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Chapter 248: The Four Villains are Dead, and the Treasure is Gone Too
Chapter 248: The Four Villains are Dead, and the Treasure is Gone Too
"Could it really have been a grand battle that took place here?"
Murong Yong approached cautiously, with Nangong Yue warning, "Brother Murong, be careful! It could be a trap!"
Murong Yong nodded and went to the body closest to the valley—a nondescript woman whose neck had clearly been twisted and broken. Her head was tilted to one side.
"Who is she?"
Murong Yong frowned slightly and reached out to touch her head. But as soon as he made contact, his eyebrows furrowed, and with a light tug, he peeled off a thin, skin-like mask, revealing a rather delicate face beneath.
"A human skin mask? Could it be Tu Jiaojiao?"
"Check the others!"
"Be careful!"
Nangong Yue leaped forward and lifted a fat man in a hemp robe. The man's face was frozen in fear, but his neck had a gaping wound, long dried of blood. "Could this be Haha'er?"
"It's him!" confirmed someone familiar with Haha'er.
"Then that must be Du Sha!" Xu Xuanzhen went to the body of a man in white, using her sword to turn him over. A pair of blood-red gloves were visible, as well as a knife handle protruding from his chest.
"Someone stabbed him right in the heart. Who could have done this?"
"And this is Li Dazui," Lei Tuo said, recognizing the unmasked man. "He's been struck from behind with several palm strikes, his heart meridian shattered by internal force."
"A skilled swordsman and a powerful martial artist," someone commented.
"Who could it be?"
"Could it be Xuan Yuan Sanguang and Bai Shan Jun?"
"Doesn't seem like their style. I reckon they fled over the mountains as soon as they escaped the canyon and didn't dare to linger."
"Impossible. These people have been dead for a while. Even if Bai Shan Jun and the others came here, they would have only found their bodies."
The group looked at each other, surprised. After all their efforts to reach the Secret Valley, they had expected to find the five villains who had set up the trap, only to discover that they were all dead.
"Wait, not all of them are dead!"
"Where's Xiao Mimi?"
"She's not here!"
The realization hit them, and they quickly searched the entire valley, but Xiao Mimi's body was nowhere to be found.
"What's going on?"
"Could Xiao Mimi have killed them all?"
"Impossible. While Xiao Mimi's martial arts skills are decent, she's no match for Du Sha or Li Dazui. Besides, it's clear that two people were involved in the killings."
"Then Xiao Mimi must have colluded with a powerful martial artist from outside."
"Who could it be?"
"How should I know?"
"Never mind who killed them. Let's see if the treasure is still here!" someone reminded them.
Everyone then realized their priorities and, feeling a bit embarrassed and wary, shot a glance at Jiang Feng and the Yi Hua Palace sisters. Seeing that their curiosity was focused more on the dead bodies than the treasure, the group relaxed and began searching the area.
Jiang Feng, however, couldn't help but be puzzled by the scene before him. "Are they really the Four Villains? Just like that, they're dead?"
Yao Yue nodded, recognizing Li Dazui. "Dead."
Lian Xing was also curious. "The Ten Great Villains are famous throughout the land, yet they died so... casually?"
"Du Sha didn't even resist. He must have been killed by someone close to him," Nangong Yue mused.
"As for Haha'er, it seems he didn't put up a fight either. I have no idea what happened there," Lian Xing added.
Jiang Feng mused, "That's because his specialty was hiding his attacks behind a smile. If someone struck him down while he was laughing, he wouldn't stand a chance."
Yao Yue shook her head, causing Lian Xing to scoff, "Ridiculous. A name that doesn't match their ability."
In truth, Haha'er's martial arts were not weak. For someone to be able to directly slash him to death while he was stalling for time showed that the opponent was also a highly skilled expert. But then again, as long as it wasn't a victory through sheer strength, anyone would seem 'all talk and no action' against the Yi Hua Palace sisters.
Jiang Feng blinked, still incredulous as he looked at the four corpses.
He was truly dumbfounded because he never expected these infamous villains to meet their end so abruptly.
Alright, in the original novel, they did die from infighting, and it was indeed rather anticlimactic, but this wasn't supposed to happen for another twenty years, and Bai Kai Xin and Yin Jiuyou, that traitor, weren't even involved yet.
Yet, they had been killed, slain at the height of their notoriety.
Who had done this? Could it be that Xiao Mimi had sneaked up on Du Sha and assassinated him?
If so, then who was the other person? Could it be an expert who hadn't appeared in the original novel?
'Peerless Double Pride' only focused on the grievances between Xiao Yuer and Hua Wuque's family, as well as Yan Nantian and the Yi Hua Palace. Other Jianghu figures were naturally fleeting appearances. Aside from the mysterious Old Shi and the various senior experts on Wuming Island, whose backgrounds remained unknown, even the identity of that internal martial arts expert who pursued Xiao Mimi on Emei Peak was never revealed.
To be honest, just the number of experts Jiang Feng had encountered in the Emei incident and now here on Jiuhua Mountain far exceeded those in the original novel.
While Jiang Feng and the sisters were still examining the bodies, the crowd of Jianghu figures had already searched the entirety of the not-so-spacious Secret Valley.
"There's nothing here. Neither gold and silver treasures, divine weapons, nor martial arts manuals are to be found," someone announced.
"Someone must have taken them already."
"Xiao Mimi?"
"Not necessarily. It could also be that the murderer intentionally took away Xiao Mimi's body to divert our attention."
"There are no clues left at the scene, and we can't discern the murderer's martial arts background from the wounds either," another person added.
Murong Yong approached Jiang Feng with a smile and said, "We've ended up providing a service for someone else after all our efforts. Quite embarrassing, isn't it, Brother Jiang?"
Jiang Feng smiled and asked, "Did you notice anything?"
Murong Yong shook his head. "Not really. We'll have to see if Xiao Mimi resurfaces in the Jianghu. If she doesn't..."
If she didn't, then the whereabouts of this batch of treasures would likely become a mystery.
Among the crowd of martial artists, some were disappointed, some nonchalant, and others indignant. They buried the four villains hastily and left the Secret Valley, searching the area once more. However, they found no traces of either the murderer or the four who had set up the trap—Xuan Yuan Sanguang, Tie Zhan, Bai Shan Jun, and Ma Yiyun.
The mountains were tall and the forests dense, with no one in sight.
Thus, a grand play with numerous characters ended with an anticlimactic whimper. The good news was that not many had lost their lives, but the bad news was that they had gained nothing.
After leaving Jiuhua Mountain, Murong Yong bid farewell and departed with the other martial artists in tow.
As for Jiang Feng and the Yi Hua Palace sisters...
(End of Chapter)
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