Chapter 319: When a man is about to die, his words are good

The old man explained his background, and when the passerby heard the name "Kongming Sect" and saw the other party's kind attitude and righteous words, he gradually calmed down.

The Kongming Sect was indeed the largest and only famous and righteous sect in the Jianghu of Guangxin Prefecture.

Perhaps some might find it contradictory: since those three disciples could commit such filthy acts as killing innocent people to claim credit without any guilt, why did this passerby seem to trust the name of the Kongming Sect so much?

In fact, this is not contradictory.

When Li Miao first started traveling the Jianghu, the Squire Wu he met at Pingshan Guard, who took a Miao witch as a concubine, was actually very suitable as an example to explain this bizarre situation.

Did he care about human life? No, in his eyes, a few human lives were just "commodities" that could be bought with silver; was his process of starting his business legitimate? No, his family had relied on clever seizure and robbery to accumulate their wealth, and every inch of land carried blood.

But he also did good deeds and would restrain his own retainers, trying his best not to "do things to the extreme." If he encountered a major disaster or plague, he would also lose money to provide porridge and relief, as if he were truly a great philanthropist.

This is called "those with constant property have constant hearts."

For the Kongming Sect, human hearts were the foundation for long-term inheritance in this Guangxin Prefecture. They had no need to be like the mud-legged people of the evil path, making their eating habits look too ugly.

So those three disciples were truly just "individual behavior," which is why this passerby calmed down upon hearing the name "Kongming Sect."

When he told the old man everything he had seen at the tea stall, the old man's expression immediately turned ugly.

He had been following the trail of his own disciples to this place, and after hearing the passerby's description, how could he not guess that the one whose head had been cut off was his own disciple?

Regardless of the fact that the passerby was still talking, he turned around, mounted his horse, gave a sharp shout, and led his sect disciples galloping toward the location of the tea stall.

After only a few miles, a moment later, the old man saw the dilapidated tea stall by the road from afar.

Dismounting, pulling his sword, and drawing it—all in one go.

Furious and murderous, the old man did not stop, using light-body techniques to lead his disciples as they charged over!

The area outside the tea stall was a mess, with tables, chairs, teapots, and fallen items knocked over by fleeing passersby everywhere.

This tea stall was open on all sides, and before they even got close, the wind brought the thick smell of blood to the old man's face.

At a distance of about fifty yards, the old man saw the situation inside the tea stall—two corpses were vaguely lying on the ground, and judging by their figures, they were indeed his own disciples.

There were four other people in the tea stall.

A woman was standing by a tree outside, holding her sword, with a dogtail grass in her mouth, eyes closed, resting. Two men were surrounding a table in the center of the tea stall, heads down, not knowing what they were doing, occasionally whispering to each other.

The last person was sitting at a table on the periphery of the tea stall, leaning against the table, drinking tea in a leisurely manner. Seeing them rush over, he raised his teacup with a smile as if nothing had happened.

The old man's veins bulged, and his eyelids twitched uncontrollably.

After doing such a thing, they didn't run!

And they were still greeting him!

Audacious!

He endured his anger, walked quickly to the outside of the tea stall, first glanced at the woman outside, and after confirming that she knew no Wu Gong, he turned his head and said in a deep voice.

"I have one question I would like to ask, please answer truthfully, you three."

He pointed at the two corpses on the ground.

"Are these two disciples of my Kongming Sect killed by you?"

The two busy at the table didn't pay any attention to him, not even turning their heads to look at him, their hands not stopping.

It was the man sitting to the side drinking tea who shook his head with a smile.

"You asked incorrectly, how can we answer?"

The old man's brows furrowed even tighter, and he said in a deep voice.

"Where is it incorrect?"

"The number is incorrect."

The man shook his finger.

"First, it's not three people, it's two. Can't you see that I don't know Wu Gong? If you want to ask, you should go ask those two busy people. Don't drag me into your Jianghu people's business."

"Second... are you two done yet?"

A crisp *crack* sound came from the table in the center of the tea stall.

The two who had been busy there stopped their movements in unison, looked at each other, and answered in unison.

"Done."

"How is it 'done'?"

Gao Anyu scratched his head embarrassedly.

"Uh... I struck a bit too hard, it seems I punctured something, and he lost his breath all at once."

Cao Hanyan sighed.

"The liver, Brother Gao punctured the liver."

Upon hearing this, the old man suddenly realized something, stared intently at the table behind the two, was stunned for a moment, and then couldn't help but take half a step back, the veins on his forehead bulging!

The disciples behind him widened their eyes even more, and some of the younger disciples covered their mouths, almost vomiting.

Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu finally turned around, revealing what was on the table—that seemed to be a person!

If not for a pale and familiar face staring wide-eyed in this direction, they would almost not have been able to recognize that it was a person!

If one were to weigh the remaining parts on the table, it would be hard to say if it even reached eighty pounds! It was precisely because of this that Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu were able to block it completely!

A wail came from behind the old man.

"Shouzhen!"

A female disciple was about to rush over, but was dragged back by others, struggling constantly, tears and snot streaming down her face.

At this time, Li Miao continued to speak.

"This second point, it's not two disciples of your Kongming Sect who died, but three... Oh, actually, when you just arrived, it was still two, but unfortunately, you asked your question too slowly and wasted some time."

"If you had been able to ask correctly, I wouldn't have had to correct you, and wouldn't have had to waste time. This person, what's his name, Young Hero Bei, might have been able to survive."

"Aiya, what a pity."

He sipped his tea slowly and smiled.

"Look, it's all your fault."

Li Miao's opening was completely no less aggressive than An Ziyang's. In this world, the only one who could endure his mouth was the dead Xing Chi; how could this old man endure it?

*Swish! *

The old man lunged forward, raising his sword to stab Li Miao directly!

This sword strike was launched in anger, without any restraint! He swore to take Li Miao's head!

In an instant, he was in front of Li Miao!

But Li Miao turned a deaf ear, not even taking a look, just adding tea to his cup on his own.

Then came a *clang* sound, as a black ruler extended from the side to intercept the long sword!

"Striking at my Uncle Li in front of me, do you think I'm dead!"

"Brother Cao, leave the old man to me, you go finish off the rest!"

The two weapons overlapped and rubbed against each other in mid-air, circling several times, sparks flying! And in this process, a low humming sound gradually grew louder.

The old man's expression turned solemn, and he suddenly withdrew his sword and retreated rapidly!

"Eh?"

Gao Anyu flashed over and pursued, the black ruler smashing toward the old man's head!

The old man dodged to the side, not taking the move at all. Gao Anyu, however, had no intention of going around him; the black ruler turned abruptly at his waist, changing from a vertical strike to a horizontal slash, encompassing the entire plane.

Only then did the old man raise his sword to block and guide, diverting the force on the black ruler and obstructing it for a moment. He himself withdrew and retreated again, avoiding Gao Anyu's move, his long sword drilling from bottom to top from the side of the black ruler into Gao Anyu's embrace, aiming straight for the armpit!

Gao Anyu was unable to withdraw his move to block in time!

Gao Anyu gave a grim smile.

Then came a *ding* sound. In the blink of an eye, Gao Anyu actually flicked his wrist, the black ruler moved upward along his arm, and then he grabbed the front end of the black ruler, using the sword hilt to block the old man's blade!

Although Gao Anyu's Wu Gong looked generally like a sword technique, its foundation was this black ruler. The black ruler was not sharpened, horizontal and vertical, naturally having moves that ordinary long swords could never use!

Seeing that he couldn't succeed, the old man flourished his sword, attempting to attack Gao Anyu's side ribs again, but was blocked by the black ruler.

The two became entangled, exchanging more than ten moves.

Gao Anyu, however, became more and more suspicious as they fought, and taking advantage of a gap in the other party's moves, he suddenly asked.

"Old man, do you recognize this weapon of mine?"

Although Gao Anyu was crazy, he wasn't stupid. As soon as they exchanged moves, the old man immediately withdrew and retreated as soon as he heard the unique humming sound of the black ruler. In the subsequent exchanges, Gao Anyu also clearly felt that the other party was deliberately avoiding the collision between his weapon and the black ruler!

Ever since he started traveling the Jianghu, using the black ruler to break the other party's weapons had been invincible, and no one had ever noticed, at most only defending after suffering a loss. This was the first time someone had fought him for nearly twenty moves, and their weapon was still intact!

This was definitely not something that could be done by Jianghu experience; the other party must know something!

Perhaps he had seen similar methods before, or simply had seen someone use the weapon!

The old man, however, did not answer at all, his moves becoming more and more ruthless, not only with the new hatred of three disciples being killed today, but looking at his expression, it seemed there were some old grudges from the past!

"You really do know! You have a grudge against this weapon of mine, right!"

Gao Anyu said excitedly.

"Good, good! I want to see how much you know!"

"Take this move of mine, 'Ink Dragon Breaks the Mountain'!"

The black ruler tumbled in the air, instantly transforming into a black dragon, slashing toward the old man's head with incomparable speed!

The old man was unhurried, advancing instead of retreating, drilling directly under Gao Anyu's arm, his long sword held vertically, stabbing toward Gao Anyu's upper arm like a long snake spitting its tongue!

"You can break it too!"

Gao Anyu became even more excited, his feet moving, turning his arm to avoid the old man's blade, and he gave a sharp shout!

"Try this move again, 'Mysterious Coffin Suppresses the Soul'!"

The black ruler turned, sealing and closing, several black shadows locking the space around the old man!

The old man gave a cold snort, his long sword tapping continuously, each sword strike hitting exactly at the three-seven junction of the black ruler, where the force was weakest, actually breaking Gao Anyu's move in an instant!

"Thousand Peaks Cross-Cut!"

"Cangming Points the Snow!"

"Nether Crow Sweeps the Sky!"

Gao Anyu shouted continuously, his moves not stopping, using them one after another, all unique moves completely unrelated to ordinary sword techniques! And the old man actually didn't say a word, breaking these moves one by one!

Not only was the weapon in his hand intact, but even these moves to break the moves were rounded and smooth, used as if he had practiced these moves countless times and knew them by heart!

And Gao Anyu, having had several moves broken, was not dejected, but the expression on his face became even more excited!

"You didn't just see it!"

His hands didn't stop, and he said excitedly.

"You have seen these moves of mine more than once, and you have secretly thought of a way to break them!"

"With your aptitude, it would take no less than several years to break these moves, and you not only broke several of my moves, but even practiced this method of breaking moves to perfection... If there wasn't a great connection, you would never spend so much effort on it!"

"Who are you! Do you recognize me!"

"Speak! Speak!"

The old man heard Gao Anyu's words, and his face was also uncertain.

At the first moment of the fight, he recognized the weapon in the other party's hand, so his first reaction was that the other party had come to his door because of past grudges and killed his disciples.

But looking at Gao Anyu's words now... the other party seemed not to know where his inheritance came from at all, and even wanted to ask him about it!

His thoughts turned, and the old man already had a plan in his heart.

The hatred for the three disciples could be put aside for now. They were just three true-transmission disciples with mediocre aptitude and an upper limit of second-rate; dying, while painful, was not a matter of hurting the muscles and bones.

If he could take advantage of this matter to plot and seize the weapon and inheritance in the other party's hands... that was an inheritance and brilliant Wu Gong that could point directly to the "Heaven-Man" realm!

With this, what was the life of a disciple? Even if he had to stake his own life, he would be happy to do it!

Once his mind was made up, he was about to speak.

"You—"

"Little Gao, why did you forget what I taught you just now so quickly?"

As soon as the words left his mouth, they were interrupted by Li Miao's lazy voice.

Gao Anyu's ears moved, and while fighting the old man, he asked: "Uncle Li, tell me!"

"I just told you the essentials of interrogation: do not be soft-hearted, use all your methods, and then listen to what the other party has to say."

Li Miao said unhurriedly.

"This principle is the same before interrogation."

"You haven't beaten him yet, what is the point of asking him questions? His life is not yet in your hands, which is equivalent to you having no chips to exchange with him. What are you listening to him for?"

"Dealing with people who have ill intentions, if the other party is unwilling to confess, then beat them until they confess. Even if the other party is willing, you must first peel off a layer of their skin before their words have a shred of credibility."

Li Miao said to Gao Anyu with a smile.

"Isn't there a saying, 'When a man is about to die, his words are good'?"

"Think about it in reverse: if you don't beat him until he is 'about to die' first, how can he 'speak good words'?"

Gao Anyu suddenly realized, and said excitedly.

"Uncle Li! I understand!"

Cao Hanyan, who was beating up the other Kongming Sect disciples one by one with the back of his blade, had a dark face and almost couldn't hold back from speaking.

Brother Gao, what did you understand!

Can "When a man is about to die, his words are good" be interpreted this way!

Can you not have such high comprehension!

The old man on the other side had an even darker face, and the words he had just made up were swallowed back helplessly.

After Gao Anyu said "I understand," he stopped talking.

Before, he had to shout the names before making moves, actually deliberately letting the old man know what moves he was making, so as to test whether the other party really recognized his Wu Gong.

Now that he had "understood," he naturally wouldn't do that again, and the moves in his hands changed instantly!

The old man instantly felt the pressure on his hands suddenly increase!

Gao Anyu was no longer using those standard moves that looked like they were copied from a secret manual! Each move was rounded and smooth, and the change of moves was just an instant!

He was no longer holding back, filled with murderous intent, and was about to break all four of the old man's limbs! Then he would use all the interrogation methods Li Miao taught him to interrogate his own origin and life story!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 320 =====