Chapter 266

Hearing Li Miao's words, Lao Qifeng hurriedly explained.

"My lord, I have followed your lead since Miao Jiang, and my Beggar Gang has never been the least bit negligent in the tasks you have ordered; even without my grandmaster's affair, I would naturally have had someone—"

Li Miao waved his hand, interrupting Lao Qifeng's words.

"Sect Leader Lao, there is no need to repeat these pleasantries. We have some friendship, and I trust you personally, but I may not necessarily trust the Beggar Gang leader."

"Let's talk about something substantial."

Li Miao pointed at Hong Chou.

"This grandmaster of yours can live for at most another month, so he is not here to seek life, and your Beggar Gang is not here to see me just to preserve your own Heaven-Man."

"So, you want to clear your relationship with this invitation while retaining your own Heaven-Man inheritance?"

Lao Qifeng took a deep breath, exhaled slowly, then looked at Li Miao and said in a deep voice.

"Yes."

Li Miao looked at the Beggar Gang leader who had been silent for a long while.

"You too?"

The Beggar Gang leader sighed heavily, stood up, and walked in front of Li Miao, then actually knelt down with a thud.

"My lord, my Beggar Gang has a question to ask."

Li Miao nodded.

"I know what you want to ask."

"In the past half-year, those seven escaped retainers have been running wild in the Jianghu; I think you should know about that by now."

"You want to ask if the previous leader of your Beggar Gang was recruited by the imperial court as a retainer, and whether he is still alive, right?"

Bang!

The Beggar Gang leader named Yu Qing slammed his head on the ground, his tone filled with wild joy.

"You really knew!"

"Please tell me, is the old leader doing well?"

"I beg you! I beg you!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Yu Qing's head kept hitting the ground, and in a moment, he had broken his forehead, staining the ground in front of him a bright red.

His voice was already trembling, both from wild joy and from weeping uncontrollably. This burly man raised his dust-covered head from the ground, looking humbly at Li Miao, hoping for and yet fearing Li Miao's answer.

Li Miao looked at Yu Qing and reached out to help him up in the air.

Wu Zhiheng.

The first retainer to rush into the Imperial Mausoleum that day, the first to reach the Xiaoling and see the cultivation methods all over the ground. He was also the retainer who joined forces with the retainer surnamed Qi to fight two other retainers that day, and was finally killed by the Emperor with a single finger.

There were only so many retainers; Li Miao and Zhu Zai naturally checked them carefully, and even though Wu Zhiheng's head was shattered by the Emperor, his identity could be determined from his physique and clothing.

Li Miao remembered very clearly that he had said he was once the Beggar Gang leader.

"Wu Zhiheng, right?"

Before Yu Qing could show a look of wild joy, Li Miao's next sentence shattered his fantasy.

"He is dead."

Thud.

Yu Qing's legs went soft, and he sat on the ground, staring blankly at Li Miao.

"The old leader... is dead?"

"Lord Li..."

Li Miao nodded.

"He is indeed dead."

"However, what he did before he died was not bad; at the very least, I think he was a character, so I had someone collect his body."

"If you want it, you can send someone to the Shuntian Prefecture Embroidered Uniform Guard Yamen to retrieve it."

Yu Qing was already weeping uncontrollably, his lips moving.

Li Miao directly raised his hand to stop him.

"Don't ask how he died, and don't ask who killed him. This is a question you should not ask, nor are you worthy to ask."

The things that happened in the Imperial Mausoleum that day naturally could not be let anyone know; Zhu Zai had even carefully screened the Embroidered Uniform Guards present that day, let alone Yu Qing.

So Li Miao directly changed the subject.

He reached out to push the invitation on the table aside, and reached out again to lift Yu Qing into the air and send him to sit at the table, then slowly began to speak.

"Put the matter of the invitation aside for now."

"Let's talk about your two families first."

"Actually, you knew what answer I would give from the very beginning, and you were prepared, right?"

Yu Qing had not yet recovered from his grief, while Lao Qifeng sighed heavily, reached out to pat his shoulder, and then smiled bitterly.

"You are indeed far-sighted and perceptive, my lord."

"You already saw it downstairs, which is why you glanced at me."

Li Miao smiled.

"With the bone structure of those two children, they could have been true disciples even if placed in Wudang or Shaolin. Your two families haven't reached the point of being so wealthy that you can use such good seedlings as servants."

Before entering the building, an eighteen or nineteen-year-old young man served Li Miao clear water, and a child of about ten years old polished his boots.

Li Miao saw at a glance that these two had extraordinary bone structure, which was why he gave Lao Qifeng a meaningful look.

Li Miao tapped his fingers on the table and looked at Yu Qing.

"Wu Zhiheng..."

"I remember him saying before he died that his grandson was still in the Beggar Gang, and he should be ten years old this year, with good natural talent; that must be the boy who polished my shoes, right?"

Yu Qing suppressed his grief and nodded.

"Do you two want to hand these two children over to me?"

Li Miao smiled playfully.

Lao Qifeng nodded.

"Yes, my lord."

He said slowly.

"Although Sect Leader Yu and I both want to keep the Heaven-Man inheritance within our gangs, I was very clear from the beginning that the Beggar Gang and the Beggar Gang are the sects that should least possess a Heaven-Man inheritance."

"Because we are different from other sects confined to one place."

"We have too many people."

Li Miao laughed and raised his hand to point at Lao Qifeng.

"I have felt that Sect Leader Lao suited my fancy since Miao Jiang; you have both the courage to risk your life and the ability to compromise by assessing the situation."

"How about it, are you interested in eating imperial grain?"

Lao Qifeng smiled bitterly and cupped his hands.

"You are joking, my lord."

Both were smart people; they spoke in leaps, and before one sentence was finished, the other already knew the score. There was no need to say everything, as they had already given each other the answers.

Just as Li Miao and Duan Jue said, the Beggar Gang and the Beggar Gang could not have a Heaven-Man inheritance under any circumstances. Unlike regional sects, these two families had too many people and were tied to the livelihoods of too many commoners; they could already be described as "too big to fail."

Giving them a Heaven-Man inheritance, even if they violated Li Miao's rules, Li Miao could not possibly slaughter the tens of thousands of members of these two families, and then the rules would immediately become a mere formality.

And Lao Qifeng and Yu Qing also knew this very well, so they took the initiative to come to the door to show their sincerity.

They certainly wanted to keep the Heaven-Man inheritance, but if Li Miao did not loosen his stance, they were also prepared to take a step back—which was the two young men who washed hands and polished boots for Li Miao.

Hong Chou sighed, stood up, walked to Li Miao's side, took a booklet out of his bosom, and placed it in front of Li Miao.

Yu Qing did the same.

Lao Qifeng stood up and bowed to Li Miao until his head touched the ground.

"My lord, this is the Heaven-Man inheritance of my Beggar Gang, and I hand it over to you, my lord. The best seedling in the gang for practicing this martial art is also handed over to you, my lord."

"My Beggar Gang only asks that the inheritance not be extinguished; otherwise, when I, Lao Qifeng, reach the nine springs, I will have no face to face the founder!"

Yu Qing also bowed until his head touched the ground.

"My Beggar Gang is the same."

Li Miao tapped his fingers on the table and looked at the two with a smile.

This was the calculation of the two leaders.

The imperial court wants to confiscate the Heaven-Man inheritance, so we will hand it over, but at the same time, we will hand over the genius most suitable for practicing this inheritance to the imperial court; from today on, both the person and the inheritance have nothing to do with us.

The imperial court's people practice the imperial court's cultivation methods and work for the imperial court, so naturally, there is no problem.

First, they did not violate the imperial court's wishes, and their own inheritance was not lost.

Second, Li Miao is about to soar into the sky; sending their own good seedlings under Li Miao can also earn a favor. Who knows, one day when Li Miao becomes a Commander, they might become a Regional Commander, and wouldn't he take care of their own gangs then?

Third, what if the situation changes in the future and the Heaven-Man inheritance is no longer a taboo?

In the past half-year, the Jianghu has been surging, and the situation changes every day. They hide the Heaven-Man inheritance and dare not use it, which is the same as not having it, and they have to live in fear.

But sending the good seedlings to Li Miao to practice first, if other families don't have a Heaven-Man in the future and they don't either, then it's the same as before; if other families have a Heaven-Man, then their own good seedlings can be put to use directly, right?

Even if the above calculations all fall through, their own inheritance is not lost, their own good seedlings will not be buried, and they can't be said to have failed the founder.

"The two leaders can be said to have racked their brains for their own gangs, and you have also given me two Heaven-Man inheritances and two good seedlings who can become Heaven-Men."

Li Miao smiled.

"If I don't accept, it would seem like I don't know how to conduct myself."

Having said that, he reached out and threw the two booklets on the table to Shen Xunning for safekeeping.

Lao Qifeng and Yu Qing breathed a long sigh of relief and hurriedly said.

"You are joking, my lord; our two families have never had the slightest disloyal heart. If the imperial court wishes, we will naturally offer it with both hands."

"Alright."

Li Miao waved his hand.

"Sect Leader Lao, Sect Leader Yu, we had a friendship since Miao Jiang, and the fact that you could take the initiative to find me makes this friendship even more precious."

"Let's do as you wish."

"Send the people directly to Shuntian Prefecture, and by the way, take Wu Zhiheng's body back for burial. As for the inheritance of your two families, I will only hand it over to those two to practice."

"From today on, they are my people."

The two lowered their bodies again and said in unison.

"Thank you, my lord!"

"Get up."

Li Miao said lightly.

The two leaders then stood up; Yu Qing was naturally filled with both grief and joy, while Lao Qifeng was relieved.

Li Miao pointed to the invitation on the table and continued.

"Did Sect Leader Yu receive an invitation?"

Yu Qing reached into his bosom and placed an invitation in front of Li Miao.

"Reporting to you, my lord, I just received it a few days ago, and I was preparing to hand it to you for disposal today."

"Who sent it?"

"An old man, at the Peak level; he left after delivering it."

Yu Qing described his appearance, and Li Miao immediately outlined an aged face in his mind; it was exactly the one he killed on Mount Heng that day.

He nodded.

"Understood, Sect Leader Yu may leave."

"Yes."

Yu Qing stood up, bowed, and walked out of the private room.

Li Miao then turned to look at Hong Chou, who had been silent for a long while.

"Old man, tell me about the situation when you fought that person that day."

Hong Chou nodded and told the story in detail.

He became a Heaven-Man after the founding of the Great Dashuo; before he achieved it, he was also famous in the Jianghu. Logically speaking, as long as he made a move, he would be discovered by the imperial court and retainers would be sent to capture him.

But as luck would have it, he had a close friend in the Jianghu back then who had a similar realm and similar natural talent, named Xue Jinxi.

That's right, it was Xue Jinxi, who had been locked in the palace for twenty-one years and then brought into the Imperial Mausoleum by Wang Zhi.

The two achieved the Heaven-Man realm almost at the same time; the first thing they did was to meet, verify their martial arts with each other, and then bid farewell.

The difference was that after they parted, Xue Jinxi made a move once, was discovered by the imperial court, and was captured and imprisoned in the palace; while Hong Chou liked to play in the world, so he did not show his skills in front of people for a full year, so he did not expose his Wu Gong and escaped a disaster.

Back then, the retainers forged the news of Xue Jinxi's death, saying that she died together with a Peak-level demon; the people in the Jianghu all sighed, feeling that a great hero was lost.

But Hong Chou knew very well that Xue Jinxi had already achieved the Heaven-Man realm and could never have died at the hands of a Peak-level expert. So he secretly investigated and finally traced it to Shuntian Prefecture, where he stopped.

He realized something was wrong.

So Hong Chou immediately returned to the Beggar Gang, took away the Heaven-Man inheritance, and arranged for someone to forge the illusion that he had died from a Qi deviation, thus hiding his name and wandering in the Jianghu.

It was not until twenty-seven days ago that he wandered to Taizhou, Zhejiang.

Although he was from the Dirty Clothes Sect, with his Wu Gong, he naturally would not really make himself a beggar who couldn't get enough to eat, but rather it was more like a game in the world.

That day, he had obtained a pot of good wine and specifically wanted to go to Taizhou to watch the sea while drinking.

In the evening, he carried his wine pot and wandered to a quiet seaside; just as he was about to spread out his food to enjoy it, he unexpectedly saw a glimmer of light on the sea in the distance.

Under the wise leadership of the Emperor for twenty-three years, the Dashuo military was lax, and Japanese pirates often invaded the southeast coast, burning, killing, and looting; many heroes became famous for resisting the Japanese pirates.

Hong Chou naturally felt that it might be a small group of Japanese pirates; seeing that light, he knew it was a small boat, at most capable of holding a dozen people. With his Wu Gong, he could completely press them all to death in the sea, so he stayed in place and waited for the other party to dock.

But he did not expect that after the small boat docked, the person who came down was a middle-aged man with a feather fan and a silk scarf, dressed in an ancient but exquisite style, not at all like the short and messy appearance of the Japanese pirates.

Hong Chou breathed a sigh of relief, only feeling that it might be a wealthy family going out to sea to enjoy the scenery and being delayed.

But immediately, he felt something was wrong.

Because he could not see the middle-aged man's Wu Gong; even his "Sumeru" could not see through the other party's true energy.

The other party was a Heaven-Man.

And when the middle-aged man saw Hong Chou, he did not even say a word and killed him directly.

Hong Chou became more and more alarmed as he fought; the other party's moves were not only different from all the Wu Gong in his memory, making it difficult for him to defend, but also had strange power, and in a moment, he was beaten into a disadvantage.

He risked his life to trade a blow with the middle-aged man, was seriously injured, and after picking up the invitation, he fled desperately, which was how he kept his life.

Later, he found it difficult to suppress his injuries and wanted to return to the Beggar Gang to return the Heaven-Man inheritance, so he was brought to Li Miao by Lao Qifeng.

After Li Miao finished listening, he twisted his fingers and a smile slowly appeared on his face.

"It's all connected."

"Poisonous creatures from overseas, sailing ashore, dressed in ancient styles, Wu Gong different from all the sects in the current Jianghu, and showing their heads at this time."

"Eight or nine out of ten, it is as Sect Leader Ji said: hidden sects that went overseas under the suppression of successive dynasties!"

(End of chapter)