Chapter 74: People With Bad Luck
Yun Ce, fully armed early in the morning, rode his Red Date Horse to the Captain’s Mansion drill ground.
He might have come too early, as there was hardly anyone at the gate. Looking at the gatehouse, there were people inside, but they were sleeping dead to the world, looking like military discipline was in disarray.
Yun Ce called out, but the man just scratched his buttocks, turned over, and continued sleeping. So he dismounted, led the Red Date Horse straight into the drill ground.
The drill ground covered a large area. Right at the entrance was a huge racetrack, but there was no one in the racetrack, no horses, not even a single sheep.
Passing through the drill ground led to the martial hall. Yun Ce thought about Lin Chong’s fate for barging into the White Tiger Hall and turned around to exit the drill ground, standing at the entrance to wait.
Not wandering randomly in the barracks had nothing to do with Lin Chong; it was a habit he had developed since childhood, and this habit was related to a brutal beating. The one doing the beating was Yun Linchuan, the one beaten was Yun Ce. Back then, the eighty-something-year-old Yun Linchuan could still eat half a dou of rice and three jin of meat, beating the young Yun Ce like beating a chick.
Mornings in Chuyun City always had some fog, gray and hazy like a light veil over the city. Things nearby looked fine, but distant things could easily make a woman look like a man.
Yun Ce saw a woman running over with small steps. When she got close, he realized it was a man carrying a horse spear. Then Yun Ce turned his face away, pretending to be affectionate with the Red Date Horse.
The man thought the reddish Thunder Smoke Beast in front of him looked familiar, but at the barracks gate he didn’t dare ask too much, and since he had urgent business, he hurried into the drill ground, shouting loudly as he walked forward.
“I, Peng Zeng, have come to participate in the martial selection. Please have the examiner show themselves.”
1 The gatehouse keeper was woken up. Seeing Peng Zeng, he listlessly rang a large bell. Before the bell’s vibrations stopped, he picked up the drumstick and started drumming.
1 Three bell tolls, six drum beats, then the gatehouse keeper tossed the drumstick aside and went back to sleep in the gatehouse.
1 A month without seeing Peng Zeng, he had changed a lot. When they first met on the Pingyuan City wasteland, he was fierce like a tiger, majestic like a lion, truly a bold hero whose fist could stand a man, whose arm could run a horse.
1 Outside Duke Yu’s Mansion, Peng Zeng was already somewhat dejected. Though still shrewd as ever, his courage had shrunk a lot, and he was somewhat hesitant in handling things, lacking the bold and righteous demeanor of a great man.
1 Now, seeing Peng Zeng again outside the drill ground, he had slimmed down a lot. Even his walking posture had changed—no longer bold and open, but timid and shrinking. This time, he had no Thunder Smoke Beast with him, and even his clothes had changed from silk to simple Yi Tree coarse cloth garments.
1 Though his walking posture wasn’t great, when he stood firm in the drill ground, he still had that steadfast and deep heroic spirit.
1 Yun Ce waited a bit and saw a soldier in step armor walking over from the other end of the drill ground, footsteps thundering. The step armor weighed one hundred sixteen jin, equipped with a long-handled horse chopping saber, stepping over step by step, an intimidating presence.
1 “Are you the one participating in the martial competition?” A voice with metallic resonance came from behind the mask.
1 Peng Zeng showed no fear and roared loudly: “I, the Drought Thunder Peng Zeng, request a challenge!”
1 Yun Ce had fought Peng Zeng before. Though that soldier in step armor looked even more robust and tall, he probably couldn’t beat Peng Zeng.
2 Anyone brave enough to come out and fight must be the strongest among the step armor soldiers. From the way he wielded the horse chopping saber, it was clear this man was underestimating his opponent.
2 A horse chopping saber required an unstoppable momentum. This man was swinging the saber casually—this was disrespect to the horse chopping saber and to his own fate.
2 Sure enough, Peng Zeng’s horse spear blocked the horse chopping saber. But that step armor soldier actually tried to press down forcefully. An immovable horse chopping saber was useless. Peng Zeng pushed away the horse chopping saber with his horse spear, then used the horse spear as a pivot, exerting all his strength plus his body weight, and kicked heavily on the step armor soldier’s chest.
2 The fallen soldier wailed and tried to sit up, but Peng Zeng’s horse spear was pointed at his forehead. No matter how he strained, he couldn’t sit up and had to roll to the side.
2 The smile on Peng Zeng’s face was somewhat perverted. That soldier had already lost; he could end the match and join the step armor soldiers. But he didn’t. When the step armor soldier rolled over, he kept pointing the horse spear at his forehead, forcing him to keep rolling… until the soldier, bearing over a hundred jin of armor on his back, could roll no more. Only then did he withdraw the horse spear and shout toward the barracks.
2 “Send another strong one.”
2 The gatehouse keeper, restarting the bell and drumming, now had a very unfriendly look in his eyes. Looking at the step armor soldier collapsed on the ground, he rang the bell even louder and beat the drum even harder.
2 Immediately, a group of people surged out from the barracks side. Leading them, as Doggy introduced, was Captain Zhou who had dismembered the Bear King Xiong Pi.
2 Several people came over and carried away the step armor soldier who kept failing to roll over. Yun Ce vaguely heard the step armor soldier crying.
2 Peng Zeng slowly raised his horse spear, pointing straight at the group and shouting: “Drought Thunder Peng Zeng requests a challenge.”
3 Yun Ce remembered this seemed to be Peng Zeng’s signature move. When he encountered him on the wasteland, he had pointed a broken spear at him. Now he was pointing it at this Zhou Chengming, Captain Zhou. Who knew what the result would be.
3 Zhou Chengming looked at Peng Zeng in front of him and said: “This hero, if you wish to join my Captain’s Mansion, we would naturally be overjoyed. But hero, will you stop here, or continue the challenge?”
3 Peng Zeng said: “I was originally an invincible knight-errant roaming the wasteland. Now I want to join the military and get a rank matching my status. Tell me, if I defeat you, can I get a title?”
3 Zhou Chengming was momentarily stunned by Peng Zeng’s powerful presence, then pointed at a knight behind him to step forward, saying: “Defeat him, Gongshi title.”
3 Peng Zeng shook his head: “Not enough.”
3 Zhou Chengming, with an inscrutable expression, pointed at another knight to step forward and continued: “Defeat him, Shang Zao title!”
3 Peng Zeng eyed this not very tall centurion knight, thinking he could take three like this, and shook his head: “Not enough!”
3 Zhou Chengming glanced at his subordinate who was humiliated to the point of near explosion, raised his hand to stop their unrest, and took a long saber from a cavalryman.
3 He lightly swung it in front of him and smiled at Peng Zeng: “In that case, only this captain remains. Defeat me, Zanniao Title!”
3 Zhou Chengming’s casual fearlessness inexplicably reminded Peng Zeng of his recent ordeals. He slightly restrained his arrogance, withdrew his horse spear, stepped into a forward bow stance, gripped the horse spear close for near-body combat in the poisonous dragon emerging from its lair stance.
4 Yun Ce had seen Peng Zeng’s fearlessness. Looking at Zhou Chengming, who casually held a long saber, approaching Peng Zeng while loosening his shoulders and back, Yun Ce decisively poked his face out from the Red Date Horse’s neck. At this moment, even if Peng Zeng realized he was the culprit who harmed him, he probably wouldn’t have time to make trouble.
4 From Peng Zeng daring to switch to defense and abandon offense, not only Yun Ce knew, but even Zhou Chengming’s subordinates knew—the knight-errant known as invincible on the wasteland was in trouble.
4 “Clang clang clang”—three sharp weapon clashes rang out suddenly. Zhou Chengming was still two zhang away from Peng Zeng one moment, and in an instant, his long saber was already closing in, slashing down three times in succession.
4 Peng Zeng was no pushover. Though Zhou Chengming’s saber was extremely fast, he still blocked the three strikes with years of combat experience.
4 But these three strikes were just the beginning. When Peng Zeng swung his horse spear to sweep the safe range, he discovered Zhou Chengming was back in his original position, as if he had never moved. The long saber in his right hand still hung at his side.
4 Zhou Chengming smiled at Peng Zeng: “Your skill merits a Gongshi title. Any higher is impossible. How about it? End it here, join the Captain’s Mansion, promoted to Gongshi.”
4 Yun Ce admitted there was a hint of pity in Zhou Chengming’s words. If Peng Zeng were smarter, stopping now would be good for everyone—humiliating one step armor soldier wasn’t a big deal. They could all have a drink later and let it pass.
4 Who knows what Peng Zeng was thinking. He seemed unable to accept Zhou Chengming’s pity, shouted “Filthy wildman, I’ll kill you,” and thrust his horse spear out like a poisonous dragon.
4 Hearing Peng Zeng’s cursing shout, a flash of anger appeared on Zhou Chengming’s face. Before Peng Zeng’s horse spear could get close, his body ghostly appeared in front of Peng Zeng. The long saber heavily struck Peng Zeng’s face. Just when everyone thought he would be decapitated by Zhou Chengming, they saw Peng Zeng’s head wasn’t split in two. Instead, he spat out seven or eight teeth mixed with blood.
4 Only then did people realize Zhou Chengming had used the flat of the blade to slap, not to chop.
5 Watching Peng Zeng wildly swinging his horse spear and retreating repeatedly, Zhou Chengming casually tossed the long saber away. The knife whistled through the air and nailed into a hitching post.
5 He himself pounced forward, ducked under the sweeping horse spear to close in on Peng Zeng. A pair of fists continuously struck his chest—one faster than the last, one heavier than the last. The dense fists rained down on Peng Zeng’s body and face without mercy. He even had time to kick Peng Zeng in the crotch. When he bent low, his knee rose, sending Peng Zeng flying upward.
5 When Zhou Chengming’s high leg came down like a battle axe from above, the already nearly unconscious Peng Zeng’s body crashed heavily to the ground with that cleaving strike. In an instant, dust flew up on the drill ground.
5 “Can we beat him?” Yun Ce asked Doggy.
5 “It’s whether you can beat him. It has nothing to do with me.”
5 “I think at a time like this we can’t fight among ourselves; we need to unite.”
5 “If you let me out, you’re not afraid of bringing bigger trouble on yourself?”
5 “What about the Dragon Pearl? Can’t it make me temporarily super strong?”
5 “If you’re not afraid they have Spirit Seeking Insects, go ahead and use the Dragon Pearl’s power.”
5 Yun Ce watched Peng Zeng, beaten by Zhou Chengming into a puddle of mud, being carried past him. Though Peng Zeng clearly recognized him, he was filled with grief and indignation.
6 Even so, human joys and sorrows are not the same. He was still carried away and tossed out by two soldiers.
