Martial Arts Secret Realm: Only I Can Know the Plot?

Ding Dian was not without a chance to resist.

But Ling Tuisi is Ling Shuanghua's father, so he couldn't bring himself to kill her.

They were inherently at a disadvantage.

Ling Tuisi was ruthless towards Lin Shuanghua, but Lin Shuanghua could not be ruthless towards Ling Tuisi.

"And now?" Sun Fan asked.

Ding Dian remained silent for a while.

"I can't bring myself to do it now," he said, "but I can help you."

"help me?"

"Yes." Ding Dian looked at him. "I know the details of Ling Tuisi's martial arts. I also know his weaknesses. I can teach you—how to defeat him."

Sun Fan did not answer immediately.

He thought for a moment before speaking, "Brother Ding, I don't need to beat Ling Tuisi."

Ding Dian was taken aback: "Then what do you want?"

"I want him to lose," Sun Fan said. "To lose miserably, to lose completely, to lose so badly that he has no chance of ever recovering."

He looked into Ding Dian's eyes: "Winning against him is a simple matter. What I need to do is ensure he has no chance to hurt anyone else."

Evil people deserve their just deserts; that's a self-evident truth.

Ding Dian stared at him for a long time.

"You rascal, sometimes you really don't act like a scholar."

Sun Fan smiled: "I've said it before, I belong to the Celestial Masters Sect."

"The people of the Celestial Masters sect are all involved in worldly affairs."

Ding Dian did not ask any further questions.

He took out a booklet containing his insights on cultivating the Divine Illumination Scripture.

Seeing this, Sun Fan clasped his hands in thanks and said, "Thank you, Brother Ding."

"Don't thank me." Ding Dian waved his hand. "I should be thanking you. If you hadn't helped Shuangmei resolve her inner conflict, I don't know how much longer she could have endured."

"Now that she's dead, I have no reason to stay in this world."

He paused, his voice softening: "She made me realize that there are still reasons to live in this world."

Sun Fan didn't speak, he just stood there quietly.

The moonlight spilled into the courtyard, casting long, long shadows of the two people.

A few days later, Dong Dahai finally brought some important news.

"Squad leader, the Blood Blade Sect has arrived."

Sun Fan was practicing his sword when he heard this, and sheathed his sword.

"Where are we?"

"We'll stay in a dilapidated temple thirty miles outside the city," Dong Dahai said in a low voice. "There are five of us, all second-generation disciples—Baoxiang, Shanyong, Shengdi, Shankang, and Shanxiong. Baoxiang is leading the group; he's the eldest disciple of the Blood Saber Ancestor."

Sun Fan walked to the stone table, sat down, and poured himself a cup of tea.

"Five people, what's their strength?"

"They all seem to be at the peak of the third realm, so there shouldn't be any experts at the fourth realm," Dong Dahai said, flipping through the booklet in his hand. "Bao Xiang is the strongest. Shan Yong and Sheng Di are next, and Shan Kang and Shanxiong are slightly weaker. But the Blood Blade Sect is best at actual combat. When they are at lower realms, they fight very fiercely. If the five of them join forces, I'm afraid most people below the peak of the fourth realm would not fare well."

"Did they keep their arrival in Jingzhou a secret?"

"Don't worry, Red Wolf has been secretly following behind. They're quite careless on the road, so they won't notice us at all. However, they've been burning, killing, looting, and committing all sorts of atrocities along the way, so even if they wanted to keep it a secret, they couldn't keep it hidden for long."

Sun Fan paused for a moment while holding the teacup.

Those scoundrels from the Blood Blade Sect truly deserve to die.

He has already recorded these blood debts in his account, waiting for the day when they will all be settled.

"Did they receive the message I asked them to release?"

"We've received it. They already know that Ling Tuisi was the former leader of the Longsha Gang and is now the prefect of Jingzhou."

"They also have some concerns. Ling Tuisi is now an official appointed by the imperial court, and they dare not make a move in the city. Killing a prefect is tantamount to rebellion. No matter how arrogant the Blood Blade Sect is, they wouldn't dare to go against the imperial court."

"Brother Sun, do they really dare to make a move?"

"You underestimate these outlaws. Not to mention outside the city, even inside the city, if given a chance, they will make a move," Sun Fan shook his head.

"But we don't have time to wait."

"I want Ling Tuisi to leave the city."

Dong Dahai frowned: "But Ling Tuisi is very cautious and rarely leaves the city."

Sun Fan stood up and walked to the pond.

The moonlight shattered into a silvery white on the water's surface. A breeze blew, causing the shattered silver to shimmer and then gather together again.

"Then give them a chance."

He turned to Dong Dahai: "Three days from now, Ling Tuisi will leave the city. Send someone to deliver a message to the Blood Blade Sect—say that Ling Tuisi is going to the Land God Temple in the south of the city, all alone."

Dong Dahai was taken aback: "Why is Ling Tuisi out of the city?"

"Because I'll let him out of the city." Sun Fan's lips curled slightly. "You just deliver the message, and I'll take care of the rest."

That night, thirty miles outside Jingzhou City, there was a dilapidated temple.

The fire crackled, casting flickering light on five faces.

Bao Xiang sat cross-legged by the fire, a piece of paper clutched in his hand, his brow furrowed. The handwriting on the paper was crooked and illegible, as if deliberately concealing his handwriting, but the content was clear—"Ling Tuisi is the former leader of the Longsha Gang, and is now the prefect of Jingzhou."

"Brother, this note is suspicious." It was Sheng Di who spoke, the leanest of the five, his eyes darting around like a wary monkey. "We've only been in Jingzhou a few days, and someone's already brought Ling Tuisi's secrets to our doorstep? What a coincidence!"

Bao Xiang didn't speak, but held the note close to the fire, staring at the words on it again and again.

Shan Yong was a tall, burly man with a fiery temper. He slapped his thigh and shouted, "Who cares if it's suspicious or not! Since they're remnants of the Dragon Sand Gang, just kill them! When has our Blood Blade Sect ever been afraid of trouble?"

"It's not that we're afraid of trouble," Sheng Di shook his head, "it's that we're afraid of falling into a trap. Think about it, Ling Tuisi is now an official of the imperial court. Killing him in the city would be a slap in the face to the court. How many garrison troops can the five of us withstand?"

Shan Kang and Shan Xiong exchanged a glance but remained silent. Among the five men, they were the youngest and always had the role of obeying orders.

Bao Xiang finally spoke, his voice low and deep: "Sheng Di is right. We cannot act rashly without solid evidence."

He threw the note into the fire and watched it burn to ashes.

"So we're just going to wait here like this?" Shan Yong muttered in dissatisfaction.

"Wait." Bao Xiang closed his eyes. "Wait until Ling Tuisi leaves the city. He can't hide in the city forever."

Shengdi opened his mouth as if to say something, but then swallowed it back.

The next morning, another note appeared at the entrance of the dilapidated temple.

This time the content is more specific—"Three days later, at the Earth God Temple in the south of the city, he was all alone."

The five people huddled together, their expressions changing.

"It's that messenger again." Shan Yong scratched his head. "Who is this guy? Why is he helping us?"

"He's not helping us," Sheng Di narrowed his eyes. "He's using us to kill Ling Tuisi. He's using us."

"Use them if you want," Shan Yong waved his hand. "What's wrong with being used once, as long as we can kill Ling Tuisi?"

Sheng Di shook his head: "What if it's a trap? What if Ling Tuisi doesn't go at all, but instead goes to the garrison's ambush? If the five of us go into the local temple and get surrounded, we won't even have time to cry."

Shan Yong was speechless.