Chapter 159 - 160: Wen Mengru of the Miao Mountain Sword Sect
“So young, yet so cunning and deceitful!” Nie Chong scorned Zhu Minglang’s actions.
Wu Feng, however, laughed and countered Nie Chong’s remarks, “Perhaps the disciples of the Purple Sect Clan should live in a world of nursery rhymes. This is a combination of strength and wisdom.”
“Exactly, how many people have Zhu Minglang’s courage to light the smoke signals, not caring about how many opponents there are or the strength of the adversaries? How can this be called cunning and deceitful? This is confidence!”
Zhu Minglang robbed a large number of people, especially the disciples of the Fu Clan and those from a Zhou Family, who all had quite a few Blue Brocade Boxes in their possession.
The boxes hadn’t even gotten warm in their hands before Zhu Minglang’s team swooped in and snatched them away, leaving them filled with regret. Why couldn’t they just stay put and not be so greedy?
Zhu Minglang was simply a little demon among men.
After looting that group of people, he immediately ran to another location in the mech city and duplicated his trick!
With so many shields inside the mech city, compounded with the changing terrain, those disciples inside had no idea that someone was using purple-red smoke signals to lure enemies again.
So, when Zhu Minglang once again lit the purple-red smoke signals, the brown-haired referee was so furious that his whiskers curled up, and the people on the Mysterious Wall saw Zhu Minglang’s cunning maneuvers all too clearly.
On the city tower, there indeed were many elders and hall masters from various forces watching. As they saw their own simple-minded disciples rushing in, their brows furrowed tightly, unable to relax.
It’s all over, all over. The few Brocade Boxes they had managed to get were going to be completely cleaned out by that youngster from Zhu Gate!
On the slope of Cypress Mountain, the smile on Zhu Minglang’s face never faded.
He had to thank those villains from the City of Sin, who let him realize that being a bad guy also required a lot of thinking, and that robbery could be turned into an art.
After the third heist, Zhu Minglang had made a fortune. If it weren’t for the need to let his dragon pets rest and recuperate for the upcoming confrontation in the Nine Army Cemetery, he would have kept on looting non-stop!
It had been a long time since he felt the thrill of getting rich in one day. In these chaotic and turbulent times, only a pocket full of gold could provide a sense of security.
No one knew which influential figure had proposed hosting the competition during this great power struggle, but it was an incredibly wise idea.
Why hadn’t he realized before that scheming with these disciples from various forces was such an interesting thing to do?
When he first came down from the mountain, he had stepped out of the category of disciples, which meant he missed out on the opportunity for competition with his peers.
This series of robberies also made up for many of Zhu Minglang’s regrets from his youth.
Even in the Imperial City, there are too many disciples as innocent as blank paper. Playing with them is still very enjoyable!
“Master, we can hand over all the Brocade Boxes we’ve obtained this time to the referee,” Qin Yang said to Zhu Minglang.
“Yeah, it’s about time we headed to the Nine Army Cemetery,” Zhu Minglang nodded.
With so many Brocade Boxes acquired, there likely weren’t many disciples from other forces with resources as ample as his own.
The next destination was the Nine Army Cemetery.
The ones who would appear near the Nine Army Cemetery were basically the top fighters from the major forces, whether they were chief disciples or young masters of the Family Door, quite different from those lured by his signals of fire.
Therefore, Qin Yang specifically reminded Zhu Minglang not to use this method again once they got to the Nine Army Cemetery.
After all, as time went by, even those who were still in the mech city, if not disciples from large forces, were basically among the best of the younger generation throughout the Imperial City. Among them were some self-taught talents who had extraordinary encounters and honed their skills in the outside world.
During the third robbery, Qin Yang had encountered an extremely tough opponent. If it were not for Nan Lingsha’s exceptional strength, they might have really been in trouble, for their opponents were getting stronger!
“Those still in the mech city now are mostly at Lord Level or higher. When we get to the Nine Army Cemetery, Master, you’ll need to be cautious,” Qin Yang said.
“Is there someone particularly outstanding?” Zhu Minglang asked.
Qin Yang nodded and began, “The Chief Big Disciple of the Purple Sect Clan, Huo Shangjun, is the person you need to be most wary of.”
“What about him?” asked Zhu Minglang.
“It is said that he has two dragons, the Purple Cloud Dragon and the Golden Dome Dragon, both at Monarch Level strength,” Qin Yang explained.
“Monarch Level?” Zhu Minglang was somewhat surprised.
This generation of disciples from the major forces was impressive. When he had first descended from the mountain, he had only just broken through to Monarch Level cultivation.
With such strength, he could basically sweep through the disciples of all the major forces.
“The Purple Sect Clan is our rival for the right to oversee the Li Chuan Continent. If they see us, they will definitely try their best to eliminate us,” Qin Yang said.
“There are powerful people ahead,” Nan Lingsha said quietly.
The three had reached the Nine Army Cemetery, a rolling landscape of tomb hills where towering statues of generals stood at the foot of the mountains, and dense white tombstones filled the wilds.
Ahead was a burial mound, where the energy surged tumultuously. The heavy tombstones shook unsteadily, clearly indicating a battle unfolding in front.
Making their way to the top of the hill and looking forward, they saw three women in vibrant multicolored dresses, confronting a large group of God and Mortals.
The group of God and Mortals obviously belonged to different factions.
They didn’t collude with one another; it was simply that the strength of the three women in the colorful dresses was so formidable that unless the God and Mortals united, they would basically be eliminated.
“Miao Mountain Sword Sect!” Qin Yang recognized the outfits of the three women at a glance.
“The one in the middle, she’s very strong,” Nan Lingsha observed, her gaze fixed on the only one among the three women who had barely made a move.
The woman’s multicolored dress was actually simpler than the others. She exuded an aloof temperament and indifference as she faced the cooperative resistance of the God and Mortals, seemingly uninterested.
Nevertheless, she still drew her sword.
She pointed her sword at the group of God and Mortals, muttering something under her breath.
“Isn’t that Wen Mengru of the Miao Mountain Sword Sect let’s go, quickly!” In another direction on the hillside, several Dragon Shepherds from the Dragon Taming Academy spoke up.
Witnessing the Miao Mountain Sword Sect’s three women as if they had seen ghosts, the students from the Dragon Taming Academy turned and fled, no longer taking another step forward!
The destination ahead was Mountain of the Nine Armies. People exploring within the Mechanism City had learned through various means and the clues left within the city that Nine Army Tomb Mountain was to be the final battleground for this grand competition of forces.
Moreover, the fifth level Purple-Red Brocade Boxes could only possibly appear within Nine Army Tomb Mountain!
In fact, the Mechanism City was undergoing a massive transformation at the time, with different terrains gradually disappearing and the complex mazes turning into a straight path.
What was originally a small cluster of graves at Mountain of the Nine Armies was slowly rising. Numerous tomb hills were emerging, these hills melding together to form a huge military tomb mountain visible at a glance by everyone in Mechanism City at the city’s center.
As time went on, the brocade boxes scattered throughout Mechanism City were being collected, but on Nine Army Tomb, some boxes were strewn about like stones on the ground, randomly placed.
Exit the fray or enter the Nine Army Tomb; various opportunists and lesser disciples had essentially been eliminated. Those who would now head to the Nine Army Tomb were the elites of the great forces, and some grassroots warriors of exceptional strength.
“Swish!!!!!”
Like a crane, the Miao Mountain Sword Sect’s female disciple, Wen Mengru, suddenly made a strike with a posture both elegant and formidable. Her sword was like a slanted beam of sunset light streaking in through a window, landing on a Peak Lord Level God and Mortal.
It was a cultivator wielding an iron whip, a formidable opponent who had been witnessed by many in the Mysterious Wall defeating well-known disciples from major powers.
But unable to counter this sword thrust, the iron whip cultivator dropped his weapon on the ground, the formidable cultivator spewed blood, his body slid backward involuntarily, slamming into one of the General Statues!
The General Statue shook, the iron whip cultivator’s whole body trembled violently, the joints throughout his body dislocated from the tremendous force of that sword thrust, unable to stand erect despite struggling.
Finally, the Peak Lord Level cultivator knelt to the ground, the blood he spat in stark contrast with his pale face.
He struggled to raise his head, his gaze fixed on the woman from the Miao Mountain Sword Sect, a look of shock etched across his face.
“Monarch Level Swordsman!” he managed to gasp out these words.
The shock wasn’t limited to this cultivator; the elders and Hall Masters on the city wall from various factions widened their eyes, their gaze involuntarily focusing on a certain Swordswoman.
That woman, wearing a veiled hat, seemed reluctant to let others see her face.
Without uttering a word, she merely looked towards the battlefield of the Nine Army Tomb in the Mechanism City. She paid no mind to the astonishment shown by the other powers in the Imperial City!
“Monarch Level, Wen Mengru of the Miao Mountain Sword Sect, truly a Celestial Maiden shocking the world. I fear that within this Mechanism City, no one except Huo Shangjun could withstand her sword, right?” an elder from the Azure Dragon Palace spoke gravely.
“Elder, how could you forget my Big Brother? He is not weak either!” Fu Jinguo said somewhat dissatisfied.
“Fu Xumei might still fall short; his dragon is only Semi-monarch Level. Compared to this Wen Mengru, he might lack some depth,” the elder from the Azure Dragon Palace replied.
“Them old-established forces, each seems to be cultivating monsters. I thought with my brother’s dragon ascending to Monarch Level, he could sweep through everyone in this competition. Speaking of which, where has my brother gone? I haven’t seen him anywhere,” Fu Jinguo looked around.
Fu Xumei.
The strongest disciple of the Azure Dragon Palace!
At that moment, he was making his way down the hillside towards the Nine Army Tomb, when he happened to see Zhu Minglang, Nan Lingsha, and Qin Yang standing on the hilltop.
“Zhu Minglang?” Fu Xumei recognized Zhu Minglang at once.
Zhu Minglang turned around and saw a somewhat familiar face, then couldn’t help but smile and say, “It’s you I don’t remember what you’re called.”
Fu Xumei’s face darkened.