Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling deeply appreciated the imposing and wonderful scenery of the northern frontier; ahead, a high mountain towering to the sky, the vast and murky primitive forest extending infinitely. There was a stream flowing through the depth of the shade of the trees, lush with water plants, while birch trees, bright [shuo] trees were rising around it. The road was rugged and hard to pass; they could imagine the hardship of the traveling merchants passing through this road.

Nevertheless, they were traveling leisurely; since they decided to spend the night at Yin Ma Yi, they did not need to hurry, so they just enjoyed the beautiful scenery along the way.

The sky was still covered densely with black clouds. The three were accustomed to this. Although there was a bit of there-is-a-fly-in-the-ointment feeling, but the weather was pleasantly cool, so that their spirit and mind were bright and open.

When they reached a high elevation, they could see far into the distance the fields and the low farmhouses and the cattle and sheep around them; there was quite a being-cut-off-from-the-rest-of-the-world-and-without-any-struggle feeling in them.

After crossing the mountain, the official road became straight and flat. Over the distant forest, the mist seemed to be rising to the sky, as if it was the realm of the immortal; it was quite fascinating.

Ren Jun happily said, “That is the steam rising from the Yin Ma hot spring; luckily we did not go the wrong way.”

Kou Zhong asked in surprise, “Aren’t you the old horse who knows the way home? How come you are afraid of going the wrong way?”

Ren Jun’s tender face blushing slightly, he said, “I only went there twice; I still don’t have much confidence.”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “It was just a misunderstanding. Seeing how you have such a profound impression on the Laobanniang of Yin Ma Yi’s shop Sao Niangzi, I thought you have been there more than a dozen times.”

Begging for mercy, Ren Jun said, “Zhong Ye, please let me off.”

With the sound of rapid hoof beats, more than a dozen riders were coming from behind; in just one glance they could tell that these were some gangs or societies men. Seeing the three, except for Ren Jun, did not carry any weapon, the men only cast a few glances and continued galloping past them without stopping at all in the direction of Yin Ma Yi. The horse hooves kicked the dust that rolled up into the air, filling the sky like a block of wall blown by the wind assaulting them right against their faces.

Kou Zhong laughed toward Xu Ziling and said, “Those who are able to be one step ahead of other people can always occupy a little bit of more advantageous position.”

He had not even finished speaking when there was another sound of hoof beats. The three turned their heads around to look; a man, dressed in Taoist robe, riding alone on a mule, was rushing over. The mule was extraordinarily like a divine steed; its speed was comparable to a horse’s, in just a short moment it was already behind them.

The middle-aged Taoist priest’s appearance was weird and ugly; he was short in statute. While still some ways away, he already called out loudly, “Gentlemen, how are you? I am Luo Daoren [lit. Mule Taoist]; which gang or society brothers are you?”

Kou Zhong waited until he came by the horses’ side before he replied with a laugh, “We are without a gang, without a sect. This time going out to Shanhai Pass on some errands for our Laobanniang.”

Luo Daren revealed a ‘oh, I see’ look; his gaze fell on the horses that the three rode. Refined light flashing in his eyes, he said, “Good horses! If you want to sell them to the Bei Ma Bang [lit. northern horse gang] people, you can certainly make more than ten taels of gold.”

Kou Zhong said, “Our horses are just like Daozhang’s [Taoist priest] mule; they are the root of our life [i.e. lifeblood], the stem of our heart, absolutely not for sale.”

Stunned, Luo Daren asked, “How do you know that Xiao Lei [lit. little bud] is my lifeblood?”

Kou Zhong smiled and said, “Just by looking at how moist, clean, and beautiful Daozhang keeps the mule’s coat is, I know that Daozhang loves the mule like your life.”

Luo Daren threw his head back and roared in laughter; he said, “Well said. Seeing how smart you are, let Pindao [poor Taoist] offer you a bit of advice: if you don’t want to give up your horses, it would be best if you do not go into Yin Ma Yi; the detour will take you no more than two extra days.”

Laughing aloud, he rode past them and disappeared in the distance.

Fixing his gaze on the lone man on a single mule’s back, Kou Zhong laughed and said, “This is the benefit of traveling a ten-thousand-li road; otherwise, how could we meet so many strange people, unusual scholars? This Luo Daren is very interesting.”

However, Ren Jun’s expression was grave; he said, “Why would Bei Ma Bang go to Yin Ma Yi?”

Surprised, Xu Ziling asked, “Have you heard about Bei Ma Bang?”

Ren Jun replied, “Bei Ma Bang’s Bangzhu Xu Kaishan is the biggest horse dealer in the northeast, specializing in doing transaction with various tribes outside the Great Wall, and then selling the warhorses to the south for huge profits. Gao Kaidao cannot control him either. He sometimes does business with Xia Wang [King of Xia].”

Kou Zhong asked, “Those riders we met earlier, are they Bei Ma Bang men?”

Ren Jun replied, “If they were Bei Ma Bang men, the horses’ thigh would have been branded with horseshoe-shaped marks. Since their horses do not have this marking, they can’t be Bei Ma Bang men.”

Kou Zhong said, “The Three Gangs, One Sect of the northern border are Bei Ba Bang [northern hegemon gang], Wai Lian Bang [outside/external alliance gang], Sai Mo Bang [border desert gang], and Changbai Pai [Changbai Sect]; there is no Bei Ma Bang; they shouldn’t be any good. Why is it that when Xiao Jun mentioned their name, your expression looked so nervous?”

Ren Jun replied, “The reason why Bei Ma Bang is not included in the Three Gangs, One Sect is simply because they rose up abruptly only in the last few years. Three years ago, no one had even heard of Xu Kaishan’s name, but now he has become a household name. Ba Wang Du Xing even became sworn brothers with him. Zhong Ye ought to understand why I am so nervous.”

Turning to Xu Ziling, Kou Zhong said, “Do you think Xu Kaishan might be Cui Wang?”

Xu Ziling asked Ren Jun, “When doing business with the tribes outside the Great Wall, will it be goods traded with goods?”

Ren Jun replied, “Generally, it is goods traded with goods; gold is rarely used.”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, “In that case, the possibility is much higher.”

Dejected, Kou Zhong said, “How can we catch his sore feet then? This guy must have grabbed a lot of stuffs before doing business; otherwise, how could he rise up so quickly? Du Xing is willing to be brothers with him, it can clearly be seen that this man’s background is not simple at all.”

Shaken, Xu Ziling said, “It must be because Lu Ping had grabbed the Hungry Wolf Cui Wang’s sore feet that Cui Wang had him killed; he even destroyed the evidence.”

At first, Kou Zhong was only staring blankly, and then he slapped his thigh and said, “You are right. Cui Wang only seeks goods, seeks wealth; killing the rebels is only to establish his might. Since it was neither sensible nor reasonable to take the risk to kill everybody in Lu Ping’s mansion, not to mention burning the residence, it must be to destroy the evidence that could be in existence over there.”

Ren Jun said, “If Lu Ping knew who Cui Wang was, he would naturally spread the information widely; why didn’t even half the information come out?”

Raising his thumb, Kou Zhong said, “Xiao Jun is beginning to have the ability to think and analyze; it is worthy of celebration.”

Being praised, Ren Jun’s young face revealed an excited yet shy look; blushing, he said, “Two Ye’er repeatedly encouraged Xiaozi, naturally Xiaozi must use my brains.”

Xu Ziling said, “Things of the world, nothing is too bizarre, anything is possible. Perhaps Lu Ping did obtain the evidence, but he did not know that it was something that could prove who Cui Wang is. Or perhaps he was waiting for certain people to look over it. As long as we can find out where he went and whom he met before he was killed, maybe we could come out with some general idea of what happened.”

Suddenly the dust arose in the distance; riders, mule carts, and horse-drawn carriages were coming from the direction of Yin Ma Yi. Unleashing the watching-the-dust technique that Linglong Jiao personally imparted to him, Kou Zhong said, “The dust is scattered, the formation is not in good order. This bunch of people seemed to be one troop formation, but they actually consist of diverse groups of people, and they are quite in a hurry, as if they wanted to get away from Yin Ma Yi as quickly as possible.”

“What is actually happening?” Ren Jun asked in astonishment.

The three could not help urging their horses to speed up to meet the caravan. When they got closer, they were quite certain that these people were the traveling merchants who had stopped by Yin Ma Yi for a rest, but now they were ‘running away’ from the relay station.

The three got out of the way by moving to the side of the road. “What happened?” Kou Zhong asked one of the groups at the front.

A fat man in a traveling merchant attire replied, “Don’t go to Yin Ma Yi, that place is now teeming with gangs and societies figures, definitely nothing good is going to happen.”

The three watched as group after group of the caravan passing through. Constantly people were passionately urging them to leave. When the dust from the last group of the caravan had settled down, Kou Zhong laughed and said, “In order to facilitate the investigation of this case, what do you say Xiaodi changing back to Fu Xiong, and Xiao Ling becoming Fu Jie?”

Xu Ziling nodded his head in agreement, he said, “Even if Du Xing is a man who uses his head, he would not have guessed that we might come this quickly.”

In Du Xing’s mind, after Zhai Jiao returned to Leshou, she would still have to send people in a long and difficult trek to Pengliang to summon the two boys to make their move, plus whether the two boys could spare the time to respond to the request was still unknown. If Du Xing was able to capture Zhai Jiao alive, naturally it was a different matter altogether.

Smiling wryly, Ren Jun said, “Frankly speaking, two Ye’er’s formidable power is just like the deity’s, anybody would be able to see that you are not ordinary men, even if you change your name, you still cannot hide your true identity.”

Having a card up his sleeve, Kou Zhong said, “Xiao Jun’s life experience is still not rich enough. Human psyche is very strange; not only he has oneself as the center, subconsciously he also see himself as superior to the others. It is because you know us that you think we have real skill. If it were someone else who did not know us, he might deliberately demean us in his heart. For example, although he might say that these two kids are as thick and solid as an ox, they ought to be just silver-like spearhead, plus they have no weapon. Looking at their two spiritless eyes, it must be because they are relying on their two pretty faces to deceive women all over the place, indulging themselves excessively in wine and women.”

Ren Jun’s expression went blank, he said, “But your two eyes … oh …” he had not finished speaking, suddenly he discovered the spirit in Kou Zhong’s pair of eyes was restrained; although it still looked refined and alert, but there was no intimidating refined light like before. It could be said that it was indeed brilliant.

Xu Ziling was amused; he blurted out laughing, slapped the horse’s butts, and said, “So what if he could see us through? Come on!”

When the three rode down the sloping road leading toward Yin Ma Yi, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling gasped in amazement. They never expected that there would be such a grand, magnificent, strange-shaped hotel cum relay station in the border area.

Yin Ma Yi was located on mountainous high elevation with the canyon on one side. Its back was leaning against the high mountain, giving up the impression of a fortified hill village high on the mountain, equipped with military defense capability.

The main building was a two-story terracotta structure, with a circular stone-stepped perimeter wall, about three zhang tall, protecting the main building, located at the side facing the mountain. The perimeter wall was open on both sides of the terracotta structure, surrounded by a spacious large plaza, which was also where the vehicles and horses were parked.

The main gate was directly opposite to the main building, and there was only one entrance. The guest rooms were set up along the perimeter wall, there were as many as fifty of those. Circling around the atrium was a winding corridor, with seven, eight set of table and chairs for the guests to sit and chat, providing a casual, idle and relaxed ambient. In the middle of the atrium was a large pond, nearly two zhang wide.

When the three rode into the relay station, there were already four, five groups of people sitting on separate set of chairs, their weapons on the table. There were dozens of people, yet the crow and peacock made no sound; everybody looked up and gave the three unfriendly stares. Around the square were more than a dozen wooden frames to tie the horses. A man, who looked like a hotel employee, was filling the mangers with water and fodder for the more than fifty horses to eat and drink.

The atmosphere was thick with the tension of mountain-rain-about-to-come feeling; the kind of feeling that make people felt their chest was tightening.

Kou Zhong swept his gaze around. Among the people staring at them, there were men and women. The more than a dozen men who caught up with them earlier occupied two of the tables, but he did not see Luo Daoren; perhaps he was inside the main building, hence there was no trace of him.

There were two women; one was delicate and pretty, the other seductive.

The delicate and pretty one looked to be around twenty. Along with a young man, tall and straight, heroic and grand, the two persons occupied a table. A talented man and a beautiful woman; such a suitable couple. Their table was separated to the other people left and right by an empty table, giving up a feeling that they were a bit unwilling to mix with the rest of the people.

The other woman was sitting in the middle of seven or eight valiant-looking men, just like a dot of red among the cluster of ten thousand green. Her graceful, beautiful limpid autumn waters emitted a hint of foxy charm, her appearance elegant, but the expression on her stare was coquettish and seductive, as if any man whom she took a fancy on would have no reason to refuse her. Her forehead was particularly high, above a pair of brown phoenix eyes, which indicated that she might have foreign blood in her.

Perhaps it was because the Thousand-li Dream saw its kind, but it suddenly reared its head and let out a long neigh, causing the originally quiet horses to also made commotion, acting as of they would willingly follow the Thousand-li Dream as their leader.

There was a middle-aged man sitting on the table by the door, dressed in scholar attire, looking just like a master/teacher of a high-ranking official family. Seeing the commotion, his pair of eyes lit up immediately. Sitting next to him were two armed men; they also acted similarly.

Noticing this, inwardly Ren Jun’s hair was standing on its end, while Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling calmly flew off their mounts.

Right this moment, a clump of rosy cloud was floating down the steps from the main building’s entrance, coming toward them to welcome them with a tender laugh, saying, “Three gentlemen guests must not scare them away, nujia can give you the most special discount privilege. Ay! Out of a hundred choices ten thousand selections, unexpectedly they picked nujia’s establishment to hold his granny’s Wulin assembly; Lao Daye [old big master] really don’t have his eyes open.”

Without anybody needed to explain, anybody would know that she was Yin Ma Yi’s flirty female proprietor, Sao Niangzi. It’s just that they did not expect that she did not give a damn toward the gangs and societies’ evil tyrants that came from all over the place; as soon as she wanted to cuss, she simply cussed, without the slightest bit of scruple at all.

Someone, nobody knew who, spoke in strange voice, “Sao Niangzi, didn’t we say that the bill for the food and drink, as well as the lodging, does not need to be settled?”

The crowd burst into rowdy jeering. Because they were sitting around the pond in the middle of the plaza, the voices came from four sides, eight directions, shaking and surging in the air, back and forth, carrying another kind of momentum, while also diluting the previously thick and depressing atmosphere.

Sao Niangzi came over toward the three, her almond eyes grew big, she straightened up her back and feigned anger coquettishly, saying, “So what if you don’t settle the bill? If the news that my Yin Ma Yi hotel specially caters to you guys, who love to fight and kill – ever spread out outside, how could nujia still do business? If you provoke Cui Wang that he vents his anger on nujia, who would substitute for nujia’s life?”

The speaker was immediately at a loss for words. The three exchanged a glance, knowing that their guess was not incorrect, these people gathered here for Cui Wang.

Now they were able to see clearly that Sao Niangzi’s figure, whose name was famous inside and outside the Central Plains, was clearly well developed, perhaps even a bit too well endowed. Her age looked to be early thirties, she was entirely dependent on cosmetics to fight against the unforgiving years of her life. She wore cheesy, garishly bright crimson clothes, the strong scent of her face powder and perfume assaulted their nostrils, but her limpid coquettish glances were indeed provocative, reminding people of cheap physical business deal.

The handsome young man sitting next to the delicate and pretty girl raised his voice and proudly said, “The inconvenience that Laobanniang has to endure, let Shiqing sincerely offers an apology on Jiashi’s [family master] behalf.”

Casting him an enchanting smile, Sao Niangzi said, “The people that nujia cursed, how could it include Gongzi? Lu Gongzi must never scare nujia’s guests away.”

Scolded by her, that Young Master Lu was very embarrassed; with awkward expression he shot a glance toward the delicate and pretty beautiful woman by his side. Seeing her did not look unhappy, he began to feel relieved. Naturally he no longer dared to provoke Sao Niangzi.

The seductive woman burst out in tender laugher, her gaze floated randomly all over the place, she said, “Good-looking men always have a bit more advantage.”

The men sitting at her table, none did not agree with her, plus everybody wanted to fawn on her, hence they roared in big laughter, brimming with mockery.

The strange-voiced man who spoke earlier was one of the dozen or so riders who galloped past the three outside the relay station; he knew that the seductive woman’s remark was targeted at him, insinuating that his appearance was not good. He laughed aloud, stood up, and proudly said, “This is called one who does not know is not guilty. Qing Gu [auntie Qing] has not tried Xiaodi yet, hence you don’t know Xiaodi’s strong points. Xiaodi can’t possibly blame Qing Gu.”

This remark was sexually suggestive and obscene; immediately it provoked his companions, who shared his insinuation, into loud laughter.

An angry look appeared on the face of every single one of the men who were sitting on the so-called Auntie Qing’s table, they all appeared to be ready to make their move and kill at any time.

The delicate and pretty girl’s charming face blushed slightly, she leaned over to Lu Gongzi’s ear and whispered some honeyed words.

Kou Zhong and the others began to understand what Xing Wenxiu meant when he said various gangs and societies did things each in their own way. This was the first time that they joined together with the single purpose of dealing with Cui Wang. Just by looking at how they were now verbally attacking and trampling each other, it was clear among the gangs and sect, nobody wanted to submit to anybody else.

On the other hand, that Auntie Qing did not seem to mind the attack; laughing tenderly, she said, “How do I address this Xiongdi from Tongbei Hui [northeast gang]? I think it would be best if you accompany qie [I, your servant] into the room for a round of play, so that qie can see your strong points, while also take advantage of the opportunity before Xu Dangjia’s arrival to relieve the boredom.”

Hearing that, the three men’s spirit was greatly shocked; turned out everybody here was waiting for Xu Kaishan to honored them with his presence.

The Tongbei Bang [sic] man obviously did not have the guts to accompany Auntie Qing into the room. He laughed and said, “If by the time Xu Dangjia arrives Qing Gu is still unable to get up from bed, wouldn’t I, Luo Deng, bear the blame?”

This last remark was even more blatant and unpleasant to hear. Although his companions were still roaring in laughter to cheer him up, but in the end he still lacked the guts to get on the horse; his grandiose was not as big as before.

Auntie Qing laughed like a stem of flower trembling randomly; her seductive appearance grew without restraint, she said, “What a coward without any prospect!”

Perhaps it was because Sao Niangzi was jealous of Auntie Qing, who was definitely younger and prettier than her, she spoke to the three, “Don’t mind them, they are just ghost attacking ghost.”

And then she called out, “Men! Take care of three Gongzi’s horses!”

Her eyebrows blooming her eyes laughing, it was as if she was stripping the three men naked with her eyes as she looked at them up and down and said, “Three Gongzi looked really handsome.”

This was the first time that Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling assaulted indecently by a woman’s eyes; they did not know whether they ought to be angry or amused.

Pointing to Ren Jun, Kou Zhong said, “How could Laobanniang forget Xiao Jun so quickly? Isn’t he your admirer?”

Reluctant to part, Sao Niangzi took her gaze away from the two, and moved it to Ren Jun, she said, “This Xiao Ge [little elder brother] indeed look familiar.”

Betrayed by Kou Zhong, Ren Jun was so embarrassed that he really wished he could find a hole where he could hide from everybody’s eyes.

Trying to rescue him, Xu Ziling said, “We want three rooms, tomorrow morning we will be on our way.”

This moment, responding to the order, two hotel employees came to take care of the horses. Sao Niangzi practically forgot about Ren Jun; seizing this opportunity to step down the stage, she said, “Three gentlemen, please follow nujia to the main hall for a cup of hot tea.”

The two boys were about to follow her into the main building when suddenly someone shouted, “Hold on!”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling halted their steps, musing inwardly that trouble has finally come.

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