Unparalleled Double Harmony

Chapter 474 Huo Ming's intention is in vain

After Shao Dejin finished speaking, before Sun and Huang said anything, the abbot on the side spoke first: "Hey, Mr. Shao, your son was kicked in the ass a few days ago for talking behind a girl's back on the ring, and today you, as a father, actually did this? As soon as you meet him, you discredit his fellow disciples and teachers in front of others, and gossip about them in all kinds of ways... I thought your son was young and ignorant, but it turns out that the top beam is not straight and the bottom beam is crooked?"

The abbot's words did not come out of nowhere.

First of all, the abbot had heard a lot about Lin Yuancheng from Hai Cangfeng, Shuang Xie, and even Dugu Yong. What he heard was consistent with some of the things he had heard in the martial arts world in the past...

Secondly, the abbot had already heard about how Shao Dejin was humiliated by the "two old weirdos" from Hunyuan Star Gate at the Seven Heroes Conference, and how he broke up with Lin Yuancheng. After all, the Seven Heroes Conference was a mixed bag with many witnesses, and this kind of scandal would definitely be spread around by everyone afterwards.

In addition, the abbot had just witnessed Shao Shanhu's virtues a few days ago. Afterwards, everyone went to Old Gao's house to chat together. The abbot also heard some good things about the Shao father and son from Shuang Xie, Du Gu Yong, and the Gao father and daughter...

To sum up, based on evidence from many sources, the abbot had a favorable impression of Lin Yuancheng and despised the Shao father and son.

Now, Shao Dejin suddenly joined their conversation on his own initiative, and started talking a lot as soon as he opened his mouth. Could the abbot give him face?
This hero Fang is very merciless with his mouth, and he often says words that hurt people.

When Shao Dejin heard this, his face suddenly turned ugly, but he didn't want to get angry because he knew that the abbot was a martial arts master with a strange personality, and it would not be a wise choice to confront him head-on.

Therefore, Shao Dejin could only suppress his anger and replied: "Master Fang, we are all fellow martial artists, and this is our first meeting. We have no grudges against each other... I was just giving a kind reminder to the two young masters Sun and Huang, so why did you have to speak so harshly to me?"

Shao Dejin was, after all, a sect leader, and his words were quite roundabout, a way of retreating in order to advance. Generally speaking, when the other party heard this, no matter how much he disrespected him, he would at most snort coldly and not respond, so he would not lose face too much.

Unexpectedly, the abbot didn't buy his words at all. Instead, he raised his voice: "Hey! You came here first and made a lot of sarcastic remarks. I just said a few truthful words to you, but you think my words are full of thorns? From the sound of it... I am still wrong. I have wronged you, right?"

The abbot is like this. When he doesn't want to be polite to you, don't think you can get away with it by just talking Tai Chi. It's not easy to get him to give you face and take a step back.

When Shao Dejin heard this, he thought to himself, this Fang guy looks only a few years younger than me, why is he so ruthless in his words? Do you want to quarrel with me or even fight with me in this situation?

"Hmph... forget it." Shao Dejin had no choice but to take a step back and bring up the two families that were negotiating today as a shield. "Today, I will give face to Sect Leader Huo and Patriarch Murong and not argue with you. Since we are not on the same page, then Shao..."

"What? You want to leave after farting?" This time the abbot didn't even listen to him finish his words and interrupted him, "You still want to use Sect Leader Huo and Mr. Murong to pressure me? You son of a bitch..."

Seeing that this guy was about to use the dirty words he had just learned recently to curse at others, and even rolled up his sleeves to start fighting, Sun Huang finally couldn't stand it anymore.

"Alright, alright, alright, Brother Fang! Give me, Xiao Huang, some face! Calm down! Calm down..." Huang Donglai rushed forward and dragged the abbot away.

On the other side, Sun Yixie almost rushed over to Shao Dejin at the same second, and said, "Come on, Master Shao, let's talk it over... Don't argue with him, he has this problem... Isn't it that his words are full of thorns? Brother Huang's words are full of shit, and most of us should just be tolerant when we encounter such a sick person."

Originally, this conflict was more or less caused by Sun and Huang, but now the two of them played the role of good guys and pulled the two sides apart.

It was obvious that what Sun Huang had in mind was not just to make the Shao father and son get beaten up again and lose face again - if they just wanted to do that, then as long as they kept silent and continued to watch the show, the abbot would most likely dare to take action.

However, Sun Huang did not break up with Shao Dejin, and even acted as if he wanted to take the opportunity to establish a good relationship with the other party. This was scary... This was how Shen Youran was treated back then.

…………

This little disturbance was quickly calmed down as Shao Dejin and the abbot were pulled apart.

Afterwards, Shuang Xie came back and continued chatting with Lei Buji, while the Niu brothers were responsible for following the abbot and watching him to prevent him from making any more trouble.

In Shuangxie's eyes, this was nothing, but in the eyes of bystanders, this incident contained a lot of information...

Currently, the Baquan Sect still believed that Shuangxie and the abbot were both invited by the Murong family to help out. And judging from the abbot's attitude towards Shao Dejin just now, they did not take the local gangs seriously at all. It was only Shuangxie who gave Shao Dejin some face for the sake of the four sects and three gangs.

As for the Murong family, as outsiders, they naturally had no idea about Lei Buji's situation in the Baquan Sect. They only regarded him as Huo Ming's last disciple. Combined with the "good brothers" relationship between Shuang Xie and Lei Buji, they speculated that Shuang Xie and their "bodyguard" abbot would most likely favor the Baquan Sect.

Finally, from the perspective of a third party, it seems that Sun Yixie and Huang Donglai are simply very good at getting along with everyone...

Lei Buji, the last disciple of the Baquan Sect's leader and the son of the Bahuang Fist Saint, is their brother.

The abbot, known as the "best shooter in the world", is their bodyguard.

The leader of the local Xingyi Sect had a quarrel with the abbot who was known to be narrow-minded, but they were able to persuade them to stop.

At the same time, they are also guests of honor of the Murong family...

Not to mention, the two had close ties with the Embroidered Uniform Guards and their "merits in protecting the country"...that was all news last year.

In short, after this little incident, all the big and small martial arts celebrities who were present and not very familiar with Sun and Huang came forward to greet them, just to make themselves known.

However, the Baquan Sect and the Murong Family both regarded them as members of the other party and were wary of them, so they did not dare to interfere.

For a moment, the two of them were more popular than the other parties in the negotiation, causing many people to almost forget the purpose of their visit today.

Fortunately, after about an hour, when most people had arrived at the venue and the agreed time was approaching, several protagonists from both sides of the negotiation finally appeared, allowing today's negotiations to get back on track.

On the Baquan Sect’s side, Huo Ming came to the “negotiation table” with his three top disciples.

These three people, one named Kong Biao, one named Zhao Li, and one named Yang Hao, are all strong contenders for the position of future leader.

Don't be fooled by their ordinary names and they don't have nicknames like "The Three Heroes of Fist", but their martial arts are quite good. Even though these three are only in their thirties, many deputy leaders of second- and third-rate sects may not be their match. Moreover, these three do not have the problem of "biased" performance. They are all comprehensive talents with high martial arts skills, but also wisdom, courage, and management ability that are at least above the passing line... It will not be surprising any of them will become the leader in the end.

From this point, it can also be seen that when Huo Ming is training "real disciples" or successors, he still prefers to choose all-rounders like himself.

Seeing this, some people will definitely say, isn't it a bit of a hidden danger for Huo Ming to do this? In the future, when one of the three becomes the leader, the other two may not obey him.

Then again, wouldn't this situation also be possible in a sect where the candidates for the leader all have their own strengths?
So whether there will be such a contradiction does not depend on people’s abilities but on their character and personality.

Besides, Huo Ming is now in his prime, and it will take at least ten years before discussing the next leader.

Then, let’s look at the Murong family next…

Murong Shu also brought three people today, all his sons.

Let's also talk a little bit about the Murong family here: First of all, there is their current head of the family, the "Gambling King", one of the Six Kings, Murong Shu, who is known as "Half a Hand to Victory over Heaven".

He was the eldest son of the previous generation and had the ambition to revive his family. More than ten years ago, when the imperial court tentatively extended an olive branch, it was Murong Shu who seized the opportunity. This allowed the Murong family to rise rapidly under the strategy of "cooperating with the imperial court in the gambling industry."

It can be said that it is not an exaggeration to call him a hero of the time.

Then, Murong Shu also had a second brother named Murong Tao, who was also a talented man with both literary and martial talents. Liu Ming was able to make a name for himself because he worked as a book boy for Murong Tao, and he gradually rose from a sold servant to a family servant.

However, Murong Tao's personality is very different from his brother's. Murong Tao is born to be more leisurely and non-confrontational. Not only is he not interested in the position of the head of the family, he also doesn't care much about the family business... Anyway, if you ask him, his attitude is "If you have something to do, you can ask me for help, but if you can avoid it, please don't ask me."

In addition, Murong Tao only had one wife and one daughter, and this daughter had already married, and her husband was not a man of the underworld, but a man from a scholarly family... Therefore, Murong Tao's branch was basically regarded as an idler in the family. At most, they would ask him for help when they were too busy with business, but he would not be allowed to interfere in underworld affairs.

In other words, the generation of the current head of the Murong family has always been friendly and harmonious with each other, because the two brothers have no conflict of interest, and especially because Murong Tao is an easy-going person.

However, the situation of their next generation, that is, Murong Ji's generation, is much more complicated than that of the previous generation...

When Murong Shu was young, he was both talented in literature and martial arts, and was a handsome man. It was inevitable that he would have affairs with many women when he was traveling around the world, so he ended up marrying three wives.

His wife gave birth to two sons for him, the eldest son was Murong Ji.

We have mentioned this kid's personality and martial arts in the previous article. At least for now, they are not yet up to par. If it weren't for the assistance of old retainers like Liu Ming, plus the background of the Murong family, he might have suffered a great loss outside.

The other son born to the wife is the fourth child in the family. He just turned seventeen this year and his name is Murong Dian.

This kid is smarter than his brother, but not much, and his personality is also not very good. However, he looks much more handsome than Murong Ji, who is naturally fat. He has a tall figure and a handsome face... He is 80% similar to his father when he was young.

Although Murong Ji and Murong Dian are brothers, there has always been some discord between them due to the large age gap between them, as well as factors such as appearance, personality, and family status.

Then let’s talk about Murong Shu’s two concubines: the second wife gave birth to a son named Murong Xiao, who was the second oldest among Murong Shu’s four children; the third wife gave birth to a daughter named Murong Yue, the third in the family, and she was usually called San Yatou.

It's a pity about Murong Xiao. Although he has a very good brain and learns things very quickly, and he is willing to take on the responsibility of the head of the family, he has a congenital physical weakness. Not to mention practicing martial arts, he even needs help from others in his daily life.

Even though he was proficient in poetry, songs, calligraphy, chess, and painting at the age of thirteen, he had no chance of passing the exam because of his physical condition that prevented him from completing the examination alone in the examination room.

In order to cure himself over the years, Murong Xiao not only visited famous doctors, but also studied many medical books handed down in his family, but to no avail.

Murong Shu felt very sorry for his son. If Murong Xiao could learn a little martial arts, with his intelligence and character, he would definitely be the next head of the family.

Therefore, until today, Murong Shu has not completely given up on his second son and still brings him to occasions like this... What if he is cured one day, the head of the family can still be passed on to him.

As for the third girl Murong Yue... in one word, "she has a very bad relationship with her father."

Because Murong Yue was very upset about the fact that her mother could only and was willing to be the "third wife"; she felt that her mother was deceived by Murong Shu's sweet words, otherwise, she would be a good-looking female knight with both good looks and martial arts skills, which many people would not want... Why did she have to compromise with Murong Shu?

In addition, the girl herself was not considered for the position of inheriting the family headship, which resulted in Murong Yue having no scruples. She never put on an act when she contradicted Murong Shu, and it was considered good enough if she did not make trouble at home, let alone help.

To sum up, the three sons brought by Murong Shu today, namely the eldest son Murong Ji, the illegitimate son Murong Xiao, and the second son Murong Dian... are similar to the situation of the Baquan Sect, and there are also three substitute successors.

When the four people from the Murong family came out, people from all walks of life began to whisper, because among the four of them... one of them came out in a wheelchair.

So did anyone say there were wheelchairs at that time?
Of course there are. In the history we are familiar with, there are records of wheelchairs much earlier than this period.

What's more, the wheelchair that Murong Xiao is sitting on now was designed and manufactured by him himself. Even if it did not exist in history, it would be fine for it to appear here.

Yes, Murong Xiao studied not only medicine, but also engineering. After all, he was a man with extremely high IQ, ideals and ambitions, but basically unable to exercise. So he could only use the vast amount of classics in the Murong family library to fill the large amount of free time he had every day.

"Heh...what's going on with the Murong family? Why do they have a cripple?" At this time, the unruly Shao Shanhu was talking nonsense again.

Of course, he was not too stupid. He knew that in such a situation, he should lower his voice and quietly complain to his father.

"This is Murong Shu's second son Ah Xiao. He is not a cripple, but is weak and sickly, so he seldom goes out into the world. His father probably wants him to show his face." Shao Dejin knew this level of information, so he whispered it to Shao Shanhu.

"Isn't that just a sickly person?" Shao Shanhu laughed jokingly, and then muttered, "I think the Murong family is really no good. Apart from having a lot of money, they can't even find a few decent people."

Ladies and gentlemen, please don't think that just because Shao Shanhu has been disparaging the Murong family in his words... it means that he is supporting the Baquan Sect.

In fact, the Xingyi Sect’s hatred for the Baquan Sect far exceeds that of the Murong family - the hatred between a foreign chain store and you cannot be as deep as that between you and the big local stores that directly compete with you and have suppressed you for many years.

However, in the negotiations between the local boss and the foreign strongman, if the locals belittle the local boss, wouldn't it seem that they, who have been suppressed by this boss for many years, are even more incompetent? So if they have to step on someone, they will still tend to step on the outsider.

If the Murong family loses today, and the hosting rights finally fall into the hands of the Ba Quan Sect, then we will go around praising and criticizing the Ba Quan Sect for how poorly they organize the competition, and then start fighting among ourselves... This is the mentality of these people.

"Greetings to all the heroes of Cangzhou."

Just when everyone was discussing and making a lot of noise about Murong Xiao's condition, suddenly, Murong Shu used his internal energy and spoke loudly.

This statement is actually a bit problematic, because the witnesses who came here today, even if we exclude the people from the Murong family, are not all from Cangzhou.

But it’s hard to find fault with him, after all, everyone is now in Cangzhou, and you can also understand that he is talking about "the heroes who are in Cangzhou."

Of course this is not the point. The point is... everyone can also hear that the hidden meaning of Murong Shu's words is to specifically point out some Cangzhou martial artists represented by people like Shao Shanhu, who are quietly belittling Murong Xiao out of the mentality mentioned above.

Sure enough, as soon as he said this, the place immediately became quiet. Guys like Shao Shanhu, who were secretly pointed out by him, felt guilty and did not dare to meet Murong Shu's eyes for a while.

"Today, we are guests..." Murong Shu's next sentence was to make up for his slightly abrupt preemptive speech, "If there is any inconvenience or offense, I hope everyone present, as well as... Sect Leader Huo, will forgive me."

In this way, he took control of the situation very naturally and smoothly handed the right to speak to the host Huo Ming.

At this moment, Sect Leader Huo secretly admired in his heart: "This Murong Shu is indeed a local hero. As soon as he opened his mouth, we knew that he was extraordinary and shrewd. If this is the case... then what I want to do today has great hope."

Some people may wonder: Isn't Huo Ming trying to win the right to host the Young Heroes Conference? How did he infer that this matter has great potential from the fact that the other party's words are reliable?
The reader who asked this question is wrong. You should think about it carefully again - "competing for the hosting rights" was not Huo Ming's purpose or motive from the beginning. He only got involved in this muddy water because an external force came to his territory to plant its flag and he had to make a statement.

In fact, when Huo Ming came out to compete for the hosting rights, his demand was not the hosting rights themselves, but he had to make a gesture.

To put it bluntly, I want to let the world see that if you come to my Baquan Sect to do such a big thing, you have to get through me first, and you can't just do it because of your word. If you do that, I won't be able to stay here anymore, right?

Therefore, Huo Ming's "hope" has never been to rush to host the competition... He would rather let the Murong family host it, so that he doesn't have to spend so much money and manpower...

What he hopes is: we have both said everything we need to say today in front of so many like-minded people, and we will do what needs to be done. We will go through the process together, and each side will give each other enough face and favors while taking into account the other side's position. Finally, after the discussion is over, we will invite these bastards present to have a meal together, and everyone will be happy at the table. Isn't that the end of the matter?
This is the way people at Master Huo’s level think about problems.

The world is big, there is no need to fight to the death for everything, and be jealous of others' success every day. Even if you are not qualified to compete, it would be best if others can't get it... That is the mentality of Shao Dejin and his son. This pattern is inferior.

However, Murong Shu, at least for now, has not understood Huo Ming's intention.

By the time he came to his senses, it was already too late, because his two grandsons had been fanning the flames in the negotiations, which eventually led to... a battle among the six kings!