Chapter 128: The Longest Day (Part 6)

Chapter 127: The Longest Day

"Good heavens, the Great Magus Dragon and Tiger has truly summoned the Southern Bing-Ding Fire... Good heavens... Is the fire burning too fiercely?"

Wang Jian hurriedly grabbed Tie Xinyuan and asked, "What Great Magus Dragon and Tiger? What Southern Bing-Ding Fire?"

"There is a grand ritual at the Directorate of Imperial Clan today, and they have invited the Great Magus Dragon and Tiger. At the height of the sun's yang energy at noon today, the Great Magus Dragon and Tiger is to summon the Southern Bing-Ding Fire to burn away all the unclean qi within the Directorate..."

"You are saying the place on fire is the Directorate of Imperial Clan? They are performing a ritual?" The expression on Wang Jian's face relaxed noticeably. First, he had not heard the alarm bell of the imperial city ring, and second, what did a fire at the Directorate of Imperial Clan have to do with him?

Soon, a guard came to report, confirming everything Tie Xinyuan had just said.

Wang Jian walked up to the high platform and whispered a few words to Emperor Renzong, who was lecturing the military examinees. The tightly furrowed brows of the Emperor finally relaxed.

"You always complain that the imperial court does not value the military examinations, and Han Qi's remark that 'only the singing of names at the Donghua Gate makes a true hero' has made you hesitant to pursue military affairs..."

Since the Directorate of Imperial Clan was finally on fire, Tie Xinyuan no longer bothered himself with that matter. Upon returning, he would merely inquire about the extent of the fire, and the affair would be completely over.

Zhao Yunrang had demolished his own house, Tie Xinyuan had collapsed his dangerous building, and now his home had burned down—they were even now. Tie Xinyuan had little inclination to care whether Zhao Yunrang was a loyal subject or a treacherous official.

Tie Xinyuan did not care, Wang Jian did not care, and the Emperor cared even less. It was just an ordinary fire, and furthermore, it happened in broad daylight, so there would be no casualties, at most the loss of some wealth.

Neither the Emperor nor Wang Jian would disbelieve such nonsense as the Great Magus Dragon and Tiger summoning the Southern Bing-Ding Fire.

Thus, the military examinations continued.

However, the number of participants had drastically decreased, leaving fewer than twenty men.

Yet, of these twenty men, if the Emperor were to order them to commit suicide on the spot, they likely would not hesitate for a single second.

Especially Iron Lion; at this moment, wielding a massive hammer and standing right behind the Emperor, he glared with the fierce intensity of a tiger at anyone who approached. Should anyone dare show the slightest disrespect to the Emperor, his hammer would undoubtedly crash down without a moment's hesitation.

Emperor Renzong was truly daring, actually allowing a man he had just met today—a veritable god of slaughter holding a heavy hammer—to stand directly behind him. That single gesture alone was enough to make Iron Lion willing to shatter his liver and brains in the Emperor's service.

"Cao Fang, what place do you think you should rank among these twenty-three examinees?"

Cao Fang stepped out in response, dropped to one knee, and said, "This subject believes it depends on whose team this subject is assigned to. If alone, it is most natural for this subject to be at the very bottom. If paired with Iron Lion, this subject could rank tenth. If this subject stands behind Your Majesty, this subject shall be invincible."

Emperor Renzong leaned his head back from his chair in an unpretentious manner, looked at Iron Lion Lü Zhan, and said, "Listen to that, just listen. Your flaw lies right there. You have eaten your share of bitterness, exerted your share of strength, and shed your share of blood, yet the outcome is far from satisfactory. In the end, you don't even have a patch of ground to stand on. I have said before, an army is a collective whole; the fierce bravery of one or two men has no meaning to me. Only when the entire Great Song army is strong can I be truly strong."

Lü Zhan was about to drop to his knees when the Emperor rebuked angrily, "Military men should not kneel so much. Kneel too often, and your bones turn soft. What use do I have for soft bones?"

Iron Lion forced his back to straighten, the tears in his wide eyes overflowing and glittering upon his bearded face.

Emperor Renzong turned his head again to look at the remaining examinees and said, "It seems no one can surpass Lü Zhan. Since that is the case, I declare Lü Zhan the top examinee. Is there anyone who refuses to accept this?"

Yang Huaiyu stepped out from the left, cupped his fists, and said, "Reporting to Your Majesty, this subject refuses to accept this. Whether Lü Zhan deserves to be the top examinee will be decided only after he defeats this subject."

Emperor Renzong stood up, tapped his fist lightly against Yang Huaiyu's armor, and asked, "What do you rely upon? Do you intend to rely on fine weapons and sharp armor?"

Yang Huaiyu took a step back, bowed, and replied, "In hand-to-hand combat, this subject is no match for General Lü Zhan. But as a military general, fine weapons and sharp armor are also a form of combat power. General Lü Zhan lacks these, which only proves he believes his personal combat power is already sufficient to be invincible without external aid. This subject does not see it that way. As a general, this subject will utilize every available military advantage, solely to defeat the opponent. My late father once said that on the battlefield, there is no such thing as 'reason'—whoever tries to reason is a fool!"

Emperor Renzong laughed heartily and said, "A true tiger son of a military family indeed! Lü Zhan, someone refuses to submit to you. What do you say?"

Lü Zhan gave a ferocious smile and said, "This subordinate will beat him until he submits completely."

Emperor Renzong smiled. "Then you must be careful. The young man has a brilliant artisan helping him behind the scenes; his weapons and armor must possess some trickery. Watch yourself. Besides, his nonsense just now was not in vain: if he wins against you, he is the top scholar; if you defeat him, he is the second-place scholar. He loses nothing either way."

Whenever he was away from the civil officials, the Emperor's speech became casual and sharp, causing the Director of Military Affairs Pang Ji—who could not wedge in a single word—to frown repeatedly.

Yang Huaiyu mounted a black steed. The tall horse paced in place twice before slowly walking toward the center of the drill field. The sunlight streamed from behind him, casting a tall and mighty silhouette.

Emperor Renzong laughed loudly. "How unceremonious indeed! The wind blows from his back, and the sunlight shines from his back as well. It seems Lü Zhan will not only have to fight against the wind, but also guard against the blinding glare of the sun."

Pang Ji let out a muffled snort. "If Yang Huaiyu, as the scion of a military family, could not even think of this, I would have to ask Yang Wenguang how he teaches his son."

Lü Zhan mounted a bay horse, pointed a single hammer at Yang Huaiyu, and shouted, "Very well, you may come forward."

Yang Huaiyu laughed heartily. "I was just about to." With that, he urged his steed into a wild gallop toward Lü Zhan. For some reason, a cloud of fine dust whipped up from beneath the horse's belly, and the wind instantly rolled this dust screen forward to engulf the approaching Lü Zhan. Yang Huaiyu reined in his horse, his heavy lance replaced in an instant by a long bow. Three feathered arrows flashed upon the bowstring, piercing through the rolling dust straight toward Iron Lion's heart.

"Oh dear, the Yang boy is truly insidious." Emperor Renzong had not expected that just as the battle began, Yang Huaiyu would resort to a lethal strike.

Cao Fang stared in dumbfounded shock at Yang Huaiyu and muttered to himself, "Lime powder... he should have used lime powder... How come I didn't think of that? And to think I often use lime myself..."

When the dust settled, a dust-covered Lü Zhan appeared before everyone. He grabbed the three arrows in one hand, bared his white teeth, and laughed wildly, "Boy, if this is the extent of your skill, you might as well admit defeat. Combat across the border always kicks up billows of dust; what matters is acute hearing. If I don't even have the skill to listen to the wind, how could I dare claim to be the number one hero of the Western Army?"

Yang Huaiyu said with a hint of disappointment, "Someone once told me that since I have already acted like a scoundrel, I should carry it through to the end. It was my fault for only shooting three arrows just now; I should have loosed a volley of continuous arrows, and aimed at your horse instead. If you had lost your horse, I at least could have secured a draw."

Iron Lion chuckled. "Having realized that, your chances of surviving in the borderlands have increased by at least thirty percent. Boy, show me your true skills and let me truly witness the prowess of a military clan."

Seeing Iron Lion charge toward him, Yang Huaiyu whipped his horse around and fled. True to its Western Regions lineage, the tall black steed possessed blistering speed, and no matter how loudly Iron Lion roared in pursuit, he could not close the distance.

The commoners gathered around the drill field burst into loud laughter, pointing and jeering at Yang Huaiyu.

As Iron Lion galloped past a weapon rack, he leaned down, snatched a leather shield from it, spun it twice in his hand, and hurled it with a furious roar.

The massive leather shield blotted out the light like a dark cloud. Yang Huaiyu had no time to dodge, so he slashed fiercely at the shield with the long saber in his left hand. With a sound like tearing silk, the leather shield was cleaved cleanly in two by his blade, crashing with a thunderous boom on either side of the horse—a truly astonishing display of might.

Before he could even withdraw his blade, Iron Lion's ferocious face appeared right beside Yang Huaiyu, and twin hammers came whistling down from above.

Knowing that Iron Lion's heavy hammers could not be blocked directly—once the initiative was lost, the brute would rain down hammer blows until he was hammered straight into the mud—Yang Huaiyu thrust his saber upward, instantly slicing off his own cloak. The scarlet cloak fluttered in the wind, shrouding Iron Lion and blocking his vision.

The hammer blows struck empty air. Yang Huaiyu lay flat across the horse's back, and his halberd slid past him with treacherous precision, thrusting straight into the center of the cloak.

The halberd thrust missed. With a cry of alarm, Yang Huaiyu thrust the shaft upward toward his upper left without even looking. A dull thud echoed as one of the iron hammers struck the halberd shaft, bending it severely.

The black steed let out a neigh and lunged forward by a step, barely sparing Yang Huaiyu from a second hammer blow.

The force of the first hammer had not been dissipated by the halberd; the thick shaft vibrated wildly in his hands, nearly tearing loose from his grip.

Hardly had he regained control of his horse when Iron Lion stood grinning grimly right in front of him, swinging his hammers. "Nowhere left to run? Then let's fight properly! Those few moves just now were not bad; anyone else would have been finished off already."

Yang Huaiyu uttered not a word. He braced his halberd and thrust straight at Iron Lion's chest. Iron Lion smiled coldly, brought his twin hammers together in the center, and actually clamped the halberd shaft firmly between them. With a violent collision of the twin hammers, the halberd was snapped clean in two.

With a roar, Yang Huaiyu thrust the remaining half of the wooden shaft straight toward Iron Lion's face.

Iron Lion easily batted the shaft aside, but a sharp pain suddenly struck his lower abdomen. Looking down, he saw a gleaming iron shaft protruding from his belly.

Though the arrowhead was missing, it had still pierced halfway into his flesh.

This time, Yang Huaiyu gave Iron Lion no breathing room. Tossing aside the broken shaft, he brought his saber down in a flashing arc, aiming straight for Iron Lion's undefended chest.

With a loud *clang*, the saber struck an iron hammer and bounced off. At the same time, the other hammer smashed into Yang Huaiyu's chainmail with a gale-force wind. Yang Huaiyu's body reeled backward as ripples shuddered across his chainmail. As the force was dissipated, Yang Huaiyu drew a hand crossbow from his tunic and fired without a moment's thought. Three boltless iron arrows hissed through the air. Iron Lion managed to dodge one, but the other two struck his left arm almost simultaneously.

Yang Huaiyu spat out a mouthful of blood, reached into his tunic, and without a second thought, stuffed a handful of powder into his mouth...

Tie Xinyuan sighed and said to Wang Jian, "They've gone mad. This is a fight to the death. Can you find a way to make Iron Lion run away?"

Wang Jian said proudly, "Iron Lion will not run!"

"Then you can just watch the two of them destroy each other." Tie Xinyuan felt some regret for having given Yang Huaiyu that mushroom powder. (To be continued.)