Chapter 293: Down the mountain

The 24th year of Jiajing, August 16th.

Early morning.

If the Jianghu people on the summit of Junji Peak felt that the night was full of twists and turns and turbulent waves, the greatest feeling for the Jianghu people gathered outside the mountain gate of the Mount Song Sect was boredom.

There were thousands of Jianghu people who came to join the fun of Lord Li's Moon-Viewing Banquet. Excluding the "upper class" qualified to go up the mountain and the "lower class" waiting at the foot of the mountain, the most uncomfortable were the "middle class" stuck outside the mountain gate of the Mount Song Sect.

If their background were better and their Wu Gong higher, they could go up to the summit of Junji Peak and witness this Jianghu grand event that hadn't appeared in a hundred years; if they were a bit more laid back and directly gave up the idea and waited at the foot of the mountain, their hearts would be more at ease.

It was this awkward situation of being unable to go up and unwilling to go down that forced them to gather outside the mountain gate, hoping that those big shots would directly turn against the Embroidered Uniform Guard so they could take advantage of the chaos to join in the fun.

Of course, with Li Miao there, the situation they hoped for would never happen.

Fortunately, there was other fun to join.

The battle between Li Miao and Yingzhou and Penglai, although largely avoiding the crowd and moving to the other side of Mount Song, had quite a commotion.

Those who could come to Mount Song at this time were not hot-headed youths; they didn't move for a while, and only after the fighting stopped did some bold Jianghu people carefully touch over.

Just after one glance, these people were immediately terrified and stood on the spot, unable to speak for a long time.

After a while, one of them muttered.

"Brother Wang... is this still something a human can do?"

The companion who came with him was also silent for a while, not knowing how to answer.

Just as these people were terrified, they heard a rustling sound from afar, and then Embroidered Uniform Guards darted out from the forest.

So these people scattered and fled again.

The person who had sighed just now fled for a while, thought for a moment, and felt that fleeing down the mountain at this time would be even more conspicuous. There were dozens of Jianghu people who had gone to check, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard hadn't seen his face, so it would be safer to return to the outside of the Mount Song Sect mountain gate and mix into the crowd.

So he circled around again, returned to the outside of the mountain gate, mixed into the crowd and waited for a while, and seeing that the Embroidered Uniform Guards didn't chase, he breathed a sigh of relief.

At this time, a greeting came from behind him.

"Brother Qi!"

He turned his head and was pleasantly surprised.

"Brother Wang!"

The person greeting him was the companion who had gone to check with him. They had separated when fleeing, but he didn't expect him to have thought of the same thing!

He signaled with his eyes, the other party nodded, and the two walked out of the crowd to a secluded corner.

"Brother Wang, you and I thought of the same thing."

He smiled, then suddenly frowned, looked the other party up and down, and said strangely.

"Eh, Brother Wang, you are..."

The other party smiled and pulled up his lapel.

"Oh. I was glanced at by an Embroidered Uniform Guard before I left, although he didn't see my face, my clothes were seen clearly. I 'borrowed' a set of clothes from a fellow Jianghu colleague, and even threw away my weapon to guard against those eagle dogs coming to find people."

He suddenly realized and laughed.

"Brother Wang is still the thoughtful one. Later, Brother Wang, accompany me to 'borrow' a set, and you and I will go down the mountain together."

The other party smiled and nodded, and started talking about business.

"By the way, Brother Qi, just now when the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrived, I vaguely saw you pick up some trinkets from the ground before fleeing and stuff them into your bosom, can you let me see?"

This sentence made him frown.

He didn't want to share this discovery; the traces of the battle there were so terrifying, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard arrived so quickly, it might be related to the "Heaven-Man Inheritance" mentioned by the Sword King Pavilion, and the things he got might be clues.

He wanted to enjoy it alone.

But on second thought, it was a major matter, and the other party was a friend he knew well, so having a helper would be good. So he took a cloth bag from his bosom and handed it to the other party.

"Just before fleeing, I saw some light reflecting on the ground, so I grabbed a handful, I couldn't tell what kind of fragments they were, just let Brother Wang help me consult."

The other party took the cloth bag and unfolded it in his palm.

Inside the cloth bag was a puddle of tiny fragments mixed with soil, the material resembling both iron and jade, rippling with water-like light spots in the moonlight.

"Brother Wang?"

He frowned.

After the other party unfolded the cloth bag, he had no words or actions, standing on the spot, his face changing between cloudy and sunny, his brows locked, just staring dead at the handful of fragments.

"Why, Brother Wang recognizes this object?"

He scanned the surroundings, walked a few steps toward the other party, and asked in a low voice.

The other party then breathed a sigh of relief and said.

"I recognize it."

He leaned in front of the other party and asked in a low, surprised voice.

"What is it?"

"This object is called Yaokun."

The other party said, reaching out and pressing on his shoulder.

He looked at the other party strangely, and before he could speak, suddenly, a burst of True Energy surged into his heart meridian along his Hand Shaoyang Sanjiao Meridian.

"You—"

Before the expression of shock and anger could appear on his face, he stopped moving. The other party's True Energy had locked his meridians, and the sharp True Energy was pressed against his heart meridian like a sharp knife.

As long as he had any unusual movement, the other party could take his life in an instant.

The Jianghu people closest to them vaguely heard an unusual sound, turned their heads to look, and seeing the two walking into the forest hand in hand, there was nothing wrong, so they turned their heads back.

In the dense forest.

He widened his eyes in terror.

The face of "Brother Wang" who had just spoken to him gradually twisted and deformed, and his stature gradually became taller, gradually turning into another person in front of him.

He suddenly remembered the rumor he had heard before that the Iron Palm Gang had been annihilated and an Evil Path expert was going to replace them through disguise techniques.

If the other party was the friend he knew, he still had a chance to plead; but if the other party wasn't... then from the moment he revealed his true face in front of him, he had no possibility of survival.

"Your Excellency—"

As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a sudden pain in his heart.

Then he lost consciousness.

"Brother Wang" didn't look at the corpse that died with eyes wide open again, but took out the cloth bag from his bosom again, spread it in his palm, and looked at it for a long time.

"Sigh—"

He sighed.

"Zheng Ming's flute was snapped in two."

"Zheng Lingsen, Lian Tukun, Xu Ruiguang, probably didn't escape either... these are four Heaven-Man experts, plus a 'main family'."

"Only Zheng Lingchuan escaped from Yingzhou back then, even adding the remaining people from Penglai, it is absolutely impossible to keep them all. They also couldn't snap this flute."

"Then, it must be Li Miao."

He slowly clenched the cloth in his palm.

"If I hadn't come a bit late, if I hadn't been discovered and held back by Ruan Mei who came with the Embroidered Uniform Guard to clean up the scene, I fear even I would have died in his hands."

"A seedling that drifted out back then actually grew into a towering tree without a sound..."

"Must send the news back to Yingzhou as soon as possible."

He turned and was about to go down the mountain.

Suddenly, shouts from the Jianghu people came from the direction of the mountain gate.

"They're down! The seniors who went up the mountain are all down!"

"This, this is!"

"Sect Leader Liu, where is your sword!?"

"Gang Leader Dong, how did you get injured like this!"

"The Kong Dong Sect Leader was carried down... and the Kunlun Sect Leader too! This, this—there's more behind!"

"What on earth happened up there!"

The voices were noisy, and as the banquet attendees returned down the mountain injured one after another, the news of this Moon-Viewing Banquet gradually spread throughout the entire Jianghu.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 294 =====