The Glory After Rebirth

Chief He felt a cold shiver of fear run through him, not daring make eye contact with Ling Zhang, head down, eyes roving nervously. Anybody could tell at a glance that he was keeping something back.

“Ah–!”

Qiu Bing quickly stuck the needle into one of Chief He’s acupoints, reducing the man to yelling in anguish.

“Answer the question right now or spend the rest of your life screaming in pain.”

Chief He looked at Qiu Bing’s sneering face as though he were looking at a devil. Deep panic in his eyes, face twisted with agony, he implored, “I’ll tell you! I’ll tell you! Please make it stop!”

Qiu Bing reached out his hand to grab Chief He’s chin and shoved a pill into his mouth, and with that Chief He gradually stopped the anguished cries and limply crumpled up, as though he’d just been pulled back from the gates to the underworld.

“On entering the city, Marshal Yuwen killed a couple of local hoodlums who were robbing people. I once murdered someone, and originally there was nothing that guy’s family could do to me, but after hearing about this matter, they decided to go to the Marshal and beseech him to help them get justice. I tried to stop them but failed. For fear of being arrested, I gathered my subordinates and we escaped from the city together.”

Chief He was trembling while speaking. He didn’t seem to be lying, and his words made sense.

“Please show me mercy, heroes. I’ve told you everything. Please give me a chance to turn over a new leaf. I’ll surrender myself to the yamen. Please don’t kill me!”

“Food supply of the yamen is limited. Why should they waste any of it on scum like you?” said Qiu Bing coldly, gazing at Chief He. Scared by these words, Chief He started begging for his life again.

Handing these people to the yamen was indeed an option. At least the yamen would be spared the necessity of hunting for these two gangs of bandits.

However…

“Young Master!” Wang Dashan suddenly walked out of one of the houses, holding a map in his hand.

Chief He twisted his head around and his countenance changed drastically at the sight of the map in Wang Dashan’s hand.

“I found a map of secret tunnels of that border city in Youzhou. It’s got annotations in Luohai language on it,” said Wang Dashan in a serious tone, handing the map to Ling Zhang, shooting a stern glance at Chief He.

It was a map of the secret tunnels of that border city in Youzhou, and it bore marks in Luohai language. The combination of these two facts made it unmistakable what this map was meant for.

On noticing the drastic change of Chief He’s countenance and the determined look that suddenly appeared on his face, Qiu Bing, who was quick of eye and deft of hand, rapidly stuck the needle into one of Chief He’s vital acupoints to temporarily paralyze him, gripped his chin, heavily dislocated his lower jaw and observed frostily, “You want to die? That’s not your decision to make any more.”

Ling Zhang had opened the map. After he read it carefully, his face grew grave. Icily eyeing Chief He who was drooling at the mouth like a dying dog, he instructed, “Put his jaw back in and have him tell the truth about his identity and origins. The others keep searching this place and see if there’s anything else suspicious.”

“Yes.”

Wang Dashan brought some men and went to scour the houses. Qiu Bing, with an evil grin, grabbed Chief He and pricked several acupoints of his, and with that Chief He started convulsing in pain, looking at Qiu Bing, a mixture of despair and horror in his eyes. What with his dislocated jaw and the extreme pain, he was totally unable to speak, meaningless grunts issuing from his throat.

“Like I said, if you don’t tell me the truth, things would get so nasty that death would be a relief for you.” Qiu Bing crouched down with three long thin needles clamped between his fingers and specially waved them in front of Chief He’s eyes. Chief He shook his head madly, looking at the three needles, extreme dread written all over his face.

“You should be thankful it’s me that you’re faced with. If my master is here, you would’ve known what it feels like to be in hell.” Qiu Bing stooped, bearing down on Chief He, his ferocious and sinister eyes boring into Chief He’s like a venomous snake staring at its prey.

Chief He started shaking his head even more hysterically, a beseeching expression in his eyes. “AAAAAARGH!”

Grinning grimly, Qiu Bing reached out a hand to put Chief He’s bottom jaw back in and then disgustedly rubbed his hand against Chief He’s clothes to get rid of the saliva. “Now be a peach and tell me who you really are. One more lie and I’ll flay you alive.”

After saying this, he swiftly slit the back of Chief He’s hand with the needle and then rapidly peeled away an entire patch of skin which didn’t have a shred of blood on it, revealing the flesh.

“AAAAAAARGH!” Chief He cried out in pain but was unable to move an inch, enduring the agony, vainly trying with all his might to flinch, eyes full of despair.

“Stop yelling and tell me the truth. Don’t try any clever tricks with me.” Qiu Bing gazed at him.

Chief He was dripping with cold sweat, veins standing out on his forehead with agony, but he still immediately stopped screaming and said, “Okay! Okay!”

“I come originally from the Luohai Kingdom. Five years ago I infiltrated into the Great Yue and disguised as a subject of this country, impersonating a local. Under the cover of my fake identity, I idled around but nobody ever suspected me. The task my superior assigned me was to take advantage of this opportunity to check out the lay of the land in that border city.

A year ago, I discovered a cold lake in a small village to the east of that border city. Water level in that lake rises during the rainy season, but in the dry season, the water level falls, revealing a natural cave that leads deep into a mountain, but the cave is very narrow, allowing only one man to walk in it bent-backed. What with the short length of the dry season and the many dark dank branch paths in it, I spent over a year making preparations and finally got to the end of it during my second attempt. It turns out the cave leads to a cavern inside Mount Qingyue to the north-east of the border city. Inside Mount Qingyue is an underground river that flows straight through the mountains behind Mount Qingyue. That area is in the Luohai Kingdom and has been desolate all along owing to the dangerous terrains, but it’s not far away from a border city in the Luohai Kingdom. With some excavation work, it could be used as a passage through which an elite unit could sneak into the border city in Youzhou in wartime.”

While Ling Zhang listened, his countenance remained unchanged all along. He asked, “You made this map on your own?”

“Yes.”

“Why haven’t you sent it to your superior? Has anybody in the Luohai Kingdom been informed of this? Has anybody infiltrated into that border city already?”

“The city declared martial law before I could find a chance to send this map back. The city gates were closed and I was unable to get out. It wasn’t the dry season and that cave was inaccessible, so I didn’t leave the border city right away, but afterward… What I said just now was the truth. It was indeed because someone reported my commission of murder to the North-western Army that I had to take my men and flee the city in haste.”

Chief He, scared out of his senses by Qiu Bing, didn’t dare lie to him.

“Young Master, we’ve searched this whole place. Nothing else suspicious was found.”

Wang Dashan and his men had finished scouring the houses. That map in Ling Zhang’s hand was the only suspect item that had been found so far.

“When does the water level in that lake normally fall?” Ling Zhang inquired of Chief He.

Chief He answered, “Typically in winter.”

There was still some time before winter, which meant that cave wasn’t any good at the moment.

Ling Zhang knitted his brows. This thing could be a threat to the Luohai Kingdom as well if utilized wisely.

“If there’s anything else you should tell us, spit it out immediately, or I’ll make you.” Qiu Bing threatened Chief He once again.

“I’ll tell you!” Frightened, Chief He hastily cried, “Wha–What else do you want to know? I’ll tell you everything!”

“When was the last time you made contact with the Luohai Kingdom? Do they know you’ve escaped from the border city?” Ling Zhang asked him.

Chief He immediately answered, “The last time I contacted them was when I tried to give them this map, but the city gates were suddenly closed and I didn’t have the time to wait for their reply. They probably have no knowledge of my fleeing the city, because it was a last-minute decision.”

“Are there any other spies from the Luohai Kingdom in that border city?” Ling Zhang asked another question.

“A cou–couple of.” Chief He glanced at Qiu Bing and then gave an honest answer right away.

“So the moment you left the city, they all found out about it, didn’t they?” said Ling Zhang.

“I don’t know whether or not they’ve found out about it. Our identities are different and we seldom contact each other. But even if they found out that I’d left the city, they wouldn’t know about my current whereabouts,” said Chief He.

Ling Zhang thoughtfully stared at him. After a while, he said, “Take him.”

Qiu Bing gave a grim smile at Chief He and mouthed, “It’s your lucky day.”

Chief He shuddered, averting his eyes from Qiu Bing in fear.

Thus, they ended this hunt for bandits, bringing back a spy. In order not to attract anybody’s attention, they put some disguise on Chief He by having him change into an outfit similar to theirs, altering his hair style and doing some little tricks with his face. Having him travel among them, they returned to the inn without rousing anybody’s suspicions.

At the sight of them coming back, Ling Zhaowu, who’d been waiting for them in the inn, flicked a glance at the others, paused briefly and then looked away from them and asked, “How did it go?”

That subtle, almost unnoticeable pause of Ling Zhaowu’s didn’t escape Ling Zhang’s notice. It’d been none other than Chief He that Ling Zhaowu’s eyes rested on. He’d spotted the suspicious part after a single glance, which showed how observant he was. In fact, Ling Zhang had all along been having this feeling that there was something inexplicable about Ling Zhaowu, and during these days when he was together with him, this feeling had gradually grown stronger. There had been several occasions when he’d been close to a flash of inspiration but failed to fathom anything out.

“Things went quite well. Those two gangs of bandits exterminated a couple of families living on that hill and took possession of their houses, planning to make a den out of that place. We killed them all. Their bodies are still on that hill,” Ling Zhang replied and then said to the innkeeper who were transfixed by these words of his, “I’d appreciate it if you would inform the yamen of this matter and have them send some men there to deal with those bodies.”

The innkeeper couldn’t believe that those two gangs of bandits had really been disposed of. “Childe, you–you really killed those bandits?”

“I did,” said Ling Zhang.

“Thank you, childe. You’re indeed the savior of this town!” The innkeeper came to himself and excitedly expressed his gratitude.

“Just report it to the yamen as soon as possible. By the way, before you go, tell the waiters to prepare some hot water for us. We could all use a bath. And we need some food, too,” said Wang Dashan.

The innkeeper said “Right away, sir!” several times in a row, instructed the two waiters to get to work and then ran to the local yamen.

“Who’s that?” Ling Zhaowu asked Ling Zhang after the innkeeper and the waiters left.

“A spy. He could be useful.” Ling Zhang gave a sketchy account of what had happened on that hill. “I figure maybe he’ll be useful to Yuwen Tong, so I let him live.”

Ling Zhaowu gave a bob of his head. “We should resume our journey after you take a bath and have something to eat.”

“But your physical condition–”

“I’m fine. I’ve made a remarkable recovery. Besides, during my stay in the capital city, your grandfather used his internal energy to help nurse me back to health, and those precious medicinal herbs of yours have been a huge help, too. Also, I’ve been practicing fist techniques on a daily basis lately, so my constitution is stronger than you give it credit for.”