What a lucky world!

Chapter 275 Past Events

The night is quiet in the deep mountains.

Zhang Mu sat alone in the Wangshan Pavilion high in the Wuzhai stronghold, looking at the lights of the stronghold and pondering the opportunity that the Heavenly Secret Scroll had given him.

The Heavenly Secret Scroll's hints about the opportunity this time were rather vague, only telling him to go ask someone for advice.

Who should I ask? And what should I ask?
I know nothing about it.

It should be noted that the population of Qianyuan Martial Village has now exceeded 20,000. Even if they were to hold a grievance meeting, it would take more than a month, not to mention that they might not even know the key information.

This is like finding a needle in a haystack.

However, after calming down, Zhang Mu still managed to find some clues from the unclear prompts.

First, it warns that chaos has arrived and that security needs to be increased for Qianyuan Martial Village.

What is a guarantee?

It must have surpassed the current strength of Qianyuan Martial Village.

He is currently at the early stage of the Gathering Gallbladder Realm, but wielding the Tiger Sword, he dares to fight even against those at the peak of the Gathering Gallbladder Realm.

And the only thing capable of surpassing this power is—

Grandmaster!

What is a master?

To know the vastness of the universe is to roam freely across the world.

To be able to harness the power of heaven and earth, to transcend the mundane and not conform to the ordinary, is the mark of a master.

In other words, the opportunity pointed to by the Heavenly Secret Scroll is most likely a Grandmaster, or a treasure with the power of a Grandmaster.

Secondly, the Heavenly Secret Scroll suggests that by exploring the past, clues can be obtained, which indicates that this opportunity actually has a reason and should be related to someone's past.

In that sense, ordinary people are excluded.

Then what kind of messy past could those old people on the mountain have? They grew up in the mountain village, and even their first love was something they kept to themselves.

This makes the area much smaller.

And those who can connect with the power of a grandmaster are even fewer.

Zhang Mu thought of his father.

According to his understanding, his father had ventured down the mountain when he was young, and when he returned, his martial spirit had been shattered, but he managed to raise his cultivation to the peak of the Condensation Realm.

Can someone with a shattered gallbladder still cultivate?
Previously, Zhang Mu was not at the Gathering Courage Realm and only thought that his father had encountered a benefactor to help him. But now that he has reached the Gathering Courage Realm, he understands how heaven-defying this thing is.

To put it simply, this is truly like a broken mirror being mended, and we have no idea who this benefactor is.

Add to that the dragon spirit weapon that my father possessed, and it's clear that my father must have had some extraordinary encounters in his youth.

However, his father was still in seclusion, so it wasn't convenient for him to go see him. After thinking it over, Zhang Mu got up and walked towards Wei Wuyou's residence.

……

"You want to know about Old Man Lin's experiences down the mountain?" Wei Wuyou shook his folding fan and looked at Zhang Mu. "This is Old Man Lin's private matter, and I cannot say more about it."

Zhang Mu shook his head: "Master Wei, the world is in chaos. That young master of the county town is eyeing my martial village covetously. I must control every bit of the martial village's strength."

"For example, that expert who helped my father heal his injuries, if we could get him to help us..."

Wei Wuyou raised his hand to interrupt Zhang Mu, pondered for a moment, and said, "You shouldn't be asking me about this."

"But Father is in seclusion..."

"No, what I mean is, you can ask Thirteen Sister!"

Zhang Mu was taken aback: "Sister Xuan?"

Wei Wuyou nodded: "I only met Old Man Lin by chance on the road and we became friends, so I followed him up to the mountain stronghold. In fact, I spent more time with him than with Thirteen Sister."

"Moreover, Thirteen Sister was also a firsthand witness to some of the past events."

"Ask her, and you might get a clearer answer."

Wei Wuyou paused, then added, "I don't know about other things, but Old Man Lin told me that the Dragon Spirit Weapon in his possession was a gift from Thirteen Sister's brother!"

Zhang Mu's eyes lit up immediately.

……

After leaving Wei Wuyou's place, Zhang Mu went directly to where Shisan Niang was.

Thirteen Sister had previously been in charge of external affairs for the martial stronghold. Since Zhang Mu subdued the other martial strongholds, she had taken over Lu Xuanxiu's duties, primarily managing the daily affairs of the people in the back mountains, which she handled quite well. When Zhang Mu arrived, she was still tallying the area of ​​newly reclaimed land. "Brother Mu's here..." Seeing Zhang Mu, Thirteen Sister was very happy and quickly instructed her maid to make tea, smiling, "Why are you here so late to see your sister? Is there something you need?"

Zhang Mu didn't waste any words and went straight to the point, stating his purpose. Thirteen Niang stared at Zhang Mu with her beautiful eyes, looking him up and down. After a while, she sighed and her expression became more serious.

"These are all things from the past. If Brother Mu wants to know, it won't hurt to tell you."

Thirteen Sister raised her head slightly, looking towards the door, as if lost in memories.

“I have an elder brother named Fang Mengxi.”

"My elder brother is not fond of martial arts or poetry; he is only interested in studying divine weapons and rare treasures."

"By chance, my elder brother learned of the whereabouts of a Dragon God Weapon and set out to find it."

“I was young then, and he couldn’t bear to abandon me, so he took me with him.”

"It was on this trip that we met Brother Lin."

At this point, Thirteen Sister paused, then looked at Zhang Mu: "What follows are some trivial matters of the martial world, I'll just briefly mention them."

Zhang Mu nodded.

Thirteen Sister continued, "We thought that wandering the martial world would be a time of joy and revenge, but we never expected to see the most cruel side of this world."

"Three taels of silver is the price of a child's life, but it can't buy back half a bushel of wheat to keep him alive."

"Officials adorned the trees along the roadside with brocade to showcase the wealth of their jurisdiction; yet they showed no regard for the frozen corpses lying by the roadside."

“A farmer has to pay taxes three times a day.”

"When a child sells himself to bury his mother, he is not selling himself into slavery, but selling rice and meat by weight..."

"During that time, all I remember is my elder brother, Brother Lin, and the others killing all the way."

"Kill the wealthy and kill the bureaucrats."

"But no matter how hard we try, we can't kill them all!"

"At this time, we met someone."

Zhang Mu asked curiously, "Who?"

Thirteen Sister's gaze shifted to a radiant expression of admiration, and she whispered, "May the world be at peace!"

Zhang Mu was taken aback, feeling that the name sounded somewhat familiar.

Thirteen Sister continued, "Do you know 'The Treatise on the Mud Kingdom'?"

Zhang Mu immediately realized that Song Haowen, the county instructor, had mentioned this person to him.

“I was young and didn’t know anything. But my elder brother and Brother Lin both believed that ‘On the Mud Kingdom’ was a cure for the world…”

"But it brought Mr. An a fatal disaster."

"Emperor Yanxi was furious and sentenced Mr. An to death!"

“My elder brother, Brother Lin, and other like-minded people plan to storm the execution ground.”

"There were twelve of them in total. They swore brotherhood at the Yilie Tower in Zhongjing. I joined them without really knowing what was going on, so I got the nickname Thirteen Sister."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Mu's face also darkened.

"I don't know the specific details. I only know that twelve people went, but only Brother Lin escaped with serious injuries and took me to Zhongjing."

"Later, Brother Lin said that the imperial court had made arrangements in advance. The execution ground was surrounded by grandmasters."

"My elder brother, in order to cover for him, single-handedly held off three grandmasters and died on the spot."

"Later, I followed Brother Lin up Qianyuan Mountain."

After saying that, Thirteen Sister let out a long breath and looked at Zhang Mu again: "This is my past."

"How can this be of any help to you?"

Zhang Mu blinked and suddenly asked, "Sister Xuan, what was your brother's cultivation level back then?"

Thirteen Sister replied, "Perfected in the Liquid Condensation Realm!"

Zhang Mu thought for a moment, then said somewhat embarrassedly, "Sister Xuan, there's something I need to ask, please don't be angry."

"How did your brother, who had reached the peak of the Qi Condensation Realm, manage to stop three Grandmasters and give your father a chance to escape?"

(End of this chapter)