Chapter 18

The sound hadn't ceased, the person had already arrived.

Niu Dingtian glanced over and saw three people stepping into the temple in the night.

On the left was a filthy, skinny beggar wearing torn clothes and straw sandals, holding a bamboo staff, with eight cloth bags faintly visible at his waist.

To the right, two people wore clean clothes and long boots, with no cloth bags visible, each carrying a sword or blade.

The man in the middle, seemingly the leader, was about fifty, holding a treasure sword, slightly plump, his fair complexion appearing kind, yet his half‑closed eyes occasionally flashed with a sinister, deceitful light.

After glancing at the temple gate, Niu Dingtian looked away and continued preparing the rabbit meat.

Such people were still beneath his notice; he thought that if they didn't know good from bad, he wouldn't mind taking a few more lives to keep company with those he had already dealt with.

After the three entered, they simply stopped at the doorway.

"Peng Zhanglao."

After scanning the interior, the man on the far right, upon seeing wine and meat, his eyes lit up; he then gave the middle man a glance, leaned in, and whispered a question.

"Hmm~"

Peng Zhanglao heard it but said nothing, merely giving the other a flicking glance toward the interior of the temple, laced with a vicious glint.

Afterward, his eyes kept sweeping over the woman beside the platform, faintly lustful; finally they fixed unmoving on her veil, trying to see her face clearly.

Having received Peng Zhanglao's glance, that person stepped forward toward Niu Dingtian and said with a grin:

"Little brother, I'm a member of the Beggars' Sect; after a long journey I'm both hungry and cold. Would you be willing to share the wine, meat, and this place with us, eh?"

Having spoken, a vicious light appeared on his face, and he shook the long knife at his waist.

Upon hearing this, before Niu Dingtian could reply, the filthy, skinny beggar behind him sprang up and exclaimed:

"Chief Chen! Our Beggars' Sect is one of righteousness; your begging is no different from robbery and plunder. If Chief Hong learns of this, he will surely not spare you!"

Seeing his own side's people not knowing good from bad, Chief Chen's face fell; hearing the words, he immediately retorted in a cold voice:

"Spread it? Hmph!"

"What? Chief Liu, do you still want to interfere with my Henan division's territory? You have your begging ways, and I have mine!"

"If you're hungry, you should beg! Begging for food shouldn't require hemming and hawing, old lady! Chief Liu, have you forgotten the Beggars' Sect's ancestral trade?"

"You!"

"I've never seen such a shameless person!"

Chief Liu, hearing those words, was so angry he couldn't speak for a moment; after catching his breath, he spoke in a deep voice:

"Hmph! As long as I, a beggar, am here today, I will absolutely not let you ruin the Beggars' Sect's reputation!"

Having said that, he gripped his bamboo staff, glared angrily, and stepped forward a few paces to block Chief Chen.

"Sigh~ We're all brothers of the same sect; why harm harmony?"

"Chief Chen wants to eat meat and drink wine, while Chief Liu worries that spreading it would damage the Beggars' Sect's reputation."

"In that case, it's simple,"

"just prevent it from leaking out,"

"as for the woman, it's merely a matter of who goes first."

While the two were arguing irreconcilably, Peng Zhanglao's gloomy voice came from the broken temple gate, showing he paid no heed to the other four.

"Peng Zhanglao you!"

Chief Liu, hearing those words, lifted his head and stared fixedly at Peng Zhanglao, face full of disbelief.

This damned, exalted elder of the Beggars' Sect's four great elders, whom I thought was virtuous and respected, actually uttered such base words—he's a treacherous, lecherous villain!

Chief Liu was somewhat dazed.

Looking again at his gaze, he was fixedly staring at the white‑clad woman beside the platform, the lust in his eyes utterly unmasked.

Amid the three‑way quarrel, Niu Dingtian, who had been lowering his head to tear the meat, couldn't help but laugh.

I never expected to witness tonight a grand spectacle of the Beggars' Sect's pure‑and‑corrupt drama.

Peng Zhanglao before us is also a legendary figure; he is an elder of the Beggars' Sect's Pure Cloth faction, skilled in heart‑controlling arts, sinister and cunning, extremely lecherous.

In the world of The Legend of the Condor Heroes, when the Pure and Corrupt factions of the Beggars' Sect openly and secretly struggled, eventually coming to blows, the Northern Beggar Hong Qigong returned to the sect; at that point, the newly appointed chief Huang Rong dismissed Peng Zhanglao from his post, after which he began to resent the Beggars' Sect.

Furthermore, Yang Kang's cheap grandnephew threatened and lured him, leading Peng Zhanglao to collude with him, plotting to harm Guo Jing and Huang Rong and even seize the Beggars' Sect chief's position.

After being expelled from the Beggars' Sect, he later took refuge in the Jin State and then Mongolia. He had once attempted to violate Mu Nianci shortly after she gave birth, but Guo Jing and Huang Rong rescued her.

In The Return of the Condor Heroes, he again appeared at the Heroes' Conference at Da Sheng Guan, disguised as a Mongol warrior accompanying the Golden Wheel Dharma King, offering counsel to the latter.

Finally, when Mongol warriors besieged the Quanzhen Sect's main altar on Mount Zhongnan, Peng Zhanglao used his heart‑controlling method to bewilder the muddled Cien—namely Qiu Chuji's frenzied outburst—causing him to die beneath the latter's iron palm.

Nevertheless, Peng Zhanglao's sinister, vicious heart‑controlling art counts as a sect's secret technique, akin to later‑day hypnosis.

In the original novel, Huang Rong was completely under his spell. Had Guo Jing not been present to notice the anomaly and recite the Nine Yin Classic in her ear, it's hard to imagine what torment this old scoundrel would have inflicted on Huang Rong afterward.

"Miss Han"

"Miss Han, wake up, have something to eat."

Seeing those people still arguing, Niu Dingtian paid them no mind, gently roused the deeply asleep Han Xiaoying, and handed her the torn rabbit meat.

"En?"

Upon seeing Han Xiaoying's face, Peng Zhanglao felt delighted, never expecting a beauty hidden in the haystack.

He immediately gave Chief Liu a glance toward Chief Chen, then slowly walked toward Niu Dingtian.

Seeing this, Chief Chen directly provoked, drew his blade and slashed at Chief Liu.

Chief Liu didn't expect his fellow sect brother to be so ruthless; they drew swords over a disagreement, but his martial skill was decent, so he rolled straight to the ground, avoiding the fatal blow.

Nevertheless, off‑guard, he still received a deep cut to his right shoulder.

Seeing his opponent down and unable to rise, Chief Chen swung his blade and chopped.

Seeing that fierce aspect, the girl who had been eagerly holding a rabbit leg turned her head sharply and buried herself in her master's embrace, though her hand still clutched the rabbit leg.

Just at this moment,

Niu Dingtian by the fire gathered his inner strength, and the wooden stick he had been using to stir the fire shot out with a "swish".

Only a clear "ding" rang out.

Chen Duzhu instantly felt his sword-holding hands go numb, and the long saber actually flew from his grasp.

"No killing is allowed in the temple tonight!"

Afterwards, a faint sound came from Niu Dingtian; though soft, it boomed into the three people's ears, leaving them all dazed for a moment.

Niu Dingtian was not averse to killing the two; as soon as they spoke those words and shot that lecherous light his way, he had already made up his mind to kill.

He also didn't want to crouch by a corpse to eat, nor let the nearby girl see the bloody scene; otherwise, that woman would have already attacked.

He could tell this person was a master, and moreover, already had killing intent!

Peng Zhanglao, who was approaching, felt his liver and gall nearly burst, wondering what immense inner strength that person possessed! He actually shook loose a weapon with a withered branch! That Chen Duzhu's skill is not weak also; otherwise, he could hardly have become an eight‑bag disciple of the Beggar Sect.

After reacting, the two didn't think twice and fled straight out of the temple, one ahead of the other.

Seeing this, Niu Dingtian did not stop them.

Once the two had left the temple gate and vanished into the night,

Only see Niu Dingtian raise his palm and strike the ground; a withered section of branch shoots up, instantly splitting in two, then he sweeps his palm toward the temple gate and the branches shoot outward.

"Ah!"

"Ah!"

Two miserable cries rang out!

Then came a deathly silence.

If you spot any erroneous words or garbled sentences, please give us a heads-up.

(End of chapter)