Volume 3 Huashan Xiaoao Chapter 22: Decision, Late at Night
In order to prevent others from speaking ill of Lu Bai, the nuns from Hengshan Sect followed suit and found things to stuff into the mouths of others.
Of course, they would not use their own belongings like Tian Boguang did, but instead found some scraps of cloth in the town.
Then he found thirteen chains from several blacksmith shops in the town and locked up Lu Bai and others.
But because the blacksmith was not there and these chains were not specifically used to lock people, Linghu Chong, Ding Yi and others still felt unsafe and decided to take turns to guard.
In this way, when dawn came, the people of Erbapu returned one after another.
After some inquiries, Linghu Chong and his companions found out that someone had come to the town disguised as a bandit and had scared away all the townspeople.
After knowing this, Ding Yi could not help but say angrily: "It seems that Zuo Lengchan's order for us to go to Fujian to stop the Demon Cult from obtaining the Sword of Exorcism was a conspiracy from the beginning to the end!"
Linghu Chong recalled the Sword Sect's visit to Mount Hua half a year ago and nodded, "Zuo Lengchan really did everything he could to unite the Five Mountains."
When Tian Boguang heard what the two said, he said, "Since you know that everything is Zuo Lengchan's conspiracy, why do you still want to go to Fujian? In my opinion, we might as well go back to the north."
Ding Yi was very interested, but he did not make a decision immediately. Instead, he asked, "What do you think, Junior Brother Linghu?"
Obviously, after what happened last night, Dingyi no longer regarded Linghu Chong as a junior.
Linghu Chong couldn't make up his mind for a moment.
Although Su Yan told him on the way that this time he wanted to retrieve the Book of the Sword of Exorcism for Lin Pingzhi to settle the feud between the Huashan Sect and the Lin family.
But Linghu Chong felt that the Manual of the Sword of Exorcism was hidden there, so it would be okay for him to go there a little later.
However, Su Yan felt that Lu Bai and his people alone could not defeat the Songshan Sect, and he had to continue traveling south to lure the Songshan Sect into taking action again.
He saw Linghu Chong's hesitation, so he sent a voice message, "There must be people from Songshan Sect watching from the dark. Since Songshan Sect has already made plans, there must be more people coming to the south than just these. Maybe Zuo Lengchan has even come in person.
If you go back rashly like this, not only will you miss the people your master will send later, you might even run into the reinforcements from the Songshan Sect."
After hearing Su Yan's words, Linghu Chong immediately changed his mind and said the same thing to Ding Yi.
After hearing this, Ding Yi said, "Junior Brother Linghu is right... So we can just go to Fuzhou and respond to Zuo Lengchan's so-called imperial edict to see how he leads us to stop the Demon Cult from seizing the Sword Manual of Exorcism."
Linghu Chong and Ding Yi had made up their minds, so Tian Boguang's suggestions were naturally useless.
So the group then asked the blacksmith at Erbapu to make thirteen chains specifically for locking people, which they used to lock the hands and feet of Lu Bai and the others. Then they set off and entered Fujian along the Xianxia Ancient Road.
Perhaps it was because the Hengshan Sect's disciples were more careful along the way than before, or perhaps it was because the enemy was afraid of Linghu Chong, the group was not harassed again and arrived in Fuzhou City safely.
On the day when Linghu Chong and others entered Fuzhou City, Zhang Jingchao, who escaped from Erbapu, also reunited with a group of people.
The leader was tall and strong, with a big beard and carrying a big sword on his back. He looked to be in his fifties. He was the head of the Songshan School and the current leader of the Five Mountains Sword Sect, Zuo Lengchan.
When he saw Zhang Jingchao, he asked directly with a sullen face, "Did Linghu Chong, Ding Yi and others enter Fuzhou City?"
"Yes." Zhang Jingchao nodded.
Then he looked at the group of people who came with Zuo Lengchan, and saw that Le Hou and Zhong Zhen, who were ranked high among the Thirteen Protectors, and Bu Chen, Sha Tianjiang, Deng Bagong, and Gao Kexin, who were ranked last, were all there. Only the Great Protector Ding Mian and the Sixth Protector Tang Ying'e, who was also the deputy head, were not there. He was certain in his heart that he could definitely deal with Linghu Chong, Ding Yi and the others this time.
"Is there anyone in the city watching them?" Zuo Lengchan asked again.
"Senior Brother Zhao is watching."
It turned out that that night not only did Zhang Jingchao break through the acupuncture points in Erbapu and escape, but Zhao Sihai also escaped from Linghu Chong.
Zuo Lengchan didn't ask any more questions and waved his hand, saying, "Let's go. We will enter the city in batches and meet up at the Longmen Escort Agency."
"yes!"
The dozens of Songshan Sect disciples who followed him responded and dispersed, entering the city in groups of several to avoid attracting too much attention.
Zhang Jingchao was with Zuo Lengchan, and couldn't help asking halfway along the way, "This time Linghu Chong and Ding Yi killed several of our disciples, and captured Senior Brother Lu and Junior Brother Sima. What is the Sect Leader going to do with them?"
"What do you think?" Zuo Lengchan asked back, his expression calm, making it impossible to tell what he was thinking.
Zhang Jingchao's eyes flashed with a fierce look, and he made a gesture to silence them, saying: "In my opinion, it is better to kill them all!"
Zuo Lengchan looked at Zhang Jingchao again but said nothing, and it was unclear whether he agreed with Zhang Jingchao's idea.
On the other side, Linghu Chong, Ding Yi and others went straight to the Fuwei Escort Agency after entering the city.
However, all the people from the Fuwei Escort Agency had died long ago, leaving only Lin Pingzhi, who was still on Mount Huashan. The former mansion was left unattended and was now covered with cobwebs and dust.
Linghu Chong and his companions were all from the martial arts world, and they did not care how many people had died in this mansion. They took Lu Bai and the other men in black in with them, cleaned up the place casually, and prepared to stay here temporarily.
After a simple dinner, Linghu Chong used the excuse of going to the toilet and whispered to Su Yan about another question in the outhouse in the mansion.
"Grandmaster, should I wait until night time to sneak out and get the Sword Manual of Exorcism?"
Even if Linghu Chong didn't ask this question, Su Yan was ready to give some suggestions.
He transmitted his voice, "No, tomorrow you bring Ding Yi and other Hengshan disciples with you, ask them to be witnesses, and take the Sword Manual of Exorcism openly."
Linghu Chong looked worried after hearing this, "If this happens, everyone in the martial arts world will know that it is the Huashan Sect that has obtained the Sword Manual of Exorcism. If that happens, I'm afraid there will be no peace for the Huashan Sect anymore."
Su Yan smiled and said, "Your worries are not without reason, but after this incident in Fuzhou is over, when you return to Huashan, the situation of the Five Mountains Sword Sect and even the entire martial arts world will change significantly.
At that time, regardless of whether we have the Manual of the Sword of Exorcism or not, our Huashan Sect will become the focus of the entire martial arts world.
Moreover, as long as we demonstrate sufficient strength, no one will dare to target us.
Otherwise, wouldn't Shaolin and Wudang, who possess such peerless martial arts as the Yi Jin Jing and Tai Chi Sword, never have peace?"
After hearing this, Linghu Chong couldn't help scratching his head and said a little embarrassedly: "It seems that my disciple is worrying too much."
Su Yan believes that it is a good change that Linghu Chong has learned to consider the Huashan Sect and no longer acts recklessly.
Therefore, he praised Linghu Chong and let him go back to rest - after traveling for so many days, even though Linghu Chong's internal strength had reached the sixth level of the acquired realm, he was still a little tired.
Knowing that there might be enemies watching, Linghu Chong and his companions would certainly not rest without any precautions. Instead, they divided all the disciples of Hengshan Sect into two teams, with Linghu Chong and Ding Yi each leading one team and taking turns to keep watch.
In addition, in order to avoid being defeated by the enemy one by one, the group slept on the floor in the main hall of the Fuwei Escort Agency to rest.
As for Lu Bai and others, they were placed in a side hall separated from the main hall by only a porch for easy supervision.
To guard such a small place, there is no need for the Hengshan Sect disciples on night duty to patrol everywhere, they just need to guard in the hall.
Therefore, as the night deepened, many of the young nuns from the Hengshan Sect who were on duty in the first half of the night began to doze off, and some even fell asleep while standing.
Although Master Dingyi was also very tired, she still remained vigilant. However, she felt sorry for her disciples and did not wake up those who were dozing off.
Even after midnight, when it was Linghu Chong's turn to be on duty, she did not call Linghu Chong, but instead prepared to let Linghu Chong rest for a while.
However, when her eyes moved away from Linghu Chong and fell on Yi Lin for a while, she felt dizzy and her eyelids were twitching.
At first she thought she was too sleepy, so she just gritted her teeth and persevered. When she became unable to resist the drowsiness, she realized something was wrong and bit the tip of her tongue hard.
The pain and the smell of blood washed over her head, and she screamed out loud—
"Enemy attack!"
