"I didn't help at all," Ping'er said softly.
Wang Gang surveyed everyone and laughed heartily. "Everyone in this room wanted me dead. You alone had the intention of helping me. That's enough to earn my gratitude!"
A wave of grievance welled up in Li Qingluo's heart, and she blurted out, "I didn't!"
Wang Gang did not even look at her. Turning to fix his gaze on Gu Ducheng, he shook the longsword in his hand, sending cold light flashing in all directions.
Rui'er glanced at the aggrieved Li Qingluo and thought, When your husband clashes with someone, hanging back in hesitation is already disloyal, yet you even sided with his opponent and cried out a warning! Sister really was wrong this time! Who knows what the young master will do?
Then she looked at Duan Zhengchun, lying gravely wounded on the ground, and inwardly seethed. If not for you, how could Sister be in such an embarrassing position? You want to take Sister away, but you never thought about what we should do! Stay with the Wang Family and suffer their scorn, or wander with you and endure hardship?
Ah, I'd be the only one suffering! Ping'er has caught the young master's eye now! Why didn't I think to help him then? She glanced at the rather foolish Ping'er. Fools really do have a fool's luck!
Meanwhile, Ping'er, the fool with a fool's luck, watched happily as Wang Gang toyed with Gu Ducheng.
Without Zhu Danchen's help, Gu Ducheng was no match for Wang Gang at all. Neither his footwork nor his movements could keep up. After he went through sequence after sequence of moves, Wang Gang remained unscathed, while he himself had suffered who knew how many more wounds.
Gu Ducheng was drenched in blood, his strength draining away with it. His trembling hands could barely hold his twin axes, and he desperately held on through sheer will alone.
"All right, let's end this!"
Wang Gang dodged the descending axe, stepped forward, and thrust his longsword. Cold light flashed as he delivered four thrusts in an instant, piercing Gu Ducheng's four limbs.
Clang!
The twin axes fell to the ground. Gu Ducheng's legs buckled, and he collapsed with a crash.
"Brother Gu!" Chu Wanli shouted, struggling to get up.
Watching coldly, Wang Gang walked over to Duan Zhengchun, whose face was covered in tears, and sneered, "Did things turn out to your liking today? How does this bitter lesson taste? Will you remember it now?"
"You petty villain! If you want to kill someone, just kill me! Why hurt these brothers of mine?"
"Heh, still trying to play Liu Bei?" Wang Gang said disdainfully. "Think carefully, all of you. Have I, Wang Gang, ever provoked any one of you first?"
"It was you!" Wang Gang raised his voice. "You were the ones who bullied and humiliated me, again and again!"
As he spoke, Wang Gang swept his gaze over the three guards. Chu Wanli averted his eyes, Gu Ducheng glared furiously, and Zhu Danchen's eyes flickered.
"Chu Wanli, you tell me. What right do you have to call me an evil man, a petty villain?"
Chu Wanli remained silent. He was no man of eloquence, and he had often inwardly criticized Duan Zhengchun's womanizing.
Seducing young women in ordinary times was one thing, but now he had insisted on pursuing a married woman and run straight into an iron wall. Not only had he been injured himself, he had dragged his brothers into it too. Chu Wanli was already dissatisfied-how could he answer now?
Was the man supposed to stand by and watch his own wife get lured away before he could count as a good person?
He could not say such a thing!
"You damned scoundrel, enough of your nonsense! Kill me if you want! If your Grandpa Gu so much as blinks, I'm no true man!" Gu Ducheng roared furiously.
"A true man? You think you deserve that title?" Wang Gang looked at him contemptuously. "What true man acts as a tiger's accomplice for a lecher?"
"You... you..." Gu Ducheng choked with rage and opened his mouth to argue, but Chu Wanli stopped him.
Wang Gang paid him no further attention and turned to the two young maids. "You two, fetch me some rope. Tie these men up, and we'll hand them over to the authorities tomorrow!"
"Yes!"
Ping'er answered and was about to leave, but Rui'er caught her and looked toward Li Qingluo.
"No! You mustn't go!"
Li Qingluo stopped them decisively. If this reached the authorities, her reputation would be utterly ruined. News of a married woman meeting a man at night would spread throughout Gusu in less than a day.
"Wang Gang, you're going to take the imperial examinations! If word gets out, it'll damage your reputation!"
"Oh? Then tell me what I should do."
Wang Gang looked at Li Qingluo with amusement.
"Well... I..." Li Qingluo was at a loss. She wanted to tell Wang Gang to release them, but knew that was impossible. Gritting her teeth, she said, "Let these men go, and I'll give you every secret manual in Langhuan Jade Cave in exchange!"
"Heh..." Wang Gang sneered and shook his head in refusal. "No. Langhuan Jade Cave may be your dowry, but as long as I refuse to let you leave, you won't be able to take those manuals away anyway!"
Li Qingluo was stunned. Realizing she had no bargaining chips at all, she cast a helpless glance at Duan Zhengchun.
"I'll give you silver, as much as you want! Just don't hand us over to the authorities!" Hearing a willingness to bargain in Wang Gang's words, Duan Zhengchun mustered a breath and prepared to bleed heavily.
Wang Gang shook his head again. "Too much silver attracts covetous eyes, and I couldn't protect it! If it's only a little, I have that already!"
Duan Zhengchun was instantly at a loss for words and could only ask urgently, "Then what do you want to do?"
"Hand you over to the authorities!"
Duan Zhengchun fell speechless. Given his status, once the Great Song authorities were alerted, this would no longer be a jianghu feud, but a political incident that would shake Dali.
After agonizing for a while, he added, "You practice martial arts, so you must like martial arts manuals. Our Duan Clan has a legacy of over a hundred years. From the jianghu to the imperial court, we have collected countless martial arts. Apart from our clan's hereditary Solitary Yang Finger, you can have any of them!"
"There's no need for that!" Tapping the tabletop, Wang Gang said calmly, "Just the Six Meridian Divine Sword manual will suffice!"
"You... how do you know..." Duan Zhengchun's pupils contracted sharply, his face filled with terror.
The fact that the Dali Duan Clan possessed the Six Meridian Divine Sword was an absolute secret. Even he had only deduced it from a few words he had overheard by chance. How could this man be so certain?
Not only that, he also knew about Duan Yanqing. How could he know so much about the Dali Duan Clan?
"Who exactly are you?"
Wang Gang waved his hand. "Don't bother saying anything meaningless!"
"I've never seen the Six Meridian Divine Sword. I can't give it to you!"
Wang Gang nodded, bent down to pick up the line from Chu Wanli's fishing rod, then suddenly turned and unleashed a Flame Blade.
"Ugh!"
Duan Zhengchun grunted and withdrew the hand reaching for his sword.
"Trying to kill yourself? I gave you a chance earlier, but I've changed my mind now!" Wang Gang sneered and walked over with the line.
"Stop! I'll trade my life for my lord's!" Zhu Danchen sat up, clutching his chest.
"Brother Zhu!" Duan Zhengchun's face filled with emotion.
"Tch..." Wang Gang said disdainfully. "Zhu Danchen, you're a clever man, so don't play dumb with me! Your life is already in my hands! And do you think it's worth trading for his? You know perfectly well I wouldn't want it, yet here you are putting on a show of loyalty!"
Wang Gang's words made Zhu Danchen's face turn pale, then dark. Duan Zhengchun's expression shifted as well.
Ignoring them both, Wang Gang went behind Duan Zhengchun and took his hands, preparing to bind them!
"Wait!" Duan Zhengchun gritted his teeth. "I'll trade you the Solitary Yang Finger!"
"My lord! The Solitary Yang Finger is a secret the Duan Clan never passes to outsiders!" the guards cried.
Duan Zhengchun shook his head with a bitter smile. "Compared to upheaval at court, this is nothing!"
"My lord..."
They wanted to keep persuading him, but Duan Zhengchun said hoarsely, "Everything that happened today arose because of me. If there is any censure in the future, I alone will bear it!"
"My-"
"Hold on! Are you people ever going to stop? Did I agree?" Wang Gang frowned at them and said in displeasure, "You think a mere Solitary Yang Finger can be exchanged for my Six Meridian Divine Sword? Keep dreaming!"
"Then what if you add us?" Qin Hongmian and Gan Baobao arrived hand in hand.