Jiaohua

Chapter 1666 The Lord of the Thousand Autumns Palace (Thank you for the donation from "The Book Has Its Own Meta")
The old man, carrying a small oil lamp in one hand, strode out from behind the stone gate. He looked up and surveyed the four walls, feeling a distinct chill.

He went down to look for Sect Master Gu and Mu Tingyu, but the underground passages were crisscrossed and the system was complex. He had no clue what to do, so he just wandered around like a headless fly, going wherever there was a way.

However, exploring this secret passage was quite interesting. He was good at finding mechanisms, and as he searched through the stone doors and mechanisms, he occasionally encountered several traps that blocked his way, all of which added a lot of fun to his journey.

Besides the trap, three other people were following him.

The three did not appear at the same time, but they were a group. The old man guessed for the time being that they were Feng Qingang's men. Since they were willing to follow behind, he let them follow.

However, after the old man opened the stone door mechanism, the three of them became somewhat impatient.

After the three whispered to each other, one of them turned around to look for someone, while the other two quickly followed.

One of them drew his knife and stabbed it directly into the old man's back. The blade was rapidly approaching, and it looked like the man was about to die. Suddenly, the old man dodged and was already to the side of the man. His strong fingers pinched the man's wrist, and the dagger fell to the ground. The old man raised his hand, and the man let out a wolf-like scream as his wrist bone was broken by the old man.

Everything happened extremely fast. Before the other person could make any move, the old man kicked him repeatedly in the elbows, abdomen, thighs, and ankles. His footwork was so fast that it left only a shadow. The man felt his vision go black and screamed as he knelt down in the dim light of the small oil lamp.

Xie Huaichu, who had just returned, heard the commotion from afar and immediately realized something was wrong.

He considered himself a master, but he was certain that he was no match for his opponent and had absolutely no chance of winning.

He immediately turned around and told Lü Wuwei to follow him quickly.

The two men rolled on the ground, groaning in pain.

After spotting the old man, they observed him closely, wondering which Taoist temple or sect he belonged to and how easy he would be to deal with. They even thought he was arrogant to the point of being foolish. In such a well-designed secret passage, he strolled around leisurely, head held high, without showing the slightest intention to hide or be cautious. They thought he was truly ignorant and fearless.

Now they realize they've messed with the wrong people.

The old man said, "You couldn't sit still as soon as I arrived. Is it because this place is important to you?"

The two men looked up at him.

The old man was thin and frail, dressed in simple farmer's clothes, but his posture was upright, exuding an air of otherworldly wisdom.

A man cried out, "Who are you?"

The old man said, "It's very cold here. Is there an ice cellar or a cold palace nearby?"

The two men dared not respond.

The old man said, "Give me directions."

After a pause, a man pointed to the left front.

The old man nodded to him, then walked away.

The two men struggled to their feet and watched in disbelief as he walked away without looking back, leaving them behind.

They attacked first, showing murderous intent. Anyone else would have gone for the kill, but the old man didn't even utter a single insult.

They didn't hurl insults, nor did they ask who they were, and they weren't curious about their identities whatsoever.

What a strange old fellow!
However, the two men soon realized something was wrong.

Although the old man didn't kill them, he crippled them.

In their current situation, becoming disabled means having absolutely no chance of survival.

Master Banjiu and the others were still in the original passageway.

The group pressed their ears against the stone wall, but they couldn't hear the old man's voice; they only heard two screams that rang out one after the other.

Xie Huaichu and Lü Wuwei left quickly, but quietly, so the Half-Nine Immortals didn't sense them passing by the wall so fast.

After calming down, the disciple of Master Banjiu said, "Master, we don't know what happened, what should we do?"

Even the Half-Nine Immortal Master frowned.

They thought that after finding Bei Xingze's body, there would be a very easy path ahead, but little did they know that the passageways were intertwined, forming a maze.

“Let’s go,” said Master Banjiu. “Right now, we have no choice but to grit our teeth and keep going.”

They continued to wander around this area, while the old man had already found the side gate of the Cold Palace.

An ancient, heavy stone gate stood before him. The old man searched for a way to open it, and after a long time, he found a stone brick that could be moved.

The stone door was sluggish and heavy, and had not been moved for hundreds of years. The old man pushed the stone bricks, and the stone door slowly opened, with a lot of dust and gravel rolling down.

The old man was quick and managed to dodge far away, but he still couldn't avoid having his vision disturbed by the swirling dust.

The cold palace was pitch black, and the chilling air that hit you was mixed with a foul odor.

After a long while, the old man waved away the sand and mist in front of him and stepped in, holding a small oil lamp.

As soon as he entered, he heard two excited voices coming from the darkness in the distance.

"Old Liling!" "A senior?!"

The old man looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Sect Master Gu and Mu Tingyu were sitting behind a table, looking up at him.

Upon seeing that it was indeed him, the two stood up, overjoyed.

The old man was fast; he quickly reached them within a hundred paces.

The old sect leader, Gu, said with his lips white from the cold, "Old Liling, you arrived so quickly!"

The old man carefully examined them and said to Sect Master Gu, "Hands."

The old sect leader extended his hand, and the old man pressed his pulse on Mu Tingyu's wrist before looking at Mu Tingyu's face.

Elder Gu said, "We still have residual poison in our bodies, and we are too weak to fight."

The old man asked, "Which door did you come in from?"

Sect Master Gu pointed to the northwest: "There! We also came by accident. We originally planned to hide for a while and then leave, but it was unusually lively outside."

The old man said, "Lively?"

Mu Tingyu continued, "Senior, we encountered many people. Besides Feng Qingang's men, two other men entered the hall. One of them was lame, and the two spoke arrogantly and were extremely conceited. Then there were three more men, who seemed to be surnamed Fang. Two of them called one of the old men 'Uncle.' They were following those two madmen."

The old man said, "Didn't you encounter a single one of your own?"

"One of us?" Mu Tingyu said, "Senior, there's only one of you here."

Elder Gu said, "Stop, stop, stop! I'm hungry and cold. Old Liling, please take us out of here."

The old man glanced back at the cold palace. The space was extremely large, and their voices echoed. Combined with the cold air, it was refreshingly cool.

The faint light from the small oil lamp in the old man's hand was practically nonexistent, making it impossible to see his surroundings clearly.

The old man said in a deep voice, "The walls of this cold palace are all made of black ice, more than ten feet high and of unknown thickness. Over the past few hundred years, we don't know how many people Feng Qingang has killed or buried here."

Elder Gu said, "This beast's life is nearing its end. When the time comes, we will gather our forces and raze this place to the ground!"

“No need to wait for another day, there’s no time like the present,” the old man said to Sect Master Gu, withdrawing his gaze. “Let’s go first.”

Both Sect Master Gu and Mu Tingyu were intelligent people. From the old man's words, they realized that he had called a lot of people this time, and it seemed that he was going to cause trouble.

Elder Gu and Mu Tingyu were overjoyed. The frustration they had suffered these past few days vanished. The master and disciple supported each other and walked with renewed vigor.

The door that led out was the one that Elder Gu and Mu Tingyu had come through before. This passageway was more spacious than the one the old man had entered through, and there were bronze dragon heads with rings for holding torches on the walls. They were so old that they were covered in rust.

The two sides exchanged information on the way.

When the topic of those packets of poison came up, Mu Tingyu found himself finding it difficult to speak in front of the old man.

Compared to the amiable and gentle demeanor of Sect Master Gu, the old man was truly unsmiling and extremely serious.

Mu Tingyu didn't consider himself a good person. He wouldn't get angry if others called him a villain. He was a villain, an open and honest villain. And he was short too. A villain is a villain.

But in front of the old man, Mu Tingyu suddenly felt ashamed to lift his head.

He spoke in a very low voice, glossed over the details, and then tried to justify himself: "Just consider it fighting fire with fire, using their own methods against them."

The old man's expression remained unchanged; he walked along, glancing at both sides, and occasionally lighting a fire.

The firelight shone on the bronze oil lamps, illuminating their path clearly. Occasionally, as they walked, an embedded square grid would suddenly appear on the wall of the passageway, where a skull, now reduced to white bones, would be placed neatly.

Sect Master Gu said, "This Feng Qing'ang is truly beyond the comprehension of ordinary people..."

Mu Tingyu always thought he was abnormal enough, but in front of this guy surnamed Feng, he found himself to be perfectly normal.

Seeing that the old man remained silent, Sect Master Gu asked, "What are you thinking about?"

The old man glanced at him and said, "I'm wondering what the relationship is between Feng Qingang and Wei Xingchuan."

Mu Tingyu blurted out, "And who is Wei Xingchuan?"

The old man said, "The master of the Thousand Autumns Palace."

Elder Gu said, "He is the leader of those who have been slaughtering the descendants of the Qiao family."

Mu Tingyu said, "So it was them!"

Then, a high wall appeared at the end, completely blocking the way ahead.

The old man stopped and turned to look at Sect Master Gu and Mu Tingyu.

Sect Master Gu said awkwardly, "...I got lost. I haven't been feeling well these past few days and have gone without food."