Myths Begin From Boys' Gong

Qi Fang's expression wasn't very good, she said.
"Zhang Kang is here. It seems something has happened."

After a quick wash, Meng Zhao led Qi Fang to the main room of the house, where they met the much more mature San Gouzi.

The boy who used to be poorly dressed and living in poverty is now showing signs of growing horizontally.

With round cheeks, a bulging belly, wearing gorgeous clothes, a jade belt around her waist, and precious rings on her hands, she looked extremely wealthy.

However, compared to his ostentatious wealth, San Gouzi's expression was not good; he had a bitter face and his eyes were full of worry and anxiety.

Upon seeing Meng Zhao arrive, he jumped up and grabbed Meng Zhao, immediately launching into a tirade.

"Ah Zheng, you have to do justice for me! My grandfather is so old, and now he's been kidnapped. I don't know how much suffering he'll have to endure. You absolutely must rescue him!"

Meng Zhao initially thought it was a trivial matter, but upon hearing this, his expression changed slightly. He pulled Zhang Kang, who had a pained look on his face, to sit down and said,

"Don't panic, calm down. Even if the sky falls, I'll hold it up. First, explain what happened. Grandpa Zhang was perfectly fine at home, so how could he have been taken away?"

Although he had not been cultivating for long, he had already created the Three-Part Returning Origin Qi and mastered the basics. His martial arts skills were far superior to when he first entered Kaiyan County. Ordinary things were easy for him to overcome and posed no difficulty at all.

But this involves San Gouzi's grandfather, an elderly man who is quite old and in poor health, which makes things more complicated.

Moreover, during this period, thanks to his support, San Gouzi's caravan grew larger and larger, and he made a considerable fortune. He bought a house in Kaiyan County and brought his grandfather to live there. At the same time, he also arranged for several servants to take care of the old man.

His filial piety is commendable. He thought to himself that the old man was getting old and it had not been easy for him to raise Zhang Kang in the past. Now he could enjoy his old age and live a peaceful life.

San Gouzi didn't dare to delay and quickly explained the whole story.

It turns out that recently, San Gouzi's business has been growing bigger and bigger, which has attracted the attention of the small knife gang in the county. They have come to cause trouble several times, thinking of taking a share of San Gouzi's caravan profits. At the same time, they are taking advantage of the trust that the caravan has in the surrounding villages to recruit some brave and daring men for their own use.

This is not surprising. When San Gouzi's business was just starting out and showing some promise, some gangsters in the county town had their eyes on it and were looking to take it over.

As a result, Meng Zhao naturally took action, eliminating the leader of this small gang to intimidate others and let them know that San Gouzi was protected by someone, and that no one would dare to provoke San Gouzi without being confident.

Under such circumstances, San Gouzi actually lived a relatively comfortable life. He had no rivals or enemies on a daily basis, so he relaxed his vigilance.

As a result, not long ago, the people from the Small Knife Society in the county town, whoever had the audacity, set their sights on San Gouzi. And in an extremely despicable manner, they kidnapped Old Master Zhang while San Gouzi was away and used him as a hostage.

Their objective was naturally San Gouzi's business, but they also had their eyes on San Gouzi's martial arts skills.

Meng Zhao didn't know much about the Small Knife Society, nor did he think it was a big deal, so he asked...
"What's the deal with the Little Knife Society? Is their leader a well-known expert in the county?"

San Gouzi felt uneasy and confused.

"The Little Knife Society is a medium-sized gang in the slums of the city. Its leader is named Chen Xiaodao, and the Little Knife Society is named after him."

From what I understand, this Chen Xiaodao is indeed skilled in martial arts. His internal energy cultivation method is Xuan Yuan Gong, a Taoist internal energy cultivation method. He is also proficient in the 49-form Deadly Soul-Chasing Sword. He is somewhat famous in the county and has earned the nickname "Soul-Chasing Sword."

"That's all there is to it. Ah Zheng, the person you killed last time was far more famous and powerful in the county than Chen Xiaodao. I don't know why he suddenly did such a thing."

This is what San Gouzi can't understand the most.

The group of powerful figures that Meng Zhao killed last time were nicknamed "Unrivaled Hands." They possessed profound internal energy, remarkable palm techniques, and were extremely famous in the county. Their methods were also highly advanced, and their martial arts skills were equally formidable.

In comparison, Chen Xiaodao is far inferior to Wudangshou in terms of status, reputation, and even martial arts skills; they are not even in the same league.

Logically speaking, since Wudangshou has been killed by Meng Zhao, and San Gouzi has such a powerful backer, ordinary people would absolutely not dare to provoke him again. Even if they did, the person who would make the move would have to be someone stronger than Wudangshou.

However, Chen Xiaodao's actions shattered this reality. He was inferior to Wu Dangshou in every way, yet he dared to target San Gouzi, and in such a despicable way, kidnapping an old man.

This kind of behavior is really incomprehensible.

Is he not afraid that Meng Zhao will kill him, or does he have another trump card?
Meng Zhao pondered for a long time before speaking.
"Something unusual is suspicious. There must be someone behind Chen Xiaodao, but we don't know who it is. As for his target, it might not be your caravan, but me!"

Meng Zhao was fairly certain about this, but what he wasn't sure about was who was targeting him.

In Kaiyan County, he had actually offended quite a few people, but he never revealed his identity.

If we're talking about the most powerful, then the Fang family is the one.

However, out of caution, he had actually been keeping an eye on the Fang family all along.

Neither Fang Zijun nor the Fang family took any action against him, nor did they even conduct any investigation.

Therefore, Meng Zhao felt that the person behind Chen Xiaodao was most likely not from the Fang family.

San Gouzi's eyes showed even greater panic. Although he also practiced martial arts, his strength was weak. If it weren't for Meng Zhao's backing and deterrence, he wouldn't have been able to protect his current business.

Furthermore, his grandfather is still in Chen Xiaodao's hands, and the other party has only given him three days to consider. Every minute and second that passes is torture for him, and he really doesn't know what to do.

He wasn't greedy for immediate business and disregarded his grandfather's safety.

In reality, this business was merely incidental. The true purpose was to allow Meng Zhao to plunder medicinal herbs. He had no autonomy whatsoever, let alone the right to decide to hand over the caravan to the Little Knife Society in exchange for his grandfather's safety.

"Then, what should we do? Grandpa is getting old, and I'm afraid they'll torment him... what will happen then..."

San Gouzi almost burst into tears. Although he looked much richer, he was still just a boy.

Meng Zhao gave him a reassuring look and said,

"You go back first. I will take action to rescue Grandpa Zhang. As for how to do it, listen to my instructions. Do not act rashly or without authorization."

San Gouzi still trusted and admired Meng Zhao. In his eyes, Meng Zhao had a completely different background from him. He was afraid that the family that abandoned him back then was also very powerful. In addition, Meng Zhao was highly skilled in martial arts and had a childhood friend relationship with him. It could be said that he obeyed everyone.

After San Gouzi left, Qi Fang finally spoke.
"What do you want to do? Do you need my help?"

Meng Zhao shook his head. He didn't know who was behind Chen Xiaodao or what their identity was, so it was best not to bring Qi Fang along.

Although she had practiced martial arts, her combat ability was not strong. If anything went wrong, she would become a threat to Meng Zhao and an easy point of attack. It would be safer for her to stay in Xiaohan Village. Xiaohan Village was relatively safe, with many villagers, some of whom were brave and strong, so ordinary people would not dare to act recklessly.

If San Gouzi hadn't taken his grandfather to the county town to enjoy a life of leisure, it wouldn't have been so easy for Chen Xiaodao to kidnap someone in Xiaohan Village.

That same day, Meng Zhao, lightly equipped, rushed to the county seat to investigate the situation.

This wasn't just about rescuing San Gouzi's grandfather; it was also about finding out who was targeting him.

Meng Zhao, who had just mastered his divine skill, was eager to try it out and wanted to use the blood of a powerful expert to prove his Three-Part Returning Origin Qi.

Having spent a long time in the county town and being a regular at the black market, Meng Zhao also had several familiar information channels. He could get information for a fee, so they were fairly reliable.

Through his act of throwing money around, Meng Zhao learned more about Chen Xiaodao.

He is not old, not even thirty years old this year. By the standards of the county, he is considered young and promising, and his status as the leader of a gang is not low.

However, this person is ruthless and has no moral compass, so he has few friends.

The Small Knife Society was notorious for its exploitation of the poor to amass wealth, and was despised by the public.

Logically speaking, he shouldn't have achieved what he has now. Even if he had only risen briefly, he should have been taken over and swallowed up long ago.

However, this person's character is not very good, but he is lucky.

His two martial arts skills, the internal energy cultivation method Xuan Yuan Gong and the 49-form sword technique, the Deadly Soul-Chasing Sword, are both inherited.

His ancestors were Taoist priests and were also figures within the Taoist alliance, seemingly quite famous. Therefore, they passed down the Taoist internal energy cultivation methods, which can be considered a family tradition.

As for the Deadly Soul-Chasing Sword, he learned it later from a gangster, who was once a legend in Kaiyan County, named Yan Congke.

This person is a ruthless individual, unconventional, and doesn't form cliques or make friends.

However, he possessed exceptional martial arts skills and used extortion of various factions in the city to support his martial arts training and daily living expenses.

Yes, he is indeed such a bizarre and unbelievable person.

His main business was kidnapping, extortion, and blackmail, targeting wealthy families in the city, and even powerful clans like the Cai and Su families.

Logically speaking, this is something that should never be tolerated. Powerful families must maintain their dignity. If such a thing happens, it's better if it doesn't get out. If it does, they will definitely want to find out the source of the trouble and maintain their prestige.

But as it happened, Yan Congke was still able to live a comfortable life, which naturally had its reasons.

Firstly, Yan Congke was a very fierce and ruthless person.

"Fierce" refers to his cruel and tyrannical nature; he is an absolute villain.

He once went to a small family's home to extort money, but the amount was not much and the family could easily afford it.

However, the patriarch of this small family was a man of principle and an old-fashioned man who valued face highly. Not only did he refuse, he also threatened to deal with Yan Congke.

As a result, Yan Congke, a ruthless man, seized the opportunity and killed all dozens of members of this small family, leaving no one alive, thus achieving the feat of annihilating the entire family. As a result, he became famous and shocked the county.

The blood on his hands and the ruthlessness of wiping out an entire family would definitely make all the major and minor powers in the county, including the Fang family, think twice and dare not act rashly.

"Meng" refers to his high level of martial arts skills. His internal energy cultivation method is unknown, but he is especially skilled in swordsmanship and has extremely high attainments in swordsmanship.

Chen Xiaodao's 49-style Deadly Soul-Chasing Sword Technique was just one of the sword techniques he practiced, and it wasn't even considered his signature martial art.

Chen Xiaodao was a ruthless man. He somehow befriended Yan Congke and learned this swordsmanship from him. He improved his skills every day. Although he could not be considered a master, he could barely protect himself.

Yan Congke was even more formidable, once renowned as the county's top swordsman, though that reputation later became infamous.

Secondly, Yan Congke was also skilled in a bone-shrinking and disguise technique, which allowed him to secretly change his body shape and appearance, concealing his whereabouts like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows.

You can escape or hide anytime, anywhere.

Within the county town, there were those whose martial arts skills surpassed Yan Congke's, and those whose ruthlessness exceeded Yan Congke's.

However, Yan Congke was all alone, with no relatives or friends. He possessed superb martial arts skills, was ruthless, and was also proficient in disguise and bone-shrinking techniques, making him a truly ruthless person with no blind spots.

Offending him would result in severe retaliation, which was terrifying.

They couldn't find him, and they had offended him. This madman didn't care about any code of honor; his family's safety was in danger.

For all these reasons, the various factions in Kaiyan County were relatively lenient towards Yan Congke.

Just treat it like a dog that comes to your door begging for food; give it a bite to eat.

Most importantly, Yan Congke's appetite wasn't very large, and various forces, large and small, could still tolerate it.

However, Yan Congke, who was hated by everyone, was increasingly restrained in his actions. He knew that if he really angered the public, he would probably not have a good ending.

Finally, several years ago, he chose to leave Kaiyan County and go to work in other places. As for his situation and any amazing deeds, no news has come back yet.

Chen Xiaodao was able to gain a foothold in the county town not only because of his own martial arts skills, but also because he relied heavily on the infamous reputation left by Yan Congke.

Regardless of the circumstances, Chen Xiaodao was Yan Congke's disciple, even if he only learned one set of sword techniques; he was still a disciple.

Heaven knows if Yan Congke, that madman, would come back, go insane, or even self-destruct to retaliate if he knew Chen Xiaodao had been dealt with by the people in the county.

Upon discovering this, Meng Zhao's first thought was, "Could it be that damned Yan Congke who's targeting me?"

According to the information he received, this person was mentally unstable, a pure desperado, yet possessed extremely high martial arts skills, ruthless methods, and bizarre disguise techniques.

Chen Xiaodao's ruthless and unscrupulous methods in kidnapping San Gouzi's grandfather perfectly exemplify Yan Congke's style. (End of Chapter)