In the misty night, the light from the fire reflected in the sky. The small county town was plunged into chaos and killing.
The reason why it was chosen as the gathering place of the people of the Underworld was that the small county town of Peach Pavilion was not a good place to begin with. There were all sorts of people in the county town and they were already used to the occasional chaos. However, the soldiers that came tonight were obviously not ordinary people. Zhou Dong and Fu Lu dismounted and sneaked in. They saw three or four groups of people fighting in the dark. Some came out from dark alleys while others hid in the houses and fought back when they were found. Other than officers and soldiers in constables and military uniforms, there were more martial artists in groups of five to seven people searching and killing in the county town.
These people did not wear the official clothes of the imperial court but they were able to move together with the soldiers. Obviously, they had been informed beforehand. With the soldiers following them, they were able to enter the houses to search. The people living here knew that this was not a small matter so they hid in their homes and cooperated with the soldiers. Zhou Dong and Fu Lu saw a few people from the Underworld sneaking into a house. They obviously knew the owner of the house and wanted to hide inside. The owner blocked the wooden door and said, "Go! Go, don't drag me down! "
The people from the Underworld scolded him for not being loyal. Someone threatened, "If you don't open the door, we'll burn down his house." But then the sounds of fighting spread out from the street and the people from the Underworld quickly fled.
As they moved forward, the closer they got to the center of the county town, the clearer the fire ahead. Zhou Dong had been to Taoting County before. He knew that there was a rather large inn and theater in the center of the county. It was the gathering place for all sorts of people. Tonight's Hero Assembly would definitely be held there. But at this moment, it seemed that the building had been turned into a sea of fire. The entire building had been burnt and collapsed. There was a faint burnt smell in the air. Obviously, many people had been buried in that sea of fire.
Zhou Dong had a vague guess about what had happened here. After passing the center of the county town, he headed south.
The convener of the Underworld Assembly was called Yan Huan, a registered disciple that he had taught before. He was from Peach Pavilion and was quite famous in the Jianghu. Zhou Dong originally wanted to go to Yan Village to look for him. But along the way, what really caught his attention was the actions of the searchers, which gave him a sense of familiarity.
These groups of five to seven people were responsible for most of the search and capture missions. The reason why they were separated from the people of the Greenwood Forest was that most of the people of the Greenwood Forest were lax in their actions. If they were to get along with each other for a long time, they would be able to work well together, but there was not much order to it. And these people were obviously trained. During the operation, they cooperated with each other like a whole. Even if the effect was not perfect, at least they seemed to be moving in this direction.
The weapons they held in their hands were all different. Some wielded fishing nets, some wielded spears, some wielded sabers, some wielded crossbows, and some wielded sabers and shields. At least in Jianghu, martial artists who used sabers and shields together were rare. At first glance, this group of people didn't seem like much, but after looking at several groups of people, it was obvious that there was something going on. These people's martial arts might not be top-notch, but they could coordinate well with each other. Once they clashed, they would block each other's attacks with their shields, stab with their spears, slash with their broadswords, and use their powerful crossbows at mid-range to close-range. Together with the fishing nets, the average Greenwood Tribe tribesmen were no match for them at all. They would usually be defeated and taken down after a few exchanges.
Especially when it came to Zhou Dong, he could feel something else.
About ten years ago, when he was still the instructor of the Imperial Boxing Dojo, he had considered using profound martial arts in the military. Although he had not improved after becoming the Heavenly Instructor of the Imperial Boxing Dojo, Zhou Dong was still enthusiastic about these things. Even if it was a taboo to spread fist techniques widely in the martial arts world, he did not care.
For these things, he had put a lot of thought into it. For example, simplifying fist techniques in pursuit of quick mastery, or simplifying moves in pursuit of practical effects, or designing special formations to be more useful on the battlefield. But most of these attempts had failed. There was a reason for the things passed down by the ancestors. For fist techniques and martial arts, one needed talent, and two, they needed to be able to eat. In the military, even if there was no discrimination in education, there were only a few people who could learn fist techniques. This was not a big deal. The biggest problem was that if the teaching was not good enough, it would hurt the body.
This was one of the drawbacks of a quick fix. Even a profound inner force like "Breaking the Six Paths" would still leave behind internal injuries. If this was to be alleviated, there would need to be someone more skilled in martial arts to massage the opponent's acupoints and massage the body every once in a while. In the end, the price of nurturing a little master would be having to be taken care of by a great master. The loss outweighed the gain.
And even if there were really profound martial arts skills, there were not many of them, and they often had a big appetite. If there was such an army, they would first eat until the country was poor because they were skilled in martial arts and good at cooperation.
As for the simplified moves, after thousands of practice on the battlefield, the training method in the military was originally an extremely simplified killing method. The repeated moves of a saber were originally the simplest and clearest vital points. According to the requirements of military books, the soldiers practiced simple hacking and stabbing thousands of times every day. As for simplifying, Zhou Dong really had nothing to simplify.
Because of various reasons, in the end, Zhou Dong also realized that his idea was mostly empty talk. As a martial artist, he had reached the peak of control of his own body, but if he wanted to be a general, he was actually not as good as those junior generals who were not skilled in martial arts. In the end, Zhou Dong recorded some of his thoughts. Later, these manuscripts were also stored in the Imperial Boxing School, and not many people could see them.
But in front of him, the formation of these five to seven people was quite similar to the small formation he had designed before, which was used on the battlefield. Although there were many changes, the footwork, movement, and the tricks of advancing and retreating obviously had traces of his original idea.
At the beginning, Zhou Dong's idea was to arrange a formation so that after the soldiers were separated and surrounded on the battlefield, they could fight for survival in small groups. With his martial arts cultivation, the cooperation between the few of them was quite wonderful. If they practiced well and cooperated well, they could block, kill, block, kill, and so on. The few of them would be able to deal with the endless stream of enemies very well. But this was after all, after all, the daily training in the army was naturally carried out by the whole army. How could they practice the cooperation of a few people all day long? Even if they practiced, once they were separated on the battlefield, they would be gathered together with strangers. This kind of clear coordination between the duties of each other actually did not have much meaning.
But these people in front of him, obviously, had taken the advancing and retreating footwork from his formation. At first glance, although everyone's weapons were different and the formation was a little messy, there were traps everywhere. The person walking at the front, who seemed to be undisciplined, would immediately retreat once he was attacked. Then, he would use his shield to block, his saber to slash, his spear to block the path of retreat, his hand crossbow to deter, and his fishing net to throw. Even a first-rate master would suddenly be at a disadvantage. Casually watching a few exchanges, there were two martial artists of the Greenwood Forest who were caught in a dilemma and fell to the ground. The formation that was useless on the battlefield had become a sharp weapon at this time in small scale battles.
Originally, Zhou Dong had not designed so many weapons to cooperate with each other. Now, as he watched, he was also deliberating again in his heart. Before they even reached the Yan Residence, the master and servant suddenly discovered the target they were looking for. It was a middle-aged martial art practitioner in his forties. He was accompanying a small team of searchers as they walked from the other end of the long street. They knocked on the door of a house and told the family that they wanted to go in and search. The other party then opened the door and let them in.
Zhou Dong and Fu Lu found it strange. This Yan Huan had been able to earn a reputation in the Greenwood Forest because of his forthrightness and loyalty. Now that the Greenwood Forest Convention had come to this, he was actually cooperating with the authorities? Although Zhou Dong had always stood on the side of the authorities, he really found it hard to understand at this time. After today, would the Yan Residence still have a foothold in the martial world?
After watching in the dark for a moment, Zhou Dong walked out from the street and called out in a low voice, "Yan Huan." The other party was just coming out from the courtyard. Yan Huan's body trembled and he looked in their direction. For a moment, his eyes widened and his hands actually trembled. Instead, the searchers next to him immediately got into formation. The person who seemed to be the leader of the team was just about to shout "take him down" when he heard Yan Huan say, "M-Master!"
"You …"
"Ah —"
In the next moment, Yan Huan suddenly gritted his teeth and launched an attack, and he slashed his palm towards the leader of the group. However, the leader reacted in an instant and raised his hand to block, yet he was blasted two steps back. The others were just about to attack Yan Huan when the leader shouted. "Retreat! Don't fight! It's' Iron Arm 'Zhou Dong! "
As soon as this name came out, the people who were holding their weapons all looked in their direction and subconsciously took a step or two back, subconsciously forming a small formation. Yan Huan looked at them and took a few steps to the side, then walked towards Zhou Dong. This forty-year-old man of the pugilistic world actually had tears in his eyes. "M-Master … This disciple has sinned." As he spoke, he knelt down on the street and kowtowed to the ground. He didn't get up for a long time.
Zhou Dong frowned. He didn't understand what was happening at all. He could only take two steps forward and help Yan Huan up. "You don't have to do this. Although you and I call each other master and disciple, I really didn't teach you anything … What happened?"
"Them." Yan Huanghun pointed behind him and gnashed his teeth. "They... captured my entire family of thirty-nine, and threatened me to set this Greenwood Conference as a deadlock. My... my eldest son, has already been killed by them... Master."
Zhou Dong fell silent. He could see that the tears in Yan Huan's eyes weren't because of his son's death, but because of the guilt he felt for betraying so many people. After a while, the leader of the group spoke first, "Senior Zhou, my master has mentioned you before. Don't tell me you're also here to 'gather' with these people?"
The man's words were sonorous and forceful. Obviously, he didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt for what had happened. Zhou Dong glanced at him and cupped his hands. "Your master, is he Ning Liheng?"
"Yes, he is!" Yan Huan said word by word. His eyes were bloodshot. After he finished speaking, he suddenly took a step back. "Master, my family of 39 members is still in the hands of that devil. Yan Huan was coerced and took this wrong step. It's hard for me to live in this world anymore. I'll take my leave first! "After he finished speaking, he swung his palm toward the top of his head. His palm was only in midair when Fu Lu took a step forward and cut his arm to disperse his strength. Then, he grabbed Yan Huan's hand.
Zhou Dong's gaze was solemn. He glanced at Yan Huan and said, "A man should have an indomitable spirit. Don't imitate the attitude of a girl. I've met Ning Liheng once. Let's go and meet him." His words didn't sound very happy or angry.
The leader of the group cupped his hands and led the group to the northeast of the county. As they moved forward, they saw another group of people who had captured two people from the Greenwood Forest. One of them was dragged into the fishing net and was being beaten with a stick. He was screaming and begging for mercy. Zhou Dong frowned and tilted his head slightly when he saw this scene.
Along the way, Zhou Dong learned about what happened that night from Yan Huan. In fact, it was very simple. The Greenwood Hero Conference was held in the inn in the center of the county. The other party had captured Yan Huan's family members and prepared kerosene and buried gunpowder in the venue. Halfway through the conference, the devil appeared and greeted everyone. Then, they surrounded the venue and lit it up. These people from the Greenwood Forest knew that the situation was critical. Some of them risked their lives and rushed out. More than half of them were killed in the explosion or burned to death. Only a small portion of them managed to escape.
Yan Huan's eyes were bloodshot when he said this. Zhou Dong listened in silence. After a while, he turned to the leader of the group and said, "You're Tian Donghan, right? If I remember correctly, I met you once at the foot of Mount Tai."
The man turned around in surprise. Then, he cupped his hands and nodded. "Five years ago, I saw Senior from afar. I didn't expect Senior to remember me."
"Your master brought you out to see the world. He said that you've inherited his legacy. Unfortunately, you're too loyal and he's afraid that you'll suffer a loss. You became a guard and injured the young master of the landlord … Your master passed away three years ago. At that time, I remembered that he had a disciple like you." Zhou Dong said. "Why did you work for Ning Yi?"
Tian Donghan thought for a moment. As he walked, he said in a deep voice, "There was a famine last year. My family didn't have money to buy food. My family … my mother fell ill and starved to death. My wife also died. I brought my two children to the capital to sell food and beg. We met officials from the Ning Family who were giving out porridge.
Zhou Dong nodded. After a while, he asked, "Why did you kill his son?"
Tian Donghan walked in front and tilted his head. "I don't know much. When I came to the Ning Family last year, my master had been running around for disaster relief and offended some people. In a few months, there were a total of thirteen groups of assassins. Half a month ago, when my master was marrying two young ladies, they came to make a scene. His son killed one of the guards and one of the maids. After he escaped, he said that he was enforcing justice on behalf of the heavens. This Yan fellow even celebrated. My master came to force him to submit. He didn't want him to use his son's life to bargain. So, he beheaded his son in front of him and threatened him with the lives of his entire family. "
Tian Donghan paused. "I know that I shouldn't have done that, but I think … there's no other way."
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