Chapter 46: Tiger Leaps Up
Rolling smoke and dust surged as a group of a hundred riders galloped over.
The knights on horseback were all clad in fine armor, each with sharp gazes and fierce auras, steel sabers at their waists, their imposing presence intimidating the entire scene as they drove away the carriages blocking the entrance to the Moon Embracing Garden.
Escorted by armored soldiers on both sides, that Guo Zhen, the Commander Guo, appeared as a middle-aged scholar in his thirties or forties, dressed in loose everyday robes, his gaze indifferently sweeping over the crowd.
Those swept by his gaze, whether from noble clans or great families, or gang members, all averted their eyes and bowed respectfully.
Young Master Hua hurried out to greet them, bowing deeply before the horse’s head: “Your nephew Hua Feiyun pays respects to Commander Guo.”
Guo Zhen, high on his horse, sized up Young Master Hua and laughed heartily: “Are you a junior of the Hua Family? No need for formalities. Our two families are old family friends; just call me Uncle.”
Young Master Hua’s face lit up with joy, and he complied smoothly: “Uncle Guo!”
“Good!” Guo Zhen leaped down from his horse, strode forward, took Young Master Hua’s hand, and walked inside together, asking: “Has the inner arena contest started yet?”
“Several matches have already taken place, but they were all just minor skirmishes. We’re just waiting for Uncle to arrive before letting those true masters take the stage.”
Hong Yuan advanced forward unhurriedly.
Even without deliberately eavesdropping, his exceptional hearing caught the conversation between the two.
Young Master Hua of the Dragon King Society was the one he had encountered at the Yang Family Martial Arts School during that rainy day.
And that Commander Guo also reminded Hong Yuan of the label on the pill bottle in Huang Yihe’s study at Turtle Longevity Manor.
He hadn’t expected to run into them here.
Temporarily suppressing certain thoughts, Hong Yuan followed the group ahead—several men and women in cloud-patterned wide robes chatting and laughing—through courtyards and halls, soon arriving at a massive training ground.
The place buzzed with voices, the viewing sheds packed with heads, the atmosphere extremely heated.
At a glance, Hong Yuan saw densely packed figures, as if most of the powerful great families from the dozen-plus counties of Linjiang Prefecture had gathered here.
Hong Yuan breathed a sigh of relief.
If he had to find a specific person among so many people, it would truly be difficult for him, but fortunately, he had come here to find a pig.
That made it much simpler.
Since he was already here, there was no rush at this moment.
Hong Yuan prepared to gamble a bit. After observing from the sidelines for a moment and figuring out the rules, he waved over a few maidservants, pointed to a knifeman with a tattoo on his left cheek in the central arena stage, and placed a heavy bet of three thousand taels.
For no other reason, this tattooed knifeman’s stance alone made him seem far superior to the rest of the riffraff.
Alright, it was purely Hong Yuan’s gut feeling.
The surroundings were abuzz with noise.
Curses and laughter mixed together; some arena stages were still in fierce combat with blood splattering, while others had already decided winners and losers.
A ‘dong’ sound rang out from a copper gong.
A tower-like burly man climbed onto the central arena stage, grinning fiercely as he drew his saber to face off against the tattooed knifeman.
The fight erupted quickly, clashes of metal ringing out one after another.
Hong Yuan’s face grew darker the longer he watched, until the iron-tower giant cleaved the steel saber from the tattooed knifeman’s hand with one strike, then spun and kicked him squarely in the chest with a flying kick. The tattooed knifeman crashed heavily off the arena stage, his life or death unknown!
Hong Yuan’s face had already darkened.
Damn it, too shady—it was a rigged match.
A hearty laugh rang out not far away, accompanied by clapping and cheers: “Good, a splendid win!”
A short, fat middle-aged man in brocade clothes and a jade crown, looking like a merchant, surrounded by numerous guards, took a cup of fine wine offered by a beautiful maidservant and toasted a scowling burly man in the neighboring viewing shed: “Zhao Liu, don’t forget you owe me five hundred salt permits and three grain transport boats.”
Zhao Liu snorted coldly, refusing to look at the short fat man’s smug face.
Similarly sighing in dismay were a large group of distinguished guests who had bet on the tattooed knifeman.
Hong Yuan grabbed one person and glanced toward the short fat man: “Who is that guy?”
“One of the Grain Transport Gang’s six Heads—this is the third-ranked Third Master Jin; you don’t even know that?” The distinguished guest grabbed by Hong Yuan was beaming with joy, clearly having won this round too. He rolled his eyes at Hong Yuan, as if mocking his ignorance.
“Heh, Third Master Jin?!”
The Grain Transport Gang, Hong Yuan was of course aware of.
The two gangs he had personally destroyed—Dragon River Gang and Long River Association—were among the top gangs in Linjiang Prefecture City, but in terms of scale and power, they weren’t fit to carry the Grain Transport Gang’s shoes.
Because the Grain Transport Gang’s influence spanned over a dozen counties, with at least ten to twenty thousand people in Linjiang Prefecture making a living under them.
Such a massive force, controlling key water and land routes with abundant resources, could easily arm themselves and muster thousands of battle-ready young men, enough to shake Linjiang Prefecture.
Hong Yuan didn’t care about any of that.
No matter how large the force, if it couldn’t surround him, it was just an empty shell. He only knew that this Third Master Jin had taken his money.
He didn’t blame the tattooed knifeman; the man was already on his last breath, having risked his life in the rigged match. But Third Master Jin had swallowed his money, so he had to spit it back out.
Third Master Jin stretched lazily in satisfaction and said to those around him: “The outer games are about done; let’s head to the inner arena.”
Inner Courtyard.
Surrounded by four pavilions, a massive arena stage was illuminated brilliantly by lights.
Yang Erhu slowly stepped onto the stage, his temples increasingly streaked with white. He ignored the gazes from the various private rooms, closed his eyes to focus his mind, and waited for his next opponent.
In one private room, Guo Zhen sat lazily, with four armored guards standing on each side. Young Master Hua attended at the side and smiled: “This man is a martial arts school master, once at the ‘Freely Control’ level. Now that he’s older and his kung fu has declined, his wealth of experience makes him perfect to warm up the stage…”
As he spoke, Young Master Hua took out a list and presented it to Guo Zhen: “This is the list for this year’s inner arena stage. The most outstanding are three: ‘Iron Chain Crossing the River’ Zhao Heng, ‘Heart-Piercing Sword’ Lin Xiu, and Smiling Buddha. They’re already waiting in the private rooms below.”
Guo Zhen glanced casually at the list and said offhandedly: “If one or two survive, we can gather them later to serve as dogs and horses. That’s about all these people are good for.”
He then turned to Young Master Hua: “I hear Virtuous Nephew Hua took in an arena champion with nine straight wins?”
Young Master Hua smiled: “That man’s name is He Xiaofeng, skilled with a curved saber. He only won six in the outer courtyard and three in the inner courtyard.”
Guo Zhen nodded: “Not bad.”
In another private room, Wei Zhenzhu glared viciously at Yang Erhu’s back, as if wanting to rush down and devour him. She said resentfully: “Is it just this old guy? What about that White Scale Guard ‘deserter’ and that kid surnamed Hong? Haven’t they been caught?”
As for Yang Lie, Wei Zhenzhu ignored him instead.
Wang Ai remained silent, while the maidservant wearing a heavy veil had eyes full of hatred.
Dong!
Amid the gong’s sound, someone leaped up onto the arena stage—a man with massive, callused palms and an ugly face.
“Hold on!” Yang Erhu suddenly shouted, calling loudly to the four surrounding pavilions: “Young Master Hua, I want a saber for this match.”
On the second floor of the pavilion opposite Yang Erhu, Young Master Hua was still in Guo Zhen’s private room. Hearing this, he stepped onto the balcony and smiled: “Fine, you can have one!”
He then said to the ugly man: “What weapon do you want?”
The ugly man grinned, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth: “No need. I only trust my own hands!”
This ugly man was clearly extremely confident in his palm kung fu.
Young Master Hua clapped his hands, and soon Yang Erhu had a saber in hand. He stroked the cold blade, gazing coldly at the ugly man: “Come on!”
The next moment, both lunged forward, striking almost simultaneously.
Yang Erhu swung his saber in attack, the whistling wind roaring as chilling blade light enveloped his opponent. Unexpectedly, the ugly man didn’t dodge or evade. Amid gasps from several private rooms, he met it with his bare wrists.
Dang!
A metallic clash exploded. The ugly man’s sleeves tore, revealing iron rings on his wrists that suddenly tightened like iron armor strapped on. With a ferocious laugh, he advanced against the blade light and smashed a fist toward Yang Erhu’s chest.
Though startled, Yang Erhu didn’t panic. As the fist came at his chest, he flipped his body, soared over the man’s head, and slashed backward with his long saber.
The ugly man was incredibly fast too, turning to block horizontally with his wrist. Another metallic explosion rang out. Yang Erhu landed on the arena stage railing, his foot suddenly stomping down.
As the railing shattered inch by inch beneath him, his body twisted, leaped up, and shot straight toward Young Master Hua on the second-floor balcony.
He was growing old, his strength waning, like a fierce tiger nearing the end of its days. But in this moment, he seemed to come alive again, a surging power suddenly erupting from his body!
It was rage!
Yang Erhu wasn’t a fool. From the moment Old Man Jia came to the door and threatened him with Qin Fuzi’s severed finger, he had known Qin Fuzi was likely doomed.
Yet he clung to a slim hope until he heard Old Man Jia’s words earlier, finally extinguishing it completely.
He even realized Qin Fuzi had probably been dead for a while, and they clearly didn’t intend to let him leave alive either.
The suppressed rage erupted in this instant. Force surged as Yang Erhu leaped upward from over two zhang away to Young Master Hua’s balcony.
Even in his prime, he might not have made it. Channeling a burst of true force, he was like a dying fierce tiger leaping toward the cliff opposite the abyss.
Yet he fell just short. As his body began to drop, one hand shot out, pressing the balcony edge, propelling him upward again.
Whoosh!
Carrying a gust of fierce wind, he landed on the balcony and pounced at Young Master Hua—all in the blink of an eye. Only then did Yang Erhu roar: “You surnamed Hua, I want your life!”
In Young Master Hua’s stunned gaze, the blade light flashed toward him. But at that moment, a cold snort sounded, and a curved saber thrust in from the side, clashing with Yang Erhu’s steel saber and forcing him back repeatedly.
Yang Erhu’s eyes bulged in fury. Ignoring the sudden master, as his body retreated—his burst of force already spent and about to hit the railing—he mustered his last strength and hurled the steel saber.
Whoosh!
The long saber shot out like an arrow, stabbing toward Young Master Hua’s chest.
The next moment, with a ‘pa’ sound, Young Master Hua casually caught the steel saber and looked mockingly at Yang Erhu, who slumped slowly to the ground, eyes wide in rage.
“Virtuous Nephew Hua, are you alright?” Guo Zhen’s leisurely voice came from the private room.
The private room curtains were all open, so he had naturally seen everything but made no move, still lazily sitting and drinking, his eight armored soldiers unmoving.
From the surrounding pavilions’ private rooms came some noises, followed by interested gazes, as if they had watched an ingenious play.
“I’m fine, thank you for your concern, Uncle.” Young Master Hua smiled.
The one who had blocked Yang Erhu’s strike with the curved saber was a lean man—He Xiaofeng. He now stood respectfully beside Young Master Hua and said with head bowed: “Young Master, forgive me for startling you.”
Young Master Hua waved it off, then looked at Yang Erhu and said leisurely: “What? Surprised that I know martial arts?”
“This man disturbed Young Master; let me kill him!” He Xiaofeng said.
“Kill what? Don’t always be beating and killing. Take him down, and after the Hero’s Arena is over, we’ll torture him.” Young Master Hua smiled.
He Xiaofeng was about to agree when a roaring voice sounded: “Hand him over to me! I’ll chop him into minced meat and swallow him bite by bite! Xiao Chan, go bring him here.”
This voice made the many nobles in the surrounding pavilions furrow their brows, though they said nothing—more like disgust.
Because the speaker was Wei Zhenzhu.
With Wei Zhenzhu’s massive build, she was naturally in a lower private room. As soon as she spoke, the heavy veil woman flipped up onto the pavilion.
Young Master Hua’s eye twitched: “Since Madam Wei has spoken… Hmm?”
He saw Yang Erhu on the ground with eyes wide and mouth agape, looking shocked, and couldn’t help but smile again: “Strange that Madam Wei is here? Or do you know Madam Wei?”
“No! He’s surprised why I’m here.”
A flat voice suddenly sounded in Young Master Hua’s ear, instantly making his hair stand on end. Startled, he instinctively turned his head.
His back of the head was suddenly pressed by a palm. Young Master Hua felt a massive force surge, like a baby caught in a giant’s palm, unable to resist as his head smashed into the ground!
With a bang, his head embedded into the wooden floor, sharp splinters piercing his face, making him scream in pain.
“Young Master!” He Xiaofeng was utterly shocked too.
He was right beside Young Master Hua, yet with his martial arts, he hadn’t noticed anyone sneaking behind them. If the intruder wanted his life, he wouldn’t have survived.
Shocked and terrified, seeing Young Master Hua pressed down, he instinctively swung his curved saber at the intruder’s head.
The attacker was naturally Hong Yuan.
He had followed behind Third Master Jin, sneaking in quietly. Originally planning to scout around, he suddenly heard Yang Erhu’s voice and immediately dashed over with his movement technique.
With his current martial arts, his speed was truly beyond what ordinary people could track.
Sharp wind whistled from behind. Hong Yuan whipped the cloth in his hand, the metallic clash blocking the incoming curved saber with the fine steel rod wrapped inside. Then he lunged forward, his other hand seizing He Xiaofeng’s saber grip!
He Xiaofeng saw those indifferent eyes, his heart jolting as he blurted: “It’s you?!”
He recognized him as the black-clothed knifeman who killed Yan Laosan at the wharf. Precisely because of that, he was even more shocked.
Back at the wharf, though the man had blocked his saber with a conical hat, He Xiaofeng hadn’t thought him truly superior. How much time had passed since then?
The thought had just arisen when his hand was gripped, involuntarily flicking backward, the curved saber instantly slitting his own throat.
“Young Master Hong, Xiao Chan has missed you so much!” The heavy veil woman, the moment Hong Yuan appeared, had reddened eyes and charged straight at him.
Even though Hong Yuan’s demeanor had changed greatly, she recognized him at a glance. Her eyes filled with boundless hatred, forgetting even fear.
What roadblock was this?
Hong Yuan casually swung the long cloth-wrapped rod in his hand.
Bang!
It sent the heavy veil woman flying entirely, smashing headfirst onto the arena stage below, brains splattering, falling silent forever.
The veil fell, revealing a pockmarked face.
The whole pavilion was stunned. Now even the nobles in the private rooms forgot decorum, crying out in alarm. Over a dozen figures leaped out first—the martial artists participating in the inner arena contests.
Clang! Clang!
“Protect the Commander!”
From the private room behind, sounds of long sabers being drawn rang out loudly.
