Travel through the heavens

Fang Muye walked out of Baicao Hall and was about to return home to read medical books and practice swordplay when a constable named Li Youlin rushed over and shouted from a few steps away: "God, there's an incident at Xiaoshi Street."

Fang Muye said in a deep voice: "Let's go!" and took the lead and rushed towards Xiaoshi Street.

Xiaoshi Street is separated from Qingfeng Street where Baicaotang is located by two streets. On the way there, Li Youlin also informed Fang Muye that someone asked him for help and said that the Tiger Gang was beating people and causing trouble on Xiaoshi Street.

Most of the shops on Qingfeng Street are large shops such as medical clinics, wine shops, fish and bird shops, and cloth shops. Xiaoshi Street is different. Both sides of the street are lined with stalls selling food such as steamed buns, rice and flour, and wonton noodles. The income of merchants on the two streets is very different.

The lives of ordinary people in this era were extremely difficult. Not only were there constant natural disasters, the court was incompetent, officials were corrupt, and the rich were powerful, but they were also charged protection fees by the gangs that lined the streets, and from time to time they were extorted by the ruffians who roamed the streets.

Compared with other streets in the city, Xiaoshi Street is not as lucrative. It was previously occupied by a scoundrel named Zhao Anfu and several of his brothers, who collected protection fees from merchants on the street on a monthly basis.

Later, a man named Chen Asan gathered a dozen ruffians, beat away Zhao Anfu and his men, and became the new ruler of Xiaoshi Street.

Chen Asan was originally just a street rascal, but later he found an old boxer as his godfather, learned some Kung Fu, and gathered a dozen people he knew to form a small gang called the Tiger Gang. With their arrogance, they occupied Xiaoshi Street, Dashi Street, and Yancong Lane. Since then, Chen Asan has transformed himself into Chen Sanye.

Previously, protection fees for these three streets were collected on a monthly basis, but after Chen Asan came, they were collected on a ten-day basis. Although merchants paid less every ten days, the total amount for the whole month was 20 to 30 percent more than before.

There is a Sun’s steamed bun stall on Xiaoshi Street. The owner is an old man named Sun Xinghuai. A few days ago, Sun’s wife passed away. In order to take care of his wife’s funeral, the steamed bun stall was closed for a few days, resulting in a slight loss of revenue.

Today is the 11th, and the Tiger Gang members came as usual to collect the ten-day fee, but Old Man Sun could not afford it, so he begged for a few days' grace period. The Tiger Gang members refused and smashed Old Man Sun's stall. In the process of trying to stop them, Old Man Sun was pushed to the ground and was seen by his son Sun Cailiang, who came to say goodbye.

Sun Cailiang was studying in Hangzhou Prefecture. Because his mother passed away, he took a few days off to come back home to attend the funeral. He had planned to come to the stall today to say goodbye to Old Man Sun, but he didn't expect to see two hooligans smashing his stall and pushing his elderly father down as soon as he arrived.

Sun Cailiang had been filial since childhood. When he saw his father being hurt, he was naturally annoyed and stepped forward to question them. However, the two members of the Tiger Gang were used to being rude to the people, so they started to attack Sun Cailiang after a disagreement. Unexpectedly, they were beaten back by Sun Cailiang and his close friends.

The two hooligans apologized and made amends before Sun Cailiang let them go. Not long after, Chen Asan arrived with the Tiger Gang.

"Are you the ones who beat up my people?" Chen Asan asked casually while looking at Sun Cailiang and others with his eyes raised.

Sun Cailiang was a scholar with a strong character. Although he was surrounded by more than a dozen people, he was not afraid. He stood tall and said loudly, "It was your people who hurt my father first and now want to hit me. Should I just sit there and wait to die?"

Chen Asan smiled coldly and said sarcastically: "Oh, you are a scholar, and you are trying to reason with me. Have you become stupid because of reading so much?" He took a bench and sat down, waving to the people behind him: "Brothers, go and reason with him and see who is more reasonable."

A dozen hooligans from the Tiger Gang grinned sinisterly and surrounded Sun Cailiang and his best friend, ready to fight.

The Tiger Gang had many people and was very powerful. Although Sun Cailiang and his close friends were young and strong, they were no match for them. They were knocked to the ground as soon as they met and were surrounded and beaten by a group of people.

When Old Man Sun saw his son and his friend being beaten, he quickly knelt down in front of Chen Asan, crying and begging, "Stop beating them, Uncle San, stop beating them. They are still young and ignorant. Please let them go. I will definitely make up for the salary and the medical expenses of the two brothers."

Chen Asan remained unmoved and watched coldly. When he saw that the fight was almost over, he spoke up to stop the Tiger Gang members: "Okay, stop fighting."

Upon hearing this, the members of the Tiger Gang dispersed, revealing Sun Cailiang and several others who were lying on the ground. Their faces were bruised and covered in blood.

Sun Cailiang spat out a mouthful of blood, propped himself up with his hands, looked at Chen Asan and asked sternly: "Lang Lang Qiankun, you are committing crimes in the street and oppressing the good people. Do you still have the law in your eyes?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Asan stood up and laughed loudly. He squinted his eyes and glanced at the people around him who had watched the whole thing but dared not speak out. He pointed his finger at the sky and said arrogantly: "The law? Let me tell you, here, I am the sky, I am the law, and I have the final say on this street!"

Just as he finished speaking, a cold voice came: "Really? Do you have the final say on this street?"

Everyone looked in the direction of the sound and saw Fang Muye and a dozen constables walking towards them in a heroic and high-spirited manner.

"God." "God."...

The crowd around them called out to them and hurriedly made way for Fang Muye and the others to enter.

When Chen Asan saw Fang Muye approaching, he was not afraid. Instead, he greeted him enthusiastically: "Hahaha, it turns out to be God, one of us."

Fang Muye looked at Sun Cailiang and the others lying on the ground with serious injuries, and his heart was burning with anger. He glared at them and shouted, "Who says you are one of us?"

Chen Asan, who does this profitless business of extortion and bullying, naturally knows how to manage relationships and is inevitably in collusion with people in the government. A few days ago, he even set up a banquet at Yunhe Tower to entertain Shen Sanyan, the chief constable of Jiaxing Prefecture.

At the dinner table, the two men treated each other like brothers and were so close that they wished they could chop off a chicken's head and burn yellow paper to become sworn brothers. When they finally said goodbye, Chen Asan even stuffed two large silver ingots of fifty taels into Shen Sanyan's hand. Unexpectedly, just a few days later, Shen Sanyan turned against him.

Chen Asan had no idea that the Third Eye of the God had been replaced by someone else. He thought that the God was taking the opportunity to ask for favors. He cursed in his heart, but walked over with a smile and a friendly look on his face, saying, "Master God, it's me." At the same time, he secretly handed over a twenty-tael silver ingot under the cover of his body.

Fang Muye took the silver ingot, held it high, and shouted, "Openly bribing a court official in public is a heavier crime. Here is the evidence. Come, take him to jail." As he said this, he stuffed the silver into his arms and waved to the constable behind him.

"Yes, Lord God!" The constable behind him answered loudly and immediately stepped forward to arrest the man.

Chen Asan hurriedly stepped back, looking at Fang Muye in disbelief, and asked uncertainly, "Master Shen, are you serious?"

Fang Muye shouted, "What's true or false? I advise you to surrender immediately, otherwise I will have to do it."

Seeing that Fang Muye was determined to take him down, Chen Asan immediately turned hostile and shouted, "God Sanyan, don't be ungrateful. I'm giving you face by calling you God Lord, but do you really think I'm afraid of you?"

Fang Muye's eyes were sharp and his voice was clear. He said slowly, "In fact, you should be afraid of me! You are a scoundrel. Just because someone calls you 'Master' a few times, do you really think you are a master? Let me tell you, this street and the whole Jiaxing Prefecture are under the control of the imperial court and the government. Today, I will get rid of this evil for the people and put you in jail."

After saying that, he drew his sword and attacked Chen Asan.