Chapter 69

At the same time Li Miao was slaughtering outside the city, Tai'an City was already filled with wails.

The Ming Cult's initial plan was to unleash the Gu poison during the Five Mountains Alliance meeting, and simultaneously refine the Jianghu people who had come to Mount Taishan for the meeting, along with the people in Tai'an City, into Gu soldiers.

This plan had been laid out for many years, and the Ming Cult handing the Gu insects to Zuo Lishan in advance was part of this plan.

Li Miao forcing Zuo Lishan to use the Gu insects in advance was, in fact, forcing the Ming Cult to launch this plan earlier than intended.

And in this plan, the importance of the Jianghu people on Mount Taishan was actually far higher than that of the people in Tai'an City.

"Gu" was something that was originally distinct and unrelated to martial arts. In the ten-plus years since the Ming Cult went underground, more than half of their energy had been spent on modifying Gu insects. That was why Zuo Lishan could become half an Above the Pinnacle expert through the Gu insects and the cultivation method modified by Ji Tianrui.

However, no matter how much they improved, there was one limitation the Ming Cult could never overcome—the material.

The tendons and bones of Jianghu people were polished by Qi, far stronger than ordinary people, so the probability of successful refinement was higher, and the resulting Gu soldiers would be stronger.

If both parts of the plan could succeed, the Ming Cult would gain thousands of fearless, immensely strong, and thick-skinned Gu soldiers.

With this capital, the Ming Cult could carve out a territory on the border and no longer have to continue their current life of hiding.

One could see the importance they placed on this matter from the personnel the Ming Cult sent—the Left and Right Envoys, one Protector, and two Flag Masters; it could be said that almost all the top experts below the Cult Leader were sent out.

And the Ming Cult had investigated the movements of the imperial court's troops and experts beforehand, only starting their move after confirming there was no risk.

But despite all their calculations, the Ming Cult still missed two people—Li Miao and Yun Zelin.

Li Miao had indeed ruined the Ming Cult's grand plan fifteen years ago and was on their list. But for the past ten-plus years, Li Miao had never left the capital, nor had he done anything famous. And in recent years, there had been no incidents in the capital that required Li Miao to go all out, so even Zhu Zai did not know Li Miao's martial arts realm.

Even estimating to the greatest extent that Li Miao had reached Above the Pinnacle, the Ming Cult had two Above the Pinnacle experts, Lan Lechuan and Yun Zelin, who could match him.

Above the Pinnacle, one step further was the Wu Lin myth, the realm reached by Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng. Currently, the known paths were "Vajra," "Sumeru," and "Atom."

And in the hundreds of years since Zhang Sanfeng passed away, it was not that there hadn't been geniuses who crossed the Pinnacle, but no one had ever appeared who could follow in Zhang Sanfeng's footsteps.

Because these geniuses discovered a desperate fact after crossing the Pinnacle—Above the Pinnacle, it seemed they had reached the end, with no path left to walk.

Polishing tendons and bones to the extreme was "Vajra," making Qi thick to the extreme was "Sumeru," and making moves follow the heart was "Atom."

And then? Nothing!

Several brilliant geniuses would naturally think: if I merge all three into one, is that the condition to cross the chasm?

And these brilliant geniuses, before they even reached the unity of the three, would all meet a desperate end upon mastering the second path—the Five Decays of Heaven and Man.

Clothes becoming filthy, head flowers withering, sweat flowing from the armpits, body smelling foul, and losing joy in one's seat.

From body to heart, everything withered together.

The Ming Cult had been passed down for nearly a thousand years, and naturally, experts in the cult had died from this attempt, leaving behind this desperate information.

So, they were unprepared for Li Miao, an anomaly who possessed two paths of Above the Pinnacle and was still alive and kicking.

So Lan Lechuan appeared alone on Mount Taishan and ended up dying in vain at Li Miao's hands.

The second person the Ming Cult was unprepared for was their Right Envoy—Yun Zelin.

It was a simple principle—if you want to betray, you must be aiming for something, right?

Sitting in the third chair of the Ming Cult, he had already cut himself off from the imperial court. His own martial arts had also reached Above the Pinnacle, with no possibility of going further.

What were you aiming for?

But Yun Zelin had done it inexplicably.

First, he concealed the situation and sent a Flag Master's life to Li Miao.

Then, he launched the Gu poison in Tai'an City early, preventing Mao Yingxia from entering the city, causing her to be caught by Li Miao outside the city in a rush.

Finally, he launched the Gu poison early on Mount Taishan, letting the people from the Hengshan, Hengshan, and Songshan sects go down the mountain, and even many of the Mount Taishan disciples who hadn't been poisoned by Zuo Lishan escaped.

He even used the Gu insects in Lan Lechuan and Zuo Lishan's bodies himself, immediately falling into the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, as if committing suicide.

The Gu insects in Zuo Lishan's body were the mother Gu for the Jianghu people on Mount Taishan; with Yun Zelin using them, the Ming Cult's plot on Mount Taishan naturally collapsed.

So after careful consideration, Mao Yingxia directly abandoned the plan on Mount Taishan and instead had all Ming Cult disciples focus on the matter in Tai'an City.

The group Li Miao intercepted outside the city was just the Ming Cult's largest force.

The Ming Cult's Flood Flag Master had received Mao Yingxia's message and was currently leading his troops toward Tai'an City.

The eunuch Cheng Yuanzhen, who had escaped from Mount Taishan, and the people from the Songshan, Hengshan, and Hengshan sects were also about to arrive in Tai'an City.

And inside Tai'an City.

Mei Qinghe thrust her long sword, piercing the knee of the person in front of her.

She was highly skilled in swordplay, her strikes incredibly precise; this sword only pierced a little, avoiding all tendons and joints, so it wouldn't leave a disability.

The person stumbled and fell forward.

Mei Qinghe stepped forward and pressed a finger to the side of the person's neck, knocking them unconscious.

Then she turned her sword sideways and swept, carefully controlling her strength to knock the several people rushing at her away.

Mei Qinghe flashed forward, pressing the acupoints of several people one by one, then took out a long rope and dragged them toward the prefectural government office.

Saving people was becoming increasingly difficult.

At first, the people were just weak and could barely call for help, so Mei Qinghe only needed to follow the sound to find them and bring them to Xiao Si.

Later, most people fell into a coma. Li Miao could hear the faint breathing and vomiting through the walls, but Mei Qinghe couldn't, so she had to search house by house.

Now, some people had been eroded by the Gu poison, losing their reason and starting to attack others.

Most of Mei Qinghe's martial arts were in her sword; if she used palm techniques she wasn't good at, not only would it be hard to control her strength, but it would also consume extra Qi.

So Mei Qinghe could only rely on the precision of her sword strikes to pierce the people's joints or knock them down with the sword body, then press their acupoints to subdue them and bring them back to Xiao Si.

Although this would consume extra effort, at least it wouldn't exhaust her Qi and lead to a situation where she couldn't continue.

A moment later, Mei Qinghe entered the prefectural government office and dragged the people she had brought to Xiao Si's side.

At this time, the basin in front of Xiao Si was emitting white smoke, and these people, upon smelling the smoke, instinctively vomited, spitting out a ground full of wriggling Gu insects before falling unconscious.

Mount Huashan disciples took these people to the backyard.

Wang Hai saw Mei Qinghe return and called out: "Everyone, stop for a moment."

"Saving people like this is just a drop in the bucket; we need to prepare to fight for our lives."