The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 277 The Right Path
The four men walked through the crowd, stepped over the long and short weapons scattered on the ground, bypassed countless tents, and set foot on the mountain road under the hundreds of gazes cast by the surrounding martial arts people.

An Ziyang walked in front, chatting and laughing with Qi Shuyun.

Liu Chengxuan and Wen Lianrong fell behind, but not as naturally as they had been a few days ago. Liu Chengxuan looked at An Ziyang's back who was talking to Qi Shuyun, and from time to time he glanced at the bundle containing Tang He's head hanging in An Ziyang's hand.

He's not stupid.

Traveling with An Ziyang for several days was enough for him to gradually wake up from the excitement of "life-saving grace" and "escaping danger".

After the destruction of the Ming Cult, the Wedding Dress Divine Art should now be in the hands of the imperial court. When the Sword King Pavilion came into being, it had some conflicts with the Tang Clan. It is said that it was an elder in the Tang Clan who was not surnamed Tang who invited the Northern Pacification Office's pacification envoy to mediate, and only then did the Sword King Pavilion stop.

An Ziyang did not tell him his identity, but only told them that his last name was An, so he called him "Young Master An". Although the surname An is not a rare surname, there is only one name in the martial arts world that can match Young Master An's martial arts, age, and methods, and can be associated with the Tang Sect, Jinyiwei, and Wu Gu at the same time.

As speculation about An Ziyang's identity grew, Li Miao's identity gradually began to point in the same direction.

A direction that Liu Chengxuan subconsciously did not want to admit.

"Master An is a 'latecomer', maybe he had a friendship with Master Li before? With Master Li's martial arts skills, it is possible that he can be on good terms with Master An, right?"

Liu Chengxuan's face was uncertain, and suddenly, Wen Lianrong held his hand. He turned his head and looked at Wen Lianrong.

"Senior brother."

Wen Lianrong looked into his eyes and shook her head slowly.

The two of them were in tune with each other, and Liu Chengxuan understood what she meant instantly.

"It is not advisable to judge people by their reputation or appearance. Moreover, Master An and Hero Li saved our lives. If you are suspicious of them just because of rumors, aren't you being ungrateful and mean?"

"Besides, we should make the best of it. Isn't your cautious little girl attitude bringing shame to Huanhua Sword Sect?"

Liu Chengxuan blushed at first, then nodded.

"I understand, Junior Sister."

An Ziyang, who had been paying attention to his movements in front, turned around and smiled at him.

"Master Liu, if you have any worries, it won't be too late to think about it when we get to the mountain. I'm afraid this kind of event won't happen again in decades. If you just rush through it, you may regret it in the future."

Liu Chengxuan nodded.

"Mr. An is right."

Then he quickly caught up and was on the same level as An Ziyang.

Although there were not as many people on the mountain road as at the foot of the mountain, it was still bustling. A few well-known figures in the martial arts world could be seen at a glance, and third-rate players were just a sideshow, not even qualified to walk on the road.

But even in this situation, An Ziyang and the other three still attracted a lot of people's attention.

Because of the bag An Ziyang was holding in his hand.

Three round objects formed an outline on the bundle, which could be said to have a nose and eyes. There was also some liquid seeping through the bottom of the bundle, which dripped every now and then. Although there was no smell, scarlet and light yellow could still be seen mixed in the liquid.

Jinyiwei summoned all the righteous people in the world, Wudang had already arrived, and Shaolin was about to go up the mountain. Who dared to go up the mountain at this time, carrying three heads?

Someone looked at the four people carefully.

"Liu Chengxuan, the woman next to him doesn't look familiar, but judging by her steps and swords, they should be from the Huanhua Sword Sect, at most two second-rate ones."

"Qi Shuyun, you are an old first-class martial artist, a master of the righteous way. Although your martial arts skills are outstanding among the first-class martial artists, you are not considered a person of any importance in Songshan at this time."

"But it's this young man holding a human head...hiss!"

The man suddenly took half a step back.

"Fox-like face, pale complexion, upturned mouth, thin body, and a long sword hanging from his waist... Yes, it's him, it's him!"

His lips moved, and then they closed tightly. Without any hesitation, the man pulled his companions with him and rushed into the dense forest beside the road, disappearing.

In a hurry, his movements were not small at all.

An Ziyang had appeared in the underworld quite a lot in the past six months, but not many people could survive after seeing him, so most people were just suspicious and did not take any action for the time being. But once someone took the lead, things changed.

Swah——

Almost instantly, a space appeared in front of An Ziyang.

The crowd parted like the sea.

Liu Chengxuan's eyes twitched, not knowing how to react.

An Ziyang sneered and walked forward.

As the four of them walked forward, the crowd in front of them parted. An Ziyang was used to it, but the other three had never seen such a scene before. They had been in the right way all their lives, and had never been watched by people with such terrified and fearful eyes. For a moment, they didn't want to look around, and walked forward quickly.

With the strength of the four people, it took only a moment to reach the gate of Songshan Sect. When they got here, Liu Chengxuan let out a long breath and slowly slowed down his pace.

"Master Liu is anxious."

An Ziyang's teasing voice came from behind.

Liu Chengxuan turned his head and laughed dryly.

"I'm sorry to have made you laugh, Master An."

"It doesn't matter."

An Ziyang waved his hand.

"Don't waste any time. Although these people at the foot of the mountain and on the mountain road look like decent people, they are just pretending to be decent people in front of ordinary people. It doesn't matter whether you look at them or not."

"Except for those who have already entered the mountain gate in advance, those who are truly qualified to enter the mountain gate to enjoy the moon are basically all in front of you now."

An Ziyang walked up to Liu Chengxuan's side and extended his hand to him.

"Look, Master Liu."

"What you have in front of you right now can be said to be half of the martial arts world."

Liu Chengxuan looked up and was stunned for a moment. Wen Lianrong and Qi Shuyun followed him and followed his gaze. They were also speechless for a moment, and after a long while, they slowly exhaled.

"The martial arts world... I have been traveling in the martial arts world for nearly twenty years, and this is the time when I finally see the martial arts world in its true light."

Qi Shuyun murmured.

Outside the gate of Songshan Sect, there was no longer a dense forest. The mountain path outside the gate expanded to the left and right, opening up a flat land of a hundred feet square. The four people stood at the entrance of this flat land, and suddenly felt dizzy.

It is not only the celestial beings who have cultivated to the level of Sumeru who can sense the true qi in other people's bodies. Anyone who has mastered martial arts can have some feeling, but those who are below the first-rate can at best only vaguely sense the general level of the other person.

But, at this moment, whether it was Qi Shuyun, who had just achieved the highest level of cultivation, or Liu Chengxuan and Wen Lianrong, who were at a second-rate level, they all felt the true energy slowly surging in front of them like the sea.

That is the true energy surging in the bodies of nearly half of the masters in the entire martial arts world.

Looking around, the platform, which was a hundred feet square, was bustling with people. Monks, swordsmen, witches, thieves, and all kinds of people occupied every corner. Each of them was a well-known figure in the martial arts world, and each of them had a true energy surging in their bodies that was no less than Liu Chengxuan's.

And these people are all looking in one direction.

The main gate of the Songshan School.

Liu Chengxuan glanced around, but his expression suddenly changed, and he spoke to An Ziyang in a low voice.

"Master An...why do I see that most of the people here are evil?"

He only took a quick look and saw several notorious thieves and demons. And judging from their eyes, demeanor, and weapons, most of the people within his sight were evil, which was obviously abnormal.

Since ancient times, the number of evil people in the Jianghu has been far less than that of the righteous. The Jianghu is not a place with clear boundaries, and even the righteous forces are often not so clean. As long as you are willing to abide by the "Jianghu rules" in general, do not do things so drastically, and do not have the kind of evil deeds that spread throughout the Jianghu, you can generally call yourself a righteous person.

After all, people’s minds are stable. Only lunatics and fools will keep struggling in muddy water. Anyone with a little bit of brains will leave a way out for himself and look for an opportunity to "retire from the underworld" or "return to the right path."

Because of this, even when evil was at its most rampant, its number of followers did not exceed one-third of that of the righteous.

This grand event encompassed almost the entire martial arts world, but outside the gate of Songshan Sect, there were more evil ways than righteous ways.

An Ziyang smiled.

"It's just like that outside the mountain gate."

He pointed to the gate of Songshan Sect.

“That’s the reason.”

Liu Chengxuan looked in the direction An Ziyang pointed.

On the left side of the Songshan Sect's open gate stood a huge stone, weighing at least a thousand pounds, with its bottom deeply embedded in the ground.

Liu Chengxuan looked at it carefully and his pupils suddenly shrank.

On both sides of the huge rock, there seemed to be two pieces of scarlet cloth, swaying slowly in the mountain breeze.

"Come closer and take a look, Master Liu."

An Ziyang smiled.

After saying that, he reached out and grabbed Liu Chengxuan's arm and stepped forward.

The four of them walked up to the huge rock and stopped.

Liu Chengxuan's face gradually turned pale. Under the huge rock, there were not two pieces of cloth, or more than just cloth.

Those were two trouser legs, wrapped around two stumps. Blood stains that had dried into flakes were tangled on them, and the mountain wind occasionally pulled two pieces off and rolled on the ground.

The gully at the bottom of the boulder was filled with flesh and blood, which had turned black and dried, and emitted a faint fishy smell that penetrated into Liu Chengxuan's nostrils from the ground, as if telling him of his misery.

"Well."

Liu Chengxuan and Qi Shuyun were still able to suppress the fear and astonishment in their hearts, but Wen Lianrong, who had been practicing martial arts in the mountain gate and had never been to the martial arts world, turned pale and suddenly raised her hand to cover her mouth.

An Ziyang's mischievous laughter came from the side.

"That's why."

"Although this event is open to all, regardless of good or evil, only powerful forces are invited, and no lone masters are invited. But since this matter has spread throughout the martial arts world, and you have seen it on the way up the mountain, in fact, all martial arts people want to join in the fun."

"It's easier for the righteous ones. Even if they haven't received an invitation, they still know some manners. As long as they talk to the familiar sects and pass on a visiting card, they can be considered as important people. Even if there are no seats, they can at least go in and take a look."

"But those who are involved in evil ways are not so honest."

An Ziyang looked down at the two limbs extending from under the boulder and spoke slowly.

"The first group of sects that received the invitation were invited a month ago, and the news has spread throughout the martial arts world since then. Zhongyue Songshan is located in the center of Dashuo's territory, and the top masters will set off immediately and arrive at Songshan in early August."

"Of course, there are people like Tang He here who have bad intentions."

An Ziyang pointed to the outer wall of Songshan Sect.

Following his finger, Liu Chengxuan looked towards the corner of the outer wall and was speechless again. Under the corner of the outer wall of Songshan Sect, a patch of scarlet soil would appear every now and then.

"Some secretly poisoned the water source on Songshan Mountain, some climbed over the wall in the middle of the night to investigate, and some carried the judge's pen to carve a sign on the mountain gate saying 'someone was here'. These are all small-time scoundrels, and the Songshan Sect can basically handle them."

"But, there are also people like this one—"

He pointed to the two stumps of limbs extending from under the boulder.

"He has good martial arts skills, but his mind is not clear. He relies on his martial arts and wants to use this opportunity to become famous."

"By the way, he only has two legs left now. Sect Leader Liu may not recognize him, but you must have heard of his name."

An Ziyang looked up and smiled.

"This person's name is Zhao Qiaoqiao."

Hearing An Ziyang's words, Liu Chengxuan suddenly looked up and said in surprise.

"'Bloody Clothes' Zhao Qiaoqiao!?"

"Isn't he already dead?!"

"Of course not. Oh, he is indeed dead now."

An Ziyang smiled.

Speaking of the name Zhao Qiaoqiao, people in recent years may not know much about it. That is to say, although the Huanhua Sword School is not strong, it has a long history, so Liu Chengxuan can react.

But the name "Blood Robe" is deeply engraved in the minds of all the people in the martial arts world. Because this name does not refer to a certain person, but an identity and a status.

This is the title of the owner of the Blood Robe Tower.

The Blood Clothes Building is a very rare evil force in the martial arts world, with a heritage of more than a hundred years. They do the work of assassins, and the assassins in the building are ranked from low to high, wearing "green clothes", "black clothes", "white clothes", and the highest "blood clothes".

Unlike other forces, except for the "Blood Robe" who succeeded the leader, all other members of the Blood Robe Building would not use their real bodies to walk around in the martial arts world. Whenever the previous "Blood Robe" died, all the "White Robes" in the Blood Robe Building would start an extremely brutal internal fight.

Finally, the person who dyed the white clothes red with the blood of all the other "white clothes" became the owner of the Blood Clothes Building and the next "Blood Clothes". During the heyday of the Blood Clothes Building, the title of "Blood Clothes" was even more useful than the Shaolin abbot and the Wudang head.

Zhao Qiaoqiao is the last "Bloody Clothes" and also the last owner of the Blood Clothes Building before it was destroyed.

About ten years ago, for unknown reasons, the then owner Zhao Qiaoqiao suddenly fought with all the "white clothes" in the sect. In the end, only one out of ten "white clothes" survived, Zhao Qiaoqiao died, and the Blood Clothes Building fell apart. Zuo Lishan took this opportunity to break into the main hall of the Blood Clothes Building and became famous.

However, Zhao Qiaoqiao, who was supposed to have died ten years ago, reappeared and died inexplicably in Songshan.

An Ziyang smiled.

"He faked his death ten years ago because his martial arts skills had reached a certain level and he sensed danger. The internal strife and destruction of the Blood Robe Building were actually a cover-up for him to escape."

"Now, he feels that it is time for him to return to society. As this is a grand event, he wants to take this opportunity to become famous so that he can rebuild the Bloody Robe Building."

"When he climbed the mountain that day, he was quite impressive. He killed many people along the way, and blood flowed down the corners of his clothes as he climbed up the mountain road. The leader of the Kongtong Sect who came to the banquet was also a top master. He wanted to step forward to stop him, but he couldn't even withstand a single blow and was knocked to the ground by him."

"It's really fierce and powerful."

"And then he died."

"what?"

In his previous sentence, An Ziyang was talking about how arrogant Zhao Qiaoqiao was and how superb her martial arts were, but in the next sentence he jumped to his death without even any foreshadowing, leaving Liu Chengxuan completely confused.

Fortunately, An Ziyang didn't mean to keep you in suspense. He just smiled and continued.

"He didn't attack the Kongtong Sect Leader at that time. He just sneered and said a few arrogant words. He was about to raise his hand to blast open the mountain gate and walk in with a swagger."

"Just at this moment, the stone flew out from the Songshan Sect and fell straight towards him. He raised his hand to block it, but before he could even fart, he was smashed into minced meat."

"The bloody shirt, only two bloody trouser legs are left."

Liu Chengxuan felt as if he was listening to a fairy tale.

Looking closer at the stone, it weighs more than a thousand pounds. Even a top master who specializes in horizontal training can just barely lift it, which is already a shocking feat. Not to mention that according to An Ziyang's description, the stone "flew" out and smashed Zhao Qiaoqiao to death.

Using a thousand-pound boulder as a hidden weapon?
Isn’t this really a god from a storybook?

“Who… is this…”

Liu Chengxuan asked stutteringly.

An Ziyang smiled.

"Of course, we are inviting all the heroes in the world to come here to enjoy the moon together."

"Everyone present on that day, like Sect Leader Liu, was in disbelief when they saw this. Just when everyone was stunned and at a loss, a voice came from the Songshan Sect and said something."

An Ziyang had a look of longing on his face. He murmured.

"If you want to attend the banquet, you need to take the right path."

“Just these eight words.”

"Now, Master Liu, do you know why there are so many evil people outside this mountain gate?"

An Ziyang looked at Liu Chengxuan who was still in a daze and smiled.

"Because someone used Zhao Qiaoqiao's life to set a rule outside the mountain gate."

"Those who have been invited can directly enter the banquet. Orthodox masters can also hand in a visiting card, and as long as their status is good enough, they can also enter."

"But, if it is an evil path, then you have to take this 'right path'."

After saying that, An Ziyang stretched out his hand and pointed to the open gate of Songshan Sect.

"People of the right path can enter. People of the wrong path dare not act rashly. However, not many people have the ability to take this 'right path'. They can only pile up outside this mountain gate."

"Only those who have walked this righteous path are qualified to attend the banquet."

"Master Liu, do you want to see this 'right path'?"

As the four of them were talking, there was a sudden commotion among the crowd behind them. Several exclamations were heard.

"It's him?"

"He's here too!"

"Yes, maybe he can get through the third courtyard and sit at the main banquet!"

"Senior, I'll go with you!"

"And I!"

Liu Chengxuan turned his head and looked.

A vortex suddenly appeared in the crowd, slowly rolling towards the mountain gate. A tall figure was in the center of the vortex, walking towards the mountain gate.

This man was about fifty years old, his hair was already gray, there were some wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, and his sword-like eyebrows were slanted from his forehead to his temples. He was extremely tall, and an ordinary person would probably only reach his shoulders. He was wearing a simple coarse coat, but his sleeves were torn off, revealing two arms that were as thick as Liu Chengxuan's waist.

From a distance, Liu Chengxuan just made eye contact with him and felt suffocated.

An Ziyang behind him suddenly laughed.

"These evil people have been waiting here for several days, and finally someone dared to come forward."

"Let's go, Master Liu."

"Let's go in too, just to watch the fun."

(End of this chapter)