Flower Stealing Master

Chapter 77: The sweet little girl

Their group of people travelled with thousands of soldiers. Wherever they passed, all sects and factions surrendered, and some were tough and unwilling to surrender, and they were quickly razed to the ground by the three thousand cavalry.

The main altar of the Feiyun Gang in Hebei. The leader of the gang was now kneeling on the ground and shivering in dread.

Seeing the remorse and unwillingness in this leader's eyes, Song Qingshu couldn't help but curse in his heart, ‘These ancient people didn't even know the concept of pretending in their thick heads. Wouldn't things be all fine and dandy if they just accept the imperial edict and express their nominal loyalty to the Qing Court? Although their reputation would suffer a bit, but at least they wouldn’t have lost everything. Why do all these sects seem to be hell bent on digging out their ancestral graves? There were so many sects who chose to hit the mountain with pebbles, and their entire sect was removed from the wulin as a result…’

Song Qingshu certainly wouldn’t comprehend how much these ancient people valued their reputation. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty, there were organizations that could even fight over who was the most orthodox in the wulin. Those were fights that included several life and death battles, and what the Qing Dynasty was doing was nothing over the top.

This Feiyun Gang accepted the Qing Dynasty's edict, so in this life he would not even be able to approach other the orthodox forces in wulin. As the saying goes, “Crows everywhere are equally black”.

"It's really hard to understand the thinking of these ancient people." Song Qingshu shook his head to dispel the distracting thoughts in his mind, and opened the list in his hand to find out which organization was the next unlucky ghost. The words ‘Wangwu Sect' suddenly came into view, and his heart couldn't help but move.

*****

A few days later, the army quickly marched to the foot of Wangwu Mountain. The local officials introduced the situation of the Wangwu faction to Wei Xiaobao in a respectful manner, "The leader of the Wangwu faction, Situ Bolei, was an old general of the King of Pingxi Wu Sangui. Because he was dissatisfied with the King of Pingxi’s decision to take refuge in the Ming Empire, in his anger he led a group of people into the wulin, and finally settled in the Wangwu Mountain as a bandit group…"

"Wangwu Mountain has dangerous terrain. There are well-trained subordinates guarding the other side along the trails. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack…" The magistrate said while observing Wei Xiaobao's expression.

It turned out that there were thousands of people under Situ Bolei, many of whom were veterans in the past who were good at fighting. Since they settled in Wangwu Mountain, local officials had not been able to find a way to eliminate them. It was a pity that the bureaucrats quickly licked blood on the heads of those knives and there were no results to show to the public.

Considering that this group of people showed no signs of rebellion, the magistrate was afraid that reporting this matter to the court would affect his own political performance, so he simply turned a blind eye to the whole thing. This led to the Wangwu faction becoming bigger and bigger, and now it was able to fight the court army. Their current strength was enough to resist this assault.

"Reporting to the lord, this subordinate has already sent people to investigate. Wangwu Mountain is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack. If we were to launch an attack, I am afraid that we would suffer heavy losses." A general said in Wei Xiaobao's ear.

‘Fu*k, why did this Wangwu sect have to go do anti-Qing activities? I don't even know if it has anything to do with the Heaven and Earth Society?’ Wei Xiaobao felt irritated, quickly waved his hand, and said, "We will camp and rest here tonight. We will be staying here for some time, the attack on the Wangwu Sect needs a long-term plan."

The generals retired one after another and started ordering the soldiers. Song Qingshu smiled at Duo Long and the others, and also said goodbye.

"Xiaobao, this Wangwu Sect looks like a benevolent and righteous faction, but you are helping the Qing Emperor to destroy it. My whole family also died at the hands of the Manchu forces…" Seeing everyone leaving, she couldn't endure anymore, her eyes turned red, and she looked at Wei Xiaobao with sadness.

"Shuang'er, the Emperor's orders are absolute, and your husband can’t do anything against it." Wei Xiaobao exhaled a long sigh.

"Then why can’t you stop being an official of the Qing Dynasty? Wouldn't we be a hundred times happier if we lived in seclusion in the mountains and forests?" Shuang'er looked at Wei Xiaobao hopefully.

"That's not necessarily…" Wei Xiaobao didn't take it seriously. He couldn't bear to leave this life of glory and wealth, and he quickly coaxed, "My good wife, you also know that I, your husband, am a hall master of the Heaven and Earth Society. I will definitely find a way to save them. It’s just that it takes time to think about a method…"

"Xiaobao, I knew you were the best." Shuang'er burst into laughter.

Song Qingshu, who was deliberately walking slowly, listened to the whispers from the two people in the big tent, and smiled in his heart, ‘It seems that Wei Xiaobao is also thinking of letting the Wangwu faction go. That'll make things easy for me.’

After night fell, Song Qingshu dressed himself in black clothes, put on a silver mask, and silently sneaked up into the Wangwu Mountain.

The army was very close to the territory, and the Wangwu Sect had long been prepared to face the enemy. There were several layers of heavy armored soldiers guarding on the way up the mountain. So that the rabbits could not escape.

They didn't know that Song Qingshu had a peerless movement technique, the Traceless Sand Treading Steps and when he used it with all his strength, the guards could only notice a slight gust of wind. Song Qingshu had already swept past the guards, all the way to the top of the mountain, and no one noticed him.

In this era, the martial arts masters who could sneak up the mountain silently under this kind of situation could be counted with the palm one’s hand. One was Dongfang Bubai, the other was the Sunflower Ancestor who created the Sunflower Manual, and another one was the Green Winged Bat King, Wei Yixiao. As for Jiumozhi, although his martial arts level was high, it was absolutely impossible for him to travel undetected by any guards.

*****

In the Wangwu Sect’s base camp, in a wooden house, Zeng Rou was leaning against the window, resting her cheek in her hand, staring at the bright moon in a daze.

At the root of the mountain was the Manchu army. During the day, all her uncles, brothers and disciples quarreled a lot about this, and all the people were feeling panicked for some time.

Thinking of her Master’s sad face, Zeng Rou looked at the moon, put her little hand on her lips, closed her eyes, and muttered to herself and made a wish, "Moon God…Oh Moon God, please bless our Wangwu Sect through disaster. This time the situation seems quite bad!"

When she opened her eyes, she found that there was a masked person standing in front of her. All blood drained from her pretty face, and she subconsciously opened her mouth to scream.

Song Qingshu looked at the woman in front of him, a round face with a very sweet contour, her big eyes were dark and shiny, and there was a trace of panic in her eyes. She was looking at him in fear. His mind started to think, looking at her age, it should be somewhere close to the age of that girl, Zeng Rou.

Suddenly he heard the voice of the patrol team coming closer. Song Qingshu jumped into the room, closed the windows and sealed her mute accupoint.

"Is he a flower-picking thief?" Zeng Rou was even more frightened when thinking of some legends of the world. (Goblin: Flower-picking thief refers to one of those lecherous fiends who preys on young women)

Guessing her thoughts, Song Qingshu looked at her in amusement, "Didn't you make a wish to the Moon God just now? The Moon God felt your sincerity, so he sent me down to rescue your Wangwu Sect."

Zeng Rou's face turned red. She was not stupid. She knew that he was making fun of her deliberately. Her thoughts were being seen through by this strange man, and Zeng Rou couldn't wait to run away.

"I'm going to unseal your acupuncture points, but you are not allowed to shout. If you agree, just blink your eyes." Seeing that she blinked quickly a few times, Song Qingshu smiled and unsealed her acupuncture points.

Zeng Rou created a safe distance from him, grabbed the sword on the table, and only then she felt a little relieved in her heart. Then she raised her head and asked, "Who are you?"

When he heard her clear and sweet voice, a calming breeze blew over Song Qingshu's whole body. Her voice was unspeakably comforting to the ear, and he secretly sighed, ‘They all say that a gentle flower has three good points- soft tone, soft body, easy to push down; these points are perfectly applicable to this young girl.’

"I am the savior of your Wangwu Sect." There were no top masters in the entire Wangwu Sect. Song Qingshu didn’t need to be as nervous when facing them. He looked around leisurely. After not finding a stool for a while, he took advantage of the situation and sat on the side of the bed.

Seeing him sitting on her own bed, Zeng Rou was irritated and couldn't resist scolding him, "Nonsense."

“So you think I’m talking nonsense?" Song Qingshu gave her an angry look. "There are thousands of elites under the mountain now. Although your Wangwu Sect occupies a favorable place, you can't hope to resist them. In the end, it is hard for you to escape this disaster. "

Zeng Rou's face turned pale, what he said was similar to what everyone was talking about during the day, and she felt sad, "Could it be that the end of Wangwu Sect is really inevitable?"

Seeing her pitiful expression, Song Qingshu felt pity, "Little girl, if you tell me your name, this envoy will help you out."

Zeng Rou's face flushed red and she glanced at him angrily, but said nothing.

"I can guess even if you don't tell me…" Song Qingshu pretended to pinch his fingers and said, shaking his head, "Isn't your name Zeng Rou?"

"How do you know?" Zeng Rou covered her lips in horror and looked at him incredulously.

"I just said that I was sent by the Moon God, you still don't believe it?" Song Qingshu couldn't help but show a smile.

Zeng Rou's heart was also shaken, and she glanced at him with a complicated expression, "May I know how you plan to save us?"

“Little girl, your position in the sect is very low. It's useless to tell you." Song Qingshu stood up, and noticed that she was scared and subconsciously backed away. He couldn't help but smile, "I don't have time to play with you, take me to see your master."

How could Zeng Rou dare to rashly bring a person of unknown origin to see her master? She drew out the long sword in her hand, pointed at him and said, "Quickly tell me who you are, or I will really call someone!"

Song Qingshu lifted his hand, and Zeng Rou immediately felt a strong suction force. Unprepared, she lost her balance and fell into the opponent's arms.

"Ah~" Zeng Rou couldn't help it anymore, a woman's nature made her scream.

His hand stopped on her thin and slender waist, but Song Qingshu didn't mean to stop her scream at all.

He came up the mountain secretly this time without telling Wei Xiaobao, Jiumozhi and the others, and was always worried that he would be found out if he delayed for too long.

He reached the top of the mountain, but was dumbfounded to find that the wooden houses were almost the same everywhere, and even after searching for a while, he couldn't find Situ Bolei's location.

With the enrichment of his inner strength, Song Qingshu became more and more perceptive. He heard the voice of a girl wishing in the wind and followed the sound, only then he found Zeng Rou.

Unexpectedly, she did not believe his act, and refused to take him to find Situ Bolei. In desperation, he had to expose his presence and use Zeng Rou to lead the other party out.

"Scream louder…the more miserable and sorrowful the better." Song Qingshu embraced her gentle body and squeezed her small waist in a wanton manner. Was this not acting like the so-called flower-picking thief?

Zeng Rou was held in his arms, and her acupuncture point was sealed in an instant. Only her mouth could make a sound. She was shocked and frightened, so she shouted more intensely.

Goblin: Have you ever read T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land? This poem is a thing of pure horror. Especially if you have to analyze and explain it. The exam is going quite well. See you next chapter and thank you for staying with me!