Chapter 131: Yuan ngzhi’s Plan
“Fish Sea” was an uncommon huge lake in Gobi Desert. The waves were chopping and roiling up into a massive fog. Green grass and trees were scattered around. It was a hub south of Imnsity Sea. With many routes converging, it was a place of great prosperity.
First ti into Fish Sea, and after getting out of Gobi Desert, ng Qi and others felt their skins nourished by the steam. Though it was still dry compared to the Central Plains, it was far more comfortable than the sand and rubble they t along the path!
“Gee! Each ti I co to Fish Sea, I want to stay forever,” said Zhong Yashe, pointing to the little stone city by the lake. Inside the city houses were established densely in order, and the population was large as they could tell from the din. So were dressed as ones from the Central Plains, so as desert tramps, so were pretty West Region girls with colorful hats and shirts, and so were sexy exotic ladies in bold and sexy garnts. The sll of mortal dust was intense, giving a feeling of returning to the “society” to each passenger, who suffered desolateness and dreariness in Gobi Desert. No wonder Zhong Yashe said he wanted to stay forever.
ng Qi also had been crossing the Imnsity Sea for days. There were only desolate views besides ferocious horse bandits. Now standing outside the Fish City and looking at the secular life within, he felt so desire deep within. If it had been the hell he went through before, now he was arriving at Pure Land of Buddha!
With his mind cald down, he gained a new understanding of the intent of Peace Quietude Split and Mortal Dust Fall. No wonder the disciples of major sects think highly of peregrination. Without seeing secular things and gaining a broad knowledge of the mortal world, one could not forge his mind and will. It was okay for one still of enlightennt period, but after the Exterior level, there would be huge defects if he or she lacked an understanding of humanity, appreciating of nature, and mastering of Dharma and Logos.
Zhong Yashe “knew” that ng Qi and Gu Changqing had not seen much the world since leaving their own tribes and they wanted to know how to “aggrandize a gang” in the Imnsity Sea. He dismounted and waved the horse whip. “Bai Bazheng admires the likes of Central Plains. The architecture in Fish Sea emulates that of River East, so this place is also called the ‘little River East’.”
Bai Bazheng was the dominator of Fish Sea. He had opened Nine Apertures, had a lot of friends, and got along well with the leaders of other Horse Gangs. He must be strong enough to dominate a rich place like Fish Sea, for let alone the four or five leaders of Horse Bandits, Yuan ngzhi was already hard for him to deal with. Besides, there were also other martial experts of Half-step to Exterior level who sought dominance among the Imnsity Sea, such as Ze Luoju and other ambitious guys.
ng Qi truly agreed with him, for the architecture here was not of the yellowish style as in other cities, but mainly comprised of nurous houses with white walls and black tiles. It was almost the sa as in River East.
But Shaolin was in the north of Yangtze River, and Xuan Bei had never taken them to River East. They went westward all the way since departure. ng Qi judged only by what he had heard and seen before.
Yet ng Qi had indeed seen the difference. The city of Fish Sea, though not large, was as prosperous as other major cities they saw along the way.
Yuang ngzhi and his host had already taken Zhen Hui inside the city, and other horse gangs were arriving one by one. Since there were too many horse bandits, they could not all enter the city, for it would be too flamboyant and not strategic: they would leave no hands outside the city to cooperate with those within. So they just picked dozens of martial pros and left others to camp at oases outside the city.
Zhong Yashe had no scruples like that. During the battle with Wang Hong they were allured into a trap and suffered a disastrous defeat. Now they had only no more than twenty hands including the five Keepers. It would do no harm that he let all his brothers enter the city. They could enjoy the prosperity of Fish Sea and vent their frustration from the defeat on won. Their morale needed to be resuscitated.
They dismounted and entered through the gate. The mortal dust was even thicker. The odor of fragranced robes, sweat, animals, and young girls all found their way into their nostrils at the sa ti.
Walking behind Zhong Yashe, ng Qi ditated over this secular ambiance quietly for his practice, but his face assud an air of that of a peasant boy, who for the first ti saw a big city.
“Why, isn’t this Head Keeper Zhong? Why do you bring so few people?” A sarcastic voice ca and alerted ng Qi. He saw dozens of n surrounding a stout Tibetan, who had a huge saber around his waist. His chest was bared, showing thick dark savage hair.
Zhong Yashe ground his teeth. “Thanks to what you had done to us.”
ng Qi snickered and asked grimly, “Head Keeper, so he is Wang Hong?”
“Yeah.” Zhong Yashe glared at Wang Hong and answered casually. If there were no rules in Fish Sea, he would fight him in no ti without any doubt.
Zhong Yashe’s voice hardly over, ng Qi spurted out with the sword in his left hand. The stroke was like a swift snake. With a weird angle, it went straight toward the throat of Wang Hong.
Wang Hong had not expected this. It was hard to dodge. Fortunately, he had opened Six Apertures, and was sensitive to the killing intent. He managed to avert the long sword of ng Qi and unsheathed his Horse-cutting Blade.
Yet after his throat was slashed slightly by the sword, blood could be seen with a line of scarlet red.
Even Zhong Yashe was astonished. He knew Brother ng wanted to establish his fa as a new horse bandit and was disrespectful of rules, but this was too much! It was a martial pro having opened Six Apertures, and it was in Fish Sea!
After this incident, ng Qi’s character was clearly impressed upon Zhong Yashe and others. “This guy should not be ssed with. He was too insane!”
“Brother ng, stop!” Zhong Yashe cried imdiately. Slaughtering Wang Hong was indeed his desire, but there was no need to irritate the owner of Fish Sea, Bai Bazheng.
ng Qi withdrew his sword and froze, while Wang Hong and his host took out their weapons, ready to jump into an open gang war.
Wang Hong did not want to offend the Dominator of Fish Sea either. He suppressed his anger and said, “Head Keeper Zhong, what’s on your mind?”
Zhong Yashe actually gloated seeing him like that. He smiled and said, “This young brother has just joined our gang. He was not familiar with the rules. I wish Head Keeper Wang could forgive him.”
“A newbie?” Wang Hong and others seed to have found out the reason. They started to worry that this unscrupulous guy might co at night and assassinate them. They needed to be more alert at night.
This small strife and sounds of blades unsheathing had stirred up people around. Up on a restaurant balcony, Yuan ngzhi, who wore erald eyes and beard yellowish, turned his head and saw the lane below.
“Boss, what happened?” asked a young man in confusion. He was wearing a white cloth around his forehead, his face deeply furrowed, his hand gripping at a saber.
Yuan ngzhi smiled contemptuously. “A newbie in a gang has almost provoked a strife. An insolent rat.”
He always showed a feeling of condescension and conceit, as if nothing in the world was out of his expectation.
“Boss, you were just like him decades ago,” said and smiled a young man, his frown subsided.
Yuan ngzhi was just one of the characterized roles of horse bandits ng Qi was playing. He ca out of his original tribes for wealth, won and power. Unscrupulous and ambitious, he soon beca head of horse gangs. Yuan ngzhi’s first battle was exactly here at Fish Sea. He had slain a head bandit of Six Apertures level on the street and left without showing fear for the possible assassination order decreed by the Dominator of Fish Sea. Of course, there were assassins chasing after him, but they were all killed by him in the end.
In this way, Yuan ngzhi teorically beca a famous bandit in the Imnsity Sea and called for a host of hundreds of hands.
Now, despite the increase of his arrogance, he lost the guts he had before, for Ze Luoju had “taught” him the rules he should observe.
Yuan ngzhi stared at ng Qi down below, his mind thinking of the young guy he had been before. Then he turned back and said, “Du Mo, you were also about the sa.”
Du Mo was also a Seven Apertures level martial veteran under his command. He could not bring a large team escorting the hostage to Evil Ridge this ti, so he had left several of his assistances and six or so martial pros back in Che Li to maintain the major business. Now there were only Du Mo and dozens of average martialists of enlightennt level with him. He was very confident of his strength.
“I was lucky to have t you, Boss, or I don’t know where my dead body would be now,” said Du Mo sincerely. Those unscrupulous guys always led arduous lives, unless they finally found a much stronger patron with a huge gang behind him.
He paused and then asked, “Boss, will we leave Fish Sea tomorrow?”
“Nay, so days later.” Yuan ngzhi said calmly, “After Fish Sea, it’s Tan Han, where the landscapes are complicated. It’ll be easy for them to escape. Let’s wait here for another five days. Then we’ll leave and slaughter the little monk. And we’ll hide back in Che Li.”
It was because of the simplicity of landscape that made him choose the course, from Guan Yue, to Fish Sea, and to Tan Han. It would be hard for ng Qi and others to escape, for Gobi desert was vast and empty. There were no places to hide. But in Tan Han there were too many valleys and gullies. It would be harder to find them and easy to be ambushed. Let alone that there was a dangerous place around Tan Han where even he was afraid to enter.
Though he was too conceited, he was well aware of that he was weaker than An Guoxie, who was killed by ng Qi. No matter whether it was an accident, he should still prepare for the worst. It was likely that he could not kill him clean or capture him in a single battle.
Besides, since he was below the Exterior level, an expected ambush could inflict great damage. For example when crossing through the valley, if there were boulders falling from up the cliff, they would be in danger.
Yuan ngzhi was always imperious, and Du Mo had no guts to defy. He smiled, cringing, “Boss, should we create a chance for them to rescue the little monk?”
Yuan ngzhi thought for a mont. “Now that we’re here, I should certainly visit Castellan Baiba. We shall ask him to invite all the brothers of other gangs nearby, and have fun together.”
The more confused the party would be, the more likely they would make a move. And those guys of other gangs having followed them along the way should not assu that he was ignorant of this. After the party they should know better their own strength, and leave them along and get out of the Fish Sea!
“Aye, Boss, I’ll see to it now.” Du Mo accepted the mission imdiately for fear of showing any reluctance.
Yuan ngzhi nodded. Then he suddenly though of sothing. “Is the little monk still as usual?”
“Aye, he drinks and eats and sleeps without any worry or fear. I worry that perhaps he was a lure… ” said Du Mo, frowning, “But sotis he stares at the air like a dumb, or cries that he needs to find his master and senior brother. Only at these monts does he look like a hostage.”
Yuan ngzhi pondered a mont and said, “No problem. There is a piece of news from Bo Mi that they’re still fighting and they’re deep in the Imnsity Sea now.”
For he had plenty of hands, Zhong Yashe rented a courtyard. He let his brothers out for fun with the money they had earned through reaving.
ng Qi was staying in his room quietly and digesting the experience he had just been intoxicated with after seeing the secular life.
“Dong-dong-dong,” Gu Changqing knocked at the door.
“Co in. Why in a hurry?” ng Qi said, bantering.
Gu Changqing said helplessly, “It’s the two female bandits. They’re too insistent and harassing. I can’t stand it.”
There were not many female horse bandits. The reaving days for them were very hazardous. The stronger ones could aspire for a future, but the weaker ones expected nothing from life but fleeting enjoynt at present. They were satisfied with today’s wine for it let them forget tomorrow. Thus the females were quite open about sex. They would die anyway, so there was no need to inhibit their desire.
There were three won in Zhong Yashe’s gang. Gong Shayue was exclusively his and no one dared to touch her. But the other two were quite easy with sex, and often sought manhood for gaiety. Elder sisters often preferred handso little brothers, so ng Qi and Gu Changqing were naturally more popular than those savage bandits.
“You just don’t have the will to resist. Why don’t you take it if you really want it.” ng Qi jeered.
Gu Changqing turned and looked out of the room. He was like defending his virginity. “Here they co. Let hide here. You be careful.”
“Don’t worry. thodists have thods, so have I.” ng Qi retorted casually.
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