Jiang Kuai and Hu Ziwen were assigned to in charge of one street.
At the east of the street was a quiet, residential area while the west was a busy avenue with the Domain Offering located in it.
Hung around the residential area were strings of lanterns, brightly lighting up the quiet street.
The avenue had even more lanterns, enlivened with throngs of people bustling around.
Jiang Kuai was overwhelmed. Chong Ming Town deserved its reputation where its hustle and bustle in the evening were more enlivened than during the day. Thinking about it, it made sense as most would be busy during daytime and would only have time to meet and gather at night.
The Domain Offering was two stories high. The evening breeze wafted the signboard, which was hung high up in the air.
In front of the Offering Domain was a one-story high lattice bridge, decorated with brightly lit lanterns; its lights reflected as if it’s a celestial palace. Silk and bamboo music added to its ethereal and unworldly-like presence.
Jiang Kuai and Hu Ziwen strolled along the streets among the bustling crowd.
Hu Ziwen looked lackadaisical. “Patrolling the town is so boring. We’re just walking back and forth. It’s fun for the first few times but it gets boring and mundane after ten or twenty times,” he said.
Jiang Kui looked around. “It’s quite busy here.”
“Everybody in town is aware of the rules and will not cause trouble. We just have to walk around, and there’s no need to care much,” Hu Ziwen said.
They were walking past the lattice bridge at the Domain Offering. As soon as Hu Ziwen finished his sentence, somebody gave a loud growl upstairs from the building.
“There’s a fight upstairs!” Jiang Kuai hurriedly said.
Chong Ming Town did not allow fights to happen. If it was a martial art practitioner, his cultivation would be crippled, and they would be exiled. If it were the commoners, each of them would be flogged 20 times and fined ten silver taels. The rules were very strict, and enforcement was thorough.
Hu Ziwen waved his hand. “Don’t rush.”
He led Jiang Kuai to the Domain Offering and went up to the second floor. Two persons were standing closely face-to-face as they snarled profanities at each other. The customers were waiting to see what happened next.
Jiang Kuai glanced around. There were not many people. There was a table of four with a stout, burly man, and the other table had two persons with a thin, middle-aged man. Both of them were standing and scolding each other.
“Sun Desheng, you son of a b*tch! You lack balls! You’re not a man!”
“Your mom is very knowledgeable about the existence of my balls. How about you go home and ask?!”
“Sun Desheng, f*ck your ancestors!”
“Are you even able to?!”
“Sun Desheng! If you’ve got the guts, then hit me! Fight me!”
“Hitting you will only dirty my hands!”
“Bam!”
The stout and burly man slammed hard on the table, leaving a palm print. He growled angrily, “You useless scoundrel!”
The thin middle-aged man sneered. “If you aren’t a scoundrel, then come and fight me! How about you try to touch one of my fingers?”
“Ptooey!”
The stout, burly man suddenly spat at the thin middle-aged man’s face.
The thin, middle-aged man was smart enough to dodge sideways from it.
“Ptooey!”
He repaid the spit with another.
“Ptooey!”
The stout, burly man spat again in defiant.
The thin, middle-aged man dodged again and returned another spit.
Both of them spat at each other as if they were shooting hidden weapons. The other customers were not enjoying it as they were all busy hiding and dodging as well avoiding the spit. It was messy and chaotic.
Jiang Kuai could not help himself and wanted to laugh. He looked at Hu Ziwen.
“Brother Hu…?”
Hu Ziwen shook his head. “Sit still. We’ve got great seats!”
“Is this considered fighting?” Jiang Kuai asked.
“Well, they’re not physically fighting, wielding or swinging weapons at each other, so it’s not considered fighting,” Hu Ziwen explained, “if they really start a fight, it’s not too late for us to stop them.”
However, Jiang Kuai was very clear that even though these two seemed to be engrossed in their “debate”, they dared not start an actual fight. The pen was mightier than the sword, even though the volley of spit was disgusting to witness. Looking at the customers’ expression, he felt that they actually found it more interesting than disgusting.
A person’s saliva is still limited in supply. Both men stopped spitting after a few rounds but the profanities continued. After going on and on, they started to feel bored. Both their groups finally convinced them to stop, and they sat down angrily, continuing their meal.
Jiang Kuai and Hu Ziwen left the Domain Offering.
“Seems like no one dares to challenge the prestige of the Public House.” Jiang Kuai sighed.
The two walked toward the residential area and entered a quiet, small alley.
“Half of it is because of the law and the other half is because everyone else is willing to obey.”
Hu Ziwen smiled.
“Even if they meet their arch nemesis, they cannot fight in town. The town is the safest place. It’s beneficial for everyone because they can completely relax and rest here.”
“That’s true.” Jiang Kuai nodded as he smiled. “Then there must be lots of bandits in town?”
“If there really are, the Protectors will be rich.” Hu Ziwen laughed.
“Did you visit Martial Arts Hall to check the list of wanted criminals before coming here? If you do run into one and caught them, you’ll get a generous reward!”
“No, I didn’t notice,” Jiang Kuai replied, smiling.
It seemed like he will need to take up the missions to slowly understand the rules.
Hu Ziwen said, “This is what I like about patrolling the town. I caught an infamous pirate this year and received a 10,000 silver taels reward!”
“I’ll take a look when I get back,” Jiang Kuai said.
Hu Ziwen gave some advice. “Still, don’t go having high expectations. These criminals aren’t dumb. They’ll usually change their appearance and you’re not able to tell them apart momentarily.
Jiang Kuai nodded to acknowledge his understanding.
Just like him, he used the Bone Shrinkage Skill when he was out, and only revert it during normal circumstances. Nobody knew that he was the Celestial Monkey. But then with an act like this, people around him could have been doing the same as well – nobody was actually stupid.
“Ahhh!”
Somebody screamed.
Both Jiang Kuai and Hu Ziwen were Innate Masters with very good sensorial perception. They looked at each other the moment they heard the scream.
Hu Ziwen called out, “That’s not good!”
Jiang Kuai used his Light-body Technique and rushed to the source of the scream like a gush of wind.
Hu Ziwen ran two steps forward but was left behind. He widened his eyes in surprise as he never expected Jiang Kuai to have such powerful Light-body Technique. One should never judge a book by its cover.
By the time Hu Ziwen rushed into the residence where the scream came from, he could smell blood.
The main hall was wide opened. A man and a woman were lying in a pool of blood, not moving. There was a baby next to them.
Hu Ziwen rushed into the main hall. He checked their breathing and pulses. Their hearts were still beating, and they were still alive but probably not for long as each of them was stabbed in the precordium and had lost a considerable amount of blood.
Hu Ziwen looked grim. He pressed on a few acupuncture points on their bodies to stop their bleeding.
His expression changed right after. With a wrenching heart, he took out a porcelain bottle and poured out two pills. He placed a pill in each person’s mouth and placed a palm each on their chests, activating his inner energy to urge the drug effect.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it!” Hu Ziwen mumbled non-stop. These were the Spirit Blessing Pill and he only had two of them where he toiled two years to get hold of them.
The pills started to take effect and both the man and the woman’s breathing stabilized. They should be able to survive.
Then, he looked at the baby who was sleeping soundly.
Hu Ziwen looked around and saw no traces of Jiang Kuai. He probably saw the murderer and went after him. He was unsure if Jiang Kuai caught the perpetrator but he stayed put in case the murderer returned.
Hu Ziwen waited, feeling that each minute seemed like a thousand. After some time, Jiang Kuai returned with a man in black. The man had his acupuncture sealed and could not move.
Hu Ziwen breathed a sigh of relief, thanking his lucky stars! His Spirit Blessing Pills were safe now!
“Brother Hu…” Jiang Kuai greeted. He tossed the man in black on the floor and said helplessly, “One of them got away!”
“There were two of them?”
“Yes, there were two of them. The other one’s martial arts is better.”
Hu Ziwen shook his head and sighed. “Ahh…young Jiang, you did it all wrong. You should’ve saved the people first then only go and chase the murderer.”
Jiang Kuai was startled. “They had chances of survival?”
“With the Spirit Blessing Pills, any kinds of injuries can be healed!” Hu Ziwen replied.
He knocked himself on the head. “That’s right, I forgot that you just joined us and will not have the Spirit Blessing Pills.”