Chapter 1 The Sun Rises for the First Time Section 2

  A month ago, this dull day suddenly disappeared.

  Tie Lang found Li Hong in the horse shed, his expression indignant and furious. "The commander has been captured by that treacherous Ke Zui."

  "How did you know?"

  "I heard it from one of Kui's underlings. Kui spent a lot of money to bribe one of the Grand Marshal's friends, and had him caught through a trap. Now the Grand Marshal is locked up in the Tiger's Den."

  Li Hong didn't say a word, he looked sympathetically at Tie Lang's almost desperate face, not knowing how to comfort him.

  After more than half a year of recuperation and practice, Li Hong's mind had recovered a lot. Although he didn't know what he was like in the past, he thought he should have recovered enough by now. He was now just a normal person, except for not remembering his past, and was no different from ordinary people. Li thought that as a normal person, he should comfort the other party a bit, so Li Hong finally came up with a comforting phrase: "If you have a way to save him, I'll definitely help you."

  "Really?" The desperate face of Iron Wolf immediately had spirit.

  "I'd give my life for it." Li Hong saw Tie Lang's joyful surprise, and deep down, he couldn't help but think that he was willing to sacrifice his life for the person in front of him. Tie Lang looked at him with gratitude, and a layer of tears quietly welled up in his eyes.

  Since I can remember, I have been struggling to survive in all sorts of torture and endless suffering. Later, I was treated like a dog by the Xianbei people, subjected to all kinds of torment, until I met Tie Lang in the stable, and only then did I experience what it means to go from suffering to happiness. Although Tie Lang is a defeated prisoner and a slave of the Hu tribe, his reputation on the grasslands makes him the most glorious and powerful slave even as a captive. Here, the Xianbei people respect him and treat him like a hero. Tie Lang likes me, actually protecting me, and because of his relationship with me, the surrounding Xianbei people are much kinder to me. Tie Lang not only regards me as someone to confide in but also treats me like his own child. He takes care of me, is concerned about me, and teaches me many skills with his own hands. I owe my quick recovery to Tie Lang's meticulous care. I will never be able to repay Tie Lang's kindness for the rest of my life. Although I have never called him Master, in my heart, he is indeed my master, and I can do anything for him, even sacrifice my life.

  Tie Lang seemed to have a plan and immediately took him to the small hut where they lived. Tie Lang drew a very detailed map on the ground with a small twig.

  "Where is this?" Li Hong asked in a low voice.

  "The Tiger's Den is the place where even tigers go to die." Iron Wolf said, pointing at the crooked map on the ground. "This is the innermost cave, and the general is being held here. There are twenty guards outside, and the door of this cave can only be opened from the inside. So what you need to do is kill all twenty soldiers, then open the door. I'll take care of everything else, don't worry about it."

  Li Hong seemed unaware of the danger in general, he calmly looked at the map and then raised his head to gaze at Iron Wolf, waiting for him to continue speaking.

  Tie Lang looked at him with some surprise and asked: "Aren't you afraid?"

  Li Hong shook his head.

  Iron Wolf secretly called out a lucky break in his heart. Fortunately, this kid is not clear-headed and doesn't know the danger of the tiger's den, otherwise he would have been scared to death by now. It's still good to be an idiot.

  "How can I enter the tiger's den?" Li Hong asked.

  Iron Wolf laughed and said: "Run away!"

  Li Hong stole Ke Ye's BMW X6 early in the morning.

  Li Hong was a horse slave of Kuye, responsible for feeding the black leopard, and was very familiar with it. Li Hong liked this tall and majestic black horse, its hair shining like black satin, running as fast as an arrow. Li Hong rode on it, rushing out of Tiger City without any restraint. The tiger tribe soldiers who were in charge of sentry duty all recognized Li Hong, they first warned him, later found that the situation was not right, that kid seemed to want to steal the horse and escape, immediately the alarm sound of the cow horn resounded through the sky above Tiger City.

  Li Hong ran for over ten miles, injuring more than a dozen soldiers along the way. Eventually, he was overwhelmed by sheer numbers and captured after being knocked off his horse. Ke Ye subjected him to severe torture, but Li Hong remained silent. However, this time he readily admitted that he was indeed a spy sent by the Great Han Dynasty, "I came to kill Ke Zhi."

  Kuye did not dare to take the initiative to kill him, and hastily reported it to the central Xianbei lord Kemo. Kemo didn't pay attention to this small matter, and casually handed it over to his subordinates to handle according to the usual procedure. According to the usual procedure, they would not be killed first, but would be locked in a death prison for trial, and only after being deemed worthless would they be executed.

  In the Xianbei state, the leader of a tribal alliance was called "Dàrén", while the leader of a larger tribal alliance within it was called "Dàshuài" or "Háo Shuài". A general term for an ordinary tribal leader was "Xiǎo Shuài". After the Xianbei king, Tan Shi Huai unified the various tribes in the desert region, he divided the vast territory of the Xianbei into three parts: east, west and central. Each part was governed by one of the three Dàrén. Jia Shi Yao was the Dàrén of the central Xianbei, and the supreme leader of the tribal alliance of the central Xianbei.

  Li Hong was beaten all over his body and stayed in the tiger cave for more than ten days before he recovered a little. His hatred for the Xianbei people reached its peak. After Li Hong arrived at the tiger cave, the Xianbei people seemed to have forgotten him and did not interrogate him. Except for providing him with two meals of food every day, no one asked about his situation.

  That day, he ate a stone the size of a pigeon egg in his food. This was the signal he and Iron Wolf had agreed upon, to take action when they saw the stone, so he immediately started shouting loudly in the cave.

  A guard opened the door, rushed in with a loud shout, and swung his whip at Li Hong. The man hadn't even finished swinging when he was kicked in the crotch by Li Hong and fell to the ground dead. Li Hong found it strange that he was so familiar with killing people. Was he really a spy sent by the Han Dynasty? What's even stranger is that after killing someone, he didn't feel anything, such as fear, terror, or nausea. He discovered that he was very calm, just like stepping on an ant without any feeling.

  Li Hong didn't think much and immediately rushed out of the cave where he was being held. Outside, it was a huge cave with many torches hanging on the walls all around, and a group of guards sitting on the ground playing something looked up at him in surprise. Li Hong suddenly saw so many people outside, his heart tightened, and his rushing footsteps stopped instantly.

  What happened next left Li Hong stunned, he saw the most unimaginable scene.

  Those guards suddenly went mad and drew their swords to slaughter each other, and in an instant the cave was filled with flying flesh and blood, and loud roars echoed everywhere. In a flash, none of those guards were left standing.

  Li Hong was stunned. His first reaction was that there must be a conspiracy. He ran to the group of guards to see if anyone else was still alive, and found only one person who was still groaning. Li Hong pulled him out from under the pile of corpses, bent down to ask him questions. The man spat out blood, and with great difficulty said one word: "Pig." Then he died.

  Li Hong hastily found the cave where Murong Feng was being held captive. He finally saw Murong Feng. Li Hong couldn't help but admire him, a hero is indeed a hero, even as a prisoner, his aura is still different from others.

  Li Hong found a knife and helped Murong Feng remove his handcuffs and footcuffs, then sat on the ground, carefully removing his own handcuffs and footcuffs.

  Murong Feng looked at him in the firelight. The young man in front of him was probably no more than twenty years old, with a immature and tender face, and a silly expression. His body was very tall and strong, with muscles that seemed to be bursting out of his clothes. As they chatted casually, they quickly became familiar with each other. Li Hong was extremely surprised by Murong Feng's calmness, he was indifferent to everything in front of him, neither caring how Li Hong had come in nor how they would leave, he just chatted idly with Li Hong.

  After a long time, someone knocked on the door with the password that Li Hong knew. What happened later was even more difficult for Li Hong to understand. Li Hong wrapped Murong Feng in a piece of raw cowhide and carried him on his back, escorted by two guards, who passed through several checkpoints without incident and walked out of the Tiger's Den. Then Li Hong drove a cart parked outside the Tiger's Den, taking advantage of the dark night, calmly walking seven or eight miles before leaving the Tiger City, when Murong Feng finally asked Li Hong to stop. The two began their escape on foot.

  Things seemed mysterious and confusing, no matter how hard Li Hong thought about it, he couldn't make sense of it. Li Hong was also open-minded and didn't think about it anymore, falling asleep in a daze.

  He was soon awakened by a dense horse hoof sound that came from afar and rushed near.

  Li Hongyi suddenly sat up, looking around nervously. Mu Rongfeng beside him seemed to be asleep, with no reaction. Li Hong saw a group of Xianbei cavalrymen rushing towards them, consisting of dozens of people.

  "General, general, there are pursuing soldiers coming, shall we hide?"

  Murong Feng opened his eyes and smiled slightly: "Don't be nervous, it's my person."

  Li Hong saw the Iron Wolf from a distance. This cavalry had more than thirty people, each of whom was very strong and well-equipped, with everyone having a strong bow and long knife, and three-meter-long spears. (During the Han Dynasty, one foot was equivalent to twenty-three centimeters now, and one zhang was equivalent to two meters and three inches now.)

  The cavalrymen arrived in front of Murong Feng, dismounted and saluted. Ti Lang stepped forward, hugged Li Hong tightly into his arms, patted his shoulders vigorously and said: "Good kid! You did a great job."

  Murong Feng pointed at a burly man with a thick beard and said: "Duan Zhen, give this kid a weapon. This kid is not bad, he's good material."

  A group of people hurriedly rushed towards the direction of the wet water.

  Li Hong rode a sorrel warhorse closely behind Tie Lang. Tie Lang was unusually taciturn, his expression stern. Li Hong tried to speak to him several times, but seeing the fierce look on his face, he swallowed his words instead. As if knowing Li Hong had something to say, Tie Lang deliberately slowed down his horse and rode alongside Li Hong.

  "I killed a man." Li Hong said to Iron Wolf.

  Tie Lang looked at him seriously and nodded.

  "I killed a man." Li Hong shouted at Iron Wolf.

  Tie Lang ignored him and nodded as usual.

  "I really killed someone." Li Hong shouted on horseback.

  "Are you afraid?" Tie Lang finally spoke up and asked.

  Li Hong shook his head, "I used to be like a killer, without any feelings, and I thought killing was a very ordinary thing. Before killing someone, I also knew how to kill them. What do you think I used to be?"

  Tie Lang gazed at him and said loudly: "Assassin, General says you are an assassin."

  Li Hong suddenly felt like he had grasped something, a very familiar feeling surged up in his heart. Assassin. He seemed to be extremely familiar with these two words, just as if he knew how many fingers he had.