The next morning.
Nangong Xier slowly opened her eyes. She hadn't slept so soundly in a long time. It was as if all the strength in her body had dissipated and she felt like she was floating above the clouds, free and calm. Although she knew that this was caused by the loss of her power, she still felt very happy.
Because she dreamed of two people she hadn't seen for a long time.
One was a beautiful young woman in a white shirt, standing under a peach tree, holding an umbrella and smiling at herself.
The other one was a thin figure with a long sword slung around his waist. He was walking up the mountain with his back to her.
It’s A Niang and Second Brother.
"Senior sister." A clear voice suddenly called her, "You are awake, come and have breakfast."
Nangong Xier climbed up with her hands on the bed, rubbed her eyes, looked at the young man drinking porridge in front of her, and asked in confusion: "When did I fall asleep?"
"You fell asleep as soon as you got on the boat." Su Baiyi smiled, "Naraku brought a handful of hot water over there. Senior sister, please wash up first, and then come over to have some porridge. I tell you, the fish porridge on this boat is absolutely amazing. I have never tasted such delicious porridge."
Nangong Xier got out of bed and walked to the window. She picked up a hot towel and washed her face before finally waking up: "Who is Naraku?"
"It is said that a maid will be assigned to each Tianzi room, and Naraku is the maid in charge of ours. However, she cannot enter the room and can only give us things at the door of the Tianzi room. There are four Tianzi rooms in total, and it is said that they are all full." Su Baiyi replied.
"Who lives here?" Nangong Xier sat down next to Su Baiyi and picked up a bowl of porridge, which was filled with snow-white and plump fish fillets. She scooped a spoonful and put it into her mouth. The fish fillets had no fishy smell at all and melted in her mouth. She swallowed it down with the porridge and felt a warm current flowing through her body, which gave her an indescribable comfort.
"Senior Sister, this porridge is absolutely amazing. By the way, ask who lives in the other rooms. One of them has never had its door opened, as if there is no one inside. Another room is occupied by a middle-aged man dressed like a rich man. Young Master Mu calls him Mr. He. Another room is occupied by an old man who always likes to shave his nails with a knife." Su Baiyi looked at Nangong Xier who had her eyes closed, as if she was still savoring the delicious taste of the fish porridge.
"There's something wrong with this porridge." Nangong Xier suddenly opened her eyes. "It has tonic added to it, and it's a very expensive tonic. Maybe this bowl of porridge is much more expensive than a boat ticket. Why?"
Su Baiyi scratched his head and said with a smile: "I made a bet with Mu Nianhua."
"Bet?" Nangong Xier was stunned.
"Then I won." Su Baiyi said somewhat proudly, "So he agreed to one of my conditions."
"What conditions?" Nangong Xier frowned slightly.
"He protected our lives at the cost of his own life. As long as he is alive, he will not allow anyone to hurt us on this ship." Su Baiyi said slowly.
Nangong Xier thought for a moment and said, "There are people from Shanglin Palace on the boat."
"Yes, they targeted us as soon as we got on the boat." Su Baiyi sighed.
"We have to find a way to leave here." Nangong Xier shook her head. "Even if the Mu family is a wealthy family, Shanglin Palace still won't take them seriously. What's more, Mu Nianhua is willing to gamble with you, but the Mu family is not willing to gamble with you. At the critical moment, they might just knock Mu Nianhua unconscious and send us to Shanglin Palace."
"You can't leave, Senior Sister. This time, we can only choose to trust this Seventh Young Master." Su Baiyi picked up a side dish with chopsticks and placed it in Nangong Xier's bowl. "And Senior Sister, I need you to tell me the story I want to hear. I really want to know why the world's largest sect, the Lin Tian Palace, would hunt us down like a killer from the underworld?"
Nangong Xier took another sip of porridge, and after pondering for a long time, she smiled and said, "Then let's first tell a story that most people believe."
More than a decade ago, the Jianghu was originally divided into two factions, the south and the north. The south was led by Yingxiongzhong, and the north was led by Wujijianzong. However, the two major sects perished in a decisive battle. Since then, the Jianghu has been in chaos. In order to become the new overlord, the major sects began to draw their swords against their former allies. The big sects continued to annex small sects to expand their sphere of influence, and the small sects spent a lot of money to hire assassins who were good at assassination to assassinate the heads and elders of those big sects. The whole Jianghu was shrouded in a dark cloud. It was not until Su Han, the young master of Shanglin Tiangong, came down the mountain with a sword that the Jianghu welcomed a new person who could dominate it.
Shanglin Palace was originally a unique sect on Weilong Mountain. People only knew that the mountain had a gold mine and was therefore very rich, but they knew nothing else about it. Su Han let the world know that the swords in Shanglin Palace were no weaker than those of the former Wuji Sword Sect. Su Han challenged the heads of the 32 sects in the north alone with a single sword, and all of them won within ten swords. In addition to his superb swordsmanship, Su Han was also a very charismatic person in the legend. He gathered a large number of young masters with extraordinary talents to join Shanglin Palace. Among them were Bai Jile, the owner of Fusheng Zuimeng Tower, Helian Xiyue, the owner of Chunfeng Tower, Xie Kanhua, the owner of Wuyu Tower, and so on. This newly established third floor, together with the original four courtyards of Shanglin Palace, unified the martial arts world within three years and redivided the forces of the martial arts world.
Shanglin Tiangong is revered as the leader of the martial arts world. It still sits in Weilong Mountain, and its sphere of influence includes the entire north. The southwest is led by Daze Mansion, which is composed of three major sects, namely Tianxiaoyunjing, Tianshutang, and Tianshui Villa. The four major families are located in the south. The Wang family is rich, the Xie family is talented, the Lu family is good at forging, and the Dongfang family is good at medicine. These four families will take turns to let the leader selected by a family serve as the head of the family every five years. In addition, because these four families have all belonged to the Wuji Sword Sect, the martial arts of their sects are still mainly swordsmanship. But they never dared to flaunt themselves with swords, because there is a city in the southeast, named Jimo. That is the city where the Jimo clan is located. The city lord Jimo Jingzhu is known as the last sword fairy in the old martial arts era. It was this sword fairy who helped Su Han win the last battle. Jimo City has since been called the Sword City.
Of course, there are still some sects in the martial arts world that do not care about worldly affairs and do not participate in any fights, but their strength should not be underestimated. For example, the academy in Qiantang City's Shili Langyao, the Qingcheng Mountain Tianshi Mansion led by Taoist Lu Yan, and the Demon City that specifically collects evil people who have laid down their butcher knives. They did not acknowledge the leadership of Shanglin Tiangong, but they did not deny it either.
This world has been peaceful for a few years, which is rare.
Until a new sect rose up in the south of Yunmeng Lake, this sect was the Tianmen Holy Sect.
Also known as the Demonic Cult.