Hunyuan Immortal Sect

Chapter 254 Internal and external difficulties
Zhong Wenyuan pondered, "Kong Xiangyuan's grudge is against the Sect Leader. Their real purpose in capturing Hu Xiaobao might be to lure the Sect Leader away. At this point, we must remain calm. The Sect Leader must not act rashly."

"I'll go negotiate with the Kong family first, find out what's going on, and find out their details."

"Hu Xiaobao was captured by the Kong family in Nanyuan Valley Market. The Ding family might also be involved. It would be best to send someone to investigate the Ding family."

"Anyway, let's get the situation clear first."

As soon as he finished speaking, there was a sudden noisy sound outside.

"My dear grandson, my dear grandson." It was the voice of Old Man Hu, coming from far away.

"Master, Mr. Hu is here. I told him you were discussing important matters and asked him to wait, but he wouldn't stop and insisted on breaking in. We couldn't stop him." The housekeeper of the mansion came outside to report.

Obviously, Old Man Hu heard from somewhere that Hu Xiaobao had been arrested, so he rushed over.

"Brother Ning Yuan, please go to the Ding family immediately and ask them about the situation."

"Fu Quan, go back to Nanyuanfang and find out the details of Hu Xiaobao's murder, then report back."

The two of them left in response.

"Grandpa, why are you here?" Song Xian came outside the hall and saw the white-haired old man Hu walking towards him tremblingly, so he stepped forward to support him.

Old Man Hu is eighty years old, but he is still in good health and has no serious illness. He walked out of the courtyard in small steps, leaning on a crutch and supported by a maid.

"My dear grandson! I heard that Xiaobao was kidnapped by bad guys." Old Man Hu asked anxiously, holding him tightly with his old hands.

"The situation is currently unknown. I've already sent someone to inquire about it. Don't worry, Grandpa! If he was really kidnapped, I will definitely bring him back."

"My dear grandson, you must save Xiaobao, you must save Xiaobao." Old Man Hu kept repeating to him, asking him to go and rescue Hu Xiaobao.

Song Xian comforted her and sent someone to call Su Zhirou over.

Because Old Man Hu favored this granddaughter-in-law the most, whenever he had any problems, he would go to Su Zhirou privately to help him solve them.

Su Zhirou has a gentle and kind nature. She usually agrees to anything others ask of her, so she is deeply loved by Old Man Hu.

…………

At night, Zhang Ningyuan and Fu Quan both returned and brought the news they had learned.

The Ding family vehemently denied that Hu Xiaobao's kidnapping had anything to do with them, and said they would investigate the matter with all their strength. If the Hunyuan Sect needed any help, they could provide it.

Fu Quan found out in the market that the reason why Hu Xiaobao had a conflict with the Kong family cultivators was because of a female cultivator, and it seemed that the two sides were jealous of each other or something.

It is said that Hu Xiaobao had a close relationship with the female cultivator. The two had just left the market when they happened to meet the cultivators from the Kong family. They had an argument and started fighting outside the market. Then the cultivators from the Kong family rushed forward, subdued Hu Xiaobao and took him away.

This statement is unreliable. The Kong family must have planned to deal with Hu Xiaobao in advance. It is impossible that they did it because of jealousy of a female cultivator.

If this is true, it is also a trap set by the Kong family, just like when the Beast Taming Sect disciple deliberately teased Su Zhirou and aroused his anger.

Hu Xiaobao has been spoiled since he was a child. He is also rather willful in the sect and has always been domineering. If he really encounters this situation, he will definitely fight with the monk from the Kong family.

No matter what the actual situation is, since there are clues, they must be investigated. Song Xian then asked Zhang Ningyuan to find this female cultivator, and Zhong Wenyuan has also set off for Bianxi City. He does not know the specific purpose of the Kong family for the time being, and he cannot act rashly. He can only wait for Zhong Wenyuan to come back from Bianxi City before making any plans.

…………

In Bianxi City, in the spacious and bright hall of the Kong family mansion, Zhong Wenyuan waited for a whole day. It was not until the next day that he saw the Kong family members.

The person who came was a short, well-built middle-aged man with a smiling face, looking quite kind.

"Fellow Daoist Zhong, I've been waiting for you for a long time. I'm Kong Xiangjun." The middle-aged fat man said with a smile and bowed politely.

"Friend Kong, I apologize for bothering you. I heard that our disciple Hu Xiaobao had a misunderstanding with a cultivator from your mansion in the Nanyuan Valley market and was taken away by your mansion. I wonder if this is true?" Zhong Wenyuan was left out for a whole day, but he still didn't show any impatience.

"I'm not aware of this matter. Where did Brother Zhong hear about it?"

"The person in charge of the Nanyuan Valley Market informed our sect that our disciple Hu Xiaobao was subdued and taken away by several disciples of your mansion. Our sect leader sent me here to express our apologies to your mansion. Hu Xiaobao was young and ignorant and offended your mansion. I hope your mansion will show mercy and let him go."

"Is this true? I really don't know. How about this! Fellow Daoist Zhong, please wait a moment while I go down and ask around."

Zhong Wenyuan knew the Kong family was trying to embarrass him. He had been waiting all day, and now this person showed up, playing dumb. Clearly, the Kong family had no intention of negotiating with him properly.

Perhaps they felt that he, as an elder, wasn't important enough? Zhong Wenyuan knew this trip would be fruitless, but he couldn't get angry, so he could only respond politely.

"Then I'd like to thank you, fellow Taoist."

The middle-aged man strode out.

……

In the dimly lit room, Kong Zhenqing pushed the door open and walked in. He bowed slightly to the old man with white hair and beard sitting inside, saying, "Master."

"I heard that a disciple of Hunyuan Sect was arrested in the mansion. Is that true?"

"This person injured a monk from this palace, so he was arrested."

The old man looked at him deeply. Over the years, he had put aside all the affairs of the Kong family and basically handed them over to Kong Zhenqing.

However, he did not agree with some of Kong Zhenqing's practices, simply because Kong Zhenqing had a closer relationship with him, and he was dying and had not much time left. In order to let Kong Zhenqing take over the position of head of the family smoothly, he delegated all power to him and increased his weight and prestige within the Kong family.

There are actually three forces within the Kong family, namely the eldest branch, the second branch, and the third branch.

In the second branch of the family, there are no other foundation-building cultivators except him and Kong Zhenqing. If the second branch wants to continue to hold the power of the family, there is no other candidate except to pass it on to Kong Zhenqing. In fact, the two have very different styles of doing things.

Kong Zhenqing was a cruel, sharp-tongued person, and very protective of his shortcomings. This resulted in him being very popular among the second wife's children, but the other children were not very convinced of him.

"You didn't do well." The old man shook his head. Although he was no longer in charge of the family's specific affairs, there were still people who reported important matters in the mansion to him. Naturally, he knew that Kong Xiangyuan was injured in the foundation-building selection competition.

It is obvious that Kong Zhenxiang did this to take revenge on Song Xian and vent his anger on behalf of Kong Xiangyuan.

Both of them knew this very well. Kong Zhenxiang's answer just now was just a reasonable and legitimate excuse to the outside world, showing that this matter was reasonable and well-founded.

"Song Xian injured Xiang Yuan in public, causing great loss of face for our government. We must redeem this face, otherwise we will be made a laughing stock and no one will respect our government anymore."

"Victory and defeat are common in the military, not to mention losing in a competition. It can only be attributed to lack of strength. After that, if you work hard to practice and break through the foundation, naturally no one will mention it again. All cultivators are based on practice. What they compete for is who can go further, not who can go faster. I have been defeated by others many times, but those who defeated me back then have turned to dust. Who still remembers them?" Kong Zhenqing remained silent.

Silence itself is a form of silent resistance.

In his opinion, the head of the family was a little weak and too tolerant both internally and externally.

This led to the mansion being trapped both internally and externally. In the eyes of other forces in Bianxi City, the Kong family was a behemoth, but in fact it was riddled with holes inside.

Corruption is rampant throughout the mansion. The monks from the first and third branches each occupy many production sites under the name of the mansion, and they amass wealth wantonly and enrich themselves, causing the mansion's finances to be in trouble. However, the head of the family just lets it go and does nothing about it, calling it "sincere unity and family harmony bring prosperity."

Externally, whether dealing with the Luoyun Sect or the Beast Taming Sect, whenever there was a dispute over interests, he never fought for it forcefully, but instead compromised, resulting in a lot of losses.

...............

In the brightly lit hall, Zhong Wenyuan waited until nightfall before seeing Kong Xiangjun return, still with a kind smile on his face.

"Oh! Fellow Daoist Zhong, I've been waiting for a long time. I've already made inquiries and it's true. Your sect's cultivator, Hu Xiaobao, injured someone from this prefecture, and he's been detained in this cell."

"Friend Kong, this is definitely a misunderstanding. Can you let me see Hu Xiaobao first?"

"That's not possible. Prisoners in the cell are not allowed to meet outsiders."

Zhong Wenyuan pulled out a cloth bag he had prepared earlier and handed it to him. "Fellow Daoist Kong, please be flexible. I only want to meet him once to see how he is doing."

Kong Xiangjun didn't even glance at the bag. He smiled and withdrew his hand, expressing his refusal: "Fellow Daoist Zhong, please forgive me. This is the rule of this prefecture."

Seeing his attitude, Zhong Wenyuan knew that the Kong family would definitely not let him see Hu Xiaobao, let alone let him go.

"May I ask, Fellow Daoist Kong, how long does your government intend to detain Hu Xiaobao?"

"Well, we have to wait until the trial before we can convict him. Hu Xiaobao violated the rules of this prefecture, so naturally, we must deal with him. If someone injured a disciple of your sect, your sect would not sit idly by, right? But don't worry, Fellow Daoist Zhong, this prefecture will give him a fair judgment."

…………

In a dimly lit room in Tianshan, Huang Ye was reporting the information the intelligence team had.

After investigation, it was found that the female cultivator who was with Hu Xiaobao in Nanyuan Valley Market was named Xu Yunfei, a casual cultivator.

This person was introduced to Hu Xiaobao by a disciple of the sect named Zhuang Jian. Zhuang Jian was a casual cultivator recruited by the sect. Since Hu Xiaobao was captured, he left the sect and never returned.

So it is basically certain that this is a trap.

If Zhuang Jian was not a spy arranged by the Kong family in Hunyuan Sect, he must have been bribed by the Kong family.

He teamed up with a woman named Xu Yunfei to trap Hu Xiaobao and led him to Nanyuanfang, where he fell into a trap designed by the Kong family.

At that time, it was Kong Xiangyun and others who captured Hu Xiaobao outside Nanyuanfang.

"Find this Zhuang Jian." After listening to the report, Song Xian gave instructions with a gloomy expression.

In a sect of two or three hundred monks, it is impossible for everyone to be of one mind. Intrigue for interests or positions is inevitable, but there should be a bottom line. Behavior like betraying fellow disciples must not be tolerated and must be punished to set an example.

"I guess this person is either under the protection of the Kong family, or has already received benefits and left Bianxi City."

"No matter where he is, we must not let him go easily. Otherwise, if everyone in the sect follows suit, wouldn't it cause chaos? If he is under the protection of the Kong family, find out where he is and secretly send someone to eliminate him. If it is confirmed that he has fled to Bianxi City, issue a reward for his arrest."

"Yes."

"Any news from the Ding family? They must be involved in this matter!"

"There is currently no evidence that the Ding family is involved. Even if they were involved, they are just a minor player and not a cause for concern. The more important issue is the Kong family."

"What do you think the Kong family's purpose is?"

Huang Ye replied: "There are three factions within the Kong family. Kong Zhenqing is the leader of the second-house brothers. He is being trained as the future successor to the Kong family. However, his style of doing things is somewhat extreme, and his personality is vindictive. He is not very popular within the family."

"Kong Xiangyuan, Kong Xiangyun and others are descendants of the second branch, so they can basically take over. This action was directed by Kong Zhenqing, and the purpose is obvious: to vent Kong Xiangyuan's anger."

"This is consistent with Kong Zhenqing's personality. He doesn't want to suffer any loss and advocates a tough stance both internally and externally."

"This man cannot be moved by words. I think it will be difficult to get him to release Hu Xiaobao."

Song Xian frowned: "In your opinion, what should we do?"

Putting aside his personal relationship with Hu Xiaobao, from a public perspective, Hu Xiaobao is a talented disciple of the sect. If he is really captured by the Kong family or even his life is taken, it will be an immeasurable loss to the sect.

"There are three factions within the Kong family. Not everyone is as extreme and hardline as Kong Zhenqing. For example, the current head of the Kong family, Kong Dexing, is from the second branch of the Kong family. He is more tolerant and has always had a good reputation."

"If we can get an influential person to find Kong Dexing and persuade him with both emotion and reason, we might have a chance to rescue Hu Xiaobao from the Kong family."

Song Xian remained silent. This was the only way. If he wanted to rescue Hu Xiaobao from the Kong family, he had to negotiate. To put it bluntly, he had to surrender and admit defeat. It all depended on whether the other party gave him face.

There is no way. In this world, whoever has the bigger fist is right.

Even if a discerning person could see at a glance that this was a conspiracy plotted by the Kong family, because they were so powerful, they were always right.

The only mistake of Hunyuan Sect is that it is not strong enough, so it can only be slaughtered by others. Even when being beaten by others, it has to face them with a smile.

The only people in Bianxi City who could have a say with Kong Dexing on this matter were Luoyun Sect's headmaster Tao Jinyuan and Jiang Feng.

Only these two people can be asked to come forward. Only then will the Kong family give face and release Hu Xiaobao. No one else is important enough.

He and Tao Jinyuan had almost no connection, although strictly speaking, they were related and if he was shameless, he could call the other uncle.

But this weak kinship connection is not worth mentioning at all. It is better to have a cooperative relationship with Jiang Feng like this one.

But Jiang Feng is a guy who will not do anything without profit, and this matter has nothing to do with him. It is undoubtedly a pipe dream to want to invite him just because there is some cooperation between the two of them.

Only by paying enough benefits can Jiang Feng be persuaded to come forward.

To impress Jiang Feng, it is not enough to just give him some spirit stones, he must spend a lot of money.

(End of this chapter)