Chapter Eighty-One: Xu Zhihui Has Died

Xu Zhihui rescued Li Yiqing, and the two of them once again arrived at the residence of Tuo Li Leopard. After subduing the guards outside, they burst straight into the bedroom.

Inside, they found all the magical weapons, including Li Yiqing’s own armaments, which delighted him beyond measure. He strapped all the treasures onto himself and reached for the steel lance.

“Brother Li, that thing is too long and heavy to carry easily; best leave it behind,” Xu Zhihui urged.

“I’ll fetch the Unicorn Steed for you. Ride the divine horse and escape ahead of me!” Xu Zhihui said, already dashing out.

Li Yiqing checked over his gear, making sure he hadn’t left anything behind, and was about to call Xu Zhihui to withdraw from the room. Turning back, he noticed Xu Zhihui had vanished, startling him greatly. Only then did he recall Xu Zhihui’s words about fetching the Unicorn Steed.

He thought to himself: Could it be that this fellow is pretending to fetch the steed, while really calling someone to capture me? I’d better make my escape!

With that, he didn’t dare delay any longer. He ran straight for the door like a frightened dog, scrambling toward the fortress gate, for the rear mountain was no longer an option. If he fled that way and pursuers came raining stones down, he’d have no chance to survive.

Fortunately, the demon soldiers were lax and didn’t notice him. Reaching the fortress gates, he found them sealed tight. Lanterns and torches lit the high walls, and demon soldiers patrolled back and forth. Escaping seemed impossible.

Li Yiqing was anxious; it was already the fifth watch. If he didn’t get out now, he wouldn’t get out at all. Yet impatience was useless—he could only hide in the shadows and look for a weak spot to climb over the wall.

Just then, he felt a slap on his back, which frightened him out of his wits. He drew his Golden Dragon Claw, spinning around, ready to fight to the death, when a soft voice said, “It’s me, Xu Zhihui!”

He looked carefully and saw it was indeed Xu Zhihui, alone, holding a long spear and leading two warhorses. One was pure white, with a long horn on its head.

“Brother Li, why didn’t you wait for me? I’m lucky these horses run fast, or I wouldn’t have caught up with you,” Xu Zhihui admonished in a low voice.

Li Yiqing had no good answer, for his own selfish thoughts were hard to confess.

“Brother Li, I’ve stolen the command token. I’ll go open the gate. You wait here. Once it’s open, mount the Unicorn Steed and ride out at once!” Xu Zhihui instructed.

“But… but… what about you?” At this point, Li Yiqing could not help but trust Xu Zhihui, and so he became concerned for his safety.

“Don’t worry about me, Brother Li. I have a horse as well and will escape too. If I don’t make it, tell my father I thank him for raising me for over twenty years. I used to be foolish and always made him angry. This time, I’ll finally do something to make him proud!” As Xu Zhihui spoke, tears blurred his eyes.

“Nonsense! Those words you’ll have to speak yourself! And don’t forget, you owe Deputy General Ye a debt—if you don’t repay it yourself, our rebel brothers will never forgive you!” Li Yiqing, seeing Xu Zhihui’s sadness, feared he might take his own life to spite the enemy, and so purposely scolded him.

Xu Zhihui gave a sorrowful smile and said nothing more. He handed the Unicorn Steed’s reins to Li Yiqing, urging him, “Hold the horse steady!” He then mounted the other horse, straightened his clothes and back, squeezed with his legs, and—

Clip-clop, clip-clop…

He rode out first.

“Gentlemen immortals, here is the command token. Chancellor Tuo ordered me to leave early today to contact troops elsewhere and resist the enemy. Please open the gate!” Xu Zhihui announced.

“Oh, it’s you, Xu! So it’s the little brat,” the demon soldiers sneered as they approached.

One soldier checked the token and waved. “Open the gate!”

Creaking, the fortress gates swung open.

“Hero Xu, please!” one demon soldier said mockingly, and the others burst out laughing.

Xu Zhihui knew they were mimicking Tuo Li Leopard’s tone to mock him, but he paid them no mind, merely flicked the reins and urged his horse forward at a measured pace.

Seeing the gate open, Li Yiqing knew this was his chance. He leapt onto the Unicorn Steed, shouted, “Hyah!” and slapped the horse’s hindquarters.

With a loud crack, the horse bolted in pain, hooves thundering as it shot toward the gate like the wind.

“Not good! Someone’s riding the Chancellor’s prized horse to escape!” one demon soldier cried, pointing at Li Yiqing.

“Close the gates! Close the gates!” the others shouted. Chaos erupted; many rushed to push the heavy doors shut.

Again came the creaking as the gates began to close.

Xu Zhihui sensed danger. He gripped his spear and—crack! Crack! Crack!—in an instant, felled several demon soldiers.

“The Xu brat’s betraying us!” the others screamed, scattering in panic.

Seizing the opportunity, Li Yiqing tightened the reins with one hand and kept slapping the horse with the other. The Unicorn Steed ran even faster, hooves barely touching the ground, charging like lightning toward the gate.

Suddenly, an angry shout rang out, “You little wretch, you’ve stolen my treasures! Where do you think you’re going?!”

Li Yiqing glanced back in terror and saw Tuo Li Leopard, disheveled, bow in hand, nocking an arrow and aiming straight at him.

Panic-stricken, Li Yiqing hunched his neck, gripped the saddle with his legs, and slapped the horse frantically while shouting, “Hyah! Hyah! Hyah!” urging the horse on.

But at that very moment—whoosh!—an arrow, swift as the wind, overtook him, speeding straight for his back.

Fortunately, Li Yiqing was quick-witted; he drew the Golden Dragon Claw from his back and raised it to block the shot.

Clang! The claw met the arrow, sending up a shower of sparks.

But Tuo Li Leopard was no ordinary fiend. Immediately—whoosh! whoosh! whoosh!—he fired over a dozen arrows in quick succession, aiming for every part of Li Yiqing's body, leaving him with no way to dodge or escape, forced to parry as best he could.

“Tuo Li Leopard, I’ll fight you to the death!” Xu Zhihui, seeing this, spurred his horse forward, spear leveled for battle.

“You treacherous cur! I’ll deal with you myself!” Tuo Li Leopard, even angrier at the sight of Xu Zhihui, put away his bow, raised his steel-tipped lance, and met the attack.

Clang! Sparks flew as the two spears collided with a thunderous crash that echoed across the sky.

The point of Tuo Li Leopard’s lance struck the tip of Xu Zhihui’s spear, sending a numbing shock up his arms and burning his palms. He could no longer keep his grip; with a curse, his spear flew from his hands.

“Ah!” Xu Zhihui cried out, stunned, barely able to react before Tuo Li Leopard’s lance pierced straight through his chest with a sickening squelch.

With a flick of his wrist, Tuo Li Leopard lifted Xu Zhihui high and tossed his lifeless body to the ground.

Meanwhile, Li Yiqing, wielding the Golden Dragon Claw, knocked aside several arrows. The rest he managed to evade thanks to the Unicorn Steed’s speed.

Glancing back, he saw Xu Zhihui being impaled and thrown, which stabbed his heart with pain. He could not help but cry out, “Brother Xu!” as tears streamed down his face.

All his life, Li Yiqing had looked down on Xu Zhihui. Yet today, it was the one he most despised who had saved him, and had died for it.

His heart ached bitterly. For a long moment, he didn’t know how he would face Xu Yaozu and explain what had happened.

Tuo Li Leopard, after killing Xu Zhihui, wiped his spear on the corpse’s foot and looked up, but Li Yiqing had long since vanished without a trace. Furious, he never would have guessed that the loss of his treasures was entirely due to the usually docile Xu Zhihui—outwardly meek, but secretly daring enough to free that stunted rascal!

Only when he’d felt someone groping him in his drunken sleep did he wake, groggy, to find his command token gone, the Unicorn Steed missing, and all his treasures except the steel lance and moonlight armor taken. Li Yiqing, too, had disappeared.

Panicked, he’d chased out, but too late—Li Yiqing had escaped with the treasures.

As the saying goes: “Those not of my race must have different hearts!” It seemed the people of Great Xia could not be trusted.

The more Tuo Li Leopard thought, the angrier he became. Even looking at Xu Zhihui’s corpse did not appease him. He ordered his soldiers, “Drag this corpse away and feed it to the wolves on the back mountain!”

A few demon soldiers did as they were told.

From then on, with his treasures greatly diminished, Tuo Li Leopard dared not challenge the rebel camp, and the pressure on the rebel army eased considerably.

As for Li Yiqing, he returned to the rebel camp at dawn the next day, bringing two soldiers with him to carry the treasures, and requested to see Murong Yan.

Unexpectedly, Murong Yan issued an order for him to announce himself and enter.

This frightened Li Yiqing, who thought, This is bad! I went out on my own, and although I stole the treasures, I disobeyed military orders. Will the Marshal have me executed?

Still, he dared not defy orders. He announced himself, bowing every few steps and kneeling every three, making his way to the commander’s tent.

Inside, Murong Yan’s fair face was frosted with anger. She slapped the table and shouted, “Who is kneeling before me?”

Timidly, Li Yiqing replied, “I… I… I am Li Yiqing, paying… paying my respects to the Marshal!” He knocked his head to the ground three times.

Murong Yan remained unmoved, then coldly asked, “Oh, so it’s General Li. Last night I sent men to check your tent—why were you not there?”

Li Yiqing turned pale with fright, his voice trembling even more. “Mar… Marshal, I… I went to… to the enemy camp… to steal… treasures. Now… I have returned… with six of Tuo Li Leopard’s treasures, reporting as ordered.”

Murong Yan gave a cold laugh. “Oh, General Li, your merits are great indeed. There will surely be a heavy reward!”

Hearing the sarcasm, Li Yiqing quickly replied, “I dare not! I dare not!”

“I see you are bold indeed! How dare you claim otherwise? Guards, seize him and behead him!”

With that, Murong Yan slapped the table even harder. The soldiers, hearing the order, rushed forward, grabbed Li Yiqing by the shoulders, twisted his arms behind his back, and bound him tightly like a trussed chicken, dragging him away to await execution at noon.