Walking by the Abyss on Thin Ice

Chapter 180 – The face of a sage, the heart of a child

"Is there any room for maneuver?"

Xue Qingfu laughed and said, "General Niu Biao, do you think it's necessary?"

He walked out of the waterside pavilion, and suddenly the masks hanging on the wall behind him floated up. The masks laughed and said, "No need."

The masks followed Xue Qingfu, and one of them poked out from his shoulder, giggling, "The emperor didn't trust me and sent me back to Shuofang. But Shuofang is a treasure land, and because of that, I'm close to the waterside pavilion."

Another mask poked out from his right shoulder and said, "But I only know one of the eight-faced palaces, and I don't know where the others are."

The masks whispered behind Xue Qingfu, "That night, we all wore masks and fought for the eight-faced palace. No one knew who the others were because we didn't see each other's faces."

A female mask exclaimed excitedly, "But we all knew that the others were from Shuofang!"

A child mask said, "That's natural. Shuofang is closest to Tianmen Town, and other forces can't get here in one day. Only the strong from Shuofang can get to Tianmen Town first and take the eight-faced palace."

Another chubby mask thought, "So who would take the other eight-faced palaces?"

...

Zhoubo, Lao Niu, and others frowned as they watched the scene. Niu Biao was obviously the leader of the town people. He stepped forward and shouted, "Xue Saint, you've gone crazy!"

"Hush!"

Xue Qingfu raised a finger to his lips and whispered, "Listen carefully to what they're saying, don't interrupt them. I feel like they're going to guess the truth of that year."

Niu Biao frowned and looked at the other townspeople. They wanted to take action but were hesitant.

The masks chattered on and on, "Lao Piao is the simplest. He likes to use a small handkerchief with embroidered flowers to cover his face, but it can only barely cover his nose. He took one of the eight-faced palaces."

"The God King and the Old Demon King are also simple. At that time, everyone was doing their best, and no one could stay behind, so it was easy to recognize them."

"Besides, the God King and the Old Demon King were originally my people!"

"It's not difficult to recognize the Duke of Shuofang either. As the lord guarding Shuofang, when he took out the spiritual weapon given to his family by the emperor, he exposed his identity."

"As for the seven great families, they all use real dragon magic, which can't deceive me."

"The eight-faced palace, Lao Piao got one, the God King and the Old Demon King got one, the Duke of Shuofang's Li family, and the Ye, Peng, Zhu, and Lu families got one each. In addition to the one I have, there are four in total. The other three are in the hands of Tong Qingyun and others. But there are only seven, where did the eighth eight-faced palace go?"

Suddenly, all the masks looked at Zhoubo, Niu Biao, and other townspeople.

The more than one thousand masks had eerie expressions, making Zhoubo, Niu Biao, the chef, the doctor, the runners, and other townspeople feel uneasy.

"At that time, you were also in Shuofang, right?"A mask flew out and floated in front of everyone, scanning their faces with a smile. "Lao Zhou, the emperor ordered you to protect me, but in reality, you are to monitor me. When Tianmen Town changes dramatically and Emperor Tiangao is far away, Di Ping cannot come immediately, so he can only order you to take action."

The other masks nodded one after another.

Another mask flew out from behind Xue Qingfu and smiled, "So, you must hurry to Tianmen Town and participate in the struggle for the Chao Tian Que when Qu Jin and others suddenly disappear."

The third mask flew in front of Zhou Bo and others and said leisurely, "At that time, it was chaotic, and you were a powerful force. So, the eighth side of Chao Tian Que is in your hands. But what makes me feel strange is..."

All the masks flew forward, their faces strange and their voices unanimous, "General Niu Biao, why did you not report to Di Ping after you obtained a side of Chao Tian Que? Instead, you claimed it as your own?"

Zhou Bo, the chef, the runner, the tea master, and others looked gloomy and said nothing.

Over a thousand masks floated quietly, and Xue Qingfu behind them was not in a hurry.

"Haha!"

Niu Biao suddenly laughed, then burst into laughter. "Hahaha! What reward does the emperor have for giving up the Chao Tian Que? There are eight sides of the Chao Tian Que, and we only got one side. Is this a merit? No, it's a death sentence! Instead of that, why don't we grab it and claim it as our own? Who doesn't want to live forever?"

Over a thousand masks smiled.

"So, we choose to continue to hide behind the saint."

There was a crackling sound inside Niu Biao's body, and his body became more and more majestic and towering. He grinned, "In these years, the saint has tried to test us repeatedly, wanting to know if we are involved. I, Niu Biao, see through it and laugh at you for having the name of a saint but being as hypocritical as your disciple Bai Yuelou!"

He broke through the roof of the saint's residence with his head, and his body was dozens of feet tall. He reached out his hand and grabbed it, and there was a loud noise in the town's river. A steel fork broke through the water!

Niu Biao shook the steel fork and the cave sky, Li Yuan, and Tianxiang appeared behind him, and finally his spirit appeared, vaguely with the image of a saint. This is the symbol of the realm of "Zheng Sheng."

Zheng, also known as "Zheng" or "Zheng."

The so-called "Zheng Sheng" means verifying the saint's unique skills.

The spiritual masters who have reached this realm have studied the old saint's unique skills to the extreme, verified them, doubted them, inherited and developed them, and even established their own schools!

This is Zheng Sheng!

In the small town, Niu Biao has the highest cultivation level and is the only one who has reached the realm of Zheng Sheng. Even in the face of the old demon king, he is not afraid!

He was originally a great demon who became an official in the court and was appointed as a general in the Five Officials. If Di Ping didn't really trust Xue Qingfu, he wouldn't have sent such an existence to monitor him!

Behind him, Zhou Bo and others shouted one after another. In this small town, there are many experts in the realm of Tianxiang and Li Yuan, and there is not even one spiritual master in the Yuan Dong realm!

The hidden masters in the small town where the saint lives are more than all the aristocratic families in Shuofang City combined, which is truly unimaginable!

However, just as their cultivation was about to bloom and they were about to take action, suddenly a mask covered Zhou Bo's face."I've caught you, Zhou Dinghai, I've caught you!" The masked person exclaimed with great joy.

The mask seemed to be attached to Zhou Bo's face, no matter how he struggled, he couldn't take it off. He even tore off his own skin, but the mask remained fused with his flesh and blood.

Others were shocked and quickly stepped back, but they saw a group of masked people laughing and flying towards them.

Niu Biao roared and wielded his steel fork towards Xue Qingfu.

Xue Qingfu raised his hand and grabbed the tip of the fork.

Niu Biao activated his blood and urged the power of the steel fork to the extreme. This was a spiritual divine weapon, and its power was definitely not inferior to the treasure of the seven major families.

However, even with his strong presence in the realm of Zhen Sheng and the spiritual weapon, he couldn't shake Xue Qingfu even a bit.

Xue Qingfu's right hand firmly caught the steel fork, his white eyebrows fluttered, and a smile appeared on his face. He looked up and said, "General Niu, I have also prepared a mask for you."

On Zhou Bo's face, the face of the mask kept changing with his own face, but suddenly stopped and disappeared.

Zhou Bo touched his old face and laughed, "Old Zhou, you have finally become me!"

The group of masters in the small town attacked the masks in the air, but Zhou Bo suddenly attacked them and grabbed one person. The person was caught off guard and suddenly had a mask covering his face, losing all resistance.

Zhou Bo let him go and went to catch others, but the person who was just masked trembled violently, as if two faces were fighting for control. Suddenly, the shaking stopped and he attacked others with Zhou Bo.

Niu Biao looked down, showing a look of despair. He wanted to escape, but he couldn't even pull out his steel fork.

He wanted to throw away the steel fork, but Xue Qingfu's overwhelming power crushed him, pressing him down more and more. Niu Biao coughed up blood and slowly bent down, his body getting smaller and smaller. Finally, he couldn't bear it and knelt on the ground with a thud.

A mask flew over, glanced at him, and sneered, "You have been monitoring me for so many years, and I have also prepared these good things for you. General Niu Biao, you can die without regrets."

"I don't want to die—" Niu Biao trembled and spat out blood.

The mask snapped onto his face.

After a while, Xue Qingfu pushed open the door of the Saint's Residence and walked out calmly.

Zhou Bo and other residents of the small town followed him, and an old ox followed behind. Xue Qingfu walked to the small bridge over the river, looked up at the high-rise buildings in Shuofang, and saw that they were all closed.

At this moment, the high-rise buildings in Shuofang were devoid of revelry, leaving only hexagonal eaves and roofs, and no entrance could be found.

On the buildings of the seven major families in Shuofang, the power of spiritual divine weapons erupted, and they began to attack the five ancient families!

Among them, the Li family, Ye family, Peng family, Lu family, and Zhu family were the most eye-catching. The Li family, as the Shuofang Marquis, was given the divine weapon of exterminating gods by the emperor, which was simply a killing weapon. From the five gates, a stream of divine light shot out, and even the existence of the Tianxiang realm was cut like vegetables!

"No matter who flips the table and overturns the chess game, I must enter the game and seize the other Heavenly Gates!"Xue Qingfu rose into the air and landed on the back of an old ox, which then soared into the sky on a cloud of demonic energy!

At the same time, a building in Shuofang City shook and transformed, sinking deeper and deeper into the ground.

After a moment, the building settled in an underground space, suspended above the Jiehui City.

"Jiehui Monster wants to save their God King, they must pass my test."

Everyone stood on the platform at the bottom of the building, Su Yun looked at the girl Wu Tong and said, "And I need to use the power of human demons to weaken the Jiehui Monster."

Wu Tong glanced at him coquettishly and was about to agree when suddenly her face changed and she said coldly, "Who summoned the Dragon Spirit? Who did it..."

Su Yun's heart skipped a beat and he looked over, only to see a huge Dragon Spirit slowly emerging above the Jiehui City.

He felt a sinking feeling in his heart. The Dragon Spirit and the human demons were mortal enemies. The fact that the Dragon Spirit from the Dragon Tomb appeared here meant that someone had already calculated that the human demons might interfere and manipulated the demon nature to prevent the Jiehui Monster from exerting its full strength, so they brought in the old enemy of the human demons!

"If we can't rely on Wu Tong's strength as a human demon..."

Su Yun looked around, his face becoming more serious.

Li Muge silently drew his sword, while Li Zhuxian tried to stir up his blood and energy, but the two siblings turned pale when they saw the Jiehui Monster continuously breaking through the ground and flying into the underground space.

Bai Yuelou, who had realized that Xue Qingfu was also a false gentleman like himself, looked somewhat dejected.

Ye Luo hid in the shadows, his thoughts unknown.

Chi Xiaoyao was injured in the night's battle and looked somewhat unwell.

Jiao Shu'Ao, who was eating in the village, looked at the Dragon Spirit wandering in the city and then at Wu Tong beside him, feeling somewhat at a loss.

"Shall I lead these guys to resist the Jiehui Monster and prevent them from rescuing the Jiehui God King?" Su Yun had no idea how to proceed.

"You still have me!" The book monster Ying Ying encouraged him on his shoulder.

Su Yun clenched his fists tightly, gritted his teeth, and suddenly waved his hand.

The building transformed, clanging and clanging, turning into countless thick steel forks, encircling the Jiehui God King's palace!

"Let's go!"

Su Yun shouted, leaping down and saying loudly, "Everyone, follow me and defend the Jiehui God King's palace! Defending this palace means defending Shuofang City!"