Chapter 87: Won't Let Go

The change came in the very instant Lu Shengzhong stood there stunned and distracted. The pommel of Bai Yao's sword suddenly drove forward and slammed hard into an acupoint at Lu Shengzhong's waist.

By the time Lu Shengzhong sensed the danger, it was already too late. At such close range, and with the disparity between his strength and Bai Yao's, he probably could not have dodged even if he had not been distracted.

Agony exploded through his waist. A violent surge of spiritual power punched through his entire body. Caught completely unprepared, the pressure burst from his mouth and nose, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.

Before the impact could knock him away, Bai Yao's other hand clamped onto his shoulder and pinned him in place. Heavy fingers struck him repeatedly, directly sealing his Eight Extraordinary Meridians. Only after cutting off any possibility of him using spiritual power did Bai Yao shove him away.

Lu Shengzhong staggered. His head spun, his breathing came fast and ragged, and his insides churned like overturning rivers and seas. He collapsed onto the floor and coughed up two more mouthfuls of blood.

It took him some time to recover. He shook his head hard until his thoughts cleared a little, then inwardly groaned. There was no need to guess. The other side had probably seen through his identity.

Even so, he clung to one last thread of hope. He twisted around toward Bai Yao and asked miserably, "Why did you hit me?"

Bai Yao said indifferently, "Your spiritual power rebounded inside your body."

The implication was clear: there was no need to keep pretending.

Lu Shengzhong said, "Am I not allowed to cultivate?"

"Look over here!"

Niu Youdao called to him. Once Lu Shengzhong turned his head, Niu Youdao smiled.

"Allow me to introduce myself. Niu Youdao, disciple of the Shangqing Sect! I have a senior brother in the Shangqing Sect named Song Yanqing. He once asked me to compose several poems for him."

At that point, Niu Youdao could no longer restrain himself. He laughed with genuine delight. The more he thought about it, the funnier it became.

The moment he first heard that poem, two people had immediately come to mind. One was Song Yanqing. The other was Tang Yi, whom Song Yanqing had once tried to please. Tang Yi had only crossed Niu Youdao's mind for an instant before he ruled her out. Lu Shengzhong went completely blank. At last he understood why Niu Youdao had just claimed the poem was his own.

When Bai Yao attacked him, Lu Shengzhong had wondered how his identity had been exposed and what flaw he had revealed. That was why he had still tried to argue. Now he finally understood. The poem's true author had been standing right in front of him. And Lu Shengzhong had actually been smug about his own cleverness. To Niu Youdao, he must have looked like a complete idiot. The realization nearly killed him with shame.

Lu Shengzhong wanted to smash his own head against a wall. Never in his life had he humiliated himself this thoroughly. He had walked stupidly into a deathtrap while the other side watched him do it. They were probably laughing their teeth out. Inwardly, he was already cursing eighteen generations of Song Yanqing's ancestors. That bastard had actually claimed someone else's poems as his own!

Of all the poetry beneath Heaven he could have plagiarized, he had chosen the work of a fellow disciple. Worse, it was a fellow disciple with whom he had a poor relationship. Had he not been afraid of disgracing himself before his own sect?

Back when Song Yanqing frequented the pleasure quarters of the capital and used poems and lyrics to charm beauties, Lu Shengzhong had already suspected those works were not truly his. But that had not mattered.

Lu Shengzhong had been certain of one thing: if Song Yanqing dared publicly claim those poems as his own, then he must have already settled matters with the original author. Otherwise, if someone appeared and exposed him, the humiliation would not fall on Song Yanqing alone. It would stain the entire Song clan. Surely Song Yanqing understood at least that much.

Never in Lu Shengzhong's dreams had he imagined Song Yanqing was even more arrogant and shameless than he had thought.

Plagiarizing some close friend's poem would have been one thing. Plagiarizing a fellow disciple you did not even get along with? How stupid did a man have to be to do something like that? Lu Shengzhong was seized by the urge to dig up the Song clan's ancestral graves.

He had racked his brains trying to avenge that bastard, only to discover that Song Yanqing had deceived him while alive and was still digging pits for him after death.

What Lu Shengzhong did not know was that Niu Youdao had been confined at Peach Blossom Spring at the time.

Song Yanqing knew his circumstances and assumed Niu Youdao would almost certainly never leave Peach Blossom Spring alive. That was why he had dared plagiarize the poems without fear and publicly claim them as his own. It was also one reason he had chased after Niu Youdao so relentlessly afterward, determined to kill him.

"..."

Shang Shuqing turned toward Niu Youdao. Understanding dawned across her face. So that was what had happened. Once she understood, she found the situation both irritating and hilarious. Master Dao had stubbornly refused to admit he could write poetry. Had he not finally admitted it now? Then she looked at Lu Shengzhong and felt a little sympathy for him. To stumble into something like this... Just how unlucky did a man have to be?

Lu Shengzhong slowly gave a bitter smile. He raised a hand, wiped the blood from his mouth and nose, then simply stretched out his legs and sat on the floor. Niu Youdao cupped his hands toward Bai Yao.

"Thank you for your assistance, Senior Bai. This junior can handle what remains."

Bai Yao glanced sideways at the man sitting on the floor. Without expression, he turned and left with his sword cradled in his arms. Niu Youdao then smiled at Shang Shuqing.

"Commandery Princess, I'll have to trouble you to keep those men of letters occupied. Don't let them notice anything unusual."

Shang Shuqing shook her head, amused, then rose and left. Once only three people remained in the room, Niu Youdao dragged a chair over and placed it opposite Lu Shengzhong. He sat down with his sword planted before him.

"If you still want to argue, I'm listening."

Lu Shengzhong turned his head and spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. He gave a helpless laugh.

"Since you'd already seen through me, why didn't you act sooner?"

Niu Youdao replied, "You're only an assassin acting on someone else's orders. Once you were inside my grasp, did it matter when I moved against you?"

Lu Shengzhong chuckled.

"Then why go to all the trouble of inviting those pedantic scholars and using them to disguise things and put me at ease?"

Niu Youdao said, "Thinking to start from a stationery shop was actually quite clever. You set up a comfortable little trap where all you had to do was wait for the prey to come to you. Instead of approaching us, you arranged for us to approach you. That makes it very difficult to suspect you. If not for that poem, you might truly have succeeded. When dealing with a clever man, naturally I need to be a little more careful. If you'd come here alone, you'd have been suspicious of everything. But look how nice it is with a whole crowd. I told you where to go, and you came exactly where I wanted."

Lu Shengzhong did not know whether to laugh or cry.

"I'm just an assassin with no particular value. You could have seized me directly. Was all this really necessary?"

"You've admitted yourself that you aren't worth much. Your value lies elsewhere."

Niu Youdao explained at an unhurried pace.

"The people behind you used you as a channel to reach me. In other words, my real opponent isn't you, the middleman. I want to use you as a channel too, so I can cross swords with the people behind you. You should understand what I mean."

Lu Shengzhong nodded slightly with a dry chuckle.

"I understand. Killing one assassin wouldn't be enough to vent the hatred in your heart."

Niu Youdao's fingers slowly tapped the hilt of his sword.

"Name. Sect. Background. If you don't want to suffer, tell me yourself."

Now that matters had reached this point, Lu Shengzhong had only two possible endings: death or survival. Naturally, he chose the latter.

After Lu Shengzhong had explained everything that needed explaining, Niu Youdao stared at him in thought for a while, then gave Yuan Gang a hand signal. Yuan Gang left quickly. Before long, Yuan Fang returned with two monks. They had even brought equipment. After confirming the target, Yuan Fang waved a hand.

The two monks immediately rushed forward. First they stuffed a filthy rag into Lu Shengzhong's mouth. Then they wrapped him securely in iron chains. Finally, they pulled a burlap sack over him from head to foot and hoisted him away between them. Watching the entire process, the corner of Niu Youdao's mouth twitched. These monks really were frighteningly practiced at this sort of thing. He and Yuan Gang left the little pavilion soon afterward and returned to Bai Yao's courtyard.

They stood waiting inside the pavilion for a while before Bai Yao slowly emerged from his room. After sitting down, Bai Yao did not invite them to join him.

He merely asked, "You have a result?"

Niu Youdao smiled.

"His name is Lu Shengzhong. He isn't Song Shu's man. He belongs to Wang Heng and is a disciple of Wuliang Mountain. There are also five disciples of the Liuxian Sect involved, two of them Golden Core Realm cultivators. One of the five is Liu Ziyu, son of Liu Lu, steward of the Song Residence."

Bai Yao gave a cold snort.

"Wuliang Mountain actually dares involve itself in Tianyu Sect affairs? It seems they truly are tired of living. Fine. I'll handle this."

Niu Youdao said, "Senior, Liu Lu's son cannot be allowed to escape. Whether the others die is unimportant. Ideally, leave one alive to carry the news back. Liu Lu has only this one son. Once he learns that Lu Shengzhong sold his son out, he will inevitably make trouble for Wuliang Mountain. A little Wuliang Mountain isn't worth mobilizing the Tianyu Sect over. Better to let the dogs bite one another."

Bai Yao neither agreed nor disagreed. Instead, he gave Niu Youdao another piece of news.

"We just received word. The Shangqing Sect has abandoned its ancestral seat. Everyone has withdrawn from Shangqing Mountain."

"Uh..."

Niu Youdao froze. The Shangqing Sect had abandoned even its ancestral grounds? On reflection, however, it was not difficult to understand. They were probably trying to avoid disaster.

He asked, "Where did they go?"

"I don't know."

Bai Yao continued, "Judging by the timing, the Shangqing Sect disciple kneeling outside probably doesn't know about this yet. He hasn't had a drop of water for days. He likely won't last much longer."

Niu Youdao said, "No one told him to kneel. He can leave whenever he wants..."

After leaving Bai Yao, Niu Youdao returned to his own courtyard and immediately instructed Yuan Gang, "Have Shang Chaozong's people secretly take control of that traveling merchant. Don't let word reach Feng Ruonan's side."

The "traveling merchant" was the messenger An Xiaoman, Lu Shengzhong's junior fellow disciple in Nanzhou, had sent over.

For the sake of secrecy, Lu Shengzhong had not dared keep a Goldenwing with him. An Xiaoman had therefore arranged for another man to come and coordinate with him. The man had disguised himself as a traveling merchant and remained hidden inside the county seat, specifically to relay messages for Lu Shengzhong.

"And go tell that stutterer the Shangqing Sect has abandoned its mountain gate and run away. Tell him to hurry up and get lost, go find them, and stop kneeling at the entrance where I have to look at him!"

Niu Youdao waved a hand irritably. Yuan Gang nodded and left. Niu Youdao lay back down beneath the tree in the courtyard, returning to the habit he had developed during his years at Peach Blossom Spring. When Yuan Gang came back again, however, he brought bad news.

"Master Dao, the stutterer says the Sect Leader is here. He still refuses to leave."

"..."

Niu Youdao was speechless. Across two lifetimes, he had never met such a single-minded idiot. He muttered a curse.

"Damn it. Is he trying to pull some self-torture ploy on me?"

He simply could not understand what Wei Duo was thinking. Even a blind man could see that the Shangqing Sect wanted nothing to do with Niu Youdao. They had even tried to kill him.

There was no chance he would return to the Shangqing Sect and offer his neck to the blade, nor could he possibly go back alone and try to fight Tang Yi for the Sect Leader position. What was the point of clinging to him and refusing to let go?

[End of Chapter 87]