Chapter 1471

Qiao Fangzheng said: "We must go; this concerns the life and death of the Beggar Sect's future, Hu Xiaotian, cooperation was your proposal, you must help me."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Senior Qiao, cooperation must be built on mutual honesty; you haven't told me what we're going there to do, so how can I help you?"

Qiao Fangzheng snorted and said: "I knew you little brat had tricks up your sleeve; I'm not afraid you'll know. In the Dragon-locking Terrace there is a secret chamber where our past transmission elders cultivated; it also hides some of our secrets. I want to go see if they've discovered it."

Hu Xiaotian believed his words were true, nodded and said: "Alright, let's rest tonight and go early tomorrow."

Qiao Fangzheng however said: "No, we must go at night, otherwise we won't find the entrance at all!"

Hu Xiaotian, hearing him speak so mysteriously, felt his curiosity fully aroused, smiled and said: "Since you're so eager, I can only accompany you, even at the risk of my life."

Hu Xiaotian then summoned everyone, quickly packed the tents, and, before night fell, hurried to the Dragon-locking Terrace Qiao Fangzheng mentioned.

Although they knew the direction, walking in this dense forest inevitably led to deviation; to minimize detours, Hu Xiaotian occasionally climbed out of the thickets to observe the mountain's position from outside. Fortunately, the terrain was not overly complicated, and after half an hour they arrived at the base of the Dragon-locking Terrace. This mountain peak is extraordinarily peculiar, as if it sprang from flat ground, standing about a hundred zhang tall, its summit covered in low vegetation, with only a Gazing-Heaven Tree thirty zhang high growing at the very top.

Qiao Fangzheng reached out to touch the mountain's damp rock layers, somewhat excitedly said: "This is the place; it should be right here."

Hu Xiaotian said: "We've found the place, but where is the secret you mentioned?"

Qiao Fangzheng said: "No rush, no rush. When the moon is high in the sky, it will naturally be revealed."

Hu Xiaotian said: "What if the moon doesn't come out tonight?"

Qiao Fangzheng said: "Wait for the clouds to part and the moon to appear—don't you even understand such a simple principle?"

"Er..." Hu Xiaotian also had moments of being choked up.

"Waiting for the clouds to part and the moon to appear" is exactly Hu Xiaotian and Long Xi Yue's current situation; after enduring layer upon layer of hardship and waiting, they finally came together. That night, although it didn't rain, the moon hesitated to show its face from behind the clouds. Qiao Fangzheng had originally asked Xiao Ou to keep him company while he waited, but Xiao Ou eventually couldn't stay awake, leaned against him and fell asleep. Qiao Fangzheng gently let her rest her head on his knee, lifted his head, and though his hollow eye sockets saw nothing, waiting was an attitude. For him, that was all he could do.

In the eyes of lovers passionately in love, any setting becomes beautiful because of each other's presence. Long Xi Yue suddenly had a whimsical idea: she wanted to go to the summit of the Dragon-locking Terrace to see that tree. Just a thought, yet she didn't expect Hu Xiaotian to oblige her request, carrying her all the way to the peak. The summit isn't spacious, measuring five zhang in both length and width. Only by coming here could one truly feel the towering height of the Gazing-Heaven Tree; Long Xi Yue lifted her head to gaze at the tall tree and exclaimed, "How high!"

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "Want to go up and take another look?"

Long Xi Yue shook her head: "It's cold up high; better to stand firm here." Her words seemed to contain some philosophy.

Hu Xiaotian put his arms around her from behind, pulling her tightly into his embrace; Long Xi Yue leaned against his chest. She closed her beautiful eyes in intoxication, being high up meant she needn't worry about others' gazes or being seen by anyone.

Hu Xiaotian looked up at the overcast sky, recalling Qiao Fangzheng's words, and couldn't help but laugh.

Long Xi Yue whispered: "What are you laughing at?"

Hu Xiaotian told her what had just happened; Long Xi Yue said: "Everyone has their own obsession in their heart; I don't find anything funny about it. Senior Qiao's words are quite reasonable. These years I've stayed in the Green Shadow Pavilion, and almost every night I alone gaze at the night sky, often thinking of that saying, 'Wait for the clouds to part and the moon to appear.' I have finally waited for it, Xiao Tian—you are my heart's obsession."

Moved by Long Xi Yue's deep affection, Hu Xiaotian gently lifted her chin; she cooperated by turning her lovely face, and they kissed.

At that moment, the dark clouds in the sky silently tore open a thin slit; silver moonlight streamed out silently from the gap, and a bright moon rose gradually. The moonlight was soundless, and their silhouettes were bathed in a silver halo by its glow.

Long Xi Yue's long, curly lashes trembled like butterfly wings in the wind from shyness, or perhaps because of the moonlight, quickly drooping to cover her beautiful eyes as she nestled into Hu Xiaotian's embrace, whispering: "I never want to be apart from you again."

Hu Xiaotian laughed: "No, we will never part." The moonlight had already fused the two into one.

Qiao Fangzheng couldn't see the moonlight, yet he could sense it; his hollow eye sockets turned toward the night sky, and he whispered softly: "It's out..."

Liang Yinghao stood not far from him, whispering: "Master Qiao, what did you say came out?" He also saw the moon breaking through the clouds.

A faint smile touched Qiao Fangzheng's lips: "I said it would!"

"Wait for the clouds to part and the moon to appear!" Hu Xiaotian's voice rang out from behind; he and Long Xi Yue walked over hand in hand, the moon had already emerged, but they still didn't know where the secret Qiao Fangzheng spoke of was.

Qiao Fangzheng said: "Pay attention to the mountain's summit; you'll notice a spot that differs from the rest."

Hu Xiaotian stared at the peak, but after a while saw nothing special. Not only him, Long Xi Yue and Liang Yinghao also looked, yet still detected no change.

Qiao Fangzheng said: "Just be patient a little longer."

Hu Xiaotian said: "We're waiting for the moon to hide behind the clouds again."

As his words fell, they saw on the slope facing the moon a flicker of light, as if a moon were about to rise from within the mountain itself.

Qiao Fangzheng was noticeably tense: "Did you see it? Did you see it?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "The mountain seems to be glowing."

Qiao Fangzheng exhaled in relief: "That's it, that's it! Quick, take me to see!"

Hu Xiaotian and Qiao Fangzheng climbed toward the glowing spot on the mountain, one behind the other. Upon arrival, the moon had again hidden behind the clouds; the rock that had just reflected light now looked no different from its surroundings—just a smooth stone wall about one zhang square, likely containing some reflective mineral that glints when moonlight hits it. At the base of this wall is a small hole, its opening tiny enough for only one person to crawl through. Yet once inside, it immediately opens up; after two steps they saw a stone table and stone chairs, all carved directly from the cave's rock, seamless with the surrounding mountain.

Qiao Fangzheng said: "Help me check whether what's on this wall is still there."

Hu Xiaotian lit a torch, looked by its light, and saw that the relief on the rock wall had been completely destroyed; he reported this to Qiao Fangzheng, who nodded and said: "As I expected, Old Three also told him this secret." He felt his way to a stone wall, found a crevice, inserted his hand, searched for a while, then sighed: "This beast has indeed taken everything away."

Hu Xiaotian secretly guessed that this cave was where those transmission elders hid their treasures; judging from the present situation, someone had gotten there first and taken what they had stored here.

Qiao Fangzheng couldn't hide his disappointment and slowly sat down on the stone stool.

Hu Xiaotian asked: "Senior, what exactly did you lose?"

Qiao Fangzheng said: "I told you before: our Beggar Sect has five transmission elders; aside from Xu Sansheng, the four of us each mastered one of the nine paths of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, which together make up the thirty-six paths."

Hu Xiaotian inwardly wondered: I recall my grandfather was the chief transmission elder of the Beggar Sect, so why doesn't he know the Dog-Beating Staff Technique?

Qiao Fangzheng said: "Although your grandfather held the nominal title of elder in the sect, he had saved the lives of two successive sect leaders, giving him a special status in the Beggar Sect; this transmission elder actually bore no responsibility for transmitting the sect's arts. We four all know the nine-path staff technique, but ten years ago, when those three transmission elders faced a formidable foe and their lives hung in the balance, they transferred all their inner energy to Shangguan Yun Chong and taught him the twenty-seven paths of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique. After receiving the technique, Shangguan Yun Chong didn't even glance at it; he passed it on to me unchanged, and that earned my trust."

Hu Xiaotian said: "How do you know he didn't look at it? Perhaps he had already memorized it thoroughly, which we couldn't know."

Qiao Fangzheng shook his head: "We four have our own way of passing messages; if he had tampered, I would spot it at once. Moreover, it was then that the full thirty-six-path staff technique returned to my hands."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Besides you, the sect leader should also know it, right?"

Qiao Fangzheng said: "I passed the thirty-six-path Dog-Beating Staff Technique to the sect leader, but his comprehension is limited; he only grasped thirty-two of the forms, and could not advance further. After his death, no one else in the Beggar Sect knows this staff technique. I am merely its keeper, yet I myself have mastered only the nine forms; I have never seen the other twenty-seven."

Hu Xiaotian inwardly sighed: Given that, Qiao Fangzheng seems an honest man; if the Dog-Beating Staff Technique fell into my hands, I would certainly learn it completely.

Qiao Fangzheng said: "Because Shangguan Yun Chong rendered great service, I placed extra trust in him, personally imparting all martial arts aside from the Dog-Beating Staff Technique, and even went so far as to ask your grandfather for a favor, requesting him to guide Shangguan Yun Chong's martial arts. I always thought Shangguan Yun Chong was an honest lad, devoted to martial arts with no distractions; without my permission, even if the highest martial arts in the world lay before him, he wouldn't blink. I never imagined it was all a facade—at sixteen he could already remain calm and patient, facing the twenty-seven forms of the Dog-Beating Staff Technique without reaction, not even glancing at them. It was precisely this adherence to principle that moved me." (To be continued~^~)