Distant Mountain Battle Song

Chapter 257 Waiting for a Miracle to Happen

The world of Han people is about to be plunged into great turmoil. Yun Ce generally does not want the inner energy of Han experts unless they have committed heinous crimes.

The guy surnamed Zhou in front of him is a master with the skills of a thousand men. Yun Ce estimates that his skills are similar to Wu Tong's. Zhou Chengming, that fellow clansman, should not be a match for him.

A person who can command a thousand men is basically already a regional overlord. As for the person in front of us who has surpassed the ability of a thousand men, his status should be even higher.

Yun Ce didn't take the guy's sneak attack to heart. This magnanimous attitude was something he had only recently developed, especially after being slapped into the ground by Shehuo and waking up. Shehuo helped him realize the fragility of life, and he felt that his vindictive personality had changed a lot.

Of course, this is also related to his improved martial arts skills; after all, this strike wouldn't kill him.

Moreover, the chestnut horse had already taken the dog to the bear spirit, and its tentacles had already entered the bear spirit's body along that terrible wound. Last time, we were so busy examining the bear spirit's flesh that we didn't expect there to be something good in the guy's stomach.

Seeing Yun Ce pick up the lance, Zhou Sheng raised his sword and pointed it at Yun Ce. He was still disappointed that his previous strike had failed to achieve its purpose. Having witnessed Yun Ce's battle with the bear spirit, he felt that Yun Ce's martial arts were no weaker than his own.

"If you leave now, I won't say a word."

Yun Ce flicked the red tassel on his spear.

Zhou Sheng shook his head and said, "I just slashed you with my knife, this matter cannot be resolved peacefully."

Just as Zhou Sheng raised his sword to attack, the chestnut horse came running over with a bloody bead in its mouth and dropped it at Yun Ce's feet.

Upon seeing the bead, Zhou Sheng swung his longsword horizontally with tremendous force, intending to force Yun Ce to back down so he could seize the opportunity to pick up the bead.

The horse spear blocked the attack horizontally, and then advanced to strike directly. Zhou Sheng's sword momentum was cut off by the horse spear. Seeing the blade aimed directly at his face, he had no choice but to retreat, and then turned around to slash diagonally with his side sword.

The longsword struck the spear shaft, severing two sections of hemp rope that were embedded in the lacquer. Yun Ce raised his leg and kicked Zhou Sheng in the ribs. Zhou Sheng rolled over to avoid it and, in mid-air, slashed at the blade of the spear that was thrusting at him. The force sent him flying backward.

Yun Ce bent down to pick up the bead, wiped away the bloodstains, held it in his hand for a while, and then said to Zhou Sheng, who was standing not far away, "There is a path map inside. What kind of treasure is it?"

Zhou Sheng looked at the bead held in Yun Ce's hand and slowly said, "Naturally, it is a map left behind by my Zhou clan. If you hadn't explored its secrets, you might have survived. But now, it's truly a fight to the death."

Yun Ce said impatiently, "If you have the ability to kill me, then come. If not, then tell me. Otherwise, you'll suffer later and then have to tell me. What's the point?"

As Yun Ce thrust his lance at him, Zhou Sheng raised his sword to block, but he couldn't deflect it. The immense force of the lance pressed down, and he had no choice but to use the force of the lance knocking his sword away to dodge to the left. Then, Yun Ce released the lance and delivered a heavy punch to Zhou Sheng's ribs. His body, which had just taken off, was slammed to the ground by this punch.

Ignoring the excruciating pain, he rolled sideways, only to be kicked in the stomach by Yun Ce. He felt as if his internal organs had left his body in an instant, and everything went black before his eyes, causing him to lose consciousness.

When he woke up again, the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was a huge bear head. At this moment, although the bear spirit's days were hard, he showed a rare smile.

"You've finally met your match!"

Listening to the words the giant bear struggled to utter and smelling its foul breath, Zhou Sheng turned his head to look for Yun Ce, but his legs were throbbing with pain, making him roar involuntarily.

“He broke one of your legs, ripped open the other, and even gave you half of the chains. You suffered just as much as I did.”

The bear spirit mustered all its strength to finish its mocking words to Zhou Sheng while gripping the iron chain, but then it ran out of strength and was once again squeezed so tightly by the iron chain that its eyes rolled back in its head.

Despite the pain, Zhou Sheng grabbed the iron chain and shouted loudly, ignoring Yun Ce's presence, "This is the path inside the tomb of King Huo. Some say that King Huo is not dead, but imprisoned in the tomb. These jade balls containing the route map were specially sent out by King Huo."

They were hoping someone could rescue him from the tomb of King Huo.

After playing with the jade ball for a while, Yun Ce inexplicably thought of the pregnancy of the demon concubine Yu Heng.

He asked, "Are there many of these?"

Zhou Sheng said, "I know of at least sixteen of them, and each jade ball contains a section of the map showing the mechanism of the Huo King's tomb."

Upon hearing Zhou Sheng's words, Yun Ce casually tossed the jade ball away. It was worthless; if it had any value, it was a huge pitfall.

The Han people are simple-minded and haven't become desensitized to treasure map tricks. If you ask a normal person in their ancestral land, upon hearing that the treasure is in a place full of traps and that they need to collect as many as sixteen jade balls to get through, countless movies and TV shows about finding treasure will immediately come to mind.

They would also immediately confirm that this was a complete scam, a scam deliberately set up by a conspirator, a scam that not only wanted your money but also your life. The jade ball rolled and rolled to the ancient tree where the two people were hanging, and slowly entered the pool of blood formed by the blood flowing from the two of them.

Suddenly, the bear spirit regained its strength, grabbed the iron chain to free its throat, and anxiously said to Yun Ce, "This bead is mine. This guy is here to steal my bead. The bead is real. Not all sixteen beads are map. Some can make women pregnant and give birth to Huo's offspring. Some can help people find Huo's hidden treasure trove. And some are said to be able to inherit Huo's inner energy."

In short, this bead is real. On the Spring Festival next year, everyone who obtains the bead will go to King Huo's tomb, open the Dragon-Slaying Stone, and become King Huo's new subordinates. When King Huo sees the light of day again, they will be able to follow him once more in his conquest of the world.

Yun Ce looked at the beads soaked in blood and shook his head, saying, "Have you noticed that these sixteen beads can automatically select the sixteen most powerful experts on this land?"

Zhou Sheng gripped the iron chain and shouted, "To be able to follow King Huo in conquering the world is the supreme honor of a warrior. In the world, who can surpass King Huo in martial arts? In the world, who can surpass King Huo in martial merit?"

"Brother, listen to me. With this pearl, we have the chance to follow King Huo. Release me and this clumsy bear, and next year on the Spring Festival, we will open King Huo's tomb together, rescue him, and once again conquer the world to restore the glory of our Han Dynasty."

Yun Ce frowned and asked, "How was Prince Huo imprisoned in Prince Huo's Tomb back then?"

Zhou Sheng roared, "King Huo has held power for six hundred years. Those who followed him to conquer the world are now all fat and bloated, and have forgotten the oath they swore when they followed King Huo to conquer the world."

It was this group of shameless villains who colluded with the royal family and harmed Prince Huo.

"If you don't believe me, pick up the bead and hold it up to the sunlight; you'll see the decree of King Huo to restore the world."

Yun Ce bent down and fished the bead out of the pool of blood. He wiped the blood off the bead on Zhou Sheng's body, held it up to the sun, and a beam of light suddenly shot out from the bead, hitting Yun Ce's eyes. Yun Ce screamed and covered his eyes, squatting on the ground.

Zhou Sheng roared at the bear spirit, "Now!"

A bear and a human, each using their still-movable injured legs, braced themselves against the ancient tree, causing their bodies to swing high into the air. Zhou Sheng, with his light body, managed to move swiftly across the ancient tree despite his eyes bulging from being bound by the iron chains. In the end, he managed to bypass the horizontal branch of the tree and break free of the chains. After being pulled by the bear spirit's heavy body and circling twice on the branch, both the human and the bear fell heavily to the ground.

Without bothering to untie the chains, the man and the bear actually hugged each other and used their two good legs to rush into the forest at an extremely fast speed.

Yun Ce squatted on the ground and placed the bead in the sunlight. A beam of sunlight, gathered together, shone from the center of the bead onto the ground, instantly igniting the fallen leaves.

Yun Ce knew from the age of three that it was foolish to look at the sun with a convex lens, so he was naturally not swayed by Zhou Sheng's words.

He was just very sorry that the bear spirit had escaped, leaving Eji and Zhang Min without nourishing food after childbirth...

Yun Ce was willing to release the bear and the person because of what the bear spirit said: some of the beads could make women pregnant and give birth to the offspring of Prince Huo. Yun Ce knew this in great detail. Yu Heng was said to have given birth to the offspring of Prince Huo across six hundred years.

I initially thought it was nonsense, but now it seems that it is probably true. If it were false, Yuheng wouldn't have been so persistent in demanding the Huo Prince's Mansion from the court.

Zhou Sheng's words may not all be lies; they are probably half true and half false.

Regardless of whether Huo Qubing is actually still alive, his reappearance should be of great benefit to the Han Dynasty. In any case, it would be better than the current terrible situation.

"How can a person live for so long?"

Yun Ce sighed to the dog.

"Sometimes, we must believe that miracles exist in this world. If we are unwilling to believe in miracles, then future generations will not be able to create miracles."

A miracle is called a miracle because when everyone is in despair, someone comes with light, riding on clouds, bringing light to a world in darkness.

The dog's words were quite poetic.

Yun Ce was unwilling to comment, because it was a miracle that it could utter such empty nonsense.

The Guifang people are coming soon, and Huo Qubing might just rise from his grave. All the feudal lords in the land have already prepared their armies for battle.

Yun Ce's child is also on the way. Although he did not get the nourishing bear meat, Yun Ce still rode his chestnut horse happily toward the Yun Clan Manor. Even when it started snowing heavily again, he did not stop.

Just like the dog said, a miracle is just around the corner.

(End of this chapter)