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

Actually, the Xiao family members had helped Mingkong fend off a group of assassins, but most of these spies perished in the Abyss Disaster.

Good heavens! Chu Mingkong was wondering why the Xiao family had bribed the officers of Xiling to know his travel route. It turns out they were "secretly escorting" him!

That old dog Xiao Chengren really thinks far ahead.

Chu Mingkong seemed to remember something and said:

“My maternal grandfather from the Xiao family might be up to something in Qingxin Prefecture these next few days. If you notice anything, please help stop him.”

"Get lost!" he said magnanimously.

"Don't worry, Xiao Mingkong. I will help you with this and make sure you are all safe and sound."

While they were chatting, the martial arts demonstration below began.

Chu Mingkong didn't sit idle; he took out all his jade pendants to see which one would light up.

As expected, the first batch consisted of the bald guys fighting each other. And they simply decided to preserve their strength, with the weaker ones admitting defeat and the remaining bald guys continuing to form the bronze men formation.

However, the elders of Tianya Tower did not make it so deliberate. They still arranged for the Buddhist sect to have a few matches against those independent practitioners and sect disciples, but only a few matches. The purpose was to avoid any arguments and to prevent the internal arrangements from becoming too obvious.

"Is this a plan to finish in one day?" Zuo Qiuchi looked at the number of people and it seemed that it wouldn't last more than a few days, and some Buddhist monks had already started the third round.

"It should be," Chu Mingkong said. "The people from Tianya Tower mentioned that they are thinking of speeding up the competition and want to end it as soon as possible. Anyway, they have already chosen their targets."

"Hmm? There's some movement at Qingxin Prefecture. I'll go back and take a look," Fengying suddenly said.

"Then I'll go and take a look too, I'm so bored here!" Zuo Qiuchi couldn't stay still, even the most delicious snacks would eventually become tiresome.

Chu Mingkong waited for a long time, and finally Xiao Fengnan showed up.

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P.S.: I need to go queue for mass testing now, so the later updates today will probably be a little later.

Chapter 221 The Cocoon (3/20)

Upon seeing the Xiao family's group approaching, Chu Mingkong stared wide-eyed at the jade token in his hand, waiting to pair up with them and go in to teach them a lesson with an iron fist.

However, Chu Mingkong quickly noticed something amiss—Xiao Fengnan didn't seem to be in the carriage!

"Where is Xiao Fengnan? He's not even coming to the martial arts competition?" Chu Mingkong asked incredulously.

That shouldn't be done.

Just then, Chu Mingkong saw the fat steward in the Xiao family's group. It was this fat steward who had delivered the jade token to him at the city gate. He recognized the "Zuo Ge Ge" armor.

Chu Mingkong put away the jade tablet on the table, paid the bill, and left the restaurant, heading towards the Xiao family's residence.

The fat steward, who had been looking at the crowded street with annoyance and cursing inwardly for these ignorant people daring to try and seize the position of city lord from the Xiao family, suddenly broke into a bright smile when he saw the familiar armor.

"Your Excellency Zuo, what are you doing here? My clan patriarch was wondering why you didn't stay at the mansion after all your hard work. He couldn't find you anywhere!"

Chu Mingkong casually made up an excuse to brush off the pleasantries, saying:

"I've found a brothel to live in. The Tianji Empire is vast, and it's rare to stop here. How can I not experience the local customs and culture of Xiling?"

The fat butler had served Xiao Chengren for many years, and even if he didn't tell him directly, he could guess what was going on. The arrangement of the mansion and the personnel were all handled by the fat butler, so he naturally knew what had happened between Princess Chu and whom that day. However, he would not say it casually.

With a chuckle, he said:

"After eating good food, how can the food in a brothel taste any better?"

Chu Mingkong didn't want to talk about this, so he skipped the topic and said:

Where is your young master Xiao?

The fat butler hesitated whether to speak. As a butler of the Xiao family, how could he answer any question asked by an outsider? But he thought that the Xiao clan chief was trying hard to win this person over. If he displeased him, the Xiao clan chief would still hold him accountable later.

"Young Master Xiao has not yet arrived; the Xiao Clan Chief has summoned him to discuss matters."

Upon hearing this, Chu Mingkong was even more puzzled. Had Xiao Chengren called Xiao Fengnan away?!

"Discussing matters at this time? Then he can't participate in the martial arts competition. Is Clan Chief Xiao planning to give up the position of city lord?"

"This... is something that is not convenient to say to outsiders, but Your Excellency Zuo is not an outsider, so please do not spread it."

After saying that, the fat steward took out a jade tablet, which belonged to Xiao Fengnan. The jade tablet was currently glowing, but after a while, the light on the jade tablet turned green, which meant that he had won.

Chu Mingkong understood what this meant. Xiao Chengren knew that Xiao Fengnan was currently on a bye, so there was no need to worry that he would miss out.

This is just a formality to let the Xiao family's team come, to let others know that Xiao Fengnan has come in this round, and that he only found out he had a bye when he arrived, instead of not coming if he knew in advance that his opponent was gone, so as to avoid disputes later.

Judging from the looks of it, they want Xiao Fengnan to only play the last match?

"This is okay?"

Chu Mingkong was speechless. He had been thinking that with so many tokens he had prepared, he would eventually run into Xiao Fengnan, but it turned out that Xiao Fengnan's idea was to take advantage of the fluctuations in the jade tokens and simply skip the fight.

In fact, Chu Mingkong's own jade token had just been indirectly forfeited. His jade token had resonated with one of the jade tokens brought by Gun Dan, but the owner of that jade token had been driven away. Chu Mingkong crushed that jade token and forfeited, thus winning the game himself.

The elders of Tianya Tower have organized so many martial arts competitions, they probably never expected that this habit of "recognizing the card but not the person" would lead to this situation this year. It's never been this chaotic before.

Chu Mingkong wanted to go back to Qingxin Mansion to see what had happened, but he couldn't guarantee that his jade token would always be available. If he couldn't get back in time to enter the secret realm for the competition, he would be considered to have forfeited if the time was up.

That would be a losing proposition.

We can only trust that Kazekage and the others can handle things properly.

Chu Mingkong ignored the fat butler and returned to the restaurant to wait. Meanwhile, the fat butler discovered the whereabouts of Master Zuo and quickly called for someone to come over.

"You come here right now. Go find the clan chief as fast as you can and tell him that Lord Zuo has appeared at the martial arts arena."

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The carriage sped into the Xiao family mansion.

The people inside the car did not get off and continued their conversation.

"Grandpa, why did you call Fengnan over in such a hurry?" Xiao Fengnan was a little agitated, his agitation stemming from not being able to arrive at the training ground immediately.

He had heard how arrogant the Buddhist sect had become recently, but no one could control them, which was truly pitiful!

Xiao Fengnan only managed to consolidate his newly broken-through realm in the early morning. That spiritual herb was extraordinary; it not only helped him break through, but his cultivation level also continued to rise, reaching the middle stage of the new phase.

He had mastered several weapons, but even with the short sword he was most comfortable with, he had only barely surpassed the Sword Saint realm. However, after his martial arts transformation, he could feel a significant difference. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, only that he felt incredibly foolish before, his understanding and appreciation of weapons had stagnated to such a level. This feeling was akin to an adult flipping through the poems they wrote as a child, lamenting their past naiveté.

Xiao Fengnan is now eager to let the world know about his transformation. He will beat the evil Buddhist monk who has caused trouble for everyone to a pulp, and then become the city lord of Tianya City and the de facto King of Xiling in the eyes of the world.

He couldn't wait for this moment to come, for it to happen right before his eyes, but now he was being called back to the mansion by his maternal grandfather, Xiao Chengren, on the grounds of "important matters related to his cousin Chenglin".

"Don't worry, you won't miss the martial arts competition. You need to be at your best and stand at the end. Don't worry about these small fry in front of you... I called you here to confirm one thing: do you really hate your cousin Chenglin that much?"

Xiao Chengren's face showed difficulty and worry. Xiao Fengnan looked at his grandfather, who usually had a confident and assured demeanor, and rarely showed such an expression. Xiao Fengnan did not understand what his grandfather meant.

"I don't quite understand what you're saying, Grandfather. How could I hate Aunt Chenglin? Didn't Mother convey my message to you? Aunt Chenglin has taken good care of me. Although she did bring me a medical manual, the matter of martial arts was my own decision and choice. I will bear all the pain and consequences myself. Please don't make things difficult for Aunt Chenglin!"

Seeing that his grandson truly cared for Xiao Chenglin, Xiao Chengren was relieved. Before summoning Xiao Fengnan, Xiao Chengren had already tortured and threatened Xiao Chenglin to force her to cooperate and save her life.

Xiao Chengren continued to wear a distressed expression, and sighed:

“I am also in a difficult position. Feng Nan, you are the hope that the Xiao family has placed on you. Cheng Lin is also my brother and sister. Out of consideration for the family, I don’t want to see any family member get into trouble. But she almost implicated you. According to the family law, she should die, but I can’t bear to do it. Your cousin Cheng Lin is our family!”

Your mother said that Cheng Lin had been inciting you to do wrong things and that she wanted to get rid of her to prevent her from harming you again in the future. I secretly protected Cheng Lin, just to see if you would be willing to spare your cousin Cheng Lin's life out of consideration for the family and let her spend the rest of her life on the farm to reflect on her mistakes.

Xiao Chengren then got out of the car and took Xiao Fengnan to see Xiao Chenglin.

Xiao Chenglin was beaten half to death and was on the verge of death.

Although her husband died early and she became a widow at a young age, Xiao Chenglin never neglected her appearance. Otherwise, how could she seduce men for pleasure? She could not compare to the beauty of the Princess of Chu, but she was still quite attractive. However, her skin was now cracked and shocking. There was not a single patch of good skin on her body. It was hard to imagine what kind of inhumane treatment she had suffered!

"Aunt Chenglin!" Xiao Fengnan rushed over in alarm, took out his usual pills, and fed them to her.

To save her life, Xiao Chenglin had no choice but to follow the patriarch's instructions. Upon seeing Xiao Fengnan approach, she broke down in tears and pleaded:

"Don't give me any pills, I won't take them! Feng Nan, please plead with the Princess for my aunt and spare my life! If that's not possible, just give me a quick death and stop torturing me like this!"

Following Xiao Chengren's instructions, she told Xiao Fengnan that the Princess Consort of Chu had been torturing her so that she would experience the pain of Fengnan's martial tendons decaying. She would feed her pills to revive her when she was about to die, and then continue to torture her severely.

"Aunt, please eat. I'm here, no one can hurt you! Eat it, you'll get better if you eat!"

After much persuasion, Xiao Fengnan finally persuaded his aunt to take the pill.

Xiao Chengren pulled Xiao Fengnan aside and sighed, saying:

"Hey! Fengnan, don't worry too much about this. Focus on the martial arts competition first. I'll have someone take good care of Chenglin, don't worry!"

Xiao Chengren continued speaking to himself:

"Our family risked extinction to help you obtain this herb. You know Consort Wan, right? Your grandfather is planning a kidnapping to abduct Consort Wan and give her to the owner of that spiritual herb. That's also his condition."

When your mother, Xiao Zhi, went to get the medicine with these conditions, she was ridiculed by the owner of the spiritual medicine and suffered some grievances. It wasn't easy for her either.

If you don't believe me, you can ask your mother, but she most likely won't tell you. Such things are too ugly, and the fewer people who know, the better.

In short, this is a family scandal, and it will cause a huge uproar if word gets out. But for your sake, the family has no choice. You should focus on preparing for the martial arts competition!

That's all?!

Xiao Fengnan wasn't saying the price wasn't heavy, but he recalled his mother's tone at the time. He thought she had really paid a great price, but it turned out she had only acted as a middleman for the Xiao family and was ridiculed by others, and yet she felt she had suffered a great injustice?!

Then, harboring resentment, he took out his dissatisfaction with being ridiculed on his cousin Chenglin on the matter of his martial arts corruption.

The one who was truly wronged was Cheng Lin's cousin; she was the most innocent one from beginning to end!

“Now I need Feng Nan to do something for me: go to Qingxin Mansion and bring Consort Wan out. The owner of that spiritual medicine has a very powerful background and is in a hurry to get her. If we can’t get her, our Xiao family will be doomed. But your mother is forcing her to stay, trying to threaten me into giving up my future power in Tianya City, or even in the Xiao family.”

According to Xiao Chengren's plan, he could certainly send Minister Wan back to the capital and use that opportunity to take Consort Wan out of the city. However, the Consort's return to the capital required a series of preparations and could not be done on a whim.

Meanwhile, Tianya Tower said they planned to speed up the martial arts competition to stabilize things as quickly as possible. Many things have far-reaching consequences, so Xiao Chengren had to quickly find a way to win over Xiao Fengnan as soon as possible, lest Fengnan become the city lord and be used by Xiao Zhi as leverage to turn the tables on him, which would be troublesome.

As for sending Xiao Fengnan to Qingxin Mansion to help bring Consort Wan out, it was just to make the act more convincing, to make Fengnan believe his explanation, and to prevent Xiao Zhi from using Consort Wan as a pretext to create more unexpected problems.

Moreover, Qingxin Prefecture is, after all, the power of the Chu royal family. If the Xiao family tries to cause any conflict there, even if it's just a minor disagreement, the Tianya City army can come and deal with them. But if Feng Nan does it, it's just like a family conflict.

"I never imagined that the spiritual herb I took was obtained in this way..." Xiao Fengnan felt an indescribable strangeness and discomfort in his heart. He had relied on his family's methods and taken a huge risk to obtain such a herb for him.

"The world is vast, and there are always forces beyond our imagination. So Feng Nan, you must cultivate even harder and never forget the dangers your family has taken for you! Right now, it's just the sacrifice of my maternal grandfather's daughter, but if something goes wrong, it will be the sacrifice of our entire Xiao family!"

"Please rest assured, Grandfather, I'll be right back. I'll go and bring Consort Wan out right away."

Xiao Fengnan's heart was filled with complicated feelings, but the martial arts competition could not be delayed, and he had to bring Consort Wan out as soon as possible!

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