Zhu Jingzhe was too far away to make out the true form of the black shape on the surface of the sea, but he could hear the sound of a flute.
It was unmistakably the Zhu family’s secret art, never taught to outsiders.
He had once witnessed his grandfather use that very flute music to control the wild beasts in the mountains and create wondrous scenes. There was no way he could have mistaken it.
Before he could figure out what was happening, a rough voice broke into his thoughts.
“Kill them all! Leave no one alive!”
Waving a broad saber, Chen Chao charged at the very front on horseback. Behind him, two thousand soldiers poured out of the woods like a surging tide. The firelight glinted off their blades, bright enough to sting the eyes.
The Wuling civilians in the camp scattered in terror. Their frightened cries mingled with the thunder of hooves, shattering the tranquility of the night.
Pei Du’s expression darkened at once, a cold glint flashing through his eyes as he reached back and gripped the hilt of his sword.
The instant the blade left its sheath, its icy gleam reflected the campfire and carved a sharp arc through the night sky.
“Don’t panic.”
He turned his head and swept his gaze over the soldiers behind him. His voice was swift, yet clear and organized. “Xiao Wang, take a squad and escort the civilians and military physicians into the tents. The rest of you, follow me and repel the enemy!”
Chen Chao’s horse was the first to enter the camp.
He raised his saber and swung it mercilessly at Military Physician Liu, who was helping an old woman into a tent.
The blade was just about to fall.
Military Physician Liu protected the old woman with his left hand and pulled her aside. With his right hand, he flipped out a silver needle from somewhere and drove its tip precisely into the side of the warhorse’s neck.
The horse let out a shrill whinny. Its forelegs suddenly buckled, throwing Chen Chao to the ground, where he rolled through the dirt and sand.
Chen Chao was dazed for a moment. He was still cursing as he struggled to his feet when a fist the size of a sandbag came flying straight at his face.
Several bloody teeth, mixed with saliva, went sailing through the air.
“Military Physician Liu, take the others into the tent and stay there. Leave this place to us in the cooks’ corps.”
She knew that physicians had rules to follow and were forbidden to kill. Otherwise, Military Physician Liu’s needle would not have gone into the horse’s neck just now—it would have gone into the throat of this bandit who had led troops in a night raid on the Northern Defense Army’s camp.
Military Physician Liu nodded at the tall, thin soldier and helped the old woman toward the tents.
Chen Chao swayed as he rose from the ground.
He wiped the blood from his mouth, then looked up at the woman who had knocked out his teeth with a single punch. His face was filled with disbelief.
“You… You’re a cook from the cooks’ corps? And you’re a woman? How can you be that strong?”
The moment he finished speaking, a heavy kick slammed into his stomach. His entire body flew into the air and crashed hard into the routed soldiers behind him, knocking four or five of them down.
The tall, thin soldier clearly had no intention of letting Chen Chao off. She darted over to him and drove another punch into his ugly face.
“Cooking is just my hobby. Don’t look down on women, and don’t look down on the Northern Defense Army!”
The body-tempering technique bestowed by the Divine Lady had nearly erased the natural gap in strength between men and women.
And as for the Northern Defense Army’s cooks’ corps…
It wasn’t a place one could join simply by knowing how to cook.
Of the ten thousand people who had followed the Goddess south, every one of them had earned their place by defeating one comrade after another. They had been assigned to the cooks’ corps only because they knew how to cook and happened to enjoy it—not because they were too weak to do anything else.
“Are these people cooks or demons of slaughter?!”
The deputy general who had urged Chen Chao to launch the night raid was screaming as two soldiers seized him by the arms. They lifted him like a chick and tossed him out of the camp. The back of his head struck a reef, and he nearly blacked out.
The two thousand troops led by Chen Chao were utterly helpless against Pei Du and fewer than two hundred Northern Defense Army soldiers.
And Chen Chao, who had thrown his weight around in Wuling Commandery for most of his life, was now being beaten so badly by the tall, thin soldier that he could barely crawl across the ground. It was a completely one-sided beating.
“Deputy General Zhu! What about your illusion technique?!”
Chen Chao clutched his swollen, pig-like face and shouted over his shoulder. “Use your illusions to teach them a lesson!”
Deputy General Zhu had already begun considering escape the moment he saw Chen Chao’s troops routed at the first clash, so he had yet to take any action.
Chen Chao could see that Zhu Huairen intended to flee on his own. His hatred burned fiercely, and he shouted, “Zhu Huairen! If you dare run today, don’t blame me for exposing every filthy thing you’ve done and ruining your reputation!”
The blatant threat made Zhu Huairen freeze.
His grip tightened abruptly around the short flute.
The dirty secrets of the past—killing his father to obtain the Zhu family’s inheritance, colluding with outsiders, and all the rest—could not withstand scrutiny.
If Chen Chao truly exposed them, Zhu Huairen would have no place left in Wuling Commandery. No one would dare employ a man so disloyal and unfilial.
“Zhu Huairen!” Chen Chao shouted again.
“Did you hear me?!”
Zhu Huairen clenched his teeth, his eyes bloodshot.
He lifted the short flute and began to play once more.
The sea beast that had been lying motionless on the surface of the water suddenly moved again. Its eight tentacles smashed wildly against the reefs.
Shattered stone flew in every direction, and seawater surged onto the shore.
“The sea beast is coming ashore!”
A soldier had barely finished warning the others when a tentacle swept across the camp. He failed to dodge in time and was flung away.
The civilians inside the tents witnessed the scene and trembled violently, their faces as pale as paper.
Pei Du immediately gave the order. “Shield-bearers forward! Form ranks! We can’t let the sea beast come ashore and harm the civilians!”
“Yes!”
Seven or eight soldiers quickly raised their shields.
The sea beast’s sucker-covered tentacles slammed into the wall of shields with a dull, thunderous boom. The shield wall was forced down by a section.
But it held.
“Use fire arrows.” Pei Du calmly ordered the archers to counterattack while the sea beast was occupied with pounding the shield wall.
Countless arrows tore through the night sky like falling stars, shooting toward the sea beast as it thrashed its eight tentacles along the shore.
The result was that the sea beast remained completely unharmed.
“It can’t be killed?”
Pei Du narrowed his eyes. His gaze passed over the sea beast’s enormous body and landed on Zhu Huairen, who was playing the flute.
He said to the soldiers beside him, “Go. Take a squad around the flank and capture that flute player.”
The soldiers had just begun to move when Zhu Jingzhe called out to them.
“No!”
His forehead was covered in sweat, and his face had gone pale.
“Young Master Pei, ordinary people will fall under an illusion as soon as they come within thirty feet of an illusionist!”
Pei Du’s brows drew together. He asked Zhu Jingzhe, “Do you know how to break these illusions?”
“Let me capture the illusionist playing the flute.”
Zhu Jingzhe clenched both hands into fists. “I’ve studied illusion techniques since I was a child. His mind-bewitching tricks won’t work on me!”
Pei Du looked at Zhu Jingzhe, who was even younger than his own niece. A trace of worry crossed his eyes.
“Are you sure you can do it?”
Zhu Jingzhe lowered his head. “I…”
“Young man, I’ll go with you. I used to be an illusionist myself, so I should be able to help.”
A disheveled man with unkempt hair and a filthy appearance walked out of one of the tents.
