[The first time you take someone to the bushes, it is to scout the location. The tabby cat says: "Boss, this is the spot to beat it up, what do you think?" The second time you are brought there, the tabby cat says: "Boss, I've beaten the cat into submission, is this okay?"]
[Tabby cat: Someone wants to buy your cat's life, and they are willing to spend a lot of money.]
[When it comes to asking stray cats to find a lost cat, you still have to rely on the ginger cat. It has many friends, runs on the feline intranet, is all-powerful, and boasts a massive network of connections—equivalent to the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion in the pugilistic world. If you ask it to help find a cat, it can help you snoop around and drop a word for you.]
[Asking a calico cat works too. She is the undisputed beauty of the feline world, surrounded by lovesick simps and loyal followers, equivalent to the House of a Hundred Flowers in the pugilistic world. If you ask her to help find a cat, she will simply say: "Consider it done, valued guest, just leave it to me."]
[Goodness gracious, so that means the tabby cat is the cold-blooded assassin of the feline world, and asking it to find a cat is basically issuing a martial arts world bounty!]
[And what about the tuxedo cat? The tuxedo cat is the spoiled young master of the feline world.]
[Calling it a spoiled young master isn't quite accurate. I think tuxedo cats are martial artists who suffered a deviation in their cultivation—they're unhinged and crazy, but their combat prowess is nothing to scoff at.]
....
Many ancients in the Demigod-Semi-Devil Plane
all simultaneously looked toward the tabby cats they raised themselves or the stray ones lounging on nearby rooftops.
Not to mention—no, seriously,
they actually caught a faint glimpse of an assassin's shadow in those cold eyes.
Who would have thought that the feline world had its own pugilistic underworld!
For a time,
a craze for raising tabby cats swept across the Great Song.
Cat owners and servants whose beloved feline companions had been away from home for several days without returning,
anxious and at their wits' end,
learned the methods taught by the Celestial Screen.
They brought food to feed the nearby stray cats
and earnestly begged them to help search for their missing feline companions out in the world.
Of course,
they made a point to avoid tabby cats,
unless their own pet had been bullied outside,
in which case they would seek out a tabby cat to issue a martial arts world bounty
and avenge their beloved feline.
....
Sleeping naturally until waking up on one's own,
the very first thing Gu Xiaobai did upon waking up
was to unplug the data cable from his phone,
then,
unlocked the screen.
The app was still open.
Following the will of the heavens,
he kept swiping, swiping, swiping on the tiny screen.
"Pfft, hahaha, this fan-made video is hilarious—Uchiha Qiao Feng! I'll save it to my favorites and watch it later while eating."
In the Demigod-Semi-Devil world,
the long-absent Celestial Screen once again emitted a dazzling, brilliant light,
so blinding even in broad daylight.
It instantly caused a commotion.
[Qiao Feng knows ninjutsu!]
Looking at the five bold characters on the Celestial Screen,
the people of the Great Song fell into a dead silence.
They had no idea what ninjutsu was,
but as for Qiao Feng's great name,
during this recent period of time,
he had become utterly infamous in the pugilistic world,
to the point where it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say everyone wanted to beat him up.
Even ordinary commoners
had more or less caught wind of the rumors:
"Qiao Feng? Is that the guy the martial arts world has been talking about—the one who killed his father, murdered his mother, and destroyed his mentor?"
"That's right, it's him! An unmitigated ingrate biting the hand that feeds him, repaying kindness with enmity!"
"What kind of person is he? Such a vicious heart!"
"He's Khitan."
"Oh, well that explains it."
In this era of racial discrimination,
being an ethnic minority like the Khitans,
not only did they get no bonus points on the imperial examinations,
but in the eyes of the Central Plains citizens of the Great Song,
they were equated with wolfish ambitions and lower than pigs and dogs.
"Let me tell you, I've got the inside scoop: in order to crusade against this scum of the martial arts world, Master You of Juxian Manor has sent out widespread hero invitations, cordially inviting numerous heroes to Juxian Manor to discuss this together."
"What are they going to discuss?"
"Duh! Discussing how to denounce Qiao Feng that Khitan dog, obviously!"
"The screen reacting at a time like this must mean it also can't stand Qiao Feng, that Khitan scumbag wreaking havoc in the Great Song!"
"Definitely, definitely."
....
Jiumozhi, who was searching everywhere in the Great Song for Duan Yu,
glanced up and sneered with utter disdain.
"Northern Qiao Feng and Southern Murong? They're no match for this National Master at all."
....
Murong Fu, having logged out of his Li Yanzong alternate account and switched back to his main, thought:
"Qiao Feng? Doesn't he only know the Beggar Sect's Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms and Dog-Beating Staff Technique?"
"Ninjutsu? Named after an art, what kind of martial arts could that possibly be?"
As expected,
everyone had a side to them that others didn't know about,
and Qiao Feng was no exception.
Thinking of Juxian Manor, which had recently issued widespread hero invitations,
Murong Fu figured this was a fine opportunity to recruit some manpower.
....
The Xingsu Sect:
Because Azi stole the Sacred Wood Mule Whip and slipped out of the Xingsu Sea,
Ding Chunqiu had no choice but to search everywhere for Azi's whereabouts.
Of course, unlike some solitary monk,
Ding Chunqiu traveled with a whole entourage, searching for people while simultaneously expanding and strengthening his sect.
As for the Celestial Screen, Ding Chunqiu didn't take it seriously either.
No martial art could ever be as stunning and peerless as the Unrestricted Skills.
Even if Qiao Feng were standing right here before him, in the face of his Life-Siphoning Skill, Qiao Feng was bound to end up drained of all his strength.
He, Ding Chunqiu, was just that confident.
....
Inside Juxian Manor,
numerous heroes had gathered today,
numbering around three hundred people inside and out.
As the hosts and sponsors of this gathering, the You Family Brothers
were probably wondering right at this moment whether they would live to regret
adding that single phrase "food and lodging included" to the hero invitations.
Doctor Xue was the truly clever one—he merely lent his name to the event.
The Beggar Sect had sent people as well.
To everyone's surprise, the leader turned out to be Elder Xu,
and goodness gracious, accompanying him was none other than Kang Min.
Madam Ma—oh, wait, she should probably be called Madam Xu by now.
As soon as these two arrived,
before the crowd could even react to Kang Min's presence,
Elder Xu seized the initiative to steer public opinion,
publicly launching a scathing critique of Qiao Feng's recent vicious actions.
He sternly made it clear that the Beggar Sect and himself
had long since drawn a clear line between themselves and Qiao Feng that Khitan dog,
and were firmly determined to fight against Qiao Feng and his evil faction to the very end.
Such an unwavering stance was truly touching.
Xiangwang Hai, who had laid eyes on Qiao Feng only last night,
represented the keyboard warrior faction.
They brashly and shamelessly declared that they would beat everything Qiao Feng ate this morning right back out of him.
Other martial arts seniors, such as Elder Tan and his wife,
along with a crowd of onlookers just there to talk trash and ride the coattails of the trending topic,
engaged in a fierce debate and in-depth discussion
regarding how to deal with Qiao Feng, the public hazard of the martial arts world.
But no one expected that
at this exact crucial moment,
a martial artist of rather low status and reputation in the pugilistic world—
someone whose standing didn't even afford him the right to enter the manor and find a stool to sit on—
upon seeing the Celestial Screen light up once again,
scrambled frantically through the crowd and bolted straight into Juxian Manor.
"Th-The Celestial Screen is lit up again! The person it's talking about this time is Qiao Feng!"
Hearing this, the three hundred people inside Juxian Manor poured out in a neat stampede to the outer courtyard.
Sure enough, the Celestial Screen displayed: [Qiao Feng knows ninjutsu!]
Some smart aleck among them,
unable to suppress his trembling hands and excited heart, cried out:
"Qiao Feng that villain's luck has finally run out! Look, even the Celestial Screen is coming to get him."
As soon as these words were spoken, others quickly chimed in and echoed the sentiment:
"That's right, that's right! The first time, the Celestial Screen showed a promiscuous woman who murdered her husband! The second time was a temptress who drained the vital essence of felines, and the third was the tabby cat assassin."
"Anyone who makes it onto the Celestial Screen is no good, nothing but trash! Bah, spit!"
"The heavens were moved by our righteous deed and gave us an early warning, allowing us to avoid being schemed against by villains!"
...
Amidst the crowd,
Kang Min's face was distorted and twisted out of shape.
At this moment, her heart was filled with both panic and joy.
The panic came from the fear that someone might recognize her,
while the joy was...
Qiao Feng, you're getting what you deserve today!
Kang Min's thoughts were much the same as everyone else present:
making it onto the Celestial Screen was definitely not something worth celebrating.
If it weren't for her cleverness and wit back then,
timely clinging to Elder Xu's old coattails,
using her silver tongue to pin all blame for Ma Dayuan's death squarely on the dead man Bai Shijing,
relying on her seductive personal charm
along with her proficient blow-job and singing skills,
and completely subjugating Elder Xu after spending just a few nights with him—
guaranteed by an elder of the highest seniority,
she never would have managed to preserve her life and eke out a living.
Kang Min thought: "Qiao Feng, I'll make you regret offending me."
...
In an inn not far from Juxian Manor,
Qiao Feng was preparing to take the heavily wounded Azhu to Juxian Manor,
when unexpectedly, just as they stepped out the door,
he saw his own name appear on the Celestial Screen.
He had no intention of watching it, but Azhu persuaded him otherwise:
"Eldest Brother Qiao, for the Celestial Screen to reappear at a time like this, there must be some important warning destined for you."
"My injuries are not that serious yet. Why don't we pause here for a moment and decide our next move after the Celestial Screen finishes?"
History proved that Qiao Feng was a man who listened to his wife's advice.
History also proved that listening to one's wife is never wrong.
....
The Celestial Screen began to show images.
[Qiao Feng carrying a booming audio system on his shoulder to meet up with the elders of the Beggar Sect forty miles outside the city,
single-handedly crushing the Xixia Hall of Aspiration and the Four Great Evils—
this was the battle that made Qiao Feng famous throughout the pugilistic world.
Only,
the Qiao Feng in the video looked slightly different:
that pair of eyes of his
were a bizarre shade of red.
If you looked closely,
you could even tell
that his pupils bore three tomoe.
Just as Qiao Feng issued the order to retreat to the elders and Deputy Master Ma,
a powerful chakra rapidly condensed behind his back
into a towering purple giant radiating an oppressive, malevolent aura—
Susanoo!]