novelnext Chapter 9: Marshal Hong and Strategist Ji (Part Two)
Chapter 9: Marshal Hong and Strategist Ji (Part Two)
Chapter 9: Marshal Hong and Strategist Ji (Part Two)
This attack by the Meng Kingdom was extremely dangerous for the defenders of Great Qing Pass. Had Hong Linying not been ruthless and decisive, using over ten thousand soldiers to stall the enemy and buy time for the city’s defenses, the city might have fallen before preparations could be completed.
This battle also terrified the citizens inside the city, their souls nearly fled from their bodies. The sight of the enemy’s hideous faces continuously climbing onto the city walls, so close at hand, left an impression they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
After the battle, blood covered the city walls, seeping through the cracks in the stones, flowing both inside and outside the city like tiny streams.
Within half a li of the city walls, the streets were like blood pools. The once bright and clean roads, when walked upon, caused shoes to stick with the blood, making squelching sounds, "pa-chi, pa-chi."
Even with Hong Linying’s iron will, whenever he thought back on this battle afterward, he felt a chill down his spine at the sheer peril they had faced.
After the enemy retreated, he remembered what Ji Wenhe had said the night before, that the enemy might be hiding a heavy force ready to strike, and couldn’t help feeling some regret for not taking greater precautions.
Over the following few months, there were two more similar instances where Ji Wenhe visited in the middle of the night to inform him of the enemy’s movements and deployments.
By then, Hong Linying had begun to take Ji Wenhe’s information seriously. Following Ji’s advice, he made targeted deployments and achieved overwhelming victories with minimal losses.
Another matter was that Ji Wenhe also began
Ji Wenhe thought for a moment.
"It varies. Perhaps unusual coloration, perhaps anomalies in internal qi flow. At that time, I must guide it through the silver needle and probe it with internal force. If it resonates with my cultivation method, then it’s a match."
Each time Ji Wenhe conducted a test, he forbade outsiders from watching, only the person being tested was allowed inside. Although Hong Linying had tried to ask around afterward, those tested, having all failed, couldn’t describe anything meaningful.
Feigning slight drunkenness, Hong Linying casually said under the pretense of alcohol-induced curiosity:
"Then Military Advisor, why don’t you have a look at my physique?"
He didn’t say what should happen if he was suitable, nor what if he was not, making it sound like nothing more than drunken jest.
Hearing this, Ji Wenhe smiled lightly and nodded:
"Since we have some free time, it’s worth a try. Who knows, perhaps the Marshal is destined for my sect."
He then picked up a cloth pouch from his side, unfolded it, and drew out a silver needle.
Ji Wenhe always kept this cloth pouch with him, whenever he had spare time, he would go test soldiers.
When the silver needle pierced his wrist, Hong Linying only felt a slight numbness and afterward, nothing at all. He felt no anomalies, nor any internal force probing inside him.
Ji Wenhe also shook his head disappointedly and, with a swift movement of two fingers, retrieved the needle.
"It seems the Marshal, too, is not fated for my sect."
This was a clear statement that Hong Linying could not learn his martial arts. But how could Hong be convinced so easily?
He had practiced martial arts from childhood, overcoming countless hardships. He had never encountered a martial technique that he could see but not learn success was always just a matter of persistence.
But against Ji Wenhe, he couldn’t use force. He admitted to himself he was absolutely no match for Ji Wenhe.
Even though Ji seemed physically weaker with each passing year, dealing with someone like Hong Linying would likely require only a few casual moves, perhaps just a flick of the sleeve.
Although Hong Linying was already considered a supreme master in the martial world today, he knew that in comparison to some people, his strength meant little. He was not arrogant enough to be blind to this.
Finally, at the beginning of last year, Ji Wenhe found a disciple at the Central Army Camp.
Hong Linying, curious about this "single drop found in a vast ocean," found an excuse to privately meet the disciple.
He even secretly used internal force to probe the disciple’s meridians but found nothing unusual about them. This only deepened his suspicion that Ji Wenhe was deliberately hiding something, though he could not determine the reason.
However, barely a month after Ji Wenhe accepted this disciple, the young man suddenly died one night.
Afterward, Ji Wenhe appeared full of grief and regret, claiming that the boy’s illiteracy caused him to misunderstand the sect’s techniques, leading to a qi reversal, blood backlash, and death.
Hong Linying had seen the young man’s corpse, the body was blackened and swollen grotesquely. Yet to him, the cause didn’t seem like a simple training mishap, it looked more like death by severe poisoning.
This led him to two suspicions:
First, Ji Wenhe might have been using the human body as a medium, attempting some method to transfer the deadly poison in his own body into another, hoping thereby to cure himself.
And he needed a person with a certain resonance with his sect’s techniques or the poison itself to make it work.
Otherwise, with Ji Wenhe’s abilities, he could easily have snatched any ordinary person without anyone knowing.
But later, observing Ji Wenhe’s deteriorating condition, it became clear that even after the disciple’s death, there had been no improvement. This made Hong doubt the accuracy of this first guess.
Second, Ji Wenhe’s internal cultivation technique might truly be extremely tyrannical.
It was possible that the newly inducted disciple, due to incorrect practice, had triggered a qi backlash, rupturing his organs and causing the bizarre symptoms seen after death.
But knowing Ji Wenhe’s cautious and meticulous nature, and knowing that he had realized the disciple was illiterate, he should have adjusted the training method accordingly, guiding him slowly and carefully.
Given Hong’s understanding of Ji Wenhe, it shouldn't have happened by accident. Unless... perhaps Ji really had so little time left.
After the disciple’s death, Ji Wenhe still continued to search for a successor among the soldiers.
Although Hong Linying still had no legitimate reason to closely observe these tests, he was determined to see the next chosen disciple as soon as possible.
Only then might he catch some vital clue.
This time, during the recruitment for the Imperial Guards, Ji Wenhe had again begun his testing.
And now Hong Linying could approach openly.
He reclined lazily in his chair, his half-closed eyes flashing with light, thoughts spinning rapidly.
"This matter is truly thorny.
Years of trying both soft and hard tactics, yet still nothing achieved.
If what he said is true, that he has only one or two years of life left, then what should I do if he refuses to hand over the martial art even at the risk of losing it forever?"
(Chapter End)