Chapter 329
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Over the past month, the Piaomiao Sect’s branches, strongholds, and even their escort agencies across the land had been systematically eradicated by an unknown force. Many elite disciples had gone missing without a trace, forcing Sect Master Ou to gradually withdraw his influence to the area around Pingyang City. Yet, the disciples from the Divine Mechanism Hall sent out to gather intelligence either never returned or came back empty-handed. Left with no options, Ou Peng dispatched the fourth and sixth of the Piaomiao Six Tigers, Shangguan Fengliu and Xu Peihua, along with a group of elite disciples to personally investigate the cause.
This looming crisis hung over their heads like a sharp sword; how could Ou Peng not be troubled?
Who, then, was the mastermind behind this string of calamities? This question had long plagued Ou Peng, gnawing at him like an unreachable itch. He knew exactly where it itched, but simply couldn’t scratch it, no matter how he tried.
Suddenly, a thought flashed through Ou Peng’s mind: “Could it be the Heavenly Dragon Divine Cult?!”
“Was it after Zhang Xiaohua was captured by the Heavenly Dragon Cult, that under torture-no, there’s no need for torture, he’s just a country boy after all. The Heavenly Dragon Cult has plenty of ways to make him talk.”
“Did Zhang Xiaohua spill everything about the Big Dipper Divine Fist? The Heavenly Dragon Cult is a great sect with a legacy on par with the Piaomiao Sect. If I could see the clues, Emperor Shitian of the Heavenly Dragon Cult surely could as well. Could it be that, to cover up the revival of the Immortal Path, or to get ahead of my Piaomiao Sect, the Heavenly Dragon Sect launched this sudden assault?”
“Sigh, I regret letting my heart soften back then!”
At this, a cold glint flashed in Ou Peng’s eyes.
But after a moment, confusion clouded his gaze again: “No, that doesn’t make sense. Even if Emperor Shitian knows the secret of the Big Dipper Divine Fist, whether it’s truly the Great Celestial Cycle Star Fist is still uncertain. Why would he cause trouble for me before confirming the truth and cultivating his own Immortal Path disciples? It’s illogical.”
“Besides, the Heavenly Dragon Cult is a power that rivals the combined strength of the Three Great Sects. The Three Sects have always kept each other in check; if the Heavenly Dragon Cult moved against my Piaomiao Sect, the others would surely react. Why, then, have we been forced into such a passive position, with not a whisper of news leaking out?”
“Unless-?!”
Ou Peng’s heart, long tempered to be unyielding, suddenly skipped a beat.
In an instant, another possibility sprang to mind-unless…
Just then, someone burst anxiously into the meeting hall. Startled, Ou Peng looked up to see that it was his eldest disciple, Zhang Chengyue.
Zhang Chengyue’s face was deathly pale, panic written all over it. Ou Peng frowned slightly. Zhang Chengyue had always been steady and composed, never so out of sorts. So, instead of rebuking him, Ou Peng simply asked: “Chengyue, why are you in such a panic?”
“Sect Master, something terrible has happened.” Hearing the displeasure in Ou Peng’s tone, Zhang Chengyue realized his breach of decorum, but this was no time for restraint.
“A calamity?” Ou Peng’s heart skipped a beat as he blurted out: “Has the Heavenly Dragon Cult surrounded our Piaomiao Manor?”
“No, Sect Master, no enemies are appearing around our Piaomiao Sect. It’s just that…” At this, Zhang Chengyue’s voice faltered. Glancing at Ou Peng, he gritted his teeth and said: “Sect Master, Fourth and Sixth Uncle…”
Ou Peng could no longer hold back and pressed: “What happened to the two of them?”
With a note of grief, Zhang Chengyue replied, “Both uncles were killed by a heavy hand. Their bodies were brought back by our disciples!”
“What?!” Ou Peng cried out in shock, immediately leaping to his feet. The fourth brother, Shangguan Fengliu, was known for his cunning and mastery of lightness skill, while the sixth brother, Xu Peihua, was famed for his unmatched external martial arts. The two had always worked together seamlessly, weathering countless storms in the martial world. Both had even consumed spirit pills to enhance their strength, making them nearly invincible among their peers. For them to be killed together, this was something Ou Peng had never imagined.
“Hurry, where are their bodies?”
“Reporting to the Sect Master, they are in the plaza before the meeting hall. I did not dare to act without your orders.”
Hearing this, Ou Peng stomped his right foot, his figure soaring like the wind towards the meeting hall entrance. His movement bore a striking resemblance to Zhang Xiaohua’s, traversing nearly twenty zhang from his seat to the door with barely a touch to the ground, reminiscent of Zhang Xiaohua’s floating technique.
The plaza before the meeting hall was as empty as ever, save for a lone, battered carriage and a few dejected, wounded disciples nearby.
Ou Peng leapt down from the platform. The disciples immediately saluted, but he ignored them, striding straight to the carriage. With a trembling hand, he lifted the mat covering the carriage and, upon seeing the familiar, lifeless faces beneath, a wave of sorrow welled up in his heart. He nearly shed tears. These were the brothers with whom he had grown up, trained with, and roamed the martial world. Though not related by blood, their bond was deeper than that of kin. Now, they lay quietly on this broken-down carriage, their eyes, filled with decades of camaraderie, forever closed.
Lifting his head, Ou Peng shouted sternly: “What were you all thinking? Why didn’t you buy proper coffins and use a decent carriage to bring the elders back?”
The disciples all hung their heads in fear, but one finally mustered the courage to speak: “Sect Master, it’s not that we didn’t want to buy proper coffins for the two elders. After the ambush, the masked men in black had already prepared this carriage and the mat, and told us not to move anything. They warned that if we did, and you couldn’t see the clues, we would be held responsible for everything. Fearing we might delay important matters for the sect, we hurried back without daring to touch anything.”
After hearing this, Ou Peng clenched his teeth, then quickly regained his composure and waved his hand. “Enough. Chengyue, send someone to summon your First Uncle, Second Uncle, and Fifth Uncle. Also, have the bodies of the two uncles carefully carried to the Divine Mechanism Hall and ask Hall Master Shi and the elders to examine them. I want to see who dares to harm members of our Piaomiao Sect. This blood debt must be paid in blood. And the rest of you, describe the ambush in detail.”
With that, Ou Peng didn’t even bring the disciples into the meeting hall, but started questioning them right there in the plaza.
Zhang Chengyue dared not delay, immediately sending people to notify the three elders and personally driving the carriage to deliver the bodies to the Divine Mechanism Hall.
The ambush on Shangguan Fengliu and the others was executed in an old-fashioned manner. The enemy hadn’t set many traps, they simply waited in one of the Piaomiao Sect’s former branch strongholds, located in a remote corner of a tiny town where few people ever passed by. When Shangguan Fengliu and his group arrived at dusk, just as they entered the courtyard, they were suddenly attacked.
The elite disciples of the Piaomiao Sect were extremely confident; after all, they had survived many trials by blood and fire, and with two elders present, they never considered fleeing; they only wanted to avenge their fallen brothers.
Unfortunately, the ambushers seemed to have calculated everything in advance, or perhaps they were simply overwhelming in strength. Though their numbers were not much greater than the Piaomiao Sect’s, as soon as the fighting started, the disciples realized that every masked man in black was a martial arts master, trapping all of them in the courtyard with no chance of escape.
Shangguan Fengliu and Xu Peihua, who were supposed to anchor the formation, fared no better. They faced three top-tier masked experts, and even when joining forces, the two elders were completely suppressed. Thanks to the genuine power-boosting pills they had taken, their internal strength was deeper than their opponents’, and with Shangguan Fengliu’s mastery of lightness skill, he might have been able to escape. But if he ran, Xu Peihua would be doomed. Thus, Shangguan Fengliu chose to fight side by side with Xu Peihua, hoping to carve a bloody path out together.
Although the battlefield had split into two fronts, both were equally fierce and bloody. As night gradually fell, the besieged Piaomiao Sect disciples were almost completely wiped out, with only a few left alive, paralyzed by pressure point strikes and tossed aside for later use. Shangguan Fengliu and Xu Peihua were also gravely wounded, barely able to hold on. At that moment, a sallow-faced old man, his face uncovered, drifted onto the scene. Upon seeing the situation, he exclaimed in surprise: “What’s this? These two are so troublesome that you still haven’t finished them off?”
Shangguan Fengliu and Xu Peihua were both shocked to see this man and were about to call out his name when the yellow-faced elder suddenly closed in. With a palm strike each to their chests, the two spat blood and fell dead before they could utter a word!
The yellow-faced elder swept his gaze around arrogantly and ordered: “Proceed as planned. Have these two corpses delivered back to the Piaomiao Sect.”
With that, he drifted away as suddenly as he had arrived.
When the wounded disciples finished recounting every detail of the ambush, Ou Peng’s frown deepened. These disciples, being of lower martial skill and only there to coordinate and guide, had been able to care for little besides themselves when the attack came. Immobilized by pressure point strikes, they only caught fragments of conversation, learning that a supreme master had arrived and killed the two elders in a single move, but who this person was, they could not tell.
At this moment, another disciple spoke up in a low voice: “Sect Master, I did catch a glimpse of something.”
“Speak.” Ou Peng urged.
“Among the three attacking the elders, one wore a felt hat. It was odd, so I looked twice. When they let us go, I glanced again and saw that the hat was gone-probably pulled off by the elders in the fight-and he was bald!”
“Dalin Temple!!!” Ou Peng immediately called out the name of the sect.
Among the sects with the strength to wipe out so many Piaomiao Sect elites, and even two elders, Dalin Temple was certainly one of them. And of those with recent grudges against the Piaomiao Sect, Dalin Temple ranked at the very top.
