Chapter Twenty: Heroes Gather

  Zhang Ping immediately left at the time, but actually quietly followed behind the four major schools of Guandong. The next morning, he saw them enter the Chang Le Gang and quietly followed in with his light work.

  On that day at noon, Chang Le Bang held a grand banquet in the main hall to entertain the heroes from Guandong, and Bei Haishi sat at the lower table with his attendants.

  "We agreed to come to Gui Mountain to pay our respects, but unfortunately we encountered some delays along the way and arrived late. Please forgive us, Mr. Bei and all the incense masters." Among this group of people, in terms of age and martial arts skills, Fan Yifei was the most senior. However, on this trip to Central Plains, all expenses were covered by Wan Ma Manor, so Gao San Niangzi became the leader of this group.

  "Alright, alright. However, our Stone Clan's leader has been waiting for many days without seeing your esteemed presence, so we thought you had all cancelled the appointment. Our leader had other important matters to attend to and didn't wait any longer."

  The leaders of the four major schools in Kanto were all stunned, and Gao San Niangzi continued: "I don't know where Master Shi has gone? Without hiding from Mr. Bei, we came to the Central Plains from afar, just to meet with Master Shi of the noble Shi family. If we can't meet Master Shi, it would be a great disappointment for us." Bei Haishi covered his mouth and coughed several times, but did not respond.

  Just then, a loud voice outside the door said: "Yang Guang of Songjiang Prefecture, Shi Qing of Xuan Su Zhuang and Min Ruo come to visit." It was indeed Shi Qing's voice.

  Only then did Shi Tianyi accompany Shi Qing and his wife into the hall, with a woman wearing a bamboo hat covering her face beside him. In addition, a tall white-bearded old man walked in the middle, followed by five men behind him. Since Zhenjiang is not far from Songjiang, the heroes of the Chang Le gang knew that he was Yang Guang, a famous figure in Jiangnan Wulin, also known as Silver Spear Yang.

  When Shi Po Tian returned, everyone stood up to greet him. But seeing Shi Po Tian holding the hand of the masked woman, his expression was extremely intimate.

  Only Shi Qing and his wife, Yang Guang, Bei Haishi, Fan Yifei, and Lü Zhengping came to pay their respects one by one. The five men behind Yang Guang were all famous martial artists from Jiangnan, invited by Yang Guang and Shi Qing to serve as witnesses for the Longle Guild's arbitration. Each of them was a person with some reputation in the martial arts world, so it took a while to finish exchanging pleasantries like "I've long admired your great name" and "Your fame has preceded you".

  Bei Hai Shi suddenly saw "Shi Po Tian" and the famous Jianghu couple, the master and mistress of Xuan Su Zhuang, coming together, and their relationship seemed to be quite close. Even though he was clever and resourceful, for a moment, he couldn't help but feel bewildered and at a loss.

  However, Bei Haishi was after all older and more experienced in the ways of the world. With a concerned expression, he stepped forward to greet "Shi Po Tian" and said: "Congratulations to our leader on his safe return today, it's a joyous occasion. There is currently an important matter within the gang that requires the leader's decision, please take your seat quickly." After finishing speaking, he turned to the people beside "Shi Po Tian" and said: "To those who accompanied our leader back, Long Le Gang is eternally grateful, please also take your seats. If there's ever a need for you to use Long Le Gang in the future, we will definitely do our best."

  That senior lady from the third grade saw "Shi Po Tian" arrive and loudly said: "Master Shi, which person does your noble sect want to follow as its leader? We outsiders shouldn't intervene in this matter. However, we are bound by a life-and-death friendship with Big Brother Situ. Today, we only want to ask Master Shi, is Big Brother Situ alive or dead? He didn't take the position of leader of your sect; was it his own free will or was he forced by someone?"

  "Four masters, please calm down and don't be impatient. Shi Qing has a question for Mr. Bei. Mr. Bei, my son is loyal and honest, he started learning martial arts with Xie Yanke at Motian Cliff six years ago, until a few months ago when you brought him back to the Changle Gang as the gang leader. However, three years ago, your gang already had a Stone Gang Leader? There must be some serious misunderstanding in between. The two words 'Gang Leader' should not be mentioned again. I invited Yang Lao and other five friends here to discuss and resolve this matter. As for others who use his name to do things, it has nothing to do with my son."

  Shi Tianyi shook his head and said, "My father is right. I am not your boss, I have said it many times, but you do not believe me. And my name is Shi Tianyi, not Shi Po Tian." As for Shi Tianyi's admission that Shi Qing was his father, Mei Fang had no reaction.

  Shi Qing realized that he was the one who brought this fake Shi Po Tian back from Mo Tian Ya, and with Shi Tian Yi suddenly becoming clear-headed and understanding a lot more, Bei Hai Shi's ominous feeling grew even stronger.

  But before Bei Haishi could react, a loud voice came from outside the door: "Bai Wanjian of Xueshan Sect has come to visit." The hall door was pushed open with a bang, and someone walked in with big strides, majestic and refreshing, it was indeed Bai Wanjian, also known as "Northwest Cold Air".

  Just when the Chang Le gang was in a state of utter chaos.

  Suddenly, two people appeared in the great hall, one fat and one thin, one wearing yellow clothes and the other wearing green clothes. No one knew when they arrived or who they were. Shi Tianyi saw the two men and was overjoyed, calling out: "Big brother, second brother, long time no see, how have you been?"

  Shi Qingfu and Mei Fang had heard him mention the story of becoming sworn brothers with Zhang San and Li Si, and when they heard him address them as "Big Brother" and "Second Brother", they were shocked to find that it was no trivial matter.

  Shi Qing hurriedly said: "The two of you have arrived just in time. We were just discussing the matter of who should be the leader of Chang Le Gang, and now you can also come and bear witness."

  At this time, Shi Potian had already walked to Zhang San and Li Si's side, holding the two men's hands, extremely affectionate and delighted.

  Zhang San smiled and said: "Third brother, this leader of Chang Le Gang, is probably a fake?"

  Min Ruo and Mei Fang both thought that the child's life was hanging by a thread, and immediately said in unison: "Yes! They deceived my child to ward off disaster, that can't be taken as true."

  Zhang San asked Li Si: "Old Second, what do you say?"

  Li Si said with a sinister tone: "It's time to find the real master."

  Zhang San smiled and said, "Yes, the three of us have sworn to be brothers, sharing good fortune and bad. If Chang Le Gang wants us three brothers to ward off disaster, isn't that just what our brothers want? And as for the friend upstairs, why don't you come down and meet us?"

  Zhang Ping was hiding on the rooftop to watch the play, but unexpectedly his whereabouts were exposed. It seems that the two envoys of rewarding good and punishing evil are indeed famous for their reputation, so Zhang Ping jumped into the hall.

  "Uncle and aunt are doing well." Zhang Ping first asked about the well-being of Shi Qing's parents.

  "Master Zhang, how did you come?" The leaders of the four major schools in Guandong came over to greet him one after another.

  "Brother Li, you've also arrived. We thought something had happened to you on the way. Now that you're safe and sound, it's really great." Shi Tian said with a smile as he welcomed Zhang Ping over.

  Zhang Ping thought to himself that his second brother was indeed kind and loyal. So he replied, "Don't worry, Eldest Brother, today's matter will definitely be cleared up."

  Mr. Zhang is still smiling and saying: "Mr. Bei, you arranged for the mechanism to deceive my third brother into pretending to be the leader of the gang. He is a loyal and honest person, so he was deceived. But Zhang San and Li Si are not that loyal and honest. We came to invite guests, how can we not investigate clearly? If we invited the wrong person and made a big joke, where would Zhang San and Li Si's face be? As for the leader of the Chang Le gang, we have already investigated it clearly. Brother, let's invite the real master down, okay?"

  Li Si said: "That's right, he should be invited down."

  He finished speaking and reached out to grab two round stools, with a loud whoosh, he threw them onto the roof. A loud rumbling sound was heard, and instantly a large hole was smashed in the roof, amidst the falling mud and dust, something was brought down, crashing to the ground before the banquet. The group of heroes involuntarily took several steps back, only to see that what had fallen from the roof was actually a person. This person curled up into a ball, crouched on the ground. When he turned around, it was Shi Zhongyu.

  Zhang Ping and Shi Qing exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves that something was amiss.

  At this moment, Zhang San smiled and said: "Shi Bangzhu, you have been hiding in Yangzhou for months, enjoying a life of luxury. Mr. Bei and the others couldn't find you anywhere, so they had to find someone else to impersonate you as the leader. But do you think you can deceive the eyes and ears of the Xiake Island's reward and punishment envoys? It won't be that easy. We've come today to invite you to drink Laba porridge, will you go or not?" As he spoke, he took out two copper plaques from his sleeve.

  Bai Wanjian saw Shi Zhongyu, took a step forward and said coldly: "Do you still recognize me?" Shi Zhongyu lowered his head and said: "Master Bai, you've come..." Bai Wanjian sneered coldly: "I've come..."

  Bei Hai Shi frowned and said: "These two people look similar, their figures and ages are the same, which one is the leader of our gang, I really can't tell. This is indeed a wonder of the world, where nothing is impossible. Are you the real Stone Gang Leader or not?"

  Shi Zhongyu nodded slightly.

  "These days, the leader has gone to where? We looked everywhere for you but couldn't find you. Later, someone saw this... Stone Tianyi, and said that the leader was at Motian Cliff, so we went to invite him, truly unexpected..."

  Bai Wanjian said: "Wait a minute, appearance can be similar, but the sword scar on the leg is also exactly the same, there must be something fishy going on here."

  Zhang San laughed and said, "If you want to fake the Stone Master, of course, it's a stroke by stroke, all must be made to look like the real thing. If the real one has scars, then the fake one must have them too. Doctor Bei's nickname 'Magic Hand Revival' wasn't given in vain, was it? He said my third brother had been unconscious for many days, naturally, that's when he worked his magic on my third brother."

  He suddenly reached out and pinched a spot on Shi Zhongyu's left leg. In an instant, a round hole was torn in Shi Zhongyu's clothes, revealing his snowy white skin. It could be seen that he had injuries on his legs, which were all consistent with what Bai Wanjian had said.

  Although his second brother, Shi Tianyi, was definitely safe and sound at this time, he and Shi Qingfu couple never expected that their eldest brother, Shi Zhongyu, would be caught by the two envoys of rewarding good and punishing evil. Judging from what he had done in the past, today's affairs were probably difficult for him to end well.