Chapter 734: Curfew in Yangzhou, Alarms Ring

Although the turmoil caused by the thief had subsided, the news brought by Leizi to Kaidi, along with Kaidi’s attitude, stirred up quite a stir in the martial world!
This time, Kaidi sent Yin Hu to establish a branch hall in Yangzhou City. Already prepared to engage in a fierce confrontation with Lingxiao Palace, the branch hall gathered many skilled fighters.
Unexpectedly, instead of taking action, Lingxiao Palace allowed a group of unidentified individuals to launch a night attack on the Mu Family’s branch hall, causing many deaths and injuries…
It was only after the forces within the branch hall appeared that they managed to drive back these unknown attackers!
Although Kaidi only learned the basics of what had happened from Leizi, he quickly understood that at such a time, there could only be two groups capable of targeting the Mu Family—one was the force behind the mysterious men in black; the other was Lingxiao Palace’s people.
Since the incident happened while the men in black were challenging Yin Hu and they stopped mid-way, it was almost certain they had nothing to do with it…
Lingxiao Palace was highly suspected!
Even if it wasn’t done directly by Lingxiao Palace, it was still closely related to them.
In Yangzhou City, no one could move about unnoticed, gather such powerful martial artists, and then vanish without a trace.
There were no such skilled fighters in the Central Plains’ martial world…
So it could only be foreign forces!
Only Lingxiao Palace could provide shelter for these people without the Mu Family finding out!
Kaidi’s order, though accidental, proved effective!
…
As Yangzhou City was filled with tension and fear, Yin Hu led his men to strictly control all entrances and exits of the city.
Even those from Lingxiao Palace had to take off their hats when entering or leaving the city gates! Near the docks, Mu Family disciples took turns on duty.
Many gangs in Yangzhou City even received notices from the Mu Family, voluntarily helping to keep an eye out for strange faces and prevent people from leaving easily.
Rumors spread among the people—some said they saw the attackers enter Lingxiao Palace’s main hall; others claimed they were hiding inside it.
So, the following night…
All around Lingxiao Palace’s main hall, Mu Family disciples could be seen everywhere—in restaurants, on street corners, on rooftops—strictly monitoring the palace!
…
“That’s too much!!”
Furious shouts could be heard frequently inside Lingxiao Palace’s main hall:

“Those bastards from the Mu family! What do they think Lingxiao Palace is? If they want to spy on us, let them! Even when someone goes out, they interrogate and watch them for ages! Is this place really under the control of Lingxiao Palace, or is it the territory of the Mu family??”
“Calm down, calm down. It’s just that they’re in high spirits right now…”
A group of elders and sect leaders from Lingxiao Palace gathered together, discussing heatedly. Some were filled with anger, while others looked helpless, trying to persuade their colleagues to calm down:
“What can we do?”
“The Mu family’s faction killed over seventy people at once this time—no wonder they’re so furious… I heard even Xiao Bei was killed. Now, everyone from the Mu family’s faction is focused on hunting down the killer…”
“So what if they died? It wasn’t us!”
“That’s right, it wasn’t us!”
“…” Those who knew the inside story fell silent immediately.
Inside the hall, Qin Yun and Qin Qing also frowned in silence, clearly panicked.
Others might not know who was behind it, but they did!
Apart from the “Longmen” experts who met with them today, no one else could invade the Mu family’s faction and kill dozens of people in one go—most people didn’t even have the strength to escape from the Devil Sound Marquis’s demonic sounds. But this incident indeed wasn’t ordered by them…
The Longmen people didn’t reveal a single word to them when they carried out the attack, and they returned looking disheveled, constantly cursing that woman who played the zither as being difficult to deal with.
Although Qin Yun and her sister were relieved upon hearing that Xiao Bei and those Mu family experts had been killed, they soon realized the situation was serious.
The Mu family’s people quickly reached outside Lingxiao Palace’s main sect!
Moreover, the Silver Fox, radiating murderous intent, declared in front of Lingxiao Palace’s experts, “Whoever dares to cover up the enemies of the Mu family will not go unpunished! No matter who it is!”…
Then, a curfew was imposed within several miles around Lingxiao Palace… Soon after, a curfew was declared across the entire city of Yangzhou…
During this time, Qin Yun negotiated with the middle-aged man who had taken action. He told her that their original plan was to destroy the Mu family’s faction outright, but unfortunately, they hadn’t anticipated the Devil Sound Marquis’s crucial role in battle and had underestimated the number of experts in the Mu family’s faction. Otherwise, not just Xiao Bei and those few experts would have perished.
However, since seven of their own experts were killed, Longmen also suffered some losses. It would be difficult to succeed in another similar attack.
Still, they said that as long as Lingxiao Palace continued to cooperate with them, the Longmen disciples who would gradually enter the Central Plains could surely help Lingxiao Palace stand toe-to-toe with the Mu family.

Now, the Qinyun Sisters are hesitating… Whether to hand over the people from Longmen to the Mu Family to settle things, or to follow the advice of those from Longmen, pretend to be unaware, and continue to delay time while working with their experts to gradually weaken the Mu Family’s strength. It’s like walking on a tightrope—any slight mistake could lead to a plunge into an abyss, ruining the great progress Lingxiao Palace has made! So, no matter how chaotic the discussions are among the hall’s leaders and elders, the two women seem to be struggling in another realm, torn between choices, unable to decide! … In the back courtyard room of Lingxiao Palace, a middle-aged man with a gentle expression sat at his desk, his face also covered in unusual heaviness and tension. Although this attack caused significant damage to the Mu Family and cost them one of their key warriors, the strength displayed by the Mu Family, as well as that of Marquis of Demon Sound, also shocked him greatly. They had underestimated the Mu Family because of the prowess of Lingxiao Palace’s experts… Marquis of Demon Sound’s ability to ignore the environment and space posed an unprecedented threat and caused great harm; seven of their experts died at the hands of Silver Fox! Silver Fox’s strength is truly formidable! Marquis of Demon Sound’s influence is terrifying! If they hadn’t ordered a retreat early, even fewer would have returned. This time, they had planned to destroy a branch of the Mu Family and then disappear immediately to gain greater support and leverage from Lingxiao Palace… But instead, they suffered heavy losses, got stuck in a difficult situation, and were forced to seek refuge under Lingxiao Palace to survive. Now, the 29 people from Longmen even have to log off to avoid the divination by the Master of Zhou Yi! Longmen… has fallen into a very passive and dangerous situation. “I hope the Mu Family won’t be too persistent this time. Otherwise, we might have to confront them head-on…” The middle-aged man sighed softly.