Chapter 351: Jiang Xiang Gang Will Never See Luo Zhengnan Again

"Hall Master Pei, how many years has it been since we last met!" Luo Zhengnan arrived at the parlor.

"Hall Master Luo, this one's on me. These past few years the hall has been full of rotten business, and I never came to pay my respects to you."

"Pay respects? Aren't you just cursing me? When have the two of us ever been so formal?"

Anyone who knew Jiang Xiang's Qingyan City Hall Master Pei Yuzeng well knew he had the nickname "Pei One Breath."

The man was burly in build, with regular features, a friendly face, and a mild manner of speaking, giving people an instant sense of亲切 familiarity.

The two exchanged a few pleasantries and took their seats.

Pei Yuzeng got down to business: "Brother Luo, I've come this time because I have something important to discuss with you."

Luo Zhengnan quickly sent his men away, took Pei Yuzeng into the study, and asked: "Brother Pei, what's the matter?"

"Something big has happened in our gang. The gang leader ran into a mortal enemy out in another prefecture."

Luo Zhengnan started: "Which mortal enemy?"

Hoo!

Pei Yuzeng suddenly blasted out a torrent of raging flame.

Luo Zhengnan, who had no time to react, was instantly burned into a pile of ash on the spot.

Pei Yuzeng took off his outer garment, swept it across the room, gathered up all the ashes, and the room was spotless, not leaving the slightest trace.

Pei One Breath — kills without leaving ash. This was his signature skill.

This signature skill was not complicated at all. Stripped down, it came down to three tricks.

First, no warning. From the day he entered the Dao to now, Pei Yuzeng had trained this one move relentlessly. Before striking, his face showed no expression, his body made no movement. He might be in the middle of talking, or in the middle of eating, or the two of them might be standing shoulder to shoulder pissing in the latrine — and then, out of nowhere, comes that one breath of fire, sending a man straight to his end.

Second, the flame was ferociously intense. Either he didn't strike at all, or once he did, he was certain of burning the target to ash. Practitioners of the fifth layer of fire-cultivation could all spit fire, but Pei Yuzeng alone had trained this move to its absolute extreme.

Third, he left no loose ends. Apart from killing the target, Pei Yuzeng damaged nothing else. Just as now — not a single book in the study was harmed, not the slightest scorch mark was left on the walls, and even all the smell of smoke was swept away by his garment.

The room was exactly as it had been when he entered, and exactly as it was when he left. Apart from one missing Luo Zhengnan, there was no change at all.

This was taking a simple trick and pushing it to the extreme. But this trick worked on strangers — wouldn't someone who knew him be on guard?

Luo Zhengnan counted as someone who knew him well. Why did he still fall for it?

Pei Yuzeng had ways of making people drop their guard. This came from decades of experience, aided by all manner of spirit-objects on his person. Before making a move, he would lay out extremely meticulous plans — every word, every gesture had to be weighed over and over, and every possible contingency had to be taken into account.

But what if a special situation arose — someone simply refused to see him, or saw him but refused to speak with him, kept a distance of more than ten meters, and kept a whole retinue of hired thugs around him? How would he handle that?

Faced with such a situation, Pei Yuzeng would not strike. This was also an important reason he never failed.

Coming to find Luo Zhengnan today, Pei Yuzeng had already prepared himself not to strike, because he knew Luo Zhengnan was an extremely cautious man.

But he hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. Pei Yuzeng put his outer garment back on, left the study, and headed straight for the front gate.

Stickman Sun Xingbing stepped forward and said: "Hall Master Pei, you're leaving already?"

Pei Yuzeng sighed: "Had a bit of a disagreement with your Hall Master Luo. Forget it, it's all gang business. Help me talk your hall master around later — don't let this thing sour things between us."

The measure of his words was just right, not rousing the slightest suspicion in Sun Xingbing.

Sun Xingbing really was worried about souring relations. Since Hall Master Luo was unwilling to see the guest out, he saw Pei Yuzeng off on the hall master's behalf.

On the rooftop, Luo Zhengnan silently watched Pei Yuzeng's retreating back.

Wasn't he burned to death? How was he still standing here?

Luo Zhengnan hadn't been burned to death. What had been burned to death was a puppet he had hidden in the room — a puppet fashioned from bone and flesh.

This puppet could walk, could move, could speak, but in appearance it had a few subtle differences from Luo Zhengnan.

The reason he dared to bring it out just now came down to two things. First, when his men saw a guest arrive, they all stood respectfully in the parlor and didn't dare look directly at him.

Second, Pei Yuzeng hadn't seen Luo Zhengnan in years and couldn't pick out the subtle differences between the puppet and the real man.

At this moment, Luo Zhengnan had an antenna stuck in his head, tracking the ashes on Pei Yuzeng's person.

Before long, Luo Zhengnan heard some movement.

"Gang leader, it's done."

"Well done. Heavy reward."

Pei Yuzeng was on a call with Xiao Zhenggong.

So it really was Xiao Zhenggong who wanted me dead!

This grudge must be avenged, but he couldn't stay in the Jiang Xiang gang any longer.

Where could he go?

Luo Zhengnan did think of a place. He couldn't say it was absolutely safe, but at the very least it was remote and cut off enough.

The main thing was whether that place would be willing to take him in.

……

Li Banfeng arrived at Qiu's Apothecary. Qiu Zhiheng got a fright: "Old Seven, why are you back?"

It wasn't yet time for a shift change.

Li Banfeng said: "Brother Qiu, we don't need to stay up on the mountain anymore. Someone's standing in for Yao Lao, keeping watch over the place."

"Who?"

"Someone we'd never have guessed. Brother Qiu, go check on Yao Lao every so often, and get to know this worthy while you're at it." Li Banfeng gave a rough rundown of the situation, but didn't mention Xu Lao's identity. Whether Qiu Zhiheng could get to know Xu Lao would depend on his own fortune.

That evening, Li Banfeng stayed at the apothecary. At dawn the next day, the clerk Ding Youming picked up some news: "Luo Zhengnan's gone missing. The Jiang Xiang gang people are searching like mad."

Qiu Zhiheng was taken aback: "How could Luo Zhengnan possibly go missing?"

Luo Zhengnan was such a seasoned operator, and he'd been in Yaowang Gully for so many years — there weren't many people around here who could outscheme him.

Qiu Zhiheng kept sending people to gather information. By the afternoon, the news was basically confirmed.

Jiang Xiang's Qingyan City Hall Master Pei Yuzeng had come by last night. He met with Luo Zhengnan once, and after that there was no more news of Luo Zhengnan.

"Pei Yuzeng, Pei One Breath — kills without leaving ash." Qiu Zhiheng had heard of his reputation. "Old Seven, this is the Jiang Xiang gang sending someone to kill Luo Zhengnan."

Li Banfeng thought for a moment and said: "Why would they want Luo Zhengnan dead? Does it have anything to do with Yao Lao's situation?

"Yao Lao's residence was leaked — could that also be related to Jiang Xiang's gang?"

Qiu Zhiheng lit a cigarette and sighed softly: "I can't figure this out for the moment. It was rare enough for Jiang Xiang's gang to produce someone with a shred of humanity, and now they're just gone like that."

"Old Seven, be extra careful these days. I worry Jiang Xiang's gang might actually be coming after us."

"I'm preparing to leave Yaowanggou. You be extra careful too."

A few days later, Li Banfeng arranged a travel pass and a train ticket for Xiao Genzi and sent him back to Green Water City on his own.

Genzi had been carrying the bucket on his back the whole time. Worried he might clash with other passengers, Li Banfeng specially bought him a private compartment.

Genzi was in his compartment adjusting the golden juice when someone caught the smell and pushed the door right open.

Seeing this, Genzi quickly stowed the bucket, sat down on the seat as if nothing had happened, and asked: "Is there something you need?"

The one who came in was a man with a long face, small eyes, and gaunt cheeks, carrying a suitcase. He looked at Xiao Genzi and said: "You were adjusting golden juice just now, weren't you?"

Genzi shook his head rapidly: "What golden juice would I have here? You've got the wrong place — try next door."

The man smiled: "Your bucket is still right there. How could I have the wrong place? Don't worry, I'm here to talk business with you."

"Talk business with me?" Xiao Genzi was taken aback. "What business?"

The man looked at Xiao Genzi's bucket and asked: "I'd like to buy one bucket."

"You want to buy this?" Xiao Genzi suspected he'd misheard.

"One bucket for twenty thousand. If you think it's not enough, we can negotiate the price." The man made his offer.

Genzi frowned: "What do you want to use this for?"

Don't underestimate this bucket of golden juice — scoop out just one ladle and it can kill a person.

"Don't worry, it's definitely not for anything shady," the man smiled. "My name is Zhang Wanlong, I'm a Tiller. If this deal works out, we can do some bigger business together in the future."

"You're a Tiller?" Xiao Genzi looked Zhang Wanlong up and down. Seeing him dressed in a grey-and-white checkered suit, he didn't look like a farmer no matter how you looked at him.

"You don't believe me?" Zhang Wanlong took a flowerpot out of his suitcase. The pot was very small — two sizes smaller than a palm. He sprinkled a seed into it, poured on a little water, and in less than five minutes the seed sprouted, sent up a stalk, grew leaves, and bloomed into a jasmine plant.

He had expected Genzi to be very surprised, but to his surprise Genzi's expression remained perfectly calm.

He was a man of experience — someone who had traveled with a Tiller Sect master. What were such minor tricks to him?

"Brother, it's not that I don't believe you, it's that your trick can't prove you're a Tiller."

Zhang Wanlong was taken aback: "What do you mean by that? Surely no other sect has this kind of ability?"

"There is — Grass Cultivators. Grass Cultivators grow things even faster than you do!"

Zhang Wanlong gave a thumbs-up: "Brother, knowing about Grass Cultivators shows you have real knowledge. Grass Cultivation is one of the origins of Tiller Cultivation — the founding patriarch of the Tillers came out of the Grass Cultivators, so the two really are hard to tell apart. Take another look at this trick of mine!"

While speaking, Zhang Wanlong dripped two more drops of medicinal liquid onto the jasmine. After a dozen or so minutes, on the spot where the drops had fallen, a sunflower bloomed from the jasmine's branch.

A sunflower blooming from a jasmine branch — that was something no Grass Cultivator could do.

But the real show of skill came next. The sunflower's big disk turned its face toward the train window, and a mouth suddenly grew on the disk. It let out two giggles — and by the sound of it, it was like a young lady of seventeen or eighteen in the bloom of her years.

Genzi nodded in admiration: "Fine skills, Brother Zhang. We can do business!"

……

In the deep mountains, inside Yao Lao's house, Xu Lao let out a soft sigh and murmured to himself:

"When the opportunity comes, no one can stop it. In the end, whether he has learned to be good, or you have learned to be bad — that depends on your own fortune."

……

Li Banfeng took the new route and, following Yao Lao's map, went to Iron Gate Fortress.

The journey through the new route was not particularly grueling. Yao Lao's map helped him avoid most of the risks, and the occasional strange creature he encountered posed no threat to Li Banfeng.

But Li Banfeng did not let his guard down. When fighting strange creatures in the new route, it wasn't just martial strength that mattered — special beings like Feng Quweng and Xi Xi Zhao Fu could pull you into their traps with the slightest carelessness.

Arriving at Iron Gate Fortress, Li Banfeng emerged from Peach Blossom Lake, and taking advantage of no one being around, hurried back to Sui Shen Ju to put his clothes on.

He had come to Iron Gate Fortress this time for no other reason than to withdraw some money to pay back the gloves, and to check on the state of the fortress while he was at it.

Li Banfeng had even specially changed his outfit, disguising himself as a vegetable farmer, carrying two baskets of greens on a shoulder pole as he entered Iron Gate Fortress.

At the gate, the gatekeeper stopped Li Banfeng and asked: "Are you here to sell vegetables?"

Li Banfeng nodded.

"Have you paid the deposit?"

Good — the rules set down back then were still being enforced. To do business in Iron Gate Fortress, one had to pay a deposit. Anyone who passed off shoddy goods or played tricks to cheat people here would have their deposit confiscated and be barred from entering the fortress in the future.

Li Banfeng pretended not to know: "This is my first time here. I've never heard that doing business requires paying a deposit."

"You haven't heard? Then I'm telling you now — no deposit, no selling here."

Li Banfeng set down his vegetable baskets: "Then I won't sell. I'm going in to see whether business is worth doing."

That was fine — they could let him in.

Li Banfeng entered the fortress. Iron Gate Fortress was his favorite place — every street, every alley, every blade of grass, every tree, he felt he could never look at them enough.

The fortress had changed quite a bit. Without the fortress lord's exploitation, the Yu Zhaixiu were living well. Quite a few households had renovated their houses, and some had even expanded their homes.

Of course, some things hadn't changed. A woman who came to collect finished garments kept driving the price down. Yu Zhaixiu Li Zhijuan was skilled at tailoring and made her living at it, yet even when the price was squeezed until there was almost no profit, Li Zhijuan still agreed.

The reason was simple — she had been doing business with this woman for a long time, was used to it, and didn't want to sour the relationship.

This was the Yu Zhaixiu's flaw — they weren't good at dealing with people.

Business has already come to this, and she's still thinking about keeping the peace!

Li Banfeng stepped forward to teach this garment-collecting woman a lesson, when suddenly he heard someone call out: "Sir! Fine sorghum wine — won't you take a look?"

Li Banfeng turned his head and was stunned for a long while.

Luo Zhengnan held up a jar of sorghum wine and said: "Fortress Lord, I've been waiting for you for several days."

PS: Can Luo Zhengnan stay in Iron Gate Fortress?

(End of chapter)