The Pull of Fate

"All right," Zhao Linyang agreed. Suddenly, he pointed straight ahead. "An insect demon!" He Lingchuan turned his head to follow the pointing finger. Zhao Linyang straightened his back and opened his mouth wide. Something shot out from within, lunging straight for the nape of He Lingchuan's neck! The thing looked like an octopus tentacle yet also resembled an oversized maggot, its tip ringed with razor-sharp rotating denticles. It struck out with the speed of an arrow released from a bowstring. Barely two feet separated them, and He Lingchuan seemed caught completely off guard. It appeared impossible for him to escape. Yet an arc of cold light proved swifter than the tongue, slicing upward soundlessly and severing it clean! Green fluid splattered everywhere. The severed half flopped onto the ground, still writhing about like a massive earthworm. Yet He Lingchuan felt the cut had met a strangely rough resistance, as if his blade had sawed against ox bone. Zhao Linyang didn't even have time to scream; he spun on his heel and bolted. The ambush had failed, so he greased his soles to flee without entangling himself in a fight against He Lingchuan. How could He Lingchuan let him get away? Snatching a spear from a guard's hand, he reversed the shaft and hurled it straight at the runner's back. He deliberately channeled origin power, making the entire spear glow with crimson light. Zhao Linyang made it only two steps before the blow struck home, throwing him forward onto his stomach. Even without using the spearhead, how could an ordinary human endure the force He Lingchuan wielded? The moment Zhao Linyang hit the dirt, he began retching violently. Something pitch-black shot out from his mouth— A bizarre, misshapen little insect. It clearly had wings yet was shaped like a scorpion. Its long tail did not curl upward, instead trailing low to scrape the ground; it had no stinger, but several antenna-like soft spines sprouted from the tip. The moment it left the human body, it rapidly shrank and rounded out. He Lingchuan whipped out several throwing knives, flicking them toward it one after another. Yet the damnable creature was exceptionally agile. It veered in an S-curve one moment and braked abruptly the next; the flying blades missed it every time by mere fractions of an inch. For a small bug, its evasive maneuvers and predictive dodging were truly astonishing. With a sudden whoosh, a swarm of black beetles surged out from the base of a nearby wall. These were the very things that had previously controlled commoners to storm the city gate. He Lingchuan hadn't expected them to be here as well, and his heart sank. The black beetles had come to extract the strange creature. Once they converged, it was like a drop of water vanishing into the ocean; it was impossible to tell where the bizarre bug had gone. He Lingchuan unleashed a Wave Slash, seven beams of saber gang simultaneously whipping into the swarm like a vortex. As if sensing danger, the swarm exploded in a buzzing scatter, fleeing in every direction. Even so, hundreds were cut down by the saber gang. Yet no relief showed on anyone's face, for hundreds more black beetles immediately flew out from nearby, replenishing their numbers. Were these ghastly pests endless? Even Zhu Erniang's broods couldn't sustain such attrition. The swarm seemed to recognize He Lingchuan's lethal prowess, hovering only high in the air, over a hundred feet off the ground. If He Lingchuan and his men wanted to attack, whether with throwing knives, arrows, or magical arts, none could inflict widespread lethal damage on the swarm. Whenever they prepared a major technique, the swarm instantly scattered, offering no chance for mass destruction. What a nuisance to deal with. He Lingchuan simply ignored them and looked down to inspect Zhao Linyang. City Defender Zhao had been dead for some time. There was a finger-thick circular hole at the back of his cranium, concealed beneath his hair and official cap so that no one had noticed. The shape of the hole matched the severed insect tongue on the ground. Within seconds of falling to the earth, the thing had already desiccated into a shriveled pouch of skin. He Lingchuan took a blind guess—this was probably... the insect's proboscis? Earlier, the strange bug had ambushed Zhao Linyang, burrowed into his head, and taken control of his body. It could walk and talk, showing almost no flaws except for an expressionless face. Grown adults didn't make exaggerated expressions anyway. Amid the chaos of battle, who would pay special attention to his demeanor? Yet over a long sprint, the control had become clumsy; He Lingchuan deduced that rigor mortis was setting in, making puppet mastery difficult. The monster's initial target had been Wen Daolun. Once He Lingchuan intercepted it, it had no choice but to strike at He Lingchuan instead. It even knew to hunt down the leaders of Yuheng City. Now Zhao Linyang was dead; if either Wen Daolun or He Lingchuan fell, control of Yuheng City would easily unravel. And not to be forgotten, the battle at the southern walls was the true main event. Where had Fu Shanlie dug up such an insidious creature? From the mid-air swarm, a voice suddenly arose: "How did you spot my flaw?" Insects possessed no vocal cords, yet through a bizarre friction of wings and resonance, they could actually mimic human speech. He Lingchuan rose to his feet. "What living person has pupils dilated that wide?" Although the creature could control Zhao Linyang's movements, it was helpless against the body's involuntary physiological responses. Zhao Linyang had been attacked in a dark alley, his pupils dilated at the moment of death. But on these streets, illuminated brilliantly by fluorescent spores, a living human's pupils should have contracted accordingly. It was only a tiny flaw, but He Lingchuan had always been in the habit of reading a person's eyes first; a single glance had told him something was wrong. The strange bug asked again, "Why did you double back halfway?" Had He Lingchuan not returned, Wen Daolun's skull would have been pierced through by now! Then the eastern district would have plunged back into chaos. As long as Yuheng City was thrown into disarray, He Lingchuan alone could never manage the entire city while dealing with both Emperor's Flowing Dew and the scourge of war—leaving Jintao and Fu Shanlie their opening. He Lingchuan did not answer the question. Rising, he bolted north, his elite troops hot on his heels. Matters had their priorities. After failing in its ambush, this strange bug sought only to buy more time. How could He Lingchuan play into its hands? What mattered most right now was the battle in the south! Fu Shanlie hadn't shown himself at the East Gate, which meant he had gone to launch a surprise attack on the south. As for the bug's question, He Lingchuan had possessed no prior knowledge of its ambush; he had simply sensed by instinct that Wen Daolun's mortal peril had not yet passed. It had been a sudden whim, a stirring of spiritual intuition that defied explanation in words. So even pressed for time, he had lingered to watch from the shadows a moment longer. And that look had uncovered the foul play. Had he not intervened at the critical juncture, Wen Daolun would have fallen to the ambush. He had previously found a way to transfer Wen Daolun away, yet at this strange juncture, at this specific moment, Wen Daolun had nearly lost his life once more! It was as though an unseen force was dragging him toward his destiny. He Lingchuan's heart grew heavy. He had been obsessed with altering Wen Daolun's outcome. Yet in the end, the one who died in the line of duty was Zhao Linyang, the new City Defender appointed to take charge of Yuheng City. The old water lizard's testimony remained vivid in his mind: "The City Defender of Yuheng died suddenly!" After going around in a grand circle, had the wheel of history rolled right back onto its track? Was the force of destiny beginning to manifest in Panlong World as well? This was hardly good news for He Lingchuan. He had originally hoped that through his own efforts, he could rewrite Panlong City's tragic end. Could that wish truly be achieved? And if it couldn't... He pressed his lips into a tight line. *** Hong Ming snapped the thousandfold knot. Fu Shanlie stood waiting in the darkness with seven hundred men, anticipating the signal to strike. A stalk of grass hung from Fu Shanlie's lips, his heart secretly on edge. His forces had lost their foothold in Longchuan; tonight's operation was his final gamble. If he could wash Yuheng City in blood, Lingxu City might be satisfied with the answer sheet he submitted, allowing him to remain in Xiji. Should he fail... So was his whole year spent among the river bandit lairs of Longchuan truly "a waste of time," as the Lingxu Royal Court claimed? That brat surnamed He was genuinely tough to swallow. His original plan had been subtle and unobtrusive, meant to slowly bleed Yuheng City dry. Who could have known where this kid surnamed He had sprung from, matching him day after day with underhanded tricks? Then again, the combat capability of the Longchuan river bandits was truly meager. Though he had over two thousand six hundred subordinates in Longchuan, when all was said and done he could only bring seven hundred men along. The bulk consisted of the elites he had brought from Beijia and remnants of Xiji forces resisting Panlong City; barely any were bandits. The remainder had been supplemented by troops sent by the Kingdom of Jintao. At this very moment, the force besieging Yuheng City's East Gate was the Jintao army. In the end, regular soldiers were regular soldiers; when it came to willpower against Emperor's Flowing Dew, a motley rabble of river bandits couldn't compare. Before these thoughts had even run their course, red smoke erupted from Yuheng City's East Gate, and the alarm bell began to toll. Here it comes! Fu Shanlie rallied his spirits, throwing up his arm with a shout: "Forward!" Emperor's Flowing Dew stoked restlessness in their hearts; these nine hundred soldiers had long grown fidgety and bloodthirsty, itching for nothing more than to hack people down. At Fu Shanlie's order, they loosed a volley of arrows, then charged forward with earth-shattering battle cries. The men Fu Shanlie had sent into Yuheng City as infiltrators were all battle-tested elites who had followed him through campaigns in Beijia. Normally, he wouldn't even part with them for raids, yet this time he had to bite the bullet and deploy them as death commandos. The thirty men attacking Yuheng City's East Gate from within would fight to the death; they were unlikely to make it out alive. But their stand and sacrifice would draw the city garrison toward the east, buying time for the second infiltration squad to breach the South Gate! Indeed, both the death commandos inside the East Gate and the army outside were a feint; the South Gate targeted by the second infiltration team was Fu Shanlie's true objective! Tonight, He Lingchuan had drawn away the main force of the Yuheng Army. So long as Fu Shanlie executed his strategy properly and coordinated attacks from within and without, the fall of the city was imminent! The second infiltration squad had greater numbers, superior martial skill, and carried more talismans, items, and explosives. Aided by the black beetles as well, they were guaranteed to catch the city defenders off guard. Once Emperor's Flowing Dew descended, horses could scarcely be ridden through the streets, severely restricting the Yuheng defenders' mobility and preventing timely reinforcements from reaching the South Gate. In the blink of an eye, the attackers reached the moat. In early spring, snowmelt had not yet swelled the moat, leaving its current sluggish. The Xiji puppet troops cast forward the ice seeds they had prepared in advance, swiftly freezing the surface of the river. Crossing over the ice, the Xiji puppet troops reached the foot of the wall and hurled grappling hooks upward. Rope ladders trailed behind the hooks for men to scale. The defenders atop the battlements rushed to dislodge and hack them away. Above and below the walls, arrows flew in dense, crisscrossing sheets. Fu Shanlie ordered an immediate assault to relieve pressure on the infiltration squad attempting to seize the gate from inside. He had no intention of pinning all hopes of opening the gate solely on the infiltration squad. After a series of whistles, three giant rhinoceroses charged out from the dark forest. These behemoths had crossed the border directly, rampaging all the way from the Kingdom of Jintao. The fodder they favored grew atop black-iron ore veins; not only did grazing upon it avoid metal toxicity, it caused their hides to harden like iron. Ordinary arrows striking them couldn't leave so much as a scratch.