Chapter 404: Good People, Eh!

Arriving at the White Feather Sword Manor, built by the lakeside, occupying a considerable area, very much possessing the grandeur of a major sect.

Wen Leng's treatment was even better.

The disciples encountered along the way all called out, "Wen Senior Brother!", "Wen Senior Brother!", with envy and admiration.

Even a few elders offered multiple encouragements.

After a brief inquiry into the identities of Tang Luo and the others, they were easily allowed to pass.

They just glanced at Tang Luo a couple more times.

Everyone has black hair and black eyes; if someone appears with different-colored hair or different-colored eyes, it basically means they have cultivated some special martial arts.

Of course, white hair is an exception. When people grow old or contract certain illnesses, white hair is perfectly normal.

Tang Luo looks very young, yet has a head of white hair—unknown whether due to illness or martial arts.

People are naturally curious; glancing twice is perfectly normal.

Wen Leng brought everyone to a secluded small courtyard pavilion, had Tang Luo and the others wait a moment, then went to find Qin Xu'ao.

The ten people were inside the pavilion, nearby, or sitting or standing.

The small courtyard was tranquil; outside came the sounds of White Feather Sword Manor disciples practicing martial arts—huffing and shouting—not noisy, giving a feeling like summer cicadas, quite pleasant.

Ao Yulie stood behind Tang Luo and said softly: "Master, I studied it a bit—the Mad Whip feels like it was made by a 'person'."

"Is that so? No wonder there's such a huge resentment impact." Tang Luo said.

The style of the Mad Whip is obviously not that of ordinary martial arts paintings.

As a counterfeit of one of the Nine Holy Weapons, it's not exactly mundane, yet I don't know why it ended up in the hands of three outsiders.

Not long after chatting, Qin Xu'ao arrived with the Wen siblings.

Walking at the front, Qin Xu'ao was composed and dignified, with a sunny smile on his face, making one instantly feel this person is upright.

Upright and proper.

"Master Xuanzang! Long time no see, your bearing remains as before!" Qin Xu'ao walked up to Tang Luo, clasped his hands, and smiled.

"Hmm, sit." Tang Luo pointed to the seats he had reserved for them.

Qin Xu'ao's eye twitched: "We won't be sitting."

Sitting my ass! They're currently sleeping lying face down, buttocks raised.

"Also good, the poor monk has something to ask the three benefactors." Tang Luo said.

Qin Xu'ao said nothing—this development is wrong!

Clearly, they invited people over, displayed strength, and both sides reached a consensus of "non-disclosure."

How did we inexplicably end up with the other side leading the situation?

On what grounds? Just because you have more people?

Qin Xu'ao couldn't help but glance at the other nine—three women, six men—looking none of them easy to deal with.

Well, it's not just a matter of numbers.

But it doesn't matter; they have the White Feather Sword Manor behind them—no fear!

"Then let's first discuss what I want to say, Master Xuanzang, what do you think?" Qin Xu'ao said.

"What does the benefactor wish to say?" Tang Luo replied calmly.

Qin Xu'ao didn't speak immediately, but instead glanced at Ao Yulie and the others.

Ao Yulie chuckled and said: "What you want to say, we actually already know and can guess—no need for you to pretend."

"Hmph."

The Wen siblings' smiles were extremely forced.

"Since you already know, then let the honest not speak in riddles." Qin Xu'ao said, "Regarding the matter of Qingyun Fortress that day, we wish to ask the master to keep it confidential."

The other side has a request of me!

Qin Xu'ao realized this. Therefore, he temporarily changed the terms, simply proposing that Tang Luo and the others keep it secret.

As for reputation, we won't divide it—at most, if someone asks later, we'll mention it briefly.

"Oh, that white-haired fellow—we fought side by side initially." This way, the Spring and Autumn brushstroke, one stroke to pass over.

Of course, it's not necessarily saying it must be exactly this way.

Sky-high pricing, ground-level bargaining—first set the price high, then we can slowly negotiate later.

Qin Xu'ao felt he had the potential to become a sect leader.

"Good." Tang Luo replied succinctly and decisively, leaving Qin Xu'ao's prepared words no room to shine.

A punch swung into empty air—felt hollow and empty.

I haven't even exerted force, and you're already down? No, it's that you agreed too quickly, right?

After a moment of stupor, Qin Xu'ao suddenly understood why the other side answered so succinctly.

On one hand, it's the White Feather Sword Manor; on the other, it's the other side's identity.

Monk!

Correct—monks in the martial world are certainly not a good identity.

The Hateful Heaven Divine Lord is already dead, but the power and disciples he left behind are not dead.

The Hateful Heaven Sect is currently, aside from the Four Holy Lands, the strongest force in the martial world, and its disciples have maintained the Hateful Heaven Divine Lord's "fine traditions."

They also relentlessly exterminate monks.

As for why, to be honest, even the members of the Hateful Heaven Sect aren't very clear.

The sect rules are like that—just carry them out like this. Anyway, there are no monks now, and moreover, we can use this as an excuse to do whatever we want.

"I heard the leader of the XX Gang is a bald head—looks like a monk! Then my Hateful Heaven Sect destroying the XX Gang is completely justified!"

They have no friendliness toward bald people at all.

Qin Xuao figured these people must also be "jianghu young heroes," though a few looked quite old in age and didn't seem to understand jianghu matters.

After mingling for a few days, he finally understood what a "holy sh*t" identity the monk had.

He developed misgivings.

Good, now everyone was on equal footing.

However, Qin Xuao was still very magnanimous; he asked, "The monk's identity, I will naturally keep secret for you Masters. By the way, I wonder what business the Masters have seeking us out?"

Do a favor; walking the jianghu, connections are also very important.

These people were able to destroy Green Cloud Stronghold; their strength was not bad, they could be befriended.

"We want Black Heaven Demon Palace's information," Tang Luo said; the Demon Palace was also the Black Heaven Divine Palace.

"Black Heaven Demon Palace?" Qin Xuao frowned slightly, "What do you want that for?"

"We want to go take a look," Tang Luo said.

"... Alright." Qin Xuao agreed, and didn't pursue why the other party wanted Black Heaven Divine Palace's information.

Since the Black Heaven Divine Palace began expanding, various situations had also slowly leaked out.

Many things no longer counted as secrets; White Feather Sword Manor had collected them too, so giving them a copy now didn't count for much.

"Eldest Senior Brother!"

"Eldest Senior Brother! Something terrible has happened!"

Before Qin Xuao could instruct the Wen siblings to fetch the information, panicked shouts from several disciples came from outside.

"What matter is so panic-inducing? No propriety!" Qin Xuao gave Tang Luo a slight nod, then walked quickly to the courtyard entrance.

Several disciples had already opened the unlatched door and barged in, earning a sharp rebuke from Qin Xuao.

"Eldest Senior Brother! People from the Black Heaven Demon Palace have come killing their way to our door!"

"What?" Qin Xuao's expression changed; he forcibly steadied himself, "How did this happen! Why would they suddenly come to White Feather Sword Manor?"

"Don't know." Those few disciples wore mournful faces, "They named names demanding to find the three of you, Eldest Senior Brother!"

The Wen siblings following behind Qin Xuao exchanged a glance, seeing shock and doubt in each other's eyes.

Three — who else could it be but three?

It had to be the three of them, the White Feather Three Swords!

"Where's the Manor Lord? Still not back?" Qin Xuao asked.

Manor Lord Zhou Yu had left yesterday with several elders.

"Still not back now!" the disciple said, "Right now only Uncle-Master Wang, Steward Wu and them are here."

"..." Qin Xuao's expression couldn't hold; it darkened.

The few people the disciple mentioned — their martial arts weren't high, they just had slightly higher seniority.

Simply put, they were a bunch of people who couldn't handle Green Cloud Stronghold.

The few who could handle Green Cloud Stronghold had left together with Zhou Yu; no one knew what they went to do.

If it really was the Black Heaven Divine Palace "great army pressing the border," White Feather Sword Manor would probably suffer heavy losses.

"Eldest Senior Brother, you all go take a look quickly," the disciple urged anxiously.

"What is their purpose in coming?" Qin Xuao and the other two asked as they walked.

They directly left Tang Luo's group to one side; at this time, there was simply no leisure to attend to them.

Tang Luo's group followed behind the others with pleasant faces; this trip was worth it — now they didn't even need the information.

The guide delivered himself to the door to lead the way; five-star rating.

On the martial arts training plaza that every jianghu sect with a bit of strength must have, twenty-odd black-clothed men stood there, exuding a solemn killing aura.

Uniform black clothes; the two leaders were relatively more magnificent.

Interestingly, in their hands — one held Lin Qinglong's ghost-head broadsword, the other held Yi Yun's hammer.

These were spoils from the Green Cloud Stronghold battle, displayed just outside the Sword Manor for people to admire.

Before them stood a group of White Feather Sword Manor people.

Leading them was an old man, several middle-aged men, facing a formidable enemy with wary expressions.

"Eldest Senior Brother!"

"Eldest Senior Brother!"

Seeing Qin Xuao's group approach, a crowd of disciples spoke up one after another.

Those elders and stewards also breathed a sigh of relief.

"The turtle with its head pulled in finally came out."

The man holding the ghost-head broadsword let out a cold laugh and stepped forward.

This man had ordinary features, a sinister expression, an unruly bearing — like a venomous snake. He was the son of the Black Heaven Divine Palace Lord, named Zhu Qian.

The number one expert of the Black Heaven Divine Palace's younger generation.

His strength rivaled some jianghu veterans; he even had the battle record of single-handedly exterminating a sect master in a duel — not to be underestimated.

"Your Black Heaven Palace acts perversely; today you again trespass into my White Feather Sword Manor with ulterior motives — aren't you afraid of arousing the indignation of jianghu peers?" Qin Xuao opened by pinning a big label on them.

Anyway, the Sword Manor's main gate stood wide open, and outside the gate quite a few jianghu people were watching.

Some who had good relations with White Feather Sword Manor had already entered inside the gate.

"Hmph." Zhu Qian sneered, tossing the broadsword in his hand to the ground, "You three killed my Divine Palace's subordinates, and now you're actually acting righteous and confident."

"Green Cloud Stronghold was your people?"

Qin Xuao's hands behind his back couldn't help but clench.

The Wen siblings' sword-gripping hands also turned a shade white.

Zhu Qian gave a light kick; the broadsword was kicked to Qin Xuao's feet: "Look for yourselves — it has my Divine Palace's mark on it."

Qin Xuao picked up the large cleaver, examined it carefully for a while, and only then spotted a blurry, indistinct mark on the hilt.

He instantly wanted to curse!

With this level of skill, why the hell did you even carve a mark! A child's scribbles are easier to make out than this.

But if one carefully compared this with the Black Heaven Divine Palace's emblem, observing closely, one would discover the two did indeed bear a slight resemblance, in outline and such.

Qin Xuao was both shocked and furious, unable to keep from glancing at Tang Luo and the others.

At this moment, he suddenly understood why the other party didn't mind in the slightest that they had snatched away the credit.

They had known long ago that Green Cloud Stronghold had defected to the Black Heaven Divine Palace?!

Qin Xuao's anger flared, making him want to roar aloud: "You actually let us take the fall?! The ones who annihilated Green Cloud Stronghold weren't us, it was these people!"

However, things had already come to this pass; the fall guy role they'd already shouldered, unable to shake off.

On the other side, Nan Taisheng and his group were laughing very happily; White Feather Three Swords, good people indeed!