Chapter 51: Seven Emissaries of the Holy Cult
Chapter 51: Seven Emissaries of the Holy Cult
The flustered bandits that had escaped back to the stronghold quietly waited for the gates to open, finally sighing a breath of relief.
The Huashan youth was too horrifying, being able to kill both Lord Seven and 3rd Chief.
Not to mention how he had seemed to do so with ease.
One had to know that Lord Seven and 3rd Chief were experts who possessed internal arts!
They had witnessed 3rd Chief's ability with their own eyes before, even dozens of them fighting 3rd Chief at the same time weren't a match for him when he utilized his internal strength.
There was even less to say about Lord Seven who had a mysterious background.
Seeing that 3rd Chief had fawned on Lord Seven like a dog along the way, one could tell that Lord Seven was much stronger than 3rd Chief.
But even then, Lord Seven also died to the Huashan youth.
How strong was this Huashan youth?
The bandits felt fear just from thinking about it, losing all their fighting spirit.
Luckily they were just some small fry so the youth wasn't interested in them and allowed them to escape.
Escaping from death, they were all relieved and secretly pleased that there were benefits to being a small fry, having a greater chance of escaping with their lives compared to the chiefs.
Just when they were celebrating, the sound of something breaking through the air came from behind them.
When they turned their heads to look, they were instantly dumbfounded.
It was this kind of arrows again!
Bang bang bang!
3 of the bandits only just turned their heads, and before they had time to react, their heads were exploded by 3 arrows.
The heads were blasted into mincemeat.
Ta ta ta.
In a far spot, a youth held a violet bow with a cold expression and incessantly fired arrows at them.
And, each time he fired, he fired 3 arrows at the same time.
The bandits were terrified and yelled: "Hehe chased us here!"
Scattering all over, the bandits all rushed to enter the stronghold before each other, ignoring the stunned expressions on the bandits that opened the gates, trying to run as far as they could.
"What's happening?"
The bandits that opened the gates were thoroughly confused.
Swish swish swish!
Another 3 sounds of breaking through the air were heard.
"Ah ah ah!"
3 terrible cries rang out, and 3 bandits who were slower than the rest had their heads blasted by the arrows.
A youth holding a bow appeared in front of them.
"It's an intruder, all of you attack, and kill him!"
The bandits in the stronghold who had not met Lin Yi were enraged as if they had been insulted, and charged with their sabers while roaring in anger.
"Just what I wanted!"
Lin Yi laughed and hung Longmang Bow on his back, then drew his sword and charged forward.
This time, he would not use any sneak attacks.
He was going to level the stronghold in the most shocking and overwhelming manner!
The light danced off the blade of the sword like rain, and everywhere it passed, none of the bandits could withstand a single stroke.
All of them were killed in one move.
"Quickly report this to the Eldest Chief, the opponent is too difficult to handle!"
The bandits were yelling and running about in a mess after Lin Yi charged into the stronghold.
At the assembly hall of Crouching Tiger Hill.
The torches were blazing with fierce flames.
Seven or eight scantily clad dancers were dancing gracefully, and instrumental music could be heard frequently.
The melodies were beautiful and enchanting.
The Eldest Chief and 2nd Chief of Crouching Tiger Hill had ingratiating looks on their faces, and they diligently served the six men dressed in black robes who were sitting side by side on the chief seat.
"Ha, Eldest Chief, to think that your days in this crappy stronghold in the middle of nowhere are more comfortable than us brothers!" One of the black-robed man roughly thirty years of age stared at the dancers with lustful eyes and patted Eldest Chief's shoulders.
"I wouldn't dare, in this tiny stronghold, how can I compare to the few of you who are Lords in the Holy Cult?" Eldest Chief sat in a lower seat and hurriedly shook his head.
"These words of yours are not true!" The black robed man pointed amusedly at Eldest Chief and smiled coldly: "Although the Holy Cult is good, the rules are too strict. One slight mistake could easily get one killed by a high-ranked figure. How can it compare to a local emperor like you, where you can enjoy yourself in any way you want by isolating yourself in Crouching Tiger Hill?"
Eldest Chief laughed apologetically but did not dare to reply.
A mere bandit like him was just worthless small fry in front of the Holy Cult, how would he dare to criticize the Holy Cult?
"Old Six, aren't you putting Eldest Chief in a difficult position? How would he dare to make comments about the Holy Cult? Let's keep these things among us brothers and leave the others out of it." Another black-robed man said with a laugh.
"Fifth Brother is right." Old Six nodded and smiled.
"Little Seven this chap, why isn't he back yet? What if the cult's mission gets delayed because of him?" Old Fifth suddenly frowned and said.
"Fifth Brother, you should know very well that Little Seven has an insatiable greed for money. Once he sees money, he won't go anywhere else. Since we rarely get to come out on a trip, he certainly would try looting as much money as he can before he's willing to return!" Old Six laughed bitterly.
"That wouldn't do. If the matters of Holy Cult gets delayed, us brothers won't be capable of bearing the consequences! Once Little Six is back, I'm going to teach him a good lesson, hmph!" Old Fifth snorted coldly, anger flashing past his face.
Old Six shook his head and did not speak as he also felt that Little Seven was inviting trouble with his ways. After a moment of thinking, he asked curiously: "Fifth Brother, Cult Master sent us here saying that he discovered the traces of the Holy Maiden in Huashan and ordered us to look into what she's doing. But with Elder Xiong following by her side, how can small fry like us be capable of monitoring the Holy Maiden?
"Heh heh, small fry doesn't stand out, that's why we are perfect for this job. It's not like you need to deal with Elder Xiong, what are you afraid of?" Old Fifth smiled coldly.
"But this is Huashan's territory. If Huashan's people discover us, we will be in great trouble." Old Six replied with a bitter expression.
"That's true, Little Seven this chap is too fond of creating trouble. What do we do if he attracts the attention of Huashan?" Old Fifth frowned when he thought of the potential problems.
He looked at the black-robed man sitting first from the left, this was the eldest brother: "Eldest Brother, what should we do?"
The eldest brother's voice was hoarse and he pointed at Eldest Chief, saying sombrely: "Send a message to Little Seven telling him to get his ass back here immediately and say that I said that!"
Eldest Chief repeatedly nodded his head and wiped his sweat. The six lords in front of him were too tormenting.
Speaking of important matters pertaining to the Holy Cult in front of him without any qualms, and even wanting to keep a close watch on the Holy Maiden and Elder Xiong.
He was only a puny bandit chief that was not even capable of entering the ranks in the Holy Cult. How could he carry out such orders?
Wasn't this akin to roasting him on a spit?
He was in an extremely difficult position.
But what made him curious was the fact that Cult Master had sent this seven brothers to watch over the Holy Maiden. What was she going to do that could make the Cult Master pay so much attention?
The Holy Maiden was the daughter of the previous Cult Master of Sun Moon Holy Cult Duan Potian. Ten years ago, rumors broke out in Jianghu saying that Duan Potian had made a critical mistake while practicing a divine skill and died as a result. The Deputy Cult Master at that time Nangong Xue then took over the position of Cult Master.
After assuming the position of Cult Master, Cult Master Nangong treated the Holy Maiden like a nephew. Also, Cult Master Nangong had no children, so the daughter of Duan Potian, Duan Feifei, was designated as the Holy Maiden.
Ten years had passed since then, and the Holy Maiden was already 14 to 15 years old.
The Holy Maiden was extremely intelligent and fond of learning since young, having the ability to remember anything after seeing it once. She was able to learn any martial art after watching a demonstration once. Brimming with talent, she cleared the 7th standard meridian at the age of 13 to14 years old and became a second-rate expert.
The great genius Linghu Feng of Huashan was slightly inferior when compared to her.
After all, he was already 18 years old, older than the Holy Maiden by 3 to 4 years.
After she became a second-rate expert, the Holy Maiden left the Holy Cult headquarters at Black Woods Cliff and started to wander Jianghu.
But in contrast to the extremely well-known Linghu Feng who was addressed as Young Hero Linghu by others, there was completely no news of the Holy Maiden Duan Feifei.
It was just like water entering the great sea.
Now, seven emissaries from the Holy Cult had descended upon Crouching Tiger Hill and talked openly about the discovery of the Holy Maiden in Huashan's territory half a year ago as well as the mission given by the Cult Master to locate the Holy Maiden and monitor her activities.
Eldest Chief was shocked, seemingly having heard things that he shouldn't have heard.
What kind of people were the Cult Master and the Holy Maiden?
How could small fry like him get involved?
Although he appeared to be very obedient to the six black-robed brothers on the surface, in his heart he held disdain for the six of them.
Weren't these brothers small fry as well?
To think that they were even thinking of monitoring the Holy Maiden
To enter Crouching Tiger Hill so audaciously and proceed to have a good time, how could they expect not to be discovered by the Holy Maiden?
Did they really think that Elder Xiong's existence could be ignored?
Elder Xiong was a fierce subordinate of the previous Cult Master Duan Potian and he possessed the Bear Demon Divine Palm, which was incredibly powerful. More than ten years ago, he was already famous in Jianghu. There was no one who would not be stricken with fear upon hearing the name of Bear Demon.
Although Elder Xiong no longer bothered himself with affairs of the cult after Cult Master Nangong took over the reins and instead served the Holy Maiden in peace for ten years without making an appearance, he still commanded great authority and possessed great skills. The people of righteous sects had never forgotten about the bounty on him.
As he thought about all these, Eldest Chief quickly stood up and replied: "Please wait here my Lords, I will immediately send someone to call 3rd Chief and Lord Seven back. "
Just as he wanted to turn around, a bandit nervously charged in and clumsily crashed into his rear.
Feeling pain on his backside, Eldest Chief was infuriated and was about to curse loudly and teach this clumsy fool a good lesson.
Instead, he saw the bandit shouting nervously at him in great fear: "Eldest Chief, something bad has happened. There is a powerful guy wearing the Huashan upper courtyard attire attacking our stronghold right now, and countless brothers have already died to his hands!"
"What?"
"Someone from Huashan?"
Without waiting for a response from Eldest Chief, the six black-robed men heard the news clearly and abruptly stood up, their expressions greatly changing.
"Damn it, Little Seven must have caused trouble. With that greed of his, he definitely wreaked havoc in the adjacent radius of hundred li and attracted the attention of Huashan as a result. I already said so, we shouldn't have let Little Seven follow along! This fool that's only capable of ruining matters instead of accomplishing anything!" Old Five stared in anger.
At this moment, another bandit rushed in and shouted: "Eldest Chief, it's terrible! 3rd Chief and Lord Seven were killed by the person from Huashan!"
Upon hearing this news, everyone was greatly shocked.
Eldest Chief looked at this man, recognizing him as someone who had followed 3rd Chief when he left the stronghold and questioned him while staring with widened eyes: "What is going on?"
TL Note: Lord Seven sounds much more appropriate after this chapter so this will be the FINAL VERSION!
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