After Li Badao left, Man Qing'er hurried away and met Protector Cheng in the secret room.
In the dark secret room, the candlelight flickered. Man Qing'er saw Cheng Hufa, but she had no time to ask him why he didn't act according to the plan.
Cheng Hufa had already said, "The one who assassinated Li Xiu'er was not one of ours."
Man Qing'er was surprised and asked, "What?"
Cheng Hufa said in a deep voice: "Before our people took action, someone else took action first... Was Li Xiuer's injury real or fake?"
Man Qing'er sighed and said, "Her heart meridian was invaded by the evil power and she almost died on the spot. Fortunately, one of the guards she hired practiced Taoist Qi and helped her protect her heart meridian in time, otherwise she would have died on the spot."
Seeing that Cheng Guardian was staring at her, he said, "Master Guardian, there is no need to doubt it. I checked her Qi and meridians in the name of checking her injuries, and it is absolutely true. And she has never practiced the magic skills. I was too suspicious before.
Cheng Hufa closed his eyes and pondered for a long time before opening his eyes and said, "If that's the case, the one who took action is most likely the Black Lotus Realm. The Black Lotus Realm may have discovered Jin Yuhui's betrayal, but pretended not to know and did not deal with Jin Yuhui, but instead attacked Li Xiuer first. This move is really cruel, but also a brilliant move.
"If they really kill Li Xiu'er, it will definitely cause instability in the morale of the Huang Tian Army. It seems that they have planned to completely abandon the Huang Tian Army!"
Man Qing'er said, "The Yuhang branch of the Black Lotus Realm has been cleaned up, so there shouldn't be any problem with Jin Yuhui's control. The Evil Lotus Sect lost an eye here, and they are very likely to think that Li Xiu'er is helping Li Badao to clean up the situation, so they are blaming Li Xiu'er for this."
She complained, "I previously suspected that Li Xiu'er was related to the Evil Lotus Sect and had repeatedly whispered to Li Badao to instigate her. Now that Li Xiu'er was suddenly attacked, Li Badao actually suspected me, which made me very embarrassed, and it was difficult for me to explain."
Cheng Hufa said: "Li Badao still needs us, so he won't fall out with us for the time being. The problem now is Jin Yuhui. The Xie Lian Sect may fail in the assassination attempt on Li Xiu'er, but they will never tolerate a traitor like Jin Yuhui."
"This matter is so serious that one of the three leaders of the Evil Lotus Sect must have arrived in Kuaiji. If we can use Jin Yuhui to set a trap, we may be able to severely damage the Evil Lotus Sect. You can take a Purple Spirit Restoring Marrow Pill and present it to Li Badao in person to use it to heal Li Xiu'er."
"The Purple Spirit Restoring Marrow Pill is our sect's holy medicine for healing, and this can also show our sect's sincerity. The alliance between the Huangtian Army and the Dragon and Phoenix Society must be completed, so that the Dongting Army will not become too powerful. The marriage between the two sides still needs to rely on Li Xiuer."
Man Qing'er said, "Yes!" and stepped back.
—
That - throughout the afternoon, many people came to visit Li Xiuer. Except for important figures in the government and the military, most of them were turned away and were told that Miss Yu needed to rest.
As for those who needed to be comforted, they were led in and greeted the young lady through the pearl curtain.
Li Xiuer told them in a weak voice not to worry and that she would be fine after resting for a day or two.
In the evening, Li Badao and Man Qing'er came to visit again, and Man Qing'er presented the Purple Spirit Restoring Marrow Pill.
With Li Badao watching closely, Li Xiuer naturally wasn't worried that she would dare to offer a fake pill, so she thanked him and accepted it.
After taking it, I felt refreshed and my spirit was restored a lot.
"Don't worry, father," Li Xiu'er said, "The evil power in my daughter's body has been eliminated. What's left is just a few superficial injuries. She will be fine after a night's rest."
Li Badao calmed down and said in a deep voice: "I will transfer more good soldiers from the army to protect you, you just need to rest assured."
After Li Badao and Man Qing'er left, Shi Hao lifted the curtain and came in to take her pulse.
Although he felt that Man Qing'er would not dare to play tricks on the pills, and even after confirming that Li Xiu'er was not a "spy", he needed Li Xiu'er to stabilize the morale of the troops, but he still checked.
"It is indeed an elixir!" He laughed, "With this elixir, your cultivation in the next few years will be twice as effective with half the effort. This must be a top-grade elixir that only the most valued inner disciples of the Tianxie Sect can get, right? It seems that they have invested a lot of money."
Li Xiuer whispered, "But after this morning's incident, the Tianxie Sect already knows that our sect has noticed something strange, and even has experts lurking in the city."
Shi Hao said: "It's okay! Only after you clear your suspicion in the eyes of Tianxie Sect, we will have the opportunity to cooperate internally and externally and finally completely control the Huang Tian Army."
Li Xiuer asked: "What should we do next?"
Shi Hao said: "For the time being, we don't need to do anything. No demon sect can tolerate traitors. The Tianxie Sect will definitely believe that our sect's next move is to kill Jin Yuhui and eliminate the traitor. Let them use Jin Yuhui as bait to set a trap.
"The next step is to destroy the so-called marriage. Under the current situation, Li Badao will not dare to leave Kuaiji, and the alliance between the Huangtian Army and the Dragon and Phoenix Society cannot be decided by others. In this case, you have to go to the Huangshan meeting."
"In that case, let's go meet that Du Yuejiao!"
I haven't seen the master and disciple for a while, and I still miss them a lot.
Chapter 303: Kuaiji Demonic Battle
On the second day, before Li Xiuer went to the Du Mansion, Du Shun, the head of the Tongcheng Du family, came to visit in person.
Du Shun was accompanied by his eldest son Du Haofan and daughter-in-law He.
Li Xiuer asked someone to invite Du Shun, his son and his daughter-in-law into the guest room. After she had dressed up, she went to the room to meet them.
Shi Hao followed her to the guest room and stood guard at the door as a guard.
This was the first time he met Yue Jiao's father. He was in his forties, wearing a brocade robe, and did not look much like Yue Jiao.
"Meet Miss Xiu'er!" Du Shun said, "Miss Xiu'er is injured. The three of us came to visit her. How dare we trouble her to come to the guest room?"
Li Xiuer smiled and said, "Uncle Du, there's no need to be so polite. I was just frightened yesterday and it's just a minor injury. It's nothing serious."
At that moment, the Du family of three were invited to take a seat, and a maid served them tea and cakes.
Li Xiuer got straight to the point: "What does Uncle Du think about this marriage?"
Du Shun said, "To be honest, my daughter Yuejiao has been practicing in Chongxian Sect since she was old enough to understand, and my daughter and I don't have much time to see each other. Yesterday, Danying Sanren from Kunzhen Court came to my house and mentioned this matter. Du has already told Danying Sanren that Kunzhen Court should decide on my daughter Yuejiao's marriage."
Li Xiuer smiled and said, "Even so, she is the daughter of the Du family after all, and is a blood relative of you, uncle. If the Du family has no objection, Kunzhenyuan can handle it."
Du Shun said: "I have no objection. But from what Dean Danying said, Yue Jiao herself is quite opposed to it, and her teacher Zhuo Mulan and Zhuo Sanren also don't want Yue Jiao to marry into the Dragon and Phoenix Society. But apart from Yue Jiao, there is no other better candidate."
"The dean wants me to persuade my daughter Yue Jiao, but I think my daughter is quite proud. The more you force her, the more dissatisfied she will be. She has been away from home for many years. If she is unwilling to listen to the opinions of her master, she may not listen to me as her father."
"So I thought it would be better to let her elder brother and sister-in-law go and talk to her as equals."
But if the two of them followed Dean Danying directly to Huangshan, the pressure would be too obvious..."
Li Xiuer nodded and said, "I understand! We have to go to the Huangshan meeting as well. Since my father cannot spare the time, I will go on his behalf. The eldest son and sister-in-law can follow my people to Huangshan."
Du Shun thanked them! After chatting for a while, the three members of the Du family said goodbye and left.
After they left, Li Xiuer had someone count the gifts of condolences brought by the Du family and returned to her boudoir.
"It would be much better if Du Yuejiao was determined to reject this marriage," she said thoughtfully.
Shi Hao said: "But if this happens, the pressure from her master and family will be enormous. Li Badao has made up his mind to leave the Black Lotus Realm. As long as the Dongting Army is still there, he will feel like a thorn in his throat."
"In fact, Chongxianmen and Longfenghui should be more anxious about this alliance than him. After all, the Huangtian Army is located in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the Dongting Army will not directly threaten the territory of the Huangtian Army. But because the matter involves the Demon Sect, Li Badao will be more afraid of the Dongting Army, which was actually established by the Xuanfeng Sect Master, than anyone else."
"Because the leader of Xuanfeng Temple will never let him go, so he, who should be the least anxious about this alliance, is actually more anxious than anyone else. This marriage is actually just a formality, but it is an important form of the alliance between the three families. If Du Yuejiao explicitly refuses the marriage, then the next step is probably that you will marry Li Yun."
Li Xiuer bit her lip and said, "If Li Badao dies unclearly, I will be very confident that I can control the Huang Tian Army."
Shi Hao thought to himself that this "daughter" of hers was so filial!
He shook his head and said, "It's not that simple. Man Qing'er is also a master. The so-called Cheng Protector is lurking in the mansion, probably to protect him. There are many soldiers in the city, and the Huang Tianjun also has many generals. To kill Li Badao, we must first eliminate the Tianxie Sect masters in the city, and then use a surprise attack to behead Li Badao. This has to be done step by step."
He smiled and said, "The leader of Xuanfeng Sect has come here to deal with this matter personally. If you leave Kuaiji at this time, you can avoid the fierce battle between our sect and Tianxie Sect. With the ability of the leader of Xuanfeng Sect, even if Jin Yuhui rebels, she will definitely have other backup plans."
Li Xiuer saw that he clearly did not leave, but even knew that Xuanfeng Huanzhi had come to Kuaiji in person. She knew that this confidant of the young master must have a very high status in the sect, so she dared not neglect him.
After Li Xiuer reported to Li Badao, she took her people and notified Du Haofan and his wife He of the Du Mansion and headed to Huangshan.
There was a river connecting Kuaiji and Huangshan. Li Xiuer went upstream under the escort of soldiers.
On the way, she asked her trusted confidants to bring the two people to her side. These two people were Huan Tingting and She Ji.
The two of them will serve Li Xiuer as maids.
In the cabin, Shi Hao, Li Xiuer, Huan Tingting and She Ji gathered together.
Because Li Xiuer didn't know Shi Hao's true identity yet, Huan Tingting and She Ji didn't get permission to tell her this secret, so they addressed Shi Hao as "Master Hao".
Huan Tingting said: "The last leader of the Tianxie Sect, Elder Scorpio, was confirmed to have died when he exploded just before he entered the upper rank. The current leader is his disciple Yuan Mingyan, a fourth-rank master. He has four guardians who are all fifth-rank or sixth-rank. The guardian Cheng is most likely 'Dark Crow Liuyan'. We don't know his real name, but we know he has several aliases, one of which is Cheng Hongshan."
"In addition, the Tianxie Sect has two elders who are also fourth-grade strength. They are Elder Moyi and Elder Yaolin. Among them, Elder Moyi is also fourth-grade, and Elder Yaolin should be fifth-grade, but he is a supernatural power user."
"We don't know how many of the Tianxie Sect's leader, two elders, and four guardians have arrived in Kuaiji. Our Xuanfeng Temple Master and Sha Temple Master are both in Kuaiji, and Yue Temple Master continues to stay in Yuelian Tower. In addition, Elder Shuiyue has transferred Hong Dulan, Baiyang Huanlin, and Cui Tengniang from the Three Temples for support."
The talent replacement mechanisms of the three Evil Lotus sects are similar. The three people mentioned by Huan Tingting, Hong Du Lan, Bai Yang Huan Lin, and Cui Teng Niang, are all masters of the previous generation of the three sects.
Generally speaking, unless there is an accident, there will only be one "master" in each generation, and the true disciple personally trained by the master will become the next generation master.
The sisters and brothers of the same generation as the sect master will also retreat behind the scenes after the next generation takes over, and focus on training newly recruited inner disciples.
Yue Yaotai and Xu Xiaoyan's mother Qing Yunxian are of the same generation. Normally, Yue Yaotai, who is of the same generation as the owner of the building, cannot become the new owner of Yuelian Building.
But because Qing Yunxian defected and the next generation was too young, Yue Yaotai could only be selected from Qing Yunxian's peers to serve as the leader. However, this situation is not normal and is an exception.
Hong Du Lan, Bai Yang Huan Lin and Cui Teng Niang are all the older generation of the three sects and are all over forty years old.
Their achievements in martial arts are also at the fifth level. Their daily duties are to give lectures in the sect, imparting skills and martial arts to the inner disciples, and they will never set foot in the martial arts world again.
It was only because this conflict with the Tianxie Sect involved a secret fight among the demon sects and was of great importance that they were transferred out as well.
Shi Hao looked at Huan Tingting and asked, "Do we have a chance of winning this battle?"
Huan Tingting said: "Don't worry, Master Hao! The skills and martial arts of the Evil Lotus Sect are better than those of other sects in the Demon Sect. It's just that because the three sects split in the past, no one could get the complete Night Charm Demonic Codex, so it seems weak.
"Now that the Night Charm Demonic Scripture has reappeared, Elder Shuiyue has ordered all the teachers in the sect to look through the Demonic Scripture these days. At this moment, all the teachers have greatly increased their strength. Moreover, a single branch temple is definitely not a match for the Tianxie Sect. The three sects have merged into one, and there are many talented people inside, which is definitely not inferior to the Tianxie Sect."
Shi Hao said: "But Kuaiji is the territory of Huang Tianjun."
Huan Tingting said: "Although Kuaiji is under the control of Huang Tianjun, it is difficult for Huang Tianjun to intervene in the fight between the Demon Sect. In other words, Li Badao dare not let anyone know that he is related to the Demon Sect, so whether it is the Xielian Sect or the Tianxie Sect, he dare not get involved openly.
"He is also afraid that people will know that he is actually a pawn secretly supported by the Demon Sect. He will never do such a thing as openly cooperating with the Tianxie Sect!"
Shi Hao thought about it and nodded.
Currently, Xuanfeng Huanzhi and Shalingshan have met up. After they had discussed it, they came up with a plan that, as the young master, he would not need to take part in this secret fight among the demon sects, but only need to accompany Li Xiuer to the Huangshan meeting hosted by the Chongxian Sect.
As long as Li Xiuer is still in their hands, at worst, they can use her to disintegrate and split the Huang Tian Army.
The more mysterious he, the "young master", remains, the greater his intimidation.
The Tianxie Sect invested in Li Badao, hoping to use Li Badao as a substitute and replace the Xie Lian Sect as Li Badao's backer.
However, the Tianxie Sect should not be willing to risk the entire sect for Li Badao.
As long as the Xie Lian Sect demonstrates sufficient strength and an uncompromising attitude, the Tian Xie Sect will inevitably have some reservations.
For the Tianxie Sect, Li Badao is worthy of investment, but after all, Li Badao has not yet completely ruled Jiangsu and Zhejiang, not to mention that this is only one of the eight provinces.
For the Xielian Sect, this is not just a matter of hegemony, but a betrayal by Jin Yuhui and Li Badao... No demon sect would allow such a betrayal to exist.
Therefore, as long as the Xie Lian Sect can seize the opportunity to severely damage the Tian Xie Sect in the first battle, the Tian Xie Sect will definitely retreat and will not fight to the death with the Xie Lian Sect.
Under such circumstances, they believed that the possibility of Tianxie Sect's leader Yuan Mingyan personally visiting Kuaiji was not very high, and the "young master" of the Xielian Sect only needed to hide behind the scenes and confront the Tianxie Sect's leader from a distance.
But at the same time, the magic sect is strange and changeable, and many times, it cannot be speculated by so-called "common sense". Xuanfeng Huanzhi and Sha Lingshan also need to prepare for the worst.
Shi Hao's understanding of the Demon Sect is naturally not as good as theirs.
He felt that if he interfered rashly, it would only make it difficult for Xuanfeng Huanzhi and Shalingshan to perform, so he decided to listen to their advice.
In this way, they arrived at Shezhou, which is close to Huangshan Mountain.
Chapter 304: The One Near the Water Gets the Moon First
Shezhou was also under the control of Huang Tianjun.
When we arrived in Shezhou and turned towards Huangshan, we saw another group of people coming towards us at the foot of the mountain.
Among the group of people there was a young man, in his early twenties, wearing a black fur coat and a jade crown on his head, followed by a group of warriors.
These warriors are either strong and powerful or have sharp eyes. It can be seen that they are all experts.
There was an old man next to the young man, wearing a golden brocade robe, with a proud look and extraordinary bearing.
The two groups of people stopped at the foot of the main mountain of Huangshan, Chongxianmen, and looked at each other.
The young man cupped his hands and asked, "But is it Miss Huang Tianjun Xiu'er?"
Li Xiuer smiled and bowed: "Could it be Li Shizi from the Dragon and Phoenix Society?"
Li Chenglong, the leader of the Dragon and Phoenix Society, named himself Duke of Sheng and his son Li Yunfeng was named Crown Prince.
Although the titles of "Duke" and "Crown Prince" were self-proclaimed by them, other parties had no obligation to recognize them.
But this time, since Huang Tianjun and Longfenghui wanted to form an alliance, it was natural for Li Xiuer to address him as "Prince".
As Shi Hao looked at him, he saw that Li Yun's steps were steady and his momentum was overwhelming. It was obvious that he already had the strength of a mid-level fighter.
Li Yun bowed and said, "I have heard that Miss Xiu'er is a kind-hearted lady. She has made great contributions to the achievements of the Huangtian Army. It's just that I have never had the chance to meet her. Today's trip to Huangshan is worthwhile if I can meet her."
He is elegant and polite, and easily makes people like him.
Li Xiuer returned the greeting, "Your Highness, you are too kind! Your Highness is even better than being famous in person."
The two exchanged pleasantries and went up the mountain together. When they entered the mountain gate, a person led a team to greet them. This person was a female Taoist priest, nearly fifty years old, and was Danying Sanren, the head of Kunzhen Court among the six courts of Chongxian Sect.
In the Chongxian Sect, the Six Academies are responsible for internal affairs, and the Eight Martial Immortals are in charge of external affairs.