chsdbacks Chapter 50 Blackwater Bandits
Chapter 50 Blackwater Bandits
"Don't worry, Seventh Brother, I'll take care of it first thing tomorrow morning," Pang Zhan replied with a smile.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"What is it?" Pang Wei frowned slightly.
"Seventh Master, Tenth Master... at the gate... the Yihongtuan people are here again. This time there are twenty or thirty people. They are blocking the gate and saying... saying that our money shop is rich but heartless, that we don't help the poor and don't care about their lives... This has attracted a lot of onlookers."
Pang Wei was in a very good mood today and did not get angry when he heard this. After a moment's thought, he waved his hand and said, "Go to the accounting office and give me ten...twenty taels of silver in my personal name."
He said that he admired their kindness in helping those in need and had done his bit, so he asked them to disperse quickly and not block the street or disturb the neighbors.
"Yes." The steward accepted the order and left.
"I've disturbed Brother Jiang's refined enjoyment," Pang Wei said with a laugh, raising his glass. "Come on, let's continue!"
Jiang Qi raised his glass in response, but his heart was filled with ripples.
In this world, there are many poor people, gangs fighting each other, and demons lurking in the shadows. Yet this Righteous Red Group is raising funds for the people. We don't know if it's true or not.
"Brother Jiang is young but incredibly strong. He will definitely have a place in the martial arts assessment in the middle of the month."
"Perhaps they'll be directly selected by the City Garrison Command, the Criminal Investigation Department, or something similar..."
......
After the banquet ended, Jiang Qi walked out of Litong Money Shop.
Outside the door, members of the Yihongtuan (a local organization) were still holding banners that read "Fundraising for food and helping the poor," and were preaching and raising funds from passersby.
Jiang Qi glanced at it once, then looked away and walked towards Sweetwater Lane as dusk began to fall.
After walking about two streets and turning into an alley, his brows suddenly furrowed slightly.
There is a tail behind it.
The two of them deliberately kept their footsteps light, but they couldn't escape his ears.
Jiang Qi's steps remained unchanged, his expression was normal, and when he passed the fork in the road, he flashed into the quiet alley on the left.
The two people behind them looked at each other upon seeing this.
"Boss, isn't this a bit inappropriate? Our eldest brother told us to behave ourselves."
"Behave yourselves? We're the Blackwater Bandits!"
"That kid, he's the top student in the Pang family's competition, he definitely has some good stuff on him. If we don't pull off a job tonight, and finish things up tomorrow, who knows when he'll be back in Licheng? Shouldn't we take some 'local specialties' back with us?"
"The boss is right!"
A ruthless glint flashed in their eyes, and they immediately quickened their pace and followed them inside.
The alley was long and narrow, with towering brick walls on both sides, making it difficult for moonlight to penetrate and creating a shadowy atmosphere.
"Huh? Where did he go?" The two chased for more than ten feet, only to find that there was nothing in front of them. The figure that had clearly turned in just now had vanished into thin air!
"You're looking for me?"
A calm voice suddenly rang out behind the two of them.
The hairs on their bodies stood on end, and they turned around in horror!
Suddenly, a figure in a green robe appeared three feet behind them. In the dim light, his eyes were as calm as a bottomless pool, coldly watching them.
The man with his shirt open at the head of the group was startled at first, but when he saw who it was, he spat and sneered, "Damn it, it's you! You actually managed to spot me, you've got some guts."
He circulated his qi and blood, and the oppressive aura of a six-dimensional qi and blood martial artist emanated from him. "If you know what's good for you, hand over all your valuables and the prizes you won today!"
"Grandpa's in a good mood, maybe I'll spare your life."
His slightly thinner companion beside him, though his eyes flickered, also gripped the short blade at his waist.
Jiang Qi remained expressionless and made no move to take the money.
Seeing Jiang Qi's reaction, the man with the open robe assumed he was intimidated and became even more smug. He took a step closer and threatened:
"Boy, don't even think about resisting. You only have five strands of Qi and Blood, while I, your grandpa, am at the peak of the Six Paths! I can crush you as easily as crushing..."
Before the words were even finished!
A bright, cold light, like lightning exploding in the dark night, burst forth without warning.
Before the man with his shirt open could even see where the knife came from, he felt a chill at his throat, followed by a spurt of warm liquid that blurred his vision.
He stared incredulously, clutching his neck with both hands, and staggered backward.
"Brother!" The gaunt man roared in terror and fury, brandishing his knife and lunging forward, "You're asking for death!"
His response was another flash of light.
The blade swept across his wrist, severing tendons and cutting bones. The short blade clattered to the ground, then flashed back, disappearing just short of his neck.
The thin man and the burly man lay together, their eyes still filled with horror and bewilderment.
"No...don't kill me...my elder brother...is...a...river-turning...dragon..." The man with his open chest was not completely dead yet, struggling and begging for mercy with his last bit of strength.
Jiang Qi stepped forward and swung his sword down.
The sound stopped abruptly, the man with his open robes tilted his head to the side, and fell silent.
This person's overall strength is much stronger than Yan Beifeng's back then, but now he can kill him with a single strike.
The alleyway fell silent again, with only the thick stench of blood lingering in the air.
Jiang Qi flicked the blood off the blade without expression and sheathed the sword.
He bent down and quickly searched the two corpses.
Two red scarves... a dozen or so taels of loose silver, a pair of decent metal wrist guards, a rough leather belt, and... a silver note with a face value of one hundred taels!
"This Yihong Group... is certainly 'skilled at making money'," Jiang Qi thought with a cold smile, putting the items away.
He erased all traces of himself, then blended into the night and disappeared.
......
Back at the entrance of Sweetwater Lane, I saw several people with red scarves wrapped around their arms in the distance, setting up a stall and holding up that familiar banner, soliciting donations from passersby.
This time, there were many ordinary people watching and donating, including Brother Sun and Uncle Wang. They each took out about a hundred copper coins and put them into the donation box, with a look of piety on their faces.
After receiving the money, the members of the Yihongtuan solemnly handed each of Brother Sun and Uncle Wang a red cloth, instructing them with something like, "If you encounter injustice, you can use this cloth to seek help."
Jiang Qi frowned slightly. If the Righteous Red Gang was capable of ambushing and killing, they were probably not good people.
However, with the Martial Arts Examination approaching, the Suolong Well still needs exploration, and his own cultivation cannot be delayed, so he has no time to delve deeper into the truth behind the Righteous Red Group.
He walked over in a few steps and said in a deep voice to Brother Sun and Uncle Wang, who were holding red cloths, "Brother Sun, Uncle Wang, don't donate money anymore. Just focus on living your own lives."
Brother Sun and Uncle Wang were taken aback. Seeing that it was Jiang Qi, they quickly nodded, "Protector Jiang is right. We...we were just being soft-hearted, seeing how pitiful they sounded..."
The two were just ordinary people who had suffered hardships and were kind-hearted, so Jiang Qi didn't say anything more and went straight into the water shop.
Back in the washroom, I closed the door and took out my spoils.
He carefully put away the dozen or so taels of silver and the silver notes. The metal wristbands were sturdy and offered decent defense, but unfortunately, they were a bit awkward to use. He would find some time to see if he could exchange them for silver.
Finally, there was the rough leather. When unfolded, it depicted the terrain of the northern suburbs of Licheng near the Lishui River. It was rather simple, but two places were specially circled by cinnabar.
One is Black Fish Bay, and the other is a reed marshland.
Jiang Qi was a little disappointed, thinking it was some kind of martial arts manual, so he rolled up the leather.
Then, as usual, he brewed the [Moonlight Blood-Coagulating Soup] and, together with the Blood-Nourishing Pills obtained from Pang Wei, continued to cultivate the [Zhenyuan Body-Forging Technique].