Chapter 69 Zeng Aniu
Spider casually tore a few pieces of clothing from the corpse beside her and pieced them together to resemble a bed sheet. With a kick, she sent the unconscious Yin Yewang sprawling on it. Then, she grabbed a corner of the sheet and dragged Yin Yewang over.
"I crippled his martial arts skills."
“I hate him for driving my mother to her death, but I can’t really watch him die. Since that’s the case, I’ll cripple his martial arts and then hand him over to someone else to take care of. That way, I can avenge my mother and also ensure that he can’t get involved in the Ming Cult’s activities.”
"Then they wouldn't have lost their lives."
Showing off his extraordinary encounter, he felt that Yin Yewang might rather die than lose his martial arts skills and live.
But who cares about his thoughts?
Anyway, neither Zhu'er nor Xiu's adventures mattered.
Accompanying Zhu'er in dragging Yin Yewang away, Xiu Chu asked curiously, "Where do you plan to take him?"
Spider walked towards the small tavern with a clear goal in mind.
"At the place of an old friend."
*********
Having finally put an end to his worries, the tavern owner was completely wide awake and sat in front of the counter, reminiscing about the first half of his life.
Before he could recover from his melancholy mood, he heard the sound of something scraping on the floor coming from the doorway. Curious, he looked up and saw Zhu'er, accompanied by Xiu Chuqi, dragging an unconscious person into the tavern.
The shopkeeper stood up abruptly and strode over to Zhu'er.
"You really brought him back?"
Looking at the badly worn sheets, the shopkeeper couldn't help but frown: "You just dragged him over like that? What if you hurt him?"
As he spoke, he couldn't help but bend down to check Yin Yewang's injuries.
Seeing this, Zhu'er sneered, no longer displaying the obedient demeanor she had when she first met the shopkeeper.
"I'm already saving his dog's life because of my mother, what more do you want from me?"
She threw the bed sheet in her hand and said, "Since you care about him so much, then fine, he's yours to take care of."
"Anyway, you guys have always been very close brothers, haven't you?"
After saying that, he immediately turned to leave, but the shopkeeper grabbed his wrist.
"Wait, you still haven't told me what happened to his injuries? It looks like his dantian is damaged, meaning he can never practice martial arts again?"
Zhu'er looked at 'Uncle Li' who was questioning her without any surprise.
He casually said, "The external injuries were inflicted by the six major sects, but I destroyed my dantian."
"Are you crazy?"
The shopkeeper looked at Zhu'er in shock: "He's your father, how could you cripple his martial arts? As the young master of the Sky Eagle Sect, how will he face himself without martial arts?"
Zhu'er said nonchalantly, "Why can't he handle himself? Although he lost his martial arts skills, he saved his life."
He couldn't help but smirk maliciously as he spoke: "My mother gave up her martial arts to be with him, but she still gave birth to me and lived for so many years, didn't she?"
"How can these be the same!"
The shopkeeper spoke instinctively, but under Zhu'er's piercing gaze, he gradually lowered his head.
Spider sneered, then pulled Xiu away from their adventure and left.
Xiu Chuqi, who hadn't dared to speak until now, looked at the tearful Zhu'er and sighed softly. She took out the handkerchief Kang Min had given her from her backpack and handed it to Zhu'er.
"Let's wipe it off."
Spider groaned for a moment, then suddenly grabbed a handkerchief and wiped herself haphazardly a few times.
"I didn't cry, it's just that the night wind was too cold and made my nose run."
Showing off her adventure, she nodded in agreement: "Yes, it is indeed a bit cold, and I can't help but have a runny nose too."
Hearing this, Zhu'er, who was still feeling complicated, couldn't help but laugh through her tears: "It's not even autumn yet, how can it be cold? You're just trying to make me happy."
Xiu smiled when he met her, and didn't deny that she was the one who said it was cold first.
Tilting her head, she replied with a smile, "Are you a little happier now?"
"Just a little bit." Zhu'er smiled slightly.
"Aren't you curious?" Zhu'er looked at Xiu Chuqi, who had a calm expression.
Seeing that Zhu'er seemed to have a desire to confide, Xiu Xiu nodded like a chick nodding at rice.
"curious."
Looking into Xiu Chuqi's clear eyes, Zhu'er sighed and began to slowly tell the story of her mother.
In short, it's a story of childhood sweethearts falling for someone else. Zhu'er's mother falls in love with her father, Yin Yewang, a friend who comes to visit her senior brother. Yin Yewang also harbors feelings for Zhu'er's mother. The childhood sweethearts can only bitterly withdraw and offer their blessings to the two of them.
To marry her beloved, Zhu'er's mother was even willing to give up her martial arts skills just to maintain her beauty. However, their happiness was short-lived. A few years after their marriage, Yin Yewang began to tire of his wife and took a second wife.
The little spider, seeing its mother weeping day and night, didn't know how terrifying a fickle man could be. It thought that everything would return to normal once its stepmother was dead. So it stole its mother's poisonous spider and killed its stepmother.
This behavior enraged King Yin Ye, who wanted to kill her to atone for the death of his second wife. To save her, Zhu'er's mother committed suicide in front of King Yin Ye, paying for her life.
After recounting her past with tear-streaked eyes, Zhu'er said with tears in her eyes, "I know they all hate me and think I killed my mother."
"But the one who killed my mother was clearly Yin Yewang, who had fallen in love with someone else, and Uncle Li, who repeatedly advised my mother to be patient and wait for him to turn back, but then turned a blind eye to my mother's pleas for help."
"Just as they hate me, I also hate them."
"I hate them for not giving my mother a way out."
After listening to this melodramatic story with righteous indignation, Xiuchu, her eyes blazing with anger, asked, "Why do they hate you?"
“You’re right. It wasn’t you who killed your mother; it was them who changed their minds.”
"The only person who has the right to hate you is Yin Yewang's second wife. You do owe her a life. No one else has the right to hate you."
After waiting for more than a decade, I finally heard someone else say, "You weren't the one who killed your mother."
Spider couldn't help but rush into Xiu Chu's arms and burst into tears.
She had been suppressing it for too long.
It's been so long that I've started to fool myself.
Deep down, she had been wavering; she genuinely believed that her impulsiveness had killed her mother. She only insisted that Yin Yewang and his group were responsible for her mother's death, simply to have an outlet for her hatred.
Now that someone knows the whole story, they still firmly tell her that she was not wrong, that she did not kill her mother. Zhu'er could not hold back her tears and cried uncontrollably in Xiu Chuqi's arms.
Showing off my adventures is also the first time I've seen an NPC cry so much.
If it weren't for the waterproof function of her Celestial Armor suit, she wouldn't have gotten wet while swimming. In just a short while, her clothes would probably be soaked.
However, it's understandable; Zhu'er has been wronged for far too long.
Showing off his extraordinary encounter, he patiently waited for Zhu'er to finish crying, but unexpectedly, she fainted in his arms from crying.
"..."
Checking Zhu'er's character status, I saw that she didn't have any negative status effects. Only after showing off my adventure did I feel relieved enough to use my dual-person lightness skill to bring Zhu'er back to the rented courtyard.
He escorted Zhu'er back to her room and carefully tucked her in. Xiuchu Qiyu stood by her bedside, sighed, and then turned to leave.
Lying on her bed, unable to sleep after sharing her adventures, she tapped away at the screen, recalling Zhu'er's experiences. At that moment, she desperately wanted to vent to someone.
The image of Kunyu Xuanjing flashed through my mind.
"How about we go and have a chat with Kunyu Xuanjing?"
Thinking of this, she was about to open the Home page when her finger accidentally touched the focus list.
My gaze swept across the focus list, I showed off my adventures, selected a home, and began my journey.
"etc!"
Something seems off?
I interrupted the loading screen, which was almost finished, and showed off my adventure by reopening the focus list.
Sure enough, I found that besides the neighboring NPCs, only the familiar name of Spider appeared in the list.
What about Zeng Aniu?
Showing off his extraordinary encounter, he rushed into Zeng Aniu's room, only to find it empty.
"Zeng Aniu does indeed have secrets!"
"But when did he leave?"
Showing off his extraordinary encounter, he went back to check on Zhu'er and saw that she was still sleeping soundly before turning around and going out to look for Zeng Aniu.
She had flown around several times using her superior lightness skill, but she still couldn't see Zeng Aniu's shadow.
Where did he go?
As dawn approached, thinking that Zhu'er should be waking up soon, Xiu Chu decided to go back and ask her about Zeng Aniu.
"What? You're saying Brother A Niu is missing?"
Upon hearing this news, Zhu'er was even more shocked than when she had her miraculous encounter.
"Where could a cowherd go if he left here in the middle of the night?"
"A cowherd?"
Zhu'er nodded: "When I met him, he had just broken his leg and was lying on the ground in a sorry state. He said that he had accidentally broken his leg while herding cattle and had been kicked out by his master."
"I felt sorry for him, so I gave him a sesame seed cake. After eating it, he said a lot of nice things to cheer me up. At that time, my appearance was ruined because of practicing the Thousand Spider Poison Hand. Seeing that he was witty and good at making me happy, I jokingly asked him to marry me."
"Who knew he would actually agree so readily. Later, when my whereabouts were discovered and I was chased, he stayed by my side the whole time."
He looked at Xiu Chuqi with worry in his eyes: "He's an honest and simple man, and he doesn't know any martial arts. There are so many martial arts practitioners in Kunlun now, where can he go? What if he encounters some danger?"
Hearing that Zhu'er said Zeng Aniu didn't know martial arts, Xiu realized that he wouldn't get any information from her.
He couldn't help but sigh, "Zeng Aniu, Zeng Aniu, I can't save you."
"Don't blame me if Zhu'er gets angry later. I can't just deceive her like you did, can I?"
She silently mourned Zeng Aniu in her heart, and without hesitation, she reported him after showing off her extraordinary encounter.
"He's lying to you. He not only knows martial arts, but he's also quite skilled, even comparable to the leaders of the six major sects."
"What did you say?"
This fact was so outrageous that Spider thought Showing off her extraordinary encounter was a joke.
"He was just an ordinary cowherd, the kind who almost starved to death. How could he possibly be a martial arts master?"
Seeing her bewildered expression, Xiu Chuqiyu couldn't help but shake his head. He spoke with a look of exasperation.
"Don't you know that the more handsome a man is, the more likely he is to lie?"
“I’m certain he’s highly skilled in martial arts. I don’t know which style he’s good at, but I’m sure his internal energy is very profound. You’ve been with him all this time, didn’t you notice anything unusual?”
Zhu'er thought back carefully and realized that before she encountered Xiu Chu's extraordinary adventure, she always managed to escape inexplicably whenever she was being chased.
"Could it really be Zeng Aniu who made the move behind the scenes?"
She looked at Xiu Chuqi and couldn't help but ask, "Since you knew he knew martial arts, why didn't you tell me beforehand?"
Showing off her extraordinary encounter felt like a huge pot had been dumped on her head from the sky.
"Innocent, Your Honor!"
"Since neither of you mentioned knowing martial arts, I assumed you were living in anonymity. Who knew your engagement was a lie?"
"I had no idea that you two had only known each other for a short time and didn't even know anything about each other's background."
Seeing Xiu Chu's overjoyed appearance as if the sky had fallen, Zhu'er couldn't help but chuckle.
"Never mind, I'm not blaming you, we just got carried away with the conversation."
"I know this has nothing to do with you."
"Once I find Zeng Aniu, I'll settle this score with him slowly!"
Showing off their extraordinary encounter, they spoke with shared righteous indignation: "Yes, let's settle this score with him! We must not let him get away with this easily!"
The two set out together to search for Zeng Aniu. However, just like their previous search before their extraordinary encounter, even though they expanded their search area this time, they still couldn't find Zeng Aniu.
Even after returning home at noon to gather, there was still no news whatsoever.
Showing off one's extraordinary encounter doesn't feel right.
"We've searched the entire area, but we haven't been able to find any trace of Zeng Aniu. Where could he have gone at this time?"
Considering his unparalleled martial arts skills, and the fact that the six major sects were besieging Bright Peak at this critical moment, a guess arose in my mind regarding his extraordinary encounter.
"Could Zeng Aniu be a member of the Ming Cult? I mentioned at the dinner table yesterday that the Ming Cult was in dire straits. Could he, like you, have secretly gone out to rescue someone?"
Zhu'er's expression was far from pleasant at the moment, and she frowned as she spoke, "That's not impossible."
"But he's so young. Everyone knows that the Ming Cult's top experts are all from the previous generation. No one from our generation has yet shown their talent. And there aren't any experts his age in the Ming Cult, are there?"
"Are there no experts of this age?"
"And what about the main character?"
A sudden inspiration struck me: to share a serendipitous encounter.
"Could Zeng Aniu be Zhang Wuji?"
She hurriedly opened the Heroes interface, scrolled to the very end, and sure enough, found several more hero illustrations that had been lit up.
The characters whose portraits have been lit up are Abbess Miejue, Zhou Zhiruo, Zhu'er, and Zhang Wuji.
"Is Zhang Wuji really real?"
Show off your adventure and click on the details of the hero with Zeng Aniu's face. There is a spirited young man on the screen, and on the right side of the character profile, there are three big characters: Zhang Wuji.
"Okay, okay..."
I'm so ashamed of myself for showing off my amazing adventure.
No wonder she couldn't find the protagonist Zhang Wuji; it turns out he was hiding by her side under the alias Zeng Aniu.
However, after recalling the kind and optimistic Zeng Aniu, Xiu Chuqi couldn't reconcile him with the villainous protagonist she had previously guessed was burdened with hatred.
"I can't blame myself for being blind; it's just that it would be unreasonable for a character with his background not to turn evil."
"Who would have thought that the protagonist with this background could actually be a sunny, cheerful young man?"
Showing off his extraordinary encounter, he skillfully excused himself before turning to look at the listless Spider, seemingly wanting to say something but holding back.
"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"
Showing off her extraordinary encounter, she sighed: "You said before that you were joking about Zeng Aniu marrying you, and that your sweetheart is your cousin Zhang Wuji?"
Spider nodded.
Why ask these questions now?
After some thought, Xiu Xiu decided that it was better to sacrifice his friend than himself. He chose to denounce Zeng Aniu again.
"What if Zeng Aniu lied to you, and that his real name isn't actually that?"
Zhu'er swallowed a mouthful of rice and said nonchalantly, "Since the identity is fake, the name is naturally fake too. Isn't it normal not to be called Zeng Aniu?"
"Yeah?"
Showing off his extraordinary adventure by eating the new dish on the table in one bite, he then dropped a bombshell.
"What if his real name is Zhang Wuji?"
"What did you say?"
Spider looked at the strange encounter in shock.
Showing off his extraordinary encounter, he spoke again: "I say Zeng Aniu is Zhang Wuji!"
After saying that, he immediately jumped back a step.
"Bang!"
A loud crash came as the dining table in front of them was shattered by Zhu'er's palm strike.
She looked at Zeng Aniu's usual seat with murderous intent.
"OK!"
"Knowing full well that I had been searching for Zhang Wuji in vain, he still hid by my side under an assumed name. Did he secretly laugh at me for being blind every time I told him about Zhang Wuji's past?"
"What a Zeng Aniu!"
"What a Zhang Wuji!"
"Just you wait!"
Somewhat underestimating the rage in Zhu'er's heart, Xiu Chuqi trembled with fear as she looked at the shattered dining table and rushed out in a flash.
“Zhu’er, you’re right! Zhang Wuji is really outrageous. I’ll go out and bring him back for you right now.”
"When the time comes, you should break his legs hard and teach him a lesson he won't forget."
After saying that, he used his light-footed skill to fly away and escape from this dangerous area.
Now that we know Zeng Aniu and Zhang Wuji are the same person, we'll show off our serendipitous encounter and add both their names to our focus list to start the search anew.
She didn't know what went wrong, but even after flying around Kunlun several times, she still hadn't seen a single name appear.
"Something's not right. Could it be that Zhang Wuji would leave Kunlun on his own initiative at this time?"
Seeing that his strength was about to run out, he suddenly encountered a strange encounter and landed on a mountain.
While meditating, I suddenly noticed that many Shaolin Temple disciples were wailing in the nearby channels.
"Huh?"
Remembering the generous rewards Shaolin Temple had given her in the past, she suddenly became interested in showing off her extraordinary encounters. Nie Yun, in his third stage, quickly rushed into the Shaolin Temple's camp.
Master Kongzhi was chanting sutras for his deceased disciple when he was startled to see a woman rushing toward him.
"Female benefactor, what is this?"
Showing off his adventure, he glanced at the NPC's head and politely greeted him.
"Greetings, Master Kongzhi. My name is Xiuchu Qiyu, and I am a swordsmith. I heard someone wailing here just now, so I came to investigate."
Upon hearing the name "Showing Off a Strange Encounter," Master Kongzhi was not surprised that the other party could accurately call out his name despite being complete strangers.
"So you are the benefactor who showed off your extraordinary encounter. Abbess Miejue once mentioned you to this old monk."
He thought that the extinction and the extraordinary encounter had described the basic situation of the six major sects.
Upon hearing this, Xiu Chuqi's eyes lit up.
Abbess Miejue is really good at getting along with people; she genuinely helps introduce business opportunities.
He quickly followed Master Kongzhi's words and said, "In that case, Master and I have been spiritually connected for a long time."
"I just heard a wail coming from here. I wonder what happened?"
At this point in the conversation, a hint of sadness appeared on Master Kongzhi's face.
“It was our temple’s disciple who was killed. His close disciples were so saddened that they cried out and disturbed you, benefactor.”
Showing off his extraordinary encounter, he shook his head: "The sudden loss of a fellow disciple is indeed heartbreaking, but it is hardly a disturbance. I hope you can take care of yourself and accept this loss."
He then smoothly brought up his business: "But has the master ever thought about upgrading the weapons used by the Shaolin disciples? That way, even if they encounter an evenly matched enemy, the disciples will have a better chance of winning with these weapons."
Upon hearing this, Master Kongzhi felt that discussing business at this time was somewhat inappropriate. However, he also realized that what Xiu had said about his extraordinary encounter made a valid point.
If we reject her out of momentary anger and miss this opportunity to reforge our weapons, we might lose even more disciples when we face the Ming Cult in the final battle.
Thinking of this, Master Kongzhi quickly composed himself and looked at Xiu Chu's extraordinary encounter.
"I have seen the weapons you have reforged, and they are indeed quite remarkable. Our Shaolin Temple has many disciples on this trip, and we have about two hundred weapons to be reforged. May I ask how much you charge, benefactor?"
As expected, Shaolin Temple is really rich and powerful!
Other sects only reforge three to five weapons at a time. Unlike Shaolin, who forges over two hundred weapons at a time!
Show off your amazing encounter and get an immediate quote.
“Since you have seen the weapon I reforged, you should know that the materials I added are very precious, hence the high price. Reforging a weapon costs at least fifty gold.”
"However, since Master was introduced by Abbess Miejue, in consideration of the kindness she has shown us over the past few days, we will charge you based on two hundred pieces. Any extras will be a gift from me to you."
Master Kongzhi did some mental calculations.
There were 230 Shaolin disciples who accompanied him on this trip. Seventeen of them were injured and died along the way. Because their bodies were difficult to carry on the road, their bodies and weapons were cremated together.
There are now 213 people left in the group. No, it should be 212 people and one corpse.
My junior brother Yuanzhen had only recently passed away. I had specifically mentioned before that his body should not be cremated, but buried at the highest point of Kunlun after we conquered Bright Peak.
Charging 200 weapons would amount to 10,000 taels of gold.
He turned to look at his junior brother who was in charge of the provisions, and when his junior brother nodded, he turned back to look at Xiu Chuqiyu.
"In that case, thank you very much, benefactor."
As they spoke, he handed the gold ticket to Xiu Chuqiyu.
Having received the largest reward from the new level, he showed off his extraordinary encounter and nodded in satisfaction. He quickly took out the sword-forging furnace and had the Shaolin disciples line up to reforge their weapons.
Reforging over two hundred weapons took a considerable amount of time. By the time Xiu had finished forging the last weapon after his extraordinary encounter, it was already completely dark.
Just as she was packing her things to leave, a young novice monk approached her hesitantly.
"Female benefactor, could you please help me forge one more weapon?"
Before he could even reveal his extraordinary experience in response, the young novice monk hurriedly began to explain.
"It wasn't a weapon I stole; it belonged to my Uncle-Master Yuanzhen."
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