Chapter Thirty-Two

  "Insufficient brother, how to escape?"

  "Hmm..."

  Insufficiently tilted head slightly thought:

  "Hiding nearby and waiting for the thieves to leave before finding an opportunity to escape."

  Jin Chan'er said:

  "Good!"

  So the two of them took a shortcut to find a place to hide. It was just when the mysterious moon was about to sink into the western mountains, and only the starlight was shining brightly. The objects on the road were not clear, and it was not easy for Zhen to lead the way with one foot deep and one foot shallow along the dry riverbed, and they had walked a few miles away from home when suddenly they stopped in their tracks:

  "Go back quickly!"

  "It's not enough for Brother to just walk back, we'll be heading straight into the lair of the thieves! We'd better try our best to go further. Even if the thieves come after us, we can still escape a bit further."

  "The thief also thought so!"

  Jin Chan'er secretly praised herself in her heart and didn't say much, then followed the insufficient light to hurry back. Before long, she arrived at the outer wall of that large manor. The wall was several zhang high, with a watchtower made of stone or wood every 30-50 zhang, on which there was a pavilion with a flying eave leaning outward, and under the eave hung a wind lantern emitting a dim yellow light. There were no human shadows on the wall. It must be that they were all sleeping due to fatigue. Insufficient and Chan'er walked along the root of the wall in the dark for quite some time before seeing a hidden waterway entrance concealed among the bushes at the foot of the wall.

  "Chang Er, let's enter from here and hide in the villa. When he goes out to search for us, we can quietly escape."

  "Not enough, brother, I'm listening to you."

  "Alright, let's go with them!"

  One of them spoke while the other parted the bushes and entered, then let Yue'er follow him into that clump of bushes, and again crawled into the dark entrance like a dog. The dark entrance was about ten feet high, with water overflowing halfway inside, not enough to reach one's knees, and the cold and gloomy atmosphere made one shiver. He turned his head and said to Yue'er:

  "Chang'er, the hidden path has very cool water, you can be a little more careful."

  "I know too."

  Then Chang'er also entered the water and followed. Insufficiently facing forward like a blind person, she stretched out her hands and felt her way forward without stopping.

  "Huh? What's this thing? A fence? It is a fence! Wait till I get it open."

  Insufficient with both hands holding a railing, only using force to pull once, a loud noise, and it was pulled off.

  "It's made of wood!"

  It's not enough to say. Chang'er smiled and didn't speak again. What is that wooden thing! It's obviously cast from fine iron! Chang'er wouldn't say it out loud. With her divine power, she could see everything clearly whether in daylight or at night. The two of them passed through the dark entrance, climbed up the bank, and along the base of the inner wall entered a large rear garden through a small door. At that time, the sky was near dawn, and things were distinguishable. Insufficient and Chang'er entered the garden together, seeing that inside, spiritual flowers, strange grasses, and peculiar trees filled the artificial hills and small lakes, with many small bridges above the streams, some like long rainbows, others like full moons. Small buildings, pavilions, and kiosks were scattered about, either far or near. Inside the small lake, a winding path made of bamboo and wood twisted and turned straight into the heart of the small island in the lake. It was truly a scenic view like that of a grand garden of a wealthy family.

  "What a den of thieves! Even a family of scholars is no better than this!"

  Alas, it's insufficient.

  "Insufficient brother, maybe it's really a scholarly family!"

  "It's getting light, it's better to hide early."

  Insufficient to carry, the two of them quietly slipped into a small building. This building was located in a bamboo forest, one side facing the water and leaning against the lake, three sides were roads, but its location was slightly secluded. The reason for choosing this place was because it was biased and easy to escape by taking a shortcut. When the two entered the building, they only saw that there were two floors inside, with a wooden table and several wooden chairs on one floor, which could be discerned from the dust on top. It was clear that no one had come to clean for a long time. And the entrance to the stairs of the second floor was arched like a rainbow, occupying almost half of the first floor.

  "Go upstairs!"

  He whispered in a low voice.

  Chang'er followed closely behind and went up to the second floor. The interior scenery was again different from the others. The four walls had three windows, a small and exquisite eight immortal table stood by the window, with only one chair on the side. In the middle of the room, there was also a delicate red wooden bed, but there was nothing on it. Next to the bed, there was a bookcase, with a few idle books scattered inside. On the table, there were six tea cups and one teapot, all placed in disarray.

  "Insufficient elder brother, this is a woman's boudoir!"

  "Uh-huh. Chang'er, you and I will each guard a window and take a temporary rest. If there's any movement, we'll slip away quietly and it'll be fine. After carefully checking the surroundings, they pushed open all three windows of the tower by a small gap, and then sat down to rest. This resting method was passed down from his grandfather. First, he would recite a mantra called the Golden Body Incantation, and then calm his mind and breathe in sync with his sleep. This method made him fall asleep very quickly, and as a child, he didn't like it, so he continued to use this method to rest. Later, his grandfather passed down another technique, called the Taiyi Xuan Shen Incantation, which made him sleep even more soundly. Even if there was thunder outside, he could still fall asleep soundly! Insufficient used these two methods as his nightly homework to fall asleep. Every morning, he would wake up feeling refreshed and invigorated."

  On a moonless night, the stars shone brightly in the dark sky. A cool breeze blew through the mountains and into the small building, bringing with it a refreshing chill that seemed to penetrate deep into one's heart. Jin Chan'er sat cross-legged in meditation, her beautiful eyes occasionally opening to gaze out at something unseen. This child was already quite tall and stately, but after all, she was only fifteen or sixteen years old. Yet she had to endure such hardships. It was the same for young people in the mundane world, struggling through the sea of suffering. But which cultivator's path was smooth sailing? Perhaps it would be good for her to experience some hardship early on. However, she was still so young, and other young masters from aristocratic families were indulged with every luxury, receiving instruction from multiple sages and constantly taking magical elixirs and medicines. Their mastery of the mystic arts was truly astonishing. And yet, as a member of a long-established cultivator family, at her age she still didn't even know what cultivation was?

  When it was broad daylight, I suddenly heard a loud noise and jumped up in an instant.

  "I suppose the thieves have already discovered that something is amiss! Chang'er, make preparations early. If they come to inspect here, you follow closely behind me. We'll go straight from this small path to the small gate at the back of the house. If we can get out of the gate, it's all right! If there's an emergency, quietly go to the riverbank and escape through the watergate tunnel."

  "Insufficient brother, how did you know the way?"

  Chang'e asked with feigned curiosity.

  "Last night, someone couldn't sleep, so he went for a walk around the neighborhood."

  "Oh, why didn't you wake me up?"

  Originally, I didn't see Chang'er sleeping, so I quietly investigated this place and already had a plan in mind.

  As expected, the thieves got up early to patrol. Seeing that there was something unusual in the stone room, they opened the door to investigate. But where were the brothers who were supposed to be on watch? There was only a large amount of blood, which had all darkened. They were shocked! They realized that the incident must have happened some time ago! They immediately reported it to the three masters. On one side, they opened the stone gate and rushed down the hidden passage, where they saw a dead body with its head shattered, brains splattered everywhere, lying outside the prison door. Inside the prison, three people were bound hand and foot, with cloth stuffed in their mouths, unable to speak, all on the verge of death.

  "Quickly untie the ropes!" The seven thieves hastily untied the three men's ropes and also removed the cloth from their mouths. After careful questioning, they found out that everyone had already escaped at midnight! They then supported the three men as they went outside, and soon after arriving outside, they heard someone say:

  "San Dajia has arrived! San Dajia has arrived!"

  "What's going on?"

  The one called "Big Brother" by Xiao Sanzi said:

  "Third Master, our fault."

  "Cut the crap! Talk!"

  "Yes! Last night, the three of us had some wine together, but then we heard a lot of noise coming from the hidden passage under the stone gate. We opened it to investigate and were suddenly attacked by a strong man who knocked us down and left us unconscious. When I came to, I was already in the dungeon."

  The three men stared at him, their hearts racing with fear, not daring to look him straight in the eye.

  "Alright, this page is turned! Now the troops are divided into five routes. One route stays behind to search the village, not letting a single inch of land go unchecked! One route searches deep in the mountains, one route searches along the roads, one route receives and escorts, and one route gathers things and waits for orders."

  "Yes! Got it!"

  "Remember, kill one when you see one, and kill two when you meet a pair! Make sure to annihilate them all, without leaving a single survivor!"

  "Yes!"

  The thieves let out a loud shout and dispersed in all directions, showing that they were well-trained. The three guards merely kowtowed and thanked them repeatedly. After a moment, the three masters thought...

  "Come, take four or five men and make a thorough search. If you meet any strangers, arrest them at once without asking any questions! Also report this matter to the second master and let him decide!"

  "Yes!"

  As a result, the mountain stronghold was in an uproar, and all the bandits were mobilized. Several groups of horsemen surrounded and killed the escaping merchants with great fanfare! The ambushes set up by the sentries occupied excellent terrain, and at this time, they also sharpened their knives and lay in wait to attack any merchants who accidentally entered. In just one day and night, all the merchants were slaughtered and wiped out! When each group returned to report, however, two people were missing - a man who appeared to be a scholar and a beautiful woman, who must have escaped with him. The three leaders immediately issued an order for each group to conduct a thorough search and make sure to kill those two people!