Yan Wushuang opened her eyes.
She felt the violent shaking beneath her and seemed to be inside a moving carriage.
"I...shouldn’t I be dead?"
She tried to prop herself up, but found her body extremely weak, no, not just weak, but inherently frail.
It was as though she had lost all her martial arts skills and had returned to her state before learning martial arts.
"Is this...a carriage?"
Yan Wushuang barely propped up half of her body and realized she was indeed in a carriage rolling along and couldn’t help but show a puzzled expression, "What...what exactly is going on?"
Looking at her palms, she saw that these hands were thin and withered, not the hands she recognized.
"No...before I died, I must have been very ugly... I wonder what he thought when he saw me..."
Just as Yan Wushuang thought this, the carriage door suddenly opened, and a young man climbed in.
Yan Wushuang widened her eyes, "What on earth is happening?"
"The details are complicated, but to put it simply, I helped you swap bodies and saved you."
Zhong Shenxiu’s answer was casual.
But Yan Wushuang knew that she had previously broken her oath, and the brutal backlash from opposing a Grandmaster was nearly fatal!
Her mind was in chaos, yet she seized the key point.
"Hmm, I used some methods, tried several times, and fortunately, it worked."
Zhong Shenxiu handed over a bronze mirror, and Yan Wushuang saw a stranger’s face of about fifteen or sixteen years old.
"It seems...you’ve hidden a lot of things."
She closed her eyes, feeling too weak to talk.
Zhong Shenxiu glanced at the attribute panel, and saw the number after Nine Death Rebirth Divine Power had become (6)!
’Reviving others was a failure... And it wasted three chances of revival, but there is also a byproduct... The effect of transferring consciousness isn’t too bad...’
In truth, he wasn’t completely certain that the person lying inside the carriage was Yan Wushuang.
As for the true spirit, Zhong Shenxiu was still unable to touch upon such matters.
Therefore, he felt that this time, he may have only ’copied’ all of Yan Wushuang’s memories into this new body; the ’true spirit’ might not have been transferred.
Saying she was a copy, a cognitive clone, seemed plausible.
Perhaps the real Yan Wushuang was already dead, but who could say that the current her wasn’t Yan Wushuang?
All these underlying details, Zhong Shenxiu did not plan to reveal.
There was no need to ponder the philosophical question of who I am or who is the real me.
Anyway, he would just consider her the real Yan Wushuang.
"Because you’ve switched to a new body without any martial skills, and since you are not a Great Grandmaster, the backlash of the Jialan Fan Hand was only hidden within the flesh. Now all the hidden dangers have been resolved..."
Zhong Shenxiu looked at Yan Wushuang and said, "From today on, you can live a completely new life, and perhaps... as long as you practice other martial arts without hidden dangers, you might even break through to become a Great Grandmaster!"
"Then I owe you thanks."
Yan Wushuang seemed to see scenes of a dark night and being pursued by the Tie Xue emerging before her, and finally asked, "Where are we headed?"
"What else can we do? Moving and escaping for our lives..."
Zhong Shenxiu stepped out of the carriage door and saw a line of horses.
Wei Baizhu, Wei Hongyao, Shi Yu, and other close associates, had all disguised themselves, transforming into a merchant caravan.
This counted as breaking with the government; if they didn’t take advantage of the Divine Capture Sect’s crippled system to flee now, they would never escape.
It was also the reason Zhong Shenxiu had intentionally released Zhuge WuLiang earlier and sent out the deadly poison.
"Uncle Teacher, this has caused you a lot of hustle and trouble..."
Zhong Shenxiu went over to Wei Baizhu and whispered, "I will find a good place for all of you to hide away in..."
"Haha... No worries!"
Wei Baizhu was quite accepting: "I’ve lived a long life, and in the end, I even saw you climb the celestial ranks. I’ve no regrets and have received more than my due... Moreover, after Liu Yi broke through to Grandmaster and Great Grandmaster, he never left the gang. I remember that well. Since he didn’t leave Shanyao Gang, now that there’s trouble, Shanyao Gang must take responsibility... There’s no such thing in this world as getting only the meat without taking a beating!"
"These Martial Arts sects, with their ups and downs, I’ve grown used to... If not ten years, then a hundred, and if not a hundred, then five hundred years. Eventually, the time will come when the Great Wu Dynasty falls... By then, Shanyao Gang will still be able to make its comeback in Jianghu!"
Zhong Shenxiu offered no response.
Sects like the Su Yin Sword Sect or Stone Buddha Temple, which had announced their withdrawal from Jianghu, lacked a Great Grandmaster and had truly given in.
The government, considering past relationships and the fact that the other party had already lost the power to resist, was on their knees, perhaps even generous enough to overlook their actions.
But it was different for Shanyao Gang!
As long as their own Great Grandmaster lived, the government would hunt them to the ends of the earth and the Yellow Springs; they would never cease pursuit even at the world’s edge.
Wei Baizhu kept talking, glanced around, then suddenly gripped Zhong Shenxiu’s wrist tightly and lowered his voice: "I’m fine, Hong Yao is fine too, but your disciple’s wife and my disciple Lu Yang, they’re just clever enough to share in wealth, but whether they can share in adversity is another matter."
"Uncle Teacher, I understand."
Zhong Shenxiu nodded his head.
Wei Baizhu’s worry was not without reason. Although people in Jianghu valued loyalty over life, the government was an enormous beast, wasn’t it?
Not to mention the myriad of means it had at its disposal, just the thought of it could cause immense psychological pressure.
Betraying their own sect was not out of the question.
Moreover, hiding here and there for a few days is fine, but doing so for a lifetime would doubtless cause many to have second thoughts.
Wei Baizhu had spoken softly earlier, holding onto Zhong Shenxiu’s wrist firmly.
The implication was clear.
In times of crisis, one must be ruthless. Any hidden dangers must be eradicated to endure longer under the pursuit of the Great Wu Dynasty!
"You can’t be soft-hearted..."
Wei Baizhu spoke in a low voice.
Zhong Shenxiu sighed. Could he expect these people to dodge and hide with him for decades, day in and day out, still remaining steadfast and unyielding?
He himself lacked such confidence.
After a moment, Zhong Shenxiu replied with a heavy tone: "Uncle Teacher, rest assured, I just plan to find a place for you to stay in peace for a while, and then there won’t be anything to worry about."
To tell the truth, his previous plan of acting was still feasible.
As long as Xun Liuyi obediently presented himself to die under the Imperial City, the government could tolerate even the Su Yin Sword Sect, so why wouldn’t they tolerate a few big and small cats from Shanyao Gang?
As for the extinction of the Divine Capture Sect? To take a Great Grandmaster down with them, what of it? The government might even feel they made a profit!
And after all, Yan Wushuang hadn’t really died, so there was no loss.
To seize the opportunity and leave, to profit oneself, to secure the aftermath, for the Great Wu to unify, peace under the heavens, was good for everyone.
But still, deep down it was... not easily settled!!
"And then there won’t be anything to worry about? Liu Yi, you must not do something foolish," Wei Baizhu, alarmed, thought Xun Liuyi was planning to seek his own death.
"What are you thinking?" Zhong Shenxiu scoffed: "Previously I valued the lives of the people in this world too highly. From now on, there will be no Great Wu Dynasty!"