May You Prosper

Seeing that Qin Zheng had steered the matter off onto the quarrel between Shaolin and the Beggar Gang, Kang Min felt that if she let him go on, she would never wrench it back. She hurriedly cried out in a hoarse voice, "I still have proof that Qiao Feng is a Khitan!" Qin Zheng said in surprise, "What proof do you have?" Certainty filled Kang Min's eyes. "I heard my late husband say that Qiao Feng has a wolf-head tattoo on his chest. It is the emblem of the Khitan Xiao clan!" Qin Zheng sneered. "A wolf-head tattoo on the chest makes one of the Khitan Xiao clan? I have also heard that Duan Zhengchun is a born philanderer who most loves to dally with beautiful women. I see you are as fair as a flower. Don't tell me he dallied with you too?" At these words, everyone present burst out laughing and fell to discussing Duan Zhengchun's amorous exploits. For a time the whole of Apricot Grove was filled with a merry air. Duan Yu flushed with embarrassment and muttered in some displeasure, "Hero Qin, don't drag my father into everything!" Kang Min: "..." Duan Zhengchun really did dally with me. It is only inconvenient to admit it now. Why won't you believe me! Kang Min was full of grievance. She thought, I only wanted to frame Qiao Feng. What wrong have I done? Why is everyone set against me! Only Zhao Qiansun stared fixedly at Qiao Feng and said, "Chief Qiao, I remember that the Khitan orphan did indeed have a wolf head tattooed on his chest. Might you let everyone take a look?" Qiao Feng thrust out his chest. "Why not? I, Qiao Feng, have always stood upright and unafraid. I have never stooped to hiding and skulking!" With that, he ripped open the clothes at his chest. The clothes tore, and a tattoo showed starkly on his chest. At the sight of it, everyone present was struck dumb. There on Qiao Feng's chest, clear as could be, was tattooed a lucky cat with narrowed, smiling eyes, and beside it four large characters— May you prosper! The contrast between Qiao Feng's heroic bearing and the adorable lucky cat tattoo on his chest was stark. Someone, no one could tell who, could not hold it in, and a sputter of laughter burst out. Qiao Feng looked sidelong, his brows shooting up. "What is so funny? My Second Uncle said that if only everyone under heaven could live in plenty, with no worry for food or clothing, ninety-nine percent of the strife in the world would vanish at once. That is why he had this lucky cat tattoo put on me. If every disciple of my Beggar Gang could come into wealth, I, Qiao Feng, would rather brave the condemnation of all the world and disband the Beggar Gang on the spot!" Most of the people of the martial world present, on hearing him, gradually lost the smiles on their faces. Crude as Qiao Feng's words were, the reasoning in them was sound. If they themselves struck it rich, why go on being people of the jianghu? They would long since have gone off to live the easy life of a wealthy man! When he saw the tattoo on Qiao Feng's chest, Zhao Qiansun's face went from shock to anger. "There is no wolf head. Sure enough, it was all Xuanci's plot! Fine work, Xuanci! Fine work, Shaolin abbot! To dominate the martial world, he did not scruple to bring about the deaths of so many people of the martial world. I, Zhao Qiansun, will not share the same sky with him! I am storming Shaolin this instant, to seek justice for those fellow martial artists who were unjustly killed!" With that, he broke into a headlong run toward Shaolin Temple. At the same time, Murong Bo and Xiao Yuanshan, hidden in the dark, both gaped in shock. Murong Bo thought, This Shaolin abbot Xuanci is deep in schemes indeed. No wonder Shaolin Temple has been able to dominate the martial world for so many years! Xiao Yuanshan thought, Qiao Feng isn't my son??!! Impossible. Absolutely impossible. He so clearly looks like me! Kang Min's face was full of despair. Lost and hollow, she sank down and sat on the ground and kept repeating, "Qiao Feng is a Khitan. I have nothing to do with Xuanci... Believe me. You must believe me..." Quan Guanqing glanced at the wretched Kang Min. A change came into his eyes, and he knelt before Qiao Feng with a face full of sincerity. "Chief Qiao, I was deceived by Kang Min. I thought you truly were a Khitan, and that is why I took part in today's affair. Now the truth is clear. I, Quan Guanqing, am willing to atone with my own person and submit to our Beggar Gang's punishment of Three Blades and Six Holes!" Seeing this, Duan Yu smiled and nodded. "No good is greater than knowing a fault and correcting it. This hero has turned back in time. Surely Elder Brother can be magnanimous enough to forgive him." Qin Zheng looked at Duan Yu as if he had seen a ghost. "Brother Duan, you of Dali believe in the Buddha, not in something else, don't you? Why do I feel as if you have been possessed by some unclean thing?" Duan Yu: "...??" While Duan Yu was utterly baffled, Qin Zheng went on, "Quan Guanqing is plainly the chief plotter who framed Qiao Feng. If even he can be forgiven, what kind of wretched world would this become? Even if you believe in the Buddha, you ought to understand that an evil cause bears evil fruit. For a man like this to be torn to pieces is the retribution he deserves!" Duan Yu was struck speechless. For a moment he could not help doubting, in his heart, the faith he had held for so many years. Meanwhile, seeing that Quan Guanqing had cast her aside to save himself, Kang Min at once laughed as if she had gone mad. "Hahaha, Quan Guanqing, the two of us murdered Ma Dayuan together. You want to wash your hands of me now? You are dreaming in broad daylight!" Quan Guanqing's face changed sharply. "You demoness! Death is at hand, and you still dare slander me? I'll kill you this instant to avenge Deputy Chief Ma!" With that he clenched his intact left hand, gathered his internal energy to the full, and drove a fist at Kang Min's forehead. If that fist landed, Kang Min's brains would splatter at once. Quick of eye and hand, Qiao Feng sent Quan Guanqing flying with a palm through empty air and shouted, "Don't you dare! Kang Min, go on!" Kang Min laughed wildly for a while, then looked at Qiao Feng with venom in her eyes. "It is all your fault. If you had not ignored me completely, how could things have come to this! I hated that your heart would not be moved by me, so I seduced Quan Guanqing and Xu Chongxiao, killed Ma Dayuan, and framed you. Ma Dayuan died because I put Ten-Fragrance Soul-Bewitching Powder in his wine and had Quan Guanqing crush his throat, but he still died because of you, Qiao Feng!" Utterly at a loss, Qiao Feng cut her off. "Wait. Wasn't Brother Ma killed by Xuanci? How has it become Quan Guanqing?" Kang Min's expression froze. Then she screamed herself hoarse. "How the hell should I know! What is going on? What is Xuanci trying to do! Ma Dayuan was killed by me and Quan Guanqing. By me and Quan Guanqing!" Qin Zheng looked at Kang Min in her madness and said with a face full of sympathy, "Alas, this person has already gone mad. How can her words be trusted? Lock her and Quan Guanqing up first, then take them to Shaolin to confront Xuanci." Qiao Feng nodded in firm agreement. "Men, do as my Second Uncle says. Bind Quan Guanqing, Kang Min, and the Four Great Elders. We will go together to Shaolin Temple and get to the bottom of this!" Seeing the matter settled, Wang Yuyan let out a long breath beside them and turned to A'Bi. "This affair truly is complicated. But at least it has been proved that it has nothing to do with Cousin. We ought to go to Western Xia and join Cousin." No sooner had the words fallen than her legs suddenly went soft, and she collapsed to the ground. A'Bi started in alarm and reached out to help her up, only to go limp herself and fall to the ground. Then, one after another, everyone present collapsed and could not rise, the strength gone from their bodies. Seeing the people of the martial world in Apricot Grove falling one after another, Qin Zheng's face turned grave at once, and a cry burst from him. "This is bad. It's Conqueror's Haki!" Qiao Feng froze. "??" He thought, This is the Heart-Softening Clear Breeze of the Western Xia First Rank Hall, isn't it!