Urban Martial Saint

Everyone was shaken by the four words "Wanyan Hongfeng," and couldn't help but recall what had happened with Wanyan Hongfeng back then.

When Wanyan Hongfeng was alive, you really could sum him up with four words: awe-inspiring and invincible. At that time, the Wanyan Family's grand plan had not yet begun; the Wanyan Family was still in a long period of hiding its edge and biding its time. Even so, the Wanyan Family's status was already unmatched, and Wanyan Hongfeng's strength held an extremely crucial place in that.

Only, although Wanyan Hongfeng's strength was great, his fate was short. When he was just over seventy, he died young. Judging from Wanyan Hongfeng's strength, he should easily have lived to one hundred fifty, and might even have broken through the shackles of the Acme to become a beyond peerless master. Who could have imagined that Wanyan Hongfeng would die so young?

At the time, the news of Wanyan Hongfeng's death truly shook the whole world. Many people rushed to the Wanyan Family to attend his funeral, but to put it bluntly, they all suspected whether Wanyan Hongfeng was really dead; many came specifically to examine whether he was dead or alive. In the end, after so many people verified it, they all confirmed that Wanyan Hongfeng was dead, and so no one doubted the matter any longer.

Even so, all these years later, many people still mention Wanyan Hongfeng, because his strength had been too terrifying. Yet no one ever thought that Wanyan Hongfeng hadn't died—that he was actually still alive!

Now, seeing Wanyan Hongfeng here, one can well imagine the shock in everyone's hearts. It wasn't just the two from the Sword Saint Sect; even many members of the Wanyan Family were staring, dumbstruck, unable to come back to their senses for quite some time.

"You… you're Wanyan Hongfeng?" The Third Sect Master's voice was shaking a little; suddenly he felt as though he had fallen into a trap as well—a trap the Wanyan Family had dug long ago. In fact, it was as if the whole world was inside this trap.

"Are you doubting my identity?" Wanyan Hongfeng countered.

"No, you… hadn't you already died back then?" the Third Sect Master asked in a low voice.

"I know that when I died back then, people from the Sword Saint Sect were still suspicious. They even specially sent someone to examine my corpse." Wanyan Hongfeng gave a soft smile and said, "However, the Sword Saint Sect only sent a Peak Master. How could he possibly determine whether a beyond peerless master was dead or alive?"

"You…" The Third Sect Master's expression changed again; he fixed his stare on Wanyan Hongfeng and said, "You had already broken through the shackles of the Acme at that time and reached the realm of a beyond peerless master?"

Everyone was equally shocked; so when Wanyan Hongfeng faked his death, he had already been a beyond peerless master. Back then, people had all thought he was just a Peak Master. Looking at it now, they had known far too little about Wanyan Hongfeng. In this light, Wanyan Hongfeng truly was a stunningly gifted figure. To break the shackles of the Acme and become a beyond peerless master in his seventies—there were hardly any such people in the world!

"And why not?" Wanyan Hongfeng asked with a faint smile.

"You… you…" The Third Sect Master's voice was starting to stutter. "Then… then why did you have to play dead?"

"Breaking the shackles of the Acme in my seventies and becoming a beyond peerless master—don't you think that's just a little too eye-catching?" Wanyan Hongfeng said. "Especially when there were so many experts of the Sword Saint Sect around. If the Sword Saint Sect had found out about this, how could I have lived this long?"

The people nearby were all puzzled, not sure what exactly Wanyan Hongfeng meant, but only those of the Sword Saint Sect understood. To keep their position from being threatened, the Sword Saint Sect had always monitored the situation in the world. Whenever someone became a beyond peerless master, they would send people to win him over: either draw him into the Sword Saint Sect to work for them, or simply kill him outright. For example, the Fifth Sect Leader was one such beyond peerless master who was recruited into the Sword Saint Sect!

Of course, there were some exceptions—like the Corpse Ghost Dragon, who had lived for over three hundred years. He had already mastered his arts before the Sword Saint Sect was founded. When the Sword Saint Sect began recruiting top experts, they could no longer control the Corpse Ghost Dragon, so he couldn't be pulled under their banner. And as for Shijia Wuji, there's no need to mention him; the Sword Saint Sect and the Buddhist and Taoist have a pact. The Immortal Lord was also an exception. After he broke through the shackles of the Acme, he clashed with the Sword Saint Sect and almost got killed. Later, he went to Mount Duwang to steal the Tianzhu Sword, also intending to deal with the Sword Saint Sect. As a result, he was blocked by Wuji at the Sword Saint Sect for a hundred years and never emerged, so the Sword Saint Sect never managed to get rid of him.

When Fu Qingping became a beyond peerless master, the Sword Saint Sect hadn't had time to act yet, which led to the situation today.

Looking at it this way, things were exactly as Wanyan Hongfeng had said. At the time he became a beyond peerless master, given the Sword Saint Sect's behavior, they would definitely have tried to recruit him. If Wanyan Hongfeng refused to go to the Sword Saint Sect, then he would surely die. Thus, Wanyan Hongfeng used a fake death to temporarily withdraw from the public eye, while hiding away to do other things—and he truly concealed himself for dozens of years.

Now, Wanyan Hongfeng's strength had grown ever greater, and he no longer feared the Sword Saint Sect. Having obtained the Scabbard of the Minghong Knife, he felt even more confident, and so finally revealed himself.

The Third Sect Master furrowed his brow tightly and kept silent for quite a while before saying, "Wanyan Hongfeng, you truly know how to hide. These decades—where exactly have you been hiding?"

"Where do you think these Long-toothed Rats came from? Where do you think I got this Minghong Knife's Scabbard?" Wanyan Hongfeng replied with a mild smile.

All these years, Wanyan Hongfeng had been hiding on Xiliang Mountain, breeding Long-toothed Rats. In fact, that trap of the Heavenly Cluster Clouds in red was also set by Wanyan Hongfeng. The Tai Chi Circle outside was arranged by him to deal with Shijia. And these Long-toothed Rats were meant to be used against the world's top experts.

He hadn't expected Shijia to actually escape from his trap. Fortunately, the main scheme hadn't been ruined: the Long-toothed Rats really did bring all the heroes of the world under his control, allowing their plan to proceed smoothly.

The one who snatched away the Minghong Knife Scabbard on Xiliang Mountain was Wanyan Hongfeng. Afterwards, he had Wanyan Second Master send people to guard outside Xiliang Mountain, originally intending to use the red Heavenly Cluster Clouds to kill Shijia. But the people they sent were killed by someone—he didn't know by whom—and Shijia took the Heavenly Cluster Clouds and ran off to Shenchuan City, ruining that part of his plan.

Luckily, the most crucial thing was still the Long-toothed Rats plan. As long as that plan had no problems, everything else was secondary!

The Third Sect Master's face turned icy. At this point, he understood that the Wanyan Family had been plotting for so many years in order to swallow up their Sword Saint Sect as well. This was bad: setting aside whether they could get the Minghong Knife's Scabbard, the mere question of whether the Sword Saint Sect could withstand the Wanyan Family once they had the Minghong Knife's Scabbard was already a big headache.

Although Fu Qingping had severely wounded the Corpse Ghost Dragon, who was holding the Minghong Knife's Scabbard, Fu Qingping himself had also suffered heavy injuries. Moreover, he had unleashed beyond peerless power; even if he survived his injuries, he would still face Heavenly Retribution. The Sword Saint Sect's beyond peerless masters outnumbered those of the Wanyan Family, but who would dare to unleash beyond peerless power? This battle was inherently unfair; there was no way to fight it!

Seeing the expression on the Third Sect Master's face, Wanyan Hongfeng already guessed what he was thinking, and smiled faintly. "Go back and tell your Sect Leader that what we want is very simple. Two things. First: the secret within the Heaven Earth Man Three Gates—I want to know why it is that only the Knife Saint's corpse never disappeared."

The Third Sect Master's expression changed again, and he said in a deep voice, "Even I don't know that secret. It is absolutely impossible to tell you!"

"Is that so?" Wanyan Hongfeng slowly wiped the Minghong Knife Scabbard in his hand. "Compared with your life, which is more important—this secret, or your lives?"

The Third Sect Master drew in a deep breath; this was a question he could not answer. In truth, he himself did not know that secret, so he had no idea whether it was worth staking his life to protect.

Wanyan Hongfeng continued, "Second: tell your Sect Leader to help my Wanyan Family do things. Once my Wanyan Family's enterprise is accomplished, then within the Heaven Earth Man Three Gates, your Sword Saint Sect will also have a place!"

The Third Sect Master immediately said, "You don't have to say that. Our Sword Saint Sect has no ambitions whatsoever toward the Heaven Earth Man Three Gates!"

"All the better!" Wanyan Hongfeng laughed. "Then you only need to help us do things. That way we can even save one slot!"

The Third Sect Master couldn't help flaring up in anger. In the end, it all came down to making the Sword Saint Sect work for the Wanyan Family. Calling it 'help' was just a disguise; in truth, they wanted the Sword Saint Sect to submit to the Wanyan Family, to serve the Wanyan Family and be driven by them. How could the Sword Saint Sect ever willingly accept such a thing?

Of course, at this moment, the Third Sect Master naturally couldn't openly oppose Wanyan Hongfeng. He took a deep breath and said, "Fine. I'll go back and convey these matters to the Sect Leader for you. But whether he agrees or not—that is up to him and has nothing to do with me!"

Wanyan Hongfeng smiled and said, "As long as you pass the message along, it has nothing to do with you. How to choose is your Sect Leader's business. I imagine he won't be so blind to the situation."

The Third Sect Master said nothing, gave the Fifth Sect Leader a meaningful glance, and turned to leave.

"Wait." Wanyan Hongfeng suddenly called them back. He looked at the two of them and slowly pointed the Minghong Knife Scabbard at the Fifth Sect Leader. "This one stays."

"Why?" the Third Sect Master barked immediately.

"It's nothing. I just feel that he and I are fated, so I'd like to invite him to linger here for a few days." Wanyan Hongfeng said with a mild smile.

Of course the Third Sect Master didn't believe a word of that; Wanyan Hongfeng clearly wanted to keep the Fifth Sect Leader here as a hostage. This was something the Third Sect Master absolutely could not sit by and ignore.

"No!" the Third Sect Master said bluntly. "He left with me, so he must return with me. If you insist on keeping him, then I'll stay with him!"

"That's fine too!" Wanyan Hongfeng nodded. "I'm not in a hurry to send word to your Sword Saint Sect anyway. With you two staying here long enough, the Sword Saint Sect will naturally send people to look for you. I can tell them about this matter then."

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