Chapter 184

"Pool Master, I heard long ago that a case had broken out in the Southwest. What exactly is going on?" Gu Yunfu asked.

"It's the Hushan Jianmen. The Sect Leader was killed, the main lineage collapsed overnight, and now a branch lineage holds power," Chu Xiao said. "This matter is neither big nor small, and it looks like an internal affair, so I didn't pay much attention to it at first, but the movements behind it have become a bit too large. I had someone investigate, and surprisingly, there are traces of the Joyous Death Tower."

"Because of what? Profit? Grudges? Silencing witnesses?"

"We are currently investigating. Entering the game late makes it inevitable to fall behind step by step," the man sighed lightly. "However, judging by the current news, it should be 'treasure hunting'."

"Treasure hunting? What treasure?"

"Unknown for now."

"The main lineage collapsed... On our own turf, did we not find anyone to question?"

"They say it's the main lineage, but actually, it was just two martial brothers. It pulled out two threads; one is the Hushan Jianmen issuing a warrant for 'Master-killing', which is the exact thread Lu Yunsheng went to follow."

"Master-killing? Doesn't that mean the culpability lies entirely with him?"

"On the contrary, everyone thinks he has no value."

"... Then what about the other thread?"

"No trace." Chu Xiao said this, his face becoming a bit more stern. "We have been vigorously pursuing this thread and have had several clashes with the Joyous Death Tower... Until a few days ago, newly arrived disciples discovered our people and the Joyous Death Tower's people dead in the same place."

He tapped the two pages of letter paper on the table: "They speculate that this thread ran into the Sun-Swallowing Society."

Gu Yunfu was horrified.

"You should return to Bowang Prefecture immediately," Chu Xiao said. "The intensity of this matter is rising, and I feel that Lu Yunsheng might be underestimating the enemy there."

——

"That is how things are."

A few days ago, Shaolong Road, Bowang Prefecture City, Green Feather Dark Tower, night.

Lu Yunsheng finished speaking and poured a bottle of medicine onto his shoulder, where a piece of red, withered burn had cracked and bled due to the intense movement just now.

This was the price he paid to preserve Cheng Jiang Hong's face.

As for the Seventh Life Elder of the Seven Serpents he had just killed, he hadn't been able to leave any injuries on him.

"I originally thought this murderer was just a straggler who had drifted over from West Long Road, and could be captured and killed calmly, but now it seems something is wrong," he looked at the young girl who had removed her night-traveling clothes and said, "Are you from a local sect? Do you have a grudge against this family?"

"... Yes." Suddenly, a large amount of unfamiliar information swirled in her mind, and Li Piaoqing was a bit stunned, her gaze looking into empty space. "And thank you, I think I know the motive for the origin of this hatred."

"You're welcome, and thank you too for this hiding place."

This was the first meeting between Li Piaoqing, who was night-scouting the Seven Serpents, and this tall, silent man. He slightly pressed his eyebrows, and although he was deep in thought about the accident he had encountered, his face still mostly held composure. This was the sharp spirit and ease the young girl had never seen before; it was the pride that the two words "Heavenly Mountain" bestowed upon a person's flesh and blood.

Li Piaoqing looked at him, stunned for a long time—that was the demeanor she had yearned for for a long time, and for over a year, she had always wanted to see it on the faces of Green Feather disciples.

With only these few exchanges, the two people who had met by chance due to the same goal parted ways. Perhaps it was because of a lack of trust, or perhaps because he didn't think the young girl could bring him any help, the man did not leave a way to contact him.

However, the news he brought answered many of Li Piaoqing's doubts. As the true face of the matter outlined its silhouette in her mind, and thinking of the sword strike with which the man had killed the Fifth Cave Master without staining his clothes with blood, some bold ideas she dared not touch began to collide and jump in the young girl's heart.

After that night, she began to secretly search for his tracks in the city.

However, this person seemed to have turned into water and melted into Catch-Moon Lake, and the whole person had completely disappeared from Bowang City. As a figure sent by the Heavenly Mountain Sect to take charge of a side, his elusive nature left the long-established Green Feather completely helpless.

Therefore, the second meeting was the man taking the initiative to find the young girl.

This time his eyebrows were pressed lower, he was more silent, and that composure seemed to have been forced inside as well. If he had been a wolf calmly waiting for a wolf pack before, now he was like a wounded tiger planning to hunt alone.

"I originally thought the murderer was a straggler who had drifted over from West Long Road," Lu Yunsheng repeated the words from last time, but this time he added the second half, "but I didn't expect that the city I came to was actually another place of their operation."

"Where is the operation?" If the man hadn't spoken, the young girl would never have realized that such a force existed in the city.

"That sect called Seven Serpents Cave, most of the resistance I have encountered in the past two days comes from here. Moreover, it seems there is some involvement in the officialdom," the man said. "I want to capture the murderer and take the magic tool, originally intending to use light to overcome darkness, but now it feels like I am alone in an enemy nest, walking on thin ice."

Seven Serpents, there is the Eighth Life Meng Chuyuan, who can be called the best in the whole prefecture, and four Seventh Lives who can act at any time—although now there are three.

Even a Heavenly Mountain disciple, if not one of the few most outstanding ones, how can he fight eight with seven?

As long as his tracks are discovered, this man will be immediately strangled.

"The good news is that my two previous strikes were very beautiful, and Heavenly Mountain disciples who act alone to take responsibility are generally Eighth Lives," Lu Yunsheng said. "They probably think the same of me."

"... Can you wait for reinforcements to come?"

"I originally thought so, and I haven't shown my tracks for the past two days," Lu Yunsheng said, and then he pursed his lips. "But I discovered two important pieces of news."

Green Feather has been entrenched locally, and for half a year, they only felt something was a bit wrong, but didn't find any threads. This Heavenly Mountain disciple just arrived, and without revealing his tracks, he found "important news" in two days... Li Piaoqing sighed secretly and made a gesture of listening.

"First, this Soul-Taking Bead in Bowang is even more important. Knowing that it is being watched by Heavenly Mountain, it is unwilling to leave and reluctant to leave, because it has a 'fruit' that has not yet been swallowed," the man looked at her. "I have no clues as to who this fruit is for now, but the second point is—they will succeed soon, and then they will leave."

Leave.

This is a key word.

"So..." Li Piaoqing said with a somewhat hoarse voice, her heart beginning to beat.

"I want to keep him here," Lu Yunsheng said.

"..."

Keep him here... "How to keep him?"

"Find him first."

"How will he show up?"

"Coercion, inducement."

"..."

"I know he is circling around Seven Serpents, and he also knows that I am in the dark," Lu Yunsheng said. "He is an opportunity I am unwilling to let go of, just as I am a fishbone stuck in their throats; I want to kill him as much as he wants to get rid of me."

"But neither of us dares to show up first—I know I will die, and he thinks I am an Eighth Life," the man said slowly. "Once we clash, we must bet all our strength, but at the beginning of the clash, we must first test each other, and before seeing the other, we will never expose our own location."

Li Piaoqing understood: "So..."

"So, I need a force to stand in front of me," Lu Yunsheng said.

"... And then?" Li Piaoqing subconsciously avoided it. "If... you get this force, what will you do?"

"You just need to continue executing your trap," the man did not leave the young girl any room to maneuver. "They will guess that I am hiding behind you, just as I have to guess whether there will be him coming to fight. Neither of us can afford to wait. When this guess arises from both sides, we have actually accepted each other's battle challenge."

"The battle must start with step-by-step testing. I know our side's strength is weaker, so I don't expect to be able to strike after the other side shows up," Lu Yunsheng said. "But I need that when I strike, at least in front of the opponent, there will be no more pieces to use."

"At that time, if he wants to win this battle, he can only strike to kill me himself," Lu Yunsheng looked at the young girl. "And I will kill him."

Li Piaoqing understood his simple line of thought—since the other side holds Seven Serpents, he will unite with Green Feather. As long as Green Feather can roughly hold off Seven Serpents' strength, he can still defeat that murderer.

"... Meng Chuyuan, three Seventh Lives; Qinghuang, one Seventh Life, one demented old man," Li Piaoqing said slowly. "That is to say, before you strike, Qinghuang and the Martial Uncle have to hold off two Seventh Lives, force out and wound Meng Chuyuan, and win you the opportunity to kill Meng Chuyuan... This is too difficult, Meng Chuyuan is really too strong, and even if you hook that person out, you have Meng Chuyuan in front and a sneak attack behind, how can you guarantee you can defeat him?"

"I cannot guarantee."

"..."

"I am alone in an enemy nest, walking on thin ice. Things suddenly surfaced, the enemy is stronger than imagined, but the reinforcements were sent away by me personally," Lu Yunsheng's plain eyebrows revealed a force. "The enemy is strong and I am weak, the situation is urgent, I never said I could definitely win... But, I cannot let them leave before my eyes."

"I need your help. If you are willing, we are comrades-in-arms."

"... If, he doesn't come?"

"Then we will kill the people who come. Among the remaining Seventh Lives related to Seven Serpents, there will always be him," the man said. "He is not completely hidden in the dark, he has been active all along—borrowing some convenience of Seven Serpents. As long as we can win, within a day, we can find this person."

"..."

Li Piaoqing understood, this is actually the first test. No matter how the other side responds, they can get some information, and thus continue to push downward.

But from the opposite side's point of view, keeping this Seventh Life for one more day makes things one point more unstable—in less than a day, he found the room of a Seven Serpents elder. If given two more days, what information will he get? How much did he leave behind? Did he send it out?

When the day the fruit ripens arrives, will he send out a damage they cannot bear?

So due to the intensity of the matter being on the verge of breaking out, once tested, the other side is very likely to choose to directly press all their strength, so this is a decisive battle.

The man looked at her silently and steadily. In this situation, that ease was revealed again, and the young girl's gradually heavy breathing filled the whole room.

I want to keep him here.

I need your help.

Heavenly Mountain needs Green Feather's help.

"Sorry, but... I am betting the survival of the whole sect..." The young girl's fingers were already tightly twisted together unconsciously.

"As long as we can win this battle, we can kill this villain and capture this magic tool. Heavenly Mountain holds this tentacle, and we can pull out the other side's strength in this area by the roots," the man said calmly. This was the truth that had absolutely not been told to a third person.

Heavenly Mountain went a step late on the West Long thread and was constrained everywhere, but unexpectedly, on this thread that everyone ignored, there was an unexpected harvest.

As long as they can win, Heavenly Mountain can hold this first opportunity.

"At that time, the universe will be clear, the seas will be calm, the serpents will be subdued, and Heavenly Mountain and Green Feather will naturally have great prospects."

This picture was clearly presented before her eyes, but this kind of "grandeur" made the young girl who had never been exposed to it stunned: "... How, great prospects? What does that mean?"

She wanted a clearer answer.

"Number one in the three prefectures, or, number one in the five prefectures."

Not to preserve Green Feather, not to reach the top of Bowang, but... number one in the three prefectures.

But under such an impact, the young girl was silent. She felt she was calmer than ever before: "Can you, can you decide?"

"This is not a one-hammer deal. Heavenly Mountain has always wanted to have a support in Shaolong Road. The Pool Master will agree."

"..."

This was the heaviest choice the young girl had ever faced.

Even if placed on the whole of Green Feather, this was a weight that was quite difficult to bear, and now it only pressed on her shoulders.

The man had explained in detail the situation he was facing, and the young girl had the clearest understanding of Seven Serpents' strength.

She knew their power well, but this was not Green Feather's declaration of war against Seven Serpents—the young girl never lacked this courage. Before meeting the man, the pocket full of thorns was already prepared to open toward Seven Serpents.

This was actually being an enemy of the "Joyous Death Tower" that the man mentioned, which had never been heard of.

The young girl didn't know where this organization was, but their tentacles had stretched to Bowang; she also didn't know how strong this organization's power was, in any case, they were fighting against a behemoth like Heavenly Mountain.

Green Feather Jianmen, an old and weak sect that no one would know about if they walked five hundred miles in any direction, was going to kick over the rice bowl of such an organization.

It would be easily crushed.

And Heavenly Mountain, which could provide support, was two thousand miles away, and there was no power they could see in the whole of Shaolong Road.

Only one Seventh Life disciple who came alone stood before her.

Li Piaoqing, with just one promise, do you dare to bet the fate of the whole sect to help him?

But... if it weren't for this situation, where would Green Feather have the opportunity to help Heavenly Mountain?

Heavenly Mountain...

Chaotic thoughts collided in the young girl's mind. In the past few days, she had actually been looking forward to such an opportunity subconsciously, but when it was really placed in front of her, the young girl shrank back in front of it.

It was too decisive, either ascend to the sky in one day, or fall into hell forever.

More importantly... can they really win?

There was a bright dawn hooking the young girl's heart that wanted to fly out, but before that was thick, viscous darkness and blood color.

People will definitely die...

She couldn't contact the sect, there wasn't enough time, and there were already Seven Serpents eyes and ears in Green Feather Mountain Gate. At most, she could send a letter asking the Master to keep a close eye on that Grandmaster in Seven Serpents Cave.

Only here, in this small room, Li Piaoqing, you alone, decide the fate of the whole Green Feather at this moment.

Hold its reins, drive it onto the path you chose for it.

From now on, be responsible for it for a lifetime.

Long-suppressed silence, heavy breathing, rapid heartbeat, in the suffocating viscosity, the young girl slowly stretched out a cold, trembling hand and grasped the hilt of the Lost Jade Sword.

"An excellent swordsman can always draw the confidence and calmness he needs from his sword."

Birds are not the same, Li Piaoqing thought.

"I leap up, but only a few fathoms down, soaring among the weeds, this is also the ultimate of flying."

Kingfishers are like this, they are light and small, with sharp claws and fast wings, shuttling between water and trees, hunting insects and fish, and may never break through the canopy in their lifetime to face the gale and look at the real high sky.

But there is a kind of kingfisher that is not.

It has a long body and strong wings, and its feathers are as bright as gold. It hunts birds, fights falcons, and flies high for a hundred miles. When young, it is not good at hunting insects and fish, its survival is very difficult, and it often dies young. In the past ten years, it has almost become extinct in the mountains.

But the young girl had seen it once in her childhood.

The Martial Uncle told her at the time that this kind of bird is called a Yellow Kingfisher.

Where is it going?

The young girl slowly tightened her grip on the hilt and muttered hoarsely: "Seven Serpents Cave was established seventy years ago by a group of green forest people who drifted here, but, Green Feather is not like this. Green Feather has been here for four hundred years. Even though the name of Jade Jade Mountain has long lost its luster, there are traces of its existence everywhere in Bowang."

"Bowang will not forget Jade Jade Mountain, and Green Feather Jianmen will not abandon Bowang." Li Piaoqing took a deep breath, the chill of the night deep into her lungs, "It's not just Green Feather helping you, Mr. Lu, I also want to thank you for helping Green Feather clean its own courtyard."

"I accept." The young girl slowly drew the sword blade and looked at herself. This face had completely drooped down at this time, her face sagging and chin falling, without a trace of the young girl's lightness and liveliness. Her tone was hoarse, and her gaze was burning, "Green Feather Jianmen... will definitely stand up again. The chaotic Seven Serpents Cave, the evil Joyous Death Tower... must all get out of here."

(End of chapter)