Chapter Ninety-Six: Untitled

"Young Master Zhu, let me tell it to you. You heard them yourself—they can’t speak worth a damn, so how are they supposed to tell a story? I used to be a storyteller. I can absolutely give you a proper one."

As he spoke, Bai Zhan Tang ignored the furious glares of the crowd who had been immobilized by acupoint strikes. He went off on his own to fetch a teapot and two teacups from a distance, then, with a keen eye for favors, even handed one to Zhu Yu.

After taking a sip of tea to moisten his throat and sneaking a few glances at the banknotes pinned beneath Zhu Yu’s hand, Bai Zhan Tang cleared his throat twice and began.

"As the saying goes, the world long divided must unite, and long united..."

He lowered his voice, struck a dramatic pose, and was just getting into it.

"Stop. I didn’t ask you to recite the Three Kingdoms. I asked you to tell me something interesting that happened recently. If there hasn’t been anything lately, then go further back. If that still doesn’t work, have someone else tell it. You’ve gone far enough already—you’ve wandered clear off into the Three Kingdoms."

Hearing that familiar opening line, Zhu Yu’s head truly began to ache. He hurried to cut Bai Zhan Tang off.

"Don’t. I was just finding my rhythm. I’ll start right away, Young Master Zhu. Give me one more chance."

"Then cut the nonsense and get on with it."

"All right, all right. If we’re talking about interesting things that happened recently, there really are a few. I’ll start from the beginning."

Bai Zhan Tang tilted his head and thought for a moment, then used a teacup as a makeshift gavel and slapped it against the table before launching in.

"Young Master Zhu, judging by your lofty station, you must have heard about the Grandmaster’s treasure that’s been causing such a stir lately, haven’t you?"

Zhu Yu blinked at the question, and Yu Huatian, standing nearby, was drawn in as well.

"I have. What does that have to do with your inn?"

"Heh, Young Master Zhu, don’t underestimate our inn. For eighty li around, ours is the only one. What news could possibly escape us?"

"Then tell me: what about this Grandmaster’s treasure?"

Seeing Zhu Yu’s interest begin to stir, Bai Zhan Tang glanced left and right with deliberate mystery, then lowered his voice.

"The Grandmaster’s treasure is about to appear!"

"What?" Zhu Yu exclaimed, and Yu Huatian, who had been eavesdropping from the side, blurted out the same thing.

Zhu Yu’s surprise was purely astonishment. Yu Huatian’s was astonishment laced with fear.

This was the Western Depot’s first move in the martial world, and it was still far too early to draw the net in. If anything went wrong now, months of painstaking effort would be wasted, and unless the Western Depot lost several dozen men, the matter would never be over.

"You’re surprised, aren’t you? I was shocked when I first heard it too..."

By now Zhu Yu had lost all patience for the story and snapped, "Stop dangling it in front of me. Speak."

"All right, all right. To put it simply, some time ago someone spotted one of those three tomb robbers at Eighteen-Mile Post."

"I know you’ll doubt it, but that wasn’t the end of it. The person who saw him doubted it too, so he gathered a few others and told them what happened. After they discussed it, they decided to go and investigate that very night.

"And that’s where it got important. The group that set out in the night to steal the treasure map—aside from the one keeping watch outside—not a single one came back alive.

"The lookout outside was terrified out of his wits. He didn’t dare keep digging into it, so the matter had to be dropped. Still, because so many people had died, he kept watching that tomb robber in secret.

"Not two days later, the same lookout made another discovery: just a few days after that first tomb robber left, another of the three also arrived at Eighteen-Mile Post.

"Now that was serious. Think about it: there were only three tomb robbers in total, and two of them had shown up at Eighteen-Mile Post. What did that mean?

"The Grandmaster’s treasure might be near Eighteen-Mile Post!

"That news was sold off at a high price by the lookout. Since our inn was the only one nearby, we were packed solid every single day for a stretch of time.

"With more people came more clever minds, and in the end they concluded that there was no treasure at Eighteen-Mile Post.

"Because the three treasure maps were all different, how could two of those men both end up at Eighteen-Mile Post? There was definitely something wrong with the place, but it absolutely could not be the burial site.

"The most likely guess was that the three tomb robbers were secretly connected. No one knew what they were plotting, but it was certainly not as simple as the rumors made it sound.

"Later on, a few more theories were put forward. The one that gained the most support was that the treasure site was full of deadly dangers, so they needed people to clear the path for them. That was why they had let word of the treasure map leak out.

"As soon as that idea was raised, most people agreed. To uncover the truth as quickly as possible, they decided to set out overnight. After seizing that tomb robber, they would slowly pry the truth from his mouth."

At this point, Bai Zhan Tang took a thirsty sip of tea and then asked, "It’s been several days now, so who knows what the situation is at this point?

"But whatever the case, news of the Grandmaster’s treasure has long since spread everywhere. No matter how it ends, word of it will definitely get out."

Hearing Bai Zhan Tang’s words, Yu Huatian’s face had gone completely dark.

Back when he wanted to stir up the matter, he had deliberately let the portraits of the three men leak out.

But later, the Western Depot’s manpower had proved insufficient, and using carrier pigeons and the like to relay information was too unreliable. In the end, they could only report in person, without involving anyone else.

What Bai Zhan Tang had just described as Eighteen-Mile Post was the very place where Yu Huatian had personally received his subordinates and heard their reports some days before.

Zhu Yu also sensed the risk that the plan had been exposed. He quietly gave Yu Huatian a meaningful look, and Yu Huatian understood at once. Rising to his feet, he went upstairs to send men to contain the damage.

"That’s pretty interesting. Anything else?"

The moment Yu Huatian stood up, Bai Zhan Tang’s attention drifted after him. Seeing this, Zhu Yu interrupted him.

"There is, there is. But I’ve talked for so long and drunk so much tea that the pot’s almost dry, and..."

Hearing what Bai Zhan Tang was implying, Zhu Yu cut in again. "That last story was worth thirty taels. Keep going."

"All right, let me think."

Bai Zhan Tang fell silent for a moment. Then his eyes suddenly lit up.

"I’ve got one. Some time ago, Murong Fu killed the Beggars’ Sect’s deputy chief, Ma Dayuan.

"A few Beggars’ Sect disciples stayed at the inn a few days ago, and I overheard a couple of lines. I heard the Beggars’ Sect plans to invite Murong Fu somewhere in Jiangnan and settle the matter there. I wonder if that’s true?"

The plot of Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils has begun.

The thought flashed through Zhu Yu’s mind, but his expression remained calm as he said to Bai Zhan Tang, "What use is that to me? I asked you to tell me interesting things that happened in your inn. What’s with all these rumors you keep throwing at me?"

"Rumors? I didn’t tell you any rumors. I told you Qian, Kun, Kan, Li, Zhen, and a few others—I just can’t remember all of them," Bai Zhan Tang replied with remarkable honesty.

Zhu Yu slapped a hand to his forehead. "I asked you to tell me something interesting that happened in your inn. I don’t want to hear things you heard somewhere else. Do you understand now?"

"Understood. There was one, actually. Before that heavy rain, a wealthy merchant tried to kill himself over lost love at our inn, and we saved him. Does that count?"

Eh? That piqued Zhu Yu’s interest at once. "Go on."