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Hu Xiuwu looked at the face that looked exactly like Li Xingyun, except for a few scars next to the bun from a facial-transformation surgery.
"Now that Xingyun has left the mountain, I can also let you out of the valley. As long as you can prove that you are stronger than him, I will support you as the prince."
Unlike Yuan Tiangang, Hu Xiuwu was sincere and intended to push Li Xingyun's half-brother to the position.
I'm not real anyway, so what if he is fake?
"Okay, I'll leave the valley now, and I'll prove to you that I'm no worse than him."
I'm more worthy of your attention, boss.
"Li Xiang."
Hu Xiuwu looked at the fake Li's high-spirited figure and suddenly spoke.
"This is your name."
"This is the name your father, Emperor Zhaozong, gave you."
Li Xiang looked up in surprise
Hu Xiuwu had already turned around and said, "You are no different from him, go ahead."
Thousands of lights were watching like gods. The fake Li, who was given the name Li Xiang, had a ruddy complexion, as if he had been canonized in front of the gods, or like a child recognized by his father.
Li Xiang became even more excited, his spirits high, he straightened his back and strode away.
"Okay, stop pretending to be asleep. What are you doing, Duo'er?"
After Li Xiang left, Hu Xiuwu said helplessly.
He originally didn't want to bring Chen Duo to the world of the Bad Leader, but for some reason Chen Duo insisted on coming with him. Then after he entered the Hidden Soldiers Valley, she deliberately exposed her whereabouts so that Shangguan Yunque would find her and send her to the quiet room where the Bad Leader was practicing.
Chen Duo quietly opened her eyes, not showing any embarrassment at all: "You dressed up as a bad guy, isn't it to take yin to replenish yang?"
The immortality of the Bad Leader is conditional. He needs to replenish his yin and yang regularly to maintain his body's vitality.
That is why when Shangguan Yunque saw Chen Duo, who was suspected to be a spy but had an angelic appearance, he sent her to the underground palace instead of imprisoning and torturing her.
Taking off the mask and hat, Hu Xiuwu restored his original appearance, bent down, approached Chen Duo, nose touching nose, and said softly with a smile:
"Jealous."
Chen Duo said nothing, but stretched out her arms to hold Hu Xiuwu's neck, and whispered in Hu Xiuwu's ear: "Marshal, don't you want to replenish your yin with yang?"
“That’s where you learned it.”
"The secret book that the researcher sister gave me said that I should play some fun things on men regularly to increase the novelty."
"...You must learn the secret book carefully."
Chapter 400: The Xuanming Cult Attacks
In Yuzhou City, Li Xingyun and Lu Linxuan, who had just come out of the Cangbing Valley and rushed back to Yuzhou, chose a tavern to rest and ordered some side dishes to fill their stomachs.
Li Xingyun had no intention of restoring the Tang Dynasty, so he did not want to stay in the Cangbing Valley. After resting in the valley for a few days, he bid farewell to General Buliang and left the Cangbing Valley.
After leaving the Soldier Storage Valley, Li Xingyun and Lu Linxuan didn't know where to go for a moment. After thinking about it, they could only go back to the Sword House first to verify in person whether the Sword House was really destroyed.
Even if the sword pavilion was really destroyed, Li Xingyun planned to find a secluded place and rebuild it.
At lunch time, there were only a few tables of customers in the tavern, so Li Xingyun and Lu Linxuan occupied a good seat by the window on the second floor, and the food and drinks were served quickly.
The side dishes were delicious, the rice wine was sweet, and there was the view of Yuzhou city to go with the wine, but Li Xingyun was a little absent-minded.
"He came out so easily. What is the bad guy planning?"
When he asked for his resignation from the Bad Leader, he was very nervous. If the Bad Leader insisted on keeping him, he really wouldn't be able to handle it.
Unexpectedly, the attitude of the Buliang Commander was beyond his expectation. He did not stop them at all, did not make any demands, and readily agreed. Even Shangguan Yunque's request to go with them was rejected by the Buliang Commander.
It's abnormal. It's really abnormal.
After the Later Liang replaced the Tang, General Buliang had been hiding in the Cangbing Valley for more than ten years, accumulating strength with the intention of restoring the Tang.
"Now that I said I don't want to restore the Tang Dynasty, he didn't persuade me much and let me out of the valley so easily. What is he planning in his mind?"
Seeing his sad face, Lu Linxuan picked up a piece of diced dogwood rabbit meat for his senior brother, put it in the bowl, and comforted him: "Senior brother, are you still thinking about the bad commander? Since you don't want to follow the bad commander's arrangements, then we will stay away from him."
"Go to Mobei, go to Tianshan, go to Raojiang, find the master, find a place where the bad commander can't find me."
Unlike Li Xingyun, Lu Linxuan, who had just started his apprenticeship and still maintained his innocent nature, was in a good mood at the moment.
The Black and White Impermanence who killed her father are dead, her great hatred has been avenged, and her senior brother is by her side. She has nothing to worry about. As long as she finds a master, she can retire to the mountains peacefully and take thirty years less detours than her master Yang Shuzi.
Li Xingyun sighed, "If only it were that simple. If that bad guy had kept pestering me and refused to let me go, I would have been able to rest easy. But now he lets me go so easily. God knows what he is planning."
Dong dong dong,
The sound of rapid footsteps like drumbeats came from the stairs. Li Xingyun lowered his right hand and touched the sword case leaning against the table. Lu Linxuan also grasped his broken sword.
This group of people had no intention of concealing their whereabouts. They rushed to the second floor of the tavern in a domineering and arrogant manner, kicked away innocent diners, overturned tables, set up a battle formation, and surrounded Li Xingyun and Lu Linxuan.
"The Xuanming Cult again? You guys are really haunting us."
Lu Linxuan looked at the familiar outfit and gritted his teeth.
Although the Xuanming Sect is a martial arts sect, it has the support of the Liang Dynasty and can move much more conveniently than the equally famous Tongwenguan and Miaoyinfang. It also acts very recklessly, so it found Li Xingyun before other forces.
Suddenly, the Xuanming sect members split into two sides, revealing three people with similar faces. They all wore one-shoulder light armor, a gold belt with beast bites, and a dragon brocade pattern embroidered on their right shoulders.
Although they look similar, their body shapes and appearances are different, so they dress in three different styles: some are calm and capable like a general, some are arrogant like a second-generation rich man, and some are dressed like a scoundrel in disguise.
These three people are among the five Yamas of the Xuanming Sect. The first one is the Benevolent Saint Yama Jiang Renjie, the fourth one is the Yuan Saint Yama Jiang Yuanxin, and the third one is the Xuan Saint Yama Jiang Xuanli. They are considered the backbone of the Xuanming Sect.
Standing on the right, the arrogant Jiang Yuanxin, who didn't even look at his own men, pointed his finger at Li Xingyun's nose and said, "Are you Li Xingyun? Hand over the Longquan sword, and maybe we brothers can give you a quick death."
Jiang Xuanli, who was as thin and tall as a bamboo pole, always looked at the delicate Lu Linxuan: "My dear, your companion is dead, but if you follow me, I can let you go."
Jiang Yuanxin laughed loudly: "That's right, Third Brother is right. If you can serve us brothers well, you will enjoy endless wealth and glory."
Lu Linxuan assumed the sword stance of the Green Lotus Sword Song and cursed, "Bah, you two pigs, you still dare to think about me? Have you not washed your face for a long time? Otherwise, how could you forget your identity as a toad?"
Jiang Yuanxin licked the corner of his mouth, but he was not angry: "Hehe, the little lady has a sharp tongue. I like this kind of spicy food."
Jiang Renjie, the leader, did not stop his two younger brothers from making trouble. Afterwards, no matter what, he would not let Lu Linxuan and Li Xingyun go.
He simply allowed his brother's bad attitude to irritate Li Xingyun and Lu Linxuan.
When the Xuanming Cult came to kill him, Li Xingyun calmed down: "I knew you would come."
Unlike other forces, the Later Liang Dynasty had already been established, and it was impossible for him, a remnant of the previous dynasty, to remain. The moment he encountered the Black and White Impermanence, he was already prepared to confront the Xuanming Sect, not to mention that he also planned to kill Zhu Wen.
Li Xingyun sat on the same table, leaned over and saluted, saying, "Could you please leave your names, heroes? This way, my brothers and sisters can know clearly when they die."
The simple-minded Jiang Yuanxin proudly introduced his brothers to Li Xingyun: "Boy, let me tell you, we are the Xuanming Sect, the five great..."
boom! ! !
Li Xingyun suddenly overturned the dining table in front of him, causing wine and dishes to splash everywhere. He slapped the Feilongquan sword case with one palm and crashed it into the wooden window of the tavern, smashing it to pieces.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Xingyun grabbed the waist of Lu Linxuan, who was still a little confused, and jumped out of the tavern window.
Who wants to know your names! That was just Li Xingyun's delaying tactic.
There are many people in the Xuanming Sect, and the space on the second floor of the tavern is narrow, so it would be easy to hurt Lu Linxuan if a fight happened here, so he could only avoid it temporarily.
The Longquan sword box hit the road first, creating a deep hole in the bluestone road like a meteorite.
The sword box was hit twice from the front and back and finally could not bear the weight. It shattered like a fallen porcelain, revealing the Longquan sword inside.
"The Longquan Sword is in your hands indeed."
Li Xingyun looked up.
At both ends of the road, there was a man dressed similarly to the three brothers from the tavern, leading the Xuanming sect members to block the roads at both ends.
The Holy Lord of Hell Jiang Zhaoyi
Chongsheng Yanjun Jiang Chongde.
Jiang Chongde, Jiang Yuanxin, and Jiang Xuanli also jumped out from the hole in the tavern.
The five of them occupied each corner, surrounding Li Xingyun and Lu Linxuan in the center.
······
On the top floor of an inn a few streets away from Li Xingyun and others in Yuzhou City,
A handsome and elegant young man in a white Confucian robe and holding a Xiuwen fan, watched the confrontation between Li Xingyun and the five Yama Kings in amazement:
"This Li Xingyun is quite capable, but if he insists on taking his junior sister with him, I'm afraid he won't be able to escape the blockade of the five Yama Lords."
The Tongwenguan killer, dressed in white and wearing an oil-painted mask, came forward and asked the white-haired boy who led the team:
"Young Master, should we take action?"
"No hurry, no hurry. We should wait until Li Xingyun is in a life-or-death situation before we can help him."
The white-haired young man closed the Xiu Wen fan in his hand, smiled, and bowed to the people around him.
"The combined strength of the five Yama Lords of the Xuanming Sect is far greater than mine. My cultivation is low, so I'm afraid you'll have to take charge of this mission."
"Senior Ding Shimaan."
Chapter 401 Intervene
The news that Ding Shimaan defeated Li Siyuan, the Holy Lord of Tongwenguan, has spread throughout the world, but it is really surprising that he can still mix with Tongwenguan now.
But in fact, it is not something too unexpected.
Tongwenguan, after all, is just an assassination organization under the command of Jin Wang Li Keyong. How it acts depends on Li Keyong's attitude.
Although Ding Shimaan lost face for Li Siyuan, it hit the mark exactly what Li Keyong was thinking.
Li Siyuan was a cunning man with great ambitions. He acted sinisterly and viciously, but he was also good at building his reputation and winning over his brothers. He had a high prestige among the Thirteen Guardians and managed the Tongwenguan very well.
However, the more stable Li Siyuan's position became, the more troubled Li Keyong became.
Because Li Siyuan was only his adopted son, and Li Cunxu, the second of the Thirteen Guardians of the Tongwenguan, was the legitimate son he valued.
Although Li Cunxu loved opera and even kept a group of actors, he sometimes seemed to be obsessed with it and lost his ambition, and thus was not supported by some moral officials of the Jin State.
He often disobeyed Li Keyong because of this, but he was a martial arts expert and good at military strategy. He could command troops and garrison an area and had the ability to become the next King of Jin, or even go further.