Chapter 191
Chapter 191
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 191
>Chapter Title: Bandits
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Chapter 191: Bandits
Looking at the bandit clutching his ears and rolling around in agony, Li Huowang didn’t bother wasting words.
He directly raised his sword, preparing to lop off the man’s head.
“Senior Brother Li, take a look at this!” An abrupt voice stopped Li Huowang.
Sun Baolu walked over from the side, holding something in his hand. When Li Huowang glanced over, he was surprised to see it was a well-worn, polished tobacco pipe.
The pipe and the patterns on the cloth pouch looked all too familiar no matter how he examined them.
“Senior Brother Li, this is Troupe Leader Lv’s pipe! No doubt about it—he let me have a few puffs back when we were traveling together.”
Li Huowang took it and examined it closely. His expression grew grave.
This meant it was almost certain that Troupe Leader Lv had been captured by these bandits.
He dangled the pipe in front of the bandit on the ground. Li Huowang’s voice turned icy as he demanded, “Where’d you get this? Did you recently rob a theater troupe?”
“Kill me if you’ve got the guts! I’m Liu Crooked-Mouth, a real stand-up man! You won’t get me to betray my brothers!” The bandit shouted defiantly at Li Huowang, his face twisted in reckless bravado.
Seeing this, a surge of heat rushed to Li Huowang’s head. He smiled as he untied the sheepskin pouch at his waist.
With a clattering “clang,” a row of variously shaped, spotlessly clean torture implements appeared.
“Kill you? You’d like that too much!”
For a short while after, Liu Crooked-Mouth’s fingers were ground down inch by inch. His screams echoed far through the rocky hills.
The others all turned away, unable to bear watching any longer.
Only after his left hand had been ground down to the wrist did the snot- and tear-streaked man finally break completely.
“I’ll talk! I’ll talk! A few days ago, the Big Boss’s old mother turned seventy! He specially grabbed a theater troupe! They’re still up on the mountain!”
Li Huowang casually tossed the bloody torture tool in front of him, making Liu Crooked-Mouth flinch back violently.
“Get up. If you don’t want more torment, take me to your lair.”
Liu Crooked-Mouth didn’t dare utter another word. Like a whipped dog, he scrambled up and hobbled ahead to lead the way.
At this moment, Sun Baolu—who had just wiped the blood from his sword on a corpse—spoke up hesitantly. “Senior Brother Li, maybe we should just forget it? Better not to stir up trouble. Troupe Leader Lv isn’t even family...”
When he saw Li Huowang’s stern gaze sweep over, he averted his eyes.
“I’m Li Huowang, not Danyangzi. If we didn’t know, fine—but now that we do, we’re absolutely saving him!”
“And these scum attacked us without a word. I’m going to demand an explanation!”
Anything else might be tolerable, but letting a band of roadside bandits bully them at will would be living far too pathetically.
There were things in this world one couldn’t afford to provoke, but there were also things one absolutely could.
The carriage turned, following Liu Crooked-Mouth toward the bandits’ lair.
“Safe travels, Daoist. Until we meet again.”
Li Huowang turned at the voice from behind and saw it was the old traveler from before. He had already climbed over the blocking boulder.
Li Huowang gave him a casual cupped-fist salute before hurrying after the others.
He quickly put the hitchhiking old man out of mind, focusing entirely on what lay ahead.
From Liu Crooked-Mouth’s account, Li Huowang soon grasped the scale of this bandit gang.
Their leader went by Big Golden Dragon, and these barbarian hills were his turf.
They weren’t mere wandering brigands but a solidly structured bandit stronghold with its four beams and eight pillars.
“What are the four beams and eight pillars?” Li Huowang asked as they walked.
From Liu Crooked-Mouth’s mouth, Li Huowang heard a slew of titles.
Taken together, they were just the roles that kept a bandit lair running.
The robbers were the “blade heads.”
Logistics was the “grain platform.”
The overt and covert sentries were the “water incense.”
The strategists were the “stack-flippers.”
The ones who kidnapped rich hostages and hauled them up the mountain were the “seedling house.”
The ones who intimidated families into paying ransom were the “silver tongues.”
The ones who disguised themselves as civilians to scout intel were the “card sharps.”
And finally, the one who wrote extortion letters and handled other writing was the “wordsmith.”
First came the Big Boss, Second Boss, Third Boss—then these four beams and eight pillars—followed by the rookies doing odd jobs.
The whole bandit lair was structured like a pyramid, clear and orderly.
“You’re just bandits, but you run it like a proper army camp. How many men on the mountain?”
“No count, but a few hundred, I’d say.”
After his total breakdown, Liu Crooked-Mouth was like a whipped dog, answering whatever he was asked.
“How capable is your Big Boss? Any special abilities?”
“No special abilities. Our Big Boss is just huge, wields a hammer for a weapon.”
“A few hundred men? No special abilities? Just ordinary bandits...” Li Huowang silently weighed their respective strengths.
They had come on horseback, but Li Huowang was on foot. By the time they neared the bandit lair, night was falling.
Soon, Li Huowang and the others were climbing the mountain. He spotted firelight halfway up—that must be the destination.
“Tweet-tweet~ tweet~” A crisp birdcall suddenly came from the nearby hillside.
Li Huowang kicked Liu Crooked-Mouth in the butt. “Tell them I’ve come to call them out. Best if we can all sit down and talk peacefully—otherwise, we’ll settle it with steel.”
“You’ve seen what I can do. Think about how many of yours would die if it comes to blows.”
Liu Crooked-Mouth, clutching his hand, nodded dejectedly and pressed his tongue to his palate to whistle.
The same birdcall came from his mouth.
Soon, it was answered by the same call.
The rest of the path was clear, with no one blocking them.
Before long, a cave mouth halfway up the slope appeared before them. Several fierce-looking bandits holding torches stood at the entrance, glaring at Li Huowang.
“Kid, you’ve got guts—killing our brother and still daring to call us out!”
Li Huowang ignored these common thugs and strode right in.
Soon, in the so-called Hall of Righteous Gathering, he saw three rough men drinking and eating meat, bandying foul jokes and curses.
Their voices gradually quieted as they all sized up Li Huowang.
“Real Daoist or fake Daoist?” A balding brute spoke first.
Li Huowang had no interest in trading argot with them.
“Since I made it here, you bosses must understand. Hand over that theater troupe, and we’ll call it even for robbing me earlier.”
“Hahaha!!” The three burst out laughing in unison.
“Clang!” Sword drawn, thick killing intent instantly filled the entire Hall of Righteous Gathering.
(End of chapter)