Chapter 69: Lingguan Intercepting Meeting
The blazing sun at noon, scorching fires all ablaze.
Yanziwu, Desolate Mountain Temple.
Landlord Zheng’s face was ashen, enduring the rotten stench, looking at the corpse at his feet that was no longer recognizable, gnawed by jackals, tigers, and leopards until only a body of jade-like white bones remained.
“Useless, useless!!”
Bloodshot eyes filled Landlord Zheng’s gaze as he viciously kicked the stomachs of several people in front of him, then almost ventingly took a whip, swinging out afterimages, lashing them until blood splattered everywhere and wails rose continuously.
Even though all of them had second-rate cultivation, they didn’t dare resist in the slightest, allowing Landlord Zheng to punish them.
Moments later, Landlord Zheng expressionlessly dropped the whip and wiped his hands with a silk handkerchief.
“How did he die, and how long has he been dead?”
One of them said in a trembling voice,
“There are no signs of broken bones or poisoning. It should be from external injuries, and there are no traces of resistance or combat at the scene. He was probably killed in one strike. He should have died at the beginning of the month…”
Landlord Zheng said flatly,
“In other words, Yang Lu had been dead for over half a month before you found him… So what mountain did you search?”
“Landlord, forgive us!!”
The several people didn’t dare explain, their expressions terrified as they all knelt on the ground.
Outside the temple, a group of gang members also kept their eyes on their noses, silently saying nothing.
“It seems Zhao Guangxi is hiding something from me… Yang Lu died at someone else’s hands.”
Landlord Zheng had still held a faint hope that Yang Lu had taken the Azure Gang Yang Huo and was then captured and imprisoned by Zhao Guangxi and others.
Both the man and the goods had fallen into the Water Station’s hands.
Then there would be room to negotiate.
But the worst situation had occurred.
Yang Lu was dead, meaning a third force was involved, even seizing the Azure Gang Yang Huo.
Moreover, anyone capable of killing Yang Lu in one strike was undoubtedly a first-rate expert, not some idle hermit, and most likely had significant backing.
Trouble.
Veins throbbed on Landlord Zheng’s forehead one after another, his emotions increasingly unstable, like a ferocious beast ready to devour someone.
“Take the corpse back!”
After Landlord Zheng said this sharply, he turned and left the temple, boarding a shaded soft sedan, immediately attended by delicate maidservants offering chilled longan and fanning and massaging his feet.
Moments later, he returned to the mansion.
The butler whispered something in Landlord Zheng’s ear.
Astonishment flashed in Landlord Zheng’s eyes as he turned past the screen wall, looking at the rotund figure in the guest hall who was looking around idly, legs crossed while drinking tea.
Beside him stood a beauty in a red gown, admiring the painting hanging in the room.
“Zhao Guangxi, Liu Ru Yue?”
Landlord Zheng frowned and walked into the guest hall.
Seeing Landlord Zheng, Zhao Guangxi stood up with a hearty laugh and said,
“With this scorching sun, Brother Zheng isn’t staying home to avoid the heat but going out tirelessly. It’s truly diligent and makes me ashamed…”
“Hmph! What are you here for?”
Landlord Zheng showed no good expression to Zhao Guangxi.
He only nodded slightly to Liu Ru Yue in greeting, somewhat polite.
After all, Liu Ru Yue’s father worked in the county office, not some ordinary peasant.
“Brother Zheng, you forget things easily… Didn’t you invite me? The goods are right here with me.”
As Zhao Guangxi spoke, one of his accompanying retainers lifted the black cloth in the hall, revealing a box.
With a ‘thud’, the box opened, exposing the Hibiscus Paste Fire inside.
Zhao Guangxi slowly sat back in his seat, leisurely sipping tea, as if everything was under control.
Seeing this, a glint flashed in Landlord Zheng’s eyes.
Did Zhao Guangxi and Liu Ru Yue not know about Yang Lu?
Or were they pretending?!
After all, in Landlord Zheng’s eyes, leaking the news of smuggling Hibiscus Paste Fire from the pounding house was a minor matter.
The loss of the Azure Gang Yang Huo was the real issue!
“Heh, Zhao Guangxi, still claiming it wasn’t your Water Station that burned the warehouse?”
Landlord Zheng didn’t even glance at the Hibiscus Paste Fire on the ground and sat in the host’s seat.
Zhao Guangxi shook his head and said, “Oh! Brother Zheng, you’ve misunderstood me. This stuff mysteriously appeared at my doorstep one morning, with a note saying it was from your Wanlong Pounding House.
I tried it, and this thing is inauspicious, never seen in our Sacred Dynasty. It seems to be from outside…”
This was threatening Landlord Zheng under the guise of smuggling to evade customs inspection.
Liu Ru Yue suddenly interjected,
“Lately, tax collection has been tight, with several land disputes in the county. My father, as the county magistrate’s money bag, is very worried and often complains to me about these shops and merchants who are hard to collect city taxes from, always settling accounts, fudging the books…”
This was threatening tax evasion.
These Water Station scum, beasts!!
Landlord Zheng cursed inwardly, his face grim as he asked,
“So what do you want?”
“Simple. We can pretend to know nothing… but we want fifty percent of the profits from selling the Paste Fire!”
“Impossible!”
Landlord Zheng laughed angrily.
If what was in front of him today was the Azure Gang Yang Huo, he might compromise.
But for mere boxes of Hibiscus Paste Fire, how could he, Zheng Shicheng, allow himself to be manipulated by others?!
It was at this moment.
Invisible threads condensed in the void, with formless ripples spreading out.
A woman’s voice suddenly rang in Zheng Shicheng’s ear.
“Agree to them.”
Zheng Shicheng’s heart tightened, but his expression remained unchanged.
“The Azure Gang Yang Huo is still in Wuqing County. Only…”
There was a hint of doubt in the woman’s voice,
“Initially, I could roughly sense it in the direction west of the county. But on the evening of the past few days, the connection was completely severed. Few could do this without regard for Yue Shan Daoist Academy’s face… possibly someone from the Water Station.”
“Using Wang Lingguan’s Birthday, set up a Lingguan Intercepting Meeting, with arena fights. I want to probe the depths of Wuqing County Water Station!”
The meaning in the woman’s voice seemed to form directly in Zheng Shicheng’s mind without needing words.
So everything happened in a flash.
Zheng Shicheng looked at Zhao Guangxi and the other, gritting his teeth.
“At most twenty percent.”
“No, forty-five percent!” Zhao Guangxi shook his head.
“Twenty-five percent!”
“Forty percent.”
“Thirty percent!”
“Thirty-five percent!”
“No, at most thirty percent! Like this, half a percent as prize money! We’ll hold a Spirit Official Intercepting Meeting, set up the arena, offer incense and compete to decide the winner!”
Zheng Shicheng said quickly,
“If you win, you take the profits, my pounding house will retreat, and we’ll buy your water supply; if I win, Water Station retreats! In the future, you can’t interfere with the rice pounding workshop business!”
“This… deal!”
Zhao Guangxi thought for a moment and decisively accepted.
A smile played at Liu Ru Yue’s lips, seemingly very satisfied with this outcome too.
After all, it was a compromise.
The initial fifty percent was just an opening bid.
Moments later.
After Zhao Guangxi and Liu Ru Yue stood and left the hall.
Zheng Shicheng finally erupted in fury, breathing rapidly, chest heaving violently, smashing the vases, paintings, table and chairs, and stools in the room to pieces.
He even dragged in several armored slaves, wildly swinging the whip to vent his inner rage.
Until Zhao Guangxi and Liu Ru Yue had completely left the mansion, out of sight.
The anger on Zheng Shicheng’s face vanished completely.
His expression calm, he straightened his clothes, washed his hands and face, then slowly walked to the backyard of the mansion, in front of a stone cave hidden deep within the rockery.
His demeanor respectful, he cupped his hands and said,
“Saint, I have done as you instructed…”
Moments later, a woman’s voice echoed faintly,
“To know the Three Yuan Myriad Laws Sect, first observe the Earth Vessel and Divine Skill. Earth Vessel immortal fate, Divine Skill martial arts…
The Azure Gang Yang Huo originally belongs to Qianning Country. If truly someone from our Sacred Dynasty uses it to open meridians, entering the Dao through Martial Arts, free from the Shaman Heavenly Net’s shroud, producing a cultivator beyond the law, who knows how many would lose sleep over it.
The item must be recovered!”
Zheng Shicheng stood in place, his expression blank.
Why couldn’t he understand a word the Saint said.
They were clearly ordinary words, but once they entered his ears, they lost their true intent, turning into indistinct murmurs.
“Heh… I forgot you’re just a mortal. Mayflies can’t discuss ice with you. Withdraw.”
The woman said coldly, and no more sound came.
This time Zheng Shicheng understood.
Humility showed on his face as he turned and left, without any of a Bai Shan Ren’s arrogance.
No other reason— this Saint in the stone cave was not only a guest lecturer at Yue Shan Daoist Academy but also a genuine, authentic Bai Shan Ren.
To be commanded by a true Bai Shan Ren made Zheng Shicheng feel honored, as if the other half of Bai Shan blood flowing in his body overshadowed the lowly Shun People blood.
Thus, he too became a true Bai Shan Ren.
