The Regressor of Mount Hua
Chapter 360. White Horse Gang Boss (2)

Chapter 360. White Horse Gang Boss (2)

The White Horse Gang of the Nine Water Gangs was destroyed.

"We surrender!"

"Please spare us, Great Hero!"

The White Horse Gang Boss was one of only eighteen experts among the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest. Everyone was terrified to see him defeated so easily.

Above all, who was the mastermind behind this destruction? He was one of the Absolute Masters among the Six Empyrean Overlords—the pinnacle of the murim.

Whether underwater or not, he moved like a meteor. But more importantly, the sight of him running on the surface of the water didn’t look human at all.

They were even more terrified after hearing what had happened from the comrades who had guided Zhou Xuchuan to the White Horse Cave.

"Fine, I'll spare you, so do as I say.”

His first priority was rescuing the people imprisoned in the White Horse Cave.

“Ha...”

He was furious when he saw people coming out from inside the White Horse Cave, the den of pirates.

"Just how many people were in there?"

There were roughly two hundred captives.

From young children to the elderly, there was a wide range regardless of gender or age. If there was one thing they all had in common, it was the look of horror on their faces.

It was a grotesque sight.

"Everything was under the command of the Boss!" the White Horse Gang Vice Boss said quickly when he saw Zhou Xuchuan’s expression harden.

"Y-you bastard..."

The White Horse Gang Boss trembled at the sight of the White Horse Gang Vice Boss.

"What did you say, you demonic bastard? Am I wrong?!" the White Horse Gang Vice Boss shouted.

Loyalty between thieves was only something that appeared in stories.

"You dog basta—!"

"If you raise your voices again, your fingers will start to fly."

"..."

Both the Boss and the Vice Boss fell silent immediately.

Zhou Xuchuan talked with a person who looked like they could serve as a representative among the two hundred hostages.

“I’m not here to harm you, I’m here to save you. Don’t worry. My name is Zhou Xuchuan.”

“Zhou Xuchuan? Are you the Sword God Zhou Xuchuan?”

“Yes.”

"Praise be!"

The hostage group, who confirmed his name once again, hugged each other and cheered, and only then did they finally feel relieved.

For those who were locked up, waiting for their deaths every day, this was truly welcome news.

“Do you know anything about the White Horse Gang?”

“Since we were locked up, we don’t know much...”

“It’s okay. Please tell me everything you do know.”

Zhou Xuchuan didn't believe the words of mere thieves.

A thief was someone who could easily lie to survive. He needed another perspective in case something was being hidden.

"We were kidnapped from various places. Starting with places like Yichang, some of us made our living on the Yangtze River, while others came from mountain and river regions in different areas.”

“From other places?”

"Yes, yes. From what we've heard, whenever there’s a shortage of manpower or supplies, slaves like us are sent to other Gangs if requested."

“Oh, really.”

Zhou Xuchuan frowned.

His heart boiled with anger, but he restrained himself for the sake of the anxious prisoners in front of him.

“Thank you for explaining it to me. You all have suffered so much.”

“Excuse me, Great Hero. What will happen to us?”

“I will help you all return to your hometowns. I will also provide you with travel expenses, so don’t worry.”

Zhou Xuchuan put a bag of gold and silver taels into the representative’s hand.

"W-while we are grateful that you saved us, this is...?!"

"Please think of this as compensation for the hardships and damages you have suffered so far. Accept it freely. If you gather the others by hometowns or destinations, I will provide not only travel expenses but also compensation for damages to each representative there.”

Zhou Xuchuan kicked the asses of the White Horse Gang Vice Boss and the group of pirates and ordered them to bring him any valuables they could.

"Choose a few of the healthy among you and send them to the nearby towns to inform the Righteous and Evil Alliance or the Gold Will Merchants of this location. They'll understand if you pass on my title and this letter to them."

After roughly writing down the circumstances, he wrote down the codes for communication for the Righteous and Evil Alliance and the Martial Alliance.

After Tang Mingren's betrayal, the Strategist Zhuge Xiang had reorganized the confidential documents and codewords, giving them over to Zhou Xuchuan separately.

“Thank you, thank you!”

The people who had been captured, including the representative, expressed their sincere gratitude to Zhou Xuchuan and shed tears.

“Oh, and we, the Righteous and Evil Alliance, will take care of reporting to the imperial government, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

Ordinarily, the murim and the imperial government didn’t interfere with one another. However, there were exceptions.

This incident, much like what happened with the Green Dragon Gang, involved pirates who preyed on large numbers of innocent people.

“As you all may have realized, the treasures I have given you are those plundered by the White Horse Gang from all over the Central Plains. If the imperial government finds out that those are stolen goods, they may be confiscated."

“Understood!”

The White Horse Gang would be handed over to the imperial government troops later.

There was work to be done before that.

Zhou Xuchuan took care of the people who had been captured and then confined all the pirates.

In that moment, the roles of hostage and captor were completely reversed.

Zhou Xuchuan took out the White Horse Gang Boss, the White Horse Gang Vice Boss, and a few pirates to confirm if their answers were true.

It was, of course, for interrogation.

“White Horse Gang Boss. You know very well what I want you to say.”

“O-of course.”

The White Horse Gang Boss flinched and touched the bandage covering the part where his finger was cut off.

“Tell me everything that happened since the former Stockade Boss, Meng Gang’s death.”

As Zhou Xuchuan heard the history of Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest from the White Horse Gang Boss, he also learned about the current Stockade Boss, Hong Xialang.

How annoying.

Hong Xialang, the Stockade Boss of the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest.

The Red Forest is a place where survival of the fittest is the strongest tenet, just like the Demonic Cult. So, there's no need to mention her martial skills, but from what I've heard so far, she's also incredibly intelligent... so another annoying person has joined the Dark Heavens Association.

Zhou Xuchuan had already investigated Hong Xialang after the Eighteen Stockades of the Red Forest became a problem. What he had discovered back then was similar to what he had heard from the White Horse Gang Boss.

The only difference was that he could learn more detailed information.

While Meng Gang was Meng Gang, Hong Xialang was no pushover, either.

“How much do you know about the Dark Heavens Association?”

“That's..."

The White Horse Gang Boss, who valued his life, answered honestly as he was questioned.

So it wasn’t much, frankly. Well, until recently, this man had been at odds with the Stockade Boss and even held a grudge. It would have been stranger if she had told him anything important.

Just in case, Zhou asked the White Horse Gang Vice Boss and some of the other pirates, but the answers he received were similar.

He glared at the prisoners, wondering if they were lying. However, they were all clearly terrified, pleading that they had told him everything. It didn’t seem like there was anything more to extract.

Instead, he was able to get something else.

“Is this information reliable?” Zhou Xuchuan asked, holding the map he had been given.

“T-that’s right. The marked places are the hideouts and transportation routes used by the White Horse Gang and several of the Nine Water Gangs.”

The White Horse Gang Vice Boss forced a smile, half from fear and half from cowardice. He had a strong will to survive.

“Good. That's to my liking."

“Hehehe, thank you!”

Zhou Xuchuan smiled contentedly, and the White Horse Gang Vice Boss’ face also brightened.

“What... will happen to us now?”

The White Horse Gang Boss looked around and asked cautiously.

“I'll have to cripple your dantians."

"Pardon?"

The voices of the Gang Boss and the Vice Gang Boss overlapped.

To a martial artist, a dantian was another heart.

If one’s dantian was destroyed, not only would they be unable to use martial arts, but their qi and vitality would be damaged, leaving them physically weakened for a long time.

“As promised, I won't kill you. I'm only handing you over to the people you imprisoned all this time, so don’t worry.”

"D-don't be ridiculous..."

The White Horse Gang Vice Boss tried to rise from his seat, his face twisted in rage.

Bam!

“Ugh!"

Zhou Xuchuan’s foot landed directly below his navel.

“What? Did you really think that your sins would be forgiven just because you cooperated?”

The eyes looking down at him were icy cold.

“Stop dreaming, thief."

***

Waterway Gang.

"...What?" Hong Xialang asked as she handed over the gourd containing liquor.

“The White Horse Gang was destroyed," her confidant, the Waterway Gang Vice Boss Ye Piao, answered.

“What the hell are you saying?!”

Crack!

The gourd in Hong Xialang’s hand was crushed.

The liquor soaked the floor, and a strong smell filled the air.

"It's a report we just received. Because of the seriousness of the situation, I verified it several times."

"This is ridiculous."

Hong Xialang frowned and sat back down.

“The White Horse Gang Boss, that bastard may not know his place, but he’s an expert and a genius.”

Just a short while ago, he had been nominated as a candidate for the next Stockade Boss alongside Hong Xialang.

He was a top-tier talent.

"I just can’t understand how he was defeated without even making a sound, especially when he had five hundred subordinates with him. Considering their numbers, the enemy would have needed several times more troops."

They would have fought on the river, not on land. That kind of environment was difficult even for an expert.

"If they moved that large of an army, it would have been impossible for us not to notice it whether it was on the river or the land..."

"It wasn't a great army."

“What?”

“He was alone.”

“Alone? What the hell are you talking about?"

Hong Xialang’s face stiffened.

“It was Zhou Xuchuan. It’s said that this was the sole act of the Sword God."

BOOM!

Hong Xialang slammed the table in front of her.

It shattered completely from the impact. The floor even seemed to cave in.

“Zhou Xuchuan, that little brat...”

She already had a bad relationship with him. She disliked him just as much as the Dark Heavens Association did. Her anger was unimaginable.

I knew that the Six Empyrean Overlords were monsters... but no matter what, something like this seems impossible.

The Six Empyrean Overlords stood at the pinnacle of martial arts, but that didn’t mean they were omnipotent. They were still human, so common sense should have applied.

Just what the hell did he have to do to destroy the White Horse Gang single-handedly?

It was understandable that Hong Xialang couldn’t understand what had happened.

Even an absolute master known as the Sword God shouldn’t have been able to use full power in the river without mastering a water immersion art.

And it went without saying that the enemies were all pirates.

If one was surrounded by five hundred enemies, even one of the Six Empyrean Overlords would have had a hard time. That was the way of the world. That was common sense.

"Nuna, no, Stockade Boss. What should we do?" Ye Piao asked carefully, watching the situation.

Hong Xialang composed herself, doing her best to suppress her emotions while remaining angry.

"The locations of the waterways and some of the hideouts in the Yangtze River must have been revealed, so contact the others to be careful."

“Understood. What should we say to the Dark Heavens Association?”

“If we know, then they would have heard too. They'll probably send a message soon to tell us what to do, so wait.”

***

Hefei, Dark Heavens Association.

"What bullshit is... agh!"

Blessed Existence’s face turned red.

He grabbed the back of his neck without saying anything because his blood pressure had risen sharply.

"Even after I repeatedly told him to be careful, he still did something idiotic like this?"

The White Horse Gang Boss’ weakness was greed, and he made no effort to control it.

That was what had led to this disaster.

From the beginning, he should have fled the moment he received the report about hidden ships.

If it had been Hong Xialang or Blessed Existence who received that report, they would have sensed something suspicious and acted accordingly.

However, even Blessed Existence, the brain of the Dark Heavens, could not perfectly control a group of pirates who weren't even his subordinates but rather a group that had cooperated with them after the war began.

Of course, he had known this. Just as Zhou Xuchuan had guessed, no vital war information had ever been shared with them.

In truth, it might have been better if the White Horse Gang Boss had never been placed in such a high position. But unfortunately, there was no one else in the Red Forest as talented as him.

Whether it was Hong Xialang or Blessed Existence, it felt like too much of a loss to simply dispose of him.

So they tried to control and negotiate with him instead.

No, in fact, the existence of Zhou Xuchuan was too irregular in the first place.

He broke the laws that required a water immersion art, and defied common sense itself.

If there had been a normal way to break that logic, the Righteous and Evil Alliance would not have suffered so much.

“This dog bastard..."

Blessed Existence’s swearing continued for a while.

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