Battle on the Broken Bridge
The sounds of battle in Rock Valley were finally torn apart and swallowed by the howling mountain wind, leaving only the thick, unyielding stench of blood, which lingered and fermented in the cold air, like a heavy, viscous substance pressing down on the chests of every survivor. The Qin army outside the valley retreated like the receding tide, leaving behind a mess of corpses, broken weapons, scattered arrows, and the wreckage of several battering rams smashed to pieces by rolling stones and logs, like the bones of a giant beast, telling the story of the carnage that had just occurred under the pale light of the sky.
Within the fortified walls, a terrifying silence reigned. Only heavy, suppressed breathing could be heard, occasionally punctuated by the uncontrollable groans of the wounded. Wang Ben leaned against a blood-soaked rock, his left arm hanging limply at his sides. A deep, bone-revealing knife wound stretched from his shoulder blade to his elbow, flesh torn open, blood slowly seeping from the makeshift bandage. Gu Yan bore a graze from an arrow, half his cheek swollen, yet his eyes remained sharp as a hawk's, warily scanning the area outside the valley. Ji Zhai knelt in a corner of the fortified walls, his trembling hands attempting to close the wide-open eyes of a young soldier, pierced through the abdomen by a crossbow bolt, now on the verge of death. The Mohist's compassion seemed utterly pale and powerless before the devastation before him.
Xiao Yuxuan lay supine on the cold rock, his consciousness teetering on the edge of boundless darkness and excruciating pain. Xuan Weizi's withered figure loomed over him, the old Taoist's calloused, blood-stained hands now possessing a strange stability and warmth as they swiftly worked around the arrow wound that had split open beneath his ribs. Silver needles (or bone needles) pierced rapidly, sealing several key meridians; crushed herbs, carrying a pungent, cool aroma, were thickly applied to the gruesome wound; finally, Xuan Weizi's thin fingers, pressed together like a sword, with a barely perceptible tremor, slowly rested on Xiao Yuxuan's icy dantian!
A pure, warm, yet overwhelmingly powerful Daoist Qi, like a mountain spring thawing in early spring, instantly surged into Xiao Yuxuan's dantian, which was like a completely burned-out, scorched, frozen earth! This foreign "Qi," domineering yet gentle, forcefully broke through his meridians, which had been completely blocked and depleted due to overexertion, and stirred the last trace of innate vitality in his body!
"Ugh..." Xiao Yuxuan's body trembled violently, as if struck by lightning! An indescribable pain mixed with an extreme sense of comfort instantly swept through his entire body! Like a drowning person suddenly surfacing, he opened his mouth wide and greedily inhaled a mouthful of cold air mixed with the strong smell of blood and herbs! His unfocused pupils suddenly contracted, and the blurry scene before his eyes gradually became clear—it was Xuanweizi's calm, gray eyes, and the hellish scene behind the barrier.
"The root of Qi is not extinguished, and the fire of the heart still remains." Xuanweizi's voice was low and hoarse, as if it were echoing directly in Xiao Yuxuan's mind. "Forcibly opening the Qi gate this time is like drawing a flood from a dried-up swamp, extremely dangerous. Calm your mind and guard your will, guide it back to its origin, and transform the external Qi into your own use. This is the right path. If you force it again like last night... even a god cannot save you." The warning was as cold as a knife.
Xiao Yuxuan nodded with difficulty, a hoarse sound coming from his throat; he didn't even have the strength to speak. He could only follow Xuanweizi's guidance, using his remaining mental energy to guide the vast yet unfamiliar warm current, like channeling a raging flood, laboriously returning it to the small area below his navel. Each shift of his thoughts was accompanied by excruciating pain as if his meridians were being torn apart and a dizzying sensation as if his soul was being forcibly pulled.
Sun Qian's figure stood like a blood-stained boulder atop the fortress. His dark brown tunic was almost completely soaked in blood, congealed into a dark brown, with several tears revealing rolled-up flesh, yet he seemed oblivious. His sharp gaze pierced the blood-soaked mist at the valley entrance, fixed on the direction of the Qin army's retreat. They hadn't fled far, but had regrouped and reorganized about two miles outside the valley entrance. Further away, at the end of the mountain path, dust rose again! Clearly, more reinforcements were on their way! What made Sun Qian's pupils shrink even more was that within the Qin army ranks, dozens of soldiers were driving packhorses laden with heavy wooden barrels and pottery jars, while others were frantically cutting down withered trees and shrubs outside the valley entrance!
"What are they going to do?" Wang Ben struggled to his feet and asked hoarsely.
“Fire attack…” Sun Qian’s voice was icy cold, carrying a chilling insight, “And… cutting off the water supply.”
As if to confirm his judgment, Gu Yan's urgent voice came from the side: "Mr. Sun! Look at the stream in the valley!" Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that deep in the Rocky Valley, the mountain stream that originally gurgled out from the cracks in the rocks and was barely drinkable was now shrinking and drying up at a speed visible to the naked eye! In just a moment, only slippery moss and a few puddles remained on the exposed riverbed!
"Damn it! They cut off the water supply upstream!" Wang Ben slammed his fist on the cold rock, aggravating his wound and making him wince in pain.
Cut off the water supply! Use fire!
These two insidious schemes, like two cold nooses, instantly tightened around everyone's throats! Without water, the defenders wouldn't last three days! And once the Qin army ignited the mountains of dry branches and leaves piled up at the valley entrance, with the help of the wind, the entire Rock Valley would be transformed into a blazing inferno! Even with fortifications, they couldn't stop the all-pervasive flames and thick smoke!
Despair, like a cold tide, silently washed over the walls and seeped into everyone's heart.
Ji Zhai stood up, his face smeared with blood and mud. His compassionate gaze swept over the dried-up riverbed and the Qin army outside the valley, who were frantically preparing flammable materials. His voice was heavy and hoarse: "The art of Mohism can defend against weapons and prevent climbing, but… water and fire are merciless, beyond human control. This valley… is now a dead end." He looked at Sun Qian, his eyes filled with deep helplessness. "Mr. Sun, things are hopeless. We must consider a way out."
A way out?
All eyes were fixed on the only escape route—the exit of Rock Valley—but it was now firmly blocked by the Qin army, like the gates of hell. A forced breakout? Facing an enemy force several times their size, fully prepared, would be tantamount to suicide!
Sun Qian remained silent, only his fingers, gripping the sword hilt so tightly that his knuckles turned white from the excessive force. His gaze, like the sharpest probe, repeatedly scanned the terrain outside the valley, the Qin army's deployment, and the direction of the severed upstream stream. Finally, his gaze settled on a distant point, a narrow crevice, reflecting the pale light of the sky, faintly visible amidst the surrounding mountains—it was a river! A river far wider than the stream in the Rocky Valley!
A plan so audacious it bordered on insane instantly took shape in his mind!
"Retreat? Retreat into the depths of this chasm, and that's certain death!" Sun Qian turned abruptly, his eyes burning with a desperate gamble, his voice resolute and brooking no argument. "We must fight to the death to survive! Our path to life isn't inside the valley, but outside! On that river!"
His finger, sharp as a sword, pointed sharply at the faint light of the river in the distance: "This river is called 'Stone Stream,' its current is swift, and it runs across the mountains! The main force of the Qin army is blocking us at the mouth of this valley, and their rear must be empty! If we can break through the valley mouth, cross the Stone Stream River, destroy the bridge, or find a shallow spot to swim across and escape into the vast forest on the other side, then the sky will be high and the land wide, and the Qin army will have a hard time encircling us!"
This plan sent a chill down everyone's spine! Break through the valley? Face hundreds of Qin soldiers waiting in full battle array? And cross a raging river? This was utterly a pipe dream!
"How do we charge?" Gu Yan's voice was skeptical. "The Qin army has a forest of crossbows; we'll be sitting ducks the moment we leave the valley!"
"A feint to the east while attacking the west, snatching chestnuts from the fire!" Sun Qian's eyes flashed with a sharp light, his words as fast as the wind. "The Qin army wants to trap and kill us with fire, so we will use their own methods against them! Mr. Ji!" He suddenly looked at Ji Zhai, "Please immediately collect all the remaining oil (from broken lamps or animal fat), pine resin, and the most easily ignited dry grass and fallen leaves in the valley! Wang Ben, Gu Yan, select those who can still move, prepare enough arrows, and pile up rolling stones behind the ramparts! Await my command!"
His gaze finally landed on Xiao Yuxuan, who had just been forcibly kept alive by Xuanweizi and was struggling to sit up: "Yuxuan! Your important task is not in fighting, but in 'water'!"
"Water?" Xiao Yuxuan was taken aback, his voice hoarse and dry.
“Master Xuanwei!” Sun Qian looked at Xuanweizi with burning eyes. “Please help him! If we rush out of the valley, we will be met with a barrage of arrows from the Qin army, and the casualties will be heavy! If we can stir up the water in the stone stream, even if it is just to create a curtain of water to block the enemy’s arrows for a moment, it will give us a chance to survive! This is… a matter of life and death!”
To stir up the river?!
This almost miraculous request stunned everyone! Even Xuanweizi's usually calm and collected gray eyes flickered slightly.
Sun Qian stared intently at Xuanweizi and Xiao Yuxuan, his eyes filled with unwavering resolve and a desperate madness: "Master Xuanwei once said, 'Guarding Qi is like guarding a city,' and also that Qi can sense the heavens and earth! This valley, this rock, this river... all are Qi of heaven and earth! Yuxuan! Your arrow just now has already glimpsed the path! Now, I will use you as a guide, borrowing Master Xuanwei's power, to sense that stone stream river! I don't seek to overturn the seas, I only seek to draw a wisp of its water vapor and condense it into a curtain! Even if it's only for a breath! To cover our retreat!"
Xiao Yuxuan felt a surge of heat rush to his head, accompanied by an even more intense dizziness. Stirring up the river? How could that be possible? But Sun Qian's eyes, burning with a death-defying rage, and Xuan Weizi's deep gray eyes, made it impossible for him to refuse. He looked at Xuan Weizi, his eyes filled with bewilderment and a hint of madness driven to the brink.
Xuanweizi remained silent for a moment, then his withered fingers touched Xiao Yuxuan's wrist again, and a surge of purer and more abundant Daoist Qi rushed in! This time, the Qi did not stay in the dantian, but instead, like a rushing river, it forcefully penetrated Xiao Yuxuan's nearly exhausted meridians and rushed straight to his brow and sea of consciousness!
"Close your eyes! Introspect!" Xuanweizi's voice boomed in Xiao Yuxuan's mind like a great bell. "Forget this body, forget this pain! Let your divine sense be like a thread, following my Qi! Out of the valley! Cross the mountain ridge! Find the water vein! Feel its rushing force, take its gentle nature! Where the mind goes, the Qi goes; where the Qi moves, the water responds! This is not a supernatural power, but the interaction between heaven and man! Guard this city, and you will guard this water!"
Guided by Xuanweizi and impacted by the immense true qi, Xiao Yuxuan felt as if his "consciousness" had been forcibly ripped from his broken body! He burst out of the Rock Valley at an incredible speed! He swept past the Qin army array waiting in battle outside the valley entrance! He climbed over the mountain ridges that blocked his view! In an instant, he "saw" the "Stone Stream River" rushing and roaring among the mountains!
The river was swift and turbulent, its turbid waves crashing against the jagged rocks on both banks with a deafening roar! Cold! Mighty! Vast! Filled with boundless vitality and destructive power!
"Sense its momentum! Grasp its essence! Concentrate its intent!" Xuanweizi's will, like a lighthouse in a raging storm, forcefully guided Xiao Yuxuan's faint, flickering divine sense, attempting to capture, understand, and resonate with the "Qi" of heaven and earth contained within the vast waters! This feeling was a thousand times more dangerous than forcibly activating his dantian last night! It was like an ant trying to shake a surging river! Xiao Yuxuan felt as if his soul was about to be torn to pieces by the overwhelming waters! Excruciating pain, dizziness, and boundless fear instantly overwhelmed him!
Just when he felt he was about to be annihilated!
Outside the valley entrance, the Qin army's bugle calls rang out once more, mournful and piercing! The attack had begun!
This time, it wasn't a tentative barrage of arrows and battering rams!
Dozens of elite Qin soldiers, wielding blazing torches, charged fearlessly toward the valley entrance like fire demons emerging from hell! Their target was the mountain of withered branches and leaves piled up before the fortifications! At the same time, a dense rain of arrows once again soared into the sky, suppressing the defenders on the fortifications!
"Set them on fire! Burn them alive!" The Qin army officer's roar was filled with cruel pleasure!
"Now! Set it on fire! Unleash the rolling stones!" Sun Qian's roar was like thunder, echoing across the ramparts!
Wang Ben, Gu Yan, and the others, who were already prepared, immediately hurled lit oil canisters and arrows wrapped in burning material at the flammable material piled up at the valley entrance! At the same time, the pile of rolling stones was pushed down again!
boom!
Flames shot skyward! The valley entrance instantly transformed into a sea of fire! The Qin soldiers at the forefront, caught off guard, were instantly engulfed by the flames they themselves had set off, letting out bloodcurdling screams! Rolling stones plunged into the inferno, scattering sparks everywhere and adding to the chaos!
"Charge!" Sun Qian led the charge, like a war god reborn from the flames, the first to leap over the ramparts. His bronze longsword transformed into a cold light, slashing fiercely at the Qin army, whose formation was slightly disrupted by the sea of fire! Wang Ben and Gu Yan followed closely behind. The remaining twenty-odd soldiers, still capable of fighting, roared like wild beasts, like a desperate torrent, crashing into the Qin army's defensive line at the edge of the inferno! Ji Zhai also picked up a short halberd, gritting his teeth as he followed!
A fierce hand-to-hand battle erupted instantly in the narrow valley entrance, illuminated by the firelight! Swords flashed, and blood and flesh flew everywhere!
At this moment, atop the barrier, Xuanweizi's withered body trembled slightly, and the veins on his fingers, pressed against Xiao Yuxuan's wrist, stood out! He was using his vast true qi as a bridge to forcibly support Xiao Yuxuan's collapsing divine will, in order to communicate with and draw upon the waters of the stone stream several miles away!
Xiao Yuxuan's eyes were tightly closed, and fine streaks of blood seeped from his seven orifices! His body trembled violently, like a leaf falling in a storm! His consciousness struggled painfully under the overwhelming force of the water, and Xuanweizi's guidance was like a last straw. He forced himself to give up resistance, to give up fear, to give up the perception of the excruciating pain in his body, and cast all his remaining will, like the most devout believer, into the rushing, roaring river! To feel its coldness, its grandeur, its rage, its… ultimate gentleness and resilience!
Water...the softest...and the hardest...
It can carry a boat, but it can also capsize it…
It can nourish silently, or it can destroy cities and fortresses...
Guard your Qi...like water...
Defending a city... is like water...
A profound and mysterious enlightenment, like a flash of lightning in the darkness, suddenly cleaved through his chaotic sea of consciousness! Deep within his dantian, the vast true qi forcibly infused by Xuanweizi, along with the faint life force stirred within him, strangely merged and swirled at this moment, generating an indescribable power that rippled and flowed like water!
"Qi moves... Water responds!" Xuanweizi suddenly opened his gray eyes, his eyes flashing with a sharp light, and shouted!
Meanwhile, several miles away, on the banks of the Shijian River!
In the middle of the turbulent river, near the west bank (towards Rock Valley), the water seemed to be violently stirred by an invisible giant hand! A huge whirlpool formed without warning! The water at the center of the whirlpool suddenly surged upwards, shooting several meters high! Then, this forcibly stirred, powerful force of water, like an angry dragon breaking free of its restraints, carrying thousands of tons of icy river water, crashed fiercely against the steep western cliff face towards Rock Valley!
Boom—!!!
A deep, thunderous roar, far more deafening than thunder itself, echoed from the direction of the Stone Stream River! It was like an earth dragon turning over! The ground near the entrance of the Rocky Valley trembled!
The soldiers on both sides, who were engaged in a fierce battle with the Qin army at the valley entrance, were all stunned by this sudden power of heaven and earth, causing them to freeze in their tracks!
Immediately afterwards!
A cold, damp wind, carrying a strong, fishy smell, suddenly swept in from the direction of the Stone Stream River! The wind whipped up the burning ashes and unburnt branches and leaves on the ground, forming a huge, gray, and wet wall of wind that crashed into the Qin army's crossbow formation outside the valley entrance, which was gathering to reinforce and fire arrows!
Puff puff puff puff!
A dense sound, like a torrential downpour hitting banana leaves, rang out!
The arrows fired by the Qin crossbowmen struck the misty, damp wall of air, their speed suddenly reduced! Their force greatly diminished! It was as if they had struck sticky mud! The originally deadly rain of arrows instantly became sparse and weak!
"Heaven is on our side! Charge out!" Sun Qian, covered in blood, seized this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and roared deafeningly! His bronze longsword, like the scythe of death, instantly felled two Qin soldiers blocking his path! Wang Ben, Gu Yan, and the others were greatly encouraged. Like tigers released from their cages, they seized the moment when the Qin army was thrown into disarray by the sudden "water curtain" and gale, and desperately tore through the defensive line, charging towards the Shijian River!
Above the walls.
puff!
Xiao Yuxuan suddenly spat out a mouthful of scalding blood, his body feeling as if all the bones had been removed, and he slumped backward. His vision was completely swallowed by boundless darkness, and his last consciousness consisted only of the surging, roaring water and Xuan Weizi's gray eyes that seemed to contain an endless starry sky.
Xuanweizi's withered body swayed, his face instantly turning ashen, as if he had aged ten years in an instant. He scooped up the unconscious Xiao Yuxuan as if carrying an inanimate object, his indigo figure disappearing behind the barrier like a ghost blending into the night, drifting away towards the direction Sun Qian and the others were trying to break through.
At the mouth of the rocky valley, the flames still burned, illuminating the corpses scattered on the ground and the bewildered faces of the Qin soldiers. The "water curtain" of wind that suddenly appeared and blocked the rain of arrows came abruptly and went quickly, leaving only wet traces and a pungent smell of water on the ground.
The first act of the battle at the broken bridge ends with the defending army suffering heavy losses and narrowly escaping death thanks to the power of nature. The real battle to cross the river, and the stone-paved river crossing bridge that lies across the path to survival, are just ahead.
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