Chapter 19: Indistinguishable from Water and Fire (1)

  This sudden strike came suddenly, with great force and power, almost knocking Hei San Bian off his horse. Hei San Bian quickly pulled the reins, steadying himself, and the horse let out a long whinny before stopping. Hei San Bian's shoulder hurt, and he pressed down on whatever was grasping his shoulder with one hand, looking up to see something that left him shocked.

  It turned out that the thing clamped on Hei San Bian's shoulder was a shiny black three-clawed hook. The hook had already been tightened, its sharp teeth piercing through his clothes and into his flesh. Hei San Bian exerted some force, trying to pull out the hook, but it only tore at his skin, causing him great pain. Apparently, the hook's teeth were barbed.

  Hei San Bian took a closer look and saw that the three-clawed hook on the tail had a thin, tough rope tied to it, which was pulled taut, indicating that someone was pulling at the other end. Hei San Bian grabbed the rope, holding it firmly, relieving some of the severe pain in his shoulder, and shouted loudly: "You turtle grandson is playing tricks! Come out!"

  Just as Hei San Bian finished scolding, he saw a person standing on the rooftop in the direction of the rope, wearing a short blue outfit and a blue cloth covering his face, revealing only two eyes. This person had a rope wrapped around his shoulder, one hand tightly grasping the rope, and was exerting great force to counter Hei San Bian's brute strength.

  "Get down here!" Hei Sanbian bellowed, surging with energy as he violently yanked the rope. The masked man on the rooftop stumbled, bricks and tiles clattering loudly, despite his best efforts to regain control. With a muffled grunt, he plummeted straight down from the roof. The masked man was agile, executing a swift somersault in mid-air before landing on all fours, seemingly unscathed. Even though he had been dragged down from the rooftop by Hei Sanbian in a most undignified manner, as soon as his feet touched the ground, he glared at Hei Sanbian with malice, refusing to let go of the rope.

  Hei Sanbian saw that this person was so stubborn, and didn't want to get entangled with him. With a swish, he pulled out his gun from his waist and fired three shots without saying a word. This person reacted quickly, dodging the first two bullets by rolling on the ground, but the third bullet still hit his leg. His movements became disordered, and he fell to the ground, but his hand still refused to let go.

  "Hei San Bian let out a fierce roar: 'Looking for death!' The gun in his hand pointed at the man again, determined to shoot him dead."

  Hei San Bian hadn't even pulled the trigger yet, but he heard a sudden gust of wind pressure beside his ear, and out of the corner of his eye saw several black things flying towards him from both sides. At this moment, Hei San Bian didn't care about shooting anymore, and with one flip of his body, he was about to jump off the horse, but that masked man had desperately pulled on the rope, making Hei San Bian's movements uncoordinated, and while his body was still in mid-air, those black things slammed into his body, all clamping down on him with a "ka-cha" sound.

  Hei San Bian let out a muffled groan and fell off his horse. Hei San Bian was extremely fierce, and with one roll he got back up to his feet. Lowering his head for a look, he saw that they were all identical three-clawed hooks. Hei San Bian secretly exclaimed: "Not good! Could it be the legendary Zhang Si's hook soldiers?"

  Hei San Bian was drenched in cold sweat, his body aching violently. He looked up to see seven or eight men dressed in the same blue attire as him, with their faces covered by blue cloth, standing on the rooftops on either side. Four of them were pulling on ropes, while three others held tridents in their hands, aiming at Hei San Bian, ready to throw at any moment.

  Hei San Bian let out a loud roar, clutched his hands together, and wrapped several ropes around his arms, instantly assuming a confrontational stance with the blue-robed man.

  "Hei Sanbian cursed: 'Turtle grandson! Playing with yin!' Hei Sanbian scolded while drawing a knife from his waist to cut the rope. A hook flew over and hit Hei Sanbian's arm, clamping down and pulling up the hand that held the knife."

  There was a person on the rooftop, laughing loudly and scolding: "Hei San Bian! You've gone too far this time! I'll see where you can run to!" Hei San Bian looked up and saw Zhang Si Ye standing on the wall with a stern expression, staring fiercely at him.

  Hei San's whip-like path was even more powerful, but it wasn't a match for the five of them. His face turned bright red as he struggled to hold on, but his horse's footing was gradually becoming unstable.

  Hei Sanbian also knew that this move was vicious, and today it's probably hard to escape. Suddenly, he burst out laughing: "Zhang Siye, good skill! The legendary hook soldier of the Jianghu, is indeed formidable! Zhang Siye, isn't it just a Jade Tuanzhu? I'll return it to you! Let's talk nicely, if Zhang Siye can spare my life today, I will definitely remember Zhang Siye's great kindness and follow his orders from now on!"

  "Too late! Black Three Whip, you have a big nerve! You dare to steal from my Zhang family and hurt many of my people. Today, I won't let you off!"

  Hei Sanbian let out a loud shout and yelled: "Zhang Siye,

  Wait! As Zhang Siye said, let alone I Hei Sanbian, even the Northeast Four Great Thieves combined dare not come to steal things from Zhang Siye. Does Zhang Siye want to know who is secretly instructing me to do this?

  Zhang Siye was taken aback, thinking to himself: "This Hei Sanbian speaks reasonably, I, Zhang Si, know that in the three northeastern provinces, a thief knows not to provoke me. What's gotten into this Hei Sanbian? Why steal something as worthless as an evil spirit's jade pearl? There must be something fishy going on! It's likely that Hei Sanbian is being manipulated by someone else! Never mind, I'll spare his life today and interrogate him strictly to see what he knows!"

  Zhang Siye was hesitating, Hei Sanbian quickly looked around four times, the thief's eyes were sharp, and Hei Sanbian saw Huo Xiaoxie and Lang Deben, the four little rascals, shrinking in the corner of the wall, sizing up this way.

  It turned out that after Hei San Bian whipped down and fled, Huo Xiao Ye and the others had no way to retreat and could only flee in the same direction as Hei San Bian. They also heard the sound of Hei San Bian shooting at the blue-clothed men, although they were afraid, but still ran forward. When they almost reached the three-forked road intersection, they saw Hei San Bian being pulled by four or five ropes, standing in the middle of the road, pulling the rope with all his might to resist. It was clear that he had fallen into an ambush. Huo Xiao Ye looked up and also saw seven or eight blue-clothed masked men standing on the rooftop, some holding ropes, others holding hooks aiming at him. Huo Xiao Ye and the others didn't dare to move again, they quickly hid in a corner of the wall, not even daring to breathe, watching the scene unfold before their eyes.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Xié's mind was racing with excitement, thinking: "Hei San Bian hasn't escaped after all! How great! While they're not paying attention to us, let's hide here and avoid the storm! This play is going to be thrilling! It's worth watching!"

  Actually, Huo Xiao and his friends were already stunned by the scene in front of them. They couldn't turn back or move forward, so they just stood there watching!

  Hei San Bian looked at them, and Hei San Bian exchanged a glance with Huo Xiao Xie. Suddenly, their hearts were racing like deer! They cursed secretly: "It's all over! How did this damn Hei San Bian see us!"

  Hei San Bian saw Huo Xiao Xie, his heart was delighted, but he didn't make a sound. His eyes immediately shifted away and he used his elbow to probe the jade container in his bosom, muttering: "It's fine!"

  Hei Sanbian saw Huo Xiaoxie, and also saw Zhang Siye's slightly hesitant expression, knowing that he might be able to save his life today. He shouted: "Zhang Siye, I, Hei Sanbian, admit defeat!"

  Zhang Siye saw Hei Sanbian loosen his lower stance and knew he was showing a conciliatory attitude. Pointing at Hei Sanbian, Zhang said: "I'll spare you for today! I'd like to hear where your courage comes from!" Hei Sanbian heard Zhang's words and also loosened the rope that had been tightly wrapped around his arm, raising his hand.

  Zhang Siye waved his hand, and the blue-clad hook soldiers stopped pulling the rope tighter. The remaining few jumped down from the wall and quickly approached Hei Sanbian, intending to bind him. Hei Sanbian surrendered and took out a container with Yu Taizhu from his bosom, handing it over. A blue-clad hook soldier reached out to take it.

  Hei Sanbian burst out laughing, his face suddenly changing color, and cursed: "Damn it!" Hei Sanbian let out a loud roar, exerting all his strength, and actually threw the container holding the Yu Tai Zhu towards Huo Xiao's direction!

  Zhang Siye didn't care about anything else, and cursed loudly: "Damn it!" Those hook soldiers and Zhang Siye were on the same wavelength, seeing Hei Sanbian was about to drop the jade embryo bead, without waiting for Zhang Siye's orders, they quickly tightened the rope. However, it was still a bit late, and they saw that the emerald green glass container was spinning in mid-air, flying towards the dark shadows of the alley entrance.

  Huǒ Xiǎo Yī originally thought that Hei Sān Biān was done for, and was thinking of how to take advantage of the chaos to slip away. However, he saw Hei Sān Biān suddenly throw the container holding the Yu Tai Zhu towards him, causing his entire body to feel numb all over, with his brain feeling like it had exploded into a thousand pieces, completely muddled.

  The container bottle was still in the air, the rope of the hook soldier had tightened, and Hei Sanbian's head had already been knocked to the ground with a thud. Hei Sanbian shouted loudly: "Huo Xiao Xie! Hold the bottle and run! You can still save your life!"

  The bottle drew an arc in the air, landed on one end, and rolled around on the ground without breaking. It rolled right up to Huo Xiao's feet. None of them had any ideas, they were all stunned. Hei Sanbian told them to take the bottle and run, which coincidentally fit with their thieving intentions.