Netherworld Painted Skin Scroll

Chapter 218: The Master’s Generosity

Chapter 218: The Master’s Generosity
So he spoke at this time: “So Master Mou, you stopped me on the road tonight and asked me, your new disciple, to fight to the death with your disciples. You must have thought that this would be a way of letting me off the hook and saving face for the Juque Sect.”

“I don’t know if you knew these details before you came, but no matter what you think now, I feel very uncomfortable.” Li Wuxiang’s expression was indifferent, and there was almost no joy or sadness on his face. “First, I used to be a swordsman, and now I am the leader, but you think I will sacrifice the life of a disciple for a mere face. This kind of thing is already regarded as accusing me of wanting to harm my fellow disciples in You Jiuyuan, and it is a crime that must be executed.”

“Secondly, Mu Tieshan has been executed, and I had no intention of pursuing this matter. But just like you, Master Mu Jian—” Li Wuxiang paused for a moment, sighed slightly, and made his next words sound helpless, “Your disciple died, and I came. You had to show up, so you came. Now that you are here, I can’t pretend that you didn’t come—Mu Tieshan said that he was instructed by your Juque Sect’s master when he attacked Master Cui, so I don’t care who among you said those words, you must give me an explanation for this matter.”

“Then let’s do as you said just now, a fight to the death. I don’t like to use other people’s lives, I only like to use my own.” Li Wuxiang said, “You and I will fight to the death. No matter who lives and who dies, my grudge with your Juque Sect will be written off.”

The surroundings were still extremely quiet, but if eyes could really shine, Mou Jinchuan’s figure should have been illuminated and shone brightly in the night!
His face turned slightly pale, and he was silent for a rare moment, not speaking immediately. All the disciples of the thirty-six sects who knew his temperament were surprised by his reaction, but no one could fail to understand this surprise, because the person who challenged him to a fight was –

“…suppressed the East Emperor Seal, Dong Lie.” In the shadow of the dense forest nearly a hundred steps away, a thin middle-aged man shook his head slightly and sighed, “Although Tang Qi is naughty, he knows the general situation. What he said at this time will not add or subtract a point. If this Li Zongzhu really has the ability to suppress the East Emperor Seal and close the Netherworld Death Gate, his cultivation is really unfathomable. No wonder there are rumors that he killed Jiang Jie.”

After he said this, he looked towards Li Wuxiang through the shadows of the trees. At this distance, Li Wuxiang was almost completely obscured. But the one who was speaking saw not only Li Wuxiang, but also his spirit.

“I can’t see through his depth either. It’s strange, his energy is restrained, his skin is hollow, he looks different from ordinary swordsmen, I can’t tell what realm he is in.” The man glanced at the people next to him, “Do you think he is like Mei Qiulu, practicing the Small Tribulation Sword Sutra? If so, I’m afraid that Dongsong, you will lose a nephew and a brother today – your Mou Jinchuan may not be able to last more than three moves under his hands.”

The man he called “Dong Lie” had a body shape very similar to Mou Tieshan and Mou Jinchuan. At first glance, one might even think that they were different versions of the same person in their youth, middle age, and old age.

On this Dajie Mountain, he is the one whose words really count in the Juque Sect – Mou Jinchuan’s senior brother, Mou Donglie, the great sword master of the Juque Sect.

At this time, his face looked very unhappy, and his body leaned forward slightly, as if he was hesitating whether to rush out of the woods and step onto the stone platform.

The thin man next to him said, “If I were you, I wouldn’t go. In this matter, it’s your Juque Sect that is at fault. What will you do after you go? Will you bow down and apologize to him, or will you accept the challenge to the death on behalf of Mou Jinchuan? If I’m not mistaken, Mou Jinchuan’s cultivation level has been no weaker than yours in the past two years, right?”

The man smiled slightly, “It’s the peak of the Nascent Soul. But if this Sect Master Li is really cultivating the Nascent Soul of the Lesser Tribulation Sword Sutra, as long as the Nascent Soul realm is completed, he will be the strongest Nascent Soul in the world, just like Mei Qiulu. Even if it is the True Immortal Body Dao Pian, since it is said to be able to suppress the East Emperor Seal and close the Netherworld Death Gate, this cultivation is probably higher than Cui Daocheng – how many moves can you survive under Cui Daocheng’s hands?”

“Tang Peiyong, if you keep talking, I’ll think you’re just making sarcastic remarks.” Mou Donglie finally steadied himself and let out a sigh of relief, “Your Tiangong sect really taught two good disciples. First, one went to find the third disciple and encouraged him to come to the mountain road to stop this Sect Master Li, and then the other one fanned the flames and showed great courtesy to him, helping him to build up a lot of momentum. Well, now our Juque sect has become unkind and unjust, taking advantage of others’ misfortunes.”

Tang Peiyong turned around in the darkness and asked, “Did you and Mou Jinchuan tell Mou Tieshan to kill the swordsman if he met him?”

Mou Donglie also turned around and looked at him in the dark: “Did you ask Tang Jiuzhen to go and tell my junior brother?”

“Ah, I am the chief weapon master of Tiangong Sect after all, how could I do such a mean thing?”

“Then I certainly wouldn’t say such a thing.”

Tang Peiyong said nothing more and just looked over there again.

Mou Donglie also took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. However, he was not looking at Li Wuxiang, but at Mou Jinchuan, who had been silent on the stone steps for two breaths. He said as if talking to himself, “But if Tieshan really said that – asking the thirty-six sects to stop being bullied, then it is not wrong.”

“My junior fellow apprentice will die as soon as he nods and says one word. After more than a hundred years of cultivation, he will die because of one word. He will not die in a year, nor in ten years, but right now. I guess when he came, he was still thinking that after finishing his work here, he would go back and burn some paper money and write a tablet for his apprentice, to see if he can be found in the sacred mountain… to see if he is still conscious.”

“But he certainly didn’t expect that before he could do any of these, just because he was so angry and wanted to come here to vent his anger, he would die because of a good word. Tang Dasiqi, if you were standing on the mountain road now, thinking that if you said a word, more than a hundred years of hard work would be in vain, would you say it more bluntly than him?”

Tang Peiyong was silent for a moment, then said quietly, “Anyway, you are not right in this matter.”

Mou Donglie chuckled, “Yes, it is not right. But I am not talking about reason, but power. A lone Yuanying from the Sword Sect came to the Dajie Mountain Dojo where Yuanying from thirty-six sects gathered. Just because he was unhappy, he wanted to take the life of a Yuanying from the Juque Sect. He didn’t care about anyone’s feelings. What a powerful force!”

“What is the reason for this power? It is because our Juque Sect took the lead. We want to get the East Emperor Seal and gather the scattered sand into a mountain! When that time comes, we will not be like this now, like you and me – the elders of the thirty-six sects are hiding in this mountain, and no one dares to make a sound!”

Tang Peiyong stopped talking.

Mou Donglie stared at Mou Jinchuan again, and finally heard him say from afar –

“Okay.” Mou Jinchuan turned around, stood up straight on the stone steps, and finally said this word, “Okay, I agree!”

His face was filled with astonishment before, then hesitation, and then sadness. Now, he has finally suppressed everything, leaving only an extremely deep and complex emotion, which can even be called a bit tragic and generous – “Sect Master, you are right! If Mu Tieshan really said those words and did those things in Youjiuyuan, well, he should be killed! People from our Juque Sect should not say that kind of thing!”

“Before, I was unreasonable and came to seek revenge on you. I was wrong in this matter! My disciple might have been bewitched by a villain and deserved to be killed! As a master, I should also be held responsible for not investigating! It is the fault of my master and disciple, and has nothing to do with the Juque Sect! Come!” Mou Jinchuan took the big sword from the sword guard behind him with a bang and held it horizontally in front of him, “Juque Sect’s Sword Master Mou Jinchuan, let me teach you the Sword Sect’s Immortal Sword!”

But Li Wuxiang raised his hand slightly, then put it behind his back and looked at Mou Jinchuan: “Master Mou, when did you know about your disciple’s death?”

Mou Jinchuan was stunned for a moment, seemingly not expecting Li Wuxiang to ask another question at this time, but he just smiled coldly and frowned: “Why, do you want to ask? Tonight is a life-and-death struggle, why bother asking more questions!”

Li Wuxiang shook his head and remained silent for a moment. When he spoke again, if someone looked at him carefully enough, they would find that his expression was still very calm, but in this calmness, there seemed to be a trace of sadness and misery——

“There’s no need to ask. But I guess you just found out about your disciple’s death today.” He sighed slightly and stretched out a hand, “Tang, give me the sword.”

It took Tang Qillang a while to realize what he meant by “sword”. He quickly took off the large square tablet behind him and handed it to Li Wuxiang.

Li Wuxiang reached out to take it, but did not hold it after Tang Qilang let go. Instead, he exerted his strength and pushed the heavy sword, causing it to shoot diagonally in front of Mou Jinchuan with a loud bang.

“We used to be swordsmen, and we are not monsters. Sword Master Mu, you lost a disciple, and you feel angry and sad. What you feel, we in the Sword Sect have experienced enough in the past month. Brothers and sisters… even teachers died by your side, died in front of you, and I can empathize with you for the pain you feel.”

Li Wuxiang sighed, “We talk about reason, but we also talk about human feelings. Adding a new grave before the new one is built is not a good thing, both morally and logically. This is the sword used by Mou Tieshan, you can take it back. Since the Great Tribulation Alliance is for negotiation, before the negotiation is completed, no blood will be shed here – Sword Master Mou, go and pay tribute to your disciple. After the alliance meeting, I will wait for you here.”

Mou Jinchuan frowned, as if wondering if he had heard it wrong. In the blink of an eye, the huge sword in his hand, which was held in front of him, seemed to have suddenly dissipated from his body, and the sword tip dropped slightly, making a crisp sound on the stone steps.

The sound made him react immediately. He held the sword firmly and moved his lips, as if he wanted to say something like “No need” or “Let’s end it here tonight”. But he seemed to be afraid that he would really say those words, so he immediately said in a dry voice: “Okay.”

After saying this, he seemed to feel that he responded too quickly, and stared at Li Wuxiang again: “But you came up the mountain now, are you from the Sword Sect, or the Tianxin and Ranshan Sect Masters of the Thirty-Six Sects?”

Li Wuxiang did not answer, but stared at him for a while, sighed and said softly: “Master Mu Jian, go back. I am not in the mood to talk to people tonight, and the same goes for you – seize the opportunity.”

His last words were spoken in a very low voice, and only a few people around him and those with extremely high cultivation levels further away could hear them.

Mou Jinchuan’s face suddenly turned red, but he only gripped the hilt and put the giant sword back on the hilt behind him. He then picked up the real weapon big square tablet that Mou Tieshan had used and looked at Li Wuxiang: “Okay. We’ll meet here again after the alliance meeting!”

He held the sword and walked up the mountain step by step. His steps looked brisk, but the stones under his feet cracked with every step. When he reached the platform under the mountain gate, the people around him immediately made way and no one dared to talk to him anymore.

Li Wuxiang exhaled slightly and glanced at the people around him: “Should we go up now? Or should we wait a while?”

Tang Qilang came back to his senses at this time, and looked at him with the same complicated expression as the disciples in charge of the carriages and horses around him. After a while, he said: “Master, I now know where the word “xia” in “jianxia” should be.

Li Wuxiang smiled, and also smiled in his heart. What he did just now might be what a real swordsman would do, but for him it had nothing to do with the word “knight”. It was purely a matter of scheming and weighing the situation.

Only now, after hearing what Tang Qillang said, did a thought flash through his mind – his behavior was getting further and further away from the word “swordsman”, but it was definitely getting closer to the image of a “Sword Sect Nascent Soul” in the minds of these “teachers” of the thirty-six sects.

When he came to this world, he must have thought about achieving great accomplishments in the future, being a chivalrous man, and not having to scheme around anything – just like what he seemed to be doing just now, doing whatever he wanted as soon as the thought came to his mind.

Right now, I don’t know how far I am from that state, but I should be getting closer and closer – a person’s reputation is like the shadow of a tree. The four outstanding young men around me witnessed what I did in Youjiuyuan with their own eyes, and they have already recited a book for me here.

Mou Jinchuan ran down to block the way tonight, but was scared away by himself and Tang Qilang. He is at the peak of the Nascent Soul stage and is also the most powerful swordsman of the Juque sect. His cowardice will probably scare away most people in the future.

Now that the name and the shadow are complete, what remains is how to prop up the shelf and get what you want.

As for the fight to the death after the Great Tribulation Alliance, Li Wuxiang’s idea was to withdraw immediately after getting enough benefits. When that time came, Mou Jinchuan and the people of the Juque Sect would not only not feel that they were fooled, but would also feel that it was because this Yuanying Swordsman did not want to fight him and let him go!

(End of this chapter)