Narration System for the Journey of Martial Arts

Page 79

“When Yang Dingtian died, the members of the Ming Cult did not know his whereabouts. You all had your own guesses and made your own moves to compete for the position of leader.”

"Firstly, Fan Yao was unwilling to participate in the infighting for the position of sect leader, and secondly, he suspected that Yang Dingtian's death was related to the Yuan court, so he went to Dadu to look for clues."

"However, he was so handsome that he was easily recognized, so he disfigured himself and became the martial arts teacher of the princess in the Prince of Ruyang's mansion."

"He should have been in Dadu at this time. As for why he is here, I don't know either."

Zhu Yuchen didn't really care why Fan Yao was there, but the system's narration popped up and said...

Zhang Sanfeng kidnapped A-San and Yuanzhen from the Prince of Ruyang's mansion. Fan Yao followed them and overheard that Yuanzhen was connected to Yang Dingtian's death.

Zhang Sanfeng, taking pity on his exceptional talent, did not harm him and allowed him to leave on his own.

The members of the Ming Cult originally had no intention of participating in the Wudang gathering, but after receiving news from Fan Yao that Yang Xiao and others would be gathering at Wudang Mountain, they decided to leave.

Zhu Yuchen was slightly taken aback, not expecting this turn of events, but he didn't care and was too lazy to explain further.

Upon hearing that Fan Yao had disfigured himself in order to investigate clues, everyone, including A Niu, Wei Yixiao, and Yin Li, was filled with respect. After all, loyal and righteous people are always respected.

Wei Yixiao was silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled and said, "I'm not as good as him. Yang Xiao is arrogant, but he's still not as good as him."

………………

They traveled at a rapid pace after that, encountering only the occasional Ming Cult Five Elements Flag disciples. Soon they passed through the First Line Gorge and approached the Sitting in Oblivion Peak.

That morning, just after leaving Yixian Gorge, a mountain peak came into view in the distance, standing alone and proud, overlooking all the other mountains. It was Zuowang Peak.

At this moment, the sun was just rising, and purple clouds hung high in the sky, reflecting on the snow-capped peak of that solitary mountain. The purple glow filled the sky, refracting seven colors, like a dream.

A Niu and Yin Li were stunned for a moment before they reacted. Wei Yixiao chuckled, quite pleased with himself.

As the saying goes, "Looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death," the mountain peak looked not far away, but the group didn't even get close to it until noon.

At this time, many Ming Cult disciples were already hidden in the light and shadow, but because the driver was Wei Yixiao, one of the Four Great Protectors, they did not go forward to attack.

Not far from Zuowang Peak, Zhu Yuchen had already gotten out of the carriage. After observing for a moment, he immediately deviated from the main road and headed towards a side path, drifting like a cloud, without breaking any vegetation.

Wei Yixiao secretly praised him, grabbed Yin Li's arm, and followed behind him, heading towards the deep mountains.

All three were masters of lightness skills, and they disappeared in a short time. After wandering around for an unknown period of time, Zhu Yuchen calculated the terrain and finally arrived at the foot of the mountain on the east side of Zuowang Peak. He reached out and parted the grass and trees to reveal a cave entrance.

Wei Yixiao put Yin Li down, and was stunned. He didn't know there was another cave entrance here, and it looked like it had been dug by humans, not formed naturally.

He stole a glance at Zhu Yuchen, thinking to himself, "How did this young man know about this cave entrance, and where does it lead?"

Zhu Yuchen reached out and tested the airflow at the cave entrance. There was no stuffiness, indicating that there was air circulation inside the cave. He immediately went inside.

Ah Niu glanced around and saw two torches lying near the left side of the cave entrance. Although they were old, they were still usable. He picked them up and he and Wei Yixiao each took one, immediately waving them away from the darkness.

The group followed Zhu Yuchen silently as they ascended the mountain.

After walking about two miles, Zhu Yuchen stopped. Three cave entrances appeared ahead, leading to three different directions. A Niu scratched his head, looked around at each entrance, but didn't find anything different.

"Young Master, where are we going?" Ah Niu asked, turning around.

Zhu Yuchen remained expressionless. After observing for a moment, he headed towards the passage on the left, saying as he walked, "The person who built this maze was well-versed in the principles of Taoism and the Book of Changes. It was arranged according to the orientation of the Later Heaven Bagua."

The group kept walking and quickly covered two miles. There were three more passages ahead. This time, Zhu Yuchen did not hesitate and chose one of the passages to walk directly in.

After repeatedly choosing and passing through countless passages, the other three had lost their sense of direction and only knew that they were heading upwards.

After rounding a cave entrance, Zhu Yuchen raised an eyebrow. There was only one passage here, but as he walked along it, there were countless more passages on both sides.

Zhu Yuchen ignored the forks in the road and walked around. The other three were completely unaware that they had passed through this place when Zhu Yuchen was already standing motionless in front of a stone wall.

He glanced at the passage ahead and said, "This place uses the Eight Trigrams' 'one-character snake-linked' formation, which is a vicious cycle. If you are not proficient in the principles of the I Ching, you will be trapped here and die if you lose your way."

With a flick of his sleeve, a gentle force struck the stone wall, causing it to tremble and creak. Silently, a stone door opened in the wall.

Zhu Yuchen walked into the passage behind the stone gate and said, "This is the southwest Kun position, which represents the gate of death. This maze can only go out and not in, you can only go down the mountain and not go up. If you go against the flow, you must face death and live, and walk through the gate of death to find a way to live."

As they spoke, they saw many stones and arrows lying on the path ahead, indicating that the mechanism had been destroyed.

After passing through the passage, Zhu Yuchen flicked his sleeves and led the three of them around three stone gates, arriving at the northwest Qian position.

He pushed with all his might, opening an entrance. As the dust settled and the others gradually adjusted to the darkness, they saw two skeletons embracing each other in the secret chamber.

Zhu Yuchen walked over and saw two skeletons, a man and a woman, whose clothes were already rotten. The woman had a dagger stuck in her abdomen, clearly indicating that she had committed suicide.

The man was tall and sat upright, with a parchment scroll and a letter in his lowered right hand.

Zhu Yuchen reached out and used his Crane Control Technique to draw the parchment scroll and letter towards him. The letter, written in blood, read "To My Lady," and was Yang Dingtian's last letter to the Ming Cult.

Wei Yixiao stared blankly at the man's robes, his lips trembling. He reached out and touched them, only to find his hand covered in dust; the robes were already rotten and decayed.

He didn't seem to care, muttering, "This...this is...this is the remains of Sect Leader Yang?"

Zhu Yuchen nodded and handed him Yang Dingtian's last letter, saying, "That's right, these are the remains of Yang Dingtian and his wife. This letter is his last letter to his wife before he died. It's just a pity that she herself was not upright and disregarded the doctrines of the Ming Cult, which led to the endless infighting within the Ming Cult."

Chapter 158 Encounter with the Persian Ming Cult

Holding the letter, Wei Yixiao raised an eyebrow and asked, "What do you mean by this, young master?"

Zhu Yuchen glanced at him and said...

"This place was originally a secret realm of the Ming Cult, and no one but the leader of the Ming Cult was allowed to enter. However, Yang Dingtian loved her very much, so he specially allowed her to enter, which was a sign of his love for her."

"It's a pity that Madam Yang was morally flawed. She secretly met with another man here without Yang Dingtian's knowledge. That would have been fine, but she chose to meet with another man outside the door when Yang Dingtian's cultivation was at its most critical. As a result, Yang Dingtian suffered a qi deviation and died from the exhaustion of his true energy."

"That would have been fine, but after Yang Dingtian died, she suddenly felt uneasy and chose to commit suicide by Yang Dingtian's side. As a result, this suicide note has been left in this secret room, completely disregarding whether the Ming Cult will fight amongst itself."

“If she truly repents, she should first fulfill Yang Dingtian’s last wish, take the will, and appoint Xie Xun as the vice leader of the Ming Cult. This way, you will not end up fighting yourselves.”

"Yang Dingtian had already written all these things in his will, but unfortunately she didn't even look at it, completely disregarding Yang Dingtian's greatest wish."

“Such a person, who is first disloyal to his husband and then unjust to the Ming Cult, is utterly foolish.”

Upon hearing his words, Wei Yixiao immediately disbelieved them, but Zhu Yuchen spoke with such certainty, even stating that these things were recorded in his will, so he couldn't help but examine the letter in his hand...

The suicide note was covered in dust, with many places covered in mold and black spots, and over the years, the cover was tattered in many places.

The words "To be opened by the lady" can only be vaguely seen through the broken strokes, and the wax seal on the cover is intact, showing no signs of being opened.

Wei Yixiao examined the letter repeatedly for a while, then asked, "This letter has not been opened. How did you know that, young master?"

Zhu Yuchen did not answer him, but said, "You don't need to return to Zhu Wu Lianhuan Manor. Take this letter to Bright Peak and invite the Ming Cult members to open it in public so that they can all read it together."

Zhu Yuchen glanced around and, finding nothing else, quickly stuffed the parchment into his sleeve and left through the stone gate in the northwest Qian position. A Niu didn't care about anything else; as soon as Zhu Yuchen moved, he immediately followed.

Wei Yixiao kowtowed three times to the remains of Yang Dingtian and his wife, and then left with them.

Zhu Yuchen kept walking, following the passage according to the Bagua directions without making a mistake. He soon emerged from the cave and returned to the original entrance, where he could faintly see the setting sun outside.

Ah Niu and Wei Yixiao stomped out the torches in their hands, put them back in their original positions, parted the grass and trees, and came out of the cave. Half a day had already passed.

Zhu Yuchen smiled at Wei Yi and said, "Now that Fan Yao has returned, I'm afraid the Ming Cult has other matters to attend to. Go to Bright Peak! When a new leader of the Ming Cult is born, you can get the Great Shift of Heaven and Earth manual from me."

Having said that, without waiting for Wei Yixiao's opinion, he asked Yin Li (Zhu'er): "What will you choose? Will you go back to Zhu Wu Lianhuan Manor to continue practicing martial arts, or will you leave with Wei Yixiao? Don't worry, I won't make things difficult for you."

Yin Li (Zhu'er) hesitated for a moment, but did not know what to do. Going back to the desolate place like Zhu Wu Lianhuan Manor was not what she wanted.

Zhu Yuchen already understood her choice and immediately said, "Then you can go with Wei Yixiao. But you must remember that if you ever bully the weak or do evil in the future, I will have A Niu kill you."

After saying that, Zhu Yuchen and A Niu headed down the mountain. Behind them, Wei Yixiao and Yin Li bowed and immediately turned to head towards Bright Peak. They were going to expose Yang Dingtian's last words and reorganize the Ming Cult.

………………

After the group parted ways, Zhu Yuchen and his servant continued their journey and soon encountered disciples of the Ming Cult's Five Elements Flag. A Niu casually dismissed them, stole a few camels and enough water, and returned along the same route.

After that, they probably received a message from the Ming Cult headquarters, and the master and servant left smoothly without any other obstacles.

The day after leaving Zuowang Peak, the two rode camels through the vast desert. It was noon, and although it was the dead of winter, the sun was blazing, baking the desert with intense heat.

Apart from the two camel bells, there was no one else in the silent desert. Suddenly, the sound of horses' hooves came from afar, and it sounded like there were more than ten riders.

A moment later, a black horse galloped toward them, with a man in a white robe lying on its back, a curved blade piercing his internal organs from behind, his life hanging in the balance.

As the horse galloped by, Ah Niu reached out and grabbed the reins. The horse reared up involuntarily, let out a neigh, and the figure on its back fell to the ground.

Ah Niu turned the man over and said, “Young Master, this man is from the Ruijin Banner. I don’t know who he is. Why did he come to kill people on Ming Cult territory?”

As they spoke, the sound of horses' hooves drew closer in the distance. A series of whistling and shouting sounds filled the air, and more than ten riders appeared in the distance. Each of them was dressed in a white robe, wore a mask, and had flame totems painted on their sleeves.

"Ming Cult disciples? Then why are they killing each other?" Ah Niu asked, looking at the group of pursuers who were wrapped up tightly around him.

At this moment, the dozen or so people also noticed Zhu Yuchen and his servant. The three in the lead exchanged a glance, and one of them spurred his horse forward and said, "Who are you? This is our teaching business. We hope you will not interfere."

The person's voice was stiff, and their speech was measured and formal. Although it was a woman's voice, their words were harsh, as if they hadn't spoken in a long time.

Zhu Yuchen's brows furrowed, and he had already guessed who they were. He was just a little puzzled as to why these people had come to the Ming Cult headquarters in the Central Plains so brazenly.

As if sensing Zhu Yuchen's doubts, the system narration provided a hint...

Influenced by Zhang Sanfeng's entry into Dadu with his sword, the Ruyang Prince's Mansion decided to instigate a conflict in the martial arts world, causing good and evil to clash and weakening the righteous army.

The Persian Ming Cult had already submitted to the Mongol Empire in the early Yuan Dynasty. At this time, the three holy envoys of the Persian Ming Cult were ordered by the Yuan court to take over the Ming Cult in China with the sacred torch.

The Prince of Ruyang's mansion has already sent people to the Western Regions, preparing to unite with the nobles of the southern grasslands in preparation for next year's Wudang gathering.

"Does this mean that those who are not of our kind must have different hearts?"

Zhu Yuchen thought to himself, and his mind raced. He had already decided to kill them all and said, "Aniu, kill them all."

Ah Niu didn't care about anything else. Upon hearing Zhu Yuchen's words, he immediately moved his feet and leaped into the air, grabbing the woman's throat and right shoulder with both hands.

The woman was suddenly attacked. With a whoosh, she sat on the horse without moving her legs and took out a black iron plate with her right hand. It was triangular in shape and the top resembled a cluster of black flames.

As A Niu approached, the woman twisted her body from side to side, like a snake coiling, to avoid A Niu's hands. Then, she suddenly gathered her strength behind her, and with a flick of her right hand, like a snake spitting its tongue, she struck A Niu's chest.

"Huh?" Ah Niu exclaimed in surprise, his right hand twitched and changed direction to grab the iron plate, while his left hand, like a dragon, pierced through and pinched her arm.

The moment his right hand touched the iron plate, Ah Niu's fingers jerked back as he felt a sharp, piercing force, cold and sharp, stabbing into his fingertips.

Taking advantage of Ah Niu's momentary retraction, the woman suddenly raised the iron plaque in her right hand, sat back, and sprang off the horse in an extremely bizarre posture. She then thrust her right hand forward an inch, raising the iron plaque to strike Ah Niu's jaw.

Ah Niu's left hand was as delicate as an orchid. With a twist of his five fingers, he had already grabbed her forearm. The woman tried to pull hard, but she didn't expect Ah Niu's fingertips to be as hard as iron, and she couldn't pull back at all.

Chapter 159 The Persian Envoy Dies

Seeing that the woman was restrained, the other two exchanged a glance and took out identical iron plates from their pockets.

One of them kicked off the horse's belly, somersaulting and spinning in the air before crashing down on Ah Niu's head, using his head as a weapon to strike Ah Niu.

Another figure spun like a top, kicking up clouds of yellow sand beneath his feet, and with a strange whistling sound, wielded an iron plaque in his hands, slashing towards Ah Niu's legs.

The woman twisted her left hand, spun it around, and her strange fingers, like a snake's tongue, pointed towards Ah Niu's eyes.

The three worked together seamlessly and with perfect teamwork. At this moment, Ah Niu was attacked from all three directions, so he had no choice but to retreat. With a light step, he floated back and avoided the combined attack of the three.

At this moment, the two sides were facing off. The three men waved their hands, and twelve men behind them dismounted and stepped forward, surrounding Zhu Yuchen and his companion.

Ah Niu looked at the three of them, shook his right hand, and said, "Young Master, this woman's internal energy is very strange, it hurts like being pricked with needles."

………………

"Humph!"

Zhu Yuchen snorted and said...

"This is a technique of breaking through the surface by focusing on a single point. Your Nine Yin Divine Claws are capable of penetrating metal and stone, which means condensing true energy into metal. However, you haven't practiced it well enough. I've noticed that you've been slacking off quite a bit lately."

"Gather your mind in your dantian, let your qi flow through your dantian... True qi swirls, condensing like a golden needle... Qi force is exhaled and pulled back, as fine as a golden thread... Qi flows through your fingertips, as hard as gold and iron, exhaling force to kill... Force is like winding silk, seizing weapons and severing palms."

"The force is sometimes real and sometimes illusory, moving at will... Three illusions and one reality, the force is as soft as cotton and silk... One illusion and three reality, divided into nine levels, can injure the head and brain... The force penetrates the nine levels, without any fixed rules."

However, on-site teaching had already begun. Ah Niu was already proficient in the internal skills of the Daoist sect, and with Zhu Yuchen's guidance, he immediately grasped the techniques of retrieving objects and killing people remotely from the Nine Yin Divine Claw.

Instantly, his figure blurred, and three figures materialized, all of which pounced on the three people at the same time.

The three men simultaneously lunged at Ah Niu, each wielding one of the six tokens in their hands, and attacked one of the figures.

Two of them missed their targets, their iron plaques flying into the air. They immediately turned around, their phantoms vanishing. Ah Niu, his hands pulsating with energy, reached out with his right hand to grab the iron plaque of the bearded man on his left, while his left hand reached for the man's chest.

The bearded man brandished his iron plaque, slashing towards Ah Niu's chest with a chilling aura.

The woman kept her feet still, leaned to the left, and struck out with both hands from the man's waist, aiming the iron plate at Ah Niu's chest. The other man moved like a snake, gliding along the ground, and aimed the iron plate at Ah Niu's lower abdomen.

Ah Niu's figure blurred, leaving only a phantom in place. Two phantoms appeared on his left and right sides, while his real body was already behind the man. The three of them once again missed their target.

At this moment, Ah Niu's left hand, with its curved claw and surging energy, pierced through the man's nape from three inches away. His right hand passed under the man's armpit, its energy as fine as silk, drawing the iron plate into his palm from a distance. Then, he floated back.

It's a long story. At this point, only two moves had passed since Ah Niu made his move. One of them had already broken his neck but hadn't fallen yet. Ah Niu had already transformed again, this time with three phantoms, making it seem like four people. He pounced on the remaining two from all directions.

Seeing one person die, the remaining two pounced on each other, rolling like a ball. The woman straddled the other man's waist, spinning with him like the wind, like a four-armed monster, her energy like a giant windmill, stirring up the sky and rushing towards Ah Niu.