Book 1 Chapter 23: The Zhang family’s movements; come to the rescue
The Blackwood Stronghold had been burnt to ashes by a large fire and all the bandits had been exterminated!
This news spread to various places at a very fast speed as if it had wings. The villages in the vicinity of Mt. Blackwood, which had normally been tyrannized by the bandits, were all jubilant because their abducted women had returned safely, and more importantly, because that loathsome bandit den no longer existed.
The major merchants in Ganling City and Luoshi City were so excited that they celebrated this too. From now on, they finally did not have to be anxious when transporting goods between the cities.
Unlike these excited, joyful people, the Zhang mansion in Luoshi City appeared to be somewhat gloomy at the moment. This oppressive atmosphere was created by Zhang Zhenshan, who was sitting in the head seat in the living room reading a letter in his hands with an unsightly expression.
After reading the letter, he lowered his head and pondered in silence for a while. Then he raised his head and looked at the housekeeper on one side, saying: “Make some preparations. I need to leave for Baifeng City immediately!”
“Yes, master.”
The housekeeper answered then hurriedly went to instruct his subordinates to make preparations. When he walked out of the door, he happened to bump head-on into a person. He lowered his head and saluted at once, saying: “Young master.”
“Humph.” That person replied casually with a snort then stepped into the room. Hiding his arrogant, bossy expression, he bowed slightly in salute to Zhang Zhenshan and asked carefully: “Father, you… want to go out?” His voice seemed to contain some anticipation.
This man had fair and clear complexion and was handsome, but he could not conceal the brutality and ruthlessness which occasionally flashed in his eyes — this was none other than Zhang Yang!
Seeming to have something on his mind, Zhang Zhenshan said casually: “Yeah, I’m taking a trip back to the school…”
Then he cast a look at his happy-looking son, frowned and said solemnly: “You’re thinking that after I leave, you can idle about and run amok all day long, right?”
“Er…” Zhang Yang had not expected his father to be able to see through his own mind. With a somewhat flustered expression, he momentarily did not know what to say.
“Humph! You think I don’t know what you normally do? All day long you visit brothels and sap your spirit by seeking pleasure! That girl of the Liu family is already about to become a middle Soul Warrior but you’re not even a late Soul Personage yet!
“You’re pretty talented, but you don’t put effort into practice. In the future, how can you establish a foothold in the school? How can you make me give you the Zhang family?!”
Reprimanded by his father, Zhang Yang did not dare to talk back at all. With an obsequious smile, he nodded again and again as if he was really listening to his father’s teaching.
“I will sincerely follow your teaching, father. I will definitely train hard later so that I won’t make you lose face.”
“Hm, I hope you can really do what you say. This time it will take me from ten days to a month to return to the school. You must manage yourself well at home. Don’t think that because your mother pampers you, you can do whatever you want. If you still haven’t reached the late Soul Personage stage by the time I return…”
“Please don’t worry, father. I will definitely improve my power as quickly as possible and reach the late Soul Personage stage!”
Zhang Yang’s mouth was full of promises but he was delighted inside. He was already thinking about whether he should go to look for Xiao Cui in the Tower of Ten Thousand Springs or ‘choose’ a girl on the street after getting his ‘freedom’.
… … … …
In Luoshi City, on the second floor of a restaurant on a flourishing main street, Bai Yunfei was sitting at a table near the street. As he ate the foods on the table in a somewhat unconcerned manner, he observed the people on the street.
It had been three days since his return to the city. Thanks to the battle in the Blackwood Stronghold and more than half a month of training, he had already reached the late Soul Personage stage, but he was not blinded by his new power and the hatred inside him at all. Instead of rushing into looking for Zhang Yang to get his revenge at all costs, he had rested for an entire day then begun to observe carefully around here.
Not far up ahead was the main gate of the Zhang mansion with two big stone lions standing loftily on its either side. With high walls and a luxurious gate, the mansion had quite an air of grandeur about it. At least that was how it was in the eyes of the common people in the city. The people going past the main gate of the Zhang mansion even subconsciously slowed their paces down a bit, seemingly for fear of offending the powerful Zhang family with the noises they made.
“I’ve been observing for two days, but I haven’t seen Zhang Yang appear even once. Is this because he’s been at home all along or he’s not at home at all? Or perhaps… he doesn’t go in and out through the main gate?” Bai Yunfei thought somewhat doubtfully.
Afraid of being noticed by other people, he had not always been looking at the main gate of the Zhang mansion. After all, nobody knew how many spies and henchmen the Zhang family had in the city, so he had better be careful in everything.
“Oh?” When Bai Yunfei withdrew his eyes and cast a casual look at the street below the restaurant, he noticed something unusual.
He saw three men sneakily following a young girl from behind. In fact, these three men were very careful as they followed her, seemingly accustomed to doing this kind of thing, so the young girl did not notice them at all. If Bai Yunfei was not looking down from a high place, it would not be easy for him to discover this either.
He considered for a while. Seeing that young girl unexpectedly head for a remote place, he stood up without any more hesitation, went down from the restaurant and followed her.
… … … …
In a rather secluded alleyway, a brief exclamation suddenly rang out, followed by soft muffled sounds. It seemed someone’s mouth had been covered before they could let out a fearful cry.
Two or three people walked by the opening of the alley and obviously heard the strange sounds in the alley, but none of them was interested. Instead, they went away hurriedly with slightly changed expressions, clearly not wanting to ask for trouble themselves.
In the alleyway, two burly men with bushy eyebrows and big eyes and a thievish-looking men with a small stature were gathering around, carrying a burlap sack tied with a rope.
“Ha ha, I didn’t expect us to run into such a top-tier bird. Capture her and give her to young master, he’ll definitely reward us big time!”
“Yeah, this one isn’t as juicy as the chick we helped them capture yesterday, but she’s a virgin too. Young master likes this kind of girl. Also, this time young master seemed to have been restrained so much he could not take it anymore. He unexpectedly told us to use all means necessary to give him women who can satisfy him, including openly kidnapping…”
“Yeah, young master is very impatient. He wants a girl tonight. If not for that young girl who was captured yesterday evening, he’d definitely like this one caught by us the most… Tsk, I really don’t know where the chief caught that girl. That kind of looks can turn anyone on. Too bad, she is young master’s…”
“Alright, cut the crap. Quickly lift her up and get away. Don’t let too many people notice us.” The little man on one side urged somewhat discontentedly, interrupting these two man.
However, what dissatisfied him even more was that these two man did not make a move even though they had stopped talking.
Just when he wanted to turn his head to complain, he saw the two men beside him gradually fall weakly to the ground without a sound. He was greatly shocked, but before he could turn around, he felt a pain at the back of his neck. Afterwards, he fell to the ground unconscious similarly with the whites of his eyes turning up.
The burlap sack was opened again, revealing a young girl who was bound and gagged.
She, who was already weeping buckets, looked at the youngster in front of her with an expression full of terror.
The youngster smiled at her and said gently: “Don’t be afraid. I’m here to save you. Now I’m going to untie you, but you must not shout, understand?”
After saying so, he unfastened the knots on her body, helped her stand up and pointed to the entrance of the alleyway, saying: “Just leave quickly. Later you must be careful when you’re not at home. Don’t go to remote places…”
Having watched the girl run out of the alleyway, Bai Yunfei lowered his head looking thoughtfully at the three men lying on the ground.
“According to what they said, it seems there’s still someone who was kidnapped to be given to that so-called ‘young master’… Now that I already ran into this, I’ll save her as well, otherwise I won’t be able to rest easy.”