, felt that it was very rough. He realized that the arrow shaft was new, but the arrowhead was old and had been ground down and reused.

The firelight dimmed, and this formation was also broken.

Shan Zong’s body was as fast as the wind. He had rushed into a river in the mountains. His feet hit the water. He suddenly raised his hand, and no one from behind him went forward.

He stood alone, rushing into this bright and visible area. He deliberately went into the formation himself, waiting.

The sky was a pale blue, and the wind was cold and biting.

The firelight rose again, rushing towards him quickly.

A group of people rushed in like wolves, their sabers reflecting the firelight, swinging and chopping.

Shan Zong raised his saber to block, standing like a pine, unmoving.

Only then did the people behind him, led by Hu Shi Yi, rush out.

The people surrounding them were unable to strike again, and there was a stalemate.

The firelight swept away, clearing the morning mist around them.

“Wait, they’re from the Central Plains!” someone shouted.

Shan Zong, standing in the water, was also illuminated. He held his saber horizontally in front of him, raised his eyes, and pulled the cloth from his forehead.

The surroundings suddenly fell silent.

The people with sabers pointed at him froze like statues, and then unconsciously backed away.

Behind them, two or three figures with sabers walked out. They were all middle-aged men with graying temples. Their eyes were fixed on Shan Zong.

“Shan...” One person spoke, then stopped as if his throat had been choked. The word was swallowed by the wind.

But it made everyone else come to their senses. As if in disbelief, they put down their weapons one after another.

Jia Chen San and Wei Shen Wu came over, along with dozens of figures behind them. They approached one after another, silently, and were revealed in the firelight.

Finally, a middle-aged man walked over and asked with a trembling voice, “Chief, is that you?”

“It’s me,” Shan Zong said, lowering the saber in his hand, his throat moving. “I’ve come for you.”