Chapter 419

The Salt Gang is a behemoth of the martial world, no less inferior to the Grain Transport Gang.

Its history is long, flourishing in the Huai River basin since the Han Dynasty. And compared to the Grain Transport Gang, the relationship between the Salt Gang and the imperial court is even more complex.

Salt is a monopoly of the imperial court, but during wartime or major projects or disasters, merchants are needed to participate, and the supervisory board issues salt permits.

And in ordinary times, the Salt Gang is entangled with the imperial court's salt management offices, such as the Salt Transport Commission, the Salt Tax Office, and the Inspection Office.

The Salt Gang is a refuge for people in the martial world.

If you are short of money, or are wanted by the government, as long as your blade is sharp enough and your fist is hard enough, you can always find a place to stay in the Salt Gang.

The Salt Gang is also a black hand for corrupt officials.

They use various methods to win over local officials, and sometimes they act as their thugs, committing crimes.

The original magistrate of Zigui County was dragged into the water because of private salt.

The Sichuan-Shu Salt Gang is even more outstanding among them.

The Zigong area is known as the "Millennium Salt Capital," and the Sichuan-Shu Salt Gang rose from this place, with Sichuan, Hubei, Yunnan, and Guizhou all being its sphere of influence.

Blocking the river and closing the road doesn't even count as a big deal.

Li Yan can even be certain that these people also have a good relationship with the Wushan County government, and after finishing their business, no one will come to ask questions.

Swish!

Just as they stopped, a signal arrow shot into the sky.

The two fast boats behind immediately accelerated, approaching them from the left and right, sandwiching the painting boat in between.

On the two fast boats, there were seven or eight men each. The autumn wind was bleak, but they were still in tight-fitting short clothes, revealing their sturdy muscles, and they were holding weapons such as fish forks, swords, and bows and arrows.

"You bastards, don't move!"

On the boat on the left, a sturdy man walked out. He wasn't tall, but his skin was dark, his face was full of thick whiskers, and there were several knife scars on his face.

He held a knife in each hand, one long and one short.

This kind of weapon is called a Mandarin Duck Knife; the long blade is the Mandarin knife, and the short blade is the Duck knife. The cooperation of long and short knives, one yin and one yang, is very tricky.

Those who are good at using this kind of weapon are all experts.

This person was perhaps used to being arrogant. Seeing Li Yan and the others on the boat watching coldly, he immediately spat, stepped on the gunwale, and his body suddenly soared into the air.

At this time, the two boats were no more than five meters apart.

This distance was extremely easy for him, and he had even thought of various countermeasures in his mind.

If the people on the boat didn't act rashly, he would use his momentum to suppress them and quickly control the leader, so as to show off his prestige...

If someone swung a blade to resist, he would take advantage of the situation and use the knife to suppress them...

However, he was thinking too much.

Before he even landed, he felt a foul wind strike. Immediately after, his chest felt like it had been hit by lightning, his ears were buzzing, and he flew more than ten meters away, falling into the water with a thud.

Wu Ba retracted his foot, and he and Sha Lifei chuckled.

Speaking of which, Wu Ba was also somewhat depressed.

In his original tribe, he was a top-tier warrior, a presence who would become the tribal chief in the future, like a lion king about to become the leader.

But in the team, he was just a handyman.

Li Yan, Wang Daoxuan, and Lu San were all people he couldn't afford to provoke, and only Sha Lifei was someone he felt a mutual appreciation for, and their cooperation was considered tacit.

Facing these ordinary people, he finally regained some confidence.

"Where did this idiot come from!"

"Stupid, looking for death!"

"Do you know who we are?"

On the boats on both sides, there was a burst of cursing.

These men were all glaring, waving their weapons and cursing loudly. The momentum was not small, but no one came up.

They were also sensible; their leader, an expert, had been kicked away, so the people on the boat were mostly tough nuts to crack. Rushing up would only be asking for humiliation.

At times like this, they had to rely on the Salt Gang's reputation to suppress people.

Li Yan frowned, "Wu Ba, deal with them!"

"Go to hell!"

Wu Ba didn't say a word, jumped out, and jumped directly onto the other party's boat. He was too lazy to use weapons, and his fists, as big as sand pots, swung around, beating the other party until they were turned upside down.

Even that fast boat had its keel kicked and broken by him.

Subsequently, Wu Ba rushed toward the other boat with great interest.

"Wait!"

On the large boat blocking the way ahead, a voice finally rang out.

Subsequently, a middle-aged man in brocade clothes walked onto the bow of the boat, with a Daoist and a woman standing beside him, looking down from a high position.

The Daoist was nothing special, but when the woman saw Li Yan, it was as if she had seen a ghost. She retreated hurriedly, whispering a few words to the middle-aged man in brocade clothes.

Li Yan saw this, and his eyes were somewhat strange.

The woman's face seemed somewhat familiar. If he wasn't mistaken, she was the female swordswoman who had followed the Longxiang Army to assassinate him in Xiling Gorge.

This woman was named Liu Mei, her sword skills were not bad, and she was also a good hand at eating Ge Nian in the martial world of Hubei.

Unfortunately, she had been scared out of her wits by Li Yan, to the point that when she was in Zigui County, she gave up the mission directly and ran away, escaping a disaster.

But she also caused trouble for herself because of this.

At that time, she had accepted reward money from the Ghost Sect, but fled before the battle. Fearing being hunted down, she hid in the Salt Gang to seek protection.

"Li Yan, the one who fought the Ghost Sect?"

The middle-aged man in brocade clothes was full of surprise.

"It's that one!"

Liu Mei was also annoyed in her heart, whispering: "This is a jinx. The number of martial world experts who have died because of him is countless. It's better to avoid provoking him."

The man in brocade clothes had an uncertain expression. He glared fiercely at his subordinate who was collecting intelligence, then revealed a smile, stood on the boat, and bowed:

"So it is Young Hero Li from Guanzhong. I have long admired you!"

"Heh~"

Sha Lifei was happy, rubbed his bald head and laughed: "You are also interesting. You ambushed people halfway, and set up such a big formation, but you didn't even know who was on the boat. Aren't you afraid of provoking the wrong person?"

Li Yan watched coldly and didn't respond.

He had already guessed that the target of these people was mostly the two young girls in the boat cabin.

"Hahaha..."

The man in brocade clothes smiled and cupped his hands: "A misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding."

"I am Lu Jiu. In the Sichuan-Shu Salt Gang, I hold six carrying poles and am specifically in charge of patrolling the wind..."

"Oh, so it's Patrol Wind Sixth Master!"

Sha Lifei pretended to be surprised and bowed slightly.

Although the Salt Gang is a behemoth of the divine land's martial world, it is more like a combination of local chambers of commerce and gangs, with clear boundaries and no crossing the line to dig for food.

Their rules are a bit like the Gelao Society.

However, the Gelao Society is ranked by rows. For example, the first row is the leader, the second row is the sage, the third row is the head of the family, etc., representing the seating order in the gang.

The Salt Gang started by selling salt, and especially the Sichuan-Shu Salt Gang, which often relied on manpower, so the status of the carrying pole is very important.

Therefore, the ranking was changed to carrying poles.

"Patrol Wind Sixth Master" specializes in wandering around various places, doing everything from gathering intelligence to executing missions, and they are numerous.

"I wouldn't dare."

Lu Jiu smiled slightly, "Although I have eyes but don't recognize Mount Tai, I didn't find the wrong person. Everyone, please hand over the two little girls on the boat to us."

"This matter has nothing to do with you. I have a good relationship with Elder Han Kun of the Grain Transport Gang, so we can be considered our own people. In the future, when you arrive in Sichuan-Shu, our Salt Gang will surely treat you well."

Sha Lifei glanced at Li Yan. Seeing his cold expression, he chuckled and shouted: "Lu, stop wasting your breath. Don't you see what kind of people we are!"

"If you are sensible, get out of the way. Kidnapping little girls, aren't you afraid of being laughed at..." Since they didn't worry about having too many debts, and lice didn't itch when there were too many, the people they had offended were too numerous. Compared to them, the Salt Gang was really not worth mentioning.

Lu Jiu on the opposite boat had his eyes turn gloomy immediately. He gave a cold laugh and raised his hand slightly.

Clatter!

A group of people rushed onto the boat, all raising their fire guns, aiming at them densely.

Not only that, the deck rumbled, and a cannon was pushed over, aimed at their painting boat.

Most of them were ordinary firearms, but there were also two new-style fire guns.

Swish!

Lu Jiu shook the folding fan in his hand and said indifferently: "Everyone, I know your martial arts are not bad, and you also understand sorcery, but this martial world has changed."

"Nowadays, whoever has money is the boss!"

Thud!

Just as he was speaking, the sound of falling into the water came from behind.

Lu Jiu turned his head hurriedly, only to see that the swordswoman Liu Mei had disappeared; she had actually taken advantage of this time to jump into the water and escape.

"Damn, this woman is really unreliable!"

!.

Lu Jiu cursed, but he also felt somewhat uneasy in his heart.

And on the painting boat, Li Yan also had killing intent rise, whispering: "Get ready to jump into the water, just endure for a while."

He wasn't afraid of any fire guns. Once his escape technique was unleashed, the other party wouldn't even be able to aim. With just one person, he could kill everyone on board.

Woo~

At this moment, a flute sound suddenly came from the clouds and mist above, mournful and tactful, like weeping, as if a woman were crying in the fog.

When Lu San heard this, his complexion changed slightly, whispering: "It's the Miao border insect-controlling technique, but it uses Chu witchcraft ritual music."

Buzz buzz buzz!

A roaring sound suddenly came from the clouds and mist.

Lu San unconsciously touched his demon gourd.

Originally, to deal with these ordinary people in the martial world, poisonous bees were the most suitable, but after the battle with the "Guest in the Mist," the bee colony had all died.

These were all painstakingly cultivated and were not easy to come by.

The demon gourd was therefore severely damaged and would need a period of time to re-cultivate the bee colony.

The people of the Salt Gang were going to be unlucky.

Sure enough, a dense swarm of bees rushed out from the thick fog, like a black cloud, covering all the Salt Gang boats.

The ones attacking the Salt Gang were not Lu San's mutated poisonous bees, but Sichuan-Shu yellow-headed horse bees, each one as thick as a little finger.

Although they were an ordinary species, they were not ambiguous at all when stinging people.

"Ah!"

For a time, there were constant screams.

The person who attacked did not target the painting boat, so Li Yan and the others just watched coldly and enjoyed the show.

The people of the Salt Gang were stung until they howled like ghosts and wolves, rolling left and right.

These yellow-headed horse bees usually build nests in the mountains and wilderness. Small ones are the size of a human head, and large ones are the size of a house, and they can sting people to death alive.

Bang bang bang!

The fire gun team fired their muskets wildly.

But one thing subdues another; fire guns are not omnipotent either. Many gang members couldn't hold on and jumped into the water with thuds.

"Light the wolf smoke, light the wolf smoke!"

That Lu Jiu's martial arts were also considered not bad. His dark energy surged, his folding fan danced up and down, and he shouted sternly at the same time.

Soon, pungent thick smoke rose, but it only delayed the bee colony's attack.

Seeing this, Lu Jiu said urgently: "Sir, please take action!"

Li Yan narrowed his eyes and looked at the boat cabin of the large boat.

Whether it was the "Guest in the Mist" or the two young girls, it all involved the Mystic Sect. Lu Jiu dared to come and block the road, so he must have a sorcerer helping him.

But the other party seemed to have used the Qimen Dunjia technique, hiding in the boat cabin, and even his supernatural powers couldn't probe it.

Clang~

Inside the boat cabin, a zither sound suddenly rang out.

The person playing the zither was clearly proficient in this art. At first, it was slow, then fast. The zither sound was continuous but soothing, carrying a bone-chilling coldness.

Li Yan didn't understand zither scores, but he could hear the flavor in it. It gave him the same feeling as the Ba Mountain night rain he had experienced before.

And the attacking poisonous bee colony was also affected, as if they had gone blind, flying around and bumping into things everywhere, no longer attacking people.

Above the thick fog on the cliff, the flute sound also stopped, but a cold, old woman's voice came: "Sir, do you want to decide life and death today?"

Inside the boat cabin, the zither sound stopped abruptly.

"Go." The same vicissitudes of life voice came.

"Retreat, retreat quickly!"

Lu Jiu shouted hurriedly. The large boat immediately turned around and headed toward the upper reaches of the Daning River, while the other remaining fast boat fled back toward Wushan County in a sorry state.

Only Li Yan and their painting boat remained in place because they were blocked by the iron chains across the river.

Li Yan pressed his hand on the hilt of his knife, but didn't rush to cut the iron chains. Instead, he took a deep breath and looked at the white fog above on the left.

"Grandma! Grandma!"

The two young girls ran out of the boat cabin and shouted toward above, while anxiously saying: "These uncles are good people, don't be angry!"

Sha Lifei was happy, "The kids are very sensible."

Before the words fell, several figures appeared on the cliff. They were all women, some wearing white Han-style clothes, others in Yi-style costumes, leaping and jumping on the cliff with great agility.

They wore bamboo hats and white veils covering their faces, so their faces couldn't be seen clearly. After arriving at the shore, they stopped and stood guard.

Only one woman, wearing blue sleeves and robes, with silver ornaments all over her head, dressed like a Miao border woman, galloped over on the iron chains.

What good martial arts!

Li Yan narrowed his eyes and praised in his heart.

The technique of "walking on ropes" is what the Caicai Sect is best at in the martial world, but they are all trained from childhood, relying on strong balance to walk.

And this Miao border woman in front of him was relying purely on high-level light-body techniques and extremely high-level eyesight.

Swish!

The woman landed on the bow of the boat, with bright eyes and white teeth, skin like congealed fat, revealing a playful smile, and bowed slightly: "Thank you all for drawing your blades to help."

The smile was likable, carrying a hint of spiciness in its playfulness.

However, Li Yan's back suddenly tightened.

This woman was somewhat strange. Various odors gathered all over her body, all of which were poisonous, and her clothes were filled with poisonous snakes.

It was almost like a mobile poison warehouse.

This was Li Yan's first time seeing such a lunatic.

"Auntie Long!"

The two young girls ran over immediately and threw themselves into her arms.

"Hey, it's good to be back."

The Miao border woman was also full of smiles. She seemed to be hugging the two young girls, but her fingers swept across them quickly, confirming that nothing had been done to the children, and only then did she breathe a sigh of relief and hold the two young girls directly.

"Warrior, thank you!"

Her eyes blinked, and she prepared to take the people away.

Li Yan said coldly: "Slow down. You didn't leave a word, and just leaving like this is a bit ignorant of the rules."

"Oh—!"

The Miao border woman suddenly realized, and laughed: "Don't worry, someone will give you a reward later, you will definitely be satisfied."

"I'm not talking about money!"

Li Yan could also tell that this woman wasn't pretending to be stupid; she really didn't understand the rules, so he said directly: "You should at least leave a name, right?"

"Also, we have some things we would like to ask about."

As he spoke, he held the phoenix gold ornament in his arms high.

In the thick fog, that old woman's voice rang out again: "Everyone can come to the Bai family in the east of Dachang City, I will wait respectfully."

Second update in the afternoon

(End of chapter)