The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 431 It turns out I’m really not the best in the world

"The Palace Master's order!" This Palace Master was not the Child-Father of Tianshan, but Murong Fu. After all, the acting Palace Master is also the Palace Master, right?

"The seventy-two island masters and thirty-six cave masters, a bunch of villains, rebelled together and attacked the Lingjiu Palace at night, playing a game with the Lord. The Lord was very pleased. The leader, Boss Wu, Island Master An and the other nine tribute-payers this year, will be forgiven if they are not dead. In addition, they will be given three doses of the antidote to the life and death talisman for three years of tribute." The leading maid was the chief of one of the nine tribes in the Nine Heavens. When she glanced at them, all the prisoners felt relieved, and then they cast angry glances at Boss Wu and the others.

Boss Wu, Island Master An and the others were worried because they had not collected all the tribute. They had even sneaked into the Lingjiu Palace out of suspicion to gather information. After learning that Tong Lao was seriously ill, they took the initiative to call on the seventy-two island masters and thirty-six cave masters to launch a rebellion.

After finally defeating Kuishu and almost wiping out their entire army, the old lady Tong Lao actually let them go because she had so much fun, and she even exempted them from three years of offerings, and gave them three parts of the antidote to the life and death talisman. You know, one portion of this thing a year can save one year of pain. How could they have never thought of such a good thing before?

Only seven of the nine masters were left. They all prostrated themselves on the ground, loudly praising Tong Lao and offering tribute every year to show their gratitude.

"The other bastards deserved their death. They must send a descendant to inherit the throne and be governed by the life and death talisman. The living cannot escape punishment. Women will receive one year of labor in the palace, and men will be whipped thirty times. Their tribute will be doubled for three years. They will also receive a new mission: to find a treasure that the Palace Master desires. The Palace Master has listed dozens of treasures. If you can't grab them, hehe~"

The woman casually threw a booklet over, and everyone rushed to grab it, but no one dared to use force for fear of damaging the booklet.

Another woman snorted coldly, "What are you trying to rob? Even if the gun is in the atlas, whether you can find it is still unclear. You only have three years. If you don't complete the mission within three years, hmph, forget about getting the antidote to the Life and Death Talisman in the future."

Everyone was shocked when they heard this. The woman continued, "The seventy-two island masters and thirty-six cave masters are a kind of thieves who rebelled. They have reason to, but they lack the ability. Among the thieves, those who are extraordinary and have not been hit by the life and death talismans will be given three to six life and death talismans depending on their martial arts skills. They will be assigned to the secret guards of the Lingjiu Palace and be dispatched by the Lord. They will carry out different missions each year. If anything goes wrong..."

Zhuo Bufan: Is this a reward?

The two women said: You bastards who offended and invaded Lingjiu Palace were not killed directly. It can only be said that the new palace master is merciful. If the old master were here, none of you would escape death!

The two women pointed to a few more people, saying that the Palace Master had summoned them and asked them to ask questions in person. If the Palace Master was satisfied, he would remove the life and death talismans as appropriate. Even if he could not remove all of them, he could reduce one or two. As soon as these words came out, everyone was shocked, and your eyes towards these people suddenly became a little unfriendly.

These people are all poor people who have suffered from the oppression of Lingjiu Palace. Although most of them are not good people, they are also the bullied ones. Even the palace master said that rebellion is justified, but they have nothing to say about the winner taking all. However, now looking back, they realize that Lingjiu Palace has been prepared and took them all down almost without any harm.

Is it really because of these people tipping off?

Before leaving, the two women said something that nearly broke their collective defenses. "Palace Master orders that all of the seventy-two island masters and thirty-six cave masters who did not participate in this operation should have their life and death talismans removed and be promoted to foreign affairs envoys."

Boss Wu, Island Master An and the others looked at each other, and suddenly felt that three years of antidote and three years of exemption from offerings were not so attractive after all. But then they thought about the fact that their action almost involved all the seventy-two island masters and thirty-six cave masters. Even if someone wanted to withdraw at that time, they would have been killed by them. There were only two or three people who were really "smart" and did not come.

But as long as it wasn't Zero, they would inevitably feel bitter. Breaking all the life and death talismans was the dream they had dreamed of. However, they didn't know that among those who didn't come was the leader of the Shennong Clan, Sikong Xuan, who had already been liberated long ago. The reason they kept silent and continued to grovel before the Lingjiu Palace was just a pretense, and even looked like they were trying to curry favor.

If you ignore the life and death talisman and the heavy annual offerings, there is actually nothing unacceptable about being a lackey of the Lingjiu Palace. They never dared to think of having a top master as their backer before.

However, Sikong Xuan was smarter and luckier, and he had clung to Murong Fu's thigh early on. Murong Fu, the new palace master, said this, perhaps with the intention of helping Sikong Xuan to clean up the mess.

The way to rule your subordinates is to use both kindness and severity. If people rebel against you, you can be magnanimous and forgive them instead of killing them all, but you must be clear about rewards and punishments. Moreover, he deliberately differentiates between men and women in order to protect Tong Lao's character.

Boss Wu and the others each had different levels of punishment and reward, which undoubtedly greatly divided the hearts and minds of the seventy-two island masters and thirty-six cave masters. Those who were called away were not spies, nor did they tip off the enemy. They were simply summoned because they could help Murong Fu conquer Korea and Liao. However, the others might not be aware of this, and they must have harbored resentment. As a result, it would be impossible for anyone to rally the heroes to revolt in the future.

People are divided, and everyone wants to be a traitor. They use their friends as a token of their loyalty. Are you afraid? Do you still dare to rebel?

As for using the descendants of the dead to perform rituals, it makes them even more afraid. This is the son paying for the father's debt. You can just die, but what about your descendants?

This plan is very vicious!

Zhuo Bufan and Taoist Buping looked at each other, their hearts slowly sinking to the bottom of the sea. They silently wondered who that young man was, with such unfathomable martial arts skills and also good at sound skills.

Apart from these two directly demonstrated skills, there is also the graceful and superb lightness skill and the superb means of deploying troops and deploying generals.

"I know someone, but that person is a well-known figure in the Central Plains and a role model of righteousness. He should have nothing to do with that old witch." Unlike Zhuo Bufan who practiced in seclusion, Taoist Buping had a wide range of friends and had even been in and out of Gusu College. However, Wang Erlang was very skilled in martial arts and would not tolerate his presumptuous behavior.

"Is there really such a talented young man in the world?" Zhuo Bufan obtained an unknown sword manual and lived in seclusion in the mountains for twenty years to practice diligently. His swordsmanship finally reached the pinnacle. He killed several famous masters in Hebei in one breath. Since then, his martial arts skills have been perfected and he thought he was invincible in the world. However, he never expected that he would be defeated by a young man in one move.

"Young martial arts masters in the Central Plains have always respected Qiao Feng in the north and Murong in the south. The one I'm talking about is Murong Fu, the head of the Murong family, a man of both civil and military talents, proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and a skilled doctor who even served as a high-ranking official in the imperial court!" Taoist Buping whispered, "Eight years ago, the Murong family was targeted. Rumors spread that the world's martial arts were the work of Murong, and the Murong family was targeted by martial arts masters throughout the Central Plains. When Master Murong set up his arena, no martial artist under the age of thirty could last more than ten moves against him."

"Two years ago, Young Master Murong got married and once again set up the ring. He and Qiao Feng were the champions, sharing the throne. No one under the age of forty could last more than three moves against him, and that was even before he used his full strength. To this day, the true extent of the Murong family's martial arts skills is probably unknown to the world, but there is one thing he has never lost, not even once!"

Zhuo Bufan's mouth twitched slightly. He had heard of the names of Qiao Feng in the North and Murong in the South, but he was over fifty years old and had a high opinion of himself, so he had never thought of challenging the two younger generations. If that young man was really Murong Fu, I'm afraid Qiao Feng in the North was not just a name, and his martial arts skills must be extremely high.

After hearing Zhuo Bufan's words, Taoist Buping shook his head slightly and said, "I've never personally fought against Qiao Feng in the north and Murong in the south, but I did suffer a loss at the hands of Wang Erlang, the dean of Gusu College, a few years ago. He himself once said that although the five masters of the Murong family have different levels of strength, the difference is not huge. His position as the number one is not necessarily secure, as he is always in danger of being surpassed by others. And even if the five masters joined forces, they might not be able to defeat the head of the family, Murong Fu."

Zhuo Bufan: If that young man is really Murong Fu, it is normal that five masters of your and my level cannot beat him. After all, hundreds of good fighters were defeated by him last night, and I and others were directly defeated by his music. He didn't even use his best martial arts. The gap is really too big.

"Who do you think is better in martial arts, this young man or Tong Lao?" Zhuo Bufan's question stumped Taoist Buping. Although they had seen the young man's martial arts, they only had a glimpse of the tip of the iceberg. As for Tong Lao's ability to kill people without a second move, it was not something they could judge. In the end, the two of them looked at each other and sighed together.

The gap is so huge that it is impossible to judge.

The gap is not the gap between Tianshan Tonglao and Murong Fu, but the gap between them and these two.

"So I'm really not number one," Zhuo Bufan muttered to himself. The Taoist Buping beside him rolled his eyes, thinking, "Dude, it's already daytime. It's a little too early to dream." Your record is just a few victories over a few elite fighters from Hebei, and those guys would have been defeated in three moves in the Gusu Arena. Who gave you the courage to claim to be number one?

Have you asked the Shaolin monks? Have you asked the Murong family head? Have you asked the monks at Tianlong Temple? Have you asked the Beggars' Sect leader, Qiao?

Well, wait a minute, it seems that the Beggars' Sect has already destroyed its own Great Wall and expelled Qiao Feng. Now, it seems that no one in the Beggars' Sect can beat him.

I won't go into that, but let's just say you, Zhuo Bufan, consider yourself the best in the world. Do you really know how powerful the Child-Fair Lady of Tianshan is? Taoist Buping thought carefully about the martial arts masters he knew in his mind, and suddenly realized that there was a surprisingly high proportion of Buddhist masters. Among them, Shaolin, Tianlong Temple, Dalun Temple, and Vajra Sect all had powerful masters, none of whom he could afford to provoke.

Zhuo Bufan calls himself the Divine Sword, but his sword skills come from the Yizi Huijian Sect, which was not originally considered a top sect. He accidentally obtained the Nameless Sword Manual and learned the method of condensing sword light. His martial arts skills are just ordinary and cannot be compared with the real strong ones. If he can obtain a top-notch sword technique, perhaps he can be promoted to the top-notch level. However, without peerless magic skills, he will never reach the top. Even if he has peerless magic skills, it is still unclear whether he can practice them.