ChangNing’s Imperial Army

Chapter 73 – Do You Like The Sound Of My Groan
Hei Yan realized that he liked the life in a small town. It was slow-paced and comfortable. Most importantly, he knew what the first-in-command of Guan Tang Kou looked like.

In Changan city, Hei Yan’s name was well-known. People would rather provoke Bai Ya than provoke Hei Yan. This was because it was easy to see through Bai Ya’s hatred and vengeance, but it was never easy to see through that of Hei Yan’s. He was always acting frivolously, but Bai Ya also mentioned before that if they both were enemies, he would never want Hei Yan to fight against him in person.

Guan Tang Kou’s people arrived at the town much later than Hei Yan. Hence, when they arrived, they could be clearly seen by Liu Yun Sect’s scouts.

In fact, both parties had been keeping close tabs on one another. Guan Tang Kou’s people were unwilling to provoke Liu Yun Sect within Changan city. It was because they were worried that the person behind Liu Yun Sect was the Great General Tantai Yuanshu, who had 80,000 elite troops under him. Another interpretation was that by analyzing the name ‘Liu Yun Sect’, if Liu Yun Sect’s first-in-command was one of the six trusted aides of His Majesty, their fight would have been meaningless right off the bat.

However, precisely because the name ‘Liu Yun Set’ was too distinct, anybody who had heard of the phrase ‘Kai Zhi San Ye, Tian Bian Liu Yun’ would inevitably be suspicious. It was too clear cut to the point that nobody believed that the first-in-command was actually Ye Liuyun himself. If that were actually the case, it was not discreet or sophisticated at all.

What was the identity of Ye Liuyun? He was one of the six trusted aides of Prince Liu. One of them was Ye Kaitai, who was previously the first-in-command in the southern border’s arsenal. Right now he was the highest ranking official in charge of Pingyue. Great Ning’s 20th division, Jiangshan’s first regional general. Inevitably, he was one of the important figures who impacted history.

There was also Ye Jingtian, the most capable general under the wing of Great General Shi Yuanxiong in the southern border. Within the elite troops in the southern border, Ye Jingtian was second to Shi Yuanxiong, and not his son, Shi Podang – who was known as the bravest general of all the armed forces, as well as one of Great Ning’s top ten generals within the younger generation.

After Nanyue was vanquished, Shi Yuanxiong brought his troops back to the military camp outside of Hujian and Xishu, guarding the two divisions. In recent years, Ye Jingtian was the one who quelled the chaos within Nanyue division.

If nothing bad were to happen, Ye Jingtian would be Pingyue’s first combat general, and perhaps, he would most likely have the most number of troops under him. After all, there were 80,000 combat soldiers within Pingyue.

Taking a look at Ye Beizhi, the man who was deemed to be the strongest out of the six, the commander of the imperial bodyguards within the imperial palace. Even though his position was not extremely high, everyone knew how significant his position was. Ye Beizhi was in charge of the bodyguards who were by the emperor’s side. All he needed to do was to tell the emperor that he wanted to command troops, he was able to choose from any one of Great Ning’s twenty divisions.

Would Ye Liuyun, who was not any less well-known than Ye Beizhi, keep his mind on being the first-in-command of a powerful sect in the underworld?

If the emperor truly placed a person as such in the underworld, wouldn’t that make him muddle-headed?

But because of that, as long as anybody were to mention that Liu Yun Sect was Ye Liuyun, they would be severely criticized, questioning their lack of knowledge when it came to managing resources.

Indeed, the strongest one out of the six, Ye Beizhi, had mentioned more than once that he could not be compared to Ye Liuyun. Hence, the most obvious conjecture was naturally incorrect.

After the first-in-command of Liu Yun Sect, naturally, the well-known figures were Hei Yan and Bai Ya. They were so prominent that people often forgot that there were two other commanders under the first-in-command.

Similarly, if Guan Tang Kou did not have any strong subordinates, how would Mu Liu’er be able to fight against Liu Yun Sect and Hong Su Shou in Changan city for so long?

Mu Liu’er’s strongest subordinate was also a woman, and she was also very young. Her name was Lian Li. She was a woman who deemed every man to be useless in her eyes. Amongst the secret societies in Changan city, people often compared the same few people. The people at the top were Hei Yan and Bai Ya of Liu Yun Sect, Hong Su Shou’s Liu Su, and Guan Tang Kou’s Lian LI.

Naturally, it was normal for people in secret societies to take on jobs such as protecting people, or assassinating people.

Liu Yun Hui would accept any requests to assassinate anyone. However, they were considered the best when it came to protecting people in Changan, or even in the entire northern area. Hence, it was inevitable for them to experience conflicts with others…

It was rumored that Lian Li was the strongest assassin.

It was also rumored that anybody Hei Yan protected could not be taken out by anyone. Not even by the grim reaper.

Years ago, Hei Yan and Lian Li crossed paths for the first time; one was defending, while the other attacked. The traveling merchant that Hei Yan was protecting had spent two days in the gambling den in Changan city and won a huge amount of money – at least 30,000 taels of silver. With such a huge sum of money, naturally, it put him in a dangerous predicament.

Hence, he spent 10,000 taels of silver to hire an expert from Liu Yun Sect to protect himself on his journey home. From Changan city to Xishu, it was thousands of miles. Hei Yan and Lian Li had fought against each other plenty of times – only they knew how many times they had encountered each other. However, ultimately, Hei Yan managed to send the person home. And that very day, Lian Li swore that she would kill Hei Yan one day.

In the study, Mu Liu’er looked at Lian Li, who was kneeling before her, with an eye-patch on her face. “Lift your head.”

Lian Li lifted her head. She had a beautiful face. She had a good figure too; it was hard to find any physical flaw. It was rumored that Lian Li was very close to the first-in-command of Guan Tang Kou, and that she was personally trained by her.

She was such a beautiful woman, but she had an eye-patch covering her left eye, making her look rather odd.

“Do you still remember that you have already sworn an oath?” asked Mu Liu’er.

Lian Li quickly lifted her hand and removed her eye-patch. Behind the eye-patch was a black and empty eye socket. “I will never ever forget.”

“Run along. Kill Hei Yan.”

Mu Liu’er said, “I will send my best subordinates to coordinate with you and lure the experts of Liu Yun Sect next door away. Bring Hei Yan’s head back to me. This place is already exposed, it’s no longer suitable to be our base of operations. After you kill Hei Yan, we have to move to a different place.

Lian Li stood up. “When?”

“Two hours later, I will create an opportunity for you.”

Mu Liu’er gestured. “Go prepare. Do not let me down.”

Lian Li nodded. She walked a few steps towards the door. When she got to the door, she stood there. She turned around and looked at Mu Liu’er. “If I die…please remember to send someone to visit my parents every year.”

Mu Liu’er frowned. “You will not die. I brought with me twenty times the number of people of Liu Yun Sect.

Lian Li laughed. She would only laugh in front of Mu Liu’er. “I know you can’t bear to let me die.”

Mu Liu’er turned around and stopped looking at her. “No more talking, we…go do your work.”

Lian Li grunted. Very soon, she disappeared without a trace.

After Hei Yan finished his dinner, he decided to pay Shen Leng a visit. After all, it was better to give him a reminder. Even though Guan Tang Kou’s men were not taking action, they were keeping close tabs on him. As long as he was not dead, they would not give up.

Just as he was about to head out, a masked man in white, who was squatting on one side of the roof like a cat, pointed to one end of the town. After that, he swiftly jumped down. There were two other people in the yard. One of them had a long sword and a short sword on his back, and the other one had a sword with a black tassel on his back. Both of them leaped over at the same time.

A few Liu Yun Sect men went over. One of them passed a steel rod to Hei Yan. “The Guan Tang Kou people next door are playing dirty. They are headed to the other side of the town. I’m guessing they are looking for Shen Leng.”

Hei Yan sighed somewhat reluctantly. “Troublesome.”

He took the steel rod. As he walked, he pondered: I charge an exorbitant amount for protecting people. In the future, I should collect some silver banknotes from that fella to make up for my loss.

The alley was empty. Naturally, in this season, the villagers would not linger outside to chat with one another after dinner. They had already locked their doors and kept themselves warm in the comfort of their homes. From one end to the other, there was not a single person in sight. In comparison, the alley was even darker than the wilderness.

Hei Yan was never afraid of the dark.

When he walked to the center of the alley, Hei Yan’s lips suddenly curled upwards. “So you’re actually coming for me instead.”

On the wall on the left side and the roof on the right side, Guan Tang Kou’s assassins appeared. Two rows of men were holding onto a crossbow each. After a whistle was heard, the densely packed arrows came shooting downwards.

The men in white around him immediately formed a circle. They drew their swords and blocked the arrows. They also used their bodies to block Hei Yan from the arrows. Hei Yan stood in the center. He blocked the arrows with precision. However, there were way too many arrows. Just a minute later, the few men in white around him had already collapsed onto the ground.

Right from the beginning, the few men in white were already planning to shield Hei Yan till the moment they died. Not a single person cowered, and not a single person said anything at all.

Hei Yan was shot by an arrow in his left shoulder – it was an inch deep into his flesh. He was also shot in the right rib. He pulled it out directly, causing his blood to spurt out onto the nearby wall.

The arrows coming from both sides stopped. All the arrows had been emptied.

Hei Yan looked at his brothers that were on the ground. He removed the arrow on his left shoulder. The arrow had been modified – the arrow head was barbed. When he removed it, it tore off pieces of his flesh.

He tossed the arrows onto the ground. He did not get to see the Guan Tang Kou assassins, but he cupped his fist for his brothers that died. “Rest in peace.”

Thereafter, he looked at the entrance of the alley. A young woman in black slowly made her way towards him. She was very tall, almost of the same height as Hei Yan. Her most beautiful feature was her two long legs. Because she was about to engage in a fight, she wore a short garment. She had a ring in her left hand and a dagger in her right hand. A strong murderous aura flowed out of every single one of her pores in her body.

Lian Li walked nearer to Hei Yan and stood there. She pointed at his wounds and said, “Oh, so your blood is the same as other ordinary mens’.”

Hei Yan looked roguishly at her. “Not only is my blood the same as theirs, my other bodily fluids are the same as theirs too. Do you want to experience it?”

Lian Li’s face went pale immediately. “Your nonchalant disposition right before you die is even more hateful than usual.”

Hei Yan said, “I remember saying before that I can never resist beautiful women. Especially a woman like you with a pair of nice long legs. If I have to die today, I will have a taste of you before I die.”

Lian Li charged forward abruptly. The ring in her hand flew out, aiming for Hei Yan’s throat. The steel rod in Hei Yan’s right hand swung upwards. With a ‘clank’, the ring flew up high. The ring had a fine but strong chain attached to it. Lian Li pulled it backwards, causing the ring to fly back to her.

And at this moment, a short dagger had already pierced into Hei Yan’s abdomen.

Hei Yan leapt up; when he was in midair, he used the steel rod as a stick and smashed it downwards, hitting against Lian Li’s dagger. Lian Li could not grip the dagger steadily – she was being pressed downwards as well. After Hei Yan landed onto the ground, he made half a turn. His right leg swept outwards and hit Lian Li in the shoulder, causing her to knock into one side of the wall at the back. She groaned in pain.

Hei Yan’s lips curled. “I like the sound of your groan. It’s rather pleasing.”

Lian Li was enraged. She tossed the ring in her hand once again. When Hei Yan dodged it, one of the Guan Tang Kou’s assassins behind him could not hold back and shot out a row of arrows. Under that circumstance, Hei Yan’s right hand that was holding onto the steel rod swung backwards. He managed to knock two of the arrows aside. However, the other three arrows shot him right in the back.

Hei Yan groaned. He looked at Lian Li, who was charging at him. “Is the sound of my groan pleasing to the ear?”

“Die!”

She stabbed towards Hei Yan’s throat.

 

Lian Li looked up and yelled. “The next person who attacks him shall die. His life is mine!”

Unexpectedly, Hei Yan managed to laugh. The gaps between his white teeth were filled with blood.

“As it turns out, you love me that much.”

His gaze shifted to somewhere far away. He wondered if that fella with the last name Shen was already dead. If he was already dead, he would have gotten pierced by the arrows for nothing.