Chapter 494: The Road to Heaven Is Wide

Chapter 494: The Road Leads to Heaven

"These are a bunch of cowardly sons of bitches."

Although Li Hua spoke in the dialect of Sichuan, the arrogant tone and contemptuous expression in his words made it easy for people to understand the meaning behind them.

When a girl no bigger than a palm pointed her finger at his nose and scolded him as a coward, the man leading the group, named Jiang Wei, couldn't help but show a look of shame.

But among these uninvited guests, only he showed such an expression. The others standing behind him mostly frowned, glanced at Li Jun with a look of apprehension, and bit their lips without speaking.

"Brother Li, can you give us a way to pay our respects to Lord Su?" Jiang Wei asked earnestly.

"You can, but they can't."

Li Jun glanced around and didn't bother with the ugly expressions on their faces, as if they had swallowed a fly. He turned his head slightly, allowing Fan Wujiu and others in front to make way for Jiang Wei.

"Thank you."

Jiang Wei steadied himself, raised his head, straightened his chest, and stared straight ahead, passing by Fan Wujiu, who was smiling coldly.

"Jiang Wei, the fourth-level warrior of Dingjun Mountain Gate, pays his respects to Lord Su."

Ignoring the cold rain that drenched him and the dirty mud everywhere, Jiang Wei knelt down and respectfully bowed to the small mound.

In fact, Jiang Wei himself didn't know much about this lord in front of him, and they had never had any contact.

But there was one thing he was very clear about: apart from those weaklings who were willing to survive under the three religions, Su Ce was one of the few third-level warriors in the entire Gate of Martial Arts who had not chosen to flee abroad and still remained within the imperial territory.

He was the only third-level warrior in the entire Great Ming Empire who did not choose to hide his identity and live a mediocre life.

Just for this reason, Jiang Wei deeply respected this senior he had never met before.

Moreover, the reason why they could live safely until today was partly because Su Ce stood at the forefront and blocked the arrows and spears from other forces.

Now, this flag has finally fallen.

"Su Lao, may you rest in peace."

His forehead, which had sunk into the mud, slowly rose, and the dirty mud water flowed all over his face.

After the worship, Jiang Wei stood up, and his first action was not to wipe his face with his sleeve, but to bow and clasp his hands to Li Jun, who was standing beside him.

"Brother Li, don't worry, we didn't intentionally follow you or investigate your whereabouts. Meeting you today was purely a result of our clumsy wait-and-see approach."

Jiang Wei said solemnly: "After the news of Lord Su's death reached the mainland, the masters of various sects asked us to enter Liaodong and wait in various cities. They said that if you returned to the mainland, you would definitely come to Liaodong."

"Various sects?"

Li Jun glanced at the figures standing far away and smiled, asking: "It seems you have quite a few people, huh?"

"Really not many, really."

Jiang Wei keenly sensed the sarcasm and coldness behind Li Jun's smile, and sighed helplessly, "Let me tell you the truth. Now, in the entire Great Ming Empire, there are no more than ten martial arts sects that still possess the ability to pass on their heritage. The martial arts sects are now the bottom of the twelve sects, and maybe one day, when a new sequence is born in the Ming people's genes, we will completely disappear from history."

"Ten sects? That's much better than I imagined. I used to think you were all dead."

Li Jun smiled and asked, "Why haven't I heard of you before? Are you really that good at hiding?"

Among the martial arts sects Li Jun had encountered, apart from Su Ce and Huang Shiliang, there was also Wei Ju'an, a military officer of the Jinyiwei who had turned from martial arts to military.

Looking back now, Wei Ju'an was probably also one of them, but his sect had encountered a change, and he had no choice but to change his sequence to survive.

Apart from that, Li Jun had no other dealings with other martial arts sects.

"The times are stronger than people, and we hid because we had no other choice."

Jiang Wei said bitterly: "After the division of the world into martial arts, the backbone of the martial arts sects was almost completely destroyed, and the pillars of the third-level and above were also almost completely collapsed. Those who survived were almost all wounded and could only find a place to hide and lick their wounds. Martial arts are strong, but they are not without weaknesses. Whether it's flesh or metal, there is a limit to what it can bear. When the accumulated injuries reach a certain point, it will cause damage to the physique and genes, and even lead to collapse. Unlike other sequences, you can't just recover by changing bodies if your brain isn't damaged."

"Su Qianhu couldn't maintain his peak strength as a martial third-level warrior, and the influence of aging was only a small part. The real reason was probably closely related to the bloody battle that took place here back then."

Huangtianmen, Huang Zhenlong.

Upon hearing this, Li Jun immediately thought of the Huangtianmen hidden in the Wa region and nodded slightly.

"The martial arts sects are already on the verge of extinction, but forces led by Buddhism and Taoism still want to exterminate us. To completely eliminate the chance of the martial arts sects making a comeback, they not only send people to hunt us down, but also target martial arts genes within their own population base, using ideas, beliefs, and speech to strangle new martial arts talents in the cradle. The people you see now, if you had seen them decades ago, would all be rare talents in the martial arts sects, but now they are just lucky survivors who escaped."

"Moreover, with the popularization of Huangliang technology, more and more people choose to implant various auxiliary equipment to lower the threshold for breaking locks and advancing sequences, but this also destroys pure physiques, making new martial arts talents increasingly rare."

"We are not unwilling to fight with them to the death, but we are short of people. Every time one dies, we lose one, and if we lose one more, the entire sect may collapse. That's why we now mostly live in remote and barren areas, living a low-key life."

Jiang Wei laughed sarcastically: "After all, the ones hunting us down are not just Buddhism and Taoism. Our bodies are also the best research material for military and agricultural sequences, and they are the basis for their research and development of mechanical hearts and Qianlu surgery. Although the martial arts sects are not alone now, they are already almost the same as being alone."

Listening to the other person's heartfelt words, Li Jun's face showed not a trace of sympathy, and he teased, "It seems you really haven't been living well. But since you've already lived so hard, why do you dare to show up in such a large group now? Aren't you afraid of being caught by those who are watching me?"

When faced with Li Jun's question, Jiang Wei didn't know how to answer for a moment, and could only shake his head helplessly and smile.

"I know you didn't come here today to mourn the old man."

Li Jun looked at him with interest and asked, "So, what other purpose do you have?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wei sighed heavily, his lips trembled for a while without making a sound, as if there was something stuck in his throat and he didn't know how to speak.

Seeing his hesitation, someone in the crowd who had been drenched in the rain couldn't help but step forward.

Judging from his appearance, he was a middle-aged man with a beard. He said sternly, "Brother Jiang is right. We are not afraid of death. We only hid and endured humiliation in order to revive the martial arts sects, and everything we did was just to wait for the most opportune moment."

"Now that Brother Li has advanced to the rank of a lone martial arts warrior, the time has come. As long as you are willing to share the rituals of advancing to the rank of a lone martial arts warrior, we can find a way to cultivate more lone martial arts fourth-level warriors, and then the revival of the martial arts sects will be just around the corner. With our help, you will also find it easier to take revenge."

"Now I believe what you say. It seems you are not really a sect, and you are a group of scattered people with not very good brains."

Li Jun patted Jiang Wei on the shoulder, turned his head to look at the martial arts warrior who was still talking, and coldly said, "When did I allow you to speak?"

"I"

The man showed a look of anger and shame on his face and wanted to continue speaking, but a cold face suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.

Suddenly, a hard carved talisman was stuffed into his open mouth, and iron-like fingers tightly gripped his face.

"Uh-huh."

The man widened his eyes in terror, and his stuffed mouth emitted an inarticulate sobbing.

"Rush."

Chen Qisheng coldly uttered a word, and the edges of the carved talisman quickly lit up with Taoist patterns.

Boom!

A low, muffled sound was heard, and the skull in Chen Qisheng's palm instantly exploded, with the overflowing force causing his clothes to rustle and flap.

"Who else wants to speak?"

Chen Qisheng swept his sleeves to dispel the rising gunpowder smoke, wiped the blood from his face with his thumb, and coldly scanned the surroundings. Everyone avoided his gaze, their faces pale and silent.

Perhaps if they had all rushed forward, they could have killed Chen Qisheng, a Taoist fourth-level warrior, on the spot.

But Chen Qisheng was not alone, and besides, the strongest among them, Jiang Wei, had a lone martial arts fourth-level warrior standing beside him, smiling.

"I heard you say that you've been waiting here for a long time?"

Li Jun turned his head to look at Jiang Wei, whose face was green with anger, and said softly, "But when I went up the mountain, there was a sign standing where you are now now, which was left by some unknown sect. It said 'Site of the Zhenyuluo Temple for Mourning', and you could tell it had been there for many years, with rust all over the sign."

"Zhenyuluo Temple was the old man's sect. All these years, you have been hiding and living a low-key life, with only him standing in the Wa region, a poor and desolate place, holding up the flag of the martial arts sects. There must be some reason why he doesn't say, and you pretend not to understand?"

"Since you have chosen to protect yourselves and watch others suffer without doing anything, why should I help you? Then the road leads to heaven, and everyone goes their separate ways!"