Chapter 284

When Gao Anyu no longer shouted the names of the moves, and no longer deliberately sent standard moves that looked like they had been copied from a secret manual to him, the old man finally understood—the biggest gap between him and Gao Anyu was not the black ruler and the so-called "Heavenly Human inheritance."

It was the two people themselves.

The black ruler tumbled in the air, transforming into a black dragon and slashing toward the old man's head. The old man saw clearly that this was exactly the "Black Dragon Breaks the Mountain" that Gao Anyu had used once before.

But when he wanted to follow suit, drilling under Gao Anyu's arm and stabbing his long sword toward his armpit, a look of disdain appeared on Gao Anyu's face.

When the long sword was only half an inch away from his armpit, his right foot suddenly moved half a step.

Thus, the long sword pierced through his clothing and brushed past his skin, but did not leave a single wound.

And with this incomparably swift half-step, the center of gravity of Gao Anyu's body changed suddenly, and the black ruler that was originally striking downward drew an arc in mid-air following the change in the center of gravity—changing into a horizontal slash!

"Thousand Peaks Cut Off"!

The old man's pupils shrank.

He had to take a step forward to drill under Gao Anyu's arm, and now that Gao Anyu had changed from a vertical strike to a horizontal slash, he wanted to dodge, but his already formed pace could not be adjusted in time.

He could no longer dodge.

The long sword was helplessly held upright to protect his body. The old man could only watch helplessly as the black ruler got closer and closer to his weapon.

He could already foresee the result.

Clang—Bang!

In an instant, fragments flew!

The long sword suddenly broke in the middle, and metal fragments grazed the old man's cheek, leaving a bloody cut.

"Ugh!"

The old man forcibly suppressed the sharp pain coming from his palm, and taking advantage of this moment, he flashed and escaped several yards away. As soon as he stopped, he suddenly staggered.

Having barely stabilized his figure, the old man raised his head, and Gao Anyu was already in front of him, the black ruler smashing toward his left arm with incomparable speed.

Li Miao shook his head with a smile.

The outcome was decided.

From the moment the old man didn't use his own main martial arts, but instead thought about breaking Gao Anyu's moves, he was destined to lose.

Breaking a move is also a move, and if it's a move, it has flaws. The old man had practiced hard for several years to find the flaws in Gao Anyu's moves, while Gao Anyu only needed an instant to break the old man's moves.

This is the cruelest point on the path of martial arts—perhaps the efforts of a mediocre person's whole life cannot catch up to a move that a genius realizes casually.

The old man seemed to understand this point as well, no longer showing off the few moves he had practiced hard, but instead turned to fight Gao Anyu with his sect's martial arts, but it was already difficult to reverse the decline.

His weapon was only half left, his dominant hand was shaken until the skin was torn, and he could no longer win against Gao Anyu.

Li Miao stood up and walked out of the tea stall, bypassed Cao Hanyan, who was knocking on the heads of the Kongming Sect disciples with the back of his saber like a game of whack-a-mole, and walked to Zheng Yi's side.

Just now, Zheng Yi had been watching him, as if she had something to say, but it was inconvenient to speak because there were many people around. Now that everyone else was fighting lively, it was just the right time to talk.

Zheng Yi looked at the people who were fighting, didn't move, and her internal energy gathered her voice, sending it to Li Miao's ear.

"My lord, how long do you intend to manage these matters?"

Li Miao raised his eyebrows.

"Hmm?"

Zheng Yi held her sword with an expressionless face, looked at Gao Anyu, who was fighting lively with the old man, her lips moved slightly, and the voice continued to ring in Li Miao's ear.

"My lord, have you forgotten that our trip here is to find 'Zheng Huaijin', the disciple who left our Penglai?"

Zheng Yi sighed silently.

"You like Gao Anyu, and it's fine to keep him by your side, or if you find him annoying, let Cao Hanyan take him back to Shuntian; none of that delays things,"

"If you want to rectify the Kongming Sect, you only need to send a message back to Shuntian, and within half a month, those battalion commanders under you will naturally finish the matter for you."

"While we are wasting time here, the people from Yingzhou may have already boarded the ship and are coming toward this Great Shuo."

Zheng Yi sighed again.

"My lord, although I am of the Penglai inheritance, I know that there are not many people in Yingzhou, and these people do not pose any threat to Great Shuo—but it's hard to say for you yourself."

"After all, the greatest use of martial artists since ancient times is assassination, and you have origins with Yingzhou; who knows if they have methods to deal with you in their hands, or if they are hiding experts who can rival you?"

"Without finding out the bottom line of Yingzhou, my heart can never be put down."

After more than a month of getting along, the two had established preliminary trust, and Zheng Yi's words could be considered heartfelt; at the very least, on the surface, she was considering things for Li Miao.

After listening, Li Miao smiled and transmitted his voice.

"Little Yi, look at you, in a hurry again."

"Where Zheng Huaijin lives now, what he is doing, and whether he is dead or not, we have no idea. If he has already died of old age, it would be useless for us to turn Guangxin Prefecture upside down, so what are you in such a hurry for?"

Zheng Yi retorted.

"But time is tight, if we can't find any clues, we should go find the next Penglai disciple as soon as possible, why waste time here?"

"How do you know it's a waste of time?"

Li Miao said with a smile.

"I ask you, what is the biggest difference between Penglai disciples and ordinary commoners?"

Before Zheng Yi could answer, Li Miao continued.

"It's martial arts, and it's martial arts of the Heavenly Human realm that exceed the previous understanding of Jianghu people."

"Where is there a cat that doesn't steal fish? This Great Shuo is not some holy land where doors don't need to be locked at night. These Penglai disciples all ran over as black households; how could they not encounter some trouble, and how could they endure it all without using their martial arts to solve some trouble?"

"You Penglai are not the Buddhist sect; it would be strange if they could endure it."

Li Miao raised his hand and pointed at Gao Anyu and the old man who were fighting.

"Look at those two people."

"One is an amnesiac youth who possesses the Heavenly Human inheritance and holds a weapon unique to the Great Shuo Jianghu, and his age is just about the same as you and Xue Hanmeng, these 'second-generation Penglai'."

"One is an elder of the only major sect in this Guangxin Prefecture, but he happens to recognize Gao Anyu's martial arts and weapon, as if there were some connection in the past."

Li Miao turned his head to look at Zheng Yi.

"Little Yi, do you believe in coincidences?"

"In a mere Guangxin Prefecture, first Zheng Huaijin came, and then Gao Anyu appeared inexplicably; that's two Heavenly Human inheritances."

"From last year to now, there have only been seven or eight Heavenly Humans and Heavenly Human inheritances that have emerged in the Jianghu, yet this ordinary Guangxin Prefecture can produce two? And there is no connection between the two?"

"And let's talk about this 'Kongming Sect', not to mention that I was going to find trouble with it anyway. You say if Zheng Huaijin had gotten involved in something back then and revealed his martial arts, who would be most likely to have had contact with him in this Guangxin Prefecture?"

"Isn't it the Kongming Sect, which is the only one in this Guangxin Prefecture?"

"With so many clues delivered to our eyes, you say, if we pretend not to see them and leave directly, wouldn't it be a bit of a waste?"

After listening to Li Miao's analysis, Zheng Yi pondered for a moment and had to admit that Li Miao was right.

They didn't have many clues, and finding Penglai disciples was like looking for a needle in a haystack; they could only rely on finding various abnormal events to find clues.

The biggest abnormality in Guangxin Prefecture right now is Gao Anyu, so naturally, he must be investigated. And the fact that two Heavenly Human inheritances appeared in a small Guangxin Prefecture at the same time is indeed a bit suspicious.

While the two were talking via voice transmission, the fight at the tea stall had already entered its final stages.

Cao Hanyan dealing with a few Kongming Sect disciples was naturally easy, but after all, he couldn't change his kind nature, only relying on the back of his saber to knock these people unconscious, which was why it took some time, but now it was a settled matter.

There were unconscious Kongming Sect disciples everywhere.

And on Gao Anyu's side, the outcome had already been decided.

The old man's left arm had been smashed, and his blood-stained right hand was trembling as it gripped the hilt of his sword, but the hilt was bare, with only an inch of the blade left.

He let out a long sigh, turned his head to look at Cao Hanyan's side, and seeing that he had no help left, while the two on the other side were intact, he knew that he had no chance of turning the tables.

Cao Hanyan also sheathed his saber, with no intention of making a move.

Gao Anyu approached slowly, carrying the black ruler, an excited smile on his face.

"Old man, you've already fallen."

"If you are sensible, just stand still and don't move, let me smash your remaining three limbs, and then 'slightly' interrogate you. As long as you tell the truth, I will spare your life, how about that?"

Cao Hanyan's face suddenly turned dark, and he thought to himself that it was bad.

He had originally thought that with Gao Anyu's martial arts, there wouldn't be any problems, which was why he had even put away his weapon.

But he had forgotten about Gao Anyu's mouth!

He said whatever came to his mind, without any embellishment at all!

How could this be considered persuading to surrender? It was more like forcing him to die!

There was no need to even think about what the old man would do after hearing Gao Anyu's words!

He rushed toward the old man in a flash.

The old man's face first turned pale, his peripheral vision swept over the miserable corpse of Bei Shouzhen on the table in the center of the tea stall, and a trace of sorrow appeared on his face.

Bei Shouzhen was originally a sturdy youth seven feet tall and weighing a hundred pounds, but now the meat remaining on the table was at most three feet long and seventy or eighty pounds.

And he had only died after the old man arrived, and it was because Gao Anyu had missed his move and poked through his liver that he had died.

Listening to Gao Anyu's words just now, if he were to fall into his hands, he would obviously have to suffer the same ordeal. And since Gao Anyu had experience, presumably there wouldn't be any more mistakes.

In other words, the suffering he would have to endure might be far more than Bei Shouzhen's.

When collecting the corpse, without seven or eight careful women piecing it together for half a month, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to put together a human shape.

Any waiter passing by a dumpling shop would have to happily pick up his pile and eat it without even getting it stuck in their teeth.

What the hell is the point of living anymore!?

Not living anymore!

In his view, Li Miao's group were fierce bandits who had come to his door because of old grudges, the kind that ate people without spitting out the bones, and they would absolutely not show him any mercy. Since Gao Anyu had said so, he would definitely do it.

"A scholar can be killed but not humiliated!"

The old man let out a sharp shout.

"You bunch of thieves, sooner or later you will end up like that demoness! This old man will wait for you below!"

Raising his hand, the remaining inch of the long sword was inserted into his chest, opening his heart just right, and blood sprayed out instantly, his body went limp, and he fell to the ground with a bang.

Cao Hanyan had already reached him, and he was only one step away from stopping the old man's suicide, but he was ultimately a fraction of a second too slow, and he had to stop his steps helplessly.

And Gao Anyu was already stunned on the spot, his eyes wide and his mouth open.

Zheng Yi turned to look at Li Miao.

"My lord, why didn't you stop him? If you had kept him, you should have been able to interrogate him for clues about Gao Anyu's origin."

Li Miao shook his head with a smile.

"If Little Cao weren't here, I would naturally have stopped him. And when interrogating, I might even have made a move myself."

"I've felt recently that there are too many people under me whose brains aren't normal—insidious, ruthless, dull, and slippery—there isn't a single normal person. If this keeps going on, with superiors acting and subordinates following, the Embroidered Uniform Guard might really become a demon's den, and that won't do."

"Since the Embroidered Uniform Guard is mine now, it can't always be dirty. We have to get a good person in there and set up a memorial arch."

"Just now, when killing that Bei Shouzhen, Little Cao had already made a significant determination. Now we don't know who is right and who is wrong in the grudge between Little Gao and this old man, so if we were to interrogate this old man, Little Cao probably wouldn't be able to accept it."

"I still have use for his kind heart; I can't let him be led astray."

Zheng Yi sighed.

"But the clues are broken, isn't that a loss that outweighs the gain?"

Li Miao smiled.

"How could it be?"

"Little Gao's moves are a Heavenly Human inheritance; that old man, how could he have figured out a way to break the moves?"

"Besides, he couldn't even beat Little Gao, so how could he be involved in the secret of his origin? The person involved in this matter is definitely not him personally."

Zheng Yi pondered for a moment.

"The Kongming Sect!"

"The one related to Gao Anyu's origin is not this old man himself, but the entire Kongming Sect!"

Li Miao nodded with a smile.

"It has to be the entire sect involved to have enough weight. I was going to find trouble with them anyway, so it's just right to wipe them out in one go, and who knows, we might be able to find something in their sect."

After saying this, Li Miao lifted his feet and walked toward Gao Anyu.

Gao Anyu had been stunned on the spot for a while.

He wasn't stupid, just because of amnesia, he had no experience to support him, so his speech and actions were more like a child's.

So he instantly understood that the old man had been "scared to death" by him.

For a time, feelings of annoyance, dejection, and disappointment surged into his heart, and he suddenly raised his hand to smash his own head, pursing his lips and frowning.

He kept pounding his head, tears welling up in his eyes.

Although he had spoken freely with Li Miao before, saying things like "I'll just focus on making a name for myself," he knew himself that those were just words of bravado because he really had no way to find out his own origin.

How could he not care about who he was?

Without memories, he was a rootless duckweed, even more miserable than Zheng Yi, whose sect had been wiped out.

Zheng Yi's home was just invisible and untouchable, but she still had a home in her heart; she knew who she was and knew where she belonged. Even if she died one day, she could look forward to seeing someone after she died.

Gao Anyu couldn't even do that.

His heart was empty and white; he neither knew who he was nor where he should go, and even if he died, he wouldn't know who to miss.

This feeling of floating in mid-air had almost driven him truly crazy in just half a year.

That was why he called Li Miao "Uncle Li" so immersively; it wasn't because he was really that stupid, but because he also wanted to have a sense of belonging.

It was as if by calling Li Miao uncle and Zheng Yi aunt, he also had family.

But now, the only clue had been buried by him.

Seeing Li Miao walk in front of him, Gao Anyu raised his head, and before he could speak, tears flowed out, dripping down his chin.

"Uncle, Uncle Li... I, I..."

He said, choking with sobs.

"I am a fool, I am a madman... I am useless, I, I... Uncle Li..."

Li Miao smiled.

"Little Gao, a great man, why are you crying like a child?"

Gao Anyu pursed his lips.

"Uncle, I feel uncomfortable..."

He raised his hand and knocked on his chest.

"Here, it's empty, empty, and there's something pushing up, squeezing my throat tight... I finally had a chance to fill it, but because I'm a madman... it's gone..."

"Uncle Li, I really, feel uncomfortable..."

Tears flowed uncontrollably.

Li Miao smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Sigh."

"I thought it was a big deal, isn't it just that someone died? I'll find you another person who knows about your business, won't that settle it?"

"Wipe your tears, go drag the corpse into the woods and bury it, take some of the reward money and put it in the tea stall. Then we'll set off and find you a home."

"And kill some people along the way."

Gao Anyu was truly obedient; he raised his hand to wipe his face and widened his eyes.

"Really!?"

Li Miao said with a smile.

"You still don't trust me?"

Gao Anyu shook his head violently.

"No no no! Uncle, I trust you... I'm going right now!"

He had the heart of a child, and his emotions came and went quickly. Before the words had faded, he had already run out in a flash, grabbing Cao Hanyan's arm.

"Brother Cao, let's go together!"

"Brother Gao, slow down!"

"Can't be slow! Uncle Li is still waiting!"

Li Miao shouted.

"Cut off the heads of that old man and those three pieces of human scum and pack them well. Strip the remaining disciples and hang them on the trees, press their acupoints, and let them wake up tomorrow morning."

"If they wake up too early, they'll easily stir up trouble."

Then Gao Anyu answered excitedly.

"Got it!"

Burying the corpse was not much effort for Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu. But other things were a bit time-consuming.

First, the heads were not easy to preserve after being cut off; although it was almost late autumn now, they would start to stink within two days if put in a bag. Cao Hanyan picked up some firewood and burned it, carefully wrapping the four heads in wood ash, and only then did he pack them well.

The second was those disciples.

According to Li Miao's idea, these people's martial arts could be considered to have entered the hall, and there were no beasts that could climb trees here, so hanging them on the trees for a night wouldn't be a problem.

Stripping their clothes would delay them for a day tomorrow when they had to find clothes to wear, and this time was enough to make it too late for them to get involved in Li Miao's business.

But Cao Hanyan was fussy, considering the difference between men and women, closing his eyes to strip their clothes, and then having to hang men and women far apart. He also left clothes and clues to guide them to the clothes around the female disciples, which delayed a lot of time.

Then he considered that the tea stall had splashed a lot of blood, which might delay the boss's business, so he took Gao Anyu and washed the whole tea stall, and only then did he stop.

This busy work lasted until the evening.

Li Miao was fine, sleeping the same way wherever he was. But Zheng Yi had long been impatient, her eyes scraping over Gao Anyu and Cao Hanyan like razor blades from time to time.

Gao Anyu didn't know why, only feeling a chill on his back.

Cao Hanyan, however, was sweating profusely, fearing that he would make Zheng Yi unhappy; he had originally planned to find a hidden place to leave money for the tea stall owner, but now he didn't dare to mention it again, and could only stuff it into the teapot hastily.

Then he walked to Li Miao, who was closing his eyes and resting, and said softly.

"Uncle, everything is done."

"Shall we make do for the night here, or set off directly?"

Cao Hanyan pondered for a while and added.

"The Kongming Sect is on Huaiyu Mountain, about three to five days' journey from here. Fortunately, the Kongming Sect people gave us a lot of horses, but it will still be the day after tomorrow before we arrive... unless we 'fly' over."

He was referring to Li Miao and Zheng Yi each carrying one person and using light-body technique to go over. But he knew that Li Miao wouldn't want to move unless he was really forced to, so he just mentioned it.

Seeing that Li Miao didn't answer, he continued.

"If we set off on horseback now, we should be able to arrive at Yushan County tomorrow morning, rest there for a night, and then go to the Kongming Sect, which is also more appropriate."

Li Miao opened his eyes.

"Let's do that. It's too tiring if we're too rushed, and if we're too slow, the heads will easily stink, and it won't be interesting if they can't recognize who they are by then."

"Let's go."

After saying this, he stood up, the four of them mounted their horses and rode away.

No need to mention the journey that night.

When the morning light was faint, the four of them pulled the reins lightly, slowed down the horses' hooves, merged from the small road into the official road, and entered Yushan County with the flow of people.

They found an inn, opened rooms, and the four of them rested separately.

In the middle, except for Li Miao, the other three got up once, had lunch, and knowing that Li Miao wouldn't wake up until the evening, they didn't disturb him, each strolled around the city, bought some daily necessities, and then returned to the inn again.

When it was the Shen hour (3-5 PM) that day, Li Miao pushed open the door, stretched, and walked out.

The three had been waiting outside the door for a long time, and seeing Li Miao come out, they went downstairs together to eat.

The reward money given by the wealthy family in Guangxin Prefecture was not small, so this meal was naturally filled with good wine and dishes. Although Yushan County was not a big county, it did have a few special foods.

For example, it is close to Sanqing Mountain here, which is considered one of the holy lands of Taoism. The Taoist priests on the mountain are good at health-preserving methods, and some medicinal diet recipes have spread among the people, especially the soups, which are both light and nourishing.

For another example, Yushan County has many bamboo forests, and this season is just the time for harvesting winter bamboo shoots. Coupled with the local black pork bacon, stir-frying a plate with a little green onion and ginger is also incomparably delicious.

After eating and drinking to their heart's content, the four of them were in no hurry to go upstairs, each sipping the Cloud Mist tea, a tribute from Yunshan, to help digestion.

When he went out with Xiaosi, Wang Hai, and Mei Qinghe before, Li Miao was always the one left behind, and no one chatted with him. Now these few were all willing to listen to him, so Li Miao sipped his tea and began to instruct Cao Hanyan.

"Little Cao, your brain is good enough, your martial arts are also okay, and your foundation is the most solid I've seen among the younger generation. The only drawback is that you are too kind-hearted."

Li Miao said unhurriedly.

"Of course, kindness is not a mistake, but you have to distinguish the time and the person."

"Those who learn the sword must cultivate sharpness. Those who learn the saber must cultivate evil spirit. Your heart is too kind; although your saber technique is smooth, it lacks three parts of evil spirit. In the future, if you want to break through to the pinnacle, this will be your biggest hurdle."

"You have to kill more people in the future."

When he spoke, he had the smell of alcohol, his eyes were narrowed, but his tone was extremely loud, and his volume did not decrease at all, talking freely in the room.

At this time, a group of people in the room heard this, but turned their heads to look, thinking to themselves, what a big tone, I want to see what kind of sacred person it is, and they are even instructing on the pinnacle.

Glancing at Li Miao, it was a scoff, just feeling that this was an idle man who didn't know martial arts talking nonsense, and there was no need to care, but just as they were about to withdraw their gaze, they inadvertently swept over Gao Anyu on the side.

Clatter! —

"It's you!!!"

"Pay with your life!!"

Weapons were drawn in unison, without a shred of hesitation, several people widened their eyes and lunged toward Gao Anyu.