Chapter 397 The Hero and the Mole
Through the murmuring among the crowd, Li Mu could tell that recently the Beggar Gang had been subjugated by an emerging Jianghu force in the Northern Song. All of its branches in the provinces were raided. The loss it suffered was immense. In the past, that rarely happened, for the Beggar Gang seldom got involved in the disputes in Jianghu, nor did it have dealings with the government. Basically, the Beggar Gang only minded its own businesses and had little interest disputes with the other forces. Therefore, few men or factions had locked horns with such a gang.
What was more, the name of that emerging force was surprisingly familiar to Li Mu.
It was the Bloody-moon Faction.
That left Li Mu open-mouthed.
Because the first faction he heard of since he came to that world was exactly the Bloody-moon Faction.
On the night of that storm, for some unknown reason, the Bloody-moon Faction sent experts to hunt down the original Li Mu in that world. However, one thing led to another, the assassins ran into the Li Mu from Earth. After performing the Zhenwu Boxing that he had practiced for more than a decade, Li Mu crushed those experts. Later, he also murdered a member of the Bloody-moon Faction on the spur of rage in the Taibai County. After that, the Bloody-moon Evil Master, Head of the Bloody-moon Faction, forcefully challenged Li Mu to a duel. Yet, as the Bloody-moon Evil Master learned a series of news about Li Mu’s defiant combat records, he hastily postponed the date of their duel over and over again before winding up being a laughingstock in the martial arts society of the Western Qin.
In the past few months, the Bloody-moon Faction had ceased all activities in the Western Qin.
But why did the Northern Song also have a Bloody-moon Faction?
The two were the same?
Or its name was just a duplicate by coincidence?
Li Mu was a little intrigued.
At that point, Divine Beggar, Grand Master of the Beggar Gang, continued to speak. “As brothers already knew, these days, our branches in the provinces have been attacked by the ruffians of Bloody-moon Faction. We lost a great number of our members. A couple of days ago, I was assassinated by some of those ruffians and almost got killed. We Beggar Gang have remained detached from the conflicts and disputes in the outer world. But recently, we’ve taken a string of deadly blows. Obviously, someone is trying to take us out. If this can be tolerated, what else cannot be?”
That speech stirred up the roars of indignation from more than 10,000 disciples sitting on the deserted flood land.
Divine Beggar added, “I was wondering if you guys have considered this question. Why did the bastards of the Bloody-moon Faction continue winning against us, even though each of our branches has high-level experts in charge and after several attacks we already rearranged our manpower and increased the defensive force? We tried to ambush them, but we failed every time. This time, I, Grand Master, went to waylay them at the Heaven Gate Branch with the best of our combatants. However, the Bloody-moon Faction did not show up at the time we expected but sneaked attack us later, causing the death of several of our loyal members. The Bloody-moon Faction seems to know our every movement like the palm of its hand. So, why is that?”
An uproar broke out.
More than 10,000 people started talking loudly. The sight instantly fell in disorder.
Wang Shiyu whispered, “Is there a mole among the gang?”
Lu Changfu looked over his shouldered and said, “Speak discreetly! The disciples in our Beggar Gang are poor outcasts of the society. We share the same faith and look after each other. How come a mole could appear among us? That’s impossible…”
But to his surprise, before he finished his words, Divine Beggar standing on the stone stage went on. “That question has troubled me for months. Today, I finally got the answer. It turns out that a crazy traitor, a mole is walking among us. He sold us out for his own benefits. Guys, tell me, is that something we can tolerate?”
At that, the deserted flood land was drowned by unrestrainable gasps and roars.
His remark was like a stone that disturbed the water and incurred a thousand layers of waves.
Lu Changfu’s expression froze at once.
As the furious murmurs around grew larger and larger, his tanned face was etched with astonishment. He was reluctant to accept that. “How could we have a traitor in our Beggar Gang? We are all good buddies.”
Noting his expression, Wang Shiyu was also a little pained.
Li Mu shook his head, too.
Wang Shiyu had mentioned that Lu Changfu was a man with no craftiness. In the present state of things, she seemed to be correct. Not only did he have no craftiness, but he was also some kind of an idealist. In the Northern Song, the number of the members of the Beggar Gang was around a dozen million. The experts in the inner circle must be more than 10,000. With all those people jumbled in one faction, how could they all be decent?
Then, Divine Beggar said, “Though we are all devastated to hear that there are traitors among us, the situation is not that bad. Thankfully, we still have many loyal members. Last night, a hero both intelligent and courageous stepped up and captured a member of the Bloody-moon Faction alive at the risk of his own life. The captive is a leader of the Bloody-moon Faction. Having been interrogated overnight, he finally helped us pin down the mole in our faction. Guys, tell me, should that hero be rewarded or not?”
“Sure enough!”
“Our Beggar Gang will never run short of true men!”
“Exactly! Who is that hero? Come to the front and let us see you!”
“Haha! I guess it must be Brother Li, Li Yuntao!”
People on the deserted flood land were shouting and crying. Everyone was high spirited.
Those days, the Beggar Gang suffered one attack after another and the death toll was striking. Even its Grand Master almost got killed. Indeed, it never rains but it pours. But on that day, the members finally heard a piece of good news. Everyone was elated. That news significantly boosted their morale.
Lu Changfu, too, looked thrilled. He remarked, “Black sheep can never prevail. Most of our members are honest men. Haha, I bet it’s Li Yuntao. He is an impressive combatant from the younger generation. If we say there is someone both intelligent and courageous, that’s definitely him!”
“That Li Yuntao nicknamed ‘Dragon Punch’?” asked Wang Shiyu with curiosity.
“Of course.” Lu Changfu confirmed with exultation.
Wang Shiyu started to explain the situation to Li Mu under her breath. It turned out that Li Yuntao was a rising star who came to people’s sight in the recent decade. He was known for his punching skills and claimed to be the number one expert in punching in the Beggar Gang. He ranked the third on the Earth Ranking of the Northern Song and enjoyed quite a fame. Li Yuntao liked traveling and helping others. He was sure an open-hearted and upright man, both brave and resourceful. In the Beggar Gang, he was deeply respected. Divine Beggar, Grand Master of the gang, thought highly of him. So, in spite of his being young, he became one of the elders in the Beggar Gang. Many had speculated that he would be the successor of the current Grand Master.
Li Mu listened quietly but gave no reply.
Although he knew little about the Beggar Gang, he had learned about the Heaven Ranking, Earth Ranking, and Human Ranking of the Northern Song.
For example, Huang Youlong, the Enigmatic Divine Dragon, Chief Head of the Heavenly 36 Waterside Citadels, ranked the top five on the Heaven Ranking. The so-called Heaven Ranking was the ranking of the strength of people in the entire martial arts society in the Northern Song. The Earth Ranking applied only to those who had made their names for over 10 years but less than 50 years old. As to the Human Ranking, it applied to the youngsters in Jianghu less than 30 years old, which was also called the Dragon-to-be Ranking.
The Heaven, Earth, and Human Rankings were quite authoritative in the Northern Song.
At that point, up on the stone stage, Divine Beggar shouted, “I know you are all very eager to meet this hero… Well, get up here.”
A jet of light zoomed over people’s heads.
Then, a man appeared on the stage.
He was a tall, fair-skinned man, clad in fine purple robes. The handsome Young Master unfolded his folding fan with a snap, which bore “No One Is My Equal”. The handwriting was so firm and domineering that the ink had sept to the back of the paper. Quite defiantly, he waved the fan a few times, then, smiled and cupped his hands with the air of seeming humbleness. “I pay my respects to all the members of the Beggar Gang.”
“Huh?”
“That’s Li Yuntao, the Dragon Punch?”
The man looked way different from what Li Mu had imagined. He was not a hefty man but a fair-complexioned scholar?
“Why him?” Lu Changfu was stupefied.
The vehement roars and whoops also died away the moment that fair-complexioned scholar emerged, as though several hundred ducks that were arguing were suddenly held by their throats. Many experts and disciples in the Beggar Gang were dumbstruck as if they just discovered that the girl under the veil was not the one they expected to marry.
Wang Shiyu was also quite taken aback.
Li Mu quickly turned to her.
Wang Shiyu explained that the good-looking scholar was not Li Yuntao the Dragon Punch that the others expected. Instead, he was Liang Zhi, the last disciple of Divine Beggar, who took him in half a year ago.
Liang Zhi had joined in the Beggar Gang for only half a year, but his promotion was fast. By then, he was the Grand Elder of External Affairs. But as his demeanor was rather overbearing and mystic, and he also claimed to have mysophobia despite his membership of the Beggar Gang, most disciples in the Beggar Gang did not acknowledge him as their elder.
Yet, on the stage, Divine Beggar appeared to have taken no notice of the reaction of the crowd. He raised his voice and said, “This time, owing to Liang Zhi’s help, we managed to frustrate Bloody-moon Faction’s scheme and captured their member alive. Liang Zhi has made a great contribution. Guards, escort Ma Xun, a leader of the Bloody-moon Faction, onto this stage.”
Shortly, two Celestial Beings in the Beggar Gang brought a badly mutilated figure onto the stage.
After taking some time to identify the face of the captive, most of the disciples acknowledged that the man covered with smashed wounds was truly Ma Xun the Breeze Swordsman, the expert of the Bloody-moon Faction who had raided the branches of the Beggar Gang multiple times. At least a thousand members of the Beggar Gang had died in his hand, including the Heads of three branches.
At the sight of Ma Xun, the eyes of many experts were riveted on him. Flames of fury were blazing in their pupils. They just wished to flay him alive and eat his flesh.
Ma Xun bore the marks of all kinds of forbidden torture tools and slashes. He looked thoroughly miserable. His head drooped on his shoulder in silence. He was too weak to utter a word.
“God bless our Beggar Gang. After the interrogation of Liang Zhi, we finally dug out the mole according to his testimony and kept him under custody… Guards, bring him here!” Divine Beggar shouted.
A brawny man in his thirties was ushered in on the stage. His breathing was weak. No energy fluctuations were around him. Clearly, his cultivation had been erased, and he was already an ordinary man. Even so, his eyes were resilient and unyielding, like a wild hawk still holding its head high when it had been shot by a hunter and had its wings ripped off.
“What?”
“No way…”
An overwhelming outcry broke out.
Lu Changfu sprang to his feet and hollered, “That’s can’t be!”
From all the nearby shouts and protests, Li Mu learned that the man who had had his cultivation erased was the brave and bold Li Yuntao the Dragon Punch that the others discussed a moment ago.
The experts of the Beggar Gang certainly could not take it. The hero they deemed, the perfect candidate for the next Grand Master, turned out to be the mole!
The flood land suddenly fell in chaos.
Li Mu was finally interested.
“That’s entertaining.
“One second he was the hero, the next he is the mole?
“What a turn of event!”
Li Yuntao, the brawny man with unusual deportment, did not look like a bad guy. However, the lesson about never judge a book by its cover was never scarce in that world… Li Mu seldom cared to check out Jianghu affairs. But by far, he was somewhat intrigued. Before then, his spiritual force had spread across the entire flood land to look for the aura of a beggar named Zuo Luyi.
