6 Encounter with the Mountain People

Jizhong and the rest continued climbing through the forest deep into the mountains. After hours of climbing most of the soldiers were already panting very hard, as many of them were still recovering from their injuries and very highly fatigued. It was only through their willpower that they were somehow keeping up the march.

Jizhong being young and among the least injured ones was able to keep up with Shin's group at the forefront. Changwenjun too was having a hard time keeping up due to his age and the injuries sustained from his battle with Wang Qi and thereafter falling off the cliff.

The breaks were becoming more frequent as they moved deeper into the mountains, it was obviously concerning since they were going into an even steeper mountain recess. The path was ragged and strewn with boulders and rocks , finally they came outside the forest and reached a height where they can see the surrounding mountains and Jizhong has to admit that the view was breath taking and it aroused a sense of adventure within him. It is filling him with the excitement of what is to come.

During this time spent in recuperating and trekking the mountain Jizhong was constantly brooding about his feelings on killing a human. The impact of this action wasn't very drastic on him, may be due to the memories and feelings of the previous consciousness of his body that he inherited ,as this was a world of constant wars and killing. But he still felt nausea , disgust and guilt at killing fellow humans , after long thinking he finally concluded that to truly make his mark in this world he would have to kill a lot more and he may never be able to get rid of the guilt he carried but he would slowly come to terms with it.

Despite being very young the king was deeply aware of how much blood would have to be spilled for his dream of unifying China to come into fruition. Blood was the price to pay for the long period of peace that will follow and to push the world into a new era.

Jizhong keenly paid attention to the small talks about the mountain world going on between Shin , Karyoten , Zheng and Bi. He doesn't remember these small details and he was interested in knowing more about this world.

These four people and Jizhong are able to maintain their pace through the climbing. His two years of training in the mountains near his house made the scaling relatively easier for him. He also recovered from the physical fatigue very fast compared to others, he had already noticed this peculiarity after a few months of his arrival in this world. He speculated that maybe he too had the special physique which the many generals and Shin has. Even the mental fatigue caused due to the battles and constantly being on the toes which has made the soldiers even more tired was relived after he accepted the guilt of killing and made peace with it.

This maybe due to his soul being stronger having been transmigrated to a different world but he was not sure about this. The marching soldiers are completely drained at this point and have become completely disordered, they even need to support each other to scale the path. This reduced the movement speed even more and Changwenjun decides that the ones unable to keep up should wait at Duke Mu's summer retreat.

Bi and some of the senior soldiers protest this idea as most of them would have to withdraw like this and the number of soldiers to guard the king's safety against the terrifying mountain people would be very less. Changwenjun points out the urgency of their situation and that Chengjiao would claim the throne if they delay too much.

Furthermore they wouldn't be able to do much against them anyway with just these fifty soldiers as they were in the territory of the mountain people not the other way around. Shin again starts making a ruckus as to how can the people who took care of Duke Mu's mansion for four hundred years for the horse meat and liquor he gifted them be terrifying and dangerous.

Bi starts retelling the story of Majiu soldiers from four hundred years ago. Apparently the state of Jin betrayed the kindness showed by Duke Mu and sent an army to the capital of Qin. When the situation seemed extremely dire and the Qin army along with Duke Mu was surrounded , around hundred Majiu warriors appeared and wreaked havoc on the Jin army and even captured their king. It was an extremely brutal battle which left the soldiers on both sides traumatized. Moreover it was the state of Qin which has unilaterally gone back on their alliance and the people of the state had even ostracized them all those years ago when they finally accepted the invitation to live on the flat lands. Hence they may not be as cordial to them as Shin thinks and it is more likely they will be hostile to them instead.

During the course of this journey Jizhong also got acquainted with Shin and Karyoten. As he was keeping up with their walking pace at the front of the group both of them were impressed by him and started asking about himself. As Jizhong too is younger than all the other soldiers and is around Shin's age it made it easier for them to talk among themselves. Jizhong told them about himself that he too is an orphan like them and owns a small farmland and does some carpentering job on the side.

Due to their simple and straightforward personalities Jizhong , Shin and Karyoten soon became friends. Shin also taunts Bi about how Nobles and Warrior class people have it easy and unable to keep up with them commoners. It really was amazing that Zheng being the king of the state of Qin is not only keeping up with the march but is in fact leading it. He has the same determination burning in his eyes from the beginning which hasn't faltered even once.

Jizhong is amazed to see that the king has this much willpower and determination from such a young age. He is technically in the worst possible situation out of all the people here. The others have an option of hiding or going back till the dust from the rebellion settles down but he has no such option, he will surely be hunted down till the end of his days. Still he has not once shown any dissatisfaction in front of the others nor has he blamed anyone else for his condition.

Observing the king's mannerisms and behavior till now Jizhong is getting even more assured by the second of his decision to follow Zheng in his journey to unify China. They have been constantly waking for some time on a relatively flat meadow between the mountains which has made the walk a bit easier compared to earlier but Jizhong is getting a constant nagging at the back of his head that something is not right. This is the feeling he has developed while practicing in the jungles on the mountains near his home which is full of wild animals and you have to be constantly aware of your surroundings to avoid any troubles.

He felt as if they were constantly being observed even though no other humans or wild animals are visible in their vicinity bar their group. Suddenly there is a rustling noise and they are completely surrounded on all sides by the mountain warriors. Changwenjun shouts to protect the king. As Jizhong , Shin and Bi are closest to Zheng they immediately surround him with their weapons ready. Jizhong is also fast to nock an arrow and draws the bow to the full to avoid taking any chances. This is the real life not any manga where everything will workout smoothly in the end , real life is full of uncertainties.

Zheng asks everyone to clam down and says that if they really meant any harm they would have attacked by now. Jizhong too agrees with this as he has by now realized that it must have the mountain people who where observing their group for a while. Then one of them comes forward who Jizhong thinks is Bajio and says in the common tongue that if it had been any other people from the flat lands who wandered here they would have their eyes gouged out and killed but since they have come to meet the mountain king they haven't done this so far.

He then asks for everyone to descend the mountain and asks Zheng to come alone with them. This immediately sends a wave of dissatisfaction among everyone on their side as it was impossible for them to send the king without any protection whatsoever into the mountain people territory. Bi asks the king to retreat temporarily and think over this but then Bajio immediately points out that Zheng cannot retreat with them as the mountain king is waiting for him. He even threatens that his accompanying warriors are bloodthirsty and would not be patient for long.

Even Jizhong thinks that their behavior is too overbearing. Amidst all this commotion suddenly a hulking warrior moves forward with his hand towards Zheng's head. Jizhong immediately releases the arrow in full force gazing past the warrior's ear as a warning shot and nocks another arrow at the ready. Shin uses this moment to punch the warrior on his face and the tension in the air becomes almost palpable. Everyone has their weapons drawn but Zheng dissolves the situation by agreeing to come alone.

Everyone tries to dissuade him but he says that they have no other option left at this point in time and orders them to return to the rendezvous point. With this he moves forward with the mountain warriors leaving everyone behind.