"Thousand Voids and Hundred Illusions" was both the name of a martial art and the moniker of this husband and wife.
Relying on this wondrous skill, the pair had drifted through the jianghu their entire lives. Though they had encountered formidable adversaries more than once, those foes had inevitably been deceived by their blend of the empty and the real, the false and the true. Even when they could not overcome their enemies, escaping was never difficult.
Yet they had never imagined they would fall into Fang Shuwen's hands today.
Feeling the true qi within their bodies surging away, the two strained with every ounce of their might, desperate to pull their palms from Fang Shuwen's back.
Yet they could not budge an inch.
At this point, their bodies were completely beyond their control.
And with Fang Shuwen's present martial arts, absorbing their internal force took hardly any time at all. In just a few breaths, their internal force was drained bone-dry.
Immediately after, two dull thuds rang out.
The two figures were blasted backward through the air...
This time, he showed none of the restraint he had displayed with Sun Qian in Guangning City. Bereft of true qi to protect them, the couple were struck by the sheer kinetic force and died before they even hit the ground.
Turning around, Fang Shuwen swept his gaze across the area.
With Feixing Palace disciples lying in ambush and Lu Guiyan and Zhou Qingmei barring the doorway, the wicked scoundrels who had dared rush the mountain god temple were practically all strewn dead across the ground. The few who remained could stir up no great waves; they were being driven steadily back under Zhou Qingmei's Thousand-Character Swordplay and Lu Guiyan's Nine Breaths Vermilion Phoenix Saber.
Furthermore, the disciples of Feixing Palace supported them from the flanks with concealed weapons, claiming a life whenever a Flying Star Dart whistled through the air.
Fang Shuwen shifted his gaze toward Chen Qi and Hua Meiniang.
To be frank, Fang Shuwen had not expected Chen Qi to stay behind instead of following the main force to Autumn Moon Nunnery.
Their brief encounter at the tea stall earlier had left quite a deep impression on him.
The swordplay Chen Qi employed was truly exquisite, but Hua Meiniang's internal force far surpassed his, so he relied on hit-and-run mobile tactics. Striking and retreating without lingering for an instant, his intricate, myriad-shifting sword stances were at times poised and steady, at times nimble and elusive, tormenting Hua Meiniang to no end.
She grew furious, wanting to unleash her techniques to strike him dead with a single palm, yet she found herself thwarted at every turn.
After watching for a few moments, Fang Shuwen said softly, "Need a hand?"
Having said that, he ignored Chen Qi and Hua Meiniang entirely and walked straight over to Bai Liuxian.
Yet that single remark had already helped.
He had killed so swiftly that Hua Meiniang had not even noticed what was happening on this side. Pressed hard by Chen Qi's sword momentum, she had heard disturbances but had not dared spare a glance to look, assuming it was the work of her companions.
Only when those words reached her ears did she steal a look, and sheer terror gripped her heart and gall.
She had traded merely a dozen or so bouts with Chen Qi, and the people who had come with her were already wiped out?
No, Bai Liuxian was still left.
Yet Fang Shuwen was already beside him. Looking down at the pale, faintly breathing Bai Liuxian, Fang Shuwen gave a soft chuckle. "Why haven't you taken your antidote?"
Bai Liuxian's face darkened.
He had taken it...
Yet his snake's venom was so virulent that even after consuming the antidote, he needed time to slowly recover. There was simply no reason to explain such things to Fang Shuwen.
Of course, Fang Shuwen had only asked in passing.
He crouched down before him. "The same question as before: who on earth is King Cao?
"And what does he want with those two people?"
Speak, or die!
Recalling how the monk had been decapitated simply for uttering the word "no," Bai Liuxian ultimately lacked the nerve to hold out. "King Cao... King Cao is one of the Four Ghost Kings of the Hundred Ghosts Hall.
"We do not know his real name; we can only refer to him as King Cao.
"The... the two people in the mountain god temple behind you are to be sent to Feixue City to save the life of Feixue City Lord Wu Lingxiao.
"They are... are... physicians... dispatched by... Jinghua Pavilion..."
Fang Shuwen snapped his head up, his eyes narrowing slightly as he looked at Bai Liuxian. "What did you say?"
Those two had remained tight-lipped about their identities and their relationship with Feixue City from the start. Lu Guiyan had been reluctant to subject them to torture; annoyed though she was, she had taken the escort assignment and could only endure it. Fang Shuwen had also grown curious about who they were, and though he had considered all kinds of possibilities, he had never imagined they were actually doctors.
Moreover, they were heading to Feixue City to save Wu Lingxiao's life?
What had Wu Lingxiao, one of the Three Immortals, Two Kings, and One Madman of the City, encountered that he needed saving?
Thoughts raced through Fang Shuwen's mind. "How do you know Wu Lingxiao needs them to save his life? What happened to him?"
"King Cao... King Cao learned of this through Jinghua Pavilion.
"As for the specifics, he never told us..."
Since he had already started talking, Bai Liuxian held nothing back.
Fang Shuwen raised an eyebrow. "So King Cao is determined to take them away because he wants Wu Lingxiao dead?
"No... that's not right!
"If that were truly the case, he would have had them killed outright."
Just like the Fierce Tiger Gang!
Qi Wuwang had taken the commission through the Golden Bell Tower to deliver those two to Autumn Moon Nunnery, not to kill them.
The ones who wanted them dead were the Fierce Tiger Gang... The reason they did not fear retribution from Wu Lingxiao afterward was that once this was done, Wu Lingxiao would be beyond saving.
Yet the problem was that the Fierce Tiger Gang and Feixue City had no connection whatsoever.
What did Wu Lingxiao's life or death have to do with Qin Hu?
The only possibility was that the Fierce Tiger Gang was merely a blade. The person wielding that blade was the one who truly wanted Wu Lingxiao dead.
Then by that logic, had the one who posted the commission at the Golden Bell Tower been this King Cao of the Hundred Ghosts Hall?
Fang Shuwen's gaze returned to Bai Liuxian. "Could this King Cao... be injured?"
Bai Liuxian gave a bitter smile. "He was... was wounded by the people of Jinghua Pavilion..."
Fang Shuwen sucked a breath through his teeth.
He felt the underlying situation was truly a tangled web.
Jinghua Pavilion had sent physicians to treat Feixue City Lord Wu Lingxiao, and King Cao had caught wind of it from Jinghua Pavilion. Fang Shuwen had assumed there might be some connection between the Hundred Ghosts Hall and Jinghua Pavilion, yet after all this, King Cao had actually been injured by Jinghua Pavilion's people.
If there was any relationship between them, it was hostile.
Yet this did explain why the two physicians had not been escorted by Jinghua Pavilion directly...
Presumably, Jinghua Pavilion had plenty of enemies of its own; escorting them openly would only draw greater resistance. That was why they had entrusted Lu'an Escort Agency with the transport. The two of them had remained calm throughout the journey; Jinghua Pavilion had likely left backup measures with Lu'an Escort Agency to ensure their safety. Looked at this way, everything made sense.
Still, Bai Liuxian's words contained far too much information.
The Hundred Ghosts Hall, Jinghua Pavilion... Fang Shuwen had never heard of either organization.
What did Jinghua Pavilion do?
Where had the Hundred Ghosts Hall come from?
How had Wu Lingxiao been injured?
And who stood behind the Fierce Tiger Gang, wielding them like a blade in hand?
Chapter 71