Night talk (2) On the same night, in Piaomiao sect’s mountain villa, within the confines of the discussion hall, there were still people who are awake.
In the nighttime discussion hall, several candles as large as a child’s arm were lit illuminating the whole room.
Compared to the crowd which had a.s.sembled in the morning, there were only six people currently in the room.
Indeed, they were people who were known to the Jianghu world as Piaomiao’s six tigers.
Ou Peng was still sitting on the sect master’s seat, on his left was old first Hu Yunyi, old second Li Jian, on his right were old fourth Shangguan Fengliu, old fifth Liu Qingyang, and old sixth Xu Peihua.
Eldest Hu was a muscular middle aged man, dressed in simple and even old-fashioned attire. At first glance, he would appear as an old farmer with an ordinary appearance. Although he was summoned through the sect’s emergency signal, he now had a relaxed expression on his face as he sipped on his tea slowly.
Old second had a tall and lean frame; he wore an azure robe and carried a sword in his hand which hung down to his knees. His expression was cold and indifferent, like his name suggests. At this moment, Li Jian’s head was lowered and his eyes were squinting as if he was in deep thought.
The old fifth who was sitting opposite was a short and fat man, whose attire appeared even shabbier which exposed the black hair on his chest. There were two large grand axes at the floor beside his feet, and instead of tea, there was a wine jug placed on his table. The impression that he gave out was an outright contrast from his name. At this moment, he was not indulging in his wine, but was looking around with a roving eye.
Old fourth Shangguan and old sixth Xu were naturally in the loop of the purpose for the meeting that night, and their faces could not hide their own excitement, as they whispered to each other. Although old sixth Xu was supposed to take the last position, he had insisted to switch places with old fifth in order to converse with old fourth. This old fifth Liu was looking at his two fellow peers, and since he could not overhear their conversation, he could only take large gulps of wine as he waited for Ou Peng to speak.
Ou Peng appeared to be pondering, and did not seem to have any regard the rest of the people in the hall.
When his fellow brother disciples began to become jittery, Ou Peng raised his head and looked at the familiar faces, before speaking up
“Eldest senior brother, second senior brother and fifth junior brother, you all have rushed to the sect this afternoon without even resting. However, I do indeed have something important to discuss with you, and you cannot blame old fourth and old sixth for not hinting about it because I have explicitly ordered them not to, as this matter is extremely important and has to be kept in absolute secrecy.”
First elder Hu slowly put down his teacup, and said “Brother Sect master has always done things in the most appropriate manner and thus we will not be offended. However, I would like to hear what is this matter that you say is of paramount importance. The Jianghu world has been quite peaceful lately, a few sects have been expanding lately, and the unorthodox sects are laying low. Could it be that sect master brother is planning to expand our sect as well?”
Second elder Li felt that his idea was foolish so and coldly disagreed “Power is required in Jianghu to make a statement. Without good enough martial arts, setting up these plans will be useless. In my opinion, we should practice our swords more instead of spending time and effort to think of such plans.”
First elder Hu knew that his second junior brother possess a warm interior under his cold exterior, and tend to be direct without considering the feelings of the other party so he did not take his words to heart. As for fifth elder Liu, he echoed first elder Hu’s sentiments and did not take offense to second elder Li’s words. Instead, he raised his axe as he said “Third brother, tell me which b.a.s.t.a.r.d has been causing trouble for us and I will chop him down.”
Fourth elder Shangguan and sixth elder Xu both smiled at them while they continued to remain silent.
Ou Peng did not know whether to laugh or cry as he grappled the axe from fifth elder Liu’s hands, and said “Old fifth, please sit and calm down, it is not as bad as you think.” Then, towards first elder Hu and second elder Li, he said “first senior brother, second senior brother, we are not going to fight for territories with another sect, and there is even less need to devise a plan.”
He paused deliberately, and then said “This time, I have invited our fellow brother for some good news.”
The three people were confused, and they wrinkled their brows. Fifth elder Liu asked “Third brother, what is the good news and how does it affect us?”
Second elder Liu said “Could it be that a biscuit dropped from heaven?”
First elder Hu did not answer immediately, and thought for a while before saying “Old third, could this be related to the old beggar you mentioned previously?”
Ou Peng smiled and nodded in agreement.
Fifth elder Liu happily said “, that old beggar was telling the truth? I have long forgotten about this matter, who would after a year?”Second elder Li maintained his wooden expression as he asked “When did you leave? You seemed to have stayed in the sect all this while, how would I not know when you left?”
Ou Peng replied “I did not go personally.”
Fifth elder Liu lost his temper and pointed towards fourth elder Shangguan and sixth elder Xu, saying “I say that these two men have been whispering to each other non-stop since they came in. So it was the two of you, why did you not tell us earlier?”
Sixth elder Xu hurriedly said “fifth brother has made a mistake, we only found out about this a few days ago.”
The other three people were instantly stumped.
Ou Peng then explained “Old fourth and old sixth did not go, I sent little Hai and Qing’er instead.”
Upon hearing this, fifth elder Liu jumped from his seat and said “This is an important matter yet you chose to send only two disciples? Aren’t you afraid that a problem might occur?”
First elder Hu glared at the fifth elder and said “Can you not overreact? Aren’t the two disciples back in the sect safe and sound? Otherwise, how could we be sitting here and discussing this calmly?”
Fifth elder Liu thought for a while before admitting “True…”
Ou Peng smiled as he explained “It was like this. In order not to ttract the attention of the spies from the other sects and give them the opportunity to loot our benefits, the Tan family master, thousand swords peak sect master and I did not agreed not to go personally. Instead, we planned to send our second generation disciples in our stead to the appointed location, and let Sir Yanming who draws the least attention in Jianghu to lead them in.”
Second elder Li said “this Sir Yanming’s martial skill is ordinary, but he is pretty shrewd, wouldn’t little Hai and Qing’er be taken advantaged of?”
First elder Hu said “Since old three sent them there, he must have taken some precautions to prevent so.”
Ou Peng rubbed his nose and said “Eldest senior brother is right. Before leaving, we all sent our closest people to his Yanming sect, while has sent his wife to our sect, and after the mission is completed, we will escort his wife back in exchange for our own people.”
First elder Hu asked “Who did you send over?”
Ou Peng replied “I naturally sent Yan’er.”
First elder Hu nodded.
Ou Peng continued “She has arrived a few days back, and is currently in the mountain villa resting.
First elder Hu also added “In this type of situations, she would be the only suitable candidate to go. I guessed that it must be hard on her.”
Second elder Li said “She is your little sister, of course she has to share the burden of this elder brother of hers. However, did this Sir Yanming not play any tricks? That is quite unexpected of him.”
Ou Peng smiled until his eyes narrowed into crescents, saying “How could he not? He suggested using scissors paper stone to split the treasure loot, and in the end, our Qing’er ended up as the eventual winner.”
Fifth elder Liu also laughed “How could she not, this gal has never lost in a game before. Even I have been befuddled by her. Serves him right, Sir Yanming has ended up stepping on his own foot.”
Ou Peng continued “The funniest thing was, he pretended to be kind and said that any additional treasure will belong to whoever was fated to encounter them, yet there were not many treasures so they only share some herbs among each other. Man proposes and heaven disposes indeed.”
“Herbs???” Fifth elder Liu exclaimed “there were no precious weapon artifacts?”
Sixth elder Xu replied in a normal tone “Of course there is, it was a Pangu axe.”
Fifth elder Liu immediately jumped up from his seat and rushed towards Ou Peng, saying “Really? Third brother, this Pangu axe is a dream of mine. This time, you must definitely give it to me. I will use it to cut the entire Jianghu into half!”
Ou Peng did not even reply yet, but first elder Hu interrupted “Old fifth, return to your seat. We are in the discussion hall, do not forget the rules.”
Fifth elder Liu was quite afraid of first elder Hu, so he returned to his seat reluctantly; his face was full of smiles as he said “Big brother, you cannot dash my dreams. This axe has to belong to me.”
Second elder Li spoke up “You actually believe in something like the Pangu axe, do you want me to exchange the Xuanyuan sword for it?”
Fifth elder Liu chortled “Since when did you have the Xuanyuan sword?”
Second elder Li retorted “And the possibility of you having the Pangu axe is lower.”
At this moment, first elder Hu raised his voice and said “Stop letting old six lead you by the nose. The Pangu axe is a legendary item, how could it exist?”
However, Ou Peng mysteriously said “Even though old six was fooling around, but eldest senior brother, you are wrong this time. There is indeed stuff from the legends inside.
This time, first elder Hu was also moved, and he asked “What item? It can’t be herbs right?”
Ou Peng was satisfied at first elder Hu’s reaction, and said “The herbs were only an additional reward. The real treasure is another thing completely.”
Fifth elder Liu was still unhappy as he snapped “If it is not the Pangu axe, than what legendary item could it be? The Xuanyuan sword? The Chapter of Heavens? The Everlasting Youth Pill?”
Fourth elder Shangguan said ”Old fifth is pretty amazing to have guessed correctly, I would never imagined that this day would come.”
Apart from the three men, everyone else was shocked into a daze. First elder Hu exchanged glances with second elder Li, and the latter stood up, activated his qinggong, and flew out of the discussion hall in a wisp of smoke, circled the outside of the discussion hall, then landed on the roof of the hall while straining his ears, before finally flying back into the hall and reported to first elder Hu “there are n.o.body in the surroundings.”
First elder Hu nodded, and returned to look at Ou Peng.
Fifth elder Liu was still in a daze, as though he did not understand what the two people just did.
First elder Hu then turned to Ou Peng and said “Old third, describe in detail the treasure you found.”