Chapter 281

This time it was extremely "yin poisonous", yet also extremely fierce. Bai Lang had seen sword techniques far stronger than this one, but none possessed such a fierce sword intent. Bai Lang also furrowed his brows, the killing aura of the White Tiger surged forth, activating the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill to full power, while his hand retracted to grasp the sword. Yet this sword could actually thrust out such an upright and bright assassination strike, yet still carried a yin poisonous intent—this person's talent absolutely surpasses that of Murong Hua and Ma Long.

Bai Lang's palm ultimately failed to retract in time, but as his true qi surged, the protective gang qi before him spontaneously formed a clinging whirlwind around his body. The skin beneath his clothing also emitted a faint golden hue, turning his originally yellowish skin warm and lustrous like a metal surface—this is exactly what the Golden Bell Shield Divine Skill at its limit in this realm can manifest. This sword aimed precisely at Bai Lang's throat, philtrum, and yintang three points.

So-called "failed stroke" lies precisely here. If only one point of sword intent were condensed, it might possibly work, but splitting force into three points makes it weak; even with such martial skill, it was bounced off by Bai Lang's protective gang qi—here the throat slipped, here the philtrum deflected, only the yintang point had the sword tip penetrate less than a fraction, sending out sparks. Such externally trained martial art completely surprised the assassin; a miss sent him fleeing a thousand li, merely a flash of his shadow and the assassin was already far away.

Shadow assassin? Bai Lang recalled a guy named Yang Xuanyi who seemed to be the son of the deposed crown prince Yang Yong, having entered the Mending Heaven Pavilion and been taken as a disciple by Shi Zhixuan, becoming one of his pawns; Bai Lang could only suspect this assassin was him—otherwise who would have such skill? Could it be Shi Zhixuan himself? "What the hell, what use is there in assassinating me?" Bai Lang still hadn't properly realized his own importance.

The other assassin, used as a cover, was already dead, blood and such spilled all over the ground. Bai Lang tore open his mask and saw it was merely an ordinary man's face. Bai Lang simply grabbed his horse, shouted once, and the constables patrolling the street where the mansion stood were all summoned: "Wrap the corpse of the assassinated household in a mat and bury it, and meanwhile clean up this place." After giving the order, he went into his own residence.

Wei Zhenzhen was still a bit dazed, and Bai Lang had pulled her inside. "Boil water for the master to bathe, and meanwhile prepare something to eat." Bai Lang clapped his hands, letting Wei Zhenzhen snap to attention; only then did she cry out, "Someone wants to assassinate!" Bai Lang slapped her head, saying, "By the time you shout, someone else's bones will already be cold."

After a while, Bai Lang was soaking in the bath, beginning to ponder why he had been assassinated, and why the assassin would be Yang Xuanyi—tentatively concluding that it was indeed Yang Xuanyi. Wei Zhenzhen was outside stoking the fire; Bai Lang naturally wouldn't call her—this was a bath he had designed and had built, with a wall separating it; outside the fire, heat traveled from the underground brick path to heat the iron plate beneath the tub, the iron plate had wooden planks laid above it with a gap, and atop the outdoor fire sat a large iron tub filled with water.

Hot water flowed in from above, cold water flowed out from below and was reheated; a valve could control inflow and outflow, making the design quite ingenious. The pool wasn't large, enough for two or three people; its depth, when Bai Lang stood, reached roughly his chest to abdomen, and sitting in it to soak was very comfortable. Soaking in the pool, Bai Lang found his thoughts became noticeably more nimble; if someone were to give him a leg massage, he'd likely be even more agile.

There is always a reason for assassinating him, and the reasons are plentiful enough to die for—Bai Lang felt that during his pacification of Xingyang Commandery he had killed many people, and certainly not a few of those who wanted him dead were related to the deceased. However, Yang Xuanyi would absolutely not become an assassin for money or to take revenge for someone—this kind is a political assassin, whose strikes always have political motives. If it truly were Yang Xuanyi, then surely Shi Zhixuan believed Bai Lang had reason to die.

It certainly wasn't just to avenge the righteous army's soldiers; Bai Lang carefully considered the situation, and Yang Xuanyi's assassination proved Shi Zhixuan's regard for him, while Shi Zhixuan, this madman, now seemingly wanted to disturb the entire Great Sui realm. From this perspective, Bai Lang immediately clarified the situation—at bottom, he actually is a modern person, and those dragon-slaying arts he had also studied. "So I'm that important?" He realized the importance of his garrisoning Xingyang Commandery to prevent chaos.

So why would Yang Xuanyi attempt to assassinate him? Without a doubt, Zhang Xuatuo must also have been targeted for assassination—if they couldn't act simultaneously, the effect might not be optimal. After Zhang Xuatuo dispatched troops, he maintained contact with the commandery, with cavalry occasionally riding back and forth to relay messages. And Bai Lang also knew everything was going smoothly for him; when advancing to press upon Wagang, the enemy dared not send troops to oppose, merely retreating continually.

However, Zhang Xuatuo also absorbed the lesson from the previous time; his offensive pace was not fast, but steadily he pressed Wagang Village up to near his own position to face off. With the supplies of grain and forage from the vicinity of Hulao and Xingyang Commandery, Wagang Village would thus be doomed to self-destruct—this was Zhang Xuatuo's means of forcing Wagang Village to voluntarily engage him in a pitched battle. Two days before Bai Lang's assassination was Zhang Xuatuo's last message; reckoning the time, a new message should arrive the next day.

As a result, it never arrived; Bai Lang led the commandery troops out, setting off to pursue Zhang Xuatuo's army.

When halfway along the route, scattered troops appeared before them. "Defeated, defeated! The envoy has already died!" Those soldiers wailed loudly; Bai Lang was furious to the point of smoke rising from his seven orifices, and only with difficulty did he manage to clarify the situation. As it turned out, on the day the great battle was about to begin, a high monk entered the camp to pray for blessings for the Sui army; after they left, that very night Zhang Xuatuo was assassinated. Moreover, according to the surviving Luo Shixin, the perpetrator was Shi Zhixuan. The evil king Shi Zhixuan personally struck down and killed Zhang Xuatuo.

The next day, Wagang Village's forces attacked; the Sui troops each fought on their own, ultimately unable to withstand and were defeated and retreated. Luo Shixin and Qin Qiong both defected to Pei Renji, who was stationed to guard Hulao, while a portion of the Sui troops simply fled all the way to Xingyang Commandery.

Upon hearing this, Bai Lang exploded in fury, roaring like a furious tiger; he immediately ordered half of the commandery troops to take the defeated Sui soldiers back to Xingyang Commandery to defend the city, while he himself led the other half straight forward to assault the Wagang forces that sought to pursue and attack. The Wagang commander leading the pursuit, seeing that the front was about to step into Xingyang Commandery, also showed no fear, directly leading his soldiers forward. Turning onto the main road, he suddenly saw a fierce general in armor, his beard and hair bristling, riding a horse to kill, each hand holding a ji with the character 'bu', followed by more than ten cavalry behind him, and further back still over a hundred armored infantry.

Such adornment was certainly recognizable to the Wagang people—wasn't that none other than the Xingyang Commandery commandant Bai Lang, White Jade Pillar, famed as the peerless fierce general 'White Tiger Breaks the Army'? Bai Lang spurred his horse forward; since this time his warhorse wore no armor, its speed was increased a notch. Seeing Bai Lang approach with extremely brutal killing intent and fury, that Wagang cavalry commander immediately made his horse and himself sidestep, turned tail and fled.