ragginovel Chapter 654 Self-Confession (Part 1)
Chapter 654 Self-Confession (Part 1)
Chapter 654 Self-Confession (Part 1)
The beginning of the Yin hour, which is around 3 a.m. in modern terms.
The hustle and bustle of the day and night on Wudang Mountain has finally come to an end.
In the end, Sun Yixie's group, relying on the "face" of Chief Di, successfully descended the mountain via the main road.
Although many people pretended to confront them all the way to the foot of the mountain, none of them dared to actually chase after Sun Yixie and his group after they left the mountain gate.
After Chun Kong showed off his skills, Huang Donglai and his group easily broke through the encirclement and then retreated through the "climbing passage" in the forbidden area behind the mountain.
And this time, because the pursuers were watching from afar and could see roughly where they went, the "climbing tunnel" was finally exposed after they retreated.
Upon seeing those "climbing points" embedded in the cliff face, Master Yao felt as if his mind was about to shut down.
Not only him, but everyone who witnessed this had a sudden realization, like "So the wheels that humans have been inventing for thousands of years can actually be put on suitcases."
This method of "using relatively simple tools to create a backdoor for someone's sect from a place that seems impossible to invade" is truly a blind spot in the world of martial arts; if "lightness skill" did not exist, perhaps someone in the world would have thought of and popularized something similar much earlier.
One can imagine that from that day on, many sects built on the mountains changed their defensive strategies, but that has nothing to do with the story we're about to tell.
Back to the present... After Shuangxie and the others successfully framed Chunxin and rescued Chunkong, the mess at Wudang still needs to be cleaned up by Sect Leader Yao.
After thinking for a moment, Sect Leader Yao gathered everyone in the Zhenwu Hall and settled the wounded. He also ordered the "guests" to stop wandering around.
At this point, since we already know how the "Hun Yuan Star Gate" group sneaked up and down the mountain, the cave in the forbidden area behind the mountain is no longer suspected of hiding people, and there is no need to leave anyone at the entrance; considering that everyone watched them run away and was powerless to stop them, there is no need to talk about "preventing them from launching a surprise attack".
It would be better to gather everyone together, exchange the existing information, and see if we can sort out our thoughts and come up with a reasonable explanation for today's events.
First of all, judging from their current performance, this Hunyuan Star Gate truly has the strength to "first destroy Shaolin and then Wudang," but in reality, they have not done so.
During the day, there were indeed a few people with considerable martial arts skills who claimed to be from the Hunyuan Star Gate and killed people; but at night, a group of Hunyuan Star Gate experts who were much more powerful than those people during the day came, and they did not cause any casualties. In fact, they seemed to be trying their best to avoid causing casualties... This is undoubtedly contradictory.
In comparison, the identities of those who acted with Sun Huang as "disciples of the Hunyuan Star Gate" were more reliable, while those few during the day... became suspicious.
Furthermore, from beginning to end, Sun Huang has consistently denied that the incident at Shaoshi Mountain was carried out by their Hunyuan Interstellar Sect, which contradicts their act of "actively leaving a declaration of extermination after the surprise attack on Shaoshi Mountain".
Given these numerous doubts, coupled with the conspiracy theories deliberately raised by Chief Di during his conversation with Sun Yixie, many people have begun to suspect that there might be some other large organization behind this.
The group discussed this for a while, and then someone belatedly raised a question—where did Master Jiang go? We haven't seen him for a long time.
According to the book's interpretation, when everyone returned to the Zhenwu Hall in the early hours of the morning, Jiang Shouzhen was no longer there.
Whether Jiang Daxia went with the crowd to chase Huang Donglai and the others, or stayed alone in the back hall... no one knows.
Firstly, given the circumstances, no one else had time to pay attention to him; secondly, he himself intentionally concealed his presence, not wanting anyone to notice that he had quietly remained in the back hall.
After that, one thing happened after another, and everyone was still in a state of shock, so it wasn't until now that someone remembered him.
After discovering that the person was missing, Sect Leader Yao took the lead in asking if any fellow practitioners knew where Master Jiang had gone, but everyone present looked at each other blankly, indicating that they had no recollection of him.
As for the only person who was confirmed to have remained in the rear hall, namely the still "unconscious" Master Zheng, he was naturally unable to answer Master Yao's question.
Of course, as you all know, Zheng Dongxi had actually woken up long ago. He just didn't want people to suspect that Jiang Shouzhen's "disappearance" was related to him, so he lay back down in his original position and pretended to be unconscious before everyone returned.
With some missing and others in a coma, the matter has to be put on hold for now.
Let's ask someone who can wake us up...
The first one is Lord Ling.
Her performance strategy after "waking up" was very clear: to pretend that she was half-mad in order to avoid all rational verbal communication as much as possible.
The specific manifestation was that as soon as she opened her eyes, she would curl up into a ball with a look of terror on her face... If anyone else touched her, or even got close to her or spoke loudly, she would immediately scream and cry, tears streaming down her face, looking utterly pitiful.
Finally, having no other choice, several patient female warriors stepped in and coaxed her gently for a long time before finally taking her to a room to rest alone.
After Ling Louzhu made such a fuss, she also became someone who was temporarily "unable to be questioned".
The only person we can ask left is Chunxin.
Chunxin was really unlucky. Before he even opened his eyes, the various heroes who were about to interrogate him had already fully felt the woman's silent accusation against Chunxin, this beast, through Ling Sheng'er's powerful postmodern performance.
Even his master, Master Jizhen, had a solemn expression on his face, as if he was already pondering whether to use his left or right hand when it came to putting righteousness before family.
Snap—Snap—Snap—Snap—
A moment later, Chunxin was awakened by four crisp slaps.
The person responsible for waking him up was Master Ma, who was also the rather impatient junior brother of Sect Leader Yao.
Master Ma's personality is the exact opposite of Yao Zhizu's: Master Yao is known for his composure, knowing how to retreat in order to advance, and handling matters smoothly; while Master Ma is impulsive, public-spirited, intolerant of injustice, and unable to keep his mouth shut.
That is why Master Ma is not suitable to be a sect leader, especially a high-ranking sect leader, a fact that he himself is well aware of.
However, in this situation, Master Ma is the most suitable mouth and hand substitute for everyone.
"You lecherous monk! Haven't you had enough sleep?!"
His very first words, in terms of how he addressed Chunxin, seemed to condemn him, yet no one present raised any objections.
What? You're asking why it's the Wudang people interrogating Chunxin right now, instead of Master Jizhen personally interrogating his disciple?
That's obviously to avoid suspicion...
Think about it, if this matter were handed over to Master Jizhen to investigate, it would be fine if he found guilty, but what if he found innocent? What if people said he was showing favoritism and protecting his own? An experienced person like him would definitely not fall into this trap.
"Uh...this...this is..." When Chunxin woke up, the burning pain on his cheeks was far more intense than the injuries he had sustained from being hit by Jiang Muchan and the back of his head that Sun Yixie had ambushed.
But now is clearly not the time to dwell on these things, because Chunxin soon realized that he was surrounded by countless sharp, piercing gazes.
"Master! What's going on?" Seeing this, Chunxin no longer had time to pretend to chant Amitabha. He quickly scanned the crowd and found a group of bald men standing together. Then he shouted this question, which was almost a plea for help, to Master Jizhen.
"Amitabha..." But when Master Jizhen spoke, he still had to recite a Buddhist chant first, and his tone and attitude towards Chunxin were extremely restrained. "Chunxin, things have come to this point, and it is inconvenient for me to say anything more to you. I can only advise you with one sentence: The sea of suffering is boundless, but turning back is the shore..."
Ladies and gentlemen, this sentence... at first glance, doesn't seem to contain a single harsh word, but in reality, it's a definite statement of intent to strike at the heart.
If Master Jizhen had said something like, "Tell me what you have done," Chunxin would still have a sliver of a chance to turn things around.
Unfortunately, having been led astray by Sun Yixie, Master Jizhen was already prejudiced. He skipped the discussion about whether Chunxin had any problems and went straight into the mode of "Your problem is basically confirmed. I can't help you now, I can only advise you to be more polite."
Chunxin was definitely stunned when he heard that.
He had no idea what had happened after he passed out. In the few seconds after he woke up, he was wondering, "Why are my clothes changed? I don't remember wearing these clothes before. And why am I only wearing a pair of underwear and a cassock now?"
At this moment, he saw Master Jizhen's attitude, and his words made it seem as if everyone already had some evidence of his crimes.
Looking at Master Ma and the other onlookers, they all had expressions of accusation.
Feeling guilty, Chunxin was forced by their presence and hastily analyzed the situation in his mind. He immediately thought, "Oh no... Could it be that they have already found the letters I hid in the room?"
But a few seconds later, he thought again: "Hmm... well, since I've been discovered, instead of arguing, I might as well admit my mistake. After all, those letters can only prove that I coveted Wudang's martial arts and that my usual sanctimonious appearance was all an act... Although this is not a respectable thing, it's not a capital offense, right? As long as my fact that I am an undercover agent of Yuxiu Manor has not been exposed, I should be safe for the time being."
So, after a moment of obvious hesitation, Chunxin, quick-witted as ever, immediately put on a bitter face and said, "Master! Master, please forgive me! I was just momentarily bewitched!"