A journey through the world of martial arts

Chapter 59 Tower Climbing
When Cangmu was fighting the three, he decided to attack Lingyang Daoren, who was the weakest in martial arts, first. The other two knew Cangmu's plan and of course would not let him succeed.

The three of them are already struggling to cope. If one more person is taken away, it will be a complete defeat. To be defeated by a junior in front of all the disciples, how can he have the face to be the sect leader?

Su Yang and Lin Yang, with tacit understanding, thrust their swords at Cang Mu from the left and right, while Ling Yang stepped forward and used all his strength to stab Cang Mu in the chest.

A ferocious smile appeared on his face, as if he could see Cangmu lying on the ground, seriously injured by this sword. Cangmu snorted coldly, and to the disbelief of the three, Lingyang's longsword was actually cleaved in two by Cangmu's sword. Then, a powerful palm force penetrated into his body.

Ling Yang grunted as his body was sent flying, crashing into a pillar inside the hall before sliding down.

"Master!" Lingyang Daoist's disciple hurriedly stepped forward to help him up, checked his breathing, and found that he had just fainted.

"How come Senior Brother Cangmu's martial arts are so high? Even Master and Uncle-Master can't beat him," the young disciple couldn't help but ask, looking at Su Yang and his companion who were being forced to retreat repeatedly in the arena.

The other disciples remained silent upon hearing this.

With Lingyang gone, the remaining two were even more unable to hold on. With a little effort from Cangmu, the two were injured and fell to the ground one after another.

"Senior Uncle, the position of sect leader is mine now. You can go to the back mountain to enjoy your retirement years." Cangmu glanced at the two who were glaring at him angrily, then turned to the disciples and said, "From today onwards, I am the new sect leader of Wudang. Anyone who is dissatisfied may stand up."

Cangmu's tone was very calm, but his aura was impossible to ignore.

"We welcome the sect leader's arrival," the disciples said respectfully, kneeling down as the situation was settled.

"Get up," Cangmu nodded in satisfaction. This day had finally come.

Seeing that the situation was hopeless, Su Yang and Lin Yang were so angry that they vomited blood and fainted. Cang Mu waved his hand and ordered his men to take them to the back mountain and lock them up. After all, they were elders, and killing them would be a stain on their reputation.

As for those disciples who had followed them, those who were useful were used, and those who were not were sent to Taoist temples in various places.

"I wonder how you are doing now, senior."

Gyeonggi Province
Jiang Yuyan, Murong Zhong, Hua Wuque, and Xiaoyuer are on their way.

"Brother Hua, why are you always so cold? Can't you smile more?" Little Fish teased.

Hua Wuque glanced at him, pulled on the reins, and leaped over him, leaving Murong Zhong shaking his head repeatedly.

"Brother Yu, please stop making things difficult for Brother Hua. His personality has always been like this, and it's not easy to change him. If I asked you to be less impulsive and become quieter, would you be willing?"

"Oh, Brother Murong, please don't! If I were like Brother Hua, I'd suffocate myself to death," Xiaoyuer sighed.

"Brother Yu, let's hurry on our way. If we're even a step late, something might go wrong," Murong Zhong said, worried that the Eastern Depot might receive the information and make arrangements in advance, which would be bad.

"Alright, let's hurry up, Brother Hua, wait for us, let's go!" Little Fish shouted to Hua Wuque ahead as he quickly caught up.

The four of them traveled at breakneck speed and finally arrived in the capital three days later. Following the map, they came to the outskirts of the city.

"The local earth god temple is five miles ahead. According to the map, there are four sentry posts one mile away from the temple. You see, the locations are right here. There are four of us, so each of us will be responsible for one post." Murong Zhong placed the map on the ground, and the four of them noted down the locations before splitting up to carry out their mission.

After a short while, the four of them dealt with the hidden sentries and then met up in the local temple.

"It's good that everyone is safe. The real show is about to begin. The Tower of Death is an underground prison, shaped like an inverted tower. The deeper you go, the narrower it gets and the more dangerous it becomes. We must be careful. Junior sister, you are proficient in Qimen formations, so you will be the one to break through this first barrier."

Jiang Yuyan nodded upon hearing this. Murong Zhong walked to the earth statue, turned around, and pressed the mechanism. An opening appeared in the ground, revealing a dark and bottomless cave.

Without hesitation, the four used their lightness skills to leap down, and the cave entrance quickly closed after they entered.

Just as the four opened the entrance, the Iron Granny inside the Tower of Death noticed it. After sending people to investigate, the Iron Granny sneered.

"You are so ignorant and dare to come and challenge the tower. You are simply courting death. I'll see if you can get past that mechanism."

Eastern Depot, Secret Chamber

After absorbing the internal energy of two masters, Liu Xi's face became even more rosy. After he finished circulating his energy, Zhou Yan served him a cup of fragrant tea.

"My lord, Song Tao reports that the mission for the martial arts tournament has been completed, and the sixteen masters have been sent to the Tower of Death."

"Good," Liu Xi put down his teacup. "Song Tao completed the task very well, and my efforts in training him have not been in vain."

“However, Song Tao said in his letter that the Murong family members were not captured,” Zhou Yan said cautiously.

"It's alright. I'll leave the Murong family for last. As for Murong Shu, I didn't expect her to have a pure Yin destiny. If I have her internal energy to help me, I'll be more confident in mastering the divine skill."

When Liu Xi accidentally learned Murong Shu's birth date and time, he was overjoyed. Although he had secretly had three women with pure Yin energy practice martial arts, their skills were no match for Murong Shu's. Since he had a better option, he should use the best one.

"Hasn't Murong Wudi been opposing me all along? When the seven stars align a year from now, I will make him know the pain of losing his daughter."

"Your martial arts are unparalleled, Overseer. Once you master this divine skill, no one in the court or the country will dare to disobey your orders. The Yihua Palace will then fall into your hands," Zhou Yan flattered, which Liu Xi found very pleasing.

"Well said. The day I master this divine skill will be the day the martial arts world changes hands. How is Jiang Biehe now?"

"Reporting to the Grand Eunuch, Jiang Biehe was seriously injured by Yan Nantian. If Song Tao hadn't sent people to rescue him in time, he would probably have died long ago. He is currently recuperating at a manor."

"This martial world is getting more and more interesting. Even Yan Nantian, who has disappeared without a trace, has reappeared. I would like to meet this number one swordsman in the martial world and see whether his swordsmanship is more powerful or my divine skill is superior."

“Although Jiang Biehe is seriously injured, he still has some prestige in the martial arts world. We can’t lose this pawn. Go and get a Lesser Rejuvenation Pill and send it to him. We absolutely cannot lose the position of leader of the martial arts alliance,” Liu Xi still needed Jiang Biehe to stabilize the martial arts world for him. “Yes, Supervisor.”

Just as Zhou Yan was about to go down, a subordinate brought him a secret letter with Song Tao's seal on it. Zhou Yan didn't dare to delay and quickly took it and handed it to Liu Xi.

"That old scoundrel Murong Wudi!" Liu Xi was furious after reading it. Murong Wudi was really bold. He had finally managed to create chaos in the martial arts world and was waiting for him to clean up the mess. He never expected that Murong Wudi would step forward and lead the martial arts world. This had disrupted his plans.

"Master, it seems we need to teach Murong Wudi a lesson," Zhou Yan suggested immediately after reading the document.

"Originally, I didn't want to break ties with him so quickly. Since that's the case, we don't need to be polite. Send down the order to have all the troops in various places snipe at those forces that have sided with the Murong family. I want to make an example of them," Liu Xi said sternly.

"Once Jiang Biehe recovers, have him stabilize the situation immediately. At this time, what I need is stability. You may leave."

"Yes, Your Excellency," Zhou Yan replied and immediately went to prepare.

"Xu Gutong, Yaoyue, Lianxing, and Yan Nantian, these four will be obstacles to my reorganization of the martial world. Once I master the divine skill, all your power will belong to me, hahaha."

Tower of Death

Jiang Yuyan looked at the situation in front of her and silently calculated in her mind, while the other three remained silent and watched Jiang Yuyan perform.

“This is a reverse Five Elements formation,” Jiang Yuyan calculated silently for a moment and finally determined the origin of the formation.

"Reverse the Five Elements?" Little Fish asked in confusion.

"That's right. This Reverse Five Elements Formation evolved from the Five Elements Formation. Originally, the Five Elements numerology was Water 1, Fire 2, Wood 3, Metal 4, and Earth 5, but this Reverse Five Elements is reversed, becoming Water 5, Fire 4, Wood 3, Metal 2, and Earth 1."

"Miss Jiang, we don't understand these things either, so just tell us how to break the formation," Xiaoyuer said impatiently. She didn't want to know the origin of the formation, she just wanted to know how to break it.

"Brother Yu, please calm down. Since Junior Sister knows the principle of this formation, she will naturally have a way to break it." Murong Zhong had great confidence in his Junior Sister. Back at the manor, she had set up a bewitching formation that trapped the three of them for half an hour.

“Although the reverse five elements are completely opposite to the five elements, they do have one thing in common: the three wood pillars remain unchanged. As long as we find the location of the three wood pillars and break it, the formation will naturally be broken,” Jiang Yuyan said, looking at the wooden pillars in front of her.

"Where is Namu San located?" Xiaoyuer asked.

"There."

Little Fish recognized the voice as belonging to Hua Wuque. Following his directions, he saw wooden pillars, each about three people tall, begin to move back and forth.

"Miss Jiang, are you going to knock down all these wooden pillars?"

“That’s right, but the person who set up the formation also understands the importance of the third wooden pillar, which is why they used iron arrows and oil to hinder it. Young Master Hua, I’ll need you to knock down the third wooden pillar in the southeast direction. Brother Yu, Senior Brother, let’s hold off those hidden weapons for a while to buy Young Master Hua some time.”

The three of them agreed. Jiang Yuyan and the others took a step forward and triggered the mechanism. Immediately, a rain of arrows flew out, and fireballs came flying. The three of them made moves to block them. Taking advantage of the gap, Hua Wuque used his lightness skill to fly away and dodge the attacking hidden weapons, and arrived at the wooden pillar in the southeast corner.

Without hesitation, he used his powerful longsword to slice the ironwood pillar in two as easily as cutting tofu. At the same time the wooden pillar shattered, the rain of arrows and fireballs around him stopped abruptly.

Seeing that the formation had been broken, Hua Wuque came to the side of the three.

"Brother Hua, I didn't expect you to be so powerful." Little Fish knew that those wooden pillars were made of extremely hard ironwood, which ordinary swords could hardly damage. He never expected that Hua Wuque could achieve such a feat with a single sword strike. Based on this skill alone, he was far inferior to him.

"Although the formation has been broken, the tower master must already know that someone has entered the tower. We must be extremely careful in the next few trials," Jiang Yuyan reminded. The commotion of breaking the formation was so great, yet no one came out to stop them. The tower master must think that they have no chance of getting through.

"Senior brother, what's the next challenge?"

"Red silk net," Murong Zhong said in a deep voice after looking at the blueprints.

"Red silk net, I know this. It is made of silkworm silk and soaked in poisonous water for a year. It can be said to be extremely vicious. It is a rare treasure of the Five Poisons Sect." Xiaoyuer had seen this kind of thing in the secret manual of mechanisms. It is an important material used to connect the joints of mechanisms.

"Let's not talk about that now, let's go take a look first and then draw conclusions," Murong Zhong said, following the map's directions, leading the three to a long, narrow passage. Red lines blocked the passage, and both sides were smooth stone walls, making it difficult to cross.

Murong Zhong looked at the narrow path ahead and threw in several iron arrows. With a few soft sounds, the iron arrows broke into more than ten pieces.

"It seems that there are more than just the visible parts of this red silk net; there are also some that are invisible to the naked eye." Hua Wuque noticed that an iron arrow broke and fell to the ground even though it hadn't touched the red silk, which confirmed that there was something strange about it.

"This red silk net is powerful, but it has one weakness: the powder of the Heartbreak Grass," Little Fish said confidently, taking out a porcelain bottle from his pocket.

"Brother Hua, thank you for your trouble."

Hua Wuque took the porcelain bottle and forcefully threw it into the air. Then, with a crack, the powder of the broken heart fell down. The visible and invisible red silk netting melted away quickly, like a fireball hitting ice, leaving only a clump of black ash.

"I never expected Brother Yu to come from such a family with such a profound learning background, even carrying such a rare item with him."

Murong Zhong became increasingly interested in Xiaoyuer's identity. Xiaoyuer's sudden joining had made him very suspicious, but seeing that Xiaoyuer was not a treacherous person, he became sworn brothers with him.

"Brother Murong, my humble skills are nothing to you. They're just minor tricks," Xiaoyuer laughed and brushed it off.

After walking down a short distance, the four of them came to a wide square, but there was nothing unusual about it.

“Someone’s coming,” Hua Wuque suddenly said. Jiang Yuyan’s eyes were fixed on the front, where a group of soldiers in armor were marching in formation.

Murong Zhong and Xiaoyuer also became more vigilant. It seemed that the Tower Master was getting restless after seeing them break through two formations in a row.

(End of this chapter)