Chapter 27 Living in the Village
After having dinner, Aunt w.a.n.g asked Ye and Lotus to stay a night with them. This family had two bedrooms. The husband and wife left them with a single room and some ordinary dresses. Though Ye had lived with Lotus since their childhood, he didn’t sleep with her in the same room. He took some of the bedding to arrange it on the ground. Lotus stopped him when she saw this. “Better stay with me on the bed. What if you get a cold?”
Ye sighed and lay down. “I am afraid I may offend you.”
Lotus sighed and didn’t say anything more. The whole night they both didn’t sleep well. However, neither of them wanted to let the other know this, so they remained still and unmoving. As a result, the next morning, both of them felt sore throughout their whole bodies.
Aunt w.a.n.g was so hospitable that she brought steamed buns, congee, and some salted vegetables to them for breakfast. Ye and Lotus felt so moved by her thoughtfulness that they thanked her again and again. Chatting with the aunt and eat together, they felt the warmth of a family. After breakfast, Lotus went to the kitchen to help, but Aunt w.a.n.g pushed her out. Seeing their modesty decline, Ye hoped he could have a family with Lotus like this. But he then recalled the memory that Lotus’s love was Canyi, and he got depressed.
At that moment, someone yelled in surprise. Uncle Want De was shocked by the sudden sound. “What’s happening?”
Before they could realize what happened, their door was kicked open and a man with a fierce face jumped in, holding an iron blade in hand. He glared at all of them and ordered, “Run out! Go to the barn floor quickly. Anyone who is slow is asking for my knife!”
The w.a.n.g family was scared. Ye and Lotus stood up at the same time. Ye asked him coldly, “Who are you? What are you doing?”
The man was aberrant. “Don’t waste your time. Go now!” Then he moved to catch Ye.
Before he could take action, Ye had already kicked him in the chest. All these years, Ye had practiced day after night. How could this man bear his one kick? With a shout of misery, the man was kicked out of the door and fell several meters away.
Ye ran out after that. He saw some corpses of the villagers lying on the ground, and another man was pushing some women and children to the barn ground. A woman suddenly went back toward a dead body, crying sadly. A member of the gang killed her with his knife.
Ye felt so angry when he saw this. He ran to them, yelling. Before the gang could understand what was happening, his White Cloud Knives had already cut them down.
Lotus and the w.a.n.g family followed him out. Seeing the terrible scene, the w.a.n.gs were shocked. Xiao Long ran into the blooding corpses. Calling the names of their neighbors, he couldn’t help crying aloud. Ye went back to the first man he had kicked, and asked, “Tell me, who are you? Why do you come here to kill the innocent?”
The man was breathing with difficultly and yet he was still stubborn. “You . . . you dare kill our people of Qiansha Bang. You are looking for death . . .” Before he could finish the complaint, Ye raised his knife and cut off one of his ears. The man cried out bitterly, and he begged, “Forgive me, hero! I am only a little servant, following our master. I . . . I didn’t kill anyone.”
Xiao Long ran to kick him and called out, “Pay back their lives!”
The man"s dress was wet from sweat. He pleaded, “Forgive me, little hero! I am not worthy. You’d better go to the barn immediately. Most of the villagers are caught and being held there. If you are late . . . I don’t know what will happen to them.”
Ye pushed his knife into the man’s chest to end his life and then threw his body far away. He ran toward the barn. Lotus also followed him quickly. The w.a.n.g family was stunned and they didn’t have any words, remaining speechless.
The w.a.n.g family was near the boundary of the village, so they had some way to go to reach the middle. When they arrived at the barn, they found some people dead in the middle and most of the doors were broken. However, the villagers were not there.
Ye was so irritated that he clenched his teeth. “d.a.m.ned Qiansha Bang. If I don’t vanquish you, I won’t live on the earth anymore.”
They ran to chase the gangs and villager. Finally, they found them. Dozens of villagers were being marching forward by some strong men. Lotus took Ye to hide behind a house, and said, “We shouldn’t run to them so rushed. Better to be careful! Besides, you were wounded before.”
“Never mind.” Ye said, “No need to be afraid of these kinds of evil persons.”
“Don’t you want to know why they wanted these villagers? We can pretend to be residents of this village to check out why.”
Ye snorted but accepted her advice. “Okay. Let’s go check.” Taking Lotus’ hand, he followed the men to the grounds. Most of the villagers were there now. All the gang members were holding iron knives as they circled around them. The children were frightened and crying. A man of about forty was staring at them, seemingly their leader.
After a while, an old man walked out to him and bowed. “Master, I am the leader of this village. However, we are ordinary peasants ad have no treasures for you. Would you forgive us and let us go?”
The gang’s leader laughed loudly when he heard the village head’s explanation. “You think we are bandits? No . . . you don’t need to fear, leader. We are a formal clan in the martial world. We don’t do bad things as thieves do. We come here to ask for some help this time.”
The people became uneasy when they heard this saying. A young man was so angry that he refuted the claim, saying, "A formal clan? Didn’t you kill some us people just now?”
The leader raised an eyebrow and said, “Yes. If you don’t obey me, you will meet the same end. Listen to me. Women and children will stay here, and men, follow me with your farming tools. Dare you to disobey me, and your wife and children will die.” Then, the gangs dragged the men out. Some women would not let their husbands and sons leave, and they cried to take them back.
As a gang member was planning to chop at an old woman who was crying to take her son, Ye couldn’t bear anymore, and he cried, “Stop!” He lifted up like a bird to the ridge of a house and dived to cut the gang with his knife.
Lotus followed him, with the black silks on her wrists flying out toward the rest of the gangs. In one second, some of the strong men were cut into several segments. She flew to stand on the ground beside Ye. Though the two were in common clothes, their personalities gave all the people a feeling of something out of this world.
The leader of the gangs woke up and ran closer to bow with his fist. “Would you tell me who are you? Why do you act thus against us Qiansha Bang?”
Ye sneered. “Who in this world will support your evil clan that kills innocent villagers?”
The man’s face turned pale and he asked, “Your martial art is not bad. Who is your teacher?"
Ye answered, “Don’t be so noisy. Today I will kill you all to revenge for the villagers. Lotus, protect the villagers.” He ran out like a flash toward the leader. Soon several disciples came to protect their leader. However, their knives were like toys when met by Ye’s Blue Could Knives. All the disciples together with their weapons were cut in half by Ye. The leader found the situation was not good and he leaped to the roof of a house and began to speak a spell. Lotus was surprised and called out, “The Spell of Calling?”