A Clash of Gods - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The Beggar Sect
Yang Ning could tell that Old Bark was a tolerant person. He was beaten by others like this, but he could let it go once they had apologized. Since the party didn’t mind it, there was no necessity for him to stick with it.

He walked a few steps to the front of Monkey. Monkey saw Yang Ning approaching, and his face changed dramatically, and he endured the pain and shouted, “I… I have already apologized. You have to… You have to keep your words…”

He was really a coward.

When he hit people, he was so powerful. But when his arm was just broken, all his arrogance went away. Yang Ning didn’t talk nonsense. He reached the broken arm of Monkey and without any movements, Monkey screamed like a pig.

“Ermine…” Old Bark exclaimed, and several other beggars made a decisive move and were about to run away.

“Don’t howl.” Yang Ning was mad and cold, “I will fix your arm. If you scream again, I will make this arm useless.”

He was not in a good mood at this moment, so he was very annoyed when he heard Monkey screaming. During the special training before, it was usual for him to break his arm, and he didn’t feel that it was the end of the world.

After all, Monkey was obedient. As Yang Ning said so, he instantly stopped howling. Yang Ning pulled it up and down twice. Monkey sweat on his forehead and looked miserable. There was a painful sound in his throat. And at this time, Yang Ning had taken back his hands.

“Try it yourself, whether it can move or not.” Yang Ning had turned around and sat on the pile of hay at the corner of the house.

Monkey was doubtful, but still slightly turned his arm. Although it still hurt a little bit, his arm was able to move freely.

Seeing this, those beggars who had planned to run away all came back. They saw Monkey kneel down at the foot of Yang Ning, and his voice became very excited, “Ermine, in the future… in the future you will be our leader. We will all listen to you. If you ask us to go east, we definitely won’t go west!”

Yang Ning was a little stunned. Monkey’s attitude changed so fast, which made him uncomfortable.

To his surprise, when several other beggars saw Monkey do this, they all ran forward and knelt in front of Yang Ning, saying together, “Ermine, in the future, you will be the boss of the Earth Temple. We will all listen to you.”

Yang Ning raised his hand and said, “Wait a moment. Let me sort it out.” He took a deep breath, and asked, “This is Huize county seat. You are all disciples of the Beggar Sect…”

“You too!” Monkey firmly asked Yang Ning to be in the same class with them.

Yang Ning glared at Monkey. He didn’t like others interrupting him easily, “What dynasty is it now? And who is the Emperor?”

Those people looked at each other. Apparently, they didn’t expect Yang Ning to ask such high-level questions when he began to talk.

“The dynasty? This… Huize county seat is a county of Chu Country, then it should be… it should be Chu Dynasty.” Monkey said carefully, “Who is the Emperor? We… We don’t know.”

Sweat dropped from Yang Ning’s forehead, but after he thought about it, he felt relieved. If this was really in ancient time, then the methods of communication would be extremely backward. And the Emperor always kept mysterious. It was impossible for him to often make a TV speech, so normal people probably really had no idea who the Emperor was.

He asked several questions again. In the barely passable narrations, he knew a little about it at least.

His name was Ermine – at least it was such a weird name in this era. At this moment, he was in a small county which was not really peaceful in the northern part of Huainan Prefecture of Chu Country.

The reason why this small county was not peaceful was that the Huaishui River was just about 100 li to the north. And the reason why the Huaishui River was not peaceful was that there had been battles on both sides of the Huaishui River for many years.

Chu Country occupied a large area of land south of the Huaishui River, but the north of the Huaishui River was dominated by Han Country. The two countries were opponent and waged tit-for-tat struggles against each other.

According to the information provided by these unreliable guys, although Chu Country located south of the Huaishui River, it had always controlled the land of the two counties in the north of the Huaishui River, threatening the north of Han Country like a sharp knife. Such a threat absolutely made Han Country anxious, so three years ago, Han Country sent the army of 200,000 to the south.

The two countries had been fighting against each other for more than two years. There were ruins and smoke on both sides of the Huaishui River, and every place was broken. The people living on the both sides escaped their hometowns to find shelters, and their families were broken.

Huize county seat, which was only about 100 li away from the Huaishui River, absolutely became one of the places where refugees found shelters. It was good that although those from Han Country once invaded the south area of the Huaishui River, they were forced to retreat before they arrived Huize county seat, so it avoided the war.

However, just a few months ago, the two countries called a truce, and the battle of Huaishui River which lasted for nearly three years finally came to an end.

Although the war had come to an end, the refugees in Huize county seat didn’t leave. At present, a small county was overcrowded, which became a disaster.

Yang Ning never thought that he would travel through time and space one day, let alone become a glorious disciple of the Beggar Sect.

Born in an ordinary family, he had worked hard to become an armed policeman and went through rigorous training. After leaving the army, he chose to be a businessman. Starting from scratch, he struggled little by little and it could be said that he finally made an achievement.

Just when he went through a lot and it was finally the time for him to enjoy his life, he woke up from a hangover and changed into a beggar from a businessman owning the possession of ten million.

The trouble was he didn’t have much impression of the past of Ermine. Although there were some fragmented pictures in his mind, he couldn’t figure it out for a while.

“Ermine, with your skills, you will surely make some great achievements in the Beggar Sect.” After seeing Ermine’s skills, Monkey squeezed a smile, “With your skills, you can be regarded as a top master!”

Yang Ning only wanted to ask Monkey whether he was really so shameless. Yang Ning didn’t deny that he had some skills, but when he could be regarded as a top master since he had beaten some useless people, he really had no idea how Monkey defined himself. If I, Yang Ning, were the top master, then would these useless guys like you be first-rate masters?

“Can I make a great achievement in the Beggar Sect?” Yang Ning was still very unfamiliar with everything at the moment, so he lowered his dignity and asked, “What will it be?”

“It’s still a beggar!” Monkey’s answer almost made Yang Ning beat him again, “But maybe you will become the boss of Huize county seat!”

Yang Ning tried his best to restrain his temper and asked, “Since this is the Beggar Sect, do we also have some branches? By the way, won’t the last name of the leader be Qiao?”

Monkey hadn’t spoken yet, when someone aside hurriedly said, “We belong to Winged Fire Snake, which is one of the 28 branches!” This person ignored the angry eyes of Monkey, only hoping to leave a good impression on Yang Ning, “The leader’s last name is not Qiao. It seems… It seems to be Xiang!”

“Then do you know Hitting Dog Stick?” Yang Ning showed a little interest, “Should you hear of Eighteen Subduing Dragon Palms?”

Several beggars looked at each other and all shook their heads, apparently they were puzzled by what Yang Ning had said.

“Isn’t Hitting Dog Stick the treasure of the Beggar Sect?” Yang Ning said, “Haven’t you seen the Hitting Dog Stick in the hand of Leader Xiang?”

“The Leader Xiang?” Monkey hurriedly said, “We are just a branch in the small county, which belongs to Winged Fire Snake. We haven’t even seen the master of this branch. How can we meet Leader Xiang? And I heard that Leader Xiang was as mysterious as the Long. We don’t have the chance to meet him.”

Yang Ning was even unhappier. It was poor enough for him to become a disciple of the Beggar Sect. However, according to this situation, he seemed to be the lowest grassroots in the Beggar Sect.

Beggars belonged to the bottom of the society. It was even worse when he was at the bottom of the bottom level.

Old Bark, who had been silent on the side, finally came close at this time, and there was a small bag in his hand. He handed it to Yang Ning, “Ermine, this is the money… exchanged from the jade pendant. It has mostly been used to see the doctor and buy the medicine. Here’s the money left, and you shall put it away.”

Other people didn’t dare to neglect Old Bark at this time, and they all made him a way.

Yang Ning said in surprise, “The jade pendant?”

Apparently, Old Bark knew that Yang Ning’s mind was a little fuzzy at this time and explained, “When you passed out, Xiaodie came to visit you. She saw you were so sick, so she left a jade pendant. I found that jade pendant seemed to be important to her. But in order to save you, she still gave it out. I had no other good ideas, so that I could only take it first.”

“Xiaodie?” He didn’t know the reason, but when he heard this name, Yang Ning felt familiar. There was a pain in the back of his head. A vague impression appeared in his head, which was a pretty girl at some ten years old. He felt that his brain swelled, and he raised his hands to hold the temples on both sides.

He was not stupid. With this strange reaction, Yang Ning soon realized one possibility. Although he occupied the body of this man called Ermine, Ermine’s memories were not completely devoured by his own consciousness. Once others mentioned some people and things to stimulate him, Ermine’s subconsciousness would emerge in his brain.

Old Bark noticed Yang Ning’s strange behavior. He couldn’t help but frown and sigh, “Ermine, you just recovered from a serious illness. How about… How about your taking more rest? You can forget anyone but Xiaodie. If it hadn’t been for her, you couldn’t have been alive now.”

Yang Ning was even more puzzled. According to Old Bark, the girl named Xiaodie seemed to have saved his life.

Wind was howling and rains were pouring outside, but Yang Ning felt cold at this moment. He asked Monkey, “Is there any water? Get me some water to wash my face.”

He needed to wash his face with cold water to wake himself up.

Monkey was astonished, but after he saw Yang Ning frowning, he hurriedly said, “Yes, yes, I’ll get it…” And then he said to other people, “Come help together!”

After those people went out, Yang Ning asked Old Bark, “I had a serious illness?”

“You have been sick for some ten days.” Old Bark sighed, “We didn’t have money to heal you, so we could only watch you and do nothing. It seemed that you were not able to make it. A few days ago, Xiaodie came here in the midnight and cried for half of the night. Then she took out the jade pendant and asked me to exchange it into money to cure you. Ermine, if it weren’t for that jade pendant, you might have died.”

“Xiaodie… Xiaodie cried for half of the night?” Yang Ning smiled embarrassedly, “She can’t bear me to die? But… But who is she exactly? Why… Why can’t I remember her clearly?”