Chapter 194 Canglin Tournament (9)

After the battle ended, instead of marching off towards the center of the town, the players turned to a nearby street. They continued to walk for a while and was able to find a little house.

Canglin Town wasnt big but it was still called a town. If it were though, it wouldve drawn a bigger crowd. The town had been abandoned for years but still had a lot of houses that had no traces of people nor its valuables. If people were to ignore the worms and mice in the houses it was actually a good place to take cover from the rain. According to the previous information provided by the leader of the beggars, Meng, except for the leaders of the major factions who lived in a hotel at the heart of the town, the second and third-rate followers could only find cover from the rain in places like these. Meng and his buddies of course never considered this as a problem since theyre beggars who can sleep by the road.

As players, they could ignore their basic physiological needs like eating, drinking, and sleeping. All they needed to do was focus on their survival value, recovering, and of course talking about their current situation and the countermeasure that they would take.

Because the scenario gave them lots of freedom, things like considering their location, time, and tasks werent a problem so there was no need to worry about being negatively judged by the system and they could take a rest. With Feng Bujue being the highly efficient man that he was, it only took him half an hour to formulate a plan. The remaining two hours were spent playing with word string puzzles and Dispirited throwing snack to Little Tan.

In those two hours that the players spent leisurely in the shadows, Shi Yanran and the square-faced man were busy setting their plans into motion, after separating, they saw each other again and even though there was a great distance in between them, it only took a glance for them to recognize each other. Shi Yanran met up with the man, Gongsun Li, the deputy of Wanxia House and discussed the details of their plan against the players.

Although Gongsun Lis surname was Gongsun, he and Gongsun Qian werent related. Gongsun Qian was 10 years older than Gongsun Li and they called each other brothers ever since they were young. They were very talented in martial arts and was the most outstanding amongst their peers. So, decades later, they became the leaders of The Wanxia House. In terms of martial arts, Gongsun Qian was better but Gongsun Li was the more astute one, outshining his brother in that area. Regarding the fact that Shi Yanran killed Wang Ao, Gongsun Qian was completely in the dark.

With Gongsun Li being involved in the matter, he neither threatened nor intervened with anyone. His rule only had three words caution with stealth. He was always prepared even in the face of danger. It was this anti-theft style that he was able to keep going in critical times.

The reason that he helped his brothers wife was because he was trying to be nice to her and so that he could protect the reputation of the Wanxia House. He knew that If the true murderer was revealed, they would fall. If it had happened anywhere else, it wouldve been fine but this was Canglin Town and right now it was much livelier because of the crowd of people who came to watch the duel. If this kind out of thing was revealed to the public, Wanxia House would be shaken and its disciples would find it hard to work for society.

For the time being, Gongsun Li wont speak about the truth nor its moralities. He doesnt even know what the group looks like, the only things that he knew was that they were in their twenties and none of them had familiar faces. With his and Shi Yanrans status, making people believe that those five people killed Wang Ao was a piece of cake!

That night, the both finished their discussion and immediately after, they went to find the leader. They narrated what had happened earlier, saying that they secretly followed Wang Ao when he went out and was suddenly attacked on the street by five people, the two of them tried to counter-attack but the five people wielded weird martial arts and they werent able to do anything against them, so they went back to ask for help.

Even though Gongsun Qian felt that there were holes to their story, he didnt really think too much about it and hurriedly left, taking more than ten disciples with him. Following Shi Yanran and Gongsun Lis guidance they were able to hastily make it to the site of the crime and found Wang Aos crushed corpse, judging by the number of footprints and darts scattered around the area, there was indeed a fight involving multiple individuals. But because of the lack of clues they didnt even know where to start looking for the culprits, so they took the body sullenly and went back to the hotel.

The people from the hotel asked around and because of that, even before daybreak, the news spread like wildfire. Almost all the major factions and Wulin people heard about Wanxia Houses Wang Hao was killed and it seemed like the culprits were five unknown mysterious masters.

Canglin Hotel, the next morning.

The cooks working in the hotel had been busy even before the break of dawn. Currently, a cage of white steamed bread and a pot of fragrant tea were ready and waiting for the guests to order them, so they can be sent out.

When people heard about Xie San and Ye Chengs duel in the middle of July and arrived in Canglin Town, the hotel had already opened. Even the hotels staff couldnt tell when the hotel reopened and with them being ordinary staff in the hotel who lived nearby, they werent able to provide additional information about the duel. The only thing that they knew was that they were given a considerable sum of money and that they will only work for a month. After the duel, the hotel would close again.

As for the hotelkeeper, he has only appeared a couple of times. He was a man of forty years and had a soft and extremely pale face. In the daytime, he looked like a ghost and in the evening, he didnt meet with anyone. Some people even believed that he was a GHOST!

In the script of this martial arts world, the most powerful in Wulin came from one of the four factions, three cliques, two houses, and one family which adds up to ten powers. The family was Ye Chengs and the two houses were Wanxia and Bafang House. The three cliques were formed by the Shaolin, Renwu, and Xiaoyao. The remaining four consisted of the Wuji, Kingkong, Justice, and Tang faction.

Except for Ye Cheng, who was known as the Sword God. The six swords of flower shadow in his family were all first-class masters. The Sword of Plum Blossom Lu Qingning was one of the six masters. But of course, she disappeared last night as was mentioned.

On the second floor of both the Wanxia and Bafang House on an extremely hot day. There was a secret book passed down from generation to generation. Their leader was also a bit weaker than Ye Cheng. In this society, even if their might wasnt on the level of the top ten, they were still above the top twenty. Therefore, there were still many doormen and students in the two houses.

The three cliques respected Buddha, Confucianism, and Taoism doctrine differently. They followed the spirit of saving people from mortality, so there were many disciples, regardless of their quality which didnt really matter because all three cliques had profound knowledge of martial arts so, the unqualified apprentices only practiced a rough version of Kungfu and the outstanding apprentices were the one who practiced the more advanced techniques.

Lastly, the four factions; The Wuji factions Wuji power, the Dragon Elephant of the Kingkong Faction. The Justice Factions Underworld Sword Method and the Tang factions poison were all unique. Each carrying their own advantages and, in some cases, the two houses werent necessarily their opponents. Therefore, the strength and weaknesses of their power arent clear.

In some martial arts, if the user cuts off one of their bodys organs, it can be quickly trained to a certain realm. Some martial arts users, even if they had trained for a long time wouldnt even be considered strong.

In this world, the beggars faction could only be considered as a second-rate faction. Meng, their leader was a very old man and his Kungfu could only be compared to Ye Hai who was a doorman. He couldnt even compare with two house leaders, dont even mention Ye Cheng. The gap between the strength of a First-rated sect was clear for all to see.

Then there are the second-tiered gangs such as the Warehouse, Emei, Huashan, Kuntong and so on and in recent years there hasnt been particularly eye-catching talents kind of like the saying Declining during the inheritance and passing on with decline.

What was left was the third-rate and low-class gangs. Organizations such as the Whale gang, Ginghai, and XX security bureau. You could say that these guys were the quacks, salt-peddlers, crop farmers, and security companies of this society. With the duel attracting the worlds eyes, naturally, even these groups of people would be present, so that in the future they can look back and brag about how they were there when the two Sword Gods dueled.

There werent many people who came that didnt have an allegiance to a certain group. Reportedly, only seventeen or eighteen independent people had entered Canglin Town through the path controlled by Ye Hai and that there were thirty or so people who came by the same path that were all great chivalrous masters who have made friends with one of the major factions and has great reputation.

By the thirteenth of August, the hotel was full of the leaders from the ten powers and their disciples. Only a few independent travelers who had arrived earlier and had a high status in society with martial arts attainments were able to successfully occupy a room in the hotel.

For the second and third-rate factions and other members of the Wulin people who came by pairs, they were only able to occupy the abandoned homes around the hotel. Youd be able to tell if someone was occupying a house if there was bamboo in it. If there was no bamboo, then it was a free for all. This was the only rule of the town. To summarize, even though the duel between Ye Cheng and Xie San hasnt begun, this was already the state of Canglin Town.

Mr. Gongsun, I heard you and your disciples were making loud noises before dawn. Why did you guys make such a fuss? Asked by an extremely fat and oily-faced monk who sat on the ground early in the morning. Leaning against the side of the stairs leading to the second floor of the tavern holding a jar of wine he looked intoxicated with his robes open it revealed a string of Buddhist beads hanging on his chest, each as big as a fist.

This monks name was Lu Shan and was known as the Drunk Monk. Although he was a disciple of Buddhism, Lu Shan was clearly not a Shaolin. No one knew where this meat-eating and wine-drinking monk came from nor which wild temple he belongs to. Nobody also knows where he learned his advanced boxing method Drunk Arhat, which made him renowned in the world. Over the course of the past ten years, he had journeyed all over and had done a lot of good deeds.

Hmmm Monk Lu, perhaps you were so drunk that you heard wrong Gongsun Qian grunted, maintaining his dignity, neither admitting nor denying it.

The Drunk Monk Lu Shans ability to pretend to be muddle-headed was well known to everyone. People werent easy to speak with, as Lu Shan liked to say, as long as he appeared to be drunk, he wouldnt be afraid of offending people. If the person hes talking with gets angry, the monk would just say that he was talking nonsense and apologize, making the other person not know what to say!

Oh? was I dreaming then? I dont think so How can I smell blood in my dreams? Lu Shan asked again still looking intoxicated. Who knows if he was really drunk?

Shi Yanran who was sitting at her husbands side turned around when she heard this and said in a sullen tone perhaps Monk Lus nose was poisoned by wine?.

Thats weird Mr. Gongsun, because I also heard about the matter. A tall thin man who was around his forties or fifties chimed in with a smile. Did you take your disciples up the mountain in the middle of the night for a game of hunting? Haha the smell was pretty strong on that stuff!

This person was none other than the leader of Bafang House, Ji Tiong. He and Gongsun Qian had always had enmity and resentment between them, so Ji Tiong being the thorn that he was for naturally spoke up and made an insinuation.

Qian couldnt bury Wang Aos body last night, so he ordered his disciples cover his body with straw and bring it back to their hotel room which was guarded by two of his disciples, as for the smell, he used special drugs that could temporarily suppress the stench of the rotting body.

Next to him, his brother Gongsun Li, Shi Yanran and two other disciples all laughed in unison as if what was said was funny.

Hum! Ji Tong slapped the table, Did you fart with your mouth until it was clean?!

I dare you to say that again!

Hha Ji Tong also laughed, Gongsun Qian, your disciple died but you didnt even bury him! Is it because you havent found the murderer? Haha I consider myself as a man with some knowledge in martial arts, so could you please show me the body, so youll be able to find the culprit.

Hum I understand the good intentions of the leader of Bafang House. Gongsun Li hummed freakishly This is not my first day working and met things happened like this. Im not so brave as to ask for your precious help!

The two men argued vehemently while the other leaders watched them in silence.

At this moment, there were a couple of figures nearing the hotels entrance, it was Feng Bujue and his companions, and they directly went inside the hotel.