Show Your Weapons

Hearing Green Tea Ancestor's words, Bulu Du immediately made the call. "Let them try. The treasure map is in my hands. Whoever refuses to let you have a share of the treasure, I'll take them out."

"You're so good to me."

Zu Hao wrapped an arm around Bulu Du's waist and said in a saccharine tone, "Those people outside only know how to fight and kill. Unlike me, I only know how to cherish my little sister."

After getting themselves ready, the two went downstairs side by side for dinner.

Though Bulu Du walked like Donald Duck.

The moment they reached the stairs, a stifling hot wind rushed at them.

By then, night had completely fallen. Dark clouds blanketed the sky outside the inn like an enormous black cloth draped overhead. The wind howled through the doors and windows, making mournful whimpering sounds. A storm was clearly on its way.

Quite a few people were already seated in the downstairs hall. The men of the Tatar Tribe sat around a large table, talking loudly.

The West Depot men occupied several other tables.

A few empty tables separated the two groups, yet an indescribable tension hung in the air.

Zu Hao understood at once. The West Depot men had previously clashed with the Tartars, and since they had come to ambush and kill Zhao Huai'an, they did not want outsiders interfering. So they had secretly bribed the waiter and planned to poison the Tartars' wine.

What they did not know was that Bulu Du was an expert in poisons, and she had been in league with Old Zhai at the inn from the start. Both groups had come in search of the Western Xia Treasure.

Old Zhai had long since secretly informed Bulu Du's men that the West Depot intended to poison them.

By now, the wine on the Tartars' table had already been quietly switched by the waiter, and they were drinking to their hearts' content without a care.

"Esteemed guest, your roast lamb is here!"

The waiter approached carrying a huge wooden platter. Upon it lay an entire golden-brown roast lamb, its skin crisp and glistening with oil, still sizzling as its aroma instantly filled the whole hall.

This was the roast lamb Zu Hao had ordered that afternoon. It needed to be cooked until tender and flavorful, so it was not ready until evening.

He walked over and sat at the Tartars' table. Bulu Du naturally took the seat beside him, cut off a piece of lamb leg with a small knife, and held it to Zu Hao's mouth. "Try it. Their roast lamb is pretty good."

Zu Hao opened his mouth and bit down. The meat was crisp on the outside and tender within. It really was delicious.

He ate lamb and drank with the Tatar men, and nothing happened to him at all.

Instead, a sudden change occurred at the West Depot table.

The moment Lü Bu drank a cup of wine, his face turned deathly pale. He immediately clutched his stomach as his body convulsed violently. Before long, foam spilled from his mouth, and he toppled stiffly onto the table.

"Poison!"

The West Depot men cried out and rose to their feet, glaring warily toward the Tartars.

Seeing this, Bulu Du burst into laughter and said something in fluent Tatar.

The West Depot men could not understand her. They could only watch her laugh as their expressions grew increasingly ugly.

"What did you say?"

Zhao Tong of the West Depot finally roared, one hand pressing down on the hilt of the blade at his waist as he glared viciously at Bulu Du.

Ha Gang, the Tatar man seated beside Bulu Du, set down his wine bowl and said irritably, "My mistress said that if you want to poison people, you should learn from your mother! With tricks like yours, you think you can make it out in the world? You poisoned yourself before anyone else!"

"Insolence!"

Tan Luzi, the West Depot's Second Chief, slammed his palm onto the table, making the bowls and plates rattle.

"Show your weapons!"

At Tan Luzi's cold shout, the dozen or so West Depot guards behind him drew their sabers in unison with a sharp swish. Their cold gleam instantly lit up the dim inn hall.

On the other side, the Tatar men led by Hagang Tonga refused to yield. They grabbed the curved blades and leather shields at hand, low growls rumbling from their throats.

The tension was at its peak, and battle could break out at any moment.

Just then, the inn's heavy wooden doors were suddenly pounded hard from outside. The banging echoed harshly through the taut silence.

An anxious cry came from beyond the door, carried amid the howling wind. "Innkeeper, we missed the hour to leave the pass and have come seeking lodging. Your inn banner is clearly hanging outside, so why have you shut the doors tight?"

The unexpected interruption made both groups pause. Every gaze immediately turned toward the entrance, alertness mixed with suspicion.

Zu Hao sat alone in a corner, leisurely taking a sip from a rough clay wine bowl.

The fiery warmth of the strong liquor rolled down his throat, and he calculated coldly.

The West Depot lackeys want to kill Zhao Huai'an. The Tartars and Old Zhai's gang are after the treasure in Western Xia's Blackwater City. They run a black inn, kill people, and turn them into food—snakes and rats in the same nest. None of them are any good. If they really fight, whoever dies will be one less scourge on the people.

Another urging sounded from outside. This time, it was a clear but fierce female voice. "Bullshit. You're lying through your teeth. This desert wind and sand are enough to make a person's bones ache, and you want us to stay outside eating sand?"

"This inn is so big. I'd say even the rafters could fit several rows of people squatting there. Open the door already!"

When no one inside reacted, the woman's voice suddenly rose, her curses becoming even more direct. "The wind outside is getting wilder. Are there any living people in there? Say something!"

The waiter Fengzi went pale with fright. Standing in the narrow gap between the armed groups, he hunched his neck and trembled as he called through the door, "Esteemed guests, a loss may yet turn out to be a blessing!"

"If you cannot enter tonight, perhaps that will be your good fortune..."

"Good—good—good fortune my ass!"

Zhao Tong, the West Depot's Fourth Chief, had a violent temper and had long grown impatient with this nonsense. He grabbed the elmwood stool at hand and hurled it at the door.

At that very moment—

Boom!

The heavy doors were kicked open from outside by an immense force.

A gale laden with sand poured in like floodwaters through a breached dam. Every candle in the hall flickered madly, brightening and dimming without cease. Shadows danced across every face like a horde of ghosts.

Squinting into the wind, everyone saw a tall, lean figure step in first through the swirling sand.

The newcomer wore a veiled conical hat and dark, travel-stained martial clothes that outlined a clean, sharp silhouette.

Though her face could not be seen, her upright bearing and intimidating presence silenced the hall.

Behind her followed a man dressed like a scholar. He wore a face covering and kept his head slightly lowered, as if avoiding the wind and sand.

The woman raised a hand, hooked her fingers beneath the light veil at the brim of her hat, and lifted it.

Her skin was the wheat-colored tan of someone who had traveled the martial world for years. Her brows and eyes were spirited, her nose straight, and her lips pressed into a firm line. An air of heroism and defiance rushed forth from her. She was Gu Shaotang, leader of the Eagle Gang.

Her eyes flashed as she swept her gaze across the armed groups confronting one another. Her brows suddenly furrowed, and she sneered. "You came to a temple to burn incense, yet you managed to start a fire? You've already shown your weapons, so why shut the doors and pretend this is some peaceful business?"

Her gaze passed one by one over the hostile West Depot men, the burly Tatar warriors, and Old Zhai's group huddled to one side. Seeing no one answer, her voice turned colder. "I'm talking to you! Have you all gone mute?"

Sitting in the shadows, Zu Hao looked at Gu Shaotang's sharply defined face, which bore an uncanny resemblance to Brother Chun.

He almost wanted to pull out three incense sticks and pay his respects.

Believe in Brother Chun, and you shall gain eternal life!

To encounter the real deal at this den of dragons and snakes known as Dragon Gate Inn was fate indeed.

At that moment, the man behind Gu Shaotang also removed his face covering, brushing the sand from his face to reveal a fair and handsome countenance.

The sight of that face made the West Depot men abruptly change color!

"Governor?!"

Ji Xueyong, the Third Chief, cried out in shock. His grip loosened, and the tip of his blade nearly dropped to the floor.

The surrounding lackeys looked at one another, their faces full of uncertainty and disbelief.

They could not understand how Yu Huatian, the West Depot's governor, had quietly arrived here—and why he was traveling with this woman of the martial world.

Zu Hao knew perfectly well that he was Feng Lidao, an intelligence broker who looked exactly like Yu Huatian, the governor of the West Depot.