Sudden Strike

Blazing sun hung high.

Mount Song in central Henan, Dragon Roar Hall.

Zuo Lengchan sat in the chair at the exact center of the main hall, listening to his disciple's report.

"Alliance Leader, Yujizi is preparing to contact the masters of the Yu generation to seize the position of Mount Tai Sect leader. Once it succeeds, he will undoubtedly serve the alliance leader heart and soul."

Lu Bai stood in the subordinate position, speaking to Zuo Lengchan.

"Hmph! Yujizi is the best example. If the Five Peaks Sects do not merge into one sooner rather than later, the decline of Mount Tai Sect is right before our eyes. Viewed from this perspective, the merger of the Five Peaks is in accord with human reason and the mandate of heaven. Junior brother! Mount Song Sect exists only in name, and Mount Tai Sect has also fallen under my control; after that will come Mount Shaanxi and the Buddhist nuns of Mount Heng." Zuo Lengchan sat in his seat, speaking to Lu Bai.

"What master older martial brother says is right, and further down the line will be destroying the demonic cult, as well as annexing Shaolin and Wudang. It seems that martial arts hegemony is a task only older martial brother you are fit to wield." Lu Bai flattered Zuo Lengchan.

"Alas! Mount Hua is a tough nut to crack. This Yue Buqun is truly deep in calculation, taking Lin Pingzhi as a disciple and obtaining the Bixie Sword Manual. Now Linghu Chong's strength can defeat Feng Buping, and he has also secretly cultivated a fifth disciple, Wang Ming. From your report, this Wang Ming's Purple Haze Divine Skill has already been successfully trained." Zuo Lengchan suddenly brought up Mount Hua Sect, beginning to frown.

"Older martial brother, the Sword Sect and underworld experts we contacted last time were all repelled by Mount Hua relying on its terrain. Mount Hua is filled with jagged rocks and rugged paths, so forcibly attacking the mountain is clearly inadvisable; we should plot another method."

"Junior brother, you go contact the other sects and say that Yue Buqun attempts to collude with the demonic cult to subvert the righteous alliance, and has therefore dispatched his senior disciple to frequently meet with the demonic cult elder Qu Yang and Saintly Aunt, organizing fellow righteous practitioners to jointly crusade against Yue Buqun." Zuo Lengchan said with a sinister air after a moment of thought.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! Older martial brother has a brilliant strategy, junior brother will go execute it right now."

Lu Bai slowly withdrew from Dragon Roar Hall, preparing to accomplish the task arranged by Zuo Lengchan.

Zuo Lengchan glanced at the retreating Lu Bai, his mind and spirit also involuntarily beginning to relax, then comfortably leaned back in his chair. Once Mount Hua Sect was resolved, the matter of the Five Peaks merger would not be far off.

Right at this moment of extreme relaxation,

suddenly,

an inexplicable palpitation came from the depths of his heart.

This feeling was very familiar to him.

Extremely familiar.

It was precisely this feeling that had allowed him to escape life-or-death crises on numerous occasions.

Zuo Lengchan abruptly opened his eyes, turning his head slightly toward the left.

Instantly his expression altered in terror, frightened to the point that cold sweat broke out instantly across his back.

I saw,

a saber,

a long saber gleaming with cold light.

Piercing straight down from the rafters on Zuo Lengchan's left,

the ice-cold blade edge drove directly toward Zuo Lengchan's throat.

This strike came too suddenly!

The speed was also too fast, leaving Zuo Lengchan zero room for thought.

He could only raise his left arm, slightly deflecting the trajectory of this sword.

Then on the spot he executed a lazy donkey roll. Although this was rather unsightly and lacked the poise of a Mount Song Sect leader, it very effectively avoided the fatal blow aimed straight at the throat.

The gate-guarding disciples of the sect heard the commotion and came to check the situation, only to see inside Dragon Roar Hall.

Their own usually majestic and domineering leader wore a very angry and gloomy expression, and most importantly, the leader's left arm was bleeding, flowing along his palm and onto his fingers, then dripping down onto the bluestone-paved floor.

There was still one other person in Dragon Roar Hall at this moment,

a person who fundamentally ought not to have appeared in this heavily guarded core area of Mount Song Sect, Dragon Roar Hall.

This person was entirely black.

Black clothes, black trousers, black boots.

Wearing black gloves on his hands.

He had even wrapped both his head and face with a black cloth hood, revealing only a pair of saber-like eyes.

Such nocturnal traveler attire appearing here naturally meant he had not come as a guest.

What did he look like?

Who on earth was he?

No one could see,

no one knew,

his entire body from top to bottom was concealed by black, making it fundamentally impossible to deduce his identity from his external appearance.

Yet for unknown reasons, the two of them both felt that every single inch of his entire body was filled with danger.

Why would this feeling arise?

They would definitely cast a disdainful glance your way:

Are you blind?

Didn't you see the saber in the black-clad person's hand was dripping with blood?

At a glance you knew that was the leader's blood.

Even a martial arts master of a leader was injured, and this wasn't dangerous?

Consequently,

these two fellows turned and bolted with extreme cleverness...

Zuo Lengchan was left with his mouth twitching by these two fellows' maneuvers; originally when he saw people enter, he wanted them to stall the black-clad person while he himself went outside to call for help, but they ran away so fast.

It was not that Zuo Lengchan wanted to flee; rather, he never imagined that someone would actually carry out an assassination operation against him within the Mount Song Sect stronghold.

Therefore, he never carried his weapon in Dragon Roar Hall.

"Audacious scoundrel, actually bold enough to heaven, sneaking into my Mount Song Sect to execute an assassination, I will definitely skin and debone you."

Zuo Lengchan clutched his injured and bleeding left arm. Had it not been for the sudden crisis induction just now, causing him to lean sideways, he would have been run through the throat by this masked person's sword and died thoroughly collapsed in his chair.

Zuo Lengchan was quite furious; how many years had it been since he was injured? Today, this masked person made him experience the long-absent feeling of death.

He rapidly applied acupoint pressing to the wound to stem the bleeding, and empty-handed, he began grappling with the masked person.

This black-clad masked person was none other than Wang Ming.

Wang Ming had stayed in Mount Hua Sect for over ten years; grass and trees have feelings, let alone people, so how could he not have emotional bonds?

Mount Hua Sect's greatest crisis currently was Mount Song Sect. Zuo Lengchan was an ambitious overlord figure, single-mindedly desiring to merge the Five Peaks and surpass Shaolin and Wudang.

In terms of strength, Wang Ming quite admired his talent and ingenuity—creating the Ice True Qi and integrating the Mount Song Swordplay. Everyone else in the entire Smiling Proud World universe was living off their ancestors' past achievements, and only he constantly innovated.

However, in terms of strategy, Wang Ming quite despised him.

A peaceful merger of the Five Peaks was indeed the number one faction in the martial world, forcing Shaolin, Wudang, and the Sun Moon Holy Cult to all avoid its sharp edge.

Yet!

Zuo Lengchan had put the cart before the horse.

What was most important about the Five Peaks Sects?

Masters!

Others were unwilling to merge sects, so he first killed Hengshan Sect second-in-command Liu Zhengfeng, then killed the Three Ding of Mount Heng, then arranged for people to kill Yue Buqun and his wife...

Once this series of brilliant operations was smoothly completed, there would be no problem with merging sects.

But was it meaningful?

Martial arts manuals?

The other four peaks' martial arts were all inferior to Mount Song.

People?

Ordinary disciples who were unwilling and reluctant being merged over—it would be better to recruit disciples afresh; the ones you cultivated yourself at least had a trustworthiness in loyalty worth relying upon.

What use were members of the other four peaks' sects who lacked masters?

There was also territory; the distances between the Five Peaks were not short! In ancient times with inconvenient transportation, even administration was a problem.

In short, in Wang Ming's eyes, this was simply a mentally disabled operation.

The reason he came to look for Zuo Lengchan's trouble

was simply because he was too restless!

Originally, everyone guarded their own one-third acre of land and lived a good life, and that would be the end of it.

Yet he, Zuo Lengchan, loved stirring up trouble!

His loving to stir up trouble didn't actually interfere much with Wang Ming's affairs.

However,

it was a threat to Mount Hua Sect!

It was a disaster for the crowd of martial brothers at Mount Hua.

For Yue Buqun, it was a Sword of Damocles hanging overhead!

Yue Buqun treated Wang Ming pretty well; if he didn't repay this debt of gratitude,

Wang Ming's heart would feel somewhat uneasy.

Zuo Lengchan's strength was formidable; even with Wang Ming assassinating Zuo Lengchan at this moment, he was taking immense risks.

Wang Ming looked at Zuo Lengchan amidst the crowd, silently thinking in his heart: Master! My abilities are limited; all I can do is eliminate Zuo Lengchan. If you guys still manage to flip your carriage, you can't blame me anymore either.