Volume 1 Chapter 6: Old Grudges and Old Hatred
Since Lin Hongfeng married Cao Shujian, everyone in the martial arts world has admired them as a couple of gods and they love each other very much. Hearing Lin Qing's words, she was furious and said sternly, "I didn't expect you to be so cruel and ruthless. When he saw that you had discovered your plot, you wanted to kill him to silence him. It was obviously you who hurt him first, and when he was taking medicine to heal his wounds, you ordered someone to poison him. What are you still trying to argue about?"
Lin Qing was still laughing, and after he finished laughing, he said seriously, "You discovered my plot? How can you say that? I first entered the martial arts world when I was twelve years old. At the age of sixteen, I became famous in the Baiyun Temple's World Heroes Conference and defeated more than ten masters of the same generation. Although I don't consider myself a chivalrous person with great benevolence and righteousness, and I have killed good people by mistake, I have always taken responsibility for my own actions and have never shirked or denied it. It is true that I couldn't tolerate Cao Shujian, and it is also true that I hit him, but I didn't poison him. I'm afraid the one who is plotting is not me, but my good brother-in-law, right?"
Lin Hongfeng looked disappointed and said in a deep voice: "Brother Qing, I never thought you would turn around and accuse someone who has been dead for three years! It's ridiculous that I still think of the brother-sister relationship..." After that, he slowly took out something from his sleeve and handed it to Lin Longqing, saying angrily: "Do you recognize this?"
Lin Qing showed a puzzled look on his face. He reached out to take it and took a closer look. It was actually a pieced-together, tattered piece of letter paper. Every stroke of the words on it were vigorous and powerful. It was his own handwriting. He was shocked and said after a while, "This... was not written by me." But his voice was very low.
Lin Hongfeng said sadly, "Brother Qing, whether you admit it or not, I have seen your handwriting since I was a child, how could I make a mistake? Shujian risked his life to steal this letter, but it was shattered by your palm power." Lin Hongfeng looked up at Lin Qing, tears welling up in his eyes, and shouted, "Brother Qing, the leader respected by the brothers of the Kuangyi Gang turned out to be a lackey of the court; my most beloved brother in this life was killed by my brother-in-law because his conspiracy with the court was discovered by my brother-in-law! Do you know how I and the brothers felt after piecing together the remaining fragments?"
Lin Qing was in a state of confusion at this moment. Seeing that the letter was barely pieced together from fragments and there were bloodstains on it, it was really hard to argue. But he heard the man muffled voice beside him saying, "Madam Cao, the letter is already incomplete. You can't hastily conclude that the gang leader is colluding with the court..."
Lin Hongfeng said angrily: "Could it be that the seal of the Yukou Division above is also fake? People died because of him, and he is still quibbling about whether it is real or fake? Don't try to hide this from me!" After that, a group of white shadows rushed towards Lin Qing with the sword, but Lin Qing did not dodge. Outside the courtyard gate, a voice called "Wait a minute" and two figures flew in, but with a "puff" sound, the sword had pierced Lin Qing's right chest!
Lin Qing stared blankly at the tip of the sword that pierced her chest, her lips trembling slightly, sadness far outweighing anger on her face, and a hint of confusion. After a moment, this confusion turned into understanding. She raised her head and smiled, "Sister...you really drew your sword at me..."
The two men were unable to stop him and stood there. After a while, one of the middle-aged scholars with a white face and a slight beard stomped his feet and scolded the bearded man, "Brother Qin, why didn't you stop the lady?"
The bearded man was so shocked by the sudden change that he was speechless. He hesitated for a long time before hesitating, "Master Fang, Madam acted too quickly, and I really didn't expect the leader to not dodge at all. Otherwise, with the leader's martial arts..."
The other old man with a knife wound on his left cheek said impatiently: "Forget it, don't explain!" He turned around and shouted to the outside: "Please ask Doctor Cheng to come in, I'm afraid the gang leader is seriously injured!"
Soon an old man came in, hunched over, with a sallow complexion and a worried look. He was Doctor Cheng, a veteran of several generations of the Kuang Yi Gang, known as the "God of Life and Death". The bearded man was Qin Tianxiong, the right guardian of the Kuang Yi Gang, the old man with the scar was Zhang Liantao, the left guardian, and the middle-aged scholar was Fang Zheng, the head of the Kuang Yi Gang.
Seeing his former subordinates in the courtyard, Lin Qing sneered, "So you are all here, Protector Zhang, Protector Qin, Hall Master Fang. If the masters hadn't warned me to take a detour, I would have been ambushed by you on the Sizhou Mountain Road. How could I still be alive?" At this point, there was a hint of sadness in his words, "My former gangmates came from thousands of miles away to hunt me down, and my own sister who grew up with me also wants to take my life. At this point in my life, I really don't know how I should deal with it!" His eyes were gentle again. Looking at Lin Hongfeng, he said, "This move is 'Jade and Stone Burn Together'. Sister actually practiced all the thirteen jade styles of the Jade Sword Sect. Congratulations!" After that, he pinched the sword tip with two fingers and gently pushed it out. Lin Hongfeng couldn't resist and slowly moved the long sword out of Lin Qing's body. A stream of red gushed out. Lin Qing smiled as if nothing had happened and said, "I stabbed it off-center just now. This time, I must not stab it off-center. Besides, there is no need to use a move that would hurt both sides. One move of 'Jade Mountain Collapse' is enough."
Lin Hongfeng kept thinking in her heart: "Why didn't he hide? Could it be that he really wasn't the one who sent people to kill Shujian?" She also said in her heart: "My brother has been in the world since he came out, he is mature and scheming. This time he tricked me into stabbing him, just waiting for me to feel guilty and then stop when I think of the brother-sister relationship. Humph, how can there be such a cheap thing in the world?" Guilt and ruthlessness alternated on her face again and again, and then she said: "Don't pretend to win people's hearts, watch out for the sword!" But it was still a move of "burn both jade and stone".
Seeing that Lin Hongfeng was using another move called "burn everything to pieces", Lin Qing thought to himself: "Sister is still using this kind of sword technique. She must hate me to the extreme." He sighed secretly, but still did not dodge, with deep sadness in his eyes.
But then they heard a "ding" sound, and saw the middle-aged scholar using his folding fan to block Lin Hongfeng's long sword, and said anxiously: "Madam, please don't do it. In the past, the brothers swore in front of Cao Zongguan's spirit that they would retrieve the leader and ask for the truth about what happened that day. Although Cao Zongguan left a blood letter before his death, the contents of the letter can no longer be read completely. If we wrongly accuse the leader today, the relatives will be sad and the enemies will be happy. Won't we regret it greatly in the future?"
But Lin Hongfeng blocked the fan with a "clang" and said, "Get out of the way, or I'll kill you too!" After that, he made a series of moves with a fierce momentum. Lin Qing knew very well that this move was a ruthless move that would hurt both sides. If encountered resistance or parry, the momentum would be endless. The sword's momentum was sharp and vicious, only seeking to kill the enemy, but his own flaws were exposed. The opponent had no choice but to counterattack his flaws, and the two fought until they both died. Hall Master Fang was already in a difficult situation at the moment, but with his skill, he must have seen through all of Lin Hongfeng's flaws, and when he could no longer defend himself, he would definitely counterattack. I'm afraid that by then Lin Hongfeng himself would be seriously injured.
Seeing Lin Hongfeng's eyes slightly red, Lin Qing thought to himself "not good", rushed forward and pushed the scholar away with one palm, and quickly grabbed Lin Hongfeng's sword-holding hand with the other hand, and flew up with a clear whistle. Lin Hongfeng struggled in the air, but Lin Qing caught his pulse, and let Lin Qing dance along with the sword. The pear blossoms on the tree were shaken by the sword energy like falling snow, and then the back force was completely removed. Lin Qing flew down, gently put Lin Hongfeng down, and walked back to Lan'er to sit on the ground. However, his right chest had been injured by the sword, and the previous action caused a large amount of blood to gush out, and Lin Qing's face became even paler.
At this time, there was already a commotion outside the courtyard gate. The people standing nearby all frowned. The middle-aged scholar thought to himself, "Outsiders will definitely think that the gang leader saved me, but in fact he was afraid that I would hurt his sister. Well, if that's the case, why did the gang leader attack Cao the other day? Doctor Cheng had carefully examined it and said that the gang leader's palm strike was not fatal to Cao the chief. It is obvious that if the gang leader wanted to kill him, he only needed to use 100% of his strength. Why did he have to poison him? There must be something fishy going on, but we don't know."
Lin Hongfeng's face became more gloomy at this moment, and he asked sternly: "Why did Master Fang stop me just now?" He turned his head and stared at the other people hatefully and said: "Three years ago, in front of Brother Jian's spirit, all the people in your gang vowed to avenge him. Why did you stop me today?"
Qin Tianxiong was a straightforward man, with tears in his eyes. He knelt on the ground and said, "Boss, Madam Cao, you are blood brothers and sisters, why are you fighting to the death? Boss, they all said that you poisoned Mr. Cao, I never believed it. Now all the leaders of the gang are outside the courtyard, I only ask you to tell everyone, what happened that night three years ago? Since Mr. Cao was not killed by the boss, why did he escape from the Kuangyi Gang overnight?"
Lin Qing's chest was stained red, and his breath was a little scattered. After listening to Qin Tianxiong's words, he was stunned for a moment, then sneered and looked up to the sky and said, "It's funny. You asked me why I fled at night? If I didn't leave, I'm afraid I would have died in the gang. How could I be here with you 'good brothers'? I don't know who secretly poisoned me to take away 70% of my strength, and then chased me. Fearing that this move was not effective, they also sniped me in the waterside pavilion. In the end, I didn't even have a chance to breathe. I finally escaped from the gang, I didn't expect you to set ambushes along the way. It was my luck that I escaped because of the warnings from a mysterious master. Ask yourself, some of you are my father's seniors, and some of you are my brothers who have been loyal to me. Did you think of the old friendship when you attacked me? Even though I only had 20% of my strength left, I couldn't bear the internal killing of the Kuang Yi Gang. I always avoided fighting back and put myself in desperate situations. I fled to this far north with serious injuries. If it weren't for the benefactor's family, the famous leader of the Kuang Yi Gang would have become a frozen corpse on the roadside that no one knew about!"
The hall masters inside and outside the courtyard fell silent after hearing this. The middle-aged scholar thought to himself, "I was wondering why the leader didn't fight back that day. It turns out that he was poisoned and lost 70% to 80% of his internal strength. The leader has always been cautious. I'm afraid that the poison is 70% to 80% related to Madam Cao."
Seeing that most of the gang members were looking at him with suspicion, Lin Hongfeng was furious and said, "What do you mean by poisoning? It's obvious that you feel guilty and dare not fight back. How can you listen to his nonsense?"
When Lin Qing heard his sister's words, his eyes dimmed and he sighed softly, thinking: "Alas, my sister may not know about the poisoning. Why should I fight with her in front of so many people and let everyone laugh at me?" After thinking, he raised his head, not looking at Lin Hongfeng, but just scanning the heads of the gang one by one, his eyes stopped at Fang Zheng and said: "Master Fang, everyone in the martial arts world calls you 'Filial Iron Fan' because you are very filial to your mother. Six years ago, your mother was critically ill and urgently needed a thousand-year-old ginseng. The gang didn't have it in their collection. This rare item is not available in ordinary medicine shops. At that time, you had to wait in front of the bed, and Cao Shujian traveled thousands of miles to steal the ginseng from the palace. It took him two days and two nights to rush back to save your mother's life."
Lin Qing turned to Zhang Hufa and said, "You are over fifty years old, your meridians and internal skills have already taken shape. You accidentally got a secret book "Iron Jia Gong", but you insisted on practicing it so hard that you became possessed. Every day, your limbs and meridians are extremely painful. You need someone to sacrifice his own skills to clear your meridians for you. Cao Shujian volunteered to regulate your meridians, and later he said that he had damaged his own strength. Is that true or not?"
" Protector Qin, no one is perfect. My father saw that although you have a violent temper, you are honest, so he handed over all the cash-related matters in the gang to you. However, you were addicted to gambling and lost 730,000 taels of silver in Kuaiyi Building. Not only did you lose everything, you also embezzled 500,000 taels of cash from the gang! Afterwards, you knew that you could not make up for it and wanted to commit suicide to apologize. As a result, Cao Shujian saved you and plugged the hole for you. You thought that no one knew about it, but in fact, I saw everything. Fortunately, you cut off your little finger and never gambled again. My father praised you for your firm character, otherwise, how could I use you again!"
Qin Tianxiong's face flushed when he heard this, "I didn't mean to hide it from you, I just didn't have the face to tell the gang leader. The gang leader doesn't need to misunderstand Master Cao because of this. He used his own money to help me, and he didn't falsify the gang's accounts. This is absolutely true!"
Lin Qing lowered his eyes and panted, "I don't want to talk about the other things one by one. The Kuang Yi Gang has 24 branches under its headquarters, all over the country. There is not a single branch leader who has not received great kindness from Cao Shujian. Even the small leaders of each branch have received small favors from him. He was so deliberate in making friends with everyone in the gang, calling this one brother and that one friend, but he didn't expect to get your reward only after his death!"
Lin Qing turned to Lin Hongfeng and said, "Sister, Cao Shujian has always had ulterior motives for the power of the Kuangyi Gang. If he dies, then he dies. You are my biological sister. In the past thirty years, which one of my things have I not considered for you? But you have only been married to Cao Shujian for more than ten years, and you helped an outsider to force him to this point?"
Lin Hongfeng lowered his hands, looked up at the sky and murmured, "Brother Qing, Shujian didn't marry into my family, but he has lived in my house for nearly ten years. In these ten years, how many gang members and branches of the Kuangyi Gang have increased, and how much prestige has increased in the world, you know all these in your heart? It is said that Shujian intends to take your position, have you seen it with your own eyes? Even if, as you said, he deliberately won over the gang leaders, it is not a crime punishable by death. Why can't you spare him for the sake of his being your sister's husband? Brother Qing, if you think Shujian has disturbed your dream of getting promoted, getting rich, and rising to the top, just tell me, my sister, and we will clean up and leave the Kuangyi Gang. I don't want you to disregard the moral principles and brotherhood of the world!"
