Le Banquet des Cent Fantômes

Chapitre 92

"Close it," Master Jia said. This 100,000 yuan was no small sum; he and Nizi would need it to start a new life together.

"Master Jia, the password for this box is 123. Please remember it." After saying that, Boss Tang closed the lid and casually scrambled the password.

"Throw it over here," Master Jia said calmly. The Tang Clan is skilled in using poison, and one should not get close to them when facing enemies. There are some taboos in the martial arts world that must be followed. He had subdued Tang Lao San and Lao Er by surprise, so there was no major problem. But now, he had to be careful with Tang Lao Da.

Old Master Tang tossed the briefcase over, and Master Jia caught it.

"Where's the goods?" Boss Tang asked.

Master Jia said solemnly, "You and I are both people of the martial world. Think about it, would I carry something so important on my person?"

Old Tang was taken aback and said, "Master Jia, where is the goods? We'll go with you to get them."

"Well..." Master Jia pondered how to cover up his lie.

Just then, a small figure appeared under the streetlight, carrying a canvas travel bag and cradling a large black cat in her arms, looking sleepy...

“Nizi…” Master Jia was suddenly taken aback.

"Master, I thought you weren't going to take Nizi to find her mother anymore?" Nizi said, feeling wronged.

"Where's the Ghost Pot?" Master Jia blurted out.

“It’s in the bag,” Nizi replied, shaking her travel bag.

Upon hearing this, Tang was overjoyed. So the "Ghost Pot" was in the little girl's hands... He quickly assessed the situation and decided it was time to make a move. So he suddenly leaped into the air and pounced straight at the little girl.

In mid-air, Tang suddenly felt a powerful force crashing down on him like a tidal wave, its aura incredibly strong. It tossed him up and slammed him heavily onto the van, where he slid to the ground.

"Jia Shiming! Do you want to go back on your word?" Tang Laoda stood up angrily and questioned him sharply. At this moment, he had experienced the power of "Innate Qi Gong" and knew that his martial arts were absolutely no match for Master Jia.

"You actually laid a hand on a child..." Master Jia snorted and said disdainfully.

"What exactly do you want?" Boss Tang asked angrily.

Master Jia calmly said, "Once I reach a safe place, I will send the 'Ghost Pot' to the capital and hand it over to the director. Please tell him that Jia Shiming is not breaking the contract, but is doing this to protect himself."

Tang Laoda stood there, stunned.

"Also, if the director keeps pursuing us, Jia Shiming will definitely destroy the 'Ghost Pot'," Master Jia added with a sinister laugh. When Master Jia slipped out of the Yellow River Inn room, Ni Zi was fast asleep. "Little Cui'er" nudged her awake with her head. Ni Zi realized Master Jia was gone, and immediately sat up. She glanced at the "Feng Hou" skull lying beside her pillow and was horrified—Master was gone?

Nizi peeked out the window and saw Master Jia confronting a policeman on the street. Not knowing what was happening, she quickly put the skull into her travel bag, then grabbed the big black cat and the bag and left the room. At the turn of the stairs, she found an open window, used her "Crossing the River on a Reed" technique to float out, then turned the corner and reached the street.

Master Jia stunned Boss Tang with a single move, then walked up to Ni Zi and said softly, "Child, it's all over now. Let's go. Master will take you to find your mother." With that, he bent down, carried Ni Zi on his back, and with his briefcase and travel bag in his hands, he turned and left without looking back, disappearing into the pre-dawn light.

Tang Lao Da sighed, walked back to the van, checked on his two brothers, and performed a bloodletting procedure on each of them. Before long, the second and third brothers woke up one after the other.

"What happened? It looks like someone attacked me," Tang Lao Er said, puzzled.

"It was Jia Shiming who did it," the eldest brother said helplessly.

"Brother, Master Jia broke my wrist..." The third brother cried out in pain, clutching his injured hand.

“This Jia Shiming’s ‘innate qigong’ is truly formidable. We must report to the capital immediately. Not only did we fail to obtain the goods, but we also injured Lao San,” Tang Lao Da said with a frown.

"What about Jia Shiming?" the second brother asked hurriedly.

"He ran away, leaving behind a threat: if we continued to pursue him, he would destroy the 'Ghost Pot,' and we couldn't bear that responsibility," Tang Laoda sighed.

Tang Lao Er nodded, went to the driver's seat and said, "Lao San, I'll drive. You rest in the back. Let's find a hospital to go to the emergency room first."

Just then, Boss Tang suddenly said, "Wait, someone's coming..."

At the street corner, three people walked out in the hazy morning light. The one in the lead was a little boy with a large blue-feathered parrot perched on his shoulder. Behind him followed an old woman dressed in strange clothes and a burly man in a police uniform. They were Shen Caihua and his group, who had followed them here after a long and arduous journey.

Chen Cai sniffed the air and couldn't help but say with delight, "Mo Mo was just here... Dudu, quickly fly up into the sky and go find her."

"I'm... a little sleepy," Dudu said sleepily.

"Go quickly!" Shen Caihua grabbed Dudu and threw her upwards with force. The large parrot flapped its wings and soared into the air, circling and searching.

They walked all the way to the van, and the Hakka woman noticed three policemen sitting inside, so she went up and knocked on the window.

"What is it?" The car window rolled down, and Tang Laoda looked at the Hakka woman, asking with a stern face.

"Officer, have you seen a little girl and a tall, thin old man?" the Hakka woman asked politely.

Tang Laoda paused for a moment, then asked, "Who are you? Is someone from your family missing?"

“Yes,” the Hakka woman hesitated for a moment before saying, “Someone in the family has gone missing. They should have been here just now.”

Tang Laoda stared intently at the Hakka woman and slowly said, "That's right, I saw it."

Upon hearing this, the Hakka woman was overjoyed and quickly asked, "Officer, where are they?"

Tang Laoda smiled slightly and said, "You still haven't answered me who you are? The uniform size of the comrade behind you is wrong, is he a policeman?"

Xiong Dahai was wearing a police uniform that a Hakka woman had taken from a policeman on the banks of the Yitong River in Huanglong Prefecture. It was at least two sizes too small, and it looked out of place on him. Anyone with a discerning eye could see the flaw.

The Hakka woman was speechless for a moment, and couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. So she said impatiently, "I'm just asking you where they are now. Why are you asking so many questions?"

Tang Laoda said with a sneer, "Old woman, what is your relationship with Jia Shiming?"

The Hakka woman was taken aback, her gaze fixed on Tang Laoda, and she asked in confusion, "You also know Jia Shiming?"

At this moment, Tang Laoda was filled with suspicion. Could Jia Shiming actually have accomplices? This was a situation he hadn't known beforehand. He turned his head and gave Tang Lao Er a wink, and the two of them immediately understood. They got out of the car.

The Tang brothers didn't take the old woman seriously at all, staring straight at Xiong Dahai. "Which department are you from?" Tang the Second pressed.

"This..." Xiong Dahai stammered, "I am Xiong Dahai, from Huanglong Prefecture..."

Tang chuckled upon hearing this; this fake policeman was quite humorous. He then pulled a pair of shiny handcuffs from his waist and said sternly, "Tell the truth, what is your relationship with Jia Shiming, the one who is disguised as a policeman?"

Xiong Dahai didn't say anything, but glanced at the Hakka nanny.

"You won't talk, huh? Then come back to the station with us." Boss Tang flung the handcuffs around and made a move to cuff Xiong Dahai.

"Wait a minute, officer. We don't know Jia Shiming at all. We just heard that he abducted a girl named Nizi, so we tracked him all the way here," the Hakka woman said politely. Mainland police are unreasonable, so it's best not to mess with them.

Tang Laoda's gaze fell on the Hakka old woman. This old woman seemed to be the leader, so he said, "Then you go and tell us."

The Hakka woman smiled faintly and said, "Alright, let's talk in the car." With that, she climbed into the van.

The two brothers, Tang and his brother, looked at each other in bewilderment. What kind of tricks could an old woman, a simple-minded man, and a little boy possibly pull? So they got into the car as well.

The Hakka woman casually closed the carriage door, swaying her body from side to side while silently chanting the incantation "fragrance of the abalone shop."

"Old woman, what are you trying to say?" Tang Lao Er asked impatiently, frowning.

"Second brother, did you fart?" Tang asked, sniffing the air. He could smell an indescribable stench coming from inside the car.

"No, it's the third brother, isn't it?" Tang Lao Er replied, also smelling the stench of rotten fish and shrimp, and felt a wave of dizziness.

"Oh no, it's poisonous!" Tang Laoda suddenly realized. The Tang Clan was skilled in using poison, so they were particularly sensitive to it. However, it was too late when he realized it. His mind went blank, and his nerves immediately became disordered.

"Where are Jia Shiming and that little girl?" the Hakka nanny asked softly.

"They went west..." Tang Laoda replied groggily.

"How long has it been?" the Hakka nanny asked again.

"About half... half an hour..." Tang Laoda muttered softly, his eyes slightly open and his face flushed.

The Hakka woman gave a cold laugh, opened the car door and got out, then casually closed the door behind her.

Inside the carriage, Tang Jia San Shao had all fainted and would not wake up for at least an hour.

"Let's go, Master Jia is taking Momo westward," the Hakka nanny chuckled.

"What's that smell?" Shen Caihua sniffed the air and asked, puzzled.

As dawn broke, more and more pedestrians appeared on the road, and the three Hakka women headed straight west to pursue them.

Song Diweng and Fei Daozhang parted ways with the Hakka grandmothers at the Sanmenxia Reservoir.

Shen Caihua tracked the message all the way to the reservoir, but Mo Mo's message suddenly disappeared. "Master, I can't smell it anymore," he said, shaking his head helplessly.

"I surmise that Master Jia must have crossed the river to the south bank and then headed to Sanmenxia City, which is a transportation hub. It's very convenient to travel east to Luoyang and Zhengzhou, or west to Tongguan and Xi'an," said Song Diweng, gazing thoughtfully at the vast reservoir.

“Master, I think Master Jia might be trying to mislead us by making a move to the east while actually heading west. This fellow is cunning and treacherous; we must be on guard,” Master Fei offered his opinion.

“What Ziyun said makes sense. Master Jia has been active in the Tongguan area for some time now, and he has a lot of men under his command. It’s quite likely that he’s heading west…” Song Diweng said thoughtfully. “Hakka Granny, why don’t we split into two groups for now? You go east, and Ziyun and I will go west. One of us will eventually catch up with them.”

"Hmph, whatever," the Hakka woman replied dismissively, clearly unwilling to deal with government officials.

"Then I'll take my leave, Old Man Song. We'll meet again, Hakka Granny." Old Man Song bowed and then led Daoist Fei westward along the reservoir bank.

Song Diweng's cooperation with the Hakka nanny on the summit of Jade Pillar Peak was merely a temporary measure to deal with the crisis. Now that there was a chance to separate, it was better than nothing. This highly skilled old woman and that extremely vicious little boy might turn against each other at any time, and he couldn't handle it.

An hour later, he and Master Fei finally boarded a small boat and ferried them to the south bank. After noon, the two went into a small rural restaurant next to National Highway 310 for lunch.

“Master, look, there’s a little boy walking on the other side of the road…” Master Fei suddenly stopped eating and said, his one eye shining brightly.

"Hmm, what's wrong?" Song Diweng asked casually.

"It's that little monk Youliang!" Master Fei jumped up and said hastily, "I'll go and capture him."

"Wait a minute..." Song Diweng reached out to stop Fei Daozhang, and said with a slight smile, "Since we've met the little monk here, I'm wondering why he came to Henan alone?"

"It's... Nizi!" Master Fei exclaimed in sudden realization.

"By the way, he might already be with Nizi and Master Jia, or on his way to meet them somewhere. In any case, he would never leisurely go on a hiking trip alone to admire the beautiful landscapes of our motherland," Song Diweng chuckled wistfully.

"Master, you have such discerning eyes that you saw through the essence of the problem at once. I am ashamed of myself..." Master Fei said sincerely.

"Eat quickly, then quietly follow behind," Song Diweng instructed, slurping down his soup.

The two quickly finished their meal, paid the bill, and went outside, following Youliang at a distance as they headed southeast.

Youliang's figure gradually disappeared into the lush green forest.

Song Diweng squinted and looked ahead. Turning into the Xiaoshan and Xiong'er Pass, further in, lay the renowned Yuxi Grand Canyon.

Song Diweng and Fei Daozhang parted ways with the Hakka grandmothers at the Sanmenxia Reservoir.

Shen Caihua tracked the message all the way to the reservoir, but Mo Mo's message suddenly disappeared. "Master, I can't smell it anymore," he said, shaking his head helplessly.

"I surmise that Master Jia must have crossed the river to the south bank and then headed to Sanmenxia City, which is a transportation hub. It's very convenient to travel east to Luoyang and Zhengzhou, or west to Tongguan and Xi'an," said Song Diweng, gazing thoughtfully at the vast reservoir.

“Master, I think Master Jia might be trying to mislead us by making a move to the east while actually heading west. This fellow is cunning and treacherous; we must be on guard,” Master Fei offered his opinion.

“What Ziyun said makes sense. Master Jia has been active in the Tongguan area for some time now, and he has a lot of men under his command. It’s quite likely that he’s heading west…” Song Diweng said thoughtfully. “Hakka Granny, why don’t we split into two groups for now? You go east, and Ziyun and I will go west. One of us will eventually catch up with them.”

"Hmph, whatever," the Hakka woman replied dismissively, clearly unwilling to deal with government officials.

"Then I'll take my leave, Old Man Song. We'll meet again, Hakka Granny." Old Man Song bowed and then led Daoist Fei westward along the reservoir bank.

Song Diweng's cooperation with the Hakka nanny on the summit of Jade Pillar Peak was merely a temporary measure to deal with the crisis. Now that there was a chance to separate, it was better than nothing. This highly skilled old woman and that extremely vicious little boy might turn against each other at any time, and he couldn't handle it.