As soon as the blur stopped moving they saw a handsome young man appeared to be in his twenty, so handsome that he could almost be said as beautiful, even Zhang Xuan, Chen Yao and Xia Yue felt awed by his beauty.
Usually Zhang Hu would frowned upon a man who looked pretty, but facing this young man he didn't feel such thing, for he also exuded the confidence and courage of a warrior. Both beautiful and heroic appearance showed naturally without any pretense. He wore a ancient Chinese white robe and carrying Wudang sword in his hand.
His presence brought with him, the similar feeling of the invisible fairies.
Zhang Hu and the other realized, this young man must be a high level fairy, they were too surprised to see one to properly greet him though, and the young man was the first to greet them.
He politely bowed to Zhang Hu and the girls, "Greeting Master Zhang Hu..., ladies..."
Zhang Hu and the girls hastily bowed in return, "Greeting lord...."
Zhang Hu opened his mouth, "May I know your name lord...?"
Zhang Xuan, Chen Yao and Xia Yue could see through their third eyes that Zhang Hu's politeness and humility in front of this young man, pleased the other fairies.
The young man laughed, "Don't be too formal, Master Zhang, you could call me Yue Guang (Moon Light)."
"Ah Lord Yue Guang, truly a name that befits someone like you. May I know, why do you stop us from leaving? I hope my previous comment didn't offend you. It was out of sincerity. It was out of my deepest gratitude that I couldn't help but voice my opinion. Not out of malice nor arrogance.", said Zhang Hu politely but without a hint of fear, politeness that came from nothing but our most respect.
"Don't call me Lord, for generation we live to serve human, fairies and demons, we're a lower being than human. As human have spirit and physic, but we are nothing but spirit. Just call me Yue Guang.", said Yue Guang humbly.
"I couldn't..., I'm nothing before you. Be it in knowledge or strength, I know I could not be compared to you. You and your family had fought for us, without your effort, we'll be slaughtered days ago without any chance to defend ourselves.", said Zhang Hu.
Yue Guang smiled, he like Zhang Hu and then he said, "Well, call me brother then, and I call you brother too."
"It was lucky for me to call you brother, Brother Yue Guang. Such an honor, such an honor...", Zhang Hu said and laughed.
"Brother Zhang Hu", Yue Guang replied and laughed.
"Brother Zhang Hu, please come, my father asked me to invite you. He heard you and now he wants to speak with you.", said Yue Guang.
Zhang Hu couldn't hide his surprised, but quickly calmed himself and nodded, "It will be such an honor to meet Grand Elder..."
"Come...", said Yue Guang.
Zhang Hu, Zhang Xuan, Chen Yao and Xia Yue followed Yue Guang toward the pagoda deep within Xichan temple area. While Bao Wang and other Zhang Hu's men watched them reverently. Of course they could hear the conversation and how proud were they that a high level fairy, which probably lived for hundred years, called their leader brother. Even more, Grand Elder of the fairies invited him.
Previously they worried that Zhang Hu's harsh words would anger the fairies and they must fight invisible enemies. Even with his spiritual sense, without third eyes it won't be easy for Bao Wang but secretly he decided that if it happened, he would gladly give his life for Zhang Hu.
---- o ----
One thing that made Zhang Hu's men followed him loyally, was his attitude toward his men, he didn't see them as expendable. He nurtured them like a father nurturing his sons, or teacher nurturing his students.
From Zhang Hu's point of view, he relatively didn't have many men. Until today, the total number of people who follow his lead was reaching 2140. From that number, there were 151 boys at the age 15-19, 239 men between age 20-30 and 356 men between the age of 31 to 50.
The rests are women, children and elders.
The number of men who were adept at fighting was 277 men. The rest needed more experience and training before they could join battles. Zhang Hu already had his mind planned far into the future, once humanity cleared all the zombies, without a central authority, any local authority would start eyeing on each other. If he trained all men within the age of 15-50, he would have 746 battle hardened men. That wasn't enough to secure one city, how could he expect to secure a province?
If the existence of man such as Shi Long brought fear into Huang Wen's heart. Zhang Hu instead used it for his benefit. He purposely spread the news of Shi Long among the population and used it to urge them to train themselves.
Their men could easily identify zombies, beasts and human. Thus they can prevent them from entering the base. Their strong defense brought the sense of security, it brought peace and content, but at the same time those who were far from the front line became lax in their training.
Zhang Hu used Shi Long to whip them, gave them a small dosage sense of crisis that kept them aware that they weren't live in a peaceful time. Zhang Hu hoped that by the time they secure Lei Jiang they would have 300 main force, 400 reserve forces and the rest of the population were having enough battle training to be useful during defensive battles.
He wanted to have more people but their food stock was strained once their number exceeded 2000. When they reached that point, Zhang Hu spent more time at gathering food and medicines than trying to find more survivors group.
With so limited number of resources, how he would not use each of his men very carefully?
---
From the point of view of his men, the way Zhang Hu nurtured them, made them felt that each of their lives was important in his eyes. Thus almost no one doubt Zhang Hu's order. In time of danger, Zhang Hu and Fan Zheng would be the first to face the strongest wave, ensure the safety of the rest.
Those who were trusted to lead a team, follow their example. They were thoroughly taught how to judge the situation, they were told their goal clearly and how far they were allowed to risk themselves.
Zhang Hu and Fan Zheng never sent a team into dangerous mission without backup, so far they never had any casualties among their men. Each mission was carefully planned. Each mission had backup plans for retreating into safety. Since any small injuries from the zombies would cause deadly infection, they were extra careful when moving outside their base.
Since they met Huang Wen and learned about the system and the skills, they absorbed the new facts and integrate it to their plan fast.
Now there were 14 men and women who had various skill related to healing. There were 27 men learned skills that strengthening their physical. They were sent to the most dangerous missions. There were 18 men who focused on speed. They were mainly used as scout and messengers. Various skills were distributed, each to their strength and weaknesses. Small group of specialist quickly formed within a week.
---- o ----
In the mean time, Zhang Hu, Zhang Xuan, Chen Yao and Xia Yue were sitting in front of an old man. He wore a white silk robe. All of his hair were as white as snow. He looked as old as he mountain of Yi itself. The old man sat with closed eyes. A power emanated from his body, sealing a strange formation on the ground.
Zhang Hu and the girls sat silently but they didn't have to wait for too long.
As soon as they sat, the old man opened his eyes and smiled.
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He smiled and his smile was sincere, yet even then, Zhang Hu and the girls secretly trembled in fear. Zhang Hu was the only one who could mustered his will to free himself from the suppression that came from the old man. The old man turned his head to look at Zhang Hu, it happened just a mere few seconds but Zhang Hu almost fainted from the shock.
The old man nodded his head as if satisfied with Zhang Hu and then closed his eyes again. When the old man closed his eyes again, Zhang Hu and the girls felt relieved, since the pressure disappeared as well.
"I heard what you say Master Zhang....", said the old man.
He spoke slowly, word by word.
"I didn't mean any harm Grand Elder, or have any intention to insult. I sincerely grateful of what you and your family did and I wish nothing but for your safety.", answered Zhang Hu.
"I know... otherwise I won't invite you here.", said the old man.
There was a long pause. Zhang Hu waited rather than spoke anything.
"How long it takes for you to move your people to a safe place outside Fuzhou?", asked the old man.
"How far we should go?", Zhang Hu asked.
"At least 100 kilometers away from this place will be fine.", answered the old man.
Zhang Hu thinking quietly, after a while he answered, "How about Nanping? I've prepared trucks and bus to move my people, even with having to clear the road from wreckage. I think I could move my people to Nanping within two days. But whether Nanping would be safe or not. I wonder if Grand Elder might know..."
The old man said, "Nanping would be fine. There are demons but there will be no major games in there. It still better than staying at Fuzhou."
Zhang Hu sighed, "Two days then, but I have my son in law, searching for people in Nan An. How could I leave him? But they should return in the next few days."
The old man nodded his head, "Move all your people in three days. I'll do my best to hold the gate for another two days, but I guarantee nothing. You may wait for your son in law but prepare to flee at any minute."
Zhang Xuan who worried about Huang Wen talked to her father, "Father, why don't we go to Quanzhou? We might meet them on the way. Or we could even visit Nan An on our way to Quanzhou."
Zhang Hu shook his head, "Nanping is better, facing Fuzhou. Behind us are mountains. Next to us is the Minjiang River. We'll secure our back, have plenty access to water and we could also transport our men to attack Fuzhou through the river."
Zhang Xuan opened her mouth but Zhang Hu shook his head, "If Huang Wen is a man who is worthy of my daughter, he should be able to live through this. Besides we'll wait for him until the last minute."
The old man patiently listened, when Zhang Xuan couldn't argue anymore, the old man turned to Yue Guang and nodded his head before turned his attention back at the lines of formation on the ground. Zhang Hu and the girls could feel something did try to break through, but the old man kept sending restrictive power to prevent the formation from being activated.
They turned their attention to Yue Guang now, he was the leader of his tribe, second only to the old man.
Yue Guang smiled and said, "After my father heard your words, he agreed that our decision to defend the temple to our last breath was a foolish decision. He asked me to follow your people and helped you to protect them along the way. In exchange, we asked that you provide a place for us in your new base and later when we grow in power, to retake Fuzhou from the demons. Do you agree with our proposition?"
Zhang Hu's face brightened when he heard this, he nodded his head, "Agreed, of course I agree. It's a great honor to have you on our side. I will send my men to gather as many people as we could, that we might save as many survivors as we could."
Yue Guang nodded his head, "Hmm... how many people you will send to spread the news?"
Zhang Hu answered, "At this time, I have about 270 men who could fight well. I used to send them as a group of 30. So there will be 9 groups who will spread the news and try to gather survivors."
Yue Guang said, "Make it a group of 5 men, since for each group I will send with them 5 of my men as well. They would send away any zombies and 5 of my men would be strong enough to handle a middle level demon, which is quite rare for now. I know only 1 such demon who manages to enter Fuzhou, his name was Baihu, but a couple weeks ago, suddenly his presence disappeared. I don't know where he went, but he's not in Fuzhou any longer. I know because I kept watching him."
Zhang Xuan, Chen Yao and Xia Yue smiled wide.
Yue Guang noticed this and raised his eyebrows.
Zhang Xuan said, "Uhm... a friend of us, Huang Wen, he killed Baihu in a fight."
Yue Guang who always calm, for a moment showed his surprised, although his expression back to normal within split of seconds, "He killed Baihu? Alone?"
Zhang Xuan said, "No... we helped him, but he did most of the fight. When Baihu busy fighting him, I sneaked and use a spell to bind Baihu."
Yue Guang nodded his head, "He is strong then. If he could keep Baihu's attention on him, then he must be quite strong. By the way... did he absorb Baihu?"
The girls were looking at each other and then a bit worried Zhang Xuan nodded her head, "He absorbs their power... I too once killed a demon and absorbed its power."
Yue Guang closed his eyes and Zhang Xuan could feel something probed her consciousness, she could feel that there was no malicious intent within that force, so she didn't try to fight it. A moment later Yue Guang opened his eyes.
"Your soul was strong enough to fully absorbed the power. I could only sense a small remnant of the demon that would be gone within a month. But to absorb Baihu... I don't think your friend would be able to fully absorb a middle level demon like Baihu.", said Yue Guang.
"Is it dangerous? Would Baihu possessed him?", Zhang Xuan asked, her expression showed her worries.
Yue Guang smiled comfortingly, "For now, there is no chance for something like that to happen. After your friend killed him and absorbed most of his strength, the remnant of Baihu shouldn't be able to do anything like that. However, the remnant will be strong enough to survive and drew power from your friend's emotion and grow stronger. If he ever made it to be stronger than your friend's soul, then he will be able to possess your friend but such thing would take months even years to happen. Your friend would be fine for now."
"When you see him, could you help him?", Zhang Xuan asked.
Yue Guang nodded his head, "I think I could give it a try."
"Thankyou", Zhang Xuan bowed and sincerely thanked him.
"You're welcome.", said Yue Guang, when he saw that Zhang Xuan had no more questions, he turned to Zhang Hu, "Brother Zhang, let's work now. Our time is limited and we have plenty people to save. I could use my sense to map out the survivors who still stay in Fuzhou. Go prepares your men to meet me here."
"Understood, okay I'll leave now Brother Yue, since you will send your men to accompany them, I think I could muster up to 400 men, some of them lack the experience but with your men protected them, I no longer worried of their safety. The rest of my people will be preparing for the journey.", Zhang Hu nodded his head.
Yue Guang nodded, "Good... Be careful on your way Brother Zhang."