With a sword drawn, he laughs proudly, his martial prowess dominating the heavens!

Chapter 36 The Wang Family's Invitation to the Banquet Was a Disappointing Feast

The next morning, Li Che and Qu Feiyan were having breakfast on the first floor of the inn, facing the street.

The little girl is small, but she has a big appetite.

The table was set with bean porridge, tofu, steamed buns, pickled cucumbers, and even a separate serving of beef soup.

Li Che ate his porridge and pancakes slowly and deliberately, while the little girl chewed with gusto, her cheeks bulging, and then stuffed a piece of pickled cucumber into her mouth.

"Was he a reincarnation of a starving ghost? Or did Old Qu spend all his money on sheet music?"

Qu Feiyan stared at him with her bowl in hand without saying a word, turning her anger into her appetite, as if she regarded Li as the rice in her bowl.

Li Che smiled and ignored her. He noticed that her eyes were slightly dark, indicating that she hadn't slept well last night.

A moment later, the group walked into the inn with their arms around each other's shoulders and their hands supporting their waists. The strong smell of perfume that followed made Li Che feel a little dizzy.

Upon closer inspection, wow, her dark circles were even worse than Qu Feiyan's.

The group of men had spent the night entertaining themselves, and before entering the house, they boasted about their nighttime battles with vulgar language, saying things like how three, five, or seven times was not enough to stop until this morning, and that highbrow music is the only way to show a man's true colors. Each of them was louder than the last.

However, once they saw Li Che sitting upright in the hall, they all shut up, clasped their hands in greeting, and lined up to go up to the second floor.

Li Che smiled and suddenly found these straightforward men quite interesting.

"Young Master Li!"

Looking over, one could see Chief Escort Zhou walking briskly towards them, followed by a tall man.

The man was around forty years old, dressed in a plain-colored silk robe, with a brocade belt around his waist and shoes.

With just one glance, Li Che noticed that the man's temples were bulging high and his hands, held in front of him, had prominent muscles and bones, indicating that he was a master of external martial arts.

Li Che rose to greet him, "Chief Escort Zhou, is there something you need from me?"

The latter stepped aside and smiled, "It's not that I have anything to do."

As soon as he finished speaking, the man behind him stepped forward, clasped his hands in greeting, and said, "Young Master Li, I am Wang Bofen. My father heard that the esteemed disciple of Master Yue, the Gentleman Swordsman of Mount Hua, has come to Luoyang, and specially sent me to invite you to our residence for a banquet."

Firstly, to express our gratitude for your escorting of the goods, young hero; secondly, the Wang family members also wish to witness your prowess. We hope you will not refuse, young hero Li.

As he spoke, he took out the invitation from his pocket and handed it to the person with both hands.

Li Che took it casually, thinking to himself that Wang Bofen was the eldest son of the Wang family, and that he had personally come to invite him and treat him as an equal, which showed him a lot of face.

In the original novel, Lao Yue refers to himself as Wang Yuanba's junior, which is actually somewhat beneath his status.

The Golden Knife Wang family was quite famous in Luoyang, but their status in the martial arts world was only equivalent to that of the Fuwei Escort Agency. Lin Zhennan treated the Qingcheng Sect with utmost respect, let alone the Huashan Sect.

This time, it can be considered that Lao Yue has been given a seniority.

Li Che glanced at Zhou Biaotou and saw him looking at him with a smile, and instantly understood what was going on.

He figured that his story of killing the three villains had already been exposed, otherwise the invitation would probably have been sent yesterday.

Come to think of it, the Huashan Sect is far away in Shaanxi, while the Songshan Sect is only a hundred miles away. Why go to the trouble of seeking something far away when it's so close?

Li Che smiled faintly, clasped his hands in a polite gesture, and said, "Heroic Elder Wang is renowned throughout the Central Plains, and my master has mentioned him many times. As a junior, I will naturally go to pay him a visit."

"Young Master Li, you are too kind. In that case, the Wang family will be waiting for your arrival tonight!"

Just as Li Che was about to raise his hand to see him off, he noticed a hesitation on his face and a flicker in his eyes. He asked, "Is there anything else, Brother Wang?"

"My father instructed me to speak with you in detail, young hero, but I don't know..."

After the two walked about two zhang, Wang Bofen said softly with some difficulty, "Young hero, please don't be offended. My father originally wanted to invite you to the mansion alone, but unfortunately, Di Xiu, the disciple of the left leader of the Songshan Sect, has been staying at the mansion for the past two days."

After saying that, he turned apologetically and said, "Di Xiu said he wanted to get closer to the young hero. In his words, my father was also in a difficult position. The Songshan Sect is very powerful in Zhongzhou. We really can't afford to offend them. I hope the young hero won't take offense."

Wang Bofen adopted a very humble attitude and spoke reasonably. If others heard him say this, they would understand.

Li Che offered a few words of comfort with a calm expression, but his mind was elsewhere.

He was deeply impressed by Di Xiu.

He slashed at the women and children of the Liu family with his sword, attempted to kill the wounded Linghu Chong, and made things difficult for Yilin. In the end, he was killed by his master, who was blinding, at the Fengchan Terrace.

This person should be considered a good dog.

Wang Bofen hesitated to speak, but Li Che could sense that he seemed to have some dissatisfaction with Di Xiu in his words.

That makes sense; the Songshan Sect is such a large organization, how could it support itself without a few fat sheep?

In terms of wealth, who in Luoyang can compare to the Wang family with the Golden Knife?

With such a large Buddha statue on top, it seems Old Wang isn't having an easy time.

Li Che secretly pondered that this banquet must have been orchestrated by Di Xiu; this fellow probably wanted to test his own abilities.

However, it cannot be ruled out that the person surnamed Wang might be using him as a pawn.

After Wang Bofen left, Zhou Ang saw that Li Che was expressionless and silent, and he suddenly felt a little flustered.

"Young Master Li, alas~ it's my fault for drinking a few too many cups at the banquet last night, and I couldn't keep my mouth shut, so I blurted out whatever came to mind..."

"It's alright." Li Che changed the subject instead, laughing, "Brothers, you've had a long journey. The Wang family is so powerful, didn't they give you any benefits?"

"Haha, of course there is." Zhou Ang turned from worry to joy, leaned over and laughed, "The Wang family is really generous. They gave each of the brothers ten taels of silver, and the head镖师 (bodyguard) and the brothers from Qianjinzhuang (thirty taels) each. This time, the escort mission was more than the head镖师 (bodyguard) gave us."

Uh... I misspoke, I misspoke~

Zhou Ang chuckled and then said, "But this night has taken a lot of effort. Damn it, even if you spend money and put in the effort, you can't earn as much as someone else earns by working on the bed."

Young Master Li, judging from the Wang family's attitude, they're bound to throw money around tonight. Sigh... it's a good thing Old Zhou doesn't have your skills, otherwise he'd definitely fleece them.

He talked on and on for a while before remembering that Li Che was from a prestigious and upright family who valued his reputation, and he cursed himself for being rash.

Just as he was about to apologize, Li Che nodded and said, "Brother Zhou is right. In the end, it's all about cutting the knife; it doesn't matter who does it."

Zhou Ang only half understood what he was hearing, then laughed loudly and said, "That's exactly how it should be!"

"Bah! What kind of reputable sects are they? They're all just petty thieves and scoundrels!"

Qu Feiyan put down the empty bowl, glanced at the two of them disdainfully, and swung her legs towards the backyard.

"etc!"

"what?"

"You're enjoying the food of petty thieves so much? Go and pay the bill."

Qu Feiyan: "..."

It was nearly 5 PM.

Li Che walked alone on the main street in the east of the city, and in the distance he could see the banners of the Golden Knife Wang family standing on the stone altar beside the gate.

After much deliberation, he ultimately decided not to bring Qu Feiyan along.

She might survive if captured by her Holy Maiden sister, but if that girl says something foul at tonight's Hongmen Banquet and gets targeted by the Songshan Sect, things could get complicated.

After walking through two more alleyways, Li Che paused.

A group of three people emerged from the alley across the street. The newcomers were dressed in dark yellow outfits and carried heavy broadswords. The one in the lead was over thirty years old with a beard. He walked with his head held high, his expression indifferent, but his eyes held a hint of disdain.

Li Che glanced at the broadswords in the hands of the three men and vaguely saw the four characters "Leader of the Five Mountains Alliance" engraved on the hilts. He remembered that the broadswords of the same style in the cave on the Cliff of Contemplation had no inscription.

The newcomer also stopped upon seeing Li Che, neither greeting him nor speaking, but merely curling his lips into a cold smile.

After a moment, Li Che clasped his hands and asked, "Was it Senior Brother Di in person?"

Di Xiu returned the greeting hastily, saying with a forced smile, "Oh? Junior Brother Li has seen me before?!"

......