Chapter 267

Outside Chongqing City, Li Miao waved his hand behind him to bid farewell to the two leaders.

The matter had been settled, and Lao Qifeng and Yu Qing were both people who could see clearly and would not be two-faced. Li Miao had already taken away the Heaven-Man inheritance, and Lao Qifeng could just send someone to Shuntian Prefecture to handle other matters.

After all, the Beggar Gang had cooperated with Li Miao's subordinates many times before, and they had already handed the invitation to Li Miao through Wang Hai, so they were already familiar with the road and Li Miao did not need to send anyone to follow.

Hong Chou followed behind Li Miao without saying a word.

He was already nearing the end of his life, and coming here this time was to prove the sincerity of the Beggar Gang with his own life; Li Miao naturally would not let him return to the Beggar Gang.

Li Miao twisted his fingers and glanced at him.

Li Miao could heal the wounds on his body, but not now.

This person indeed had a heroic reputation and was upright back then. But after all, he had left the Beggar Gang for more than twenty years; what he had done during this time and how much his temperament had changed, even Lao Qifeng dared not be sure, which was one of the reasons why he brought him to Li Miao without hesitation.

And his experience of encountering that middle-aged man also seemed too coincidental; neither Li Miao nor Lao Qifeng would easily believe his one-sided words. Lao Qifeng handing him over to Li Miao itself had the meaning of pushing away this hot potato.

So Li Miao would neither let him leave nor heal his wounds immediately.

He would keep this person by his side to observe for a period of time; if he still showed no flaws when he was about to die, Li Miao would consider recruiting him.

Let's return to the present.

After leaving Chongqing City, Li Miao reached out and grabbed Shen Xunning's collar, lifting him up entirely.

"Eh? Grandmaster?"

Shen Xunning was just about to ask Li Miao why he was lifting him up when he heard Li Miao ask Hong Chou with a smile.

"Old man, running two steps won't kill you, right?"

"It won't."

Hong Chou answered in a muffled voice.

"Then let's go."

Li Miao smiled.

Shen Xunning had just opened his mouth when, in an instant, cold wind poured into his mouth, the surrounding scenery retreated rapidly, and even his vision became blurred.

"Grand~~~~mas~~~~ter"

Accompanied by Shen Xunning's elongated scream, Li Miao rushed straight toward Mount Emei at a speed far exceeding a galloping horse.

————————

"Ugh—"

Shen Xunning leaned against a tree with one hand, his small face pale, retching continuously.

Hong Chou on the side was also pale; although he was not as sorry a sight as Shen Xunning, his chest was heaving continuously, and he looked at Li Miao with suspicion and uncertainty.

Li Miao was quite composed, even his hair was neat, and he looked toward Mount Emei with his hands behind his back.

A moment later, the bushes by the road shook, and several figures rushed out, charging in front of Li Miao and kneeling on one knee.

"Regional Commander!"

"Hmm."

Li Miao looked at Mount Emei.

"Any movement?"

"No, no movement at all."

One person replied.

"Even when subordinates deliberately appeared in front of the Emei disciples who came down the mountain to purchase supplies, there was no abnormality on the mountain."

"Oh?"

Li Miao raised an eyebrow.

Regardless of whether Ruan Mei had returned to Emei, the Embroidered Uniform Guard was swaggering in front of them, and the Emei Sect should have made some reaction, whether it was panic in setting up defenses, fleeing down the mountain, or coming forward to make friends; at the very least, they should have tested the attitude.

This pretense of not seeing... what kind of plan is this?

"Understood, follow me up the mountain."

Li Miao lifted his foot and walked toward the mountain.

Mount Emei has four mountains and seventy-two peaks; the Emei Sect is on the main peak. The mountain body one-third from the top is only exposed to the ground in summer and autumn, and is covered by ice and snow at other times.

It was early autumn, a rare dry season on Mount Emei. At Li Miao's speed, he arrived near the Emei Sect mountain gate in less than half an hour.

Normally, for a large sect like Emei, they should arrange secret sentries and patrolling disciples near the mountain gate on weekdays; at the very least, they would arrange for disciples on duty near the mountain gate to do things like welcoming and seeing off guests.

But Li Miao had not seen a single person on his way here.

With Li Miao's hearing, sounds within a radius of a hundred zhang could not escape his ears. Now that he was near the mountain gate, Li Miao could not hear a single sound.

The Emei Sect is a large sect, but it follows the elite path of "not meeting a true person to pass on the wonderful formula." The outer and inner sects combined only have one or two hundred people, so the territory is not large. Li Miao's hearing is enough to cover one-third of the place, yet there was not even the sound of walking or talking.

The entire Emei Sect was in dead silence.

As if it were already empty.

Li Miao frowned and stood in place for a while, waiting for Shen Xunning and the others to catch up.

Li Miao raised his hand to stop them and said.

"You wait here."

He looked at Hong Chou again.

"You come with me."

Hong Chou did not ask why, nodded, and walked behind Li Miao toward the mountain gate.

Walking outside the gate, Li Miao raised his hand and punched the mountain gate.

Boom!

The door panel fell backward with a bang; just as it tilted halfway, Li Miao raised his eyebrows, and his fist, which had not yet been retracted, struck out again within a square inch!

Bang!

Whoosh—

The huge door panel was directly smashed to pieces by a punch, and wood chips fell to the ground like raindrops.

Li Miao lifted his foot to cross the threshold and squatted down by the threshold.

Lying by his feet was a person.

Hong Chou's expression changed suddenly, his true energy surged instantly, and he had already made a defensive posture, his eyes scanning left and right within the Emei Sect mountain gate.

Li Miao said lightly.

"No need to look; within a radius of a hundred zhang, there is no sound of breathing, nor is there any flow of true energy."

Hong Chou gritted his teeth and looked down at the human body at Li Miao's feet.

"Who could have wiped out the entire Emei Sect without a sound!?"

He had achieved "Sumeru," so he could naturally see that there was not a trace of true energy flowing in this person's body, and there was no rise and fall in his chest; it was clearly a corpse!

Li Miao shook his head.

"No, he is not dead yet."

Li Miao reached out and pressed on this person's pulse.

"Looking at the clothing, this person should be an inner sect disciple. The Emei Sect values quality over quantity in recruiting disciples, and there are only a dozen or so in the inner sect; at the very least, they should have a third-rate standard. But there is not a trace of true energy in this person's body, which is why you think he is already dead."

Hong Chou frowned and said.

"But since he has no breathing, and there is no rise and fall in his chest..."

Li Miao let out a scoff.

"It's just too weak, you can't see it."

"But to be weak to this extent, even I almost didn't notice it; it's quite interesting."

"If we had arrived a day later, he would probably be really dead."

Before the words fell, Li Miao's palm suddenly pressed down!

"Puhah! —"

This person actually sat up in response; as soon as a sound came out of his mouth, a mouthful of fresh blood suddenly surged up and poured back down his trachea. So he fell backward violently, his hands scratching continuously at his own neck.

Swish!

Li Miao drew his fingers together and slashed.

Rip—

This move tore a hole in the person's throat, and the blood poured into the trachea surged out from here, and his front lapel was instantly bright red.

"Old man, wait until the stagnant blood is drained, then you can heal him."

Li Miao stood up and walked toward the inside of the Emei Sect mountain gate.

"I'll go see if there are any other living people."

(End of chapter)