Heaven-Collapsing Start [Quick Transmigration] - Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Inside a blacksmith shop in the city, a brawny man, bare-chested, used a pair of tongs to lift a shaped weapon from the furnace and plunged it into cold water. With a sizzling sound, a cloud of steam instantly billowed up.

Amidst the swirling steam, the brawny man left the forging room, draping a short tunic over his shoulders as he walked out of the weapon shop.

An apprentice saw this and called out to the boss, only to receive a wave of the hand from the brawny man without him ever turning his head.

Fifteen minutes later, the brawny man entered a security bureau (escort agency).

“Yo, Brother Liu, how do you have the free time to visit me today?”

The head of the security bureau teased with a laugh, clearly very familiar with the brawny man.

But today, the brawny man did not respond with a laugh as usual, nor did he step forward to clap him on the shoulder. Instead, he looked left and right, beckoned to the head of the security bureau, and took the lead into the inner room.

Noticing his unusual behavior, the head of the security bureau knitted his brows slightly but said nothing as he followed him in.

“What has happened?”

To be so cautious and prudent.

Only then did the brawny man finally speak: “Guess who I met today?”

“Who?”

“The new Alliance Leader, Gu Yun!”

“Ah?”

Before the head of the security bureau could recover from his shock, the brawny man added: “Time is short. The Alliance Leader entrusted me with a very important matter, and for this matter, I can only rely on you, Brother Jiang. Can I trust you?”

Being stared at directly by the brawny man’s gaze, the head of the security bureau fell silent for a moment. Suddenly, he slapped the brawny man’s shoulder heavily and said in a deep voice: “If you hadn’t wanted to inherit your family’s blacksmith shop back then, you’d have been my second-in-command long ago. Why talk of trust? We have always been brothers!”

“Good!”

The brawny man did not waste words. Moved by the sentiment, he recounted the task Gu Yun had entrusted to him without reservation.

A moment later, the air fell into silence.

Until the head of the security bureau spoke, his voice grave: “This matter is of no small consequence. I will personally go to the Martial Arts Alliance to expose the Demonic Sect’s hiding place here.”

“Be careful! Take care!”

Half a day later, a rider on a black horse galloped out of the security bureau and out of Qingyang City, racing toward the direction of the setting sun.

…

Regarding that time Xu Wei came to the door, his words were full of mockery, but he was rebuked by Gu Yun and ultimately left in a huff.

Gu Yun gazed at the thin figure in green in the courtyard. That face was still waveless and calm, as if he didn’t care about Xu Wei’s existence at all. But Gu Yun knew in his heart: if even he could not suppress that fire, how could his brother maintain his composure in the face of Xu Wei’s betrayal and slander?

He was likely enraged to the extreme, yet because this was the Demonic Sect’s territory and Xu Wei had clearly become a favorite at the Sect Leader’s side, he desperately suppressed the surging anger in his heart.

Perhaps there was also another reason: his brother was buying time for him, and falling out with Xu Wei was not a good thing for that…

Gu Yun took a deep breath before he could speak to Ji Liang in a normal voice:

“Young… Master, I will seek justice for you.”

Ji Liang was already looking at the youth Ah Heng, guiding him in his practice of the Insects Awaken Sword Technique. Hearing this, he merely lifted his eyes once.

Ah Heng, on the other hand, found it a bit strange. Why did this person have a sense of awkwardness when addressing the teacher? Young… Master? Was it Master? Or Young Master?

Ah Heng didn’t quite understand, so he shook his head and put it out of his mind. What made him most furious was still that Xu Wei; he hadn’t expected that this fellow was once Teacher’s subordinate yet had betrayed him!

To the youth, this was practically synonymous with breaking faith and abandoning righteousness. To then kidnap him to threaten his former master even “wolf-hearted and dog-lunged” was insufficient to describe it!

Ah Heng was anxious and angry in his heart, and the moves of his sword technique became increasingly sharp and fierce.

…

At night, the bright moon hung high, the cool breeze blew steadily, and the shadows of the trees swayed.

The moonlight cast into the courtyard, lengthening the shadow of the youth who was still practicing hard. Sweat splashed onto the ground, yet he did not stop.

It was not until the moon reached the center of the sky that Ah Heng stopped. His hand gripping the hilt trembled slightly from exhaustion, but he slowly exhaled a breath.

Just as he was about to turn, he saw a figure standing under the green pine tree. It was the youth around the same age as him. He didn’t know when the other had appeared there, nor how long he had been watching him practice.

Ah Heng understood then that this person’s martial arts were likely much higher than his own. This caused a sense of urgency to rise in his heart; he couldn’t wait to become a strong person who could stand on his own.

That way, he would be able to protect the teacher, too.

Ah Heng ignored the other person, bent over to pick up the sword manual on the ground, carefully placed it in his robes, and returned the sword to its sheath. Having finished these, he was about to leave when a voice suddenly reached his ear:

“You ought to call… the Young Master ‘Master’ (Shifu).”

Gu Yun said, his gaze passing over the sword manual in the youth’s robes. Since his brother had taught him to this extent, it was no longer just simple guidance; it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there was a master-disciple bond.

Ah Heng’s footsteps paused slightly. He turned his body, his eyes looking at Gu Yun under the tree. He didn’t mention the fact that Ji Liang wouldn’t let him call him “Master,” but said seriously:

“In my heart, Teacher is the one and only Master I, Ah Heng, will respect most in this life.”

With that, he turned and left straight away.

In his place, Gu Yun looked at the youth’s resolute back. In a daze, he seemed to see a trace of his brother’s shadow from years ago.

…

Qingyang City was not very far from the Martial Arts Alliance headquarters. The head of the security bureau set out at the hour of the Monkey (3-5 PM), whipping his horse along, not stopping even when the sky grew dark.

He changed horses twice midway and finally arrived at the foot of the Martial Arts Alliance mountain at noon the next day.

“I have an important matter to report! It is news regarding Alliance Leader Gu—!”

As soon as he saw the disciples of the Martial Arts Alliance, the head of the security bureau disregarded his travel-worn appearance and immediately shouted in a sharp voice.

Back then, after Gu Yun decided to adopt Ji Liang’s plan, he began his move. Although the Demonic Sect’s appearance in the tavern caught everyone off guard, it was within reason; what was most surprising was the Sect Leader’s appearance on the scene.

Subsequently, the plan was still carried out precisely. The appearance of the Sect Leader actually allowed them to take Ji Liang away more smoothly, making it even more natural for the Alliance’s side to “slack off.”

However, the Sect Leader’s appearance ultimately made the people of the Martial Arts Alliance quite wary. The plan to dispatch experts to follow the sect in secret and coordinate with Leader Gu at any time had to be abandoned to avoid “beating the grass and startling the snake.”

So, when the Demonic Sect shook off the Alliance’s pursuit, in turn, the Alliance also lost track of the Demonic Sect.

Although they were very confident in Leader Gu’s strength, the Martial Arts Alliance couldn’t help but feel some worry. Has Leader Gu been discovered and exposed? Had Leader Gu found the hiding place of the remnants? And, the point everyone cared about most: the one who proposed this plan was traitor Ji Liang.

Although half of them supported the plan, it was only because they had no way to deal with the Demonic Sect and did so as a last resort. While worrying about Leader Gu risking himself, they also had trust in him. But now, an unexpected variable had appeared: the Sect Leader of the Demonic Sect was not in a state of being severely injured!

Indeed, if Yin Ren had truly been struck in the heart by a fatal palm, it would have been as the Alliance expected: even if he didn’t die, he wouldn’t be acting like nothing was wrong in such a short time.

But what no one expected was that Yin Ren’s heart was different from ordinary people’s. Therefore, that palm strike which appeared fatal to others was merely a heavy injury to him; it wouldn’t cause him to lose his life, and thus his injuries recovered quickly.

So currently, within the Martial Arts Alliance, half were filled with anxiety and half were urgently waiting for news from Leader Gu. Thus, when the head of the security bureau reached the foot of the mountain and spoke, he was immediately welcomed into the Alliance by the disciples.

In the main hall, Elder Wang was at the head, along with all the high-level members of the Martial Arts Alliance.

The head of the security bureau was just a minor character himself; normally, when the Alliance held an assembly, at most he had the honor of observing from afar. So this was his first time seeing these high-level members of the Alliance from such a close distance, and his body was inevitably a bit stiff.

However, thinking of the great matter regarding the Demonic Sect entrusted to him by Leader Gu, he suppressed all emotions and reported truthfully.

Setting aside the high-level members whose eyes lit up after finally getting news of their Leader, Elder Wang spoke after a moment of silence:

“Do you have a token as proof?”

The head of the security bureau was prepared and immediately took out a crescent-shaped jade pendant. It was smooth and translucent throughout, but everyone looked puzzled, clearly not recognizing the pendant.

The head of the security bureau added immediately: “Leader Gu asked me to give this to Hero Ji, saying he would know at a glance.”

Among the crowd, only Elder Wang had seen this pendant once and was certain the head of the security bureau was not lying, but whether this pendant truly belonged to Leader Gu was still up for discussion.

At Elder Wang’s signal, a disciple left the main hall and called Ji Yan over. As soon as the jade pendant was in his hand, Ji Yan inspected it carefully and confirmed, saying:

“This is indeed Yun’er’s jade pendant; it was left to him by his late mother.”

Instantly, all the high-level members of the Martial Arts Alliance rose to their feet, cupping their fists toward Elder Wang one after another.

“There is no time to lose. We ask Elder Wang to give the order to set out immediately to rendezvous with the Leader and surround the remnants of the Demonic Sect! We must prevent any sudden accidents!”