Dirty hands

"Ah..."

"If you've got the guts, kill me..."

"Aaaah, give me a chance! I know I was wrong..."

"Make it quick! Just make it quick, aaaaah..."

A group of Embroidered Uniform Guard enforcers gathered outside the county court hall, their eyelids twitching as they whispered in twos and threes.

"What's your Banner Commander doing in there?"

A voice suddenly sounded beside one enforcer's ear.

The enforcer answered instinctively, "What else? Teaching those blind jianghu bastards a lesson. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Of all the people to provoke, they had to pick our Banner Commander. With that mule's temper of his..."

Halfway through, the enforcer abruptly came to his senses. He turned his head to look, then hurriedly cupped his fists and said respectfully, "Your subordinate greets the Thousand-Household Commander!"

"Your subordinates greet the Thousand-Household Commander!"

All the enforcers saluted in unison.

Shen Fa waved a hand. "Enough. Keep standing guard!"

With that, he strode into the county court hall.

He had been inside for quite a while before a mass of heavy footsteps sounded outside the county office gates.

Hearing the calls outside the hall, Yang Ge turned toward the doorway and saw a travel-worn Shen Fa step over the threshold.

He could tell that Shen Fa had just fought a fierce battle.

His topknot had been sliced off, and his uneven long hair was tied haphazardly with a hemp cord.

His fine black-patterned fighting clothes had been slashed into a patchwork rag, exposing his pale blue underclothes all over.

A strip of cloth half a foot wide was tied around his left arm to staunch the bleeding, but blood was still seeping through...

Yang Ge studied Shen Fa.

Shen Fa studied Yang Ge, too.

Yang Ge gripped a blood-drenched knife. Both his hands were covered in blood, and droplets had spattered his face.

His eyes were red, his face utterly expressionless and frighteningly grim.

Before him, three men in black lay half-reclining against the wall in a row. Each man's knees were a mangled mess of flesh and blood, and their hands and heads bore numerous marks of torture.

The three vicious fiends who had killed without batting an eye now huddled like birds startled by a bowstring, fear and grievance written across every face...

Truth be told.

The sight of Yang Ge like this gave Shen Fa such a fright that even his footsteps grew much lighter.

He forced a smile. "You could've left this dirty work to the men below you. Why did you have to do it yourself?"

Still forcing a smile as he greeted Yang Ge, he slowly approached his side and reached out to pull the knife from his hand.

Yang Ge held the knife in a death grip, refusing to release it, his eyes fixed unwaveringly on him.

Shen Fa's heart skipped into a faster rhythm. He hastily said, "Don't worry. We've got plenty of skilled hands who know how to be meticulous. I guarantee these bastards won't be able to live even if they beg, or die even if they wish!"

Only after those words did Yang Ge finally release the knife.

Shen Fa breathed a long sigh of relief inwardly, flung the knife far away with a backhand toss, and turned to shout, "Men!"

Just then, one of the men in black suddenly threw himself at Shen Fa's feet, clutched his calf, and bawled, "Sir, there's no need for any more torture! We'll tell you everything! We'll tell you everything..."

Shen Fa turned to look at Yang Ge in astonishment.

Yang Ge slowly closed his eyes in exhaustion.

A little guilt stirred in Shen Fa's heart. He gently patted Yang Ge's arm. "All right. You handled things very well today. Leave the rest to me. Go home and rest first. Whatever else there is, we can talk about it later."

With his eyes closed, Yang Ge shook his head. "No need. I want to know, too-just how important are these people, and just how important is this business, that they won't even spare a little girl who knows nothing!"

After hesitating for several breaths, Shen Fa shook his head and sighed. "Just live your life in peace and practice your martial arts. Let your big brother handle this filthy, rotten bullshit. There's no need to dirty your hands any further."

"I want to be a clean man, too!"

Yang Ge opened his eyes and looked at the man in black who had said earlier that those who accomplished great things did not concern themselves with trifles. His clenched fists crackled. "But why do these bastards refuse to listen, no matter what!"

Shen Fa noticed his right leg trembling nonstop, his toes nearly pushing through his shoe. His heart sank. Before Yang Ge could act, he darted over and struck the man in black on the forehead with his palm.

The man's eyes bulged, and his gaze instantly froze...

Yang Ge's pupils abruptly contracted as well, and he looked at Shen Fa in bewilderment.

Shen Fa gently exhaled a stale breath and patted Yang Ge's forearm, saying softly, "Don't push yourself so hard. Scum like this aren't worth it!"

Yang Ge looked at him. The hostility in his eyes, so thick it seemed impossible to dissolve, finally began to dissipate like smoke and clouds. At last, he had crossed that hurdle in his heart that said, If I don't kill this bastard today, I won't sleep soundly when I get home.

"Thanks!"

He breathed out and spoke softly to Shen Fa.

Shen Fa said, "Don't mention it!"

Just then, five enforcers entered with bowed backs and saluted with cupped fists.

Shen Fa waved toward the three men in black. "Drag them away. Give them a proper welcome!"

The five enforcers acknowledged the order, then hurried forward and hauled the three men in black outside... not one of the five dared glance at Yang Ge!

"Believe it or not."

Watching the three trails of blood on the floor, Shen Fa suddenly gave a derisive chuckle. "From now on, no one in our Embroidered Uniform Guard will dare provoke you, no matter how high or low their rank!"

Yang Ge shook his head. "I don't believe it."

Shen Fa said, "Then just wait and see!"

Yang Ge asked, "Did things go fairly smoothly on your end today?"

Shen Fa said, "A little tricky, but still under my control!"

After thinking for a moment, Yang Ge asked, "After tonight's clash, that damned business with the Xie Family should finally be over, right?"

As he saw it, in today's clash, those big shots who had used the Xie Family as a pretext had lost every piece on the board.

Even if they still refused to lay down their stones and concede, they ought to choose another battlefield and start a new game.

Shen Fa nodded first. "It should have been over..."

Yang Ge glanced at him. "But?"

Shen Fa narrowed his eyes with a smile. "Among the Tartar experts who ambushed us today, there were also some jianghu experts from our Divine Land. I could have taken them all down together, but after thinking it over, I let them go back!"

The fellow's squinting smile made him look exactly like a snow fox that had stolen a little hen-cunning and handsome.

Yang Ge froze for several seconds before blurting out, "You're trying to fish?"

Shen Fa shrugged. "Just scattered a little bait while I was at it. Whoever's willing can take the hook!"

Yang Ge wanted to scratch his forehead, but only after raising his hand did he realize it was covered in blood, so he lowered it again. "We've already had one uproar in Luting County. You can't make your move here again next time, can you?"

Shen Fa thought for a moment, then said, "Next time should be in the Upper Capital. After all, we've got more experts back home, and we can prepare more thoroughly. It'll be a safer bet!"

Yang Ge let out a soft breath of relief. "Good. That's good..."

Looking at the words I want to slack off practically bursting from Yang Ge's face, Shen Fa suddenly said, "You've earned such great merit tonight. If your big brother doesn't give you a promotion, it'll be hard to explain that to the men!"

Yang Ge instantly went on the alert. If he had a pair of pointed ears like Little Yellow, they would surely have shot straight up with a whoosh.

"No! Not up for discussion! Give up on that idea!"

He delivered three rejections in a single breath, then perfunctorily cupped his fists, turned, and walked away.

After a few steps, he broke into a run!