"Who's over there!"
At the sound of Duan Yu's voice, the woman flickered and was suddenly standing before him.
Duan Yu jumped in fright and hastily waved his hands. "Immortal Brother, I wasn't trying to eavesdrop on the two of you!"
At those words, her face darkened at once.
Immortal Brother?
Even if I, Li Qingluo, am not a kingdom-toppling beauty, I can still count as flower-faced and moon-lovely. Who do you think you're humiliating!
This woman was none other than Madam Wang of Mantuo Manor. Today she had only just received Qin Zheng's gilded invitation and learned that her father, Wuyazi, meant to hold a bride-seeking martial contest. She had been about to vent the nameless fury in her heart when Duan Yu ran right into her.
Looking at the helpless Duan Yu before her, she said, killing intent in her eyes, "A man actually dares to force his way into Mantuo Manor. Drag him off, chop him up, and bury him in the garden for flower fertilizer!"
At Madam Wang's order, Plump Granny, who had brought the message, came forward with her staff. When she saw Duan Yu's face clearly, she cried out at once, "Madam, you must not! This man is an attendant of Qin Zheng's!"
Madam Wang gave a cold snort. "So what? Drag him off and kill him!"
Terrified, Duan Yu said, "How can you go around killing people at random? Could what Great Hero Qin said be true—that if someone has been a eunuch long enough, there's bound to be something a little wrong with his mind?"
"Utter nonsense! You beast, I'll butcher you!"
Hearing herself go, in his mouth, from a man to a eunuch, Madam Wang shook with rage. She raised her right hand and sent a palm straight at the crown of his head.
Duan Yu turned aside, dodged Madam Wang's furious palm, and ran for the depths of the manor.
Madam Wang only felt her vision blur. Her palm struck empty air, and when she looked up again, Duan Yu was already gone.
"What an uncanny lightness skill—even finer than Lingbo Weibu!"
Madam Wang's heart tightened. "Have the guards keep a strict watch and search everywhere for this thief. Also send more people to protect the young lady."
Plump Granny hurriedly agreed. Before she could withdraw, someone came to report. "Madam, Cousin Young Master has come to call, bringing Deng Baichuan and the others."
Madam Wang frowned slightly. "What is he here for? Bring them over."
Before long, Murong Fu and the others, looking somewhat the worse for wear, arrived before her.
After paying his respects, Murong Fu explained his purpose with a bitter look. "Aunt, someone has seized my Yanziwu. Might you allow us to stay a few days at Mantuo Manor? Your nephew will remember this kindness and never forget it."
Madam Wang's expression shifted slightly. "Stay if you wish. There is no need to thank me for so small a matter. I am rather curious, though. Who could be so bold as to seize even your Yanziwu, Southern Murong?"
Murong Fu sighed. "Alas, your nephew was taken in by that Qin Zheng!
"On the pretext of coming to bring news, Qin Zheng stayed at our Canhe Manor, then fanned the flames and stirred our Murong family into a deadly clash with Shaolin, the Qingcheng Sect, and the Funiu Sect.
"Once we had gotten clear, he immediately sent more than a thousand mountain bandits to occupy the manor, and seized all of Yanziwu without the slightest effort."
When Madam Wang heard the whole of it, she could not help drawing a sharp breath.
This Bandit King Qin Zheng really is a living bandit!
Sure enough, in the jianghu there are only names badly given, never nicknames that miss the mark.
Weren't the Xiaoyao Sect's standards for taking disciples that they be handsome and dashing, gentle and refined? How could Father have taken a bandit as a disciple?
Had he grown muddled with age?
Mm. He was even capable of something like a bride-seeking martial contest. He must have grown muddled with age...
Seeing Madam Wang's expression change again and again, Murong Fu thought she feared that sheltering them would bring trouble down on her. "Aunt, if it is inconvenient, we will leave at once."
Madam Wang came back to herself. "There is nothing inconvenient. I was only thinking of something else. Stay here without worry. I do not believe Qin Zheng would dare come to Mantuo Manor to make trouble for me!"
He's nothing but a junior martial brother. If he really provokes me... I'll go tell Father and Mother on him!
Elsewhere, Qin Zheng had already found, within Canhe Manor, the Hanshui Water Pavilion where the Murong family kept its martial manuals. He had his people rummage through it, and at last they found the manuals of Star Transposition and Canhe Finger.
"Hidden quite tight. A pity they ran into me, Luo Tian."
A small, thin man smiled, patted the dust from the two manuals, and brought them before Qin Zheng to claim the credit. "Boss, the manuals you wanted!"
The man's name was Luo Tian. He was of the tomb-robbing line within the Thieves' Gate—that is, a tomb robber. The jianghu had given him the nickname One Wen, meaning that any ancient tomb he had visited would not have so much as a single wen left in it.
Finding hidden compartments, mechanisms, and triggers was no trouble to him at all, which was why Qin Zheng had specially summoned him to Yanziwu.
Qin Zheng put the two manuals away. "Since you're here, go have a look at the Murong family's storeroom while you're at it. There ought to be quite a few good things inside. Pick out a few of the best, and we'll count that as your fee."
"Good!"
Luo Tian's eyes lit up, and he shot off at once.
Watching him go, Qin Zheng quietly checked the progress of his cultivation method.
After he had taken Yanziwu, the method's progress had increased by only one percent, far less than the gain from tricking Jiumozhi into self-castration.
Alas. A pity that the Northern Darkness Rebirth Art, which could make severed limbs grow anew, was something he had made up. Otherwise, castrate Jiumozhi another ten times, and his Stirring Wind and Waves could be cultivated to completion at once!
After brooding a while, Qin Zheng asked a subordinate beside him, "Has word gotten out that Murong Fu obtained the Heirloom Seal of the Realm?"
An old woman answered with a smile. "It has. The authorities of the Great Song were the keenest. The moment they got the news, they sent men to seek out Murong Fu's whereabouts.
"Liao and Western Xia have not received the news yet, but there ought to be movement before long."
When she had finished, the old woman went on with her report. "Boss, on my way here I heard something. Ma Dayuan, deputy chief of the Beggar Gang, has been killed, and he died by his own exclusive art, the Throat-Locking Grapple.
"There are many rumors in the jianghu about it now. Some say Murong Fu killed him with Star Transposition. Some say Duan Zhengchun killed him. Others say the killer is Jiumozhi."
Qin Zheng paused, slightly startled. "Wait. Murong Fu at least makes a little sense. What are Duan Zhengchun and Jiumozhi doing in this? Do the two of them even know that throat-locking hand?"
The old woman put on a thoroughly gossipy look. "Wasn't there a rumor in the jianghu before, that Duan Zhengchun and Jiumozhi fought over Ma Dayuan until both were badly hurt?
"Some say one of the two was beaten into a eunuch and, so the other could not have Ma Dayuan, love turned to hate and he steeled himself and killed him.
"As for the Throat-Locking Grapple, it's said that while Ma Dayuan was with them, he taught it to both of them himself, step by step!"
Qin Zheng's thoughts were a complete mess. "'It's said,' 'I heard,' 'some people say.' From now on there's no need to report this sort of unreliable business to me. It's too hard on the ears!"
The old woman said, full of regret, "Very well. Then this old woman will stick to the most important part.
"The Beggar Gang Jiangnan Branch has sent out word that on the fourteenth day of the seventh month, the Beggar Gang will hold a great assembly at Apricot Grove in Wuxi. At that time Ma Dayuan's widow, Kang Min, will come forward, announce the true killer's identity, and clear up the rumors in the jianghu."
Qin Zheng asked, puzzled, "Who is the killer? Didn't the hidden agent we planted beside Ma Dayuan report to you?"
The old woman shook her head. "When Ma Dayuan was killed, our agent had been sent by him to deliver a letter for Qiao Feng, and still hasn't returned to Beggar Gang headquarters."
Hearing this, Qin Zheng could not help showing a trace of relish.
From the news he had gathered earlier, Kang Min did not seem to have taken up with Bai Shijing yet, and it was still hard to say whether Ma Dayuan's death had anything to do with the two of them.
But this time, if someone meant to pin Ma Dayuan's death on Qiao Feng, the fun of it would be something else...
Chapter 17