Chapter 19: A Small Test of One's Skills

  A small test of one's skill with the knife

  When Yun Xiangtian, Zhen Shantiger, Hong Shangu, Chi Dian and the monk climbed into the courtyard, the girl had already packed up. She walked in front of Hong Shangu and said in a low voice: "Why not just knock them out like the others? Why bother with such trouble?"

  Hongshan girl patted the girl's shoulder and said: "Leave him, he will come in handy later. Yanshu, you go back first, thank your family for me. You've worked hard today, go back and rest early, the car is ready outside." Turning to Chi Tun and Shang, she said: "Add some medicine to make him sleep a little longer." Chi Tun and Shang responded: "Okay." He took out something and put it in his mouth, blowing a faint wisp of blue smoke towards Xiang Kai's nose. Yanshu girl respectfully said: "Yes, thank you, Hongshan village master, for preparing the car for me, I'll go first."

  When the girl named Yan Xue passed by Yun Xiang Tian's side, Yun Xiang Tian smiled and said: "Ghost girl, huh?" Yan Xue bared her teeth at Yun Xiang Tian, making a ghost face, saying: "Scared? Be careful next time you walk on a night road, or you might get scared and can't find your way home. And sleep on the tomb again!" After finishing speaking, she revealed a row of snow-white teeth, smiled slightly, and turned to leave. Yun Xiang Tian shook his head helplessly as he watched her figure disappear.

  The search of the residence of Blindly Happy did not yield much, which was within Yun Xiang Tian's expectations. The opponent would not put important people and objects in a place connected to the eye line. Yun Xiang Tian just wanted to use this action to pressure Blindly Happy to lead him to the place he wanted to find, and lay the foundation for future actions. He looked at Red Mountain Girl who was slightly disappointed and smiled: "Sister, this is normal, nothing to be surprised about, don't worry. Now let's restore everything inside to its original state, so they won't discover that someone has been here."

  The sun rose over the mountains, casting a warm glow over Lingfeng City. As the sunlight crept into the city, people slowly emerged from their homes, starting their day. However, the Wenxiang Zui wine shop remained quiet until after the third watch of the morning. The apprentices inside finally stirred to life, looking at each other in confusion, unsure why they had slept so soundly the night before. They also wondered why their boss hadn't woken them up for work yet. As they stepped out of the house, they found Xiangxin lying unconscious on the ground outside his room. The apprentices called out to him until he slowly came to, pushing them away and suddenly standing up, shouting "Ghost! There's a ghost!" The apprentices were initially startled by Xiangxin's behavior but soon burst into laughter when one of them teased, "Where is the ghost? Is it a male or female ghost? Is it a beautiful female ghost?" Xiangxin looked around, patted his head, and scolded, "What are you laughing at? I had too much to drink last night and had a nightmare. Get back to work! Do you want me to deduct your wages?" As the apprentices walked away, Xiangxin entered his room, observing that everything was in its original place. His heart sank, and after a moment of thought, he closed the door and hastily left Wenxiang Zui. Wang Qi secretly followed him from the shadows.

  After wandering around the city for a few rounds, feeling certain that no one was following him, he knocked on the door of a dilapidated house. A head poked out from inside, cautiously looking left and right before letting Blindly Happy in and closing the door behind him.

  It was another quiet night, Hong Shangu and Zhen Shantiger led their respective teams, they and Yun Xiangtian covered their faces with black scarves, slowly approaching the dilapidated house. Hong Shangu gave a thumbs up to the foolish monk, then slowly pointed downwards. The foolish monk nodded in understanding, took out a handful of anesthetic powder from his pocket, lit it after checking the wind direction, and about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he gestured to Hong Shangu with a nod. Hong Shangu beckoned to the two brothers behind him, who set up a ladder against the courtyard wall and climbed in. The gate was soon opened. As agreed beforehand, Hong Shangu took charge of lookout and reception, while Yun Xiangtian and Zhen Shantiger searched the courtyard. There were not many rooms inside, the guards had been subdued by the anesthetic powder, and the people inside were also fast asleep like pigs. The search process was very short, they soon found the person they were looking for, Wang Qi's family and Hu Sancai's son, locked in a room. As everyone was about to leave, the foolish monk brought over a box and a stack of documents. Yun Xiangtian took a glance at the box and said while flipping through the documents: "That's a telegraph machine." He suddenly exclaimed: "This is a group of little devils! Call Wang Qi over!"

  In a single room, Wang Qi recognized the treacherous fatty. Just as Yun Xiang Tian was about to untie the fatty's mystic fragrance, Zhen Shan Hu, covered in blood, rushed in, pushed Yun Xiang Tian aside, and with one slash of his knife, ended the fatty's life. His mouth still cursing: "Damn it, pay attention to me, Black Tiger Peak's Zhen Shan Hu, you little Japanese are not worthy?"

  Yun Xiang Tian looked at Zhen Shan Hu with a surprised expression and asked, "How did you kill him?" Zhen Shan Hu stared with wide eyes and said, "What's wrong? I killed them all, not one left, it was so exhilarating! Oh, sorry Cloud brother, this one should have been left for you to enjoy too." Yun Xiang Tian pointed at Zhen Shan Hu in anger and said, "You, ah, nonsense!" He turned around and walked away with a flick of his hand. Zhen Shan Hu looked confused and quickly chased after him, saying, "Cloud brother, don't be angry, big brother was momentarily blinded by killing and forgot to leave one for you. Next time big brother will let you do it all, okay?"

  Yun Xiang Tian stopped and said: "I want to leave a living mouth, ask the little devil what is the purpose of coming to Lingfeng. Understand?"

  "Then why didn't you say so earlier? I would have kept it for you if you had said something earlier. You can't blame me for this, can you?"

  Yun Xiang Tian cried and laughed, saying repeatedly: "Alright, alright, it's my fault for not speaking up earlier. Let's bring the radio and documents back to the mountain immediately, lest we have too many dreams tonight. Leave a few people behind to clean up the bloodstains on the corpses, don't leave any clues, lest we scare away the snakes by cutting the grass."

  Hong Shangu asked, "Is Wenxiu drunk and taken away too?" Yun Xiangtian shook his head and said, "No, leave her be, we'll need her later. We must climb the wall and leave the city tonight, immediately return to the mountain."

  He returned to the mountain, Yunxiang Tian did not sleep all night, he was thinking about how to send the captured radio and Japanese spy documents to the Eighth Route Army Independent Brigade in Qilin Mountain, so that they could understand the true movement of the Japanese army through the captured radio and documents. When he heard the voice of Zhen Shan Hu shouting his name from outside, he thought to himself: This guy must also not have slept all night, otherwise, he wouldn't have come to Anmin Village at dawn.

  Zhen Shantiger was extremely excited today, pulling Yun Xiangtian's hand and speaking words of extreme gratitude all the way. He led Yun Xiangtian into the gathering hall of Anmin Village. Hong Shangu and Chi Tiantai were already waiting inside. When Chi Tiantai saw Yun Xiangtian enter, he went up to greet him and pulled Yun Xiangtian to his side, nodding at Zhen Shantiger and saying: "Tiger nephew, you sit over there, Yu'er xian nephew will stay with uncle."

  Zhen Shantiger heard the foolish monk shouting at him, "Big nephew!" and couldn't help but angrily say: "Who are you calling big nephew? Whose uncle are you? You stinky, shameless, fake monk who deserves to be beaten a thousand times. Are you looking for a fight?"

  The foolish monk sat there motionless, his eyes slanted as he stared at Zhen Shantiger, then turned to Yun Xiangtian and asked him: "You... what do you call him?"

  Zhen Shantiger said without thinking: "This is my cloud brother, what does it have to do with you?"

  The foolish and silly monk smiled wickedly and said: "Isn't it settled then? From now on, when you see me, just call me uncle, got it?"

  Zhen Shantiger knew the meaning of the foolish monk as soon as he said "Yun Xiangtian brothers". He slowly sat down, picked up his teacup and calmly said: "Hmm, if we look at it from Yun Xiangtian's perspective, I can call you uncle without any problem."

  Yun Xiang Tian smiled and said, "Tiger, don't say that. You call me Yun younger brother, it's just a term of respect in the Jianghu world, don't take it seriously. From today on, you are my Tiger uncle." Then he turned his head and said, "Auntie, is this okay?"

  Hongshan girl smiled and said: "It's okay, it should be like this. My family's Yu'er is sensible, good."

  Zhen Shantiger was so excited that he didn't know what to say for a moment, and he stuttered: "You, you, I, I... how can this be?"

  The foolish monk burst out laughing and said: "You two, you've turned your elbows outward and ruined the fact that I was going to be Uncle to Town Mountain Tiger, it's not fair."

  Hong Shangu smiled and said, "Don't make a fuss about it anymore. I think this is settled. Yu'er calling Hu Da the uncle of the big boss isn't a loss for him either. After all, he's the big boss of Hei Hu Peak. In the future, when Yu'er travels the world, she'll have another backer."

  Zhen Shantiger grinned with a big mouth and said: "Where, where, cloud, cloud..." He was momentarily unsure whether to call Yun Lao Di or Yun Xian Zhong. He stood still, at a loss for what to do.

  "Good heavens, I didn't know you could be embarrassed too. He's naturally your virtuous nephew. Do you really want to call me uncle? Address him as brother! Yu'er, come over and pay respects to Tiger Uncle."

  Yun Xiang Tian came before Zhen Shan Hu and bowed with his fists clenched, saying: "Yun Xiang Tian pays respects to Uncle Tiger!"

  Zhen Shantiger was a bit flustered, he awkwardly patted Yun Xiangtian's arm and said: "It can't be helped, it can't be helped, this is really embarrassing for me." He smiled and said: "Young Master Yun's wisdom and bravery are unmatched by ordinary people. This time, replacing the Black Tiger Peak to eliminate the villain and rescue the hostages, it's clear that Young Master Yun is a remarkable young man. Today, calling me uncle, I'm really ashamed and don't dare to accept."

  The foolish monk, still fuming, retorted: "Cut the crap! My teeth are aching from all this nonsense. Either he calls you uncle or you call me uncle. Pick one, stop being wishy-washy, it's annoying!"

  "Alright, alright, the fake monk is right. I won't decline anymore. If I keep refusing, it would be impolite of me. Come here, nephew. Uncle Tiger will give you a gift to celebrate our meeting." He then pulled out a Japanese Type 14 Nambu pistol from his pocket and said: "Uncle Tiger gives you a turtle shell box, for self-defense in the future."

  Yun Xiang Tian happily took over the pistol with both hands and said: "Thank you, Uncle Hu, but this gift is too heavy. Yu'er can't accept it."

  Zhen Shantiger burst out laughing: "You can take it, you can take it! If you can't take it, who else can? Take it!"

  The foolish monk interrupted their conversation and said, "Tiger, the head of the household, you ran to Anmin Village early in the morning, aren't you here to acknowledge your relatives? It's so simple to send gifts, what are you farting around for, don't let Buddha wait impatiently."

  Zhen Shantiger slapped his forehead and said, "Ah, I'm so excited that I almost forgot the main thing. Yun Xian nephew, Hu Sancai woke up last night, he and Wang Qi want to see you one more time before they die, to thank your kindness in person. Why don't you come with Uncle Tiger?"

  Yun Xiang Tian said calmly: "Uncle Hu really wants to kill them?"

  Zhen Shantiger let out a long sigh and said: "We've been old partners for many years, I really can't bear to do it. If I don't kill you, the brothers in the stronghold won't obey me."

  Yun Xiang Tian looked at Zhen Shan Hu's painful expression, but in his heart, he was making another plan...