After his great shout, Wang Chong took off at a run, leaving the Bone Demon and the tall woman staring at each other in bewilderment!
Wang Chong was fairly confident he could kill both of these great enemies, but he couldn't guarantee killing them without taking a wound. With more than ten Yaglakar experts hunting him, an injury would amount to a slow death; so long as he stayed unhurt, he could keep dragging things out. He refused to believe these pursuers would never once let their guard down. The moment the Yaglakar people slipped even slightly, his counterattack would surely be swift and unmatched—but to strike back and cut loose with all he had, he had to keep himself at peak condition at every moment.
Within moments Wang Chong had run several li. When he looked back, he saw neither the Bone Demon nor the tall woman giving chase, and he felt rather puzzled. How had these two caught up to him? What's more, that woman had definitely not been among the dozen or so Yaglakar men earlier. Could these pursuers summon reinforcements? If so, the road ahead would be hard indeed.
Wang Chong met no more enemies that day, and he rested a night in the mountain forest.
As he traveled the next day, he passed through a small town and asked for directions. To his surprise, Tongzhou Prefecture was not so far off after all—by sheer luck, the course he'd been following all along hadn't strayed by much.
Wang Chong was overjoyed. At the town's only eatery he ordered seven or eight dishes and ate his fill, then wheedled a few flatbread cakes and took off at a run. He had no money on him now and could only repay it another day. The shopkeeper cursed him roundly, snatched up a spatula, and chased him half a street down—but how could he ever catch up?
After leaving the town, Wang Chong traveled several tens of li and heard the sounds of fighting. He hurried on a while and saw several dozen men in leather armor, wielding curved sabers, laying siege to a band of jianghu folk.
These men in leather armor were plainly experts of the eighteen grassland tribes—their shouts carried no accent of the Central Plains and were laced with a foreign tongue, and their attacks were viciously brutal. More than a dozen corpses already lay on the ground. The jianghu folk, by contrast, were a motley lot, seemingly from several different sects and gangs—their garments and their weapons all differing. They were barely holding on, and Wang Chong at once felt a surge of shared outrage and darted in with his lightness skill.
A grassland warrior saw him charge in and slashed down with his saber. Wang Chong didn't even draw a weapon; with a casual tug, the warrior's curved saber swung of its own accord in an arc and cut into his comrade beside him. Shocked, the man wondered whether Wang Chong had worked some dark magic, and jabbered out a string of words—but Wang Chong had no time for idle chatter. As he swept past, he kicked the warrior flying; the man was already spewing blood in midair, plainly not long for this world.
Lately Wang Chong had kept running into experts and taking blow after blow, so happening upon a batch of easy prey like this, he cut down more than ten men in mere moments and felt utterly exhilarated.
All of these dozens of grassland warriors were highly skilled in martial arts and had been gaining the upper hand—but who could have expected a master like Wang Chong to appear out of nowhere?
Seeing reinforcements arrive, the jianghu men were greatly heartened and counterattacked one after another. In mere moments they had wiped out every last grassland warrior.
Six or seven of them crowded forward and asked, "Might I ask, is this hero also here to rescue the Prince of Yan?"
Wang Chong thought to himself, "I'm not here to rescue anyone—just passing through." But with a smiling face he answered, "I am Wang Chong."
Hearing him give his name, they all lit up with surprise and delight and at once grew far warmer, their manner turning most respectful, as they cried out one after another, "Aren't you Brother Wang Chong of the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance!"
Wang Chong was rather astonished and said, "I am indeed a brother of the Chrysanthemum-Killing Alliance. But I've only just entered the jianghu and am wholly unknown—how is it that you all seem to have heard of me?"
They immediately cried, "Brother Wang Chong fought the Four Fiends of the Grassland alone and slew two of them!"
"And outside Pengshan County he routed several thousand cavalry of Yaglakar Yehu! Now he's a figure whose name is known throughout the land—how could we not have heard of it?"
Wang Chong was greatly startled, thinking, "How does word travel so fast?"
Before he could voice his puzzlement, someone offered an explanation unprompted: "The Qinghe Gang may be only a third- or fourth-rate outfit, but it has a great many members and a unique method of passing messages. Since so little time has passed, the news has spread only within the Tongzhou area, but in a month at most, Brother Wang, your mighty name is bound to resound across the land—through the Three Rivers and Six Directions, in the Central Plains and beyond, there will be none who haven't heard of you!"
Wang Chong was startled and hurriedly said, "Though it's true enough, it was nothing but a coincidence of circumstances—how could I possibly deserve such a grand, undeserved reputation?"
The more he said this, the more the jianghu men he'd saved admired him, taking it all as humility. They crowded around him and said, "We've all been summoned to protect the Prince of Yan, but we're ordinary folk and are sure to be looked down upon. We beg Brother Wang Chong to lead us as our head."
Wang Chong was still being hunted, and fearing he would drag these people into trouble, he quickly demurred: "I'm currently hunting a few enemies of mine, and it really wouldn't be convenient to travel together with you all."
They all asked, "Who is Brother Wang Chong hunting? We can all lend a hand!"
Steeling himself, Wang Chong said, "It's Yaglakar Yehu, Lichiluo of the Afugan clan, the Bone Demon, Princess Pijia, and others."
Hearing that these were such fearsome killers, the jianghu men hastily reined in their eagerness to try their hand and said one after another, "Brother Wang Chong is about great business; we'd best not pester you."
"If we held up the great thing you're about, wouldn't that be our fault?!"
Wang Chong was secretly amused. He hurriedly bade farewell to these jianghu men he'd met by chance, and as he left he casually borrowed a couple of garments, meaning to alter his disguise along the way.
Wang Chong had not been gone long when the Bone Demon came galloping up. Seeing the grassland warriors' corpses strewn across the ground, he flew into a rage and shouted, "Was it you who killed the men of my eighteen grassland tribes?" His appearance was so distinctive that these jianghu men—who had been exchanging news along the way and had long since learned which experts the eighteen grassland tribes had brought this time—recognized him at once. Every one of them was greatly alarmed, but a thin, small man had a flash of insight and shouted, "Our Brother Wang Chong killed them!"
His face dark, the Bone Demon turned and left. It was not that he feared Wang Chong—he simply knew he couldn't handle it alone and was going back to fetch reinforcements—but this band of jianghu men at once drew the wrong conclusion.
It wasn't that no one had doubted whether Wang Chong's exploits were mere boasting, but having seen with their own eyes the Bone Demon come storming up and then turn and leave the very moment he heard Wang Chong's name, how could they harbor the slightest doubt now?
Even though, in the rumors, Wang Chong's fame had lately risen sharply—he had killed Nalihai and Wen Ducheng, and had even defeated the Yaglakar clan's great army—it still couldn't compare to the Bone Demon's turn and departure.
Half a shichen later, Princess Pijia came riding up and happened to run into the same band of jianghu men. She demanded in a stern voice, "Were you with Wang Chong just now?"
Two rough, bluff men called out, "He's just up ahead, not far off."
Princess Pijia reined in her horse and turned back, which at once drew peals of laughter. These people now had not the faintest doubt about the tale of Wang Chong, all alone, hunting Yaglakar Yehu, Lichiluo of the Afugan clan, the Bone Demon, Princess Pijia, and the rest—and every one of them felt honored to share in the glory.
…… Wang Chong: I was just saving face, bragged a little, that's all……
…… Yaglakar Yehu: Who the hell spread this rumor? This old man's lifelong good name, utterly ruined by some slanderer's mouth……
Chapter 71