Volume 3: Evil Ghosts Eat People Chapter 174: Coming with a Strong Force
Five miles north of Yonghui City is Yongxing Fort, the headquarters of the Zishan Sect.
"What!?" The Great Elder Jiao Chengtong was furious. He smashed the teacup in his hand and said angrily, "Who is so bold as to hurt a disciple of Zishan Sect? Don't you want to live?"
"This person said he was the new chief judge of Tangzhou, named Xu Zun," a disciple reported. "He was accompanied by expert guards, and he came with great force. All eleven of my disciples had their hands and feet chopped off by them! They also took Senior Brother Gao Cheng away!"
"What? How can this be absurd!" Jiao Chengtong trembled and said, "A mere Tangzhou judge dared to hurt my children and arrest my beloved disciple. You must be tired of living!
"Even if Li Yan comes, he has to give face to our Zishan Sect. What a small judge. He really doesn't know what's good for him!
"Come on!" He waved his hand and ordered his disciples, "Gather some people immediately and follow me to the government office to ask for the person. If I can't get justice today, I will burn down the government office! This is really too much, hum..."
"Yes!" One of his men immediately went down and began to organize manpower according to the elder's instructions.
Jiao Chengtong waved to his disciples, and one of them immediately handed him a long sword.
However, before he could put on his sword, another disciple came hurriedly to report.
"Great Elder, Great Elder, something bad has happened, something bad has happened..." The disciple knelt on the ground and reported hastily, "Senior Brother Gao Cheng has been beheaded by them!"
“What!!?” Jiao Chengtong couldn’t believe it and asked, “You…say it again!”
"Senior Brother Gao Cheng was beheaded by the government," the disciple said, pulling out a notice from his pocket. "Not only did they behead Senior Brother, they also issued a notice to serve as a warning to others!"
"What?"
Jiao Chengtong took the notice and read it. He was full of anger at first, but after reading it, he couldn't help but gasp.
But the notice reads:
[…Tangzhou Chief Justice Xu Zun was ordered to inspect Yonghui and encountered the lunatic Gao Cheng killing people in the street, so he arrested him.]
【Now the evidence is irrefutable and the law of the country does not tolerate it. He will be executed on the spot to set the record straight.】
[In the future, if there are those who disregard the law, commit crimes, and wantonly kill people, they will be severely punished and will not be tolerated...]
"Xu Zun..." Jiao Chengtong felt something, and his previous anger turned into deep doubt. "What does it mean to inspect by imperial order? Is this what the emperor or the empress dowager meant?"
"Grand Elder," said the disciple who came to report, "I heard from the people in the government office that the people around Xu Zun... are all... are all internal guards!"
"Ah!?" Jiao Chengtong was startled and muttered, "Internal Guard... It seems that this guy came prepared! No wonder he is so arrogant..."
"Yes, Great Elder," a high-level disciple said at this time, "As the saying goes, those who come here have bad intentions. We should not act impulsively, or we will fall into a trap!"
"But Gao Cheng is my beloved disciple. How can I get rid of this anger when he was chopped to death by them?" Jiao Chengtong gritted his teeth and weighed the pros and cons for a moment before saying, "It seems that I have to call everyone else over to discuss this together!"
"Report..."
As they were talking, another disciple came to report.
"What's wrong now?" Jiao Chengtong asked.
"Report to the Great Elder," the disciple reported, "I have been ordered to monitor the Tangzhou Tixing group. They...they actually went to the Tan Gang's headquarters!"
"Ah?" Jiao Chengtong stroked his graying beard and frowned, "Go to the headquarters of the Tan Gang? What are you going to do? Are you going to form an alliance?
"Not good," he became more and more worried, and said immediately, "Even if the headmaster is in seclusion, we must report to him..."
…
At the same time, at the headquarters of the Tan Gang.
The headquarters of the Tan Gang was not in Yonghui City, but it was not far away. It was a village full of earthen kilns.
As the name suggests, the Tan Gang got its start by burning charcoal and still upholds the tradition of burning charcoal. Those earthen kilns are used for burning charcoal.
The leader of the Tan Gang was named Hua Shi, which was a nickname in the underworld. Some people said that he loved to grow flowers, so he got the name. Others said that he killed people like crazy, so he used the word "Shi" as his name.
However, Hua Shi recently caught a cold and suffered from malaria, and is now recuperating in the back village.
The person in charge of the gang affairs at the moment is the deputy gang leader Ma Xin. After receiving the visiting card from Xu Zun and others, Ma Xin was quite puzzled as to why the newly appointed Tangzhou Chief Justice wanted to visit him.
He wanted to find an excuse to shirk responsibility, but then he thought that Yonghui had been in trouble recently and he wondered if there was any important situation.
In desperation, he had to let Xu Zun and others come in and meet in the reception hall.
Ma Xin was a cautious person. After Xu Zun came in, he was very polite and let Xu Zun sit in the main seat.
Logically speaking, as a provincial official, Xu Zun would naturally be a distinguished guest when he came to such a gang.
But a strong dragon cannot suppress a local snake. According to the rules of the underworld, it is best not to sit in the main seat.
However, Xu Zun didn't care about anything and sat down on the main seat immediately, and then introduced to Ma Xin and others:
"These are the guard commanders sent by the Internal Guard. They came with Xu to Yonghui to investigate the case. Their men are collecting evidence in various places in Yonghui."
"Ah?" Ma Xin was stunned. He never expected that the Internal Guards would appear in front of him. He also had no idea what Xu Zun meant by saying that. He was immediately confused.
"And this one," Xu Zun pointed at Zhao Yu and introduced him, "This is Zhao Shengong's son, nicknamed the Arm-Chopping Evil Demon Zhao Yu!"
"ah!?"
Ma Xin was shocked again. Although he had never heard of any evil demon who could cut off his arms, the name of Zhao Shengong was well-known to him.
Zhao Yu was not mentally prepared at all. He immediately grinned and said to himself, "Sir Xu, how give such a random nickname?"
"Master Xu," Ma Xin was immediately confused and asked quickly, "I wonder if Master Xu has any instructions for you?"
As soon as Ma Xin finished asking, a disciple from the Tan Gang came to report. The man whispered a few words in Ma Xin's ear, which made Ma Xin stunned and his face became more and more gloomy.
Obviously, he already knew that Xu Zun had beheaded the disciples of Zishan Sect.
Too fierce!
Ma Xin became more and more unsure. He looked at Xu Zun with fear in his eyes and cold sweat on his forehead.
"Master Ma," Xu Zun waved his hand at Ma Xin, motioning him to come forward and talk. After Ma Xin came up to him, he whispered, "Let me find a quiet place to talk to you about something that concerns life and death!"
"Ah? This..." Ma Xin shuddered again and quickly pointed to the back of the reception room, "Sir, please follow me!"
After saying that, he hurriedly took Xu Zun to the back. Zhao Yu and others wanted to follow, but were stopped by Xu Zun.
Next, under the guidance of Ma Xin, Xu Zun and he entered a secret room.
Ma Xin quickly closed the door and asked, "Excuse me, sir, what instructions do you have?"
Unexpectedly, after Xu Zun came in, he walked around the secret room without saying a word.
"Sir," Ma Xin said, "don't worry, there are only you and me here, there is no one eavesdropping!"
As a result, Xu Zun made a gesture of silence and still didn't speak.
Ma Xin didn't understand what was going on, so he had to wait patiently.
After waiting for half an incense stick of time, Xu Zun finally said, "Tell your leader to come to the government office to find me later!"
"What...what?" Ma Xin was confused by this operation.
But Xu Zun opened the door anyway, walked back the same way he came, and without even saying goodbye, he left the Tan Gang with Zhao Yu and the others with their heads held high.
Ma Xin stood there, not knowing whether to send him off or not, feeling very awkward.
However, Xu Zun did not stop. He immediately led everyone away from the Tan Gang and disappeared on the road.
Looking at the direction where Xu Zun and others disappeared, Ma Xin felt like he had been cheated out of the cut mutton, and became more and more confused.
"Boss Ma, something terrible has happened, something terrible has happened..." Unexpectedly, at this moment, one of his men came to report, "Go and have a look! The rear camp... the rear camp is haunted..."
