Liuhe Temple again!
The Jinyiwei thought, wasn’t the former dynasty’s State Teacher there? How could they go?
At that moment, a whistle came from the forest beside the mountain path. The masked attackers seemed to receive an order, becoming more ferocious. An unprepared Jinyiwei, injured in the shoulder, was beheaded by a leaping masked man.
Then, a flash of blue light.
The masked man hadn’t yet landed when a sword slashed diagonally, emitting a terrified scream.
Caught mid-air with no escape, even desperately leaning back couldn’t save him from the blade slicing open his chest.
Blood spurted wildly, but the wound wasn’t fatal.
The masked man staggered back several steps, while Gong Jun was blocked by a figure.
This person wasn’t masked but wore a Zhong Kui mask and was tall with fierce punches.
Upon engaging, Gong Jun immediately felt the opponent’s profound inner strength. His sword techniques were completely neutralized, and the force rebounded. Though prepared, Gong Jun still suffered a slight loss, feeling a surge of blood in his chest, almost causing his energy to flow backward.
“Shattered Organ Fist?!” Gong Jun was shocked.
The seemingly fierce punches actually concealed a sinister and continuous force.
Gong Jun, quick as lightning, dodged the next three strikes.
“A mere imperial hound, but quite knowledgeable,” the man with the Zhong Kui mask scoffed in a hoarse voice.
Gong Jun’s heart sank, as the sensation of being watched by a venomous snake hadn’t disappeared. The true master was still hidden! This person wasn’t it!
His hand gripping the sword stiffened, sweat rolling down.
Although his martial arts were not top-notch in the Jianghu, they weren’t far off. There were only a dozen people in the world who could defeat him, most of whom had the advantage of profound inner strength.
Four such people on Dragon Claw Peak?
Besides Meng Qi, he was sure he’d never seen the other three. Gong Jun fought desperately against the masked man, keeping an eye out for the hidden master.
Was it Ancestor Qingwu?
Did Ancestor Qingwu have other masters like this man using Shattered Organ Fist? How many more were hidden?
“Deputy Commander…”
“Get out of here!”
He shouted during the fight. Another Jinyiwei had an arm severed at the elbow, his colleagues quickly preventing him from falling and being killed.
They were both shocked and angry. As Jinyiwei, they’d encountered tough opponents, but most didn’t want to clash with the authorities, let alone kill them, unless it was a rebellion.
“Deputy Commander, we’ll hold them off, you go back and report! Something big must be happening in the capital!”
“Shut up! Can I even escape?” Gong Jun cursed.
Whether he could escape or not, Gong Jun wasn’t sure; it depended on how many masters were hidden.
He didn’t want to test it and didn’t consider that possibility.
The man with the Zhong Kui mask chuckled, his voice sinister, “You’re wise to recognize the situation. Why not surrender and drop your weapon?”
Gong Jun’s swordplay became faster, feigning desperation.
His unpredictable technique indeed held the masked man back.
The Jinyiwei retreated in disarray towards Liuhe Temple.
A masked person quietly entered the nearby forest, approaching an elder in a Taoist robe.
“Elder?”
“Hmm, no need to chase.”
The elder waved his whisk casually. His hair was silver-white, and he wore a thin silver shawl over his Taoist robe, embroidered with golden sun, moon, stars, flying cranes, and auspicious clouds.
Behind the elder was another person in a Zhong Kui mask, slightly shorter and appearing more feminine from behind.
“The senior brother is being held back by that deputy commander of the Jinyiwei,” the woman said softly, seemingly concerned, but the timing of her words seemed more like trying to impress the elder.
“Can you only see that much?” the elder scolded.
Startled, the woman fell silent.
Using the dense forest as cover, the elder stood behind a tree, watching the fight on the mountain path. He seemed to be savoring something and after a long while sighed, “Excellent swordsmanship. The Bamboo Swordsmaster lives up to his reputation! Even with slightly lacking inner strength, his sword skills alone place him among the elite of the martial world. Looking a hundred years before and after, it’s hard to find such a talent. What a pity!”
The woman cautiously approached and said, “This Deputy Commander Gong, I’ve already investigated. Although he appears loyal and dutiful on the surface, he’s not close to Lu Zhang’s heart. He’s good at deceiving and has also accepted bribes. Such a person, no matter how skilled in martial arts, is just a mere grub in the government’s structure. What’s there to pity?”
“What do you know?” the elder frowned, stroking his beard. “Have you found out about the whereabouts of Hengchang Temple’s abbot, Tianshan School’s Scholar Mei, and the elders and leaders of those sects?”
“…Master, please calm down!”
The woman knelt down hurriedly, not daring to look up.
The elder mused to himself, “It seems they really went back.”
The woman’s eyes, the only part visible beneath the mask, shifted as she spoke in a low voice, “According to the information, they’ve started suspecting Master. They think they’re clever, believing it’s related to the imperial jade seal. That’s why the rumors about the former dynasty’s State Teacher, Meng Qi, have surfaced.”
She recounted the conversation between Golden Phoenix Young Master and Hengchang Temple’s abbot as if she had been there.
As the elder listened to the part about Meng Qi fishing for the imperial jade seal in the Qing River and possibly switching it, his brows furrowed deeper, and his face darkened with clouds, frightening the woman into silence.
“…Master? What we’re doing has nothing to do with the jade seal, right? Why are you so angry?”
“This disruptor is very clever!” the elder sighed, stroking his beard. “Those sect leaders and elders, weren’t they scared into hiding? Xiaoliu, with the lack of key roles, the play won’t be well-performed.”
The woman asked in confusion, “Really? An ancient State Teacher from a bygone dynasty, even if mentioned, what difference would it make—”
“Dead? I doubt it.”
The elder ignored her and used telepathy to urge his senior disciple outside, “Capture him quickly.”
The masked man fighting Gong Jun laughed sinisterly, and Gong Jun immediately felt the pressure double.
Shattered Organ Fist, as the name implies, is a ruthless boxing style. Like the long-lost Seven Injuries Fist of the Jianghu, practitioners often harm themselves before harming the enemy. Only those with deep inner strength can avoid the pitfalls, making it a technique only for geniuses or those with significant inner strength, suitable for practice after thirty.
Gong Jun had thought such a boxing style had vanished from the Jianghu. Yet today, he encountered a master who had perfected it to the tenth level, perfectly countering his swordplay.
The fierce boxing style, with large movements, suppressed all techniques under its power. Worse were the hidden forces within the punches, making it perilous. Any injury would be internal.
Gong Jun dared not let these forces touch him, affecting his swordplay.
The entire mountain path was filled with flashes of his blue sword, appearing to have the upper hand but in reality desperately covering his gaps. What would normally take one strike now required five or ten to hold off the masked opponent.
Such tactics couldn’t last due to Gong Jun’s insufficient inner strength.
Seeing his subordinates gone, he started to retreat while fighting.
The opponent suddenly intensified his attacks, forcing Gong Jun to use his reserved strength. The energy overflowed, making him look like a blue ball desperately trying to escape a quagmire.
“Your sword dancing skills are indeed unique. If you performed in taverns, you’d surely earn a lot.”
Gong Jun ignored him, feeling as if the lurking serpent was about to strike.
In a dire moment, Gong Jun threw his scabbard and leaped onto the mountain path.
The scabbard shattered into dozens of pieces, shooting out like projectiles.
The masked man dodged, but it was too late to pursue; Gong Jun’s shadow was already gone.
“I’m incompetent,” the masked man knelt before the Taoist-robed elder emerging from the forest.
“It’s not your fault. The deputy commander’s lightness skill is higher than I expected,” the elder sighed.
His celestial demeanor stood out among the black-clad, kneeling figures.
“New talents emerge in the Jianghu. Even if slightly lacking, it’s a pity if he dies. Well, he’s so eager to return to Liuhe Temple, probably believing someone there can handle the situation. What’s going on?”
“Report! News from Liuhe Temple.”
A black-masked figure approached, holding a pigeon with a small bamboo tube attached to its leg.
The elder took out a paper from the tube and slowly unfolded it
—Imperial guards discovered treasure.
Following this was a second pigeon with the message “Imperial guards suddenly retreated.”
The notes also contained two symbols, incomprehensible to others but actually a secret code.
“Useless all of them! The first, the third… And where’s the other pigeon that was supposed to send a message?” the elder asked coldly.
The black-masked people remained silent, heads bowed.
The small size of the bamboo tubes meant limited space for messages on the paper strips. Often, the information had to be broken into parts, and with markers, any missing message was immediately apparent.
At this time, there was acool breeze blowing on the pagoda of Liuhe Temple.
Mo Li looked at Meng Qi who had left and returned, and found that he did not have the so-called monkey wine in his hand, but instead held a pigeon.
The pigeon struggled desperately, but Meng Qi gently tugged at the base of its wing, and it immediately ceased moving.
“So Liuhe Temple indeed has Ancestor Qingwu’s informants.” Meng Qi tossed the bamboo tube into a corner of the pagoda.
Mo Li asked,”What did they write?”
[Mysterious doctor, former State Teacher.] Meng Qi read the note and mused, “Seems like I and the doctor have become one person in their eyes.”
Mo Li instinctively felt that his tone was weird, but he couldn’t fault it, so he thought he was being overly concerned.
The message sender, upon hearing the imperial guards shouting “Meng Qi,” didn’t know who Meng Qi was or how to write his name, hence only wrote ‘former dynasty’s State Teacher’.
“Three pigeons were released, but I only kept this one. Now, let’s first send a greeting card to Ancestor Qingwu.”
Meng Qi found pen and ink from his bag and wrote ‘Meng Qi’ on a small piece of paper.
The handwriting was clear and sharp, brimming with a commanding presence.
Influenced by Qin Lu, Mo Li was good at calligraphy. Now that he saw it, he couldn’t help but praise it.
Meng Qi’s face didn’t show it, but he rolled the paper, placed it in the bamboo tube, and released the pigeon.
However, the pigeon plummeted straight down from the pagoda.
Startled, both men leaned over to look. Just when Meng Qi was about to leap down to catch it,
Fortunately, the pigeon stiffly fell two levels before awkwardly flying away towards the mountain base.
“Seems this pigeon isn’t very good at flying,” Meng Qi coughed awkwardly.
Meng Qi silently glanced at ‘State Teacher Meng Qi’, who nearly scared the pigeon to death.
“Alright, I’ll go take a look.”
“No, doctor, let me go!”
Before they could pursue the pigeon, they paused and looked towards the shaded path of Liuhe Temple.
Figures were moving there, and a faint smell of blood was carried by the wind.
Author’s Note:
Masked Person with Zhong Kui Mask #1: “I’m incompetent.”
Masked Person with Zhong Kui Mask #2: “I don’t understand.”
Black-masked Person: “Lost a pigeon.”
Ancestor Qingwu: “All useless!”
—
Meng Qi: “The pigeon is dumb. It’s all the pigeon’s fault, not mine.”
Liuhe Temple again!
The Jinyiwei thought, wasn’t the former dynasty’s State Teacher there? How could they go?
At that moment, a whistle came from the forest beside the mountain path. The masked attackers seemed to receive an order, becoming more ferocious. An unprepared Jinyiwei, injured in the shoulder, was beheaded by a leaping masked man.
Then, a flash of blue light.
The masked man hadn’t yet landed when a sword slashed diagonally, emitting a terrified scream.
Caught mid-air with no escape, even desperately leaning back couldn’t save him from the blade slicing open his chest.
Blood spurted wildly, but the wound wasn’t fatal.
The masked man staggered back several steps, while Gong Jun was blocked by a figure.
This person wasn’t masked but wore a Zhong Kui mask and was tall with fierce punches.
Upon engaging, Gong Jun immediately felt the opponent’s profound inner strength. His sword techniques were completely neutralized, and the force rebounded. Though prepared, Gong Jun still suffered a slight loss, feeling a surge of blood in his chest, almost causing his energy to flow backward.
“Shattered Organ Fist?!” Gong Jun was shocked.
The seemingly fierce punches actually concealed a sinister and continuous force.
Gong Jun, quick as lightning, dodged the next three strikes.
“A mere imperial hound, but quite knowledgeable,” the man with the Zhong Kui mask scoffed in a hoarse voice.
Gong Jun’s heart sank, as the sensation of being watched by a venomous snake hadn’t disappeared. The true master was still hidden! This person wasn’t it!
His hand gripping the sword stiffened, sweat rolling down.
Although his martial arts were not top-notch in the Jianghu, they weren’t far off. There were only a dozen people in the world who could defeat him, most of whom had the advantage of profound inner strength.
Four such people on Dragon Claw Peak?
Besides Meng Qi, he was sure he’d never seen the other three. Gong Jun fought desperately against the masked man, keeping an eye out for the hidden master.
Was it Ancestor Qingwu?
Did Ancestor Qingwu have other masters like this man using Shattered Organ Fist? How many more were hidden?
“Deputy Commander…”
“Get out of here!”
He shouted during the fight. Another Jinyiwei had an arm severed at the elbow, his colleagues quickly preventing him from falling and being killed.
They were both shocked and angry. As Jinyiwei, they’d encountered tough opponents, but most didn’t want to clash with the authorities, let alone kill them, unless it was a rebellion.
“Deputy Commander, we’ll hold them off, you go back and report! Something big must be happening in the capital!”
“Shut up! Can I even escape?” Gong Jun cursed.
Whether he could escape or not, Gong Jun wasn’t sure; it depended on how many masters were hidden.
He didn’t want to test it and didn’t consider that possibility.
The man with the Zhong Kui mask chuckled, his voice sinister, “You’re wise to recognize the situation. Why not surrender and drop your weapon?”
Gong Jun’s swordplay became faster, feigning desperation.
His unpredictable technique indeed held the masked man back.
The Jinyiwei retreated in disarray towards Liuhe Temple.
A masked person quietly entered the nearby forest, approaching an elder in a Taoist robe.
“Elder?”
“Hmm, no need to chase.”
The elder waved his whisk casually. His hair was silver-white, and he wore a thin silver shawl over his Taoist robe, embroidered with golden sun, moon, stars, flying cranes, and auspicious clouds.
Behind the elder was another person in a Zhong Kui mask, slightly shorter and appearing more feminine from behind.
“The senior brother is being held back by that deputy commander of the Jinyiwei,” the woman said softly, seemingly concerned, but the timing of her words seemed more like trying to impress the elder.
“Can you only see that much?” the elder scolded.
Startled, the woman fell silent.
Using the dense forest as cover, the elder stood behind a tree, watching the fight on the mountain path. He seemed to be savoring something and after a long while sighed, “Excellent swordsmanship. The Bamboo Swordsmaster lives up to his reputation! Even with slightly lacking inner strength, his sword skills alone place him among the elite of the martial world. Looking a hundred years before and after, it’s hard to find such a talent. What a pity!”
The woman cautiously approached and said, “This Deputy Commander Gong, I’ve already investigated. Although he appears loyal and dutiful on the surface, he’s not close to Lu Zhang’s heart. He’s good at deceiving and has also accepted bribes. Such a person, no matter how skilled in martial arts, is just a mere grub in the government’s structure. What’s there to pity?”
“What do you know?” the elder frowned, stroking his beard. “Have you found out about the whereabouts of Hengchang Temple’s abbot, Tianshan School’s Scholar Mei, and the elders and leaders of those sects?”
“…Master, please calm down!”
The woman knelt down hurriedly, not daring to look up.
The elder mused to himself, “It seems they really went back.”
The woman’s eyes, the only part visible beneath the mask, shifted as she spoke in a low voice, “According to the information, they’ve started suspecting Master. They think they’re clever, believing it’s related to the imperial jade seal. That’s why the rumors about the former dynasty’s State Teacher, Meng Qi, have surfaced.”
She recounted the conversation between Golden Phoenix Young Master and Hengchang Temple’s abbot as if she had been there.
As the elder listened to the part about Meng Qi fishing for the imperial jade seal in the Qing River and possibly switching it, his brows furrowed deeper, and his face darkened with clouds, frightening the woman into silence.
“…Master? What we’re doing has nothing to do with the jade seal, right? Why are you so angry?”
“This disruptor is very clever!” the elder sighed, stroking his beard. “Those sect leaders and elders, weren’t they scared into hiding? Xiaoliu, with the lack of key roles, the play won’t be well-performed.”
The woman asked in confusion, “Really? An ancient State Teacher from a bygone dynasty, even if mentioned, what difference would it make—”
“Dead? I doubt it.”
The elder ignored her and used telepathy to urge his senior disciple outside, “Capture him quickly.”
The masked man fighting Gong Jun laughed sinisterly, and Gong Jun immediately felt the pressure double.
Shattered Organ Fist, as the name implies, is a ruthless boxing style. Like the long-lost Seven Injuries Fist of the Jianghu, practitioners often harm themselves before harming the enemy. Only those with deep inner strength can avoid the pitfalls, making it a technique only for geniuses or those with significant inner strength, suitable for practice after thirty.
Gong Jun had thought such a boxing style had vanished from the Jianghu. Yet today, he encountered a master who had perfected it to the tenth level, perfectly countering his swordplay.
The fierce boxing style, with large movements, suppressed all techniques under its power. Worse were the hidden forces within the punches, making it perilous. Any injury would be internal.
Gong Jun dared not let these forces touch him, affecting his swordplay.
The entire mountain path was filled with flashes of his blue sword, appearing to have the upper hand but in reality desperately covering his gaps. What would normally take one strike now required five or ten to hold off the masked opponent.
Such tactics couldn’t last due to Gong Jun’s insufficient inner strength.
Seeing his subordinates gone, he started to retreat while fighting.
The opponent suddenly intensified his attacks, forcing Gong Jun to use his reserved strength. The energy overflowed, making him look like a blue ball desperately trying to escape a quagmire.
“Your sword dancing skills are indeed unique. If you performed in taverns, you’d surely earn a lot.”
Gong Jun ignored him, feeling as if the lurking serpent was about to strike.
In a dire moment, Gong Jun threw his scabbard and leaped onto the mountain path.
The scabbard shattered into dozens of pieces, shooting out like projectiles.
The masked man dodged, but it was too late to pursue; Gong Jun’s shadow was already gone.
“I’m incompetent,” the masked man knelt before the Taoist-robed elder emerging from the forest.
“It’s not your fault. The deputy commander’s lightness skill is higher than I expected,” the elder sighed.
His celestial demeanor stood out among the black-clad, kneeling figures.
“New talents emerge in the Jianghu. Even if slightly lacking, it’s a pity if he dies. Well, he’s so eager to return to Liuhe Temple, probably believing someone there can handle the situation. What’s going on?”
“Report! News from Liuhe Temple.”
A black-masked figure approached, holding a pigeon with a small bamboo tube attached to its leg.
The elder took out a paper from the tube and slowly unfolded it
—Imperial guards discovered treasure.
Following this was a second pigeon with the message “Imperial guards suddenly retreated.”
The notes also contained two symbols, incomprehensible to others but actually a secret code.
“Useless all of them! The first, the third… And where’s the other pigeon that was supposed to send a message?” the elder asked coldly.
The black-masked people remained silent, heads bowed.
The small size of the bamboo tubes meant limited space for messages on the paper strips. Often, the information had to be broken into parts, and with markers, any missing message was immediately apparent.
At this time, there was acool breeze blowing on the pagoda of Liuhe Temple.
Mo Li looked at Meng Qi who had left and returned, and found that he did not have the so-called monkey wine in his hand, but instead held a pigeon.
The pigeon struggled desperately, but Meng Qi gently tugged at the base of its wing, and it immediately ceased moving.
“So Liuhe Temple indeed has Ancestor Qingwu’s informants.” Meng Qi tossed the bamboo tube into a corner of the pagoda.
Mo Li asked,”What did they write?”
[Mysterious doctor, former State Teacher.] Meng Qi read the note and mused, “Seems like I and the doctor have become one person in their eyes.”
Mo Li instinctively felt that his tone was weird, but he couldn’t fault it, so he thought he was being overly concerned.
The message sender, upon hearing the imperial guards shouting “Meng Qi,” didn’t know who Meng Qi was or how to write his name, hence only wrote ‘former dynasty’s State Teacher’.
“Three pigeons were released, but I only kept this one. Now, let’s first send a greeting card to Ancestor Qingwu.”
Meng Qi found pen and ink from his bag and wrote ‘Meng Qi’ on a small piece of paper.
The handwriting was clear and sharp, brimming with a commanding presence.
Influenced by Qin Lu, Mo Li was good at calligraphy. Now that he saw it, he couldn’t help but praise it.
Meng Qi’s face didn’t show it, but he rolled the paper, placed it in the bamboo tube, and released the pigeon.
However, the pigeon plummeted straight down from the pagoda.
Startled, both men leaned over to look. Just when Meng Qi was about to leap down to catch it,
Fortunately, the pigeon stiffly fell two levels before awkwardly flying away towards the mountain base.
“Seems this pigeon isn’t very good at flying,” Meng Qi coughed awkwardly.
Meng Qi silently glanced at ‘State Teacher Meng Qi’, who nearly scared the pigeon to death.
“Alright, I’ll go take a look.”
“No, doctor, let me go!”
Before they could pursue the pigeon, they paused and looked towards the shaded path of Liuhe Temple.
Figures were moving there, and a faint smell of blood was carried by the wind.
Author’s Note:
Masked Person with Zhong Kui Mask #1: “I’m incompetent.”
Masked Person with Zhong Kui Mask #2: “I don’t understand.”
Black-masked Person: “Lost a pigeon.”
Ancestor Qingwu: “All useless!”
—
Meng Qi: “The pigeon is dumb. It’s all the pigeon’s fault, not mine.”
