The Wei River was flowing and the stars were shining.

There were three lights shining under the willows on the river bank. The lights and the stars reflected with each other in the river, deep and quiet.

It turned out to be three ships at the place where the lights were blazing.

These ships were longer than ten meters, their masts were higher than three meters, and their cabins were large enough to hold twenty people. The whole ship could carry six tons of cargos. These ships were the most common cargo ships shuttling in the Wei River. They were not eye-catching.

There were two people in the bow of the front cargo ship. The person sitting on a packing case was a woman with a slim figure and long hair. Her eyes were bright and her age was less than twenty. Since the light was dim, it was hard to tell if her skin was fair, but her features were as pretty as those of the girl brought up in a humble family.

Standing next to the woman was a strong young man with a long knife in his arms. He stood still, like quincuncial piles.

“We’re going to take action, Ugly Man, are you afraid?” The woman sitting on a packing case was quiet and reserved. Her voice was very light like the gentle breeze, mild and harmless.

“I’m not afraid.” The man with a knife, named Ugly Man, replied in a concise way.

The woman knew he was dull, so she did not expect him to answer more. She ducked her head in silence and looked at the Wei River in front of the ship. Stars reflected in the river were beautiful and brilliant.

“Aren’t you afraid that you will die?” the woman asked.

The man with a knife glanced at the woman. “I’m not afraid to die as long as you’re alive.”

The woman, who was the leader, was stunned for a while. She bit her lower lip, speechless.

“We all may die because we’re just being used.” The woman stared at the Wei River, lost in thought. Her voice spread out gently like the morning mist. “But what can our Changhe Gang do? The other side is so powerful that we are unable to revolt against him. So when he showed up, I have known that a lot of our people will die.”

The woman suddenly smiled as she said this. Her voice became low and sad, “Since my father died three months ago, I have become the leader of the Changhe Gang. From then on, I’m not afraid of death anymore. There’re many river gangs along the Wei River and they all make a living by this big river. My father died with such high cultivation, so it’s just a matter of time for me to die.”

Ugly Man thought for a moment and said, “Duke Wei is a big shot in Chang’an City. He has promised us to help the Changhe Gang become the biggest gang in the Wei River as long as we work for him. Over time, you can command all gangs in the Wei River… You won’t die!”

The woman shook her head. “I don’t care if the Changhe Gang could become the biggest gang in the Wei River. I just want to avenge my father by killing the Heijiao Gang who killed him!”

Ugly Man said, “The Heijiao Gang is the biggest gang in the Wei River.”

“You’re right. So we have no choice but turn to Duke Wei,” the woman murmured with her head low.

On the second cargo ship, there were two people sitting on the floor opposite each other with a light in the cabin.

The middle-aged man on the left had a jade-like face and a beautiful beard. He was drinking a bowl of tea in good manners. The old man sitting opposite him was in a black robe and had white hair. His eyes were sharp and he was energetic. The tea in front of him was left untouched.

“The Changhe Gang is a small gang with less than tens of members and five practitioners of Qi techniques. If we want to finish the task that the Prime Minister has ordered, they will only be hindrances. Why does Duke Wei insist to do that?” The old black-robed man held his tongue for some time, but finally he couldn’t help complaining.

The middle-aged man with a beautiful beard, named Wei Jiangnan, was a younger cousin of Wei Baoheng. He put down his tea bowl and said with a smile, “We have to deal with Prince An, but we can’t reveal our identities. The Changhe Gang is to help us to conceal our identities. After the incident, all the blame can be laid at the Changhe Gang… With the lesson of Li Guanshu, we need to be more careful.”

The old black-robed man snorted. “Li Ye, that guy, has just entered the Qi-refining stage, like an insect. I can kill him in a blink of an eye, leaving no trace. What does it matter?”

“No, no, no. I repeat it again, we’re not going to kill him. He is the Grand Prince and the vice magistrate of the Chang’an Office. If he dies, the imperial court will definitely investigate it strictly… We only need to take him down and imprison him for a period of time so that he cannot investigate the matter in Huangli County. By that time, Prime Minister will accuse the Chang’an Office of their dereliction of duty and it will be reasonable to dismiss the magistrate of the Chang’an Office.” Wei Jiangnan smiled with confidence.

The old black-robed man disagreed. “Indecisive!”

Wei Jiangnan looked at the old man with a straight face. “Chen Jianghe, you have been in Prime Minister’s Manor for more than ten years. For your cultivation and the assignments that you have completed, you should have ranked first class in Prime Minister’s Manor. Don’t you understand why you’re still second-class until now?”

Chen Jianghe, the old man in black, was stunned and his face darkened, speechless.

From time to time, someone from the river bank entered the cabin and whispered to Wei Jiangnan.

Wei Jiangnan looked at Chen Jianghe. “Prince An has arrived at Huangli County. You leave with the Changhe Gang immediately. Remember, the matter must go according to the plan with no mistakes!”

Chen Jianghe stood up with a gloomy face. He cupped his hands towards Wei Jiangnan and left the cabin.

Huangli County.

The dock warehouse in Huangli County had been burned, leaving only a ruin. The dock, which used to be bright, now was dark.

At the top of a hill which was one kilometer away from the dock, there was a cottage among the trees with no more than three houses.

There was a huge stove in the biggest house. There was fire in the stove, late at night. A man in his prime, wearing only a black leather apron, was hammering a red-hot lump of fine iron with a sledgehammer, his sweat pouring down like the rain. Sparks flew off in all directions.

The man was swarthy. He looked honest and ordinary, but muscles in his arms, like small hills, moved ups and downs as he swung his arms. If the “hungry” noble women in Chang’an City saw this scene, they would probably get excited.

However, the shape of the fine iron that he was forging was a bit strange. Look closely, that was a kitchen knife which was about to take shape.

The man was concentrating on the kitchen knife. Suddenly, a loud child’s voice came behind the house. His voice was penetrating. “Liu Dazheng!”

The man did not stop at all as he heard the sudden and loud shout. He responded loudly, “Why are you yelling at midnight? Don’t you forget to take toilet paper again?”

He hadn’t finished his words yet, and the child’s voice became louder. He roared, “Liu Dazheng! I forgot to bring toilet paper! Bring it to me quickly!”

Liu Dazheng didn’t look back. “No way! Use the leaves!”

In the toilet behind the house, the child’s voice paused for a while, and suddenly it sounded again. “Beyond my reach!”

Liu Dazheng dipped the kitchen knife into the cold water with iron tongs. “Are you an idiot? You certainly can’t reach the leaves as you squatted in the toilet. If you go down in front of the leaves, you can reach them.”

“Liu Dazheng! You bastard!”

Liu Dazheng snorted and lifted his chin happily as he thought of the boy’s embarrassment.

A moment later, a boy of seven or eight years old walked in the courtyard from the side of the house. Meanwhile, Liu Dazheng had already taken out his tobacco pipe and he was tearing tobacco with ease, sitting on the threshold.

“Liu Dazheng! You don’t bring toilet paper to me once again! I won’t cook tomorrow so that you will have nothing to eat!” The boy pointed at the man’s nose and shouted angrily.

At least Liu Dazheng was bronzed while the boy was as black as coal. He almost melted into the darkness. Only his teeth looked quite white, especially in the dark night.

Liu Dazheng glanced at the little boy disdainfully, and then he lit his pipe and took a puff, enjoying his tobacco. “Well, then you can’t expect me to catch fish for you in the river.”

The swarthy little boy, who had been very angry a moment before, felt depressed as he heard this. He ran towards the man quickly, craned his neck, and smiled obsequiously. “Daddy!”

Liu Dazheng turned his head and pretended to be disdainful.

When the father and son were making fun of each other, someone came up from the winding mountain roads to the front of the cottage. Without greeting, he entered the door directly and didn’t even look at Liu Dazheng. He went straight into the house and looked at the kitchen knives hanging on the shelf.

The man was dressed in a cyan Taoist robe, with a peach wood hairpin on his head and a long sword with a primitive shape on his back. He had an untainted temperament and his robe was spotless as if he had never been in a hurry.

The boy got angry as he saw the Taoist swagger into the house with a supercilious look. He stretched out a finger to point at the man and wanted to say a word. Suddenly, he thought of something, so he asked Liu Dazheng who was calm. “Do you know this guy?”

Liu Dazheng exhaled a mouthful of white smoke and said coldly, “I don’t know him.”

Although the boy was young, he was clever. He could tell that Liu Dazheng was lying, so he turned his head and looked at the strange Taoist with his bright eyes. He determined to wait and see.

“The First Knife of the Central Plains, who was famous all over the country in the past, is now hiding in the desolate place and works as a blacksmith for forging kitchen knives! If our master knows, I don’t know whether he will come with his horsetail whisk to beat you so hard that even himself cannot recognize you.”

The Taoist looked at the kitchen knives in the house and sneered. He looked back at Liu Dazheng with sarcasm in his eyes.

The boy blinked, nudged the man’s arm and looked curious. “Liu Dazheng, are you the First Knife of the Central Plains that he is talking about?”

The man was busy smoking and did not answer.

The Taoist stepped back to the door and glanced at the boy. “Who is this wimpy kid?”

The little boy had been keeping himself out of the affair, however, upon hearing the Taoist’s words, he was unhappy. He jumped up and said, “You bastard! Who do you call a wimpy kid?”

The Taoist was indifferent and he remained looking at Liu Dazheng. “You’ve only lived in seclusion for a few years, so this little kid could not be your son. Is he your apprentice? Or your adopted son? But he seems nothing special. Oh, he’s black. Oh, no, he’s fucking black!”

The boy was so angry that he shouted loudly and wanted to kill him with a kitchen knife.

“Tell me, why are you coming here?” Liu Dazheng finally talked to the Taoist.

The Taoist stretched out his hands and looked at the dock in Huangli County. “In May of this year, the pond of green lotuses, which had been raised in Niushou Mountain, disappeared. On that day, there was a fierce fight in Sanqingguan. But when I went to investigate it later, whether Nangong Diyi of the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, who destroyed Sanqingguan, or the youths of the Imperial Clan, who were forced to Niushou Mountain by Li Guanshu, they hadn’t seen the green lotuses… except for one person, to be exact, except for two people.”

Liu Dazheng finished smoking and knocked the ash on the threshold. “I have already retired from Jianghu and lived in seclusion. What does it have to do with me?”

The Taoist looked at Liu Dazheng and chuckled. “Of course, it has something to do with you. Although I haven’t found out, the two most suspected people at the moment are Song Jiao and Li Ye.”

Liu Dazheng frowned.

The Taoist laughed more loudly. “What’s more, they will arrive at Huangli County tomorrow. Is it a coincidence? Is it interesting?”

Liu Dazheng did not speak, but the Taoist had already clapped his hands. “What a coincidence! It’s so interesting!”