Taiping Inn

The fleet sailed slowly across the East China Sea. The huge "Li" character on the flag on the ship allowed the group to pass smoothly. Whenever they met the patrol boat of Qingwei Sect, the other party would take the initiative to give way.

After entering the range of 108 islands, Zhang Haishi returned to his own ship and said goodbye to Li Xuandu. Li Xuandu stopped the ship and watched, watching the boats of the Li family members disperse, while Zhang Haishi's ship sailed alone in the direction of Penglai Island.

Qin Su accompanied Li Xuandu and asked softly: "That day...what did you talk about with the second senior brother? He seemed very unhappy."

Li Xuandu sighed and did not answer the question directly, but asked: "Susu, who do you think is the master of this world? Is it the local tyrants like us? Is it the emperor of the imperial capital? Is it the immortal earthly immortal?"

Qin Su was stunned and didn't know how to answer.

Li Xuandu didn't continue to speak. After Zhang Haishi went far away, he asked people to continue sailing.

When they arrived at the East China Sea, they were not far from Chuzhou.

Chuzhou is one of the smaller states in the world. It is located between Qizhou, Luzhou and Jiangzhou. In other words, it is located between Qingwei Sect, Cihang Sect and Taiping Sect. Therefore, no sect has a foothold here. There are only some small sects that are not very influential, making this place a buffer zone between the three major sects. People from all walks of life come and go frequently.

Because Chuzhou is close to the sea, many seafarers stay here, and the news is well-informed. Many major events will be transmitted here by sea.

The largest port in Liaozhou is located in Shizikou, while the largest port in Chuzhou is located in Linhai County, which is also a prosperous place, not inferior to many prefectures. Taiping Sect opened an inn and a bank in this county town, Qingwei Sect opened a blacksmith shop, a silk shop, a pawnshop, and a north-south business here, and Cihang Sect opened a rouge shop, a porcelain shop, a study, and a business here.

In a small county town, half of the profitable business was divided up by three families. The reason why the sect is a sect, not a sect, is that they are rooted in every corner, not only with people, but also with money. People protect money, money creates people, and the cycle repeats, dominating one side.

Among these shops, the most lively one is Taiping Inn. With the reopening of Taiping Sect, the originally quiet Taiping Inn has also ushered in many changes. They are no longer the eyes and ears of Taiping Sect, but also shoulder the task of making money. Madam Lu set targets for the general shopkeepers of each state, and the general shopkeepers issued them layer by layer according to Madam Lu's targets. The big shopkeepers of each mansion were assigned to the heads of the sub-shopkeepers of each inn. These shopkeepers can no longer live a quiet life, and they racked their brains to expand their business. Some people use their brains on wine, and some people think about dishes. The shopkeeper of Taiping Inn in Linhai County is ingenious, and invites storytellers and singers to make the inn particularly lively.

Taiping Inn is a favorite place for people in the martial arts world, not because of anything else, but because of its signboard. Linhai County is a place with many connections, so there is a constant flow of heroes in the martial arts world.

Today, Taiping Inn hung two big red lanterns in front of its door to celebrate the engagement of the new leader of Taiping Sect and the new leader of Wangqing Sect. The guests who came and went had to congratulate the shopkeeper, saying "Congratulations to the new leader Li and the new leader Qin". For these ordinary people in the martial arts world, they don't have the courage to call their leader's name under the eyes of Taiping Sect, and even the word "dai" in the acting leader was intentionally or unintentionally omitted, for fear of breaking taboos.

The shopkeeper smiled and returned the greetings one by one. Almost all the shopkeepers of Taiping Inn are Mrs. Lu's people, and Mrs. Lu is the person of the acting leader, so the shopkeeper knows very well who he is.

On the second floor of the inn, many people from the underworld gathered. Some of them were going to Liaodong by boat, some were going to Jiangnan by boat, some were going to get off the boat in Qizhou to go to the capital of Zhili, and some were going to go from Chuzhou to Luzhou. In short, people from all over the world passed by here and gathered here.

For people from the underworld, friendship in the underworld is very important. Many people from the underworld do not yearn for being invincible in the world, but for knowing everyone in the underworld and having no strangers in the underworld. Therefore, it is very common for strangers to meet each other by chance and make friends with each other.

Because of the happy event in the inn, these people from the underworld also talked about several major events in the underworld. The first one was the major event in the Golden Tent. Logically speaking, something that happened far away in the Golden Tent had little to do with the underworld, so it should not have spread so quickly. However, in order to deal with the offensive of the Confucianists, the Liaodong gentlemen deliberately publicized the matter and greatly raised Li Xuandu's reputation, making him truly worthy of the title of "Purple Lord".

In the eyes of the Liaodong nobles, after the Golden Tent incident and the engagement between Qin and Li, Li Xuandu was undoubtedly their own man, and Liaodong needed a leading figure second only to Zhao Zheng and Qin Qing, with great prestige, to come forward to mediate against the Confucian school. To this, Li Xuandu did not object and acquiesced. In the eyes of the Liaodong nobles, their ideas were already very bold, and Li Xuandu might retreat and avoid, but Li Xuandu's real ideas were bolder than theirs. The Liaodong nobles did not see this and were happy that Li Xuandu agreed to it. Only Zhang Haishi saw some clues. He did not think that the Liaodong tyrants would lead Li Xuandu to a situation of no return. Instead, he was worried that Li Xuandu would lead the Liaodong tyrants on a road of no return, so Zhang Haishi asked him what he was doing, thinking that Li Xuandu was too aggressive, and the two brothers even had some unhappiness about this.

Ordinary people in the martial arts world don't know the various calculations involved, they just have more things to talk about. Some people believe the news released by Liaodong, while others don't. However, as more and more caravans return from the Golden Horde, the rumors that were originally just groundless become more and more credible.

The Central Plains envoy assassinated the old Khan of the Golden Horde in the name of peace talks, and then joined forces with Ili Khan to plot against the Golden Horde's national teacher and plot for the position of Khan. This is what Batu Khan said.

Shigan Khan and the national teacher murdered the old Khan of the Golden Horde and put the blame on the Central Plains envoy, but they were discovered by the Central Plains envoy. Batu Khan was the person behind the scenes, and was afraid that the matter would be exposed, so he killed the national teacher to silence him. This is what Ili Khan said.

Both of these statements accused the other party of being the murderer of the old Khan, with the intention of occupying the righteous name, and also put the cause of the national teacher's death on the other party, with the intention of winning over the shamanic forces.

Regardless of which version is true, the Central Plains envoy is a key figure. Combined with rumors in the martial arts world, one version is becoming more and more popular in the martial arts world, that the Central Plains envoy assassinated the old Khan and avenged the Xijing incident.

This made Li Xuandu's reputation in the martial arts world soar. It was not the kind of fame gained from fighting, but it was faintly to the level of Taishan Beidou. No matter what kind of person, when mentioning Li Xuandu, they would solemnly call him Mr. Qingping, implying that Li Xuandu was born in the Qingwei Sect but became the leader of the Taiping Sect, taking one character from each of the Qingwei Sect and the Taiping Sect. This new title has spread in the martial arts world. Later, the two characters "Qingping" were no longer imposed on Li Xuandu by others, but Li Xuandu's self-titled name.

Li Xuandu, with the courtesy name Zifu and the pseudonym Qingping. Someone must have fanned the flames of this matter. Li Xuandu even suspected that the person behind the scenes was in his Qingping Society, otherwise it would be impossible to grasp the word "Qingping" so cleverly, and he almost shouted out the slogan "Qing the world and peace". However, the lower-level people in the martial arts world would not think so much. They just felt that "Mr. Qingping" was much more stable than "Zifu Sword Immortal". The latter was too sharp and would be exposed, like a young man, while the former was much more restrained, like a calm middle-aged man, more in line with the doctrine of the mean.

However, from beginning to end, there was no trace of the Earth Master and the Saint King in the rumors about the Golden Tent. This also illustrates a fact that Li Xuandu needed all kinds of rumors and feats to increase his reputation, but the Earth Master and the Saint King no longer used these means. Whether it was praise or slander, the power in their hands would not change at all. Before the dust settled, they were even unwilling to step out from behind the scenes to the front stage, so as to avoid other variables.

While these people were talking and talking about the country, a group of five people came in from outside, two men, two women and a half-grown girl. One of the young couple seemed to be a newlywed couple, and the other young man seemed to be an attendant, but his appearance was not very similar to that of the Central Plains people. There was also an older woman, and it was unknown whether she was the elder of the young couple. As for the last half-grown boy, his skin was dark, but he could be seen walking and breathing, and he was an excellent master, at least at the Xuanyuan realm.