His Name

A'xun had not expected his father would actually set his sights on Zini! Yet the Chieftain had his own rationale: "Zini is fertile, with a thousand li of rich soil. Once we take it, we will never have to worry about grain again. At that time, we will produce grain in the east and breed horses in the west. Within three to five years, our tribe will become a dominant power!" Standing right beside him, A'xun suddenly asked, "And then?" "And then?" "Even with grain and wealth, Father, you won't be satisfied, will you?" "Only my son truly knows me!" The Chieftain roared with laughter. "As long as we are stronger than the Luodian Kingdom, these pint-sized petty states around us will never dare look down their noses at us again! By that time, there will still be plenty of rich mineral deposits and blessed lands across the region—why shouldn't we contend for them?" "So you have already thought it all through, Father." A'xun took a deep breath. "Then how many more years must we keep fighting?" "I've calculated it," the Chieftain declared solemnly. "Just three to five years." A'xun said softly, "Zini has seven hundred thousand people and a garrison of over six thousand soldiers. It won't be an easy fight." How many people did their tribe have? Were they going to pit a few hundred warriors against a garrison of six thousand? The Ying people were stunned, struck dumb. "Furthermore, Zini maintains good relations with its neighbors and supplies grain to several states. Those countries won't just sit idly by." At that point, wouldn't the Ying face far more than six thousand enemies? Hearing this stark comparison, even the bravest warriors would likely beat a retreat. The Chieftain merely snorted. Second Uncle was furious as well: "You've truly gone mad! Last time, during the multi-nation campaign against the Yao Kingdom, you told us to turn our cloaks on the battlefield, saying the Ying would surely grow mighty within three to five years. And now? What has this place become now? Are we rich? Are we strong? Where is tomorrow's food for man and beast?" The corners of the Chieftain's eyes twitched twice, his voice dark and chilling: "Then in your opinion, what should we do?" Second Uncle choked, momentarily at a loss. "Th-this is a mess of your own making, and you expect me to wipe your ass? Ever since you took on that Yao assassination mission, things have grown more and more bizarre... No, that's not it. It's that armor on you that's grown increasingly bizarre! Take it off before you talk to us!" The Chieftain said woodenly, "If we're going to hold council, let's hold council properly. Why bring up my armor? The one speaking to you is me, not this armor!" Second Uncle sneered, "If you ask me, you've long been controlled by the Luosheng Armor, just like the last emperor of the Shanjin Plain. It wants us dead; it wants to wipe out our posterity, and you are its accomplice!" He turned to face the clansmen and bellowed, "The Chieftain has been controlled by that sinister armor! He is no longer himself and cannot plan for the tribe's future! If we march on Zini, we are marching to certain death! Now, only I—" Before his words finished, looks of terror flashed across the clansmen facing him, and the howling wind swept up behind his head. Realizing something was wrong, Second Uncle raised his warhammer to parry. Sure enough, the Chieftain charged forward without a word, his great axe cleaving straight toward Second Uncle's skull. Even against his own flesh and blood, he showed no mercy whatsoever. "The chieftainship is something you dare covet?!" "Who do you think you are?!" Two furious interrogations, two brutal chops. The two brothers had originally possessed comparable strength, though due to age and infirmity, the Chieftain had grown weaker than Second Uncle. Yet these few strikes from the Chieftain sent Second Uncle reeling back thirty feet, both arms trembling violently. The gap in martial prowess was plain to see. Second Uncle barely managed to block three axe blows, his hands now trembling too hard to even lift his weapon. Amidst the cries of alarm from the tribe, the Chieftain lunged forward, the wind of his axe howling as he aimed straight for Second Uncle's neck! He was actually going to kill his own brother! At this moment, only A'xun dared to rush forward, wrapping his arms tightly around his father's waist. "Stop!" His father was not wearing the armor right now, yet the moment A'xun touched him, he felt that strange sensation once again. It was as though the Luosheng Armor was making its demand of him once more: *...Come...* The Chieftain shoved him aside with a jerk. Second Uncle had already been helped up by others, staggering backward out of reach. Everyone looked at the Chieftain with terror in their eyes. The Chieftain had truly gone mad! Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the Chieftain slowly regained his composure. Raising his axe toward his younger brother, he warned, "Provoke me again, and your head comes off!" Then he turned to the clansmen: "Dispatch scouts to Zini to gather intelligence! The rest of you, prepare horses and provisions! Once we win a great victory, I want every single person in Zini farming grain for me!" The Ying people dared not disobey. A tribal elder who had stayed huddled in the back without uttering a peep gave A'xun a meaningful look. That night, A'xun secretly visited the elder. "Father is already controlled by the Luosheng Armor; his actions are growing more and more demonic. You said you would seek a way out of this." "I managed to get my hands on the Heavenly Master's notes your father held. They are indeed very detailed. Sigh, if not for that thing, he never would have gotten the idea to search for the Luosheng Armor in the first place. However, the notes also record an old tale: in the past, someone truly used a treasure to break free from the Luosheng Armor's control. The men I sent out just returned; they finally tracked down news of this treasure in the central part of the plains." After speaking, the elder whispered a few words into A'xun's ear. "Do you understand?" A'xun nodded firmly. "Go. Before your father brings utter ruin upon our entire tribe—" The elder pressed a hand to A'xun's shoulder. "—you must stop him!" "Understood!" "The outside world despises us, and you are the Chieftain's son. Do not travel under your real name. I recall your mother once gave you a Yao name." The Yao Kingdom was powerful, so besides their native names, some locals would adopt a Yao name in case they ever had the chance to travel there. "Yes, I have a Yao name," A'xun said. "I am Fu Tianlin." Early the next morning, taking several subordinates with him, he rode out of Chigu, heading west. *** Neither stars nor moon shone; the mortal realm was steeped in darkness. Where the bat demon puppet landed was, naturally, still desolate wilderness—the wind howling and vegetation bleak. Ahead in the mountain forest, there was hardly any path, only half a boundary stone standing beneath an old pagoda tree: *Mount Jing.* Once they crossed this boundary stone, they would enter Mount Jing. Of course, there was no boundary barrier here; crossing the stone marker was no different from stepping past any ordinary rock, and not the slightest abnormality stirred within the woods. Dong Rui pointed ahead, urging his companions on. "Hurry. Only after crossing Mount Jing will we have a new way out." This was precisely why they had come in this direction. If they could use the snail-toad's power, would the Yao army ever catch up? Heh, they could stay behind and eat dust! The two chatted with the fox clan as they walked, inquiring about why the Yao Kingdom was hunting Three-Tails. Because human kingdoms were generally weak, the Shanjin Plain had become a haven for greater demons and spirits. He Lingchuan had originally thought this pack of fox demons was following the White Bear King's model—claiming a mountain, ruling supreme, and eventually posing a threat to the surrounding human populations. Three-Tails grumbled in annoyance, "Human flesh and blood isn't really that much better than deer or rabbit, and there's barely any fat on them! We've lived deep in the mountains for ages, only wanting to live at peace with humans. Yet humans keep intruding into the mountains to cause trouble, an endless nuisance! Several of my juniors even have bounties on their heads down in the various states at the foot of the mountains." Dong Rui remarked intentionally, "All these past years, the Yao Kingdom never reacted. Why move against you all of a sudden now?" If the Yao Kingdom hadn't turned hostile, the fox demons wouldn't have needed to relocate. "We don't know the reason either," Three-Tails said. "The Yao Kingdom suddenly claimed we devoured several thousand of its citizens. But on the two nights the incidents occurred, my children were honestly staying on the mountain, not venturing out to hunt for food at all!" "Every single one of them?" "Even if one or two left the mountain, do you think they could slaughter over a thousand people?" The fox demon flicked its tails. "Besides, all these years, I have forbidden my children from stepping into Yao territory. They wouldn't step out of line!" "Could it have been done by other passing demons?" "The Yao Kingdom claimed that the killing method looked just like our handiwork, with essence and viscera drained completely dry. And the crime scene was right at the foot of Baimao Ridge!" Three-Tails said darkly, "It's a frame-up!" This greater demon had a very clear head. "I wanted to go down the mountain to investigate the truth, but a few days ago, another trouble arose," it continued slowly. "The Yao Kingdom's Princess Ya was suddenly murdered in a temporary palace less than thirty li from Baitou Ridge. Her state of death was identical to that of those thousand-plus people." "And so the Yao Kingdom came after me." In a situation like this, one couldn't clear their name no matter what they said. "I had no choice but to leave." Regardless of which demon killed the Yao people, the Yao Kingdom would lay the blame squarely on its head. One way or another, they couldn't stay on Baitou Ridge any longer. He Lingchuan took the opportunity to ask, "Have you ever crossed paths with General Chongwu, the one leading the troops surrounding this place?" "Never. I heard he's always been leading troops on external campaigns," Three-Tails said. "Judging by the Yao army's actions these past few days, this fellow is meticulous, cruel, but not reckless." He Lingchuan nodded. General Chongwu's steady, calculated method was aimed at encircling the foxes and driving them into a corner step by step. Doing so took more time, but it minimized casualties. Baitou Ridge was right on the Yao border; fighting on home ground gave the Yao troops every advantage, making this a cost-effective tactic. Moreover, every time General Chongwu captured a fox, he had it flayed as a display of force to unsettle Three-Tails' mind and force it into making a mistake. The man was clearly the type who stopped at nothing to achieve his goals. Heh, this fighting style felt somewhat familiar to He Lingchuan. Yu Zecheng of Beijia and General Wulu of the Ya Kingdom seemed fond of this kind of tactic as well. Their mission this time was rescue; He Lingchuan had no desire to clash head-on with General Chongwu. At this moment, Lingguang chimed in, "That spear thrust from General Chongwu ruptured the leg artery, but it's not a major issue—the wound has already contracted." The fox demon possessed astonishing self-healing abilities, likely along with some healing divine powers. "However, this old wound from three months ago is far more troublesome." The wound was on the hollow of the shoulder, no larger than a copper coin, but the fur had fallen out, exposing a dark brown circular patch. Looking closely, something seemed to squirm inside the wound, yet when Lingguang probed it with a silver needle, he picked out nothing. "This is a divine ability called 'Maggots Clinging to Bone,' not actual living maggots." Lingguang asked Three-Tails, "Can foxfire burn it away?" "No." Foxfire was among the gentlest of true fires; fox demons used it to treat wounds without burning the surrounding flesh along with the injury. "Then it might be a mutated strain." Lingguang rubbed his chin. "Let me think, let me think!" Dong Rui suggested, "Just treat it as if you're pulling out maggots." One man and one monkey crouched together, murmuring in a huddle, discussing the treatment plan oblivious to everyone else. He Lingchuan knew that while Dong Rui's methods were sinister and unorthodox, his medical skill was exceptionally high. Having two master physicians in a party of three was truly a bit of a luxury.