Sacrifice

The seventh day of the seventh month—the River God Festival.

Today was Gaolin County's grand annual event.

Every household had hung mugwort and calamus before their doors to ward off evil and pray for blessings.

The cries of peddlers and the faint gongs, drums, strings, and pipes drifting from distant opera stages went on without end.

Temporary stalls had sprung up like mushrooms after rain, packed densely along both sides of the streets.

The crowds were like floodwaters bursting through opened gates, surging from the riverbank into the city's narrow lanes. The bustle was extraordinary.

As a river patrolman, Chen Qing naturally had no time to spare. At this moment, he was patrolling beside South River Wharf with a saber at his waist.

He was guarding against stampedes caused by the surging crowds, or anyone taking advantage of the chaos to make trouble.

When he reached an old teahouse by the river, the roaring din seemed to be held back somewhat by its bamboo awning.

Chen Qing lifted the door curtain and entered. He found an empty seat in a corner, sat down, and called out, "Waiter, bring me a bowl of big flower tea."

"Coming right up! One bowl of big flower tea!"

The waiter, with a towel draped over his shoulder, answered briskly. Before long, he brought over a bowl of flower tea.

Chen Qing picked up the bowl when he heard a familiar voice. "Junior Brother Chen!"

"Senior Brother Sun?"

Following the voice, he looked over and saw Sun Shun and Zhou Yu standing at the teahouse entrance. Sun Shun had changed out of his training clothes and was wearing a dark navy robe.

Beside him, Zhou Yu had changed into an elegant pale pink ruqun dress. Her raven hair cascaded like a waterfall, with only a plain wooden hairpin set at an angle within it, making her delicate and beautiful features stand out all the more.

Following close behind Zhou Yu was another female disciple of Zhou Academy, Li Rongrong. She wore a brand-new goose-yellow ruqun dress and exquisite makeup. Though she too was pretty, standing beside Zhou Yu left her radiance overshadowed.

Li Rongrong had been at the academy for over a year and had Bright Strength cultivation. She was usually close with Zhou Yu, while Chen Qing had little interaction with her.

"Senior Brother Sun, Senior Sister Zhou? You're here too?"

Chen Qing put down his tea bowl, rose to greet them with a smile, and said, "Come in and sit. Tea's on me."

Sun Shun sat down. "It's the River God Festival today. What senior or junior brother in the academy has the mind to practice boxing? They've all run out. Junior Sister and I don't like joining the crowds, so we just wandered around."

Zhou Yu gave Chen Qing a slight nod, a gentle smile resting on her lips. "Then thank you, Junior Brother Chen."

Li Rongrong also nodded reservedly, her gaze briefly lingering on Chen Qing's plain River Bureau uniform.

Chen Qing called the waiter over and ordered two more bowls of flower tea.

The teahouse was packed with voices, yet their corner was quite peaceful.

Li Rongrong lifted her rough pottery bowl and took a small sip of tea. Her eyes shifted over Chen Qing before she asked, "Junior Brother Chen, do you hold a part-time appointment at the River Bureau?"

"Mm," Chen Qing replied.

Li Rongrong set down her tea bowl, her tone carrying a hint of casual probing. "Have you never considered taking a part-time appointment somewhere else? The River Bureau is leisurely enough, but that salary... I'm afraid it must be tight even when buying Blood Vitality Powder, right?"

Chen Qing smiled, his tone calm. "With my strength, there are only so many places I can go. The River Bureau is steady, so it suits me well enough."

"There happens to be a good opportunity right now."

Sun Shun smiled and said, "Junior Brother Chen, haven't you noticed lately? All the major forces in the county are scrambling for people. The bar has been lowered quite a bit."

"Oh?" A trace of puzzlement flashed through Chen Qing's eyes.

Sun Shun lowered his voice. "You heard about Commandant Pang Qinghai's victory banquet some days ago, right? It looked like a celebration on the surface, but it was really about winning people over. He recruited quite a few young talents."

"There are rumors that the Commander's Mansion intends to expand its forces. Whether that's true or not is hard to say, but once the wind got out—"

He paused, lowering his voice even further. "The other forces all panicked. The Five Great Clans especially reacted the fastest. Their offers keep getting higher, and they're desperately recruiting skilled fighters from every corner."

"It's not just the Five Great Clans."

Li Rongrong cut in, her tone carrying a touch of pride at being well-informed. "Wangyuan Escort Agency, the Weapon Forging Shops in the Inner City, old establishments like Renhe Hall—they're all competing for people too. The market for part-time appointments in the county is rising with the tide. Bright Strength martial artists are already being offered eight taels of silver a month! As for Hidden Strength experts—"

She deliberately stressed the words, her gaze sweeping over Chen Qing. "They start at thirty taels! And that's only the public monthly salary. The additional provisions—medicinal supplements, weapons, clothes, armor—are even more generous!"

Hearing this, Chen Qing secretly clicked his tongue in amazement.

Hidden Strength experts started at thirty taels of silver. He could receive thirty taels a month without doing anything?

Madam Han worked herself to the bone weaving fishing nets, yet she only earned five or six taels a year.

Zhou Yu gently advised, "Junior Brother Chen, this truly is a rare opportunity. With your Bright Strength cultivation, it should not be difficult for you to take a part-time appointment with one of the smaller forces."

Her voice was soft and sincere.

Chen Qing drew a deep breath, nodded, and said, "Thank you for the reminder, Senior Sister. I'll consider it carefully."

Pies did not fall from the sky. If the major forces were willing to spend so heavily to recruit people, what they sought must be no small thing.

What sort of risks and responsibilities were hidden behind such seemingly generous rewards?

Would it be guarding homes and courtyards, or would he need to fight with real blades and real blood?

He needed to weigh it calmly.

Though the River Bureau's regular stipend was not much, its risks were at least controllable.

Just then, Li Rongrong's gaze happened to sweep past the entrance, and her expression changed slightly. "Senior Sister Zhou! Look over there. That's Gao Sheng from Songfeng Martial Arts School!"

Songfeng Martial Arts School?!

Chen Qing and Sun Shun immediately looked in the direction Li Rongrong indicated.

At the teahouse entrance, four or five burly men with bulging temples were lifting the curtain and entering.

The man at the front was around thirty-five or thirty-six. His features were rugged, his gaze as sharp as an eagle's, and he wore the distinctive dark green fighting attire of Songfeng Martial Arts School.

This man was Gao Sheng, one of the capable fighters among Songfeng Martial Arts School's younger generation.

"It really is him."

Zhou Yu's delicate brows drew together, and her expression turned grave.

Sun Shun's face also darkened somewhat. In a low voice, he explained to Chen Qing, "Junior Brother Chen, you entered late, so you may not know. When Master first founded Zhou Academy, he kicked in the doors of several martial arts schools to make a name for himself. One of them was Songfeng Martial Arts School."

"Their headmaster has never let it go, treating it as a humiliation beyond all humiliation. A few years ago, whenever disciples from the two sides met on the streets, fights would break out at the slightest disagreement. There was constant friction in private. Only in the last two years, with Master keeping us under strict control and Zhou Academy gradually gaining a foothold, did things finally settle down somewhat."

He paused, his tone cautionary. "Songfeng Martial Arts School is not weak. It is one of the six martial arts schools in the Inner City, with foundations far deeper than a Martial Master Academy like ours. If you encounter people from Songfeng Martial Arts School, avoid them if you can. Don't let yourself suffer a loss."

Chen Qing silently nodded, committing the name Songfeng Martial Arts School to memory.

Grudges within the martial world often cared even more about face than gang disputes, and were harder to resolve.

At this moment, Gao Sheng noticed them as well. He glanced over, then led his people deeper into the teahouse to sit down, without immediately coming over to provoke them.

Chen Qing withdrew his gaze and raised his tea bowl, but the vigilance in his heart did not ease.

The teahouse's clamor seemed dulled by this small incident, while an invisible tension spread through the air.

Yet this brief oppression was soon completely swallowed by a disturbance that swept in like a tsunami.

"Something happened! Something huge happened by the river!"

"Run! Someone's been killed!"

Like droplets of water thrown into boiling oil, a massive uproar erupted from the direction of the riverbank and spread into the city at an unprecedented speed.

The sound was no longer festival revelry, but screams filled with terror, chaos, and disbelief.

The teahouse's noisy chatter and cries of vendors were abruptly cut off. Everyone stared in shock toward the entrance and windows.

The flow of people in the street was like a startled swarm of ants, beginning to surge madly in the opposite direction.

"What's going on?"

"What happened?"

The teahouse patrons rose one after another, craning their necks to look outside, their faces filled with uncertainty and alarm.

Amid the chaos, a panicked man squeezed past the teahouse entrance from the street and cried out, "The Commandant... the Commandant was assassinated at the sacrificial ceremony."

Boom—!

Those words exploded through the small teahouse like a bolt from the blue!

"What?!"

"Commandant Pang Qinghai... was assassinated?!"

"How... how is that possible?!"

"Heavens! Who did it?!"

"Something huge is about to happen! Gaolin County is about to change!"

The discussion surged like a tide, instantly drowning the teahouse. Every face was filled with disbelief.

Commandant Pang Qinghai was the sky of Gaolin County.

He was the ruthless man who had once killed the Boatmen's Gang leader with a single thrust of his spear, his might shaking all directions.

Such a figure had been assassinated during the River God Festival ceremony, under the gaze of countless people?

It was beyond everyone's imagination.

Sun Shun stood completely frozen. "How... how could that be possible?!"

Zhou Yu's beautiful face was likewise filled with shock and gravity.

Li Rongrong had turned pale with fright, trembling all over.

Chen Qing's heart was shaken as well.

An assassination of the Commandant?

This was no ordinary martial-world vendetta. The depth of what lay behind it, and the enormity of its impact, were enough to plunge all of Gaolin County into a storm of blood and slaughter.

In an instant, images flashed through his mind: Qin Lie joining the bandit suppression, attaching himself to the Commander's Mansion, attending the victory banquet. A chill quietly crawled up his spine.

At that moment, Old Li from the River Bureau stood amid the chaotic street and shouted hoarsely, "A Qing, something huge has happened! Come with me, quickly!"

His voice was hoarse, filled with a panic unlike anything before.