Chapter Eight
On the mountain road before dawn, a rush of footsteps reached his ears.
"somebody is coming."
Song Xing suddenly whispered something, and Chu Luozhao's expression changed. He listened attentively, and sure enough he heard the faint sound of footsteps.
"It's very fast, two people."
The next second, Song Xing dodged and arrived at the gate of the front yard. He held his breath and concentrated on his palms, getting ready to take action.
Although Song Xing is confident that every time he takes action, the traces will be cleaned up, so there is no need to worry about anyone tracking him.
But tonight he had just experienced a fierce battle, and there were strange footsteps on the mountain where almost no one visited on weekdays, so he couldn't help but be cautious.
Bang bang bang.
A rapid knock on the door sounded in the empty courtyard.
Song Xing and Chu Luozhao looked at each other, it seemed different from what they imagined.
"who is it?"
After a few breaths, Chu Luozhao asked in a deep voice.
"Mr. Zhao, it's me."
The knocking on the door stopped, and then came a voice that sounded strange to Song Xing.
Chu Luozhao was stunned for a moment, then his eyes changed as if he remembered something, and he motioned to Song Xing behind the door to open the door.
Song Xing walked forward, took off the door bolt, pushed open the wooden door, and looked out.
There were two people standing outside the door. The one on the left was a middle-aged man with an ordinary face. He was wearing a blue-gray gown and a Western-style hat. Short stubble could be seen under the brim of the hat. He had a pair of round-framed black glasses on his face.
The man was supporting a tall, strong man on his shoulders. His gray shorts were covered in bloodstains and his face was a little pale. At this moment, he was completely relying on the support of the middle-aged man to stand upright.
Song Xing lowered his gaze and found that the strong man's left elbow was broken at the elbow level. It was simply wrapped with gauze. Blood stains could be seen seeping out, indicating that it was bandaged in a hurry.
Song Xing looked back at the master, and Chu Luozhao saw the middle-aged man in front of the door with a heartfelt smile on his face.
"Xiao Hu, haha, why are you here?"
Then when he saw the injured strong man next to the middle-aged man, his expression changed and he quickly stepped forward and said: "Come in quickly, why did it happen like this?"
The middle-aged man stepped over the threshold, smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said nothing.
Seeing that he was someone the master knew, Song Xing stepped forward and helped the injured strong man in with the middle-aged man on the left and right.
Song Xing could feel a faint sense of oppression coming from the strong man in front of him. He was obviously a master on par with the Third Patriarch Jin.
Song Xing faintly smelled the smell of almonds from the blood stains on the strong man's body, and thought for a moment that he must have been poisoned by some kind of poison.
"Thank you, little brother."
The strong man nodded weakly to Song Xing and thanked him.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a middle-aged man walking with a limp, as if his left leg was somewhat disabled.
After helping the strong man into the room, without Chu Luozhao's instructions, Song Xing quickly moved the medicine box he usually used to treat Song Xing's injuries.
Chu Luozhao took out a box of silver needles from the medicine box, took out three of them, burned them on the kerosene lamp that Song Xing handed over, and then inserted them into several acupuncture points of the wound on the strong man's left arm with extremely fast techniques.
After doing this three times, the strong man's left arm was filled with silver needles, but the wound finally stopped bleeding.
The strong man was sweating profusely in pain, but he gritted his teeth without making a sound, but after all, he was bleeding too much and his consciousness was a little blurry.
Chu Luozhao stretched out his finger and checked his pulse. His face was a little serious. He stood up and dug out a bottle of pills in the medicine box. He poured out one pill. After thinking about it, he poured out another pill and fed it to the strong man. He drank it.
Then he rummaged through the room to find a pack of herbs, picked out a few and handed them to Song Xing behind him, and ordered: "Add two knotweeds and make a bowl."
When Song Xing boiled the herbs and brought them in, it was already bright and Chu Luozhao was holding a knife and carefully bleeding the strong man.
The naked upper body of the strong man was covered in blood and flesh, and was covered with scars from the sword. There were several wounds, and the blood that flowed out turned black, and it was obvious that the sword was smeared with poison.
Chu Luozhao squeezed out the black blood from the wound, applied trauma ointment, then took the concoction prepared by Song Xing and poured it into the strong man's mouth.
"The external injuries have been treated, but the internal injuries are a bit serious. If I can survive tonight, it will be nothing serious."
Chu Luozhao wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to the middle-aged man next to him.
"Thank you, Mr. Zhao."
The middle-aged man thanked him politely.
Chu Luozhao shook his head and said, "Why should we be polite between you and me?"
The strong man was weak and needed to rest, so the three of them left the room and went to the next room to talk.
The two sat down to talk, and Song Xing went to the back to get hot water to make tea for them.
"Is this your new apprentice?"
Looking at Song Xing's back, the middle-aged man asked.
Chu Luozhao nodded, with a smile on his face: "I accepted it five years ago, and the skills gained before it was buried must be passed on."
"It seems that I have obtained all your true inheritance."
The man knew Chu Luozhao well and knew that he would not say such words unless he was very satisfied with this disciple.
"In five years, my kung fu has reached the same level as before, so I have some talent." Chu Luozhao stroked his beard and smiled.
The man was amazed when he saw Song Xing coming forward with tea, so he said no more.
"This is Hu Tianchou, a friend who has been my teacher for many years. Please call me Uncle Hu."
Taking the tea from Song Xing, Chu Luozhao motioned to Song Xing to come forward and pay homage to Hu Tianchou.
"Uncle Hu." Song Xing stepped forward to greet him.
"Okay, okay, Song Xing, right? You are young and your martial arts skills can be passed down by your master. There are probably not more than three or five people in the younger generation. Mr. Zhao has someone to succeed him!"
Hu Tianchou was very happy.
"Mr. Zhao?" Song Xing was slightly startled. This time he heard clearly that it was Zhao and not Zhao.
However, he didn't ask any more questions, and stood aside, watching the two people talking.
The strong man next to Hu Tianchou looked like a strong man with strong martial arts skills, and he had the aura of a soldier. Yet such a man came to Chu Luozhao.
Chu Luozhao noticed Song Xing's doubts, sighed, and began to explain Song Xing's doubts.
It turns out that Chu Luozhao is just his pseudonym, and his true identity is something else.
He beat Zhao Sanduo with his divine fist and was known as Zhao Laozhu.
One of the founders of the Boxer Rebellion, he was an invincible fighter in Shandong Province with his plum boxing skills.
Later, when the Qing government and foreigners jointly encircled and suppressed the Boxer Rebellion, he was betrayed by the traitors and escaped by pretending to die. He came to the south and lived in seclusion in the small county of Cangwu.
Hu Tianchun was one of the few friends who knew where he lived in seclusion.
The difference is that because Chu Luozhao was old and experienced the destruction of the Boxer Rebellion, he was disheartened and chose to fake his death and retire.
Hu Tianchun, who was in his prime, was unwilling to watch his country suffer at the hands of foreigners, so he resolutely rushed to the front line and looked for ways to save the country.
After Song Xing heard this, he had no reaction. Whether it was Zhao Laozhu or Chu Luozhao, they were all his masters, there was no difference.
"Who did you meet who could injure Fang Hu so seriously?"
Chu Luozhao asked Hu Tianchou.
He also knew the injured strong man. He was Hu Tianchou's bodyguard back then. Although his martial arts skills were slightly weaker than his own back then, he was definitely not someone who could hurt him.
In the past few years, Hu Tianchui had traveled far and wide, all thanks to Fang Hu's strong protection.
Chapter completed!