Chapter 64 It’s hard to distinguish between public and private affairs
On the first night in Huodu, Liu Xunyi already felt the undercurrents surging here. The forces of all parties were complicated and intricate, and it was hard to distinguish good from evil, and friends from enemies. Everyone had their own plans. Liu Xunyi had no idea how many of them came for the Jingfenghuayutu. Now, even Cao Qin was probably confused.

Faced with such a turbid situation, Liu Xunyi did not dare to act rashly, fearing that he would fall into an irretrievable situation. Although he acted very calm in front of Tang Afu, he was actually very nervous in his heart. He tossed and turned all night and could not fall asleep.

In front, there is the Tianshan Jade Dragon Palace, which is powerful enough to cover the sky with one hand. Behind, a group of Khitans of unknown origin kidnapped Master Cao. Halfway through, Tang Afu, who had been planning for a long time, and the inexplicable Feng Tianba showed up, as well as the Mongolians from Chifengling seen today, and Xunzhen who flashed by in front of Longxiang Inn... If you think about it carefully, these people seem to have nothing to do with each other, but in fact, they seem to be connected in some way, otherwise how could it be such a coincidence?
There must be something mysterious going on when so many people appear in the same place at the same time.

To seek benefits and avoid harm among this group of tigers and wolves, successfully obtain the Jingfenghuayutu, and not reveal his identity and escape unscathed, now thinking about it, it is as difficult as ascending to heaven, which really makes Liu Xunyi feel that it is not easy. Even though he has been working in Tianji Pavilion for many years and has experienced various difficulties, it is the first time he has encountered such a complicated and dangerous situation as today.

The most important thing is that in the past, Liu Xunyi had the support of the court, so it would not matter even if he fell out with the court. But now it is different. Liu Xunyi can only rely on himself. Without the support of the court, he naturally has no extra way out. He can only give it a try and seek wealth and honor in danger.

With so many things happening suddenly, how could Liu Xunyi be the only one who was worried and unable to sleep at night?
Huodu stayed awake and said nothing all night.

The next day, at dawn, Lei Biao, with a serious look on his face, hurried back to Yuhu Hall with his four disciples. Last night, Lei Biao, on the orders of Cao Qin, secretly followed Xunzhen and Abaolu and monitored their every move in order to find the kidnapped Master Cao.

Lei Biao had not sent back any news throughout the entire night, and only arrived at this moment.

Cao Qin, who had been sleepless all night, felt very depressed at this moment. As the leader of Yuhu Hall, he always had the final say in Huodu. He was the only one who bullied others, so who dared to provoke him? Now Xunzhen had actually kidnapped his beloved son, which undoubtedly touched Cao Qin's reverse scale.

The sky outside was neither bright nor dark, just like Cao Qin's mood at the moment, gloomy and deep.

"Master, I followed the two thieves to Longxiang Inn last night, and they never came out again." Lei Biao looked a little tired. He respectfully reported to Cao Qin what he saw and heard last night, "I secretly sent people to check the three inns of Longxiang, Longan and Longfu, but..."

"But you haven't found the whereabouts of the young master yet, right?" Without waiting for the embarrassed Lei Biao to finish his words, Cao Qin looked as if he had expected it, and said coldly, "When you didn't come back last night, I knew something was wrong. Those two dared to kidnap people in the city and even came to threaten me, which means they had already made sufficient preparations. Especially that woman, she is really courageous. She must have expected that I would send someone to follow me, so how could she be so stupid as to leave the hostages by her side and wait for you to rescue them?"

"What the hall master said is absolutely right." Lei Biao nodded and said, "Those two men did not meet up with the young master last night. I guess the young master must have been held hostage somewhere else by their accomplices."

"Then why did you come back?" Cao Qin frowned and shouted unhappily, "Why don't you continue to monitor them? I don't believe they can stay away from meeting my son forever."

"This……"

"Hmm?" Cao Qin seemed to sense something was wrong from Lei Biao's hesitation. He raised his eyebrows and shouted coldly, "If you have anything to say, just say it. Don't wait for me to ask you one by one."

"Yes." Lei Biao responded quickly, "It's not that I don't want to continue monitoring, but our whereabouts have long been exposed under their noses. Just now... about half an hour ago, they suddenly appeared in front of me and warned me not to continue monitoring them, otherwise... otherwise they would cut off one of your hands as a punishment. I was worried that you would be implicated, so I didn't dare to insist rashly, so I hurriedly brought people back and asked the hall master to make a decision."

"Sure enough." Cao Qin has been the head of Yuhu Hall for many years, and he has never felt so powerless. In the past, he treated outsiders with a heart of stone, treating human life as worthless. But today's matter concerns his only son. No matter how calm and composed Cao Qin was in the past, he couldn't help but panic at this moment.

"They also asked me to pass a message to the hall master, saying that if you want the young master to be safe, then don't play any more tricks and just hand over the map to them." Lei Biao pondered, "If there is no news on the day of the Jade Dragon Festival, then they will regard the hall master as no longer caring about the young master's life or death, and will..." Lei Biao didn't say anything else, but Cao Qin had already completely understood Xunzhen's meaning.

Cao Qin can only choose one between the painting of the storm and his son.

Cao Qin's eyes flickered, and he muttered to himself with a frown on his face, "They are going all out, leaving no escape route for me or themselves. Where on earth did this group of desperate criminals come from?"

Lei Biao echoed indignantly, "Now that the young master is in their hands, we dare not act rashly, otherwise I would have skinned them alive. How should we deal with this matter?"

Cao Qin asked thoughtfully, "Lei Biao, you have been with me for more than ten years. I have never treated you as an outsider. I am inevitably a little confused by what happened today. I want to hear your thoughts now."

Lei Biao was stunned when he heard this, then he knelt down on the ground without hesitation, clasped his hands and bowed his head, saying: "Lei Biao's life belongs to the hall master. No matter what the hall master decides, Lei Biao is willing to sacrifice his life and not refuse."

"So what you mean is..."

"Give them the map in exchange for the young master!" Lei Biao said righteously, "No matter how precious the Jingfenghuayu map is, it is just a thing outside of one's body. Moreover, this is at the foot of Tianshan Mountain. Even if they get the map, they will not be able to get far. But the young master is different. He is the hall master's only bloodline, and there must not be the slightest mistake."

Listening to Lei Biao's words, Cao Qin was very relieved in his heart, but on the surface he pretended to be indifferent and said, "The Jingfenghuayutu is what the palace master wants. Do you know that what you just said is disobeying the palace master's order? You should know what the consequences will be!" "We will be disobeying orders if we voluntarily hand over the Jingfenghuayutu, but if it is accidentally stolen..." Lei Biao suggested smartly, "Afterwards we can say that they stole the Jingfenghuayutu. In this way, we will only be at fault for failing to protect it, but we will not be guilty of disobeying orders..."

"Shut up!" Before Lei Biao could finish his words, Cao Qin shouted, "This matter has already caused a lot of uproar in the city. Do you think you can just find an excuse to fool us? If that happens, we will not only be disobeying orders, but also deliberately deceiving, which will be a crime upon crime. We will die without a burial place."

"Lei Biao is willing to do anything difficult for the hall master." Lei Biao's eyes were fierce, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Anyone in the Jade Tiger Hall who knows about this will be killed! Anyone outside the Jade Tiger Hall who mentions this matter without authorization will be killed! If the hall master is still worried, you can tie me up and send me to Tianshan after the young master returns safely, and hand me over to the palace master, and say that it was me, Lei Biao, who made the decision without authorization and stole the Jingfenghuayutu and secretly gave it to the gang of thieves. At that time, Lei Biao will shoulder all the blame and will never implicate the hall master and the young master!"

Lei Biao's words were so confident and his loyalty was evident to all, which deeply moved Cao Qin.

"This hall master will never let you suffer for me." Cao Qin said seriously, "Let me think about this matter again..."

"Master!" Lei Biao pleaded urgently, "Young Master, you must save me!"

"The Palace Master has been very kind to me. Without the Palace Master, I would not be where I am today. How can I disobey his orders just because of personal matters?" Cao Qin sighed with embarrassment. "Although the Wind and Rain Map is in my hands, it has long been the Palace Master's property. How can I abuse my power for personal gain? Even if the Palace Master does not punish me afterwards, how can I continue to stay in Yulong Palace?"

"What about the young master?" Lei Biao exclaimed, "The young master is the hall master's own flesh and blood. Are we just going to watch him being killed by that group of thieves..."

"We need to save the people, but we can't give you the map." Cao Qin waved his hands repeatedly in annoyance, "The Jade Dragon Festival is in two days, we still have time to come up with another plan."

Knowing that Cao Qin was in a bad mood at the moment, Lei Biao didn't want to add to his troubles. Although he had a lot to say in his heart, he had to keep them to himself.

"We are in the open, and these people are in the dark. They can see our every move clearly. It's really hard to deal with them..." Cao Qin frowned and muttered to himself, thinking over and over again, "We can't just let them lead us by the nose. We should turn the tables and take the initiative. Only then will we have a chance of winning..."

Lei Biao seemed to be awakened by Cao Qin's words. His eyes suddenly lit up and he whispered, "What the hall master said is right. We must not sit and wait for death. We should take the initiative to rescue the young master. However, in Huodu City, our Yuhu Hall is too big a target. Our every move can be seen clearly by this group of thieves, even ordinary people can know it. Therefore, if we want to turn the passive situation into the active one to deal with them, we can't take action directly. But if someone else takes action from behind..."

Cao Qin's eyes suddenly fixed, and he asked calmly, "What do you mean?"

"Master, do you still remember Su He from Red Wind Ridge?" Lei Biao said with a sinister smile, "Su He is known as 'Mobei's No. 1 Swift Swordsman', and ranks second on the Dragon Elephant List, one place higher than Lu Tingxiang from Jiangnan Lu Mansion. He is a top-notch expert in the martial arts world today, and his reputation is certainly not in vain. If we borrow his power, wouldn't it be easy to deal with that group of thieves?"

"I just drew a line between myself and the people of Red Wind Ridge yesterday. If I continue to look for them today, wouldn't that be..."

"It is the Tianshan Yulong Palace that has nothing to do with Chifengling." Lei Biao argued, "As the saying goes, public is public and private is private, and public and private should be clearly distinguished. The hall master can put aside his identity as the Yuhu Hall Master and act like an ordinary father, asking Su He for help to rescue his son, and then give him enough rewards afterwards. This is a private matter and has nothing to do with Yulong Palace and Chifengling. The main thing is that Su He not only has the ability, but is also an outsider. If he takes action to deal with that group of thieves, it will definitely be much more convenient for him to do things than for us."

"That being said, however..." Cao Qin shook his head hesitantly, "Su He is willing to make friends with me because he values ​​my status as the Jade Tiger Hall Master. If I only talk to him about private matters, I'm afraid... I don't have the face to invite him."

"Public and private are just for outsiders to hear." Lei Biao suggested, "Didn't Su He come here to ask to see the Palace Master? If necessary, the Hall Master only needs to help him introduce him, and it is not a promise. Su He is not a fool, I think he should be able to understand the obscurity of it."

"This……"

"Master, we only have two days now. The young master's life is at stake. We must act without delay!" Lei Biao bowed and pleaded, "If you trust me, I, Lei Biao, will go and talk to Su He about this matter. You don't have to show up from beginning to end. You just need to wait here for good news. What do you think?"

Facing Lei Biao's repeated requests, Cao Qin rubbed his fingers tucked in his sleeves repeatedly and stared at Lei Biao with serious eyes, without blinking, as if he was carefully weighing the pros and cons of the matter.

After a silence of about an incense stick, Cao Qin straightened his eyes and slowly said, "Tell Su He that for the sake of my son's safety, he must be careful and cautious when doing things. After this incident, I, Cao Qin, will owe him a favor!"

……

(End of this chapter)