Chapter 43: Kucha Part 1

Several people gazed from the top of the rocky mountain. Gumo City had changed completely since they set out. At noon, demonic qi swirled through the city, bursting forth everywhere. The entire city was enveloped in gloomy clouds, with sunlight blocked by layers of haze. The world was pitch black.

Atop the high point of the Kucha Royal Palace, roaring black flames rose, like a sacrificial rite.

“What are they doing?” Xiang Xian asked.

“I can’t see clearly,” A Huang said. “The city’s residents are locked in the northern drill ground behind the royal palace, guarded by nearly a hundred War Dead Corpse Ghosts.”

“What about the guards inside the city?” Xiao Kun asked.

“Many died,” A Huang replied. “The survivors fled.”

After a night’s rest, Xiao Kun had recovered some strength, but assessing the current situation, he knew he couldn’t handle another all-out battle. The fatigue from blood loss hadn’t eased, and he had only spoken so much along the way because Xiang Xian’s return had temporarily invigorated him.

Yet with such a catastrophe unfolding in Gumo City, they couldn’t ignore it. Xiao Kun rallied his spirits and said, “We must find a way to rescue the city’s residents.”

Xiang Xian made a gesture to wait and asked Wang Zongshi, “How long has Mr. Liu ordered you to operate in Gumo?”

“I don’t know,” Wang Zongshi answered. “I’m not the strategist; I don’t participate in planning. What about you, Brother Yong?”

Zheng Yong said, “Mr. Liu’s forces were insufficient at first, with only General Jing’s eight thousand troops under him. Above him, that King Mu instructed him to assemble an army of five hundred thousand to enter Yumen Pass.”

“Five hundred thousand?!” Xiang Xian exclaimed in disbelief.

Zheng Yong continued, “Yes, the number of soldiers buried in the Western Regions over the years can indeed reach that figure. Originally, after polluting the Heart Lamp, King Mu ordered Mr. Liu to cooperate in this grand scheme to conquer the entire Central Plains. Although you took the Heart Lamp, their plan is still advancing.

“Ten years ago, Mr. Liu first targeted Gumo. It’s nearly a thousand li from Gaochang and even farther from the Central Plains, so it wouldn’t attract exorcists or arouse suspicion easily. He sent me to pass messages between Gumo and Kuqa Canyon, and usually, I also monitored Grand Vizier Lierful for him.”

Xiao Kun said, “He wants to turn the city’s residents into War Dead Corpse Ghosts?”

Zheng Yong thought for a moment and replied, “The residents aren’t very useful. He wants the corpses of fallen soldiers. Beneath Gumo, there’s a burial ground from a thousand years ago, after the Great Han’s Western Regions expedition army defeated the Xiongnu here—fifty thousand Yanqi and Shule cavalry.”

“The battle Ban Chao participated in,” Xiang Xian said to Xiao Kun.

A thousand years ago, the Great Han envoy Ban Chao had gone on a mission to the Western Regions. With a few hundred troops, he deposed the king of Shule, installed a new king of Kucha who paid tribute to the Han court, reorganized the remnants, and terrified the allied forces of Shule, Shanshan, and Yanqi into fleeing. Thus, he established the regime of the Xiongnu people south of the Tianshan Mountains.

A millennium later, the events had been forgotten. Even Xiao Kun, a Liao Person, had never read this history, though Xiang Xian vaguely remembered it.

“I don’t understand,” Chaosheng said puzzledly. “There are also Great Han burial grounds outside Kuqa Canyon. Why didn’t Mr. Liu use those comrades?”

Facing Chaosheng, Zheng Yong was less fearful and explained, “The Zenggu Drum is still with General Jing. Those are his buried Forbidden Army. Since General Jing hasn’t appeared, Mr. Liu has no confidence in fully controlling the Forbidden Army. If it fails, it could create complications.

“But if he uses the Great Si Ming Flute to awaken the corpses and turn them into brand-new ‘Ba,’ they’ll be much easier to command.”

Zheng Yong looked up toward the city. The flute’s sound continued endlessly. In the domain formed by the Great Si Ming Flute, the massive black fire grew ever more intense, nearly ten zhang high, shooting straight into the sky like a torch. Zheng Yong said, “This is a spell cast with the Great Si Ming Flute. According to King Mu’s plan, for every city Mr. Liu captures in the Western Regions, he will erect this Rebirth Gate in the city and transform nearby soldiers’ corpses into Ba Army.”

Xiang Xian said, “Wait! I have a way.”

Inside Gumo City, Mr. Liu hovered in the air. Two other Demon Persons appeared: one was Yan Yan, whom Xiao Kun had fought before the Fengshan Terrace; the other was the battered Mr. Ying.

“Are you certain they’ll come?” Yan Yan said. “If I were them, I wouldn’t walk into the trap.”

“This is King Mu’s judgment. Do you doubt King Mu’s foresight in predicting the enemy?” Mr. Ying hovered in the air, watching the black fire Mr. Liu had ignited. At that moment, inside and outside the Kucha Royal Palace in Gumo, there were Xiongnu Dry Corpses from a thousand years ago, lying neatly on the ground in radial patterns.

The fifty thousand Xiongnu corpses awaited reawakening as War Dead Corpse Ghosts. In the center, the demonic fire burned ever more fiercely.

“You handle Xiao Kun when the time comes,” Mr. Ying said. “I must seize this final chance to kill that mortal, retrieve the Heart Lamp, and not wait any longer.”

Outside Gumo City, Xiang Xian and Xiao Kun quickly conferred.

“You can’t draw your sword again,” Xiao Kun said. “With our current strength, we can’t protect you after you release the Wisdom Sword and collapse. We’d likely get captured by the Demon Persons again… Why are you laughing?”

“Nothing,” Xiang Xian replied.

Xiao Kun looked at Xiang Xian seriously. Xiang Xian explained, “I’m laughing because when we first met, you complained I never used my sword, and now you’re telling me not to draw it.”