The plague spread
The chill of the Ice City had not yet seeped into the bones when a new, more sinister and terrifying aura of death, like an invisible poisonous miasma, quietly enveloped the Qin army camp. The mountains of corpses and seas of blood left behind in that fierce battle of ice and fire, after a brief period of intense cold, rapidly rotted, swelled, and oozed a thick, blackish-green pus as the weather eerily warmed. A pungent, foul stench, a mixture of putrid entrails and an indescribably sweet aroma, replaced the smoke and blood, seeping into every corner of the camp, penetrating every nook and cranny, sticking stickily to the mucous membranes of the mouth and nose, making one want to vomit.
Eerie whispers began to circulate in the camp:
"Have you heard? Three of them were carried out last night... their faces were all black, and they were vomiting green fluid..."
"Wang Wu from Sanshi, he was as strong as an ox. He was fine this morning, but during drills he suddenly collapsed, his body burning hot, and he convulsed before dying..."
"It's a plague! It's the ghosts of those enemies who died beneath the ice wall coming to claim our lives!"
Panic surged like a boulder thrown into stagnant water, stirring up layers of undercurrents. The soldiers avoided eye contact, their steps hurried, trying to avoid contact with others. A deathly oppressive silence permeated the camp; even Tu Sui's signature roars were less frequent, replaced by an anxious silence.
What truly ignited fear were the surrendered soldiers imprisoned in the makeshift enclosure on the westernmost side of the camp, near the area piled with rotting corpses.
At first, it was just sporadic coughing and low-grade fever. The guards didn't pay much attention, assuming it was just the normal reaction of prisoners suffering from cold and hunger. But in just two or three days, the situation deteriorated rapidly! The coughing became a continuous, heart-wrenching sound, as if they were coughing up their lungs. High fevers spread like wildfire among the crowded and filthy prisoners; many were burning hot, delirious, and talking incoherently. Even more terrifying was the vomiting—not ordinary vomit, but large puddles of thick, foul-smelling filth with an eerie greenish tinge and streaks of blood! Dark red spots began to appear on their skin, like the kiss of death, spreading and festering rapidly, oozing yellowish-green pus. Death followed one after another; the corpses stiffened, blackened, and swelled at an alarming rate, emitting a terrifying stench even stronger and sweeter than that of rotting corpses on the battlefield!
"Plague... plague! It's the plague!" The guards, pale as death, scrambled away from the surrendered soldiers' camp, which resembled a living hell, their shrill cries shattering the deathly silence of the camp.
Panic erupted instantly! Like a wildfire, it swept through the entire military camp!
"Plague! A plague has broken out in the surrendered soldiers' camp!"
"Run! The plague is coming!"
"Stay away from the west! Don't go there!"
The soldiers shoved each other in terror, trying to escape the death trap. The already crowded camp descended into chaos; panic, like an invisible plague, festered and spread through the depths of their hearts. The Legalist military judges brandished their whips, attempting to quell the chaos, but their usual authority, so firmly established, seemed utterly powerless before the absolute shadow of death.
"Silence! Silence! Anyone who disrupts the morale of the troops will be executed!" The military judge's desperate shouts were drowned out by an even greater wave of panic.
At this moment of widespread panic and teetering on the brink of collapse, a plain white linen banner was abruptly planted in the open space in front of the central command tent. The banner fluttered in the cold wind, carrying a putrid stench, and on it were two large, bold characters written in strong, powerful strokes:
Destiny!
Beneath the banner sat an old man. He wore a faded dark gray linen Taoist robe, his hair and beard were completely white and meticulously combed, his face was gaunt, but his eyes were unusually calm, even carrying a detached indifference that seemed to have seen through the world. This was none other than the Taoist strategist, Xuanweizi. Before him lay a simple wooden table with only a pot of water and two earthenware bowls. He closed his eyes slightly, his hands forming Taoist hand seals, like an old monk in deep meditation, seemingly oblivious to the panic and chaos around him.
The panicked crowd, as if they had found a pillar of support or grasped at their last straw, swarmed around them.
"Master Xuanweizi! Help!"
"Sir! A plague has broken out in the surrendered soldiers' camp! Could it spread here?"
"Sir! Please perform a ritual to expel the plague! Save us!"
Pleading and crying echoed, and countless eyes filled with fear and hope stared intently at the figure under the banner of "Destiny".
Xuanweizi slowly opened his eyes, his gaze calmly sweeping over the faces contorted with fear before him, as if brushing away dust. His voice was not loud, yet it possessed a strange penetrating power, clearly reaching everyone's ears, carrying a chilling coldness like an icy spring:
"Heaven and earth are ruthless, treating all things like straw dogs." He spoke slowly, quoting a proverb from the Tao Te Ching, his voice calm and still. "Plagues are caused by malevolent forces, resulting from the conflict of the unhealthy energies of the four seasons. This is the cycle of heaven, a calamity of imbalance between yin and yang. It cannot be forced by human power, nor can it be cured by medicine."
He paused, his gaze falling on the western camp of surrendered soldiers shrouded in an aura of death. His eyes were devoid of any emotion, only a cold-blooded understanding: "The surrendered soldiers are tainted with malevolent energy; they are already abandoned by Heaven. Forcibly treating them will not only be futile but may also trigger a backlash from the malevolent energy, harming the innocent. This is destiny, which cannot be defied or reversed."
The will of Heaven cannot be defied!
This chilling verdict, like a final death knell, tolled in the hearts of every terrified soldier. The clouds of despair instantly grew heavier. Even the military judges wielding their whips stiffened, a flicker of bewilderment crossing their eyes.
Standing on the outskirts of the crowd, Xiao Yuxuan listened to Xuanweizi's indifferent yet seemingly profound voice, feeling a chill run from his feet to his head, more piercing than the cold of the Ice City. The Way of Heaven? Fate? He looked at the surrendered soldiers, isolated behind the fence, waiting to die in despair like livestock, their hands trembling with fever and festering sores, reaching out through the wooden bars, listening to the incessant, heart-wrenching coughs and vomiting… Was this the so-called Way of Heaven? The blood talisman in his arms pressed tightly against his heart, the character "安" (peace/safety) seemingly frozen by this icy fate.
Just then, an even more shrill and desperate wail came from the direction of the surrendered soldiers' camp, drowning out all the coughs and pleas!
"My child! My child! Please! Save him! He's only six years old! He's not sick! He really isn't sick! Let him out! Please let him out!" It was a woman's hoarse cry, filled with the despair of a dying mother.
Xiao Yuxuan abruptly turned his head. Beside the makeshift wooden fence of the surrendered soldiers' camp, a ragged, disheveled woman was tightly embracing a tiny, emaciated child curled up in her arms. The child's eyes were closed, its cheeks flushed an unnatural red, and its breathing weak. The woman shielded the child with her body, frantically kowtowing to the indifferent guards outside the fence, her forehead pounding against the cold, muddy ground with a resounding thud, drawing blood. Around her were more surrendered soldiers, some despairing and numb, others already on the verge of death.
"Get out of the way! No one infected shall be released! Anyone who disobeys will be killed!" the guard shouted sternly, his spear pointing warily towards the inside of the fence.
"He's not sick! He's really not sick! Let me out! Please let me take the child out!" The woman was like a madwoman, desperately trying to ram her body against the wooden fence!
"You're asking for death!" A fierce glint flashed in the guard's eyes, and he thrust his spear forward with all his might!
"Thud!" The spear tip did not pierce the woman, but instead plunged into the chest of an old, weak, surrendered soldier who was trying to stop her! The old soldier did not even have time to scream before he collapsed to the ground with his eyes wide open, blood gushing out.
The woman let out a piercing scream that was almost inhuman, collapsed to the ground clutching her child, and cried out in despair, her sobs heart-wrenching.
This scene, like a red-hot branding iron, was fiercely burned onto Xiao Yuxuan's retina! Xuanweizi's indifferent words "destiny" formed the sharpest and cruelest contrast with the living tragedy before his eyes! An uncontrollable rage mixed with icy sorrow instantly shattered all his numbness!
He suddenly pushed through the crowd and rushed towards the conspicuous "Mandate of Heaven" banner in front of the central command tent! Tu Sui's attempt to stop him was violently shoved away!
"Destiny?!" Xiao Yuxuan's voice was hoarse and cracked, like sandpaper being rubbed, yet it carried an almost burning rage as he pointed directly at Xuanweizi under the banner. "This is the destiny you speak of?! Watching living people die like pigs and dogs! Watching mothers and children be trapped and die in the plague! This is the Heavenly Way you believe in?!"
His roar was like thunder, instantly drowning out the surrounding noise! Everyone stared in shock at the boy, whose body was covered in mud but whose eyes burned with a terrifying flame.
Xuanweizi slowly raised his head, his calm and unwavering gaze falling on Xiao Yuxuan's face, which was contorted with anger. His eyes were as deep as an ancient pool, seemingly seeing through the turmoil in Xiao Yuxuan's soul, yet remaining completely undisturbed.
"Heaven's way is ruthless, yet its operation is constant." Xuanweizi's voice remained indifferent, as if expounding the most common truth: "Birth, aging, sickness, and death, rise and fall, honor and disgrace, are all contained within it. Forcibly defying Heaven only increases karmic burdens and invites disaster. Saving one person may harm a hundred. Which is more important? This is predetermined and cannot be changed by human power."
"Destiny? Karma?" Xiao Yuxuan laughed in fury, but his laughter was filled with endless sorrow. "What destiny! What tranquility and inaction!" He pointed sharply towards the direction of the desperate cries from the surrendered soldiers' camp to the west. "That child's destiny was to die in the plague?! That mother's destiny was to watch her child die?! You high and mighty 'Heavenly Way'! What can you do besides stand idly by and make sarcastic remarks?!"
Xuanweizi stroked his long beard, his eyelids slightly lowered, and remained silent. His silence was as hard as the coldest ice.
Xiao Yuxuan stared intently at Xuan Weizi's calm and expressionless face, feeling a surge of icy despair and overwhelming rage raging within him, almost tearing him apart! He abruptly turned around, no longer looking at the banners, no longer paying attention to the astonished or fearful gazes around him, and like a wounded lone wolf, plunged headlong into the chaotic depths of the camp.
The night, thick as ink, weighed heavily on the camp, carrying an unyielding stench of decay and despair. The cold wind howled, like the lamentations of the unjustly killed.
Xiao Yuxuan moved like a ghost through the shadows of the camp. He avoided the patrolling sentries and bypassed the brightly lit main road, with only one target—the surrendered soldiers' camp on the west side, shrouded in death.
The cold words "Heaven's Mandate" from Xuanweizi, the woman's heart-wrenching cries, the child's flushed, dying face, and the equally young faces scalded to death by boiling water beneath the Ice City… these images intertwined and spun wildly in his mind, like the most cruel scenes of purgatory! The blood talisman in his arms pressed tightly against his burning chest, the word "peace" on it seemed to be searing his soul! The last reluctant and entrusted look in his mother's eyes when she handed him the talisman, and the look of despair in the eyes of the woman in the surrendered soldiers' camp, strangely overlapped at this moment!
To survive... for the sake of this "peace"... But does this "peace" belong only to the Qin people? Only to the living? Those surrendered soldiers struggling in the plague, those enemies wailing under the ice walls, did they also have a humble hope for "peace" in their hearts?
There was no answer. Only an almost obsessive impulse drove him—he couldn't change "fate," but he couldn't bear to watch that child die under this cold "law," just like his father! He couldn't, like Xuanweizi, use "the Way of Heaven" to whitewash this naked indifference to life!
He reached the outer perimeter of the surrendered soldiers' camp. The stench of decay was so strong it was suffocating. Outside the makeshift wooden fence, only two guards, trying to stay alert, paced back and forth restlessly, covering their mouths and noses, their eyes filled with fear and disgust, glancing nervously every now and then at the dark fence where the silence was punctuated by painful groans.
An opportunity! Xiao Yuxuan's heart pounded like a drum. He took a deep breath; the stench of decay almost made him vomit. He forced himself to calm down, and like a lurking cheetah, under the cover of night, he silently circled from the shadows of the tents to behind a wooden fence in the most secluded corner of the camp, a blind spot for the guards.
The wooden fence had fallen into disrepair over the years, and several of the stakes were rotten and loose. He drew the blood-stained bronze dagger from his waist—a symbol of his father's resistance against tyranny that ultimately led to his death—and now he used it to pry open the cage of another group of people abandoned by "destiny." He carefully inserted the blade into the gap at the base of the stakes, and with all his might, he pried and shook it little by little.
Sweat mingled with the cold night dew, streaming down his forehead. Each tiny creak from the wooden stake sent shivers down his spine. Time seemed to freeze. Finally, with a soft snap, he broke a rotten stake! A gap, just large enough for his small frame to squeeze through, appeared!
He quickly sheathed his short sword and cautiously surveyed his surroundings. The guards were unaware. He lowered his voice and urgently called out into the dark enclosure, "Hey! People inside! Listen! There's a gap here! Quick! Take the children! Go through here! Hurry!"
A deathly silence fell within the enclosure for a moment. Then, a suppressed commotion, tinged with disbelief, excitement, and fear, erupted from the darkness. Footsteps, muffled coughs, and the woman's hoarse, trembling voice: "...Really...really?...Child...child, wake up..."
A small, thin figure was pushed out of the gap by the woman with difficulty. It was the child who had been unconscious during the day! His eyes were still tightly closed, his breathing was weak, and his body was burning hot. Immediately afterward, the disheveled woman, her face streaked with tears and blood, also struggled to squeeze out of the gap.
"Thank you... thank you..." The woman, holding the child, was about to kneel down and kowtow in Xiao Yuxuan's direction.
"Don't make a sound! Hurry up! Head west! The woods are deep over there!" Xiao Yuxuan roared urgently, his heart pounding so hard he felt it would burst out of his chest at any moment.
The woman gave him a deep look, her eyes filled with gratitude for surviving a calamity and an indescribable sorrow. Without further hesitation, she hugged her child tightly and staggered towards the dark, dense forest on the outskirts of the camp, as Xiao Yuxuan had pointed out. Her small figure quickly disappeared into the thick night.
Looking in the direction the woman had disappeared, Xiao Yuxuan's tense nerves relaxed slightly, and a mix of lingering fear and a faint sense of relief welled up inside him. He was about to leave quickly when he half-covered the wooden stake again.
"Who?! Who's there?!" A sharp shout, like a thunderclap, rang out not far away!
They were patrolling sentries! They seemed to have heard the noise and were carrying lanterns, hurrying towards this direction! The dim light pierced the darkness!
Xiao Yuxuan froze, his blood seemingly freezing instantly! He shrank back into the shadows, his heart almost stopping!
"Something's happening! Over there at the fence!" The sentry's footsteps and shouts grew closer!
It's over! Being discovered to have released infected surrendered soldiers is tantamount to treason and a capital offense! Whipping? Beheading? Or even…guilt by association?
A tremendous fear, like a cold, giant hand, instantly seized him! At this critical moment—
"Agh—!" A bloodcurdling scream, so shrill it was inhuman, suddenly erupted from the depths of the surrendered soldiers' camp! The sound was filled with extreme pain and madness!
Then came the second scream! The third! More screams, shrieks, frantic curses, and the sounds of pounding on the wooden fence erupted like a volcano! The entire surrendered soldiers' camp instantly erupted into chaos! Like ants being pelted with scalding hot stones!
"Fight our way out! We're all going to die anyway!"
"Let's fight them!"
"Charge! Only by breaking through can we survive!"
The desperate surrendered soldiers, tormented by the plague and gripped by the fear of death, went completely mad like cornered beasts! They used their bodies and anything they could find to frantically ram the already fragile wooden fence! The guards' shouts were instantly drowned out! More breaches were smashed open! Countless ghostly figures, exuding a stench and the aura of death, howled and staggered from the breaches in the fence and from behind the smashed wooden bars, gushing out like a burst dam of black pus and blood!
"The surrendered soldiers are rioting! The surrendered soldiers are rioting—!" The guard screamed in a distorted, terrified voice!
The lanterns were knocked over and went out instantly! The entire western camp was plunged into utter, hysterical darkness and chaos! The frenzied surrendered soldiers, like a runaway torrent, indiscriminately charged at anything that stood in their way! Terrified guards were tackled and torn apart! Nearby tents were set ablaze! Flames shot skyward!
"Stop them! Kill! Kill them without mercy!" The military judge's desperate shouts rang out in the chaos, only to be drowned out by the even greater clamor.
"The plague god has appeared! Run!"
"The surrendered soldiers have all gone mad! They're killing anyone they see!"
"Run for your lives—!"
Panic, like the most virulent plague, swept through the entire camp in an instant! The soldiers completely collapsed! They dropped their weapons, pushed aside their comrades, and scattered in screams like headless flies! Tents were overturned, supplies were trampled, and fires spread everywhere in the chaos! The officers' roars and the lashes of military law were utterly useless at this moment! The entire Qin army camp descended into unprecedented and complete chaos and madness!
Xiao Yuxuan was swept along by the surging, terrified crowd, involuntarily propelled forward. The air was filled with deafening screams, cries, curses, the clanging of weapons, and the crackling of flames! Before him lay chaotic, swaying figures, leaping flames, and trampled bodies! Like a drowning man struggling in a whirlpool of chaos, his heart was filled with chilling fear and a vast, uncontrollable bewilderment. What had he detonated? Had he truly only released a sliver of hope? Or had he opened a far more terrifying Pandora's box?
Just as he was about to be swept away and trampled by the chaotic crowd, a tremendous force yanked him into the shadow of a collapsed tent nearby. It was Sheng Guo! His face was deathly pale, his eyes filled with extreme terror. He gripped Xiao Yuxuan's arm tightly, his voice trembling uncontrollably: "Brother Xiao... Brother Xiao! Quick... quick, hide! It's all chaos! It's all over!"
Xiao Yuxuan leaned against the cold, mud-stained tent cloth, breathing heavily, his gaze passing over the chaotic fleeing crowd and landing in the direction of the central command tent.
In the chaotic firelight, the plain white banner bearing the words "Heaven's Mandate" still stood forlornly in the wind. Beneath the banner, Xuanweizi had not fled. He remained seated behind the simple wooden table, his figure appearing exceptionally thin in the flickering firelight. His hands formed a Daoist incantation, seemingly trying to maintain his detached tranquility. However, when several frenzied, rotting, and foul-smelling surrendered soldiers, like demons crawling from hell, howled and pounced in his direction amidst the chaotic crowd; when a woman's corpse, trampled beyond recognition by the chaotic mob, her abdomen swollen high (it was the woman who had tried to escape with her child!), was pushed and rolled to his wooden table, her wide-open eyes, frozen with endless despair and pleading, met his calm gaze—
A crack finally appeared on Xuanweizi's face, which was as calm and still as an ancient well!
His fingers, which were stroking his long beard, trembled violently! His usually calm and collected eyes began to tremble violently! In those deep pupils, the woman's frozen despair before her death was clearly reflected, as were the lives being trampled on wildly around her, and this completely out-of-control hell on earth!
"puff!"
A mouthful of bright red blood gushed out of Xuanweizi's mouth without warning! The specks of crimson, like plum blossoms of despair, splattered onto the pure white "Destiny" banner in front of him, and also into the ceramic bowl filled with clear water, quickly spreading and turning the water into a glaring pale red.
His body swayed violently, his hand gestures faltered, and his once straight back hunched over. He stared intently at the empty, despairing eyes of the woman's corpse before him, then slowly raised his hand, looking at the warm, his own blood stained his fingertips. The world-weary indifference in his eyes shattered like a fragile ice shell, replaced by an unprecedented, immense bewilderment, pain, and…shaking!
“Heaven’s will…fate…” he murmured to himself, his voice dry and hoarse, carrying the agonizing pain of a soul being tormented. “To stand by and watch someone die…is that obeying Heaven’s will?…or…cutting oneself off from the Way?”
He slowly raised his head, gazing at the chaotic, burning military camp, like a purgatory, at the creatures struggling in madness and death, at the dark corner where Xiao Yuxuan was hiding (as if piercing through the chaos, he saw those eyes, equally filled with pain and questioning). The blood-stained "Destiny" banner fluttered behind him, the bloodstains on it like a weeping accusation in the firelight.
Hidden in the shadows, Xiao Yuxuan watched Xuan Weizi's hunched figure and the blood-stained banner from afar, feeling the faint yet persistent heat of the blood talisman in his arms. The chaos of the camp's roar still echoed in his ears, but the mouthful of blood Xuan Weizi spat out and the shattered faith in his eyes were like a silent thunderclap, violently splitting the blood-soaked night sky, and also splitting the wasteland in his heart that had been frozen by hatred and numbness.
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