Chaotic World Book
Chapter 157 - 153 A Series of Twists and Turns (Request for Monthly Ticket)

Chapter 157: Chapter 153 A Series of Twists and Turns (Request for Monthly Ticket)

From Zhao Changhe’s transformation to infiltrate the Lu Family’s Forbidden Land to the Ancient Sword soaring to the skies, while it seemed elaborate, the actual time elapsed wasn’t very long—it all happened within the duration of an incense stick burning.

By the time Zhao Changhe and Sisi reached the inner parts of the Forbidden Land and met an old member of the Lu family, the atmosphere at the entrance of the Tang family’s property had also reached its boiling point.

Tang Wangsheng, naturally, tried to prevent others from entering the Tang residence, but under continuous provocation by members of the Lu family and infiltrating Maitreya Sect followers, more and more powerful clans and unsuspecting crowds grew to firmly believe that the Tang family, which barred entry, must have been hiding something sinister.

In reality, switching perspectives, no one would possibly allow thousands of people to storm into their home!

But at this moment, things weren’t so clear.

Despite Tang Wangsheng’s tireless explanations drying his lips, they were all futile. Finally, he resorted to threatening, "Everyone should see clearly where you are! This is the Tang family, are you trying to revolt?"

It must be said his handling of the situation was not effective, and he hadn’t even realized what predicament he was in until now. His threat only made matters worse, and under the lead of the Lu family, people began charging at the Tang family’s gates, some even using their Qinggong skills to leap directly over the walls.

Furious, Tang Wangsheng shouted,"Stop them!"

The Tang family members and courtyard guards, after such prolonged tension, were already prepared and quickly countered, resulting in an inevitable fierce battle breaking out at the entrance of the Tang residence.

The situation completely spiraled out of control.

The Tang family was indeed the top clan in Gusu, with profound heritage. Not to mention the actual Tang family members, but the myriad of highly skilled individuals they had recruited. Each family could only contend at the gates, where the battle raged fiercely back and forth.

However, as Tang Wangsheng watched the chaos, a sense of unease finally began to settle in his heart.

What if they held the line? How would it end?

"Swoosh!"

A sword thrust suddenly came from the side. It was Lu Yuanting, the head of the Lu family, who had personally targeted Tang Wangsheng with a piercing strike.

In a burst of anger, Tang Wangsheng bellowed, "Capture this traitor, and it will be over!"

Lu Yuanting just sneered.

The two heads of families quickly tangled in fierce combat.

Both were at the Mystical Gate Ninth Layer, neither on the Human List, matching quite evenly in strength. Initially, Tang Wangsheng felt he was slightly superior to Lu Yuanting, but as the battle wore on, he sensed something was amiss.

Lu Yuanting didn’t particularly stand out in terms of skills, but strangely, the surrounding battle always seemed to inexplicably swing in his favor—now and then, someone would slash towards him, or stumble into his path, or after a few exchanges, even his own men were thrown at him.

And all these incidents were targeted at him, with Lu Yuanting’s side seemingly unaffected, as if someone was constantly pulling strings. Yet attempts to find the culprit revealed nothing.

Among the troublemakers were Maitreya Sect followers, something Tang Wangsheng had been oblivious to the entire time.

With the covert assistance of Maitreya Sect archanists, the Tang family’s guards unknowingly began to lose ground step by step. Eventually, the gates were breached, forcibly blown open, and a flood of people rushed inside.

Tang Wangsheng realized things had gone awry and loudly commanded, "Protect the family in the back yard!"

Yet no one heeded the so-called family members; their first target was Huqiu in the back mountain.

Lu Yuanting aimed to create the false impression of the Tang family’s Evil Qi contaminating Gusu to incite others to overthrow the Tang family and thereby facilitate the Maitreya Sect’s rise to power. He certainly wouldn’t go against his own claims by attacking any family members. His goal had always been clear—to reach the Huqiu Sword Pool and draw out the Evil Qi.

Tang Wangsheng, at his wits’ end, could not grasp these intricacies. Sweating profusely, he and the forces of the Tang family fought a retreating battle until they were backed up to Huqiu, standing on the Thousand-Person Stone.

Lu Yuanting, however, halted the crowd and called out loudly, "Brother Tang! We are here only to verify the Evil Qi of Huqiu, not to confront your Tang family. Do you see it now?"

Overcome by rage, Tang Wangsheng laughed in spite: "Then I must ask you, do you see it now? There’s no damn Evil Qi in the Sword Pond of Huqiu!"

"That may not be true!" Lu Yuanting said coldly, waving his hand: "Bring Shaohong forward!"

Taken aback, Tang Wangsheng watched as someone led Lu Shaohong through the crowd. The previously irrationally enraged Lu Shaohong now seemed sane, though still appearing listless and bearing traces of Evil Qi, as if temporarily suppressed.

A sinister foreboding filled Tang Wangsheng’s heart.

It seemed the Lu family had indeed come prepared. Could Lu Shaohong here truly trigger some resonance?

Lu Yuanting stated, "If Brother Tang has no ghosts in his heart, would you dare let your son try beside the Sword Pond?"

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Tang Wangsheng, sensing something was amiss yet unable to find any excuse to stop it, had no choice but to ask, "If there’s no issue, how do you plan to conclude this affair?"

Lu Yuanting sneered, "Lu will stake his head on it!"

Taking a deep breath, Tang Wangsheng had no more to say and could only watch as Lu Shaohong approached the edge of the Sword Pond.

In the eyes of thousands, Lu Shaohong weakly crouched down by the Sword Pond, gently skimmed his hand across the water as if testing its temperature, then slowly waded in deeper and deeper until only his head remained above the water.

People were almost holding their breath as they watched the changes in the pond water.

After a while, there seemed to be no change.

Just as Tang Wangsheng’s face revealed a trace of joy, suddenly the crowd roared, "It moved, it moved, the water moved!"

Tang Wangsheng looked over in shock, and indeed, the water began to sway as if a breeze had stirred up ripples, but in reality, the night was silent and windless, not even moving a strand of hair.

How is the water moving?

On closer inspection, there seemed to be an extremely faint tremor coming from below, similar to the aftershocks of a distant earthquake reaching this place.

Those experienced with the Ancient Sword Lake would know that this is due to a fluctuating otherworldly space overlapping here.

But ordinary people do not know, not even Tang Wangsheng himself, he was at a loss facing this inexplicable tremor. Even though no one sensed any evil Qi, everyone looked at Tang Wangsheng with suspicion.

Actually, the reason is simple:

The Sword Qi left in Lu Shaohong’s body, which had excited the Dragon Sparrow originally, could also induce a resonance with its source Sword Qi, as though a separate entity had connected with the outside world, saying, "Finally seeing the outside world." Hence, the Sword Qi below began to gather, with a burgeoning desire to break forth.

This location corresponds to the main tomb, hence the old saying, "Below the Sword Pool lies the Sword Emperor’s tomb" finds its basis here; the Sword Qi gathering below at this moment is exactly the Sword Qi at the main tomb’s entrance seen by Zhao Changhe.

When Lu Shaohong brought the internal Sword Qi to the surface above the Sword Pool, causing the Sword Qi below to respond, a slight tremor occurred in the space, which was the signal agreed upon with the Lu family elders.

Just the resonating of Sword Qi might not be sufficient possibly could not trigger the surge of Sword Qi upward. But if someone were to disturb the tomb at this time, causing the evil Qi to sweep and gather, would this concentrated evil Qi merely kill the transgressor and then dissipate? Once the evil Qi has formed, it wouldn’t fade easily. It would violently surge forth, continuing to tear apart every life it encounters.

And, separated by space, whose life would it "see"?

Of course, it would be the ones resonating above, surrounded by life! Originally equivalent to an external avatar, it would then "merge" as it surged forward.

A very simple theory and the only method the Lu family could conceive of to break through this space. After Lu Shaohong accidentally sustained a wound from the Sword Qi, the Lu family began planning for this moment.

They had never considered the possibility of the Sword Emperor’s resurgence, nor had they thought about the consequences of the evil Qi being unleashed in Gusu.

They only wanted to break through the space, and logically pin all the consequences on the Tang family, fulfilling the Lu family’s century-long aspiration.

Whatever happened afterward, Maitreya from the Earth List could handle!

But amidst the crowd’s skepticism, Tang Wangsheng’s dumbfounded look, and Lu Yuanting’s ecstatic expression, after several long moments, the water remained gently rippling, and nothing happened.

Naturally, at this time, Zhao Changhe was engaged in fierce battle with the elder, interrupting the process.

Lu Shaohong, in the water, was dripping with sweat, wishing he could extract the Sword Qi from his body, but the water still just rippled and did not stir.

Lu Yuanting’s joyous expression froze on his face. What went wrong? Previously, they had tested this at the entrance repeatedly, and the Sword Qi truly would gather and surge out due to external Sword Qi. Could it be that the rules didn’t apply at the exit?

Or had something gone wrong with the ancestors below?

As he hesitated, suddenly, from afar, shouts and cries of battle resounded, seeming like thousands of troops clashed outside as flames reached the sky.

Tang Wangsheng immediately instructed his relatives, "Go and see what’s happening."

There was no need for his relatives to check, as soon tend a Tang family guard rushed in and reported, "Master, the young master has led troops into the city, and near our city gate, they discovered the Maitreya Sect followers fully armed, as though just waiting for a chance to seize the city. After the young master discovered them ahead of time, the troops clashed with the Maitreya Sect followers... and then Maitreya Sect followers erupted all over the city, seizing various gateways even—calmly, even Jingxin Hall’s Master Pu originally belonged to the Maitreya Sect..."

Tang Wangsheng glared fiercely at Lu Yuanting, "So this is why you gathered people today to falsely accuse my Tang family! By removing my Tang family, this tough nut, you facilitate the Maitreya Sect taking over Gusu, right!"

Lu Yuanting was dumbstruck. How did things turn out like this?

Not only was the water undisturbed, but how could Tang Buqi, known as a good-for-nothing in the Tang family, have mobilized the troops into the city early and discovered the Maitreya Sect’s presence?

Just then, an extremely obese figure soared through the moonlight, laughing wildly: "The evil Qi is soaring high; it must be the Tang family that triggered it!"

Maitreya Sect, Maitreya—Sect Hierarch!

Following his words, Maitreya suddenly threw an object into the pond before anyone could stop him.

The water roared madly, and the evil Qi finally overflowed. In front of the main tomb, just as the Lu family elder breathed his last, the evil Qi swept furiously, and the ancient sword began to soar to the sky.

Maitreya laughed loudly to the sky, "The Tang family provokes evil to slaughter the city, Maitreya universally saves all beings. What doubts can there be left?"

A pool of spring water emerged under the moon, and from the clouds, it seemed a fairy sighed softly, "If you truly suppress everyone present, perhaps in the future, this rhetoric will spread throughout Jiangnan... But regrettably, although I arrived a bit late, I finally caught up."

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PS: Here’s the first update of March; please flood the chrysanthemum with your monthly tickets!