Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 627 Eight Great Masters (Part 1)

"Chief Di."

"Master Zheng".

"I've admired you for a long time."

"Nice to meet you."

"May I ask who this gentleman is...?"

"Oh, this Mr. Hu is the fourth-ranking member of our canal gang."

"My name is Hu Wenzhi, and I have met Master Zheng."

"So it's Brother Hu, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"You're too kind, Master Zheng. I'm flattered."

It's easy to see that Gu Qiying can deliver convincing acting skills when necessary.

At this moment, his attitude towards Di and Hu was completely different from when he faced Jiang Shouzhen a few days ago.

Zheng Dongxi, who came out to greet them with sincere words and humble manners, perfectly matched Di Bujuan and Hu Wenzhi's prior expectations of the image of "Hero Zheng".

After exchanging pleasantries at the door, the three of them happily took their seats together.

Once seated, Zheng Dongxi personally picked up the tea set on the table and leisurely began to brew tea. Di and Hu also adopted a relaxed and casual demeanor, waiting leisurely, while muttering some meaningless chatter.

Of course, this kind of "gossip" is also necessary and essential...

After all, this meeting between the two parties was not held in a formal setting or at a negotiating table, but was just a casual chat under the pretext of "having a cup of tea to get to know each other." Under such circumstances, if you were to rush to ask about serious matters as soon as you sat down, it would not only seem impolite but also make you appear naive, essentially putting yourself at a disadvantage from the very beginning.

Both sides are seasoned veterans of the underworld and would not make such a mistake, so they both chose to stall, waiting to see who would break down first and raise their core demands, which would mean losing half a move.

What? You're asking what if both sides are bastards and keep dragging this out to the bitter end?

That's easy, let's make it up another time.

It all comes down to whose issue is more urgent. As long as you're not desperate and can afford to drag it out, you can procrastinate for another round. If you can't hold back and speak up first, you'll be at a disadvantage. This kind of thing is the same in many modern workplaces. If you don't believe me, just look through your colleagues' email records. On average, at least fifty out of every hundred emails are about procrastination. The purpose of these emails is not to advance the matter or solve the problem, but to leave evidence for the sender to absolve themselves of responsibility afterward.

Fortunately, the three of them were not yet familiar with each other. At least in Di and Hu's view, the relationship between them had not yet reached the level of backstabbing and life-or-death struggle that comes with being "colleagues." So after chatting for a while, the two of them got to the point first.

Di Bujuan took the initiative in Zheng Dongxi's casual conversation, asking, "How come I've almost never heard of your gang's fourth leader before?" After giving a brief answer, he took a turn and smoothly transitioned to the matter of "I've been in the martial arts world for so many years, and I don't recall ever hearing of Master Zheng's reputation before." Then he began to ask the other party about his teacher and his experiences before he became famous.

Of course, none of this was difficult for Gu Qiying. Since he had decided to put the identity of "Zheng Dongxi" on the table, he had already prepared a set of self-consistent explanations.

He only needs to select a verifiable "prospective identity" from the Shadow's intelligence database, and then explain the missing experiences of this identity in recent years as some kind of adventure, and he can explain his origins.

Moreover, this is only a statement to be used in extreme circumstances, when one is forced to recount the past in detail. Under normal circumstances, when he talks about the above information, he does not need to go into detail. He only needs to give a general overview and then say "it is inconvenient to talk about" for some sensitive information. After all, this is not an interrogation of a criminal, and the other party has no right to ask further questions.

And so, the two chatted for a while longer.

Seeing that Master Zheng answered fluently and flawlessly, Di and Hu were filled with admiration, and their initial doubts gradually dissipated.

According to Zhenxiatang, this Zheng Dongxi has, at least so far, not done anything that the righteous path shouldn't do.

Even his act of threatening Jiang Shouzheng and using the latter as bait... can only be described as having some problems with his "methods". Zhenxiatang, who knows the true nature of Jiang Shouzheng, can understand Zheng Dongxi's actions to some extent.

Furthermore, judging from the corpse of the fake Zhang Douhan, Zheng Dongxi was a bit "ruthless" in his actions; however, this is not necessarily a bad thing, as many of the old men in the True Hero Hall also use heavy blows, and they are known for their "hatred of evil".

In short, according to the standards of Zhenxiatang, as long as you are on the right track in terms of general direction and stance, they can overlook some moral flaws.

In the end, which of these old thugs has a completely clean record? They've all been in the underworld for so many years. Unless they're saints, who can go through life without having a few things that people find fault with? If they were to worry about even that, then Chief Di would have been on their blacklist long ago, and he wouldn't have made this trip at the behest of the True Hero Hall.

However, just as Di and Hu thought the contact had been successful and were about to leave,

clap clap clap-

With a loud cracking sound as wooden planks broke, a group of masked men suddenly rushed up from the room below the private room on the second floor.

There were exactly eight people in this group.

Moreover, when they broke through the floorboards, three of them were already aimed at Zheng, Di, and Hu's location, charging and killing in quick succession.

Even more dangerously, before they launched their coordinated attack, even Hu Wenzhi, who had exceptional hearing, was completely unaware that the threat was already at his feet.

Fortunately, Di Bujuan reacted in time as the group rushed at him. As he jumped away, he almost instinctively grabbed Lao Hu, which saved Hu Wenzhi, who was a step behind.

Meanwhile, Zheng Dongxi... his response was much more composed than that of Di and Hu.

He simply stood up with a seemingly slow movement, moved two steps to the side like a ghost, and came right behind the masked man who was charging at him.

Moreover, even the broken and flying wood fragments, as well as the overturned chairs and tables, did not affect Zheng Dongxi, who had only taken two steps.

However, this attack by the masked men was clearly only the beginning.

A moment later, the masked man who had charged at Zheng Dongxi stopped and realized that his target had disappeared into his blind spot. So he turned around without even looking and threw another punch.

Bang!
The next second, a loud bang was heard and the beam shot up.

The masked man's fist stopped immediately.

Immediately afterwards, everyone saw... Zheng Dongxi stood calmly in place, his right hand firmly grasping the masked man's fist, while his left hand... was still holding a cup of tea that he had just snatched from the table when he got up.

"Hoo—" Zheng Dongxi leisurely picked up his teacup, blew on the tea leaves on the rim, took a sip, and said, "Good boxing technique. This punch... it takes thirty years of hard training to execute."

Ladies and gentlemen, as the saying goes, the layman watches the spectacle, while the expert watches the details. The people in this room are all experts, so when they gradually realized that "this Master Zheng did not spill a single drop of tea from his cup throughout the entire process of getting up, moving, receiving the moves, drinking tea, and giving his comments," their shock was beyond words.

Looking at the masked man whose fist was being gripped by Zheng Dongxi, his eyes were practically bulging out, and his face, hidden under the black cloth, was already filled with horror.

However, what's even more alarming is only just beginning...

“Shi Zhenyun…” Zheng Dongxi continued, “…is a disciple of the Dongting Iron Fist School, and is known in the martial arts world as the ‘Severing Stone and Dividing Gold Hand.’ It is said that his fist is so powerful that it can break a person’s limbs from their body.”

Originally, being able to withstand Shi Zhenyun's attack was enough to prove Zheng Dongxi's extraordinary strength.

Unexpectedly, Zheng Dongxi was able to start "reporting the other party's household registration" after only receiving one move. This can only be interpreted as... he wanted to show off his martial arts skills and intelligence knowledge.

"If I remember correctly, about twelve years ago... you raped and murdered your mentor's daughter, and then, without hesitation, wiped out the entire family that very night, and have been missing ever since." Zheng Dongxi looked at the masked man with disdain and casually pointed out the thing the other man least wanted to talk about.

Of course, if this incident hadn't happened, Shi Zhenyun wouldn't have gone to seek refuge with Yuxiu Manor.

From this, it is not difficult to see that the most skilled and loyal masters in Yuxiu Manor are basically in a similar situation to Shi Zhenyun. Because they have no way out and no bottom line, they would even do things like colluding with foreign tribes to rebel. For them, only by following Yuxiu Manor to the end and finally rebuilding a new order in the martial arts world can they have a chance to turn their lives around.

"what--"

Shi Zhenyun, whose hand was restrained by Zheng Dongxi and who had been provoked by Zheng's words in his fear, finally came to his senses... He roared and was about to launch another attack.

This time, however, Zheng Dongxi didn't let him unleash his move at all.

In the blink of an eye, Zheng Dongxi suddenly released his right hand. He didn't care what would happen to Shi Zhenyun's fist after it was freed; he just threw his own punch first.

Then, he repeated what he had said when commenting on the opponent's martial arts: he punched Shi Zhenyun on the shoulder, breaking off one of the opponent's arms from his torso and sending it flying.

For a time, let's put it this way... half of the rather large room turned "red".

The scene, the cruelty, the spurting blood... Not to mention the other seven masked men, even Di Hu and Zheng Dongxi, who were huddled in the other corner of the room at that moment, felt their scalps tingle.

But, at that very moment...

Among the remaining seven masked men, there was clearly a master of concealed weapons with excellent mental fortitude. Despite feeling a chill run down his spine, he calmly judged that this was a good time to strike.

Logically speaking, after a person delivers such a fierce blow, their body will inevitably enter a state of exhaustion and lack of strength for a period of time. Even if the person has high martial arts skills and their internal energy and strength can be replenished very quickly, they can only shorten this period of time; it is impossible to completely eliminate it.

As a master of concealed weapons, always ready to attack enemies from a distance, this person naturally had the habit of constantly seizing the opponent's weaknesses. So at this moment, he acted almost instinctively in battle...