Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 270 Saving Grace, Murong's Wrath

Nothing in this world is perfect.

The upgraded version of the Sorrowful Breeze has incredibly terrifying effects. Even a master-level expert who holds their breath and walks through this drug will feel their muscles and bones go weak.

Not to mention that Yi Jifeng simply took out a small bottle, placed it in the vent, and it covered the entire Tianning Temple.

The drug's effects were terrifying and shocking.

However, despite its terrifying effects, it also has a major drawback: the effects are short-lived.

Even Helian Tieshu, a guy with low martial arts skills, only needed a few minutes in a place without sleeping pills for the soreness and weakness in his body to gradually subside.

He sat up straight and said, "Thank you... thank you Master Duan for saving my life!"

Duan Yanqing said, "I am a servant of the emperor, and I am loyal to him. Now that I have joined Yipintang, as long as Yipintang does not fail me, I will do my best."

Helian Tieshu hurriedly said, "Yipintang will never mistreat Master Duan! After returning to the country, I will definitely report Master Duan's matter to the King."

A few minutes later, Helian Tieshu was able to stand up and look at Tianning Temple in the distance.

A black figure could be vaguely seen moving back and forth inside and outside the temple, dragging several figures along with it.

They were clearly members of the Beggars' Sect.

Helian Tieshu couldn't help but say sadly, "It's a pity that so many of my Yipintang's experts have perished this time."

Thinking of the punishment he might face after returning to Western Xia, Helian Tieshu's sorrowful expression became even more genuine.

"Master Duan, what is the identity of that petty thief?"

Duan Yanqing said, "This person is the successor of Mingjian Villa. His martial arts skills are not very high, but the sleeping potion he has is terrifyingly strong."

Helian Tieshu nodded: "The Central Plains is a land of hidden talents. I thought the Sorrowful Breeze was already a divine medicine, but I didn't expect there to be something even stronger in the Central Plains."

He paused for a moment, then said, "That kid has already left Tianning Temple. Can Master Duan intercept and kill him?"

"This..." Duan Yanqing naturally couldn't kill his own people. He pretended to hesitate for a moment and said, "Your Highness, we don't know if he still has any sleeping pills. It would be unwise to rush out rashly."

Helian Tieshu thought about it and realized that it was indeed true.

That drug was terrifying. If the other party still had it, going out now would just be suicide.

Helpless, he said, "In that case, let's leave quickly."

"Yes."

The group dared not take the main road and could only take the side roads. When they returned to a nearby small town, they found that news of the apricot grove incident had already spread far and wide, and many people in the town were discussing it.

Duan Yanqing gave a wink, and Yun Zhonghe put away his frivolous expression, pretending to be an ordinary scholar. He approached one of them and asked, "Brother, what exactly is this matter that you've been talking about regarding the Apricot Grove?"

As he spoke, he handed over a tael of silver.

The man accepted the loose silver and laughed, "It's the Beggars' Sect. They discovered that their leader, Qiao Feng, was actually a Khitan, so they gathered together and drove him away. Who knew they'd be surrounded by the Western Xia people and are now imprisoned in Tianning Temple!"

"This... they even know where he's being held?"

"Of course! The Western Xia people are doing business in my southern country, and they think they can keep it a secret? The news has already leaked out!"

"Then we must hurry and rescue those righteous beggars!"

"You don't even need to tell me. Countless heroes have already rushed to the rescue. If we set off now, by the time we get to Tianning Temple, we'll probably only find a pile of corpses!"

Yun Zhonghe returned to the group and explained the matter.

Helian Tieshu looked both frightened and relieved: "Luckily we ran fast, otherwise, being surrounded by so many experts from the Song Kingdom would have been terrible!"

He added, "Master Duan, this is all thanks to you!"

Duan Yanqing said, "Your Highness, now that this matter has spread throughout the martial arts world, I'm afraid you can't show your face in public. In my opinion, we should conceal our tracks and return to Xixia as soon as possible."

Helian Tieshu nodded repeatedly: "Master Duan is absolutely right."

Even though he came as an envoy of the Western Xia Kingdom, this kind of incident can't protect him with that title.

At the same time, many martial arts masters did indeed arrive outside Tianning Temple.

They were called experts, but in reality, there were very few strong people. Out of more than ten people, there was only one innate master, and he was only at the innate true qi level.

There was no way around it; the martial arts world of the Song Dynasty was vastly different between the north and south. The north had many masters, while in the south... even a young man like Murong Fu, who had reached the perfect innate realm, could dominate for a time.

Within the short time it took for the news to spread, only people from the surrounding area could reach Tianning Temple.

As a result, there are even fewer experts.

"Congratulations to the Beggars' Sect for escaping from the Western Xia barbarians."

When the group arrived, Yi Jifeng had already saved a number of people outside Tianning Temple.

They didn't contribute anything at all; all they could do was offer their congratulations.

Elder Xu, the oldest among the Beggars' Sect's high-ranking members, humbly said, "I am ashamed, I am ashamed. We were harmed by the Western Xia barbarians, and it was thanks to Young Hero Yi's intervention that we were able to escape after he killed all the Western Xia barbarians. The Beggars' Sect thanks Young Hero Yi for saving our lives!"

He was old and had lived a long life, having experienced the era of Yi Yun. Although Mingjian Villa had declined, Yi Yun was still alive, and a new generation of successors had emerged. Therefore, he naturally held Yi Jifeng in high esteem.

Regardless of their own thoughts, the others clasped their hands in greeting and bowed, saying in unison, "Thank you, Young Hero Yi, for saving our lives!"

Yi Jifeng quickly helped everyone up: "Please rise, everyone. Over the years, the Beggars' Sect has defended against the northern barbarians and protected the country. Anyone in the world who knows about this would not ignore it. These heroes are proof of that. I just arrived a little earlier than them."

Despite saying that, she did not deny the life-saving grace.

After all, that's the purpose of his visit today.

You can be humble about everything else, but you can't be humble about this one thing.

If we give in on this point, I'm afraid the Beggars' Sect members will shamelessly erase it.

This is why the news spread so quickly, attracting many heroes to Tianning Temple.

The purpose is to have them witness this event and spread the news throughout the martial arts world, thereby solidifying Yi Jifeng's life-saving grace to the Beggars' Sect in a way that no one can deny.

However, at least for now, the Beggars' Sect has no intention of denying it.

After all, the person who saved them was the heir of the Famous Sword Manor.

"The Beggars' Sect has suffered this misfortune, and we have been captured by the Western Xia barbarians. If it weren't for Young Hero Yi's rescue, the situation in the north would be very dangerous."

Elder Xu said, "If you ever come to the North in the future, young hero, you can seek help from the disciples of my Beggars' Sect if you encounter any problems."

Yi Jifeng exchanged a few polite words, but did not refuse.

After the Beggars' Sect members recovered, they worked together to bury the bodies of many Western Xia warriors and Yipintang martial artists in Tianning Temple to prevent the spread of plague.

They then all left.

After bidding farewell to everyone, Yi Jifeng could no longer contain his joy.

He effortlessly saved the Beggars' Sect's high-ranking members, making the Beggars' Sect owe him a huge favor.

With other martial arts practitioners as witnesses, it will probably take only two or three days for his reputation to spread throughout the north and south.

The thought of this future made Yi Jifeng burst into laughter.

He then informed Jinjiu of the matter through the Heavenly Secret Tablet.

"Heh, if you still can't accomplish this after taking the sleeping potion I gave you, you might as well just kill yourself."

Jinjiu replied, "Come back as soon as you're done. Dongfang Bubai's side is already preparing to depart."

Yi Jifeng felt a chill run down his spine, realizing that while this matter was significant for him, it was merely a minor pawn for the organization. The more he interacted with this organization, the more terrifying its nature became.

It's not just about their immense power.

More importantly, it lies in the scheming and calculations of the organization's top management.

I heard that this guy, Jin Jiu, is just one of the organization's top executives, and there are no fewer than ten people at his level.

The most famous of them all is, of course, the Grandmaster Mu Daoren, who fought a great battle with Master Zhang at the foot of Wudang Mountain last year.

There has been no news of them for a year, and I have no idea what they are doing now.

Yi Jifeng mounted his fast horse and galloped away.

Only after everyone had left did Murong Fu dare to show himself.

Inside Tianning Temple, bloodstains were everywhere.

Many of the corpses had already been completely buried.

He immediately sensed something was wrong.

Could it be that Helian Tieshu also...?

"Yi! Ji! Feng!"

Murong Fu gritted his teeth and uttered these three words amidst endless hatred.

In fact, if he had simply dug up the buried corpses at that moment, he would have discovered that Helian Tieshu's body was not among them.

But who is he?

How could the heir of the Murong family, a noble Xianbei, and a descendant of the Yan state, do such a thing?
Therefore, Murong Fu did not verify the information at all, and believing that Helian Tieshu was dead, he left Tianning Temple.

Helian Tieshu is dead.

All the people that Yipintang brought to the Central Plains are gone.

Murong Fu dared not return to the Western Xia Kingdom.

Otherwise, the entire Yipintang would be gone, but he is still alive. What would the King of Xixia think?
After much deliberation, Murong Fu decided to abandon the identity of Li Yanzong.

This means that all his efforts over this period of time have been in vain.

Whenever he thought of this, Murong Fu felt uneasy.

But there was nothing we could do.

With these thoughts in mind, upon returning to the Murong family's Canhe Manor, Deng Baichuan, one of the four great generals under his command, reported on the recent events one by one.

"What do you mean by 'an eye for an eye'? Those people died because of their own martial arts skills, so they're just blaming me!"

Murong Fu was furious: "I have no grudge against those people, why would I kill them? There are so many ways to use someone else's strength against them, why do you claim it's the Murong family's 'Shifting Stars' technique?"

Deng Baichuan hurriedly said, "We know that this matter was not done by Young Master. It is just that rumors hurt people, so we have to search for evidence everywhere to defend Young Master."

Murong Fu sighed and said, "The world is so foolish, it's a pity you've gone to so much trouble. Is there anything else?"

"The Sun Moon Cult, which was previously located within the Ming Kingdom, suddenly appeared in Jiangnan, Song Kingdom for some unknown reason, and has been disrupting our businesses for the past few months."

Several wealthy merchant families in Jiangnan decided to join forces against their enemy. They originally planned to nominate their young master as the leader of the alliance, but the young master was too busy with other matters and had to decline the offer.

Murong Fu didn't care about this matter, nor did he care about any wealthy merchant families, even though those families were his subordinates.

He's always been like this: all talk and no action, only able to see the distant future, but blind to what's right next to him.

When practicing martial arts, they would rather practice the low- to mid-level martial arts of various schools than spend time practicing their own school's top-level martial arts.

He plotted to restore his kingdom, so he went to the Western Xia in the north, but he never thought about properly managing the Jiangnan region under his control.

Perhaps in his simplistic understanding, he believed that any force already under his control could never betray him.

He casually asked, "And then?"

"Later, they elected the successor of the Famous Sword Manor as their leader to confront the Sun Moon Cult..."

"Who?!"

"what?"

"Who did you say became the leader of this alliance?"

"It's... Yi Jifeng, the heir of the Famous Sword Manor!"

boom!
Murong Fu slammed his hand on the table, smashing it to pieces, and roared, "This Jiangnan is my Murong family's territory. Even if I don't have time to deal with it, you can still be the alliance leader. What is Yi Jifeng?"

Deng Baichuan immediately understood: "Yes, these families are too ignorant. Even though the young master is not here, and we are busy collecting evidence, how can we allow others to trespass on the territory of the Murong family?"

Even a dog of my Murong family, if I told it to be the leader of the alliance, it would be.

Outsiders, however, are absolutely not allowed!

"Not bad!"

Murong Fu nodded: "Tell me about this alliance in detail."

"Yes……"

the other side.

Yi Jifeng has been back for several days.

Today I am discussing the alliance with the head of the Zhu family.

"After fighting for so long, the battle is still evenly matched. The strength of the Sun Moon Cult is truly unfathomable."

The head of the Zhu family sighed, "Moreover, I heard that the Sun Moon Divine Sect only sent a few elders this time, with left and right protectors, and the sect leader and deputy sect leader above them. I wonder what kind of strength they have."

If they were to make a move, I fear our alliance... would crumble at the first touch!

Yi Jifeng nodded: "The Sun Moon Sect is indeed powerful. Although we are allied, we are no match for them. Uncle Zhu, please speak your mind."

The head of the Zhu family said, "Right now, the winds are blowing in the wrong direction within the alliance; many people are leaning towards... peace talks..."

Yi Jifeng laughed and said, "Uncle Zhu, there's no need to worry about me. As the leader of the alliance, I naturally have to protect the interests of the alliance. If the peace talks are beneficial to the entire alliance, I will not stop them."

Upon hearing this, the head of the Zhu family exclaimed, "Nephew, you have grown quite a bit these past few days."

The reason he hesitated was that he was worried that Yi Jifeng would refuse if he brought it up.

After all, the Sun Moon Cult is a notorious demonic cult, and to negotiate with them would be tantamount to surrendering to the demonic path.

Many righteous people would never allow it.

Yi Jifeng in the past was actually just that kind of person.

However, during this time, Yi Jifeng had already seen through the true nature of Zhu Family Head and others, and had cooperated with the Sun Moon Divine Sect, which is why he was able to take the position of Alliance Leader. Therefore, he was no longer as naive as before.

He still upholds justice, but he certainly won't use this alliance for it.

"In that case, I will not hide it from you, my dear nephew. In fact, the major families have already agreed to negotiate with the Sun Moon Sect."

The head of the Zhu family said, "Once I have persuaded my nephew, we can begin preparations for this matter."

Yi Jifeng said, "I'll say it again: as long as it benefits the alliance, I, as the leader of the alliance, will naturally not object."

(End of this chapter)