Chapter 9: Chapter 8: The ’9 Rivers Flood Dragon’ Zuo Xinglie
Lan Province was in the south and You Province was in the north, separated by thousands of miles.
Ordinarily, Jianghu People from You Province would not know Zuo Xinglie’s name.
But the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower controlled the flow of information in the Jianghu, so Wen Rou naturally knew of Zuo Xinglie.
In Lan Province, there was a great river called the Jiulong River. It was a winding, meandering waterway, full of twists and turns, home to countless bandits from water villages. It was a place of utter chaos.
That was until over a decade ago, when Zuo Xinglie, a warlord from the wilds, burst onto the scene. He swept through the Jiulong River, crushing its countless bandits and proclaiming himself the Alliance Leader of the Thirty-Six Waterway Alliance.
Merchant ships merely had to pay a fee to the Thirty-Six Waterway Alliance for safe passage along the Jiulong River. Only then did a measure of peace finally come to the river.
At the same time, however, another power on the Jiulong River, the Profound Whale Gang, hated Zuo Xinglie to the bone.
Back when the Jiulong River was in chaos, the Profound Whale Gang had colluded with those bandits to extort merchant ships, making a fortune in the process.
Now that the river had been unified under a single power, the Profound Whale Gang’s source of wealth was cut off. Naturally, they refused to let the matter rest.
The two sides fought fiercely for several years and were evenly matched. In the end, the Profound Whale Gang allied with the powerful Lu Family of Celestial Water City in Lan Province. With the Lu Family’s help, they finally annihilated the Thirty-Six Waterway Alliance, and Zuo Xinglie was killed in the process.
According to the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower’s reports, Zuo Xinglie was dead. Who would have thought he was actually still alive, hiding right under her nose?
If word of this got out, the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower’s branch in Lan Province would certainly be punished.
’And as the one who discovered this information, I will surely be credited with a great merit within the Tower. A very great merit, at that.’
At this thought, Wen Rou’s heart began to pound.
Chen Yuan looked at Wen Rou with a faint smile. "This piece of information should be enough to cover the fee for Boss Wen’s help in finding someone for me, right?"
Wen Rou’s eyes were full of seduction as she looked at Chen Yuan. "Of course. Master Chen has given me such a great opportunity. I’m afraid I have no way to repay you."
"You can repay me later. Once you’ve found the person, I’ll need to trouble Boss Wen to help me stage a little play."
Seeing Wen Rou’s body leaning toward him, Chen Yuan stood up abruptly. "Boss Wen, I’ll take my leave now."
The Wind Media Spies of the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower were not people to be trifled with. This woman was like a rose with thorns.
’Although she is indeed flirtatious and alluring, I only want a purely transactional relationship with her.’
’In the original plot, Wen Rou’s strength was never revealed, but I suspect her true power might even be greater than Jiang Kaitai’s.’
Wen Rou watched Chen Yuan leave decisively, her arms crossed over her chest. The flirtatious charm on her face was gone, replaced by a look of deep, probing thought.
’Interesting. Truly interesting. Just who are you?’
The Chen Yuan she knew was merely one of Jiang Kaitai’s adopted sons. While that made him a somebody in Lianshan City, he was nothing in the grand scheme of the Jianghu.
That was why Wen Rou had never paid him much attention. Perhaps when Chen Yuan became the heir to the Celestial Wolf Gang, she would dedicate more ink to his file.
Who would have thought that this once-obscure Chen Yuan would give her such a huge surprise today?
First, he had exposed her identity. Then, he told her that Zuo Xinglie was not dead and was right here in Lianshan City.
This was not information an ordinary gang member could possibly have access to.
Wen Rou shook her head.
’Now is not the time to investigate Chen Yuan’s identity. The priority is to confirm whether Zuo Xinglie is truly in Lianshan City.’
’If this news is true, the merit I’ll receive will be greater than everything I’ve accomplished in all my years stationed in Lianshan City combined.’
......
After leaving the Forget Sorrow Building, Chen Yuan went straight back to the Celestial Wolf Gang’s residence to await Wen Rou’s news.
Zuo Xinglie’s entire family had been massacred. Only he and his granddaughter had managed to escape by faking their deaths, fleeing from the south to the north to live in seclusion in Lianshan City.
In his final battle with the Profound Whale Gang, Zuo Xinglie had fought desperately to break through their encirclement, resulting in the complete destruction of his meridians. He also lost an eye and the use of a leg, rendering him a cripple who had lost almost all of his martial arts.
The Martial Dao was divided into the Nine Realms. The first three were Body Tempering, Meridian Passage, and Blood Movement. The Middle Three Realms were Qi Casting, Reincarnation Sea, and Condensing Truth.
At his peak, Zuo Xinglie had been a master of the Condensing Truth Realm. But because his meridians were destroyed, he could no longer use his Inner Strength, and his power had plummeted to the Body Tempering Realm.
Of course, his physical strength remained. Even without the use of Inner Strength and with a crippled leg, he was still stronger than most Body Tempering Realm Martial Artists.
In a life-or-death struggle, he could even fight against a Meridian Passage Realm Martial Artist.
In the original plot, not long after Jiang Kaitai performed a blood sacrifice to the Divine Artifact, the Profound Whale Gang sent men to Lianshan City to hunt down Zuo Xinglie, determined to exterminate him.
Zuo Xinglie fled desperately with his granddaughter, suffering grievous injuries. He was saved by a player, who helped cover his tracks and escape.
To express his gratitude, Zuo Xinglie gave the player his Secret Technique, the Surging Waves and Flowing Clouds Technique, and the Autumn Water Shocking Swan Swordsmanship.
Because Zuo Xinglie was discovered by the player while he was on the run, the plot never mentioned where he had been hiding. Chen Yuan’s only option was to use the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower’s channels to find him.
Zuo Xinglie was a warlord from the wilds of the Jiulong River, the Alliance Leader of the Thirty-Six Waterway Alliance. The Cultivation Techniques he practiced were naturally extraordinary.
The Surging Waves and Flowing Clouds Technique was a Profound Level Upper Grade Inner Power, and the Autumn Water Shocking Saber was an even more impressive Earth Level Lower Grade Saber Technique.
With these two Cultivation Techniques, Chen Yuan’s strength would skyrocket.
The men from the Profound Whale Gang wouldn’t appear until after Jiang Kaitai’s blood sacrifice to the Seven Kills Stele, and Chen Yuan couldn’t wait that long.
’But that’s fine. If the plot isn’t happening, I’ll just create the plot myself.’
’The process doesn’t matter. The result is what’s most important.’
’There’s no need to be dogmatic and insist on following the original plot’s process exactly.’
’The incident with Duan Mubai was a perfect example. Sometimes, even if the process is the same, the outcome can be completely different.’
Wen Rou moved quickly. Three days later, an attendant from the Forget Sorrow Building came to the Celestial Wolf Gang to inform Chen Yuan that the proprietress was looking for him.
Chen Yuan followed the attendant out of the Celestial Wolf Gang headquarters, a scene that happened to be witnessed by Zhu Zhiping, who was just walking into the hall.
’Third Brother isn’t staying in the hall to cultivate. Why is he always going out these days?’
A trace of doubt appeared on Zhu Zhiping’s face.
The Chen Yuan of the past had been a total homebody, always holing up in the headquarters’ Martial Arts Arena to practice his techniques and cultivate.
Recently, he had gone out more times than he had in the entire previous year.
"Who was that person who called Third Brother out?"
Zhu Zhiping asked a subordinate standing nearby.
The subordinate scratched his head. "I think it was an attendant from the Forget Sorrow Building. I heard that the Third Master also went to the Forget Sorrow Building on his own initiative a couple of days ago and was called up to the second floor by the proprietress for quite a long time."
"Is Third Brother feeling the stirrings of first love?"
A strange smile spread across Zhu Zhiping’s face. "That proprietress of the Forget Sorrow Building is certainly seductive to the bone, but isn’t she a bit old? Does Third Brother have a taste for mature women? Hahaha!"
The subordinate laughed along. Men were always interested in this kind of topic.
But Zhu Zhiping’s smile suddenly vanished. He lowered his voice. "From now on, when you’re in the headquarters, pay more attention to Third Brother’s movements. Remember to tell me whenever he leaves and whenever he returns."
Previously, Zhu Zhiping had only considered Qin Yuancheng his rival.
But at some point, he started to feel that Third Brother had changed somehow.
Although Third Brother currently posed no threat to him, Zhu Zhiping had subconsciously become wary of Chen Yuan.
This time, Chen Yuan followed the attendant from the Forget Sorrow Building directly to the second floor through the back entrance.
He pushed open the door. This time, Wen Rou was wearing a scarlet, high-waisted gown. Her makeup was bold and beautiful, making her look like a peony in full bloom.
Chen Yuan realized that this woman truly owned a lot of clothes.
Every time he saw her, she was wearing a different outfit, never repeating one.
"Does Boss Wen have news already?"
Wen Rou nodded. "Zuo Xinglie is indeed hiding in Lianshan City. He’s running a noodle shop with his granddaughter in Ping’an Square."
After speaking, Wen Rou let out a soft "Tsk." "I’ve passed by that noodle shop more than once. I never would have imagined that the crippled, one-eyed old man cooking noodles was the ’Jiujiang Flood Dragon,’ Zuo Xinglie—the very same warlord who once dominated the Jiulong River in Lan Province. The struggles of the Jianghu are truly brutal, like being thrown into a wok of boiling oil."
"’The storms of the world are born from our generation; once you enter the Jianghu, the years fly by. Worldly affairs are like the tide and people are like water; one can only sigh for the few who ever return.’"
Chen Yuan shook his head gently. "Once you step into this Jianghu, you can never think of getting out. It’s impossible to simply wash your hands of it and retire.
"Unless you can dominate the entire Jianghu, slaughtering all your enemies and rivals until none remain, and crush the entire Jianghu under your heel. Only then do you earn the right to utter the three words, ’leave the Jianghu.’"
In reality, there was no right or wrong in the old conflict between the Profound Whale Gang and the Thirty-Six Waterway Alliance—only a clash of interests.
The Thirty-Six Waterway Alliance collected a standardized toll and kept the profits for themselves. They were organized and systematic, yet tyrannical.
The Profound Whale Gang, on the other hand, colluded with water bandits to extort money from merchant ships. The amount they took varied, depending entirely on the strength of the caravan itself.
Both sides were already consumed by bloodlust. As long as Zuo Xinglie was alive, the Profound Whale Gang would inevitably hunt him down to the last.
Wen Rou looked at Chen Yuan in astonishment.
Those four lines he had just recited seemed to encapsulate the entirety of the Jianghu’s struggles. The mood and detached wisdom within them were more like something spoken by a famed veteran of the Martial World who had seen all its trials and tribulations.
For a young man like Chen Yuan, who could only be considered a fledgling, to say such things was incredibly incongruous.
"Now that we’ve found him, what are you planning to do?"
Chen Yuan tapped the table lightly and said in a low voice, "The Profound Whale Gang actually already knows that Zuo Xinglie is in You Province, but they probably haven’t pinpointed him to Lianshan City yet.
"I’d like to ask Boss Wen to have her people stage a play with me. They’ll pretend to be from the Profound Whale Gang and hunt down Zuo Xinglie. Then, I’ll make an appearance and save him. That shouldn’t be too difficult, right?"
Wen Rou gave Chen Yuan a surprised glance, having a rough idea of what he was planning.
"Not difficult. But to make the act convincing, we’ll need to pick a special group of people. The accents of Lan Province and You Province are very different."
As the person in charge of the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower in Lianshan City, Wen Rou was, of course, not alone.
It was just that all the peripheral members were hidden in the shadows, with only her operating in the open.
This was a job that truly required the Celestial Wind Listening Rain Tower to pull off.
The peripheral members of these Wind Media Organizations came from all corners of the land. They could disguise themselves as Jianghu People from various regions, or as common folk, small merchants, and peddlers. Almost every one of them could speak with several different regional accents.
If Chen Yuan were to use men from the Celestial Wolf Gang, firstly, Jiang Kaitai would notice.
Secondly, the Celestial Wolf Gang was full of Lianshan City locals. The moment they opened their mouths, their thick Northern You Province accent would give them away.
Using men from the Celestial Wolf Gang to impersonate assassins from the Profound Whale Gang of Lan Province would be like trying to pass off a lump of coal as a diamond—it would be far too easy to see through the disguise.
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