Finished speaking, he rose up to his full height, and then strolled out languidly.
Kou Zhong looked at Xu Ziling. The latter nodded. The two boys immediately sprang up from their chairs, leaped up to the air and broke through the roof; in the midst of broken roof tiles filling the sky, they landed on the back of the restaurant's roof.
As soon as they swept their gaze around, they were dumbstruck.
The roofs of the buildings far and near were full with people. At first glance, there were at least over a hundred people.
The ‘Fat Demon' Jin Bo and ‘Gold and Silver Spear' Ling Feng were standing on the roof of the store across the street, putting an air of ‘catching a turtle in the earthen jar'.
A long laughter came from the roof of a neighboring building to their left.
The two boys turned their gaze toward the laughter and saw a middle-aged man with lanky stature and outstandingly handsome face, and a free and easy manner, but his countenance was suffused with a harsh and sinister expression, so that his smile looked callous and cruel. He held a broadsword in each hand; his look was quite intimidating.
Next to him were about a dozen people; tall, short, in all kinds of size and shape, but each one had high and protruded taiyang acupoint, they looked quite impressive, hence it was clear that these were not people that would be easy to deal with.
The man stopped laughing and spoke in deep voice, "I am Qian Duguan, the Chengzhu [city master] of the City of Xiangyang. I have come specifically to pay a visit to Xu Xiong and Kou Xiong, to inquire the gentlemen's current situation.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged glances. For the first time that day they felt the seriousness of the situation.
If it were only Ling Feng, Jin Bo, that kind of Wulin characters, if they were unable to defeat them, they could always run away. But if Qian Duguan was personally involved, it was as if they were fighting against the entire city. Whether they would be able to escape was a big question mark.
Jin Bo let out a cold snort to attract the two boys' attention, and then with a sinister smile he said, "If gentlemen are willing to lay down your weapon, have your hands tied and waiting to be captured, I, Jin Bo, guarantee that before delivering you to Duke Mi, gentlemen will be treated well.”
Shaking his head, Kou Zhong laughed involuntarily; turning toward Qian Duguan, he said, "Old Qian, since when did you become Li Mi's claws and teeth? Doesn't the rumor in Jianghu say that Qian Duguan has always maintained his neutrality and nobody has been able to buy your allegiance?”
Following his lead, Xu Ziling said, "Zhong Shao, you are somewhat ignorant; this is called the time has changed. Right now Old Du has taken Jingling, within the next few days he is going to go north, Old Qian is naturally looking for a master to take care of him! I am surprised that you can still ask such a stupid question.”
Listening to the two boys' banter, which was full of taunting tone, murderous intent immediately appeared on the faces of Qian Duguan's subordinates standing by his side, everybody was eager to move. On the contrary, Qian Duguan himself remained unmoved. Shaking the double sabers in his hands, he calmly said, "If two gentlemen agree to tell me the real secret of the ‘Duke Yang Treasure', I, Qian Duguan, will immediately withdraw from this dispute. Gentlemen, what do you say?”
Kou Zhong burst out laughing and said, "How can it be that easy? If Qian Xiong can guarantee that we will be able to leave safely, telling you where the treasure is buried is not a problem. Qian Xiong, please make your decision first.”
The men on Ling Feng's side immediately showed tensed expression on their faces, they all wanted to know Qian Duguan's answer.
Qian Duguan smiled and said, "If Kou Xiong is thinking of driving a wedge in our friendship with Jin Bo Xiong, you are wasting your time. Enough idle chat; either the two gentlemen will have your hands tied and wait to be captured, or be killed on the spot. There is no room for compromise. Are you clear?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling laughed aloud. And then they disappeared through the hole on the roof, back into the restaurant below.
※ ※ ※
‘Boom!'
Before the enemy split up to enter the restaurant from the front and the rear, Kou Zhong was one step ahead by crashing through the wall and escaped to the shop next door.
It was a grocery store. The people inside had already heard the commotion outside and closed his door. The proprietor and his two workers were huddling behind a slightly open small window by the bolted door, peeking at the movements in the street outside. Suddenly disaster arrived; the fully stocked shelves, along with the sand and the stones, splashed down, so that the store looked like the disaster area after an earthquake.
While the three people were stunned, fast as lightning Kou Zhong flashed toward the boss and stuffed an ingot of gold into the inside of his lapel. Not forgetting to smile, he said, "This is for everything that fell on the floor!” And then he suddenly disappeared toward the back door, to rendezvous with Xu Ziling who had already out, and then in a blink of an eye they both vanished.
‘Bang!'
Xu Ziling kicked the wooden door leading to the alley behind the grocery store; like an arrow he shot toward the end of the alley. With the Moon in the Well in his hand, Kou Zhong followed closely behind him.
Ever since these two boys were little, not a single moment they did not pass either fighting or escaping. Naturally they were very much ‘at home' in this regard.
A gust of wind arrived.
Xu Ziling shouted at Kou Zhong and changed direction. Leaping over the alley wall, they saw the four sides eight directions were pursuing enemies. Hastily they dropped back into the rear garden at a residential home.
With wild barks, three vicious-looking dogs were pouncing at the two boys.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were both animal lovers. Leaping up, they landed on the horizontal branch of a big oak tree, and then borrowing the rebounding force they soared again across two buildings and landed on the roof of yet another building.
‘Swish! Swish!' It was not clear who released the arrows, but the two boys were forced to jump down from the roof and back to the main street below.
With unceasing shouts the enemies also scattered down from the roof and spread out to surround and intercept the two boys.
Since it was afternoon, the streets were bustling with passer-byes; carts and horses were lining the street like a dragon. With this sudden change, the street turned chaotic, everybody scrambled and fell over each other to run for their lives, the carts and the horses were crashing against each other as the drivers and passengers were racing out of the carts in panic.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling took advantage of the situation; they mingled among the scattering crowd, flashing to the left and darting to the right and into a fresh fruit store. While crying out ‘I'm sorry!' in their hearts, they knocked down two baskets of watermelon, scattering the fruits all over the floor.
Two enemies had just rushed into the store. Stepping onto the watermelon, they slipped and rolled on the floor like a pair of gourds, while the two boys already disappeared via the back door.
Running away at full speed, the two boys entered another big street, where they ran along the city wall closest to the southern gate. By this time they had escaped the siege, the enemy seemed to be falling behind.
The two groups of men and horses in hot pursuit of the two boys provoked panic and confusion everywhere; the sound of shouting and screaming shook the heavens.
Half a day later the two boys entered the main street connecting the south and the north gate, with the south gate appeared at the left side of the street.
Originally the two boys decided break out of the city via the south gate, but upon a quick glance, they saw that the south gate was closed, plus upon a closer look, they also noticed that a segment of the street, about two-hundred zhang long, leading to the south gate was completely empty without any trace of humans. Immediately warning bells went off in their mind.
Making a prompt decision, Kou Zhong called out, "North gate!”
Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong had a telepathic connection; even before Kou Zhong called out, Xu Ziling had already turned right to dash toward the north gate.
From the direction of the south gate Qian Duguan and a group of his men immediately appeared and ran after them in a wild chase, carrying with it an overbearing momentum.
After Kou and Xu, two boys were more than a hundred zhang away, constant stream of the enemies leaped down from the roof on both sides of the street; they all missed the two boys just by a little bit.
The crowded street with people and horses scurrying along made the perfect cover and obstacles for the two boys. In just a dozen or so breaths later, they already crossed the middle section of the long street. Suddenly the crowd ahead separated. Like a tidal wave more than thirty fully armed men, led by Ling Feng and Jin Bo, surged toward the two boys.
On both sides of the street, more than a hundred Qian Duguan's men appeared from behind the roof, practically sealing off their escape route.
Kou Zhong roared. Raising a mouthful of true qi, the Moon in the Well in his hand turned into a streak of yellow light shooting toward the leaders, Ling Feng and Jin Bo.
Spiraling energy flared out, a burst of cold air rolled wildly.
Xu Ziling chopped down with his palms left and right, a dozen or so gusts of wind, which were sharper than blade, struck with high accuracy, in terms of speed and timing, so that he hit a dozen or so enemies jumping down to the street as soon as they landed on the ground, but before they managed to steady their footings.
The enemies immediately suffered a crushing defeat. Those with rather weak skill were instantly thrown down to the ground, and rolled away toward the shops or the wall lining up the street. Those with comparatively stronger skill staggered back and vomited a mouthful of blood as they suffered internal injury.
‘Dang! Dang! Dang!'
The Moon in the Well subsequently clashed against Ling Feng's gold and silver spears, and Jin Bo's iron staff.
Vortex of qi burst out, the two men were instantly shaken back by Kou Zhong.
But Kou Zhong also did not expect that these two were quite tough; although he was successful in beating them back, but it was quite straining, hence he did not feel the least bit of delight. Worse yet, he knew that if he did not kill ruthlessly to break the enemy's siege, he could forget about leaving this city alive today.
With a loud shout he pounced forward, not giving Jin Bo and Ling Feng any chance to breathe.
Jin Bo and Ling Feng were cunning and quite smart; realizing that Kou Zhong was dauntless and unstoppable, they immediately retreated to let their men attacking from the sides, and thus giving them a chance to catch their breath.