The man opposite me laughed, "Speaking of which, it's my fault. Please listen to my explanation."

I waved my hand and said, "Don't speak yet. Let me hear what our people have to say."

Wang the Butcher quickly recounted the events behind me.

The man opposite me also laughed, "I was just about to tell you one..."

Before the last "tell" could leave his mouth, my curved blade had pierced into it. The tip of the blade protruded two inches from the back of his head, and then the true qi (true energy) on the blade suddenly erupted, instantly shattering his head into pieces.

Xia Mengying exclaimed in shock, "Li Po, why did you suddenly kill him?"

I said in a deep voice, "Be on guard!"

Ye Yang and the other four turned at the same time, forming a pentagon with me, surrounding Xia Mengying in the middle.

I tapped on the table unhurriedly and said, "Friend, I know you're not dead. Come out and speak."

After asking three times without any response, I said, "Friend, you want to force Xia Mengying to become a traitor to Confucianism, and you've divided it into three steps."

"Shanglin Community is the first step."

"The Kong Family Courtyard is the second step."

"If we hadn't reinforced in time, you would have forced Xia Mengying to become a traitor to Confucianism in the second step."

"We disrupted your plan. You can only start the third step, impersonating Repentance Soul Master."

I said, "If I hadn't made that strike, the first thing you would have done was let me see the ghosts scattered in the Kong Family Courtyard."

"Let me believe that you took action in time to kill the ghosts and save Xia Mengying."

"Then, you would tell us a touching, or perhaps forced, story, and then withdraw again."

"Your story might not make Xia Mengying immediately turn evil, but it will definitely plant a seed in her heart."

"This seed will eventually take root and sprout in the Banxian Village, causing Xia Mengying to turn evil at the most critical moment."

"Xia Mengying becomes a traitor to Confucianism, and your Xia family's Qilin (mythical Chinese unicorn-like creature), will naturally become one of the Nine Sons of Yitian."

"Am I right?"

I spoke for a long time, but no one came out to respond.

Only Xia Mengying's body was trembling slightly.

She was the person involved in the whole thing, and she knew more about the Xia family than I did.

Before, no one had ever reminded Xia Mengying, so she had never suspected the Xia family, or the teachers who had cultivated her.

My words now were the biggest shock to her, even a subversion.

Xia Mengying was just a teacher, a Confucian scholar. She had never experienced the cunning and bloodiness of the martial world. Suddenly, she learned that the most deadly crisis came from her own family.

She couldn't accept it!

However, at this time, all I wanted was victory or defeat, not to protect Xia Mengying with all my strength.

Perhaps, this time will be Xia Mengying's transformation.

I said in a deep voice, "Friend, if you don't come out, I can also tell you a story."

"Not long after I started out, I met a ghost transformed from a storyteller. His name was Qiao Gongliang."

"Whether he was good or bad, I won't comment. I'll just tell you his story..."

"Before Qiao Gongliang died, he once entrusted me to save the ancestors of the Qiao family who were suppressed under the Stele Forest if I had the chance."

While I was telling the story of Qiao Gongliang, I was always paying attention to the movement in the Kong Family Courtyard. When I said that Qiao Gongliang was destroyed in both body and spirit, a wave of Yin energy (the complement to Yang) came from the Kong family.

I guessed right!

I continued, "Your storytelling skills are no worse than his, and your style is somewhat similar to his."

"If you are the ancestor of Qiao Gongliang, as long as you don't make trouble for me, we'll say goodbye and never interfere with each other again."

"I'll give you ten seconds to consider. If you don't come out and give me an explanation, when I find you, it will be when your soul is scattered."

Not long after I finished speaking, someone walked out from the depths of the Kong family's mansion.

That person was still wearing the same clothes as "Repentance Soul Master" just now, but his appearance was no longer the same.

His current appearance was seven or eight points similar to Qiao Gongliang.

The other party came over and cupped his hands at me, "Master Li, this old man is Qiao Fei, paying my respects to you."

I looked at the other party and said, "How can you prove that you are the ancestor of Qiao Gongliang?"

The old man Qiao smiled bitterly, "Little old me, really has nothing to prove! It all depends on whether Master Li believes it or not!"

This was clearly a gamble. I was gambling on the true identity of the old man Qiao!

I asked, "Then how do you know I didn't lie to you?"

The old man Qiao shook his head and said, "I've told stories all my life, and I've lied to people all my life. I'm confident that I can still see who is telling a story."

The old man Qiao asked cautiously, "Master Li, I want to ask a question: Is our Qiao family extinct?"

I shook my head and said, "I don't know. I've only met Qiao Gongliang, and I've also heard that Qiao Gongliang never married."

"As for whether it's true or false, I don't know."

"However, I can tell you that I didn't see any incense aura on Qiao Gongliang."

The old man Qiao sat down in front of the table dejectedly, "So it is, so it is... Someone always has to pay for what happened back then!"