nge, they weren’t totally unreasonable. If he was telling the truth, then them drawing out the venom would be actually making things worse. On their side, the only man left was Bao Butong, but he was currently embroiled in a huge battle with the short elder. The shadow of the elder’s staff flashed about, and Bao Butong’s palms fluttered about here and there. It would be difficult for the battle to come to an end soon. Ah Zhu called out, “Third brother, stop fighting for now! First come and help rescue fourth brother!”

There was only a hairs breadth of difference between Bao Butong’s strength and that of the short elder. Even if he wanted to retreat and disengage, it wasn’t something he could do very quickly. When experts competed in martial arts, they risked their lives with every stroke. If someone could advance and retreat freely, they would be able to take their opponent’s life easily. How could it be so easy for him to charge or disengage? Hearing Ah Zhu’s call, Bao Butong knew that there was a change in Feng Bo’e’s condition. Growing anxious, he launched several powerful attacks in a row, hoping to be able to shake the short elder off.

By now, the short elder had already fought with Bao Butong for over a hundred strokes. Although they were evenly matched, he himself was wielding a large, long, and powerful weapon, whereas Bao Butong was empty handed. Thus, superiority and inferiority had already been determined. Brandishing his steel staff, the short elder had launched many attacks in succession against Bao Butong, but Bao Butong had been able to dissolve all of them. He knew that most likely, if this battle were to continue, he would lose, not win. Seeing how ferocious Bao Butong’s attacks became, he thought that Bao Butong was trying to vanquish him and immediately used all of his energy to counterattack. These four elders of the Beggar’s Clan each had their own unique accomplishments in martial arts. Zhu Baokun and Sima Lin of the Qingcheng sect, along with Yao Bodang of the Qin family stronghold, were all dispatched by Bao Butong in a laughably easy manner, but this short elder really was difficult to deal with. Although Bao Butong had the advantage, for him to actually defeat his opponent by one stance or half a stroke would depend on his opponent’s strength, and clearly the short elder possessed strong stamina.

Qiao Feng saw that Wang Yuyan and the other two girls looked very frightened. He knew that it was true that females cannot draw out this poison, and also knew how lethal the multicolored scorpion’s venom was. He knew that if he ordered his subordinates to launch an attack, even if the situation was a hundred times more dangerous than it was today, not a single person would dare to complain. But no matter what, he could not give out the order for one of his subordinates to risk his own life to save an enemy. He immediately said, “I will come and draw out his poison myself.” As he spoke, he walked towards Feng Bo’e.

As soon as he saw the anxious look on Wang Yuyan’s face, Duan Yu had the intention of helping Feng Bo’e draw out the poison. Only, Qiao Feng was now his sworn brother, and it would be totally improper for him to go and help his sworn brother’s enemy thusly. Although Qiao Feng had ordered elder Chen to provide the antidote, Duan Yu didn’t know if he was sincere in doing so or not. Seeing as how Qiao Feng was personally walking towards Feng Bo’e and intended to draw out the poison himself, Duan Yu hurriedly said, “Elder brother, let me do it instead.” Rushing forward, he immediately executed the ‘Graceful Steps Upon the Waves’. With a swaying flicker, he rushed in front of Qiao Feng. Grabbing Feng Bo’e’s upper arm, he pressed his mouth against the wound and began drawing the poison out.

At this point in time, Feng Bo’e’s arm had already turned totally black. His eyes were wide open; the flesh on his face had become so rigid that he couldn’t even close them. After drawing out a mouthful of poisoned blood, Duan Yu spat it out on the ground. The poisoned blood was as black as ink. Everyone who saw it was astonished. Just as Duan Yu was about to draw out more poison, more black blood began to flow from the wound. Startled, Duan Yu thought to himself, “It’d be best if I let this poisoned blood flow out first.” He did not know that this was because he had once ingested the ‘King of Ten Thousand Poisons’, the Cinnabar Toad, which could conquer all venoms. The venom of the multicolored scorpion was far inferior to it. As soon as they touched, the venom began to flow out. Feng Bo’e’s body suddenly came to life, and he said, “Many thanks!”

Ah Zhu and the rest were all overjoyed. Ah Bi said, “Fourth brother, you can speak again!” The flow of black blood slowly lessened, beginning to turn purple. After the purple blood flowed for a bit longer, the blood turned a scarlet red. Ah Bi hurriedly applied the antidote to his arm, and Bao Butong unsealed his acupoints. In a short period of time, Feng Bo’e’s arm, previously swollen grotesquely, looked normal again, and he had no problems speaking or moving.

Feng Bo’e bowed deeply towards Duan Yu. “Thank you for saving my life.” Duan Yu hurriedly returned the courtesy, saying, “There’s no need to be so courteous about such a trifling matter.” Feng Bo’e grinned. “My life might be a trifling matter to you, but it’s a rather important matter to me.” Taking the small antidote bottle from Ah Zhu, he tossed it towards elder Chen, saying, “I’m giving your antidote back to you!” Turning towards Qiao Feng, Feng Bo’e cupped his fists. “Chief Qiao, you are exceptionally benevolent and righteous. You are worthy of being the leader of the largest clan in the world. I, Feng Bo’e, admire you very much!” Qiao Feng cupped his fists in return. “You are too kind.”

Feng Bo’e picked up his broadsword, then pointed with his left arm towards elder Chen. “Today, I was defeated by you. I, Feng Bo’e, freely admit my inferiority! Next time we meet, let’s fight again! But this today, we’re not fighting anymore.” Elder Chen smiled. “I will naturally keep you company next time.” Slanting his body, Feng Bo’e called out towards the elder wielding a mace, “I’d like to go a few rounds with you, sir!” Ah Zhu and Ah Bi were astonished. They called out, “Fourth brother, no! Your body isn’t fully recovered yet!” Feng Bo’e replied, “Not getting into a fight when one’s available? That’s not in keeping with my character!” Brandishing his knife, he charged at the mace-wielding elder.

The mace-wielding elder had white eyebrows and a white beard. He had become famous decades ago. What type of person hadn’t he met? But he couldn’t help but be struck dumb with amazement as he saw Feng Bo’e vigorously charging towards him, just moments after being brought back from the brink of death. Originally, there were many transformations and changes in his mace techniques. Aside from beating, striking, sweeping, and piercing techniques, he also had bizarre techniques to lock up an enemy’s weapons. But now, feeling a bit nervous, his skill decreased by a significant degree and all he could do was to ward off Feng Bo’e’s attacks, without being able to counterattack at all.

Qiao Feng frowned slightly. “This Feng fellow really doesn’t know what’s good for him. Brother Duan just saved his life. How could he so indiscriminately and rashly charge off into battle?”

Bao Butong and Feng Bo’e both slowly gained the upper hand in their battles. However, it would still take some time for victory or defeat to be determined. When experts were competing against each other, the situation could change in the blink of an eye. It only took one particularly brilliant stroke or the slightest negligence for a losing position to be turned into an equal one. None of the four dared to be the least bit negligent, and all of the onlookers watched raptly.

Duan Yu suddenly heard the sound of many people rushing this way from the east, followed by people coming from the north. Duan Yu said to Qiao Feng in a low voice, “Elder brother, people are coming.” Qiao Feng also had heard the sounds long ago, and nodded. He thought to himself, “Most likely, other forces under young master Murong’s command have come. So this Bao fellow and Feng fellow arrived first to keep us entangled here while they prepared a large group of men to attack us.” He prepared to give a secret command, ordering the ordinary members of the clan to head west and individually disappear off to the south while the four elders, hall-master Jiang, and himself would secure the rear. But suddenly, he heard footsteps coming from the west and the south as well. They had been totally surrounded by enemies.

Qiao Feng said in a low voice, “Hall-master Jiang, the enemy force is weakest to the south. Later, when I give the hand signal, immediately order all of our brothers to retreat to the south.” Hall-master Jiang replied, “Yes sir!”

Just at this moment, fifty or sixty people burst in from the east. All of them wore ragged clothes, had uncombed hair, and either wielded weapons or broken bowls and bamboo staffs. All of them were members of the Beggar’s Clan. Next, eighty or so disciples of the Beggar’s Clan appeared from the north. All of them had very serious expressions on their face, and when they saw Qiao Feng, they didn’t pay him any courtesies at all. Instead, they seemed to be faintly hostile towards him.

Bao Butong and Feng Bo’e, seeing so many disciples of the Beggar’s Clan suddenly appear, were both alarmed. They thought to themselves, “How can we rescue miss Wang, Ah Zu, and Ah Bi from this situation?”

However, the person who was most astonished of all was Qiao Feng. These were all members of his clan, and normally would be extremely respectful towards him. If they saw him from afar, they would immediately rush forward to pay their respects. How could it be that today, they wouldn’t even let out a call of ‘Chief’? Just as he was feeling confused, he saw that dozens of additional clan members had rushed here from the west and the south. In a short period of time, the apricot forest was crammed with people. However, aside from the four elders and hall-master Jiang, who had arrived earlier, none of the other leaders of the Beggar’s Clan were present. Qiao Feng was more and more astonished. Slowly, cold sweat began to form on his palms. He had never been shocked than he was today, not even when he was facing the toughest of enemies. He could only think to himself, “Can it be that there has been a riot or rebellion within our ranks? Can it be that the skill-instructing elder and the law-enforcing elders, along with the various hall-masters, have all been murdered?” But with Bao Butong and Feng Bo’e still fighting with the two elders, and Wang Yuyan and the other two girls still watching, he could not give voice to his thoughts.

Elder Chen suddenly shouted in a loud voice, “Form the ‘Dog Beating Formation!’” From each direction, ten or twenty Beggar’s Clan disciples rushed forwards, all wielding weapons, surrounding Bao Butong and Feng Bo’e.

Bao Butong saw that in the blink of an eye, the Beggar’s Clan had formed a battle array against them. He knew that although he himself might be able to just barely escape, Feng Bo’e had been greatly exhausted by his battle with the poison and would suffer severe injuries while doing so. It would be harder than hard to rescue Wang Yuyan and the other girls. When faced with a situation like this, he really had no other options but to throw up his hands and admit defeat. For him to admit defeat when so badly outnumbered would not cause any harm to his reputation at all. But Bao Butong had a stubborn, pigheaded nature. He would intentionally do the opposite of what normal people considered to be natural. In addition, Feng Bo’e was a person who loved fighting more than his own life. As long as there was an opportunity to fight, regardless of whether he would win or lose, whether he would live or die, or whether the cause was just or injust, he would fight to the very end. Victory and defeat had already been determined, but Bao Butong and Feng Bo’e continued to fight hard, not yielding in the slightest.

Wang Yuyan cried out, “Third brother Bao, fourth brother Feng! This won’t work! The two of you aren’t capable of defeating this ‘Dog Beating Formation’! It’s best if you stop fighting now!”

Feng Bo’e replied, “Lemme fight a bit longer! When I am totally helpless, I’ll stop fighting!” As he spoke, his attention was diverted and the white-haired elder landed a hit on his shoulder with his mace. The spikes on the mace tore a bloody wound in his shoulder. Feng Bo’e cursed, “Your grandmother’s! What a nasty stroke!” He launched three swishing suicidal attacks, as though he wanted nothing more but to die with his opponent. The white haired elder thought to himself, “It isn’t as though the two of us have irreconcilable differences. Why must you go all out like that?” He immediately tightened his defenses, no longer attacking.

The long-armed elder began to sing, “Brothers from the south, come beg for food! Ai-yo-ai-yo-yo…” Although he was singing a begging song, what he actually was doing was issuing out combat orders. The tens of beggars at the south all raised their weapons. As soon as the elder stopped singing, they would charge forwards. Qiao Feng knew that once the ‘Dog Beating Formation’ was launched, the beggars in the formation would not stop until the enemy had been wounded and killed. He was unwilling to create a deep grudge with Gusu’s Murong family before he had fully investigated the situation. He immediately waved his left hand and shouted, “Wait!” His shadow swaying, he arrived before Feng Bo’e, launching a clawing attack towards his face….

Feng Bo’e dodged to the right, but Qiao Feng launched an attack with his right hand, seizing him by the wrist and disarming him. Wang Yuyan cried out, “This is a stroke from the ‘Dragon Claw Hand’ named the ‘Three Pearl-Snatching Strokes’!”

Then she cried out, “Third brother Bao, his left elbow will collide with your chest, then his right hand will chop at your upper waist, and his left hand will seize your ‘Qihu’ acupoint. This is a ‘Dragon Claw Hand’ stroke known as ‘Copious Amounts of Rain’.

Just as Wang Yuyan said, ‘his left elbow will collide with your chest’, Qiao Feng’s left elbow really did strike out and collide with Bao Butong’s chest. As Wang Yuyan said, ‘his right hand will chop at your upper waist’, Qiao Feng’s right hand really did chop at his upper waist. He acted at exactly the same moment that she spoke; the synchronicity was so perfect that it couldn’t even have been trained for. Just as Wang Yuyan said the third sentence, Qiao Feng’s fingers formed a hook and seized Bao Butong’s ‘Qihu’ acupoint.

Bao Butong felt his entire body go limp, rendering him incapable of movement. He indignantly said, “What a nice ‘Copious Amounts of Rain’! Little sister, what’s the point of you telling me about it after the fact? If you told me a bit earlier, I could’ve prepared for it!” Wang Yuyan apologized, “He’s simply too powerful. When he executes his attacks, he doesn’t reveal any hints in advance, and I wasn’t able to realize what he was about to do. I’m really sorry.” Bao Butong replied, “What’s this ‘really sorry, really sorry’ nonsense? Today, we lost this fight and have shamed the Basin of the Swallows!” Turning his head, he saw that Feng Bo’e was standing straight and stiff. When Qiao Feng took away his weapon, he had also sealed his acupoints. Otherwise, how could he simply stand there without fighting so obediently?

Elder Chen, seeing how his chief had already subdued Feng Bo’e and Bao Butong, stopped singing the song without finishing it. The four elders and various experts of the clan, seeing how Qiao Feng had immediately subdued those two as soon as he acted with such unimaginably wonderful skill, all felt great admiration for him in their heart.

Qiao Feng unsealed Bao Butong’s ‘Qihu’ acupoint, then gently tapped Feng Bo’e on the shoulder, unsealing his sealed acupoint as well before saying, “The two of you, feel free to leave.”

Even if Bao Butong was more stubborn than he already was, he knew that the gap between his level of martial arts and that of his opponent was simply far too wide. Even if the Beggar’s Clan didn’t have the ‘Dog Beating Formation’ or the four elders, Qiao Feng would still easily overcome him. At this point in time, if he said anything at all, he would only lose more face. Without saying a single word, he immediately returned to Wang Yuyan’s side.

Feng Bo’e, on the other hand, spoke. “Chief Qiao, I am definitely inferior to you in martial arts. But I’m not happy with how you beat me using that technique earlier. You caught me a bit off guard.” Qiao Feng replied, “True. I did catch you off guard. Let’s go a few more stances, shall we? I’ll receive some strokes from your broadsword.” As soon as he finished speaking, he lifted up his hand, making a snatching motion mid-air. A current of air suddenly agitated the broadsword lying on the floor, causing the broadsword to actually jump up and leap into his hand. With a flick of his finger, Qiao Feng spun the broadsword around, then presented it to Feng Bo’e.

Feng Bo’e immediately froze in utter shock. In a quivering voice, he said, “This…this is the ‘Dragon Capturing Art’? Someone exists who is actually…actually able to use this incredible technique?”

Qiao Feng smiled. “My proficiency in the skill is very basic. Please don’t laugh at me.” As he spoke, he glanced at Wang Yuyan. Earlier, when Wang Yuyan had recognized him using ‘Copious Amounts of Rain’, she had predicted with incredible foresight, as though she were a prophet. This had greatly astonished him. At this moment, he was curious as to how this young maiden who had a thorough knowledge of martial arts would comment on his execution of the ‘Dragon Capturing Art’.

Unexpectedly, Wang Yuyan didn’t say a single word. It seemed as though she hadn’t even seen Qiao Feng’s outstanding display. As it turned out, she was lost in thought. “Chief Qiao’s martial arts skill is so incredible. My cousin shares an equal amount of fame with him, and everyone in the martial world knows the saying, ‘Northern Qiao Feng, Southern Murong’. But…but my cousin’s proficiency in martial arts, how can it…how can it…”

Feng Bo’e shook his head. “I can’t beat you. The difference between our respective skill levels is too great. There’s no fun in fighting you. Chief Qiao, farewell!” Although he had just been defeated, he didn’t look crestfallen at all. The saying, ‘Victory is joyful, but defeat is delightful as well’ applied to him. The only thing he wanted to do was fight. The more exciting the battle became, the happier he was. He didn’t care at all about victory or defeat. He could honestly be described as someone was deeply in tune with the ‘Way of Battle’.

After saluting Qiao Feng, he said to Bao Butong, “Third brother, I hear that the young master went to Shaolin. There’re a lot of people there. There must be a lot of fights willing to happen as well! I’m going to go stir up some trouble! You guys take your time.” The only thing he was afraid of was missing half a chance to get into a fight. Without even waiting for Bao Butong to respond, he immediately ran off.

Bao Butong said, “Let’s go, let’s go! As my skill is inferior to others, I have lost all face! Even if I practiced for ten more years, I would still be totally defeated. I might as well stop now, and come to a rest!” He sang the words in a loud voice as he swaggered off. Even in defeat, he looked carefree and unrestrained.

Wang Yuyan said to Ah Zhu and Ah Bi, “Third brother and fourth brother have both left. Where shall we go to find…to find him?” Ah Zhu lowered her head. “The Beggar’s Clan needs to discuss some serious matters here. Let’s go back to Wuxi and discuss things there.” Turning her head towards Qiao Feng, she said, “Chief Qiao, the three of us are leaving now!” Qiao Feng nodded. “Ladies, at your leisure.”

From within the group of beggars to the east, walked out a middle-aged beggar with an elegant, refined face. “Chief, we haven’t yet avenged the murder of vice-chief Ma. How can you so casually let our enemies leave?” These words seemed on the surface to be very courteous, but the person appeared very overbearing and aggressive, not acting as though he were a subordinate at all.

Qiao Feng replied, “We came to Jiangnan for the purpose of avenging the death of vice-chief Ma. But over the past few days, I have done some investigating and now believe that he was not necessarily slain by young master Murong.”

The middle-aged beggar was named Quan Guanqing. He was nicknamed the ‘Fully Learned Scholar’. He was wise and full of stratagems, and possessed a high level of martial arts as well. Within the clan, he was an eight-bagged hall-master whose position was inferior only to the six elder’s themselves. He was in charge of the ‘Hall of Great Wisdom’. He asked, “Chief, what makes you say that?”

Wang Yuyan, Ah Zhu, and Ah Bi were just about to leave, but upon hearing someone in the Beggar’s Clan bring up Murong Fu, they immediately went to one side and quietly listened, out of their love and solicitude for him.

Qiao Feng replied, “It is based purely on my own conjecture. I cannot provide any proof.” Quan Guanqing said, “What conjectures do you have, chief? Your subordinate would like to hear them.” Qiao Feng replied, “When I was in Luoyang and heard that second brother Ma died to the ‘Throat Locking Technique’, I suddenly thought of Gusu’s Murong family, famous for ‘using an opponent’s skills, exercising them upon the opponent.’ I believed that second brother Ma had unequaled proficiency in the ‘Throat Locking Technique’, and that aside from Gusu’s Murong family, no one is capable of using second brother Ma’s own ultimate technique against him.” Quan Guanqing said, “Correct.” Qiao Feng said, “But over the past few days, more and more I have begun to think that our initial judgment might not be correct. It’s possible that there are other complications to this matter.” Quan Guanqing said, “All of the brothers here are willing to listen to your thoughts and help you clarify them.”

Qiao Feng felt that his words seemed to spring from an evil intention, and also noticed that all of the members present had a strange look on their faces. Some tremendous unforeseen event must have occurred within the clan, and he asked, “Where is the skill-instructing elder and the law-enforcing elder?” Quan Guanqing replied, “Your subordinate has not seen either of the two elders today.” Qiao Feng then asked, “And where are the hall-masters of the ‘Great Benevolence, ‘Great Trustworthiness’, ‘Great Valor’, and ‘Great Courtesy’ halls?” Quan Guanging turned and looked at a seven-bagged disciple who stood towards the northwest and asked, “Zhang Quanxiang, where is your hall-master?” The seven-bagged disciple replied, “Um…um…I don’t know.”

Qiao Feng always knew that Quan Guanqing, the hall-master of the ‘Hall of Great Wisdom’, was a person who utilized careful planning. He was a very capable and experienced person, and was originally one of his own exceptionally competent personal subordinates. But now that he was conspiring to cause upheaval, he became an exceptionally dangerous enemy. Seeing a look of shame on that seven-bagged disciple, Zhang Quanxiang, how he was unwilling to meet his own gaze, and hearing how he hemmed and hawed, Qiao Feng shouted out, “Zhang Quanxiang! You murdered the master of your hall. Right?!” Zhang Quanxiang was shocked. He hurriedly said, “I didn’t, I didn’t! Hall-master Fang is safe and sound in that place. He isn’t dead, he isn’t dead! This…this has nothing to do with me. I didn’t do it!” Qiao Feng said in a severe voice, “Then who did it?” This sentence was not said particularly loudly, but it was filled with dignity and majesty. Zhang Quanxiang couldn’t help but begin to tremble from head to foot, and his gaze turned towards Quan Guanqing.

Qiao Feng realized that the revolt had already come to pass. Even if the skill-instructing elder and the law-enforcing elder had not been slain, they were definitely in critical, life-and-death danger. He had to act quickly, before the opportunity faded away. Letting out a long sigh, he turned and asked the four elders, “Four elders, what exactly has happened?”

The four elders looked at each other, each of them hoping that another person would be the first to speak. Upon seeing this, Qiao Feng knew that the four elders were also complicit in whatever had happened. Smiling slightly, he said, “Within our clan, from myself on down, everyone highly values the code of brotherhood…” As he said this, he suddenly took two steps backwards. Each step he took was over three meters long; other people couldn’t move so quickly even if while walking forwards, and their steps would not be as large. After taking those two backward steps, he was within one meter of Quan Guanqing. Without turning around, he shot both hand backwards and seized Quan Guanqing’s ‘Zhongting’ and ‘Jiuyi’ acupoints, located on his chest.

Qiao Feng exerted his internal energy through his hands, sending it through Quan Guanqing’s captured acupoints and into his meridians, where it surged to the ‘Zhongwei’ and ‘Yangtai’ acupoints near his kneejoints. Feeling his legs go soft, Quan Guanqing couldn’t help but fall to his knees.

Quan Guanqing possessed outstanding martial arts ability, and was not at all inferior to the four elders. How could it be that he was subdued in but a single stroke, without even having the chance to retaliate? Everyone present turned pale. They were all astonished and fearful, uncertain as to how to proceed.

Qiao Feng had surmised that Quan Guanqing must be the principal troublemaker in this revolt. Qiao Feng knew that if he did not subdue him immediately, there would be no end of problems. Even if he was able to suppress the traitors, it would be difficult to avoid a bloody, fratricidal civil war within the clan itself. While about to face tough opponents, how could the Beggar’s Clan inflict wounds on itself? He saw that of the people present, everyone aside from the hall-master of the ‘Great Righteousness’ seemed to have been deluded and mislead by Quan Guanqing. If they began to fight each other, things would become very difficult to handle. Thus, he intentionally turned around to ask a question of the four elders and, while Quan Guanqing was not on his guard, suddenly retreated and sealed his acupoints. Outwardly, this may have appeared as a simple, uninterrupted action, like a hare rearing its head and a hawk descending to slay it, but in actuality Qiao Feng had to draw upon everyone he had ever learned to carry it out. If Qiao Feng’s backwards strikes were off-target even slightly, even though he would have been able to subdue Quan Guanqing, he wouldn’t have had the chance to send his internal energy to Quan Guanqing’s kneejoints, and Quan Guanqing’s co-conspirators might have rushed forward to aid him, forcing a battle. But with Quan Guanqing falling to his knees, everyone present thought that he was actually surrendering to Qiao Feng, and thus no one dared to make any rash moves.

Qiao Feng turned around. He lightly clapped Quan Guanqing on the shoulder and said, “Since you admit your mistake, there’s no need for you to kneel down. However, I cannot fail to mete out punishment to you for going against your superiors. We’ll slowly discuss how to handle this.” With a light tap of his elbow, he sealed Quan Quanqing’s ‘Mute’ acupoint, preventing him from speaking.

Qiao Feng knew that Quan Guanqing was a superb orator. If he was given a chance to speak and incite the people present, it would cause many problems. This was a moment of great crisis, and thus he had to use drastic measures to deal with it. He had subdued Quan Guanqing and forced him to his knees. Now, he turned to Zhang Quanxiang and loudly said, “Lead hall-master Jiang of the ‘Hall of Great Righteousness’ to invite the skill-instructing elder and the law-enforcing elder here. If you obediently listen to my commands, your own offenses will be lessened. Everyone else must immediately sit down. Without my permission, none of you are allowed to rise!”

Zhang Quanxiang was both shocked and overjoyed. He repeatedly agreed, “Yes! Yes!”

Hall-master Jiang of the ‘Hall of Great Righteousness’ was not part of this revolt. When he saw how Quan Guanqing and the others dared to stage an armed rebellion against their superiors, he was filled with so much rage that his face was swollen red. He breathed heavily and furiously. Only now, upon hearing Qiao Feng order him to go rescue the two elders, did he calm down slightly. He said to the twenty or so members of his hall, “Our clan has unfortunately fallen victim to turmoil. Now is the time when all of us must exert all our efforts to repay our chief’s benevolence. Everyone must protect the chief and obey all his commands!” He was afraid that the four elders would, once he left, launch an attack against Qiao Feng. Although the people of the ‘Hall of Great Righteousness’ were far outnumbered by the traitors, the chief couldn’t be allowed to face the traitors all alone.

But Qiao Feng said, “No! Brother Jiang, take all of the brothers within your hall with you. Nothing can go wrong on this critical mission of saving the two elders.” Not daring to disobey him, hall-master Jiang replied, “Yes sir!” Then he said, “Chief, please be careful. I will come back as soon as possible.” Smiling, Qiao Feng said, “Everyone here is a brother with whom I have gone through life-and-death experiences with. It’s just that they have some temporary complaints. It is no big deal. Set your mind at rest and go.” Then he added, “Send someone to inform the Western Xia’s ‘League of Elites’ that our meeting at M