Chapter 171: Parting Ways

An Ziyang, hearing Li Miao's words, immediately cast his gaze toward the wall Li Miao had been observing earlier.

"Martial Dao Zen Sect, Wedding Dress Divine Art."

"To use its benefits, first blunt its edge... this is!?"

"The method of the Wedding Dress Divine Art!"

Li Miao nodded: "That's right. And it's the most authentic original."

"You can memorize it and practice it later. Among the few people under me, some are ruthless, some are poisonous, some are blunt; their temperaments are all somewhat extreme, so practicing this is looking for death."

"Only you are someone who knows both how to persist and how to let go. Perhaps you can achieve something."

An Ziyang was surprised and inexplicable for a moment, and hurriedly bowed to Li Miao to thank him.

"Master, you—"

"Alright, alright, shut up. I don't have the time to listen to your Beijing street-talk."

Li Miao raised his hand to stop him.

"I'm from Shuntian Prefecture; I get a headache whenever I hear your Beijing street-talk. Your An family is in Quanzhou, where did you learn this Beijing accent?"

"Master, we father and son are originally from Beijing, later we walked the Jianghu and arrived at the An family in Quanzhou..."

"Alright, alright, you go ahead and learn, I'll look around."

Li Miao let An Ziyang go learn the "Wedding Dress Divine Art" on his own, walked to a bookshelf, scanned left and right, pulled out a book with the most severely damaged spine, and opened it to check.

This was a notebook, with two types of handwriting on it.

One was wild and arrogant, the other was graceful.

Li Miao flipped through a few pages, but looked up at the original Wedding Dress Divine Art on the stone wall, then looked down to flip through a few pages of the notebook, comparing them again.

"Gu insects that can absorb cultivation realms, Wedding Dress Divine Art."

"The root was here all along."

Li Miao pulled out a few more notebooks, compared the handwriting and tone on them, and roughly determined the identities of the owners of the two types of handwriting.

Afterward, Li Miao put down the notebooks and walked to Yang Lixuan's corpse, looking it up and down.

Killing someone, then fixing the corpse, and sealing it in wax in his own lair. Ji Tianrui, this person, didn't know whether to hate him or love him, anyway, he was a bit crazy.

Li Miao had no intention of probing the thoughts of the dead, raised his hand into a claw, and directly dug into the chest of Yang Lixuan's corpse.

He groped inside for a moment, then pulled his hand out.

In his palm, he was clutching Yang Lixuan's already withered heart.

On this heart, densely grown hyperplastic flesh, and some already blackened tentacles. It was exactly the same as Zuo Lishan's heart.

After looking at it, Li Miao casually threw the heart to the ground.

He had already learned most of what Ji Tianrui wanted to tell him.

Fifty or sixty years ago, the Miao King Gu insect escaped the tomb and parasitized the first Miao King. At the same time, Yang Lixuan also arrived in the Miao region.

His purpose should also have been to explore the path above Heaven-Man.

Like Yun Zelin, after perfecting the Heaven-Man realm of one path, he also found that he couldn't advance an inch. So he started the idea of going up the mountain through an external path.

The target Yang Lixuan chose was witchcraft.

After he met the Miao King, they hit it off and studied the combination of martial arts and witchcraft here. The two types of notes in the notebook were written by Yang Lixuan and the first Miao King.

In short, a few years later, the two obtained two results.

One was Gu soldiers.

Two was the combination of Wedding Dress Divine Art and witchcraft, a Gu insect capable of absorbing and storing the Heaven-Man realm.

The Miao King didn't know Wu Gong, and the Miao region and the Central Plains Jianghu were not connected; how could the Miao people have the inheritance of Wedding Dress Divine Art?

Because this Wedding Dress Divine Art was originally a collection of the Ming Sect, brought to the Miao region by Yang Lixuan.

Yang Lixuan back then should have tried to follow Yun Zelin's example, planting Gu insects into other Heaven-Man experts, and then transplanting them into his own body, attempting to break through the realm of three-path merger. This heart was proof.

But clearly, he didn't succeed, or he wasn't satisfied with this "incorrect" realm.

Therefore, the two combined the two results and created a final "finished product."

That was Ji Tianrui.

Before in the Qi-Lu region, the Gu insects in Zuo Lishan and Lan Lechuan's bodies were all food left by Ji Tianrui to store cultivation realms, just waiting to be retrieved when he needed them.

And Ji Tianrui's situation was even more miserable than theirs.

He was born as Yang Lixuan's reserve food.

Inheriting Yang Lixuan's bloodline and having a body deliberately cultivated by the previous Miao King, he was naturally incomparably compatible with Yang Lixuan.

This also meant that the realm Ji Tianrui cultivated could be grafted onto Yang Lixuan without loss in the future. And it wouldn't appear as "incorrect" as Yun Zelin's situation.

Therefore, Ji Tianrui had to kill Yang Lixuan.

Because if Yang Lixuan didn't die, he would be the one to die.

And after Yang Lixuan died, Ji Tianrui took over the Ming Sect and naturally colluded with the previous Miao King, which led to the Ming Sect rebellion fifteen years ago.

Fifteen years ago, the previous Miao King and Ji Tianrui died; the current Miao King didn't know who she gave birth to Ji Tianrui with, and Ji Tianrui obtained the Ming Sect Wu Gong inheritance left by Yang Lixuan in the Miao region, replacing Ji Tianrui as the leader of the Ming Sect.

It had been like this until today.

Up to this point, all questions before Ji Tianrui appeared had been answered.

Although it was still unclear what Ji Tianrui's purpose was in leading Li Miao to uncover the truth of the past, looking at her meaning, she was clearly trying to tell Li Miao everything.

And the remaining questions, Li Miao estimated, would only be answered after meeting Ji Tianrui.

At this moment, An Ziyang had also memorized the Wedding Dress Divine Art, and after confirming in his heart that he had remembered it firmly, he turned to look at Li Miao.

"Master, I'm done."

"I'm about the same."

Li Miao nodded.

So the two jumped out of the cave, returned to the Pupa Chamber, and found Yong Jie.

At this moment, Yong Jie had regained his sanity; although his face was bloodless and his hands and feet were blue, he was already able to stand and walk.

"Two Patrons, thank you for this time."

Yong Jie bowed down and performed a serious salute to the two.

An Ziyang only declined, but Li Miao accepted Yong Jie's salute without any politeness.

After some exchanges, the three turned back and found the Great Shamans of the Twelve Sect Branches.

Li Miao and Yong Jie watched here, An Ziyang returned to the ground along the secret passage, and brought back the troops of several major sects who were guarding outside the village.

Li Miao handed the people of the Twelve Sect Branches to Lao Qifeng to deal with, then picked a few Great Shamans, knocked them unconscious, and carried them in his hands, and the three turned and left.

Arriving on the ground, the three stood in the mountain forest, looking at each other.

"Master, what do we do next?"

After obtaining the Wedding Dress Divine Art, An Ziyang had already straightened out his position as a subordinate and began to take the initiative to ask about Li Miao's next plans.

Yong Jie bowed to Li Miao.

"Patron, I am too seriously injured, and I have to suppress the venomous insect, and I have to go back to Shaolin to see Ling'er's situation, so I'm afraid I can't go to Shuntian Prefecture to find the Ming Sect for revenge."

"Master, go ahead; I'll bring a few Ming Sect heads to you later; living people are more important than dead ones, no need to worry."

So Yong Jie said goodbye and turned to leave, returning to Shaolin.

Li Miao looked at An Ziyang.

"You, go to Shuntian Prefecture to identify people. Take these Great Shamans to Shuntian Prefecture, and keep these Miao King notebooks as well. When you arrive at the Embroidered Uniform Guard, report my name and hand over the people and things to my foster daughter."

An Ziyang nodded and agreed, then asked Li Miao.

"Master, aren't you going to Shuntian Prefecture? Aren't the Ming Sect thieves just about to go to Shuntian Prefecture to cause trouble?"

Li Miao, however, smiled coldly.

"I don't have the habit of starting a fight only when I arrive at the place."

"You go to Shuntian Prefecture first, I'll chase along the official road and see if I can intercept the Ming Sect people halfway."

"Kill as many as you can, we can't let them all into Shuntian Prefecture."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 172 =====