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Chapter 198: Esteemed Senior, Did You Hear All of That?

Behind the old man was a handsome young disciple in white robes. His straight posture accentuated his slim and tall figure. He also carried a heavy broadsword on his back, but it wasn\'t as absurdly sized as the old man\'s.

The person at the rear of the group was a burly man with thick eyebrows, large eyes, and a huge halberd on his back. It was Yun Chaoxian. He looked a little nervous as he glanced at the old man—his senior uncle, Zhang Juque. Yun Chaoxian seemed really afraid that his senior uncle would get violent the moment he heard something he didn\'t like.

These three men were martial artists from the Great Astral Sect.

As expected, Zhang Juque was an impatient man. After receiving Chu Liang\'s reply yesterday, Zhang Juque charged over to find Chu Liang first thing the next morning. The handsome young man behind Zhang Juque was his disciple and one of the four core disciples of the Great Astral Sect, Li Fujian.

Yun Chaoxian was tagging along entirely out of his loyalty to Chu Liang. He thought that if things didn\'t go well, he might be able to help mediate and ease the tension.

Chu Liang was very grateful to Yun Chaoxian for that, but he was confident that this conversation would go well.

Chu Liang raised his hand and said, "Let\'s welcome our guests!"

Behind Chu Liang, Liu Xiaoyu\'er stood on one side and the Golden-Furred Hou stood on the other. The two of them gave slight bows to the group from the Great Astral Sect. Every living being on Silver Sword Peak had come out to welcome them, and even the flower beds had been pruned. It was a considerably grand reception.

Zhang Juque\'s status in the martial world was worthy of such a grand reception. If his visit were reported to the Mount Shu Sect, they would give him a reception that was, at the very least, on par with welcoming the grand peak master of another sect.

Chu Liang stepped forward and spoke in a clear voice. "Esteemed senior, upon hearing that you were coming to honor us with your presence, I could not help but fear we wouldn\'t be able to treat you with the level of hospitality that you deserve. Please forgive our inadequacies."

"No need for pleasantries." Zhang Juque shifted to Chu Liang as he cut straight to the chase. "I\'m here to investigate the death of the demonic beast White Ape that used to be under the care of my sect. Didn\'t you want to explain it to me in person? Tell me about it now."

"This isn\'t a good place to hold discussions. I\'ve prepared a special hotpot we have here at Mount Shu. It\'s made with the flesh of a recently slain Winged Fire Snake demon. Esteemed senior, why don\'t we go inside? You can eat while listening to my explanation," Chu Liang suggested.

He then led the three men into Di Nufeng\'s pavilion. Chu Liang couldn\'t possibly entertain these guests in his small cabin, so he borrowed the hall of Di Nufeng\'s pavilion.

Zhang Juque sat down, but he had no intention of dining.

Instead, he said coldly, "There\'s no need to rush. If you are truly innocent, I\'m willing to feast with you. But if you are a crafty and evil person, I won\'t eat your food."

"Esteemed senior, you can rest assured that\'s not the case," Chu Liang replied with a small smile.

He recounted the events that had occurred on Black Whale Mountain, starting with how he and the White Ape had fought over the Sword-Leaf Dark Sunflower. Then he spoke of how the White Ape had killed someone just so it could frame him and the Golden-Furred Hou for the crime and that it had ultimately led to Chu Liang killing the White Ape.

Hearing Chu Liang\'s account made Zhang Juque furrow his brows. "White Ape cultivated in my sect for so many years. Would it really kill someone out of spite? Do you have evidence to prove this?"

Chu Liang replied, "The Misty Waters City\'s chief officer and city supervisor can testify. Moreover, I\'d already left Black Whale Mountain that day. Why would I go back? If I wanted to kill to take the treasures, why would I leave and give it time to set up an ambush for when I returned? The White Ape intended to use the power of the Great Astral Sect to get revenge against me."

Zhang Juque said, "If that\'s indeed the case, it wouldn\'t be right of me to wrong you. However, I still need to head to Misty Waters City and verify what you\'ve said before I can believe it to be true."

Despite saying that, Zhang Juque was already eighty percent convinced by Chu Liang\'s detailed and plausible account.

The White Ape\'s actions had indeed been its final desperate attempts, while on the verge of death, to exact revenge on someone it hated.

However, the White Ape\'s master had died many years ago, so how could the Great Astral Sect offend the Mount Shu Sect because of it? The only person who might do that was Zhang Juque, who hated evil with a vengeance. Nevertheless, as long as Chu Liang was confirmed to be innocent, Zhang Juque wouldn\'t do anything to him.

"Hehe." Yun Chaoxian laughed. "I told you, Brother Chu\'s like me. We both embody justice and wisdom. How could he do anything bad?"

Zhang Juque glared at Yun Chaoxian and warned, "If you dare to commit any crimes in the future, I won\'t hesitate to punish you."

Yun Chaoxian flashed a sheepish grin.

Zhang Juque let out another sigh. "The White Ape had been with my sect since my youth, so you could say that I\'d known it for many years. I did not realize that it had such a bad temperament..."

Chu Liang replied, "Esteemed senior, forgive me if it is inappropriate for me to say this, but... several decades may seem long for humans, but it\'s just a short time for demonic beasts. It\'s not enough for you to fully understand what they\'re like."

Yun Chaoxian let out a deep sigh. "It\'s like if Junior Brother Fujian\'s raising a spirit pet, and I grow with it. But Junior Brother Fujian ends up dying before me and then that spirit pet leaves the Great Astral Sect and does some bad things... I\'d probably feel the same way as you\'re feeling now, Senior Uncle."

"Mm...?

" Li Fujian uttered. He was about to express that he agreed, but just as he was nodding, he realized there was something off about Yun Chaoxian\'s words. Li Fujian furrowed his brows and said, "Why would I die before you?"

"I\'m just saying hypothetically. Don\'t take it seriously." Yun Chaoxian chuckled. "Besides, your cultivation level isn\'t as high as mine, so would it be strange if you went before me?"

"What bu—what drivel are you spouting?"

Li Fujian had been about to use some rather uncouth words, but he remembered his teacher was present and immediately changed his words.

Li Fujian retorted, "Even if I do end up dying before you do, it\'s because I\'m stronger than you! When battles occur, our sect always has our strongest on the frontline! Those who survive are always the weakest!"

Zhang Juque glanced at his rebellious disciple and furrowed his brows disapprovingly.

As Chu Liang watched the two young men squabble, he merely chuckled.

However, in his mind, he was mocking them. It\'s widely rumored in the martial world that the disciples of the Great Astral Sect share one brain. It seems there\'s some truth to that...

While the squabble inside the pavilion continued, some people were causing a din outside as well.

Someone called out, "Chu Liang, get out here!"

...

Chu Liang stepped outside and saw three people standing in the spacious clearing on the Silver Sword Peak\'s hillside. They were people Chu Liang had met before—Liu Qin and Lu Xun, two of the Alchemy Master\'s disciples. Standing in front of them was a disgruntled little brat.

It was clear they hadn\'t come with good intentions.

"Do you have something to discuss with me, senior brothers?" Chu Liang asked.

Lu Xun replied, "Yesterday, you instigated Xiao Tong to provoke the Baize youngling. We\'ve come here today to demand an explanation from you about that!"

"Demand an explanation?" Chu Liang said.

Chen Lingtong stood arrogantly with his hands on his hips and shouted at Chu Liang, "We\'re going to beat you up!"

"Haha," Chu Liang chuckled as he looked at the kid. Then he asked, "Do you now know that you shouldn\'t throw stones at spirit beasts?"

"Ugh!" Chen Lingtong uttered angrily.

Chu Liang\'s words immediately sent Chen Lingtong into a rage.

Chen Lingtong yelled, "Hurry up and beat him up!"

"Hmph," Lu Xun snorted. He muttered darkly, "Di Nufeng isn\'t here, yet you dare to behave so arrogantly—"

"Wait a minute!" Chu Liang said loudly, suddenly raising his hands. "You can beat me up, but I want to clarify the matter first! Besides, I\'m no match for you anyway. Once I\'m done talking, I definitely won\'t fight back."

"What do you want to clarify?" Liu Qin asked coldly.

"First, you indulged this child and let him throw stones at the Golden-Furred Hou. Then when the Golden-Furred Hou resisted a little, you beat it up. That\'s what happened, right?" Chu Liang asked, pointing at Liu Qin. "I apologized of my own accord for that incident. The child then threw stones at the Baize youngling and suffered the consequences of his bad behavior when the Baize youngling struck back. Yet, instead of going to the Baize youngling, you came to cause trouble for me. This is a fact too, isn\'t it?"

Chu Liang\'s voice was sonorous and powerful as he continued, "You\'re clearly just using your power to bully others. You step on the weak but fear the strong. Do you admit it? That you\'re acting so brazenly just because your cultivation level is higher than mine?!"

"What a load of nonsense." Lu Xun flung out his sleeves dismissively. "So what if our cultivation level is higher than yours?"

He leaped forward, eager to attack.

Lu Xun had no interest in stopping Chu Liang from taking the moral high ground because he hadn\'t come to fight with words. Instead, he\'d come to find some opportunities to mess with Chu Liang. After all, Lu Xun had worked hard to incite his senior brother to take action with him. He didn\'t want to waste any more time on useless words. With his senior brother here, Lu Xun couldn\'t be blamed if any "mishaps" were to occur in the chaos of the battle later...

At this moment, Chu Liang suddenly turned slightly to face the pavilion behind him.

He asked respectfully, "Esteemed senior, did you hear all of that?"

Before Chu Liang even finished speaking, an old man carrying a massive sword on his back slowly emerged from the pavilion with a dark expression.

The old man said, "To think that the Mount Shu Sect, which has been prestigious and upright for thousands of years, has produced such unruly disciples like you. It seems that I must teach you a good lesson today on your teacher\'s behalf."

Lu Xun and the others looked at this obviously extraordinary old man and felt rather confused. Where did this person come from? Why hadn\'t they ever seen him on Mount Shu before?

Liu Qin was the first to recognize who the old man was. Looking at the massive sword on the old man\'s back, Liu Qin\'s eyes filled with fear.

He raised his hands high, but he didn\'t have the time to do anything else except let out a cry.

"Esteemed senior, it\'s a misunderstanding—"

The screams on Silver Sword Peak were especially loud that day.