At midnight, in Luoyang city!
Zhou Yi, holding the Third Young Master's sword, carefully shuttled through the streets and alleys of Jiangling City under the cover of night. In the past few days, the World Taoist Conference was approaching, and countless people from the martial arts world poured into the capital. The guards in the palace were also strengthened. Even with Zhou Yi's light skills, it was quite difficult to dodge the guards on the street.
After many twists and turns, Zhou Yi finally walked into a residential house in Beifang. This place was hidden in the bustling city and was extremely secretive. Zhou Yi looked around at the door and made sure that what was said in the letter was correct.
Zhou Yi put his hand on the gray door, took a deep breath, grasped a copper ring, knocked twice through the door, and then carefully let go of his hand.
There was no response from inside, as if no one was there. Zhou Yi waited quietly for a long time, and suddenly heard the sound of someone walking inside the door, and the footsteps were slowly approaching.
Zhou Yi held his breath, and just as he was imagining what the scene would be like after opening the door, the door creaked open. A withered face suddenly poked out from behind the door, only reaching Zhou Yi's waist, looking up at him, like a ghost, very creepy.
Zhou Yi was so frightened that his heart was beating so fast that he couldn't speak for a while. The man with the ghost face looked at Zhou Yi and said with a grin, "What are you doing?" His voice was hoarse, like a leaky bellows.
It took Zhou Yi a long time to calm himself down, and he said tremblingly: "I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. I am here to attend Miss Wu's wedding!" Zhou Yi followed the command on the letter and said it word for word.
After hearing what Zhou Yi said, the ghost-faced man stuck his head out and looked around at the situation outside. Seeing that there was no one around, he nodded to Zhou Yi and said, "Come in!"
As Zhou Yi followed the ghost-faced man into the room, the door creaked shut again, and the outside returned to its previous calm.
As soon as he entered the room, the ghost-faced man said to Zhou Yi, "Everyone is here, and they are discussing matters in the main hall now. You should hurry over as well! I will take care of the things outside!"
Zhou Yi came to Luoyang, the capital of the gods, with Duan Yanqing, to help the countries outside the Great Wall to stop the plan of Empress Wu Zetian to personally lead an expedition to Xixia in order to create trouble in Wu Zhou. Yesterday, Zhou Yi just received a pigeon letter from Duan Yanqing, saying that he would discuss matters here tonight. As for what they were discussing, Zhou Yi was quite interested.
After hearing what the ghost-faced man said, Zhou Yi nodded and immediately walked towards the main hall with big strides. From a distance, he heard a quarrel, as if a fierce quarrel was taking place in the main hall.
When Zhou Yi stepped into the hall, the quarreling stopped abruptly. Everyone cast their eyes on Zhou Yi. If Zhou Yi had received such attention in the past, he would have been very uncomfortable. But now he felt calm. He walked into the hall with his head held high and said solemnly, "I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. I came to Luoyang on behalf of Xixia Yipintang. I am glad to meet all the heroes here!"
After entering the hall, Zhou Yi took a look at the players present. There were four men and one woman in total, all with different manners and looks, each with their own strengths. Moreover, Ouyang Feng, the heir of Baituo Manor who had been defeated by the Night Demon's sword outside the ancient tomb that day, was also among them.
At this time, a handsome man dressed in green and waving a folding fan in his hand smiled and said, "I'm afraid everyone is here now! This is our first cooperation, so please introduce yourselves! My name is Gongzi Xiaoyan, from the Huajian School. I'm a male and I like women!" As he spoke, Gongzi Xiaoyan slowly walked towards the woman covered with a silk scarf.
When the masked woman saw Young Master Xiaoyan approaching, she frowned, and a blazing fire suddenly appeared between the two of them. Then the woman slowly spoke in a bone-chilling voice: "Eastern Japan, Xue Qingcheng!"
"Amitabha!" A monk suddenly spoke up. He was wearing plain clothes and white socks, spotless. Even the smile on his face had a sense of transcendence: "I am Changshengguo, from the Dalun Temple of Tubo. My master is the current Tubo national master Jiumozhi!"
"Hmph!" Suddenly, a man sitting nearby snorted coldly and walked out with his head held high. He was tall but extremely thin, with a handsome face that was pale and almost sickly. His hair was dyed golden yellow, which gave him a Korean style. He spoke in a rather arrogant manner, "My master is the leader of the three great masters, the Korean Sword God, the chess and sword master Fu Cailin! And I am his first disciple, Jin Xiucheng!"
Hearing this, the atmosphere in the field was stagnant. Even Zhou Yi, who was always gentle, became quite unhappy. Not to mention that Fu Cailin could not be called the Sword God, even among the three great masters, he was probably not as good as Ning Daoqi, and slightly inferior to Bi Xuan! In addition, this person's arrogant attitude was very annoying.
Ouyang Feng, who was standing quietly at the side, frowned slightly when he heard this, and then said: "I am Ouyang Feng, the heir of Baituo Manor, and now I am here on behalf of the Great Jin."
"Okay!" After everyone finished introducing themselves, Gongzi Xiaoyan also began to preside over the situation: "The five of us represent Japan, Goryeo, Jurchen, Xixia, Tubo and the Demon Sect. We have all been bullied by Empress Wu Zetian. This time we are here to use offense instead of defense to resolve the situation!"
"Hmph! That's you! If Wu Zetian dares to attack Goryeo, we, the Korean nation, will let her know what real war is!" Kim Soo-sung shouted.
Hearing this, the other five people in the room all smiled, and the sarcasm was self-evident. After a while, it was Changshengguo, the outsider, who spoke up, "Then I wonder how we should act in the city?"
"Good question!" Young Master Xiaoyan nodded with a smile and said, "There are too many experts dispatched this time, some of whom are even world-famous. If they enter the city, they will definitely arouse Wu Zetian's vigilance, so all the NPCs on this trip are temporarily staying outside the city. So the battlefield in the city depends on us!"
Zhou Yi said: "From a broad perspective, our purpose of this trip is to strike at Wu Zetian's rule and protect the interests of all parties. From a specific perspective, it is to make Wu Zetian cancel her plan to lead the expedition to Xixia. I wonder what your plans are?"
"Wu Ze's rule is not monolithic. The reason why she keeps sending large-scale military forces abroad is just to eliminate the threat posed to her by the conservative forces of the Li Tang Dynasty. So as long as we arouse the reaction of this part, we will naturally be successful!"
This reason why Wu Zetian repeatedly waged military wars against foreign enemies actually coincided with what Song Bing said. Zhou Yi couldn't help but look at Master Xiaoyan a few more times.
"You make it sound so easy!" Ouyang Feng shook his head, looking at Young Master Xiaoyan with a frown, and said, "Not to mention that Wu Zetian was so powerful that no one dared to rebel, even if there were, how would we know these conservative forces that supported Li Tang? Who doesn't know how to say tricks?"
"I am not a man who only talks big but does nothing! Look, who is that?" Young Master Xiaoyan had a confident smile on his face, raised his folding fan lightly, and pointed outside the main hall.
Zhou Yi looked in the direction that Gongzi Xiaoyan pointed, and actually saw from afar a man in gorgeous clothes slowly walking towards the hall. When the man gradually got closer, Zhou Yi took a closer look and actually exclaimed in surprise.
"Li Hao?!" (To be continued)