劍問蒼天 - 第147章 會盟 - 翰墨軒

Xiao Yichen's expression shifted slightly. He glanced at Li Xun and said quietly, "Brother Li, because Sister Lu openly contradicted my master, Master Daoyan, that day in Yuheng Hall, she has now been ordered to reflect on her faults at the Moon-Gazing Terrace on Xiaozhu Peak. It has been several days now."

Li Xun uttered a low "Ah," his expression complicated—seeming grieved, yet also somewhat ashamed and vexed. After a long while he sighed and gave Xiao Yichen a bitter smile. "Thank you for telling me, Brother Xiao. I am deeply grateful. In a little while I will beg my master to see whether he might persuade Uncle Daoyan on her behalf. Alas, at least that way I may do my part."

Xiao Yichen nodded and said nothing, only reaching out to pat him on the shoulder.

Among the group standing at a distance admiring the magnificent vista of heaven and earth, Facheng slowly withdrew his gaze from the two men speaking quietly behind him, when he suddenly heard someone beside him say in a low voice, "Master, have you heard that Brother Li has proposed marriage to Sister Lu Xueling?"

Facheng smiled faintly and glanced at Qi Hao, who stood beside him. "I have heard something of it."

Qi Hao nodded and said no more, but Facheng suddenly sighed, and there was much feeling in the sound. Qi Hao was somewhat surprised. "Brother Facheng, why do you sigh so?"

Facheng smiled faintly, his expression returning to normal. "Nothing. I merely thought of an old friend."

Qi Hao asked in wonder, "An old friend? What old friend?"

Facheng said with a faraway look, "An old friend who once went through life and death with us—one who has much to do with us, and with that Miss Lu..."

Qi Hao fell silent. A long while later, he too let out a heavy sigh, and in his voice there was a sense of the world's vicissitudes, of things changed and people gone.

The headquarters of the Venom Sect of the demonic cult was located in a place called "Snake Valley," in the southwest of the Central Plains. Geographically, Snake Valley, Mount Huqi of the Netherworld Sect, and the Carefree Ravine of the Soul-Luring Sect formed a large triangle, each checking the others and standing in mutual opposition—a balance of power within the demonic cult that had once been quite firm.

But now that balance had come to a precarious pass. Especially within the Venom Sect, once the mightiest of the cult's factions: with the death of the old sect master, the Venom God, the sect had been thrown into chaos over the question of succession, and Snake Valley, home to its headquarters, was already a drawn sword, the situation ready to explode at a touch.

Nominally, it was Qin Wujiu, the Venom God's closed-door disciple, who had received the dying command and held the status of formal heir. Unfortunately, within the demonic cult—and above all in a sect like the Venom Sect, where martial prowess was the fashion and strength meant everything—a dying command alone was of no use.

Not long after the Venom God's death, several of his other disciples hurried back to Snake Valley, arriving with menacing force and making plain their intent to contend for the seat of sect master. And though Qin Wujiu had truly inherited the Venom God's teachings and his skills far surpassed those of his senior brothers, first, his seniority in the sect was shallow, and nearly all the important masters and retainers of the sect had sided with his senior brothers; and second, on a previous occasion in the Dead Marsh, he had been ambushed by Xue Gongzi Ming Li of the Netherworld Sect and gravely wounded. Though he had largely recovered by now, Ming Li's most vicious and evil treasure, the Blood-Devouring Pearl, had truly given him terrible trouble: that blood-devouring demonic force had clung fast to the meridians within his body like a maggot in the bone, greatly diminishing his cultivation—and giving others the chance to covet the throne.