Chapter 119: Three Corpses

Since entering the new era, all sects across Huaxia have been swept up by the times and forced to adapt, and among them, the Tang Sect is undoubtedly the most unusual.

They have an ancient lineage, yet are famed for assassination and mechanical devices.

Compared to other orthodox sects, such methods are clearly illicit and incompatible with the demands of the new era.

To ensure the sect’s survival, the Tang Sect cannot simply cooperate with tourism bureaus like Wudang Mountain or the Celestial Master’s Mansion—it must make far greater changes than any other sect.

For this reason, the Tang Sect’s leadership deliberated and decided to transform their mountain gate into a martial arts school, enrolling students in both the ordinary and hidden worlds.

Ordinary students study at the new campus below the mountain, where teachers and teaching assistants are all Tang Sect adepts; if any student shows aptitude to become an adept, they are taken up to the old campus on the mountain for true cultivation.

Thanks to this martial arts school facade, the Tang Sect has at least managed to survive.

Yet compared to other powers, this assassination-famed sect remains highly insular, rarely interacting with other factions—even companies have never partnered with them.

Today, this insular sect welcomed two waves of unwelcome guests.

The first wave, naturally, was the protagonist’s group led by Zhang Chulan.

As for the second wave, it was the Quanxing sect now standing opposite them!

At first, the Tang Sect held a numerical advantage and had ambushed the Quanxing, catching them off guard, thus gaining the upper hand in the chaos.

Until just now, a middle-aged man enveloped in black qi suddenly appeared, ambushing several young Tang Sect members and plunging the previously clarifying situation back into confusion.

The Quanxing infiltrators within the Tang Sect broke off combat and gathered around the middle-aged man.

The surrounding Tang Sect members carried away the wounded, while the rest spread out, silently surrounding the invaders.

“Didn’t expect you’d come too…”

The white-haired elder in Tang attire, hands clasped behind his back, gazed at the middle-aged man and spoke slowly, his expression grave: “San Shi, Tu Junfang!”

Tu Junfang smirked. “Tang Sect Head, Tang Miaoxing—your old self hasn’t set foot in the world for so long, yet you still know my name? What an honor!”

“Too bad, my brothers have business today—we can’t waste time bantering with you.”

“Next time we’re free, we’ll surely test the Tang Sect’s skills!”

“Hmph!”

Tang Miaoxing snorted coldly, glancing at the observatory in his hand. “Think you can run?”

“Not so easily!”

Before the words had fully faded, countless red dots appeared on the radar-like artifact, “Guan Yuan.”

At each red dot’s location, figures emerged, surrounding them from all directions.

Their black fitted suits confirmed they were Tang Sect members rushing in from every corner of the martial arts school!

“So fast?!”

The bald giant beside Tu Junfang stared in shock, muttering under his breath: “Damn it, what’s Zhang Chulan doing? How can’t he even hold them off for this long?”

“Hold them off?”

The bespectacled boy beside him glanced at him and shook his head. “Liao Tietou, your brain’s too simple—stop thinking.”

Liao Tietou froze, then roared: “Lu Liang, what’s that supposed to mean?!”

“It’s not that Zhang Chulan couldn’t hold them off—he never intended to!”

Tu Junfang’s expression darkened; he lowered his voice: “Lu Liang, you’re right—Yuan Tao seriously underestimated this Zhang Chulan…”

Lu Liang sighed. “Yeah, Yuan Tao’s been screwed.”

As they spoke, the arriving Tang Sect members had fully encircled them.

Tu Junfang glanced at the young Tang Sect disciples and said coolly: “Old Master Tang, think carefully—earlier, I held back on purpose, not wanting to break the surface.”

“But what comes next will be different!”

“….”

Tang Miaoxing stared at him expressionlessly, then turned away and said calmly: “All Tang Sect disciples, listen: your first priority against this man is not to win—it’s to avoid contact with his corpse poison.”

“Yes!”

The surrounding Tang Sect disciples responded in unison.

Tu Junfang and his companions’ expressions darkened; they braced for battle.

Meanwhile, deep in the forest behind the crowd, Zhang Chulan crouched on a treetop, silently watching the battlefield, hesitating whether to join the fight alongside the Tang Sect.

“Zhang Chulan, listen to me—don’t get involved in this mess.”

“That San Shi, Tu Junfang, isn’t someone you can handle…”

At that moment, a voice suddenly came from behind.

Zhang Chulan froze, then spun around to see a young man in a suit standing beside him on the branch, silently watching the same scene.

…Him?!

Seeing the familiar face, Zhang Chulan’s pupils contracted—he blurted out: “He Gezhu?!”

“What are you doing here?”

He Jingfeng turned his head, expressionless. “Do I need to report my whereabouts to you?”

Zhang Chulan chuckled awkwardly. “Not at all—I just meant, the company…”

“Relax.”

He Jingfeng turned back to the battlefield, speaking calmly: “The company knows I’m in Sichuan.”

Does the company know you’re at the Tang Sect?

Zhang Chulan thought it, but dared not speak it aloud.

In his eyes, this head of the Youming Pavilion was second only to Lin Yu in mystery.

The first time he met him, the man was Lin Yu’s attendant; the second time, he suddenly became head of the international adept organization, Youming Ge.

The third time he met him, the company’s board of directors arrived en masse, personally receiving him with the Ten Elders.

The treatment was the highest possible—equivalent to receiving foreign heads of state!

Someone like this—whether Zhang Chulan or even Xu San and Xu Si—must tread carefully.

After a moment’s thought, he cautiously shifted topic: “From your tone, you seem to know Tu Junfang well?”

“….” He Jingfeng glanced at him. “Among today’s Quanxing elites, aside from the Four Madmen you know, the San Shi Liu Zei are the most notorious.”

“The Six Zei are six people; San Shi is only one.”

“To stand alone on equal footing with the Six Zei, he must have real strength.”

So powerful?

Zhang Chulan frowned, his expression turning grave.

He Jingfeng turned back to look down at Tu Junfang. “As far as I know, he is the sole heir of the Anlu Three Demons Sect. The name ‘Three Demons’ sounds sinister, but they are not an evil sect.”

“On the contrary, their goal is to master the Three Corpses within, cutting them away to achieve transcendence.”

“The ‘Classic of the Three Corpses’ states: ‘All humans are born from their parents’ womb, nourished by the essence of the five grains. Thus, within the human abdomen dwell Three Corpses and Nine Worms—great harms to man.’”

“If the Four Madmen represent external vices—wine, lust, wealth, and anger—then the Three Corpses are the internal poisons of greed, anger, and delusion.”

“Tu Junfang’s ability is to control his internal Three Corpses, manifesting them externally to fight enemies, and his Corpse Demons can also solidify the Three Corpses of others.”

Here, He Jingfeng paused, glancing at Zhang Chulan. “Your cultivation is still shallow, your Three Poisons unextinguished—if you touch his corpse poison, you’ll be bound by it for life.”

For life?

Zhang Chulan was startled, and a wave of relief surged through him.

He had no doubt about the truth of this information—it came from the mysterious head of Youming Ge.

He also had zero confidence in his own resistance to corpse poison.

It wasn’t surprising—greed, anger, and delusion are human nature; in the entire adept world, only his master Zhang Zhiwei and Bao’er, who possesses part of a Sage’s nature, could ignore them…

No—not just them two!

Lin Yu of Baiyu Jing, and this man beside him, He Jingfeng—perhaps they could too!

Thinking this, Zhang Chulan stole a glance at He Jingfeng beside him.

Meanwhile, the battle below had begun—Tang Miaoxing led the Tang Sect disciples in a coordinated assault.

The Quanxing fighters unleashed their arts: the burly man known as “Liao the Bald” grinned savagely, his body glowing with qi as he filled his muscles with hardened qi and activated the Golden Bell Shield, turning his skin golden.

Xia Liuqing brushed his face with his hand; black qi surged from his palm, coalescing into a club—he was clearly embodying the Door God, Yuchi Jingde.

Tu Junfang stood motionless, black qi swirling around his body, coalescing into three mud-like black monsters above his head, at his waist, and beneath his feet.

“So these are the Three Corpses?”

Viewers in the livestream watched the battle with keen interest.

Tang Sect members hurled hidden weapons via spirit control, but all were blocked by the sludge-like black qi.

Tu Junfang glanced at the attacker; the wasplike Upper Corpse above his head instantly split apart, transforming into countless miniature black wasps that surged toward the young disciple.

In an instant, a dense swarm of black wasps filled the view.

The Tang Sect disciple panicked, trying to retreat—but too late.

Just as the wasps neared, Tang Miaoxing’s figure suddenly appeared before him; his hanging right hand vanished, striking the wasps at a speed too fast for the eye to follow.

Instantly, his high-speed hand-blades formed wind pressure, striking like a machine gun.

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

With each muffled crack, the swarm of wasps exploded into black qi, flowing back toward Tu Junfang.

Watching this, livestream viewers erupted in praise:

【Xiang Yunye: The Tang Sect’s Instant Strike technique is truly legendary!】

【Fan Xian: Instant Strike isn’t that impressive—just high-speed hand-blades. The old man’s the real deal—he landed at least twenty-two strikes in that instant!】

【Su Haoming: Twenty-two? I counted twenty-one.】

【Fan Xian: Then your eyesight’s poor—you still need training!】

[Su Haoming: Is that so, Old Fan? Who’s really the Level Six expert here?]

[Su Haoming: How about a little sparring?]

[Fan Xian: Fine by me. No magic, just martial arts—deal?]

[Su Haoming: … Do you even have a sense of shame?]

The group members were bickering in the livestream, but He Jing still remembered his goal, scanning the battlefield for potential talents worth recruiting.

To be fair, whether it was Tang Miaoxing, the Tang Gate’s patriarch, or the middle-aged disciples serving as martial arts instructors, their skills were quite impressive.

Aside from lacking battlefield experience and not knowing how to use firearms, they were hardly worse than Saint-class assassins.

But the younger Tang Gate disciples…

He Jing’s gaze shifted to the young Tang Gate disciples locked in fierce combat, and he shook his head.

“Too green!”

(End of Chapter)