Mo Sang – CH 281

Chapter 281. An Unexpected Event

Inside the house in Yudai Lane, Dong Chao was squatting on the porch, whispering something to Meng Yanqing. Seeing Li Sangrou enter, he hurriedly got up to greet her.

“Boss, it has been four days now, and Old Mi has been coming every day to ask, ‘Have you come back yet?'”

“Huh?” Li Sangrou paused.

“He arrives around noon every day. I asked him, and he said he walked over, meaning he came right after breakfast. Today was no exception.

I asked him what it was about, and he said nothing; he just came to ask. And he really only asked one question. If he hears you have not returned, he does not even bother to come through the second gate; he just turns around and leaves,” Dong Chao replied.

Li Sangrou frowned slightly, about to turn and leave, but then she looked up and saw the lanterns already lit and stopped.

The city gates were already closed; Blind Mi and the others lived outside the city.

The next day, just as dawn broke, Li Sangrou ate breakfast, led a horse out, and, as soon as the city gates opened, she headed straight for Blind Mi and the others’ lodging.

About a li from Blind Mi’s courtyard, Li Sangrou met him, dismounted, and looked at him with her hands behind his back, frowning slightly. “What happened? Look at you, you are covered in bad luck.”

“What bad luck? Let’s go.” Blind Mi turned and walked back.

“What happened?” Li Sangrou frowned and asked again.

Blind Mi looked like this, his whole body trembling; it was clear something terrible had happened!

“Nothing, how would I know? Senior Brother Wu is here; he’s been waiting for you for days. Senior Brother Zhou and Senior Brother Zhang are here too,” Blind Mi said, hands behind his back, without turning his head.

“Who’s Senior Brother Zhang? What does he do?” Li Sangrou asked, frowning.

“How would I know?!” Blind Mi replied irritably.

“Did Senior Brother Wu send you to find me?” Li Sangrou looked Blind Mi over again.

“Do not ask. It is just a few steps away; you will know when we get there.” Despite his gloomy demeanor, Blind Mi showed no impatience.

Li Sangrou’s expression grew serious.

The journey of about a li was over in no time.

In the courtyard, Li Qi’an was sweeping. Seeing Li Sangrou lead the horse in, her smile blossomed. She quickly put down her broom and took the reins.

Seeing Li Qi’an’s beaming face, Li Sangrou felt a slight sense of relief. It seemed this urgent matter only concerned Blind Mi, not yet involving Qiao’s operation.

That was good.

Master Qiao, who had been in charge in Yangzhou, came out of the house first, followed by Grand Master Wu and Master Zhou.

Li Sangrou paused, looking from Master Qiao to Master Zhou, who came out last.

All three looked troubled, but Master Qiao’s worry was not as deep, while Grand Master Wu and Master Zhou’s were profoundly concerned.

“What happened?” Li Sangrou skipped the pleasantries and went straight to the point.

“Let’s talk in the courtyard,” Grand Master Wu said, slumping his shoulders and pointing to the small thatched pavilion in the middle of the spacious courtyard.

“You come too,” Master Zhou called out.

From inside the pavilion, a thin, elderly man emerged with his head down, following behind Master Zhou.

Li Sangrou squinted at the thin old man and subconsciously took a half-step back.

The thin old man looked up at Li Sangrou, bowed slightly, and stepped aside to follow Master Zhou.

Neither Blind Mi nor Master Qiao followed. Blind Mi brought out two small bamboo chairs from the pavilion, one for himself and one for Master Qiao, and sat down at the doorway. Master Qiao flipped through a book, while Blind Mi stood with his hands in his sleeves, lost in thought.

Inside the thatched pavilion were benches and several old bamboo chairs. Li Sangrou dragged a chair and sat down, scrutinizing the thin old man again.

“His surname is Zhang, and he’s my junior brother,” Master Zhou said, pointing to the thin old man and introducing him.

Li Sangrou bowed in greeting.

This was Senior Brother Zhang, whom Blind Mi had mentioned earlier.

Li Sangrou looked at Grand Master Wu.

Grand Master Wu sighed and looked at Master Zhou, who also sighed, gesturing to Grand Master Wu. “Go ahead and speak.”

Li Sangrou’s eyes narrowed slightly.

“Our sect’s name is ‘Mo¹‘, and this ‘Mo’ has a very ancient origin.” Grand Master Wu was silent for a moment, glanced at Li Sangrou, and lowered his eyes.

Li Sangrou leaned back in her chair, listening intently to him.

“Legend has it that the founder of the ‘Mo’ sect was fierce and ruthless, wielding a sharp sword to educate the world. Initially, the sect’s largest and most powerful members were the assassins.”

Li Sangrou’s eyebrows rose.

“By the seventh generation sect leader, the world was in chaos. The sect had many young children, leading to high expenses but low income. The assassins began taking on larger jobs.”

Grand Master Wu lowered his eyelids, and after a moment, continued, “By the time of the twelfth generation sect leader, it was a time of great peace and prosperity. For the sake of the sect’s stability, the Assassin Department was moved from the open to the covert. From then on, even within the sect, only a very few people knew about the Assassin Department.

“From then on, seventy percent of the sect’s expenses come from the Assassin Department.”

Li Sangrou’s eyes narrowed slightly, then relaxed after a moment.

“After the Boss’s trip up the mountain, Senior Sister Zhao and I discussed closing the teahouses and annihilating the Assassin Department.”

“Closing the teahouses was a plan that had been in place since the previous four or five generations of sect leaders. However, after closing the teahouses, the sect would have no support.”

Grand Master Wu lowered his eyes and head, and after a long while, continued, “The Assassin Department is overseen by Junior Brother Zhang, while Senior Brother Zhou manages the sect.”

Grand Master Wu looked up at Master Zhang. “Go ahead and speak.”

Master Zhang looked up at Master Zhou, who sighed and also said, “Go ahead and speak.”

“Twenty-seven years ago, I started learning to manage teahouses from my master. Seven years later, my master passed away, and the teahouses were handed over to me.” Master Zhang’s voice was low and hoarse.

“In my tenth year managing the teahouses, a small job was posted at the Qinfeng Road teahouse. The pay was only fifty taels of silver, but it required finding someone on the grasslands.

This job was posted for four or five months, but no one took it. According to the teahouse’s rules, if a job is posted for six months and no one takes it, the full price is refunded.

Just half a month before the refund was due, someone took the job.

A year later, this man returned the token to return the assignment.

When he returned the assignment, I was patrolling Qinfeng Road. He was very thin and weak, covered in wounds, and had a fever. I had someone carry him to the backyard of the teahouse to get medical treatment.”

Master Zhang paused, his eyes lowered, and, after a long while, continued, “His surname was Lu; he did not have a given name. He was the eldest son in his family, so he was called Lu Da.

After Lu Da recovered from his injuries, I saw that he relied solely on ruthlessness, lacking any real skill or method. So I stayed in Qinfeng Road for six months to train him. After six months, I left Qinfeng Road, and he went back to taking on jobs.

Five years later, Lu Da became the best assassin. The following year, he found me in Tanzhou and talked a lot about how to expand his business, and how he felt that avoiding government involvement was too restrictive. I reprimanded him and talked to him a lot more.

He did not say anything at the time and left early the next morning.

After that, he took on many more jobs than before, mostly high-paying ones.

A year ago, there was a job Lu Da had taken on where four people died at the scene: the person he was supposed to kill, and the other three, two men and a woman, all only eleven or twelve years old, with assassin’s marks on their bodies.

I sent a message looking for Lu Da.

He delivered a message saying he was in Shuozhou. I checked, and he had taken on about ten jobs, large and small, along the route from Ezhou to Shuozhou.

The assassins who took on these jobs were nowhere to be found. I had people keep an eye on these ten or so jobs while I waited for him in Ezhou.

Afterwards, news kept coming in. Among the jobs Lu Da had taken on, people were dying. They were not jobs taken from the teahouse, and when they died, they had the teahouse’s mark on their bodies—one or two, two or three, the most being four in one instance, ranging in age from eleven or twelve to seventeen or eighteen.

The seventh job only resulted in one death, a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old. The subsequent jobs did not result in any more deaths.

A month ago, when I received news of the last job, Lu Da had also arrived in Ezhou. When he arrived, Senior Brother Wu and Senior Brother Zhou were already there.

I told Lu Da that the teahouse would no longer do business. He just smiled and said, ‘That’s good.'”

Master Zhang glanced at Master Zhou and lowered his head.

Master Zhou glanced at Li Sangrou and continued, “From the twelfth-generation sect leader onwards, the sect has stopped disciplining its assassins.

The assassins at the teahouse all came voluntarily. Since then, they’ve relied almost entirely on ruthlessness and countless killings for training. Almost none have truly learned martial arts or received proper training.

The teahouse’s rule of avoiding contact with the government also started with the twelfth-generation sect leader. This is for the good of these assassins; they are just a bunch of untrained fighters, and if they were to face the government, they would only be utterly defeated.

Lu Da is an exception.

My Senior Brother Wu and I heard about Lu Da from him, so we waited for him to arrive in Ezhou.

The three children who died in the job Lu Da took on a year ago, and those who died later, could only have been people he trained.

When Zhang met Lu Da in Ezhou, he asked Lu Da about the deaths of the children. Lu Da said he did not want to deceive Zhang, but he also did not want to tell him.”

Master Zhou sighed softly, then continued, “When Lu Da left, I followed him across the river all the way to Daye County.

In Daye County, a group of about twenty-seven or twenty-eight children, ranging in age from around ten to eighteen or nineteen, both boys and girls, were waiting for him in an inn.

They bought a lot of things together in Daye County, then left the county town for Shichui Town. From Shichui Town, they went into the mountains, walked for a day, and came to a temple.

I could not get close. They set traps along the way. I triggered the alarm bell and was chased by about ten children, around eleven or twelve, fifteen or sixteen years old. I retreated all the way back to Shichui Town, and then I came back.”

Seeing Master Zhou remain silent, Li Sangrou looked at Grand Master Wu, who lowered his head with a bitter smile. Li Sangrou then looked at Master Zhang, who also kept his head down. Master Zhou met Li Sangrou’s gaze, his face filled with bitterness.

“How good were those ten or so children who chased you?” Li Sangrou asked, looking at Master Zhou.

“Extremely ruthless. There was a group of them; I was no match for them and was injured,” Master Zhou said, untying his clothes to reveal a bandaged shoulder blade, then pointing to his thigh, “I was stabbed here.”

“What about Lu Da?” Li Sangrou looked closely and asked again.

“I am not as good as him.” Master Zhang looked up at Li Sangrou, then lowered his eyes again.

“Junior Brother Zhang and I are evenly matched.” After a pause, Master Zhou lowered his eyes and said, “In terms of killing, I am inferior to Junior Brother Zhang.”

“Since when did you become inferior to him?” Li Sangrou asked, looking at Master Zhang.

“Six years ago, when I met him, we sparred once. I had not seen him for some time, so I do not know when it started,” Master Zhang said, his eyes lowered, like a schoolchild answering a teacher’s question.

“Your assassins are all free-range. What about the managers in the teahouses? And the staff who know the ropes?” Li Sangrou asked, glancing at Grand Master Wu.

“There are not many teahouses, only in a few major cities. The managers and the staff who know the ropes are all disciples from the sect. After the teahouses close, they will all return to the mountain,” Grand Master Wu replied, bowing slightly.

“Did the Ye family of Anqing Prefecture hire you to train assassins?” Li Sangrou asked, after a moment of silence, looking at Master Zhang.

“He did approach us.” Master Zhang paused for a moment, then nodded. “The offer was extremely high, but the teahouse does not train assassins, nor do we have someone to train them, so we refused.”

“Hmm.” Li Sangrou hummed in agreement, remaining silent for a long time before looking at Grand Master Wu and saying, “Where there is light, there is shadow; where there is good, there is evil. You took away the teahouse, but no one can take away the assassins and the killings. If not in the teahouse, then somewhere else.

From now on, let’s stick to the facts and the crimes. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

“Lu Da detests a unified world; he thinks chaos is best.” Grand Master Wu swallowed hard, speaking with extreme reluctance and difficulty, gesturing to Master Zhang. “Junior Brother Zhang, you know best.”

“He said chaos makes people strong, that people should be like wild beasts, the strong get stronger, and the weak die.”

Master Zhang lowered his head.

“He heard me recount a few things about our patriarch through stories, and he greatly admired him, saying that we should be like our patriarch, killing all those who stand in our way.”

Li Sangrou narrowed her eyes slightly. “Anything else? Do not just dabble.”

“No, that’s all.” Grand Master Wu’s bitter smile revealed deep embarrassment.

“Really nothing?” Li Sangrou squinted at Master Zhou.

Master Zhou met Li Sangrou’s gaze and nodded. “Really, that’s all.”

“You taught Lu Da all his martial arts. Has he learned from anyone else?” Li Sangrou looked at Master Zhang.

“When I sparred with him six years ago, it was all internal martial arts from within the sect. However, he has exceptional talent; he’s fast and accurate.” Master Zhang glanced at Li Sangrou, then lowered his eyes again.

“Looking at those children’s moves, they are all internal martial arts from within the sect, too,” Master Zhou added.

“What are your plans?” Li Sangrou leaned back in her chair.

“Could we ask the Boss to come with us to eliminate Lu Da?” Master Zhou said somewhat humbly after glancing at Grand Master Wu.

“With you? How many of you can go? You? Him? Who else? Li Qi’an or Lin Sa?” Li Sangrou asked bluntly.

“I can go with you. Senior Brother Zhou was injured because he could not bring himself to kill those children.” Master Zhang glanced at Li Sangrou.

“You could bring yourself to kill them?” Li Sangrou looked at Master Zhang and asked bluntly.

“I’ve killed people.” Master Zhang avoided Li Sangrou’s question.

“You bunch of people who cannot even bear to kill a chicken actually run an assassin business. How interesting.” Li Sangrou narrowed her eyes. “Does a gentleman not cook?”

Grand Master Wu gave a dry laugh, Master Zhou lowered his head, and Master Zhang shrugged and lowered his head.

“Hand over all your assassin’s markings.” Li Sangrou looked at Grand Master Wu.

Grand Master Wu immediately nodded. “Alright.”

“I want to see your martial arts.” Li Sangrou gestured to Master Zhang, stood up, walked to the middle of the courtyard, and casually broke off a tree branch.

Master Zhang followed, picking up a wooden sword.

Seeing Master Zhang ready, Li Sangrou’s steps were light and gliding; the branch aimed at Master Zhang’s throat. Before Master Zhang could dodge to the side, the branch had already struck below his Adam’s apple.

“Again,” Li Sangrou said, taking four or five steps back.

Master Zhang thrust his sword forward; Li Sangrou stepped forward, the branch grazing Master Zhang’s neck.

Master Zhang stepped back, picked up another wooden sword, held it with both hands, and charged forward again. Li Sangrou, close to Master Zhang’s arm, strolled forward two steps, the branch grazing Master Zhang’s neck again.

“That’s enough.” Li Sangrou stopped. “How was your match with Lu Da?”

“He’s not as fast as you, far slower.” Master Zhang’s face was pale; the branch Li Sangrou was using made his heart clench.

“Is that so?” Li Sangrou slowed down, pushing the branch forward.

“A little slower,” Master Zhang said after trying a couple of moves.

“Yes, I understand.” Li Sangrou threw away the branch, looked at Grand Master Wu, and pointed at Master Zhang, saying, “Have Blind Mi take him to Yudai Lane and teach Da Chang and Meng Yanqing all the rules, secret codes, and markings he knows about the assassin profession.”

“Alright,” Grand Master Wu agreed.

Master Zhang put away his wooden sword, beckoned to Blind Mi, and they went outside together.

“Tell me about what’s going on in your sect,” Li Sangrou said, turning to Grand Master Wu.

“Alright.” Grand Master Wu looked bitter, his hands behind his back, and entered the thatched pavilion.