The kinds of people who could be surrounded by runners of the Chang’an local government at the door, yet still remain calm enough to ask whether to take their quilt, were either local ruffians and hooligans who had numerous contacts within the authorities or ruthless bandits who expected to die fighting. Obviously, Sangsang was neither of these two, so Tie Ying was lost for a while before he nodded his head.
Sometimes, twists and turns could make the story more consummate. When Sangsang held a lump of quilt and followed the runners out of the Old Brush Pen Shop, a group of men wearing turquoise robes, turquoise trousers, and turquoise shoes blocked their way.
The runners got nervous all at once for they knew ordinary fellows of the Jianghu world wouldn’t dare to oppose the imperial court. They realized that these turquoise-robed men were the crew of the Fish-dragon Gang, which was now well known as the hired roughnecks of the imperial court.
The Old Brush Pen Shop had been a key surveillance target of the Fish-dragon Gang these days. When the runners of the Chang’an local government brought chains to take down their suspect, they became alert to the situation. Especially when they saw Tie Ying enter the Old Brush Pen Shop, the crew responsible for watching this place didn’t dare to turn a blind eye to it and notified the gang leader Mr.Qi immediately.
Sangsang saluted Mr.Qi with a half-crunching bow. It seemed a little funny when her little body was holding a large quilt.
Mr. Qi nodded his head, then looked at Tie Ying and said with a faint smile, “Constable Tie, you should clearly be aware of who the owner of the Lin 47th Street is, the relationship between the boss of the Old Brush Pen Shop and us the Fish-dragon Gang, as well the interlude about the shop that happened in the spring of the year before last. So I’m confused, what is it that is going on right now?”
Tie Ying recalled the incident that everybody knew about, the overnight bloody massacre at the Spring Breeze Pavilion. He then replied that the local government runners had also been looking after the Old Brush Pen Shop, but today they were compelled to do so, and said embarrassedly, “Mr. Qi, I advise you to step away from this matter for today. I will let you know one thing—the prefectural magistrate is pretending to have a high fever from last night and is refusing to get out of his bed. Even this magistrate had to resort to the trick of feigning an illness, let alone you.”
The prefectural magistrate of Chang’an City had a fever and was lying in bed? Qi IV suddenly sensed an overwhelming danger from the words intentionally disclosed by Constable Tie. However, after thinking it over for a while, he still refused to step aside. Then he signaled to order his turquoise-gowned subordinates to block both ends of the Lin 47th Street, and said, “This is the order of brother Chao.”
Chao Xiaoshu of the Spring Breeze Pavilion was no longer the leader of the Fish-dragon Gang and had left Chang’an for nearly a year, and nobody knew whether he would ever come back to the city. But for Qi IV and the other brothers of the Fish-dragon Gang, that man would be their eldest brother and their leader forever. The words of brother Chao were more influential than even an imperial edict.
Constable Tie looked at him, came close to him, and asked to him in a low voice, “Have you seen the guy at the street corner?”
Mr. Qi looked out the street corner and saw a young man sitting in front of a store. The man was wearing a simple cotton-padded jacket, with a thin, darkened face and slightly peeling skin. It seemed like he had been exposed to the scorching sun for many days. He was sitting there like any ordinary person, but there was some indescribable sense of somberness and desolation about him.
“Who is that guy?” Qi IV squinted his eyes.
Constable Tie replied, “Wang Jinglue.”
Qi IV suddenly showed a stern expression, and repeated after a moment of silence, “Wang Jinglue, the Invincible prior to Knowing Destiny?”
For the common folk in the street, the world of the cultivators was a wonderful and remote place, about which they had little knowledge. However, Wang Jinglue was different, because he was so famous that even the common folk knew that he was the hope of the younger generation of cultivators of the empire.
Staring at Qi IV’s face, Constable Tie said in a low voice, “I have no idea who reported to the Chang’an local government that this girl had sheltered an escaped criminal. I only know that there is pressure coming from the Military Ministry, and Wang Jinglue is the watcher sent by the Military Ministry.”
Mr. Qi frowned and said, “Wang Jinglue… Is he the Prince’s man?”
Constable Tie replied, “After the bloody case the year before last, the imperial court issued an order to banish him to the battlefield of the southern border. He is the man of the hour in the Military Ministry, as well as a trusted follower of General Xu Shi.”
Qi IV wore a severe expression when he heard the name of General Xu Shi. Though he was the leader of the Chang’an underworld and had the background identity of a member of the bodyguard’s office, he still couldn’t confront the top man in the military of Tang Empire face-to-face.
Constable Tie shook his head and signaled the subordinate runners to take Sangsang away.
Out of everyone’s expectations, Qi IV still wouldn’t step aside, though he was obviously frightened. Instead, he stared at Tie Ying and said, “I have sent a message to the imperial palace, please wait a little longer.”
Constable Tie frowned a little and said, “Is it necessary to acknowledge the imperial palace for just a little handmaiden?”
Qi IV didn’t explain, but when the runners heard the words “imperial court”, they were frightened just like when the crew of the Fish-dragon Gang heard the words “Military Ministry”. Now that the Fish-dragon Gang had revealed their intentions to not turn hostile and attack, and were just asking them to wait, they were more than willing to agree.
There were numerous high officials, nobles and members of the imperial house spread throughout Chang’an. Even an ordinary-looking Tea Specialist might be a cultivator. Therefore, the officials of the Chang’an local government had become good at feigning illness while they patiently waited whenever they received such high profile cases.
Tie Ying and the runners were willing to be patient, while certain others were not.
For example, Wang Jinglue.
After he left Chang’an and went to join the army at the southern border under the decree of His Majesty, he had been bathed in a life-and-death fight for almost two years. The once top expert of Tang had thinned down on his face and got tanned, his once lotus-root-like fingers became thin and vigorous like bamboo, and his temperament turned more solemn and decisive.
When Wang Jinglue saw the crowd of the Fish-dragon Gang blocking the runners of the Chang’an local government, he restrained his temper and waited for a while. When he found that these men were going to wait even longer, he couldn’t hold himself anymore.
He fished out two copper coins and put aside the tea bowl, then got up and walked into the Lin 47th Street. With his feet stepping on the residual snow, the branches of the trees outside the wall on the street rustled with snow falling off, but not even a little bit of it fell upon his cloth jacket.
The crew of the Fish-dragon Gang looked at him vigilantly.
So did Mr. Qi.
Wang Jinglue walked slowly to the front of the Old Brush Pen Shop and quietly looked at Mr. Qi.
Qi IV felt as of Wang Jinglue’s stare was like a hammer heavily hitting down on his heart. He suddenly felt feeble and weak on his legs, and nearly collapsed onto the ground. Then he quickly bit his tongue to clear his mind.
“In the year before the last at the Spring Breeze Pavilion, I had wished to kill Chao Xiaoshu. I was too arrogant back at that time to notice that there were stronger individuals hidden in the night in the marketplace.”
Wang Jinglue said, “But you are not Chao Xiaoshu, nor are you Liu V or Fei VI, or even Chen VII. You are the most useless Qi IV, thus the imperial court sent you to take charge of the Fish-dragon Gang. However, without Chao Xiaoshu, the Fish-dragon Gang now is not as powerful as before, and is not qualified to participate in this matter.”
After finishing these words, he turned back to look at the black little face behind the quilt, then suddenly laughed and said calmly, “Let’s go.”
Holding the thick quilt, Sangsang turned her little face to have a view of the ground ahead, then followed him out of the lane.
Cough! Qi IV failed to suppress the injuries in his body and spewed out blood painfully.
He wiped away the watery blood on his face, then glared at Wang Jinglue’s back as he said severely, “Brother Chao is also a cultivator, but he’s not an arrogant bastard you. He acts like an ordinary man around the brothers within the gang and even to the neighbors. Though I know nothing about cultivation, I do know about people, and I can bet you will never be able to catch up with him in your life.”
Wang Jinglue stopped his steps, then turned to look at him and said with a smile, “I had once wished to be at the top of the world, and I found later that these thoughts were not realistic. So what? It’s enough for me to be better than most of the people in the world.”
Mr. Qi knew that the brothers in the gang could do nothing in the face of such a powerful cultivator. After all, the Fish-dragon Gang was not an army. But there was no way he could allow Wang Jinglue to take away Sangsang.
He didn’t want to even consider the possibility that one day, when Brother Chao would come back to Chang’an and ask him what he was doing when Sangsang was taken away, he could just reply that he was spewing blood and freaking out.
Qi IV looked once more at Wang Jinglue. Suddenly he showed an odd smile, drew out a knife from his waist and struck his own heart without the least hesitation.
He would soon die under the blade, but Mr. Qi showed no fear and didn’t even spare a glance at the blade. He just stared straight into Wang Jinglue’s eyes without even blinking.
Actually, when Mr. Qi decided to draw out the knife and kill himself, he was somehow both relieved and delighted, because he had finally found a way to hold back his opponent—through his own death.
Wang Jinglue was right about him—even as the gang leader of the Fish-dragon Gang, he was not an equal to brother Chao, and he was less likely to fight against the military force of the Tang empire and a cultivator at the peak of the Seethrough level.
However, the Fish-dragon Gang, after all, belonged to His Majesty, and he was the leader of the Fish-dragon Gang. Even if his death couldn’t change too much, he could still win some time until his death was transmitted to the imperial court and earned the anger of His Majesty.
Meanwhile, as to the idea of death, he held no fear at all. He had grown up from his youth in the sewage ditches and the nights of Chang’an. Though he hadn’t killed many, he had already seen far too many dead men, becoming indifferent to life to the extent of being quite daunting.
Realizing the other’s motives, Wang Jinglue’s narrowed his eyes. He was shocked by the calmness and cruelty hidden in Qi Si’s knife. As a cultivator, these mortals were nothing more than crickets and ants in his eyes. However, he still couldn’t be as cold to life as this.
Courage and uprightness always caused excitement and won the respect of men. Be they superior cultivators or rogues at the dredges of society, all would honor true courage and bravery when faced with such a scene.
Wang Jinglue was no exception. He admired Mr. Qi’s decisiveness and cruelty, thus he decided against discouraging Mr. Qi from killing himself.
Sangsang was not a man.
Sangsang was a woman.
Sangsang, brought up by the pragmatist Ning Que, hardly knew what courage and uprightness were.
So she stopped the sharp knife from piercing into the heart of Mr. Qi with the soft quilt.
Sangsang retracted her hands and felt sorry for the damaged quilt.