Martial Arts Crossover: My Wife is the Top Scholar

Chapter 344 Lu Xiaofeng: Li Zhaoting, we're not even as useful as dogs!

The people around Youming Manor had long been frightened away by the ghosts and monsters, and the surrounding area was now desolate wilderness.

Apart from a narrow path trodden by martial arts practitioners heading to Ghost Manor for treasure, the surrounding area for thirty or forty miles was filled with chaotic rocks and overgrown weeds, dark and gloomy, resembling a city of the unjustly dead.

Because this path leads to the "underworld," it is jokingly called "Little Yellow Springs." As dusk approaches, the tall weeds sway in the wind like the claws of a demon king, and the occasional cawing of crows sends chills down one's spine.

Being highly skilled in martial arts doesn't mean you're not afraid of ghosts.

Even the audacious Lu Xiaofeng felt a chill run down his spine. He tightened his cloak, picked up Yuanbao, and warmed him with the thick dog fur.

Legend has it that dog blood can ward off evil spirits.

Yuanbao, a spirit dog that understands human nature, is the best at suppressing demons and evil spirits, and monsters and goblins dare not approach.

Li Zhaoting, Lu Xiaofeng, and Jiang Yuyan walked along the Little Yellow Springs towards the Netherworld Manor, their brows furrowed. There were only footprints indicating entry, not exit.

What do the evil masters in Youming Manor eat and drink on a daily basis? Do they live on air and dew?
Just as the three were studying the route, seven burly men rushed over from the small inn, quickly surrounded them, and knelt on the ground, kowtowing repeatedly, leaving the three completely bewildered.

"Um...who are you?"

"We beg you two heroes to avenge us! We are willing to serve you like slaves to repay your kindness!"

"Let's clarify things first."

"Great hero, please forgive us, our master..."

The master of the seven was named Guo Zhigeng, who was proficient in ten kinds of strange weapons and was known as the "Ten Absolute Soul-Chasing Hands". He took in ten disciples and taught each of them a unique skill.

Three years ago, Guo Zhigeng's three treacherous disciples went to Youming Manor to search for treasures and never returned. Guo Zhigeng went to Youming Manor to look for his disciples, and he too never returned.

Knowing that their master was likely in grave danger, the seven men had been practicing martial arts diligently for the past three years, hoping to avenge their master.

Half a month ago, the seven felt they had mastered martial arts and went to Youming Manor together, where they encountered Qu Benlei on the way.

Qu Benlei was moved by the seven men's filial piety and thought to himself, "My apprentice is half as loyal and righteous as they are. He can die in peace. Such loyal and righteous heroes should not have their lives wasted."

Qu Benlei was not good with words. He used a pair of broadswords to stop the seven people, saying that their martial arts skills were too poor. Not only could they not avenge the wrongdoing, but they would also get themselves killed. He told them to go back and train hard for three years, and then come back to him to settle scores.

The seven were reluctant to leave and lingered in the inn until Li Zhaoting arrived. They thought that no matter how powerful the demons and monsters of Youming Manor were, they could not possibly defeat Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng, so they came to ask the great hero for help.

Behind the seven men was a man in brocade robes, in his thirties, who looked like a wealthy businessman. Lu Xiaofeng recognized him; his name was Cai Yudan, a famous silk merchant from Suzhou and the Xue family's most important client.

Cai Yudan and Shi Youming are good friends.

Three years ago, the entire Youming Manor was wiped out. Cai Yudan was determined to avenge Shi Youming, so she handed over the family business to her third uncle and searched everywhere for information about Youming Manor.

Cai Yudan thought that if he wanted to avenge his friend, he would at least have to ask a Grandmaster of the Heavenly Gang. However, Grandmasters were either elders of famous sects or held high positions. How could a mere silk merchant like him ask them to do so?
Having met Lu Xiaofeng today, I thought to myself, even if I don't care about the monk, I should at least ask Lu Xiaofeng for help out of respect for Xue Bing. I figured there wouldn't be any problem.

Li Zhaoting helped the seven people up: "Youming Manor hides many evil masters. You must not leave my sight, and it is best not to leave my sight more than three zhang away."

"Thank you both for your help."

"Go and prepare a few carts."

What are we preparing the cart for?

"Move the body. I'm planning to burn down Youming Manor. Do you want Guo Zhigeng's ashes to be mixed with the murderer's ashes? Get the car ready."

"We...have prepared coffins!"

The seven men opened their shirts, revealing tattoos on their chests.

The tattoo only has two words...revenge!
It turned out that the seven men were determined to take revenge and called themselves the Seven Heroes of Revenge. Before they came, they had made seven coffins.

Either avenge your master!
Either die in the Netherworld Manor.

Lu Xiaofeng exclaimed, "Guo Zhigeng is truly blessed! With disciples like you, I can die in peace!"

Tattoos might be a way to gain fame or show off.

Carrying a coffin to the Netherworld Manor and recklessly venturing into the Netherworld is absolutely no joke; such loyalty is extremely rare in the martial arts world.

In the original storyline, all of these people died.

More than forty people with names entered the Netherworld Manor, but only three survived. The only survivor was a young, beautiful, gentle, lively, and knowledgeable woman who was raped and murdered in the next plot!

It was so shocking it was like being struck by lightning!
It makes you want to smash your phone!

In the world of martial arts novels, survival is an incredibly difficult task, especially for female warriors. The more beautiful, passionate, intelligent, decisive, youthful, gentle, and sincere a woman is, the more tragic her fate tends to be. There is only one exception.

The eldest daughter of the Wen family is "gentle"!
She possesses the strongest female protagonist aura in the Wen family!
You could beat up the emperor and get away with it!
Male characters are also not immune to the curse of bad luck.

Each of the Four Great Constables has their own tragic story.

Qi Shaoshang lost an arm and was crippled.

Su Mengzhen was betrayed and committed suicide.

Even Xiao Qiushui, who is said to have the strongest protagonist halo and who cultivates immortality while others practice martial arts, had a miserable life, was repeatedly betrayed, lost his entire family, and was imprisoned for several years.

Heroes and valiant men, noblewomen and chivalrous women, devoted lovers—there is no tender romance, only bloodshed and carnage!
Characters like the Four Great Constables, the Seven Heroes of Revenge, and Zhuge Zhengwo are like a ray of light in a bloody storm and a jungle of swords, revealing their awe-inspiring righteousness amidst the gloom and thick clouds!
At some unknown time, a giant stone formation, two or three hundred feet tall, was built at the entrance of the Netherworld Manor.

A two-zhang (approximately 6.6 meters) flagpole stands at the entrance of the formation.

A body was hanging at the top of the flagpole.

The corpse had a sign tied to its feet.

Once you enter the Netherworld Manor, you'll never return home!

Lu Xiaofeng leaped and grabbed the corpse. The corpse was dressed in fine clothes and looked like a rich young man.

Cai Yudan recognized the man's identity: "He is the son of a wealthy man in Baidi City, named Chang Wutian. He is a complete playboy who causes trouble all day long."

His father was a rich but heartless man who committed many evils. He only had one son and was worried that the family line would end, so he hired more than a dozen bodyguards for him. He never expected that his son would die here.

This is karma!

Lu Xiaofeng examined the body with a cold and stern expression: "The time of death was about three days ago. He died from excessive blood loss. First, someone sealed his acupoints on his back, and then someone hugged his neck and sucked out his blood. There were marks on his body from being pecked by vultures, golden eagles and other birds of prey. We must be careful of the sky."

Upon hearing this, the leader of the Seven Revenge Heroes couldn't help but sigh, "It's a pity that the seventh brother is wicked. If he were here, he could have used his bow and arrow to kill the raptor."

Cai Yudan asked, "Hero Li, Hero Lu, how do we get through the formation? Should we have someone probe it?"

Li Zhaoting gently stroked the stone wall, feeling the strange pulling sensation, and sneered, "The one who set up this stone formation is a master! These stones contain magnetite, which can malfunction a compass and interfere with a martial artist's sense of direction. If you rashly enter the formation, you will quickly lose your way."

"Let's go scout the formation!"

The seven heroes of revenge rose up suddenly.

Li Zhaoting reached out to stop them: "This formation is prepared for people. Unless you are a formation master like Xu Xiaoyi or Huang Yaoshi, a normal person will die if they enter the formation."

"so what should I do now?"

"Anyone who goes in will die, but the dog will be fine!"

Li Zhaoting patted Yuanbao's head: "Yuanbao, lead the way and help me get through this stone formation."

Yuanbao, sticking out his tongue, led the way.

The seven heroes, seeking revenge, looked at each other in bewilderment.

That works too!

Of course this won't work.

The demons and monsters of Youming Manor aren't fools; they'll definitely have an ambush set up in the stone formation. A single flying needle could kill Yuanbao; he must be protected closely. Li Zhaoting led the way, leading the dog.

The Seven Heroes of Revenge and Cai Yudan followed behind.

Lu Xiaofeng and Jiang Yuyan brought up the rear.

This stone formation is truly remarkable. It is a modified version of the Eight Formations of Zhuge Liang. It appears to be a stone formation or an illusionary formation, arranged in accordance with the Five Elements, Eight Trigrams, and Plum Blossom Divination. However, it is not a formation at all; it is a huge maze.

If you enter the maze following the strategy of breaking the formation, and try to deduce the gates of creation and death based on the Bagua directions, you will be trapped in the maze until you die, or you will be so exhausted that you will ignore the dangers around you and be easily hit by someone's pressure points.

What is virtual is real, what is real is virtual.

It is both a formation and not a formation.

This formation is specifically designed to counter clever people.

The smarter, more knowledgeable, and more eloquent a person is, the more likely they are to get stuck on trivial matters and inadvertently stray into a dead end.

If students like Lan Fenghuang and Wang Shenglan, who are academic underachievers, were to break through the formation, they would find it easier to escape. One of them would use the Overlord Spear to demolish the house, while the other would use snakes and insects to guide the way.

Snakes have their paths, and rats have theirs.

A pearl with its intricate internal structure is difficult for even the most skilled embroiderer to thread, but if you place the queen ant at one end and have the ants tie the thread to the other end, the ants can quickly find their way out.

Getting Lu Xiaofeng through the maze is very troublesome.

Finding an exit for the gold ingot is very easy.

Yuanbao only needs to find the part with the strongest human scent by following the smell of blood, and then use his nose to find the way out of the maze by following the remaining scent.

Xin Shisan, who was lurking in the maze, was furious with Li Zhaoting. He never expected that the maze he had spent a lot of money to build would be breached by a dog.

Xin Shisan is the third junior sister of Youming Manor. She is proficient in the Chameleon Divine Skill, also known as the "Color-Changing Technique". She has a stealth ability similar to camouflage, which allows her body color to quickly change to the color of nearby objects. When attached to a tree, she becomes tree bark; when hiding in the snow, she becomes a snowball; and when hidden in a maze, her color is indistinguishable from that of rocks.

Even powerful figures like Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng would find it difficult to detect Xin Shisan's presence. Among all the methods of concealing one's aura throughout history, this method ranks at least in the top five.

Again!
Dogs can do things that humans can't.

Yuanbao sensed the corpse's aura.

The stench of death seeps deep into the bones.

Xin Shisan kills someone every thirteen days to absorb corpse energy in order to maintain his power. Similar to Ding Chunqiu's Dissolving Power Technique, without external replenishment, the internal true energy clashes and backfires on him in a very short time.

"Wang Wang Wang!"

Yuanbao shouted at the stone wall in front of him.

Li Zhaoting formed the Vajra Wheel Mudra with both hands and unleashed a "Lion's Roar" in front of him. Behind him, Buddhist light condensed into a majestic lion, which opened its blood-red maw. The tangible sound waves echoed through the maze. The Seven Heroes of Revenge felt comfortable and their blood surged, like the sound of a Kui Niu war drum. Xin Shisan clutched his head and howled in agony.

Fortunately, the color-changing technique was profound enough that even with his soul injured, Xin Shisan was still able to escape using his camouflage.

Li Zhaoting sneered, flipped his hand seal from the Great Vajra Wheel Seal to the Outer Binding Seal, and raised his hand to unleash a Tathagata Divine Light, the formless sound echoing in the maze.

Tathagata's Divine Light - Buddha Asks the Monastery!

This move wasn't very destructive, but it was a wide-range group attack targeting vicious and wicked people. Xin Shisan needed to kill people to practice his skills, and he had accumulated a huge amount of corpse energy in his body. When he was swept by the Wuxiang Sound Gang, it was like snowflakes meeting the warm sun. All his power quickly dissipated, revealing his true nature.

Xin Shisan, disheveled and bleeding from all seven orifices, roared madly, "Fourth Brother! Come save me! Come save me! Kill them all!"

"Wow!"

A mournful eagle cry echoed from mid-air.

A ferocious vulture fell from the sky.

This vulture is named "Dapeng," a ferocious beast kept by Youming Manor. Known as "Fourth Junior Brother," it enjoys eating human flesh and is specifically responsible for destroying corpses and covering up the evidence.

Before entering the maze, the group deduced the possible methods the enemy might use. Seeing the vulture swooping down, Lu Xiaofeng grabbed a sharp awl and shot it out.

The Seven Heroes of Revenge are each skilled in a particular weapon, which can be used against all kinds of enemies. In the hands of a master like Lu Xiaofeng, these weapons can unleash ten times their power!
The sharp cone transformed into a beam of golden light.

The vulture hurriedly used its sharp talons to grab the pointed cone.

The vulture is revered as the "Fourth Junior Brother" because it is highly intelligent, has undergone rigorous training, is adept at dodging arrows, and can also use its sharp talons to catch hidden weapons.

These claws are incredibly swift, but no matter how powerful a vulture is, how can it defeat a phoenix?
Lu Xiaofeng, holding a steel knife, soared into the sky, his figure changing several times in a second, like a golden phoenix flying through the heavens and riding the wind. He brushed past the vulture, swung his knife with a move called "Black Bird Slashes Sand," and the vulture's head flew into the air.

At the same time, Li Zhaoting formed a sword with his fingers, raised his hand and unleashed a sword aura, severing Xin Shisan's head.

"Clap!"

The headless corpse lay on the ground.

He held two sharp icicles in his left hand.

He held seven or eight slender silver needles in his right hand.

The Seven Heroes of Revenge couldn't help but shudder. Xin Shisan and Bald Vulture were killed in an instant, seemingly with ease and comfort, but that was because Li Zhaoting and Lu Xiaofeng were exceptionally skilled in martial arts. If it were the seven of them, they wouldn't even be able to get through the maze.

Xin Shisan's stealth skills and the ferocity of the vultures falling from the sky terrified the Seven Heroes of Revenge.

If they were to face Xin Shisan, even in the underworld, they wouldn't know how he died.

Li Zhaoting chuckled and patted the dog's head: "Yuanbao, you've done a great service this time. You'll be rewarded with a bowl of bones when we get back."

"Woof woof woof woof~"

Yuanbao wagged its tail excitedly.

"Would you like to try some roasted bird meat?"

Lu Xiaofeng picked up the vulture's carcass. This vulture was a rare species, over a meter tall, capable of carrying a strong adult man into the air, and its muscles were quite muscular.

Li Zhaoting said, "This beast has been eating people for a long time, and its body has accumulated a huge amount of toxins. If a person eats it, they will die!"

"Vultures are known to eat people!"

"Xin Shisan likes to kill people with poison needles. All the people she kills are covered in poison. Vultures eat the flesh of these people, and their sharp beaks and claws are all poisonous."

"How do you know so clearly?"

"Didn't you see Yuanbao shaking his head? Even dogs won't eat this stuff, do you think a person can eat it?"

"Uh……"

Lu Xiaofeng was speechless.

The clever, witty, and dashing Lu Xiaofeng never dreamed that one day he would be outshone by a dog. Judging from the current situation, Yuanbao is indeed more useful, and its battle merits rank first.

The Netherworld Manor is like a level-based adventure game.

Each map contains a hidden boss.

After defeating the BOSS, the path ahead is clear.

Yuanbao led the way, and soon they passed through the huge stone formation. The Netherworld Manor came into view. Everyone was stunned at first, and then a fierce anger rose up in their eyes.

Outside the villa were mountains of bones.

Bones piled up like mountains, and death hung like a mist.

　The plot of "The Netherworld Manor" is from "The Four Great Constables Meet in the Capital," a rare joint investigation by the four great constables. They each solve a case first, and then work together to deal with thirteen villains. As usual, it was interrupted and had a bad ending...

　　
　
(End of this chapter)