The Emperor Reigns Them All

Chapter 168 Deathtrap (3)

Penglai.

Penglai Master Zhang Jiuling held a horsetail whisk in his arms, sitting in the room meditating. Suddenly, lightning and thunder came with heavy rainfall, and the window creaked. Zhang Jiuling opened his eyes, stood up from his cushion, went to the window, held up a louvre and looked into the distance.

Zhang Jiuling’s room was located on high ground, and there was nothing to block the view before him as he looked at the landscape outside. On the contrary, he saw all the mountains and forests on Penglai Island. If he looked farther, he could see the sea that stretched endlessly.

The window opened to the east. When Zhang Jiuling saw lightning flashing and heard the thunder and rain, his calm face slowly turned a little solemn. A long time later, he sighed, “The heavy rain suddenly came, shrouding the mountains and sea, can I go into hiding?”

A little while later, a young voice came from outside, “Master, urgent news.”

Zhang Jiuling simply said, “Come in.”

In came Zhang Jiuling’s one disciple. He ranked second in Penglai’s generation of disciples. Since his first disciple, Zhang Yunhe, had already made for Lai Prefecture, his second disciple now handled the daily affairs of the Penglai Taoist sect.

His second disciple came into the room, standing with his hands cross-locked, and then said unhurriedly, “Anomalies have appeared at the Taoist temple in the Dustpan Mountain.”

Hearing the name Dustpan Mountain, a strange light flashed in Zhang Jiuling eyes. That was one place he didn’t like to talk about, because the person who lived there is one whom the Penglai Taoist sect doesn’t like to talk about. But the less one talks about him, the more it proves that the person was formidable.

Zhang Jiuling kept his expression normal, “What kind of anomalies?”

“It is reported that recently cloud and fog often gather at the Dustpan Mountain with the Spiritual Qi fluctuating in extremely high density. As for what is in the cloud and fog, our men didn’t see clearly, and they only vaguely felt a sign of the flood dragon emerging from the sea,” his second disciple said in a low tone.

The look in Zhang Jiuling’s eyes changed slightly, “The flood dragon emerging from the sea? What is the man trying to do?”

His second disciple hesitated, then said in quietly, “The relationship between the man in the Dustpan Mountain and us in Penglai hasn’t been good. Years ago, he escaped after being seriously injured by the master. He’d been living in the mountains since then and has never come out. He hasn’t caused trouble, but I keep feeling that he won’t remain unnoticed.”

Zhang Jiuling didn’t look pleased as he recalled the past. To him, that was not a happy memory. After keeping silent for a while, he coldly snorted, “What can he do if he doesn’t want to remain unnoticed? His personal cultivation hasn’t improved at all and the two disciples he has educated don’t have high talent either. How can they compete with our Senior and Junior Priestesses? Could he still be thinking of revenge?”

His second disciple tentatively asked, “So what do you think, Master?”

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Zhang Jiuling came to the window, thinking for sometime. Then he said, “Now is a critical time. Prince An’s arrival is of an aggresive nature, and he wants to incite trouble in Pinglu. Our sect will be focused on defeating this evil man. The Dustpan Mountain is not worth our concern, but we cannot ignore it either. It’s time to put the chess piece we have arranged to work.”

His second disciple’s expression changed and his eyes showed some fear. Even his voice sounded cautious, “Do you mean you’re going to ask Shibo to handle it?”

After making his decision, Zhang Jiuling calmed down instead. He simply said, “We would rather kill the wrong than let him escape.”

His second disciple knitted his eyebrows, “Yes.”

...

Although the Taoist temple hadn’t been refurbished in a long time and looked quite dilapidated, it was fresh and clean. Otherwise, it would be difficult not to fall sick in such sloppy conditions, to say nothing of curing the sick and saving lives.

However, since Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang left, the temple’s condition had become progressively worse. Theoretically, one’s scope of activity isn’t wide. No matter what one did, it’s not possible for the temple to become such an eyesore in less than a month. But the old brown-skinned Taoist managed to do it.

The old brown-skinned Taoist couldn’t care less. For him, to be able to not go hungry after Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang left was a blessing indeed. Things like cleaning the temple had never become his concern.

Tightening his belt and running hunchbacked out of the toilet outside the courtyard wall, the old Taoist took a look at the unrecognizable vegetable garden in the rain and couldn’t help shaking.

This vegetable garden, which had been taken care of and neatly cultivated by Su Emei for over 10 years, now looked as thought it been ruined by wild boars. Many seasonal vegetables fallen here and there, many missing patches could be seen, nothing remained intact.

“If the little girl sees it, she will run after me with a kitchen knife.” The old brown-skinned Taoist obviously felt somewhat afraid as he spoke to himself, but a big smile formed on his face, and he even felt a little pleased with himself.

A lightning bolt came down, illuminating the old Taoist’s wretched appearance. After a long time, he lifted his head, looked at the pitch-black sky once, and lazily said, “What’s the point of thundering? No matter how powerful you are, you cannot kill me.”

The old brown-skinned Taoist looked like a rogue, muttering ceaselessly, and no one knew who he was speaking evil of. At this moment, an unpleasant sound came from his stomach, and the old brown-skinned Taoist suddenly realized that he had just eaten one meal today. This immediately made him sad, looking quite wronged and miserable.

“Alas, go get some vegetables. You cannot go to bed without eating anything.” The old brown-skinned Taoist walked down the wet path and sneaked into the vegetable garden. He picked vegetables here and there and selected the good ones. Occasionally, he stepped on some vegetables, and pouted from time to time, indicating his dissatisfaction at the size of the vegetables.

As he was about to enter the temple with an armful of vegetables, rapid footsteps came suddenly from the nearby woods, and a voice said, “Master! Master!”

The old brown-skinned Taoist squinted at him, smiling at first and then looking surprised.

It was the hunter who often visited the temple, bringing some strong alcohol and wild meat to satisfy the Taoist’s desire for quality dishes from time to time.

Indeed, the old brown-skinned Taoist had known him for many years. Besides Su Emei and Wei Xiaozhuang, he was the most familiar person to the Taoist. He was usually warm to the hunter. But when he saw the hunter sneaking out of the woods in staggering steps, he rushed to him.

“What’s wrong? It is dark now, and why did you guys come out of the woods?” the Taoist asked, holding the vegetables in his arms.

“Alas! Don’t ask. It is because of the sudden, heavy rain. I fell once in the woods, and I was also chased by a wild boar. I nearly lost my life!” the hunter came out of the woods, looking very embarrassed, his body was covered in dirt and wounds, and his hair was messy, “It’ll be impossible to go down the mountain tonight. Since I was chased to this vicinity, I thought I should spend the night here.”

The old brown-skinned Taoist twisted his lips, looking unhappy, “No alcohol, right? I was happy for nothing... Never mind, come in, I was preparing to cook a meal.”

“Master, you are too snobbish. You won’t be happy without spirits?” the hunter joked warmly as he came to the old brown-skinned Taoist.

The Taoist smiled, “No, no, it is just not perfect without spirits...”

Before he finished speaking, his expression suddenly changed, because a beam of bright white light had just flashed from the hunter’s hands to his waist in an instant. The momentary flash had clearly shown the hunter’s eyes, which were looking murderous.

...

The shining lighting made the Taoist, standing in the courtyard with a sword on his back, look not only immortal but also mysterious. More than that, he looked terrifyingly baleful.

When Wei Nianci saw Wei Shilan hand over the invitation for heroes with both hands, a ridiculous idea suddenly flashed across her mind.

“Father has accepted the invitation for heroes and then handed it over to the Penglai Taoist sect. Then, will the Black Office, who sent the invitation, turn their anger on the Weis and break into our house in the middle of the night to kill us all?”

This ridiculous idea seemed bizarre, but in fact, it quite naturally came to Wei Nianci’s mind. Once there, it began spreading beyond control. Instantly, Wei Nianci’s hands and feet became cold.

She couldn’t help thinking of the scene in the restaurant in the little town. Facing the provocation of Xu Xianjian and her scheme, the warm, harmless-looking young man dressed in dark robes never revealed even the slightest anger from start to finish, not to mention fighting.

But the more that was so, the more it showed that the slap that Xu Xianjian gave her, at last, was exceptionally powerful and difficult to accept.

From a different aspect, if Xu Xianjian had been injured by him or driven away by his haughty manner from the start, the consequence, no matter how embarrassing it was, would not have made it so hard for her to accept, right?

If it had been so, every time she thought of it, Wei Nianci’s fear of the young man dressed in dark robes would not have been too deep to be removed.

Especially on her way home, after hearing many rumors of the Black Office, Wei Nianci’s fear of the Childe dressed in dark robes increased, for she knew the really fierce dog that bites would never bark.

Probably she could’ve nearly died but didn’t know it.

“So, all along, is the Childe in dark robes who did nothing, even scarier than the aggressive Taoist? If so, is the Black Office, which the Childe in dark robes belongs to, even more terrifying?”

After a moment of distraction, Wei Nianci screamed, “Father, we cannot give the invitation to them! We cannot offend the Black Office!”

Wei Shinan’s hands stopped at once and turned to look at Wei Nianci in confusion.

His confusion passed instantly, and he felt the murderous air of the Taoist beside him soon. His hands couldn’t help shaking somewhat, and he angrily shouted, “Shut up! Who asked you to speak?!”

Wei Nianci came back to earth after Wei Shinan’s reprimand.

Now she realized that her back had already become cold.

Unbelievably, her fear of the young man in dark robes had already escalated.

Wei Nianci’s mind was distracted for a while.

“You should thank her for what she said, for without it, the Wei family’s situation would be quite tragic today.”

As soon as he heard the voice, Wei Shinan turned his head and instantly froze.

The Penglai Taoist before him froze too.

Obviously, it wasn’t the Taoist who said those words.

The speaker was standing outside the door.

It was a man leaning against the pillar in the corridor, wearing a bamboo hat, holding a saber in his hands.

Raindrops were dripping down his bamboo hat.

In the courtyard outside the corridor, a few more people dressed similarly had also mysteriously appeared.

Not only in the courtyard, but also on the roof.

These people were dressed in the same manner.

Blue clothes, bamboo hats, sabers.

Wei Shinan couldn’t be more familiar with these people’s dressing style.

Because he had already seen them once tonight.

The Black Office!

The Taoist before Wei Shinan turned and saw the scene, his expression changed, and then he gritted his teeth, “Are you from the Black Office? What are you going to do?”

“Do? Very simple.”The man leaning against the pillar slowly took out his saber from its sheath, his voice remaining deadly calm, emotionless, just like heavy rain. But the moment his long saber came out of the sheath, he moved suddenly and spoke in a carefree tone, filled with heroic spirit, “Kill you!”