In the midsummer of June, the scorching sun is shining, the heat wave hits people, on the official road thirty miles outside Xiangyun City, a tea stall has set up a pergola of several zhang square, and many travelers have stopped here to drink a big bowl of tea.

There are many people, and from time to time some people talk eloquently, telling about the recent temple affairs, rivers and lakes, and local experiences.

The news is true or false, and most people will listen to the excitement, quench their thirst and laugh, and then get back on their horses and continue their journey.

At a table, several merchants were talking about the famous thieves and thieves in Yunzhou, and there was a sense of jealousy.

Suddenly, a hoarse voice sounded from the table next to him: "Isn't it just a few little thieves? ”

The speaker's voice was like a crow's cry, and he deliberately raised his voice, which not only attracted the attention of the merchants, but also almost the entire tea stall.

But there was only one man at the table, who looked more strange than his voice, his face was sallow and stiff, his hair was like a bird's nest, his chest was hunched, his fat robe was filled with many gaps and dust, and there was a bamboo basket beside him, which was covered with sackcloth, and I don't know what was in it.

A merchant sneered and said, "Brother Tai, didn't he encounter a robber during the journey and was robbed?" I pity you for your bad luck, but the few people we talked about are thieves with amazing stealing skills, even the kind that a heavily armed caravan can't resist, and even many high-ranking officials and magnates are in deep trouble." The mere cut-off bandits cannot be the same as them at all. ”

The hunchback grinned his chapped lips and continued to say in an unpleasant voice: "In Yunzhou, only the 'tea picker' can be called a thief. Hehe, the thief you are talking about, as much as you provoke ordinary people, dare to put your hand in the pocket of the martial arts sect?"

The merchant was speechless for a moment, picked up the big bowl of tea in front of him, and took a big sip in frustration.

Some people who have little knowledge do not know why, so they ask others who the tea picker is, only to know that the "tea picker" is a strange thief who has recently become famous and only steals magic weapons.

The tea picker's stealing technique is superb, whether it is the heirloom knife of the gang leader or the custom sword of the head of the family, but all the names and surnames on the Yunzhou weapon spectrum may be stolen by his clever hands, and even the darts hidden in the belly pocket of the wife of the suzerain of the family have been stolen.

It came and went without a trace, no one knew whether it was a man or a woman, whether it was old or young, but every time after success, it would leave some tea leaves on the scene as evidence, and it got the name of "tea picker".

There are humanitarians, tea pickers are righteous thieves, only stealing weapons, and have never injured a single person's life; some people say that among the targets of tea pickers, there are many heroic heroes, who should be demon cultists; there are also people who say that tea pickers are the heirs of thieves who have disappeared for a long time, and they have made a name for the thieves to reappear in the rivers and lakes...... There are many opinions.

In the past month, 16 of the 33 cities in Yunzhou have been patronized by tea pickers, and more than 40 of the weapons have been lost by each faction.

Seeing that the topic of each table on the tea stall jumped to the "tea picker", people had different expressions of surprise, fear and envy on their faces, and the hunchbacked man chuckled, got up from his seat, pulled up the bamboo basket next to him, and was about to leave, but when he heard a word from the other table, his movements immediately stopped.

"The 'tea picker' is just a generation of roosters and dog thieves, who only dare to use ghost methods to plot against small sects, and dare not hide when they encounter famous factions?"

The man who spoke was a young man in a white robe, white shirt, white pants and white boots, with a childish look on his face, and there were six men and women dressed like him, but older, and each of them had a sheathed knife in his hand.

The hunchbacked man put down the bamboo basket, and the contents made a metal crunch sound, and sat down again, but did not continue to talk, but looked at the group of people.

"Little sect? Someone at the tea stall disagreed with the young man in white, "Among the forces patronized by the tea pickers, the 'Iron Fist Gang' and the 'Xuangui Faction' are all powerful and powerful, and the government has to give three points of face, and the 'Cliff Sect' has been inherited for more than 300 years, and it is a big faction in Yunzhou!"

The young man in white sneered and was about to speak, but was stopped by another senior brother who was slightly older than him: "Senior Brother Liu, there are many people, don't say more." ”

"Yes, Senior Brother Qi. ”

The young man in white no longer spoke to others, his face full of pride.

Ordinary people only said that this was a group of fledgling sect disciples who had never seen the world, but the hunchbacked people had already sensed from their gestures and speaking skills that four or five of these seven people had cultivated profound internal strength, and after a little thought, they guessed their identities.

"Everyone is dressed in white and everyone has a sword, where can it be...... I know, most of them are here to deal with me. But just this stupid appearance will only give me a few more knives. ”

The hunchback man remained silent, and after the group of young boys and girls in white finished drinking tea and rode away on a group of white horses, they put down the tea bowl in their hands, carried the bamboo basket, rode to a black donkey, and rushed to Xiangyun City.

After entering the city, the hunchback man found a crude inn, gave Xiao Er two taels of silver, asked for a side room with a closet on the top floor, and told him to feed the black donkey. When he arrived in the room, the hunchback man first took off the bamboo basket and put it in the closet, then took out a copper lock from his bosom, locked the closet, and then lay down on the bed to sleep.

When the hunchbacked man got up with his eyes, he checked the brass lock, and then jumped out of the window.

After jumping out of the window, the hunchbacked man flew out seven or eight feet away as if there was a wind under him, until he reached another house, and his toes touched the eaves again, and he took off again without a sound, and it was seven or eight feet away.

The hunchbacked man flew over Xiangyun City, agile like a swallow shuttling in the rain. Even if the first-class martial arts masters on the rivers and lakes see it, they must praise their handsome skills. It is not difficult to do light work so quickly, but the place where it falls is dusty and there is no sound at all, which is rare in the world.

It didn't take much time for the hunchback man to fly all the way to the center of Xiangyun City, until he was on a two-story pavilion, and then he stopped and squatted down.

More than ten zhang away, there is a high-rise compound, the courtyard seems to be lit with a lot of night lights, as if it is daytime, there are many people wearing the same clothes and holding swords outside the courtyard are patrolling.

The hunchback grinned at the corners of his mouth, flew around the pavilion near the courtyard of the mansion, and finally found a lone patrolman, raised his right hand, and shot a thin needle in the air, hitting him in the back of the neck. The patrolman fell to the ground without saying a word, and the hunchbacked man leaped down to hold him up, and then jumped up and jumped into the dark alley a few feet away, and breathed back and forth.

In a short time, the hunchback man had changed into the clothes of the patrolman and walked out, and the original patrolman had slept like a dead pig in a pile of miscellaneous items.

At this time, the hunchback man was no longer hunchbacked, and his face had changed, almost exactly the same as the previous patrolman, but his expression was very stiff. The hunchbacked man, disguised as a patrolman, returned to the edge of the courtyard wall, and had only taken two steps before he ran into another patrolman.

"Dude. The hunchbacked man suddenly bent down, startled the man, covered his stomach and said, "My stomach hurts, go to the thatched house first, and you will take care of me for a while." ”

As he spoke, there was a "poof" sound behind him, as if he had let out a fart.

"Go, go, go!"

The man hurriedly covered his nose.

The hunchbacked man then trotted all the way into the gate, and after entering the door, he glanced at where it was dark, and along the way, others saw that he was sweating profusely, bending over to cover his stomach, and there was a "poof" sound behind his buttocks, so they frowned and covered their noses, and no one stopped to ask.

Smelling a hint of stench, the hunchback man really found the thatched house, and after a little time inside, he returned to the courtyard, carrying a knife and pretending to be on patrol. There were many people walking around with swords in the courtyard, and the hunchback laughed in their hearts: "Beware of thieves and thieves, more people are better than few people." Once there are more people, it is easy to be fished in troubled waters. ”

At this time, the hunchbacked man suddenly heard a hearty and heroic laugh in the living room: "Hahaha! There are all the young heroes sitting here, as long as the 'bamboo cutter' dares to come and grab the knife, discipline him and never return!"

The hunchbacked man was stunned for a moment, then walked to the front of the living room, looked sideways, and found that the young men and girls in white clothes he saw at the tea stall during the day were among them, and a burly middle-aged man sat in the middle of the hall, his face was full of joy, obviously the one who laughed just now.

This scene was really expected, but the hunchbacked man was slightly confused: "What kind of character is the 'Bamboo Cutter'? The disciples of the 'Yunmo Sect' came here, isn't it for me?"