Sword drawn from the constellations, poison as its edge.

Chapter 208 Night Visit to Shaolin Temple

If the entire Songshan mountain range is considered as an ellipse, Dengfeng City is located in the lower right corner of this circle.

North of Dengfeng City lies Mount Taishi, and west of Dengfeng City lies Mount Shaoshi.

Jiang Mingzhe had already asked the old shopkeeper about the general route during their chat. After leaving his residence, he climbed straight over the city wall and headed west, avoiding the official roads and climbing mountains and wading through rivers, heading straight for Shaolin Temple.

After crossing seven or eight mountain peaks, one comes to see a tall pagoda with upturned eaves and a continuous series of halls and pavilions, a large temple lying among the mountains.

As Jiang Mingzhe stood on a pine tree and looked around, he suddenly caught a glimpse of several figures flashing and disappearing in the northwest corner. Then he saw two people leaping over the high wall in the southwest corner.

Jiang Mingzhe blinked, thinking that they had arrived late after all, having been delayed for two or three days in Yanziwu, with fierce battles along the way. Many people had probably traveled day and night and arrived long ago, which explained why it was so lively so late at night.

Just then, a dark figure suddenly leaped out of the Shaolin Temple and headed straight south. With each leap, it covered a distance of no less than seven or eight zhang. Its lightness skill was truly astonishing.

Jiang Mingzhe was secretly startled: Who is this person? Kumārajīva shouldn't have arrived yet, and Li Qiushui has returned to Jiangnan. If this person isn't Xiao Feng, then it's most likely Xiao Yuanshan or Murong Bo...

With that thought in mind, he was no longer in a hurry to sneak into Shaolin Temple at night. He silently leaped down from the tree, activated his Lingbo Chuiyun Skill at full power, and chased after the dark figure.

After running for seven or eight miles, Jiang Mingzhe leaped onto a hillside and suddenly stood still.

His lightness skill has now reached its peak. He can switch from extreme movement to extreme stillness in an instant without any hindrance, as if he has been standing there all along without ever moving.

South of this hillside is a gentle slope, almost flat. Around a pond of about an acre, a large vegetable garden has been cultivated. Beside the vegetable garden stands a jujube tree with lush foliage. Not far away are several earthen houses and thatched cottages, with dim light shining through their windows.

The dark figure he was tracking was now standing on the rooftop, its head slightly tilted, as if listening to the people inside.

Jiang Mingzhe stared intently at the figure, who was dressed in black, bald, and extremely imposing.

Xiao Yuanshan!
Jiang Mingzhe instantly guessed the other party's identity. He thought to himself, "That's it. This old Xiao has been lying low in Shaolin for many years. Unlike Murong Bo, he doesn't have any power. He's all alone. No one has been asking him for information. It must have been the news of Xiao Feng's identity being exposed that reached Shaolin Temple. The monks were talking about it, and that's how he heard it. He slowly pieced together the truth and learned that his son was adopted by the Qiao family and that Xuan Ku taught him martial arts, among other things."

Old Xiao had been living in seclusion at Shaolin Temple for thirty years and was considered a neighbor of the Qiao family, but he was unaware that his own son was right beside him!
After Xuan Ku took Xiao Feng as his disciple, he taught Xiao Feng martial arts every night without fail, rain or shine, for a long time. Xiao Feng, being a nocturnal creature, may have already noticed Xuan Ku's whereabouts, but he was too lazy to care. Little did he know that it was related to his son.

Now that he has learned the truth and discovered that he has been living next door to his own son for many years but has not been able to recognize him, he is naturally furious. He is angry at Qiao Sanhuai for taking away his family happiness, and he also feels that Xuanku taught his son martial arts so that he would fight against the Liao people for the sake of the Central Plains martial arts world. Therefore, he kills him.

To outsiders, this was seen as betraying his son, but from Xiao Yuanshan's perspective, it was simply a matter of revenge.

Jiang Mingzhe nodded secretly, thinking that those houses must be the home of Qiao Sanhuai and his wife. He was glad that he had decided to come with Lao Xiao on a whim, otherwise Qiao Sanhuai and his wife would probably be dead.

In the original novel, Xiao Feng became a public enemy not because he was a Khitan, but because he was burdened with the heinous crime of murdering his parents and mentor. Now that Jiang Mingzhe has caught up with him, he naturally won't ignore him.

Standing on the rooftop, Xiao Yuanshan listened to the conversation between the two inside. It turned out that when Qiao Sanhuai delivered vegetables to Shaolin Temple, a kind monk had warned them that Xiao Feng's identity had been exposed and he was coming to Shaolin Temple to retaliate against the abbot. The monk advised them to hide with relatives for a while to avoid incurring Xiao Feng's wrath. Qiao Sanhuai was currently discussing this with his wife, both deeply saddened and cursing the villain who had revealed Xiao Feng's true identity.

When Qiao Sanhuai mentioned the kind monk's suggestion, his wife, who was quite opinionated, shook her head repeatedly and said, "Others may not know, but do you and I, as his parents, not know what kind of person Feng'er is? This child is right or wrong, how could he possibly hold a grudge against us?"

After thinking for a while, the old lady suddenly said loudly, "Old man, let me tell you, it is precisely at times like this that we, as parents, must stand with our child! If Feng'er becomes a Khitan, who will respect him? Let's just stick to our story and say that the Khitan child died of illness long ago after being brought here, and that Feng'er is the child of you and me."

Old Xiao was initially moved by the couple's conversation, thinking they genuinely cared for his son. However, as he listened, he couldn't contain his anger and roared, "Shameless! Utterly shameless! You've kept this from my son for so many years, and now you're going to continue deceiving him! You deserve to die!"

Although Jiang Mingzhe couldn't hear what Qiao Sanhuai and his wife were saying, he could roughly guess from Old Xiao's furious words. Seeing that he was about to make a move, he knew there was no time to lose, so he immediately said, "What? Your son? Old monk, could it be that my brother Xiao is actually your son? But wasn't his biological father already buried under the cliff outside Yanmen Pass?"

Xiao Yuanshan suddenly turned his head and saw a tall and elegant person standing in the moonlight on the earthen slope three or four zhang away. He was secretly startled: I've been too complacent all these years, and I didn't even notice that there was someone behind me!

He said coldly, "It seems you know quite a bit. That's right, Xiao Feng is my son, Xiao Yuanshan. People with the surname Xiao are tough. Even the King of Hell wouldn't take him, so he climbed back up from that cliff! You call my son 'elder brother,' so you must be his friend?"

Jiang Mingzhe also looked at Xiao Yuanshan. He saw that Xiao Yuanshan was around sixty years old, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, a square face and a bushy beard. Apart from his white hair and beard and more wrinkles, his features were indeed very similar to Xiao Feng's.

Xiao Feng was bold and magnanimous, while Xiao Yuanshan, though also possessing some heroic spirit, had a look of sorrow and cruelty in his eyes, lacking the uprightness of his son.

Jiang Mingzhe sighed inwardly and immediately bowed: "So it is Uncle Xiao in person. Your nephew Jiang Mingzhe greets Uncle! Uncle, Brother Xiao and I are not only friends, but also sworn brothers, brothers who are not born on the same day, month, and year! Uncle, you have survived a great calamity, which is a cause for celebration. If Brother Xiao knew, he would be very happy."

“Brother?” Xiao Yuanshan stared intently at Jiang Mingzhe with eyes like a lone eagle, and after a long while said, “Get up and speak.”

Jiang Mingzhe stood up and heard Xiao Yuanshan say, "My son is a Khitan. Do you dare to be brothers with a Khitan?"

Jiang Mingzhe said frankly, "In my life, I have always valued people based on their character and temperament, not on their bloodline or background. Brother Xiao is a man of great courage and chivalry. Having him as my brother is the greatest joy of my life."

Seeing his sincerity, Xiao Yuanshan was overjoyed and laughed loudly, "Hahaha, good, good! Feng'er has a brother like you, and as his father, I am truly happy for him!"

After laughing, he looked at Jiang Mingzhe and said, "I heard that my son is coming to cause trouble for that old dog Xuanci. I wanted to go and meet him, but I don't know where he came from. I'm afraid he might have taken the wrong road. Where is he now?"

Jiang Mingzhe said, "Uncle, please forgive me. I haven't seen Brother Xiao since we parted ways at Xingzilin. During this time, I learned that the Beggar Clan had changed and was sending out invitations to many people to make things difficult for them. So I rushed to Shaolin. Tonight, I was going to Shaolin Temple to investigate when I saw you leap out, my lightness skill was superb. I was curious, so I followed you here."

Xiao Yuanshan was shocked and said in disbelief, "You said you've been following me since Shaolin Temple? Good lad, I didn't know you were so skilled. If I were your age, my kung fu might not be as good as yours!"

Thinking of Jiang Mingzhe's skill and loyalty to Xiao Feng, Xiao Yuanshan was overjoyed and smiled, saying, "I've been thinking about my son day and night since I got news of him. I didn't expect that his brothers would arrive before my son. Kid, wait for me to kill two of them first, and then I'll take you out for a good drink!"

(End of this chapter)