Chapter 256: Invitation

Shen Xunning didn't know what emotion she should be feeling.

Should she be shocked? Shocked that the "beauty" her master had been obsessed with for over half a year was actually the never-before-seen Northern Pacification Commissioner.

Should she be afraid? Looking at what Li Miao had just done, he was clearly ruthless; would he simply silence her to avoid exposing his identity?

Should she be pleasantly surprised? With such a backer, the Hengshan Sect would be stable from now on, and there would be no need to worry about whether they could gain a foothold in the Jianghu.

Or should she be ashamed? Her unsightly appearance was seen by over a hundred people; what would they think of her, what would they think of the Hengshan Sect? Would she have the face to succeed as Sect Leader in the future?

For a full ten breaths, she didn't move, just stared blankly at Li Miao, her small mouth slightly open, unable to say a word.

She had "crashed."

Li Miao saw her like this, estimating she wouldn't recover for a while, so he let her stay there in a daze and beckoned with his hand.

"Xiao Anzi, come."

"Coming, Pacification Commissioner, your orders!"

An Ziyang flashed to Li Miao's side, nodding and bowing.

"Over there, there is an invitation made of gold on the ground, with several types of poison inside; I am not proficient in this, go take a look."

Li Miao pointed.

"Yes!"

An Ziyang puffed out his chest, turned, picked up the invitation, unfolded it, took a cloth bag from his bosom, took out four or five tools from it, clamped them between his five fingers, squatted down, and began to tinker.

Taking advantage of this time, Wang Hai and Xiao Si also walked over.

"Pacification Commissioner."

Li Miao nodded, reached out to rub Xiao Si's head, and then turned to look at Wang Hai.

"Tell me about the recent situation first."

Wang Hai took a roll of cloth from his bosom, spread it out with both hands, and handed it to Li Miao.

"Regarding the seven escaped retainers, we went to Wudang and Shaolin respectively to ask; Master Yong Jie gave us the corpses, and the identities were verified correctly; Wudang made excuses for a long time, only saying there was no need to worry about those two retainers appearing in the world again, and we couldn't force our way into the back mountain to check, so we had to let it go."

Li Miao nodded.

"No need to worry about Wudang anymore; just assume what they said is true. What about the remaining four?"

"Two have revealed their tracks. One headed toward Bashu last month, likely to find trouble with the Sword King Pavilion. One fought an unknown expert on the coast of Fujian, both sides lost an arm and escaped; Battalion Commander Wang is leading men in pursuit."

"He was already seriously injured and had no Heaven-Man replenishment; he is now at the end of his rope. Battalion Commander Wang is only harassing him from a distance, so he can neither heal nor find time to sleep; thus, the five decays of Heaven-Man are becoming increasingly severe; I think he will be forced to perish on his own within half a month."

Li Miao nodded.

"The Sword King Pavilion should be able to handle it themselves, and Xiao Wang does things steadily."

"So, which two retainers have yet to show their heads?"

Wang Hai reached out and took out two wanted posters.

"One is 'Hatred Sea' Attendant Ruan Mei, who mainly cultivates Jiezi and auxiliary Sumeru, using Emei needles, originating from the Emei Sect."

"One is 'Heavenly Demon' Wang Ziyi, who mainly cultivates Sumeru and auxiliary Jiezi; his palm technique follows a soft path, and he was a lone demon in the past."

"These two also hold the most formulas."

Li Miao looked at the two wanted posters.

Attendant Ruan Mei was a young-looking woman with ordinary features, but she had a heroic spirit in her brows and extraordinary temperament, making her unforgettable at first sight.

Wang Ziyi was a thin, middle-aged man with a soft appearance, very deep eye sockets, three vertical lines between his brows, and long, narrow eye corners, looking like a sinister character. The one who defected first and exchanged formulas from An Ziyang was him.

Li Miao nodded.

"Leave them for now; without the court's support, they will either find a place to lie down and wait for death, or go to places like Wudang or Shaolin to find ways to deduce formulas; they will show their heads sooner or later, and we can just kill them all then."

"Anything else?"

Xiao Si took over the conversation.

"News came from Dali that a peak expert has entered the world recently, not very old, claiming the surname Duan. When sparring with others, he used the 'Six Meridians Divine Sword,' the moves were extremely exquisite, as if he had a Heaven-Man legacy in hand, and he is not far from the Heaven-Man realm."

"The Moni Sect in the Western Regions has some movements; after the Ming Sect was destroyed, some followers defected to them; they received news and want to come to the Central Plains to take over the Ming Sect's legacy. They have sent people into the pass one after another, among whom are many first-class and peak experts, but no Heaven-Men have been discovered yet."

Li Miao frowned.

"Moni Sect… any news of Ji Tianrui?"

Xiao Si shook his head.

"No, she last appeared in Weihaiwei, supposedly boarding a fishing boat heading out to sea, but that boat has never returned since."

"The boat owner was not a Jianghu person, just an ordinary fisherman. His son confessed that Ji Tianrui gave him a large sum of money to take her out to sea to see the scenery, and she never mentioned a destination."

"She is proficient in disguise, specializes in Gu techniques, and her own martial arts are on par with yours. Now that the Ming Sect has been destroyed, she is all alone, and even the method of following the vine to find the melon is useless. Unless she shows herself voluntarily, we have no way to investigate."

Li Miao frowned, twisting his fingers in thought.

If there was anyone he was most worried about, it was Ji Tianrui.

This person was deep in schemes, planned far ahead, knew far more secrets than Li Miao, and had a lawless temperament. If left to wander the Jianghu, who knows what kind of trouble she would cause next time.

That day, he ultimately failed to keep her, only leaving a few wounds on her before helplessly falling into a deep sleep.

His deep sleep was not without defense against the outside world; if Ji Tianrui attacked him, Li Miao could still wake up and counterattack. So Li Miao was even somewhat looking forward to Ji Tianrui attacking him, so he would have a chance to keep her.

But Ji Tianrui didn't do so; by the time Li Miao woke up, she was already gone.

With Ji Tianrui heading out to sea, who knows if she circled around at sea to land elsewhere, or simply sailed to Goryeo or Fusang.

With her martial arts and disguise skills, unless she appeared in front of Li Miao herself, even if others pressed their faces against hers to look, they wouldn't discover a single flaw.

"Forget it, let's stop here; withdraw all the manpower from Weihaiwei, no need to watch anymore."

Li Miao waved his hand.

"Even if she didn't disguise herself and returned to Weihaiwei as she is, you wouldn't be able to keep her. Let this matter end here."

Wang Hai and Xiao Si looked at each other.

"Yes."

"Yes."

"If there are no other situations, tell me about that matter you couldn't handle."

Li Miao said.

Wang Hai didn't answer immediately, turned to look at An Ziyang's side, and asked.

"Pacification Commissioner, did you also encounter someone 'delivering an invitation' today?"

"Hmm?"

Li Miao raised an eyebrow.

Before he could continue asking, Wang Hai reached into his bosom and took out a golden, glittering object, handing it to Li Miao.

"Pacification Commissioner, is the invitation that person carried the same as this?"

Li Miao reached out, took it, unfolded it, and sneered instantly.

"August 15th, join in the grand event."

"Exactly the same."

"Where did you get this invitation?"

Wang Hai reached out and took out three more from his bosom.

"Beggar Gang, Hengshan Sect, Huashan Sect, Songshan Sect."

"If you add the one in Battalion Commander An's hand, except for the Taishan Sect which has already been destroyed, the other four mountains have each received one."

"The Beggar Gang's copy was sent by people sent by Sect Leader Lao; we have no friendship with the other sects, so we have no news for the time being."

"But calculating from time and region, the major sects with foundations in the Jianghu have likely all received one."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 257 =====