Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 508: Everything is under Control (Part )
Murong Shu was finally convinced by his son.

Because from his point of view, Murong Xiao's plan is indeed a sure win.

In the future, they can obtain the Silkworm Hunting Ring through off-site means.

If they retreat, they can at least put the blame on Huo Ming...

Some people may not understand why the blame is put on Huo Ming after reading this.

In fact, if you analyze it from Murong Xiao's perspective, you will find that this is another "killing two birds with one stone" strategy.

Moreover, this strategy had already taken shape in Ah Xiao's mind when he first met Huo Ming, that is, on the day of the "negotiation".

On that day, Murong Xiao realized earlier than his father that Huo Ming "had no intention of competing for the hosting rights", so when Sun and Huang suddenly jumped out to add fuel to the fire and proposed to hold a competition... Ah Xiao tried his best to stop them (Chapter 37 of this volume).

But Ah Xiao didn't expect that the two bastards would immediately take out the Silkworm-hunting Rings and "turn darkness into light" with this treasure, turning this competition into an open conspiracy that no one could stop.

Since Shuangxie has forcibly tied the "hosting rights" and the "Silkworm Seeking Ring" together, forcing even Huo Ming to join the game, Murong Xiaozi can only change his strategy and use their tricks against him...

For example, take the plan of "putting the blame on Huo Ming". Once this plan is successfully implemented, it will not matter whether Huo Ming is innocent or not, because he will inevitably fall into the "self-proof trap" afterwards.

As long as there is a third party in this game (that is, their Murong family), then after the incident, the third party can bring this matter up at any time to "judge for the heroes of the world" - of course, this is the meaning of mutual supervision among the three parties.

It can also be said that Murong Xiao took advantage of the strategies of "mutual restraint among the three parties" and "using multiple asymmetric information to screen suspects" by Sun and Huang.

In the end, the thing is... no matter whether Huo Ming can prove his innocence or not, and no matter whether Sun Huang believes him or not, he has to voluntarily give up the right to host and the silkworm ring, so that he can be "truly innocent" in the eyes of the world.

Otherwise, Murong Xiao could justifiably make him remain innocent forever.

Therefore, if his strategy succeeds, he will not lose money.

And what about Murong Shu... Although he and Sect Leader Huo don't have any deep hatred, and they even have some sympathy for each other during their interactions, when it comes to the interests of the family, Murong Shu will not be soft-hearted for an outsider.

So after he settled the accounts, he agreed to his son's plan.

Having said this, perhaps some of the viewers have come to their senses... On the afternoon of the day of the competition, when Dugu Yong had an accident on the stage and was carried into the tent by Huo Ming, why did Murong Shu and Murong Xiao, one after the other, seem a little anxious... They always wanted to go into the tent to check the situation?

Because what they are really worried about is Huo Ming!
What if Dugu Yong was beaten to death by Huo Ming, and then Dugu Sheng fought with Huo Ming to death and killed Sect Leader Huo again, then wouldn’t their plans be completely messed up?
Fortunately, in the end, Master Huo was fine.

And he did just as Murong Xiao expected... After the chaos stirred up by Wu Mingzi was settled, he immediately called Kong Biao, one of his trusted disciples, aside and gave him some instructions.

Afterwards, Kong Biao, a deputy-leader-level figure, actually left the competition venue alone and in a low-key manner.

Diao Yang, who had been blending in with the crowd and observing from afar according to Ah Xiao's instructions, now followed and quickly followed Kong Biao. Soon they arrived at the gate of the Naha Fist Sect.

Everything seemed to be just as Murong Xiao had expected - Shuang Xie had indeed said to Huo Ming something like "We lied to Murong Shu when all three parties were here. The ring hidden under the floor of your branch is actually a fake. Now we're only telling you the real arrangements."

And this ring that "only Huo Ming knew about" was finally hidden in the Baquan Sect.

Huo Ming only told this matter to his three most trusted disciples.

On the day of the competition, Huo Ming asked two of the three to stay in the Baquan Sect, ostensibly to guard the mountain gate, but actually to secretly watch over the Xuncan Ring.

When the situation at the venue calmed down, the first thing that Huo Ming, as an old hand, thought of was to ask Kong Biao, his only confidant at the venue, to run errands and confirm whether his home had been "robbed".

Unfortunately, this move was fully within Murong Xiao's calculations.

Relying on his outstanding martial arts skills, Diao Yang followed Kong Biao back to the Baquan Sect without anyone noticing. He successfully found out the hiding place of the ring through the conversation between Kong Biao and Zhao Li and Yang Hao, and stole it.

At this point, Diao Yang felt that his mission had been accomplished.

Because Murong Xiao did not tell Diao Yang that the ring hidden in Huo Ming's place was also fake, and he would not tell him any plan to frame him.

He would say these words to his own father, but he can't say them to a tool like you, Lao Deng.

Therefore, at least Diao Yang believed that the ring he stole was the real silkworm-finding ring.

This... led to the scene at the beginning of our last chapter, where Diao Yang bargained with Murong Xiao.

"Since you are so afraid of me, you should keep your promise... and bring the things." Murong Xiao took over Diao Yang's words and said coldly.

What he said was actually paving the way for the murder, because in his opinion, as long as the other party stole the ring that Huo Ming knew, the plan to frame him would be successful, and it didn't matter whether the fake ring was handed over to him.

As for the subsequent plan based on the "strategy of shifting the blame", how to obtain the Zhenxun Silkworm Ring did not require Diao Yang's help.

"Heh... you'd better keep this nonsense to yourself." Diao Yang said with a grim look on his face, "I'll be frank. The thing is now hidden in a place known only to heaven, earth and me... If you want to kill me today to silence me, I promise that even if you live to be a hundred years old and search for eighty years, you will never find it."

"Oh?" Murong Xiao continued calmly, "Then tell me, what do you want in exchange for 'delivering the goods'?"

"No problem." Diao Yang replied, "As for the remuneration... the price you gave is enough, and I have some savings myself, so there's no need to add more. However... as for the part about 'helping me hide my identity', I've thought about it again and again, and I don't want you to bother with it, Master Murong. I can do it myself...

“Anyway, after I take my reward and leave, I’ll have to wait at least another three to six months.

"By then, if there is still no sign of me being tracked or discovered, I will write a letter and tell you where the thing is hidden."

His request may sound a bit outrageous at first, but it is actually quite reasonable.

Because from the perspective of a thief, stolen goods like the Silkworm Ring have to be "hidden for a while" after being obtained, and three to six months is not a long time.

Besides, your Murong family still has a lot of troubles to deal with in Cangzhou, and you don’t have time to do anything else... Even if you get the ring now, you still won’t dare to move it. You have to wait until the storm is over before you can look for the Heavenly Silkworm Skill.

As for assumptions like "what if Old Deng simply disappears without a trace and stops delivering the goods", or "he sells the ring to someone else and gets two shares", or "he simply goes to practice Tiancan Gong himself", these are naturally impossible.

Simply not delivering the goods would not do Diao Yang any good, and would also cause Murong Xiao to spare no effort to track down his whereabouts and seek revenge.

It would be the same if he resold it one more time. He had finally retired and had enough wealth to live out his life. Why would he need to drag another party into the relationship? That party might also try to silence him.

It is even more unrealistic to go looking for the Tiancan Gong by himself. If Diao Yang wanted to do this, he would have just run away with the ring today and not come here.

"Is that all?" Murong Xiao asked calmly after listening.

"That's all." Diao Yang replied.

Murong Xiao pretended to think for a few seconds and said, "Okay, I can promise you."

"Are you serious?" Diao Yang asked.

"If you believe it, then believe it. If you don't, isn't it nonsense for me to reply 'I take it seriously'?" Murong Xiao said.

"Okay, then that one sentence..." Diao Yang seemed to want to end the argument.

"Wait." Murong Xiao suddenly interrupted, "It's not polite to just talk like this, why don't we have a drink..." He raised his glass and pointed to the other empty glass on the table with his eyes, "...swear on the wine."

"Heh..." Diao Yang was not a respectable man. He sneered again, "Is this necessary?"

"Are you worried that I poisoned the wine?" Murong Xiao asked.

"Yes." Diao Yang said.

"But I also drank this wine." Murong Xiao asked again.

"Ha! Master Murong, we are all smart people... why do you have to pretend to be stupid?" Diao Yang laughed, "In this martial arts world, there are probably more than ten ways for two people to drink from the same pot and make one of them poisoned while the other is fine?" He paused again, "Let's not talk about anything else. As far as I know, your Murong family has a strange poison called 'powerlessness'. Although it doesn't kill people, it can make people temporarily weak and unable to use their internal energy... This thing naturally has no effect on you, but if I drink it..."

There was no need for him to continue talking at this point.

"Okay... Your Excellency is cautious, as it should be." Murong Xiao put down the wine glass, but then extended his hand again, "Then let's... high-five as an oath, is that ok?"

Diao Yang still hesitated.

Murong Xiao asked again: "Why? Are you afraid that I might have poison on my palm?"

"Hmph..." Diao Yang snorted coldly, thinking to himself that he was indeed a little too nervous - what was there to be afraid of when he shook hands with such a weak and useless person?

"Okay, then let's... high-five to swear an oath and make it a deal!" Diao Yang said, and took a half step forward, leaned slightly towards the other party, and then gently and quickly patted Murong Xiao's outstretched hand across the table.

But he didn't expect that at the moment their palms touched, Murong Xiao suddenly made a move and grabbed his wrist tightly.

This was not over yet. Immediately afterwards, Diao Yang felt an extremely clever force using his joints as a fulcrum. It instantly invaded along the nerves in his arm, making half of his body numb.

The feeling of numbness had not completely faded away yet, and Diao Yang's entire center of gravity was guided to the side by the force of the capture, which made him stagger and kneel on one knee beside the table.

"You!" Diao Yang was surprised that the other party actually had martial arts skills, and his martial arts skills were not low.

The next second, he heard a whistling sound of "swoosh, swoosh, swoosh" and seven or eight hidden weapons as thin as hair were shot at him from the side and rear.

Even if Diao Yang had high martial arts skills, he couldn't dodge when his wrist was clamped like this... In a blink of an eye, all the densely packed hidden weapons were stabbed into his thighs.

"How... could it be..." The poison attached to the hidden weapon quickly began to take effect, slowing down Diao Yang's cardiopulmonary function.

At this time, Diao Yang turned his head and looked in the direction where the hidden weapon came from, but he saw... a low silhouette, accompanied by the sound of a wooden wheel turning, slowly approaching here.

"I can't believe that you still remember what I said to you about being 'powerless' when I was drunk." At this time, the "Murong Xiao" who had been talking with Diao Yang at the table spoke again.

However, at this moment his voice had changed...it became Murong Shu's voice.

"You...are..." Diao Yang also recognized this voice.

Because Diao Yang and Murong Shu actually had a friendship many years ago, but later they fell out because of some things, and they have never had any contact with each other since then... Of course, that's another story.

"In fact, the poison has long been lost. I have only seen it in a book at home." Murong Shu, who had disguised himself as his son, still did not let go of Diao Yang's wrist. The strength in his hand was even increasing. "As for the reason why you couldn't sense my internal strength just now, it was only because I deliberately concealed it."

This is true. The Murong family has a deep foundation in martial arts. Murong Shu definitely knows how to temporarily hide his internal strength so that no one can detect it.

Of course, this technique is not a profound secret. It is essentially the same as the "internal force amplification" method. Anyone who has reached a certain level of internal strength can learn it quickly. Many sects also have similar tricks in their mental methods.

"How is it? My grappling skills of 'Half a Hand to Win Heaven' haven't deteriorated, right?" Murong Shu's tone of voice seemed to be filled with some hatred when he said this.

"Save me! If I die..." But Diao Yang has not given up and is still trying to survive.

"If you die, we won't be able to find the ring you stole?" Murong Shu didn't even let him finish his words, and interrupted him, "Heh... it's too troublesome to explain to you, why don't you go down and ask the King of Hell why you died."

Diao Yang couldn't say anything else because those poisoned hidden weapons were extremely thin and so they penetrated very deeply. The poison went directly into the femoral artery in his thigh, so the effect was very fast.

He had already "died" once, and this time he really died. From a certain perspective, this way of death was consistent with his character - being killed in a miserable way amid fraud and conspiracy.

Only when he fell to the ground and stopped moving did the real Murong Xiao "drive" his wheelchair and slowly come to the pavilion.

"Dad, so you knew him before?" Murong Xiao was a little curious at this moment. He just learned about this through the conversation between them just now.

"Alas..." Murong Shu sighed, "Dad was also young and frivolous at one time, and made bad friends."

"But it seems that you parted on bad terms afterwards?" Murong Xiao asked again.

"Let me put it this way..." Murong Shu did not hide it, because he knew that Ah Xiao was not easy to deceive, "Originally, I might have had four wives, but because of him... now there are three."

Murong Xiao imagined a lot of melodramatic plots just by hearing this... Ah Xiao was not very interested in these love stories, and he didn't want to listen even more since the person involved was his father, so he didn't ask any more questions.

At the same time, Murong Shu squatted down and began to examine Diao Yang's body, trying to see if there was anything on the other party that could be harmful or useful to them.

But he didn't expect... he actually found a ring.

"Humph... As expected, you can't trust a thief's words." Murong Shu picked up the ring, "He actually just carried the thing with him."

"True and false, real and fake, it seems that he is indeed not a stupid person..." Murong Xiao continued, "It's a pity that he would never have thought that what we asked him to steal with so much effort... is just a fake."

"If he could think of that, he wouldn't have come here today. Or, he wouldn't have needed to steal at all." Murong Shu said, casually taking the ring in front of his eyes and taking a look.

And when he saw this...his expression changed.

"Dad, what's wrong?" Murong Xiao was very good at observing people's expressions and he noticed something was wrong with his father at the first moment.

"This..." Murong Shu stuttered, "This... seems to be true?"

I believe that everyone must have understood by now that Murong Xiao’s previous calculations... although most of them were correct, there was only one mistake, that is, he "added an extra layer of baby".

Sun and Huang did deceive Murong Shu, but they did not deceive Huo Ming - the ring they asked Huo Ming to keep was real, it was the "Silkworm-seeking Ring".

In other words, if Diao Yang really didn't bring the ring today, but hid it in a place known only to heaven, earth and him, then Murong and his son would have completely messed up today.

The Xuncan Ring might disappear from the world again due to this coincidence, and it is unknown when it will appear in the world again.

Thinking of this, Murong and his son broke out in cold sweat...

But soon, a surge of joy in my heart suppressed the fear.

Because they both realized that the current situation was: the real Xuncan Ring had been obtained, but the thief who had handled it was already dead, and this thief had long been a "dead man" who could not be traced; and then Huo Ming, by accident, had become the scapegoat; in addition, Ding Buzhu and a group of small fry also played a role in disrupting the view in this matter.

Well, in general, although there were some miscalculations, accidents, and coincidences in the process, but at least at this moment... they are "making mistakes in their own right" and have the last laugh!

"father!"

"Son!"

"Hahahahaha..."

Then, a strange scene appeared.

In this quiet night, a father and son who are usually elegant and graceful, just squatted beside a corpse, looking at each other... and then laughed in an inappropriate, morbid, perverted... way.

Their laughter intertwined and floated into the night sky, like waves of cheers echoing in the theater, cheering for this absurd fate.