Martial Arts World Assassin

Chapter 168 Gathering
Hejian Prefecture is not far from the capital and can be reached in one day by horseback riding.

On the eve of the turtle killing conference, Huang Sixi asked Xiaozhuang to be his guide and go to Hejian to attend the conference.

When Fei Hongjin learned that the martial arts masters from the Central Plains were going to gather together, he also followed Huang Sixi.

The three of them left Beijing together.

They set out in the morning and arrived in Hejian Prefecture at dusk.

That day happened to be the fifteenth day of the lunar month. In order to guard against the Qing government's eyes and ears, the turtle-killing ceremony was scheduled to be held in the middle of the night at Huaishuping, eighteen miles west of the city.

Xiaozhuang once told Huang Sixi that there was a Huanggong Temple a few miles away from Huaishuping. In the past, whenever Xiaozhuang passed through Hejian, he would definitely visit the Huanggong Temple.

This time is no exception.

After the three of them arrived outside the Hejian Prefecture, she led Huang Sixi and Fei Hongjin straight to the Huang Gong Temple.

As a result, halfway through the journey, they saw a girl in red running out from the woods on the left. She looked quite panicked, as if she was avoiding someone, and she kept looking back while running.

Xiaozhuang took a closer look and recognized the girl's identity. She was Wu Qiongyao, the only daughter of Wu Yuanying, the owner of Wu Family Manor. Wu Yuanying was the leader of the Shanxi branch of the Dragon Subduing Society and was also invited to the Turtle Killing Conference. Xiaozhuang thought that Wu Qiongyao should have followed Wu Yuanying to Hejian Prefecture.

Not long ago, Xiaozhuang went to Mount Wutai to assassinate Dogduo. After being rescued by Huang Sixi, he returned to Wujiazhuang to stay temporarily. It was during this period that Wu Yuanying received the invitation to the Turtle Killing Conference and gave the invitation to Xiaozhuang for inspection. Only then did Xiaozhuang know about this martial arts event.

Xiao Zhuang immediately waved to Wu Qiongyao and shouted, "Qiongyao, come over here!"

When Wu Qiongyao heard the shout, she turned to look at Xiaozhuang and was immediately overjoyed: "Elder Zhuang..."

She immediately pounced on Xiaozhuang, who was also riding towards her on horseback.

The two were only a dozen feet apart and could meet in the blink of an eye, but the girl was followed by a pursuer, who held a knife in his left hand and a sword in his right hand, and they were dancing alternately at the girl's back.

Fei Hongjin recognized the pursuer's origin at a glance, turned around and said to Huang Sixi: "Wind and Thunder Sword! He is a disciple of Changbai Sect, he should be Qiu Dongluo's fellow apprentice!"

Back in southern Xinjiang, Fei Hongjin followed Huang Sixi to snipe and kill Qiu Dongluo, a disciple of the Changbai School. The sword used by Qiu Dongluo was exactly the same as the one used by the pursuers in front of him.

Huang Sixi naturally recognized him and rode his horse to greet him.

When the pursuers saw Huang Sixi, Xiaozhuang and Fei Hongjin coming together to pick up the girl, they subconsciously stopped for a moment.

However, the pursuer saw that Huang Sixi was still young and Xiaozhuang and Fei Hongjin were both women, so he looked down on them. He swung his sword and continued to chase the girl. But before he took two steps, Huang Sixi suddenly jumped off his horse, pulled out an iron sword from his waist, and shot it into the air.

Wu Qiongyao only felt a dark rainbow flashing beside her, and a muffled "puff" sound came out behind her.

She couldn't help but look back and found that the pursuer had a black sword handle stuck in his forehead. The pursuer instantly fell on his back and died on the spot.

She stopped immediately and stopped running.

At this time, Xiaozhuang had already come up to her on horseback and asked her, "Who is this man and why is he chasing you?"

Wu Qiongyao glanced at Huang Sixi and Fei Hongjin who were following behind, and first bowed to Huang Sixi to thank him, then replied: "This man is Liu Xiyan, a disciple of Qi Zhenjun, the head of Changbai Sect. Elder Zhuang, my father is trapped by that old villain Qi Zhenjun, you should go and help him!" Xiao Zhuang immediately asked: "Where is your father?"

Wu Qiongyao said: "It's in this forest!"

Xiaozhuang turned his head and looked at Huang Sixi.

Huang Sixi motioned to her: "Lead the way!"

Xiaozhuang stretched out his hand to Wu Qiongyao and pulled her onto the horse. The two women rode together and rushed into the woods. Soon they heard a burst of shouting and killing sounds. After riding for a mile in the woods, they arrived at the scene of the incident.

An old man with white hair and beard stretched out his hand to knock Wu Yuanying down, and then knocked down more than ten members of the Jianglong Society led by Wu Yuanying to the ground.

Speaking of Qi Zhenjun, after being defeated by the White-haired Witch in the past, he lived in seclusion in Changbai Mountain and has not appeared in the world for more than 40 years.

However, a few months ago, Huang Sixi assassinated Nalan Hideyoshi and Qiu Dongluo in southern Xinjiang. After the news was passed back to the Qing court, Nalan Hideyoshi's nephew Nalan Mingzhu asked Qi Zhenjun to leave Changbai Mountain in order to thoroughly investigate the cause of Nalan Hideyoshi's death.

Nalan Mingzhu was the prime minister of the Qing court, and Qi Zhenjun was not in a position to refuse Nalan Mingzhu's invitation. Moreover, Qi Zhenjun's disciple Qiu Dongluo also died a violent death. So Qi Zhenjun accepted Nalan Mingzhu's invitation.

After leaving Liaodong, Qi Zhenjun rushed to southern Xinjiang first. He found out in southern Xinjiang that the deaths of Nalan Xiuji and Qiu Dongluo were related to Fei Hongjin, but Fei Hongjin had already left southern Xinjiang and arrived in the Central Plains, so he followed him all the way.

Unfortunately, after searching in the Central Plains for several months, Qi Zhenjun still could not find out the whereabouts of Fei Hongjin. Instead, he learned about the Turtle Killing Conference by accident. Qi Zhenjun rushed to Hejian Prefecture without stopping, intending to find out the news about Fei Hongjin through the Central Plains martial arts world.

Qi Zhenjun knew that the Turtle Killing Conference was organized by a group of anti-Qing elements, but he was working for the Qing court. In order to prevent his identity from being exposed, he concealed his identity and only brought a few disciples to the conference in a low-key manner. Naturally, he did not want to conflict with the warriors from the Central Plains.

Unexpectedly, when he passed through this woods, he met Wu Yuanying by chance.

Wu Yuanying was the leader of the Shanxi branch. When he arrived in Hejian Prefecture, he was personally greeted by Ding You, the leader of the Zhili branch of the Jianglong Society. As per convention, Ding You escorted Wu Yuanying to the Huanggong Temple, which was also the meeting place of many branches of the Jianglong Society.

While walking through the woods, Wu Yuanying and Ding You talked about the situation of Xiaozhuang, the guardian of the Jianglong Society, and Taoist Dongxuan.

Not long ago, when Wu Yuanying was at Wujiazhuang, he entertained Huang Sixi, Fei Hongjin, Jiunan and Xiaozhuang successively. Wu Yuanying mentioned Fei Hongjin to Ding You casually, and his words were heard by Qi Zhenjun who was nearby.

Qi Zhenjun had been tracking Fei Hongjin for several months. When he heard the news about Fei Hongjin, he immediately captured Wu Yuanying and tried to force him to tell him the whereabouts of Fei Hongjin.

Seeing that Qi Zhenjun was a martial arts master, Wu Yuanying asked his daughter Wu Qiongyao and his disciples to go to Huang Gong Temple to seek help from the members of the Jianglong Society stationed there.

But Wu Qiongyao was still young and her martial arts skills were not very good. She was chased by Liu Xiyan, a disciple of Qi Zhenjun. Unable to get rid of Liu Xiyan, she rushed out of the woods in a panic, and then she met Huang Sixi, Fei Hongjin and Xiaozhuang.

However, Wu Yuanying's other disciples broke through the interception of Qi Zhenjun's disciples and successfully delivered the message to Huang Gong Temple.

When Huang Sixi arrived at the scene, the heroes of the Jianglong Society who gathered in the Huanggong Temple also came to support him, arriving almost at the same time as Huang Sixi.

At this time, Qi Zhenjun had just knocked down Wu Yuanying, Ding You and others. He originally wanted to evacuate the woods immediately, but the members of the Jianglong Society came very quickly, and hundreds of people quickly surrounded him.

He immediately blocked Wu Yuanying in front of him and shouted, "I have no ill intentions. I just want to get some information. As long as Master Wu is willing to reveal the information, I will release him immediately."

(End of this chapter)