Unparalleled Evildoer

Chapter 82: Revenge in a Village Courtyard

As the sun rose, Gongsun Yu asked the old woman in the courtyard if there was a pharmacy nearby. The old woman had never left the mountain village in her life, so she naturally didn't know. She went to find the old man and came back. The old man told Gongsun Yu that after leaving the mountain village and crossing two villages, it was more than 30 miles away from here to the county town, where there was a pharmacy. After hearing this, Gongsun Yu took off her golden hairpin, gave it to the old man, and asked the old man to go to the pharmacy to get her medicine. When the old man heard the name of the medicine, he was so scared that he quickly refused.

When Wuzhan heard this, he hurried out of the house and explained to the old man: "Uncle, you don't know that arsenic is used to repel mosquitoes. Since we are so far away, we will not trouble you. We can find some mugwort instead." After hearing this, the old man believed it and led the old woman away.

After the two old people left, an old woman's voice came from outside the yard, "Look at the two of them, they are so enviable, a perfect match, they must be unable to wait for the engagement, just like you back then, always wanting to secretly take me to a place where no one is around,..."

Gongsun Yu stood in silence, her beautiful eyes gazing at the curling green hills, her hair dancing gently like peach blossoms in the misty rain, and she whispered, "Why don't you leave?"

Wuzhan said: "My body needs a few days of rest before I can leave."

Gongsun Yu understood what Wuzhan meant, turned around slowly, looked at Wuzhan and said, "Master Li, don't worry about Luoyan's injury. She will get better slowly. You should leave as soon as possible and fulfill your master's last wish."

Wuzhan asked, "Where are you going, Princess?"

Gongsun Yu said, "In Xianyang, there is a teahouse of ours."

Wuzhan thought for a moment and advised: "Princess, why do you have to do this? Ying Zheng is not easy to assassinate. Just give up."

Gongsun Yu said: "If I asked you to give up your master's last wish and live quietly in a place like this, would you be willing?"

Wuzhan knew that he could not convince Gongsun Yu, and said sadly: "I never wanted to live at all. If it weren't for my mother letting me live, if it weren't for those impossible wishes, I might have died long ago."

"What was your master's last wish?"

Wuzhan smiled faintly and said, "You may not believe it when I tell you this, but I have to subdue a demon that is about to be born, find an immortal body, and release the soul of Senior Xingtian. However, the most important thing among these things was taken away by the imperial court. I don't know why this task fell on a useless person like me who will not live long. They just gave me such a task but didn't tell me how to do it. I can only take it one step at a time."

Gongsun Yu had never thought that the mission Wuzhan was talking about would be such a bizarre thing. There are actually demons, immortal bodies, and Xing Tian's soul in this world. Looking at Wuzhan's expression, she knew that Wuzhan would never lie to her. She frowned in surprise for a long time and said softly, "Then the mission of the young master is really as difficult as ascending to heaven."

Wuzhan said: "Although my parents did not die under the Qin army's crossbows, they died in their tricks. I can understand the princess's feelings. How could they forget this blood feud? But the Qin Dynasty has more than a million mercenaries, and is assisted by good ministers and famous generals. The law and discipline are strict. Even if Ying Zheng is killed, the country will remain the same. Moreover, he is not a foolish and unjust person. How can he be assassinated so easily?"

Gongsun Yu said: "If what you said is true, then this hatred will never be avenged, and the Qin Dynasty will last forever?"

Wuzhan said: "It's not that I can't avenge myself, I just think that it's better to destroy Qin than to assassinate him."

After hearing this, Gongsun Yu walked up to Wuzhan, and asked, "How do we destroy Qin?"

Wuzhan said: "Although the Qin Dynasty is strong and solid, it is by no means indestructible. As long as we find its weaknesses, expand them to the extreme, and disintegrate from the inside, it will only be a matter of time before the Qin Dynasty collapses. By then, we can start a rebellion and the princess will be able to easily restore her country."

Gongsun Yu's eyes lit up, as if he saw hope, and he said softly: "I don't think much about whether I can restore my country. If I can see the demise of the Qin Dynasty in my lifetime, it will really be God's will. But where is the weakness of the Qin Dynasty? How can we disintegrate it from within?"

Wuzhan said: "A country's national system and national policy, the ownership of military power, and the people's livelihood and taxation will all have loopholes. It needs someone to enter the government and add fuel to the flames, or even stir up trouble, deceive the king's eyes, form a clique for personal gain, undermine the government, weaken its military, and deplete its economy, pushing the Qin Dynasty into the abyss of destruction step by step without anyone noticing."

After hearing this, Gongsun Yu's eyes were filled with worry, "Although I know this, where can I find such a powerful person who can deal with the emperor and his ministers without being discovered, and can collapse the Qin Dynasty with just one person's strength? Master Li, can you do it?"

Wuzhan sighed, "Whether I can do it or not, I can only give it a try. Otherwise, how can I take back that important thing? I'm afraid I don't have much time left."

Gongsun Yu asked with concern: "Is it true that there is no one in this world who can cure your illness?"

Wuzhan confided slowly: "My body has been peculiar since I was born. My mother sought out many famous doctors and gave me many medicines, but they did not have much effect. Originally, my mentor could control my condition and allowed me to live for eight years, but he was killed by those practitioners who were attached to the court. Later, I went to Huashan, and Master Xuanqing taught me a set of health-preserving methods that could barely maintain my body, but he was also killed by those people in the court. So I hope that the princess will not take that arsenic anymore and ruin your body. You have already..." He swallowed the words back when he came to his mouth.

Gongsun Yu said, "Okay, I'll listen to you. I won't eat it anymore." Then he looked at Wuzhan with tears in his eyes and asked, "Does your body hurt all the time?"

Wuzhan said: "This kind of pain is still bearable."

After hearing this, Gongsun Yu suddenly hugged Wuzhan, rested her head on Wuzhan's shoulder, and burst into tears, which surprised Wuzhan and made him feel overwhelmed for a moment. After a long time, Gongsun Yu said softly, "I will cry for a while, and I will feel better." Then she left and returned to the house.

……

Early the next morning, Wuzhan thought he should leave, knowing that all the money fell into the water when Gongsun Yu fled. He gave all the jewels in the Qiankun Jade to Gongsun Yu, and kept only some silver for himself. These jewels were just a small part of the four boxes of jewels taken out from Guo Kai and put into the Qiankun Jade for daily use. Most of the jewels were divided into two packages, which were carried by Jinxingzi and Lingkongzi respectively.

Gongsun Yu reluctantly sent Wuzhan to the gate. She did not look away until Wuzhan disappeared at the entrance of the village. However, she could not stop her tears from flowing. She returned to the house and was seen by Luoyan who was healing her wounds with Yunqi. Luoyan did not say anything.

……

Wuzhan walked and rested, passed through two villages, and finally found the county town. With great difficulty, he bought a skinny horse at a high price. When he saw the skinny horse, he suddenly thought of Wanjiao. He wondered where she was and whether she had forgotten him. He bought some dry food, rode the skinny horse along the official road, and went to Jiujiang City. He wanted to find Jin Xingzi and the other man first, and then find a way to enter the court.

The skinny horse he rode was very lazy. It would take a break after walking a short distance, either to eat grass or drink water, and it also pooped and peed a lot.

When he was resting by the river, he heard the sound of horse hooves and footsteps behind him. Turning around, he saw ten Qin soldiers on horseback, driving skinny corvées, about fifty of them, running towards him, raising dust, sweating and panting.

After arriving at the river, several people fell into the water and drank the water in big gulps. The Qin soldier immediately cursed, "You are worse than pigs and dogs. You want to rest after less than a mile. Get up now, you bunch of trash! Get up now!" He raised his whip and hit those people who fell down to drink water.

Those who were beaten held their heads and screamed, begging for mercy: "General, please stop beating us, please stop beating us, we are really too thirsty and can't walk anymore. We have been running for three days. If we keep running like this, we will be exhausted to death."

The Qin soldiers became more and more excited as they beat them. Every time they whipped them, a bloody streak was left. They cursed angrily, "I'll let you pigs and dogs say you're tired. If we miss the deadline, none of you will survive. You'll all be beheaded."

There was a man lying in the water, unable to get up no matter how hard they tried to beat him. His body was torn and covered in blood. Finally, when someone came forward to take a look, he was already dead.

A Qin soldier cursed: "Damn it, another one died."

Another bodyguard said, "We have to capture another one to make up the number. Where can we find another one?" Turning his eyes to Wuzhan who was resting by the river, he chuckled, "There's one over there, and there's a skinny horse. It would be good to kill and eat this horse." As he spoke, four men rode their horses to Wuzhan.

Wuzhan already knew what they were going to do, and it was too late for him to run. Such a skinny horse would be caught up after only a few steps. But at this moment, the skinny horse seemed to sense the danger, and kicked back, broke free from the reins, neighed, and ran away at an astonishing speed, which Wuzhan did not expect. When the Qin soldiers wanted to chase it, they saw that the skinny horse quickly disappeared into the distant mountains and forests.

Wuzhan groaned in his heart. He didn't expect that he was tricked by a horse. No wonder this skinny horse was the only one available in the whole city. The horse dealer must have made a lot of money by using this skinny horse.

A Qin soldier with a thin face said, "Boy, if you know what's good for you, hurry up and follow us, or I will whip you to death!"

Wuzhan stood up and said, "I'm going with you guys. What are we going to do?"

The Qin soldier laughed and said, "What else can we do? Go build the Great Wall."

Wuzhan asked: "Where should we build the Great Wall?"

The Qin soldier said impatiently: "Why are you talking so much nonsense? Of course we are going to Shangjun."

Wuzhan said: "I need to ask clearly before I can decide whether to go or not."

The Qin soldier said angrily: "It is not up to you to decide. You have to go whether you want to or not!" Then he raised his whip and was about to hit Wuzhan.

Wuzhan said hurriedly, "General, please show mercy. If I hurt him, we won't be able to go." Seeing that the Qin soldier put down the whip, he said, "I'm afraid the journey is too long and my body is weak. If I keep running, I will die like that man. If that happens, we'd better find someone who can run, so that I won't lose my life in vain."

The Qin soldier said, "I am escorting at least five hundred corvées, and I have never seen you being so troublesome. I'm going to smash your mouth!" After saying that, he got off his horse, picked up a knife, and walked towards Wuzhan.

(End of this chapter)