Book 11 Chapter 2 – Siren Flaunting Her Power
Over twenty riders under Feng Ge leadership galloped along the main street toward the Duba Manor House at the heart of the city.
The street was bleak; most of the shops have ceased to do business. If there were any pedestrians, they were all walking hurriedly. The fall of the city was imminent; the hearts of the people were suffocated with the doomsday approaching.
Kou Zhong spurred his horse at full speed. He rode alongside Feng Ge and complimented him, “Feng Lao is indeed exceptional; you are able to make prompt decision. Otherwise we would have massacred each other. It’s totally not worth it!”
Feng Ge was not pleased at all; still with heavy expression he said, “Since the first day Laofu saw Madame Wanwan, I already had a feeling that she is a root of trouble. I racked my brain trying to think of any acupoint sealing technique that can make someone stop breathing and appear to be in an eternal sleep. And then this time she was brought back by Zhuangzhu as if nothing has ever happened to her, and she accused Kou Ye and Xu Ye of having bad intention toward her. I was getting more suspicious. Pity that loyal advice has fallen in deaf ears, nobody believed Laofu.”
Kou Zhong nodded, “This is called everybody is drunk, only Feng Lao is sober,” he said, “I have one thing I want to ask: what happened to my four companions?”
Feng Ge replied, “I heard that since Zhuangzhu believed that demon, he flew into rage, and immediately sent Kou Ye’s four brothers to Huaqing border under escort. Afterwards I did not hear anything about them anymore.”
After thanking him, Kou Zhong slowed down a bit and told Xu Ziling everything he knew.
Shang Xiuxun, who was riding on the other side, said, “How do you plan on dealing with that female demon? If she denied everything, what should we do to her?”
Smiling slightly, Xu Ziling said, “If we can’t deal with her nicely, we’ll just use force. Do you think she’ll let us get rid of her that easy?”
Shang Xiuxun was delighted; she said, “Yin Gui Pai’s conduct and deeds angered everybody. If we can put an end to this female demon this time, we are doing good things to the world without doing any harm. Therefore, as soon as we make our moves, we must not show any mercy.”
Liang Zhi and the others acknowledged in loud voice.
Feng Ge took the lead into the main gate. The guards recognized him, hence they did not dare to stop them, so everybody was able to enter swiftly. This allied force of Flying Horse Ranch elite troops, Jingling’s high-ranking military officers plus Kou and Xu, two boys, galloped toward the stone steps in front of the Master’s Mansion, leaped off their mounts, and grandiosely swarmed up the steps and straight into the mansion door.
Over a dozen guards walked out of the Mansion and stopped at the top of the stone steps to meet them. The young general, who was apparently their leader, suddenly thundered, “Without Zhuangzhu’s permission, breaking into the Mansion’s gate is punishable by death. You still haven’t stepped down?”
Feng Ge thundered in response, “Suffering untold hardship Flying Horse Ranch’s Shang Changzhu led the brothers here to help, even if Zhuangzhu’s passion is inside he ought to immediately welcome her personally and jointly discuss the important matter at hand. And now not only even after repeated urging he did not respond, he is closing the door and refusing to receive the guests. Is this Zhuangzhu’s idea, or you, Ma Qun, acting on your own initiative?”
Ma Qun angrily said, “Feng Ge, don’t you rely on your seniority to bully me, Zhuangzhu assigned the responsibility of guarding the Mansion to me, Ma Qun. I am simply executing Zhuangzhu’s strict order. If you want to see Zhuangzhu, stay here nicely for me, let me report to Zhuangzhu first to see how he decides. Otherwise, don’t blame me for disregarding the sentiment between colleagues.”
Kou Zhong, who was standing behind Feng Ge, could not help asking another Jingling’s high-ranking military officer by his side, “Who is this guy?”
In disdain, the high-ranking military officer replied, “He is a nobody. Were it not for Madame Wanwan favoring him, he would never hold any position in the Mansion.”
When the two were still talking, Shang Xiuxun stepped out of the crowd and scolded tenderly, “Even when Fang Zhuangzhu sees me, he would be respectful toward me. How could you, a dog slave, dare to speak arrogantly in my presence? Get lost!”
Seeing more than a dozen of his subordinates appeared behind him, Ma Qun’s courage was boosted. On the contrary, the warriors guarding the gate stood afar off, watching with folded arms. Evidently the fact that Fang Zetao was losing himself to Wanwan had already caused disgust among quite a number of his men, not to mention everybody in the city of Jingling was aware of their good relationship with the Flying Horse Ranch. This time, witnessing Ma Qun’s arrogance and overbearing attitude, it would be strange indeed if they did not feel ill will toward him.
Ma Qun stood with his saber held across his chest; he shouted, “I, Ma Qun, received Zhuangzhu’s order to guard the door; who dared to tell me to get lost?”
With hands behind her back, Shang Xiuxun slyly said, “Guards! Arrest him! We’ll take him to Fang Zhuangzhu’s presence and have him punished.”
Before Ma Qun had any chance to speak, as fast as lightning Shang Peng and Shang He, two senior martial art masters of the Ranch flashed by, two pairs of withered palms fantastically turned into palm shadows with myriads of changes, enveloping Ma Qun inside the shadows.
A tornado-like wind rose up, as if Ma Qun was standing right in the eye of the storm, totally oblivious of the terrifying power of the incoming storm, while his subordinates have been wiped out left and right by the force of the palms that they staggered and stumbled backwards.
If even Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were emotionally moved, there is no need to mention the effect of this display of power to the others who did not know the real identity of these two old men. Nobody has ever imagined that these two, who, no matter how you look at them, would look like a pair of old muddle-heads, would have such a formidable martial art skill.
Not only that, it was obvious that these two men mastered some kind of fantastic technique of fighting together, so that their combine power was doubled. Actually, based on their individual power, they were not inferior to Li Zitong, Yuwen Zhiji, and martial art experts their caliber.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged glances, they both thought that they were lucky; if they really had a falling out with Shang Xiuxun the other day, even if they managed to get away, perhaps the price they had to pay would be exorbitant. But now naturally their spirit had received tremendous boost, because they had more confidence that they would be able to deal with Wanwan.
‘Bang! Bang!’
While Ma Qun was hacking down left and right although he did not know what he was hacking at, he had already been hit by two palm strikes and fell down to the ground.
Watching this, naturally Feng Ge and the other Jingling generals were grieved, because Ma Qun had caused them to lose face.
Meanwhile the two old men no longer paid any attention to Ma Qun, they charged toward the guards standing in front of the door, much like a tiger charging toward a flock of sheep, so that the guards’ weapons were thrown away, and they were either falling face down or flat on their backs.
With Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling escorting her from left and right, Shang Xiuxun, with her hands behind her back, proudly but leisurely strode into the Mansion.
Not a soul in sight at the spacious main hall.
“Come with me!” Feng Ge called out, and preceded them storming through the back door, into the winding corridor leading toward the rear courtyard.
Straight ahead there were two servant girls; when they saw these people, they were so scared that their flowery countenance turned pale as they cowered to one side, with their bodies trembling.
Feng Ge pointed to one of the maids and asked, “You! Where is Zhuangzhu?”
The maid’s pretty face turned deathly white; her knees gave up as she dropped to the floor and replied in trembling voice, “In … in Yi Qing [harmonious passion] Courtyard.”
Another high-ranking officer asked, “What about Madame Wanwan?”
“Also in there,” the maid replied.
In high spirit they all flocked inside.
After passing through several buildings and a dozen or so warriors on guard duty at the Mansion, they reached a big, secluded garden.
The faint sound of zheng [long zither with 13 to 16 strings] came from behind a bamboo forest, the melody was haunting and poignant, making those who hear it had their soul melted and their mind went weak; automatically everybody’s murderous intent was lessened somewhat.
Kou Zhong whispered in Shang Xiuxun’s ear, “I want Shang Changzhu to deal with Fang Zetao, while me and Xiao Ling deal with that female demon. Have other people stand guard in all directions to prevent her from escaping.”
Raising her eyebrows, Shang Xiuxun spoke in heavy voice, “How could we make such arrangement? Let’s just act according to circumstances!”
While talking, they all flitted across the bamboo forest along a small pathway. Past the bamboo forest, they came to a wide clearing, another big garden that was also serene, elegant and quiet.
There was neither maid, servant, nor mansion guard in the garden, only a couple people, one man and one woman, who were sitting in the small pavilion in the middle of the garden.
The man was Fang Zetao. He was closing his eyes, as he was totally immersed in the world of the zheng, so that he was totally blind and deaf toward all things outside this world.
The woman had her back toward them; her hands were dancing on the zither, but merely the sight of her beautiful figure was enough to move anybody’s heartstrings. Even if she turned into ashes, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling would recognize her as Wanwan.
The sound of her zheng had a different flavor from the sound of Shi Qingxuan’s xiao [vertical flute]. The latter carried some kind of near, yet far; making one felt that he had left the world and was alone in the universe. Yet Wanwan’s zheng carried a lingering attachment, making one felt unable to divert oneself from the sadness of loneliness. The more one listen, the more difficult it was to free oneself from this entanglement, as if their heart and mind were pressed down under a thousand-jin rock, so that only by looking up to heaven and cried out would they be able to vent out this burden.
‘Ring!’
Kou Zhong pulled his Moon in the Well. It left its scabbard with clear ringing noise, so that Fang Zetao was awakened from his stupor.
By the time Fang Zetao suddenly opened his eyes, other than Shang Xiuxun, Feng Ge, Shang Peng, Shang He and Kou and Xu, six people, the other men had already spread out to form a net around the small pavilion.
‘Zheng! Zheng! Zheng!’
After letting out a series of notes full of murderous intent, the zither stopped suddenly.
‘Whoosh!’ Fang Zetao stood up abruptly; his eyes swept everyone, his face showed an angry look.
With a cold laugh Shang Xiuxun said, “Outside, your warriors throw their head, spill their blood, but Zhuangzhu is peacefully enjoying tenderness in here, so happy that you forgot to return. Don’t you have any shame?”
Everybody could not refrain from showing disdain look on their faces.
Fang Zetao’s thick face reddened; he said crossly, “Jingling’s matter is my business; there is no need for Changzhu to lecture me.”
Wanwan was sitting calmly in the pavilion, as still as water, as if although she neither saw nor hear them, making everybody felt that she was unfathomable.
Chapter 2 - Part 2
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “We should have asked how could Zhuangzhu still have a face to see us. Merely based on this Yin Gui Pai’s female demon Wanwan’s one sided story, you cut off your friendship with us, two brothers. Worse, disregarding the wind and the rain outside, you only know how to listen to the zheng and make merry with the female demon Wanwan, copying the conduct of Yang Guang, the muddleheaded ruler. And yet you still have the audacity to say that you don’t need anybody to lecture you?”
Fang Zetao sternly said, “Wanwan is gentle and sweet, plus she does not know martial art, how could you say that she is Yin Gui Pai’s female demon. You two have done misdeeds, yet still want to vomit blood toward others?”
Feng Ge said in a heavy voice, “If Madame Wanwan is indeed an ordinary woman, how could she, in this kind of sabers drawn, swords raised moment, still act so calm as if nothing is happening? Zhuangzhu is an astute man, how could you be so muddleheaded right now?”
Fang Zetao’s eyes flashed murderous intent; his hand moved to his sword’s hilt, he said with ashen face, “Feng Ge, are you rebelling?”
Another high-ranking military officer said, “We just don’t want to die together with you and end up as muddleheaded ghosts; that’s all!”
Shang Xiuxun scolded tenderly, “Fang Zetao, if you are still bewitched and refuse to wake up, don’t blame my, Shang Xiuxun’s sword, for not showing any mercy.”
Xu Ziling spoke indifferently, “Why don’t Fang Zhuangzhu ask your esteemed Madame, and see how she is going to answer you?”
Fang Zetao was stunned. He stared blankly for a moment, before turning his gaze to Wanwan. His eyes became extremely gentle as he asked softly, “They accused you wrongly, right?”
Seeing this, everybody sighed inwardly.
Wanwan lightly shook her head and said in soft voice, “No! They did not accuse me wrongly. Zhuangzhu is indeed a muddlehead!”
Fang Zetao’s powerful body shook severely; he was dumbstruck, as if he could not believe such words could come out of her mouth. With strange expression on his face he rose up.
‘Zheng!’
One of the zither’s strings suddenly snapped; and then, like a viper it shot up. A flash of lightning pierced through Fang Zetao’s chest, and came out of his back.
Fang Zetao let out an earth-shattering wild roar and leaped back. ‘Bang!’ he crashed onto the pavilion’s railing, and was thrown face up onto the grassy lawn outside the pavilion. The blood was drained from his face, but it splashed behind him following the shooting string, splattering the railings, as well as the lawn. It was such a horrible scene.
Seeing this, everybody’s scalp felt numb. This was the very first time that they saw such a formidable demonic skill that nobody could guard against. Momentarily nobody dared to charge ahead to fight with her.
Among the crowd, Shang Xiuxun, Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Shang Peng, Shang He and Liang Zhi, six people had the strongest martial art skill, yet upon self-inspection, they realized that they would not be able to snap the zither string and shoot it out as their heart wishes like that and injured, even killed, someone.
Fang Zetao, with one hand on his chest, and the other hand pointed to Wanwan, who was still sitting calmly in the pavilion, spoke in shock, “You … you … how?”
Wanwan said gently, “I have never forced you to like me; furthermore, I have never forced you to kill anybody. It has always been you who were delighted to do everything. Who can you blame?”
In rage, Fang Zetao spurted a mouthful of blood. His eyes were overflowing with remorseful expression as his head fell backward and he died a violent death on the spot.
Wanwan slowly stood up; her left hand grabbing her lustrous and black beautiful hair, while somehow a comb appeared in her right hand, with which she combed her hair with unbounded gentleness. She appeared unspeakably tender and feeble, alone and dejected [lit. looking at one’s shadow and feeling sorry for oneself].
Everybody was in full alert, they even stopped breathing.
Kou Zhong took a step forward in front of Shang Xiuxun. The Moon in the Well pointed at Wanwan, immediately a stream of vortex of qi rose up and burst toward this thousand-tender a hundred-charm demoness.
It was precisely this moment that Wanwan seemed to evolve from her naturally delicate body and turned around to face this group of people led by Shang Xiuxun. Moreover, she exuded a hard-to-describe fantastic cyclone that momentarily seemed to suck Kou Zhong’s vortex of qi dry.
It was also the first time that Kou Zhong had ever encountered such a bizarre martial art; it was so unbearable that he nearly vomited fresh blood. Most of all, he felt as if his true qi had nowhere to go, so that his acute spirit disappeared completely. Overwhelmed with shock, he took a step back.
None of the other people did not have their countenance changed.
Wanwan’s gaze fell on Shang Xiuxun. Her eyes lit up immediately.
Xu Ziling knew that Kou Zhong had suffered defeat. He suddenly took a step forward and sent out a punch over the empty air toward Wanwan.
Immediately the air around was burning hot, thick with murderous aura.
Wanwan put down her beautiful hair and lightly shook her head, her beautiful hair rose up immediately.
The people surrounding her had a terrifying feeling that they were about to tumble forward. They were overcome with a dreadful feeling as if Wanwan has suddenly turned into a bottomless pit, and that if they fell into it, they could forget about ever climbing out of it alive.
Such a formidable demonic skill, nobody has ever thought about it even in their dreams.
Xu Ziling, who was right in front of her, felt that the qi power he sent seemed like a stone thrown into the sea and sank without a trace. He could not pull it back, but it could not affect the enemy the slightest bit either. In his shock, just like Kou Zhong, he also took a step back.
Wanwan was astonished as well; looking at him, she frowned and said, “I have never thought that the two of you unexpectedly profited from disaster, your power increased tremendously; otherwise, this time you would have suffered a serious internal injury!”
When they all came here, they have already decided that as soon as they saw Wanwan, they would attack her without any mercy. But now as they saw Wanwan standing right in front of them, even the usually proud and arrogant Shang Xiuxun also did not dare to act blindly without thinking.
Taking a deep breath, Kou Zhong smiled and said, “Female Demon Wan, since you are unable to inflict injury to us, doesn’t that mean that you are strung through and filled with evil, and thus you deserve to die?”
A thin smile appeared on Wanwan’s beautiful face, the face that would make everybody holding their breath. But this smile was quickly replaced by a sad, melancholy expression. She sighed gloomily and said, “The two of you were able to escape great catastrophe, the wisest thing to do would be to find a place to hide, and not letting me to find you forever. But now you insist on seeing me; even though I have the thought of cherishing talents, I have made a promise to someone, so without any better option I will have to take your two lives.”
Shang Xiuxun could not hold her temper any longer. “Attack!” she shouted tenderly.
The sword became hundreds and thousands dots of cold light, moving forward as fast as lightning, filling the air with the sword qi, rolling toward Wanwan.
The rest moved at the same time. Sabers flashed and swords flickered from all direction, converging toward Wanwan in a violent attack.
Wanwan’s eyes glazed over, as if she was completely oblivious that she was the target of this danger, plus everybody spread out and she was immediately in between two Jingling generals, yet she did not show any sign that she was going to intercept their weapons.
Martial art masters such as Shang Xiuxun, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were able to see clearly that using some kind of unique shenfa, she was floating and weaving through the gap between weapons like a ghost. They knew the situation was bad and groaned inwardly.
“Ah!”
The two Jingling generals were thrown sideways to the left and right with half a comb embedded on each face.
Nobody could even see clearly how she killed these two generals.
Watching this, righteous indignation filled Xu Ziling’s breast; he soared out of the pavilion over Wanwan’s head with both palms pressed down.
Wu Yan’s saber, Liang Zhi’s sword, and another Flying Horse Ranch warrior’s spear simultaneously attacked her back, chest and flank.
When it looked as if she could not avoid the catastrophe, she suddenly whirled around, her sleeves fluttered, her delicate finer jabbed upward. Saber, sword and spear suddenly slipped sideways by her magic skill, and hacked and pierced empty space.
Xu Ziling turned his palm strike into finger attack, and met Wanwan’s fingertips. Spiraling hot energy burst out violently.
From head to foot Wanwan was shaken; she raised her head to look at Xu Ziling, her expression melancholy, yet so enchanting. Her purple-red mouth slightly opened, she blew a stream of qi.
Xu Ziling’s astonishing vortex of energy had just penetrated the jianjing acupoint on Wanwan’s shoulder; immediately it went up in smoke, and was completely useless to inflict any damage to her channels.
The worst part was that the opponent’s fingertips shot two streams of seemingly no magic, nothing particular about it, yet as it penetrated his own channels, the strange energy burst everywhere, so that his channels felt like splitting. The pain was so unbearable that his arms immediately went numb. Forget about launching a counterstrike, he was even at a loss as to how to dissolve this encroaching energy.
His plight did not stop there. When the stream of qi blown from Wanwan’s mouth was about a chi away from his face, the impossible thing happened: it divided itself into two streams, left and right, piercing toward his eyes. If he was hit, it would be strange indeed if he did not turn blind.
In this dire and desperate situation, Xu Ziling’s mind was still as calm as the moon in the well. A free and easy cold smile, not forced, yet incomparably proud and aloof, escaped from the corner of his mouth. A stream of blazing hot energy came out completely naturally from the yongquan acupoint on his right foot, which spread out to his entire body at the speed of lightning or spark from the flint. In the blink of an eye it developed new energy. Not only it neutralized the numbness of his arms and eradicated the pain, it also gave him the strength to fly backward and thus he barely escaped the blindness of his eyes and only spurted less than half a mouthful of blood.
Chapter 2 - Part 3
Although Wanwan gained the upper hand, the shock in her heart was no less than Xu Ziling’s.
Her Tian Mo Gong [see Book 10 Chapter 6] has reached the level where she could send out and pull back at will, it could be hard, it could be soft, in countless permutation. Other than her benevolent master Yin Hou [Empress Yin] Zhu Yuyan, although Yin Gui Pai has never lacked capable persons, nobody else has been able to reach this level in such a young age as she was.
Moreover, from their previous contact she had more or less grasped that Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling’s fantastic true qi originated from the ‘Secret to Long Life’, not only it has spurred her to strive in unleashing her power, it also gave her the confidence that she would be able to kill Xu Ziling in one fell swoop.
Who would have thought that as the Tian Mo true qi stabbed Xu Ziling’s arms, it was locked down rigidly by his spiraling energy, so that it could not go pass the jianjing acupoint on his shoulders, and thus her grand plan of attacking straight into his heart and arteries and veins has become an empty dream?
Moreover, just now without sparing any energy, she unscrupulously blew out her true qi to pierce Xu Ziling’s eyes; who would have thought that he was able to evade? Therefore, how could she not be shocked?
Meanwhile Wu Yan, three men, had already withdrew. Yellow glow flashed, Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well hacked down on her head, carrying with it a powerful vortex of qi, brushing against her clothes that it created rustling noise.
Based on Wanwan’s ability, although she was confident that she would be able to fend off Kou Zhong’s saber strike, she did not have any confidence that she would be able to deal with Shang Xiuxun, Shang Peng, Shang He and Liang Zhi, four people’s joint attack.
Right now the image of Xu Ziling’s cold laugh just a moment ago was still reeling in her heart. Abruptly raising up her Tian Mo Gong, she retreated backward toward Wu Yan.
Her sleeves raised up.
‘Bang!’
Kou Zhong’s eyes shot a strange light; his saber came down on Wanwan’s intersecting sleeves blocking his strike, but Wanwan’s sleeves felt solid, yet empty at the same time, so that not only he was unable to exert his strength to push further, he also felt a strange stream of sucking energy, making him feel that if he continued pushing forward, he would fall into an immeasurable danger.
Although Kou Zhong’s guts surpassed others, he did not dare to advance prematurely, and thus in his shock he pulled his saber back and withdrew in such a sorry state.
In the meantime, Shang Xiuxun, four people, attacked from all directions.
Shang Peng and Shang He, two veteran martial art masters worked together to attack Wanwan’s left flank. Four hands hacked down using the edge of their palm like sabers coming together as if it was one person with four arms, flowing swiftly like quicksilver in an incomparably powerful offensive toward her.
Shang Xiuxun charged forward from behind retreating Kou Zhong, her sword weaved a network of blade shadows closing in straight toward Wanwan’s face. Her sword qi created sharp whistling noise, not at all inferior to Kou Zhong’s saber strike a moment ago.
Liang Zhi’s sword came from the other side, heavy and precise, it looked clumsy, but actually brilliant, inside the deep and powerful strike there hidden light and easy move. With a seemingly irregular pattern he practically sealed Wanwan’s escape route on this side.
By this time Wanwan’s delicate back was only about half a zhang away from retreating Wu Yan, but she suddenly moved faster.
Wu Yan thought that it was a good opportunity that he must not miss; instead of retreating farther, he advanced quickly, and with all his might he hacked his saber onto the back of her head. As he saw that his strike was about to hit its target, Wanwan suddenly swayed away slightly with a superhuman speed so that his saber struck down on her shoulder.
Wu Yan was cheering inwardly, but then to his shock he felt as if his saber did not hit a solid object, instead, it slipped over her shoulder and continued moving down. His soul flew and scattered away, his nose suddenly sniffed an overflowing fragrance. This demoness with peerless beauty had already crashed herself into his bosom.
By the time Shang Xiuxun and the others cried out inwardly, the sound of shattering bones and splitting flesh continuously filled the air. Blood oozed out of Wuyan’s eyes, nose, ears and mouth, as he died a violent death on the spot.
Wanwan spun around to evade the three-pronged attack. She whirled behind Wu Yan’s dead body, and then with her back against the not-yet-fallen-to-the-ground Wu Yan, her two sleeves swiftly fluttered forward.
A Ranch warrior and another Jingling general were immediately hit by the sleeves and were thrown backward. Their weapons flew away from their hands, their blood gushed out, their lives have been taken away.
Wanwan pushed Wu Yan’s dead body with her head swiftly backward toward Shang Xiuxun, four people, who, by this time, had their spirit discouraged. And then using her qi, she shook the corpse that it flew toward Shang Xiuxun, along with her two sleeves attacking from the left and right.
At this point of the battle, although it had been only a few blinks of an eye, she had already killed five people; evidently her formidability was utterly shocking.
Although Shang Xiuxun hated her to the bone, she was aware that Wu Yan’s dead body was imbued with Wanwan’s Tian Mo power, plus she was unwilling to damage her subordinate’s body, thereupon she helplessly pulled her sword back and sidestepped.
‘Bang! Bang!’
Powerful qi collided.
Liang Zhi was brushed by her that he spun around and tumbled sideways. He crashed onto Feng Ge’s old chest, who was about to charge forward.
Feng Ge let out a painful grunt and fell down to the ground, unexpectedly he was unable to crawl back up.
Wanwan’s seemingly simple sleeve-brush actually contained the marvelous power of Tian Mo. First, she sucked the power from Liang Zhi’s saber that not a drop remained. And then using her own qi, she turned it back against Liang Zhi, while hiding within it a spiraling energy. If Liang Zhi did not crash onto Feng Ge, he would suffer internal injury to some degree; but now, that energy was passed on to Feng Ge.
Naturally Feng Ge had never imagined that Wanwan would have this kind of amazing move; immediately he received internal injury and fell down to the ground.
From the original twenty-four people besieging Wanwan, the number was suddenly down to eighteen; five dead, one injured, yet no one has been able to harm half a strand of Wanwan’s hair.
Wanwan brushed away Shang Peng and Shang He’s sleeves. It was such an impressive move that people were gasping in amazement. Before she even touched the opponents’ two pairs of hands, suddenly her sleeves turned into a blur; what is true and what is false was difficult to tell.
The two old men’s storm was like casting stone into the ocean; it could only cause a small ripple. Afterwards the four hands tightened together; unexpectedly the hands were wrapped solid by the sleeve, which was then pulled by Wanwan that the two old men crashed against each other.
Xu Ziling, who by this time was still soaring in the air, was able to see everything clearly. He saw Wanwan’s sleeve suddenly grew about half a zhang longer. Turned out a white ribbon was flying out of her sleeve. First it passed through the two old men’s four hands, and then when it returned, it wound around the two pairs of hands and tied them together.
Xu Ziling instinctively knew the situation was far from good. Still high up in the air he accelerated his fall.
Wanwan looked up. Her out-of-the-world beautiful face appeared to be angry, yet it also appeared to be amused, as she cast Xu Ziling a sidelong glance, before moving sideways to dodge him, dragging the two old men along that they stumbled and fell, without the slightest bit power to strike back.
Shang Xiuxun cried out tenderly, raising her sword in a rescue attempt, when suddenly she realized that using the ribbon, Wanwan was controlling the two old men to crash against her. In her shock she quickly leaped back.
‘Bang! Bang!’
Luo Fang and another Ranch warrior had their weapons struck by Wanwan’s sleeves. They spurted blood and fell down, no longer had any power to continue fighting.
Kou Zhong also knew that the situation was deteriorating. Like a swimming fish he swayed and flashed behind Wanwan’s back and to the side, and then brandishing his saber he chopped on her waist.
Stream by stream Tian Mo true qi attacked the two old men via the ribbon. With each attack the two old men spurted mouthful by mouthful of blood. They were completely under Wanwan’s control just like puppets; whether moving sideways and crashing forward, it was entirely Wanwan’s decision. Such a tragic scene, making people could not bear to witness.
‘Crash!’
A Ranch warrior failed to evade, he was knocked by the two old men that he flew about a zhang away and died on the spot.
This moment Xu Yang attacked Wanwan from the side; with great difficulty he used his tobacco pipe to block her fragrant sleeve. But Wanwan’s leg flew up and kicked him on the lower abdomen, sending him flying away.
Fortunately Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well happened to arrive at this precise moment, forcing Wanwan to divide her strength to deal with it first; otherwise, this kick would definitely take Xu Yang’s old life.
Like a living serpent, the ribbon shook the two old men off; it then rolled back and shot out to brush away Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well.
‘Pow!’
The Moon in the Well was swept away.
Shang Peng and Shang He, two veteran martial art masters, spurted their last mouthful of blood, as they followed the ribbon flying out in separate directions, knocking against a Jingling general and a Ranch warrior, who were about to attack, sending them to the ground with heavy injury.
The ribbon made a circle in the air before it flew to wrap itself on Kou Zhong’s neck.
Since his debut, Kou Zhong has gone through several hundreds battle, big and small. But he has never encounter any adversary whose martial art skill has reached perfection like Wanwan, who was able to change unpredictably.
No wonder the other day Lu Miaozi said that if right now they came across Zhu Yuyan, they would only deliver their lives.
As a matter of fact, Tian Mo Gong’s most formidable feature was its ability to follow the practitioner’s heart’s desires, and thus was able to injure the opponent under any circumstances, something that no one cannot guard against. Besides, if the opponent was completely blind as to the changes in her move, how could he decide whether to attack or to retreat and defend?
Chapter 2 - Part 4
Shang Peng and Shang He were adept at fighting together, individually they were also rare martial art masters, yet as soon as they met her, they could not figure out her technique. One wrong move and they had to pay the full price of having their four hands bound by her exquisite beyond compare technique that they were unable to unleash their power at all, and were beaten to death.
Once this thought entered his mind, Kou Zhong let out a wild roar and spun around to dodge the ribbon winding around his neck. As he called out out, “Xiao Ling!’ he chopped three times in succession, but each chop actually struck empty air.
It was a gamble. He was betting that Xu Ziling would arrive in time, so that while he cut Wanwan’s movement space Xu Ziling would give her a fatal blow.
Shang Xiuxun saw the tragic death of the two elders, but being an outstanding person herself, she raised a mouthful of true qi to totally put her rage and surging wave of emotion under control, and then fast as lightning she flashed forward.
Right this moment Kou Zhong was executing his third precise, hair-splitting saber chop, so that Wanwan, who changed indefinitely like a ghost, so that others could not grasp her position, suddenly had her path cut-off.
Naturally Shang Xiuxun immediately exploited this opportunity. Her treasured sword disguised ingenuity as clumsiness, it rose up like a poisonous dragon rearing its head, it appeared to cut the ribbon brushing toward Kou Zhong.
This moment Xu Ziling was just flying over Wanwan’s head. Without Kou Zhong calling out to remind him, he knew that this was a one in a thousand golden opportunity; he struck down with both palms, while sending out his vortex of energy.
Until now, Wanwan has been able to control the overall situation, by exploiting the strength variation of the opponents, and skillfully strike them one by one. But after Kou Zhong executed the three saber strikes based on his own understanding of the ‘Yi Jian Dashi’ Fu Cailin’s Yi Jian Technique, for the first time Wanwan realized that she could no longer ‘obtain wind when she wanted wind, obtain rain when she wanted rain’, like before.
By this time, the battlefield by the small pavilion was filled with the dead and the injured, or with those who practically were unable to get close to Wanwan. Only three people remained, Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling and Shang Xiuxun, whose martial art skill was the strongest, and who were still able to strike back.
Wanwan was a smart and cunning person, otherwise, how could she become the beloved disciple who received direct instruction from Zhu Yuyan? Intentionally she used her most ruthless technique to kill Fang Zetao, and then with blitzkrieg method she struck the others one by one, so Jingling and Flying Horse Ranch could be subdued hands down.
But Kou Zhong’s three saber strikes were completely beyond her expectation, it gave her for the first time the disadvantage feeling of falling into a besiege.
Kou Zhong’s first saber strike fell behind her, in the shape of a stream of spiraling strong force, cutting off her retreat route. The second and third separately chopped down in front and at her right side, practically sealing off her escape route from these two directions.
If she fought Kou Zhong one-on-one, if this moment she used the ‘absorbing technique’ from Tian Mo Gong, she could have absorbed the three streams of spiraling energy and took it as her own. Taking advantage of the moment Kou Zhong raised his qi, killing him would be as easy as turning her palm down.
If she wanted to withdraw, she could have moved to the left, or perhaps soared up to the air. But now those two directions were sealed by Shang Xiuxun and Xu Ziling, respectively; leaving her the only option of facing the attack head-on, relying on her real skill.
From this it could be seen how brilliant Kou Zhong’s eyesight and strategy was.
Wanwan’s elegant eyes shot an unusual gleam that has never been seen before. Two short blades suddenly slipped out of her sleeves down to the hollow of her palms; flashing two streaks of fantastic light the blades separately met Shang Xiuxun and Xu Ziling.
Finally, she was forced to use the skill that was buried deep at the bottom of the chest.
This pair of a chi-long short blades was known as ‘Tian Mo Shuang Zhan’ [Celestial Devil Twin Slayers], one of the tree treasures of Yin Gui Pai, specializing in breaking the true qi of opponent from internal school. It enhanced Tian Mo Gong’s ability that it would be like a tiger that has grown wings, its power was hard to withstand.
This moment the recovery speed of Kou Zhong’s true qi was a hairbreadth faster that Wanwan’s guess. As soon as the yellow glow flashed, the saber was already chopping down.
With pressure from three sides, if it were someone else, her head would have been separated from her body. Too bad it was Wanwan, who was proficient in the heretical school’s supreme skill, ‘Tian Mo Gong’.
In that split second, Tian Mo Gong formed a boundary: with Wanwan in the center, the area about a zhang radius has suddenly sunken to become like a bottomless pit.
On the surface, this change was not apparent; it was purely in the form of qi energy. The yin [negative/feminine or ‘yin and yang’] and cold qi locked the three people inside.
‘Bing!’
Subsequently a series of clear ringing of sword and blade clashing against each other was heard; in term of speed and frequency, it was comparable to the pitter-patter sound of rain of banana leaves.
Shang Xiuxun was the first to cross weapons with Wanwan.
She was using the most formidable sword technique handed down from generation to generation, the unique skill of the Shang family. Each sting of the sword turned into sword pattern, moving swiftly indeterminately. But each move was an all-out attack that was more than Wanwan was able to deal with, with the aim of giving Kou and Xu, two boys, the opportunity to deal fatal blow on Wanwan.
If they let Wanwan lived, it would be difficult for them to sleep peacefully in the future.
All along Wanwan has been trying to avoid direct contact with Shang Xiuxun, precisely because she knew how swift and fierce her swordsmanship was, and how good she was in entangling the opponent in a prolonged battle. But since she was unable to avoid it, she could only launch the ‘Sou Xin Jianfa’ [soul-searching sword technique] created by Zhu Yuyan herself. Fast beyond human understanding she stabbed the blade a dozen times, each strike stabbed at the dead-center of Shang Xiuxun’s sword pattern.
Sword qi collided with each other.
Shang Xiuxun felt that each sword strike of the opponent carried a stream of cold and poisonous true qi, which flowed from the sword and penetrated her channels, which was quite strenuous for her to deal with it.
The most shocking thing was that no matter how she changed her style, Wanwan seemed to clearly understand the key point, which enabled her to anticipate Shang Xiuxun’s next move and meet the attack head-on.
By the twelfth sword strike, Wanwan managed to break through the true qi protecting Shang Xiuxun’s body, the precise moment when Xu Ziling’s pair of palms arrived.
‘Ding, ding! Ding, ding!’
Like fresh flower Xu Ziling’s palms bloomed. The five fingers of his right hand moved in an obscure and incomparably strange style, like plucking a string instrument or in sweeping motion, with the total energy focused on fending off Wanwan’s Tian Mo blade swiftly stabbing on him.
Meanwhile, his left hand turned into a fist, punching at Wanwan’s left arm, which was attacking Shang Xiuxun.
Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well was flawlessly in-sync with Xu Ziling’s attack, as it sliced across Wanwan’s waist.
In this critical moment, Wanwan’s beautiful eyes, the eyes that could hook the soul and break the spirit, suddenly lit up with clear dark blue bizarre light, as she swiftly pulled back the Tian Mo’s demonic energy that was attacking Shang Xiuxun.
Actually, Shang Xiuxun was thinking that serious injury was inevitable. Seeing the opponent suddenly ‘beat the gong to recall the troops’, she quickly raised the true qi inside her to force the remaining Tian Mo’s demonic energy out of her meridians, while at the same time raising her sword that like a gale it rolled toward Wanwan.
Three great martial art masters, while gaining the upper hand they fought with all their might.
Even if it were Ning Daoqi himself came, perhaps it would entail extremely strenuous effort for him to deal with them, as well as a great chance that he would suffer defeat or even die.
Just with these three saber strikes, Kou Zhong managed to reverse the battle situation. Others could only helplessly watched the development of the situation, and were in no position to interfere.
Right this moment, where people were watching with baited breath, Wanwan’s entire body seemed to shrink, before bursting open again.
Wanwan folded her limbs first; she curled herself up into a ball to delay the moment the opponent’s attack reaching her body slightly. And then, as if filled by her qi, her snow white robe ballooned out to take the three opponents’ swift and fierce attack, leaving her only wearing white undergarment, leaving her jade arms and powder-white legs complete exposed to everybody’s eyes. Her graceful line and her beauty stopped everybody’s breath.
‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’
Shang Xiuxun’s treasured sword, Xu Ziling’s fist and palm, and Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well, could only strike on her ‘cicada sheds its carapace’-like white robe.
‘Bang!’
Under the three pincer attacks of the qi energy, the ballooning white robe exploded into pieces.
The three people were severely shaken by the enormous Tian Mo Gong energy contained inside the white robe that they were thrown outside and tumbled down.
‘Wah!’
Wanwan spurted a mouthful of blood, her face turned green. Like a clump of cloud she kicked the ground and flew, in the blink of an eye she was already perched on top of the wall.
The bright moon was high up in the sky.
Her flawless half-naked tender body stood beautifully on the wall, she turned her head around and said with a smile, “Seven days later, after qie’s [a humble way to say ‘I’ for a woman] body recovers, that will be the day Kou Xiong and Xu Xiong lose your lives.”
And then she suddenly disappeared.
Everybody looked at each other, speechless.
This moment a warrior rushed into the garden. Seeing the horrifying scene where the dead and the injured were scattered everywhere, his legs went soft and he dropped down on his knees on the ground.
Feng Ge struggled hard to sit up. “What is it?” he called out hoarsely.
Raising the letter in his hand high, the warrior replied in a trembling voice, “Flying pigeon letter from the Ranch, the Four Big Bandits launch the second round of attack to the Ranch, in coordination with Jianghuai Army’s attack to Jingling.”
Everybody turned pale.
Liang Zhi scrambled forward to take the letter and handed it over to Shang Xiuxun.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked into each other’s eyes, thinking that if the Ranch did not come to Jingling’s aid, with Jingling’s generals dead and injured, how could they fight this battle?
Finished reading the letter, Shang Xiuxun handed it over to Liang Zhi and said resolutely, “We will return immediately. What’s your position?” Naturally the last question was directed to Kou and Xu, two boys.
Kou Zhong’s gaze fell upon Shang Peng and Shang He’s dead bodies; he sighed and said, “I really don’t know. Xiao Ling, what do you think?”
Grieved, Feng Ge said, “You must not go, Jingling’s survival depends entirely on you!”
Phew! What a long fight ...