Water Margin: The Tale of Li Erlang of Guankou

Li Hanxiao understood that he was, after all, in the world of Water Margin. Under normal circumstances, those monks, Taoists, nuns, foreign monks, and women who dared to fight him would inevitably have some crooked or evil tricks up their sleeves, so he had to be careful.

"Besides sexual techniques, what else does this lama know?"

Li Hanxiao wanted to understand his opponent's strength, but Wang Dingliu looked completely bewildered and asked, "Chief, what? What is a lama?"

Li Hanxiao then realized that Tibetan monks in this era might not have been called lamas yet; this was probably a term from later times, and it was normal that Wang Dingliu didn't know it. So he quickly corrected himself, "You mean those Tibetan monks? What other skills do they have?"

"Oh!"

Wang Dingliu then understood, "This Tibetan monk is said to possess extraordinary martial arts skills, making him impervious to swords and spears, comparable to the Iron Shirt and Golden Bell Cover techniques of the Central Plains. He is also said to be quite strong, capable of stopping a galloping horse. He usually carries a purple-gold Vajra pestle as his weapon. As for the rest... I know nothing more..."

Li Han thought to himself, "This monk is probably not a strength-based fighter. If I had known I had such an opponent, I should have called Wu Song or Lu Zhishen..."

"Brother, with these two here, getting into the Zhu family manor won't be easy..."

Qin Zhi, nicknamed "Golden-Faced Buddha," roughly estimated that if it were a two-on-two situation, they wouldn't be able to win in a short time. They would need one person to hold off the other soldiers and another person to rescue them.

Send "Living Flash Granny" Wang Dingliu? His fighting ability doesn't seem that high...

Li Hanxiao pondered for a moment, then asked Wang Dingliu, "You said the concubine who died was Zhu Ruxian's favorite concubine, right? Has she been buried yet?"

"This woman is indeed Zhu Ruxian's favorite concubine. Zhu Ruxian's first wife was a barren woman and not particularly attractive. However, because she was the daughter of the Minister of Revenue, he could not divorce her, so he did not make the concubine his official wife. Zhu Ruxian treated this concubine as his wife and doted on her. Now that the concubine has died, he is very sad. His body was kept in state for seven days, and it is estimated that the funeral will be held in the next day or the day after."

Wang Dingliu said.

"So, does that mean Zhu Ruxian might have gone to see off her concubine when she was buried?"

As soon as Li Han finished his joke, "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu understood and hurriedly said, "The chieftain means that since Zhu Ruxian's concubine is going to the funeral, and Zhu Ruxian will probably be going to escort the coffin, and those two experts will have to accompany and protect him, we can take this opportunity to rescue him!"

"That's right!"

"Wait! There's another possibility!"

Qin Zhi, known as the "Golden-Faced Buddha," interrupted the conversation and raised his own question: "Zhu Ruxian has always believed that Doctor An killed his woman. What if he takes Doctor An to that woman's grave and kills him, making him a part of her in death?"

Qin Zhi's words reminded Li Hanxiao that such a possibility was not out of the question! Otherwise, why hadn't Zhu Ruxian beaten An Daoquan to death after so many days?

"That's quite possible, Wang Dingliu. Do you think it's possible?"

Li Hanxiao then asked Wang Dingliu, wanting to see just how likely this was.

"That's unlikely. Zhu Ruxian has been digging a pond in his backyard for the past few days and has sent people to catch dozens of pig worms from the Yangtze River. He claims he'll feed Dr. An to the pig worms to vent his anger. He's always been quite flamboyant, and this matter is known throughout the city."

This "pig dragon" is actually a Yangtze alligator. It seems that Zhu Ruxian wants the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan to perish in the belly of an alligator.

However, since he wouldn't take An Daoquan to kill him as a sacrifice to his concubine, it made things much easier for Li Hanxiao and his group. After all, if they were to make a move at the grave, the three of them would likely have to fight against two experts plus the entire funeral procession.

Although Li Hanxiao brought his pack of dogs and eagles with him, these animals always followed him within a mile radius, hiding in peacetime and acting on Li Hanxiao's whistles at crucial moments. However, they were still insufficient to deal with so many people.

There wasn't enough time. Li Hanxiao couldn't go and tame all the stray dogs near Jiankang Prefecture and form an "army of stray dogs." Taking advantage of Zhu Ruxian's funeral procession to sneak in and rescue people was already the best option.

Having made up their minds, Li Hanxiao and his two companions temporarily stayed at Wang Dingliu's tavern. Li Hanxiao first asked Wang Dingliu, who knew the way well, to take him to the Zhu family manor to scout it out in advance.

Upon arriving at the location, Li Hanxiao discovered a small hill next to the manor, offering a commanding view of the entire Zhu Family Manor. He and the "Living Flash Granny" Wang Dingliu then climbed the hill to observe the layout from above.

What he saw shocked him. Li Hanxiao looked down at the Zhu family's manor and saw that the roads inside were winding and full of strange and mysterious techniques!

Although Li Hanxiao didn't understand these things in his previous life, after transmigrating, he read the water conservancy works left by his ancestors, which included the sixty-four hexagrams, astrology, and Qimen Dunjia. He got a general understanding of these things.

The Zhu family manor is arranged in a large "Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation". If someone who does not know the way enters rashly, he will probably get dizzy and unable to find his way out. Its power is no less than that of a maze, and it is much more powerful than the traps and winding paths of the Zhu family manor.

"Why would the Zhu family arrange the manor like an Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation? It's just a manor, why the need for such tight defense? Could it be that there's some unspeakable secret hidden inside..."

Li Han murmured to himself, which confused "Living Flash Granny" Wang Dingliu. Wang Dingliu asked, "Brother Chief, what is the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation?"

"This Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation is a battle formation used in ancient battlefields, based on the eight gates, celestial phenomena, terrain, and other factors in the art of Qimen Dunjia. The eight gates are: Rest, Life, Injury, Block, View, Death, Shock, and Open. Entering through the Life Gate, View Gate, or Open Gate brings good fortune; entering through the Injury Gate, Shock Gate, or Rest Gate brings injury; and entering through the Block Gate or Death Gate brings death. If one enters through the Life Gate in the southeast corner and exits through the View Gate in the due west, that is the way to survival. Back then, Cao Cao's general Cao Ren used this formation in Xinye to deal with Liu Bei, but it was later broken by Xu Yuanzhi. Afterwards, Zhuge Liang improved upon the methods of using Qimen Dunjia and compiled a complete Bagua formation diagram."

After listening to Li Hanxiao's explanation, Wang Dingliu, who was not good at history, was impressed but didn't understand. Although he didn't know who Cao Ren was, he knew that Zhuge Liang was very capable. If Zhuge Liang could make improvements, then this thing must not be simple.

"Then...could my brother possibly find a way in and out?"

Wang Dingliu asked.

"This Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation must have been set up by a master. I can't figure it out right now. Let me get some paper and pen and draw the formation diagram first, then I'll go back and try to break it!"

Li Hanxiao took the paper and pen from Wang Dingliu, quickly ground the ink, and recorded the layout of the Zhu family manor. Then he returned to the Wang family tavern with Wang Dingliu and told "Golden-Faced Buddha" Qin Zhi and "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu that the layout of the manor was evolved from the "Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation". Then he took out the drawn formation diagram to study how to enter and exit.

This process was no less than solving a very difficult math problem, requiring a lot of calculations. Li Han smiled, thankfully he was good at math, and after calculating for a long time, he finally figured out the correct route to enter and exit the manor without getting confused.

It was almost dawn, and according to the information gathered by "Living Flash Granny" Wang Dingliu, Zhu Ruxian was preparing to hold a funeral for his concubine today, so they had to set off to rescue her.

In this operation, Li Hanxiao, "Golden-Faced Buddha" Qin Zhi, and "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu were the main fighting force, responsible for holding off all the enemies, while "Living Flash Granny" Wang Dingliu had only one task: to carry "Divine Doctor" An Daoquan to escape.

His martial arts skills were far inferior to Li Hanxiao and the others. Last night, "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu examined the martial arts foundation of "Living Flash Granny" Wang Dingliudao and found that his martial arts skills were indeed very poor. He could only fight about twenty ordinary people, and he would be quickly defeated when he encountered a master. If he stayed at the scene, he would only become a burden and implicate Li Hanxiao and the others.

As for the big black horse "One Zhang Black", Li Hanxiao and Wang Dingliu also found out its location yesterday. Because of its huge size, it probably couldn't live with the other horses, so it had a separate stable outside the Jingmen Gate in the west of the manor.

Just in time, Li Hanxiao's planned route was to enter through the Life Gate and exit through the View Gate. Once they arrived at their destination, they could take advantage of the situation and steal the horse away.

As for Wang Dingliu's father, he followed Li Hanxiao's instructions, packed his valuables, and rented a large cart outside the city to wait for Li Hanxiao and the others to meet him.

As for why a carriage was rented, it was because Li Hanxiao didn't know what state "Divine Doctor" An Daoquan was in after being beaten. If he was on the verge of death, and he had to travel hundreds of miles with the horse, he might die by the time they reached Liangshan.

On a carriage, at least there would be less jolting, and Li Hanxiao would have more space to treat him—something simply wasn't possible on horseback.

Li Hanxiao and his three companions prepared their weapons and ambushed the Zhu family manor ahead of time. They left their horses in the woods outside the Jing Gate, where Li Hanxiao summoned a pack of dogs to guard them. Then, they returned to the courtyard wall near the Sheng Gate and waited for half an hour. Zhu Ruxian then set off with his funeral procession. Along the way, there was music and wailing, and the funeral procession began with loud music and banging.

"Chief, look at that Tibetan monk, he should be that Vajrapani Bodhisattva!"

"Living Buddha," Wang Dingliu said, pointing to the Tibetan monk in the group who was turning a prayer wheel.

"Is he the only one? He Conglong isn't here?"

Li Han asked with a smile.

"did not see it."

Wang Dingliu searched around several times but couldn't find He Conglong anywhere.

Li Han smiled and thought to himself that if He Conglong stayed in the manor, they would have to be careful!

"Chief, let's go in!"

"Golden-faced Buddha," Qin Zhi said.

"No, wait until they're far away!"

Li Han remained calm and waited until they had gone further away and the people inside the manor had relaxed their vigilance after seeing that their master had left before he could go in.

After waiting for about the time it takes to smoke a pipe, the funeral procession finally left. Li Hanxiao and his three companions looked around and saw that no one was inside the wall, so they filed in, climbed over the wall, and entered the manor.

"Go grab a man by the throat and ask him!"

Li Hanxiao whispered that the manor was too big and they did not know the exact location where the "miracle doctor" An Daoquan was being held. The quickest and most convenient way was to ask a servant.

"it is good!"

Qin Zhi, the "Golden-Faced Buddha," and Shi Xiu, the "Desperate Saburo," agreed and immediately began exploring the vicinity, while Li Hanxiao and Wang Dingliu, the "Living Flash," waited in place.

Before long, "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu and "Golden-Faced Buddha" Qin Zhi returned with a servant held at knifepoint. The servant was so frightened that he was trembling uncontrollably. Li Hanxiao was even afraid that the servant's neck would shake so hard that he would run into the blade.

"Tell me, where is An Daoquan?"

"My lord, Your Majesty, please don't kill me! I... I'm not a bad person!"

The man was so frightened that he became incoherent and gave irrelevant answers.

"To answer your question!"

Qin Zhi said in a low voice.

"Ah, it's... him, he's locked up in the water dungeon..."

the man said.

Where is the water dungeon?

"It's...it's beneath the Xuanwu Pool. Once you enter the Xuanwu Pool, take the left-hand corridor. At the end, there's an iron gate. Open it..."

As soon as the man finished speaking, Qin Zhi punched him unconscious. Then, he and "Desperate Saburo" Shi Xiu quickly tied the man up, gagged him, and hid him in a secluded place.

After learning the general location, Li Hanxiao and his companions headed towards the Xuanwu Pool, proceeding cautiously along the way. However, it seemed that there were far fewer people in the manor, as most of them had gone with Zhu Ruxian to attend the funeral, leaving very few behind.

This actually made things easier for Li Hanxiao and his group. They made their way to the Xuanwu Pool, encountering two or three girls along the way without being discovered. It went much more smoothly than they had expected.

Upon arriving at the so-called "Xuanwu Pond," Li Hanxiao discovered that Zhu Ruxian had dug a fountain and created a huge pool in the garden, connecting each courtyard with flowing water. The design was extremely ingenious. Inside the "Xuanwu Pond," Li Hanxiao also found that he had kept many large turtles. The ancients believed that turtles were auspicious beasts, so many people kept them at home. This pond truly lived up to its name; it was indeed the "Xuanwu Pond"!

Seeing that there was no one in the garden, Li Hanxiao and his companions followed the instructions of the man they had been told and went down the left-hand corridor. Sure enough, they found an iron gate with three large padlocks on it.

"I come!"

Qin Zhi, the "Golden-Faced Buddha," pulled out a bronze mace, told everyone to step back, and took two steps back himself. With a single blow, he smashed open the three iron locks.

Fortunately, the fountain in the Xuanwu Pool was constantly spraying water, and the various water sounds in the courtyard were quite loud, which completely drowned out the muffled sound; otherwise, it would have been impossible for anyone to hear it.