Five days later.
Shen Fa, covered with dust, stepped into Chaimen Street.
He made his way to Yang Ge’s house, a route he knew well, and was about to climb over the wall as he usually did when he caught sight of some new bold letters on the wall: Beware of the Dog, Entry by Invitation Only.
"Hmph!"
He snorted disdainfully and leaped onto the top of the wall.
As soon as he reached the top, he found a wooden plank wedged there, positioned to be seen only by someone climbing over: Trespassers will be beaten to death!
Shen Fa felt somewhat defeated and squatting on the wall, he yelled out, "Why not just write my name up there directly?"
Inside, all was quiet, with only Huang’s barking coming from behind the house.
Shen Fa hesitated for two breaths but eventually climbed down and went to knock on the door properly.
Truth be told, he was indeed nervous about taking on Yan Yun’s five spirits over such a trivial matter as climbing a wall!
"Creak."
The door opened, and Yang Ge, dressed in plain cotton clothes, stood behind it, his face expressionless, his eyes examining.
Shen Fa felt a sudden pang of guilt, but he immediately stood tall and spoke loudly, "See? I’m knocking now, aren’t I?"
Yang Ge let go of the gate and headed towards the house, patting the dirt off his body.
Shen Fa followed him inside, closing the courtyard gate behind him.
"Wow, you’ve changed this place again. Aren’t you tired of constantly tinkering with this little courtyard?"
He stood in the center of the yard, looking around as he asked aloud.
Yang Ge came out from the inner room with tea, expressionless, and sat down directly under the grape trellis.
Shen Fa followed and plopped down onto the little bamboo chair, took a sip of the warm tea, and let out a long sigh, "Can’t deny it, that’s really relaxing!"
Yang Ge couldn’t be bothered with him.
But Shen Fa wasn’t ready to let it go and leaned in to size him up, asking, "How is it? How’s your injury?"
Yang Ge glanced at him sideways and countered, "Didn’t you say you’d take care of it?"
Shen Fa knew what he was referring to and chuckled awkwardly, "I didn’t expect that blind bear would cross the pass!"
Yang Ge sneered, "It seems that the golden badge of the Imperial Secret Police is only good for scaring the common folk!"
Shen Fa defended himself, "Even if you charge into an army of thousands, that blind bear wouldn’t even blink an eye!"
Yang Ge furrowed his brow, "What exactly happened? Aren’t they sworn brothers?"
Shen Fa, "I’ve been wanting to tell you, but you refused to listen!"
Yang Ge, "And you also said earlier that you would handle all the trouble!"
Shen Fa touched his forehead, put down his teacup, and said in a softened tone, "Those five brothers ruled the mountain at a place called Lü Mountain outside the Great Wall at their peak, commanding over ten thousand bandits and had their share of plundering Tartar livestock and looting the imperial tribute, not short of ill deeds.
"Until last year, I don’t know what they did, but they completely enraged the Tartars who sent an army of thirty thousand and numerous martial experts to surround Lü Mountain."
"Then Lü Mountain fell, the third and fourth bros were gone, and with a disheartened spirit, the second, Jiang Kui, took advantage of the Imperial Martial Examination’s grace period and defected to the empire…"
He picked up his cup again to drink.
Chewing over his words, Yang Ge said, "By the sound of it, it seems like you hold some respect for them?"
Shen Fa paused briefly before answering, "To be fair, these five brothers are not good people, but they are all real men!"
Yang Ge thought it over and nodded in agreement.
After a moment, he continued, "Just because of this, Big Brother and Fifth Brother traveled thousands of miles to the capital to seek revenge on Jiang Kui? Is this how sworn brothers act?"
That noon, when he first saw Fifth Brother using Chaotic Wind Leg, it crossed his mind that this person was most likely targeting Jiang Kui!
Aside from Jiang Kui, he couldn’t think of anything else that would bring an expert in Chaotic Wind Leg to him.
Later, the black sword on Fifth Brother’s back, identical to Jiang Kui’s, confirmed his suspicion.
Shen Fa looked at him and said in a low voice, "This may have to do with the border army’s recent sweep of Lü Mountain."
Yang Ge’s eyes suddenly widened, and the words "Are they insane?" got stuck in his throat, unable to be spat out or swallowed.
He didn’t understand military affairs and couldn’t evaluate from a military standpoint whether the border army’s campaign against Lü Mountain was right.
But it was clear that Lü Mountain had a greater grievance with the Tartars, so even if he couldn’t win over the remaining two brothers, why not let them continue to be a thorn in the side of the Tartars? Why bother to help the Tartars remove a nail?
Shen Fa felt somewhat embarrassed; he had received this news a while ago but indeed hadn’t anticipated that it would draw the two brothers into the capital region, nearly costing Yang Ge his life.
He said softly, "According to the information I got, it should be that Fifth Brother ’Winged Tiger’ Liu Meng mistakenly thought it was Jiang Kui using them to gain merit. Big Brother ’River Dragon’ Lei Heng, on the other hand, has never reproached Jiang Kui on any occasion…"
The matter of Jiang Kui joining the court was a connection he had facilitated.
When he had led men out of the pass to meet Jiang Kui, he had seen Lei Heng from a distance, over a mountain peak. If Lei Heng had been unwilling to let Jiang Kui go, they wouldn’t have been able to return to the capital region.
"What a damn mess!"
Even five days later, upon recalling the incident, Yang Ge couldn’t help but curse, "I was living my life just fine, who the hell did I provoke?"
Seeing Yang Ge’s angry demeanor, Shen Fa not only didn’t try to calm him but also insidiously added fuel to the fire, "When all is said and done, your martial arts are just too weak. If you were a master of the True Essence, would they dare to lay a hand on you?"
"If you were an unrivaled master who had broken through the two bridges of heaven and earth, I guarantee they wouldn’t even dare to breathe loudly in your presence!"
In his eyes, Yang Ge was good in many ways, just too soft.
A toad at least makes an effort to jump with a poke.
But this fellow, like a hibernating snake, refuses to budge no matter what. If you don’t take care of him, he really might just rot here by himself!
This chapt𝙚r is updated by freeωebnovēl.c૦m.
Yang Ge gave him a sidelong glance and disdainfully said, "Then could you tell me, as a commanding officer, why are you still merely at the ’mere’ Qi Sea Realm?"
In the past, he viewed Shen Fa as though he were a high mountain shrouded in clouds and mist, seeing neither the peak nor guessing what realm he was truly in.
Now, though he still saw Shen Fa as profound and towering, this pressure was far less than the desperation Lei Heng had imparted, making him feel utterly unable to find a means to deal with it from any angle.
From this, one could infer that Shen Fa was at the peak of the Qi Sea Realm at best, certainly not at True Essence!
Shen Fa snorted and replied with the same disdain, "If this official had nothing to do all day like you, I would have reached True Essence long ago!"
Though he spoke thus, a sense of crisis filled his mind: ’Damn it, the next time I see this fellow, will I still be able to beat him…’
Yang Ge tactically drank water, tacitly accepting his rationale.
Shen Fa felt relieved in his heart, but without dwelling on it, he shifted the topic, "Right, wasn’t it said that Lei Heng left you a secret manual?"
Without a word, Yang Ge took out a secret manual from his bosom and placed it on the stone table.
Shen Fa took a careful look and saw the words "Eighteen Roads of Drifting Snow Palm" emblazoned on the cover of the manual.
"Hmm? Eighteen Roads of Chaotic Wind Leg, Eighteen Roads of Drifting Snow Palm? Interesting!"