Chapter 39: Arranged Down to the Last Detail

Inside the study of the manor, at Yang Duan's command, the main door was flung open with a bang.

Four personal guards of the sect master poured in together, their grappling hands carrying heart-images reaching for the major acupoints all over Fang Can's body.

Fang Can was shocked and horrified, his mind unable to catch up, never expecting this truly was a Hong Men Banquet.

Then his body reacted on instinct; watching the four men's grappling hands, he threw both arms into the Eight Fists to clash against them.

"Bang bang bang!"

Almost in an instant, relying on superb technique, Fang Can barely deflected the first five hands, but his strength was spent, and he could only be locked down by the ones that followed.

Feeling his heart-image neutralized, and his technique unable to overpower four burly men whose strength was more than ten times his own, Fang Can helplessly stopped resisting.

At this moment he also caught on to what was going on.

If Yang Duan really wanted to make a move, wouldn't it be simpler to just cut him out root and all? Why bother with the trouble of imprisonment?

Moreover, his superpower had shown no reaction at all; the whole thing was like a trap.

Thinking of this, Fang Can looked at Yang Duan's solemn expression, wanting to know the other's attitude.

Yang Duan, however, did not meet Fang Can's eyes, afraid his expression would slip and he'd laugh out loud, and could only say in a low voice:

"I remember the cells inside the sect are already full."

"In that case, lock him in that small building in the north section of the sect — it's where miscellaneous goods are stored, and conveniently there's hardly anyone around."

Hearing Yang Duan's words, the four guards responded in acknowledgment, then carried Fang Can out of the courtyard.

After the five left, Li Fengtian silently appeared inside the manor and said: "Big brother, shouldn't we explain things to that kid?"

"Explain, my ass. As long as that kid's brain isn't broken, he'll naturally understand what we mean." Yang Duan said confidently.

"Did big brother make some kind of arrangement?"

"Of course." Yang Duan said confidently with arms crossed over his chest:

"In that small building, there's no one guarding it at all. Underground there's a small passage leading straight outside the sect, plus the complete military map of the entire Yanggu County. Food and drink are all there. No pedestrians for several hundred meters around. Although there's no money left inside, it's all IOUs…"

Hearing Yang Duan's arrangement, even Li Fengtian couldn't help but twitch the corner of his mouth — this whole setup was far too deliberate. If he were Fang Can, he could see something was off too.

Sure enough, as Fang Can was led by the four guards into the small building in the north section, upon seeing the decor inside, even Fang Can's eyes went wide: "What the hell, this is prison?"

Before Fang Can, the entire floor of the small building was paved with white marble, the four walls built of red brick, the interior spotless, piled full of all kinds of supplies.

Rice, flour, grain, and oil lined both sides; various weapons including sabers, spears, swords, and halberds hung on the walls — it was practically an armory — and a map with detailed markings hung on the wall surface.

'Weird… too weird…' Fang Can twitched the corner of his mouth lightly, looking at everything before him.

Without any exchange with Fang Can, after he entered the room, the four guards locked the doors and windows tight, absolutely not letting him come out through the "front door."

Standing alone inside this secret room, now at leisure he had ample time to take stock of everything in the room.

Walking past the shelves of supplies on both sides, Fang Can arrived at the desk at the deepest end, on which sat a thick stack of paper bonds.

【From XX year XX month XX day onward, Blazing Sun Martial Hall accepts the protection of Tiger Fiend Sect. Every X month X day, disciples of your esteemed sect may bring this certificate to collect 100 taels of silver as tribute, thereby obtaining the right to operate the hall.】

"Good lord." Fang Can looked at the thick stack of certificates before him.

Inside were the submission pledges of every faction within a hundred li of Tiger Fiend Sect's territory — they had to pay silver to Tiger Fiend Sect every month, otherwise they simply couldn't keep operating.

Fang Can had heard of this practice before: disciples who graduated from the martial training halls didn't directly receive silver, but were instead given vouchers.

Afterward they were told to take these vouchers and collect on their own; how much they could collect depended entirely on the disciple's own ability, and Tiger Fiend Sect did not interfere.

After briefly browsing the vouchers, Fang Can turned his gaze to a wooden box placed on the desk.

Opening it gently, Fang Can saw that inside was actually a gold-threaded soft armor.

Each plate of the soft armor was thin as a cicada's wing, tightly linked together, the texture delicate and exquisite; when Fang Can ran his hand over it, it felt like a python's skin.

Gripping both sides of the soft armor, Fang Can gave it a hard tug, only to find that with his current strength he couldn't tear it apart.

Supplies complete, weapons aplenty, one set of armor, a stack of vouchers…

Even if Fang Can were the biggest fool alive, he now understood exactly what Yang Duan was up to.

He could only say, worthy of an old coot in his eighties or nineties — the man thought of everything. This whole routine, gifting Wu Gong and gifting supplies, simply left Fang Can with no temper at all, only wanting more.

'Since you've locked me in the room, there should be a secret passage, right?'

Fang Can pondered, then looked up and saw a conspicuous white arrow pointing straight at the right-side corner.

In the corner being pointed at, a marble brick was connected to the ground by a chain — the meaning was already very clear: get the hell out!

He stepped forward and opened the marble ground stake; inside was a tunnel so deep he couldn't see the bottom. Combined with the map on the wall, Fang Can roughly guessed this should lead to the uninhabited wilderness outside Tiger Fiend Sect.

Before he could continue exploring, the locked room door behind him was flung open with a crash, and a guard tossed in three unconscious men he was gripping.

"Bang!"

With a dull thud, Fang Can saw the appearance of the three men and the corner of his mouth twitched.

It turned out to be Li Qunfan, whom he had just beaten down this morning, and two others who had robbed him together with him.

Looking at Fang Can's bewildered gaze, the guard said viciously: "The sect master orders that at the quarter-hour past noon tomorrow, the sect traitor Fang Can shall be beheaded. Don't think about running."

Saying so, the guard tossed several large bundles of things at Fang Can with a wave of his hand.

Fang Can caught them随手 and discovered it was actually the modern suitcase he had left in the room, with nothing missing inside.

Looking at the guard before him, Fang Can said very sincerely: "Brothers, go back and thank the sect master for me, tell him I'll definitely repay him in the future."

At Fang Can's attitude, the guards snorted coldly at each other: "This guy's gone crazy — he's about to be beheaded and he's still thanking us."

"Forget him, let's go drink, no need to bother with this kid. We're going to the tavern for a pot."

"Sure, sure. Anyway this small building is impregnable, the kid definitely can't escape…"

……

Watching helplessly as the four brothers locked the main door and walked off arm-in-arm into the distance, Fang Can smiled and took a finely crafted long sword from the weapon rack nearby.

Only at this point did the three thugs on the ground slowly come to; the moment they opened their eyes, they saw Fang Can holding a treasured sword in his hand, grinning ferociously at them.

Li Qunfan retreated in terror: "F-Fang Can, what are you doing! I'm telling you, killing a fellow disciple in private is a capital offense — you'll get three knives and six holes."

"You're absolutely right." Fang Can drew the gleaming long sword from its sheath, smiling brilliantly: "Too bad I'm no longer a member of Tiger Fiend Sect."

(End of this chapter)