Lanke Chess Edge-Chapter 355: The Promise-Keepers and the Shameful

In a prefecture in Bing Province, several fast horses were galloping wildly under the urging of their masters’ whips.
“Giddy up!”
“Giddy up!”
“Haah!”
“Giddy up!”…
The thunderous sound of hooves echoed continuously. The riders on horseback were highly skilled, using their own bodies to help their horses avoid potential dangers on this road and in these conditions, ensuring that their speed kept constant.
Many sections of the road were very muddy, and the splashed mud covered every rider in filth.
The lead rider wore a headscarf and carried a longsword. He held the reins with one hand, while the other sleeve hung empty.
“They’re just ahead! Everyone, let’s give it our all, we can’t let them get away again!”
“Hahaha… It was definitely the right decision to change horses in the last market town; their horses can’t take it anymore.”
Looking at the group of people galloping up further ahead, one of the riders behind them burst into laughter, and the rest of the group echoed the sentiment.
The group of riders up ahead, noticing the pursuers approaching, wished they could immediately fly away.
“Damn it, these people are never going to stop! Giddy up!”
“Giddy up!”
“Giddy up!”…
The group in front was significantly larger than their pursuers, numbering over twenty, all dressed in gray, tight-fitting clothes, while the group behind them numbered only seven or eight. However, the auras of the two groups were completely different.
Another quarter of an hour passed, and the horses in front were clearly struggling, their speed noticeably decreasing.
Du Heng squinted at the group in front and spoke to his companion.
“Brother Wang, let’s go stop them.”
“Alright!”
Their conversation was concise, and their actions equally brief. After speaking, they each slapped their horses’ rears and leapt into the air, pushing off the horses’ backs and using their footwork skills to accelerate further, directly bypassing the group in ahead of them and landing in front.
Du Heng and Wang Ke, one wielding a longsword and the other a broadsword, drew their blades from their sheaths in mid-air.
“Shiiiing…”
“Shiiiing…”
Swish! Swish!
A flash of light appeared before their eyes, blocking the crowd’s path.
“Pfft…”
“Clang…”
One of the two at the front was directly cut down from his horse and both man and steed fell to the ground, while the other swung his sword to block Wang Ke’s blade.
The horses and fallen riders had had tripped up several other horses, and shouts of the riders and the neighing of the horses mingled together as the fleeing caravan finally came to a stop.
Du Heng and Wang Ke stood at the front of the road, and soon after, six other companions blocked the path from behind, sandwiching the twenty-odd people in the middle.
Wang Ke was originally from Yaqian Prefecture and was now the chief constable of the prefecture. This time, he had fought this group of martial artist scoundrels from Yan several times to catch them, without success, and even lost several government constables. It wasn’t until Du Heng brought his men to help that he finally managed to apprehend this slippery group of people.
The man who had just blocked Wang Ke’s strike with his sword pointed his blade at Du Heng and said hatefully.
“Du Heng, you go your way and I’ll go mine. We have no grudges against each other, yet you’ve led men to hunt me down for a whole month. This is intolerable!”
Du Heng smiled and exchanged a glance with Wang Ke, standing beside him.
“I never asked you to endure it!”
Wang Ke burst into laughter.
“It’s all your own fault for wanting to escape. If you had any guts, you would have fought us to the death long ago. What, you have the guts to rape and plunder, but no courage to face death calmly?”
Du Heng shook his head.
“Brother Wang, you’ve forgotten, this kind of person always bullies the weak and fears the strong. They are extremely ruthless when they encounter someone they can bully, but they run away as soon as they encounter someone they can’t defeat.”
The martial artists on horseback behind them had also dismounted and shouted in agreement.
“Warrior Du is absolutely right. If these people had any shame, they wouldn’t just run away when they saw us. But today it’s time to settle things once and for all!”
One of the six men had already taken out a wine flask from his waist, taken a sip, and handed it to the person next to him.
Li Tongzhou stretched his limbs, looked at the twenty-odd people on horseback, and declared loudly.
“Zhao Datong, if you commit suicide, we promise to help your family escape being killed in revenge. We promise the same to all of you!”
The man on horseback looked at Du Heng and Wang Ke in front, then at Li Tongzhou and the other six behind him, and sneered.
“Hmph, I, Zhao Datong, have no family left, and you are our mortal enemies. You think you can trick us brothers into committing suicide with a few lies? Keep dreaming!”
“Yeah, keep dreaming!”
“At worst, we’ll fight it out and kill a few of them!”
“Yes!”
“Let’s fight!”
…
Li Tongzhou shook his head and sneered, while Du Heng also raised his head with an indifferent expression.
“Zhao Datong, we are different from you. We don’t make empty promises only to go back on our word. We don’t bully the weak and fear the strong, nor do we break our oaths. We have made a name for ourselves in the martial world over the years. When have we ever gone back on our word? Brother Li’s words are precisely our intention. Think it over.”
The man on horseback looked uncertain. After a moment, he finally lost the resolve to back down, roared, drew his knife, and leaped up. His brothers around him naturally followed suit, charging towards Du Heng and Wang Ke, who were outnumbered.
In an instant, the two groups clashed, swords flashing and fists flying. Screams and shouts echoed throughout the forest. Some fought and retreated into the woods, breaking the battle line into several sections.
More than a quarter of an hour later.
“Bang…”
Li Tongzhou sent the last burly man flying with a single palm strike, sending him crashing into a tree trunk and collapsing to the ground. The surrounding enemies were either already dead or had also fallen to the ground, incapacitated.
Although they were outnumbered, Du Heng’s eight men had far superior skill in martial arts.
Li Tongzhou dusted off his hands, walked to Du Heng’s side, and saw the latter flick his longsword, shaking off the bloodstains on the blade, before sheathing it.
“Brother Du, Officer Wang, none of them escaped this time, they’re all here. This Yan region really is prone to producing bandits, but their skills are rather mediocre.”
Li Tongzhou had always followed Du Heng. Together, they had even dealt with ghosts and monsters, so dealing with these ordinary villains was naturally no problem for him.
“Those they harmed don’t see it that way way…”
Wang Ke said, kicking the unconscious man next to him, and continued.
“Zhao Datong, I know you’re faking it. I told you to just take your own life, but you refused. Heh, I’ve already met with the magistrate. Once we take you back to the Yaqian Prefecture, you’ll be executed by slow cuts.”
The man on the ground stirred, about to jump up, but Wang Ke kicked him lightly in the neck and knocked him unconscious. Li Tongzhou squatted down and began pressing on the man’s acupoints.
“Clapclapclapclapclap…”
A sudden burst of applause rang out, making Du Heng and the others to look up tense.
A man in a blue robe sat on a tree branch in the woods, clapping. Neither the eight of them nor anyone Zhao Datong’s group had noticed that anyone was there.
“Who are you? Are you related to Zhao Datong? If you are not related, please explain to avoid any misunderstandings.”
Wang Ke asked loudly, his hand resting on the hilt of the sword on his back.
Lu Shan Jun’s applause finally subsided. He looked at Du Heng and Wang Ke with a smile, his tone noticeably quite cheerful.
“Hahahaha… Not bad, not bad at all. Wang Ke, you are quite good. As for Du Heng, I really didn’t expect that you, with one arm crippled, would actually become so brave and diligent, becoming a true chivalrous warrior.”
These words would be quite offensive to most people, but they sounded strangely sincere coming from Lu Shan Jun, especially to Du Heng and Wang Ke, the two people who had been named.
Du Heng replied calmly.
“You flatter me. Please reveal your identity.”
Lu Shan Jun was clearly in a very good mood. Seeing Wang Ke and Du Heng was tantamount to acknowledging that those he had released had truly benefited the world. Seeing them was like recognizing his own success.
He leaped down from the tree branch and landed lightly on the ground, silently creating a breeze that swept the surrounding fallen leaves outwards.
Lu Shan Jun bowed respectfully towards Du Heng and Wang Ke, smiling broadly.
“Gentlemen, we are old acquaintances! I am Lu Shan Jun, from Niu Kui Mountain in Ji Province. I have come here today specifically to find you. I am quite happy to see how you are doing nowadays!”
Niu Kui Mountain in Ji Province? Lu Shan Jun?
After a slight pause, Du Heng and Wang Ke were taken aback. In an instant, countless images flashed through their minds, before they finally settled on the most vivid of them: a fierce tiger bowing respectfully outside the Mountain God Temple years ago. Their backs suddenly felt hot.
“Hey, hey, hey, what are you two afraid of? As the saying goes, ‘if you have a clear conscience, you have nothing to fear.’ I have always kept my promises, and I admire those who keep theirs, especially those who have made promises to me and kept them. You two have a clear conscience, so what is there to be afraid of? Hahahaha…”
Lu Shan Jun spoke at length, then smiled and came out of his bow. Only then did Wang Ke and Du Heng realize that they should return the greeting. One clasped his hands together and bowed, while the other could only bow with one arm.
“Greetings, Lord Lu!”
“Officer Wang, Brother Du, this… you know each other?”
“Yes, who is this person?”
Li Tongzhou and his companions around him were also very curious and. Judging from the current situation, they were most likely friends, not enemies, so why did Du Heng and Wang Ke seem so nervous?
As if he had just thought of something, Lu Shan Jun looked at the dark clouds above his head. He opened his mouth and exhaled a faint puff of smoke, which gradually transformed into a human figure in front of him.
“Tsk tsk tsk, you’re both part of the nine, but look at them, they are so much better than you. Aren’t you ashamed?”
The figure looked at Wang Ke and Du Heng with a complicated expression, then bowed to Lu Shan Jun.
“Replying to Lord Lu, I am indeed ashamed.”
“Ha, I don’t know if you’re truly ashamed or just pretending, but it’s too late either way.”
“Ah!”
The appearance of the figure clearly caught everyone off guard. Everyone immediately thought of supernatural things, and Wang Ke and Du Heng were especially terrified.
The figure that appeared before them vaguely resembled Lan Ningke, and judging from his appearance, he was probably already dead.
“By the way, Master Du, Officer Wang, I have a question for you. Where is Zhao Long, currently? I have some questions for him. If you know anything, please let me know. If you don’t want to tell me anything, that’s fine too.”
Knowing that this was a terrifying tiger spirit, yet he was still remaining polite, Du Heng and Wang Ke’s tension eased considerably. After a moment’s hesitation, the former finally spoke.
“A few years ago, I heard that Brother Zhao had become a monk and was practicing at Luming Monastery.”
1
“Huh? He became a monk?”
鹿 (lù): deer, 鸣 (míng): cry/call (as in birdcall)