Kou Zhong, of course, hadn't died. Just as Dugu Feng had said, the special properties of the Longevity Art meant that within half a month, he had more or less recovered with his powers greatly increased. He could even spar with "Heavenly Saber" Song Que for dozens of moves without either of them gaining the upper hand.
At the same time, there was another unexpected bonus:
After Fan Qinghui of the Cihang Jingzhai conspired with a group of monks, Ning Daoqi, and others to launch a surprise attack on Yuhang City, the entire Cihang Jingzhai, Ning Daoqi, and at least dozens of temples in territory controlled by the Twin Dragons Army were banned and investigated. The Twin Dragons Army arrested monks implicated in the case and seized an immeasurable amount of money, forests, and farmland. It was almost enough to rival one of Yang Gong's Treasuries.
Neither Cihang Jingzhai nor the Buddhist sects responded. Fan Qinghui, Ning Daoqi, the Four Great Monks, and the others who had taken part in the attack were never seen again.
That made sense. Those people, including the Jingnian Monastery, were probably all holed up in territory controlled by Li Tang, licking their wounds.
After all, their assassination attempt had failed, their reputation in the martial world had taken a heavy blow, and they were gravely in the wrong. They certainly wouldn't dare come out and make a scene at a time like this.
Whether Fan Qinghui would honor her bet and keep her promise to persuade Li Tang to surrender was anyone's guess. Kou Zhong and the Twin Dragons Army clearly weren't going to wait for an answer, either. They had more important matters to attend to.
In the fourth month of the eighteenth year of Daye.
After spring planting had ended, Li Mi