Chapter 83: Surrender to the Blade, Kill in the Red Dust
Chapter 83: Surrender to the Blade, Kill in the Red Dust (Subscribe)
"Brother Wang." Xu Qing arrived in front of the government office and got off the carriage. The bailiff announced that Guard Wang came out to greet him.
"Gongming, the Lord of the Mansion is waiting for you inside. Master Fayue has already brought people waiting inside. What happened that caused such a big fuss?" Guard Wang asked in rapid succession.
Xu Qing came in a hurry this time and summoned the people from Jinguang Temple, which reminded Guard Wang of the last time Zhao Xiong conspired with the Lotus Sect to rebel.
Xu Qing lowered his voice and said, "I got the news that someone wants to assassinate the Lord."
Guard Wang's face changed, and he pulled Xu Qing and said, "Let's go in quickly."
Xu Qing nodded.
Fa Yue and the others were waiting in the side hall. Xu Qing had no time to greet them and went straight to the meeting room of the government office. At that time, Prefect He was entertaining a distinguished guest.
Guard Wang came in and said a few words to Prefect He. His face changed, but then he calmed down. He dismissed the attendants and left only the distinguished guest and Guard Wang, and invited Xu Qing to come in.
"Gongming, this is Captain Zuo, and he is currently serving in Jiangning Prefecture. Come and meet him." Prefect He pointed at the distinguished guest in the hall and introduced him to Xu Qing.
"Qian Hu, could it be an official from the inner factory?" Xu Qing thought that the power behind Tianxiangyuan was the inner factory, and the thought flashed through his mind. He immediately bowed and said, "Xu Qing, I meet Mr. Zuo."
Captain Zuo looked at Xu Qing, nodded and smiled, "His muscles and bones are full, and his temples are bulging. There are very few people like Xu who are both civil and military in the court today. He will definitely become a general or a prime minister in the future, which will be beyond the reach of my generation."
Xu Qing said modestly, "Your Excellency is too kind."
Prefect He smiled and joked, "Gongming, you don't know that Lord Zuo is a master of internal martial arts from the Shangqing Palace Martial Arts Academy in Laoshan. His kung fu is first-class in the world. If you have any questions about martial arts, you can ask Lord Zuo for advice in the future."
Captain Zuo waved his hand and said, "How could my insignificant skills catch the eye of the Fang family? Lord He really praised me too much."
He Zhifu laughed and immediately got down to business: "Gongming, please tell me more details..."
Xu Qing admired Lao He's ability to cultivate his energy. Even though he knew someone was trying to assassinate him, he still maintained his composure and did not give people a sense of panic.
Because Prefect He did not send Captain Zuo away, it was obvious that Captain Zuo might also know about this matter. Therefore, Xu Qing had no scruples and spoke slowly, expressing his discovery in a reasonable way.
After hearing this, Magistrate He looked neither happy nor angry.
Captain Zuo: "My men have also discovered traces of the Lotus Cult's activities in the city, and are now monitoring their movements. However, we are not sure about their goal, so we came to discuss with Lord He. I never thought that they actually wanted to assassinate Lord He. They are so lawless and daring."
He Zhifu smiled and said, "You rats don't know the power of heaven. This delivery to our door is just adding to our merits."
Captain Zuo nodded and said, "If we delay, something bad will happen. I will go and call my men first. We will meet at Songhe Tower and we will definitely catch all the rebels in one fell swoop."
Prefect He: "Thank you, Lord Zuo."
"It's my job." Captain Zuo bowed and said goodbye.
He Zhifu saw Zuo Qianhu off and clapped his hands. At this time, Guard Ma brought a set of chain mail and said, "Gongming, if you want to follow us, you can put on this chain mail."
Privately possessing armor is tantamount to rebellion, so it is impossible for Xu Qing to wear armor to meet Prefect He.
Now that we have the endorsement of Prefect He, we don't have to worry about giving anyone a handle against us.
Xu Qing naturally would not not wear it.
The gun is easy to hide, and the dark arrow is hard to prevent.
Wearing armor is definitely right.
Even if you have mastered the art of armor, you still have to wear armor.
It was just an extra layer of protection, so the flexibility of his body movements would definitely decrease. But this time, I was leading my brothers to kill people together, so it didn't matter if the flexibility of his body movements decreased.
Dozens or hundreds of elite soldiers against a handful of rebels. The advantage is on my side!
...
...
Then in the government office, after selecting the men, Magistrate He brought his men and led the monks Xu Qing, Fa Yue and others to Songhe Tower.
Magistrate He is indeed a cautious man.
I was afraid of falling into a diversionary plot.
So I went along.
In this way, there is no need to disperse the guards around him, and he can still use his greatest strength to crush the rebels.
He is indeed quite responsible and not afraid of seeing blood.
In Xu Qing's opinion, the way Prefect He always behaved was indeed clear-headed and to the point.
If ordinary people heard this, they would definitely think that this is a serious matter and needs to be studied.
But Magistrate He grasped the essence of the matter directly.
What else is he researching when the other party wants to assassinate him?
No matter whether it is true or false, it is better to strike first.
Anyway, Xu Qing would never dare to fool him about this matter.
There is no benefit!
On the other side, Fa Yue observed Xu Qing and was secretly shocked, "Xu Sanyuan is indeed a rare martial arts genius. With only the mental formula, he has mastered the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist."
After years of practice, Fa Yue had only mastered half of the 206 moves of the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist. Even within the Jinguan Temple, this was considered a remarkable achievement, even among the larger sects.
However, he is nearly 30 years old and has passed the stage of physical development, which means that the golden period for martial arts training is about to pass. To take another step forward, the effort and energy required will be several times or even ten times more than before.
Therefore, it is indeed not possible to practice all 206 moves of the Tiger Demon Bone Training Fist in this lifetime and achieve the perfect martial arts foundation-building effect.
Unless he succeeds in training his internal organs and then enters the stage of marrow cleansing and blood exchange, his body will be revitalized as if he lived again, and there will be hope of building a perfect foundation for his physical body.
But to reach this level, one has to practice the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist to its full potential to have a greater chance of success, otherwise the hope is slim.
Monks do not learn the spirit of comparison.
Form is emptiness, emptiness is form!
Fayue decided to forget about this matter so as not to dwell on it too much and affect his Buddhist mind.
The group arrived at Songhe Tower.
Guard Wang held his sword in his waist and said, "Investigate the rebellion strictly. No one is allowed to move. If anyone moves, he will be killed on the spot."
He exhaled and shouted loudly, and everyone inside and outside Songhe Tower heard it.
Although Lord He pursues progress, he still has some integrity of a scholar-official. He knows that if he goes in and arrests people directly, it is easy to hurt innocent people.
Therefore, he would rather alert the rebels inside and let Guard Wang warn the people in the restaurant first.
Of course, this is also related to Lord He's belief in Zuo Qianhu's professionalism.
Because Zuo Qianhu's men had already detected the traces of the Lotus Sect's activities in advance and had prepared for control and blockade.
As soon as the people from the Lotus Sect rushed out, Zuo Qianhu's men stopped them.
...
...
A small courtyard deep in Songhe Tower.
"Something happened." Elder Tang's wrinkled face was almost crumpled into a ball.
She looked at the people around her, including their trusted followers. Her first reaction was that there was a mole inside, but it was not the right time to investigate the matter.
Elder Tang said without hesitation: "Set fire."
After a while, smoke rose from Songhe Tower.
When Magistrate He saw this outside the lobby, his expression changed.
Everyone in the building looked pale.
In fact, the fire was not that big, the key was that it put great psychological pressure on people.
Moreover, the weather is dry in winter, and the fire is not big at the moment. If it starts burning, the whole street will be affected. But Magistrate He cannot let the people in the building leave, otherwise some rebels will definitely take advantage of the situation and leave.
Xu Qing made a prompt decision: "Master, you will take charge of putting out the fire, and I, Brother Wang, Master Fayue and the others will go in and wipe out the rebels."
As soon as he arrived, he left his body to observe what was going on inside.
Because it was already night, the blood energy of the Lotus Sect members was particularly obvious in the eyes of the soul.
Xu Qing quickly locked onto their approximate location.
"Okay, Gongming must be careful." Prefect He also knew that the matter was urgent, and Xu Qing was a careful person. Since he said so, he must be sure.
He also ordered Guard Wang: "You must protect Gongming."
"Yes, sir. I will protect Mr. Xu until my death." Although Guard Wang knew that Xu Qing's kung fu was better than their brothers', this was not the time to talk about these things. He had to show his attitude.
On the other side, Prefect He sent someone to ask Captain Zuo to send someone to follow in.
The more urgent the situation was, the calmer Xu Qing became.
He took Fayue and Wang with him to guard them and headed straight for the courtyard where the Lotus Sect members were.
...
...
After Elder Tang had someone light the fire, he did not rush out, but waited for the fire to break out and then took advantage of the chaos to sneak out.
Unexpectedly, during this delay, I heard heavy footsteps approaching outside.
With her experience in the martial arts world, how could she not identify a group of good players?
She was about to remind him when she suddenly felt an evil aura in her soul.
Instinctively, he mobilized his spirit and soul to resist.
As soon as her mind turned, she heard the cry of a crane. Her mind and thoughts froze slightly, and then she "saw" a Yaksha King raising a steel fork and stabbing at her.
"Five Demon Gods!"
Elder Tang couldn't help but be shocked.
After all, she was not like Elder Yun who had suffered the backlash of the curse first, and Xu Qing had not committed any murders recently, so his evil thoughts were not strong. The Yaksha King had not been blessed with the aura of saintliness, so his strength was not as great as when he was in the Marquis of Wuding's Mansion.
After being slightly shocked, Elder Tang came to his senses.
At this moment, a strong young man in chain mail was seen killing a skilled fighter of the sect with one sword.
...
...
After Xu Qing killed a man, his evil thoughts became stronger. The Yaksha King became even more evil and kept harassing Elder Tang.
"Throw yourself into the sword, kill people in the world."
Xu Qing suddenly remembered a poem, and his heroic spirit was rekindled.
Once a martial artist's murderous intent is aroused, he will naturally have no intention of stopping.
At this moment, he threw aside his usual cautiousness, holding his sword in hand, and killed any enemy he saw.
Although Xu Qing did not practice swordsmanship systematically, it can be said that swordsmanship is an extension of fist and foot kung fu. As long as you master the method of using strength, your swordsmanship will not be too bad. Xu Qing chopped down with his sword, relying on the great strength of the bull demon he had practiced, strengthening his muscles and bones, like a tiger entering a pack of wolves.
What's more, with Fa Yue and Guard Wang guarding nearby, Xu Qing's safety is not without guarantee.
Even though the followers of the Lotus Sect were also wary of danger, they were still at a loss when they suddenly encountered a strong young man like Xu Qing.
What's more, Xu Qing's exhalation and voice, combined with the cry of the crane, had the effect of stirring the mind.
When these people met Xu Qing, their momentum naturally diminished.
Plus the monks join the battle.
They cooperate with each other very well.
One side was well prepared and well-trained; the other side was suddenly surrounded and panicked.
In addition, Elder Tang was entangled by Xu Qing's Yaksha King for a while.
In just this short moment, Elder Tang lost the opportunity to organize his own men in the first place, and could only fall into the dilemma of fighting on his own.
Not long after, the inner factory guards under Captain Zuo Qianhu rushed in.
The fire outside was also contained.
Elder Tang and others were immediately put into a situation where they were outnumbered by the enemy.
"Let's go." Elder Tang threw out a paper bag, and billowing poisonous smoke rose up, blinding people's eyes.
Several hall masters immediately seized the opportunity and followed Elder Tang over the courtyard wall.
Xu Qing slightly moved his soul, saw where Elder Tang was going, and immediately swung his sword towards his back. Elder Tang felt the evil wind coming, and without thinking, he blocked it with his snake-head crutch.
After all, she was old and frail, no longer in her prime.
In addition, she is a woman and her natural strength is not as good as that of men of the same level.
After blocking, the palm of my hand suddenly felt numb.
I haven't recovered yet.
Xu Qing was seen using the Bagua body technique and approached the enemy in no time.
It sounded like the mooing of a cow, or like the explosion of spring thunder.
It was the "Bengquan" that Xu Qing comprehended by combining the Bull Demon's Powerful Fist and the Bagua Body Skills.
"What a strong force." Elder Tang exclaimed in his heart.
She dodged using the slender snake technique.
But Xu Qing was young and strong, and his punches were fast and hard.
Even though Elder Tang dodged in time with his nimble snake skills, Xu Qing still hit him on the shoulder.
In an instant, the shoulder blade on this side was broken.
Fortunately, it was not the shoulder where the arm holding the crutch was.
Elder Tang was an expert in the spiritual realm after all. He endured the severe pain and gave up the idea of dodging. He thrust his snake-head crutch towards Xu Qing's face.
Just like a spirit snake spitting out its tongue, a bunch of black needles shot out from the snake's head.
Black Blood Needle!
This is the hidden weapon used by Elder Tang to roam the martial arts world. The poison takes effect very quickly and can kill even a cow on the spot.
Xu Qing was already in a state of absolute concentration, and was always on guard against the opponent's snake-head crutch. As soon as Elder Tang made a slight move, Xu Qing had already used the Eight Diagrams Body Movement, and with a side step, he immediately came behind Elder Tang, and his hands turned into tiger claws, grabbing Elder Tang's waist.
Elder Tang's poison needle missed, and the cane hit Xu Qing's waist and ribs at an incredible angle. Fortunately, Xu Qing was wearing chain mail and had thick skin, so he withstood the blow.
On the other side, Xu Qing grabbed Elder Tang's vital point on the waist, and he immediately broke out in a cold sweat due to the pain. Without waiting for Elder Tang to fight back, Xu Qing pushed forward with his knee and hit the vital point such as the perineum.
The energy and blood that Elder Tang had condensed immediately dissipated.
Xu Qing was tall and strong, so he let go and punched Elder Tang in the temple with his elbow.
It turned out that he remembered that Su Lianqing was wearing a heart-protection goggles, so the vital part he hit in the end was the unprotected temple.
Under the heavy blow, Elder Tang, an old man in his fifties, with his weak temple, could not withstand the elbow of the young man and died on the spot.
At this time, her soul escaped, but was pierced by the steel fork of the Yaksha King.
As the body was dying, the soul was visibly weakened, and after being hit by the Yaksha King's steel fork, it was on the verge of collapse.
Fa Yue recited the Soul-Snatching Spell as the Yaksha King stabbed him repeatedly with the steel fork. Soon the elder of the evil cult lost his mind.
Xu Qing was not completely relieved. He first moved away from Elder Tang's body, went to the corner of the courtyard, and covered his nostrils with his sleeves.
He knew that this man was good at using poison. He held his breath to complete the heavy blows just now, fearing that he would be poisoned. It was not until the situation in the courtyard was settled and Zuo Qianhu of the inner factory had entered the courtyard and captured the Lotus Sect expert who tried to escape by taking advantage of the poisonous smoke that Xu Qing finally felt relieved. He held his knees with both hands and gasped for breath.
When Captain Zuo came over, he had already seen Xu Qing's kung fu and praised him, "Mr. Xu is a very talented young man. He is truly a fierce tiger of Jiangning."
He learned the internal martial arts from the Shangqing Palace Martial Arts Academy on Laoshan Mountain. He had mastered the skills of hidden power and had a good eyesight. He felt that at Xu Qing's age, he was not even half as strong as the other person.
"First-rate masters are judged by their talent, but true martial arts masters are judged by both talent and understanding. This boy is good at studying, so his understanding is naturally not bad. He is also so young. Given time, he will have the opportunity to become a martial arts master."
The emperor is fond of Taoism. Captain Zuo was born in the Shangqing Palace on Mount Laoshan. Although he was born in a martial arts academy and is not a true Taoist, he has gained the support of Taoist forces in the court and has established a firm foothold in the inner factory. Therefore, he was able to take up a post in this prosperous place in the southeast.
He was a righteous man who loved to make friends with officials in the court. When he saw Xu Qing, a scholar who had practiced hard, he couldn't help but feel a liking for him.
After all, the other party practices martial arts and will definitely not look down on a crude warrior like him.
Xu Qing also has a good impression of Zuo Qianhu Dasheng.
It's nothing. The nicknames given to him by people around him before were either the traitor title of "Timely Rain" or the ominous nickname of "Young Phoenix". In comparison, "Jiangning Tiger" sounded relatively normal.
Well, it's just relatively normal.
Xu Qing thought of "Sun Wentai, the fierce tiger of Jiangdong", who also seemed to have a bad ending.
Forget it, at least he has two good sons, and he would have been a local lord when he was alive!
Next, of course, we take inventory of the staff.
This time, the Lotus Sect had several hall masters with good martial arts skills. Although the monks cooperated well with each other, two of them were injured, but fortunately no one lost their lives.
However, after becoming disabled, his martial arts skills will be greatly reduced, and he will have limited mobility for the rest of his life and will not be as good as before.
Xu Qing promised on the spot that if the disabled monks were willing to return to secular life, he would arrange a sinecure for them in Yihetang, such as being an instructor, teaching martial arts to the orphans adopted by Yihetang and raising them forever.
We will also try to donate a prison to them.
To become a Jiansheng, one had to donate a certain amount of money and grain to obtain the status of a Jiansheng.
In the Dayu Dynasty, although the social status of Jiansheng was not as good as that of Xiucai, they could be exempted from corvee labor and even have the opportunity to take part in the provincial examination if they had connections.
Of course, since they were all students of the Imperial Academy, their academic level was naturally not high, and the possibility of passing the provincial examination was very slim.
Therefore, their social status is slightly higher than that of ordinary people.
It was also because Xu Qing had connections with Zhou Tixue and He Zhifu that he was able to make the promise of donating money and grain to obtain the status of a student. If it were someone without connections, he might not be able to find the right temple door even if he had a pig's head.
As for the two monks, if they are unwilling to return to secular life, Xu Qing will also pay a considerable amount of money for their medicine.
Anyway, you are paying a huge amount of money for a horse bone. Show it to the monks of Jinguang Temple and his men. You can have a meal by following Master Xu. Even if you risk your life, Master Xu will make everything clear for you.
Moreover, if the two monks were willing to become instructors at Yihetang and teach martial arts, Xu Qing would make a lot of money.
Moreover, there was no reason for Jinguang Temple to refuse to become more closely tied to Xu Qing.
Xu Qing promised, and the two monks looked at Fayue. Fayue said that as long as the abbot agreed, he would allow them to return to secular life.
The two monks were immediately overjoyed.
Just try it first. If it doesn’t work, you will still have a lot of money for medicine, so it’s worth your effort.
What's more, the temple already has funds for protecting the disabled.
Of course, they would rather return to secular life. With this money, plus a stable income from teaching, it would not be difficult for them to marry a wife and buy a few dozen acres of land. Such a good life would be happier than going to the Western Paradise.
Xu Qing naturally also gave benefits to other monks, but not as much as to the injured monks.
This is normal, he is truly disabled.
Upon seeing this, the other monks wanted to work for Master Xu even more.
In the temple, you have to abide by the rules and regulations on the surface, but if you follow Master Xu, you can become a superior person!
While Xu Qing was cleaning up the mess, Magistrate He had already sent a coroner to perform on-site autopsies on important figures of the Lotus Sect, such as Elder Tang.
The reason why Xu Qing killed Elder Tang was because he was good at using poison and was very dangerous. If he was not killed on the spot, there might be changes.
Moreover, the other party must recognize the visualization method of the Five Great Demon Gods, so it would be bad to keep him alive.
As for the celebration banquet afterwards, we will hold it tomorrow.
Seeing that Xu Qing was tired, Prefect He allowed him to go back and rest first.
Xu Qing was also relieved.
He felt more at ease after killing someone this time.
After returning to the study, Xu Qingjing ground ink and wrote down a poem from Li Bai that he remembered from his previous life.
"When we were young, we were young and ignorant, and all the friends we had were heroes... We threw ourselves into the sword and killed people in the world of mortals... If Dihua doesn't accept me, I'd rather be like Qiucao."
The words are lofty and full of heroic spirit.
Xu Qing just felt a sense of satisfaction in his chest, and he had to express it.
He started practicing the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist in the yard.
Sometimes he was practicing the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Technique, and sometimes he was performing the Crane Form Technique. The two techniques were a combination of hardness and softness, and his muscles and bones became increasingly flexible and comfortable.
Xu Qing practiced for an unknown amount of time before he stopped.
I just felt refreshed.
Then visualize the Yaksha King, who is much bigger than before, wrapped in moonlight. In the eyes of the soul, his entire body is silver-white, like a silver-armored demon king.
Although the Yaksha King has become stronger this time, he still shows no signs of losing control.
Firstly, this was related to Xu Qing's soul's advancement to the "Day Travel" realm, and secondly, after Xu Qing practiced boxing, his thoughts became clearer. Especially when he practiced Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist and Crane Form Technique, it was like adding wings to a tiger, making his soul seem like a tiger ready to fly, which in itself had a deterrent effect on the Yaksha King.
"The Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist is, after all, the foundation-building skill of the Great Zen Temple. It is the orthodox Buddhist art, and it has the artistic conception of protecting the law and subduing demons. Therefore, after I comprehended the Tiger Demon's intention, demon gods like the Yaksha King had to instinctively fear it, and the risk of losing control in the future was naturally reduced."
The more Xu Qing practiced the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist, the more he felt that the Dachan Temple was worthy of its reputation as a holy place for martial arts in the world.
The profound artistic conception of the Crane Form Technique seemed to be on par with the Tiger Demon Bone Refining Fist, and there was a tendency for them to merge with each other, which made Xu Qing secretly surprised.
He had asked Li Gongyu about the extermination of the Xu family not long ago. Li Gongyu only knew that a mysterious blind man had given the young child Xu Qing to Li Gongyu to raise.
As for the power behind the Xu family's extermination, the blind man just warned him not to investigate, otherwise Xu Qing's life would be in danger.
Since then, Li Gongyi never saw the mysterious blind man again.
In addition, the Crane Form Technique is indeed a martial art passed down by the Xu family, but as to which generation it was passed down from, Li Gongyu could not know.
"No matter what, as long as I continue to grow stronger, I will have a chance to resolve any disaster."
Fist is power, it is truth!
(End of this chapter)