Chapter 1484: Chapter 1484: Troops at the Foot of the Mountain

According to Long Fei’s arrangement, Ma Tengfei, accompanied by two servants from the City Lord’s Mansion, finally rode a tall horse and flamboyantly left the city.

Bald Dog and Da Heiniu followed behind as escorts, beating drums and gongs while shouting in the streets, “Bamboo City Hall Master of the Sharing Alliance, Ma Tengfei, is going to Azure Woods Sect to persuade them to surrender!”

“The Sharing Alliance will surely win!”

“Hall Master Ma is brave and mighty!”

“…”

The crowd on the street was buzzing, not expecting the City Lord’s son to actually be a hall master of the Sharing Alliance.

This young master usually hides very deeply!

Ma Tengfei raised his neck high, trying to make himself appear calm and collected under everyone’s gaze.

Although he was naturally cunning, he had some courage.

When dealing with Long Fei, he had already planned how to handle Azure Woods Sect in his mind.

As an envoy, he felt he had some chance of surviving.

If he survived, no matter who won in the end, he wouldn’t lose out.

He shouted at the top of his voice, “The wind blows gently and the Xiang River is cold, the warrior leaves never to return!”

His demeanor was full of determination and melancholy, with a touch of heroism, causing a group of girls to scream and applaud for him.

Ma Tengfei was very satisfied with this effect, thinking that this poetry, which he had no idea where he copied from, actually suited today’s atmosphere quite well.

Those who plagiarize others, others will plagiarize them.

Bald Dog and Da Heiniu exchanged glances, their mouths curled into a wry smile.

Soon, this news reached the City Lord’s Mansion.

Ma Tengfei’s own mother, the lady of the City Lord’s Mansion, went to the government office and shouted at the top of her lungs in front of all the civil and military officials, “Ma Buwei, you heartless man, are you trying to drive your own son to death!”

Ma Buwei was discussing the task given from above to defend Jingzhou Prefecture, and his wife’s uproar made his face turn red immediately. He rushed out to drag this tigress in the back hall to talk.

A group of officials held back their laughter but managed to keep it in.

The news from outside was quickly brought in, and after hearing about the Ma family young master’s feats, everyone was astonished and speechless, wondering when the City Lord’s family became associated with the Sharing Alliance.

Moreover, this young master, who usually kept a low profile, turned out to be a hall master of the Sharing Alliance.

This Sharing Alliance is now gaining great fame in South Yangtze Prefecture.

The ancient Mount Heng Sect was easily swept into ruins by this Sharing Alliance, causing much apprehension among the cultivators of the Cultivation World.

It was heard that even the Lord of Xiangyang was unclear in his ties with them.

The generals of the City Defense Camp whispered among themselves, thinking that the sky over Bamboo City was about to change!

In the back hall, after hearing his wife’s account of their son’s feats, Ma Buwei slapped the tea table hard, his mustache trembling in anger, saying, “That fool! He doesn’t even know he’s being used as a pawn, and he goes charging into the fray!”

He anxiously said to his wife, “You knew about this, why didn’t you bring him back!”

The lady cried, “I did chase after him, but they disappeared as soon as they left the city, as fast as lightning. Our people chased over a hundred miles towards Azure Woods Mountain, and they still found no trace of them!”

“Then keep pursuing! Where are they? Why stopped the chase?”

Ma Buwei glared, his blood pressure rising a bit, shakily sitting down and gulping down a mouthful of tea.

The lady said, “Beyond that point is the fifty-mile no-man’s land designated by the Azure Woods Sect. Who among our people has the guts to go in there!”

She moved closer and sat beside Ma Buwei, clutching his official robe, looking pitiful, “Lord, Tengfei is our only son. He may not be ambitious, but he is a filial child! If anything happens to him, I don’t want to live either!”

“My dear, rest assured! He is the eldest son, destined to inherit the Ma family estate in the future, I naturally won’t let anything happen to him. You go back first, I’ll discuss with the others, and tonight we will send troops to rescue our son!”

Ma Buwei, after thoughtful consideration, decided he couldn’t sit and do nothing anymore.

He understood that, willing or not, he was already part of this matter.

The lady felt much more assured after hearing his words, repeatedly reminding Ma Buwei to keep his word.

After she left, Ma Buwei calmed down and went to sit in the front hall.

Before he could speak, the City Defense Camp generals stood up to salute him and requested orders, “City Lord, the Young Master’s life is in danger, your officers are willing to lead the troops there, to ask them for our Young Master back from the Azure Woods Sect.”

“City Lord, my subordinate’s nephew is cultivating in the Azure Woods Sect. I will immediately find him, let him say some good words for the Young Master.”

“City Lord, please give the order!”

The reactions of the group were completely beyond Ma Buwei’s expectations.

He originally thought that these people would try to dissuade him from mobilizing the troops.

But unexpectedly, the military officers present were so enthusiastic.

This was understandable, as Ma Buwei could easily figure out.

That very day, the Lord of Xiangyang, Guo Jing led people to Mount Heng, with soldiers from Xiangzhou Prefecture specifically accompanying to help.

The subsequent events spread throughout Jingzhou Prefecture.

The cultivation resources of Mount Heng’s multiple peaks, a sect with over ten thousand years of history, and various exotic flowers and spirit stone mines, were plundered completely, leaving not a single blade of grass behind.

The cultivators’ powers across Jingzhou Prefecture were eager, wishing the Sharing Alliance would immediately come to their area too.

Whether it was the loose cultivators of the Jianghu, minor sects, or even the Great Xia Army and City Defense Camp, they all harbored such thoughts.

This way, they could take advantage of the chaos to share in the major sects’ years of accumulated resources.

Ma Buwei figured that these City Defense Camp generals were planning just that.

Before nightfall, of Bamboo City’s one hundred thousand City Defense troops, only twenty thousand from the Central Camp remained.

The rest, from the Left Camp, Right Camp, Front Camp, and Rear Camp, totaling sixty thousand soldiers, all marched towards Azure Woods Mountain.

The hesitating and waiting cultivators within the city were thrilled, and after knowing the City Defense Camp had been dispatched, they felt a great deal of reassurance.

They followed behind the City Defense Camp, travelling together.

With such a massive force in front, even if Azure Woods Sect started a massacre, it wouldn’t come upon them immediately.

The mountain wind howled, and dark clouds gathered.

A heavy rain was coming, and flashes of lightning would occasionally strike, illuminating Azure Woods Mountain brightly.

Ma Tengfei had been stripped bare and was hanging upside down with a rope from an archway at the entrance of the Azure Woods Sect.

Thunder continuously struck near him, causing his hair to stand on end, his blood to race, and his heart to feel as if it would leap out of his chest.

His two servants, with a single slap from Elder Huo Yan of Azure Woods Sect, turned into blood mist.

Ma Tengfei immediately urinated in his pants, lying limp on the ground like a pile of mud.

If not for him being the City Lord’s son, Huo Yan would have already killed him.

There weren’t many Elders in the Azure Woods Sect, only Huo Yan and Zhong Zhengyang, known as the Two Heroes of Azure Woods.

Currently, Zhong Zhengyang had been killed by Long Fei in East Lake Town, and the disciples of Azure Woods Sect were filled with horror and anger.

At this moment, Ma Tengfei’s plea for surrender was like pouring oil on their fire.

He wailed, head down, “Azure Woods Sect, don’t you have any code of conduct? Two armies are at war, and emissaries are not to be killed. I’m an emissary, you can’t kill me, quickly send me back!”

The wailing echoed through the mountains and fields, startling the birds and beasts into a frenzy at night.

The Sect Leader of Azure Woods, Sima Qingtian, coldly observed all this, with Huo Yan, the Outer Hall Master, and the Inner Gate Leader standing behind him.

The crowd whispered in low voices, each with a grim expression.