Chapter 398 A Seeming Old Acquaintance Is Coming Back
Li Mu’s current spiritual force already had no problem in enveloping within several kilometers of the flood land. But given that he was in the territory of the Beggar Gang and there were many experts on the flood land, to avoid alerting the target, he carefully kept his spiritual force checked. His spiritual force searched the place inch by inch. So far, he had not detected the aura of Zuo Luyi the old beggar or Ming Yue the little attendant. Even that fat dog who could talk to men was nowhere to be seen.
But if Zuo Luyi was truly an elder of the Beggar Gang, he ought to attend the Beggar Gang’s meeting.
Li Mu acted with extra discreet this time. He was determined to find Ming Yue.
For that reason, he had not even tried to ask the honest Lu Changfu about Zuo Luyi’s whereabouts, lest Lu Changfu tipped the target off. After all, who knew what kind of relations.h.i.+p Lu Changfu and Zuo Luyi had?
As Li Mu was musing, the experts of the Beggar Gang on the flood land were already in a state of turmoil.
It was easy to tell that Li Yuntao the Dragon Punch did enjoy high prestige. Even though Divine Beggar, Grand Master of the Beggar Gang, had personally accused him of being the mole, and Ma Xun had provided the testimony, a great number of the experts and disciples of the Beggar Gang did not buy it. They requested on the top of their voices that they must hear it directly from Li Yuntao.Read more new novels on ReadNovelFull.com
Yet, a magic restriction had been planted inside Li Yuntao, forbidding him from speaking.
That brawny man standing on the stone stage showed no sign of fear or intention to shun the crowd. Although he could not speak, his face displayed a n.o.ble spirit, his eyes welling with honesty.
“Why have you silenced Brother Li?” A leader of a branch organ stepped to the front and demanded.
Divine Beggar’s complexion altered a little. He never knew there were still so many members supporting Li Yuntao when things had developed to that point. He made to say something…
However, the fair-complexioned Liang Zhi who had narrowed his eyes and worn a smile abruptly raised the hand holding the folding fan. The fan transformed into a flash of black-and-white lightning, which cleaved the void as easily as cutting a chunk of beef tallow with a hot knife. Before that leader raising the question could react, his head was chopped off, and the fan zoomed back in Liang Zhi’s hand with the head.
A pungent smell of blood began to spread across the field.
Then, the trunk of that leader collapsed to the ground.
n.o.body knew Liang Zhi could suddenly attack and kill their own man.
“Zhou Xiong, Leader of the Peace Branch, was Li Yuntao’s crony, one of the moles. How dare he come forward and try to deceive us. Death served him well.” Holding Zhou Xiong’s head, Liang Zhi smiled a frosty smile. In the moonlight, his fair face looked indescribably formidable.
Li Yuntao glowered at Liang Zhi, his blue veins standing out on the back of his hands. Nevertheless, he could not break free from the shackles.
After a brief silence, more experts of the Beggar Gang jumped onto the stone stage and closed in on Liang Zhi. Fuming, they insisted to ask for an explanation of the whole incrimination. After all, the Beggar Gang had rules and procedures for conviction. To many of the members, unilaterally convicting somebody of a crime was unacceptable.
Liang Zhi was still sneering. The killing intent on his face was distinct. He was going to attack again!
Just at that point, Divine Beggar bellowed, “What are you up to? Launching a revolt? Don’t forget the vow you made when you joined our Beggar Gang…” Suddenly, he wobbled, his face extraordinarily pale. Next, as he opened his mouth, a stream of blood shot out. He immediately became listless after losing so much blood.
“Grand Master!”
“Er… Grand Master, are you okay?”
At that sight, everyone was appalled.
Divine Beggar snarled, “Do you all want to drive me mad? Or do you want to rebel against me when I’ve been badly injured in the prior raid launched by the b.l.o.o.d.y-moon faction?”
The disciples naturally claimed that they had no such nerves.
Those years, Divine Beggar was highly respected and revered in the gang. He had saved the gang many times in the face of lethal dangers. In the Northern Song, he was also a famous hero, an acknowledged top expert on the n.o.ble side. So, seeing that he lost his temper, the experts in the Beggar Gang had to back off for the time being.
“Liang Zhi has been provoked into killing after seeing my hopeless injuries. So, what do you hop onto the stage for? If I have not obtained sufficient evidence and a.s.surance, why would I dare stand here? Can I possibly wrong Li Yuntao or Zhou Xiong? Remember, it was I who trained them the whole time. They were sons to me. When I learned their sins, I was much more heartbroken than you all,” shouted Divine Beggar.
Out of wrath, blood continued dripping down his chin, dying his white whiskers scarlet.
Liang Zhi, the fair-complexioned scholar, hurried over to support Divine Beggar.
Those experts who rushed onto the stage were all embarra.s.sed. Mumbling their apologies, they retreated to their spots.
Li Mu watched all that quietly, but he did not know who to believe, either.
That Divine Beggar was truly breathing his last breath. He had been putting on a tough face before. But as his internal injuries worsened, his cultivation as a Semi-Sage shrank rapidly. It seemed that he was already on his deathbed. The indignant tone the old man adopted really surprised Li Mu. Could that upright-looking Li Yuntao really be the mole?
That kind of aroused his curiosity.
Nonetheless, his spiritual force kept stretching out, looking for the old beggar named Zuo Luyi.
Beside him, the honest Lu Changfu looked unprecedentedly conflicted.
He had been Divine Beggar’s friend from the outset, unwaveringly loyal to that Grand Master. Meanwhile, he also trusted Li Yuntao very much. Perhaps no one else could feel the agony he endured at that time.
At that sight, the disciples’ indignant protests were oppressed by Divine Beggar.
Having heard Divine Beggar’s words, Li Yuntao, who was still on the stone stage, trembled from head to foot. His face was pained. In some people’s eyes, he seemed to feel a tinge of guilt after all.
Afterward, dozens of people were escorted onto the stage, who were all remarkable experts, leaders of the branches, and the Guardian of Rules of the Beggar Gang. All of them were executed on the scene. The alleged crimes they had committed were the same—colluding with Li Yuntao, partic.i.p.ating in the rebellion, and murdering the members of the Beggar Gang. Blood reddened the stone steps. At that moment, the gang displayed its brutality without reservation.
w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu’s face paled at the b.l.o.o.d.y sight.
Li Mu gently squeezed her hand.
She was, after all, from the civilized world on Earth. After coming to that world, she spent most of her time in the royal residence. Thus, w.a.n.g s.h.i.+yu had never seen such violence. And on the day Li Mu burst into the military camp to rescue her, all the men he killed turned into flames and disappeared with grace, which was way different from the blood-soaked scene.
Lu Changfu s.h.i.+vered vehemently. He could not believe all that.
Those being killed were famous members of the gang, rising young talents, but… why? Why did they wind up like this?
By that point, Li Mu’s interest in the civil affair of the Beggar Gang waned. What made him a little irritable was that after scanning the entire flood land with his spiritual force, he still had not discovered a trace of the so-called Beggar Gang’s elder, Zuo Luyi, or Ming Yue, or that fat yellow dog. Gradually, Li Mu inclined to take his leave.
He had no intention to meddle in the affairs of the Beggar Gang.
At that precise point, on the stone stage, Divine Beggar was already rocking back and forth, spilling mouthfuls of blood. With great difficulty, he uttered, “Old buddies, I may not linger around for long. But there is one more thing I need to announce in this meeting other than to cleanse the moles. As the old saying goes, without its head, the snake cannot move, the bird cannot fly. So, before I die, I have to pick the next Grand Master. Only by doing that could I die in peace. Due to the urgency of the matter, I have no time to discuss it with you. Now, I directly appoint Liang Zhi, my last disciple, as the next Grand Master…”
The crowd sank into another uproar.
Clearly, many people objected to that decision.
Divine Beggar explained, “I know many of you do not approve my decision. But Liang Zhi is a good kid with a warm heart beneath his cold skin. Though he is not very talkative, he is indeed gifted. Plus, he is definitely loyal to our Beggar Gang, and his cultivation is high enough. If he can take over the position as Grand Master, I will rest in peace in the underworld…”
Eventually, after Divine Beggar made that sincere persuasion, the crowd gradually calmed down.
The outcome of the discussion had been a.s.sured.
Now, Liang Zhi, the fair-complexioned scholar with cold, murderous air, only needed to go through some rituals before becoming the new Grand Master of the Beggar Gang.
Divine Beggar sighed in relief.
However, just at that moment, Li Mu’s expression altered.
Then, as if having detected something, Divine Beggar abruptly sprang to his feet and headed for the east despite his injuries.
Liang Zhi followed him.
So did the members of the Beggar Gang.
They all looked up at the sky.
What they saw was a peculiar sight by the moonlight. Curiously, two black chains had draped from the twin moons hanging in the dark sky. The chains were made of unknown material. They seemed to be attached to the moons. The other end of the chains jointly carried a piece of wood, which together formed a swing.
The swing was flinging back and forth.
A girl’s sweet giggles were heard.
“Haha, you two b*stards have put on a great show! But only those idiots can fall for your trick. How can you fool the real intelligent ones?” A crisp voice as melodious as the voice of a lark in a deep valley rang.
Next, everyone experienced momentary dizziness before seeing a girl around 12 appear on that empty swing. She was wearing two pigtails. Her eyes were large and s.h.i.+ning. Her facial features were exquisite. Her skin was as clean and smooth as jade. She was wearing a scarlet dress, barefoot. Her ankles were slim, toes fair and cute. Her fingernails were wearing red nail polish, which looked like cardamom, quite attractive.
The girl had hooked the swing on the twin moons and happily swung up and down in the sky.
“Is she an immortal?”
“Or a monster?”
There were many experts of the Beggar Gang on the flood land. But none of them had seen anything like that.
The sight did appear to be too surreal.
Li Mu, however, looked pleasantly surprised.
Qing Feng, the little attendant Yuan Hou carried on its back, also trembled with excitement.
Ming Yue!
The beautiful girl on that swing between the twin moons was Li Mu’s little attendant who had been missing for a long time!
Then, Li Mu and Qing Feng exchanged a look. They both noted the shock and disbelief in each other’s eyes. Because the girl’s face, age, and voice were exactly Ming Yue’s, but her tone, bearing, and looks were opposite of Ming Yue’s. Her temperament seemed to have changed drastically.
What was more unbelievable was that the current Ming Yue was wrapped in a strong but erratic aura, as though she had become the incarnation of the G.o.d of Moon. She appeared to be a little menacing to Li Mu, so she was at least in the Sage Realm.
When Ming Yue disappeared, she was just a dorky attendant who was gluttonous and lazy. At that time, she knew little about martial arts. But now, she was already a Sage?
“Who are you joking at?”
Li Mu was in a trance.
“Perhaps that girl is not Ming Yue but just looks like her?”
“But even the darned twins can’t look that alike, can they?”