Section Two: The Outsider Overpowers the Local Strongman

The tribes had little cash on hand. Each one was to pay five hundred taels, the rest settled in cattle, sheep, and slaves, to be delivered the next day. There might still be battle in the next two days, so remain here at home. If the enemy raids, drive them off. I will handle the revenge of the other tribes alone.

How can that be? The disciples of Sunset Sect all insisted on facing the enemy together.

No need to use a butcher’s cleaver to kill a chicken. In the future the tribes will still need your help. If one of you is wounded or killed, we will have one fewer trusted aide. There are too many enemies, and casualties are inevitable. Better that I deal with it myself.

He then added, Tomorrow they will send a total of one hundred and thirty slave laborers. You must guard them carefully. Bind them all with ropes, five to a group, children included. Some will be assigned to household chores, some to tending sheep and cattle, and those with strength will be sent into North Shade City to gather and clear away corpses.

Everyone agreed.

After dinner, when they returned to the tent, Bai Yue asked where so many slave laborers would come from.

The people I killed today numbered more than two hundred, and the attackers here were over three hundred. Their families were all treated as criminals and reduced to slavery. Those who resisted were executed. They bear resentment in their hearts and will not calm down in a day or two. You must watch them closely and prevent trouble.

Bai Yue nodded that she understood.

Bai Xing then asked, Why bind the children too?

Children can kill people too.

How can children kill anyone? Bai Xing was indignant, feeling that his instructions were simply too much.

Bu Jingxian took her face in both hands and said solemnly, When I was still a child, I killed people too, and dragged more than two hundred lives down with me. Children can kill people; on this matter, I have more right to speak than you do.

Bai Xing was momentarily speechless, feeling as though she no longer knew him at all.

His tone softened. I know you cannot bear it. There are some things we cannot follow by the rules of this place, but there are other matters that must be handled according to those rules. I carry a heavy burden, and you sisters carry a blood feud. One day in the future, I will abolish slavery. But absolutely not now. Not today.

All right.

Bai Xing agreed, but Bai Yue’s heart lurched. The abolition of slavery sent a chill through her; she could not comprehend Bu Jingxian’s thoughts at all. Yet she guessed he must have conceived such a strange notion because he had once suffered himself, and that when his place in the world changed, he would naturally forget it. So she did not question or try to dissuade him then and there.

In the future, divide the slaves into several ranks. The lowest rank will have twenty people to a tent and may eat only vegetables. The next rank will have ten to a tent, may restrain the lower rank, and will be given meat broth with each meal. The next rank will have five to a tent, with two taels of meat per meal. The next rank will have three to a tent, with five taels of meat per meal. For now, any slave laborer who has worked for half a year without idleness or shirking may be promoted. In the future, when there are more slave laborers, change it to one year.

Bai Xing wrote it all down, then asked in puzzlement why.

That is how the world is. Even slaves need ranks. Through rank they can feel a sense of superiority and worth. By comparing themselves with those beneath them, they gain satisfaction, and that satisfaction will turn into gratitude toward the rulers. If we want slaves not to hate us and instead depend on us, there must be ranks.

Bai Yue was greatly astonished. She had not expected Bu Jingxian to think of such things, and the more she thought about him, the more she liked him. She asked, What battle is this?

I heard from the tribe’s Xinluo Bi that one tribe has kinship ties with a great tribe elsewhere. You could call it their backing. That man fled, and they will likely ask their backers to send troops. Though this is a place where the strong prey on the weak, such matters still trigger chain reactions. It is hard to say how long the fighting will last. But there is also a benefit: once the war reaches a certain point, our position here will naturally be acknowledged. By then, no great tribe will easily dare to provoke us.

In a single day, we have gone from having nothing to being the chiefs of a tribe with more than two thousand people? Bai Yue said, full of delight.

We are not tribal chiefs. We are the messengers sent by the Divine Soul Immortals to lead them among mortals. I am the Divine Soul Envoy, and you sisters are the Sunset Envoys.

An immortal’s messenger? Bai Xing burst out laughing, then immediately said with worry, This is a grave disrespect to the immortals!

Bai Yue, however, felt troubled. She realized that Bu Jingxian intended to create a realm for the followers of Divine Soul will.

If there were no Divine Soul Immortals and no Sunset Immortals in this world, how could there be disrespect? Bu Jingxian laughed and asked back. Bai Xing could not help laughing too. Then he said, The tribal structure here is not suited to efficient governance. So I have decided to use the name of the immortals to build an effective centralized system. Only when power is held firmly can people be made to do what they are told. Otherwise, even if we become the present great Luo Bi, we still could not truly control these tribes. What use would that be?

Bai Yue nodded in agreement. To establish a kingly system here, these tribes would certainly refuse to acknowledge it. Borrowing the name of the immortals, on the other hand, might work. It is just that success or failure would all rest on you alone. It may succeed quickly, and fail quickly as well.

I will not fail.

As he said this, Bu Jingxian thought of the Elder of North Spirit.

The will of Divine Soul does not permit failure. Only victory can make the people long for it and follow it.

He would not fail, absolutely not. He had sworn to his master, sworn to himself, sworn to the Divine Soul Sect. And that night, he had also sworn in his heart to the two wives beside him.

That night, not long after Bu Jingxian had gone to sleep, the Luo Bi he had appointed during the day rode in urgently with a report: the Chi tribe had sent out three thousand troops, and they were already close to Fallen Horse Plain.

Bu Jingxian hurriedly donned his armor and mounted his horse to hasten there.

A thousand warriors from five tribes had already gathered and were waiting, all willing to follow him into battle.

But Bu Jingxian split them into two detachments and sent them around the enemy.

When you hear my whistle, charge into the Chi tribe’s main camp, set fires, and kill. Let them know the price of offending the Divine Envoy. No matter how many troops they bring, they cannot harm me. I do not need your help.

Those men were reverent and fearful, and immediately took orders and departed.

Bu Jingxian leaped down from his horse and, empty-handed, charged straight at the enemy army illuminated by thousands of torches.

After Bu Jingxian left, Bai Yue instructed people to keep watch around the camp through the night. If any suspicious intruders approached, they were to sound the alarm. She herself put on armor and lay down without changing out of her clothes.

Sister, he will win, won’t he?

Of course. How could our husband be defeated by a mob of brutes? We only need to wait for his good news.

Mm.

The battle lasted three hours.

Of the three thousand enemy troops, Bu Jingxian alone killed more than half. Corpses were strewn across the plain, and the green grass was dyed red with blood.

His own body was soaked crimson, and he gripped an iron spear wrested from the enemy, pursuing the terrified fugitives and striking them down as they ran.

When the survivors fled too far, he threw back his head and let out a long, thunderous howl.

All who offend the Sunset Clan shall be slain. Those who test the might of the Left Bank shall die.

By then the sky was faintly brightening. Between heaven and earth, dim and colorless, Bu Jingxian stood drenched in blood and glowing with a red radiance, like a demon from the depths of hell.

The tribal warriors who had long been waiting for his signal heard the howl and at once threw themselves into the Chi tribe’s main camp. Most of the tribe’s fighters had already gone out, and not many remained. Outnumbered and unable to resist, their defenses were easily broken. In no time, fires were breaking out everywhere, and cries of anguish rose on all sides.

When the fugitives Bu Jingxian had chased down returned, the tribal camp was already engulfed in a sea of flames. Outside, there were only women and children guarded by the enemy. Seeing such a calamity, the warriors wailed in grief and whipped their horses into desperate charge. But the tribal warriors, who had received their orders in advance, scattered on horseback to either side. Only when they saw Bu Jingxian rushing after them to kill did they gather again into a semicircle. Whoever came near was beset and slain in a swarm, and not a single enemy was allowed to escape alive.

In this battle, these warriors watched Bu Jingxian, one man alone, kill three thousand troops until more than half were dead or wounded and the rest fled in disgrace. Then, before their very eyes, he single-handedly slaughtered enemy after enemy. Their awe of him only deepened, and all of them became even more convinced that he was indeed a messenger of the immortals.