Traveling through Tianlong: Starting from the Zhenlong chess game

Chapter 638 Xiao Yuanshan’s Master
Zhao Mu nodded when he heard his uncle's reprimand and said, "Well, that's not wrong. As for who is more vicious, me or Ding Chunqiu, that's a matter of opinion."

Zhao Mu looked at Li Canghai and said, "I am not a good person. After all, I have a bad moral character. I never claim to be a good person. But I don't think I am a bad person either. Although I instigated war, seized two states in the north, slaughtered more than 100,000 Liao soldiers, pacified the Western Xia and occupied their land, and conquered the Uighur tribes in the west, robbed their money, and looted their wives and daughters. But I don't think this is wrong. As the king of the Song Dynasty, I naturally have to put the interests of the people of the Song Dynasty first."

"Your Majesty and I have been improving government internally and expanding territory externally over the years. Although the people under our rule have made sacrifices, there is always death in war. But what did their sacrifices bring us? In exchange, our Song Dynasty no longer has to pay tribute to foreign countries, and no longer has to use the people's blood and sweat to feed the tigers around us. Instead, we have completely subdued these tigers and wolves, and let them pay tribute to us in return."

"Now my Song Dynasty is stable and free from worries. I dare not say that the people under my rule are well-fed and well-clothed, but after the military reform of my Song Dynasty, those soldiers who returned home with money are all living well. I serve the country and the people. Am I really such a bad person?"

Li Canghai snorted coldly and said, "This is just your one-sided statement. You are indeed good to the people of the Song Dynasty, but what about the people of other races who died because of you? In order to collect tribute to you, the Uighur tribes sent troops to plunder the people under their rule. And the Tibetan tribes are even more divided. We are all the same, how can we favor one over the other? Didn't Second Senior Brother teach you how to be a human being?"

Zhao Mu sneered and said, "Haha, when I figured out the Zhenlong chess game, I only met Master once. I really didn't have time to listen to Master's teachings. As for what Uncle Master said, the Uighurs plundered their own people to pay tribute to me. The Tibetan tribes were torn apart, what does it have to do with me? I am the king of the Song Dynasty, not their king. Their life and death are naturally not in my eyes."

Zhao Mu looked at Li Canghai and asked, "Master, you seem to be here to call for punishment. My nephew is about to conquer Liao. Master, you are not here to stop me from conquering Liao, are you?"

Li Canghai replied: "Haha, although you are vicious, you are smart. I have been hiding from the outside world for decades. I am back today to stop you from going to war with the Liao Kingdom."

Zhao Mu felt a little strange when he heard this, and he immediately asked: "Why is that? Uncle Master should be a Han Chinese, right? The Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun have been occupied by the barbarians for a hundred years. And the Khitans, relying on their own military strength, have also threatened the Song Dynasty for nearly a hundred years. If we don't take advantage of his illness now, we will kill him."

"When the Liao people recover in the future, will they repeat the mistakes of the Later Jin? Uncle Master only denounced my nephew's viciousness. But when the Khitan soldiers looted the border towns, plundered the grass and valleys, and harmed the people of our Song Dynasty, and massacred innocent people after breaking into the city, weren't they vicious and cruel?"

Li Canghai said at this time: "You are just whitewashing your ambitions with such high-sounding words. Yes, the Khitan soldiers did commit a lot of evil when they plundered the border, but what about you, the Song Dynasty? Did the Song soldiers on your border rob and kill less Khitan civilians?"

"My disciple Xiao Yuanshan was the instructor of the Shushan Army, but he was taught by me and had a good character and never fought against the Han people. But when he and his wife came to the inland to visit their relatives, you Han people killed his entire family. After that, my disciple seemed to have survived the disaster and escorted the crown prince to Xixia to marry. You must have killed him!"

After hearing this, Zhao Mu was stunned.

He didn't expect that Xiao Yuanshan's mysterious master was actually his uncle, Li Canghai, who had disappeared for many years.

But when Zhao Mu thought about it, he felt that it was right. After all, in the battle outside Yanmen Pass that year, Xiao Yuanshan alone fought against dozens of masters from the Central Plains.

Although there are people like Zhao Qiansun who are just there to make up the numbers, there are also some top-notch masters of the time like Abbot Xuanci, Beggar Gang leader Wang Jiantong, and Master Zhiguang.

As a result of that battle, Xiao Yuanshan not only did not lose, but he almost killed all the heroes of Central Plains by himself.

The Central Plains masters' achievements were to kill a few guards with rudimentary martial arts skills, a woman who had no martial arts skills, and some servants. They were no different from ordinary bandits.

If his entire family had not been killed, causing Xiao Yuanshan to become disheartened, Abbot Xuanci and the others would not have survived.

Xiao Yuanshan was able to have such strength when he was young. In Zhao Mu's opinion, he was definitely no less powerful than Qiao Feng who fought against the heroes of the Central Plains in Juxianzhuang in the original novel. If Xiao Yuanshan did not have the top martial arts and a famous teacher at that time, he would never have reached such a realm at such a young age.

But if Xiao Yuanshan's master is his junior uncle Li Canghai, then everything can be explained. The martial arts of his Xiaoyao Sect are not comparable to those of Shaolin and Beggars' Sect.

Zhao Mu thought that Li Canghai's core skill was Xiaoyao Yufeng, and judging from his previous fight with Xiao Yuanshan, he should not know Beiming Divine Skill. Li Canghai should have passed on to him skills such as Tianshan Liuyang Palm and Xiao Wuxiang Gong. But Zhao Mu did not know which one it was because Xiao Yuanshan was too weak at the time.

Zhao Mu replied, "Yes. It was indeed me who killed Xiao Yuanshan. And that time, I killed not only him, but also the so-called Great Wheel King of Tubo. The two of them were the best fighters of Khitan and Tubo, and they were the stumbling blocks for me to defeat Tubo and Liao. So I got rid of them."

Zhao Mu now remembered that Jiumozhi was also a young and successful master, so he asked, "By the way, Uncle Master, Jiumozhi is not your disciple, is he?"

Li Canghai replied: "Although I have met the Great Wheel King once, he is not my disciple. Moreover, I have been practicing in Muye Mountain in Liao for many years, and I only have one disciple, Yuanshan. And you killed him!"

Although Zhao Mu wanted to complain about whether there was a Konoha Village on Konoha Mountain.

But Zhao Mu had heard of the place called Konoha Mountain.

Konoha Mountain and Hokage's Konoha Village have nothing to do with each other, they just have similar names.

When Zhao Mu was chatting with Aguda and others in the Jurchen tribe, he learned that these ethnic groups outside the Great Wall all revered the mountains and fields.

The sacred mountain of the Jurchens is Changbai Mountain, while the sacred mountain of the Khitans is Muye Mountain.

It is said that Muye Mountain is where the Khitan ancestors lived and where they worshiped their ancestors and the heavens. In Zhao Mu's opinion, it is another Langjuxu Mountain.

However, that place was very secretive and only the Liao royal family could go there for worship. Therefore, Zhao Mu was not sure where this place was exactly.

However, he envied his junior uncle, who had been hiding in the sacred mountain of Liao for so many years. No wonder Li Qiushui couldn't find her after searching for so long.

If she was there, it would not be strange for her to accept Xiao Yuanshan as her apprentice. Xiao Yuanshan was a descendant of the Khitan family, and they probably formed a master-apprentice relationship during the Khitan heaven sacrifice.

Zhao Mu said, "I see. No wonder there has been no news from Master Uncle for many years. It turns out that Master Uncle has been cultivating in Liaodi. So, Master Uncle is here today to avenge your good disciple?"

(End of this chapter)