Two days later, in the southwest of Wuzhou, at Wanshui Town.
At noon, the gloomy sky made the buildings in the old town appear gray, giving the impression that it was either at dawn or dusk.
Wanshui Town was located along the Wu River. It wasn't very large, but because the Wuxi Grand Canal intersected with the Wu River upstream, there were many boats coming and going on the river. Small medicine merchants or martial artists in the martial arts world often docked here.
There was only one old street running from west to east in the town. Along both sides of the street were inns and taverns, and by the street were full of medicinal herb farmers setting up stalls.
Compared with the hustle and bustle of other places, an inn in the center of the town was much quieter than the others. The lobby was silent. Several tables of diners quickly finished their meals, left the silver, and then left in a hurry.
Occasionally, a hungry martial artist in the martial arts world would come to the front door. After taking a look, they would turn around and leave.
A few people who entered also ate their meals in silence, not saying a word.
This situation occurred because there was a woman sitting at a position by the window of the inn.
To be precise, it was a very eye-catching woman.
The woman was wearing a white dress as pure as snow. There were a few red plums embellished on the skirt and her white shoes, making her look spotlessly clean.
The woman had a slender waist and a full bosom. Although her face was covered by a white gauze veiled hat and couldn't be seen, just from her figure, it was obvious that she was a peerless beauty, one in a million.
Such a woman, sitting alone in an old inn, surrounded by fierce and greedy martial arts ruffians, seemed to be in mortal danger at any moment.
However, the truth was exactly the opposite.
Women were common in the martial arts world, but beautiful ones were rare, and those walking alone were even rarer.
A woman who dared to dress beautifully and appear alone in a place where people from all walks of life gathered, as long as a martial artist had a normal mind, would know that she must be extremely skilled in martial arts.
The woman's attire, which was so out of place with the martial arts world, was not seen as beauty by martial artists but as a tempting bait, fresh and alluring. Those who dared to approach her would be met with an iron hook through the jaw, followed by being disemboweled until not even a bone fragment was left.
Although the woman by the window was just calmly looking out of the window and had never shown any dangerous aura from beginning to end, the martial artists in the restaurant all instinctively kept their distance, not even casting a glance at her.
Even though she had been sitting there for a long time without ordering food, the innkeeper and the waiter turned a blind eye, only praying in their hearts that this mysterious female scourge would leave quickly.
After the silence in the inn had lasted for a long time, some commotion came from the street outside:
"Catch him for me..."
"You're courting death!"
...
The diners in the inn, along with the woman in white by the window, all turned their gazes towards an alleyway in the distance.
A young man of fifteen or sixteen years old ran out of the alleyway. He was dressed in coarse linen clothes and held a oxtail knife. The sharp blade of the knife was stained with a bright red bloodstain, which was as eye-catching in the gray town as the woman in white.
Behind the young man were six men. The thugs in front were holding knives, spears, and clubs, and behind them was a man wearing a brocade robe. He was holding a knife in his right hand and covering the knife wound on his abdomen with his left hand as he chased after the young man.
Such a scene was all too common in the martial arts world. The martial artists in the inn took a distant look and then continued eating their meals.
The woman in white watched for a while. Seeing that the young man with the knife was quite brave and still managed to keep the five men from getting close even though he was cornered, she asked:
"What's going on over there?"
Her voice was ethereal yet natural, and it was even difficult for others to be attracted by this voice. However, the waiter standing at the door immediately understood that she was speaking to him and quickly turned around to explain politely:
"It's the Second Master Xu of the Wanshui Gang. He runs a gambling den in the alleyway. The kid being beaten is from out of town. He came here a couple of days ago and said he was looking for his father. He's asked at all the inns in the town..."
"Did he find him?"
"No. Going in from here is the thousand-mile Wu Mountain. There are often martial artists in the martial arts world who go into the mountains to dig for medicinal herbs. Some get lost or are eaten by tigers and bears, and their bodies can't even be found."
"Why did he get into a conflict with the gambling den?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe he was short of money and gambled a few rounds. When he lost, he got desperate..."
...
During this short conversation, the young man with the knife, who was outnumbered and outmatched, was pressed to the ground by two men with spears and clubs.
Second Master Xu, covering his wound, stepped forward. His eyes were filled with rage. He raised his knife and was about to cut off the young man's right arm.
Seeing this, the woman in white raised her right sleeve. Her white fingers, as soft as boneless, slid out, and she was pinching a copper coin between her fingertips.
But just as she was about to flick it out, a sound came from the street half a street away:
Shua——
The sound of a robe cutting through the air slightly.
The whole street had been paying attention to the situation. Seeing that Second Master Xu was going to cut off the man's hands and feet even though he had already subdued him, some martial artists with a strong sense of chivalry were also stirred.
But before anyone could make a sound, they found that a figure suddenly appeared in front of Second Master Xu, who was wearing a brocade robe.
Others didn't even see where the figure came from. When the figure stood still, they saw that the person was quite tall, wearing a black robe, and a long knife wrapped in black cloth was hanging from his waist.
The person was wearing a bamboo hat. Under the hat, his handsome face looked gentle and refined without the slightest hint of ferocity. However, those eyes were as sharp as two pointed knives. Just the moment he appeared, all the martial artists on the street sat back down.
Second Master Xu swung his knife down. Just as it reached halfway, the long and slender fingers of the man in the black robe grabbed the back of the knife, firmly holding it in mid-air, and it couldn't move any further down.
Second Master Xu, being blocked, transferred all the anger from his knife wound to the person who had intervened:
"Who are you? How dare you stop me..."
Creak——
Before he could finish his sentence, everyone saw the man in the black robe, who was holding the back of the knife with his bare hand, exert force with his left hand.
Then the iron knife in his hand visibly bent and deformed. The sound it made wasn't loud, but it made all the martial artists on the street feel a sense of horror.
Ding dang dang dang~~
The bent iron knife fell to the ground, and the old street fell into silence.
The thugs beside him quickly dropped their weapons and stepped back. Second Master Xu's anger vanished completely. There was a hint of surprise and fear in his eyes. He tried to maintain his imposing manner and said:
"My master is from Xianyue Tower..."
Halfway through his words, he saw the man in the black robe slide out a waist token from his hand. There was a character "capture" on it.
Judging from the style, he was either a life-taker from the Six Doors or the King of Hell from the Black Yamen.
As soon as the token was shown, there was a commotion in the town where good and bad people mixed. Many people quietly left through the back door or the windows.
People in the martial arts world didn't like to be controlled. Usually, they really didn't take the government soldiers seriously, and there were quite a few who dared to fight with the government officials. But the premise of being tough was being able to win.
When they couldn't win, the token on the government official's waist was like an order of death to the martial artists in the martial arts world!
Second Master Xu's face turned pale when he saw that it was a government official. Ignoring the wound on his chest and abdomen, he quickly raised his hand and bowed with a forced smile:
"Sir, please calm down. I was blind and didn't recognize your identity. I was also stabbed by someone. In a fit of anger, I was just trying to scare him. I definitely didn't mean to commit murder on the street..."
"Are you from Xianyue Tower?"
"This matter has nothing to do with Xianyue Tower. It's a personal grudge. I'm just a registered disciple. I was just using the name to bluff people. Xianyue Tower might not even know me..."
The Prince of Wu had just caused trouble these past two days, and a large number of troops from the court were on their way to Wuzhou. Second Master Xu obviously also knew what the consequences would be if his sect was targeted by the court because of his stupid matter, so he quickly distanced himself.
The woman in white by the window took a distant look for a while. She originally wanted to see how this handsome government official would handle the matter, but halfway through, her eyes moved slightly, and she turned to look at a figure that was quickly running away on the side of the town.
"Waiter, bring the bill."
"Sure... Eh?"
The waiter who was looking around at the door quickly turned around when he heard this. As a result, he saw that the table by the window was empty. The woman in white who had been there just now had disappeared without a trace, leaving only a copper coin on the table.
The waiter looked confused. After looking around, he ran outside and looked up and down. After a long while, he scratched his head:
"Hey, this is really strange..."
———
The gray town was almost deathly silent. Except for some movements of people walking around, there was not a single sound.
Yejingtang stood on the street with his hand on his knife. In front of him was the brocade-robed man bowing and scraping. The young man in yellow clothes who had originally been pressed down got up, but he didn't dare to run. He just stood there with injuries all over his body and a pale face.
These past two days, he had been traveling day and night on a fast boat, rushing towards Wuzhou. He had just come out of the Wuxi Grand Canal this morning.
Yejingtang originally wanted to go directly to Jianyang City, dozens of li away. But just now, when passing through this town, he found something unusual, so he stopped by to take a look. He didn't expect that this ruffian who had been cutting people on the street was actually related to Xianyue Tower, a major sect in Wuzhou.
Since he was here and had encountered this matter, Yejingtang started to investigate. After putting away the token, he looked at the young man in yellow clothes standing beside him:
"Why did you have a private fight?"
Second Master Xu covered his stomach with his hand and quickly said:
"This kid drew his knife without any warning just now..."
"I'm not asking you."
"..."
The young man in yellow clothes stood there, obviously a bit afraid, and said in a low voice:
"My father came to Wanshui Town to dig for medicinal herbs a few days ago and never came back. I came here to look for him. After searching for a few days, I heard that my father took a job from him and went into the mountains to dig for medicinal herbs with others... And then he didn't come back. When I asked him, he said he didn't know, so I drew my knife."
Yejingtang turned to look at Second Master Xu.
Second Master Xu gritted his teeth: "Sir, I can't make the decision on this matter... Sir, wait a moment, ah—"
A scream.
Yejingtang lightly hooked his toe, picked up the oxtail knife that had fallen to the ground, and stabbed it into Second Master Xu's right foot, piercing through the foot and nailing it into the bluestone. He stared into Second Master Xu's eyes:
"Do you think I'm just asking you for information?"
Second Master Xu sat down on the ground with a pale face, covering his right leg. He didn't dare to struggle and quickly said:
"It's a manager from the Prince of Wu's Mansion. He often finds martial artists with good skills in the martial arts world to go into the mountains to dig for medicinal herbs. There are many tigers and wolves in the mountains. It's too common for people to have accidents and die occasionally. His father was unlucky and didn't come back. It's not my fault."
Yejingtang knew that the Prince of Wu's Mansion was using people to test medicines and wasn't surprised by this. He asked:
"Since it was the Prince of Wu's Mansion that made his father disappear, why didn't you tell him the truth?"
Second Master Xu opened his mouth. After a slight hesitation, the knife inserted into his sole was turned. His face immediately twisted, and he quickly gritted his teeth and said:
"The Prince of Wu's Mansion originally gave a hundred taels of consolation silver. A couple of days ago, the Prince of Wu caused a big trouble and has already fled from Jianyang City. Seeing that no one was pursuing it, I was bewitched by greed and wanted to embezzle the silver... I'll count the silver and compensate him right away."
After Yejingtang had found out the situation, he thought this person was of little use. He released the handle of the knife and looked at the few thugs beside him:
"In public, you injured someone with weapons because of money. According to the law, you should be sentenced to three years of hard labor. You take him to the prefectural yamen for trial. If you don't arrive tomorrow, he will be beheaded and displayed, and you will be implicated. If you think you can run away, you can give it a try."
"Sir?!" Second Master Xu's face turned white: "I'll pay the compensation silver. I promise I'll never do it again... Sir!..."
After Yejingtang watched the few thugs carry Second Master Xu away, he looked at the young man in yellow clothes with a pale face:
"You were the first to injure someone with a weapon and should be punished with the same crime. However, considering the circumstances, it will not be pursued. Go home and reflect for three months by facing the wall. Remember, if you don't have the ability, don't draw your knife. I can't save you a second time."
The young man in yellow clothes secretly heaved a sigh of relief and quickly cupped his hands:
"Thank you, sir, for saving my life... Sir, my father was very skilled in martial arts. It's impossible for him to have been killed by tigers and bears. I hope you can help me find out the murderer..."
Yejingtang knew that his father had most likely been killed by the Prince of Wu. In the past, giving some consolation silver was just to avoid being too extreme and letting the news reach the ears of the court. After thinking for a while, he said:
"Stay in the town and wait. If your father is still alive, he will come back and be reunited with you. If he's dead, the officers will come and give you an explanation. What's your father's name?"
"My father is Zhang Wenyuan. He's from Huangting County, Zezhou. He often comes to Wuzhou to deal in medicinal herbs. There are several scars on his left face, which were caused by a mountain tiger when he was digging for medicinal herbs when he was young... He left home in the middle of last month and hasn't returned yet..."
Yejingtang took out a small black leather notebook from his bosom, recorded the information, and then turned and left the town...