The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 493 The Secret Passage of the Ming Cult
As expected of Squid, after others had undergone the Life and Death Talisman once, they dared not disobey Wu Chengyu's orders again. But for Pu Zhishen, the price of loyalty was always more painful. He only revealed the matter of his family after the Life and Death Talisman was used twice.

Pu Zhishen also knew that once Zhou Dao revealed the origins of his family, he and his entire family would truly be plunged into a huge crisis.

The Ming Cult maintains contact with its Persian headquarters, and the leader's daughter, Fang Yaning, is of mixed race. Therefore, there are quite a few Ming Cult members with Western ancestry, which is not particularly noticeable.

Since Zhou Dao could so readily expose their beliefs, he must know Squid very well. Pu Zhishen himself also knew that anyone who knew Squid's nature would not have any good feelings towards him.

Squid are generally quite intelligent. Wu Chengyu's talk of giving them important positions only made Pu Zhishen feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave. He instinctively sensed Wu Chengyu's malice towards his family members, and Wu Chengyu didn't even try to hide this malice.

However, he no longer wanted to endure the pain of the Life and Death Talisman. All he could do now was desperately try to gain Wu Chengyu's trust. Therefore, Pu Zhishen's innate nature made him fully utilize his instinct to betray other people's secrets.

Pu Zhishen hurriedly kowtowed several times on the ground: "Master, I deserve to die. I didn't tell you everything."

"That Snake King Wu Du ordered me to be his spy in Hou Tu Banner. Besides monitoring how Hou Tu Banner helped Nangong Luan, he also ordered me to find out Hou Tu Banner's secrets. I was just taking a chance and didn't tell my master. I deserve to die."

Wu Chengyu immediately became interested. The Ming Cult's high-ranking officials did not pay much attention to the Five Elements Flag, just like ordinary gang leaders do not care about their cannon fodder members. For many years, the Five Elements Flag has been a consumable for the Ming Cult's ambitions, commonly known as cannon fodder.

For them, once the Five Elements Flags are exhausted, they can simply recruit more. This lack of attention has existed for many years. So how could a mere Thick Earth Flag possess a secret that even the Ming Cult's higher-ups covet?

The key point is that they didn't dare to ask openly, and could only send spies to secretly investigate, which is inherently unreasonable.

"Let's hear the details."

"Reporting to Master, when the Snake King found me, he said that when the Ming Cult moved to Bright Peak, the Five Elements Flags were in charge of building Bright Peak, with the Thick Earth Flag, which was skilled in construction, being the main force. The entire structure and layout of Bright Peak was the responsibility of the Thick Earth Flag."

Besides the buildings on the surface, there has always been a huge secret passage on Bright Peak. This passage is interconnected and contains countless secrets. These secrets have always been known only to the leader of the Ming Cult, making it a forbidden area for the Ming Cult.

In the past few years, the old leader has been obsessed with practicing martial arts, and the affairs of the Bright Peak have been almost entirely handled by Nangong Luan. The Yang leader also has to assist Nangong Luan.

I don't know how Leader Yang learned of the existence of this secret passage, and I also know that besides the leader, probably only the Hou Tu Banner could possess information about it. However, the banner leader and deputy banner leader at the time were both Nangong Luan's men, which is why he ordered me to investigate in secret.

Wu Chengyu pondered for a moment. Of course he knew about the existence of the secret passage. It was clearly stated in the novel that the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth manual, which Wu Chengyu had been longing for, should still be inside.

According to the original novel, one of the entrances to the secret passage was under Yang Buhui's bed, which Xiao Zhao accidentally discovered when she infiltrated the Ming Cult as a maid.

Yang Buhui, being a young lady of high birth, slept on the bed every day but never had to make her own bed, so naturally she remained completely unaware of the situation.

Besides Cheng Kun, the only person who knew about the other entrances to the secret passage was the Ming Cult. Other high-ranking members of the Ming Cult must have known about the existence of the forbidden area, but they were never able to enter it.

Yang Dingtian, it now appears, is a descendant of Yang Xu. This guy died inexplicably in the forbidden area, and the Ming Cult immediately fell apart after losing its leader.

The Ming Cult's higher-ups knew that Yang Dingtian must have been inside the forbidden area when he had the accident. Given their lawless nature, it was impossible for them to be so loyal and absolutely obey orders and resolutely refuse to enter the secret passage.

Not to mention that Yang Xiao later monopolized Bright Peak, and he himself was an unscrupulous and reckless person. In order to seize power and profit, he drove away other high-ranking officials. How could he have honestly watched the secret passage and not dared to take a step for many years?
Therefore, this secret passage was indeed very well hidden, and for many years, until the time of Yang Dingtian, it was kept secret and only the leader of the sect knew about it.

In the end, Yang Dingtian brought it upon himself by telling his wife about the secret passage. The secret passage then became a meeting place for his wife and Cheng Kun. Who knows how many cuckolds Yang Dingtian had hidden in the nooks and crannies of this secret passage.

Finally, when Yang Dingtian was practicing the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth, he suddenly stumbled upon Cheng Kun and his wife engaging in debauchery, and died on the spot from a qi deviation.

Therefore, if a ruler does not keep secrets, he will lose his chance to rise again. Yang Dingtian's later fate was entirely his own doing. According to the rules of the Ming Cult, his wife was not allowed to enter the secret passage at all.

Returning to the secret passage, if Wu Chengyu hadn't appeared like a butterfly, the Jin Kingdom's spies wouldn't have paid attention to the outlaws of the martial world, and naturally wouldn't have colluded with the Clean Clothes Sect to rebel. The Ming Cult wouldn't have considered annexing the Beggars' Sect because of its greatly weakened strength.

The Ming Cult has not yet fully recovered to its peak state during the Fang La Rebellion. Since there is no opportunity, it will definitely stay obediently at Bright Peak.

Therefore, the original trajectory was that Fang Yu only had two or three years left to live, and Nangong Luan and Yang Xu were secretly vying for power, which would inevitably escalate in the end.

As long as Fang Yu stays at Bright Peak, Nangong Luan will not dare to rebel. He is somewhat ambitious but incompetent, and in the end, Yang Xu, the more patient fellow, will inevitably win.

Ultimately, Yang Xu was Fang Yu's personal disciple, and it could be said that it was Yang Xu's destiny to become the next leader, which is why he passed on the position of leader until Yang Dingtian appeared.

In a normal succession of the leadership, Fang Yu would definitely have told Yang Xu about the secret passage before he died.

But now everything has changed. Fang Yu was caught in a rebellion, and he could not possibly tell Nangong Luan the location of the secret passage before the battle at Phoenix Mountain. Fang Yu died fighting Wu Chengyu in the end, and he no longer had the chance to tell Yang Xu.

So, according to the original trajectory, Fang Yu should have told Yang Xu the secret before he died, but it has now been lost. Yang Xu must also know that there is a secret passage, but now he can only search for it little by little on his own.

Like the other high-ranking members of the Ming Cult, Wu Chengyu only knew that the place existed, but not how to enter. Even if he knew it was under Yang Buhui's bed, the Ming Cult headquarters had countless rooms, and who could possibly know which room Yang Buhui would live in a hundred years from now?

If this secret passage were really that easy to find, so many high-ranking members of the Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber would have discovered it long ago; there would have been no chance for Zhang Wuji to find it.

After sorting everything out, Wu Chengyu only had two questions: whether Fang Yaning knew about the secret passage.

The other question is for Pu Zhisen: "Back then, Nangong Luan was still the Left Envoy of the Brightness Sect. It's understandable that Yang Xu wanted to increase his bargaining chips in the power struggle and inquire about the secret passage. However, the one who gave the order was the Snake King Wu Du. Did you personally hear Yang Xu give the order?"

Pu Zhisen hesitated for a moment, but immediately understood Wu Chengyu's subtext: "I am of low rank and have little influence. I have only ever seen Master Yang from afar and have never had the opportunity to speak with him alone."

It was this snake king Wu Du who initially ordered me to stay in Hou Tu Banner to serve and gather information about the secret passage, and later ordered me to poison my master.

"Does the master mean...?"

Wu Chengyu simply shook his head slightly: "It's possible that Yang Xu at most knows that he has spies in Hou Tu Banner, but he may not even know you. These things may have been done by him at Wu Du's behest, but it's also possible that Wu Du was giving false orders."

This is not something you can interfere with. When you see Wu Du in the future, just pretend you know nothing about it.

Pu Zhishen nodded in agreement, and Wu Chengyu then pressed for more information.

"So, what have you found out in your years of searching for secret passages in Houtu Banner?"

"Reporting to my master, over the years I have carefully cultivated my way up in the Hou Tu Banner, and have gained the trust of the former banner lord and deputy banner lord. After many intentional and unintentional inquiries, I can assert that the two of them should not know about the secret passage."

After all, the people in charge of building Bright Summit were several generations of flag leaders, and the secret passage was extremely well-kept. After a hundred years, all the news should have sunk into the sea.

"However, once when I was serving drinks to the former banner chief, he mentioned, quite pleased with himself, that after the construction of Bright Summit was completed, the banner chief suddenly died of a violent illness, and nearly a hundred extremely skilled craftsmen from the Thick Earth Banner also died unnatural deaths one after another, which he suspected was related to that secret passage."

Wu Chengyu nodded. Historically, craftsmen responsible for building mausoleums and secret passages were often silenced: "So you still haven't gained anything."

"Reporting to the master, this time the flag lord and deputy flag lord went to Hubei with Nangong Luan. The other flag generals took them with them, leaving only me to guard Hou Tu Peak. While everyone else was away, I carefully searched all the places around the flag lord and accidentally discovered a fragment of a map."

However, seeing that Yang Xu had already become the leader, I didn't report this to the Snake King; I just wanted to….”

Wu Chengyu snorted coldly: "I just want to find an opportunity to personally hand it over to Yang Xu in exchange for a great achievement, am I right?"

“Master, please forgive me. I had not met you then. From now on, I, Pu Zhishen, and the Pu clan will be loyal to you and will never dare to have any disloyalty.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Pu Zhishen immediately searched carefully in his sleeve and quickly pulled out a tattered sheepskin from the lining of his cuff. It was actually an engineering drawing, which should have been left behind by the Hou Tu Banner Chief who was in charge of building Bright Summit.

The secret passage was very large at the time, so there must have been more than one engineering drawing. However, it is already very rare to find this one now.

Wu Chengyu took it and examined it carefully. At first glance, he felt a little dizzy. Since his transmigration, his biggest fear was looking at maps, and he really couldn't make sense of them.

Moreover, this engineering drawing is even more complex than ordinary maps. Not long after Wu Chengyu returned to Bright Peak, he was sent down the mountain by Yang Xu and was not very clear about the layout of Bright Peak. This map is practically a book from heaven.

"You've had this picture for a long time. I don't believe you haven't studied it carefully. Tell me what you discovered."

"Reporting to my master, I am of lowly rank and cannot easily access the main altar of Bright Peak. However, I have some recollection of it because I transported goods to the main altar for the flag lord in my early years."

This drawing mainly depicts the underground, with only a few strokes depicting the upper layers. Based on the little man's calculations, it seems to be in the area where the sacred flame is located. The little man has only been there twice, so he's not entirely sure.

The sacred flame is located at the highest point of Bright Peak, now guarded by Fang Yu's former personal guard, which is difficult to reach even by ordinary means. After a moment's thought, Wu Chengyu put away the sheepskin engineering blueprint.

We do need to observe the area around the Olympic flame carefully, and it's not necessary for him to go there personally. Fang Yaning is a very good pawn, but one map is definitely not enough.

"This is an engineering drawing. There should be more than just this one. Where did you find it?"

"I stumbled upon this book in the former banner chief's study by chance. No one else was allowed to enter his study, so I didn't dare to linger there."

However, that guy has already been killed by the sect leader, and now the Thick Earth Banner only has the master as its deputy banner leader. So, no one dares to stop the master from going to his study.

"Okay, you can go now. Be good from now on."

(End of this chapter)