Who is spreading rumors that my filial piety towards them has changed?

Chu Mingkong immediately recounted his current understanding of the situation in Tianya City, without omitting his disguised identity as "Zuo Gege" or concealing his intention to teach Xiao Fengnan a lesson.

"I'm facing a dilemma: what to do about the position of city lord? Taking over the city is useless to me, as I can't stay here any longer due to my injuries. But now, the forces in Tianya City are all gathered here. If I don't take it, it will most likely fall into the hands of the Buddhist sect, which would be even worse than falling into the hands of the Xiao family."

As Chu Mingkong spoke, he himself became pessimistic. The city lord of Tianya City seemed like a rare find among the worst.

Xiling Pills!

Consort Wan, who was not very familiar with the situation in Xiling, gasped upon hearing his words. She had thought he had simply returned to practice martial arts and defeat his opponent, but she hadn't expected him to do so much, even using the title of "Left Minister" to bully Xiao Zhi all night.

She felt that Chu Mingkong's best course of action was to leave immediately, as his injuries and safety were more important than anything else, but this was clearly not the answer he wanted.

His attitude toward Xiling was that he had no intention of possessing it, but he didn't want Xiling to continue to be messed up.

"Then all you can do is entrust the city lord to someone else, or let Tianya City continue its 'laissez-faire' development. No, continuing to let it run its course may not work; a city lord must be appointed."

Previously, Tianya City could develop freely because its official status was insignificant. Xiling had its own prefectural city, which was the "provincial capital" city representing the entire Xiling. But now that the "provincial capital" is gone, this identity naturally falls to Tianya City.

This vast fiefdom must be ruled by a king. In the past, it could be forcibly held in the name of King Huai of Chu, but now Tianya City is choosing a city lord, which in reality means having someone similar to King Huai of Chu to sit in charge of Xiling.

Therefore, it is impossible for the city to remain without a ruler. Either the royal family will send someone, or a certain force will seize the city lord, negotiate with the royal family, and force the royal family to recognize the legitimacy of the dynasty.

"How about giving it to your sister, Xiao Yunhan?"

"That won't work. Yunhan used to be a deputy city lord, but she resigned because she didn't want the position anymore."

"What about the master who gave it to you, Mingkong?"

"My master doesn't have the mood to deal with these things, you lazy dog."

"Then Mingkong, you can only see which force you can trust, Yunhan's sect, or other forces."

Xiaoxiang Qin Academy is trustworthy; the ladies there are all nice, but most of them have no intention of causing trouble for outsiders these days. As for Master's wife's Wenqing Pavilion... actually, their philosophies and atmosphere are quite compatible.

Shen Xuejun will most likely not pay much attention to the affairs of Tianya City. She will only leave rules for them to follow, and punish them if they fail to do so. She will not talk much about benefits, but the premise is that Shen Xuejun is interested in being registered in Tianya City.

"I'll ask Yunhan's master when I get back." Chu Mingkong made up his mind for the time being. "The worst-case scenario is that I'll just keep the identity of 'Zuo Gege' in Tianya City and then run away. I think the elders of Tianya Tower can manage Xiling well."

"Yes, I'll also ask Zhi'er about the killing of the elders of Tianya Tower. I don't think the Xiao family would dare to take action against the elders there; the risk is too great. Mingkong, if it's convenient for you, you should try to find the remaining elders who support you and see if they know anything about the inside story."

--------

PS: I've noticed some people don't understand the Buddha jade mentioned in the first two chapters.

The Buddha jade here is used to test whether a woman has engaged in promiscuous behavior, not to test her virginity. In the original text, I wrote, "If a woman has mixed masculine scents..." Pay attention to this "mixed".

Chapter 215 Is all you know how to do is use connections?

When Chu Mingkong returned to Qingxin Mansion, neither his master's wife Shen Xuejun nor Xiao Yunhan were there. Instead, Zuo Qiuchi and Feng Ying were drinking tea and eating snacks together. Gundan was also sitting there in a very proper manner, holding a small teacup with his bear paws and sipping it. But judging from Gundan's reaction, he probably didn't really appreciate it and was just imitating the two big shots.

When Zuo Qiuchi saw Chu Mingkong return, he waved for him to come over. Chu Mingkong happily went over and sat down.

"Master, it's been so long since we last met, I didn't expect you to miss me so much!"

"Don't even think about it. I asked you to come over and make some snacks, the same ones we ate at the brothel last time. These aren't as good as the ones you made."

Missing his snacks is the same as missing him; it's all the same thing!

Chu Mingkong immediately brought out a whole table of tea and snacks. Zuo Qiuchi was satisfied, while Gundan stared in disbelief, curiously looking at his storage ring and pondering the snacks that were always kept in it.

"Xiao Mingkong, let's switch storage rings. Which storage ring did you use to store the snacks, or can you share some with me?"

Chu Mingkong exchanged these snacks for filial piety; the money came from the sheep's back. He glanced at Gundan and symbolically took out a plate of snacks.

"Get lost! Does your so-called sacred land of the demon race have any influential female figures? If I ever need to flee for my life, could you introduce me to some of them?"

"No problem, I'll introduce you to someone then."

After exchanging a few perfunctory words with "Get lost," the bear began to concentrate on learning and imitating how Zuo Qiuchi and Feng Ying ate, presumably planning to return to the Demon Clan's Holy Land to further refine its "Seal" image after mastering the technique.

Chu Mingkong sat down between Feng Ying and Zuo Qiuchi, his left arm around Feng Ying's slender waist and his right arm around Zuo Qiuchi's peach-like buttocks, and asked with a satisfied look:

"Where are Master's wife and Yunhan?"

Zuo Qiuchi patted Chu Mingkong's pig's trotter, but seeing that Chu Mingkong wouldn't let go, she had no choice but to give up and replied:

"It's so lively outside right now, my wife and her apprentice have gone out to see what's going on."

The wife she was referring to was naturally Shen Xuejun. Shen Xuejun herself had acknowledged her, so Zuo Qiuchi might as well take her. In the future, when arguing with Xiao Yunhan, he could use their seniority to annoy her.

However, this was just a verbal favor, and neither Zuo Qiuchi nor Shen Xuejun took it seriously.

"Watching the excitement? What's going on outside?"

Feng Ying let Chu Mingkong put his arm around her waist, taking small bites of the pastries he offered. She occasionally nodded in surprise, praising the deliciousness. She then spoke up:

"They were robbing the jade tokens, weren't they? Didn't that bear also steal quite a few jade tokens from you? It was either the Xiao family or the royal family that made the move. But that was the situation this morning. Now all those forces are attacking each other. Since someone has already made the first move, they are also trying to eliminate their formidable enemies from the sidelines."

The Tianya City Martial Arts Tournament is limited to young talents, excluding some veterans with profound cultivation. However, these veterans have room to demonstrate their abilities outside the arena.

It's perfectly normal for someone to help their disciple eliminate potential enemies. These people probably just came to act as bodyguards for their disciple at first, but someone broke the rules first, so they got involved.

Chu Mingkong learned of this situation from Gundan yesterday, but he didn't expect it to escalate so much. Tianya Tower didn't care at all, they just activated the city's great formation to limit the scale of their battles, so that it wouldn't escalate like the city was being demolished.

There's probably also the idea of ​​letting these forces target and weaken each other, so that the forces within the city aren't so chaotic and it's hard to investigate any unexpected events.

"Sigh, it's still a pity. Those who participated in the martial arts competition in the past and made it to the later stages all had their own strengths, especially those rogue cultivators, who had many tricks up their sleeves and were quite impressive. But these rogue cultivators without any power will not have the opportunity to show off this year. They will probably be driven away in the melee outside the arena."

So, how's this infighting going on among these people?

Chu Mingkong sighed, noticing that Feng Ying's cup was empty. He took the teapot and poured her some. Seeing how much Chu Mingkong favored Feng Ying, Zuo Qiuchi gulped down her tea and slammed it down in front of him, signaling him to be more considerate. Chu Mingkong, of course, wouldn't play tricks on such a small matter and poured her some too.

Seeing the two big shots being treated so well, Gundan pushed his cup in front of Chu Mingkong, who then placed the teapot in front of Gundan.

"Pour it yourself."

Get lost: "???"

Fengying said:

"What could possibly happen? If a weaker force or one with fewer members had their jade token stolen, they would have no choice but to swallow their anger and send their disciples away to avoid being implicated, while the old guys stayed behind to demand an explanation."

However, the Buddhist monks were clever. After a few monks suffered losses at first, they simply found a wide street, formed a meditation formation, and sat down, rendering any disturbance futile.

Having personally experienced the Buddhist tortoise-and-copper-man formation, Zuo Qiuchi recalled his past frustrations and clicked his tongue in amazement:

"Forming up in the street, aren't they afraid of blocking other people's way? It's really shameless!"

"The Buddhist monks probably didn't book an inn in advance, so they had to find a place to sleep on the street. There's no way the overpass can hold all those bald men. But to be honest, it's really quite immoral."

Chu Mingkong recalled the scene he saw through the black relic. What exactly were those monks trying to do?

Unfortunately, the Abyss was too vast, and he couldn't determine its exact location from the image; otherwise, he would definitely have risked going to take a look.

The fact that Buddhist monks have come in such a grand manner suggests they intend to do something similar to what happened at Xiaoxiang Qin Academy.

"Fengying, regarding the assassination of the Tianya Tower elder that you investigated last time, has there been any new information since then?"

Fengying shrugged:

"No, the biggest clue is that the elder died from the power of extreme yin. There are no other clues. The magic array and barrier of Tianya Tower have not been destroyed, but it's hard to tell who did it. As a result, the security of Tianya Tower and the government offices has become much tighter. All the puppets that I have hidden away have been taken out to monitor every place. I can't move around at all."

"Even your 'Colorless Shadow' isn't enough?" Chu Mingkong exclaimed in surprise. That was a technique that could even allow someone to sneak into the imperial palace.

"It's possible, but if those mechanical puppets find the files on the shelf floating up on their own, they'll definitely get suspicious. I can stay in there as long as I want, but if I start an investigation, I'll easily be discovered. As a result, the security in these places will become increasingly tight, affecting my future operations."

Chu Mingkong understood; this meant waiting for them to lower their guard.

He said regretfully:

"I also wanted to ask if you have any way to infiltrate Tianya City. Fengying, have you found out who the people in the yamen suspect is behind this? Could it be the Xiao family?"

"I don't think so. I saw people from the Xiao family asking what happened. They were worried that someone was trying to frame them and sow discord between the Xiao family and Tianya Tower. It seems that even the Xiao family members themselves can't contact Tianya Tower anymore."

"Could it really be that it has nothing to do with the Xiao family?" Chu Mingkong wondered. "Then who else has the ability to make a move in Tianya Tower? The array and barrier can't stop it, and Elder Hong himself couldn't even put up a fight. We need to find a way to get in and find out what's going on."

Seeing Chu Mingkong's troubled expression, Zuo Qiuchi reached out and poked his forehead, saying disdainfully:

"Is your brain just full of asses right now? Why are you so upset about not being able to get into Tianya Tower?"

Chu Mingkong looked at her blankly, suspecting that Zuo Qiuchi was only acting out because she didn't want him to touch her butt. He asked her in return:

"Master, your brain isn't much better than mine, is it? We're exactly the same. Didn't you hear Fengying say how heavily guarded Tianya Tower is now?"

"If I tell you the solution, you'll do a split right here, okay?"

"Okay, go ahead."

“Why don’t you just let Yunhan take you in? It’s inconvenient for you to directly contact the people from Tianya Tower. You can just let Yunhan do it. Even if she’s not the city lord anymore, she used to be. At most, Yunhan can just find an excuse like ‘I heard something happened in Tianya City, so I immediately came out of seclusion to check the situation.’ It’s nothing serious.”

Chu Mingkong fell silent immediately, it seemed... that was the case!

Although the Xiao family may now be a target of Tianya Tower's vigilance, Xiao Yunhan is still worthy of the trust of the elders there.

Chu Mingkong was so used to sneaking in through the back door of his own house that he'd forgotten what it felt like to enter openly from the front. Turns out, there was an option to enter from the front...

Zuo Qiuchi took the opportunity to remove the lecherous hand that was resting on her buttocks, pinched his cheek, and scolded him:

"All you think about is your butt, look at the state you've become!"

Chu Mingkong was speechless, completely overwhelmed by his own intellect, but some things couldn't be compromised in terms of saving face.

He had no choice but to stubbornly insist:

"I was seduced by your butt, Master! I'm really troubled!"

"Don't you dare touch my butt again!" Zuo Qiuchi warned angrily.

Because Chu Mingkong was stubborn, Zuo Qiuchi forbade him from touching her buttocks, and he changed his mind in great disappointment and annoyance:

"Then let me put it another way: it's my brain that's letting me down; I just can't resist being seduced by your butt, Master."

Shocked, Gundan silently took a sip of tea, worrying that he might know too much and what would happen if he were silenced.

Zuo Qiuchi looked at his shameless apprentice with disdain and pointed to the door: "Get lost!"

The armored bear shuddered violently, so frightened that it dropped its teacup, and said in a panic:

"......What's the matter?"

Chu Mingkong's face was stern: "Get lost, my master is in a bad mood and wants you to leave."

"Order!"

They disappeared in a flash.