Under One Person, your rebellious life has reached the heavens?

Old Duan, limping along, hobbled over to Li Muxuan. His gloomy eyes, filled with harshness, looked down at Li's face, which was as numb as a vegetable, and coldly reprimanded him:

"You wretched beast, how could you face your master!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Old Duan raised his withered five fingers with terrifying force and slapped him directly.

"Snapped!"

A stinging slap sent Li Muxuan sprawling and falling, his ears and brain ringing, and blood trickling from the corner of his cracked mouth.

"Wang Yaozu passed on his skills to you, hoping you would make a name for yourself in the martial world, establish your own sect, and so on. How can you face him with this anxious and uneasy attitude?"

Before Li Muxuan could react, Old Duan grabbed his clothes, which were soaked with rain and sweat.

With a flick of his wrist, without a word, he slammed his head against the dusty bricks, burying it in the spiderweb-like pit.

"Bang!"

A dull thud resounded, Li Muxuan's limbs stiffened, and he felt a death wish. Blood flowed down his shattered forehead and onto the ground.

"Coward!"

"waste!"

"Useless piece of trash!"

Old Duan, venting his anger, swung Li Muxuan's head repeatedly, slamming it against the ground, cursing, "You stray dog! Old Wang, how have I treated you?"

"I treated you like my own son, and taught you all my skills and abilities. And you still admire that Zuo Ruotong?!"

Old Duan reached out with his left hand and grabbed Li Muxuan's throat, laughing coldly: "Do you know that your mentor's proudest achievement has been humiliated into a farce by that person?"

"Do you even know that your mentor was captured and released three times, utterly disgracing you?!"

Seeing the dejected young man with tears in his eyes, Old Duan became even angrier and slapped him again.

"All you do is cry like a woman!"

Li Muxuan, his cheeks red and swollen from being slapped, knelt on the ground, weeping bitterly and wailing in pain. His eyes were filled with regret, resentment, and fear, and he sobbed, his words too indistinct to be understood.

"You've cultivated Taoism since childhood, yet you've ended up with this utterly ugly state. You might as well just kill yourself and go down to keep Old Man Wang company!"

Duan frowned, his mockery deepening: "Your naiveté and cowardice have truly added the most significant stroke to Wang Lao'er's failed life."

"Is doing whatever you want a difficult thing for you?"

"No...don't say anymore..."

The repeated shocks caused Li Muxuan a splitting headache. He was almost out of tears, looking like a lost ghost with bloodshot eyes, his back hunched, curled up on the ground.

"please..."

Regret surged like a tidal wave, reaching its peak, and Li Muxuan's voice trembled as he spoke.

Old Duan bent down, his sinister eyes fixed on Li Muxuan, and warned:

"Wake up! You didn't kill Zuo Ruotong! You know in your heart that he died from the dissipation of his cultivation!! He couldn't attain the Dao, so he died from the dissipation of his cultivation!"

"And your disciples have lost hundreds of lives because of your meddling, and the situation is only getting worse. Now you're still here wailing. Do you really want the sect leader to take all the blame for you?!"

"He will die!"

Li Muxuan's face was covered in blood, his lips were purple, and he was filled with self-reproach and guilt: "Then... what can I do?"

"You have two paths to choose from."

Old Duan raised his withered fingers, thin yet powerful, like strong eagle claws, and pressed them against the upper side of Li Muxuan's eyes.

"Either I kill you here and let you reunite with Old Wang."

"Either you and the sect leader go to Longhu Mountain together and settle things once and for all."

"If this drags on, the number of deaths will only increase."

Li Muxuan's eyes darted away, but he was moved. He remained silent for a long time, slowly lowering his head, struggling to make a decision.

Old Duan remained silent and did not disturb him.

After a long silence, a hoarse, timid voice came: "I...I can go."

"You've got guts! Old Wang, now that you know his successor dares to fight the Sanyi Sect on Longhu Mountain's territory, who knows how happy he'll be."

Old Duan slapped Li Muxuan's cheek and sneered, "He's not completely hopeless yet. Cheer up."

......

Inside the Celestial Master's Chamber on Longhu Mountain, three disciples, from shortest to tallest, stood in front of Zhang Jingqing: Zhang Huaiyi, Tian Jinzhong, and Zhang Zhiwei.

"Master, this is a peddler from the foot of the mountain. He entrusted me to give it to you."

Zhang Jing held the teacup in one hand, took a small sip, and accepted the letter from Zhang Huaiyi.

He opened it, and the unrestrained, freehand handwriting came into view. The devout tone first explained the misunderstanding, and then asked Longhu Mountain to help him end the feud in a special way.

Otherwise, during the War of Resistance, the fighting between Quanxing and Sanyi would only deplete the domestic forces of the "Outsiders" and lead to more tragedies.

The letter ended with clean, bold characters: "Respectfully submitted by Wugensheng."

Zhang Jingqing's gaze swept over the words one by one, and then he fell into deep thought. He had never dealt with this devil before and did not know the other party's true intentions.

He had no choice but to put the letter aside for the time being, and then asked his second disciple, "Jinzhong, how did it go when I sent you down the mountain to gather information?"

“Reporting to Master, I went to Jianghu Inn and talked with Boss Liu. I learned that only two friends from the Sanyi Sect came down the mountain.”

Tian Jinzhong recounted in detail: "One of them is Lu Jin, the young master of the Lu family."

"The other one... is quite unfamiliar. I heard he's the junior brother of the Left Sect Master."

"Recently, after returning from his travels, he learned of Quanxing's actions and took Lu Jin down the mountain. They killed dozens of demons and are currently searching for the whereabouts of Wugensheng and Li Muxuan."

"Junior brother?"

Zhang Jingqing frowned and sighed, "In the Sanyi Sect, there have always been disciples who, after reaching a bottleneck in their cultivation, descend the mountain to travel and seek opportunities at the third level..."

"I just don't know how many of them will actually come back."

Then, he turned his gaze to Zhang Zhiwei, cleared his throat, and asked in a deep voice, "Didn't I tell you to go and help?"

"What, your verbal skills failed you so badly, and you got sent back?"

"what?"

Zhang Zhiwei was taken aback. Seeing his master's increasingly unfriendly expression, he dared not be negligent and quickly explained, "Oh, how could that be!"

"What are you saying, Master? Do you think I'm an unreliable person?"

"On this trip, I also managed to kill four demons from the Quanxing Sect."

"Oh?"

Zhang Jingqing couldn't help but feel surprised, and her tone softened slightly: "Since the Quanxing Sect is attacking the mountain, why didn't you stay at Sanyi? What are you doing back here?"

Tian Jinzhong and Zhang Huaiyi were both curious about the reason behind it and listened attentively.

"Well....."

Zhang Zhiwei organized his thoughts and blurted out, "At the mountain gate on the Sanyi side, a large area of ​​thunderclouds has been captured by someone and is hanging in the sky, covering the mountain path and steps."

“When I went there, I happened to encounter seven demons who were breaking into the mountain. A dense barrage of lightning struck down, killing three of them. The remaining four escaped with half their lives, and I killed them.”

"Later, after thinking about it carefully, I realized that it might be a powerful protective measure of the sect, so they didn't need me and came back."

After he finished speaking, the master and his disciples were all surprised.

"What?! The Trinity Sect had this trick up its sleeve?!"

Chapter 48 The Demon Lord's Invitation

Zhang Jingqing was slightly puzzled. He had been on good terms with Zuo Ruotong and knew about the Three Realms Reversal Technique of the Sanyi Sect, but he had never known that their sect also had the method of controlling heavenly lightning.

Moreover, given Zuo Ruotong's broad-mindedness, uprightness, and frankness, he would certainly not conceal the similarity between his teachings and those of Longhu Mountain's thunder magic, and there is even a possibility that they might discuss the Dao.

Since none of the Sanyi Sect members throughout history have mastered thunder magic or thunder talismans, the only possibility is quite obvious.

"Perhaps it was arranged by Lu Jin's martial uncle?"

Tian Jinzhong dared to guess that he also had friends in the Sanyi Sect. Based on the information he had gathered, apart from this one suspected candidate, there were really no other people who might use thunder magic and help the Sanyi Sect.

"Well, it's possible."

Zhang Jingqing's brows relaxed slightly, her worries lessening. She looked at Zhang Zhiwei again, praising him with considerable satisfaction:

"You were really timely this time. You eliminated the demon, and you knew your limits, so you didn't force your way into the mountain gate and offend them."

"Yes, Master, I have always kept your teachings in mind, especially those from the Lu family incident."

"However, if I had the chance, I'd really like to speak to them properly and mention it, to test their mountain-protecting methods..."

Zhang Zhiwei accidentally revealed his innermost thoughts.

"Hmm—?" Zhang Jingqing raised an eyebrow and scrutinized her.

Seeing his master's increasingly stern expression and the fist the size of a sandbag placed beside the tea table, Zhang Zhiwei quickly knew better than to keep quiet.

"Uh, Master, you misheard me. No, really no."

"Grumpy."

Zhang Jingqing snorted coldly, not pursuing the matter further. She simply raised her hand and handed the letter written by Wugensheng to her three disciples for review.

"What do you think?"

They huddled together, their eyes fixed on the letter, their pupils dilating slightly as they read through its contents, their expressions quite different.

"Master...this demon wants Longhu Mountain to help us contact the friends at Sanyi?"

Tian Jinzhong pondered, "I suspect something's amiss. Since they dared to come to Longhu, they must have made preparations in secret, planning to ambush Sanyi's friends and other sects along the way?"

"An ambush? Not necessarily."

Zhang Jingqing shook her head and continued sipping her tea: "Similar letters were also sent by Wugensheng to Wudang, Shangqing, and Huodezong..."

"He wants to personally end his feud with Sanyi in front of all the major sects and settle his life and death with martial arts. If he resorts to trickery again, how will he find a place in either the righteous or evil worlds in the future?"

After weighing the pros and cons, Zhang Zhiwei said calmly, "I think this is feasible. If the demon dares to cause trouble for the sorcerers, then let's leave them all behind."

Zhang Jingqing tacitly agreed with his statement, then turned to look at Zhang Huaiyi:

"Hmm... Huaiyi, what do you think?"

"What you say is absolutely right, senior brother. I am also willing to follow you, senior brother, and wait for that demon to attack from the foot of the mountain."

"Is it?"

Zhang Jingqing stared at this disciple who loved to keep a low profile and hide his true nature, like a thief or a rat.

Just two words, yet in that instant, Zhang Huaiyi gleaned multiple meanings.

The terrifying sense of oppression made his heart pound. Even if the Celestial Master did nothing, just sitting there, a familiar fear would uncontrollably surge into his heart.

Master... has he discovered something?!

The thought seemed to take root and sprout, and no matter how Zhang Huaiyi tried to convince himself, he couldn't suppress the tremor in his heart.

Exactly the same test as before!

Finally, the pressure exceeded his limit, and Zhang Huaiyi broke out in a cold sweat. He forced himself to say, "Master... I have something to report, please forgive me."

"Speak." Zhang Jingqing's gaze was calm, not surprised at all, but he noticed his disciple's slightly trembling shoulders.

Zhang Huaiyi dared not conceal anything and told the whole story: "When I was traveling, I killed some evil Quanxing people who were causing trouble in the area with my bare hands."

"I ran into this devil by chance, but my skills were not up to par, so I was defeated by him."

"This fact is shameful. I was afraid of being punished and dared not tell you."

Hearing the tense words, Zhang Jingqing remained calm: "How strong is that demon?"

"That's really impressive."

Seeing that his master showed no sign of anger or blame, Zhang Huaiyi felt relieved, only to realize that his back was soaked with cold sweat.

The brief evaluation immediately drew the attention of Tian Jinzhong, Zhang Zhiwei, and the Celestial Master.

"Expand and tell me."

Zhang Huaiyi dared not refuse his master's request and continued, "That demon is skilled in evil magic. My golden light is destroyed the moment it touches me, and I cannot get close to him in any way."