The court lackeys of the eight-hour workday

Chapter 328: It’s your own fault and you won’t survive

The burly, square-faced, broad-shouldered disciple of the Kongming Sect, in just three breaths, managed to squeeze out a scream that was even more shrill and loud than that of a famous opera star.

Cao Hanyan slapped her forehead, slowly pulled her hand down to her chin, and let out a long sigh.

"Ugh--"

This is like mud falling into your crotch; it's hard to explain, especially since our group wasn't exactly clean to begin with.

There are four Kongming Sect heads hanging on the horse's back outside.

What else can I say?
Go ahead and fight.

Cao Hanyan glanced at Li Miao out of the corner of her eye and saw that he had no intention of making a move. She knew that he was deliberately leaving this challenge for her and Gao Anyu.

"Brother Cao, it seems we're in for a good fight today."

Gao Anyu shook his neck, tapped his shoulder with a black ruler, and walked to Cao Hanyan's side.

"yes……"

Cao Hanyan slowly drew her sword, flicked her wrist and twirled it, startling the burly man who was still screaming so much that he choked—and then screamed even more shrilly.

Gao Anyu gave him a disapproving look, then turned to look at Li Miao.

"Uncle, can you set some rules? How should we fight, and what should the outcome be before we call it a day?"

Li Miao said with a smile.

"Beat them until they submit."

"Good! Uncle is much more straightforward!"

Gao Anyu grinned.

As they spoke, the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard from ahead. The Kongming Sect's mountain gate wasn't large, and the disciples had just gathered in the main hall. Hearing the burly man's scream, they all rushed over.

In just a short while, a dense crowd gathered in front of Li Miao and his two companions.

No one would ask the unnecessary question "What's going on?"—blood was stained on the mountain gate, corpses lay outside the gate, and Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu had even drawn their weapons. Anyone could automatically fill in the most reasonable logical chain in their mind.

Hundreds of longswords were drawn, and a flurry of footsteps surrounded the three.

The last person to appear was a middle-aged man with a square and serious appearance. He walked slowly from the main hall, squinted at the three of them, and then glanced at Long Haifeng's corpse.

"To avenge Elder Long."

He said it without any emotion.

"kill!!!!!"

"You thief, prepare to die!!!"

"die!!"

A tidal wave of flashing swords swept towards the three of them.

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Zheng Yi squatted down, wiped her hand on the last bloody footprint, and rubbed the bloodstain between her fingertips.

Although she wasn't as sharp-minded as Cao Hanyan, she had absorbed some of the criminal law knowledge that Li Miao had taught Cao Hanyan during this time, and was naturally able to make the necessary judgments.

"The blood is just a scab on the surface; the inside is still wet. That person has been gone from here for less than half an hour at most... But to be able to kill Zheng Huaijin, this person must be at least at the Celestial Realm."

"Half an hour is enough to cover dozens of miles."

Zheng Yi frowned and looked around, trying to find some clues.

Li Miao once said that when the people of Penglai scattered and fled, their whereabouts unknown, her mother knew where they were hiding, which was extremely strange.

As of now, her mother is the only suspect in Xue Bangzhu's death.

Adding to the mystery of her own spiritual realm and the fact that she did not witness her mother's death, Zheng Yi began to suspect that perhaps her mother had only faked her death.

Perhaps, it was her mother who killed Zheng Huaijin, or rather Long Haifeng.

Thinking of this, Zheng Yi slowly shook her head.

"Lord Li... I really can't figure out what he's thinking."

Two of the group members are Celestials, and both the Kongming Sect and the culprit-hunting team need one person to oversee the operation. From a pragmatic perspective, it would be more suitable and easier for Zheng Yi to stay with the Kongming Sect while Li Miao pursues the killer.

But Li Miao stayed behind himself to let her track down the culprit—did he sense her thoughts and know that she wouldn't be satisfied unless she personally investigated the case?
Based on the impression Li Miao left on Zheng Yi, she really couldn't tell whether he was as understanding as she thought, or simply someone who pushed away the trouble of pursuing someone.

As her thoughts raced, Zheng Yi disappeared into the woods. After walking several dozen steps, she suddenly stopped.

Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of a color that stood out from the mountains and forests. It seeped into her mind, plunging her into a handful of memories, which she then placed before Zheng Yi.

She slowly and stiffly turned her head to look at the object on a tree branch several meters away from her, which was swaying and rotating slowly in the mountain wind.

It was a broken fan, with only half of its surface remaining.

The fan that was supposed to be burned along with Zheng Yi's house.

When she was young, a gentle hand held hers and a fan drove away the heat.

The fan belonged to Zheng Yi's mother.

--------

"Take my life—ah!"

The sword shattered, exploding like fireworks before my eyes. The black ruler swirled the fragments, then suddenly lashed out, splattering blood across the densely packed human bodies.

"Over here! This thief's martial arts skills are mediocre at best—ah!"

The longsword drew a straight line in mid-air as if drawn with a ruler, and with a clang, the longsword blocking in front of him was split in two.

An ordinary vertical slash, followed by an ordinary front kick—thump!

The figure flew backward, knocking down several fellow disciples, before being pierced by Lin Li's longsword, which he couldn't retract in time. Blood gushed out instantly, and he fainted upon landing. A third of the Kongming Sect disciples had already fallen, their blood, weapons, and bodies tracing a straight path on the ground.

The road continued to extend slowly forward, with blood blossoms blooming on both sides, and it was now only twenty feet away from the main hall of the Kongming Sect.

Hua Zhi Qiu, the leader of the Kongming Sect, almost bit his gums until they bled.

Two people, two young men in their twenties... defeated a third of the disciples of the Kongming Sect!
What's even more hateful is that he looked at the middle-aged man between the two young men, who was walking slowly forward as if on a spring outing, his eyes filled with hatred and anger.

Hua Zhi Qiu can accept being defeated by a genius, and can accept being less skilled than others, but he absolutely cannot accept being insulted by someone who doesn't know martial arts!
In his eyes, Li Miao was not the mastermind, but merely a tool used by Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu to insult the Kongming Sect.

Since ancient times, there has been a gap between martial arts practitioners and ordinary people.

Traveling hundreds of miles a day, climbing high to see far, and fighting lions and tigers, those who have mastered internal strength can go without food, drink, sleep or rest for several days if their true energy is inexhaustible. To some extent, "martial arts" has transformed martial artists into living beings different from those who have never practiced martial arts.

Since ancient times, some martial arts practitioners have felt that they are above those who do not know martial arts, and that those who do not practice martial arts are lowly people who are not worthy of sharing a room with them.

The lineage of the Kongming School was founded by such a person, and his philosophy has been passed down through generations.

That's why the Kongming Sect could simultaneously train three beasts who killed innocent people and claimed credit, because their own interests were crooked. Hua Zhi Qiu, as the sect leader, was the most crooked of them all.

Therefore, he absolutely could not accept—letting someone who knew no martial arts walk into the main hall of the Kongming Sect and disturb the peaceful rest of the patriarchs of all generations!
Absolutely not!

But the Kongming Sect really couldn't stop these three people!

"We can't hesitate any longer!"

Hua Zhi Qiu gritted his teeth and beckoned to his trusted confidants.

"You, go to the back mountain and invite Lord Xue, the Imperial Guard stationed here! Tell him that someone has taken down and destroyed our sect's 'Peak Ascension' plaque!"

Ever since the moon-viewing banquet at Mount Song, every major sect that has a signboard has had its Imperial Guards stationed there. This trusted disciple also knew the location and turned to leave, but then stopped and lowered his voice to say something.

"Sect Leader... is the sign really destroyed? Or should I just say that a corner was broken, or that a piece was damaged?"

Hua Zhi Qiu shook his head and said through gritted teeth.

"No, just say it's ruined, go now!"

Having received an affirmative answer, the confidant no longer hesitated and turned to head towards the residence of the Imperial Guard in the back mountain.

Seeing him run far away, Hua Zhi Qiu dodged Cao Han Yan and Gao An Yu's direction in a flash, and instantly arrived outside the mountain gate, holding a sign that read "Ascend the Peak".

Although Cao Hanyan and Gao Anyu were engrossed in their fight, they had been keeping a close eye on the leader of the Kongming Sect. When they saw him suddenly make a move, they quickly looked over.

Hua Zhi Qiu had already taken the wooden plaque in his hand. He glanced at the two words "Ascend to the Peak" engraved in gold on it with reluctance, and a sense of regret arose in his heart. Then he felt even more resentful towards Cao Han Yan and Gao An Yu!

So he gripped both ends of the wooden sign with his hands and slowly applied force.

The wooden sign made a creaking sound as it crumbled, and the gold paint turned to powder, drifting in the air with the mountain wind.

Gao Anyu's eyebrows shot up, and he roared angrily.

"Shameless scoundrel, framing me!"

"Since you are inferior in skill, you should kneel down and apologize! You are the head of a major sect and a renowned figure in the martial arts world, yet you would do such a despicable thing as framing someone!"

"You attended the Moon Appreciation Banquet, you must know how powerful the imperial court and the Embroidered Uniform Guard are, right? If that person knew you used such methods to deal with the enemy, you wouldn't even be left with a whole corpse!"

But Hua Zhi Qiu was determined to keep the three of them here, so she wouldn't listen to his advice. She was putting more and more pressure on her hands, and the wooden sign was deforming.

crunch - crunch -

The sound of wood crumbling grew louder and louder, finally accompanied by a teeth-grinding crack—snap!

The wooden plaque representing the Kongming Sect's "rank" in the martial arts world was actually broken in two by their own sect leader! Then it was tossed high into the air and landed at the feet of Li Miao and the other two!

"You! You old beast! You're vicious!"

Gao Anyu finally started to panic.

Although he's insane, he's survived this long and knows who in this world he can afford to offend and who he can't.

If there's one person in the world he least wants to offend, it's none other than the Imperial Guard Commander who single-handedly took on half the martial arts world on Mount Song, snapped a Celestial's neck with a single claw, and left hundreds of corpses outside Tai'an City!

Hua Zhi Qiu's plan is now crystal clear: he intends to use the Embroidered Uniform Guards stationed at the Kongming Sect to force the matter onto them and make it an ironclad case, leaving them with no way to refute it!

If that magistrate is actually summoned, even if Uncle Li is a master of the martial arts world, he will definitely die on the spot!
"Brother Cao! What should we do!"

He turned to look at Cao Hanyan, trying to ask his brother, whose brain was a hundred times sharper than his own, for advice, but was stunned for a moment.

Gao Anyu had never seen such a complex expression on Cao Hanyan's usually calm and composed face.

Surprise and pity.

Sarcasm, amusement.

A variety of complex emotions mingled on Cao Hanyan's face like a palette of colors, eventually blending into a strange, bitter smile.

"Brother Cao...?"

Gao Anyu deflected the longsword thrusting at him and asked hesitantly.

Cao Hanyan shook her head weakly, without answering his question.

"Don't worry about it...it's nothing."

"Just keep fighting, Brother Gao."

He first gave Hua Zhi Qiu a deep look, who was stroking his beard and smiling smugly, thinking that his scheme had succeeded. Then he glanced around at the Kongming Sect disciples and finally looked at the wooden plaque that had been thrown to his feet and broken in two.

Finally, he saw Li Miao, who had been walking slowly forward, stop, glance at the broken wooden sign, and reveal a strangely bright smile on his face.

"Ugh--"

Cao Hanyan sighed deeply and shook her head with a sorrowful expression.

"Those who reap what they sow will not live..."

(End of this chapter)