The Villain's Counterattack

Chapter 369 Father, Father, How Much Sin Have You Done?

He wore a three-foot-long ancient green sword on his waist, dressed in white silk, and held a folding fan with a thumb-sized piece of emerald jade hanging on it. With his timid and pretty face, he looked like a typical pale-faced scholar and could not attract the attention of the many strange and aggressive martial artists around him.

As the prince of Zhennan in Dali Kingdom, he has come into contact with many masters. Since he learned martial arts, his vision has improved and his behavior has changed greatly. He is no longer so reckless. Or maybe it can be said that under the teachings of his master "Dugu Qiubai", he has learned to keep a low profile and pretend to be a pig to eat the tiger. He likes to hide his cultivation and wander around pretending to be a pale scholar.

Murong Fu, capitalizing on his wedding and his triennial duel with Qiao Feng, staged a grand event, setting up the arena to welcome challenges from all sides and lowering the age requirement to forty, an opportunity rarely attained by ordinary people. Qiao Feng, the leader of the Beggars' Sect, was often elusive, often either fighting foreign invasions or on his way to do so, rarely even intervening in the sect's internal affairs.

Murong Fu is not only the head of the Murong family, but also an official appointed by the imperial court, and his rank is quite high. Ordinary martial artists like them may not be able to see him even if they pay him a visit, let alone challenge him.

Now that North Qiao Feng and South Murong had suddenly stood before the crowd and accepted their challenge, how could the martial artists not be excited? Who doesn't dream of being a hero these days? Under the spotlight, let alone defeating North Qiao Feng and South Murong, even holding on for a few more moves would earn them fame.

It’s a pity that five days have passed and no one can survive more than ten moves against them. What’s worse is that the two of them didn’t even try their best.

On the first day, Qiao Feng only used a set of Taizu Changquan, while Murong Fu used Luohan Fist under the nose of Master Xuanbei. In one day, dozens of martial arts masters were defeated by them, and not even one could last more than ten moves.

Seeing Murong Fu's Arhat Fist, Master Xuanbei's eyes twitched, but he knew the origin of this style of boxing. For some reason, Murong Fu did not have much respect for many Shaolin masters of the Xuan generation. Instead, he took a fancy to a young monk of the Xu generation and taught him a set of strange body-building exercises. He also personally taught him the Arhat Fist. For three whole years, he spent at least half a month every year on the young monk named Xuzhu.

He learned this set of Arhat Fist while instructing Xu Zhu, but compared with Xu Zhu's Arhat Fist, Murong Fu's was more like the Vajra Arhat, and its power was no less than that of an ordinary first-class master's first-class martial arts.

The next day, Qiao Feng and Murong Fu gave up boxing and turned to leg techniques, but this time Qiao Feng used Shaolin's Shadow-like Kick, while Murong Fu used the Whirlwind Falling Leaf Kick he learned from Huang Yaoshi in the previous life.

On the third day, the two men changed their martial arts again and used claw techniques. Qiao Feng's Dragon Claw Hand was quite impressive, while Murong Fu's Nine Yin Divine Claw was equally impressive.

On the fourth day, the two switched to finger techniques, and this time Murong Fu was the better one. The Murong family's Sanhe Finger was a unique skill in the martial arts world, but Qiao Feng had not practiced the finger techniques among the 72 Shaolin martial arts, so he could only use ordinary finger techniques to fight the enemy. Even so, none of the challengers could last more than ten moves.

The gap in martial arts levels is too great, so even if you give up your hands or feet, the opponent will be helpless.

On the fifth day, both of them changed into weapons. Qiao Feng held the green jade staff in one hand and the dog-beating stick in the other. His movements were light and agile, with subtle changes and wonderful techniques. Even the five tigers of the Shan family could not defeat the enemy in ten moves. Murong Fu, holding a long sword, defeated the enemy in three moves and would never use a fourth move.

That's right, after the fifth day of using weapons, both Qiao Feng and Murong Fu allowed challengers to join forces of three or five. Although there were still few people joining forces, there were some brothers like the Five Tigers of the Shan Family, and there were even couples. There were also battle formations in the martial arts world, and Shaolin was the best among them. Both the Shaolin Arhat Formation and the Vajra Demon Subduing Formation were well-known.

A few days ago, Qiao Feng and Murong Fu had fought barehanded, and some challengers had even wielded weapons. Now, with the two of them armed, they had given the challengers greater freedom, allowing them to use even hidden weapons freely, yet still no one had been able to prevail. Not to mention victory, no one could even last more than ten moves. The Shan family's Five Tigers, originally the most promising, only made it to the ninth move before all of them were defeated.

The five brothers fought from behind Shan Zheng, watching Murong Fu defeat three martial arts masters in three moves, their expressions becoming even more bizarre. They had followed their father for several days, watching Qiao Feng of the North and Murong of the South battle, and had initially thought they had a good understanding of their strength. But when they heard they could join forces to challenge Qiao Feng, the leader of the Beggars' Sect, today, they chose him.

Perhaps because they believed that Qiao Feng, devoted to martial arts, was superior to Murong Fu, who had become a high-ranking official at the imperial court, the five arrogant Shan brothers chose Qiao Feng, the leader of the Beggars' Sect, believing that even if they couldn't win, the five brothers combined would remain undefeated. Unexpectedly, the five combined couldn't even last more than ten moves, leaving them deeply heartbroken and regretting their choice of the "superior" Qiao Feng.

But in the afternoon, they saw Murong Fu with a sword in his hand, and only then did they know what a true sword master was. They also knew the three masters just now, and had even fought against them before. The five brothers combined to fight them was only fifty-fifty. It was these three brothers who were defeated by Murong Fu's sword in three moves, which made them feel a chill in their hearts, and secretly glad that they chose Qiao Feng instead of Murong Fu.

With so many people, Qiao Feng needed to exert more effort to control the situation for ten moves. Winning against the five brothers in nine moves was already quite a feat. Murong Fu went even further, managing to limit the attack to just three moves. Such a level of swordsmanship was unprecedented, not only for the five brothers, but even their father, Shan Zheng, had never witnessed it.

Duan Yu, watching from the audience, saw everything clearly. He was determined to challenge Murong Fu, so he naturally wanted to study his martial arts skills carefully. He had previously admired Qiao Feng and Murong Fu's fists, kicks, and claws. Although Qiao Feng's Dragon Subduing Palm and Murong Fu's Star Shifting had never appeared, he knew their martial arts were definitely superior to his own. However, Duan Yu was quite confident in the evasive abilities of his Lingbo Weibu (Light Footsteps) and the defensive capabilities of his Yangwu Swordsmanship. He was conceited that even if he couldn't win, he wouldn't be easily defeated.

But when Qiao Feng's Dog Beating Stick Technique and Murong Fu's Dragon City Sword Technique appeared, he knew that his chances of winning were slim. It was not because his sword technique was not high enough, but because his experience and martial arts level were too far behind.

"Qiao Feng of the North and Murong of the South are truly worthy of their reputations. I'm afraid only Master could possibly surpass them," Duan Yu muttered to himself. Suddenly, a sneer echoed from the side, accompanied by a silver bell-like voice: "Is this young master's master very powerful? Father said that Brother Murong's martial arts skills are so high that he would be ranked in the top ten even among the older generation of masters in the entire Central Plains martial arts world. If your master can defeat Brother Murong, he must be one of the most powerful masters in the martial arts world, right?"

Duan Yu smelled a delicate fragrance before he saw the person. He heard a sweet and tender voice, and the voice was soft, giving him a very familiar feeling. It must be someone from Dali Kingdom. Turning around, he saw two beautiful figures standing side by side.

The speaker was a round-faced girl in a green gown. Her face was like the morning glow, her eyes were like autumn water, her skin was as white as cream, her smile was as beautiful as a flower, her features were radiant and her breath was like orchid. The more you looked at her, the more beautiful she became, making it hard to look away. There was also a tall, slender woman in black beside her. For some reason, in broad daylight, her face was covered with a black veil, revealing only her two eye sockets. Her pupils were as bright as stars, and her demeanor was even better than the green-gown girl's.

"The two girls have such nice and friendly voices. Could it be that they are also from Dali Kingdom? I, Duan Yu from Dali Kingdom, am honored to meet you." Duan Yu was polite and his movements were natural and smooth. He had done this countless times, and he was very cunning in including both of them in one sentence, even though it was obviously only the lovely girl in green who was speaking.

The woman in green said with a smile, "Young Master Duan has very sharp ears. I, Zhong Ling, have met Young Master Duan! I thought I had learned the Central Plains dialect for a while at Gusu Academy, but it didn't work out. I was easily recognized. Young Master's surname is Duan, but is he a member of the Dali royal family? Oh, this is terrible. Father hates the Duan family the most. If he finds you, he will definitely be upset."

Duan Yu was suddenly shocked when he heard this, and looked at the girl in front of him carefully. She was innocent, fresh and lovely, and she also had martial arts skills. Although she was not as good as himself, she was still a master among her peers. Moreover, from what she said before, it seemed that she had a close relationship with Murong Fu.

"The girl was born in Dali, her name is Zhong Ling. I wonder what is her relationship with the miracle doctor, the Horse King God Zhong Wanchou?" Duan Yu is not the bookworm who knows nothing in the original novel. After he became successful in martial arts, he has a better understanding of the people in the martial arts world. What's more, Zhong Wanchou is the "miracle doctor" of Dali Kingdom and has a great reputation. It is impossible for him not to know. Moreover, he once investigated the Horse King God who was at odds with his father, and he had a vague guess in his heart.

She is most likely his biological sister, the illegitimate daughter of his father, Duan Zhengchun, the Prince of Zhennan!

As expected, Zhong Ling wasn't surprised that she knew her father. Instead, she openly admitted it and whispered, "My father is nearby. If Master Duan wants to see him, don't mention your last name, Duan, and don't admit to being a member of the Dali Duan clan."

Duan Yu nodded in agreement and turned to the woman in black, "Is there anyone in your family who hates the Duan clan of Dali?"

The woman in black looked at him deeply, her eyes slightly cold. Her voice was clear and pleasant, but her tone was cold and without any warmth. "I have no father or mother, only one master. She doesn't hate any family or surname, but she has enemies. Could it be that Master Duan is willing to help me?"

Duan Yu quickly shook his head and said, "As the saying goes, it's better to resolve a feud than to create one. If I can help resolve this, I will certainly lend a hand. However, if you want me to kill someone, I absolutely cannot do that. If the young lady is willing to tell me the whole story, I will do my best to resolve it. If I can't..."

The black-clothed woman was also carefree and said nonchalantly, "My master ordered me to kill two people. The first one is called Dao Baifeng, a Baiyi woman. She is very beautiful and uses a whip as a weapon."

Hearing this, Duan Yu's heart skipped a beat. This woman's master actually wanted her to kill her own mother?

"The other woman's surname is Wang, and she lives in Suzhou." The black-clad woman paused briefly, then looked Duan Yu in the eye and said gravely, "She is Nan Murong's mother-in-law, Madam Wang of Mantuo Villa."

Duan Yu slapped his forehead. The two people this woman wanted to kill were his mother and his father's lover. He could roughly judge the woman's age from her voice. She was probably slightly younger than him, so she was most likely his sister.

Father, oh father, how many sins have you committed?