The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

Naturally, no one would go to Shaolin Temple specifically to plead for Qiao Feng. Shaolin Temple also took this into consideration and did not give any direct response to Chu Luren's questions.

Chapter 344 Also a Princess

When Chu Luren learned of the "strange situation" at Wudang, he secretly wondered if it was because Master Zhang was about to emerge from seclusion.

Having made up his mind, after going to Fuzhou, he would head north to Leigu Mountain to release Wuyazi, and then immediately head west to Wudang Mountain to deliver the "gift" before it expired!

After all, Jiang Biehe had prepared more than one copy of this treasure map; what if there were other clever little devils...?

When they came out of Qunyu Courtyard, Wang Yuyan noticed that Chu Luren's expression was strange, so she asked him about it. Chu Luren immediately started to complain about Shaolin Temple.

Wang Yuyan and Mu Wanqing were familiar with the process, and immediately joined Chu Luren in criticizing it—after all, Shaolin didn't hold any weight in their hearts.

Based on past experience, joining in the cursing at this time would make Chu Luren feel much better.

Murong Jiu stood to the side, a disdainful look on his face—I, the hope of the Murong clan, would not go against Shaolin and the heroes of the martial arts world for the sake of a mere lone Qiao Feng!

Chu Luren noticed that Murong Jiu hadn't made a move for a while, so he added insult to injury: "My elder brother once devoted himself to the Han dynasty, and these people slander him like this just because he's a Jurchen. Tsk tsk..."

To others, these words sounded like Chu Luren was just complaining, but to Murong Jiu, they were particularly grating—"My elder brother has truly sacrificed his life for the Han martial arts world, and yet some people still dream of restoring their country under the banner of the Murong Xianbei."

Murong Jiu understood the implied meaning and his face darkened.

In fact, Chu Luren didn't understand why Murong Fu was hostile towards Xiao Feng in the original work...

In the original story, during the battle at Shaolin, Duan Zhengchun and the people of Dali were determined to fight alongside Xiao Feng because of the life-saving grace they received at Xiaojing Lake. Among the four great retainers of the Murong clan, Gongye Qian, Bao Butong, and Feng Bo'e also admired Xiao Feng and advised Murong Fu to join forces with him. However, Murong Fu refused and firmly stood on the opposite side of Xiao Feng.

Murong Fu and Xiao Feng had no enmity or gratitude towards each other. Although Xiao Feng once insisted on believing in Murong Fu's innocence, the two were ultimately strangers. No matter what choice Murong Fu made, even if he was not considered righteous, it was still acceptable in terms of morality.

Chu Luren didn't understand Murong Fu's reasoning—was it for the recognition of the heroes of the Central Plains, to win people's hearts and use them for his own purposes?

Xiao Feng had the merit of supporting the Song Dynasty and resisting the Liao Dynasty. After his identity as a Khitan was revealed, he was not tolerated by the heroes of the Central Plains. You, a fool who thinks about restoring the Murong Xianbei all day long, why do you think that if you fight with Xiao Feng, you can get the heroes of the Central Plains to help you restore the Great Yan?

How exactly was this calculated?

Now, Murong Jiu was completely speechless after being choked by Chu Luren, and her face remained gloomy as she pondered...

The four men, leading their horses, first found an inn, booked rooms, and stored their horses. Seeing that it was getting late, Chu Luren didn't plan to leave the city that night.

Since he had come to Jiaxing, Chu Luren had no intention of just grabbing a bite at the inn. Instead, he suggested going to Zuixianlou, the best restaurant in Jiaxing, where Qiu Chuji and the Seven Heroes of Jiangnan had arranged their duel.

Murong Jiu was in a bad mood because of Chu Luren's words. However, just as she was about to refuse, she felt a sense of consciousness being pulled away. So in the end, she compromised with "Little Jiu Jiu" and went to Yanyu Tower with Chu Luren.

Tender and delicious fish balls, fragrant and tender braised pork hock, rich but not greasy steamed pork with rice flour, and fragrant and smooth lotus root starch dumplings...

Although the people of Chulu mainly eat fish and crabs, they don't mind eating a small amount of other foods when they have the opportunity.

"The chef at Zuixianlou is indeed a master... but unfortunately, he's still far inferior to Rongrong." Chu Luren commented as he ate.

Wang Yuyan and Mu Wanqing's enthusiasm immediately waned—not because their relationship with Huang Rong was bad, but because someone's emotional intelligence was truly appalling.

Upon hearing this, Murong Jiu's lips twitched, and she looked at the two of them, seemingly very curious as to why they weren't turning against each other!

"Hmph, she's definitely much better than me," Mu Wanqing muttered directly.

Chu Luren noticed that she was throwing a tantrum, so he immediately comforted her, "It's okay, everyone has their strengths and weaknesses! Mine is even worse... When you see Rongrong next time, just ask her to make it."

Mu Wanqing: ……

Am I angry at myself for not being good at cooking?

Wang Yuyan remained silent. In terms of cooking skills, she was also at the level of "showing her heart."

Murong Jiu then said, "Abi's cooking skills are also quite good. I'll let you try it next time."

Wang Yuyan suddenly realized that her "cousin" was actually quite shameless...

"Oh? Young Master Chu?"

Suddenly, the word "malicious" reached the ears of the Chu Lu people!

Chu Luren quickly turned his head to look, and then breathed a sigh of relief—the person who came was not "ill-intentioned" nor was he intentionally sarcastic, but rather an old acquaintance of Chu Luren.

Because they had known each other for so long, this person's impression of Chu Luren didn't have much of a "Tai Sui" element.

Wang Yuyan and the other two looked over as well. They saw a burly man with a full beard and two short axes with embroidered patterns hanging from his waist. He looked like a very rough martial arts person. The waiters from Zuixianlou were extra careful when they approached him.

"Brother Gu?" Chu Luren also recognized the man as Gu Ducheng, the second-in-command among the four great retainers of Dali.

"Ah! The princess is here too? Gu Ducheng pays his respects to the princess. Your Highness misses the princess very much..." Gu Ducheng then recognized Mu Wanqing.

But then Gu Ducheng looked at Murong Jiu and Wang Yuyan again—he didn’t recognize the former, thinking he was some noble young master, but he recognized the latter as a woman disguised as a man!

As a retainer of the Dali Duan family, Gu Ducheng was indeed close to "Young Master Chu," but this closeness, apart from gratitude, stemmed from the relationship between the heir apparent and the princess, as well as Chu Luren. Naturally, he was more inclined towards the princess.

Seeing that "Young Master Chu" was actually traveling with other beautiful women, he immediately felt a little uncomfortable...

Although there are four people, you can tell from their seating arrangement—the princess and this young lady are squeezed to one side with Young Master Chu, and they are not next to the other two. Do we need to say more about their relationship?

"Who are you, young lady and young master?" Gu Du asked meaningfully.

When Murong Jiu heard the word "princess," he was first startled and thought to himself: Could this Mu Wanqing be an alias of the Song Dynasty princess? But then he thought again and realized that it was not quite right. He also thought that she was probably a princess of Dali!

The identity of the person in front of you is easy to guess!

"My surname is Murong, and my given name is Fu." Murong Jiu thought of his great cause of restoring Yan, so he still greeted the Dali officials properly.

Gu Ducheng was startled upon hearing this—although he had never met him before, how could he not have heard of Nan Murong's reputation?

On the Heavenly Ranking, Murong Nan is second only to Emperor Duan!

"So it's Young Master Murong, I was rude..." Gu Ducheng forgot to speak up for the princess for a moment.

Wang Yuyan understood and knew that this person was from Dali. She felt a little awkward and didn't reply.

Upon seeing this, Gu Ducheng initially thought it was because she felt guilty, but Mu Wanqing then introduced her: "This Miss Wang is the eldest daughter of Mantuo Manor... Old Gu, you understand, right?"

Mantuo Villa?

Gu Ducheng looked surprised. Of course he understood, after all, he had protected Duan Zhengchun before, and had been to Mantuo Manor and stayed there for a long time, but Wang Yuyan was not there at that time.

“So it was also a prefecture…” Gu Ducheng was interrupted by Wang Yuyan’s stern look halfway through his sentence.

This is not a good thing. Wang Yuyan doesn't covet the title of Princess of Dali and doesn't want to admit it at all!

At this moment, Gu Ducheng looked at Chu Luren with a resentful expression...

Chapter 345 Gu Ducheng Has Potential for Development

After Gu Ducheng understood Wang Yuyan's identity, he decisively chose to keep quiet, and even... made up his mind that from now on, Young Master Chu's private life would be just like the Prince's private life, and he would never say another word!

Murong Jiu looked at Wang Yuyan with surprise and regret, and the latter felt a little uncomfortable after noticing this.

After all, the reason why my aunt and my mother have always disliked each other is... cough cough, now it seems to be confirmed!

Although she no longer cared about her cousin's opinion, she still couldn't help feeling uncomfortable at times like this, thinking that her cousin must be looking down on her.

Then... Murong Jiu also put a piece of pork hock on Wang Yuyan's plate: "Cousin, eat more!" He said, trying his best to show a warm and gentle smile.

Wang Yuyan: !!!

Chu Luren and Mu Wanqing, standing to the side, also kept pouting...

Gu Ducheng felt the atmosphere here was strange, but he still said, "Young Master Chu, Princess, the Prince is by the Little Mirror Lake outside the city. Shall we go and see him?"

Upon hearing this, Chu Luren looked at him in surprise, then asked strangely, "Little Mirror Lake... is anyone else there?"

"And..." Gu Ducheng had just started to speak when he immediately revealed an expression of "regret" and a desire to slap himself.

However, despite his mournful face, Gu Ducheng could not take back what he had said, so he had no choice but to bite the bullet and say, "And... Your Highness's friends."

That's right, Duan Zhengchun was with Ruan Xingzhu at this time!

That's why Chu Luren looked at Gu Ducheng with surprise—Uncle Duan and Aunt Ruan were on an adventure together, and you actually asked Aunt Qin and Aunt Li's daughter to come with me to "visit" him?

You are a good bodyguard of the Prince of Zhennan, and you look like you're destined for promotion and a raise!

"How about we..." Gu Ducheng hesitated for a long time, but couldn't come up with any reason to persuade everyone not to see the prince.

"Please continue eating, everyone. I'll go and take back the things the Prince instructed. Princess and Young Master Chu..."

"No need, let's go! We'll go see him right now!" Mu Wanqing immediately started making arrangements, not even giving Gu Ducheng a chance to report the news.

Chu Luren originally wanted to at least let Uncle Duan make some preparations and go tomorrow morning, but Mu Wanqing pulled Wang Yuyan and insisted on leaving immediately, so Chu Luren had no choice but to follow.

Gu Ducheng wore a pained expression, but he could only obediently lead the way...

When Murong Fu heard that Duan Zhengchun was also there, a thoughtful look flashed in his eyes—now that Duan Zhengming had abdicated, although Duan Zhengchun had not succeeded to the throne and was still the Prince of Zhennan, he was actually the supreme ruler of Dali!

He would glance at Wang Yuyan every now and then...

Chu Luren even suspected that she wanted to propose to Duan Zhengchun on the spot... but unfortunately, Wang Yuyan would no longer pay attention to her.

When they arrived at Xiaojing Lake, it was already late. Before they could even see Duan Zhengchun, they ran into an acquaintance.

From another fork in the road, the sound of hooves could be heard. They were initially moving faster than Chu Luren and his group. Perhaps they heard the hooves behind them, because the people in front turned around once and then reined in their horses.

Although it was already dark, both sides had highly skilled internal martial arts practitioners with keen hearing and eyesight.

"Hey... Second Brother?" A burly man in front turned around and called out.

"Big brother? What a coincidence!" Chu Luren finally recognized the other person.

The visitors were none other than Qiao Feng and A'Zhu, who had recovered their strength and vitality!

"Qiao Feng of the North?" Murong Jiu frowned slightly upon hearing this, then spurred his horse and rode forward with Chu Luren to meet him.

"Brother, what a coincidence! Miss A'Zhu has already recovered?" Chu Luren stepped forward and cupped his hands in greeting.

"Thanks to Young Master Chu, I have already... Young Master?" After all, A'Zhu's internal strength was shallow, and she only recognized Murong Jiu after he came to her, and couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"Oh? This must be Young Master Murong? I've long admired your name." Upon hearing this, Qiao Feng also greeted Murong Nan, who was on par with him.

"I have long admired your name, Brother Qiao." Murong Jiu was very polite, but there was a hint of sarcasm in his words, after all, Qiao Feng's "reputation" hadn't been very good in the last two years.

Qiao Feng, whether unaware of the implication or simply indifferent, showed no reaction. Only when he looked at Chu Luren did his expression become somewhat troubled: "Second brother, I am foolish, and there is something I cannot understand..."

"Brother Qiao!" A'Zhu called out hurriedly, as if she wanted to stop something.

However, Qiao Feng waved his hand to stop A'Zhu, and then said to Chu Luren, "It's alright, let's talk privately."

Upon hearing this, Chu Luren and Qiao Feng rode their horses to the side of the road, while Murong Jiu immediately inquired about the relationship between A'Zhu and Qiao Feng...

After avoiding the others, Qiao Feng said to Chu Luren with a troubled expression, "Second brother, you've come to see Third brother's father, the Prince of Zhennan of Dali, right?"