Chapter 134: Linghu Chong's Fierce Battle Against Ren Woxing

After escaping from his dungeon, Ren Woxing remained extremely cautious. Fully aware that he was a spent force—his twenty years of imprisonment at the bottom of West Lake having nearly exhausted his internal strength—he did not immediately challenge the Four Friends of Plum Blossom Villa. Instead, he rendezvoused with Xiang Wentian, waited until he had recovered his health and returned to his peak, and only then returned to the villa to arrogantly seek vengeance.

After dealing with the Four Friends, Ren Woxing grew even more conceited. He bellowed with wild, overbearing pride: "I, Ren Woxing, have finally returned! I shall unify the martial arts world and reign supreme, with none above me!"

Standing to the side, Xiang Wentian’s mouth twitched involuntarily.

"What? Does the Left Emissary have an objection to my words?" Ren Woxing asked coldly.

"Your subordinate would never dare, Sect Leader. I only feel that you could be even more imposing," Xiang Wentian quickly replied.

"Oh? How so?" Ren Woxing was intrigued.

"You should say: 'I want this sky to no longer be able to shroud my gaze; I want this earth to no longer be able to bury my heart; I want all living things to understand my will; I want all the gods and Buddhas in the heavens to vanish into thin air!'"

Ren Woxing was shaken by these wild, cool, and earth-shattering words. After a long silence, he blinked and asked, "Left Emissary, where did you come across such imposing language?"

"The Xianyue Sect. The current martial arts world is a three-legged stool: the Shaolin and Wudang sects, the Sun Moon Holy Cult, and the Xianyue Sect. The Xianyue Sect is full of lunatics who defy the heavens and the earth, extremely warlike and submissive to no one. According to rumors, Linghu Chong, the senior disciple of the Xianyue Sect’s Huashan Hall, single-handedly broke the Shaolin sect's 108 Arhat Formation with his sword, slaying over two hundred Shaolin disciples."

"Linghu Chong? The one who rescued me a few days ago? Isn't he a Huashan disciple? How did he become a member of the Xianyue Sect?" Ren Woxing was puzzled.

"The Xianyue Sect is what used to be the Five Mountain Sword Sects, but it wasn't a merger of all five. It was a merger of three: the Huashan, Songshan, and Hengshan sects. After they merged, they renamed themselves the Xianyue Sect, and the original three sects were relegated to the status of halls," Xiang Wentian explained.

"A three-mountain merger? That kid Zuo Lengchan had quite the ambition. Did he finally get his wish?" Ren Woxing felt it was time to take the Xianyue Sect seriously.

"No, the leader of the Xianyue Sect is Yue Buqun," Xiang Wentian said softly.

"Left Emissary, what is going on? Explain it all to me at once." Ren Woxing felt he was losing face; could it be that he had been at the bottom of the lake for so long that he was falling behind the times?

Xiang Wentian quickly detailed the affairs of the Xianyue Sect to Ren Woxing.

"Hahahaha!" Ren Woxing laughed toward the sky. "Resurrection from the dead is merely a deceptive trick. All these tales of swords crossing, wind and clouds joining, or infinite power are nothing but illusions; they are merely the ignorance of the common folk."

Refusing to believe Xiang Wentian, Ren Woxing declared, "Since the Xianyue Sect is so arrogant, I shall put my affairs in order and go wipe them out first."

Xiang Wentian quickly blocked him. Knowing how stubborn Ren Woxing was and that he wouldn't believe in the magical nature of the Xianyue Sect, he said in a low, grave voice, "Feng Qingyang is still alive."

"Feng Qingyang?" Ren Woxing froze. "Feng Qingyang is still alive?"

"Yes, he is. That is why Linghu Chong's swordsmanship is so formidable; he inherited Feng Qingyang's legacy and mastered the Nine Swords of Dugu."

"Then hurry and release Linghu Chong from the dungeon; I have questions for him," Ren Woxing commanded.

"This... Linghu Chong has already escaped from his cell..." stammered Hebaizi, one of the Four Friends of Plum Blossom Villa.

"Xiang Wentian, I treated you as a brother, yet you betrayed me! Take this!" No sooner had Hebaizi spoken than a sharp cry rang out, accompanied by a fierce flash of a blade.

The sword light lunged directly at Xiang Wentian!

"So be it. It was I who used Brother Linghu first, after all..." Xiang Wentian sighed. He did not dodge, but closed his eyes and braced himself to take the strike to honor their bond.

"How bold! To dare injure my subordinate right before my eyes!" Ren Woxing let out a roar and threw a palm strike toward the incoming blade.

He expected to easily deflect the blow, but the attacker flickered, effortlessly dodging the palm, and the sword continued toward Xiang Wentian.

Although Ren Woxing saw that the strike was not intended to kill, only to injure, he felt his face burn with indignation. Infuriated, he turned his palm into a claw and shouted, "Star Sucking Great Skill!"

He began to draw power from the air toward Linghu Chong.

Xiang Wentian cried out, "Brother Linghu, be careful!"

Linghu Chong’s movement was interrupted; both he and his sword were dragged forward. Unfazed, Linghu Chong first used a "thousand-pound drop" to anchor himself to the ground, then discarded his sword and flicked his finger against the hilt, sending the blade flying toward Ren Woxing like a hidden weapon.

Ren Woxing, caught off guard by the discarded sword, dodged in haste. The blade grazed his neck; had he been a moment slower, it would have taken his life.

Enraged, Ren Woxing exerted his full power into the Star Sucking Great Skill. Linghu Chong continued to counter it with his anchored stance. As time passed, Linghu Chong began to sway, his body pulled inexorably toward Ren Woxing. Just as they were about to come into physical contact, Linghu Chong closed his eyes, then suddenly snapped them open. His black pupils turned white, veins bulged around his eyes, and a "Man" (swastika) symbol appeared on his forehead.

"Byakugan!"

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

A massive Taiji diagram appeared beneath their feet. Under its influence, while Ren Woxing's Star Sucking Great Skill was not fully broken, its effect on Linghu Chong was drastically reduced. Linghu Chong lunged forward, striking with palms and fingers, executing the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and sending Ren Woxing flying.

The reason Linghu Chong possessed the Byakugan went back to his escape. After fleeing the dungeon and realizing he had been betrayed and that Ren Woxing had been released, he feared a bloodbath in the martial arts world. He rushed to Hangzhou to use the government’s carrier pigeon system to send word to the Xianyue Sect.

Hangzhou, like Luoyang, did not dare to delay him. Within half a day, a reply arrived—not by pigeon, but by a black crow with a pair of white eyes.

The crow spat out a large slip of paper with a tiny "Oh" written on it. Linghu Chong stared at it for a long time without understanding.

"Are you stupid? Lord Yang Xin means for you not to worry. Even if there were ten, or a hundred Ren Woxings, they wouldn't be able to stir up any real trouble."

"Holy cow, the crow can talk!" Linghu Chong jumped three feet into the air in shock.