Chapter 145: Heroes Conference, Hidden Secrets

Even though it had been so long ago, whenever Xuan Nan saw Li Ming, he would still think of the time when he was recuperating from his injuries and when his mood was at its lowest.

For Xuan Nan, the last failure was a blessing in disguise.

Although he was defeated by Li Ming and felt ashamed and depressed for a long time afterwards, it also gave him a chance to calm down.

When he learned that Li Ming was shining in the martial arts world and had defeated famous masters one after another, Xuan Nan became much more open-minded under the guidance of his senior brother Xuan Ci.

Once he had figured out the psychological hurdles, Xuan Nan's character matured a lot. He was no longer the stubborn and hot-tempered man he had been before. Unexpectedly, his Buddhist philosophy improved by a large margin.

Shaolin martial arts and Buddhist principles complement each other. Xuan Nan's own cultivation has taken another step forward because of this. He just broke through to the middle stage of the Grandmaster realm not long ago. Similarly, his Shaolin unique skills such as the Great Stone Smashing Hand, the Silent Grab and the Lion's Roar have also improved to varying degrees.

From this perspective, Xuan Nan's defeat at the hands of Li Ming was actually a good thing for his martial arts training.

Xuan Nan’s personality is now much calmer than before.

As soon as he saw Li Ming, especially in front of so many fellow martial artists, Xuan Nan recalled his past embarrassment and felt a little embarrassed.

But soon, his expression returned to normal. He exhaled lightly and walked slowly towards Li Ming.

"Shh!"

The eyes of the many warriors present immediately focused on him, with curiosity and a bit of anticipation.

Most of them knew about the feud between Xuan Nan and Li Ming. After all, Li Ming came into the attention of many people because of this battle, and it was even reported in the widely circulated Jianghu Monthly column.

Everyone was watching the fun and looking forward to what kind of sparks would fly when these enemies met.

If a fight really breaks out, it will be exciting to watch!
Most people present felt that Xuan Nan would not be a match for Li Ming. It would be very interesting to see the Shaolin monk who had been famous for many years be defeated!

However, Xuan Nan's performance disappointed everyone.

When he walked in front of Li Ming, the situation was not tense as everyone had imagined. Instead, Xuan Nan greeted Li Ming with his palms clasped together.

"Master Li, I haven't seen you for a long time. You are even more elegant than before! I was wrong about the friction with Master Li before. After I went back, I often thought about it. The abbot also often blamed me. It happened that I met Master Li today. I apologized to him."

After hearing these words, the surrounding warriors suddenly widened their eyes in surprise.

Everyone felt that the scene before them was beyond imagination.

Is this still the abbot of Shaolin Bodhidharma Temple who is known for his strictness and hot temper?

Shaolin is a thousand-year-old famous temple and also one of the rare transcendent places in the world. How could it have ever been so polite to others?
As expected, strength is the universal language in this world of martial arts. Even a behemoth like Shaolin suddenly became kind to Master Li, who had an outstanding record of fighting.

Xuan Ji, who was following behind him, couldn't help but nod his head and felt secretly relieved when he heard what his senior brother said.

It seems that after the previous defeat, Senior Brother Xuannan has indeed grown a lot and has become more like a great monk. That battle was actually good for him.

The main reason is that they had already discussed this matter before coming.

Li Ming's current strength is far different from before. He is no longer an ordinary warrior. After cooperating with Ganglu of the Vajra Sect, he has acquired many Shaolin-related martial arts skills. His junior brother Xuancheng is also learning martial arts in the martial arts hall...

Taking all these circumstances into consideration, the two of them and the abbot brother Xuanci unanimously agreed that they should try their best to be on good terms with Master Li. Naturally, the previous conflicts should not be mentioned again and should be eliminated as much as possible.

That's why Xuan Nan behaved like this.

A great Shaolin monk gave him enough face in public. Li Ming was not ignorant of the rules, so he quickly stood up and returned the greeting.

"Master, you are too serious. What happened before was just a misunderstanding. Let's not mention it again."

After a few words, the relationship between the two sides eased a lot.

Nun Miejue, who had just sat down not far away, saw this scene and snorted coldly, thinking to herself that the bald monk from Shaolin was really hypocritical, but he had mastered the skill of changing his attitude according to the situation.

Xuan Nan and Xuan Ji talked with Li Ming for a while, and asked about the situation of their junior brother Xuan Cheng, and then left with the two heroes of the You family.

With the appearance of these two old monks, almost all the people who were going to attend the Juxianzhuang Heroes Conference had arrived.

Looking around, Juxian Manor was full of warriors wielding swords and sabers. It was crowded and bustling.

Li Ming was sitting and heard the conversation between Lin Pingzhi and Jiang Yuyan next to him.

Jiang Yuyan: "Hey, why are there so many masters from famous sects here today?"

Lin Pingzhi explained: "They did it on purpose. The bigger the sect, the later they would arrive on purpose to show their importance. The earlier they showed up, the weaker their reputation would be."

Jiang Yuyan nodded in understanding, but she disagreed in her heart.

These famous sects have not shown their strength, but they have put a lot of thought into this aspect...

Soon, the two heroes of the You family began to give speeches and announced the start of this hero conference.

Everyone's attention was finally drawn back from other places and focused on the You brothers.

The two heroes of the You family first said some meaningless words, such as hoping that everyone would work together to deal with the public nuisance of the martial arts world, Qiao Feng, and that the martial artists in the world should be one family. As long as everyone is of one mind, there will be no difficulties that cannot be overcome.

Anyway, many warriors are rough and cannot understand profound or flowery words, so this simple and easy to understand way of speaking has no objection from everyone.

After the two heroes of the You family finished their speeches, the two Shaolin monks spoke next.

Then came the Beggars' Sect elders...

Li Ming took a few more glances at him. Logically speaking, he had a good relationship with the Beggars' Sect, especially with Elder Fa. They had cooperated many times and helped the Beggars' Sect train many disciples.

Recently, the Beggars' Sect has won many victories in its battles with the Money Gang, and his contribution is one of them.

But this time, he was not familiar with the people from the Beggars' Sect. Instead, they were several elders of the Beggars' Sect of the Great Song Dynasty. The one who spoke was Bai Shijing, the law enforcement elder of the Beggars' Sect of the Great Song Dynasty, and behind him were their four great elders.

However, compared to these beggars with patched clothes, the most eye-catching person is the woman in white who is hiding among them. Her face is covered so that her face cannot be seen clearly, but her graceful figure can be vaguely seen.

She was still in mourning, dressed like a widow, but she looked even more alluring.

That person should be Kang Min, the widow of Ma Dayuan, the deputy leader of the Beggars' Sect in the Song Dynasty.

Li Ming had no interest in the nonsense they were talking about, but the warriors around him applauded and cheered from time to time, creating a very good atmosphere.

Many warriors present have already started to eat or drink heartily.

Li Ming's disciples did not relax at all.

Li Ming and Lin Pingzhi looked around, observing the servants of Juxian Manor who seemed a little unusual whom they had discovered yesterday.

But today, there were obviously fewer people, with only a few scattered people standing in the distance.

Li Ming activated the Xiaoyao Heart Sutra to observe. Just like yesterday, the result of the observation was that there was no fluctuation of true energy on their bodies, and they did not look like martial artists.

But Li Ming keenly sensed something unusual from the other party and was sure that they were definitely not ordinary.

The so-called hero conference soon turned into a feast for a bunch of charlatans. In the lively atmosphere, everyone started talking.

The first topic they discussed was how to deal with the evil villain Qiao Feng.

Perhaps it was because there were so many masters present that the warriors’ confidence was extremely inflated.

Some people stood up and angrily denounced the numerous crimes of the evil villain Qiao Feng, and said that this beast must be completely eradicated before peace can be restored in the martial arts world.

Some people said that they had seen through the evil nature of Qiao Feng a long time ago, and that his previous majestic image was all a disguise, and his cruel side would be exposed sooner or later.

Some people also think that everyone should select a few of the strongest warriors, join hands to track down Qiao Feng on the road, and once they find him, they should immediately kill him!

Although the villain Qiao Feng was powerful, it was expected that he could not fight against many enemies alone. In front of so many masters, he could only surrender.

Everyone became more and more excited as they talked, and many people even began to list all of Qiao Feng's evil deeds.

Everyone knows about the so-called murder of mentors, adoptive parents, and fellow martial artists such as Mr. Tan and Mrs. Tan. Others include robbing a bank somewhere, kidnapping a certain official's daughter, and ambushing a certain escort company's convoy...

In short, his crimes are too numerous to list!
Their passionate and impassioned accusations almost made Li Ming laugh.

Not to mention that it is impossible for Qiao Feng to do such a thing. Even if he really did it, with the opponent's strength, they would definitely not leave any survivors, and they would not be narrow-minded enough to do such a petty thing.

It was obvious that they knew that Qiao Feng's reputation was already ruined and it was impossible for him to come out to defend himself, so they simply pinned many unsolved cases on him.

Faced with these accusations, the faces of the Beggars' Sect members were not very happy, but they did not speak to stop them, making it clear that they did not want to have anything to do with this former leader.

In the warm atmosphere, everyone reached a consensus on the issue of eradicating the evil villain Qiao Feng, and initially came up with some plans.

Many martial artists satisfied their cravings, ate and drank to their heart's content, and then left happily.

The first day of the Heroes Conference got off to a good start.

After experiencing it up close and personal, Li Ming finally understood why these so-called hero conferences were only fit to serve as background boards.

Rather than being heroes, most of them are just guys who come here to eat, drink and become familiar with the crowd.

At the end of the day, nothing substantial was accomplished.

Don’t be fooled by their big talk now. If Qiao Feng really shows up, this group of people will definitely be the first to become cowards.

On the contrary, those figures from famous sects, such as Xuan Nan, Xuan Ji, Master Mie Jue and others, did not express any opinions.

After returning to his temporary residence, Li Ming saw that it was getting dark and walked out alone.

As if taking a stroll, he wandered around Juxian Manor for a while, and immediately felt several auras coming from behind him.

It was obvious that there were a few guys disguised as servants and farmhands, watching him secretly.

Li Ming arrived at a deserted place, and suddenly his figure flashed at an incredible speed. He disappeared from the spot in the blink of an eye, without even leaving a trace.

"Where did you go?"

As soon as Li Ming disappeared, someone came out from the darkness, his face full of surprise and confusion.

I didn't expect to lose him so quickly.

Not long after, Li Ming appeared outside Juxian Manor.

"Cuckoo..."

A few secret signals came from the woods, and soon, a figure appeared in front of Li Ming.

"Disciple greets Master!"

The person who appeared was dressed in black and his identity could not be seen, but his face was familiar. It was Li Ming's apprentice Li Jiuhua.

Recently, while on the road, Li Ming has been keeping in touch with Li Jiuhua and others.

All relevant information collected by Blackstone can be summarized in his hands as soon as possible.

Li Ming's intuition told him that there seemed to be something else behind this meeting at Juxianzhuang and it was not as simple as it seemed.

"Master, we just found something wrong!"

Li Jiuhua has been honing his skills in Black Stone recently and has become very professional in related matters. He immediately reported to Li Ming.

"We found traces of activity from the East-West Factory nearby. Their actions this time were very secretive, and Blackstone didn't have any secret agents nearby, so we just discovered it."

"Also, there is the Songshan Sect's leader Tang Ying'e. He has problems..."

As Li Jiuhua reported, Li Ming's expression gradually turned cold.

After hearing the news, Li Ming digested it a little, then patted Li Jiuhua's shoulder with satisfaction, as if to encourage him.

After Li Ming gave some instructions, Li Jiuhua immediately nodded and left the vicinity in a flash.

Li Ming didn't seem to move much, but he quickly disappeared from the spot.

Not long after, outside Juxian Manor.

People from the Five Mountains Sword Sect gathered together.

Most of them had puzzled expressions on their faces, and they all looked at Tang Ying'e.

"Master Tang, you are up late at night and have gathered us all here. What do you want to tell us?"

Yue Buqun asked first.

He has recently been practicing the Sword of Exorcism and has made great progress, but his body has also changed accordingly.

His voice became increasingly shrill, his skin became paler, and his beard was basically gone.

This made Yue Buqun quite helpless. Now in front of everyone, he could only lower his voice as much as possible and sound calmer and stronger.

"I have gathered everyone here for something important. I have discovered something unusual and important. I would like to invite everyone to come and consult with me, especially Alliance Leader Mo."

When Tang Ying'e said this, he looked at Mo Xiaobei.

"We are all from the Five Mountains Sword Sect. We are of the same blood and we advance and retreat together. Sect Leader Tang, you can talk as you please. But why can't we talk at Juxian Manor? Why did you call us to this place in the middle of the night?"

Master Dingyi looked around as she spoke.

Now they were in an open space outside Juxian Manor. Night had completely fallen and the area was quiet without a single person in sight, which made people inexplicably feel uneasy.

(End of this chapter)