Chapter 151: 146 The Stronghold Master Goes Down the Mountain

"Sword Smith?"

The Second Master was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood. The reason this honored guest came to Jiming Mountain was to wait for a Sword Smith. It was just that as soon as he arrived, he ordered the mountain stronghold's men to set up guard posts at several key traffic intersections, reporting any news of a Sword Smith immediately. But the Sword Smith was late to arrive, and this Sword Guest's mood grew worse by the day, gradually becoming uncontrollably irritable and acting crazily; it seemed the Fifth Master was beaten to death by him because of this transferred anger.

Seeing that this person was about to have another episode, the Second Master's sense of professional duty faded by more than half, and he accompanied him with a smile: "That... very soon..."

The man in the brocade robe was suddenly furious and shouted: "Scoundrels—you are all lying to me, only knowing how to perfunctorily deal with things, abominable!"

Without waiting for the Second Master to open his mouth to explain, the man in the brocade robe waved his sword, and a sheet of golden light rushed toward his face.

Boom—

A Golden Mountain pressed down, landing squarely on the Second Master.

The Second Master only felt a sheet of golden light before his eyes, followed by intense pain throughout his body; he had already been pressed flat to the ground.

Although that Golden Mountain did not crush his head, it pinned him from the chest down; not only was his whole body heavy, but his bones creaked, and even worse, he could not breathe.

He opened his mouth, wanting to gasp for air, but felt a stifling sensation, his vision darkening; he was clearly on the verge of losing consciousness.

The Second Master had only one thought: I'm going to die!

Just at this moment, he suddenly heard a "Crack—" sound.

The Second Master felt a lightness on his body; although something was still pressing on him, a little space had opened up, allowing his chest to heave, and he hurriedly sucked in air desperately. Looking forward, some golden debris had fallen on the ground.

The Golden Mountain was shedding?

Immediately following, those fragments turned into specks of golden light and vanished completely.

The man in the brocade robe's expression became even more ferocious, and he yelled: "It's happening again, it's happening again! Even you won't listen to me, you're all rebelling! Not a single good thing! You all..."

Following his roar, the sound of cracking continued incessantly, and large swaths of gold collapsed, rolling onto the ground like a landslide, then disappearing from sight.

The Second Master caught his breath again, and seeing that the man in the brocade robe was about to go mad, he braced himself and roared loudly: "Two days! The Sword Smith will arrive in two days!"

The man in the brocade robe was taken aback, and the Second Master endured the intense pain in his chest and shouted: "The lackeys have already obtained news that the young Sword Master is passing by Jilong Mountain; when the time comes, once he comes up the mountain, you will be able to..."

Upon hearing this, the man in the brocade robe turned his anger into joy and said: "Truly? Good! Good! Good!"

For every "good" he said, a smile appeared on his face, and in the end, he actually laughed heartily, laughing very happily.

Seeing him turn anger into joy, the Second Master felt relieved in his heart, thinking he had escaped danger, when suddenly he felt Mount Tai pressing down on his head; with a hiccup, he fainted. It turned out the remaining half of the Golden Mountain had actually closed up, instantly pressing him into the ground.

The man in the brocade robe glanced at the restabilized Golden Mountain and the scholar who had been pressed into an unknown state of life or death, feeling slightly happy. He waved his hand at the lackeys who were rushing over from afar and said: "Go, take him away." As he said this, he turned and entered the building, muttering to himself: "Only two days left... once the Sword Smith comes, I will be liberated. I wonder if the gift I prepared is enough?"

After he entered the building, a few lackeys finally came out, trembling.

By this time, the Golden Mountain pressing on the Second Master had already vanished, leaving only the Second Master lying there. Half of his body was in a very strange position; a complete body could not be twisted into that posture. The few lackeys carefully lifted him onto a stretcher, thinking: Can the Second Master still wake up? Even if he wakes up, he will likely be in a wheelchair.

At this moment, a lackey suddenly said: "Who is in charge on the mountain now?"

The group of lackeys was stunned, immediately realizing that there was no one left on the mountain to make decisions.

Moreover, before the First Master went down the mountain, he designated the Second Master to be in charge, but the Second Master had no chance to designate anyone else. Now, no one could manage anyone else.

Wouldn't that be... too good?

The few Masters on the mountain prided themselves on being loyal, but that loyalty didn't extend to the lackeys; they only had the role of being ordered around. Once the few Masters left, everyone felt as if their shackles had been opened, and even their breathing felt easy.

Why not go down the mountain and have some fun?

Furthermore, the honored guest was coaxed by the Second Master today, so he might be manageable for one day. If he has another episode tomorrow, and the Masters are all gone, who will bear the brunt? It would be better to take the opportunity to go down the mountain and hide, waiting for the First Master to return to the mountain?

Killing two birds with one stone, everyone made up their minds, their hearts flying; they carried the stretcher shakily, not caring at all whether the Second Master on the stretcher could handle it. Someone looked back at the empty space and thought:

That Golden Mountain just now, did it look like a huge, huge gold ingot?

Over here, the First Master Peng Duanhai was swaying as he went down the mountain.

He actually had no intention of meeting up with the Third Master and Fourth Master; he had come out purely to avoid that Sword Guest. In his heart, the Third Master and Fourth Master were likely still in Hu Zhuang, having already killed Qin Jialiang and enjoying themselves with wine, women, wealth, and status.

He even deliberately moved slowly and told the lackeys not to rush on their way. If they arrived, the best wine and beauties would certainly be given to him, and the brothers wouldn't be able to enjoy them; how could that be allowed?

He was a good big brother who cared for his brothers.

Peng Duanhai was riding a horse, passing through a mountain path where the slopes on both sides, not particularly steep, slanted like an inverted "eight" character; he saw someone lying on the mountain wall in the distance, seemingly climbing tree vines.

The First Master was curious; this area was near Jilong Mountain, and mountain bandits often patrolled, so no one had ever dared to come here to gather firewood or herbs. Today, he actually saw one. He wasn't angry, but pointed at the person from afar and laughed, scolding: "Hey, what medicine are you picking? Do you know whose territory this is?"

The person's body stiffened, turned his head to lock eyes with him, then used both hands and feet to climb the vines up the slope and run away.

Peng Duanhai had good eyesight and saw it was a young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes, seemingly an ordinary village lad, but his hands and feet were quite nimble. He laughed: "Count this kid lucky; this Master is in a good mood and won't lower myself to the level of a bumpkin. If he had run into the mountain patrols, wouldn't he have been cut down?"

The lackeys laughed, praising the First Master for his benevolence and kindness.

The group continued forward when suddenly, someone felt their feet go numb and their eyes light up—

Boom!

Brilliant Thunder Light erupted from under their feet, swallowing the team!

"That was close, that was close!"

On the hillside, Wusun Tong wiped his sweat and let out a sigh of relief.

The few of them had discussed the plan to lure the snake out of its hole and came together to the mouth of Jilong Mountain to set up Art Tool traps. Some dug earth, some set ropes. He had just been on the hillside grafting a rope Art Tool onto the vines when he unexpectedly came face-to-face with the First Master. Fortunately, he was dressed plainly, looked plain, and his posture while climbing the vines wasn't particularly graceful, so the First Master hadn't been suspicious.

"Didn't they say it would take him at least two or three days to react? Why did he come down the mountain himself without us luring him?"

"Who cares? He's here anyway. It's a good thing we caught this wave."

Wusun Tong, having been bumped into by the Master, hurriedly ran down from the hillside, found Tang Zhao and the others, and told everyone to stop digging traps; use whatever they had ready and prepare to act.

Those half-prepared traps definitely couldn't be used, so in the end, Tang Zhao thought of an emergency method.

Hidden in his Time Jar was a powerful weapon that could be activated at any time: that piece of Thunder Origin Talisman that was on the verge of exploding.

Back then, when they were playing "pass the thunder," at the final moment of the explosion, Tang Zhao had put the Thunder Symbol away, maintaining its state of being on the verge of exploding. Once removed from the jar, it would explode instantly.

A dozen strings of Thunder Symbols exploding simultaneously, surely that was equivalent to a bundle of high-explosive landmines, right?

The few of them hurriedly buried the jar and waited for the team to pass by to release the jar's containment.

In an instant, the Thunder Light burst forth, shaking the earth and mountains, stones raining down from the slopes on both sides, and a section of the mountain path was blocked with a roar.

Tang Zhao and the others didn't have time to admire their achievement; instead, they looked down the mountain with grave expressions.

"Prepare for battle."

The clearing of the field complete, the real battle had only just begun.

After the lightning and the landslide, the ground was a mess. It was unknown how many bandit lackeys were buried beneath the earth and stones.

Originally just a Hundred-Man Squad, and trapped in the mountain pass, they were almost completely wiped out by the Thunder Light accompanied by the landslide. Even if there were any who slipped through the net, they were either crippled or had long since fled in terror.

Thus, as the smoke and dust dispersed, only one person remained standing.

A large man eight feet tall stood upon the rubble, his hair slightly curled from being singed by the lightning fire, but otherwise completely unharmed. His body was covered in a layer of gray radiance.

Gang Qi!

The Gang Qi was like armor, protecting his entire body and isolating him from the assault of the lightning and giant boulders. The large man was still somewhat dazed by the surprise attack, but his expression had become incomparably ferocious, his hair standing on end with rage.

Peng Duanhai, Great Chieftain of Jilong Mountain, younger brother to the General Chief of Baixiong Mountain, a notorious bandit whose name made children stop crying at night. Since striking out on his own, he had never suffered such a great loss.

"Ah—"

"Where did this shameless rat come from? How dare you launch a sneak attack!"

He roared loudly, suddenly kicked off the ground, and leaped up, his body rushing forward as he threw a punch imbued with Gang Qi toward the mountaintop.

That was the direction where Tang Zhao and the others were lying in ambush!

He had discovered them!

Boom!

Before the fist could land, the black and white Gang Qi slammed into the ground, sending earth and stones flying!

Two figures flew out from either side; one figure landed lightly on the opposite cliff, while the other figure did not land, instead unfurling two-colored wings in the sky.

Peng Duanhai's eyes widened in fury as he saw that both were handsome youths; he did not recognize either of them, they were not his enemies, and he did not know why they would block his path and attack—truly a disaster fallen from the sky!

He could not bother to distinguish who was who; anyone who dared to sneak attack this king must die!

"No wonder you dared to sneak attack this king; it turns out you have some skill."

At a glance, he saw the Gang Qi on the two youths' bodies, a thin layer covering them, both very dense; they were clearly both Loose Practitioners, at the same realm as himself, and facing two against one was disadvantageous for him.

However...

"No matter what, all of you go to hell! Ha—"

Amidst the roar, the Gang Qi on his body surged, as if it were a raging, burning flame!

Only now could one see that the layer of Gang Qi on his body was not gray, but rather black and white, intertwined in strands; the black was dark, the white was bright, and the two were mixed, different from ordinary Gang Qi.

"Heavenly Gang! It really is Heavenly Gang! This thief is actually a Martial Venerable!"

A Loose Practitioner who had just broken through was actually able to cultivate Heavenly Gang and become a Martial Venerable.

Had he obtained some miraculous encounter?

Looking at his black and white Heavenly Gang, it actually seemed to have integrated two different natural forces; it was truly extraordinary.

One Martial Venerable versus two new Loose Practitioners—would the Martial Venerable still have the advantage?

"However, the combat of a Talisman Sword Master is a bit more flexible."