Chapter 133: Chapter 81 Giant Whale Divine Intent Picture! Furious Waves Skyrocketing!_2
Su Changkong stood by and silently thought, “Are they looking for that scroll? The scroll stolen from Xuanwu Pavilion by those men in black… Could it be some Martial Arts Secret Manual? I wonder if those men in black were caught!”
The group of Giant Whale Gang disciples was busily searching everywhere, not sparing even the roof beams and rooftops.
They also inspected some of Su Changkong’s personal belongings, but found nothing.
“Sorry for the disturbance.”
Eventually, the Giant Whale Gang disciples, having found nothing, all turned around and left.
Not only Su Changkong’s place was searched thoroughly, but so were the living quarters of other disciples; naturally, no findings were made, as the scroll was hidden by Su Changkong in a place only he knew of!
Su Changkong went about his usual routine and headed to the communal kitchen to eat. Today the communal kitchen was filled with a large number of the Giant Whale Gang disciples who all seemed very quiet, the atmosphere somewhat somber.
“Last night three men in black set fire to Xuanwu Pavilion, and that’s bad enough… At least there are backups for those manuals, so at most it’s a loss of face if they get out, but it’s said the three that burned down Xuanwu Pavilion have vanished without a trace, not one of them was caught!”
Su Changkong sat alone at a table, quietly eating his meal, overhearing a conversation from a table with a young martial artist who was speaking in a lowered voice about the previous night’s events.
The Giant Whale Gang’s Xuanwu Pavilion was set on fire and many secret manuals were burned, but usually, these manuals were not the only copies and backups existed elsewhere. However, the most severe issue was the escape of the culprits!
“These three individuals were all rare experts, and they were very familiar with the Giant Whale Gang’s terrain; with so many people unable to catch them, do you think they might be…”
A disciple said mysteriously.
“Shut up! Eat your food!” But another more composed man glared at him and scolded, interrupting his words.
The two disciples discussing shrank their necks and gave an awkward laugh, then continued to eat.
Everyone was no fool; three martial artists with exceptional Qinggong and Martial Arts skills who knew the terrain of the Giant Whale Gang had all managed to escape and now hidden, even with the Gang being locked down they couldn’t be found. Perhaps this was not the work of outsiders!
Now, undercurrents were flowing within the Giant Whale Gang.
But everyone only dared to speculate and refrained from speaking out, to avoid being dragged into troublesome affairs, from which they couldn’t recover!
Su Changkong’s expression remained unchanged. He was almost certain from what he had seen the previous night that the men in black belonged to Deputy Gang Leader Meng Sang’s faction.
After he finished eating, Su Changkong headed to the Pharmacy’s Pill Refining Room to start alchemy, noticing that Liu Geng had indeed not shown up today. Liu Geng was probably being investigated after being knocked unconscious by Su Changkong during the handoff with the men in black the previous night.
“I just need everything to remain as usual, with no one knowing I was the one who acted,” Su Changkong thought to himself as he refined pills.
With the chaos of the previous night, and Su Changkong having altered his appearance and practiced Concealment before swiftly returning to his residence after knocking out Liu Geng and taking the scroll, someone confirming that it was he who had acted would have to be a fortuneteller!
As long as he didn’t give himself away, it would be fine.
That night, Liu Geng kneeled on the ground in a grand hall, trembling with cold sweat dripping from his forehead. Sitting on the chair before him, Meng Sang’s face was as somber as water, full of barely concealed gloom.
“Last night, you were knocked unconscious? That item was taken by the person who knocked you unconscious? And you were caught red-handed at the scene?”
Meng Sang’s tone, devoid of any emotion, made Liu Geng tremble even more, as if he had fallen into an abyss of ice.
“I… I don’t know, just after I received that item, I was planning to leave and hide it carefully, but as soon as I prepared to leave, I was knocked unconscious from behind… The one who knocked me out must have followed Vice Hall Master Li, even such a skilled person like Vice Hall Master Li didn’t realize he was being followed… I… I…”
Liu Geng clenched his teeth, his face pale as he spoke.
Meng Sang sat in his chair without speaking, his expressionless face deep in thought: “A master capable of following Li Lie without being detected by him is a rare individual within the Giant Whale Gang. The one who knocked out Liu Geng and took that item… instead of catching him in the act, probably didn’t want to offend me.”
Within the Giant Whale Gang, it was almost common knowledge that there were disputes between the Leader Faction and Meng Sang’s Faction. Most of the Gang’s upper echelons were playing a waiting game, afraid to pick sides. Meng Sang guessed that the one who had knocked out Liu Geng the previous night was most likely a Hall Master from a neutral faction.
The other party, upon discovering Liu Geng was his man, would be completely offending Meng Sang by catching him with the evidence. Out of concern, the culprit only took the item instead of outright catching him with it, thus avoiding causing Meng Sang to lose face.
“Forget it… Last night’s affair was mostly successful, that item was merely icing on the cake for me,” Meng Sang mused.
Meng Sang’s goal in burning Xuanwu Pavilion was not to steal anything, but to test the cloistered Sikong Yong and to strike at the reputation of the Leader Faction.
With such a big incident occurring, there was no sign of the Gang Leader Sikong Yong coming out to take charge, which led Meng Sang to certain speculations.
With this in mind, Meng Sang’s brows gradually relaxed. He looked coldly at Liu Geng kneeling on the ground: “Alright, go back. Be more cautious in your actions from now on. Keep an eye on that youngster with the surname Su; report to me any abnormalities immediately!”
“Yes.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Geng breathed a sigh of relief, nodding vigorously, knowing that his life had been spared.
After such an incident the previous night, if Meng Sang made Liu Geng disappear from this world today, it would inevitably provoke suspicion.