Chapter 40

Complete darkness. Xiao Letian had been awake for a while, but there was still no light in front of him. His hands were tied behind his back, his head was covered with a black cloth, and even his mouth was stuffed with a piece of rag.

In the darkness, people's sense of time always becomes confused. He didn't know how long he had been awake, whether it was an hour or just a quarter of an hour.

During this time, Xiao Letian carefully reviewed the events. The possibility of being kidnapped by human traffickers was definitely ruled out; he hadn't heard of traffickers kidnapping men in their twenties, and there was no organ trade in this era.

Ruling out the first possibility, there was only one other: an enemy seeking revenge. On the surface, Xiao Letian had two enemies in this world: one was Lian Er, and the other was Wang Shizheng. Coincidentally, both had been so angry with Xiao Letian that they had suffered strokes.

One was a former head of the Internal Affairs Department who had lost his family's fortune, and the other was a corrupt scholar full of moral righteousness. Neither seemed like someone who could hire a powerful bandit. The bandits who had kidnapped the two of them from Xiao He and his men must have been top-notch in the Green Forest.

"Who could it be? Who have I offended? Could it be the royal family? Impossible, they wouldn't go to such lengths to kill me. The Xiang Army? Not likely, I already declined the official position in front of Zeng Guoquan, he wouldn't go so far as to kill me. Could it be those Qing scholars..." Xiao Letian shook his head; he hadn't heard of any Qing scholars being so ruthless in late Qing history.

Just as Xiao Letian was puzzled, the carriage suddenly shook violently, followed by the sound of weapons clashing and the muffled groans of injured people. At the same time, a light appeared before his eyes, and a tall man in his twenties appeared in front of him.

"Xiao Letian, the lone traveler from overseas... You have quite a lot of friends, these Taiping rebels are risking their lives to save you!" The man had sharp eyebrows and cold eyes, exuding a heroic aura. He picked up Xiao Letian and Hu Niu, threw them onto a horse, and then mounted the horse himself, galloping towards the setting sun.

Behind them, Xiao Letian saw four or five soldiers from Taibai Peak already engaged in a fierce battle with three bandits. Both sides were already red with blood.

"Advisor..." The leading Taiping soldier, though Xiao Letian couldn't remember his name, was always in the front row when stories were told at Taibai Peak, a die-hard fan of the advisor. The other soldiers were also very familiar.

Hmm... Xiao Letian tried to spit out the rag, but it was too tightly stuffed. He watched helplessly as his brothers bled, each charge being repelled by the enemy, each attack resulting in more wounds. If it weren't for their numerical advantage, they would all have died there.

"Sir... The one who tied you up is Xiang Shaolong, known as the 'North Dragon' in the 'North Dragon South Eagle'... Ah..." A soldier's shoulder gushed with blood as he cried out in pain.

Xiao Letian's anger had reached its peak. He glared at Xiang Shaolong, growling like a wild beast. Xiang Shaolong wasn't angry; instead, he pulled out the rag. "Release my brothers, or I'll never let you off, I'll pursue you to the death!"

"Haha, how long do you think you'll live? Want to use your foreign gun against me?" Xiang Shaolong waved the Colt revolver he had taken from Xiao Letian, his face full of mockery.

At this moment, Xiao Letian suddenly turned around and shouted, "Follow my orders, everyone retreat, don't make unnecessary sacrifices..." Then he coldly asked, "How much do you want? Name your price..."

"Hahaha, money? I want two million taels. Can you afford it? I know your bottom line, I once infiltrated Taibai Peak, that small fort can only have ten thousand taels..."

"Fine, you don't want to negotiate? Brothers, listen up, spread the word to the entire underworld, I'm offering two million taels for Xiang Shaolong's entire family, and I'll dig up their ancestral graves..."

"Yes..." The soldiers said, but none of them retreated. Xiao Letian's arrogant tone really angered Xiang Shaolong. "Alright, I'll wait for your two million taels reward!" He stuffed the rag back into Xiao Letian's mouth and galloped forward.

After Xiao Letian's figure disappeared behind the hill, the Taibai Peak soldiers quickly retreated, running to the nearest intelligence point with their wounds.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had once been a government, and their intelligence network in Beijing was extensive. Soon, the injured soldiers had tied the latest news to the legs of carrier pigeons, which first delivered the message to Chun Shisan in Beijing, and then to Yixian County. Within a day, Taibai Peak had received the latest news.

However, Shi Dakai had already left the fort in disguise, and such a major event required his personal supervision in Beijing. The highest-ranking person in the fort now, besides General Liu Lang, was the old shopkeeper Fan Lian. Indeed, Fan Lian had arrived at Taibai Peak half a month ago, bringing over a hundred craftsmen with him.

"Old Shopkeeper... With things like this, should we still start the furnace?" Liu Lang hesitated. At this moment, Fan Lian was trembling as he read the intelligence, tears streaming down his face as he thought of his daughter's plight.

In front of Fan Lian, two parallel small blast furnaces stood, their furnaces already filled with oil-soaked dry wood. The highly paid craftsmen were waiting for the old shopkeeper to light the first fire.

"Of course we should start the furnace. My son-in-law said he would offer two million taels for Xiang Shaolong's family, and I need to earn money... Hang the red banner, light the fire, set off the fireworks..." The old shopkeeper, tears streaming down his face, shouted and threw the torch into the furnace. Immediately, ten thousand firecrackers began to explode, marking the start of Xiao Letian's money-making venture at Taibai Peak.

Xiao Letian had no idea where he was going, but he knew the general direction was northwest, with more and more mountains and increasingly steep roads. He guessed they were heading towards Yanqing and Changping, but where exactly? In this ancient night without streetlights or road signs, Xiao Letian couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried.

Hu Niu had also woken up, her face full of fear as she looked around. When she saw Xiao Letian by the light of the torch, she burst into tears. "Xiao Big Brother, I'm sorry, if it weren't for me insisting on going to the temple fair, you wouldn't have encountered these bad people... Release my Xiao Big Brother, if you have any issues, come at me... sniff sniff!"

Xiao Letian wanted to comfort her, but his mouth was tightly stuffed. After a while, Xiang Shaolong ordered the horsemen to turn left and enter a simple thatched cottage, which seemed to be their resting place for the night.

When Xiao Letian stood in the courtyard and looked around, he realized that the surroundings were all dark mountains, with only the west side being more open, which seemed to be the valley they had come from.

"Get inside, what are you looking at? Even if we release you, you won't be able to get out..." One of Xiang Shaolong's men untied the ropes and pushed Xiao Letian into the house.

Xiang Shaolong was considerate and didn't mistreat the hostages. He gave each of them a large donkey meat火烧 (burnt cake), and the stove was already lit, so they would soon have hot water to drink.

Hu Niu couldn't eat anything. When she saw Xiao Letian enter the house, she immediately burst into tears, burying her head in his chest. "It's all my fault, all my fault. I shouldn't have gone to the temple fair, sniff sniff... I should have been obedient and stayed at home, my father was right about the three obediences and four virtues, I'll change, I'll definitely change my wild nature... I'll bind my feet when I get home..."

Hu Niu cried and blamed herself, as if everything was her fault. Xiao Letian smiled bitterly and patted her head. "Silly girl, these people are after me. If I'm not mistaken, it's probably those who see me as a threat..."

At this moment, Xiang Shaolong suddenly asked, "Then guess how they want me to deal with you?"

"Do I need to guess? Of course, it's just a matter of death. Although I don't know who hired you, I can guess which force it is. They're afraid of me, afraid that my Western knowledge will ruin their livelihood. They're already losing confidence in this era, they're afraid..."

Xiao Letian laughed arrogantly, taking a bite of the donkey meat. Ancient people were straightforward in business; the thin burnt cake was filled with meat, a true honest merchant.

Xiang Shaolong looked at him with interest. "Since you know your fate, I'll let you choose your method of death as a sign of respect."

Choose a method of death? Ancient people were really interesting, as if choosing a method of death was a favor. Once you're dead, what difference does the method make?

"My death doesn't matter, but this girl is innocent. I heard you're the North Dragon, a man of status. It's not heroic to harm a woman... Release her, I promise my brothers will only seek revenge on you, not your family..."

"Hahaha..." Xiang Shaolong laughed wildly. "Arrogant, you're really arrogant. People say I, Xiang Shaolong, am arrogant, but I never thought a weakling like you would be even more arrogant. Do you really think you can deal with me?"

"Of course, if you really have two million taels, you might cause me some trouble, but have you thought about it? Two million taels is the annual tax of a medium-sized state. Do you really think you can afford it?" Xiang Shaolong looked at him with disdain.

Xiao Letian smiled. "With your wooden brain, you wouldn't understand how I make money. Given time, not just two million taels, but even twenty million taels, I can easily gather..."

Just as Xiang Shaolong was about to retort with disdain, a rustling sound came from outside the thatched cottage, followed by two low growls that fell silent.

"Who?" Xiang Shaolong flew out like the wind. When he opened his eyes, he saw two of his men guarding the courtyard lying on the ground, unconscious. A man in black stood in the courtyard.

"Eagle?" Xiang Shaolong's expression immediately became tense.

"Dragon! We didn't finish our match last night, I really miss you. You won't run away tonight, will you?"

"Eagle, this has nothing to do with you. Don't interfere. We can have our match another time..."

"Haha, time? Do you really think you'll live a long life? I advise you to release Mr. Xiao immediately. He's not someone you can handle, and you don't want to bring disaster to your entire family. In the martial arts world, I can tell you, Mr. Xiao will be a great master, and his place in history might be on par with Confucius and Mencius. Do you really want to be a sinner for all eternity?"

Xiang Shaolong suddenly became tense, as if these words had hit a nerve. His eyes narrowed, and he suddenly lunged, his fist like thunder, straight at Eagle.

"Great master? You, Eagle, have become a scholar? What a great joke!"