Chapter 128: Shen Zui’s Heritage
“Yes, as the ancient saying goes: ‘The man who can recognize the facts of a situation is a paragon of n’. You, Big Dangzi, set up a troop of horse bandits alone in a foreign land, so in all these respects, you are really sobody, eh.” ng Qi took his eyes back and smiled at Shen Zui.
Shen Zui said in a vaguely worried voice, “You must keep your word.”
“I swear to Buddha.” ng Qi used to casually make oaths, but when he was faced with a world full of Taoist Primogenitor and Buddha, he was more cautious. Fortunately, it was easy for him to deal with this matter.
Shen Zui took a light breath and said, “Yesterday, word ca from a whitehead bird that ‘Skythrowing Hou’ Yuan ngzhi had caught your Junior Brother at a leading path called ‘Che Li’, which extended to ‘Bo Mi’. He intended to send your brother to ‘Evil Ridge’ as bait.”
“Sky-throwing Hou”, who was a subordinate of Ze Luoju, was a well-known leader of the horse bandits with hundreds of people. He and Ze Luoju were top martial experts with Nine Apertures opened. In other words, both of them were like the king in Che Li, so they could do whatever they wanted. While Zhen Hui was acute, he was a green hand in Jianghu and knew nothing of the Evil Sword Hunting Order, hence it was normal for him to be seized.
The “Evil Ridge”, forrly called “Kuerzha Hill”, lay in the southeast of the Imnsity Sea, which was Ze Luoju’s hotown and it was renad because of him. It was very close to the oasis where ng Qi slaughtered An Guoxie. At the beginning, the reason why An Guoxie chose this path was that he could hide in Evil Ridge when necessary.
“Ready to send my Junior Brother to Evil Ridge?” ng Qi frowned. Shen Zui could not have lied because if Yuan ngzhi did want to use his junior brother as bait, everyone would know it soon as news quickly spread.
Gu Changqing gasped and tried his best to forget the sickness, thinking, “It is much closer from here to Evil Ridge than to Che Li. Maybe we can intercept them halfway. But what if Yuan ngzhi’s act of sending bait was actually a trap in itself to lure us to intercept them?”
ng Qi nodded. “I think so. The Evil Sword Hunting Order is aid at . He couldn’t exchange my Junior Brother for Ze Luoju’s promise anyway, so if he wants to maximize the benefits, Yuan ngzhi certainly hoped to catch through my Junior Brother. How long will it take from Che Li to Evil Ridge?”
He asked Shen Zui about it. Since he had never been there, Gu Changqing could only estimate the ti.
“It will take 14 or 15 days from Che Li to Evil Ridge at an average speed. After all, there are a lot of dangers in the Imnsity Sea. Along the three routes, each of them has two or three places they must pass. As long as you find out which path to take, you have enough ti to hold them up halfway.” Shen Zui was eager to let it all out. For him, the sooner he would die, the better.
ng Qi said hesitatingly, “If he wants to intercept them midway, Yuan ngzhi can’t deliberately cover up their course information. Otherwise, we only can block them in front of Evil Ridge.”
Because Evil Ridge was Ze Luoju’s nest, ng Qi and Gu Changqing dared not barge in. If they would love to rescue his Junior Brother, the best chance was at the oasis in front of Evil Ridge. On the other hand, as a Nine Apertured Master, if he walked fast, maybe Yuan ngzhi would travel across the wilderness instead of taking Zhen Hui to the oasis.
“Yuan ngzhi has always been arrogant. Because ti is limited, he will certainly choose to send Zhen Hui off with great fanfare, which is designed to tempt you to fall into his trap.” Shen Zui weirdly grinned.
ngqi wondered, “Ti is limited?”
It is our ti that is limited, isn’t it?
Shen Zui seed to have found so comfort. Thus, he laughed. “Little master, you don’t look like a disciple of a big sect.”
“Eh?” ng Qi was even more confused.
Shen Zui smiled. “Shaolin had not expected that the Crying Elder would appear in Jianghu again, which put you and your Master in trouble. But if they knew, how could they not co to help you? Since it is far away from the West Regions where your power can’t reach, they can’t get the news instantly. But there must be so caravans and desert tramps who are on intimate terms with Shaolin, they will let the news out.”
“According to the situation, the news will reach Shaolin in 10 days at most. By then, there will be so monks who have achieved the top of the Exterior coming to assist you. Maybe a monk of the ‘Kong’ generation will co to your aid too. They will arrive at the Imnsity Sea in less than 10 days if they march day and night.”
The reason why it took Xuan Bei half a year to co to the edge of the Imnsity Sea was that he was waiting for the other monks to inform the main martial sects of this matter. At that ti he took ng Qi and Zhen Hui, two stumbling blocks with him. If it was only Xuan Bei himself, it would have taken no more than half a month. Like the present, he had been tussling with the Crying Elder all the way and they spent less than 10 days in covering thousands of miles deep in the Imnsity Sea.
ng Qi gently nodded. “They are really in a hurry. Nevertheless, Yuan ngzhi is so brave that he dares to act in this way when he knows well that Shaolin will do us a favor.”
“Yuan ngzhi should regard a Shaolin disciple as a decoy, which would definitely be discovered by the monks coming to our aid. And this might cause the top Exterior, or even the Half-step to Dharmakaya monks to approach to them. What a big joke then!
“What does he fear? Only if he could not manage to lure you in 15 or 16 days, he would wipe the little monk out and hide in Bo Mi or different perilous places in the Imnsity Sea. At that ti, no monks could find him! He would be able to reappear in Jianghu and buy off his troop. Again, another hero will be born sooner or later!” Shen Zui said with a big laugh.
Gu Changqing explained it to ng Qi. “For one thing, the Imnsity Sea is so vast that there are many hiding places. For another, the superior monks in your temple can’t stay here too long. Only if the land immortal of the Dharmakaya level hunts him down, he may be chased. But Da A Asura ng Nan can’t stand other top Dharmakayas entering the West Regions.”
“Hmm.” ng Qi slowly nodded. That was why the horse bandits were reluctant to offend the big native sects like the Snow Mountain Sect. But they had less scruples about the big sects in the Central Plains, such as Shaolin and others. “Thus, we are urgent to rescue my Junior Brother before they do away with him or send him to Evil Ridge.”
Yuan ngzhi’s plan was not so much a strategy as bait. As a matter of fact, he only wanted to see whether ng Qi and his team cared about Zhen Hui or not.
After he finished talking, ng Qi glared at Shen Zui. “You explained it in great detail. What is your purpose?”
Shen Zui smilingly said, “I am soon dying. What purpose can I have? I would like nothing else than to quickly die! If you go to save him, you will be killed by Yuan ngzhi and the other horse bandits at his disposal. If not, you’ll wait to see the little monk murdered and you will certainly regret it and feel guilty all of your life.
“When I think about you ending badly, I can’t help laughing. Hahaha!”
His laughter obviously revealed his endless hatred.
ng Qi calmly waited for him to finish laughing and placidly said, “Which route do you think Yuan ngzhi will choose?”
“Do you really want to go?” Shen Zui eagerly looked forward to seeing ng Qi die. Therefore, he frankly said, “The Crying Elder was so engaged in fierce battles in the deep desert that he couldn’t spare any ti to deal with other things. Now that there is sothing abnormal in ‘Hahler’ and Yan Shiche is struggling to cope with it, Big brother Ze Luo has already dashed to give him a hand.”
Yan Shiche was not the only pro of the Exterior in Hahler, because there were even four or five such experts among the horse bandits in the Gobi Desert, let alone in Hahler, a big country in the West Regions.
He looked at ng Qi’s expressionless face and continued. “Since he has intended to lead you to rescue your Junior Brother, Yuan ngzhi certainly will choose the route that is not convenient for you to flee. Hence his route must be ‘Guan Yue’—’Boda’—’Baishan’—’Fish Sea’—’Tan Han’. Among them, Fish Sea, is a prosperous land of the Imnsity Sea with complex interpersonal relations. So such a place will facilitate you to hide and attack. Of course, Yuan ngzhi is sure to think so too.”
After he asked a few other things, ng Qi was satisfied with his reply. He gently nodded and said, “Big Dangzi, I will send you to heaven in no ti.”
With his eyes full of hatred, Shen Zui mournfully said,
“I’ll wait for you in the nether world!”
With the light of ng Qi’s dark red blade flashing, a spot of blood sprang up from Shen Zui’s throat. His blood slowly spilled over and his eyes were wide open in anger, as if he would like to see how ng Qi would die.
ng Qi picked up his Ice Palace Sword and turned to look at Gu Changqing. “Changqing, although it is dangerous, I am bound to have a try, or my heart will be knotted with concerns and I will bla myself for the rest of my life. But it is none of your business, you’d better stay away from it.”
Once there would be a knot growing in Kung Fu n’s heart, their martial skills would not develop any more or they would go astray and eventually beco a demon.
Gu Changqing clenched his teeth and obstinately said, “Though I will be a burden to you if I am involved in fighting with my insufficient strength, I’d like to go with you. Since I am familiar with Fish Sea, I still can do sothing for you, such as arranging a shelter or a route for you to escape, and inquiring about information. Moreover, because they don’t know , I won’t be noticed and I’ll be fine.”
ng Qi looked into his eyes, saw a pair of stubborn eyes firmly filled with hope, and pondered for a mont. “Well, in short, except for the auxiliary things, do rember that you are completely irrelevant to the other things, including failure or success. You are only a spectator. OK?”
As a result, they would not get Gu Changqing in trouble.
Gu Changqing nodded hard. “I get it, Pleas be careful. As long as you are alive, there is a chance of revenge.”
With a blade in his right hand and a sword in the other one, ng Qi smiled and said,
“Saving people and killing people are different, so they require a different strength. I believe I still have an opportunity.”
After that, ng Qi and Gu Changqing searched for the tents of Shen Zui and several Enlightened Master Pros. Much to his delight, ng Qi found that Shen Zui seed to have brought most of his property with him!
“There are three title deeds for Jiangdong land and two house leases in Luo Yang. Big Dangzi seemingly had planned to give up the old business and to live out his life in retirent in the Central Plains, eh.” ng Qi looked at the papers in his hand and smirked.
In fact, there was nobody who wanted to be a lifeti horse bandit. Their main purposes were wealth, won, and martial arts. If they gained what they sought, they would no longer be a horse bandit and just live a well-off life. As a boss of the horse bandits, he had a lot of restrictions on such things. For example, if a chivalrous boss was rich, he could never abandon his poor understrappers.
That was why Shen Zui quietly exchanged most of his stolen wealth for these five papers, which ant that he could live in ease and comfort for the rest of his life with vast land and splendid houses.
Besides, the horse bandits all had a common practice that they never believed their peers. Therefore, Shen Zui had his remaining part of wealth turned into portable precious jewels, which gave ng Qi a great fortune. ng Qi and Gu Changqing cooperated very well—ng Qi made Shen Zui’s property his personal capital and Gu Changqing pocketed the other four horse bandits’ “legacy” as a reward of their chivalrous deeds.
ng Qi put the house leases and the land deeds away, yearning for the future life he would have after he had broken away from Shaolin. And then he picked up Shen Zui’s sword, wiped the sword body and sensed the restrained Sword Qi. That sword, which seed to be made of common iron, hid so light blood stains and faintly pricked his fingers. Recalling the special sense of his blood being sucked away after he was stung, ng Qi was certain that this was a Refined Weapon nearly as good as his Ice Palace Sword.
“Bloodsucking… ” ng Qi read the seal characters on the sword with a very pleasant mood. “Ah, it can be exchanged for Karma points!”
Inspired and delighted, ng Qi entered Shen Zui’s tent, seeing the scripts which he had been reading but had no ti to put away.
“Heng Qu Swordsmanship… Two Bearings Wave Sword… Fast Sword of the Zhao Family… ‘Sunlight Three Folded Waves’… Clear Heart Sutras… ” ng Qi was overjoyed and glanced over the titles of the scripts one by one. Browsing through them, he discovered that they all belonged to the enlightennt period’s skills and sword art. There were four full copies and the Sunlight Three Folded Waves was a set of sword art which Shen Zui used as his desperate hit.
This made him unable to restrain his laughter. “Haha, the chivalrous act is indeed a good reward!
“No wonder that the heroes took off from wiping out the robbers, and the ancients never deceive !”
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