Chapter Eleven: Miao People Come to Settle Old Scores

  "Big brother, get up quickly, something's happened." He heard his fourth younger brother calling out urgently from outside the room.

  "Has Master's curse worsened again?" I thought to myself.

  Open your eyes, it's already bright outside. With a sudden urgency, I jumped out of bed and hadn't even dressed properly when I heard the sound of intense clashing of swords and knives coming from outside the house, accompanied by Old Six's shouting voice, which had become a chaotic mess.

  "You few bastards didn't even greet me and just started fighting with Laozi, do you think Laozi is afraid of you?" Only heard Old Six scolding angrily outside the house.

  "Miao people?" I heard Lao Liu's scolding voice and didn't know what this Miao person came to me for at this time.

  As I came out of the house, I saw my sixth brother and five robust Miao warriors fighting fiercely. When they saw me approaching, one of the Miao people suddenly spoke a few words in a language that sounded very angry. After finishing speaking, one of the warriors suddenly jumped back to avoid Sixth Brother's attack and charged towards me with a curved knife, his momentum fierce and menacing.

  The warrior was already swinging his sword at me, his eyes wide with anger like bronze bells. I couldn't help but frown and quickly jumped to the side to dodge the curved blade. With a swift move, I grabbed the back of the warrior's knife and shouted: "You are from which Miao village? I, Gui Daozhang, don't know what wrong I have done to offend you, that you want to take my life? Can't we talk things over peacefully?"

  The other party heard my shout and stood still, pondering for a moment, but felt that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull the knife out of my hand. He had to use stiff Chinese to say: "Ghost Taoist, do you remember last month when we sent Miao Wang to Fanjing Mountain? How dare you make a move on our Miao Wang? Your guts are not small."

  "What's wrong with you, Brother Wang from Guizhou Miao Village? Why resort to violence instead of talking it out?" As soon as I finished speaking, the warrior's hand loosened and he fell heavily to the ground due to the force of drawing his sword. After getting up, he knew he was no match for me and could only stand there, glaring at me in anger.

  "Old Six, stop." Seeing Old Six still entangled in a fight with those few people.

  Lao Liu's scar above his cheek, which had been slashed by a knife, was particularly red due to the excitement and blood rush. However, upon hearing my words, he was surrounded by several Miao warriors and couldn't escape for the time being. I knew that if Lao Liu didn't stop at this moment, it wouldn't be long before someone got killed.

  "It's not that I didn't tell those few brothers of yours to stop, if someone dies later, don't blame me." I said with a gloomy tone and a fierce gaze at the Miao person in front of me.

  The Miao man in front of me was seen by me and hastily dodged my gaze, chattering to the four men for a while. After hearing his words, the four men jumped out of the battle circle, sheathed their swords, and came to his side.

  As I watched Old Six approach me with a large knife, like an evil spirit, I secretly congratulated myself that no one had been killed earlier. Otherwise, if we had made enemies of the Miao village, it would be difficult to live in peace in this part of Xiangxi. At the moment, I quickly asked Old Six to go back inside and rest, leaving Fourth Brother by my side as company.

  Xiao Cui saw that the fight had stopped, so she brought up the tea. After drinking the tea, I coldly said to the martial artist: "Since you are from the Miao village of Fanjing Mountain, King Wang should know that my brothers and I have a certain way of doing things. If there's something unusual about the king's affairs, it would be better to call us back to the mountain again. If you want my life, relying on just a few of you won't be enough, King Wang shouldn't be unaware of this, right?"

  "The... " The warrior hesitated for a moment.

  "Hmph, according to your Miao village's rules, privately disobeying orders is punishable by death. Elder Wang sent you five to deliver a message, yet you dared to resort to violence against us, violating his orders. I think you're tired of living." I coldly snorted.

  "These little people are indignant because of the king's affair. Just now, it was Mr. who blocked the way and caused a misunderstanding." The warrior explained timidly.

  "Let's just forget about today's matter in the presence of your king. I won't mention it again in front of him either. Hurry up and tell me about your great king." I waved my hand impatiently, but secretly rejoiced at the opportunity to return to Miao Village and investigate the curse that afflicted my master.

  "Last month, Mr. Ji drove the Great King back, and according to our rules, this month should be the time for the Great King's burial and the selection of a new Miao King. However, the Great King has shown abnormal signs and cannot be buried. We don't know what exactly happened, but we heard that Wang Changlao said that something is wrong with the blood and asked us to invite Mr. Ji back to the mountain."

  "Blood? Is Lao Miao Wang bleeding somewhere?" I asked, feeling a bit strange in my heart.

  It seems that he suspects me of doing something to Miao Wang. In the hearts of the Miao people, Miao Wang has a sacred and inviolable position, and after his death, his body was desecrated by someone, which will undoubtedly have a great impact on these warriors. After all, I am the only outsider who has come into contact with Miao Wang's body, and they must be resentful of me in their hearts. And my master just happened to have an accident, so when Old Six saw that they were not willing to reveal the truth, he wanted to find me, so he blocked them at the door, which led to the dispute earlier.

  I asked him, but the warrior shook his head, indicating that he didn't know. It seems that this person's status within the Miao ethnic group is not high enough to be qualified to know these secret things.

  "Well then, I'll take a walk with you two brothers. What I value most is credibility." I said with a smile.

  "Very well, we will wait for the two of you at the forest in front. The horses are already prepared." The samurai said and led the way to the forest in front of the house.

  Looking at their silhouettes, he smiled and said to the fourth brother: "What a great opportunity! I was just worried that I couldn't find an excuse to go to Miao Village. Fourth brother, you tell Old Six to pack up our luggage, we'll leave soon and hand it over to you. If there's anything, I'll contact you. If there's any trouble, take my master and Little Cui to Xianren Peak to hide."

  Fourth brother nodded and went straight to find sixth brother. When I came into the room, I carefully put all the things that needed to be taken out into my travel bag, including various essential items for warding off evil spirits. Holding the Golden Coffin Slayer and Yin-Yang Mirror passed down by Master, I couldn't help but think of Master's voice, appearance, and smile, and tears welled up in my eyes.

  I endured the pain and finished packing my bag. I quietly entered Master's room, looked at Master who was unconscious, knelt down and kowtowed heavily several times, crying: "Master, your disciple is about to leave, hoping you will be safe and sound at home, waiting for me to resolve the curse and then accompany you well, fulfilling my filial piety."

  Farewell, Master. Lao Liu 1 has been waiting outside for a long time. I put on my bamboo hat and patted Lao Liu's shoulder, saying in a sad tone: "Brother, let's go."

  Lao Liu nodded silently with a look of dismay on his face and I strode forward into the forest.

  Following the Miao people, we galloped westward without stopping. Along the way, we passed through Zhongfang Yushuwan and Yuanzhou. After several days of traveling, everyone was exhausted, with sore legs and buttocks aching, although most of the time we had horses to ride on, but our buttocks were made of flesh and blood, and it was really hard to bear the bumps on horseback.

  Five Miao warriors may still harbor resentment in their hearts, and all the way they were cold and silent, not a word was spoken, and there was no expression on their faces. Knife Scar Liu several times wanted to speak but saw the atmosphere so depressing that he could only forcibly swallow the words in his mouth, making the already very difficult journey even more dull. I tried my best to press down the bamboo hat on my head to block out the dust raised by the galloping horses and blowing towards me, lest it get into my eyes.

  Four days later, we arrived at Xinhuang, also known as the ancient state of Yelang. This place has already reached the border of Guizhou. Once you leave Yelang, it is the territory of Guizhou.