Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 153: Twists and Turns

To the two people in the middle of the action, it seemed like hours had passed from the time when Zhao Changhe had disguised himself and entered the forbidden area of the Lu Clan to the time when the ancient sword soared into the sky. In reality, however, it had actually not been that long. In total, it had only taken about the time it took for a stick of incense to burn.

Around the same time that Zhao Changhe and Sisi arrived at the Lu Clan’s forbidden area, the atmosphere at the entrance of the Tang Clan’s estate reached the boiling point.

Tang Wangsheng naturally tried to prevent the outsiders from entering the Tang residence, but under the repeated provocation of the members of the Lu Clan and the lurking members of the Maitreya Cult, more and more of those from the major families and other uninformed members of the public became convinced that the Tang Clan, which had been adamantly preventing anyone from entering, had ulterior motives.

In reality, if anyone were in the Tang Clan’s position, they would have most likely reacted the same way! After all, who would simply let thousands of people rush into their home?

But at this moment, the public opinion had been swayed.

Tang Wangsheng realized that his words were not getting through, and in his rage, he finally said harshly, “Have you all forgotten where you are?! This is the Tang Clan’s residence! Are you all trying to rebel?”

This phrasing simply could not be any worse, and it was clear that even now, he had yet to realize the true extent of the situation. His harsh words only served to further fan the flames, and under the leadership of the Lu Clan, people began to rush through the main gate of the Tang residence. Some even used their movement arts to directly jump over the walls.

Tang Wangsheng was furious. “Stop them!”

After such a long stalemate, the members and guards of the Tang Clan had long since been prepared and were able to quickly respond. And so, a fierce battle erupted at the entrance to the Tang residence.

The situation had completely spiraled out of control.

The Tang Clan was indeed the strongest clan in Gusu, with deep roots and numerous talented individuals. However, even with all their strength, they could only hold their ground at the entrance.

But as Tang Wangsheng watched the chaotic scene, he finally began to feel uneasy.

Even if we manage to hold on like this, what then? How are we going to resolve this mess?

Whoosh!

The head of the Lu Clan, Lu Yuanting, had directly approached Tang Wangsheng and thrust his sword swiftly at him.

Tang Wangsheng was furious. “Capture this bastard, and this matter will be settled!”

Lu Yuanting just sneered.

The two family heads quickly engaged in battle.

Both of them were at the ninth layer of the Profound Gate, but neither of them were on the Ranking of Man. They were evenly matched. Initially, Tang Wangsheng thought that he was slightly stronger than Lu Yuanting, but as they fought, he began to feel that something was amiss.

Lu Yuanting did not possess any particularly outstanding skills. However, Tang Wangsheng could not help but notice inexplicable accidents taking place. While he was fighting against Lu Yuanting, others around him would suddenly swing their sword at him. After a while, someone would stumble and accidentally thrust a dagger at him. After a few more exchanges, some of his own men would be thrown toward him.

All of the interruptions seemed to be aimed solely at him. Meanwhile, his opponent did not face any such interruptions at all. It was as if someone was constantly trying to distract him, but when he tried looking around, he could not find who was causing the problem or where the problem lay.

Naturally, the problem was the members of the Maitreya Cult mixed among the crowd, but Tang Wangsheng had no way of knowing that.

With the covert assistance of the members of the Maitreya Cult, the guards of the Tang Clan were gradually forced to retreat. After a while, the gate was breached and forcefully blasted open, and a flood of people surged into the estate.

Tang Wangsheng inwardly cursed. He shouted sternly, “Protect the women and children!”

However, the crowd had no intention to target the women and children at all. Everyone’s first instinct was to charge toward Tiger Hill at the rear mountain.

Lu Yuanting’s goal was to create the illusion that the Tang Clan was spreading vicious qi throughout Gusu. By doing this, they would be able to incite others to overthrow the Tang Clan and later comply with the Maitreya Cult in taking over the region. Naturally, he would not directly target any of the women and children. His goal had always been clear: to reach the Tiger Hill Sword Pond and draw out the vicious qi inside.

Tang Wangsheng did not know or understand this. He was sweating profusely as he led the Tang Clan’s forces, fighting and retreating until they eventually reached Tiger Hill, where they stood on the Thousand People Rock.

When they reached this point, Lu Yuanting halted the crowd and shouted, “Brother Tang! We’ve only come here to verify if the vicious qi is coming from Tiger Hill. We did not come here to harm your Tang Clan. Can you see that now?”

Tang Wangsheng was extremely furious and chuckled sarcastically, “Then let me ask you, have you verified it yet? There’s no damn vicious qi in the Tiger Hill Sword Pond!”

“That’s not necessarily the case!” Lu Yuanting waved his hand coldly. “Bring Shaoxiong over here!”

Tang Wangsheng was startled. He saw someone in the distance bring Lu Shaoxiong through the crowd. Lu Shaoxiong, who had previously gone mad and become irrational, now appeared calm, albeit still dispirited. There were still traces of vicious qi lingering on his body, but it seemed to be temporarily suppressed.

A sense of foreboding suddenly rose in Tang Wangsheng’s heart.

It seems that the Lu Clan has come prepared. Could Lu Shaoxiong really resonate with something here?

Lu Yuanting said, “If Brother Tang has nothing to hide, then do you dare to let my son go to the edge of the sword pond?”

Under the gazes of everyone present, Tang Wangsheng instinctively felt uneasy but could not find a reason to reject the proposal. He could only say, “If there aren’t any issues, how do you intend to conclude this?”

Lu Yuanting sneered and said, “I’ll offer my head as compensation!”

Tang Wangsheng took a deep breath, unable to say anything more. He could only watch helplessly as Lu Shaoxiong walked to the edge of the sword pond.

Amidst the gazes of the crowd, Lu Shaoxiong approached the edge of the sword pond and weakly crouched down. Then, he lightly stretched his hand to the water’s surface as if he were testing its temperature. After that, he slowly immersed himself into the water, going deeper and deeper until only his head remained above the surface.

Everyone held their breath, watching intently for any changes in the water.

After a while, nothing happened.

Tang Wangsheng’s face lit up with joy, but then the crowd suddenly erupted into murmurs, “Movement! There’s movement! There’s movement in the water!”

Tang Wangsheng looked over in shock. Sure enough, the water in the pond had begun to ripple as if there was wind blowing through the area. But in fact, it was a windless night, and nobody’s hair was swaying.

How is there movement in the water?

Upon careful observation, there seemed to be an extremely faint tremor coming from below, as if the aftershocks of a distant earthquake had reached them.

If there was anyone here who had experienced what had happened at the shores of the Ancient Sword Lake, they would recognize this as the turbulence from overlapping dimensions.

However, most people, including Tang Wangsheng himself, were unaware of this. When he was faced with this inexplicable tremor, he was at a loss. Even though nobody sensed any vicious qi, everyone directed gazes full of skepticism toward him.

Actually, the reason for this was very simple:

The sword qi left in Lu Shaoxiong’s body, which had originally aroused Dragon Bird’s excitement, naturally resonated with the sword qi from the same source below. It was as if an avatar had finally seen the outside world, causing the sword qi below to gather and become restless as if it wanted to break free and experience the outside world as well.

This location corresponded to the position of the main tomb, hence why it was said that “Below the sword pond is the main tomb of the Sword Emperor.”

The sword qi gathering below at this moment was the same as the one Zhao Changhe had seen at the entrance of the main tomb.

When Lu Shaoxiong brought the sword qi in his body to the sword pond above, triggering a response from the sword qi below, the slight tremor born from the response of the sword qi was the signal that they had set with the old man.

Merely triggering a response from the sword qi was not enough to cause it to surge upward, but if someone were to provoke the main tomb, causing the vicious qi to gather and converge, would the gathered vicious qi disperse after killing the offender? Of course not. Vicious qi, once gathered, did not dissipate easily. It would only rampage and continue to tear apart all life it encounters!

And in a sealed space, what form of life could it “see”?

Of course, it was the person resonating with it from above! After all, his body was full of life! While the sword qi outside was essentially similar to an avatar, the corresponding main body was now rushing upward intending to reunite with the part that had split off.

It was a very simple theory, and it was the only method that the Lu Clan could think of to have something break out of the dimensional fragment. After Lu Shaoxiong accidentally got struck by the sword qi, the Lu Clan began planning for this moment.

They had never considered the possibility of the Sword Emperor reviving, nor had they ever spared a thought about the possible consequences of vicious qi surging out and wreaking havoc in Gusu.

They only wanted to have the vicious qi break out of the dimensional fragment and lay all the blame on the Tang Clan, fulfilling their century-old goal.

As for what happened next, Maitreya, who was on the Ranking of Man, could handle it!

However, amidst the crowd’s skepticism, Tang Wangsheng’s astonishment, and Lu Yuanting’s ecstatic expression, after more than ten breaths of time, the pond water still was merely rippling. Nothing actually happened.

Naturally, this was because Zhao Changhe, at this time, had been engaged in a fierce battle with the old man, interrupting the plan.

Lu Shaoxiong was sweating profusely in the water, wishing he could dig out the sword qi from his body, but the water still only continued swaying, and there was still no vicious qi to be seen anywhere.

Lu Yuanting’s expression of joy froze on his face. What’s going on? We had repeatedly tested this at the entrance before. The sword qi inside would always gather and surge out when it sensed external sword qi. Could it be that this isn’t the case at the exit?

Or could the ancestor below make a mistake?

Just as he was hesitating, shouts and cries suddenly came from afar. It seemed like there were thousands of troops engaged in a fierce battle outside, with flames soaring into the sky.

Tang Wangsheng abruptly ordered his relatives beside him, “Go and see what’s happening.”

But before they could even move, guards from outside rushed in and reported, “Master, the young master led the military into the city and found well-prepared members of the Maitreya Cult around our city gates. They seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to seize the city in one fell swoop. After being discovered by the young master, the members of the Maitreya Cult clashed with the military. Then, those from the Maitreya Cult began causing chaos everywhere in the city and trying to seize control of the gates all around the city. Even...even Abbess Puxin of the Tranquility Hall turned out to be a follower of the Maitreya Cult...”

Tang Wangsheng glared fiercely at Lu Yuanting. “So this is why you gathered a crowd today to falsely accuse my Tang Clan! By taking us out, it would be easier for you to cooperate with the Maitreya Cult to seize control of Gusu, right?”

Lu Yuanting was dumbfounded. How did things turn out like this?

Not only did nothing substantial happen at the pond, but how could that incompetent Tang Buqi think to lead the military into the city and end up discovering traces of the Maitreya Cult ahead of time?

At this moment, an extremely fat figure flew over under the moonlight, laughing loudly, “Vicious qi soaring into the sky, of course it was caused by the Tang Clan!”

It was Cult Leader Maitreya of the Maitreya Cult!

After he said that, he suddenly threw something into the pond before anyone could stop him.

The water in the pond roared madly, and the vicious qi finally surged. At this time at the gate of the main tomb below, the old man from the Lu Clan had just died. The vicious qi rampaged wildly, and the ancient sword began to soar into the sky.

Maitreya looked up to the sky and laughed heartily, “The Tang Clan brought vicious qi into the city, while Maitreya saves all living beings. Is there still anything to doubt?”

A flood of spring water emerged under the moonlight, and a fairy’s soft sigh seemed to come from the clouds. “If you had truly managed to take control of the entire region, perhaps that narrative would have indeed spread throughout Jiangnan in the future... But unfortunately for you, although I’ve come a bit late, I still managed to make it here in the end.”