At the Thousand-household Office's newly established intelligence-processing squad, Wang Wu was leading his men in sorting through the intelligence collected that day when he saw Lin Lang walk in.
"Sir, what are your orders?"
Lin Lang pulled over a chair and sat down. "Tell me the latest on the Five Mountains Sword Alliance and the Sun Moon Demon Cult."
Without consulting the records, Wang Wu answered directly, "Thanks to the information we released, the Sun Moon Demon Cult and the Five Mountains Sword Alliance are heading toward a fight to the death."
"The Sun Moon Demon Cult recently lost four elders, seven altar masters, and thirteen incense masters. Twelve Branch Altars suffered damage, and hundreds of people died."
"The Five Mountains Sword Alliance has also lost five elders, dozens of first-rate or stronger martial artists, and several hundred disciples."
"Zuo Lengchan is lobbying the leaders of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance's other four sects to discuss merging the five sects. But aside from the Huashan Sect, which agreed, it seems the other three have refused."
Disdain filled Lin Lang's face. "Zuo Lengchan's vision is far too narrow."
"Have someone deliver this letter to the Mount Song Sect. I'll teach him how to fulfill his dream."
The Mount Song Sect, Junji Zen Monastery.
Zuo Lengchan's expression was grim.
Ever since word had spread through the martial world that he wanted to merge the five sects, his control over the Five Mountains Sword Alliance had weakened. The other four sects paid lip service to his orders while defying them behind his back.
But he had already devised a countermeasure, recruiting quite a few martial artists, including some from the Unorthodox Sects whose reputations stank.
He had secretly sent these men to attack experts from the Five Mountains Sword Alliance's other sects, intending to make them understand that merging was their only way out, the only way to stand against the Sun Moon Demon Cult.
Yet he still had reservations. If those fighters from the Unorthodox Sects killed the Five Mountains Sword Alliance's other experts, they would weaken the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. How would he then lead it to destroy the Sun Moon Demon Cult?
Suddenly, a disciple came to report, "Master, someone delivered a letter and said you must open it personally."
"Bring it here." Zuo Lengchan assumed one of the men he had recruited had sent good news.
[Alliance Leader Zuo:
Dongfang Bubai, leader of the Sun Moon Demon Cult, suffered cultivation deviation and was injured by the backlash. He is currently recovering. Chief Steward Yang Lianting now handles the cult's affairs, and the Dongfang Bubai everyone has seen is a puppet double.
Alliance Leader Zuo should seize this heaven-sent opportunity and, in his capacity as Five Mountains Alliance Leader, rally the other sects of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance and fellow members of the righteous martial world to march on Blackwood Cliff and utterly eradicate the Sun Moon Demon Cult.
Do not allow Dongfang Bubai to recover from his injuries, crush the Five Mountains Sword Alliance's sects one by one, and send the Sun Moon Demon Cult's arrogance soaring once more.
Though this campaign will inevitably bring casualties, the Five Mountains Sword Alliance can accomplish the great feat that Northern Shaolin, the Wudang Sect, and others have failed to achieve, ridding the Great Ming's martial world of the demonic path. Its prestige will blaze like the sun at its zenith.
If Alliance Leader Zuo personally slays Dongfang Bubai, the foremost expert of the demonic path, it will shake the entire martial world. Your renown will rival that of Zhang Sanfeng, the Wudang Sect's living immortal, and you will be revered by multitudes.
-Someone harmed by the Sun Moon Demon Cult.]
Zuo Lengchan snapped his head up. "Who delivered this letter?!"
The disciple shook his head. "Master, someone left it on the cart carrying our vegetables while I was down the mountain buying supplies. I didn't see who it was."
Zuo Lengchan waved him away. "You may leave."
He carefully read the letter again, then lowered his head in thought.
"Dongfang Bubai actually suffered cultivation deviation! No wonder he never intervened, no matter how we attacked the Sun Moon Demon Cult's Branch Altars. It wasn't that he didn't want to. He couldn't."
He recalled the intelligence sent back by the men he had planted on Blackwood Cliff. Just as the letter said, Chief Steward Yang Lianting was making all the decisions there, while Dongfang Bubai remained behind a curtain. So that had been a double!
"Strike while he's sick and take his life! I absolutely cannot miss this opportunity."
Even if Dongfang Bubai had not suffered cultivation deviation, he had nothing to fear.
The Cold Ice True Qi he had created was immensely powerful as well. He still had a chance of killing Dongfang Bubai.
"There's no need to rush the merger. I'm the leader of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. My orders as alliance leader are enough to mobilize them against the Sun Moon Demon Cult, and they won't be able to object. Otherwise, the entire righteous martial world will condemn them with tongue and pen."
What he wanted was to eradicate the Sun Moon Demon Cult and greatly enhance both his own renown and that of the Mount Song Sect, allowing it to one day stand alongside such titans of the martial world as Northern Shaolin and the Wudang Sect.
Nor would he need to keep assassinating those in the Five Mountains Sword Alliance who opposed the merger. Preserving the alliance's backbone would leave him with more experts to deploy against the Sun Moon Demon Cult.
He only needed to step forward and deny the rumors of a merger. Then the Five Mountains Sword Alliance's other sects would continue obeying his commands as their leader, and his authority would remain undiminished.
How many experts would the Five Mountains Sword Alliance's other sects have left after eradicating the Sun Moon Demon Cult?
If he merged the sects then, there would naturally be little resistance. He could even claim that he was preserving the legacy of the Five Mountains Sword Sects.
"Who exactly wrote this letter? Why are they helping me like this? Is it really just because they have a grudge against the Sun Moon Demon Cult?"
Zuo Lengchan could not figure out who had written to him, but however he looked at it, this was the best course available. It offered him and the Mount Song Sect a hundred benefits and not a single drawback.
Though the Mount Song Sect would certainly suffer considerable losses while destroying the Sun Moon Demon Cult, once its fame rose, it could naturally recruit more unaffiliated martial experts.
Its strength would soon recover, and might even grow greater.
As long as he succeeded and survived, nothing could stop the Mount Song Sect's rise!
He could also use this great feat to become the foremost figure of the Great Ming's righteous martial world.
"Attend me! Send word to the leaders of the Five Mountains Sword Sects. On the first day of next month, they are to come to Mount Song to discuss the eradication of the Sun Moon Demon Cult!"
Mount Hua.
Yue Buqun frowned slightly as he read the message delivered by carrier pigeon.
"Zuo Lengchan wants to eradicate the Sun Moon Demon Cult?"
He wanted to destroy the Sun Moon Demon Cult too. If not for that cult, his Huashan Sect should have been the strongest in the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, and he, the leader of Huashan, should have been the Five Mountains Alliance Leader.
But what he envisioned was the Five Mountains Sword Alliance destroying the Sun Moon Demon Cult under his leadership and that of the Huashan Sect, not at the orders of Mount Song's Zuo Lengchan.
Still, the Sun Moon Demon Cult and the Five Mountains Sword Alliance had recently reached the point of fighting to the death. If they did not unite and strike first, the cult might truly crush them one by one.
Whatever happened, he would have to go and see.
Some time ago, he had successfully rescued Lin Pingzhi of the Fuwei Escort Agency and accepted him as a disciple, but he had been unable to locate the Evil-Warding Sword Manual.
A few days earlier, however, three men from the Huashan Sword Sect had come to seize leadership of the sect, only for his eldest disciple, Linghu Chong, to defeat them easily with his swordsmanship. Where had Linghu Chong learned such immensely powerful sword techniques?
Yet when he asked, this disciple whom he had raised since childhood refused to tell him anything. All those years of raising him had been wasted.
"Perhaps this campaign against the Sun Moon Demon Cult is an opportunity for the Huashan Sect-and for me!"
Dongfang Bubai, the leader of the Sun Moon Demon Cult, possessed astonishing strength and was hailed as the foremost expert of the demonic path. He could leave him to Zuo Lengchan and the others.
If both men were badly wounded, he could reap the fisherman's reward.
As long as all the Five Mountains Sword Alliance's other experts died, who could oppose him becoming its leader, or even the sole leader of the Five Mountains Sword Sects?
Linghu Chong? In name, he was still his disciple. Since he refused to hand over his sword techniques, Yue Buqun would turn him into a sharp sword in his own hand and use him to eliminate anyone who opposed him.
Pingyang Prefecture, the Thousand-household Office.
Wang Wu stood before Lin Lang. "Sir, the core disciples of the Huashan, Hengshan, Mount Heng, and Mount Tai sects have all set out for the Mount Song Sect under their respective leaders. I hear they'll be discussing the eradication of the Sun Moon Demon Cult on the first day of next month."
"But will the Five Mountains Sword Alliance really be willing to fight the Sun Moon Demon Cult to the bitter end right away? Their strength might not match the cult's."
As the foremost power of the Great Ming's demonic path, the Sun Moon Demon Cult also had many experts from the Unorthodox Sects under its command. The Five Mountains Sword Alliance had previously been able to oppose it because Northern Shaolin, the Wudang Sect, and others had helped. With only the alliance now, wasn't its strength a little lacking?
Lin Lang smiled. "Don't worry. The Five Mountains Sword Alliance will definitely attack the Sun Moon Demon Cult."
To bolster their resolve, Lin Lang had also sent someone to deliver a letter to Blackwood Cliff.
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