Chapter 76: The Ming Sect's Plan

Just as Li Miao was slaughtering in the city, Tai'an City was already filled with wails.

The Ming Sect's initial plan was to launch the Gu poison when the Five Mountains Sword Alliance meeting was held, and simultaneously refine the Jianghu people who came to participate in the Five Mountains Sword Alliance meeting on Taishan and the commoners in Tai'an City into Gu soldiers together.

This plan had been laid out for many years, and the Ming Sect had handed the Gu insects to Zuo Lishan in advance, which was one link in this plan.

Li Miao forced Zuo Lishan to use the Gu insects in advance, which actually forced the Ming Sect to launch this plan ahead of schedule.

And in this plan, the importance of the Jianghu people on Taishan was actually far higher than that of the commoners in Tai'an City.

"Gu" is something that is originally distinct from martial arts and has nothing to do with it. The Ming Sect spent more than half of its energy on modifying Gu insects in the ten-plus years since it went underground. That's why there was the matter of Zuo Lishan becoming half an expert above the Peak Realm through Gu insects and the cultivation method modified by Ji Tianrui.

But, no matter how it is improved, there is one limitation that the Ming Sect has never been able to cross—material.

The muscles and bones of Jianghu people are polished by true energy, far stronger than ordinary commoners, so the probability of successful refining is higher, and the refined Gu soldiers are stronger.

If both plans could succeed, the Ming Sect would be able to obtain thousands of Gu soldiers who were not afraid of death, infinitely strong, and had skin and flesh as hard as iron.

With this capital, the Ming Sect would be able to carve out a territory in the border region and would not have to continue this life of hiding here and there.

From the manpower sent by the Ming Sect, one can see the importance attached to this matter—Left and Right Envoys, one Protector, two Flag Leaders; it can be said that the experts of the Ming Sect, apart from the Sect Leader, were almost all dispatched.

And the Ming Sect had investigated the Imperial Court's military strength and the movements of experts in advance, confirming that there would be no mistakes before taking action.

But after all the calculations, the Ming Sect still missed two people—Li Miao, Yun Zelin.

Li Miao did indeed ruin the Ming Sect's grand plan fifteen years ago and was registered in the Ming Sect. But Li Miao had never left the capital in these ten-plus years and had never done anything famous. And there had been no matters in the capital in recent years that required Li Miao to exert his full strength, so even Zhu Zai didn't know Li Miao's martial arts realm.

Even if estimated to the greatest extent, Li Miao reached the expert above the Peak Realm, the Ming Sect side also had two experts above the Peak Realm, Lan Lechuan and Yun Zelin, who could contend with him.

Expert above the Peak Realm, one step further is the Wu Gong Myth, which is the realm reached by Bodhidharma and Zhang Sanfeng. Currently, there are three known paths: "Jin Gang", "Sumeru", and "Jiezi".

And in the hundreds of years since Zhang Sanfeng passed away, it is not that there have been no geniuses who crossed the Peak Realm, but no one has appeared again who could follow in Zhang Sanfeng's footsteps.

Because these geniuses found a desperate fact after crossing the Peak Realm—it seems that after the Peak Realm, it is the end, and there is no path to go.

Polishing muscles and bones to the extreme is "Jin Gang", true energy being thick to the extreme is "Sumeru", and moves following the heart is "Jiezi".

And then? Gone!

Several geniuses naturally thought: if I combine the three into one, is that the condition to cross the natural chasm?

Then these several geniuses, even before they reached the unity of the three, while cultivating the second path, all ushered in a desperate ending—Five Decays of Heaven and Man.

Clothes defiled, head withered, sweat flowing from armpits, body foul, not happy with the throne.

From body to heart, all wither together.

The Ming Sect has been passed down for nearly a thousand years, and naturally, experts in the sect have died from this attempt, leaving behind this desperate information.

So for Li Miao, this anomaly who possessed two paths of experts above the Peak Realm and was still alive and kicking, they had no precautions.

So Lan Lechuan appeared alone on Taishan and ended up dying in vain at Li Miao's hands.

The second person the Ming Sect had no precautions for was their Right Envoy—Yun Zelin.

It's a very simple truth—if you want to rebel, you must plan for something.

Sitting in the third chair of the Ming Sect, he himself is cut off from the Imperial Court. His own martial arts have also reached the expert above the Peak Realm, and there is no possibility of going one step further.

What are you planning for?

But Yun Zelin did it for no reason.

First, he concealed the situation and sent the life of a Flag Leader to Li Miao.

Then he launched the Gu poison in Tai'an City in advance, so that Mao Yingxia didn't have time to enter the city and was caught by Li Miao outside the city in a hurry.

Finally, he launched the Gu poison on Taishan in advance, let the three sects of Hengshan, Hengshan, and Songshan escape down the mountain, and even many Taishan Sect disciples who hadn't been planted with Gu by Zuo Lishan ran away.

He himself used the Gu insects in the bodies of Lan Lechuan and Zuo Lishan, immediately falling into the Five Decays of Heaven and Man, like suicide.

The Gu insects on Zuo Lishan were the mother Gu for the Gu insects prepared for the Jianghu people on Taishan; being used by Yun Zelin, the Ming Sect's plan on Taishan naturally collapsed.

So Mao Yingxia, after deliberation, directly gave up the plan on Taishan and instead let all Ming Sect disciples focus on the matter of Tai'an City.

The largest group of people Li Miao intercepted outside the city was just the Ming Sect's manpower.

The Flag Leader of the Ming Sect's Flood Flag received Mao Yingxia's letter and was rushing to Tai'an City with his men at this moment.

The Chief Eunuch Cheng Yuanzhen who fled from the Taishan Sect, and the three sects of Songshan, Hengshan, and Hengshan, were also about to arrive at Tai'an City at this moment.

And inside Tai'an City.

Mei Mei Qinghe stabbed her long sword into the knee of the person in front of her.

She refined her sword technique and was incomparably precise; this sword only inserted a little, avoiding all meridians and joints, and would not leave a disability.

The person staggered and fell forward.

Mei Mei Qinghe stepped forward, pointed a finger at the side of the person's neck, and knocked him out.

Then she swept horizontally with the sword body, carefully controlling the strength, and slapped the few who pounced over away.

Mei Mei Qinghe flashed forward, sealed the acupoints of the few one by one, then took out a long rope, dragged the few, and rushed toward the prefectural Yamen.

Saving people is becoming increasingly difficult.

At first, the commoners were only weak all over, still barely able to call for help, and Mei Mei Qinghe only needed to find them by the sound and bring them to Xiaosi.

Later, most people fell into a coma. Li Miao could hear the subtle breathing and vomiting sounds through the wall, but Mei Mei Qinghe couldn't do that, so she could only search house by house.

Now, there are already commoners who have been eroded by Gu poison, lost their reason, and started attacking others.

Mei Mei Qinghe's martial arts are mostly on the sword; if she uses palm techniques she is not good at, it is not only hard to control the strength but also consumes extra true energy.

So Mei Mei Qinghe can only rely on the precision of her sword, stabbing at the commoners' joints, or slapping them down with the sword body, and then sealing their acupoints to control them, and bringing them back to Xiaosi.

Although this will consume extra energy, at least it won't exhaust true energy and fall into a situation where she can't continue.

A moment later, Mei Mei Qinghe entered the prefectural Yamen and dragged the commoners in her hands to Xiaosi's side.

At this moment, the basin in front of Xiaosi was emitting white smoke; these commoners smelled the smoke and instinctively vomited, vomiting a ground full of wriggling Gu insects, and then fell into a coma.

Naturally, Huashan Sect disciples took these people to the backyard.

Wang Hai saw Mei Mei Qinghe return and greeted: "Everyone, stop for a moment."

"Saving people like this is just a drop in the bucket; we need to prepare to fight for our lives."

(End of chapter)