Editor: Areth Kyntaul
'I'm done. I'm done.'
Just as I went towards Pickled Salted Fish, I detected a dry aura that was exceptionally powerful, as though lightning was about to strike.
However, inside was Ancestral Master Xie, who had been completely surrounded.
He got fired up as he fought. He was old and feeble, and thus lacked the mobility to move dexterously and evade as young men could. His movements were slow, but he still possessed his internal energy. He built up a layer of qi to shield himself, preventing any from being able to inflict damage to him.
"Hahaha, brats. You want to take advantage of your numbers? I'll show you what I'm made of!" Ancestral Master Xie suddenly shouted, "Grandson, Third Brother, come out already!"
At Ancestral Master Xie's shout, the other two elders still in hiding flew into the crowd from above to join the group battle, comparable to tigers after a group of sheep. They flicked their sleeves to knock down five or six men. Their opponent numbered more than them, but the five elders in black robes possessed far superior skills.
"Where are you going, boy?!"
With the assistance of the two, the surroundings were immediately cleared out. He leapt over close to me in one leap. He moulded energy to further augment his spirit.
A faint layer of purple qi formed in his clear eyes. He wore an amiable smile. He grabbed my shoulder bone with his five fingers, which were harder than steel.
I 'completely couldn't detect his move' and in a 'panic' got caught by him.
"You bold brat. You dared to reveal my hiding spot?!"
My shoulder muscles contracted, because of him clutching my shoulder tightly. I stuttered, "Ow! Ow! Please spare me, Elder."
He snorted upon seeing me plead. He then grabbed my collar and dragged me over.
"Little brat. I hid very well, yet you still saw me. Announce yourself."
I swiftly told him my identity, explaining how I was connected to Liu Shan Men and Mount Daluo.
He frowned upon hearing my response and thought to himself, 'Isn't he the kid that was supposed to go with Hong'er? That hawker selling books told us he was interested in Old Ximen's painting, and we had to spend half a day to find him… Sigh! If he's going with Hong'er to search for Lord San Shen, then he has to check information related to Lord San Shen, doesn't he? I followed the wrong person.'
Ancestral Master Xie calmed down, then released me, "Don't go running around randomly if you're not guilty. It makes you suspicious. You're a disciple of Mount Daluo? You're so weak it's unacceptable. Your Qinggong isn't bad, though, and you've got good vision to be able to notice us."
I wore a friendly smile, "I am born stupid and not diligent with my training, so I do not comprehend much of the principles taught in martial arts. However, my Qinggong is not bad. Further, as I have spent some time at Liu Shan Men, my ability to sense people following me has shown improvement."
Ancestral Master Xie nodded, "Indeed, it's not wrong for a young man to be more careful while working in a government office."
He stopped me just as I went to leave. While I was trying to concoct a plan, he said, "You came here to accompany Hong'er, right? I heard about it from His Majesty."
"Yes. Yes. I… came here and walked around for a bit with Miss Hong'er. I was just about to go and look for her." I suddenly heard footsteps.
I panicked, "But I ran into these bullies, who seemed to want to start trouble with you. I did not know if they were evildoers in the pugilistic world who did not like your acts of justice and therefore picked a fight. Therefore, I shouted to alert you."
Ancestral Master Xie didn't suspect me. Needless to say, he didn't think that those guys were after me. The elders were famous and had lots of enemies, so it wouldn't be strange for enemies to come knocking.
"Hmph. That was unnecessary. I could take them out, even if there two times this number."
"Wow! You are incredible, Elder. That level of skill is rare to see."
He seemed to feel very proud of the fact that a disciple from Mount Daluo was praising him since he stroked his beard and said that I was a good kid.
However, I could see dark shadows moving about in the distance of the lane. I could tell they were similar to the Outlaws Gang and company. There were, surprisingly, somewhere over eight hundred of them. A lot of them had a piece of black cloth by their waist, which was used to hide the light emitted from their blade. They noisily approached.
Ancestral Master Xie also quickly noticed them…
"Hmm… Elder, you might be able to defeat twice that number, but these numbers seem to be a bit…"
The elder went red in the face. He seemed to be considering if he needed to stick to his guns, after his boasting.
"Forget it, Elder. There are too many of them. Let's hide this time…"
"Bullshit!" Ancestral Master Xie raged, "I can put their lights out with my two hands. Just you watch!"
"Really?"
Ancestral Master Xie didn't bother answering such a stupid question. He went straight in to begin his assault. He was a strong elder, so he each opponent only took one palm strike to incapacitate. The four other elders noticed the enemies numbers increase, so they, too, rushed to support Ancestral Master Xie.
Ancestral Master Xie, who was fighting in the crowd, truly gained momentum as he fought. His roar sounded similar to a thunderclap, while his twin palm strikes created a gust of wind that blew the hair of his opponents upwards as if they were electrocuted.
He laughed, "Brat, let me give you a lesson since you're from a big orthodox sect. There are many different types of martial arts, but they all consider three fists, five palms, swordplay and twin sabres as the pinnacle of martial arts. The five palms refer to the supreme five palm styles!"
His palm strike created friction in the air, so it was nearly possible to see a purple electric current flow through the air.
"Mount Daluo's Empty Palms is profound. The Song Family in Yangzhou's Nine Heavens Breaking Palms is tremendously powerful. Heavenly Cloud Palace's is mysterious, as if it were an illusion. The Beggars Sect's Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms is the most powerful palm style, in terms of brute strength. Then there's the palm style that utilises overwhelming dominance to subdue enemies; the palm style created by the Wang Clan and my Xie Clan, Forbidden Wind Lightning!"
He pressed his palms together, creating a loud thunderclap sound. The ground quaked and a large chunk of the ground caved in, as it couldn't withstand the force of the attack.
In a low-tone voice, Ancestral Master Xie exclaimed, "Watch my Heavenly Annihilation Thunder!"
He then rushed into the crowd to begin his onslaught…
=================
I took advantage of him unleashing his Heavenly Annihilation Thunder on the gangs to escape from the roof with Pickled Salted Fish.
I know how formidable Forbidden Wind Lighting is without him demonstrating it. I fought with their sect multiple times in the past, so I've seen everything there is to see about it. What's most important now is finding the Princess.
I found out that the Evil Bandits Gang liked to gather at a warehouse, so I headed towards it, like a slithering snake.
I only heard rustling sounds from inside the warehouse and a somewhat young voice.
I then heard a bold and generous, yet not serious, voice. However, the bold and generous voice also contained indecency, "This woman is hard to beat. I couldn't defeat her if it was a one on one."
"Uhm. The toughest part was that she got up every time she was knocked down and refused to admit defeat no matter what. This sort of woman is the most troublesome to deal with. Fourth Brother and I faced her together for a long time and couldn't subdue her. Third Brother, you're the most reliable as usual. One smack and it was all over."
A sluggish voice that sounded as if its owner was a scholar then said, "Sigh. Her fault for not being with the man she was meant to be with. She was bound to take a hit from the rod. Amitabha and god bless."
I was baffled by their conversation, so I snuck in.
I saw the Princess out cold on the ground. Around her was… three Indians?!
The strong-looking man among them said, "We may as well be hanged for a sheep as for a lamb. We've already gone this far, so we might as well come up with some reason to sell her off to the west. That will also circumvent this being exposed."
The small guy next to him scratched his head, "But we don't know how to sell."
The tall guy with spectacles then replied, "Mm… I'll go back and look through the books. We should be able to find a few human traffickers."
"How troublesome… Let's not sell her, then. Let's just throw her into a lake." The strong-looking man then looked at the Princess. Seemingly considering it a pity, he sighed, "Sigh, and she happened to be a beauty. What a pity. If you didn't get caught up with us, you wouldn't end up this way. Our leader has a woman, so you can forget him. Forget about him when you're in Huaihe River."
Complex feelings filled my chest, as I watched these guys babble utter nonsense.
I listened to them for a while and would occasionally chuckle and occasionally cuss at them.
I then had to wipe my tears from the corner of my eyes.
I knew who the three were.
'But… Second, Third and Fourth Junior Martial Brothers, what on Earth are you three doing?'
Glossary
*God Bless is a replacement for a Taoism phrase that functions the same way as Amitabha in Buddhism. It would just leave you bewildered there, so it needed a substitution. The original phrase is literally translated to "almighty heavenly lord".
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