Chapter 180: The Most Valuable Head

On the twentieth day of the first lunar month in Guanzhong, there is a custom called "Patching the Sky."

It's not really a major festival; it's just that on this day, one must eat pancakes.

Putting a few on the roof is called "Patching the Sky."

Throwing two slices into the well is called "Patching the Earth."

Yang Baozhu threw the pancake in his hand into the well, bowed respectfully three times, and then shouted toward the house: "I'm going out!"

His wife complained from inside: "Going to the teahouse again? You just got back, and you don't even rest."

"Heh, you nagging woman!"

Yang Baozhu cursed, stuck his clay tobacco pipe behind his neck, put his hands behind his back, hummed a little tune, and walked out of the house.

The old city of Huayin is not big. Because it is close to Tongguan, it is a strategic point for military strategists. The previous dynasty was destroyed in the flames of war, leaving only broken walls and ruins, with no human habitation for hundreds of miles, and it only gradually recovered its vitality later.

Although Yang Baozhu is just a suona player in the Zuojia Shadow Play Troupe, a low-class profession, his ancestors were once glorious.

The Hongnong Yang family—mentioning them is a big deal. They produced four generations of emperors, five generations of imperial consorts, and many famous ministers and generals.

Logically speaking, they should be a powerful family that dominates one side.

Unfortunately, the Hongnong Yang family began in the Western Han Dynasty, flourished in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, and declined in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. By the Song Dynasty, the great clan moved south, leaving only these side branches.

Only during ancestor worship can they recall the glory of the past.

Whenever Yang Baozhu mentions this, it always invites ridicule. After all, in this land of Guanzhong, whose ancestors haven't been wealthy?

But for the past two days, he has been very proud.

"Mr. Yang is here!"

Sure enough, as soon as he walked into the teahouse, someone greeted him loudly, and even the waiter served tea diligently and waited on him carefully.

"Old Brother Yang, tell us about what happened that night again!"

As soon as Yang Baozhu sat down, a few people gathered around.

"Didn't I just tell you yesterday!"

Yang Baozhu complained with feigned impatience, but when he took out his clay tobacco pipe and someone else diligently lit it for him, he still took two puffs and said calmly: "The story of that night, there's plenty to tell..."

"This Lantern Festival Drum King Assembly, those who came to participate weren't just from our Shaanxi state; even many teams from outside states came. It was much livelier than before..."

"They each showed their unique skills, and our Huayin old troupe couldn't lose face. As soon as the Eight Directions Shadow Technique came out, it immediately shocked the whole arena..."

"Have you heard of Xiong Baodong? The leader of the Chang'an Fire Bear Gang!"

"How does he compare to the Blood Blade Society here?"

"Pfft, there's no comparison at all! That's Chang'an. He has thousands of gang members under his hands, every one of them a man who can fight."

"But still, his head was plucked!"

"Tsk tsk... I was watching from the side. Aiyou, he splashed blood all over me. Poor me, my new clothes... That Li Li Shaoxia, holding the head and roaring, was truly the reappearance of a Tang Dynasty wandering hero!"

Yang Baozhu was worthy of being from a theater troupe. Although he couldn't sing, when he told the story of that night, the punchlines were one after another, making everyone gasp in surprise.

Someone couldn't help but ask: "It was just a Drum King Assembly, why was the fighting so fierce, and why did it cost lives?"

Yang Baozhu glanced sideways. "For the sake of going up Mount Huashan!"

"What?"

Someone immediately spat out a mouthful of tea. "That lousy Mount Huashan, I go up every day. If they want to go up, find me to lead the way. I'm familiar with all the paths."

"Heh heh."

Yang Baozhu sneered. "You ignorant person, you really think Mount Huashan is what you see with your eyes? There are some places that ordinary people can't go up."

"I'll say too much and you won't understand anyway. Anyway, that spot is very valuable. Otherwise, why would people from outside states come to grab it?"

"How much is it worth?"

"At least two thousand taels..."

Hiss—!

Everyone gasped in shock.

Pfft!

Just then, laughter came from a corner in the distance.

Yang Baozhu looked up and saw a red-faced man sitting there, wearing a tattered sheepskin coat. He was quite tall, with a Guanshan knife hanging from each side of his waist.

It's a swordsman!

Yang Baozhu was originally a bit angry, but now his heart tightened. He carefully folded his hands and said: "This hero, I was just talking nonsense. Don't take offense."

"Your information is outdated!"

The red-faced man drank the tea in his bowl in one gulp, shook his head, and said: "One spot sold for ten thousand taels. Li Yan had nine tokens in his hand, which sold for a full ninety thousand taels!"

"What?"

Now it was Yang Baozhu's turn to be surprised. He suddenly felt that the twenty taels of reward money in his bosom wasn't so fragrant anymore, and at the same time, he cursed the troupe leader for being stingy.

"Ninety thousand taels..."

The red-faced man shook his head, clicking his tongue. "Not only that, the Qiao family in Fengyang County and some elders of the Fire Bear Gang have also joined forces to offer a five-thousand-tael bounty for Li Yan's head."

"That head of his is the most valuable one in the martial world right now!"

Yang Baozhu laughed and said carefully: "That Li Li Shaoxia can easily kill even Transformation Realm experts, and he is a sorcerer. Who is so tired of living that they would dare to take the bounty?"

"There are plenty of people who want money but not their lives!"

"Coincidentally, I am one of them!"

The red-faced man said while slowly standing up.

Everyone then discovered that his height was actually two meters!

Yang Baozhu swallowed his saliva and respectfully folded his hands. "Offense, offense. May I ask brother..."

"Puxian, Yuan Blackie!"

After saying this, he laughed loudly and strode out of the door.

Everyone looked at each other, their eyes full of fear.

"It's Yuan Zhetian from Puxian!"

Yuan Zhetian walked out of the teahouse and strode toward the city gate.

His physique was different from ordinary people, making him very conspicuous walking on the street.

At the city gate, his wanted poster was posted on the wall, but several city guards saw it and simply turned their heads, pretending not to see it.

"Hmph hmph!"

Yuan Zhetian gave a cold sneer and swaggered out of the city gate.

Arriving under the yellow earth mound outside the city, a man jumped down from a tree, smiling all over his face, and respectfully folded his hands: "Greetings, Big Brother."

"Did you find out?"

"The target is in the mountains thirty miles away. That place used to be an old Tang tomb. I heard that several groups of swordsmen have already gone."

"What was the result?"

"This... they all went crazy and killed each other. According to one who survived, they bumped into dirty things, and they were everywhere in the mountains!"

"Pfft, they are all idiots!"

Yuan Zhetian cursed with a cold sneer: "That person is a sorcerer. Just going up stupidly like that, how is it any different from looking for death?"

"Go, summon people!"

"Yes!"

The short man leaped up, jumped off the earth mound, rode a fast horse, and galloped away, disappearing in no time.

Yuan Zhetian chewed on a straw, pulled his bamboo hat down, crossed his legs, and lay sideways under the tree to rest.

Half an hour later, three people walked along the official road—a monk, a Daoist, and an old woman. They were exactly the three heterodox sorcerers who had followed Xiong Baodong on the Lantern Festival night.

Yuan Zhetian seemed to sense it, lifted his bamboo hat and stood up, jumped down from the earth mound, glanced at the three, and waved his hands in a salute: "Seniors, we agreed on tomorrow."

He was able to get the news all because of these three. The three's complexions were all bad. The one-eyed big monk said in a deep voice: "This kid is slippery. Although we don't know why he has been delaying going up Mount Huashan, if he runs again, we will have completely lost the opportunity."

They were also unlucky. Xiong Baodong died, and even the chance to compete was gone. Having traveled all the way to Shaanxi with great difficulty, they naturally weren't willing to return empty-handed.

But after the Lantern Festival night, Li Yan's group completely disappeared. At the same time, news came that a sorcerer named Night Crying Lang in Fengyi Ward was responsible for selling the remaining tokens.

The three were heterodox sorcerers; how could they honestly pay to buy them? They immediately sneaked into Fengyi Ward at night, wanting to grab them by force.

The result went without saying—they ran into a hard nut to crack.

Night Crying Lang raised his soul-calling banner and wailed, and the three almost left their lives there, scared into fleeing Chang'an in a panic.

Of course, the three still weren't willing to give up.

Thinking that Chang'an had experts and Li Yan's group wouldn't possibly be followed, they allied with Yuan Zhetian, a swordsman who had been very popular on the Weinan road recently, preparing to intercept and kill Li Yan.

"Don't worry, he can't run!"

Yuan Zhetian sneered: "I've heard of Li Hu's reputation. Even if his son is powerful, he will still die today!"

!.

The old Daoist carrying a big gourd said coldly: "You kid have a big mouth. Xiong Baodong was a Transformation Realm expert, yet he was killed by him in a few moves. Where do you get your confidence?"

"Hahaha..."

Yuan Zhetian laughed wildly. "You'll know in a moment!"

Not long after, dust rose on the dirt road in the distance, and about thirty people rode over, all disheveled and fierce-looking.

The black-clad old woman smacked her lips. "You actually have so many subordinates. Are you planning to go up the mountain to become a bandit in the future?"

Yuan Zhetian scratched his chest, rubbed off a ball of mud, and flicked it lightly. "Killed a few wealthy families, the Imperial Court issued a wanted notice, and I can't take on profitable jobs anymore, so I might as well go up the mountain."

"Anyway, it's about making money. Isn't robbing faster?"

While speaking, the horse troop had already arrived nearby.

After the subordinates led the horses over, Yuan Zhetian took an oil-paper package from the side of the saddle and laughed: "Seniors, do you recognize this?"

The Daoist carrying the gourd sniffed, and his expression changed slightly.

"Gunpowder?"

"That's right!"

Yuan Zhetian laughed: "You seniors probably don't know, but there's been news in the martial world recently that Bai Ruoxu, the leader of the Chang'an tooth-broker hall, snatched a divine gun from the Commandant's Office."

"A few days ago at Manchuan Pass, he was intercepted by experts from the Grain Transport Gang who wanted to rob him. As a result, the leader of the Grain Transport Gang was blown into two halves by a single shot!"

"That was a long-famous Transformation Realm expert!"

"And two days ago at Tongguan, a group of newly debuted Central Plains bandits robbed a Jinzhou merchant caravan, directly using gunpowder for an ambush. Even the famous Tianshun Escort Agency stumbled!"

Saying this, he shook the explosive package in his hand and laughed strangely: "Right now in the martial world's black market, this thing is the hard currency."

"No matter how good the sorcery or Transformation Realm expert, they are ultimately flesh and blood. Ten taels of silver can take their lives!"

"Three seniors, how is my sorcery?"

"Hahaha..."

A group of sword-bandits laughed wildly.

The three heterodox sorcerers looked at each other, all with ugly expressions.

They wouldn't share the profits with others and had originally planned to kill Yuan Zhetian after grabbing the things.

But looking at the explosive packages in the bandits' hands, they felt inexplicably fearful.

On the night of the Lantern Festival, they were also witnesses to the firearms.

Seeing the three not speaking, Yuan Zhetian laughed and didn't say anything more, ordering horses to be brought for them.

With a whistle, the horse troop headed toward the distant mountains...

It wasn't yet out of the first lunar month, and the weather was still cold.

The sword-bandit horse troop moved with a rumble, all covering their faces with headscarves.

In the blue sky, a falcon flew up and down, sometimes drawing a circle, sometimes diving suddenly.

On a high ridge, a black-robed person sat in a big tree. Under the hood, his face was round, his eyes were bright, and even without smiling, there were two obvious dimples at the corners of his mouth.

Seeing the falcon's gliding trajectory, he jumped down from the big tree, slid down the steep slope, and jumped whenever he hit a rock.

His movements were agile, like an antelope in the mountains.

Soon, a mountain depression appeared in front, with a dilapidated earth temple nearby, which had clearly been abandoned for a long time, yet there was thin blue smoke.

Hearing the movement, Sha Lifei walked out of the earth temple, smiling flatteringly: "Yo, Brother Lu San is back. Come, come, I'll help you carry things."

"No need."

Lu San kept a cold face and hurriedly retreated.

"Eh~ why be so polite among brothers?"

Sha Lifei was polite on the surface, but his eyes were fixed on Lu San's waist.

Hanging there was exactly the Fire Ghost's bone-mace firearm, as well as an ammunition bag.

Lu San saw this and shook his head. "Don't think about it. I already gave you three, and we still haven't figured out the formula. There isn't much left, so I have to save it for critical moments."

Sha Lifei was itching with impatience and rubbed his hands. "Just one, just one. If we could figure out the formula, what would we have to worry about?"

Unfortunately, no matter how much he begged, Lu San remained unmoved.

Just then, Wang Daoxuan also walked out and shook his head. "Stop pestering him. Brother Lu San, did you discover anything?"

After the Lantern Festival night, Li Yan's group left Chang'an and waited in a village outside the city, waiting for Night Crying Lang to handle the things.

Li Yan was afraid of being tracked by the Commandant's Office and didn't contact Lu San, but Lu San took the initiative to find them, preparing to say goodbye and leave.

The three wouldn't agree, and after much persuasion, they finally got him to join the group.

The benefits naturally went without saying. Lu San could understand bird and beast language and had tamed a falcon to help them scout.

Two days ago, when someone came to attack, it was Lu San who discovered it in advance.

Hearing Wang Daoxuan's inquiry, Lu San nodded woodenly. "Hmm, there is a team, about thirty people, riding horses toward this side."

"What are you afraid of?"

Sha Lifei laughed. "No matter how many people, it's useless. Brother Yan is practicing, and every night there are ghosts and spirits all over the mountains. They probably can't even get close."

"Don't be careless." Wang Daoxuan shook his head. "If they attack during the day, what if they disturb Brother Yan's practice?"

"Brother Lu San, please notify Brother Yan. Old Sha, accompany me to set up the dharma altar. If they come up the mountain, we can also block them."

With Li Yan away, the few were led by Wang Daoxuan.

Sha Lifei accompanied Wang Daoxuan to set up the dharma array, while Lu San went to the mountain depression in the back, writing and drawing on a cloth strip with charcoal.

"Squeak squeak!"

He pinched his mouth and let out a sharp cry. A mouse crawled out of the nearby grass, climbed up his trouser leg, and was very clever.

Lu San tied the cloth strip to the mouse's leg, then came to a cave entrance, squeaked a few times, and put it into the cave.

The mouse immediately crawled at high speed. The narrow, dark cave was no obstacle for it at all. In no time, it crawled into the mountain.

This entire mountain was actually a burial mound.

Squeak squeak!

In less than half an incense stick's time, the mouse burrowed into the mountain, and an ancient tomb appeared in front, which had collapsed in many places.

In the center of the tomb, the candlelight was ghostly.

Li Yan sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, his hands rubbing slowly, and there was a faint sound of muffled thunder, while lightning flashed and crackled...

Only two updates today.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 181 =====

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