Gou Zai Wu Dao Chao Shi Xing Nian Da Gong

"Guangcheng, I'm going to visit your uncle. I won't be back until dark. Just close the door; you don't need to wait for me."

After lunch, Zhou Fugan casually told his son something, then left home carrying a tailor's box.

"What did Dad just say? He's not coming back?" Li Qiuhua heard the commotion from the courtyard, walked into the shop, and asked curiously.

"They said they were going to visit the old man in Blackwater Town. We haven't been in touch for years, I really don't know why they'd bother going there," Zhou Guangcheng said, shaking his head helplessly.

Unbeknownst to them, Zhou Fugan hadn't gone to Blackwater Town at all. Instead, he had come to a street not far from the courtyard where the mysterious caravan was staying. While it was some distance from the caravan, the view was excellent, making it easy to spot the alleyway and monitor the caravan's movements.

This morning, Zhou Fugan noticed that the caravan was packing its belongings, so he figured they were likely leaving today.

At the same time, he also noticed the unusual movements of the Black Snake Gang. On the Green Scale Hall side, manpower was being frequently mobilized, with many strong, muscular men gathering at the hall's entrance and not emerging again.

Zhou Fugan decided to follow and see if there was a chance to kill Gao Fei, or take advantage of the chaos to make a quick buck.

Time passed slowly, and by the afternoon, there was only a little over an hour left before sunset.

The caravan finally made a move; several horse-drawn carriages loaded with goods slowly drove out of the alleyway.

The group consisted of about ten people. Apart from a few experienced cart drivers and an elderly man dressed as a shopkeeper, the rest were all burly men wearing straw hats. These men exuded a sharp and capable air, clearly elite fighters, and likely all possessed considerable martial arts skills.

The caravan slowly headed towards the south gate, and soon left the city, heading far away along the official road.

Soon after, another group of people drove their carriages out of the city. These people also wore straw hats to cover their faces, and their clothes were ordinary, making it impossible to tell their origins. The only strange thing was that their carriages were carrying people, not any goods.

After leaving the city, these people hurried on their horses towards the direction of the caravan.

"Just as I expected!"

At this moment, an old man carrying a tailor's box in the crowd followed along the official road with a hint of amusement in his eyes.

......

The night was deep, and the crescent moon took on a bloody hue, seemingly foreshadowing something ominous.

Along the official road, shouts of battle echoed on the wind.

A fierce battle is unfolding here, with a group of masked bandits besieging a small caravan.

The caravan consisted of only a dozen or so people, while the bandits numbered twenty or thirty. However, the caravan members were well-trained and even skilled in coordinated battle formations. Despite their numerical superiority, the bandits held little advantage.

"Damn it, I misjudged!"

Gao Fei brandished his longsword wildly, suppressing the caravan leader, but he felt no joy in his heart.

He had his eye on the caravan as soon as it entered the county town, but he hadn't noticed anything unusual. He thought they were harmless sheep, but it turned out they were wolves in sheep's clothing.

The caravan not only contained a powerful expert who had broken through a level once, but the guards were also extremely skilled and proficient in battle formations. They managed to defeat the Black Serpent Gang, which outnumbered them two or three times over, with heavy casualties.

However, no matter how frustrated Gao Fei was, there was nothing he could do.

The caravan leader was about as strong as him and very experienced, so he couldn't be defeated in a short time. In fact, if he became impatient, his opponent might find an opportunity to defeat him.

Gao Fei could only hope that his men would perform well, break through the battle formation as soon as possible, and come to help.

.....

In the woods not far away, on a large tree.

Under the cover of night, Zhou Fugan hid in the tree canopy and quietly watched the battlefield on the official road.

"Looks like we have a chance today!"

He hadn't expected this small caravan to be so well-hidden. Gao Fei had really bitten off more than he could chew this time; if things ended up with both sides suffering heavy losses, his opportunity would come.

"These two are actually quite average!"

Zhou Fugan observed for a while and felt that the two had many flaws in their moves. If he were to fight one-on-one, he could seize an opportunity to defeat them in about ten moves.

He simply couldn't tell whether he was all talk and no action, or whether he could actually fight with such ease.

"Why don't we go out and try our luck?"

"Forget it, we can just pick up the bargains if we can, there's no need to take risks."

...

The battle lasted for half the night. The Black Serpent Gang eventually annihilated the caravan's guards with their numerical advantage, but they also suffered heavy casualties, with only five or six of their twenty or thirty men remaining standing.

At this time, Gao Fei still hadn't managed to capture the caravan leader. The two fought hard for half the night and were both exhausted.

He did try some underhanded tricks during that time, but the caravan leader was also a seasoned veteran, and he had just as many lime poison darts as he did. In the end, neither of them managed to outwit their opponent.

"Wait a minute, I am..."

Seeing that all his men were dead, the caravan leader finally panicked, stumbled, and opened his mouth as if to say something.

However, Gao Fei, who was already consumed by rage, found an opening and beheaded him with a single blow.

"Damn it, die, die, die, die!"

Gao Fei cursed and swung his knife wildly at the caravan leader's corpse until he could no longer swing it.

He slumped to the ground, panting heavily, looking around at the corpses scattered everywhere, his anger still burning.

Although he won the battle, he felt no joy, because the casualties were too great! The elite of the Azure Scale Hall, plus some skilled fighters borrowed from other halls, had suffered heavy losses. He would have no way to explain this to the gang upon returning.

"Master, this is no place to linger!"

A subordinate weakly reminded him in a low voice.

Gao Fei looked up and saw that his remaining men were all gathered around him; there were only six of them left.

He forced himself to stand up and ordered, "Brothers, pack up. Pick out the valuables and take them with you. Throw away the worthless ones. Make room in the wagons and load the dead and wounded brothers onto them and take them away."

"yes!"

Everyone bowed in unison in response.

"Um?"

Gao Fei was suddenly taken aback because one of his subordinates neither spoke nor bowed.

Before he could react, the man suddenly sprang up, swung his fists, and slammed them into the chests of two Black Snake Gang members beside him.

Boom~~

With a muffled thud, the two men were sent flying several meters away, landing without a sound.

"Oh no, watch out!"

Gao Fei was both shocked and angry, and quickly spoke up to remind him.

But the man moved extremely fast. With a single step, he swung his fists like a mallet, sending his two subordinates, who couldn't react in time, flying.

At this moment, the last person finally realized what was happening, shouted, and turned to run away.

Boom~~

But the man caught up with him in two steps and punched him in the back, sending him flying backwards almost backwards!

The man turned around and faced Gao Fei.

"Hahaha~~ I never thought that I, Gao Fei, would be ambushed and killed one day."

Gao Fei looked up at the sky and laughed loudly.

He didn't try to escape, because he could tell from the man's first move that he was a strong opponent of equal strength. The opponent was in good condition and had the advantage of being well-rested. He, on the other hand, had been through a fierce battle and was already exhausted, his legs were weak, and he couldn't run at all.

Furthermore, he had already exhausted all his underhanded tricks, so even if he wanted to launch a sneak attack and fight to the death, he couldn't. This was an absolute death trap!

"Could you please state your name so I can die knowing why?"

Gao Fei looked at the other person's masked face and pleaded.

"good!"

The man answered, his voice hoarse.

Gao Fei's eyes lit up, and he listened intently. Suddenly, he saw the man wave his hand, and a cloud of powder covered his head and face.

"Ah~~"

He felt a burning pain in his eyes and couldn't help but scream. He cursed inwardly, "Damn it! I'm already like this, and you still tricked me!"

Boom boom boom~~

Before he could react, the man rushed in front of him and pounded his chest with both fists.

After a series of horrific cracking sounds, Gao Fei's sternum collapsed, and he flew backward, crashing to the ground, lifeless.

...

Zhou Fugan picked up the long knife and slashed Gao Fei's neck. Then, he swiftly moved around, slashing anyone still alive, whether they were members of the Black Snake Gang or members of the caravan.

Then came the task of cleaning up the battlefield. He first searched Gao Fei's body, finding nothing. This is understandable; who goes out to rob someone and carries valuables?

He then touched the caravan leader and found a bulging package, but didn't have time to examine it closely before putting it away. He then touched the caravan manager and found a small money pouch, but didn't have time to count the money before putting it away.

As for the remaining henchmen, they're worth at most a pittance, so he won't bother with them.

He quickly went to the carriage, opened each door one by one, and was immediately disappointed.

"It's all grain!"

Food is worthless.

Undeterred, Zhou Fugan unloaded the grain and soon discovered something amiss.

Beneath the grain was a thick pile of straw, and hidden among the straw were gleaming weapons, including heavy armor and longbows!

"Something's definitely off about this caravan!"

Zhou Fugan was startled.

Heavy armor and longbows have always been strictly forbidden for civilians to possess by the imperial court, and anyone found in possession of them would be committing a serious crime.

The fact that this caravan secretly purchased so many prohibited items shows that their origins are extraordinary.

Thinking of this, Zhou Fugan quickly checked again to make sure there were no survivors and no traces left before picking up Gao Fei's body and long knife and running away.

He ran for more than ten miles, found a secluded section of deep river, tied the body to a stone, and sank it to the bottom of the river along with the long knife.

Then, he took off his clothes, tied them to stones, and sank them into another section of the river. He changed into clean clothes and then quickly left along the Blackwater River.