Zongwu: Aspiring to be the mastermind behind the scenes

Chapter 297 The Demonic Cult Surrenders, Luo Wang Assassins

"I had only ever heard of the thousands or even tens of thousands of palace maids and eunuchs serving the emperor in the imperial palace. I never thought that this demonic sect would have such confidence."

Tie Zhan rode his tall horse through the city and couldn't help but exclaim in amazement when he saw the people in the city.

Tuotuo ignored him.

For her, who was born into royalty and raised by a Yuan general from a young age, this was not strange at all.

Not to mention the emperor, there were hundreds of servants in that general's mansion.

The emperor's residence not only required a large number of palace maids and eunuchs to serve these nobles, but also guards and imperial guards. At the same time, it was also important to have a grand scale and specifications, with each palace being extremely large.

In terms of both area and population, it is comparable to a small city.

That's where the term 'Imperial City' comes from.

Upon arriving at the main hall in the city, we found that the hall had an interesting name: 'Guiyun Hall'.

The clouds refer to the distant, ethereal land, or more specifically, the homeland that those cult predecessors who were forced to leave the Central Plains and come to the Western Regions longed for.

This Guiyun Palace embodies their longing to return to their homeland.

However, after so many years, the members of the Demonic Sect have long forgotten the wishes of their ancestors. The so-called return to their homeland and the ancestral teachings have long become an excuse for them to invade the Central Plains.

However, even if it's an excuse, it still has to be said and repeated at all times.

Therefore, the name of this Guiyun Palace was not changed.

Upon entering the palace, Tuotuo and Tiezhan sat on either side, yielding the main seat.

"Since you're going to surrender, then hand over the entire list of all members of the Demonic Sect, their martial arts treasures, and their riches."

"Yes!"

Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse; the Demonic Sect may be weak now, but it still has a deep foundation.

The remaining gold, silver, wealth, and grain alone filled several large warehouses.

The martial arts treasures are astonishingly numerous. The ten great martial arts of the Demonic Sect are all famous in the martial arts world, and the Demonic Sect's secret manual, "The Great Compassionate Ode of Yin and Yang in the Intercourse of Heaven and Earth," is full of legendary color.

Not to mention that incredibly terrifying Demon Blade technique; throughout the entire Nine Provinces and Four Seas, there are few sword techniques that can rival it.

Besides these, all other types of free-style martial arts are incredibly powerful, yet sinister and vicious.

but……

"Where are the complete manuals of these martial arts techniques? Why have you only presented incomplete versions?!"

"Your Excellency, please forgive me. I was just an ordinary soldier in the Demonic Sect before. These martial arts manuals were carefully preserved before, and some of them had been lost for many years. I tried my best and only found these."

The Demonic Cult values ​​strength above all else, and martial arts are the means to enhance that strength. Therefore, learning powerful martial arts within the Demonic Cult is extremely difficult.

To ensure that these martial arts techniques are not passed on to outsiders, the Demonic Sect often only keeps a single copy, making the inheritance even more difficult.

The so-called Ten Great Divine Skills of the Demonic Cult are still good, as they have been passed down over the years.

However, the secret scriptures of the demonic sect, such as the "Great Compassion Ode of the Intercourse of Heaven and Earth and the Yin-Yang Relationship," were already incomplete many years ago.

As for that demonic blade, it hasn't appeared in the world for who knows how many years.

Before the young cult leader and his accomplices fled, they also took many secret manuals with them.

The final result was that of the many famous divine skills of the Demonic Sect, only seven or eight complete versions were submitted, while the rest were mostly incomplete.

"Hmph! Men, search! Search the entire palace... no, search the entire Demonic Sect from top to bottom! I refuse to believe we can't find any martial arts manuals!"

For those in the martial arts world, gold and silver are secondary; martial arts manuals are the most precious treasures.

For martial arts sects, martial arts manuals are of even greater importance.

They have now taken over the Demonic Sect, but they have only obtained seven or eight of the Demonic Sect's many famous martial arts. How could Tuotuo be willing to accept that?
An immediate search order was placed.

Firstly, they searched for martial arts manuals.

Secondly, it is also necessary to thoroughly search the entire demonic sect to eliminate any potential threats.

While the former is important, the latter is the primary objective.

This search actually yielded quite a few items.

The Demonic Sect values ​​strength above all else. This applies not only to various positions but also to the position of sect leader, where strength is often required to secure a stable position.

Therefore, over the years, the Demonic Cult has never had two consecutive leaders of the same bloodline.

If even the position of cult leader is like this, one can only imagine what others are like.

The competition within the entire Demonic Sect is quite fierce.

However, the Demonic Cult also has another mechanism, which is that it is quite lenient on various other crimes. Daily eating, drinking, gambling and whoring are not considered crimes, and corruption is not a big deal.

Only betraying the demonic sect and colluding with the enemy constitutes a serious crime, but as long as one is strong enough, it is difficult to die even if one wants to.

This makes it very difficult for members of the Demonic Sect to use intrigue and trickery to defeat other competitors. Only by defeating the enemy through strength can they be considered safe.

This further intensified the pursuit of power within the Demonic Cult.

From the Four Heavenly Kings to ordinary servants, everyone held this kind of thought.

During the search, the Rakshasa Army found more than a dozen hidden secret martial arts manuals of the Demonic Cult in the homes of many official members of the cult.

Some blacksmiths have improved metallurgical formulas.

Those doctors are all researching more powerful elixirs.

Even in the rooms of dancers and maids, they found seductive arts and secret techniques for slaying men.

The entire Demonic Sect was truly teeming with life and teeming with vitality.

Because the real purpose was to eliminate the danger, the search was very thorough.

Two days later, the search was completed.

Kunsha led five hundred Rakshasa soldiers into the mountains, and upon seeing the results of the search, he couldn't help but smile.

"Everyone talks about the depth of a sect's foundation, but in my opinion, the competitive atmosphere within the Demonic Sect is its strongest foundation!"

There are many martial arts forces in the world that have existed for longer than the Demonic Cult, but many of them have declined or even perished. Even those that still exist are often stubborn and unyielding.

Take Shaolin Temple, for example. It is famous for its seventy-two unique skills and its four great skills are legendary. But after all these years, it seems that all they have to talk about are these martial arts.

Moreover, the so-called Seventy-Two Arts were not all created by Shaolin; many were taken from other sects and renamed.

In contrast, the Demonic Sect's Ten Great Divine Skills and One Demonic Blade Technique seem to be creations of the Demonic Sect itself.

The fact that it possessed the strength to challenge the Central Plains every few decades was a result of this intense internal competition.

"I have failed in my duties; please punish me, Your Excellency."

"What punishment? They took down the entire Demonic Sect without bloodshed. Is that considered incompetence?"

"But those martial arts manuals of the Demonic Sect..."

"Tuotuo, you must understand that although we are now a Jianghu force, our goal is to become the King of the Western Regions."

Kunsha said, "Martial arts manuals are indeed very important to a martial arts sect, but they are not particularly important to a country. It is optional to have them or not."

Governing this land well, having the support of the people, possessing sufficient resources, and having a strong army are what a country truly needs.

"You conquered the Demonic Sect, subjugated this mountain range, and acquired the Demonic Sect's secret metallurgical techniques and medical skills. For me, that is the greatest gain."

Tuotuo took a deep breath and said, "Yes, I understand." "Alright, there's one more thing to do."

Inside a mountain cave, a campfire was lit.

Left Guard Chief handed a portion of dry rations to the young leader.

The young leader took it and asked, "How is the situation?"

"The new leader of the Rakshasa Cult has arrived, bringing with him a thousand Rakshasa soldiers. However, he arranged for five hundred to be stationed outside, and only took five hundred into the mountains."

"He's quite cautious. Have you investigated the experts around him?"

"Well... apart from the two who led two thousand Rakshasa soldiers to arrive two days ago, the others don't have any special attire..."

The young master frowned: "Given this person's personality, it's impossible that he wouldn't have a master protecting him. He's probably had someone disguised as a member of the Rakshasa Army and hidden away."

Alas, this person is hiding his true nature too well. He has several experts by his side, but we have no idea what these experts look like. We are completely in the dark right now.

"I just hope that the friends Mr. Jian Er mentioned can really help us kill Kunsha..."

As he spoke, his gaze involuntarily drifted to another corner of the cave.

In another corner stood several figures, one of whom was Jian Er. The other four were all dressed in black robes, making them appear extremely mysterious.

Left Guard Commander hesitated for a moment, then said, "Master, forgive my bluntness, but Mr. Jian Er's behavior these past few days has been somewhat...disrespectful to you..."

"Shut up, don't mention this again!" The young cult leader immediately interrupted him.

His gaze was deep and unfathomable, clearly not as decisive as he claimed.

From a young age, he was a puppet in the hands of the Four Heavenly Kings, but now he has cultivated his own wings and has the confidence to compete with the Four Heavenly Kings.

The young cult leader's intelligence far surpasses that of ordinary people, especially in his ability to read people's expressions and moods, which is truly astonishing.

He could naturally see that Jian Er's attitude towards him had become increasingly overt in the past few days.

But what can you do when his strength is too weak?

Because of their weak strength, the Demonic Sect was no match for the Rakshasa Army of the Rakshasa Sect and had no choice but to abandon their territory and find another way.

Because of his weak strength, he could only follow Jian Er's advice, and at the moment he was not even clear about the specific process of the whole plan.

In fact, the young master has always been somewhat wary of Jian Er.

After all, he knew very well that Jian Er and his elder brother Jian Yi were both strong contenders for the title of one of the Four Heavenly Kings.

How could someone like that possibly be willing to submit to him?

As for the favor of helping the other party cultivate to the level of a Second Flower Grandmaster... Heh, the Demonic Sect's specialty is forgetting gratitude.

In the past, there were four Heavenly Kings on the surface, and the forces that the Little Master had secretly gathered were also quite strong, so he had no chance and could only lie low.

Now, he has seized this best opportunity and exposed his true colors.

If he can set things right, defeat the Rakshasa Sect, and save the entire Demonic Sect, then who else could be the leader of the Demonic Sect besides him?
Therefore, Jian Er didn't even explain the specific plan in detail to the young master, because he didn't want him to compete with him for credit.

He wants to possess it all!

His growing ambition is reflected in his attitude. Jian Er's attitude towards the Little Master is now obvious to everyone else.

The young cult leader was naturally aware of this, but he had no choice but to show his complete trust in the cult leader while secretly trying to find a way to leave.

What kind of evil cult?
Never mind, survival comes first!
The campfire in the cave flickered.

The four men in black who were discussing matters with Jian Er stopped abruptly. Two of them even used their lightness skills to transform into two black shadows and headed towards the cave entrance. A moment later, they returned with a terrible piece of news in a cold tone.

"Discovered!"

"The Rakshasa army has already surrounded us, and their numbers are no less than a thousand!"

Upon hearing this, everyone's faces immediately showed panic.

"what?"

"This place is top secret. No one knows about it except us. How could it possibly be discovered!"

"What's the point of saying this now? Run!"

Chaos erupted inside the cave, and people immediately turned and ran to the back.

It turns out that the cave they chose to hide in was not only very secluded, but also open from front to back, with the back leading to a stream beyond the two mountain peaks.

What's even more remarkable is that it's a natural passage, so it doesn't require a large number of workers to dig, which is why it has been able to remain a secret, a hidden place known only to a very few high-ranking members of the Demonic Cult.

Unexpectedly, such a hidden place was still discovered by the Rakshasa Cult.

With thousands of Rakshasa soldiers blocking the cave entrance, they had no choice but to flee to the rear.

However, this escape route has long been blocked.

Three figures blocked the way for the crowd.

In the darkness, the armor on the three men emitted a faint glow.

"Why are you all in such a hurry? Are you perhaps not welcoming me?"

"Who are you, daring to block our way? Get out of our way!"

The crowd looked fierce and attacked without regard for whoever was in front of them.

But in the next instant, several solid ice formations appeared out of thin air, blocking all the attacks.

Immediately, a chilling gust of air swept in, covering the cave with a layer of white frost.

The cold air swept away everyone's body temperature, leaving them pale and covered in frost.

He then collapsed to the ground with a thud.

Even when they fell to the ground, they maintained their original postures despite the cold air.

They all froze to death!
"Such intense cold!"

Among the crowd, there were still quite a few powerful figures standing, such as Jian Er, the four men in black, the left and right guards, and the young sect leader.

The young cult leader didn't survive because of his own strength, but because he was at the very back and was deliberately spared.

But they were still shivering from the cold.

The one who spoke at this moment was one of the four men in black.

He gripped a greatsword, his body surging with true energy to resist the chilling aura, and said in an icy tone: "But such divine power is probably not your own strength... I didn't expect that Bi Xuebing would also be in your hands!"

"Heaven and earth are destroyed, demons and monsters abound."

Kunsha said, "I have heard of the Luo Wang's reputation. However, sending only a few of you is a bit too much of an underestimation of me, isn't it?"

"The intelligence network of Luo Wang has indeed overlooked your abilities. They failed to find that in addition to Bai Yunyan, you also possess Bi Xuebing."

The man in black robes said, "However, even if we find out this, the only people who will come are the four of us."

"Oh? Could it be that the distance is too great, and even with the power of the Net, it's impossible to mobilize too many experts?"

"No, the four of us are more than enough!"

Sword energy flew in along with these words.

(End of this chapter)