The Great Martial Arts World: Hot Topics and Great Heroes

"Why don't you righteous alliance just rob me? Do you even know who I am?"

Upon seeing this, two disciples from the Green Stone Cave immediately began banging a gong: "Robbery! Robbery! Someone's here to rob us..."

Afterwards, the people of Tiger Head Stronghold were robbed clean and then thrown out of Xuwen City—the Righteous Alliance once again maintained peace in the martial arts world, a cause for celebration!

……

"Shut up! Did you dig this well? Do we have to pay to fetch water?" Erdaotou of Sandao Manor glared at the Qin Family Village disciple and demanded.

"We didn't dig it up, we were just guarding it, so of course we should charge a reasonable maintenance fee!" the Qin Family Village disciple said matter-of-factly.

"Guards? What? Someone's trying to steal the well?" Erdaotou said angrily.

"That's hard to say. What if someone leaves their hometown?"

"you……"

"What do you mean, 'you'? I'm just looking at people like you! What if you kill someone and throw them into the well, causing a plague? Five coins for a bucket of water, do you want it? If not, get out!"

Seeing that the other party had taken out a gong, Erdaotou angrily threw down a piece of silver, then had his servants fetch water and leave—the Righteous Alliance has once again maintained peace in the martial world, congratulations!

……

Similar scenes played out repeatedly in Xuwen. Chu Luren, accompanied by Huang Rong, inspected the area with a somewhat boastful air. Seeing these harmonious scenes, he couldn't help but nod with satisfaction.

"Excellent, excellent. This way, everyone is much more proactive than when we were in Putian, and it also expands our income streams and reduces competition." Chu Luren was very satisfied with his idea.

Watching the Righteous Alliance disciples bustling about in the city, and other martial arts figures handing over their money, Chu Luren smiled like a bountiful old farmer.

Chapter 940 Gathering from All Directions

"Rongrong, what do you think of my idea?" Chu Luren asked proudly.

Huang Rong pursed her lips and said, "It's alright."

In other words, the Righteous Alliance is now very powerful, and it has indeed raised its banner correctly, nominally protecting ordinary people, and has even booked the venue in advance.

The former makes people hesitant to offend it, while the latter makes it difficult for so-called reputable sects and righteous people to stand on moral high ground and band together to oppose the Qi Alliance.

Of course, the Righteous Alliance also offered "preferential prices" to prestigious sects.

"Just 'okay'? Hmm... that makes sense, after all, such opportunities are rare... If only we could charge them like this all over the world, every year, every moment," Chu Luren said with a sigh.

Huang Rong glanced at him, then said seductively, "You mean... you want the Righteous Alliance to collect taxes from the martial arts world?"

Chu Luren was stunned upon hearing this, not yet realizing what it had to do with "tax collection".

But then it suddenly dawned on me—indeed… if we could collect money from them every moment, every place, wouldn’t that be the same as collecting taxes?

If we draw a circle in every city and include all the martial arts practitioners and江湖人士 (jianghu figures) to consume, wouldn't that both avoid disturbing ordinary people and greatly increase revenue and maintain consumption?

After all, to keep this circle in check, one must have the ability to stop those who cause trouble within it, as well as those who refuse to join and commit crimes outside!

It's not something one or two people can do, and once there are many people, a stable source of income is needed to sustain it...

Unfortunately, the relationship between Chu Luren and the Song court is now nominally strained, especially since they are involved in a mutiny; otherwise, there might have been an opportunity to test this out.

Chu Luren shook his head, no longer thinking about these things—he was about to go into business, this wasn't the time to dwell on such matters.

"Second Brother!" came a shout.

Chu Luren looked in the direction of the sound and found it was a group of bastards.

Bai Zizai also walked down the avenue with a stern face, looking very serious, like a grandmaster.

Li Mochou, Xiaolongnu, and Chu Luren's beloved little master were also with the Snow Mountain Sect members. After the Han Chi incident, they had parted ways with Chu Luren and did not go to Xiangyang, but came directly to Leizhou.

"Long'er, Mochou, um... Rongrong, you all know each other, so let's not be so formal! After all, we're all members of the Righteous Alliance..." Chu Luren tried to smooth things over when he saw the atmosphere was a bit stiff.

Li Mochou, Xiaolongnu, and Huang Rong were actually quite familiar with each other, since Huang Rong had visited the Ancient Tomb before.

Seeing this, Bai Axiu quickly tugged at the big rice dumpling, not wanting him to get too close to his second brother.

Seeing that Granny Shi and Bai Axiu were also there, Chu Luren greeted them, "Sister-in-law, are you here with your husband too?"

Bai Axiu blushed and said, "Second Brother Chu, don't talk nonsense. I'm not married to Da Zongzi yet!"

The bastard just stood there grinning stupidly...

"What do you mean by 'also'?" Li Mochou immediately raised her eyebrows and glared, but her eyes betrayed a hint of panic as she asked the question with a forced and weak tone.

"Hmm? Granny Shi came with Mr. Weide, right?" Chu Luren said matter-of-factly, then looked at Li Mochou with suspicion and asked, "What's wrong?"

Li Mochou ignored him, but Cheng Lingsu chuckled and said, "Why don't you greet your master first?"

"Disciple greets Master! Quickly give it to disciple..." Chu Luren said he was greeting him, but he didn't actually bow. Instead, he stepped forward to take the medicine box that Cheng Lingsu was carrying. He took it, but Cheng Lingsu slapped his hand away.

“You haven’t completed your apprenticeship yet, so you’re not allowed to touch the medicine box!” Cheng Lingsu said, enforcing the rules in a very rigid manner.

"Young master, I didn't expect you to come and see me off too..."

“I didn’t come here specifically to see you off. I also wanted to ask you to find something… if you can come back later.” Cheng Lingsu said, taking out the “Medicine King’s Divine Manual” and showing Chu Luren the herbs on it.

They either want to be in a volcano or a snow-capped mountain, with the most serious one specifying that it must be in a "place where ice and fire coexist".

Cheng Lingsu probably knew the terrain features of Xia Ke Island, so she told Chu Luren to be careful.

With the Heavenly Gate breached, Xia Ke Island, already a place of mystery, will likely become even more mysterious...

Just as Master Zhang had warned Chu Luren before, with the opening of the Heavenly Gate, the situation on Xia Ke Island is likely to change!

Afterwards, Chu Luren led the people from the Snow Mountain Sect to the largest inn, where a courtyard had already been reserved.

And no sooner had he entered than Chu Luren excused himself and left.

A burly man with a bushy beard and blue eyes was seen secretly following Chu Luren and his group, but Chu Luren somehow managed to get behind him.

Snapped--

Chu Luren slapped him on the back and said, "Envoy Miaofeng, are you doing something thief?"

The man was startled, then immediately turned around and said, "Greetings, Alliance Leader!"

"What are you doing here? Why didn't you just show yourself?" Chu Luren asked.

"Reporting to the Alliance Leader, it was the Sect Leader who sent me to find you secretly. There have been people following you all along... Besides, I am the Flowing Cloud Envoy," the Flowing Cloud Envoy said innocently.

Chu Luren: ...

Wearing casual clothes, without the wind and cloud totems painted on her clothes, she was not easy to remember. Chu Luren only remembered that the woman was the Radiant Moon Envoy.

At this moment, Liu Yunshi was also dressed in ordinary casual clothes, and his accent had also improved a lot.

"Well, this alliance is testing you to see if you're an imposter. What brings Sect Leader Han here? And why are you avoiding everyone else?" Chu Luren explained earnestly.

Liu Yunshi didn't dwell on the matter, but instead reported, "The sect leader ordered me to secretly inform the alliance leader that the Dragon-Slaying Saber is lost..."

"What? How did it get lost?" Chu Luren frowned upon hearing this.

Previously at the Southern Shaolin Temple, after obtaining the "Dragon-Slaying Saber," Chu Luren temporarily handed it over to the Ming Cult for safekeeping—after all, it was obtained from the Golden-Haired Lion King.

Xie Xun was assigned to Dali and was no longer obsessed with the "Dragon-Slaying Saber". Chu Luren didn't actually need the Dragon-Slaying Saber itself. Only the secret manual after the saber and sword shattered could interest him. Therefore, Chu Luren took the Dragon-Slaying Saber, but left it with the Ming Cult for the time being.

To avoid trouble from other members of the Ming Cult...

The original plan was to find the "Heavenly Sword" later and then unravel the mystery of this sword.

"The sect leader is also in the city, but he has been hiding his identity and has not been noticed by outsiders. Originally, the sect leader wanted to see off the alliance leader and hold the Red Turban Conference. He had been carrying the Dragon Slayer Saber with him, but it mysteriously disappeared three days ago..."

Xiao Zhao's arrival in the far south of China at this time could not be directly stated as a farewell to the Chu Lu people. Instead, she used the banner of the "Red Turban Conference"—that is, inviting representatives of the leaders of various Red Turban armies to Leizhou for a meeting to make her presence felt and further solidify the Ming Cult's leadership position.

Leizhou was chosen ostensibly because it was far from the Mongol heartland and therefore safe...

“Xiaoyun, your Chinese is still not very good. This is because Leader Han has come all the way to Leizhou to hold the Red Turban Conference and also came to see me off!” Chu Luren emphasized.

Chapter 941 A Clue Has Been Found

According to Liu Yunshi, Xiao Zhao always carried the Dragon Slayer Saber with her, but it was "lost" on the second day after she arrived in Xuwen.

After a simple elimination process, it was found that those suspected of theft were all representatives of the leaders of various Red Turban armies—after all, the three envoys of Fengyunyue were no pushovers, and if someone could enter and leave without their notice… there were very few in the entire martial arts world!

Moreover, those who can do this are likely mindful of their status and wouldn't do anything underhanded.

Hu Guinan might be able to do it too, but he always stays far away from the Righteous Alliance!

Therefore, the Ming Cult did not publicize the matter, and even continued to carry the empty sword box, pretending that it had not been lost, in order to avoid throwing themselves into chaos...

"The Red Turban Army?" Chu Luren was also somewhat puzzled upon hearing this.

Logically speaking, the rebel army shouldn't have any ulterior motives regarding the Dragon-Slaying Saber.

Unless the other side knows that the Dragon-Slaying Saber contains the military treatise "The Mirror of the Six Armies"...

Xiao Zhao and the three envoys were unaware of this matter and had not been on guard against the Red Turban Army before.

Moreover, the Ming Cult is currently on the path of unifying the Red Turban Rebellion, so it is naturally unwilling to do anything that would undermine unity at this time. Without concrete evidence pointing to a particular rebel group, Xiao Zhao did not make a fuss about it, and even pretended that the Dragon-Slaying Saber was still in place.

"That's right. So far, only those people seem the most suspicious. And the thief probably hasn't had a chance to take the Dragon Slayer Saber away from the manor yet. The sect leader has also told us to be on high alert, even if we appear relaxed on the outside." Liu Yunshi reported some good news.

To maintain secrecy, Xiao Zhao and his group rented a manor outside the city. The Dragon-Slaying Saber was lost yesterday, and none of them left the manor during that time. The Dragon-Slaying Saber is most likely still inside the manor!

However, given the current situation, the Ming Cult dares not search on its own, otherwise, if someone is wrongly accused, the situation will only become more unpleasant.

"Okay, then you all continue to be on guard... Also, which rebel armies are they? Give them the basic information later." Chu Luren said, calling over Xiao Hong.

"I will report this to the sect leader truthfully when I return." Liu Yunshi did not say whether he would tell Chu Luren.

Although he felt that the leader would definitely tell him, since it concerned the secrets of the Ming Cult, he did not agree directly. In fact, he secretly hoped that the leader would not agree either!

Why should the dignified leader of the Holy Fire Cult report to others? The broken sword is lost, so what...

Chu Luren ignored his thoughts, asked Xiao Zhao where she lived, and then sent Liu Yunshi away.

When Chu Luren returned to the inn, he found Zhou Zhiruo there, talking to Huang Rong.

"Sister Zhiruo is here too?" Chu Luren greeted her.

Huang Rong then pursed her lips and said, "Brother Chu, have you forgotten that Headmaster Zhou has already accepted the plaque on behalf of Emei?"

"I didn't come here specifically to give this to you," Huang Rong subtly reminded her.

"I arrived a few days earlier," Zhou Zhiruo said shyly when she saw Chu Luren.

Because Emei had not officially joined the Righteous Alliance, it was only because Zhou Zhiruo had a lot of contact with Chu Luren when she was at Southern Shaolin that many people misunderstood her. Therefore, Zhou Zhiruo did not receive any special treatment in Xuwen at first; she was treated the same as the leaders of ordinary famous sects.