Volume 3: Qiongzhou ? Chapter 6 of the Five Elements Volume: Mysterious Witch Mountain, First Appearance of a Shadow

  When Heng Fan saw Fei Sha Dao Ren ask this, he knew that Huang Lang Zi couldn't deceive Fei Sha Dao Chang. He thought again about his own master's brothers' several disciples who were inexplicably beaten up in the mountains behind Dian Cang that night. After the incident, they inferred for a long time and found that all three sons of Dian Cang had solid alibis and evidence to prove their innocence. The eldest disciple of Dian Cang absolutely wouldn't have such high martial arts skills! Therefore, it was also impossible to infer who was behind the vicious move. Fortunately, it didn't spread openly, otherwise, the reputation of the Cong Tong Sect would be completely lost.

  He thought of this, and his face turned even redder with shame. He said: "The grand ceremony of the transmission of the sword of the Diancang Sect twenty years ago was indeed magnificent, although it took place in a remote area! The fight between my junior fellow disciple and the Five Poison Sect also really happened, but all these are now in the past!"

  They had planned to head directly west to Mount Emei, but three days ago, the Horizontal Gate received a flying letter from the leader of the Kongtong Sect, saying that the demonic sect's people had already passed through Hubei and entered Shu, and they were advised to change their route and gather with everyone in Chongqing Prefecture and Kuizhou.

  After the major sects discussed, the Kunlun Sect and the Diancang Sect led the way, while the Wudang Flowing Cloud Taoist and others followed closely behind. They would be able to gather together in one place by tomorrow.

  However, Master Changkong of Shaolin Temple was worried that this was another trick of the Demon Sect to distract and attack, so he directly led the Shaolin disciples and the Qingcheng Sect people to go to Shu again.

  Suddenly, he thought of Su Yu's matter this afternoon, knowing that Fei Sha Dao Ren was knowledgeable and Wudang Mountain was not far from here. He must be very familiar with the people and things in this area. So, he stood up and bowed: "I have a question, please help me solve it, Brother Fei Sha?"

  Fei Sha Dao Ren was slightly startled, knowing that Heng Fan was also the first generation elder of Cong Tong Pai, with a noble status. He didn't know what made this matter so important, and yet he spoke in such a manner. So he said: "Heng Xian Di, no need to be polite, just speak your mind. I will definitely listen without reservation, and respond without holding back!"

  "Thank you, Brother Fei Sha! It's like this, my disciple Su Yu has been scouting around Fengjie recently to gather information about the evil cult. This evening, a middle-aged woman suddenly appeared and broke his soft sword without saying a word. I don't know what it means?" Heng Fan said, looking at Dugu Xiong.

  Just as Heng Hua finished speaking, Lin Meng'er was shocked. They thought that Chu Qi had been with his fellow apprentices all afternoon until now, and it was impossible for him to be the one who made the move. Yet, he could accurately calculate that Su Yu had a broken sword omen, which was truly unpredictable!

  Lin Meng'er was even more astonished, a soft cry almost escaped her lips. Fortunately, Chu Jiu had been watching his junior sister all along and applied force to his wrist, his shoulder pressing against Lin Meng'er's, causing her to calm down. Mr. Chu Qi saw this from the side and secretly praised Chu Jiu for his composure!

  "What a strange thing! Which one is Su Xian's nephew? Please come forward and tell me the details of what happened!" Fei Sha Dao Ren asked in surprise.

  Su Yu then stood up and walked to the middle of the hall, bowed to each of the masters, and said: "I am Su Yu, greetings to my seniors. The matter is like this..."

  Then he told everything that had happened this afternoon from beginning to end, starting with "Bamboo Forest Teahouse".

  On the ninth day, Lin Meng'er was even more attentive in listening and also wanted to figure out who was behind it.

  After Su Yu left the teahouse, Jian didn't dare to put his sword back at his waist. He immediately sheathed it and held it in his hand, still fearful of Chu Qi's words. He quickly mounted his horse and rushed towards Fengjie City, thinking that tonight he would have his master and uncles by his side, and even if external enemies attacked, his sword would be safe. According to Chu Qi's words, if he had the chance to meet him again tomorrow and his sword was still intact, he would definitely humiliate him for being a disappointment to the Jianghu rumors, not living up to his name.

  As soon as he entered the gate of Fengjie City, he heard a familiar child's crying voice behind him. He turned his head to look and found that it was the couple and two children from the teahouse. Although he had set out early in the morning, and his horse was fast, he was shocked to see that the couple could arrive so quickly. He thought: "I clearly started my journey early, with a good horse, how strange is it that this couple can arrive so soon?"

  He was shocked, and his vision blurred for a moment, as if he had caught a whiff of perfume. When he came to, the couple and their two children were nowhere to be seen. He let out a sigh of relief, but then suddenly remembered Chu Qi's words. He looked down and saw that his sword was still in its scabbard. With a smooth motion, he drew the sword, but was immediately stunned. The outer scabbard was intact, but the soft sword inside had been broken into two pieces!

  Su Yu didn't mention meeting Lin Meng'er, seeing her young age, elegant and refined, wanting to get close but being rejected. Nor did he mention fighting with Chu Jiu and suffering a small loss.

  On the ninth day, after hearing everything, he couldn't help but be greatly shocked. He thought: "The internal force of this object that can shatter a sword is truly not to be underestimated. I'm afraid that even if I practice for a few more years, I won't be able to achieve it. My Master and Master's father should be able to do it, but unexpectedly the middle-aged beautiful woman in the shop has such deep internal force!"

  He turned his head and saw that his junior sister was also stunned, but Lin Meng'er thought: "What Seventh Uncle and Senior Brother said is indeed correct. With such extremely high martial arts skills in the middle-aged woman's family, why did they need to take action themselves?"

  Mr. Chu Qi still had a casual and calm demeanor, as if whether his budget was accurate or not had nothing to do with him.

  Fei Sha Dao Ren, Dugu Xiong Xin and others in the great hall below listened to Su Yu's words, all of whom felt a thorn in their hearts. After a while, Fei Sha Dao Ren asked: "Su Xian Sheng, this rumor has been circulating for twenty years, that Chu Qi is indeed a dragon with its head hidden and only its tail visible! What does he look like? Did you see him clearly?"

  "Reporting to Flying Sand Master, Chu Qi is a man in his 40s, with a slightly dark complexion and three large black moles on the left side of his cheek, looking quite ferocious!" Su Yu said respectfully, but his voice was soft and delicate, sharp as a woman's, which didn't match his appearance at all. This was because he had damaged his San Yin meridians while practicing the Seven Yin Sword Technique, affecting his vocal cords.

  Everyone has heard of the mysterious Mr. Chu Qi, but no one knows him personally. Now that Su Yu says Mr. Chu Qi is so ugly, they are all disappointed and can't help but discuss it, confused and puzzled.

  On the ninth day, the audience discussed and debated, with Lin Ming'er by his side. He smiled as he looked at Mr. Chu Qi, but he seemed to remain still, not smiling or frowning, not moving a muscle in response to Su Yu's evaluation of his appearance, as if what people were saying was about someone else, not him!

  Dugu Xue was heartbroken towards Chu Qi, for a moment he had no clue, but still quite surprised and disbelieving, and asked again: "En, Yuer, are you certain that middle-aged woman has no grudge against you, yet she can shatter your sword with just one move?"

  "Disciple dare not conceal, this is the truth!" Su Yu bowed again, sweat dripping down, and there was no longer any of the arrogance from this afternoon. Dugu Xiong's heart was also shocked, such internal power could shatter the finest long sword in Liangzhou City's "Crazy Rain Forging Sword Manor" with just a wave of his hand, it was absolutely not inferior to his own, but how could the opponent's skills be so playful, teasing a small disciple like this, could he be a demonic cultist?!

  He thought of it, and the crowd in the hall also thought of it, but there was a moment of silence, as if the devil's followers were nearby!

  "Something's wrong, Master!" A sudden shout came from outside, and everyone was shocked. One of the disciples rushed in, it was Wang Dao, the second disciple of Dugu Xiong, who was responsible for guarding the temple tonight. As soon as he entered the temple, he knelt down and said: "Reporting to Master, honorable uncles, something strange has happened, it's not good!"

  "What's going on, why the commotion? What's the situation?" Duguang's heart was actually secretly shocked, because he knew that his second disciple Wang Dao was usually steady and calm. Among all the disciples, except for the eldest disciple Fu Xiao Liu, Wang Dao was the most outstanding, which was why he had been assigned to be in charge of tonight's security! Tonight's commotion must mean something big and strange had happened, but in order to stabilize the situation, he calmly asked.

  "Master, just now I and the other disciples were patrolling in front of the gate, nothing happened, so we went to patrol behind the ancestral hall. But when we came back from patrolling behind to the front gate, we found that there were three...three... corpses at the entrance! We really don't know who they are or when they were moved here!" Wang Dao hastily said, he had seen that the corpses were non-toxic and had already taken it upon himself to have the disciples move them inside.

  The two factions of disciples in the ancestral hall shouted out loud, "Ah... Ah" The sound was endless. Dugu Xiong's heart ached, and he stood up with Heng Fan, Cheng Man, and Fei Sha Daozhang to look over.

  Under the lamplight, three corpses lay on the ground with pale faces and blood flowing from their mouths, looking even more ferocious. Lin Meng'er could no longer hold back a soft cry of "Ah". Fortunately, the scene below was chaotic with many people shouting loudly, so no one noticed her cry, but it still startled Chu Jiu greatly.

  "Two of them were killed by a sword that cut through their throats, and the other was killed by two palms that shattered his heart meridian! This inner power is not inferior to the woman who broke the Jade Sword with her internal force earlier!" Du Gu Shang Xin used his palm to strike high, but the Cui Tong Sect's swordsmanship was also a major school. He took one glance and saw the fatal wound, so he spoke first.

  Heng Fan, Cheng Man, and Fei Sha Dao all nodded in agreement. Cheng Man said: "Elder brother's words are indeed correct!"

  They are all top-notch experts, and such deliberate injuries left by others, how can they not see through?

  Fei Sha Dao Ren suddenly spoke up: "Perhaps, for these three people and Su Yu Xian's nephew, it was the same person who took action!"

  Dugu Xue was taken aback, and Fei Sha's words also made sense. He was about to ask Wang Dao if he had left anything else behind when he suddenly turned his head and saw Su Yu's face as pale as death. His heart skipped a beat, and he asked: "Yu'er, what's wrong? Did you discover something?"

  "Master Shibo, they... the three of them are... are the 'Fengjie Three Bandits' from this afternoon at the teahouse!" Su Yu exclaimed in shock, her voice trembling with fear.

  He was originally a person from this prefecture, and this time he returned to his hometown for half official business and half family matters. Yesterday afternoon, he recognized the three people on the road as "Fengjie Three Bandits", knowing that they were roaming around the countryside, relying on robbery to make a living, and had already targeted the middle-aged couple's whole family. Although he was naturally thin-skinned, he was after all from a prestigious family background, so he followed them secretly, wanting to teach these three bandits a lesson. However, it wasn't until this afternoon that he left because of the matters with Lin Xiang'er and Chu Qi, but he didn't expect that now when he saw these three people again, they were already dead!

  "Hong Fan comforted her: 'Yu'er, don't be so afraid. When she broke your sword, it was an act of mercy, and she won't harm you! Those three bandits were evil men who deserved to die.'"

  But then Fei Sha Dao Chang was originally frowning, but as soon as he heard that it was the three of them who had come, and knew they were the Three Evils, when he heard Heng Fen's words "Those three bandits are bad people, and will suffer a calamity", he suddenly thought of something, and exclaimed with joy: "I finally know! Brother Dugu, two virtuous brothers, all of you don't need to worry!"

  Everyone was puzzled and looked at Fei Sha Dao Chang.

  Chu Jiu and Lin Ming'er were also in a state of bewilderment, both of them were extremely shocked. Chu Jiu thought to himself: "Mr. Chu Qi is indeed mysterious and unfathomable, these three people really only have until today's daytime to live! However, they are actually evil tyrants and robbers, not worth pitying!" He turned his head to look at Mr. Chu Qi, who still had a calm expression.

  Suddenly, in the midst of their sighs, they only heard the Flying Sand Path say, continuing in a drawn-out tone: "Could it be that Brother Dugu and the two noble brothers have forgotten that this place is near Wushan?"

  His voice was calm, but there was a sense of reverence that came from the heart, as if in his mouth, this Wu Shan should be admired by all in the world!

  That Dugu Xue was taken aback, his face turned pale, and he stood there stunned for a moment. After a while, Dugu Xue forced out a smile and said: "Yes, yes, once the sea is difficult to be water, except for Wu Mountain it's not cloud! In the next decade or so, how can I forget that this is near Wu Mountain?" The disciples of the Cuiyun Sect were puzzled and discussed in whispers, completely bewildered.

  Feng Xiao Liu hurriedly asked: "Master, what does this Witch Mountain mean?"

  On the ninth day, he was also puzzled and wondered if there were rules near Wushan that prohibited drawing swords against each other.

  He and Lin Meng'er were also puzzled. Looking at Mr. Chu Qi, he was smiling, this mysterious master of the profound art, was indeed mysterious!

  "This, thirty years ago, Shu Mountain... Ah, never mind, you don't need to know yet! Fei Sha Xiong Di, this... Wu Shan... won't interfere with our affairs with the Demon Sect, will it?" After a moment, Dugu Xiong said again, the first half of the sentence was in response to his eldest disciple Pei Xiao Liu, while the second half was a question for Fei Sha Dao Ren.

  Du Gu Xiong and Cheng Man have already understood that Su Yu was forced to draw his sword, only to suffer the humiliation of having it broken. Fortunately, his opponent spared him out of consideration for his noble birth; otherwise, with such a high level of martial arts skills, Su Yu would have ended up like the "Feng Jie Three Bandits".