Chapter 1014

Seven days pass, if you do not return to lead us to find the last Tian Xiang Doukou,

then we can kill Zhu Wushi, and we can also crush you, this Iron-Galled Divine Marquis!

By the end, Le Fan was utterly distraught.

The newly appointed Iron-Galled Divine Marquis naturally felt deep displeasure within, yet smiled and nodded outwardly,

"Of course, your methods have already been seen by Zhu Wushi; I will not oppose you.

But are you certain you only wish to extract this Tian Xiang Doukou, and not to take this Tian Xiang Doukou for yourselves?"

"Rest assured! We keep our word—so long as you retrieve it, we won't take your Tian Xiang Doukou."

An elderly monk, impatient, interrupted Le Fan before he could explain and spoke directly.

"Indeed! What my senior uncle said is our shared intent—rest easy."

Le Fan also nodded and said.

"Then it's settled. Gentlemen, Zhu Wushi takes his leave."

The Iron-Galled Divine Marquis bowed to the several eminent monks.

The elderly monks looked at Le Fan; only after seeing him nod did they dismantle the joint-soul formation they had just set up.

The Iron-Galled Divine Marquis smiled, then strode out of the hall with deliberate arrogance.

"Do you truly believe this boy will listen to us and retrieve the last Tian Xiang Doukou?"

After the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis left the meditation hall, the elderly monk who first attacked Zhu Wushi asked Le Fan.

"He has no choice!"

Le Fan's expression turned cold, appearing strangely terrifying and sinister.

On the other side, after the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis stepped out of the meditation hall,

he discovered this was no longer any Shaolin Temple—it was a solitary chan hall nestled in a dense forest.

The Iron-Galled Divine Marquis was clearly very familiar with this place and paid it no mind.

After leaving the chan hall and entering the forest, he immediately activated his body technique and headed eastward.

Not long after, he saw in the distance an ancient temple clearly visible.

Upon closer inspection, wasn't this none other than Yunzhou Shaolin!

At this moment, within Yunzhou Shaolin, whether Eastern Depot agents, Shanzhuang guards, or Jianghuge Sect members had all departed.

The entire Shaolin Temple, aside from the monks still tending to the wounded,

had only Wu Seng patrolling continuously along its perimeter.

This time, Yunzhou Shaolin suffered a great calamity—the thousand-year-old Damo Hall was destroyed.

Even one of Shaolin's Three Divine Monks, Le Jie, and nearly all of the Le-character monks of the Damo Hall perished miserably.

Such a blow was not insignificant to Shaolin.

Thus, now, every level of Shaolin dared not be careless, deploying sufficient personnel to patrol everywhere.

Far off, a squad of martial monks spotted the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis approaching from the west.

The lead martial monk felt puzzled—hadn't the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis just left from the east, chasing after Zhou Zhiruo?

Why then had he returned from the west, and what was his purpose in coming back to Shaolin?

The martial monks immediately stepped forward to greet the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis, while sending another to urgently report to the abbot.

"Hui Kong bows before the Marquis!"

By this time, the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis had drawn near; the lead martial monk immediately announced his name and performed a high salute.

"Venerable Master, your courtesy."

At this moment, the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis no longer bore his previous sinister aura, but returned the high salute to Hui Kong.

Before Hui Kong could ask, he spoke directly,

"That Zhou Zhiruo is as cunning as a ghost, and an unknown martialist intervened to block me—I failed to capture her.

Now, returning to Shaolin, I seek a small favor from the abbot."

"What favor does the Divine Marquis require of this old monk?"

Hearing the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis had suddenly returned, the abbot of Yunzhou Shaolin, Le Fan, hurried over.

His lightness skill was excellent; he happened to overhear the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis's words and called out from afar.

The Iron-Galled Divine Marquis gazed deeply at Le Fan, secretly astonished.

The Le Fan in the Xinchantang and the Le Fan before him were nearly identical.

Even their expressions, tone, speech—all were perfectly matched.

Had he not dealt with that Le Fan for a long time, he might truly have been unable to tell them apart.

A moment of disorientation passed through his mind, then the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis smiled and said,

"This time…"

"Father?"

Before the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis could finish, Guihai Yidao and Shangguan Haitang appeared behind Le Fan.

All the Shanzhuang experts had been ordered by Zhu Wushi to pursue Zhou Zhiruo.

Aside from Guihai Yidao and Shangguan Haitang, even Duan Tianya had been dispatched to chase after her.

Now, hearing the monks report that the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis had suddenly returned,

the two feared Zhou Zhiruo had been captured, and also worried something had happened to their father.

Thus, they followed Le Fan, arriving here one after the other.

When they saw the Iron-Galled Divine Marquis's side—not only was Zhou Zhiruo absent, not even a single other manor expert accompanied him—

the two exchanged a glance and smiled, yet each saw worry reflected in the other's eyes.

With no choice now, he could only brace himself and step forward to call out.

"Hmph!"

Zhuge Shenhou was clearly fully aware of what had just happened.

At this moment he actually let out a cold snort, lifted his chin, and said,

"I don't deserve it. I wouldn't dare be your godfather.

Nor do I have such unfilial godson and goddaughter as you!"

Shangguan Haitang heard Zhuge Shenhou no longer refer to himself as 'gu' (this sovereign), and assumed he was truly angry.

She immediately stepped forward a few paces and said softly,

"Godfather! We were wrong."

"No, what fault do you have? If anyone is at fault, it should be me.

I should never have taken you in back then."

The more Zhuge Shenhou spoke, the angrier his face grew.

"Alright now! Godfather, please forgive Haitang!"

Shangguan Haitang deliberately acted coquettishly, sidling up to Zhuge Shenhou's side, hugging his arm as she said,

"Haitang didn't mean to go against you, godfather. It's just that Zhou Zhiruo saved both our lives.

Back then in that canyon, if Zhou Zhiruo hadn't stepped out righteously to help—

We'd probably have been taught a lesson long ago…"

Right now Shangguan Haitang was only thinking of quelling Zhuge Shenhou's fury, and didn't notice at all that she had chosen her words poorly.

What did she mean by Zhou Zhiruo stepping out righteously to help?

Back then in that mountain valley, not only were there the Eastern Depot men led by Cao Zhengchun,

there were also the Wu Lin martial artists led by Xue Damo, weren't there?

Shangguan Haitang's remark about 'stepping out righteously to help' was no different than saying Xue Damo was committing an unrighteous act.

Originally Xue Damo was already furious that Benefactor Guihai had successively killed Masters Liaokong and Liaojie.

And because of the Tudao Assembly, someone had spied an opening and secretly entered the Damo Hall.

Causing the Damo Hall, which had stood unshaken for a thousand years, to now be nothing but an empty plot of white earth.

His great name, Xue Damo, would probably forever remain on Yunzhou Shaolin's pillar of shame from now on.

If not for Zhu Wushi setting aside past grievances earlier and saving Liaoku's life,

no matter what was said, Xue Damo would never have spared Benefactor Guihai.