Chapter 396 Beggar Gang Conference
“This… this Beggar Gang Conference is a matter of Jianghu. If the government intervenes, it will become troublesome. Countess, you also know that our Beggar Gang has never been a.s.sociated with the government…” Lu Changfu was happy. After all, if the n.o.ble countess could enter the a.s.sembly under the ident.i.ty of a registered disciple, it might really be of help. But after a little hesitation, he gave up the idea.
The iron law of the Beggar Gang was about zero contact with the government, which had been adhered to for nearly a thousand years. It could not be broken, even at the edge of death.
w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu rolled her eyes over and smiled. “Elder Lu, you are mistaken. I’m not an official. I’m just the daughter of a lord without any post. Besides, I was also an exile, and I was lucky to enter the palace. Now I am a registered disciple. I will enter, and will definitely not break the rule.”
“This…” Lu Changfu didn’t know how to refute.
In all honesty, the Beggar Gang loved the countess quite a bit, since she didn’t look proud, instead being tolerant and friendly. She never looked down upon those beggars.
Moreover, a year prior or more, because of Countess Huanzhu, Lord Virtuous the Eighth had set food-giving areas in the Changmen District many times to help refugees, especially with the arrival of the Eight Lords’ Rebellion. The refugees went to the Changmen District to turn for help from the Beggar Gang. Even if they could maintain order, how could they support those people? After all, they were just begging for food, but thanks to Lord Virtuous the Eighth who gave food for free, the exiles in that area could barely save their lives.
That was such a generous deed.
w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu said, “Elder Lu, by seeing you hesitate like this, you don’t think of me as a gang member.”
“Hey… oh, I’ll take you there, but your guard must also disguise himself and take off the brocade. Besides, you’re only going to take a look; you wouldn’t get involved in specific matters. It’s very dangerous tonight.” Lu Changfu was an honest man. After a while, he yielded to w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu.
“Hee hee, Brother Lu, you can rest a.s.sured.” w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu’s eyes rolled with an impatient look. “No guards are following me this time.”
Li Mu was right. That girl just liked to care about trivial things.
“These friends…” Lu Changfu looked at Li Mu, Yuan Hou, and Qing Feng.
Li Mu laughed, “Elder Lu, don’t worry. I am by no means an official. I was her fellowman, also an exile.”
Lu Changfu didn’t know what he meant, but he was relieved and said, “Is that so? It’s a relief then.”
He ordered several beggars to bring some dirty robes.
Li Mu didn’t care about it, wearing them right then. Being barefoot, he didn’t look like a real beggar only from the dress until they smeared mud on his face.
Lu Changfu was also a little surprised.
Because, although Li Mu was previously dressed in simple clothes, at first glance, he seemed to be from a rich family, especially due to his temperament. Lu Changfu, such an experienced man in Jianghu, rarely found such a man, so he thought Li Mu would be picky, so he gave him relatively cleans clothes, but that young man was so open-minded…
Lu Changfu looked at him with new eyes.
Since Li Mu did like that, Yuan Hou and Qing Feng had nothing to care, and they also wore those tattered clothes, and left the wheelchair with the sub-gang. Yuan Hou carried Qing Feng on his back.
After a while, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu was also disguised as a man in rugged clothing.
“Hee hee, old cla.s.smate. This is your true look.” w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu laughed when she saw Li Mu’s appearance, recalling the scene that when Li Mu previously helped farmers plant on earth; he used to have a muddy look.
Li Mu smiled.
Even if w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu was dressed as a beggar, she was still pretty. Sure enough, she could perform any cosplay with her beautiful look.
After everything was ready, they set out with Elder Lu.
The elites of the Changmen part of the gang counted a total of more than a hundred people, who set off from the waterway in ten open boats.
At the time, it was already dusk and the sky looked as red as blood.
The boat moved slowly.
After communicating with Elder Lu, Li Mu learned that the main part of the Beggar Gang was located on a lake island in Chang’an City, named Beggar Island. It covered a fairly large area, free from the governance and completely belonging to the Beggar Gang.
The Northern Song royal court never interfered with the Beggar Gang, because its leaders were all among the strongest masters in the top ranking list, and the gang’s purpose was never to compete against the royal court. Hence, they got along with each other peacefully.
In short, the Beggar Gang was the strangest one in the Northern Song Dynasty.
At night time, Beggar Island was in the distance.
Li Mu frowned suddenly.
He sensed that 100 meters below, there were two kinds of extremely strong martial artists’ breaths, both of which belonged to the Celestial Being Realm and were stronger than master Lu. They were carefully hiding their killing intent. But Li Mu sensed them. If the two men attacked them by surprise, all the experts of that branch would be obliterated.
Friends?
Or enemies?
Li Mu didn’t know for a while.
He thought for a moment, and calmly used his spiritual force to press down.
The two powerful Celestial Beings instantly seemed to be frozen below, and did not dare to move.
“Young Master, when you arrive on the island, don’t mess around and speak casually. The situation on the island today is a bit dangerous. If you get lost, I’m afraid I can’t protect you.” Lu was honest, and he insecurely reminded Li Mu.
Li Mu laughed, “Brother Lu, rest a.s.sured. We know.”
w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu just laughed, and silently heard Li Mu speak. Who else could threaten him in that world?
Soon, the fleet docked at the pier.
Some masters approached them.
“Brother Lu, are you safe?” the leader was a middle-aged man with loose hair and a st.u.r.dy figure. He was a one-step into the Celestial Being Realm, surrounded by flame heat, who was obviously a powerhouse of the Beggar Gang.
Lu Changfu arched his hand and said, “It was a safe journey.”
The middle-aged man said, “You were really lucky. Other branches’ brothers suffered a sudden attack and heavy losses along the way, especially the Earth one, which was wiped out… these traitors even ambush us on Beggar Lake. Elder Song from Law Enforcement has taken people to fight back.”
“Ah? Is there such a thing?” Lu Changfu was startled.
Immediately, the members from the Changmen branch were led to the inside of Beggar Island.
At the same time.
Very far away, on the lake where the fleet pa.s.sed before, two ghost-faced strong men in tight black suits emerged onto the water surface and looked at each other with astonishment, as if they had met a ghost.
“What’s going on? In the Changmen Branch, is there such a master except Lu Changfu, a celestial being? When the spiritual force pressed down, I felt I would be crushed into powder.”
“Is he a saint?”
“A Saint would be impossible. In this world, there aren’t that many saints. He should be a full-level Celestial Being.”
“Well, Brother Bo Ren is right. But a full-level Celestial Being is quite troublesome. Hurry to notify Young Master, otherwise, things will change tonight.”
……
Beggar Island occupied thousands of acres, and the terrain was extremely strange. As they stepped onward a hundred meters, there were mountain ranges up to 1,000 meters high, surrounding the entire island, and its center was a plain, like a large basin floating on the lake. Only those secret and twisted pa.s.sages led to the central plain. Within those mountains, many defense instruments were placed.
Some of those secret pa.s.sages were naturally made, while others were created by them.
From the terrain, Beggar Island was a place that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Li Mu and the others followed Lu Changfu. They soon entered the island and were led to a large patch of rocky beaches.
Many people were there, including about 10,000 masters from the other branches, many of whom coming from outside Lin’an City. The Changmen branch was arranged in the back row of the area, so they casually sat down there.
Lu Changfu greeted those people. Obviously, he shared a deep social network with them.
Li Mu and his companions behaved in a very low-key manner among the disciples, so no one noticed them.
Time flew.
Soon, a full moon slowly climbed over the mountains and hung on the sky.
Some masters of the Beggar Gang arrived one after the other, but most of them were wounded. When they got there, they yelled. On the way there, they were attacked and suffered heavy losses.
Li Mu observed the surrounding terrain.
On the central area of the beach was a huge fighting ring, more than ten meters high, four hundred meters long and four meters wide, with a flat and square-shaped surface. It was covered with mottled moss, so it was hard to distinguish whether it was made naturally or carved by hand, but Li Mu could clearly sense that the rock was densely packed with various star pattern arrays.
Soon, the second full moon appeared in the sky.
At that moment, about 30,000 to 40,000 people had gathered around the chaotic rocky beach. Most of them were elites of the gang, including 100 people at the Celestial Being Realm. Regardless, most of them were one-step or two-step ones, while there were only a dozen high-level masters at the Celestial Being Realm; most of whom were seniors.
There were crowds of people.
Two moons hung on the sky.
A light flashed.
An old gray-haired beggar appeared on the square stone ring, holding a wooden stick in his hand, and inserted it in the middle of the platform. He then said, “Everyone, tonight, this urgent conference is about our destiny. Brothers, let’s discuss.”
It was quiet all around.
That gray-haired old beggar was exactly the Grand Master, Holy Beggar.
The Beggar a.s.sembly officially began.