A Plan to Turn the Tide

Xiang Quan interrupted his malicious words with a sharp shout: "What a despicable person! He's spewing lies and harboring ulterior motives! We're too lazy to argue with him! Take him inside!" She ordered two monks to escort Wu Ying Jian to Ping Shan Hall. Along the way, Wu Ying Jian howled incessantly: "Release me, you bandits!" Seeing Xiang Quan's ferocity, the woman dared not question him, and could only secretly follow behind with her children, hoping to catch a glimpse of her second daughter.

At this moment, Stinky Feet had been laid out on a bed in a room in the backyard, with the abbot and others guarding him. Upon seeing Xiang Quan and the others, they were both surprised and delighted. The abbot laughed, "Sect Leader Xiang is truly knowledgeable, decisive, and wise; he has indeed caught the traitor! This old monk admires him!" Xiang Quan grabbed Wu Ying Jian, gripped his shoulder blade with his left hand, unleashed his inner force, and shouted sharply, "Hand over the antidote to the Aphrodisiac and Bone-Soothing Powder! Otherwise, I'll take your dog's life!" Unexpectedly, Wu Ying Jian coldly smiled, "What Aphrodisiac? What Bone-Soothing Powder? I've never heard of it!" Seeing his shamelessness, Xiang Quan flew into a rage, suddenly channeling all his strength into Wu Ying Jian's shoulder blade, his ten fingers digging into the flesh, blood seeping out! Wu Ying Jian screamed in agony and fainted! Xiang Quan released his grip, and Wu Ying Jian fell heavily to the ground with a thud! Xiang Quan ordered a monk to bring over a basin of cold water, and with a whoosh, he poured it all over Wuyingjian's head, giving him a real shock! In the cold early winter, this move was truly effective; Wuyingjian's body, curled up on the ground, stirred instantly, and he slowly opened his eyes. Because all his vital points were sealed, although the water on the ground soaked through his clothes, he couldn't move an inch.

The peasant woman witnessed all of this and was horrified. "This woman looks so refined, how can she be so vicious? She's probably a bandit leader, just like that dwarf said! And that old monk in the robe, isn't he the abbot of this temple? Why is he watching and doing nothing? Could he also be in cahoots with the bandits, a den of snakes and rats? It seems so! This is terrifying! This isn't some sacred Buddhist place for burning incense and worshipping Buddha, it's clearly a den of wolves and tigers, a living hell! No, I can't worry about my second daughter's life for now, survival is the priority! Escaping this temple is the only way! If I manage to escape, I'll rush to the Yangzhou county government office as soon as possible to explain the situation and ask the officials to help me find my second daughter!" With that thought, she hurriedly retreated, taking her child and daughter with her, and fled in a sorry state.

"Speak! Where is the antidote hidden? Where did you lose your original clothes? And that peasant woman's second daughter, did you kill her? Where is she now? Speak!" Xiang Quan stared coldly at him, her tone icy. Wu Ying Jian sneered, retorting, "I truly feel sorry for you. You gave up being the direct wife of an imperial envoy, yet you've fallen to the status of a wanted fugitive! Instead of calming down and thinking about your future, you're worrying about these unrelated people. I'm truly ashamed for you! As the saying goes, those who understand the ways of the world are heroes, Xiang Quan! You should wake up! You should be able to distinguish who is friend and who is foe! Don't wait until you're faced with certainty, or until it's too late to regret it!"

Xiang Quan, his anger rising, burst into a tirade: "You're truly greedy for wealth and power, willingly serving as a lackey of the imperial court! Blinded by greed and power, you can't distinguish right from wrong! Do you know that you've murdered the fifth and twelfth leaders of the Red Flower Society, essentially walking down a dead end? Which of the Red Flower Society's heroes will forgive you? None of the Red Flower Society's brothers are here now. If you honestly hand over the antidote, I might consider letting you go." Seeing that Xiang Quan was unmoved by reason or persuasion, he suddenly remembered a saying from a martial arts philosopher: "Avoid the strong and attack the weak; only then can you defeat the enemy in one move!" He then thought of using strategy to subdue him—the weakness of the Shadowless Sword lay in the fact that since it was a death sentence anyway, there was no hope of survival, so he might as well endure it. But Xiang Quan wasn't a member of the Red Flower Society; what grudge did he hold against him? To obtain the antidote to cure his sworn brother's stinking feet, of course he could be released! It was precisely this mindset of his that Xiang Quan grasped, so she went along with it and brought up the question with him! How could he not bow his head and beg for peace?

"If I hand over the antidote to the Bone-Soothing Powder to you, as the leader of the Jiangnan martial arts world, can you guarantee you'll release me?"

"Absolutely guaranteed! You have no grudge against our Southern Fist School, so why should I hold a grudge against you? Stinky Feet is my own brother; I'll do anything to save him! Don't worry!"

"Aren't you afraid someone will betray you afterward?" Wuyingjian deliberately glanced at the abbot sitting upright to the side and said with ill intent.

"I'm not afraid. Besides, there's a reason for this. No matter what, it's all for the Red Flower Society! In my opinion, nothing is more important than saving their leader's life!"

"Sect Leader Xiang is upright and chivalrous, truly worthy of respect! I admire him greatly! Now, please release my pressure points!"

"Alright!" True to his word, Xiang Quan stepped forward, bent down, and with lightning-fast movements of his jade palms, released the pressure points on Wuying Sword one by one. He cried out in pain, slowly getting to his feet. Facing Xiang Quan solemnly, he said, "Sect Leader Xiang, I only trust you. You will come with me alone to retrieve the antidote!" Xiang Quan readily agreed. Then, he said to the abbot and the other monks, "Masters, please stay here and protect my brother. I'll be right back." The abbot smiled and said, "Sect Leader Xiang, please go without worry. Leave the Grand Master to us!"

Wuyingjian led Xiangquan to the incense burner in front of the main hall and asked in a sinister tone, "Now, look up at the main hall. What do you notice? In other words, what's most eye-catching?" Xiangquan looked up, and the first thing that caught his eye was the horizontal plaque above the entrance. The four golden characters "Main Hall" shone brightly in the sunlight, quite a sight. Xiangquan suddenly remembered the "Complete Guide to the Martial World," which had once allowed him to hide on the giant plaque in the main hall of the Xiang Mansion in Jiangnan, causing such a tremendous noise! ​​Could it be that Wuyingjian's thoughts were also aligned with his own back then?

"Sect Leader Xiang, please wait here for a moment. I'll go fetch the antidote for you!" Without waiting for her reply, Wuyingjian leaped up the second layer of the ancient arched eaves above the main hall, heading straight to the plaque reading "Great Hero Hall." He reached into the hanging plaque and retrieved a package—his clothes. He opened the clothes, took out an exquisite medicine bottle, repacked the package, and slung it over his shoulder, thinking to himself, "Luckily, I hid the package here, making it difficult for anyone to notice. Thankfully, the 'Complete Book of Jianghu' is still here! I doubt anyone except Stinky Feet knows I obtained this extraordinary book! If Xiang Quan finds out, will she still let me go?!"

Wuyingjian leaped down from the ancient eaves, landing lightly beside Xiangquan. He handed her the bottle of medicine, saying, "Sect Leader Xiang, quickly take this and give the Grand Master two pills. I guarantee he'll be cured instantly and back to normal! I won't be going back with you." Unexpectedly, Xiangquan's right hand reached out and seized his left wrist, coldly sneering, "You'd better watch my brother take them. Only if he's alright will we truly believe you! Then you can leave!" Wuyingjian cursed his bad luck. How could he have run into such a cautious Sect Leader Xiang! He was also afraid the Red Flower Society would suddenly return, and then he wouldn't be able to escape! Little did he know, Xiangquan was incredibly clever. Judging from the way he hid his belongings in such a concealed place, the package contained more than just the broken medicine bottles from the dead and some of his clothes. There must be something more important! Because these things alone wouldn't be hidden so carefully!

Wuyingjian said impatiently, "Let's hurry up and leave! I'll personally feed the Grandmaster the medicine, okay?" Xiangquan smiled coldly and said, "I couldn't be happier!" So the two returned to the inner room of Pingshan Hall. Xiangquan asked a monk to bring up a cup of warm water and watched as Wuyingjian helped the smelly-footed man up from the bed and began to feed him the medicine.

Just then, a commotion broke out outside the door. It was the brothers of the Red Flower Society returning one after another after failing to find the Shadowless Sword!