Chapter 656: The Kong Family of Qufu

"Master Landu" Kong Hui was a member of Jianmu.

He came from the Kong family and was one of the top ten masters during the Northern Song Dynasty.

Because he had read the classics thoroughly since childhood and had worn out the scriptures in the Kong family's library, he was called "Master Landu" (Master of Rotten Books). Later, he entered the palace to become an imperial tutor and had even gone to the Shangqing Palace on Mount Mang to set up a layout.

With his status, he was certainly one of the people fishing for the tripod.

Everyone stayed in Zhang Qiu Town just to cooperate with the Commandant's Office to investigate information about this person.

Hearing this good news, Li Yan's expression remained unchanged, and instead, he turned his head to look beside him. "Helmsman Chen, who are these two..."

Following Chen San back were two other people.

One was a middle-aged man in brocade, fat in build, with several layers of chin, panting while walking, with a full face of smiles, his eyes squinted into slits, constantly wiping sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief.

The other was a young scholar in a green shirt, his face like jade, his figure straight, his temperament gentle and elegant. After entering, although his manners were polite, his eyes were full of curiosity.

The middle-aged man was easy to explain; he was just an ordinary person.

But this young scholar was a cultivator, and the Confucian Haoran Qi was hard to hide.

"Oh, let me introduce them."

Chen San hurriedly opened his mouth. "These two are from the Kong family, they are all our own people."

Li Yan understood instantly upon hearing this.

Chen San had said before he left that there were people in the Kong family cooperating with the imperial court, acting as eyes and ears for the Commandant's Office.

But looking at this attitude, they were clearly not important figures.

This matter wasn't strange either. Since Emperor Gao Zu of Han came to the Lu region to sacrifice to Confucius and enfeoffed Kong Teng as the Prince of Sacrificial Offerings, the imperial court's enfeoffment of Confucius's descendants had never stopped.

Developing to this day, passed down generation after generation, branching out, there was no telling how many younger descendants there were.

Within the clan, there were poor and rich, high and low.

Those willing to be informants for the imperial court couldn't have very high status.

Not to mention within the clan, the entire Kong family was in decline.

The title of Yansheng Gong (Duke Yansheng) had been famous for too long, longer than the history of many dynasties, and decay was inevitable.

In the last hundred years, two things had happened.

One was at the end of the Song Dynasty, when the Golden Tent Wolf Kingdom invaded. The Yansheng Gong at the time actually defied the world and directly defected to the grassland royal court, which was regarded as a great humiliation by the Confucian school of the Shenzhou.

Although he was later liquidated and killed, the Kong family's reputation plummeted.

By the time the Great Xuan Dynasty was established, because the country was not obtained righteously, they continued to enfeoff the Kong family.

Needless to say, another batch of playboys was created.

The previous generation's Yansheng Gong was not only notorious for his evil deeds, but even boasted after drinking, "There are only three families in the world: my family, the Zhang family of Long Hu Mountain, and the Xiao family of Jin Ling. The Zhang Daoist of Long Hu Mountain is arrogant, and the Xiao family of Jin Ling is an upstart family, petty."

The current Emperor was someone who couldn't tolerate sand in his eyes.

These words reached the capital, and several imperial edicts reprimanded them one after another, scaring the Kong family into sending people overnight to apologize.

The Yansheng Gong voluntarily abdicated to let the virtuous take over, and the matter was settled.

It is said that the current Yansheng Gong of the Kong family has average ability and knowledge and is an old-fashioned person who doesn't know how to adapt.

His only merit is that he knows how to rectify the family style and tries his best to maintain the Kong family's decency.

Even so, the Kong family's reputation is not what it used to be.

Among the great Confucians in the north and south, many even wrote poems to mock and scold them.

But in the martial world and the Mystic Sects, no one dared to underestimate the Kong family.

The reason is simple: the Kong family still has a great Buddha today.

It is precisely one of the top ten masters, Lu Hongyuan.

He was originally a son-in-law of the Kong family and was looked down upon, but he had peerless talent, was proficient in both literature and martial arts, founded the Mingde Martial Arts Hall, and took over the banner of the Confucian school.

When he was young, he and Huo Yin of the current Shenquan Society were known as the "Twin Pride."

With this Buddha, the Kong family was not easily provoked.

Thinking of this, Li Yan asked, "So it's the high sages of the Kong family. I wonder which generation of descendants you are?"

The Kong family is the "First Family in the World" and is very particular about seniority. Most of them now belong to the "Gong, Yan, Cheng, Hong, Wen, Zhen, Shang, Yin" generations, which were named by the founding emperor of the Great Xuan.

"Old man Kong Zhenshan."

The fat middle-aged man smiled flatteringly while wiping sweat. "Old man doesn't read books well, and I've been running around since I was a child, helping the clan manage some industries in Jinan, so I can come into contact with some things."

"After receiving the order from Master Chen, old man immediately found an opportunity to enter the library to search. But Li Li Shaoxia also knows that when the Golden Tent Wolf Kingdom invaded, half of the library was burned down, and many things are hard to check. It's all thanks to my son..."

As he spoke, he hurriedly gave a fierce look to the young man beside him.

The young man had no choice but to step forward and cup his hands. "I am Kong Shangzhao, I have met all the heroes."

"Kong Hui was a rare master of the Kong family back then, but he was a taboo in the clan. Even without that fire, much of the information about him was destroyed."

Li Yan frowned slightly. "Oh, why?"

The young scholar Kong Shangzhao replied, "He had peerless talent and became one of the top ten masters of the Shenzhou in his middle age, even entering the Song court to become an imperial tutor, but later his actions became increasingly extreme."

"Back then, a Wudang disciple came to rebuke him, saying he was colluding with the Ghost Sect. Although there was no conclusive evidence, that Wudang disciple disappeared mysteriously..."

"Later, the Great Song Ghost Sect was rampant, and the Mystic Sects of the Shenzhou joined forces to encircle and suppress them. Several masters joined forces to hunt down Kong Hui. They didn't publicize it, but the clan knew that this matter was probably true, so they tried their best to cover it up."

"In addition, there is a rumor in the clan that when the Golden Tent Wolf Kingdom invaded and the Yansheng Gong defected, this person was the one pulling the strings..."

Li Yan's eyes narrowed. "Didn't you say the clues were burned? You know quite a lot..."

"Li Li Shaoxia, please don't misunderstand!"

Kong Zhenshan beside him saw that something was wrong and hurriedly explained, "My son has the ability to never forget what he sees. He has read extensively since childhood and is good at piecing things together."

"Many things were pieced together by him from those fragmented records."

"Oh, you have this ability?"

Wang Daoxuan became interested upon hearing this and asked a few questions.

They were all vague historical records with various opinions.

The young scholar Kong Shangzhao answered fluently and could always give convincing answers.

Chen San on the side was also a bit surprised and glanced at Kong Zhenshan lightly.

On the way, this fat man hadn't mentioned this.

Kong Zhenshan sighed, first apologized to Chen San, then looked at his son, his eyes full of hatred for his son's lack of success. "To tell you the truth, I came here this time with a thick skin to ask you all to send my son to the capital to avoid disaster."

"What did he do?" Li Yan asked.

Kong Zhenshan's face was bitter as he explained the reason.

It turned out that this youth, Kong Shangzhao, could also be considered a member of a famous family and had joined the Mingde Martial Arts Hall to practice since childhood.

His talent and ability were top-notch, and he was good at analyzing classics.

But unfortunately, this kid had no interest in Confucianism and was obsessed with miscellaneous studies, often saying many rebellious things, and gradually became disliked by his teachers.

A few days ago, because he stood up for justice, he actually beat the Yansheng Gong's son half to death.

Although the Yansheng Gong valued family style and severely punished his own son, the grudge had been formed.

Given the character of those younger descendants of the Kong family, they would definitely seek revenge in a roundabout way.

Kong Zhenshan had struggled for half his life; although he was a disciple of the Kong family, he had always been looked down upon.

His greatest pride was his son, so naturally, he was afraid of the white-haired sending off the black-haired.

His fear was not without reason.

The Yansheng Gong was not only the host of the sacrifices at the Confucius Temple but also enjoyed privileges such as tax exemption and hereditary sacrificial fields.

Nowadays, the Kong family's sacrificial fields were spread across many provinces, with over 320,000 mu of fertile land in Luzhou alone.

Qufu had become an "autonomous territory" of the Kong family, where clan rules were greater than imperial law, making them true local emperors.

"Is sending him to the capital enough?" Li Yan asked.

"That's right!"

Kong Zhenshan's face lit up with joy, and he hurriedly said, "Old man has some arrangements in the capital. Once he goes, I'll let this kid change his name, stay there with peace of mind for a few years, and come back after the wind blows over."

As he spoke, he took out a wooden box from his bosom and begged with a full face, "Although old man is not a member of the Mystic Sect, I know the great name of the Twelve Yuan Chen. Here are 30,000 taels of silver, which is my life's savings. I ask you all to help."

Chen San on the side saw this and directly closed his mouth.

To be honest, he also took a fancy to this Kong family disciple's talent.

But he didn't want to take on the trouble that came with it.

Kong Zhenshan had deliberately concealed it, clearly thinking that he would refuse if he knew, or even not bring them to see Li Yan.

"That's fine."

Li Yan's heart moved, and he nodded to agree to the matter.

First, it was on the way, and second, he wanted to use this young man's ability to help him analyze some information.

Especially regarding the evolution of folk gods.

Thinking of this, Li Yan turned his head to look at Kong Shangzhao. "Do you know any information about the later years of 'Master Landu' Kong Hui?"

Kong Shangzhao cupped his hands and said, "Since the fall of the Southern Song Dynasty and the invasion of the Golden Tent Wolf Kingdom, there has been no information about Kong Hui. After all, several masters were hunting him down at that time. Even if the Kong family was in the Wolf Kingdom, they wouldn't dare to shelter him."

"Alright..."

Li Yan felt helpless and shook his head slightly.

He knew that there was probably no hope of finding clues about Kong Hui from the current Kong family.

The Kong family had masters sitting in town, and after so many years, the other party had probably already reincarnated, changed their appearance, and hidden somewhere unknown.

Squeak, squeak~

Just at this moment, the mouse in the leather pouch at Lu San's waist suddenly began to squeak wildly.

"They're here!"

Li Yan's eyes flashed with killing intent, and he gave a wink.

Sha Lifei blew out the candle, and everyone immediately dispersed.

Even Chen San instructed the Kong family father and son not to speak and to stay in the room with peace of mind.

It was already past the Hour of the Rat, and the night was getting darker.

But in the woods outside the Chen residence, a gloomy wind suddenly rose.

"Awoo~"

The tree shadows swayed, and a low tiger roar was faintly heard.

Outside the Chen residence, there were still secret sentries placed by the Boatmen Gang. Following the sound, their scalps went numb.

They saw two ghostly green "tiger eyes" flickering in the woods, but no tiger body was seen.

Bang!

Just as the secret sentry was about to blow the whistle to warn, a ball of phosphorus fire exploded from the treetop.

In the blue smoke, a phantom image of a tiger with a white forehead and hanging eyes actually appeared.

It was three people tall, and with a sweep of its huge claws, large branches fell off.

A gloomy wind rose, and cold air spread outward.

Sha Lifei suddenly appeared from the roof, holding his divine fire gun, about to pull the trigger.

But Li Yan frowned and raised his hand to stop him.

"Something's wrong, it's a person!"

With his current supernatural powers, he could also see through the illusion on the other side.

It was clearly a thin, weak old man, using fine steel wires to control a tiger puppet stained with white phosphorus, combined with ventriloquism to make tiger roars to scare people.

As he spoke, Li Yan's ears moved, and he suddenly rushed toward the backyard.

"It's drawing the snake out of the hole, you go catch the person!"

Sha Lifei didn't talk nonsense and jumped down from the roof.

While in mid-air, he had already put the divine fire gun on his back, and when he landed, he had already pulled out two flintlock pistols.

Faster than him was Wu Ba.

With a loud bang, mud splashed everywhere, and Wu Ba's huge body had already leaped out, stepping on the "tangni" (mud-treading) steps, crossing left and right, arriving in the woods, and suddenly leaning sideways.

Crack!

A tree as thick as a water bucket was directly snapped in half by his impact.

The tiger, the phantom, and the smoke all dissipated.

A muffled groan came from the tree, and a thin figure fell, but stopped strangely in mid-air, waving his arms, and several sharp steel wires spun and wrapped around Wu Ba's neck.

The other party's kung fu was not weak, and he knew how to use such strange weapons.

Once wrapped by the steel wires, he would probably be decapitated immediately.

However, he had made the wrong calculation.

Wu Ba chuckled, and his hand wearing an iron gauntlet directly grabbed the steel wires and pulled down hard.

Bang!

An old man fell heavily from the air, spitting blood.

Before he could react, he was grabbed by the neck by Wu Ba.

On the other side, Li Yan had also arrived at the backyard.

In the dark night, three thin figures quietly crawled out from the dark ditch at the foot of the backyard wall.

The entrance of the dark ditch was only as thick as a bowl, but the bones of these three people rattled, and they crawled over easily. If it weren't for Lu San's surveillance, they might have really been deceived.

These three people were all half-grown children.

They were agile, and as they leaped out, they flicked their fingers continuously.

Swish, swish, swish!

Medicinal powder shot out like sharp arrows.

Several Boatmen Gang disciples fell to the ground, clearly hit by some powerful anesthetic.

And these children headed straight for Wang Daoxuan's room.

That was where the Xu Fu bamboo slips found by Li Yan and the others were kept.

But just at this moment, the three stopped in unison.

It was Li Yan who had landed from the roof, blocking the road with cold eyes.

"A tough nut!"

"Use that thing!"

The three youths were full of ferocity and directly pulled out the iron chain balls from their waists and swung them over.

Li Yan sniffed and smelled the pungent smell of fire oil.

The front of the iron chain balls was also equipped with mechanisms, hiding phosphorus fire, which would burn upon collision.

It seemed that the fire at Baohua Bookstore was the work of these people.

Looking at the three flying iron balls, Li Yan's expression remained unchanged.

And the several youths were overjoyed.

They had seen the power of this thing.

No matter what was used to block it, it would burst and burn violently, impossible for ghosts or gods to guard against.

However, something that terrified them happened.

Li Yan just raised his left hand, drew a circle, and grabbed the three iron balls in his hand, without them exploding at all.

How is this possible?

The three youths felt their scalps go numb, feeling as if they had seen a ghost.

Of course, they didn't know that Li Yan had already stepped into the Dan Jin stage, integrating the Undying Seal Technique into his whole body's strength, able to directly neutralize it and prevent the iron balls' mechanisms from triggering.

"Run!"

The three youths looked at each other and turned to run.

They knew that this was definitely not someone they could deal with.

However, just as they turned around, their bodies stiffened, and they looked in horror as a woman walked out of the darkness.

It was Long Yan'er, who easily subdued them with Gu techniques.

Soon, all the invaders were caught.

The Boatmen Gang disciples raised torches, tied them up with iron chains, and threw them heavily to the ground.

"Eh?"

Chen San suddenly opened his mouth. "Isn't this Yang Laohai from Wu Qiao..."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 657 =====