Chapter 320: Yushan

When Gao Anyu no longer shouted the names of his moves, and no longer deliberately delivered standard moves that looked like they were copied from a secret manual to him, the old man finally understood—the biggest gap between him and Gao Anyu was not that black ruler and the so-called "Heaven-Man inheritance."

It was the two people themselves.

The black ruler tumbled in the air, transforming into a black dragon and slashing toward the old man's head. The old man saw clearly that this was exactly the "Ink Dragon Breaks the Mountain" that Gao Anyu had used once before.

But when he wanted to follow suit, drilling under Gao Anyu's arm and stabbing his long sword toward his armpit, Gao Anyu's face revealed a disdainful smile.

When the long sword was only half an inch away from his armpit, his right foot suddenly moved half a step.

Thus, the long sword pierced through his clothing and grazed his skin, but did not leave a single wound.

And with this incomparably swift half-step, the center of gravity of Gao Anyu's body also changed abruptly. The black ruler, which had been slashing downward, followed the change in center of gravity and drew an arc in mid-air in an instant—changing into a horizontal slash!

"Thousand Peaks Cross-Cut"!

The old man's pupils shrank.

He had to move forward one step to drill under Gao Anyu's arm, and now that Gao Anyu had changed from a vertical slash to a horizontal slash, he wanted to dodge, but his already formed pace could not be adjusted in time.

He could no longer dodge.

The long sword was raised helplessly to protect his front. The old man could only watch helplessly as that black ruler got closer and closer to his weapon.

He could already foresee the result.

*Clang*—*Boom*!

In an instant, fragments flew!

The long sword suddenly broke in the middle, and metal fragments grazed the old man's cheek, leaving a bloody cut.

"Ugh!"

The old man forcibly suppressed the sharp pain coming from his palm and took advantage of this instant to dodge and escape several yards away. As soon as he stopped, he suddenly staggered.

Having barely stabilized his figure, the old man raised his head, and Gao Anyu was already in front of him, the black ruler smashing toward his left arm with incomparable speed.

Li Miao shook his head with a smile.

The outcome was decided.

From the moment the old man didn't use his own main Wu Gong, but instead thought about breaking Gao Anyu's moves, he was destined to lose.

Breaking moves is also a move; if it's a move, it has flaws. The old man practiced hard for several years to find the flaws in Gao Anyu's moves, while Gao Anyu only needed an instant to break the old man's moves.

This is the cruelest point on the path of Wu Gong—perhaps the efforts of a mediocre person's whole life cannot catch up to a move that a genius realizes casually.

The old man seemed to understand this point as well, no longer showing off the few moves he had practiced hard, but instead turning to fight Gao Anyu with his sect's Wu Gong, but it was already difficult to reverse the decline.

The weapon was only half left, and his dominant hand was shaken until it was bloody and bruised; he could no longer win against Gao Anyu.

Li Miao stood up and walked out of the tea stall, bypassed Cao Hanyan, who was knocking on the heads of the Kongming Sect disciples like a game of whack-a-mole with the back of his blade, and walked to Zheng Yi's side.

Zheng Yi had been watching him just now, as if she had something to say, but it was inconvenient to speak because there were many people around. Now that the others were fighting lively, it was just the right time to talk.

Zheng Yi looked at the people fighting, didn't move, and her true energy gathered her voice, sending it to Li Miao's ear.

"My lord, how long are you going to manage these matters?"

Li Miao raised his eyebrows.

"Hmm?"

Zheng Yi held her sword with an expressionless face, looked at Gao Anyu, who was fighting lively with the old man, her lips moved slightly, and her voice continued to ring in Li Miao's ear.

"My lord, have you forgotten that our trip is to find 'Zheng Huaijin', the disciple who left our Penglai?"

Zheng Yi sighed silently.

"You like Gao Anyu, so it's fine to keep him by your side, or if you find him annoying, let Cao Hanyan take him back to Shuntian; neither will delay things,"

"If you want to rectify the Kongming Sect, you only need to send a message back to Shuntian, and within half a month, the few thousand-household commanders under you will naturally finish the matter for you."

"While we are wasting time here, the people from Yingzhou may have already boarded the ship and are rushing toward this Great Ming."

Zheng Yi sighed again.

"My lord, although I am of the Penglai inheritance, I know that there aren't many people in Yingzhou either; these people don't pose any threat to the Great Ming—but it's hard to say for you yourself."

"After all, the greatest use of martial artists since ancient times is assassination, and you have origins with Yingzhou; it's hard to say if they have methods to deal with you in their hands, or if they are hiding experts who can rival you?"

"Without finding out the bottom line of Yingzhou, my heart can never be put down."

After a month of getting along, the two had established initial trust, and Zheng Yi's words could be considered heartfelt; at the very least, on the surface, she was considering things for Li Miao.

After hearing this, Li Miao smiled and transmitted his voice.

"Little Yizi, look at you, anxious again."

"Where Zheng Huaijin lives now, what he is doing, whether he is dead or not, we don't know at all. If he has already died of old age, it's useless for us to turn Guangxin Prefecture upside down, so what are you anxious about?"

Zheng Yi retorted.

"But time is tight, and if we can't find any clues, we should go find the next Penglai disciple as soon as possible, so why waste time here?"

"How do you know it's a waste of time?"

Li Miao said with a smile.

"Let me ask you, what is the biggest difference between Penglai disciples and ordinary people?"

Before Zheng Yi could answer, Li Miao continued.

"It is Wu Gong, and it is Heaven-Man realm Wu Gong that exceeds the previous understanding of Jianghu people."

"Where is there a cat that doesn't steal fish? And this Great Ming is not some holy land where doors don't need to be closed at night. These Penglai disciples all ran over as undocumented people; how could they not encounter some trouble, and they could all endure it, without using their Wu Gong to solve some trouble?"

"Your Penglai is not a Buddhist sect; it would be strange if they could endure it."

Li Miao pointed to Gao Anyu and the old man who were fighting.

"Look at those two people."

"One is a young man with amnesia who carries a Heaven-Man inheritance and holds a weapon unique to the Great Ming Jianghu, and his age is just about the same as 'Penglai second-generation' like you and Xue Hanmeng."

"One is an elder of the only major sect in this Guangxin Prefecture, but he happens to recognize Gao Anyu's Wu Gong and weapon, as if there was some connection in the past."

Li Miao turned to look at Zheng Yi.

"Little Yizi, do you believe in coincidences?"

"In a mere Guangxin Prefecture, first Zheng Huaijin came, and then Gao Anyu appeared inexplicably; these are two Heaven-Man inheritances."

"From last year to now, there have only been seven or eight Heaven-Man and Heaven-Man inheritances that have appeared in the Jianghu, but this ordinary Guangxin Prefecture can produce two? And there is no connection between the two?"

"And this 'Kongming Sect', not to mention that I was going to find trouble with it anyway. You say if Zheng Huaijin had been involved in something and revealed his Wu Gong, who would be most likely to have an intersection with him in this Guangxin Prefecture?"

"Isn't it the Kongming Sect, which is the only one in this Guangxin Prefecture."

"With so many clues delivered to our eyes, you say, is it a bit wasteful for us to pretend we didn't see it and leave directly?"

Zheng Yi listened to Li Miao's analysis, pondered for a moment, and had to admit that Li Miao was right.

They didn't have many clues, and finding Penglai disciples was like looking for a needle in a haystack; they could only rely on finding various abnormal events to find clues.

The biggest abnormality in this Guangxin Prefecture now is Gao Anyu, so naturally, it must be investigated. And the fact that two Heaven-Man inheritances appeared in a small Guangxin Prefecture at the same time is indeed a bit suspicious.

While the two were talking via voice transmission, the fight at the tea stall had come to an end.

Cao Hanyan dealing with a few Kongming Sect disciples was naturally easy, but he couldn't change his kind nature after all, only relying on the back of his blade to knock these people unconscious, which was why it took some time, and now it was a settled matter.

The ground was full of unconscious Kongming Sect disciples.

And on Gao Anyu's side, the winner had also been decided.

The old man's left arm had been smashed, and his bloody right hand was trembling as he gripped the sword hilt, but the hilt was bare, with only an inch of the blade left.

He sighed long, turned his head to look at Cao Hanyan's side, and seeing that he had no help, and the other two were intact, he knew that he had no chance to turn the tables.

Cao Hanyan also sheathed his blade, with no intention of making a move.

Gao Anyu approached slowly, holding the black ruler, an excited smile on his face.

"Old man, you've already fallen."

"If you are sensible, just stand still and don't move, let me smash your remaining three limbs, and then 'slightly' interrogate you. As long as you tell the truth, I will spare your life, how about that?"

Cao Hanyan's face turned dark, and he secretly thought it was bad.

He had originally thought that with Gao Anyu's Wu Gong, there wouldn't be any problems, which was why he had even put away his weapon.

But he had forgotten Gao Anyu's mouth!

He said whatever he thought, without any embellishment!

How could this be considered persuading to surrender? It was more like forcing to kill!

There was no need to think about what the old man would do after hearing Gao Anyu's words!

He rushed toward the old man in one stride.

The old man's face turned pale first, his peripheral vision glanced at the miserable corpse of Bei Shouzhen on the table in the center of the tea stall, and a trace of sorrow appeared on his face.

Bei Shouzhen was originally a robust young man, seven feet tall and weighing over a hundred pounds, but now the meat left on the table, even if fully counted, was only three feet long and seventy or eighty pounds.

And he had died only after the old man arrived, and it was because Gao Anyu had missed his strike and punctured his liver that he had died.

Listening to Gao Anyu's words just now, if he fell into his hands, it was clear that he would also have to suffer this ordeal. And Gao Anyu had experience now, so he probably wouldn't make a mistake again.

In other words, the suffering he would have to endure might be far more than Bei Shouzhen's.

When collecting the corpse, without seven or eight careful women piecing it together for half a month, I'm afraid they wouldn't be able to put together a human shape.

Any worker passing by a dumpling shop would happily pick up this pile of his and eat it without even getting it stuck in their teeth.

Why the hell should he live anymore!?

Not living anymore!

In his view, Li Miao and his party were fierce bandits who had come to his door because of old grudges, the kind that ate people without spitting out the bones, and would definitely not show him any mercy. Since Gao Anyu had said so, he would definitely do so.

"A scholar can be killed but not humiliated!"

The old man shouted sharply.

"You group of thieves, sooner or later you will have the same end as that demoness! This old man will wait for you below!"

Raising his hand, the remaining inch of the long sword was inserted into his chest, exactly piercing his heart, and blood sprayed out instantly. His body went limp, and he fell to the ground with a *boom*.

Cao Hanyan had already rushed to the front, and he was only one step away from stopping the old man's suicide, but he was finally a fraction of a second too slow, so he had to stop his steps helplessly.

And Gao Anyu was already stunned on the spot, his eyes wide and his mouth open.

Zheng Yi turned to look at Li Miao.

"My lord, why didn't you stop him? If you had kept him, you should have been able to interrogate him for clues about Gao Anyu's origin."

Li Miao shook his head with a smile.

"If Little Cao wasn't here, I would naturally have stopped him. And when interrogating, I might even have done it myself."

"I've felt recently that there are too many people under me whose brains aren't normal—sinister, ruthless, dull, or slippery—there just isn't a single normal person. If it keeps going like this, with superiors acting and subordinates following, the Embroidered Uniform Guard might really become a demon's den, which won't do."

"Since the Embroidered Uniform Guard is mine now, it can't always be dirty. I have to put a good person in and set up a memorial archway."

"Just now, when killing that Bei Shouzhen, Little Cao had already made a significant determination. Now we don't know who is right and who is wrong in the grudge between Little Gao and this old man, so if we were to interrogate this old man, Little Cao probably wouldn't be able to accept it."

"I still have use for his kind heart, so I can't let him be led astray."

Zheng Yi sighed.

"But the clues are broken, wouldn't that be a loss that outweighs the gain?"

Li Miao smiled.

"How could that be?"

"Little Gao's moves are a Heaven-Man inheritance; how could that old man figure out a way to break the moves?"

"Moreover, he couldn't even beat Little Gao; how could he be involved in the secret of his origin? The person involved in this matter is definitely not him personally."

Zheng Yi pondered slightly.

"Kongming Sect!"

"The one related to Gao Anyu's origin is not this old man himself, but the entire Kongming Sect!"

Li Miao nodded with a smile.

"It has to be the whole sect involved to have enough weight. I was going to find trouble with them anyway, so just wipe them all out at once; maybe we can even find something in their sect."

After saying this, Li Miao lifted his feet and walked toward Gao Anyu.

Gao Anyu had already been stunned on the spot for a while.

He wasn't stupid, just because of amnesia, he had no experience to support him, so his speech and actions were more like a child's.

So he instantly realized that the old man had been "scared to death" by him.

For a time, feelings of regret, dejection, and disappointment surged into his heart. He raised his hands and smashed his head, pursing his lips and frowning.

He kept pounding his head, tears welling up in his eyes.

Although he had spoken freely with Li Miao before, saying things like "I only care about making a name for myself," he knew himself that it was just a strong-willed remark because he truly had no way to find out his origin.

How could he not care who he was?

Without memories, he was a rootless duckweed, even more miserable than Zheng Yi, whose sect had already been wiped out.

Zheng Yi's home was just invisible and untouchable, but she still had a home in her heart; she knew who she was and where she belonged. Even if she died one day, she could look forward to seeing someone after her death.

Gao Anyu couldn't even do that.

His heart was empty and white; he didn't know who he was, and he didn't know where he should go. Even if he died, he wouldn't know who to miss.

This feeling of floating in mid-air had almost driven him truly crazy in just half a year.

That was why he so dramatically called Li Miao "Uncle Li"—not because he was truly that stupid, but because he also wanted to have a sense of belonging.

It was as if by calling Li Miao "Uncle" and Zheng Yi "Aunt," he also had family.

But now, the only clue had been buried by him.

Seeing Li Miao walk in front of him, Gao Anyu raised his head, and before he could speak, tears flowed out, dripping down his chin.

"Uncle, Uncle Li... I, I..."

He said, choking with sobs.

"I'm a fool, I'm a madman... I'm useless, I, I... Uncle Li..."

Li Miao smiled.

"Little Gao, a great man, why are you crying and wailing like a child?"

Gao Anyu pouted.

"Uncle, I feel uncomfortable..."

He raised his hand and knocked on his chest.

"Here, it's empty, empty, and something is pushing up, making my throat tight... I finally had a chance to fill it, but just because I'm a madman... it's gone..."

"Uncle Li, I really, feel uncomfortable..."

Tears couldn't stop flowing.

Li Miao smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"Sigh."

"I thought it was a big deal; isn't it just that someone died? I'll find you another person who knows about your affairs, won't that settle it?"

"Wipe your tears, go drag the corpse into the woods and bury it, take some of the reward money and put it in the tea stall. Then we'll set off and find you a home."

"And while we're at it, kill some people."

Gao Anyu was truly obedient, wiped his face with his hand, and widened his eyes.

"Really!?"

Li Miao said with a smile.

"You still don't trust me?"

Gao Anyu shook his head violently.

"No, no, no! Uncle, I trust you... I'm going right now!"

He had the temperament of a child, his emotions coming and going quickly. Before his voice had faded, he had already run out in a flash, grabbing Cao Hanyan's arm.

"Brother Cao, let's go together!"

"Brother Gao, slow down!"

"Can't be slow! Uncle Li is still waiting!"

Li Miao shouted.

"Cut off the heads of that old man and those three scumbags and pack them up. Strip the remaining disciples naked and hang them on the trees, seal their acupuncture points, and let them wake up tomorrow morning."

"If they wake up too early, it's easy to stir up trouble."

Then Gao Anyu answered excitedly.

"Got it!"

Burying the corpse was not much effort for Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu. But other things were a bit time-consuming.

First, the heads were not easy to preserve after being cut off; although it was almost late autumn now, they would start to stink within two days if kept in a bag. Cao Hanyan picked up some firewood, burned it, and carefully wrapped the four heads in wood ash before packing them up.

The second was those disciples.

According to Li Miao's idea, these people's Wu Gong could be considered to have entered the hall, and there were no fierce beasts that could climb trees here, so hanging them on the trees for a night wouldn't be a problem.

Stripping off their clothes, these people would have to waste a day finding clothes to wear tomorrow, which was enough time to keep them from getting involved in Li Miao's affairs.

But Cao Hanyan was fussy, considering the difference between men and women, stripping off their clothes with his eyes closed, and then having to hang men and women far apart. He also left clothes and clues to find clothes around the female disciples, which wasted a lot of time.

Then he considered that the tea stall had splashed a lot of blood, which might delay the boss's business, so he took Gao Anyu and washed the entire tea stall before he was satisfied.

By the time they were busy, it was already evening.

Li Miao was fine, sleeping the same wherever he was. Zheng Yi, however, had long been impatient, her eyes occasionally scraping over Gao Anyu and Cao Hanyan like razor blades.

Gao Anyu didn't know why, only feeling a chill on his back.

Cao Hanyan was sweating coldly, fearing that he would make Zheng Yi unhappy. He had originally planned to find a hidden place to leave money for the tea stall owner, but now he didn't dare to mention it again, and could only stuff it into the teapot hastily.

Then he walked to Li Miao, who was closing his eyes and resting, and said softly.

"Uncle, everything is ready."

"Are we going to make do for the night here, or set off directly?"

Cao Hanyan pondered for a while and added.

"The Kongming Sect is on Huaiyu Mountain, about three to five days' journey from here. Fortunately, the Kongming Sect people gave us many horses, but we won't arrive until the day after tomorrow... unless we 'fly' there."

He meant Li Miao and Zheng Yi each carrying one person with light-body techniques. But he knew that unless Li Miao was truly at the end of his rope, he wouldn't be willing to move, so he just mentioned it.

Seeing that Li Miao didn't answer, he continued.

"If we set off on horseback now, we should be able to arrive at Yushan County tomorrow morning, rest for a night there, and then go to the Kongming Sect, which is also more appropriate."

Li Miao opened his eyes.

"Let's do that; it's too tiring to be too urgent, and if it's too slow, the heads will easily stink, and then it won't be interesting if they can't recognize who it is."

"Let's go."

After saying this, he got up, and the four of them mounted their horses and rode away.

The journey that night is not mentioned.

When the morning light was faint, the four of them pulled the reins lightly, slowed the horse's hooves, merged from the small road into the official road, and entered Yushan County with the flow of people.

They found an inn, opened rooms, and each rested.

Except for Li Miao, the other three got up once, ate lunch, and knowing that Li Miao wouldn't wake up until evening, they didn't disturb him, each strolled around the city, bought some daily necessities, and returned to the inn again.

By the time it was Shen hour that day, Li Miao pushed open the door, stretched, and walked out.

The three had long been waiting outside the door, and seeing Li Miao come out, they went downstairs together to eat.

The reward money given by that wealthy family in Guangxin Prefecture was not small, so this meal was naturally good wine and good food. Although Yushan County was not a big county, it did have a few characteristic foods.

For example, it is close to Mount Sanqing here, which is considered one of the holy lands of Daoism. The Daoist priests on the mountain are good at health-preserving methods, and some medicinal diet recipes have also spread among the people, especially the soups, which are both light and nourishing.

For another example, Yushan County has many bamboo forests, and this season happens to be the time for harvesting winter bamboo shoots. Coupled with the local black pig bacon, stir-fried with a little green onion and ginger, it is also extremely delicious.

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, the four of them were not in a hurry to go upstairs, and each sipped the Yunwu tea, a tribute from Yunshan, to digest their food.

When he came out with Xiao Si, Wang Hai, and Mei Qinghe before, Li Miao was always the one left behind, and no one chatted with him. Now these few were willing to listen to him, so Li Miao sipped his tea and began to instruct Cao Hanyan.

"Little Cao, your brain is good enough, your Wu Gong is also okay, and your foundation is the most solid I've seen among the younger generation. The only drawback is that you are too kind-hearted."

Li Miao said unhurriedly.

"Of course, kindness is not a mistake, but it must be divided by time and person."

"Those who learn the sword must cultivate sharpness. Those who learn the blade must cultivate evil energy. Your heart is too kind; although your blade technique is rounded, it lacks three parts of evil energy. If you want to break through to the peak in the future, this is your biggest barrier."

"You have to kill more people in the future."

When he said this, he had the smell of alcohol, his eyes were narrowed, but his tone was extremely loud, and he talked freely in the room.

At this time, a group of people in the room heard this, turned their heads to look, and thought to themselves, what a big tone, I want to see what kind of sacred person it is, and they are even instructing on the peak.

Glancing at Li Miao, they sneered, only feeling that this was an idle man who didn't know Wu Gong talking nonsense, and there was no need to care, but they accidentally swept over Gao Anyu on the side.

*Clang*! —

"It's you!!!"

"Give your life!!"

Weapons were drawn in unison, without a shred of hesitation. Several people stared with wide eyes and lunged toward Gao Anyu.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 321 =====