Chapter 790

"Shi Lang, did you see clearly? Is it really the Qing court's army?"

Xiao Yilang is one of the Twelve Gate Generals, his martial arts outstanding, almost firmly holding one of the top three positions.

His courage and bravery are also among the finest of the Twelve Gate Generals.

Hearing Shi Lang suddenly say this, he was the first to ask.

594 — There are actually eight copies of the Forty-Two Chapter Sutra?

"Xiao Yilang, Shi Lang is not lying."

Gua Ge Luo's expression darkened as he spoke to Fenghuo Liancheng and the others,

"I saw it clearly — that army's banners were flying wide, and by the insignia it looked like Prince Duogeduo was leading them personally."

"Ah…"

The Twelve Gate Generals were all greatly shocked.

Since the Qing court's restoration, Duogeduo has been the imperial prince second only to the Regent.

Not to mention his high martial arts, the man himself is utterly ruthless.

The Qing court's Martial Arts Prohibition was personally overseen by him.

The Ten Days of Yangzhou, the Three Butcheries of Jiading — these too were personally carried out by Duogeduo leading his army.

One could say that Duogeduo appearing in person clearly signals ill intent.

"Interesting, very interesting!"

While the Twelve Gate Generals were utterly astonished, Fenghuo Liancheng instead suddenly laughed.

"Gate Master?"

The Twelve Gate Generals were baffled and could only inquire.

"The Heaven and Earth Society's remaining forces in the northwest — to say nothing of opposing the court, even against the likes of us they would be nothing but chickens and tiles."

"Duogeduo's coming this time is most likely to wait for us to wipe out the Heaven and Earth Society, then conveniently wipe us out as well."

"After that, when the Qinglong Society returns, they'll wash their hands of it and push every fault onto us."

After seeing Duogeduo's banners, Shi Lang racked his brain for a long time and finally figured out why Duogeduo was leading the army here personally.

When the Qinglong Society first overthrew the Qing court, they had no time to reorganize the Great Qing order before hastily withdrawing.

Without the Qinglong Society overseeing the situation, the various peripheral forces refused to submit to one another, allowing the Qing court to return from the dead.

Yet everyone knows that even though the Qinglong Society has withdrawn for now, sooner or later they will return to the Great Qing.

By then, seeing the Qinglong Society's peripheral forces suffer so many losses,

in their fury they will surely need someone to take the blame.

Fenghuo Liancheng's force is not only strong in troops and horses, but more critically, their hands are indeed stained — more or less — with the blood of the Qinglong Society's peripheral forces.

Now the Heaven and Earth Society's destruction is at hand.

As the saying goes: when the cunning rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked!

"Right! Shi Lang is right — this Duogeduo is most likely waiting for us and the Heaven and Earth Society to fight like the clam and the mussel, so he can be the fisherman who reaps the profit.

In my view, continuing to slaughter the Heaven and Earth Society would actually be the unwise choice."

Shi Lang's reasoning made the Twelve Gate Generals all nod in unison, and San Gen spoke up to say,

"Oh? Then what would be the wise choice?"

Fenghuo Liancheng asked,

"Do you really think that with our mere thousand-odd men, we can turn around and kill Duogeduo?"

"With just us, it's very hard."

San Gen shook his head.

Within the Great Qing's borders, Earthly Immortal Realm experts either hide themselves from the world, or have already left the Great Qing.

And experts below the Earthly Immortal Realm, even those at the Absolute level, find it very hard to ignore an army.

Moreover, since this Qing army is personally led by Duogeduo, it is clearly the Qing court's elite.

I'm afraid even ordinary Absolute-level experts would get bogged down within the army.

"We might be able to contact anti-Qing forces, for instance… the Heaven and Earth Society…"

San Gen's expression turned strange; he hemmed and hawed for a long while before finally saying.

The Twelve Gate Generals erupted in uproar — they had just killed quite a few suspected members of the Heaven and Earth Society.

The corpses of those people were still lying beside them, eyes wide open in pitiful death.

And now San Gen, to deal with Duogeduo, actually proposed allying with the Heaven and Earth Society?

Are you mad? Or do you take the Heaven and Earth Society for fools?

"But we've killed too many Heaven and Earth Society people, and the Heaven and Earth Society is now in decline — just this small force in the northwest. Even if they cooperate with us, they can't truly defeat Duogeduo.

So instead, let's cross the Tianshan Mountains and flee this land beyond the pale!"

Before anyone could raise an objection, San Gen immediately revealed his true intention.

Allying with the remnants of the Heaven and Earth Society was naturally impossible.

But if, with Fenghuo Liancheng's thousand-odd men, they charged headlong, heedless of everything, to the border of the land beyond the pale,

once they broke out, who is to say there wouldn't be a way to survive?

"That is indeed a fine suggestion…"

Hearing this, quite a few of the Twelve Gate Generals expressed approval.

This time, following the Qing court's Martial Arts Prohibition, they had slaughtered many martial artists and obtained considerable rewards.

One could say this was precisely the moment to spend those rewards — how could they senselessly fight Duogeduo to the death here?

"Then what about the Forty-Two Chapter Sutra?"

Though Shan Zhi also felt San Gen made sense, he knew Fenghuo Liancheng was extremely greedy, and lecherous to boot.

The way the Sect Master had looked at Long Er just now, without any attempt to hide it, told him Fenghuo Liancheng would not give up easily.

So no matter how unwilling, he could only speak the words in Fenghuo Liancheng's heart for him.

"This…"

The Weishier Sect generals all fell silent at once.

Duogeduo's threat was still a bit distant, but the lure of the Forty-Two Chapter Scripture was indeed not small.

On top of that, they were all, like Fenghuo Liancheng, greedy by nature.

So even at this life-and-death moment, they were still scheming after the Forty-Two Chapter Scripture.

"The Qing court is divided into the Eight Banners. The Forty-Two Chapter Scriptures of Shenlong Sect's Sect Master Lady Long Er only include the Plain White Banner and the Plain Yellow Banner.

In my view, it's very likely there are eight copies of the Forty-Two Chapter Scripture.

Even if we were lucky enough to get Long Er's two copies of the Forty-Two Chapter Scripture, how would we know the whereabouts of the others?"

Among the Weishier Sect generals, Mao Shou was the oldest and also the most knowledgeable.

Seeing the look in Fenghuo Liancheng's and the others' eyes as they listened to the Forty-Two Chapter Scripture, he immediately realized it wasn't only the Sect Master who didn't want to give up.

His fellow disciples of the Weishier Sect, he feared, also rarely wanted to give up.

Even Mao Shou himself didn't want to give up.

But he knew a few things, so he raised a question.

"There are actually eight copies?"

Fenghuo Liancheng's face changed drastically, a look of utter gloom upon it.

If there were only two copies, he might still take a gamble.

But if it really was as Mao Shou said, that there were eight copies of the Forty-Two Chapter Scripture, then how was he to gather them all?

"Sect Master, I have a plan!"

Shi Lang pondered for a while, then his eyes suddenly lit up; he pressed close to Fenghuo Liancheng's ear and began muttering in a low voice.

Fenghuo Liancheng had been wearing a look of utter gloom, but as Shi Lang's words kept coming, his face gradually grew animated.

"Good! Very good!"

When Shi Lang finished, Fenghuo Liancheng clapped Shi Lang on the shoulder,

"I didn't expect you, kid, to have this kind of scheme — not bad, not bad!

If this really succeeds this time, the position of Vice Sect Master is yours from now on."

Fenghuo Liancheng was immensely excited, and publicly promised the position of Vice Sect Master.

Though the Wu Gong of the Weishier Sect generals differed, their statuses were actually equal — none stood higher than another.