Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 631 Join forces
The "serious business" that Gu Qiying mentioned was naturally the purpose of his visit.

After defeating the "Eight Great Masters" in the teahouse, he successfully captured Park Dae-ryong and Mo Fang-yuan alive. Although one of them was mute, mute people can still write, right? Mo Fang-yuan was not illiterate.

Therefore, after discussing the matter, Di Bujuan and Hu Wenzhi changed their initial intention of "testing Zheng Dongxi" and instead directly introduced him to the people of Zhenxiatang.

We won't go into details about how the two sides connected afterwards, or how Park Dae-ryung and Mo Fang-yuan were taken over by the Zhenxia Hall.

In short, Gu Qiying has finally come before Zai Qianqiu and begun this negotiation.

“Good! Your straightforwardness suits me just the way it is.” Zai Qianqiu didn’t dislike people like this, so he not only didn’t find Zheng Dongxi’s words offensive, but he also appreciated him even more. “Then I’ll be frank with you. I hope Brother Zheng can join forces with our Zhenxia Hall to resolve this crisis in the martial arts world.”

"Hmm..." Gu Qiying was clearly not moved in the slightest by the other party's "humbly" attitude. He simply pondered for a moment before replying, "Senior, please forgive me for grumbling a bit..."

He paused, then, as if he were about to say more than "two sentences," he began: "You all talk about 'joining forces,' but what are you actually doing? It's all about acting superior and doing things your own way..."

“Just a few days ago, I used that scoundrel surnamed Jiang as bait and already caught two fish that took the bait, but you guys just took them without a word and 'bait and fish' all of them. That’s not fair, is it?”
"Then in the past few days, because of your 'sniper' trick, rumors have spread outside, causing me to be misunderstood by many of my colleagues... Have you ever thought about helping me suppress these rumors in secret?"

"Furthermore, after you kidnapped the man surnamed Jiang and that other survivor, you must have already found out quite a lot. So... today you even sent that Chief Di to test me. And if I hadn't been attacked again and captured two more survivors, you probably would have had to deal with me several more times."

"Now that I've almost figured things out myself, you're coming to talk to me about cooperation..."

"Then I have to suspect that, senior, while you say you're 'joining forces,' you actually still consider me an outsider... or even a servant, and you even think that... that I'm doing you a favor by serving your True Hero Hall."

It must be said that Gu Qiying's few "complaints" were basically all true and hit the nail on the head.

Because he knew these "heroes" all too well...

Unlike hypocrites like Jiang Shouzheng, these "true heroes" also have the flaws of true heroes, such as seeking fame and reputation, being aloof, self-important, and covering up their mistakes... They all have some of these flaws to some extent.

It's not entirely their fault, because that's how people are: when a person's abilities, wealth, status, etc., accumulate to a certain level, it's hard for them not to feel superior.

"Powerful" is "correct," and often it is simply a fact.

These heroes and powerful figures have drawn their conclusions from countless experiences: rather than letting the weak know or giving them a choice, having them make choices for the weak without their knowledge often yields a more satisfactory result for everyone more quickly and efficiently.

Conversely, they may pay a higher price, get a worse result, and ultimately be resented or even hated by those they tried to help.

The contradictions between "freedom" and "order," and between "substantive justice" and "procedural justice" are arguably eternal topics of debate. It can only be said that the scales will tip differently in different eras and environments.

Anyway, in this world... the scales are generally balanced, so if we stick to the facts, Gu Qiying can gain the upper hand when arguing with Zai Qianqiu about this matter.

At this point, some people might ask: Isn't Zheng Dongxi's own use of Jiang Shouzheng as bait similar to, or even more egregious than, Zhenxiatang's actions? Why didn't he mention it more discreetly?
Sigh, do you think he doesn't want to? The problem is that the other party has most likely already grasped this information, so instead of hiding it and making himself look guilty, it's better to just speak frankly as if nothing happened. That way, even if the other party finds fault with you, there's still room for discussion about who's right and wrong.

Of course, Zai Qianqiu wouldn't bother arguing with the other party about such a "trivial matter" at this moment.

Firstly, his purpose in meeting this "Master Zheng" today was not to have a debate to determine who was right and wrong, but to work together to solve the problem.

Secondly, he really didn't want the other party to misunderstand that he had even the slightest intention to "stand up for Jiang Shouzheng"—simply because he couldn't bear the shame.

Even though Zai Qianqiu, or rather the old men of Zhenxiatang, generally have the kind of "heroic syndrome" that Gu Qiying believes in, their intentions are indeed good, and they are capable of making compromises when necessary.

So, Zai Qianqiu took another step back: "Brother Zheng, what you said... is all right." He nodded and admitted his mistake in a sincere tone, "In this matter, we... were indeed not fair to you. I apologize to you on behalf of Zhenxia Hall. I hope that you can forgive us and reconsider my suggestion, considering that we also have our own difficulties."

Upon hearing this, Gu Qiying's expression finally changed.

He truly hadn't expected Zai Qianqiu to go to such lengths. This magnanimity—being able to set aside his pride for the sake of "justice" and apologize to someone of far lower status than himself—reminded him of his elder brother.

"Alright." After a few seconds of distraction, Gu Qiying regained his composure and replied, "Since you've said so, senior, it would seem petty of me not to accept your kindness... Let's let bygones be bygones." He paused for half a second, then continued, "As for the matter of 'joining forces,' that's certainly possible... It's my duty to help the martial arts world in its time of crisis, but I hope you can answer my questions first, senior, so that I can better assist you, right?"

"Haha... As long as Brother Zheng agrees, everything else is negotiable." Zai Qianqiu was delighted to see that the other party was so sensible; not only that, but because of Zheng's humble yet assertive and reasonable attitude just now, Zai Qianqiu trusted him even more. "I know what you want to ask... After these few days, we have also learned quite a lot."

Gu Qiying didn't respond to that, but just looked at Zai Qianqiu, waiting for him to continue.

Zai Qianqiu then continued, "We have already found out that the one you injured a few days ago is one of the 'Six Gentlemen' of the Korean Manwon Sect—'Purple-Clad Gentleman' Cui Youshan. The one you killed is Zhang Douhan, who is the 'White-Clad Gentleman'... Both of them came to the Central Plains on the orders of the sect leader and are temporarily staying under Meng Qi's command at Yuxiu Manor."

"The tragedy at Shaoshi Mountain was committed by them and the people from Yuxiu Manor. So, the sixteen-character message was obviously a frame-up, an attempt to confuse the public."

These few sentences reveal that Cui Youshan did not tell the Zhenxiatang people the whole truth. After all, even Meng Qi did not know about the "real and fake Zhang Douhan" incident, and there was no way to verify it since he was already dead. So he tried to keep it a secret as much as possible.

On the other hand, since Gu Qiying had already "exchanged" a few words with Park Dae-ryong and Mo Fang-yuan before coming, and Di Bu-juan and Hu Wen-zhi had also given him some information, he was not too surprised by Zai Qian-qiu's words.

But... here's the problem.

The "truth" that Zai Qianqiu spoke of did not match Gu Qiying's expectations.

Old Gu had been eagerly anticipating that the people he was going to deal with were from the "Hun Yuan Star Gate," but now it was basically confirmed that the incident at Shaoshi Mountain was orchestrated by the Wan Yuan Sect and Yu Xiu Manor, while the Hun Yuan Star Gate was framed... In that case, wouldn't the enemy of my enemy become a "good guy," or even an ally of our side?

"Senior..." Gu Qiying pretended to think for a moment after hearing this, and then asked, "Is Cui Youshan's one-sided account really credible?"

"Oh?" Seeing the other party's reaction, Zai Qianqiu was a little surprised. "This..." He thought for a moment and then said, "Putting everything else aside, his identity as one of the 'Six Gentlemen of the Wanyuan Sect' should be true. After all, the Korean martial arts world was unified by the Wanyuan Sect many years ago. With Cui Youshan's martial arts skills, plus the fact that we tested his Korean language..."

"No, no, what I mean is..." Gu Qiying quickly explained when she saw that the other party had misunderstood, "This person is from the Wanyuan Sect, and he said that they colluded with Yuxiu Manor, that's all fine... The problem is, shouldn't we reconsider the matter of the Hunyuan Star Gate being framed?"

“Uh…” Zai Qianqiu didn’t understand. “You mean…”

“I mean… is it possible…” Gu Qiying tried to explain, “besides Yuxiu Manor and Wanyuan Sect, there are many other sects or forces colluding together, and Hunyuan Star Gate is one of them; the reason they left those sixteen words was not to frame someone, but to ‘pretend to frame someone,’ and then deliberately let everyone find out afterward, and then use it to clear the relationship between Hunyuan Star Gate and them, so that the latter could gain the trust of the righteous path… to act as an inside agent.”

Faced with his tedious nested theory of "I predicted your reverse thinking and was predicted by my reverse thinking", Zai Qianqiu thought for a few seconds with his brain, which had been hovering on the edge of dementia for many years, and then immediately asked: "If the Hunyuan Star Gate is also in cahoots with them, then even if they don't write anything, can't they still make the Hunyuan Star Gate act as an inside agent?"

"Hmm..." Gu Qiying looked slightly embarrassed when she saw that the nesting doll had failed, "...it was a bit of a stretch."

“Brother Zheng, your meticulous thinking and cautiousness are indeed good things… However, we can’t go too far and wrong an innocent person.” Zai Qianqiu patted Old Gu on the shoulder, comforting him, and then said, “Moreover, in the past few days, our hall has discussed and made some plans to join forces with the Hunyuan Star Gate to turn the tables on Yuxiu Manor and Wanyuan Sect.”

"Oh?" Gu Qiying became excited again upon hearing this. "Could it be that Senior has already made contact with the people of the Hunyuan Interstellar Gate?"

"Not yet," Zai Qianqiu replied.

But just as Gu Qiying's disappointment was about to surface...

Zai Qianqiu took a deep breath and continued, "However, just today, someone in our guild discovered some clues at a blacksmith's shop in a nearby town. Based on these clues, we speculate that 'Eastern Harmony and Western Poison'... may have already arrived in Wudang territory..."