Chapter 33 - Dao Shou

Most of the time, Changan city looked extremely bustling. However, a huge portion of it was concentrated on only a selected few areas. In some other dark areas, there were some obscure and undistinguished things that prominent figures were unwilling to talk about.

The pier was at the south of the city. The Grand Canal stretches from Changan city to Jiangnan. This area was only tranquil at night. After sunset, the moment the city gate was shut, unless there was an imperial decree, nobody had the authority to open it at night.

If the merchants arrived after the sky turned dark, all they could do was wait. However, they did not have to worry about their goods getting stolen. As long as they placed a red Liu Yun flag on it on their ships once they arrived at the pier, nobody would dare to create any trouble.

Regardless of whether it was by land or water, anybody who carried the flag would absolutely be safe. This was Liu Yun Hui’s power.

There were a lot of warehouses near the pier. Most of the merchants had properties here. Of course, they had to pay a fee to Liu Yun Hui. Ever since the emergence of Liu Yun Hui, several triads had to step aside. That was because they truly could not defeat them.

There was still light in one of the huge warehouses. The door was already locked on the outside. The people at the pier knew that this was where the coolies slept at night, so nobody would pay extra notice to it.

The warehouse was very big. However, it was dilapidated. After the establishment that built the warehouse went under, it became abandoned. Strange things often happened here at night. As a result, less and less people had the guts to approach it. The only people who were not afraid were the coolies who worked hard during the day, lifting heavy loads.

A man wearing a ghost mask was sitting on the chair. There were around seventy to eighty people gathered around him. They had a solemn look on their faces.

The person wearing the mask did not seem to be tall. His voice was also somewhat hoarse, indicating that he was not that young.

Evidently, he was extremely dignified here. When he spoke, all the muscular men did not even dare to breathe loudly.

“Hopefully in ten years, nobody would dare to mention the three words ‘Gou Lan Zi’.”

There was sorrow in that man’s voice. After he paused for a moment, he continued, “My brothers from all parts of the country, who also suffered a bitter fate, support each other over here. All we have is Liu Lang Dao. Yes…there are some things that cannot be denied. For the same of surviving, we dabble in all kinds of businesses. Which is why people despise us and call us despicable. I acknowledge that.”

“However, we should not always take things as they are. We have already been called ‘Gou Lan Zi’ for so many years. Do you think it’s not enough? I don’t care what you think, but for me, I’ve had enough. Hence, ever since the emergence of Liu Yun Hui ten years ago, I’ve been actively trying to change things. Who can tell me, why is it that Liu Yun Hui is able to be so tyrannical and arrogant?”

The seventy to eighty people did not make a single sound. Although nobody said a thing, it did not mean that they did not know what was going on.

“For them to take control of the most lucrative business pertaining to water and land transport, who would believe that Liu Yun Hui does not have their own member within the imperial court? Hence, if we don’t make any changes, we will never be able to match up to them, and all we can do is disguise ourselves as coolies at the pier. We are assassins. We need to honor the dagger in our hands.”

The masked man was silent for a moment before continuing, “The day after tomorrow is the academy’s great competition. Ten years ago, I had sent in one of our people to the academy. However, he is not as skilled, so he is unable to qualify for third rank. Nonetheless, the heavens pity us and has given us an opportunity…”

“There is a guy in the academy named Chen Zishan. He wants to kill Meng Changan. I have already arranged and sent some people to get it done, and I’m guessing that they should have completed the task by now. After Meng Changan dies, the assassination would then be blamed on Yu Dian and Bai Xiaoge. Thereafter, we will kill them both in capacity as Meng Changan’s family members. In that way, our member will have the opportunity to get into the third rank. And when he does, he will become a Sixth pin Official. When that happens, Liu Lang Dao will begin to rise the ranks.”

“All hail Dao Shou!”

Someone called out in a deep voice. Everyone started raising their fists. “All hail Dao Shou!”

“GIve me another ten years. I will make sure we become the strongest and most powerful group of people amongst the triads in Changan. I am a man of my word.”

The masked man stood up. He seemed rather agitated. “Our parents did not give us a good life, so I will give our children and descendants a good one!”

After he finished his sentence, someone started clapping loudly. However, it did not come from within the group.

The masked man lifted his head and looked ahead. He saw a fella clapping as he squatted on top of the roof beam. That area was not spacious, and he was carrying so many daggers with him. Hence, his posture was not graceful at all.

Shen Leng clapped. As he clapped, he pulled out the dagger that was in the way.

“Well-said. I am thoroughly moved by you.”

Shen Leng was deeply moved. “May I ask, are you still accepting new members? I see a bright future with you people.”

“Kill him!” instructed the masked man at the top of his lungs.

A few of the assassins took out the bows that they had hidden in the corner from before. They held up the bow and nocked the arrow…the place where Shen Leng was in was a little awkward. It made him look like a shooting target.

Pew, pew pew pew…

Four of the assassins who just lifted their bows had all fallen to the ground with an arrow in their neck. It was so accurate and precise that it seemed as though it was shot from a close distance. However, they did not know where the person who shot the arrows was located at.

The masked man looked around, and could not find anything.

Master Cha was right outside the window. The windows of the warehouse were very high, she was hanging upside down over there.

After Shen Leng left the woods, he intended to go over alone. However, he thought about it and felt that it might not be safe enough. Hence, he went back to the inn to get Master Cha. When they left, Mr. Shen gave Shen Leng an umbrella-sword, and he gave Master Cha a jewelry box. Naturally, it was not uncommon for a girl to travel with a jewelry box.

However, this jewelry box had a different form. It could be separated into two; the middle portion could be taken out - it was a repeating crossbow. The arrows were very short; each of them was only an inch long. However, they were crafted out of steel, making them rather heavy. Its firing range was not shorter than a regular repeating crossbow.

Master Cha hung upside down and shot four arrows, killing the four assassins. The remaining assassins panicked. They tried to look for her but to no avail.

“I brought a wave of people with me. You have to be careful.”

Shen Leng turned around and jumped off the roof beam. After he finished his sentence, he suddenly felt like something was amiss.

Master Cha also sensed something was amiss. A wave?

Hence, she decided to beat him up hard when they got back.

Shen Leng took out a dagger from his waist. “I only want to kill your leader. Dao Shou, right?”

An assassin charged over with a dagger. Shen Leng stepped to one side and dodged it before slicing that assassin’s neck. “Also three.”

Nobody knew what he meant.

Someone hid in a dark corner and lifted his bow and arrow. He was preparing to mount a sneak attack. Just as he lifted the bow, an arrow shot through his neck. Its precision was so great that it sent chills down one’s back. Till now, nobody had noticed where the arrows were coming from.

Shen Leng went forward. This time he did not wait for his opponent to draw out his dagger. The assassin before him raised his sword with both hands blocking Shen Leng’s dagger. Shen Leng continued swinging his dagger. Clank clank clank clank clank…striking the same position with his dagger. His opponent’s sword broke and Shen Leng’s dagger stabbed into that fella’s neck.

Shen Leng looked at his dagger, which had five nicks. It seemed as though his heart ached a little. Thereafter, he continued moving forward.

“This is also a sandao (Note: a type of sword).”

He killed three more people, and there were more than ten nicks on his dagger now. Hence, Shen Leng tossed it aside and took out a second dagger from his waist.

As he moved forward, six to seven people got him surrounded. Blade light was as compact as a torrential rain. Shen Leng’s dagger seemed rather lonely amidst the torrential rain. It was so compact that there was not a single gap. The entire process lasted for only about twenty breahts or so, and yet nobody could count how many attacks he had blocked…

Shen Leng killed the nearest assassin with one attack. And switched to another dagger once again.

On the other side, any assassin that tried to approach Shen Leng from the back would get shot down by the repeating crossbow. Not a single arrow missed.

After nine arrows, Master Cha extended her hand upwards. There was a small pouch attached to her beautiful boot. It looked like an accessory, but it was filled with arrows that looked like nails.

She quickly filled the bow with arrows and aimed once again. Shen Leng moved forward without the slightest scruple, because nobody could approach him from the back.

Within a few minutes, there were almost twenty assassins on the ground.

Shen Leng had already tossed three daggers away. He took out the last dagger on his waist and pointed it at Dao Shou.

Master Chef was hanging outside the window. She thought to herself about how stupid Leng looked handsome and cool. If he were to say something tyrannical at this moment, he would look even cooler.

Shen Leng pointed the dagger at Dao Shou with one hand and used the other hand to pull up his pants. “Wait a minute.”

After taking out four daggers from his waist, his pants were a little loose. The moment he pulled up his pants, he did not look cool anymore. Only Master Cha felt that he looked good.

Shen Leng held the dagger in his mouth and started tightening his belt. An assassin immediately pounced over. Shen Leng did not retreat. Instead, he moved forward and rammed into the assassin’s chest. He turned his body halfway and the dagger in his mouth slid across the assassin’s neck. Blood spurted out.

After Shen Leng had tightened his belt, he took the dagger from his mouth. “Actually I lied earlier. I said I only wanted to kill Dao Shou, but that was not my intention. Everyone here has to die…what is the difference between you people at the water bandits in Nanping River?”

Dao Shou looked at that fella and thought to himself: Did you even need to say that?

“Go!”

Dao Shou did not confront him head-on. Instead, he yelled the word, ‘go’. He was not sure how many people were hidden on the outside. If there were people who wanted to eradicate Liu Lang Dao, the longer they were held up here, the more scary it would be.

People started dispersing. However, they could not leave.

The repeating crossbow appeared again. The people who headed for the door fell to the ground. The repeating crossbow was so accurate that it incurred the wrath of everyone.

Shen Leng held the dagger and advanced. “I came from thousands of miles away, there is no way that we would have any bad blood so early on. Who told you to touch Meng Changan?”

Dao Shou stayed silent for a moment. Thereafter, he gestured and two people brought him a huge sword. The shaft of the sword was about half a meter long. The blade of the sword was almost a meter long, and one and a half inch wide. It could cut a horse, let alone a man. The assassins in the western regions and even the elites of other countries would be scared if they had seen that sword. This awe-inspiring sword was named…modao (note: the name of a type of sword).

Shen Leng narrowed his eyes. “So you’re one of the people from the Western Border Armed Forces.”

“I’m not.”

Dao Shou, who was still wearing a mask, shook his head slowly. “I haven’t been for a long time.”

He swung the sword and Shen Leng raised his dagger to block it. Shen Leng’s dagger broke and was forced to retreat.

He swung the sword again, and Shen Leng drew out another sword to block it once more. The dagger broke once again, and he had to retreat once more.

Dao Shou swung his sword the third time and Shen Leng had broke three daggers. He was left with only one. The daggers that he picked up from the woods were ordinary ones. They were not as good as the exquisite standardized peidao issued by Great Ning. Hence, Shen Leng really missed his black cord sword.

He was not tall - almost a head shorter than Shen Leng. He was a little out of breath after attacking him three times. He was indeed not young anymore.

This sword was about 25 to 35 kilograms. Based on his age, he could not keep up for long.

“I’m old now. I can’t kill people within three attacks anymore,” said Dao Shou bleakly.

Shen Leng abruptly swung his dagger. Dao Shou’s modao was slightly slower than his previous three attacks Nonetheless, the slight lag time was more than enough. Shen Leng’s dagger sliced across Dao Shou’s face, leaving behind a bloody scar. The mask was also cut into two and fell onto the ground. Hence, Shen Leng saw the brandy nose next to the scar, as well as the flushed face, that seemed redder after being stained by blood.

Dao Shou opened his mouth in pain, revealing his disgusting set of yellow teeth.

Shen Leng’s dagger stopped in mid air. He lamented, “Guess you shouldn’t have drank that entire pot of wine today.”