Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 142 Ten Directions Scholar

Bao Butong and Feng Bo'e were both unruly individuals. Even after Jiang Mingzhe broke both their arms, they didn't utter a single word of pity. Yet now, just because Jiang Mingzhe defended Murong Fu a few times, they were so grateful.

Jiang Mingzhe couldn't help but feel respect, thinking that this truly lived up to the words of the Deyun Ancestor, "Loyalty and righteousness!"
He chuckled softly, “It’s true that the big have their difficulties, and the small have their advantages. In terms of power, the Murong family is far inferior to the Beggars’ Sect, but in terms of cohesion and loyalty, the Beggars’ Sect can’t even come close.”

Bao Butong was overjoyed, his eyes narrowing into slits as he laughed: "Hehehe, if everyone in the world understood reason as you do, I, Mr. Bao San, would never have been able to utter a single word of 'no, no' in my entire life."

Jiang, the leader of the Beggars' Sect's Righteousness Branch, was originally confronting Bao and Feng. Later, when these two came to Jiang Mingzhe, he also brought dozens of his brothers to the scene.

Upon hearing this, he shouted, "Friend Jiang's words are rather biased. Are all members of my Beggars' Sect heartless? Anyone who dares to oppose Chief Qiao, damn it, will have to step over my dead body first!"

After saying that, he turned around and shouted to his brothers, "Our gang has unfortunately encountered a villain. It is the time for everyone to fight to the death to repay the gang leader's kindness. Today, I have only four words: fight to the death and never retreat. What do you say?"

The twenty or thirty beggars shouted in unison, "Fight to the death! Fight to the death!"

His eyes blazed with fury as he stared at the gang members who were about to rebel.

Jiang, the leader, pointed at Quan, the leader, and shouted, "Quan Guanqing, you son of a bitch! The gang leader said you were a 'Scholar of Ten Directions,' skilled in both literature and martial arts, and promoted you to be the leader of the Dazhi branch. Is this how you repay the gang leader? Elders Chuan Gong and Fa Zhi, as well as the four branch leaders Da Ren, Da Yong, Da Xin, and Da Li, have all been harmed by you?"

That leader of the Quan branch was none other than Quan Guanqing, the "Scholar of the Ten Directions," who was the strategist and literary advisor of the Beggars' Sect.

Upon hearing this, he immediately shouted, "You surnamed Jiang, don't make false accusations! If I harm my own brothers, may I be struck down by heaven and earth! But Chief Qiao has a huge secret. Not only me, but all the elders also feel that he should not be the chief."

Chief Jiang roared, "You're talking nonsense!"

Qiao Feng frowned, stopping Chief Jiang from continuing. His gaze swept over the four elders and Quan Guanqing, and he asked doubtfully, "You say I have a secret and am not suitable to be the leader?"

Quan Guanqing puffed out his chest and said, "That's right! Otherwise, our gang has always prioritized loyalty and righteousness, so why would we do such a treasonous thing? Chief Qiao, we really have no choice but to accept this. We only hope that you can understand our good intentions and step down from your position as chief."

Qiao Feng laughed angrily, "A true man has nothing to hide. I, Qiao Feng, have never done anything against loyalty and righteousness, nor have I ever let down my brothers and friends. Now you say I have some secret, but you won't explain it clearly, and you just tell me to step down. Is the position of the Beggar Clan leader something for children to play house with?"

His gaze swept across the crowd, and he suddenly pointed at a seven-bag disciple in the crowd, shouting, "Zhang Quanxiang, your eyes are shifting and your expression is changing. What exactly have you done wrong?"

The disciple trembled and immediately knelt down, saying, "No, Chief, I... I haven't done anything wrong."

Qiao Feng's voice grew even harsher: "If you haven't done anything wrong, then where is your leader, Fang?"

Zhang Quanxiang shuddered again and subconsciously looked at Quan Guanqing, who angrily said, "Why are you looking at me?"

Qiao Feng said loudly, "Zhang Quanxiang, you are also an elder of the gang. You surely don't want to cause such trouble and make our gang a laughing stock in front of our fellow martial arts friends, right?"

Zhang Quanxiang nodded subconsciously: "That's natural."

Qiao Feng said, "Good! Then I'm sure I didn't misjudge you! Zhang Quanxiang, take Chief Jiang of the Righteousness Branch and invite the Transmission of Skills and Law Enforcement Elder and the other branch chiefs over. Let's have a frank discussion and make things clear. If Qiao Feng has really done something wrong, he should step down and choose a more capable person instead."

Zhang Quanxiang, still half-asleep, clasped his hands in a fist and said, "Yes, sir!"

Qiao Feng nodded to himself: It seems that the two elders and several branch leaders have indeed been brought under control.

"No!" Seeing that Qiao Feng had persuaded Zhang Quanxiang with just a few words, Quan Guanqing said urgently, "Most of them are Qiao Feng's die-hard fans. I'm afraid that even if they know that Qiao Feng is wrong, they will still blindly support him. That would be a great calamity for our sect and a great calamity for the martial arts world."

In his haste, he stopped calling him Chief Qiao and addressed him by his full name, Qiao Feng. Qiao Feng's eyes were like a tiger's, staring directly at Quan Guanqing.

Quan Guanqing felt a chill run down his spine and couldn't help but take a step back, exclaiming, "Chief Qiao, are you going to kill me to silence me?"

Qiao Feng suppressed his anger and said in a deep voice, "Quan Guanqing, you say I have a secret that prevents me from becoming the leader of the gang, but you refuse to say what that secret is. I won't argue with you, as long as we invite all the elders and leaders to explain it in public, you will still try to stop me. Do you really think that I, Qiao Feng, have no temper and will let you slander and accuse me?"

Quan Guanqing shook his head and said, "You want me to tell you your secret, but how dare I do so now? Your martial arts are so high. If you get angry and suddenly start hurting someone, I am no match for you."

Qiao Feng shouted, "So, based on a single, incoherent statement from you, Chief of the entire branch, you want me to step down?"

His shout was stern and fierce. Quan Guanqing subconsciously took another step back, turned his eyes to the four elders, and said loudly, "Four elders, we agreed before that we would work together to take down Qiao Feng, and then ask the Transmission and Enforcement Elder, the various leaders, and all the martial arts practitioners to publicly testify and remove him from the position of gang leader. Now that the time has come, are you going to back down at the last minute?"

The four elders' expressions changed, and Quan Guanqing shouted, "You should think it over carefully. My life and death are of little importance, but if this opportunity is missed, the Beggars' Sect will become a laughing stock of the world, and the martial arts world of the Song Dynasty will face a great calamity. This is all thanks to the four of you who are greedy for life and afraid of death!"

The long-armed elder sighed, took a step forward, and said in a low voice, "Brothers, Scholar Quan is right. When things come to a head, we must be bold. Let's proceed according to plan, capture Qiao Feng first, and then explain the cause and effect to him."

Jiang Mingzhe watched coldly, trying hard to recall the original work in his mind.

He vaguely remembered that in the original novel, as soon as Quan Guanqing appeared, he said only a few words before being captured by Qiao Feng, who secretly sealed his acupoints, causing him to kneel on the ground, unable to speak.

The remaining members assumed that Quan Guanqing had surrendered on his own, leaving the group leaderless. Qiao Feng managed to drag them out until the elders who had been passing on their skills and the other leaders arrived.

Thinking of this, Jiang Mingzhe slowly shook his head. Qiao Feng's move couldn't be said to be indecisive or unskilled, but in the end it was all for naught, and he left in disgrace. In particular, there was one thing he did that was extremely foolish—

During the accusations, the Beggars' Sect's spies in Western Xia learned that Yipintang was planning to use poison to counter the Beggars' Sect's treacherous scheme, and sent urgent military intelligence via wax pills.

The messenger's horse practically ran itself ragged before finally delivering the wax pill to Qiao Feng. Just as Qiao Feng was about to crush it and examine it, Elder Xu, the most prestigious figure in the Beggars' Sect, appeared and forbade Qiao Feng from looking at the military intelligence report. Qiao Feng obediently handed it to him anyway.

Unfortunately, the old man didn't even look at it himself, only focusing on revealing Qiao Feng's identity. This led to the successful encirclement of Yipintang and the easy capture of the Beggar Clan members by Beisu Qingfeng.

Later, A'Zhu used her disguise skills to impersonate Qiao Feng and disguised Duan Yu as Murong Fu. Together they dealt with the Western Xia. The real Murong Fu took the opportunity to release the "Sad Breeze" and knocked down the Western Xia people, saving the Beggar Clan members. Only then did Elder Xu remember the outdated military intelligence in his possession.

When Jiang Mingzhe read this passage, he was only focused on the secret of Qiao Feng's identity. Now, looking back, he realized that Elder Xu was indeed extremely foolish for being senile. However, Qiao Feng had not yet abdicated, yet he easily handed over important military intelligence to someone else and then ignored it without urging Elder Xu to take a look. This action was not very wise.

Now, due to Jiang Mingzhe's intervention, Qiao Feng was unable to control Quan Guanqing, allowing him to use his eloquence to mobilize the four elders.

Qiao Feng was both shocked and furious. He shouted in a low voice, "Elder Xi, Elder Song, Elder Wu, Elder Chen, do you four really want to fight me?"

Jiang Mingzhe followed Qiao Feng's gaze and saw Elder Xi with white beard and hair, holding a toothed iron mace in his hand; Elder Song was a short, stout old man, leaning on a steel cane as thick as a goose egg; Elder Wu was the red-faced old man who wielded a ghost-head saber; and the long-armed old man was Elder Chen, who was carrying a burlap sack.

Elders Xi, Song, and Wu hesitated, but Elder Chen shouted, "Hesitation only leads to trouble. Since we've already gone this far, let's just finish what we started. Are we dealing with him for our own benefit?"

The three men exchanged a glance, sighed in unison, and stepped forward, slowly raising their weapons.

Elder Wu said loudly, "Chief, our personal friendship is a small matter, but the country and the world are great matters. Our gang is the number one gang in the world, and the position of chief cannot be compromised. Please forgive our rudeness. After this matter is settled, I, Wu, will kowtow to you to apologize."

(End of this chapter)