The Legend of the Condor Heroes: Starting from the Bodyguard

Chapter 275 A Bloodbath Caused by a Dog-Beating Stick

"In ancient times, a single peach could kill two warriors. Now, the Crown Prince, with just the Dog-Beating Stick, the token of the Beggars' Sect leader, has instigated a fierce battle between the Beggars' Sect and the Manichaeism, and has also plunged the Beggars' Sect into a power struggle and infighting. The Crown Prince's schemes are unparalleled in the world."

A crescent moon hung in the azure sky, and a large ship emerged from a veil of clouds and mist on Dongting Lake. Tables, chairs, wine, and dishes were set up at the bow, where Yang Kang, Ouyang Ke, Gongsun Zhi, and Helian Chuncheng drank and chatted merrily.

When Hong Qigong fell from Yueyang Tower, he was unconscious and no one knew where his Dog-Beating Stick had gone. Zhou Yan was too busy to care at the time, and the Beggar Clan leader's token was later found by Helian Chuncheng.

Helian Chuncheng had seen Hong Qigong wield his staff inside Yueyang Tower and hand a wine bowl to Ouyang Ke. He initially thought it was Hong Qigong's weapon and gave the Dog-Beating Staff to Yang Kang.

However, Qiu Qianren, the leader of the Iron Palm Clan who often clashed with the Beggars' Clan, knew him and explained in detail the origin of the Dog-Beating Stick and the meaning it represented.

Upon hearing this, Yang Kang weighed the options repeatedly and came up with a plan.

The Dog-Beating Stick is the symbol of the Beggars' Sect leader. Hong Qigong is seriously injured and his life is uncertain. If, as the Fire-Worker Monk said, his strength will drop greatly after he recovers due to the damage to his meridians, then the Beggars' Sect will have nothing to fear.

The Iron Palm Clan could easily control the Beggars' Clan and force them to submit.

However, Yang Kang still had reservations, fearing that Hong Qigong, after recovering from his injuries, would not be as incompetent as the Fire-Worker Monk had said, and that the Iron Palm Clan and the Beggar Clan would suffer heavy losses if they fought directly against each other.

Yang Kang planned that the Iron Palm Clan should first subdue all the major and minor martial arts sects in Jiangnan, then sit back and watch them fight it out. Once the Manichaeism and White Lotus Clan were exhausted from their battle, Qiu Qianren would clean up the mess, and finally, they would target the Beggar Clan, which had over 100,000 disciples. In this way, the martial arts world of Jiangnan would be under their control.

This force of martial arts heroes can assist the emperor in resisting the Mongols and also support the capture of Lin'an.

Yang Kang was thorough in his work and analyzed both internal and external factors, which led to his strategy of "using a stick to kill someone" and "using a stick to cause internal strife"—killing two birds with one stone.

They handed the dog-beating stick to the Manichaeans and then spread the word.

The Beggars' Sect elders and disciples will surely swarm out to snatch the Dog-Beating Stick.

A conflict arose between a group and a teacher.

The Beggars' Sect disciples reclaimed the Dog-Beating Stick, but this raised the question of who would wield it and take control of the sect. Yang Kang, having already schemed his way to the position of Crown Prince, possessed a profound understanding of power. He also learned from Qiu Qianren that the Beggars' Sect had a long-standing conflict over who wore the dirty clothes and who wore the clean clothes. The Dog-Beating Stick would inevitably cause internal discord and infighting within the Beggars' Sect.

A brilliant plan.

The rest was much simpler: create a coincidence so that the Manichaean disciples would obtain the Dog-Beating Stick, and then leak the news to the Beggars' Sect.

This led to the scene in Yuezhou City where Elder Peng and Elder Liang were discussing the interests of the Clean Clothes Faction, and a message was relayed by a Beggar Clan disciple. Of course, similar messages would also reach the ears of other Beggar Clan elders.

Yang Kang can just watch the show.

Ouyang Ke praised him, and Yang Kang laughed and said, "Brother Ouyang, you flatter me. If it weren't for Senior Ouyang's intervention, we wouldn't have this plan."

“That’s true.” Ouyang Ke nodded.

"I'd like to offer a toast to Brother Ouyang." Yang Kang poured the wine, raised his cup, and said, "Mr. Ouyang, don't be discouraged by Huang Yaoshi's rejection. When you first saw the woman in the Ancient Tomb, you were amazed by her beauty. You certainly didn't expect to meet someone like Huang Rong later. So, there are too many unpredictable things in life. You might meet a woman much more beautiful than Huang Rong. You can get her then."

Ouyang Ke laughed heartily, "Your Highness seems to be in a very good mood."

The two of them clinked their glasses and drank it all in one gulp.

Gongsun Zhi felt a mix of emotions.

Ouyang Ke was truly unaware of his good fortune; every beautiful woman around him possessed a beauty that could rival that of Qiu Qianchi.

As he thought about it, he was suddenly alarmed. Why did I compare Qiu Qianchi with Ouyang Ke's beautiful concubine?

Yang Kang suddenly added, "Master Gongsun, don't be anxious. The less news we have about Miss Qiu, the closer we are to finding her."

"Your Highness's words are insightful," said Helian Chuncheng.

Gongsun Zhi hurriedly said, "Thank you, Your Highness."

"If we really can't find Miss Qiu, I'll have someone kidnap a few beautiful women for the Valley Master to be his concubines," Ouyang Ke said with a smile.

"How can this be allowed?" Gongsun Zhi hurriedly said.

Yang Kang saw this and smiled slightly, thinking to himself that if he said this to Guo Jing, Guo Jing would definitely slam his fist on the table in anger. Gongsun Zhiyi was not resolute, and such a person was best to be manipulated and used.

Guo Jing also has weaknesses; he is loyal to his promises and righteous, making him not difficult to deal with.

Then Yang Kang thought of Zhou Yan.

Not only was his martial arts skill outstanding, but he also severed ties with Fu'an and had unclear and ambiguous relationships with Hong Qigong, Quanzhen Sect, Peach Blossom Island, Shaolin Temple, and Zhang Sanqiang.

Zhou Yan was the one who was most difficult to approach.

How could he possibly kill him? Yang Kang sighed inwardly.

...The city of Yuezhou was brightly lit, while the desolate mountains and wilderness dozens of miles away were deserted.

Moonlight filtered through the trees, casting a hazy, dim glow, while an even brighter light emanated from a mountain temple.

A dozen or so Manichaean disciples sat together. These disciples had all suffered injuries of varying degrees in the conflict with the White Lotus Sect, so the atmosphere was somewhat somber.

A leader of the cult sat cross-legged, a bright green bamboo stick resting across his knees. In front of him, a pot of rice porridge was bubbling and hissing.

"If the Iron Palm Clan hadn't suddenly intervened, we wouldn't have been defeated by the White Lotus Sect in Yuezhou," a member of the sect said indignantly.

"We'll regroup and make a comeback," said the leader, who carried a green bamboo staff.

"Good! As long as the green hills remain, there will always be firewood to burn." The followers cheered loudly.

A breeze blew in from the woods outside, slightly stirring the flames. The leader's expression suddenly hardened, and he listened intently. Suddenly, footsteps quickened, and the night wind swept through the forest.

"Not good, someone's coming." As soon as the leader finished speaking, a blade flashed and slashed down from outside the temple gate with the sound of thunder. A staggering amount of blood exploded like fireworks the moment the figure rushed in and made contact with the Manichaean disciple at the door.

"what!"

"It's the Beggars' Sect."

"The Beggars' Sect and the White Lotus Sect colluded in evil deeds."

The roars and the clash of weapons overlapped, and the flames in the center of the dilapidated temple were encouraged to flicker and spin rapidly. Manichaean disciples rushed out of the mountain god temple and then engaged in fierce fighting with the Beggar Clan disciples who surrounded them.

The first man to rush into the dilapidated temple was a plump, white-skinned elder named Peng, who had received information about the Dog-Beating Stick in Yuezhou City. His swordsmanship was fierce, and he used his full strength with a swift blade. His attacks were like a surging tide, wave after wave. In just over ten moves, the Manichaean leader's hands were severed, and the green bamboo stick fell to the ground. Elder Peng stepped forward and severed the Manichaean leader's neck with a single stroke.

A Beggar Clan disciple who rushed in later happily picked up the emerald green bamboo staff.

"Elder Liang, I found it..."

A flash of light, like a bolt of lightning, burst forth from the Beggars' Sect disciples' field of vision. Elder Peng cleaved open the opponent's chest with a single stroke, then kicked the corpse into the fire.

He picked up the emerald green bamboo cane, a greedy look on his face.

With the Dog-Beating Stick, the symbol of the gang leader, in hand, even if one doesn't know the Dog-Beating Stick Technique, one still gains an advantage in the struggle for gang leader.

……

The moon passed through the west window, and it was midnight.

Zhou Yan and Hong Qigong were about to complete their day and night practice. A ball of hot internal energy, with Zhou Yan's breathing, was transported to the coccyx, then rose from the coccyx to the kidney gate, from the spine and the two gates to the Tianzhu and Yuzhen points, and finally to the Niwan Palace at the top of the head.

Zhou Yan pressed his tongue against his palate, and the internal energy suddenly descended from the front, passing through the Shen Ting (GV24) and Chong Lou (CV12), finally slowly settling down to his Dantian (CV6). Although he was using his internal energy to assist Hong Qigong's treatment, the wonder of this technique from the True Scripture lay in the fact that when the practice was completed, both parties benefited, and Zhou Yan gained at least the internal energy he had accumulated during his month of arduous cultivation.

Looking at Hong Qigong again, his complexion was ruddy, which was also a sign that he had succeeded in his mission.

Before Zhou Yan could even feel joy, a flurry of footsteps sounded, mixed with the angry voice of the Hundred Herbs Immortal: "Yuan Foshou, if you detoxify my old friend, I will tell you the secret manuals of the Hundred Herbs Sect and the secret methods of alchemy."

Zhou Yan's heart skipped a beat. Had the Fisherman of Misty Waves been poisoned? Had the immortal been captured?

A sinister laugh rang out, "Haha, now you're the fish on the chopping block, completely at my mercy. You two old bastards, you've got a good scheme to lure me out of the valley. There must be something fishy going on here, search carefully."

Footsteps echoed in all directions, and in no time, someone arrived at the bamboo hut. The Five Poisons Sect member saw the corpse lying on the ground from the outside and shouted, "A dead man!"

The sound of clothes fluttering in the wind grew louder as Yuan Foshou, the leader of the Five Poisons Sect, appeared at the entrance of the bamboo hut. By the moonlight, he saw five disciples lying on the ground, along with Zhou Yan and Hong Qigong, who were healing themselves by pressing their hands together.

Yuan Foshou stared at them for a moment and then understood the gist of it. "So, you were using this as a diversionary tactic to lure the tiger away from the mountain, all for the sake of these two?"

The Immortal Herbs calculated the time and realized that the seven-day period would soon be over, so he thought he could delay it for as long as possible.

"Do you know who they are?"

Yuan Foshou smiled sinisterly: "All I know is that they will die with a flick of my finger."

After saying this, he was about to step into the house.

The Herbalist Immortal hurriedly said:

"It's Chief Hong of the Beggars' Sect!"

Yuan Foshou's raised foot froze in mid-air.

(End of this chapter)