Little Demon Reversion to Youth

Chapter 150

A tense atmosphere filled the first-floor restaurant of the Yang-Bai Guesthouse.

Wu Tian, Yunhe, Zhuge Jiao's party, and Elder Qiu Ganyang had coincidentally come down for dinner and had run into each other.

The three groups each took a corner of the restaurant and pretended not to know each other.

It would have been a little better if there had been other guests, but there were only the three groups. Since the number of martial artists each had brought was not small, the restaurant was full with just them.

As dozens of martial artists were wary of each other, the atmosphere was murderous.

"Haha. I am Zhang San, the temporary waiter of the Yang-Bai Guesthouse. Please place your orders."

The Yang-Bai Guesthouse was originally scheduled to open a month later. They hadn't even hired people yet, but because Baekji had told them to let Wu Tian and the others stay, they had opened in a hurry.

Zhang San, with a few servants, was acting as a waiter for the time being, and the kitchen was in charge of the main family.

While waiting for the food, a silence fell over the restaurant.

'What's with this atmosphere?'

Zhang San scanned the inside of the restaurant, and it seemed unusual.

The tense atmosphere flowing in the restaurant was suffocating.

The quick-tempered great elder of the Peng family, Peng Yitian, kicked his seat and stood up, then cupped his fists all around.

"To pretend not to know each other when we clearly do! I, surnamed Peng, am a crude person and cannot do so. Isn't the monk over there the Thirty-Sixth Chamber Master of Shaolin, Great Master Wu Tian? The person in front of him must be the head of the Seven Masters of Wudang, Taoist Master Yunhe. It is a pleasure to meet you like this."

Wu Tian, in response to Peng Yitian's words, made a half-bow and asked, "This humble monk has lived only in the mountains, so I have not seen or heard much. Seeing that your momentum is extraordinary, you do not seem to be an unknown person... who are you?"

At Wu Tian's words, Peng Yitian's brow narrowed. Although he had said he was not an unknown person, it also sounded like he meant, 'you are an unknown person that I do not know'.

At that, Zhuge Jiao opened his mouth.

"Haha. I wondered who it was when I heard that the Thirty-Sixth Chamber Master had left the mountain gate of Shaolin, and it is a truly imposing person. It reminds me of Lu Zhishen, who beat a tiger to death with his bare hands."

At that, this time, Wu Tian glared. Although Lu Zhishen was a hero of the Water Margin, he was also a troublemaking monk.

Zhuge Jiao, on behalf of Peng Yitian, had subtly belittled Wu Tian.

Wu Tian was wronged. He really did not know who Peng Yitian was.

Since he had lived his entire life supervising the thirty-six chambers of Songshan and training martial monks, he was not only ignorant of the affairs of the martial world but also did not know many people.

As Wu Tian was about to flare up, Taoist Master Yunhe stood up, cupped his fists, and said, "Isn't that the 'Unparalleled Brain' of the Zhuge family, Zhuge Jiao? That person must be the great elder of the Peng family, Great Hero Peng Yitian... and the handsome young master next to him seems to be from the Nangong family. For three of the five great families to come to the dangerous Sichuan... there must be something big going on."

"Hehe. Taoist Master Yunhe, there is no need to beat around the bush. Didn't Wudang also come to escort the Alliance Leader? But this time, I think you will have to yield."

Zhuge Jiao immediately got to the point.

"Hmph! I don't know when the Zhuge family became so imposing."

Wu Tian snorted. To Wu Tian, who was full of pride for Shaolin, the five great families were not in his mind.

The only one Wu Tian acknowledged was Wudang, which was on par with them.

Zhuge Jiao let out a loud, hollow laugh.

"Haha. Younger brother Nangong! Do you know what I was always curious about when I was young?"

Zhuge Jiao suddenly asked Nangong Hao. When Nangong Hao was bewildered, he continued without waiting for an answer.

"I couldn't understand why those who claimed to be training while serving the Buddha and the Heavenly Emperor were so keen to interfere in the affairs of the secular world."

The corners of Wu Tian and Yunhe's eyes twitched. Zhuge Jiao was criticizing both Shaolin and Wudang.

"Then I heard the saying, 'more interested in the offerings than in chanting sutras'. Only then did I realize that those who train are no different from the common people who roll in the mud."

"Shut up!"

Wu Tian shot up and glared at Zhuge Jiao.

Yunhe also glared at Zhuge Jiao, but he felt a sense of foreboding from his relaxed smile.

'A goading tactic?'

Zhuge Jiao had openly ridiculed Shaolin and Wudang, so there was no way he hadn't thought of the consequences.

Yunhe quickly looked back at the Shaolin martial monks and the Wudang disciples.

From Shaolin, half of the Eighteen Arhats had come, and the Wudang disciples were carefully selected from the seventy-two swords.

With them, they could even deal with a mid-sized sect.

The Zhuge family, the Peng family, and the Nangong family, except for the three leaders, had only four or five guards.

'But he's provoking them? Does he have a martial force?'

Yunhe's expression hardened.

After the calamity of the Blood Sect, the pattern of fights between martial artists had changed.

The Blood Sect, which had appeared suddenly, had swept through the martial world like an army. They had organized martial forces of dozens of people and had annihilated the small and medium-sized sects, and the scenes they had left behind were brutally cruel.

At this, not only the small and medium-sized sects but also the noble families had to organize martial forces and fight.

The five great families, with their solid financial power, had operated one or two martial forces of a hundred men, and now they had come to operate five or six martial forces.

A martial force is an organization for killing, like an army. They mobilized all means to kill the opponent, including bows, hidden weapons, and poison.

The nine great sects, due to their long-standing tradition, could not go so far as to form a martial force for killing, and they were at a level of gathering outstanding disciples, giving them a special name, and supporting their training.

'There's no doubt. He must have brought a martial force.'

Yunhe, seeing Zhuge Jiao's relaxed smile, hardened his conviction.

'These people who call themselves the Righteous Path... to mobilize a martial force against the same Righteous Path. Are they really trying to split up?'

Although Yunhe's thoughts were deeper than Wu Tian's, he was also a martial artist who had lived with pride for Wudang. Since Zhuge Jiao had openly belittled Wudang, he could not just let it go.

Yunhe slowly stood up, restrained Wu Tian, who was about to jump out at any moment, and said, "I did not know that the military advisor of the Zhuge family was so frivolous. What on earth are you up to? Is the Zhuge family really going to stand against Wudang?"

At the stern voice, Peng Yitian and Nangong Hao inwardly flinched. They also thought that Zhuge Jiao had gone too far.

Zhuge Jiao laughed loudly again.

"Haha. I just said what came to my mind from my foolish thoughts when I was young. If you were offended, I apologize. By the way, I am curious if you have any intention of yielding the Alliance Leader."

As soon as Zhuge Jiao finished speaking, a cold snort was heard from the corner.

Qiu Ganyang said to Gu Heng, who was sitting opposite him, "The tiger has left the mountain, and the foxes and wolves are running rampant... I can't bear to watch."

"That's right. It seems those brats still think the martial world is their world."

Gu Heng chimed in.

Zhuge Jiao looked at Qiu Ganyang with gloomy eyes and said, "I heard there is a man of integrity in the Elder Hall of the Martial Alliance... but I did not know his mouth was also sharp. Did Elder Qiu Ganyang also come to escort the Alliance Leader?"

Qiu Ganyang slowly turned his head, looked at Zhuge Jiao, and said, "Your tongue is like a poisonous snake. Is the dissolution of the Martial Alliance what you want?"

At Qiu Ganyang's cold gaze, Zhuge Jiao inwardly felt a prick of conscience.

"Haha. How could that be? But if people with different thoughts gather and just cause unnecessary trouble, we will have to think about whether there is any meaning in its continued existence."

"Hehe. You're finally showing your true colors. Was it the work of the noble families that killed the Fengyun Pavilion Master?"

Zhuge Jiao gave a meaningful smile.

"The Alliance Leader has reigned for decades. In that long time of practicing justice, there must be more than one or two among the forces of the Heretical and Evil Paths who hold a grudge... I am curious why you suspect the noble families first. By any chance, has the Martial Alliance decided to exclude the noble families?"

"Hahaha. The Zhuge family, the Zhuge family! I have admired Zhuge Wuhou's strategy that pierces the heavens and the earth my entire life, but to think that his descendant is such a petty human!"

Qiu Ganyang let out a sigh as if he were talking to himself and then said, "Chief Military Advisor Shangguan said so long ago. That the Zhuge family had persistently clung to him, wanting to enter the military advisory department. Fortunately, the Chief Military Advisor saw through the Zhuge family's true intentions and did not accept them at all. By any chance, are you trying to dissolve the Alliance because of that resentment?"

At Qiu Ganyang's words, everyone in the audience was surprised. They had not known that the Zhuge family had such thoughts about the Martial Alliance.

Zhuge Jiao, without a change in his complexion, let out a relaxed laugh and said, "Elder Qiu, aren't you thinking too highly of my family? As you said, my talent was mediocre, and I couldn't even enter the Alliance's military advisory department, so I am curious about your intention in even insulting me like this. They say the small and medium-sized sects support Elder Qiu as the next Alliance Leader... is it because of that? If so, how about asking my family for support instead?"

"A poisonous snake has no hands to hold with others, does it?"

Qiu Ganyang cut him off as if it were not even worth considering. A ominous light flashed in Zhuge Jiao's eyes for a moment.

'I will definitely kill you, brat.'

Zhuge Jiao looked around the inside of the restaurant.

Wu Tian, Yunhe, Qiu Ganyang, and Gu Heng... they were all formidable masters.

But... he had four martial forces on standby. The Peng family and the Nangong family had brought a hundred members of their martial forces as promised. The Zhuge family had also ostensibly put a hundred members of their martial force on standby and had hidden another hundred members of their martial force in the dark.

'Still, it's difficult to kill them all at once. I have to defeat them one by one.'

If Wu Tian's party and Qiu Ganyang's party joined hands, it would be difficult to catch them all even with four hundred members of the martial force.

Zhuge Jiao decided to focus on catching Wu Tian and Yunhe first. Although Qiu Ganyang was being stiff, he was just a lone wolf. Since the small and medium-sized sects were like a motley crew, they would follow once the general trend tilted.

But Shaolin and Wudang... he had to break their momentum this time.

Zhuge Jiao smiled and said, "Since Shaolin and Wudang have no intention of yielding... I have no choice. If so, will you follow the decision of the Yang-Bai Merchant Sect, where the Alliance Leader is staying?"

"What nonsense! Shaolin's will can never be broken."

Wu Tian said curtly, as if it were not even worth considering.

"If so, we must decide by force... can you handle it?"

"What? Are you saying you want to fight me now? Hehe."

Wu Tian laughed as if he were dumbfounded.

Although he had not been named among the Ten Great Masters, Wu Tian had already entered the 'flower realm' and had no opponent in Shaolin.

This time, the mission of escorting the Alliance Leader was so important that the Thirty-Sixth Chamber Master had stepped forward himself, and a cunning strategist from a noble family dared to challenge him.

A sharp energy shot out from Wu Tian's large, round eyes.

"If you want to challenge me, I will accept it at any time."

"Alright... but, I am curious about Wudang's intentions. If Shaolin is defeated, do you have any intention of backing down?"

"It is true that Shaolin and Wudang have come with one mind. But Shaolin is Shaolin, and Wudang is Wudang. I am just following the will of Wudang, so do not associate us."

"If so, I will have to challenge Wudang as well."

Zhuge Jiao revealed his white teeth and smiled.

Peng Yitian, as Zhuge Jiao provoked Shaolin and Wudang, was inwardly uneasy. Honestly, he was not confident of winning against Wu Tian.

'What on earth is he thinking, doing this?'

Nangong Hao, as the atmosphere grew more and more hostile, just looked around anxiously. He had come to secure the Martial Alliance Leader and gain a favorable position in the election of the Alliance Leader, not to fight Shaolin or Wudang.

At that moment, Qiu Ganyang said a word.

"If the great sects and the noble families fight, I will be the judge."

Zhuge Jiao smiled and said, "There is no need for you to go to the trouble."

At that moment, someone, 'kwang', kicked the door open and came in.

Everyone's gaze turned towards the door.

A figure who was too old to be a boy with a hero's headband on his head, and a little too young to be a young man.

Baekji appeared, holding a bamboo staff.

"Who sent this?"

Baekji waved an invitation.

(End of Chapter)