Huangxiu

Chapter 1159 Provocation
They did not doubt Zhu Lingyun's keen senses; since they felt something was amiss, they remained extremely vigilant despite not being able to see anything.

Their bodies rippled with a thin layer of energy, and their palms slowly grew larger.

These hands are particularly noticeable, making the person seem smaller.

It's obvious at a glance that he has mastered extraordinary palm techniques.

They slowed down, slower and slower, walking side by side, ready to act at any moment.

Slowly moving forward, they finally arrived at the grove of trees, the place Zhu Lingyun had pointed out.

It was indeed empty; they floated down onto the open ground.

Just as he was about to look around warily, his expression suddenly changed slightly, and his gaze sharpened.

The statue of the deity was standing before them.

It was the spirit statue of their Giant Spirit Sect.

The two bowed to each other instinctively, a habit formed over many years.

The next moment, a sudden pain shot through my brow.

"Stop!" Zhu Lingyun's voice suddenly rang out.

Suddenly, their vision went black, and they quickly looked up.

Zhu Lingyun was engaged in a fierce battle with a middle-aged man in a blue robe.

The middle-aged man in the blue robe wielded his sword with lightning speed, as swift as thunder, which was terrifying.

They covered their foreheads and found that blood was gushing out and wouldn't stop.

My vision went dark.

It was as if all spiritual strength was flowing out with the blood, growing weaker and weaker.

They turned to look at the statue.

It was just an ordinary stone statue, not a deity statue.

I was deceived!
In a moment of tension, upon suddenly seeing a statue, one might instantly mistake it for a deity.

In their anger, they exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, nodded, and turned to flee.

As eighth-level Venerables, and skilled in tracking and lightness techniques, they were incredibly fast, escaping the forest in the blink of an eye.

After escaping to a high mountain, they turned their bodies to look back as they continued walking.

But then they saw Zhu Lingyun also fleeing out of the woods, speeding towards them.

They breathed a sigh of relief.

Zhu Lingyun was also extremely skilled in light-footed martial arts and had a secret method to escape.

As long as they are not killed on the spot, their lives are safe.

They ran as fast as they could, glancing back every now and then, and finally ran for a hundred miles before stopping.

The three of them had now reunited.

"Xiao Zhu, if it weren't for you this time, we would be dead!"

“Uncle Sun, I just had a sudden urge to go and see what was going on, and I happened to witness his sneak attack.”

Another burly middle-aged man said, "Have you gotten a good look at this guy?"

"I couldn't see him clearly. I could see his face, but I just couldn't make it out..."

"It must be some kind of extraordinary technique." Sun Haoyang, whose skin was already dark, became even darker now. He gritted his teeth and said, "Where did this expert come from?"

"This guy is very strange."

Hu Chengxiang touched his forehead, still feeling lingering fear.

The bleeding finally stopped, but the residual damage remained, and he was still weak and listless. He said in a deep voice, "This guy is silent and fast, and he also has the ability to hide his appearance... Why would he hide his appearance?"

Sun Haoyang said, "You don't want to reveal your identity... are you afraid of our retaliation?"

Hu Chengxiang clapped his hands: "If they are from the four major sects or experts from the imperial court, there is no need to hide it!"

"...To deal with him, we need more experts; we need to split into two groups, one open and one covert."

"Let's go back first and see if there's any way to find that guy using our injuries!"

"Yep!"

"Xiao Zhu, what do you think?"

"Yes."

Zhu Lingyun nodded solemnly.

……

They rested for a while, then ran all the way back to the headquarters of the Giant Spirit Sect.

In the valley, inside the main hall on the island in the lake, a group of elders surrounded Hu and Sun, taking turns examining their foreheads.

The small hole between his eyebrows was still there, and the blood had turned brown, making it look as if he had an extra eye.

The elders present all felt a chill run down their spines.

A sword piercing this spot would almost certainly be fatal, leaving the victim hanging by a thread, practically between life and death.

"Junior Brother Sun, Junior Brother Hu, you've escaped with your lives!"

"Who says otherwise? Little Zhu is so clever!"

"Xiao Zhu is quite bold."

They shook their heads repeatedly.

He figured that if he were in that situation, he probably wouldn't have rushed forward.

If even the two elders were no match for him, how could Zhu Lingyun, whose cultivation had just reached the third stage, possibly defeat them?

At this moment, he still rushed forward without hesitation to save their lives, showing his pure and selfless nature.

Can someone with such a mindset become an incarnation of a deity?
They had a vague feeling that something was amiss.

Sun Haoyang, with his dark complexion, said in a deep voice, "Sect Master, without Xiao Zhu this time, the two of us will never see our senior brothers again!"

Standing to the side with his hands behind his back, Zhao Ruilin glanced at him coldly with a stern face: "Reckless!"

Sun Haoyang said indignantly, "We felt something was wrong, but we were unwilling to run back without taking a closer look. Any of our senior brothers would have done the same!"

His gaze swept over the other elders.

An elder said, "Actually, there's no need to go forward. We can watch from a distance and see who has the more patience." "Exactly, it's good to see who has more patience."

"Hey, you guys only did this because you knew that guy was weird, right? What if you didn't know? Would you have made the same choice as us?"

"..."

They remained silent, shaking their heads helplessly.

This is the pride of the elders. As top experts, how could they flee without a fight and be terrified at the mere mention of their name?

So, just as Sun Haoyang said, they would also go forward to investigate, and then fall victim to the virus.

A middle-aged man asked, "Senior Brother Hu, is this guy's movement and swordsmanship really that amazing?"

Hu Chengxiang's face was gloomy as he slowly said, "It's possible that I was careless, or that Junior Brother Sun was careless, but neither of us noticed him until we realized something was wrong and he had already been stabbed."

A middle-aged man slowly said, "Such a person is definitely not an unknown individual, is he?"

"He's only strong because of the power of the illusion array. Without it, he might not be that powerful," an elder retorted, unconvinced.

"Can you sense his presence?" Sect Master Zhao Ruilin said in a deep voice, "We should find out his background first. If we don't know who he is, how can we take revenge?"

Everyone shook their heads helplessly.

"This person's swordsmanship and aura are strange, and he has left no trace."

They couldn't sense any lingering aura on the sword; it was empty and devoid of anything.

"Lingyun, what about you?" Zhao Ruilin looked at him.

“Master…” Zhu Lingyun frowned and pondered, “That stone statue is very strange.”

"What's strange about it?"

“It wasn’t there a moment ago,” Zhu Lingyun frowned. “Then it appeared, as if it had always been there and we hadn’t seen it… This isn’t an ordinary illusion array, is it?”

"Appeared out of nowhere?" Zhao Ruilin asked.

“It wasn’t there before,” Zhu Lingyun said. “If it were an ordinary illusion array, it wouldn’t be able to fool me. Could one person set up such an illusion array?”

Hu Chengxiang said coldly, "There aren't many illusion arrays in the world as powerful as this!"

A middle-aged man stroked his beard and pondered, "Besides the imperial court, it can only be the Myriad Manifestations Sect, right?... They are experts from the imperial court?... But experts from the imperial court don't need to hide their identities... Besides, the imperial court couldn't possibly know about the actions of sects like ours, could it?"

Sun Haoyang asked, "Only the Imperial Court and the Myriad Manifestations Sect? What about the Four Great Sects? Don't other sects have illusion arrays?"

The middle-aged man stroked his beard and shook his head: "The four major sects have sword formations, so they should also have illusion formations. If they can't do this, then other sects are even less capable. Only the imperial court and the Wanxiang Sect have such powerful illusion formations."

Sun Haoyang asked, "Does the Wanxiang Sect have such a powerful swordsman?"

"...It's hard to say." The middle-aged man stroked his beard and sighed, "If they were truly experts from the imperial court, there would be no need for them to come alone; they always attack in a swarm."

Logically speaking, it's unlikely to be the Myriad Manifestations Sect, since they are both evil sects and have no conflict of interest. This time, they are actually cooperating with each other.

But reality keeps contradicting this judgment.

"They're probably not experts from the imperial court," Sun Haoyang scoffed. "If they were truly experts from the imperial court, why would they be wearing masks? Do they think they can't see us?!"

"As for the Myriad Manifestations Sect..." another middle-aged man hesitated, "There are three powerful swordsmen, the most powerful of whom is Lu Qiyuan. He once had a fortuitous encounter and obtained a sword technique that is extremely powerful. Could it be him?"

"That's him!" Sun Haoyang scoffed. "Senior Brother Wan, have you seen him before?"

"Never seen him before... This guy is a martial arts fanatic, he's always practicing, and he wants to hone his sword skills by killing people."

"Killing people to practice swordsmanship... No wonder this swordsmanship is so strange. As soon as the sword was drawn, I felt like I was frozen in place, unable to move, unable to resist, and even my mind went blank."

Hu Chengxiang slowly said, "Were you intimidated by his murderous aura?"

"That's very likely."

"The Myriad Manifestations Sect!"

"Or, should we just go to the Myriad Manifestations Sect and ask? What if they've made a mistake?"

"Ask? They would never admit it, and neither would we."

"What should we do?"

Hu Chengxiang said coldly, "The Wanxiang Sect will also be mobilized this time. We can take advantage of their weakness and deal with them directly. After we deal with the Wanxiang Sect, we don't have to worry about them coming to us. We can then wipe them out."

"Uncle-Master Hu," Zhu Lingyun said softly, "Could there be a mistake? What if there is?"

Hu Chengxiang snorted, "So what if it's a mistake? Let's just make the best of a mistake!"

A cold glint flashed in his eyes.

This near-death experience filled him with a boiling rage.

This anger needs to be quelled by killing.

Now that there's no one to take revenge on, let's take down the Myriad Manifestations Sect.

Whether Guan Wanxiangzong is innocent or not, kill him first and we'll talk about it later!
Zhu Lingyun hesitated.

Hu Chengxiang sighed, “Xiao Zhu, that’s just how the world is. If you strike first, you lose the chance to strike again. We are not the imperial court, and even if we were, we wouldn’t do what they say and make a judgment only after we’ve thoroughly figured things out.”

“…Yes.” Zhu Lingyun nodded reluctantly.

Hu Chengxiang glanced at Zhao Ruilin.

Zhao Ruilin said, "Let's first find out if this is some kind of scheme by the imperial court."

Hu Chengxiang said, "Sect Master, if it were the imperial court, they could simply kill us and then pin the blame on the Wanxiang Sect, which would be even simpler."

Zhao Ruilin said slowly, "Alright, let's deal with the Myriad Manifestations Sect first!"

He shared Hu Chengxiang's view: if a mistake is made, so be it; if Wan Xiangzong deals with it, so be it; there's no need to worry too much.

As for the fact that the Myriad Manifestations Sect is powerful and that they might suffer heavy losses if they fought against them, they were not worried at all.

With Zhu Lingyun as their trump card, they could absolutely wipe out the entire Wanxiang Sect.

Since Zhu Lingyun failed to break into the city this time, then let's deal with the Wanxiang Sect!
At this moment, Chu Zhiyuan had already returned to the Heavenly Sword Villa and sat on his bed.

He was quite satisfied with the performance of his clone, Zhu Lingyun.

The elders' conversation inadvertently revealed some important information.

They were indeed planning this; it was an organized attack.

They really wanted to enter the imperial city.

As for whether entering the imperial city was for killing or to destroy the dignity of the court, it was not mentioned in detail.

He suspected there might be other motives, but there was too little information to determine.

(End of this chapter)