The Villain's Counterattack

After having a good meal and a good drink, Feng Zhenzhen left the space to Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, while she continued to study pastries, striving to win the first prize in the World's No. 1 Chef Competition held in Chang'an City.

The World's Best Chef Competition was proposed by Feng Deyi, an important official of the Li Tang Dynasty. In the name of the best chef in the world, he actually used the strategy of buying a horse with a fortune to attract outstanding people from all walks of life to Chang'an to develop the Li Tang Dynasty. The reason why he chose the profession of chef was probably because among the things of food, clothing, housing and transportation, cooking was the most convenient, fastest and easiest to demonstrate on the spot.

Li Yuan, who was desperately trying to expand his influence, naturally accepted Feng Deyi's advice and promoted it vigorously. He also wanted to hold competitions for music, chess, calligraphy, painting, and even martial arts, but this was rejected by Feng Deyi, Li Shimin, and others. Music, chess, calligraphy, and painting were still possible, but martial arts competitions were out of the question. They were difficult to organize and not something the court could implement.

The chess, calligraphy and painting competitions were not cancelled, but the results would be seen after the chef competition, and a decision would be made after absorbing experience. Li Yuan was quite pleased with this, and turned around and handed over the leadership of the chef competition to Crown Prince Li Jiancheng, which made the generals of the Tian Ce Mansion under the Qin King very dissatisfied.

Feng Zhenzhen came to Chang'an this time because of the chef competition. As the best pastry chef in Yangzhou City, it was impossible for her not to have received the invitation. After all, Yangzhou was Yang Guang's last residence, and there were many civil and military officials. Feng Zhenzhen's reputation was still quite large, and the chef competition without Feng Zhenzhen would be unworthy of its reputation.

As a prerequisite for Feng Zhenzhen's appearance, there must be a separate pastry competition in the World's No. 1 Chef Competition, and one of the candidates for the World's No. 1 Pastry Chef is Feng Zhenzhen, and she is also the strongest competitor.

Kou and Xu trusted Feng Zhenzhen very much, even more than their own master. After all, in terms of time spent together, they had spent more time with Baozi Xishi, who constantly gave them alms, and their feelings were deeper.

Their feelings towards their master Xiaoyaozi are respect and admiration, while towards their sister Feng Zhenzhen they feel closeness and love, even mixed with some inexplicable emotions.

Lying on their backs on the deck, looking up at the twinkling stars in the sky, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling recounted their experiences and exchanged various martial arts tips. Kou Zhong suddenly repeated a sentence: "A monk is a monk, an old monk is an old monk, so the old monk is not a monk."

Upon hearing this, Xu Ziling smiled bitterly and said, "Have you ever seen a monk at the Grandmaster level who gave up his monkhood and immediately became a Grandmaster? And his greatest skill is actually the Taoist magical power Nine-Character Mantra, which is the basis for his promotion to Grandmaster."

"So, the old monk is a Taoist priest?" Kou Zhong raised his eyebrows and said thoughtfully, "If the old monk is not an old monk, then is it possible that the Drunken Monk is not a monk either? The Nine Yang Divine Art and the Nine Yin Manual, they look very similar no matter how you look at them. The most important thing is that they have a close relationship with the master, and they are elusive. Doesn't Ling Shao find it amazing and familiar?"

Xu Ziling's mind moved, "So you think that the Drunken Monk is not a monk. He and the Three Crazy Taoists are both disciples of the Xiaoyao Sect, the descendants of the previous generation of the Xiaoyao Sect."

Kou Zhong shrugged. "As expected, you've thought about it. How could the Xiaoyao Sect inherit so many of its magical skills if only the master was there in the previous generation? And are the many martial arts that Taoist Sanfeng mentioned actually circulated in the martial arts world? Aside from the so-called Five Hermits."

Xu Ziling sighed softly, "So you think that the Drunken Monk, the Three Crazy Taoists, Senior Sword Demon Dugu, and Mr. Sword Yue, the Gentleman, are all disciples of the Xiaoyao Sect? If that's true..."

If this is true, the power of the Xiaoyao Sect is really unimaginable.

"If Master fully supports me, I can easily conquer the Central Plains and dominate the world. Unfortunately..." Kou Zhong sighed slightly. Compared with himself, he always felt that Duke Yang Xuyan of Liao had a closer relationship with the Five Hermit Elders. At the same time, this was also one of the reasons why he believed that the Five Hermit Elders belonged to the same school. After all, Duke Yang Xuyan of Liao had many sources of martial arts, and Dugu Feng openly stood on his side.

Dugu Feng blatantly challenges everyone with the Dugu Nine Swords, but she is the master's direct disciple and the senior sister of the two of them. What does this mean?

Is it possible that just because she is the master's direct disciple, the Sword Demon is willing to give away his most powerful skills for free?

There is also the Nine Yin Scriptures of Sanfeng Zhenren, which was actually given to Song Yuzhi for free by the Duke of Liao. This is also a unique skill that can at least reach the master level, or even the peak of the master level, or even the grand master level.

"Actually, compared to the five hermit elders, I am more curious about the real strength and identity background of the Duke of Liao. He is definitely not just a side branch of the Sui royal family." Xu Ziling pointed out the key point incisively. It seemed that everything pointed to the Duke of Liao in the end, but they didn't have much information about this frontier official, the ruler of the world's number one force, and most of it was information that was on the surface.

They really had no confidence of winning against this legendary figure.

Although his master Xiaoyaozi did not openly support him, the fact that he attended the wedding of the Duke of Liao was enough to explain a lot. In addition, Dugu Qiubai assisted the Liaodong army to challenge the master of Yijian Fu Cailin once a year, the eldest daughter of the Duke of Zhennan Song Que became a monk, and Wang Shichong married his niece. Considering his status as a member of the Sui Dynasty royal family, it was really despairing.

If he really integrates these forces, there will be no chance for the heroes of the world.

"If you get one of the Heshi Bi and Yang Gong's treasure, you can get the world. We have already got the Heshi Bi. If we get Yang Gong's treasure, we will have a place in the world!" Kou Zhong seemed to be trying to convince himself, but the more he did so, the less confident he became. Yang Xuangan was still there, and he had a powerful cavalry under his command, which could even destroy the Jingnian Zen Temple. This was enough to show that there was someone behind him. So who could this person be?

The royal family is unlikely. After all, he rebelled against the Sui Emperor Yang Guang, which made his plan to conquer Goguryeo fail. So the most likely possibility is the Liaodong forces that are invincible across the border.

"If Duke Chu really defected to Liaodong, Li Tang might not have wronged them. The so-called Master Li Fan might really be the mastermind pushed out by Liaodong." Xu Ziling thought of many possibilities.

"Haha, Young Master Ling is really bold. If the Duke of Liao has his tentacles all over the Central Plains, I might as well just go to Liaodong. There's no way I can win. Instead of suspecting the Duke of Liao, I should suspect that the tyrant Emperor Yang Guang is still alive and is orchestrating this revenge drama." He laughed heartily, then shook his head and said, "It's a pity that we witnessed Yang Guang's demise with our own eyes. He can't be reborn."

"And if the Sui Emperor were still alive, how could the Turks dare to invade on such a large scale? After all, although the tyrant Emperor Yang Guang was somewhat brutal at home, he was even more brutal abroad." Kou Zhong suddenly scratched his head and said, "It seems that the Turkic invasion did not please them, but instead brought disgrace to their own Khan's name in the Sui Dynasty. Such tactics really have some of the tyrant Emperor Yang Guang's style. Ling Shao, do you think that the tyrant Emperor Yang Guang is really still alive?"

"Mr. Zhong, are you half asleep? You actually say such nonsense. The fall of the tyrant was witnessed by us and many people. How could such a strange thing as resurrection from the dead happen, and..." Xu Ziling paused, feeling that something was a little strange, but he couldn't put it into words when he thought about it carefully.