[Water Margin] Hu Sanniang with her delicate hands - Chapter Six
Chapter Six
The ringing of the warning bell, like ice water thrown into boiling oil, instantly ignited the Hù Family Village’s taut nerves.
Torches on the wall snapped and fluttered in the wind, illuminating faces that were tense, fearful, or resolute. Bowstrings were slowly drawn back with a subtle “creak,” and the guards by the rolling logs and thunder-stones gripped their crowbars, their knuckles white.
Hù Sānniáng stood tall on the wall. Her dark cloak billowed in the night wind, her figure as straight as a pine. Only the white-knuckled grip on the hilt of her sabers revealed that her internal state was not as placid as her exterior. She stared intently at the dense woods to the southeast, her ears catching every unusual sound carried on the wind.
The dull thud when a pitfall was triggered, the brief cries of pain as an iron caltrop pierced a foot, the heavy sound of a body hitting the ground after being tripped by a snare… The chaos and casualties of Liangshan’s vanguard were clearly playing out in her mind like a silent drama in the darkness.
Her “net” was effectively draining the enemy’s vigor and taking lives.
However, this was only the beginning. The Liangshan Marsh forces, capable of dominating Shandong, were by no means easy opponents.
Indeed, the confusion in the woods did not last long. After a few short, sharp shouts, the rustling sounds became more organized. The speed of their advance slowed down but became more steady. Clearly, the enemy leader had realized the situation and began directing his men to cautiously clear the obstacles and proceed step by step.
“Archers!” Hù Sānniáng shouted clearly, her voice cutting through the night. “Heed my order! Three volleys, cover the fifty paces nearest the forest edge!”
“Release!”
The bowstrings on the wall vibrated, sounding like sudden rain beating on banana leaves. Dense arrows, with a mournful whistling sound, tore through the darkness and sank into the area at the edge of the forest. Immediately, a few suppressed cries of pain echoed from the woods, along with the “thunk, thunk” sound of arrowheads embedding in trees.
After three rounds of arrow rain, the forest edge fell into a deadly silence. The enemy was clearly stunned by this precise and fierce head-on blow and temporarily halted their advance.
But this silence was even more suffocating than the previous chaos. Everyone knew it was the last calm before the storm.
Hù Tàigōng, flanked by household guards, climbed onto the village wall. Seeing his daughter’s composed profile and hearing the faint smell of bl00d from the darkness outside, his face was pale, his lips moved, but in the end, he said nothing, only letting out a heavy sigh, completely entrusting the defense command to her.
Time passed slowly. The cold wind was biting, and many guards’ hands and feet were numb, yet no one dared to slacken.
Suddenly, directly in front of the village wall, in the open space far from the dense woods, dozens of torches flared! In the firelight, over a hundred men in black, tight-fitting clothes could be vaguely seen, surrounding several crude wooden ladders, rushing silently and swiftly toward the wall! Simultaneously, shouts of battle rose again from the dense woods in the southeast, clearly intending to divert the defenders on the wall!
Feigning to the east and attacking in the west! Standard Liangshan tactics!
“Father, I leave this area to you to command, beware of the bandits in the woods!” Hù Sānniáng spoke rapidly, giving her father a quick instruction, and then shouted to Hù Chéng and a squad of elite guards: “Follow me!”
She surged forward, like a nimble spirit in the dark night, sprinting along the top of the wall toward the main gate. Hù Chéng and the others followed close behind.
The Liangshan forces in front of the main gate had already reached the base of the wall. Wooden ladders slammed against the parapets, and agile bandits, knives clenched in their mouths, began to climb up!
“Rolling logs! Release!” Hù Sānniáng’s voice arrived before she did.
The guards stationed there awoke from their daze, strenuously pushing the prepared logs down. The heavy logs crashed down the wall, accompanied by sharp screams, knocking over several ladders and the bandits on them.
But some brave and sturdy men, using their agility, dodged the rolling logs and had already leapt onto the wall!
“Kill!” A bandit with a full, bushy beard roared, brandishing a skull-headed saber and grinning savagely as he lunged at the nearest guard.
The guard was terrified out of his wits, on the verge of being struck down—
A flash of azure shot past like lightning!
“Clang!”
The crisp sound of clashing metal exploded! Sparks flew!
The bearded bandit felt an immense force on his saber, the web between his thumb and forefinger split open, and the skull-headed saber nearly flew out of his grasp! He looked up in horror, only to see a strikingly beautiful woman standing before him. A pair of short-handled Sun and Moon Dual Sabers gleamed with a cold light in her hands, and her eyes were colder than the blade!
“Hù Sānniáng?!” the bandit exclaimed in shock.
The response was an attack like a violent storm! The dual sabers transformed into two wheels of light, chopping and hacking, slicing and thrusting, the moves viciously cunning and the speed astonishing! The bandit was an able fighter, but he only managed to hold out for five or six moves against Hù Sānniáng before one saber sliced off his wrist, and the other followed immediately, slashing across his throat!
Hot bl00d sprayed. A few drops landed on Hù Sānniáng’s fair cheek, warm and腥 sticky. She didn’t even flinch. She backhanded her saber, striking another bandit who had just poked his head over the wall, sending him plummeting down.
“Hù Sānniáng of the Hù Family Village is here! Those unafraid of death, come on up!” Her cold voice was clearly audible amidst the clamor of battle. Her dual sabers pointed diagonally to the ground, and drops of bl00d slowly ran down the blade grooves. Illuminated by the firelight, her figure was tall, her jade face stained with bl00d, like a War God descending to earth, or a Rākṣasī incarnate!
This display of ferocity and killing intent not only deterred the Liangshan bandits outside the wall but also greatly boosted the morale of the guards!
“Protect Mistress Sānniáng! Kill the bandits!” Hù Chéng roared, swinging his iron staff and crushing the skull of a peaking bandit.
“Kill!” The guards, their eyes red, thrust and hacked with their blades and spears, stabbing and chopping down every bandit who managed to climb onto the wall! Rolling logs and thunder-stones fell like rain, occasionally mixed with pouring boiling oil, causing the area beneath the wall to erupt in inhuman wails.
The offensive at the main gate immediately stalled!
However, the pressure from the southeast direction suddenly intensified. Clearly, the main force of Liangshan had determined this area to be weaker and increased the intensity of their attack. Shouts, the clang of weapons, and screams merged into a cacophony. Figures flickered in the firelight, and the defensive line on the wall was precarious.
“Hù Chéng! Take half the men and reinforce the southeast!” Hù Sānniáng ordered without hesitation. She, herself, led the remaining forces, stubbornly holding the main gate, her dual sabers swinging, mowing down the lives of any bandit who dared to climb up, like a meat grinder. She knew they absolutely could not lose composure now; they had to withstand this most ferocious first wave of attack!
Her Sun and Moon Dual Sabers were no longer playthings from a lady’s chamber but true bl00d-drinking instruments of death. With every flash of the blades, a bandit fell. Her movements were clean and efficient, without any flourish; every move went straight for the vital points. The body’s instincts were fully unleashed, perfectly combined with the modern soul’s calm calculation, displaying a fighting prowess far exceeding that of an ordinary leader.
After fighting for an unknown duration, Hù Sānniáng felt her arms gradually heavy and her breathing becoming ragged. Sweat mixed with bl00d soaked her hair and her clothes. Her jade hands were already raw from the saber hilts, burning with pain, but her grip remained steady.
Just as the pressure at the main gate eased slightly, giving her a moment to catch her breath, an earth-shattering loud noise, accompanied by flames shooting into the sky, erupted from inside the village!
“Oh no! The granary direction!” a guard cried out in panic.
Hù Sānniáng’s heart sank instantly! An internal traitor?! Or had a Liangshan expert infiltrated?
She didn’t have time to think. She sternly told the guards beside her: “Hold this spot! Don’t retreat a single step!” With that, she launched herself, leaping directly from the several-zhang-high village wall. Her feet lightly pushed off the wall to dissipate the momentum, and after a roll upon landing, she shot off like an arrow toward the granary!
The area around the granary was already chaotic. A shed piled with fodder was burning fiercely. In the firelight, over a dozen men in black were seen fighting the manor’s internal guards. These men were clearly much better fighters than the average bandit, striking with vicious intent. The internal guards were already suffering heavy casualties.
Hù Sānniáng’s gaze swept the scene, instantly locking onto a short, stout man in black whose movements were unusually agile. He was brandishing a pair of short forks, forcing two guards to retreat repeatedly, on the verge of breaking the defense line and rushing toward the main granary!
Wáng Yīng!
Though masked, his distinctive build and weapons, and the eyes that, even in the darkness, she could sense were full of lewdness and greed, made Hù Sānniáng instantly recognize him!
A wave of revulsion and killing intent, stemming from the depths of her soul, erupted like a volcano!
“Wretch! Die!”
Hù Sānniáng shouted, her Sun and Moon Dual Sabers whistling as they tore through the air, aiming straight for Wáng Yīng’s back!
Wáng Yīng heard the wind rush past his head. He turned in horror, crossing his short forks to block!
“Clang!”
An enormous force struck him. Wáng Yīng staggered back three steps, his arms numb, his heart terrified: “This girl has incredible strength!”
He focused his eyes, seeing it was Hù Sānniáng. The greed in his eyes intensified, and he chuckled strangely: “Little mistress! Why the blades? Follow your Brother Wáng Yīng, and you’ll live a life of luxury…”
Before he could finish, Hù Sānniáng’s saber light enveloped him again! The attack was like a furious storm, carrying a fierce killing aura that seemed to be reckless of her own life! She poured all her anger, resentment, and resistance to fate into those dual sabers!
Wáng Yīng was quickly overwhelmed. His martial skill was already inferior to Hù Sānniáng’s. Now, further intimidated by her murderous intent, he could only parry, unable to counterattack. He instantly acquired several bloody cuts.
“Brothers! Help me! Take down this woman!” Wáng Yīng desperately dodged a saber swipe aimed at his throat and shrieked.
The surrounding men in black heard him, immediately abandoned their opponents, and converged on Hù Sānniáng.
The situation instantly became critical!
Hù Sānniáng’s eyes turned cold, preparing to fight to the death, when she heard a furious roar: “Dare not harm my Master!”
It was Hù Chéng, arriving with reinforcements! His iron staff swung, instantly sending two of the men in black flying!
Receiving aid, Hù Sānniáng’s spirit soared, and her saber technique became even more ruthless. She knew she had to end this quickly; the village wall was still in danger!
She spotted an opening in Wáng Yīng’s defense, used her left saber to parry his short fork, and thrust her right saber like a venomous snake emerging from its hole, aiming straight for his heart!
Wáng Yīng was scared out of his wits, twisting his body desperately to dodge!
“Pfft!”
The blade missed his heart but deeply plunged into his left shoulder! Bl00d spurted out!
“Ah!” Wáng Yīng let out a pig-slaughtering scream, his short fork nearly slipping from his hand.
Hù Sānniáng was about to follow up and finish this nightmare from both past and present lives, but Wáng Yīng was terrified. Ignoring the searing pain in his shoulder, he suddenly rolled backward, screaming: “The wind is tight! Retreat!”
The remaining men in black saw their leader severely injured and dared not stay. They helped Wáng Yīng up and fled desperately into the night and chaos, like stray dogs.
Hù Sānniáng did not pursue. She leaned on her dual sabers, slightly panting, watching the direction of Wáng Yīng’s escape, her eyes as cold as ten thousand years of ice.
She hadn’t managed to kill him this time.
But she had cut a piece of flesh from him! And broken a certain shadow of him in her heart!
She raised her hand, using her bl00d-stained sleeve to lightly wipe the bl00d from her cheek. On her jade hands, scratches and bloodstains mingled, but only added a chilling aura of inviolable might.
“Put out the fire! Count the casualties! Reinforce the defenses!” She took a deep breath of the air, which smelled of char and bl00d, and issued her orders, her voice hoarse yet firm.
The chaos within the village gradually subsided, and the battle cries on the wall grew sparse. Liangshan’s first fierce assault seemed to have temporarily retreated.
But Hù Sānniáng knew this was only the beginning.
She looked up at the still-dark night sky. Through a gap in the clouds, a cold crescent moon occasionally appeared, its pale light illuminating the mottled bloodstains and corpses on the village walls.
The net was cast, and the bird, though temporarily retreating, had not fled far.
And she, the jade-clawed one forced into the storm, was already stained with bl00d, with no way to turn back.