Chapter 136

“The Azure Lotus Sword Technique, the second-best swordsman in the Tang Dynasty? Where did you hear that from?” It’s one thing to brag in front of others, but to brag like that in front of her, the descendant of Gongsun Da Niang, the personal disciple of Pei Min, the Sword Saint of the Tang Dynasty, will expose you in a heartbeat.

Gongsun Lan’s nickname is also Gongsun Da Niang. In other words, any woman in her lineage who has learned the family’s swordsmanship and sword dance will refer to herself as “Gongsun Da Niang”.

Gongsun Lan’s strength is not to be underestimated. Although she is not at the level of the Five Great Sword Gods, she is definitely among the top ten famous swords. Moreover, she is good at two-handed swords. If she were to pair up with a set of very powerful two swords, her strength would truly achieve a qualitative leap.

Xue Bing then introduced a set of twin swords from Zhang Lingyu’s Peerless Sword Box, which was very suitable for her eldest sister to use. These swords were Wang and Liang.

The Wraith is a pair of symmetrical swords, perfectly suited for light, graceful, and unpredictable sword techniques, as ghostly as a wraith, making it an unpredictable and dreamlike sword style. It is simply the perfect sword for Gongsun Lan.

Gongsun Lan was naturally very excited, especially when they talked about the Tai’a Divine Sword in Ye Gucheng’s hands. After obtaining the sword, Ye Gucheng instantly had an epiphany and entered the state of oneness with heaven and man, which made her even more envious.

The unity of heaven and man is the most powerful existence below the Grandmaster of the Innate Realm, and it is even very close to the Grandmaster of the Innate Realm. As long as one successfully refines the spirit and masters the power of heaven and earth, one can truly enter the Dao and become a Grandmaster.

Because of this, Gongsun Lan, who is also an older single woman, and her group of sisters in red shoes are naturally very interested in Zhang Lingyu, the number one young master in the martial arts world. Especially after Xue Bing skillfully used her Xue family’s divine needles to accurately show off Zhang Lingyu’s stunning good looks, the group of fujoshi (female fans of male-male romance) were very excited.

Then they started talking about more gossip, including the fact that Zhang Lingyu supposedly learned the Qinglian Sword Technique from Li Bai, the Qinglian Sword Immortal.

Everyone at the dinner table was very curious about this Immortal Sword Technique, but Zhang Weihao said that it was the peerless sword technique of the second swordsman of the Tang Dynasty, and it was already considered an Immortal Sword Technique. Its power was too great and it was inconvenient to use.

Once unleashed, it would absolutely cause widespread devastation and carnage within a radius of several miles. In any case, the description is exaggerated, and its power is even far superior to Ye Gucheng’s Celestial Flying Immortal.

After all, according to him, Li Bai was not an ordinary person, but a celestial being descended to earth to undergo tribulation, a true immortal.

“Isn’t that right?” Xue Bing knew Li Bai, so she subconsciously thought it was true.

“Li Bai did indeed learn swordsmanship from Pei Min, the Sword Saint of the Tang Dynasty, and he certainly knew swordsmanship himself. His skills should be quite good. After all, he could travel around alone, composing poems and calling on friends. Even in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, it would be impossible without some strength. The ferocious beasts of some famous mountains and rivers would be enough to give him a hard time. But to say he’s second only to the Tang Dynasty is something even my ancestor wouldn’t dare to be so arrogant about. This so-called Green Lotus Sword Technique is definitely just a hoax to fool you all,” Gongsun Lan said confidently.

“Impossible! You didn’t witness his actions at the Yanjiao Post Station. He didn’t use any techniques. Five top-tier Innate Realm experts, at least thirty professional assassins of the third or fourth rank, and over two hundred assassins of the fifth to sixth rank—he practically brought together most of the elite assassins. Yet, he killed them all with just his own strength and hand-to-hand combat. To ensure a complete annihilation, leaving no survivors, he even used Taoist magic, the Golden Light Mantra, one of the eight great divine spells of Taoism…”

Xue Bing became very excited and started gesturing wildly. She even talked about Jin Jiuling, the embroidery thief. This was something she and her eldest sister had conspired to do to see how the sisters present would change.

Jin Jiuling didn’t say which sister conspired with her, but only that there was an inside agent who could frame Gongsun Lan and work together to take over the Red Shoes.

Shangguan Feiyan from the Golden Roc Dynasty was also present, as was Zhou Zhiruo, a female lead in a martial arts drama whom Zhang Weihao had always been very interested in but with whom he hadn’t had much interaction yet. She was a representative of the Emei Buddhist lineage and the closed-door disciple of Abbess Miejue.

Since it’s a movie version combined with a TV series, Zhou Zhiruo, despite having Gao Yuanyuan’s innocent and harmless appearance, is actually very scheming and far more complex than she seems.

Zhou Zhiruo’s beautiful eyes lit up and she said, “The Heart-Questioning Mantra… the Heaven-Changing Earth-Striking Friendship Technique… So, this Zhang Lingyu really has obtained a predestined affinity with immortals and can already be considered a deity.”

“Yes, so the Azure Lotus Sword Technique must be real. That Li Bai might really be a reincarnation of an immortal, otherwise he wouldn’t be praised as the Poet Immortal by the world.”

“This…this…this is really what you saw with your own eyes.”

“Of course, Jin Jiuling also said that there was an inside man among us sisters, and that he and that person…” Xue Bing repeated truthfully, her performance was incredibly lifelike.

Gongsun Lan quickly pinpointed the location to her fourth sister, Ouyang Qing, and sighed with relief, “It’s you, Fourth Sister.”

The members of the group in red shoes are Jiang Yufeng (Jiang Yuyan’s half-sister) from the Jiang family, Murong Xian (a combination of Murong Jiu and Zhang Jing, an original character from “Little Fish and Flower Without Flaws”) from the Murong family, Shangguan Feiyan, Zhou Zhiruo, as well as the eighth sister Xue Bing and the third sister. At this moment, they all looked at the fourth sister (younger sister) Ouyang Qing and noticed the change in her expression.

Ouyang Qing finally realized that tonight’s gathering was actually a setup, a setup targeting her.

Jin Jiuling was indeed defeated, defeated by Zhang Lingyu, who used such almost supernatural methods to extract all the secrets.

“If that’s the case, why not just ask?”

“How could I possibly say that? I am the Eighth Sister, and now that I’ve been exposed, I don’t want the other sisters to be exposed along with me.” Xue Bing is quite intelligent; she may have a bit of a temper, but she’s actually very smart.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to hang out with Lu Xiaofeng.

Gongsun Lan poured her fourth sister a glass of wine, which was clearly poisoned. She stared at her coldly and said, “This is my last bit of courtesy to you as the eldest sister. Don’t force me to take action.”

Gongsun Lan was certainly not a good person. She had a terrible temper and often needed to vent her negative emotions. Her way of venting was to disguise herself as Granny Xiong and sell poisonous roasted chestnuts on the street at night, killing people indiscriminately. She was definitely a psychopath.

However, Gongsun Lan has one redeeming quality: she is very loyal. In the original novel, Golden Roc Dynasty, Shangguan Feiyan was killed by Huo Xiu.

In the chapter about the Embroidered Bandit, Granny Gongsun reveals that Shangguan Feiyan was also a member of their group. She even took revenge for Shangguan Feiyan by deliberately sabotaging Huo Xiu’s traps, which led to his capture by Lu Xiaofeng.

However, the Ming Dynasty world is chaotic and does not follow a strict timeline. Therefore, the Embroidered Bandit clearly occurred before the Golden Roc Dynasty, while the Battle of the Forbidden City clearly occurred after the Great Roc Dynasty.