A Clash of Gods - Chapter 4
Chapter 4 Of Varying Quality
However strong you were, there was always someone stronger. Yang Ning agreed with this.
Although he clearly defined grace and grievance, he was not a troublemaker. He thought that Monkey and the others were really tamed by him because he beat them up before. But according to this situation, those guys had some special motives.
Yang Ning felt that sometimes he should not feel too good about himself.
“You should rest for a few days. I have told them not to tell others that you are better.” Old Bark always had a sad expression.
Yang Ning said in surprise, “Why is that?”
“Why?” Old Bark smiled helplessly, “If Boss Fang knows that you are better, will you be free?”
“Boss Fang?” Yang Ning felt that he had heard them mention this name before, and soon he remembered, “You said before that it was Boss Fang who had accepted me in the Beggar Sect?”
Old Bark nodded and said, “Boss Fang is the leader of hundreds of disciples of the Beggar Sect in Huize county seat. At the beginning, he found that you were good at working, so he agreed you to join the Beggar Sect.”
“Why does he want to cause me trouble when he knows that I’m better?” Yang Ning wondered what kind of grievance the Boss of the Beggar Sect in the city had with him, “Why can’t he know that I have recovered?”
After Old Bark was sure that Yang Ning’s brain was indeed confused after the serious illness, he could only explain, “He is not going to cause you trouble, but to make you keep working. Why do you think we can stay in this Earth Temple which is able to block the wind and rains? It’s all because of you.”
Yang Ning was even more curious, thinking that I also made contribution to living in the Earth Temple.
“Boss Fang knows that you are good at working and allows you to join the Beggar Sect just in order to make you do those things. In these six months, you never failed and contributed a lot to Boss Fang.” Old Bark sat at the doorway, “There are hundreds of disciples of the Beggar Sect in the city. Not all of them can find a shelter to block the wind and rains. It’s because you have made so many contributions that we can live here.” There was a hint of anger on his face, “But Boss Fang was really too inhuman and emotionless. Seeing that you were sick, he was unwilling to spend money making you go see the doctor and didn’t care about you. Maybe he thinks you have died now.”
Although Yang Ning also scolded that Boss Fang was too inhuman, according to Old Bark’s words, Ermine, the owner of this body, seemed to be a non-trivial role. He had made many contributions to Boss Fang. He also sat at the doorway and asked, “By the way, what did Boss Fang ask me to do? What credits did I take?” Seeing Old Bark staring at him, Yang Ning immediately raised his hand and pointed at his head, showing that he had forgotten a lot of things.
Old Bark smiled helplessly, “We are beggars. Do you expect us to make some great achievements?” He reached out a wizened hand, spread his middle finger and index finger, and took back other three fingers. The gesture which was like a scissor protruded to the front and then he looked at Yang Ning. He didn’t speak, but in his eyes, he was apparently saying, “You should know it this time.”
Yang Ning first was stunned, and then learned the movement of Old Bark and his two fingers protruded forward, then he felt that this behavior was so shameless. He immediately took back his hand and frowned, “Why does this movement look like stealing wallets?” After being shocked for a while, he looked at Old Bark and said in surprise, “Old Bark, are you saying that, I… I helped Boss Fang steal things before?”
Old Bark nodded seriously, “You are the fastest one among the followers of Boss Fang!”
Yang Ning had a chill, he did not know whether Old Bark’s words were praise or irony, but he smiled helplessly in his heart, because he never expected that he made contributions to this.
“Do the disciples of the Beggar Sect live on this?” Yang Ning’s impression of the Beggar Sect which had been famous suddenly collapsed.
Old Bark sighed with emotion and said, “If Boss Lu were still alive, it wouldn’t be like this.”
“Who is Boss Lu?”
“Boss Lu used to be the leader of the Beggar Sect in Huize county seat. When he was here, the rules of our gang were strict, so no one dared to do those cheating and stealing things.” Old Bark’s eyes seemed to be glowing, “At that time, there was respect for seniority. I have been in the Beggar Sect for more than twenty years and it can be said that I am experienced. When Boss Lu was here, he took good care of us old beggars. When there were some vital matters, he would call us together to discuss this.” There was some rare confidence on his face.
Yang Ning couldn’t help but think that you were really useless, since you had joined the Beggar Sect for more than 20 years and you were still just like this. No wonder those guys didn’t respect you.
But he also understood that Old Bark was loyal and kind, and he didn’t like to fight with others. Where there were people, it was a world. No matter in which world, there would be fights. The Beggar Sect was the largest world, so there should be a lot of fights. With Old Bark’s temper, he was not appropriate for arguing with others.
“Are you saying that Boss Lu is dead?” Yang Ning frowned, “How did he die?”
“When Boss Lu was there, the govern didn’t dare to mess with us disciples of the Beggar Sect.” Old Bark was slightly proud, “There are hundreds of disciples in the Beggar Sect, and it is all because of Boss Lu. When he was alive, even Xiao Yishui needed to respect him.” He then sighed and said, “It was a pity that he got an acute disease and died.”
“Xiao Yishui? An acute disease?”
Old Bark explained, “Xiao Yishui is the Head Constable of Huize county seat. This man…” He shook his head and didn’t talk about him, “Boss Lu used to be strong, but suddenly he got the disease one day, and was taken care of by Boss Fang personally. Then he passed away in a few days, and Boss Fang took the place of Boss Lu as a matter of course.”
Yang Ning found Old Bark’s words a bit vague, so he felt it strange, but he didn’t ask much about it.
Old Bark continued, “After Boss Fang took the position, he soon colluded with Xiao Yishui. In the past, in addition to begging, the disciples used to do some hard work in the city. Anyway, we did everything but wicked ones… But after Boss Fang took the position, the brothers in the Beggar Sect began to…” He sighed again, and didn’t continue.
Yang Ning, of course, understood at this point that the change of the Beggar Sect started at the time when Boss Fang took the position.
Boss Lu had just died, when Boss Fang took the leading position, and he soon colluded with Xiao Yishui, the Head Constable of Huize county seat. Putting all the information together, it made others wonder.
However, Yang Ning did not have much interest in the past of the Beggar Sect. He was currently in the Beggar Sect, so he was only concerned about the current situation of the Beggar Sect. He asked, “The disciples of the Beggar Sect are of varying quality and they are messy without any orders. Doesn’t the Leader of Winged Fire Snake mind it? Boss Fang ruins the reputation of the Beggar Sect. Doesn’t Leader Xiang care about it?”
Old Bark laughed aloud, “There are 28 branches in the Beggar Sect and they are all over the country. It is said that there are ten or twenty thousand people in Winged Fire Snake alone. How can the Leader care about the hundreds of disciples in such a small county? Moreover, who dares to report what Boss Fang has done? As for Leader Xiang, we only hear that there is such a person, but we never meet him. In my opinion, we will never meet him in our lifetime.”
Yang Ning nodded slightly. A sect of tens of thousands of disciples was absolutely a huge force. But because of the huge size, the members were of varying quality, and even if Leader Xiang had the superpower like three heads and six arms, he wouldn’t be able to manage it.
When Monkey returned to the Earth Temple, Yang Ning had taken a bath in the pond in front of the temple. The stains on his body was accumulated for too long, so it was impossible to completely clean them. But after such a bath in the clear water, he was refreshed and recovered most of his power and energy.
After a long time, Monkey got a few pieces of wheat cakes. Yang Ning was hungry and chewed the wheat cakes. He only felt that they were too dry to swallow and had no crunchy taste, thinking that the usage of flour was not developed in this era. It was obvious that these wheat cakes weren’t fermented, so it was so hard to swallow them.
Took things as they came. Of course, Yang Ning understood this truth.
The air after the rain made one’s breath refreshing, but Yang Ning started to care about Xiaodie in his heart.
Yang Ning clearly distinguished kindness and hatred. Xiaodie had saved his life, so he definitely was grateful. Hearing Old Bark’s words, he found that the current circumstance of Xiaodie was terrible, so hoped to see Xiaodie earlier to know if she was alright.
Yang Ning wanted to leave early to go to the Death Lane where Madam Hua was, but Monkey was afraid of the Death Lane and persuaded Yang Ning to go there later. Yang Ning was unfamiliar with Huize county seat and did not insist. At dusk, he asked Monkey to lead the way to the Death Lane.
At dusk, the sun was about to fall, and the entire Huize county seat was shrouded in the last rays of the setting sun.
Huize county seat was a small county, but there was still hierarchy. The stands and stores were in the front of the city, while the restaurants and several brothels which looked prosperous were on a long street in the back of the city.
The street was crowded and seemed lively.
Yang Ning looked at the styles and culture of this era along the way, only to find that what he saw was not as antique as he had imagined. In fact, most of the buildings in the city were in a mess without rules or regulations. It was obvious that it was not managed well. And because of this, the streets were like a maze. One who was unfamiliar with the roads was easy to enter a dead end.
He had heard that there were many refugees in the city and they were overcrowded, but when he arrived on a street in the back of the city, he found it was not as crowded as he had thought, although the street was lively. From Monkey’s words, he knew that the refugees were all placed at a corner of the city, and the situation there was completely different from the back of the city.
“Boss Ermine, do you see that crossing in front of us? Take a turn and enter there, then go down the street at the back and go straight into another lane, and that lane is the Death Lane.” Under a wall in the street, Monkey raised his hand to guide Yang Ning.
Yang Ning saw an entrance of a lane on the other side of the street and asked softly, “Is there also busy like this behind that street?”
“That’s not true.” Monkey shook his head, “That street is more deserted. There are mostly residences… Damn, Boss Ermine, head down!” Before he finished his words, he suddenly looked panicked and turned around, lowering his head. It seemed that he was afraid of being seen.
Yang Ning saw Monkey act like this, he couldn’t help looking around, but didn’t see anything wrong, he asked in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”
“Look at Ten-mile Fragrance on the opposite!” Monkey didn’t even look back, whispering, “Do you see the two coming out?”
Yang Ning glanced across the street, and he actually found there was a restaurant with two floors on the opposite, which was quite conspicuous in this lively street.
It was wooden, and the front brims of the building slanted out, quite imposing. A black wooden plaque was hung on the head of the front door, on which there were golden characters of Ten-mile Fragrance, very clear.
Yang Ning looked carefully and found that there were two people standing in front of the main entrance of the restaurant. One of them was wearing a silver-grey outfit, with a tall figure. His one hand was carried behind his back, and the other hand was holding his chin. He looked quite elegant. The other one looked shorter but was strong. He was clinging to the ear of the man in the outfit and whispering to him with one hand covering his mouth.
