Chapter 573: The Thief Cries Thief (Part )

Late at night, in a house in the east of the city.

In the main hall, Qin San told Qin Ming everything that had just happened.

Hearing this, Qin Ming lowered his head and remained silent, as if he was lost in thought.

"How is Duan Tianhong's injury?" Qin Da, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but be curious, "Is he dead?"

"Don't worry, big brother, these are just flesh wounds, he won't die in a short time." Qin San said, "Everything will be done according to the wishes of the mansion master, only kill the groom and the followers, and leave Duan Tianhong alive."

Qin San's words undoubtedly revealed the real reason why Duan Tianhong was attacked, which was that Qin Ming was the mastermind behind the scenes.

"The Palace Master made a brilliant move." Qin Er flattered, "First, he invited Duan Tianhong to come, so that Luo Tianjin would think that Duan Tianhong was our amulet, and then he sent people to kill Duan Tianhong, deliberately creating a dangerous scene in front of the people in the Xianwang Palace. In this way, Luo Tianjin will never suspect that we have any connection with the troublemakers."

"That's right!" Qin Da agreed. "Right now, the people of Luoyang are in a panic. Any disturbance will be blamed on the group of troublemakers. Therefore, the mansion lord's trick of 'killing with a borrowed knife' is absolutely perfect and impeccable."

"If the situation had not forced me, I would not have resorted to such a desperate measure." Qin Ming said dimly, "It's all Jin Fuyu's fault for being so calculating. His people didn't cause trouble earlier or later, but chose to do so the night before we arrived in Luoyang City. In this way, even a fool would suspect that this matter was related to us, let alone Luo Tianjin?"

"But why is Jin Fuyu like this?" Qin Da asked in confusion, "We are clearly on the same boat with him."

"It is precisely because we are all on the same boat that Jin Fuyu tried every means to prevent us from getting off the boat." Qin Ming said coldly, "His purpose is very simple, to constantly intensify the conflict between Luo Tianjin and me, so that we will be at loggerheads and reach an irreversible point. Only in this way can I wholeheartedly stand by him."

"Hiss!" Qin Ming's words made the three Qin family heroes gasp for air. Their faces were solemn and they didn't know what to say.

"In fact, I don't care whether I have a falling out with Luo Tianjin or not. I am anxious to clear myself of suspicion because I haven't got the 'Xuan Shui Volume 2' yet." Qin Ming added, "Now, we have a legitimate reason to ask Luo Tianjin for the 'Xuan Shui Volume 2', and all the heroes in the world will stand on our side. But once Luo Tianjin confuses the troublemakers with us, we will be in the wrong. With Luo Tianjin's scheming, he will definitely bite back and put us in a passive position. By then, not to mention that it is hopeless to ask for the 'Xuan Shui Volume 2', even our lives will be threatened."

"The Palace Master is wise!"

"I have only one purpose for this trip, which is to get the 'Xuan Shui Volume 2'." Qin Ming said without any doubt, "I will show no mercy to anyone who prevents me from getting the 'Xuan Shui Volume 2'."

"If we do this...will it anger Jin Fu Yu?" Qin Da was quite worried.

"Jin Fuyu is not a petty person. He won't turn against us because of such a small matter." Qin Ming said confidently, "What's more, he was the one who set up the trap to lure us in. I just broke it up."

Hearing this, the three Qin brothers nodded silently, but a hint of melancholy still emerged in their eyes.

"Fortunately, the Palace Master prepared for a rainy day and sent me to pick him up." Qin San said with lingering fear, "If the disciples of the Xianwang Palace were allowed to take him away, the consequences would be disastrous."

Qin Da jokingly said, "From what Third Brother just said, it seems that there is a disagreement between Su Tang and Liu Xunyi?"

"It's no wonder." Qin Er interrupted, "After all, Su Tang is a meritorious elder of the Xianwang Mansion. Now that he has been surpassed by Liu Xunyi, a latecomer, it's inevitable that he feels resentful."

"That being said, the Xianwang Mansion will never let this go." Qin Ming said, "Qin San has promised Su Tang that he will return the person to them before noon tomorrow."

"I only said I would try my best, but I didn't promise." After saying that, Qin San's eyes suddenly turned cold, and he whispered, "I want to cut the grass and eradicate the trouble forever."

"I agree!" Qin Da echoed, "They have already revealed themselves to the Xianwang Mansion, so we must not leave them alive. If they are caught by the Xianwang Mansion, they will give us away under torture, and the Mansion Master's plan will fail, right?"

"After all, they are people who work for us. It's hard to bear to see them die after their death." Qin Ming thought for a moment. "Besides, Qin San insisted on bringing them back tonight. If they die in our hands, it will inevitably arouse suspicion."

“But if we hand them over to Prince Xian’s Mansion, it would be like walking on the edge of a knife. It is too dangerous.” Qin San insisted on his opinion.

"This matter is indeed difficult." Qin Da said bitterly, "If General Lin Fang kills them all... that would be great."

"Let me think about it, you go down first."

Faced with Qin Ming's impatience, the three Qin brothers could not help but look at each other, wanting to say something several times but stopping themselves. However, seeing that Qin Ming was deaf and blind and seemed to be dozing off, they had to reluctantly give up, bowed to him and said goodbye, then left the main hall one after another.

……

At the same time, a debate in the East Hall of Prince Xian's Mansion was also in full swing.

"Tang Su, what is your explanation?" After hearing Lin Fangda's story, Luo Qi's face turned blue with anger and he asked, "Are you crazy? You actually handed the person over to the Qin family for disposal? If this matter is publicized, how will you let the Xianwang Mansion maintain its reputation?"

"That's right!" Lin Fangda said angrily, "We rescued Duan Tianhong and captured the four bastards. Why did you hand them over to Qin San just because of your words?"

"Su Zhishan, you are not the spy planted by Qin Ming in Prince Xian's Palace, are you?" Liao Chuan said angrily.

Liao Hai echoed, "If not, you are deliberately making things difficult for Hei Zhishan and sincerely want to make fun of us." "How dare you!"

Liu Xunyi's face was as gloomy as water. He scolded Liao Chuan and Liao Hai, "You are talking nonsense without restraint. How can Su Zhishan allow you to say irresponsible things?"

Hearing this, the Liao brothers' faces changed, and they hurriedly bowed to Su Tang, who remained silent, to apologize, and then retreated aside in disappointment.

"The mansion master has said more than once that he wants to renew the alliance with the Hexi Qin family." Facing the accusations of the crowd, Su Tang was neither sad nor happy, and remained calm. "Tonight, Fort Master Duan had an accident in Luoyang City. As disciples of the Xianwang Mansion, we are of course to blame. Although Qin San is arrogant, his complaints about us are not without reason. In our territory, we can't even guarantee the safety of our guests, so how can we uphold justice and maintain peace? I handed the person over to him, firstly to show them the sincerity of the Xianwang Mansion, and secondly to shut up the mouths of Youyou, so that they don't hold a grudge and smear the Xianwang Mansion everywhere."

"If you shut them up, who will shut up the people of Luoyang?" Xu Heng said angrily. "Hei Zhishan has promised the people of Luoyang that he will give a satisfactory explanation within seven days. In order to stabilize the situation, he did not hesitate to send out disciples in the mansion to patrol day and night. He finally caught four people alive, but you... Alas!"

"It's too late to say more." Seeing that everyone was indignant, Su Tang made up his mind and said proudly, "If you think I did something wrong, you can go to the mansion master and file a complaint against me. Then, you can kill me or chop me up, it's all up to you!"

Su Tang's stubborn demeanor, like a dead pig that is not afraid of boiling water, can't help but cause dissatisfaction among the crowd.

"Since we have tried in vain, why don't we keep trying?" Qin Ku said as he saw the atmosphere in the hall becoming increasingly depressing. "Brothers, we are all tired. Let's go back and rest first and try to catch four more tomorrow. Hehe..."

"Those bastards are extremely cunning. How can it be easy to catch four more of them?" Xu Heng muttered, looking unwilling to give up.

"Disperse! Disperse!"

Under Qin Ku's constant urging, everyone sighed and left one after another.

After a while, only Liu Xunyi, Su Tang and Qin Ku were left in the East Hall.

Strangely, the anger lingering on Liu Xunyi's face had disappeared completely at some point, and was replaced by a hint of guilt.

"Su Zhishan is willing to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens for the sake of the greater good. Please accept Xunyi's greetings!"

"Forget it!" Su Tang held Liu Xunyi, who was about to bow, with both hands and said seriously, "I just hope... you can resolve this matter as soon as possible."

"Don't worry, I will explain it to them after tomorrow..."

"No!" Su Tang waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter what others think of me. I just hope that Luoyang City can return to its former prosperity as soon as possible. Do you know that everyone in the city is in danger and all businesses are in vain? Every day of delay will cause the Xianwang Mansion to suffer huge losses?"

"I understand!" Liu Xunyi nodded in admiration, "That's why I must find Qin Ming's flaw as soon as possible. Otherwise, Qin Ming will only wait for the Palace Master to recover and the stalemate will continue endlessly, and he will not pay any attention to us at all."

"There is one thing I'm curious about. How did you know that Duan Tianhong would be ambushed on the way?" Su Tang asked suspiciously, "And why did you ask me to hand over those thieves to the Qin family for disposal?"

"I'm only 50% sure whether Duan Tianhong was ambushed." Liu Xunyi said modestly, "But I guess that since Qin Ming invited Lord Duan, he will definitely use him to make a fuss. According to the current situation, Lord Duan's greatest value is to clear Qin Ming of suspicion of participating in the riot. Therefore, I guess he is very likely to use Lord Duan to stage a self-torture trick, the purpose is to confuse us and make us believe that he has nothing to do with the madman who caused trouble in Luoyang City last night. After all, for Qin Ming, getting the 'Xuanshui Lower Volume' is the most urgent task."

"That's right!" Qin Ku said jokingly, "He is asking for the 'Xuan Shui Xia Juan' with legitimate reasons, and we are in the wrong, so no one can do anything to him. But if he dares to cause trouble, it's just making trouble out of nothing and deliberately looking for trouble. We can just fight back and drive him out of Luoyang City openly, or even... kill him all. In the final analysis, it's nothing more than who is in the right? After all, the Palace Master is the leader of the martial arts world, and countless eyes are watching him closely, so he must not be in the wrong."

"If that's the case, Qin Ming and the troublemakers should not be birds of a feather." Su Tang pondered, "Otherwise, wouldn't he be shooting himself in the foot?"

"Su Zhishan thought Qin Ming would be so bold as to openly challenge the leader of the martial arts world?" Liu Xunyi said with a smile, "There must be someone behind him directing him."

"You mean... Jin Fuyu?" Su Tang pondered, "Those people who caused trouble in Luoyang City..."

"It is most likely that Jin Fuyu is behind this." Liu Xunyi continued, "Moreover, Qin Ming must have something to do with this matter. However..."

At this point, Liu Xunyi couldn't help but frown, as if he had put a lot of thought into it, but could only wander around, still unable to figure it out.
He said in distress: "Qin Ming has his own purpose, and Jin Fu Yu has his own purpose. The two of them use each other, help each other, and are also on guard against each other."

"You asked me to quietly follow Duan Tianhong. You knew he would be ambushed, but you didn't let me take action. Instead, you had to wait until the Qin family disciples showed up before showing up again. Your intention was..."

"I want to take this opportunity to expose Qin Ming's true colors." Liu Xunyi said word by word, "I guess, for his own sake, he will not let us find out that he has any connection with the troublemakers, let alone let us find out the truth about Duan Tianhong's ambush. Therefore, he would rather take the risk of being suspected by us, and will definitely kill people to silence them, so that tonight's incident will become an unsolved case."

Su Tang suddenly realized and guessed, "In this way, we will have an excuse to bring an army to Qin Ming and force him to confront us."

At this point, Su Tang couldn't help but frowned and said in confusion: "After all, it's just a suspicion, there is no solid evidence. What should we do next?"

"I don't know. I can only take one step at a time. At least it's better than an endless stalemate." Liu Xunyi smiled bitterly. "The Lord of the Prefecture taught me that when things turn into a stalemate, it is better to move than to stay still. Only by moving can there be change. Only by changing can there be opportunities. First break the stalemate, and then seize the opportunity to change and act accordingly. In short, we can't always be led by Qin Ming by the nose."

……

(End of this chapter)