Chapter 9: Marshal Hong and Strategist Ji (Part Two)
This attack by the Meng Kingdom was extremely dangerous for the defenders of Great Qing Pass. Had Hong Linying not been ruthless and decisive, using over ten thousand soldiers to stall the enemy and buy time for the city's defenses, the city might have fallen before preparations could be completed.
This battle also terrified the citizens inside the city, their souls nearly fled from their bodies. The sight of the enemy's hideous faces continuously climbing onto the city walls, so close at hand, left an impression they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
After the battle, blood covered the city walls, seeping through the cracks in the stones, flowing both inside and outside the city like tiny streams.
Within half a li of the city walls, the streets were like blood pools. The once bright and clean roads, when walked upon, caused shoes to stick with the blood, making squelching sounds, "pa-chi, pa-chi."
Even with Hong Linying's iron will, whenever he thought back on this battle afterward, he felt a chill down his spine at the sheer peril they had faced.
After the enemy retreated, he remembered what Ji Wenhe had said the night before, that the enemy might be hiding a heavy force ready to strike, and couldn't help feeling some regret for not taking greater precautions.
Over the following few months, there were two more similar instances where Ji Wenhe visited in the middle of the night to inform him of the enemy's movements and deployments.
By then, Hong Linying had begun to take Ji Wenhe's information seriously. Following Ji's advice, he made targeted deployments and achieved overwhelming victories with minimal losses.
Another matter was that Ji Wenhe also began searching within the army for someone to inherit his sect's legacy, but his selection criteria were extremely strange.
He didn't assess candidates based on martial aptitude, nor did he use internal force to probe their bodies. Instead, he used silver needles to diagnose their meridians, just like a physician.
Ji Wenhe had also explained to Hong Linying that his sect's internal cultivation techniques were very unusual.
If someone not properly suited was forced to practice his sect's exclusive techniques, it would only result in the practitioner suffering inner qi backlash, leading to blood reversal through the meridians and death.
However, as time went on, what puzzled Hong Linying was that although the army was full of strong and healthy soldiers, Ji Wenhe couldn't find a suitable candidate even after a whole year, something that left Hong greatly surprised.
After Ji Wenhe's strategies led to several major victories, a year later, Hong Linying simply demoted the original military advisor to deputy advisor and officially appointed Ji Wenhe as Military Advisor.
As for how Ji obtained intelligence on the enemy each time, Hong no longer cared. With Ji's martial prowess, he surely had many methods. More importantly, every piece of intelligence Ji provided had proven accurate.
If he were truly a spy, the cost he had paid of sacrificing the lives of seventy to eighty thousand enemy troops through multiple battles was simply too enormous to be believable.
This move initially caused discontent among many generals in the army.
However, after several more battles, all of which ended in crushing victories based on Ji Wenhe's planning, their objections gradually faded.
Ji Wenhe's reputation in the army rose steadily, becoming increasingly unshakable.
What made his prestige reach its peak was a battle that took place two and a half years ago.
Before that battle, Ji Wenhe had gone to the Central Army Camp thirty li north of the city to continue his search for his elusive "disciple."
There were hundreds of thousands of troops stationed at the Central Army Camp. Even with his extraordinary abilities, Ji Wenhe could only test around a hundred people a day at most, especially considering the busy nature of army life.
Thus, after three years, aside from thoroughly testing the tens of thousands of soldiers at Great Qing Pass, he had started occasionally visiting the Central Army Camp to seek a disciple.
At first, the army found Ji's disciple-searching habits strange, but over time, everyone got used to it.
That time, just in the afternoon after Ji Wenhe had gone to the Central Army Camp, the Meng Kingdom suddenly launched another attack.
Hong Linying led his forces to engage the enemy, and a brutal battle ensued.
This time, the enemy employed a "drip-feed" tactic, sending reinforcements wave after wave, determined to win by exhausting their enemy no matter the human cost.
Gradually, Hong Linying's forces were bogged down, unable to disengage, and slowly became encircled.
At this critical moment, Ji Wenhe, having received the urgent report, rushed back with troops from the Central Army Camp.
When they arrived, Hong Linying's forces were already on the verge of collapse.
Ji Wenhe commanded the army from the outer periphery, directing the troops to advance inward in a continuous Eight Trigrams Chain Formation, pushing forward steadily.
Meanwhile, for the first time, he publicly revealed his terrifying martial prowess.
Wielding a single sword, he moved through the enemy ranks like an immortal descending from the heavens. Wherever he passed, it was as if no one could touch him.
Aside from occasionally deflecting incoming weapons, every swing of his sword claimed a life.
Finally, he fought his way alone into the enemy's central command.
He leapt into the air like a soaring eagle swooping down on a rabbit. Before the enemy's guards could even react, he flew through the air like a meteor and, with one swift sword strike, severed the head of the enemy's deputy marshal.
Amidst the rushing of surrounding spears, sabers, and swords, he agilely ascended and with just a few steps, he reached the top of the enemy's command flagpole, several zhang high.
There he stood, holding a sword in one hand and lifting the severed head high with the other.
With a mighty roar like rolling thunder, he shook the battlefield.
Upon witnessing this scene, the enemy's morale instantly collapsed; they lost all will to fight and were routed completely.
Only then did Hong Linying lead his forces to break through the encirclement and escape.
After this battle, Ji Wenhe's name became unrivaled.
He even surpassed Marshal Hong's fame at the time, people now knew that this military advisor who excelled in "theoretical" warfare was also an unparalleled martial master.
After that, the imperial army stopped focusing solely on defense and often launched offensives against the Meng Kingdom's borders, sometimes even massing forces to pressure enemy territory.
From then on, both sides took turns attacking and defending, achieving a rough balance of power.
Although Ji Wenhe's presence was invaluable, no one person could determine the outcome of a battlefield on their own, especially since the Meng Kingdom after learning about the presence of a master who could slay generals amidst ten thousand soldiers, had deployed several First-Rate and Supreme Experts to bolster their forces.
Through that battle, Hong Linying was certain that Ji Wenhe's martial cultivation had reached the Transcendent Realm, and perhaps even surpassed it, stepping into a realm Hong could not fathom.
Previously, Hong had only speculated about Ji Wenhe's level, but he had never imagined it to be so terrifying.
As a martial arts fanatic, after that battle, Hong's heart burned with a fierce admiration.
Yet no matter how he investigated, he could not discover the origins of Ji Wenhe's sect.
Through occasional friendly sparring, Hong became even more certain: Ji's martial arts were profound beyond compare.
More precisely, Ji Wenhe's internal energy was incredibly exquisite, even the simplest of moves, when imbued with Ji's power, felt like facing a mighty river flowing endlessly or a mountain pressing down, utterly unstoppable.
This made him even more obsessed with Ji Wenhe's internal cultivation technique. His desire grew uncontrollable, he became greedy for it, determined to obtain it no matter what.
Yet Ji Wenhe's search for a disciple had still not borne fruit. Just as he had said, his complexion over the years grew worse and worse; even his appearance aged considerably.
Thus, Hong Linying began to hint subtly, trying to get himself accepted as Ji Wenhe's successor. One evening, after a banquet, he said to Ji Wenhe:
"Military Advisor, after all these years, you still haven't found a suitable disciple. What kind of person could possibly meet your standards?"
Ji Wenhe smiled faintly and replied:
"Our sect has passed down from generation to generation with a single successor, not because we refused to take in disciples, but because the requirements for practicing our internal techniques are extremely restrictive, you could say it's one in ten thousand."
"As for the kind of person required, it's actually quite simple. Only someone whose body shows unique phenomena under my sect's special silver-needle test would have any hope."
"You say one in ten thousand, but looking at the old veterans and new recruits you've tested these past years, you've probably checked half the entire army. I'd say it's more like one in hundreds of thousands," Hong Linying shook his head and sighed.
Then he asked:
"What sort of unusual phenomena appears under the silver needle?"
Ji Wenhe thought for a moment.
"It varies. Perhaps unusual coloration, perhaps anomalies in internal qi flow. At that time, I must guide it through the silver needle and probe it with internal force. If it resonates with my cultivation method, then it's a match."
Each time Ji Wenhe conducted a test, he forbade outsiders from watching, only the person being tested was allowed inside. Although Hong Linying had tried to ask around afterward, those tested, having all failed, couldn't describe anything meaningful.
Feigning slight drunkenness, Hong Linying casually said under the pretense of alcohol-induced curiosity:
"Then Military Advisor, why don't you have a look at my physique?"
He didn't say what should happen if he was suitable, nor what if he was not, making it sound like nothing more than drunken jest.
Hearing this, Ji Wenhe smiled lightly and nodded:
"Since we have some free time, it's worth a try. Who knows, perhaps the Marshal is destined for my sect."
He then picked up a cloth pouch from his side, unfolded it, and drew out a silver needle.
Ji Wenhe always kept this cloth pouch with him, whenever he had spare time, he would go test soldiers.
When the silver needle pierced his wrist, Hong Linying only felt a slight numbness and afterward, nothing at all. He felt no anomalies, nor any internal force probing inside him.
Ji Wenhe also shook his head disappointedly and, with a swift movement of two fingers, retrieved the needle.
"It seems the Marshal, too, is not fated for my sect."
This was a clear statement that Hong Linying could not learn his martial arts. But how could Hong be convinced so easily?
He had practiced martial arts from childhood, overcoming countless hardships. He had never encountered a martial technique that he could see but not learn success was always just a matter of persistence.
But against Ji Wenhe, he couldn't use force. He admitted to himself he was absolutely no match for Ji Wenhe.
Even though Ji seemed physically weaker with each passing year, dealing with someone like Hong Linying would likely require only a few casual moves, perhaps just a flick of the sleeve.
Although Hong Linying was already considered a supreme master in the martial world today, he knew that in comparison to some people, his strength meant little. He was not arrogant enough to be blind to this.
Finally, at the beginning of last year, Ji Wenhe found a disciple at the Central Army Camp.
Hong Linying, curious about this "single drop found in a vast ocean," found an excuse to privately meet the disciple.
He even secretly used internal force to probe the disciple's meridians but found nothing unusual about them. This only deepened his suspicion that Ji Wenhe was deliberately hiding something, though he could not determine the reason.
However, barely a month after Ji Wenhe accepted this disciple, the young man suddenly died one night.
Afterward, Ji Wenhe appeared full of grief and regret, claiming that the boy's illiteracy caused him to misunderstand the sect's techniques, leading to a qi reversal, blood backlash, and death.
Hong Linying had seen the young man's corpse, the body was blackened and swollen grotesquely. Yet to him, the cause didn't seem like a simple training mishap, it looked more like death by severe poisoning.
This led him to two suspicions:
First, Ji Wenhe might have been using the human body as a medium, attempting some method to transfer the deadly poison in his own body into another, hoping thereby to cure himself.
And he needed a person with a certain resonance with his sect's techniques or the poison itself to make it work.
Otherwise, with Ji Wenhe's abilities, he could easily have snatched any ordinary person without anyone knowing.
But later, observing Ji Wenhe's deteriorating condition, it became clear that even after the disciple's death, there had been no improvement. This made Hong doubt the accuracy of this first guess.
Second, Ji Wenhe's internal cultivation technique might truly be extremely tyrannical.
It was possible that the newly inducted disciple, due to incorrect practice, had triggered a qi backlash, rupturing his organs and causing the bizarre symptoms seen after death.
But knowing Ji Wenhe's cautious and meticulous nature, and knowing that he had realized the disciple was illiterate, he should have adjusted the training method accordingly, guiding him slowly and carefully.
Given Hong's understanding of Ji Wenhe, it shouldn't have happened by accident. Unless... perhaps Ji really had so little time left.
After the disciple's death, Ji Wenhe still continued to search for a successor among the soldiers.
Although Hong Linying still had no legitimate reason to closely observe these tests, he was determined to see the next chosen disciple as soon as possible.
Only then might he catch some vital clue.
This time, during the recruitment for the Imperial Guards, Ji Wenhe had again begun his testing.
And now Hong Linying could approach openly.
He reclined lazily in his chair, his half-closed eyes flashing with light, thoughts spinning rapidly.
"This matter is truly thorny.
Years of trying both soft and hard tactics, yet still nothing achieved.
If what he said is true, that he has only one or two years of life left, then what should I do if he refuses to hand over the martial art even at the risk of losing it forever?"
(Chapter End)