Geng Zhiwei laid out three conditions. First, the Yu Family Cloth Shop must hand over half of its shares. Second, Yu Nan must marry him and become his sixth concubine. Third, Yu Nan must be whipped in public.

Yu Nan’s face turned pale.

From the side, Jia Quansheng added, “I think my brother’s three conditions are quite fair. Shopkeeper Yu, it would be a blessing for you to marry into the Geng Family.”

Before Yu Nan could respond, one of her guards behind her couldn’t hold back. “Geng Zhiwei, you bastard! I’ll curse your ancestors for eight generations!”

Geng Zhiwei spat on the floor. “Which kennel did you crawl out of? Do you think you have any right to speak here? Shopkeeper Yu, I’ve already stated my terms. Do you agree or not?”

At this moment, Yu Nan realized Geng Zhiwei hadn’t come for a discussion at all. He had come only to gross people out. She stood and said, “Young Master Geng, it seems we can’t settle this peacefully. Since you refuse to show courtesy, then let’s schedule a time and settle it with a fight next time.”

Yu Nan was declaring a fight.

Geng Zhiwei laughed. “Straightforward! That’s what I love about you! No need to schedule another time. Today’s a great day to do it! Let’s fight now!”

Two guards rushed forward with blades in hand. Yu Nan drew her pistol and aimed it at Geng Zhiwei. He stayed seated, sipping his tea with complete calm, showing not a hint of fear.

One guard stepped in front of him. Yu Nan pulled the trigger, and the shot struck the guard in the chest.

Blood gushed out from the gun shot, but after staggering two steps, he still raised his machete and charged at her.

What a monstrous body. Is he a Physique Cultivator? Yu Nan remarked inwardly as she quickly fired a second shot at him.

Click!

The hammer snapped down on the cartridge, but the gun gave only a hollow click. It was a dud!

Yu Nan pulled the trigger a third time, but it was another dud.

Could her luck really be this bad?

Am I really this unlucky today? she thought. But it wasn’t about luck. In Puluo Province, gunpowder was notoriously unreliable, and the chance of a firearm working was less than thirty percent. Misfires were all too common.

That was also why Li Banfeng had never fought anyone with firearms.

In Puluo Province, guns were never the weapon of choice. A revolver was still manageable, but a semi-automatic that relied on recoil to chamber the next round would become useless if it hit a dud.

Yu Nan fired six times in a row, but when the cylinder stopped, only two shots had actually gone off.

Both bullets struck the guard. Even as he kept bleeding, he still didn’t collapse on the ground. Instead, he slashed Yu Nan across the shoulder.

He took two bullets and didn’t even flinch. He didn’t block or dodge. He took the bullets head-on and endured. This isn’t something normal human strength can explain. This guard isn’t an ordinary person at all.

These thoughts flashed through Yu Nan’s mind. By her estimation, he had to be a third-level Physique Cultivator, yet she couldn’t fathom why someone like that would serve as Geng Zhiwei’s bodyguard.

From what Yu Nan knew, the strongest guard at Geng Zhiwei’s side had only been a second-level Physique Cultivator. Yet this man was clearly stronger, and he wasn’t the only one. Another guard of the same level was at that very moment locked in battle with two of her clerks.

Her clerks had no weapons, so they fought back with chairs. One swung a chair leg that snapped on impact, then thrust the splintered piece into the guard’s body. The guard bled from the wound, yet he kept fighting without losing any strength.

One clerk was pierced through the chest by Geng Zhiwei’s guard and collapsed to the ground, dead while the other struggled on, fighting desperately against the two guards alone.

“Boss, run! Go!” the clerk screamed hoarsely as a guard’s machete thrust into his abdomen.

Shouts of battle echoed from downstairs as the clerks of the Yu Family Cloth Shop clashed with the men of the Geng Family Medicinal Trading House. One of the men from the Geng Family Medicinal Trading House had his skull split open with an axe. Blood drenched his body, yet he still swung a dagger in combat.

His head was split open, yet he can still fight? Are all the cultivators Geng Zhiwei brought today third-level cultivators? Impossible! Panic filled Yu Nan’s eyes as a machete slashed across her leg again.

***

When it was late at night, Yu Nan led her men back to Hundred Fragrances Village. Out of thirty-three clerks, eleven were dead. They managed to bring back two bodies, but the other nine were left behind at the Spring-Gazing Pavilion, where no one knew what kind of desecration Geng Zhiwei might inflict on them.

Every one of them, Yu Nan included, was severely injured. As for the Geng Family, many of them were badly hurt as well, yet before Yu Nan left, she had not seen a single one of them collapse on the ground.

She had never imagined that the Geng Family’s strength could reach such a terrifying level.

After quickly tending to their wounds, Yu Nan ordered her people to set up a mourning hall to honor the fallen brothers with offerings and respect.

After everyone finished kowtowing, Yu Nan remained alone in the mourning hall, keeping vigil. When she had burned two stacks of joss paper, she let out a long sigh and said, “Brothers, walk slowly on the road to the Yellow Springs[1]. I’ll be joining you soon enough.”

Li Banfeng then stepped into the mourning hall and burned some joss paper alongside her. He did not know the fallen clerks, but it was his way of showing respect for the dead.

Yu Nan gazed at the corpses laid out in the mourning hall. Lowering her head with a sorrowful expression, she said, “I thought that since Geng Zhiwei invited me to a banquet, he would at least show some courtesy before using force. I never expected that he would lure me out only to attack outright.

“I knew I wasn’t a match for the Geng Family in terms of strength, but I never expected their power to be this overwhelming. Tomorrow, Geng Zhiwei will likely come to Hundred Fragrances Village for me, and there’s no escaping this calamity. Master Qi, take Trader Qin and leave at once. I can’t protect myself, much less keep you safe.”

Li Banfeng asked, “If you knew you couldn’t defeat the Geng Family, why did you have to attend the banquet openly and face them head-on?”

Yu Nan lowered her head. “I had no choice. Once he sent the invitation, I had to accept. That’s the rule of the jianghu.”

Li Banfeng asked, “Is Geng Zhiwei someone who follows the rules?”

“No,” Yu Nan answered very softly.

“Then what is the use of these rules?”

After a long silence, Yu Nan raised her voice. “If I hadn’t gone, my brothers and I would never again be able to hold our heads high!”

Li Banfeng looked up at the two corpses in the mourning hall and asked, “Can they hold their heads high now?”

Yu Nan lowered her head and stayed silent.

Li Banfeng pressed on. “And tomorrow, if Geng Zhiwei kills you, will you be able to hold your head high?”

Yu Nan could not answer.

Li Banfeng asked again, “So what is the use of these rules?”

Yu Nan could only respond with silence. She no longer wished to mention the rules of the jianghu.

For years she had clawed her way forward, believing herself to be a true member of the jianghu. Yet after crossing paths with Geng Zhiwei, she suddenly felt as if she had never understood it at all.

After a long silence, Yu Nan sighed. “Master Qi, maybe I was wrong. But this isn’t the time to argue about right or wrong. Geng Zhiwei won’t let me go, and he won’t let you go either. He’ll come for you sooner or later. I just want to remind you, Master Qi, leave quickly.”

Yu Nan was right. If Geng Zhiwei faced no resistance and continued his slaughter, it would only be a matter of time before he found Li Banfeng.

It would not be difficult to track down Li Banfeng. Geng Zhiwei only needed to capture a few of Yu Nan’s subordinates alive, torture them, and his whereabouts would be revealed.

While they were speaking, a young woman walked in, tears brimming in her eyes. She held up a piercing saber and said, “Boss, this knife was Old Eight’s. I want to keep it in his memory.”

This woman was Old Eight’s elder sister, whose name was Wang Xuejiao. Old Eight had died, and they could not even bring his body back.

Yu Nan nodded. “Keep it.”

Li Banfeng examined the blade. Red stains clung to its surface, and as he leaned closer, he caught a strange, bloodlike scent.

“Miss, may I see that knife?”

Wang Xuejiao passed it to him. Li Banfeng brought it close to his nose, sniffed, and said, “This is a watermelon knife, isn’t it?”

“Nonsense!” Wang Xuejiao cried in a fluster. “This was Old Eight’s knife. From the day he started following the boss, he always carried it. The stains on this blade are the blood of those bastards from the Geng Family!”

Li Banfeng studied the red specks on the knife and said, “This is not blood. It’s watermelon juice. This blade must have been used to chop watermelons all day.”

Watermelon? Yu Nan froze. Wang Xuejiao turned on Li Banfeng and cursed, “Who the hell do you think you are? What right do you have to insult and humiliate my brother?!”

Li Banfeng only looked at the young woman and gave no explanation. Yu Nan had someone lead Wang Xuejiao away, then picked up the knife herself and sniffed it.

There was indeed a tangy and bloody scent, but Yu Nan couldn’t tell whether it was blood or watermelon juice.

Li Banfeng said to her, “Bring more weapons. We’ll check them one by one.”

Soon after, a clerk carried over more than a dozen weapons. Li Banfeng smelled each carefully before confirming his judgment. “This is watermelon juice. I do smell blood, but the sweetness of watermelon can’t be hidden.”

Yu Nan shook her head in disbelief. “I can’t smell it.”

Li Banfeng picked up an axe from the pile and scraped away a crust of rust from its blade.

Anyone else might have taken it for rust flakes, or even bits of flesh from the Geng family’s men, but Li Banfeng was the only one who could tell the difference through the smell.

It was neither rust nor flesh.

Li Banfeng cleaned the fragment and split it open. Inside the black shell was a white kernel. “Look closely. It’s a watermelon seed.”

Yu Nan scrutinized it for a long moment as her pupils narrowed tighter and tighter. At last she saw it clearly. It was a watermelon seed.

1. In Chinese belief and literature, the Yellow Springs refers to the realm of the dead. It is often imagined as a dark, cold river or a spring that souls must cross on their way to the afterlife. ☜

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep