To save Yang Qing face, he had silently endured the first time Miao Yi sent his men to raid Changfeng Cave. In return for his suffering, Miao Yi had become more aggressive, and he almost lost his life.
For his tolerance of Miao Yi, he paid with the lives of both his personal handmaidens.
This time, Miao Yi had brazenly a.s.saulted his Mount Shaotai, and killed two of his personal handmaidens—Xiong Xiao would be called a coward if he tolerated Miao Yi any longer. They would make him the b.u.t.t of jokes within the two Manors, for being pushed around by a mere Cave Master. If that happened, he would never be able to show his face in the two Manors ever again.
"I will shoulder the blame if the Manor Head makes any accusations. You all are simply following orders, the blame will not be yours to bear!"
Xiong Xiao claimed responsibility for the potential consequences.
With Xiong Xiao stating his commitment to such an extent, Tu Sanliang and the other two new subordinate Blue Lotus experts had nothing else to say; they could only comply with the wishes of the Mountain Chieftain.
Chen Fei could only force a smile as he stood among the men. He hadn’t known that Miao Yi could be this bold when he first met him. This time, Miao Yi had completely enraged Xiong Xiao. There was no doubt that Miao Yi would be in big trouble soon!
Xiong Xiao’s men and dragon steeds had retreated to Mount Shaotai, carrying with them Chun Xue and Dong Xue’s corpses. These were placed in the Mount Shaotai Grand Hall.
"Chun Xue, Dong Xue, don’t worry. I will not let your deaths be in vain. I will crush East Arrival Cave, and pluck Miao Yi’s head as a burial offering for the two of you!"
Xiong Xiao mourned, and as he gazed at the lifeless bodies of his handmaidens—he swore an oath to them in the grand hall before his men.
Just then, a spirit eagle arrived at Mount Shaotai. One of his men received the delivered jade archive, and quickly brought it to Xiong Xiao in the grand hall.
The jade archive was an order from Yang Qing to reposition, and informing that unusual movements in Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor had been detected. Xiong Xiao was told to gather his men, and move to the designated location immediately.
After reading the contents, Xiong Xiao gripped the jade archive in his hands. The decree from Yang Qing was quite timely—he already planned to lead hundreds men to take care of Miao Yi. With Yang Qing’s decree, he could use the opportunity to gather all of his troops in Mount Calming Sea, and settle the matter once and for all.
However, he was also concerned that suspicious activities had been reported in Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor. Yang Qing would definitely inform Qing Weiwei of the current situation, so he wondered if Qing Weiwei would already be marshalling her forces. It would be inconvenient for him if Miao Yi had been called to gather his men at the designated location as well.
Xiong Xiao turned his head back, and called out, "Wu Zhanglin!"
"Here!" His subordinate Cave Master stepped forward, and bowed with his hands cupped.
"Send someone to East Arrival Cave, and report the situation back to us. Keep an eye on that wicked Miao Yi, and see if he is already back in East Arrival Cave."
"Yes, sir!" Wu Zhanglin replied, and left the grand hall with haste.
In the meantime, Xiong Xiao, began writing on a jade archive—charging Miao Yi for his act of violence against him, and sent one of his men to deliver it to Yang Qing.
It would be impossible to hide such a large incident from anyone, so he needed to take the initiative and inform Yang Qing of the situation as soon as possible. Otherwise, Yang Qing would suspect Xiong Xiao of disrespecting him, if he waited until the situation had become worse to give his explanation.
He already made his calculations before writing the jade archive. By the time Yang Qing received his missive, even if Yang Qing sent any more orders to Xiong Xiao after that—Xiong Xiao would have already arrived in East Arrival Cave to kill Miao Yi. He already had a good reason to wage war against Miao Yi, if the Manor Head decided to look into the matter.
When Wu Zhanglin left the hall, he scanned through his men. His gaze stopped at Chen Fei, before beckoning him to say, "You were in East Arrival Cave before. I presumed you are no stranger to that place."
Chen Fei was stunned by the sudden inquiry, as he didn’t know what Wu Zhanglin was leading to. He cupped his fists, and replied, "Cave Master. Yes, you are correct!"
"Good! I will send two of my men to accompany you. Go forth to East Arrival Hall immediately,….." Wu Zhanglin briefed Chen Fei on the mission that was given by Xiong Xiao.
Chen Fei was speechless—why was he once again the scout? It seemed that his experience in East Arrival Cave would always be put to good use. He really wondered when East Arrival Cave would stop their activities, and quiet down.
Regardless, he accepted the order with cupped fists. He brought along the two helpers a.s.signed by the Cave Master, and galloped on his way under the light of the moon.
Not long after, Xiong Xiao completed his arrangements and stepped out of the grand hall leading two columns of his elite troops. They mounted their dragon steeds, and charged toward their destination together…..
At Mount Calming Sea, Qin Weiwei was extremely shocked after receiving the missive from Yang Qing. She was now aware that those who tried to a.s.sault East Arrival Cave might have been from Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor. She wasn’t sure if Miao Yi already knew, or simply pretended not to know, but one thing was for sure—Miao Yi would definitely take the opportunity to exact revenge against his hated enemy, Xiong Xiao.
Qin Weiwei quickly issued a stern warning to Miao Yi—ordering him to avoid looking for trouble with Xiong Xiao, and demanding that he closely monitor the situation at Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor. Otherwise, she would appoint someone else to become the Cave Master of East Arrival Cave.
When Miao Yi received the warning from Qin Weiwei, he and his troops were already on their way back to East Arrival Cave.
After he finished reading the jade archive, Miao Yi sneered. It wasn’t because he didn’t want to listen to her orders, but her response on this matter was too late. He had already done what she didn’t desire him to do.
The Great Cave Master Miao didn’t take the matter to heart, as he had already been well prepared to go against Xiong Xiao. However, he did regret letting Xiong Xiao escape after all that.
He was still unaware that Xiong Xiao’s forces had been strengthened after retreating to Mount Shaotai. Moreover, Xiong Xiao had already completed preparations to exact his revenge. Miao Yi thought that with his own troops, Xiong Xiao wouldn’t be able to do anything to him. He truly had yet realized the s.h.i.+t-ton of trouble he had brought upon himself with his actions.
The entire East Arrival Cave was still the same as ever when they got back. Apparently, Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor hadn’t come to a.s.sault East Arrival Cave again. Miao Yi sent his subordinate to contact the two scouts he had sent out earlier.
Miao Yi was secretly frightened after being briefed by his scouts. A large number of men had gathered at Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor. He surmised that the entire army of Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor had a.s.sembled.
He quickly sent a few more scouts to secure their defenses, and relayed his situation to Mount Calming Sea; asking for reinforcements.
In reality, Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor was more nervous than he expected.
The Great Cave Master Miao was now well known in Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor. Mount Returning Loyalty’s Mountain Chieftain Su Biao led a charge of hundreds of men to raid East Arrival Cave, but they were thwarted and even completely wiped out by just around twenty men—even Su Biao with a cultivation at Blue Lotus Second Grade had been killed as well!
After Liu Jingtian received the news of his death, he began readying his large army, and instantly had a terrible migraine.
He wasn’t in agony because of Su Biao’s death, but because he had made such a huge mess! Suppressing Second Hall and Suppressing Third Hall would definitely be alerted, and he had no idea how he should end all of this.
Liu Jingtian had thought that there wouldn’t a problem if Su Biao personally led his army to raid a measly East Arrival Cave. After killing or capturing Qin Weiwei, he planned to swiftly clear the entire area and return without leaving any evidence behind. Even if Yang Qing knew that he was the perpetrator, he wouldn’t be able to charge him of anything, because he had no proof to do so.
He hadn’t done this only for himself, but also for Suppressing Third Hall. When the time came, Hall Master Wu Menglan would have praised him for a job well done, and he would have been able to redeem himself from showing his previous incompetence before her.
Who would have known! Instead, he got himself into trouble without finis.h.i.+ng the job, and his forces suffered heavy casualties. On top of that, he left behind evidence for his enemy.
What should he do when Suppressing Second Hall presented the evidence to charge him with the a.s.sault?
Start another a.s.sault to destroy the evidence? His opponents weren’t idiot. Were they stupid enough to wait for him to attack East Arrival Cave again, and destroy the evidence?
If this matter continued to grow bigger, he would have to bear all the consequences.
Mei Yu received a backlash for his idiotic scheme, and was reprimanded by Liu Jingtian, "Didn’t you say that the Cave Master of East Arrival Cave was easy to defeat? Didn’t you say that you can defeat him by yourself? Why don’t you go ahead and kill him for me!"
Mei Yu was at loss for words. Was the Cave Master of the East Arrival Cave the bane of raids? Zhang Decheng was thwarted by Miao Yi too. And now, Thriving Ten-Thousand Manor was also disrupted by Miao Yi. Yang Qing had definitely chosen a genius to oversee such a strategic location!
Liu Jingtian was distressed and terrified. How would the Hall Master punish him later…..
Miao Yi was already on high alert; the reconstruction of the East Arrival Cave had already been brought to a halt.
He took the time to visit the dockyard, and allowed Yan Xiu, Qian‘Er and Xue ‘Er to continue hiding as usual.
Miao Yi then went to visit a cave near East Arrival Cave, where Yao Ruoxian was currently residing. He hoped that Yao Ruoxian would lend a hand at a crucial moment, should things in East Arrival Cave go awry.
Inside the cave, Yao Ruoxian sat cross-legged on a stone couch and scoffed: "Don’t give me that. Even if you kneel down and call me ‘grandpa’, my answer is still no."
Miao Yi pointed at the large sleeves with the little mantids, and earnestly said, "Senior Yao, think for a second. If I die, these little fellows will no longer stay by your side obediently. If that happens, won’t that be a huge waste?"
"It’s better for you to die, than sending me to my grave, alright? If this loose cultivator at the Red Lotus Realm decides to meddle in your business, Suppressing Second Hall or Suppressing Third Hall will immediately send a few Red Lotus experts to investigate the situation. Even if I’m able to defeat those Red Lotus experts, there’s a chance that Traversing Moon Palace might be alerted. If they send a Violet Lotus expert to find me, do you think I will live or die? On top of that, there’s also the Golden Lotus experts. What comes after that is Mu Fanjun from the Realm Beyond Heaven. How many would dare provoke them? I still want to live a couple more years!"
Yao Ruoxian waved his hand with an expression that wasn’t open to negotiations and said, "You are not thinking of taking this opportunity to screw me over, are you?"
That was it—he lost all hope, even with such a highly skilled cultivator by his side. After all that, Miao Yi returned with low spirits.
As soon as Miao Yi returned to his room, a subordinate guarding the mountain quickly entered, and clasped his hand to his chest before saying: "Cave Master, there is someone at the mountain gates looking for you!"
‘Who would come to look for him at this hour?’ Miao Yi curiously asked, "Who is it?"
The soldier replied, "He refused to reveal his name. He asked me to let Cave Master know that an old friend who helped exchanged a wooden spear for a silver one has come to pay a visit, and that you will naturally know who he is."
"Exchanged a wooden spear for a silver one…." Miao Yi froze. He could immediately guess who that person was. Yan Xiu had mentioned the same phrase before. Miao Yi knew that this person was currently under Xiong Xiao’s command; it must have been something urgent for him to come all the way to East Arrival Cave. He gestured with his hand, and said, "Bring him to me!"
Not long after that, a fatigued Chen Fei, with his hat pulled to its lowest, was brought inside. Miao Yi stood at the entrance to welcome him, but was signalled by Chen Fei to stop displaying such gestures in the presence of others.
Miao Yi quickly ordered his subordinate to leave, as he brought Chen Fei into his room.
Before any greetings were exchanged, Chen Fei already opened his mouth and said, "Brother Miao, get out of this place quickly. Otherwise you will be in big trouble!"
Miao Yi was stunned, and asked, "What do you mean?"
Chen Fei forced a smile, and said, "Do you need me to recount the things you’ve done at Mount Shaotai? Xiong Xiao is leading a large army to this place to raze East Arrival Cave, and take your life. I’ve been sent to scout the situation. It wasn’t easy for me to shrug off the other two men, and inform you of this matter, you know."
"Xiong Xiao?" Miao Yi raised his eyebrow, and chuckled coldly, "I was beginning to worry that I wouldn’t be able to find him. How bold of him to send himself to my doorstep!"
"I knew you’d be like this. I was afraid that you would look down on your enemy, so I came to personally warn you." Chen Fei was clearly anxious as he continued, "Xiong Xiao had taken command of two hundred men, including three Blue Lotus First Grade experts...."
Chen Fei also used the time to explain about the partic.i.p.ation of disciples from the Sword Deviate Sect, Jade Lady Sect and the School of Imperial Beasts to Miao Yi as fast as he could.
