Chapter 265: Reappearance

Shen Xunning's action was quite humorous; if it were normal times, Lao Qifeng would definitely have laughed out loud. But now, even the funniest joke in the world would probably be hard to make him laugh.

Because the Heaven-Man hidden outside was precisely from his Beggar Gang.

For a time, it was dead silent.

After a while, the sound of footsteps coming upstairs came from outside the door.

Lao Qifeng's expression became heavy again.

Because after using his ear-listening skills, he heard the sticky, viscous sound of water hidden beneath the footsteps.

Blood.

Li Miao's finger, pointed casually through the door panel, had actually injured his Beggar Gang's Heaven-Man from across the entire street.

This martial arts was far higher than the martial arts he had revealed in the Miao Territory that day.

Creak—

The door was pushed open, and a person walked in slowly.

Following him was the thick smell of earth and a faint scent of blood.

Li Miao raised his eyes to look.

This person was about sixty or seventy years old, with gray, messy hair and a face full of wrinkles. A wine-red nose, squinty eyes, toad mouth, and wind-catching ears, wearing a long gown full of patches, with mud on the hem, and a pair of old straw sandals on his feet.

From the tiger's mouth to the forearm of his left hand, a long, narrow wound had been cut, dripping blood continuously.

Li Miao raised an eyebrow.

Just from his appearance, there was quite a bit to say about this person.

First, this person was actually a "Dirty Clothes Sect."

As mentioned before, the Beggar Gang is divided into Dirty Clothes and Clean Clothes sects; the lower the status, the higher the proportion of the Dirty Clothes sect; by the time they reach the high level of

This person had reached the Heaven-Man realm, and no one within the Beggar Gang could suppress him, yet he still maintained this demeanor. Either he truly liked begging, or he was a "fundamentalist" who genuinely believed in the Beggar Gang's motto that "all beggars are one family."

Second, his lifespan was nearing its end.

Those at the Heaven-Man level all possessed some characteristics of "knowing the spirit is indestructible"; for this person to show such signs of old age was already a quite dangerous stage.

Third, he was showing weakness.

At the Heaven-Man level, combat was incredibly brutal, and almost all Heaven-Men would deliberately collect healing techniques to practice. Of course, unless they had achieved the Sumeru realm, most Heaven-Men could not practice to the extent of healing while fighting; they could only heal themselves afterward.

But it should not be to the point of this person, who could not even stop his own bleeding.

He came to see Li Miao while bleeding; it was a gesture of showing weakness.

This person entered the door, stared straight at Li Miao, and pursed his lips, as if wanting to say something nice, but because of his temperament, he could not get it out, so he had to give Lao Qifeng a wink.

Lao Qifeng understood and hurriedly bowed to Li Miao.

"Lord Li, this elder of my Beggar Gang harbors no ill intent; he simply dared not offend your majesty, so he let me come first to see your intentions before making further plans."

"I beg for your forgiveness!"

Li Miao smiled, raised his left hand to help Lao Qifeng up, and pointed his right hand at the old man.

"What kind of attitude is this?"

"If you want to be tough, heal your wounds first and then come and strike me with a palm; if you want to be soft, you don't even state your name, just stand there with your neck stiff, and you still need Sect Leader Lao to speak for you."

"What, do you want me to get up and invite you to take a seat?"

The old man opened his mouth, his face flushed red, and he stepped forward to sit down, only then managing to squeeze a sentence out from his throat.

"Beggar Gang, Hong Chou, greetings, my lord."

Afterward, he sat there without saying a word, neither speaking nor healing, letting the blood on his right hand continue to drip down.

Li Miao was amused by him.

"Sect Leader Lao, where did you dig up this old treasure?"

"Hard to serve, isn't he?"

Seeing that Li Miao had no intention of making trouble, Lao Qifeng secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said with a fawning smile.

"This is my grandmaster; he is old, and his temperament... is a bit rigid and stubborn, not knowing how to adapt, but he definitely does not mean any disrespect to you, my lord."

"Oh~"

Li Miao looked at Hong Chou, who was sitting in place without speaking, and nodded.

Understood.

A Beggar Gang version of an "old-fashioned" "male" Mei Qinghe.

Then it was no wonder he was acting in this awkward manner.

However, since this person had already sat down in front of him, it was time to be open and honest.

Li Miao turned his head to look at Lao Qifeng.

"Sect Leader Lao, does your Beggar Gang have a Heaven-Man inheritance?"

Lao Qifeng sighed.

"My lord, if we had one, I would not have been in such a sorry state in Miao Jiang that day. Nor would I have dragged it out until today to come and see you, my lord."

Li Miao raised an eyebrow.

"How so?"

Lao Qifeng looked at Hong Chou opposite them.

"The Heaven-Man inheritance of my Beggar Gang was taken away by this grandmaster of mine. It was only a few days ago that he suddenly returned and asked me to bring him to see you."

"I definitely did not intend to deceive you, my lord, and these words are absolutely not half-false."

Li Miao turned to look at Hong Chou.

"Old man, is this how you act as a grandmaster? Look at how you've forced Sect Leader Lao."

Hong Chou opposite him pursed his lips, his face flushed red.

After a long while, he suddenly said as if he had lost all his energy.

"You are right, my lord; it is this old man's fault."

"But taking the Heaven-Man inheritance that day was also to avoid bringing a great disaster upon the Beggar Gang; returning today is not to cling to life."

"After all, this old man does not have many days left to live."

Having said that, he raised his hand and pulled open his lapel.

Revealing a huge scar that stretched across his chest and abdomen, a full palm wide.

Li Miao frowned.

"This wound of yours, your Qi and blood are gathered, your true energy is congested, and the proliferating flesh is still pink—you were wounded less than a month ago."

"No wonder you look so aged; it's because this wound is about to kill you, right?"

Hong Chou pulled his lapel shut and nodded slowly.

"Who wounded you?"

"I don't know."

"Where were you wounded?"

"Zhejiang, Taizhou."

"When were you wounded?"

"Twenty-seven days ago."

"What was the other party's realm?"

"I couldn't see clearly, but they were at least one path stronger than me."

"What technique did the other party use?"

"I don't recognize it."

Li Miao frowned.

"Your Beggar Gang's inheritance is old enough, and you should have had dealings with basically all the prominent factions in the Jianghu, yet you can't even tell the other party's roots?"

Hong Chou shook his head.

"I can't tell; it's different from all the sects I've encountered in my memory, not even a trace of similarity, and I can't even find one with the same origin."

"But, during the struggle, I tore off his front lapel, and something fell out."

Hong Chou reached into his bosom, took out something, and with a burst of true energy, sent it in front of Li Miao.

Li Miao glanced at it and let out a cold laugh.

"So that's how it is."

"I was wondering why, apart from the Wuyue Sword Sects that have already submitted to my Embroidered Uniform Guard, not a single faction mentioned this matter, yet only you, Sect Leader Lao, sent someone to deliver this item."

"So you were waiting for me here."

Shen Xunning leaned over to look.

Placed in front of Li Miao was an invitation.

It was pressed from high-quality gold, with dyed silk thread pressed along the edges, and tiny pieces of jade embedded on it, shining brilliantly.

In the center of the unfolded invitation, a sentence was written.

"August 15th, let us gather for the grand event."

(End of chapter)