Chapter 367: Chapter 252: Taicang Sect on Broken Sword Peak

"Where?"

"Follow me, sir." Squirrel swayed its big tail and ran out, finally stopping in front of a pillar embedded with the ground.

This pillar was actually something Qin Yuesheng had already noticed, but because its appearance was not very conspicuous, coupled with the fact that it couldn’t be dragged using the Star-Picking Hand, Qin Yuesheng had put it aside. Now hearing the squirrel mention it, he started paying attention to it again.

Could this pillar be hiding something extraordinary?

"Sir, there must be something inside." Squirrel stood on its two feet and looked up at Qin Yuesheng.

"How do you know..." Qin Yuesheng was about to ask when Ah Hu immediately slapped the pillar, breaking it into two pieces.

When the pillar hit the ground, Qin Yuesheng saw that there was an iron box embedded in the cross-section of the break.

"Oh!" Qin Yuesheng reached out and pulled the iron box from the pillar, quickly opening it to inspect.

Inside the box lay a piece of golden silk cloth and a noticeably thick cyan broken finger, stacked quietly.

"What is this?" Qin Yuesheng opened the golden silk cloth and pulled it straight, his expression froze, momentarily at a loss for words.

On the golden silk cloth, a monster with horns, a green body, human-like shape, red eyes, sharp teeth, and wings on its back was embroidered vividly.

To Qin Yuesheng, this look was all too familiar, recognizing it at a glance.

Celestial Demon!

And on the golden silk cloth, there were hundreds of such Celestial Demons flying out from the clouds in the sky, opening their bloodthirsty mouths towards the cities on the ground below.

Even though it was just an embroidery, Qin Yuesheng could still feel the impending disaster through it.

Some Celestial Demons were bare-handed, while others wielded long knives resembling the Celestial Demon Evil Blade used by Qin Yuesheng.

The picture contained no text but provided Qin Yuesheng with substantial information.

It turned out that Celestial Demons were not extremely rare; their numbers might be unimaginably high.

The Celestial Demon Evil Blade was the standard weapon of Celestial Demons.

The Celestial Demon seen in the Celestial Demon’s heart realm probably did not know who it fought with and got injured, ending up hiding in Cyan Yang City to await being fallen.

If the Celestial Demon Evil Blade was a Celestial Demon’s weapon, then the Profound Celestial Treasure Mirror and Cold Frost Winter Snow Sword should be the battle trophies looted by that Celestial Demon from someone else.

The iron box also contained a broken finger, which Qin Yuesheng could recognize without picking it up; the owner was indeed a Celestial Demon.

"Who left this box? The person who embroidered this picture must have seen the scene depicted here with their own eyes." Qin Yuesheng frowned.

Celestial Demons coming from the sky, when did this happen? Will it occur again?

"Sir, there seems to be nothing else here, just this." The squirrel said.

Qin Yuesheng put the items back in the iron box: "How did you find out there was something hidden inside this pillar?"

"When following Elder Huai in the past, he taught me a technique for observing aura. If an object is solid, the aura cannot pass through; if hollow, the aura will penetrate it from the inside. This pillar is like that, so I thought there might be something inside." The squirrel explained while waving its tail.

"Hmm, you did well this time, made a significant contribution." Qin Yuesheng pointed to a pile of treasures in the mansion and said: "As a reward, I’ll make you the guardian of my treasure vault, specializing in guarding the treasures stored inside."

The squirrel looked bewildered, its cheeks puffed out, falling into a daze.

What kind of reward is this?

Qin Yuesheng said: "Too happy? Then I’ll give you a double delight; I’ll personally name you. From now on you’ll be called... Ah Song."

Squirrel: ...

After pulling out the entire pillar and disassembling it, confirming it was merely an ordinary pillar without anything else hidden, Qin Yuesheng let Ah Song and Ah Hu hide inside the mansion, then put away the Mountain Ghost Pearl.

Within several days, two consecutive battles wreaked havoc in Yangzhou Prefecture, causing public unrest. More than half of the Gold and Silver Pavilion collapsed, killing many people. The gold dragon and silver phoenix attached to the building also seemed ready to collapse at any moment, threatening another disaster.

Upon learning of this, Liu Xian immediately dispatched someone to control the scene, drove away all unrelated persons, and began the search.

With Wang Tao dead, Yangzhou Prefecture’s Gold and Silver Pavilion branch naturally fell into chaos. Although Liu Xian had his confidence severely shaken by Qin Yuesheng recently, he had not yet reached the point of giving up completely. Upon finding no trace of Wang Tao, he immediately ordered his soldiers to start dismantling Gold and Silver Pavilion, confiscating all gold and silver jewels to fund his army.

Of course, Qin Yuesheng was unaware of any of this. After leaving the treasury, having achieved his goal in Yangzhou Prefecture, it was time for him to depart.

...

At the fork in the official road.

Qin Yuesheng rode Ah Hu, looking at the road not leading to Cyan Yang City.

Remembering the last time he sought shelter from the rain, those martial artists mentioned that the Taicang Sect would be holding a grand gathering at Broken Sword Peak.

"I have spent quite a few days in the Yangzhou Prefecture, the Blissful Gathering should have ended by now," Qin Yuesheng muttered to himself.

Returning directly to Cyan Yang City wasn’t very appealing to him, since Cyan Yang City was dull and he didn’t know what to do all day at home.

"Forget it, if it’s over, then it’s over. I heard that Taicang Sect is capturing people everywhere and their reputation isn’t very good. I might as well go and see for myself. If I can rid Jiangnan’s martial world of a menace, that would be a good deed indeed." Qin Yuesheng clamped his legs, and Ah Hu immediately changed direction, swiftly heading towards the fork in the road.

Broken Sword Peak, as the name suggests, is a towering mountain with steep, vertical cliffs, its top as flat as a broken sword.

Qin Yuesheng arrived at the foot of the mountain and discovered that there was only one path to go upwards.

Of course, if your Lightweight Skill is excellent and you’re confident in your Inner Strength, climbing straight to the peak like a monkey on the other sides of the mountain is quite possible.

Although Qin Yuesheng possessed the Carefree Heavenly Travel Skill, he preferred enjoying the scenery along the way, so he rode Ah Hu up the mountain path.

The mountain foothills had wonderful scenery, and occasionally small beasts would leap across the path, quickly disappearing into the bushes. Ah Hu’s lively nature made him want to chase after them each time, but Qin Yuesheng persistently restrained him, making Ah Hu hang his head in frustration.

"Eh!"

Suddenly, Qin Yuesheng flipped off Ah Hu’s back and stared incredulously at a big tree beside the road. There, high up in the tree, was a corpse which had estimatedly been dead for many days, impaled on a broken spearhead.

What surprised Qin Yuesheng wasn’t the discovery of a dead body, but that he had seen this person before; during the torrential rain, this person had sought shelter in his residence.

At that time, he introduced himself, seeming to be named Guo Ke.

Taking the corpse down from the tree, Qin Yuesheng carefully examined the wounds. The deceased had sixteen minor injuries, three bone fractures, and the fatal wound being from the broken spearhead.

"Could it be a conflict with the Taicang Sect?" Qin Yuesheng pondered, then continued running up the mountain with Ah Hu.

Along the way, he occasionally found corpses that had been dead for a long time on other tree trunks, both male and female, wearing different sect attire.

Some corpses lying beside the path had been bitten and torn apart by wild beasts.

"Who goes there!!"

Just as Qin Yuesheng was getting closer to the summit, a voice questioned from not far away and a group of young men dressed in gray coats with white sleeves rushed out from the woods.

These people all held iron swords and seemed to belong to the same sect.

"Who are you and what are you doing here."

"Senior brother, look, such a large golden-furred tiger."

Compared to Qin Yuesheng, Ah Hu instantly attracted their attention, as they gazed at Ah Hu’s shiny golden coat with astonished, greedy eyes.

A top-quality tiger skin indeed!

Qin Yuesheng said, "Who are you all, is Broken Sword Peak your territory? Why should you question my purpose here."

"Courting death!" As soon as these youths heard him, they brandished their swords and attacked fiercely, aiming to kill Qin Yuesheng without mercy.

"Your tempers are excessively high, gentlemen." Qin Yuesheng snatched quickly, the iron swords in the youths’ hands instantly transformed into iron shards in his grasp, leaving only bare sword handles.

Slap! Slap! Slap! Slap! 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Qin Yuesheng swiftly slapped several people, leaving their faces swollen and flying high, crashing heavily into nearby trees, unable to stand.

"Speak, who are you, and what are you doing here." Qin Yuesheng grasped a young man’s neck and demanded.

At this point, seeing Qin Yuesheng’s overwhelming strength beyond his league, the youth replied with half submission, half threat, "I am a disciple of Taicang Sect. You injure us, and the sect leader will not let you off."

"Although you are far stronger than I am, you might not defeat our sect leader."

"So it is Taicang Sect." Qin Yuesheng hurriedly asked, "Has your sect’s Blissful Gathering ended? Do you know what happened to those dead people down the mountain?"

"Naturally, it’s long over, our sect leader sincerely invited Jiangnan’s various sects to gather here and discuss major affairs. Those who showed disrespect and refused to cooperate were killed by the uncles and elders," the youth replied.

This Taicang Sect forces people to Broken Sword Peak to join their Blissful Gathering, coercing others to discuss matters. Those who disagree can’t leave Broken Sword Peak and meet a violent end. This is typical Demon Sect behavior.

"A sect like this in Jiangnan is certainly not a good thing. Anyway, since I’m here today, I might just eliminate them to prevent future harm." Qin Yuesheng threw the person in his hand forcefully.

"Ah!!!"

The opponent’s back hit a tree, instantly making him faint.

Seeing Qin Yuesheng’s dangerous eyes, the disciples of Taicang Sect inevitably felt a sense of unease.

They watched as Qin Yuesheng waved his hand, several streams of Inner Strength accompanied by flying daggers pierced into the chests of all Taicang Sect disciples present.

After dealing with them, Qin Yuesheng climbed onto Ah Hu and continued his gallop towards the mountain top.