Chapter 457: Taking Stock of the World's Great Grandmasters; Green Ox, Storyteller, Dongxuan

【"Young Master Guan may not know, although I brought a few guards when I left the capital this time, among whom were experts of the Middle Three Realms of martial arts, and I myself am slightly proficient in fist and foot skills, I originally thought it was foolproof."】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun gently stroked her sleeves, a look of lingering fear still on her brow, "Who would have thought that while passing by a tavern on the capital road, I encountered a group of Jianghu people entrenched there. Although I had disguised myself, I was still spotted by an old man wielding a peach wood staff, who insisted on inviting me to drink."】

【"That guy's peach wood staff seemed ordinary, but his moves were exceptionally ruthless. In just three or five moves, he knocked our entire group down. The situation was critical at that time!"】

【She looked at the woman in the bamboo hat beside her, her eyes filled with gratitude, "If it weren't for the benefactor's righteous rescue, I fear I would have already met with misfortune."】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun shook her head with a bitter smile, "Now, dragons and snakes are mixed outside Above Bianjing, and spies from various countries and Jianghu sects are gathering on the capital road. This situation forces me to turn back."】

【Her eyes flickered as she carefully examined the woman in the bamboo hat, her red lips parted lightly: "I have received the great virtue of the benefactor's life-saving, yet I still don't know how to address you?"】

【A voice came from under the bamboo hat, sounding like an oriole coming out of a valley, yet filled with a dashing heroic spirit: "Jianghu people don't care about these empty rituals. My surname is Lu, and my given name is Hua. You can just call me by my name."】

【"Lu Hua..." Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun whispered, her willow eyebrows slightly furrowed. This name sounded inexplicably familiar, and with her Daoist attire, she couldn't remember where she had heard it for a moment.】

【What concerned her even more was that the person before her sounded no more than twenty years of age, so young.】

【The stunning scene appeared before her eyes again: the young girl sat steadily on a long bench, casually snapped a branch, and fought from a distance; seven or eight burly men holding weapons were beaten back repeatedly, kneeling down one after another.】

【Such effortless skill, I fear she is already in the Upper Three Realms of martial arts; even the geniuses among the Nine Great Surnames are not this young.】

【Hearing this, you also roughly understood why Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun arrived at the courtyard together with Lu Hua.】

【Lu Hua escorted Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun back to Above Bianjing, and also took advantage of the name of this Flower Queen of the Zixiao Pavilion to enter Above Bianjing openly.】

【You must know that Above Bianjing is currently under full alert, and entry and exit are subject to strict questioning.】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun's eyes flowed, "Then I will boldly call you Daoist Lu."】

【Her eyes turned to you: "It's strange to say, Daoist Lu came straight to Young Master Guan as soon as she entered the city. How do you two know each other?"】

【You were startled upon hearing this, then laughed: "It's shameful to say, but I am in the same boat as Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun; we have both received the grace of Daoist Lu."】

【Before the words fell, a laugh leaked out from under the bamboo hat. This laugh was like an ice lake cracking, causing Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun to blink in surprise. Along the way, this woman had always been as cold as frost and as sparing with words as gold.】

【There was also a female Daoist sitting there who frowned, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the tea cup, thinking to herself, Xie Guan actually has old ties with the Daoist school? No wonder he spared her life at Yanbo Lake that day.】

【Lu Hua entered Above Bianjing, and now the Three Truths Sect members still in the city have all been summoned.】

【The female Daoist had old ties with a teacher at the academy, so she had been living in the academy and received the summons from the Three Truths.】

【But she never expected that it was the Heavenly Master who risked entering Above Bianjing?】

【And coming here this time seems to be for Xie Guan? This made her even more confused.】

【The female Daoist then spoke appropriately, "The Jianghu guest with the peach blossom staff that Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun mentioned should be Wen Buren of the Baling Gang. They are considered a water transport gang. He uses a peach wood staff, but it also contains a hidden long sword, yet his skill is lacking, and his ability is low; he is far from the Upper Three Realms of martial arts."】

【"If placed in the world, he is considered a master, but in the capital of the Great Qi, he can only be considered a third-rate character."】

【The female Daoist has lived in Above Bianjing for a long time, especially since she couldn't contact the experts of the academy and the Nine Great Surnames at the Great Sui Crown Prince's mansion, so she had to deal with Jianghu people.】

【Over time, she not only became familiar with the Jianghu sects of the Great Qi but also knew the Jianghu of the world like the back of her hand.】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun quietly examined this strange female Daoist—although both were Daoist nuns, compared to Lu Hua's dashing heroic spirit, the person before her had a few more parts of coldness and detachment.】

【She marveled in her heart: it is rare for women to cultivate the Dao, but these two are both people with profound Daoist methods, and in their conversation, they faintly respect Lu Hua.】

【"Baling Gang?" Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun frowned, "I remember this is a gang around Poyang Lake. How dare they come to Above Bianjing to run wild?"】

【After years of scouring by water control, besides the plains downstream, there was an extra Poyang Lake.】

【The female Daoist's wide sleeves moved slightly, "The Baling Gang is nothing, and Wen Buren's ability is also low. The reason they can dominate Poyang Lake is because of the person behind them... I fear he should have also arrived in Above Bianjing."】

【Lu Hua said a name, "Land Dragon—Dugu Sheng."】

【The female Daoist's expression was solemn, and she nodded slowly: "This person is ranked among the world's great grandmasters and is definitely not to be trifled with."】

【You nodded slightly; you naturally had heard of this person's name.】

【This person was the trendsetter of the Jianghu martial arts world in the last sixty-year cycle, known as the "Land Dragon," stirring up the entire Jianghu.】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun's red lips parted slightly, "But it is rumored that this person followed the Master to cross the east to seek immortality a hundred years ago..."】

【Her eyes still held lingering fear, "Fortunately, I didn't meet the real person."】

【The female Daoist said, "Now that the world's winds and clouds are gathering in Above Bianjing, how could he stay out of it? This person is a figure from the last sixty-year cycle, a generation lower than the Demonic Master and Master Lianchi. However, this person acts openly and honestly; if you really meet him, it's actually fine."】

【"But his methods are definitely not inferior to the two. This person is called the Land Dragon. He himself was an ordinary monk at the Buddhist Tianlong Temple. His master, Zen Master Master Wenxin, was a high-ranking Buddhist monk who adopted him from childhood. The Zen Master betrayed the temple for personal reasons, was punished by the Buddhist school, and finally died in depression."】

【"This Dugu Sheng obtained his true inheritance and cultivated in the temple for many years, finally breaking through the Eighteen Bronze Men formation and returning to secular life. Who would have thought that he would break into Tianlong Temple as a secular person, suppressing a hundred high-ranking monks with his own strength, and using his finger as a pen, insultingly carving on the temple's golden plaque—'Zen Master Master Wenxin should be the first in Tianlong, the rest are all crumbling dogs'."】

【"Tianlong Temple and even the Buddhist school were shocked. I didn't expect this little monk who had been hiding his name to have such ability and talent."】

【"The coincidence is that since then, Tianlong Temple, which was originally at the forefront of the Buddhist sect, has fallen into decline."】

【"Later, after returning to secular life, he married and had children. The Baling Gang was built by his only daughter. He felt bored again, became a monk again, and returned to the Buddhist sect."】

【"He became a monk three times and returned to secular life three times. Finally, he provoked the Demonic Master and was hunted down by him, but he also realized the martial arts method on the way and entered the Ninth Realm of martial arts."】

【"A year later, he appeared again and walked the Jianghu as both a teacher and a friend of the Demonic Master."】

【Hearing this, you couldn't help but smile. With the righteous and evil nature of the Demonic Master Xu Xu Jiangxian, this kind of behavior is reasonable.】

【"Fifty-five years ago, he broke into the holy land of the Buddhist Kingdom and stole twelve town-sect Buddhist scriptures. The Buddhist school was furious, and fourteen high-ranking monks who had attained the Arhat fruit joined forces to attack. He also kidnapped thirty students from the academy and imprisoned them on an island in the heart of Poyang Lake. Seventeen great scholars from the academy sailed boats overnight to encircle and suppress him."】

【"In that battle, Dugu Sheng fought twenty martial arts grandmasters and ten Yang Spirit cultivators alone. The eight hundred qing of green waves of Poyang Lake turned red. At the moment of life and death, he entered the ranks of the world's great grandmasters, finally achieving the invincible fame of the Land Dragon. Thirty years ago, he followed the Master to seek immortality in the East Sea, and his whereabouts are unknown."】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun nodded, "Those who like to stir up trouble ranked the world's great grandmasters. Excluding the Master who is not on the list, the four masters of the academy occupy the top four seats."】

【"The Demonic Master of the Eternal Heaven, Master Master Lianchi of the Southern Buddhist Kingdom, and the Land Dragon Dugu Sheng."】

【"Daoist Dongxuan of the Three Truths of the Great Sui, the Storyteller Tianjizi, and Li Li Qingdi, the second in the world in sword arts."】

【The female Daoist said in a deep voice, "A total of ten people, also known as the Ten Great Sects of the World."】

【"Daoist Dongxuan goes without saying; the previous generation's Heavenly Master and Sect Leader of the Three Truths, he is a figure who entered the Jianghu with the Demonic Master and Master Master Lianchi, and has made a great name for himself."】

【"Tianjizi is the most mysterious person. Some have seen him as an old man, or a child, and it is even rumored that he is a woman. He once discussed the Dao with the Demonic Master and fought Dugu Sheng. It is known that he is not inferior to them. He is a figure from when the Second Master walked the world, and has not been seen in the Jianghu for over two hundred years."】

【Talking about the last person, the female Daoist's tone was clearly hesitant, "Li Li Qingdi, originally named Lu Lu Qingniu, was originally a disciple of the Three Truths, but because he was obsessed with martial arts, he broke into the Tomb of the Living Dead to seek the ancestor's posthumous book, and repeatedly stained his sword with the blood of his fellow disciples."】

【"In a heavy snow on Mount Zhongnan, he was expelled from the Daoist school by the Heavenly Master of the Three Truths of that year, and was made to swear an oath: 'Never step into Mount Zhongnan for the rest of your life, never see the ancestors of the Three Truths lineage after death, and never use the surname Lu'."】

【"He knelt at the mountain gate of Mount Zhongnan for seven days and seven nights before descending. Since then, he has played in the world, changed his name to Li Li Qingdi, and the sword in his hand is named Peach Blossom."】

【"He is a figure of the same sixty-year cycle as the Demonic Master and Master Master Lianchi. He once challenged the Second Master and was defeated. He calls himself the second in the world in sword arts and is also the peak figure of the Jianghu for a hundred years. Now he is also missing. Some say he is outside the Great Wall, and some say he has drunk himself to death in a tavern."】

【"This person's reputation in the Jianghu is considered very good. He never kills innocent people indiscriminately, and even gives pointers to those with extraordinary sword skills. If you really meet him, invite him to drink a pot of good wine, and he can help you settle a stormy matter."】

【From the female Daoist's expression, it can be seen that she seems to have a good impression of this Li Li Qingdi. You secretly speculated that perhaps the woman had met Li Li Qingdi.】

【Moreover, you also heard a hint of interest. These Ten Great Sects of the World, the great grandmasters who run rampant in the world, are more or less involved with the four sects of Confucianism, Buddhism, Daoism, and Demonic arts. They are either the current leaders of the three orthodox religions or the shocking talents who rebelled against the Dao.】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun's eyes flickered. This female Daoist knows the secrets of the Ten Great Sects of the World like the back of her hand, and can even recount the blood oath Li Li Qingdi made on Mount Zhongnan. Her background is probably extraordinary.】

【You said slowly, "According to what this Daoist said, then outside Above Bianjing today, the world's great grandmasters have already gathered."】

【The female Daoist nodded, looked at you, and weighed her words, "Young Master Guan, my name is Lu Lu Ruyun."】

【You were a little surprised. In the Three Truths Sect, those who can have the surname Lu are all true direct descendants of high merit, like the name Lu Hua.】

【Lu Lu Ruyun continued, "Excluding the Ten Great Sects of the World, there are several quasi-great grandmasters of the world, all of whom are in the Ninth Realm of martial arts and the Tenth Realm of the Primordial Spirit, one step away from condensing their life-bound essence. There is the Buddha-son Shengxin of the Buddhist school who has not descended for a thousand years, the Great Sui's 'Soldier Butcher' Han Baijia, Sheng Jiu of the Slave Sword Sect, and the Carefree King of the Eternal Heaven. Now there is an extra Ban Sheng of the Red-Eyed Army."】

【"However, this one step difference is the difference between clouds and mud. If they really face the Ten Great Sects of the World, these people don't even have a chance to escape."】

【You were a little strange. Even the Great Sui, the Eternal Heaven, and the Buddhist Kingdom have "quasi-great grandmasters of the world," but the most powerful Great Qi does not, not to mention the magnificent Nine Great Surnames. Why is that?】

【The female Daoist Lu Lu Ruyun guessed your doubt, "Not only Young Master Guan, but among the Jianghu guests in the marketplace, some have thought so, especially the Jianghu people who love to compare."】

【"Therefore, there is a slang circulating in the Great Sui marketplace: 'The Fourth Master eats up the Nine Great Surnames'."】

【A meaningful sentence, naturally no one in Above Bianjing dared to say it, but it unexpectedly became a joke in the Great Sui marketplace.】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun had always been in the Zixiao Pavilion, and she was startled when she heard this, inevitably looking left and right, worried about walls having ears.】

【Prime Minister Su has been in power in the Great Qi for too long.】

【Seeing this, you laughed, "After all, the four masters of the academy occupy four seats in the Ten Great Sects of the World. Plus the Master, the Great Qi is still the world's number one, so there is nothing wrong with that."】

【Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun Gongsun Niangzi Gongsun also followed the trend, "In this way, the Ten Great Sects of the World, even if you add these quasi-great grandmasters, actually total less than twenty people!"】

【You couldn't help but think of one person—Xie Hong. Even if this person has not reached the realm of a great grandmaster, he must be a top figure like a quasi-grandmaster.】

【Lu Lu Ruyun heard that the woman did not know the terror of the "world's great grandmasters," and only regarded them as dragons in the Jianghu.】

【If these ten people gathered outside Above Bianjing, even if there were a hundred thousand troops with iron armor like a forest, it would be difficult to block their edge.】

【Great grandmasters have long since transcended the mundane. Destroying a city alone is definitely not an empty word; tilting a country with one hand is also not a joke.】

【In recent years, there have been signs that sects with great grandmasters sitting in command have secretly controlled the national destiny—the East Victory Sect behind the Southern Buddhist Kingdom, the Xu family behind the Eternal Heaven, and the Great Sui and the academy are all like this.】

【Now these figures who are enough to stir up the world's winds and clouds have gathered in Above Bianjing, just like green dragons gathering their heads, tigers crouching and dragons coiling.】

【Lu Hua frowned and said, "The Baling Gang has arrived on the capital road, which means that Dugu Sheng has arrived. Otherwise, how would a mere third-rate gang dare to run wild in Above Bianjing."】

【"Master Master Lianchi is heading north with the Buddha-son, the Demonic Master should be hidden in the Eternal Heaven's army, and the whereabouts of Tianjizi and Li Li Qingdi are unpredictable, but this concerns the matter of ascension, so they will not fail to come!"】

【"The Third Master and the Fourth Master are in Above Bianjing."】

【You heard that Lu Hua missed one person, whether intentionally or unintentionally, the previous generation's Sect Leader of the Three Truths—Daoist Dongxuan, one of the Ten Great Sects of the World.】

【Perhaps Daoist Dongxuan has already arrived in Above Bianjing. This pillar of the Daoist school has not descended Mount Zhongnan for a hundred years.】

【This concerns the matter of ascension; how could the Three Truths Sect be careless!】

PS: Posted a picture of Lu Hua, Easter Egg Chapter!

(End of Chapter) ===== CHAPTER 458 =====