Chapter 328

That burly, square-faced, broad-jawed Kongming Sect disciple with a sturdy build squeezed out a scream from his throat that was sharper and louder than that of a famous opera singer in just three breaths.

Cao Hanyan slapped his own forehead, slowly pulled his hand down to his chin, and sighed long and hard.

"Sigh—"

This is like yellow mud falling into one's trousers; it's impossible to explain clearly, not to mention that their own group couldn't be considered clean to begin with.

Outside, on the horses' backs, there were still four Kongming Sect heads hanging.

What else could they say?

Just fight.

Cao Hanyan scanned Li Miao with his peripheral vision. Seeing that he had no intention of making a move, he knew that Li Miao was intentionally leaving this hurdle for him and Gao Anyu to overcome.

"Brother Cao, it seems we're going to have a good fight today."

Gao Anyu shook his neck, tapped his shoulder with the black ruler, and walked to Cao Hanyan's side.

"Indeed..."

Cao Hanyan slowly drew his saber, flicked his wrist to spin it, and startled the big man who was still screaming incessantly, causing him to choke—and then scream even more shrilly.

Gao Anyu looked at him with dissatisfaction and turned back to look at Li Miao.

"Uncle, set some rules for us. How should we fight, and to what extent should we consider it finished?"

Li Miao said with a smile.

"Fight until they submit."

"Good! Uncle is always so straightforward!"

Gao Anyu grinned.

As they spoke, chaotic footsteps could already be heard ahead. The Kongming Sect's mountain gate wasn't very large, and the sect members happened to be gathered in the main hall; hearing the big man's screams, they all rushed over together.

In just a moment, a dense crowd gathered in front of the three of them.

"Then, then my senior brother asked him with a smile how he would thank them, and with what he would thank them."

Hundreds of long swords were drawn, footsteps were chaotic, and they surrounded the three.

The last to appear was a middle-aged man with a square and serious face, who walked slowly from the main hall, squinted his eyes to look at the three, and then scanned Long Haifeng's corpse.

"Avenge Elder Long."

He said without emotion.

"Kill!!!!!"

"Thieves, pay with your lives!!!"

"Die!"

A tide of saber light and sword shadows rolled toward the three of them.

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Zheng Yi crouched down, wiped the last bloody footprint, and rubbed the bloodstain between her fingertips.

Although her brain wasn't as sharp as Cao Hanyan's, she had heard quite a bit of the criminal law matters Li Miao had taught Cao Hanyan during this time, so she could naturally make the necessary judgments.

"The blood is only scabbed on the surface; it's still wet inside. That person left here at most less than half an hour ago... but to be able to kill Zheng Huaijin, this person is at least in the Heaven-Man Realm."

"Half an hour is enough to run dozens of miles."

Zheng Yi frowned and looked around, trying to find some clues.

Li Miao had said that back then, the people of Penglai fled in all directions, unaware of each other's whereabouts, yet her mother knew where these people were hiding; this point was extremely suspicious.

As far as the current situation goes, her mother is the only suspect in the death of Xue Bangzhu.

Coupled with the strangeness of her own realm and the fact that she didn't see the scene of her mother's death with her own eyes back then, this led Zheng Yi to a suspicion—perhaps her mother only faked her death.

Perhaps the one who killed Zheng Huaijin, or rather Long Haifeng, was her mother.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yi shook her head slowly.

"Lord Li... it is truly impossible to fathom his thoughts."

There were two Heaven-Man Realm experts in the group, and one needed to be stationed at the Kongming Sect and another to pursue the murderer. From a utilitarian perspective, it would have been more appropriate for Zheng Yi to stay at the Kongming Sect and for Li Miao to pursue the murderer, which would also have been more likely to succeed.

But Li Miao stayed behind himself and let her pursue the murderer—did he perceive her thoughts and know that she wouldn't be satisfied unless she pursued him herself?

Based on the impression Li Miao left on Zheng Yi, it was truly difficult for her to distinguish whether he was as empathetic as she thought, or if he was simply pushing off the troublesome task of chasing someone.

As her thoughts churned, Zheng Yi slipped into the woods and walked for dozens of steps before suddenly stopping.

Her peripheral vision caught a color that was out of place in the mountain forest, which traveled from her eyes into her brain, grabbed a handful of memories from within, and placed them before Zheng Yi.

She turned her head slowly and stiffly to look at an object on a tree branch several yards away, which was slowly swaying and rotating in the mountain wind.

It was a broken silk fan with only half a fan face remaining.

A silk fan that should have been burned along with Zheng Yi's home.

A silk fan that, when she was young, was held by a gentle hand to drive away the heat for her.

A silk fan that belonged to Zheng Yi's mother.

————————

"Pay with your—ah!"

The sword blade shattered, exploding in front of them like fireworks. The black ruler swirled through the fragments, suddenly exerting force to swing, splashing dense blood across the dense crowd of human bodies.

"Over here! This thief's martial arts are mediocre—ah!"

The long saber drew a straight line in mid-air as if outlined by a ruler. With a clang, the long sword blocking in front was split into two halves.

An unremarkable vertical slash, followed by an unremarkable front kick—Boom!

The figure flew backward, smashing into and knocking down several fellow disciples, and was then pierced by the long swords of others who couldn't retract them in time. Blood flowed like a fountain, and the person fainted the moment they hit the ground.

One-third of the Kongming Sect disciples had already fallen; blood, weapons, and human bodies together outlined a straight path on the ground.

And this path was still slowly extending forward along with the blood flowers blooming on both sides, now less than twenty yards from the Kongming Sect's main hall.

Kongming Sect Master Hua Zhiqiu almost bit his gums until they bled.

Two people, two young men in their twenties... had overturned one-third of the entire Kongming Sect's disciples!

And what was even more hateful—he looked with hatred and anger at the middle-aged man in the middle of the two young men, who was walking forward slowly as if he were on a spring outing.

Hua Zhiqiu could accept being defeated by a genius, could accept being inferior in skill, but he could not accept being insulted by someone who knew no martial arts!

In his eyes, Li Miao was not some mastermind, but merely a tool for Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu to insult the Kongming Sect.

Since ancient times, there has been a gap between martial artists and ordinary people.

Traveling hundreds of miles a day, climbing high and looking far, fighting lions and tigers—those with successful internal energy can go days without drinking, eating, sleeping, or resting if their true energy is inexhaustible. To a certain extent, "martial arts" has transformed martial artists into living beings different from those who have not practiced martial arts.

Since ancient times, some martial artists have felt that they stand above those who know no martial arts, feeling that those who don't practice are lowly people, unworthy of sharing a room with them.

The Kongming Sect's inheritance was created by such people. And his philosophy has been passed down ever since.

That is why the Kongming Sect could produce three beasts in one sect who killed innocent people to claim credit, because their own foundation was crooked. As the Sect Master, Hua Zhiqiu was the crookedest of them all.

Therefore, he absolutely could not accept—letting someone who knew no martial arts walk into the main hall of the Kongming Sect and disturb the rest of the past ancestors!

Absolutely not!

But the Kongming Sect really couldn't stop these three people!

"Can't be hesitant anymore!"

Hua Zhiqiu gritted his teeth and reached out to summon his confidant.

"You, go to the back mountain and invite Lord Xue of the Embroidered Uniform Guard stationed here! Tell him that someone has taken down and destroyed our sect's 'Ascend Peak' sign!"

Ever since the Mount Song Moon-Viewing Banquet, every major sect that hung a sign had Embroidered Uniform Guard stationed there. This confidant disciple also knew the location and turned to leave, but paused for a moment and said in a low voice.

"Sect Master... is the sign really destroyed? Should I just say a corner was broken, or a piece was damaged?"

Hua Zhiqiu shook his head and said through gritted teeth.

"No, say it's destroyed, go quickly!"

The confidant received the definite answer and no longer hesitated, turning to rush toward the residence of the Embroidered Uniform Guard in the back mountain.

Seeing him run far away, Hua Zhiqiu dodged the direction Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu were advancing in a flash and arrived outside the mountain gate in an instant, a sign with "Ascend Peak" written on it appearing in his hand.

Although Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu were fighting with gusto, most of their attention had been silently focused on this Kongming Sect Master. Seeing him suddenly make a move, they hurriedly looked over.

Hua Zhiqiu already held the wooden sign in his hands, took one last look at the "Ascend Peak" characters carved in gold paint with reluctance, and a sense of regret inevitably appeared in his heart—and then he felt even more resentment toward Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu!

So he gripped both ends of the wooden sign with his hands and slowly exerted force.

The wooden sign emitted a creaking sound of structural collapse, and the gold paint turned into powder, drifting in the air along with the mountain wind.

Gao Anyu's eyebrows stood up, and he shouted angrily.

"Shameless villain, framing us!"

"Since you are inferior in skill, you should kneel and apologize! As a Sect Master of a major sect, a reputable person in the Jianghu, you can actually do such a filthy thing as framing others!"

"You have attended the Moon-Viewing Banquet; you cannot be unaware of the power of the Imperial Court and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, right? If that person knows you used such means to deal with enemies, you won't even be able to leave a whole corpse behind!"

But Hua Zhiqiu was determined to keep the three of them, so how could he listen to his persuasion? His hands were exerting more and more force, and the wooden sign was deforming accordingly.

Creak—creak—

The sound of the wood shattering intensified, and finally, accompanied by a teeth-grinding crisp sound—Snap!

The wooden sign representing the Kongming Sect's "rank" in the Jianghu was actually snapped into two halves by its own Sect Master! Then it was tossed high into the air and thrown at the feet of Li Miao and the other two!

"You! Old beast! You are vicious enough!"

Gao Anyu finally panicked a little.

Although he was crazy, he had been able to live until now because he knew who in this Jianghu he could afford to offend and who he couldn't.

If there was anyone in the world he was least willing to offend—it was that Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander who had challenged half the Jianghu on Mount Song, crushed a Heaven-Man's neck with one claw, and left hundreds of corpses outside Tai'an City!

Hua Zhiqiu's intention was now clear; he was obviously relying on the Embroidered Uniform Guard stationed at the Kongming Sect to forcibly pin this matter on them and make it an ironclad case! And they would have no way to refute it!

If that Commander were really summoned, even if Uncle Li were a high-level expert playing in the Jianghu, he would definitely die on the spot!

"Brother Cao! What should we do!"

He turned his head to look at Cao Hanyan, trying to ask for a plan from this brother whose brain was a hundred times better than his, but he was stunned for a moment.

Gao Anyu had never seen such a complex expression on the face of the always calm and steady Cao Hanyan.

Surprise, pity.

Sarcasm, amusement.

All kinds of complex emotions mixed together on Cao Hanyan's face like a palette, finally blending into an inexplicable bitter smile.

"Brother... Cao?"

Gao Anyu parried a long sword stabbing at him and asked hesitantly.

Cao Hanyan shook his head powerlessly, not answering his question.

"Don't worry about it... it's nothing."

"Just keep fighting, Brother Gao."

He first took a deep look at Hua Zhiqiu, who thought his scheme had succeeded and was stroking his beard with a self-satisfied smile, then scanned the surrounding Kongming Sect disciples, and finally looked at the wooden sign broken into two halves thrown at their feet.

Last of all, he saw Li Miao, who had been walking forward slowly, stop, glance at the broken wooden sign, and reveal an inexplicably brilliant smile on his face.

"Sigh—"

Cao Hanyan let out a long sigh and shook his head with compassion for the world.

"Self-inflicted sins are inescapable..."

(End of chapter)