Mo Bian Gong Shou
That terrifying shriek, like an invisible giant hammer, slammed into the very soul of everyone in the wounded soldiers' camp. After the shriek, there was a deathly silence, as if even the wind and snow had been frozen by the sudden aura of destruction. Then, from the direction of the gate came even more chaotic and ferocious sounds of fighting! The sounds were filled with horror, fear, and a kind of madness akin to the dying struggle of a wild beast!
"The Hanging Blade... the Hanging Blade has really been drawn..." A one-armed veteran leaning against the corner muttered to himself, his cloudy eyes filled with indescribable terror, his body trembling uncontrollably. The terrifying legend of the "Hanging Blade" lurked in the hearts of every Qin veteran like a cold, venomous snake.
Xiao Yuxuan lay stiffly on the cold straw mat. The rough piece of wood in his palm throbbed slightly, as if alive. Each weak pulsation brought a cold, violent, yet ancient and desolate tremor, spreading along his arm, creating an eerie conflict with the cool, tingling sensation from the Xuanweizi ointment on his left shoulder wound. He gripped it tightly, his knuckles turning white from the excessive force, as if it were the only anchor that kept him conscious amidst the terrifying roar.
Xuanweizi's withered figure froze for a moment as the shrill whistle pierced the air. He slowly withdrew his fingers from the acupoint of a wounded soldier before him, his deep, ancient eyes gazing into the dark night at the tent entrance. For the first time, a complex emotion clearly surfaced in those cloudy eyes—fear, pity, and a hint of…understanding. He sighed almost inaudibly, a sigh that seemed to pierce through a thousand years of dust, so heavy it bent his back.
"Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs..." His hoarse voice echoed in the deathly silent camp like a dream, "The killing aura soars to the sky, and evil spirits roam freely... This is not the way of heaven, but man's calamity." He said no more, but quickened his actions to treat the wound. His withered hands remained steady, but seemed to be carrying an invisible burden.
---
Outside the gates lies a hell of blood and fire.
With a sickening creak, the massive iron-clad wooden door swung open, barely wide enough for three riders to pass side by side! Beyond the gap, a torrent of Di cavalry surged forth like a black, raging tide! The heavily armored cavalry, like mobile fortresses, carried an aura of utter destruction; their scimitars gleamed coldly in the snow, their hooves trampling the corpses of their comrades and Qin soldiers, mud, snow, and blood splattering everywhere!
Qin Zhaoyang charged ahead! He held a crudely decorated bronze longsword, the hem of his robe already soaked with mud and blood, clinging tightly to his legs. He wore no armor, yet his figure stood tall and straight as a pine tree, facing the oncoming storm of death, his eyes as cold as ancient ice, only a cluster of almost insane, resolute flames burning deep within!
"Kill—!!!" The heavily armored assassins of his personal guard roared, like a torrent of steel bursting its banks, following their commander and charging headlong into the surging black tide!
"boom!!!"
The clash between steel and flesh erupted in a primal, brutal roar! Men and horses fell! Bones snapped and tendons broke! Bronze swords cleaved through leather armor, sending up a spray of warm blood; heavy lances pierced knights' chests, lifting them high into the air; scimitars struck heavy armor, scattering blinding sparks! Qin Zhaoyang, like a reef, each swing of his sword precise and deadly, cut down the approaching Di cavalry! His personal guards formed a tight wedge formation, using flesh and steel to desperately withstand the first, most ferocious wave of the Di cavalry's charge!
However, individual bravery is as insignificant as an ant before the overwhelming tide of a thousand troops. The Di cavalry were too numerous! Like an endless army! Qin Zhaoyang's suicidal charge had ignited their even more ferocious bestiality! More cavalry circled around the front, like a black tide, attempting to completely engulf this small, elite force from both flanks!
Just then—
"Buzz—!!!"
A deep, strange hum, like countless enormous mechanisms tightening simultaneously or a sleeping beast being awakened, suddenly resounded from the depths of the Qin army camp! This sound pierced through the deafening battle, carrying a teeth-grinding metallic friction, instantly drowning out all the noise of the battlefield!
Immediately afterwards, a dozen square, dark holes suddenly appeared in the originally solid stockade walls on both sides of the gate, near the ground!
Inside the cave entrance, there was only deathly darkness, like a gaping maw ready to devour its prey.
The Di cavalry at the forefront, whether charging head-on at Qin Zhaoyang or attempting to flank him from both sides, were all startled by the strange sight and sound, causing them to pause slightly.
In that split second—
"Click! Click! Click! Click...!"
A series of dense and crisp sounds, like the cocking of a giant crossbow, suddenly erupted from those dark, gaping walls!
"Hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss hiss—!!!"
In the next instant, countless dark shadows, accompanied by a piercing whistling sound, burst forth from the holes in the walls like a torrential rain! Those weren't arrows! They were millstone-sized, their edges gleaming with a cold, sharp light—**giant circular saws**!
These terrifying circular saws, forged from an unknown, heavy metal, had jagged, interlocking serrations along their edges! Driven by some incredibly powerful mechanism, they spun at breakneck speed, tearing through the air and emitting a chilling shriek! Like a death vortex unleashed from the depths of hell, they instantly plunged into the unsuspecting Diqi horde!
A terrifying scene unfolded!
The heavily armored Di cavalry at the forefront, rider and horse alike, were swept up like fragile paper! The heavy iron armor was like thin paper before the high-speed spinning saw blades, instantly torn and sliced! Flesh, bone, and armor fragments flew wildly amidst the ear-piercing metallic scraping and the cracking of bones! Warhorses neighed in agony as they were severed at the waist, and the riders' upper bodies were tossed high into the air, only to be shredded into pieces by another swirling saw blade! On the filthy snow, a nauseating, dark red swamp of flesh, entrails, and metal fragments instantly spread out!
Tragic! Tragic beyond words!
This was not a battle; it was a one-sided, highly efficient, and ruthless massacre!
The once fierce and wild charge of the Di cavalry was like crashing into an invisible wall of meat grinders filled with high-speed spinning blades! The momentum crumbled instantly! The front-line cavalrymen didn't even have time to scream before turning into a rain of blood, while the warhorses in the rear were completely terrified by the sight, rearing up and charging and trampling each other uncontrollably! The entire vanguard of the Di cavalry was plunged into a chaotic hell of death!
"Mo Shou! It's the Mo family's 'Whirling Wheel Killing Formation'!" On the stockade wall, an old Qin soldier with a face covered in blood roared wildly, his voice filled with unparalleled excitement and... a hint of barely perceptible fear!
"It's Lord Ji Zhai! Lord Ji Zhai has made a move!" More soldiers reacted and burst into shouts of joy at surviving a disaster!
---
Deep within the camp, near the supply area, in a huge work shed.
The air was thick with the smells of tung oil, rusted metal, and sawdust. Huge bronze gears, thick hardwood bearings, winches wrapped with yak sinew ropes, and all sorts of oddly shaped, gleaming metal components, like the skeleton and entrails of a giant beast, filled every corner of the workshop. Several large tallow lamps hung from the thick beams, their dim, flickering light casting shadows on everything inside, like the belly of some ancient behemoth.
In the center of the workshop stood a terrifying steel structure. Its main body consisted of several massive hardwood pillars, each as thick as a person's waist, deeply embedded in the ground. Wrapped around these pillars were countless densely packed, dark, oily sinew ropes. These ropes connected to a massive, heavy, complex mechanism above, composed of countless interlocking bronze gears and steel components. Below this mechanism, a dozen thick bronze transmission arms extended, like the tentacles of a colossal beast, piercing through the thick walls of the workshop and connecting to the terrifying devices within the outer walls that unleashed the "Windmill Killing Array."
At this moment, this killing machine, representing the highest level of "defense" technology of the Mohist school, was emitting a low, continuous hum. The massive bronze gears, pulled by the winch, slowly turned, each mesh of the teeth producing a dull "click," causing the entire core of the mechanism to tremble slightly. Even the floor of the workshop trembled slightly in response.
Ji Zhai stood in front of the core of this killing behemoth.
He was not tall, wearing a faded, oil-stained dark brown linen blouse over a worn-out leather apron. His hair was casually pulled back with a wooden hairpin, revealing a broad forehead and a face with hard lines, somewhat rigid from years of working with cold machinery. His hands were rough and strong, with large knuckles covered in thick calluses and fine scratches, and were now firmly resting on a huge bronze wheel at the core of the mechanism.
On the roulette wheel, countless fine, ant-like markings and symbols are engraved, representing angles, power, range, and... the intensity of the killing.
Ji Zhai's gaze was fixed on the carnage outside the shed, peering through a narrow observation hole in the wall. The dim light cast shifting shadows on his face, highlighting his sunken eyes and tightly pursed lips.
He watched as the "Wheeling Killing Array," which he had personally designed, painstakingly crafted, and which incorporated the essence of generations of Mohist mechanical arts, reaped lives with the efficiency, ruthlessness, and precision of the Grim Reaper's scythe. Those high-speed rotating serrated discs were the culmination of countless calculations, experiments, and improvements. Every cut, every tear, every reduction of vibrant life along with heavy armor into countless fragments… perfectly matched the deductions on his blueprints.
It was a success. His traps halted the fiercest charge of the Di cavalry, giving the Qin army a chance to regroup, and perhaps even... turning the tide of the battle.
This should have been a victory for "conservatism"! It was the ultimate embodiment of safeguarding peace and tranquility under the principles of "universal love and non-aggression"!
However--
Ji Zhai's pupils contracted sharply, as if burned by the splattered blood and flesh and the shrill screams! His hand, resting on the bronze wheel, trembled slightly uncontrollably! A chilling cold, carrying the stench of rust and entrails, rushed in through the observation hole, fiercely filling his lungs!
He saw a Di rider get caught in the lower half of a rapidly spinning saw, his upper body flying into the air with an incredulous, horrified expression, blood spurting from his mouth tracing a long arc through the air… He saw a mighty warhorse severed at the chest, its entrails and broken bones splattered like mud on the cold snow, still convulsing… He saw more Di riders trampling each other in the chaos, their faces contorted with fear and filled with despair…
This is not a cold blueprint! Not a simulation on a sand table! This is a living, breathing life, torn apart in an instant! It is screams! It is wails! It is hell!
"Non-aggression... universal love..." Ji Zhai's lips moved silently, a suppressed growl escaping his throat like sandpaper scraping. The teachings of the Mohist founder resounded in his mind like a great bell, yet they clashed violently with the bloody and efficient massacre before him, creating a soul-wrenching conflict!
Protecting? Is this really protecting? Protecting in such a cruel and inhumane way? This runs counter to his pursuit of non-aggression! This is completely contrary to his belief in universal love!
His proud skills and the mechanisms he painstakingly crafted have now transformed into the most terrifying killing machines! Every spinning saw tooth seems to be cutting through his own beliefs!
A strong feeling of nausea surged up his throat! Ji Zhai clenched his teeth tightly to prevent himself from vomiting on the spot. He abruptly closed his eyes, trying to shut out the hellish scene. But the sounds—the muffled thud of saws cutting through flesh, the dying neighs of warhorses, the terrified and desperate roars of the Di people—penetrated his ears like maggots, tearing at his nerves!
"My lord! The winches number three and seven on the east side are stuck! They're blocked by flesh and armor fragments! They need to be cleared!" A young Mohist, also dressed in short clothes and with his face covered in oil, shouted urgently, his voice tinged with tension, but more so with anxiety about the obstructed mechanism.
Ji Zhai abruptly opened his eyes! Those eyes, once focused solely on craftsmanship, precise and rigid like a ruler, now churned with a turbulent undercurrent! Pain, confusion, self-loathing… clung to him like poisonous vines. He saw in the young Mohist's eyes a pure concern for the efficiency of the mechanism; that gaze, like a mirror, reflected his own former self—a cold craftsman who pursued only the ultimate in "defense," calculating only the efficiency of destruction!
“Clean…” Ji Zhai’s voice was dry and hoarse, as if squeezed from gravel, “…Clean.” Almost subconsciously, he turned the bronze wheel in his hand, adjusting the angle and force of the other winches to ensure that the efficiency of the killing would not decrease. His movements remained precise, muscle memory ingrained in his bones. But each of these subtle adjustments was like a dull knife, repeatedly cutting into his own heart!
He looked again at the battlefield shrouded in death outside the observation hole. His gaze swept past the Di cavalry torn apart by the winches and fell further—behind the death zone created by the winch killing array, behind the chaotic Di cavalry formation, he saw it!
On the edge of the snow-covered battlefield, behind the black waves that symbolized destruction, some... people appeared indistinctly!
They weren't Di cavalry! Judging by their clothes, they were ordinary herdsmen! Men, women, young and old were all there! They were ragged and shivering in the wind and snow, being driven by the Di cavalry like lambs to the slaughter, stumbling and staggering aimlessly toward this land of death!
Ashina Tulu! That cunning wolf! He actually drove the captured herdsmen to be used as human shields! He wanted to use the flesh and blood of these innocent people to fill the death trap created by the Mohist siege engine! To wear down the Qin army's arrows and will!
Ji Zhai's body stiffened instantly! As if pierced by an invisible icicle! A bone-chilling coldness shot from the soles of his feet straight to the top of his head!
He saw the expressions of terror and despair on the faces of those herders, and he saw children held tightly in their mothers' arms, their little faces turning blue from the cold wind... Their eyes were empty and numb, as if they had already resigned themselves to their fate and were just waiting to be crushed into dust by the giant wheel of war!
"No--!!!"
A suppressed, agonizing roar, like that of a dying beast, suddenly erupted from deep within Ji Zhai's throat! He gripped the cold bronze wheel tightly, his knuckles groaning from the strain! His body trembled violently, as if it might collapse at any moment!
His machine gun! His proud "defense" weapon! In the next moment, it will grind those innocent herdsmen, along with their children, into a rain of blood and flesh, just like those Di cavalrymen just now!
Protect? What did he protect?! He used the most brutal machines to kill the enemy, and is about to crush the innocent lives he wanted to protect! This is not "non-aggression"! This is clearly aiding and abetting evil! He is an accomplice to slaughter!
"Stop! Stop the winch!" Ji Zhai whirled around, roaring at the Mohist man operating the mechanism, his voice distorted by extreme pain and rage. "Quickly! Stop! There are herdsmen outside! There are children!"
The Mohists operating the mechanism froze, exchanging bewildered glances. Stop? At this critical moment when the Di cavalry could charge again at any moment? Stop this only weapon that could halt the enemy's iron hooves?
"My lord! We can't stop!" an older Mohist shouted anxiously. "The Di cavalry are still here! If we stop the winch, they'll rush in immediately! The camp will be finished!"
"I said stop!" Ji Zhai's eyes were bloodshot, like a wounded beast, staring intently at the Mohist. "That's a person! A living person! Not a Di dog! A person just like us...!" He almost roared the last word "person," filled with grief and indignation.
The workshop was deathly silent. Only the deep, continuous hum of the core mechanism, like the breath of a giant beast, carried a cold and powerful force, mercilessly crushing Ji Zhai's struggles.
---
Inside the wounded soldiers' camp.
Xiao Yuxuan gripped the pulsating piece of wood tightly. The coolness of the Xuanweizi ointment clashed fiercely with the icy, violent aura emanating from the wood, causing a tearing, throbbing pain in his left shoulder wound. The inhuman screams and the terrifying sound of saws cutting through flesh from the direction of the gate were like invisible whips, lashing his nerves relentlessly. He gritted his teeth, letting out suppressed whimpers like a wounded cub.
Sheng Guo stayed close to him, her face pale and her body trembling like a leaf in the wind.
Just then, in a corner of the tent, a young wounded soldier, his abdomen ripped open by a Di saber and his intestines spilling out, succumbed to a final frenzy under the torment of excruciating pain and high fever. He suddenly struggled to his feet, his eyes glazed over, his blood-stained face contorted with grotesque muscles, letting out a hysterical roar filled with boundless resentment:
"Kill! Kill them all! Kill those traitors! Avenge my parents! Avenge my fellow villagers in Longxi! Kill—!!!" He waved his only remaining arm, his fingernails scratching bloody marks into the cold mud, his voice shrill like a ghost's wail, "...Father...Mother...Don't leave me...Cold...So cold..." His roars gradually weakened, eventually turning into indistinct murmurs and desperate cries, his body curling up painfully on the straw mat.
This desperate scream and cry, like the last straw, crushed Xiao Yuxuan's taut nerves!
Longxi! Father and Mother! Fellow villagers! That parched land! That father dragged away by the cruel official! That mother's cold fingers as she handed him the amulet for safety! And... that cold crimson and purple robes on the watchtower! That scathing rebuke inscribed on the silk scroll! That cold mechanism that drove the winch to madly reap lives! Those herdsmen and children driven towards the trap of death!
All the images, all the sounds, all the pain and anger, like a flood bursting its banks, instantly overwhelmed the last dam in his heart! The doubts about the root of the war awakened by Xuanweizi, the despair inspired by the hellish scene of the wounded soldiers' camp, the boundless anger ignited by the dying screams of the young wounded soldier... all exploded at this moment, completely ignited by the cold and violent pulse of the wooden piece in his palm!
"ah--!!!"
A howl, like a lone wolf weeping blood, suddenly burst from Xiao Yuxuan's throat! He seemed to unleash a terrifying power from nowhere, struggling to sit up abruptly from the cold straw mat! The wound on his left shoulder reopened, blood instantly soaking through the newly applied bandage, but he was oblivious! His bloodshot eyes were fixed on the direction of the tent entrance, burning with a near-destructive, insane light!
He suddenly raised his right hand! The blood-stained, rough-edged piece of wood was held high in his hand, like raising an invisible battle flag! The piece of wood throbbed violently in his hand, and a cold, violent aura surged out, as if it had some kind of eerie resonance with the terrifying buzzing of the winch killing array outside the gate!
"Why?!" Xiao Yuxuan's voice was hoarse and broken, filled with heart-wrenching grief and a soul-piercing question, echoing throughout the entire wounded soldiers' camp. "Why are we tearing each other apart like wild beasts here?! Why are our knives being used to cut down living, breathing people like us?! Why can those high and mighty people send thousands to their deaths with a single decree?! Why—!!!"
His desperate question, like a thunderclap, exploded in the tent filled with the groans of death! All the wounded soldiers still conscious instinctively looked at him, at the blood-soaked, crazed recruit holding aloft a blood-stained wooden stake. In their eyes, there was bewilderment, pain, numbness, but more than anything, there was a profound shock—a shock that this bloody question had pierced the deepest recesses of their hearts!
"Look at us! Look at them!" Xiao Yuxuan pointed to the piles of corpses in the tent, and to the hellish sounds of fighting coming from the direction of the gate. "Who are the dead?! They are Wang Er, the farmer from Longxi! They are Li San, the shepherd from Hexi! They are our parents, wives, and children waiting for us to come home! Not those nobles who give orders in Xianyang Palace! Not that trembling eunuch on the watchtower!"
His gaze swept over Sheng Guo's terrified face, over Xuan Weizi's deep, compassionate eyes, and finally stared intently at the pulsating, cold wooden piece in his hand, as if he wanted to pour all his anger and despair into it!
"What's the point of this kind of protection?! What has this kind of slaughter brought us?!" he roared, each word like a bloodstained nail, slamming into everyone's hearts. "Isn't there... isn't there a way... a way to live without so much bloodshed, without mothers losing their sons, without children losing their fathers?! Were we born... just to be pawns on someone else's chessboard, to be discarded at any time?!"
"I don't believe it!!!"
He roared out the last three words with all his might, like a wounded lone wolf howling at the moon, filled with endless grief, resentment, and... a faint hope for another possibility, almost desperate!
As the roar subsided, Xiao Yuxuan seemed to have exhausted all his strength. His body swayed violently, his vision went black, and he fell heavily backward, succumbing to unconsciousness once more. Only his raised right hand remained, tightly and convulsively gripping the cold, pulsating piece of wood, as if it were the last stubbornness and cry from the depths of his soul.
The entire wounded soldiers' camp fell into a deathly silence. Only his heavy breathing echoed, and the wooden shard he clutched tightly throbbed more clearly and more...scalding hot deep within his palm, unseen by anyone. It was as if something long buried was struggling...to awaken under the nourishment of blood and fire, amidst desperate cries.
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