Though dressed as a commoner, one could tell from his build and gait that he was a practitioner.
With a sycophantic expression, he spoke in a Ba Shu-accented Mandarin, quickly stepping forward with flattery, while stealthily pulling out a few taels of silver from his bosom, wanting to stuff them into the hands of the governnt officer.
However, the several governnt officers did not show any regard for his gesture.
Smack!
The leading officer slapped away the silver in his hand and cursed furiously, "You’re all acting so sneaky; obviously there’s sothing wrong with you. Search them, and stay put!"
With that, he gave a knowing look.
Two subordinates imdiately stepped forward, one holding a long spear, the other leading a hunting dog, circling around the wagons.
"Woof woof woof!"
Suddenly, the hunting dog began barking incessantly at one of the wooden carts.
Without a word, the spear-holding officer went straight up and stabbed.
The underside of the wooden cart splintered with a snap.
Clattering down ca nurous white lumps.
It was salt!
Seeing this, Li Yan was not surprised at all.
He had sensed sothing amiss earlier and secretly used his Divine Skills to detect the sll of a large quantity of salt in the convoy behind them.
These people were all smuggling salt.
The salt policy in the Great Xuan Dynasty started with a liberalized system and now had shifted to a controlled system.
The so-called "controlled system" ant that rchants possessing salt introduction were organized into official records; those not listed were not allowed to engage in the salt trade.
Moreover, they had to purchase from designated salt fields and were forbidden from selling outside their boundaries; during transport, the thods of inspection were extrely stringent.
This policy had imdiately created nurous wealthy rchants.
Most of them were connected to the local officials.
Of course, there have always been people who find loopholes in every era.
With the monopoly over the salt trade by the officials and rchants, various salt smugglers also erged, often from the pugilistic world.
For instance, so renowned bladesn from Guanzhong made their living by smuggling salt.
"Take them down!"
Seeing that the situation could not be resolved peacefully, these Shu smugglers each pulled out daggers from their waists, with two people even drawing long swords from the wagon.
However, the three officers showed no panic.
They quickly retreated with the dogs.
At the sa mont, there was a disturbance in the surroundings.
In several nearby tea stands, rchants drew their weapons and charged out, and many people also sprang from the crowd of onlookers.
It was clearly a trap!
Seeing these people rushing out, Li Yan’s brow furrowed slightly.
Lv San’s gaze also turned colder, his face filled with disgust.
He recognized the familiar stench on these people.
These court officers, just like Qiao Sanhu’s forr subordinates, all had ferocious faces, not at all respectable people.
The leading officer even arched his eyebrows and sneered with an insidious tone, "According to the Great Xuan legal code, anyone smuggling salt will receive one hundred lashes and three years’ imprisonnt; possession of weapons adds a degree to the punishnt, and resisters will be executed!"
"Go to hell, you motherf*cker!"
The salt smuggler cursed and went straight for the attack.
Their boxing skills, all from the sa school, were structured, powerful, compact, and aggressive, preferring close combat.
Combined with daggers, their ferocity was even more pronounced.
Sha Lifei narrowed his eyes, "That’s monk boxing, probably all from the sa village who ventured into the pugilistic world."
Li Yan nodded, "A bit reckless..."
Monk boxing was a style that had spread from Shaolin boxing to Ei during the Tang Dynasty, developed by monks of Ei Mountain integrating aspects from both boxing styles, and was widely practiced among the common people in Shu.
These people, old and young, mostly ca from the sa village.
Daring and willing to fight, they were also considered people of the pugilistic world.
Unfortunately, their martial arts skills were diocre; not one of them was even at the peak of the Ming strength level, all relying on brute force to fight.
But the officers who were there to capture them had no real masters among them either.
Both sides fought together, quickly disorganizing into chaos, no different than an ordinary gang fight.
Blood splattered, and shouts and curses were incessant.
Soon, more than a dozen people lay in pools of blood, breathless.
"People are being killed!"
Many of the common folk retreated in fear.
Among the private salt smugglers, the more timid ones had already thrown away their weapons and were kneeling on the ground, captured by an onslaught of governnt officers.
"Let’s go!"
Li Yan shook his head slightly and quickly led the group away.
They wanted to keep a low profile, but they couldn’t.
There was no need to ntion Sha Lifei, with his towering height and brawny build, bald head and a beard that frad his cheeks, and a nacing look on his face – if his portrait was shown around, it would certainly be matched with several grand larcenists from the rivers and lakes.
Wang Daoxuan carried the air of a Daoist immortal. The normally unremarkable Lv San was now wearing a large gourd at his waist, a two-stringed fiddle on his back, and a small white fox peeked out from his chest – he didn’t look like an ordinary person in any sense.
On the contrary, Li Yan, dressed as a bladesman, seed the most ordinary.
Sure enough, they were stopped just as they reached the city gate.
To avoid startling others, Wang Daoxuan produced a white Daoist certificate.
The soldier guarding the gate took the certificate, noticed the stamp of Yunyang Prefecture on it, and imdiately smiled, "Wow, it’s really lively today. Are you also here for young master Wu’s illness?"
What illness of young master Wu?
Li Yan was sowhat bewildered.
However, Sha Lifei’s eyes spun, and he took out a few scattered pieces of silver from his bosom, slipped them into the soldier’s hand, and chuckled, "My good soldier, we’ve co from afar and are unfamiliar with this place. What exactly is the matter with young master Wu’s illness?"
"You dare co without knowing?"
The guarding soldier seed a bit surprised. He glanced around discreetly, pocketed the silver, and spoke in a low voice, "Young master Wu has been bewitched by a demoness, they say. He’s been acting insane, day in, day out."
"Which young master Wu?"
"It’s the county magistrate’s son, young master Wu..."
The soldier seed inclined to continue but glanced at sothing in the distance, his expression changed, and he quickly urged, "Hurry up and enter the city, don’t loiter here!"
Li Yan turned his head and saw that the battle nearby had ended, so were clearing the battlefield, and others were escorting the captured salt smugglers in their direction.
They didn’t waste words and imdiately entered the city.
The leader of the governnt officers who captured the salt smugglers followed closely. Watching as the group departed, suspicion filled his eyes. He pulled over the soldier guarding the gate and asked coldly, "What’s the background of those n?"
"They’re Divine Han from out of town, here to treat a disease at Wu Mansion."
"Oh."
The leader of the officers sighed with relief, then instructed coldly, "Things haven’t been peaceful lately, many are looking to trouble us. Stay alert and keep a tight watch!"
"Don’t worry, Captain..."
...
Guizhou City was much larger than the average county city. Furthermore, it was situated at the critical juncture of the Yangtze River, so the city was very prosperous.
After settling in an average inn, the group huddled together.
"Sothing’s not right about the atmosphere in Zigui County."
Sha Lifei shook his head, "I’ll get so intelligence."
"I’ll go with you."
Worried that Sha Lifei might run into trouble, Li Yan followed him.
The two, accustod to such tasks, wandered through the city’s streets and alleys and quickly found a pugilistic world information broker.
This place dealt in intelligence and was categorized as wind, forest, fire, mountain.
Sha Lifei, experienced in the pugilistic world ways, spouted a stream of gibberish at the shopkeeper. The shopkeeper couldn’t quite make out their backgrounds but knew they were from the Mystical Sect, not daring to show the slightest negligence, he promptly recounted the city’s situation.
"Zigui County is anything but peaceful these days..."
"On the official side, a Shangguan from Yunyang Prefecture has arrived and is urging the County Magistrate to invite several nearby Tusi to the city, seemingly trying to appease them into not joining in the chaos..."
"On the streets, there’s an undercurrent stirring. Locally, there’s a gang called the Morning Mountain Society with close ties to County Magistrate Wu, controlling the salt trade. With war looming, salt is in high demand everywhere."
"Unfortunately, the Morning Mountain Society wants to monopolize it, and they’ve had several conflicts with the brothers in the pugilistic world, both overt and covert..."
"Even more troubling, there have been a number of strange occurrences."
"Oh? What kind of strange occurrences?"
"In Erbei Bay village, rice seedlings fail to thrive..."
"At the old temple of the Earth Official, there are rumors of soone crying at midnight, yet no one can be found; the villagers are so frightened they dare not get close..."
"There’s a river monster in the river. You gentlen must’ve heard."
"Also, you must be here for young master Wu’s illness. Allow to advise you, don’t get involved in that. It’s nothing you can handle!"
Sha Lifei laughed, "He’s just been bewitched, right?"
"It’s not that simple!"
The shopkeeper lowered his voice, "Between us, several groups from the Mystical Sect have already co in the past half month. I’ve heard quite a few have died."
"Young master Wu, he hasn’t been bewitched. He’s been targeted by a powerful Evil Spirit."
Sha Lifei grew more interested, "What kind of Evil Spirits is so audacious?"
The shopkeeper swallowed nervously, "Have you heard about the ghost bride carried in a sedan chair at midnight?"
Li Yan’s pupils shrank suddenly, "What did you say?!"
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