The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

Even the giant snake, when it looked at Xiao Hong, had a hint of human-like fear in its eyes!

Xiao Hong was also a little nervous, and gripped Chu Luren's shoulder even tighter.

Clearly, the "Dragon God" of White Camel Mountain Villa is not as capable as the giant snake of Wudang Mountain, which could cause Xiao Hong to lose her morals.

Despite his polite demeanor, Ouyang Ke felt somewhat emboldened by the presence of the giant snake. He also glanced at Xiao Hong a few times, seemingly plotting something—he had already heard from his men about this wondrous bird that could subdue venomous snakes.

"You are Xiaoyuer? From the Valley of Villains?" Hua Wuque asked Xiaoyuer as he approached.

"That's right, you heard it from Chu Taisui?" When Xiaoyuer saw Hua Wuque, her first impression was that he looked very familiar. However... after seeing him in white robes and two arrogant maids by his side, she felt a little annoyed for some reason, perhaps guessing his background from the Yihua Palace.

"It is difficult to disobey a master's orders..." Hua Wuque sighed.

Chu Luren: ...

It is rumored that the people of Yihua Palace are all emotionless madmen, but Hua Wuque claims that since he entered the martial arts world, he has never killed innocent people indiscriminately. Those whom he has brought justice to are all unfaithful people who deserve to die.

But when he first saw the boy in front of him, he also felt that he looked very familiar and even felt a heartfelt joy. However... such a feeling of affinity meant nothing in the face of his master's orders.

When Yaoyue left Yihua Palace, she gave him an order: his primary goal in entering the martial world was to kill Xiaoyuer, not to make a name for himself or establish the prestige of Yihua Palace.

Chu Luren felt a strong sense of déjà vu about this scene, giving him an urge to flip the table (see the latter half of Chapter 9 for details).

However, after Hua Wuque finished speaking, he didn't take out the Shura Dart, but instead struck Xiaoyuer directly with a palm.

Upon seeing this, Chu Luren quickly pulled Xiaoyuer to his side and simultaneously raised his left hand to meet Hua Wuque's attack.

Hua Wuque's move, "Peerless Beauty," was so powerful and concentrated that when it struck Chu Luren, it vanished without a trace...

Zhuo Bufan, Shenshan, Yin Yewang, and Ouyang Ke all watched this scene with anticipation, outwardly restrained but inwardly cheering: Let's fight! Let's fight!

Especially Yin Yewang—if Hua Wuque were to clash with Chu Luren again, then Chu Luren and Nan Murong would join forces and definitely teach him a lesson!

"What is Young Master Hua doing?" Chu Luren asked knowingly.

"This... I can't disobey my master's orders. My eldest master and second master instructed me to kill Little Fish, who comes from the Valley of Villains." Hua Wuque seemed somewhat relieved.

If someone can stop him, it gives him a reason not to act first.

Hua Wuque had no idea why he wanted to kill Xiaoyuer, while Xiaoyuer "knew some things"—he didn't know Hua Wuque's background, but he did know his own and the great hatred between himself and the Yihua Palace.

This was after Yaoyue learned that Yan Nantian was trapped in the Valley of Villains. In order to prevent Xiaoyuer from being completely ruined by the teachings and unaware of his true identity, she disguised herself as Mr. Tong to tell him. She even secretly instructed Xiaoyuer in martial arts. Yaoyue can be described as scheming and plotting revenge.

If she had put in this much effort when pursuing Jiang Feng, Hua Yuenü might not have had a chance!

However, Tie Xinlan has no connection with Hua Wuque now. When Xiaoyuer saw Hua Wuque and heard "Yihua Palace", although he was instinctively excited, he was able to remain calm and did not say anything harsh. Instead, he asked innocently, "Ah? This... could it be that some uncle or elder in the valley has offended Yihua Palace?"

"Hehe, the way you guys were just now reminded me of a friend of mine..." Chu Luren originally wanted to use Mu Wanqing's example to imply "blood ties," but a sudden jolt of fear made him hesitate, so he didn't elaborate.

As for explicit instructions?

There's no need for any spiritual warning; even if you beat the current Chu Luren to death, he wouldn't dare to be so reckless—in the original work, after Yaoyue's revenge failed and Hua Wuque and Xiaoyuer recognized each other as brothers, Yaoyue went completely insane.

If this gets into Chu Luren's hands, he'll only be able to ask... if Master Zhang needs any more disciples!

"The feud between Yihua Palace and Evil Valley can be dealt with later. Little Fish isn't going to die before today. What do you think, Young Master Hua?" Chu Luren gave the same reason again.

“So be it…” Hua Wuque actually wanted to say “Very good.”

Chapter 416 Consider it a gift

Chu Luren pinned Hua Wuque down, and Ouyang Ke didn't dare to cause trouble, outwardly appearing as if to say, "That's right, I'm here to expose the conspiracy too..."

Chu Luren wanted to expel him first, but Zhuo Bufan invited him first, and Yin Yewang and Shenshan seemed to welcome him as well, so for the time being, they traveled together despite their different intentions.

As they continued downwards, they discovered several more battles, and even more... corpses.

Chu Luren's group grew larger and larger, consisting of those who had been caught up with but had agreed to go and investigate together, as well as those who had caught up later!

Perhaps because they saw so many corpses along the way, the later arrivals were much more harmonious. Unless they were sworn enemies, there was little fighting, and everyone hurried forward...

In the end, there were forty or fifty people, but apart from Yin Yewang, Shenshan Shangren, and Zhuo Bufan, who had not yet shown much of his abilities and was not very well understood, no fourth person was added.

After all, the treasures of the "Southern Heaven Treasure" in legends are only a large amount of gold, silver and red goods, as well as Yan Nantian's sword manual.

Everyone likes the former, but... in Xiaoyuer's words, if a person's eyes are only on money, then their heart is already old—and a person whose heart is already old, no matter how high their martial arts skills are, can not be considered a master.

As for the latter... in the vast martial arts world, which top-tier master doesn't have their own unique skills? Few people covet the martial arts of others, after all, not everyone is Chu Luren!

Having tasted the sweetness of a fortuitous encounter, Zhuo Bufan naturally held even higher expectations for inheriting the martial arts secrets of his predecessors.

Shenshan is obsessed with martial arts, and the fact that Qingliang Temple has too few martial arts inheritances has always been a knot in his heart;

Yin Yewang, the whole family are treasure hunters...

Those three were exceptions!

Of course, if we count snakes, the Dragon God of White Camel Manor is even above first-class, on the same level as the enlightened Chu Luren, Murong Jiu, and Hua Wuque.

Of the forty or fifty people, most were from the evil underworld, and they were mostly after gold, silver, and other valuables.

Back when Yan Nantian was still active in the martial arts world, no matter how much people hated him, they couldn't morally condemn him. But more than a decade later, some new "villains" are not so respectful of their predecessors—their own hearts are corrupted, so naturally they find it hard to believe that people can have good intentions.

In their view, Yan Nantian's martial arts skills were high, so it was understandable that he had a large fortune behind the scenes, even if he had a good reputation on the surface!

Chu Luren wasn't worried about the situation getting out of control. After all, if there was no treasure, there was no treasure, and it wouldn't matter if things got out of control. Besides, even if all these people were piled up together, they wouldn't be a match for him, Murong Jiu, and Hua Wuque working together.

Chu Luren thought to himself that with Xiao Hong working together, he could completely subdue any Dragon God or anyone who really turned against him, and that no one else combined would be able to "rebound" them.

Shifting Stars, Shifting Flowers and Jade, Great Shift of Heaven and Earth... these are all martial arts techniques that are particularly unafraid of being surrounded!

When they reached the deeper part of the area, they saw the group that had been "progressing" the fastest—in comparison, these people were clearly more organized in their treasure hunt.

Although Murong Jiu didn't recognize them either, everyone could guess who they were at a glance...

They were all wearing melon-shaped hats, clearly either experts from the Qing government or members of the Heaven and Earth Society!

Moreover, it doesn't matter if Murong Jiu doesn't recognize him; there are so many people here, surely someone does.

Yin Yewang then spoke to the leader, saying, "So it's Yao Bida, the leader of the Heaven and Earth Society. Are you also here to search for Hero Yan's treasure?"

Everyone then learned that this person was Yao Bida, the leader of the Yellow Earth Hall of the Heaven and Earth Society!

The others must also be experts from the Huangtu Hall...

The Heaven and Earth Society in the Jianghu is divided into the front five halls and the back five halls, or the inner five halls and the outer five halls. The inner five halls are mostly Zheng family generals. Now that the Zheng family occupies Tamna, they have a foundation for recruiting soldiers. The outer five halls are infiltrated by the Qing court and the Mongol Yuan dynasty, mainly to recruit Jianghu people.

Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth, including the Yellow Earth Hall in front of us, and the Green Wood Hall which has the most screen time in "The Deer and the Cauldron," are all members of the Outer Five Halls.

Yao Bida was obviously very unhappy to see such a large group of people coming, but on the surface he still chatted with Yin Yewang and greeted everyone.

Chu Luren, Murong Jiu, Hua Wuque, and Ouyang Ke... The giant snake beside them put a lot of pressure on Yao Bida, but he could see that, fortunately, these people were not united!

"Is Chu Taisui here to mediate a dispute?" Yao Bida asked Chu Luren after learning the situation.

"That's right, Master Yao, you don't need to worry. As you can see, we're not united either, much like some other gangs in the martial arts world," Chu Luren said sarcastically.

Yao Bida's face darkened upon hearing this, but he couldn't directly refute it, since Chu Luren hadn't explicitly stated which martial arts faction it was...

No one found it strange that Chu Luren would speak in a sarcastic and unsettling manner, after all, at the Heroes' Gathering at Juxian Manor, Feng Jizhong, representing the Heaven and Earth Society, had drunk the farewell wine with Chu Luren!

"Hehe, the Chang Le Gang is indeed a mess, but you heroes are certainly different from those people." Yao Bida shifted the blame to the Chang Le Gang.

Well, the Chang Le Gang did send some people, but... Chu Luren only saw the corpses.

"Forget about the Chang Le Gang or not, to put it simply, if there really is a treasure here today, Brother Murong, Young Master Hua, and I will not take a single penny. Half will be given to the cash-strapped Heaven and Earth Society, and the other half will not be for nothing to everyone. If there really is a martial arts manual, everyone can copy it on the spot!"

"If not, please don't make trouble. Either we can disperse now, or we can stay and piece together the origins of our respective treasure maps to see who the mastermind is. Let's not fight anymore... Anyone who has an opinion can stand up!" Chu Luren said seriously.

Zhuo Bufan stepped forward...

However, what he said was: "That's what I mean too. Moreover, I won't give away any of my possessions, such as gold and silver, but will give them to the brothers of the Heaven and Earth Society!"

Well, he mainly didn't want those young people to show off there.

Seeing that no one seemed to have any objections, Yao Bida even secretly remembered Chu Luren's kindness, thinking that this person had a sharp tongue but a soft heart.

“Mr. Zhuo is generous, that’s right. If you ask me, everyone shouldn’t be stingy. Just consider it a gift for Master Yin! I have no fake relationship with the Heaven and Earth Society, and neither do you, do you?” Chu Luren started with his old moral blackmail as soon as he opened his mouth.

However, Yao Bida was so angry that his nose almost twisted – this was a bit too harsh!

Indeed, not long ago, Chu Luren received news from Qunyu Academy in Jiaxing that Yin Xiangzhu of the Heaven and Earth Society's Green Wood Hall had been killed by Ao Bai, and the Green Wood Hall had suffered a major blow.

So, according to the original plot, Ao Bai didn't live another two years. Chu Luren was just a little curious, though, how could some lowly eunuchs who practiced wrestling subdue Ao Bai, who could hold his own against Qiao Feng from several years ago...

Chapter 417 Red Eyes

It's only natural that the Heaven and Earth Society would covet this treasure, since they're not just a pure江湖 (jianghu) organization, but a semi-military group aiming to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Naturally, they can't skimp on supplies!

Most of the major treasures are targets of the Heaven and Earth Society...

Especially recently, things haven't been peaceful at the Heaven and Earth Society!

With the death of Yin Xiangzhu of Qingmu Hall, the message Wu Kang delivered to Lin'an revealed Wu Sangui's true intentions.

After the Song court rejected the request from the Qing court, a brother state, the conflict between Kangxi and Oboi intensified further!

Ao Bai began to attempt to launch foreign wars, regardless of whether the opponent was the Song or the Yuan dynasty.

In short, as soon as war breaks out, military power will fall into the hands of Ao Bai.

Emperor Kangxi tried his best to avoid this situation, preferring to keep Aobai in the capital, even if he oppressed him, at least it wouldn't be fatal.

Under the Manchu Eight Banners system, Kangxi was both the emperor and the banner lord of the Bordered Yellow Banner. The Manchu nobles of the Upper Three Banners were naturally Kangxi's supporters. No matter how high Aobai's prestige was, as a member of the Bordered Yellow Banner, the other nobles of the Upper Three Banners would only be happy for him to encroach on the interests of the Lower Five Banners and the Han people for the sake of the Upper Three Banners, and would not support him in getting rid of Kangxi.

However, if war breaks out at this time, and Kangxi is young, and Aobai gains actual command of the Upper Three Banners, then things will really go wrong!

The so-called request to become brother states was nothing more than Kangxi's attempt to claim legitimacy while simultaneously eliminating Aobai's chance to seize control of the war effort.

Upon learning of this, Ao Bai's reaction was naturally quite the opposite; he began to strongly advocate for war.

From this perspective, Wu Sangui's intentions were obvious to Chu Luren, even without Huang Rong's analysis—he wanted to indirectly incite conflict between Kangxi and Aobai!

The Chu Lu people's talk of "rushing to give gifts" angered Yao Bida, but he also felt a sliver of gratitude in his heart...

These words are truly harsh, but if everyone really wants to exchange gifts, Yao Bida really wants to accept them on behalf of Master Yin—Brother Yin, you can rest in peace now!

"Unfortunately, this is the end. My brothers and I have searched here for a long time, but we haven't found any hidden mechanisms or secret compartments..." Yao Bida sighed and said helplessly.

Upon hearing this, some people were unwilling to accept it, while others stared at Yao Bida and the others with unfriendly eyes, clearly suspecting that they were hiding something.

But just then, a ray of light shone in...

Before I knew it, the moon was already high in the sky.