Chapter 277: The Righteous Path

The four of them wove through the crowd, stepping over the haphazardly discarded long and short weapons on the ground, bypassing countless tents, and finally stepped onto the mountain path under the gaze of hundreds of martial artists.

An Ziyang walked in front, chatting and laughing with Qi Shuyun.

Liu Xuan and Wen Lianrong followed behind, though they were not as composed as before. Liu Xuan would occasionally glance at An Ziyang's back as he chatted with Qi Shuyun, and then glance at the bundle An Ziyang held—the one containing Tang He's head.

He was not stupid.

Having traveled with An Ziyang for several days, it was enough for his heart, previously immersed in the excitement of "life-saving grace" and "turning danger into safety," to gradually clear.

The *Marriage Robe Divine Art* had been lost since the destruction of the Ming Sect, and it was said to be in the hands of the imperial court; when the Sword King Pavilion emerged, there was friction with the Tang Men, and it was said that an elder of the Tang Men who did not bear the surname Tang had invited the Northern Suppressing Commissioner of the Embroidered Uniform Guard to mediate, which was how the Sword King Pavilion ceased their aggression.

An Ziyang had never told him his identity, only that he was surnamed An, so they had called him "Young Master An" all along. While the surname An was not particularly rare, there was only one person in the Ordinary Jianghu whose martial arts, age, methods, and connections to the Tang Men, the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and witchcraft could all match up.

And as his suspicions about An Ziyang's identity grew, Li Miao's identity also began to point in the same direction.

A direction Liu Xuan instinctively did not want to acknowledge.

"Young Master An is a 'halfway convert'; perhaps he had a friendship with Hero Li beforehand? Given Hero Li's martial arts, it is possible for him to be on good terms with Young Master An, right?"

Liu Xuan's expression was uncertain. Suddenly, Wen Lianrong took his hand. He turned to look at her.

"Senior Brother."

Wen Lianrong looked into his eyes and shook her head slowly.

Their hearts were in sync, and Liu Xuan instantly understood her meaning.

"Judging people by their names or appearances is unwise. Moreover, Young Master An and Hero Li have truly saved our lives. If you harbor suspicions because of Ordinary Jianghu rumors, wouldn't that be ungrateful and small-minded?"

"Besides, since we are here, we must face it. If you act like a timid girl, wouldn't that bring shame to the Huashan Sword Sect?"

Liu Xuan's face flushed, and he nodded.

"I understand, Junior Sister."

An Ziyang, who had been paying attention to his movements, turned around and smiled at him.

"Sect Leader Liu, if you have worries, it's not too late to think about them after we reach the mountain. Such a grand event may not happen again for decades. If you just glance at it and leave, you might regret it later."

Liu Xuan nodded.

"Young Master An is right."

He then quickened his pace to walk alongside An Ziyang.

At this point on the mountain path, although there were not as many people as at the foot of the mountain, it was still bustling. One could easily spot several famous figures in the Ordinary Jianghu with a casual glance, and third-rate experts were as common as weeds by the roadside, lacking even the qualification to walk in the middle of the path.

Yet, even in such a situation, the four of them attracted many gazes.

Because of the bundle An Ziyang was carrying.

Three round objects created outlines in the bundle, which could be said to have "noses and eyes." Liquid occasionally dripped from the bottom of the bundle. Although there was no smell, one could still see the scarlet and yellowish liquid mixed within.

With the Embroidered Uniform Guard summoning everyone and the righteous path of the world gathering, what kind of person would dare to carry three human heads and swagger up the mountain at this time?

Someone examined the four of them closely.

"Liu Xuan, the woman beside him is unfamiliar, but judging by her footwork and sword, they should both be from the Huashan Sword Sect, at most two second-rate experts."

"Qi Shuyun, an old first-rate expert, a righteous master. Although his martial arts are outstanding among first-rate experts, he doesn't carry much weight at this grand event on Mount Song."

"But that young man carrying the heads... Hiss!"

The man retreated half a step.

"Fox-like face, pale complexion, crescent-shaped mouth, slender build, long sword at his waist... Yes, it's him, it's definitely him!"

His lips trembled, and he clamped them shut. Without hesitation, he grabbed his companion and dived into the dense forest by the roadside, disappearing.

In his panic, his movements were not subtle at all.

An Ziyang had appeared in the Ordinary Jianghu many times over the past half-year, but few who had seen him had survived, so most people were suspicious and did not dare to act. But once someone took the lead, it was different.

*Whoosh*—

Almost instantly, the crowd in front of An Ziyang cleared out.

The crowd parted like the sea.

Liu Xuan's eyes twitched, not knowing how to react.

An Ziyang, however, sneered and walked forward.

As the four of them moved forward, the crowd parted accordingly. An Ziyang was accustomed to this, but the other three had never seen such a scene. Having spent their lives in the righteous path, they had never been surrounded by such fearful and terrified gazes, and for a time, they lost the heart to look around and hurried forward.

With the speed of the four, they reached the gate of the Mount Song Sect in a short while. Upon reaching this place, Liu Xuan finally let out a long breath and slowed his pace.

"Sect Leader Liu is quite impatient."

An Ziyang's teasing voice came from behind.

Liu Xuan turned his head and gave a dry laugh.

"I have made a fool of myself, Young Master An."

"No matter."

An Ziyang waved his hand.

"The people at the foot of the mountain and on the mountain path, although they look impressive, are only capable of putting on a show in front of ordinary martial artists; it makes no difference whether you look at them or not."

"The truly qualified to enter the mountain gate to enjoy the moon, except for those who have already entered, are basically all in front of you now."

An Ziyang walked to Liu Xuan's side and gestured.

"Look, Sect Leader Liu."

"What is before you now can be called half of the Ordinary Jianghu."

Liu Xuan looked up and was momentarily stunned. Wen Lianrong and Qi Shuyun also followed his gaze, and they too were speechless, only exhaling a long breath after a while.

"The Ordinary Jianghu... I have walked the Ordinary Jianghu for nearly twenty years, and only now have I truly seen the Ordinary Jianghu."

Qi Shuyun muttered.

Outside the gate of the Mount Song Sect, it was no longer a dense forest. Expanding from the mountain path outside the gate, a flat area of a hundred paces square had been cleared. Standing at the entrance of this platform, the four of them suddenly felt a sense of dizziness.

It was not only those who had cultivated the Sumeru realm who could sense the true energy in others; anyone with martial arts training could feel it to some extent, but those below the first-rate could only vaguely sense the opponent's general level.

But at this very moment, whether it was Qi Shuyun, who had just become a peak expert, or Liu Xuan and Wen Lianrong, who were second-rate, they all felt the true energy surging like the sea before them.

That was the true energy surging from nearly half of the experts in the Ordinary Jianghu.

Looking out, this hundred-pace platform was packed with people. High monks, swordsmen, demonic women, bandits—all kinds of people occupied every corner, each a famous figure in the Ordinary Jianghu, each with true energy surging within them no less than Liu Xuan's.

And all these people were looking in one direction.

The mountain gate of the Mount Song Sect.

Liu Xuan scanned the area, but his expression changed drastically, and he whispered to An Ziyang.

"Young Master An... why does it seem that most of these are people from the demonic path?"

He had only scanned the area roughly, but he had already seen several notorious bandits and demons. And judging by their eyes, expressions, and weapons, within the range of his vision, the demonic path people were in the majority, which was clearly extremely abnormal.

Since ancient times, the number of people in the demonic path had been far fewer than those in the righteous path. The Ordinary Jianghu was not a place of clear-cut boundaries, and even righteous forces were often not that clean. As long as they were generally willing to abide by the "Ordinary Jianghu rules" and did not commit atrocities that spread throughout the Ordinary Jianghu, they could generally call themselves righteous.

After all, people desire stability; only lunatics and fools would keep splashing in muddy water, but anyone with a brain would leave themselves a way out and look for opportunities to "wash their hands of the business" or "turn over a new leaf."

Because of this, even when the demonic path was at its most rampant, their numbers did not exceed one-third of the righteous path.

Yet, at this grand gathering that encompassed almost the entire Ordinary Jianghu, outside the gate of the Mount Song Sect, the demonic path outnumbered the righteous path.

An Ziyang smiled.

"It is only like this outside the mountain gate."

He pointed to the mountain gate of the Mount Song Sect.

"The reason lies there."

Liu Xuan followed An Ziyang's finger and looked closely.

On the left side of the open gate of the Mount Song Sect stood a giant rock. It was at least a thousand catties, and its base was deeply embedded in the ground.

Liu Xuan examined it closely, and his pupils shrank.

Underneath the giant rock, on both sides, there seemed to be two pieces of cloth, scarlet red, swaying slowly in the mountain wind.

"Look closer, Sect Leader Liu."

An Ziyang smiled.

With that, he took Liu Xuan's arm and stepped forward.

The four of them walked to the giant rock and stopped.

Liu Xuan's face turned pale.

Underneath that giant rock, it was not two pieces of cloth, or rather, it was more than just cloth.

Those were two trouser legs, wrapped around two severed limbs. Dried bloodstains, already shattered into flakes, clung to them, occasionally being torn off by the mountain wind and rolling on the ground.

In the crevices at the bottom of the giant rock, there was overflowing flesh and blood, already blackened and withered, emitting a faint, fishy stench that drilled into Liu Xuan's nose from the ground, as if telling him of its misery.

"Ugh."

Liu Xuan and Qi Shuyun could barely suppress the fear and shock in their hearts, but Wen Lianrong, who had been practicing martial arts within the mountain gate and had never walked the Ordinary Jianghu, turned pale and suddenly raised her hand to cover her mouth.

An Ziyang's teasing laughter came from the side.

"This is the reason."

"For this grand event, although it invited both righteous and evil, it only invited forces, not lone experts. But since this matter has spread throughout the Ordinary Jianghu, as you have seen on the way up the mountain, in fact, all Ordinary Jianghu people want to come and join in the fun."

"The righteous path is easy to talk to. Even if they didn't receive an invitation, as long as they talk to a familiar sect and submit a visiting card, they can be considered a person of status, and even if there is no seat, they can follow along to take a look."

"But those in the demonic path are not so honest."

An Ziyang looked down at the two severed limbs extending from under the giant rock and said slowly.

"The first batch of invited sects received their invitations a month ago, and the news has been spreading throughout the Ordinary Jianghu since then. Mount Song is in the center of the Great Ming territory, and experts above the first-rate set off immediately, arriving at Mount Song by early August."

"Among them, naturally, there is no lack of people like Tang He, who harbor ill intentions."

An Ziyang pointed to the outer wall of the Mount Song Sect.

Following his finger, Liu Xuan looked at the corner of the outer wall, and was speechless again. At the corners of the outer wall of the Mount Song Sect, patches of scarlet soil appeared every few paces.

"There are those who secretly poison the water sources on Mount Song, those who scale the walls at night wanting to investigate, and those who carry judge's pens wanting to carve 'So-and-so was here' on the mountain gate. These are all small fry, basically handled by the manpower of the Mount Song Sect."

"But, there are also those like this person—"

He pointed to the two severed limbs extending from under the giant rock.

"Good martial arts, but a muddled brain. Relying on their own strength, wanting to use this opportunity to become famous."

"By the way, he is now just two legs, Sect Leader Liu might not recognize him, but you must have heard his name."

An Ziyang looked up and smiled.

"His name is Zhao Qiaoqiao."

Hearing An Ziyang's words, Liu Xuan suddenly looked up, shocked.

"'Blood Garment' Zhao Qiaoqiao!?"

"Isn't he already dead!?"

"Of course not, oh, he is indeed dead now."

An Ziyang smiled.

Ordinary Jianghu people of recent years might not know the name Zhao Qiaoqiao. It was only because although the Huashan Sword Sect was not powerful, its heritage was long, which was why Liu Xuan could react.

But the title "Blood Garment" was something all Ordinary Jianghu people remembered deeply. Because this title did not refer to one person, but an identity, a status.

This was the title of the Master of the Blood Garment Tower.

The Blood Garment Tower was a very rare demonic force in the Ordinary Jianghu with a history of over a hundred years. They worked as assassins, and the assassins in the tower were ranked from low to high as "Green Garment," "Black Garment," "White Garment," and the highest, "Blood Garment."

Unlike other forces, no member of the Blood Garment Tower, except for the successor to the Master, would walk the Ordinary Jianghu with their true identity. Whenever the previous "Blood Garment" died, all the "White Garments" in the tower would begin a brutal internal struggle.

Finally, the person who dyed their white garment blood-red with the blood of all other "White Garments" would be the Master of the Blood Garment Tower and the next "Blood Garment." At the peak of the Blood Garment Tower, the title "Blood Garment" was even more effective than the Abbot of Shaolin or the Sect Leader of Mount Wudang.

Zhao Qiaoqiao was the last "Blood Garment" and the last Master before the Blood Garment Tower collapsed.

About ten years ago, for unknown reasons, the then-Master Zhao Qiaoqiao suddenly fought internally with all the "White Garments" in the sect, and finally, less than one in ten "White Garments" remained, and Zhao Qiaoqiao died as a result, causing the Blood Garment Tower to fall apart. Zuo Lishan at the time also took this opportunity to break into the headquarters of the Blood Garment Tower and become famous throughout the Ordinary Jianghu.

But this Zhao Qiaoqiao, who should have died ten years ago, had appeared again and died inexplicably on Mount Song.

An Ziyang smiled.

"He faked his death ten years ago because his martial arts had broken through a certain barrier and he sensed danger. The internal struggle and collapse of the Blood Garment Tower were actually a cover he created to escape."

"Now, he felt it was time to re-emerge in the Ordinary Jianghu, and with this grand event, he wanted to use this opportunity to become famous and rebuild the Blood Garment Tower."

"When he went up the mountain that day, he was quite imposing. He killed many people along the way, killing his way up the mountain path, with blood flowing down his clothes. The Sect Leader of the Kongtong Sect, who came to the banquet, was also a peak expert, but he wanted to step forward to stop him, but couldn't even hold on for a single move before being knocked to the ground."

"It was truly terrifying."

"Then he died."

"Ah?"

An Ziyang was just talking about how arrogant Zhao Qiaoqiao's momentum was and how high his martial arts were, and the next sentence jumped to his death without any buildup, leaving Liu Xuan confused.

Fortunately, An Ziyang had no intention of keeping him in suspense, smiled, and continued.

"He didn't continue to attack the Kongtong Sect Leader at the time, just sneered, said a few wild words, and was about to raise his hand to blast open the mountain gate and walk in swaggeringly."

"At that very moment, this rock flew out from within the Mount Song Sect and fell straight down on him. He raised his hand to block it, but before he could even fart, he was smashed into meat paste."

"The Blood Garment was left with only two bloody trouser legs."

Liu Xuan felt as if he were listening to a fairy tale.

This rock, looked at closely, was at least a thousand catties; even a peak expert specializing in hard qigong could barely lift it, which was already shocking, let alone according to An Ziyang's description, this thing "flew" out and smashed Zhao Qiaoqiao to death without missing a beat.

Using a thousand-catty giant rock as a hidden weapon?

Was this not some immortal from a storybook?

"Who... is this..."

Liu Xuan asked, stammering.

An Ziyang smiled.

"Naturally, it is the person who invited all the heroes of the world to come here to enjoy the moon."

"Everyone present that day, seeing this situation, was as incredulous as Sect Leader Liu. Just as everyone was stunned on the spot, not knowing what to do, a voice came from within the Mount Song Sect and said one sentence."

An Ziyang's face showed a look of longing. He muttered.

"If you want to attend the banquet, you must walk the right path."

"Only these eight words."

"Now, does Sect Leader Liu know why there are so many demonic path people outside this mountain gate?"

An Ziyang looked at Liu Xuan, who was still stunned, and smiled.

"Because someone used Zhao Qiaoqiao's life to set the rules outside the mountain gate."

"Those who have been invited can enter directly to attend the banquet. Righteous experts can also submit a visiting card, and as long as their status is sufficient, they can also enter."

"But, if it is the demonic path, they have to walk this 'right path'."

With that, An Ziyang gestured toward the open mountain gate of the Mount Song Sect.

"Righteous people can enter, demonic people dare not act rashly, but few have the ability to walk this 'right path', so they can only pile up outside this mountain gate."

"Only after walking this 'right path' are they qualified to attend the banquet."

"Sect Leader Liu, do you want to see this 'right path'?"

Just as the four were talking, there was a sudden commotion in the crowd behind them. Several exclamations rang out.

"Is it him?"

"He's here too!"

"Yes, perhaps he can break through the third courtyard and sit at the main banquet!"

"Senior, I will go with you!"

"And me!"

Liu Xuan turned to look.

In the crowd, a vortex suddenly appeared, slowly rolling toward the mountain gate. A tall figure was at the center of the vortex, walking toward the mountain gate.

This man was about fifty years old, his hair already gray, and lines had appeared at the corners of his eyes. His two sword-like eyebrows slanted toward his temples. His build was exceptionally tall; ordinary people could probably only reach his shoulders. He wore a simple coarse garment, but the sleeves had been torn off, revealing two arms as thick as Liu Xuan's waist.

From a distance, Liu Xuan only met his gaze and felt a sense of suffocation.

An Ziyang, who was behind him, suddenly smiled.

"These demonic people have been waiting here for several days, and finally, someone has dared to step forward."

"Let's go, Sect Leader Liu."

"Let's go in too, and watch the fun."

(End of chapter)