Chapter 1081: Gu Tianxing of Lingwu Cave
With villagers leading the way, traversing the mountains was quite easy.
It didn't take long for the militia to cross several mountains and arrive in Daning County.
Once there, the villagers could no longer lead the way. However, he quickly found an acquaintance from Daning County in a village on this side of the mountain.
That villager said to his acquaintance: “Brother Li, the soldiers behind me are all good people. They only fight villains and bandits, and they don't exploit common folk. Could you help them lead the way, just for a while?”
The man called Brother Li chuckled, “Of course, no problem.”
And so, the guide took over.
Led by Brother Li, the militia continued south.
As they walked, the mountains grew increasingly treacherous, and the path became rougher and steeper.
Cheng Xu scanned the surrounding mountain forests, noting their eerie silence, then glanced at the scattered footprints on the ground. As he looked up, a spectral image of his great-grandmother seemed to float from a distant peak, grinning unsettlingly at him.
Cheng Xu raised a hand, shouting, “Everyone, hold your positions!”
The order quickly spread down the mountain path. From Padi Tu at the front to Zheng Daniu at the very rear, everyone stopped in their tracks.
Cheng Xu: “Launch the hot air balloon.”
The soldiers promptly complied. Soon, a hot air balloon rose gracefully, and a topographic map of the surrounding area was quickly completed and delivered into Cheng Xu’s hands.
Pointing at a peak on the map, Cheng Xu asked, “Brother Guide, is there anywhere in this location where people could hide?”
Brother Li: “That place is called Scissors Gorge, and there’s a Lingwu Cave inside. The cave is massive, with paths leading everywhere, full of strange rock formations. If you’re looking for a place to hide people, that cave would be perfect.”
“Understood.” Cheng Xu patted his shoulder and slipped him a silver ingot. “Don’t lead the way anymore; it’s too dangerous. Just stay close by me.”
Brother Li nodded, obediently hiding behind Cheng Xu. Weighing the silver in his hand—at least five taels—his heart instantly blossomed with joy. Leading this army was truly a good deal; not only was he treated with courtesy and given silver, but in dangerous spots, they even protected him. He’d truly never encountered such a benevolent army.
It made him almost want to join the army himself.
Cheng Xu ordered: “Scout company, go check out Scissors Gorge and Lingwu Cave.”
His words had barely faded when the mass-produced Puppet Heavenly Lord, slumped on the handcart behind him, suddenly shot upright. “Lingwu Cave? Hehehe, I have to see it for myself.”
Cheng Xu: “Ah? Heavenly Lord, you’re here?”
Li Daoxuan chuckled, “Hearing ‘Lingwu Cave,’ I absolutely had to come.”
Upon hearing this, Cheng Xu jumped in alarm, thinking: *Is that mountain cave perhaps the dwelling of some famous great demon? So famous that even the Heavenly Lord has heard of its name? Is it renowned in the celestial realm?*
But at that moment, Li Daoxuan was thinking: *Lingwu Cave, a famous tourist attraction in later generations, one of China’s three karst cave wonders, and the premier cave in the Three Gorges Reservoir region.*
Such an awesome place! I never had the chance to visit before, but now’s my shot, hahaha, I’ve got my shot!
Li Daoxuan hummed, saying, “I shall personally lead the scout team.”
His words made Cheng Xu’s face turn pale with fright. He thought: *It’s over, it’s truly over. The Heavenly Lord is actually going personally. How powerful must that demon’s magic be? Forget five thousand arquebusiers, even half a million might not be enough to defeat it.*
If the Heavenly Lord weren’t here, my great-grandmother might have already organized a group trip to see me.
Cold sweat poured down Cheng Xu’s face!
Li Daoxuan’s tour group—ah, no, his scout reconnaissance team—soon set off. Li Daoxuan walked at the very front, followed by twenty elite scouts, all extremely nervous and cautious.
Li Daoxuan was in a cheerful mood. He had seen photos of Lingwu Cave online in his own time; it was truly beautiful, a kaleidoscope of colors inside, stunning beyond words. What a shame it had been so inconvenient to travel there from Shuangqing City, requiring half a day’s drive alone.
How convenient it was to 'co-sense' and visit now!—
Time rewound several days. Inside Lingwu Cave...
A small contingent of about five thousand bandits was resting inside the cave.
This group of bandits consisted of roughly equal numbers of able-bodied youths and the elderly, women, and children. Their organization was poor, their weapons crude. They had few proper armaments, mostly farming tools like hoes, sickles, choppers, and even manure scoops.
Clearly, this was not a veteran bandit force, but a newly formed one.
They were a new generation of rebels, having only recently joined the larger bandit army after the severe drought in Nanyang, Henan, this year. They were fresh, even adorably naive, having only ‘debuted’ a few months prior. In battle, they merely followed behind the Chuǎng Wang’s forces, waving flags and cheering, never even having drawn blood in a real fight.
The bandit chief leading them was named Gu Tianxing.
Gu Tianxing was a genuine farmer, uneducated. When he first joined the rebellion, he wasn’t sure what name to use, so he simply imitated the generals under the Chuǎng Wang—like Guo Tianxing, Mantianxing, and Huntianxing—and called himself Gu Tianxing, the ‘Lone Heavenly Star.’
He had followed the Chuǎng Wang’s grand army through Shennongjia, entering Sichuan, always trailing along like a shadow. He hadn’t fought a single battle, and even plunder wasn’t available to them.
To put it in today's terms, they were always the last in line, missing out on even the worst opportunities.
The Chuǎng Wang’s army disdained this weak force, refusing to allocate them the good weapons provided by the Jin merchants or enough provisions. They simply told this Nanyang army, “Scatter and find food for yourselves,” and then left.
Gu Tianxing had no choice but to lead his contingent through the Shu Mountains, where they promptly got lost.
It was unavoidable; for outsiders new to the Shu Mountains, avoiding getting lost was nearly impossible.
They walked and walked, but couldn’t find their way out of the mountains. If the sun hadn’t still risen from the east every day, they wouldn’t even have known which way was north, south, east, or west.
Exhausted and at their wits’ end, they looked for a place to rest and spotted a massive natural karst cave nearby. So, Gu Tianxing led his forces inside.
“Big Brother, how much longer until we reach Kuizhou?” a young bandit whined pitifully. “We’ve been wandering these mountains for days, and all we see are mountains, nothing but mountains, not a single soul.”
Gu Tianxing sighed, “I don’t know either. These mountains just don’t feel right. I keep walking in one direction, but then I go around a tree, through a valley, and when I come out... huh? I’m back where I started.”
Everyone: “...”
A young bandit cried out, “These Shu Mountains are just illogical!”
Gu Tianxing: “If we really can’t get out, we might as well just settle down and farm here. After all, the imperial soldiers wouldn’t come all the way to a place like this to suppress us, would they? Take Cao Wenzhao and Zuo Liangyu, for example. If they dared to lead their armies into this area, it wouldn’t be long before they’d become locals themselves.”
The bandits thought carefully. “Big Brother makes a good point! Hey, I actually brought a small bag of seeds with me. When I first joined the rebellion, I couldn’t bear to eat them, so I carried them out.”
“What a coincidence, I have seeds too.”
“Me too!”
A group of bandits raised their hands, declaring innocently, “With so many seeds, what are we afraid of? We’ll make this huge karst cave our home, reclaim land outside it, and farm. Anyway, this part of Sichuan hasn’t suffered from drought, so we can definitely grow crops here.”
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