While Li Miao was slaughtering outside the city, Tai'an City was already filled with wails of sorrow.
The Ming Cult's initial plan was to activate the Gu poison during the Five Mountains Alliance Meeting, simultaneously refining the martial artists attending the meeting on Mount Tai and the common people in Tai'an City into Gu Soldiers.
This plan had been laid out for many years, and the Ming Cult had given the Gu worms to Zuo Lishan in advance as part of this plan.
Li Miao forcing Zuo Lishan to use the Gu worms ahead of time actually forced the Ming Cult to activate this plan prematurely.
In this plan, the importance of the martial artists on Mount Tai was actually far greater than that of the common people in Tai'an City.
The 'Gu' itself was originally distinct from martial arts, completely unrelated. For the past decade or so that the Ming Cult had gone underground, more than half of their energy was spent on modifying Gu worms. This is why Zuo Lishan, through Gu worms and the cultivation method modified by Ji Tianrui, became half a Transcendent Master.
However, no matter how much it was improved, there was one limitation the Ming Cult could never overcome—the material.
The bones and muscles of martial artists were tempered by true qi, far stronger than those of ordinary people, so the success rate of refining them was higher, and the resulting Gu Soldiers would be stronger.
If both plans succeeded, the Ming Cult would gain thousands of Gu Soldiers who were fearless, incredibly strong, and had tough skin and thick flesh.
With this capital, the Ming Cult could carve out a territory on the frontier and no longer have to live the current life of hiding and evading.
The personnel sent by the Ming Cult showed their Pay attention to of this matter—the two Envoys, one Protector, and two Flag Masters; it could be said that almost all of the few top masters below the Cult Master were dispatched.
Moreover, the Ming Cult had investigated the movements of the imperial court's troops and masters in advance, ensuring everything was foolproof before taking action.
But despite all their calculations, the Ming Cult still missed two people—Li Miao and Yun Zelin.
Li Miao had indeed ruined the Ming Cult's grand plan fifteen years ago and was on their blacklist. However, Li Miao had never left the capital in the past decade or so, nor had he done anything famous. And in recent years, the capital had not seen anything that required Li Miao to exert his full strength, so even Zhu Zai was unaware of Li Miao's martial arts realm.
Even with the highest estimate, if Li Miao reached the Transcendent Master realm, the Ming Cult had Lan Lechuan and Yun Zelin, two Transcendent Masters, who could match him.
Beyond the Transcendent Master realm is the martial arts myth, the realm achieved by Patriarch Damo and Sanfeng Zhenren. Currently, there are three known paths: 'Vajra,' 'Sumeru,' and 'Mustard Seed.'
However, in the hundreds of years since Sanfeng Zhenren's passing, there have been no lack of prodigies who surpassed the Transcendent Master realm, but no one has ever appeared who could follow in Sanfeng Zhenren's footsteps.
Because after these prodigies crossed the Transcendent Master realm, they discovered a despairing truth—beyond the Transcendent Master, it seemed to be the end, with no further path to take.
When bones and muscles are tempered to the extreme, it is 'Vajra'; when true qi is profound to the extreme, it is 'Sumeru'; when moves flow from the heart, it is 'Mustard Seed'.
And then? Nothing!
A few exceptionally brilliant prodigies naturally thought: If I integrate all three, will that be the condition to cross the chasm?
Then these few exceptionally brilliant prodigies, without even reaching the integration of all three, met a despairing end as soon as they completed the second path—the Celestial Human Five Declines.
Their clothes became filthy, their hair withered, sweat flowed from their armpits, their bodies became foul, and they no longer enjoyed their original seats.
From body to mind, everything withered away.
The Ming Cult has a heritage of nearly a thousand years, and naturally, some masters within their ranks had died in this attempt, leaving behind this despairing information.
Therefore, they were unprepared for Li Miao, an anomaly who had achieved two paths of Transcendent Master and was still alive and kicking.
So Lan Lechuan appeared alone on Mount Tai and ended up dying in vain at Li Miao's hands.
The second person the Ming Cult was unprepared for was their Right Envoy—Yun Zelin.
It's a simple logic—if you're going to betray, you must be after something, right?
Having reached the third position in the Ming Cult, he had already cut himself off from the imperial court. His own martial arts had also reached the Transcendent Master realm, with no possibility of advancing further.
What could you possibly be after?
But Yun Zelin just inexplicably did it.
First, he concealed the situation, sacrificing the life of a Flag Master to Li Miao.
Then, he prematurely activated the Gu poison within Tai'an City, preventing Mao Yingxia from entering the city in time, and she was hastily caught by Li Miao outside the city.
Finally, he prematurely activated the Gu poison on Mount Tai, allowing the forces of Heng Mountain, Mount Heng, and Mount Song to descend the mountain, and many of the Mount Tai Sect disciples who had not been poisoned by Zuo Lishan also escaped.
He even used the Gu worms within Lan Lechuan and Zuo Lishan himself, immediately falling into the Celestial Human Five Declines, like committing suicide.
The Gu worms on Zuo Lishan were the mother Gu for the Gu worms prepared for the martial artists on Mount Tai. With Yun Zelin using them, the Ming Cult's plans on Mount Tai naturally crumbled.
Therefore, after deliberation, Mao Yingxia directly abandoned the plan on Mount Tai and instead directed all Ming Cult disciples to focus on matters in Tai'an City.
The largest wave of Ming Cult forces that Li Miao intercepted outside the city was only a portion.
The Flag Master of the Ming Cult's Flood Flag had received Mao Yingxia's message and was currently leading his forces towards Tai'an City.
Cheng Yuanzhen, the Chief Eunuch of the Directorate of All Agencies, who escaped from Mount Tai Sect, as well as the forces from Mount Song, Mount Heng, and Heng Mountain, were also about to reach Tai'an City.
Meanwhile, inside Tai'an City.
Mei Qinghe thrust her long sword, piercing the knee of the person in front of her.
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She was skilled in swordsmanship, her strikes incredibly precise. This sword only penetrated slightly, avoiding all tendons, veins, and joints, ensuring no permanent disability.
The person stumbled and fell forward.
Mei Qinghe stepped forward and tapped the person's neck, knocking them unconscious.
Then she swept the side of her sword horizontally, carefully controlling her strength, and sent the few people rushing towards her flying.
Mei Qinghe flashed forward, pinpointing the acupoints of several people one by one, then pulled out a long rope and dragged them towards the State Office.
Saving people was becoming increasingly difficult.
Initially, the common people were only weak all over, still able to call for help, and Mei Qinghe only needed to follow the sound and bring the people to Xiao Si.
Later, most people fell into a coma. Li Miao could hear faint breathing and vomiting through walls, but Mei Qinghe could not, so she could only search house by house.
Now, some common people had been corroded by the Gu poison, lost their minds, and began attacking others.
Most of Mei Qinghe's martial arts were in her sword. If she used palm techniques she was not proficient in, it would be difficult to control her strength, and it would also consume extra true qi.
So Mei Qinghe could only rely on the precision of her sword strikes, piercing the common people's joints, or using the flat of her sword to knock them down, then acupoint-sealing them and bringing them back to Xiao Si.
Although this consumed extra mental effort, at least it prevented her true qi from being exhausted and falling into an unsustainable situation.
A moment later, Mei Qinghe entered the State Office and dragged the common people she had brought to Xiao Si's side.
At this time, white smoke was rising from the basin in front of Xiao Si. These few common people, upon smelling the smoke, instinctively vomited, expelling a ground full of winding Gu worms before falling into unconsciousness.
Disciples of the Mount Hua Sect then took these people to the backyard.
Wang Hai saw Mei Qinghe return and called out, “Everyone, please stop.”
“Saving people like this is just a drop in the bucket. We need to prepare to fight with our lives.”