Chapter 48: Chapter 48
Shen Xiuhan’s eyes stirred slightly; his mind raced.
By his understanding, the Golden Dragon Gang had, at most, three or four martial artists who had stepped into Manifest Strength. They were already on the losing end against Raging Waves.
And Gao Nian had now been cut down by his own hand.
With the Golden Dragon Gang’s muscle and bone gravely wounded, they were even less a match for Raging Waves.
With defeat already sealed, why, instead of hurrying to flee Changyun County, had Gao Fu done the opposite and gone to ground in Tian Erhu’s empty house?
Was it a case of “the dimmest spot is right beneath the lantern” — reckoning that Raging Waves wouldn’t find his hiding place, buying himself a moment’s borrowed life to wait for the so-called ‘opportunity’ to open…
Or was he waiting for reinforcements?!
And all at once, a name came to Shen Xiuhan’s mind…
‘Tian Ping’an!’
Tian Erhu had been a core member of the Golden Dragon Gang to begin with.
Earlier intelligence had also made clear that Tian Erhu was well-regarded by Gao Fu.
That being so, it was hardly strange that Gao Fu should know of Tian Ping’an’s identity and even have a channel to contact him.
In these past few days, Second Senior Brother Xu Chuan and Xiang Yunting had mentioned it again, with full confidence.
This year, the Longxiang Army was to send men to Changyun County, to pluck out a batch of young seedlings and draft them into the ranks.
Tian Ping’an was both a centurion of the Longxiang Army and a Sinew Tempering-realm expert…
And most critically of all — he was native-born and native-bred of Changyun County.
With his military standing, strength, and status, if he wished it, the task of coming home this trip to pluck out new recruits could be secured by him without effort.
If he returned to Changyun County and linked up with Gao Fu — or learned, through the mouths of Ma Xianyang and others at Tongbei Martial Hall, that Tian Erhu’s death could not be disentangled from him…
A Sinew Tempering expert out for revenge — the consequences would be simply unthinkable!
Shen Xiuhan’s gaze turned cold; his resolve crystallized inside him.
He could not sit and wait for the blow to fall.
He had to find a way to strike first — take the initiative, tear up the problem by its roots before it could grow!
But this matter had to be planned to completion. He had to borrow someone else’s blade to make the kill — all without giving away the least detail of his own hand.
Shen Xiuhan drew in a deep breath and pressed down, for the time being, the many thoughts circling in his heart.
【Intelligence ②: Raging Waves’ Great Chief ‘Zheng Dadao’ in truth comes out of the Longxiang Army! After his discharge, he accepted, in secret, the urgent invitation of Wang Zhidao, patriarch of the Changyun Wang family, leading a band of like-discharged battle-hardened veterans to hide their names and plant the banner of ‘Raging Waves’ — commanded and sustained by the Wang family of Changyun County!】
Wang Zhidao!
One of Changyun County’s Five Great Families — the reigning patriarch of the Wang clan!
The man was not only at Transforming Strength; he was also the blood-born cousin-brother of the Zhendong General!
One by one, the scattered threads of clues wove together in Shen Xiuhan’s mind into a vast, towering web.
No wonder that, after planting its banner, Raging Waves hadn’t gone after other territories — had gone straight for the Golden Dragon Gang’s throat with killing intent.
Because the Golden Dragon Gang was the Bai family’s kept dog!
And the Bai family, because of the ‘child snatcher’ case that Shen Xiuhan had let loose a while back, had torn faces and gone to arms with Tongbei Martial Hall.
The backer behind Tongbei Martial Hall was precisely Zhendong Martial Hall — controlled by the Wang family.
Zhao Honggang and Feng Xiaobao had once fought Bai Xiu’an to a standstill at the county yamen, only to be pressed down and beaten by the Bai family’s eldest young master, Bai Jing, all by himself.
Then Zhendong Martial Hall’s senior disciple, Wang Xuanyang, had intervened to block the fight — but only that far.
On the surface, the Wang family had been notably restrained in the clash between Tongbei Martial Hall and the Bai family.
Their clan forces, Zhendong Escort Agency, and so on had made no public comment on the matter, and still less had they intervened by force.
They had simply let Zhendong Martial Hall and Tongbei Martial Hall fight it out with the Bai on their behalf.
By all appearances… it was out of fear that the Bai family’s in-laws, the Luo clan, would move in.
After all, the Luo clan’s patriarch Luo Changming was at the same time the County Magistrate, and likewise a master who had stepped into Transforming Strength years ago.
However strong the connections behind the Wang family might be, in Changyun County at this moment, the only Transforming Strength master they had seated in plain view was Wang Zhidao alone.
So, on the surface, they had let Tongbei Martial Hall stand at the front and jeer at the Bai family.
Behind the scenes, they were directing this band of battle-hardened veterans to strike in the dark and dig down at the Bai family’s roots.
And the rumor circulating at stalls and over tea tables — that Raging Waves was a band of defeated mutineers and fugitive bandits fled to the county…
Now, it seemed, was nothing more than smoke the Wang family had let out to pull wool over the public’s eyes.
At this thought, Shen Xiuhan’s expression stirred slightly, and his brows slowly drew together.
‘Hold on…’
‘If Zheng Dadao comes out of the Longxiang Army, there’s no reason he wouldn’t know of Tian Ping’an, a centurion of that same army. And Tian Ping’an’s own elder brother was running with the Golden Dragon Gang. Yet when Zheng Dadao struck, he showed no misgivings and no mercy — he drove Gao Fu into a dog fleeing its burning home…’
A gleam of sharp light flickered at the bottom of Shen Xiuhan’s eyes; he mused silently:
‘Either he doesn’t know.’
‘Or he’s pretending not to.’
‘The former would be fine. But if the latter… then within the Longxiang Army itself there are cliques and factions, there is rivalry — or perhaps the men simply don’t get along.’
Shen Xiuhan pondered for a moment, quietly filing this thread of intelligence away, and kept reading.
【Intelligence ③: The secret method for hatching and raising 『Azure Spike Fowl eggs』 — place beneath an ordinary brooding hen and incubate for twenty-seven days. After hatching, chop and mix heartclear grass, meridian-unblocking grass, three-leaf wolfiporia, and azure-firefly flower, feed in set proportion daily; after two months, it enters maturity.】
【Intelligence ④: 『Jade Blood Pill』 formula — the principal ingredients are the vital blood and beast meat of the second-tier treasure beast 『Azure Spike Fowl』, tempered with Purple Blood Vine, ten-year-aged mountain ginseng, snake-tail grass, dew-congealing grass, fly-binding vine, and rot-bone root. Begin the refining on fierce, strong flame for two and a half hours, then shift to gentle flame and simmer for twenty-eight hours — only then will it congeal into pills.】
【Intelligence ⑤: One li due north of Yunyi Island, deep beneath the lake bed, lie three joints of the 『Treasure Medicine — Jade-Hearted Lotus Root』.】
Intelligence ⑥: …Within the rear courtyard of Tongbei Martial Hall in the inner city of Changyun County is stored the original manuscript of the Transforming Strength-grade stance art 『Tongbei Stance』.】
【Intelligence ⑦: …Deep within Yunshui Lake lie the relics and inheritance of a Diaohailou direct-line disciple…】
Shen Xiuhan gazed at the lines of text surfacing one after another on the light-screen, and his eyes suddenly brightened.
“So that’s how it is… those eggs hatch and grow in such a way!”
The three Azure Spike Fowl eggs he had brought back had been kept under his family’s old hen all this while.
They had shown no movement for several days now.
Shen Xiuhan had even been considering whether to simply stew them up for Momo as a tonic.
He hadn’t expected hatching treasure beast eggs like these to demand such elaborate and exacting conditions.
Long cycle, and heavy expense!
Fortunately, the herbs listed he had heard of, more or less — they weren’t rare items.
And what was more…
After inheriting the ‘legacies’ of Yu Zhe, Tian Erhu, Gao Nian, Scarface, and two unnamed kindly big brothers in succession, the outlay on these herbs was something Shen Xiuhan could afford with ease.
And this trade was a guaranteed profit with no risk of loss.
If he could truly hatch and raise a mature 『Azure Spike Fowl』 through the secret method, every bit of investment would pay back many times over.
Along with it, the formula for 『Jade Blood Pill』 in 【Intelligence ④】 had also, at this moment, become both important and within reach.
As for the 『Jade-Hearted Lotus Root』…
Treasure fish in the waters, treasure beasts on land, spirit-things among herbs and trees — it was hardly strange.
This 『Jade-Hearted Lotus Root』 sounded like a spirit medicine of the water. Once he had boarded Yunyi Island, he’d have to find time to go and scout — and work out a way to take it for himself.
As for the last two items of intelligence, Shen Xiuhan ignored them as usual.
The former was a dragon’s pool and tiger’s den; the latter, fathomless. Neither was within his means to touch right now.
Mid-thought, Madam Zheng’s call came from the cookhouse:
“Dalang, come have your morning meal…”
“Coming!”
Shen Xiuhan answered, put away the light-screen, and turned toward the thatched hut.
There was still a little girl asleep inside — he had to rouse her, wash her up, and see her fed.