Chapter 916: [Who Is Right, Who Is Wrong] (Part 2)

Yuanchen said, "The person who imprisoned you for thirty years is me; the abbot back then was also me. This has nothing to do with others, junior brother. If you want revenge, come at me!" Yuanchen walked slowly toward Bu Wu, his face showing no fear.

Bu Wu said, "If I hadn't captured this dog emperor, how would you dare show yourself? If you weren't worried about his safety, fearing any mishap would bring disaster upon Heavenly Dragon Temple, you wouldn't agree to meet me alone."

He shouted toward Hu Xiaotian's direction, "Are you Commander Hu? Remember well, if your emperor dies today, it's the fault of this gang of bald thieves."

Hu Xiaotian said, "Senior, speak plainly; there's no grudge in the world that can't be resolved. Tell us exactly what you want, and I believe the abbot won't refuse." Worried the situation would stall, Hu Xiaotian stepped forward to act as a mediator.

Bu Wu sneered, "What are you? You're not worthy to speak in front of me!"

Hu Xiaotian silently sighed, "He's giving no face—this is an outright slap!" But he also understood Bu Wu said that to clear his own suspicion. After all, they were master and disciple, so there was still some affection.

Bu Wu said, "Yuanchen! What scriptures were lost from the Sutra Storage Pavilion back then? Tell me!"

Yuanchen said, "If I tell you, will you release the emperor?"

Bu Wu said, "Speak first, then we'll talk!"

Yuanchen said, "At that time, one copy of the Great Hand Seal, one copy of the Bodhi No-Mind Zen Technique, and half a volume of the Great Void Technique were lost."

Hu Xiaotian's heart sank upon hearing this; he could almost conclude that Li Yuncong was almost certainly Bu Wu's blood brother, the very person who had framed Bu Wu back then. Li Yuncong had stolen half a volume of the Great Void Technique but never cultivated it, instead passing it to himself—what a vicious man. He must have known early on that cultivating the Great Void Technique harms the body, inevitably leading to qi deviation, meridian rupture, and death; yet he gave this harmful thing to Hu Xiaotian to harm him.

Bu Wu said, "The Great Void Technique? You mean the upper half of the Great Void Technique was also lost then?"

Yuanchen nodded. "Exactly!"

Bu Wu said, "The lower half ended up in Yuan Kong's hands."

Yuanchen sighed, "After the Sutra Storage Pavilion was robbed, I assigned Yuan Kong, my junior brother, to inventory its scriptures, but I never expected he would thus go astray."

Bu Wu chuckled, "That sounds nice. But it's not just negligence—he cultivated the Great Void Technique, which drastically changed his temperament, leading him to slaughter his fellow disciples. You Heavenly Dragon Temple worried the scandal would leak, so you kept it secret and blamed all those monks' deaths on me. Are these things true?"

Yuanchen's face showed guilt; the past events were truly unavoidable. Although the intention was to protect Heavenly Dragon Temple's reputation, it still went against his conscience.

Bu Wu said, "Great Void Technique! I spent thirty years searching for answers, never expecting the answer to have been right before my eyes all along—I just couldn't see it." He suddenly raised his hand and struck the false emperor's crown with a crack; Chifeixing didn't even utter a sound before his skull shattered and his body collapsed to the ground.

Yuanchen and Tong Yuan were shocked beyond words. No matter how high their cultivation, they could not accept this tragedy—the emperor actually killed in Heavenly Dragon Temple, meaning the temple could not escape this calamity. Hu Xiaotian was also greatly surprised; why would Bu Wu kill the emperor? He probably didn't know the emperor was fake; doing so not only harmed Heavenly Dragon Temple but also dragged himself into the pit.

Bu Wu lifted his leg and kicked the false emperor's corpse toward Yuanchen, who hastily reached out to support it. Even if dead, the emperor's body is still a dragon's form; he couldn't save the emperor's life, but he must preserve the dragon's corpse at all costs.

At that moment, Bu Wu tapped his toe and shot like a wisp of black smoke toward Hu Xiaotian—no one expected his target to be Hu Xiaotian, not even Hu Xiaotian himself, who was hesitating whether to put on a show when his pulse point fell into Bu Wu's grasp; Bu Wu seized Hu Xiaotian and immediately withdrew.

Tong Yuan was closest to Hu Xiaotian; although he didn't understand why Bu Wu would seize Hu Xiaotian, acting on instinct, he immediately stepped forward and punched Bu Wu with the Arhat Subduing Tiger Fist.

Bu Wu likewise threw a punch at Tong Yuan; their fists collided, Bu Wu swayed slightly, but Tong Yuan staggered back five steps. Having just absorbed Bu Wu's punch while trying to rescue the old monk, he was now shaken by Bu Wu's powerful force, his qi and blood surging, his throat sweetening—he couldn't hold back and spat out a mouthful of blood with a "puff!"

Yuanchen caught the false emperor's corpse, but felt a hidden force emanating from it; his arms couldn't hold the body, which struck his chest, sending him flying backward to crash heavily into the bookshelf, landing in a sorry state.

Hu Xiaotian wondered, "Yuanchen is Tong Yuan's master and the former abbot of Heavenly Dragon Temple—how could he be so fragile?"

Bu Wu disdainfully called out to Yuanchen, "Back then we fought to mutual ruin—who would have thought we'd meet again like this?"

Blood trickled from Yuanchen's lips as he gave a grim smile, "You act against heaven and reason; even if you wield the supreme martial art of the world, what does it matter?"

Bu Wu said, "I can decide your life and death, I can decide the survival of Heavenly Dragon Temple—that's enough for me." He grabbed Hu Xiaotian and headed toward the seventh floor of the Sutra Storage Pavilion, blasting open the iron door locking the stairway with a palm strike, laughing wildly, "Today is the day of Heavenly Dragon Temple's destruction!" Recalling his long-standing grudge finally avenged, killing the emperor would surely bring catastrophe upon Heavenly Dragon Temple, filling him with extreme delight.

Seeing Bu Wu's frenzied behavior, Hu Xiaotian silently thought, "This is bad," and sent a mental transmission to Bu Wu: "Master, what use is it to hold me?"

Bu Wu gritted his teeth, "I hate deceit above all else in my life—tell me honestly, was it that scoundrel who had you deliberately approach me to investigate my whereabouts?"

Hu Xiaotian inwardly felt wronged; perhaps Li Yuncong had such thoughts, but he never stated them outright, let alone asked him to spy on Bu Wu's whereabouts. Hu Xiaotian gave a wry smile, "When have I ever deceived you? Which of your orders have I not carried out perfectly?"

Bu Wu asked, "Who exactly transmitted the Great Void Technique to you?"

Hu Xiaotian said, "Release me first, then I'll tell you." He well knew Bu Wu's temperament was fickle and unpredictable; Bu Wu had always used him merely as a tool, so discussing any master-disciple bond was impossible—he needed to devise an escape plan first.

Bu Wu not only refused to release him, but tightened his grip on Hu Xiaotian's throat, snarling, "If you don't speak, I'll kill you right now."

Hu Xiaotian, barely able to breathe under the choke, had a habit: if Bu Wu questioned him nicely, he might tell the truth, but Bu Wu had turned against him, refusing to acknowledge their past. "You can do the first, I can do the fifteenth," Hu Xiaotian strained, "Hong… Hong…"

Bu Wu loosened his hand slightly: "What about Hong?"

"Hong Beimo!" Hu Xiaotian explained why he didn't say Li Yuncong but Hong Beimo: first, to take revenge on Hong Beimo for plotting his murder; second, because he despised Bu Wu's denial of their past. In Hu Xiaotian's view, Hong Beimo is far harder to deal with than Li Yuncong—Li Yuncong is merely a lone eunuch, whereas Hong Beimo has behind him the vast Heavenly Mechanism Bureau; if Bu Wu clashes with Hong Beimo, there will be quite a spectacle.

Bu Wu nodded; having been trapped in Heavenly Dragon Temple for thirty years, he knew nothing of outside events, so even a little outside news would make him distrust Hu Xiaotian's words.

Hu Xiaotian pleaded in a low voice, "Master, spare my life……"

Bu Wu gave a sinister grin, "You deceived me once—you'll do it again; I can't spare you!" As he readied his right hand to strike harder, Hu Xiaotian suddenly triggered the mechanism hidden in his sleeve—he had always kept the Violent Rain Pear Blossom Needle concealed, never letting his guard down against Bu Wu. This needle had been taken from Liu Huchan's corpse; Liu Huchan had already fired two rounds, leaving one. The Violent Rain Pear Blossom Needle can be fired only three times total; Hu Xiaotian regarded it as a lifeline, never daring to use it lightly until the final moment. He had once hoped Bu Wu, as his master, would not strike him lethally, but Bu Wu showed no affection whatsoever.

Bu Wu was overconfident, thinking Hu Xiaotian's life and death were entirely in his control, never expecting Hu Xiaotian to still have a fighting chance at death's door; Hu Xiaotian's Violent Rain Pear Blossom Needle fired almost point-blank at Bu Wu's body—no matter how skilled Bu Wu was, he couldn't dodge at such close range.

As the Violent Rain Pear Blossom Needle shot out, Bu Wu reacted instantly, his protective aura flaring to envelop his whole body, muscles and bones tensing—but it was already too late.

The instinct to survive let Hu Xiaotian burst forth with all his inner energy, roaring loudly as he broke free from Bu Wu's grasp.

Although the Violent Rain Pear Blossom Needle pierced Bu Wu's flesh, it could not inflict a fatal wound; Bu Wu, having been forced to release his grip by Hu Xiaotian's escape, roared and slammed a heavy punch into Hu Xiaotian's abdomen, sending him flying sideways to crash repeatedly into the bookshelves, which toppled over in rows.

Bu Wu snorted coldly, chopping a palm toward where Hu Xiaotian lay; an invisible palm blade swept down from heaven to earth, and if it struck Hu Xiaotian, he would surely be split in two.

At the critical moment, someone grabbed Hu Xiaotian's shoulder and dragged him aside; the palm blade struck the ground to his left, instantly piercing it.

Bu Wu's strike missed; he didn't launch a second attack, instead tossing two phosphorus fire bombs with two muffled "pounds!"—the scriptures inside the Sutra Storage Pavilion erupted in flames. He lingered no more, soaring upward to burst through the window of the Sutra Storage Lou, diving into the night like a bird.

Hu Xiaotian, still shaken, stared at the crack nearby—only then did he see that the one who had just pulled him back from the brink of death was Mingjing.

"Vote for monthly tickets!" (To be continued…~^~)