Ultimate Wuxia RPG Story Thread

[Tom]

Fang Wudi watched as people from all over China poured into this Inn. Although Yi Tian Tao Long Inn was the biggest inn in Luoyang, it is still not big enough to fit the entire of Wulin. Pretty soon all the tables were packed, except for one grand table, clothed with the most expensive of tablecloths, that has been reserved for none other than Yu Lianzhou of Wudang. Master Yu became the Master of Wudang many years ago and just recently he became the Leader of Wulin also.

"When will Master Yu come?" shouted an impatient man standing near Wudi. This man is obviously mad because he didn't get a seat and he's forced to stand and wait.

"Why are you so impatient for? Master Yu will eventually come," said an elderly man sitting at a nearby table.

"That's easy for you to say. You have a seat while I stand here in this crowded piece of sh!t," roared the man. "Why don't you give me your seat?"

"Why should I?" said the elderly man as he took a sip from his cup of tea.

"Then I'll make you!" shouted the man before swinging his blade at the elder.

Then, in a swishing movement, someone leaped into the inn from outside and landed right in between the two men. He caught the sharp blade with his right index and middle finger and palmed the attacking man with his left. The man fell backwards but he didn't feel any pain.

"Thank you for saving me, Master Yu!" said the elderly man gratefully.

"I just did what was right. No need to thank me," said Yu Lianzhou. He moved towards the man he just palmed. "Are you alright?"

"Thank you for going easy on me!" said the man as Master Yu helped him up.

"Never try hurting the elderly ever again," commanded Yu Lianzhou. There was an aura in his tone that seems to control the victim because the man's head immediately started going up and down in a nod.

"Always as righteous as ever, Master Yu!" said Fang Wudi as he tossed a cup of wine towards Yu Lianzhou.

Yu Lianzhou turned around and caught the cup with his right hand. "Thank you, Sect Leader Fang!"

[creamcheese007]

Judging by the rod Jun Yan had placed on the table, he was no ordinary wulin wanderer, yet she could not recognise who he might be, nor identify which sect he was from... if he was affiliated with any at all.

His eyes are so captivating.

Sensing that his had been watching her this whole time, Fei Fei felt her cheeks grow slightly hot.

What happened to subtle observation? I'm an assassin, not some country bumpkin entering the city, staring at everything that comes her way!

Jun Yan carefully poured her a cup of tea, which she accepted gratefully. It seemed both were comfortable just sitting there, absorbed in their own musings and giving the other some peace within the crowded inn.

She pondered over the task her shifu had given her. She was to pose as a male, which she had successfully done many times, observing what went on at the wulin conference and make contact with some wulin members.

There were people here she would be expected to kill later, Fei Fei realized as she glanced around the room. Impatient that she had still received no detailed information from her shifu, she had planned to send him a message, but with so many skilled pugilists around, the message could easily be intercepted. Everywhere she looked, crouching tiger, hidden dragon- after all, she too was posing as young boy with little martial arts training, coming out alone for the first time.

"My name is Han Fei," she said, finally deciding to introduce herself. He was saved from responding when Yu Lianzhou suddenly made his entrance. Everyone had their eyes locked on Yu Lianzhou and Fang Wudi now.

Just then, a loud shout can be heard from the second floor as a large man suddenly jumped from the second and landed right beside Han Fei and Jun Yan’s table. Ignoring Yu Lianzhou completely and showed no respect at all, Zhou Fan shouted at a xiao er nearby. “Where’s my food? God damn it! I thought I told you guys to prepare my food beforehand last night!”

“Yes! I…I’ll get right on it.” The xiao er immediately responded before dashing off to the kitchen.

Zhou Fan’s expression immediately lightened up as the xiao er went off to fetch his food and he then suddenly gave Han Fei a strong slap on the back which almost sent her flying over the table. “Oi, what a pretty little boy we have here.” Zhou Fan joked. “Maybe I can teach you a thing or two on how to become a man later!” Zhou Fan continued with a chuckle.

Han Fei couldn’t help but sneered at Zhou Fan before turning her attention back to Yu Lianzhou in a attempt to ignore Zhou Fan. Annoyed by Zhou Fan's behavior and being the assassin that she was, she couldn't help but want the man dead.

Having had his fun with the girly boy, Zhou Fan turned to face Jun Yan. “Oh and you! Thank you for the drink last night! You left so fast!” Zhou Fan said followed by a chuckle.

“It was nothing, don’t think much of it.” Jun Yan replied with a smile.

After greeting the two at his table, Zhou Fan finally took a look at Yu Lianzhou for the first time and pretended to look surprised. “Oh and when did you get here old man Yu? I thought that you decided not to come! What took you so long? I didn’t think you’d age so fast!”

Zhou Fan then turned his attention over to Fang Wudi, who was standing beside Yu Lianzhou at that time. “Oh and Fang Wugui, did you sleep well last night? I hope I wasn’t that much of a disturbance!” Zhou Fan chuckled, showing no respect what so ever. In the audience, some found Zhou Fan to be funny and laughed while some glared at Zhou Fan with a killing intent and Fan Wudi was obviously one of them.

[CC]

At this moment, when the entire crowd was watching the antics of Zhou Fan, the shouts and clash of metal and metal of fighting men could be picked up by the keener ears.

No sooner then some in the crowd exchanged puzzled looks, a young man dressed as a Wudang disciple flew in from the main door. Although the inn was packed to the brim, the man leaped above the crowd, tapping his foot lightly against the corner of a table to propel himself a further 15 feet before landing in front of Yu Lianzhou effortlessly.

"Excellent lightness skill! Wudang really lives up to its reputation!" Many in the crowd thought to themselves.

The young man immediately cupped his first in salute to Yu and spoke quickly :"Reporting to HeadMaster! Our picket line has detected a large group of men approaching the inn from all directions, they were armed with fire arrows!"

As if to emphasize his point, a flaming arrow thudded into the woodwork of the main door frame at this exact moment. At the same time, the sound of cries and clashes of steel started to get louder and nearer.

The crowd immediately descended into chaos! A entire chorus of curses and shouts filled the air as people started shoving their way out of the packed inn. Since there was over 200 hot headed fighters armed to the teeth but only 1 main door, it appeared that some fighting had already started fighting before they got out the main door along with shouted remarks referring to about a hundred grandmothers!


.

[MangoBoy]

Just minutes later, a group of monk came and start attack the attacker... Abott Hui himself is leading them, along with two other elder of the Shaolin Temple, one the Head of the LuoHan Hall and the shihing of Abott Hui, and the other the Head of the Damo Hall, the junior of Abott Hui,

"Shi Hing, bring the Luohan students to help put out the fire and get the people inside... Shi Dai you and the Damo Students drive the attacker back...!" Abott Hui shouted. He than leap into the crowd of attacker and using his dragon style fought with a group of them. Yu Liangzhou saw this, he quckly jumped over the crowd, and using his Wudang style start to beat them back too... Although the enemy are numerous, their martial art is not that powerful, so they were able to beat them back with relative ease. The only problem left is the group of 50 or so archer in the back that is constantly shooting flaming arrows at the inn, and another 20 or so aiming at the martial artist coming out of the inn, a few of them were shot already.

In the back and pretty faraway from the fighting was a man clad in all black, with a red mask, just like the one on the previous night, he is surrounded by swordman, and he has this aura around him, that might him look really powerful and mysterious... Suddenly he jumped into the fray and started to duel with the two Shaolin elder, who are being rapidly pushed into a corner by him... His move is arkward and fast, he is launching multipal punches and kicks, before the elder was able to do counter. The Elder were unable to counter him, depite their high martial art skills, due to his mysterious style, it was nearly impossible to know or predict what he will do next.

Meanwhile the student from the Luohan Hall, started pouring water over the inn, and using thier belt, beat back the flaming arrows, and now only half of the people got out, the one that did started helping the monks to fight hte attacker...

[IcyFox]

The moment the flaming arrow hit the front door, Elder Zhuo Jia Li's eyes opened immediately. The rest of the beggars also sat up and looked at each other.

"Trouble," said Jia Li seriously, "Let's go take a look."

They had just gotten to the door when the whole inn was turned upside down. Jia Li quickly shut the door and dashed to the window, steel rod in hand. The inn was surrounded by a large group of unknown men.

Meanwhile, the fire was spreading fast, sweeping across the roof.

"We need to get down!" shouted one of the beggars. Jia Li rolled her eyes.

She tore down the curtains and quickly tied it to the window frame, then threw herself out of the window with the steel rod twisted between the curtain. Jia Li rappeled down with the steel rod and touched the ground lightly.

The other beggars followed suit with wooden sticks and clubs. The unknown men saw the group of beggars and whistled loudly. About 10-20 of them rushed forwards to attack Jia Li and her party when many other guests also escaped from the burning inn in a similar fashion, causing the men to be divided.

Jia Li whipped out the steel rod without hesitation and aimed for the nearest man. The man swung his sabre wildly and Jia Li bent backwards to avoid the strike.

She then flipped aside and thrust her rod backwards, hitting the sabre. Without a moment's pause, she spun around and gave the man one hard kick on his chin. His jaw was dislocated and he collasped.

"Oops!" Jia Li stuck out her tounge.

The next guy was easier. As he tried to hack down on Jia Li, she smacked the side of the sabre in one quick move, breaking it. She then twisted the rod and swept it under the man's feet.

He fell heavily before scrambling up and running off without another word. Jia Li sniggered and she led the other beggars out of the encirclement towards a nearby tree.

"We're safe for now," said one of the beggars.

"So are we going back to help the others?" Jia Li asked, glancing at each of the beggars.

[Tom]

The fire has soon spread all over the Inn and people are still scrambling to get out. Fang Wudi turned to face Master Yu, or rather where he thought Master Yu was. In the moment that Wudi got distracted by the flaming arrow, Master Yu had already disappeared.

Wudi turned towards his disciples, "You two try to get everyone out of here before the place collapse!" Before his disciples could respond Wudi leaped into the air and flew towards a nearby window and kicked it open.

There was many people dressed in black cloak fighting against people of the orthodox sects. The ninjas from last night, thought Wudi. He leaped out of the Inn and into the streets. When he landed, two ninjas attempted to attack him from behind. Fang Wudi ducked and punched the two attackers with his Golden Buddha Fist. The two assassins flew backwards into other assassins.

More ninjas came to attack Wudi after that and Wudi killed one after another. It wasn't an easy task though, each slight movement Wudi made inflicted searing pain through him. The injuries from last night were getting to him. After several minutes Wudi caught sight of two ninjas; one with a Blue Mask and one with a Red Mask. Without thinking further Wudi was already approaching them...

[CC]

Imperial Guard Captain Zhang Liu smirked as he saw the scene before him. Trust that idiot Captain Guo to ask his men of the Red Banner Guard to dress all in black and masked as assasins. That only enabled the wulin members to identify them easily.

Zhang's own men were dressed in various clothing more akin to the wulin sects. Identification was not a problem as his Company of 100 had trained together for years and knew each other well by face. As he expected, those hot-headed self proclaimed heroes were only too happy to lash out at everyone nearby. In fact, he was sure he saw a few of them fighting amongst themselves even as they tumbled out of the inn in a riotous mess.

The troops lent by the Luoyang Commandant were stationed 20 zhang away from the inn from the southern side, well away from the Imperial Guard who were attacking from the north. He had not expected the regular troops to last long against the wulin fighters and had ordered them not to approach within 20 zhang of the inn but to stand back in formation while lauching flaming arrows. As he watched the volume of arrows approaching from the south become more sparse and erratic, he knew that the troops were probably getting cut down by the dozens even now.

[CC]

Yu Lianzhou let out a sigh as he surveyed the situation. The impetous members of the wulin conference had spilled out of the inn and starting fighting everything in sight. Amongst those brawling it out with the masked assasins, many more were brawling with fighters dressed in plain clothes and some were even fighting amongst themselves!

Yu saw Elder Pan of the Eastern Forest Hall and Quick Sabre Fan Jing of the Golden Eagle Escort Agency locked in lethal combat and quickly dashed in between to resolve the misunderstanding. With a quick flick of his left sleeve he deflected Elder Pan's staff while his right hand slapped Fan Jing's sabre away.

"Gentlemen! Stop fighting! Its our own people! Elder Pan, this is the famous Quick Sabre Fan Jing from the Golden Eagle Escort Agency! Mr Fan, this is the venerable Elder Pan of the Eastern Forest Hall of Suzhou! This must be a misunderstanding!"

"His Grandmother! He attacked me with his sabre first!" protested Elder Pan ask he pointed angrily at Fan Jing.

"You motherless toad! You ambushed me with your staff from behind!" screamed Fan Jing.

"Grandson of a turtle egg! You jumped backwards into me because you were scared of the flaming arrow!" Elder Pan yelled back.

"Enough! Please! We are in a dangerous situation here" commanded Yu as he saw another pair from the Water Moon Sect and Huashan Sect fighting about 1 zhang away.

No sooner then Yu had leapt away to mediate between the Water Moon Sect and Huashan disciples, Quick Sabre Fan Jing and Elder Pan resumed their fight...



.

[MangoBoy]

Jumping from the Top window of the inn, Tian Long fired 5 shot from his Diving Flicking Finger, all 5 land on the ninjas, though the internal power behind it wasn'st that powerful, they managed to hit thier pressure point dead on and they quickly fell to the ground.

Once he landed he start attacking all the surrounding ninja with the Jade Flute Sword play. One of the enemy liunge thier sword at him, he dodge it and wack him behind with the jade flute. effectivly knocking him down.

Three more Ninja was coming toward him, he started gathering his energy and just when they were able to reach him he shot out his palm and a wave of energy kocked them back... Taht was the forth stance of the Fallen Hero Palm, Though the Fallen Hero Palm is stroung Tian long was not able to use it effectivly so it took him a long time to use it and when it does it really deplet his internal energy...

Looking toward the fighting, it was all of a confusion... Lots of the Martial Artist were fighting among themself, barrage of arrows are still coming, and Tian Long was having a hard time dodging them, Yu Liang Zhou was going everywhere trying to quell the confusion, and the Shaolin Monks were trying thier best to put out the fire...

Suddenly he was struck in the back by a powerful palm attack, he turned around and saw one of the martial Arist had attacked him... Before he can see what happend he suddenly threw another punhed at him...

Tian Long quickly shot out his own palm to stop it, they are right now having a duel with thier internal energy, which put him in a very disadvantage as, his energy was almost depeled by using the Fallen Hero palm... He felt that his opponent has a very strong yet, weird qi level... it is strong, but the movement of the qi is very erratic and weird... He feel that his energy started to deplet and He cannot hold on that much longer and just when he was about to collasped...

[Guo Xiang]

No doubt the fire and commotion had threw the normal patrons of the inn into a disarray. People were squeezing and shoving everywhere, especially when the large group of pugilists began to fight, even among themselves!

There was no doubt what Gongsun Fu would do in such a situation...

She runs.

She knew nobody and had no part in this disturbance. Or at least she had no intention of being a part of it.

Gongsun Fu was on her way out of the scene when she saw a dark skinned young man (Tianlong) staggering backwards and looked as though he's about to faint. She watched in horror as the man's opponent rushed forward as he pushed his palm outwards so strongly that it was obvious he meant to kill.

Without hesitating, Gongsun Fu leapt forward, grabbed Tianlong and leapt aside again - all that within 2 seconds - so fast that the attacker was dazzled.

[kwekmh]

When the fire started, Yang Fei Yun was enjoying his bun whilst watching Yu Lianzhou.

“He certainly possesses the charisma of a leader…” Yang Fei Yun thought.

The chaos started when the Wudang disciple came in to report about the situation. Yang Fei Yun decided to help handle the situation.

He unsheathed his sword and executed the Jade Maiden Swordplay as he killed enemies, one after another. Suddenly, he saw a young lady pulling a man away from an enemy. Without hesitation, he lunged at the enemy attacking them and killed him from behind.

“Are you alright?” Yang Fei Yun asked them.

There was no time for them to answer, however, as more enemies advanced towards them. Yang Fei Yun quickly returned to battle, helping to clear the enemies surrounding Gongsun Fu and Tian Long.

The enemies were not that strong but Yang Fei Yun knew that they were greatly outnumbered. He could probably get out of this mess if he wanted to—but there was the injured Tian Long to look after. Gongsun Fu was not able to fight properly as she held on to Tian Long as he seemed to be in no condition to fight.

Yang Fei Yun suddenly let out a loud roar and swung his sword in a large arc. A strong force was generated as the surrounding enemies were forced backwards! Taking advantage of this moment, he quickly led Gongsun Fu and Tian Long away to an area with lesser enemies. There they could handle the enemies easier as they tended to Tian Long’s injuries.

[Tom]

As Fang Wudi walked closer towards the assassins in Red and Blue mask, he hesitated for a moment. He was hurt from Zhou Fan's punch and he was in no condition to fight against first-tier fighters. Even if he could handle them he would be injured further with no doubt. But I can't just think about myself, thought Wudi.

While Wudi was still deep in thought, the two assassins leaped towards him. Wudi tightened his fist into his Steel Brass Knuckles before jumping into the air and the three clashed in midair. After several exchanges, Wudi knew that these people were from unorthodox sects because even he, leader of Kongtong, couldn't recognize any of the moves.

A few minutes into the battle Wudi couldn't wait any longer. His chest had started to ache. If he didn't use Seven Injury Fist now then he would soon be beaten. The two assassins used very different moves and attacking both of them at the same time would be impossible for Wudi to accomplish. I have to wait for the right chance, thought Fang Wudi. And the chance eventually came when the assassin in Blue mask made an attempt to palm Wudi. Wudi ducked just before the palm made contact and punched the assassin in the abdomen. The gurgling noise of blood can be heard, and blood can be seen leaking from the bottom of the Blue mask.

That punch had hurt Fang Wudi as well. Maybe it hurt Fang Wudi even more than it had hurt the Blue Masked Man. Fang Wudi was already injured in the first place and by using Seven Injury Fist he has worsened his case. His heart throbbed with pain and his whole chest burned in agony. Fang Wudi couldn't handle one more Masked ninja. He collapsed and awaited his death...(Someone save me!)

[kidd]

Chen Shuang heard the commotion outside and heard many footsteps running down the corridoor. He quickly went out to see what happen. He was shocked to see the chaos downstairs. People fighting or trying to get out, smoke everywhere with burning arrows still flying in.

He quickly ran back to his room to get his backpack (on the way, being knocked and push back by people running from the opposite direction) which contains his money and his work tools.

After getting his backpack, he ran to the staircase planning to go downstairs. But then, he saw that the fighting was so intense downstairs and people squeezing out.

"I'd probably get stab by one of those swords before I can get out of the door. What should I do?" thought Chen Shuang.

[PJ]

At this time, Chen Shuang heard a voice coming from outside of the inn: "You are finished."

Chen Shuang's heart raced. He knew in his heart that this man was coming for him. His mind went blank. He could not feel his hands, and he no longer had control of his legs. It was as if his body had been separated from his mind.

"Brother, let me kill this dog." He heard a younger voice say: "I must avenge having suffered his fist!"

It took Chen Shuang a few seconds to come to terms with these words, but when he did, he felt as if thousands of pounds had been relieved from his shoulders. He knew that the men downstairs are targeting someone else, not him -- someone who had thrown a fist at one of them.

Chen Shuang waited for the kill to happen.

...Slowly....

...Any minute now...



Outside, Fang Wudi lay on the ground. He only had a fraction of his conscience awake. The pain had grown, and it was beginning to put him to sleep. In his mind he knew that if he lets his conscience sleep, he would never wake up.

The younger assassin raised his hand slowly. Suddenly, an item appeared on his hand. No one could see where he pulled it from - a dagger.

A dagger to kill Fang Wudi.

A bud of flame sparked in his eyes. He let out a thundering cry as his body soared into the open space above.

Then, it halted in midair. He floated above the ground like a piece of cloud.

His body started spinning. His face looked intense.

But the dagger span even faster in the opposite direction, encircling him.

Using his internal energy, he was heating up and feeding a special kind of energy to the dagger, so that when it strikes, it strikes with unprecedented force.

When the dagger strikes, it will create a massive explosion. And Fang Wudi will be no more.

Wudi lay there with his left eye half open. "My time has come." He thought.

He closed both of his eyes.

[PJ]

The older assassin watched his younger brother perform this elite art of Cosmic Surface Empowerment. Even he could not help but shiver a little bit. This was the highest form of martial art taught to them by their teacher, and it was instructed that they should exert great care when using it, because the art is so destructive to the opponent, that it can affect the practitioner. If the practitioner gets too carried away with the energy feed, the weapon can explode in his face.

At this time, the dagger stopped spinning. Its surface was burning hot, like the texture of fresh blood. The younger assassin fired up the clog of energy in front of him. He let out a loud cry. It was a cry of joy and release.

Release of the dagger!

When his arms pushed forward into the open, the dagger charged at the enemy like the a rocket on fire.

Fang Wudi still had his eyes closed, but he could hear a missile.

Within a small fraction of a second, the missile had rushed to his side.

"In the blink of an eye, I will be no more." He comforted himself.

Fang Wudi rarely made an incorrect judgment. He had a wealth of knowledge about the way of the martial world.

But this time, he was wrong.

When the flying dagger reached short of his ear, he heard the crisp sound of the dagger bouncing off another sharp object.

He didn't open his eyes yet. He was waiting for death any moment; there was no point of hoping it could get better...

But the assassins opened their eyes wide.

Then, they both turned to their right,

and saw an old priest with white hair.

His old age was evident, and yet there was a charismatic, confident aura that surrounded him. They could almost see it.

The older assassin raised his hand to cover his mouth. His other hand pointed at the old man. It fumbled.

"You are.... you are...."

The younger assassin cried: "It can't be you!"

"You are Leader Zhuang!" The older man screamed.

Then, he knelt down.

"Leader Zhuang, your death was so grieving for us. We could not recover from your absence."

The white-haired taoist replied gently: "There is no need to kneel before me - please."

He said please, but his body did not move.

And yet, the masked man felt a breeze of energy lifting him up. He could not help it as his body rose up, as if a soft but strong hand had physically given him a lift.

His jaws dropped as his eyes opened even wider.

"You ARE Leader Zhuang!!" He cried.

Indeed, he knew that there could not be another person under heaven who could send a wave of energy to lift him up from across the distance of 50+ feet.

[PJ]

Inside the restaurant, there was chaos. Chairs were flying across the room. People's ears were being chopped off.

Outside, absolute silence.

The 2 masked assassins gazed at the white-haired priest. Their expression was partly fear, partly joy.

The priest spoke with a flare clarity: "This fellow on the ground needs to be tended to."

He walked slowly towards Fang Wudi. Wudi could hear the gentle footsteps in his heart.

When his hand touched the priest's, he suddenly felt a delight. A stream of soft power entered his wrist steadily. He instantly felt more alive.

After several minutes, Fang Wudi could get up and see things clearly.

The two assassins looked at each other and nodded. The older one stepped up to say: "Leader Zhuang, I owe you my life. If you've come to claim it, just say so and I will gladly give it to you."

The priest smiled quietly: "I am Taoist Priest 9 Wings from Mount Shu (Shushan). You need not treat me as anyone else."

The younger man appeared puzzled: "Are you saying you are not Golden Vigor Banner Leader Zhuang Zheng of the Ming Cult?"

The priest turned his eyes to his robe as he wiped some dust off: "To be is not to be; to not be is to be. Do you understand the essence of this phrase?"

The younger man made a step towards the priest and pointed his finger at him: "You mean--"

At this time, the older man raised his hand to stop his brother. He said: "Aay. Brother, what Taoist Priest 9 Wings meant, is that it doesn't matter who he is. What matters is why he is here." He then turned to the taoist: "Mr. Priest, we do not mean to stand in your way. May I know if there's anything we can do for you?"

Right then, they heard a loud scream of terror from inside the restaurant. Taoist Priest 9 Wings said in a rush: "I will tell the two of you more when we have time. Please follow me as we have something important waiting."

[Tom]

The restaurant has started to collapse but luckily most of the Wulin Pugilists have already evacuated the smoking place. However, several people could still be seen fighting within the fires of the building. Priest 9 Wings reached the site and shook his head in disapproval. "Why is Zhu Yuan Zhang doing this to all the people who helped him?" he questioned the two brothers in a soft voice.

"We do not know," said the duo in unison. "We work for Eunuch Lin and we only do as we are told."

Fang Wudi was standing next to Priest 9 Wings and he heard them talk as if they knew eachother. "Priest, you know these two people?"

"Yes. They use to be members of Ming Sect before Zhu Yuan Zhang sent assassins after us. All the members of Ming Sect were either killed or they are forced to work for the government," said the Priest gloomily, "I was fatally injured but luckily I survived."

Fang Wudi was about to question further but he got interrupted by the Priest before he even began. "I'll explain in details later but right now we have to stop the fighting and save the people in the Inn before the building collapses. Sect Leader, you stay here because you're heavily injured. You two follow me."

Taoist Priest 9 Wings tapped the tip of his shoe on the ground and that propelled him into the air and into the building. The lightness kung fu of this taoist is really impressive. It is possibly even higher that that of Master Yu Lianzhou's, thought Fang Wudi as the two masked brothers also flew into the flaming building.

Moments later the three men flew out with people in their arms...

[CC]

2 inches from the main door of the inn, Taoist Priest 9 Wings froze! Why?

Because the air had turned cold!

The burning air from the fires of the inn was smothered by the cold air! Why?

Because a killing aura had arrived!

A killing aura! Why?

Because Death is here!

With a light flick of his arms, 9 Wings sent the 2 brothers gliding into the inn and spoke without turning around. Slowly.

"You have arrived."

"We have arrived."

The reply was soft, yet amidst the fighting and the shouting, it seemed as if no other sound could exist!

9 Wings slowly turned around.

Two figures were standing on the roof of the small pavillion opposite the inn. Dressed in the purest white, with identical looking swords strapped to their back. Both figures stood rigidly atop the roof. Even the exposed hilts of their swords were pure white. The only non-white item were the black tendrils painted on their white masks.

Time stood still.

The 2 figures were on the ground!

Time stood still.

9 Wings closed his eyes.

Time stood still.

9 Wings opened his eyes.

Looking at the figure on his left, he spoke : "Right Assassin of the Black Mist. Merciless Sword Zhang Wuque."

Turning his gaze ever so slightly to his right, he spoke :"Left Assassin of the Black Mist. Relentless Sword Hua Wuji."

The figure on his right finally spoke :"Good eyesight! Good eyesight! The blades were not yet drawn!"

9 Wing spoke coldly :"The sword is in the sheath but the sword arm is ready!"

The figure on the left slowly raised his right arm while the other person slowly raised his left.

"You could tell? From our Sword Arms! We have not come in vain then!" said Zhang Wuque.

The swords were in the hands!

"A pity, that such a pair of sharp eyes will not see the next sunrise!" said Hua Wuji.

The swords struck!



.

[CC]

The swords froze! Why?

Because the purest strikes must be executed with unflinching conviction!

The conviction was shaken! Why?

Because a thunderclap had descended!

"A-mi-ta-ba!" Abbot Hui Lin clapped his hand together in salute.

This move of the Buddha acheives Enlighthenment was the highest form of Shaolin's omnidirection energy projecting skill. In 9 centuries, only 2 monks had mastered this ultimate skill.

The four words were spoken in the gentlest of tones. Yet the irresistible energy behind it cause everyone without 20 zhang to stop in mid motion.

Time stood still.

The Relentless Sword pointed at Abbot Hui Lin.

The Merciless Sword aimed at 9 Wings.

The space between the 4 persons was filled with an unspeakable aura.

This would be a fight worthy of the legends!

This would be a battle to shake the heavens!

This would be a duel to the death!

This killing aura must be satisfied!

The Swords attacked!

Nothing in the world could stop the swords now!

Nothing can shake the concentration of the Relentless Sword now!

Nothing can affect the conviction of the Merciless Sword now!

Two persons must perish!!


"DING! DANG! CLANG!"

Which mortals dared to barge into the zone of unspeakable killing aura!

"Your Granny's Dog Fart! I'll teach you to sneak attack me!" yelled Quick Sabre Fan Jing.

"Rotten Duck Egg! Grandpa here will teach you some manners!" screamed Elder Pan.


.

[Tom]

The disturbance of Quick Sabre Fan Jing and Elder Pan annoyed the two White Masked Figures greatly. They hated to be disturbed more than anything.

Suddenly, without any warning at all, the two assassins threw their swords straight at these two people. Blood dripped from the sky like rainwater. Fan Jing and Elder Pan were dead. The two swords flew back to their owners like a boomerang.

A dozen rooftops away stood Zhang Liu, frightened and stuck to the spot. What are they doing here?, he thought. He knew that if he stayed here, even he, someone who works for Eunuch Lin, would get killed. These two men are the most efficient assassins in the whole world with their killing streak of 99 success and 0 failures. They have gotten Eunuch Lin and the king's trust in less than a year.

"You two surely do live up to your names," commented 9 Wings. "The first-ranked swordsmen that work for the government are surely not a letdown."

"Too bad we have to kill everyone that witness our skills," said the one holding his sword with his right-hand, Merciless Sword Zhang Wuque.

"Shall we do this?" said the other holding the sword with the left-hand, Relentless Sword Hua Wuji.

In an instant's time they were already flying towards the Priest and the Abbot. Abbot Hui quickly releases the skill of Buddha Achieves Enlightenment and a blinding flash flew towards the two assassins.

A gigantic explosion resulted from the attack. Even Fang Wudi, a practitioner of the highly powerful skill of Seven Injury Fist, was shocked at power of this skill. When the dust cleared, the two men were nowhere to be seen. One of them used voice projection and said, "You think you could kill us so easily?"

All of a sudden, the two Masked brothers (the Red and Blue mask brothers) flew out of the restaurant and the building collapsed completely into a burning debris. Zhang Liu quickly left after seeing his mission accomplished.

"The building has collapsed. I guess we should take our leave or else Master might not be happy," projected a voice.

"Okay. We'll be leaving now but we'll have a chance to meet again in the future," projected by another voice.

"Looks like they left," said Priest 9 Wings.

"Seems like the cloaked assassins are also leaving," said Fang Wudi as he notice various black-clothed figures jumping onto the rooftops and running away.

"They're leaving because the Inn has collapsed. That's their goal in this mission," explained the Red masked man as he took off his mask. It revealed a man in his middle ages.

"Yes. And Zhang Liu also placed many assassins in ordinary clothings to distract you guys," said the Blue masked man as he took off his mask. It revealed a slightly younger man. His face was, however, pale from the Seven Injury Fist he recieved from Wudi.

Yu Lianzhou descended from off a building rooftop out of nowhere...