Sword Roaring in the Sky

Chapter 355 Zhou Shuyou (Seeking monthly votes)
More than ten caravans left Luojing in succession, each with a disabled "patriarch" and each patriarch accompanied by anywhere from twenty or thirty to seventy or eighty children and grandchildren.

Each disabled old patriarch wore a happy expression, and would occasionally call over a few of his grandsons to check their aptitude for martial arts.

The children and grandchildren had just learned that they had all been "fostered" in various families. Now that their family had been wiped out, because they were "fostered" children, they could return to their original surname and escape death. They were all bewildered, and their expressions varied.

Each household also had dozens of servants and maids, all of whom looked like loyal old servants.

These servants and maids were all from the Tianma Gang.

Neither Wen Xi nor Sun Yanwan were worried about the matter being exposed.

These people have lost all their martial arts skills and are crippled; this arrangement is already a glimmer of hope.

No one can shatter "hope".

In the end, only eleven people remained in the Tianwu Prison. They were all stubborn individuals, and even Wenxi did not know what to do with them. He could only keep them imprisoned and slowly put them to rest.

Sun Yanwan didn't spend much energy on this matter either. He had absolutely no interest in the Zhang family's secrets or the so-called Ningbi Cliff Spirit Realm.

During this period, he did get promoted. To avoid controversy, Zhang Qingxi only promoted his junior brother to the fourth-rank Attendant Scholar, still a civil official, but put his second junior brother in charge of the Imperial Guard.

Sun Yanwan, being a time traveler, knew the right thing to do. After taking over the Imperial Guard, she did not deploy a large number of people. Instead, after discussing with Zhang Qingxi, she first transferred a large number of Tianma Gang members to the Imperial Guard. After they were given official status, she then withdrew them in batches and arranged them to various military towns near Black Dragon City, leaving the positions to be taken over by Zhang Qingxi.

The Tianma Gang members were originally just ordinary江湖客 (jianghu ke, meaning wandering martial arts practitioners), but because of their "loyalty to the emperor" act, they joined the Imperial Guard and became legitimate military officers of the Great Lang. When they were sent out, they were often promoted, which made everyone happy.

Sun Yanwan had never allowed Ding Feng to leave Luojing, but this time she persuaded him to take all the Luojing wandering knights he could with him to Black Dragon City.

He also made it clear that if he didn't go, there would be no further involvement, and he would not intervene in anything.

Ding Feng was extremely reluctant to leave Luojing. He made several suggestions to Sun Yanwan, but was coldly rejected each time. Helpless, he could only call on his friends and leave Luojing.

Those wandering knights from Luojing who joined the Tianma Gang will gradually leave in the future. Sun Yanwan has quickly severed ties with those who are unwilling to join the Tianma Gang and no longer exerts any control over them.

After Ding Feng left, six or seven gangs of wandering knights emerged in Luojing, fighting among themselves and adding to the chaos in Luojing.

Sun Yanwan yawned. He didn't have much to do at court today and just wanted to end the court session early so he could go home and study martial arts.

Suddenly, a loud cracking sound was heard, and a person rushed down from the roof of the main hall, striking Zhang Qingxi with a palm strike.

Of the five grandmasters of the Da Lang court, three were absent today; only Sun Yanwan and Hei Guanghan attended court.

Hei Guanghan was slightly closer and leaped up to meet him, but the assassin twisted his body and dodged Hei Guanghan's attack in an unbelievable way.

Seeing the two pass by, Sun Yanwan had no choice but to leap up and unleash a palm strike using the Xuanbing Treasure Mirror.

Sun Yanwan's move covered an extremely wide area, and no matter how strange the assassin's movements were, he couldn't dodge it and also struck out with a palm. The two clashed head-on, and Sun Yanwan felt that the opponent's palm force was vast and boundless, extremely fair and just, and the palm force was even stronger than his own, forcefully shaking him away.

Sun Yanwan had a vague sense of familiarity; this person was clearly using the internal energy techniques of the Songyang Sect, which greatly surprised her. The assassin was also slightly surprised and shouted, "How dare a disciple of the Songyang Sect aid and abet evil? Today I will cleanse the sect!"

Despite saying this, he suddenly moved, about to leap over Sun Yanwan to assassinate Zhang Qingxi.

Sun Yanwan took a deep breath, leaped up, and unleashed a dazzling array of divine sword energy from her palms.

He had now clearly seen that the person who made the move was not old, but his skill was unparalleled and even surpassed his own. Theoretically, the only people in the world with such skill were either the Seven Friends of Songyang or several grandmasters from the third generation, but this person was neither. So there was only one possibility: Zhou Shuyou, who had recently escaped from Tianwu Prison, was Feng Laozu's junior brother and his and Zhang Qingxi's grandmaster.

Even though she had guessed the man's identity, Sun Yanwan would never allow him to kill Zhang Qingxi.

Locked onto by the sword intent, Zhou Shuyou couldn't help but curse, "You little thief! How dare you attack me?"

Zhang Qingxi also drew his sword, becoming one with it, and faced the senior from the sect.

In a short while, the three had exchanged dozens of blows. Sun Yanwan was greatly surprised and thought to herself, "This person's martial arts skills are probably no less than those of Zhang Xianwei, the former emperor of Da Lang. Is our grandmaster's martial arts really that powerful?"

"How could such a formidable figure be captured so easily?"

As Zhou Shuyou fought the two men, he became increasingly alarmed and exclaimed, "How come you both know the martial arts of the Songyang School?"

Zhang Qingxi focused on wielding his sword and said calmly, "I am originally a disciple of the Songyang Sect, and my master is Zhang Yuanqiao!"

Zhou Shuyou didn't believe it at all and shouted, "Where is the Emperor of Da Lang? Do you know who I am?"

Hei Guanghan coughed and said, "How can there be a fake emperor in the main hall?"

His attack was easily dodged by Zhou Shuyou. Firstly, Zhou Shuyou was the junior brother of this Old Ancestor Feng, whose martial arts were too high. Secondly, Zhou Shuyou did not dare to display his demonic powers in the main hall and could only use ordinary martial arts.

Hei Guanghan knew that Zhang Qingxi and Sun Yanwan were joining forces, but the Imperial Guards would swarm in from the palace in no time. He didn't necessarily have to take action himself, so he was in no hurry to make a move.

After escaping from Tianwu Prison, Zhou Shuyou found a place to recuperate. Recently, his injuries have greatly improved, and he wanted to assassinate the emperor. He had no idea what was happening in the court and was completely confused. He wanted to kill the two arrogant juniors, but both Zhang Qingxi and Sun Yanwan were terrifyingly skilled in martial arts. He even felt that even the Seven Friends of Songyang were no more than that.

Zhou Shuyou thought to himself, "It must be the shameless Zhang family of the Emperor who stole our Songyang Sect's martial arts and secretly learned them. These two are definitely not disciples of the Songyang Sect. I must kill these two dogs as soon as possible."

He unleashed a flurry of palm strikes, his power suddenly increasing to a new level. His entire body glowed with a faint yellow light. Zhang Qingxi and Sun Yanwan were forced back by his palm strikes, feeling as if the old man's martial arts had suddenly improved to a higher level. They were both greatly alarmed.

Sun Yanwan was startled and exclaimed, "Senior Brother, this is the skill of the Xuanhuang Scripture. He has already mastered the tenth transformation of Xuanhuang."

Zhang Qingxi was Zhang Yuanqiao's eldest disciple, so how could he not know the Xuanhuang Scripture?

He wielded his sword like the wind, stabbing Zhou Shuyou in eighteen acupoints, but a flexible power containing the ability to dissolve all true energy in the world neutralized the true energy on his sword.

(End of this chapter)