Chapter 176 Resolving the feud
When Xu Heng tricked the gate of the village open, rushed into the East Lake Gang with lightning speed, and informed the East Lake Gang disciples of Li Lao Hu's situation, everyone was immediately discouraged and lost all their fighting spirit. Not only did they not know how to fight to the death, but they also took advantage of the chaos to steal money and flee in all directions.

It really lived up to the saying "When a tree falls, monkeys scatter; when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down". A mob is still a mob after all. Seeing that the situation was not good, everyone wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to gain more benefits. No one wanted to fight with the disciples of Jingmen and lose their lives in vain.

Little did they know that if more than a thousand Donghu gang members fought together, it would be difficult for the three hundred Jingmen disciples to succeed easily.

It was a pity that the defeat was so crushing that the Donghu Gang disciples were demoralized. They were like dogs that had lost their homes, and were in a mess. They were driven out and killed by the Jingmen disciples.

For a moment, the Donghu Gang was filled with wailing and corpses were everywhere. Just two hours later, the once invincible Yingchuan gang was burned down in a huge fire, and nothing remained.

At three o'clock in the morning, Xu Heng led his men back to Pan's house, bringing back countless gold, silver, and jewelry, as well as account books, land deeds, and other items that were seized from the East Lake Gang.

It is worth mentioning that Xu Heng also captured two people during this trip. One was the second wife who murdered her husband, Ding Cui, and the other was the illegitimate son of Li Lao Hu and Ding Cui, Pan Chun.

Pan Chuba was not in a hurry to avenge Pan Wu, but ordered his men to temporarily lock the mother and son in the woodshed to await further punishment. Liu Xunyi and the others naturally did not want to say much about this.

Liu Xunyi knew that the East Lake Gang had been rampant in Yingchuan for many years and had plundered countless people's wealth, so he only kept the two million taels of silver notes that Li Lao Hu had hidden. The rest were all handed over to Pan Chuba, who asked him to return the land deeds, gold, silver, jewelry and other items to their original owners in the name of the Xianwang Mansion according to the account book, and return them to the innocent people who had suffered from the East Lake Gang's robbery, in order to show the gentlemanly benevolence of the Northern Xianwang.

When he cleared out the businesses of the East Lake Gang a few days ago, he obtained hundreds of thousands of taels, which Liu Xunyi distributed to the disciples of Jingmen on the spot according to their merits. The disciples returned with a lot of money, all of them were very happy, and they were even more grateful to Liu Xunyi and became more convinced.

After all this was over, the sky was already getting light. Liu Xunyi, who had been sleepless all night, dragged his slightly sleepy body back to the guest room, ready to take a short nap.

"Bang, bang, bang!"

The sudden knock on the door made Liu Xunyi, who had just laid down, stand up again, with a hint of doubt in his eyes. The door was divided into left and right, but Xu Heng, with a complicated expression, accompanied by Tang Cong, Liao Chuan, and Liao Hai, was standing outside the door with a tea tray in his hand, looking embarrassed.

"Brother Xu? What are you doing..."

"Xu has come... specially to serve tea to the sect leader and apologize." Xu Heng raised the tea tray hesitantly, his eyes wandering, as if he didn't dare to look Liu Xunyi in the eye.

"come in!"

Liu Xunyi stepped aside, and Xu Heng hesitated for a moment before stepping into the room. Before entering the room, he glared at Tang Cong and the other two fiercely, causing the three people who were about to follow in to watch the fun to suddenly look embarrassed.

They knew that Xu Heng was very concerned about his reputation. He came to Liu Xunyi to offer tea and apologize to her tonight, so he naturally didn't want outsiders to be present. Tang Cong and the other two were not ignorant of the current situation, so after exchanging a few words with Liu Xunyi, they took the initiative to leave.

"Brother Xu, you don't have to be like this. Last night, you led people to wipe out the Donghu Gang. You charged into battle and narrowly escaped death. You should rest well." Liu Xunyi took the tea tray, invited Xu Heng to sit down, and asked with concern, "Brother Xu, you are not injured?"

"They are just a bunch of rabble! They are arrogant and domineering, but they are actually cowards." Xu Heng said, "As soon as I revealed my identity, they were scared out of their wits. There were a few who were not afraid of death, but I killed them with one sword. How could others dare to resist?"

After that, Xu Heng's eyes condensed, and he bowed to Liu Xunyi solemnly and said, "I have been in charge of Jingmen for many years, and I have done many tasks, big and small. Fighting and killing are commonplace, but I have never won a great victory like last night. Jingmen didn't lose a single brother, but it wiped out a gang of more than a thousand people. The leader is young, but he knows how to seek benefits and avoid harm. He is so clever that he can play Li Laohu in the palm of his hand and uproot the Donghu Gang without any effort. Xu admires you!"

Liu Xunyi blushed when Xu Heng praised him so much, and waved his hands repeatedly, saying, "Brother Xu, you are too kind to me. I was just lucky and happened to find Li Lao Hu's weakness.

"No matter what, you are better at martial arts than me, smarter than me, and indeed more capable than me." Xu Heng said bitterly, "The Palace Master is the Palace Master after all. He really has a good eye for talent. It is indeed a wise move for him to let you take over my position as the Master of Jingmen. I, Xu Heng... am indeed not as good as you."

"Brother Xu, you..."

Before Liu Xunyi finished speaking, Xu Heng suddenly reached into his arms, then placed a stack of banknotes on the table, and interrupted, "This is the 1,000 taels of banknotes you just gave me. I don't have the face to accept it, so... I'll give it back to you."

Liu Xunyi glanced at it and shook his head, saying, "Brother Xu, this is what you deserve. As long as I am with Jingmen, rewards and punishments will be clearly distinguished. This time, Brother Xu led the way in annihilating the Donghu Gang and made an indelible contribution. If you don't accept it, how can the other brothers accept the reward with peace of mind?"

"But……"

"There's no need to talk about this anymore. Take the banknotes back." Liu Xunyi interrupted Xu Heng's refusal and explained with a smile, "What does it mean to distinguish between rewards and punishments? If you have done something good, you should be rewarded. If you have done something wrong, you should be punished. Therefore, whether it is a reward or a punishment, it is not up to you to decide. If Brother Xu really doesn't like these banknotes, you can throw them away or burn them, but you can't let me take them back."

Xu Heng stared at Liu Xunyi with a tangled look. After a long silence, he suddenly stood up and bowed respectfully to Liu Xunyi, saying, "Tang Cong has just explained to me that the Sect Master, in order to vent the anger of the people of Yingchuan, killed two birds with one stone by getting rid of Li Lao Hu and He Shan, and returned the dirty silver and land deeds of the Donghu Gang to the local people. He even rewarded the disciples of Jingmen according to their merits, but you didn't take a penny. The Sect Master's chivalrous heart is witnessed by heaven and earth, and Xu Heng admires it! Previously, Xu had repeatedly offended his superiors for his own selfishness, and three times... "I bumped into the Sect Master twice, and even deliberately made things difficult for him, and pressed him aggressively... Thinking about it today, what I did was no different from the behavior of a mean person, shameless. Thanks to the Sect Master for being generous, not only did he not argue with me, but he also tolerated me step by step, and even kept calling me 'Brother Xu'... In comparison, I, Xu Heng, really don't deserve the word 'morality', and I am even less worthy of calling myself a hero. Today I am willing to bow my head and plead guilty, and let the Sect Master deal with me!" After saying that, Xu Heng actually knelt down in front of Liu Xunyi, his face solemn and his attitude sincere.

Seeing this, Liu Xunyi was relieved that the heavy stone that had been hanging in his heart had finally fallen. He hurriedly helped Xu Heng up and said solemnly, "First, we are both disciples of the Xianwang Mansion. Second, we are brothers from the same sect. In the future, we will definitely share honor and disgrace, and depend on each other for life and death. Today, Brother Xu can open up to me, and I am really touched. I have no other wishes, but I hope that in the future, the Jing Sect can be united and trust each other. We can regard each other as brothers and sisters, as close as flesh and blood. I am a newcomer, and I hope Brother Xu can give me more advice and guidance in the future."

"Master, rest assured. From today on... no! It should be from now on, I, Xu Heng, will obey your orders and follow your lead!"

At this moment, Xu Heng was in a very good mood. In fact, he was not feeling well during the days of confrontation with Liu Xunyi. He was always sarcastic and sarcastic. This made Xu Heng, who was originally generous, become like a melancholy villain. He was always worried and gloomy, and he was not happy for a single day.

Today, Liu Xunyi and Xu Heng spoke frankly and tacitly, expressing all the frustrations in each other's hearts. They talked freely to each other and had a very enjoyable conversation. Naturally, the sky cleared up after the storm and they were in a very good mood.

Although Xu Heng was somewhat aloof, he was not a power-hungry person. Now that he admired Liu Xunyi from the bottom of his heart, he naturally would not have any other thoughts. As for Liu Xunyi, he was eager to make friends with Xu Heng. Both of them were easy-going and passionate, so they soon put aside their past grudges and chatted away everything else.

Before they knew it, the sky was bright, and the two of them, who were initially incompatible, became able to talk about anything and become as close as brothers.

"Master, what are your plans next? When will we set off for Shaolin?"

"On the tenth day of February, Miss Pan and I pretended to get married. I plan to leave Yingchuan on the fifteenth day of February." Liu Xunyi pondered, "I have borrowed a few speedboats from Mr. Pan Ba, and I will let the other brothers rush back to Luoyang at noon today. The Lord of the Palace has ordered that we don't need to bring too many people to Shaolin, so I plan to only let Brother Xu, Tang Cong, Liao Chuan, and Liao Hai accompany us to avoid attracting too many people."

"Okay! I'll arrange for them to set off later." Xu Heng readily agreed, and then changed the subject and asked with interest, "Master, if you help the Pan family fight against the Hexi Qin family, what are the chances of winning?"

Liu Xunyi smiled bitterly and said, "That depends on who the Hexi Qin Clan sends to fight. If it's the 'Three Heroes of the Qin Clan', I'll have a 90% chance of winning. But if 'Ba Dao' Qin Ming fights in person, then I might not even have a 10% chance of winning."

"There is something I don't quite understand." Xu Heng hesitated for a moment and asked curiously, "Since it is a fake marriage, why doesn't the Lord of the Palace choose one from the seven heroes?"

At this point, Xu Heng hurriedly explained: "I have no intention of belittling the Sect Master. What I mean is... the Seven Heroes have been through many battles, are experienced and have sophisticated tactics. Moreover, they are definitely more familiar with the Qin family's usual tactics than the Sect Master. If we send them out to fight, wouldn't we have a greater chance of winning?"

"That makes sense." Liu Xunyi smiled faintly, "But if we ask the Palace Master to personally fight for the Pan Palace, wouldn't it be a sure win?"

"This... isn't appropriate, is it?" Xu Heng looked embarrassed and smiled awkwardly.

"That's right. It's really inappropriate for the mansion master to get involved in this matter. Not only the mansion master is inappropriate, but also the seven heroes in the mansion are inappropriate." Liu Xunyi explained, "First, they are much older than Miss Pan, and they already have families. No matter what outsiders say, just take the Hexi Qin family, they can easily see through this 'borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha' strategy. Once this matter is publicized, the martial arts heroes will definitely stand on the side of the Qin family, which will be disadvantageous to us. Second, the seven heroes and I have very different positions in the mansion, and the meanings we represent are also very different. The seven heroes are all famous and well-known in the world. In the eyes of outsiders, they, like the mansion master, can represent the Xianwang Mansion. The person they want to deal with must be the great enemy and mortal enemy of the Xianwang Mansion. Otherwise, none of the seven of them can act rashly, because once they take action, it means making enemies for the Xianwang Mansion."

Facing Xu Heng who only half understood, Liu Xunyi explained with a wry smile: "But I am different. First, my status is low. Second, I have not been in the mansion for long. So today, I can only represent Liu Xunyi, not the Xianwang Mansion. In addition, I am about the same age as Miss Pan. Even if I am questioned by Hexi Qin in the future, I can find many excuses to defend myself. I can even say that Miss Pan and I have known each other for many years. I have had feelings for Miss Pan long before I entered Xianwang Mansion. What's wrong with that? Haha... Although the mansion master has a deep friendship with Mr. Pan Ba, we are here to help after all, so how can we take over the host? What's more, the mansion master does not want to become a mortal enemy with Hexi Qin because of the Pan family's affairs. So the mansion master sent me to give Mr. Pan Ba ​​face and favors, but also avoid the criticism of fellow Jianghu people, and not enough to completely ruin the relationship with Hexi Qin. Kill three birds with one stone, why not do it?"

"In fact, I think Miss Pan is not bad either." Xu Heng encouraged with a joking look on his face, "Why don't you make the fake play real and take the opportunity to win the beauty..."

"Cough cough!"

Hearing this, Liu Xunyi almost choked to death on the half mouthful of tea he had just drunk, and hurriedly said, "Brother Xu, don't make fun of me, you should go and arrange for them to set off quickly!"

"Yes, sir! Haha..."

Amidst loud laughter, Xu Heng walked away in a happy mood.

Inside the room, Liu Xunyi gradually put away the playful and relaxed expression on his face. After a moment of silence, he took out Zhao Xin's handkerchief from his arms, gently stroked it with deep affection, and muttered to himself thoughtfully.

"Xin'er, although this marriage is a fake one, I still feel sorry for you. Please forgive me... This is the first time that Luo Tianjin has used me. In order to gain his trust, I cannot afford to make any mistakes... I have begun to get close to him, and I believe that he will soon have complete faith in me. Once the time is right and I have successfully recruited him, I will rush back to Lin'an and propose marriage to the emperor! Xin'er, you must wait for me..."

……

(End of this chapter)