Evergreen Immortal-Chapter 4: The Jianghu
"Someone's really following me?"
Li Rui glanced behind him. Given his cautious nature, how could he not have some counter-surveillance awareness?
That wiry man behind him had looked at him at least seven or eight times when he was buying medicine. The moment he stepped out of the black market, the man followed.
He had deliberately worn extra layers and even covered his face with a scarf, making himself look unapproachable.
Why did the other party target him specifically?
With this thought, his pace quickened slightly.
"Trying to run?"
Seeing Li Rui speed up, the wiry man immediately picked up his own pace to follow.
As they passed a street corner, he was just about to see what was beyond the bend when suddenly!
A handful of yellow sand was flung directly into his face!
"F*ck!"
The wiry man cursed loudly, his eyes stung by the sand, making it impossible to open them. He stumbled around blindly, but being an experienced fighter, he instinctively raised his arms to shield his head, curling his body up to protect his vital spots.
However, Li Rui stepped forward and delivered a solid kick to the wiry man's left leg.
From his earlier observations, he had noticed that the man had a limp on his right foot.
Kicking the good leg is definitely the right move.
The wiry man's left ankle throbbed in pain. Large beads of sweat seeped from his forehead, and he staggered before collapsing to the ground.
Li Rui lunged forward, straddling the wiry man's body, and began pummeling him with his fists.
Very quickly, the wiry man's face was swollen and bruised, and he started begging for mercy.
F*ck, f*ck, f*ck!
Wasn't he supposed to be a seventy-year-old geezer?!
How the hell is he this strong?!
These punches hit harder than the martial instructors at the dojo, they were hard enough to kill a cow! If he keeps hitting me, I'm done for!
Just as the wiry man was about to lose consciousness, Li Rui finally stopped, holding his fist in midair.
He had controlled both his strength and the man's injuries perfectly.
"Throw me a vine!"
The unexpected words made the wiry man freeze for a moment, and then he suddenly lit up with joy, "A sharp vine, the last word shines."
"Which waterway do you travel?"
The wiry man grew even more excited. "So it’s old Lima He, of the Rong character door. A laugh to the heavens, a blade drawn at the door!"
"Ah, so you're one of Shopkeeper Wu’s people." Li Rui loosened his grip slightly. "A flood may wash over the Dragon King's Temple, but the Eight Gates are one family. Under the Northwestern Sky, a single rooster crows—outlaws do not betray their own."
The wiry man quickly scrambled to his feet, cupped his hands, and grinned.
"If Green Forest preys on its own, they’re no damn good!"
Li Rui responded, "Rules are rules. We eat from the Ge's bowl."
"Big Brother!"
The tense atmosphere instantly eased.
The two had been speaking in Jianghu Spring Codes, a kind of underworld slang used in Qinghe.
"Vine" was a way of asking for one's name. "Sharp vine" meant his surname was Ding, and "the last word shines" meant his full name was Ding Liang.
"Which waterway do you travel?" was a way of asking about his profession.
"Feng, Ma, Yan, Que; Heng, Lan, Rong, Ge"—referred to the eight secret gates of the Jianghu underworld, all dealing in shady business.
The wiry man belonged to the Rong Gate, which meant he was a thief.
And "A laugh to the heavens, a blade drawn at the door"—this was coded speech indicating that his boss's surname was Wu.
In Qinghe City, every Dark Gate had a Piaoba Zi, a gang leader. The Rong Sect’s boss was a man surnamed Wu, who had once been a Daoke (a blade-wielding enforcer) in the Heng Gate (mountain bandits). He was quite infamous, though how he ended up leading the Rong Gate was unknown.
Li Rui's phrase, "We eat from the Ge's bowl," meant he was from the Ge Gate, which specialized in being enforcers—thugs, bodyguards, and hired muscle.
The wiry man thought to himself, "He's definitely an old hand in the Jianghu!"
Li Rui had first established dominance with his fists, then revealed his identity through their coded language. The wiry man was completely subdued by this combination of power and wit.
At fifty years old, Li Rui hadn’t lived in vain. Years ago, he traveled with the Zhu family’s merchant caravan and learned many secret codes and underworld rules.
He was long past the age of reckless violence. If he were younger and hot-blooded, he might have just beaten this guy to death.
But then what?
Anyone who has killed before knows - taking a life is easy, but cleaning up afterward is complicated.
In a busy market like this, it's nearly impossible to kill someone without leaving a trace.
And these underworld types always have companions. If either the authorities or the wiry man’s allies found out, endless trouble would follow. It wouldn’t be strange for his whole family to be destroyed.
This was where Jianghu experience became invaluable.
Those who knew these secret codes were seasoned Jianghu veterans, usually backed by powerful groups.
In the underworld, even when two people cross paths, both would be wary. If they could verify each other’s backgrounds, and recognize each other’s affiliations, they could avoid unnecessary conflict.
Luckily, this wiry man wasn’t some clueless rookie. Otherwise, Li Rui had already thought of eighteen ways to dispose of the body.
The wiry man smacked himself twice. "Blind as a bat, stepped on my own kind."
"We’re all brothers here," Li Rui said. "This area has a lot of 'Eagle-grabbing-grandsons.' Be careful."
"Eagle-grabbing-grandsons" meant the authorities.
After saying this, Li Rui was ready to leave.
The wiry man quickly called out, spat on the ground, and cupped his hands again.
"I didn’t recognize Mount Tai! Some brat set me up, told me you were seventy years old and easy to bully! Easy my ass!"
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. He had come to pick on an old man, only to get pinned down and beaten instead.
Wasn't this supposed to be an old-man-beating session?!
If he hadn’t run into a fellow Jianghu member who knew what he was doing, he'd already be dead!
Li Rui paused. "Was it a young man, about six feet tall, dressed in black?"
The wiry man was stunned. "You know him too?"
Li Rui's expression darkened.
Ma Yang!
"Many thanks, brother."
The wiry man laughed. "Big Brother Li, you're righteous, I won’t hide it from you. Come drink with the Rong Gate sometime, it’s on me!"
"We’ll see."
Li Rui didn’t linger. Picking up the medicinal herbs he had left in the alley, he quickly disappeared into the maze of streets.
Only when the wiry man was completely out of sight did he finally relax his guard.
In the Jianghu, knowing secret codes wasn’t enough, you had to observe tone and body language. Even if the words were correct, if your attitude was off, people still wouldn’t believe you. That was called "leaking air."
He had taken every precaution before heading out this time, yet he was still being watched. Turns out, someone had sold him out.
"My good apprentice!"
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Surprisingly, Li Rui felt no anger. Instead, he was eerily calm.
It seemed that his master-disciple relationship with Ma Yang had come to an end.
Ma Yang had even colluded with people from the underworld, everyone knew that the Rong Gate didn’t just steal money. They often killed for profit.
Clearly, they were after his life!
If Li Rui died, Ma Yang would inherit his job in the Zhu household, with double the pay.
That little bastard’s abacus beads were practically flying at my face!
Since his apprentice had no benevolence, Li Rui saw no need to hold back. After all, surviving in the Zhu household for decades wasn’t just about being honest and hardworking.
A cold light flashed in Li Rui’s eyes.
A man with a blade will eventually have blood on his hands!
"Return to the Zhu family first."
But just as Li Rui was about to leave the alley, lines of small text appeared before his eyes.
【Congratulations to the Host on completing the achievement: "Jianghu Rising Star – First Step into the Jianghu."】
guh such a tricky chapter
