The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

Lianxing remembered that when Huayuenü and that scoundrel were still in Yihua Palace, Huayuenü was always so obedient whenever her sister visited that scoundrel. It wasn't until she and her sister went into seclusion that Huayuenü became pregnant, and the two of them could no longer hide and escaped.

"It's been a long time since we parted ways at Taihu Lake. I must thank Young Master Chu for his generous help to my son," Jiang Biehe said politely, bowing to Chu Luren.

Chu Luren sat on the stone bench in the inner courtyard without getting up. He casually cupped his hands and said, "Not at all. It's mainly because your son is so quick-witted. Otherwise, he would have been marrow-sliced ​​and bones-picked by that Xiao Mimi long ago." Chu Luren's tone was very sincere.

Jiang Biehe seemed oblivious to Chu Luren's malice, and said with a gentle smile, "Not at all, young people are still quite naive. I did hear that Xiao Mimi may have some connection with Young Master Chu, and my son, in his haste, offended Young Master Chu." He even sounded apologetic as he spoke.

It seems that Jiang Yulang has become much bolder after meeting his father, and he must have mentioned the matter of erecting a monument to Jiang Biehe.

In fact, Jiang Yulang also knew that there must be a misunderstanding. After all, Chu Luren was supposed to be at the "Tomb of Xiao Mimi Nongyue" at the time, but then he was inexplicably attacked and knocked unconscious. Then, a "Nongyue" appeared next to Chu Luren. How could there really be no suspicion?

But Chu Luren deliberately ruined his reputation... Jiang Yulang didn't dare to retaliate before, but now it's time for him to get his revenge!

"No, that's not true. It's just that Miss Nongyue and I had a misunderstanding before, and I thought it involved Xiao Mimi... Nongyue, Master Jiang has misunderstood us." Chu Luren turned to Lianxing and said.

Jiang Biehe smiled slightly, as if to say, "Just wait and see what rumors will circulate in the martial arts world later"—then, his smile froze completely...

"My reputation is not important, but if there are any rumors in the martial arts world that are detrimental to Chu Lang in the future, then Master Jiang... will be unable to atone for it even if he dies a hundred times, won't he?"

Lianxing spoke in a pitiful tone, saying strange things, and... since there was no teacup for Jiang Biehe, she picked up the teapot and placed it in front of him, as if she were serving him tea.

Chapter 535 The Unspeakable Hidden Illness

When Jiang Biehe came out of the inn, he brought three young men and women with him. Two of the young men had their hands covered with their clothes when they walked together—it was obvious that they were Jiang Biehe's only son, Jiang Yulang, and another unknown man named "Little Fish".

Many people have also heard of the second name, and upon hearing it, their first reaction is, "The Yihua Palace wants to kill him."

Of course, given the popularity of the people in Yihua Palace, no one was eager to go and deliver the message.

Although it is one of the holy lands of martial arts, those crazy women have no idea what "human relationships" are. Just don't provoke them; there's no need to try to please them.

As for the "fight" that everyone was more interested in, it obviously didn't happen. Jiang Biehe only stayed inside for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

However, many people noticed that when Jiang Biehe came out, his face was indeed ashen—not the ashen look of someone in a bad mood, but rather his lips were bluish-purple, as if he had suffered some internal injury…

At first, many people in the martial arts world were dissatisfied, thinking that Chu Luren had attacked Jiang Biehe.

"Master Jiang, what's wrong with you? Could it be that the Red and White Tai Sui are fighting you?"

"Outrageous! This man is tyrannical and domineering. Back in the Qingcheng Sect, he killed Sect Leader Yu without even asking what happened!"

"How can such a person be listed on the list of chivalrous heroes? I... will definitely have to explain things carefully when I encounter Master Shangguan in the future."

Several people in the martial arts world who were familiar with Jiang Biehe, although they did not dare to confront Chu Luren, some of them stood up and condemned Chu Luren in front of Jiang Biehe.

Jiang Biehe immediately denied it, saying, "No...no, no. Although I haven't met Young Master Chu many times, we admire each other. How could I have made a move?" As soon as he opened his mouth, you could see that there was a cut on the inside of his lip.

That's right, the Second Palace Master just served him tea, how could Jiang Biehe dare not drink it?

Although he felt the cold as soon as he picked up the handle, he still gritted his teeth, put the spout in his mouth, tilted his head back, and poured the tea down his throat. As a result, the flesh on his lips froze on the spout. After drinking this "icy tea," Jiang Biehe felt a chill emanating from his internal organs!

Now all he wanted was to shake off the other martial arts figures who came to exchange pleasantries and quickly find a quiet place to recuperate and heal his injuries.

Xiaoyuer had been lost in thought—she felt that Jiang Biehe was overly afraid of "Nongyue." Was Yihua Palace really that terrifying? Could an ordinary palace maid, who wasn't even a disciple, frighten Jiang Biehe like that?

Just as he came to his senses, Xiaoyuer quickly activated "Do a Good Deed Every Day" and spoke up to help Jiang Biehe out of the predicament: "As you all may not know, Master Jiang had some old ailments that he couldn't talk about before. He just asked Young Master Chu to help him heal, and he has recovered to about 70-80% now. It's just that some of the kidney cold poison that wasn't completely eliminated has overflowed, so his complexion isn't very good!"

Upon hearing Xiaoyuer's words, and with Jiang Biehe still wearing a smiling but silent expression, everyone immediately understood.

They all said, "Ah! Then we won't keep Master Jiang from recuperating!" and dispersed...

then……

The unspeakable injuries and the poison of kidney deficiency spread throughout the martial arts world—people admired Master Jiang, but gossip still circulated quite a bit.

Everyone couldn't help but admire him greatly; he truly lived up to the title of Master Jiang...

It's not uncommon for middle-aged people to have some kidney deficiency, but if there's still some lingering cold toxin, it can make their lips turn purple... Before, when Master Jiang had kidney deficiency and cough, how badly was the coldness?

Tie Xinlan, standing to the side, tugged at Xiaoyuer, still somewhat concerned, to tell him not to say anything out of line.

Jiang Yulang and Jiang Yulang's faces showed no change.

Previously, Chu Luren asked Jiang Biehe to "take care" of Xiaoyuer. Theoretically, Xiaoyuer is now safer facing Jiang Biehe than in the original work. In the original work, he was only using Jiang Biehe's concern for his reputation to prevent him from taking action against "himself, who was innocently implicated".

Now that Chu Luren has directly asked him to "take care" of Xiaoyuer, Jiang Biehe naturally dares not do anything.

Xiaoyuer also wanted to take advantage of the fact that he and Jiang Yulang were locked together to investigate whether the disappearances of Jiang Biehe and Kuangshi Tiezhan were related.

After bidding farewell to Jiang Biehe, Chu Luren only stayed in Yuhang for one night before setting off again the next day, heading to Lin'an, the capital of the Song Dynasty.

At this time, Lin'an was "on high alert," and while entry and exit could not be prohibited, the checks at the city gates were much stricter.

All city gates were manned by skilled officers from the imperial court, who were enforcing the ban on carrying weapons in a relatively "strict" manner. Those who could barely hide their weapons, such as soft swords or Emei daggers, were not searched. However, forget about weapons like nine-ringed broadswords or red-tasseled spears!

Chu Luren and Lianxing rode their horses all the way here. Given Lianxing's obsessive-compulsive nature, she was originally determined not to ride a horse, as she disliked the fact that horses were too dirty.

However, if Chu Luren rode a horse and Lianxing ran all the way, it didn't seem to work out quite as well...

So Chu Luren discussed it with Lianxing for a bit and chose a pure white horse for her, with a snow-white saddle. Lianxing also convinced herself that a white horse is not a horse.

"Brother Lu, over here!" Cheng Shifei, who had been leaning against the city wall doing nothing, came out to greet Chu Luren when he saw him.

Seeing Chu Luren and Lianxing swaggering around, ignoring the procession and cutting in line to enter the city, many people were displeased.

However, ordinary people and wealthy merchants could not afford to offend the commander of the Imperial Guards, and even some hot-blooded martial artists lowered their heads when they saw the suona at Chu Luren's waist...

"This is my friend, and also the successor of the invincible rascal Gu Santong, Cheng Shifei... This is also my good friend, named Nongyue." Chu Luren introduced the two.

"Greetings, Miss Nongyue! Since you're Brother Lu's friend, if you encounter any trouble in the capital, just mention my name, Cheng Shifei!" Cheng Shifei said, taking full responsibility.

Lianxing's response was indifferent; she merely nodded. She was also wondering how Huayuenü would react, but after much thought, she felt that Huayuenü, as the palace maid her sister valued most back then, wouldn't be very warm towards others.

Chu Luren wholeheartedly agreed, saying, "That's right. If anything happens and I'm not around, you can contact Brother Cheng."

"Don't just solve everything by pouring tea," Chu Luren added to himself.

"Where are the princess and Rongrong?" Chu Luren asked after looking around.

"Miss Huang knows you're back today, so she booked a room in the inn's kitchen to prepare a meal for you. The princess is in a worse situation; she's been kept in Cining Palace to keep the Empress Dowager company and hasn't left the palace for some time now." Cheng Shifei glanced at Lianxing and then whispered to Chu Luren.

Knowing that Huang Rong was still busy, Chu Luren quickened his pace...

“Then let’s go over there first. Could you take the horse to Qunyu Courtyard for me? I rented it there. In particular, please make sure they take good care of the white horse.” Chu Luren said, handing both reins to Cheng Shifei.

Cheng Shifei: ? ? ?

Qunyu Courtyard has this kind of business?

Could this be some kind of code?

Before Cheng Shifei could figure it out, Chu Luren had already left with Lianxing...

Chapter 536 Delay

"It's a pity Yunluo can't come out recently. When I see her again, I'll definitely describe her to her properly!" Chu Luren said, looking at Huang Rong who had already served six dishes and a soup.

There were only three people at the table at this time. Originally, there were four dishes, all of which were fish and crab. However, after seeing Lianxing, Huang Rong specially prepared two more blanched vegetables and placed them next to Lianxing.

After all, the Second Palace Master has always been a vegetarian...

Chu Luren had already informed Lianxing that there was no need to keep his identity a secret from Huang Rong. Firstly, as the brains of their side, Huang Rong needed to know more accurate information. Secondly, given Huang Rong's intelligence, it was impossible for her not to become suspicious after prolonged contact—in fact, Xiaoyuer had already begun to have some suspicions during this period.

Lianxing blushed as she looked at the food in front of her.

She ate vegetarian food to purify her mind and reduce her desires, but facing Huang Rong's cooking was even more difficult than facing Chu Luren's salted fish and drunken crab.

Chu Luren's previous "Rongrong Special" stock had long been exhausted, and when she was with Lianxing, she ate food that she purchased herself from various places.

Therefore, the smell only made Lianxing feel "disgusted" and had no appeal whatsoever.

However, the fish and crab prepared by Huang Rong herself had no fishy smell at all, and directly satisfied Lianxing's long-dormant desire for taste.

Of course, Lianxing still had that much self-control, and in the end, all she ate was boiled vegetables...

"Should we add some honey? The Ancient Tomb Sect members can eat honey when they cultivate the Jade Maiden Heart Sutra," Chu Luren suggested with some "sympathy" for his dark-style cooking improvement.

If Chu Luren were to purely cultivate the "Mingyu Gong," he probably wouldn't achieve anything even after decades of practice!

"No need, I'm used to it." Lian Xing glanced at the West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce with barely perceptible eyes, then turned her head away.

Chu Luren was very kind; he didn't smack his lips even once during his meal...

Because they hadn't seen each other for a long time, Chu Luren didn't rush to ask about Guo Juxia. Instead, he listened to Huang Rong talk about her "glorious years"—during this time, Huang Rong and Yunluo worked together and had a very carefree time in Lin'an.

He punished corrupt officials, fought against eunuchs, skillfully helped the people during disaster relief, and even subdued the Western Xia envoys who were making things difficult for the court…

Not to mention "forcing" Princess Yunluo to marry far away to Dali, many court officials now dare not provoke the combination of Yunluo and Huang Rong!

Of course, perhaps it was precisely because she had been too high-profile recently that Yunluo was "confined" to her home.

On the surface, the reason was indeed "to accompany the Empress Dowager in Cining Palace before her birthday to show filial piety." However, in reality, the court officials and eunuchs also suffered greatly because of this. Even Shenhou, whom they had previously controlled and had not provoked, took the lead in making such a suggestion and submitted a memorial, which led to this matter.

Upon hearing this, Chu Luren became even more suspicious that Guo Juxia's affair was also the work of Shenhou, so he wanted to eliminate any potential obstacles in advance.

However, after Chu Luren told Huang Rong about these things, even with Huang Rong's intelligence, she couldn't figure out why Shenhou would do such a thing—including the fact that Shenhou had risked appearing near Manjing and absorbing Ao Bai's essence, which Huang Rong also found incomprehensible.

"Was Shenhou also in Manjing the day Aobai had his accident? So, it's very likely that he had someone impersonate him during that period!" Huang Rong remembered that Shenhou had made an appearance during those days.

But since the Divine Marquis from the capital had made a move, then the one in Lin'an must be an imposter. Indeed, when she saw the Divine Marquis in person once, she felt he was acting strangely...

Huang Rong couldn't think of any plausible reason why Shenhou wanted to "frame" Guo Juxia.

No matter how you look at it, Guo Juxia, who has a large number of people from the martial arts world to help defend Xiangyang, has never shown any signs of wanting power, nor has he shown any ambition or interfered in court affairs, and is wholeheartedly dedicated to defending the city for the Song court, has no reason to be eliminated no matter who becomes emperor!

"If it really was Shenhou who did it, I don't know the reason, but it's clear that he only decided to do it recently, otherwise he wouldn't have made such a conspicuous move, and he even used the Giant Whale Gang. The Giant Whale Gang is still being investigated by the Dragon Guard Manor. Since he's manipulating everything behind the scenes, it would be best if he didn't use the Giant Whale Gang anymore." Huang Rong speculated that Shenhou's conspiracy was somewhat hasty because he hadn't prepared for a long time.

"How can we break this deadlock?" Chu Luren asked, asking the question he was most concerned about.

As for the motive... perhaps the Marquis of Shenhou had a brain fart!

Anyway, he's not exactly a smart person, so there's no need to overthink his motives.

Upon hearing this, Huang Rong said with some distress, "There's no good way. This is an open conspiracy... We're just using this 'conspiracy' to tell the court that my cousin-in-law is loved by the soldiers and civilians in Xiangyang... That's the truth."

"Uncle-in-law?" Chu Luren was taken aback upon hearing this.

“Didn’t I say that Madam Guo is related to my family?” Huang Rong said matter-of-factly.

This is the first time Chu Luren has ever heard of this...

"Is there really no other way?" Chu Luren asked, feeling distressed.

Of course, Guo Juxia and Yue Yuanshuai are different. Yue Yuanshuai had to return to the capital by imperial decree, while Guo Juxia... after all, was not entirely a court official. He might as well disband the Xiangyang chivalrous group and find a place to live in seclusion!