C40 (1/2)
Chapter 40 - Northern Dragon Southern Hawk
Black, pure black. Xiao Letian had already woken up for a while, but there was still no light in front of him. His hands were tied behind his back, his head was covered with a black cloth, and even his mouth was covered with a piece of rag.
Xiao Letian could only feel that he was inside a rickety carriage and there seemed to be something soft at his feet. He didn't know whether it was Hu Niu or not.
In the darkness, people's sense of time was always very chaotic. He didn't know how long he had been awake. It seemed like two hours, yet also like only a quarter of an hour had passed.
During this period of time, Xiao Letian carefully went through the details of the situation. The matter of the kidnappers making the flowers must have been rejected, but he never heard that the kidnappers even sold the twenty or so old masters at the same time, and there were no organs being traded at this time of year.
If he denied the first rule, then there could only be one possibility: enemies seeking revenge. On the surface, Xiao Letian had two enemies in this world. One was Second Master Lian Lian and the other was Wang Shizheng.
One of them was the defeated Ministry of Internal Affairs manager, the other one was a corrupt man who had a mouth full of righteousness and morality, no matter how you looked at it, he did not seem like someone who could be invited into the martial arts world. To be able to kidnap two from Xiao Hexin and the other two, this kind of bandit must be a top-notch character in the forest.
”Who is it? Who did I offend? Could it be the royal family? Is that impossible? Do they need to go through so much trouble just because they want to kill me? Xiang Army wants to kill me? That's not necessary, I had already rejected the position of official in front of Ceng Guoquan, so why would he try to kill me? ”Could it be that those Qing Liu …” Xiao Letian shook his head, he had never heard of such a heartless and merciless character in the history of the late Qing.
Just as Xiao Letian was confused, the carriage suddenly started shaking violently. Immediately after, there was the sound of weapons clashing, and a groan when someone was injured. At the same time, Xiao Letian's eyes suddenly lit up, as a muscular man who seemed to be around twenty-eight or twenty-nine years old appeared in front of him.
”Alone overseas Xiao Letian... ”Kid, you're really popular, these bunch of long-haired kids are even risking their lives to save you!” This man's sword-like eyebrows were cold and his entire being was overbearing. With one in each hand, he grabbed Xiao Letian and Hu Niu and threw them on the back of the horse. Then, he himself mounted the horse and rushed towards the direction where the sun was setting.
Behind them, Xiao Letian saw with his own eyes, four or five soldiers of the Taibai Top s fighting against the three bandits.
”Advisor …” Although Xiao Letian could not call the soldier leading the group by name, he had always been in the first row when Taibai Top told him the story. He was a hardcore fan of the Military Advisor, and the remaining few soldiers looked very familiar as well.
”Yes, yes, yes …” Xiao Letian shook his head, wanting to spit out the rag, but the gag was too tight. He could only watch as his brothers bled. Every charge they charged was forced back by the enemy, and every attack was filled with wounds. If they didn't have the advantage in numbers, they would have been dead by now.
”Mister... The one who tied you up was Xiang Shaolong, and he was the North Dragon known in the martial arts world as the 'North Dragon Southern Hawk'. ”Ahh!” Blood spurted from the soldier's shoulder as he screamed in pain.
Xiao Letian's anger had already exploded. He glared at Xiang Shaolong as he let out a low roar that was similar to that of a wild beast. Xiang Shaolong did not get angry. Instead, he reached out and took out his piece of rag. Let my brothers go, or else I'll be dead for the rest of my life! ”
”Haha, how many days can you live? You want to use your Gun against me? ” After saying that, Xiang Shaolong waved the Colt Revolver in his hand that he found on Xiao Letian's body, and said with a face full of ridicule.
At this time, Xiao Letian suddenly turned his head and shouted, ”Listen to my orders, everyone retreat! Then, Xiao Letian asked coldly, ”How much do you want? ”Open it up and count it out...”
”Hahaha, money? I want two million, can you afford it? ”I know your background. I, the Taibai Top, have infiltrated your small stronghold before, and only that small stronghold has a hundred thousand …”
”Sure, you don't want to talk to me anymore? ”My brothers behind, please listen carefully, bring me some messages from the stronghold to the entire Jianghu, I will offer 2 million silver for Xiang Shaolong's family's lives, then dig out his ancestral grave …”
”Yes …” The soldiers said it well, but none of them retreated. ”Xiao Letian's arrogant tone really angered Xiang Shaolong. ”Alright, I'll be waiting for your reward of 2 million silver!” With that, he stuffed the tattered cloth into Xiao Letian's mouth and spurred him forward.
When Xiao Letian's figure disappeared from the hillside, a few of the Taibai Top's brothers quickly retreated, bringing their blood red bodies with them as they ran towards the closest information point.
Very quickly, a few wounded soldiers had already tied the latest news onto the leg of the carrier pigeons, the first stop was to the Chun Sanshiniang in the capital, and then they used the carrier pigeons to send the news to the Yi County. In less than a day, the Taibai Top had received the latest news.
But now that Shi Dakai had disguised himself and left the mountain stronghold, he had to personally go to the Beijing to look after such a huge matter. Other than General Liu Lang, the only other person with the highest status in the stronghold was actually old shopkeeper Fan Lian. That's right, shopkeeper Fan Lian had already arrived at the Taibai Top half a month ago, and at the same time, he was bringing over a hundred blacksmiths.
”old shopkeeper... If things get this bad, do you think the furnace can still be opened? ” Liu Lang asked hesitantly. At this time, Fan Lian's hands were trembling as he looked at the intelligence report in front of him.
In front of Fan Lian, there were two parallel small furnaces standing right in front of him. The furnace was filled with oil soaked firewood, the surrounding workers were all high paid craftsmen waiting for old shopkeeper to light the first fire.
”Of course we have to open the furnace. My young master said that he wants two million to buy Xiang Shaolong's family's life. ”Red, fire, fire …” old shopkeeper, whose face was filled with tears, shouted and stuffed the torch into the furnace. Soon after, a hundred thousand explosions of firecrackers sounded out, and Xiao Letian's profitable business began to unfold in the Taibai Top.