Chapter 118 Concealment

Chapter 118 Concealment

Chapter 118 Concealment
Zeng Jianqiu took a step back and blocked Wu Hao from behind. The other three also took a step forward and immediately surrounded Wu Hao.

Wu Hao smiled: "Hey, I'm talking to you guys——"

But before he could finish his words, the smile on his face froze immediately - a sword light flew out from Pan Muyun's sleeve and half penetrated his neck.

The small sword was still attached to the sword string, with only the handle exposed. The small wound caused by the stab did not bleed. Pan Muyun looked at him and lowered his voice: "If you move or shout, my sword will deflect and I will kill you immediately. Lao Zeng, what's going on?"

Zeng Jianqiu did not answer immediately, but turned around and looked back. The merchants on the boat were far away from them, and seemed to think that these three people had just caused trouble, and did not look over here. The other two soldiers were leaning against the ship's tower, gesturing on the wall, as if they were discussing something.

Zeng Jianqiu then turned around, walked over to Wu Hao and looked at him: "How did you know?"

Wu Hao couldn't laugh at this time, but he lowered his eyebrows, looked pitiful, and raised his finger, pointing at his throat.

"Old Pan, put away your sword first."

Pan Muyun pulled back the sword and the small sword left Wu Hao's neck. He immediately raised his hand to cover the wound on his neck, but the back of his hand accidentally scraped the tip of the sword, leaving a big cut. He quickly pressed the wound on his right hand with his left hand: "I say, do you really need to do this? Can a swordsman not take a joke?"

Pan Muyun stared at him: "It's more embarrassing than you think. Who are you?"

"Who am I? A fellow disciple. This is the first time I've seen my fellow disciples. It almost cost me my life!" Wu Hao whispered, "If I'm not a good person, Senior Brother Zeng, can you come here and take these brothers to the boat——"

Li Wuxiang nodded and looked at Zeng Jianqiu: "I guess he will confirm later whether we are the only ones who came. Brother Zeng, it seems that the people in Guancheng know that you have been there. I suggest that we jump into the river and swim back immediately."

Helian Ji felt around in his arms and took out a pill: "Feed this to him, take him away with you and ask him about it thoroughly."

Wu Hao panicked at this moment, and quickly glanced at Zeng Jianqiu: "Brother, am I usually like this? I really like to joke around, wait, wait, Senior Brother Lou knows me, I am his man, don't jump into the river, if you jump into the river, everything will be over, are swordsmen so timid? Don't jump!"

At this time, the two soldiers on the ship's tower seemed to have finished talking and looked over here. Seeing several people standing very close, they looked a few more times and walked over here again.

Zeng Jianqiu went to see Pan Muyun, Pan Muyun looked at Li Wuxiang and Helian Ji, Li Wuxiang looked at Zeng Jianqiu again, frowned and thought for a while: "I remember now. Mei Zhangjian said there is such a person in Guancheng, let's take a risk?"

"Bullshit!" Wu Hao spoke immediately, "Plum Sword Master doesn't know about me, only Senior Brother Lou knows. In the past fifteen years, he has come to Guancheng six times. Three times were for matters related to the sect, one was to look for Dihuo, one time he didn't tell me, and the other time was this time, when he came to record Guanshan. Am I right? There are three other times you don't know about. Anyway, I have seen him six times in these years, and I am really his man. Is it okay if I am wrong? Don't jump into the river!"

The two soldiers approached. Zeng Jianqiu glanced at them and immediately said, "Why do you have to test this thing with a knife? If it's really cut, can you still use it?"

Wu Hao then turned around, and the two soldiers were surprised when they saw it. Wu Hao smiled and said, "It's good to be long. I know this thing is really a treasure. It's no big deal."

The two soldiers came to ask what happened, and Wu Hao just explained that he tried to use the knife on his waist to test whether the beard could be cut, and accidentally injured his hand. After a while of perfunctory talk, he finally sent the two soldiers away.

At this time, the boat was finally about to dock. Zeng Jianqiu stayed beside Wu Hao and said, "You have to come with us in a while."

Wu Hao sighed: "I will definitely go with you. Just take me to a safe place and we just need to make things clear."

The boat docked. The other side of the moat was full of mountain walls, like towering city walls, with only one road for the ferry crossing through the cliffs. This was a good place to build a fortress, but not only was there no guard, there wasn't even a slightly lower gate. The True Form Cult probably felt that there was no need to guard against "foreign enemies" at all.

Zeng Jianqiu and Wu Hao said a few words to the two garrison soldiers to take the vendors to the city gate first, and then wait at the ferry for a while.

In just a short while, Li Wuxiang felt something unusual.

When he first started breathing and refining Qi, he began to slowly feel a strange feeling in the air around him - when a person closes his eyes and slides his fingers across his eyebrows, he will feel his eyebrows tighten.

After practicing, you will have a similar experience around you. It is not as uncomfortable as pointing your finger at your eyebrows, but it is much milder and gentler. As long as you circulate your Qi, you can feel that the essence in your body and the spiritual energy outside your body seem to have a subtle attraction, as if the two are about to penetrate your flesh and blood.

However, once he crossed the moat and stood on the land of the parish, this feeling almost completely disappeared. He tried to circulate the energy in his body and was able to realize that there was indeed spiritual energy nearby, but this spiritual energy became extremely lazy and dull, as if it had turned from air to water, and it was difficult to absorb it into the body like on the other side of the moat.

This should be what Pan Muyun and Helian Ji said, the suppression of the Xuanjiao true spirit within the diocese - if the practice is not the Xuanjiao method, the spiritual energy here is difficult to call upon!

After those people had gone far away, a few people set off.

After passing through the canyon in the mountain wall, the view in front of us suddenly opened up and we could see the city wall.

In the distance was a vast plain, in the middle of which a town in the mist could be seen. It was higher than where the people were standing now, and the road under their feet extended from the ferry through the mountain wall and then extended straight towards the Guancheng, as if it was a straight line drawn by someone.

The city wall is backed by a mountain, but that mountain, like the river embankment, was not formed naturally.

The mountain rises abruptly on the plain, with an almost flat top. The whole looks like a screen behind the town, or a wall facing the huge cliff beside the river. This should be what they call "Guanshan".

Several people remained silent, not speaking to Wu Hao, and followed Zeng Jianqiu down the road. The cliffs along the river bank looked like walls from the other side, but on this side they looked like a real mountain with slow ups and downs. Several people first went deep into the forest, then ran on the cliffs. After crossing a stream, Zeng Jianqiu asked Wu Hao to take off all his clothes.

Wu Hao was reluctant, but seeing the three flying swords hanging in front of him, he had no choice but to do it.

All the clothes he took off were left by the stream, and Helian Ji found another set of clothes and shoes for him from his load. Wu Hao was about to put them on when Li Wuxiang said, "Wait. Senior Brother Wu, if we have wronged you, please bear with us, but please open your mouth first."

Wu Hao sighed and opened his mouth obediently. Li Wuxiang used the small sword to pry his teeth one by one to make sure they were all original. When he took the sword back from his mouth, Wu Hao wanted to put on his clothes again. Li Wuxiang stood behind him and spoke again: "Brother Wu, please bend over and spread your legs." Wu Hao was stunned and frowned: "You are just--"

"After all, this is a matter of great importance to the sect. Senior Brother Wu, you said that you are also a disciple of the Sword Sect, so you shouldn't take it to heart."

Pan Muyun and Helian Ji coughed and stepped back. Zeng Jianqiu laughed: "What did you do in the past? How come you know more than us? Wu Hao, listen to him, or I will do it."

Li Wuxiang stepped aside and said, "Yes, Senior Brother Zeng, it's better if you come. I'll go look through his clothes."

After a while, they were on their way again. After crossing another stream, they climbed up a rocky slope. From here, they could see the scene in all directions, so they stopped.

Zeng Jianqiu said, "Tell me, what's going on?"

Wu Hao was breathing heavily at this time. If he was not a cultivator of the True Form Dao, this would be his reaction - the skills he practiced only helped him build a foundation and add a few decades of youth and lifespan, which was nothing compared to the four swordsmen around him. Li Wuxiang listened carefully to his heartbeat, which was indeed very fast, but he couldn't be sure if it was a fake.

Wu Hao sat on the ground and took a few more breaths. "I am afraid of you. As I said, Senior Brother Lou found me when I was about ten years old and asked me if I wanted to be a swordsman. Zeng Jianqiu, you also know what it is like in Guancheng, so of course I wanted to be one. After that time, I met him six times in total, testing him, just like you did, and then he said I could do it."

The three of them were stunned and went to look at Zeng Jianqiu.

Not only because of the words "You also know what the Guancheng is like", but also because he actually sneaked into the Guancheng garrison. Since the beginning of the meeting, everything seemed to mean that he was quite familiar with Guancheng -

Zeng Jianqiu sighed, "I was born in Guancheng, and I'm a Guancheng native. Let's talk about this later. It can be said that what he said is correct. In our place, the thirty-six sects will accept those who have the qualifications to practice. But here in the diocese, many of the qualifications that the thirty-six sects think are good are not valued by the Xuanjiao, and they can only be soldiers in the future. If a person is brave, then being a soldier in the town is not a good way out compared to practicing immortality - but after seeing you six times, you say you can do it?"

"Senior Brother Lou is my grandfather, and I am his grandson. Is this okay?" Wu Hao spread his hands, "Is there anything closer than this?"

Li Wuxiang’s first thought was that perhaps the Sword Sect should be like other sects and address each other as “Master” and “Disciple”.

The second thought was - Lou He is also from Guancheng! ?
He turned to look at Pan Muyun and Helian Ji and saw that they were also stunned.

Zeng Jianqiu thought for a moment and sighed again: "Yes, Senior Brother Lou is also from Guancheng, and he does have a daughter. Please continue."

Wu Hao rubbed his hair. "I was in the garrison, and when I knew he was captured, I tried to meet him. He told me that someone might come to save him, and he said it should be you, Senior Brother Zeng. This is my fault. Senior Brother Lou told me that if I did a good job, he would really take me to my Sword Sect to be a swordsman. What was my fault? Ladies and gentlemen, I thought swordsmen were all very heroic, and I wanted to leave an impression on you. How should I put it... I think swordsmen don't like people who follow the rules, right?"

"In fact, it was only yesterday that I was sure that Senior Brother Zeng was the person Senior Brother Lou mentioned. He only told me a few words about your appearance, and you came to the garrison a month ago, and you also went to meet him. There are many people who have seen him, but your appearance matched what he said, so I paid attention to you. My mistake was that I shouldn't have waited for another day, right?"

"Think about it. I had already seen through you at the ferry, so why did I reveal your identities on the boat? I am..."

Li Wuxiang interrupted him: "How did you know that when we were at the ferry?"

"Senior Brother Zeng looked at you a few more times, and you also said a few more words. So my guess is that if I didn't have this level of skill, Senior Brother Lou wouldn't want to choose me as a swordsman, nor would he ask me to stay in Guancheng as a spy, right?"

He looked at the men eagerly. Pan Muyun frowned and thought for a moment, then hesitantly said, "If he is really a member of the True Form Cult, then this is a very stupid thing to do."

Li Wuxiang nodded: "Or maybe he thinks we would think so."

Wu Hao spread his hands and opened his mouth: "I'm talking to you, what's your name? Do you have to make things difficult for me? Are you smart?"

Li Wuxiang grinned at him: "Brother Wu, don't be angry. I said before that this is all for the sect. So, please bear with it for a while——"

"No, what do you want to do?"

"I'm just afraid you'll run away." Li Wuxiang took out another handful of whiskers from his arms, walked over and tied up his legs and feet. Wu Hao sighed and didn't resist.

Then Li Wuxiang walked aside for ten steps and waved his hand: "Brother, you have to tell us about you and Senior Brother Lou first. You have concealed too much, and it is difficult for us to make a decision."

Zeng Jianqiu sighed, and the three of them walked over.

Zeng Jianqiu was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Wu Hao who was lying on the stone ground: "I really didn't want you to come. I didn't do this on impulse, but because I used to be a Guancheng native. Li Wuxiang, remember I told you that I entered Taoism at the age of nineteen and got married, right?"

"Ah."

"I built my family in Guancheng at that time. My father's family... was considered a powerful family in Guancheng."

Li Wuxiang carefully recalled every word Zeng Jianqiu said to him at the foot of Bishan after defeating Zhao Kui in Jinshui.

"Then you said that you practiced cultivation late, so it took you more than ten years to build your foundation. Brother, your family used to be a wealthy family in Guancheng, so didn't you practice cultivation?" Li Wuxiang paused and frowned, "Or, you said at that time, 'I entered the sect when I was 19 years old, which was too late, and I was already married at that time' - Oh, you said entering the sect, not entering the Tao. Brother, your 'entry' refers to the Sword Sect, so, is there no causal relationship between your two sentences at that time?"

Zeng Jianqiu let out a long breath: "Yes. You are capable, you can think of this. Yes, I was talking about entering the Sword Sect. Before that... I could barely be considered a disciple of the True Form Sect."

(End of this chapter)