Xu Ziling listened carefully; aghast, he said, "Why does our sense of hearing become this formidable? The hoof beats are at least ten li away, yet we can perceive it. Before, we could hear only at most five or six li, and it had to be under favorable wind direction.”
Kou Zhong was tongue-tied as well. "And don't forget that right now we are buried under the rubble,” he said, "Hey! The sound must be coming from the underground; I can even feel the vibration.”
Xu Ziling chuckled softly, "You, this kid, love to exaggerate the most,” he said, "Huh? They seem to be in great rush. Eleven, twelve, oh! Seventeen riders, and they are heading this way.”
Kou Zhong squealed excitedly, "Let's play dead again! Who knows, maybe we'll gain another unexpected benefit.”
As soon as the riders entered the village, most of them immediately dismounted from their horses to stick torches everywhere, and then started searching from house to house, in a tyrannical, overbearing manner.
Hidden under the rubble, when Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong heard the way they were forcing the doors open, breaking down walls, and basically forcing their way into the houses everywhere, they knew that this bunch of people was not ordinary Jianghu characters; rather, they could be considered martial art masters of the Wulin.
Under normal circumstances, it would not be easy to meet even one of this kind of people, yet now suddenly more than a dozen appeared here and with impressive show of force searched the entire village; naturally the two boys were greatly curious.
Two of the riders did not dismount, evidently their rank was the highest. Urging their horses, they slowly came near the rubble where the two boys were buried.
One of these two was fat, the other thin, but both had unusual look. The fat one's body type was big and loose, yet surprisingly it still gave other people the impression that he was sturdy, healthy and beautiful. His age was around thirty, his skin was abnormally bright.
He was gifted with a broad face and bulging chin; his eyes were as sharp as a pair of will-o'-the-wisp, with a bit of sinister and terrifying aggressiveness. Fortunately from time to time his thin lips pursed into a thread of smiling expression, and thus greatly diluted the burning murderous aura from his eyes.
The skinny one was a few years younger than the fat one. His build was well proportionately slender, his face was rather handsome, but his bearing looked conceited.
After looking around for quite some time, he finally opened his mouth, "This clay house must have collapsed not too long ago, that's why the interior has not been eroded by the blowing sand, the furniture still considerably intact, plus the two rear buildings are still standing straight. The collapsing front part is indeed very intriguing.”
His voice was deep and low, and was pleasant to hear, plus he spoke with confidence, giving the impression that he was someone who seldom suffered setbacks.
The fat and sturdy guy laughed aloud and said, "Ling Feng Xiong's observation is a valid one. Just by looking at the dead bodies scattered all around the village, we know that something happened here not long ago. Also, looking at the way this house collapsed, it is obvious that someone deliberately smashed the beams and pillars, and pushed the four walls down.”
Listening from under the rubble, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were moved by these two men's power of observation.
The one called Ling Feng smiled and said, "Jin Bo Xiong is well-known for your intelligence; indeed it is not a baseless information. This is very strange; who would spend so much effort to knock the entire building down? Plus this person must be very powerful; I daresay he can be classified as one of the top-ranking experts of the martial art world.”
The fat guy Jin Bo responded indifferently, "As long as we excavate the debris, we will obtain the answer. Is Ling Xiong interested?”
This moment a short, thin old man came to the two men's presence and said in heavy voice, "There are a total of fourteen dead bodies in the village. Most died from having their vital acupoint sealed with some kind of internal school's technique. Only three of them died from having their throat cut, but the wound does not look like it was caused by sharp object, such as a saber or a sword.”
"Who are these people?” Ling Feng asked, "Can Old Chen see?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling felt strange. Listening to the appellation these people used to address each other, it was obvious that they did not belong to the same School or Sect; there was no superior-subordinate relationship between them, yet it was clear from their attitude that they were in this together. What was their objective?
The old man surnamed Chen replied, "All their weapons have the identical markings. If my, Chen Guang's memory serves me right, they must be Jiangnan's Qingjiang Pai's people, whose power is increasing tremendously these recent days.”
"Phew!” Jin Bo said with a sigh, "This is getting more and more interesting! Qingjiang Pai's Zhangmen [Sect Leader] ‘Variable Wind' [wu ding feng - no fixed wind] Xiang Qingliu loves to shield his people who break the law and commit crimes, and now unexpectedly someone is daring enough to stroke the tiger's whisker. I, the ‘Fat Demon' Jin Bo dare to guarantee that a good drama is about to unfold. It must be lively and good to watch. Ha!”
Listening to his mouthful ‘taking joy in calamity and delight in disaster' tone, Xu and Kou, two people could not help feeling contempt toward him.
Puzzled, Ling Feng asked, "But this bunch of people did not work under those two kids; who could have done it to them?”
The two boys listening under the rubble were moved. They had a faint feeling that these men were coming for them.
Meanwhile another man came to report that there was no one else in the village.
Jin Bo sighed and said, "Right now we don't have time to mind other people's business. The intelligence from Baling was that those two kids are heading north to dig up the ‘Duke Yang Treasure'. This information has spread everywhere, creating quite a sensation. Even the Four Big Bandits are sending their martial art masters to intercept along the way. Even more reason for us not to dilly-dally.”
Chen Guang said, "There has never been anybody in Jianghu with higher price than theirs. Undoubtedly, obtaining the hidden treasure is not insignificant; we can immediately recruit soldiers and buy provision to contend for hegemony over the world, or at least we can become the richest man in the world. Let alone we can bring their heads to see Duke Mi. It will definitely bring honor to our ancestors.”
Immediately Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's countenance changed.
Their northern expedition was a top secret. Only a limited number of Baling Bang and Jukun Bang people were in the know. But now they had just left Baling, and already someone has leaked the news. Not only that, but their route to the north was clearly indicated. Otherwise, how could these people look for them here?
Ling Feng's voice was heard, "We must leave immediately and hasten on our journey; otherwise the quick-footed will climb up first!”
Jin Bo and the others were too preoccupied to care about what buried under the rubble; in the blink of an eye they already left far away.
‘Bang!'
Gravels shot up midway into the sky. The two boys soared high and landed on a vacant lot in the middle of the village.
Brushing off the sand, pebbles and dust from his clothes, Kou Zhong frowned and said, "Dust and debris are getting into my clothes; it's really uncomfortable. It would be best if we can find a creek to take a bath before continuing on our journey.”
Xu Ziling nodded, "We'll look for one along the way. The most important thing right now is going to Jingling to rendezvous with Yucheng, Zhifu, and the others, and then think of a way to deal with this situation.”
Patting the Moon in the Well on his back, Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, "It had not occurred to me that our prestige from getting rid of Ren Shaoming is still not enough to intimidate and deter those greedy people. We might as well have a free hand to go all out; let those people know the meaning of the word ‘regret'.”
Xu Ziling smiled faintly and led away.
By this time the bright moon had climbed up to its zenith, bathing the whole earth with its golden light.