Chapter 48: Heroes

Huh!!!

The corpse flew through the air, and Zhou Fu’guan, in a state of extreme tension, instinctively slashed his blade outward.

With a thud, the corpse was cleaved away and slammed into a nearby tree, its upper garment completely torn open, revealing the golden soft armor beneath.

Zhou Fu’guan’s slash had failed to damage the corpse precisely because it had struck the golden soft armor.

“Commander?!”

Zhou Fu’guan realized—it struck him like lightning.

He had already adapted to the rhythm of being surrounded, planning to rely on his armor, endure a couple of minor wounds, and land one killing blow on Zhong Jinqiu first.

But now, seeing Xu’s corpse, his spirit collapsed entirely.

Lao Yu suddenly rose to his feet, roaring, “Die!” as his left blade came down in a mighty split-the-mountain slash aimed at Zhou Fu’guan’s head.

“Die!”

Earlier, in his state of single-arm, single-blade, and blood loss, using such an open, sweeping technique before Zhou Fu’guan would have meant he’d be cut in half before even raising his blade.

But in this instant, facing the roaring slash,

Zhou Fu’guan could only instinctively raise his blade to block.

Clang!!

The two great blades sparked as they clashed.

Zhong Jinqiu appeared at his side, his narrow blade thrusting straight forward, piercing through Zhou Fu’guan’s armpit.

Half the blade’s length sank into Zhou Fu’guan’s torso.

Zhou Fu’guan’s body froze instantly.

Zhong Jinqiu twisted the blade, yanking it back in a swift retreat.

A torrent of blood sprayed out.

Zhou Fu’guan collapsed to the ground, his great blade falling beside him, gasping: “I never thought… my brother and I would fall to the likes of you…”

“Back in town, I even considered letting you go… not holding a grudge…”

“Heh… yet you didn’t spare me!”

Zhong Jinqiu flicked the blood from his blade and sighed: “I was just a carefree man, living quietly in a small town, with no grand ambitions. It’s your own wicked deeds that brought you to this end.”

Zhou Fu’guan pushed up his faceplate, revealing a pale face drained of blood, yet his pupils remained pitch-black, burning with unshaken fervor.

“What the hell is ‘wicked deeds’? My brother and I worked our asses off to get where we are today. In the end, it’s just victor becomes king, loser becomes dog.”

“Nonsense!”

Chu Tianshu cut him off, standing among the trees, watching.

“History is full of men who lost but are still remembered as heroes by the people.”

“This ‘victor becomes king, loser becomes dog’ excuse—whether spoken by the living or the dead—is just an attempt to drag glorious heroes down into your mud, to paint your faces with borrowed glory.”

Zhou Fu’guan glared fiercely at Chu Tianshu, blood streaming from his mouth, his breath growing weaker and weaker.

Then he suddenly noticed Lao Yu guiding Zhong Jinqiu to Xu’s corpse, both of them pulling at the golden silk armor.

“I… I haven’t even worn it yet!”

Zhou Fu’guan spat a gout of blood and collapsed.

Chu Tianshu, however, had said only those few words and turned away, already heading to check on Xiao Huo’s injuries.

Xiao Huo had been flung unconscious by Meng Daisong.

But his injuries didn’t look like blunt trauma—they looked like his internal organs had been squeezed.

The “squeeze” force in Taiji Quan, when used by the unskilled, is the least harmful; when used by the master, it’s the most insidious.

One squeeze, and though the organs remain unbroken, they shift out of place—making the pain even worse.

Chu Tianshu had planned to use needles, but after examining Xiao Huo’s condition, a sudden insight struck him—he remembered the common ground between his palm thunder and needle techniques.

Internal Qi could displace the organs; it could also restore them. In this, it might work faster than needles.

Chu Tianshu carefully pressed and massaged Xiao Huo’s chest and abdomen. Xiao Huo coughed up a bit of blood, regained consciousness, but remained too weak to rise.

Ma the Shopkeeper untied the donkey cart and hid it among the trees.

Cai Shanjun had planned meticulously—he’d prepared nourishing pills for the donkey back at Wu Family Village, designed to work with the Yu Zi Jue.

The group lifted Xiao Huo onto the donkey’s back and hurried toward the dock.

Several sailboats were moored at the dock.

If someone dared risk it, they could enter the river elsewhere and cut diagonally across to a safe route.

The soldiers guarding the dock would need fast boats ready to pursue and intercept.

Now, these boats were conveniently theirs.

Ma the Shopkeeper and Zhong Jinqiu followed Cai Shanjun’s orders, hoisting the sails and adjusting the course.

The wind might not blow directly from this shore to the opposite one, but with proper sail adjustment, they could harness its force to drive them straight across.

The sails swelled high, the boat accelerated, slicing through the water.

Soon, they were far from shore.

Chu Tianshu sat on the gunwale, resting, watching white clouds drift, scatter, and roll away with the wind, then glancing at the sail’s angle.

He suddenly recalled physics problems from high school, and sighed.

“Great Commander, you really know everything, don’t you?”

Cai Shanjun, now on the river, relaxed a little and smiled: “I don’t know martial arts, or else I’d have charged in earlier.”

Chu Tianshu glanced around and realized there was no suitable place to lie down—he sighed and pounded his neck.

“Who says you don’t know martial arts?”

Chu Tianshu held out his fist forward, gazing across the river.

“My punch can’t reach the opposite shore—much less reach Jingcheng.”

“But when you gather your strength to oppose the traitors—that’s when you deliver the real blow.”

“Even just raising your fist in Yizhou will send shockwaves across the land. Yuan Zhonglu and his kind will be left restless.”

Chu Tianshu’s eyes gleamed brightly.

“This could be called the Guardian Fist, the Nation-Defending Fist—the most satisfying punch in all of history, worthy of the highest rank.”

Cai Shanjun’s expression shifted slightly, his gaze drifting far away.

“The highest rank of satisfaction?”

Cai Shanjun murmured, “A battle fought for righteous cause—yes, it is both painful and exhilarating.”

He stared at the rushing river, as if seeing future battlefields stretching across the land.

The water splashes were like sparks; the rivers, like battlefields.

Could the rivers ever run clear again? Could the world ever know peace?

But the river flows on, never rotting—only by acting can one know if such a day will come.

“Iron fists will eventually rust. If I could choose, I’d rather be a ripple in the great river.”

Cai Shanjun suddenly felt curious and asked, “If you looked at heaven and earth, what would you want to become?”

Xiao Huo, though lying down, answered without hesitation.

“A bullet. I want to be a bullet—straight, unwavering, always hitting the target.”

Lao Yu chuckled: “I’d still rather be a man. Men are fine. The rest? Forget it.”

Ma the Shopkeeper grinned eagerly: “I’d be a wine cellar—thousands of jars inside, treasures stashed away. Unremarkable on the outside, but brimming with value.”

“Then I’ll be a turtle.”

Zhong Jinqiu dipped the golden armor in the river, then lazily draped it over the boat’s edge, yawning: “I heard there are turtles in the sea too.”

“Deep sea won’t be disturbed by outsiders. A turtle family could live long and peaceful lives.”

Ma the Shopkeeper turned to Chu Tianshu: “Xiao Chu, what would you want to be?”

“Me?”

Chu Tianshu drew out the word, smiling: “I’d want to be the wind.”

Ma the Shopkeeper mused: “I thought you’d choose fire or the sun. Wind? That’s too elusive, too fickle.”

“Wind may change, but every autumn and winter, the cool breeze arrives on time; every spring, the warm wind always comes as promised.”

Chu Tianshu said, “Free as wind, faithful as wind—isn’t that good enough?”

He had just fought relentlessly, his mind sharp and clear; now, relaxed, his thoughts bounced wildly.

As he spoke of wind, he suddenly thought:

Earth still suffers extreme weather events like mini ice ages—then the cool and warm winds wouldn’t come as promised.

If you truly want to arrive as promised, wouldn’t you have to smash those annoying extreme weather events too?

Ha—no human could ever do that.

After crossing the river, they didn’t linger, traveling another hundred miles.

That night, they reached another major city garrisoned by troops.

Cai Shanjun had revealed his true identity—upon arrival, his treatment changed instantly.

Not only was this unit’s Commander Xie his former subordinate, but most of its company and battalion officers had once attended his lectures at the Martial Academy, and several had even trained at the Great Commander’s Office.

They were essentially his students.

Here, though still outside Kunming, they were finally safe.

He ordered the local unit to send an urgent telegraph to many in Kunming.

Chu Tianshu and the others settled in at the unit’s headquarters.

When Chu Tianshu entered the room, he was unexpectedly pleased.

Because the room had an electric light.

Although the bulb was hung directly from the ceiling beam by bare wires, it looked extremely crude.

But after two months without seeing any electrical device, Chu Tianshu truly felt a sense of familiarity.

He turned on the light, sat at the table, and summoned the token screen.

Xu Youjiang and Meng Daizong were pure martial men; even those ninjas merely cultivated mental force on their own, supplemented by drugs, and carried no evil spirits.

Although this great battle had further improved his fist technique experience, the evil spirit material column yielded little gain.

Today, however, the destiny column surged forward dramatically.

When he left Wu Family Village, it had been barely over half complete.

Today’s battle, crossing the river, and arriving at Commander Xie’s location caused the destiny column to spike three times.

Chu Tianshu remembered that along the road after crossing the river, the destiny column had already reached the threshold for one return trip.

At that time, he checked it and found a note below stating that within three days, he could choose to return at any moment.

Now, the destiny column had even overflowed.

Below the progress bar required for return, another line appeared, displaying a small amount of destiny.

【Upon return, aside from the token master himself, if you wish to bring tangible objects, their value will be deducted from the overflowed destiny.】

(End of Chapter)