Chapter 914 — Revenge for a Grudge

Inside the private room sat the Medicine King and Zhao Qibing.

Once Li Cihua and Su Jiaonang had carried Baldie and the others in, the Medicine King began examining their injuries.

"Brother Cihua, that kid is vicious! We were doing a job for you, and now my brothers are badly hurt!" Baldie wailed, angling for credit.

"Don't worry. The sum we agreed on won't be short by a single cent, and I'll throw in medical expenses on top of it!" Li Cihua said. "So stop howling. If you want to be treated, shut your mouth!"

Hearing that Li Cihua would cover their medical bills as well, Baldie clamped his mouth shut at once.

He and his men were a gang of desperadoes Li Cihua had hired from out of town, brought in mainly to test Wei Zhao. Of course, Li Cihua had not told them in advance how strong Wei Zhao was; he had only said to pick a quarrel and give Wei Zhao a beating.

Baldie had agreed readily enough, never imagining he would run into such a hard case and end up with himself and all his men crippled.

What he did not know, of course, was that Wei Zhao had still not recovered his strength. Otherwise they would have died far more miserably.

The Medicine King carefully examined the injuries of Baldie and his men. When he was done, he waved a hand at Li Cihua. "Send them to the hospital. I've finished."

"Yes, sir!" Li Cihua hastily ordered Su Jiaonang and the others to take Baldie out of the room. Only after they had gone did he ask, "Medicine King, how is it? Did you see anything?"

"All of it is blunt-force trauma. No trace of injury by true qi." The Medicine King said, "Wei Zhao has always liked to hurt people with true qi, so from this we can judge that his strength has likely not recovered. Tell me in detail again how Wei Zhao fought at the time?"

"Yes, sir!" Li Cihua quickly recounted to the Medicine King the whole sequence, from Baldie's provocation to Wei Zhao's attack.

The Medicine King nodded and laughed. "In that case, if my judgment is not mistaken, Wei Zhao truly has no strength left! All he has is a bit of boxing and kicking, a shade better than an ordinary man! It was only a minivan — for the old Wei Zhao, a single shove would have moved it aside. There was no need for him to look for the key and drive it out!"

"Oh? So Wei Zhao is really finished this time?" Zhao Qibing was overjoyed. "It seems that Ma Zhu fellow has some ability after all, and did Wei Zhao some damage! So do we have our chance now?"

"Young Master Bing, although by the Medicine King's judgment Wei Zhao has lost his strength, we still should not be hasty. We should let others go make trouble for Wei Zhao first, and sit on the mountain to watch the tigers fight!" Li Cihua said. "Let the Xiao family people be the vanguard!"

"That's right too. Then hurry and spread the word — Wei Zhao is injured, his strength has not recovered, and Uncle Qing is badly hurt and about to die!" Zhao Qibing cackled. "Let them take revenge for their grudges and settle their scores!"

"Yes, Young Master Bing! I'll go spread the word right away!" Li Cihua nodded, and a sinister smile spread across his face as well...

……………………

Amid green hills and clear waters, a young married woman in plain clothes sat in a pavilion playing the qin. She was exceedingly beautiful, and from her appearance alone one could not tell her age — one might say she was in her thirties, or perhaps only in her twenties.

If not for her fingers drifting back and forth over the strings, from a distance the scene might have looked like a painting itself — hills and water, birdsong, the scent of flowers, and a beauty.

In truth, her age was hard to pin down. The reason she was called a young married woman rather than a young girl was that the greenness of girlhood had already left her brow, replaced by a trace of maturity and composure.

And yet, if Wei Zhao had been present, he would likely have cried out in astonishment, for the woman's features so closely resembled someone that she might have been carved from the same mold!

When the piece ended, the woman lifted her head with a touch of sorrow and gazed at the mountains. Rather than being intoxicated by the beauty of nature, she sighed with a kind of melancholy.

"Palace Mistress, Elder Li of the Shadow Group begs an audience on a matter of importance!" A girl in blue ran quickly to the outside of the pavilion and announced respectfully.

"Oh? Ask him to come at once!" At the words "Elder Li," a flicker of joy crossed the woman's previously melancholy face.

"Yes, Palace Mistress!" The girl in blue hurried away.

After a while, the girl in blue returned with a man in black. He looked to be in his fifties, unremarkable in appearance—in fact, utterly ordinary, the kind of face that would vanish in a crowd.

"This lowly Li pays his respects to the Palace Mistress!" The man approached, and upon seeing the young woman called "Palace Mistress," he cupped his fists to bow.

"Elder Li, there is no need for such courtesy!" The Palace Mistress in plain white robes waved a hand, indicating that formalities could be dispensed with. Then, with some urgency, she asked, "Elder Li, you were eager to see me—is there some pressing matter?"

"Yes..." Elder Li glanced at the girl in blue beside him, hesitated a moment, and said nothing.

"Xiaoqing, you may withdraw. Keep watch along the mountain path and let no one approach. Elder Li and I have important matters to discuss!" the Palace Mistress instructed the girl in blue.

"Yes, Palace Mistress!" The girl in blue nodded and quickly took her leave.

"Uncle Li, there are no outsiders here now. What exactly has happened?" The Palace Mistress rose to her feet, seeming on intimate terms with Elder Li.

Once the girl in blue had gone far off and disappeared from sight, Elder Li stepped forward into the pavilion, lowered his voice, yet still spoke with reverent demeanor: "Young Mistress, it concerns the young miss..."

"She... what has happened to her? Has she run into some trouble?" At Elder Li's words, a look of alarm came over the Palace Mistress's face.

"The young miss has been kidnapped..." Elder Li began, but he had scarcely gotten the words out before the Palace Mistress cut him off.

"What? She has been kidnapped? By whom? Is it serious?" The Palace Mistress's heart clenched, and she pressed him urgently.

"A spoiled young master from Donghai City. He has no real experts at his command—only one external-school fighter at the peak of the mid Mystic rank, a practitioner of the Golden Bell Shield who has reached the eighth layer..." Elder Li recounted everything he knew in detail, then added, "However, according to observations by the Shadow Group, the bodyguard Wei Zhao who rescued the young miss is likely gravely wounded as well. No fluctuation of true qi can be sensed from him anymore—if he has not lost his strength entirely, then it has fallen sharply. As for Li Fu, his fate remains unknown... Judging from the intelligence gathered so far, that spoiled young master will not let the matter rest, and neither will the Golden Bell Shield practitioner..."