Chapter 424: 399 Changes

Come to think of it, having Wei Se rush up from the foot of the mountain to coordinate with Tang Zhao was an impromptu idea of Tang Zhao's.

The cause was a report from Wei Se.

Around midnight, just as Tang Zhao had finished setting up the Li Fire Mechanism and before that fire had even started to burn, Tang Zhao received a message from Wei Se saying that the matters at the foot of the mountain were finished, that he had managed to get away, and asking if he should come up to help.

Tang Zhao had intended to refuse; after all, Wei Se naturally had the upper hand against the enemies at the foot of the mountain, but with the old Sword Guest still on the mountain, Wei Se might not necessarily have the strength to participate, and rushing up the mountain would only add unnecessary danger.

But at that moment, a thought suddenly struck him, and he felt that coming up might not be a bad idea.

Wei Se didn't have to make a move, but with his elusive disguise skills, when Tang Zhao made his own move, he could have Wei Se provide him with an alibi.

In fact, in ordinary martial arts slaughter, there is absolutely no need to play the alibi game; winning is winning, and losing is losing. The loser is forever silenced, and the winner says whatever they want.

But there was one matter here that still required consideration of other factors.

That was killing the old Manor Master.

Tang Zhao had hidden his identity, so killing Meng Tiansheng was one thing, but involving Black Widow required careful thought. If Black Widow wanted to sit firmly in the position of Manor Master, which already lacked popularity, it was better not to carry the black pot of "treason and usurpation" if it could be avoided.

By the same token, Tang Zhao could go on a killing spree in the villa and play at "true infiltration," but dumping the resulting mess on Black Widow would be quite ungentlemanly.

Therefore, Tang Zhao decided to use a quick, decisive method with a relatively low cost. For this, he needed Wei Se's help.

At this time, the cableway up and down had stopped, and how to get up the mountain silently was troublesome. It would be easy for Tang Zhao to bring Wei Se up with a Light Beam of Sword Art, but it would be too conspicuous. The same went for using Sword Flying.

Tang Zhao thought of several methods, and finally slapped his head and chose the simplest one—letting the owl bring Wei Se up.

This method was quite bizarre; with an owl's strength, it certainly couldn't carry a person in flight, but the Can Cang Sword Technique improved by Ping Jiangqiu could carry people, so the owl was only transporting a jar up. No matter how steep the cliffs were, could they stop a bird in the sky?

When Tang Zhao's fire mechanism was triggered, the cry of a night owl came from the sky; that was Wei Se arriving.

At that time, the side courtyard was in a tense moment, and Tang Zhao was dealing with the members of the Five Poisons Society, so Wei Se did not land in the side courtyard but landed directly outside. At that time, Tang Zhao told him to hide first and then find an opportunity to swap places.

As for how to hide, that was up to Wei Se's ability to adapt to circumstances. He was originally skilled in hiding and lying low, and he was like a fish in water in the crisis-ridden Jingzhe Villa.

When Meng Huazhou and Tang Zhao's group passed through the woods to find the old Manor Master, they happened to encounter the Protector Wu who had been knocked down by Wei Se. Tang Zhao guessed then that it was Wei Se's doing and pondered that he could find a chance to swap identities. He just didn't expect Wei Se to be so bold; not only did he easily take down a Protector, but he also impersonated a Disciple who had been instructed by the Protector to find people, returning to the scene in person.

That's right, the Disciple who was attracted by the firelight at the time to testify that the Protector was an impostor was actually Wei Se in disguise. He might not have impersonated the Protector at all, but only impersonated a Disciple, while simultaneously giving false testimony to lead everyone's attention to finding the fake Protector.

If Tang Zhao hadn't noticed those pupils that were a shade lighter, he wouldn't have recognized that the Disciple was Wei Se.

After successfully linking up with Wei Se, Tang Zhao swapped identities with Wei Se in the woods. It should be said that only Wei Se changed into Tang Zhao's appearance, while Tang Zhao did not disguise himself; he just randomly found a piece of cloth to cover his face, indicating respect for his own hidden identity, and went straight to Meng Tiansheng's room.

Upon reaching Meng Tiansheng, Tang Zhao was not polite and drew his sword directly. Although Meng Tiansheng was a Sword Guest, he was already in his twilight years, and Tang Zhao arrived extremely abruptly without announcing his name, not allowing him to activate his remaining trump cards, and controlled him directly.

Tang Zhao could have finished it with one sword stroke, but by then Meng Huazhou had already reached outside the wall, and Meng Tiansheng begged bitterly to see his son one last time. Tang Zhao finally agreed. Only then did Meng Tiansheng have the chance to bring Meng Huazhou in for a final word of advice.

When the father and son were saying their final goodbyes, Tang Zhao was watching from the side.

Because Tang Zhao was masked, Meng Tiansheng could not have guessed that the Black Widow he told Meng Huazhou to kill was actually an ally of the person who had subdued him. Perhaps he looked down on Black Widow and felt she was not worthy of such a teammate, so he had no misgivings. Tang Zhao and Meng Huazhou heard the final last words clearly.

It seems killing him was the right thing to do.

However, in the end, Meng Tiansheng was not killed by Tang Zhao, but by another uninvited guest, which also caught Tang Zhao completely by surprise.

"Was it Yue Lai who killed him?" Wei Se asked.

Tang Zhao said, "If not him, then who?"

That person arrived abruptly, and not only Meng Huazhou but even Tang Zhao was startled, but unlike Meng Huazhou who rushed out and couldn't find anyone, Tang Zhao identified Yue Lai immediately.

He identified him through his martial arts.

Tang Zhao had witnessed that murderous sword stroke once before; it was the sword stroke Yue Lai used to ambush Mi Hufa in the side courtyard.

Tang Zhao felt at the time that the sword stroke was very strong, and speaking only of the skill in the sword, it could almost be called "stunning." It was a sword move born specifically for ambushes, like a fleeting glimpse of a wild goose, and like a divine dragon flicking its tail.

Tang Zhao himself, because he became a Sword Guest too quickly, actually lacked such pure and profound ultimate moves in ordinary sword techniques.

And the sword stroke that killed Meng Tiansheng was even stronger than the one that killed Mi Hufa.

Witnessing this moment, Tang Zhao was shocked to realize he had still underestimated Yue Lai. The sudden eruption of that sword stroke made Tang Zhao feel that if he didn't have Sword Art for Body Protection, he really would have been ambushed.

Although this Yue Lai was young, he might be the premier sword-wielding expert Tang Zhao had ever seen, that is, a "Sword Guest" in the traditional sense, excluding the concept of a "Treasure Sword."

Such a person, what exactly is his background?

Why kill Mi Hufa and kill Meng Tiansheng all the way?

Surely it couldn't really be to avenge Cha Feiyan?

After he achieved his goal, why didn't he leave, but instead stayed in the crowd without changing his identity, and even went with the flow to accept Meng Huazhou's invitation?

Could it be that he wanted to wipe out Meng Huazhou as well while he was at it?

That would be a coincidence, as Meng Huazhou also wanted to kill him.

Although Meng Huazhou did not see through his identity at a glance like Tang Zhao, after he calmed down, he compared notes with the other people present. Everyone gave different testimonies, and only Yue Lai was completely forgotten by everyone as to whether he was present or not.

Although he was indeed inconspicuous and no one could confirm that he had left halfway, one could lock onto him using the method of Exclusion.

This shows the benefit of Tang Zhao preparing a double early on; Wei Se actually didn't do anything, just stood honestly outside, and appearing in everyone's field of vision had already excluded Tang Zhao's suspicion.

So now the most intense hunting battlefield was prepared for Meng Huazhou and Yue Lai.

Tang Zhao said sternly to Wei Se, "You go first. Take a look in Meng Tiansheng's room, and if there is anything I haven't taken care of, I'll trouble you. This—" He took out a Mirror, which was an Art Tool for the Sword Law "Light Beam," "—guarantees you can come and go without hindrance."

Wei Se nodded. He didn't say much; nodding meant "Leave it to me."

Tang Zhao suddenly smiled and said, "There might be a difficult matter in the room that requires you to make a decision. No matter how you decide, I have no opinion."

Wei Se felt slightly strange. Tang Zhao pressed his shoulder and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Wei Se. Let's stop here for now; I'll go on the path ahead first."

Before Wei Se could react, Tang Zhao let go, took a step out of the illusion, and disappeared from before Wei Se's eyes.

Wei Se was stunned for a moment, always feeling it was strange. Tang Zhao was not a person who liked to be mysterious, and although Wei Se had been with him for a long time, he hadn't developed the skill of "guessing the superior's intentions."

At this time, he only waited in the illusion for a while according to Tang Zhao's instructions, then changed his makeup, put away the illusion, and easily replaced a villa Disciple, mixing his way up the cliff.

The illusion could block light, and when used well, it was no worse than an Invisibility Talisman, only occasionally revealing flaws of light distortion. Wei Se was originally a meticulous and cautious person, and he walked all the way to the Thunder Court without anyone discovering him.

In the Thunder Court, it was already empty, and Meng Huazhou had specifically ordered that no one was allowed to approach the locked room. The Disciples were busy and overwhelmed by the fact that two Protectors had died in a row, so they naturally followed orders and did not touch the old Manor Master's courtyard. Moreover, no one dared to provoke the old Manor Master casually anyway.

Wei Se approached the Thunder Court and easily passed through the window paper with the Light Beam, entering the room.

The room was indeed messy; Tang Zhao had only confirmed Meng Tiansheng's death and had not tidied up the old man's remains or anything. The state of Meng Tiansheng's death was exactly the same as when he was stabbed by Yue Lai, his eyes wide open, dying with a grievance.

The cleanup Tang Zhao spoke of was, of course, not asking Wei Se to close the old man's eyes, encoffin him, or change his burial clothes, but rather to sweep away traces related to Tang Zhao. Wei Se was skilled at this; in the past, some clients had special requirements, such as asking to disguise a death as natural, or framing a competitor, and the time spent cleaning up was even longer than the time spent killing. He was also very handy with this kind of task.

However, upon entering the room, Wei Se took one look and suddenly froze.

In an instant, he seemed to understand the meaning of Tang Zhao's final words.

On the table, a sword stood alone, stuck upright. The blade was dim, as if covered in a layer of rust.

The Jingzhe Sword!

It was precisely the sword that the five underworld leaders had fought to the death to seize, the one that determined the fate of Jingzhe Villa.

Tang Zhao had actually not taken this sword away, but had left it at the scene instead.

And before he left, he had said to him: "There is a difficult matter that requires you to make a decision. No matter how you decide, I have no objections."

Could his meaning be...

Rolling Tang Zhao's final words through his mind several times and savoring the strong sense of "parting" within them, Wei Se stood still for a long time before finally reaching out his hand to grasp the sword.

A joy radiating from his very Soul made him nearly break the composure he had maintained for years.

Clang—

The three-foot blade left its scabbard, and the rust-like edge suddenly glowed with a hint of luster.

It was actually so... compatible!