Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 645 A Search That Never Ends

After assigning tasks, the six left the top of the "climbing path" and quietly slipped out along the cliff edge.

At this time, the composition of people in this forbidden area of ​​the back mountain was quite complicated. Due to the "chain of suspicion" mentioned earlier, as a result, there were as many as twenty or thirty wandering warriors, six Wudang disciples, and two Shaolin disciples who stayed here.

Most of these people were scattered in the area in front of the cave entrance. Some were genuinely afraid that the people inside the cave would escape, some wanted to steal the martial arts techniques from the stone statues outside the entrance, and others had no choice but to stay here to monitor the movements of others.

Of course, there were also a few assassins from Yuxiu Manor mixed in with them, thinking they would act according to the circumstances.

For Shuang Xie and his group, the existence of this group might not necessarily be a bad thing... Anyone who has watched "Cat's Eye" knows that sometimes having a large number of guards can actually become a breakthrough that can be exploited.

Jiang Muchan, being a master thief, used this principle most often, so he was the first to suggest: "Later, we can deliberately create some chaos to force the crowd away from this forbidden area, and then we can blend in and leave together."

However, before that, they still had to take the step of "capturing prisoners alive," and this step was naturally handled by their leader in this operation, Yun Shili.

After all... "Capturing someone alive for questioning without being discovered" is a routine task in Brother Yun's job, as simple as going out for a walk for him.

And he certainly didn't disappoint his teammates. After leaving behind the words "You guys stay hidden and don't wander off," he left alone and returned in less than two minutes, successfully kidnapping someone. Even trainers couldn't catch people as fast as he could catch Pokémon.

"Huh? I think I know this guy." Looking at the unconscious scoundrel, Sun Yixie suddenly remembered something. "What was his name again? Anyway, he was the leader of a five-man group, nicknamed Flying Sword or something."

Here, we subtly reveal in the book that this person... is surnamed Zhai, named Hao, and nicknamed "Flying Sword" (first appearing in Chapter 28 of Volume 3).

If I mention this suddenly, you might not remember him, so let me remind you: a few years ago, Sun Yixie and Lin Yuancheng were on their way to Dengzhou to attend the Seven Heroes Gathering when they had a conflict with a third-rate group of martial arts practitioners called the "Five Righteous Men of Huizhou" at an inn. Later, during the "Swords and Blades Slay the Demons" battle, the Five Righteous Men of Huizhou also came to Wujian Manor, and they even tried to steal the treasured sword from the manor's armory during the chaos and frame Lin Yuancheng, but they ultimately failed.

In short, to say that these five people combined are roughly equivalent to a beggar version of Jiang Shouzheng would be an insult to Jiang Shouzheng...

And the Zhai Hao in front of us is the former leader of the Five Righteous Men of Huizhou.

Why is "before" added here? Because last year, Liu Lao Er, one of the Five Righteous Men, attempted to "overthrow his superiors," leading to infighting among the five. After a chaotic battle, only Zhai Hao survived, so this small group no longer exists.

Of course... originally no one cared about their existence.

So why did Sun Yixie still remember Zhai Hao?

Those familiar with Brother Sun should be able to guess—he dares to forget gentlemen, but he dares not forget villains.

After all, the people who come looking for revenge can be either respectable people who come to your door with open weapons, or bastards who walk down the street and suddenly hit you on the back of the head with a brick, right?
Sun Ge won't easily forget a scoundrel like Zhai Hao unless he's clearly sunk to the bottom of the lake to be fed to the crabs.

Therefore, before Zhai Hao woke up, everyone had reached a consensus under Sun Yixie's reminder: if necessary, it was appropriate to use some harsh methods on this "live" person.

Then, Brother Yun personally slapped Zhai Hao twice to wake him up and began questioning him.

When it comes to interrogation, Brother Yun is a professional. Zhai Hao wasn't a tough nut to crack; at most, he was a bit cunning, though not particularly clever. So Brother Yun didn't even have a chance to use any harsh methods. He just described what he wanted to do, and Zhai Hao was so scared that he wet himself and confessed everything.

After the trial, Yun Shili suggested that killing this kind of person would be the end of it. However, after weighing the pros and cons, Shuangxie decided that under the current circumstances, they should try not to kill anyone unless absolutely necessary. Therefore, Huang Donglai used drugs to incapacitate the man and ensure that he would not move again before dawn.

The group hid Zhai Hao in the bushes and then headed directly towards the mountain path leading to the forbidden area.

At this point, some people might be wondering, didn't they just plan to create chaos first and then go out with the crowd? Why are they heading straight for the entrance now?

That's obviously because they changed their minds after the intelligence was updated...

They had previously thought that the entrance to this forbidden area would be more heavily guarded than usual tonight, but they found out that there was no one guarding it at all.

The reason why no one guards it is very simple. To put it bluntly, the forbidden area in the back mountain of Wudang is now almost like a public toilet.

Please don't misunderstand, this statement has nothing to do with, or rather, little to do with, Huang Donglai's previous actions.

The main reason is... well, so many random people have already gone in, and the Wudang disciples can't recognize every single one of these江湖 (jianghu, the martial arts world) scum. So what's the point of guarding the entrance? Anyone who walks by, as long as they don't look like Sun Huang, can get past, right? Sun Huang himself could get past with a little disguise. So, as we mentioned before, the Wudang disciples responsible for "keeping an eye on this place" are simply staying in the area where people gather inside the forbidden zone.

To make a long story short, after the six people left the forbidden area, they immediately split into two groups as planned.

Sun Yixie, Jiang Muchan, and Ling Shenger headed towards Chunxin's residence, while Huang Donglai, Yun Shili, and the Three-Character King headed towards the rear hall of the Zhenwu Hall, where Chun Kong was currently located.

Let's take a look at Brother Sun's side first...

Since most of the people on the mountain are now gathered at the Zhenwu Hall or the forbidden grottoes, their route is relatively safe.

Although the information provided by Zhai Hao did not include the location of the Shaolin monks' residence (he didn't know either), he didn't need to say it. During the exchange of information with Chunxin through letters, Sun Yixie had already subtly learned which area the monks probably lived in.

As mentioned in our previous article, excluding Chun Kong, there are currently thirty-one Shaolin disciples on Wudang Mountain. Among them, three are senior monks of the Ji generation, and the remaining twenty-eight are monks of the Chun and Zhen generations. Headmaster Yao arranged the best rooms for the three senior monks, followed by the Chun generation, and they all lived in single rooms, while the Zhen generation monks lived in a large room with several people sharing it.

Sun Yixie knew that Chunxin was staying in a single room, so he was able to eliminate most of the rooms in the area from the beginning.

As for how to distinguish the remaining rooms...

"Xiao Jiang, it's time for you to step in." Sun Yixie handed over the task to the most suitable person.

“Heh… easy enough.” Upon hearing this, Jiang Muchan, who was squatting on the eaves with Sun Ling, immediately laughed, “Let me lift a few tiles and take a look, and I’ll know for sure…”

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than a courtyard gate not far away creaked open.

Immediately afterwards, a large bald head, shining brightly in the moonlight, slipped into the courtyard.

Sun Yixie looked closely and realized that the guy who had sneaked in was none other than Chunxin.
"Heh... this is truly a case of finding something without even looking for it." Upon seeing this, Sun Yixie couldn't help but smirk and muttered to himself.

Of course, to be fair, Chunxin did deserve his bad luck.

Because Chunxin had made several unusual remarks and actions during the day that were completely out of character for him, Master Jizhen couldn't help but become suspicious of his disciple. However, Master Jizhen was very busy. He had to manage the overall situation with Headmaster Yao and also keep an eye on the situation of Master Zheng and Chun Kong. He didn't have time to deal with Chunxin's matter for the time being. So, after the chaos in the afternoon came to an end, Master Jizhen quietly arranged for several other disciples of the Chun generation to keep an eye on Chunxin.

To put it more bluntly, this "paying attention" means "monitoring." However, the order wasn't very strict, since Chunxin was only suspected. If it were confirmed that he had a problem, the abbot wouldn't need to go through all this trouble; he could have just ordered him arrested.

So it was only now that Chunxin finally found a moment to escape his fellow disciples' surveillance and slip away on his own.

His motive for sneaking out was obvious: after much deliberation from afternoon to evening, he had deduced that the "deep sea and Buddhist shrine" incident was probably a trap set by Shuang Xie. So, while he was annoyed that his "peerless martial arts" was probably all for naught, he immediately understood—he could deny that the letters left in the other party's hands were forgeries, but the ones left in his own room had to be destroyed as soon as possible... Otherwise, if Chun Kong woke up and told him what had happened, he would be finished.

Thinking this, Chunxin, who was in a great hurry, appeared here.

Now, Xiao Jiang doesn't need to investigate anything anymore... Chunxin's sudden appearance can be said to be the best development for Brother Sun's team.

Now all they need to do is rush down and capture the target alive, then they can "return to base" and don't need to worry about anything else; because once someone discovers Chunxin's disappearance, they will search his room, and then they will draw the conclusion that "this guy has fled to escape punishment" through those letters.

More importantly, at this moment, the enemy is in the open while we are in the dark, and Chunxin is in a state of being alone and unable to shout for help. He is also in a terrain where it is extremely difficult to escape once surrounded.

With favorable timing, location, and human factors, what is there to hesitate about?
Sun Yixie, Jiang Muchan, and Ling Shenger exchanged a quick glance, understood each other, and rushed down together.

Sun Yixie's first attack, I don't need to explain, you all know—it was a sneak attack! A sneak attack where lime powder was smeared on the face!

He leaped down from the eaves like a tiger descending a mountain. Before he even landed, the specially made lime bomb he threw (because the Niu brothers had returned Shuangxie's luggage, all their props were now in perfect order) flew towards Chunxin.

Simply put, this lime bomb is lime powder that can be thrown from a greater distance and explodes with a delay. It is effective against people with high martial arts skills who can avoid or sweep away ordinary lime powder attacks, or people who are already prepared for Sun Yixie's usual methods. This "slow knife" with a slightly longer distance can catch the opponent off guard.

Unexpectedly, the next second, Chunxin made a response that even he himself hadn't anticipated...

Because Chunxin was in a state of great anxiety and panic at the moment, his nerves were too tense. Therefore, when he heard the sound of the bullet breaking as it came, he was so frightened that he failed to react as a master of his level should. He just instinctively bent down and scrambled forward and into his house in a panic.

Since Sun Yixie's sneak attack came from above and diagonally, Chunxin's dodge was remarkably effective; his seemingly clumsy roll not only rendered Sun's attack useless, but also bought him more reaction time and strategic space.

bang——

Two seconds later, Chunxin, who had crashed through the door and rolled into the house, realized what had happened and immediately stopped rolling, turning around to get back into position.

This stance, with its twisting and sitting posture, resembling a crouching tiger, and its extending and turning upper limbs, resembling a circling eagle... it's clearly a superior routine that combines offense and defense.

Since Chunxin was already inside the house, the three people outside the door lost their advantage of surrounding him and instead faced each other across the door.

It appears that what should have been a swift and decisive attack is about to turn into a fierce and unpredictable battle.