Zhao Ying's Legend 1-5

Author: Unknown Word Count: Approximately 60,000 words
[The Legend of Zhao Ying] (1-5)
Son of Darkness
Chapter 1: The Altar
In 414 AD, Ledu, Liangzhou. The capital of the former Southern Liang Kingdom was now filled with the army of Western Qin. They densely surrounded the altar in the center of the capital, as if it were the focus of the world. To celebrate the army's conquest of Southern Liang and to pray to Heaven for domination of Liangzhou, the ruler of Western Qin, Qifu Chipan, decided to hold a grand sacrifice at the altar of Heaven in Ledu. One hundred thousand soldiers of Western Qin, clad in gleaming silver armor, stood in neat rows around the altar. Banners fluttered in the wind like a forest, almost completely obscuring the sky. Under the thunderous cheers of the soldiers, the conquered city trembled.
Beneath the ornate altar, two shirtless, burly men, drenched in sweat, were pinning down a struggling pig. One of them held the pig's head down with his left hand while his right hand drew a two-foot-long cleaver, dragging it back and forth across the pig's thick neck. The immobilized beast could only let out pitiful screams. In no time, a huge pig's head rolled to the ground with gushing blood. The headless pig struggled even more fiercely, finally managing to stop moving. By then, the two blood-soaked men were panting heavily and looking utterly disheveled. Beside the altar, a tall man in military uniform watched the scene with a wicked grin, muttering to himself, "Looks like slaughtering people is always more convenient." Long before this pig was slaughtered, a fat sheep had already been decapitated in their hands, requiring considerable effort. Three tables covered with red cloth were placed on the altar to hold the corpses of the sacrificial offerings; above the altar were three dishes to display the heads of the offerings. After the pig's head, sheep's head, pig's body, and sheep's body were arranged, only the central table and dishes remained empty. At this moment, everyone's gaze naturally shifted to the back, for the final offering was about to be brought forward. This offering was neither animal nor poultry, but a living person, a completely naked woman.
Although the woman was nearly forty, her face looked like that of a woman in her early thirties, and her figure was as full as a young woman's. Her strong limbs clearly indicated she had a military background. Her two round, full breasts were parted in a V-shape in front of her chest, with two round, pointed nipples protruding to either side, exuding the charm of a mature woman. The woman's hands were firmly bound behind her back, and her entire body was covered in a greasy substance, like sun oil, the shimmering sheen making her figure appear even more curvaceous and alluring. The woman was none other than Zhao Ying, the last female warrior in the Former Qin women's camp.
Seeing herself standing naked before a densely packed group of men, Zhao Ying blushed crimson with shame. The immense humiliation slightly outweighed the fear of death. Amidst the shouts and shoves of the jailers behind her, Zhao Ying managed to take a few steps forward. Looking at the distant altar, she knew it would be the end of her life. As death approached, memories of the past, the smiling faces of her sisters, flashed before her eyes, especially the image of her empress—Zhang Xiulan—facing execution with unwavering resolve. Thinking of this, Zhao Ying lowered her head, looked at her own body, and silently said, "I cannot disgrace the women's camp in front of these beasts! What does it matter if I'm naked and have no head?" With that, she raised her head high and walked calmly towards the altar…
Chapter Two: Xiao Ying
Zhao Ying was thirty-eight years old this year, the last female warrior in the women's camp. Having survived countless brushes with death during her more than twenty years of military service, Zhao Ying thought she could live out her days in peace. But death unexpectedly came knocking. It seemed that being beheaded truly was the fate of female soldiers. Thinking of this, Zhao Ying couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly. The cold wind blowing against her naked body only intensified the chill of impending death. Seeing the various strange looks from the onlookers, Zhao Ying felt waves of humiliation wash over her. "I never thought I'd feel ashamed. Back then, I was naked in front of everyone like this too." Childhood memories slowly surfaced before Zhao Ying's eyes like smoke…
Xinping City was an important city in the Guanzhong region, a strategic location fought over by military strategists. In the chaotic era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, the phrase "the king's flag changes hands on the city walls" perfectly described this city. Zhao Ying was born in Zhao Family Village near Xinping City. Years of war orphaned her, like many other children. She didn't know her surname or how to write her given name; she only vaguely remembered that her parents always called her "Xiao Ying." During a warlord conflict, Zhao Family Village suffered annihilation; almost everyone in the village was slaughtered. Xiao Ying, who crawled out from the piles of corpses, didn't know how she survived. She only knew that she would never find her parents again.
At the tender age of eight, Xiao Ying arrived in Xinping City like a fallen leaf, among the refugees. Although years of war had made the city lifeless, it was still much better than the village, which resembled a graveyard. Like other refugees struggling to survive, Xiao Ying did almost every kind of work imaginable. Begging in the swampy streets became a daily routine. Her already tattered clothes wore thinner and thinner; new clothes were a pipe dream for her, barely enough to make ends meet. She could only let her small body gradually expose itself. Fortunately, she was still young and her body hadn't fully developed. Besides, with her sallow complexion and disheveled hair, Xiao Ying looked no different from the little boys begging on the streets. In spring and summer, she ran around shirtless like the other boys. In autumn and winter, she could only find rags or dry grass to wrap herself in for warmth. At night, a group of children would huddle together for warmth. Long-term lack of clothing had made her forget the shyness of being a girl, or rather, she had lost the capacity for shyness. But this didn't mean Zhao Ying had forgotten she was a girl. Whether relieving herself or bathing, she deliberately hid in the shadows. Perhaps pretending to be a little boy was a way of self-protection. Years passed, and many refugees succumbed to the harsh winters, but Xiao Ying and her companions miraculously survived.
Since the Former Qin dynasty unified northern China, Xinping City enjoyed a few years of peace. However, following the defeat at the Battle of Fei River, a new round of warlord conflicts erupted in Guanzhong, and death once again visited this strategically important city. Dead bodies were a common sight on the streets, and bloodied heads were a daily sight on the city walls. But all of this seemed irrelevant to Xiao Ying; the corpses and blood had numbed her. Her only concern was finding food to survive.
One day, as usual, Xiao Ying, shirtless, and several other bare-chested homeless children were carrying timber in a military camp. Every warlord who occupied Xinping inevitably undertook large-scale construction projects, and the starving people in the city were their best bet, as they only needed to be given scraps afterward—economical and practical. This time, the army that occupied Xinping was the resurgent Former Qin army. Since the death of the great ruler Fu Jian, the vast Former Qin Empire had crumbled overnight. However, Fu Jian's grandson, Fu Deng, had raised a new force in the north, defeating numerous rivals and showing signs of restoring the former glory of the Former Qin. Fu Jian had been killed in Xinping by his own minister, Yao Chang, who was now the dominant power in Guanzhong. After recapturing Xinping, Fu Deng's first act was to build a temple to enshrine Fu Jian's memorial tablet.
"Is it almost finished?" Qin general Cao Jian asked the soldiers supervising the construction, riding a tall horse.
"Yes, General. As long as the craftsmen finish painting the walls tomorrow, it will be complete," the soldiers replied respectfully.
"That's good. You know His Majesty values the ancestral temple of the late emperor very much. If there were even the slightest mishap, our heads would be on our hands." Cao Jian glanced at the group of little boys carrying timber nearby and continued to ask the soldiers, "Those guys are doing a good job, aren't they?"
"Not bad. Don't let their skinny appearance fool you, they work quite diligently. It's just that they're too weak; it takes several of them to move a few logs."
"Not bad at all... Come on, once they finish their work, bring them all over to serve in the army!"
"Uh, them? General, look at those bones; they'd probably fall over in a gust of wind. How can they fight a war like that?"
"You know nothing! Damn it, there are fewer and fewer able-bodied men these days, but more and more people are dying. I think those guys are alright at work. As long as they're fed, they shouldn't be at a disadvantage in a battle. Go, hurry up!"
Seeing Cao Jian's furious outburst, the soldiers broke out in a cold sweat. They rushed to the group of boys, shouting, "Hey, you guys are in luck! The lord has ordered that you'll be living the high life from now on! Come on, report to the barracks right now!!" The disheveled boys blinked, seemingly not understanding the soldiers' words, but the words "eat and drink" did stimulate them. They grinned foolishly and then followed the soldiers to the barracks. The quartermaster, yawning outside the camp, saw soldiers leading in several shirtless "skinny" kids and immediately understood what was going on. He took out a few old uniforms and threw them in front of the ragged children, saying expressionlessly, "Come on, take off your stinking trousers and change into these uniforms. From now on, we'll leave our fates to fate." Only then did the children realize they had been conscripted. But for them, whether it was fighting or begging, as long as they had food and clothes, it didn't matter. They understood the simple truth that soldiers could get food more easily than ordinary people. So, after a while, they happily took off their trousers and picked up the uniforms to wear. One of the boys, after standing there for a while, started running away. The soldier quickly caught up with him, grabbed him, and shouted in a shrill voice, "Hey, you brat, you think you can run away now that you're in the army? Do you think this is your home? Go back and change your clothes properly! Go!!"
The boy looked terrified and didn't answer, just shaking his head repeatedly. The soldier immediately became enraged. He grabbed the boy's hand like an eagle and pulled him back, causing the boy to stumble and fall to the ground with a thud. The soldier pointed at the boy and cursed, "You little brat, you don't know how to enjoy your good fortune! Look at your buddies, they're almost dressed, and I've never seen anyone as shameless as you. Are you afraid of dying? Dying well is much better than starving!" The boy struggled to his feet, looking confused, and didn't speak, just shaking his head repeatedly. The soldier, enraged, immediately drew his sword and said to the boy, "I don't have time to play with you, you little brat. You either change into your uniform right now, or I'll chop you up right now." The boy, seeing the gleaming sword, turned pale with fright and stammered, "No... I... I... I'm not... not... a man..." "
What?!" The soldier was even angrier. "You little brat! Do you think I'm stupid? What about you doesn't look like a man? Take off those tattered pants right now and let everyone see if you're a man or a woman!!" Tears streamed down the boy's face. Looking at the soldier's menacing eyes and the sword in his hand, he reluctantly and slowly pulled down his pants. When the boy was completely naked before everyone, they were all stunned. The "cleft" genitals clearly told them that this was a genuine girl. "This..." The soldier's eyes widened in disbelief. He couldn't believe that this flat-chested guy was a girl. The boys, now in uniform, exchanged bewildered glances. They hadn't expected their partner, who had been working naked with them for the past few days, to be a woman—and that girl was Xiao Ying.
"What's going on? What's going on?" Cao Jian, seeing the commotion in the camp, rushed over to see what was happening. The soldier, who had been stunned for a moment, finally came to his senses and immediately saluted Cao Jian, recounting everything that had just happened. Enraged, Cao Jian slapped her hard across the face. "Idiot! Have you been eating rice for nothing all these years? Can't you even tell a man from a woman?!" He stormed over to the emaciated Xiao Ying, scrutinizing her from head to toe. She was as disheveled as the boys, her thin frame almost bursting through her skin, her breasts flat against her chest, nearly sunken in. She looked no different from any other boy. Even though she was naked, she was utterly unappealing to men. Looking at this "useless" tomboy, the hot-tempered Cao Jian waved his hand and shouted, "Guards! Drag her out and behead her!!" Xiao Ying was stunned. Before she could react, an executioner in a red vest approached, twisted her hands behind her back without a word, and quickly pulled out a rope from his waist, binding her tightly in a few moments.
After a moment of stunned silence, Xiao Ying realized she was about to be beheaded. Terrified, half her soul left her body, her legs went weak, and half her body collapsed. Beheading was nothing new to her; she had seen it far too many times. The dripping heads on the city walls had long since numbed her. But when it came to her own, the long-forgotten fear surged into her heart.
"Get up! Stop pretending in front of me!" The executioner yanked Xiao Ying up from the ground, half-dragging, half-carrying her outside the camp. He found a short wooden stake near the gate, placed her bound hands on it, and pressed down. With a "thud," Xiao Ying's thin legs were forced to her knees. The stake was as wide as a small drum, and Xiao Ying's hands and back were firmly pressed against its edges. Although terrified and powerless, Xiao Ying had no choice but to kneel upright, her chest out. This impromptu execution immediately attracted the attention of all the soldiers resting near the camp. They all stared at Xiao Ying with strange eyes, scrutinizing her from head to toe. "She's a woman, definitely a little woman," the soldiers discussed excitedly, staring at Xiao Ying. "This little woman is too thin, she doesn't even have breasts." "What a pity, she's being cut off before she's even deflowered." "Hey, little woman, spread your legs so I can check, haha!" A barrage of vulgar language seemed to awaken Xiao Ying's long-dormant feminine shyness. Although she had faced the city's diverse crowd topless for years, she had never felt so humiliated and ashamed as she did today. Xiao Ying was only fourteen years old. In ancient times, women developed later than modern women, and coupled with Xiao Ying's malnutrition, her female sexual characteristics had not yet appeared. Although her areolas appeared larger than a typical boy's, no one had ever doubted that she was a girl.
The executioner was also young, only fifteen or sixteen years old, but he seemed very experienced. After securing Xiaoying to the wooden stake, he forcefully pressed her head down and said slowly, "Kneel down properly and don't move! Behave yourself, and I'll give you a quick death!" With that, he drew a several-foot-long dagger from his waist, glanced at Xiaoying's toothpick-sized neck out of the corner of his eye, and prepared to chop down with both hands. Although such impromptu executions in the military camp didn't require a specific time, speed was crucial. Delaying would easily result in punishment from officers, and besides, Xiaoying's naked body had little "aesthetic" value. So the executioner intended to "finish quickly" and get it over with as soon as possible. On the other hand, Xiaoying, overwhelmed by fear, was now in a semi-conscious state. Everything had happened so suddenly that her mind went blank. She stared blankly at the yellowish-brown ground, waiting for her head to make "intimate contact" with it.
Just as she felt a gust of cold wind blow against her neck, she heard a "Wait!" and the wind stopped abruptly. Xiao Ying, her heart pounding, gasped for breath, large beads of cold sweat streaming down her face. As she wondered what had happened, she heard all the surrounding soldiers kneel down in unison, respectfully saying, "Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress!!" "Who is that?" a woman's voice came from ahead; it must be the one called "Empress." Xiao Ying, still shaken, dared not look up, fearing that if she accidentally angered the "Empress," her head might immediately fall to the ground. After hearing the whole story, the "Empress" laughed heartily: "Hahaha, you all really can't even tell the difference between men and women. Besides, what crime has this little girl committed? Why must she be beheaded? Quickly summon your General Cao!" At the same time, Xiao Ying felt someone help her up, untying her bonds and draping a garment over her shoulders. Only then did Xiao Ying realize she was out of danger. Her tense heart relaxed, and she immediately fainted.
The empress was none other than the renowned Empress Mao, wife of Fu Deng, the ruler of the Former Qin Dynasty. Out of gratitude for Empress Mao saving her life, Xiao Ying decided to join the Qin army's women's unit, partly hoping for a better future. Empress Mao gave her a beautiful name—Zhao Ying—and assigned her to Zhang Xiulan's unit. Thus, the "little boy" Zhao Ying began her military career.
Recalling that harrowing experience, Zhao Ying couldn't help but laugh self-deprecatingly. It was hard to imagine herself nearly naked in front of everyone back then, even though she hadn't yet developed a woman's figure. Yes, if she hadn't joined the women's unit, perhaps she wouldn't be stripped naked and led to the altar for execution today; but without joining the women's unit, she might have frozen or starved to death by the roadside, let alone achieved her current impressive figure. Just surviving to this day was already a stroke of luck. Thinking of this, Zhao Ying's feelings of humiliation and fear gradually dissipated. She turned around and shouted at the two soldiers who were shoving her, "I don't need you to push me! I can walk by myself!" With that, Zhao Ying straightened her chest, her eyes looking proudly ahead, and strode confidently towards the altar…
Section 3: Chai Jun
Indeed, if Zhao Ying hadn't become a female soldier, her short life wouldn't have been so colorful. Besides, compared to her sisters, she was already the "longest-lived." When Zhao Ying first joined, she was still young and physically weak, so she initially only did logistical work. She truly began to distinguish herself when Zhang Xiulan took charge of the women's battalion. When Zhao Ying became a member of the women's battalion, Fu Deng also began to slowly decline. In the Guanzhong War a few months later, the Former Qin suffered an unprecedented defeat. Most of the women in the battalion were killed or wounded, and the heads of hundreds of female soldiers and generals were displayed in Chang'an, becoming an eternal disgrace for the women's battalion. However, the disaster did not end there. The Later Qin, shifting from defense to offense, launched repeated attacks on Xinping. Empress Mao was unfortunately captured in a major battle and brutally executed by Yao Chang. Finally, the Former Qin army was forced to abandon Xinping and retreat to Anding County in the north.
Upon arriving in Anding, the severely weakened Former Qin army could only maintain a defensive posture, recruiting soldiers and strengthening the surrounding defenses to prevent the Later Qin army from taking advantage of the situation. At this time, the Women's Camp had only about three hundred people left, no longer able to fight as a legion. They could only remain in the city, performing general security duties and assisting the army in suppressing bandits in the vicinity. In times of war, bandits naturally rise up. Large and small bandits each occupied their own mountain strongholds, fighting for territory and frequently attacking cities to kill and burn—committing all sorts of atrocities. The most notorious in Anding County were the Yang Zeng and Meng Fu couple, who occupied Bai Pao Mountain.
Now, let's turn to another story. Before recounting the conflict between the Women's Camp and Bai Pao Mountain, let's first tell the story of a young man named Chai Jun.
In Anding City lived a family of executioners, headed by the surname Chai. It was said that the Chai family's great-grandfather had originally served as an executioner in the army, and by the Jin Dynasty, they had established themselves in Anding City. Despite the turmoil of the War of the Eight Princes and the Five Barbarian Invasions, the Chai family's status as executioners remained unshaken. Whenever a prisoner was executed in the city, the Chai family's executioners were always present. "Who cares who's emperor? Our family will never go hungry," Chai Sheng often said proudly. Chai Sheng was the current head of the Chai family, inheriting the family's formidable swordsmanship. His son, Chai Jun, learned swordsmanship from his father from a young age, mastering his father's skills in three or four years. By the age of thirteen, he was already serving as his father's assistant, frequently seen at the execution grounds. Five years later, when the Former Qin Dynasty occupied Anding, the skilled Chai Jun was chosen by the Qin general Cao Jian to become an executioner. The greatest advantage of being an executioner is that you don't have to charge into battle; you only stay in the rear during each fight. As long as your side doesn't collapse, you don't have to worry about your safety.
Under Fu Deng's leadership, the Former Qin army won several consecutive battles, forcing the Later Qin army to retreat again and again. Half a year later, the Former Qin army had captured Xinping City, an important stronghold in Guanzhong. Fu Jian, the brilliant ruler of the Former Qin, was killed in this city by Yao Chang, the ruler of the Later Qin. Therefore, the first thing Fu Deng did after capturing Xinping was to order Cao Jian to build a temple to worship Fu Jian. Cao Jian then conscripted a large number of men in the city, partly to build the temple and partly to replenish the army. Many of the men who worked there were sent to the army after completing their work. Chai Jun continued his usual post as a guard near the main camp. The special job of a military executioner was like that of a receptionist today—most of the time incredibly boring. Ordinary chores rarely held his attention. Chai Jun now missed his days in prison; at least there he was much freer.
Another boring afternoon passed, and Chai Jun, as usual, stood guard in the camp with a blank stare. He saw his comrade lead several skinny young men into the camp. He knew new recruits had joined. Due to the shortage of adult men, the various warlords were indiscriminate in their conscription, and this was commonplace for Chai Jun, not even registering on his mind. Sneaking a nap was the most practical thing for him. But the ensuing commotion shattered his dream. Somehow, a new recruit got into an argument with a soldier, which alerted General Cao Jian. Soon after, Cao Jian ordered the recruit to be dragged outside the camp and beheaded. Nothing excited him more than blood and a knife, and the drowsy Chai Jun suddenly perked up, grabbing his large, menacing sword and heading over. After understanding what had happened, Chai Jun was
shocked. If it weren't for the clearly visible "slit" in the recruit's genitals, Chai Jun would hardly believe that the skinny little thing before him was a girl. The girl was about his age, around thirteen or fourteen. Her messy hair and gaunt face made it difficult to tell if she was a boy or a girl. Although people in ancient times didn't develop as early as modern people, her chest was so flat that even Cao Jian's soldiers, including the homeless children working with her, didn't realize she was a girl. Chai Jun couldn't help but smile bitterly. Despite being only fifteen, he had already beheaded several female bandits back in Anding City. Admiring the naked bodies of adult female prisoners was one of his great pleasures as an executioner. But the "female body" before him held absolutely no appeal. The girl's arm bones, leg bones, ribs, and sternum were all clearly visible through her thin, yellow skin, as if her bones were embedded there, easily pulled out with a single grasp. Her pitiful appearance stirred a sliver of pity even in the usually "cold-blooded" Chai Jun. However, sympathy aside, Chai Jun was never careless about his mission. In a few swift movements, he twisted the girl's hands behind her back and tied them securely. The girl was clearly terrified by this sudden turn of events, letting out cries of agony. Her two matchstick-sized legs went limp, and she nearly collapsed. Chai Jun had no choice but to half-drag, half-carry her outside the barracks. For executioners, these cowardly prisoners were the most troublesome, because they wouldn't obediently assume a position for the execution. Fortunately, this wasn't a formal execution, so Chai Jun found a half-person-high round wooden stake in the wooden fence outside the barracks and put the girl's bound hands inside it. Because the stake's thickness was just right against the girl's arms and back, despite her crying and screaming, she could only obediently kneel on the ground.
As soon as they saw someone about to be beheaded, the nearby soldiers swarmed around like flies smelling meat, commenting on this "exquisite" figure. Being able to demonstrate his lightning-fast swordsmanship in front of an audience was usually a great pleasure for Chai Jun, especially when executing female prisoners, he often felt a double thrill. However, this time, the female prisoner's figure really displeased him. As the girl's head was forcefully pressed down, her already clearly visible cervical vertebrae pierced through her skin. Chai Jun drew his broadsword and swung it down at the girl's neck joint. In the blink of an eye, just as the blade was two or three inches from her neck, a clear "Stop!" rang out. Startled, Chai Jun immediately stopped. The surrounding soldiers all knelt down with a "whoosh," chanting in unison, "Greetings, Your Majesty the Empress!"
"What?!" Chai Jun was shocked. Could it be Empress Mao, the woman known for her literary and martial talents and celestial beauty? He quickly looked up and saw several female soldiers in military uniforms escorting a female general wearing a golden phoenix helmet and phoenix scale armor. She was Empress Mao, the wife of Fu Deng, the ruler of the Former Qin Dynasty. Although Empress Mao was fully armed, it could not hide her beautiful features and voluptuous figure. Chai Jun's heart skipped a beat. Not to mention the little girl who looked like a "cheap bargain" in front of him, even the female bandits he had executed before were like Dong Shi compared to her. His mind was filled with fantasies. "You daring servant, Your Majesty the Empress has arrived, why don't you kneel down?!" A female soldier beside Empress Mao pointed at the stunned Chai Jun and shouted. Chai Jun was startled, his mind reeling. He dropped to the ground, trembling, and stammered, "This...this humble servant greets Your Majesty the Empress." Empress Mao was a rather amiable person and didn't hold Chai Jun's rudeness against him. Instead, she gently inquired about the little girl, and Chai Jun truthfully recounted everything, though he never dared to look Empress Mao in the eye.
Everyone was puzzled by Empress Mao's incredible information network, but it was common knowledge that she was well-informed about all military matters. In short, the girl was pardoned by the Empress and taken back to the women's camp. This day was also quite dramatic for Chai Jun. Even after the crowd dispersed, he remained staring blankly at the broken ropes and the unblemished wooden stake, unable to process what had happened. This was the first time in his many years of service that he had seen such an unappealing female prisoner, and the first time his execution had been interrupted. Later, Chai Jun learned from those around him that the girl had been incorporated into the women's camp by Empress Mao and renamed "Zhao Ying." Although they were "comrades-in-arms," they hadn't encountered each other in the army. Chai Jun simply laughed it off and quickly forgot about the little girl.
After experiencing that dramatic execution, Chai Jun followed the army south to participate in the war to attack Chang'an. However, Lady Luck seemed to have abandoned Fu Deng. Facing the disadvantaged Later Qin army, they turned the tide of battle. The Former Qin army, which had initially held a decisive advantage, suffered a crushing defeat, losing more than half of its soldiers. Even Empress Mao was brutally murdered, beheaded by Yao Chang in the army camp.
This news was a devastating blow not only to Fu Deng and the soldiers of the women's camp, but also to Chai Jun, who was stunned for days after hearing it. Although he had only seen Empress Mao once, her clear and sweet voice and her ethereal beauty had left a lasting impression on him. How could such a beauty have been beheaded by those bastards of Later Qin?! The image of the men's hairy hands and Empress Mao's body kept intertwining in Chai Jun's mind. The jackal-like laughter and Empress Mao's shrill moans echoed in his ears. He could even see Empress Mao's beautiful head rolling towards him, his skin burning as if drenched in her gushing blood.
"Damn it!! Those caterpillars!!!" Chai Jun's hatred wasn't so much for Empress Yao Chang, but rather a burning jealousy. To have sex with Empress Mao, or even to behead her naked, was merely a fantasy for him, though it had played out in his mind a thousand times. Yet, these bastards of Later Qin had easily "realized" this fantasy, and the jealousy and anger in his heart were unimaginable. For a time, Chai Jun even inquired about the executioner's name, planning to find him and kill him using the most cruel methods known to any executioner. The death of Empress Mao probably evoked similar complex emotions in the other Former Qin soldiers as Chai Jun. In short, after the Former Qin army retreated to Xinping, this low morale persisted for quite some time. However, the real nightmare was yet to come…
On a snowy night, the Later Qin army launched a surprise attack on Xinping. That night, Chai Jun was sound asleep, curled up in his thick cotton quilt, when he suddenly woke up. He vaguely felt a buzzing in his ears, and the surroundings seemed to slowly brighten. Chai Jun thought it was just a dream, but then he heard someone outside the tent shouting, “Oh no! The Yao traitors have broken in!! The Yao traitors have broken in!!!” Only then did Chai Jun realize that disaster was imminent. The soldiers around him were naturally in chaos, shouting, grabbing clothes, and fighting over weapons, the sounds as loud as a Buddhist ritual. When the men in the tents emerged, they were all stunned by the scene before them—flames soared into the sky around the city, turning the entire sky crimson; screams, shouts of battle, and the clashing of swords and spears filled the air; a fierce hand-to-hand combat had already raged outside the camp, with blood and limbs flying everywhere. Although Chai Jun was known for his "numerous killings," this was the first time he had witnessed such close-quarters combat, and his right hand, gripping the large, dagger, trembled involuntarily.
Due to the betrayal of the Former Qin general Pang Yi, the Later Qin army easily stormed the city with the help of both inside and outside forces. The almost unprepared Former Qin army was caught off guard, and the commanders of the various units struggled to organize an effective counterattack. Cao Jian's troops, being located in the city center, hadn't met their demise like the troops on the city's outskirts, but that didn't mean their situation was any better. By the time Cao Jian had hurriedly assembled his troops, Liu Bobo's Xiongnu army, led by the Later Qin general Liu Bobo, had already attacked. The Xiongnu were known for their ferocity in battle; a single charge cleaved Cao Jian's forces in two, putting them at a complete disadvantage. Although Chai Jun lacked combat experience, he was still a martial artist, wielding his broadsword with impressive skill, cutting down three Xiongnu soldiers in just a few moves. As he prepared to advance, he found his comrades dwindling, their flesh and limbs flying before his eyes. Realizing the dire situation, Chai Jun was forced to fight and retreat. Just then, an enemy general on a tall horse charged in, slicing through the Former Qin soldiers like vegetables. Chai Jun looked up and nearly choked with fear. The enemy general was covered in blood, his mount transformed into a "blood-sweating horse," and a necklace made of female soldiers' heads hung around his neck. His monstrous, demon-like face emitted a wild, beast-like laugh. His men, who stood in his way, were quickly hacked to pieces. This man was none other than Liu Bobo, a Xiongnu general of the Later Qin dynasty.
"This guy is inhuman!" Although the Former Qin army had many fierce generals capable of taking on ten men at once, Chai Jun had never seen anyone as ruthless as Liu Bobo, who moved like a bulldozer. Seeing the massive, howling Xiongnu army charging towards him, Chai Jun, already ashen-faced with terror, turned and fled. Besides Chai Jun, the soldiers, unable to withstand the onslaught, also retreated in disarray, and the battle had devolved into a one-sided massacre by the Later Qin army. At this moment, Chai Jun's mind was consumed by fear; he was completely disoriented, simply fleeing in all directions with the chaotic army.
For the first time in his life, executioner Chai Jun felt ashamed of his title.
Section Four:
On a snowy night, after a crushing defeat, Chai Jun had no idea how far he had run. This time, he truly understood the meaning of "the wind howling and the cranes crying." No matter how fast he ran, the shouts of the Later Qin army seemed to echo down his spine. His legs were completely unresponsive, only knowing to keep charging forward. When he finally recovered, he realized the sky was beginning to clear, and his comrades were few and far between.
"The Fu family's empire is finished," Chai Jun thought. Although the war to capture Chang'an had failed, their strength remained. As long as they could hold Xinping, there was always a chance to turn the tide. But now, not only had they lost Xinping, but their army had also been mostly routed. The Fu family couldn't even guarantee their own survival, let alone regain their power. As Chai Jun gradually calmed down, he suddenly felt a chill run through his body. He hadn't felt the cold before because of the intense activity. Having escaped during a night raid, he wasn't wearing many clothes, nor did he have any rations. In this freezing wilderness, even if he wasn't killed by pursuers, freezing and starving to death was only a matter of time. It seemed that his own survival was the most important thing right now. Chai Jun squinted at his surroundings. Many people were already lying haphazardly on the ground, mostly frozen to death from exhaustion during their escape. The surviving soldiers, naturally, were searching the corpses like treasure hunters, taking clothes to wear or looking for rations.
"Damn it, if I don't hurry, I won't even get a hair on the body." Chai Jun quickly looked around and saw a corpse wearing armor nearby. He rushed over as fast as he could, fearing that if he was even a fraction of a second slower, the "salted fish" would be stripped naked. "Thank goodness..." After exhaling a few breaths of warm air, Chai Jun was about to bend down to strip the corpse of its clothes when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his right hand. With a "clang," something resembling a sword fell to the ground beside him. Chai Jun covered his aching right hand with his left hand and looked down at the ground. He saw that the thing on the ground was his own Ghost Head Greatsword. After a long while, his frozen brain finally realized that he had been gripping that family heirloom sword tightly in his right hand since nightfall, to the point that the nerves and tendons in his hand had become stiff. As Chai Jun picked up the knife, he chuckled self-deprecatingly, "At least I didn't completely disgrace our ancestors."
"Haha, haha, we're rich, we're rich...!!" A burst of silly laughter from afar interrupted Chai Jun's thoughts. He turned around and saw two soldiers huddled beside a corpse, dancing and gesturing wildly, as if they had discovered a new continent. "Have they gone mad?" Chai Jun wondered. One of the soldiers, his hands trembling, clutched a bag, uttering broken words: "Rice, rice..." "What? Someone actually brought rice to escape?" Chai Jun's lips twitched slightly. He gripped his ghost-head knife in his right hand and approached them step by step. Reaching the corpse, Chai Jun realized the deceased was Captain Mo Qi. He was lying face down on the ground, with obvious knife wounds on his back, likely inflicted by enemy soldiers during the breakout, and probably died from blood loss. The two soldiers, starving and unconscious, didn't notice Chai Jun's approach, only frantically stuffing the bag of coarse rice into their mouths.
"Ah!!!" One of the soldiers suddenly screamed, then collapsed to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Before the other soldier could even react, his head was sliced in two, and he fell backward without uttering a sound. The remaining soldiers who were still looting nearby heard the cheers of the two men and approached with ill intent, but Chai Jun had beaten them to it, and he even had a weapon… Now they panicked. In the night, they had only cared about escaping, abandoning their weapons. There wasn't even a thick branch to be found around, let alone swords or knives. "Get lost!" Chai Jun pointed a knife at them with one hand, while desperately stuffing the blood-stained rice scattered on the ground into his mouth with the other. But the unarmed soldiers didn't seem to have any intention of running away. Cold and hungry, they probably realized that even if they ran, they would die. Grabbing the rations in front of them might offer a glimmer of hope. Despite Chai Jun's intimidation, they only drew closer.
"Don't think I'm joking! Take another step forward and they'll be your role models!!" Though terrified, Chai Jun's heart trembled. If those seven starving soldiers made a desperate struggle, even with weapons, he might not have the upper hand, especially since he was already exhausted. "Ah!!" Before Chai Jun could devise a plan, one of the soldiers suddenly lunged forward as if possessed. Chai Jun immediately swung his sword, splitting the man in half from his chest to his skull. Splattered blood and flesh flew towards him, and Chai Jun instinctively shielded himself, taking several steps back. After the first man charged, the remaining six, emboldened, all pressed forward. One of them grabbed Chai Jun's right hand tightly.
When his knife-wielding hand was grabbed, Chai Jun was so terrified that the hairs on his body stood on end. Facing a soldier who was less than half a foot away from him, he didn't even bother to break free. He quickly kicked forward, and as the man staggered back a few steps, Chai Jun swiftly grabbed the knife from his right hand with his left hand and thrust it forward. The blade immediately pierced the throat of the soldier who charged forward again, and the man died without a sound. Fortunately, Chai Jun had practiced left-handed knife skills diligently in his youth, which came in handy in this critical moment. The blade didn't linger after piercing the throat; it was quickly withdrawn and immediately slashed horizontally, cutting a large gash from the right armpit to the stomach of another man, even breaking his sternum. "Aren't you going to let go?!" After cutting down the two men, Chai Jun immediately turned the knife around and stabbed at the guy who was desperately grabbing his right arm. The blade passed right through his right side, and the man howled before rolling to the ground. His freed right hand swiftly moved to the hilt of his sword. Seeing another charging figure, Chai Jun swung the sword forcefully to the right, instantly opening a large gash in the man's chest, blood gushing like a fountain onto his face. "Ah!!" Chai Jun's eyes were now bloodshot. He took a horse stance and swung to the left, slicing off half of a hapless man's head diagonally. The man collapsed to the ground with a thud.
The remaining Qin soldier, witnessing the hellish, bloody scene before him, turned deathly pale, letting out groans. His groin suddenly became wet, warm water dripping onto the thin layer of snow, steam rising in wisps. Covered in blood, Chai Jun staggered. Already hungry and cold, his strength was completely depleted after the strenuous activity. "Get out of here...?!" Chai Jun shouted, pointing his sword at the pale-faced victim, his breath steaming in the air. "I...I'm leaving, I'm leaving..." The soldier took a while to react, turned and ran, but before he could take a few steps, an arrow suddenly shot from afar, piercing his neck with a "whoosh." The soldier, struck by the arrow, actually turned his head, stared wide-eyed at Chai Jun for a few moments, and then collapsed to the ground.
"An arrow...Could it be...?" Chai Jun, filled with unease, slowly turned his head. What he saw was alarming; behind him was a large troop of soldiers, whose attire clearly indicated they were not from the Former Qin army. "Could it be Yao Chang...?" Chai Jun was about to draw his sword in defense when, with a single effort, his body went limp and he fell backward. "This is it..." The sky before Chai Jun's eyes gradually darkened, until it was completely dark...
"Am I dead?" Having lost consciousness, Chai Jun felt as if he had been asleep for centuries, only now slowly regaining awareness, but his mind was still hazy, accompanied by waves of sharp pain. When he regained some consciousness, his eyes immediately darted around warily. Night, firelight, men's voices, a straw mat… and a tattered quilt covering him. Chai Jun's mind raced. Judging from his surroundings, he was clearly not dead. He could move his limbs, was covered with a quilt, and even his clothes had been changed. The group of people he saw before he fainted were probably not Yao Chang's men, at least not his enemies. So who were they…? Thinking this, Chai Jun couldn't lie still any longer and quickly got up from the straw mat. Before him lay a vast open-air camp, with at least a hundred people, all strangely shaped and dressed like members of the "Beggars' Gang." Judging from the darkness of the night sky, it was probably past midnight. Good heavens, he had slept for a whole day.
"Oh, you're awake?" A tall man sat beside the straw mat, his appearance the complete opposite of the ferocious-looking "Beggars' Clan." He was handsome, with delicate features and a neatly trimmed mustache, resembling a scholar from Jiangnan. However, he wore a mink hat, a leopard-skin coat, a dagger at his waist, and sheepskin boots in the style of the Huns—a nomadic attire that clashed sharply with his appearance.
"And you are...?" Before Chai Jun could finish speaking, the man called out, "Xiao San, bring me the meat!" A voice responded, and in no time, an ugly man with a yellow cloth wrapped around his head and disheveled hair brought up a plate of fragrant meat. "Brother, you must be starving. Here, eat first." The man's tone suggested he was a sworn brother he hadn't seen in years, but Chai Jun racked his brains trying to remember who he was. However, Chai Jun, who was so hungry that his stomach was sticking to his back, didn't care about anything else when he smelled the aroma of meat. He grabbed a piece of meat with one hand and started eating it, even skipping the chopsticks.
"Haha, don't rush, eat slowly, be careful not to choke." Starving and dizzy, Chai Jun didn't care about anything else. The plate of meat in front of him was like a ginseng fruit to Zhu Bajie (a character from Journey to the West), he didn't care about the taste, he just stuffed it into his mouth. After slurping for a while, Chai Jun clutched his chest, his brow furrowed, looking like he couldn't breathe. "See, you're choking, aren't you?" The man laughed as he handed him a wine jug. Chai Jun quickly grabbed the jug and gulped it down. "Huff..." Chai Jun finally managed to swallow the meat stuck in his throat, but he didn't seem to have learned his lesson and continued to grab meat and stuff it into his mouth. Seeing Chai Jun's disheveled appearance, the man shook his head and said, "I never thought that the son of the famous 'Chai Yidao' would fall to such a state." Chai Jun almost choked again upon hearing this. "Chai Yidao" was the nickname of Chai Jun's father, Chai Sheng, and its meaning was very clear: Chai Sheng was always clean and efficient in carrying out executions, never dragging things out. Chai Jun lowered his hand and carefully examined the man's face, but still couldn't recall who he was. He could only bow and ask, "May I ask who you are, and why you recognize me?"
"Hahaha… Brother Chai, you really don't recognize me? I often admire your swordsmanship."
"Please tell me…"
"Brother Chai, do you remember 'Sai Shanying'?"
"Oh…" How could Chai Jun not remember this nickname? "Sai Shanying" was actually named Mu Zhen. She was once a renowned beauty in Anding City, but her celestial beauty was completely incongruous with her status. Mu Zhen was originally the wife of a mountain bandit king. After her husband's death, she took his place, becoming a powerful woman who led a band of henchmen to rob and plunder in the surrounding villages. The people hated her to the bone, but the government could never do anything about her. At that time, Anding was still under the control of the Later Qin Dynasty, and the governor was Yang Ren. One day, a band of bandits led by Mu Zhen robbed a cartload of gold and silver jewels intended as tribute to Yao Chang, the ruler of Later Qin, and nearly all of the accompanying guards were killed. Enraged, Yao Chang ordered his army to attack, and Mu Zhen's stronghold was razed to the ground within three days. Mu Zhen himself was captured, exhausted. After two days of interrogation, Mu Zhen was sentenced to beheading, and the executioner was Chai Jun. At that time, Chai Jun's father, Chai Sheng, had died of illness, so he had become the chief executioner in Anding City, making him the obvious choice to execute such an important criminal.
"I'm the one who beat you to it that night."
"Ah! Could it be that you are Yang Zeng, the second brother of Prefect Yang Ren?"
"Indeed, indeed, I was very rude that night."
At this point, Chai Jun remembered that the night before Mu Zhen was executed, according to the "unspoken rules" of the execution chamber, the female prisoner's body was naturally to be thoroughly enjoyed by the executioner in charge of the execution. Moreover, Mu Zhen was a famous beauty, so Chai Jun was naturally overjoyed. Who knew that just as he was happily heading to the execution chamber, the jailer grabbed him and said that the prefect's second brother, Yang Zeng, had also taken a fancy to this woman and wanted to "take advantage" of her that night. Chai Jun was furious when he heard this: "Yang Zeng? With his status, why would he need to come here to play with women??" He had never heard of such an absurd thing before.
"They're probably after that female king's beauty. Anyway, she's one of the prefect's men, Brother Chai, please do him a favor and let her go first."
"This…" Chai Jun was speechless, like someone swallowing a bitter pill. Yang Zeng was a notorious playboy, known for his eccentric behavior and constant visits to nightclubs and brothels. He loved associating with江湖人士 (jianghu figures, people of the martial arts world) and wandering around. Although he held no official position, he frequently visited government offices thanks to his connections. Chai Jun, despite working in prison for many years, often saw him, as many of his江湖人士 (jianghu friends) were also regulars in jail. Helpless, Chai Jun could only retreat to the jailers' quarters to drink in silence. The guards around him cast sympathetic glances, or perhaps more accurately, gloating ones, since everyone wanted to be the protagonist of this "unspoken rule."
A moment later, the dashingly dressed Yang Zeng arrived with two henchmen. He didn't go straight to the torture chamber, but instead went to the jailers' quarters first, cupping his hands in greeting to Chai Jun and saying, "Thank you for your consideration, Brother Chai. I apologize for my rudeness." "Oh… no, no, you're too kind, Lord Yang…" Chai Jun was initially seething with anger, wanting nothing more than to beat him up, but he hadn't expected this man to come forward and greet him. Given his status, he didn't need to do that, and now Chai Jun felt embarrassed.
The two henchmen stood like stone lions on either side of the torture chamber door, while Yang Zeng went inside to enjoy himself. As was customary, Mu Zhen had already been stripped naked and strapped to the bed, left to the executioners' mercy. Soon, the sounds of Mu Zhen groaning echoed from the torture chamber; it didn't sound like she was in pain, but rather like she was enjoying it. Such sounds were commonplace for the jailers, but Chai Jun found them unsettling. The female prisoners he'd previously toyed with had never emitted such pleasurable moans, and they lasted for over a quarter of an hour. The jailers began whispering amongst themselves, their eyes filled with admiration, as if mocking Chai Jun's lack of "stamina." When Yang Zeng emerged, satisfied with his attire, everyone bowed and scraped, saying, "Take care, Young Master Yang." Their tone made it sound like they idolized him.
"Damn it..." Although Chai Jun smiled obsequiously as he saw Yang Zeng off, he inwardly cursed the man's ancestors. "A quarter of an hour..." His turn came. Chai Jun suddenly felt an unprecedented pressure. He took a deep breath as he closed the torture chamber door before entering. Mu Zhen lay sprawled on the wooden bed, still breathing rapidly. Under the oil lamp's glow, beads of sweat glistened on her skin like tiny crystals. Her white, doughy breasts rose and fell with her breath, making Chai Jun's blood boil. "No wonder she's called 'Mountain Eagle,' not only is her face beautiful, but her figure is also so perfect. No wonder that Yang kid would come here." Although Mu Zhen was panting, her face showed an expression of ecstasy, as if she was still reliving her "fight" with Yang. "You bastard…!" Chai Jun was clearly burning with jealousy. "I don't believe it…." In a few moments, Chai Jun stripped naked and pounced on Mu Zhen, launching his attack.
Perhaps due to his eagerness to win and excessive tension, Chai Jun performed less than half his usual level that night, quickly reaching climax. "You bastard…!!" Chai Jun couldn't help but curse this time. Mu Zhen glanced at him sideways and said reproachfully, "The jailers are no good. The executioner is much more experienced." Chai Jun was dumbfounded. When had he been "demoted"? He glared at her and said, "You bitch, look closely. I'm the one who's going to send you on your way!"
"Who are you trying to fool? Although this is my first time in here, I know the rules of this prison. The executioner goes first, then the henchmen follow, and they only get permission from the executioner. So, executioners are usually experts in this field. The others are just second-rate. I thought it was a joke before, but it turns out it's true. None of the men I used to enjoy can compare to him. You're far inferior to him." Chai Jun was so angry that he almost slapped her, but Mu Zhen's face was too beautiful, and his hand remained raised in mid-air. Chai Jun knew he couldn't just walk out like that; he had to lie there for at least fifteen minutes, even if it meant lying down. But the woman hadn't uttered a single groan, and he worried people would laugh at him for pretending. Left with no other option, Chai Jun spent ages trying to convince Mu Zhen that he was the executioner, then suggested she pretend to groan. Mu Zhen barely managed to suppress a laugh, inwardly cursing Chai Jun as a "soft banana," but since he was the one who had sent her to her death, she didn't want to provoke him too much, so she decided to do him a favor.
So Mu Zhen lay on the bed moaning, while Chai Jun sat on the edge, "resting his energy" to prepare for another round. Chai Jun, being young and vigorous, recovered quickly after a while. Looking at Mu Zhen's fair, fleshy body and her beautiful face moaning, Chai Jun's lower body soon became aroused. "It's been almost fifteen minutes since I went in, I should be done after this round," Chai Jun calculated, then pounced on Mu Zhen's fleshy body once more. But things didn't go as planned. After two rounds, a surge of desire rushed out, and the total time wasn't even fifteen minutes. Mu Zhen couldn't hold back any longer and burst into laughter. "You bastard!!!" Enraged, Chai Jun slapped Mu Zhen hard across the face.
When Chai Jun emerged, covered in dust and grime, he saw the jailers whispering amongst themselves, most of them skeptical of the groans they had just heard. The jailer greeted him with a smile, asking, "Brother Chai, how was it?" This question was loaded with implications: it was a greeting to Chai Jun, an inquiry about the female prisoner's body, and a question of whether it was their turn. Chai Jun replied curtly, "Keep an eye on her." The jailers deflated like punctured balloons; it was tantamount to announcing, "That's it, you're out."
The next morning, Mu Zhen, completely naked, rode a chestnut-haired pony to the execution ground. Her hair was styled in a "Guanyin bun," and her two round, dark brown nipples stood out against her snow-white skin, visible even from a distance. Her arms were tightly bound behind her back with hemp rope, and her ankles were shackled, the chains pressed firmly against the horse's belly. Along the way, Mu Zhen walked with her head held high, her calm face revealing an air of resignation to her fate. Although the onlookers knew this naked woman was the infamous "Mountain Eagle," known for her wickedness, her beautiful face and shapely figure made it impossible to bring themselves to throw anything at her.
The prefect of Anding, Yang Ren, was the executioner, and sitting beside him was Yang Zeng. When Chai Jun brought Mu Zhen forward, Yang Zeng even bowed to him, leaving the embarrassed Chai Jun with only a wry smile. Mu Zhen, who had remained expressionless the whole way, smiled sweetly when she saw Yang Zeng opposite her. Yang Zeng smiled back and winked at her, the two acting like they were flirting on the execution ground. "Adulterous couple!!" Chai Jun cursed inwardly, and even Yang Ren couldn't stand it, glaring at Yang Zeng. When the time came, Yang Ren threw the fire token forward, and before he could even finish shouting "Execute!", Chai Jun, as if venting his anger, brandished his ghost-head saber and slashed at Mu Zhen's neck. Before the fire token even touched the ground, Mu Zhen's beautiful head had already rolled two or three times on the ground. When Chai Jun presented the head to Yang Ren, Yang Zeng sighed and shook his head regretfully. After the execution, Mu Zhen's head was hung for a full ten days before being taken down and buried.
"I didn't expect it to be you." Chai Jun finally remembered and nodded thoughtfully.
"Brother Chai, you're not still angry with me, are you?" "
Cough, it's been so many years, what's there to be angry about? She's not my wife." Chai Jun was indeed not a petty person, and after a few years, he had almost completely forgotten about it. This time, by the firelight, he carefully examined Yang Zeng and finally recognized him. Unlike before, he had grown a mustache, and his face looked more weathered.
"I shouldn't have run to the prison to compete with Brother Chai for food, but this 'Mountain Eagle' is too famous, and I just couldn't resist, hahaha... Speaking of which, Brother Chai's knife skills are truly lightning fast. I didn't even see it clearly before 'Mountain Eagle's' head was already gone. Oh dear, it's such a pity. Seeing her bleeding head, my heart broke. Brother Chai, don't laugh, such a beauty is truly hard to find even with a lantern." "
Is that so?" Chai Jun revealed an Ah Q-like smile at this moment, "Forgive my rudeness, but I can only say that Brother Yang hasn't seen a real beauty yet. Have you seen Fu Deng's wife, Mao Shi? She's a celestial maiden descended to earth. Compared to her, 'Mountain Eagle' is just a country bumpkin."
"Is that so? I've long heard that Empress Mao of the Fu family is as beautiful as a fairy, but I've never seen her. Is she really more beautiful than 'Mountain Eagle'? It seems I'm not as lucky as Brother Chai."
"Sigh, what good fortune? We at least got to be with 'Mountain Eagle,' but Mao was the Empress. I, a lowly executioner, am already incredibly lucky to even catch a glimpse of her."
"You can at least catch a glimpse? I haven't even seen her shadow. It's truly a great regret in my life. It's said that Mao was both scholarly and martial, and she followed Fu Deng in conquering the world. But later, she unfortunately fell into enemy hands and was beheaded by Yao Chang. I also heard that Yao Chang not only had his fill of playing with Mao before beheading her, but he didn't even spare her corpse, playing with it for several more days."
"Yes... is that so?" Chai Jun's mouth was also filled with jealousy, especially when he thought of the executioner responsible for beheading Mao. Although he always fantasized about tearing her to pieces, the pitiful thing was that he didn't even know her name or appearance. So these two "envious" men first cursed Yao Chang, then Fu Deng, then the executioner who beheaded Mao, and finally even cursed their ancestors.
They talked for two hours straight, finding themselves quite compatible, and Yang Zeng then invited Chai Jun to join their gang. It turned out that when Anding was captured by the Former Qin army, Yang Ren and his wife were killed. Yang Zeng fled to Zhenxi County and, with his friends from the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world), gathered a band of men and made a living by robbing and pillaging. Later, Fu Deng's southern expedition failed, and Yao Chang returned, conquering Zhenxi County and also wiping out Yang Zeng's band of men. As a result, Yang Zeng had no choice but to lead his men to Jingchuan to seek refuge with another sworn brother. On the way, he encountered Chai Jun fighting with several Former Qin soldiers and rescued him. Chai Jun, realizing he had nowhere else to turn, readily accepted Yang Zeng's invitation.
"Good, good brother! Come on, bring us two more plates of meat and five jugs of fine Jiangnan yellow wine. Tonight, I'm going to drink with Brother Chai until we're completely drunk!" Yang Zeng said, slapping his thigh with delight. Then Yang Zeng called over several of his leaders and introduced them to Chai Jun one by one. After a simple ceremony of burning yellow paper and drinking blood wine, Chai Jun and Yang Zeng and the others officially became sworn brothers. Then, the group spent the night drinking and eating heartily.
Section 5: Zhang Hu
"It's really rare to be able to eat meat these days. And the taste is quite unique." Chai Jun licked his greasy hand, seemingly savoring the memory.
"These days, there's frequent fighting, and nobody raises pigs, cattle, or sheep anymore. Let alone meat, I'm afraid we won't even be able to eat millet husks in the future." Yang Zeng, sitting next to Chai Jun, said with a sigh while chewing on roasted meat.
"Then this meat..." Chai Jun asked, pointing to the pieces of meat he had eaten that had become a mess.
"It was cut from the soldier you chopped into several pieces this morning."
"What...??" Chai Jun's hair stood on end, but Yang Zeng's serious expression didn't seem like a joke.
"What? It's just human flesh, right? Brother Chai, haven't you ever eaten it? These days, you can't survive without eating human flesh. Besides, I've heard that when Fu Deng went south to attack Yao Chang, his army ate a lot of human flesh." Yang Zeng's nonchalant manner made it seem like eating human flesh was a matter of course. Chai Jun immediately felt his stomach churning, as if he had taken poison.
"Brother Chai, don't tell me you haven't eaten human flesh?" Yang Zeng pinched his chin with his hand, raised his mustache, and glanced at Chai Jun, as if he had discovered a visitor from another world.
"I have eaten it, but..."
"But what?"
"Well, I only started eating it after following Fu Deng south. I hadn't eaten it before. Besides, we had no choice back then; the large army couldn't find any food, so we had to use the corpses of fallen soldiers as sustenance."
"Have you ever eaten women's flesh?"
"They were all men. Women's flesh? No."
"Isn't there a women's camp?" "
Well, only the women's camp could collect the corpses. Anyway, I've never eaten it."
"So, Brother Chai, what did you think of the human flesh?"
"It was awful! If I hadn't been starving, I wouldn't have put this in my mouth."
"Hahaha... So you enjoyed the roast meat tonight, Brother Chai?"
"This..." Chai Jun was speechless. Perhaps because he was too hungry when he ate the first plate of meat, he didn't notice anything unusual about the taste. But later, when he dined with Yang Zeng and the other leaders, he was already six or seven tenths full, so he didn't wolf down the roast meat. However, he felt that this meat was indeed different from what he had eaten in the military camp.
"Did you boil or roast the meat back then?"
"Roasting takes too long, so I mostly boiled it in a big pot. Fortunately, we were able to find water along the way."
"Brother Chai, did you know that human flesh is also divided into different grades?" Yang Zeng changed the subject and continued.
"I'm not some savage from a cave, of course I know. Everyone says child's flesh is the best, woman's flesh is average, man's flesh is the worst, and as for old man's flesh, it's simply inedible."
"Right, right." Yang Zeng nodded, excitedly raising his index finger, saying, "Although people in chaotic times often resort to cannibalism out of necessity, I've discovered that if cooked properly, human flesh tastes better than wild delicacies. Brother Chai said the human flesh he ate in the military camp tasted terrible, firstly because the cook's skills were poor, and secondly because the texture and taste of man's flesh are truly inferior, so it can only be roasted. Of course, the roasting method and ingredients are also very important. But even the best-cooked man's flesh can only reach this level; truly exquisite meat is made from woman's flesh."
"Isn't child's flesh the best?"
"This only refers to the tenderness of the meat. But in terms of taste and flavor, the meat of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old woman is the best. If it's a woman over twenty-five, it depends on her 'physique.' For ordinary women over thirty, the meat is basically the same as a man's. However, there are some women who, even if they are nearly forty, taste like young girls. They are either rich young ladies who have been well-fed and clothed since childhood and have well-maintained their bodies, or they are naturally of excellent quality, like 'Sai Shan Ying' (a famous Chinese slang term for a woman who is very skilled in martial arts)."
"What?!" Chai Jun, who was listening intently, suddenly widened his eyes in surprise, his eyeballs almost popping out of their sockets. Looking at Yang Zeng's smug expression, it seemed as if he was saying, "How about that? You were shocked, weren't you?" Chai Jun desperately recalled the situation at the time. After Mu Zhen was beheaded, her body was immediately transported to the mass grave outside the city. But thinking about it carefully, it was also possible that Yang Zeng used his position to bribe the police and secretly send the body elsewhere.
"Hahaha...!" Chai Jun's utterly bewildered expression amused Yang Zeng, who burst into laughter. He patted Chai Jun's shoulder forcefully and said, "Speaking of which, I still have the upper hand over you. Although both of us brothers were executed by 'Mountain Eagle,' you never got to taste her flesh. My first experience of eating human flesh was with 'Mountain Eagle.'" Then Yang Zeng recounted the events of that day.
It was said that after "Mountain Eagle" Mu Zhen was beheaded at the execution ground, her pale body was dragged away by the guards and wrapped in a straw mat. Since a plague had struck Anding City two years prior, Prefect Yang Ren had banned the long-standing execution ground practice of exposing corpses. No matter how heinous the crime, after beheading or dismemberment, the head could only be displayed publicly, and the body had to be immediately transported out of the city to be buried in a mass grave. Therefore, even for a serious criminal like Mu Zhen, the time her head was displayed was merely extended. After the execution, the officials and onlookers gradually dispersed, leaving only Yang Zeng somewhat "reluctant." Watching Mu Zhen's body being placed in a wooden cart and pushed away, he found himself inexplicably following behind.
"Why am I following them?" Yang Zeng couldn't help but ask himself. His "little darling" was inexplicably in a state of "excitement." Even though he had thoroughly "enjoyed" Mu Zhen the previous night, he couldn't sleep after returning to his residence. Every inch of Mu Zhen's skin, even every hair, seemed to still be stimulating his nerves. "I have to do it again, no matter what, even if it's a headless corpse." This was Yang Zeng's subconscious thought, a thought that even he found utterly absurd, yet he couldn't control it. As he followed the two constables, Mu Zhen's radiant smile, her tragically beautiful head laid out on a plate, and her snow-white body writhing on the ground, gushing blood… the events of those brief minutes at the execution ground replayed in Yang Zeng's mind like a video recording. His heart pounded, and his throat grew parched. But after following them for a while, Yang Zeng was surprised to find that the two constables, after leaving the outskirts, were not heading towards the mass grave; they were clearly going in the opposite direction. "Could these two bastards also be thinking about…?" Yang Zeng suspected they might have ulterior motives regarding Mu Zhen's corpse, so he became even more vigilant and followed them more cautiously.
He saw the two furtive constables turn down several small paths, pass through a grove of trees, and finally stop their cart beside a large wooden house. The large wooden house looked like an ordinary dwelling, but it was deeply hidden among the bushes and grass. The roof was densely covered with straw, and wisps of mist constantly rose from the straw pile, like eerie energy. Could it be that a cannibalistic monster lived inside? Just as Yang Zeng was filled with doubt, one of the constables began to untie the ropes on the straw mat, revealing Mu Zhen's headless corpse. Another constable knocked on the wooden door with a strange rhythm. After a while, a burly man with a thick waist, thick arms, and a face full of scars swaggered out of the wooden house. His face was so fat that it was almost comical, his mouth looked like it contained two small balls, and his small, bulbous nose was almost buried in his cheeks. After he came out, he didn't speak to the constables. Instead, he pressed his basketball-sized head against Mu Zhen's body, his small eyes, squeezed by the fat on his face, scrutinizing every inch of her skin with a licking sound. He kept touching and pinching her, and it took him a long time to straighten up. Yang Zeng thought the fat man would break the silence first, but instead, he simply extended his right palm to the constables, making a strange gesture. The constable didn't reply, but returned the gesture, and the two seemed to be communicating in sign language. Yang Zeng, being quite knowledgeable, immediately recognized this as a common sign language used in the black market. Those in the know often used this method to bargain, while outsiders wouldn't understand. It seemed that the constables frequently engaged in this kind of business, to the point that they skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the deal. The two haggled for a long time, with the fat man just shaking his head repeatedly. Another constable couldn't resist and whispered, "Do you know who this woman is? She's the famous 'Mountain Eagle.' That body of hers is worth a price, isn't it?" But the man clearly wasn't going to budge, and made a few more gestures. Finally, the constable nodded and agreed to the deal.
Satisfied with the money, the constable pushed the wooden cart away, while the fat man, carrying Mu Zhen's corpse, turned and went into the wooden house. Driven by intense curiosity, Yang Zeng drew his iron fan from his waist and tiptoed towards the door of the wooden house. Despite Yang Zeng's usual carefree playboy image, he had acquired considerable martial arts skills in his youth. Known for his womanizing ways, Yang Zeng had a folding iron fan specially crafted. He would open the fan to show off his elegance when he was out playing, and when necessary, he could fold it into a fine weapon, capable of inflicting serious injuries when using his internal energy to attack an opponent. After confirming that there were no suspicious people around the cabin, Yang Zeng darted inside and slowly walked down the corridor.
The wooden hut looked rough on the outside, but the interior was quite finely crafted. The planks were glued together so tightly that they were airtight, showing that the person who built this large hut was no ordinary person. At the end of the passageway was a courtyard, with a door on each of the three walls, the entrances only covered by a straw curtain. In the center of the courtyard was an old wooden table, on which were scattered butcher's tools such as cleavers, iron scales, and meat hooks, while more than a dozen slightly damaged wooden chairs were casually placed, creating a somewhat messy atmosphere. At the same time, the courtyard was filled with the distinctive bloody smell of a slaughterhouse. "That fat man from earlier was definitely a butcher," Yang Zeng thought, now even more certain of his guess. Judging from the size and furnishings of the courtyard, at least five people had been coming and going in this hut, but where had they all gone? The fat man from earlier seemed to have vanished into thin air, and the surroundings were so quiet that one could almost hear their own breathing. Yang Zeng noticed that the door on the left side of the courtyard was larger than the other two, and the smell of blood seemed to be coming from the left as well. Gripping his iron fan, Yang Zeng slowly made his way towards the left door. Thinking that the large, fat man from before might be inside, Yang Zeng's palms sweated profusely with nervousness, and he almost dropped the iron fan.
Carefully using the iron fan, Yang Zeng used his peripheral vision to observe what was behind the curtain. It seemed to be a butcher's room; chunks of meat hung on the walls, and there were two butcher's blocks in the middle, but he didn't see the large, fat man from before. So, Yang Zeng boldly squeezed into the room, but what he saw there made him gasp in astonishment, speechless for a long time. What hung on the wall weren't ordinary pork or mutton, but human hands and legs. The few pieces of bright red ribs were several inches smaller than pork ribs. One of the ribs was hanging sideways, and on the white skin attached to it, a small "skin bag" was clearly visible dangling down. Below the "skin bag" was a large black mole. Upon closer inspection, Yang Zeng immediately gasped. The "skin bag" was actually a woman's breast. On one of the two meat counters in the center of the slaughterhouse, there were several sets of brownish-red entrails. Around a boning knife with a few small bits of meat stuck to it were two or three arm bones, the meat already completely removed, leaving only the hands intact and attached to the bones. On the other meat counter lay Mu Zhen's naked, headless corpse. At this moment, Yang Zeng felt a chill run down his spine, and all the hairs on his body stood on end. This place was practically a living hell, only missing a few green-headed demons and Yama, the King of Hell.
Even the usually fearless and skilled Yang Zeng was unusually pale with fright, and the silence around him, so quiet he could hear his own heartbeat, sent chills down his spine. "We've fallen for their trap!" After a long moment of stunned silence, Yang Zeng remembered the fat man. This empty wooden hut seemed like a deliberately left-behind camp for a night raid. Yang Zeng immediately rushed out of the slaughterhouse, only to find three men in the courtyard, armed and waiting for him to die. One of them was the fat man.
"You audacious scholar, daring to come here to your death! I'll chop you into mincemeat for wontons!" At the fat man's command, two of his henchmen yelled and charged forward with broadswords. Yang Zeng, being a man of experience, quickly regained his composure. With a flick of his wrist, he knocked one of the henchmen to the ground. After dodging another man's broadsword, he dashed out of the wooden house. "Trying to run? Chase him!!" the fat man shouted. Knowing he was deep in enemy territory, Yang Zeng didn't linger. He decided to retreat, but as soon as he stepped outside, five men wielding large knives blocked his escape route. "Did they already know I was following them?" Yang Zeng didn't want to analyze the situation further. His priority was survival; otherwise, he might become a sitting duck.
One of the burly men, with a full beard and piercing eyes, pointed his knife at Yang Zeng and said, "You little brat, you've got some nerve! Peeping is one thing, but sneaking in like this is another! You won't leave here alive today. Put down your weapon and maybe I'll give you a quick death." Faced with this seemingly hopeless situation, Yang Zeng's fighting spirit was ignoring the bearded man's words. He roared and charged at one of the weaker-looking men. The man frantically blocked Yang Zeng's first attack, but was kicked hard in the stomach and fell to the ground with a cry. Seeing that Yang Zeng had struck first, the bearded man and the other three also charged forward with their broadswords. The men exchanged blows for several rounds, like "Four Heroes Fighting Lü Bu." Yang Zeng, surprised that he could withstand the attack of four men, grew bolder. Instead of taking the opportunity to escape, he switched from offense to defense. A scream rang out, and another unfortunate man was struck by Yang Zeng's iron fan and fell to the ground. Just as Yang Zeng was about to defeat them one by one, the three men who had been lying in ambush in the wooden house rushed out. Yang Zeng inwardly groaned; his opponents had suddenly increased to three men. Even with his superior skills, his stamina would inevitably wane, and a single blow would be fatal. Knowing his time was near, Yang Zeng resolved to take one or two of them down with him before he died, and launched his attack straight for their vital points.
At that critical moment, a man's shout came from afar: "Eight men can't beat one person? Aren't you ashamed? Stop it all!!" The six men, led by the bearded man and the fat man, immediately stopped their attacks upon hearing the shout, their eyes all turning towards the source of the sound. In the misty forest, a man on horseback appeared, accompanied by two or three others. Exhausted and already showing signs of weakness, Yang Zeng felt a huge weight lifted from his shoulders. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground, panting heavily. "Big Brother!" the men called out to the man riding up on horseback. Yang Zeng knew that the guy who had stopped them earlier was their leader, so he used his iron fan to support himself and stood up. Seeing Yang Zeng stand up, the man dismounted and greeted him with a loud laugh. "Hahaha! People in the martial world say that Iron Fan Yang Zeng can take on ten men at once. I didn't believe it at first, but today I've really seen it for myself. My men aren't martial arts experts, but they're still strong men. Most martial artists would be in trouble if they surrounded them, but you not only held them off, you even took down two of them. Haha!! Well done!"
"May I ask..." Yang Zeng was taken aback. This man not only recognized him, but even knew his nickname in the martial world, "Iron Fan." Before Yang Zeng could ask him anything, the man cupped his hands and said, "I am Zhang Hu from Liangzhou, a descendant of King Zhang Jun of Liang. Since Liangzhou was pacified by Fu Jian, I have been wandering the Jianghu (江湖, the martial arts world). Later, I met these butcher brothers and we made a living by doing business everywhere. I just took a few brothers out on an errand, and luckily we returned early. Otherwise, if we had accidentally injured any heroes, it would have been a lifelong regret for me, Zhang Hu." Yang Zeng carefully examined this "descendant of royalty." He had a square face, thick eyebrows like crossed swords, and sharp eyes that seemed to pierce through people's hearts. Under his high nose was a neatly trimmed beard. He wore a blue and purple jumpsuit, and at first glance, he had the air of a king or general, which was completely out of place with the group of burly butchers beside him. It was hard to imagine that he was the leader of this group of butchers.
"My name is Yang Zeng, younger brother of Yang Ren, the Prefect of Anding. May I ask why you know me, Brother Zhang? Have we met before?" Yang Zeng returned the greeting with a cupped hand.
"Hahaha, my brothers and I have been here for a year. We have long known of your name, Brother Yang, but we have never had the chance to meet you. Today
, in Anding City, we are fortunate enough to finally see your face." "Is...is that so? Where? I didn't notice you." Yang Zeng was a little confused. From morning until now, he had been by his elder brother Yang Ren's side and had not seen anyone else or any strangers enter the mansion.
"Brother Yang, of course you didn't see me. I saw you clearly, just an hour ago." "
An hour ago...could it be...?"
"Yes, right under the Ping'an Gate in Anding City."
"Indeed...!" Yang Zeng now completely understood.
The Ping'an Gate mentioned by Zhang Hu refers to the famous Ping'an Gate execution ground in Anding City, where Mu Zhen, nicknamed "Mountain Eagle," was beheaded. Yang Zeng was sitting next to Prefect Yang Ren in a highly visible position, so Zhang Hu, watching from the sidelines, could clearly see Yang Zeng's face. Of course, Yang Zeng couldn't possibly notice the complete stranger Zhang Hu amidst the bustling crowd.
The Ping'an Gate execution ground existed as early as the Western Jin Dynasty. Ping'an Gate was a gateway between Anding City and its suburbs. During peacetime, people from the suburbs would come into the city to do business, making Ping'an Gate the busiest place in Anding City. Official notices were often posted on both sides of the Ping'an Gate city wall. In ancient times, many execution grounds were located in the busiest parts of the city to facilitate public viewing, but the disadvantage was that there was limited space available, and the area around the execution ground was often packed with people. The execution procession would take most of the day to walk the short distance from the archway to the execution ground, and if an entire family was executed, the corpses would often pile up next to nearby shops, which was considered quite ominous. Some cities built execution grounds in the suburbs. The advantage was their large size, allowing for the execution of large numbers of prisoners and the execution of capital punishments like dismemberment, which required ample space. However, the disadvantage was their remoteness, making them difficult to attract attention. The Ping'an Gate execution ground, however, combined the advantages of both. Several acres of land near the city wall in the suburbs were designated as the execution ground, its size adjustable with wooden sheds. The square city gate was ironically named Ping'an Gate (Peace Gate), a name that evoked fear.
Yang Zeng and Zhang Hu, after their initial conflict, shook hands and made peace. Zhang Hu invited Yang Zeng to sit in the courtyard of the wooden house and introduced him to his butchers. Among them was a burly man named Cheng Sheng, who was exceptionally skilled in butchering and cooking, and a bearded man named Hu Hai, skilled in skinning and deboning. Both were Zhang Hu's capable assistants. After Zhang Hu and Yang Zeng sat down as host and guest, they quickly began to talk.
It turned out that Zhang Hu had come south from Liangzhou and had met a group of butchers in Jingchuan County, where they started a human flesh trade. At that time, due to years of war in the north, most farmland was abandoned, and naturally, few people raised livestock. Grain and meat were scarce year-round, and famine was commonplace. Whenever war raged, the barbaric practice of cannibalism would become prevalent. Those who starved to death would quickly become food for others, and exchanging children for food was commonplace. Zhang Hu's "butcher gang" had their sights set on this trade. They would often build a hidden slaughterhouse in the suburbs near towns, then use various methods to bring their prey to the slaughterhouse, butcher it into pieces, and sell it in the city as fresh beef or mutton. Once word got out, they would disappear and continue their business elsewhere. A year ago, they arrived in Anding City. After learning of Yang Ren's ban on exposing corpses, they bribed the constables responsible for transporting bodies. Whenever there were constables in the city, they would send the bodies of prisoners directly to the slaughterhouse. Compared to abducting living people, buying fresh corpses was more convenient and reduced the risk of being discovered by the authorities. Yang recalled hearing reports from local officials about missing persons in recent years, but such things were common in times of war and chaos, so they naturally didn't attract much attention. He guessed that it was probably related to Zhang Hu's business.
"I've heard about missing women in Longdong and Pingliang in the past. Could it be Brother Zhang's doing?"
"Exactly." Zhang Hu nodded smugly.
"Why only women? Most of the chunks of flesh and limbs I saw in the slaughterhouse were cut from women."
"Brother Yang, you may not know this, but among human flesh, young women are considered the finest in terms of quality and taste. They retain their original flavor regardless of the cooking method, something that children's flesh and men's flesh cannot compare to. Therefore, in the underground market, women's flesh generally fetches the highest price." "
I see. But recently, it seems there haven't been many female prisoners executed. Why does Brother Zhang's slaughterhouse have so many women's limbs?"
"Although buying directly from executed prisoners is easier, it still requires purchasing from officials first, which significantly increases costs. So, we also source live women from other places for slaughter."
"Do you buy male prisoners' bodies too?"
"Of course we'll buy it. After all, the city's demand for meat is just too high, and those two damn officials can't get a high price from us for man's flesh. Speaking of which, you should thank me. Without our supply, the price of meat in Anding City would have skyrocketed long ago. At that time, one tael of silver probably wouldn't even buy half a jin of meat."
Hearing this, Yang Zeng couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. As a major city in the Guanzhong region, Anding City received priority in the supply of grain and meat regardless of which warlord ruled. Therefore, even during periods of frequent war, Anding City rarely suffered from famine. However, Yang Zeng never dreamed that behind the seemingly abundant meat supply, there was such an unknown secret. It was possible that the so-called beef or mutton he ate at the dinner table might contain human flesh. As for Mu Zhen's flesh, it would probably be sold back to the city as pork or something before being cooked into dishes and placed on people's tables.
"Brother Zhang said you went into town this morning on business. Could it be to admire 'Mountain Eagle'?" Yang Zeng said half-jokingly, but Zhang Hu clapped his hands and laughed, "Brother Yang is indeed insightful! That's exactly why I went into town this morning." Speaking of which, Zhang Hu had met "Mountain Eagle" once before. A year ago, when he and his group of butchers were doing business in Pingliang, they had a dispute with Mu Zhen's men. It was only thanks to Mu Zhen's intervention that the matter was resolved. When Zhang Hu first saw her, he could hardly believe that this stunningly beautiful woman was actually a bandit leader. Although she was wearing men's linen clothes, her feminine curves were still clearly visible, making Zhang Hu swallow hard. After that day, Zhang Hu and Mu Zhen parted ways, but Mu Zhen's beautiful appearance remained unforgettable for a long time. Later, Zhang Hu and his group arrived in Anding, but they didn't have a chance to meet Mu Zhen, even though "Mountain Eagle's" name was known to everyone in Anding. "It's such a pity that a woman like that became a mountain bandit leader. I even had the idea of marrying her back then." Zhang Hu sighed as he recalled this. "Later, I heard that the government troops had wiped out Miss Mu's mountain stronghold and captured her alive. I knew then that her fate was sealed. After learning the day of her execution, I took a few brothers to the execution ground to see her off on her final journey." "
At noon today, I finally saw her slender figure. Compared to those well-off young ladies, she was more robust, even more perfect than I had imagined. Her skin was as white and tender as her face, and her two round breasts were very firm, without the slightest sagging. At that moment, I felt as if the whole world had suddenly become empty, leaving only her and me. Her naked appearance was simply too mesmerizing."
"Speaking of which, this is Brother Zhang's real purpose, isn't it? To be honest, although 'Mountain Eagle' is a fearsome female mountain queen, she is also a renowned beauty. In this An Ding City, what man wouldn't want to catch a glimpse of her naked beauty?"
"Hahaha, Brother Yang truly understands me." Zhang Hu slapped the table and laughed.
"Since you want to admire 'Mountain Eagle's' figure, why not just wait for the corpse to be delivered? Why bother going to the execution ground yourself? After all, Brother Zhang is involved in underground business; showing your face in public will easily attract unnecessary trouble."
"It's different, it's different," Zhang Hu shook his head repeatedly, waving his hands vigorously from side to side. "Not to mention the difference in skin color and texture between a dead person and a living one, appreciating a woman's body requires looking at her head as well to truly enjoy it. You know, some ugly women have quite good figures. Besides, compared to women having their throats cut in the slaughterhouse, their execution on the execution ground is far more exciting. Moreover, Miss Mu is a beautiful and strong woman. Just seeing her heroic spirit of facing death on the execution ground, and the spectacular sight of her white body covered in blood after her beheading, would make this life worthwhile." "
It seems Brother Zhang quite admires 'Mountain Eagle.' Are you planning to give her a grand funeral after buying her body?"
"No, that won't do. These are two different things. Without a head, the body is just a piece of meat. It will still be sold and eaten. We'll be gutting it soon. Come, Brother Yang, let's take a look before we do."
With that, the group entered the slaughterhouse. Zhang Hu stroked Mu Zhen's body lying on the butcher's block and exclaimed, "It's been more than an hour since Miss Mu was beheaded, but look at the texture of her skin, it's just like when she was alive." Yang Zeng didn't say anything. He had originally wanted to "enjoy" Mu Zhen's corpse again, but now it seemed he wouldn't have the chance. He could only try to memorize every detail of her fair and beautiful body before it was slaughtered. Mu Zhen's skin was naturally very fair, and the change in her complexion after death was not as obvious as that of an ordinary person. Her two full and firm breasts showed no signs of sagging, and her two small, bean-like nipples remained erect. Last night, it was these two rubbery "beans" that had been constantly rubbing against the skin of her chest, making Yang Zeng, whose blood was boiling, feel as if his own soul had emerged from his body and was "fighting" on this beauty's body just like last night. However, the half-severed neck finally brought Yang Zeng back to his senses. He moved a few steps to the butcher's block and carefully examined Mu Zhen's neck. He saw that the cut in the neck was very clean. The dark red muscle, the grayish-white neck bone, and the round trachea and esophagus were like a flat drawing on paper, and they were at a perfect ninety-degree angle to the skin of the neck. It was rare to cut so cleanly, even when cutting tofu on a cutting board. Yang Zeng couldn't help but shake his head and sigh, "Truly worthy of being 'Chai Yidao's' son, that knife work was so beautiful, not even a slight angle. No wonder 'Sai Shanying's' head could be placed so neatly on the plate..."
Zhang Hu seemed to be captivated by the work of art before him, completely ignoring Yang Zeng's mutterings. After pinching Mu Zhen's thighs, wrists, and body for a long time, he said to Yang Zeng, "Miss Mu's body is truly a masterpiece! This is the best meat I've seen in years. Although it cost so much money, it's definitely worth it. Selling it to some bumpkin in the city would be a real waste. I've made up my mind, we won't sell this meat. Tonight, we'll cook a good meal and have a good taste with you brothers. What do you say?"
"What?" Although Mu Zhen's body did indeed have the urge to devour it, Yang Zeng seemed unable to process the thought of actually eating it.
"Brother Yang, you're really in for a treat today. Based on my years of experience, Miss Mu's flesh is absolutely top-grade human flesh. After eating this, I guarantee you'll find all other meats bland and tasteless. To be honest, I'm not as lucky as you, getting such a delicacy on your first try of human flesh." "
Really...?" Yang Zeng swallowed hard, his mouth watering at Zhang Hu's words. Besides, he hadn't eaten lunch yet, and his stomach was growling. His lust quickly turned into appetite, and the snow-white woman's body looked like a white pig lying on a butcher's block. "Then, then I really have to see it for myself." Yang Zeng's saliva almost overflowed from the corners of his mouth as he spoke.
Upon receiving Zhang Hu's order, the burly Cheng Sheng stripped off his clothes, revealing his bulging muscles. He first turned Mu Zhen's body over, then picked up a bucket of water and splashed it onto her. He then carefully wiped her body with a wet cloth. Her perfectly curved buttocks and back appeared sculpted against the wet skin, and even her feet, which had been filthy from the execution ground, were now as smooth and shiny as dumplings. Before Yang Zeng could fully appreciate her, Cheng Sheng turned Mu Zhen over again, poured half a bucket of water over her, and continued to scrub her vigorously. Her wet skin looked as translucent as crystal pig's trotters, making one's mouth water even before it was cooked.
After cleaning, Cheng Sheng placed one hand on Mu Zhen's chest, while the other held a butcher's knife directly below her sternum. With a hiss, a long gash was torn open in Mu Zhen's belly, which then gently and automatically flipped open, revealing yellowish-white fat that split open like a ripe bean pod. He then placed the knife against one of Mu Zhen's thighs and began to yank out her reddish-brown internal organs one by one. Throughout the entire butchering process, Cheng Sheng's chubby face remained expressionless. To him, whether a woman was beautiful or ugly, she was merely a piece of meat. In less than fifteen minutes, Mu Zhen's breasts, ribs, thigh meat, and belly meat were hanging one by one on the hooks on the butcher's block. The once alluring woman lying on the block quickly became a gruesome sight, and the pungent smell of meat made Yang Zeng's stomach churn. At that moment, Yang Zeng truly realized that there was no real difference between humans and animals. At first glance, the dismembered human flesh really did look much the same as pork or mutton.
"It was from that moment that I discovered the wonder of human flesh," Yang Zeng said to Chai Jun with a sigh, recalling this moment.
"Is the meat of 'Mountain Eagle' delicious?" Chai Jun's tone was somewhat tinged with jealousy.
"Is that even a question? That night, 'Mountain Eagle's' meat was divided into several portions and cooked in different ways—steamed, boiled, braised, stir-fried, etc.—each dish with its own unique flavor. That was the most delicious meat I've ever eaten. What we're eating now can't even compare to a tenth of that."
"I never expected this. I just chopped off that woman's head, and you guys ate her flesh right after." "
Haha, I should have invited you, Brother Chai, along. But it's alright, we'll definitely have a chance to eat delicacies like 'Mountain Eagle' in the future. To be honest, Brother Chai, the sworn brother I went to seek refuge with this time is Zhang Hu. He's doing business in Jingchuan now, and he might just deliver some fat meat to our doorstep. We'll be in for a treat then."
"Judging from Brother Yang's tone, you're really addicted to human flesh."
In fact, in the chaotic era of the Sixteen Kingdoms, human flesh was indeed as common as everyday food. Chai Jun grew up in the relatively wealthy city of Anding, so he rarely witnessed the tragedy of cannibalism. In many places, especially in war-torn cities, cannibalism occurred almost daily. The most horrific example was the famine that struck Ye, the capital of Later Zhao, during its siege. Of the nearly 30,000 palace women, most, besides those who starved to death, were cooked and eaten by the defending soldiers. What was initially a desperate act even evolved into a trend, with cannibalism occurring even in peacetime. Shi Sui, the son of Shi Hu, the ruler of Later Zhao, captured numerous nuns, raped them, and sent them to the kitchen to be slaughtered, cooked with pork or mutton, and shared the meal with his men, even holding a "guessing game" to see who could distinguish the nuns' flesh from the meat on the plate.
After that day, Yang Zeng became sworn brothers with Zhang Hu and others, spending some time with them, naturally enjoying the "prey" of Zhang Hu and his gang. Six months later, the two constables' smuggling of corpses was exposed. Under Yang Zeng's cover, Zhang Hu and his men escaped before the officials arrived. Yang Ren subsequently reinstated the practice of exposing corpses at execution grounds, a practice that had been banned for several years. Later, when Anding City fell to the Former Qin army, the fleeing Yang Zeng established a power base in Zhenxi County. He maintained correspondence with Zhang Hu and his men, learning that Zhang Hu was now doing business in Jingchuan. Driven down the mountain by the Later Qin army, Yang Zeng led his troops there.
At the banquet, Chai Jun, while chewing on the golden-brown roasted meat and drinking the fine wine, thought to himself, "Actually, human flesh is quite delicious."

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