Legend of The Young Master

Chapter 193: Some Advice

When Li Xian fought, he dismissed all worldly concerns and was only the point of his spear. The master's words rang through him like the meeting of blades between two strong men, like the clarion call of a stallion trumpeting.

"Thank you, master."

"Be of good cheer. A great test is coming. You must be ready."

"I am always ready."

The master placed a shining hand on his forehead, and just for a moment, Li Xian looked up into the master's shining face, his outstretched, perfect hand, his golden Qi so much brighter.

"Bless and keep you, my disciple. When the standard falls, you will know what must be done. Do not hesitate."

Li Xian frowned. But the master was gone.

He could smell the incense, and he felt at peace – his mind comforted, languorous, as he was after he had a woman, but without the sense of shame or dirt.

He smiled. Took a deep breath.

✶ ✶ ✶

When the king of Tianqin kingdom received the message about the attack of demonics, he did not hesitate to take his army and march towards Xiang stronghold. He might not be as competent as his father, but he was not incompetent enough to let his kingdom's border crumble so easily.

When he left the kingdom, he did not have more than two hundred Qi warriors and soldiers, but as the army now trailed east on the last stretch to Xiang Stronghold, it was many times larger than the elite force that had left Leidian, the capital of Tianqin, a week before. And much, much slower.

Li Zhuang, cousin of the self-proclaimed best warrior Li Xian, sat on his horse in the midst of a road blockage bigger than some towns in his home province and shook his head. He was watching four men who sat hunched under a bridge, eating a side of meat.

"It's like the rout of a beaten army," he said in a low voice. "Except that it is still headed towards the enemy."

The King was now virtually unapproachable, as the entire force of Qi warriors from the kingdom had reported in, and all of his great lords surrounded him. When he and his cousin joined the king's procession, they had more Qi warriors than the king himself. They were asked to join this king, apparently by the mysterious master of his cousin.

When they joined the king to support him, he could see that the king felt pressured by their presence; they were foreigners and had stronger warriors than the king had himself. A few times when he saw his eccentric cousin act out, the king had to overlook it when Li Zhuang pressured the king.

But no longer could Li Zhuang pretend to threaten the King with his three hundred Qi warriors – his convoy was no longer the largest.

The Count of the Borders, Tao Wen, arrived with five hundred Qi warriors, formidable men in lighter Qi armor but just as imposing, and five hundred archers as well. The Lord of Bai's banner led another two hundred Qi warriors.

They were the great lords, with uniformed entourages of professional warriors who trained together, but there were also hundreds of individual Qi warriors from the provinces under the King's guard's banner, and almost a hundred of the King's own Royal Qi Warriors, his elite bodyguard that also patrolled the countryside as justices and monster hunters under the King's trusted brother, General Jie Li.

There were another hundred warriors of the sect orders, monks and warriors of the Lotus sect and the Jade Dragon, whose discipline was as good or better than any warrior. The warriors of the Lotus Sect branch in the Tianqin kingdom rode silently in their black-robed armor under the command of Master Li Zhang and his second-in-command, Wang Tao.

Altogether, the King had more than two thousand Qi warriors and as many again normal warriors, plus three thousand foot soldiers who varied in quality from the superb – the green-clad Royal Huntsmen rode ahead of the column and covered its flanks, dashing silently through the increasingly dense brush on specially trained horses, although they fought on foot as archers.

On the other end, however, were the county levies – local peasants hastily recruited into service. These men, equipped with little more than spears and lacking any proper armor, were ill-prepared for the rigors of battle. Their commitment was fleeting, serving for only twenty days or until their meager rations of meat were consumed.

Their presence in the army was almost comical, a stark contrast to the disciplined and well-equipped soldiers who formed the core of the King's forces. This disparity highlighted the desperation of the times, where every able-bodied man was pressed into service, regardless of their readiness for war.

The men at Li Zhuang's feet were eating as quickly as they could. His eccentric cousin was riding at the head of his convoy. He wore his full Qi armor – as did all the Lanxiang warriors – and rode a war horse. But in the last few days, the Tianqin Qi warriors had begun to do the same – not all at once, but in fits and starts.

And in the evenings, they had begun to practice with their spears and swords, with their horses formed in great long lines.

And Li Xian went from group to group, praising some and challenging others. He praised the diligent and ignored the lazy, and men began to speak of him. Noble men. Not this sort.

Li Zhuang watched the men under the bridge, and they watched him, chewing and swallowing as quickly as they could manage, forcing the cooked meat down their gullets. He gave his horse some rein and she picked her way down the grassy bank to the stream. The men under the bridge began to pick up their belongings, but he raised a hand to forestall them.

"We haven't done nothing," a sandy-haired peasant with a short beard said, raising two greasy hands.

Li Zhuang shook his head. "Answer me one thing," he said carefully. Speaking the local dialect always left him feeling muddled.

The sandy-haired one shrugged. Li Zhuang noted that he hadn't said one word of polite greeting – neither saluted nor bowed.

Tianqin. A nation of fools and outlaws.

"Why are you so anxious to eat your cooked meat and scurry home?" he asked. He walked his mare forward another few steps so that they could hear him better. He looked down at them.

All four of them looked at him as if he, not they, was the fool.

"Cause my wife needs me home?" said one.

"Cause it's going to be haying in another ten days, if the sun keeps on," said the second man. He had a fine robe and a silver ring on his finger. By normal standards, Tianqin farmers were rich, fat, and very ill-mannered.

"Cause my duty says I can go home when this here meat is eaten," said the third, a long-haired old man. His hair was mostly white and Li Zhuang could see the outline of a valor badge on his tunic, carefully removed.

"You have fought before, eh?" he asked.

The older man nodded, his face still. "Right enough, boy," he said. Here under the bridge, their voices echoed.

"Where?" Li Zhuang asked.

"In the East," the old man said, and took another bite of meat. "And before that, under General Jiao, against the devils. With Lord Bai, too. And under the old King, at Chevin. Ever heard of it?"

Li Zhuang smiled. "You are pleased to make game of me," he said pleasantly.

"Nah," said the old archer. "You foreigners don't really know much about war, and you haven't ever seen a big fight like Chevin. If you had, you wouldn't be asking us these tom-fool questions. We're eating our rations so we can get home and not fight. Because it's going to be horrible, and I, for one, know just how it's going to be. And my son-in-law and his two friends here will all come with me."

Li Zhuang was shocked by the man's tone and by the murderous gleam in his eye. "But you – you have been a warrior. You know what honor is – what glory is."

The man looked at him, finished his piece of meat, and spat. "Done. Time to go home." He wiped his greasy hands carefully on his leather quiver and the bow case of his six-foot bow.

"If we lose," Li Zhuang said, looking for a way to reason with this arrogant peasant, "if we lose, your farms will be lost."

"Nah," said the younger man with the beard. "If you lose, they'll flatten the east. We ain't easterners." He shrugged.

The old archer shrugged. The other two grinned.

The old archer came over to Li Zhuang's horse. "Listen, Master Li. We stood our ground at Chevin, and a lot of folk died. The old king told us we were done, for our lifetimes. Well, I'm holding him to that promise. Right?

Here's some advice from an old soldier. When the demons scream and charge you, say a good prayer. Cause they won't stop coming, and there's a lot worse behind them. They'll eat you while you're still alive. There are creatures that are worse and eat your soul while you're still alive. So it doesn't even matter if you heard prayers, does it?"

Li Zhuang had considered killing all four of them for their insolence, but the old archer had touched on something, and instead, he found himself nodding.

"I will prevail. We will prevail," Li Zhuang said. "You will be sorry you were not there, for our day of glory."