An Accident

Fatty Wang groggily opened his eyes. Three masked men stood before him. Terror seized his heart, and he cried in panic, "Who are you? What do you want?"

Liu Chuang raised his hand and slapped Fatty Wang twice across the face. He hated Fatty Wang to the bone, so he struck with great force. "Heh heh, I'm here to take your life," he sneered deliberately through a pinched voice.

The blows left Fatty Wang somewhat dazed. He twisted his body desperately and opened his mouth to shout for help. Suddenly, a wad of cloth was stuffed into his mouth, and he could no longer make a sound.

Fatty Wang now understood his situation. He stopped struggling, his tiny eyes darting fearfully back and forth between the three masked men.

Liu Yuanzhou rasped, "Don't make another sound, or this grandpa's blade won't know friend from foe. You're Fatty Wang?" As he spoke, he held a gleaming dagger to Fatty Wang's face.

Fatty Wang did not dare move his head and could only blink frantically.

Liu Chuang looked at Liu Yuanzhou and shouted, "Big Brother, this brat's got a hard mouth. Let me straighten him out."

Liu Yuanzhou stepped back with the knife.

Liu Chuang grabbed a club and beat Fatty Wang with it, striking his head a few times before raining blows across his body.

With his mouth plugged, Fatty Wang could only make muffled "mmph, mmph" sounds in his throat. You stuffed my mouth—how the hell am I supposed to talk?

After who knew how many blows, Liu Chuang finally stopped when his arm grew sore and tired. Panting, he said to Zhang He, "Third Brother, your turn."

Without a word, Zhang He picked up the club and began beating him. After a few strikes, he stopped and handed the club to Liu Yuanzhou.

Liu Yuanzhou took the club, thought for a moment, then casually tossed it onto the ground. He had practiced martial arts for several days, after all. To brutalize someone utterly incapable of fighting back went against martial virtue.

Liu Yuanzhou pulled the cloth from Fatty Wang's mouth and said in a low voice, "The three of us brothers are heroes of Two Dragons Mountain. We passed through this fine place, but our travel funds have run dry. Everyone in town says your family has a thousand qing of fertile fields and ten thousand precious treasures. Lend us a little money for the road, will you? Heh heh heh."

Though his mouth was free, Fatty Wang did not dare breathe too deeply. He was terrified out of his wits. He could not spare a thought for the burning pain in his head, much less doubt Liu Yuanzhou's words. All he wanted now was to stay alive.

"Spare me, heroes! Just name the amount you want. Let me go back first, and I'll have my father bring you the money," Fatty Wang pleaded.

"Heh, you've got a fine little scheme there. Let you go back so you can bring men to capture us? I heard your family has a martial master," Liu Yuanzhou sneered.

Fatty Wang hurriedly said, "I wouldn't! Even if I had ten times the courage, I wouldn't dare deceive such heroes. Besides, Martial Master Zheng hasn't been in the village lately."

"Oh? I don't believe it. How could it be such a coincidence? You must be lying to us," Liu Yuanzhou said darkly.

Liu Chuang stepped forward, pressed down Fatty Wang's huge head, and said with feigned indifference, "Big Brother can't be bothered talking nonsense with him. One slash and this bastard's done for. We can dig out his heart and liver to go with the wine."

Fatty Wang was so frightened that his soul flew beyond the heavens. Crying, he said, "Don't eat me, heroes! Everything I said is true! Martial Master Zheng really isn't here. He went to Yu Province Prefecture with my eldest brother. They've been gone seven or eight days already."

Just as Liu Yuanzhou was about to ask about Martial Master Zheng—a part of their original plan—he suddenly heard footsteps behind him, boots crunching through dead leaves. A voice said, "Good, good. I didn't expect to encounter brothers from my mountain stronghold in such a barren place. What fate."

The three men were greatly alarmed and all spun around. A burly man was slowly approaching.

In the lamplight, they saw that he was tall and powerfully built. A metal band circled his gleaming bald head, and his face was covered in fierce flesh.

The burly man stopped. His triangular eyes fixed on Liu Yuanzhou and the other two, and an invisible pressure bore down on them. The three could not help retreating several steps.

"Hmph! Since when did men of Two Dragons Mountain hide their heads and show their tails?" The burly man snorted coldly, sweeping his crescent spade with his left hand.

Liu Yuanzhou and the others suddenly felt a chill before their faces. Their face coverings fell away. The three were horrified. Liu Yuanzhou remained barely composed, but Liu Chuang and Zhang He shook like chaff in a sieve, nearly turning to flee.

This burly man is a martial master. Liu Yuanzhou's heart plunged into an ice cellar.

The burly man studied the three of them for a moment, then frowned. "I don't recognize you. Which elder brother's disciples are you?"

How could the three answer? Their identities as bandits of Two Dragons Mountain had been fabricated to frighten Fatty Wang. Who could have imagined they would truly run into a bandit from Two Dragons Mountain?

"Fine, so it's you grandsons from Liu Li Village, coming here to scare your grandpa!" Fatty Wang, tied to the tree, suddenly shouted.

Clearly, once their face coverings had fallen, Fatty Wang had recognized them.

We're finished! Liu Yuanzhou's heart gave a violent jolt, and panic overwhelmed him.

"Quiet! What nonsense does a meat chicken have to squawk?" the burly man suddenly said. When he finished speaking, his monk's staff flew out. With a crack, Fatty Wang's head burst apart like a smashed watermelon. Juices splattered everywhere, and blood shot half a foot into the air. Liu Yuanzhou, standing nearest, was splashed across the face.

Clearly, the man believed Fatty Wang was merely a kidnapping victim of Liu Yuanzhou and the others, and he did not doubt their identities.

Liu Yuanzhou sucked in a cold breath. A chill rose from his tailbone straight to the crown of his head, freezing even his thoughts for a time.

Liu Chuang and Zhang He behind him fared even worse. They collapsed onto the ground at once, their bodies trembling like chaff in a sieve, their faces ashen as earth.

Seeing them so utterly pathetic, the burly man frowned and shouted, "You're scared into this state just from killing someone? How did you complete your Entry Level task? Where is your master?"

Having faced life and death before, Liu Yuanzhou quickly regained his senses. He steadied himself, but instead of answering the man's question, he asked, "May I ask this master's honored name?"

"This humble monk is Lu Busha," the burly man answered.

How could Liu Yuanzhou possibly know who the master of Two Dragons Mountain was? He could only force himself to answer vaguely, "So it is Senior Lu. I have long admired your great name. Our master taught us martial arts for only a few days before leaving. To this day, we do not know his honored name. We only heard him say that he was from Two Dragons Mountain."

Lu Busha pondered for a moment. The northwest is under the charge of Elder Brother He and Headman Song. Such conduct does resemble Headman Song's style.

Lu Busha asked, "Was the man who taught you martial arts a short, dark fellow with a huge tumor on his forehead?" Lu Busha described Headman Song's appearance. He had always been straightforward and had not doubted Liu Yuanzhou's words.

Liu Yuanzhou lowered his head. "Y-yes."

"Mm, then that's right. He's from our Two Dragons Mountain..." Lu Busha cut himself off. He suddenly remembered that since Headman Song had not revealed his own name, it seemed improper for him to say it. Besides, his relationship with Headman Song and the other headman, He, was only ordinary.

"Forget it. You wouldn't understand even if I told you. This humble monk is in a hurry to handle business in the north, so we'll part here." Lu Busha spoke impatiently. Carrying his monk's staff, he walked straight past Liu Yuanzhou and the other two, vanishing into the darkness moments later.

Liu Yuanzhou let out a long breath. He still could not believe Lu Busha had simply left. Had he truly believed his lies?

He shook his head and stopped thinking about it. Lu Busha had already gone; the pressing matter now was how to clean up this mess.

"Brother Second Child, what do we do now? Fatty Wang was beaten to death. What are we supposed to do?" Liu Chuang rose to his feet, his voice trembling.

"Yeah, Brother Second Child, what do we do?" Zhang He clutched Liu Yuanzhou's arm and muttered.

Liu Yuanzhou was also panicking beyond measure. The Wang family was powerful. If Fatty Wang's death was traced back to them, who knew what tremendous disaster it would bring?

Seeing Liu Chuang and Zhang He's panicked looks, Liu Yuanzhou could only feign calmness. "Don't be afraid. We need to leave at once and go straight home. No one knows we were here, except for that burly man who killed him. Do you think he could be easily captured?"

Liu Chuang and Zhang He immediately felt much calmer. The three hurriedly gathered the clubs, cloth strips, and other things from the ground, extinguished the lantern, and left the grove in haste.