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Chapter 8
The Evil Sect Headmaster Leads a Group to Steal Goods
(1)
Although it was abnormally blazing hot outside, in the shade of the willow trees there were intermittent waves of unspeakable coolness.
This was peerlessly beautiful Hangzhou.
Hangzhou was not only beautiful, the locals were simple and honest, and they weren’t all as obstinate like Old Tang, the Hangzhou Tang family patriarch.
Old Tang maybe have been unbearably obstinate, but he was a beloved figure in Hangzhou.
For decades now the Hangzhou region had been fairly peaceful. Not even petty thieves were common here, much less major bandits of the jianghu. The reason was very simple: because Old Tang detested evildoing like an enemy, and his martial arts was incredible, so what ordinary people would dare to commit a crime in Hangzhou and provoke Old Tang?
Old Tang wasn’t a Sixleafer. In fact, he rarely had dealings with catchquicks1.
But the catchquicks were grateful to Old Tang, because so long as the old man was in Hangzhou, there would be fewer problems in Hangzhou compared to everywhere else.
That’s generally speaking.
Were there any exceptions?
Of course there were.
For instance on this sweltering summer afternoon, in Hangzhou’s Shady Grove, a shocking thing happened.
An armed escort troop passed by this way.
Responsible for transporting the goods was the Han Family Escort Agency of Suzhou.
The Han Family Escort Agency could not be considered a famous escort agency, because its chief escort head, Han Xiang, was not a famous person.
He had founded the Han Family Escort Agency only three years ago.
Since the chief head escort was not famous, his armed escort agency naturally would not be much noticed among the general jianghu population.
But sometimes one’s fame and one’s actual ability are two different things.
The more well-known a person was, generally the more skilled he was.
But there were many overrated people in the world not worth their reputations.
These people only had their name, but their true ability didn’t live up to it.
On the contrary, there were many people who were unknown nobodies, but they could actually be called crouching tigers and hidden dragons.
Han Xiang was such a person.
He was 63 years old, all things considered, a fairly advanced age.
Many people when they reached 63 would be planning for retirement.
But Han Xiang only founded the Han Family Escort Agency after his 60th birthday.
But since Han Xiang was an unknown in the jianghu, the escort agency that he founded didn’t attract much notice.
For the past three years, the Han Family Escort Agency’s business had not been very good.
But Han Xiang didn’t care at all. If business was good, great, if not, fine, he still led a leisurely life.
His only nickname in Suzhou was Boneshatter Claw King.
But the nickname Boneshatter Claw King didn’t really fit him.
It was a really savage nickname, with an incredibly murderous air.
But no matter how you looked at him, Han Xiang didn’t seem like that kind of person. He just looked like an indecisive elderly gentleman.
So Boneshatter Claw King was not a resounding nickname among the jianghu. The vast majority of the martial world didn’t know what sort of person the Boneshatter Claw King Han Xiang was really was.
× × ×
Strangely though, even though it was called the “Han Family” escort agency, no one else in the entire company aside from Han Xiang was surnamed Han.
The deputy escort head of the Han Family Escort Agency was a stonehearted butcher.
He slaughtered cattle and sheep without batting an eye.
But no one had ever seen what he was like when he killed people.
Just like Han Xiang, he had no name in the jianghu. His weapon was an ordinary butcher knife, and his name was similarly ordinary: Liang Ping.
How many Liang Pings were there in the world?
Liang Ping didn’t know, but he knew there were a lot.
Because he had once killed someone named Liang Ping.
These two Liang Pings were both genuine Liang Pings. The only bad thing was that although they had the same surname and the same given name, and they were both from the same village, they both also happened to like the same woman.
In the end, Liang Ping killed Liang Ping, and after the murder took place, she threw herself down a well and killed herself.
There were too many tragedies like this in the world.
Not just too many, but too common.
But was Liang Ping a common person? (This refers obviously to the still-living Liang Ping.)
× × ×
Besides Liang Ping, the Han Family Escort Agency also had four armed escorts with pretty good martial arts, as well as a dozen or so able-bodied runners.
On this sweltering hot summer afternoon, the Han Family Escort Agency was passing through Hangzhou with a load of goods.
What kind of goods? Besides Han Xiang and Liang Ping, no one knew.
Han Xiang had come out to personally escort this delivery.
The Han Family Escort Agency’s business wasn’t great, and Han Xiang had a lot of free time, but he still never personally accompanied a delivery.
This was Han Xiang’s first time out, so this delivery was obviously really important. But just how important?
The escorts didn’t know, and the runners sure didn’t know.
× × ×
Hangzhou’s Shady Grove was certainly a pretty place. It was a road that was not too long and not too short, and though it was an unusually hot day, a cool breeze blew through Shady Grove that was so refreshing.
Han Xiang rode a jujube-red steed, and in his left hand he held an eight-span, eight-fingerwidth long greatsabre pointed downward.
If his face had been “red as jujubes”, then he would have looked nine-tenths like Guan Yunchang.
In Shady Grove, the grass was like a green carpet, and butterflies danced and bees flew.
It was a very beautiful place.
But just then, this beautiful place suddenly turned into a horrible, blood-reeking slaughterhouse.
(2)
Twelve blackclothed killers suddenly emerged from Shady Grove and blocked the way in front of the escort troop.
They all wore masks.
But these masks were only halfmasks.
They covered the left side of their face but left the right side completely exposed.
This kind of mask was not only rare, but more horrible and more strange than any other kind.
Because these halfmasks were a deathly pale white.
But the exposed half of their face was simply not like a human’s face at all.
The right side of their face had been scorched, even their eyebrows completely burned off.
These twelve with the exposed half of their face scorched had twelve iron spears.
Liang Ping raised his knife and roared, “Outta the way!”
The twelve strange blackclothed people didn’t get “outta the way”, but instead closed in on the escort troop.
The situation couldn’t be clearer: these mysterious blackclothed people were here for them.
Han Xiang sighed faintly and cupped a hand over his fist. “Everyone, what can I do for you?”
The twelve blackclothed people seemed to be mute for no one answered.
But the twelve spears all at once pointed at Han Xiang and closed in three more spans.
Han Xiang said, “If you all keep on this way, this old fellow will have to be impolite.”
There was an angry look on his face.
The twelve blackclothed people still said nothing.
But not far off from an octagonal wayside gazebo there suddenly emerged an old man dressed in clothes white as snow and with a face that was as sallow as a candle.
The sallowfaced old man dry coughed twice and suddenly said plainly, “Chief Han, is travel-worn and weary, why is that?” Han Xiang didn’t respond. He just kept sizing up the sallowfaced old man. After a while the old man said, “An honest person doesn’t lie before others. To be honest, we’re here to steal goods.”
“Steal goods?”
“That’s right.” The sallowfaced old man slowly walked out from the gazebo. “Set aside the goods and this old rotter can spare your lives.”
Han Xiang’s face sank.
The sallowfaced old man said plainly, “Chief Han, this old rotter knows this is your first time out on an escort, so I’ll give you an out, don’t refuse a toast only to have to drink a forfeit. If your first escort mission were to be your final one, that would be too bad.”
Han Xiang said evenly, “I was already knew you were up to no good, but I never imagined you’d dare to strike here.”
The sallowfaced old man chuckled. “You know who this old rotter is?”
Han Xiang laughed coldly. “Who else but you would have his sights set on me?”
The sallowfaced old man said coldly, “You’re not stupid, but founding the Han Family Escort Agency was simply uncalled-for.”
Han Xiang said, “The Han Family Escort Agency is a splinter in the Evil Sect’s eye, naturally you would think it’s uncalled-for.”
The sallowfaced old man said angrily, “Insolence.”
Han Xiang’s expression didn’t change. He sneered, “Even if you managed to rob these goods, it won’t do you any good.”
The sallowfaced old man hmphed. “Whether it does any good or not is this rotter’s business, you don’t need to worry about it.”
Han Xiang said coldly, “if you want to steal these goods you’ll have to take my head off first.”
The sallowfaced old man’s expression suddenly turned dark. “You think this chairperson wouldn’t do it?”
“Old rotter” suddenly became “this chairperson”, and the sallowfaced old man’s manner also seemed to suddenly become overbearing.
Who was this sallowfaced old man?
Others might not be clear on that, but there was someone else in Shady Grave who was.
That would be a whiteclothed man with the gold sabre on his belt.
Who was he?
× × ×
The whiteclothed man was surnamed Xu.
He was one of the Three Marvelous Xia of the Martial World, as famous as Long Chengbi, Wei Kongkong, Healer Valley’s Valleylord Xu Qiaozhi.
Healer Valley had always been the most sacred, most mysterious place in the jianghu.
No matter what kind of wound you contracted or wound sustained, as long as you were still alive, Healer Valley had a way to help you recover.
In Healer Valley there were over a dozen doctors continuously researching herbs and medical techniques, and their skill in treating illnesses had already be said to have reached the realm of perfection.
Why was Xu Qiaozhi in Shady Grove?
The reason was simple: because he had been following the Han Family Escort Agency on this trip the whole time.
The sallowfaced old man was none other than the headmaster of the Evil Sect, Tang Zhi!
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