Chapter 76

The river water was not deep, nor shallow. Liu Xiaolou, who was squeezed by the Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope, struggled in the river water, neither able to float up nor sink to the bottom, drifting aimlessly, as if suspended in the air.

A strange force permeated from the rope, covering all the acupoint pools in Liu Xiaolou's meridians. The true qi in the acupoint pools was pulled, as if it were about to leave his body. In shock, he struggled desperately, trying to resist the Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope's control over his true qi, but became more and more powerless.

I don't know how long it took, a bamboo pole probed down from the water surface, touched Liu Xiaolou's body, and flicked upward. Liu Xiaolou was flicked out of the river and fell back into the stone cave.

In a trance, Liu Xiaolou saw several faces leaning toward him, their shapes blurred, slightly familiar, but his whole heart and soul were immersed in the struggle with the rope, desperately controlling the true qi not to be dispersed by the spiritual rope, so he couldn't care to think about anything else.

He persisted for a long time, and just when he was exhausted and the true qi in all the acupoint pools was about to be sucked empty by the Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope, the true qi suddenly poured back from the rope, rushing so hard that Liu Xiaolou almost had his meridians burst.

He spat out a mouthful of black blood that had accumulated in his chest for a long time, finally regained his strength, lay on his back in the cave, gasping for air, feeling both lucky and terrified.

Today was truly dangerous, the Daoist almost didn't make it!

The three faces in front of him were finally recognized: they were Wei Hongqing, Zuo Gaofeng, and Tan Ba. From the corner of his eye, he saw a person lying in the inner cave chamber, motionless, but it was Hou Sheng.

"Awake, awake!" Tan Ba was overjoyed, holding Liu Xiaolou's shoulders and shaking them hard, shaking Liu Xiaolou until he couldn't help but vomit a few mouthfuls of sour water from the river, then he stopped.

Liu Xiaolou gasped and asked: "How? Did you kill him?"

Wei Hongqing smiled: "How could he still be alive."

Liu Xiaolou pointed to the corpse: "My array plate..."

Zuo Gaofeng was searching the corpse, and casually threw the Lin Yuan Xuan Shi array plate over. After Liu Xiaolou took it and felt it for a moment, his heart was completely relaxed. The heart's blood refined with so much effort, now it finally came back!

Wei Hongqing was checking the Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope, muttering while looking: "Xiaolou, was it this rope that tied you just now? Why is there no spiritual movement?"

Liu Xiaolou looked at the edge of Wei Hongqing's palm, and the Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope had shrunk into a thin rope a foot long, softly resting on Wei Hongqing's palm. As soon as his gaze looked over, his heart moved, as if there was some kind of tacit understanding between him and this rope. The rope flew up from Wei Hongqing's palm, wrapped around Liu Xiaolou's wrist, and disappeared into his skin, looking like a blue blood vessel.

"Yo, treasure!" Wei Hongqing said in surprise.

A magic treasure that can recognize its master by itself is naturally a good treasure. Thinking about it, the reason it recognized its master was because the original master Hou Sheng was dead, and it had merged with Liu Xiaolou's true qi.

Liu Xiaolou was also extremely happy. This Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope had the effect of dispersing the enemy's true qi, and he had suffered a lot from it. He heard Hou Sheng mention that Hou Sheng dared to come alone to capture Xingde Jun and his wife, relying on having this spiritual rope. The power was naturally needless to say.

Magic treasures that can merge with the master's meridians are rare in the world. Liu Xiaolou possessed various magic treasures, including the Illusory Fragrance Tendon, the Three Mystical Sword, and the Lin Yuan Xuan Shi Array, none of which would merge with the master's body meridians.

The moment he merged with the Ground-Dispersing Yuan Rope, a realization came from the rope, making him understand the efficacy of this treasure in an instant. There were hundreds of acupoint shadows on the rope, corresponding to the acupoints of the human body one by one. How many acupoints he had cleared, how many shadow acupoints on the rope would be lit up, thereby covering how many acupoints of the enemy. When all the acupoints cleared by the enemy were covered, the true qi in the acupoint pool could not circulate, losing its spirituality and the spiritual power possessed by true qi, waiting to be sucked dry by the rope.

In other words, the power of this rope was closely related to Liu Xiaolou's cultivation. If he cultivated to the perfection of Qi Refinement and cleared all the acupoints, one-on-one, the rope would bind whoever it saw.

Of course, the power was limited to the Qi Refinement stage. After Foundation Establishment, one cultivates the Qi Sea, which has nothing to do with meridians and acupoints.

Liu Xiaolou took advantage of this treasure, so naturally, he was not good at sharing Hou Sheng's legacy. He now only hoped that Hou Sheng carried more spirit stones, gold and silver, or even other magic treasures, so that he could distribute more to the brothers who came to help at the risk of their lives. This was also the rule of Wulong Mountain.

Hou Sheng was worthy of being an inner sect deacon of the Qingyu Sect. His legacy was truly not small. Just what he carried on his body included a peach wood sword and an iron square plate, two magic treasures, seven spirit stones, and a bottle of Heart-Nourishing Pills, all of which were good things that ordinary rogue cultivators could not get.

Especially the peach wood sword and the iron square plate, both were middle-grade, one for attack and one for defense, with infinite wonderful uses. If Hou Sheng hadn't smelled the Illusory Fragrance first and been ambushed, it would be hard to say who would win.

Liu Xiaolou didn't touch these good things, and they were all divided by Wei Hongqing and others.

Zuo Gaofeng was at the eighth level of Qi Refinement, with the highest cultivation, but the one who contributed the most when attacking Hou Sheng just now was Wei Hongqing, who was at the sixth level of Qi Refinement. There was no other reason, it was because of the magic treasure in his hand. This time, Wei Hongqing specifically borrowed a top-grade Seven-Colored Flying Locust Stone from someone in the inner sect. He took advantage of the moment when Hou Sheng was confused by the Illusory Fragrance and his mind was temporarily unstable, and hit Hou Sheng's face first. This Flying Locust Stone specifically restrained cultivators like Hou Sheng who practiced divine soul techniques. Hou Sheng was stunned on the spot, and before he had a chance to display his means, he was besieged and killed by the three people who rushed up.

Because of this, Wei Hongqing chose first.

Wei Hongqing was an outer sect deacon of Tianmu Mountain, and his identity was almost on the table. Although the peach wood sword and iron square plate were good, he didn't dare to choose them, so he took the seven spirit stones and a bottle of Heart-Nourishing Pills.

Zuo Gaofeng chose the peach wood sword, and the iron square plate belonged to Tan Ba. These two magic treasures could be used by themselves, or they could be exchanged for spirit stones. Selling such middle-grade magic treasures in the black market, even if they were sold at half price, would at least get fifteen or sixteen spirit stones, equivalent to two years of hard work.

Besides that, Hou Sheng also had a few sundries, three sect master tokens, and a silver hairpin.

The three sect master tokens were different in color and shape. One of them was exactly the same shape as the Three Mystical Sect and Ziji Sect tokens Liu Xiaolou already had. It was also made of unknown material, black wood, and wrote the three words "Xingming Sect." The other two were much better in appearance. One was carved from purple sandalwood, and the other was made of pure silver, writing the words "Jiangsha Sect" and "Wuhu Gang" respectively.

Tan Ba asked curiously: "What is the use of this? Why did Hou carry it on his body?"

Zuo Gaofeng said: "A few years ago, I heard of these sects. They are all sects of our rogue cultivator fellow daoists. Xingming Sect is a sect in the Yue region, and Jiangsha Sect and Wuhu Gang seem to be sects in the Huai River."

Wei Hongqing thought for a while and said: "Hou Sheng is an investigation deacon of the Qingyu Sect. These sects should have been destroyed by him, right? Keeping the sect master tokens is to record merits in stone? Forget it, burn it."

Liu Xiaolou reached out: "If you don't want them, I would like to keep this token of the Xingming Sect."

Tan Ba teased him: "Those who get the token are sect masters. Xiaolou wants to be the sect master of the Xingming Sect? Do you still want this token of the Wuhu Gang? If you don't want it, give it to me. I will melt it, and I can get five taels of silver."

So Liu Xiaolou got the Xingming Sect token, Tan Ba took the Wuhu Gang token, and the remaining purple sandalwood Jiangsha Sect token was wanted by no one.

The remaining jade hairpin was also not taken by anyone, and was trampled to pieces by Zuo Gaofeng and thrown into the river.

Wei Hongqing made a fire in the cave, burned Hou Sheng's corpse and sundries into a pile, and scattered the ashes into the Miluo River.

Wei Hongqing said: "Hou Sheng often goes out of the mountain to investigate cases and often doesn't return to the sect for four or five months, so we have at least four or five months to clear our names. After that, even if the Qingyu Sect notices something abnormal, they won't find any clues. Valley Master Zuo and Tan Tan Bazhang, if you want to exchange the magic treasures for spirit stones, you must be cautious at this moment. Wait until the wind passes."

Both said "Understood."

Wei Hongqing pondered again: "It's just that Green Joy Courtyard..."

Liu Xiaolou thought for a while and said: "It shouldn't be a worry. Even if they find Green Joy Courtyard, it's hard to gain anything—Green Joy Courtyard has no less than a hundred guests coming and going every day. Who knows what happened three or five months ago? What's more, Qing Jie doesn't know the inside story, and she won't cause trouble for herself."

Several people nodded, but no one wanted to say more. Is it possible to really kill everyone in Green Joy Courtyard? Counting it up, the girls in Green Joy Courtyard, including Qing Jie, can be considered people of Wulong Mountain. Who hasn't received their kindness?

Heroes of Wulong Mountain do things, and they have done them. Some risks need to be borne. Who doesn't have a lawsuit on them? It's just one more!

At this moment, everyone carefully cleared the traces in the cave again, then parted ways and went their own way.