Chapter Ninety-Nine: Fated Foes Cross Paths (4)

Wu Xian had no mind for soup. His restless, frightened eyes kept darting toward the doorway, and his ears remained pricked, straining for any sound outside.

By then, Li Xuan’s men had already entered the town. After learning that there was only a single small inn, Li Xuan ordered the main body of his troops to pitch camp outside the walls, while he himself came by carriage with a dozen attendants, intending to take rooms for the night.

It was all a matter of chance. In order to avoid Li Xuan’s people, Kong Sheng and his party had chosen this shorter but more perilous road, while Li Xuan, driven by a deeper unease and determined to ensure the grain transport mission succeeded, had resolutely altered his course onto the Chuzhou line.

Thus their paths crossed once more, giving rise to the old saying: enemies are bound to meet, and the fated cannot fail to encounter one another.

The splendid carriage rolled slowly to a stop before the inn. Before anyone had even stepped down, a rare, lingering fragrance drifted through the air. Li Xuan’s refined nostrils twitched slightly as he exclaimed in surprise, “Chunyan, Xiahe, what a fragrance. This must be the inn. Let us get down and stay here!”

The maids Chunyan and Xiahe helped Li Xuan out of the carriage, while several of his attendants had already rushed forward and were shouting at the doorway, “Innkeeper, come out and receive your honored guests!”

They were, after all, rough military men in the guise of household servants, and the disguise hardly suited them. If they continued to swagger about like this, they would likely never make it as far as Pengcheng before word leaked out and they were spotted by either the Yan army or bandits.

Zhong Wuniang rose in surprise, about to go out and greet them, when one of the bearded soldiers standing at the door caught sight of Kong Sheng and the other three seated brazenly in the main hall, eating and drinking as though no one else were there. His expression changed at once, and he roared, “Protect the young master! That villain is here!”

...

Zhong Wuniang and Zhong Ma had gone pale and were hiding in a corner. By then, the inn had plainly fallen under Li Xuan’s control. Dozens of fierce attendants, bristling with killing intent, surrounded the whole place. Under the protection of several soldiers, Li Xuan stepped slowly up the inn’s stone stairs and stopped at the doorway, staring in astonishment at the scene inside.

Far beyond his expectations, Kong Sheng and the other three were sitting cross-legged around the table, openly and unhurriedly enjoying their meal. Mu Changfeng’s long sword still hung at his waist, while Kong Sheng’s Bandit-Breaker sword was half drawn, clasped in one hand.

Kong Sheng remained calm and composed. Mu Changfeng showed not the slightest fear either, holding a clay bowl and drinking broth, biting into flatbread with such relish that there was no need to mention it further.

Wu Jie wore a stern expression, one hand resting on the curved blade at his waist, his bearing somewhat tense. Wu Xian, by contrast, had his brows tightly knitted, unable to sit still; several times he tried to rise, only to be held back by his brother Wu Jie.

The cold light and murderous intent in Li Xuan’s eyes were instantly replaced by a complex and startled expression. He truly could not understand how, faced with such overwhelming force closing in on him, Kong Sheng could still sit here with such ease, eating and drinking to his heart’s content. Was this ignorance, or fearlessness? Or the courage that comes from ignorance?

Li Xuan drew a slow breath, then waved his hand to signal his attendants not to follow him inside. After that, he drifted into the hall and looked at Kong Sheng with a faint smile. “Brother Kong, your courage is truly remarkable. In a situation like this, you can still sit so calmly, steady as Mount Tai. I am sincerely impressed.”

Kong Sheng smiled and cupped his hands toward Li Xuan. “I did not expect that even after we changed course onto the Chuzhou road, we would still run into Young Master Li. It seems you and I are truly meant to cross paths.”

The corner of Li Xuan’s mouth curled. “You shameless little thief. The last time, you were lucky enough to escape. And now you have delivered yourself to my door again. You still dare not flee when you see me? Are you not afraid that once I take you down, I will tear you limb from limb to vent the hatred in my heart?”

“I do not understand why Young Master Li bears such enmity toward me,” Kong Sheng replied evenly. “You and I met by chance. There was no grudge between us. Even if there were a little conflict, it should hardly come to a matter of life and death. Yet you threaten to take lives at every turn. That is arrogance in the extreme. In broad daylight, under heaven’s clear law, where do you place the laws of the Great Tang?”

Li Xuan smiled coldly, though not quite smiling at all. “What you say is not wrong. You and I have no grudge; we were merely passersby. In truth, I even thought of promoting you and recommending you for office, seeing that talent is hard to come by. Unfortunately, you, this little thief, did not know how to appreciate my goodwill and repeatedly crossed me. I already gave you a chance, but you failed to seize it. Spare me your clever tongue. I will give you two choices.”

Kong Sheng remained unruffled. “I am all ears.”

“First, bind your own hands and kneel before me with a burden on your back to beg forgiveness. I may still spare your life. Second, resist to the end. But if you choose that, then it will be a fight to the death. No matter how formidable the four of you may be, you cannot match the two hundred brave men under my command.” Li Xuan’s voice dripped with thinly veiled sarcasm and the lofty condescension of a man bestowing a favor.

At those words, Mu Changfeng’s anger surged. He was about to explode on the spot, but Kong Sheng glanced at him, and he gritted his teeth, tightened his hand on the sword hilt, and remained seated.

“Master Li,” Kong Sheng said, “in truth I have a third choice. That is for you and me to remain at peace: you walk your broad road, and I cross my narrow bridge. Even if we cannot become friends, there is no need to draw blades against one another.”

He lifted a hand and slowly walked toward Li Xuan. “I will not interfere with your secrets, but neither may you block my path.”

Li Xuan gave a derisive laugh. “Little thief, are you dreaming? Do you think you still have the right to bargain with me now?”

At this moment, Li Xuan truly felt that victory was already in his grasp and everything lay under control. He was highly skilled in swordsmanship and could stand alone against Mu Changfeng, Kong Sheng’s personal guard. As for his hundred-odd military attendants, even in the worst case, they could still take down Kong Sheng and the others.

In Li Xuan’s eyes, among the four of them, only Mu Changfeng, with his high martial skill, was a troublesome opponent. Kong Sheng himself was nothing more than a man of brute strength, and could not possibly withstand numbers. As for the other two guards, they were merely worthless loafers, not worth a second glance. Besides, Kong Sheng was already injured.

Kong Sheng sighed and took another step toward him. “Young Master Li, I advise you not to strike too hastily. Once you and I truly tear off all pretense, there will be no turning back. Do not be deceived by your superior numbers and your menacing display. To me, you are nothing more than a pack of paper tigers.”

“Do not grow agitated. Very well, I admit that the four of us are indeed outnumbered against so many of you. But if we were to fight desperately, perhaps escaping with all of us would be impossible. Yet covering the retreat of one or two people should not be difficult, should it?”

“As long as even one of us gets away, your North River Army’s secret grain trafficking into the southern lands will spread across the world. Let alone the local authorities, let alone the court’s later investigation: if even An Lushan’s rebel forces catch wind of it and come swarming in, the hundred-odd of you guarding this caravan will still have no path but death. I wonder whether you think that plausible?”

Kong Sheng spoke with serene confidence. Seeing the corner of Li Xuan’s mouth rise, still full of arrogance, he gave another soft laugh. “Very well, even if none of us can escape. Young Master Li, do you know that at the far end of this town, across the Changshui River, there is a thousand-man contingent from the Yangzhou military garrison conducting drills?”

At this, Li Xuan’s face changed at once.