The three men emerged from the cave and finally saw daylight again. Outside, the rain was still pouring down. Feeling the cool, damp wind against his face, Qiao Fangzheng strode into the storm without a care for its fury. He spread his arms and raised his head, reveling in the downpour. Rain quickly soaked him through, washing the filth from his body. His graying hair clung wetly to the back of his head, and water streamed from his empty eye sockets down his cheeks like tears. Yet Qiao Fangzheng, who had lost both eyes, would never again be able to shed tears in this lifetime. He laughed uproariously. "Heaven! Heaven, you have not treated me poorly! While I still draw breath, I will avenge this blood-deep hatred!"
As though Heaven had heard his cry, a bolt of purple lightning tore through the cloud-choked sky, illuminating Qiao Fangzheng's deeply furrowed, weather-beaten face. His expression was savage and terrifying.
Hu Xiaotian remembered that Ji Feihua was holding up the Beggar Gang at Happy Woods and feared he might run into trouble. Although Ji Feihua possessed formidable martial arts, the Beggar Gang was vast, with crouching tigers and hidden dragons among its ranks. Besides, Ji Feihua had gone alone, and a single timber could hardly support a whole building. Hu Xiaotian said to Qiao Fangzheng, "Senior, I have urgent business at Happy Woods. Why don't I go ahead, and you and Xia Changming follow afterward?"
Qiao Fangzheng paused slightly at the name Happy Woods. "What are you going there for?"
Hu Xiaotian concealed nothing from him and explained that members of the Beggar Gang were gathering at Happy Woods.
"Take me there," Qiao Fangzheng said. "I want to see exactly who is there." As soon as he said it, he realized how ill-chosen