Chapter 21

The war was relentless and it seemed that the enemies had increased exponentially. But none of those could extinguish the burning flame within Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's raging heart. As if caught under a manic spell of destruction, he killed the enemies in a way only a madman would do.

When another group of Hsien soldiers encircled around him, instead of being suppressed, he had effectively slain them all by swiftly juggling himself and his sword alternately at the enemies. The enemies were shocked at his unhuman speed that it seemed too late for them to realize that their arms and legs were gashed. When the enemies collapsed, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei stabbed each of them to death.

After killing the enemies, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's robe became heavily smeared with the enemies' blood. His hands were coated in both dried and wet blood.

"You!" Someone shouted to him. "I challenge you to a fight!"

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei looked to the direction of the voice and saw a heavily armored man with the Hsien army emblem atop a muscled stallion. He narrowed his eyes but his shoulders remained rigid and his sword's sharp tip was still pointed to the ground.

"Who is going to fight me - you or your horse?" Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei asked with an aloof face although his tone was clearly mocking.

The armored man's eyes flared angrily at the insult. His face reddened with barely suppressed wrath.

"Bastard!" The man spat and then he hastily urged his horse to the direction of Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei. He raised his sword in a stance to cut the latter into half.

When the armored man and his horse came nearer, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei knelt rapidly and gracefully slid beneath the galloping horse. He quickly cleaved its hocks and knees in the process. Before the horse's great body staggered upon him, he already reached a safe distance away from it.

The armored man however had swiftly jumped off his horse before its body crushed him to death. His eyes widened in stunned bewilderment and when reality set in, his blood was boiling with irrepressible wrath at seeing his favorite horse incapacitated and bleeding to death.

"You have killed Huimie! I swear to the gods and my ancestors that you will pay for this!" The armored man shouted furiously.

"You have killed a lot of my men and destroyed our cavalry units. You can't expect me to be merciful."

"How dare you, good-for-nothing peasant! Nobody dares to mock me. Don't you know who I am?"

"I believe this is the first time we have met so no." Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei said tightly. "And, just to correct your assumption of me, I am not a peasant."

The armored man's eyes narrowed at the answer but, after a while, he began to smirk. Something came to him. Unbelievable but it seemed that an inexplicable kind of excitement had seeped into his veins.

All his life, Duizhu Gang Bingwen had ate, slept, breathed and lived war but never had he witnessed a warrior as good as the arrogant man who stood in front of him. Finally, he had found his match. He mentally took note to thank the Jiangjun Han Li for giving him the opportunity to fight this great warrior. Before finishing that undeserving and deceitful Jiangjun.

"You have a bizaare sense of humor, do you know it? By the way, I believe introductions are in order. I am Duizhu Gang Bingwen of the Hsien army Hong se unit and you are?"

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei was surprised at the sudden change of the armored man's mood but he remained wary. "I am Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei of the Imperial Army who serves the real and only Emperor of Chixian Shenzhou."

"Oh," Duizhu Gang Bingwen exclaimed in a daze. "I know you, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei. I have heard that you are the greatest warrior of the Imperial Army. And, of course, if I am not mistaken, you have just recently won the annual Imperial tournament."

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei was surprised at what he had heard. How does he know and how much does he know?

Duizhu Gang Bingwen chuckled humorously at the stunned look on Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's face. "I know what is on your mind. Just to answer your unspoken question, we have spies in your empire-lots of them." He continued looking at Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei from head to foot as if scaling the latter before smiling that malevolent smile of his.

"This is very exciting. I am extremely happy to be given the opportunity to face you in the battle today. You just can't imagine how much I look forward for this day. But then again, my happiness of having to fight you is not enough for me to spare your life. It is such an unfortunate waste that you are one of the enemies."

"We will see about it then." Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei said aloofly.

"You are one confident warrior but I cannot blame you." Duizhu Gang Bingwen said, the evil smile never left his mouth. "I hate to thwart your confidence but I have to warn you, my face is the last face that you will ever see."

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei stared blankly at Duizhu Gang Bingwen for a moment. Without warning, he made a quick turn and aimed a flying kick accurately to the duizhu's chest.

Duizhu Gang Bingwen staggered at the intensity of the attack. He was so astonished that he was immobilized for a moment. Before he could react, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei, did another follow up attack by stamping his foot on Duizhu Bingwen's stomach.

"All talk and no action will put you in grave danger," Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei said to the enemy while he was groaning in pain. He waited for the duizhu to recover from his attack.

"You are indeed legendary as they say." Duizhu Gang Bingwen exclaimed as he wiped the mixture of spit and blood from his mouth with the back of his hand. He stood and haughtily scrutinized Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei.

"I don't think we need any weapon," He announced as he quickly discarded his weapons. "You and I should use brute strength."

"If that's what you want," Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei obliged and discarded the weapons from his body too.

"You are unfortunately armorless which works well to your advantage a while ago," Duizhu Gang Bingwen commented before he took off his body armor leaving the orange cotton tunic and dark green trousers behind. "I think I might follow suit."

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei smiled but, in a heartbeat, the devious Gang Bingwen, attacked him by flying to his back before throwing him down with a fatal kick. The latter continued by grabbing Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei by the neck and kicked him on the stomach with his knee.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei doubled in pain. His vision darkened due to the unspeakable pang. But the assault didn't end there. He received another stomp to the stomach, a series of kicks to the ribs and chest.

"A bitter taste of your own medicine?" Duizhu Gang Bingwen sarcastically laughed as he continued his relentless thrashing to the supine Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei closed his eyes as the assault continued on him. His body was swimming in immeasurable pain but his mind more alive as ever. 'I can't die. The empire needs me. I need to defeat the Hsein army.'

With a strength Duizhu Lu Wang Wei thought he didn't possess considering his current state, he was able to grab Jinzhou Gang Bingwen's foot as it was about to aim another stamp upon his chest. With supreme effort, he twisted it. He could hear the satisfying crack of the latter's broken ligament before he shoved his opponent backwards.

"Ugh!" Duizhu Gang Bingwen groaned in pain as he fell down. "You, bastard!"

"You are a bastard too." Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei replied weakly as he struggled to stand up. He could feel that some of his bones might possibly be broken and his body shaking violently. He gasped as he swallowed a handful of air to ease the sharp pain in his body. Slowly, he walked towards Duizhu Gang Bingwen.

"You think you can defeat me now that my other foot is injured? Ha! You're wrong!" Duizhu Gang Bingwen snarled angrily and launched himself to connect his fist to Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei was able to avoid the attack. But he was surprised, he swore he had broken Duizhu Gang Bingwen's other foot but the latter seemed uninjured.

Duizhu Gang Bingwen jumped by striking his uninjured foot to the ground and then made a turning kick to Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's face.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei used his forearms to shield himself from the attack before striking back.

The two fought with all their might like two powerful celestial beings struggling to outdo each other. It seemed that the two of them were the only people fighting in the war for each of their armies refused to interfere; both of their forces were too occupied in prevailing each other.

Cannons had shook the ground, burning several tents and trees while creating a massive inferno; shouts of rage and taunts had intensified the clamor; arrows and javelin had created a deadly deluge in the camp but the two mighty warriors remained oblivious-too immersed in their battle and too proud to give up.

"This is the best fight that I have ever had." Duizhu Gang Bingwen exclaimed in awe despite his broken and bloody face. His breathing ragged.

"Same here," Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei replied. His face equally torn and bloodied.

"But I guess one of us must die," Duizhu Gang Bingwen said with a hint of regret. He genuinely smiled at Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei before he made a run for one of his discarded weapons. He quickly picked his javelin and then threw it on Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei's heart.

"Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei, be careful!" A familiar voice shouted in warning.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei looked to the direction of the voice. Extreme relief and gratitude flooded his senses. Lao Fang is alive and safe. With unnatural speed, he caught the javelin with his hand and adroitly threw it back to Duizhu Gang Bingwen. His aim perfect as the sharp end penetrated his opponent's chest and back.

A froth of blood flooded Duizhu Gang Bingwen's mouth. His eyes wide with unbelievable shock before he stumbled on his back.

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei immediately ran to the lying Duizhu Gang Bingwen. His opponent's blood quickly spread from the deeply incinerated flesh, creating a dark crimson pool.

"You are indeed legendary, Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei." Duizhu Gang Bingwen struggled to speak. His breathing came in shortly; his face ghastly pale and the blood in his mouth threatened to drown him. "I am lucky to die in your hands. I have no regrets even if you had defeated me. It is worth it. But please do me a favor."

Jinzhou Lu Wang Wei frowned warily at what Duizhu Gang Bingwen said but then he asked, "What will that be?"

"Please kill Jiangjun Han Li for me." He whispered weakly.

"I will. You can count on me to do that."

Duizhu Gang Bingwen smiled before closing his eyes, finally succumbing to eternal sleep to which he could never wake up from.

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Author's Note:

I am glad to say that I am now able to finish this Chapter. The past few weeks had been a struggle to me as I was suffering from depression. I am not fully well but I have left Moonlight for too long. I am also working on my poem "A hundred letters to Mary". I need to finish it before the year ends.

Anyway, please read, vote and comment. Your support truly matters to me.