The gang leader who read the Spring and Autumn Annals

South of Black Earth Town.

More than forty buildings stood surrounded by willow groves, with a small wharf in the manor's inlet. Though it lacked the magnificent grandeur of Mantuo Manor and the illustrious reputation of Canhe Manor, any household that could claim a corner of Lake Tai was no ordinary one.

Afternoon.

In the manor's training ground near the small wharf, dust churned and shouts thundered like drums.

"All of you, come at me together!"

The man was twenty-seven or twenty-eight, handsome and bare-chested, exposing muscles like white silk. A thick black "belt" wound around his waist. With both arms loosely extended, he surveyed his surroundings, calm and composed.

"Kill!"

Eight burly men with dragon tattoos on their arms took their positions, surrounding him with sabers and swords in hand.

Whoosh!

Flashes of blades came from every direction, weaving ceaselessly like a spinning wheel, a whirling gale.

He turned sideways to slip past a saber and struck with his left palm. The wind from his palm howled, instantly forcing two men back. Behind him, six swords thrust forward, vying to reach him first. With nothing covering or shielding his bare flesh, he seemed like a pig or sheep awaiting slaughter.

"Seeking a Pearl in a Sea of Clouds!"

A black whip shot from his waist and swept a circle behind him like a black-tipped snake. First came the swish and hiss of it cutting through the air, then a string of violent clangs.

"Away!"

Enormous force struck, numbing their palms. Sabers and swords flew from their hands one after another, scattering like flowers strewn by a celestial maiden, shooting sideways and slanting through the air to land all over the training ground.

"The gang leader's divine whip wins every battle!"

"I told you long ago, in the jianghu, the strong reign supreme. Whoever can so much as hurt me becomes the gang's new third master. Whoever can defeat me, I wouldn't mind letting him sit in the gang leader's seat! Every one of you has neglected his skills and is unfit for anything important. Spare me your flattery!"

"We acknowledge our fault."

These men counted among the gang's skilled fighters, yet they could not last five or six exchanges against the Hegemon's Whip, much less hurt him. Unless all eight committed themselves to a single desperate attack, staking their lives, they might have a chance. But then the losses would outweigh the gains.

One monk carried water to drink; three monks had no water to drink.

A hundred people had a hundred different thoughts. Even an army at the gates and blades against their necks could not change that.

"Dismissed."

Frowning, Zhang Hengye wound the black-tipped whip back around his waist and walked off the training ground. He was just about to pick up the yellowed, battered volume of the Spring and Autumn Annals on the stone table when he heard water splashing on the lake. He looked up.

A small boat drew alongside the wharf.

A hunchbacked man jumped out. He stood five feet tall, with a slightly flattened, utterly dark bald head and a great ring of bushy beard beneath his jaw. Though not old, he looked like a man of fifty. He carried a lotus-shaped bronze pestle.

He was Zhu Tuo, second master of the Black Flood Dragon Gang, nicknamed Black Softshell Turtle Head.

"Take her to my room... gently. Don't you bastards kill her..."

Two gang members followed him off the boat, carrying a violently writhing sack, and headed into the gang's compound.

Zhu Tuo strode over. Spotting the book on the stone table, he grinned. "Heh, Big Brother, you really love learning. Reading the Spring and Autumn Annals in broad daylight?"

Zhang Hengye frowned slightly, displeasure flashing in his eyes. When Zhu Tuo reached him, he asked in a low voice.

"Second Brother, who have you brought back this time?"

"Hehe, ran into her on the way back. A pearl-diving girl from some island or other. A fifteen- or sixteen-year-old little slip of a thing, tender as can be. Mainly, she's got a wild streak. Great fun. She wanted a lift on our boat so she could go home and eat with her granny... hehe, I invited her to the manor for some sweets. If you like her, Big Brother, shall I send her to your room first?"

"Wonderful. I'd like to see just how tender she is!"

Zhang Hengye smiled, but his gaze stabbed at Zhu Tuo like a knife. This was not the first time.

"Big Brother, I-I, she..."

Black Softshell Turtle Head's lust emboldened him to challenge the heavens. He feared nothing except his big brother looking at him like this. Having his hair stand on end was one thing; for several days afterward, that thing of his would not even stand up. He truly had nothing to do with his balls but let them go bland.

"She's only a fisherman's girl..."

"The Seventy-Two Peaks of Lake Tai, a bunch of poor fishermen who can't even fill their bellies. They're nothing, right? Have you ever thought, if it really came to a fight to the death, the Black Flood Dragon Gang might hold off one family, but could it hold off ten?"

Zhu Tuo said quietly, "They don't answer to each other. How could there be ten?"

Zhang Hengye said mildly, "Suppose one day a hero appeared who could unite the Seventy-Two Peaks, taking as his foundation tens of thousands of fishermen so poor they have nothing left but their underpants, with heroes among them like Water Salamander Lin Mang, Nine-Tailed Turtle Tao Jinwang, and Water-Patrolling Yaksha Zhou Xun as his commanders. What sort of force would that be?"

Zhu Tuo looked slightly stunned. He had never thought along those lines before.

The islanders were outside the authorities' jurisdiction. Everyone treated the fishermen of the Seventy-Two Peaks of Lake Tai as fat meat whose bones could be hammered for their marrow: forcing down the price of their catches, driving families apart, making them sell their sons and daughters. There were also men like him, casually snatching up some wild fare...

Could someone really unite the Seventy-Two Peaks?

Never mind standing alongside the three great jianghu powers-the Murong Family, Mantuo Manor, and Cold Mountain Temple-even Liangzhe Circuit and half the southeast would be shaken. Fear flashed in his eyes, and he shook his head hard.

"Don't worry, Big Brother. There could never possibly be a hero like that in this world!"

"Couldn't there...?"

Zhang Hengye nodded slightly, his smile as warm as ever. Slowly, he picked up the battered volume of the Spring and Autumn Annals from the stone table and carefully rolled it into a baton. "Come closer. I have a word of good advice for you."

"What are your instructions, Big Brother?"

Zhu Tuo bent at the waist and leaned his head closer with a grin, looking for all the world like an old softshell turtle.

A softshell turtle and a turtle differed by just one word.

By rights, Black Softshell Turtle Head was hardly a pleasant nickname, yet he was secretly pleased with it. He believed it meant the jianghu acknowledged that, in that department, he had an advantage over ordinary men.

"A little closer."

As he spoke, Zhang Hengye quietly raised his hand, brought it around behind him, lifted the Spring and Autumn Annals high, and smashed it down.

"Impossible! Impossible! I'll give you 'absolutely impossible'... I'll let you feel the weight of the Spring and Autumn Annals!"

"Big Brother, stop hitting me! Stop!"

Zhu Tuo bawled with pain, scrambling and crawling. The beating left him unable to make head or tail of things, stars bursting before his eyes.

"I understand! Now I understand everything..."

Zhang Hengye would not let him off. Like striking a bell, he chased him down and delivered dozens of blows without stopping, until he himself was panting.

"What do you understand?"

Kneeling on the ground, Zhu Tuo stared at the Spring and Autumn Annals his big brother still held high, refusing to lower it, and trembled.

The fearsome reputation of the Black Hegemon of Lake Tai was on full display.

"I... I understand the weight of the Spring and Autumn Annals..."

Zhang Hengye raised his hand to strike again.

In a flash, perhaps because the Spring and Autumn Annals had enlightened him, Zhu Tuo found inspiration in desperation and blurted out, "I understand... Big Brother, you want to be that hero who unites the Seventy-Two Peaks!"

Zhang Hengye slowly lowered the Spring and Autumn Annals and sneered. "You think swallowing up the Fish-Dragon Gang makes us somebody? Time to put the weapons in storage, turn the horses loose on the southern hills, and enjoy ourselves? Don't forget, just half a month ago, Zhang Biao was stabbed to death with a single sword thrust in front of everyone. Open your eyes and look. That pool of blood on Black Sand Wharf hasn't even dried!"

"I truly know I was wrong. You've worn your heart out advising me, Big Brother. If I still won't listen, could I even call myself human...?"

Zhu Tuo knelt and kowtowed, begging forgiveness.

"Get up."

Zhang Hengye sat back down at the stone table. Seeing him like this, his anger subsided.

"Thank you, Big Brother."

Zhu Tuo rose with a grin. He bore no grudge; instead, his respect and admiration only deepened.

"How did the matter go?"

"Reporting to Big Brother, our brothers investigated through every channel and tried everything, but still found no trace of the Fish-Dragon Gang's remnants."

"They've hidden themselves well."

A cunning rabbit had three burrows. They did not even need to hide deep in the mountains or forests. Islands large and small dotted Lake Tai like stars across a chessboard, while tens of thousands of households stood scattered inside and outside Gusu City, its streets and alleys crisscrossing everywhere. Finding them with the Black Flood Dragon Gang's hundred-odd men was as difficult as climbing to heaven.

In the end, they lacked renown.

Before they swallowed the Fish-Dragon Gang's territory, there had been thirty or forty gangs like the Black Flood Dragon Gang around Lake Tai's shores, if not as many as hairs on an ox: a hundred-odd members with a third-rate expert at their head. They had not even qualified for a seat at the table.

If they were like Swallow Bastion, they would only need to put out word. Jianghu people around Lake Tai would move at the news, vying to offer their services, and every remote corner, hilltop, and water hollow could be searched.

Zhang Hengye understood this well and held out little hope.

"What about that man's background? A strange name like that sounds false the moment you hear it. What connection does he have to the Fish-Dragon Gang? Someone who killed Third Brother with one sword thrust could never have been a nobody before!"

Zhu Tuo kept shaking his head. "He really seems to have appeared out of thin air."

"Strange."

Zhang Hengye tapped his fingers on the Spring and Autumn Annals on the stone table, his brows knitted in thought.

"Right now, the enemy is hidden while we're out in the open. That makes things difficult. Unless... we can fish this carp out into the open."

"You have a way, Big Brother?"

Zhang Hengye pondered for a long time.

"Spread the word. In five days, the Black Flood Dragon Gang will hold a Flower-Honoring Banquet, inviting the surrounding sect leaders and gang leaders to bear witness. We'll settle victory and defeat with the Fish-Dragon Gang through a martial contest, openly and honorably, and put an end to this feud."

Zhu Tuo asked, "Will that man come?"

Zhang Hengye smiled. "He publicly announced himself as their new gang leader because he wanted to make a name for himself. He must be an ambitious man! If he doesn't come, what face will the Fish-Dragon Gang have left to maintain a foothold on Lake Tai's eastern shore?"

"Big Brother, you understand men's hearts deeply. Your plans miss nothing!"

Zhu Tuo nodded repeatedly. Looking at the battered book on the stone table, he thought, These Spring and Autumn Annals... I really do need to read them!