Chapter 60 The Purpose of the Visit

"Some Beggar's Sect disciples have discovered unusual movements among the experts of Xixia and Dali."

Zhang Chengyi repeated Xiao Feng's words, then asked with a slight smile, "And you?"

"What is your purpose in bringing people to Drum-Battering Mountain?"

The Xiao Feng before him had served as the Lord of Suzhou City for several months. Relying on his personal charisma and tactical skill, he had united most of the poisoned victims who had received transmitted internal energy, and had also absorbed the subordinates of the Murong clan into his ranks.

Last month, having lost too much of its elite combat power and a small half of the disciples who followed him in Suzhou, the Beggar's Sect naturally returned to his embrace once again.

His entire demeanor radiated the commanding presence of someone in a position of supreme authority.

It probably closely resembled the feeling of Xiao Feng entering the Khitan realm in the later stages of the Demigods and Semi-Devils novel.

Hearing Elder Zhang's inquiry, Xiao Feng showed no trace of a guilty conscience and replied frankly, "It is entirely because of me that the Emperor has decided to move against Drum-Battering Mountain."

When a few martial arts masters gathered together, the imperial court had no need to meddle at all; the more it targeted them, the more people would feel it was making a mountain out of a molehill.

However, things could not be ignored when these masters were on such intimate terms with the formidable Great General Xiao—the very man who had occupied vital territories in Jiangnan and subsequently accepted an imperial amnesty. Suzhou was simply too important. To put it bluntly, for an imperial court heavily reliant on canal transportation, losing Jiangnan was like having its throat tightly gripped, differing very little from losing half the country.

Yet the forces commanded by the King of Jiangnan, Xiao Feng, had casually displayed just a fraction of their strength and easily neutralized the imperial army. The Emperor did not believe he could not defeat them; rather, the cost of attempting to fight was simply too high. By successfully offering an amnesty, political means could be used to resolve the issue down the line.

Naturally, someone who held status in Suzhou City and had also ventured not far from the capital became a target in every sense of the word.

Someone—Zhang Chengyi felt no particular surprise, merely asking, "Is it solely because of this matter?"

It was impossible for Xiao Feng not to know how formidable Drum-Battering Mountain truly was; there was simply no place safer under the sun.

"Brother Zhang truly foresees everything like a god."

A smile, a complex mixture of helplessness and bitterness, appeared on Xiao Feng's face as he said, "They... they want me to..."

"Want you to become emperor, right?" Zhang Chengyi supplied the rest of the words that the King of Xiao had hesitated to speak for a moment.

Xiao Feng opened his mouth, sighed, and remained silent.

Every single subordinate of the Murong clan cherished ambitions of rebellion. To stabilize Suzhou City and that army of tens of thousands of artificially created masters, he needed these people, and thus he had decisively taken them under his wing.

Furthermore, the artificially created masters mostly came from the very bottom of society, harboring deep grievances against the times. A mere instigation would have them wishing to add a cloak to his majesty by tomorrow.

The Beggar's Sect disciples who followed him were willing to throw their lot in with a leader who openly acknowledged his Khitan bloodline, let alone harbor any resistance toward the emperor coming right to their doorstep.

As for his biological father, Xiao Yuanshan—who had chased him all the way to Suzhou City only to be captured by him—he accepted his son's impending rebellion with sheer delight.

Among the Great Liao, the status of the Xiao clan was second only to the Yelü. The founding emperor of Liao had decreed that only women surnamed Xiao could be chosen as empresses, granting them the inherent qualification to ascend the throne.

It could be said that by this point, Xiao Feng found himself cornered by circumstances. Unlike the Emperor Zhao, who seemed to reluctantly accept having the yellow robe thrust upon him, Xiao Feng genuinely harbored no desire to become emperor. Otherwise, he would never have accepted the amnesty and cooperated with the imperial court to restore the paralyzed city of Suzhou to operation.

"Three days from now, on the night of the full moon, accompany me to Bianliang."

Zhang Chengyi patted him on the shoulder and said nothing more. Some matters could not be resolved purely through words.

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That night, on Drum-Battering Mountain, amid the bamboo groves.

"Rustle..." The evening breeze blew gently, causing fallen leaves to whisper as shadowy figures slipped silently past.

Li Qiushui stepped lightly upon the bamboo stalks, dressed in white silk garments with a white silk ribbon veiling her face, her brows and eyes as delicate as a painting. Looking down at the three nations' experts advancing collectively toward the Deaf and Mute Valley, a trace of detached coldness surfaced in her eyes.

When Ding Chunqiu had fled in panic to Jiangnan and sent her a letter pleading for help, she naturally couldn't be bothered to respond. What was a former lover worth? He was certainly not worth remembering or rescuing; in fact, she found him somewhat tiresome.

She was someone who intensely adored handsome youths. Even when engaged in a life-or-death battle with her senior martial sister, the mere mention of a handsome youth would prompt her to take a look. Seducing Ding Chunqiu had been partly to anger Wuyazi, but to a very large extent, it was because Ding Chunqiu had been handsome in his youth.

Yet once a person aged, beauty was no longer a descriptor that applied, leaving her incapable of generating the slightest shred of interest. Out of sheer annoyance, she had simply dispatched men to have the All-In-One Hall capture Ding Chunqiu and bring him back.

She still needed to interrogate him to verify whether the news of Senior Martial Brother Wuyazi's survival was true or false.

Who could have guessed that Helian Tiezhu, that useless tool, would lead numerous elites of the All-In-One Hall on a trip from which none returned. She had not hurried to send men to the Central Plains or come in person; she had merely dispatched agents to gather information.

Su Xinghe and the Eight Freaks of Hangu wandered the martial world once more, serving a certain Golden Mountain Knight-Errant. It all sounded connected to Senior Martial Brother Wuyazi, and as more and more reports reached her ears, alongside her astonishment, she grew increasingly curious about what was happening on Drum-Battering Mountain.

She had thus voluntarily participated in this joint campaign by the Great Song and Dali to encircle Drum-Battering Mountain.

In any case, the All-In-One Hall accepted all recruits indiscriminately, a veritable melting pot of dragons and serpents. She wouldn't shed a tear over the deaths of a few expendables.

Li Qiushui gazed into the distant pitch-black night. In this era, even top-tier experts were incapable of seeing clearly in the dark. Yet theoretically, with so many people charging into the Deaf and Mute Valley, someone should have long since struck a fire-starter or ignited something.

Yet that distant darkness acted like a marsh, swallowing a hundred people in absolute silence without the slightest ripple of response.

Alarm bells rang wildly in her heart, and the urge to retreat sprouted within her. An array? A trap? Regardless of what it was, whatever lay inside must be exceedingly dangerous.

Before she could retreat, however, she heard an extremely faint sound traveling from afar and closing in rapidly. Relying on her hearing to pinpoint the position, she struck out with a palm without the slightest hesitation. Yet her compliant and versatile White Rainbow Palm Force vanished like a clay ox entering the sea. Before she could make any further movement, her body stiffened, and all the vital acupuncture points across her entire body were sealed.

The One-Sun Finger?!

Shock gripped Li Qiushui's heart. A figure whose face she could not clearly discern hoisted her up, and with a few successive bounds, floated effortlessly through the bamboo grove, entering the valley, before tossing her aside casually like a sack of grain. She vividly felt herself dumped on top of several people whose breathing brushed against her arms and back, filling her with towering rage.

Yet, even with her mastery of martial arts, she could not break the sealing technique, and the speed, lightness, and precision of the man who had captured her were completely unprecedented.

Could that be the legendary Golden Mountain Knight-Errant capable of defeating a hundred men alone?

Her anger gradually subsided with time as reason regained the upper hand. If Drum-Battering Mountain was a trap, then what did the mastermind behind the scenes seek?

Power? Wealth? Martial arts? Whatever it was, given her status, as long as she revealed her identity, everything was negotiable.

Soon, the number of captured and paralyzed people around her increased, with several individuals sprawling directly across her body. She thought calmly that once they left this place, anyone lying on top of her or whom she had to lie upon who was not blessed with handsome features would have to die.

After a long while, her senses perceived that the sounds around her were diminishing. The glow of an oil lamp flickered to life, and two voices—one following the other—rang out simultaneously not far away.

"Junior Sister..."

"Wretch!"