Chapter 562: Showdown Between Thousand Faces Hall and Poison Taiyue

What is the background of the Thousand Faces Hall that they dare to accept this job?

Zhou You was somewhat curious; Du Taiyue is not someone to be trifled with. He has managed to cultivate powerful martial arts through poison, and his talent, effort, and methods are among the best in the world. He has numerous disciples under his command and the vast Wanli Zhaohai as his rear base.

It is no exaggeration to say that the difficulty of wanting to kill Du Taiyue is no less than launching another great war against the Wu people.

The matter of the bounty, at most, will only anger Du Taiyue; other than that, it really has little effect.

Generally speaking, for such a thankless task, others would stay as far away as possible.

Yet the Thousand Faces Hall insisted on intervening, knowing full well there was something fishy about a one-coin bounty, yet they accepted it anyway. What exactly is their confidence?

"Thousand Faces Hall, hmm, I heard the Hall Master came from Dijing to do business in Fucheng."

"There is another theory: he originally led a powerful martial arts sect, but after failing in an internal struggle, he left for other lands to start a business in Fucheng."

"Others even rumor that the founding members of the Thousand Faces Hall are all floating-boat martial artists who came from the sea."

Zhou You gathered no fewer than a dozen versions, and finally determined that the origins of the Thousand Faces Hall are well-hidden, and they are even spreading different messages to confuse the public.

Particularly novel is that among them, there is also a 'Sea Martial' version, involving overseas martial artists.

In the ancient era, there was no division of the Wushizhou; there was only one great earth and one sky in the world.

After the Nine Cauldrons descended into the world, various races fought endlessly, the earth's crust cracked, the soil layers folded, and landforms such as high mountains, rivers, and oceans were born.

Beyond the land lies the vast ocean, where paths are extinct; legend says its area is ten or a hundred times larger than all the Wushizhou combined.

Because it is rarely visited by humans, it is even more treacherous than the barren Beijing, and thus it hides many giant beasts, flowers, and plants left over from ancient times, and even the ruins of ancient martial artists.

Driven by legends, many martial artists step onto floating boats to go out to sea, seeking various opportunities and, incidentally, tempering their fist techniques against the natural might of heaven and earth.

Over time, sea martial artists formed a group; they exist independently of the land, haunting the vast ocean, treading waves to drive whales, and diving into the sea to grasp the moon.

To the martial artists of the Wushizhou, the sea regions and Sea Martial arts are undoubtedly mysterious and distant.

If the Thousand Faces Hall has a Sea Martial background, they truly would not fear Du Taiyue; there are countless rare treasures overseas, and many items for resisting and avoiding poison.

The second day after the bounty was announced...

Over a hundred people died suddenly at the entrance of the Thousand Faces Hall; they were all martial artists from the city who had gathered at the entrance yesterday to watch the bounty.

This is undoubtedly a show of force, a warning from the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop.

Clearly, Du Taiyue, while entrenched in Wanli Zhaohai, is not some shut-in who never leaves his house; his claws and eyes are distributed throughout Fucheng.

Zhou You had long anticipated this; Wanli Zhaohai is rich in products and often sells large quantities of supplies to the outside world, among which virulent poisons and venom-slaves are the most sought after—the former used for assassinations, the latter as death squads.

The world has black where there is white; it cannot do without black gloves to do the dirty work, and Du Taiyue and the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop specialize in this aspect.

Among his inner disciples, besides Fu Manlun, there are several notorious killers who do whatever they are paid to do.

Soon, news spread that the one who took action was one of Du Taiyue's disciples, Lizhong.

Lizhong is a high-level Martial Master whose poison arts are so lethal that no living person dares to approach him; he also loves to change his appearance to enter the bustling marketplace, and whenever he has a conflict with someone, he inevitably poisons all living things within a ten-mile radius.

Years ago, he did this once in Fucheng and was beaten by a powerful martial artist in the city until only half his life remained, and he never dared to set foot in this place again.

Later, it was only heard that Lizhong haunted other cities, committing countless bloody crimes; ten cities under Fucheng have bounties and bans against him, and he is to be killed on sight if encountered.

Zhou You was also lucky; during the time he lived in Gongliang City, he did not encounter such an evil person as Lizhong.

Lizhong killed people in Fucheng, poisoning over a hundred martial artists right in front of the Thousand Faces Hall; clearly, this represents the attitude of the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop. In the past, Du Taiyue would have restrained his disciples' behavior, but now...

The Thousand Faces Hall's bounty tore off the mask of civility, the tacit understanding of mutual peace is gone, and the smell of blood can be faintly detected in the air.

It hasn't been peaceful for long, and now there's going to be a big war again!

"Did you hear? The powerful martial artist of the Thousand Faces Hall has shown their face."

"The Commander of the City Gate Guard took the lead, and other noble families came forward together to invite the Thousand Faces Hall to come out and explain."

"This matter has blown up; I heard Du Taiyue has put out the word that if they cannot satisfy him, he will harvest a million lives."

A million lives—is he trying to harvest half the population of Fucheng? Qin Lie and other friendly martial arts hall masters brought some news circulating in the market.

The order of Fucheng cannot be disrupted; even if they want to fight Du Taiyue, it cannot happen in Fucheng—there are so many noble families in the city! Everyone knows that the lethality of poison is too great, and it doesn't have eyes; no matter if one is rich or poor, they cannot escape it.

During the great war against the Wu people, the terrifying lethality of Fu Manlun holding the Doll Gu had already spread to Fucheng and other cities afterward.

Will this negotiation determine whether or not there will be a battle with the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop?

Let's see what the trump card of the Thousand Faces Hall is. If the Thousand Faces Hall's trump card is not enough to neutralize Du Taiyue's forces, then the final outcome might be... the Thousand Faces Hall will have to pay the price for the bounty, and at that time, the number of people who die will not just be over a hundred, but perhaps more than a hundred times that.

Zhou You was at the Daqian Martial Arts Hall, keeping a constant eye on the situation, and a few days later...

"The Grandmaster of the Thousand Faces Hall intercepted Lizhong in the downtown area; with one palm, he broke his poison arts, and with the second palm, he struck him dead."

"Lizhong's corpse is hanging on a pole next to Du Taiyue's bounty, surrounded by flies, and his stomach is swollen high."

Good heavens! "Can you find out the name of the Thousand Faces Hall's powerful martial artist?"

"Red Sun for a Thousand Miles, his fist technique is the Hundred Tribulations Blade and Weapon, containing the lethality of all weapons in the world between his palms and fingers; he tore open Lizhong's poison armor with his bare palms, shattered his protective poison aura, and broke the life-bound virulent poison that dissolves muscles and melts bones."

As a disciple of Du Taiyue, the poison martial arts Lizhong practiced were all high-end goods; the virulent poison he refined could even make powerful martial artists retreat three times, and his physical body had two layers of defense—outer armor and poison aura—yet he was still easily struck dead in two moves.

This is undoubtedly a show of force from the Thousand Faces Hall: no matter how many people dare to come, they will all die, unless Du Taiyue takes action himself!

Zhou You had a premonition after hearing this news: the Thousand Faces Hall and the noble families have reached a consensus.

Sure enough, the Thousand Faces Hall then threw out another big order, offering bounties for the assassination of all members of the Myriad Poison Secret Workshop who are outside.

This is clearly an all-out war.

Unlike the one-copper-coin bounty for Du Taiyue, the bounties targeting ordinary Apprentices and Disciples are quite generous.

Although poison arts are dangerous, wealth moves the heart, and many martial artists have each chosen several bounties, wanting to take a gamble.

Then, Zhou You discovered that the gossip had reached his own doorstep.

Because they want to fight poison martial arts, many martial artists are thinking of being prepared, frantically purchasing Secret Medicine for detoxification, poison avoidance, and poison resistance; a massive volume of orders, surging a hundredfold, is flooding into every medicine hall in the city.

The business of Xingren Tang is simply skyrocketing.

When Zhou You rested at night, he suddenly realized the bed was especially large; sleeping alone was too empty.

His wife and concubines were all working overtime through the night, leaving him alone to guard the empty room—he couldn't sleep either!

Sigh, it looks like I, this Lingzhi Apothecary, have to take the field!

(End of chapter)