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Thread: Legend of the Tang Dynasty Two Dragons [大唐双龙传] - Unabridged

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    Default Book 24 Chapter 1

    Book 24 Chapter 1 The Nightmare Began

    The distance between the two groups was very close. Xu Ziling had two options: one, running behind the dozen or so martial art masters of Yangtze River Alliance under Zheng Shumings leadership, or two, relying on his outstanding sense of hearing and perception, he could follow An Long quietly from the side. The former approach would guarantee that he would not lose them, but he would only follow the Yangtze River Alliance people. As one of the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, even if An Long was carrying two Cao Yinglong, he would definitely have a way to escape, otherwise his name would not be on the list.

    Among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, Xu Ziling had fought Pi Chen, who was disguised as Rong Fengxiang, Zuo Youxian, and You Niaojuan, three persons, one after another. Except for You Niaojuan, the former two were only limited to one contact and before stopping, yet he already felt their deep and immeasurable demonic power. An Long was the Tian Lian Zongzhu [headmaster of Heavenly Lotus (School)], and he had mastered the Tian Xin Lian Huan [Lotus Ring in the Center of the Sky, see Book 22 Chapter 5] that Fu Gongyou was deeply afraid of. Despite his huge build, plus he was carrying a load, these people should not be able to follow him this close; he must have been playing trick.

    Xu Ziling quickly raised a mouthful of true qi, and then as fast as a shooting star he ran along the narrow alley; listening to the noises to distinguish direction, he follow An Longs trail from the ground. Fortunately An Long was running toward the area where there was no crowd, otherwise he might bump into people. But now, even if they came across people wandering around to have fun that night, as soon as they saw a blur in front of their eyes, he would already be far away.

    By this time, Xu Ziling had gained deeper understanding of the Two Sects Six Ways of the demonic schools. Moreover, among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, he already knew Empress Yin Zhu Yuyan, Demonic King Shi Zhixuan, Fat Merchant of Sichuan An Long, Demonic Taoist Pi Chen, Ziwu Sword Zuo Youxian [see Book 21 Chapter 1], and Dao Xing Ni Shi [going against the tide, see Book 20 Chapter 5] You Niaojuan. There were still two persons that he did not know.

    Just by looking how strong You Niaojuan, who ranked at the bottom of the list, was, it was not difficult to deduce that An Long was not to be provoked.

    In Hefei the other day, even with Fu Gongyou, Zuo Youxian and Pi Chen joined hands, they still did not dare to force him into a trapped-beast kind of fight. This was another proof of his strength.

    Therefore, in dealing with him, Xu Ziling could only try to outsmart him, and not trying to engage him in a desperate fight. Otherwise, not only he would not be able to rescue Cao Yinglong, perhaps he would even pay it with his own life.

    Right this moment, there was a slight change in the wind generated by An Longs flight, signaling that he had jumped from the roof and landed on the ground.

    The wind was getting stronger again; it looked like he leaped at an angle toward another roof, and then rapidly ran far away. He heard the rustling sound of Yangtze River Alliance peoples sleeves as they chased after him in hot pursuit.

    Xu Ziling suddenly stopped. Lucky! he cried inwardly. Were it not for him completely relying on hearing ability to follow the trail, he would have fallen into An Longs grafting flowers onto a tree tactic.

    Turned out from the subtle change in the sound of the wind, he was able to accurately verify that An Long and Cao Yinglong were being substituted by another pair of men, and that the person posing as Cao Yinglong did not have his acupoint sealed. Although his body was limp, he was still awake; naturally he was regulating his qi to make his body light to yield to his companions leading. But the weight difference immediately exposed the flaw that Xu Ziling was able to detect.

    It could be imagined that as these two subordinates of An Long suddenly appeared and ran someplace else, the pursuing troops were at a loss to know what to do, hence they quickly lost their targets. After all, Chengdu was An Longs territory; shaking off outsiders following their trail should not be hard.

    After his two helpers and their pursuing troops had gone far, An Long, still carrying Cao Yinglong in his arm, walked out leisurely. He passed through the left and turned to the right into the side streets and narrow alleys, and soon afterwards he arrived at a residential area and entered a house.

    Very carefully Xu Ziling followed behind him. If it were Kou Zhong or Ba Fenghan, even if their martial art skill was higher than his, perhaps they could not do what he did: following a trail mostly by his senses, so that even a superior martial art master like An Long did not realize that he was exposing his trails.

    He was about to flash out of the side alley when the alarm went off in Xu Zilings heart; hence he promptly halted his steps. He saw a shadow, so blurry that it appeared real, yet appeared imaginary at the same time, appeared on top of the wall of the target house, rapidly scurrying along the wall, until finally it leaped onto the roof and swiftly went around the house several times, before disappearing altogether.

    Even with his bravery, Xu Ziling still needed to suck in a mouthful of cold air, because he recognized the shadow, which was that of a man wearing black clothes and black cape as the Shadow Assassin Yang Xuyan.

    If he had hastily leaped onto the wall, it would definitely be difficult to escape Yang Xuyans eyes and ears. And if he and An Long joint hands in pincer attack, it would be difficult for Xu Ziling to escape with his life intact.

    After crying inwardly, What a close call! Xu Ziling checked the surrounding area and waited for the fortunate timing. And then without the slightest hesitation, staying close to the wall, he flitted toward the rear courtyard of the house. Creeping closer to the house, he focused his power into his ears, and happened to catch An Longs voice.

    This high-ranking-martial-art-master-among-the-palace-hall-of-the-demonic-way spoke in heavy voice, Obviously this traitor has dispersed most of his power voluntarily, hence after meeting with him face-to-face only twice, I was able to stretch a hand and grab it. Otherwise, I would have to waste my strength, and then if we fell into the Yangtze River Alliances hands, it would be far from good.

    Yang Xuyan seemed to be examining Cao Yinglongs condition; he spoke softly, Long Shu [uncle, Cao Yinglong] waited upon Shizun [revered master] since he was young, and has always been loyal and devoted, but now suddenly he is like becoming another person. We must understand what happened clearly. If you, Old Long [An Long different Long], have no objection, Xuyan will wake him up.

    Just by listening to this exchange, it was clear that An Long and Yang Xuyan had a close relationship, and that Cao Yinglong was Shi Zhixuans attendant, and that in the past he was also loyal to Yang Xuyan.

    Hold on! An Long said, If Yinglong refuses to cooperate, should we treat him ruthlessly to force his confession?

    Yang Xuyan replied indifferently, Since he has no heart, I wont hold on to loyalty; he has no one to blame but himself.

    Hearing that, Xu Zilings heart turned cold. Using torture to force confession was extremely common; it was a daily occurrence, especially in time of war like this. But Yang Xuyan spoke about it without any emotion at all, especially when the target was a fellow disciple with whom he had had a long time relationship. From this, it can clearly be seen that this man had a heart of stone and no humanity at all. No wonder he could become the most outstanding assassin of the present age.

    An Long laughed aloud and said, You are worthy to be Shi Dages proud disciple. Come!

    And then there was a sound of slapping palm, followed by the sound of Cao Yinglongs groan.

    Xu Ziling also groaned inwardly; if these two big devil heads, one old the other young, were starting to torture Cao Yinglong, would he be able to stay eavesdropping on the side without doing anything?

    Yang Xuyans voice rang out, What had happened? How did Long Shu fall into such plight?

    Groaning, Cao Yinglong said, I lost! Troops in defeat like a landslide, everythings finished!

    An Long spoke with a cold laugh, I hear Xu Ziling let you go. Because of this, he had a fall out with that Shang beauty of the Flying Horse Ranch; Yinglong really have such a big face.

    Cao Yinglong replied with a bitter laugh, Long Ye [master, as in master/slave relationship] please be lenient to me! I snatched this little life of mine back using the treasure I plundered for many years and by crippling my own martial art skill; it has nothing to do whatsoever with whether I have a big or a small face.

    Yang Xuyan spoke heavily, So much wealth, you simply offered it with both hands to someone else?

    Cao Yinglong replied, Shaozhu [young master (master as in owner/superior)] had me drew the location of the six treasure storages in a roll of map. At that time I was carrying the map with me. If I was killed in battle, they could always get the map from my dead body anyway. This is as simple as a case of greedy for life, afraid of death, which is a human nature. Shaozhu should empathize with my wretched state and situation.

    An Long spoke indifferently, Since you believe that you are greedy for life, afraid of death disciple, we have nothing to blame you with. I just dont understand why Xu Ziling would immediately rush to Sichuan? And just now when you see Ol An, you immediately resisted me; isnt it because you have committed some shameful deed?

    Cao Yinglong replied, I do have something that I need to apologize to Shaozhu, which is: I left a batch of money and valuables in Chengdu to be used when I retire. As for Xu Ziling entering Sichuan, Yinglong completely have no idea what he is doing.

    Beyond Xu Zilings expectation, Yang Xuyan laughed and said, Turns out it is just a misunderstanding. Since thats the case, we cannot bear to argue with Long Shu. You may go!

    Cao Yinglong was stunned for half a day. My whereabouts is already out in the open, he spoke in distressed, If I go like this, ay! Shaozhu, please dont fool around with me! Shaozhu must not let me fall into outsiders hand, you might as well do to Xiaoren as you pleased!

    Ah! A muffled groan, but it was quickly cut short. Obviously Cao Yinglong was knocked unconscious again. And then An Long said, His story does not have any flaw that I can see; do you believe him?

    Yang Xuyan laughed coldly and said, Based on Kou Zhong and Xu Zilings style of conduct, how could they have a fallout with the Flying Horse Ranch for the sake of money and valuables? This traitor must have sold our secret in exchange for his life. This is very serious, fortunately as soon as I heard the rumor, I invited Qingxuan to Chengdu to talk. Even if Xu Ziling went to the secluded forest of the small valley, he would only be pouncing on an empty space.

    Listening from the outside, Xu Zilings heart shivered. Now he knew that Shi Qingxuan appearing in Chengdu was to meet her appointment with Yang Xuyan. Fortunately he overheard it quite by accident.

    The strange thing was that this place was An Longs territory, how could he not know that Xu Ziling has arrived in Chengdu? But then he relaxed, because except for Yang Xuyan, An Long and his men did not know what Xu Ziling looked like.

    But how did Yang and An, two men, know that Xu Ziling was going to Sichuan? They must have a spy among the Yangtze River Alliances men; hence also the reason they were able to promptly capture Cao Yinglong back.

    Lowering his voice, An Long said, How much confidence does Xuyan have that Shi Qingxuan would be fooled?

    Undisturbed, Yang Xuyan replied, One-hundred-percent confidence. Because since she understood the ways of the world [dictionary also says that it is an euphemism for sexuality], she only saw Shizuns face; that was when she was no more than ten years old.

    Xu Zilings heart was greatly shaken. He understood what kind of trick Yang Xuyan was going to play against Shi Qingxuan. Although she was exceptionally intelligent, she might still fall into Yang Xuyans evil scheme.

    An Long sighed and said, If at that time Shi Dage hardened his heart and struck his palm to finish her off, he would have reached the untouched emotion realm, Immortal Print method would then be mastered to perfection; who would have thought that one move could make such a difference? Ay!

    Yang Xuyan coldly said, Shizhang [teacher] has something on his mind, the disciple will toil for him. But Shizun must never know about this matter. Therefore, we must find out from this traitors mouth first how much secret he revealed to Xu Ziling. If necessary, we have to change our plan, or perhaps kill Xu Ziling first; otherwise, you and I can forget about living.

    Xu Zilings whole body relaxed. Although, if the two of them acted separately to deal with Shi Qingxuan and Cao Yinglong, how would he separate himself? Anyway, presently Shi Qingxuans situation was not too urgent; if he managed to rescue Cao Yinglong, while the two already had some misgivings, maybe they would not dare to act blindly without thinking to do anything to Shi Qingxuan.

    At the same time, he had a feeling that Yang Xuyan and An Long were afraid of Shi Zhixuan, thus he could surmise that Shi Zhixuans natural character was demonic and terrifying. However, Shi Zhixuan obviously could not obliterate the father-daughter sentiment toward Shi Qingxuan.

    Dont worry! An Long said nonchalantly, Based on his current level, as long as I use the li hun gong fa [lit. departing soul skill method], I guarantee that he wont be able to hide even half a bit of secret. Lets meet in half a sichen at my old shop at the southern market.

    Thats settled then, Yang Xuyan agreed, Let Xiaozhi [little nephew] open up a path for Old Long.

    Hiding outside, Xu Ziling knew Yang Xuyan was about to go out, hence he hurriedly fled far away.

    Kou Zhong woke up suddenly; he had a splitting headache, his throat was parched, his body was drenched in cold sweats.

    He had just had a terrifying nightmare. In his dream, he came into a huge hall, where the light was unusually glorious, as bright as day, while a band of musicians were playing like demons staking their lives, yet there was not the slightest sound of music. They looked like males, yet not quite males, females, yet not quite females. But when he got a closer look, he found out that their faces were full of deep wrinkles, as if they already had one foot in the grave.

    The hall looked like the palace hall where Emperor Yang of Sui was murdered, it could hold several hundred people, and it was full of guests gathered in clumps, chatting and laughing in loud clamor. When he looked closer, in his astonishment he saw Li Shimin, Tuli, Fu Qian, Wang Shichong, Li Mi, Xiao Xian, Xiang Yushan, and the others. He knew them all, yet they did not seem to see him; they just continued drinking and being merry.

    Suddenly someone spoke with laugh by his ear, You finally came!

    Kou Zhong turned his head around to look; unexpectedly it was Li Xiuning. He wanted to talk, but nothing came out. And then Li Xiuning suddenly morphed into Song Yuzhi, who was staring closely at him with resentment in her eyes.

    He wanted to throw himself at her, but the scenery changed. The magnificent hall became a battlefield with thousands of men and tens of thousand horses, where everybody was fighting hand-to-hand in desperate battle. He and his comrade-in-arms were in disadvantageous position, and were trying to get away. The people around him seemed to be Xuan Yong, Chen Changlin, Xu Ziling, and the others. One by one their blood splashed and they fell from their horses.

    He wanted to pull his Moon in the Well, but there was only half the Moon in the Well remained. And then he woke up with a start and was breathing hard.

    The moon sprinkled its light onto the windowsill and the entire courtyard, the autumn cicadas cry was flourishing and still in the ascendant; he also heard the faint gurgling noise of the creek in the middle of the forest not far outside the courtyard wall. His headache gradually diminished, Kou Zhong sat up on the bed, only to find out that he was still holding the unopened letter written by Li Xiuning, which she passed on to him via Shang Xiuxun. He could not help shaking his head while smiling ruefully, and put the letter back into the bundle of waterproof cloth in which he kept the stuff Lu Miaozi left behind for him, and hid it well inside his clothes.

    He was about to get up when Luo Qifei hurriedly came over and said, Just received the news: Du Fuweis light cavalry has just crossed the Yangtze River, and are advancing toward Shen Luns camp; we must set out immediately. Would Shao Shuai please make your decision?

    Recalling his nightmare, Kou Zhong pulled the treasured and heavy Moon in the Well from under his pillow. Nodding, he said, We will set out immediately.

    After waiting for half a day, Xu Ziling knew that something was amiss, because contrary to his expectation, Yang Xuyan did not come out to look around.

    Xu Ziling soared at an angle; with two jumps, up and down, he was back to the place where he was eavesdropping just now. As expected, inside the house, not a soul was in sight.

    Xu Ziling leaped onto the roof, and looked around as far as his eyes could see.

    If the opposite party left via some secret way, the exit ought to be in one of the dozen or so houses nearby; it could not be in a very distant place. And the house where the exit was must have a carriage and a horse prepared in it, in order to facilitate transporting Cao Yinglong away from the danger zone, so that An Long could fully use his demonic method on him in peace.

    He has just had this thought, when a horse-drawn carriage was starting out of the gate of the courtyard house several hundred paces to the south. The horse was clip-clopping its way to the street, and then turned and continued to the east.

    Xu Ziling crouched down hurriedly and focused his attention to watch.

    Two figures leaped up from the courtyard at the same time; it was An Long and Yang Xuyan, two men, they were as fast as a ghost, and separately landed on the roof of the houses to the left and right, and then disappeared into the shadow. If someone were following the carriage, he would not have escaped their eyes and ears.

    Xu Ziling laughed coldly inwardly. He memorized what the carriage looked like, and then he jumped back down to the ground. Taking a roundabout route, he chased after the carriage to intercept it.

    Kou Zhong was standing on the stern; his clothes were fluttering in the river breeze, yet he himself was absolutely still like a stone statue. If Li Shimin was allowed to capture Bashu, his potential would become like another Qin Shihuang Ying Zheng [260-210 BC, first emperor of China], and the situation would be like the Great Qin reappearing before the Warring States period. With Guanzhongs territory encompassing rugged terrain, the troops and horses of the northwest, Guanzhongs riches and Bashus copper and iron, who in the world could strive against them? This would make the Duke Yangs treasure become more important.

    Kou Zhong was indeed too careless; unexpectedly he had not thought about the strategic significance of Bashu. Ay! But even if he had known earlier, what could he do?

    His only hope was that the Wulin PanGuan Xie Hui would be an ambitious man that he would not be willing to submit himself under the Li Clan, or perhaps the Song Familys influence could persuade him to remain neutral, or at least to take a wait-and-see stance.

    However, if Shi Feixuan personally made her move, the Li Clans chance of success was really extraordinarily big.

    He began to understand a little bit why he was having such a terrifying nightmare just now.

    The carriage was getting closer.

    There was no other way to do it. Xu Ziling was ready to go all-out to break the carriage and rescue the person inside. He dared to be certain that An Long and Yang Xuyan were not coming. As long as these two, one old one young, were not here, he had full confidence that he would be able to snatch Cao Yinglong back.

    The driver was a big man. Although the Taiyang acupoints on his temples were high and protruding, he could only be considered as an ordinary martial art master of Jianghu, if he could block three strikes from Xu Zilings hands, it would be greatly surprising indeed.

    The risky thing was the person inside the carriage. No matter how he applied his power to listen, he could not hear any other unusual noise except for Cao Yinglongs irregular breathing. But he was so sure that there was someone else inside, because the big man, the driver, repeatedly turned his head around to make reports toward the person inside the carriage.

    Since An Long had enough confidence to have this person escorting the prisoner, this person definitely had enough capability to accomplish it.

    He had not had much chance to think; if he did not take the opportunity to make his move while An Long was not here, he might not have any opportunity at all. At first he was a little curious as to why An Long did not simply do his trick where they were, but then he relaxed after thinking that people of the demonic way were always suspicious of each other, plus by doing it An Long might have to consume considerable power, hence he did not want Yang Xuyan to be by his side; moreover, he would definitely not want to fight with anybody before his strength was recovered. Hence it was necessary that he found some other secret place to do it.

    The carriage was about three zhang away from the street it was heading to. On the roof, Xu Ziling was ready to make his move. Suddenly a shadow flashed. Someone suddenly appeared from nowhere and blocked in front of the carriage.

    Shocked, the driver promptly pulled the rein.

    The person looked to be twenty-four, twenty-five years old, with the back of a tiger and the waist of a bear [i.e. tough and stocky], extremely bold and powerful. Although he could not be considered handsome, his facial features were quite proportional, his slightly upturned lower lip showed his conceited and extremely strong personality. He stood with strong presence, leaving deep impressions on others.

    The big man driving the carriage was about to rain curses on him, but as soon as he stopped to look, his face showed recognition. Immediately swallowing the foul language back into his belly, he called out in surprise, Xie Shaoye [young master]!

    Inside the carriage, Cao Yinglongs uneven breathing suddenly stopped, followed by someone pulling the carriage curtain open, and then she spoke tenderly and softly toward the man who was blocking the carriage, who, by this time, was walking toward the side of the carriage, Qie is Ruhua [lit. like flower], young concubine of An Ye. Gentleman ought to be Xie Wenlong, Xie Shaoye. I wonder why did you stop Qies carriage?

    Xu Zilings scalp immediately went numb; he knew that he had been fooled.

  2. #282
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 2

    Book 24 Chapter 2 Rescuing People Like Putting Out Fire

    Xu Ziling went to the south market, which was brimming with holiday atmosphere. The streets were so crowded that not one drop could trickle through. Amidst the deafening sound of firecrackers, the Kongming Lanterns were rising to the sky one after another, in competition with the bright moon in the sky in term of splendor. For the first time in his life Xu Ziling saw such amazing lanterns with his own eyes, but he did not have time to conduct an in-depth investigation as to why the lanterns could float high into the sky like that. Right now he just wanted to find the old shop where An Long and Yang Xuyan agreed to meet after half a sichen, as soon as possible.

    He had asked more than a dozen people; although no one did not know An Long, yet nobody could tell him among the three shops An Long owned at the south market, which one was his old shop, and this has caused him so much headache. All he could do was to try his luck.

    Turning into another big street, this one was more lively than the last, the sound of gongs and drums warmed the world; along the carriages and horses lane of the street, people brandished their lanterns in the lantern dragon festival dance, while the pedestrian path was crowded to bursting point with onlookers. The atmosphere was very warm.

    Focusing his attention, Xu Ziling saw that all the dragon dancers had quite extraordinary skill; they flew high and leaped low, displaying all kinds of difficult movements. They all wore the same uniform, hence they must be from the same local gang or society. This moment they all mingled together with the crowd enjoying the festivities.

    The dragon dance was certainly brilliant, but Xu Zilings heart was not here. With great difficulty he escaped the crowd and turned into a side alley. While he was thinking of leaving, someone blocked his way and said with a laugh, Ziling Xiong, I trust you have been well since we last met?

    Surprisingly, it was the Passionate Prince Hou Xibai; his hand was still holding a fan, his handsome face still had a smile on it, he looked like he was immensely pleased with himself. Inwardly Xu Ziling cried, Bad! but on the surface he acted as if nothing had happened. Leaving Sichuan, entering Sichuan, Hou Xiongs tendency is really impossible to unravel, he spoke indifferently.

    Hou Xibai smiled and said, Because Xiaodi is concerned over Xu Xiong, I could not help turning back to Sichuan. I just arrived in Chengdu, and I hear Xu Xiong is going all over the place to look for An Longs old shop, I couldnt bear not to show myself up to see if I could help a little; Xu Xiong please do not blame me.

    Xu Ziling shivered inwardly, thinking that the reason Hou Xibai was dealing with him must not be that simple. Perhaps he was fighting against Yang Xuyan, his martial brother of the same master but of different schools for the Immortal Print Scroll in Shi Qingxuans hands. His mind churning at the speed of light, he decided to harden his heart and said, How could I dare to blame Hou Xiong? If Hou Xiong is willing to tell me frankly, why are you in Chengdu this time? Perhaps the two of us could sincerely cooperate with each other, each takes what he needs. Otherwise, would Hou Xiong please get out of my way, and do not hinder Xiaodi from doing a very important thing.

    Hou Xibais eyes were flashing with sharp light, but he quickly held it back. Nodding his head, he spoke in low voice, Wed better talk while we walk.

    Xu Ziling agreed, and then he followed him to the other end of the small alley, just as a group of seven or eight young girls were coming straight toward them. Noticing the two mens outstanding appearances, their eyes lit up brightly.

    But the two were preoccupied, each one with the load in his mind, so that they turned a blind eye toward the coquettish glances and the smiling expressions being thrown at them.

    Leaning a bit closer, Hou Xibai said, To tell you the truth, Xiaodi has just come across Feixuan, so I started to understand that Xu Xiong came to Sichuan for the sake of Qingxuan, hence I was anxious to find Xu Xiong; I would never let Qingxuan receives any harm.

    A bitter and astringent feeling welled up in Xu Zilings heart, thinking that Shi Feixuan indeed gave her bare heart into Hou Xibais keeping. But as he heard the last sentence, suspicions grew in his heart; he could not help asking, Does Hou Xiong really have the intention to protect Miss Shi? I wonder if it was because of her relationship with your honorable master, or was it because of some other reason?

    Smiling wryly, Hou Xibai said, If Shizun finds out that Xiaodi is meddling in his, the Seniors family matters, Xiaodi will have to bag my food leave before I finish eating. But Xiaodi was born to protect beautiful things. Something like Qingxuans beauty and her incomparable-under-the-heavens flute art, which are both the gems of the human world, must have an intimate friend to treasure and protect them.

    Xu Ziling was confused; the way Hou Xibai spoke those things carried some kind of a sincere sentiment, which evolved from the bottom of his heart. Immediately he felt at a loss in trying to figure out what kind of gentleman this man really was? But saving people was urgent; hence he asked, Where is Hou Xiong taking Xiaodi now? I wonder if we are going to An Longs old shop?

    Hou Xibai nodded, But of course, he said, Just now Ziling Xiong only told me half of the story; I wonder if you could continue now?

    Xu Ziling replied indifferently, I said each takes what he needs; I was referring to I am saving someone, while your objective is to prevent your honorable masters Immortal Print Scroll from falling into Yang Xuyans hands. However, Hou Xiong has not told me why did you appear in this place?

    Severely shaken, Hou Xibai halted his steps. Stunned, he said, Yang Xuyan? Immortal Print Scroll What are you talking about?

    Xu Ziling cried Bad! inwardly; looking at Hou Xibais appearance, it did not look like he was pretending. He started to realize that Shi Feixuan still had some reservations toward Hou Xibai, and yet he inadvertently divulged the secret to him. His scalp went numb, he said, Turns out Hou Xiong did not know that Yang Xuyan is the other disciple of your honorable master. As for the Immortal Print Scroll, I am not completely clear either; I only know that Yang Xuyan and An Long are joining hands in cooperation to obtain the Immortal Print Scroll from Shi Qingxuan. Hey! We dont have much time. Hou Xiong

    While listening, Hou Xibais countenance did not stop changing; finally his pair of eyes shot sharp light as he cut him off, I understand! Tell me whats most important now, is it to find An Long?

    Xu Ziling had no idea which one he understood. But thinking about Cao Yinglong, he had no time to delve into it. Nodding his head, he said, We must find Cao Yinglong first.

    At a loss, Hou Xibai asked, Isnt Cao Yinglong the big leader of the Four Big Roving Bandits? Has he also come to Chengdu?

    Xu Ziling briefed him using the simplest explanation. Finished listening, Hou Xibai exhaled a mouthful of cold air and said, Fortunately Xu Xiong told me clearly, otherwise you will never find Cao Yinglong. Follow me quickly. Soaring up, he landed on the roof of the building to the left.

    Xu Ziling followed closely behind him from house to house, until finally they came to a large residence at the west side of the city, where they crouched behind the roof ridge. Noticing that Hou Xibai was looking into the distance at a monastery across the street, he could not help asking in astonishment, What place is that? What does it have to do with An Long?

    Hou Xibai replied in low voice, This is one of Chengdus scenic spots called Qingyang Si [qingyang is a district in Chengdu, si could simply mean shop]. It is rumored that in the past, Laojun [Lao-tze, founder of Taoism] agreed to meet with someone in here, hence Qingyang Si became famous near and far, and has been a well-known Taoist scenic spot ever since. Just now, when I was looking for Xu Xiong, I came across the two generals under An Long, the Tall and Short Generals, who were sneakily coming into this place, carrying someone. Since I had no plan of provoking An Long, I let them go and did not meddle in their business. But now, naturally it is a different matter.

    Xu Ziling could not help asking, Chengdus streets are curving to the left and bending to the right; extremely confusing, yet like an old horse that knows the way home, Hou Xiong is able to look for people, to find a place without the least bit of difficulty?

    Hou Xibai sighed and replied, Xu Xiongs curiosity is really big; I am certainly an old horse that knows the way home, just like your knowledge of Yangzhou. Chengdus streets are well known to be confusing. In addition to the main streets from each gate of the Imperial City to the ten gates of the second wall built around the city wall, there are the east-west passage and the north-south passage. And then other local streets that are slanting and winding, tangled and complicated, built that way due to their potential. All right! Are we going to take the risk and knock on his door?

    He had not finished speaking, a shadow flitted by from a distant southeasterly direction. In one glance, they could see from his build that it was An Long himself. It was because An Long was not in Qingyang Si that Hou Xibai proposed to take the risk by charging inside, but now that An Long has arrived, albeit later than they thought, they were greatly surprised.

    Hou Xibai made a prompt decision. He quickly said, You go save him, while decisively flying out of their hiding place to meet this senior figure, a martial art master of demonic way, who had mastered the Tianxin Lian Huan [Lotus Ring At The Center Of The Sky], the highest gongfa of the Tian Lian Zong [Heavenly Lotus School, see Book 22 Chapter 5].

    Inwardly Xu Ziling had to admit that Hou Xibai was certainly decisive and daring. If he had told Xu Ziling to intercept An Long, while he himself rescued the person, due to Xu Ziling already doubted his intention, he might sit and waste a good opportunity since he would be hesitant. But now that he took it upon himself to deal with the most difficult part, he was displaying his sincere intention of cooperation. Naturally it could also be interpreted as his determination to obtain the Immortal Print Scroll, but at least he was proving that their cooperation would not end here.

    Naturally Xu Ziling did not dare to be negligence; from the other direction he flew down the roof ridge and landed on the side alley, before sneaking away toward Qingyang Si.

    An Long was able to stop as soon as he wished to stop. He stood on the roof ridge like a mountain, yet unexpectedly he was able to give out the impression that he was agile and quick-witted, thus it was clear that his demonic skill has reached the pinnacle.

    This moment he had his eyes fixed, without blinking at all, at Hou Xibai soaring high in the sky from his left. He waited until Hou Xibai landed about a zhang away in front of him and stood steadily on the roof edge before laughing eerily and said, I wonder if Xianzhi [worthy/virtuous nephew] is coming to have a drink with me, An Long. But Ill say that it would be best if you go find Wei Hong, Yi Cui of Taohua Yuan [lit. cuddling red, leaning on bluish-green, of Peach Blossom Spring (i.e. utopia)], so that you wont fail to live up the expectation of the first round of the full moon.

    Swish! Hou Xibai opened up his Fan of Beauty, which he waved slowly in his hand. Laughing suavely, he said, Long Shu [uncle] always has admirable suggestion. Last time you introduced Gucheng Da Qu [lit. Big Yeast of the Ancient City], sparkling and translucent, clear, rich and mellow, fragrant and pure, silky like fat; I wonder what ingredients you were using?

    An Longs countenance slightly changed, but in the blink of an eye it became nonchalant, as he spoke indifferently, The ingredients are no more than mainly corn and sorghum, and then a little bit of wheat, qingke barley, peas, and fermented in clear spring water. But the process must comply with the six main key tricks to brew the wine, which are the water must be good and clean, the ingredients must be good and genuine, the work must be good and refined, the utensils must be good and clean, the yeast must be good and fresh, and the cellar must be good and moist; otherwise, you can only obtain the look but lose the essence. Ha! Xianzhi stopped me and blocked my way, was it just so you could learn a couple of wine making skill from your Long Shu?

    Hou Xibai laughed aloud and said, Xiaozhi [little/young nephew] only asked casually about the subject that Long Shu understand and enjoy the most. Such an auspicious time of the holiday, you didnt hide in the public bath soaking yourself in the warm spring water, but rushing to the left and running around to the right on the rooftop, tiring yourself for an unknown reason, I wonder if Xiaozhi can share your tribulations?

    An Longs eyes were flashing with murderous intent, but he put it under control. His voice turned heavy, showing the displeasure deep in his heart, as he said, I, An Long, will do whatever I please, no need for Xianzhi to share my tribulations; dont Xianzhi think so?

    Hou Xibais eyes also shot sharp look; fixing his gaze on An Long, he spoke softly, Long Shu should be aware that Xiaozhi has never liked to meddle in other peoples business. But if it has something to do with Shi Qingxuan, it is a totally different matter. Long Shu ought to understand this.

    Finally An Longs countenance changed, What are you talking about? he said angrily.

    The rhythm of Hou Xibais fan slowed down, but the shine in his eyes grew without letup, a clear sign that he was accumulating his power, although the tone of his voice was still as calm as before. Whether Xiaozhi is talking rubbish, Long Shu should be well aware of it, he spoke slowly, Before asking for advice in Long Shus Tianxin Lian Huan, Xiaozhi wants to ask for your guidance in one more matter: how did Long Shuis guts suddenly become so big that unexpectedly you are not afraid that Shi Shi [master] may find out that you have the intention of harming his daughter?

    Instead of getting angry, An Long laughed; but his countenance sank down, he even uttered, Good! twice, before speaking coldly, Its your guts that is big enough; you have the cheek to disregard your elder and offend your superior. Where did you get such ridiculous thing from?

    Hou Xibai knew that An Longs murderous intent has been provoked, but he was not the slightest bit afraid. Other than Yang Xuyan, who else? he responded with a smile, An Long, you have fallen into the trap!

    While An Long was shaken from what he heard, Hou Xibais folded fan, like a sharp knife, slashed toward his throat, in a movement as pleasant to look at as one picking up the brush to write or to draw.

    Flipping over the rear wall Xu Ziling entered the Qingyang Si. This famous Taoist site did not occupy a large tract of land, other than the main building, there were only several cottages at the rear courtyard, supposedly being used as sheds where they stored some junks.

    This kind of clandestine operation was like an easy drive on a familiar path to Xu Ziling. With several leaps, up and down, he already crossed over the rear court, and noiselessly sneaked into the rear section of the Qingyang Si, which did not have the least bit of light in it.

    At the same time, the sound of Cao Yinglongs familiar but feeble breathing entered his eardrums, followed by the sound of rustling clothes.

    Borrowing the golden moonlight from the outside, coupled with focusing his power into his ears, via his elevated audio-visual senses, he was able to instantly grasp the layout of this place, even if he entered it only for the first time. Qingyang Si was divided into two sections, front and rear, linked together by an open-air atrium in between. The rear section was furnished with simple and crude beds; evidently people were using to section to go to sleep and stay for a while, as well as to store miscellaneous items such as joss stick and candle, tree-legged incense burning stove, Taoist idol, and other religious articles.

    The most eye-catching were more than a dozen large wooden chests. He imagined that stored inside the chests must be the robes and sacrificial vessels that the Taoist priests were using in their rituals. At this time, there was not even half a person in the spacious rear section, yet the sound of rustling clothes clearly showed that there was someone walking toward the rear section from the Taoist Hall at the front section; furthermore, it did not sound like it was only one person.

    He had no time to ponder about the relationship between An Long and the manager of this Qingyang Si. Were it not for hearing Cao Yinglongs breathing, which came from some secret underground room under his feet, he would have already made his move with all his strength, trying to rescue Cao Yinglong using the thunderbolt-failed-to-reach-the-ears method. But now he had no choice but to find a place to hide, and then made his move only after ascertaining the situation.

    His heart was moved, he slid toward one of the large wooden chests leaning against the wall in the corner, which was also the only one that was not locked. Raising the lid, to his surprise he discovered a flight of stone steps at the bottom of the chest, and the sound of Cao Yinglongs breathing was getting clearer.

    Time did not allow him to make another choice; like a wisp of smoke he disappeared into the chest, leaving only a crack between the lid and the chest. Right this moment three men and one woman stepped in.

    The woman was as beautiful as a flower but was as poisonous as a viper or a scorpion Zhu Cans daughter, the Venomous Spider Zhu Mei. Out of the other three, two were wearing nightwalker clothes; one tall, the other short. Naturally they were the two martial art masters under An Long, the Tall and Short Generals. Both were around forty years old, and in just one glance he knew that these men were not of the benevolent-type. The last one was an old Taoist priest. Just by looking at his floating footsteps, he knew that this man did not know martial art. However, since the other three were first-class martial art masters, if he had a direct confrontation against them, while Xu Ziling had full confidence that he would be able to defend himself, if he had to look after Cao Yinglong at the same time, it would be a case of everything bodes ill, no positive signs [i.e. everything points to disaster]. Therefore, he could only try to outsmart them. At present, his only hope was that Hou Xibai could drag An Long as far away as possible, so that he would have enough time to rescue Cao Yinglong.

    There was a sudden burst of light as the old Taoist priest lighted the lampstand by the door, and spoke in low voice, Will there be trouble?

    The Tall General laughed aloud and said, Chunyi Daozhang [lit. pure/simple one Taoist priest], please set your heart at ease. Who in Chengdu would not give An Ye a little bit of face? Its just that this is an urgent matter, we have to borrow Daozhangs place here.

    Zhu Mei signaled the Short General with her eyes. The latter said, It would be better if Daozhang go back to the front hall and sit down there. If anybody ask, just say that you know nothing.

    Chunyi Daozhang hesitated for half a day before returning to the front hall.

    Xu Ziling understood in his heart that due to the sudden development of this matter, An Long was forced to personally make his move, and thus exposing his whereabouts, attracting the attention of Duzun Bao, the biggest power in Chengdu. The dust was stirred, the horses trotted over the field, he had no choice but to borrow Qingyang Sis underground room to carryout his plan. As for why Qingyang Si had such a sneaky cellar hidden underground, it was indeed hard to understand.

    Knitting her brows, Zhu Mei said, This place does not appear to be too secure.

    Originally Xu Ziling wanted to go down to check on Cao Yinglongs condition, but then he had another thought: finding Cao Yinglong was easy, but leaving this place would be difficult. It would be better for him to look at the situation in here first before deciding on the next action to take. Hearing Zhu Mei saying so, he guessed that she had just arrived at the Qingyang Si.

    The Tall General sighed and said, At first An Ye did not know that Xie Hui is involved in this matter. But by the time he found out, it was already too late. Right now he went out to deal with Xie Hui. Although this place is not ideal, its much better than our place. If we wait for another half a sichen, we will find out from Cao Yinglongs mouth where he is hoarding his wealth.

    The Short General respectfully asked, Would Miss like to go down to inspect the goods?

    Xu Ziling was shocked; fortunately Zhu Mei plopped her butts on a chair nearby, and spoke in heavy voice, Whats the use of looking? We dont have much time; when will An Ye be back?

    Xu Ziling cried, Thank Heaven and thank the Earth! inwardly, and then very carefully put the lid down before slipping away downstairs.

  3. #283
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 3

    Book 24 Chapter 3 Eight Moves to Break The Lotus

    An Long waited until the edge of the Fan of Beauty, following a graceful angle, sweeping over approximately two cun away from his fat neck before as swift as a leopard cat he launched his extraordinary footwork, like a ghost or a demon he stepped into the blind spot on Hou Xibais left side, as if he was about to fall, but then suddenly standing erect again like a mountain. A smile appeared across his face as if he was amused with this child play, and said, I wonder what kind of mischief is Xianzhis folding fan capable of doing? Shi Dage has never used this kind of feminine thing, perhaps Xianzhi could be considered green surpassing the blue.

    Hou Xibai knew that An Long has always been like a dagger hidden within a smile; the more brilliant his smile, the more flourishing his murderous intent. He folded his fan and opened it up again to create a gust of strong wind, and then he withdrew it toward his chest. Lightly flashing away, from attacking he changed his move into defending, and then standing on the roof ridge, he smiled and said, This is the Fan of Beauty, the fan is made of weaved ice natural silk, unafraid of saber and sword; the skeleton is made of forged refined steel, and put together with glue made of the sap of a thousand years oak, paying particular attention to beauty, timely, light, elegance. Under Shi Shis order I created She Hua Bai Shi [hundred styles to break flower], so it cannot be considered green surpassing the blue. However, if I can get Long Shu to laugh, my wish is fulfilled.

    The smile on An Longs face was getting bigger, but inwardly he was not without any vigilance. It should be noted that to overcome the limitation of his body type, he paid particular attention to painstakingly trained his footwork, so that he could rely on marvelous footwork, by exploiting the subtle changes of his fat body, by pretending to be falling face up and transforming weak point to his advantage, absolutely unafraid of the opponent using speed to overcome speed.

    If Hou Xibai was trying to use swift shenfa and rapid fan moves in continuous wild attack, An Long was confident that he would be able to grasp the opponents changes within ten moves; then he would used the so-called Lotus Step fantastic footwork, which he had trained to extreme saturation and had reached the pinnacle. Combined with his Lotus Ring at the Center of the Sky, he was confident he could send Hou Xibai to the Western Paradise within several moves.

    Who would have thought that unexpectedly Hou Xibai suddenly understand clearly the key moment of changing offense into defense? The most formidable part seemed to be his fanning-the-flame-to-cool-it-down technique, with mysterious principle hidden within, in which he continuously amassing qi power, containing defense in the midst of offense. If An Long rushed to attack this moment, he would lose the profound principle of the Lotus Step, which put emphasis on getting things done relying on others. The subtlety within was difficult to describe.

    Of course, its not that An Long was falling into the disadvantageous position, its just that he did not gain any advantage. Inwardly he thought that he had to either give up, or go through to the end. If he failed to kill this kid tonight, all his plans would be like a fetus dying in the womb. Because even if he had gargantuan guts, he did not dare to let Shi Zhixuan find out from Hou Xibais mouth that An Long has become his personal enemy who killed his daughter, which would not be a laughing matter at all.

    Blurting out laughing, he said, Whatever name you use to call those fancy moves, they are no more than a few strokes of beauty looking at herself in the mirror, of jade maiden bending at the waist; come, let Long Shu have a taste of it.

    The fact was that it was because Hou Xibai was unable to grasp his Lotus Step that he changed from offense to defense, but his murderous intent toward An Long also grew, so that his fellow disciple from the same master but different school, Yang Xuyan, would lose this strong backer.

    Although Shi Zhixuan was his enshi [benevolent master], he never really understood Shi Zhixuan, and his conduct was really difficult to measure. If the Immortal Print Scroll fell into anybodys hands, it would be just a scroll of scrap paper. But if either he or Yang Xuyan obtained it, it would be like a Buddhist become a Buddha on the spot, it would enable them to make a martial art break through that they yearned for in their dreams. Hence this time he abandoned everything and cooperated sincerely with Xu Ziling.

    However, killing An Long was certainly easier said than done. But he had no choice but to try. At least An Long would not be able to intervene tonight, so that he and Xu Ziling could work together to get rid of the fated big enemy Yang Xuyan.

    Although on the surface An Long looked unconcerned, and completely without any vigilance, the fact was that he did not show the slightest flaw, to the point of invulnerable, reaching the grand master realm of no-changes-in-response-to-ten-thousand-changes.

    Hou Xibai laughed calmly and said, Lotus Step in harmony with Lotus Ring, the Heavens origin without the heart, the lotus is without a ring either. Long Shus Tian Lian Zongs xinfa created something out of nothing. Our Hua Jian Pai actually pursues nothing in the midst of something, brilliant moves paired with creative concept. How about Long Shu try it and take a look?

    No one saw him move, but suddenly he was only about three chi away on An Longs right side, on the roof slope lower than An Longs position, where the open fan happened to sweep across An Longs fat waist.

    It was originally an ordinary, nothing-special move, yet executed by Hou Xibais highly skilled hands, it became another thing altogether. Others lifted something heavy as if it was light, but he lifted something light as if it was heavy, as if the Fan of Beauty weighed a thousand catties, slowly and steadily sweeping toward An Long.

    For the first time An Long held his smile back; he was unable to take his eyes off the opponents fan attack, which was difficult to tell whether it was light or heavy. It was not until the fan was about to arrive when the strong wind blew his clothes against his body that he finally swung his fist out.

    Swish! the fan closed; from heavy it turned light, floating as if it was weightless it lightly touched An Longs iron fist, which carried a toppling-the-mountains-and-overturning-the-seas momentum.

    With a stifled grunt An Long changed his fist into a claw, rapid beyond human comprehension it grabbed the Fan of Beauty, trying to snatch it away.

    Hou Xibai laughed leisurely; his folding fan closed and then opened again. If An Long did not change his style, he would only scratch the surface of the fan. But An Long was indeed outstanding; unexpectedly, in that lightning-struck, flint-sparked instant, he changed his claw into a palm and struck the surface of the fan heavily.

    Bang!

    Qi power collided.

    An Long swayed, but Hou Xibai was jolted so that he flew out toward the edge of the roof slope. It appeared that An Long had gained the upper hand, but his face still did not show the slightest bit of smile. His eyes showed shocked expression, he spoke heavily, Xianzhi, what kind of trick was that move?

    Remaining calm and composed, Hou Xibai replied indifferently, Long Shu is willing to be this open-minded to ask, naturally Xiaozhi cannot but to answer it. This was the move Qing Zhong Zhao [light and heavy move] from the Po Lian Ba Zhao [Eight Moves to Break The Lotus], created by Shi Shi; it lifts something heavy as if it was light, and lifts something light as if it was heavy, especially used to break Long Shus Lotus Step. Has Xuyan Shixiong never mentioned it to Long Shu?

    An Long was so angry that he nearly vomited blood, thinking that his power was clearly more than a notch higher than Hou Xibais. But because the opponent was using some strange move to control An Longs martial art, although he had the power, he had no way of using it. This anger was so hard to swallow.

    Looking at martial art masters of the world, very few would be able to instill fear in An Longs heart. Among those few, only Shi Zhixuan, this demonic schools out-of-this-world, crisscrossing-the-heaven talent, could make him feel deeply afraid. This moment he was even more regretful of being directly drawn into Hou Xibai and Yang Xuyans struggle over the Immortal Print Scroll, but it was already too late for regret.

    Taking a deep breath, once again his face broke into a smile. Nodding his head, he said, Good! Since Shi Dage created it, how could An Long not experience it?

    He stumbled forward like a drunk, pressing toward Hou Xibai until he was about four chi away from him, before finally took the initiative to attack.

    At the end of the stone steps there was a large stone cellar about two zhang square, with about a zhang and a half high ceiling. All four walls were full of Long Life Memorial Tablets, which was quite an ordinary place in a Taoist temple. What was unusual was the passage leading into the room.

    Although the air inside the cellar could be considered clean, it also felt damp. But the tablets lining up the wall created a ghostly environment, gloomy atmosphere, which brought a chill to the heart. On one of the corners was a red lantern, bathing the entire room in darkish red color.

    A long, rectangular table was placed in the middle of the room, covered in black tablecloth that reached all the way to the floor, with the unconscious Cao Yinglong lay, safe and secured, on the table, but his chest was continuously heaving up and down.

    If it were someone else, he would have snatched Cao Yinglong away and brought him upstairs first before thinking about any further plan. But Xu Ziling felt something was really wrong. He had a faint feeling that there was someone else in the room. But the only place that this someone could hide was under the table, inside the black tablecloth.

    This moment he suddenly understood why the two Tall and Short Generals did not have one of them guarding the entrance to the cellar, because there was already someone in the cellar. Moreover, this person must be a martial art master with enough ability to guard Cao Yinglong. It was also extremely possible that this person was the one able to deal with Cao Yinglong. Otherwise, how could An Long still have spare time to pay a visit to Xie Hui?

    In this way, An Long and Yang Xuyan were actually playing the you hoodwink me and I cheat you game, each one with sinister design in his bosom.

    Who could this person be?

    All these thought flashed through Xu Zilings mind in the blink of an eye, but to the hidden enemy, Xu Ziling seemed to be thinking about taking a deep breath, raising a mouthful of qi, before snatching Cao Yinglong and taking him away.

    The Fat Merchant An Long was moving around Hou Xibai, leaning to the left and tumbling to the right, sometimes rapid and sudden, sometimes heavy and slow. But whether his steps were as fast as the wind, or perhaps unhurried lotus pace, he was always flashing toward the blind side, which was difficult for Hou Xibais attack to reach. Therefore, although Hou Xibai was able to use his Fan of Beauty to perfection, opening and closing indeterminately, creating screaming wind, but he was always a tad short of catching up with this Tian Lian Zongs Zongzhu, so that he could not force him to fight hard even for one move.

    But Hou Xibai was still putting up his usual confident and at ease, unconstrained appearance. He would suddenly press in and fight in close quarter, and then suddenly send a long distance attack, yet always appear like he was roaming around the edge of the blade with room to spare.

    However, An Long was so certain that he was a strong crossbow; because he was a martial art master from Hua Jian Pai, he must never show weakness of appearing to be in difficult situation, even if he was about to be killed.

    By this time, the two have fought for more than fifty moves. After thinking it over, he believed he already gained control over the overall situation, hence he laughed aloud and suddenly made his killer move.

    An Long swiftly moved right in front of Hou Xibai; spinning around like a top, he drew his hands together like a lotus, qi power exploded into the air, shocking the eardrums, like the formless lotus flowers were blooming one by one, pressing toward Hou Xibai, mysterious principles hidden within, capturing peoples heart and soul, strange to the extreme point. Such a weird martial art was indeed horrifying. It could be imagined that if this martial art was used in a group war, it did not matter how many martial art masters were on the opposite side, they would be forced to deal with his offensive alone. No wonder that that day, although Fu Gongyou, who possessed deep knowledge of his formidability, had Rong Fengxiang and Zuo Youxian helping him, he was still willing to let him go.

    Hou Xibai suddenly withdrew three chi back until he reached the end of the roof slope, where he stood upright and unafraid, spirited light burst forth from his eyes, as he moved with all his strength.

    Since the fight started, he has been waiting for precisely this moment. The air all around him became incomparably scorching, as the qi power of initial lotus flower of the Lotus Ring At The Center Of The Sky flew around his body and pressed on his back.

    In general, upper-class internal energy cultivation underwent many superficial changes but would not departure from the original stand, which was the method of cultivating the true qi within the body, the selection of how the power would break out, and meridians and acupoints through which it flowed, as well as how to subdue the enemy and generate victory.

    The Tian Lian Zongs Lotus Ring At The Center Of The Sky was really a variant of innate true qi cultivation; the key secret was in the usage of the heart and the main meridians, feeling the heart is like governing monarch, where the deities appear, also the heart is like pointed circle, the shape is like lotus pistil, with unusual orifice in the middle, only known by those with superior wisdom. The name Lotus Ring At The Center Of The Sky came from this. Coupled with incomparably complicated move, shake, advance, retreat, twist, coil, flick, twirl, follow, cover, shoot, press, claw, slice, more than a dozen types of finger method, passing through the Taiyin, Yangming, Shaoyang, Taiyang, Jueyin, and various acupoints on both hands, releasing such a searing true qi in the shape of lotus pistil, able to burn, hurt, damage, and scorch the opponents channels, extremely insidious, the one and only within the demonic schools, there was no other.

    However, although the potential was ferocious and overbearing, it consumed extremely large amount of true energy, the wear and tear would be difficult to sustain for an extended period of time. Therefore, even for someone of An Longs caliber, unless he was forced into a situation where it was absolutely necessary, he would be unwilling to use the demonic-skill-big-method Lotus Ring At The Center Of The Sky, and it had to be under the circumstance where he had full confidence of success that he would use it to kill the enemy in one move.

    To be able to force An Long to use the demonic schools martial art that he stored at the bottom of his chest, Hou Xibai had enough reason to be proud of himself.

    As long as one of the Rings worked, An Long would immediately follow up the victory and press home the attack, by using some other killer move to deal with and injure the enemys channels.

    In a flash, An Longs pair of fat hands, which were cupped together like a lotus, sent out five bursts of lotus power, separately aimed at the top of Hou Xibais head, his back, the pit of his stomach, and his left and right flanks, five vital points.

    Hou Xibai still maintained his confident and at ease, in-total-control manner. Suddenly he exerted his power to his feet, the roof tiles under his feet immediately shattered into small pieces, and his entire body dropped down. Although still could not evade An Longs Five Lotus Rings, he managed to gain a split second buffer on the lotus flower pressing down on his head, while dodging all the other attacks threatening his vital points.

    His folding fan opened, he used it to shield his chest, while uttering a long chant, Eight Methods to Break The Lotus use solid in place of empty.

    While saying that, the folding fan in his hand adopted a graceful, relaxed posture, while pushing aside the cool air from his fan toward his own body; immediately his entire clothes flared up, whooshing and floating lightly.

    When Xu Ziling was about five chi away from the long table, he suddenly pushed with both hands. Cao Yinglongs palms, while he was still lying on the table, left the tabletop and flew horizontally up.

    Evidently this move was totally outside the person hiding under the tables expectation, but it was too late to prevent it.

    Xu Ziling made his move after deciding on the plan, while at the same time soaring above the long table, and tapped the tabletop with the tip of his toes.

    The long table disintegrated like sand.

    To his surprise, under the table was empty, but this moment he had no time to think. While he was about to rush over to catch the falling Cao Yinglong, a strange, inexplicable thing happened; Cao Yinglong shot up like a zombie, his eyes were half-open, half-closed, his feet did not touch the ground, both hands stretched out horizontally in front of his body, he soared to the air and pounced toward Xu Ziling. Inside the underground room, under the red light, it looked so eerie and terrifying.

    Xu Ziling was greatly shocked. He was well aware that at least in term of shenfa, this enemy, who has not shown himself up, was definitely not inferior to either Wanwan or Yang Xuyan; martial art masters, experts in lightness skill, and his reaction was so fast and nimble that it has reached the extremely-shocking stage. Unexpectedly, the moment Xu Ziling moved Cao Yinglong off the table, he was able to move his body at the same time.

    And apparently Cao Yinglong has fallen under some kind of spiritual sorcery under his hands, so that he could manipulate Cao Yinglongs body.

    This moment, Xu Ziling could not evade, but not dodging was not an option either. Even with his quick thinking, momentarily he was at a loss.

    Fiercely clenching his teeth, Xu Ziling made a somersault, the tip of his two feet separately tapped the hollow of Cao Yinglongs palms, and then, borrowing the reaction force, he soared to the top of the cellar, intending to have a glimpse of the enemys true identity.

    Who would have thought that from pouncing forward, Cao Yinglong suddenly flew face up backward, and like a marionette his fist shot forward, sending out a punch across empty air toward Xu Ziling. The man was now hidden underneath Cao Yinglong so that Xu Ziling was still not fated to see his face.

    The wind from the punch surged over. If he took the brunt of it, even if he did not die, he most certainly would be seriously hurt. The most aggravating thing was that the person manipulating Cao Yinglong practically was not afraid that Xu Ziling would strike back. Therefore, every single move was an advancing, attacking move without any reservation to retreat. If he ever fell into disadvantageous position, the enemy would simply throw Cao Yinglong to the wall, or use some other similarly despicable method, so that when Xu Ziling was forced to save Cao Yinglong, he would seize the opportunity to make his killer move. Moreover, under current circumstances, it was practically impossible for Xu Ziling to change the development of this situation too much.

    The only redeeming thing for Xu Ziling was that the opponent did not understand the ingenious usage of the true qi from the Secret to Long Life.

    Just now, when one after another the tip of his feet tapped the hollow of Cao Yinglongs palms, while he neutralized the enemys mostly yin and soft true qi, he seized the opportunity to inject his true qi into Cao Yinglongs meridians like a pair of long and narrow probing and sampling utensils. Using a splitting-the-mountain-and-striking-the-ox method he probed what is true and what is false from the enemy via Cao Yinglong. It was an amazing method that in the present age, other than Kou Zhong, there was no third person who understood it.

    First of all, he knew that the enemy did not have any connection to the orthodox and heretic schools and sects of the Central Earths Wulin. It should be noted that whether it was Wanwan, or even Shi Feixuan, down to all martial art masters of various schools and sects who had fought with Xu Ziling, including Tujues masters like Ba Fenghan or Tieles masters like Qu Ao, whatever method they were using, everybody was still using the Eight Extraordinary Channels as the backbone. But the method of this invisible enemys internal power was another thing altogether; it did not flow through these main channels at all. Just like in calligraphy, the center stroke and the slanting stroke are distinguishable; hence the martial art was even more treacherous, weird and dangerous, so that it was hard to pin down.

    The most shocking thing was that the ears, the eardrums, yuzhen, meichong, tianling, tianchong, fengchi, chengjiang, and various major acupoints on Cao Yinglongs head were completely enveloped by this kind of yin and soft, as if they were sealed by this existing, yet non-existent, qi. If he forced his own true qi to open up Cao Yinglongs blocked acupoints, when the two qi fought against each other, it might make Cao Yinglongs brain suffer damage, and then he would become a useless person with no hope of ever recovering forever.

    Such a terrifying gongfa that was able to seal cranial nerves like this, he had not even thought about before.

    Who was this opponent? In the wake of the punch, in Xu Zilings eyes, Cao Yinglongs body seemed to continuously grow bigger and bigger. Turned out the opponent was propping Cao Yinglongs body from underneath and pushing it toward Xu Ziling, so that the space in which he would be able to evade was continuously getting narrower and narrower; it was extremely vicious.

    This was the first time that Xu Ziling encountered such a cunning, hundred-changes, profound-mystery enemy. In desperate situation people became quick witted; arching his back upward to stick close to the ceiling, he breathed in a stream of energy, his middle finger swiftly jabbed down to hit Cao Yinglongs fist.

    It was the case of utilizing object to send out energy all along, the powerful yin force from the fist was neutralized by the finger wind. If the spiraling energy Xu Ziling put into Cao Yinlongs body clashed against the enemys true qi, regardless of the outcome, the first to suffer damage would be Cao Yinglong. Therefore, as soon as the qi power reached the fist, Xu Ziling stopped and dispersed it horizontally. Immediately, Cao Yinglongs body responded to the finger and flew sideways like a clump of clouds. Xu Ziling could easily see that the turn of events was far from good.

    Sure enough, when Cao Yinglongs head crashed against one of the walls, which was full of tablets and altars honoring great benefactors, a leg flew out from under his body; in a sudden thrust that caught the opponent off guard, it shot swiftly toward where Xu Zilings wrist was going to be. Accurate beyond human comprehension, the angle and timing were perfect, exactly the moment when Xu Zilings old force has just disappeared, but before the new force was generated.

    Pow!

    Even with Xu Zilings fast reaction, he was still unable to evade the kick; he had no choice but to hurriedly raise his energy and take the opponents attack head on.

    First, he felt sharp pain on the wrist being kicked, and then a surge of hard to describe qi power, fast as lightning, invaded his body; the pain and numbness spread into the meridians in his entire body. It was an unbearable feeling, comparable only to the dreadful state of having his entire body bitten by poisonous ants.

    Xu Ziling still failed to see the enemy launching a sneak attack from behind Cao Yinglongs body flying to the wall; he could only let out a miserable groan and fell down from the ceiling.

    He did not know whether the enemy still had follow-up move, but from the small-sized boot and the slim foot kicking him, he knew that the enemy was a woman.

    Bang!

    Xu Ziling fell heavily on the ground.

  4. #284
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 4

    Book 24 Chapter 4 Persian Maiden

    After four consecutive sonic booms, Hou Xibais outer robe disintegrated. Bang! his raised hand blocking above his head met the last lotus power pressing down on him head-on. Exposing his inner blue-green tight-fitting warrior outfit, Hou Xibai followed the shattered roof tiles to fall down into the houses rear courtyard. Were it not for the occupants inside the house were all outside on the street enjoying the Lantern Festival in the city, the noise and the disturbance would definitely wake them up from their beautiful dreams.

    From An Longs perspective, however, not even in his dream did he ever imagine that this kid from the younger generation could borrow the roof tiles disintegrating and the robes infused full of true qi to break his must-kill Lotus Ring at the Center of the Sky. Only now did he understand that using solid in place of empty mean putting back the secretly amassed true qi inside the fan into the body, to make the robe swelling full of qi power, and use it to ingeniously block An Longs ultimate move.

    But regret at this moment was already too late; after executing five rings in succession he was very much nearing his limit. If he failed again, he would have to find a place to hide and would not dare to come out to see people until he was fully recovered. Upon self-examination, under present circumstances, would he dare to take the risk?

    One somersault, An Longs fat body, in an ingenious, relaxed posture, which would make people stare in dumbstruck, landed on the grassy area in the courtyard. Both of his hands moved, sometimes in a punch, sometimes in a chop, suddenly changed into a claw, suddenly became palm strike, he unfolded a set of ingenious and exquisite technique to attack Hou Xibai, who, upon landing on the ground, was staggering slightly like a gale sweeping the dead leaves off the ground, combined with his fat body staggering and tumbling indeterminately sometimes heavy, another time light, in ever-changing movements. Just for this set of skill, he deserved to be ranked among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way.

    This time, he wanted to kill Hou Xibai with his heart and soul; each move was an attack, completely opposite to his previously defensive strategy. Immediately showing off the other side of his prowess, he heavily enveloped Hou Xibai inside the wind generated by his fist and palm, while also continuously narrowing the limit of Hou Xibais movements. The moment Hou Xibai found it difficult to move would be the moment he killed the enemy.

    Hou Xibai was beginning to sweat profusely in dealing with An Longs killer attacks, simply because it was the first time he ran into this kind of set of techniques. Flustered, he was unable to use the Eight Moves to Break The Lotus to its fullest potential; inwardly he knew that An Long developed this set of techniques in recent years as his secret skill, hence even Shi Zhixuan was unaware of it. In critical time, he used his life-saving move, the zhe hua bai shi [a hundred styles of snapping flower]. Folding the fan and withdrawing it, he took a defensive position, while actually hiding a killer move within.

    An Longs murderous intent flared up; laughing aloud, he said, Although Xianzhi can block Long Shus Lotus Ring at the Center of the Sky, inevitably your meridians will sustain injuries. If Long Shu is willing to let you regulate your breathing for a little while, it will not be this bad.

    Both his hands had the fingers put together like a saber chop; while breathing and speaking, fast as lightning, he continuously stabbed forward six times, fierce to the extreme point.

    Qi power filled the atmosphere, not a single one was not a sinister move meant to take the opponents life.

    Although Hou Xibai was caught in a completely passive position where he simply had to take the beating and painstakingly defend himself, yet the Fan of Beauty, whether it was closed or open, whether it was blocking up or intercepting down was always able to perfectly parried An Longs toppling-the-mountains-and-overturning-the-seas palm chop, each one attacking from unexpected angle. However, each time he blocked, he had to take half a step back. By the time the sixth strike arrived, his back was already against the houses external wall.

    The Fan of Beauty suddenly slowed down.

    Seeing this opportunity, An Long simply had to take it. Both palms pushing out, qi power rolled over toward the enemy, while from below his leg flew out, ferociously kicking Hou Xibais genital area.

    Hou Xibai laughed aloud and said, Long Shu has fallen into a trap!

    The folding fan opened, it cut down on An Longs kicking fat leg, while his left hand, filled to the brim with stored up energy, punched out.

    Boom!

    Qi power collided.

    As An Longs two palms met Hou Xibais left fist, he only felt empty sweep without any strength behind it; while he was crying Not good! inwardly, the wall behind Hou Xibai cracked open. Just as An Long was thinking about retreating, Hou Xibais fist turned solid. Letting out a miserable grunt, An Long flew about a zhang or so backwards, his fat face alternated between red and white indeterminately, obviously his qi was in extreme suffering.

    Hou Xibai was feeling uncomfortable as well; while panting continuously, he thought that unless he could obtain the Immortal Print Scroll, he could forget about killing An Long, ever.

    An Long suddenly broke into a big smile; raising his thumb up, he praised, Xianzhi is indeed outstanding. Shi Dage painstaking effort in training you was not in vain; you have really mastered the Hua Jian Pais secret skill of xushi xiangsheng [what is true and what is false engender one another]. If we stopped at this point tonight, I wonder where would Xianzhi go to admire the full moon?

    Hou Xibai groaned inwardly, all because Xu Ziling has not shown any movement yet; it appeared that the situation was rather bad.

    The instant before the pit of Xu Zilings stomach touched the ground, Cao Yinglong, who was about to slam onto the wall, suddenly changed direction; he suddenly dropped down to the ground, but from under his body, fast like a flash of light, lithe like cotton wadding, a young woman flew out swiftly; the tip of her feet tapped the ground, she made a somersault, and flew across the empty air above Xu Zilings back. It all happened in one fluid motion, in some kind of seamless, moving clouds and flowing waters grandeur, very pleasing to the eye.

    At long last Xu Ziling was able to catch a glimpse of the opponents looks.

    The most dazzling to the eyes was her chestnut-colored beautiful hair and brown eyes, which, as soon as one met her face-to-face, one would be able to tell that she was not a Central Earth woman at all. Her skin-tight nightwalker outfit caressed her beautiful body in such a way that the lines were completely exposed, full of vitality and liveliness, giving out the impression that the blood flowing inside this bewitching flesh must be wild in nature, that she would never yield easily to any man.

    The lines on the womans face were even more prominent. Deeply embedded under a pair of beautifully curved eyebrows was a pair of bright eyes, like two deep pools of fragrant, cold and raw liquor, brimming with astonishing sex appeal, attracting wild and fanciful thoughts. Under her tender, perfectly crafted, bridge of her nose was a pair of warm, soft, and brimming with character, red cherry lips, adding a little mischief on her, like a decoration to something that was already perfect [orig. adding flowers to brocade].

    But looking at her left and right, top and bottom, she did not look like a vicious and merciless evil person who would take life on a whim; its just that the finger currently jabbing toward his back was indeed ruthless.

    She finally made a mistake.

    As early as before he was falling, relying on the fantastic true qi he obtained from the Secret to Long Life and the Jade Annulus of He Clan, Xu Ziling already drove away the strange energy invading his body, and thus he already recovered his strength; falling down was just a tactic to lure the enemy.

    Xu Ziling cheered inwardly; when the exotic beautys jade finger was only about three cun away from his back, suddenly, like a leopard cat twisting its waist, his back bent, the four limbs of his body, as well as his head folded inward, by using his spine he took the initiative to meet the opponents fingertip. Not only the finger attack missed the vital acupoint on his back, a sharp, fine-tipped vortex of qi shot out and into the opponents finger with equal harshness, in a swift and severe counterattack.

    The beautys tender body was jolted like she was being struck by lightning; however, while Xu Ziling thought that she was going to be thrown toward the ceiling, she simply made a somersault in the air and escaped in the direction of the exit, while letting out a tender moan, which would move any mans heart.

    Although her ability to meet a contingency was beyond Xu Zilings expectation, his reaction was of a first-class, one-of-a-kind, speed. His two hands pushed the ground, his bent body shot up, perfectly straight, off the ground, and spun midair using both hands as the axis, his bear [animal] waist swung, his two legs swept across the air, and just before she flew outside his range of attack, he swiftly swept the side of her completely-springy-like-cookie-dough buttocks.

    The spiraling energy moved from slow to fast, like a swarm of bees it bored into her touching body. Although his choice of target was a bit indecent, in this moment of life and death battle, anybody would find it difficult to argue too much.

    The beautys moan has not finished, a miserable grunt followed. Although she was outstandingly tough, it was still difficult to withstand a succession of offensive; her escaping plan was frustrated, her leg, being hit, changed direction, she was thrown horizontally across toward a corner.

    This time around Xu Ziling sprang up, like a shadow following the body, he pursued closely. This womans martial art was strange; her internal energy was of a different approach even more. No one would dare to guarantee that she would not be able to recover as fast as Xu Ziling did; and if that did happen, who would emerge the victor would be difficult to guess.

    Bang!

    The beautys back crashed heavily against the wall, immediately crushing three or four memorial tablets.

    Xu Ziling suddenly halted his steps and spoke in horror, What are you doing?

    The woman held a sharp, gleaming short dagger with both hands, the tip of the dagger was pointed at her own throat. She stared fiercely at Xu Ziling, her erect and delicate breasts were heaving up and down continuously, with her seductive voice she spoke Chinese, yet with foreign accent, You take one step further, nujia will immediately kill myself, your friend will never recover.

    Looking at this, Xu Zilings scalp went numb. Just by seeing the strange move of how this woman, while she was thrown against the wall, was able to promptly pull the dagger, he knew that she was crafty and brutish, and was not easy to provoke.

    For most people, this threat of suicide might not worth a sneer, but toward Xu Ziling, it was very effective. He could only smile wryly in response; going down on one knee, he shook his head and said, Miss and I have no grievance in the past, no enmity in the present, why must we fight each other strenuously? How about we make a deal? You let me save my friend, after Miss take us out, you may recover your freedom.

    He was fully aware that she would recover her strength soon, yet he was still at a loss on how to capture her.

    The beautys long eyelashes followed her eyes, staring and flickering as she scrutinized him for a moment; suddenly she revealed a smile, seemingly very pleased with herself, her manner was lovely and moving. Turns out you are a good man, she said, Fortunately you did not force nujia to kill myself, otherwise Die and Gandie [adoptive father (traditional adoption, i.e. without legal ramifications)] will never let you off. Although your martial art is not bad, you will surely die.

    Xu Ziling did not know whether he should be happy or amused. Feeling a big headache, he said, Does Miss have any thought on my proposal?

    The beautys eyebrows were knitted deep; as if nothing had happened, she put the dagger back into its sheath, which was tied on the side of her thigh. Sitting cross-legged, she asked in amazement, Am I not beautiful? Why do you seem to urgently want to drive me away? Whats your name? Han people seldom look like you, tall and handsome.

    Xu Ziling knew she had recovered, and cried Not good! inwardly, and was afraid even more that someone might come down, and then he would be the turtle in a jar that they could catch quite easily. He wanted to make his move, but did not have ample confidence that he would be able to subdue her. Besides, she reminded him of the beautiful Tujue maiden Chunyu Wei. His heart softened, he said, I am called Xu Ziling. Miss, whats your relationship with An Long?

    The beauty rolled her eyes; giggling blissfully, she spoke with naivet, Turns out you are one of the people Id like to see the most in the Central Plains; how about your good friend Kou Zhong? Where is he?

    Her demeanor has awakened the memory of his first encounter with Dong Shuni, but this woman greatly differed from both Chunyu Wei and Dong Shuni, its just that momentarily he could not tell what the difference was. Apparently, the moment she rolled her eyes, he caught a glimpse of her innocent and unaffected, unrestrained and carefree heart and mind behind her external beauty. Take her last few sentences for instance, not only she skirted his question, she inquired Kou Zhongs whereabouts instead.

    Xu Ziling grew up on the streets, since childhood he had mingled with seventy-two heretical schools of opinion outside the orthodox way; he had come into contact with thieves and swindlers. For the last several years, he even dealt with countless old foxes and extremely sly people. This moment his heart was already set, he would not easily reveal the cards in his hands. Playing it down, he said, Naturally he is outside providing support for me. Miss has not answered my question.

    Creak! the chest lid at the entrance of the cellar opened, a high-pitched voice called out, Rou Gongzhu [princess], is it convenient to come down? Mei Gongzhu is here!

    The beautys stare meeting Xu Zilings gaze became deeply bright and sharp; without blinking she responded, Mei Jie, please wait for me upstairs, I am coming up immediately!

    Bang! the lid of the chest was dropped down.

    By now Xu Ziling was seventy-, eighty-percent sure that this young woman called Princess Rou was the kind of person who would do anything, by hook or by crook, to accomplish her goals. The key was in the four words, I am coming up immediately [li ji bian lai].

    If she had the intention to make up with him, she would have said a few words to stall for time, and then saved Cao Yinglong by waking him up. But she was so eager to seize the opportunity to leave from the only exit, even without any explanation, Xu Ziling knew that she was harboring unfathomable motives. He would be trapped inside this danger spot; unless someone came to rescue him, he could forget about escaping with his life intact.

    However, whatever thought flitted across his mind, it did not show on the outside at all.

    His pair of tiger-eyes instantly radiated sharp light all around, as he spoke heavily, I dont know what Miss is thinking, but Ol Xu already made up my mind; if Zaixia cannot take the awake Cao Yinglong out of this place, I will not let Miss leave safely.

    Princess Rou revealed an astonished look; she asked quizzically, What are you doing? Why suddenly became so harsh? I though we are talking amiably with each other?

    Intentionally or otherwise, her demeanor, the tone of her voice, revealed tenderness and naivet that made other peoples heart beating faster and their spirit galloping away, that made other people really want to believe her.

    But Xu Ziling remained unmoved; not the slightest bit. He spoke coldly, Miss, please tell me how to wake Cao Yinglong up.

    Princess Rous eyes flashed with murderous intent, but the tone of her voice was exceptionally calm; she said, Do you really have the confidence that you can make me stay here? I only have to make some noise, the people outside will come down immediately. When that happens, Cao Yinglong will become your biggest burden. You just missed the golden opportunity, and now you can only follow my arrangement. Ay! How can I make Xu Xiong believe that I have no enmity toward you? You are wasting your time on this issue, people upstairs will be suspicious.

    She was speaking using both gentle methods and force, it was hard to distinguish between whats true and whats false; it was indeed not easy to parry.

    Xu Ziling calmly laughed; as if he was scrutinizing every cun of her fair, young skin, which was different from Central Plains women, he spoke indifferently, I am not afraid you are calling people down at all; since our side has the capability to intercept An Long, we also have the capability to storm in when the situation warrants it. Miss must not forget, a trapped beast will fight the hardest; Ol Xu might do everything in my power to prevent Miss from leaving this place alive. The one wasting your time is Miss.

    Princess Ruo gave him a hard stare; suddenly she stood up.

    It appeared that Xu Ziling already knew that she was going to stand up; his tiger-body straightened up, he stood right in front of her, the distance between them was no more than three chi, and Princess Rous back was against the stone wall, so that if they fought, Xu Ziling was already occupying the favorable position, he could force the opponent into a desperate fight as the only way to escape.

    Princess Rou stomped her feet and angrily said, I was going to wake Cao Yinglong! Are you or are you not going to make way for me? I have already answered your question, even if you want to give Cao Yinglong to me, I am not interested. Our Western Tujue people have no interest in becoming your and Kou Zhongs mortal enemy even more. Let An Long takes care of An Longs problem, we take care of our own problem; dont you understand?

    Inwardly Xu Ziling was shaken. He finally remembered which sides figure Princess Rou was. That day he listened to Ba Fenghans account on Tujue people, Tujue was a political power composed of nomadic peoples, with the strongest among them became the king. Because economically they were scattered over many regions, plus they kept moving around and did not stay in one particular area, power struggle among them never stopped. During the Sui dynasty era, they were divided into two major khanates, east and west.

    East Tujues current Khan was Xieli, with his trusted junshi [military counselor] a Han man by the name of Zhao Deyan [see Book 12 Chapter 4]. The Cyclone Tuli Khan was his nephew. One of the worlds three major martial art masters, the Wuzun Bi Xuan belonged to the East Tujue people.

    The Sui dynasty declined, militias sprang up everywhere, among them were Liang Shidu, Liu Wuzhou, and so on who go up north to align with the Tujue, the Tujue in question was precisely the Eastern Tujue.

    Comparatively speaking, the West Tujue was more low-key. This might be due to their geographical proximity. But now their devil palm has finally reached the Central Plains.

    The Western Tujue Khan was called Tong Xie Hu [lit. unifying, harmonizing protector]. Under assistance of a Persian called Yun Shuai [lit. cloud commander], their prestige was pressing straight toward the Eastern Tujue. Yun Shuais daughter was called Lian Rou [lit. lotus soft/supple], regarded as his own daughter by Tong Xie Hu, and he extremely doted on her. She ought to be the woman in front of Xu Ziling now.

    Recalling that she was a beauty from the distant country, Xu Ziling could not stop strange feeling from appearing in his heart; no wonder her martial art was so unfathomably strange.

    Noticing him staring blankly at her, even Princess Rou herself did not understand why her pretty face was burning hot; sticking out her silky breasts out, she said, Are you going to let me pass or not?

    Xu Zilings mind was racing at the speed of light; he asked himself, if she did not personally help him, would he have the confidence that he could wake Cao Yinglong up? This time, he would not even lay a bet. Fiercely clenching his teeth, he swiftly backed off toward the stone stairs, taking a please save him attitude.

    Lian Rou revealed a charming smile of victory. Nobody saw how she moved, but she was suddenly standing by Cao Yinglong, who was crouching on the ground, and starting to kick randomly, but the targets were various fatal acupoints on Cao Yinglongs head like baihui, fengfu, guanhui, shenting, and so on. Watching this, Xu Zilings heart was alarmed, his body leaping, which made him did not understand even more, why would he care about a big thief head whose entire body was covered in crime?

    Cao Yinglong moaned and regained his consciousness.

    Fuming with rage, Lian Rou cast Xu Ziling a sidelong glance; her expression clearly showed that she was still angry and resented that she was wronged by him. And then she stepped aside and said, I have saved him! You are not going to let me out?

    Xu Ziling was a bit embarrassed as well. Abruptly raising a mouthful of true qi, he readied himself to rescue Cao Yinglong out of there. Right this moment, he heard a barely perceptible abnormal noise from the direction of the chest lid, which was the sound of the true qi flowing in the meridians when someone was amassing his power. Were it not for his own qi was coursing through his own body, plus the empty cellar was acting as an audio amplifier, he would not be able to hear it.

    In that instant Xu Ziling suddenly understood everything; he knew that the three people outside already knew what was going on inside the cellar, so he could not help scolding himself for being too careless. A while ago he was able to hear the sound of Cao Yinglongs breathing from above; obviously there was a ventilation hole from the cellar to the rear hall of Qingyang Si, therefore, the fighting noise and the speaking voices from downstairs had already alerted the people upstairs.

    Looking at Lian Rous pure expression, graceful, clean and honest outward appearance, Xu Ziling was bitterly disappointed.

    Cao Yinglong let out another groan.

    Pretending that nothing had happened, Xu Ziling said, I am Xu Ziling. Cao Xiong, can you hear me?

    Just to slightly nod his head, Cao Yinglong seemed to be struggling. Sitting up, he looked around with blank expression on his face. His gaze swept past the Persian beauty Lian Rou, completely ignoring her, but as it reached Xu Ziling, his eyes began to focus. His face showed a pleasantly surprised expression, he seemed to remember his own situation.

    Lian Rou suddenly turned her tender body around to face the wall, appearing to show off her innocence and her unwillingness to intervene in Xu Zilings effort to rescue Cao Yinglong.

    Were it not for the fact that Xu Ziling already knew something was amiss, he might really fall into the trap and believe her. But now, since she was trying to hide it, she made it more conspicuous instead, hence Xu Ziling was already in a full-alert mode.

    What other trick might she have in her sleeves?

  5. #285
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 5

    Book 24 Chapter 5 Friend And Foe Difficult To Tell

    If he was cooperating with Kou Zhong, Hou Xibai might suspect that after rescuing Cao Yinglong, Kou Zhong might abandon his partner and left on his own. But Hou Xibai believed from the bottom of his heart that Xu Ziling was not that kind of person. Yet this kind of faith practically did not have any reason behind it; it was purely a feeling when someone met someone else, although oftentimes it was not too reliable.

    Therefore, Hou Xibai was sure that Xu Ziling must have met some trouble. Secretly raising a mouthful of true qi, he inserted the Fan of Beauty into his belt, and said with a smile, Going by Long Shus suspicious character, since you knew that there exist the Eight Moves To Break The Lotus, unexpectedly you are unwilling to obtain clear understanding but want to leave immediately instead. I wonder what could be more pressing than this?

    An Long crossly said, Xianzhi is acting as if you dont know how to write the word dead. But everything that has been happening tonight is very strange; everything is beyond my expectation. If Xianzhi is willing to tell me where you got the information, perhaps we could strive to have real cooperation.

    Hou Xibai was greatly astonished; from what Xu Ziling told him, An Long should not have this much time, he should be rushing back to perform his sorcery on Cao Yinglong. How could he leisurely waste his time by chatting with him now?

    On the surface, however, he remained calm and composed. Surely Long Shu is joking? he said, In vain Xiaozhi always showed utmost respect to you. You have secret ties with Yang Xuyan, and are trying in vain to scheme against Shi Shis beloved daughter, yet now you say you want to cooperate with me; it is indeed the greatest absurdity in the world.

    An Long flashed his trademark fake smile across his face, while secretly gathering up his power. He said, Xianzhi, you surely dont know how to differentiate good from bad; who said I was going to harm Shi Dages beautiful daughter? Whom did you hear it from?

    Hou Xibai was about to speak to taunt him, to stall for time, when suddenly alarm went off in his heart; turning his head to the left, he saw hidden among the trees in the dark, at the part of the garden where the moonlight did not shine, a big and tall man.

    An Long was actually a step ahead of him in term of reaction; when he saw the man, his face revealed a shocked expression. Evidently he recognized the man.

    The man walked out of the shadow. He had an overbearing, looking-down-on-the-world demeanor around him, his expression cold and detached, his forehead high, his nose straight, with a mixture of healthy, robust lines on his rectangular face, giving up the impression that he was a man with extraordinary unswerving determination, as well as subjectively obstinate; an awe-inspiring man.

    From his comparatively darker complexion from the average men and his exceptionally good shape, Hou Xibai knew right away that he must be the master of Duzun Bao Xie Hui, whose might shook Bashu.

    This martial art master, who shared the same fame as the Heavenly Saber Song Que, only cast a glance toward Hou Xibai, his burning gaze fell on his sworn brother An Long, as he spoke indifferently, Where is Cao Yinglong?

    Even Hou Xibai could not imagine that Xie Hui would be this blunt and get right to the point [orig. to open the door and see the mountain], without leaving anything.

    An Long laughed aloud and said, Did I not explain clearly just now that Cao Yinglongs affair has nothing to do with me, An Long, at all?

    The murderous aura in Xie Huis eyes was burning brighter; staring hard at An Long, he said, If I did not remember the brotherly love between us, I would have made my move before you even finished speaking half a sentence. After the wear and tear and your current loss of power, I guarantee that you wont last long. And now, let me ask you again, remembering our extraordinarily old friendship; An Long, you dont want to force me.

    Hou Xibai had never thought that Xie Hui would be this overbearing and tyrannical; he inwardly thought that if he were An Long, he would be at a loss to know what to do as well.

    Who would have thought that An Long heaved a deep sigh, nodded his head dejectedly, and said, I know that Er Dis [second (younger) brother] kindness to Ol An does not need to be mentioned, but this matter is related to San Di [third (younger) brother]. Moreover, it has direct relationship with the Xie Wang [demonic king] Shi Zhixuan. If Er Di is drawn into this matter because of an outsider, it is really not worth it.

    Xie Huis face showed that he was slightly moved; turning his head around, he looked at Hou Xibai.

    Inwardly Hou Xibai thanked the Heaven and thanked the Earth; raising his cupped fist, he spoke respectfully, Two gentlemen, Qianbei, have important matter to discuss, Wanbei certainly does not dare to remain here to disturb you. Please!

    With that, he slipped away.

    Cao Yinglong slowly rose; he finally discovered the Persian Beauty Lian Rou, who was standing against the wall, with a pondering-deeply expression on her face.

    Xu Zilings true qi within his body has circulated to its peak; as fast as lightning he swept Cao Yinglong away.

    The standing-against-the-wall Lian Rou spun around, raised her right hand, and shot a streak of white light toward Cao Yinglong, while rushing toward the exit at the same time. Her movements were fluid, as fast as lightning.

    If Xu Ziling did not guard against her at all, this moment he would have been caught off guard, and when rescuing Cao Yinglong, he would have been forced to move away from the exit.

    However, the attack was exactly what he wanted. Utilizing his ability to take a breath while sweeping high in the air, he produced a possibility amidst this impossible situation, by changing direction from going straight ahead to moving sideway, while sending out a finger energy at the same time to strike the white light.

    The most mischievous thing was that while he was soaring out and his right palm was blocking Lian Rous escape path, his mouth was crying out, Dont go!

    How could Lian Rou know that he had such ability to take a breath midair and change direction? Relying on her superior qinggong, she was also able to change direction midair, but definitely not like Xu Ziling, who was able not to reveal the slightest sign in his shenfa, who could change just as soon as he wanted to change. In her shock, she could only retreat in a flash.

    Ding!

    The white light was hit by the finger wind and was knocked against the wall. Turned out it was the dagger that Lian Rou used just now when she threatened to kill herself. While she was facing the wall, she stealthily pulled it out of its sheath on her thigh, and hid it in her hand.

    Cao Yinglong was a Jianghu veteran; as soon as he regained his consciousness, he swept over toward Xu Ziling.

    Success or failure would be decided in the blink of an eye.

    Creak!

    The lid opened, ready to welcome the escaping Lian Rou.

    The tip of Xu Zilings toes tapped the ground, he moved toward Cao Yinglong, stretched out one arm to grab his thick waist, and sent out a spiraling energy. The two men spun swiftly like a cyclone, and then taking the opportunity while the enemy had not grasped the situation inside the cellar, they flew toward the exit, and suddenly shot out of the wooden chest. Under Zhu Mei and the Tall and Short, two Generals blank stare, and before they found their voices to shout, they already broke through the roof and disappeared.

    The bright moon was hanging high in the sky.

    From somewhere in the distance, Hou Xibai flew over and called out, Follow me!

    Inside an ordinary house at the east side of the city, only after finished listening to Xu Zilings explanation did Cao Yinglong realize what happened to him. Naturally he shed tears of gratitude, and was even more remorseful of what he had done in the past.

    Hou Xibai flew in through the window and said, There shouldnt be anybody following us. And then he turned toward Cao Yinglong and asked, Cao Dangjia is all right?

    Evidently Cao Yinglong was still quite wary of him, he hung his head down. While blushing with shame to conceal the contradicting reaction in his heart, he sighed and said, I am now an ordinary man, Hou Gongzi should not call me that.

    Xu Ziling caught everything with his eyes, his heart was moved, recalling that because Cao Yinglong was very familiar with Shi Zhixuans conduct, he was unable to trust the person Shi Zhixuan selected as his disciple either, so inwardly Xu Ziling was on guard as well. However, without drawing support from Hou Xibais power, he could forget about rescuing Cao Yinglong this time.

    Signaling Xu Ziling with his eyes, Hou Xibai said, I am going outside to be on the lookout; if we want to slip away, it would be best to do it tonight.

    Finished speaking, he flew out the window.

    Although Xu Ziling did not trust Hou Xibai, he could not help feeling heartfelt appreciation toward his elegant demeanor and consideration toward other people.

    Cao Yinglong started, This time

    Xu Ziling cut him off, The most important thing right now is how Cao Xiong could avoid the enemies and go back to see your wife and daughter for the last time. Cao Xiong, whats your plan?

    Cao Yinglong dejectedly said, I have lost confidence; I no longer dare to have such a presumptuous wish.

    After muttering to himself irresolutely for half a day, Xu Ziling took out a mask that he had never used before from his bosom, and handed over to Cao Yinglong. He said, If you could shed your mortal body and exchange your bones to become another man, get rid of your usual walking gait and mannerism, perhaps you can still accomplish your wish.

    Taking the mask in his hands, Cao Yinglong examined it carefully. His body shook severely, while a ray of hope returned to his eyes. With amazement in his voice, he said, Unexpectedly there is such a fine work of art in the world. I guarantee that after putting it on, even the subtle changes of the muscles on my face will be seen through, so that nobody will doubt it.

    Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, This is Lu Miaozis refined work.

    From the masks he received from Lu Miaozi, he gave one to Ba Fenghan, and now, for righteousness sake, he gave another one to Cao Yinglong, hence he only had three masks remained: the Yue Shan, the scar face hero, and the dry, yellow-faced one.

    Cao Yinglong revealed a turns-out-it-was-from-Lu-Miaozis-hand, no-wonder-it-is-so-ghostly-crafted-divine-work sudden change in his demeanor; stuffing the mask into his bosom, he said in low voice, I am saved! But we must never let Hou Xibai know. Dont look at him now assuming an air of complete indifference toward me, I dare to bet my head that after this is over, he will come looking for me, and will use sinister means to get everything out of me.

    Xu Ziling nodded and said, Its always better to be a bit more careful.

    After discussing how they were going to get away, Cao Yinglong spoke in low voice, Not only by nature Shi Zhixuan is sinister, he also has enormous ambition. For example, he painstakingly groomed two disciples to accomplish his two greatest dreams: to unify Jianghu and to unify the demonic way. Therefore, this man Hou Xibai is not simple at all, you must never trust him.

    Frowning, Xu Ziling said, Since thats the case, why would Shi Zhixuan pit these two disciples against each other? They might massacre one another, furthermore, they might hinder each other.

    Cao Yinglong said, Shi Zhixuan is someone who is difficult to measure, not many people can really understand him. Just by looking at how he deliberately leave the Immortal Print Scroll in the secluded forest of the small valley instead of giving it directly to his two disciples, we know how unfathomable he is. In my opinion, it may be that he found it difficult to decide whom he should give it to. Thereupon he let them fight until you die, I live, to see who will be eliminated. In their conduct, the people of the demonic schools have never taken human emotions and morality into considerations.

    Listening to that, Xu Zilings heart grew cold. Seizing this opportunity, he asked, The Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, aside from Zhu Yuyan, Shi Zhixuan, An Long, Pi Chen, Zuo Youxian and You Niaojuan, six persons, who are the other two?

    Cao Yinglong replied, Theres one that I know, which is the Eastern Tujue Xieli Khans Junshi Zhao Deyan. Within the demonic schools, this man has lofty status; he is revered as the Mo Shuai [Demonic Commander]. His demonic skill is extremely outstanding, barely second only to Zhu Yuyan and Shi Zhixuan. As for the last person, his identity is very mysterious. One time Shi Zhixuan inadvertently leaked out that this person was cultivating some kind of formidable gongfa in secret, but he did not say who.

    Finally Xu Ziling was able to ascertain the real identity of Zhao Deyan, whose martial art skill could properly approach Bi Xuans level. Inwardly he thought that no wonder he was able to make the wind and create the rain, to stir up the peoples from the outside to come into the Central Plains to create havoc.

    With a light gust of the wind, Hou Xibai returned through the window. We dont have much time, he urged, We still need to go to An Longs old shop to take advantage of the festivities.

    And then his countenance changed slightly, I wonder if gentlemen smell a whiff, which seems to be here but seems to be far away of fragrance? This is the first time that I caught this kind of fragrance. I already smelled it a while back, but I thought it was Lian Rous scent that was rubbed onto Cao Xiong. But this one does not disperse even after a while, obviously something is not right, I am afraid it might divulge our whereabouts.

    Cao Yinglong raised his left sleeve and sniffed, and his right sleeve and sniffed, but due to the great loss of his power, he couldnt smell any odor.

    But Xu Ziling was showing dread; he said, Luckily Hou Xiong is perceptive, otherwise we would fall victim of the yaonus trick. The scent ought to be coming from the hair. I wonder if Hou Xiong has any good suggestions.

    Hou Xibai said, At least until just now, the enemy has not followed the scent to this place. Actually, Rou yaonu does not need to hurry, she could not have imagined that coincidentally there was someone like me who has great experience with all kinds of fragrance nearby, hence she would carryout her scheme leisurely. There are many ways to get rid of the scent, however, since time is pressing, we could play some tricks on Cao Xiongs hair, I guarantee we will be able to cover the fragrance that the yaonu put in there.

    Xu Ziling quietly exchanged a glance with Cao Yinglong, and said, frank and straightforward, Hou Xiong, please do your trick.

    At the same time, he was crying, Formidable inwardly. It should be noted that with the current scent, Xu Ziling had to concentrate his mind before he was able to barely catch a little. To follow a trail relying on such a faint scent in the bustling evening brimming with all kinds of flowery fragrance, the smoke and the fire, was certainly easier said than done. Yet Hou Xibai was able to, justifiably, find a way to put some scent on Cao Yinglong, so that wherever Cao Yinglong went, Hou Xibai could easily follow his trails and catch up with him. At that time, no matter with what kind of method he was going to deal with Cao Yinglong, Xu Ziling would be forever in the dark.

    This moment, both Xu Ziling and Cao Yinglong were unclear whether the scent on Cao Yinglongs hair was put there by Lian Rou, or whether it was Hou Xibai himself doing his trick.

    From his bosom, Hou Xibai took out a small box. When he opened it, they saw a white powdery fragrant thing, which smelled like some kind of jasmine, with much stronger scent than the previous one, but there was also an indistinct hard-to-describe unusual scent in it.

    If he had used this strange fragrance straight from the start, Xu Ziling would definitely be suspicious.

    Hou Xibai muttered softly, If Cao Xiong has a hat, I could put a bit of this onto the hat, then the other scent will be completely covered. As long as you are traveling like this, the enemy would lose the means they are depending on to follow your trail.

    Xu Ziling and Cao Yinglong were stunned; they both wondered inwardly whether they were using Xiaoren [little/lowly person] mentality in measuring Hou Xibais noble belly?

    Reaching into his bosom, Cao Yinglong took out a hat, which he then put on his head. Hou Xibai casually took a pinch of the powdery stuff and sprinkled it on his hat. He said with a smile, I know Cao Xiong has a doubting heart toward Xiaodi, but I swear that I am absolutely not a despicable Xiaoren who take advantage of someone elses precarious situation. For Xiaodi right now, the most important thing is not to let the Immortal Print Scroll fall into Yang Xuyans hands. Otherwise, the first one to lose his life would be Xiaodi.

    Xu Ziling praised him inwardly; it was people like Hou Xibai, who know how to balance the pros and cons and consider the advantages and disadvantages, who could successfully accomplish great undertakings. He was doing his utmost to save Cao Yinglong, it would only be proper for Xu Ziling to do his utmost to help him in return.

    He was just hoping that Shi Feixuan did not misjudge him.

    In terms of speech and demeanor, Hou Xibai was talented, outstanding, distinguished and accomplished, confident and at ease, and scholarly. Even if he had to fight him in a life and death battle, it would still be difficult to loathe him.

    Xu Ziling was about to speak, suddenly he heard an unusual noise.

    Hou Xibai and Xu Ziling were alerted at the same time. It was when Cao Yinglong noticed their expression did he begin to understand that something was amiss.

    It was not a man-made noise, but some cat-like animal that was good at soaring and leaping; when it landed on the roof, it created a very subtle noise, brimming with a lithe and springy feeling.

    Hou Xibai and Xu Ziling had a sudden understanding at the same time; the enemy was relying on this animal with acute sense of smell to follow their trail to this place.

    The exotic animal swiftly circled around the roof overhead before leaping out of the courtyard.

    Hou Xibais heart was moved, he said, It loses the trail.

    Looking at the hat on Cao Yinglongs head, Xu Ziling said, We still have a chance to slip away.

    Laughing calmly, Hou Xibai said, We dont need to slip away. Come with me.

    The place they were staying was actually Hou Xibais study room. Hou Xibai moved one of the bookshelves away to reveal the entrance to yet another room. Unexpectedly it was a hidden sunroom where scrolls of painting were spread everywhere, but it was dry and clean and tidy.

    Hou Xibai had just returned the bookcase back to its original place to seal the entrance when there was a sound of rustling sleeves overhead. From the noise, it sounded like if there were not ten enemies, then there were at least seven or eight enemies.

    The three held their breath and quieted their qi, while inwardly were a bit tense.

    It was a case of he who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come. The enemy was aware that there were martial art masters such as Xu and Hou, two men, around, yet they still dared to pursue to this place, hence they must have enough confidence that they would be able to deal with them.

    Moreover, because Cao Yinglong was involved, the two could not simply break the siege and escape, therefore, if they were discovered, the situation would be difficult to imagine.

    Hou Xibais move was definitely an extremely brilliant one; he was playing a mind game against the opponent.

    Anybody who was following the trail to track down a target, if the trail was suddenly cut off, there were only two possibilities. One was that the target was not hiding in the place they ought to hide; two was that the target has gotten rid of the clues being pursued. So now the enemy might search the house inside and outside, and because the scent inside the house has been concealed, the enemy might think that they were only passing through this place, or perhaps they already left.

    Hou Xibai and Xu Ziling completely focused their attention to listen attentively, ready to gain the initiative by striking first at any moment, killing the opponent as they were caught unprepared.

    A tender, soft, and sweet-sounding female voice on the roof said, This time Princess Rous Persian raccoon dog might have lost the trail.

    Stunned, Hou Xibai whispered, Thats really strange! Unexpectedly its Meiji Sina, one of the Four Big Chiefs of Ba Meng [Sichuan Alliance].

    Xu Zilings heart was moved; he immediately realized why Hou Xibai felt strange.

    The three major powers of Sichuan were Duzun Bao, Chuan Bang, and Ba Meng.

    Ba Meng was the alliance of local ethnic minorities, which was formed to counter the Han power, with the Qiang, Yao, Miao and Yi, four major ethnic groups as the core. The Four Big Chiefs were the Qiangs Hou Wang [monkey king] Feng Zhen, the Yaos Meiji [lit. beautiful woman/concubine] Sina, the Miaos Da Lao [lit. big old] Jue Luofeng, and the Yis Feng Jiang [wind general] Chuan Mouxun.

    It was not surprising for the Eastern Tujue to have relationship with the Sichuan Alliance, because in Sichuan Bashu, everybody wanted to get fat, and the Eastern Tujues Tong Xie Hu would not be an exception.

    The strange thing was, with the Meiji Sinas status, why would she personally track down Cao Yinglong? Where did his value lie?

    Another gloomy, old and decrepit male voice said, As long as Xu Ziling is still in Bashu, he wont escape our five-finger enclosure. Mengzhu [alliance master/leader] has promised that dead or alive, he will be sent to Guanzhong.

    The three looked at each other in astonishment; turned out they did not after Cao Yinglong, but Xu Ziling.

    From the tone of this mans voice, they could guess that evidently Ba Meng was leaning toward the Li Clan of Guanzhong, so much so that even the Western Tujue also had the intention of repairing their relationship with the Li Clan. Otherwise, they could not possibly notify the Ba Meng immediately to capture Xu Ziling as soon as they discovered him.

    There was no eternal enemy in politics.

    In the wake of the Li Clans continuously growing and changing power, it was difficult for the Li Clan and the Eastern Tujue to rekindle their former good relation.

    The Eastern Tujue has always been superior to the Western Tujue. In order to remedy this disadvantageous position, the Western Tujue could only draw support from the most powerful military group in the neighboring area, and the Li Clan was their only choice.

    In just these few words, Xu Ziling immediately grasped the tangled and complicated situation of Bashu today; he also knew that he was in a danger zone, and could lose his life any moment.

    Laughing tenderly, Lian Rou said, Da Gong [lit. big duke, or simply honorable gentleman] must be a bit more careful; Xu Ziling is well-known for his craftiness. Da Gong spoke with such confidence, if he is still able to slip away, others might laugh up their sleeve.

    Hou Xibai closed his eyes and muttered, Hearing the voice is just like seeing the person. The Persian beauty is indeed distinct.

    Just by looking at his enchanted-like expression, one would know that he was painting a picture of the Persian beauty with the raccoon dog in her arms as he imagined it in his mind.

    From what Lian Rou said, Xu Ziling knew that the one boasting shamelessly was the Miaos Da Lao Jue Luofeng; he thought that since there were Lian Rou, Sina and Jue Luofeng, three persons, the two of them could forget about taking Cao Yinglong breaking out through the window.

    Sina said, Strange! How come Xiao Li [little raccoon dog] chased to this place and suddenly could not continue chasing? Whose house is this? Must be a scholar or some elegant people. Were it not for neighboring people are out to enjoy the excitement of the Lantern Festival, we would not be able to get a clear picture in seeking our target.

    Lian Rou sighed and said, Just consider that kid lucky. Its no fun staying here, lets go.

    The sound of rustling sleeves went away.

    The three persons heaved a sigh of relief at the same time.

    Hou Xibai asked Cao Yinglong, Cao Xiong, where do you want us to take you?

    Cao Yinglong replied, As long as we can reach the Muxing Street at the north side of the city, I have confidence that I will be able to escape.

    Blowing out a mouthful of air, Hou Xibai delightedly said, Currently, the most difficult thing is leaving the city. If only inside the city, I guarantee we can do it.

    Turning toward Xu Ziling, he asked, After that, should we go to An Longs old shop at the south side of the city to try our luck?

    Xu Ziling smiled, Of course, he replied.

    Hou Xibai sighed and said, Ziling is indeed a true friend.

    Answering the call, Bu Tianzhi came into Kou Zhongs cabin. This man of wind and cloud [idiom: influential figure] whose prestige rose abruptly like a shooting star was staring blankly by the window, silently looking up at the full moon hanging high in the middle of the sky. It appeared that he had a load on his mind, or perhaps the beautiful scenery touched his heart deeply.

    His magnificent back, showing his broad shoulder and narrow waist, carried the as-steady-as-the-mountain imposing manner, creating fear and reverence in Bu Tianzhis heart, so that momentarily he did not dare to speak to disturb the peace, afraid that he might disrupt his train of thought.

    After a good while, Kou Zhong murmured quietly, as if he was speaking to himself, I want to take a trip to the Song Family of LingNan. Zhi Shu, please make the arrangement for me. After eliminating Shen Lun, I will immediately set out on my journey, while the rest may return to Peng Liang.

    Bu Tianzhi could feel the determination in his voice, he knew that it would be difficult for him to persuade Kou Zhong otherwise, hence he had no choice but to say, Let Zhi Shu accompany you then.

    Kou Zhong shook his head and said, I have another important matter I need to entrust to Zhi Shu.

    Slowly turning around, he handed the bamboo tube containing the treasure map that Cao Yinglong handed over to Xu Ziling, and then Xu Ziling passed on to him to Bu Tianzhis hands. After explaining everything clearly, he said, Zhi Shu must retrieve everything as quickly as possible, and then keep it in a secret yet convenient place so that it can be used any time. This can be considered an ill-gotten wealth, I do not want to use it to finance our military, I only hope to use it to rebuild the peoples homes.

    Full of appreciation, Bu Tianzhi said, Shao Shuais decision touched me very much.

    And then he could not help asking, Why does Shao Shuai appear to have a heavy load on your mind tonight?

    Kou Zhong looked up at the bright moon in the sky, and slyly said, My mood is much better now. Having Li Shimin as my adversary, what regret do I have in my life?

  6. #286
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 6

    Book 24 Chapter 6 Simply Must Go

    The two sat in a noodle shop at the south market, cattycorner from An Longs old shop Long He Xing, specializing in wine.

    The noodle shop was not on business; it merely opened its middle door, while providing cakes spread over the table, free of charge for the crowd enjoying the Lantern Festival. At this time, the Lantern Festival was in full swing. A large group of Yi people, more than a hundred men and women, wearing full traditional ethnic apparel, were performing their singing and dancing on the street. The sound of drums and happy music warmed the air, attracting the people who were originally taking a rest inside the shop to go out to watch, cramming the wide street so that not one drop could trickle through, and thus making it more convenient for Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai, these two men, to sneak in from the courtyard through the back door.

    In passing, Hou Xibai picked up a piece of mooncake, which he bit and chewed a mouthful, and said, Tonights Lantern Festival is jointly hosted by Duzun Bao, Chuan Bang, and Ba Meng, three parties. On the surface it is for everybody to have fun together, but it is actually a show of their unity to the outsiders! This is a yun tui [lit. cloud leg] mooncake, very authentic; would Ziling Xiong like to try it?

    Xu Ziling picked a piece to sample it; sure enough, as it entered his mouth, it was crisp and crumbly, sweet and salty, the taste of ham was prominent, moist, but not greasy, it could be rated as best quality product. After nodding his head approvingly, he casually asked, But internally, are they really united?

    Staring at the crowd on the street, Hou Xibai replied, I am afraid only Feixuan would be able to tell for sure. But at the very least, the alliance of three powers benefits the people of Chengdu, the law and order here is the best in the Central Plains. Like tonight, nine out of ten houses are empty, yet there are no scoundrels committing a crime, because they knew that they will lose their lives afterwards for sure.

    More and more Xu Ziling felt that this man Hou Xibai was an enigma. He was dying to ask him why he wanted to kill Xu Ziling, yet although the words have arrived at his throat, in the end he could not spit it out, and had to stuff it back into his belly.

    Hou Xibais eyes seemed to be able to penetrate the heavy wall of people, straight into An Xing Long [sic, it was Long He Xing above]; spirited light shone from his eyes, he said, Tonight I was lucky to come across Ziling Xiong, otherwise I, Hou Xibai, lose my life in other peoples hands without knowing whats going on.

    Xu Ziling did not understand, How did it happen? he asked, Does your honorable master particularly care about and dote on Yang Xuyan?

    Smiling bitterly, Hou Xibai said, I wish I knew. Ziling Xiong, please do not blame Xiaodi for attempting to take your life twice in succession, simply because masters order is difficult to disobey. But now I started to guess that it must be Yang Xuyan using our schools token to falsely passing on Shi Shis order, and using the same method he tricked Qingxuan into coming to Chengdu, scheming to snatch the scroll and to murder. However, this matter has been leaked, so that even if he had gargantuan guts, he would not dare to touch Qingxuan.

    Although Xu Ziling still could not believe him completely, but since Hou Xibai was willing to explain, plus he admitted frankly that he did indeed try to kill him twice in a row, he felt a bit more comfortable; nodding his head, he said, Hou Xiong nearly took my life.

    Shaken, Hou Xibai said, That time at Yangzhou, turns out you really sensed I was hiding in ambush. This is really unbelievable.

    Xu Ziling smiled and said, Hou Xiong is indeed brilliant; you guessed this fact based on my response. But we dont have much time! How are we going to do this?

    Hou Xibai replied, The agreed time to leave is still about half an hour away, Xiaodi is thinking of affirming one thing first, does Ziling really have the intention of killing Yang Xuyan?

    Murderous intent flashed through Xu Zilings eyes, I cant find any reason not to kill him, he replied.

    Delighted, Hou Xibai said, Thats great. But it still depends on our luck, whether he is fated to lose his life or not. Toward Yang Xuyan, I knew nothing at all. But toward An Long, I have deep knowledge of his temperament. If he wanted to see you at certain time, you could only show up at that time, neither early nor late. Therefore, as long as we lie in wait for them in time, taking advantage the moment before Yang Xuyan come in to enter the shop, we might be able to kill him.

    Casting his glance outside the door, Xu Ziling saw the crowd cheering and applauding, the sound surging inside like tidal waves, yet in his heart he only saw Shi Qingxuans bright-moon-like jade countenance. He said, That will depend whether he is one of the crowd enjoying the bustling scenery.

    They could only wait in ambush for Yang Xuyan on the roof of the old shop. If Yang Xuyan entered the shop from the street, they might be waiting in vain.

    Shaken, Hou Xibai said, Thats not right! There are so many good places to meet, why would he pick a place bustling with noise and excitement where people are piling up? There must be a reason.

    Pondering deeply, Xu Ziling said, Could it be that that is the place where Yang Xuyan is going to meet Miss Shi?

    Hou Xibai stood up abruptly and said, Lets step outside to test the water, and then well decide on the countermeasure for dealing with this situation.

    Xu Ziling came to the threshold to peer outside. Hou Xibai came to a halt next to him and said in a low voice, A bit later we will probably meet Ba Meng people, Ziling Xiong may pretend to be someone named Chang Fei. This lord calls himself Da Ba Shan Ren [a man of great Mount Ba]. He has always been coming and going alone, but is actually well-known to be a handsome man, and just like Ziling, he does not like to use weapon. You are posing as him, it should be like a seamless heavenly clothes.

    Xu Ziling smiled and said, Than you for Hou Xiongs reminder. But I actually feel safer to disguise myself as a scar faced mountain man [or hermit]. Otherwise, when we meet Lian Rou, it will be a joke.

    Finished speaking, he turned his back, with an easy-drive-on-a-familiar-part he changed-shape-in-a-single-shake to become the scar faced hero.

    Watching this, Hou Xibai was dumbstruck. Turns out Ziling have this face-changing ability. I wonder how should I dress Ziling Xiong now? he asked.

    Xu Ziling responded indifferently, How about I follow your respected opinion?

    Hou Xibai cheerfully said, This mask has no flaw at all; it could be rated as best quality product of the present age, even the scar on your face looks amazingly real, it makes me remember a certain figure who had once gone on the rampage in the Yun Gui region [i.e. Yunnan and Guangxi]. In Jianghu, he was known as the Daoba Ke [lit. scar (from a knife would) guest/visitor], a character with resounding name about a dozen of years ago. He would not let off anybody who had a debt on him. Afterwards he seemed to be angering local schools and sects, and henceforth went into hiding and disappeared. How about Ziling Xiong become him, returning to Jianghu after a period of inactivity?

    The more he came in contact with Hou Xibai, the more Xu Ziling felt his outstanding charisma as he was talking cheerfully and wittily. Xu Ziling also could not stop his interest from being aroused. Astonished, he said, Hou Xiong seems to have extensive knowledge; I am full of admiration. I wonder what is this Daoba Xiongs surname and given name, and what kind of weapon he is good at?

    Hou Xibai said, Our Hua Jian Pai puts emphasis on roaming across the four seas, we go to a lot of places, hear a lot of hearsay and comeback stories. This is in answer to the aforementioned praise of having extensive knowledge. As for Daoba Kes name, it is very strange; he is called Gong Chenchun. Reportedly, he is adept in using more than a dozen different weapons with distinct characteristics. As for the actual fact, unless we encounter him in person and fight with him, there is no way we can verify it for sure.

    Xu Ziling mused that among Lu Miaozis wonderfully made masks, one was definitely made based on Yue Shans real appearance; who could say for sure that the others were not made based on actual person? Therefore, he said cheerfully, In that case, let Xiaodi temporarily become Gong Chenchun then. Ha! We should take advantage of this festive time!

    Chen Changlin entered the cabin. After he was seated properly, Kou Zhong asked, I want to know more about the Song Clans situation in Lingnan.

    Chen Changlin had just learned from Bu Tianzhi, who was just on his way out of the cabin, that Kou Zhong has made up his mind to visit the Song Family. Originally he wanted to persuade him to dispel the idea, but as he saw Kou Zhongs expression this moment, he knew that Kou Zhongs mind has been made up. He had no choice but to ask, Which aspect does Shao Shuai want to know?

    Leaning back into his chair, Kou Zhong stretched his limbs and said with a sigh, Since sleep seems to elude me, Changlin Xiong might as well tell me whatever you want to tell me, if something interests me, I may just inquire further.

    Chen Changlin sorted out the information he had in his head. After muttering to himself irresolutely for half a day, he began, I believe Shao Shuai wants to know the Song Familys standing in local politics and their position in Wulin?

    Kou Zhong laughed and said, Their position in Wulin ought to be clearly and easy to see. Southern martial art master whose name shakes the whole nation, other than the Heavenly Saber Song Que, who else will there be? Although Huang Gongcuo is brilliant, he had suffered defeat under Ning Daoqis hands. But until today, Song Que has not met his match. Tell me something else!

    Inwardly, naturally he was thinking the Ba Dao [overbearing saber] Yue Shan, who lost his lifetime fame for fighting prowess under Song Ques hands. And from Yue Shan his mind went to Xu Ziling. His days without Ling Shao by his side have been particularly difficult to bear; whenever he had a load in his mind, there was no one to confide to.

    Chen Changlin nodded his agreement; he said, To understand the situation at Lingnan, we must first understand that it is the place where the Li [ethnic group] and the Han mingle together. The Li people are further divided into Wu Wu [two different characters] Liao, Xi Yuan Man, and Huang Dong Man, and other different ethnic groups, which, in the end, are known as Li Liao.

    Kou Zhong was confused; he mumbled, Trying to remember these names gives me headache, its easier to just call them Nan Man [lit. southern barbarians].

    Chen Changlin smiled and said, Whether we call them Li Liao or Nan Man, both names carry a derogatory tone. In fact, since the Qin and Han dynasties, Nan Man has been increasingly Sinicized, but they live in remote places, their dwellings are still some kind of the so-called pole and fence houses, made of bamboo and wood construction, the roof is made of reeds and paddy straws. It has two layers; the top is for people, the bottom for livestock. It can avoid malaria, as well as wild animals. Just from this, we could infer their way of life.

    Kou Zhong thought that if he could pass the night with Song Yuzhi in his arms in such a house where the people were on top and the livestock on the bottom, it would be a distinctive flavor.

    Chen Changlin continued, After the Sui wiped out the Chen [of Southern dynasties, 777-589], with the Song Clans approval, one after another the Li Liao from various regions of Lingnan realigned their allegiance to the Sui dynasty. Thereupon Yang Jian successively set up Nan Hai, Yi An, Zhu An, Jiao Zhi, and so on, twenty three counties, locally. He also agreed with Song Ques proposal to appoint Li Liao tribal chief and commander to govern the ethnic groups internal affairs; therefore, various tribal chiefs and commanders of Lingnan are grateful to Song Que.

    Sneering, Kou Zhong said, Yang Jian had no choice; if he did not use this governing-by-restrain method, I am afraid the Li Liao would have been rebelling early on.

    And then, furrowing his brows, he said, It does not matter how formidable Song Ques saber technique is, how enormous the Song Familys influence is, there will always be conflict of interest among the various Li Liao ethnic groups; how does the Song Family hold them up together?

    Chen Changling raised his thumb and said with a laugh, Many superficial changes, but no departure from the original stand. Precisely how Mencius advised the Liangs Hui Wang [king of Hui], King! There is no need to take advantage of the day, on the contrary, take advantage of the movement.

    Greatly interested, Kou Zhong said, Changlin Xiong, please dont leave Xiaodi hanging! Tell me quickly what is it?

    Chen Changlin laughed and said, The Song Familys two most powerful magic weapons are that they are in control of shipping business of the south and the commercial trading system linking the entire country. Not only that, Song Que is a man whose words worth a thousand gold; he purchases openly, he sells openly, paying particular attention about fair dealing. So when all Li tribal chiefs obtain benefit and become rich, nobody would not follow Song Que blindly. Therefore, no matter how Lin Shihong or Shen Faxing expanded their influence, they would never dare to even have half an idea of provoking the Song Family of Lingnan.

    Recalling the Silver Dragon Song Lus standing when dealing with various issues in Luoyang, Kou Zhong saw a lot of similarities in him. He asked, Arent they mainly in salt business?

    After muttering to himself irresolutely, Chen Changlin said, Salt is just one of them. The Song Family has been distributing all kinds of local products of Lingnans Li Liao to all parts of the Central Plains in a steady flow, while also transporting local necessities back into Lingnan. That is where they make their profit from. Some people believe that quite possibly Song Que is the richest man under the heavens. Although this opinion might not be accurate, it is not far from the truth either.

    Slapping the armrest, Kou Zhong said, Turns out the Song Family is the genuine Longyou Bang [roaming dragon gang, see Book 22 Chapter 3]; no wonder just from the tea leaves shape and flavor Song Shidao is able to write a book.

    Listening to that, Chen Changlin was bewildered, What kind of gang is Longyou Bang? he wondered aloud.

    After explaining it to him briefly, Kou Zhongs eyes shone as he asked, Lingnan has valuable products?

    Obviously Chen Changlin had a remarkable understanding of commercial trade of various places around the country. As if enumerating his family valuables, he said, For our Nanhai Jun, we have tortoiseshells, pearls, ivory, and Chinese eaglewood. Huang Gongcuos Zhuya [historic name for Hainan Island] produces spices, kapok, five-colored rattan, and all kinds of precious medicinal herbs. Lingnans ironware foundry is fairly developed. All are in the big business of making money.

    Kou Zhong happily said, I finally found a reason that I simply must go to Lingnan! We are in need of a reliable business partner like Song Que.

    Smiling wryly, Chen Changlin said, I thought that after Shao Shuai listened to me, you might dispel your intention to go!

    By the time Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai, the two difficult-to-distinguish-between-friend-and-foe partners, stepped into the crowd on the street, the song and dance just happened to end. Amidst the warm and lively shaking-the-heavens shouts and cheers, everybody was clamoring toward the public square, where the market was normally held, to watch the lantern decoration and spotlights. Everybody was in high spirit; in the twinkle of an eye the stream of people dispersed more than half off the street.

    Xu Ziling, in his guise as the scar-faced hero, cried inwardly, Heaven helps me! Leaning closer to Hou Xibai, he said, Although I have never seen Yang Xuyans real face, but this mans body shape and bearing are exceptional; as soon as Hou Xiong see him, you will know.

    Human life is beyond value, Hou Xibai said, Xiaodi will only make my move after you verify it. You are responsible for watching for Yang Xuyan, I am responsible for paying attention to the people from An Longs side.

    The two weaved right and left among the crowd as they crossed the vehicles and horses lane. Children holding lantern in their hands were running around on the street, adding a considerable vitality and liveliness to the Lantern Festival atmosphere. Seeing the street was filled with all kinds of people from all kinds of ethnicity enjoying the festival together, Xu Zilings heart grew warm; more and more he felt that peace and prosperity was a precious thing. At the same time, Hou Xibais remark about human life is beyond value made him think that if Hou Xibai was not a good and honest man by nature, then he must be an extremely evil man. Until now, he still believed Cao Yinglongs view that the disciple that Shi Zhixuan trained could not possibly be a good man, since it would be completely against the demonic schools code of conduct.

    This thought came into his mind, he asked, Hou Xiong values human life like that, I wonder what would your esteemed masters reaction be if he heard it?

    By this time they have reached the street where An Xing Long was located. An Longs old shop, just like any other shop, was opening its main gate, with cakes and culinary delicacy for the people to enjoy. Hanging inside was a row of more than a dozen of giant carousel lamps [lantern with carousel of paper horses, rotating under convection, used at Lantern Festival], affording a magnificent view, attracting not a few of the people to stop by to enjoy it.

    Because they also provided good wine to entertain the guests, the spacious shop was crowded with an unending stream of visitors, so that the outside of the shop was bustling with noise and excitement.

    Upon stepping across the threshold of the door, Hou Xibai withdrew his penetrating gaze with which he scanned the shop interior. He said, That is just Xu Xiongs misunderstanding of our humble Sect. Perhaps I can give you an analogy: Hua Jian Pai is Jianghus Zonghengjia[1], the emphasis is zongheng method [or method to move unhindered; see footnote], not relying on numbers, because in each generation it has only one disciple. The most important thing is to study and cultivate by knowledge and experience, by traveling around everywhere, and by being able to make nations and countries perish with no blood on the mens swords.

    It suddenly dawned on Xu Ziling that Shi Zhixuan assuming Pei Jus identity was precisely this not wasting/costing one soldier one pawn principle, bringing the Great Sui to its demise from the inside. If he were relying on military force alone, how long would it take him to accomplish this matter?

    He asked, Since thats the case, what kind of person is your esteemed master, actually?

    Hou Xibai halted his steps and looked around; he spoke in heavy voice, Sometimes I suspect that Shi Shi is a person with dual personalities, all because Hua Jian Pai and Bu Tian Ge, two sects martial art xinfa are polar opposite, each one goes to the extreme. For Bu Tian, capturing the heaven is not enough; hence they act on behalf of the heaven, by specializing in assassination and murder, the more chaotic the world the better, fetching the generals seizing the commanders, to regard the magnificent army with thousands of men and horses as nothing. Early on I already suspected that Yang Xuyan is Bu Tian Ge disciple, but I just received the confirmation from Xu Xiongs mouth! Bu Tian Ge pays no attention to comradeship; everything is just a tool for them, a vast difference from our Hua Jian Pais embracing the scriptures and the ways of the world, losing oneself in the white cloud. Ay! Its bad!

    Xu Zilings heart shivered; following Hou Xibais gaze, he saw a group of six, seven beautiful girls, with handsome and wonderful posture, beating a small drum tied onto their waist, walking toward them. They were wearing colorful attire of their specific ethnic group, matching their gorgeous appearances. The most eye-catching was that the two sleeves of the small-collared slanting lapel of their clothes were made of red, yellow, green, purple, and blue, five different color cloth put together. The hem of their skirts was embedded with precious stone, and the outside their long gown was covered with purple and red and deep blue inlaid with flowers sleeveless jacket. Long ribbon was tied on their waist; both ends of the ribbon had embroidery thread coiled together into flower and black decorative motif.

    Magnificent with many postures, as if the clouds tinged with sunset hues in the sky above became human, in the form of bright and beautiful, touching, pretty women and appeared in the mortal world.

    Their waist drums were even more carefully picked; the casing were made of mulberry wood, inlaid with precious stone and a variety of jade, the cover was made of python skin. Both hands were beating the drum alternately, the right hand struck the center of the drum, producing dong, strong tone; the left hand struck the edge of the drum, producing wu, weak tone. Sometimes both hands slapped the center of the drum or the edge of the drum together, producing drum roll, so there were dong ka dong wu, or perhaps dong dong dong dong, ka ka wu wu; many variations on the drumming method, evolving into unbelievably splendid and pleasant-to-listen-to drum music and wonderful rhythm.

    While Xu Ziling was still wondering why Hou Xibai groaned Its bad!, seven beautiful drummer girls already surrounded the two. They seemed to be cautious, yet happily beating their drums and dancing, attracting everybodys attention.

    Xu Ziling began to understand; if they were being entangled by this group of girls, how were they going to proceed with their operation to assassinate Yang Xuyan?

    One of the girls was slightly taller, her legs were particularly long, her smile was even more pleasant; for some reason she was able to make a deep, romantic, pushing-down-all-beauties impression in peoples heart. But there was hidden bitterness, secret grudges in her eyes, as she stuck close to Hou Xibais body. Obviously the two of them knew each other.

    Hou Xibai helplessly smiled wryly toward Xu Ziling. This moment, unless they soared into the air, there was no other way to free themselves from these girls.

    In this annoying moment, Xu Ziling suddenly saw Shi Qingxuan.


    [1] School of Diplomacy of the Warring States Period (475-221 BC), zongheng itself means vertically and horizontally/length and breadth/crisscross/able to move unhindered.

  7. #287
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 7

    Book 24 Chapter 7 Meeting The Beauty Again

    Xu Ziling heard Shi Qingxuans voice first. Following the direction of her voice, he happened to see a flash of her powdery back, which quickly vanished.

    He did not know why Shi Qingxuan was so sure that the scar-faced hero was he, but she spoke by focusing her voice into a thread and transmitted it into his ear, making him feel greatly awkward, because what she said was, After casting Hou Xibai away, go immediately to the Da Shi Si [great stone temple] outside the city to see me! It was that split second when he was hesitating that her trail was swiftly moving, like a fantasy which appeared real this beauty [orig. jade person], whose flute skill was famous throughout the world, already disappeared into the stream of people.

    It was a situation where both sides inner feelings were in sincere cooperation. For Xu Ziling, abandoning Hou Xibai just like that was a difficult problem involving morality and justice. Not to mention Yang Xuyan and An Longs side had tremendous power, so losing Hou Xibai as powerful helper was really not a wise thing to do.

    The most annoying thing was that if Da Shi Si was inside the city, he still needed to ask people for direction; if it was outside the city, he did not want to waste time. Either way, he still needed Hou Xibais, this old horse who knows the way home help.

    Dong dong ka ka, the sound of the drums pulled his mind back from Shi Qingxuan. Hastily he leaned over and spoke in Hou Xibais ear, I made contact with Shi Qingxuan; quickly slip away!

    Slightly startled, Hou Xibai turned toward one of the beauties, cupped his fist and sighed in admiration, Drummer beauties are even more marvelous; regretfully Zaixia is burdened with an urgent matter. Would it be possible for Fan Da Xiaojie to allow Zaixia to come to your esteemed Gangs Zongtan [lit. head altar, i.e. headquarter] to apologize and pay my respect?

    Not only his movement was confident and at ease, pleasing to the eye, it also carried some kind of restoring-harmony feeling; immediately he excited the crowd of girls that they laughed like a stem of flower trembling randomly.

    The remaining six girls were still beating their drums and dancing, while the outstanding beauty stopped. Her right hand on the drum skin, her left hand gently rested on her small curvy waist, as she appeared to be staring longingly, appeared to be happy, while standing charmingly in front of the two men. Her beautiful eyes swept the scar-faced guest, Xu Ziling, first, and then, disinterested, she turned her gaze toward the elegant, graceful gentleman, Hou Xibai. Lightly stomping her tiny boot, she spoke tenderly, You, this man, are really hateful, I dont know where to look for you. And this time you still want to find an excuse to slip away?

    Her voice was tender, soft, and sweet sounding, carrying some kind of attractive magnetism. Even though Xu Ziling was preoccupied, he still wanted to listen more of what she had to say. On top of that, her unrestrained, without suspicion, and bold style was able to make any mans heart unbearably itchy.

    Perhaps, in all his life of showing passion to the fragrant and cherishing the flower, this was the first time that Hou Xibai felt regret; smiling wryly, he said, Fan Da Xiaojie, please dont misunderstand! How could I, Hou Xibai, go back on my words? Whats more, I am making an appointment with a beauty. Its just that this Xiongdis father is critically ill; hence Zaixia must accompany him home. His Die is just like half a Die for Zaixia, Da Xiaojie, please be magnanimous.

    The beautys pair of wonderful eyes immediately turned toward Xu Zilings face; skeptically she let out a tender humph and said, If you want to lie to me, you ought to find a bit more pleasant-to-listen-to story. Your so-called Xiongdi does not look the least bit anxious or mournful; just now the two of you seemed to be strolling along the lantern market. Who would believe you?

    Xu Ziling had no choice but to press down the glum in his heart, and lie for Hou Xibai, who was actually the best in placating a beauty in a roundabout way; he spoke heavily, Xiaodi has just received Hou Xiongs news, and only then did I understand about my humble fathers life-threatening illness. Ay! Ones time on earth is merely several dozen winters and summers; Xiaodi has always regarded life and death lightly, but to be able let him, the Senior, to have his son pay his last respects, is indeed our duty as sons and daughters to repay our parents kindness. Ay! Lying to this point, Xu Ziling was no longer able to continue; hence he had no choice but to sigh again.

    The beauty rolled her wonderful eyes, and shouted in low voice, Stop beating the drums! Listening to it makes my heart distracted, my thoughts in turmoil.

    The group of girls evidently regarded her as their leader; hence they stopped immediately.

    From disbelief, the beauty became half-believing, half-doubting. Her jet-black eyebrows frowning lightly, she said, Are you from Chengdu? Where do you live?

    Like a quick sword cutting through tangled hemp, Hou Xibai decisively pulled Xu Zilings arm and said, No time to lose, we, two brothers must leave immediately. Excuse us!

    The beauty stuck out her pert, elegant silky breasts, while viciously said, If I dont see you tomorrow, I, Fan Caiqi will cut your untrustworthy tongue for a snack to accompany the wine.

    Finished speaking, she grudgingly stepped aside to make way.

    Knock! Knock!

    Chen Laomous voice responded from inside the room, Come in!

    Kou Zhong pushed the door and came in. Seeing Chen Laomou got up from his bed and scooted to sit at the edge of the bed, he apologetically said, Sorry for waking Mou Gong up! But if you just take a look at this, I guarantee you wont blame me.

    He handed over the book written by Lu Miaozi on mechanism and smart device to Chen Laomou.

    Chen Laomou did not immediately look at the treasured rare book being stuffed in his hand; he stared at Kou Zhong, as if he was in daze, for half a day before he nodded his head and said, Laofu is quite old, and I have seen with my own eyes I dont know how many persons who have changed. Take Yun Yuzhen, for example, she became so formidable that in the end Xiao Bu and me were forced to leave her. Although you, these two kids, are getting more and more formidable, you still maintain that kind of innate character; Xiao Ling is at home wherever he is, you are still cynical.

    Laughing involuntarily, Kou Zhong said, If you, Mou Gong, tell your evaluation on us to Li Mi, Xiao Xian, and the others, no one will agree with you.

    Chen Laomou laughed aloud and said, You are well aware of what I, Chen Laomou, said. Contending for hegemony over the world is also some kind cynicism. It means you are unwilling to bow under both the existing and conventional powers, to surrender your personal goal.

    Grabbing his head, Kou Zhong said, What is my goal? Frankly speaking, I dont think that becoming the emperor is an interesting matter. Therefore, even if I obtain the final victory, most probably I will ask someone else to sit on that scalding-butt seat.

    Chen Laomou shook his head and said, Your goal is absolutely not to become the emperor; rather, you want to be able to move unhindered over the world, to change impossible things to become possible.

    Kou Zhong stared blankly for half a day. He sighed and said, No one knows me like Mou Gong; how did you figure it out?

    Proud of himself, Chen Laomou said, This is called the profound skill of observing people. Those who want to be the emperor must have enormous appetite for power, putting emphasis on the distinction between superior/subordinate. Take Xiao Xian for example; although he put up the appearance of a proper, virtuous person, the fact is that his words and actions, his bearings are brimming with royalty, feudal-aristocrats style. Not wearing the dragon robe is just one kind of trick. How can he be compared to you, who are casual in everything? Were it not for your subordinates, who are organizational and managerial experts, like Xuan Yong, Ren Meimei, Xu Xingzhi, and the others, your Shaoshuai Army would just be like a sheet of loose sand.

    Kou Zhong delightedly patted his old shoulder and said with a smile, You know what material I am made of, and I also know what material you are made of; why not flip over the thing in your hand to take a look?

    Chen Laomou looked down and saw the cover of the book had five characters written on it, Study of Mechanism and Smart Device; a slight scorning smile appeared on his face. Opening the first page, he read the preface, which contained a disclaimer, The study of mechanism is a study attacking the heart of the underlying principles. A heart has the hearts character; an object has the objects character. In short, it is a study about the intrinsic order of the heaven and earths nature, nothing is excluded, nothing is not contained. Knowing the first, not knowing the second, it is merely a small path, a small technique.

    Chen Laomou was an expert in the study of smart device; he was emotionally moved immediately. Who wrote this? he asked.

    Kou Zhong reached out to turn to the next page for him, at the end of the preface, there awe-inspiringly appeared Lu Miaozis signature, three eye-catching characters.

    Shaken, Chen Laomou exclaimed, My Niang! And then he turned back to the first page to continue reading.

    Kou Zhong spoke in low voice, I have read this ghost thing more than a dozen times, still I only know one and understand half [idiom: a smattering of knowledge]. Mou Gong, you Realizing Chen Laomou seemed to hear but not react to his words, Kou Zhong quietly left and lightly closed the door behind him.

    The water of the river gently lapped the hull of the boat sailing in the night. The moon was hanging low on the horizon. Kou Zhong suddenly felt incomparably relaxed. Once again life was brimming with fascinating meaning.

    Life was a constant struggle. Concerning him, would the end be a pain or happiness?

    Hou Xibai climbed over a small hill and pointed ahead, That is the Da Shi Temple.

    Following his finger, Xu Ziling looked ahead, and saw among the ancient cypress covering the sky like bamboo cage to cultivate green onion, bathed by the bright light of the moon, surrounded by red walls, with the pagoda inside high up in the sky was the majestic, towering multi-story temple.

    Hou Xibai suddenly heaved a deep sigh and said, Does Ziling Xiong also feel that Yang Xuyans choice of this temple as the place where he, pretending to be Shi Shi, meet Qingxuan, is very strange?

    Astounded, Xu Ziling said, Perhaps he anticipated that Miss Shi would meet me first, so he selected this location.

    Shaking his head, Hou Xibai said, I dare say that there must be a reason behind this, but I am not sure if I ought to tell you?

    At a loss, Xu Ziling said in bewilderment, If Hou Xiong have secret trouble, there is no need to tell me.

    Hou Xibai appeared to make up his mind. Telling Ziling Xiong is a bit more appropriate, he spoke resolutely, The reason of my hesitancy was because this matter involves Shi Shis secret. Since childhood, I was an orphan, rarely did I tell others about the load on my mind; especially anything concerning Shi Shi and Hua Jian Pai, I never revealed it to anybody else.

    Xu Ziling was silent, pondering inwardly whether this orphan was like Cao Yinglong, whom Shi Zhixuan skillfully trained into a master.

    Hou Xibai looked up at the moon in the night sky, and then looked down in contemplation. He spoke slowly, Although Shi Shi only taught me the xinfa of Hua Jian Pais martial art, but from time to time he made references about Bu Tian Ges martial art. The so-called Bu Tian [repairing (or filling the void of) the heaven] is filling in the inadequacy of the heaven, which, when developed to the pinnacle, will be considered by the self-proclaimed orthodox school as outside the heretical, demonic way, the filling-in-the-inadequacy-of-the-heaven as a conduct in defiance of the natural order. Ay! Who would have thought that following that principle is actually low, while going against it is actually noble?

    Listening to that, Xu Zilings heart shivered slightly. Hou Xibai would always be the disciple cultivated by the present day demonic person Shi Zhixuan. When speaking about any theory concerning demonic schools, the tone of his voice was extremely cynical and indignant, completely different from his usual warm, scholarly language.

    Hou Xibai suddenly spoke in embarrassment, Ziling Xiong must not take any offense. When speaking about this issue, I dont know whether because it is constantly repeating in my mind, subconsciously I always emulate the tone of Shi Shis voice when he was talking about this.

    Changing the subject, Xu Ziling wondered aloud, How come Da Shi Temple is completely without lights? Even if all the monks have gone to bed, shouldnt there be some kind of Buddha lantern, incense stick and candle, or something like that?

    Hou Xibai said, I was about to tell Ziling Xiong, because Da Shi Temples Zhuchi offended a certain extremely-hard-to-deal-with figure from the demonic school, all the monks of the Temple are temporary taking shelter at the neighboring temples and monasteries to avoid disaster. As long as the dispute has not been settled, they absolutely do not dare to come back.

    Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, Who is so overbearing like this? Unexpectedly Bashus Wulin of the same way only sit and watch, but remain indifferent?

    Hou Xibai was about to answer, a dot of light appeared inside the temple. Xu Ziling shouted in low voice, Hou Xiong, please stay here, Xiaodi is coming in.

    Swiftly, but carefully, Xu Ziling turned over the courtyard wall. This moment the lantern light suddenly disappeared again. He had no choice but to rely on his memory on where the last time he saw the light, while taking off his mask in passing.

    The scale of this famous temple was really not small. From the Shanmen [monastery main gate] Hall, there were the Tianwang [lit. heavens king] Hall, Qifo [lit. seven Buddhas] Hall, Daxiong Baodian [Hall of Great Strength, the main hall of a Buddhist temple containing the main image of veneration], Zangjiang Lou [library tower], and so on; there were layer upon layer of temple halls. Although it was not as complicated as the structure of Jing Nian Chanyuan, the design was elegant, as well as imposing and majestic.

    Next to the complex of temple halls, which looked like a disposition of troops, a tall tower rose up from among the millions of bamboo trees, the exterior was imposing.

    At this time Xu Ziling could not help but a bit regretful that he did not ask Hou Xibai clearly who the formidable demonic school figure was, unexpectedly this person was able to make the monks here emptying the temple to avoid disaster.

    It should be noted that generally, all famous and ancient Buddhist temples would have outstanding martial art masters in-house to take up the responsibility of guarding the temple, plus all the monks in the temple ought to, more or less, know martial art, not too mention Wulin masters of the same principle in the area usually had some kind of relationship with the Temple; they could not possibly just sit and watch without doing anything.

    Therefore, the situation before his eyes right now could be considered highly unusual.

    Listening to the tone of Hou Xibais voice, this person could not possibly be An Long; he must be someone that Xu Ziling did not know. So much so that it might the person ranked among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way that even Cao Yinglong did not know.

    He had never tried wandering randomly in a temple where there was no one in it; the feeling was extraordinarily novel. In the study of architecture, the Xu Ziling of today was already unlike the General Lu Meng of the southern state of Wu [model of self-improvement by diligent study]. Following his steps, he took a casual observation, and was able to grasp the architecture of this famous ancient Buddhist monastery. He could feel even more the graceful, pondering, doing-the-utmost zeal and spirit of the religious men conscripted in establishing the temple. Whether it was the gate, the window, the eaves, and the arch, everything was carved with plumage, flowers and plants, and all kinds of decorative motif. The ridge of the temple was decorated with clay model of strange birds and exotic beasts; vivid and lifelike.

    The temple buildings were connected to each other by long corridors, with large obelisks standing in large numbers, symmetrical left and right. A moment later, he reached Luohan [Arhat] Hall, where the light previously appeared. Momentarily his breathing stopped. Before his eyes there was a forest of statues, filling the mail hall with marvelously shocking scene.

    The statues spread across the main hall, and were divided into two groups. On the center were several dozen of revered Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, positioned in such a way that they brought the focus of attention to the thousand-arm Guanyin right in the middle of the hall. Not only the precious likeness was stately, the shape of each hand and the object it was holding was different from each other, producing the impression of it possessed great magical power and exuded unbounded strength.

    The five hundred Luohan were spread all around, facing the statue at the center, forming north-south and east-west pathways in the middle. It was as if Xu Ziling was transported into a different-from-reality world of gods and Buddhas. Under the moonlight penetrating into the hall, the statues near him looked to be meticulously and elaborately crafted. Whether it was standing, leaning, sitting, or lying down, all poses were different from each other, they looked like real person, their expression was lively; it was hard to tell whether they were just statues or real persons.

    By the time he reached the front of the thousand-arm Guanyin, surrounded by the layer upon layer, row upon row of Luohan statues all around him, he felt as if he had fallen into a maze of statues formation; it was such a strange feeling that no word could describe even one out of ten thousand.

    There was a small candleholder under the thousand-arm Guanyin seat. In just one glance Xu Ziling was able to recognize that the candleholders style was identical to the one being used by Shi Beauty at the Fu Dong Migong [good fortune cave labyrinth].

    Shi Qingxuans moving voice rang out from behind, Would Xu Gongzi please light the lantern? her voice was gentle.

    Pressing down the urge to turn around, Xu Ziling fetched the flint stone by the candleholder and lit the candle.

    A dot of light leaped to become a flicker of fireworks, lighting up the center of the Luohan Hall, increasing the strangeness of the already bizarre atmosphere.

    Shi Qingxuans voice came from his right, We might as well play hide-and-seek here!

    Xu Ziling was standing nailed to the ground. Like a child who was scared of being scolded by his mother he confessed, Miss, please do not take offense; I still have Hou Xibai coming with me, Xiaodi did not cast him away according to Miss instruction, but there is a reason behind it.

    Shi Qingxuan maintained her silence, and then she showed herself from behind the thousand-arm Guanyin, her face was covered in heavy gauze, she spoke indifferently, Things of the world, there is none that does not fall between the two universes of principal and secondary causes [Buddhist doctrine of karma]; he wants to come, let him come! Its not a big deal. The most important thing is that you, this good person, have come!

    In the presence of this jade person, although Xu Ziling had thousands of words to say, he did not know where to start.

    After going through hard-pressed danger one after another, fooling around with his fate everywhere, unexpectedly she suddenly appeared within his reach, without wasting any time. A burst of emotion consisting of a hundred different feelings, which he could not explain one by one, like a torrential flood broke out from deep within his heart, overwhelming him with the urge, which he experienced only the first time in his life to draw this woman into his embrace.

    Naturally he could only keep this impulse in his heart.

    The feeling Shi Qingxuan was giving him was hot and cold, varying indeterminably, as if she wanted to keep a certain distance with you; it was hard to pin down. Although it did not reach the state where she wanted to keep people a thousand li away, at the very least there was the impression that she was not easy to get close to.

    After sucking in a mouthful of deep breath, Xu Ziling spoke calmly, This time Miss came to Chengdu, was it because you received your esteemed fathers message?

    Unconcerned, Shi Qingxuan replied, Qingxuan only have Niang and never have Die. Are you trying to warn me that it was just a sinister plot concocted by An Long and Yang Xuyan? Humph! Those two muddled eggs have the impertinence to slight Bi Xiuxins daughter. I will definitely make them leave and pack their food before they finish eating. But you indeed have some ability, having just arrived in Chengdu, yet is able to find so many things.

    Hearing that, Xu Ziling was flabbergasted; he was speechless, knowing that he himself had been slighted by Shi Qingxuan. In vain had he been worried for nearly ten days.

    Shi Qingxuan smiled and said, An Long originally wanted me to meet him at his old shop. Luckily I came across you outside the door, thereupon I asked them to come here to settle everything at the same time. I assume you have not forgotten that you told me that you are willing to carry all the burden and responsibility for me. A real mans word worth one thousand in gold, you cant say that it does not count.

    Hearing that, Xu Zilings scalp went numb. What burden Miss wanted to hand over to me to carry? He resigned himself, realizing that he would never know how to deal with the particular style with which this beauty worked.

    As if she was recounting some trivial thing, Shi Qingxuan spoke leisurely, First of all, I want you to deal with Shi Zhixuans ghost scroll for me. Whether Xu Gongzi wants to rip it up and throw it away, or perhaps wants to give it to someone else, I dont really care.

    While Xu Ziling was still in shock, Shi Qingxuan already handed over a roll of sheepskin scroll.

    Unusual changes followed.

  8. #288
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 8

    Book 24 Chapter 8 Battle for the Print Scroll

    The moment Xu Ziling was about to take the collected works of demonic ways two sects great accomplishment, recording the pinnacle skill of the present age, the Immortal Print Scroll, from Shi Qingxuans hand, a beam of yin, incomparably cold, brimming with sinister, damaging yin flavor qi energy was striking down on the vital part of his back like an iron rod. If he evaded it by moving to the side, Shi Qingxuan would bear the brunt. Left with no choice, Xu Ziling was forced to hunch his back, ready to receive the strike.

    At the same time, from behind the statue of Buddha on the left, a large beam of glittering light rolled up; it poured down like a shower on the two, in concert with the sneak attack on Xu Zilings back, like a seamless heavenly clothes.

    If not for unusual situation where Xu Zilings mind was enraptured by the idols inside the temple, no matter how brilliant the enemies were, he would not be this distracted that he only sensed the attack when it nearly arrived. The other reason was that he was relying on Hou Xibai to be on guard outside, hence his vigilance was naturally reduced. However, this moment it was already too late to be sorry, hence he could only give it his all to receive the arriving tidal wave.

    In this moment of life and death, divine light suddenly flashed in Xu Zilings mind; a Luohan statue that left a particularly deep impression on him appeared in his mind.

    That Luohan, remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, was stretching out his muscles and bones, in a wonderful pose of lowering and raising his head, and bending and stretching to the greatest extent; at that time he was wondering if it was some kind of a stance in the martial art training. This moment, where life and death was hanging on a thread, he suddenly had a flash of understanding. Laughing aloud, he continued stooping over, but the instant the enemys qi was about to reach his body, he suddenly flung everything aside, and stretched out his limbs just like the pose of that statue. Wonderful thing happened.

    The true qi invading his body could no longer seek certain vital acupoint to be attacked, but dispersed throughout his entire body instead, and then it was distributed into the four limbs of his body. Just like the flood, although it was intense, but because there are enough river courses to clear the way, it will not overrun. Of course, if the opponents punch exploded solidly on the back, naturally it would be difficult to avoid injury. But now the opponent was simply sending a punch power across empty air, plus the fist was at least two zhang away, with the intention of catching Xu Ziling off guard. Unexpectedly, the amazing move that he comprehended at the last moment was more than enough to deal with it.

    The entire course of events happened in just the blink of an eye. By this time Yang Xuyans signature Phantom Sword has started to rain down on him.

    From behind came An Longs surprise cry; obviously he never expected that Xu Ziling did not flee, did not evade, but received his attack head on, so that he was at a loss.

    If Xu Ziling dodged the attack by moving sideways, then Shi Qingxuan would at least receive a little bit of injury, giving Yang Xuyan the opportunity to snatch the Immortal Print Scroll away.

    Just with a slight difference like that, the two mens counting-their-chickens-before-they-are-hatched plot has fallen apart.

    But Xu Ziling and Shi Qingxuan have not escaped danger yet. Although using skillful hands of extraordinary stroke the former managed to withstand An Longs fierce attack, yet in order to neutralize the opponents true qi invading his body, momentarily his entire body was paralyzed, his meridians felt like bursting, and he was powerless to help Shi Qingxuan countering Yang Xuyans terrifying sword strike.

    But Shi Qingxuan appeared to have already anticipated that Yang Xuyan would come out like that. The instant the sword light reached her body, she spun around and using the scroll as a flute, she thrust it up to meet the sharp light of the sword, which appeared like an exploding fireworks, head on.

    Xu Ziling abruptly raised a mouthful of true qi, and instantaneously the qi power was restored. At this time, An Long already launched the lotus steps. Scrambling to the blind spot on his right side, he used two fingers like a fork to pierce his eyes, while down below, his right leg silently kicked to attack his groin; it was sinister to the extreme point.

    It was the first time that Xu Ziling encountered such a crafty and mysterious footwork. The originally ordinary attack, feign on the top and real on the bottom, immediately shed its mortal body and exchanged its bones to become difficult to ward off. If it were Kou Zhong in Xu Zilings place, quite possibly when his saber technique could not be unleashed, he would dodge the attack first, and then An Long could leisurely help Yang Xuyan to deal with Shi Qingxuan. Luckily Xu Ziling was quite adept in close, hand-to-hand combat, so that although he was fully aware that the opponents skill was above his, he still clenched his teeth and executed his marvelous footwork; first, he staggered a little, and then he blocked the top and sealed the bottom.

    The fantastical sword dispersed, Yang Xuyan recoiled awkwardly, revealing his back-of-a-tiger-and-waist-of-a-bear, the white-horse-heroic body tightly wrapped inside black cloak, black clothes. If he did not pull back, it could be guaranteed that the sheepskin scroll, along with Shi Qingxuans jade hand, would be twisted and broken at the same time. If that happened, not only he could not get the Immortal Print Scroll, in the future it would be difficult for him to escape Shi Zhixuans revenge.

    Although he was the unequalled assassin that everybody in the world was scared of, he had some kind of innate and heartfelt reverence toward Shi Zhixuan. Since he knew that Cao Yinglong was rescued, even if he had gargantuan guts, he would not dare to touch even half a strand of Shi Qingxuans hair.

    Only by obtaining the Immortal Print Scroll would he have the hope of breaking away from Shi Zhixuans clutch.

    Bang!

    An Long withdrew his right hand attacking the enemys two eyes, but down below his kick solidly hit the edge of Xu Zilings sealing-the-bottom palm.

    His heart filled with murderous intent, this kick was launched in full strength; nearly sixty-year cultivated demonic power, without the slightest bit of reservation, was sent out with the intention of killing the enemy once and for all.

    Suddenly he felt as if the sole of his foot was heavily stabbed by a sharp awl, followed by a vortex of strange, strong and swift energy rushing in, digging into his vigorous demonic power directly, so that at the point of contact with the edge of the opponents palm, it splashed and discharged to all directions, and the true qi able to invade the enemys system, was severely diminished by half. It was only now did he know that the marvelous power from the Secret to Long Life did not become a legend in vain.

    An Long grunted in pain; unexpectedly he could not even borrow a fraction of strength to continue executing the lotus steps. Without being able to continue, he had no choice but to evade sideways. Seeing Xu Ziling was jolted so that he flew backward, he could only sigh for the lost opportunity.

    This moment Yang Xuyan was about to reorganize his offensive; while rushing to grab the Immortal Print Scroll, the sound of cutting fan came from behind, hence he knew that his martial brother of the same master but different school has arrived to attack. Anger welling up in his heart, he launched the Phantom Sword Technique with all his strength to meet the enemy behind him.

    Shi Qingxuan pulled the jade flute with her left hand, producing the illusion of a puff by a puff, appearing there but not really there, what is true and what is false is difficult to distinguish dark green shadows, rolling toward An Long, whose footings were still slightly chaotic. At the same time, she threw the Immortal Print Scroll in her right hand to the air, toward the successfully somersaulting Xu Ziling, while shouting tenderly, Catch! Quickly go!

    Bang!

    An Long crash hard onto the sitting down Buddha image with benevolent look, concentrated eyes, which immediately exploded into powder. But the collision enabled him to borrow a little bit of reaction force to sidestep Shi Qingxuans flute shadows entangling him. Curling his body into a ball, he shot out, swift like shooting star toward Xu Ziling, who was still flying about two zhang off the ground, and was trying to snatch the Immortal Print Scroll. If he could shoot his internal energy out of his five fingers to chase after the scroll across the empty air, it would really be not much different than if he snatched it using his hand.

    From his high elevation looking down, Xu Ziling was able to see everything clearly. He saw the Immortal Print Scroll being thrown toward him was slowing down suddenly, as if it was being pulled back by an invisible thread. Finally he focused his attention to the air, and cried inwardly, Bad! Being able to think fast in an emergency, he turned his hand over to push upward, his qi power knocked against the beam, and he dropped down fast. But he was still a hair too late.

    An Longs demonic skill was really brilliant, indeed it greatly exceeded his expectation; he was really worthy to be ranked among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way.

    An Long pulled back his five fingers, the Immortal Print Scroll flew toward him, closing in rapidly toward his fat body, which was flying up to meet it. He could not help but was greatly delighted.

    While success was within his grasp, suddenly the flute made a sound. It was not that Shi Qingxuans refined and elegant attitude of mind suddenly opened up and she played a tune; rather, she sent her true qi through the pipe that it resonated and produced a tone. The jade flutes true energy stabbed from below and went straight up, ferociously knocking the Immortal Print Scroll over.

    And thus, with such a fraction of hairbreadths difference, the Immortal Print Scroll was knocked sideways, and was thrown into the middle of the surrounding Luohan troops disposition.

    Xu Ziling used his unique schools ability of taking a breath in the air to the fullest; he changed direction from dropping vertically down to moving horizontally sideways, to chase after the Immortal Print Scroll.

    Letting out an angry snort, An Long made a somersault, but the very moment he was about to chase after with all his strength, he was already rolled into the phoenix-dancing-in-the-sky, the elegant-and-amazing-without-equal dense flute shadows from Shi Qingxuans hand.

    This moment, Yang Xuyan was barely able to withstand Hou Xibais main assault, which came with Yangtze Rivers momentum, whose folding fans offensive came round after round like the unceasing torrent of the Great River, while he still could not find any loophole or any gap that he could exploit.

    The Phantom Sword Styles most formidable aspect was in fusing the true and the false together, a technique relying on deceiving the eyes of the opponent, forcing the enemy to reveal the gap; hence victory could be determined in every moment.

    Who would have thought that Hou Xibais folding fan was opening and closing swiftly in myriad changes? Moreover, the way he exerted his strength was very peculiar; whether it was pushing, sweeping, tapping, or striking, the timing and the angle of attack were as accurate and as precise as plucking the guzheng [long zither], while accumulating countless strange-move, wonderful-stance in secret at the same time, so that even with Yang Xuyans skill level, he was put into the situation where he lost the initiative and could only counter every move. Momentarily it was difficult for him to counterattack.

    Hou Xibais Fan of Beauty has already reached the transforming-the-rotten-into-magical realm. It was brimming with creativity overtone of changes born of his hearts desire, like-a-heavenly-steed, soaring-across-the-skies [i.e. unconstrained style], while also carrying some kind of confident and at ease style, which differed greatly from his own ruthless, strict sword move. Even though Yang Xuyan really wished to decide this opponents fate by the blade of his sword, inwardly he could not help applauding and admiring Hou Xibais skill. He thought that under different circumstances, this battle would definitely be a delightful occasion.

    Tchak!

    Yang Xuyan launched the skill that was usually hidden at the bottom of his trunk; his sword fantastically shook, producing three sword-flowers in triangular formation [orig. 品 character], forcing Hou Xibai to raise his fan horizontally to block.

    Since the battle began, the two have been attacking each other fast and violent, with fantastical, exquisite, and profound-mystery techniques; so tight that there was no gap to take a breather. Strange moves and wonderful stances more and more emerged; in essence, you advance I retreat, I attack you dodge all the way until the Print Scroll was knocked to a distant place by the force of Shi Qingxuans flute.

    Only after seeing the deteriorating situation did Yang Xuyan march the troops to dangerous situation by using returning-to-the-western-paradise [i.e. die] together and exhausting-everything technique to force Hou Xibai to also stake everything and fight hard.

    Qiang!

    The sword and the fan collided. Hou Xibai cried out Bad! because he realized that Yang Xuyan took advantage of the reaction of the impact to pull back and flew at an angle. Like an arrow he shot toward Xu Ziing.

    Hou Xibai was mentally prepared that the bottom of the hand of this world famous assassin must be extremely stiff, but only after fighting with him for real did he begin to know how overbearing he really was. He thought that if he obtained the Print Scroll, it would be really dreadful. However, although he had such thought, his body still had to stagger back to neutralize the sword power before he was able to pursue closely. In the end, he was still one step slower.

    This moment An Long landed back on the ground, while Shi Qingxuan was like a goddess descending to the mortal world; she seemed to be performing heavenly music and wonderful dance around him. Even with his level of experience and knowledge, it was still the first time that he came across such a fantastic martial art.

    Through the jade flute, Shi Qingxuans true qi could exit alternately via any hole on the flute; it could attack from any angle, swiftly moving like a non-directional wind, yet each attack was sending out a stream of powerful qi. Correspondingly the flute pipe was producing high and low, strong and weak, all different notes, as if she was blowing into it, disturbing the heart and mind to the extreme point, making An long could not help thinking that if these notes could be strung together into a melody, it would be the moment his life would enter hell.

    Even more frightening was that Shi Qingxuan ought to have deep knowledge of his Tian Lian Zongs unique martial art, because all of her techniques, hands and feet, were targeted against his weak points. Therefore, although upon self-introspection he knew that in all aspects he surpassed Shi Qingxuan, this less-experienced younger generation, momentarily he was entangled by her that he was at a loss to know what to do, and found it difficult to free himself.

    Meanwhile, Xu Ziling in the air saw the Print Scroll fell into the bosom of a Vajra statue with closed eyes in deep meditation with folded arms. Behind him there was the sound of rustling sleeves; to his horror he found out that Yang Xuyan soared into the air with overbearing sword qi, in a pursue-and-attack move that although he started later, he arrived sooner. In an instant he calculated that the moment he would pick up the Print Scroll would coincide with the dangerous moment the fantastical sword would arrive. At that time he would fall into a completely passive situation, and perhaps he might even turn into a corpse under Yang Xuyans sword. Yet he was still unable to find the opportunity to counterattack.

    Hastily he applied his qi to drop vertically down, while his right hand created a strong wind at the same time, sweeping the Print Scroll, which has just landed onto the statues bosom so that it was thrown toward the dark floor on the right.

    At the same time, he let out a long laugh to cover the sound of the Print Scroll landing on the ground, while crying inwardly, Sorry for the offense! as he tapped the head of a revered Luohan statue in stooping down posture like a dragon goblet with the tip of his left foot, to reverse the direction of his leap back to the left.

    As expected, Yang Xuyan was duped; kicking another glaring-angrily Luohan statue with his right foot, he changed direction horizontally to chase after him.

    Hou Xibai flitted across the arena where An Long was battling Shi Qingxuan, while striking An Long with his fan in passing, angering An Long that he roared an angry shriek. He was about to catch up with Yang Xuyan, with the intention of joining hands with Xu Ziling to take care of him, when a strong wind blew across from behind the Guanyin with many hands, as a beautiful and alluring, tender and charming maiden came out to attack him.

    Although he wanted to see the graceful bearing of this Persian beauty, Lian Rou, he really did not wish that it would happen under this kind of circumstances. Without any choice he made a sharp turn, while his folding fan launched a full-strength attack. It was such a ruthless move to destroy the flower; but for the sake of Immortal Print Scroll, he could not change much.

    From his higher position looking down, Yang Xuyan watched as Xu Ziling, who had been defeated under his hand, safely landed between two revered Luohan statues, taking a posture that appeared slow but looked fast, so that even with his usual grim and deeply ruthless character, he could not help being greatly startled and was confused of what was actually going on.

    Both statues on Xu Zilings left and right were about six chi tall, their body was entirely cast of metal, as majestic as the real Luohan; but their stances were completely different.

    The one on the left was slim with long neck, beaming with smile from ear to ear; one hand on his knee, his body leaning forward, while the other hand was scratching his back, in a relaxed, careless posture. It was naturally very fitting.

    The other Vajra had his eyes bulging out angrily, the muscles on his right arm were bulging as he stretched out his fist forward; very exquisite and lively, a very vivid display of his prowess.

    Xu Ziling was standing between the two revered idols. First he mimicked the leisurely and comfortable posture of the idol on his left, and then he changed to the glowering Vajra on his right; both postures preserved the resemblance, preserved the wonder of the statues. Under the golden beam of light from the moon outside the hall, plus the weak light of the lanterns at the edge of the hall, there was little doubt that Xu Ziling has transformed himself into a Luohan, a protector of Buddhism. Even more, it appeared that one of the revered Luohan has come alive. This kind of feeling was certainly weird beyond human comprehension.

    The sound of whistling wind suddenly arrived.

    While Yang Xuyan still could not figure out how to deal with the situation before his eyes, a fierce and severe finger wind shot out of Xu Zilings index finger, piercing the body of his sword, ad well as the net of sword qi he formed around his body.

    Spiraling qi energy broke through the net, with a great deal of piercing-the-universe overbearing momentum.

    Letting out a stifled groan, Yang Xuyan applied his qi to move sideways, while brandishing his sword to block the danger.

    Dang!

    Originally the sword shadows filled the air with ferocious torrential momentum, but now it was like dispersing cloud, scattering smoke.

    Xu Ziling laughed aloud and said, Much obliged for the experience. Yang Xiong, watch this move.

    The fist he held above his head suddenly moved backward. It bent behind him, while he lunged forward just like the posture of the glowering Vajra by his side. But his other hand was drawing seemingly meaningless circles in front of his body.

    Yang Xuyan was still about a cun away from setting foot on the solid ground when the fist wind arrived. He was an expert in assassination; before touching the ground, he urged his sword qi to pierce upward across the empty air toward Xu Ziling. Who would have thought that unexpectedly it was like Xu Ziling had a prophetic ability that by relying on his left hand drawing circles he created qi power that was able to meet the sword qi head on, immediately dispersing it.

    It was too late for him to make another attack; hence he was forced to flee behind another revered Luohan in an extremely awkward position. The most aggravating thing was that he knew for sure that his martial art skill was above Xu Zilings, yet under the pressure of endlessly appearing strange moves, he was at his wits end; he had the power but did not have any way of using it.

    On the other hand, Xu Ziling was extremely delighted. At the beginning, he was only thinking of borrowing the Luohans prowess to confuse the enemys heart, to seize away his fighting spirit. This was the way of scheming of the Art of War, a superior design in martial art study. Who would have thought that as he simulated a certain Luohans stance, unexpectedly the true qi within his body was surging in accordance with the posture as if it happened naturally, just as wonderfully effective as when he neutralized An Longs sneak attack previously. How could he not suddenly realize it? He understood now that these five hundred Luohans various styles and amazing postures were most likely coming from certain expert of an empty gate school [i.e. Buddhism] of the present ages design. Intentionally or otherwise, the mysterious schools gongfa came out of the Luohans thousand poses and hundred postures. Inadvertently he obtained it. This could be considered a strange and rare occurrence.

    By this time he had already forgotten about the Immortal Print Scroll completely. An opponent as strong as Yang Xuyan was hard to come by. In the blink of an eye he flitted across the more than a dozen Luohan statues standing side by side on his left and right while launching a chain of punches, taking advantage while Yang Xuyan was falling into a disadvantageous position to unleash a staking-it-all technique.

    In his heart, Yang Xuyan knew the situation was bad, and promptly counterattacked. In his heart and mind, Xu Ziling has turned into an alive revered Luohan, constantly mimicking the posture of the statues all around him perfectly. However, whether it was a fist punch, a finger slice, a palm push, or a foot kick, all carried the devastating-the-mountain-shaking-the-peak vigorous imposing attitude. In the weaving sword qi right and left, the whistling fist wind, the statues shattered and turned into dust. And so both sides were meeting attack with attack, as desperate as the life and death, hand-to-hand combat of the battlefield among the magnificent army with thousands of men and horses.

    The longer he fought, the braver Xu Ziling became, the more his hand accomplished what his heart wished.

    Yang Xuyan already lost the decisive opportunity, his qi and his will to fight were hard-pressed. In this situation, where one side was vanishing while the other flourishing, although it had not come to the difficult situation of momentum-exhausted, power-distressed, the fact was that he was forced to retreat step by step; in all his life, this was the most painful predicament where he felt so useless.

    Shi Qingxuans tender shout suddenly rang out, Xu Ziling, be careful!

    Xu Ziling came to his senses; sending out a double punches, he forced Yang Xuyan to go back three more steps, and said with a laugh, Thanks for letting me win! And then he flew back before turning around and rushing forward.

    Battling Lian Rou, Hou Xibai has already gained the upper hand. Were it not for this beautys body was nimble and flexible like a snake, each time she was in desperate situation she was able to save her own life relying on bizarre shenfa, he would have sent her to the Western Paradise early on.

    This moment he saw An Long was unleashing his special ability the Lotus Ring in the Center of the Sky, to force Shi Qingxuan to retreat. Promptly he got away from her to intercept An Long, angering him so that he nearly vomited blood.

    Upon seeing this, inwardly Xu Ziling was greatly delighted. Although Yang Xuyan was rushing over like mad, this moment he was still more than four zhang away, so he could not be considered a threat. With Shi Qingxuan keeping a close watch over Lian Rou, she could only stand on the side, not daring to act blindly without thinking. The Immortal Print Scroll appeared to be already in his bag.

    What in the world was he going to do with this ghost thing? He saw the Immortal Print Scroll was about a zhang away next to a lying-on-the-ground Luohan statue.

    Suddenly there was a tender laughter, followed by a stream of ribbon shooting out from the dark, and wrapped itself around the Print Scroll lying on the ground.

    And then Wanwans sweet-sounding voice said, Turns out it is in here. Thanks a lot Ziling, after looking at it, Xiaomei [little/younger sister] will return it to you.

    Immediately Xu Ziling broke out in cold sweats. If the Print Scroll fell into Wanwans hands, perhaps even if all six people, both the enemy and his side, joined hands, it would still be difficult to get it back.

  9. #289
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 9

    Book 24 Chapter 9 Bizarre Changes Occurring A Hundred Times

    The snipe and the clam fight each other, the fisherman reaps the benefit [Chinese idiom based on a fable[1] (Baike Baidu, in Chinese)].

    Nobody could imagine that Wanwan would appear in this critical moment. And as soon as she made her move, she seized the Immortal Print Scroll.

    Moreover, Xu Ziling secretly blamed himself for being careless. Nobody knew better than he that Wanwan has arrived in Chengdu, so how could she possibly miss the Immortal Print Scroll, a treasury of the demonic school?

    Shi Zhixuan wanted to both unify the world and unify the demonic ways under his control; even if this huge ambition would never happen again, it definitely has not happened before. Since he created the Immortal Print Scroll, even Zhu Yuyan could not do anything to him. If there was a chance to know anything about secret of the Immortal Print Scroll xinfa, it would only bring benefit without any harm. And the Immortal Print Scroll in Shi Qingxuans hands offered precisely this unique and unmatched golden opportunity.

    But this moment it was already too late to be sorry. Like a spirit snake Wanwans Tianmo Piaodai [demonic floating ribbon] rolled the Print Scroll, and whoosh! like a serpents tongue it shrank back into her plain white sleeve and disappeared without any trace.

    Xu Ziling had just flown over toward her, with both palms pressing down. This time he went all-out, like a tornado a vortex of energy rolled toward Wanwan.

    Wanwan still had the time to cast an emotional glance at him, with hidden bitterness, secret grudge, and with affection in her eyes, as if she wanted to engrave his appearance in her mind. Her left sleeve brushed away carelessly, Bang! it met Xu Zilings palm power head on.

    Once again Xu Ziling was overcome with the terrifying feeling of being trapped inside the four walls of Tianmo energy. Bad! he cried inwardly, knowing that he was acting out of his anger, and had lost his cool-headedness in that he was stupid enough to meet force with force. Hurriedly he withdrew most of his power and used his ability to take a breath at high speed while soaring in the air, to fly sideways to evade.

    If Wanwan seized this opportunity to pursue and attack, it would be guaranteed that he could not escape alive.

    Fortunately Yang Xuyan chose this moment to rush over, while producing fantastical dots of sword light filling the air, to attack Wanwan. Although Wanwan appeared to remain calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, her pretty eyes showed that she was paying close attention to the attack. Her delicate feet moved rapidly within several chi radius on the ground, as if she was testing Yang Xuyans ability to deal with a contingency. At the same time she fixed her eyes on the strange spectacle of his fierce and severe sword qi passing through the Luohan statues standing in great number on both sides forming a passageway, swiftly coming at her.

    An Long and Hou Xibai rushed over from different parts of the hall as if in agreement, forming a pincer attack momentum. On the back there was still Lian Rou, but Shi Qingxuan was nowhere to be seen.

    Xu Ziling was standing on the head of one of the revered Luohan statue, flexing his muscles and bones to neutralize Wanwans Tianmo energy. His vision encompassed the entire hall, so that he was able to grasp the whole situation immediately.

    According to reason, after Wanwan obtained the treasure, she ought to slip away immediately, yet she did not. Xu Ziling understood the reason was because she saw that in his raging temper he became irrational and disregarded life and death to violently attack her. As a result, her murderous desire flared up, even if she could not kill the enemy in one move, she would at least inflict him a heavy internal injury from which he would never recover; therefore, she was willing to meet his attack head on and thus lost a golden opportunity to get away.

    However, Wanwan also made mistake in that she miscalculated Xu Zilings ability; she thought that after a hard battle against Yang Xuyan, his power would certainly suffer substantial wear and tear, so that even if she failed to injure the enemy, it would still be easy for her to escape. Who would have thought that Xu Ziling had just gained understanding from the five hundred Luohan postures the wide-ranging and profound secret study of the Buddhism, and that his spirit, qi and essence had just reached its peak? On top of that, because of his unique ability to rapidly take a breather, combined with the hua jin da fa [big method of transforming power] that he obtained from the Secret to Long Life mixed with the Jade Annulus of He Clan, contrary to her expectation, he did not suffer the slightest degree of injury.

    However, she was also shocked by Xu Zilings reaction that the true qi within her body was surging. By the time she finished circulating her qi to suppress it, the sword qi from Yang Xuyans Phantom Sword has already enveloped her, so that she lost the opportunity to take the treasure away.

    If Yang Xuyan managed to entangle her, the other martial art masters in the hall would have one, at least half, a chance to take part in the battle, and then Wanwan would not be so sure if she could deal with them.

    In that instant Wanwan raised her Tianmo Gong to the limit, while at the same time she coldly said, An Long, it would be best if you do not meddle in this matter; otherwise, you will become our Yin Gui Pais mortal enemy.

    While still speaking, the Tianmo Piaodai from the gauze sleeve of her left hand, like a streak of lightning, ripped through the empty space along the Luohan alley, straight toward the tip of Yang Xuyans sword. Its accuracy was hard to believe.

    Xu Ziling and the others gasped in amazement.

    The floating ribbon split the sword encirclement that it splashed to all directions, several weak Luohan statues, out of a dozen or so, facing the alley immediately suffered the consequences; their hands broke their noses shattered, golden paint peeled and flew off.

    Yang Xuyans sword movement was actually hard to tell between the real and the fake, but now it was as if the demonic technique of the Phantom Sword immediately changed back into its original form of regular blade from the mortal world, just before the floating ribbon struck the blade; it slightly returned to be ordinary blade that began to spit out a real stab.

    Crack!

    The two energies collided, producing a crisp explosion.

    Yang Xuyan was sent spinning backward, Thump! Thump! Thump! only after three consecutive steps did he manage to steady his footing.

    As Wanwans floating ribbon hit the tip of the blade, immediately it was shaken into a wave-like pattern, strange to the extreme. Her tender body was also violently shaken backward, a shadow of red blush flitted across her pretty face.

    The floating ribbon shrank back into the gauzed sleeve.

    An Long and Hou Xibai separately came in front and rear of Wanwans left side. The former spoke with evil laugh, Xiao Yatou [little girl/servant girl (used deprecatingly, but sometimes also as a term of endearment), showing that he had neither respect nor fear toward Wanwan], why did you speak so seriously? Looking at your esteemed masters face, so what if Ol An only become a spectator?

    Lian Rou moved far away behind Wanwan, and disappeared behind a Luohan statue.

    Xu Ziling still did not see Shi Qingxuans fragrant trace. This womans conduct has always been hard to fathom; although he was a bit worried, but he was not anxious at all.

    Qiang!

    Yang Xuyans Phantom Sword returned to its sheath. He swept his gaze around first, and then coldly said, This scroll is completely useless for Da Xiaojie; if you are willing to return it to Zaixia, perhaps Zaixia can help Xiaojie accomplishing your hearts desire.

    Hou Xibai blurted out laughing and said, I never thought that unexpectedly my Yang Shixiong [senior martial brother] is a despicable person. He himself is unable to deal with Xu Xiong, he wants to borrow someone elses hand, yet saying that he wanted to accomplish the beautys hearts desire, while also wanted to have the secret scroll returned to him. One stone, three birds. Fancy that you can think of it.

    Inside his hood, Yang Xuyans eyes were flashing like lightning. He laughed aloud and said, Xu Xiong must not be mistaken, thinking that the Passionate Prince is really passionate. He is only thinking of his own need, not at all concerned about your safety.

    Wanwan disdainfully said, Wanwan has never discussed business transaction with someone who hide the head and show the tail, who do not dare to reveal his true appearance. Unless you, Yang Xuyan, throw away the hood covering your face, dont even think that I will be interested in any proposal you are making.

    Yang Xuyan was greatly astonished; he cast a glance at An Long, not understanding why in such situation where there were enemies all around her, Wanwan did not hesitate to offend him at all?

    An Long was actually sweeping his gaze around, looking for any traces of Shi Qingxuan. This womans martial art was handed-down personally by her mother; she was definitely not so simple.

    Wanwan suddenly let out a faint sigh. First she cast a glance at Xu Ziling, who was still standing on a Luohan statues head, and then her eyes moved to An Long, who was standing on her left front side. Shaking her head slightly, she said, I really dont understand what ghost trick are you, An Long, playing, unexpectedly you did not hesitate to offend us, just for the sake of such a secret scroll containing xinfa that has no usefulness whatsoever for you; presumably you do not dare to set yourself against Shi Zhixuan on the basis of the Print Scroll? Speaking about conduct as human beings, you cant possibly be stupid enough to seek amusement for no reason at all or for some empty matter. One small mistake, you will invite the disaster of provoking other people to come and kill you.

    It was not a polite remark at all, but An Long was still grinning evilly, and said without much concern, Didnt Ol An say that I will be the spectator on the wall? However, remembering friendship with your esteemed master, I cannot help offering a bit of advice: Yang Xuyan plus Hou Xibai equal to more than half of Shi Zhixuan; even if your esteemed master personally came, she would not have much advantage. It would be better for Xian Zhinu [worthy/virtuous niece] to hand over the Print Scroll. This is called wise and virtuous woman wont suffer the loss in front of her eyes; am I right?

    Wanwan smiled and said, No wonder Shizun [revered master] often said that it is difficult for An Long to become a great man, and can only fit to become stinky-copper unscrupulous businessman. Now you, two opposing sides, are equally matched in term of strength. If I helped one side, the other side would only end up nursing a grievance. An Long, tonight you have fully used the Lotus Ring at the Center of the Sky twice, and thus you have become a strong crossbow; this is the right time to kill you. Perhaps Zhinu [niece] might become harsh and unreasonable by throwing the Print Scroll away, and then going all-out to take care of you. That will also be the joy of life.

    Finally An Longs countenance changed; he was unable to say anything.

    Wanwan cast her glance once again toward Xu Ziling, who was perching on high. Raising her sleeve to cover her mouth, she laughed tenderly and said, Hey you, why are you standing up there eating the northwest wind? Why did your great beauty ignore you?

    Two sides, four men, you look at me, I look at you, but all were at a loss against her. Even though she was trapped in a difficult situation, this remarkably beautiful direct disciple of Yin Gui Pai was still able to exploit the tangled and complicated relationship among them, and still had full control of the situation in her hands.

    Yang Xuyans eyes shone with deep and cold murderous aura; his hand gripping the sword hilt, he said, In the end, you just want to carry the scroll and run away. Gentlemen, we might as well have a competition, lets see who can wrestle the Print Scroll back from her fragrant gauzed sleeve; what do you think?

    This remark was tantamount to asking Xu Ziling and Hou Xibais opinion, whether all four of them ought to momentarily lay down the hostility between them to first eliminate Wanwan, and then relying of their strength to decide to whom the Print Scroll should belong to.

    Xu Ziling hesitated in his heart.

    Although he and Wanwan were archenemies with irreconcilable enmity, but to join hands with An Long, Yang Xuyan, these demonic people, to deal with her, would be less than glorious. However, for lack of better option, presently this was the only way. If not, if she managed to escape, nobody would be able to hold her down.

    Among An Long and the others, not one was not a martial art master with enough power to contend against Wanwan one-on-one. Although nobody stated his position yet, but everybodys spirit and mind were tightly locked onto Wanwan. As soon as she made a slightly different move, they might suddenly attack, because when martial art masters were standing in opposition to each other they would react to subtle changes of qi and intention. Therefore, this moment Wanwan was just like a ferocious beast trapped in a dead-end alley. Unless she was able to withstand the joint offensive of four men working together, she would never dare to act blindly without thinking.

    Hou Xibai revealed a hint of bitter smile; casting a glance toward Xu Ziling, he sighed and said, Ziling Xiong, what do you think? This seems to be the only way. Although what Hou Xibai hates the most is ruthlessly destroying the flower, I cant think of any other feasible way.

    Xu Zilings tiger-eyes shone with sharp light; fixing his gaze on Wanwan, he said indifferently, Right now I dont know where Miss Shi is hiding. Supposing after we did a blood soaked and hard-fought struggle, we found that whats written in the sheepskin scroll is only something like Thousand Character Classic [6th century poem used as a traditional reading primer] that the children learn, will it be worthwhile?

    Wanwan sighed softly and said, Xu Ziling is the only true hero in here. Let me ask gentlemen, is it all right for Xiao Nuzi [little/young girl] to open the sheepskin scroll first and take a look? After confirming its authenticity, we will decide what to do next.

    Hey, hey, An Long laughed, True hero is just another appellation that is more pleasant to hear than an idiot. I dare to guarantee with my head that this is the Immortal Print Scroll that Shi Dage left behind at the secluded forest of the small valley. As for the reason behind it, please forgive Ol An since it is not convenient for me to disclose it.

    Wanwans pretty eyebrows lightly furrowed, she asked in surprise, Your guarantee does not worth half a penny. It seems to me that your target is not the Print Scroll, but my life. This is indeed very strange, what benefit would it bring to Tian Lian Zong?

    The topic changed, everybodys attention turned from the issue of joining hands to besiege Wanwan to whether the Print Scroll was real or fake.

    Swish!

    Hou Xibai suddenly flashed his folding fan and lightly fanned himself. He smiled and said, Since Long Shu has decided to watch with folded arms, and Princess Rou has hidden far away, Miss Wan may examine the scroll in peace, let Zaixia take the responsibility of protecting the flower. Ziling Xiong, what do you think?

    Xu Ziling calmly replied, If An Long Laoshi [teacher] and Princess Rou do not make any move, Xiaodi will not make any move either.

    Wanwan shook her head and said, Unless you, Ziling, give me your personal guarantee that you are going to protect Wanwan, I cannot possibly take this risk.

    Letting out a long laugh, Yang Xuyan said, Why speak so much nonsense, wouldnt it be better if Zaixia is asking to experience Yin Gui Pais Tianmos secret art? As for whether the three gentlemen want to take part, please do as you wish.

    While speaking, a burst of dense, severe, and icy-cold sword qi burst forth like tidal wave out of his body. Although he has not move the slightest bit, he has actually strived for the initiative. As soon as Wanwan, in her momentum to withstand it, showed a bit of leeway, he would immediately brandish his sword to attack.

    He has gone all-out, yet Wanwan must focus all her attention to guard against An Long and Hou Xibai, two men, which, to Wanwan, was greatly disadvantageous.

    Hold on! Hou Xibai shouted.

    Everybody was taken aback, because if Yang Xuyan staked everything against Wanwan, it ought to give him a hundred benefits without a single harm.

    Hou Xibai turned to An Long and said, This matter is of great importance. Why arent Long Shu unwilling to explain clearly the reason you believe firmly that the sheepskin scroll inside Miss Wans sleeve really contain the Immortal Print Method?

    An Longs eyes flashed with strange light; he spoke slowly, If I confirm that this scroll is not a fake article, does Xianzhi [virtuous nephew] intend to make your move together with Yan Zhi [nephew]?

    Hou Xibai calmly replied, Indeed there is this possibility. Of course, it depends on how much truth there is in Long Shus words.

    An Long let out a burst of long, shaking-the-hall, laugh and said, This kind of sheepskin is definitely not an ordinary sheepskin; I tanned and manufactured it with my own hands, hence the color and luster are unusual, it will always look new even after a long time. I made it based on Shi Dages order; I, An Long, dare to swear by the incantation of Tian Lian Zongs various ancestors that if I made even half a word of lies, let me never be reincarnated forever.

    Letting out a burst of tender laugh, Wanwan continued, Now, even nujia is a bit convinced that this scroll thingy is the real article. Would you be interested in hearing my proposal of two ways to resolve the stalemate before your eyes?

    This remark was of wonderfully highest level and outstanding; even Hou Xibai, who was eager to give it a try had to rein his horse and pulled the bridle back, and postponed his move.

    Lian Rous voice came from the exit, Please excuse Lian Rou from being drawn into the struggle within the demonic schools; nujia is taking my leave. If there is anything in the future, you must never count it on nujias account.

    The sound of the rustling sleeve went away in an instant.

    Listening to this, Xu Zilings head swelled up, he still could not figure out her relationship with An Long and the others.

    But this woman was as cunning as a fox; no one should take what she said too lightly. However, it was also possible that it was because she did not want to be Yin Gui Pais enemy, hence she shrank back as the time for battle approached.

    Wanwan cheerfully said, This is called a wise man looks after his own hide; in the end, she is smarter than you, An Long.

    Displeased, An Long said, Didnt you say that you have two ways to resolve the current stalemate?

    Wanwan raised up her demonic power to tightly suppress Yang Xuyans suffocating sword qi coming from about a zhang away. Calm and composed, she spoke softly, The first solution is Wanwan turn the sheepskin scroll inside my sleeve into powder. This is called once the main problem is solved, all troubles are solved. Nobody has any reason to fight anymore.

    Yang Xuyans sword qi was immediately reduced by half.

    If the sheepskin scroll was destroyed, the biggest loser was certainly not Wanwan, but one of either Hou Xibai or Yang Xuyan.

    At most Wanwan only lost the opportunity to understand the Immortal Print method, while the two would lose the possibility to advance to become another Shi Zhixuan.

    An Long sneered coldly and said, If you were willing to do so, you would have destroyed the Print Scroll early on; there is no need to mention it only now.

    All along he has been fanning the flame to stir up trouble. And now no one doubted that he harbored evil intentions of destroying Wanwan.

    Wanwan cast him a glace with disdain. Her jade countenance suddenly calmed down, returning to her usual nearly pure, faultless calm and unhurried expression. But once again the air all around her was suddenly infused with a terrifying feeling as if it might sink any moment. Although there was no wind, the white clothes on her body suddenly fluttered, her jet-black long hair was flying and dancing in the air as if it was blown by a gale. The scene was weird to the extreme.

    Everybody was shivering in alarm; they were all amassing their energy, yet no one dared to make the first move.

    Xu Ziling shouted coldly, And what is the second solution?

    Wanwans face showed a hint of surreptitious smile that appeared to be there, but then appeared to be not there, as she spoke calmly, The second solution is to give the Print Scroll to you.

    While speaking the last sentence, her gauzed sleeve rose up, the sheepskin scroll shot out of the sleeve, fast as lightning it flew toward Xu Ziling, who was standing on a Luohans head.

    Qiang!


    [1] A clam was sitting out in the sun when suddenly a snipe flew down to peck at the clam. Suddenly the clam slammed the shell shut, gripping the snipe's beak in between. The snipe said, "If it doesn't rain today, and it doesn't rain tomorrow, I shall see a dead clam on the beach." The clam said, "If I don't open today, and I don't open up tomorrow, I shall see a dead snipe on the beach." While they were still grappling with each other, a fisherman passed by and netted them both. (Source: Wikipedia)

  10. #290
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 10

    Book 24 Chapter 10 The Victor[1]

    Yang Xuyan, Hou Xibai and An Long all had a terrifying feeling of tripping forward.

    Based on their skill, naturally they could not possibly trip and fall down for real because Wanwan was scaring them using the Tianmo Jing Chang [demonic powerful field]; but they had to apply their power to resist it, to withdraw backward.

    Both Yang Xuyan and An Long were shrewd men; they had already thought about all kinds of method Wanwan might use to break the stalemate, including the possibility of she giving the Print Scroll to one of them, and thereby executing the shifting the misfortune to the Eastern Wu stratagem. Wanwan then would turn from becoming the target of a multitude of arrows to gaining control over the overall situation from the side.

    Now it had become clear that Yang Xuyan and An Long were on one side, while Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai were on the other side. Although in term of power An Long and Yang Xuyan were one line ahead, but because previously An Long had fully used the Tianxin Lianhuan and wasted a lot of energy, the strength between them has more or less balanced out.

    Under this kind of circumstances, Wanwan could help either side to defeat the others rapidly. Therefore, just now An Long and Yang Xuyan secretly agreed to by all means attack and kill Wanwan first, before dealing with Xu and Hou, two men. Who would have thought that Wanwans intelligence far surpassed their expectation, that surprisingly she was able to see through their conspiracy, and in this critical juncture launched the Tianmo Da Fa will all her strength, to form a vacuum force field that could absorb and borrow any true qi, so that even if they wanted to attack, there was simply no opening they could exploit.

    It was more formidable that any method of using the true qi to protect ones body. Only Xu Ziling saw it as it should be by rights, simply because he had already suffered many times under Wanwans Tianmo Da Fa.

    Qiang!

    While pulling himself backward, Yang Xuyan drew the Phantom Sword; instantly its cold rays radiated all around. Abandoning Wanwan, he attacked Xu Ziling, turning the sword rays into a soaring long rainbow, turning the usually-hard-to-fathom-between-the-true-and-the-false phantom sword move into a thousand-catties-thunderbolt, jolting-the-mountain-shaking-the-peak powerful strike, using the-sword-is-the-man, the-man-is-the-sword stance to take the formidable opponent standing on top of the Luohan statue.

    This moment Xu Ziling had just caught the Print Scroll. Seeing Yang Xuyans all-out sword strike, he groaned inwardly, realizing that this time Wanwan was cruel beyond human comprehension, because when catching the scroll, his mind would immediately be distracted, hence it would be difficult to maintain its optimum state. If he was either killed or seriously injured by Yang Xuyans sword, it would be an extreme injustice.

    He was a great expert in martial art study. In just one glance he knew that Yang Xuyans sword strike this time truly revealed his strength, unlike his namesake as the number one assassin in the world. In a snap of the fingers, the power of the entire body was unleashed in its finest detail, a sword strike that as soon it was executed was earth shattering. Before the sword arrived, the murderous aura had already enveloped him completely. Even if he evaded it, he could only delay the moment of death. The opponents sword strike made him feel like he fell into the mud, his feet went deep into difficult situation; from this, Yang Xuyans formidability could be clearly seen.

    If Yang Xuyans Phantom Sword before was like a fine carving or delicate cut [on gems] of a small pattern of an insect head, the swordplay this moment was like large river Chang Jiang [Yangtze]; it flowed out swiftly with a thousand li might, joyous like stirring cursive [calligraphy] so that others could not grasp where the brush would move next.

    In his quick wit, Xu Ziling tossed the Print Scroll in his hand toward Yang Xuyan; soaring in the air, while roaring in laughter, he said, How about if I give it to you instead? Simultaneously he transferred his strength to his feet, while crying inwardly, Sorry for the offense, the Luohan statue under his feet disintegrated into cun-sized fragments, so that his entire body sank down to the ground.

    This moment Hou Xibai was rushing over as well. Seeing Xu Ziling throwing the Print Scroll away, he called out loudly, Good throw! Folding his fan, his handsome eyes radiated powerful beam all around, he rapidly cut across toward Yang Xuyan, who, afraid of damaging the Print Scroll, had his hands and feet flustered.

    The moment Yang Xuyan drew his sword, An Long also retreated backward to break away out of the Tianmo Powers range, and his retreating speed was even higher and more urgent than Hou and Yang, two mens, because he felt that Wanwans concentrated force was aimed at him alone. On top of that, Wanwan previously threatened and warned him by saying that if he did not show fear, that meant he was bluffing. Even if he were at his peak condition, he did not have the confidence of defeating Wanwan, much less after fighting two hard battles one after another.

    A white shadow flashed.

    Wanwans floating ribbon flew into the air, producing a sharp noise like a ghost wailing or a god calling, piercing through An Longs eardrums.

    If just now An Long could be considered shocked, right now it could be said that his soul flew away and scattered. He was a senior veteran of the demonic schools; naturally he knew what it was.

    Naturally floating ribbons could not wail or call; the whistling noise came from the floating ribbon slicing the air and in a bizarre way it vibrated the air around it into sonic wave. It became Tianmo noise simply because his own heart and guts had been scared and his mind was under control of the fear, which caused the demon to grow from his heart. His natural disposition was everything for self and selfish profit, so he only knew how to harm others for his own personal benefit. This moment, he no longer cared, nor was he interested in Yang Xuyans life or death. Ferociously raising a mouthful of true qi, he summoned back his shaken will to fight simultaneously, while swiftly backing off. Taking advantage of his weight, which surpassed others, his own momentum made him flying backward even faster; leaning left and tumbling right, Bang! Bang! one by one the Luohan statues were knocked over and shattered, meeting with calamity.

    All along, Wanwans floating ribbon was no more than a cun and a few fen away from brushing his fatty flesh.

    Wanwan suddenly stood still charmingly, her eyes moved toward Yang Xuyan, three men. Although she did not look completely satisfied, her heart was cheerful.

    Among the four men, the one giving her the most headache was An Long. His Tianxin Lian Huan was truly a pinnacle among the demonic schools skills. When launched at full strength, even her Tianmo Da Fa could not do much against him.

    If fighting one on one, she might be able to wait until his momentum exhausted his strength depleted to strike back. But under current circumstances, she might fall into critical situation where it was difficult for her to get out. Therefore, she had used up all kinds of trick and psychological tactics and was finally successful in planting the seed of doubt that he would certainly be defeated, which then led him to be frightened. She was also trying to make An Long believe that she might abandon the Print Scroll and take his life instead, while the fact was that she still wanted to obtain the Print Scroll. This moment, with An Long being scared back, she felt that victory was within her grasp.

    She was so sure that by giving the scalding-the-hand, heating-up-the-mountain Print Scroll to Xu Ziling, she would lure Yang Xuyan to try to snatch the Scroll with all his strength. Naturally the most ideal situation would be if he were able to inflict heavy damage to Xu Ziling. At that time Hou Xibai would join the fray, and then he would fight a desperate battle with Yang Xuyan until you die, I live.

    At this time she could take advantage of the one-in-a-thousand-year golden opportunity of An Long running away in difficult situation to execute her scheme; not only to single-handedly obtain the Print Scroll, but perhaps she could even strike the four men one by one, eliminating these bunch of formidable opponents. Who would have thought that Xu Ziling unexpectedly passed on the Print Scroll to others, and thus forcing her to change the plan?

    With a tender shout Wanwan moved forward at lightning speed. Her floating ribbon shot out, starting later but arriving sooner, it accurately threatened the major acupoint on Hou Xibais back.

    On the other side, Yang Xuyan plainly saw that the Print Scroll was flying straight toward his sword, but he did not dare to receive it, because in front of him was Xu Ziling, staying close to the ground to attack, while on his left was Hou Xibai, coming from the air to kill him. Under these two major martial art masters pincer attack, if he withdrew the sword momentum and stretched out his hand to fetch the scroll, he would only end up dying violently on the spot.

    Although Xu Ziling seemed to be tossing the scroll casually, the fact was that he was using an extremely crafty trick; he imbued the Print Scroll full of his true energy, which was a lot stronger than Yang Xuyans sword momentum.

    With no other choice, Yang Xuyan ferociously clenched his teeth; the sword turned at will, it changed direction from attacking upward to pouncing downward, without changing the original style to stab Xu Ziling, letting the Print Scroll whizzed past overhead. His only wish right now was that Hou Xibai would chase after the Print Scroll and ignore him.

    Hou Xibai was able to see very clearly the two mens intense, no-one-wants-to-yield battle; inwardly he was greatly shocked, because as the Print Scroll was filled with Xu Zilings power, any object it would fall onto would be smashed up into pulp. Yang Xuyan deliberately avoiding the scroll was to force Hou Xibai to care more about the Print Scroll remaining intact, and thus would be too busy to join Xu Ziling in pincer attack against him. While he was groaning inwardly, a qi power attacked his back.

    Hou Xibai sighed inwardly. Without even looking, he swung the Fan of Beauty backhandedly to block the brushing away floating ribbon. Borrowing the reaction force of the collision, he changed direction from the battlefield between Yang and Xu, two men, to the Print Scroll shooting toward the western wall.

    From the moment Wanwan threw the Print Scroll toward Xu Ziling, the changes had been treacherous beyond human comprehension; everybody has been carrying out strange scheme, which was beyond everybody elses expectation. Seeing Yang Xuyans brave action of abandoning the Print Scroll and pouncing down with all his strength to attack him, Xu Ziling could not help admiring his accurate judgment. But no matter what, the opponents concentration was slightly distracted; the originally powerful momentum was thus slightly weakened by the change of stroke, no longer imposing irresistible momentum like before. Thereupon Xu Ziling promptly seized this opportunity by gathering the fingers of his left hand into a palm chop, while forming his right hand into a fist. With wonderful footwork, he swiftly stepped forward and sent out a punch across the empty space.

    Spiraling qi power ferociously shook the sharp blade of the opponents sword qi, followed by his palm chop coming down, while his foot stepped aside to enter the small gap to the left of the sword momentum. Strange, abstruse, quick-witted, leaving Yang Xuyan with no choice but to change stroke again to block. In the end, all four killer sword strikes returned without any achievement.

    From this, it could also be clearly seen how formidable Yang Xuyans sword strikes were; even after the formidable power was weakened, Xu Ziling still had to give everything he had and exhausted his strength to neutralize it, not daring to meet the sharp blade head on.

    Presently, the person Yang Xuyan wanted to kill the most has shifted from Hou Xibai to Xu Ziling. Come to think about it, there was a very big difference between the Xu Ziling that he met at Shen Luoyans fragrant residence in Xingyang City in the past and the Xu Ziling before his eyes right now. Come to think about it, the difference was enough to make the heart of any person who stood as his enemy shivered in fear.

    Every change of Xu Zilings move, none was not brimming with like-a-heavenly-steed-soaring-across-the-sky, wonderful-to-the-highest-peak creativity. During the fierce battle just now, his moves in confronting the enemy were in harmony with the postures of the Luohan in the hall; continuous like a chain, the method changed just like the birds in the sky, the fish in the water, without leaving any trace, enabling him to use the weak to subdue the strong, to seize the strategic high ground. Nobody did not have their heart alarmed and their countenance moved.

    Left without any choice, Yang Xuyan sank his qi down and turned his sword around to sweep and hack, blocking and diverting Xu Zilings piercing palm chop full of true power. Unexpectedly it produced a loud Bang! as the sharp of the blade was jolted by the qi power and thus it was unable to harm the edge of Xu Zilings palm the slightest bit.

    The thing that gave Yang Xuyan more headache was the spiraling qi power, which was sometimes slow, sometimes fast invading his body via the edge of the sword.

    A dense, cold and raw murderous intent welled up in Yang Xuyans heart. Retreating to the space between two Luohan and after neutralizing Xu Zilings vortex of energy, he met Xu Zilings not-yielding-a-single-cun chasing-to-kill attack head on with irresistible counterattack. His sword hacked down three times in a row; one strike was more violent than the other.

    Using fantastic, swiftly moving technique Xu Ziling countered every move with all he had, while shouting loudly at the same time, Hou Xiong, get the treasure and dont worry about Xiaodi, just leave!

    This remark was even more formidable than any moves; Yang Xuyan pulled his sword back in panic and flashed backward. At this time Hou Xibai was not having a good time either. He saw that the Print Scroll was about to crash onto the wall and shatter to pieces, plus Wanwan was ferociously pursuing close behind his back like a maggot sticking to the bones, as if he had suddenly become her mortal enemy with enmity as deep as the ocean.

    According to reason, Wanwan ought to have the same thought he did, i.e. she would not want the Print Scroll to turn into scraps of paper. Thinking to this point, Hou Xibai suddenly had a flash of understanding. He knew that Wanwan was forcing him to take the right to save the scroll from her, based on the fact that the Print Scrolls importance to Hou Xibai far surpassed its usefulness for her.

    If the Print Scroll was destroyed, at most Wanwan would lose the opportunity to understand the Immortal Print method, but Hou Xibai might never have the opportunity to climb to the highest level. The difference might be more than a thousand li away.

    The contradiction in Hou Xibais heart was aggravating. When martial art masters fought against each other, the difference between victory and defeat was only a thread away. If he wanted to save the scroll, he might lose his life. But avoiding the Print Scroll meant he would fall into Wanwans hand, and he still had to give her advantages as much as possible, to avoid affecting her action to save the Scroll.

    He had always loved the flowers, cherished the flowers, and was most forgiving toward the beautys shortcomings. But now, he hated this stunning woman whose beauty could be compared to Shi Feixuan to the point of gnashing his teeth in anger, and thus was feeling helpless.

    Upon considering the severity of this case, Hou Xibais foot tapped the tip of the nose of the Luohan by his side and changed direction sideways. With a silver-bell-like tender laughter, Wanwan said, Now, thats a good boy!

    The floating ribbon turned into a hundred white rainbows, rolling toward the Print Scroll, which was about six, seven chi away from crashing against the wall.

    Whoosh!

    A jade hand, surpassing-the-snow, taking-unfair-advantage-of-the-frost reached out from behind one of a row of Luohan statues leaning against the wall, and snatched the Print Scroll one step ahead before the floating ribbon wrapped itself around the Print Scroll. And then the missing-her-fragrant-trace Shi Qingxuan, like a specter floated over, and spoke with cold humph, This time it ought to be my turn to be the fisherman who reaps the benefit!

    Wanwan pulled the floating ribbon back and flashed over in increased speed, and said with tender laugh, Could it be that Xuan Mei [younger sister] has not heard to whom the deer falls, and has not known about it?

    Remaining tranquil and calm, Shi Qingxuan replied, Of course I have! The jade flute in her right hand sprinkled a wide expanse of dark green light protecting various vital acupoints on her chest, while the Print Scroll in her hand shot out toward the turning-around Hou Xibai.

    It was this moment that Xu Ziling shouted loudly to tell Hou Xibai to get the scroll and get out; it could be said that the call was extremely timely. Wanwan did not have time to mind Shi Qingxuan, much less Shi Qingxuan received her training directly from Bi Xiuxin; taking care of her was absolutely not something that can be accomplished in just a few strokes. With a tender shout she changed direction to attack Hou Xibai.

    The distance between Hou Xibai and the thrown Print Scroll was continuously decreasing. Having lost it and then regained it, he was very excited, so much so that his spirit rose to its highest peak. He even considered how to deal with Wanwans howling-wind-and-torrential-rain-like attacks after receiving the scroll.

    At this critical moment, a revered Luohan statue, which was standing against the wall, unexpectedly moved suddenly, as if it was alive. It sprang up high into the air and pounced down toward him. If he continued flashing forward to take the scroll at the current speed, he would collide against the Luohan head-on.

    This change was unexpected, even for Wanwan. Hou Xibai knew that although the Print Scroll was important, but if he lost his life, any Print Scroll would not have any use for him. The statue weighed more than a hundred catties, with the momentum of its movement on top of that, the total force he had to withstand was not a laughing matter.

    He suddenly halted his steps.

    The Luohan brushed past and slammed against another revered Luohan on the opposite side, creating a loud explosion that reverberated across the entire hall, as both statues exploded into smithereens and splashed in all directions. An Longs huge obese body flashed past between Hou Xibai and Wanwan, while the Print Scroll also disappeared without any trace.

    Howling with laughter, An Long said, After all, the older the ginger, the spicier it is; Wan yatou [girl/servant girl], you fall into the trap!

    Boom!

    The entire hall shook. An Long broke through the wall and fled out of the hall.

    This moment both Xu Ziling and Yang Xuyan were rushing over, and both were stunned at this unexpected change. Other than Wanwan herself, no one understood what kind of trap he was referring to when he said that Wanwan has fallen into his trap. Only Wanwan secretly blamed herself for underestimating this Zongzhu [head of a school] that could rank among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way along with Zhu Yuyan.

    Previously she had used all kinds of tricks to instill fear in An Longs heart; she was even able to force him into difficult situation, so that he fled in disorder using her floating ribbon. At that time she managed to enter by exploiting a weak spot, by relying on the floating ribbon to produce Tianmo sound to control his mind, expecting him not to be able to recover in such a short period of time, thereupon she felt comfortable enough to fight over the Print Scroll. Plus she still heard the sound of An Long smashing the Luohan on the other side of the hall, hence she felt even more comfortable.

    Now, of course, it turned out An Long was able to recover quicker than she had expected, and that he continuously smashed the statues to create a false impression that he was running away.

    But this moment it was already too late for regret, and even if she wanted to chase after him, it would be too difficult to catch up with him.

    Right this moment, suddenly An Long shrieked and flew back inside from the hole on the wall.

    Everybody in the hall looked at each other in astonishment; they were even more stunned compared to when An Long successfully snatched the Print Scroll away.


    [1] Chapter title, The Victor orig. to whom the deer falls, usually refers to who seizes the empire. See Jin Yongs Deer and Cauldron, translated by yours truly, for more info on this idiom.

  11. #291
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 11

    Book 24 Chapter 11 Dividing the Color of Spring Evenly

    Under everybodys blank stare, An Long covered his chest with his left hand, while his right hand that was holding the Print Scroll was trembling slightly; his face was devoid of any blood, his eyes stared fixedly on the mother earth resplendent under the bright moonlight outside the hole, his face showed a hard-to-believe expression with a hint of deep fear in it.

    Who could make this martial art master who ranked among the demonic ways hall of fame to lose his normal state in such a big way?

    Shi Qingxuan, who was leaning against the wall, suddenly had her tender body shaking. Without a word she floated out of the hall via the hole on the wall, and disappeared without any trace.

    With this sudden change, it was too late for Xu Ziling to stop her. After exchanging an eye signal, Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai made their move at the same time to pounce toward An Long. No matter who was forcing An Long back, they simply had to snatch the Print Scroll back from him before doing anything else.

    Upon seeing this rapid and pressing change, Yang Xuyans mind was bewildered and was at a loss of what to do; he shouted loudly, An Shu [uncle], be careful!

    Hearing the shout, An Long looked like he had just woken up from a nightmare; he haphazardly tossed the Print Scroll upward and roared, Its none of my business! And then he fled in the opposite direction of the hole on the wall and smashed another big hole on the wall and ran away.

    Hou Xibai and Yang Xuyan had no interest in paying him any attention; they both soared up to chase after the Print Scroll, which very soon would reach the roof of the hall.

    Xu Ziling was afraid Wanwan might mount sneak attack, he did not move from where he was standing to keep watch over Wanwans movement with full attention.

    He noticed that the beauty did not move from where she was standing either, as if she already lost interest toward Hou and Yang, two mens fight over the scroll. Turning a blind eye and turning a deaf ear, she appeared to be deep in thought, while staring fixedly at the hole from which An Long was coming back.

    Xu Zilings heart was moved; he kind of had an idea who was outside the hole that An Long was forced to come back. In fact, it was not difficult to guess. Under the heavens, the person who could make An Long so panic and losing his mind, other than Ning Daoqi, Zhu Yuyan, Shi Zhixuan, and the likes, there were very few people. And among those people, the only one directly related to this matter was Shi Zhixuan; so most likely it was he.

    Thinking about this Xie Wang [demonic king] Shi Zhixuan, he could not help feeling the chill in the air.

    A continuous ringing of the fan and the sword clashing against each other was heard from the roof of the hall, followed by Hou Xibai and Yang Xuyan separately landed on Xu Zilings left and right sides, looking at each other with glaring eyes; unexpectedly each man had half of the Print Scroll in their hands.

    Xu Ziling could not help but was dumbfounded.

    Wanwan let out a faint sigh and spoke glibly, This is perhaps the best solution. Nujia wont accompany you anymore!

    Suddenly flying backward, she floated out of the hall via the main entrance.

    Qiang!

    Yang Xuyan returned the sword into its scabbard; his eyes shone with flashes of lightning. After looking back and forth between Xu Ziling and Hou Xibai several times, he let out a cold humph and flew toward the hole on the wall and disappeared.

    The main hall returned to its previously tranquil condition, with only the broken debris of the shattered statues remained on the floor.

    Xu Ziling looked at Hou Xibai. The latter withdrew his stare from the remaining half of the scroll; smiling wryly, he said, Xiaodi agree with Miss Wan a little bit; this is perhaps the only way to resolve this matter, everybody loses.

    Xu Ziling asked, The one who forced An Long to come back, was it your esteemed Master?

    Shaking his head, Hou Xibai replied, It does not seem so. Although Shi Shi rarely makes his move, but once he does, somebody will lose his life. I think Yang Xuyan did not believe that it was Shi Shi either. As for who that actually was, if there is someone who knows everything under the heavens, Xiaodi also wish that that person could answer me.

    Xu Ziling could not help asking, How long has Hou Xiong not seen your esteemed Master?

    Playing it down, Hou Xibai replied, I am afraid seven or eight years!

    It seemed to Xu Ziling that he did not want to talk about anything related to Shi Zhixuan; changing the subject, he said, I am so glad I am able to make friends with an affectionate and true friend like Ziling tonight. Just now Xiaodi exerted my strength in desperate fight and received a bit of injury, I must find a place to recuperate. If in the next few days Ziling is going to stay in Chengdu, Xiaodi might look for you to drink wine and have a long talk.

    Raising half of the scroll in his hand high, he smiled and said, I am really grateful. Please! Finished speaking, he went out through the hole, in a confident and at ease manner.

    The little bit of candlelight has just stopped burning, but soon afterwards the main hall was brightening up, because it was already dawn.

    Thinking about last nights perilous experience has given him the feeling that the ability to see morning light was actually very precious.

    By the time Xu Ziling stepped out of the wall, the sky was already bright.

    Suddenly there was a crisp Ding Dong! sound from the pagoda in the distance. Looking toward that direction, he vaguely saw a copper bell hanging from a corner of the pagodas eaves. When the mountain breeze was blowing, the bell created a clear, beautiful sound, which chased away the anxiety of the earth from the peoples heart.

    There was a narrow street lined with walls next to the Luohan Hall, where flowers and trees were well-spaced, providing profound and unfathomable, dense shade; it was extremely enticing.

    Thinking that since he had nothing to do anyway, he might as well pay a casual visit before leaving Sichuan and rushing over to meet with Kou Zhong, and then together they would go to Guanzhong on a treasure hunt.

    After heaving a sigh, he slowly walked toward the pagoda. After passing through a bamboo grove, he saw the nearly fifteen zhang tall, separated into thirteen floors pagoda towering majestically over a clearing in the forest, lofty and steep, high and standing out above the trees.

    Under the splendor of the morning sun, the top of the pagoda, which was engraved with flying geese made of gold and copper appeared even more brilliant and glorious, dazzling the far and near.

    Each floor of the pagoda had its four sides embedded with twelve stone carving of Buddhist images; grand and magnificent, rich in texture.

    Xu Xiong seems to have a particular feeling toward this pagoda?

    Xu Ziling looked up at the pagoda with his hands behind his back; without even turning his head, he said indifferently, Did Miss Shi arrive last night, or did you just get here?

    Shi Feixuan came behind him and said glibly, What difference does it make? You just wanted to ask who forced An Long to come back into the Luohan Hall, am I right? This man is so repulsive; he desecrated a Buddhists sacred place. Feixuan scared him so that after this, he wont be able to sleep, as well as to pass his days peacefully. Doesnt Xu Xiong agree?

    Xu Ziling turned around to face this lucid and elegant, simple and graceful Shi Feixuan; smiling wryly, he said, I stepped on one statue and destroyed it; how will Miss punish Xiaodi?

    Shi Feixuan smiled and said, I did not see it, I did not know; Xu Xiong does not need to ask me.

    Xu Ziling slapped his forehead and laughed charmingly and said, Last night was like a dream; pretty much everything was so puzzling, so unclear. For instance, how in the world did Miss Shi startle An Long so that he came back, scaring him so that he even abandoned the Immortal Print Scroll, so much so that it was like he just saw a ghost that he covered his head and sneaked away like a rat?

    Shi Feixuan spoke gently, Last time I went to Sichuan, it was under my Masters order to go to the secluded forest in the small valley to review the Immortal Print Scroll all the way through. Although its unlikely that I will be able to master the Immortal Print method, but to imitate to twenty, thirty-percent likeness would not be difficult at all. And plus being a thief, An Long already had a guilty conscience, so that a chance encounter like that was very effective. Did it explain one of the mysteries in Xu Xiongs heart?

    Xu Ziling understood, but a new question arose in his heart, Miss Shi might as well bring the Print Scroll back to Jingzhai to be kept there, and then the dispute last night would not have happened, he said in astonishment.

    Shi Feixuan calmly and indifferently said, It was a legacy that Xiuxin Shibo passed on to Miss Qingxuan; moreover, it is the auspicious article that Shi Zhixuan wanted to use to kill people with borrowed blade. Without Miss Qingxuans consent, nobody has the right to take it out of the secluded forest in the small valley. The most difficult thing to understand this time was that how did Yang Xuyan suddenly become aware of the scrolls existence?

    Xu Ziling was stunned, Killing people with borrowed blade? he said, If Shi Zhixuan wanted to kill people, I dont understand why he did not make the move himself.

    A hint of grief smeared Shi Feixuans pretty eyebrows; she spoke in low voice, Can we walk and talk?

    Xu Ziling did not dare to walk side by side with her; he fell about two steps behind her, as together they walked along the small alley winding through the bamboo forest.

    Shi Feixuan suddenly stopped. Naturally Xu Ziling also stopped immediately. With a slight displeasure in her voice, the former said, I dont know what is your, this persons brains made of? Why dont you dare to walk side by side with Feixuan? There is no distinction of senior and junior between us; there is no distinction between master-servants even more. Do you want Feixuan to storm off in a huff and no longer pay you any attention?

    A hard to describe feeling appeared in Xu Zilings heart; perhaps it was because the relationship between them has grown closer that there was a big change in Shi Feixuans attitude toward him compared to when they first met. Previously, she had never tried this kind of half tender-beyond-reach stare, half rebuking attitude and voice, in talking with him, which was kind of touching, so that Xu Ziling was pleasantly surprised.

    Laughing aloud, Xu Ziling stepped forward to take his position on her left. With a bit of losing-his-footwork feeling, he said, It was just a misunderstanding. Xiaodi thought that because of Miss Shis special status, you must be strictly maintaining the distance between men and women; therefore hey! I was just trying to show respect from a distance. Oh! That came out wrong! I was just respecting Miss outstanding, proper identity. Ay! You ought to understand what I am trying to say.

    Shi Feixuan smiled and said, What does walking side by side have to do with maintaining the distance between men and women? On the contrary, by intentionally falling back, how did you show respect from a distance? Even more, it proves that you are appraising the harmonious limp and the swing of my hips.

    Finished speaking, she continued walking forward, her jade countenance returned to her still-water-without-any-ripple serene expression. This time Xu Ziling leisurely, taking-it-easy, walked by her side, quietly waiting for her to continue.

    After a good while, Shi Feixuan spoke seriously, Shi Zhixuan left a copy of Immortal Print Method, his intention was for Xiuxin Shibo to look at it. It was related to the struggle between the demonic schools and Jingzhai, which details can be easily imagined. Were it not for studying the scroll attentively, Xiuxin Shibo could not possibly be giving up and departing this mortal life at the prime of her life.

    A chill crept up in Xu Zilings heart. He said, Shi Zhixuan accomplished his intention by doing such thing, no wonder Miss Shi is unwilling to recognize him as her father.

    And then he anxiously said, Didnt Miss Shi just say that you examined the Immortal Print Scroll carefully? Are you not just repeating your esteemed Shibos disastrous policy?

    You can say that, Shi Feixuan nonchalantly replied, Plus this is exactly Shi Zhixuans intention in completing the writing of the scroll. To Jingzhai, it was a blatant drowning battle. One day Feixuan might suddenly walk away from this, but in every case, I cannot simply pay no heed to it.

    Listening to that, Xu Ziling did not know how to respond; worse yet, he did not know how to share her burden. It was quite half a day later that he finally said, Why did An Long want to obtain the Print Scroll? What benefit would that bring him?

    By this time they had reached the end of the forest, where there was a clearing next to the Luohan Hall. Shi Feixuan slowly turned around to face Xu Ziling. Her voice was tranquil as she said, Toward Shi Zhixuan, An Long has some kind of near-crazy adoration, which has not changed for the last several decades. All along he wishes that Shi Zhixuan would unify the demonic schools. To him, the former obstacle was Xiuxin Shibo, and now the obstacle is Miss Qingxuan. As for between Yang Xuyan and Hou Xibai, he chose the former, because he believes that Yang Xuyan might become another Shi Zhixuan.

    Puzzled, Xu Ziling asked, Yang Xuyan is that kind of person, why does Li Shimin still want to put him in such an important position?

    Shi Feixuan replied, Actually, it could be considered that Yang Xuyan is connected to the crown prince Li Jianchengs men and horses. Even more, it was because Yang Xuyan and Li Yuans close relationship that he receives Li Yuans special favor. Plus recently Yang Xuyan played a critical role in Dong Shuni becoming Li Yuans concubine that his status is even more consolidated. Unless Li Shimin wants to break off his relations with his father and elder brother, what can he do to this officer [orig. chen, state official/subject in dynastic China] who, time and again, establishes marvelous merits, the most recent being assassinating Xue Ju?

    Frowning, Xu Ziling said, Previously, Miss Shi has always been unwilling to talk about the demonic schools, but now suddenly you want to talk to no end; is there any particular reason behind it?

    Shi Feixuan smiled and said, Since we parted on the Great Ba Mountain, Feixuan had rushed to the secluded forest in the small valley by waterway to notify Miss Qingxuan about this matter. It was only then did I find out that just before his death, Lu Miaozi had sent a letter via pigeon post to Miss Qingxuan. In his letter he wrote about many things, he had an extremely high esteem toward you and Kou Zhong; one of things he mentioned was that you might be the only one in the world, the unusual talent who precisely must learn the Hua Jian, or perhaps Bu Tians demonic skills, who could also understand the Immortal Print Scroll. Hence the reason she decided to hand over the Print Scroll to you. If you are unable to rush over in time, then she would destroy the Print Scroll in front of An Long and Yang Xuyan, so that once the main problem is solved, all troubles are solved.

    Xu Ziling could not stop a burst of disappointment from bubbling up in his heart. Turned out the reason Shi Feixuan treated him so favorably now was not because of her impression on him had changed, but because of Lu Miaozis letter, or perhaps because Shi Qingxuan trusted him. He could not help feeling disappointed inwardly, the kind of feeling that was very unpleasant. From this, he realized that quite possibly he had fallen in love with this simple-and-elegant-like-a-fairy beauty; otherwise, how could he be so dispirited?

    Thinking to this point, Xu Ziling suppressed all disturbing mood in his heart; acting as if nothing had happened, he said, So thats how it is. If I had known earlier, Xiaodi did not need to rush over a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers to come here.

    Astounded, Shi Feixuan said, Not being able to take a peek at the Print Scroll, you dont feel that it was a pity?

    Xu Ziling emotionally said, Gains and losses, success and failure, how can we mind it too much? Otherwise, wont life be so excruciating? Besides, it is very likely that Mr. Lu was wrong, or perhaps he overestimated me, Xu Ziling. Suffering fire deviation is really not worth it. If you want to study martial art, the five hundred revered statues in the Luohan Hall, none did not imply profound mystery principles. The flying bird and sinking fish in nature, none cannot be my master; who would have time to collate and examine critically the book created by demonic school, heretical people?

    Shi Feixuans beautiful eyes were deeply fixed on him, her pretty eyeballs were flickering with brilliant lights; she sighed and said, Only now do Feixuan understand why Lu Dashi admired you, Xu Ziling, so much! Evidently Xu Xiong knew that all of this temples Luohan are crafted personally by Senior Monk Kumarajiva [c. 334-413, Buddhist monk and translator of Zen texts] of the Later Qin [of the Sixteen Kingdoms, 384-417].

    Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, Who is Kumarajiva? How come his name is so strange?

    Shi Feixuan solemnly replied, Kumarajiva was a Senior Monk from Tianzhu [India, esp. in Tang or Buddhist context] with great virtue and great wisdom, who passed on Buddhist doctrines to the Central Earth, who had extensive study of Mahayana Dharma and especially proficient in Prajna and the essence of emptiness. His martial art skill was even more out of the ordinary, bordering the arhat realm, yet he never taught martial art; he was only talking about Dharma. After arriving in the Central Earth, he immediately started the work on translating the Buddhist scripture at the Xiaoyao [lit. free and unfettered] Garden in Changan. I am afraid even he himself had never thought that unexpectedly someone is able to see the profound mystery from the statue he designed; not only that, this person is not a Buddhist disciple at all. It is indeed unusual.

    And then she cast him a sidelong glance and said, Fancy that you, this person, still think that Lu Miaozi was wrong in his judgment on you; are you afraid of bearing the responsibility yourself?

    Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, After listening to you, I nearly wanted to come into the hall to take a couple more thorough look. Ay! Now this place no longer has any need of an idle person like me, Sichuan Alliance people are looking for me everywhere for Li Shimins sake. It is really not suitable for Xiaodi to tarry much longer; Miss Shi, please! Forgive Xiaodi for failing to accompany you.

    Even with Shi Feixuans indifferent-to-fame-or-gain, seeking-nothing character, she could not help knitting her pretty eyebrows and spoke in displeasure, Why do you want to slip away so quickly? Could it be that you cannot see the suffering of the people everywhere? Even Bashu [Sichuan] that can avoid the fire of war in the Central Plains and the changes in political circumstances outside is also affected by the rising winds, scudding clouds [idiom: turbulent times]. Since Zhu Yuyan, Shi Zhixuan came into beings, all along we have been in the situation where the Way is diminishing while the Demonic is rising; otherwise the world would not have turned chaotic like this. Those with ambition ought to work a bit for the people.

    Xu Zilings rueful smile went deeper; sighing, he said, The one with ambition is Kou Zhong and not Xu Ziling at all. I wonder if Miss Shis expectation on me is not too high?

    Shi Feixuan returned to her usual calm and composed manner; she said, Does Xu Xiong know why I wanted to impersonate Shi Zhixuan to scare An Long away?

    Thinking deeply, Xu Ziling said, Was it to see whether Shi Zhixuan is implicated in this matter? If An Long has received Shi Zhixuans instruction, naturally he would not have been that scared.

    Glowering at him, Shi Feixuan said, And you want to leave without blurting it out to make everybody knows?

    Embarrassed, Xu Ziling said, Turns out Miss Shi also know how to tease people.

    Shi Feixuan let out a light sigh, and spoke gently, You, this person, are so difficult to wait upon. If Xu Xiong does not mind, would you allow Feixuan to be a small host, to invite you to try Chengdus famous authentic vegetarian dishes? Miss Qingxuan still has something shed like to entrust to you!

    Frowning, Xu Ziling said, Miss Shi [Feixuan] does not need to waste your precious time for me; you only need to tell me where I can see Miss Shi [Qingxuan], Xiaodi can always go on my own to find her.

    It was as if Shi Feixuan was able to see through him. A barely discernible smile escaped from the corner of her cherry lips; without any care at all, she spoke glibly, Here we go again! Once we part here, I dont know when we are going to see each other; cant you stay a bit longer to keep Feixuan company?

    This was the first time that Shi Feixuan spoke gently to him to implore him. Thinking about how he destroyed her Jade Annulus of He Clan and she did not even take that into account and did not dispute it, his heart softened and he had no choice but to nod his head in agreement.

  12. #292
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 12

    Book 24 Chapter 12 Free Talk About The World

    Several plumes of thick smoke were rising from the distant mountaintop beside the riverbank, straight into the sky.

    Since last night, before dawn, the Jianghuai Army, who had been marching urgently for nearly thirty li under Du Fuweis personal command, has launched an onslaught against Shen Luns army camp. But unfortunately at the same time his dozen or so warships that were moored on the Great River by the army camp were burned down by fiery arrows. Kou Zhongs large-scale plan of ambushing Shen Luns retreating army on the river immediately came to nothing.

    From his vantage point on elevated ground, he looked into the distance and saw that Shen Luns main stronghold has not yet fallen; the destroyed area were just the sentry camps on its perimeter.

    The blowing wind brought the battle cry into everybodys ears. Chen Changlins pair of eyes was flashing with fierce and sharp lights; obviously he was very pleased that Shen Lun was being attacked.

    Leaning over, Bu Tianzhi whispered in Kou Zhongs ear, In my opinion, Shen Lun still have the ability to guard against Du Fuwei. Therefore, although on the surface Du Fuwei seems to be gaining the upper hand, even though Shen Lun suffers some damage, his foundation has not been injured at all, so momentarily he does not need to retreat in panic. Ay! Even if he is leaving, he must leave by land route, because if he wanted to leave by the waterway, there is no boat that he could use.

    Although he did not say it explicitly, he was pointing out that to ambush Shen Lun under current circumstances and current changes was practically not feasible.

    Kou Zhong was feeling discouraged as well; without any better option he consoled him, Shen Lun is Old Dus well-matched adversary; quite possibly he will crumble soon.

    Chen Changlin on his other side could not take his eyes from the development on the battlefield. Shaking his head, he said, Shen Lun is resourceful and brave. In terms of positive outlook and experience, although he cant compare to Du Fuwei, his military strength is even farther behind, but he is occupying the stronghold, which is favorable for defense without the advantage of offense, plus he has the opportunity to preserve and nurture his spirit. Although in the beginning he was under attack with no time to deal with it, but very soon he was able to turn the table around and stand his ground. My guess is that Shen Lun will suffer a rather heavy loss, but Du Fuwei will not reap much benefit either.

    Suddenly the retreating bugle horn was sounded. Kou Zhong smiled wryly and said, Changlin Xiong is indeed able to prophesy with supernatural accuracy. Old Du is going to retreat!

    Chen Changlin heaved a sigh, and said with a wry smile, Supposing Shen Lun is dispatching his troops to pursue and attack Du Fuweis retreating army, then our ambushing operation this time will have to be cancelled. But if Shen Lun cant even press on his advantage by pursuing and attacking, then we will still have a chance.

    Kou Zhong praised him inwardly.

    Not only Chen Changlin was a strong and courageous man with deep passion and heavy comradeship, he also knew how to separate public and private interest clearly. There was no way he would have everybody else take risks with him for his personal gratitude and grudges.

    Comparing himself to Chen Changlin, Kou Zhong realized that he tend to act impetuously more than him.

    Half a sichen later, Luo Qifei rushed back to give report on the latest situation on the battlefield. Shen Lun indeed sent his troops to pursue and attack the retreating Jiang Huai Army, but he was beaten back by the troops protecting the rear under Du Fuweis personal command.

    Contrary to everybodys expectation, Chen Changlin was not disappointed at all. He smiled and said, Nobleman taking revenge, ten years is not too late. Shen Lun always gets whatever he wants, he has always ruled as a despot since he was young, his hometown always has fish and meat, he had never suffered any setback. This time we made him falling until his head and face filthy with grime, he had to return with his troops decrease his generals suffer loss. In the future he will still have to deal with Li Zitongs reprisal; I am very happy. Why would I have to be afraid that I wont have any more chance against them, father and son, in the future?

    Kou Zhong rose up to his full height from the underbrush where he had been hiding; he said, Changlin Xiong is a hero with open-mind nature. While right now Shen Lun, Du Fuwei and Li Zitong, three sides are all too busy for anything else, this is best time to go all the way. When I get back from Lingnan, I will meet with Ling Shao, and together we are going to Guanzhong. As for our headquarters in Peng Liang and other places, I will have to trouble gentlemen!

    The crowd responded in chorus; they were such in a high spirit, as if they had just defeated Shen Lun.

    Chengdus great streets and small alleys were full of the vestiges of last nights festival. Fragments of paper from the firecrackers and remains of colored lanterns could be seen everywhere.

    The pedestrians on the streets were sparse; compared to the vast crowd of last night, it was like a different world altogether.

    It could be imagined that after having fun all night long, everybody was dragging their weary bodies home and climbing onto their beds like one that has achieved the Way [idiom: the emperor].

    Along the street, nine out of ten shops did not open their door to do business. While Xu Ziling doubted in his heart whether the vegetarian emporium where Shi Feixuan was going to take him to dinner would be open for business, the beauty, who was dressed as a scholar, took him to the vegetarian shop on Orchard Lane at the west side of the city, which, beyond expectation, was just opening their main door to welcome the patrons.

    It was obvious that this was not the first time Shi Feixuan visited the shop, since the shop owner personally came out to greet them, saying Qin Gongzi this and Qin Gongzi that, in a very respectful manner.

    After Xu Ziling admitted that he was not a connoisseur of vegetarian dishes, Shi Feixuan promptly ordered several appetizers and personally poured him fragrant tea, making him feel overwhelmed [by favor from superior], because he had never expected that he would have the honor of sharing a table for lunch with her.

    Such a big vegetarian shop, and they were the only patrons; it was quiet and comfortable.

    No matter what the circumstances, Shi Feixuan was still the not-eating-the-food-of-common-mortals, indifferent-to-fame-or-gain touching character.

    After a bit of small talks, Shi Feixuan gratefully said, Fortunately Xu Xiong informed me of Shi Zhixuans other identity, otherwise even now we are still unaware that Pei Ju, who singlehandedly toppled the Great Sui, is actually Shi Zhixuan, and only he can go so deep undercover, so that others are completely unable to find spiders thread and horse track [i.e. tiny hints of a secret].

    Xu Ziling was still puzzled, How could he, one person, have so much destructive power? he asked.

    Shi Feixuan replied, The problem is that he obtained Yang Guangs deep favor and trust, he was the person within the Sui family clan who was the most familiar with the political affairs of the Western Region; other ministers simply lacked the qualifications to offer any suggestion.

    After a short pause, she continued, For example, in the seventh month of the tenth year of the great undertaking, Pei Ju, in his capacity as the You Guang Lu Daifu [Right Glorious Grand Master; honorific title during Tang to Qing times] at that time, was appointed the Hu Bei Fan Junshi [lit. proliferating military counselor protector of the north]. He immediately put forward a suggestion to Yang Guang, pointing out that Tujues Shibi Khans power is increasing by the day, so a plan to weaken them must be devised. He further proposed to give the Sui dynastys imperial clans women to be married to Shibis younger brother Chijimei, and grant him the title Nanmian Khan [lit. south side], and use him to split apart Tujues clansman who held power. In the end, Chijimei did not dare to receive either the marriage or the title; on the contrary, he revealed everything [orig. to put everything out including the tray] to Shibi. After Shibi found out, he put the blame to Yang Chenming. This was precisely the beginning of Tujue and Sui becoming enemies.

    Listening to her, Xu Zilings scalp went numb; he said, Speaking about scheming, I am afraid not many people are Shi Zhixuans match. The most formidable thing was that he still appeared to be loyal to Yang Guang, and always appeared to have consideration for the Great Sui everywhere he went.

    Shi Feixuan sighed and said, One scheme failed, he put forth another scheme. Pei Ju again strongly advised Yang Guang to incite the easiest Tujue man to drive a wedge between the two nations. Now the alienating the court was not concerning marriage or granting a title; rather, it was a man from the west called Shishuhuxi. If he could entice Yang Guang to behead this man, Tujue could come back to embrace the Sui palace courtyard. While he was unclear of the fact, Yang Guang agreed to his proposal. Thereupon Pei Ju used the highly profitable commercial trade as the bait, swindling Shishuhuxi to Mayi [lit. horse city/village, not sure if this is a name] to be murdered. Afterwards, he let Shibi find out. Henceforth the Tujue no longer present tribute to the Sui court.

    Again she sighed before continuing, Yang Guangs successive generations emperors are the emperors who lost their familial property the fastest. Although the Great Qin also ended their reign after only two emperors, but in the beginning of their reign, the world were already seething discontent, unlike Yang Guang, who, when he succeeded the throne, was still in the flourishing period. Now it could be assumed that it was all because Pei Ju correctly analyzed Yang Guang as a man rejoicing in grandiose deeds, desiring to propagate his power abroad, having the mentality of subduing the four non-Han peoples to align their allegiance to him. After he was enticed to kill Shishuhuxi, Yang Guang still wanted to subdue the Tujue, patrolling the frontier fortress of the north. After receiving the secret information, Shibi personally led several tens of thousands elite cavalry to go down south to launch surprise attack on Yang Guangs troops, forcing Yang Guang to flee into the Yanmen [wild goose gate] to take refuge. Shibi captured thirty-nine out of Yanmen Countys forty-one cities, Yang Guang nearly lost his life. After this war, Tujue people no longer willing to acknowledge allegiance to the Sui; furthermore, they even had the intention to advance to the east. The main cause of this disaster is none other than Shi Zhixuan.

    Xu Ziling said, Perhaps it was Shi Zhixuan who sent someone in secret to notify Shibi, telling him to lead his troops to invade the south. Ay! I really dont understand, by doing that with the Tujue, he was showing the wolf into the house, what benefit would it bring Shi Zhixuan?

    Shi Feixuan gently said, This is precisely the bane of ideological struggle. It makes people put the national righteousness above everything else, while turning a blind eye toward the suffering of the common people. The root of this disaster came from the demonic schools supreme secret canon, the ten-volume Tianmo Ce [demonic manifesto]. The manifesto not only contains Tianmo Mi [demonic secret], Dao Xin Zhong Mo Da Fa [the heart of the Way demonic great method] and many different kinds of deep and immeasurable pinnacle studies, it also records detailed theory on the mysterious relationship between the universe and the life, believing that human nature is inherently evil, and that the destruction and darkness is the most powerful force in the universe. At the beginning it was only one kind of theory, until Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty banned many schools or thought and revered Confucianism as sole orthodoxy. Whether it was on the political arena or martial arts social circles [Wulin], all the orthodox sects seized the opportunity to pursue relentlessly and strike the demonic schools. Thereupon the outstanding disciples of demonic schools separately brought the scrolls while they were fleeing the disaster, evolving into the Two Sects Six Ways of today. Shi Zhixuans desire to unify the demonic way is precisely to bring Tianmo Ce back together again. Hatred was cultivated like that, and now, its difficult to change.

    Frowning, Xu Ziling said, But that still did not explain why Shi Zhixuan wanted to lure the Tujue to enter the Central Plains?

    Shi Feixuan explained, The demonic schools have already been established for a long time, all along they have gone through many changes. By the time of Emperor Wu of Han, several of the banned houses merged first; by the time Zhang Qian [c. 114 BC, Han dynasty explorer] went through the Western Regions, they also received foreign culture and religions influence, emphasizing the use of military force to eliminate dissidents. By the time of Wei [220-265 AD] and Jin [265-420 AD] dynasties, the demonic schools people were actively growing their base to the west. Both Shi Zhixuan and Zhu Yuyan have blood relationship with Hu people [barbarians]. Therefore, our national righteousness has no effect whatsoever on them.

    Xu Ziling blew out a mouthful of air, long and slow, and then said, So thats what it is. If Miss Shi did not actively tell me, I am afraid for all my life I would never understand what crafty way the demonic school people are going to do next.

    This moment the vegetarian dish arrived; steaming hot, emitting an aroma that was permeating the whole place, it was put on the table, smelling and looking like it would taste great.

    Xu Ziling noticed that after sampling a couple of chopsticks, she put the chopsticks down, while he himself unreservedly gobbling the food with gusto. Feeling embarrassed, he asked, Is my table manners too unsightly that you lose your appetite?

    Shi Feixuan smiled and shook her head, These vegetarian dishes have been going through many layers of refinement, the flavor is too strong, not as good as the natural taste of cucumber and Chinese cabbage; it has nothing to do with you. Just now I am taking two mouthfuls is already an exception. Furthermore, your table manners and your personality are like that, you are merely acting naturally; how could it be unsightly?

    Xu Zilings old face turned slightly red; embarrassed, he said, You really know how to speak, ha! Acting naturally, isnt that an elegant way of saying wolfing down ones food?

    Slightly shrugging her shoulders, Shi Feixuan helplessly said, If you are so paranoid, Feixuan cant do anything about it.

    Two persons four eyes met, a wonderful feeling grew in their hearts, as if this meal of vegetarian dish has pulled the two closer, unlike previously where there was an impassable distance, or a dividing chasm between them. Naturally Xu Ziling did not have any improper thought, although in his heart he warned himself not to have such an idea. He reminded himself that it was because they had a common big enemy that their relationship grew a bit closer.

    Whether it was intentional or not, Shi Feixuan averted his penetrating gaze; she looked at the street resplendent in the bright sunshine. There were more people around, but still far from the usual hustle and bustle of the city.

    Remembering something, Xu Ziling asked, What is the actual reason that the Da Shi Temples monks slipped away that not a single one remains?

    Shi Feixuan broke into a giggle and said, They are not slipping away; they are just staying temporarily at the neighboring monastery. That big pile of broken mud and shattered stones of last night, some people might have already come and swept them away even today.

    Xu Ziling could only stare blankly at her rare display of charming demeanor. Tongue-tied, he said, In that case, they must be utterly broken-hearted because the Luohan statues were destroyed.

    As if nothing had happened, Shi Feixuan said, All mortal matters have the beginning and the end, those who entered the gate of emptiness ought to have penetrating view on this. If they cannot see death from life, see rebirth from destruction, then they do not have the qualifications to speak about Buddhism; why should we worry about it?

    Revealing a thoughtful look, Xu Zilings tiger-eyes flashed with deep, unfathomable brilliant rays of wisdom. Nodding his head, he said, Miss remark provides food for thought. Last night Hou Xiong told Xiaodi that the monks of the temple flee their monastery to avoid a formidable figure of the demonic school. I wonder a divine character of which side would this person be?

    Shi Feixuan replied, It was only after entering Sichuan that I learned from Chuan Bangs Bangzhu Fan Zhuo about this matter. This person ranks among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, has always been extraordinarily low-key, his conducts secretive, and is the mortal enemy of the previous generation Zhuchi Da De shengseng [senior/holy monk Great Virtue]. Recently, it was unclear whether it was because he enjoyed great success in his demonic skill, he rushed back from the Western Region to challenge Da De; who would have thought that Da De had just passed away ten days earlier and had been cremated? Unexpectedly he vented his resentment on the disciples who do not know martial art, saying that if anybody stays in the temple, he will kill all living persons within ten li radius. In order to avoid calamity to the innocent villagers in the vicinity, the monks had no choice but to abandon the temple.

    Furious, Xu Ziling said, This man is too insolent and overbearing! How could Bashus Wulin sit and watch, but remain indifferent?

    Shi Feixuan sighed and said, Its not that they are indifferent, but its difficult to interfere. Nobody is able to find and eliminate him, hence nobody can do anything about it. Oh! Perhaps Xu Xiong could lend me a hand.

    It was only then did Xu Ziling realize that he had walked straight into her trap. Previously he had just stated that he was not any hero who would save the world and be of help of common people. And now that he had righteous indignation filling his breast, it appeared that he was swearing that he would uphold righteousness. The contradiction in his heart was maddening. Smiling bitterly, he said, You seem to be unwilling to let me off. If Miss Shi is willing to personally make your move, you would be able to catch any vicious, demonic people.

    A bit skeptical, Shi Feixuan said, Since this person can be ranked among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, how could it be that easy to take care of him? Were it not for him suffering defeat under the Heavenly Saber Song Ques hands and thus fleeing to the Western Regions, I dont know how many more people in the Central Plains would be mutilated by him. This time he dared to return in a swirl of dust [idiom: to make a comeback], naturally he has enough confidence that he would surpass Song Que.

    Xu Ziling asked in heavy voice, Is this person the Mo Shi [demonic master] Zhao Deyan?

    Slightly startled, Shi Feixuan said, You also knew that Zhao Deyan is a martial art master of the demonic school. But this person is not Zhao Deyan at all; rather, he is the Tian Jun [heavenly lord] Xi Ying. It was because of this character Tian [sky/heaven] that he violated Song Ques taboo, and thus was chased by him for a thousand li, and nearly lost his life. It was probably a case of an evil man grinding an evil man!

    Xu Ziling blurted out laughing. Looking at it this way, Song Que ought to be more overbearing than Xi Ying, he said.

    Shi Feixuan smiled and said, Song Que is the older generations most famous handsome man in Wulin; he has always been arrogant, proud, considered everyone else beneath him, but he had never presumptuously killed the innocents. He is seductive in outward appearance, but burning hot in the inside. Moreover, he has enormous intimidating power toward the demonic schools; even Zhu Yuyan, Shi Zhixuan, and the likes would not easily provoke him. Were it not for his not-so-good predestined affinity, his reputation could not be below Ning Daoqis. Since his debut, Song Que has never been utterly defeated. Just by looking at how in the last twenty years no one dared to challenge him, we could infer his weight in Jianghu.

    Xu Ziling nodded and said, No wonder you think so highly of Song Shidao; turned out his background is that strong.

    He was eating and talking at the same time, like a rolling wind destroying the clouds he single-handedly swept away all the vegetarian dishes on the table. Shi Feixuan happily topped off his teacup; she said, Feixuan still have something Id like to ask you, but its a bit difficult to say.

    Xu Ziling asked in surprise, Do you want me to persuade Kou Zhong to wash his hands over the golden tray, and from now on retreat to the mountain?

    Stifling her laughter, Shi Feixuan said, That ought to be the biggest barrier between us. But what I would like to say is not directly related to that; rather, Id like to offer an advice. If you heed this advice, you wont miss anything.

    Xu Ziling groaned inwardly, Here we go again, but remaining indifferent, he said, Right now, even if Xiaodi tell Miss that I do not wish to listen, Miss would still speak bluntly; am I right?

    Shi Feixuan sighed and said, Cant you not be so defensive? Feixuan only wish that the two of you would dispel your idea of entering Guanzhong to fetch the treasure. I dont know how, but for some reason Li Shimin received the intelligence that very soon you are going to enter the pass. That is his territory. The Heavenly Policy Mansion has martial art masters as numerous as the clouds. If they ever discover your whereabouts, you can forget about leaving with your life intact. And it would be very difficult for Feixuan to intervene.

    Xu Ziling laughed calmly and said, Thank you very much for Miss concerns. But toward life and death, Kou Zhong and I have never cared too much.

    Shi Feixuan calmly said, Since thats the case, Feixuan wont say anything anymore.

    The originally harmonious atmosphere immediately vanished like scattering clouds, dispersing smoke.

    Shi Feixuan spoke softly, Miss Qingxuan currently stays at the Duzun Bao; would you let Feixuan keep you company for a while?

    How could Xu Ziling have the heart to firmly decline her softly spoken request? He had no choice but to agree.

    Inwardly he thought that after seeing Shi Qingxuan, he would leave Sichuan immediately, and would not linger any longer.

    The first month [of the lunar year] Lichun [the Beginning of Spring, 1st of the 24 solar terms] Yushui [Rain Water, 2nd solar term] festival, the second month Jingzhe [Insects Awake, 3rd solar term] Chunfen [Spring Equinox, 4th solar term] first; the third month Qingming [Pure Brightness, Tomb Sweeping Day, 5th solar term] Guyu [Grain Rain, 6th solar term] arrives, the fourth month Lixia [Start of Summer, 7th solar term] and Xiaoman [Lesser Full Grain, 8th solar term].

    The eleventh month Daxue [Great Snow, 21st solar term] and Dongzhi [Winter Solstice, 22nd solar term] Festival, the twelfth month Xiaohan [Lesser Cold, 23rd solar term] and Dahan [Great Cold, 24th solar term]; to the twelfth month the singing ends, the last year gone, the New Year comes.

    The melodious singing voice came from a fishing boat flitting pass; listening to it Kou Zhong was radiant with delight. Turning to Bu Tianzhi standing next to him, he said, No wonder people always say that we need to snatch a moment of leisure in the midst of busyness. In the past few days, even though I heard someone singing, I rarely paid attention to the lyrics of the song, but now I listened without missing a word. It can clearly be seen that the heart could select and filter what the person hears and sees to fulfill his desire.

    It was originally a battleship, which, by removing all the battle equipment it carried, was transformed in a single shake to become a merchant ship traveling along the Great River.

    Bu Tianzhi spoke in low voice, Could it be that Shao Shuai still cannot forget your love toward the Song Familys lady?

    Kou Zhong had never expected that he would ask such a direct question like that; his old face turning red, he cleared his throat and replied, That is more or less one of the motivations behind this trip, but it is definitely not the only reason. Ha! Did you see those seabirds flying in such a neat formation? Hey! Is it near the ocean already?

    Bu Tianzhi took a deep breath and said, I do smell the ocean. If we have tail wind, the day after tomorrow we ought to go ashore, and then after rushing for one more day, we could reach the Song Family.

    Kou Zhong said, After going ashore, I might continue the journey alone, Zhi Shu need not wait for me. With Zhi Shu in Liangdou taking care of our headquarters, I will feel a bit more at ease.

    Bu Tianzhi knew he could not defy him, without any better option he simply agreed.

    Kou Zhong asked, Other than the Song Family, is there any local power in Lingnan?

    Bu Tianzhi replied, Locally, other than the Song Family, there are three influential people, which are Panyu Countys Wang Zhongxuan, Longshui Countys Chen Zhifu, and Shian Countys Ouyang Qian. They are not chief of any gang or society, just the head of large and influential family for generations.

    Staring blankly, Kou Zhong said, Ouyang Qian is a woman?

    Bu Tianzhi laughed and said, She is a young and pretty, beautiful woman; a daughter who undertakes her fathers line of business. Within the Lingnan Wulin, her colorful name is rather outstanding, her hands really have real skill, I hear that she is not one to be trifled with.

    Kou Zhong sighed and said, Our country indeed occupies a vast territory; if I did not travel so far down to the southern border, I am afraid for the rest of my life I would not know that there is such woman not to be trifled with. To govern the whole country is really not easy.

    Bu Tianzhi said, If Song Que is willing to stand on Shao Shuais side, as long as he is willing to nod his head, I guarantee that all southern imperial leaders would surrender and pay their allegiance to Shao Shuai.

    Delighted, Kou Zhong said, That is the reason I wanted to pay a visit to Song Que.

    Smiling wryly, Bu Tianzhi said, The problem is that Song Que is a man who loves martial art above everything else. As luck would have it, Shao Shuai, your reputation as saber expert is also spread all over the world. You are dropping in just like this, the situation is highly unoptimistic.

    Shocked, Kou Zhong said, I am not dropping in to challenge him; he, the Senior, cant possibly use this style to receive me as his guest! Besides, I always have a good relationship with the Song Family.

    Bu Tianzhi sighed and said, In Jianghu, Song Que is well-known as one who is not amenable to reason, someone who is difficult to get along with; moreover, he is not someone who would buy anybody elses account. We are reaching the ocean! Would Shao Shuai like to go to the left, or do you want to go to the right?

    To the left was turning back into the East China Sea.

    To the right was the direction to Lingnan.

    In the end Bu Tianzhi could not help speaking out the burden in his heart, hoping that Kou Zhong would be willing to change his mind.

    The Great River continuously widening up. A flock of water birds flew in V-formation over the ships bow. The wind and the waves clearly grew in intensity.

    Kou Zhong had his gaze fixed on the junction between the ocean and the river ahead. Suddenly he reached out to grab Bu Tianzhis shoulder, and said with a wry smile, Nobody knew me better than Zhi Shu. If I do not go to Lingnan, even if I die in battle in the future, I will not close my eyes contentedly.

    What else could Bu Tianzhi say?

    Without any better option, he issued his order, instructing the ship, under full sail, to turn to the south, to sail speedily into the vast, boundless ocean.

  13. #293
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    Default Book 24 Chapter 13

    Book 24 Chapter 13 Ancient Castle Duzun

    Duzun Bao was located in the northern suburbs of Chengdu, on the southern bank of Wansui [lit. ten-thousand years, i.e. long live (the king, etc.)] Pond, lying from south to north, like a miniature Imperial City.

    The entire castle was made of stone bricks, giving the impression of a secured-city-protected-by-a-metal-wall-and-a-moat-of-boiling-water [idiom: well fortified].

    When they reached the other end of the drawbridge spanning across the river protecting the castle, Shi Feixuan halted her steps and said, Feixuan already completed my duty, Xu Xiong only needs to announce your name, someone will take Xu Xiong to see Miss Qingxuan.

    Taken aback, Xu Ziling asked, You are not coming in with me?

    Acting a bit helpless, Shi Feixuan replied, I am afraid Miss Qingxuan would not be so happy to see me, but please do not ask for the reason. Xu Xiong, please take a good care of yourself.

    Finished speaking, she laughed, tranquil and calm, before floating away. Xu Ziling stared blankly at her for a moment before walking across the drawbridge.

    On the already open wide gate of the castle, someone was already waiting respectfully. A big man wearing gorgeous brocade clothes, around forty years old, respectful, solemn and courteous. After listening to the name and surname of the visitor, he introduced himself as the housekeeper [or butler] of Duzun Bao, Fang Yimin. He said, Xu Gongzi has honored us by your presence; this is indeed our Duzun Baos privilege. This way, please.

    Although Xu Ziling felt that this whole thing was rather strange, he knew that Shi Feixuan could not possibly deceive him; thereupon he followed Fang Yimin to enter the castle gate.

    Beyond the entrance was a stone screen wall [across the gate of a house (for privacy)]. Rounding the stone screen wall, there was a big and tall stone memorial arch, where there were four large characters, Zhong Xin Li Yi [loyal, trustworthy, propriety, righteousness] written on it connecting the gate with a perfectly straight stone-slab pathway. On both sides of the pathway were evergreen pine and cypress trees [symbolic: steadfast nobility]. The buildings were hidden among the trees; the ambience was that of serene and hidden in depth.

    Fang Yimin smiled and said, It was only this morning that our Baozhu [fort master] learned that Gongzi has honored Chengdu with your presence, while also heard that Ba Meng people have the heart to make things difficult for Gongzi; thereupon he immediately went to call on Ba Mengs Feng Zhen to have a talk.

    Xu Ziling came to his senses as if he was startled from his dream; he said, Xie Baozhus profound love and generous intention, Xu Ziling is very grateful.

    Fang Yimin took him across a stone bridge spanning over a clear stream winding from the northwest. Just ahead was a cluster of towering buildings right in the middle of Duzun Bao, with interlocking wooden brackets between the top of the columns and the crossbeams high in the air, full of paintings and carving.

    Most of all, there were a pair of giant stone squatting lions mighty and vivid, under the stone steps of the main hall, about a zhang tall, increasing the strong mystery and dignity of the main hall.

    While walking, Fang Yimin said with laugh, It should be us who are grateful. This way, please.

    Amazed, Xu Ziling followed by his side. Going around the main hall, they took the dirt pathway, along the winding road [orig. twisting and turning like a sheeps intestine] leading toward the side garden. Both sides of the pathway were full of exotic flowers and rare herbs, brilliant and dazzling to the eyes under the bright sun, while providing delightful shade. Why are you grateful to me? he could not help asking.

    Fang Yimin smiled mysteriously and spoke in low voice, Very soon Gongzi will find out. Please forgive Xiaoren for not daring to disclose it in advance.

    The pathway ended. Ahead, the willow trees made the shade, the flowers gave the light [idiom: light at the end of the tunnel], another clearing appeared. Under the flowers and trees cupping their hands in salute [i.e. forming an arch], a tranquil, unique small two-story building, was located at this serene and elegant corner.

    Raising his cupped hands in salute, Fang Yimin said, Gongzi, please come into the small building to see Miss Qingxuan. Xiaoren takes my leave here.

    Just like that, he bowed and retreated toward the pathway, and disappeared around a curve.

    Xu Ziling was dumbstruck; it was quite a while later that he came to his senses and walked over toward the small building.

    Along the way, the most suspicious thing was that he never met anybody else of the castle. Were it not for Shi Feixuan personally taking him here, he would have suspected that Duzun Bao was setting up an ambush, or at least they harbored evil designs.

    Upon reaching the steps at the front door of the small building, Xu Ziling raised his voice, saying, Miss Shi, Xu Ziling is here to meet the appointment.

    Shi Qingxuans brimming-with-magnetic-force touching voice came from upstairs, Come up here!

    Xu Ziling finally put his keyed-up mind down.

    Frankly speaking, although he had 90% confidence that Shi Feixuan would not harm him, but due to past experience, especially with Shen Luoyan and Yun Yuzhen, two women, who bit the hand that fed them, inevitably he always felt a little uneasy.

    The major premise of the struggle over the world was that father and son, older and younger brothers, all could become enemies; much less just friends as strangers coming together by chance.

    Secretly he was ashamed for harboring suspicion toward Shi Feixuan. This fairy-like beauty deserved to be treated as someone outside the dust of the earth, she could not possibly be someone who drift with the waves and go with the flow [idiom: following the crowd blindly].

    He went up the steps one by one.

    The small reception hall downstairs was tidy, simple yet elegant, brimming with feminine, gentle and soft atmosphere. The place where Shi Qingxuan stayed momentarily, quite naturally, ought to be the ladys chamber of someone with status within the castle.

    He saw a flight of stairs leading to the upper floor.

    For some reason, suddenly Xu Ziling felt a little tense; perhaps because of the unusual atmosphere, or perhaps because this meeting was arranged by Shi Feixuan as the go-between [orig. one who threaded the needle].

    Thinking about when he first arrived at Chengdu the previous night, the breathtaking, enchanted feeling where, under the lantern light illuminating the sky, Shi Qingxuan lifted half of the veil covering her face, he could not stop his heart from jumping a bit faster.

    Xu Ziling took the steps upstairs. When he reached the second floor, immediately his breathing stopped, his heart was violently shaken.

    Kou Zhong was standing alone by the ships railing on the port side, casting his gaze on the boundless expanse of the ocean.

    A long forgotten memory was flashing through his mind at the speed of lightning or a spark of the flint.

    He remembered when together with Xu Ziling, which was hard to differentiate between elder and younger brother with him, were racking their brains on how to steal a boatload of salt under Hai Sha Bang, the evil tigers paws, and escape into the ocean. Afterwards they encountered the wind and the waves, and were forced to abandon the salt to save their lives. The scene was still vivid in his mind, as if it had just happened not long ago.

    Time is fleeting. His relationship with Song Yuzhi was just like that; in the blink of an eye they separated in sadness. This time he went to the Song Family to look for her, how would this unyielding, proud, coming from the Souths most illustrious aristocratic family, beauty react?

    The most fascinating, as well as the most terrifying, aspect of ones destiny was the vast, with no clear boundary, unpredictable development.

    Before the Mid-Autumn Festival, his heart has never moved him to go across a thousand li to see Song Yuzhi. But now he was on his way to Lingnan. Who could have foreseen it beforehand?

    All the reasons for his trip to Lingnan were only excuses for his longing to see the ones intended [usually female].

    Ay! Kou Zhong sighed inwardly. Whether it was the pursuit of hegemony over the world, or the pursuit of love, he might just be someone who overestimated his own capabilities, like a moth throwing itself into the flame, a self-destruction hidden behind the brilliance of the light.

    This moment Li Shimin was thrown far away at the back of his mind, yet there was no possibility for him to turn around. Before defeat in battle, before his death, he really wanted to see Song Yuzhi one more time.

    Currently, it was his only cherished desire.

    Shi Qingxuan was wearing double-lapel rounded collar, blue flower print womens clothing; graceful, confident and at ease, sitting in front of the windowsill, fixing her eyes indifferently at him. Lucid and elegant beyond compare, her pretty face, without the least bit of cosmetics, exuded some kind of hard to describe sad, yet beautiful and tranquil, expression. Her natural good looks inviting in a sisterly way, lovely and touching. Her outline was so defined as if it was carved with a knife, brimming with a sense of beauty, which complimented her icy flesh and jade skin. Speaking about her lucid-and-elegant-like-a-fairy appearance, any one tread, one hair [idiom: an iota] addition or subtraction would destroy this moon-appearance, flowery-countenance, which could only come from the work of the gods in heaven.

    Compared to her previous appearance with fake nose or rough, swarthy complexion, it could be said that her appearance this time was of a very different world.

    Shi Qingxuan finally kept her promise to let Xu Ziling see her natural beauty in all its glory.

    The blue flower print clothing she was wearing was of soft cloth; although it was a monochromatic print, there was a strong blue-white contrast that gave the impression of multitude of changes within the monochromatic world, a perfect blend of the contrast, an unusually unique color scheme.

    Her admired-by-the-world jade flute was so casually resting on her knee. The brilliant sun penetrated the forest tree sprinkled its light into the window, turning into a halo, which enveloped her inside the shade of bright red clouds in heavenly heavy atmosphere, so moving that it made people holding their breath.

    A hard to describe feeling welled up in Xu Zilings heart.

    Both Shi Qingxuans beauty and Shi Feixuans beauty made people feel that they could only gaze from afar and that it must not be toyed with disrespectfully. However, other than attracting people to admire and become intoxicated, the formers beauty also carried unusual cordiality.

    Immediately Xu Ziling was overwhelmed with a sense of inferiority; blushing with shame, he said, Xu Ziling has failed the task that Miss entrusted to me, in the end I lost the Print Scroll.

    Shi Qingxuan looked out the window, while comfortably leaning against the window frame. Remaining tranquil and calm, she said, Qingxuan has never owned it, what loss are you talking about? Xu Xiong was willing to take the long and difficult trek to Sichuan, Qingxuan is already very happy.

    Xu Ziling was not a man who was awkward with words, but this moment he was so awed by her exceptional countenance and beautiful appearance, unexpectedly he was speechless.

    Her jet-black beautiful hair was knotted into a simple bun on top of her head, fixed in place by a jade hairpin. She casually pushed a stray clump of hair, giving out another kind of unique, carefree, implicit charm.

    Under the printed cloth gown peeked out a pair of white jade, unblemished bare feet, amplifying her feminine, languid, alluring wind, field, and moon.

    Shi Qingxuan serenely said, Did you see that thing on the table?

    It was only now did Xu Ziling look at the desk in front of the window, where an unusually-styled thick-backed broadsword, with high and ancient grained [in wood] scabbard, along with a scroll of book, was laid.

    It was only now did he realize that all around him were bookcases, abundant with collection of books. Inwardly he was ashamed. His heart was moved, he asked, Is that the Overbearing Saber, the weapon with which Yue Shan made his name?

    Shi Qingxuan moved her gaze. Without a single blink she looked at the treasured saber on the table. Although her jade countenance did not show the least bit of emotion, her elegant eyeballs exuded a reminiscently sad expression. Letting out a gentle sigh, she said, Indeed this is the saber.

    Frowning deeply, Xu Ziling said, Miss good intention, I appreciate very much! But one, I do not like to brandish saber or play with sword; two, I am more afraid to carry such a heavy saber while being constantly on the move and trekking everywhere. Why does Miss still want to commemorate it?

    Shi Qingxuan softly said, Without it, how could you pose as Yue Shan?

    Xu Ziling laughed and said, Wasnt I without it before? For a moment even Zhu Yuyan was nearly deceived.

    Shi Qingxuan shook her head and said, This time its different. Zhu Yuyan only had a one-night tryst with Yue Shan, plus since she always loathed Yue Shan, naturally she was bound to forget him.

    Xu Ziling was stunned, This time? he asked, What do you mean this time?

    Shi Qingxuan turned her eyes toward him and said, This time the person you are going to deceive is another mortal enemy, the Tian Jun [heavenly lord] Xi Ying. If you showed the least bit of flaw, he would immediately see through it. No matter what, you have to strive for perfection.

    Xu Ziling understood. Smiling wryly, he said, After seeing Miss, I will leave Sichuan immediately. I am afraid ay! What could Zaixia say?

    A hint of fresh-flower-blooming, sunshine-cut-through-the-black-cloud smile appeared on Shi Qingxuans face, immediately driving away the grief-stricken thoughts, the melancholy of the face of the earth that put people in the extreme depth of sorrow. Tenderly, with naivet, she said, Look! Even I feel very sorry! You destroyed that many revered Luohan from those monks temple, plus you learned magical skill that no one has ever able to understand from them; how could you simply want to walk away? Arent you ashamed?

    Seeing her returning to her natural color, Xu Ziling could not help sitting dejectedly in front of the desk, staring blankly at the overbearing saber lying horizontally in front of his eyes, as if he was able to smell the reek of blood concealed within the blade of the saber; momentarily he did not have any word with which he could respond to her.

    Shi Qingxuans gentle and soft voice entered his ears, Ziling, oh, Ziling! How could you be so blind to the sufferings of others? Only by disguising yourself as Yue Shan will you be able to lure Xi Ying out. Abandoning this, there is no other brilliant scheme.

    Xu Ziling began to understand why Shi Feixuan arranged for him to meet Shi Qingxuan. Smiling ruefully, he said, Is not Miss someone who is outside of the affairs of life? How come this time you are being a zealous participant?

    Shi Qingxuan sighed lightly and said, This happens to be one of the burdens Qingxuan carries on her shoulders. Before his death, Old Yue has already dispelled his bitterness toward Song Que. Only Tian Jun Xi Ying, who harmed him that his family scattered and the people perished, even more, who had made him to become ruthless that he constantly kept in his mind. If Ziling could kill this demon for Qingxuans, and all the people who have been harmed by him sake, Qingxuan will be extremely grateful.

    It was only now did Xu Ziling notice that she called him Ziling. His heart burning, he sighed and said, Very well! Even I cannot find any excuse to refuse. But I do have an important matter to attend to; I can only stay in Chengdu for another seven days. After that, I will have to leave immediately. Miss, what do you think?

    Shi Qingxuan delightedly said, Seven days is definitely enough. First of all, you must follow my direction to make your Yue Shan disguise like a seamless heavenly clothes; the most important thing is that you give out the appearance of one who has mastered the Huan Ri Dafa [great method of changing the day]. And then, although there will still be differences with the real Yue Shan, other people would not doubt it, simply because those who knew Yue Shan knew him before his decisive battle against Song Que, before he was practicing the Huan Ri Dafa.

    Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, Was Huan Ri Dafa that formidable? If so, wont Xi Ying has no reason to drop by just to be target practice of Yue Shans saber?

    Dont worry, Shi Qingxuan said, This time Xi Ying dared to come back to the Central Plains, simply because he has mastered his own schools supreme xinfa, and no longer has anybody else in his eyes. By publicly announcing that he wanted to destroy the Temple, my guess is that he wanted to lure Song Que to come here. How could he be afraid of the general who had been defeated under Song Ques hands? It ought to be that he is itching to have you showing up.

    Thinking about the relationship between Wulin Magistrate Xie Hui and the Song Family, Xu Ziling was half-convinced, and cast his eyes toward the scroll lying next to the saber.

    Shi Qingxuan explained, This book was written in the last several decades of Yue Shans life after losing his martial art skill. In his spare time he recorded his understanding of the Overbearing Saber and Huan Ri Dafa, as well as some criticism pertaining to several human affairs. Hee ! This is your assignment for today.

    What more could Xu Ziling say?

    Shi Qingxuan continued, No need to put up a pained expression; I will stay here to keep you company, to tell all important events, big and small, in Yue Shans life completely to you, so that youll understand. I guarantee that your disguise will be like seamless heavenly clothes, without revealing any flaw.

    And then, slightly staring quizzically, she asked, You have not told me, do I look good now?

    Xu Zilings heart was swept away; he looked directly at her.

    Shi Qingxuan turned her pretty face away, to put her can-be-rated-as-the-stunning-beauty-in-human-world, beautiful, top-quality silhouette on full display, before slowly raising the jade flute toward her lips, and putting her delicate fingers on the holes of the flute. The beauty of her posture was not something that can be produced locally.

    Hundreds and thousands of indescribable feeling spread across Xu Zilings entire body. It was a feeling like he was sitting high in the clouds.

    In the past, when he was listening to her playing a tune on the roof of Wang Tongs big mansion, he had never thought that today he would come face to face with the beauty [orig. jade person]. Even more, that he would be able to listen to her bestowing a heavenly song especially for him. All of a sudden all other human affairs were forgotten. This little building has become his own city, his own country, standing alone, sealed off from the rest of the world.

    Everything that was happening anywhere outside this realms boundary suddenly became unrelated to him at all.

    Shi Qingxuan.

    Such a touching beauty.

    The flute was slowing down.

    Xu Ziling was completely lost.


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    Default Book 25 Chapter 1

    Book 25 Chapter 1 Intimate Talks in Moonlit Night

    Even with all the language in the world, it is still not possible to describe even one of ten thousand feeling and imagination that the sound of Shi Qingxuans flute bestowed.

    This time the music she played was completely different from the one at Wang Tongs mansion or inside the bat cave. If the former ones could be said as extraordinary flute art out-of-this-world-nearing-becoming-an-arhat level, then this time it was evolving-from-the-infinite-depth-of-the-heart-and-spirit level. Especially after Xu Ziling knew her lot in life, which was written out of without-choice-and-blood-hatred.

    Shi Qingxuans suave, dreary and fuzzy flute music was completely unaffected by any known musical composition or limited by any old clichs; rather, it was close to instinctively linked to the heavenly melody, wonderful sound that stemmed from the bottom of the heart of all whose heart was touched, the supernaturally fine craft that will draw you into the sorrowful, bewildering world of her music.

    It also allowed the listeners to set foot in the usually forbidden, or perhaps did not dare to set foot on, the restricted area of the heart. The fluctuating and rich flute sound came from the windowsill where she placed herself like a stem after stem of fresh flower blooming one by one, completely shattering any barrier between the rooms, inside and outside, of the small building. Reverberating, uplifting, irresolute as if it was outside the Ninth Heaven, faintly came through; swirling low as if it was lurking under water of the abyss and the ocean, so deep that it was out of touch. The sound of the flute was like the destiny tightly wrapped around Xu Zilings mind. Each note seared deep into a certain place of his innermost being.

    The notes were joined together as if made by the Heaven. There was absolutely no flaw. In contrast to the sound of her flute, all languages have become vague and general, lacking in strength. The sound of the music absorbing the soul, bringing out the hidden-deep emotion like a crop of bird responding to a call, which was hard to suppress.

    Staring blankly, Xu Ziling watched her playing her flute solo, just like she possessed all the touchingly beautiful sunset scenery outside the window; his heart was filled with unceasing tenderness and adoration toward her, he could not help lamenting his own confused and solitary life, soaring in a certain lost wasteland.

    On the boundless, wide earth, the mysterious and longwinded musical Pure Land [in Buddhism, usually refers to Amitabha Buddha's Western Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss (Sukhavati in Sanskrit)], Xu Zilings imagination was infinitely stretched out by eager expectation. For a moment it was as if he had just stepped across the boundary between life and death. For a moment it was as if he could never get away from the labyrinth of emotion.

    From the death of Fu Junchuo to the passing of Susu, life was like an endless nightmare. Scene after scene of memories emerged in his mind. His state of mind and the flute sound seemed like martial art masters exchanging blows in close quarters, each move matched the others, going forward side by side, bravely charging out of the unbounded depth of the spirit.

    The touching melody was coming out little by little, outstandingly pure and limpid like drop after drop of dew on the lotus leaf, followed by the heaven and the earth darkening down, until finally it wiped out the last streak of the setting sun from the flat earth in distant place outside the window, when the flute sound finally ended.

    Yet it also seemed like it could go on forever.

    Shi Qingxuan slowly put the jade flute back into her bosom. Her expression tranquil, as if the flute melody just now had absolutely nothing to do with her.

    The after-the-Mid-Autumn-night moonlight passing through the small cracks among the forest trees, sprinkling its light onto the windowsill, illuminating the side of her face, which was facing outward that it shone brightly, while the side facing Xu Ziling remained in the dark, emphasizing her graceful silhouette and posture. The rectangular window frame created a strong contrast to her tender and soft, touching feminine figure, forming an absolutely beautiful picture of her portrait melting together with the gentle and soft moonlight.

    The sad, serene, and touching flute sound still lingering on in his mind, his heart was so full that he had to suppress the unceasingly singular sentiment; unable to restrain his emotions, he sighed in admiration and said, Qingxuans song, I will never forget it in all my life!

    In his heart he was thinking of her name, unconsciously he just blurted it out.

    Hanging down her small cicada head, Shi Qingxuan spoke softly, Lets just say that you still have a little bit of conscience! It was the first time that I, with my heart and soul offer my skill to another person. Although the listeners are not limited to you alone, but in my heart I was playing for you alone.

    Xu Ziling was slightly startled; immediately he remembered that there must be other people in the castle, naturally they would also hear the flute sound wafting out of the small building, and this realization has given him another feeling.

    Shi Qingxuan looked at him. Without any concern she said, Xie Hui and his household have been asking me to play them a tune, but all along Qingxuan has been unwilling to comply. Today, relying on the most favorable method, nujia has fulfilled my promise to you, as well as their cherished desire; wont that be one move, two virtues? I hope you dont mind?

    The tone of her voice was gentle, elegant, warm and pure. The breathing in between the words was irresolute like a ripple of wave brushing the shore; her sweet voice itself carried an intense musical nuance, to say nothing of that it was spoken under this kind of warm moonlit night. Of course Xu Ziling did not care whether he was not the only one enjoying the immortal song. Besides, he was not a narrow-minded person. Your singing voice must be equally pleasant to listen to, he blurted without thinking.

    Shi Qingxuan laughed in spite of herself. Turns out Xu Ziling is so greedy, she said, After obtaining Long [short name for Gansu province] you still hope for Shu [short name for Sichuan]. Come! How about sitting in front of me? I want to look carefully what kind of man are you?

    Xu Ziling rose up to his full height; smiling calmly, he said, Are you thinking of a tooth for a tooth? After giving me a glimpse of the exceptional beauty, you want to take a look at me. But please dont look too carefully; I have shortcomings everywhere. As soon as you pay a bit more attention, you will be able to see everything.

    While saying that, he moved toward the windowsill. Shi Qingxuan raised her head. Her fragrant lips lightly pursed, she said, You are using the wrong words! It should be an eye for an eye. You are unable to take your eyes off me; staring at nujia like that, I have never felt so unnatural. You nearly made me jump down from the window sill, and then walk back straight to the secluded forest of the small valley.

    Xu Ziling stood by the windowsill; he only needed to move forward a little bit, and then he would be able to touch her fragrant body. Looking down, he saw her jade countenance, which seemed to blend the light and darkness perfectly was even more lucid and elegant; something that was definitely out-of-this-world. Her bright eyes, under the slender, curved eyebrows, looked even more beautiful. When her cinnabar lips were opening and closing, two pleasant pear-shaped dimples naturally appeared at the side of her cheeks. Her long, elegant, clean and beautiful neck looked even more like a thread, which suddenly pulled people in. Her snow-white skin was exposed.

    Hearing her talking in such a close distance, it felt as if she was breathing and whispering directly into his ear, or like a burst of cool breeze from a distance, gently and softly brushing the light muslin clothe. For the first time in his life an urge to embrace a woman into his bosom and lightly kiss her lips was welling up in Xu Zilings heart. Unexpectedly he was momentarily lost.

    And then, when he least expected it, Shi Qingxuan suddenly stretched out her delicate hand to push his abdomen down, and spoke a bit impatiently, Quickly take off your shoes, you bird-head!

    Xu Zilings heart was shaken, he came to his senses, and clumsily took off his boots. And then, sitting cross-legged on the other side of the windowsill, he leaned his back against the window frame, and said with a sigh, I never thought it would be this comfortable.

    The bright moon was hanging in the vast, empty night sky, high above the tip of the trees; it was so big and round. The natural world was so mysterious and boundless; when did all these start? When would everything end? Perhaps it has no beginning and no end?

    Shi Qingxuans fairy-like gentle and soft, simple and neat voice entered his ears, saying, I like nights; I dont like going to sleep. I love to see the sadness of the twilight, when the day turns into night, and then it enters the constant deep stillness. It could be a brilliant starry sky, or it could be a dark night with bleak wind and icy rain, or perhaps its like tonight, the moon is coming right into our face, drawing us to reflect on the beautiful scenery. That kind of feeling is so beautiful.

    Xu Ziling pulled his gaze away from the bright moon, and turned it toward her. He saw her staring fixedly at the night sky. The moon shed its light on her face. His heart severely shaken, he blurted out, You are really beautiful!

    Shi Qingxuan calmly met his eyes, gazed deeply at him, and sighed lightly while saying, This is the second time you are speaking frivolous talk toward me!

    Although she was saying frivolous, her intonation and expression did not carry the slightest implication of criticism or blame; instead, it made Xu Ziling feel that when he blurted out his praise without thinking in the bat cave that day, she treasured it in the depth of her fragrant heart.

    Yet he did not know how to respond.

    Shi Qingxuan lowered her pretty face to stare at the jade flute lying across her knees. With a tiny, barely audible voice, she said, I am very scared!

    Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, What are you afraid of?

    Shi Qingxuan raised her face and cast him a sidelong glance, slightly pouting, she said, Of course I am afraid of myself; could it be that I am scared of you? Idiot!

    Although Xu Ziling was unlike Hou Xibai, who was a veteran of a hundred battles in term of man-woman relationship, he was a keen and sensitive young man; how could he not hear the abundant affection in Shi Qingxuans voice? His heart warmed up, he nearly wanted to exploit the opportunity to reach out and deeply kiss her on the mouth. But as soon as he remembered this beautys distinct style and her unpredictable action, if his feeling was unexpectedly just a misunderstanding, certainly he would feel embarrassed and aggravatingly uncomfortable!

    Hastily suppressing this strong attraction, his eyes burning, he asked, Why are you afraid of yourself?

    Shi Qingxuan smiled sweetly; the dimples on her jade cheeks were growing deeper and more enchanting. A bit playfully, she said, Please forgive Qingxuan for holding off the climax for a bit; let me ask Ziling Xiong a question first. If you are willing to own up to the facts, perhaps Qingxuan would also be willing to tell you a secret.

    Xu Ziling was enjoying her intoxicating flirtatious expressions, but at the same time he was wary inwardly. Shi Qingxuan was quick-witted and crafty; he has had first hand experience on it. However, on the surface he remained calm and collected, as he spoke indifferently, Miss Shi, please bestow your instruction!

    Shi Qingxuan stared at him for half a day before appearing to be casual as she said, Is your heart moved by Shi Feixuan?

    Caught off-guard, Xu Ziling blurted out, What?

    Shi Qingxuans eyes were flashing with sharp light; her pretty eyebrows knitted lightly, she said, Just by looking at how you pretended not to hear clearly and stalling for time, Qingxuan already know the answer. Ziling Xiong does not need to answer!

    Xu Zilings old face blushed deep red. Smiling bitterly, he said, Miss Shi [Qingxuan] really should not raise this issue, because I really never associate Miss Shi [Feixuan] with the feeling between a man and a woman in the secular world; therefore, I lost my head when I heard the question. Hey! Why do you want to know?

    Shi Qingxuan replied indifferently, Shi Feixuan is just like my Niang in the past. The more she did not eating the food of common mortals [fig. placing oneself above the common populace], too high to reach, the more those who think too much of themselves greedily approached her; they thought that obtaining her favor is the paramount honor. Precisely because there was Niangs example that in this respect, Shi Feixuan is outwardly very careful. But that does not mean that she has more self-control than Niang.

    Xu Ziling took a deep breath and calmly said, If I say that my heart is not moved, I am being pretentious and lying. But that does not necessarily mean that it is related to the feeling between a man and a woman. On the plank walkway on my way to Sichuan, I saw a waterfall pouring down in torrents from the opposite cliff, so I stopped to watch; my heart was bewitched, my spirit intoxicated. It was only an appreciation of beautiful things, without any presumptuous demands to own it. Just like the bright moon in the sky, it is impossible to possess it alone.

    Shi Qingxuan smiled and said, You spent so much effort in explaining it, I wonder if you want to state your true feelings clearly to me, or do you want to know the secret on why I am afraid of myself?

    Facing her aggressive, sharp rhetoric, Xu Ziling was flustered; he tried to ward off by saying, Hey! I was just using analogy to explain it. Ay! Miss, how do you exactly want me to answer?

    Pfft! Shi Qingxuan broke into tender giggle and said, I was wondering if you have unrequited love toward Shi Feixuan. I practically dont care. Qingxuan has already made up my mind to spend my last years at the small valley, to accompany Niang in her grave forever. Other things I will not seek.

    Xu Ziling felt as if a bucket of cold water had just been dumped onto his head. Coming to his senses, he smiled ruefully and said, Thank you Miss for warning me; I nearly forget.

    Shi Qingxuan hung down her head and said with a soft sigh, All living things suffer simply because of love; there is no cliff on the ocean of passion, the sea of bitterness knows no bound. Has Ziling Xiong thought about it?

    Staring blankly, Xu Ziling shook his head and said, I dont know; I dont even want to know. Miss, please keep in mind that I will only stay in Sichuan for seven days. About luring the Heavenly Lord Xi Ying to kill him, shouldnt we start the preparation as early as possible?

    Kou Zhong came with Bu Tianzhi to the stern. Following his raised hand pointing out ahead, he already saw the shadow of a sail under the light of the dawn; knitting his brows, he asked, Whose ship is that?

    After sailing at top speed for one day and one night, one side of them was the desert mountain of the south, while on the other side was the boundless ocean. The ocean stretched out to east as far as the dark hue of color where the ocean meets the sky.

    Bu Tianzhi shook his head and said, One or two sichen since we left Chang Jiang and entered the sea, that boat has been on our tail. At that time there was a lot of traffic, so our brothers did not pay attention. But now of course it is an irksome presence.

    Kou Zhong said, Could it be that it is because we are adopting the same route?

    Bu Tianzhi replied, Originally I thought so too; thereupon I instructed the captain to steer away from the coast. Who would have thought that the other side not only also changed their course to follow, they even used some kind of peculiar sailing method, by exploiting the changing of direction to capture the wind and speed up; thereupon they are much closer now.

    Kou Zhong turned his eyes toward the land on their left; in the early morning fog he barely saw the vague silhouette. Nodding his head, he said, It appears that the boat is going straight toward us. Does Zhi Shu have any way to throw them off?

    Bu Tianzhi replied with heavy voice, If this ship is Jukun Flagship, I have a way to make the opposite side could only eat the wind. But currently our boat is just a medium sized sailboat that was designed to especially sail on the river. Compared to the opponents seagoing ship, we have great disadvantage; in terms of stability, capturing the wind and long distance navigation, we are a few notches under them. Moreover, the other side must have an expert in sea navigation on board in charge of their ship. With the current speed, they are going to catch up with us within five sichen.

    Racking his brains, Kou Zhong thought aloud, Who might they be? One boat against one boat, why are they so confident?

    It should be noted that Kou Zhong has become a world famous martial art master; if they did not have a bit of weight, they would not have dared to come to capture his tiger whisker. Conversely, with Kou Zhongs current strength, even if the other person has not seen him yet, he could more or less guess. This is what is called He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come. The one dared to come must have done self-introspection to determine if he had enough strength to deal with Kou Zhong.

    Bu Tianzhi said, As I see it, that huge warship must be, more or less, related to Li Zitong. Only his side would know that we have ships around the Chang Jiang, and only those who guard tightly the estuary of the Chang Jiang would have the greatest opportunity to intercept us.

    Shaken, Kou Zhong said, Zhi Shu is absolutely correct. They originally wanted to ambush us on our way out to the sea. At that time there may be more than one warship; however, unexpectedly we did not go up north to return to the East [China] Sea, but sailed to the south instead, which disturbed their plan greatly. Their well-laid plan ended up useless, only this huge ship with an expert in charge, albeit with difficulty, is able to follow and catch up with us. Oh! The ships style is a bit weird; it does not look like the ships we are accustomed to see in the Central Earth, it is also different from the Nanyang [Southeast Asia/southern seas] ships that moor outside Yangzhou. Could it be Khitans Ku Ge, that muddled egg ship?

    Amazed, Bu Tianzhi asked, Its still very far, unexpectedly Shao Shuai is able to see clearly?

    Kou Zhong was focusing his power on his eyes; nodding, he said, I have no problem seeing. The only problem I have is how to describe it to you.

    Can you start by describing the shape of the ship? Bu Tianzhi suggested.

    Kou Zhong mused inwardly that if he were able to see Ku Ge going back and forth on the ship, he would not have to waste too much time explaining; too bad the people on the ship that he saw were only moving about a little bit. Without any better option, he tried his best to explain, This guys bottom is pointy and its top wide, its bow raised up and its tail towering. It has three-story deck, there are only three sail masts, proportionately, they ought to be twice as high as our masts.

    Smiling wryly, Bu Tianzhi said, Every other ships structure is more or less like Shao Shuais description just now; to brave the waves and ride a boat, they must be so. Ay! Is there any other distinctive feature?

    Kou Zhong suddenly shook; he said, I can see their flag! The character on the top is definitely not a Han character; it looks a bit like the amulet that the Taoist priests write. Out of three characters, two have circles inside them; could it be Khitan text?

    Sneering, Bu Tianzhi said, How could Khitan people have such a giant seagoing ship? Oh, I know!

    Kou Zhong looked at him. Whose boat is it? he asked.

    Bu Tianzhis expression became grave; he stared at the ship without blinking, and said heavily, If I am guessing correctly, that must be Gaoli multi-decked flying warship.

    What? Kou Zhong cried out involuntarily.

    In the afternoon, Xu Ziling hurriedly left the city, and urgently traveled to the east for more than thirty li, to see Shi Feixuan on a small hill.

    Shi Feixuan happily said, Let Feixuan represents all the Dashi [big stone] Temples Dashi [great master] to express gratitude on Xu Xiongs willingness to undertake the task of upholding justice first.

    Did Miss Shi plan this in advance? Xu Ziling asked.

    Shi Feixuan modestly replied, I only had a rough plan, which still include a bit of risk; therefore, I must deliberate with Xu Ziling first.

    Miss, please explain, Xu Ziling respectfully replied.

    Astounded, Shi Feixuan said, Why is it that only after one day, Xu Xiongs attitude and expression toward Feixuan are like going out many times and repeatedly distant (or aloof) [not sure, perhaps a Chinese saying? 多出几重隔膜], so polite and regard me as an outsider, making me feel uncomfortable?

    Xu Ziling sighed inwardly. It could be said that last night he had his true love moved by a woman whom he truly admired; who would have thought that he bumped his nose on the ash? There is a common saying, after seeing ghost, afraid of the dark. And now, facing another woman of unmatched beauty that was able to move his heart, how could he not advance gradually and entrench himself at every step, being prudent and cautious, to avoid stepping on the wrong path?

    He said apologetically, I am just afraid to offend Miss; please forgive me, Miss.

    After looking deep into his eyes, Shi Feixuan said, Right now, other than me and Miss Qingxuan, everybody, including Xie Hui, thought that you have left Chengdu and are rushing back to the east. Therefore, if you shake your body and become Yue Shan, nobody would suspect you.

    Xu Ziling said, The first step ought to be: let the people know that Yue Shans honorable self has come. This matter, if you say its difficult then its not, but if you say its easy, its not either. Among the younger generations, not many knew than Yue Shan existed. Not only that, I have just left, and then Yue Shan arrives; wont people suspect it is too much of a coincidence?

    Shi Feixuan smiled and said, Feixuan is starting to understand why you and Kou Zhong are able to move unhindered across the world! The fact is: that is precisely the first difficulty. Although in his later years Yue Shan crossed over the secluded forest of the small valley, but for the last several decades he never left the valley even for half a step. On top of that, after he became famous, he had never been to Chengdu. It could be said that nobody knew him. Fortunately, you, this fake Yue Shan, had once appeared in Luoyang. To some extent, the affair of that Shang Cainu [talented woman] trying to track you down is also heard in here; therefore, Feixuan might be able to do a little bit of work to make the Chengdu Wulin know that Yue Shans honorable self has honor them with his presence.

    Xu Ziling suddenly said, Will Miss trust me, Xu Ziling?

    Startled, Shi Feixuan replied, Of course! Does Xu Xiong have some other suggestion?

    Taking a deep breath, Xu Ziling said, As a matter of fact, I do! After we part company, I am asking Miss Shi not to do anything for me, in fact, dont even mind me. I have a way to lure Heavenly Lord Xi Ying out and have him eliminated.

    Shi Feixuans pretty eyes lit up with astonished bright light; she spoke softly, Xi Ying is absolutely not an easy man to deal with. If he had really mastered the Ziqi Tian Luo [lit. purple cloud (auspicious portent in astrology) heavenly gauze (sifter)] of the Mie Qing Dao [lit. the way to extinguish feeling/emotion/passion], his power could possibly be above An Longs. Will Xu Xiong still have the confidence?

    Calmly, Xu Ziling laughed and said, If I die, I will have to trouble Miss to tell Kou Zhong. While you are doing that, please also tell him it would be best for him to return to his hometown and open a cake shop! This will be Xiaodis last words.

    Laughing aloud, he floated away.

    Shi Feixuan waited until his shadow disappeared in the forest on the slope before letting out a faint sigh and left in the opposite direction.

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    Default Book 25 Chapter 2

    Chapter 2 The Great Method of Changing The Sun

    During the day, the wind blows constantly from the land to the sea, but in the evening, the wind change direction to blow from the ocean toward the land.

    But this moment, the wind direction was changing indeterminately.

    The multi-decked, huge Korean warship has caught up to about a li and a half, and was still closing in.

    With grave expression Bu Tianzhi said, If we can hold on to tonight, I have confidence we will be able to throw them off.

    Surprised, Kou Zhong said, By saying that, Zhi Shu must have another reason. I thought that these two nights the moonlight was so bright, the day and the night are not much different.

    Brimming with confidence, Bu Tianzhi said, Just by looking at the changes in the wind power, I dare say that the weather will turn nasty very soon. At that time, the ocean will change into a dark world with no moon and stars. In the surging and high waves, it would be very extraordinary if the ship is not sinking, let alone talking about trailing the enemy.

    Finding it hard to believe, Kou Zhong looked up at ten thousand li clear sky overhead, then he looked down at the surface of the sea, where the great waves silently passed through the seemingly serene you-chase-me-and-I-after-you situation, with only a layer of fine white foam on the crown of the waves. I hope Zhi Shus expectation is correct, he said, Hey! We are not going to capsize, are we?

    Recalling the trip with Xu Ziling that time, where their boat unexpectedly crashed against the rock, he still had lingering fear.

    Bu Tianzhi replied, When the wind power is increasing, the only thing we can do is to adjust the course and to keep the wind coming from the stern. If we let the wind to blow on either side of the ship, the sail will be blown and the ship will spin, so much so that it will capsize. At that time, our comparatively smaller ship will have the advantage of rotating around more nimbly, unlike now, where we are being chased without being able to take a breathe.

    Kou Zhong looked up at the sun, which had just crossed over its zenith and was slowly going down toward the land on the west. Laughing, he said, How much confidence does Zhi Shu have that the weather will turn nasty?

    Shaken, Bu Tianzhi replied, Not even fifty-percent.

    Stunned, Kou Zhong looked over.

    The top deck of the battleship appeared to be coming at them in straight line, but it was actually constantly turning, as if they wanted to completely capture all the sea breeze. Each subtle change of direction caused the ships speed to increase suddenly; it was a brilliant skill, something astonishing to see.

    The enemys warship finally entered the dangerous one li range, brimming with threat, while their own counterattack weaponry, such as crossbow and arrow machines, trebuchets, and so on, were still collecting dust at the bottom of the hold.

    Xu Ziling had the Overbearing Saber and the scroll Yue Shan left behind, all of it, buried in the hole he dug on the muddy soil and filled the hole with dirt. After making some marking that he could recognize later, his entire body relaxed.

    He had some kind of intense rejection and resistance toward these inauspicious articles, which were soaked full of the reek of blood. He was even more reluctant to follow through Shi Feixuan and Shi Qingxuans scheme like a puppet on the strings.

    He wanted to rely on his own style and method to exterminate the Heavenly Lord Xi Ying, and then he would never have any reason to stay.

    Xu Ziling did not blame Shi Qingxuan as being ruthless at all; he only blamed himself for overestimating his own capabilities and for being silly to think that this multi-talented beauty would look upon him with favor.

    She played her flute for him showing her real face was no more than showing her appreciation for his willingness to pull his saber and render assistance [part of an idiom: to intervene when one sees an injustice]. In short, he just misunderstood her.

    Thinking about this, he felt ridiculous.

    However, whether it was when he arrived at Chengdu for the first time, or last night under the moonlight in the small building, he had felt an unprecedented emotion.

    The ocean of love has no shore, the sea of bitterness sees no bound!

    Even if the love between a man and a woman was a joy in life, but loving women like Shi Feixuan or even Shi Qingxuan would probably not bring any good result. Ouyang Xiyi, Wang Tong, and the others were good example.

    Xu Ziling inwardly determined that henceforth he would not have any wild fantasy toward Shi Feixuan and Shi Qingxuan.

    Thinking to this point, he felt more free [from worldly worries (Buddhist term)] instead; just like being pulled out from the mire where his feet were sinking deep, and was back to his usual confident and at ease, open-minded self. Once more his brains were working actively.

    Since bidding farewell to Shi Qingxuan the previous night and returning to his inn, with his sleep eluding him all night, he looked at the scroll Yue Shan left behind at least three times through, and just now he read it again one time through. Relying on his extraordinary memory, he remembered the content of the scroll as ripe as a melon that rolls from its vine [idiom: knowing something inside out].

    Other than recording the particularly profound personal narrative in Yue Shans life, which consisted of mainly the reflection in his later years over the Overbearing Sabers saber technique and the repeated examination of the Huan Ri Da Fa that he has yet to master, it was full of helplessness and heartache, which made people who read it feel sad.

    Although the aspiration was a thousand li away, but time was not on my side; what to do about it?

    On a side note, the ruthless-beyond-human-comprehension forty-nine-style Overbearing Saber was completely not to Xu Zilings liking. But Huan Ri Da Fa had touched him deeply, until later on it became the fantastic gongfa rolling around in the sea of his brain.

    According to Yue Shan, this set of fantastic gongfa was the result of exchanging his Overbearing Sabers secret with an Indian ascetic practitioner monk. Originally it had an Indian name, which Yue Shan renamed into The Great Method of Changing the sun.

    If Yue Shan were able to master it, he would shed his mortal body and exchange his bones, wash his muscle and exchange his marrow to be reborn. Not only his injury would be healed, he would also be able to, in a short period of time, recover his internal power.

    Unfortunately, until his body died, Yue Shan had not mastered even ten-percent of it. Speaking about harboring regret to the end!

    Through the scroll that Yue Shan left behind, Xu Ziling had the first contact with Shi Qingxuans mother, Bi Xiuxin. Every so often she would visit Yue Shan; oftentimes she even helped him studying the fantastic Huan Ri Da Fa, and Yue Shan dutifully recorded her view in his legacy scroll.

    In general, Huan Ri Da Fa could be divided into Six-Direction [north, south, east, west, up, down] Accomplishment of Religious Practice [again, Buddhist term]. In sequence, step by step, it meant going through the [spiritual] cultivation of qi, mai [meridian], lun [wheel or disk/ring/rotation anything round; Sanskrit: Chakra], as well as displaying the life potential, becoming one with the heaven and earth, seizing the creation [or good luck] of the heaven and earth; an unfathomable mystery.

    One thing that attracted his attention the most was Yue Shans broken and then stand, defeated and then succeed, two formulas [or mnemonic chant]. Too bad that although he was broken and defeated, all along he did not obtain any gain. The mystery behind this, even Bi Xiuxin, whose intelligent surpassed others, remained puzzled even after pondering over it a hundred times.

    But when looking at it the first time, Xu Ziling has been able to faintly grasping its crucial point; simply because other than Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan, there has never been anybody else undergoing the fantastic experience from the Jade Annulus of He Clan.

    He still had to ponder carefully.

    Thinking to this point, his heart was moved, and he walked away.

    With his sharp eyesight, Kou Zhong was able to see clearly the situation on board the enemys warship; even Ku Ges who was standing on the bridge expression brimming with hatred, did not escape his eyes.

    By Ku Ges side stood several wearing butterfly-like wide robe huge garment, and tall hat on top of their head Korean warriors, one of them was a woman.

    But Bu Tianzhis attention was at the two trebuchets standing extremely menacingly at the bow.

    The only reason to be happy right now was that the weather was gradually getting worse. The originally tranquil surface of the sea has turned completely into foaming, surging and splashing billows. It was as if roaring huge waves were attacking from four directions eight sides, the men at the helm of both ships had a bit of their hands tied, their feet bound feeling, and could only navigate the ship following the winds direction, no longer able to steer the ships toward their desired direction.

    The land on the west has already disappeared inside the dense clouds, all around them they could only see ocean waves full of dark green seawater and boiling white foam, the wind also felt icy cold to the bone, the wet salty air was brimming with danger.

    Boom!

    The stone-throwing machine on the left side of the bow of the multi-decked huge warship, which was at least double their sailboats size, ejected a piece of boulder, weighed more than a hundred catty, shooting across the empty space between the two ships, continuously rolling toward them.

    As luck would have it, the moment the rock shot out of the trebuchet, a huge wave happened to surge, so that the hull was leaning to one side, so that the powerfully destructive rock immediately lost its bearing and shuddering, it fell three zhang away starboard of the sailboat, provoking the men on Kou Zhongs side that everybody broke in loud cheer.

    Bu Tianzhi and Kou Zhong, however, looked at each other, realizing that their boat was within the range of the enemys rock-throwing machine. If just one of the rocks hit its target, in this dangerous sea area, it could be guaranteed that their sailboat would immediately be wiped out without any chance of escaping.

    Boom!

    A huge rock from the other trebuchet soared into the sky. This time it only missed their stern by a zhang. And this time nobody felt like cheering.

    The worst thing was that they could not evade by going around a curve, simply because both ships relied on the tail wind to maintain their balance, so that the pursuit had become a straight line. The question was when the opponents boulder would hit the hull of their ship.

    The sky gradually darkened.

    Can we release smoke? Kou Zhong called out loudly.

    Facing the wind, Bu Tianzhi replied, The smoke would dissipate as soon as it was released, plus we are downstream from the wind force. Whether we are scattering ashes or releasing the smoke, it would only be blown back on our face.

    While they were talking, the enemys warship was several zhang closer, so that the distance between them was no more that twenty zhang. All the warriors on the deck of the enemys ship had strung their bows with fiery arrows. As soon as they were a bit closer, and these hundred arrows were released at the same time following the tail wind, the consequences would be unbearable to imagine.

    The opposite partys archers were teams of two men each; needless to say, the man who did not hold the bow and arrow must be in charge of igniting the oil cloth wrapped around the arrowhead, and that made them even more worried.

    Drop the sail! Kou Zhong shouted loudly.

    Bu Tianzhi shook his head resolutely, The boat may capsize immediately, he said, We must think of some other ways.

    Kou Zhong suddenly pointed his finger like a halberd and shouted, Ku Ge boy! If you have enough guts, come a little closer and see me, Kou Zhong, cut your bird head off.

    Ku Ges loud laughter came through, saying, Little thief Kou Zhong, arent you being superfluous? Dont tell me that unexpectedly you cannot see that we are about to become intimate with you?

    Another man with Korean accent unhurriedly said, Ive long heard Kou Xiongs saber technique is unrivalled, Jin Zhengzong [lit. Korean Jin (Kim gold/metal) Orthodox School; probably his name (Kim Jongzong?)] of Gaoli wishes to ask for advice.

    Kou Zhong and Bu Tianzhis countenance changed at the same time. Neither one knew Jin Zhengzongs standing within Koreans Wulin, but just by hearing him speaking, although he did not yell and shout loudly like Ku Ge, his voice entered their ears by penetrating the wind and passing through the waves as if it was across calm land they immediately knew that this man has reached the great expert state of grand master level.

    Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, May I ask, what weapon is Jin Xiong most adept at?

    The refined-in-manner, build-like-ancient-pine-reaching-high-to-the-sky, outstandingly-talented-above-the-crowd, middle age man standing by Ku Ge aboard the enemys ship smiled and replied, Any weapon does not make any difference; using saber is not a problem either.

    Kou Zhong could only turn to Bu Tianzhi, smile wryly and say, Turns out we really bump into stiff hands. I was thinking of charging onto the opponents ship and wreak havoc over there, but now it seems that this plan will not succeed. There is only one other plan.

    Surprised, Bu Tianzhi asked, What plan?

    Kou Zhong smiled and said, The small boat mine [as in weapon (or thunder)] taught by Lu Miaozi.

    Under the setting sun, Xu Ziling again went to the Luohan Hall of the Great Stone Temple.

    The hall still looked like last night, where rubble of gravel and fragments of wood were everywhere. The number of Luohan statues remained intact was no more than three hundred, but for Xu Ziling, this was already more than enough.

    After reading Yue Shans legacy scroll, he gained another more in-depth view of these Luohan, and he began to have a bit more understanding of the significance of the word Print in the Immortal Print Scroll.

    Led by Bi Xiuxin, Yu Shan understood the interpretation of the handprint in Buddhism.

    Bi Xiuxin pointed out that on the outside, the handprint goes through the universe; inside it pierces through the five viscera and six bowels, and the eight extraordinary channels.

    It was merely a three-sentence interpretation, but it has broadened Xu Zilings understanding of the opponents handprint indefinitely. In the past, when he was confronting the enemy, he would automatically bring out the true qi within his body and combine it with all kinds and sorts of handprint. At that time, he just knew that it was so, but he did not know why it was so. Now that he obtained Yue Shans comprehensive review from the scroll he left behind, he began to know the so-called body, mouth, mind, three secrets in cultivation method.

    The handprint was precisely the most important link in the body print.

    The fingerprints, from the pinky finger to the thumb, are earth, water, fire, sky, and wind; the five greats. The right hand represents intelligence; the left hand represents decision. Passing through both hands ten fingers, together with qi, mai, lun, linked together inside and outside becoming the jing [channel] that is cultivated and trained within the body, advancing as Six Achievements of the [Religious] Practice was precisely the essence of The Great Method of Changing the sun.

    The Day here referred to Da Ri Ru Lai [the Great Sun of the Tathagata; or Vairocana, Buddha of supreme enlightenment]. Changing the Sun had the meaning of exchanging the Great Sun of the Tathagata, implying the deep meaning that the body will become a Buddha [i.e. attaining enlightenment].

    Naturally Xu Ziling did not have the intention of becoming an immortal, of becoming a Buddha. Its just that he was very interested in this secret method that came from Tianzhu [the Indian subcontinent]. The most wonderful thing was that it would match perfectly like seamless heavenly clothes with the path/channel of his own cultivation of martial way.

    Yue Shan was accustomed to the Overbearing Saber; learning the Hand Print was as difficult as splitting the mountain, observing the ox. Moreover, how could changing the usual practice of ones own internal energy method be easy?

    But in this aspect, for Xu Ziling it was like an easy drive on a familiar path, outstanding and very fitting.

    The qi, mai, lun of The Great Method of Changing the sun refer to five qi, three mai, seven lun, which was the Tianzhus internal energy cultivation system, which was of different-tune, same-skill, but was also vastly distinct from the Central Plain Wulins Eight Extraordinary Channels.

    The Five Qi were ming gen [lifeblood], shang xing [going up (against the current)], ping [flat/level], bian xing [going on an angle], and xia xing [going down(stream)], the five qi, referring to the internal qi and external qi passing by the three-meridian seven-chakra channel.

    The Three Mai were middle, left, and right, three meridians. The middle meridian followed haidi [seabed] to the top of the head, by means of spinal cord link, similar to the Central Earths Du Meridian.

    The left and right, two meridians both started at the gaowan gong [testicle palace], running parallel with the middle meridian, linking up with the seven chakra.

    The Seven Lun were similar to the Central Earths acupoints; from the top going down were dinglun [sahasrara, the crown or fontanel chakra, residing at the top of the skull], meijianlun [ajna, the brow or third-eye chakra, residing on the forehead], houlun [visuddha, the throat chakra, residing in the neck], xinlun [anahata, the heart chakra, residing in the chest], qilun [manipura, the solar plexus chakra, residing in the upper abdomen], shengzhilun [svadhisthana, the navel or libido chakra, residing in the genitals], and haidilun [muladhara, the root or Saturn
    chakra, residing in the coccyx (tailbone)]. The last one, haidilun, was the Central Earths huiyin [perineum] acupoint.

    As soon as Xu Ziling saw this complex and abstruse method of cultivation, he understood; the only remaining problem was how to put it into practice.

    Not only these statues inside the Luohan Hall were designed according to the drawing scroll by the Indian Holy Monk Kumarajiva, they actually corresponded wonderfully with The Great Method of Changing the sun.

    With his hands behind his back, Xu Ziling slowly walked toward one of the revered Luohans side, which he carefully looked at. This statue had a total of six arms. Two arms were stretched left and right with the palms put together above its head, two arms made fists intersecting with each other in front of the pit of its stomach, and the last pair of arms was placed between its eyes in such a way that the thumbs were touching the space between its eyes.

    The face of the statue showed a deep contemplative expression. If it were in the past, Xu Ziling might have brushed it off as some kind of Buddhist images pose. But now naturally he knew that it passed through different handprints, linking up the meijianlun, the xinlun, and the dinglun, three qi.

    The most brilliant was that he clearly understood the relationship between different handprints and different acupoints and chakras.

    Nearly three hundred revered Luohan, because among them there were more than a dozen multi-armed Luohan, there were up to four hundred different handprints, none of them were identical. To Xu Ziling, it was like someone who was poor most of his life suddenly had someone had him to carry a treasure. This kind of excitement really could not be explained clearly with words.

    Suddenly, The Great Method of Changing the sun was reduced to some kind of rudimentary skill that one has to learn as one entered a school; or perhaps like opening up the key to a certain Buddhist schools secret keyhole. These Luohan were the real treasure.

    Shi Qingxuans expressing her true feelings, Shi Feixuans appearing to have no affection at all, everything became insignificant and had no related importance.

    Unconsciously he put his palms vertically together, the hollow of his palms slightly empty like blooming lotus flower. And then both palms faced upward to form a well, as if he was scooping up water. Suddenly the two palms were put together with the fingers intertwined with each other, changing into all kinds of different handprints.

    Ten thousand thoughts returning to one.

    While everything became illusory, his mind turning blank, fuzzy, deeply distant and indistinct, the division between the inside and outside thoroughly crumbling, extremely empty and seriously still, one by one the falun [Eternal Wheel of life in Buddhism] inside his body was turning. The Secret to Long Life, the Jade Annulus of He Clan, and the Great Method of Changing the sun, by means of different handprints, fused together, entering me, and I am inside, the man and the Heaven became one.

    The skiff from the ship, carrying Kou Zhong, was dropped into the waves-surging-forth, the angry sea. When it looked like it was about to flip sideways, Kou Zhong, standing on the stern, suddenly sent out his power. The bow immediately rose up and the skiff regained its balance, from the trough of the wave it powerfully dashed to the peak of the wave, and then changed direction horizontally across and swept away, as if it was flying on top of the waves, gliding at an angle straight toward the enemys warship.

    The people of both sides were dumbstruck to watch this marvel.

    Actually, not even in his dream did Lu Miaozi ever think of this small boat mine scheme. It was purely Kou Zhongs invention, while no strategy left to try to break away from being trapped in difficult situation. At first he did not have any confidence; he was only relying on his familiarity with the property of the sea waves when a huge wave was crashing against the beach, and obtaining a the-heaven-opened kind of marvelous method on how to counterstrike.

    This moment he discovered that he was able to really utilize the small skiff to glide over the waves, immediately his courage soared. The leg he put on the back applying the power, the bow immediately changed direction, slipping out from the gap outside the bottom of the wave, swift like a speeding horse it slid through the trough of the wave and dashed toward the crest, coming at an angle toward the multi-decked huge warship approaching fast due to the tail wind, rapidly gliding along the top of the waves toward the starboard of the warship like a shooting arrow.

    It was only then did Ku Ge come to his senses; he understood Kou Zhongs bad intentions.

    If the skiff filled to the brim with Kou Zhongs true power borrowing the momentum of the waves crashing into their ship, it would be disastrous.

    Someone, it wasnt clear who, shouted some order that Kou Zhong was unable to make sense of presumably it was in Korean, and the archers on the side facing Kou Zhong shouted in chorus and simultaneously shot the powerful arrows strung on their bows.

    Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, You must have forgotten that those are arrows wrapped in oilcloth!

    Unexpectedly he did neither dodge nor hide, just by relying on the true qi protecting his body he let the arrows hit the skiff and his body, without even wrinkling half of his eyebrows.

    On Bu Tianzhis side, everybody watching wiped the cold sweats from their brows on his behalf. Seeing him remaining calm without suffering any damage, they exploded into shaking-the-heavens cheer.

    When the skiff was two zhang away from ferociously crashing onto the port side of the bow of the enemys ship, from the enemys warship came a loud shout, which covered all the sound of the wind and the waves. That man Jin Zhengzong unexpectedly dropped from the sky like a deity, with a long spear in his hands, as if he wanted to attack Kou Zhong directly, but actually he was stretching out his right foot, with the intention of changing the direction of the shooting skiff before its bow collided with the warship.

    Kou Zhong roared in laughter and said, Too late!

    Adding power to his foot, the skiff suddenly sped up, while he himself sprang off the skiff to meet Jin Zhengzong, who was still flying in the air toward him head on.

  16. #296
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Book 25 Chapter 3

    Chapter 3 The Battle Over Angry Sea

    Dang!

    Sparks flew, producing the buzzing sound of gold and iron [or simply: metals] colliding against each other, which even the wind and the waves could not overcome.

    Even if Jin Zhengzong did not want to admit for ten thousand reasons, but whether in term of timing, or accuracy of the angle, Kou Zhong had displayed some kind of resembling-nature-itself, unassailable imposing manner. And it was dangerous to the extreme point, so that the long spear he carried was completely useless; on the contrary, it rigidly pushed him back to the multi-decked ship.

    What caught Jin Zhengzong unprepared the most was the way Kou Zhong used the Moon in the Well; while the momentum rose up to its peak, unexpectedly he miraculously dropped three chi in the air. Not only his spear hit the empty air, he was forced to block the saber strike from a distant in panic, causing him to lose the key moment, while also failed to stop the opponents crashing skiff thunder.

    Borrowing his falling down momentum, Kou Zhong used the tip of his toes to tap the stern of the boat, but he already powerless to raise more energy, and only able to utilize the reaction force to propel himself cartwheeling sideways to evade, and then soaring across the surface of the sea toward the already thrown boat.

    Although Jin Zhengzong was confused by Kou Zhongs unique schools skill of changing direction in the blink of an eye, and thus was thrown into a difficult situation, his ability to counterattack in split-second changes was still not a small matter at all. In the narrow space, close distance combat, the tip of his spear moved suddenly to the left and to the right, so that it was quite strenuous for Kou Zhong to deal with it. Were it not that Kou Zhong already gained the initiative, also that it was a fight in the air, he would be done in only one move. If the fight continued, he might not have much of a chance.

    The hand with which he held the saber, beginning from the five fingers all the way to the jianjing position [on the shoulder], all the meridians and acupoints were unbearably aching and was numb. It was only when this foot tapped the stern of the skiff did he manage to apply his qi to neutralize the opponents spear power invading hid body. From this, it could be seen how profound and strong the opponents power really was.

    Boom!

    Propelled by the waves momentum, enhanced by Kou Zhongs spiraling energy, the skiff pitilessly crashed against the starboard side of the warship, about five, six chi from the bow. Wood splinters splashed everywhere.

    On the other side, Bu Tianzhi released a long rope, which extended perfectly straight for five zhang, reaching the middle between the two ships, just in time to meet Kou Zhong, who was flying back.

    Crash!

    Violent rain as sharp as the arrows fell down wildly from the brewing, accumulated black cloud above. Immediately the sea turned dark and the sky hazy; the murky and boundless wind and rain completely enveloped men and boats.

    Originally Kou Zhong was still afraid that the opponent would shoot fiery arrows, but now naturally he did not have to worry about it anymore. He was about to reach out and grab the rope shot by Bu Tianzhi when suddenly from behind him, in the midst of the wind and the rain, there was thousands and hundreds streaks of bright light filling the whole sky to attack him.

    In that instant Kou Zhong already knew that he could not evade. Promptly he somersaulted and stretched out his foot to tap the end of the rope, which originally could take him back to the safe place and changed direction to leap high into the air, to dodge the opponents swift-and-severe-without-equal strike.

    This moment, due to the light tap by the tip of his foot, the long rope changed shape from a line to a wave, so that Jin Zhengzong, who was coming to pursue and attack, hit an empty space. But he remained calm. The thousands and hundreds spear shadows converged into one, swiftly tapped the tip of the rope, which was withdrawn back like a spirit snake. Unexpectedly he was able to borrow the reaction force to soar at an angle and continued his attack toward Kou Zhong, who was still flying in the air.

    Watching this, everybody, from both sides, was stunned. The howling wind and torrential rain, the perilous situation that could make their boats capsized were completely forgotten, but they all felt that this desperate battle on the crest of the waves was strange and dangerous that it made them felt as if they were out of breath.

    Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, Jin Xiong is really brave!

    While talking, the Moon in the Well in his hand hacked down and hit the spear, which was moving up to pierce his abdomen.

    The saber and spear clashed; in the dark sea sparks of sharp light were clearly visible as beautiful as fireworks, while also giving up the impression of intense, full-forced battle.

    Qiang!

    Both combatants felt like they were struck by lightning.

    Kou Zhong shot up, Jin Zhengzong was unexpectedly able to borrow the reaction force to move sideways toward his own ship, while at the same time hurled his spear, which swiftly flew toward Kou Zhong, who was still ascending into the air.

    Kou Zhong groaned inwardly, knowing that this spear has sealed his fate that he would not be able to return to Bu Tianzhis side.

    It should be noted that both ships were sailing at high speed in the storm. If he borrowed the impact force of spear and sabers collision to cast himself toward the rope that Bu Tianzhi shot for the second time, there was great possibility that he might be able to catch the end of the rope again.

    However, he simply could not but block the spear that Jin Zhengzong hurled at him. And this split second delay was enough to bring the ship farther away, so that there was absolutely no chance that he would be able to catch this life-saving rope.

    Making a prompt decision, Kou Zhong shouted loudly, Zhi Shu, you go first. Kou Zhong will catch up with you later.

    Like lightning flashed, the saber mercilessly shot down the hateful spear into the billows below. At the same time, he borrowed the reaction force of the impact to shoot at an angle toward the multi-decked ship full of the enemies coming rapidly toward him.

    Jin Zhengzong was one step ahead of him landing on the deck. A large amount of seawater was bursting into the hold from the crack opened by the skiff crashing against the hull. The skiff was still deeply embedded on the starboard bow, destroying the balance of the hull, so that the ship was helplessly jolting and spinning between the waves.

    The first to meet Kou Zhong was Ku Ges double axe, but how could Kou Zhong be stupid enough to disregard everything and meet this attack head-on? Casually his saber hacked down on him, sending Ku Ge tumbling on the deck, while at the same time he borrowed the reaction force to shoot sideways, to evade more than a dozen Korean martial art masters, men and women.

    If any one, or maybe two, of these people had seventy-, eighty-percent of Jin Zhengzongs power, he definitely would not last long.

    As he was forced to visit this ship, he already made up his mind that after wantonly wreaking havoc for a little while, he would immediately jump down into the sea to flee for his life. Even if he had to swim for ten days and ten nights before he could reach the land, it would be better than having his corpse being chopped into pieces by the people on this ship.

    With his feet firmly planted on the solid deck, he rushed toward the viewing platform above the bridge. Four, five Korean warriors swarmed on him. Without even looking, Kou Zhongs Moon in the Well flashed, one after another the people along with their weapon were hacked down by him that they fell to the left and tumbled to the right in utter defeat.

    The hull started to tilt. When it looked like it was about to capsize, suddenly it regained its balance.

    Kou Zhong seized this opportunity to rush toward the observation deck. He crashed and broke the railings, and then from the other side he somersaulted toward the passageway on the deck next to the bridge to avoid the enemies from four sides, eight directions swarming toward him amidst the wind and the rain.

    At this time both the sea and the ship were enveloped in pitch-black darkness; the heaven and the earth were filled with the shaking-the-ears-and-deafeningly-rumbling noise of the rolling waves. In the raging sea the enemys shout appeared to have the spirit but without the power, so that everybody could only wait helplessly for the next attack of the wave.

    Kou Zhong was about to jump into the sea when a net of sword qi came down on him.

    Relying on his instinct, Kou Zhong knew that hid formidable opponent, Jin Zhengzong, has arrived. On the surface this man looked scholarly and gentle, who would have thought that in fight, he was even more dauntless than anybody else? Promptly the person followed the blade with two strikes in succession, each strike with endless changes following it.

    Clang! Qiang!

    It was only then did Kou Zhong manage to break away from the sword net and staggered backward. He laughed aloud and said, Jin Xiong indeed did not brag; you are outstanding in using any weapon.

    Without saying a word, Jin Zhengzongs sword sprinkled several dozens sword flower; his feet moved suddenly to the left, suddenly to the right as he attacked violently.

    Kou Zhong was fighting and retreating at the same time. He found that Jin Zhengzongs sword move was substantially different from his spear technique; it was brimming with pliable and tough feeling. Inwardly he shivered slightly, knowing that the opponent was afraid he might escape into the sea, hence he intentionally entangled Kou Zhong to the death.

    At this point both sides could only rely on their night vision to see, albeit with difficulty, the opponents figure in the midst of the rainstorm; as for other changes, they could only guess purely by instinct.

    The multi-decked ships leaning was even more severe. From everywhere came the sound of objects being overturned and broken, mixed with alarmed cries and screams of the people; the chaos was like the arrival of the end of the world.

    Other people have disappeared from view, only the two of them remained in the life and death battle.

    Bang!

    A giant wave crashed against the side of the ship; seawater assaulted both mens head and face with the tremendous power of ruthless nature. Even with both mens stable stance, they still failed to stand up, and were thrown against the wall of the cabin.

    Kou Zhong began to understand why Jin Zhengzong was the only one coming to him to give him bad luck. Taking advantage of the wall, he climbed onto the observation deck above the bridge. The scene entering his eyes made him could not help but was shocked.

    The sea waves have conquered both the ship and the people.

    Like solid walls the huge waves from four sides, eight directions were closing in with a toppling-the-mountain-and-overturning-the-seas momentum. Because water has entered the hold, the deck under the multi-decked ships observation deck was already under water, which was still pouring down in torrents.

    The people on the ship were lifted and thrown down, and tossed around sideways like small figurines. The waves rose up and down in countless changes, so much so that there were waves above the waves. In the dark no-moon-and-no-stars, amidst-the-howling-wind-and-torrential-rain night, the originally firm and imposing multi-decked ship has been reduced to a wreck with cuts and bruises all over.

    After leaning his head sideways to dodge a cask, which flew from who knows where, once again Kou Zhong had to face Jin Zhengzong, with a sword in his hand who was coming to attack.

    By this time Kou Zhong no longer had the desire to continue fighting zealously. Feigning a move, he flashed toward the bow and leaped down onto the deck.

    Like a shadow attached to his body Jin Zhengzong ran after him, the tip of his sword was aimed at Kou Zhongs back, as if Kou Zhong has become the sworn enemy who killed his father.

    As soon as he landed, Kou Zhong rolled over, simply because the ship was leaning to the left, plus there was a huge wave coming, so that he was unable to stand.

    The entire multi-decked ship, which was as if it was soaring above the clouds and sailing in the mist sank into the valley between two giant waves. And then, above, below, and all eight directions, were all seawater. While Kou Zhong was tossed around without him able to do anything, suddenly the seawater receded in all directions, and then the multi-decked ship emerged above the surface of the water. The torrential rain was still pouring down like it was coming from an overturned tray. This kind of confused-and-disoriented, could-not-tell-right-from-left feeling was really difficult to describe even one in ten thousand.

    Bang!

    Kou Zhong finally crashed onto the ships railings.

    By this time everybody was concerned over their own little life, no one had the time to care who was the enemy, and who was their comrade.

    In the dark, Jin Zhengzong leaped up near the ships upper deck; he finally gave up his continuous quest for Kou Zhong.

    Crash!

    Amidst the shouts and the screams, the mast, under continual beating of the gale broke off, carrying the unbearably worn-out, suffering-mortal-wound sail with it, and fell in the direction of Jin Zhengzong.

    Kou Zhong jumped up and cried out, Watch out!

    Making a somersault, he plunged into the roaring angry sea, while crying out in his heart, Ladies and Gentlemen, please take a good care of yourself!

    Xu Ziling suddenly woke up.

    Actually, using the word wake up was not too appropriate, because he had not slept at all.

    It was some kind of an indescribable different from when he trained the Secret to Long Life in the past mental state, his body felt fuzzy, relaxed and peaceful, where he saw motion within the stillness, where time seemed to stop completely.

    The reason he woke up was because he heard the rustling noise of someone sweeping the floor outside the Luohan Hall.

    His heart shivered greatly. Who the hell was out there? If it was the Heavenly Lord Xi Ying, he would not have such good intention. If it was a monk who came back to clean, how come he ignored the debris filling the whole hall, but only cared about sweeping the dead leaves outside the hall?

    Even if he was ignorant of the disastrous situation inside the Luohan Hall, the sweeping ought to start inside the door of the temple hall; he could not have been this finicky.

    All kinds of questions were flashing through his clear, bright, and empty mind at the lightning or sparks from the flint speed.

    Slightly opening his eyes, Xu Ziling was immediately shocked. Turned out the sky has turned completely bright.

    That was to say that he had been sitting in the Luohan Hall for the entire night, yet it felt like just a short moment, which was hard for him to believe.

    Xu Ziling slowly rose up to his full height and walked over toward the hole on the wall that An Long crashed against the previous night. Looking out, he saw the sun has already risen to the top of the pagoda. Under the bright sun, a stooped-backed old monk wearing grey robe was engrossed in sweeping the flower garden.

    With a slight smile Xu Ziling said, Dashi, good morning!

    The old monks crooked back suddenly straightened up; he immediately became magnificently tall and straight, there was no longer any sign of decrepit old man. But he did not turn around. Neither warm nor fiery, he spoke leisurely, Its not early anymore! Shizhu [benefactor] must not blame laoxiu [(sic) lit. old sleeve; perhaps its a typo, usually it was old cassock] for disturbing you.

    Xu Ziling already knew that this was not an ordinary monk; very likely he was a very able person of Buddhist school who came here in response to Xi Ying. If it was so, then there was a great possibility that he was of the Four Great Holy Monks level; otherwise it would differ in no way from throwing away his life.

    Embarrassed, Xu Ziling said, Xiaozi [this kid] must be hindering Dashi from cleaning up the Luohan Hall; Im the one who should have asked Dashi not to blame me. Hey! How about I take the responsibility of cleaning up inside?

    The grey-robed monk slowly turned around and said cheerfully, Its great that Shizhu has that intention! Sweeping the Buddha Hall is laonas [old cassock] responsibility; how could I borrow someone elses hand?

    Staring intently at him, Xu Ziling saw that this old monks eyebrows had turned completely white. On his stately countenance, there was an air of auspiciousness and peace. The bridge of his nose was at least a cun higher than average person. His countenance looked strangely clear and unique.

    His eyes were half-open half-closed; the expression showing in his eyes was reserved, giving Xu Ziling the impression that the opposite party was a very able person with an extremely deep spiritual cultivation.

    Slightly shrugging his shoulders, Xu Ziling calmly said, Since Dashi insists, then I thank you for Dashis trouble. Xiaozi does not dare to disturb you much longer.

    When he turned around to leave, suddenly a boom resonated on his eardrums. Right this instant, his mind turned into a blank space. Other than this noise, there was nothing else. Stranger still, the Du Meridian on his entire spine seemed to vibrate as if it was of the same natural frequency with the sound; it was extremely comfortable, the feeling was weird beyond human comprehension.

    Shaken, Xu Ziling halted his steps and said with a sigh, Dashi, this move is very formidable, what kind of gongfa is that? I am afraid it is not inferior in any respect to Zhu Yuyans Tianmo Sound.

    The monk did not answer him directly; he spoke indifferently instead, This is the Buddhists incantation which power can subdue devil and overcome demon, the key is the great diamond [or Vajra] wheel seal bound in my hand, through special musical incantation that can excite the qi meridian in Shizhus body to vibrate correspondingly, and produce an unfathomably positive effect.

    Still had not turned around, Xu Ziling said, All of a sudden Dashi bestowed Xiaozi incantation blessing; whats the purpose of this?

    The monk kindly replied, Because Shizhu is a man of great knowledge, great intelligence.

    Xu Ziling laughed unhurriedly and said, If Dashi is implying that Xiaozi and Buddha are brought together by fate, you are wrong! Although Xiaozi has respect in my heart toward Buddhism, I do not have any intention of either entering the door or practicing the religion [usually in Buddhism context].

    The monk spoke softly, If the realization is pure, that is already practicing the religion; how could there be any difference between entering or exiting the door? Coming into contact with the world is the same as withdrawing from the world; entering the door is the same as exiting the door, ordinary heart is the same as Buddhas heart.

    Xu Ziling turned around in astonishment, How should I address Dashi?

    The monk put his palms together and said, Zhen Yan [lit. true statement, i.e. incantation in Buddhism].

    Xu Ziling was emotionally moved, Turns out its Zhen Yan Dashi, he said, No wonder you are proficient in Zhen Yan Zhou Fa [lit. incantation and magic spell method]. Dashis words imply Buddhism subtleties; I wonder if you wish to enlighten me, this mischievous piece of rock?

    Zhen Yan Dashi smiled and said, Not only Shizhu is not a mischievous piece of rock, you are indeed brought together by fate with Buddha, brought together by fate with Zhen Yan. This morning laoxiu [sic] came early to sweep, and saw Shizhu sitting in meditation with your eyes closed between the Luohan Buddha, your hands naturally producing all kinds of poses [or gestures[1]], finally returning to the Shi Wu Wei Yin [lit. carrying the no-fear print/image], producing understanding in laonas heart. Laona has yet to thank Shizhu.

    Surprised, Xu Ziling said, If Dashi did not inform me, I really did not know that my hands made all those movements. What is Shi Wu Wei Yin?

    Reverend Zhen Yan slowly sat down, his face revealed a bemoaning-the-state-of-the-universe-and-pity-the-fate-of-mankind solemn Buddhas appearance. His left hand open, the palm facing up, the back of the hand resting on his knee.

    Xu Ziling could not help imitating him sitting cross-legged. Nodding his head, he said, Dashi is right. This was certainly the posture I adopted when I woke up; I just did not know that it has such a pleasant-to-hear name. Hey! Shi Wu Wei Yin.

    Zhen Yan Dashi smiled and said, Others use handprints to trigger the heart, but Shizhu triggered the handprints from the heart; if that is not the root of intelligence, I dont what it is.

    Xu Ziling mused inwardly that if Kou Zhong heard this, it would be terrible, because he would bite Xu Ziling to leave home and become a Buddhist monk. Smiling wryly, he said, I dont think it has anything to do with the root of intelligence; its analogous to think during the day, dream during the night. Simply because before entering the quietness, I was practicing many different kinds of Luohan Buddhas images, so that when I sat in meditation, unconsciously those poses came out!

    Laughing involuntarily, Reverend Zhen Yan said, Its all right if Shizhu is unwilling to admit it, but Shizhu cannot deny that you have interest in our Buddhism handprints. Buddhism has three secret sayings, I wonder if Shizhu is willing to listen?

    Puzzled, Xu Ziling said, Dashi is a very able person outside of the world; why do you seem to be very interested in me, a mere layman? Arent you afraid that I am a malefactor who break the law and commit crimes, so much so that I am the wicked person who destroyed the Buddha images inside the Hall?

    Instead of replying, Zhen Yan Dashi asked, What does Shizhu know about sitting in meditation? How to do Zen meditation?

    Frowning, Xu Ziling said, Such a profound question, I am afraid I will have to trouble Dashi to give directions.

    Zhen Yan Dashi nodded in praise; with solemn expression he said, Sitting down without giving rise to a thought, meditating without seeing the natural instincts being in disorder; outside, no need to appear meditating, inside, no confusion to fix your mind. Meditating outside, fixing the mind inside, hence it is called fixed-mind meditation. Immediate flash of understanding, yet obtaining the original intention.

    Xu Ziling pondered for a moment, and then he suddenly understood, Was it because Dashi just now watched Xiaozi sitting in meditation with fixed mind that you thought Buddha and I are brought together by fate, thereupon you are enhancing the transformation? Ay! I really just want to master some kind of gongfa, so that I can lure Xi Ying out and kill him. I do not have any other intention.

    Zhen Yan Dashis eyes emitted abstruse, unfathomable, unusual rays brimming with wisdom. He said, Such a forthcoming, sincere, completely without greed, without care person like Shizhu can be considered rare, even among the Gate of Emptiness. For the last a hundred years, laona has visited a total of 5,652 famous temples and ancient monasteries, both in the Central Plains and aboard, finally I summed up all the prints produced inside the Jiu Zi Zhen Yan Shou Yin [lit. nine-character dark/deep sayings handprints]. Today, seeing Shizhu and I are brought together by fate, unexpectedly I poured out the secular thought and dusty mind in my heart; indeed it could be considered unusual.

    With deep veneration, Xu Ziling said, Turns out Dashi has a hundred-year seniority. Oh! Xiaozi failed to venerate! This Jiu Zi Zhen Yan Shou Yin of Dashi must be extremely important, why not passing it on to the people in Buddhist schools? Ay! Isnt Xiaozi meddling in other peoples business? With Dashi in town, how could the Heavenly Lord Xi Ying dare to run amok?

    Reverend Zhen Yan shook his head and said, Laoxius time in this dusty world is already limited, plus it is difficult to find someone who is fated to receive the Jiu Zi Zhen Yan Shou Yin. This Jiu Zi Zhen Yan Shou Yin, when it is being used in Buddhism, it is Buddhism; when it is being used martial art, it is martial art. Laona serves Buddha wholeheartedly; in all my life I have never exchanged blows with anybody. Does Shizhu understand?

    Xu Ziling smiled and said, Of course I do. As soon as Dashi spoke an incantation [zhen yan], even utterly vicious extremely evil disciples would have the ominous thought in his heart completely disappear. Ha! Isnt that so?

    Zhen Yan revealed a hint of nave smiling expression; auspicious and peaceful, he said, Of course not. Whats more, if the target is of Xi Yings caliber, a martial art master with this kind of profound demonic power, and his will is as strong and solid like an unshakeable rock, any incantation would not be of any use; it will require Shizhu to protect the [Buddhist] law even more.

    Unconvinced, Xu Ziling said, Since the Jiu Zi Zhen Yan Shou Yin can be used for religious practice, why do you have the problem of the recipient being worthy or unworthy?

    Zhen Yan Dashi said, Jiu Zi Zhen Yan Shou Yin appears simple, but it is actually complicated. People who are unworthy, because once they started they are unwilling to let go and abandon their original pursuit will find it difficult to master it throughout their life. Frankly speaking, before watching Shizhu performing the poses in fixed-mind meditation this morning, Laona has never thought that Jiu Zi Zhen Yan Shou Yin can be used in martial art. But now my dusty heart is greatly moved. If Shizhu refuses, laoci [old shrine] tonight give up and return to the west, and most likely the result would be ruining the enterprise for the sake of one basketful.

    Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling said, Dashi, please speak, Xiaozi is washing his ears to listen respectfully.




    [1] Original: 印 (yin) From mdbg.net: to print/to mark/to engrave/a seal/a print/a stamp/a mark/a trace/image. Courtesy of Akolaw: A mudra: Sanskrit seal, mark, or gesture is a symbolic or ritual gesture in Hinduism and Buddhism. While some mudras involve the entire body, most are performed with the hands and fingers. A mudra is a spiritual gesture and an energetic seal of authenticity employed in the iconography and spiritual practice of Indian religions. Translators note: Although not the most accurate translation, I opted to keep Immortal Print (or perhaps change it to Immortal Image not sure at this moment), simply because it sounds better than Immortal Gestures or Undead Aquatic Mammal.

  17. #297
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    Default Book 25 Chapter 4

    Chapter 4 Nine-Character Incantation

    His body weary, his strength exhausted, Kou Zhong climbed up the beach. Unable to take it anymore, he collapsed on the sandy shore.

    Only after swimming in the angry sea all through the night did he survive to this place. It did not matter how superior his breathing was, it could only help him at the beginning when he was trying to evade the billows most frantic attack deep underwater, but not to support him endlessly for sichen after sichen; otherwise he would have to turn into a freak who did not need to breathe using his mouth and nose.

    After swimming in the relatively calm seabed for more than ten li, he had reached his limit of internal breathing, which was also the limit of the true qi within his body. When, in panic, he swam out of the water, he just realized that his true power has approached the disadvantageous condition of a lantern which oil has been depleted, while the shore was still three, four li away.

    It was one of the most painful moments in Kou Zhongs life. Although the storm has subsided, the high waves remained. Kou Zhong could only struggle to swim among the billows relying only on his barely-there remaining physical strength toward the shore, and had to suffer being tossed and rolled in the sea wave with his body no longer able to follow its masters wishes.

    Were it not for his fortitude and his continuous determination, his corpse would have been sinking into the bottom of the ocean.

    When he came ashore, his first thought was actually reminding himself not to forget to warn Xu Ziling not to be overconfident in his skill to breathe internally and dive and swim underwater in the ocean.

    His whole body felt like it was bitten and devoured by poisonous ants; every single cun of his skin felt like cracking. This moment, if even an ordinary martial art master came to deal with him, he would be able to take Kou Zhongs life.

    The black clouds have dispersed half a sichen ago. The autumn sun sprinkled its light from the clear, cloudless sky above onto his back, as well as onto his Moon in the Well, which he had almost abandoned in the sea.

    He felt that the mask, the treasured book, and the other stuffs wrapped in the waterproof oilcloth inside his pocket were still there, but he was pretty sure that the seawater must have penetrated the oilcloth so that the paper stuff would be soaked and destroyed.

    Too bad he had not read the love letter sent by Li Xiuning and delivered to him via Shang Xiuxun. If he said that he did not have the slightest remorse, he would only deceive himself.

    Ay!

    Although he remembered Old Bas warning that when his true power was depleted, the one thing that he must avoid the most was to let the exhaustion conquered him; yet right now, he lacked the strength to even lift his finger, so he could forget about crawling up and training.

    While he was almost asleep, suddenly he heard the clamor of gongs and drums, followed by battle cry from afar coming near.

    Aghast, Kou Zhong raised his head to see, and under the brilliant sunshine, his dazzled eyes saw a group of people carrying hatchets and iron hoes, wearing weird-looking clothes and ornaments, with torrential momentum, was coming with vengeance to kill him.

    Smiling ruefully, Kou Zhong buried his face in the sand.

    With precious, solemn appearance, Zhen Yan Dashis face radiated with saintly light, as he spoke unhurriedly, Buddhisms three secrets are body, speech [or mouth], and intention [or desire] put into practice with equal importance together with the thought. Body is equal to the speech, speech is equal to the intention, and intention is equal to the body. Although in names they are three, in reality they are one.

    With sudden understanding, Xu Ziling said, Dashi is indeed a very able person of the Buddhist school; in just a few words you have already explained the deep meaning behind the five hundred revered Luohan images in the hall very clearly.

    Reverend Zhen Yan laughed aloud three times. He happily said, Laoxiu traveled all over the world, only today do I find a destined person like Shizhu, who immediately understand with just a little bit of explanation. Shizhu needs to know that when laoxiu said that in the past there were other people who understood it, although the other party seemed to hear it clearly and logically, the reality was that they did not really understand, let alone using it in religious practice. More often than not, they obtained the body but lost the speech, or got the intention but abandoned the body.

    Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, How would Dashi know if I am just saying I understand with my mouth, yet in reality I am no different than those other people?

    Zhen Yan Dashis eyes fell onto his hands; smiling, he said, Just now when laoxiu spoke about the three secrets, Shizhus ten fingers seemed to shake slightly; evidently the secret words entered the ears, the intention was somewhat affected. If you still do not understand the mysterious meaning of the true statement, perhaps you might shout a few words for laoxiu to listen to.

    Embarrassed, Xu Ziling explained, Since last night, my hands are a bit like they dont obey my commands anymore. Ha!

    Reverend Zhen Yan said, Mans corporeal body is like a treasured raft passing through the river of life; within it hidden the secret of the heaven and the earth. My Nine-word Incantation Handprint precisely passes through the three secrets, passes through the human body and connects with the universe; reaching the border of oneness of heaven and humanity, understanding heart meeting the character, namely the body becomes a Buddha. It has nothing to do whatsoever with whether someone has left home or still at home. Whether the body is inside a kasaya [a patchwork outer vestment worn by Buddhist monk] or not, a human is a human; he cannot change into another object.

    Slapping his thigh, Xu Ziling cried out in determination, Dashis remark has made Xiaozi obtaining a sudden flash of insight and all is clear [orig. murky darkness suddenly opens]. I wonder if whether my disposition is making it so, but toward the Gate of Emptiness layer upon layer of religious dogma, clear compass and rigid way of life, Xiaozi does not have the slightest bit of interest. I always thought that if Buddha wanted to convince his people to start obtaining proof to get the result, that Buddha must be too overbearing!

    Bursting out laughing, Zhen Yan Dashi said, Shizhus way of thinking is unique; I should say that it was you who made me obtaining a sudden flash of insight and all is clear. The Jiu Zi Zhen Yan is precisely, hey! Its better to say, facing the troops for battle, all are arrayed at the front [lin bing dou zhe jie zhen lie zai qian 9 characters]. This way it will be comparably easier for Shizhu to memorize firmly.

    What? Xu Ziling blurted out, Unexpectedly only now did Dashi casually think out nine words as the Nine-character Incantation?

    Bang!

    It wasnt clear who had hit Kou Zhong in the head with a stick first; the strange thing was that although it was unbearably painful, the tianling acupoint on the top his head seemed to be recovering its life force. Breathing in a thread of external qi, which he did not know from where, it bored through his withered channels.

    Dang!

    The back of a hoe hit the Moon in the Wells scabbard, but the attackers palm was jolted and split, throwing him backward that he fell sitting down on the ground, carrying along with him three of his companions that they fell to the east and toppled to the west.

    Everybody retreated in shock.

    Struggling hard, Kou Zhong managed to prop half of his body up. Sweeping his gaze around, he found out that the crowd heavily surrounding him actually consisted of men and women, and that the weapons in their hands were actually farming tools. The clothes on their bodies were brightly colored, made of cloth, hemp, and the like, with sheepskin vest on the outside. The women wore barrel-like long skirt, but the length was not uniform; some were so short that it reached only to their knees, some were so long that it was dragged along on the ground. However, whether it was trousers or skirts, they all wore leggings, both to stay warm, and to defend against poisonous insects and loathsome mosquitos. The womens heads were wrapped in complicated headscarf in bright color, adorned with a variety of tassel-like hanging-down ornaments; the color dazzled the eyes.

    Kou Zhong really did not understand why in this kind of nasty situation he still had free time to notice so many different inconsequential things, so he found this to be extremely amusing. Anybody speaks Han language? he shouted loudly.

    This bunch of local peasant obviously was not evil; seeing their stick and hoe failed to hurt him, they became timid. You look at me, I look at you; finally a shy young girl stepped out from among the crowd, and spoke stiffly, You are not a pirate?

    Kou Zhong was amused, thinking that even if he was a pirate, under this kind of situation, there was no way he would admit it. He hastily responded, Not only I am not a pirate, I am the pirates enemy. Look! It was because of fighting with the pirates that I look like this. Ha!

    The young girl returned to the group of tribal people; she jabbered a long string of words to the people crowding around her. Even Kou Zhong did not understand how she could take his simple couple of sentences and add oil and replenish vinegar into it and translate it into a long-winded story. Although the young girl could not be considered beautiful, she looked delicate and pretty like a sprite.

    Her sheepskin gown was quite unique even more; it did not have even half a button, there were only a pair of straps coming out of her back, which intersected on her chest and continued around her body back to her back and was tied tightly from the bottom of the sheepskin. Naturally the tip of the strap was hanging down just like a tail; so lively and cute.

    Kou Zhong was burying his face back into the sand when the girls voice, brimming with hope, rang out in his ears, Will you help us fight the pirates?

    Kou Zhong moaned, As long as you are willing to let me have a good sleep, even if you want me to beat the Tianhuang Laozi [lit. old man the emperor of heaven], Ill do it.

    Zhen Yan Dashi spoke nonchalantly, Dont underestimate these nine words. They are actually classical quotation from Baopuzi, the canonical text of Daoist School written by the Eastern Jins Ge Hong [283-363, Jin Dynasty Taoist and alchemist]. The original text says facing the troops for battle, all are arrayed to go forward; often when considering this, nothing will not be opened up for development.

    Xu Ziling was bewildered even more; greatly startled, he asked, What I dont understand is not the origin and the source of this nine-character incantation; rather, I felt it strange that Dashi unexpectedly thought it out at the last moment. Plus Dashi is of Buddhist school, why did you borrow the idea from Taoist schools ancient record?

    After gazing at him for half a day, Zhen Yan Dashi spoke softly, Laona was going to use this as a pretext to illustrate to Shizhu the incantations heavy in spirit but not heavy in form, the key ideal place the three secrets can be put to use. Besides, Buddhism and Taoism, in the end, arent they of the same family?

    Respect was gushing out of Xu Zilings heart; nodding his head, he said, Xiaozi benefits from the advice!

    Zhen Yan Dashi suddenly shouted the word lin [lit. facing; the first word of the nine above], while both hands were raised high above his head, sticking close to each other like a flower bud; the ring finger inclined at an angle, the tips of the fingers fit together.

    Severely shaken, Xu Ziling exclaimed, Formidable!

    Zhen Yan Dashi put his hands down and asked in delight, What do you perceive?

    Xu Ziling replied, Xiaozi felt that Dashi has turned into towering mountains and precipitous ridges, and nobody could sway Dashi the slightest bit.

    Zhen Yan Dashi said, This is precisely the fundamental motionless print. Although there are thousand of schools, ten-thousand kinds of handprint, motionless is one of the nine kinds of fundamental models; therefore, although today laona will only talk about nine different kinds of handprints, the fact is that it is tantamount to passing on all handprints at once to you. Watch.

    He suddenly rose up, but still maintaining the sitting-cross-legged-in-meditation posture, except his hands were making a series of images one after another, changing indeterminately, and suddenly shouted loudly, Bing [lit. troops, the second of nine words above]! to let Xu Ziling know that he had finished demonstrating the more than a hundred changes in the fundamental print motionless, and was demonstrating another fundamental handprint.

    Responding to the incantation, Xu Zilings tinglun [sahasrara, the crown chakra, on the top of the skull] heated up. But when he sprang up, Zhen Yan Dashi turned over and landed some distance away. This is the Da JinGang Lun Yin [Great Vajra Wheel/Chakra Print]; it can drive out devils and treat an illness. As for how to use it to subdue the devil and defend traditional values, it will depend on Shizhu yourself!

    Seeing how Zhen Yans hands continuously producing endless changes of handprints, Xu Ziling began to understand why until today Zhen Yan Dashi still could not find someone to whom he could pass on the [Buddhist] law.

    The fact is, the mystery within it could only be grasped intuitively, but could not be conveyed in words. If one said he understood, then he understood. If he said he did not understand, then any explanation would be useless.

    Then Zhen Yan Dashi demonstrated the rest of fundamental print methods one by one. They were, in order, the Wai Shizi Yin [outer lion print], Nei Shizi Yin [inner lion print], Wai Fu Yin [outer bound (tie) print], Nei Fu Yin [inner bound (tie) print], Zhi Quan Yin [wisdom/knowledge fist print], Ri Lun Yin [sun/day wheel print], and Baoping Yin [lit. treasured/precious bottle/vase, i.e. Aquarius constellation, print].

    Each fundamental handprint had hundreds of distinct changes. While Xu Ziling was unable to take his eyes off as if he was drunk and stupefied, Zhen Yan already demonstrated more than a thousand different handprints.

    Were it not for his earlier experience of gaining understanding inside the Luohan Hall, Xu Ziling would definitely be confused and disoriented, without knowing the reason.

    However, this moment he understood tacitly; unconsciously his hands were following the example by producing different print styles.

    Even when the sun has gone down in the west and the time has shifted, he was completely oblivious.

    When Kou Zhong woke up, momentarily he was in dazed and did not know where he was. All around him he heard shouts boiling over, mixed with various sound of livestock mooing and bleating.

    He sat up suddenly, and realized that he had been sleeping above a simple and crude clay bed, in a narrow and small thatched hut. Flickers of torchlight could be seen outside the window, where indistinct shadows of the peasants who brought him here were dragging the men and carrying the women. It seemed like they were running away from calamity to certain direction, rushing away, striving to be the first and fearing to be the last.

    Bang!

    The wooden door was pushed open, and the native girl rushed in. With frightened expression she said, Why havent you run? The pirates are coming for real!

    Stunned, Kou Zhong looked at her blankly, thinking that wasnt he the big hero that was supposed to deal with the pirates? Why did she tell him to run away with them?

    By this time he had sobered up a bit, Dont be afraid, he said, I am on top of everything. Where is my saber?

    The girl pointed to the wall and said, You are not dead, are you? Quickly go! No longer paying attention to Kou Zhong, she slipped away and disappeared.

    Kou Zhong looked at the wall. Sure enough, the Moon in the Well was quietly hanging there. He inwardly praised the villagers simplicity and honesty. In this era, even an unremarkable and shabby saber like this could still be sold for a good price.

    The voices were gone. There was no sound outside. Stretching his limbs, Kou Zhong found out that not only his power has come back, it even surpassed his previous level. Feeling strange in his heart, he wondered inwardly whether after his true energy was exhausted, when it recovered, could it progress even more instead?

    If it were true, then he had gained another kind of training method.

    Thinking about the safety of the villagers, he jumped down the clay bed, fetched the Moon in the Well, and walked outside. The village, consisting of more than a hundred mud houses and thatched huts was as quiet as a ghost domain. Evidently the villagers were well trained in evacuation procedures; even the chicken and the dogs did not remain.

    Suddenly feeling something unusual, he looked to the northeast, and saw several li away the flame illuminating the heavens, the thick smoke covering the sun, while faint cries entering his ears.

    Inwardly, Kou Zhong was severely shaken; who would be so savage that unexpectedly they openly set another village nearby on fire?

    Murderous intent flared up in his heart immediately. Patting the Moon in the Well on his back, he rushed over at full speed.

    Xu Ziling, who incarnated as the scar-faced warrior, walked along the main street at the southern market of Chengdu, looking for the contact address Zheng Shiru left him.

    Although he had not really mastered the Huan Ri Da Fa of the scroll that Yue Shan left behind, he already had the shedding-his-mortal-body-and-exchange-his-bones feeling. It could be said that in the past few years his martial art skill was collected from the east and pieced together from the west, mixed together into the final product. And each time he was facing death, like a flash of realization he made another breakthrough, which, after the event, oftentimes he forgot most of it.

    The advantage was that it made him unpredictable; while the downside was that it could not become one complete gongfa.

    The Jiu Zi Zhen Yan Shou Yin that Zhen Yan Dashi taught him was like an ocean where all streams, brooks, rivers, and creeks converged into one, allowing him to transform all his past understanding and experience into a consummate and endlessly creative system. Even he himself did not know this. But the moment he took his leave from Zhen Yan Dashi and stepped outside the gate of the Da Shi Temple, he already obtained both the Buddhist and Taoist Schools paramount xinfa, which would establish his status in the future as a grand master of the Central Plains, which, apart from Kou Zhong, no one could compare.

    This moment Xu Zilings frame of mind was like everything was new again. His disappointment from Shi Qingxuan and Shi Feixuan has become an out-of-reach old affair, which could only occupy a minuscule space in his current mind.

    There were a lot of differences between his and Kou Zhongs character, but both of them did not like to be under someone elses control. Moreover, neither one was willing to act under someone elses bidding.

    Therefore, even though he promised Shi Qingxuan and Shi Feixuan that he would lure Xi Ying out to exterminate him, he was only willing to accomplish it his way, and did not want to receive any help either.

    To be honest, at that time he also had a bit of desire to destroy the subtle man-woman sentiment in his heart toward Shi Qingxuan and Shi Feixuan.

    But everything has become the thing of the past.

    Zhen Yan Dashi was another Lu Miaozi, which made him climb an even higher peak, and see things and realms that he had not seen before.

    Xu Ziling leisurely halted his steps across the street to survey the big mansion where Zheng Shiru stayed. On the surface it looked just like any other house of a rich or noble family. However, since the master of the house was able to host a martial art personage like Zheng Shiru, naturally it was, most likely, a gang or society household, or at least it had close contacts with Jianghu people.

    While he was trying to figure out how to secretly enter and investigate the situation inside, a group of five, six people walked out of the open wide main gate, and heading to the north along the street; surprisingly, one of them was Zheng Shiru.

    Xu Ziling cheered inwardly.

    He never believed that Zheng Shiru and Yin Gui Pais relationship was just as he explained to Xu Ziling earlier, and now was a good opportunity to find out whether Zheng Shiru was telling the truth.

    Whatever the case, he believed that Zheng Shiru would be the best candidate to spread the news that Yue Shan has arrived in Chengdu.

    Just like Shi Feixuan predicted, Xi Ying openly bullying the monks of the Great Stone Temple could not be as simple as it looked on the outside; rather, he must have wanted to lure his arch-enemy, the Heavenly Saber Song Que to leave his home and go down south, to be dealt with.

    But Xu Ziling had his own ideas.

    If Xi Ying really had the guts to openly issue a written war challenge to Song Que, then no matter how far away, Song Que must come to respond.

    Evidently Xi Ying did not dare to have a fair, decisive battle against Song Que. In other words, there must be crafty plots and machinations in this affair. Sichuan was Xie Huis territory, what gave Xi Ying such a confidence?

    One of the reasons would be that Xi Ying had Yin Gui Pai behind his back, supporting his waist; hence the reason why Zheng Shiru and Wanwan had to come from far away to this place.

    Supposing his conjecture matched with the facts, perhaps he could meet Xi Ying even tonight.

    Xu Ziling flashed into a side lane. By the time he reappeared from another small alley, from the scar-faced hero, he had become the Overbearing Saber Yue Shan, striding toward the group of people, in which Zheng Shiru was one of them who were walking in his direction.

  18. #298
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Book 25 Chapter 5

    Chapter 5 Pirates Conspiracy

    Not only did Kou Zhong lose his sense of time, he did not even know where he was, neither did he know which tribe inhabited this area. All he knew was that it was night, and he was rushing at full speed in the direction of the blazing fire emitting the thick smoke.

    At first he thought it was only a few li away, but after running across an expanse of prairie and a river, and climbing over a small hill, he began to know that the fire was at least still ten li away.

    Yet unexpectedly he was able to hear the cries. Evidently the feeling that his power was advancing was really not an illusion or his own wishful thinking.

    A burst of faint battle cry, carried by the wind entered his eardrums. The tragic scene of defeated Sui Army retreating while killing and burning, raping and looting floated on the sea of Kou Zhongs mind. The murderous intent in his heart flared even higher. After sweeping down the slope and passing through a wide expanse of open field, he ran along a small trail by the winding creek that bore through the woods like a sheeps intestine.

    Suddenly he heard the miserable scream of women mixed with the evil laugh from many men ahead, on the other side of the woods.

    Boom!

    Anger exploded inside Kou Zhong, straight to the tip of his hair, which made him drawing the Moon in the Well and sweeping into the woods. But his state of mind returned to its bright and clear state, not contaminated by even half a shred of distracting thought.

    Torchlight was visible from the other side of the woods; he could even see shadows of people. Before he was even out of the woods, two men, with torches in their hands, dressed in black tight warrior outfit were walking into the woods.

    One of them said with a laugh, These two Liao women are really not bad; I hope we can find a few more over there as good as them, enough to make our brothers happy!

    The other one had just responded with a Ha!, when Kou Zhong stormed through the space between the two like a tornado before they had time to react, without even stopping for a moment out of the forest.

    The two men did not even have time to scream, their throat had been sliced open, and they slumped down to the ground, immediately died on the spot.

    Outside the woods was a wide expanse of prairie, with thickets growing everywhere. The northern end of the prairie was where the smoke and fire originated.

    Two naked female corpses were lying by a thicket, while more than twenty men in black, carrying flickering long saber in their hands, having not fully expressed themselves, were taking turn in continuing their deeds.

    Kou Zhong thundered, Give your life to me!

    In an instant he charged into the crowd of men, who did not have time to defend themselves, brandishing his saber and hacking down ferociously.

    When the man who bore the brunt raised his saber to block, fast as lightning the Moon in the Well hacked down on the opposite partys face. The blocking saber immediately fell to the ground.

    The crowd was dumbstruck with great alarm, while their vicious character was also aroused, so they swarmed to counterattack.

    Kou Zhong hissed in anger, while also giving vent to his indignation that he arrived too late to save the innocent women. The treasured saber in his hand showed no mercy; he flashed forward toward two sharp blades coming to attack him. Swinging his saber backhandedly, he scored another victory.

    That man clearly felt that he successfully blocked Kou Zhongs blade, yet the blade seemed to be able to slip through the gap, while he could only stare blankly as the terrifying enemys saber meandered upward through the crack and entered his chest, as if he was delighted to deliver the pit of his stomach to feed the saber.

    After killing four men in succession, Kou Zhongs true qi passed through his saber, while his waist sank down in a horse stance, and then using his right foot as the axis, he swept his saber in a circle, striking the attacking four sabers and sending them flying away into the distance. Not only the besieging men felt the palms of their hands were cracked, they also spewed out fresh blood from their mouth, and were thrown backward. They were shaken to their death just by his power alone.

    Kou Zhongs murderous intent flaring out, his saber momentum whirled around swiftly, like a demon he weaved in and out of the crowd of men. Everywhere he went, everybody responding to his attack had his saber fell, his blood splashed, and his body fell down; unexpectedly not a single one was able to withstand.

    When only one man remained alive, Kou Zhong hacked down the weapon in his hand. He reached out to grab the pit of the mans stomach, and lifted him entirely off the ground. Kou Zhongs qi power invaded his meridians, the man was so much in pain that his face twisted, bean-sized beads of sweat trickling down from his forehead.

    Kou Zhong shouted coldly, If you want to live, answer my questions. Otherwise, Ill pull your egg out. Understand?

    The man nodded in pain.

    Kou Zhongs eyes were flickering with divine light, he asked in heavy voice, Who are you? Which group do you belong? Let me tell you frankly, I am very clear of your ins and outs, I just want to test your honesty.

    The man groaned and said, Daye [big master], please spare my life, we are from Hai Sha Bang [sea sand gang, see Book 2 starting in Chapter 4].

    Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, Obviously you dont want to keep your egg! Let me help you by taking your pants off first. I will only cut your egg, and definitely wont cut anywhere else.

    The man was aghast, Daye, spare my life, he said, I am indeed from Hai Sha Bang.

    Kou Zhong said with a sneer, Still want to deceive me? Do you know who laozi [I, your father] is? The Mermaid You Qiuyan is my old friend whose lips I have kissed, the Fat Assassin You Gui and Charging General Ling Zhigao have both had their buttocks kicked by me. The entire Hai Sha Bang, from top to bottom, all know me, you still dare to talk drivel? Last chance! Your Daye dont have time to waste on your eggs.

    The mans face was devoid of any color; he said with trembling voice, Xiaoren will talk! It was Lin Ye who sent us out.

    Which muddled egg [i.e. scoundrel/b@stard] is Lin Ye? Kou Zhong shouted.

    The man busily said, Its Lin Shihong Daye!

    Kou Zhongs heart was shaken. Now he understood whats going on with this pirates business.

    When Zheng Shiru saw Xu Ziling, who was disguised as Yue Shan, his countenance changed slightly and he halted his steps.

    When the others looked at him in amazement, Xu Ziling stopped in the middle of the street and spoke coldly, Zheng Shiru stays here, the rest take a hike for Laofu.

    Immediately those several people appeared to be angry. But when they were about to vent out their anger, Zheng Shiru promptly curbed it by saying, Gentlemen, please give Xiaodi a bit of face. Hey! This is Xiaodis senior. Please go first, in a moment Xiaodi will go to San Hua Lou [lit. dispersing flowers building (reminder: lou is a multi-story building)] to apologize to everybody.

    Those several young master were dressed like influential Wulin familys younger generations. Half believing half doubting, they sized Xu Ziling up and down several times before under Zheng Shirus urging leaving unhappily.

    Zheng Shiru saluted and said, I did not know Qianbei [Senior] has graced us with your presence; please forgive Shiru for being negligent.

    Xu Ziling snorted a stifled grunt from his nostrils. Come with me! he spoke heavily.

    Helplessly shrugging his shoulders, Zheng Shiru followed behind him into a deserted alley.

    Afraid that Zheng Shiru might recognize his back, Xu Ziling turned around and spoke indifferently, Xiaozi, what is your actual duty within Yin Gui Pai? Which color do you belong to?

    Zheng Shirus barely-there suspicion vanished immediately; he sighed and said, Not concealing anything from Qianbei; strictly speaking, Shiru really is not Yin Gui Pai disciple.

    Actually, Yin Gui Pai heavily observed the distinction between seniors and juniors. The Sect was divided into three levels: Heaven, Earth, and Man, and the martial art taught to these three levels were also entirely different. White Sky, Black Earth, Yellow Man, were the three colors: White, Black, and Yellow. Only disciples of White grade would have the opportunity to take a peek into the demonic secret manual. Within Yin Gui Pai, other than Zhu Yuyans personal disciples, only people like Bian Bufu, Wen Caiting, and the like, elder-level martial art masters, would have this distinction. The number could not exceed nine. Nine was precisely the highest level of Heaven.

    Figures like Amorous Nun, Evil Monk, and so on, who had quite a bit of head and face [i.e. some prestige/reputation] in Jianghu, were just in field agent level.

    He learned all these things from the scroll that Yue Shan left behind, hence when he talked, he looked like he knew what he was talking about.

    Xu Ziling laughed coldly and said, Nonsense! If you are an outsider, how could Zhu Yuyan trust you?

    Zheng Shiru smiled bitterly and said, Its complicated and not easy to express succinctly. But if Qianbei wanted me to communicate a message, there is absolutely no problem.

    Nodding his head, Xu Ziling said, Xiaozi is quite astute, you knew that I wanted you to communicate a message for me.

    Zheng Shiru calmly said, This time Qianbei is returning to the fray after a period of inactivity. Lets not say about Song Que and Xi Ying, two men, rushing in, this moment Qianbei suddenly appearing in Chengdu, you must have heard the rumor concerning Xi Ying. Is Wanbei [junior] wrong?

    Where is Xi Ying? Xu Ziling asked.

    Frowning, Zheng Shiru said, Qianbei should know Xi Yings character better than Wanbei; he cant possibly disclose his whereabouts to anybody.

    With a card up his sleeve, Xu Ziling laughed and said, Perhaps Bian Bufu is the only exception?

    From Yue Shans legacy scroll, he knew that for a period of time, Xi Ying had a close contact with Bian Bufu, together, with all the majesty of an emperor [i.e. recklessly] they roamed the pleasure quarters and cluster of flowers [this is literal translation, but I believe you guys understand what it means, right?]. Villains collude together, hence he made that remark.

    Stunned, Zheng Shiru replied, I am not too clear about that; Qianbei ought to know that I am Zheng Hantangs son.

    Xu Ziling groaned inwardly; naturally Yue Shan could not possibly put all the names of the people he had had a dealing with in the scroll. But listening to the tone of Zheng Shirus voice, obviously his late father had some connection with the real Yue Shan. Without any choice he thickened his face and asked, Is Hantang still alive?

    Zheng Shiru sadly said, My humble father passed away ten years ago. Qianbei naturally understand why he, the Senior, could not have a good ending.

    Xu Ziling remembered Xiang Yushans father, Xiang Guis bitter experience, who, because he inadvertently heard some gossip about Yin Gui Pai from a certain Yin Gui Pai elder in an idle chat after drinking together was nearly killed. His heart moved, he said, Must be because Hantang wanted to quit! Am I right?

    Zheng Shiru dejectedly said, Thats exactly right. Otherwise, how could Dies death be so shady? Not to conceal anything from Qianbei, right now Xiaozhi [little nephew] is merely feigning civility, quietly waiting for the opportunity. The thought in the bottom of my heart, this is the first time that Xiaozhi divulge it to anybody, simply because in the past Qianbei has done a great favor for Die. Xiaozhi really cannot bear to see Qianbei fall into the trap and nurse a grievance in Chengdu. I am asking Yue Laos [old Yue] understanding!

    Although Xu Ziling was finally able to verify Zheng Shirus real identity, but inwardly he was groaning. If Zheng Shiru persisted in not willing to communicate a message for him, would he have to go everywhere to shout, Yue Shan is here!, or perhaps write these four-word mantra on the walls and street corners?

    Treading on the wild grass and using the trees as cover, from his hiding place on the seaside Kou Zhong stealthily moved toward the Li Liao village where the raging flames were soaring to the sky.

    There were two ships moored by the sea; by his estimation, each ship ought to carry more than a hundred of these Lin Shihongs men who disguised themselves as pirates to bring the total between three to four hundred men. Although Kou Zhong was quite confident in himself, he was not one who overestimated his own capabilities. In direct confrontation, plus the opposite side must be under some martial art masters leadership, although escaping alive should not be a problem, he definitely could not gain any advantage either.

    His best bet would be to carry out a guerilla tactic [orig. using dark to confront bright], with hit-and-run style. Therefore, his action must be extremely careful.

    Obviously Lin Shihongs maneuver this time was to shift the blame to the Eastern Wu [idiom from the Three Kingdom], a stratagem to kill two birds with one stone: both to loot the grains, cattle and sheep, and horses of the ethnic groups inhabiting the coastal area of the southern Yue [Canton (Guangdong)], and to destroy Shen Faxings relationship with various Li Liao ethnic groups. Perhaps he could even provoke the Song Clan to have direct confrontation against Shen Faxing, because everybody in the world already knew that Hai Sha Bang was Shen Faxings pawn.

    In term of area, this Li Liao village, which was facing imminent catastrophe, was at least twice as big as the village where Kou Zhong slept. By this time, most of the several hundred houses in the entire village have turned into ashes, and the fire was making its way toward the dense mountain forest surrounding the village, producing loud crackling noise.

    Kou Zhong was completely unable to understand the perpetrators mentality; how could they callously commit such crime that made others hair stand up in anger like this?

    As soon as he entered the village limit, he sensed the unusual situation. Hiding behind a building, which could be considered quite intact, he peeked out to see, and saw in the clearing at the heart of the village there were two groups of a hundred to two hundred each armed men facing each other in hostility.

    One side was Li Shihongs men disguised as pirates in black tight warrior outfits, the leader was Cui Jixiu, Lin Shihongs Guoshi [teacher of the state] with whom he had met once during the assassination of the Green Dragon Ren Shaoming. Standing behind him, tall and short, were more than a dozen characters, which in just one glance, he knew to be martial art masters. The rest of his men were spread in fan formation on the northern end of the Liao village. The dead bodies of the Li Liao village victims were strewn on the ground; a spectacle too horrible to endure.

    Cui Jixiu and the others must have come so very suddenly that the poor innocent villagers did not have time to flee the misfortune.

    The other side had smaller number of people, there were only about a hundred of them, wearing the bright colorful clothes of Li Liao martial outfits. The most eye-catching was that the leader was unexpectedly a sweet, fair, and graceful, slim, with beautiful shoulder length hair Liao beauty. Draped over her tender body was, impressively, tiger skin, so that amidst her delicate appearance, there was a hint of awe-inspiring heroic spirit.

    All Li Liao warriors revealed grief and indignation on their faces. The battle could happen at any moment.

    Kou Zhong suddenly relaxed, thinking that visiting the mountain, Cui Jixiu has encountered the tiger; the Li Liao warriors have assembled and rushed over to fight back.

    At the same time, he felt something strange. No matter what, Cui Jixiu was Lin Shihongs Guoshi, how could he playact as twisted senior, subdued nobility, and came disguising himself as a lowly raping and pillaging pirate?

    He heard a long laugh, followed by Cui Jixius unhurried voice saying, Unexpectedly it is the Hu Yi Hong Fen [lit. tiger-skinned rouge and powder (fig. the fairer sex)] Ouyang Qian Da Xiaojie who graces us with her fragrant presence.

    Kou Zhong thought that Ouyang Qians name sounded so familiar, but immediately remembered that either Chen Changlin or Bu Tianzhi had mentioned that she was one of the three major leaders of the Li Liao; the other two being Wang Zhongxuan and Chen Zhifei. Who would have thought that he would run into her here by chance? And she looked so pretty.

    Obviously Ouyang Qian had just arrived here. Her gaze slowly scanned the disaster area where the people were in a terrible situation; her beautiful eyes emitted grief and indignation. She spoke slowly, word-by-word, Report your name to me, with very articulate pronunciation and vocalizing, totally unlike the Li Liao girl he met earlier.

    Putting his saber back into its scabbard, Kou Zhong laughed aloud while leaving his hiding place and walking over toward the crowd. He responded on behalf of Cui Jixiu, I am Cui Jixiu, the Guoshi under Lin Shihongs command. This time coming here to kill and burn, other than because of my savage character, also to shift the blame onto Shen Faxing. Ha! Cui Xiong! Was my answer on your behalf wrong?

    All several hundreds pair of eyes around the battlefield immediately fell on him. As soon as Cui Jixiu saw Kou Zhong, the blood was drained from his face, his eyes revealed a panic-stricken look.

    Xu Zilings mind was churning at the speed of light; he quickly pretended that he had planned in advance, saying, How could Xi Ying conceal his trick from Laofus [this old man] eyes? Since hearing the news about this dog-thief Xi Ying, Laofu knew there is something else in it; Xianzhi [worthy/virtuous nephew] needs not worry about Laofu. Does Xianzhi by any chance know where Xi Ying is staying?

    Still concerned, Zheng Shiru replied, Yue Lao must not take this lightly. They want to deal not only with Song Que, but also with you, Senior. Were it not for the fact that Zhu Yuyan was unwilling to personally kill her daughters father, how could Yue Lao escape so easily that day? After the fact, they scoured the entire Luoyang, only they failed to find Yue Lao!

    Xu Ziling mused inwardly that Yue Shan practically did not exist; naturally they could not find him.

    His eyes flashing with sharp light, he spoke in heavy voice, When we first met that day, Xianzhis voice carried an inquiring overtone; what did you mean by that?

    After years of encountering cheating tricks in each color and each form, he has learned from experience.

    Zheng Shiru replied in low voice, Yue Lao appeared so suddenly; it was not until Zhu Yuyan confirmed Yue Laos identity that Xiaozhi was willing to believe. But by that time I could not find Yue Lao.

    Xu Ziling nonchalantly said, Yin Gui Pai has never allowed outsiders to share their secrets, how did you know so many things?

    Zheng Shiru replied with a sigh, If I were in Yue Laos shoes, I would have the same doubt. Problem is, although I am absolutely not a Yin Gui Pai disciple, I am not an outsider at all. For the last ten years I did not show the slightest bit of suspicion on my humble fathers violent death, while deliberately pretending to be infatuated with Zhu Yuyans disciple Bai Qinger, plus they wanted to draw support from Xiaozhis talent in politics and economy to govern Xiangyang, this important fortified city, for them; therefore, Zhu Yuyan was willing to put me in an important position.

    Xu Ziling finally began to believe Zheng Shiru; muttering to himself irresolutely, he said, Why did Xianzhi come to Chengdu this time?

    Smiling wryly, Zheng Shiru replied, This matter is hard to explain in a few words. The simple explanation is that I finally met the love of my heart, also because I felt that avenging my fathers enmity is a hopeless case; therefore, I have the heart of withdrawing from Jianghu, and just happened to encountered Xi Yings affair. It would be best if Yue Lao immediately keep him at a distance, and try to find Xi Ying to settle the account in the future. I might report Yue Laos appearance here later, but naturally I would word it differently.

    Shaking his head, Xu Ziling said, Xianzhi may set your heart at ease. If Laofu does not have any confidence, I would never come here to take risks. Xianzhi needs not worry about anything, just tell them tonight at the third watch of the night [11pm to 1am], I will wait for Xi Ying at the Da Shi Temple.

    Shocked, Zheng Shiru said, Yue Lao must not do so. This moment the Four Great Elders of Yin Gui Pai are all in Chengdu. And then there is Wanwan, the proud disciple of Zhu Yuyan. It would be difficult for Yue Lao to get the desired outcome.

    Xu Ziling felt a big headache. Whether it was spoken to Xu Ziling or Yue Shan, Zheng Shiru was giving a word of advice; its a pity that no matter how much danger he had to risk, he simply must lure Xi Ying out of his hiding place. At best, when the time came, he could keep a close watch from a secret place to see if he could follow Xi Ying back to his hiding place, and then find a way to deal with him alone.

    Reaching out to grab Zheng Shirus shoulder, he leaned closer and spoke with determination, Laofu has a sense of propriety. Its crucial that Xianzhi pass on Laofus words as things really are to Bian Bufu; otherwise youll make a botch of things.

    Zheng Shirus eyes flitted over his palm; severely shaken, he said, Yue Lao has indeed mastered the Huan Ri Da Fa; no wonder you have such confidence.

    Following his gaze, Xu Ziling looked over, and was so frightened that his heart was shaken. His usually fair-skinned, slender hand looked as if it has shed its mortal body and exchanged its bones, like its muscle was scraped from the bones and its marrow was washed, to become sparkling and translucent, as glossy and bright as a jade, with some kind of transcending-the-world, shedding-the-dust-of-the-mortal-world luster.

    Zheng Shiru spoke in low voice, But Yue Lao must be careful. I hear that Xi Ying has been greatly successful in amassing skill from various Western Regions schools, and created the so-called Zi Qi Tian Luo [lit. Purple Cloud (or qi) Heavenly Mesh. Translators note: luo is actually gauze cloth, like a straining cloth], an overbearing demonic skill. After testing it, Zhu Yuyan did not stop praising him, commending it as the most brilliant self-created gongfa of the demonic school after Shi Zhixuans Immortal Image.

    Xu Ziling vigorously patted him on the shoulder and said, Go and act according to plan; you must not hold things up.

    Zheng Shiru wanted to talk, but in the end he held his peace. Seeing his resolute expression, which was beyond persuasion, he sighed helplessly before steeling himself to turn and continue on his way.

  19. #299
    Senior Member foxs's Avatar
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    Default Book 25 Chapter 6

    Chapter 6 Trying Ones Luck

    Seeing Kou Zhong, Cui Jixiu immediately knew that the situation has turned bad for him; thinking that he should strike first and gain the upper hand, he shouted, Brothers, charge! while at the same time waving his hand to release the fireworks, which exploded in the night sky, creating a burst of flower of light.

    And thus, with this sentence the imminent fierce battle was in full swing.

    The two sides facing each other shouted in unison; like a powerful current rolling over the earth, the battle was raging under cover of the thick smoke and the blazing flames. Battle cries shook the heaven. The situation was desperate.

    Kou Zhongs target was Cui Jixiu. If he could capture this man alive, he would be able to gather most valuable intelligence concerning Lin Shihong. He and Xu Ziling had speculated that Lin Shihong might be Yin Gui Pai man; perhaps he could find the answer from Cui Jixiu.

    Who could have thought that Cui Jixiu was incomparably cunning? He ordered the martial art masters around him to go all-out in dealing with Kou Zhong, but he himself withdrew backward to evade.

    When fast as lightning Kou Zhong swept forward, more than a dozen of the strongest martial art masters of the enemys side intercepted him head-on. The first two had a very fast shenfa; the one on the left was using long spear, creating more than a dozen fantastical streaks of spear shadow, stabbing and slashing, full and mighty, toward Kou Zhongs face. The other man was using a saber, swiftly hacking down, creating a screaming saber wind, cutting diagonally down on the side of Kou Zhongs neck. Not only his power was deep, his saber technique was vicious.

    At the same moment, from the enemys ships mooring on the shore came another shaking-the-heaven shout. Just by listening to the sound of the shouts, evidently Cui Jixius side still had a bunch of reinforcement troops lying in ambush. Seeing the rocket flare they immediately charged into the village.

    Ouyang Qians side was not weak either. Several hundred Li Liao warriors lying in ambush also appeared one after another from the other side of the village to join the fierce battle.

    Drawing the Moon in the Well from his back, with thick and cold murderous aura bursting out of him, Kou Zhong seemed to be dodging the spear with ease. Dang! he blocked the enemys saber. Spinning his body around, he flashed through between the two men with only a hairsbreadth of clearance, and then pulling his body up, he happened to see Cui Jixiu, who, under the protection of more than twenty of his men was trying to get away from the battle. Surprisingly though, he did not retreat toward the coast.

    The enemies intercepting Kou Zhong was shocked at first, but then they were overjoyed at the turn of events.

    Shocked, because Kou Zhongs shenfa was exquisite beyond compare, unexpectedly it was so fast that in that instant they were unable to fathom; he was dodging so swiftly that he put them in the position where they had the power, but no way of unleashing it. Overjoyed, because Kou Zhong pulled back about a zhang away, which made him the easiest and most clear-cut target, and that when they stumbled down, they might still be alive.

    Immediately sabers and spears were raised; everybody was storing up their momentum to wait.

    The contradiction in Kou Zhongs heart was aggravating. When he pulled out, he still had power remaining. With his ability to take a breath rapidly to change direction, he was sure that he could overtake the slipping away Cui Jixiu. Yet if he did that, he would let these dozen or so most overbearing of the enemys martial art masters to deal with Ouyang Qians Li Liao warriors. If that happened, perhaps he could capture Cui Jixiu, but perhaps Ouyang Qian would lose this battle.

    It was certainly a case of the fish and the bears paw, you cant have both at the same time [idiom from Mencius].

    Kou Zhong thundered while making his decision; he tossed aside the temptation to stop Cui Jixiu.

    Swish!

    One of the enemies facing him shook out his hand to release more than a dozen iron slingshot pellets, using the flower rain filling the sky technique to sprinkle the pellets on him; an extremely insidious trick.

    Naturally Kou Zhong was not worried at all. Exchanging the true qi within his body, he simply moved half a zhang across; not only to evade the secret projectiles, but also to make a somersault, his long saber chopped down on the head of one of the enemies blocking him.

    That man was outstanding as well. Although the attack happened so suddenly, in critical time he did not panic; he bent his waist backward, while raising the pair of hatchets in his left and right hands upwards to block. It was also a ferocious, exceptionally bold and powerful move.

    Kou Zhong roared in laughter. Releasing his spiraling energy, he let out two saber strikes in succession; with all his strength he heavily hacked down the opposite partys left and right big hatchets.

    In all his life, the man had never experienced the unique taste of spiraling energy. Not only the palm of his hands split, his meridians surged, he spurted blood on the spot, splashing blood everywhere until the sky spins, the earth goes round, and he dropped on hit butts on the ground.

    These two saber strikes immediately awed the other enemies that the originally rainbow-like momentum immediately went away like scattered clouds disappearing smoke.

    When he landed on the ground, Kou Zhoung shouted, Cui Jixiu is running away! You guys are his scapegoat!

    This shout was imbued with his power; it spread widely all over the battlefield.

    The more than a dozen enemys martial art masters besieging Kou Zhong looked at each other with doubt on their faces; the attacking power immediately ceased.

    Seeing he had no time to lose, the Moon in the Well fantastically created a streak of saber light covering one of the enemies, while he shouted, Whoever can block my, Shao Shuai Kou Zhongs three saber strikes, I, Kou Zhong, will let him live.

    Suddenly hearing the name Kou Zhong, none of the enemies did not have his countenance changed.

    Worse yet, the enemy who blocked Kou Zhongs first blade had his guts turned cold, he felt that under the saber qi his entire body was falling into an icehouse; his skin tingling, it felt as if it was about to split open, and it was difficult for him to keep his eyes open. The worst thing was that he could not either advance or retreat, and had nowhere to dodge, no way out, except to brandish his sword to block.

    Dang!

    The overbearing-beyond-human-comprehension saber qi penetrated his sword and burst into his body. This man, along with his sword, was hacked down by Kou Zhong and was thrown to the side. Unexpectedly, while still alive, he was jolted that his seven apertures spurted blood, his breathing ceased and he met a violent death.

    Because of their atrocity, which made ones hair stand up in anger, Kou Zhong did not have the slightest regret; on the contrary, murderous intent filled his breast, his saber light was transformed into long rainbow, rolling over the enemies. At this time, due to Kou Zhongs psychological tactics, the battlefield has become a one-sided situation.

    When the Cui Army saw that Cui Jixiu was gone without any shadow, any trace, as well as heard Kou Zhongs name, they were scared out of their wits; nobody had the heart to zealously continue fighting, they all scattered in all directions to save their own little life.

    It was after killing two more enemies that Kou Zhong found that his torrential momentum has scattered the enemies that not a single one remained. Inwardly he thought what a close call! because if these dozen or so men cooperated with one heart, if they disregarded life and death and joined hands to stake their lives against him, even if he managed to score a victory, perhaps he would have to pay such a heavy price.

    Sweeping his gaze around, he saw that the situation has fallen under the Li Liao beauty, Ouyang Qians control. His heart moved, he soared away and flew in the direction where Cui Jixiu was slipping away.

    After changing his disguise from Yue Shan to the scar-faced hero, Xu Ziling followed far behind the Mad Scholar of Henan Zheng Shiru, who was walking slowly along the main street of the south market, where there was no distinction between night and day.

    Although the number of pedestrians on the street was a far cry from the Mid-Autumn Festival night, it was still quite crowded. Probably most of these people were coming from elsewhere to enjoy the festivities, and still have not fully expressed themselves.

    Thereupon Xu Ziling had another plot brewing in his heart.

    As long as he knew to whom Zheng Shiru was going to report, if he treaded carefully and continued following him, perhaps even before the third watch of the night, he would be able to find the Heavenly Lord Xi Ying, so then he would not have to fall into the inferior situation where there were multitude of enemies, few friends [idiom from Mencius]. If fighting one on one and he still could not subdue Xi Ying, then he would only have himself to blame for his low skill, sluggish fortune. Otherwise, forget about running into Wanwan or perhaps those whatever elder-level martial art masters, with just an additional Bian Bufu, he would be forced to bag his food before finish eating.

    Other skills he did not dare to boast, but hiding and following trails, tracking in secret and ways to follow and peek, he had quite a confidence.

    At least toward a martial master of head of a school caliber like An Long, his technique was still effective.

    Thinking to this point, even his steps were becoming light and quick. Ahead of him, Zheng Shiru suddenly disappeared. Xu Ziling quickly sped up his steps. San Hua Lou [see previous chapter], three characters impressively appeared on the horizontal plaque above the rectangular gate. Looking inside the gate, he saw brilliant lantern lights hidden behind flowers and trees, and Zheng Shiru was politely greeted by the big man at the reception, and then he disappeared into the sumptuous hall, which tastefully chosen faade enhanced the exquisiteness of the stone steps leading up into the hall.

    Immediately he recalled Zheng Shiru mentioning this most famous pleasure quarters in Chengdu, which, according to him, was equally famous with the Shi Lin Yuan [lit. scholar/warrior forest park] of ChangAn.

    All the robust looking men at the gate were looking at him up and down, making him feel even more uncomfortable.

    San Hua Lou was obviously a thriving and prosperous business. Gorgeous carriages came one after another, forcing Xu Ziling to get out of the way, while inwardly he was groaning incessantly.

    Every time they visited a pleasure house, they never had anything good coming out of it, while bad things more and more emerged. Even bigger problem was that even if he followed inside, Zheng Shiru could not possibly say that he was his friend. Even if he somehow managed to get in, he would not be so lucky as to have a room adjacent to Zheng Shirus. However, to give up halfway like this, his heart was unwilling. Since he did not have anywhere better to go, why not try his luck in this pleasure house?

    Thinking about Kou Zhong, he fiercely gnashed his teeth and stepped toward the gate.

    One of the big men guarding the door stretched out his arm to block, but his manner was still polite and courteous; he asked, May I ask if Daye have a reservation?

    Stunned, Xu Ziling replied, I cant come in without a reservation?

    Another big man apologetically said, Daye, please forgive us; the days before and after the holiday are when we have the highest number of honored guests. For the past few days all the rooms here have been fully booked. Sir may try the Zui Xiang Wo [lit. intoxicated-by-the-fragrant nest] on the street west of here. Their ladies are quite good.

    Xu Ziling was greatly embarrassed, thinking that his luck in the pleasure house this time was even worse than the last time; he could not even get through the door.

    This moment the big man who received Zheng Shiru into the building happened to come back. Seeing Xu Ziling, unexpectedly a big smile broke across his face as if he had just seen an old friend, as he cordially blurted out, Isnt this Daye a friend of Hou Gongzi? On Mid-Autumn night Xiaoren had seen Daye and Hou Gongzi were surrounded by Miss Caiqis dancing and drumming troupe!

    Hou Xibai was, most probably, the VIP guest of any pleasure house. Thereupon the other two men immediately became very cordial. One of them even blamed him, saying, Daye should have mentioned that you are Hou Gongzis friend! Hou Gongzi has reserved a room for ten consecutive days, but until now we have not seen him come. Our delicate and pretty ladies are looking forward to see him with their hearts burning!

    The other man asked, Is Hou Gongzi coming soon?

    Xu Ziling did not know whether he should laugh or cry. Without any better option he thickened his face and said, Certainly! He is coming soon.

    The man receiving Zheng Shiru said, Xiaoren Yang Ji; may I ask Dayes honorable surname and great given name?

    Xu Ziling remembered Hou Xibai mentioned the Daoba Ke Gong Chenchun [see Book 24 Chapter 6]; hence he blurted out without thinking, Zaixia surnamed Gong, with a given name Chenchun.

    Even he himself felt that this name sounded very strange. Yet apparently Yang Ji did not share his feeling; he simply said cheerfully, Gong Ye, please come with Xiaoren.

    Since they have come, we should make them comfortable [idiom: if you cant beat em, join em]; brothel luck could also be an apricot brought to the top of Mount Tai [Chinese saying from the Book of Changes, meaning when adversity reaches the extreme, it will transform into a good one]. After reassuring himself, Xu Ziling followed him inside.

    If Cui Jixiu was escaping alone, there would be very little chance of overtaking him. Fortunately, from the snapping branches and leaves, the footprints on the road, and other vestiges along the way, Kou Zhong could infer that there were at least fifteen to twenty men running away with him. In one breath Kou Zhong was trying to catch him for two li straight, but when he reached a small stream, all the traces he had been following suddenly disappeared.

    It made sense.

    At first Cui Jixiu and the others must have fled in panic and did not choose their route carefully, because they wanted to get away from danger as quickly as possible. But once they reached a safe place, to avoid the enemys following their trails, they would have used their brains to eliminate any traces.

    Kou Zhong focused his power into his eyes and carefully scanned the area.

    The gurgling brook meandering over the sparse wood was flowing from south to north. Without even asking he knew that the enemies must be wading along the water; therefore, they did not leave any traces on the other side. Question is: were they going left on the creek, or right?

    This was like the first test of the tracking skill that he learned from Ba Fenghan; if he was successful in pursuing Cui Jixiu, it could be considered that he finished his apprenticeship.

    Carefully examining the footprints before they entered the water, most of them appeared to be heading to the left. It was the instinctive reaction of human nature; if the leader turned to the left, the followers would naturally look to the left or even change their direction to the left, so that they would be right behind the one leading the way.

    Kou Zhong laughed cheerfully; he was very proud of his deduction ability. He was just about to pursue to the left when suddenly he felt something was not right. Stopping and thinking deeply, his heart was shaken, and cried inwardly, What a close call!

    Upon further examination, he noticed that all the footprints on the shore were on the muddy ground by the water. Not only the footprints were very distinct, they also looked very heavy, as if they were afraid the enemy would not be able to see them.

    Kou Zhong tried taking two steps, but he could only leave much lighter footprints.

    Up until now he still did not know that this bad ghost scholar Cui Jixiu was so cunning and was an expert in diversion tactics; therefore, he immediately changed direction to the right and pursued swiftly along the water.

    Yang Ji took Xu Ziling, the Daoba Ke Gong Chenchun, to the main lobby, where he handed him over to the usher. He even warned repeatedly that Xu Ziling was Hou Xibais good friend, so that in his embarrassment, Xu Ziling copied Kou Zhong by pretending to be fully loaded, and giving tips liberally.

    The middle-aged lady who acted as the usher, Wen Gu [lit. cultured (paternal) aunt] led Xu Ziling through a flower path before reaching the famous main building of the San Hua Lou, which was a three-story wooden structure, grand in scale, with carved beams and painted walls; it was extremely tasteful.

    Going up to the third floor, Xu Ziling pretended to ask casually, Hasnt Zheng Shiru Xiong just arrived? I wonder if Wen Gu took care of him?

    Wen Gu laughed tenderly and said, Turns out Gong Ye is also a friend of Mad Scholar Zheng. Although it was not nujia who took him in, but the room Chen Gongzi and Bai Gongzi reserved is the east chamber armor room, which has the best scenery, separated from Hou Gongzis east pavilion by only one room. Does Gong Ye want to say hello first? When Hou Gongzi arrives, nujia will come again for Gong Ye.

    Inwardly Xu Ziling thought he had enough luck, somewhat feeling that this trip has not been made in vain, so he randomly thought of an excuse to decline Wen Gus good intention.

    Wen Gu laughed and said, No wonder Gong Ye can become Hou Gongzis good friend; Hou Gongzi has never come in contact with the other pampered sons of wealthy family, but his kindness to the ladies here need not be mentioned. He even composed music and wrote poems for them. Whenever Hou Gongzis honorable self is here, nobody did not strive to come to see him and wait on him. These past three days they have been painstakingly waiting for him.

    Startled, Xu Ziling spoke in all seriousness, I dont know whether Hou Xiong will be able to meet the appointment or not; before he is here, you must not tell anybody else, or else Hou Xiongs close lady friends will be happy in vain.

    Wen Gu pushed the door open; a whiff of fragrant of flowers immediately hit him on the face, and he saw fragrant osmanthus flowers spread over the windowsill opposite the door. In the spacious room, leaning against the left and right walls were plum blossom enclosure and bamboo lattice full of Chinese wolfberry shrub, Chinese catalpa, and a set of wooden small table and imperial tutor chairs. Not only the engraving was exquisite and fine, the components were joined together seamlessly, as though they were carved out of a single block of wood. The front side of the back of the chair was inlaid with marble, which lines were distinct, mellow and full, elegant and beautiful.

    No wonder it could share the same fame with Shi Lin Yuan; merely the furnishings proved that everything was carefully selected for quality.

    The corners of the wall were decorated with calligraphy and paintings; there was not the least bit of tackiness.

    Xu Ziling walked over toward the small table by the window, where there was a guzheng lying on it. Looking out the window, he saw under the moonlight and the lanterns outside, the cityscape bathed in silvery light. He saw shrines and Buddhist temples, Taoist monasteries, gates, villages, alleys and the market, multi-story buildings, palace gate watchtowers, shops and houses, gardens, pavilions and ponds, crisscrossing outside the high building. A beautiful image floated in his heart, the scenery at the pleasure house, where a beautiful courtesan was singing and playing the zither by the window, a charming and gentle, touching, as if he was drunk or was entranced.

    Inside and outside the building, there was a faint sound of woodwind and string instruments; not only it did not sound noisy, it appeared to be enhancing San Hua Lous far-reaching harmonious serenity.

    Wen Gu came behind him and spoke in a low voice, Although Miss Qingxiu cannot spare time tonight, but since Hou Gongzis friend is here, nujia will find a way to have her come here to sing a song for Gong Ye. Other time, Ill have Qiuhong to wait upon Gong Ye!

    Inwardly, Xu Ziling cried out for his Niang; hastily he said, Wen Gu need not go through all those troubles, zaixia will just wait for Hou Xiong here. Lets wait until he is here before making those other arrangements. Right now, it would be great if you could serve good wine and fresh fruits for zaixia.

    Wen Gu stared at him in amazement for a while before acknowledging the request and withdrew out of the room, closing the door for him on her way out.

    Xu Ziling breathed a sigh of relief, while at the same time focusing his power to his ears to listen to any sign of activity in Zheng Shirus room on the other side.

    Kou Zhong pursued along the brook for nearly a li before finding another trace of the enemy on the bank of the creek; not only it confirmed that his earlier speculation was correct, it also increased his confidence in overtaking the enemy. Cui Jixiu going upstream this far to the north, his objective must be to deal with Kou Zhong. Even if Kou Zhong pursued in the right direction, but not finding any traces of the enemy on shore after such a long distance, naturally he would doubt whether he made the wrong choice.

    However, the enemies were running away wading in the water, naturally their speed could not compare to traveling on dry land. Therefore, Kou Zhong was even more confident that he would be able to catch up with the enemy.

    Under the moonlight, he could see the glittering droplets of water that Cui Jixiu and his men were leaving on the stones and leaves. Fortunately there was neither rain nor fog tonight, otherwise he would have lost this only tracking clue, simply because when the enemies were leaping onto the shore, they would not have left these long-lasting traces on the hard surface of the stones.

    After finding three more traces of broken twigs where the enemies were going through the woods, Kou Zhong reached an expanse of grassland, where not far ahead the mountains were undulating, the terrain desolate.

    Focusing all his power and mind into his nose, he was immediately able to smell some kind of odor from the perspiration on the clothes remaining on the long grass, and was greatly delighted, inwardly thinking that when hunting dogs were pursuing their target, they would also do what he did just now.

    Whats more odd was that within the remaining scent, there was a hint of fragrance as well; he could not help thinking that Cui Jixiu looked a little bit effeminate, perhaps this bad ghost scholar had a habit of putting some kind of sweet-smelling grass on his clothes.

    Cheering inwardly, without stopping at all his feet moved across the grassland, toward the foot of a small hill.

    Unexpectedly there were two sets of barely discernible footprints appearing on the slope of the hill, extended to the opposite direction of each other.

    This place had sandy soil, the earth was soft, and there was no hard stone that could be used as stepping stone. It looked like the enemy was carrying out splitting-to-escape tactic, so that Cui Jixius chance of getting captured by Kou Zhong was reduced by half.

    Inwardly, Kou Zhong was amused. Without the slightest hesitation he followed the direction where the fragrance was going. Bypassing the slope of the hill, he climbed another hill, and faintly saw a mountain road in the distance. Although the grass and weeds where growing and spreading due to few people trampling on it, the path could still be clearly distinguished.

    The scent entering Kou Zhongs nose was getting stronger; the enemy was obviously passing on this road not too long ago.

    Kou Zhong was rushing non-stop up the hill. By the time he saw the situation on the other side of the mountain, an abandoned village with no man in sight appeared on the foot of the mountain far ahead, with more than a dozen dilapidated houses hidden inside the forest.

    Right this moment, there was a hurried and brief miserable scream coming from the abandoned village; unexpectedly it broke the serenity of the moonlit night.

    Stunned, Kou Zhong rushed down at full speed.

  20. #300
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    Default Book 25 Chapter 7

    Chapter 7 Mysterious Expert

    Since the two rooms were separated by another room in between, which was also noisy and crowded to bursting point with loose guests, seeking for Zheng Shirus voice amidst a lot of finger-guessing games, drinking contest, warblers singing and swallow twittering, woodwind and string instruments was definitely not an easy matter.

    But strangely enough, in this noisy world made of complex and multi-layered space filled with all kinds of sound, when Zheng Shiru spoke up, and Xu Ziling focused power was trained on searching for his voice, right away the other noise seemed to fade into the background, and this Mad Scholars voice suddenly became distinctive. It was a very unusual feeling.

    Zheng Shiru seemed to be responding to other peoples inquiry; he said, That Senior certainly came from far away. In a moment Zaixia might need to go out to relay a message; when I come back, I will accompany gentlemen drinking wine and listening to songs.

    Immediately there was a womans voice not letting him off easily, saying, Today is the first time that Zheng Gongzi is coming to visit us; we will definitely not let you find any excuse to slip away.

    There was a ruckus of other men and womens voices; extremely noisy.

    Finally Zheng Shiru surrendered; he promised to listen to all the ladies, each one singing a song before leaving, and promised to return after his job was done.

    The door opened.

    Xu Ziling jumped in fright, realizing that because he was focused on what has been happing in the other room, he missed what was happening in this room; unexpectedly he did not hear the sound of someone approaching the room. Looking back, turned out it was a pretty maid delivering good wine and fresh fruits. By now Xu Ziling was already an expert in giving tips. After the pretty maid left, he sat down in the chair close to the window, lifted up the cup that the pretty maid poured for him, and lightly drank a mouthful, thinking that his visit to the pleasure house this time did not go wrong; perhaps it was because there was no lady accompanying him here?

    This thought was still hovering in his mind when he heard footsteps approaching. The footsteps stopped right in front of his door, and then there was a knock, followed by a dainty female voice rang out, Qingxiu is here with specific purpose in mind to visit and wish Gong Ye good health.

    Xu Ziling was shocked. He panicked; since he absolutely had no idea on how to deal with this kind of situation. Springing up, he went to open the door for her.

    Outside the door a pretty and moving young woman was standing charmingly, with ample air of haughtiness, without losing her romantic elegance. From her outline to the curves of her body, nothing did not exude gracefulness and enchantment. Under her thread-thin eyebrows was a pair of bright eyes, revealing a longing expression. But naturally this longing was not evoked by Xu Ziling, this Daoba Ke Gong Chenchun.

    Her head was wrapped in brightly-colored cloth hat, the clothes she was wearing was even more unique; her wide gauzed sleeves, through the rolled-up cuff reaching to her elbows, revealed the gentle and soft, but abundant in elasticity, her small arms. It was a long gown but with short skirt. The upper outer garment was sleeveless, the inner garment was buttonless, exposing rich-in-texture chemise covering her breast, which was bright red. The hem of her skirt encasing her legs had multi-colored trim, the long belt on her girth was made of printed cloth, making her slender waistline appeared to be within ones hands grasp. On top of that, she wore sleeveless waistcoat, which enhanced her charm of many postures. She must be a beauty of one of many ethnic groups in the Sichuan region.

    When Xu Ziling opened the door, she revealed a slightly startled look, before carrying her fragrant wind inside the room. With at ease expression on her face, her delicate hand pulled the crook of Xu Zilings arm. She said with a tender laugh, Is this Gong Yes first visit to the pleasure house?

    Being pulled by her, Xu Ziling turned around and was led over to the imperial tutor chair on the left of the window. Smiling wryly, he said, It could be considered the first time indeed! How did Miss know?

    The delicate and pretty hands pressed him down into the chair, and then tenderly poured another cup of wine for him. Smiling, she said, Men who are accustomed to the pleasure house know that by coming here they are going to be served well by us, but Gong Ye seems to want to turn around.

    Under his scar-faced mask, Xu Zilings handsome face was burning. Half of Qingxius fragrant body was half-leaning, half-sitting, on the side of his thigh. She brought the good wine to the edge of his lips, and despite his refusal she fed him a sip. Laughing tenderly, she said, Gong Ye must not blame Wen Gu; nobody dares to conceal anything concerning Xibai from nujia.

    Xu Ziling felt that this flying-in-luck with women was so unbearable; smiling ruefully, he said, When Hou Xiong arrives and see us like this, wont it look not so good?

    Letting out silver-bell-like tender laughter, Qingxiu spoke with ten thousand kinds of flirtatious expressions, Nujia is not Xibais first wife; how could there be any misgivings? Oh! Gong Yes body is very young.

    Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, How could you say that?

    Qingxiu leaned over to his ear and spoke softly, Men of different age have different scent. Gong Ye appears to be nearly forty, but your scent is like that of a youngster; healthy, sweet swelling and full of vitality, making nujia unwilling to leave you.

    Xu Zilings heart shivered slightly, thinking that if he pretended to be Yue Shan, wouldnt this flaw be more obvious?

    Just now when he was talking to Zheng Shiru in that small alley, he continuously circulated his power to control his pores, otherwise Zheng Shiru, a Jianghu veteran, might see through his disguise.

    He replied randomly, Maybe its due to Ol Gong training martial art every day!

    Qingxiu looked at his countenance up and down, and then shook her head and said, It definitely has nothing to do with martial arts. Nujia is in contact with Jianghu people every day; among those people, not a few are Wulin masters, either from Bashu or other parts of the country. But there has never been one with body scent like Gong Ye. Its only natural that Gong Ye yourself did not perceive it, but nujia is able to smell it very clear. At first I thought Gong Ye was wearing some kind of sweet-smelling grass or perfume. Ah! Nujia knows! Its the scent of an infant!

    Although Xu Ziling did not know whether to laugh or to cry, he thought that most probably his body scent had something to do with the Secret to Long Life; both the Tao and Buddhist, two houses internal cultivation method, which could make people recover their youthful vigor, Liao Kong being the most readily available example.

    Suddenly remembering Zheng Shiru, he hastily bent his ear to listen attentively.

    Qingxiu stood up slowly and walked over to the long table facing the window where the guzheng was lying, and sat down; raising up her delicate hands, she plucked the peach guzheng string, creating a series of crisp notes like the gentle gurgle of running water. Hanging her head down, she softly said, Is Xibai coming tonight?

    Rushing to the mouth of the village, immediately Kou Zhongs scalp went numb.

    The first thing catching his eyes was a pair of feet hanging out of the window of one of the houses, while the other part of the body was hanging inside the house. Another person was lying on his back on the street; he died without closing his eyes, and his face revealed the panic he must have felt before his death.

    The strangest thing was that there were no visible bruises on his body, yet his mouth and nose oozed a little wisp of blood. A saber was still held firmly in his hand. From the tight black warrior outfit that the two were wearing, it was obvious that they were Cui Jixius men.

    In front of the dead body, there was a set of footprints extending to the west, while on the side there was another set of scattered, chaotic footprints.

    Kou Zhong tried to reconstruct what had just happened in his mind. It must be that Cui Jixiu and his men, seven or eight of them, were overtaken by the enemy as they were entering the village. Although Cui Jixiu and his men met the attack and fought, the incoming enemy must have killed two men in one move. But then the enemy must have deliberately given Cui Jixiu and the rest of his men the opportunity to flee. The course of events was extremely strange.

    Kou Zhong rapidly moved forward; more than a dozen steps later he found another dead body, unexpectedly lying on his back on top of a thatch roof, with the upper part of his body nearly collapsing inside the thatched house. The scene was weird and terrifying.

    Even such an extremely daring person like Kou Zhong felt the chill. He followed one set of footprints toward an abandoned wasteland next to the village. He saw two more dead bodies lying face down on the ground; on the surface, neither had any bruises. But when Kou Zhong wanted to make a more detailed examination, from about half a li to the southeast, there was an intense buzzing of metals clashing against each other.

    Kou Zhong no longer had time to examine how these people lose their lives; he rushed at full speed toward the sound.

    Temporarily Xu Ziling withdrew his attention from Zheng Shiru on the other side; he did not have the heart to deceive this bold, passionate beauty. To him, whether it was a lady from a wealthy family or from a pleasure house, she deserved his respect. Thereupon he calmly said, In my opinion, Hou Xiong is not coming tonight.

    Just by obtaining a half whether it was the top or the bottom part of the Immortal Image Scroll was enough to give Hou Xibai a headache; how could he have spare time to come here, looking for the wind and playing with the moon?

    Ding! Ding! Dong! Dong!

    Qingxiu plucked a series of guzheng notes in staccato, each one was jumping fast, just like torches being lit up one by one in the deepest, darkest wasteland. In the strange, difficult-to-understand loneliness, there was a hint of gurgling, flowing vitality and hope.

    The guzheng stopped abruptly. Letting out a faint sigh, Qingxiu said, This was a guzheng piece that Xibai composed; he has left Chengdu for so long! When he came back, he did not even see me. Tell him, Qingxiu has been waiting for him in pain!

    Finished speaking, she left sadly.

    Even after she closed the door, Xu Ziling still felt as if his heart was crushed by a heavy stone.

    Qingxius longing toward Hou Xibai would only turn into disappointment, but having dreams and pursuits was better than having none. Back in Yangzhou, everything was much simpler; it only involved how to break away from Yan Laodas evil clutches to pursue some kind of lifestyle where they could be their own master. Now, although on the surface they seemed to have obtained it, yet the burden on their shoulders has only increased and not diminished at all. The past itself has become the heaviest burden.

    Thinking about Shi Feixuan, and then thinking about Shi Qingxuan, both women had made him feel at a loss.

    He could not help raising his cup and draining it in one gulp.

    There was the sound of footsteps again. Bang! The door was pushed open, a clump of rosy clouds, carrying a whiff of fragrant wind, rolled into the room. A thousand-tender, a hundred-charm beauty appeared.

    As soon as Xu Ziling saw her, he immediately felt something has turned really bad.

    Starting from the feet, Kou Zhong looked at Cui Jixius without-the-least-bit-of-life-force face. A chill seeped along his spine.

    Cui Jixius long sword was broken into two, both pieces were lying on the grass, but the body was actually hanging from a tree branch. Just like his men, there was no bruises on his entire body.

    Although Kou Zhong was unclear about how brilliant Cui Jixius martial art skill was, but his shenfa was at least of a martial art master level; otherwise, he would not have been able to run away to this place in such a short period of time, and at least he was able to block the opponents attack one strike longer.

    It was only after witnessing the fact before his eyes that Kou Zhong deeply understood the saying there is a heaven beyond the heaven, there is person outside the person [idiom: in the wider world there are people more talented than oneself].

    The timing of this person making his move appeared to hide a profound meaning; that is, the moment Kou Zhong was about to overtake the enemy, he wiped out the scattering enemies one by one. It was ruthless and fast. Kou Zhong had to admit that he himself did not have that kind of ability.

    Cui Jixius sword was hacked and broken by this terrifying experts sharp weapon. Although the weapon would stop the body upon contact, but it was the invisible qi power that invaded the enemys body and shocked and broke Cui Jixius heart meridian.

    Such martial art skill was indeed horrifying.

    Kou Zhong shook his head, inwardly called formidable, and walked away.

    The newcomer was precisely the Da Dangjia of Chuan Bang [Sichuan Gang] Fan Zhuos beautiful daughter Fan Caiqi. The colorful tight outfit that she was wearing making her looked even more like a peacock spreading its tail. Her feet were covered in small boots; the drum hanging on her waist the other night was replaced by a saber. She stormed in front of Xu Ziling, whose scalp went numb. With one hand on her waist, the youthfulness shone on her pretty face, she was smiling wholeheartedly; her beautiful eyes were flickering under her long, pointy eyelashes, she said, Turns out its the fellow surnamed Gong who lost his father the other night, but tonight came to San Hua Lou to fool around. Where the hell is that cheater who goes back on his word, Hou Xibai?

    It was only then did Xu Ziling remember that in order to get away that night, Hou Xibai made a promise to come to the Chuan Bangs headquarter to pay her a visit. Needless to say, Old Hou missed his appointment.

    Having failed to obtain the other half of the Immortal Image Scroll, perhaps Hou Xibai would forget even his own name; how could he have leisure time to perfunctorily mind this crafty and unruly woman? It was only now did he gain heartfelt understanding of the worries of showing passion everywhere; perhaps for Hou Xibai it was as sweet as syrup [idiom from Book of Songs: to endure hardship gladly], but now it was up to him to bear it. Without any better option he forced a smile and said, Xiaodi is also looking for him. Miss Fan, please forgive me.

    Letting out a tender snort, Fan Caiqi said, Did you not ask him to come here to be merry? Up to this point you are still lying?

    Xu Zilings heart was still hanging on Zheng Shiru on the other side; he was groaning that he could not do two things at once like Ba Fenghan. Sighing, he said, Last time Xiaodi was not lying; rather, I was being tactful. Fan Da Xiaojie, please note clearly.

    Unexpectedly Fan Caiqi blurted out giggling tenderly. Taking a few steps back away from him, she sat down on the chair opposite his. Her elbow on the armrest, with her hand supporting her fragrant cheek, she smiled gracefully, and said, Although you, this man, have scary outward appearance, your voice and speech are actually very pleasant to hear. Ill take you as my captive for the time being. Unless Hou kid showing himself here, or perhaps you hand him over to me, you are not allowed to go anywhere.

    Taking advantage while she was speaking, Xu Ziling focused his attention on Zheng Shirus situation over on the other side. A song happened to finish; it looked like Zheng Shiru would be leaving soon.

    Xu Ziling hastily rose up to his full height. But before he had any chance to open his mouth, Fan Caiqi pulled her curved cavalry saber and swiftly put it on his neck; the momentum was abundant, the movement was deft and ruthless. Having taken a look at the brilliance of her saber technique, while he was under the limitation that he must not injure her, Xu Ziling knew that in order to get rid of her, he would have to go through a lot of trouble. Plus he would not be able to do it while he had to follow Zheng Shirus trail. And right this moment, he could not make any fighting noise. Hastily raising his hand to express his surrender, he sat back into the chair.

    Fan Caiqi brandished her blade about a cun away in front of the tip of his nose as a show of force, before retreating back into her chair and sitting down. Immensely proud of herself, she said, Turns out your hands and feet are so disappointing. Just sit down nicely for me. Otherwise Ill make another scar on your thick face. Nujia is not kidding.

    Listening to Zheng Shirus footsteps gradually moving away, Xu Ziling could only sigh for his bad luck. Previously he thought his pleasure house luck has turned around, but now he realized that his pleasure house misfortune has not changed.

    His plan for today was to wait for Zheng Shiru to leave some distance away, and then he would think of a way to get out, before thinking of what his next step would be. But this moment he could only stare at her helplessly.

    Suddenly Fan Caiqi knitted her pretty eyebrows lightly; leaning forward, she said, Why are you staring at me? Did something grow on my face that you need to look at horizontally and vertically?

    Xu Ziling rose up to his full height and spoke glibly, Da Xiaojie, please forgive Ol Gong for not accompanying you.

    Fan Caiqis big beautiful eyes grew wide; she was about to make her move, when someone on the outside shouted, Hou Gongzis letter has arrived.

    Hearing the name Hou Gongzi, immediately Fan Caiqi completely forgot about Xu Ziling. Excited, she asked, Where is the letter?

    Xu Ziling mused that if he did not leave right now, what was he waiting for? Thereupon brushed past Wen Gu, who was there to deliver the letter, and swaggered out.

    Kou Zhong went back to the burned-down-until-the-wall-crumbling-the-roof-collapsing village. The battle has ended, the three pirate ships moored on the shore have fled far away as well. Ouyang Qians Li Liao warriors were just clearing up the mess.

    To avoid social niceties, he made a detour to go back to his small village, to return to the little thatched cottage, and climbed up to the clay bed and lay down. The Li ethnic villagers who were fleeing to avoid disaster have not returned, and he was happy to be alone and enjoy the peace and quiet, but myriads of thoughts were surging through his mind.

    Who exactly killed Cui Jixiu and his men?

    This martial art master, who had not shown his face, had a hand that was as hard as Zhu Yuyans. The most baffling thing was that he seemed to show off to Kou Zhong; he rushed to be one step ahead of Kou Zhong to wipe out Cui Jixiu and the others, yet he did not seem to show any hostility toward Kou Zhong.

    He really had never thought that he would encounter such a strange thing in such a desolate place.

    In the south, other than the Heavenly Saber Song Que, who else would be as superior as this?

    Thinking back and forth, Kou Zhong fell asleep.

    He had just stepped out of San Hua Lous outer courtyard, someone flashed out from the small alley, pulled Xu Ziling aside and said with a laugh, Ziling Xiong, how are you?

    Smiling ruefully, Xu Ziling said, With Hou Xiongs blessing, not so good. Did you see Zheng Shiru?

    Hou Xibai apologetically said, He was walking in great hurry, as if he was afraid someone might follow him. Come! This place is too unpleasant; if we get entangled by that crafty and unruly girl, it will get even worse.

    Following him, Xu Ziling turned to the south and entered a small alley. They leaped onto a roof and flew from house to house. A moment later they came to the roof ridge of a magnificent building. Under the bright moon casting its light at an angle, all the trees inside the courtyard, surrounded by walls, cast long shadows on the ground.

    Xu Ziling asked in surprise, This is not like regular folks home; there is no lantern and the fire is dark.

    Revealing a strange smile, Hou Xibai spoke in low voice, I dont even know myself why I took Ziling Xiong to this place. This is the Li Familys shrine. Since I was young, I love to come here at night to think, but Ive never brought anybody else here; perhaps its because I consider you as a member of my circle of friends!

    Xu Ziling has already cast Zheng Shirus affair out of his mind; laughing, he said, Dont you have to study that half of the Immortal Image Scroll? Why did you come to San Hua Lou?

    Hou Xibai sat down on the roof ridge, and beckoned Xu Ziling to sit down as well. Sweeping his gaze around at the dots of light outside the Li Family shrine extending in all directions all the way to the city wall, he smiled wryly and said, It was because my head nearly burst open that I went to San Hua Lou to sniff the girls fragrance, hoping to get some spirited ideas. Ay! Xiaodi right now has a terrible headache, all sentences are only the lower halves; I seem to understand yet do not really understand, it seems to be clear, but it is not really clear. I just know that it is definitely Shi Shis handwriting.

    Muttering to himself irresolutely, Xu Ziling said, Looking at the remaining scroll, isnt your esteemed masters Immortal Image Method using Buddhisms supreme gongfa to unify Bu Tian and Hua Jian, two different kinds of supreme xinfa into one?

    Full of admiration, Hou Xibai said, Ziling Xiong is extremely brilliant; although your guess did not hit the target, it did not miss too far either. Supposing Bu Tian and Hua Jians xinfa are two wheels, the Buddhism xinfa is precisely the axle connecting the wheels together; in this way, the carriage will be able to move.

    Frowning, Xu Ziling said, Didnt you say that Hua Jian and Bu Tian, two Sects martial art are heading to two extremes? Using wheel analogy does not seem to be too appropriate, because in terms of structure and function, wheels have no differences.

    Hou Xibai solemnly said, This is the analogy that Shi Shi wrote in the scroll. Inherently, wheels are the same, but because of different position, they can become diametrically opposite things. Just like life and death; although on the surface they seem to be opposite of each other, the fact is that both come from living beings, only one signifies the beginning, the other signifies the end; only then do they become opposites. Hua Jian Pai focuses on talking about opportunity to live, Bu Tian Pai puts emphasis on death qi. But if life is concealed within the death, and death is contained within the life, the two Sects can be unified, and the crucial point is precisely the image method that Shi Shi collated and examined carefully from Buddhism.

    Listening to this, Xu Zilings head grew big. He started to understand a little bit why after looking at it, Bi Xiuxins life force was reduced.

    Pushing this problem aside, he said, Looks like Xiaodi cannot help you in this matter, Hou Xiong must not force yourself either; I still have something to do.

    Hou Xibai resolutely said, It must have something to do with Zheng Shiru; I cant simply dismiss responsibility. If Ziling Xiong wont let me help, my heart will feel very uncomfortable.

    Xu Ziling hastily said, Hou Xiongs kind intention is already enough! Hou Xiong still has

    Cutting him off, Hou Xibai spoke with a smile on his face, If Ziling Xiong declined, you dont consider me a friend. Xu Ziling can pursue justice with no second thoughts in helping Hou Xibai seizing the Image Scroll, could it be that seeing you have something on your mind, Hou Xibai simply watches with folded arms?

    Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, I want to eliminate the Heavenly Lord Xi Ying. Does Hou Xiong think it is possible?

    What? Hou Xibai blurted out.

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