There was a mountain in Jiangchun called Mount Wu. The mountain was beautiful and misty.
90 years ago, Venerable White River established the Wu Mountain Sect here and took in a wide range of disciples, passing down his martial arts.
After decades of development, the Wu Mountain Sect had already become one of the eight major sects in the martial world. Their martial arts system was gradually perfected, and they were good at sword techniques and weightless skills. Their martial arts were known for their softness and agility, and they were executed in a carefree manner.
Excluding the servants, the Wu Mountain Sect currently had hundreds of disciples. They mainly occupied the Jiangchun area, but there were many branches and courtyards that had businesses in many prefecture cities.
Not long ago, Sect Master Shen Sanqiu had failed in his crusade against Chen Feng and disappeared without a trace. The entire Wu Mountain Sect was caught off guard and sent a large number of disciples to search for Shen Sanqiu’s traces in the martial world. The backbone of the sect and the Branch Masters of the various sects also rushed back to the sect for further discussion.
At this moment, in the hall of the Wu Mountain Sect, the higher-ups of the sect were gathered. The atmosphere was solemn.
“The sect has already asked around. The sect master did not die in Chen Feng’s hands and was lucky enough to escape. However, there was no news later on. We still don’t know what he encountered, so we can’t confirm the sect master’s life or death.”
One of the elders explained the situation solemnly.
Everyone had varued expressions and nodded silently.
Everyone present was a core member of the Wu Mountain Sect. There were roughly four types of people. One group were the sect elders, the second were the martial uncles originating from the same generation as the sect master. The third group were Branch Leaders who was in charge of various matters in the sect, and the fourth was the many personal disciples of the sect master.
“Master’s martial arts are strong, so he will definitely be able to avert danger. He might not have encountered any trouble. Perhaps he was just delayed by something.”
One of the strong men spoke in a deep voice. This person was the Sect Master’s first disciple, Qi Zhiyu.
As the eldest senior brother of the sect, he had inherited all his martial arts and had long become famous in the martial world. His status in the sect was not low and he was quite popular among the disciples.
But at this moment, a Martial Uncle named Ding Shixiong suddenly sneered.
“Strong in martial arts? No matter how strong he is, he still lost to Chen Feng, right?”
Qi Zhiyu turned to look at him and frowned, “Martial Uncle Ding, what do you mean?”
“Hmph, the Sect Master didn’t discuss with us and went to deal with Chen Feng on his own. He provoked such a powerful enemy for the sect for no reason. He was too conceited, to the point that he encountered such a problem.”
Ding Shixiong snorted.
Qi Zhiyu said unhappily, “Martial Uncle, you’re wrong! You knew that Master was invited by the big shots of Ning Tian Prefecture back then and couldn’t jump out to object. I don’t know what Martial Uncle is thinking by making sarcastic remarks at this time.”
Ding Shixiong looked annoyed. “How rude. Did your master teach you how to talk back to your elders?”
“That’s enough. Is this a place to quarrel?”
An elder in the sect could not stand it anymore and stopped the two of them.
After the scene fell silent, the elder looked at the wife of the Sect Master and asked, “I wonder if Madam Shen has anything to say?”
Shen Sanqiu’s wife was originally the daughter of a rich businessman and did not know martial arts. Ever since she found out that her husband had disappeared, she had been crying all day. At this moment, she sobbed out once again,
“I hope that everyone will help me find my husband…”
“Don’t worry, Senior Sister-in-law. We will definitely find the Sect Master.” Another Martial Uncle comforted her.
Everyone was silent for a while before an elder suddenly coughed,
“The sect master is missing, so we can’t delay like this. The sect is leaderless now, so someone needs to take charge of the situation.”
Hearing this, Ding Shixiong immediately echoed, “That’s right. The wife of the sect master has never asked about the sect’s matters. We need to find another person with outstanding abilities to take over the position of the sect master.”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone secretly exchanged glances with different thoughts.
“Hmph, Martial Uncle Ding, are you planning to recommend yourself?” Qi Zhiyu snorted.
Ding Shixiong stroked his beard and said proudly, “Why not? All these years, I’ve handled all the matters of the sect, big and small. Which one am I not familiar with? With me as the temporary sect master, the sect will not be in trouble.”
“Of course. Martial Uncle has always had the intention to encroach on the position of the sect master all these years. Everyone in our sect knows this,” Qi Zhiyu mocked.
“Hmph, so what? Did I do anything to harm the interests of the sect? On the other hand, my senior brother provoked a murderer like Chen Feng for the sect and trapped us in fire and deep waters!”
Ding Shixiong’s tone was dissatisfied as he retorted.
An elder nodded, “Indeed, it’s quite risky to act as the temporary sect master. If that Chen Feng comes to denounce us, the acting sect master will bear the brunt…”
Ding Shixiong immediately replied, “That’s right. I’m dedicated to the sect. It’s all my hard work to be willing to take this risk.”
Everyone looked at each other.
“It sounds nice. It’s all because Chen Feng doesn’t have any plans to visit, so he wants to fight for the position of sect master. In the past few days, that murderer hasn’t found trouble with any of the martial world legends who tried to kill him. How can there be any risk…”
Some disciples in the crowd muttered softly in disapproval.
“Who’s gossiping?!”
Ding Shixiong glared at the disciples.
Although that was indeed what he thought, he would not allow others to question him like this… The possibility of Chen Feng coming to find trouble with him was a good reason to scare off the other competitors. It could also show his loyalty to the sect.
At this moment, a young woman behind the Sect Master’s wife took a few steps forward and said anxiously,
“Uncles, we don’t know if my father is dead or alive now. Now is not the time to talk about this, right? Let’s find him first.”
She was Shen Sanqiu’s daughter, Shen Yue. She knew some martial arts, but she was mostly nurtured as a noble lady and could not be considered a true martial artist.
Ding Shixiong frowned, “Little girl, don’t speak out of your turn.”
“But my father…”
An elder shook his head and said, “Cough, Yue’er, you’re still young and already betrothed to another as well. Don’t interrupt in the sect’s matters.”