Time was at its darkest just before dawn. Shi Jin sat on the wooden beam, listening to Zhou Tong mention Lin Chong's name, unsure how to respond. After a long silence, he heard Zhou Tong ask, "How is Lin Chong doing these days?"

Something caught in Shi Jin's throat, and he swallowed hard. "After Liangshan was broken, that time… he said he was going to see you, in Yiyuan County. Later… later, I don't know why, he never came back to find us. When we heard news of him again, he was being hunted down, and he may have died."

The old man frowned, closing his eyes. "Died?"

Shi Jin said, "Possibly died."

"Then he's not dead," Zhou Tong said. "We'll meet again someday."

In the dim light, the old man's voice was steady, more like a certainty than an expectation or comfort. Shi Jin had watched Lin Chong fall off a cliff and didn't know where the old man's certainty came from. But now they were trapped in the city, about to do something akin to suicide, and his concern for this matter was far away in his mind.

After a moment, he asked, "Senior Zhou, when will Nianhan enter the city?"

"I don't know," Zhou Tong replied. "Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after. When the Jurchens launched their invasion, I was in Jin territory, following their army south. Nianhan is quite brave and martial. He won't wait until the city is empty and the resistance in Xinzhou is almost completely crushed before he enters the city."

Shi Jin frowned. "So we, seventy-odd people, still have to hide in the city for at least two days?"

Zhou Tong said, "It's very difficult, but there's no other way."

Their conversation was simple and to the point. Afterwards, the courtyard fell silent. The looted courtyard reeked of blood and fire. The corpses of the dead homeowners were still near the front door. The Jurchens' fighting sounds were faint. The old man stood up, walked to the other end of the courtyard, picked up two sticks, and threw one to him.

"You're Wang Jin's disciple. Practice the Subduing Demon Staff with me."

As he spoke, he took a stance. The Subduing Demon Staff was a basic staff technique in the martial world, simple and unadorned. Shi Jin had practiced it countless times. He took a stance, and when the old man swung the first staff, he followed suit.

There was not much power, not much wind whistling. Zhou Tong led Shi Jin through the routine simply. From under the eaves of nearby houses, other martial artists looked up. Zhou Tong's staff technique was only fluid, nothing special.

But only Shi Jin, after completing the set, felt relaxed all over, with a warm current flowing through his body. At his level of martial arts, taking another step forward required a mysterious understanding, or in Ning Yi's words, even a sublimation of his worldview and philosophical system. Zhou Tong's staff technique was almost identical to his, but after synchronizing, he made changes and adjustments in very small details. These small details allowed him to glimpse a certain possibility of perfection.

The courtyard was quiet. After finishing the set, Zhou Tong nodded to him and walked elsewhere.

Before long, this brief peace disappeared…

************

Before Nianhan entered the city, seventy-odd people had to hide in the city for at least two days.

This was just a simple conversation between Shi Jin and Zhou Tong, but when it came to the actual level, the most difficult time followed.

When Xinzhou City was suddenly breached, the four gates were closed, and the Wu Dynasty army, split up inside the city, formed widespread resistance and large-scale street battles. During this time, Shi Jin and others had a relatively easy time. However, by the morning of the eighth day of the eighth month, the army had either died or surrendered, and organized resistance had completely collapsed.

The Jurchens' slaughter and looting teams spread throughout the city. On this day, the hunting net spread out and the meshes became finer and finer. The real hell descended upon Xinzhou City. Slaughter, robbery, and fire could be seen everywhere. Civilians hiding in the city were captured in large numbers. Women with even a little beauty were inevitably raped. Those who dared to resist were killed, beaten, or even hung on flagpoles and burned alive. Scenes of being tied to horses and dragged to death were common.

Occasionally, when encountering large-scale resisters, the Jurchen search party fired signal arrows, and nearby comrades quickly rushed to support them.

This was a carnival for the Jurchens and the original Liao people's Yisheng Army.

Shi Jin and others interspersed and hid in the city. Even though most of them were masters, they could not use their skills here. The occasional tragedy they witnessed filled their hearts with unspeakable resentment. There were also sudden encounters with Jurchen patrols that could not be avoided, or when they could not swallow the killing intent in their hearts, they would suddenly strike. More than a dozen people were injured in this day.

Great fatigue accumulated on everyone's body, but the biggest loss was in the afternoon of this day when they unintentionally encountered a family hiding in the city. Seeing that most of them were masters and heroes, the family cried and begged Shi Jin and others to take them with them. After they were unable to explain, this almost-crazed family began to crazily follow, shouting loudly.

The Jurchen cavalry was attracted. In the corners of the streets full of ruins, the last group of people were caught up. When Shi Jin looked back, the people at the intersection were no longer running. The leader among them was Qiu Henian, the old Taoist priest holding a long sword. He was already old, and his originally neat Taoist robe was now tattered, but in his steps, there was still an admirable air of transcendence.

He waved to this side, then drew his long sword and led a few injured martial artists to meet the oncoming Jurchen cavalry.

Shi Jin and others never saw him again. Only when running past a nearby street the next afternoon did they see, in a fleeting glance, a corpse hanging on a flagpole. The corpse was broken and twisted, missing an arm and a leg, and without a head. Only in the color dyed deep black by blood could they vaguely see a touch of blue that seemed to belong to the original Taoist robe. But because there were too many dead people nearby, he could not be sure if that was the old Taoist's corpse.

After this day, there was still a long and tense night, followed by a long and tense day. The most important thing for martial artists is their spirit. A surge of energy rises, then wanes, then exhausts. If the initial shouts and enthusiasm could boost morale, then in such waiting and hiding, it felt like a soft knife slowly cutting flesh.

The Jurchens' searches became increasingly dense. Would Nianhan come? When Nianhan came, would everyone still have the strength? Would there still be enough people to reach him? All of this was slowly cutting into everyone's heart. Truly inspiring things, and the emotions of such inspiration, might only exist when others talked about them, while those who truly participated would only experience great pain and hardship…

Only in the afternoon of the ninth day of the eighth month, near dusk, did the arrival of news cause all of that to surge in their hearts. At this time, Zhou Tong had only thirty-eight people left who could truly fight.

Nianhan entered the city.

***************

When the setting sun turned warm yellow on the horizon, the autumn leaves swayed in the wind. When Wanyan Xiyin looked up, it was a large tree that had been half-burned, half charred black and half yellow leaves.

The cries, screams, and laughter of women came from not far away, but it seemed that the resistance nearby was not much. Wanyan Xiyin took a breath, and when the vice-general came over, he faintly heard him sigh.

"The green mountains are far away… the autumn wind wants to rage…"

The vice-general looked around, but the autumn wind was gentle, the leaves moved slowly, and the wind blowing on his face was warm.

A signal arrow flew up from not far away.

……

Wanyan Zonghan (Nianhan)'s cavalry entered a Taoist temple on one side of the city.

This Taoist temple had not been destroyed by too much war, only some blood stains on one side of the steps. The lush trees lined up in two rows, extending from the front yard to the main hall of the Taoist temple, and a raging fire burned in the bronze tripod in front of the side of the main hall.

The sky was getting dark. Following Wanyan Zonghan into the city, the figures of the people were tall and their steps were steady. They were mostly important generals in the army, and most of them were close brothers and relatives, such as the generals Wanyan Yinshuke and Wanyan Balisu, the general Chixian, Zonghan's cousin Wanyan Saba, and Moyan Dangshi, known as the number one warrior in Zonghan's army, and so on. They were all warriors who had followed Aguda in the southern and northern wars and destroyed the Liao Dynasty. Everyone had awe-inspiring meritorious deeds.

Xinzhou had fallen. For them, the next goal was Taiyuan, the largest fortress on the Hedong Road.

In the evening breeze, the group walked towards this solemn, Han Chinese Taoist temple. The advance soldiers had cleared the area and set up a command hall here.

……

Two teams of Jurchen cavalry rushed towards the place where the signal arrow was fired.

Before long, two more signal arrows rose from another street. Wanyan Xiyin frowned, listening to the nearby troops being transferred over there again.

A thought flashed in his mind. He reined in his horse and stopped in the middle of the road. Jurchen soldiers fired signal arrows when they encountered difficult enemies they couldn't defeat. If they fired them randomly for no reason, they would be punished. During the period from yesterday afternoon to this morning, the frequency of signal arrows rising in the city was high. By this time, in theory, the area nearby had been cleared. Why did they suddenly increase again?

Then, he saw another signal arrow fly out in the distance.

Wanyan Xiyin frowned. After a moment, he suddenly reined his horse around.

"Follow me back, find Marshal Zonghan, something might be wrong…"

Before he could finish speaking, a signal arrow suddenly rose in the direction where Wanyan Zonghan and other main generals were.

"Go—"

He suddenly shouted violently and drew his sword to rush back.

The surrounding streets suddenly exploded. The surrounding guards also rushed with him!

……

"Kill—"

The explosive shouts were sudden, ringing out on the west side of the Taoist temple, followed by fierce fighting.

In the main hall, everyone turned around, hearing the approaching enemies fighting with the soldiers. The front line of killing and shouting was spreading. Obviously, the people who came were true masters. Under the steps, Moyan Dangshi, the leader of Zonghan's guards, a big man, took off his long spear and looked at the wall on the side.

"The people who came are very powerful."

"But just one or two people, a last-ditch effort." Wanyan Zonghan heard this. "Don't pay attention to him, don't fall for the trick of drawing the tiger away from the mountain."

The fighting soon died down, and obviously the attacking enemy had been beheaded. Zonghan turned back to the seat above the main hall. In the courtyard on the west side, the Jurchen guards cut off the heads of the invaders. At the same time, in the courtyard on the east side, martial artists were quickly entering from a secret small hole. This Taoist temple occupied a large area, and there were many Jurchen soldiers guarding nearby, but after all, it used to be a Han Chinese place. When the Jurchens began to clean up this area, the greenwoodsmen responsible for monitoring could roughly determine the location of Nianhan after he entered, and then found the loopholes.

The Jurchen soldiers in the west courtyard ran to the main hall with the heads. He knelt down, raised the two heads, and was about to speak when a shout of "Wow—" rang out.

Countless weapons collided, and there was killing. Signal arrows flew into the sky. On the east side, someone shouted: "Kill Nianhan."

"Kill Nianhan—"

Then there was a thunderous sound: "Kill Nianhan—"

The sound of crazy fighting rose to a level in that instant that made people's hairs stand on end. The commotion in the east courtyard spread and expanded in this huge momentum, and in the blink of an eye, it was heading towards the main hall. The Jurchens' defenses on the periphery were overturned in a crushing manner. At the gate outside the courtyard, the Jurchen soldiers seemed to be pushed over by ten thousand horses. Broken corpses flew past everyone's eyes with blood lines.

An arrow flew across the long courtyard with a violent whooshing sound, shooting straight at Wanyan Zonghan's face. Wanyan Zonghan drew his long knife from his waist and chopped the arrow in half in the air with a bang: "Form the formation!"

Figures of Wu Dynasty greenwoodsmen flipped over the courtyard walls and rooftops, throwing darts at the guards in the courtyard. In the hall, Wanyan Balisu rushed down the steps, pulled out the steel spear behind him, ran a few steps, and the steel spear roared towards the roof, directly piercing the chest of a greenwoodsman. The steel spear pierced the greenwoodsman's body like a cannonball and flew into the air with blood: "Form the formation—"

Dozens of Jurchen guards in the courtyard had gathered in front of the main hall. Moyan Dangshi waved his steel spear and roared like thunder: "Form the formation—kill them—"

Greenwood masters wielding different weapons surged from the gate, the walls, and the roof. Most of them were wounded, but they were full of murderous intent and their eyes were fierce. The accumulated resentment and killing intent in their hearts finally erupted at this moment.

And in front of them were the Jurchen elites who had fought their way out of the White Mountains and Black Waters. They had struggled to survive on the perpetually snowy land for many years. Before this, they had risen up in rebellion and destroyed the entire Liao Dynasty in a crushing manner. This southward campaign was as simple as playing for them. But until the moment before their eyes, at least within a small range, they finally felt the huge murderous intent approaching. The elite spirit wolf smoke from the north, crossing thousands of miles, finally spread here.

The two groups collided in a thunderous crash at the first moment. The sounds of killing were earth-shattering, and the blood waves were surging, erupting…