Knife splashing

Chapter 51: The Court and the Jianghu

Outside the door, two disciples were holding lanterns.

It was already late at night. The autumn wind was howling in the yard, the grass and trees were rustling, and an old man was standing behind a lantern with his hands behind his back.

He was wearing a green robe, with deep facial features, three hanging needle lines between his eyebrows, drooping corners of his mouth, and a pair of triangular eyes, which made him look uncomfortable.

It is tall, with extremely long arms, but its chest is hunched and its back is hunched, like a giant macaque with its hands behind its back. Its white hair and beard are neatly combed.

Behind it were two real giant macaques, scratching their ears and cheeks constantly, and baring their teeth at everyone.

The person who came was Zhou Pan, the president of Xianyang Divine Fist Association!
After being looked at coldly by him, all the Eight Vajra Warriors, even the angry Zhou Peide, lowered their heads and dared not say another word.

Zhou Pan said nothing, but walked into the house with his hands behind his back. Facing the seriously injured Zhou Bai, he just glanced at him and snorted coldly, "Come with me."

The Zhou family's courtyards are all bungalows, with no tall buildings, but they are very spacious. The six courtyards are connected to each other and all have martial arts training grounds. Many disciples patrol back and forth with lanterns.

Everyone came to the main hall of one of the courtyards. After Zhou Pan sat down, he peeled a small orange beside him and said calmly, "What's going on? You are so powerful on weekdays, but when the time comes, you start fighting among yourselves?"

The Eight Vajras were all standing in the hall, with cold sweat breaking out on their foreheads.

Zhou Peide gritted his teeth and said, "Brother..."

He was about to say a word, but seeing Zhou Pan's expressionless face, he was startled and quickly changed his words: "Master, it's not me who did it recklessly. It's actually this Yuan who harbored evil intentions and used magic to do mischief."

"Now that I think about it, Bai Er had clearly gained the upper hand, but suddenly he lost his composure. There must be something wrong with this technique!"

Yuan Qu lowered his head and said nothing.

"okay!"

Zhou Pan frowned, "This matter was proposed by Yuan Qu. He wanted Zhou Bai to understand the monkey's intention in advance to avoid any setbacks. Unexpectedly, he still lost."

"Yuan Qu, you will be in charge of Zhou Bai's expenses from now on."

"Yes, Master."

Yuan Qu breathed a sigh of relief and quickly bowed in agreement.

He knew that the matter was over.

"Master...Master."

Zhou Peide looked at Zhou Pan in disbelief.

Zhou Bai was the most promising disciple of the next generation of the Zhou family. Now he is unknown whether he is alive or dead, and his way out is cut off. Is it enough for him to just pay some money as compensation?

Thinking of Zhou Pan's usual care and appreciation for Zhou Bai, but after he was seriously injured, he just glanced at him and ignored him...

At this moment, Zhou Peide suddenly felt a chill in his heart.

"Humph!"

Zhou Pan glanced at Zhou Peide, as if he guessed what he was thinking, and said coldly: "Do you think those people have endured for ten years, why do they dare to attack now?"

"The root of this matter is not in Xianyang, but in Chang'an, in the imperial court!"

"A few days ago, the imperial court issued an order that Shanzhou Governor Lu Qing was dismissed for corruption and thrown into prison. The vacant position will be either Lu Canzheng or Li Canzheng..."

As soon as these words were spoken, the eyes of several of the Eight Vajra immediately lit up.

The military and political power of the entire Shanzhou was mainly handled by three offices, namely the Ministry of Civil Administration, the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and the Ministry of Military Affairs.

Among them, the Provincial Administration Commission had the greatest power.

The Zhou family was able to rise in recent years because they had connections with the Left Councillor Lu Kang, and after the Governor Lu Qing was imprisoned, he was most likely promoted from among the Left and Right Councillors.

Among the Eight Vajra, a middle-aged man who looked like a scholar said thoughtfully: "I understand, someone wants to find flaws in Master!"

"As long as you know."

Zhou Pan said coldly: "The life-and-death contest is the first step of testing by that old ghost Zhang. If Zhou Bai wins, it can not only preserve the reputation of the Zhou family, but also make those old guys who are sitting on the fence wait and see for a while."

"This is related to the future of the Zhou family, so I agreed to this matter. The people sent by the City God Temple also pretended to be deaf and dumb. Peide, do you still have any resentment in your heart?"

Zhou Peide opened his mouth, bowed deeply, and said, "Master is very thoughtful and far-sighted. I dare not complain."

Although I say I dare not, in fact, it is impossible not to have it.

Zhou Pan directly sacrificed Zhou Bai's future.

Zhou Pan glanced at it and didn't bother to pay attention. He said in a deep voice: "Old Ghost Zhang is pressing me step by step to force me to make a mistake."

"Tomorrow I will announce to the public that I am not feeling well and will be recuperating in seclusion. I will not see anyone. I will just have to put up with this for now and let them run wild."

"Once the overall situation is settled, we will deal with them one by one!"

"And you guys, if anyone has a dirty butt, clean it up for me right away, don't blame me for cleaning up the mess later!"

"Yes, Master!"

All the disciples bowed in unison.

Zhou Pan nodded, looked out the window, and said calmly, "Since the death of that bastard Li Hu, I have understood one thing."

"In this world, it's never about who is more powerful now, but about who will have the last laugh."

"Humph! When there is no tiger in the mountain, the monkey becomes king..."

"Do you really think I would care about this?"

…………

The sun had just risen when Zhang Shitong arrived at the Taoist temple.

"What are you doing here?" Sharifei was about to go out, and asked unhappily when he saw him.

He was not a fool. After being reminded by Li Yan, he immediately realized that although the father and son seemed to be loyal, they were actually using them as free knives.

"Hey, what did you eat just now? Why does your face stink so bad?"

"It's ready-made. Don't you like it better?"

Zhang Shitong stared with dead fish eyes, and the moment he opened his mouth, he ignited the anger in Sarifei.

Just when Sha Lifei was about to have a big fight, Zhang Shitong waved his hand and said, "Alright, alright, I'll argue with you another day. I have something important to do today. Where's Li Yan?"

"I'm lying down, I don't want to see any visitors!"

"died?"

"Don't worry, I'll definitely live longer than you!"

Just as Sha Lifei finished cursing, he saw Zhang Shitong turn around, walk around him, and stride into the yard.

"Stop it!"

Sharifei reached out and grabbed his collar.

Zhang Shitong didn't even look at it. He dodged sideways first, then grabbed Sha Lifei's wrist with a silk-wrapped hand and said with a smile, "Hey, Master Sha, where did the prestige of the Falling Stone Flying Beggar go last night?"

Sharifei lost the battle but not the talk. "If you have the guts, just stand there and I'll throw it for you to see!"

squeak~
While the two were arguing, Li Yan pushed the door open and walked out, still wrapped in bandages, looking at Zhang Shitong coldly.

Zhang Shitong chuckled, let go of Sha Lifei, and shook his head, saying, "Don't pretend, it's useless. The Zhou family won't take action against you for the time being."

As soon as these words came out, Li Yan frowned slightly, and Sharifei hurriedly asked: "What's wrong...what happened?"

"The old monkey announced that he would close his doors and not see any visitors."

Zhang Shitong said, then smiled and said, "What's the matter? Why don't you invite me in? Let's talk in detail."

Li Yan had a blank expression on his face and raised his hand.

Teacher Zhang didn't care. He smiled and walked in.

…………

"That's how it is..."

After entering and sitting down, Zhang Shitong no longer concealed anything and told the whole story. He shook his head and said, "In fact, even without you, we would have had to take action."

"Once the Left Councillor Lu Kang takes the position, Zhou Pan will definitely go to Chang'an to compete for the position of the president of the Shanzhou Divine Fist Association. By then, he will be so powerful that we will be in the dark and have no choice but to seek refuge in other provinces."

"My father asked me to tell you this so that you know that you can't hide from him unless you are willing to change your name and become a bandit."

After hearing this, Li Yan's eyes turned gloomy, "You still have a way."

"Oh, what?"

After hearing this, Zhang Shitong's eyes suddenly lit up.

Li Yan's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and he said in a deep voice: "Solve it directly from the source, find some experts, and kill that Lu Kang!"

Zhang Shitong was stunned for a moment, and it took him a while to recover. He swallowed his saliva and said, "You...you want to rebel?"

Li Yan sneered, "No matter how powerful you are, you only have one head after all. You have no chance to survive. Are you still going to stick out your neck for others to chop off?"

"No, no, things haven't come to that stage yet."

Zhang Shitong looked at Li Yan and felt inexplicably frightened. He spoke more seriously, "To be honest, Lord Li Siyuan, the Right Councillor, has a close relationship with us. Even if we fail, there will be room for maneuver."

"If you do something reckless, you're breaking the rules."

"If you break the rules, everyone will want to kill you!"

"The next thing is also very simple. The Zhou family has retreated, but they have done a lot of evil things over the years and have also made a lot of money for the Lu family. As long as we find enough evidence, Lord Li will have a way to take over."

"Then the Zhou family will be the unlucky ones."

Sha Lifei was amused. "The Zhou family is in Xianyang City. They are so stinking that they can find a lot of evidence. The government office will be almost full of cases against them, right?"

"not enough!"

Zhang Shitong shook his head and said, "For civilians, beheading them ten times is enough. But for officials, especially officials like Lu Kang, it is nothing."

Li Yan said thoughtfully: "Are you going to press the Zhou family step by step and expose their true colors?"

Zhang Shitong nodded, "This is the only way now. The government will welcome you with a smile, but in the martial arts world, you have to fight and shed blood. The Zhou family's eight great warriors are all being watched by fellow martial artists."

"Forget it, you'd better not get involved, lest you cause any big trouble."

"For the sake of our long-standing friendship, I remind you that if you find that something is not right, immediately hide your identity and leave Shanzhou!"

As if he was afraid that Li Yan would do something wrong, Zhang Shitong gave him a few more instructions before leaving the Taoist temple.

"Damn it, it's getting so serious, what should I do?"

After knowing the whole story, Sharifei was obviously a little scared.

Li Yan pondered for a moment, "Since the Zhou family doesn't dare to act rashly at this critical juncture, we should do what we should do and find a way to improve our strength as soon as possible."

"Even if we want to run away, we must first get enough money!"

"Also, find me a copy of the intelligence on the Eight Vajra Kings. Perhaps they are the breakthrough point..."

(End of this chapter)