Yang Ge: "What does that have to do with you guys staying here? Could you even defeat the imperial guards that I couldn’t?"
Yang Tiansheng: "Young Master here can help you escape, though. Our Ming Sect’s people are everywhere on the Jianghuai land routes. If the pursuers so much as fart, Young Master will hear the echo!"
Li Jincheng: "Right, I can also help you escape. Our Lianhuan Fort people are all over the Jianghuai Waterway. When the time comes, you just need to find a river to dive into, and I guarantee no one will find you!"
Yang Ge, tactically leaning back: "Oh... so you two are the ’Terror of Land and Water in Jianghuai,’ huh?"
Yang Tiansheng: "Just a joke, just a joke!"
Li Jincheng: "Just being polite, being polite!"
The two fools high-fived, grinning from ear to ear.
Yang Ge rolled his eyes exasperatedly: "You think I was complimenting you?"
After a pause, he said seriously: "If you really want to help... help me prepare a few safe houses."
Yang Tiansheng: "Safe houses?"
Li Jincheng: "What safe houses?"
Yang Ge: "I mean quiet residences known only to the three of us, stocked with bandages, medicines, dry food, clean water, and a little Silver Coin... Essentially, when I’m being chased with no escape, these are places where I can get supplies and briefly recuperate. We need many of these places, and they need to be hidden. The more there are, the easier it will be for me to find one nearby when I’m desperately being chased. And the more hidden they are, the longer it will take for the pursuers to find me."
As he spoke, he thought, and then he added: "The person doing this must be absolutely reliable. They can’t let the court catch any scent of it, nor let my pursuers catch any trace of you. Otherwise, not only would you be unable to help me, you’d be bringing trouble on yourselves."
Yang Tiansheng’s smile gradually faded, and he said gravely: "Have you been making these sorts of plans all along?"
Li Jincheng also felt the pressing weight from Yang Ge’s words...
Yang Ge lightly smiled: "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst."
Yang Tiansheng let out a sigh and nodded: "I’ll personally handle this. Once it’s done, I’ll send all those involved back to Fengyang and have my father secretly oversee them. They won’t leave Fengyang until this is settled."
Li Jincheng added: "The land routes are Yang’s responsibility; leave the waterways to me. I’ll arrange some unowned boats at the docks along various water routes in Jiangzhe, marked and stocked with the items you mentioned. I’ll get the locations and the marks to you later."
Yang Ge bowed with fists clasped: "I owe you one!"
Yang Tiansheng glanced at him and snorted.
Li Jincheng pressed his hands down: "If you still consider us friends, don’t mention thanks."
...
The next morning, the rain grew heavier.
The three brothers, carrying identical flashy red paper umbrellas fit for maids, traveled in a flat boat through the night, departing from Hangzhou to meet Xiang Wudi’s challenge at Qiantang.
The challenge letter had been delivered to Yang Ge three days prior.
But the news had only spread through the streets of Hangzhou the previous night.
The location for the duel wasn’t near Hangzhou city but by the banks of the Qiantang River.
By the time the brothers reached the riverside, Xiang Wudi, clad in a striking black and golden martial outfit, stood waiting in the rain, resting one hand on his dark red-tasseled spear.
There weren’t many onlookers, just over a hundred, most of them Jianghu men and women with swords at their sides, and nearly all of them were spotted with large patches of mud and water, clearly having come from Hangzhou that morning...
Yang Ge gazed at the pop of red in the crowd from afar, casually handed the paper umbrella to Yang Tiansheng, and took out a half-face demon mask from his bosom to put on his face. He leaped across the surface of the water, covering dozens of feet in a single bound, and landed on the riverbank.
He stopped three paces in front of Xiang Wudi and bowed: "Sorry to keep you waiting."
Xiang Wudi, expressionless, nodded slightly: "I’ve only just arrived myself."
Yang Ge smiled and casually placed his Cold Moon Saber on the stone ground: "You’re the host. You call the shots on how we fight."
Xiang Wudi firmly and deliberately stated: "I’ve heard you like to decide superiority within ten moves. Let’s limit ourselves to ten moves today to determine the winner!"
"Ten moves are too few."
Yang Ge suggested with a smile: "How about fifty moves? If I fail to beat you in fifty moves, you win."
The onlookers, sensing the smell of gunpowder in the air, had their gazes intensify.
Xiang Wudi let out a light sigh, and a faint smile appeared on the corners of his mouth: "Agreed!"
Yang Ge gestured with his hand: "Please."
Xiang Wudi gestured in return: "Visitors from afar should have the honor. You first!"
Yang Ge nodded: "Then here I come."
Xiang Wudi took a stable stance, raising his red-tasseled spear with both hands as he took a deep breath: "Come on!"
This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.
Yang Ge, with one hand on his Cold Moon Saber, slightly bowed...
"Clang!"
Amidst the high-pitched clanging of the saber, the onlookers saw only a flash before they could make out Yang Erlang’s figure. He had already moved in close, his saber’s glow bursting forth.
Xiang Wudi stood firm as an old tree, his red-tasseled spear swirling as it danced in the air, like a heavy downpour of rain.
"Clang, clang, clang..."
The saber’s light clashed with the spear’s glow dozens of times in an instant, the sharp clash of metal on metal causing the onlookers’ ears to ache. Those with weaker skills had to cover their ears under the overwhelming sound.
"Rise!"
Xiang Wudi, who had deflected dozens of Yang Ge’s blows, suddenly shouted. His spear surged upwards as if it were a waterfall, wielding great force that bent the iron-cast spear shaft.
"Break!"
The Cold Moon Saber, which had turned into a blur, suddenly became visible again, cutting through the spear’s glow. The blade swept by the dark spear, aiming at Xiang Wudi, who held the weapon.
Xiang Wudi stepped aside, the spear exploding with a muffled blast of air pressure as he pressed it downward forcefully.
Yang Ge stepped heavily on the stone slab, leaping past the descending spear, dragging the saber’s energy behind him, narrowly missing a strike on Xiang Wudi in passing.