Lord Gou's Doom

As a new day dawned,

the docks and market at Yangcheng Dian were once again bustling with noise and activity.

The Xumin went out fishing in their boats. Once they had a catch, they sailed back to the docks, weighed and counted the fish, then handed them over to porters and laborers to carry into the warehouses.

They earned a meager wage each day, supporting their families and scraping by with difficulty.

It was as though they had already forgotten what happened last night. Not one of them mentioned or discussed it.

At the highest point in the market stood several neat, imposing buildings.

They were a branch of the Canglang Gang.

To the people who made their living at Yangcheng Dian, these buildings held a status no lower than the Prefect's yamen in Dingzhou City.

Inside the Loyalty and Righteousness Hall, Lord Gou was flying into a rage.

The little woman he had just gotten his hands on last night was gone.

He should not have been so angry over just one woman, but this little woman was different.

She seemed to have a toughness and stubbornness in her bones, and it was precisely that toughness and stubbornness that made him unable to put her down or stop himself.

She was a true rouge-coated wild mare. What he enjoyed was not riding her, but the feeling of breaking her in.

So he had not actually taken her last night. Instead, he had tortured her all night first.

Even now, the feeling of torturing and breaking her in left him wanting more, savoring it endlessly.

So the first thing Lord Gou did after crawling out of bed was look for the little woman he had locked up, only to find that she had vanished without a trace.

How could he not be consumed by rage?

"Trash, the lot of you! You can't even keep an eye on one little woman. What use are you to me?"

Faced with Lord Gou's fury, everyone below him hung their heads, not daring to talk back.

"Chief, please calm down. Lazi Zhang has already taken men after her. I'm sure they'll catch her and bring her back soon."

The bookkeeper handed him a cup of tea and spoke to soothe him.

Lord Gou took the teapot and drained it in one gulp. The fire in his heart finally subsided a little.

"Where did that little woman run off to?"

The bookkeeper replied, "She took a boat out onto the lake."

"Hahaha... After I tortured her like that last night, she still had the strength to row a boat. She really is tough and stubborn. I like that." Lord Gou burst out laughing when he heard this, unable to hide the pride and delight on his face.

"Huh... Why did she go out onto the lake instead of running to Dingzhou City?" he asked in puzzlement a moment later.

The bookkeeper explained, "Chief, have you forgotten? There's still a young master from an Aristocratic Clan over on the other side of the lake. He's the one who gave the Li Household ten taels of silver."

Lord Gou's expression changed slightly at the bookkeeper's words.

He had noticed that young man on the very first day he came to Yangcheng Dian.

Though the young man was dressed plainly, his face and the bearing about him had convinced Lord Gou that he was no ordinary person.

What happened afterward was just as he had guessed. The young man had casually spent ten taels of silver to rent Li Jiu's boat, generous and lavish.

And he had rented the boat just to watch the white cranes on those mudflats, spending three whole days doing it.

In Lord Gou's eyes, such a fucking stupid thing was something only the young masters of wealthy families and Aristocratic Clans in the city would do.

Those young masters even had some name for such things: refined pleasures.

Though he did not understand it, he respected it—respected it very much.

And those young masters with holes in their heads were precisely the people they dared not offend.

It was only because of his instructions that the young master from an Aristocratic Clan had been able to stay at Yangcheng Dian for so many days without anything happening to him.

Otherwise, given the nature and disposition of his men, that frail young master, alone and free with his money, probably would not have lived to see the second day.

"You mean that little woman wants to go find that young master from an Aristocratic Clan?"

"What young master from an Aristocratic Clan would concern himself with a lowly Xumin?"

The two iron balls in Lord Gou's palm rattled as he rolled them, showing that he was not as calm inside as he appeared.

In fact, he had already considered that young master from an Aristocratic Clan before making a move against Li Jiu. Otherwise, he would not have waited until last night.

But after thinking it over, he decided that a young master from an Aristocratic Clan who had only met Li Jiu and his daughter by chance could not possibly risk offending the Canglang Gang to help a lowly Xumin. On top of that, he truly coveted Li Jiu's daughter, and so he finally made up his mind.

"Rest assured, Chief. Those young masters of wealthy families and Aristocratic Clans all have their eyes on top of their heads. How could they possibly care whether these lowborn people live or die? That little woman is just indulging in wild fancies and dreaming in broad daylight."

Hearing even the bookkeeper say so, Lord Gou immediately set his mind at ease and laughed heartily.

"Once Laipi Zhang brings that little woman back, just watch how I deal with her. She dared to run? She really doesn't know what's good for her."

What they did not know, however,

was that Gao Yunyi, as they saw him, was not a young master from an Aristocratic Clan or a wealthy family, but a True Immortal.

Still less did they know

that Gao Yunyi would not only involve himself in this matter, but would also pull the entire Canglang Gang up by the roots and wipe it out completely.

Screee—

Suddenly, a high, lingering crane cry rang out above them. Its piercing sound passed straight through the roof and reached their ears.

Lord Gou froze, a puzzled look on his face.

There were cranes at Yangcheng Dian, but they lived only on those mudflats or on the lake far from the docks. They had never dared come to the crowded, bustling docks.

This was the first time he had heard a crane's cry so clearly while inside a building.

He was not alone. Everyone in the hall wore the same expression, their faces filled with puzzlement and curiosity.

"Chief! Chief!"

Suddenly, a patrolman came running in through the door, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"What are you shouting about? Has Laipi Zhang brought that little woman back?" Lord Gou asked impatiently.

"No, no."

The patrolman answered, gasping for breath, but the expression on his face was very strange.

Before Lord Gou could question him further, however, the patrolman hurried on. "A crane flew in over the docks—a huge crane, with two people on its back!"

Lord Gou: "..."

How big could a huge crane be?

And it was carrying two people on its back?

What the hell was that?

Could this fellow be drunk and seeing things in broad daylight?

Lord Gou naturally did not believe something so absurd and bizarre, and the anger in his heart flared up again.

But Lord Gou soon understood what the patrolman meant, because a streak of scarlet Sword Qi descended from the sky and split the sturdy, imposing building clean in two.

Dazzling flames, rolling waves of Qi, collapsing beams, bricks, and roof tiles instantly filled the once spacious and lavish Loyalty and Righteousness Hall.

Lord Gou sat slumped on the ground, covered in dust, his eyes wide and full of shock and astonishment.

His men, who had been lively and kicking just moments ago, were now either injured or crippled. Several unlucky ones lay motionless on the ground, already cold corpses.

Worst off was his bookkeeper, pinned beneath a massive pillar. His facial features bulged, his bones and sinews were crushed, and his flattened body resembled a puddle of mud.

The Loyalty and Righteousness Hall, which he had regarded as a palace hall, had long since become a ruin of broken walls and devastation as far as the eye could see.

His throne, that grand armchair, had also been reduced to fiercely burning firewood.

Lord Gou could not believe the scene before him.

He thought he might have gotten drunk and begun seeing things in broad daylight.

But when another high, lingering crane cry rang out, Lord Gou's illusion was torn apart in an instant, and cruel reality lay before him.