Chapter 104: Inside Story

After parting at Gushan, Wu Chengyu never saw Hong Qigong again, and Wu Chengyu had no dealings whatsoever with the Beggar Sect.

At this moment, Wu Chengyu still maintained the Bone-Shrinking Technique on his body, his face was also disguised, and since he no longer had the childish air of five years ago, Hong Qigong could not possibly recognize him; most importantly, Hong Qigong's current attitude was completely different.

Wu Chengyu could clearly feel that Hong Qigong harbored some hidden hostility toward him—where did it come from?

Everything he had just done to Shi Tong and the others, Hong Qigong should have seen with his own eyes.

The problem was that Wu Chengyu absolutely did not believe Hong Qigong would serve as a bodyguard for a fop like Shi Tong; even his uncle Shi Miyuan was not worthy of it, so this hostility made no sense at all.

"Junior pays his respects to Beggar Sect Chief Hong."

"You actually know me, youngster—you don't seem to be someone without a background. What exactly is your purpose in making such a move tonight?"

"Junior also wants to know why Chief Hong has appeared here. If you say you just happened to meet, that's impossible. I imagine Chief Hong wouldn't come looking for trouble with me over a Shi Tong."

"That fop surnamed Shi—if Old Man doesn't personally deal with him, he can consider himself lucky. I just arrived in Gusu this afternoon and wanted to follow this Shi Tong for a few days."

"Just now when you struck and killed that man surnamed Cheng, I didn't care. He wasn't any good person anyway."

"But Old Man didn't expect your methods to be so vicious."

"If you had directly struck and killed that Shi Tong just now, I would certainly have intervened. It wasn't yet time to kill him."

"But clearly you could have slapped him to death with one palm. Instead, you went to great lengths, putting the three of them in the same room and who knows what drug you fed them. Old Man thought you were just giving them a lesson, not killing them, so I didn't stop you."

"But I never expected your methods to be so vicious. By the time something was discovered to be wrong, it was already too late."

"Although I don't know why you did this, those three are dead, and they died in such a miserable state."

"Kid, you ruined my big event, and your purpose is certainly not simple. Now this old beggar wants you to give me an explanation."

Wu Chengyu understood that this Shi Tong must have done something to attract Hong Qigong's attention, prompting Hong Qigong to personally track him. It must certainly be no trivial matter.

"I only got rid of a few scum. I never thought of opposing Chief Hong."

"May Chief Hong speak plainly: what value does this Shi Tong have that requires Chief Hong to come to Gusu personally?"

"It's no harm to tell you. My Beggar Sect received news that Shi Miyuan wants to make peace with the Jin Kingdom. The Jin Kingdom has sent an envoy secretly southward, and this Shi Tong was sent by Shi Miyuan to welcome the Jin envoy. The two sides will meet in Gusu and secretly proceed to Hangzhou."

"I originally wanted to wait for that Jin envoy to arrive, figure out their conspiracy, and then deal with them. Who would have thought that before the person even arrived, Shi Tong was killed by you."

"Youngster, this is a matter of great importance. I don't think your strike tonight was as simple as getting rid of scum."

Wu Chengyu felt a bit helpless. Why was the Jin Kingdom being dragged into this again? But just now Shi Tong had also said in the room that Shi Miyuan sent him to Suzhou on business. Seizing Gusu's industries was just him taking advantage of Shi Miyuan's power and influence.

At the time Wu Chengyu hadn't paid attention. Now it seemed to align with what Hong Qigong said.

"Junior really only wanted to eliminate harm and had no intention of disturbing Chief Hong's important affairs. Chief Hong, please don't think too much of it."

"I originally didn't think much of it, but the martial arts you just used make me have to think about it."

Wu Chengyu was a bit surprised. Before he could figure it out, Hong Qigong struck again with a palm, taking the initiative to attack.

Wu Chengyu had never thought he would meet Hong Qigong tonight, but at this moment he was also eager to try. His martial arts had now reached minor accomplishment. If three years ago, when fighting Chen Xuanfeng, he won through moves with slightly inferior inner force,

then three years later today, with the Ox-Horse Stake at great accomplishment, the Nameless Divine Skill though not yet perfected also counted as minor accomplishment, and having learned multiple supreme techniques, he was inevitably full of pride.

In Wu Chengyu's view, now he, relying solely on martial arts, should be roughly on the same level as the Black Wind Twin Demons—Qu Lingfeng without broken legs, who had trained bitterly in the Great Desert for years and just met the Seven Freaks of Jiangnan in the original work—and Qiu Chuji, the strongest of the Seven Masters of Quanquan.

But with various Body Tempering Technique bonuses, plus supreme techniques like Universe Reversal, Wu Chengyu could definitely suppress them.

Above that, only the Five Absolutes, Zhou Botong, and Qiu Qianren could defeat him. Perhaps also Lin Chaoying's disciple, Li Mochou and Xiaolongnu's master, the current head of Gumu who had fought the mad Ouyang Feng three times.

But according to the original work, Qiu Chuji leading the other six disciples with the Big Dipper Array could only fight Huang Yaoshi to a draw. The gap between the two levels was almost like a cliff.

So Wu Chengyu had always wanted to know exactly how great the gap was between himself now and the Five Absolutes. This kind of thing couldn't be figured out without a fight.

Seeing Hong Qigong's palm strike coming, the palm force vast and arriving in the blink of an eye, Wu Chengyu knew he couldn't avoid fighting tonight. It was just right to test what level he was at now.

"Good timing." Wu Chengyu retreated two steps, both hands striking out, drawing a semicircle in the air, using Universe Reversal to the extreme. An invisible force field met Hong Qigong's palm force. This time he used everything he had learned, barely reversing that palm back.

"As expected." Hong Qigong shouted sternly, first striking out to cancel his own palm force, then leaping into the air with another palm.

"Take this move of mine: Arrogant Dragon Has Regrets." This time the palm force was no small matter. Just now was probing; now Hong Qigong was serious.

The palm force of this strike was extremely solid, yet there was no sound of breaking air. But one could feel it like a great mountain pressing down, and the air before him seemed to have frozen.

Wu Chengyu wanted to test his current level and still used Universe Reversal, forcibly transferring it. But this time he couldn't move it an inch. The invisible force field shattered on contact, and the palm force still struck his chest.

Wu Chengyu hurriedly used the Cat Step, shifting position rapidly, barely avoiding this palm. The palm force brushed past his side, and a tree at least twenty centimeters thick behind him snapped in response.

Not only that. After the invisible force field clashed with the palm force just now, Wu Chengyu only felt his inner force surging. At this moment his throat was slightly sweet; he had suffered a minor internal injury.

A mere palm strike, and the difference was clear. Wu Chengyu boasted that he learned a divine skill heart method, and his inner force quality far surpassed other techniques. But in a real fight with one of the Five Absolutes, he was still a step behind. Not only was the quality insufficient, but in terms of inner force accumulation, he was far behind.

Most importantly, this palm strike, Arrogant Dragon Has Regrets, seemed to somewhat restrain Universe Reversal.

When Hong Qigong taught Guo Jing, he had said that the key to Arrogant Dragon Has Regrets was the character "regret." Seven parts power released, three parts held back. It seemed to be these three parts of hidden force that allowed control over the palm force after it was unleashed. Universe Reversal had no way to deal with Hong Qigong's palm force.

Wu Chengyu changed position, but Hong Qigong did not pursue the advantage. Instead, he looked at Wu Chengyu with bright eyes and questioned him.

"Using his own method to deal with him. You are the long-lost Universe Reversal. You kid, your surname is Murong."

(Chapter End)