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Thread: The Portal of Wonderland by Wang Yu (玄界之门 - 忘语)

  1. #21
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    Chapter 17 - The Devil Witch of Tian Yin

    Chapter 17 - The Devil Witch of Tian Yin [1]

    A rustle came from the bamboo forest, and with the sound a nymph-like young girl in white dress wandered out, who looked merely the age of fifteen, or at most sixteen, but her figure was gracefully slender, her breasts bulging from her blouse, her feet as white as pure snow, her dark black hair tumbling until her waist; as her large bright eyes blinked, beautiful glances flashed from her liquid orbs, and a seducing amorous fragrance could be smelt all over her body which not a single man was able to resist.

    Seeing this barefoot nymph-like girl, the Taoist priest shouted harshly as if he’d seen a hideous snake or scorpion, “The Devil Witch, I’d never thought you’re still tailing me? Do you really think my cold sword would shrink before your witchcraft?”

    “Cold Sword [2], you should be the one most clear of my reason following you. Dear poor Lan Yun[3] sister, she’s that into you, should you feel at ease while she lay under the ground, cannot rest in peace?” The beautiful girl’s eyes blinked, clear and shining, as if heavenly streams. She walked steadily to the middle-aged Taoist priest in a slow pace.

    “You witch, I’d told you a hundred times, Yun Er’s death has nothing to do with me. She’s only killed because our appointment venue was leaked out. “ The middle-aged Taoist’s face twisted with fierceness, he swished out his sword reflecting cold blue light and roared at the girl.

    “I don’t care if you mean it or not, but you did make the promise to live and die with Yun Er, so I’m only here to help you fulfill your oath. Don’t thank me so much, “ the barefoot girl said with a light smile while raising her sleeves, a short ruler, as white as jade, shown from inside.

    The ruler was not longer than a half chi [4], two cun[5] in width, but there should be wisps of white fog coiling up around the surface, looking extremely mysterious.

    “The...the Legendary Ice Ruler, isn’t it your Tian Yin sect’s ultimate weapon? You lunatic, stealing such a final weapon out just for a dead woman? Aren’t you afraid of your sect’s seniors? They’ll annihilate all your skills once they find out!” The Taoist priest had had prepared to put up a desperate fight, but his face froze at the ruler, only stammering the weak threat.

    “Well, that’s not your business then. Let’s waist no more time, I’ll now send you to meet Yun Er.” The barefoot girl only gave him a faint smile while shaking her ruler slightly. Suddenly there nearby air stirred invisibly, white fog appeared from thin air rolling incessantly; in its swirl the fog turned to white flowers as big as bowls in a rapid speed.

    “To kill me? Stop dreaming!”

    With a whiz the Taoist priest flung the little animal out of his hand to the girl unexpectedly, while he stomped hard unto the ground and shoot himself backward, right into mid air, before he vanished like a giant bird into a nearby dark wood with a swirl in the air.

    “Witch, I’ll tell about your theft of the Legendary Ice Ruler, see what your sect will do to you.” The vile oath came from the wood, the last words of the oath already growing faint as he fled deep into forest. Obviously, he had already gone faraway.

    “Idiot man, a mere fake should have scared you out your wits! But my Soul-Hunting Incense have got you, you could never run out of its power! Just move your legs and run! Why, the golden hamster has opened its holy pupils!” The barefoot girl lift her slender fingers, catching the golden hamster with ease, and was just about to ridicule the Taoist priest when her eyes turned alight with surprise: just as she lowered her head and looked briefly at the little animal in hand, she found something out of expectation.

    “Well, I was wondering why Cold Sword would grab an ordinary golden hamster without scruples. It turned out to be a holy-pupiled hamster, soon to be a holy animal!” Taking back her jade ruler, the barefoot girl held the golden animal into her breast, stroking it tenderly, full of affection.
    The mouse-looking golden animal rolled its tiny green eyes all the time, while it dared not to move its body as stroked by the ten slender fingers.

    “Oh yes, there’s another little guy. “ After making a fuss of the golden hamster for a while, the barefoot girl suddenly found Shi Mu frozen still nearby, whose body had grown a thin layer of white frost, only his eyes movable, with which he was staring fixedly at the barefoot girl.

    She giggled and wandered her way to Shi Mu at an unhurried pace.

    Shi Mu’s eyes rolled slowly with difficulty was the girl’s figure moved, without turning away once.

    “Well that’s funny.” Seeing thus the barefoot girl cracked a smile, a trace of interested expression shown on her face. Suddenly, she deliberately swung her body left and right.

    Though unable to move, Shi Mu’s eyeballs began to move left and right to trace the girl, a hilarious sight indeed.

    “Haha, that’s so funny!” The barefoot girl halted in front of Shi Mu, with the little animal in her breast she giggled girlishly, her back arched, as if her stomach was aching due to the laugh.

    The girl laughed for a good while before she straightened her back anew, her sleeves raised while a puff of white fog rushed out and seeped into Shi Mu’s body in no time.

    Then a surprising scene occurred.

    The frost on Shi Mu’s body began to resolve in a rapid speed that even naked eyes could see the process clearly.

    With a loud thud Shi Mu fell down straight, heavily into the mud, so hard that he could not manage to raise his back only his head, slightly.

    Then he suddenly saw a pair of slender feet as lotus rhizome, their ten toenails painted bright red, as seducing as fresh petals.

    “Beautiful?”

    The owner of the slender feet asked, leisurely.

    Shi Mu blushed to the very roots of his hair at the question; suddenly a strength grew inside him, quite strange, which even made him rise from the ground slowly. He then studied the extremely beautiful face with strange looks unknown to himself before.

    “Well little guy, you know, if you are two or three years older and look at me in this way, I’d gouge your eyes right away. “ The barefoot girl rolled her beautiful eyes, the little animal in her breast, made a horrified remark unexpectedly.

    “What’s your name?” Finally Shi Mu opened his mouth; his voice, though somewhat husky, was calm enough, to the girl’s surprise.

    “Do you think I’ll tell you?” The girl was stunned for a moment, then answered with a grin.

    “I can only go to your family and propose to you after knowing your name. “ Shi Mu’s fixed his eyes on the girl; there was a nondescript trace of fervent emotion shown on his face.

    “What, say again? I didn’t hear you quite clearly. “ The barefoot girl thought she must heard him wrongly. She opened her beautiful eyes widely and asked in a big surprise.

    “I’d ask you to be my wife. I shall make you my wife. “ Shi Mu answered without hesitation, his looks determined and unchanged.

    “What nonsense...Do you know my age, my identity to speak such a daring thing?” The barefoot girl, though had always been cruel and merciless, her mind shrewd and deep, was caught unguarded by the youth’s words.

    “Or you are already engaged? Or in your forties, fifties? “ Shi Mu asked, knitting his eyebrows.

    “Surely not, and I’m only in my twenties...Wait, why should I tell you so...You...” The barefoot girl answered subconsciously first, only realizing her bluntness with anger and shame.

    “In your twenties, and not yet engaged with anyone, that’s perfect. No matter what you are, I take a liking to you at first sight. I’ll definitely make you my wife. “ Hearing the answer Shi Mu relaxed and said earnestly.

    “Haha, you like me so you can marry me? Even if you are an accomplished warrior, I won’t agree, let alone a practitioner...Well, it’s only a waste of time speaking with you. To tell you the truth, I don’t believe a thing in a man’s honey-sweet words, and I’ve decided to never marry anyone in my life. “ The girl finally resumed her ordinary state to some extent, then giggled, but meanwhile evading Shi Mu’s fervent looks.

    “My mother used to tell me, if you did meet a girl you really liked, you must let her know as soon as possible, so as not to miss a perfect marriage. Here I, Shi Mu, vowed seriously to marry this girl in front of me in my life, if ever I eat my word, I shall be pierced by ten thousand arrows, be cut to death by axes. “ Shi Mu’s eyes never once moved from the girl, his eyes not blinking, his hands raised. The deadly oath was made.

    But whether it was accidents or not, just as Shi Mu finished his last word, there came some booming thunders from the sky gratuitously.

    The barefoot girl opened her red lips slightly, her beautiful eyes gazed at Shi Mu, unable to speak a word. Only after a long while she burst into a charming laughter.

    “That’s...so...so funny! Me! The Devil Witch of Tian Yin sect, should be proposed one day, and by a teenage boy! Good, good, don’t say I leave you no chance, if you can reach the accomplished level before thirty, then come for me in Wan Long mountain [6], Tian Yin sect, I’ll tell you my real name by then. And this, it’s the pay for the holy animal.”

    Holding her laughter the girl straightened her back and threw a bottle to Shi Mu, then crumbed something in her sleeves.

    “Pu!” A sound was heard.

    There came suddenly a strong wind in the nearby air, and white clouds appeared to lift the girl to the height of over ten zhang, sending her floating to the faraway sky, only leaving Shi Mu with a faint, melodious last warning,

    “ To tell you another thing, the holy animal was faking unconsciousness that time. If not caught by Cold Sword before it fled, you may really return with empty hand.”

    From the moment the barefoot girl threw the bottle to the one when she flew with the animal, Shi Mu only experienced a split second; she left so soon as if hurried to flee from something...

    “She did fly...The Devil Witch of Tian Yin...”

    Shi Mu stood was struck dumb, freezing at the direction of the girl’s disappearance, looking into the distance for a long while. Then he murmured to himself in a loss.

    After a long time he finally came to himself. Looking at the bottle and the previously made trap, he smiled to himself bitterly.

    “’Try to steal a chicken, only to end up losing the rice’, that’s the saying, isn’t it? Hundred of silver and the animal, all gone.”

    But then he could not help but become curious of the content inside the bottle.

    After all, the girl was so enigmatic, the thing she gave should not be ordinary.

    Shi Mu only give it a brief thought before he opened the bottle, taking it as his possession now, and a roundish pill of white color rolled out, swirling, as big as his thumb, and silver light seemed to glitter faintly on its surface.

    “Qi Ling pill!”

    Shi Mu cried out involuntarily after making out the pill’s appearance.


    Notes:
    [1] The Devil With of Tian Yin: The original spell in Chinese is Tian Yin Cha Nv, which means the beautiful girl of Tian Yin sect, while “Tian Yin” is the name of the sect. “Tian” means heaven, “Yin” has the multiple meaning of ‘negative’, ‘female’, ‘shade’, ‘cloudiness’, ‘sinister’, ‘of the ghosts’ world’, etc. So the translator here decides to adopt the title of “the Devil Witch of Tian Yin”, since the word ‘witch’ carries as complex meanings as ‘yin’, indicating the girl’s viciousness and beauty at the same time.
    [2] The Cold Sword: it is both the man’s name and his skill’s name.
    [3] Lan Yun: a girl’s name. “Lan” means blue, “yun” means a fragrant herb.
    [4] chi: a unit of length (=1/3 meter).
    [5] cun: a unit of length (=1/3 decimeter).
    [6] Wang Long: a fictional mountain’s name, meaning a huge, verdant mountain.

  2. #22
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    Chapter 18 - Climbing to the Next Level

    This was exactly the Qing Ling pill he had seen for a thousand times in the collection of martial arts illustrations!

    But still he dared not to believe his own eyes: he gaped at the pill, studied it thoroughly, then nosed it, a pungent smell penetrating his nose immediately.

    It was Qing Ling pill, as true as steel!

    It was claimed that the market price of one pill was as high as a million liang of silver, but actually in some black market trade someone had offered three million liang without even the source of buying, which proved that the barefoot girl was so generous!

    As Shi Mu was overjoyed with the unexpected good result, his curiosity of the girl’s identity grew increasingly. It seemed now that his remark of marrying her must be delirium to the girl - a toad wishing to eat swan meat. Also, the condition that he must reach the level of acquired warriors before thirty was so exacting a task to be fulfilled, weighing heavily on his mind.

    He knew that it would be impossible for him to be an acquired warrior before the age of thirty. But faced with the girl, who made him palpitating with a fervent heart for the first time in his life, as well as considering his unbending will, he would certainly not resign himself to the formidable prospect.

    So it seemed that he could only proceed in small steps, abandoning unnecessary thoughts.

    Now his next goal would be to acquire qi-sensing before managing to reach the level of acquired warriors.

    Shi Mu let out a sigh, finally purging himself of the disturbing thoughts, and then directed his attention to the pill in his hand, which gave him much confidence in acquiring qi-sensing with the aid of the other pill promised by Auntie Zhen.

    ......

    Several days later, in the closed room of Feng Liu sojo’s backyard, striking sounds roared like torrential rain.

    Inside, Shi Mu was doing a martial-art squat with his upper body bare, struck heavily by the stick in Li Canghai’s hand, while the previously red and swollen skin was not seen again this time; instead, the skin looked overly pale, and each strike on it would make a strange droning noise as if the stick had fallen on wood rather than on a human body.

    Unknown times of strikes had fallen on Shi Mu’s body, but his face, not contorted with pain, showed unexpectedly some irresistible excitement, meanwhile his mouth opened, echoing the strikes with low shouts.

    Li Canghai had also taken off his jacket, leaving a short-sleeved shirt only, his hard muscles visible all over his body. Waving his sticks continuously, he was now dripping with sweat, but would not pause for a brief wipe, his eyes fixed on Shi Mu with feverish excitement too.

    Boom!

    As a strike fell on a certain acupuncture point in Shi Mu’s chest, a thunderous noise exploded, with Shi Mu’s face blushing as if the strike had instilled into him a great deal of energy. The next moment, all returned to normal, but his face was soon to blush again. Such a process went on for another ten odd times before crisp sounds like that of the firecrackers came from inside Shi Mu’s body voluntarily; simultaneously, the muscles on his body surface began to bulge and move like mice.

    “Haha! That’s it! I’d never thought one can really go through the half year’s torture and reach the eleventh level in body tempering.” At the sight Li Canghai threw away his stick and burst into laughter.

    “It’s all thanks to Instructor Li’s painstaking training! “ With a deep breath the cracking sounds inside his body stopped abruptly, and the muscles also returned to normal in an instant. Shi Mu answered, overjoyed at his achievement.

    By then he had eventually reached the eleventh level in body tempering.

    “No thanks, I’m only doing my paid job. But it only works for you, such a sturdy guy, others will absolutely not able to stand the sticks.” Li Canghai waved off Shi Mu’s flattery.

    “Anyway, I’m still thankful for your kind instruction, helping me to reach the eleventh. “ Shi Mu answered, smiling. He tried to move his arms and legs and to feel the change inside him.

    “Well, if you want to thank me for it, then win me a championship in the competition several days later.” Li Canghai said straight forward.

    “Hehe, that’s easy, I’ll do my best. “ Shi Mu returned his confident smile.

    ......

    Seven days later, at the gate of Tian Lu sojo, the largest one in Feng City.

    The leader of the sojo, Feng Lengchan, whose stature corpulent as as that of a black bear, was just walking to greet his guests with one of the instructors from his sojo, cheerful and gay. Among the guests were Li Canghai and some other Feng Liu guys. Shi Mu was following Li Canghai and a bulky fellow with reddish face closely with two other practitioners.

    “Haha, Brother Li, Brother Min, you’ve grown more energetic within months.”

    “Well, well, it’s Leader Feng that has grown more robust in a short while.”

    “Hehe, Brother Li, I guess you mean I’ve put on much weight.”

    “How dare I? It’s Brother Li the actual leader among our four sojos, and the other three leaders like me are only nominal, rarely seen on ordinary occasions. Right, has the Fox Tian of Fei Hong sojo, Old Wang of Jin Gang sojo arrived?”

    “Haha, Brother Tian will hit the roof if he hears so. Sure, they two have already arrived, waiting at the competition venue. The three are your candidates?” Leng Fengchan was laughing as the Maitreya Buddha[1] when his eyes met Shi Mu and two other practitioners he had seen performing excellently in their sojo before.

    “However good they are they can never compete with Nephew Feng. This time I guess it’s either us or Fei Hong guys comes last in the competition.” Li Canghai smiled faintly.

    The big fellow with reddish face only smiled briefly in reply, seeming a taciturn man.

    “Brother Li, I’m afraid you are quite mistaken. It’s difficult for Fei Hong to come last even if they wanted.” Hearing thus Leng Fengchan wore a bitter smile instead.

    “Well? What do you mean by it?” Li Canghai was really surprised, so was the reddish man.

    “Brother Li, you’d better get some ways of obtaining more information in the future. Haven’t you heard of the new-comer in Fei Hong sojo? He’s got the body of thick earth.” Feng Lengchan changed to a serious face this time.

    “The body of thick earth?” The red-face man of Liu Feng sojo finally opened his mouth involuntarily, full of surprise.

    “It seems that Fei Hong sojo is ready for a desperate fight this time and is highly likely to win the match. If so, that will be difficult for us.” Li Canghai murmured to himself, estimating in silence the chance of Shi Mu’s Stone-Breaking Fist defeating the body of thick earth.

    Meanwhile, Shi Mu was looking up and down with the other two practitioners at the gate of Tian Lu sojo, full of curiosity. The gate was covered with golden nails, flanked by a giant stone lion at either side, a much more imposing gate than their own sojo’s. After some small talk Leng Fengchan invited them in; Shi Mu also followed them into the gate.

    Right inside the gate there was a huge practice ground where stood an already arranged ring for the marital match in the middle, the entire ring made of thick round logs. It was over a zhang in height and ten zhang in both length and width.

    The whole practice ground was empty expect beside the ring where some ten-odd practitioners were standing in three groups. Obviously they were from the other three sojos.

    “You three, go and wait there. Instructor Tian and I’ll be with you in a while.” Li Canghai said briefly and then followed Feng Lengchan to the wing-room behind the practice ground with the red-face man.

    “Shi Mu, Sun Jun, let’s go and steal a look at their skills.” The eldest young man among the three suggested to the other two with a smile as soon as Li Canghai left, his body quite athletic.

    “We’ve already been here for the match, it’s no use knowing their strengths. But this time, Brother Li and I has reached already the intermediate level in several practitioners’ skills before the match, so it’s normal for us to be candidates. But you, a new-comer, even if you have reached the tenth level in body tempering, I’ve never seen you perform your skills in our sojo, how can I be sure you’ll perform them well in the match? I’m wondering why Instructor Li has to make up the number by adding you.” The lanky young man of the three obviously had been nursing a grievance, which he vent to Shi Mu now.

    “Hehe, I myself don’t want to take part in it, but cannot refuse since Instructor Li has asked me to. “Shi Mu was not a bit angry at the reproach; instead he answered in a manner full of ease, even a little lethargic.

    “You...”

    “Well, Sun Jun, do you want to make a fool of yourself in front of the guys from other sojos?” The young man, his family name Li, seemed rather displeased and interrupted decisively, stopping the lanky fellow from saying more.

    The young Li seemed to hold an authority, thus Sun Jun only snorted at Shi Mu and stopped the attack.

    Then the three walked to the ring, measuring the nearby practitioners up and down.

    “Well?” After a glance over the groups of candidates there, Shi Mu found some known faces. They belong none other than to the ones he fought when playing ‘fierce fist’. But only two young men caught his attention: one was a tall youth clustered around by several Tian Lu practitioners, while the other youth, in white clothes, was sitting with his legs crossed on the ground all by himself, scrubbing a dark black spear.

    “Feng Jun, Wang Tianhao!”

    Shi Mu could tell in a glance who they were. The former had taken his three fist strikes with strong inner work while the other quit the fight even with amazing spear skills. Both gave him a lasting impression, but would not recognize Shi Mu in his true appearance at the moment. They only cast him a cursory glance as the three walked by.

    Shi Mu sized up the others as his eyes glanced sideways across Feng Jun and Shi Mu, and found that all the candidates here, surely the elite of all the sojos, had rather outstanding bearing sharply different from ordinary practitioners.

    When the youth Li led Shi Mu near them, a young man with a pockmarked face wearing Fei Hong sojo’s suits came to greet them gladly,

    “Li Yunfeng, so you Liu Feng fellows have finally arrived. Then it seems the match will soon begin, I can’t wait to encounter your Python-Bones Fist again!”

    “Hehe, Gu Zhong, if we two become opponents in the match I’ll surely fight with all my strength. But just heard from some instructors that you have a new comer claimed to be the body of thick earth, is that true?” The youth Li replied briefly, his eyes seeking involuntarily among the other two Fei Hong practitioners. One of them looked the similar age of Gu Zhong, with a puffy face, and the other looked at the age of fourteen or fifteen, thin and weak, his skin dark, his ears sticking out and his chin like an ape’s: extremely inconspicuous.

    “Hehe, This is younger brother Jia, no need to introduce since you’ve met him at last match; as for this younger brother Tie Dong, he did just enter us a month ago.” Gu Zhong paused at the question for a moment, then hurried his introduction with a smile.

    “Brother Li.” The puffy-faced young man greeted them with clasped fists. But the youth named Tie Dong only rolled his eyes, completely indifferent to them.

    Seeing thus Li Yunfeng’s face became embarrassed.

    “Ah, Brother Li, younger brother Tie meant no offense to you. He grew up in an isolated island and became quite a silent boy. Well, the two younger brothers behind you should also be introduced now.” Gu Zhong tried to ease the situation, full of ingratiating smiles, asking Li while his looks were turned to Shi Mu and Sun Jun standing behind.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Notes:
    [1] The Maitreya Buddha: The well-known version of the Maitreya Buddha in Chinese culture, usually portrayed as smiling heartily with his breasts bare.
    Last edited by xianxiaworld; 02-21-16 at 04:33 AM.

  3. #23
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    Chapter 19 - The Body of Thick Earth


    “Shi Mu? I’ve long since heard the name, the one who is claimed to have neared the tenth level in body tempering at the mere age of fifteen. Isn’t him this younger brother?” Looking at Shi Mu’s great stature as of an adult’s, Gu Zhong could not help but externalized his astonishment. The thing is, though there were not many who could reach the intermediate level in body tempering before they turned twenty, some did struggle to do it at the age of eighteen or even nineteen. But if one could reach the tenth level at merely fifteen, he could undoubtedly be called a genius. Throughout the city, one can count such geniuses on his fingers. This meant that these genius practitioners must have a higher chance of acquiring qi-sensing than others, and would have much more potentials if they become acquired warriors.


    Thinking thus to himself, Gu Zhong immediately greeted Shi Mu with clasped fists, beaming with admiration, “Haha, Brother Shi has achieved the tenth level at such an early age, you’ll definitely outshine others in this competition. “


    “Thank you for your kind words.” Shi Mu also replied with clasped fists, smiling kindly to the speaker.


    “You’ve done the tenth?” The dark, thin ape-like guy, Tie Zhong, unexpectedly shouted his question to Shi Mu, his voice harsh and grinding, as if he had not yet changed into a mature one.


    “Yes.” Shi Mu answered in a seemingly casual manner.


    “Humph, I once fought a practitioner of the eleventh, and it turned out that he was exhausted at last, fainting right at the ring. Until the last moment he was unable to break my body of thick earth.”


    “If so, I may not be your match in any case. But pitifully your opponent may not be me by then.” Shi Mu only threw him a yawn in reply.


    “Whoever becomes by opponent will definitely shrink before my thick-earth body.” Tie Dong asserted his oncoming success clearly and proudly, before he turned and left by himself. As for Sun Jun standing beside Shi Mu, he did not once cast him a glance.


    “Is he always so full of himself?” Sun Jun blanched with rage, shouting in a loud voice involuntarily.


    “Hehe, it’s...um...” Though Gu Zhong had always been skilled at peacemaking, he was at his wits’ end now.


    “Brother Gu, why not stop putting in a good word for the guy? To be frank, even our Feng Hong’s seniors have some grudges against him, only that some instructors hold him as priceless, so there’s no help for it anyway. After all, though full of himself, the guy’s thick-earth body really deserves its name. At least Brother Li and I cannot harm him a bit.” The puffy-faced ‘younger brother Jia’ was now doing the explanation after a sardonic grin.


    “Is it so dreadful, the body of thick earth? Brother Li, if my memory has not failed me, your skilled Water-Splashing Sword Art is the best when it comes to fight the hard outer skills. “ Hearing thus it was Li Yunfeng’s turn to be surprised.


    “Oh! You’ll know the power of thick-earth body if you meet the guy at the ring. Words can’t describe it. “ Gu Zhong answered with a bitter smile, reluctant to stretch the conversation.


    “Humph, even if the defense of the thick-earth body is so dreadful, I wouldn’t believe if Wang Tianhao’s firing spear could not find a way to conquer it!” After a brief silence Sun Jun sneered his suggestion.


    “It’d be difficult to judge then. At last match this Wang gonzi, with his just learned firing spear, defeat all the practitioners from four sojos, barely anyone can resist. Now that one whole year has passed, Wang Tianhao’s skills must have increased immensely. But it seems Wang Tianhao is the more aggressive guy, heard that even the senior practitioners of his own sojo would be beaten mercilessly if any of them gets in his way.” Gu Zhong shook his head vigorously in disapproval.


    At such a remark, Sun Jun and Li Yunfeng, including some others directed their eyes to Wang Tianhao; only Shi Mu stood still as if had heard nothing, gazing at the dark thin youth not far away.


    The youth in white who was scrubbing his spear seemed to feel the coming glances, thus lift his head suddenly to meet their eyes. Li Yunfeng and his fellows were caught unguarded at the returning look, evading it one after another with embarrassed smiles.


    The youth in white glanced over them with a stony face, then paused his eyes on Shi Mu, and stood up suddenly to stride toward them with his spear thrown backward over his shoulder.


    “Wang...Wang gonzi, you’ve been well sine we parted?” Gu Zhong had to be the one making greeting among the stunned group.


    “Who are you? Have we met before?” Wang Tianhao cast him a cold eye, asked bluntly in reply.


    Gu Zhong could not be more embarrassed in this situation. Li Yunfeng and his fellows dared not to speak a word then, only standing there and bearing the youth’s glances over them.


    “What’s your name? From which sojo?” Wang Tianhao’s eyes paused again on Shi Mu, sizing him up and down closely, then drew his iron spear slowly from his back, pointed it at Shi Mu and asked thus in an utmost stony voice.


    “Oh? Have some business with me?” Shi Mu frowned; until then he turned to look at this Wang gonzi, his eyes unusually calm and clear, showing no fluster at all.


    “Have I met you at some place?” Wang Tianhao looked at Shi Mu, narrowing his eyes.


    “Absolutely not. It’s the first time I’ve met your honorable gonzi. “ Shi Mu replied with much assurance, his eyes unblinking even for a moment.


    “Never met? But you look so familiar to me!” Wang Tianhao’s spears was still pointed at Shi Mu, a trace of suspicion flashing across his face.


    “Wang gonzi, or have you met younger brother Shi Mu at some place in the city?” Li Yunfeng finally opened his mouth with a nervous cough, but in his mind he felt as strange as Wang Tianhao. He did have some knowledge of Shi Mu’s background, but even racking his mind he could not think of any relations between the two. Gu Zhong and Sun Jun could only be left wondering without a single clue.


    “Hehe, alright, I maybe mistaken. So your name’s Shi Mu, right? Good, I hope to have a good fight with you at the ring.” Wang Tianhao glanced several times over Shi Mu’s unmoved face, then narrowed his eyes and burst into laughter. After withdrawing his spear he went away on his own.


    Seeing thus Gu Zhong and Li Yunfeng, as well as other fellows could only gape at each other. No one knew what’s behind the top practitioner’s act just then!


    “Brother Shi, do you know Wang Tianhao?” Li Yunfeng could not help but blurt his question.


    “Surely not, um...or not quite an acquaintance? “ Shi Mu only gave an ambiguous reply, his hand stroking his chin.


    “What? What do you mean by not an acquaintance?” Li Yunfeng’s eyes were wide open in surprise; he suddenly had a feeling that this Shi Mu right before his eyes were a mysterious figure. So did Gu Zhong and the others. But seeing Shi Mu’s prevaricating looks they felt it improper to pursue the inquiry.


    ......


    “Senior Feng, have you seen it? Just them Wang Tianhao went for the Liu Feng and Fei Hong guys, also pointed out his spear, but only returned after some words. What trick is he playing?” As the host for the competition, Tian Lu sojo could not only offer three candidates; in fact they had as many as seven or eight candidates. The one at the center was exactly the most famous practitioner among them, Feng Jun, carrying a scar on his face, his eyes fierce and malicious.


    At the moment, Feng Jun was listening to his fellows’ talks and simultaneously watching Wang Tianhao’s moves with a fiendish eye.
    As the nephew of Tian Lu sojo’s leader, he did not only start learning the brutal skill of the Iron-Clothes Body unique to Tian Lu sojo, but also had sharpened his Black-Hands skill belonging to the practitioners’ level to a great extent. Therefore though he missed the chance to get enrolled into Kai Yuan Martial Arts School last time, he did not even once see his peers as his match, and had won the championship in the competition among sojos for many times.


    But all his feats were disturbed ever since he lost the game to Wang Tianhao last year, who was many years his junior, and beat him with his spear without difficulty, even stomping on his face at the ring! He - the champion Feng Jun - had never hated someone so bitterly to the extent that he confined himself to sojo for months to exercise after the defeat, only wishing to avenging himself!


    It’s lucky that though he challenged a strong practitioner some time earlier and got his iron-clothes body badly beaten, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise: his iron-clothes body successfully reached the level of accomplishment due to a month’s rest. Thus he became quite confident to fight to the last moment of the match and to stomp onto Wang Tianhao’ s face. But the moment he saw Wang Tianhao again in Tian Lu sojo today, the side of face which was stomped by him felt feverish again, which reduced his confidence slightly.


    Thinking thus Feng Jun finally spoke with a sneer, “are you so sure that only the bastard with thick-earth body deserves attention in this match? What about the other candidates from Fei Hong and Liu Feng sojo?”


    “Senior Feng, please rest assured, we’ve asked around many times. The two sojos are originally much weaker than us, the only one you need to pay attention to is that thick-earth body guy, which our leader has mentioned too. But even with the body, a bastard from some remote place could not get any high skills. Senior have that iron-clothes body which is never inferior to the thick-earth body, plus your tenth level in body tempering, the bastard could be exhausted to death by your skills!” Another Tian Lu practitioner hurriedly offered his flattery.


    “As long as that’s true! Then I could deal with Wang Tianhao with all my strength!” Feng Jun stroke one side of his face, radiating with murderous smiles.


    But accidentally, just as he said so his newly recovered ribs felt a slight trace of uneasiness.


    After a while of a dinner, the door to the wing-room behind the practice ground was opened from one side, and amid bursts of laughter Li Canghai and some other senior men from the four sojos issued out, each talking cheerfully and humorously to the others, as if having a reunion with their old friends.


    “Well, the competition among four sojos is now officially begun. “ The leader of Tian Lu sojo, Feng Lengchan, proclaimed decisively, after a glance over all the practitioners.
    Last edited by xianxiaworld; 02-21-16 at 04:32 AM.

  4. #24
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    Chapter 20 - The Challenge

    Hearing this, practitioners from all dojos became ready for action in high spirits. They all stood around the ring, waiting for the signal.
    Li Canghai and the other instructors all came up, among them two strangers. One was wearing an armour, sword in waist, a faint smile on his face, and he turned out to be a military officer; the other was a pretty woman in her thirties, her glossy hair put up high, her eyes vacant. Both are invited by the four dojos to referee the game. Moreover, the military officer was the field officer of Feng City, while the woman was not only an acquired warrior, but also the leader of a powerful underground party.

    After a moment, Leng Fengchan stood at the ring and began to announce the rules of the match.
    “This time the rules are the same as last years’. We’ll decide the winning dojo in three rounds. In each round, each dojo can have one of their candidates issue a challenge to another dojo which must provide a candidate to take the challenge. Failed candidates can not enter the next round, while the winners can remain to the next. After three rounds, whichever dojo has the most remaining candidates will win the game.”

    As soon as he finished explaining the rules, Leng Fengchan jumped down from the ring, and the military officer walked up instead in an unhurried manner. He only gave the crowd a greeting of clasped fists, then stood there without further words.
    Li Yunfeng, when hearing the rules, twitched his mouth slightly.

    “Brother Li, do you have any opinions concerning the rules?” Seeing Li’s reaction Shi Mu asked out of curiosity.
    “Brother Shi, it’s the first time for you to take part in the game so it’s natural that you haven’t found the problem: this framework of three-round competition is most beneficial to the dojo which has most powerful candidates. In last match, Tian Wanghao took the challenge on behalf of Jin Gang dojo, and won all the three rounds by himself, no candidates of the other three dojos could resist his attack.” Li Yunfeng answered with a forced smile.

    “Why, I’ve been wondering myself. The officer’s rule is really meaningful.” After a moment’s thought Shi Mu also perceived the true meaning of the rules, giving Li a knowing smile.

    Just then someone had already jumped to the ring, announcing his challenge in a loud voice,
    “I am Wu Ming from Tian Lu dojo, I’d like to see the techniques of senior brothers’ from Liu Feng dojo.”
    “Yun Feng, you go and take it. This fellow lost the game to you last year, so it’ll be no problem for you.” Seeing this the red-faced burly fellow made the request, not turning his head.

    “Instructor Li, please rest assured, I’ll deal with the guy.” Li Yunfeng thus stopped his talk with Shi Mu and answered his instructor instantly, standing straight in a gesture full of self-confidence. Then he suddenly put his hands behind his waist, and when he took them out again they were both in a blue glove, which, when shaken even slightly, made a crisp ‘ting-dong’ sound. There were bronze pieces each the size of a thumb inlaid on the surface of the gloves.

    Once jumping to the ring, Li Yunfeng let out a fierce shout at the challenging youth, drew two glaring daggers by both hands and rushed straight at his opponent.

    In an instant the two began their fight. Li Yunfeng slithered as his fists attacked his opponent from every unexpected angle, while the youth named Wu Ming wielded his two delicate daggers in continuous movements which constituted an unbreakable enclosure. From time to time their fists bumped, producing sparks. Quite a splendid game.

    “No! Wu Ming’s Air-Piercing Dagger had been polished to a great extent, I’m afraid Yun Feng may be put at a disadvantage.” After watching them for a while, the red-faced man made an estimate, his face slightly changed.

    “Indeed, last year Wu Ming’s technique was only at the initial stage, it’s hard to imagine he’d reach such a high level in a mere year. On the contrary, Yun Feng’s Python-Bones Fist is still short of perfection, it’s really hard to say if he could win. “ Li Canghai also observed with uncertainty.

    As if to verify the remark, with a sudden low shout from the ring, the two fighting figures separated abruptly while Wu Ming stumbled backward for several steps, one of his hands pressed hard on his chest, his face dreadfully pale.

    However, at the opposite, two glaring daggers were half inserted into Li Yunfeng’s bleeding shoulders. Obviously he was devoid of the strength to fight anymore.

    “The first round, winner Tian Lu dojo! “ At the ring, the military officer stepped forward to pronounce the result. Li Yunfeng could only jumped down the ring reluctantly after throwing a fierce glance at Wu Ming.

    “Pu! Pu!” Two sounds were heard when the red-faced man pressed quickly with his finger tips at either side of Li Yunfeng’s shoulders. He then grasped them and gave a sudden shake which forced the two daggers out in an instant. Two sprays of blood rushed up into the air as high as a chi before the bleeding stopped abruptly.

    Apply some medicine there as soon as possible, and bind up the wounds, you’ll be all right after a few days.” The red-faced man said with a sombre face.

    Li Yunfeng could only nodded his thanks in great pain, sweating profusely.

    By then the ring was taken by a spear youth of Jin Gang dojo, asking to challenge Tian Lu dojo. The latter offered a candidate, knife in hand; the two then fought when the sounds of metal resounded all over the competition hall.

    After some ten-odd rounds of fighting and defensing, the challenger from Jin Gang dojo was dispossessed of his weapon unexpectedly as his opponent hit his knife and sent it darting out. The challenger had only to admit his defeat and retired. The successive two winnings were a boost to Tian Lu dojo’s morale, even Leng Fengchan was radiant with content, stroking his mustache.

    There were increasing small talks beneath the ring after two fights.

    “What’s there to look at? I’ve long heard the big name of the thick-earth guy, stop hiding there, come and let me know your techniques!” Just then a figure leaped up from the crowd, holding his spear backhand, and stood onto the ring steadily, looking into the direction of Fei Hong dojo.

    The fellow full of arrogance was none other than Wang Tianhao.
    “This mindless lad, I’ve told his a thousand times to never hurry his challenge, and now he’s there and challenge Fei Hong guys in his first round!” A sandy-haired elder man was regretting bitterly since he missed the chance to stop his nephew, almost losing his patience to swear and stomp.

    Meanwhile the sudden challenge created a disturbance among the Fei Hong fellows. The dark, thin guy Tie Dong was stirred, his eyes blazed with malevolence. Just as he was to stride to the ring he was stopped by a long-bearded elder man, who grasped at him and shook his head,

    “Dong Er, you don’t need to go at such an early time, it’d be a waste of your energy so you may not win in the final round. Gu Zhong, you go and test if Wang Tianhao’s firing spear techniques have progressed much.”

    Hearing this Gu Zhong’s spirits drooped, but he could only brace himself for the coming fight, draw his sword and jump to the ring.

    “I’m asking for that bastard, not you.” Wang Tianhao protested impatiently as he saw the comer.

    “Please consider other things after fighting me, your honorable gongzi.” Though always afraid of Wang Tianhao, Gu Zhong was irresistibly angered by his words. After a low shout he shook his sword in hand; instantly a puff of strong wind swirled up. This was exactly the Air-Piercing Sword he had been practising for years.

    “Humph, asking for trouble.” Wang Tianhao’s face grew sullen while he put forward his long spear without demur. The upper half disappeared after a blurred shadow showed and vanished in an instant.

    “Pu!” With a loud noise a blazing ball of fire as big as a bowl appeared out of nowhere in front of Wang Tianhao before it transformed into a red light rushing forward at an unstoppable speed.

    Boom! A deafening noise resounded as Gu Zhong let out a shrill cry and was pushed falling down from the ring, his whole body smelling scorched.

    The fire ball continued to swirl swiftly for a while before it steadied and turned out to be the tip of the spear, glaring with cold light, only surrounded by a ball of blazing fire which made it look rather mysterious.

    “The blaze of the firing spear!”

    The long-bearded elder man cried out, terrified at the sight, moving his feet involuntarily, then his figure immediately turned into a grey shadow floating up into the air before everyone could make out that he had already caught the falling Gu Zhong with his arms.

    Until the long-bearded elder man steadied himself on his feet, it was clearly seen that the blackish burnt body in his arms belonged to that of Gu Zhong, whose shirts had all been burnt to ashes, showing the bare skin beneath covered by white blisters. What a terrifying scene!

    “Brother Xu, who’d have believe your excellent nephew has polished his firing-spear techniques to such an extent! You’ve really caught us unguarded, why not give us a clue beforehand?” With Gu Zhong in his arms, the long-bearded man turned round to question the elder man ‘Uncle Xu’ in a stern voice.

    “Haha, you’ve really wronged me this time. I’m not better informed than you are. As usual, this is absolutely impossible. Only acquired warriors can have that powerful techniques.” Uncle Xu of Jin Gang dojo was apparently amazed himself, answering without thinking.

    “Well, well, I won’t forget this.” The long-bearded man stomped in anger, but could only send Gu Zhong to a quiet medical room for treatment.

    Meanwhile, instructors of other dojos all cast terrified glances at Wang Tianhao, as if they were watching a monster with blue face and sharp fangs. Their eyes were saying, “this is absolutely impossible.”

    “That’s impossible! How could someone accomplish the blaze of firing spear at the practitioner level! If so, who can take his attack here?” Li Canghai also murmured to himself with a sullen face, obviously at his wits’ end.

    “Haha, now that Wang Tianhao had accomplished the blaze of firing spear, it’ll be an easy job for him to get enrolled into Kai Yuan Martial Arts School. As far as I see, the championship is sure to be ours, no need for more fights. Of course, whoever unconvinced can come for a challenge, and if ever Tian Hao failed in any challenge we Jin Gang dojo would retire from this year’s competition and be happy to come last.” Uncle Xu declared in high and vigorous spirits after jumping directly to the ring and nodding at the officer who was completely dumbstruck by this proclamation.

    Hearing this, Leng Fengchan and the other instructors of the other three dojos stood gaping at one another in astonishment, when Tie Dong’s voice resounded,

    “Humph! To win the first without fighting me? Mere wishful thinking!” His words concealed some shock at Wang Tianhao’s firing spear, but still full of confidence and angry force. He then lifted his body, ready to rushing to the ring.

    “Stop it, Dong Er! I know your thick-earth body is outstanding, but it can not stand a single strike of the blaze. ” The long-bearded man held him with a hand in a sulky mood.

    Tie Dong immediately lost much of his confidence hearing this. Though he had been wild and intractable, the elder man who had brought him to Feng City from a remote island held much authority in his eyes.

    At the same time, Feng Jun, standing at the other side of the ring, held his fists tightly to the extent that his nails were deep inserted into his palms. But he dared not to speak a word, his face ghastly pale.

    “It’s your turn, Shi Mu. Come! I’ve observed them all, only you have the strength to fight me.” His eyes were glancing over the crowd below, with a trace of indifference, when he gave Shi Mu a mystifying smile.

  5. #25
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    Chapter 21 - Six Cuts at One Breath

    Wang Tianhao’s words created a commotion under the ring. Whoever knew or knew not Shi Mu could not help but direct their looks to the direction of Liu Feng dojo, wearing looks of astonishment.

    “Who’s this Shi Mu?”

    “I faintly remember the name, probably the new-comer to Liu Feng dojo, reaching the tenth level in body tempering and he’s quite young I heard. Highly likely to make an acquired warrior.”

    “That’s strange. With such techniques why should Wang Tianhao challenge anyone? The result is doomed!”

    “Why? There’s someone able to attract Wang Tianhao’s attention in Liu Feng dojo?”

    “Wang Tianhao should have known Brother Shi?!”

    ......

    Within a moment, practitioners started to talk in whispers.

    “Shi Mu, have you met Wang Tianhao before?” Li Canghai was also taken aback, turning his head to ask Shi Mu.

    “I fought with him once, only that we didn’t fight to the last moment, so don’t know who’s better.” Though surprised at Wang Tianhao’s overt challenge, Shi Mu gave the answer calmly.

    “That’s it. But you may really be his match at an earlier time, now that he’s accomplished his blaze of the firing spear, I’m afraid you don’t have much chance to win. It’s all right if you refuse to take the challenge.” Li Canghai persuaded as he knit his eyebrows.

    “Don’t worry, I myself also would like to try my techniques, it doesn’t matter who wins.” Looking at Wang Tianhao, Shi Mu smiled unexpectedly.

    “Right, since your mind’s made. Then take care, remember his spear art is brilliant, so you could only have a slim chance when near him. Besides, do evade the blaze, or you’ll be dead meat.” After a pause Li Canghai still promised, smiling encouragingly.

    Sun Jun and Li Yunfeng gaped at each other as they overheard the conversation, unable to close their mouths.

    The red-faced Instructor Min also looked at the two curiously.

    Shi Mu nodded obediently, then walked up some steps, stomping suddenly at the ground and jumping directly to the ring.

    Although Uncle Xu was also among the surprised, he could only leave the ring, making room for the two fighters.

    “Are you the ‘fierce fist’ himself?” After looking at Shi Mu quickly, Wang Tianhao narrowed his eyes and asked in a stony voice.

    “Never heard of the name.” Shi Mu blinked his eyes as reply.

    “Humph, hiding your identity even till now! You are such a disappointment to me!” At Shi Mu’s denial, Wang Tianhao seemed to have lost his interest.

    “Am I? I’m now become quite curious, how can you be so sure as to my identity?” Shi Mu drew his long knife from his waist unhurriedly, simultaneously asking in reply.

    “Humph, everyone knows my memory, I’d never forget a thing I’ve seen. The figure, the eyes, I know them! Even if you were wearing a mask. If not, then my eyes must be rotten! No more nonsense! Take my firing spear! I’ll beat you in front of all, letting them know I’m the real top practitioner in the city!” Wang Tianhao seemed impatient, and after a few words he stirred his spear promptly, the upper body of the spear vanishing after a flash.

    The next moment, a puff of blaze appeared floating in the air, and after a tremble it transformed into a ball of red light and darted right toward Shi Mu.

    Shi Mu only narrowed his eyes, and turned around to split the light. He’s only got one knife, but it projected four cold shadows into the air which all fell on the blaze as Shi Mu rushed out after a stomp on the ground.

    Boom! A thunderous noise resounded.

    The blaze was split into sparks dashing into all direction in an instant, the falling sparks constituting a huge umbrella as high as two zhang. If Shi Mu had not taken back a step a moment earlier, he would end up the same as Gu Zhong.

    But even so, the smaller half of the ring became unbearably hot in a minute!

    Then before Shi Mu found his feet on the ground again, a glaring spear tip whizzed out of the spark rain right toward Shi Mu’s throat as a viper. Faced with the vicious snake, Shi Mu lifted his empty arm, clenched his fist and pounded heavily on the coming spear tip.

    “Peng!” The fist made of bones and blood pounded on the iron spear as a lion; simultaneously an immense force went backward along the spear right toward its owner.

    Wang Tianhao’s colour changed, and he subconsciously clenched the handle to steady himself, but his body was shaken backward by the force, and his originally successive attacks were broken in an instant.

    Seizing the chance Shi Mu sent forward his long knife, instantly running into his opponent with his knife at a lightning speed!

    Boom! Wang Tianhao resisted with his spear and unexpectedly stopped the lightning knife. But meanwhile he was forced to step back, his feet already pressed against the edge of the ring.

    “Excellent! Excellent! That’s exactly what I need to inspire my blood! Exactly my match!” Wang Tianhao laughed, out of everyone’s expectation, and then suddenly clenched the upper body of the spear single-handed.

    Whiz!

    The spear, apparently made of black iron, should slithered like a living animal, twisting in circles to stab into Shi Mu’ chest.

    Shi Mu looked rather serious now. He lifted his arms suddenly and gave the spear tip another good punch.

    A dull sound was heard when the dazzling tip was beaten back again, but this was exactly what Wang Tianhao had been waiting for: he slithered as a giant fish to evade the punch right along the ring’s edge, and after a puzzling fit of shaking his feet, he had already approached Shi Mu from his back.

    “The steps of jumping fish?”

    “Well you have good eyes, this is exactly one of the body techniques at practitioner level, also one of our Wang’s secret techniques handed down from our ancestors, rarely seen in ordinary dojos. You should have forced me to use this step! I am now more interested in stomping you under my feet.” The eyes Wang Tianhao cast to Shi Mu grew increasingly excited.

    “Stomp me under your feet? Can you?” At such a proud proclamation Shi Mu could not help but roll his eyes in contempt. A single move of his arms sent rolling cold lights toward the opposite. He had now fully exploited his thirteen serious of Wind-Blowing Knife, each cut becoming a few cold lights, completely invincible.

    While Wang Tianhao roared with fierceness, his spear shaking, turning into a viper that dancing around his body. Coordinated by his Fish-Jumping Step, he roamed the ring and resisted all the shadows of the knife.

    “Don’t you have more tricks? Try them!” Wang Tianhao laughed wildly.

    Provoked by his words, Shi Mu shook his knife even more quickly, his eyes sharp, each cut producing five or six shadows and gradually constituting a glaring screen of knife shadows, completely submerging Wang Tianhao’s figure. Even though Wang tried another technique, producing more sparks to resist desperately, he could only defense, but not attack.

    “Six cuts at one breath.” The one who blurted out the name of the technique was exactly the red-faced Instructor Min.

    “Brother Li, Shi Mu should have accomplished your Wind-Blowing Knife Art! He’s got such talents, why don’t you tell me earlier? I would have used up all our resources to cultivate him.”

    “I just knew it myself! The lad should have done this far, I always believed that he was only at the initial stage!” Watching what happened at the ring, Li Canghai was stunned too.

    The long-bearded elder man, Uncle Xu and other instructors all showed expressions of amazement at Shi Mu’s six cuts at one breath.

    As for the other practitioners, they all stood like death with mouth gaping.

    Boom! At the ring, a blazing ball of fire exploded suddenly, and the scattering sparks was now breaking the gathering knife lights.

    After a flash of a shadow Wang Tianhao rushed out from the sparks and turned around, sending the body of his spear forward, which trembled and vanished again.

    Six puffs of red blaze appeared suddenly floating in front of his chest.

    “Hehe, excellent, the six cuts at one breath! But if you can take my successive attacks of six fire balls then I’ll admit defeat and retire from the match.”

    Just as he finished his words, Wang Tianhao let out a loud cry, clenched his spear and twisted it with all his strength. Then he rushed directly at Shi Mu, almost taking off from the ground.

    The six puffs of fire balls, on the other hand, revolved smoothly in the air into a line in the utmost mystifying manner, and then tumbling down onto Shi’s body before he could make them out.

  6. #26
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    Chapter 22 - Crash!

    “The thirteen series of Feng Chi! Seven cuts at one breath!”

    Shi Mu’s body suddenly began to revolve wildly like a gyroscope, and along with the revolving body the long knife in his hand was transformed into myriad blurred shadows, one after another, stretching and undulating. Each time he wielded the knife, seven shadows of it emerged swirling up: a miniature of a rolling mountain was born instantly, out of nowhere!

    The mountain, however, was not constituted by stones but deadly glaring knifes, and shrill sounds came faintly from the mountain now and then.

    Just then six puffs of blaze disappeared into the mountain in succession, as quick as shooting stars. Immediately six booming noises exploded in the mountain! A heavy rain of sparks instantly fell into all directions violently, almost boiling the hall and covering the ring and the midair above.

    Simultaneously on the floor of the ring, whizzing noises resounded as scores of knife marks were cut into the floor, centering around the spot where the knife mountain had exploded. Each mark was three chi both in depth and length, constituting a huge circle as though carved by a ruler.

    “Peng!” A deafening noise.

    As though bumping into an invisible burst of energy, Wang Tianhao tipped over in midair and then thudded down onto the floor. Unable to steady himself, he stumbled back as far as seven steps, meanwhile leaving a trail of seven half-inch deep footprints on the floor.

    Once he had finally come to a stop, his face had turned ashen, and the hands managing to hold the spear would not stop trembling. The front end of the spear used to be glaring, but now it had vanished, or, was resolved by heat.

    All the instructors below stared at the lower part of the melting knife mountain, their eyes unblinking.

    Practitioners including Feng Jun were more shocked than their instructors, even holding their breaths.

    Finally, when the last shadow of his knife faded from the ring, Shi Mu’s silhouette suddenly became visible: he was standing straight as a ramrod, holding his knife single-handedly. Only that he was blushing in an unusual way, and his shoulders were slightly burnt, as well as his hair. As for his knife, notches appeared gratuitously on its edge; they were thickly dotted, as if the knife had been struck repeatedly by some unknown hardware.

    But for Shi Mu, it was as clear as daylight that the notches might have been caused by the successive strikes of the six puffs of blaze. More likely, it went out of control at the blaze’s impact and thus cut directly into the floor which then abraded the edge. And this was also why he had left numerous knife marks around him.

    “Can’t believe you’d take my six puffs!” After observing Shi Mu’s body closely and seeing that he was not badly injured indeed, Wang Tianhao could not believe his own eyes.

    “It’s all owing to the just advanced knife art, otherwise I wouldn’t have taken your last strike.” Shi Mu did not look quite triumphant, though, while throwing his abraded knife down and exhaling a long breath. On the contrary, he replied with some reverence.

    “Seven cuts at one breath! You had gone this far in your Feng Chi knife art, then my defeat was doomed. But in this match the spear I used was made of ordinary iron, not refined iron, so it definitely could not stand my overwhelming blaze. If I had used a refined one, then you wouldn’t have been able to stand safe and sound. But I won’t break my promise, I’ll retire from the match since you’ve taken my attacks.” Wang Tianhao first let out a sigh, then said this in a grudging tone, before he jumped out of the ring as promised, and went straight to the gate of the hall.

    “Hold on a moment, Tianhao! Please excuse me.” Uncle Xu was flustered at the scene, and after a hasty goodbye he hurriedly chased his nephew, leaving other Jin Gang fellows behind.

    Seeing this, the remaining instructors and practitioners could only gape at each other.

    It was surprising enough for Shi Mu to have accomplished his seven cuts at one breath; but the result of the challenge was even more surprising!

    “Wow...Liu Feng dojo wins! Shi Mu wins! A young hero indeed! But according to Uncle Xu earlier, now Nephew Shi [1] is faced with two choices: one, the fight can be deemed as a winning challenge against Jin Gang dojo, so you can retire now and fight in the next round; the other, you can remain at the ring and wait for the next challenge from other dojos’ practitioners. If no one can defeat you then Liu Feng dojo will naturally come first in this year’s competition.” The military officer ascended again to the ring and announced the result before he measured Shi Mu from head to toe in the most surprised manner.

    This result undoubtedly created a commotion below the ring.

    Although most of the practitioners were impressed with Shi Mu’s earlier performance, they knew well that his energy was exceedingly reduced after that bitter fight. Furthermore, even if Shi Mu was not badly injured, his strength would not hold much longer in the next fight, plus he was even made short of a fine weapon. But according to the conventional rule, if Shi Mu decided to take the next challenge without a rest, he would be denied of the chance to have a new weapon.

    Hearing this, some instructors including Feng Lengchan also grew upset.

    “Brother Li, why not ask Shi Mu back and let him rest a bit. As long as he can have a new weapon we Liu Feng dojo will definitely win the competition.” The red-faced instructor Min finally perceived the difficulty of the choice, and then hurriedly asked for Li Canghai’s advice.

    “No need, I know this little guy better than everyone else. At such a moment, even if he is commanded to retire, he won’t listen. “ Li Canghai smiled bitterly after a deep breath.

    Indeed. Right now at the ring, Shi Mu made his reply without hesitation,

    “Since I’m already here, then I won’t quit until I’m defeated.”

    “Well, then the challenge shall be resumed.” The officer nodded with looks of approval.

    The practitioners below began to mutter to each other, while no one dared to make the challenge though the chances of defeating Shi Mu were not slim at present, considering his conditions. But the winning would not be a happy one; people would say, “you just took advantage of Shi Mu’s state.” Such an embarrassing prospect made most of them flinch. Li Yunfeng and Sun Jun exchanged a look of astonishment, gaping at each other, as if they were in a daydream.

    “Hehe, then let me have the honor to see Brother Shi’s techniques.”

    Just then, Feng Jun went forward through the crowd with a sneer, separating the standers and leaped up. The next moment he was already at the ring. He stretched his arms and then immediately took them back: the fists were now in a pair of black iron gloves! The knuckles were fixed with fine steel so that he could move his fingers freely as he willed.

    “Fist art? Good, I’ve been expecting it myself.” Shi Mu narrowed his eyes.

    “Such a coincidence! I also practised the Wind-Blowing Fists, and I...”

    “Humph, stop talking and start fighting! Take my first punch.” Shi Mu snorted coldly and moved, his arms stretched out like two invisible shadows, smashing his opponent.

    Feng Jun was enraged by Shi Mu’s sudden move, so he wielded his arms without demur, welcoming the coming fists with his two iron gloves. He hit right onto Shi Mu’s two bare fists.

    Crack! Crack! Two crisp sounds.

    It was Feng Jun who was screaming in agony, his body forced back instantly at an overwhelming speed. The two fists gloved by black iron, after the crash with Shi Mu’s bare fists, had stirred an air billow! Subsequently the two gloved hands exploded like crackers, showing the bleeding fists beneath.

    “The accomplished level! You should have accomplished the art of Stone-Breaking!” After a shrill, Feng Jun cried out his astonishment, as if having seen a horrible monster.

    But at this moment, Shi Mu continued to pursue his prey after lowering his body, approached him and pounded him as strong winds were stirred up by the fierce movements.

    “The Iron Body!”

    Feng Jun’s hands were already badly mutilated by then, completely defenseless at the coming fists, so he could only squat with a howl. Suddenly, the part of his kin not covered by clothes all turned to blackish grey in an instant, and he looked as if in a heavy black armour!

    “Boom!”

    This time Shi Mu pounded heavily on Feng Jun’s stomach, and the blackish grey vanished in an blink of the eye, while Feng Jun’s body was made flying backward for five zhang, thudding onto the ground and splattering a large amount of yellow dust.

    Then, the hall turned so silent that one could hear a pin drop.

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    Chapter 23 - The Top Practitioner

    Feng Jun stumbled over the edge of the ring, then managed with much difficulty to steady himself. Scarcely had him opened his mouth to mutter a word when blood gushed out from his mouth and his whole body straightly thudded onto the ground again. “Peng!” A loud noise.

    “Jun Er! You guys be quick, take him to the treatment room at the backyard!”

    A figure dashed to Feng Jun and stuffed a pill into his mouth immediately and then gave his orders, burning with a frenzy of rage.

    This was exactly Leng Fengchan checking Feng Jun’s conditions.

    The other Tian Lu practitioners were quite at a loss as to what to do, nonplussed over the happenings; until given the orders some of they came to themselves and hurriedly went to look after Feng Jun. But others were still frozen with fear.

    Compared with his seven cuts at one breath - the art of Feng Chi Knife - Shi Mu’s accomplished Stone-Breaking Fists brought them an even more dreadful shock that made their hair stand on end!

    After all, the knife art of seven cuts at one breath could only be counted as a small accomplishment. Generally speaking, one technique of the practitioner level needs two or three months to learn its basics before one can apply it; but it takes another one or two years - the least amount of time needed - to be skilled at it. To reach the accomplished level, three-fold or four-fold time should be invested. For some very exacting techniques of the practitioner level, it is no strange thing if one spends over ten years for accomplishment. As for the final state, the consummation of a skill, some less talented practitioners may spend their whole life practising it without even nearing it. So it is reasonable that the difficulty of mastering a technique of the acquired warrior level far surpasses that of the practitioner’s. More time and energy will be invested. Consequently, some acquired warriors, seemingly having inspired their real qi, can only reach a low level of accomplishment in their techniques of the acquired level. Li Canghai was an exemplar: he saw no hope of obtaining the consummation of his acquired techniques, so he turned to devote his life to practising the Wind-Blowing Knife Art and Stone-Breaking Fist Art, and only reached the accomplished level, far from the final consummation, after over ten years’ hard training. Even so, his skills had made him rank top among the four dojos’ instructors.

    While Shi Mu, at such an age, without inspiring his real qi, had reach the accomplished level! Only a layman could still keep cool before such a scene.

    So doesn’t it mean that Shi Mu is really the rarest genius?

    Li Canghai’c colour changed for several times, apparently trying hard to control himself. Then he said with a light cough,
    “Well, I think we may be thinking wrongly. Actually my student Shi Mu has not reached the accomplished level, only that he is born with enormous strength, so it looks like that he has the power of the accomplished level.”

    “Exactly! If he had accomplished the Stone-Breaking Fists, his hands should have been fair and crystal-clear, and each punch should have made a metallic sound.” The red-faced instructor was enlightened suddenly by Li Canghai’s explanation.

    “Indeed, if he can really accomplish the Stone-Breaking Fist Art before twenty, he must already be a genius stirring the whole city.”

    “But even so the lad’s born with such a brutal strength, and should not be overlooked. As long as he keeps training it he’ll easily defeat any one of the practitioner level. Besides, he’s so young, as long as he can acquire qi-sensing, there’s a fat chance he can be a top warrior among the acquired warriors.”

    This conversation between Li Canghai and the red-faced instructor made other instructors see light suddenly. Immediately people started to discuss about the matter, some still casting admiring glances at Shi Mu as if he was a legendary figure who only existed in imagination.

    “So now that Shi Mu has won again, is there anyone who wants to challenge him? If not, Liu Feng dojo will be the champion in this year’s competition.” The officer once again ascended to the ring and refereed the match. As he pronounced the result, his eyes looking at Shi Mu grew increasingly warm and admiring.

    The announcement only brought out a dead silence below the ring.

    In the direction of Fei Hong dojo, a malicious look was thrown to Shi Mu by Zhong Dong, the one with thick-earth body. Just as he was to move forward, separating the crowd, he was stopped by the long-bearded elder man again, who pressed on his shoulder disapprovingly, which made Zhong Dong’s body unable to move an inch. Simultaneously, the elder man muttered to his ear,

    “Even if you use all your skill you’ll probably be defeated by his accomplished Stone-Breaking Fists. After all, if it’s only for a competition, it’s not worthwhile to offend a promising warrior.”

    The dark, thin youth was full of reluctant looks hearing this.

    ......

    Half a day later, the news that Liu Feng dojo had won the first and Shi Mu had became the new top practitioner had spread across the whole city. Big families and some less powerful sects also began to collect information about the competition and Shi Mu.

    “SO Shi Mu is now the top practitioner?”
    In Auntie Zhen’s manor, Shi Yuhuan was gaping at the note her family had got, full of suspicion. While Auntie Zhen was deep in thought.

    ......

    In the Jin’s manor.

    A middle-aged man was reprimanding a youth. The latter’s face looked that that of a horse and similar to the former’s.

    “Tian Er, I heard that you are now trying to challenge Shi Mu with some of your cousins, stop your attempt right now! This is the order your grandfather gave to me personally, follow it even if you are reluctant! After all Shi Mu didn’t win the name by sleeping away the competition.”

    The youth named Jin Tian could only obey his father, however resentful and reluctant.

    ......

    In the Wu’s manor, the three Wu brothers also got together to discuss the matter.

    ......

    In the manor of Feng City’s sheriff, the previous military officer who was referee in that competition was now reporting something to an elder man in glamourous clothes, full of reverence.

    ......

    In a secret room of Jin Gang dojo, a conversation was going on.

    “Tian Hao, tell me the truth, have you inspired your blood?” Uncle Xu asked anxiously.

    “You’ve asked me the same question for a hundred times, uncle, my answer is still the same: I myself am unclear about the matter! Only that I felt my body burning when applied the firing spear that day, so I just naturally inspired the blaze.” Looking down at a certain spear art book of blue covers, Wang Tianhao answered, rolling his eyes.

    “Haha, that’s it! That’s the reason why you father sent you here to learn the firing spear art. Your spear art is a stimulus to your blood, so to some extent it can quicken your progress of being a blood warrior.” Uncle Xu was overjoyed at the news.

    “So that means that I’m not a genius at all, it’s only thanks to my ancestor’s blood that I am able to use techniques of the acquired level when I’m still a practitioner.” Hearing this Wang Tianhao drooped instead.
    “My foolish nephew, that you are able to inspire your blood already proves that you are a real genius. You know, even though the Wangs is a famous family of blood warriors, throughout the clan, down from your ancestors, among hundreds of your people, only three or four has inspired their blood! And you are the first in your generation. Can’t it explain a lot? From tomorrow I’ll teach you the more difficult part of the firing spear art personally, so that you can defeat all in the enrollment test to Kai Yuan Martial Arts School.” Uncle Xu answered, grinning from ear to ear.

    “So, I can defeat Shi Mu as long as I learn the more difficult part?” Wang Tianhao was still a little unconvinced.

    “Haha, unless Shi Mu is also a blood warrior, you can definitely beat him.” Uncle Xu replied with a hearty smile.

    “With such a brutal force how can you tell if he’s not a blood warrior?” Wang Tianhao blinked his eyes and proposed the abrupt question.

    “Well...” Uncle Xu’s laughter snapped.

    “I’m also curious to know this.”

    But just then, a third voice was heard in the secret room.

  8. #28
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    Chapter 24 - The Messenger

    “Who is it?”

    Uncle Xu turned around as a terrified monkey, his arms crossed before his chest, looking in the direction of the voice.

    Now in an inconspicuous corner of the room, a dumpy elder man was seen standing in the shade. He wore a grey robe and was looking at Uncle Xu and his nephew with a poker face.

    Wang Tianhao was more astonished at the sudden appearance of the elder man than his uncle, for he had been the one that faced the direction of the shade; but he did not see the grey-robed man until the latter made his voice heard. Could it be that the elder man knew how to make himself invisible?

    “The secret art of hiding in the shade? May I know whom I have the honour to see here? Can I help you with something?” Uncle Xu asked, pronouncing each word slowly and clearly, while staring fixedly at the elder man.

    “No need to fluster, I am Han Wu from Kai Yuan Martial Arts School.” The dumpy old man laughed in a low voice, and then lifted his hand quickly. Consequently, a silver light dashed at Uncle Xu who caught it in hand by a simple move of his arm, acting almost automatically. The light turned out to be an identity card made of silver, as big as a palm and it was shaped a triangle. On one side of the card there carved two characters “Kai Yuan”, and on the other, only one, “Wu”[1].

    “The identity card of Kai Yuan, so you really come from Kai Yuan Martial Arts School. But I’m wondering what do you come here for?” After a careful observation, Uncle Xu let out a sigh of relief.

    “As an acquired warrior, I guess Brother Xu knows lots about the tide of blood?” Lifting one of his arms, the dumpy elder man said slowly.

    Suddenly a puffing sound was heard.

    The part that was bare on his arm began to exude some green patterns, each moving like a living thing. Then grasses began to sprout out of his skin on that arm to the height of a cun! What a scary sight!

    “Blood turned from wood, and the wild tide of blood? I understand now, you are a messenger from the school.” Seeing this, Uncle Xu first blurted out his findings, and then showed an expression of sudden enlightenment.

    However, Wang Tianhao was totally in the dark.

    “Hehe, it seems that there’s no need for me to explain why your nephew can inspire his ancestor’s blood without difficulty. I’m here to deliver a message from the alliance of the five martial arts schools’ elders: now it is certain that the tide of the wild blood has come, so all martial arts school will open their Blood Halls, and send messengers to seek every possible blood warrior from all practitioners. Once a practitioner is identified as a real promising blood warrior, he can get enrolled into one of the schools without taking the enrollment test. Also, he will be provided with much more resources than ordinary practitioners.” The look of the stumpy elder man grew serious as he pronounced his message.

    “So the Blood Halls have really been opened! Then the three big sects[2] will also open their gates, I guess?” Uncle Xu murmured. It was difficult to gauge his mood now.

    “Why, you want to send your good nephew to the sects? Don’t forget who gave the Wangs their title of the Clan of Blood Warriors, and who have been providing them with money and food for the past three hundred years?” Hearing this Han Wu reproached with a stern face.

    “Certainly not! We Wang clan have been protected by the court, so whenever there is a blood warrior in our family we shall send him to the Blood Hall as soon as possible.” Uncle Xu reacted in no time and offered his flattery.

    “As long as you remember that! Now let’s test if Wang gonzi has really inspired his blood of blaze, and how pure his blood is.” Hearing the respectful promise Han Wu eased his look and produced an emerald green wooden bowl in his hand by just turning his palm up.

    “Can I ask one thing, as a blood warrior, which one can offer me the best chance to make progress, the three sects or the Blood Hall?” Finally Wang Tianhao perceived their conversation, and then calmly asked his question.

    “Though the three sects have been interested in making themselves a mystery and so are their actual strengths, they treat blood warriors casually, paying less attention to them than our martial arts schools. After all, there are not only warriors in the sects, but also conjurers who cost more resources, so only a small part of the resource can be saved to supply the blood warriors. However, we martial arts schools have done much research on some famous blood warriors, and have created many peculiar martial arts that can add power to one’s blood. So, what do we do? We just add wings to a tiger to make it stronger. You’ll never regret it once you come to our Blood Halls.” To Wang Tianhao, Han Wu explained with much patience and amiable manners.

    “If so I’ll enter the Hall.” Wang Tianhao gave a casual nod after hearing this.

    Uncle Xu only twitched his mouth but still was unable to utter any disapproval words.

    “Haha, that’s quite sensible, Wang gonzi! Now please drop one drop of your pure blood into the bowl.” The stumpy old man laughed delightedly and passed his green bowl to Wang Tianhao, who immediately bit his finger and made it bleed, then one drop of his blood fell into the bowl.

    The drop disappeared into the bottom after a flash, then one puff of red fog rushed out of the bowl, rose to the height of a half chi and turned into blazes after a swirl. The blazes did not seem to be dispersing.

    “You are indeed a promising blood warrior of the fire, and the purity of your blood belongs to the intermediate level. As for the details, I’m afraid they can only be made clear at the Blood Hall after some professional tests. But still, congratulations, with an average level you are entitled to get enrolled and be provided with top grade resources from the school.” Han Wu said this after a shock, but he soon became overjoyed with his find. Although the previous scene of his awakening his blood seemed quite enigmatic, actually he only ranked at the eighth grade of the elementary level[3]. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been a mere messenger. But if he could really bring a blood warrior of the average level back to his school he must be offered a high reward.

    “Of the intermediate level? That’s fair enough.” Wang Tianhao’s seemingly calm face concealed a grain of excitement. After all, there was only one blood warrior among his ancestors, who made his family famous with an intermediate level, the sixth grade.

    “Well, if you can only rank among the intermediate blood warriors, I wonder which rank does your defeater belongs.” Han Wu then became deep in thought.

    “What? You mean there are other messengers in the city?” Han Wu’s remark made Uncle Xu quite nonplussed.

    “Yes, indeed, I have one fellow companion in the city. He should have been on an errand to another city, but he offered to come here as soon as he heard about Shi Mu’s enormous strength. We two both think that Shi Mu is likely to be a blood warrior too, considering his amazing fights in this tide of wild blood.” The stumpy elder man answered with a smile.

    Hearing this Wang Tianhao and Uncle Xu were both astonished, gaping at each other.

    ......

    At the backyard of Liu Feng dojo.

    Shi Mu was staring at a wooden stock that was cut into pieces, as well as an ordinary long knife whose half body was inserted fully into the ground. For a while he was unable to close his mouth.

    “So this is the Knife-Throwing Art?”

    “Exactly. Though it’s not much for looking, but there contains my over ten years’ experience. The key is to grasp the right moment to apply the art, as well as the way you throw it. That’s quite tricky. You may lose your weapon if the thrown knife misses its target. But ever since I accomplished the art, I have used it three times and not once let my enemy escape.” Li Canghai said in a proud tone.

    “That’s brilliant! It does take the opponent unguarded. Please do impart the keys to me.” Shi Mu finally came to himself and resumed his normal colour, asking with a bow.

    Actually the sharpness of the art far surpassed what he expected now.

    “Hehe, since you’ve already win the championship for our Liu Feng dojo, then I won’t hold anything from you, now listen, I’ll tell you its essence...”

    It took Li Canghai a good one hour to explain the key points, meanwhile he kept picking up his long knife and performing the movements personally for Shi Mu, repeating each movement until Shi Mu began to get the hang of them.

    Just as Shi Mu was about to practise more by himself after Li Canghai’s instruction, suddenly a practitioner of their dojo came into the yard and hurriedly told Li Canghai, “Master, there’s someone claiming to be the blood messenger out at the gate. He asked for Shi Mu.”

    “The blood messenger?” Li Canghai was astonished at the title.

    “Instructor Li, do you know what is a blood messenger?” Shi Mu was somewhat surprised.

    “I’ll tell you later, now you go and see the man, maybe your chance has come.” Li Canghai’s look changed for several times successively, and only said this after a long sigh.

    “My chance?” Shi Mu was now suspicious, blinking his eyes.

    “Exactly. I can only tell that the messenger comes from one of the five martial arts schools. If he thinks you are promising you can get enrolled into the martial art school immediately, and also be offered resources inaccessible to ordinary practitioners.” Li Canghai’s voice contained much authoritativeness now.

    “Since master has said so I’ll see him.” The news came so unexpected. After giving it some thought Shi Mu answered his instructor decidedly.

    The two then left the yard for the gate of the dojo directly.

    As soon as Shi Mu entered the hall behind the gate, he saw two men in a conversation; one is the red-faced instructor Min, while the other was a red-robed man most of whose face was covered by a straw hat.

    “Brother Li, Shi Mu, so you have come. See Messenger Zhao from the Blood Hall.” Seeing the two coming in, instructor Min greeted them and made the introduction cheerfully.

    “Since the messenger from the Blood Hall has come personally, it seems that the event does have taken place.” Li Canghai walked forward a few steps, greeted the messenger and asked him seriously.

    “Instructor Li is really no ordinary warrior, then I’ll waste no more time exchanging pleasantries. I want to test this practitioner if he is really a blood warrior in future. If so I’ll bring him back to the Hall and make him a powerful warrior.” The man in straw hat lifted his head slightly; an exceedingly cold square face was beneath it. He made the announcement straightforward.

    “Alright, if the boy’s chance has come I won’t bar the way. Shi Mu, just do as Messenger Zhao asks.” Li Canghai nodded his agreement.

    Giving the straw hat man a brief look, Shi Mu also nodded silently.

    It seemed that the straw hat man did not care a bit about their respond. He took out an emerald green bowl from his sleeves and demanded, “Little boy, drop one drop of your pure blood into it, and we’ll see if you really have the blood.”

    After taking a deep breath Shi Mu drew his long knife from his waist, and cut swiftly at his finger. A wound of a cun’s length appeared suddenly, and a drop of blood instantly fell into the bowl.


    Notes:
    [1] Wu: The character has the meaning of being powerful and able to practise martial arts in Chinese.
    [2] The three big sects: The author does not explain further which sects they are in this chapter, but will do so in further chapters.
    [3] The eighth grade: The smaller the number of the grade in each level, the more powerful one’s blood will be. The author does not specify how many grades altogether are there in each level, but probably ten.

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    Chapter 25 - The Waste Blood of the Stone Monkey

    The blood drop disappeared after a flash.

    A moment later, the wooden bowl trembled briefly, and a “Peng” sound was heard when a small puff of white fog rushed out of the bottom. After a swirl the white fog became quite dense and eventually turned into a mini monkey, whose body was curled up and its eyes were tightly closed, as vivid as thought it were living. But there were white lines faintly visible on its body surface: a bad sign.

    “Why, it’s not even on the list, only the blood of the stone monkey. The most worthless one even among the waste bloods. A waste of my time! I’ll go now. Please excuse me.” The straw hat man observed the mini white monkey and the lines on its surface closely, then declared his disappointment with a stern face.

    He then wave one arm to disperse the white fog. Taking back his wooden bowl, he waved goodbye to the two instructors and left the hall. From start to finish, he didn’t even look at Shi Mu once.

    Seeing this the two instructors’ faces fell, and Shi Mu also sensed something undesirable from their looks.

    “One more word, if I were you, I’d stop dreaming about the enrollment test to Kai Yuan Martial Arts School. With your waste blood you’ll only be a fruitless seed.”

    The straw heat man’s stony voice came over from the gate. Then nothing was heard from him ever since.

    “The waste blood of the stone monkey? Master Li, what does he mean by this? Is it that I haven’t inspired my blood or the already inspired blood was useless?” Shi Mu’s eyes blinked as he turned his head to seek an answer from Li Canghai.

    “Well, Let me think how to explain this...” Li Canghai murmured subconsciously, his face sullen.

    “I’ll tell you the truth. Shi Mu, it’s only that you don’t have good luck. You did have inspired your blood, but the blood was a waste blood of the stone monkey. Better not have inspired it! You know, there are surely some blood warriors who can make amazing progress with inspired blood, at a speed far higher than ordinary warriors. But there are also some who inspired a useless, or, let’s say, a counterproductive blood that will rather be an obstacle, creating more difficulty in the future. So this is called a waste blood. And the one you inspired is the most widely known one, it can make one’s skin rather thick and one’s strength enormous at the practitioner level, but once he acquires qi-sensing, the blood will obstruct the passages through which his energy circulates, so the gathering speed of his real qi will not even equal an ordinary man’s . Now that I’ve explained fully to you, it’s up to you to decide your future path.”

    In a little while there were only Shi Mu and Li Canghai at the hall.

    Shi Mu’s heart sank after hearing instructor Min’s words.

    “Master Li......”

    “Shi Mu, you can quit the enrollment test now. As far as I know, all those who have been known with waste blood are not enrolled into any martial arts school. After all, schools want practitioners who are hopeful to be acquired warriors, or even better, innate warriors. A practitioner who is hopeless to reach the next level means nothing to the schools.” Li Canghai knew from Shi Mu’s looks that his student still held a gleam of hope, so he snapped his thought and told him to face the reality.

    “To tell you the truth, I am disappointed myself. I had thought that I could have cultivated a powerful warrior myself, but never once had I expected this result. I should have known this much earlier, for only those with the blood of the stone monkey have such brutal force to accomplish the Stone-Breaking Fists in a few months.”

    There were apparently some regrets in his last words.

    “Could it be said that it is impossible for me to be a powerful warrior in any way?” Repressing the coldness and depression in his heart firmly, Shi Mu gritted his teeth and asked the question, knowing that it was the last time he would get an answer to this question.

    “When you start to learn a certain technique of the acquired level, you’ll find the gathering speed of your real qi will be much lower than others, not even nearing half of the average speed. Then you’ll taste real despair. As your ‘former’ instructor, I’ll send you my last piece of advice. Just take it as a dream, the thing about being a powerful warrior. Go back home and lead the life of an ordinary person. Yes, don’t come to Liu Feng dojo any more. Although we teach when we are paid, but for someone of waste blood we won’t teach even when paid. Otherwise we’ll only be a laughingstock to other dojos.” Li Canghai finished his remark, his face expressionless, his voice stony. After a pat on Shi Mu’s shoulder, he also turned and left the hall.

    Shi Mu stood frozen to the ground. After a while, he walked slowly to a nearest chair and sat on it. His face was a completely dumbstruck one.

    “Haha......Ha......Yesterday I was the top practitioner in the city, and today I became the stone monkey of waste blood, that’s so funny.......Haha......”

    There came Shi Mu’s wild laughter from the hall, breaking the silence.

    Li Canghai was still not far from the hall. Hearing the laughter behind him, his looks changed only slightly, and then he went on without hesitation.

    After some time, Shi Mu left Feng Liu dojo for his suburban manor directly with a seemingly cool face.

    Several days later.

    The news that the blood tide had began, that the blood messengers were seen in Feng City and found three blood practitioners soon circulated through the city, making a stir among the city’s clans and gangs.

    Meanwhile, the news that a messenger had visited Liu Feng dojo and found Shi Mu to be of the waste blood was also spread out. This astonished many, but also overjoyed some.

    ......

    In the manor of the Jins, at a small hall.

    Auntie Zhen was questioning a man who seemed to be in his fifties and extremely austere.

    “Big Brother, I just heard that you have given out all the ten newly obtained Qi Ling pills, and the one which should have been Shi Mu’s was given to Jin Tian?”

    “Yes, I did give Shi Mu’s pill to my nephew. Sister Seven, I was just looking for you. Listen, here is a note of a million liang of silver offered by Brother Five. Give the money to Shi Mu.” The austere man was none other than the current leader of the Jin Clan, who answered Auntie Zhen’s query unhurriedly, and then passed her a silver note.

    “With just one note he dared to buy a Qi Ling pill? Big brother, are you really regarding Shi Mu as a fool?” Auntie Zhen swept away the note with a hand, raged even into laughter.

    “Hehe, even if he’s not a fool before, now he is one indeed. We Jins don’t buy Qi Ling pills as easily as blowing off dust, why should we waste it on a worthless fool?” The austere man did not care the least about Auntie Zhen’s protest, answering coldly, but his hand now taken back.

    “Even if he is a worthless fool, I have promised ‘that fool’, so I’ll never eat my word. I’ll see father and let him judge.” Auntie Zhen retorted without the least intention of giving up.

    “Go for father? Sister Seven, let me tell you the truth. It was exactly father who ordered this.” The leader of the Jin Clan said causally.

    “What? Father ordered this?” Auntie Zhen’s look changed.

    “Remember, You are a Jin, not a Shi, and your husband was married into our family. One pill doesn’t matter that much, but your deeds will make us a laughingstock to other clans. Sister Seven, please be more mindful of your own daughter, Yu Huan. Since the blood tide has began, messengers from the three sects will definitely show themselves, and I’m trying every way to contact them, this may be an excellent thing to Yu Huan.” Speaking of the talented girl, the leader of the Jin Clan finally eased up a little.

    “Humph, since it’s father’s idea, then I won’t disobey. As for Yu Huan, Big brother please rest assured and mind your own business.” Auntie Zhen’s look changed for several times, and eventually she stomped and turned to leave.

    “Hold on, take the note with you.” The leader shouted out.

    “This little sum of money? I can pay it myself, just take it back to Brother Five.” Auntie Zhen went out of the hall in an instant, not even turning her head once.

    At the door of the hall, Yu Huan was waiting for her mother. As soon as she saw her, she came up and asked, “Mother, what’s the result? How’s the conversation going between you and Big Uncle? Can we have that pill back for my brother?”

    “I’m afraid not, the order was made by your paternal grandfather. There’s nothing more I can do. But I’ll tell Butler Cheng to send Shi Mu three million liang of silver.” Auntie Zhen answered with a sigh.

    “Mother, grandfather was so unfair!” Yu Huan was very displeased at the result.

    “It’s hard to say whether your grandfather and Big Uncle are right or wrong this time. To give a Qi Ling pill to a hopeless practitioner will definitely bring shame to the Jin Clan. It’s my fault this time, it’s me that failed to meet my promise.” Auntie Zhen was full of regret, but had no alternative.

    ......

    At the backyard of Tian Wang Temple, Feng Li and Gao Yuan stood gaping at each other listening to a well-informed person relate the news that had stirred the city. The man apparently made money by selling information.

    After a while Feng Li waved him off.

    “That’s quite unexpected! Shi Mu should be the stone monkey blood! That explains a lot - why he could have beat other practitioners of his level, etc. Do you remember when we asked him to be our gang’s leader? He didn’t even deserve that!” Gao Yuan said with a grin, somewhat gloating over Shi Mu’s fate.

    “Exactly! I never thought Brother Shi could have useless blood, that’s a shame. Otherwise even for an ordinary man that strength must be of use in practising martial arts. Now that we have to find a new protector.” Unlike Gao Yuan, Feng Li lamented over the loss of a powerful guardian.
    ......

    “This Shi Mu should be a trash! I had thought of challenging him at that time! “

    In Fei Hong dojo, Zhong Dong twitched his mouth after reading a note; he then tore the note to pieces and continued to exercise his newly learned fist art.

    He could have challenged Shi Mu’s Stone-Breaking Fists if he had accomplished the fist art.

    ......

    At the secret room in the Wu manor, wild laughter roared.

    “The inspired blood should be the waste blood of the stone monkey! Awesome! Now the Jins won’t even look at the bastard, father, I’d like to have someone make him a cripple.” Wu Hua laughed wildly at the pale man with him.

    “No problem. A worthless bastard deserves no scruples of our Wus. And your Big Uncle and I have just found that to exploit the gadget’s power, we must have the ugly girl’s blood. Just wait for a bit longer, your third uncle will go personally and take the girl back, so that you can avenge yourself by the way.” The pale man looked at Wu Hua, full of fondness, answering without thinking.

    “Awesome! I’ll go with third uncle and see with my own eyes the scene when Shi Mu’s legs are broken.” The proud youth laughed with glee.

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    Chapter 26 - Acquire Qi-Sensing

    In a bedroom of Shi Mu’s suburban manor.

    Sitting in a chair, Shi Mu was staring at a small bottle on his desk, full of thoughtful looks.

    Suddenly there came several knocks on the door.

    “Come in.”

    Shi Mu said briefly without even raising his head.

    The door was pushed open, and a pretty girl came in with a wooden tray. She then put a bowl of hot meat porridge on the desk, apparently very proficient in doing her job.

    “Miss Zhong, why are you here again? I’ve told you many times, just leave the work to servants.” Until then Shi Mu looked up and shook his head at the girl, who was exactly Zhong Xiu.

    Ever since she lived in the manor, she was more than grateful to Shi Mu for taking her in, so to bring tea and food to Shi Mu’s room became her way of showing her gratitude.

    “Brother Shi, you haven’t eaten anything today, please take a short rest and eat something. I stewed the porridge especially for you.” Zhong Xiu said in a compassionate tone. Her bearing was gentle and soft despite the startling blue birthmark on her forehead.

    “I haven’t eaten anything for a day? Well, haven’t quite realised this. Then let me taste the porridge.” Shi Mu was surprised at first, then answered with a bitter smile. He took the bowl filled with meat porridge and ate up the contents like a wolf, letting out a sigh of contentedness.

    “Miss Zhong, the porridge’s so delicious! Never thought you are so good at cooking! Your future husband’s so lucky.”

    “Now you are making fun of me. Who would get his eyes on me seeing my ugly face? But if you really enjoy the food I’ll cook more for you later on.” Hearing Shi Mu’s praise, Zhong Xiu’s face blushed, the fair skin growing pink. She answered with a sense of pleasure.

    “If you really will, I......”

    Shi Mu smiled faintly at the girl, and was about to say something when fast footsteps were heard from outside, before Zhang Suo burst into the room and said hurriedly,

    “Shi shaoye, Butler Cheng of the Jin family is here and he asks to see you.”

    “Old Cheng? Well, I’ll go and see him.” Hearing this Shi Mu narrowed his eyes, and answered without hesitation, while he put the little bottle on the desk into his sleeves and then strode out of the room. Zhang Suo chased him behind.

    Zhong Xiu paused for a moment, hesitating, before she decided to follow them.

    After a moment, Shi Mu was already at the gate of his manor, looking at the silver note passed by Jin Cheng in contempt, wearing on his face a sullen look.

    “So, I’m not getting my Qi Ling pill and am now offered three million liang of silver instead. Excellent. One pill costs at most a million in the mark, so I’ll still earn much.”

    “Well, Shi gongzi, madam has done all she can, she even went to the Jin’s manor personally, making a scene there just for your pill. But it was the elder leader, madam’s father who made the order, so madam had no more ways. Even the three million is offered by madam herself. Also, she asked me to tell you that though she could not get you another Qi Ling pill, but the first choice she offered to you last time at your father’s funeral is still within her power.” The blue-robed old man explained to Shi Mu, coughing slightly.

    By the way, the butler had always considered Shi Mu a nice young fellow, and also lamented for him when he knew that the youth’s inspired blood was worthless.

    “Why, it’s the elder leader’s order, I know it now. I’m sorry I’ve brought trouble to Auntie Zhen.” The news came as quite shocking to Shi Mu, and he only took the notes slowly after a while.

    “As long as Shi shaoye understands! Besides, madam has also predicted that some Jin members may do something to embarrass you in the following period, so you’d better stay here and not go to the city.” After some thought Jin Cheng exhorted Shi Mu.

    “Alright, I see. Please send my best to Auntie Zhen.” Shi Mu gave a brief nod.

    “Then I’ll retired. Oh, by the way, if Shi shaoye still wants to pursue your dream of being a warrior, I have an idea for you. “ Seeing Shi Mu’s unchanged calmness, the blue-robed old man cracked into a pleased smile, and then unexpectedly took out a paper note from his sleeve, handing it over to Shi Mu and then left the manor with graceful steps. Meanwhile, Shi Mu remained at the gate and gazed at the old man’s figure until it finally disappeared, still holding the three silver notes and the paper note in hand.

    From start to finish, Zhong Xiu and Zhang Suo stood beside them, listening to the conversation, which got across to the girl to some extent; therefore a worried look came to her face. Meanwhile, Zhang Suo was left totally in the dark, unable to perceive the overtones behind the conversation.

    ......

    That night, Shi Mu sat on his bed studying the little bottle in his hand, his legs crossed and his eyes cold as ice.

    “The waste blood of the stone monkey?”

    “Hehe, I shall never believe in it!”

    “Mother, please don’t worry, since I’ve already decided to be the most powerful warrior in the world, I won’t quit midway. What does a waste blood count? I’m not a cripple!”

    After the murmurs, Shi Mu opened the lid of the bottle without hesitation. A white pill rolled out and he took it in no time.

    The pill had seemed to be as hard as iron, but once taken in, it immediately became soft and sweet, as though it were mere cotton. After taking some breaths, the pill turned into fluid that was easily downed. Suddenly burning energy began to circulate in his stomach and bowels.

    “Boom!”

    After hearing a thunderous noise in his head, Shi Mu felt his sense organs much more sensible than before; simultaneously, he felt his body itch all over unbearably.

    He instantly sat cross-legged on his bed, closed his eyes and turned to a solemn face.

    ......

    At the same time, in a secret room in the Jin manor.

    A middle-aged man was shouting abuse at a youth looking quite similar to himself.

    “You hopeless wretch! Wretch! You say Shi Mu is a fool? In my eyes you are even worse than a fool! You are good-for-nothing! This is the second time you’ve taken Qi Ling pill. Didn’t you say you were fully confident of acquiring qi-sensing before? And now what happened? Are you my son? If I had known this earlier I wouldn’t have paid so much to get the pill from my sister! Better leave it for Shi Mu the bastard! Then I can at least have my money saved!”

    The middle-aged man grew increasingly angry. He slapped the youth on his face and rushed out of the room furiously.

    “Shi Mu!”

    Stroking his swollen face, Jin Tian gritted his teeth and shouted out Shi Mu’s name.

    ......
    Half a day later, Shi Mu pressed one of his hands on his stomach, feeling the warm qi faintly beneath his hand, full of amazement and joy.

    So this is qi-sensing!

    If it were not for the help of Qi Ling pill, he would not have sensed his qi at all.

    But now he could move on to train his real qi that belonged to acquired warriors only, as long as he could obtain a book on acquired arts.

    To some extent, only from this moment on he could be counted a real warrior.

    After a long while Shi Mu directed his attention to the paper note sent by Jin Cheng. He took it out from his sleeve, unfolded it and began to read the words.

    “To the three districts of the frontier fortress. The Hall of Jun Wu[1], the military school for warriors.”

    The youth read the words out only after a long pause.


    Notes:
    [1] The Hall of Jun Wu: “Jun” means soldiers and military affairs in Chinese, while “Wu” has been explained in the last chapter, meaning martial arts, force, strength, etc.

  11. #31
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    Chapter 27 - The Ape in the Dream

    One month glided past.

    Kai Yuan Martial Arts School finally announced the date of the enrollment test, and the venue was Guang Ling Valley at the eastern suburb of the city, thirty miles from downtown.

    As soon as the news was made public, practitioners from all the four districts administered by Kai Yuan prefecture were excited, pouring into the city successively.

    Meanwhile, the sheriff of Feng City also issued an exceedingly strict martial law which stipulated that all practitioners should behave themselves and not create disturbances in the city. The law should be effective before and after three months of the enrollment test. Offenders would be punished according to their misconducts: lighter offences should be punished by wearing heavy armours and offenders of heavy crimes would be executed immediately right on the spot.

    Groups of armoured soldiers began to appear at various streets of the city, each carrying a spear and bow, looking rather imposing.

    Apart from this, gangs and clans also began to manage their members strictly, forbidding them to trifle with practitioners from other districts.

    On the other side, Shi Mu did not leave his suburban manor during the past month, only practising knife and fist arts during the day, and sleeping soundly during the night. He appeared as though he had really thrown away the thought of taking part in the enrollment test.

    ......

    A young white ape was having a good time with other ten-odd grey apes in the mountain, jumping and chasing each other over the hilltops.

    Till dusk, when the sun began to set, grey apes all went to a huge stone cave for a good rest, while the white one was still quite energetic: he remained outside the cave, and climbed to a large tree on a certain hilltop without any difficulty. There he wound his tail around a branch and rest on it to watch the silver moon up in the sky, his body still.

    Then a shocking scene took place.

    The white ape had just scarcely rested on the branch for a moment when glittering of white light began to appear faintly in the night sky, and even increasing in amount, flickering like glowworms.

    The white ape blinked his eyes, then his originally black and white eyeballs instantly turned to golden colour! What a weird scene!

    “Puff!”

    Suddenly, though windless, the dense dots of white began to move automatically, plummeting toward the ape’s golden eyes like sea tide.

    A nondescript sense of comfort penetrated the ape’s body, making it grin broadly and dance with excitement involuntarily.

    “Peng!” A loud noise was heard.

    Shi Mu started from his bed, sweating all over his body and he even wet his shirt. His face was ghastly pale, as though he had been exercising fiercely.

    “The seventh time! What’s the dream trying to tell me? The same dream for seven days, that’s weird!”

    Shi Mu wiped the sweat on his forehead, and his eyes were somewhat spiritless while he murmured to himself.

    The strange dream he just had had been going on every night during the past seven days. In the dream he would always turn a white ape jumping in the wood, chasing after his companions as if he was the leader of the whole pack.

    But the previous six dreams had always snapped when he - then the white ape - was going to rest with his companions in the cave; on the contrary, this time in the dream he was left outside the cave and subsequently climbed to a branch. That was when the uncanny scene happened.

    “What’s this about? Could it be that the blood of the stone monkey is causing trouble inside my body? Since it’s an ape that I have dreamed of. It never happened before, so could it be related with my just acquired qi-sensing?”

    Shi Mu sank into a thoughtful mood.

    Just as he raised his head accidentally, he was shocked to find that the paper windows which should have been sealed well was now blown open by the wind at some unknown time, and moonlight was penetrating through them, covering almost his bed.

    Shi Mu suddenly thought of the moon he had seen in his dream instantly. His colour changed at the association.

    The next moment, he went down his bed and reached the door in no time. He pushed it open and strode out.

    The yard outside his room was now illuminated. Raising his head, he could see a bright half moon shining white lights in the air, seeming unusually serene and sacred. He stared at the half moon for a good long while until he lowered his head with knit eyebrows, and again glanced over the yard.

    There was a half-dead old tree at one corner of the yard, as high as five or six zhang, but few leaves remained in it. The tree seemed to be dying.

    Shi Mu narrowed his eyes and observed the half-dead tree carefully for a while before an idea dawned on him, which drove him to walk up to the tree.

    The thick truck was easy to climb for Shi Mu. With no difficulty he was now at the top of the tree, and then rest his feet on a thick branch and lay prone on it. Raising his head, it was scary to find that the posture he was taking now was exactly the same to that of the white ape in the dream!

    Shi Mu could not believe his own eyes!

    But from this angle the moon seemed somewhat bigger and brighter. Shi Mu waited for something to take place.

    But nothing happened as time slid away.

    The youth smiled bitterly to himself, mocking his own foolishness. Who would not sleep during the night, and climb to a tree, imitating a beast instead? If seen by the servants he would be thought a lunatic.

    With this thought on his mind, he prepared to jumped down from the almost trembling branch.

    But just as he was to move, a deafening sound boomed in his head, and his whole body was as if glued to the branch, unable to move, while his head was still made looking at the moon in this same posture.

    Even Shi Mu had now become to question his own sanity!

    He was now again into the previous dream, turned to the white ape again, his eyes wide open to receive the falling glittering from the high sky. His eyes felt simultaneously burned and solaced.

    Unlike the previous dream, though his body had turned an ape, his mind was more than clear, knowing that he was in a dream.

    More scarily, however hard he tried, the upper part of his ape body was unable to be moved an inch, as if his consciousness was now confined to the ape body. However terrified, Shi Mu could only stay like this on the branch.
    He did not know how long had had pass until the ape body moved by itself, after which he resumed his control of his own body.

    Shi Mu was overjoyed of his taking over his body, but before he had time to try the ape body, a booming sound made him close his eyes subconsciously.

    The next moment, when he reopened his eyes, he was dumbstruck, finding himself still lying prone on the branching, looking up at the sky. Only that now he was the human Shi Mu again, his shirt wet with morning dew. The sky was now turning bright, the originally high moon now only faintly visible: It was retiring from the morning sky.

  12. #32
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    Chapter 28 - Eyesight Mutation

    Shi Mu was so astonished that he did not came to himself until after a long while; but just as he looked down the sight below was no less astonishing than what he had gone through.

    The originally half-dead tree was now covered with verdant leaves, its branches stretching out vigorously as though awakened from a long slumber.

    Shi Mu gaped at the sight and managed to suppress his astonishment. He then gave the tree a close observation anew. The result was somewhat soothing compared with previous happenings: it seemed that the tree was only reviving, because nothing unusual had attracted his attention. Assured, he jumped down from the tree without further hesitation.

    “Peng!”

    Shi Mu’s feet thudded onto the ground, stirring up a ring of dust. Letting out a long sigh, he looked up again at the sky, still in a mood of amazement.

    At last he braced himself to accept the fact that he had actually stayed on the branch for nearly half an evening. The feeling that his body was as though frozen, completely unable to move, was still with him, which made his muscles tremble in fear.

    A daydream!

    Until now he finally experienced this in real life.

    Although technically speaking it was not a “daydream”, but only this word could describe the weirdness: his mind staying absolutely sober while his body was paralysed. Also, when recalling the scene when the ape’s eyes absorbed the myriad glittering lights, Shi Mu touched his eyes involuntarily and rubbed them, feeling a vague sense of unease. But it seemed that apart from some aches there were nothing abnormal in his body.

    Pondering over the event, Shi Mu cast another glance around the yard.

    “What...What’s this?”

    He was struck dumb with amazement by something.

    Only until this moment he knew what had happened to his eyes: by just fixing them with ease he could see clearly an ant seven or six zhang away from him on the grass. Directing his eyes to a corner of the yard, he saw a spider as big as a bean weaving its cobweb in morning silence.

    Shi Mu sucked back a cold breath, and then raised his head to look at a certain leaf in the big tree. The sight was astonishing: the light-coloured veins in the leaf was seen as near as at his hand.

    Shi Mu was dumbstruck, frozen to the ground.

    After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly burst into wild laughter, shaking the manor as well as the servants sleeping in it. Awaken from their dreams, naturally the servants were very irritated, but as soon as they identified the source of the laughter they could only go back to their sleeps with muffled curse.

    Shi Mu returned to his bedroom after a good while of laugh. He closed the door and whizzed to his bed, where he took out an iron knife. After a brief thought, he directed his eyes to a flickering candle - much of its body already burned - and gazed at it.

    He shook his wrist lightly before a shadow of the knife blurred past the tip of the candle which went out immediately.

    Shi Mu did not waste time giving the candle another cut backhandedly.

    Piercing sounds whizzed past the air while cold lights rolled over the desk like a tiny tornado. But the candle remained still to its original spot on the desk.

    Shi Mu smiled and pressed the edge of the knife onto the desk.

    “Peng!”

    After a tremble the candle, or the nine pieces of the knife, scattered over the desk. It was divided into nine identical parts, each of the same size and thickness, as if cut after a careful measurement by the ruler.

    “Eight cuts at one breath! Exactly what I had expected. But if I can cut more precisely, the speed could also be raised. No worries, now I’m still getting used to the newly acquired eyesight, so it’s not impossible to do nine at one breath later.” Looking at the pieces of the candle, Shi Mu murmured to himself with a grain of fervency on his face.

    Immediately after the last word he wielded his iron knife again in the air. Each piercing sound produced seven or eight knife shadows that could be seen faintly through the air. Meantime, Shi Mu’s eyes grew increasingly brighter, and he did not stop wielding his arm even for a moment.

    ......

    Several days later, in the evening.

    The windows of Shi Mu’s bedroom were open, and faint moonlight scattered in front of the bed. Shi Mu was tossing about in his bed, unable to fall asleep anyway.

    After a sigh he started from his bed. Pushing open the door he walked out of the room to bathe himself in the moonlight, as if trying to sense something.

    After a moment he moved, and scrambled up the verdant tree in the yard. Finding his posture he squatted proficiently and began to look up at the sky.

    Shortly afterwards, after a slight tremble, his whole body was glued to the tree, unable to move.

    The next moment, he turned the white ape in his dream again, still squatting at the branch and absorbing the slights falling from the sky. He was well aware of his dispossessed control of his own body now that he was the ape, but still he could not resist glancing over the surroundings as hard as he could.

    “There should have been a green worm three chi away, but now it’s not there. One, two, three...seventeen, there were nineteen leaves on the branch at my left hand yesterday in the dream, and twenty the day before yesterday. It seems then I’m not repeating the same dream. The dream also has its days and nights. Time also flows in it.”

    Thinking this Shi Mu became increasingly confused. Ever since he acquired the superhuman sight after seven successive dreams, he had not had the same weird dream again. But if there was moonlight during the latter half of the night, he could again return to the dream as the ape, if he climbed to the tree and squat on the branch. It was as though he was dragged into the dream, and forced to absorb the moonlight with the body of the white ape.

    These days, whenever he woke up from the dream, he found his eyesight stronger than last time. It’s only that it was not increasing at a speed as high as that of the first time. Even so, his current eyesight had enabled him to see clearly the legs of a flying mosquito over ten zhang away, and with ease. If he stood on a tree and looked to the distance, he could even spot a worm’s hole in a big tree fifty or sixty zhang away.

    But he was not able to be dragged into the dream during one of the days when the moon did not show herself. So he had a rough feeling that the white lights absorbed by the ape in the dream should be from some essence of the moonlight, which was able to enhance one’s eyesight. Also, he calculated that if he continued the dream which was beneficial to his eyes day by say, he could still enhance his eyesight greatly.

    If it did go as smoothly as he thought, Shi Mu had another thought: maybe he should learn more kinds of martial arts.

    ......

    Three days later, in the hall of his manor, Shi Mu received two acquaintances.

    “Brother Shi, this is the thing you ordered from Master Ma. He’s finished it and we’ve brought it for you. Besides, since you’ve asked, we obtained this for you with much trouble.”

    The elder one of the two passed two heavy packs to Shi Mu personally, smiling. And he was none other than Feng Li of the Black Fox gang!

  13. #33
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    Chapter 29 - The Bow of Purple Steel

    “Thanks, Brother Shi. This is the money for residual payment. Take and count the notes.” Shi Mu nodded, taking out two silver notes from his sleeve and passing them to Feng Li.

    “Haha, should I doubt Brother Shi? By the way, are you really quitting the enrollment test?” Feng Li laughed and took the notes without even looking at them. He then attempted the question inquisitively. The question also interested Gao Yuan a lot, who waited for Shi Mu’s reply with fixed attention.

    “Has the date been decided?” Shi Mu asked another question in reply.

    “Seven days later, from eleven a.m. to one p.m., in the Valley of Guang Ling. It’s said that not only the leaders of the big clans of the city would be present, but also officers including the sheriff.“ Feng Li answered without thinking.

    “If so, I’ll probably quit the test. Considering that I’m judged by the blood messenger from the school as a waste person, my presence at the test will only make me a laughingstock. Also, the Qi Ling pill promised by the Jin clan has already been given to someone else, so I’m left with no chance of sensing my real qi. This simply just precludes me from taking the test.” Shi Mu answered in a calm voice.

    “That’s a shame indeed. If the messenger had not found you, with your power and the pill you could possibly pass the test.” Feng Li answered pitifully.

    “That’s alright, even if I can’t be an acquired warrior I can still practice martial arts at home. It’s only that I won’t be able to learn those higher skills. But considering my current state, even if I can’t make much money in the future, I can also have a comfortable life.” Shi Mu tried hard to make light of his condition.

    “If you really think this way, that won’t be better! Then we won’t disturb you any longer.” Feng Li nodded and immediately rose to leave.

    After half an hour, the two leaders of the Black Fox were riding on the road several miles away from the manor.

    “Brother Feng, the fellow’s already useless, why should we help him so, even bringing his staff personally to his manor?” Gao Yuan did not say much in the manor, so he could not wait any longer to vent his grudges.

    “Third Brother, I don’t know why, but I was quite curious of the current situation when he asked us to seek the thing. That’s why I came here, even asking you to come with me.” Feng Li answered unhurriedly.

    “Hehe, then do you have any conclusions now?” Gao Yuan grinned and asked.

    “If I’m not wrong, I guess Shi Mu hasn’t really given up his pursuit of martial arts. If so we don’t want to offend him in any way. After all, the famous general Yue Tai - everyone of Da Qi knows his name - was also good-for-nothing in his earlier years. But what happened later? He had quite a few strange experiences and then became a powerful innate warrior. Furthermore, during the invasion of the barbarous tribes, he used a huge knife weighed a thousand ji, killing thirteen ToTem Fighters. That’s why he was conferred the title of National Guardian, though he’s family name was different from the emperor’s. Since then he’s been guarding the three prefectures at the frontier fortress.” Feng Li said in a serious tone.

    “Big Bother, to compare Shi Mu the bastard with National Guardian Yue? That’s such a flattery to him! Yue daren[1] was only feeble and sick in his early years, it’s not the same with Shi Mu whose blood is useless! Besides, we don’t need to send him that bow of purple steel. You now, only a lieutenant or his superior can use that invaluable weapon. To get it we bribed the retiring officer with costly presents! Only then he was willing to help us and disguised the bow as wastes from the amoury.” Gao Yuan twitched his mouth, very displeased.

    “Third Brother, however invaluable the bow is, if we can’t use it then it’s only a dead thing. Now that we even can’t pull it open, what’s the use holding it? Since Shi Mu wants a nice bow, why not send him one useless to us? You know, it’s common to send gifts to someone in power, but definitely not to help someone in difficulty. He’ll remember our generosity and repay us in the future.” Feng Li explained slowly.

    “I’ll follow you if your really see hope in him. After all he did help us greatly in the past. Let the bow be a friendly gift then.” Though still somewhat unconvinced, Gao Yuan could only say so since Feng Li’s mind was set.

    Hearing this Feng Li said no more, only smiled in reply.

    ......

    When they had left Shi Mu returned to his bedroom with the two big packs. He then opened one on the table; a square wooden case was revealed immediately, its length several chi.

    He quickly opened the case and found two glaring daggers inside, one longer and the other shorter. The longer one was approximately three chi in length, and was a slightly bent long knife whose handle was unusually long, even taking up one third of the whole dagger’s length. However, the shorter one was only as long as a cun, and was abnormally thin all over its body, looking like a strange narrow dagger. But it seemed exceedingly sharp, and had an iron ring - not big though - at it the end of its handle.

    Shi Mu studied the two daggers closely, then he stroke the table with one hand abruptly.

    “Peng!”

    The abnormally thin dagger jumped immediately from the table and was caught in Shi Mu’s hand.

    Two piercing sounds were heard.

    After a tremble, the dagger turned a ball of cold light rolling in his hand. In a moment the room was filled with cold lights, making one’s hair stand on end.

    Shi Mu’s arm shivered and then the dagger reappeared in his hand, darting to one of the table’s edges immediately.

    Dead silence!

    The edge was cut down as though it were made of toufu.

    Seeing this Shi Mu showed a pleased expression. He was now sure that the blacksmith had not bragged; he did made the daggers with a large amount of cold iron, otherwise they would not be so sharp.

    Shi Mu lifted the other hand, and grasped the longer knife. After wielding it in the air with one hand, he nodded approvingly. Then suddenly, he inserted the shorter dagger in his other hand into the handle of the longer one, and twisted it a bit.

    Crack! A crisp sound.

    The whole body of the small dagger was now immersed seamlessly into the longer one’s handle, no trace left to be seen.

    This was exactly the real appearance of the Sun and Moon Dagger.

    Shi Mu put them back to the case after playing with them for a long time. With his interest still intense, he opened the other pack without waiting any longer, and saw a light purple bow inside, its length half the height of an adult. His expression changed slightly at the sight of this long bow. Taking it in hand, he gauged that it should be at least as heavy as fifty or sixty jin.

    The surface of the bow felt slightly cold and was decorated with a layer of delicate pattern like the scale of a fish. The pattern seemed to be made of a certain metal, and the bowstring was crystal-clear, its colour milky white, glittering with silver lights which seemed to have come from some silver wires that had been mixed into the material.

    “What’s this...”

    Shi Mu thought of something suddenly. He held the bow with one hand while pulled the string with the other.

    “Pff!”

    The long purple bow was only half opened!

    “The bow of purple steel!”

    Shi Mu blurted out the name, and was really surprised.

    He released his fingers and the string rebounded, penetrating the air. Shaking, it let out a clear sound like a dragon’s singing, making the whole room resound with a droning sound.
    More chap

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    Chapter 30 - The Intended Departure

    “Feng Li has really sent me a good present this time.”

    Shi Mu muttered to himself, stroking the purple bow, his face full of fondness for it.

    After a second look, he found a leather bag inside the pack, which he had not discovered before. A bundle of light yellow arrows were in the bag. The arrowheads were made of black iron, and black feathers were decorated neatly at the arrows’ ends.

    Shi Mu pulled one out of the bag, put it on the bow, and tried a posture in front of the window. He could not wait any long: with the bow and the bag full of arrows he strode out of his room.

    The remaining of the day saw him practice the purple steel bow. He had learned to use bows when he studied at the dojo, so it took him not much time getting the hang of using this purple steel bow. He could now hit a target at a distance of fifty steps by a chance of three tenth, with the bow only nearly half open. Seen by the passing servants, this was an impossible achievement.

    ......

    In the evening.

    In the hall of Shi Mu’s manor.

    “Brother Shi, are you really going to the three prefectures at the frontier fortress to join in Jun Wu Hall?” Zhong Xiu asked in surprise, her eyes wide open.

    “Yes, and I’m setting off in a few days.” Shi Mu answered calmly.

    “So what about me? And the manor?” The young girl was nonplussed.

    “I’ve asked Zhang Suo to sell the fields and the restaurant the other day, and as for Miss Zhong, you may have two choices: one, I’ll take you to Auntie Zhen’s place, so even the Wus are plotting something against you they won’t take the risk of offending the Jins. The other choice is, you can go with me. I remember you once said that although you don’t have many relatives willing to accept you, you still have an aunt, though distantly related, in the city of Qing Shui[1], in Lu Long[2] Prefecture. That city’s quite near to the frontier fortress, so I can take you there to your aunt.” Shi Mu answered, obviously already harbouring this idea for long.

    “Brother Shi, can I just stay with you, not going anywhere? If you are going to a new place, I suppose you want a maid to cook for you.” Hearing Shi Mu’s offer, Zhong Xiu lowered her head slightly, and braced herself to say so after a long while. Her voice was almost inaudible.

    “Miss Zhong, you know, the frontier fortress is adjacent to the plain of the barbarous tribes. Wars happen frequently there. Although I did not consent to Uncle Zhong’s last request, it’s the least I can do to make sure your safety. How can I take you to that dangerous places? Also, I’m going there for the single purpose of joining in the Jun Wu Hall, you know it’s a place for military training, right? So probably they will offer me food and a room, and won’t let me go out. It’s highly likely that I can’t live as I will, out of the Hall.” Shi Mu turned her down, shaking his head. This time, he was too slow to sense the girl’s secret affections for him.

    The girl’s face went pale at the answer. After a long while she lifted up her head again, and answered, biting her lips,

    “If Brother Shi really can’t take me in then I’d better go and live with my aunt.”

    “Good. Since you’ve decided, then make some preparations during the next few days, so that we can set off together.” The girl’s decision satisfised Shi Mu.

    But just as Shi Mu was ready to leave Feng City in a few days, an unexpected event happened the next morning, disrupting his plan completely.

    ......

    “What? You mean some guys are riding horses on our fields and treading our crops? Who dare to do such a thing?” Shi Mu frowned as Zhang Suo hurriedly reported to him.

    “I can’t identify the others, but at least I know the leader. He’s definitely Tian shaoye, the son of the fifth master of the Jin family. I’ve met him once so I can’t be mistaken. Shi shaoye, what are we to do now? We’ve sold the fields but not officially handed them over to the buyers, so if the fields are ravaged the buyers won’t take them!” Zhang Suo asked, burning with a frenzy of rage.

    “Tian shaoye? You mean Jin Tian? Well, I’ll have a look then.” Only after a brief thought Shi Mu understood perfectly who should this “Tian shaoye” be. His eyes grew cold and fierce immediately.

    If the fifth master had not persuaded the eldest leader of the Jins to take Shi Mu’s Qi Ling pill back and give it to Jin Tian, Shi Mu may not necessarily have to leave the city now.

    Although he had always been sedate and calm, the moment he hear Jin Tian’s name he became swollen with indignation. So he went directly out of the manor, making his way to the large patches of fields not far from it.

    After a short while he reached the edge of a certain field. In the middle several glamorously dressed youths were chasing a fox on their big horses. The fox was rather small, and jumping nimbly among the crops all the time. Due to this, although there are many of them and they kept shouting and laughing, making a loud noise, the youths still could not catch it.

    Seeing the crops that had been trodden badly by the fox and chasing horses, Shi Mu’s face was as cold as stone.

    “Shi shaoye, that man is Jin Tian.” Zhang Suo had now finally caught up with Shi Mu. Pointing to a blue-robed young man with a flat nose, he told Shi Mu while gasping for breath.

    Hearing this Shi Mu cast a cold glance at the youth, and strode over the field to him. Just then the fox turned about abruptly with the several youths following it at a high speed. Their leader was exactly the blue-robed young man, who alone showed no attention to Shi Mu’s presence while his fellows all slowed down their horses as soon as they saw Shi Mu. Jin Tian gave his horse some heavy whips and rushed at Shi Mu fiercely.

    “Stop it, Jin Tian.”

    “Do you know what are you doing?”

    Astonished, his fellow men all shouted out warnings trying to stop him, while Jin Tian himself rushed on as though nothing had come into his ears.

    Seeing this Shi Mu narrowed his eyes and lifted one leg abruptly, kicking away the fox. He then moved his shoulders to evade the oncoming horse, turned around and pounded heavily on the horse’s body.

    “Boom!”

    The blue-robed young man was sent flying away with his horse several zhang, then fell hard onto the ground.

    “Ah!”

    His fellow young men shouted at the sight, and hurried to Jin Tian’s side.

    “You bastard, asking for death!”

    Just then the blue-robed young man surprisingly pushed away his horse that had pressed on his body, and jumped up quickly. Back to his feet, he seemed uninjured; only his shirt was torn open at his chest and some golden things could be seen beneath it.

    “How scary! So Jin Tian is unharmed!”

    “This is Auntie Seven’s step son? He’s got such a big strength!”

    “I heard that he used to be the top practitioner of our city, but he seems rather ordinary.”

    “Well, Jin Tian is wearing the Golden Armour!”

    “Why, Uncle Five sees the armour as his own life! We can’t even touch it.”

    These whispering young men, who sighed a sigh of relief after making sure Jin Tian’s safety, were apparently all the Jin’s boys. One after another they held their horses and stood watching.

    “You bastard dare to challenge me, I’ll kill you!”

    Ignoring his companions’ reactions, Jin Tian tore off his shirt crazily; a glittering golden armour was seen beneath. At the same time he drew his sword from his waist with a clang.

    Hearing the curse and seeing the reflected cold light of the sword, Shi Mu narrowed his eyes with no word.

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    Chapter 31 - The Tube of Wind and Fire

    “What? Jin Tian is not joking! “

    “He’s wearing the Golden Armour! Unless he fights a HouTian warrior, he definitely wins!”

    “Hehe, haven’t you seen his real intention? He brought us here for hunting, and deliberately drove that fox here, to this filed!”

    “I’ve seen it already. Just saved his face not revealing it. See, he’s so angry with Shi Mu.”

    These young men were still whispering, gloating over the explosive situation, caring not a bit if the two would really fight each other.

    Then an air-piercing noise resounded.

    Jin Tian was now wielding his sword, rushing directly at Shi Mu’s direction. He attempted two successive cuts at Shi Mu’s head, and the two traces of the cuts separated surprisingly midway in the air, blurring people’s vision. The cuts came so abruptly that few can tell their traces.

    “Wow, not bad! Jin Tian’s Shadow-Separating Sword has progressed so far!” One young man remarked when seeing this technique, and the other onlookers also showed expressions of amazement.

    “Peng!”

    Shi Mu showed no intention of dodging, and only moved one arm, his face expressionless. He ignored the cut coming from the right, but punched directly to the left one, which turned about to be the real sword and the other merely a shadow. Whiz! The sword was hit out of its owner’s hand, sent flying up into the air before it fell into a nearby field, inserted askew into the earth.

    Jin Tian was shocked into a loud cry, and was forced to stumble backward a step. The part of his hand between the thumb and the index finger was mutilated, blood gushing out from the wounds.

    Just then, Shi Mu left no time for his opponent to rest, and in a flash, he shoot out his body like an arrow and rushed to the youth’s front. Swinging his big hands he slapped twice in his opponent’s face, fierce and merciless. With his current cultivation, even if he had not used all his strengths, the slaps were powerful enough to beat Jin Tian like spinning a top. Jin Tian stumbled and revolved twice before he heavily fell on the ground.

    Now the blue-robed young man’s face had swelled up, his eyes vacant; obviously he was still in the dark as to what had happened in so short a time.

    However, Shi Mu had already returned to his earlier spot in a flash, looking at his beaten opponent with cold eyes, his arms folded.

    The Jin boys, who had been laughing merrily and discussing the situation, all shut up, flustered.

    “No way, how could he break the Shadow-Separating Sword?”

    “Maybe it’s just a lucky guess!”

    Until now Jin Tian finally came to himself: he saw what had happened to make him fall prone on the ground. Therefore his eyes were immediately filled with a frenzy of rage, red with burning blood. He climbed out of the ground suddenly, and nearly flew to his sword. Pulling it out from the earth and letting out a shriek, he rushed again in Shi Mu’s direction, wielding his sword wildly. This time he totally forgot his sword art, only wielding it at random like a lunatic.

    Seeing this Shi Mu snorted, and again came to confront the sword empty-handed. His figure flashed to evade the sword without any difficulty, and the next moment, he grasped the sword with only one hand at a lightning speed, taking it directly from its owner’s hand.

    Jin Tian was more than startled. His threatening fierceness receded immediately, and his body was shot backward subconsciously. However, Shi Mu did not move an inch; meanwhile, his two hands that were holding the sword’s handle and front edge respectively exerted a big strength.

    Crack!

    The glaring sword was now broken into two pieces.

    Shi Mu shook his wrist and the two pieces whizzed out like two glaring lights. Jin Tian felt a coldness beside his either ear, and the two pieces almost passed rubbing his cheeks. Immediately then they fell onto the ground, inserted askew into the earth, while two narrow wounds began to exude trickles of blood on Jin Tian’s face.

    The onlooking Jin fellows were all caught unguarded by this sudden development; the blue-robed young man, however, burst into wild laughter after reasling what had happened: he wiped the blood trickling down his deathly pale face, and then lowered his head to look at the injuries. Laughing, he questioned Shi Mu proudly, “Do you really dare to kill me? You are merely bluffing! Then why should I fear you!” After saying so, Jin Tian fumbled in his shirt and took out a tube as big as his palm, its whole body glittering a golden colour belonging particularly to metals. There was a black hole the size of a thumb at the front tip of the tube.

    “Jin Tian, have you lost your mind? Stolen the Tube of Wind and Fire from the manor!”

    “How should you dare to do such a thing! That’s against our clan’s rule, don’t you involve us in this matter.”
    “If the eldest leader ever knows this you’ll end up with broken legs. No, even more serious than that!”

    The Jin fellows are all frightened and changed their colour once they saw the tube. Some shouted warning, some persuaded Jin Tian with mustered courage, while others all whipped their horse back. It seemed as though the tube in Jin Tian’s hand was more terrifying than monsters and vipers.

    “Humph! If only I can have myself avenged I don’t care a bit about the punishment! Place me in confinement for three years, five years! I just don’t care!” Jin Tian gritted his teeth and cursed viciously; his cheeks had now swelled up, and were also bleeding all this time.

    Just as he finished his swear, he pointed the tube right at the apposite.

    Though unclear of the power of this tube, Shi Mu had gauged it to some extent and prepared himself, seeing the Jin fellows’ twisted faces. So he had no intentions of confronting its attack with empty hands, and rolled over the ground to dodge it once the blue-robed youth pointed the tube at himself. He rolled behind the big horse that had been pounded down by him earlier.

    “You bastard, go to hell!” Jin Tian cried in a crazy voice, and then pushed a certain button at the end of the tube.

    Something puffed out of the tube: a blackish bullet, which rushing in Shi Mu’s direction at a lightning speed.

    “Goodness!”

    “He did it!”

    “Get off the horse!”

    Seeing this the Jin fellows were frightened out of their wits, and jumped down from their horses rapidly to lie prone on the ground. Each pressed their bodies closely to the ground, daring not to move a bit.

    “Out!”

    Just then Shi Mu did not flee at all; on the contrary, he let out a shout loudly and grasped the two forelegs of the horse. With another exertion of his strength, he threw the huge creature out in the direction of the black bullet. At the same time, he stomped hard onto the ground, nearly getting stuck in the mud for several chi. A small pit was formed.

    Boom! A thunderous noise resounded, almost shaking the heaven and earth.

    The black bullet hit the horse at a distance of two zhang, and the horse turned immediately into a ball of exploding blaze, while masses of clouds rolled wildly to every direction with scorching air, covering almost the surrounding area within three zhang. The clouds did not lift only after a good two minutes.

    “Peng!”

    The body of the horse thudded down onto the ground; half of it already burnt, and the other half had become a blackish coke-like thing.

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    Chapter 32 - Manslaughter

    “Bastard, you are dead meat now.” Jin Tian glanced at the spot where Shi Mu had been. Seeing that not a soul was there Jin Tian burst into wild laughter triumphantly.

    But just at this moment, a black shadow whizzed out of the pit where Shi Mu had sunk into, and only after a flash the figure was already close to the blue-robed man.

    “Ah!”

    Jin Tian was startled, but it was too late for him to flee. The figure let out a low shout, and pounded heavily on Jin Tian’s stomach. Although wearing the Golden Armour which could reduce the attack’s power to some extent, Jin Tian still felt a horrible force creeping through his armour. After uttering a terrified cry, he knelt down to the ground with his hands pressing his stomach tightly.

    The shadow was no doubt Shi Mu, who had just had a narrow escape from death. When the bullet exploded, he huddled himself up in the pit which was formed when he stomped hard onto the ground to throw the horse away. If he had not reacted so quickly he would have shared the same fate with the horse. Therefore, Shi Mu was also in a fright after his lucky escape, which made him too irate to to have any more scruples as he strode to Jin Tian’s side and lifted his body with only a hand. With the other hand Shi Mu slapped the blue-robed young man’s face mercilessly.

    Pa!Pa! In a moment Jin Tian’s head swelled to the size of a pig’s, and his eyes were pressed into two narrow slots, hardly able to be opened any wider.

    “Stop it!”

    “Do you mean to kill him, Shi Mu?”

    ......

    The other Jin fellows who had been lying on the ground did not come to themselves till now. They shouted loudly to ask Shi Mu to stop, and two of them even walked up to him directly, attempting to stop Shi Mu from beating Jin Tian any further.

    Hearing this Shi Mu’s face grew sullen. He though of Auntie Zhen and Shi Yu Huan, and then snorted and released his hand that had been holding Jian Tian’s shirt.

    But just as Shi Mu decided to let him off, a trace of maliciousness flashed across Jin Tian’s eyes. Immediately Jin Tian lifted his arm and one silver arrow was shot unexpected from his sleeve, rushing directly at Shi Mu. Within such a small distance it was impossible for Shi Mu to evade the attack, however quickly he moved. Shi Mu could only twisted his body, his expression changed, in order to prevent the arrow from hitting his heart.

    “Peng!” A loud noise was heard.

    The silver arrow hit rapidly at Shi Mu’s chest in a blink of an eye, but unexpectedly it rebounded after knocking against something metal and making a clang. This surprised both Shi Mu and Jin Tian, but the former still managed to calm himself and made the next move: lifting his leg he kicked heavily at Jin Tian. This time, stimulated by rage, he used all his strengths. Even though the Golden Armour could reduce some of the force, Jin Tian was still instantly kicked away, and then fell down before a ball of blood was puffed out from his mouth.

    “I must kill him, I must kill him, by all means!” The blue-robed young man thought to himself, while he was kicked into midair and aching all over his body. His swollen face was twisted in anguish. But just as he was to thud down onto the ground, he heard his companions crying,

    “No!!!”

    “Don’t! Try to escape from there!”

    The blue-robed young man could see his companions’ frightened expressions, and the two who had had made their way to him was now striding to approach him, as if trying to catch him in the air.

    “That’s strange. Since when I’ve got so many friends that care about me so much?”

    But that was too late, before he could come up with an answer his body had already thudded onto the ground, and a coldness penetrated his neck: a half piece of a sword had now run through his throat, making his eyes wide open. He made some groans with blood froth at his mouth, and then his body twitched wildly for several times before he lost consciousness forever.

    The two rushing youths halted at the sight. Watching the mud-covered body and the half piece of sword that had penetrated Jin Tian’s neck, their faces were full of fear.

    Shi Mu himself was also at a loss seeing Jin Tian’s end. It turned out that the half piece of the sword was inserted askew into the ground when Shi Mu broke the original sword, and it was just at the spot where Jin Tian fell down to, so Jin Tian’s death was doomed. It could only be his bad luck: if he had met the half piece by any other part of his body, however seriously injured he would not be dead now.

    “You just killed Jin Tian!”

    “Uncle Five and our Jins will never let you off!”

    “We are no match for that brutal bastard! Get back to our manor and report our people!”
    The Jin fellows who had been watching were now frightened out of their wits, their feet frozen to the ground. Gaping at each other, they only came to themselves when one of them shouted out. Then some instantly drew their weapons, while some got on their horses, rushing immediately in the direction of Feng City. Seeing the fleeing companions, those who had attempted a revenge were now fully enlightened that they were no match for Shi Mu who was now standing in front of them with murderous eyes. To challenge Shi Mu with their bodies that had been spoiled by long comfortable life equals bringing sheep to a wolf. So they immediately abandoned the attempt, hurried onto their horses and fled to their city.

    Shi Mu was now aware of what he had done too. Seeing the fleeing Jin fellows, his face suddenly grew sombre, but he did not want to chase them. He was quite clear that even though Jin Tian was not killed by him directly, the leaders of the Jins would never think this way, especially for the fifth master, who probably would avenge his son’s death by taking Shi Mu’s life. By then however hard Auntie Zhen pleaded for him, it would be a sealed case.

    Shi Mu would never be willing to die this way, letting others decide his fate.

    Thinking this he was uneasy too. It seemed that now he had to leave Feng City, or even Quan Zhou for his own safety as soon as possible. Casting a glance at Zhang Suo who had been frightened out of his wits, Shi Mu left for the manor with no word.

    He was clear that from now on he had became an escapee.

    But an idea dawned on him just as he turned to leave, so he went back abruptly for Jin Tian’s body.

    ......

    Half a day later.

    “What? Are you serious, Big Brother? My Tian Er is dead, killed by Shi Mu? Absolutely impossible!” In the main hall of the Jin manor, the fifth master was now gaping at his brother, not believing a single word of what he had said.

    By then, apart from eight Jin leaders, the other five Jin boys who had witnessed Jin Tian’s death were also gathered at the hall. But now clustering around the Jin leaders, all of them were holding their breaths with pale faces.

    “Bring Tian Er’s body.” The big leader sighed and waved to the servants at his side.

    Instantly, a body covered by white cloth was carried to the hall by two servants who set the body at the middle of the hall.

    At the sight the fifth master began to tremble uncontrollably, daring not to lift the cloth.


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    Chapter 33 - Desperado

    “Is...is this really my Tian Er?” The fifth master turned about abruptly, asking the big leader in a diffident voice.

    “Brother Five, shall I joke with you at such a moment? These boys have seen how Tian Er was killed.” The big leader said slowly.

    Hearing the answer the fifth master was now finally convinced of the misfortune, his face ghastly pale. Turning around, he lifted the cloth with a sway of his foot.

    Pff! The cloth was thrown off in a gust of wind, revealing Jin Tian’s twisted body which looked like a ferocious ghost beneath the cloth. Strangely, the Golden Armour that Jin Tian was supposed to be wearing had now disappeared.

    “Tian Er!”

    Once the fifth master saw Jin Tian’s highly swollen face and pierced throat, he let out a desperate shout, clenching his fists.

    “Brother Five, I know you are devastated. I’ve heard everything from the boys. Jin Wu, tell what happened exactly to your uncle.” The big leader could only let out a sigh and made his order to a young man who seemed to be the eldest among the boys that were standing motionless beside them.

    “Yes, Big Uncle. Uncle Five, it went as this: Brother Tian asked us to go hunting in the suburbs this morning...” The speaking young man was very flustered when asked to relate the event to his bereft uncle, but facing the freezing eyes of the fifth master and the big leader, he could only recount the story again, in great detail.

    During the whole process the fifth master was expressionless, his eyes vacant and only changing slightly when he heard that Jin Tian had stolen the Golden Armour from his manor, and even the Tube of Wind and Fire.

    “Brother, now I’ve learned the entire story. How are you gonna deal with it?” After taking a deep breath the fifth master asked without a trace of sadness.

    “That’s quite difficult to decide. You know, it’s Tian Er who provoked the thing, moreover, he even stole the tube...” The big leader knit his eyebrows and said slowly.

    “I don’t care what Tian Er had done before he was killed, I only know that I’ve lost my only son, your blood nephew! I shall cut Shi Mu the bastard to pieces so that my poor child can rest in peace. Should you not promise me to help take the revenge, I won’t recognise you as my big brother any more!” The fifth master shouted at the big leader, desperate and harsh.
    “Brother Five, have you lost your mind? Mind your tone when speaking to Big Brother!”

    “Brother Five, we all know you are in grief now, but we Jins is a big clan, we can’t afford to lose our manners in whatever situation.”

    ......

    Other Jin leaders all tried to dissuade the fifth master seeing the sudden development.

    “Humph! You’re all so good at talking, ‘cause it’s not your son that’s killed! I know you have scruples, for Shi Mu the bastard is Sister Seven’s step son. But I don’t care who the murderer is, if you guys don’t help, I’ll do it myself.” The fifth master stared defiantly at them, completely ready to risk everything.

    Seeing the fifth master’s malicious look, the big leader’s face fell. But just as he opened his mouth and was to say something, an authoritative, old voice resounded in the hall,

    “Well, little Five, if I stop you from doing anything, are you going to disown your father?”

    “Father!”

    “Grandfather!”

    “Eldest Leader!”

    The Jins in the hall all blanched with awe once hearing the voice, which belonged exactly to the guardian of the Jins, the accomplished HouTian warrior in their family.

    The fifth master had now changed to an awe-stricken face, hurriedly answering, “Father, how could I have such a rebellious thought? It’s only that Tian Er had such a miserable death, as his father, how could I save my face before our family if I don’t take revenge for my own son’s murder? What’s more, the other big clans in the city will also laugh at our weakness.”

    “Humph! It’s none other than you who have caused Tian Er’s death! If you had not spoiled him to such an extent, how could he have dared to provoke the fight, which cost his life?” The elder man snorted disapprovingly, in a voice that was not angry but full of authoritativeness.

    “Father, I know I’m doing wrong, but please father, could you allow me to fulfill my wish, let me take the revenge? After that I won’t say a word however hard you punish me.” The fifth master knelt to the ground, and made two loud koutow to his father, pleading with a husky voice, his forehead swollen high.

    “Hehe, as long as you’ll repent truly for your folly. But just as what you’ve said, however wrong could he have been, Jin Tian is still the Jin’s child, if we just let the killer off in this way, how will the other clans view us later? Their big brother, send some men to go with Five, and don’t let Shi Mu see tomorrow’s sun. As for his stepmother, my daughter Seven, I’ll deal with her and confine her to the manor in the next few days.” After pondering for a long time in silence, the eldest master finally made up his mind.

    “Yes, father.”

    The big leader promised obediently.

    Then the eldest master said no more.

    Seeing this the others only dared to stand up now, one after another.

    “Since it’s father’s order, Brother Five, name whoever you want.” The big leader thought briefly before he asked the fifth master with a pleasant smile on his face.

    “Big Brother, I don’t need any other man except the Blood Hunters and the Blue Hawk that are good at tracking.” The fifth master answered without thinking.

    “That’s proper indeed, for a mere practitioner we don’t need any HouTian warriors. Then I’ll lend you the hunters and the hawk.” The big leader nodded his head and promised without hesitation.

    “Great! Guess the bastard have fled for at most half a day. I’ll set off right now and shall take his life in two or three days.” Quite pleased at the answer, the fifth master swore, his face twisted in malice.

    ......

    At the same time, ten miles away from the city, on a road that belonged to the court, Shi Mu was driving two black horses and a grey carriage, rushing wildly to the distance, leaving heavy dust along their trails. The Dagger of Sun and Moon was at his waist, and the purple steel bow as well as the pack of arrows was on his shoulder. A trace of anxiety could be detected on his face.

    “Brother Shi, actually you don’t need to take me with you. You’ll have a bigger chance if you flee by yourself.” A melodious voice came from the carriage before the curtain was drawn open, revealing Zhong Xiu’s upset face.

    “Don’t ever think that, if I leave you alone in the city, even if the Wus don’t harm you, the Jins will also vent their anger on you.” Not turning his head, Shi Mu answered in a decided voice.

    “Even so you can still drop me down midway. I can manage to hide at someplace.” After thinking for a while Zhong Xiu offered her suggestion diffidently.

    “Don’t undervalue the Jins. As long as you’re within the region of Quan Zhou, you’ll never find a safe place. Even if I’m really dropping you down that should be at some place outside Quan Zhou.” Shi Mu answered with a bitter smile.

    “That’s true. But do you have any ideas now? If we continue running on this official road we’ll be discovered by the Jins sooner or later.” Zhong Xiu said with a soft sigh.

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    Chapter 34 - The Horse of Blue Wind

    “Following this official road westwards for another two hundred miles, we’ll reach the well-known YunXia[1] mountains. The ridges stretch for over a thousand miles, traversing the two prefectures of Quan Zhou and Yun Zhou. That’s why once we enter the region of the mountains we’ll be much safer.” Shi Mu answered readily, obviously having already made the plan beforehand.

    “The YunXia mountains? That’s no doubt a good hiding place. But it’s still a long way there, can we make it? Will the Jins catch us on the way? After all, the big clans all have special tracking horses, I’ve heard. They’ll definitely beat our ordinary ones.” Zhong Xiu was enlightened by Shi Mu’s idea, and answered blinking her eyes.

    “That’s beyond our power. But we left immediately after the event, so we should have outstripped them for, say, at least half a day’s journey. But can we make it or not eventually I’m not sure myself, we could only try our best. Miss Zhong, be careful, I’m gonna quicken the horses now, hope they can run to the last moment of the hundred miles’ journey.” Shi Mu said in a serious tone.

    Hearing this, however worried she might still be, Zhong Xiu could only drew the curtains and sit back in the carriage. Shi Mu did not waste any time whipping up the two heavy horses fiercely, at which the two black horses galloped on at a even higher speed after letting out a sharp neigh. It was before long when the grey carriage finally became a black spot, disappearing into the distance.

    ......

    At the same time, a carriage covered entirely by black cloth was coming from downtown toward the west gate of Feng City. The three horses carrying the carriage looked rather strange, their bodies totally red with bushy horsehair like massive blazes. But they are exactly the well-known tracking horses called the Blaze-Tracking Horse, which could both serve as a riding horse - covering a thousand mile a day - and a fighter, who would spout fires from its mouth once stirred.

    The cart driver was a blue-robed man sitting at the front of the carriage, wielding a shiny black whip. Three riders on the same strange type of horses were following behind the carriage, and one of them was none other than the fifth master of the Jin clan. He had short beard and was wearing a grief-stricken look on his long face. One of the other two riders was wearing yellow cotton robe and sitting on the horse like a giant monkey, his ears sticking out and his cheek like an ape. The last one had unusually great stature. In a silver long robe, his eyes were bright and piercing. The three riders and the carriage all went at a gallop, as if in a great hurry, passing the west gate nonstop.

    But now and then, the monkey man would jump down and try to identify some fresh trails on the road, before he mounted the horse and galloped forward again.

    ......

    “The fifth master of the Jins has set off with the dog and the hawk! Good, then we shall depart immediately from the north gate. We’ll take a detour and catch up with Shi Mu earlier than them. Although the dog and the hawk are good at tracking, how can they beat our Qian Li Xiang[2]? We’ve already scattered some of the tracking incense in Shi Mu’s cart.” At some place near the north gate, a group of ten riders were already arranged there waiting, and the leader man in embroidered dress laughed as he heard the report from a servant.

    “Uncle Three, if we can really catch Shi Mu before the Jins, do let me break his legs myself.” A proud youth in the group said ambitiously, ready to break Shi Mu’s legs.

    This group was exactly the Wu’s men. The leader was the third master of their family, Wu Tong; the proud youth was Wu Hua, who was previously engaged to Zhong Xiu.

    It was quite a coincidence: The Wus had had planned to kidnap Zhong Xiu after the enrollment test, so they had been keeping watch on Shi Mu’s manor, and naturally got the first news that Jin Tian was killed by Shi Mu in an accident. Therefore, the Wus were now fully relieved: they had had been holding some fear of Shi Mu who was remotely related to the Jins. Now the tracking group was formed immediately to snatch Zhong Xiu before the Jins.

    The leader was the third master of the Wu family; but as for Wu Hua’s participation, it was of course his own will. The Wu riders were all riding peculiar horses too, each with blue shiny hair, as if covered faintly by a layer of blue shimmering, and this type of horse was exactly another famous tracking type, the Hose of Blue Wind. It was said that this peculiar type of horse had some blood relation with the Fox of Wind, so they could produce gusts of wind once they’d reach a certain high speed. So they were no doubt one of the quickest type. And that was why the Wus had so much assurance in outstripping the Jins.

    After a short while, the Wu riders also poured out from the north gate and took a detour, which sent them before the Jins shortly afterwards in the direction of Shi Mu’s carriage.

    At this time, other big clans and gangs had also got the news of the accidental kill of Jin Tian by Shi Mu, which, though surprised many, was soon forgotten among ceaseless discussions of the enrollment test.

    ......

    Half a day later.

    The day had grown dark, but the grey carriage was still galloping on the official road, only at a lower speed.

    Small hilltops began to show along the road, but they seemed rather indistinct in the dusk, quiet in an unusual way.

    Shi Mu was whipping the horses all the time, his face sullen. But the two horses were at their limits: they only snorted hot air while their speed was no longer to be lifted.

    “Brother Shi, don’t do this, it won’t work anyway. The horses must be extremely tired after running continuously for so long. They must stop and rest.” Zhong Xiu’s voice came from the carriage.

    “Of course I know, but every moment of delay may send us to the pursuers’ hands.” Shi Mu answered with a bitter smile.

    “But it won’t help if you whip them to death. Let’s take some rest and go on after feed them something.” Zhong Xiu urged on.

    “That sounds fair enough. They are at their limits after all. Let’s rest for half a quarter at that tree and we’ll eat something too.” Giving the two sweating horses a quick glance, Shi Mu had to nod his agreement.

    Then he pulled at the rein and let the two horses turn their heads. They rushed off the road for a nearby woods directly.

    But obviously, they both had undervalued the actual strength of the peculiar horse of the Wus.

    As they neared the woods, Shi Mu unleashed the rein and helped Zhong Xiu get off the carriage. But suddenly they heard galloping sounds coming from the official road like torrential rain, as well as some faintly heard wild laughter.

    “Haha! The Fragrance-Sensing Worms are now reacting! Then they must be quite near!”

    “Mind you, wait for me after capturing Shi Mu. I’ll do it myself.”

    This group of pursuers came at such a great speed that scarcely had they finished their talk than Shi Mu found them much nearer now.

    “Move, they’ve come!” Hearing the voice, Shi Mu knew what happened immediately. He shouted at Zhong Xiu and got her at her waist, running into the woods at his top speed.

    The pursuers were none other than the Wu riders. They’ve caught up with Shi Mu in merely half a day with their Horses of Blue Wind, which ranked a level higher than the Jin’s Blaze-Tracking ones, as well as with the aid of the fragrance of Qian Li Xiang.


    Notes:

    [1] YunXia: It is a beautiful name for the mountains. “Yun” means clouds and “Xia” means morning or evening glow.
    [2] Qian Li Xiang: The author does not specify here, but it is highly likely to be a kind of powder with strong fragrance that can be detected by a special worm named Fragrance-Sensing Worm. So the powder is immensely useful in tracking, which will be mentioned later in this chapter. “Qian Li” means a thousand mile, indicating the strong fragrance that can be smelled even from a thousand mile’s distance, “Xiang” means fragrance.


    More Chap

    http://www.xianxiaworld.net/The-Portal-of-Wonderland/

  19. #39
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    Chapter 35 - Hunt in the Woods

    It did not take the Wu riders much time to rush into the woods. A middle-aged man with triangle eyes were taking the lead; in his hand was a wooden case which contained a pink beetle that looked like a longicorn. It was flapping its wings incessantly while buzzing weakly.

    “Just as we’ve expected, they had fled here.” A fortyish man in glamorous clothes stepped forward, and snorted sardonically after glancing at the deserted carriage and the two black horse.

    This was none other than the third master of the Wus, Wu Tong.

    “Then why are we waiting here? Move! Hunt them! We can’t let them off!” The proud youth at the third master’s back was overjoyed to find Shi Mu’s trace.

    “Hehe, no worries. They’ve stayed so long in the cart, so the ordour of Qian Li Xiang must have been left on their clothes, and won’t die away in a whole night. Can’t we catch a mere practitioner in a night? You two, stay watch the horses with Hua Er, and the others are all going with me.” Wu Tong grinned complacently, and made the order to his men. Hearing this, two practitioners bowed obediently before they stepped back to the horse, while the others all drew their weapons and followed the man with wooden case closely into the woods. Although they were only practitioners, all had remarkable skills and moved agilely in darkness. Wu Tong only wandered into the woods after a few more warning words with the proud youth.

    ......

    One hour later, deep in the woods.

    Shi Mu was still running rapidly with the girl in his arms. His shirt had long been tattered by branches, which even left dense bleeding wounds on his arms and legs. But Shi Mu was not worried by this at all; on the contrary, he was still trying with all effort to avoid the pursuers as if he felt no pain. Each time he had run some distance he would turn abruptly to another direction, making his routes as complex as possible.

    Meanwhile, the girl curled up in Shi Mu’s arms with her arms around his neck, mute with faint blush. The dim starlight threw a hazy gauze over them and produced a strange, irresistible sensation. Along with the girl’s soft body and the stirring faint fragrance of it, a strong temptation floated in the air.

    But Shi Mu was left with no time savouring the beauty in his arms. Pursued by enemies, he could only rely on his superhuman eyesight to look for some good places to hide in as his body moved like a leopard through the trees.

    Suddenly, he darted to a big tree and hid behind it, trying to hear something after taking a deep breath, titling his head. Zhong Xiu lifted her beautiful face, her liquid eyes gleaming with affection. For some time she seemed to have lost herself, only fixing her eyes upon Shi Mu’s grave face.

    Unfortunately, a short while later, noisy footsteps were heard from behind mixed with some low curses. Shi Mu’s colour changed; without a word he turned about abruptly and once again ran at his top speed with the girl in his arms.

    “Just as I thought, they must have some peculiar ways to track us, otherwise how could they still find us after we’ve changed our routes so many times? Brother Shi, please drop me down and flee by yourself. I’m only a burden to you, without me you’ll get a bigger chance.” Hearing the approaching footsteps Zhong Xiu eventually came to herself, suggesting in a low voice.

    “Miss Zhong, drop the topic from now on. I’m no hero, but I’ll never drop down a woman or a child when bad guys are just behind. Also, Uncle Zhong asked me to take care of you at his last minute. “ Shi Mu answered without hesitation.

    “But still...”

    “What’s all that “buts” for? With my strength and stamina you are no burden at all, I can still run a whole night. So I’m just wondering if the pursuers can beat my strength.” Unexpectedly, Shi Mu said in a rather calm voice.

    “I see, I won’t bring up the topic again. At worst I’ll die with Brother Shi.” Hearing Shi Mu’s heroic proclamation, the girl’s beautiful eyes glittered. She answered in the softest voice, and the arms around Shi Mu’s neck held even faster.

    But Shi Mu could not afford to abandon himself in those gentle moving words. He only kept running, and stopped suddenly when he noticed something: the trees grew thinner ahead, and large patches of open fields could be seen vaguely. It turned out that they’ve come to the end of the forest after this wild running.

    It’s too late to take another route now. Seeing this desperate situation, Zhong Xiu was surprisingly calm, and not an iota of fear was in her heart.

    “It seems I still have to fight them. Miss Zhong, please hold me as fast as you can.” Shi Mu told the girl with a sombre face.

    “Yes.” The girl answered with a moving nasal sound.

    Shi Mu then darted to a big tree and moved his arms like an agile ape. In a moment he was already on a branch about four zhang high from the ground. Dropping the girl on the branch, he told her to hold fast to it, and then said in earnest, “Wait me here. I’ll come for you if I can kill the enemies.”

    Just as he finished the words, he whizzed down from the tree straightly, turned his body and rushed back to the thick forest.

    Zhong Xiu could only stare in the direction where Shi Mu had just disappeared in darkness, leaning against the branch. Her anxious face was now quite pale, making the blue birthmark on her forehead indistinct, producing a gentleness that was beyond description.

    ......

    After he had made some distance back in the woods, Shi Mu narrowed his eyes and abruptly knelt down, hiding himself behind a thick bush. Raising his arm he grasped the purple steel bow over his shoulder, while some ten black silhouettes were running to his spot several hundred zhang ahead.

    It was the last thing the Wu riders would believe: in such a pitch dark night someone could have seen them clearly in the distance of several hundred zhang. Unaware, the riders were running blindly to this side. But still, after chasing their target for over an hour, most of them were as tattered as Shi Mu, their clothes torn, and some even began to grasp for breaths.

    Seeing this Shi Mu could not help but lament that if only he had not been pursued to the end of the forest, he would have outstripped them after running for a longer distance. With the thought on his mind, he still acted quickly. Taking a long arrow from the pack over his shoulder at a lightning speed, he put the arrow on the bow in the most proficient manner.

    “The Fragrance-Sensing Beetles are again reacting fiercely! They must be quite near now!” After a moment someone shouted out in surprise, at which all the running Wus paused. One of them protested, “Reacting again? The younger Hu, are there something wrong with the beetles? Every time you say we’re near them we could not find a soul around us. How could our fellows keep running like this for a whole night? “

    “Humph, even if we are all mistaken the beetles won’t be. We just missed him because he’s so crafty, and you’re too slow, too! But seeing the beetles I suppose he won’t escape again this time. He’s exhausted. You guys just go and catch him, better finish the task before master Tong comes. Otherwise master Tong will definitely hit the roof after all this running.” The man with triangle eyes replied bluntly, holding the case in his hand.


    More Chap

    http://www.xianxiaworld.net/The-Portal-of-Wonderland/

  20. #40
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    Chapter 36 - A Strong Bow Equals Ten Warriors

    Saying so, the man with triangle eyes convinced his fellow men who split into pairs after hearing a signaling shout. Moving cautiously, they started searching for Shi Mu.

    The distance between them made their dialogue inaudible to Shi Mu, but judging from the way the triangle-eyed man dressed, the wooden case in his hand which seemed rather important, and from his manners when speaking, Shi Mu gauged that he must be sort of a leader. Hence Shi Mu decided to make the man his primal target, his eyes alight with a murderous glint. Besides, Shi Mu could also tell that the pursuers were all mere practitioners; there were no HouTian warriors among them, which made him more assured of his chance.

    Thinking this, Shi Mu grasped suddenly at the arrows in his pack, and pulled out a handful of them, inserting each into the ground in front of him. After taking a deep breath, a fit of creak and crack burst forth from his body; in an instant both his arms grew twofold stronger! He gave a sudden pull at the purple steel bow, and the bow was instantly pulled wide open as a full moon, aiming straight at the front.

    Meanwhile, it was natural for the cracking sounds in his body to travel far in the quiet of the deep forest.

    “What’s that?”

    “Who’s out there?”

    “Blockhead! That’s definitely Shi Mu! Move, don’t let the bastard flee this time.”

    .....

    After a shock, the Wu riders were highly delightedly to realise that Shi Mu must be quite near, so they all began to rush to the direction of the sounds except the triangle-eyed man. A trace of crafty smile crept upon his face. He was sure that since Shi Mu had exposed his whereabouts, only the gods could help him this time.

    But just as he was to close the lid of the wooden case, an ear-deafening noise exploded in the distance, bringing about a gust of gale which blew dust around him. The next moment, feeling his throat cold, the triangle-eyed man was pushed back by the gust as if banged on a massive thing.

    Boom! He bumped against a tree heavily, which caused its large leaves to fall like torrential rain. That was when the triangle-eyed man was shocked to find himself dangling in midair with a long arrow penetrating his throat, leaving only the feather end out to be seen.

    So now the triangle-eyed man was nailed to the big tree by the arrow through his throat!

    “Ah...” After some groans and vain struggling of his legs, he was completely strengthless in a short time. And just before he took the last breath of his life, he vaguely saw his fellow companions shot one after another with roaring sounds, their bodies darting backward.

    “That’s fine, I’m not alone in the other world...”

    Peng! The wooden case thudded down to the ground and the lid was thrown open. Immediately the beetles flapped their wings, and out they were freed, disappearing into the grass after some flashes.

    ......

    “Go hide! The arrows are so fast that we can’t escape! The Stone Zhao and the Big Kong are all shot dead!”

    “No way, they’re too fast, just can’t escape! The trees! Back to the trees! Ah...”

    “Shit! He’s using the hard arrow of Three Stones, which can even penetrate stones and trees! There’s no use hiding behind the trees! Dog Sun and Wild Li just died there! What should we do?”

    “You fool! Just lie on the ground!”

    The Wu riders that were rushing vehemently at Shi Mu when the thunderous noises exploded had now been overwhelmed by panic, all lying prone on the ground and not daring to move a finger. But Shi Mu was quite at ease. Picking up the next arrow, he aimed at a spot a hundred zhang in the distance after pulled the bow wide open again, his eyes narrowed. Could there be another youth who was able to retain his equanimity in such a life-and-death situation like Shi Mu?

    “The younger Hu is shot dead too! Who saw the coming direction of the last arrow? We can’t hide until making sure where he is.” Another surviving Wu rider asked in fright, at the verge of a breakdown.

    “Brother Li, the arrows are so fast, I only caught a slim shadow coming from right ahead.” Answered another lucky survivor.

    “Good, I can save us as long as I know the location.” The so-called Brother Li fumbled at his back, and as the wind came again, he produced a thick round leather shield in his hand. After a roll on the ground, his entire body had now shrunk into a size that could be hid by the shield perfectly. Letting out a fierce shout he arched his back and charged at Shi Mu’s spot like a storm.

    “Thank heavens, I just forgot Brother Li’s best skill was the art of shield. We can be saved now!”

    “Prepare yourselves, we’ll charge too once Brother Li has approached Shi Mu. Must kill the bastard as soon as possible.” The survivors all rejoiced at the promising prospect.

    Peng! A dull sound came to their ears, breaking their blissful moment. The rushing Brother Li’s body was blown away five or six zhang with another loud noise before it thudded onto the ground. No sound was heard since then.

    “Goodness! It’s not a bow of Three Stones, but at least Seven Stones! The leather shield wasn’t working! Only a black iron shield can resist the arrows...Ah!” A Wu rider was just raising his head to look at Brother Li’s body with a terrified shout, when he himself was penetrated by an arrow from his forehead, his body rolling for a while at the brutal force. This ghastly scene frightened the others out of their wits, after which they all pressed their bodies as close to the ground as possible without a feeblest attempt to raise their bodies. They could only wonder in their minds how could someone see through the dark forest, in such a distance? And not missing one shoot? Could it be that he was some superhuman archer rarely born in this world?

    As they lay still on the ground with a trembling heart, Shi Mu returned them with the same stillness, which made the Wu riders even more frightened. Finally, one of them could not hold his fear anymore, shouting out, “You bastard, don’t be so proud! You think with a fine bow and some shallow skills you can flee successfully? See what happens to you when Master Tong comes here! He’ll skin you alive to avenge my companions!”

    “Master Tong? So you are not the Jins’ men?”

    Shi Mu only spoke up when hearing the name with surprise.

    “Humph! The Jins have also come, led by the fifth master personally. But we have the Horses of Blue Wind, so we are faster and reached you earlier. You are dead meat this time, even if you can save your dirty little life from us, you can never make it from the Jin’s hunting.” The Wu rider cursed Shi Mu roundly.

    Hearing such a spirit-lifting curse which was uttered loudly instead of inwardly, the way they had been cursing Shi Mu too, the other riders also grew more daring. They thought to themselves, “That’s right, even though we can’t cut him one finger, that will be a different story when Master Tong comes. He’s a real HouTian warrior, not someone you can handle.”

    “By Master Tong I believe you mean Wu Tong. Well, I’ll deal with him later when finish sending you guys to the other world.” Just as his voice fell, Shi Mu rushed out from a grove in the blurring night light, with a loud footstep. He moved so fast that even a shot arrow could not catch up with him.


    More Chap

    http://www.xianxiaworld.net/The-Portal-of-Wonderland/

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