Chapter 318: Chivalrous Little Meng
Translator: Transn Editor: Transn
After spreading the paper out onto the table, Meng Qi began to write down what had happened in Maoling in detail. However, he did not mention what he should not have known, such as the organization Jiang Hengchuan did not tell him about: The Myths!
Of course, all the content and judgment came from Meng Qi’s own opinions. For example, the reason the Ruan family had helped them was that Jiang Zhiwei and Ruan Yushu were good friends. As for Jiang Zhiwei, they had an amicable relationship after meeting Meng Qi back at Shaolin Temple. They had met again while they were traveling in Jianghu, so they could be considered good friends too.
When he finished the last sentence, Meng Qi took out the Green Ribbon’s official seal and stamped it directly onto the paper, leaving a complex scarlet mark on the paper, which was difficult to forge.
“Secret-search Detective, Su” were the words on the seal. Meng Qi smiled, folded the paper and put it away in his chest pocket. He changed his appearance and walked out into the street. After several turns, he arrived at the stationery shop he had once visited. When he was admitted to enter as a Secret-searching Nark through the secret password, he presented the prepared paper to them and heard some new information about the different places there too.
Meng Qi felt lucky that he had not exposed his identity during this task. As a nark, it was not appropriate that he told others that he was an arrester when solving a case. If so, he might as well have been a common Green-ribbon Arrester or an Investigating Arrester. Generally speaking, he would never expose his identity unless he had his back to the wall and there was no way to save his life.
Once the identity of his Secret-searching Nark was exposed, Killing Blade Su Meng’s reputation would be “bad”, and he would have no chance to participate in some of the more confidential affairs.
The moment he came back to his rented courtyard, he felt something and said, “Senior Brother Qi, please come out!”
Qi Zhengyan slowly walked out from a nook in the courtyard. Without any expression, he said, “I can’t believe I didn’t make it past your senses.”
“Of course, my senses are as good as a master of the Half-step Exterior Scenery.” Meng Qi said frankly, and then he chuckled, “Senior Brother Qi, you’ve arrived at last.”
Qi Zhengyan was used to Meng Qi’s boasting. With a little compunction, he said, ” I was worried that if I took a boat along the downstream, I would not arrive in time. Hence, I chose to walk day and night through the barrens. Unfortunately, there were a lot of monsters and robbers standing in my way, which made me waste a lot of time. I was actually slower than the boat. Upon arriving at River East, I heard some things about Maoling, like the death of The Astounding and the ruins of the Dongyang Villa.”
“Senior Brother Qi, you seem more talkative today, which is quite different from your usual silence.” Meng Qi used his fist to smack his jaw and said, “Could it be that you were lost rather than meeting monsters and bandits?”
Qi Zhengyan’s face twitched and he expressionlessly replied, “That’s your imagination.”
“But there is only one truth.” Meng Qi made a joke which only he himself could understand and then changed the topic. He asked, “Senior Brother Qi, do you have any new plans?”
“New plans?” Qi Zhengyan frowned and said, “I want to challenge some young masters in River East to improve my Kung Fu.”
Meng Qi said with a smile, “Good idea. That’s what I’m thinking as well. Let’s go.”
“Who do you want to spar with?” Qi Zhengyan asked.
Meng Qi smacked his lips and said, “I had Five Emperors’ Knife Qing Yu in mind, but he has gone back to his hometown.”
He paused for a while and then said, “Therefore, my present target is Master Lotus Liu Su at the outside building of Ying City. Though I’m likely to lose, I’d like to challenge him, for only when I spar with the masters who are much more superior than I can I improve myself quickly.”
“Senior Brother Liu Su…” Qi Zhengyan said with a confused expression.
Master Lotus Liu Su was one of the best Disciples in the Huanhua Swords Sect. He had been famous since he was a child, so his peers admired and envied him so much.
As Qi Zhengyan was still an average disciple, he was dying to have Liu Su’s body potential and social status. Now, when he heard his good friend and “cousin” wanting to challenge the unconquerable Senior Brother in his heart, it was normal for him to be shocked and feel like he was in a dream.
“It has only been a few years. Has Junior Brother Meng’s strength improved that much?”
Then what about myself? What is the gap between Senior Brother Liu Su and I?
Meng Qi could read Qi Zhengyan’s mind and encouraged him, “Senior Brother Qi, after you open the Eight Acupores and cultivate Purple Star River, you can challenge Liu Su!”
According to Ranking List of Young Masters’ description and Six Fan School’s information, Liu Su had much fighting experience and had already reached the realm of Oneness of Heaven and Men. At present, he was practicing the advanced skill Sword Art of Immortal-given Longevity. In terms of normal, anyone who wanted to have a spar with Liu Su were bound to reach the level of Heaven-man Connection if he did not have other special Kung Fu. After all, Liu Su’s body potential, martial art, talent, effort and experience were all outstanding, except that he might not grasp Dharmakay moves well.
Nevertheless, Meng Qi’s Eight Nine Mysteries were rich in variation and deceit, which was superior to Sword Art of Immortal-given Longevity, but his fighting experience was much less than that of Liu Su, making it possible for him to challenge him. As for Qi Zhengyan’s Book of the Chaos, it was an outlier at the enlightenment period, which could drive the outside world ahead of time, so Meng Qi told him that after he opened the Eight Acupores, his strength would be similar to that of Liu Su for the time being. However, who knew which realm Liu Su would have achieved by the time he reached the Eight Acupores level.
Qi Zhengyan sighed a bit, “Up untill now, I have not had the courage and confidence to spar with Senior Brother Liu Su, but I hope I can know myself better by watching your fight.”
What he meant was that he would go to Ying City as well and challenge the Enlightened Master Pros there along the way.
“OK! Let’s go to the outside building of Ying City.” Meng Qi grinned, showing his eight white teeth.
…
The main mode of transportation in River East was boat, so they could enjoy the nice view of the landscape: clear water flowing beneath little bridges with lots of green willow trees on each bank, tall buildings built by white walls and black tiles.
After arriving in a small town near Ying City, Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan left the boat and took an official road. They wanted to get into the city tomorrow and then take a rest to enter Ying City in a best condition.
It was late at night, getting cooler and cooler. They felt cold with the autumn wind beating them. Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan rushed. They began to compete in their Lightness Skill. One had Moves of Wind-god’s Legs and Hallucination Body Movements. The other had the all-inclusive “Book of the Chaos”. Thus they were neck and neck.
Suddenly, a little flame reflected in Meng Qi’s eyes. There seemed to be a large group of people holding torches in front of them.
“What happened?” Meng Qi slowed down and Qi Zheng follow.
Meng Qi shook his head and said, “I don’t know either. Let’s go and see.”
Being curious was in his nature.
When they got close, Meng Qi saw some people dressed in arrester uniforms, and others dressed as Jianghu heroes. They were holding torches as if they were ready to search the forest.
“Hello, could you tell me what is happening here?” Meng Qi asked a man in black nearby.
The man looked at Meng Qi and Qi Zhengyan and asked, “Are you just passing by?”
“Yes,” Meng Qi acknowledged frankly.
The man in black hesitated and said, “Flower Thief Black Butterfly has committed several crimes in this city. He has raped and killed several ladies of eminent families. Now, he has dragged away the sixth lady of the Sha family and hidden in this forest. We have been informed by the Governor Arrester to gather here to search for him.”
“Black Butterfly?” Meng Qi knew nothing about him, nor did Qi Zhengyan.
“Is this the first time that you have come to River East?” The man in black understood at once.
Meng Qi nodded, “Yeah. Is Black Butterfly quite famous?”
He had never seen the title in the papers of the Six Fan School. Of course, only the masters at the level of the Exterior or the best ones with enlightened Acupores could be recorded there.
“He’s the disgrace of River East!” The man in black sighed. “He is a Nine Acupores Master. Though his Kung Fu is average, he is adept at Lightness Skill, skilled in hiding, as well as concealed weapons and knockout drops. Therefore, he often succeeds in raping women and escaping. No one knows how many women have been ruined by him. Much to our hatred, he is so cruel that he kills them after he rapes them.”
In the Kung Fu field, the difference between men and women was extremely small, and the people were relatively open minded. Apart from the aristocratic families, most of the Jianghu people did not look down on women losing their chastity but what Black Butterfly did was beyond their tolerance.
Therefore, while others were called Flower Butterflies, he was given the title “Black Butterfly”.
Meng, who always saw himself a chivalrous man was very furious and howled, “Where is he?”
“He has gone into this forest.” The man in black exhorted them to be careful. “In the darkness, Black Butterfly’s concealed weapons and knockout drops are particularly effective. If you want to do us a favor, you’d better wait for our teams to be organized, and then join one of them. That way, we can take care of one another.”
“Black Butterfly is vigilant. He seldom provokes the famous aristocratic families, but the Sha Family has a very strong relationship with the Mi Family in Ying City, so they have already sent men to assist them. Our main task is to frighten Black Butterfly and try to stop him from bullying the sixth lady of the Sha family. Once you meet him, do remember to call for help. Governor Arrester Wang, Hero Lin Baozhi and the others are nine acupores masters. They are bound to beat Black Butterfly.”
The implied meaning in his speech was that they had no time to rescue the sixth lady of the Sha family. What they could do was seek revenge for her.
Upon hearing this, Meng Qi said nothing but rushed along the path to the forest. Qi Zhengyan followed him closely.
“Hey, hey!” The man in black shouted loudly, but they turned a deaf ear to him.
The rest of the crowd heard movement. Following his voice, they came over to him. The man in black was a little embarrassed. He said, “Look at those two reckless guys…”
In the forest, Meng Qi ran his Will-projecting to search for clues in the reflection of the surrounding blurred scene in his heart lake.
While looking for clues, he suddenly heard the sound of someone calling for help.
He immediately stepped up and rushed over with his Hallucination Body Move and Moves of Wind-god’s Legs. He was so fast that there was almost a residual shadow, leaving Qi Zhengyan far behind.
The cry came from a wooden hut deep hidden in the forest, which was for hunters to put up with.
In the hut, a young lady in a long pinkish grey dress was delicately covering her chest with her hands. She took several steps back and shouted for help.
Since she was overwhelmed by Black Butterfly’s knockout drops, she could not activate her Kung Fu to resist him.
In front of her stood a man in dark clothing. He put down his mask, revealing a pale face. Though he was good looking, he looked like he was in his thirties or forties due to his over-indulgent sex life.
“You can shout as you like! But who would dare enter the forest rashly? And if they did, by the time they came to your aid, we will have finished our happy time…” Black Butterfly did not pounce on her in a hurry, for he loved to see women in despair.
The sixth lady of the Sha family used her teeth to bite her tongue and intended to kill herself. Unfortunately, she was weakened by his knockout drops and she only could bite a small wound.
“It’s time for us to make love now.” Black Butterfly was overwhelmed by his sexual desire. He rubbed his hands together and slowly walked over to her.
The sixth lady of the Sha family stumbled backwards, suddenly pausing as she had already reached the wall.
“It’s useless. Let’s enjoy our time. If I am satisfied with your body, maybe I won’t kill you.” The black butterfly said with a lewd smile.
Right at that moment, the sixth lady’s eyes fixed onto the man behind Black Butterfly.
Black Butterfly laughed and said, “This trick doesn’t work on me. I have been used to it since I was a child.”
Suddenly, a cool breeze brush his neck, making him shiver.
The instinctive reaction of the martial artist had him swung his sword back, but it was empty. Nothing was there.
He quickly turned around and saw no one inside or outside of the hut. Just after a relieved sigh, he suddenly felt the cool breeze brush his neck again, which was more chilling than before.
“Have I met an evil ghost?” All his body hair stood up.