The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

The atmosphere around them became heavy, but the manager of Tianxialou pretended not to notice.

"Are you two inviting someone? I am but a commoner in the martial world, do I even meet your esteemed standards?" Chu Luren asked in a deep voice.

After turning around, the two forced a smile: "So it's Master Chu in person. Forgive our poor eyesight, we didn't see Master Chu just now..."

“That’s right. If Master Chu were to come, the First Master and the Second Master would be overjoyed.”

With forced smiles, the two men bowed and scraped as they presented Chu Luren with an empty invitation card. The front of the card bore three large characters: "Hero's Invitation," followed by the words "You Brothers of Juxian Village" and "Xue Muhua, Enemy of the King of Hell."

Chu Luren took it with one hand, and rather casually used his little finger to pry open the cover, looked inside, and then sneered, "Heroes' Gathering? Ha, I'm just a nobody in the martial world. If it were the great hero Guo holding a Heroes' Gathering in Xiangyang, I'd have to think about whether I should shamelessly go and claim the title of 'hero.' But the Heroes' Gathering at Juxian Manor... I can go, I can go!"

After saying that, he put the invitation away.

Chapter 194 Representative of Northern Shaolin

After returning to the inn, Chu Luren slammed the invitations on the table and began to berate Mu Wanqing and Huang Rong for their shamelessness!

"At least when I try to ride the wave of popularity, I always do it for real. These bastards, they think they can act as chivalrous representatives just by hanging up a tiger's skin?" Chu Luren said indignantly.

"So... you're angry that they get it easier than you?" Mu Wanqing asked again to confirm.

"No, I'm angry about this trend!" Chu Luren said, his neck stiff.

That's right, Chu Luren immediately defined Xue Muhua and the You brothers' behavior as "riding the coattails of a trending topic"!

The same applies to the original work. After Qiao Feng "stormed" Shaolin Temple, he was implicated in a series of murders in the north. Xue Mu Hua, together with the You brothers, held a heroes' assembly at Juxian Manor, the theme of which was "criticizing Qiao Feng"—yes, if nothing unexpected happened, it was "verbal criticism".

In fact, more than 300 people attended the Heroes' Gathering at Juxian Manor in the original story. To say that they all went to fight Qiao Feng would be giving them too much credit.

Essentially, this is what the martial arts world all hope to befriend: Doctor Xue, who joins forces with two nouveau riche from Juxian Manor to hold a "criticism of Qiao Feng rally."

Shaolin and the Beggars' Sect came to participate to clarify their stance and draw a clear line, while others came to enhance their own prestige, get acquainted with Doctor Xue, or at the very least, freeload off the rich man for a few days...

For the You brothers, spending some money could further enhance Juxian Manor's influence in the martial arts world. For Xue Muhua, it could also help him establish a powerful image, and he might even be planning to use his prestige to deal with Ding Chunqiu in the future.

That's why they say heroes are easier to bully than villains...

In terms of martial arts skills and reputation, Ding Chunqiu is inferior to Qiao Feng, while the infamy of Xingxiu Laoguai is well-documented. However, if it were a "criticism of Ding Chunqiu" gathering, probably not many people would dare to attend.

From the very beginning, this so-called "Heroes' Gathering" was nothing more than eating, drinking, and getting acquainted with each other, with the ultimate goal of using Qiao Feng as a stepping stone.

However... no one in the original work expected that Qiao Feng would be so unpredictable—he actually came to participate in the Heroes' Gathering himself!

The "criticizing Qiao Feng meeting" turned into a "face-to-face criticism of Qiao Feng meeting," and eventually the scene got out of control and turned into a "gang fight against Qiao Feng meeting," which was something neither Party A nor Party B had anticipated.

Of course, when things get to that point, you have to risk your life; anyone who chickens out will face certain death...

"I want to stir up trouble for Director Huang at this bear-like gathering. What are your thoughts?" Chu Luren asked Huang Rong.

In this vast world of martial arts, where you can encounter He Hongyao and Mei Fanggu on your way to Luzhuang, Juxianzhuang must have more than 300 people, and there might even be some difficult ones to deal with. This requires strategy!

After thinking for a moment, Huang Rong said, "You Ji and You Ju of Juxian Manor were also lay disciples of Shaolin Temple when they were young. This time, Qiao Feng was framed and made many enemies, but that's secondary. The real core of the conflict is Shaolin's fate! If we want to stir up this Bear Gathering, we must start with Shaolin. Otherwise, even if we kill the likes of the You twins, there will be another batch."

Huang Rong had no idea what kind of person Qiao Feng was or whether he was the real culprit, but since Chu Luren said so, she decided to take it as fact.

"Shaolin Sect? The only sect that can rival Shaolin is Wudang, isn't it?" Mu Wanqing instinctively replied.

Chu Luren was taken aback upon hearing this, then took out the invitation and looked at it again—it was exactly two months later, on March 15th!

It's not that Juxianzhuang is slow in handling affairs, but rather that sending invitations to various places and having people from those places come would take a lot of time on the road.

In two months, only major sects like the Southern Shaolin Temple, which are closely related to the area, would be willing to brave wind and rain to come over; otherwise, two months wouldn't be enough for a normal journey.

“Wudang…” Chu Luren hesitated for a moment.

Wudang has little to do with Qiao Feng's affairs, and Wudang's influence is mainly in Jingxiang and the two lakes, so it is highly unlikely that they would get involved in such a big deal.

“If the purpose is not to ‘disrupt the event,’ but simply to prevent the various factions from uniting against Qiao Feng… as long as we can clear even one of the murder cases involving Qiao Feng, or even just find someone more suspicious than him, it will greatly divert attention.” Huang Rong thought for a moment, then added, “In addition, it would be best to find out which ‘heroes’ will be attending this event.”

Under Huang Rong's "guidance," Chu Luren also sorted out his thoughts, so he stood up and said, "It's getting late, I'll go and take a look at Qunyu Courtyard!"

Mu Wanqing, Huang Rong: ...

Although I knew Chu Luren was going to inquire about information, it still sounded really awkward!

As for why not go during the day?

It would be too conspicuous to go during the day!

Of course, you should go in when business is booming, and blend in with the crowd.

Chu Luren changed his clothes, leaving behind his suona and salted fish, but still carried his sword—to appear as a member of the martial arts world and avoid some trouble.

"Two, please! No girls over eighteen!" Chu Luren shouted to the madam as soon as he entered the room.

The madam was taken aback at first, then tentatively asked, "For teas under eighteen coins, we don't have any good tea that would be worthy of your class, sir. How about a pot of West Lake Longjing tea for eighteen taels of silver?"

"Give me the full set!"

They were then immediately invited into the villa by a special person—this was a secret code exclusive to Chu Luren, which they had previously "registered" with the Holy Maiden.

Not only was someone playing the zither, but there were also three women attending to him. Chu Luren was taken aback when he saw this: the Qunyu Courtyard in Kaifeng is so much better than the one in Luoyang.

Among the three women, one was particularly skilled at imitating male voices. At this moment, she and another woman imitated the sounds of men and women flirting. With the cover of the zither music, the remaining woman quietly exchanged information with Chu Luren.

The gathering of heroes organized by Juxian Manor is a major event in the martial arts world of Zhongzhou, and Qunyu Academy has readily available information on it.

Just like Chu Luren thought, there are twenty or thirty sects that he knows and doesn't know, all sorts of random sects, and there are countless lone wanderers and local heroes.

What Chu Luren cared about was that the Southern Shaolin Temple had dispatched a high-ranking monk of the Xuan generation, who was traveling day and night. Although the Northern Shaolin Temple had not sent a monk of the Kong generation, some senior monks of the Yuan generation had come at the invitation...

In the Southern Shaolin Temple, the highest generation is the Du generation. However, outsiders have not seen any masters of the Du generation for a long time. Most of them are devoted to studying Buddhism and do not care about martial arts affairs. Lin Pingzhi's grandfather, Du Yuan, was of the Du generation.

Next comes the Xuan generation, including Abbot Xuanci and many other senior masters of the Southern Shaolin Temple. Then comes the Hui generation, which includes a large number of martial monks and middle-aged masters. The youngest is the Xu generation, which consists of junior disciples.

In the Northern Shaolin Temple, the Kong generation was once the most famous. Among them, the four great monks known as "Kongjian, Kongxing, Kongjian, Kongjian, Kongxing, and Kongjian" were the most skilled in martial arts and the most profound in Buddhist philosophy. However, Kongjian was killed by Xie Xun, and Kongxing was frightened by Zhang Fei two years ago, causing him to say things like, "Even if hundreds or thousands of monks rushed at you, you might not be able to take down the Shaolin Temple." Their reputation has declined considerably.

The Fang generation is on the same level as Abbot Fangzheng. However, there is another generation called "Yuan" which is listed alongside "Fang". It means "clear and pure", without any particular meaning of square or round. After that is the "Cheng" generation, and the youngest is the "Jing" generation.

Not to mention that the Southern Shaolin Temple was closely related to Qiao Feng, and even that Xuan Ci was the instigator, the person from the Northern Shaolin Temple greatly interested Chu Luren – it was Yuan Zhen of the Yuan generation!

Chapter 195 This must be a conspiracy by Shaolin.

Yuanzhen, a disciple of the monk Kongjian, was a rare Shaolin disciple who entered the sect with prior skills. He was already middle-aged when he joined Shaolin, and... he joined Shaolin thirty years ago. That was after Yang Dingtian's death, when the Ming Cult was in a state of utter chaos due to Xie Xun's widespread killings, and the Persian Zoroastrian headquarters intervened.

Chu Luren naturally knew his true identity—Cheng Kun!

Xie Xun, the Golden Lion King of the Ming Cult, had an affair with his junior sister, who was also the wife of the previous leader, Yang Dingtian. During a secret rendezvous, he angered the leader, Yang Dingtian, to the point of going mad and dying. Unable to bear the pangs of conscience, his junior sister committed suicide.

Cheng Kun thus developed a deep hatred for the Ming Cult...

Rather than revenge, it was more that Cheng Kun couldn't accept the fact that his junior sister had committed suicide after Yang Dingtian's death. In addition, his junior sister was pregnant at the time, and he had no way to vent his huge sense of loss. So, in a fit of madness, he chose to take his anger out on her!

After setting his sights on the entire Ming Cult, Cheng Kun killed his disciple Xie Xun's entire family to provoke Xie Xun. He then induced Xie Xun to commit murders in order to find him, thereby making all the martial arts factions hate the Ming Cult.

Xie Xun was truly driven mad by his own madness, actually believing his evil deeds. Every time he killed a renowned figure in the martial arts world, he would leave the words "The killer is Cheng Kun" on the wall, thinking that this would force Cheng Kun to show himself. In the end, he only sank deeper and deeper into his own trap!

This certainly drew a lot of hatred towards the Ming Cult...

After Yang Dingtian's death, although the Ming Cult experienced a split and its strength was greatly reduced, it was still a formidable force. No matter how many people hated it, they were ultimately unable to completely destroy the Ming Cult.

Furthermore, because the Ming Cult was one of the largest sources of anti-Yuan sentiment, even though the main altar and various rebel armies had lost direct contact and subordinate relationship, the First Manor Under Heaven still insisted on placing Yang Xiao, the acting leader of the Ming Cult, on the list of chivalrous heroes, based on this relationship. Even if the righteous sects like Emei opposed it, Emei's Miejue was kicked off the list of chivalrous heroes.

Chu Luren went to Qunyu Courtyard and specifically searched for the "Chronicle of Major Events in the Martial World" from previous years. After verifying the time when Yuanzhen became an apprentice and some of his actions, he became even more certain of his identity!

Huang Rong had previously warned Chu Luren that for the Heroes' Gathering to fail in essence, a powerful force capable of counterbalancing Shaolin would need to intervene, and all that was needed to make "this" Heroes' Gathering fail was to stir up trouble.

Chu Luren was initially at a loss for what to do...

Regarding Qiao Feng's wrongful conviction, aside from some who took the opportunity to "imitate" the crime, Chu Luren could guess that it was Qiao Feng's father who committed it. However, he lacked the means to convince people, and besides... it was Qiao Feng's father who did it? Proving this wouldn't seem to make Qiao Feng's situation much better!

However, upon seeing this "Yuanzhen," Chu Luren immediately realized that using it as a breakthrough point seemed to hold great promise...

In the "Qiao Feng incident," besides Qiao Feng himself, the "ringleader" was also a suspect. Qiao Feng once believed that this person was the one who was silencing him. As for his father... a "dead man" was already out of sight.

The identity of the "leader" can easily be traced back to the Shaolin Sect, since Qiao Feng's adoptive parents were farmers at the foot of the Southern Shaolin Mountain, and his mentor was Master Xuanku of the Southern Shaolin.

Furthermore, Qiao Feng was just a baby back then, and the leader of the gang took him away. It's reasonable to assume that the Southern Shaolin Temple should take the blame for what he deserved.

If that's all, it's not enough to tarnish Shaolin's reputation, after all, it's an ancient temple with a thousand-year history and its own dignity and credibility.

However, the "Yuanzhen" of the Northern Shaolin Temple has given Chu Luren a breakthrough!

Then Chu Luren rushed back to the inn and knocked on Huang Rong's door, guessing that although it was late, Huang Rong should still be awake.

"Hmm? Brother Chu, is there something important?" Huang Rong recognized Chu Luren and guessed that he might have found out some news related to the Heroes' Gathering.

"There's something I need to tell you inside," Chu Luren said as he entered the room and quietly spoke to Huang Rong about Yuanzhen.

As for how he knew that Yuanzhen was Chengkun, Chu Luren didn't mention it, and Huang Rong didn't ask any further questions.

Huang Rong didn't know who Cheng Kun was, after all, it was all old news that had been around for too long. It was Chu Luren who explained it to her—Huang Rong had vaguely heard about Xie Xun, the Golden Lion King.

"Brother Chu, do you want to expose Yuanzhen's identity so that you can attack Shaolin at the Heroes' Gathering?" Huang Rong understood Chu Luren's meaning.

"This is not an attack, it's an exposure!" Chu Luren said righteously.

Huang Rong rolled her eyes at this—she could sense from the words that although Chu Luren did not believe Qiao Feng was the murderer, he also did not believe that Shaolin was the murderer.

Regarding Chu Luren's question, Huang Rong stood up, walked around the room, and then said, "Not quite enough. According to what you said, Cheng Kun's martial arts and Yuan Zhen's rumors, as long as we can force out his Illusionary Yin Finger, that would be enough to prove his identity. However, to connect this matter with Qiao Feng's case... the connection is not quite there yet!"

"What should we do then?" Chu Luren was also troubled by this matter.

Huang Rong stopped walking at this point and said with a smile, "Yes, what should we do?"

When Chu Luren saw Huang Rong's expression, he knew that she already had a plan, so he was not in a hurry.

"Then we'll have to rely on the clever Huang Rong to come up with a solution!" Chu Luren immediately poured Huang Rong some tea, then led her to sit down and asked, "Do you need a shoulder massage?"

Huang Rong wrinkled her nose and said, "No, Sister Mu said that if you were to touch her, she would never be able to get married... Besides, you don't know how to massage at all, you just pinch her hard."

"Alright, since you asked so sincerely, I'll tell you! If I were Brother Chu, I wouldn't reveal this secret now, but instead send this news, along with the Shaolin martial arts manual I obtained earlier, to Wudang..." Huang Rong's eyes shone brightly.

"Wudang?" Chu Luren was taken aback upon hearing this.

"That's right. Back then, the deaths of Zhang Wuxia and his wife were all because of Xie Xun and the Dragon-Slaying Saber. If Cheng Kun was the instigator of the Xie Xun incident, then wouldn't he be the culprit behind the deaths of Zhang Wuxia and his wife? Even a clay figure would have some temper if these two items were handed over to Master Zhang."

Even if Master Zhang wouldn't deign to attend some kind of bear gathering, he'd still likely provoke one or two of the 'Seven Heroes' to join in the fun.

If Wudang were to appear, it would be a situation where "first, a Shaolin monk killed his disciple's entire family, leading to a bloody storm in the martial arts world, and then another group of Shaolin monks would take the lead in using this as a pretext to force Zhang Zhenren to his death at his 100th birthday banquet"...

Then, raising the suspicion that the ringleader might come from Shaolin would be strikingly similar to Shaolin's actions against Wudang—"first wreaking havoc on Wudang, then throwing the Beggars' Sect into chaos." The two events would naturally become connected, and Wudang would be dragged into the mess as well!

Huang Rong expressed her meaning.