Catching sight of firelight and catching a whiff of aroma, Lian Youming tensed. Keeping his body as low as possible, he crawled forward on hands and knees, hugging the ground.
Only when the firelight drew closer, roughly thirty paces away, did he shrink behind a white birch tree.
By now the moon had risen in the east. Peering toward the firelight, he saw that one of the three men was hanging upside down from a tree bough four or five meters off the ground, just like an ape swinging from a branch. His arms were folded across his chest and his body swayed gently from side to side, as though he were asleep.
The remaining two sat beneath the tree beside the campfire.
With a single glance, Lian Youming's eyes nearly tore at the corners in fury. Beside the Russian's feet lay a village woman in tattered clothes, her limbs all broken. Yet her chest was still rising and falling; she was clearly still alive, whimpering softly—even her tongue had been cut out.
Perhaps irritated by the noise, the Russian's eyes turned icy. He raised his foot and stomped down. With a wet pop, the woman's head burst open.
It was an utterly bloody sight.
Not far off, two children around eleven or twelve years old—a boy and a girl—were actually tied up, their hands and feet bound, having long since passed out.
Judging by their clothing, they appeared to be Oroqen.
Not satisfied with stomping the woman to death, the Russian turned to grab the young girl, only for Xie Laosan to snap sternly, "What are you doing? Didn't we agree beforehand to leave them alive when we depart?"
The Russian laughed in a bizarre, mocking tone. "Leave them alive? So they can call people to catch us? Xie Tianhong, for someone who walks the jianghu, you don't even understand the principle of cutting weeds at the roots? Has all your age been lived on a dog?"
Xie Laosan's face turned livid, his tone frosty. "They're just ordinary people."
The Russian's green eyes narrowed slightly with sinister cruelty. "What I hate most are your damn rules. If you hadn't dragged us into this, why would those experts from the White Lotus Sect be hunting us down? Now we're stuck in this godforsaken place without ever seeing the light of day. What's wrong with me finding a few women to have some fun with?"
Xie Laosan sneered, "Lei Hu, when it comes down to it, aren't you brothers just after the map of the Kwantung Army underground fortress? If you want it, behave yourself. Since we're in the same boat, you won't be shorted your share of benefits once it's done. But if you act recklessly and slaughter innocents, we'll go our separate ways."
Hidden in the dark, Lian Youming had a stir of thought as he overheard their exchange. So the three of them weren't of one mind.
And from the sound of it, they were being hunted by experts of the White Lotus Sect.
No wonder they had nowhere else to go and had to hide in these deep, primordial woods.
Hearing this, the Russian addressed as "Lei Hu" twitched in the cheek and slowly withdrew his outstretched right hand.
Yet as a bystander, Lian Youming saw it with absolute clarity: the short man hanging upside down in midair had opened his eyes at some point. A hidden murderous intent flickered within them, seemingly exchanging glances with Lei Hu.
What are they planning?
Dog eat dog, an internal feud?
Lian Youming took it all in.
Yet a surge of fierce malice also welled up inside him, coursing into his limbs and stoking a murderous urge. Whatever the situation, he was going to slaughter this Russian bastard today no matter what.
Being some distance away, Lian Youming couldn't tell how Lei Hu responded. The short young man in the tree closed his eyes again, but words came from his mouth: "I hear Gong Wu'er and Xue Hen have both gone to Mount Lu."
Xie Laosan lowered his gaze, looking at his crippled leg. "Then they must have found some trace or clue."
Lei Hu asked, "Why did the White Lotus Sect have you conceal your name and identity all these years anyway?"
Without looking up, Xie Laosan said, "There are things that, if I keep silent, mean they'll only kill me. If I talk, every single descendant of my bloodline dies."
Lei Hu's shoulders suddenly trembled, and he gave a meaningful laugh. "Old ghost, tell the truth. Do you actually have the map to the Kwantung Army underground fortress on you or not?"
"Sigh. Who would have thought I'd ever fall to such a state."
Xie Laosan gave a long sigh. He was no fool; having lived long enough to become as shrewd as a demon, how could he fail to sense the murderous aura enveloping him from all sides?
Though he had known long ago that neither of the two was decent, in the past he could suppress them with his own skills. Now that he had lost a leg, these two scoundrels were getting restless, unable to wait to probe him in every way—just as he had done against the Old Man Who Guards the Mountain.
Hearing Xie Laosan sigh, Lei Hu grinned broadly, a ferocious light flashing in his eyes, raw murderous intent fully exposed. "Could it be that you're tricking us?"
Xie Laosan chuckled softly. "They say martial artists must harbor a vicious resentment, but I disagree. The two words of 'gongfu' are a contest of fists and feet, but also a clash of spirit and will. If one must forge anything, it should be an arrogant pride of being invincible and second to none. I've swallowed my pride and endured grievance for so many years, and suddenly I just don't want to swallow it anymore."
He looked at Lei Hu, who was slowly rising before him, and said airily, "Leaving aside whether I have that map or not, even if I do, I'd rather burn it to ash than hand it over to you two bastards... Bai Yuan, come down as well."
"Then today you die!"
With a cold snort, the short man in the tree flipped down and landed on the ground.
When he spoke, he still seemed human, but the moment his feet settled, he suddenly squatted down, digging his feet into the earth. Baring his teeth and grimacing, he scratched his ears and cheeks while chattering and shrieking. Ferocious glints flared in his eyes—he looked like nothing less than a demon-possessed mad monkey.
Wary caution showed in Xie Laosan's eyes. "Monkey Form boxing."
Lei Hu also stretched his muscles and bones. Taking several strides forward, he suddenly dropped his stance, both palms turned outward, his tiger mouths loosely meeting in front of his chest. Bizarre as the posture was, the clothes across his body tore open in every direction with a sharp ripping sound, revealing an overwhelmingly imposing, burly physique.
Limping as he paced in circles, Xie Laosan narrowed his eyes as he saw Lei Hu assume this posture. "The Leopard Form from Shaolin Five-Element Fist? That's rare indeed."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than the short man named Bai Yuan flipped and pounced across the ground like an ape, hands clawing and snapping as he attacked Xie Laosan's lower body.
Seeing this, Xie Laosan retreated repeatedly. Though crippled in one leg, he leveraged his good foot, shifting and dodging with surprising agility.
Yet who would have expected that as the short man rolled, he suddenly raised his hand and flung a handful of fine sand toward Xie Laosan's face? He then kicked off the ground, tucking his body as he leapt over a meter high. Using hands and feet together, he smashed a fist toward Xie Laosan's face and kicked at his chest, his contorted features hideous and terrifying.
The Russian also used hands and feet, flipping up with a "Black Dragon Twisting the Pillar" maneuver. Pouncing close, he too struck at Xie Laosan's lower body.
Xie Laosan's face was dark as stagnant water. Brushing his sleeve to block the sand with one hand, he thrust out a claw to parry with the other, his single leg pivoting constantly. With only a single clash, he fell into a complete disadvantage.
Vicious.
They were aiming specifically for the cripple's good leg.
Watching the internal struggle before him, Lian Youming's eyes turned somber as his mind raced, weighing whether to intervene.
Although Xie Laosan deserved death, the other two were even more damned.
Thoughts racing like lightning, he rose to his feet as if having made a decision. Suddenly wheeling around, he ran, yelling in apparent panic, "Murder! They're killing people!"
The moment he ran, the three men locked in vicious combat immediately noticed.
Looking at the stumbling back in the woods, Lei Hu frowned slightly. "Second Brother, go finish that kid off."
At the command, the short man called Bai Yuan gave a curt reply. Vaulting and pouncing forward, he caught tree branches with both hands, swinging through the air like a wild mountain monkey as he gave chase toward the retreating figure.
Xie Laosan naturally saw it too. Not only did he see the distant back, but he also recognized that voice he loathed to the marrow of his teeth. His wrinkled old face twitched, his eyes filled with suspicion and astonishment. Glancing at Bai Yuan's utterly unguarded posture, a bizarre smile suddenly spread across his face.
In the birch forest, Lian Youming shouted at the top of his lungs, his expression filled with panic as if he had lost his way, darting about aimlessly like a headless fly. He hadn't run far when a sharp whistle through the air sped toward the back of his head. His eyes narrowed slightly, and his footing went limp; acting as if tripped by a tree root, he tumbled and rolled forward.
Almost at the same moment, a pebble grazed his scalp by a hair's breadth and slammed into a tree trunk in the dark with a sharp thud.
In the view of the short man called Bai Yuan, seeing the figure scrambling to rise in the woods, he had already leapt down from midair and lashed out with a kick.
Beneath the moon, the figure pitched forward and lay motionless.
Moonlight like water washed over the earth.
Bai Yuan couldn't help but sneer, "Unlucky ghost."
With that, he stepped forward to deliver a finishing kick.
To his shock, the instant his right foot stepped down, a large hand shot out midair like lightning, clamping hard around his ankle.
Before the short man's horrified, ghost-stricken gaze, an indescribable surge of colossal strength laced with a bizarre spiraling force suddenly transmitted from his ankle. In a fraction of a second, his center of gravity was lost, and he was hoisted upside down into the air.
*Whoosh!*
Fallen leaves whirled through the air.
In the blink of an eye, the tables turned completely. A towering, burly figure rose straight from the ground, a pair of narrowed, smiling eyes dripping with cruel malice looking down squarely into Bai Yuan's face.
"Haven't you eaten yet?"
Seeing that he had succeeded, without the slightest hesitation, Lian Youming snapped his right fingers tight. Planting his feet, he drew a deep breath and, like an enraged Vajra, swung the short man by the right leg, wildly slamming him down again and again.
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
*Bang!*
...
Chapter 27