Qi-Lu Highwaymen and the Strange Snake

Qi-Lu Highwaymen and the Strange Snake

Those of the jianghu could smell one another from miles away.

It was originally a proverb, meaning that fellow jianghu folk could fool outsiders with their twists, turns, and petty tricks, but never their own kind.

But for Li Yan, he could truly smell it.

After that night, his sense of smell had grown even sharper.

That group was galloping along the Official Road, still a hundred meters away, yet the thick stench of blood on them could not hide from Li Yan's nose.

It was the smell of human blood!

Not only that, it carried a trace of corpse stink.

Fortunately, Li Yan could still tell that these smells truly existed, unlike the peculiar scents of Rampaging Soldiers, the Land God Temple, and such things.

He could see that Sha LiFei, an old hand of the jianghu, was naturally more alert. He immediately rose and said softly to those around him, "Something's wrong. Stay sharp..."

As he spoke, he hurriedly got to his feet, setting his feet into a stance—not a T, not an eight—both elbows slightly bent, his palms less than three inches from his saber hilt.

It was a saber wielder's defensive posture.

When encountering unfamiliar jianghu folk, one neither drew one's blade, lest it cause a misunderstanding, nor lost the ability to strike first and seize the advantage.

Li Yan's swift saber came from the same First Gate as Sha LiFei's, so naturally he recognized it.

What was more, he could tell that this old slickster had shifted his center of gravity backward. Clearly, he intended to run at the first sign of trouble.

The migrant harvesters hired saber wielders to lead them not only for work, but also as a safeguard. After all, the folkways of Guanzhong were fierce, and bandits who robbed the roads were never in short supply.

But Sha LiFei clearly did not possess that sort of sense of responsibility.

The migrant harvesters around them grew even more nervous, gripping their sickles tightly.

Some had learned martial forms. The rest might not know Sickle Skill, but they had used farm tools year-round until they wielded them as naturally as their own hands. In a pinch, they could chop people too.

With their numerical advantage, they could still stand their ground and bolster their courage rather than turn and scatter.

As the hoofbeats drew near, that group also reined in their horses and looked them over.

Beneath Bamboo Hats were weather-beaten faces, every one grim. Some wore amused looks in their eyes, while others were filled with contempt.

Li Yan had now confirmed it. This group was made up of bandits.

No matter how they dressed or what weapons they carried, each had a loose black cloth tied around his neck.

That was a bandit's mark. When it came time to act, a pull of the hand would raise it over the face.

But bandits had bandit rules as well.

Were these people mad, swaggering down the road in broad daylight?

Just then, Sha LiFei reluctantly stepped forward, laughed heartily, and clasped his fists. "Mountains have Five Sacred Peaks, waters have Five Great Lakes; the northwest has its own blade. You gentlemen look unfamiliar. Might I ask where you hail from?"

It was jianghu cant. Others heard only gibberish, but Li Yan understood.

Mountains having Five Sacred Peaks and waters having Five Great Lakes referred to the four corners of the Divine Land.

Sha LiFei had seen that these people were unfamiliar and did not seem to be from Guanzhong Road. He was also making clear that he himself was a jianghu man, hoping to make them wary.

After all, there was a saying: a mighty dragon could not crush a local snake.

Sha LiFei certainly did not count as a dragon. He was not even qualified to be called a snake.

But this was how one traveled the jianghu. Whether one could bluff them or not, bluff first and worry later.

Generally, after Sha LiFei asked, the other side would answer—naming the mountain where they stayed, the river they traveled, the incense they worshipped, and the like.

This was called sounding out the road, probing each other's background to avoid misunderstandings.

Who would have thought that the other side gave no response at all?

Several of them even toyed with their blades, malice in their eyes.

At that moment, the leader barked, "Move. They're just a bunch of poor mud-legged peasants. Don't waste the hour."

His accent was completely different from that of Guanzhong.

Qi-Lu Highwaymen!

Li Yan's heart jolted, and he immediately guessed their identities.

There were many formidable men on the Greenwood Path, and quite a few were famous—Guandong Bandit Gangs, Guanzhong Bandits, Central Plains Bandits, Qi-Lu Highwaymen, Taihu Water Bandits, and so on.

They were all of the Lan Family Gate, living by kidnapping for ransom, home invasion, and robbery.

Generally speaking, each had its own mountain stronghold and territory, and rarely crossed boundaries.

For them to come here in such a grand display, something strange had to be going on.

Sha LiFei had recognized it as well. Both his legs were trembling.

Fortunately, at the leader's command, those highwaymen did not linger. They spurred their horses onward and vanished into the rolling dust.

After waiting a little while, Sha LiFei suddenly stepped forward and drew his saber with a clang. Pointing it into the distance, he cursed furiously, "Ruleless dog bastards! If I weren't leading my fellow villagers, I'd teach you a lesson today!"

Li Yan was speechless and rolled his eyes.

They had already left. What was the point of saying any of that?

The migrant harvesters around him hurried forward to pull him back and soothe him.

"Hero Sha, calm down..."

"Yeah, don't call them back..."

Sha LiFei still looked enraged. After sheathing his saber, he grumbled, "A bunch of highwaymen? I, Sha LiFei, don't take them seriously at all. If not for fearing you'd get hurt... Hmph!"

An old man was still shaken. "This year's been a bit unsettled. Shouldn't we hurry and leave?"

"Leave for what?!"

Sha LiFei glared at him. "That bunch just left. They may be heading ahead to fight someone. Are you rushing to your deaths? We'll leave later and avoid them."

Li Yan secretly nodded at that.

The man might be cowardly, but his jianghu experience was beyond reproach.

The migrant harvesters all nodded in agreement. They had come out to earn money. Whoever those people were, it was best not to stir up trouble.

Yet not long afterward, Li Yan sprang to his feet like a carp flipping from water, drew his saber with a clang, and stared tensely into the distance.

"What now?"

Sha LiFei jumped and hurried over to ask.

Li Yan gripped the Guan Shan Saber tightly and said in a low voice, "Something's coming!"

The something he meant was naturally not a person.

Not long after those highwaymen had left, he had caught another scent—cold and chilling, with a thick fishy stench.

It was several times stronger than Blind Old Three's had been.

Li Yan felt his scalp prickle. Could it be that, after awakening his spirit root, something had spotted him as he passed by?

What kind of formidable thing dared to appear at high noon...

Sha LiFei was startled as well. He drew both sabers and looked around, but the surroundings were flat and empty. There was no sign of people and no sound of horses. He could not help saying suspiciously, "You brat, are you having a fit? Where are the people?"

"What's that?!"

Before he finished speaking, Hei Dan pointed to the left and cried out.

Everyone looked up. In the wheat field to the left of the Official Road, waves of wheat rustled and swayed, continually parting as though something were speeding through them.

And judging by the movement, it was definitely not small.

As everyone wondered what it could be, a giant snake as thick as a sea bowl slowly lifted its head from the wheat. It flicked its tongue with a hiss, its scales glittering brilliantly beneath the sunlight.

More strangely, there was something like a cockscomb atop its head.

"Cockscomb Snake!"

Quite a few migrant harvesters immediately turned pale with fright.

There was a folk tale that the Cockscomb Snake had the head of a rooster and a comb upon it. Whoever it struck would surely die.

This snake was sinister by nature and loved to burrow into graveyards and ancient tombs. Old people's stories often told of Grave Robbers who encountered one while digging up graves and suffered divine retribution.

More importantly, everyone said this thing was a demon snake that had cultivated the Dao.

Li Yan's entire body broke out in gooseflesh. He sensed it more clearly than anyone else: the Cockscomb Snake gave off a cold, fishy smell, even stronger than the incense scent of the Land God Temple.

And that icy gaze seemed to be fixed upon him.

Li Yan reached out and touched the red cloth bundle containing the Three Talents Demon Suppressing Coin Sword Tassel.

Fortunately, this thing had a body. With the treasure, perhaps he could kill it.

He just did not know whether, after slaughtering it, it would become some other strange thing and cling to him...

"Don't move!"

Just then, Sha LiFei gave a low shout. Staring fixedly ahead, he said with a tremble in his voice, "I've heard people say that snakes with cultivation all measure people."

"As long as you're taller than it is, the thing will be scared to death."

"Quick, stack Arhats!"

Quite a few of them had heard this tale as well.

Even ancient texts recited by storytellers contained related accounts: when a snake had cultivated the Dao, it loved to compare lengths with people. If it won, it bit them; if it lost, it died on its own. Yet it had to face the person openly, never comparing in secret. When travelers in the mountains encountered one, they held umbrellas or tools high overhead. If the snake could not surpass them, it died.

Though they did not know whether it was true, they could only follow orders.

They were not fools. Everyone had seen how fast the Cockscomb Snake had been just now. There was no way they could outrun it.

Very quickly, the migrant harvesters began stacking themselves into Arhats.

They were very familiar with this childhood game. The strong men stood below, while the thinner ones stepped on their hands and climbed onto their shoulders.

They could not compare to Jianghu Performers, but in the blink of an eye, they had formed three levels.

To their delight, the Cockscomb Snake only watched them from the distant wheat field. It seemed to be hesitating and did not advance.

"It worked! I told you it would!"

Sha LiFei was strong and sturdy, carrying two people on his back with a proud grin.

But his expression soon froze.

The Cockscomb Snake suddenly raised its head, its upper body standing straight and climbing higher and higher. Before long, it had surpassed their stack of Arhats.

"Quick, get more people up!"

"Wh-who the hell has the runs?!"

Everyone fell into a panic. Li Yan also leaped up, stepped off the nearby great locust tree, and landed atop the human wall, saber in hand.

With something unknown like this, he could only trust Sha LiFei's method.

But for some reason, he had the inexplicable feeling that the snake was mocking them.

Just then, the Cockscomb Snake suddenly twisted its neck, as if listening to something. Then it burrowed into the wheat field and, like a gust of wind, disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The wind swept through the wheat waves, and from afar came what sounded like the mournful piping of a short flute...

At last, everyone let out a breath of relief, their bodies gone weak with fear.

One old migrant harvester could not help cursing, "What's with this year? First bandits, now a strange snake. Did we run into the Grand Duke of the Year when we left home?"

Li Yan looked thoughtfully into the distance.

He had a feeling that the Cockscomb Snake's target was those highwaymen.

After these successive frights, everyone was clearly flustered and unsettled.

Seeing that morale was wavering, Sha LiFei once again bragged and thumped his chest. After gathering the group back together, they continued onward.

Their original plan had been to take a secluded mountain path as a shortcut.

But under these circumstances, Sha LiFei was uneasy too. He led them only along the broad Official Road, inevitably costing them an extra day.

Fortunately, nothing strange happened again along the way.

Sha LiFei was an old hand of the jianghu, so he naturally asked at tea stalls and questioned passersby about where those highwaymen had gone. Fortunately, after the fork in the Official Road, those people never appeared again.

Thus, several days passed before they finally saw Xianyang City.

They did not enter the city. Instead, under Sha LiFei's lead, they headed toward a nearby village.

Only then did Sha LiFei boast proudly, "The household we're working for this year is very generous. Their wages are higher than everyone else's, and they have plenty of land."

"If it weren't for me, Sha LiFei, where would you get an opportunity like this..."

Li Yan, meanwhile, was distracted, looking around aimlessly.

Sha LiFei had promised that after settling the migrant harvesters, he would take Li Yan to Xianyang City to visit Wang Dao Xuan.

Li Yan wondered whether the man truly had real skills, and whether he would be willing to accept him as a disciple...