[nsw-fic] The Legendary Zhuge Liang - V

[christos200]

Chapters:

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - I

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - II

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - III

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - IV

 

I hope that you will enjoy the story. )

 

The Legendary Zhuge Liang - V:

 

 

South bank of the Yangtze River, Red Tiger Village

 

After walking for thirty minutes, Zhuge Liang (courtesy name: Kongming) finally arrives to Red Tiger Village. Zhuge Liang has to go to that small village in order to get medication, because, while he was heading for White Monkey, the place where Zhou Yun waits for him, Hwang Jang Le, Master of the Seven Fatal Fists, injured him. The Red Tiger Village is a small village with few mostly wooden houses. Very few people live here. One of those few people is Yuan, who is a herbalist. He has a small shop in which he sells medicine. Zhuge Liang arrives to the shop of herbalist Yuan a few minutes later. Once he enters the shop, he sees an old man with long white beard and wearing a black shirt and black trousers. He is Yuan.

 

"Master Kongming. How are you doing?" Yuan asks.

 

"I have been injured in a fight." Zhuge Liang answers. "Do you have any herbs?"

 

"Yes. I have an ointment and some herbs."

 

Yuan takes some medicine from his shelf. He then has Zhuge Liang to take off his robe and treats him with the ointment. Once this is done, Zhuge Liang is given some medicine to drink. He then pays Yuan for his effort.

 

"Thank you Master Yuan." Zhuge Liang says. "I already feel much better."

 

"No need to thank me." Yuan replies. I am just doing my duty as a herbalist."

 

Zhuge Liang leaves the shop. However, as he walks on the dirt roads of the Tiger Village, suddenly, Hwang Jang Le appears. He laughs at Zhuge Liang and says "I've got you now!"

 

Zhuge Liang, surprised, asks "Why are you chasing me? I though you were an honorable man. How can you break your word?"

 

"We've agreed that I will not chase you, but you never said for how long I will not pursue you. Since you said nothing, I assumed that I would not hunt you down for thirty minutes. Now that thirty minutes have passed, I can chase you."

 

"But..."

 

"What? Do you think you are the only one smart enough to play with words?"

 

Hwang punches his right fist on Zhuge's face. Zhuge Liang tries to use his hand fan made of crane feathers to block Hwang's attacks, but this has little success. Hwang kicks five times Zhuge's chest, causing him to spit blood and fall on the ground. As Hwang is ready to finish off Zhuge Liang, an old but very muscular man, with long white hair and beard, and dressed with the Taoist blue robe, shouts "Stop!"

 

"Who are you?" Hwang asks.

 

"I am Fong Yuen!" the old man replies.

 

"The famous Taoist Master?"

 

"Yes. Zhuge Liang killed my five disciples. I have to take revenge for them! So, I want to kill him personally."

 

"I am sorry, but I will not let you steal the reward for Zhuge Liang's head from me."

 

"Then, I will have to kill you too!"

 

So, Hwang and Fong start fighting. Fong kicks Hwang's head and then punches twice his fists on his stomach. Hwang is pushed back, but he quickly counterattacks with his fists. But Fong, using softness to fight hardness, uses Hwang's momentum to throw him on the ground with a soft but swift move. Hwang gets up fast, only to be punched on the chest by Fong. Fong's fist was slow and soft and did not seem to hurt Hwang at all, much less push him away. Hwang laughs at how soft and weak his opponent's fist was.

 

"That's my Ying Yang Fist!" Fong boasts.

 

"Hahaha!" Hwang laughs. "What a powerful fist!"

 

But, suddenly, Hwang spits blood and falls on the ground. He then starts shouting in pain.

 

"Ha! My fist damaged your internal organs." Fong says. "The Ying Yang fist combines slowness with fastness and softness with hardness. My fist was soft and did not hurt you externally. But it was also so strong, that it damaged you internally. And, as you should know, internal injuries are far more critical than external ones. You will soon die."

 

Fong laughs and then goes to kill Zhuge Liang, only to find that while he was fighting with Hwang, Zhuge Liang escaped. Indeed, Zhuge Liang runs as fast as he can in order to escape from the two able pugilists. He must get out of the village as fast as possible or he will die. Zhuge Liang is able to run to the outskirts of the city and believes that he has escaped and that he is safe now. Wrong! Very wrong! Suddenly, two Taoists Monks, appear almost out of nowhere and pull out their swords.

 

"I am Ma!" the first Taoist says.

 

"And I am Mo!" the second Taoist states. "We are students of the Great Taoist Master Fong Yuen. You have two choices: Either kill yourself or we will have to offend you!"

 

"Well, I prefer the third option." Zhuge Liang replies.

 

"What is this?" Mo asks.

 

"To run away!"

 

Zhuge Liang starts running away, but Ma jumps in front of him and slices his chest with his sword. Mo also tries to stab Zhuge Liang, but he dodges the sword in the last second. Zhuge Liang then uses his hand fan made of crane feathers to defend against the two Taoists. Indeed, Zhuge Liang's fan manages to do quite well against the swords of the Taoists and blocks their attacks many times, but this does not last long. Ma slices Zhuge's leg and is ready to behead him. But, suddenly, he hears a voice: "How dare you bully a scholar?"

 

Ma and Mo turn around and see a young man, just 20 years old, with short hair, ponytail and green eyes, coming towards them. He is tall and strong, but he is not very muscular. He wears a white shirt, black trousers and black cotton shoes.

 

"Who are you?!" Mo, very angry and furious, asks.

 

"None of your business, damn Priest!" the young man shouts.

 

"I'll kill you!"

 

Mo tries to slice the young man more than twenty times, but he manages to dodge the sword. He then kicks Mo on the head and punches his fists thirty times on Mo's face. His fists move together, are very well synchronized and come one after the other, almost like a chain. Mo's nose is broke and he is pushed back. So, the young man finds the chance to grab Mo's sword from his hands and use it to behead the Taoist Monk. Ma, seeing his brother dead, screams in anger and charges at the man with his sword, but he slices nine times Ma before stabbing him on the stomach, killing him. The man then helps Zhuge Liang, who had fallen on the ground because of his injuries, get up.

 

"Thank you, young man." Zhuge Liang says. "What is your name?"

 

"My name is Chan." the young man answers. "Where are you going?"

 

"To White Monkey."

 

"Let me take you there."

 

"No need. You have already done far more than needed."

 

"No, I insist."

 

So, Zhuge Liang is forced to accept Chan's help. After half an hour's time, the two men arrive to White Monkey, where Zhou Yun (courtesy name: Zilong) and his vessel are waiting. Zhou Yun, the loyal warrior of Liu Bei, is dressed in his white armor, made from a multitude of small pieces of steel that are then interlocked and riveted to a leather backing, that covers the torso, the shoulders and the thighs while remaining comfortable and flexible enough to allow movement. Zhou Yun embraces Zhuge Liang.

 

"Master Kongming." Zhou Yun says. "Are you alright? I was worrying about your safety."

 

"I am alright thanks to this young man." Zhuge Liang replies while pointing on Chan. He then comes close to Chan and, pointing at Zhou Yun, says "Chan, this is Zilong, one of the best and most loyal Generals of my lord, Imperial Uncle Liu Bei."

 

"I am glad to meet such a hero." Chan says to Zhou Yun.

 

"Me too." Zhou Yun replies. He then turns to Zhuge Liang: "Master, please board the vessel. We have to go."

 

Zhuge looks at Chan for a few seconds and says "Chan, do you want to come with me? You have great skills and you could help in our cause of restoring the Han Dynasty."

 

"Me?! No, no, no!" Chan, laughing, replies. "I am a carefree man. I want to stay out of those conflicts."

 

"Very well. Goodbye. Take care of yourself." Zhuge Liang, sad at having lost such a talent, says.

 

Zhuge Liang and Zhou Yun board their vessel, which begins it's journey. But as the vessel leaves the coast, Fong Yuen appears. He sees the ship leaving and wants to jump on it, since it had not gone too far away, but Chan stops him.

 

"Old man." Chan says. "Do you not think that you are too old to try such things?"

 

"Get out of my way or die!" Fong shouts.

 

"I prefer to kill you!"

 

Chan tries to kick Fong, but the Taoist Master blocks with ease Chan's attack. He then kicks him trice on the chest. Chan tries to counterattack, but Fong uses Chan's momentum against him and throws him on the ground. Chan quickly gets up, but he is hit on the stomach by Fong's Ying Yang Fist. Chan spits blood and realizes that he cannot fight the Taoist Master. It seems that he is doomed. But, as they were fighting, Zhuge Liang had Zhou Yun turn the ship around and lead it closer to the coast. On top of the vessel, Zhuge Liang shouts: "Chan, jump on the ship!"

 

Chan, using all his internal energy, manages to make an impressive jump and land on the ship. Before Fong can do the same, Zhou Yun instructs the 20 archers, that are on the ship under his command, to fire their arrows at the Taoist Master. Although Fong manages to dodge all the arrows with ease, this bought enough time for the ship to get too far away for Fong to jump on it.

 

Cao Cao's camp

 

General Wang Jong enters the tent of Han Chancellor (or usurper, according to his enemies) Cao Cao. He bows before his master, who is lying on his bed.

 

"What is it?" Cao Cao, bored and with a voice that almost shouts 'I am tired and do not want to be disturbed', asks.

 

Wang Jong, understanding his Master's attitude from his voice, despite Cao Cao not telling anything about it, decides to enter immediately to the subject: "Sir, I have news about Huang Gai."

 

Cao Cao quickly gets up and becomes interested in Wang Jong's words.

 

"What news do you have?" Cao Cao says, anxious over the news about Huang Gai, since the defection of this old and respected Southland General would deal a great blow to his enemies.

 

"He will defect tomorrow night. He will come with twenty ships and will have his men carry torches, so we can know he is coming."

 

"Great!" Cao Cao, laughing, shouts. "This will be the end of the Liu-Sun Coalition. I will crush them! The day after the defection of Huang Gai, when the morale of the enemy will be low, I will make my offensive, which shall annihilate and exterminate my enemies. And once I have finished off Liu Bei and Sun Quan, I will realize my dream of unifying China under my rule!"

 

Southland camp, Zhou Yu's tent

 

Meanwhile, Huang Gai enters his Grand Commander's tent. He bows before his Grand Commander, who is sitting on his wooden office, and tells him of the good news.

 

"My Lord." Huang Gai says. "Our spies report that Cao Cao has fallen for our trap. Tomorrow night, I shall burn his navy. And then, our forces, along with Liu Bei's army, shall begin an offensive that will crush the power of the tyrant and restore the Han Dynasty to it's former glory."

 

Zhou Yu, laughing and clapping, says "Good! Good! Everything goes according to my plan. I will be able to gain a legendary victory which shall give me eternal glory and I will go down to history as the world's greatest General. I will prove that Zhuge Liang and Cao Cao are nothing compared to my military genius!"

[machievelli]

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