Chapter - 415 Long Flute, Short Lute, And Tan Clothing (2)

Shi Huolong took out a letter and handed it over to Zhang Bang Longtou. "Feng Xiongdi [brother Feng]," he said, "I want you to go to Haozhou immediately and deliver this letter to Han Shantong. Tell him that his son is with us, he is safe and sound. We only want Han Shantong to submit under our Clan's authority, and then we will view his son in a new light."

"Delivering a letter is a minor matter," Zhang Bang Longtou said, "Do I need to personally take the trip to do it?"

Shi Huolong's countenance slightly dropped, he said, "Speaking of military accomplishment, Han Shantong and his comrades have created quite a stir within this last half a year or so. I hear his subordinates, that damn Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da, Chang Yuchun and the others, have raised up their arms and very much all of them have some stinking ability. This time I am asking Feng Xiongdi to personally deliver this letter, first, to make sure Han Shantong will submit under our Clan; and while you are hanging around them, make sure you find out what kind of plan he and his generals are cooking. Second, I want you to investigate what kind of strange secret those damn Ming Cult people are hiding. Feng Xiongdi, the task you are bearing on your shoulder is not light; how could you say it is a minor matter?"

Zhang Bang Longtou did not dare to say anything anymore; he simply said, "I respectfully follow Bangzhu's instructions." He accepted the letter, saluted Shi Huolong, and then left the main hall.

Zhang Wuji kept on listening, but they were only talking about how in the future, after the Ming Cult, Shaolin, Wudang, Emei, and all other Sects were subdued, the Beggar Clan would flourish with awe-inspiring prestige. This Shi Huolong's wild ambitions were not as lofty as Chen Youliang's; if the Beggar Clan had a sole domination over the Jianghu and warriors in the Wulin world, he would be very satisfied. He was not thinking of ruling over the country [orig. jiang1 shan1 – river and mountain] by becoming the emperor. His language was vulgar, with a lot of dirty words.

After listening for a while, Zhang Wuji was fed up; he thought, "It seems like Yifu and Zhiruo are imprisoned here. I need to rescue them first then I'll give this big mouth, shameless beggar, a lesson."

His right foot moved slightly, he gently leaped toward a tall tree. Looking to all directions, he saw a dozen or so Beggar Clan disciples on the lower level. They had their weapons in their hands, going back and forth patrolling the area. Zhang Wuji thought that must be the place where they kept Xie Xun and Zhou Zhiruo prisoners. Slipping down the tree, he sneaked to the tall building nearby and hid behind a fake decorative hill. As soon as the two Beggar Clan disciples turned around and walked the other way, he leaped vertically up toward the second floor, where he saw bright light from lamps and candles. He stooped down underneath a window, trying to hear any sound of activity inside.

To his astonishment, after listening for a while, he did not hear anything inside. "How come there is nobody inside?" he thought, "Could it be that the person in here is a martial art master who is able to stop his breathing?" But after listening a moment longer and still did not hear any breathing noise, he stretched out his neck to peek into the room via a crack in the window.

He saw a pair of large candles on the table, which had been burned more than half of their original length, but there was not a single human shadow to be seen. There were three rooms on the second floor, located side by side. The one on the immediate east of him was unoccupied, so he peeked into the room on the west. This room was also brightly lit. He saw cups and bowls scattered on the table, about enough to be used by seven, eight people. The wine in the cup had not dried up, the vegetable and meat dishes had not been finished, but there was not a single human being inside the room. It looked like the people had not been eating and drinking too long when they had to leave the room in a hurry.

The room in the middle was pitch-black like a cave. He lightly pushed the door, but it was bolted from the inside. "Yifu, are you in there?" he called out in low voice. Nobody answered. Zhang Wuji thought, "Apparently, Yifu is not here. But why do the Beggar Clan people set up such a strict security? Could it be that they are running the 'real is fake, fake is real' tactic?"

Suddenly he caught a whiff of smell of reeking blood coming out from the middle room. He was alarmed. With his left hand pressed against the door, he exerted his internal energy and 'crack!' the bolt broke. Quick as a flash he darted inside to catch the broken bolt so that it would not fall on the floor and create some noise.

He only took one step forward when his foot stumbled on an object on the floor. It felt soft like it was a human body. He stooped down to touch the object and indeed it was a lifeless human body. This person had ceased breathing, but his face was still a bit warm; looked like he died not too long ago. Zhang Wuji traced the corpse's head and found the head to be small with pointy chin, definitely it wasn't Xie Xun's head. He was relieved. Taking another step he bumped into two more bodies. He went to the western wooden partition and poked his finger to let the candlelight from the adjacent room passing through. He saw seven, eight Beggar Clan disciples scattered around the room, all dead. Obviously, they were killed because of heavy internal injury. He lifted a corpse up and tore the clothes off. He saw a deep fist imprint on that corpse's chest, breaking up his ribs; apparently, the power behind the fist was extraordinarily strong.

Zhang Wuji was delighted, "Turns out Yifu unleashed his mighty power and struck these guards dead." He looked around the room, and saw on a corner of the wall a picture of blazing fire, engraved with the tip of a sword; it was undoubtedly the symbol of the Ming Cult. He also noticed that the latch of the window was snapped off; the window was open. "That's right," Zhang Wuji thought, "The dark shadow I saw fleeing out the upstairs window a moment ago must be Yifu escaping. I wonder how was he captured by the Beggar Clan? It must be because his blindness made it difficult for him to guard against the Beggar Clan's deceit. If they did not use 'meng han yao' [drug, see Chapter 32], then they must have used some kind of trap [orig. ban4 ma3 suo3, dao3 gou1, yu2 wang3 – large rope to trip horses, hook to topple someone, fishnet] to capture him."

He went out the room in delight. Crouching by the door he looked downstairs and saw that the beggars were going back and forth on their patrol duty; they were completely oblivious of the accident happened on the second floor. Zhang Wuji thought, "Yifu has not left too long, I can still overtake him. And then we, father and son, will come back and make an earth-shattering disturbance here, to teach these beggars the way we Ming Cult deal with our enemies." Thinking to this point, his spirit rose. Remembering that the dark shadow he saw earlier went out from the west side, he jumped out to the enclosing wall using a tall tree as a stepping-stone, and then rushed to the west.

Following the main road, he ran for several 'li's before arriving on a fork on the road. He looked around looking for clue, and saw a blazing fire mark behind a rock, pointing to the road going southwest. Zhang Wuji was very happy thinking that now his Yifu's whereabouts was clear and he would see him very soon.