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Chapter 129 Ruckus

The lumbering man, towering at more than 2 meters tall, carrying his huge, menacing sabre was called Wu Zhenjiang (Wu the Conqueror of Raging Rivers), a name so imposing that, when coupled with his hulking length and girth, many locals in the vicinity of Ji River feared and avoided him. What a pity it was, that he met Li Ye.

Wu Zhenjiang was rescued from the water and he collapsed on to the wooden planks of the ship’s bow, lying down, gasping for breath like a fish out of water. The two other young men, whom he always greatly respected, were also tightly bound in ropes. One of them was so badly beaten that the swells and bruises of his face rendered him unrecognizable.

The other was tossed into the air by Li Ye that he crashed through the cabins of the ship with his head used as a battering ram. He too was badly wounded.

Li Ye muttered a few words to Liu Zhiyan, ordering the latter to take every bandit who was blocking the way into custody, before he walked to Wu Zhenjiang and crouched in front of him. Like the two young men, the seething Wu Zhenjiang wore an angry and defiant look.

“You have pride, I like that. It’s better than some sniveling fool that begs for mercy,” Li Ye uttered, slapping lightly on Wu Zhenjiang’s face with a smirk of admiration.

“Kill me or torture me! Do as you will! I will never give in, lest I dishonor my own name!” Wu Zhenjiang screamed at the top of his voice, his taut sinewy throat stretching tightly, full of the stoutness and arrogance of a swordsman of the Jianghu.

Li Ye giggled. “As if you have much honor to have my family name,” he remarked jokingly, “Still, I can fulfill your wish if you so choose to be so heroic.”

A jeweled dagger appeared in his hand. Li Ye tested the sharpness of its blade by running a thumb down the side of the edges before holding the weapon at Wu Zhenjiang’s throat. “Truth be told, I have ample admiration for self-respecting heroics of the people in the Jianghu,” he turned serious and said, “I know full well that you’d die rather than dishonor your name. Rest assured that I will have a stone plaque set here as a memorial to you after your death.”

There was not a hint of jest in Li Ye’s voice. Before he had even finished, the runes on the dagger began shining.

Wu Zhenjiang’s eyes immediately widened with shock. His eyes darted to the shining dagger, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as he struggled to maintain his smug expression. “Kill me! Go ahead! But be assured that this is not the end!” He bellowed loudly, “Mark my words! In three days! You will join me in death! All of you!”

“Oh?” Li Ye’s grip on the hilt of the dagger slackened.

Seeing that Li Ye’s hand had lowered the dagger, Wu Zhenjiang thought that his ruse was working! Li Ye was afraid! He quickly put on a self-satisfied and pompous grin. “You are powerful,” he continued yelling loudly, “But how powerful can you be? Do you think you are the most powerful around here, with just this bit of followers?”

He flexed his shoulders, trying to make himself seem more comfortable. “I am a son of the Wu family from Qizhou,” he spoke proudly, “What do you take us for? Kill me if you dare, and my family will make sure that none of you survives! Not even your remains!”

Li Ye began rubbing his chin with interest. “The Wu family from Qizhou...” he muttered softly. He turned to the two young men, wearing a feigned expression of surprise. “Are you also from the Wu family?”

Realizing that Wu Zhenjiang’s ruse seemed to work, the young man with his face badly swollen yelled smugly, “Release us at once and apologize to us! There is still time for penance! Inconsequential fools like you should understand the greatness of the Wu family! Every river gang down the Ji River swears fealty to the Wu family! Defy us and your whole family will die a most terrible death!”

“A most terrible death? Our whole families, you say?” Li Ye remarked, his face still wearing the feigned expression of alarm. “Is the Wu family indeed so powerful in Qizhou that they are above the law? Why are the local magistrates not doing anything?”

“Local magistrates?” The swollen young man coughed. His chin raised proudly as he began to savor the sensation of vengeance. “We are the law here! These are troubled times! The family that has the most practitioners of magical skills on retainer are the most powerful! Not even the local magistrates would dare antagonize the Wu family! A mere glare by the Wu family is enough to bring them to their knees!”

“Oh my, they are so powerful?” Li Ye observed.

“Hmph! Only now you realized, do you! Release us quickly, lest woe betide all of you!” The swollen young man boomed proudly, “Bring all your riches and prostrate yourselves before the Wu family and beg for mercy! The Big Master of your gang seemed pretty enough! Present her as a gift to the master of our family, and you might save yourselves!”

Li Ye shook his head, chuckling cheerfully to himself. He turned to the Ugly Man. “Have you recorded everything?”

The Ugly Man was holding a disc, a magical instrument that allowed its user to record a short visual recording when activated with one’s Spiritual Qi. He nodded to Li Ye and said, “I have.”

Li Ye nodded in acknowledgment. He chortled with delight. “Set sail for the Wu family of Qizhou!”

The Ugly Man bowed, and trotted off to relay the order.

Wu Zhenjiang and the young men were beaming to hear this. “Good for you to surrender yourselves,” they began squealing, “Release us quickly! Prepare food and wine for us!”

Li Ye turned back to regard them as if he had momentarily forgotten about them. He waved for his guards and muttered, “Hang them up on the ship’s mast. Let everyone on the way see them. They will be fine gifts for us to present to the Wu family when we get there. A guest should not visit a host without gifts, eh?”

Wu Zhenjiang and the young men were stunned. “What?!” They gasped in unison, hardly being able to believe their ears.

Was Li Ye not alarmed and frightened?! They thought. Should Li Ye be releasing them and apologizing to them by now before treating them like kings and princes?! But why he ordered to hang them on the mast? It was totally wrong.

The three, as if waking up from a dream, immediately began yelling angrily.

“You are courting death!”

“This is not the end! You’ll see!”

“You’ll be destroyed, I swear!”

Li Ye glanced at them, still smirking. “Wait,” he said to a cultivator from the Black Office who had been disguising as the guard of the Changhe Gang, “They still have much strength in them, do they? They are still strong enough to struggle and jostle around. The mast might collapse.”

“And your intent, Young Master?”

“Beat them! Beat them hard until they can no longer scream and yell!”

“Yes, my lord!”

A huge bunch of men surrounded them, flexing their muscles while cracking their knuckles, grinning devilishly.

Wu Zhenjiang and his cohorts beheld the approaching guards with aghast expressions. Being wounded and tightly bound, there was no escape for them. Quickly, they were surrounded in a ring of men who rained punches and kicks down on them!

At first, they hissed and snarled defiantly at their attackers, only to be reattributed with more vicious blows. Slowly, what contempt and spite they had quickly wilted. The guards refrained from being too brutal, inflicting stronger blows when the three villains turned silent and slowing down when they were yelping with agony and pain, creating rhythmic peals of whimpers and screeches of pain on and off.

Li Ye took in everything from the bow of the ship as he enjoyed a moment’s respite, drinking tea while nibbling on some desserts. “Nice tea,” he remarked casually after taking a sip.

Liu Zhiyan came back after seeing to the minions of their quarry. “What should we do with their men, my lord?” she asked Li Ye, “There is also the matter of their boats.”

“Bring them all,” Li Ye instructed indifferently, “Tie the boats to our ship like a convoy. We’ll have a parade for everyone to see.”

“I see! You wish to show to everyone in Qizhou that these people’s days of bullying the weak and innocent are no more! It is time they respect the law and acknowledge the new lord of the land!” Liu Zhiyan replied with realization.

Li Ye merely smiled, saying nothing.

It had been four years since the execution of Liu Xingshen and Han Wenyue. He had been busy making preparations by first sending out the Black Office here to reconnoiter Pinglu, the site where his ambitions would begin growing.

The Wu family of Qizhou was already one of the subjects that he had thought of handling. They had been known to terrorize and bully innocent inhabitants of the locale to get their way. Then again, he hardly expected to encounter the force that subordinated to them, especially to have them barring his way on this Ji River cruise.

“We are nearing the boundaries of Qizhou. Do we need to contact Chief Song and General Shangguan to tell them to follow closely? I don’t think we should underestimate the influence of the Wu family here, since they are powerful enough to control the entire province,” Liu Zhiyan asked Li Ye.

“Of course not. We must not show them our hand. I want the Wu family to think that we are just some minor gang from the Jianghu, not Li Ye. They would immediately treat me with respect if they realize my identity and that is precisely what I want to avoid. It’s only by inducing them to harass and coerce me, that I can subdue them on proper grounds.”

Liu Zhiyan noticed her mistake, and quickly agreed. “You are wise as always, my lord.”

The fleet of ships required resupply, hence Li Ye would use this as a pretense to allow his ships to dock at every port or pier they encounter to have his men “resupply”.

Wu Zhenjiang and his two young cohorts were hanging from the mast of the largest ship and so were their minions, who were tied and displayed outside the ships’ cabins for everyone to see.

Li Ye had to sail past Shanchi District, a district which was part of Qizhou before in order to reach the capital of Qizhou, Licheng. Li Ye ordered his men to dock the ships when they passed by the piers of Shanchi. He noticed that the dockside marketplace was immensely crowded, so he instructed his men to whip Wu Zhenjiang and his cohorts, so that their cries of pain could attract more attention.

Even so, the sight of dozens of people being bound by ropes on his ships had already drawn the attention of the many seamen, dockworkers, merchants and common residents. Everyone peered at the newcomers with interest and curiosity. It was simply impossible for them to avoid notice, if they so intended. Gradually, more and more people stood at the side of the banks, talking and murmuring about Li Ye’s ships.

Li Ye stood at the port side of his ship’s deck, brushing off the dust from his robes pompously before he strode down a plank and stepped on land, wearing a smirk so broad that anyone would have instantly believed he was proud with the beatings that Wu Zhenjiang was suffering from. Proudly, he began walking, looking for a place to eat.

As Li Ye marched smugly in search of an eatery, a group of hulking men was huddled together, watching the ships of the Changhe Gang coldly.

A middle-aged man, clad in rich robes of velvet, appeared suddenly with some lackeys of his own, hurrying from the direction of the market square. The band of men immediately greeted him with respect.

“We’ve seen clearly, Manager Zhang. Those are Wu Zhenjiang’s men being tied and whipped now. Even Wu Zhenjiang himself is hanging from the mast with two other lesser progenies of the Wu family!” A dark-skinned man reported to the middle-aged men through gritted teeth, with hatred burning in his eyes.

“Have you investigated who are these people holding and torturing them?” the man asked, putting on an insidious look in his eyes. He was the manager of the warehouses of Shanchi District and handled all affairs of the piers of this district. He knew Wu Zhenjiang, who was also a native of Shanchi District himself.

“It’s a minor gang that operates on this river too. Their leader’s a woman whose surname is Liu. We heard that she’s good,” growled the dark man.

“A minor gang? I’ve never heard of them before,” muttered Manager Zhang, his brows creasing into a frown which quickly diminished into a frosty glare. “So be it! They dare humiliate the Wu family by coming to Sanchi District and parading how they torture the men of the family! They are courting Death! There will be no one to save them now!”

He turned and said to the dark-skinned man, “We must handle this matter, since they are here now! Ma Heizi (literally, Darkish Ma), summon your men, and bring some constables of the magistrate with you! We’ll arrest them all under the pretense of apprehending river bandits!”

“At once!” barked the dark man with folded hands.