Along Heaven Street (9)

"Brocade-Clad dogs! We of the Green Sun Gang will fight you to the death!"

It was afternoon. The summer rain kept falling, but visibility was still decent. In the open ground of a brickyard in Jiajing Ward, Zhou Wu, leader of the local Green Sun Gang, let out a furious roar. A green sun was tattooed on his face, now twisted into a savage expression. Carrying an iron shield in his left hand and brandishing a long, brow-tipped saber in his right, clad in a slightly worn suit of Brightlight Armor, he charged straight ahead.

Behind him were over a hundred core gang members in assorted clothing, all stout fellows who dared to fight and risk their lives, each armed with a saber, spear, staff, or club. As their leader advanced, they naturally brandished their weapons and splashed through the standing water, following him bravely.

Before him stood a full fifty officers and soldiers of various kinds... there were Street-Cleaning Tigers, men of the Jinwu Guard, City Defense Army soldiers nicknamed "watchdogs," and county constables nicknamed "soft persimmons"... but occupying the command structure, plainly standing above them all, were naturally the Brocade-Clad dogs he had just cursed.

There were only seven or eight Brocade-Clad dogs. Under their shouts and supervision, these soldiers of assorted origins piled four or five large shields out front and set steel crossbows behind them, with long weapons on either flank and ordinary short-weapon fighters in the middle. Still farther back hid a group of timid hangers-on carrying bedsheets, staves, and the like.

Frankly, the government troops clearly had the stronger position. At least they understood formations, and their equipment was not just for show, either. Bai Yousi had written a requisition note to borrow it all from the City Defense Army arsenal: genuine standard-issue military equipment.

But Zhou Wu had no other choice.

The ward had been sealed off yesterday, and its bosses had thought little of it. This morning, however, these government troops had suddenly stormed in and headed straight for the home of Que San, leader of the Black-Clamp Gang. A dozen or more cultivators had swarmed him, some skilled, others less so. Caught completely off guard, Que San had been beheaded on the spot by a Brocade-Clad Black Sash.

That had not been the end of it. After their successful strike, these government troops had not looted Que San's wealth. Instead, they had split into several groups and launched organized, disciplined surprise attacks on every branch chief and deputy chief of the Black-Clamp Gang. Over twenty key members had been killed on the spot, just like Que San, with almost no power to resist!

Only then had they proceeded to confiscate their property, hand out reward money, and distribute rewards for the troops. They had even issued grain, oil, firewood, and vinegar to all the nearby ward residents, saying it was to thank them for reporting information and helping apprehend the criminals.

Only then had the other bosses realized that the seldom-seen Brocade-Clad dogs of the Jing'an Directorate were in charge this time. These men slaughtered people like cutting hemp, were well trained, and had always been the natural enemies of the heroes of the rivers and lakes.

They also seemed to disdain corruption and abuse of the law. Supposedly, the information on the Black-Clamp Gang had been pried out of a squad leader among the local Street-Cleaning Tigers, who happened to be Que San's sworn brother. At first, this squad leader had shown considerable loyalty and tried to maneuver a little. The price had been having all his fingers chopped off and fed to pigs.

In short, those who came were no well-wishers, and well-wishers would not have come. Amid the rumbling summer rain, Que San, who had fought Zhou Wu for most of their lives, and his Black-Clamp Gang had vanished just like that.

When he received the news, Zhou Wu, leader of the largest remaining gang, felt as though he had been struck by lightning. He immediately gathered his gang's core members in response and brought out money to reassure them. He had even invited members of the other smaller gangs to come over.

But they had only just gathered, and only two of the smaller gangs had arrived, when the Brocade-Clad dogs advanced on them with a large force.

Zhou Wu, who had once been a soldier, was forced to fight.

As for this brickyard, it was already the best battlefield Zhou Wu could think of for exploiting his advantage in numbers.

Back in the present, battle erupted.

But Zhou Wu's trump cards apparently went beyond numbers and his own bloody courage. Just as the government troops forced themselves to hold formation, preparing to wait until the enemy drew close before firing their crossbows, a lean middle-aged man suddenly leaped high into the air behind the shield-bearing Zhou Wu.

The middle-aged man lacked Zhou Wu's extravagant equipment. He wore cloth garments and held only a three-foot iron sword.

Yet the government troops, who had managed to stand firm against Zhou Wu, instantly changed expression at the sight of him. With a single leap, he thrust his three-foot sword forward in midair, and a streak of white light suddenly emerged from its blade, as though it had lengthened by half out of thin air. Then the edge took on a faint golden hue.

There was no helping it. Anyone with a little common knowledge knew that this was the orthodox true qi passed down by the Western White Emperor, called River-Cutting True Qi. River-Cutting True Qi itself was not frightening. What was frightening was that anyone capable of manifesting it externally to this degree had to be an expert at the Eight Extraordinary Meridians level.

An expert like that, wielding River-Cutting True Qi, could probably slice any great shield or steel saber in two with a single stroke. Even steel bolts could likely be cleaved apart with ease.

In the confusion, a shield-bearing Jinwu Guard at the front simply threw down his shield, turned, and fled.

But at that very moment, several shrill whistles suddenly sounded in unison out of nowhere. With those whistles, a white figure flashed across the eaves behind the government troops. Then two bands of golden light, each over ten feet wide, appeared out of thin air and swept horizontally across the brickyard clearing, one after the other.

Few people got a clear look at the white figure behind the eaves, but the golden light was too conspicuous for anyone to miss. Only, it vanished as quickly as it had come, leaving many of them bewildered.

That hardly mattered. They would soon realize what had happened-the iron-armored Green Sun Gang leader Zhou Wu and his expert friend of unknown origins fell almost simultaneously, and neither fell in one piece.

After Zhou Wu fell, his head rolled a full seven or eight turns across the ground before actually coming to rest on that discarded shield, pinning down one corner. This was what it meant to have one's head and body parted out of nowhere.

His expert friend, who had already reached the Eight Extraordinary Meridians level, fared somewhat worse. Perhaps because he had leaped so high, after those two bands of golden light passed, his entire body simply broke into three lengths and four pieces, tumbling down from the air in fragments.

The sight struck with such force that the brickyard, which had been filled with battle cries and shouts just moments before, fell silent for several breaths. For a time, only the pattering rain could be heard.

Even the Brocade-Clad dogs who understood what had happened froze where they stood, not daring to move for a long while. Zhang Xing, the instigator, very nearly threw up... I knew that damned woman was formidable, but I never expected her to be this vicious. A martial arts master, a fairy-like figure-couldn't she be a little more graceful?

The sort where a glimmer of cold light flies past, a flower of blood blooms between their brows, and the two fall dead with smiles on their faces...

Amid his wandering thoughts, an unexpected person broke the silence.

It was the Jinwu Guard who had just abandoned his shield and fled. He cautiously returned to his position and tried to reach out and retrieve the shield from beneath the Green Sun Gang leader's head, to set it back in place.

But for some reason, though he reached into the bloody water seven or eight times, he could never quite pull the shield free. He became so anxious that tears began to fall.

The hundred-odd people on both sides simply stared blankly at him.

At last, unable to bear watching any longer, Zhang Xing decided to rescue this poor Jinwu Guard shield-bearer. Of course, perhaps he also wanted to bolster his own courage-he snatched the steel crossbow from a nearby crossbowman, raised it toward the crowd opposite, and pulled the trigger.

The steel bolt flew out, shot one man down, and brought a scream with it.

The Green Sun Gang members finally reacted. They shouted as one, then scattered in every direction like a nest blown apart... truly every direction. Some actually fled straight toward the government troops in front of them.

The motley government troops who had come as reinforcements finally woke up as well. With a great roar, they loosed their bolts, then drew sabers, raised shields, or brandished spears, charging forward in utter disorder.

At the same time, the two squads of government troops armed with long weapons lying in ambush on either flank did not wait for a signal at all, but swept out madly from both sides.

Then blood truly flowed in rivers, and everything was swept clean.

PS: Happy New Year, everyone.

Provided for you: Exorcising the Dragon: Zhang Xing and Bai Yousi by the great author Water-Fearing Grenade.