Chapter 20: Slaying the Black-robed Man

  The moon on the horizon is not yet full, its clear light shining down and casting a sparkling glow on the rippling water. On this early summer evening, the crisp insect chirping sounds make the world seem even more serene.

  But all this silence was broken by a figure rushing over, wearing a tight-fitting outfit, and in an instant, he plunged into the clear water and rushed towards Tongdeng Palace.

  The master of the palace's bedroom was naturally elegant and refined, but compared to the master alone, it was a bit too empty. Taking advantage of Lu Jian and Duanmu Yang's visit this time, he specially kept them with him. After dinner, the two children surrounded him, listening to him talk about everything in a daze.

  "Disciple has an urgent matter to see the palace master!" The tone was urgent and sorrowful, Yu Gong Zhu's expression changed, and he immediately ordered someone to come in.

  "What's wrong?"

  That disciple had just entered and immediately knelt down on one knee, only to see that he had several wounds on his body, with fresh blood soaking through his dark purple clothes.

  "Reporting to the Palace Master, there are mysterious black-clothed men attacking the Void Sect's residence. The disciples were no match for them and all the other fellow disciples have been killed!"

  He silently stood up and asked: "How is Daojing?"

  "Xu Wu often died outside, his residence caught a big fire, and his disciples could not enter..."

  “！！！”

  A peaceful and comfortable courtyard, this morning still welcomed a fairy, but now it is surrounded by a raging fire. In just one day's time, I don't know how many lives have been lost here, the sorrowful spirits crying out with the mountain wind.

  The flames were more ferocious than imagined, Duanmu Chengyang shielded a frightened Lu Jian who kept retreating backwards, the crowd was blocked by the mountain fire and couldn't get close.

  Yu Gongzhuzheng ordered everyone to step back, pulled out the command sword from his sleeve, drew several talismans in the air, and pointed at the big fire above: "Go!"

  A talisman flew up into the sky, shining with a clear and cold light. Suddenly, a muffled thunderclap sounded, and a torrent of water poured down from the heavens, extinguishing the mountain fire in an instant.

  The crowd rushed forward, and the small courtyard had already been burned to pieces, with a smoky smell that made people feel nauseous.

  Du Mu Yang led the crowd to search for them one by one, and the corpses were all burned beyond recognition. Yu Gong Zhu personally checked each one.

  "Seniors' disciples are all here, no one is quiet!"

  Xu Wu's corpse was also found and brought over, with multiple stab wounds. The knife work was ruthless and he should have died on the spot, but Xu Wu's cultivation wasn't low, yet his soul energy had dissipated completely.

  "When I left in the morning, everything was fine, and she even reminded us not to eat cold foods and not to be naughty when we went to Tongchun Palace... how did it end up like this?..." Du Mu Yang raised his head, seeing someone he knew die for the first time, feeling both sad and scared, and cried uncontrollably.

  Lu Jing slowly squatted down beside him, hesitantly pushing him and calling out in a timid voice: "Old Master, Xū Wú Cháng Master."

  The body had gone cold, Yu Gongzhu let out a sigh and pulled back the deer-antler hairpin, stroking her hair.

  Lu Jing's eyes widened as he stared at him, and he asked in a daze: "Is Grandpa Wu You dead?"

  Yu Gongzhu didn't want to deceive her, and nodded gently, saying with a heavy heart: "He has been reunited with his family."

  Lu Jing was taken aback, then suddenly understood, tears streaming down her face as she flung herself into his arms and sobbed loudly.

  At this time, a disciple came to report that there were black-clad people in the southeast direction. The master of Yu Palace ordered someone to bring back Lu Jian and Duanmu Yang with a bow and arrow, and arranged for several disciples to stay behind to deal with the aftermath, taking the remaining door people to ride the wind and leave.

  Du Mu Yan forced himself to stop crying, pulling the dazed Lu Jian and softly comforting him: "Meng Mu is quite capable, maybe he took Dao Jing and escaped, don't cry anymore."

  Because before going to Ming Shui, Meng Mu told them not to tell others that he had found the trail, saying that he was clear in his heart but did not want to be constantly questioned by others, so they did not tell Yu Gong Zhuo about someone protecting Dao Jing. At this time, Lu Jian responded with a sobbing tone, watching the Tong Chen Palace disciples move several corpses, and thinking of letting Yu Gong Zhuo worry about Dao Jing in vain, her heart felt extremely distressed.

  "Who is it?" Du Mu suddenly thought of Nan Jun and hastily asked: "Do you think he might be in cahoots with Nan Jun?"

  "Nanjun?" Lu Jian's mind was in a mess and he couldn't make sense of it.

  Duanmu Yan pulled out his sword and decided to use the Soul Summoning Technique.

  But the law array had not yet been formed, when it was blocked by a disciple of Tongchen Palace. The man shook his head and said: "The palace master has spoken, Xuwu Chang is dead with a scattered soul, you can't summon his spirit."

  "This..."

  Lu Jing finally stopped crying and walked to the flower tree in front of the door, standing still with a concentrated expression, muttering to herself.

  "What are you doing?" Du Mu Chengyan didn't understand at all, and after a moment's thought, he realized that Lu Jian might be using the language of the grass and wood spirits to ask Huashu questions.

  But Kajika tried several times without getting a response, and walked back dejectedly: "How annoying."

  Duanmu Yan comforted himself that it was probably because these plants and trees had too shallow a cultivation base, lacking spiritual energy and unable to communicate.

  "No," Ling Arrow shook his head: "It was the immortal doctor who gave me medicine, it's just that I've lost my spiritual energy!"

  She looked at Du Mu Cheng Yang and asked in confusion: "But why can you still use magic?"

  "Huh? No... I don't know." Du Mu Cheng Yan responded dryly, seeing the disciples of Tong Chen Palace calling them over, he hastily said: "Let's hurry and leave, it's still very dangerous here."

  The crowd chased out for over a hundred miles, and finally saw a fire in the mountain col, where more than ten black-clad men gathered. He led the gatekeeper to sneak closer quietly.

  The men in black were extremely vigilant and immediately discovered them, re-covering their faces one after another. Sharp long knives were drawn out, and the disciples of Tongji Palace also drew their swords. The two sides confronted each other, and for a time, the mountain valley was filled with a solemn and murderous aura.

  The man in black stood tall, not subject to the jurisdiction of the three realms, and although he acted low-key, his mysterious and powerful techniques made no one dare to offend him. This person, however, was unafraid. What's even stranger is that this person seemed somewhat familiar in appearance.

  "Is Void always killed by you? What kind of people are you?"

  That person had already recognized him and said: "Master Yu, this matter has nothing to do with you, please don't interfere."

  Yu Gong Zhu said coldly: "Since it has nothing to do with Tong Chen Palace, why did you hurt my disciple? It's not that I want to interfere, but you're forcing me to take action!"

  The man in black thought it was not good, just as he was about to make a move, he saw the opponent's sword move, and his disciples behind him scattered like ghosts, the surroundings suddenly lit up and then went dark again, and everyone was trapped in the formation at this moment.

  The law array gradually tightened, and the black-clothed man standing at the edge was the first to bear the brunt, as if being cut by a knife, wailing in pain. In the blink of an eye, he was swallowed up by the dense curse, and his flesh and blood turned into a puddle of mud and water.

  Yu Gong's hand slightly moved, and his disciples temporarily stopped casting their spells. He looked at the few people who were struggling to hold on and shouted: "Don't you still invite them?"

  The man in black knew he couldn't escape, and was about to take his own life with a knife when the formation moved, causing everyone's knives to fly out of their hands and be sucked into the mysterious curse, turning them into nothingness.

  "Want to die? It's not that easy!"

  These men in black did not use any Taoist magic to resist the Earth Binding Array, which somewhat surprised Yu Gongzi, but looking at their determination to die rather than surrender, they were by no means ordinary bandits.

  But the will of these mortals was just a joke to him, and with a flash of fierce light in his eyes, he formed a seal with his left hand and added another layer of incantation on top. The entire Earth Binding Array changed color, and a whirlwind surrounded each person, causing the remaining black-clad men to fall to the ground, covering their heads and rolling around uncontrollably, except for the leader who knelt down on one knee, propping up his body.

  "Hmph, you use such ruthless means to treat an old man who has practiced medicine for his whole life. You should also taste the flavor of begging for death but unable to die." Yu Gong's master looked down from a high position, her eyes filled with disdain as if looking at ants on the ground.

  Several men in black had already collapsed and two of them died on the spot with their meridians reversed and blood flowing from all seven orifices.

  Yu Gong's lips moved slightly, and people outside the formation couldn't hear any sound, but those inside the formation were immediately controlled by the devilish voice that entered their minds.

  "Who told you?"

  The black-clad man in the lead still had a shred of sanity left, and he bit his lip hard to control himself. But the two behind him were like wooden puppets with empty eyes, looking as if they would blurt it out at any moment.

  That man somehow managed to break free from the seal, turned around and pinched the necks of the two men under his hands with one hand each. A crisp sound of broken bones was heard, and the two people fell to the ground without even struggling.

  Yu Gong Zhu narrowed his eyes, looking at the man stumbling and turning his head in the array. Fresh blood gushed out of his mouth, but he stood up straight and said with a sinister tone: "Ming Shui Tong Chen Palace is nothing more than this!"

  The Earth Binding Formation is a secret technique of the ancient capital, originally designed to capture fierce ghosts. Later generations made some modifications to it, increasing its power and allowing it to trap physical entities, even ghostly messengers couldn't escape. Just now, I added a forbidden technique to it, stealing one's soul and intelligence, leaving only true memories in the mind, making them controllable. The strange thing about this soul-stealing technique is that it isn't an evil art itself, yet it can't be dispelled by orthodox Taoist methods. The only thing that can counter it is the Spirit Summoning Technique, but that has been completely forbidden. It's as if nothing in the three realms and six paths can defeat it. This technique grows stronger when faced with strength, yet this person managed to escape at a critical moment...

  He swung his sword, and the formation rapidly contracted towards this person, like countless sharp swords swirling around. Yu Gongzhu was confident that even if he were to use all his might, the power of the formation would be enough to prevent even Xuan Yi Shangxian from escaping unscathed. What's more, this was just a small, localised array; and besides, this person had secretly killed the only two people who could have helped him share the pressure, so now all the pressure was concentrated on him alone - whoever he was, today he would definitely be forced to spit out everything he knew!

  That man was already spitting blood, his face sometimes painful and sometimes dazed, and in a moment he would be transformed into a puppet with no will of his own, speaking only what he had been told to say.

  Yu Gong watched with a calm and leisurely expression as the man struggled in agony, his incantation slowed to an extreme degree, waiting for him to completely confess himself intact.

  This man's eyes were getting more and more dull, suddenly he tore off the black cloth covering his face. High cheekbones, sunken cheeks, a fierce face.

  "Is it you?" Seeing his face, a scene flashed through Yutaka's mind and he was shocked in his heart!

  "Are you not the former guardian of Mount Taihua, General Zuo? How did you fall to such a state?"

  He must not be distracted at the crucial moment of casting, he immediately calmed his mind and prepared for the final blow. Unexpectedly, a sudden buzzing sound was heard in his ears, his whole body shape unstable, swaying almost dropping the command sword.

  Fa Zhen had already reached the most critical moment, when he suddenly fell ill. The disciples of Tong Gong saw this and immediately withdrew to his side to protect him. This caused the entire Fa Zhen to lose its support in an instant, and the mysterious light of the incantation disappeared instantly.

  The man in black fell to the ground, his dazed expression quickly disappearing as he took advantage of the momentary distraction to scramble to his feet and make a run for it.

  Tong Chen Palace had several disciples who wanted to chase after him, but the master of Yu Palace stopped them: "This person's background is not small, don't pursue a desperate fugitive!"

  The disciples saw that he seemed to be seriously injured and were extremely worried, and they all advised him to go back.

  He steadied himself, with his disciples' support barely standing upright, and instructed them to carefully examine the corpses of several men in black.

  They searched them from head to toe, but didn't find anything extra on their bodies. Yu Gong Zhu thought for a moment and weakly said: "Tear open the sleeve of his right arm and see if there's a tattoo?"

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, each of these people had a pattern tattooed on their right arm, which looked like a swallow's tail feathers but was slightly longer, and also resembled an ancient character.

  Looking at the black mysterious bird pattern, his heart sank, and his trembling lips spoke of these people's origins: "Qingyang Clan!"