Chapter 995 A Last Stand

Half an hour later, the breeze led the lonely sun and the lonely moon to a private house in the west of Luoyang city.

"Greetings, Master..."

"No need to be polite. Where is the person?"

"We locked him up in the north room."

"Take us inside."

"As ordered!"

Without any unnecessary nonsense, two Wudang disciples dressed in plain clothes led Qingfeng, who had a gloomy face, and Gu Ri and Gu Yue, who had curious eyes, and walked quickly towards the north room.

"squeak!"

When I pushed open the door, a faint smell of mold and mildew came out. Looking up, there was nothing in the room except the mottled walls on all four sides. There were some weeds growing on the ground full of potholes. The sunlight shone into the room through the broken windows, leaving a series of dusty rays in the air and reflecting patches of light of varying sizes on the ground.

It is not difficult to see that this house has been uninhabited for a long time.

At this time, there were four other Wudang disciples standing against the wall. When they saw Qingfeng and the other two, they immediately bowed and saluted.

In the corner, a dishevelled, blood-stained young man was tied up, his body curled up in a coma.

"You go out first." After dismissing all the disciples, Qingfeng asked Gu Ri and Gu Yue, "Do you know this person?"

"He looks somewhat familiar, but... I can't remember what he is for the moment." Gu Ri and Gu Yue looked at the young man again and again, and finally shook their heads slowly.

"Have you noticed that this person looks... a lot like one of our 'friends'?"

"friend?"

Gu Ri was secretly surprised, and looked at the young man again. Suddenly, an idea flashed in his mind, as if he suddenly realized: "This boy's eyebrows and eyes are quite similar to... Yuan Xiao's charm."

"Yuan Xiao?" Gu Yue was stunned. "Are you talking about... Master Yuan from the Yuan family in Shenzhou?"

"Exactly."

"This..." Gu Yue approached doubtfully, lifted up the young man's head and shook it left and right, "Looking at it this way... they do look somewhat similar. Master, I wonder if he is..."

"He is Yuan Xiao's only son, Yuan Ting." Qing Feng said calmly, "Last year, you returned from Changbai Mountain with a failure, and I suspected that it was no coincidence that Yuan Xiao helped you to connect with the Tiger Cave Dragon Pond. Later, Yuan Xiao led his people to Wudang and was very attentive to us, which made me even more suspicious. In order to avoid alerting the enemy, I did not send anyone to investigate personally, but wrote a letter to Lin'an, asking Qin Wei to borrow the power of the court to help me find out about Yuan Xiao's background. This Mr. Yuan... is the answer Qin Wei gave me yesterday. Last night, when you were "fighting wits and courage" with Xie Xuan, I was here "having a long talk" with Mr. Yuan. As expected, I asked him a huge secret."

"This..." Gu Ri and Gu Yue's hearts tightened, and they asked in unison, "What secret?"

"Yuan Xiao went to Wudang not because he had nowhere else to go, but because someone deliberately arranged it." Qingfeng said angrily, "He is a spy planted by Xunzhen and Liu Xunyi beside me, with the purpose of monitoring my every move for them."

"What?" As soon as these words came out, Gu Ri and Gu Yue's expressions changed.

"Not only Yuan Xiao, but also Yan Shun, Hong Si, and Lei Zhen. They led their people to seek refuge with the Hexi Qin clan, the Xiangxi Teng clan, and the Xianwang Mansion respectively, all with evil intentions. The 'Four Mansions of Shangjing' came out in full force, which was simply a complete conspiracy." Qingfeng sneered, "In the past, I always had a little hesitation about Xie Xuan, fearing that I would accidentally wrongly accuse him. However, when I found out that Xie Xuan and Lei Zhen hit it off at first sight and the two of them had frequent secret meetings, I am now very sure... Xie Xuan and Liu Xunyi and Xunzhen are basically birds of a feather. At the beginning, when Liu Xunyi was in danger in Lin'an, the person who informed the Shao Qin Wang... was him!"

"Wait! If Xie Xuan was a traitor, he should have done his best to protect Liu Xunyi, so why did he capture him personally?" Gu Yue seemed to understand and looked confused.

"If what I guessed is correct, they are conspiring to stage a big show." Qingfeng's eyes flickered, and his tone became more gloomy. "As far as I know, Teng Sanshi, Xiao Zhirou, and Yun Zhuiyue have led people to Luoyang City with great fanfare. Little did I know that they came here uninvited even though I did not send them an invitation. Do you know why?"

"Is it for Liu Xunyi?" "Other than that, I can't think of a second answer." Perhaps because of his inner shame and indignation, the muscles on Qingfeng's face couldn't help but tremble slightly. "Now that things have come to this, I don't have to be shy. I'll just be frank with you. A few days ago, I chatted with Yin Baimei, Zhongli Mu, and Tang Yuan, and took the opportunity to inquire about their "secret meeting" with Teng Sanshi. Sure enough, Teng Sanshi came to them to find out the details of the night when Luo Tianjin was killed. As for why he did this? I believe you can guess one or two without me saying much. I assume that Liu Xunyi's secret has been exposed. He used himself as bait to lure us in. Xunzhen used the four families of Yuan, Yan, Hong, and Lei as a line to secretly collude with the Xiangxi Teng clan, the Hexi Qin clan, the Jueqing Valley, the Longxiang Mountain, and the old members of the Xianwang Mansion headed by Xie Xuan, temporarily forming a powerful and huge force, intending to accumulate strength and give me a fatal blow at the right time..."

"Hiss!" Qingfeng's bold speculation made Gu Ri and Gu Yue hold their breath and cover their faces in dismay.

"Master, what does 'right time' mean..."

"It was the 'Eradication of Traitors' that we organized!" Qingfeng said straight to the point, "Just imagine, if Xie Xuan turned against us at the 'Eradication of Traitors' conference and revealed the truth about Luo Tianjin's murder in front of all the heroes in the world. Then, all the forces led by Xunzhen rushed forward and attacked us... Then, how would the various factions in the Central Plains react? How should we respond?"

"This……"

Qingfeng's worries were by no means alarmist. Gu Ri and Gu Yue could not even imagine how miserable Wudang's fate would be if the truth of the "Anti-Traitor Conference" was exposed on that day.
"If that's the case..." Gu Ri frowned and muttered to himself, "The various factions in the Central Plains may not believe their 'slander' against us, but they will definitely not rashly stand up and stand with us. I guess... they will most likely stand by and watch, allowing us to fight to the death with Liu Xunyi and Xunzhen's group."

"A life-and-death struggle?" Gu Yue mocked himself bitterly, "What kind of life-and-death struggle is that? It's clearly a dead end! How can Wudang alone resist their joint siege?"

“That’s right!” Qingfeng nodded heavily. “If what I said comes true, not only will our lives be in danger, but even Wudang, which has stood for a hundred years, will probably be destroyed.”

"In that case, what are you waiting for, Sect Leader?" Gu Yue's eyes turned fierce, and he suggested, "We must do it once and for all! Get rid of Liu Xunyi immediately to prevent future troubles."

"Xie Xuan's actions last night have clearly told us that we can't kill Liu Xunyi just because we want to." Gu Ri sighed, "Although Liu Xunyi is imprisoned in the dungeon, his every move is actually under Xie Xuan's control. If we plan to kill Liu Xunyi, do you think Xie Xuan will sit back and watch? Also, do you know how many "traitors" are secretly colluding with Xie Xuan in the Xianwang Mansion? Among those Xianwang Mansion disciples, who are human and who are ghosts, can you tell them apart?"

"This..." Faced with Gu Ri's barrage of questions, Gu Yue was speechless.

"Xie Xuan dared to take Liu Xunyi back to the Xianwang Mansion, so he must be fully confident that he could save his life. I guess, the people who secretly protect Liu Xunyi are not only in the Xianwang Mansion, but there are also people outside the Xianwang Mansion who are eyeing him covetously." Qingfeng said in a deep voice, "If we act rashly, not only will we fail to reverse the crisis, but we will fall into their trap in advance. Once they take advantage of the situation and interpret our early action against Liu Xunyi as 'a guilty conscience', we will not even have the opportunity to defend ourselves, which is equivalent to confessing ourselves. What's more, even if Liu Xunyi died, how could Xiao Zhirou and Teng Sanshi let it go? They are bound to fight Wudang to the death, and there will be endless troubles in the future."

"Then... start with Xie Xuan!" Gu Yue said unwillingly, "This traitor should be cut into pieces and his bones should be crushed to dust."

"The result of attacking Xie Xuan will be the same." Qingfeng shook his head slowly. "Now, we are in the open and they are in the dark. The situation is very unfavorable to us. What's more, they have been preparing for a long time, just waiting for a trigger. As long as we deviate from their plan, they will rush up regardless of everything and catch us in one fell swoop like autumn wind sweeping fallen leaves. To put it bluntly, we are already stuck in the quagmire and can't get out. Even if we retreat at the last minute, I'm afraid it will be difficult to return to Wudang smoothly. Even if we return to Wudang, it will be difficult to explain to the heroes of the world. Xunzhen and Xie Xuan are both ruthless people. They know the truth that 'letting a tiger go back to the mountain will bring endless troubles'. They finally lured us into a carefully designed trap, so how could they miss the great opportunity to cut the grass and root it out in vain?"

"This……"

"I made many mistakes. My fault was that I was too eager for quick success and didn't think things through." Qingfeng said ashamedly, "I got carried away when I heard the news that Liu Xunyi was captured, and hurriedly held the 'Eradication of Traitors Conference'. If I had been more cautious and prudent, or waited until Qin Wei found out Yuan Xiao's background before making a decision, I wouldn't have fallen into such a passive situation today."

"Since there is no way to retreat, let's just fight them!" Gu Yue said angrily, "I will send a letter to Wudang immediately, asking Gu Xing and Gu Chen to lead all the disciples to rush over at night to support us."

"No!" Gu Ri's eyes changed and he refused flatly, "Don't forget the lesson of Jin Jian Wu. If Xun Zhen hides an ambush at the foot of Wudang Mountain, once Gu Xing and Gu Chen lead their men down the mountain, Wudang will be in trouble. By then, we will be attacked from both sides and have no way to advance or retreat."

"This won't work! That won't work! Are we just going to sit there and wait for death?"

"Nothing is absolute in the world, fortune and misfortune are interdependent." Qingfeng changed the subject and cast a meaningful look at Yuan Ting, whose life or death was unknown, thinking, "If we can catch the weak points of Liu Xunyi and Xunzhen, we can get a glimmer of hope. This Mr. Yuan is the key to our breakthrough. As long as we use it properly, I can still command the heroes of the world to unite against the enemy as the leader of the martial arts world on May 5th. By then, let alone turning danger into safety, even turning defeat into victory is not impossible. Since they don't intend to leave me a way out, I don't have to worry about anything else. This time, I will risk everything to accompany me to the end and solve all the troubles at once, so that they won't jump out to oppose me every now and then in the future."

"Oh?" When Qingfeng said this, Gu Ri and Gu Yue's eyes lit up, "Could it be that the leader has come up with a countermeasure?"

"It is better to face them head on rather than hiding our heads and showing our tails." Qing Feng said quietly, "But before we fight them to the death, no one should act rashly, so as not to alert Xie Xuan and Xun Zhen. Right now, I still need some new chips to increase our chances of winning. Two junior brothers, I would like to trouble you to do three things for me in the next few days."

"Please give me your instructions, Master!"

"First, send someone to deliver a heroic invitation to the Teng Clan in Xiangxi, Jueqing Valley, and Longxiang Mountain. Since they are determined to come, it is useless for us to stop them, so why not do them a favor? When they arrive in Luoyang City, you find a chance to talk to Yun Zhuiyue alone. I made an agreement with him in Lin'an, let's see if we can find a glimmer of hope from him." Qingfeng thought carefully and said slowly, "Second, Qin Wei, the 'Marquis of Tianji', is coming to Luoyang City on behalf of the Song Dynasty to participate in the 'Eradication of Traitors Conference'. You should entertain him well on my behalf and do not neglect him. Third, find out the traitor around Xiaoxiao as soon as possible, and then let him and Yuan Xiao... have a 'heart-to-heart' with me."

……

(End of this chapter)