Chapter 22: Switching Heaven and Earth

The bandits holed up in "Dragon King Cave" were in fact not numerous, totaling only six.

These six men might be considered sworn brothers, but their loyalty... Let's just say it's not on par with the Peach Garden Oath but more like a loyalty as fragile as that of the Wagang faction over a single stick of incense.

That is, the sort... When push comes to shove, they would decisively betray their brothers for their own sake.

Of course, when nothing was amiss, they naturally still acted with great displays of righteousness, ready to live and die together.

In terms of martial arts, the skills of the five men from Second to Wuu were quite similar, just a tad more formidable than those ordinary mountain bandits from Zouma Village, but against true martial heroes from Jianghu, even the second-class ones, they were no match and would easily be trounced.

As for their eldest brother, Kang Haijiao's martial arts skills... they were decent but still fell short compared to the previously mentioned Ma Si.

Some may wonder, why is someone with a reputation in Jianghu like "Kang Haijiao" less formidable than the nickname-less Ma Si?

The reason is quite simple. Ma Si didn't have a nickname because as soon as he stepped into Jianghu, he was already in a state of having destroyed his sect and was roaming around committing crimes; he had never formally completed his training nor walked the Jianghu under his real name, naturally having neither name nor distinction...

But in terms of strength, Ma Si had diligently studied for ten years under the "Hui Province Hundred-Pound Saber," fully mastered the teachings, and further honed his skills through many years of real combat.

Kang Haijiao, a bandit from the upper reaches of Eight Miles River, had been robust since childhood (though not quite reaching the level of Innate Divine Strength), so he relied on his strength to bully and intimidate; when he was twenty, he mingled in the Cao Gang for a while, learned a bit of Kung Fu, but after offending a higher-up within the gang, feeling he couldn't stay, he took two brothers he was on good terms with, today's Second and San, and the three of them fled the Cao Gang to return to their old ways.

A few years later, they recruited three more brothers, forming the current six-man gang; as they mainly operated along the rivers in the border region between Lu Zhou and Yingzhou, with time, Kang Haijiao acquired the dreadful moniker of his current name.

However, Jianghu was not an easy place to survive in. If you managed to make a name for yourself by committing evil deeds, there would naturally be people attempting to kill you to "bring justice for the people" and gain some reputation in the process.

Two years ago, Kang Haijiao and his men ran into someone who came looking for trouble, who called himself "Little Hero Lin Yuancheng from Cangzhou."

This person was just fifteen or sixteen years old, yet his martial arts skills were exceptional. With a swift sword, he subdued all six of them with just a few moves and strokes.

But in the end, Young Hero Lin did not kill them. His reason was that he was new to Jianghu and hadn't killed anyone yet, and those few really didn't deserve to be the first souls to fall beneath his sword.

And so... Kang Haijiao and his men had to kneel and kowtow, thanking the Little Hero for sparing their lives...

In the end, after the six of them swore oaths on their families' lives, promising they would no longer commit evil deeds, Lin Yuancheng let them go.

Without a doubt... this Lin surname was too naive...

After all, he was a genuine fifteen or sixteen-year-old, probably having little understanding of how shameless those from the lower echelons of Jianghu could be, thinking that people sobbing and swearing families' oaths would truly uphold their promises.

If it were up to Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai, they would definitely root out the problem by killing them—taking oaths? To them, taking oaths was an act even more despicable than farting, similar to announcing a fart loudly. Whoever wanted to smell it could smell it; anyway, the two of them would not believe it.

Getting back to the story...

After that incident, indeed, Kang Haijiao and his five brothers somewhat cooled their activity for a while, not daring to make any moves for several months.

But such men ultimately find it hard to turn over a new leaf.

Accustomed to committing all manners of vile deeds, you expect them to change to honest work? Not so easy.

In the blink of an eye, it was last year when they felt the dust had settled, so they occupied Dragon King Cave and set their sights on nearby Chens Village... As luck would have it, one of them, Fourth, who had a few years of education, slapped his forehead and came up with that scheme of pretending to be supernatural beings.

Snatching children, planting a mast—all were their doing: utilizing the cover of darkness to release some stupefying smoke into residents' homes, then going inside to kidnap children was not difficult; with Kang Haijiao's strength combined with his brothers loosening the earth in advance, slowly "drilling" a mast the thickness of a bowl into the ground was also no problem...

After tasting the "offerings," those guys were elated.

This was even easier than robbing, no worries about resistance, and no need to frequently find targets—as every month on the first and fifteenth, people would naturally deliver wine, meat, money, and provisions to their doorstep.

But human greed knows no bounds...

As the saying goes, a full belly leads to lustful thoughts. After solving the problem of eating without working, they started to crave women, so they caused some trouble later on, pressing the villagers to send over a maiden each quarter.

Not counting the girl that Sun and Huang witnessed today, four had already been sent before; among them, two committed suicide, one was killed trying to escape, and the other died from their abuse.

Of course, Kang Haijiao and his men did not care about this; dead is dead, to bury them in a deserted place was enough.

...

Tonight, it was once again the day for the villagers to present a bride to the Dragon Lord.

The people of Chens Village set out from the village at dusk, slowly proceeding with the music playing and carrying the palanquin and offerings, thus it was almost dusk when they arrived at Dragon King Cave.

And that was not the end, there was still the "ceremony" to go through: essentially, setting up a paper effigy of a dragon head to "marry" the girl, while the villagers worshipped the Dragon Lord and so on... Anyway, they had come prepared, bringing torches and not fearing the dark; they continued with their activity until 7 p.m., after which the villagers left.

The girl, kneeling in front of the altar, dressed in black, her head covered with a black veil, remained silent throughout.

She neither resisted nor ran.

Because she knew from those previously sent before her, those who resisted were directly knocked unconscious by the villagers and tied to a tree... She wouldn't engage in such futile actions.

This girl was rather smart; she realized that it was impossible to flee blatantly, so from the day she was chosen as the sacrifice, she was very cooperative and even displayed an eagerly honored attitude; this way, no one doubted her or watched her closely.

Today, she had hidden a large pair of scissors on her person, determined in her heart that no matter what kind of demon or monster came, even if she couldn't drag it down with her, she would at least preserve her chastity or die trying.

"Hey! Miss."

Just as the girl's hand clutched the scissors, ready to lash out at any moment, suddenly, a man's voice rang out from behind her, dangerously close.

The girl hadn't noticed how the man had approached her, as she hadn't heard any footsteps, but with things as they were, she didn't have time to ponder and immediately lunged with the scissors.

"F*ck!" Huang Donglai was startled by her sudden strike, narrowly avoiding the scissors headed towards his lower body (since the girl was kneeling, her attack angle was rather low), cursed on reflex, and with a hop, leapt three feet high and back, dodging the potentially fatal attack.

"Who are you?" In the next second, the girl swiftly removed her black veil, throwing it to the ground, and pointed the sharp scissors at Huang Donglai, demanding sharply, "Are you pretending to be the Dragon Lord?"

"Misunderstanding, all a misunderstanding..." Huang Donglai lowered his voice, explaining, "We're here to rescue you... The one pretending to be the Dragon Lord is still in the cave, but he'll be coming out soon, lower your voice!"

"I don't believe you!" The girl took a half step back, "You..."

She was cut off midsentence, halted by something catching her eye...

At that moment, she saw a man with small eyes, dressed in black with a matching black skirt, emerge from the woods and head towards the altar.

"Don't worry, he's my brother. He's here to take your place, now come with me," Huang Donglai was still speaking.

Meanwhile, as Sun Yixie, disguised as the black-clad bride, passed by the girl, he casually picked up her discarded veil, covered his own head with it, and knelt before the altar.

The girl hesitated for a few seconds, then decided to go with Huang Donglai, though she did not put down the scissors.

"Don't touch me," she said, keeping her guard up, not letting Huang Donglai come within a meter of her.

"Fine, fine, just follow me quickly into the woods and hide. Otherwise, once the thieves come out, we'll give ourselves away," Huang Donglai, tired of talking, beckoned her and darted into the woods.

The girl followed suit, finding a patch of bushes to conceal herself. She had just finished hiding when, by the moonlight, she saw several sneaky figures emerging cautiously from Dragon King Cave.

It was San, Wuu, and Liu from the gang of six.

After a brief scan at the cave entrance, assuring that the villagers were well away, they grew bold, striding up to the altar without bothering to lower their voices.

"Hehe, little lady~ So obedient, waiting here for your master?" Wuu, the lecher, cast a lustful eye at the kneeling "new bride," barely containing himself before reaching to grab a handful of Sun Yixie's rear.

"Hey~" After the grasp, he laughed contentedly, "Today's meat is quite plentiful~ Hmm... I must say, the body seems quite robust upon closer inspection."

Laughter followed from San and Liu as well.

But it was San who straightened up first and ordered, "Alright, no rush, let's carry her inside first."

"San, let me carry her," Wuu proposed with a lust-filled grin.

"Fine, you carry her then," San agreed, paused momentarily, then remembered something, "Hey, just make sure you don't lose control halfway, you know the rules, she has to be delivered to our boss first."

"Got it, got it, don't worry San, I can control myself..." Wuu couldn't wait to reply, lunged forward, and heaved Sun Yixie over his shoulder, "Heave-ho! This woman... what on earth did she eat to be so heavy..."

It was indeed a testament to Wuu's few years of Kung Fu training that he could even manage to lift Brother Sun.

Sun Yixie reacted quickly too, pressing down the veil to prevent his face from being exposed as he was hoisted up.

As Wuu carried Sun Yixie into the cave, San and Liu began to sort and transport the offerings.

It was only at this point that the girl in the woods began to relax slightly, nearly convinced that Huang Donglai and Sun Yixie were indeed good people.

After a while, as San and Liu had also transported part of the offerings away, Huang Donglai finally spoke to the girl, "Miss, just stay here. Don't go back to the village, because if you do, the villagers will surely capture and deliver you back here, and that would be trouble for both of us." He paused, "I'm going to sneak into the cave to backup my brother. You stay hidden here, quiet. Once we've dealt with the thieves, we'll come out to find you."

After some thought, the girl nodded and responded, "Young hero, please be very careful."

Huang Donglai didn't wait for her to finish, activated his Qinggong, sprung from the bushes, and after several light steps, like a dragonfly skimming the water, he silently charged into Dragon King Cave...