Chapter 106, Digging a Grave and Waiting for Offerings

Translator: StarReader

 

Su Chen’s expression was blank as he carried Ah Chou’s gradually freezing corpse over a mile through the Northern Swamp, arriving at the shore of the Vastest Lake, preparing to ship it back to Gusu City by boat.

 

Han Shu, Manager Liu, and three to four hundred Heaven Falcon Group disciples were low in spirit and grief-stricken, carrying the bodies of numerous fellow disciples, accompanying him along the way.

 

Upon reaching the lakeside, they were utterly astonished to see that seven or eight warships, dozens of freighters, and hundreds of fishing boats were either pierced through the bottom with blades and spears or burned with oil, and some were dragged into the lake and sunk beneath the water.

 

“Did the Whale Gang pirates do this? They destroyed the boats. How are we supposed to get back?”

 

The Heaven Falcon Group disciples’ expressions changed in alarm.

 

The allied forces, led by Daoist Han Shan, had only just traversed the Northern Swamp on their way to Misty Peak. It hadn’t been long at all when the pirates destroyed all these boats.

 

If the allied forces had won a major victory against the Whale Gang, the pirates destroying the boats would be a waste of manpower.

 

The martial disciples had ample time to repair the boats’ holes, even if it took a day or two to fell timber for rafts—they’d still get back.

 

There was only one scenario in which this could happen: the allied forces suffered a crushing defeat. Destroying the boats would then serve a huge purpose. Without the boats, they not only failed to transport the bodies back, but even these surviving disciples would likely fail to return.

 

“Quickly, don’t stand there. Everyone, repair the boats and build rafts!”

 

Manager Liu felt deep concern, quickly ordering the Heaven Falcon Group disciples to repair the remaining few boats that were still usable.

 

Of the boats whose bottoms had been pierced, only a few freighters and fishing boats could be salvaged—they could be repaired and used, but they only carried a hundred or two at most. The rest had to fell the trees and bamboo on the island and rush to make a batch of bamboo rafts.

 

Su Chen glanced indifferently at the utterly destroyed boats. These boats were ruined, meaning the Whale Gang was very confident, certain that they’d achieve a complete victory in this battle. They’d be rounding up the entire allied force on this island.

 

He glanced at the surrounding lake and mountains.

 

The lake and mountains here were beautiful, the scenery was pleasant, and it was quiet. He thought Ah Chou would like it.

 

Su Chen set Ah Chou down and said, “The boats are lost. Don’t bother sending it back. Since Ah Chou died in battle on this West Cave Island, this is his resting place. Let’s bury him by this lake!”

 

Han Shu was still consumed by grief when she heard him, her eyes widening in surprise. “Why? This West Cave Island is the territory of the Whale Gang. The battle isn’t even decided… what if…”

 

“Whose territory it is is irrelevant. Let’s dig a grave and bury him here. Once he’s buried, I can collect some offerings to appease his spirit in the heavens!”

 

Su Chen said coldly.

 

Offerings?

 

Manager Liu, Han Shu, and the others were all bewildered, unsure what Su Chen meant. The words were bland, but hearing them, they felt an inexplicable sense of chilling coldness rise from their hearts, unsettling them.

 

Su Chen didn’t bother with them. He picked up a discarded iron sword from the reeds and searched for a gentle slope nearby. He fashioned a coffin from wood, dug a grave, and buried Ah Chou by the lake.

 

Su Chen didn’t hurry. He carefully selected a fine giant tree and built a superb coffin, gently placing Ah Chou’s body inside before burying him.

 

Han Shu stood silently nearby, on the gentle slope, helping to raise a large grave.

 

Su Chen then took a hard rock from a nearby slope and, with a sword, carved out a stone tombstone.

 

The Tomb of Ah Chou!

 

He tossed the iron sword onto the ground and sat by the grave, his cold and detached gaze fixed on the sky. The sun gradually dipped toward the west; it would soon be time for it to descend behind the mountains.

 

The grave was ready, now to wait for the offerings to arrive.

 

Manager Liu repeatedly scanned the distant Misty Peak, seeing smoke signals rising from the mountain, indicating that the coalition forces and Whale Gang pirates were engaged in battle.

 

A worry gnawed at his heart, and he urged the Heaven Falcon Group disciples to hurry and fell timber to build rafts in the nearby forests.

 

This wasn’t easy. Without proper axes, using blades and swords to fell trees would quickly dull the edges, making it quite laborious to bring down a large tree. Bamboo rafts were slightly easier, but the Northern Swamp was mostly reeds, and the mountains had forests, with few bamboo groves.

 

These bamboo and timber rafts weren’t like proper boats; a small raft could only carry three or four people and couldn’t carry much. The Vastest Lake wasn’t small, and occasional strong winds and waves could easily capsize a raft if overloaded.

 

Several hours passed.

 

They finally managed to build over three hundred rafts, barely enough to accommodate the remains of over six hundred Heaven Falcon Group disciples who had fallen in battle, as well as the surviving Heaven Falcon Group disciples, preparing to transport them back to Gusu City.

 

At this moment, they saw a cacophony of screams and howls erupting from the Northern Swamp, with an uncountable number of routed soldiers fleeing from Misty Peak towards the lakeshore.

 

Upon reaching the lakeshore, they found that all the boats had been burned and destroyed, leaving no vessels available.

 

“What happened?”

 

Manager Liu was shocked and horrified, quickly grabbing a fleeing small leader and asking in a trembling voice, “What’s going on up on the mountain? Where’s Governor Liu? Where are the Grandmasters?”

 

The small leader’s face was smeared with blood, his expression filled with terror as he looked at Manager Liu, crying out helplessly, “It’s over! It’s all over! Our army had only just managed to break through the Embracing Moon Cliff stronghold and take the Misty Peak headquarters. We were about to eliminate Whale Gang leader Liu Hong and White Lotus Society leader Mao Ziyuan.

 

“But then, Daoist Han Shan… he suddenly rebelled! The White Lotus Daoists had many devil talismans, each encased in golden armor, impervious to blades. Even I, a first-rate expert, couldn’t pierce them. He teamed up with Whale Gang leader Liu Hong and White Lotus Society leader Mao Ziyuan to slaughter the coalition army disciples.

 

“Leader Li Shuo and Medicine King Sun Baihong knew they couldn’t defeat them, and seeing the situation was dire, they helped Governor Zhao escape. Our coalition army was utterly defeated, and we’re being pursued and killed by them.”

 

“What? Daoist Han Shan is a traitor?”

 

Manager Liu’s face was ashen, and his body swayed.

 

Daoist Han Shan was the so-called transcendent in the Wu Region martial world, the undisputed leader recognized by the white path, and his reputation as the supreme commander of the allied forces was beyond reproach. Han Mountain Daoist Temple was immensely wealthy and had no shortage of funds. Why would a Daoist consort with the pirates of the Whale Gang?

 

Even when the Heaven Falcon Group was ambushed, he never suspected trickery. Because everyone had a reason to rebel, but this trascendent Daoist Han Shan, couldn’t find a single reason for him to do so.

 

…

 

The war on Misty Peak continued.

 

The setting sun was the color of blood, staining Misty Peak red, a vibrant crimson reaching all the way to its base.

 

The Whale Gang pirates, the White Lotus demonists, and the Han Mountain Daoists numbered thirteen thousand, relentlessly pursuing the over ten thousand retreating soldiers of the allied forces from peak to base.

 

Along the way, corpses lay everywhere; hundreds, even thousands, of martial disciples had fallen in battle, batch after batch. From minor leader to protector, down to the most common third-rate disciple, a scene of lamentations and devastation stretched across the land, with countless casualties.

 

At a critical moment, the Medicine King Sun Baihong, at the base of the mountain, released a vast number of venomous snakes, scorpions, and poisonous creatures he had prepared beforehand in order to impede the pirates’ pursuit.

 

However, this could only provide a temporary obstacle.

 

Under the protection of the two Grandmaster s,Li Shuo and Sun Baihong, the remaining two thousand soldiers and six or seven thousand groups disciples of the allied forces finally fled to Northern Swamp.

 

They saw that the boats on the lakeshore had been burned, leaving no escape.

 

Several hundred crude bamboo rafts on the lake surface had also been carried away by Heaven Falcon Group disciples, along with the corpses and remnants of soldiers.

 

The martial disciple knelt in the shallow water on the lake shore, despairing, their retreat lost, a great calamity unavoidable.

 

Haiyan County’s foremost young expert, Hanyan Gang’s young leader Gu Jiufeng, cried out in tears, “It’s over! My Gu clan’s Lonely Sword Art is lost here! I’ve failed my ancestors!”

 

Those promising young talents from the various groups, Shadowless Whip Wu Qing, Reckless Zhou Sanlang, and Greatsword Han Yun, exchanged glances, all overcome with grief, burying their heads in their arms and weeping.

 

Just two nights ago, they were at the first youth banquet of the Wu Region at the Heaven Falcon Inn, looking down on the Wu Region martial, envisioning a bright future, and ascending to leadership positions as leader or Vice Leader.

 

Yet, barely two days had passed when their dreams of soaring ambition were dashed and broken in this Northern Swamp, about to die tragically in this Vastest Lake.

 

Li Jiao, Yang Caizhi, Zhang Tieniu, Qin Huihui, and a host of Medicine King Group disciples cautiously remained behind the main force. Discovering something amiss, they desperately fled to the lakeshore; seeing the empty expanse of water, their faces turned pale.

 

It was over, utterly and completely over! There was no escape.

 

Magistrate Wang fled to the lakeshore, finding nowhere to go, howling in a shallow pool, “I still have several beloved concubines! What will become of them without me? Child, your father cannot return to care for you! Poor, orphaned child, how bitter your life will be!”

 

The officials cried out to their parents, wishing they’d sprouted fish tails to swim across the Vastest Lake.

 

A few remaining rafts were beached, sparking a scramble among the martial disciples.

 

But as they rushed to board the rafts, they saw Li Shuo ride up, issuing a fierce reprimand and shattering the rafts with a single shot, driving them all into the water.

 

Zhao Juzhen, clad in battle armor and surrounded by officials and soldiers, arrived listlessly at the shore of the Vastest Lake, looking at the empty expanse of water, his face drained of color, ashen.

 

There was no further escape ahead. The eight thousand disciples who had fled to this place were trapped and doomed on this island.

 

“This defeat in battle was entirely due to my misjudgment. My official troops, martial disciple alliance forces, four thousand navy soldiers, and ten thousand group disciples all perished here! The thirteen counties of the Wu Region will inevitably be seized by the Han Mountain demon, the Whale Gang traitors, and the White Lotus Society demons. Jiangnan will be in turmoil, and the people will be unsettled. I have failed His Majesty; I have failed the world!”

 

Zhao Juzhen, heartbroken and devastated, stood by the lakeshore, closed his eyes, drew his sword, and was about to take his own life.

 

Li Shuo quickly stopped him, seizing the sword and saying, “Sir Zhao, do not! This great defeat was unexpected; no one anticipated that Daoist Han Shan would be a traitor. It is not your fault! You must return to the county seat and defend the thirteen counties of the Wu Region, awaiting court reinforcements.”

 

“Return? How could I return?!”

 

The governor lost his sword, a picture of desolation.

 

If he could bring all these soldiers and disciples back, he still had a chance to defend the county towns and continue to wear down the Whale Gang pirates.

 

But there was no going back.

 

This island had wood, which could be felled to build a boat. But that would take at least a day to create a raft big enough to carry everyone back.

 

However, with Daoist Han Shan, Liu Hong, and Mao Ziyuan leading the Han Mountain Daoists, Whale Gang pirates, and White Lotus Society, over fifteen thousand pursuing soldiers had descended from Misty Peak and were swiftly advancing. How could they possibly escape?

 

The remaining seven or eight thousand routed soldiers were crammed together on the shores of Northern Swamp Lake, wailing—another image of despair, with nowhere to flee.

 

“They’re coming! What are we going to do?!”

 

“I don’t want to die!”

 

The soldiers and disciple wept, their gazes filled with terror as they looked backward.

 

Beneath the twilight.

 

The sounds of the Whale Gang pirates’ joint army of over fifteen thousand pursuing soldiers entered a five-mile radius of Northern Swamp, the tall reeds swaying with their passage.

 

“Form up the entire army, fight back against the lake!”

 

Li Shuo spurred his horse and shouted fiercely, ordering the seven or eight thousand water soldiers and the martial disciple to face the pursuing soldiers with their backs to Vastest Lake for one final stand.

 

“Brothers, we’re out of options; let’s give it everything we have against these damned Han Mountain demon cultivators!”

 

“That’s right, even if we die, we’ll drag some of them down with us! We martial heroes, when we die, we just get a scar, and after eighteen years, we’re heroes again!”

 

The martial disciples and water legion soldiers, consumed by grief and terror, mustered their final reserves of courage and formed a welcoming array. Even though despair loomed, and they faced a certain death, they would fight to their last breath.

 

…

 

Su Chen, on a nearby earthen mound, idly twirled a blade of foxtail grass, watching the coalition army prepare for a desperate last stand. He glanced toward the distance, towards the depths of Northern Swamp.

 

It was time.

 

“Caw!”

 

Several night crows startled into flight amidst the biting wind, soaring above Northern Swamp.