Chapter 283

The old man explained his background, and when the passerby heard the name "Kongming Sect" and saw the other party's kind attitude and righteous words, he slowly calmed down.

The Kongming Sect was indeed the largest and only famous righteous sect in the Jianghu of Guangxin Prefecture.

Perhaps some might find it contradictory: why would the passerby seem to trust the name of the Kongming Sect when those three disciples could commit such filthy acts as killing innocent people to claim merit without any guilt?

Actually, this is not contradictory.

The Squire Wu whom Li Miao encountered at Pingshan Garrison when he first started walking the Jianghu, who had married a Miao sorceress as a concubine, is actually very suitable as an example to explain this bizarre situation.

Does he care about human life? No, in his eyes, a few human lives are just "commodities" that can be bought back with silver; was his rise to power legitimate? No, his family built their fortune through trickery and robbery, and every inch of their land was stained with blood.

But he also does good deeds, restrains his own retainers, and tries his best not to "do things to the extreme." If there is a major disaster or plague, he will also lose money to distribute porridge and provide relief, as if he were truly a great philanthropist.

This is called "those with constant property have constant hearts."

For the Kongming Sect, the hearts of the people are the foundation for their long-term inheritance in Guangxin Prefecture. They have no need to make their eating habits look as ugly as the mud-legged people of the evil path.

Therefore, those three disciples were truly just "individual actions," which is why the passerby calmed down upon hearing the name "Kongming Sect."

When he told the old man everything he had seen at the tea stall, the old man's expression immediately turned ugly.

He had been tracing the tracks of his own disciples to this place; how could he not guess that the one who had been beheaded was his own disciple?

Ignoring the fact that the passerby was still talking, he turned around, mounted his horse, gave a sharp shout, and galloped toward the location of the tea stall with his sect disciples.

After only a few miles, a moment later, the old man saw the dilapidated tea stall by the side of the road from afar.

Dismounting, pulling his sword, and drawing it from its sheath were all done in one smooth motion.

Furious and murderous, the old man did not stop, using his light-body technique to charge over with his sect members!

The area outside the tea stall was a mess, with tables, chairs, teapots, and fallen items knocked over by fleeing passersby everywhere.

The tea stall was open on all sides, and before he even got close, the wind brought the thick smell of blood to the old man.

When he reached a distance of about fifty yards, the old man saw the situation inside the tea stall clearly—two corpses were vaguely lying on the ground, and judging by their figures, they were indeed his own disciples.

There were four other people in the tea stall.

A woman was standing by a tree outside, holding a sword, chewing on a piece of dogtail grass, and resting with her eyes closed. Two men were surrounding a table in the center of the tea stall, heads down, not knowing what they were doing, occasionally whispering to each other.

The last person was sitting at a table on the periphery of the tea stall, leaning against the table, drinking tea in a leisurely manner. Seeing them rush over, he even smiled and raised his teacup to signal as if nothing were wrong.

The old man's veins bulged, and the corners of his eyes twitched uncontrollably.

After doing such a thing, they didn't even run!

And they were even greeting him!

Audacious!

He endured his anger, walked quickly to the outside of the tea stall, first glanced at the woman outside to confirm that she had no martial arts, and then turned his head to say in a deep voice.

"I have one question to ask, and I ask the three of you to answer truthfully."

He pointed at the two corpses on the ground.

"Are these two disciples of my Kongming Sect killed by you?"

The two busy at the table didn't pay any attention to him, not even turning their heads to look at him, their hands not stopping.

Instead, the man sitting to the side drinking tea smiled and shook his head.

"You asked the wrong question; how can we answer?"

The old man's brows furrowed even tighter, and he said in a deep voice.

"What is wrong with it?"

"The number is wrong."

The man shook his finger.

"First, it's not three people, it's two. Can't you see that I don't know martial arts? If you want to ask, you should go ask those two busy people. Don't drag me into your Jianghu business."

"Second... are you two done yet?"

A crisp cracking sound came from the table in the center of the tea stall.

The two who had been busy there stopped their movements in unison, looked at each other, and answered in unison.

"Done."

"How is it 'done'?"

Gao Anyu scratched his head in embarrassment.

"Uh... I was a bit heavy-handed, and it seems I poked through something, and he stopped breathing all of a sudden."

Cao Hanyan sighed.

"The liver, Brother Gao poked through the liver."

Upon hearing this, the old man suddenly realized something, fixed his eyes on the table behind the two, was stunned for a moment, then involuntarily took half a step back, the veins on his forehead bulging!

The sect members behind him widened their eyes, and some younger disciples even covered their mouths, almost vomiting.

Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu finally turned around, revealing the thing on the table—it looked like a person!

If it weren't for a pale and familiar face still staring wide-eyed in this direction, they would almost not have been able to recognize it as a person!

If the remaining parts on the table were put on a scale, it would be hard to say if they even weighed eighty pounds! Precisely because of this, Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu were able to block it completely!

A wail came from behind the old man.

"Shouzhen!"

A female disciple was about to rush over, but was dragged back by others, struggling constantly, tears and snot streaming down her face.

At this moment, Li Miao continued to speak.

"This second point, it's not two disciples of your Kongming Sect who died, but three... Oh, actually, there were only two when you first arrived, but unfortunately, you asked your question too slowly and wasted some time."

"If you had asked the right question, I wouldn't have had to correct you, and we wouldn't have wasted time. This person, what was his name, Young Hero Bei, might have been able to survive."

"Alas, what a pity."

He slowly took a sip of tea and smiled.

"Look, it's all your fault."

Li Miao's opening was completely no less aggressive than An Ziyang's. In this world, the only one who could endure his mouth was the deceased Xing Chi; how could this old man endure it?

Swish!

The old man lunged forward, raising his sword to stab directly at Li Miao!

This sword strike was launched in anger, without any restraint! He swore to take Li Miao's head!

In an instant, he was in front of Li Miao!

But Li Miao turned a deaf ear, not even looking, just adding tea to his cup.

Then came a "clang" sound, as a black ruler extended from the side and intercepted the long sword!

"You dare to make a move against my Uncle Li in front of me? Do you think I'm a dead man!"

"Brother Cao, leave the old man to me, you go and finish off the rest!"

The two weapons overlapped and rubbed against each other in mid-air, circling several times, sparks flying! And in this process, a low, deep humming sound gradually grew louder.

The old man's expression turned solemn, and he suddenly withdrew his sword and retreated rapidly!

"Eh?"

Gao Anyu flashed and chased after him, the black ruler smashing toward the old man's head!

The old man dodged to the side, not taking the move at all. Gao Anyu had no intention of bypassing him; the black ruler reached his waist and suddenly changed direction, changing from a vertical strike to a horizontal slash, encompassing the entire plane.

Only then did the old man block and guide with his sword, deflecting the force on the black ruler and obstructing it for a moment. He himself withdrew and retreated again, avoiding Gao Anyu's move, his long sword drilling from bottom to top from the side of the black ruler into Gao Anyu's embrace, aiming straight for the armpit!

Gao Anyu wanted to withdraw his move to block, but it was already too late!

Gao Anyu gave a grim smile.

Then came a "ding" sound; in the blink of an eye, Gao Anyu flicked his wrist, the black ruler moved upward along his arm, and then he grabbed the front end of the black ruler, using the hilt of the sword to block the old man's sword edge!

Although Gao Anyu's martial arts looked generally like a sword technique, its foundation was this black ruler. The black ruler had no edge, being flat and straight, so naturally, it had moves that ordinary long swords could never use!

Seeing that he couldn't achieve his goal, the old man performed a sword flower, trying to attack Gao Anyu's side ribs again, but was blocked by the black ruler.

The two became entangled, exchanging more than ten moves.

Gao Anyu, however, became more and more puzzled as he fought, and taking advantage of a gap in the opponent's moves, he suddenly asked.

"Old man, do you recognize this weapon of mine?"

Although Gao Anyu was crazy, he wasn't stupid. Upon the first exchange, as soon as the old man heard the unique humming sound of the black ruler, he immediately withdrew and retreated rapidly. In the subsequent exchanges, Gao Anyu also clearly felt that the other party was deliberately avoiding the collision between his weapon and the black ruler!

Ever since he started walking the Jianghu, using the black ruler to break the opponent's weapon had been invincible, and no one had ever noticed it; at most, they could only defend after suffering a loss. This was the first time someone had fought him for nearly twenty moves, and their weapon was still intact!

This could never be achieved by Jianghu experience alone; the other party must know something!

Perhaps he had seen similar methods before, or simply seen someone use the weapon!

The old man didn't answer at all, his moves becoming increasingly ruthless, not only because of the new hatred of having three disciples killed today, but looking at his expression, it seemed there were also some old grudges from the past!

"You really do know! You also have a grudge against this weapon of mine, right!"

Gao Anyu said excitedly.

"Good, good! I want to see how much you know!"

"Take this move of mine, 'Black Dragon Breaks the Mountain'!"

The black ruler tumbled in the air, instantly transforming into a black dragon, slashing toward the old man's head with incomparable speed!

The old man was unhurried, advancing instead of retreating, drilling directly under Gao Anyu's arm, his long sword standing upright, stabbing toward Gao Anyu's upper arm like a long snake spitting its tongue!

"You can even break that!"

Gao Anyu became even more excited, his feet moved, rotating his arm to avoid the old man's sword edge, and he let out a sharp shout!

"Try this move again, 'Mysterious Coffin Suppresses the Soul'!"

The black ruler rotated, sealing and closing, several black phantoms locking the space around the old man!

The old man gave a cold snort, his long sword tapping continuously, each sword strike hitting exactly at the three-seven split boundary of the black ruler, where the force was weakest, breaking Gao Anyu's move in an instant!

"Thousand Peaks Cut Off!"

"Cangming Points Snow!"

"Dark Crow Sweeps the Sky!"

Gao Anyu shouted continuously, his moves not stopping, using them one after another, all of which were unique moves completely unrelated to ordinary sword techniques! And the old man didn't say a word, breaking these moves one by one!

Not only was the weapon in his hand intact, but these moves to break the techniques were also smooth and effortless—as if he had practiced these moves countless times and had already memorized them by heart!

And Gao Anyu, having had several moves broken, was not dejected; instead, the expression on his face became even more excited!

"You haven't just seen it!"

He said excitedly, his hands not stopping.

"You have seen these moves of mine more than once, and you have even secretly thought of a way to break them!"

"With your aptitude, it would take no less than several years to break these moves, and not only have you broken several of my moves, but even the method of breaking them has been practiced to perfection... If there wasn't a great connection, you would never have spent so much effort on it!"

"Who are you! Do you recognize me!"

"Speak! Speak!"

Hearing Gao Anyu's words, the old man's face was also uncertain.

At the very first moment of the fight, he recognized the weapon in the opponent's hand, so his first reaction was that the opponent had come to his door because of past grudges and killed his disciples.

But looking at Gao Anyu's words now... the opponent seemed to have no idea where his inheritance came from and was even asking him about it!

His thoughts raced, and the old man already had a plan in mind.

The grudge of the three disciples could be put aside for now. They were just true disciples with mediocre aptitude and an upper limit of second-rate; dying was painful, but it didn't hurt the foundation.

If he could take advantage of this matter to plot the weapon and inheritance in the opponent's hand... that was an inheritance and advanced martial arts that could point directly to the "Heavenly Human" realm!

With this, what was the life of a disciple? Even if he had to sacrifice his own life, he would be happy to do so!

With his mind made up, he was about to speak.

"You—"

"Little Gao, how did you forget what I taught you just now so quickly?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, they were interrupted by Li Miao's lazy voice.

Gao Anyu's ears twitched, and while fighting the old man, he asked: "Uncle Li, please speak!"

"I told you the essentials of interrogation just now: don't be soft-hearted, use all your methods, and then listen to what the other party has to say."

Li Miao said unhurriedly.

"This principle is the same before interrogation."

"You haven't beaten him yet, what's the point of asking him questions? His life is not yet in your hands, which is equivalent to you having no bargaining chips to exchange with him; what's the point of listening to what he says?"

"To deal with people who have bad intentions, if the other party is unwilling to confess, then beat them until they confess. Even if the other party is willing, you still have to peel off a layer of their skin first before their words have a shred of credibility."

Li Miao said to Gao Anyu with a smile.

"Isn't there a saying, 'When a person is about to die, their words are good'?"

"Think about it the other way around: if you don't beat him until he is 'about to die' first, how could he 'speak well'?"

Gao Anyu suddenly realized and said excitedly.

"Uncle Li! I have attained enlightenment!"

Cao Hanyan, who was beating the other disciples of the Kongming Sect one by one with the back of his saber, had a dark face and almost couldn't hold back from speaking.

Brother Gao, what have you attained enlightenment on!

Can "when a person is about to die, their words are good" be understood this way!?

Can you not have such high aptitude!

The old man on the other side had an even darker face, and the words he had just made up were swallowed back helplessly.

After Gao Anyu finished saying "I have attained enlightenment," he stopped talking.

Just now, before he made a move, he had to shout the name, which was actually to deliberately let the old man know what move he was making, so as to test whether the other party really recognized his martial arts.

Now that he had "attained enlightenment," naturally he wouldn't do that again, and the moves in his hands changed instantly!

The old man instantly felt the pressure on his hands suddenly increase!

Gao Anyu was no longer using those standard moves that looked like they had been copied from a secret manual! Each move was smooth and effortless, and the change of moves was just in an instant!

He was no longer holding back, filled with murderous intent, and was about to break all of the old man's limbs! Then he would use all the interrogation methods Li Miao had taught him to interrogate him about his own origin and life story!