69novels Chapter 22 The Bear's Ambush
Chapter 22 The Bear's Ambush
Just as Zhao Yu was lost in thought, a figure crept up to him; it was the waiter from that day.
He looked around, then bent down and lowered his voice: "Young master, I... I think I've found the Xiangyang Alley you mentioned."
Zhao Yu's teacup paused abruptly, and he turned sharply to look at him, asking in a deep voice, "What you say is true?"
Sensing Zhao Yu's urgency, Xiao Er instinctively straightened his back, patted his chest, and began to boast.
"Young master, how could I dare to lie to you?"
He said excitedly, "These past few days, my legs have almost given out. I've been running around the whole city, asking door to door, and my lips are practically worn out, but not a single person knows about Xiangyang Lane."
"I was about to give up, but yesterday at the city gate, I gave two hot steamed buns to an old beggar who had been squatting in a corner for half his life, and that's how I got the truth out of him."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Yu nodded knowingly.
That makes sense.
The beggars who spend their years begging in the city wander the streets and alleys, going from house to house begging for food. There is no corner they don't know well.
Those abandoned old alleys, unknown even to the locals, are best known only to those who make a living on the streets every day.
The waiter was still smugly boasting, "Young master, you don't know, this alley wasn't called Xiangyang Alley decades ago, it was called Xiangrifang!"
"Later, the city changed the names of the streets and alleys, and it was renamed Xiangyang Alley, but the name never spread. In addition, that area had long been abandoned, with only a few dilapidated houses remaining, and not even two households living there. Ordinary people never went there, so naturally not many people knew about it."
"Where's the address?" Zhao Yu had no time to listen to his rambling and asked directly.
"It's inside the West Gate. Go south to the end of Nanhou Street, turn into the innermost dead-end alley without a sign, and that's Xiangyang Alley," the waiter quickly gave the directions.
Zhao Yu felt a sense of relief; the weight that had been hanging over him for days was finally lifted.
He casually took out a ten-tael snowflake-patterned silver ingot from his pocket and placed it on the table in front of the waiter.
"It's yours."
The waiter's eyes widened instantly, and he frantically waved his hands, "Young master! This, this is too much, I absolutely dare not accept it."
Ten taels of silver was a fortune for him; even if he worked frugally for ten years, he might not be able to save that much.
"Take it." Zhao Yu pushed the silver into his arms, not allowing him to refuse. "This is what you deserve."
Having said that, he lost all interest in sitting down and strode out of the restaurant.
Once outside, Zhao Yu lightly touched the ground with his toes, circulating his internal energy, and unleashed the Lingbo Weibu technique.
He was like a wisp of smoke, silently leaping onto the roof and soaring along the ridge of the buildings facing the street.
Halfway there, Zhao Yu suddenly stopped and his ears twitched slightly.
The Northern Darkness Divine Art had already honed his six senses to the extreme; he could clearly hear even the faintest breathing sounds from dozens of feet away, let alone the sound of footsteps falling on the tiles.
The commotion in the distance had already reached his ears clearly.
A cold smile curled at the corner of Zhao Yu's lips. Sure enough, someone was following behind.
He didn't turn around, as if he hadn't noticed the tail behind him at all, and continued to rush towards Xiangyang Alley without changing his speed at all.
In no time at all, they arrived at the alleyway the waiter had mentioned.
It was indeed a dilapidated alley, with waist-high weeds at the entrance, and most of the walls on both sides collapsed. There wasn't even a sign indicating the alley's name.
If you hadn't inquired beforehand, no one would have guessed that this was the so-called Xiangyang Lane.
Zhao Yu slipped into the alley and went straight to the Lin family's old house at the deepest part.
The gate to the courtyard was so badly damaged that only the frame remained. Pushing it open revealed a yard full of weeds. Half of the roof tiles had collapsed, the doors and windows were rotten, and the air was filled with the musty smell of someone who had been living there for years.
Following the account in the original text, he went straight to the Buddhist shrine next to the main house.
The clay Buddha statues in the Buddhist hall had long since fallen to the ground, and the offering table was rotten to the point of being just a frame. The floor was covered with dust and cobwebs.
Zhao Yu glanced around, lightly touched the ground with his toes, and his figure soared upwards. He reached out and touched the crossbeam in the center of the Buddhist hall, and sure enough, he felt a hard object tightly wrapped in oilcloth.
When the oilcloth was removed and the cloth was unwrapped, a yellowish monk's robe was revealed. The robe was covered with tiny characters embroidered with needlepoints, the first eight characters of which caught the eye: "To practice this skill, one must first castrate oneself."
Zhao Yu glanced at it only once before immediately closing the cassock and casually stuffing it into his pocket.
He naturally couldn't practice this technique, nor did he intend to. Besides, now was not the time to examine the contents of the technique.
Having obtained the goods, Zhao Yu didn't delay and turned to walk slowly into the courtyard.
With his hands behind his back and his head down, he spoke loudly: "Elder Tong, you've followed me all the way from Blackwood Cliff to Fuzhou City, a long journey of thousands of miles. You must be tired by now, right? At your age, don't you find it tiring?"
No sooner had the words been spoken than a cold snort came from a rooftop not far away, and the figure of a burly old man with a bushy beard suddenly appeared. It was none other than Tong Baixiong, the elder of the Wind and Thunder Hall of the Sun Moon Divine Sect.
His gaze was piercing as he stared intently at Zhao Yu in the courtyard. His gruff voice boomed like a bell: "Good lad, you've got some skills! I thought you hadn't noticed, but it turns out you were already waiting here!"
"Does he really think he can look down on all the heroes of the world just because he's practiced that evil Star-Absorbing Technique? What shady stuff has he stolen this time, sneaking around all the way to Fuzhou?"
Zhao Yu grinned, turned around, and looked at Tong Baixiong on the roof, his tone tinged with mockery: "Oh? Elder Tong wants to know? Then why don't you come down and get it yourself? Back on Blackwood Cliff, you couldn't stop me in such treacherous terrain, and now you've brought just these Tom, Dick, and Harry, and you think you can take me down?"
As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of followers dressed in the attire of the Sun Moon Cult instantly stood up on the roof beams around the courtyard. Each of them held a weapon and had fierce eyes, completely surrounding the courtyard.
Tong Baixiong's eyes darkened: "Boy, I only spoke up to advise you because I value your abilities. If you're willing to return to Blackwood Cliff with me and kowtow to the sect leader to beg for forgiveness, with your skills, you'll surely rise to a high position in the sect, and your future will be limitless! Otherwise..."
"Otherwise what?" Zhao Yu interrupted him directly, his smile vanishing instantly, replaced by a chilling glint in his eyes. "Elder Tong, there's no need for such nonsense. If you want to take me down, bring on whatever tricks you have!"
Seeing that he was unmoved by reason, Tong Baixiong's face turned completely cold. He suddenly raised his hand and slapped his palm hard.
In an instant, the cultists on the surrounding rooftops all moved aside, and suddenly a series of powerful bows painted black appeared in their hands.
The bowstrings were drawn taut like the moon, and the sharp arrowheads gleamed coldly in the sunlight, all aimed at Zhao Yu in the courtyard!
The arrow is on the bowstring, ready to be released at any moment!