Chapter 82: Spotting and Stalking the Target
Beads of scalding sweat were streaming down his cheeks. Ling Zhang was sweating buckets from somewhat hot medicated bathwater and scorching steam. Though this was the second time that he had taken a medicated bath, he still found the numbness, itch and pain exceptionally unbearable, as if numerous ants were gnawing at his heart. He clenched his fists. His fingertips had deeply sunk into his palm. Fortunately he had no sharp nails. Otherwise his palms would have been mangled and b.l.o.o.d.y by now.
This was such a miserable experience.
Ling Zhang gritted his teeth to prevent any groan from escaping his lips, as if that would be a signal that would throw him into a breakdown.
Yuwen Tong, whose palms were pressed against Ling Zhang’s back, was continuously injecting warm energy into his body, expanding his meridians bit by bit. He was also sweating profusely.
“Hang in there.”
Seeing that Ling Zhang was suffering from the process, Yuwen Tong couldn’t help encouraging him.
The first time was the most painful, but the second time was the most intolerable.
Only by enduring the first two times accustoming himself to the effects of the medicine would Ling Zhang feel less miserable.
Finally, it was over. Not surprisingly, Ling Zhang pa.s.sed out again when he abruptly relaxed his concentration.
Like the last time, Yuwen Tong carried him out of the bathing pool, helped him change his clothes and then left.
Since Xia Feng had already seen this kind of thing happen once, he had been quiet from start to finish. After Yuwen Tong left, he stayed in the ante-room.
When Ling Zhang was asleep, something unusual happened outside the Prefecture Encampment as well.
“Elder Brother w.a.n.g, we got company.”
Liu Yi hiding outside the Prefecture Encampment pushed w.a.n.g Dashan who was sleeping soundly beside him. Though w.a.n.g Dashan seemed to be in a deep sleep, he woke up immediately after Liu Yi touched him, and his eyes lit up. “They arrived?”
“Yeah.” Liu Yi pointed in a direction. “There.”
w.a.n.g Dashan craned out of the cover and, as expected, saw half a dozen tough hombres, who were dressed like common residents but walking very like bandits, go to the entrance of the encampment, show the guards something like an ID plate and then enter the encampment swaggeringly.
“Young Master was right. These guys indeed come here tonight!”
w.a.n.g Dashan stared at the Prefecture Encampment with piercing eyes, trying to figure out what those people did in there. Pity his eyesight was not that good, so he angrily gave up.
“There’s no need to be anxious, Elder Brother w.a.n.g. Don’t let fretfulness cloud your judgement. Since young master only bade us stalk those bandits, all we need to do is follow them closely after they come out. The Prefecture Encampment is heavily guarded. Even if we manage to sneak in, we won’t be able to eavesdrop on them.”
“I know. I’m angry because as the commander of the Prefecture Guards, Zhang Chong is so unruly as to let those bandits into the encampment with no misgivings whatsoever. He’s in thorough collusion with bandits!”
“Haven’t I informed you of this long ago? Why are you still so indignant?”
“Because now I saw it with my own eyes.”
Speechless with resignation, Liu Yi ignored him and re-concentrated his attention on the front gate of the Prefecture Encampment, waiting for those bandits to come out.
On a branch of a tree in the distance sat a man in black against the trunk, leisurely chewing a cracker half of which was between his lips. Compared with vigilant w.a.n.g Dashan, he literally seemed to be on an outing.
“Those two morons,” after hearing the conversation between Liu Yi and w.a.n.g Dashan, the man in black sneered. “They had the nerve to say that they were here to spy on people. I’ve been spying on you for several days, yet you didn’t spot me even once. If it weren’t for that I have orders from Marshal not to let Childe Ling know about this, I would have taught you a lesson long ago.” Neither Liu Yi nor w.a.n.g Dashan was aware that there was someone else who was staking out the Prefecture Encampment like they were. Finally, after about two hours, those bandits went out of the encampment, every one of whom was walking with a rolling gait. Manifestly they had drunk a lot of wine!
“Zhang Chong entertained these bandits at a banquet. As the Commander of the Prefecture Guards, he brought such a shame on the Great Yue.”
“Stop cursing and follow them.”
Liu Yi gave w.a.n.g Dashan a pull and followed those bandits. Gradually, they walked further away from the front gate of the Prefecture Encampment into a pitch-dark wood, where they saw that those bandits found their horses and were about to ride away.
“Hurry. Hurry. Pursue them,” Liu Yi anxiously urged.
“How the f.u.c.k are we supposed to do that? They got horses. You are going to run after them?” w.a.n.g Dashan cursed in an undertone, running rapidly.
Running side by side with him, Liu Yi said, “They’ve just drunk wine, so they can’t ride fast.”
“Well, lucky for us, they’ve just drunk wine.” w.a.n.g Dashan broke out in a cold sweat. ‘If these bandits had not drunk wine, would we be able to catch them up with our average lightness skills?’ he wondered.
“We’ve got to prepare horses next time.” w.a.n.g Dashan made a belated suggestion which was clearly a pointless afterthought.
Liu Yi speechlessly flicked a glance at him.
Like Liu Yi said, these bandits, having drunk much wine, didn’t dare to ride fast. They progressed slowly, talking dirty and laughing along the way.
After an hour.
“This direction… ” By moonlight, w.a.n.g Dashan looked around. “They’re heading for Qi County?”
“Is there anything special about Qi County?” Liu Yi asked him.
“The largest den of bandits is in Qi County. They hide in the Grand Mang Mountain. Since this mountain is too vast and there is also miasma in it, bandits hiding there are the most difficult to eliminate. Every year, the Prefecture Guards…”
“Never mind. Now I even have my doubts about whether they have ever put any real efforts into suppressing bandits. Anyway, the bandit gang in the Grand Mang Mountain is the most powerful one. It is rumored that they relocate their stronghold all the time. Though numerous bandit-suppressing operations have been carried out, never once has the den of those bandits been found, and the total number of them remains unknown as well.”
“The Grand Mang Mountain…” Liu Yi mumbled, as if something had just occurred to him. “It seems to extend into Yanzhou. The Yellow Sand River flows past a canyon in the Grand Mang Mountain.”
“Yeah. That’s the Grand Mang Mountain I’m talking about.”
“Judging by your description, this Grand Mang Mountain is really huge. Those bandits are good at hiding, so it’s indeed not easy to handle them.”
“Tell me about it. Bandits in the Grand Mang Mountain were also the first to pop out. Though they didn’t control the main road built by the local government, they were responsible for all slaughter and raids in nearby villages. They are a bunch of cold-blooded and vicious outlaws. During the past few years, some Jianghu sc.u.m have gone to the Grand Mang Mountain and joined the gang after hearing its reputation, which made those bandits an even more powerful force.”
“Does young master really want to mess with those bandits regardless of the current situation?”
Liu Yi asked in deep concern, hesitatingly slowing down his steps.
w.a.n.g Dashan gave him a pull and said, “Don’t stop. No matter whether young master decides to fight them or not, we have to finish our job first. Besides, if we go there and do some scouting first, we will be able to get some first-hand information about the real strength of those bandits, which will make our words more convincing when we try to persuade young master to give up the thought of messing with these people.”
On hearing this, Liu Yi speeded up. “You’re right.”
The man in black, who had been following them and eavesdropping on them, seemed to have thought of something. ‘It seems that the place Marshal had been investigating into during the couple of days was probably this Grand Mang Mountain. Are there by any chance really some secrets in the Grand Mang Mountain? Tsk. Never mind. Currently, I should keep an eye on these two people lest they get killed during this task.”
In Tanyang.
After falling into a coma, Ling Zhang had been sleeping all along until daybreak, totally unaware of what had happened. This time he didn’t suffer any convulsions late at night and had a sound sleep. When he woke up, he had a feeling, which was even stronger than the one he had two days ago, that he had become more robust and also more energetic, that even his eyesight and hearing had improved somewhat. When he looked into the distance, he found that his range of vision was wider and he could also see distant things more distinctly. Thanks to the improvement of his hearing, he was now able to faintly distinguish sounds from the front gate of the courtyard.
“There have been such remarkable benefits after merely unblocking meridians. If I begin to cultivate internal energy, how many more amazing changes does the future hold?”
With subdued excitement, Ling Zhang got out of bed and started was.h.i.+ng his face and combing his hair. Suddenly, footsteps came from the doorway. He stood up in confusion, wondering, ‘Dawn has just broken. Who came here at such an early hour?”
“Young Master, Captain w.a.n.g and Guard Liu arrived,” Xia Feng walked inside and said.
‘It’s them? Does this mean that…’
“Let them in!”
“Young Master, we have something urgent to report to you,” said w.a.n.g Dashan and Liu Yi the moment they entered the room, looking travel-stained, their clothes dew-soaked and covered in dust, their faces full of fatigue, as if they had been through a torturous long journey.
“Xia Feng, go get some hot was.h.i.+ng water, towels and some food,” Ling Zhang said to Xia Feng.
Xia Feng nodded and left the room.
Liu Yi and w.a.n.g Dashan walked up to the chairs and sat down.
“Young Master, we found out which gang those bandits belong to.”
“There’s no hurry. Have a rest and drink some warm water.”
On the sight of the two people, Ling Zhang knew they must have been laboriously running around for a whole night and were definitely exhausted.
Xia Feng did things very quick. Soon he returned with a couple of servants carrying hot was.h.i.+ng water, towels, newly-made tea and food.
“You may go wash your faces to ease the fatigue first.”
Liu Yi and w.a.n.g Dashan exchanged glances and then, without any pretence at politeness, washed their faces and wiped their necks clean with the hot water brought by servants. After that, they sat down, drank some hot tea and each ate half a dozen steaming steamed stuffed buns. It was not until then that they perked up.
Ling Zhang patiently waited until they ate and drank enough. Then he asked, “Which gang do they belong to?”
w.a.n.g Dashan put the teacup down and answered, “The gang in the Grand Mang Mountain, Young master.”
“The Grand Mang Mountain?” Ling Zhang knitted his eyebrows, immediately realizing that this was a tricky issue. “Are you sure about it?”
“Positive. Liu Yi and I stalked them and saw them ride onto the mountain. They kept riding deeper into it. Originally, we planned to continue to follow them, but afterwards…”
“What happened afterwards?” Seeing that w.a.n.g Dashan was a little hesitant, Ling Zhang asked.
“A bodyguard of Lord Yuwen who lives next door suddenly showed up and stopped us from continuing to follow those bandits, saying that there were traps everywhere on the mountain, which we might stamp on even during daytime, that we would surely end up dead if we followed them at night. He told us to come back,” Liu Yi answered the question for w.a.n.g Dashan.
A bodyguard of Yuwen Tong? It occurred to Ling Zhang that on that day, he told Yuwen Tong that some men, presumably some bandits, entered the Prefecture Encampment. He believed that Yuwen Tong probably had also sent someone to stake out that place.
“I see. I’ll talk to him about this matter later. Tell me your other findings, if there are any.”
“I’m afraid that’s all we’ve got for the moment, but I want to say those ferocious bandits in the Grand Mang Mountain are far more dangerous than those of any other gang. You really want to mess with them, young master?” w.a.n.g Dashan asked worriedly.