Chapter 356: Revenge

Shen Rongqing clung to Ma Wu's chest, weeping loudly.

Ma Wu held Shen Rongqing, his single body seeming to hold up the entire sky for her.

In truth, he was not alone.

Huo Ling, Aqin, Zuo Wugang, and Tan Fucheng were all outside, and the one who truly drove off that white robe was the worm cultivator Lu Yuanxin.

To deal with Lu Dongchun, Lu Yuanxin had trained his cloth-eating worms to the extreme—vast in number, enormous in appetite, razor-sharp in tooth, and resistant to poison.

That white robe was a high-ranking robe cultivator, yet even he could not withstand Lu Yuanxin's cloth-eating worms.

These people could only wait outside the teahouse now; Li Banfeng had given the order that they were not to enter and disrupt things.

Others could wait without issue, but Huo Ling and Aqin found it unbearably hard.

For Wulang's sake, they had rushed over only to rescue a fox spirit!

"Ling'er, your ears are sharp—listen to what they're saying."

Through the charcoal fire in the tea stove, Huo Ling heard Ma Wu repeating just one line: "I'm here, it's alright."

……

"He's here, it's alright…"

Seeing the white robe fly back, Li Banfeng let out a long breath.

The white robe slipped onto Zhong Huai'en's body and carried him flying out of the alley.

Whether Zhong Huai'en lived or died could wait—the robe was still here, after all.

As long as the robe remained, there would be no shortage of message-carriers.

……

That night, Shen Rongqing did not return to the Shadow Play Company, and Ma Wu did not return to Outside Xiaoyao Wu either; the two quietly left the teahouse, went to the Peace Building, and asked for their old room.

They slept for a night, but in truth did not sleep a wink.

At dawn, Shen Rongqing touched Ma Wu's cheek and asked softly, "How did you know I was in danger at the teahouse?"

Ma Wu shook his head. "I didn't know you were in danger. I was passing by Lotus Pond Teahouse, saw the lights were on, and thought I'd go up and have a look—try my luck and see if I might run into you."

"Do you know whose business Lotus Pond Teahouse is?"

"I know," Ma Wu replied calmly with a nod. "It's the Ling family's business. The Ling family are my enemies, and you're helping the Ling family run their business."

"You know what I am, and yet you still…" Shen Rongqing, the foremost talented woman of Like Puluozhou, could not find the words to express herself precisely.

"Don't say anything more," Ma Wu shook his head and held Shen Rongqing tight. "It doesn't matter. For your sake, nothing matters."

Shen Rongqing buried her head in Ma Wu's chest and asked softly, "What level of cultivation are you exactly? How could you defeat that robe cultivator?"

This was a key question.

Ma Wu quietly employed a pleasure cultivator's technique, forcefully steadying his heartbeat and controlling his thoughts, and answered calmly, "No matter what my cultivation is, you are my woman, I am your man—that is enough."

He had rehearsed this line many times and was certain it was touching enough.

But after a long silence, Shen Rongqing still pulled away from Ma Wu's embrace.

She put on her clothes and said to Ma Wu, "Get a good sleep, then forget me."

It was not that she didn't believe Ma Wu's words, but she knew her own position and identity.

She could not be with Ma Wu.

Watching Shen Rongqing leave the room, Ma Wu wiped the sweat from his brow.

This talented woman is truly hard to handle. It happened so suddenly, and Old Seven wouldn't let me prepare in advance—what if I'd blown my cover?

……

At first light, Shen Rongqing returned to the Shadow Play Company, sat in her office in a daze for a while, and got in touch with He Jiaqing.

"Jiaqing, Zhong Huai'en sent someone to kill me last night. This must have been the Sage's order."

He Jiaqing, disguised as a sanitation worker, was sweeping the road; hearing this, he felt utterly overwhelmed.

"How did things come to this?"

"Jiaqing, I'm saying he wants to kill me!"

Before He Jiaqing could speak, Shen Rongqing cut the connection.

He Jiaqing, broom in hand, realized he had said the wrong thing—he had not asked about Shen Rongqing's safety first.

"Capable people won't listen, obedient people have no ability—how is it that I can't find a single person, someone with ability and cunning, who can also steadily do the work for you—how is it I can't find one…"

"What are you mumbling about!" a sanitation worker auntie beside him shouted at He Jiaqing. "Are you here to work or what? Daydreaming? Get sweeping!"

"Right." He Jiaqing sniffled.

This stretch of road had a lot of traffic; he had to hurry and set up the equipment. To catch the morning rush hour, he endured it.

……

Li Banfeng returned to Outside Xiaoyao Wu and found Luo Zhengnan.

The grudge between He Jiaqing and the Sage—Li Banfeng had brought it to a head on their behalf.

But was this grudge simply to be handed over like that?

That wouldn't do.

Since arriving in Like Puluozhou, the first ones to disgust Li Banfeng were the Jiang Xiang Gang.

Besides the Jiang Xiang Gang, many others had disgusted Li Banfeng, and Li Banfeng had sent them all away.

But the most vicious disgust came from the Scoundrels' Post under the Sage.

And now the Sage and the Jiang Xiang Gang had happened to come together.

Kidnapping children, sending them to the Scoundrels' Post, training them into scoundrels, making them slaves for the Sage.

These two disgusting forces had joined together, carrying out disgusting deeds.

Now it was time to make them suffer.

But this would require Luo Zhengnan's help.

Li Banfeng never asked anyone to do something for nothing; he first gave Luo Zhengnan five hundred silver dollars.

"This is the reward for this battle. There are still some big things ahead that we need to do together. First tell me what you want — business, or territory?"

Luo Zhengnan looked at Li Qi. He knew they weren't talking about a hundred percent trust yet, he knew Li Qi still had his guard up and doubts about him, but after hesitating for a long time, he still said what he wanted:

"Seventh Master, I don't want money and I don't want territory. I want revenge."

Some people just click with you like that.

Even his thoughts are the same as yours.

"The one who killed you — his name is Pei Yuzeng?"

Luo Zhengnan nodded and said: "The hall master of Green Smoke City."

"Are you familiar with Green Smoke City?"

"I've been there a few times. I'm clear on the Jiang Xiang Gang's halls and branch offices there. Not many of his men have cultivation, and there's almost no one worth mentioning. But hall master Pei Yuzeng is not easy to deal with.

This man is a fifth-layer fire cultivator. Seventh Master may feel his cultivation isn't that high, but this person is hard to pin down.

If the timing is right, killing him is no trouble at all. If the timing is wrong, even getting close to him isn't easy.

To kill Pei Yuzeng, it can't be at his hall. His hall is huge, with a lot of people. No one knows where he'll show up, and no one can say for sure where he'll strike from.

The Chu family, the Ma family, and the Hundred Flowers Gate have all sent assassins to kill him, and they all made their moves at his hall. They failed to kill him, and the assassins were instead burned to death by a blast of fire from Pei Yuzeng. So we must pick the right timing."

"What kind of timing counts as right?"

"That depends on when Seventh Master is willing to help me get this revenge."

"The sooner the better."

"Thank you, Seventh Master!" Luo Zhengnan rose and first gave Li Banfeng a deep bow.

He drew a circle on the calendar: "Today is the second. If Seventh Master is willing to help me, we set out tomorrow. Taking the train, we'll reach Green Smoke City on the fifth — it'll be just the day they deliver their goods."

"Deliver what goods?"

"Children. The situation in Green Smoke City is special — child traffickers run rampant. Other places call it child-kidnapping; they call it child-binding.

The child traffickers under the Jiang Xiang Gang dare to snatch people in broad daylight, and if anyone resists, they even dare to hurt people in broad daylight.

They lock the bound children in the hall, waiting for the families to come ransom them. Those who can pay get their children back; those who can't, the children never come back."

Li Banfeng frowned and said: "That's something only bandits would do."

Luo Zhengnan nodded and said: "You're right. What the Jiang Xiang Gang does in Green Smoke City is no different from bandits — in fact, it's even worse than bandits.

This is mainly because the situation in Green Smoke City is a bit special. In that place, the ones looking after the children are all the old and the weak."

"Where do the children who can't be ransomed get sent?"

"By train to Lowly People's Ridge. Pei Yuzeng calls this 'delivering goods' — delivering goods to the Sage."

"By train?" Li Banfeng was startled. "Doesn't the Pass Commissioner care?"

Luo Zhengnan said: "That's Pei Yuzeng's skill. There's someone covering for him at the station end. He can send these children out via freight cars. Whether it's someone from another prefecture covering for him, or someone from Lowly People's Ridge's side, that remains unknown.

But for the 'delivery,' Pei Yuzeng has to appear in person. He has each branch office pack the children into crates and send them all to a warehouse on the east side of the station.

He personally leads men to take these children to the station, and he can bring at most ten subordinates.

This is the rule the station set for him. Apart from his trusted confidants, very few people know the inside story of all this. This is the best time to kill him."

The most precious thing about a clever person is that he can use every means at hand to simplify complicated problems.

Li Banfeng pulled the brim of his hat down and said: "Get ready. We set out tomorrow."

……

On Sage Sage Peak, the barely-breathing Zhong Huai'en was carried into the Sage's mansion.

The Sage came out from his bedchamber.

He looked at Zhong Huai'en, covered in wounds all over his body, and looked at the white robe on him, riddled with holes.

"What happened?"

The white-robed one could not speak. No matter how poor Zhong Huai'en's cultivation was, in front of the Master, he had to speak first, because his status was very high.

Zhong Huai'en said with great effort: "Master, I was ambushed by a traveling cultivator. Your disciple fought hard, but was no match for him."

A traveling cultivator?

"That He Jiaqing again?"

Zhong Huai'en did not dare to speak rashly; he had not seen clearly what the ambusher looked like.

The Sage looked at the white-robed one and said: "You speak!"

What was the white-robed one supposed to say?

Should he say that he came up with an idea, went back to ambush Shen Rongqing, and then the ambush failed and he lost his junior brother into the bargain?

If he told the whole truth just like that, he could not leave the mansion alive.

Fortunately he had prepared in advance, and he switched to another way of telling it: "Master, we went to meet Shen Rongqing. Junior brother asked why He Jiaqing hadn't come — was this person too arrogant?

Shen Rongqing said we weren't qualified to meet He Jiaqing. Junior brother couldn't stomach it and said a few harsh words. We left, and who would have thought, halfway there we ran into an ambush by a traveling cultivator and a worm cultivator."

There was nothing wrong with what he said — it was all the truth, just that a portion of the facts had been left out.

Worm cultivators are the bane of clothing cultivators, and the holes in the white robe were indeed left by clothes-moth worms.

The Sage was silent for a long while, then said to Zhong Huai'en and the white-robed one: "Go tend your wounds first. Once you've healed, take men to the other prefecture, contact Xiao Zhenggong, and at any cost, kill He Jiaqing."

The white-robed one, mustering his courage, said: "Master, Senior Brother Xiao may not necessarily listen to me."

"Just say this is my order. Let's see if he has the nerve to defy it!"

The white-robed one dared not speak.

Xiao Zhenggong's thoughts were hard to pin down. Even if he didn't openly defy the order, he could just drag his feet and do nothing — what could be done about that?

……

Green Smoke City — the air of the city always carries a faint haze drifting through it.

It is also an industrial city, yet its layout is utterly different from Black Stone Slope.

Black Stone Slope leans toward manufacturing — the city is full of factories, and the workers' homes are built near those factories, with most workers living right inside the factory grounds.

But Green Smoke City leans toward smelting, and the smelting plants are all near the mines. No one wants to live near the mines, which gives Green Smoke City its unique layout, sharply divided between north and south.

The south of the city is the urban district, and the residences are all built there.

The north of the city is the mining district — full of mine shafts and factories. The workers labor in the mining district by day and return to the urban district to live at night.

This creates a problem: if a worker's job site is far from home, who looks after the children?

On their meager wages, hiring someone to watch the children is out of the question.

If the grandparents can't be relied on either, the only option is to entrust the children to the neighbors, and once the kids are a bit older, they help look after the younger ones.

Under these circumstances, it gives child traffickers no small number of opportunities.

Night had only just fallen when Pei Yuzeng personally arrived at the warehouse with ten trusted men.

A few branch docks had already delivered the children; two branch docks hadn't shown up yet. Pei Yuzeng checked his pocket watch — there was still time — and decided to wait for them a while.

He inspected the crates one by one and instructed his men: "Drill two more holes in this crate, don't let them suffocate on the way."

Crying came from one of the crates. Pei Yuzeng frowned: "Sew his mouth shut, don't let him pull some trick on me at the station later."

This was no idle threat — his men really went to fetch a needle, and any child who cried and made a fuss truly had their mouth sewn shut.

A burly man brought needle and thread, opened the crate — sewing mouths was his specialty.

Li Banfeng took the needle and thread from the burly man's hand, passed it through Pei Yuzeng's lower lip and out through his upper lip, drew the line through, went back and forth a few times, and sewed his mouth shut.

Pei Yuzeng was startled — Li Banfeng moved too fast; he had no time to react.

He tried to spit fire, but his mouth wouldn't open, and then he realized Li Banfeng's figure was gone.

Pei Yuzeng tore the needle and thread from his mouth with all his might and shouted: "Who's there?"

"An enemy." Luo Zhengnan walked slowly toward Pei Yuzeng from the warehouse door.

Pei Yuzeng was stunned.

Wasn't Luo Zhengnan dead?

Pei Yuzeng had personally burned him to death and even collected his ashes for him.

How was he alive?

And who was the person who had just vanished?

Luo Zhengnan looked at Pei Yuzeng — he very much wanted to see whether Pei Yuzeng could still spit out a mouthful of fire, whether it really came with no warning at all.

Pei Yuzeng very much wanted to spit fire — he truly could do it with no warning whatsoever — but unfortunately, he no longer had the chance.

His forehead swelled up, then his cheeks, chest, belly, and limbs swelled up in turn.

Boom! A muffled blast — Pei Yuzeng exploded into a mess of flesh and blood.

Boom! Boom!

A series of muffled blasts — of the ten subordinates, nine exploded into flesh and blood one after another.

Traveler's art: Galloping View.

The one Jiang Xiang Gang disciple left — the burly man who had just opened the crate — stood rooted to the spot, trembling all over. He knew Li Banfeng was right behind him.

Li Banfeng asked: "Where did these children come from?"

"I — I don't know."

Luo Zhengnan sighed: "How I wish you did know. If you knew, perhaps I could have spared your life."

"Hall Master Luo, I — I have no grudge against you…"

"But you have a grudge against me." Li Banfeng laughed behind the burly man.

"Sir, I never offended you, I've never even seen you…" The burly man didn't dare turn around. He was so scared he cried harder than the children in the crates.

From the crate he had just opened, a child quietly peeked out.

Li Banfeng signaled Luo Zhengnan to cover the child's eyes.

Luo Zhengnan covered the child's eyes: "Come now, uncle has candy. Tell uncle where your home is."

As he spoke, the burly man's crying stopped.

PS: Luo Zhengnan's vengeance is already done, but Li Qi's vengeance has only just begun.

(End of chapter)