Who among the gangsters wants to fall in love?

Chapter 357 The storm is coming
Late at night, a full moon was covered by thick dark clouds, and heavy raindrops whistled down, almost submerging a small town a hundred miles away from Huating.

The town was not big, with only one tavern, two inns, a bungalow and three or four brothels.

The town is located north of the Yangtze River. It was affected by the Northern Expedition and became a ruin. However, due to its unimportant geographical location and the lack of resources, the villagers of that time had long since died out and no one had repaired it. Only the passing people from all over the world occasionally started work for the sake of convenience, resulting in the present scene.

It can be regarded as a lawless area in the East China Sea underworld, with black market bounties and treasure auctions, which makes things quite tense.

Naturally, most of the people who can come here are gangsters and desperadoes who are desperate.

Ta-da, ta-da————

The head of the Jiuli Cui family, Cui Xiangwei, wearing a cloak coated with waterproof wax, led a horse and walked slowly into the town with his son Cui Yan. He looked up at the sky and prepared to go to the tavern to rest.

Jiuli also had some spies lurking in the Central Plains, but Zhao Wumian stayed on the ship for nearly half a month, keeping a low profile. No matter how well-informed the spies were, they could not know Zhao Wumian's exact location.

Therefore, ever since Zhao Wumian left Mount Lushan, the two had lost track of him and didn't know where to chase him. But they couldn't just sit there and wait to die, so they had to run somewhere.

The pub is not big. It looks like a bungalow from the outside. Through the window paper, you can see the dim yellow lights inside. The lights are bright, but the doors and windows are locked at night.

Cui Yan had been traveling for days and looked tired. He led his horse to the door and knocked directly. But as soon as he stretched out his hand, Cui Xiangwei noticed something was wrong and grabbed his forearm and pulled it back.

Click——Buzz————

A gleaming scimitar suddenly pierced through the wooden door, leaving a streak of blood on Cui Yan's face. The tip of the knife was shining and shaking continuously.

Cui Xiangwei's eyes changed. With rich experience in martial arts, he recognized the weapon and said in surprise: "Grassland scimitar... Rongren?"

Cui Yan felt a sharp pain on his face, and his eyes suddenly turned fierce. He kicked the wooden door into pieces and shouted in a voice as loud as a bell: "Who are you?!"

Wood chips flew inside, and the powerful force made the candlelight in the house flicker and the light and shadows flicker, but the scene made Cui Yan feel cold all over.

As the wooden door exploded, a strong smell of blood wafted from inside. There were small square tables placed everywhere in the tavern, but the floor was littered with corpses, all of which were badly mutilated. Judging from their clothes, there were corpses belonging to the shopkeeper and waiters, as well as the customers.

In front of the door, two people wearing black waterproof cloaks commonly seen in the East China Sea were drinking with their backs to the Cui family father and son.

Obviously, the dozen or so murders in this tavern were all caused by the two people in front of him.

Whoosh————

The wind was howling as the heavy rain and wind blew into the tavern.

Cui Yan was stunned by the scene before him. Cui Xiangwei was experienced and calm. He ignored the corpse in the shop and looked directly at the two people.
"Rong people, why did you come to the heart of Li State in the East Sea? If you want to assassinate the emperor, you've taken the wrong path!"

One of them tilted his head slightly and glanced at the Cui family father and son from the corner of his eye. He looked them over and suddenly asked, "People from Jiuli?"

His voice was full of energy, not old, but with a distinct accent. He did not speak the Central Plains Mandarin clearly, which sounded a bit funny. However, Cui Xiangwei suddenly broke out in a cold sweat on his forehead. In the blink of an eye, his clothes were already sticking to his chest and back. He did not care how this person could tell his identity at a glance, and his voice trembled slightly.

"Shamantian...you are out of the mountains too?"

Shaman is a job, Tian is a name.

The master of grassland witchcraft, the great shaman of the grassland.

Cui Xiangwei had no idea what his original name was, but he only knew that he gave himself a Central Plains name, "Tian".

Everyone knows what his intentions are. He and Wudamu are divided into two factions. Although they get along well on the surface and cooperate with each other a lot, they are actually as hostile as water and fire behind the scenes.

There cannot be two tigers in one mountain, and the grassland will not allow the existence of two wolf kings... As for the Rong people's apparent Khan, he is just a puppet pushed to the forefront by the political struggle between Wudamu and Shamantian, and no one cares about him at all.

A person who should be on par with Wudamu actually appeared in the East China Sea! ?
Shamantian smiled, slowly stood up and turned around. Under the dim yellow light, a very young and handsome face appeared in front of Cui Xiangwei.

High nose bridge, deep eye sockets, deep facial features, classic Rongren boy's face.

"Is your master still working on his dragon transformation technique in Nanzhao?"

Cui Xiangwei's eye twitched instinctively. Although Shaman Tian looked like just a young Rong boy, his martial arts skills had reached their level and his exact age could not be determined by his appearance alone.

In fact, the Jiuli Patriarch, who was also his master, looked to be only about thirty years old.

Cui Xiangwei didn't know whether Shamantian had a secret to maintain his youth or some other witchcraft. He looked much younger than his master and even Wudamu.

But in terms of seniority, Shamantian and Wudamu, the ancestor of the Jiuli, are of the same generation. Although Cui Xiangwei is older, he is a generation younger than Shamantian.

He then bowed slightly, and said in the manner of a junior, "Master has been in seclusion for many years, just to transform into a dragon and ascend to heaven. I haven't seen him for many days, so I don't know the details."

Shamantian sat casually in the room, raised his hand to pick up the wine glass, and shook his head slightly, "If you want to ascend to heaven, then ascend to heaven. You don't want to be a good person, but you have to find a way to become a beast. You are born as a human but you want to think about some evil and unorthodox techniques. It's against the way of heaven."

Cui Xiangwei was furious when his master was scolded like that, but he remained calm on the surface. He was just wondering in his heart what Shamantian's intention was in coming to the East China Sea.

According to their Jiuli's intelligence, Shamantian could not compare to Wudamu in terms of martial arts alone, but he had a lot of tricks, and his evil techniques were many more than those of Jiuli.

It can't be that there is something in the East China Sea that concerns the fate of Dali, so he came here to make some arrangements?
Things like national destiny and luck are illusory, and most people in the world just listen to them for fun. However, Cui Xiangwei has lived long enough and has been exposed to a high enough level that he has gradually come to feel that the ways of the world are actually quite metaphysical.

Few of these ordinary people in the martial arts world have the qualifications to see the vastness of the universe in their entire lives. No matter how high their martial arts skills are or how noble their status is, they can be summed up in the four words "worldly people".

As for Wudamu, Shamantian, Jiuli Patriarch, and even Xiao Yuanmu, with their martial arts, it is obvious that they have reached the level of transcending the mundane world and becoming saints. Their vision is completely on a different level.

The higher your martial arts skills are, the more you can feel some illusory yet real things.

Cui Xiangwei had no idea what those things were. With his martial arts skills and vision, no matter how much he imagined, he could only make a few blind guesses, which only added to the joke.

But considering the identity of the person in front of him, he would not come out in person no matter what.

As far as he knew, apart from occasionally fighting with Wudamu, Shamantian basically never showed up in public. He was a genuine old hidden monster in the grassland. His appearance at this moment inexplicably made Cui Xiangwei feel a little depressed as if a storm was about to come.

It seemed that as long as Shamantian showed up, tens of thousands of people would die in the East China Sea... But in fact, Shamantian seldom fought with others in his life, and the number of people he killed was probably less than a fraction of that of Wudamu.

Naturally, none of the people he killed were ordinary people.

Cui Xiangwei pondered for a moment and asked in a low voice: "The Great Shaman came out of the mountain this time, is it to kill Zhao Wumian?"

"Zhao Wumian?" Shamantian raised his eyebrows frivolously and laughed a few times.
"I've heard Wudamu mention this before. He admires this man's courage and says he has the guts to stand guard over a pass. But if his martial arts skills are high enough, how could Wudamu just admire his courage? To put it bluntly, Wudamu doesn't take his martial arts skills seriously."

"If Wudamu is like this, then he is not worthy of me to kill him."

Upon hearing this, Cui Xiangwei was still silent, but a burly man beside Shamantian spoke first.

"I met Zhao Wumian once in Changshan. Although he is good at martial arts, I didn't think he was worth worrying about at that time. But now, only half a year has passed, and he has already challenged the top three martial arts champions in Central Plains. If we give him another half a year..."

The man next to Shaman Tian is the martial arts leader of the grassland, White Wolf.

Bai Lang neither completely obeyed Wudamu nor Shamantian. In fact, with his level of martial arts, he was basically unwilling to be inferior to others. The reason why he often came to the Central Plains to do business was that he thought it would be beneficial to the Rong people.

This big and strong man can be considered a Rong man with national integrity.

Shamantian raised his hand slightly, signaling Bailang not to say anything more, and just glanced at Cui Xiangwei, "Do you Jiuli have a grudge against Zhao Wumian?"

"Thanks to this man, a large army will soon invade Nanzhao, so there is a lot of resentment."

"We are attacking Jin. If Nanzhao joins the expedition to the east to put pressure on the imperial court, it will cause a lot of trouble to the Central Plains. If everything goes well, it won't be difficult to divide the world... Don't you have any blood at all?"

Cui Xiangwei kept a straight face and said impartially, "We are only following the master's orders. If the master doesn't say anything, why should we act on our own?"

Shamantian shook his head slightly. "I can predict that the Cuojinboshan furnace will soon be born in the East China Sea, but I can't predict where and when. Are you people from Jiuli coming here because Zhao Wumian is nearby?"

So, Shamantian came out this time for Jiu Zhong?

He was actually able to figure it out. The orthodoxy of Wugong Mountain lies with you, right?
Cui Xiangwei was confused and uncertain, but he knew that since his martial arts had reached Shamantian's level, it was normal for him to be able to see through some of the mysteries of heaven.

After all, Shaman Tian has never been considered an orthodox warrior. Cui Xiangwei doesn't mind looking at him with the most evil eyes for this evil witchcraft practitioner.

That's not surprising. Since it involves the Nine Bells, it wouldn't be surprising even if Wudamu came in person.

Cui Xiangwei and Cui Yan looked at each other and pondered for a moment, thinking that if Shamantian took action, no matter how lucky Zhao Wumian was, he would be crushed to death here, so they accepted it readily.

Cui Yan smiled and said, "Not bad. According to our Jiuli intelligence, Zhao Wumian is also plotting to seize the Jinboshan furnace in the East China Sea. Since the Great Shaman is here for this purpose, why don't we cooperate..."

Pfft————

Before he could finish his words, blood suddenly appeared on Cui Yan's neck. In the blink of an eye, blood gushed out and his head fell to the ground with a smile on his face as he was unable to react.

Cui Xiangwei froze in place and looked at Shamantian in horror.

Shamantian calmly withdrew his hand. No one knew how he killed people through the air. He just smiled and said:

"If I kill someone, it must be because I want to kill him, not because you are using me. Am I clear enough? Considering that your master and I are just acquaintances, take his body and go."

He is moody and unpredictable. No wonder so many people died in the tavern. I don’t know why they provoked this fierce dog.

Seeing his own son being killed in front of his eyes, Cui Xiangwei would be furious even if he was a clay man, but being able to survive in the underworld to this age requires the ability to bend and stretch.

His face was gloomy and he was shaking with anger, but he didn't say a word. He immediately picked up Cui Yan's body and ran away without even daring to say a harsh word.

In a blink of an eye, Shaman Tian and Bailang were the only ones in the tavern again.

Bai Lang hesitated for a moment, not caring about Cui Xiangwei's escape, but whispered:
"If Zhao Wumian is really in the East China Sea, then the reappearance of the wrong Jin Boshan furnace must be inextricably linked to him... If we want to snatch it, I'm afraid we will have to fight with him."

Shaman Tian lifted his cloak, sat cross-legged in front of the plan, continued drinking, and said casually:
"Let's fight, we have been fighting for our whole lives, so why would we be afraid of anyone when it comes to Nine Bells?"

Bai Lang sat down casually, his eyes thoughtful. "On the way here, I heard many people in Jianghu mention that Zhao Wumian was about to turn into a real dragon. For a man with great luck like him, if we stand in his way of growth, we will usually suffer a setback." Shamantian glanced at Bai Lang helplessly, "Are you scared?"

"I'm just worried about something going wrong, so why not write a letter and send it to the grassland to get more help." Although the white wolf looks big and strong, he is actually very steady.

After all, Changshan acted recklessly at first, but was beaten and fled by Queen Canghua, which can be considered a dark history.

"The grassland is thousands of miles away from the East China Sea. With the time it takes for letters to go back and forth, the Cuojin Boshan furnace would have been snatched away long ago."

"Too……"

As he spoke, Shamantian coughed a few more times, with blood dripping from the corners of his mouth.

White Wolf glanced at him and was not surprised. "Shaman's injury has recurred many times recently."

"Nine bells are not a gift from heaven and earth. They are just a bit of a backlash. It's good that they don't delay our business."

Shamantian wiped the corner of his mouth casually with the back of his hand, recalling the person who had injured him, his eyes became more serious, but thinking that the person was already dead, he shook his head slightly and swept away the distracting thoughts...

At Huating Wharf, a hundred miles away from the town, a merchant ship docked against the waves and lowered its sails.

The lights at the dock are as bright as day. As the largest city in the East China Sea, the daily throughput of this dock alone is unknown. At a glance, there are hundreds of ships docked at the dock.

Even late at night, workers in short-sleeved T-shirts can still be seen carrying cargo boxes on the dock, and the place is crowded and busy.

The merchant ship flying the Lin'an flag did not attract any attention. Zhao Wumian stood on the side of the ship, looking at the night sky. A big fat bird flapped its wings and came over, calling at him a few times.

When Zhao Wumian went to Lin'an, he did not bring Xue Xiao with him, because he wanted to rely on Xue Xiao to reunite with the girls when he came back.

The Snow Owl really smelled Zhao Wumian's scent from an unknown distance of miles, and flew over happily... But the fact that it could come over naturally meant that Su Qingqi and others also knew that Zhao Wumian had come to Huating.

Zhao Wumian raised his forearm and let the Snow Owl rest on it. He weighed it and said, "It has become much lighter recently."

The Snow Owl narrowed its eyes, looked a little bitter, and chirped a few times.

The general idea is that it has been ordered around to fly and gather intelligence during this period of time, and has not had a single day of peace. When it was with Zhao Wumian, it could sleep for ten hours a day, but now it can only sleep for six hours. How can it not lose weight?

Zhao Wumian could roughly understand what Snow Owl said. He took out a piece of dried meat from his arms to comfort it, then glanced sideways towards the dock. After a few glances, he saw a carriage parked in a slightly empty space.

A woman of the Jianghu sat in the front of the car, dressed in black, a waterproof cloak, and a bamboo hat. She was dressed neatly. Occasionally she raised her chin and looked around, revealing her pretty face under the bamboo hat. Against the night sky, her face looked extremely white, as if it was glowing.

She held the reins in her hand, followed the landing point of the Snow Owl, looked in the direction of Zhao Wumian, her eyes immediately lit up with joy, stood up and waved at him.

……

Gurgling.

The streets were wide and brightly lit, and people with swords and knives could be seen everywhere. Horse-drawn carriages rolled over the tiles and smoothly crossed a stone bridge across the river.

A Taixuan Palace disciple dressed as a maid sat in the front of the carriage, driving it, and could hear gossip coming from the carriage behind her.

"This is Xiao Lengyue, the former Palace Master of Taixuan Palace. She is my aunt. Come on, call me Auntie."

"Auntie."

"This is Su Qingqi, the young lady of the Su family whom I mentioned to you before. She is now also Yuan Mu's apprentice. According to seniority, she can also call you 'Grandmaster'."

Inside the carriage, Zhao Wumian, Xiao Lengyue, Xiao Yuanmu, and Su Qingqi sat on soft cushions. The carriage was spacious and did not seem crowded.

Su Qingqi didn't expect that Zhao Wumian would bring back a concubine when he returned to Lin'an.

Zhao Wumian has no father or mother. In terms of elders, Xiao Lengyue is the only one, who is much more beautiful than Mu Lier. This is like an ugly daughter-in-law meeting her mother-in-law. Su Qingqi couldn't help feeling nervous.

But she didn't know that Xiao Lengyue's feelings were even more difficult to express than hers.

Su Qingqi thought of her as Zhao Wumian's aunt, but as an aunt, she actually wanted to have a baby with Zhao Wumian. She even turned on the machine manually and gently clamped her legs while Zhao Wumian was unconscious.

Alas, family disgrace should not be made public. This matter should not be revealed either in public or in private. Xiao Lengyue remained calm, nodded slightly, and acted like an elder. He even felt around in his arms, took out a thick stack of red envelopes and handed them to Su Qingqi as a gift.

Obviously prepared.

According to Jiangnan customs, if the man's elders meet his girlfriend and give her a red envelope, it means they acknowledge her as their wife.

Although Su Qingqi is a "court lackey" with a good family background, since Xiao Lengyue can accept Luo Chaoyan, he can definitely accept Su Qingqi.

Moreover, Zhao Wumian had mentioned in front of her countless times that Su Qingqi did not stand on the side of Xiao Yuanmu or Luo Chaoyan, but only on the side of him, Zhao Wumian. She just wanted to help Zhao Wumian to make Xiao Yuanmu and Luo Chaoyan live in harmony, just like a virtuous and gentle young wife.

As long as he is nice to Zhao Wumian, Xiao Lengyue will naturally approve of it.

Su Qingqi smiled sweetly and took the red envelope, "Thank you, auntie~"

"I heard from Wumian that you are also from Jiangnan... The Yuehua Sword of the Jiangnan Su family is unique in the martial arts world, and I have also heard of it."

Su Qingqi put the red envelope in her arms and said honestly, "The Su family's ancestral home is Suzhou, but the Su family is very small, with only two or three kittens, most of whom live in the capital. I haven't been back to Suzhou for a long time."

Xiao Lengyue glanced at Su Qingqi's collar and said with a smile: "You are not a kitten. When I was your age, I looked a little pale in comparison..."

Su Qingqi subconsciously hugged her chest and secretly glanced at Zhao Wumian, telling him with her eyes that your aunt seems a little bit unserious.

Zhao Wumian leaned against the cushion, listening to the two women chatting, and smiled indifferently.

He raised his hand to open the curtain and looked at both sides of the street. When he saw Su Qingqi, he felt relieved and asked, "Where are the others?"

Su Qingqi pondered for a moment and said:
"Princess Xiangzhu hasn't been feeling well lately. According to her, she will soon be bedridden with a high fever, so Master Mu Jian has been staying by her side all the time to take care of her. Yunshu and I have been separately investigating in Huating recently... She is still out, and I don't know if she has returned."

"Did you find anything?"

"In Huating City, the power structure is complicated. For example, the leading power such as 'Tiangong Mansion' and 'Yeming Tower' often have the shadows of the three sects and six schools behind them. These open forces fight for territory, which also avoids damaging the superficial relationship. There is a small quarrel every three days and a big quarrel every five days. Blood is seen almost every day, but these small quarrels are ultimately just disputes over interests, which is not surprising."

Zhao Wumian knew that Huating was in chaos, but he still frowned when he heard this, "People from the imperial court can't control this place?"

"No matter where they are, people in the martial arts world are always brave and aggressive. It is better to control them than to control them. Huating is the center of the Tianya Islands. It is a pipe dream to force them to behave themselves. As long as they don't involve rebellion, minor fights can be dealt with according to the rules of the martial arts world."

Xiao Yuanmu waved his round fan and explained casually, not taking these Jianghu forces seriously. He looked at Su Qingqi and asked softly:

"Have you contacted anyone from the Jade Palace? It is the real leader of Huating. This place is right under the Jade Palace. No matter what happens, it cannot escape its eyes."

Su Qingqi nodded slightly, "Thinking of Mo Jingxue, Guiyi and Guiyuan might have just returned to the East China Sea. Master Mu Jian has been hiding in the dark and has not shown up. Therefore, Yun Shu visited the Jade Palace as a disciple of Xiao Xitian, but did not see the master of the Jade Palace..."

As she spoke, Su Qingqi's eyes looked a little strange, and she said helplessly:

"That guy left a message, saying that he was ranked among the most beautiful women in the world, and that he is still being hunted by Lady Canghua and Xiao Yuanmu. Therefore, he will never see a woman on the list in his life... because they are either too strong for him to beat, or too weak and he will get into trouble if he beats them. Yun Shu was so angry that he didn't eat for two days."

Zhao Wumian laughed a few times, "This guy is quite a wonderful person..."

Zhao Wumian was the only one smiling in the carriage, while Xiao Yuanmu and Su Qingqi both looked at him sideways with expressionless faces.

"Do you think that his ranking us is insignificant? Or do you think it's interesting?" Xiao Yuanmu asked.

Zhao Wumian silently suppressed his smile and said seriously with a straight face: "If I meet him, I will definitely beat him up to vent your anger."

Su Qingqi smiled and said in a gentle tone: "Although we didn't see that guy, we also... uh, heard a lot of gossip."

"Yun Shu was turned away and was not satisfied. That night, he disguised himself and sneaked into the Jade Palace. As a result, he did not find out about the Jinboshan Furnace and the Yuanlin Steel, but he did get some clues about the Masquerade Sheath."

Zhao Wumian raised his eyebrows frivolously, thinking that Guan Yunshu's action was a little too strong. However, it seemed normal, since he had often sneaked into places in pairs with nuns since Taiyuan.

Su Qingqi continued:

"When Mo Jingxue was hunting down Governor Xu, there was a lot of noise, and everyone in the East China Sea knew about it. However, the Jianghu didn't know why Mo Jingxue was hunting down Governor Xu. The Jade Palace seemed to have connections and knew that Mo Jingxue was after the Sheath. At that time, Mo Jingxue was being hunted down by Guiyi Zhenren for a long time while holding the Sheath, and was forced to throw it into the sea..."

"Jump into the sea?" Xiao Lengyue was a little speechless. "Both sides will suffer losses, which is what Mo Jingxue would do."

Su Qingqi nodded. "Not many people know about this, but truth cannot be hidden. Recently, more and more people have come to the East China Sea. I think someone leaked the news, causing many people to want to come to the East China Sea to have a try. What if they find the Sheath..."

Su Qingqi shook her head and said nothing more, "Guiyi and Guiyuan are probably also in Tianya Islands, but we don't know their exact location."

Zhao Wumian pondered for a moment. If that was the case, Huating, because of its secluded location, was also a place where storms were about to come and undercurrents were surging.

Zhao Wumian naturally wanted both the Sheath of Retreat and the Golden Boshan Furnace, so his heart became heavy.

However, a few girls came early and found out a lot of things for Zhao Wumian, which saved him some effort.

He pinched Su Qingqi's pretty face and said, "Well done."

Su Qingqi quickly used the back of her hand to push away Zhao Wumian's hand, and glanced at Xiao Lengyue secretly, feeling a little embarrassed.

Zhao Wumian might not have a clear heart when facing Xiao Lengyue, but Su Qingqi regarded Xiao Lengyue as an elder with whom Zhao Wumian could discuss marriage seriously.

How can we kiss secretly in front of our elders? It's so embarrassing.

While they were talking, the carriage stopped.

Zhao Wumian glanced sideways and saw that the carriage had stopped in front of a large mansion with a plaque on the door that read "Tiangong Mansion".

Su Qingqi explained: "Tiangong Mansion is a force supported by the Detective Department in Huating City. We have been living here recently. Princess Xiangzhu is not feeling well, so she is resting in the backyard. Sir, go and take a look at her. She must be happy to see you..."

(End of this chapter)