Chapter 323: A Sham Fight

Qu Le was kicked flying along with his sword, and after landing he staggered back several steps before steadying himself.

He had only just raised his head when countless kicks came flying at his face. Qu Le could only keep raising his hands to block while retreating rapidly; as he retreated he went farther and farther, and in the end was kicked flying once more.

This time he really was sent flying, slamming into the ground with a thud as he flew backward, and he couldn't get up for a long while.

The villagers, shouldering hoes, shovels, and wooden sticks, shouted in unison and stepped back two paces together, both curious and keeping their distance from the fighting circle.

Qu Le looked up and saw it was Pan Yun, furious enough to die. Half-sitting on the ground he was about to point at her and curse, when Pan Yun, with a solemn face, shouted angrily: "You little thief! I chased you from Kaifeng all the way to Guangxin Prefecture, and I never expected you to be hiding here. Just watch me take you!"

Pan Yun spread her hands, struck a proper stance, and at the same time sent him a voice transmission: "I'll give you three breaths. If you don't run, I'm really going to toss you into the crowd of villagers and let them beat you up!"

Qu Le ground his teeth, with a bellyful of words he wanted to say, but Pan Yun was already counting in his ear: "One, two…"

Seeing she was about to count the third, Qu Le leapt up, channeled his lightness skill, and ran, shouting in unwillingness: "Pan Sanzhu, I'll be back! Just you wait!"

Pan Yun, with a solemn face, turned to the villagers and said: "This bandit specializes in stealing property. If we can't catch him, he'll likely come back for revenge. We're going off to chase the thief now. Farewell, everyone, may we meet again by fate."

Having said that, she called to Miao Zhen and set off in pursuit along Qu Le's direction.

By the time all three had vanished from sight, the villagers finally reacted. "How did they all run off? Who were those two little Daoist priests?"

"Never seen them before. They came out of our village—when did they even go in?"

A young woman who had been washing clothes by the river replied: "Little Daoist priests who came begging for alms. Dachun's wife brought them home. Who'd have thought they looked so young but were this capable."

Dachun, who had shouldered a hoe and done the most work, was stunned. "My wife brought them home?"

"That's right. A child so young, out begging for food—your wife, kind-hearted that she is, brought them home and gave them a bowl of water. Dachun, your household has made the acquaintance of capable people. From what I saw, her martial arts are high. If she has a sense of loyalty, she might come back to repay you someday."

This remark pierced right through Dachun's little private thought. He flushed red and said: "It was just a bowl of water—how could I expect anyone to remember that? Doing good doesn't ask for repayment."

The villagers only smiled. If it had been Dachun's mother or Zhou Wan Niang, then yes, doing good without seeking reward. But Dachun? If a passing chicken pecked two worms in front of his house, he'd grumble about it twice over.

Because Pan Yun and Miao Zhen had run off chasing the bandit, the villagers only checked along the edge of the village once, found no more strangers, and only then went home.

But because of Qu Le, the villagers grew even more wary of strangers, especially men—even a male mosquito flying over would get stared at twice.

Pan Yun and Miao Zhen found Qu Le lying on the ground a little over five li from the village.

Qu Le's chest heaved violently, gasping without pause. Seeing Pan Yun and Miao Zhen, he barely raised a hand and waved it, unable to catch his breath: "Don't—don't chase anymore. I can't run. I really can't run."

Pan Yun walked over to him, found a patch of grass that was soft and thick and looked very comfortable to sit on, sat down, and asked: "Why did you go into the village?"

Miao Zhen, holding Pan Xiaohei, sat down beside her and also turned to look at Qu Le.

Qu Le: "I wanted to help you…"

Pan Yun's face darkened. "You wanted to steal our reward money."

Qu Le: "…Your heart is too vicious, you think the worst of people. I just wanted to help. I never thought of stealing your reward."

"If your face and neck weren't turning red, I might have believed you," Pan Yun said coolly. "Didn't I tell you not to go into the village? If you ruin my plans, I won't let you off."

Qu Le: "…You two can go into the village, so why can't I?"

Pan Yun: "Because you're a man!"

Miao Zhen: "A flower-picking rogue is a man!"

Pan Yun: "And you're even wearing night-travel clothes in broad daylight. Are you sick in the head?"

Miao Zhen: "One look and you can tell he's not a good person."

Pan Yun: "Forget the honest, kind villagers—even I, who knows your background, would suspect you had ill intentions seeing you dressed like that."

"Too stupid, Little Xiao Shishu. You should give up on the idea of taking him into the monastery. Miao He isn't very clever either, but Miao He has self-awareness. This one is stupid without knowing it—it's too hard on the people around him."

Miao Zhen said: "Our Mount Sanqing's luck has never been good to begin with—we're always losing money. Taking him in would just make us lose even more, wouldn't it?"

Qu Le: "Nonsense! And you're supposed to be a Daoist—can't you read fortunes? I'm a little wealth-attracting boy! My grandfather said our family only started to prosper after I was born, so I bring fortune to my family and wealth to the household."

Pan Yun studied his physiognomy carefully, sighed after a long moment, and said: "Sure enough, Heaven is fair. When it shuts a window on a person, it opens a door for him."

Miao Zhen said nothing more.

Qu Le struggled to his feet from the ground and asked: "Did you find any leads? Hua Buliu is a man of the jianghu, different from Chang Mingwei. He moves about in the jianghu. How about I ask some friends in the jianghu and see if I can find any news of him?"

Pan Yun: "Fine, go ahead and ask."

Qu Le hesitated, then said: "Then could you help me look for Chang Mingwei?"

Pan Yun glanced at him and said: "Find out news of Hua Buliu from your friends first, then we'll talk. It'd be pointless if we caught the man and only then did you finally get word of him."

Qu Le, indignant: "Look down on who? If those villagers hadn't blocked me from entering the village to investigate, I might've gotten a lead even faster than you."

Pan Yun: "Do you know why you couldn't get into the village?"

Qu Le: "Because of Hua Buliu…"

"Because Hua Buliu, in broad daylight and under everyone's eyes, carried his victim off—he pretended at the time to be a passing traveler," Pan Yun said. "Otherwise, why do you think Zhou Wan Niang reported the case?" Because it was already public knowledge, so she might as well report it and have him caught.

She hadn't expected the government office to fail to catch him either, and that Zhou Wan Niang learned there were many other victims besides herself. Utterly despairing, she then wanted to leave this place and start over.

Pan Yun said: "With you dressed like that, approaching the village—they'd have been good people not to beat you to death."

Qu Le was silent for a moment. "Hua Buliu is this brazen?"

Pan Yun snorted.

Qu Le rose from the grass, his face dark, and said: "This man is utterly vicious. I'll help you catch—find him!"

Qu Le met Pan Yun's gaze and felt that catching the man was something he couldn't be of use for.

Qu Le said: "You wait. I'll go get money right now, then make a trip to the Thousand Breath House."

Pan Yun's eyes lit up. "Thousand Breath House?"

"Yes. Thousand Breath House is sure to have news of Hua Buliu."

!. Read

Pan Yun: "Where's the nearest Thousand Breath House?"

She had heard the name Thousand Breath House mentioned a few times in Quanzhou by that group of jianghu people. From the sound of it, it was a clearinghouse for information—something like an intelligence agency.

Pan Yun was curious about one thing: did Thousand Breath House's information only face the jianghu, or did it also include the court?

"The nearest one should be inside Guangxin Fucheng," Qu Le said. "I can't say there's one in every city, but the important prefectural and provincial cities do have them."

Pan Yun grew even more suspicious. "From the sound of it, Qianxi Tower has spread its business far and wide—how could the imperial court and royal family allow such a large operation?"

Qu Le lowered his voice. "I heard Qianxi Tower is the royal family's business."

Pan Yun suddenly understood. "So that's how it is~~"

That makes sense.

Otherwise, with Old Zhu and Zhu Di's tyrannical nature, wouldn't they have already seized Qianxi Tower?

Pan Yun also stood up. "Wait here. We'll cast a divination, then go with you to Qianxi Tower."

"What kind of divination?"

Pan Yun pulled out a silk handkerchief from her sleeve, unfolded it, revealing a handful of hairs, most still rooted at the base.

One look made Qu Le's scalp ache. He shuddered and asked, "These hairs are…"

"From Hua Buliu. I'll consult the omen to see if I can pinpoint his location."

Pan Yun took out copper coins and began casting the divination; Seeing Miao Zhen also pulled out a tortoise shell, clutched it tightly, closed her eyes, and whispered a prayer.

When Pan Yun finished, she opened her eyes, plucked three hairs from the handkerchief, twisted them together, wrapped them around the tortoise shell, murmured an incantation, then hurled it down—the shell cracked. Seeing Miao Zhen's eyes scanned the cracks…

In an instant, Qu Le thought he saw a glimmer of gold in her eyes—he was about to look closer when his eyes stabbed with pain, and tears streamed down instantly.

Qu Le quickly turned his head, afraid to look again.

Pan Yun glanced at him, lowered her gaze, and waited, pondering the divination's result; the smile on her lips grew colder.

Seeing Miao Zhen suddenly opened her eyes, frowned. "Little Master, I've divined that Hua Buliu is not far north of us—but that direction isn't a village…"

Pan Yun sneered. "Have more confidence in yourself. Funny enough, I divined the same."

Pan Yun stood. "Let's go. No need to ask Qianxi Tower for information—we can sell them a piece of news instead."

Qu Le hurried after her. "Is this useful? Can you really find him just by divining?"

Pan Yun: "You want to cultivate with us and seek the Dao—so you believe in our ability to commune with spirits and cast omens. Why don't you believe now?"

Qu Le: "I believe in your ability to fly…"

Seeing Pan Yun and Seeing Miao Zhen head back toward the village, he hurried after them. "This is too miraculous… you can find him just by divining?"

The three did not enter the village. Instead, they circled its perimeter, staying hidden, checking every possible hiding spot—the trees, the grass, the gullies, even the corners of houses.

But they found nothing unusual.

Pan Yun frowned. "It's been over half a year since the incident. Why did he return here?"

Seeing Miao Zhen: "I read that some murderers return to the crime scene after a while—out of pride, to admire their own work."

Pan Yun thought of the three sheets of paper with the bold characters "Suicide by Own Hand," and her face turned pale. "He's come back to see if Zhou Wan Niang is dead. If she's not, he'll kill her."

Seeing Miao Zhen's face grew even colder. Qu Le couldn't help muttering, "That's insane… what about the other victims?"

Pan Yun's face remained icy. "If I were him, and I wanted to observe the village's condition, I'd…"

Her gaze fixed straight on a hillside.

(End of Chapter)