The Red Scorpion

Chapter 3. The Movement

Qiu Ye jumped high with his qigong. Once his right foot touched the tree branch, he jumped higher. His hands spread widely as if he was flying. He went to Xia Palace. Near the palace’s border, he collected his two hands, putting them on his chests. He took a deep breath and jumped high with two of his feet over the towering wall.

There were many guards in train guarding the courtyard. Qiu Ye knew exactly where he headed to without making any suspicion. He sneaked into one room through the door.
The room was extravagant and spacious, full of wooden artistic furnitures. He walked through one of wooden partition door.

There were two men waiting for him inside. One man sat on a long red cedar hardwood bench with two tigers crafting at the backside and armside, a small table stood in the middle together with a full set of white jade wine pot on it. The man who sat on the bench was dressed in embroided black bamboo leaves silver robe. He had a long grey hair, smooth fair skin, pair of black eyes with long eyelashes. He had a charismatic aura alongside his elegant moves each time he took a sip of a wine. Hard to believe this man was actually a middle age man, he looked young and handsome.

The other man was dressed in crimson robe, kneeling down before him trembly. He subdued his head to the floor. Qiu Ye kowtowed paying respect to the man in silver robe, “I, Qiu Ye, leader of Jiang Province Hongxie, come to give a report to Master Wang Qing.” The man smirked, he put down the wine cup with his left hand on the table, then answered, “Qiu Ye, you can drop the formality.” Hearing that, Qiu Ye perspired; he stood up bending his upper body and stretching both of his hands, clasping them together as respect.

Wang Qing nodded and opened his mouth, "Luo Xiong, five units were dispatched from Qing, and you are the only one survive. Explain that.” Wang Qing spoke slowly with intimidating tone.

Luo  Xiong hit his head hard on the floor leaving blood traces, “My apology, Master. We tracked his carriage to the foot of Qingya Mountain. It was actually a trap; some men in black were hiding and waiting for us. They were hard trained with good martial art. Among them, there was one young man, who was really remarkable in both martial art and cultivating. We are no match for him, not even Xuan Rong, the Shadow Fang. He was one of the red lotus.” His voice was raised a bit high with vibrant tone.

Qiu Ye calmly listened to the conversation. Shadow Fang was one of WuJun, the five leaders of hongxie. He was a veteran soldier from the past. He made his name during the war of Xin Chang, Northest Gallium War, he was a bruteless soldier named ‘A man worth of 1000 soldiers’. He killed thousands of Xin soldiers with his own hand in one of the bruteless war in Gifu history.  He was promoted as Shuzu (Garrison commander) at Bei Xing (northest part of Gifu). When the war was finally over, he started to kill civilians and low rank soldiers to satisfy his lust for battlefield. His real name was Xuang Rong, he adapted Shadow Fang as his name when he joined hongxie. If Luo Xiong told the truth, this young man who killed Shadow Fang possessed tremendous skills. The phrase of ‘red lotus’ intrigued him more.

“Interesting...” Wang Qing stood up and walked toward Luo Xiong, “Do you know what I hate most?”

Wang Qing lifted Luo Xiong head with his hand. Luo Xiong was shivering, his robe was drenched with sweat and his eyes were watery, “M—aster, I dare not to lie. That man was holding a paper fan, but I could see it, behind the paper fan, his eyes were as red as blood.”

“Luo Xiong, making up a lie for your incompetence is unacceptable. What a pity!” No a single word uttered from Luo Xiong’s mouth, his neck was twisted by Wang Qing. He felt on the ground with his head facing back. Qiu Ye was adamant seeing the dead body before his eyes.