Spirit-Disturbing

Early morning, Xinyou Alley

Miao Bai, a Minor Leader of the White Wave Gang, walked into the alley with a gloomy expression.

Two dark-faced Burly Men followed behind him, looking as though they had come to lodge a complaint.

"Still haven't found that Fisherman?" Miao Bai asked harshly.

"That guy's as slippery as a fish. One moment he was there, the next he was gone. The two of us have gone around all of Qingshan County no fewer than five times these past couple of days, but we still haven't seen hide nor hair of him."

"Useless!" Miao Bai's face darkened.

Earlier, he had told the Hall Master that he had found a way to make a fortune.

Yet there had been no results even now.

These past few days, the way the Hall Master looked at him had changed.

"Master Bai, it's not like we found nothing."

"Shun Liu, who hangs around the city gate, said the Fisherman lives inside the city. He saw him leaving the city carrying an empty basket."

Miao Bai's expression eased.

As long as he lived in the city, things would be easier.

The White Wave Gang had well-connected sources. As long as he kept selling fish, they would have no trouble catching him.

"When we see the Hall Master later, explain everything carefully. We'll ask him to send some men. I refuse to believe we can't find one Fisherman!" Miao Bai's heart bled.

Once this matter was handed over, even if it succeeded in the end, his credit would be shared out.

It had originally been his achievement. But now...

Miao Bai shot the two men behind him a vicious glare.

The three of them made their way into Xinyou Alley with practiced familiarity.

"Master Bai, why is it so quiet?" a Burly Man behind him asked curiously.

Miao Bai's heart skipped a beat.

Xinyou Alley had always been bustling in the past.

Every morning, the various leaders and Hall Masters gathered here to receive assignments. It was always noisy and crowded. How could it be this quiet?

When they reached the entrance to the White Wave Gang's headquarters,

they saw that the gates were wide open, yet there were no Gate Guardians.

All three men's faces changed.

"Could another gang have wiped out the headquarters?"

The three cautiously entered through the gates.

"Master Bai, should we run?" the other Burly Man behind him suggested quietly.

"What are you panicking for? Go in and see clearly!" Miao Bai gathered his courage and walked around the entrance screen wall.

In the huge courtyard, people lay sprawled all over the ground!

Miao Bai's heart lurched. "It's over!"

He was just about to flee when he suddenly realized something was wrong.

One of the men lying not far away was a Minor Leader who had never gotten along with him.

The man was lying on the ground with his mouth crooked and eyes slanted, but his eyeballs were still moving.

He wasn't dead?

Just as Miao Bai was about to step forward and check on him, he suddenly felt dizzy and disoriented.

The three of them collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Before he hit the ground, Miao Bai's peripheral vision drifted toward the main hall of the inner courtyard.

He vaguely saw the Gang Leader and the Third Hall Master both slumped in the hall's chairs.

Their faces were flushed, their eyes unfocused, like drunken cats after too much wine.

Their White Wave Gang had been taken out in one fell swoop!

Outside Xinyou Alley.

Chen Mu crouched on a tree branch.

He wore Bamboo Hat and Grey Clothes, with a thick mask covering his mouth and nose.

He held a Yellow Gourd in his hand, and wisps of green smoke rose from its opened mouth.

The green smoke spread extremely quickly. Not long after leaving the Gourd, it dispersed rapidly and, carried by a faint breeze, blew swiftly into Xinyou Alley.

"The concentration is enough." After roughly calculating the amount of Spirit-Disturbing Incense released, Chen Mu quickly put away the Gourd.

"That should keep them drunk for a day." Chen Mu jumped down from the tree.

Looking at the silent Xinyou Alley, he shook his head helplessly. "It's not easy for ordinary folks to do a little business."

"The White Wave Gang acts with complete impunity, and there are powerful people backing them. What else could I do?"

"If I want to sell fish in peace, I have no choice but to treat these thugs to a Gourdful."

"The world is dangerous, and making a living is hard."

East Market

Chen Mu, dressed in Bamboo Hat and Grey Clothes with a Yin-Yang Face, strode over lightly.

He set down two heavy baskets and let out a loud cry.

"Fresh Live Fish, thirty coins each! First come, first served!"

"Looks like the Fisherman's in a good mood."

"Buying or not? If not, get lost!"

"Heh!"

Three days later, Xinyou Alley, White Wave Gang headquarters.

Groups of gang thugs were divided into several patrol teams, leading Watchdogs as they continuously circled the courtyard walls.

Inside the main hall of the inner courtyard.

Zhang Ye, the White Wave Gang's Gang Leader, sat calmly at the head seat, his face covered in a thick beard.

A Ghost-Head Saber rested against the table to his right, while a brown medicine chest sat on its surface.

"You've all got Detoxification Pills on you, right?" Zhang Ye asked.

"They're all on us." Hall Master Jia Da clasped his fists.

"Are the men in position too?" Zhang Ye continued.

"That person probably used the wind to spread poison. Hidden weapon experts have been stationed at every upwind position," Hall Master Yi Si'an said solemnly.

"What about the Black Tiger Gang?" Zhang Ye asked on.

"We've arranged for brothers to watch them. They've been very well-behaved these past two days." The last Hall Master, Zhen Fan, answered respectfully.

"Everything is ready. Now we just wait for that thief to walk into the net." Cold light flickered in Zhang Ye's eyes.

He had no idea who this person was.

They had poisoned the entire gang unconscious, then simply left them alone.

If they had a grudge, wouldn't it have been better to show themselves then and kill him and the others?

They had not possessed the slightest ability to resist at the time.

He could not figure out the reason no matter how much he thought about it.

But it was no great problem.

"Once we catch them, we'll know everything." Zhang Ye reached for the hilt of the Ghost-Head Saber.

Since he had raised his banner and established a hall in Qingshan County, he had never suffered such humiliation.

Anyone who dared oppose him had had their heads chopped off by his Ghost-Head Saber.

This time would be no exception!

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly realized that his right hand had grabbed empty air.

He turned to look, and his vision blurred. The saber hilt had become two.

He instinctively reached out to grab it, only to clutch at empty air again.

His head grew hot, blood rushed into his eyes, and tears welled up uncontrollably, as if he were drunk.

A bad feeling rose in his heart.

He looked up groggily.

The three Hall Masters who had just been speaking with such certainty were now slumped in their chairs, their mouths crooked and eyes slanted, looking as though they were about to slide beneath the stools.

Hall Master Jia Da reached into his robes with his right hand, but his hand shook so badly that he could not even grasp the bottle of antidote.

The small Porcelain Bottle rolled all the way into the middle of the hall, yet he could do nothing about it.

Zhang Ye: "..."

Fuck!

They'd fallen for it again!

Beneath a window outside the main hall, Chen Mu stood in the shadows and silently put away the Yellow Gourd.

"These people are really hard to please. If I want to treat you to a Gourdful, I have to come to your door myself."

"Ah, no helping it. When you ask someone to do something, don't you have to be humble?"

"Even if I'm only a humble little Fisherman?"

Chen Mu tucked the Gourd at his waist and quietly followed behind a pair of patrol teams.

Wherever he passed, gang members dropped to the ground one after another as if drunk, unable to rise again.

Before long, all of Xinyou Alley had once again become deathly silent.

Behind Tianyi Hall in the west of the city.

Chen Mu hummed a tune as he noisily stir-fried dishes.

He had sold two baskets of fish today and earned another two taels of silver.

He had stopped by Butcher Zheng's place on the way, and unexpectedly, the shop had actually opened today.

Chen Mu immediately bought two pork elbows and brought them back. One of them had already been stewing in the earthenware pot beside him for half an hour.

Before long, a fragrant braised pork elbow was placed on the table.

Beside the Stone Table beneath the grapevine.

Jie Jia was rolling Silver Beads.

Beside him lay a pile of Broken Silver worth no less than two hundred taels.

"Is being in the assassin business really that profitable?" Chen Mu asked enviously.

"Depends on the market." Jie Jia focused on rolling the little balls.

"Looks like the market's been pretty good lately," Chen Mu said sourly.

Jie Jia glanced at Chen Mu. "I picked this up."

Chen Mu's eyes widened.

Where could someone pick up so much silver? Why had he never run into such good fortune?

As if he knew what Chen Mu was wondering, Jie Jia put away the Silver Beads he had rolled, then packed the Broken Silver into a cloth bag and tucked it into his belt.

Then he said calmly, "I picked it up in Xinyou Alley."

Why did that place sound so familiar?

"There's a Mansion in that alley. It was full of money pouches lying on the ground, and no one wanted them, so I casually picked them up and brought them back." Jie Jia used the tip of his chopsticks to tear off a bit of soft, sticky pig skin, then slowly chewed it with an expression of enjoyment.

Chen Mu: "..."

That fucking should all have been mine!

"I'm curious too. You knocked them all out, so why didn't you go loot the bodies?" Jie Jia asked with sincere curiosity.

"I fucking forgot!"