Chapter 558: Sunset Master

Wangliang Mountain is covered in white hair, but there are not many true old men; Xing Cang counts as one, and the white-haired old man before them, the Sunset Manor Master, is another.

Being able to live to old age on Wangliang Mountain is, in itself, a remarkable thing.

Tang Zhao looked at his face and recalled the boast the white-haired woman had made earlier before the statue: back when Wangliang and the Golden Crow fought a great battle, the Golden Crow's Destruction Sword Intent met with disaster in the Nether Sea, and the Sunset Manor Master intervened, shooting down the sun.

Whether he truly played a part, or if it was just "throwing a kunai from eight hundred miles away," if the Manor Master mentioned by the woman in white was indeed this old man before him, then he must be at least over a hundred years old.

A Sword Hero over a hundred years old is no longer young, let alone a Sword Guest?

Although this old fellow was not promoted to a First Rank Manor Master, which shows the "Sacred Scroll" is quite hollow, he was at least placed in the position of guarding this statue. While the events recorded by this statue might be false, it genuinely contains a trace of Destruction Sword Intent, not to mention the "Sunset Manor occupies the vital path" that the white-haired woman mentioned inadvertently.

Therefore, both Sunset Manor and this old man are extremely critical. The old man is more likely to be an eyewitness to the events of that year and knows extremely useful information.

So, should he be tied up and forced to reveal the news?

Tang Zhao's thoughts shifted, and his gaze turned intentionally or unintentionally toward the turtle in the old man's hand.

Although he had hidden his gaze and it was not conspicuous, the old man seemed exceptionally sensitive; he flipped his hand and tucked the turtle trinket back into his sleeve, making it invisible.

Hmm, a confession without being asked? Now, even if there was no problem, there is one.

Tang Zhao remained vigilant in his heart but did not speak. Beside him, the Grand Steward Xing Cang bowed and said, "This old servant from Changfa Manor pays respects to the Sunset Master." He then presented the gift list and explained their purpose, his etiquette polite and proper, without a single flaw to be found.

That Sunset Manor Master Wu Shayu did not even take the gift list; he looked at the two of them askance and said, "What are your names?"

Xing Cang reported his name and Xing Qi's name. Wu Shayu said, "You are called Xing Qi? The seventh Sword Guest in your manor?"

Tang Zhao said, "Yes."

"Are there six more Sword Guests like you?"

Tang Zhao shook his head and said, "Although I am the seventh Sword Guest, my Master has more than seven Sword Guests under his seat. You could say—however many you want, we have that many!"

This statement sounded a bit ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth. Tu Fei also glanced at him, feeling that showing his sharp edge right from the start was suspicious of looking for trouble, but since he had taken their money, he did not express anything.

Wu Shayu sneered, "Such a big tone? Then are you going to choose a match of eight Sword Guests?"

Tang Zhao smiled and said, "Before my Master left, he told me that eight people is not good; why don't we choose a match of sixteen Sword Guests?"

For an instant, Wu Shayu showed an expression of astonishment. Beneath the astonishment, there was even a trace of panic.

Immediately after, he fell silent, but then he became exceptionally arrogant and sneered, "Sixteen people? How about thirty-two?"

Tang Zhao retorted, "We could also have a group battle of one hundred and eight Sword Guests."

At this moment, Tu Fei finally smiled and interjected, "I say, we are here to discuss matters, not to compete in spite. Let's not boast about these numbers; one hundred and eight matches, over two hundred Sword Guests—can you even scrape that many together by putting all the Second-tier Manors together? Let's just talk about the eight-Sword-Guest match."

Wu Shayu knit his brows, and the white-haired woman coughed lightly.

This cough was likely a reminder to the old Manor Master not to lose face in front of outsiders. Wu Shayu suddenly stiffened, and then bloodshot veins appeared in his eyes, as if painted with fresh blood. He suddenly slapped the table: "Fine, if you choose eight people, then eight it is. Let's have a ring battle, a fight to the death!"

Tang Zhao raised an eyebrow. As the name implies, a fight to the death is not a one-on-one duel, but rather like a tournament where if one loses, the next comes up to challenge the winner; the loser is replaced until the last victor remains. It is a very cruel format.

And since it is on Wangliang Mountain, this "fight to the death" is not a metaphor; it is truly bloody.

One must know that even duels before a banquet table result in death or injury. If not for Tang Zhao and his group holding back, the dozens of banquets hosted by the YoungMaster down the mountain would have resulted in a double-digit number of corpses carried out. Adopting this formal method of fighting to the death would result in even greater casualties than one-on-one duels. Especially for the losing side, they might be wiped out entirely. The winning side might only have one or two survivors.

It is hard to say; in this format, the number of people is not the most important thing—the key is having experts. Even with the same limit on Sword Guests, there is a distinction between experts and weaklings, and the gap is huge. In extreme cases, one expert could sweep through eight ordinary Sword Guests.

Hearing this rule, Tu Fei became excited first and clapped his hands, saying, "Good! This is exciting enough! Even a Civil Battle on our Wangliang Mountain needs this kind of Blood Qi."

Tang Zhao pondered: does his side have such an expert who can turn the tide?

Actually, he was once such an expert at one stage, back when he had just obtained his second Sword Intent in the Zhugong and had not yet officially become a Sword Hero. At that time, he completely transcended his rank, challenging Sword Heroes as a Sword Guest without issue, and he swept through the Sword Guest realm. If there had been a fight to the death back then, he could have held the pass alone.

But now that he is a true Sword Hero, he cannot enter the arena.

As for a Sword Hero pretending to be a Sword Guest to bully the weak—don't treat everyone like fools. Although the sword slaves and Sword Guests of Wangliang Mountain almost never advance to Sword Heroes due to their lifespan and Sword Heart, there is no lack of experts among the Manor Masters.

The five First Rank Manors and ten Second-tier Manors—the number of famous Sword Heroes in these fifteen manors certainly cannot be counted on one hand.

Not to mention the mysterious Abyss Envoy.

Just because the hundred-year-old man before him didn't become a Sword Hero doesn't mean he is useless, and it doesn't mean everyone else is useless. It is impossible for there to be no experts watching the battle; as long as one or two Sword Heroes see that he is faking it, they could naturally swarm him.

Therefore, this rule is actually not favorable to them, and it is very likely that the losses will be heavy. Although the Land Inspection Division does not fear sacrifice, as a commander, he has a responsibility to avoid such meaningless casualties.

Just then, Wu Shayu continued, "Not just a Sword Guest match, I want to open a Sword Hero match!"

At this, even Tu Fei was stunned and said, "Old Wu, where would you find Sword Heroes? How can Sword Heroes enter the arena?"

It is not that there are no Sword Heroes on Wangliang Mountain, but once one becomes a Sword Hero, even if they were a sword slave, they immediately turn the tables to become a master, at least becoming a Third-tier Manor Master, or even being valued by those at higher levels and granted important responsibilities—although such cases are rare, Wangliang Mountain has stood for a hundred years, and there have eventually been one or two geniuses and lucky ones.

The Sword Heroes here are also high and mighty; unless Wangliang gives an order, Sword Heroes will only sit on high platforms to watch the battle and will never personally enter the arena to fight to the death again.

Wu Shayu roared, "I can naturally find Sword Heroes! Do you dare? You and I will each find Sword Heroes to enter the match, a fight to the death! If you dare to accept, I will take a step back and set the battlefield in your manor, giving you the home-field advantage. How about that? Will you not take this bargain?"

Tang Zhao felt a jolt in his heart: home-field advantage? Can this be called an advantage?

While he was thinking nervously, Xing Cang had already said, "Sunset Master, since you can invite Sword Heroes to enter the match, does the Sword Guest match still have meaning?"

Wu Shayu sneered, "Each side brings out eight Sword Guests, a fight to the death; whoever has survivors is the winner, counting as one victory. One Sword Hero match also counts as one victory. If both are won, that is a win; if each wins one, we add a final match to decide the outcome."

Tu Fei asked with some doubt, "With Sword Heroes already out, how can we add a match? Who else would we add?"

Wu Shayu said loudly, "I will come myself! I will fight that yellow-mouthed child, your Manor Master, to decide the outcome, king against king, until one of us is dead. Ask him if he dares or not!"

He roared loudly, shaking the flowers all around and causing the needles of the large pine tree above to fall like rain.

Tu Fei could not help but frown: his purpose as a mediator was to maintain a relatively harmonious situation. A Civil Battle is obviously less exhausting than a Martial Battle and can entertain everyone, letting them watch the fun. But the plan Wu Shayu mentioned was already quite insane; not only did he want to invite Sword Heroes, but he also wanted to enter the arena himself. At least one of the two Manor Masters would die, which is even more vicious than a "Martial Battle." What is the necessity? It also lost his original intention of taking money to get things done.

He was about to dissuade him when he saw Wu Shayu's eyes bloodshot and hysterical, his state very poor. He was momentarily stunned, and just as he was about to speak, he heard someone say, "Why wouldn't he dare?"

Tu Fei was startled and turned his head to look; the one who spoke was actually Xing Qi. He heard him say, "Although I still need to report to my Master, before we came, my Master said that he fears no challenge and has long been prepared to take action himself. My Master will surely agree to your proposal."

Tu Fei was very displeased and looked at Xing Cang, thinking: Are you not going to discipline him? You, a Grand Steward, haven't said a word here, so why does a half-baked Deputy Grand Steward have the right to speak so much?

But Xing Cang shook his head, seemingly implying that it was not convenient for him to interject.

Tu Fei was dumbfounded. He knew Xing Cang; this old thing was quite famous on Wangliang Mountain, better than a Manor Master even without the title. Could it be that he was being suppressed by this "Qi" or whatever junior?

He heard Xing Qi say, "However, with the strength of our Changfa Manor, we do not need the Sunset Master to take special care of us. There is no need to make Changfa Manor the home field. In fact... why not make Sunset Manor the home field, how about that?"

A negotiation that was expected to be quite arduous ended just like that in a flurry. At least a preliminary intention was reached. The time had not yet been set, and even Wu Shayu felt that the other side had conceded too much and it was not appropriate to push further, so he gave the right to choose the date to Changfa Manor. Seeing that the Deep Shadow Society meeting was within half a month, this battle should not be too far off.

Because the negotiation went smoothly, the few of them stayed for only half a day and left without even eating a meal—this was a breach of etiquette by Sunset Manor. Wu Shayu had clearly taken quite a bit of advantage, but he acted like a stingy old miser, kicking them out right at mealtime.

Tu Fei was not lacking for food, but being slighted still made him very unhappy. As soon as he came out, he said to the people of Changfa Manor: "I say, what did you come here for? You brought troops over with such aggressive Momentum, I even thought you were going to force him to submit to your ideas, but in the end, you just followed him around? Whatever he said, you agreed to? Then why bother making a special trip? Xing Cang, why aren't you saying anything? Aren't you the Grand Steward?"

Xing Cang shook his head, and Tang Zhao smiled: "Before my Master came out, he entrusted the matter of negotiations solely to me. The Grand Steward stabilizes the position, and I charge ahead; that should be correct."

Xing Cang's expression was calm. Of course, he did not speak because he had his own plans. However, when Xing Qi said that before coming, the Master had handed the negotiation rights to Xing Qi, he felt a moment of doubt, but the doubt immediately vanished.

That was right, he remembered it that way too. The Master had said that this trip was for Xing Qi to represent his will, and no one else.