Chapter 49: Chapter 45: Betrayal and Escape
Translator: 549690339
In Xiehe’s Longzhou, there is a great river known as Longjiang.
The Longjiang River stretches for twenty thousand miles, extending from the east to the west, passing by Chengzhou, Chuanyuan, Da Lin, Longzhou, Yancang, Heqing, Nanji, and Shu Tai – eight regions in total. It runs through hundreds of large cities, making it one of the most important trade routes on the Xiehe continent.
Longjiang has over a hundred tributaries, with the five longest being known as the Small Longjiang, which include Lingjiang, Han River, Huaijjiang, Yongjiang, and Liaojjiang.
Lingjiang, a branch of Longjiang, originates from the northwest and flows to the southeast, its three-thousand-mile course covers over a hundred large and small cities in Longzhou.
Xiling City is built along the river, with the mile-wide Lingjiang River splitting the city into two areas: South Xiling River and North Xiling River.
The Lingjiang, which runs through over a hundred cities, is also the most crucial economic source for Xiling. Even to this day, water transportation remains one of Xiling City’s most important industries.
As Xiling City is situated right in the center of Longzhou and is at the heart of the Lingjiang basin, it naturally became a flourishing commercial metropolis.
The Lingjiang Waterway is also one of the most convenient modes of transportation in Longzhou.
Midnight.
Under the Lingjiang Bridge, a robust teenager stands by a pillar, gazing at the surging Lingjiang with a thousand thoughts.
The young man has a tall and slender physique. Though dressed in plain clothes, he carries a sharp and aggressive air, unlike an ordinary boy.
He appears to be seventeen or eighteen, with extremely handsome features and a courageous aura. A scar separates the brow on his left eye into two parts, giving him a bold and untamed look.
The young man held a piece of white jade with cloud patterns and a large “Han” character engraving on it. He stood there for a long time.
After a while, Fang Han put the jade into his pocket and glanced in the direction of the martial hall.
Today is most likely his last day of being a student at the Tang Clan’s Martial Arts Hall.
By tomorrow, the hall will discover his act of betrayal. The wealthy Tang family of Xiling would deem him a traitor and attempt to kill him.
Anyone would feel appalled at the prospect of opposing such a massive entity, but Fang Han had only calmness and audacity in his eyes.
“I can replace it!”
Ever since he could remember, he knew he was not ordinary.
He looked down on the old man who adopted him because that old man only knew how to beg in the streets. Although North City of Xiling had many kind people and the old man always managed to get quite a fortune, it would be seized by strong thugs before he could bring it back to West City, and the old man would always end up knocked down to the ground.
He was a waste. Fang Han did not want to become like him and set out his first ambition to become a thug.
Soon after, the old man died. Fortunately, Fang Han was captured by the same thugs along with several dozen other children.
Without a doubt, this brought him closer to his first dream.
The thugs taught them how to steal, and Fang Han learned diligently because he believed that mastering this skill was the key step toward fulfilling his dream. As a result, he learned very quickly, and before long, his skill even surpassed that of the old thief who taught them.
He naturally became one of the best among the thieves.
It was during this time that he realized being a thief was not meant for him. Among the children of his age, a thief who was as skilled as him was caught in the act.
The man who was robbed didn’t care if he was a child or not. He seized him by the neck and threw him to the ground. Fang Han then saw this familiar companion cough out his organs and convulse to death on the ground.
Other street children stripped the thief of his garments while his body was left in a wasteland, naked under the open sky. In an instant, a highly skilled thief turned into a corpse.
Fang Han felt that one day, he too would be thrown to the ground like that. He was extremely disheartened.
The thug who kidnapped them was surnamed Liao. No one knew his real name, but everyone on the streets referred to him as Fat Liao. He was one of the biggest gang leaders in Linfoo Street, with dozens of thugs and over a hundred thieves and beggars under him.
Perhaps due to luck or his high talent, Fang Han survived the most anxiety-ridden years of his life.
As other thieves died or got crippled one after another, Fang Han was the only one left from his batch. Therefore, Fat Liao promoted Fang Han as the junior leader of the thieves.
His job was now to teach other children how to steal and lead them to commit theft in the streets.
This delighted Fang Han immensely.
Because even if one day those thieves were caught red-handed and beaten to death or maimed, Fang Han would remain untouchable, which brought him a great sense of security.
Thus, Fang Han worked particularly diligently and ruthlessly, training the kidnapped orphans tirelessly day and night to become qualified thieves. Only when he had enough thieves under him, would he not have to take the field himself.
Fang Han was the best one, because he was able to steal dozens of gold coins every day. As a result, Fat Liao held him in high esteem and even wanted Fang Han to become his sworn son. Fang Han was moved to tears, as he saw Fat Liao as his idol and dreamed of becoming someone like him.
Until one day, a knife-wielding middle-aged man burst into Fat Liao’s hideout, carrying a beggar child, his face full of murderous intent.
At that time, Fat Liao was having a meal with a dozen of his henchmen and laughed uproariously at the sight of the intruder.
They didn’t believe that a emaciated middle-aged man could do anything to them. Among these henchmen, there were a dozen or so peak Mortal Realm fighters. Even if the middle-aged man had transcended the Mortal Realm, he couldn’t do anything to them.
The middle-aged man asked the beggar child in his arms amidst the laughter, “Is it them?”
The child, full of terror in his eyes, nodded and threw himself onto the shoulder of the middle-aged man.
Fang Han laughed too because he recognised the beggar. It was Gu Shi, one of the children who was taken with him by the hooligans. Gu Shi refused to learn to steal.
So the hooligans pulled out Gu Shi’s tongue and chopped off his hands in front of the other children.
“Since you don’t want to learn, you might as well beg,” the hooligan said coldly as he watched Gu Shi wailing.
Fang Han didn’t see any problem with that, but the spectacle before his eyes made him realise how wrong he was.
When the middle-aged man raised his head again, the intense killing intent seemed to freeze all the people present.
With one hand holding Gu Shi and the other holding a long knife, he broke into the crowd, killing a man with each step.
The ferocious killing intent terrified those thugs who lived on the edge of the knife each day. Resistance was futile, begging for mercy was futile. The middle-aged man, like a devil, scattered the bodies of the henchmen all over the hall in the blink of an eye, the air was filled with blood.
Fang Han watched his adopted father Fat Liao, frightened to the point where he soiled himself.
It shouldn’t have been like this, Fang Han watched in disbelief as the middle-aged man chopped off Fat Liao’s limbs and watched as Fat Liao screamed and died in a pool of blood.
The middle-aged man did not kill Fang Han, but he ruined his life and left a deep mark on his heart. The power of a warrior was terrifying.
With the deaths of Fat Liao and the henchmen, he lost everything. In just one day, a new thug took over Fat Liao’s territory and took control of all the beggars and thieves.
Fang Han was one of the thieves who was taken over. However, for some reason, after the new boss beat him up, he was sent to a old house to serve a cripple.
The cripple’s surname was Zhang. Despite being lame in both legs, he was skilled in making counterfeits.
Fang Han thought it would be good to learn a craft, at least safer than stealing. So he decided to apprentice himself to Counterfeit Zhang.
But every following night, he dreamed of that middle-aged man who had broken into the hall with a sword.
The terror and domination he had left an indelible impression on Fang Han, making him tremble with excitement each time he thought of it.
Finally, one day, these dreams and impulses turned into desire.
“I want to become a warrior. I want to have the power to take lives,” Fang Han said firmly while looking at the mirror.
He began to pay attention to the martial arts, and found out that martial arts schools could teach martial arts and train warriors.
However, there were two ways to become a disciple of the martial arts school.
The first one was to become an apprentice, which required paying a fee and attending classes at the martial arts school every day to ensure the building of one’s foundation.
The second was to become a disciple, which required a large tutoring fee, but afterwards, you could live in the martial arts school. The headmaster would not only teach you martial arts techniques but also give you martial arts skills.
After all, everyone could practice cultivation, but not everyone could perform martial arts skills.
Fang Han had no money, but he knew that being a disciple of the martial arts school was his opportunity to become a warrior. However, the daunting tutoring fee, which was as much as a thousand gold coins, was a mountain standing in his way..
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