Chapter 158

Li Miao twisted his fingers, roughly sorting things out in his mind.

About fifty or sixty years ago, the Gu insect controlled the Miao King's corpse, walked out of the Miao King tomb, found the twelve clans, and parasitized a Miao woman named "Ge Puqi," giving birth to Ji Tianrui.

Thirty years ago, Ji Tianrui withstood the five major sects and took control of the Ming Cult.

Fifteen years ago, Ge Puqi ordered the great shamans of the twelve clans to cooperate with the Ming Cult in rebellion. As a result, Ji Tianrui died, and the Ming Cult was crippled and went underground.

Ge Puqi also passed away at that time, and the Gu insect transferred to parasitize the current Miao King, "Ge Puduo," who gave birth to Ji Tianrui.

Ten years ago, Ge Puduo left the Miao border for some reason, met Yong Jie, and disappeared after giving birth to a daughter; presumably, she returned to the Miao border at that time.

It's not very complicated; it's nothing more than two Miao Kings giving birth to two generations of Ming Cult leaders. A single sentence summarizes it.

However, there are still two questions.

First, where did Ji Tianrui's Ming Cult martial arts come from?

Second, by this calculation, isn't Ji Tianrui only fifteen years old? A fifteen-year-old, three-path-integrated Heaven-Man? Even Bodhidharma wouldn't dare make such a joke!

In this story, two very important figures are clearly missing—the mothers of the two leaders were found, but what about the fathers?

These two questions will mostly fall upon these two fathers, whoever they may be.

Li Miao turned to look at the old man and asked the classic "where did daddy go" question.

The old man shook his head with a bitter smile: "My lord, we don't know this either."

"Although we know this is very important, under the Miao King's tyranny, we didn't dare to investigate."

"That is all I know. We cannot help you further, my lord."

"Oh?"

Li Miao nodded.

"Is that so."

"In other words, you are useless, right?"

As soon as Li Miao said this, the old man suddenly broke into a cold sweat, his face turned pale, and his lips trembled.

How could he not understand the meaning of this sentence—if you are useless, you must die!

"My lord... everything we did before was forced!"

The old man was in tears.

Li Miao spread his hands.

"That's none of my business. Your ancestors caused trouble, and you joined in the clamor. If I don't look for you, who should I look for?"

The old man shouted.

"The Ming Cult! The Miao King!"

Li Miao gave a disdainful smile.

"It's not that I'm not killing them too. You must also be held accountable for what you should be; one thing is one thing."

"Besides, aren't I just about to go slaughter the person who forced you to do evil? Is it appropriate for you not to contribute some effort?"

Neither of them spoke clearly, yet both understood the other's meaning.

Li Miao wanted them to go with him to find the Miao King, while the old man feared that if the Miao King saw them as traitors, she would directly trigger the Gu insects to kill everyone in the twelve clans.

Previously, their secret reminders and leaving clues were also based on the idea of informing the Imperial Court of this matter, letting the Imperial Court kill the Miao King, while they stood on the sidelines to push the boat with the current and watch the fire from across the river.

Li Miao stepped forward, reached out, pressed his hand on the old man's head, and shook it a few times.

"Old man, just because I didn't kill you earlier, do you think I'm a great philanthropist?"

"Thinking that by acting pitiful and crying a few times, you can order me to risk my life to kill for you while you hide in the back to watch the show?"

"Don't forget, we Imperial Guards don't produce philanthropists."

Li Miao gave a sinister smile.

"More evil than the evil, more fierce than the fierce."

"Major offenses get the head chopped off; minor offenses get the hands chopped off. Correcting wrongs by going to extremes, cutting the weeds and digging up the roots. Killing until you would rather die than dare to do evil."

"This is the Imperial Guard."

Li Miao's hand gradually curled into a claw, tightly gripping the old man's head, tighter and tighter, until the old man wailed and blood flowed down his head.

"Furthermore, don't think that just because you say you're clean, you can dig yourself out. A nest of dog shit, yet you lot bloom like white lotus flowers?"

"Fifteen years ago, when going to Shuntian Prefecture, didn't you send people?"

"The Ming Cult's Gu soldiers accumulated so many; didn't you contribute effort?"

"The ghosts would believe that!"

"If you want to live, hand over the 'letter of allegiance' first."

The old man could no longer endure the torture and felt that in another moment, his skull would be crushed by Li Miao, so he could only wail.

"My lord! My lord! I'll go! I'll go!"

Li Miao then let go of his head, letting the old man collapse to the ground, snot and tears flowing, gasping for breath.

After a long while, when the old man had recovered, Li Miao said calmly.

"Pick a few capable great shamans from those lying on the ground to bring along."

"We are going to slaughter that so-called Miao King right now."

Upon hearing this, the old man was stunned, then said urgently.

"My lord, shouldn't we wait for the Imperial Court's army? The Miao King is not as incompetent as we are. What if something goes wrong?"

Li Miao gave him a strange look.

"Do I look like I have a lot of time?"

"Be quick. After killing the people here, I still have to rush to Shuntian Prefecture to kill people."

————————

At the same time, outside the twelve clans' village.

Yong Jie finally arrived.

An Ziyang followed behind, dizzy and seeing stars, feeling as if he were about to collapse to the ground and pass out.

Heaven have mercy, Yong Jie, after receiving internal energy transmission from Xing Chi and adding his own previous foundation, is now a bona fide Peak expert. Between him and this second-rate middle-tier, there is a difference of thirty Liu Baiyuns, and one would still have to spare two Mei Qinghes.

Yong Jie used light-body techniques to travel, and being dragged along to this place, not passing out was already his limit.

"Master... Master, I, I can't go on..."

Having said this, An Ziyang fell to the ground with a "thud," his eyes hollow, his whole person seeming to have turned black and white.

Yong Jie turned his head to look at him and said: "Benefactor, please wait here for a moment. I will go find the Beggar Sect's Leader Lao."

Having said this, he flashed away, leaving An Ziyang there to close his eyes and regulate his breathing.

After a while, Yong Jie brought Lao Qifeng back.

"Master, this little brother, come with me. Be careful, don't let people from the other sects see."

Lao Qifeng gave an instruction, then led the two to the entrance of the secret passage Li Miao had entered.

"Lord Li has already gone in. If you want to find him, just go in from here."

"The other families are all here; I shouldn't leave for too long. I'm leaving first."

Having said this, he turned and left.

Yong Jie turned to look at An Ziyang.

"Benefactor, you wait here. If I don't come out, you can at least bring a message back to Shaolin for me."

An Ziyang forced a smile.

"I'm going down too."

Yong Jie stared at An Ziyang's eyes, trying to find a hint of hesitation.

But, no. An Ziyang was serious.

"Why? This matter has nothing to do with you, Benefactor; why risk danger?"

An Ziyang twitched his mouth, trying to reveal a dashing smile.

"Does the Master want to hear the truth or a lie?"

"The truth."

"The truth is, the Ming Cult offended my An family and almost killed my father. Even if I can't do anything, I can't just wait for others to avenge me. Even if it's just to spit on its grave, it's worth me going down for a trip."

"And the lie?"

An Ziyang smiled.

"The lie is that I lost my mother at a young age, my situation is similar to Ling'er's, and I know how important the Master is to her."

"I took her father away; if I can't bring him back, I have no face to live. It's better to just die together."

Truth and lies are hard to distinguish; which is more and which is less are all hidden beneath An Ziyang's cynical demeanor.

Yong Jie suddenly felt that this kid wasn't so annoying after all.

"Eh? It seems I said that quite well..."

An Ziyang suddenly raised his hand to touch his chin, his peripheral vision looking at Yong Jie with a mischievous glint.

"Must hurry and write it down; when I go back and tell Ling'er sister, she will definitely worship me to death after hearing it."

"..."

Amitabha, he is still annoying.

(End of chapter)