Every Wicked Deed

Although Bao Butong and the other three of the four great household retainers all backed Murong Fu's grand undertaking to restore the kingdom, when it came to Xuanci and Murong Bo, they had split into two camps. Deng Baichuan and Gongye Qian were the older two, and had deep affection for Murong Bo. They felt the rumors drifting through the jianghu were baseless nonsense — the young master was the trueborn son of their master, Murong Bo. Bao Butong and Feng Bo'e, on the other hand, were firmly convinced that nothing about Murong Bo's conduct resembled that of the young master's own father, and that Xuanci might actually be the true master of the Murong family. That was why Bao Butong had volunteered to come to the Heroes' Assembly, determined to strike Murong Bo's name from the Murong family for good. Murong Bo stared at him, dumbstruck. "You want to expel me from the Murong family? This is outright rebellion!" Bao Butong stroked his beard. "No, no, wrong. It isn't that I'm expelling you from the Murong family — it's that you were never my master to begin with. Let me ask the heroes gathered here: what father in this world would deliberately kill a man, and then pin the blame on his own son's head?" The crowd began whispering among themselves, breaking into discussion. "Come to think of it, this Murong Bo has been out to ruin Murong Fu from the start. They don't act like father and son at all — more like sworn enemies!" "They say Murong Fu is Xuanci's son, switched with Murong Bo's boy when they were children. If that's true, then aren't he and Murong Fu enemies?" Murong Bo was so furious his hair stood up and shoved his cap askew. "What do any of you understand? I was tempering Fu'er. If he can't even solve a bit of trouble like this, how will he ever accomplish great things?" At that, Bao Butong's rage boiled over. He jabbed a finger at Murong Bo and cursed him. "To temper the young master, you faked your own death and slipped away, stirred up wind and rain all over the jianghu, and shifted every ounce of hatred onto him? If you truly are the head of our household, why haven't you recruited soldiers and bought horses, built up your strength for the great cause — instead of spending every day on trivial scraps of scheming?" "Just look at Qin Zheng. While you were busy sowing discord in the martial world, the man had already made himself emperor!" Murong Bo's chest went tight. Catching him so flat-footed, the words stuck in his throat for a long while. He glanced at Bao Butong, then at Qin Zheng, who had ascended the throne and taken the imperial title. In his ears something seemed to shatter, and he muttered to himself, "No. It was all for Fu'er's good. Everything I've done was for the restoration of the kingdom..." "Bao Butong, you won't turn me and Fu'er against each other! I'll butcher you!" With a savage shout, Murong Bo charged at Bao Butong like a man possessed. Bao Butong didn't even have time to react before a single Prajna Palm from Murong Bo sent him flying, spraying blood. "Third Brother Bao!" Duan Yu's eyes were sharp and his hands faster; using his lightness skill, he caught Bao Butong. Seeing Murong Bo's fist swinging at him, Duan Yu slipped into Form-Shift Shadow-Change, and his whole body vanished. Murong Bo's vision blurred, and then he found that the punch he had thrown had passed only through an afterimage Duan Yu left behind. Glancing around, he saw that Duan Yu had already carried Bao Butong to Qin Zheng's side. Bao Butong spat out two mouthfuls of blood and looked at Duan Yu. "Never thought you'd be the one to save me. Seems the money I spent on treating you these past days wasn't wasted..." Duan Yu didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Don't talk. Hurry up and tend to your wounds." Murong Bo turned to Qin Zheng, his gaze sharp. "Qin Zheng, are you going to meddle in Murong family business?" Qin Zheng nodded eagerly. "Exactly. Everyone's abandoned you and turned on you now — not kicking a man when he's down isn't my style! With me here, don't even think about killing Bao Butong to silence him!" Murong Bo: "..." I'm this far gone and you're still kicking me when I'm down? You truly have done every wicked deed under heaven! Qin Zheng hadn't expected Bao Butong's destructive power to be this great — just now, he had genuinely come within a hair's breadth of driving Murong Bo out of his mind with rage. Seeing Qin Zheng step forward, the stone hanging in Bao Butong's heart finally dropped to the ground. Today's aim had been achieved: Murong Bo was expelled from the Murong family, and his crimes would never again implicate the young master. A pity that Abbot Xuanci's crimes ran to more than Murong Bo's put together. He would have to think of some other way later... While Murong Bo and Qin Zheng faced off, a masked man in black suddenly dropped from the sky and drove a palm toward Qin Zheng's back, straight over his heart. A flicker of surprise crossed Murong Bo's eyes. He recognized the man at once — this was the one who had hidden in the Scripture Library reading books together with him. In the space of a lightning flash, he coordinated with the man in black, attacking Qin Zheng head-on. One before and one behind, the two of them unleashed a storm of blows on Qin Zheng. The man in black was Xiao Yuanshan. He simply could not find Xuanci to ask after his son's whereabouts. By chance he heard that Juxian Manor was holding a Heroes' Assembly, and came to try his luck — and then laid eyes on his two great enemies! Murong Bo had killed his wife; Qin Zheng had destroyed his kingdom. As far as Xiao Yuanshan was concerned, the best outcome would be for the two to cripple each other and both die here. But Qin Zheng's martial arts were clearly a notch above Murong Bo's, so he had revealed himself, meaning to assassinate Qin Zheng first and then find a way to deal with Murong Bo. The martial arts Xiao Yuanshan and Murong Bo both used were Shaolin arts. They had crossed hands three times, knew each other's skills thoroughly, and so fell into step with perfect understanding. Xiao Yuanshan drove his Kasaya Demon-Quelling Skill; his sleeves bulged high with true qi, and he swung his arm in a Demon-Quelling Staff Technique, smashing ferociously at the back of Qin Zheng's neck. Murong Bo unleashed the Formless Kalpa Finger, an invisible, savage finger force stabbing at Qin Zheng's chest. Qin Zheng felt out the true qi of them both, his body turning slowly; his toe touched the ground and traced a circle where he stood, while both hands drew an arc, guiding their force back at each other. "Star Transposition!" Boom! Murong Bo and Xiao Yuanshan were both blasted away by each other's true qi. Landing, they looked at Qin Zheng in disbelief. Murong Bo said, thoroughly shaken, "Where did you learn Star Transposition? Wait — have you been to the Hanshui Water Pavilion?!" Qin Zheng said with a perfectly straight face, "Hanshui Water Pavilion? Never heard of it. My Star Transposition was handed down to me by my late master, Murong Longcheng! You've only learned the skin and the hair of it, so of course you can't beat me." With that, he loosed a Canhe Finger. Murong Bo twisted aside, and the fierce finger force instantly punched through the rockery in the courtyard — a sight that made the scalp of everyone present prickle. That was a rockery heaped up out of solid stone! Never mind how hard the rocks were; the pile alone had to be four or five zhang thick! Murong Bo began to doubt everything he understood about the world, and even his moves turned ragged. Impossible. Absolutely impossible! His internal energy and Qin Zheng's were clearly evenly matched, so how could Qin Zheng's Star Transposition and Canhe Finger be so much stronger than his own? Could Qin Zheng not have been lying — could he really be Ancestor Longcheng's later-generation successor? Then do I... could I really not be of the Murong blood? As Murong Bo's will to fight faded, Xiao Yuanshan felt the pressure on him climb sharply. Dodging Qin Zheng's Canhe Finger, he shouted, "If you keep wallowing like this, both of us die here today!" Murong Bo snapped awake, drove his internal energy to its very limit, and loosed a Canhe Finger that forced Qin Zheng back several steps. At the same moment, Xiao Yuanshan leapt onto the rockery and lashed out with a Prajna Palm, instantly shattering one of its boulders. Broken stones sprayed at the courtyard crowd in a sky-blotting storm, and the whole yard was thrown into chaos, men and horses going down together. In that same instant, Murong Bo and Xiao Yuanshan seized the chance and fled, running without pause for several tens of li. Only when they saw that Qin Zheng had not come after them did they let out a long breath. Murong Bo caught his breath for a while, then cupped his hands toward Xiao Yuanshan in thanks. "Brother, thank you for lending me your hand today. Murong Bo will remember it. The two of us crossed hands three times at Shaolin — that counts as no small measure of fate between us. May I ask your honored name?" Xiao Yuanshan likewise extended his hand in salute, but hidden in his sleeve was a Formless Kalpa Finger, which he drove with a soft thud into Murong Bo's chest. Murong Bo sensed something was wrong and tried to dodge, but it was already too late. He hastily exerted his Kasaya Demon-Quelling Skill, filling the clothes over his chest with true qi. After another soft thud, the clothes bulging over Murong Bo's chest deflated at once. He spat out a mouthful of blood and staggered back several steps, staring at Xiao Yuanshan in utter shock. "Why did you suddenly strike at me?" Xiao Yuanshan pulled the black cloth from his face and said coldly, "You passed along a false message and got my wife killed at Yanmen Pass. Do you think I shouldn't have struck you?" Murong Bo's heart gave a violent lurch. "You're Xiao Yuanshan!"