With just a few words at the county office, Master Sun had the magistrate of Run County, local gentry, and wealthy households all suspecting Sweet Spring Bathhouse.
It’s just a bathhouse; there couldn’t be gold hidden underwater! Why would rebels and bandits target it to set it on fire?
Setting a bathhouse on fire?!
“Could it be internal strife?”
The crowd exchanged puzzled glances, as this had happened before.
Mountain bandits, unable to enter the city, would collude with city merchants to disguise themselves as workers and sneak into the city. Bandits are insatiable wolves; once invited in, they are hard to get rid of. If not satisfied, they would turn on the merchants who sheltered them, killing everyone and still robbing the money.
By the time the soldiers reacted, the bandits would have looted the most prosperous street and fled.
“The fire started too quickly, with shouts of fighting! The scariest part is that these people disappeared in the blink of an eye…”
“I’ve always said the people at Sweet Spring Bathhouse are strange, not like regular businessmen. Their workers wander around the city gathering information, claiming to sell rice and cloth prices from other places. They could be accomplices of the rebels. Last year’s robbed caravans might have been their doing.”
The magistrate’s face darkened more with every word. He waved his hand, ordering a citywide lockdown to capture the rebels.
Master Sun’s strategy of borrowing a knife to kill was quite direct.
If Mo Li were here, even without finding the Sun family warehouse, he would immediately suspect the Sun family just from hearing Master Sun’s words.
However, none of the people in the county office knew the whole story. There was a gap between officialdom and the martial world, and an even bigger gap between commoners and martial artists. Listening to stories for fun was one thing, but if real bandits appeared, eight out of ten people would faint from fear.
Since the two sides had no connection, what risk did Master Sun have of being exposed?
A harmful plot doesn’t need to be sophisticated, just effective.
The quicker the soldiers sealed the city, the more it benefitted the “Sun family.”
Master Sun watched the panicked magistrate with cold eyes and quietly blended into the crowd.
Rebels aren’t caught easily. Piaoping Pavilion needed the chaos to act, and when Fengxing Pavilion’s people were forced to scatter and hide, it would be their perfect opportunity.
Master Sun, with a face of feigned panic, left the county office with the crowd, pretending to go to Jixian Fang to check his shop’s damage.
Some wanted to accompany him, while others, more timid, advised waiting until dawn. The chaos in front of the office, combined with the quickly mobilized soldiers, soon scattered the crowd.
Master Sun took the chance to quicken his pace, weaving through alleys.
The alley was flanked by walls, dark and shadowy.
A man in black jumped down from the wall, kneeling before Master Sun.
“Why did the fire go out so quickly?” Master Sun asked in a tone completely different from before.
The man in black lowered his head, trembling, “Subordinate’s incompetence. Suddenly, two meddlers appeared and killed many of our brothers.”
Master Sun asked in return, “Two?”
This was beyond his expectation. He thought Fengxing Pavilion only had Monk Yuan Zhi as their expert.
Even Monk Yuan Zhi, who had no fame in the martial world, was nearly overlooked by Piaoping Pavilion.
“Who are these two?”
“This…”
The man in black couldn’t answer. He had been far from the outer wall of Sweet Spring Bathhouse; otherwise, he wouldn’t have survived. Those who faced Meng Qi were already dead.
“Subordinate couldn’t see clearly. That person’s martial arts are extremely high, perhaps even higher than Su Li’er…”
“Shut up! How dare you use Su Li’er’s name?”
Master Sun’s scolding made the man in black shut up immediately, though he still felt dissatisfied and muttered, “He’s already Fengxing Pavilion’s prisoner. Can’t we even mention his name?”
“Enough, the more you talk, the more excited you get!” Master Sun glared at his subordinate and asked with suppressed anger, “How many from Fengxing Pavilion escaped? Which direction did they go?”
***
Soldiers holding torches barged into shops and homes, searching everywhere.
If the door was opened a bit slowly, it would be kicked open immediately.
Those with large estates had guards who could block them temporarily, protecting the women inside, but ordinary families suffered greatly.
They overturned items, lifted bed boards, and searched every possible hiding place.
While there was no blatant looting of people’s wealth, many soldiers pocketed copper coins, grabbed meat and steamed buns from stoves, and ate heartily.
Some soldiers took advantage of pretty women by touching their faces and waists.
The common people dared not speak out. If anyone resisted or showed displeasure, the soldiers would accuse them of being disguised rebels and search them even more roughly before kicking down the next door.
For a while, there were cries and curses everywhere.
One burly, violent man raised his fist to fight the soldiers.
The soldiers, desperate to capture rebels, immediately surrounded and beat him, ready to take him away.
“Smack.”
A tile flew from behind, knocking a soldier flat and toppling several others.
The noise quieted for a moment, then more tiles came whistling through the air.
“How dare you!”
The soldiers, enraged and embarrassed, got up and tried to catch the culprits.
However, it wasn’t rebels attacking them but local thugs who couldn’t stand their arrogance.
These thugs were not good people; they leered at widows, drooled over pretty girls, lazed around all day, and never got up before noon. When they had money, they drank, ate, fought, and caused trouble. When broke, they resorted to petty theft.
Yet, they fancied themselves as the folk heroes from stories. Seeing the soldiers bullying their neighbors, their anger flared up.
A bunch of government dogs!
Taking advantage of the young women and wives with kisses was seen as the unrestrained behavior of the street heroes, but these government dogs were ruining people’s honor!
The first thug, blood rushing to his head, threw a tile from hiding, which incited the others, leading to a barrage of flying tiles.
The soldiers cursed and tried to catch people, but the thugs, seemingly desperate, ran while shouting even louder.
During the chaos, someone even set off a string of firecrackers, throwing them over the courtyard wall into the crowd.
In an instant, people and horses were tumbling, with debris flying everywhere.
When the soldiers finally stood up, disheveled, all the doors and windows were shut, except for one small child still clinging to the wall, a stone in hand, unsure whether to throw it.
Accusing a toddler of being a rebel was impossible.
The humiliated soldiers angrily tried to kick down the door and capture the men inside, but each one fell flat on their faces, as if pushed by an invisible force.
“Who’s there?”
Mo Li, who had intended to intervene earlier but was beaten to it by the thugs, now saw his chance. Using his inner strength, he spun the soldiers around seventeen or eighteen times, making them dizzy and vomit uncontrollably.
The nauseating stench filled the air.
When they looked up, they couldn’t tell directions. Many houses looked alike, and the child had been carried away by an adult, making it impossible to identify the house they had tried to enter.
Even the dimmest soldier realized someone was against them.
“Get reinforcements! Quickly, bring more men!”
Mo Li hesitated, thinking of returning to the county office.
Soldiers were scattered throughout the city, and if those searching here were unruly, the ones elsewhere likely were too.
Unless he killed them, there was no intimidating these soldier ruffians.
Mo Li was unwilling to kill; Meng Qi didn’t mind, but Piaoping Pavilion was still lurking.
As Mo Li crossed several rooftops to another street, he found an even more chaotic scene. Soldiers were fleeing, screaming as if chased by ghosts.
“What’s going on…?”
Meng Qi, sitting on an eave, pointed into the alley.
A hissing sound filled the air, accompanied by a faint stench.
“Snakes?” Mo Li was shocked.
Not just one or two, but it seemed like an entire cage of snakes had been released.
The weather was hot and muggy, making the snakes restless. Summer nights were their feeding time, making them highly aggressive.
“It’s a merchant caravan from the south, buying and selling medicinal herbs. Coincidentally, they brought a cage of snakes,” Meng Qi said mockingly.
Doctor Mo silently glanced at him but didn’t call him out.
Snake gall and venom are valuable medicinal ingredients, but who would carry live snakes over such a long distance unless it was winter and they could hibernate? Clearly, there was a snake charmer among the caravan, and tonight they were angered by the rude soldiers, so they released the snakes.
“How’s the situation at the city gate?” Mo Li asked about the Fengxing Pavilion members’ whereabouts.
They had split up in the past quarter of an hour; Mo Li intended to continue investigating the Sun family while Qiu Jing needed to protect her people.
Meng Qi shook his head, saying, “The county office genuinely believes there are rebels causing trouble; they’ve even set up cannons.”
In a small place like Run County, there were about ten cannons, heavy and difficult to move, typically positioned at the city gate.
Now, the cannons were aimed inside the city. If anyone attempted to break through or attack the city guards, they would first face a barrage of arrows, followed by cannon fire.
Cannons were powerful and not used unless absolutely necessary.
Mo Li patted Meng Qi’s shoulder, indicating he should stop watching the commotion and find a higher vantage point to monitor the city.
“What about the Sun family warehouse?”
“The people who were struck on their pressure points are still lying there. They should be discovered soon.”
“I’ll go check it out.”
So one headed east and the other west.
In the dark, countless figures lurked, searching for something.
For most people, it would be hard to spot them in unfamiliar terrain, but this time they encountered Meng Qi.
“One, two, three… seventeen. Piaoping Pavilion is quite wealthy!” Meng Qi raised his eyebrows in surprise. These seventeen hiding spots controlled every direction in the city, each overseeing several streets. Anyone passing through would be spotted.
When Meng Qi arrived in Run County earlier that night and entered the bathhouse, these hiding spots were empty.
Now, each spot had four or five people, indicating Sun’s family had planned this well in advance.
“Interesting,” Meng Qi muttered to himself.
Without knowledge of military tactics or the art of Qimen Dunjia, it would be impossible to identify these precise hiding spots.
Qimen Dunjia is not the mystical thing depicted in stories, but rather a method of building based on the terrain, combining offensive and defensive formations. It allows one side to see the enemy’s every move while remaining hidden. For example, the famous stone labyrinth in Shimo Mountain is a natural Qimen Dunjia formation.
Now, even Meng Qi found the setup in the city impressive.
Although these spots were only for monitoring and finding Fengxing Pavilion escapees, without any deadly traps, selecting and disguising these locations cleverly was beyond ordinary people.
A martial world assassin organization suddenly having such talent is certainly intriguing.
“The North, Qiang people, opium, Qimen Dunjia…”
Meng Qi murmured, his expression shifting.
At this moment, Meng Qi saw Qiu Jing and her group, and they were also spotted by Piaoping Pavilion members.
