“I’m your grandaunt!” Han Yunxi retorted to Gong Beichen. Since the man was too stupid to guess her identity, there was no point acknowledging him. She shot out two needles as soon as he pulled out his sword, both aiming for vital points.
Despite using Shadowless Needles, Gong Beichen still sensed them and swerved to one side while using his sword to deflect the other. It was no wonder he was the sect master’s eldest disciple. Although a little dim, his martial arts skills were genuine. Han Yunxi might still win in a real bout, but she wasn’t here to test her martial arts skills, but her poisons. This time, Han Yunxi shot out four needles--not Shadowless ones, but strong, quick attackers that flew towards Gong Beichen. Sensing their strength, he grew alarmed and quickly got out of the way.
In mid-air, he flipped as the needles flew past his feet before landing on the ground. Another burst of needles attack, scaring him into backing off just as the needles zoomed past his body.
“There’s poison!” he exclaimed in alarm. The needles had scattered toxic powder in their wake, forcing him to hold his breath and draw far away. It was even more potent than the one used on his underlings’ arrows.
“Your poison skills aren’t bad!” Han Yunxi laughed icily.
She had probed him just to check, but his poison arts wasn’t bad. Bai Yanqing must have taught him a few things--or maybe he already knew his master’s true identity.
When the powder dissipated, Gong Beichen finally asked, “You’re…” He thought of one woman with formidable poison skills, but he couldn’t believe she’d come to Celestial Mountain. Moreover, that woman wasn’t supposed to know martial arts. Master had told him that it was impossible for that woman to come here within the first half of the year. Because of that, he’d handed over the mountain to his care and told him to quickly get Ganjiang into his hands.
It was typical for people of wayward sects to cause trouble, so Heaven knows where this lot had come from.
“I already said, I’m your grandaunt. Call me that and I’ll spare you, alright?” Han Yunxi smiled mockingly as loomed from above.
“Stinkin’ wench, this is Celestial Mountain. If you’ve got any ability, then compare sword skills with this young master! If I lose, you can do as you like! Do you dare?” Gong Beichen challenged.
His sword skills were much better than his poison arts while it seemed like this woman only knew needle arts. She didn’t even have a sword of her own, so it was likely he’d beat her in a duel of blades. Han Yunxi just snorted and said, “Eldest Young Miss Cang, is this Heretical Sword Sect young master usually such a coward? Does he only dare to fight with women?”
Cang Qiuying’s spirit had already crumpled as she hung her head listlessly.
“Stinkin’ wench, what did you say?!” Gong Beichen snarled.
“I said you’re a coward because you only have the guts to challenge a woman like me! If you’ve got any ability, go challenge them!” she pointed cheerfully at Long Feiye and Gu Qishao. “You can just fight with one of them. If you really have the skills, let them fight you two on one! Do you dare?”
Cang Qiuying couldn’t help laughing softly at those words. This had to be the biggest joke she’d ever heard. Only then did Gong Beichen spare a glance for Long Feiye and Gu Qishao. Long Feiye’s godly handsome features and Gu Qishao’s devastating looks gave him a slightly shock. Still, he quickly pushed that to the back of his head. As a child, he had extraordinary innate talent and began studying the sword at the age of three. At ten, he could fight off enemies 10-to-1, becoming Heretical Sword Sect’s young genius; at 15, he was the most outstanding member amongst the sect’s youths in both sword skills and depth of internal energy. None of the Heretical Sword Sect disciples were currently his match and he’d even managed to topple multiple elders at the peak who had cultivated to level six of the Nirvana Heart Arts. Besides Master Jianxin and his disciple Long Feiye, there was no one who was his match on Celestial Mountain.[1]
“Hmph, this young master doesn’t disdain a fight with you!” Gong Beichen slowly pointed his sword at Long Feiye and Gu Qishao with a rampant air. “The two of you can come at once! Wrap it up!”
Long Feiye looked at him coldly without a word. Gu Qishao suddenly adopted an expression of alarm before running to Han Yunxi and hiding behind her back. “You guys should fight one-on-one! I’ll just surrender!”
Gong Beichen looked at Gu Qishao with a snort of contempt. Long Feiye gave Gu Qishao an ugly glare, highly displeased by the turn of events. Still, he flew over to land in front of Gong Beichen.
“Draw your sword!” Gong Beichen immediately attacked.
But Gu Qishao then shouted, “Long Feiye, help me ruin his clothes first. This old man is sick of looking at them!” In his mind, there was no man but himself who looked good in red robes. Long Feiye didn’t budge, but Gong Beichen froze in alarm.
What did I just hear?
Long Feiye?!
Before Gong Beichen could react, Long Feiye suddenly drew close and gave him a vicious kick to the face that sent him flying!
“You’re courting death by swearing at this crown prince’s woman!” Long Feiye said before pressing close!
Gong Beichen’s jaw was left crooked by the kick as he fled while shooting Han Yunxi incredulous looks. This woman...this woman is Han Yunxi!
Han Yunxi, whose poison skills are on par with master’s!
No!
How is this possible?
Master clearly told him that Long Feiye and Han Yunxi wouldn’t be coming to Celestial Mountai any time soon. He even said that the two were at Three-Way Black Market and preparing to launch a rescue mission at Tiger’s Prison while heading a northern expedition! Master wouldn’t have made a mistake on something as huge as a war campaign!
They...why are they here?!
Gong Beichen couldn’t accept this reality. Yet Long Feiye had already caught up and kicked him again. Unable to dodge, he could only meet the attack. Using all his strength, he slashed towards Long Feiye’s leg with a sword qi potent enough to cleave mountains and part the seas.
But how much did Long Feiye disdain Gong Beichen? Faced with such a powerful onslaught, he didn’t draw his sword, much less evade! Eyes cooling to ice, face chilly as an Asura, he simply continued moving his leg.
Why isn’t he dodging? Is he seeking death?
Gong Beichen couldn’t believe it. But he soon witnessed Long Feiye kicking straight through his shield of sword qi with such strength that all of it shattered and dissipated.
What kind of strength is that? Why is it so terrifyingly powerful? Is this the Lustbite energy that master was talking about?
Gong Beichen could only gape as Long Feiye’s foot made contact with another kick to his mouth. This time, the kick planted him right into the dirt.
WHUMP.
Gong Beichen crashed against the ground and felt like he’d broken all the bones in his body. He looked up, his jaw now completely crooked. Currently, Long Feiye was standing behind him.
“Long Feiye, tear off his clothes! Rip them off! Rip them!” Gu Qishao hollered.
Han Yunxi’s mouth twitched. Why does that sound dirtier and dirtier?
Gu Qishao, are you sure you’re not doing it on purpose?
Whatever the case, Gu Qishao finally caught Long Feiye’s attention. At his creased brows, Gu Qishao flashed a dazzling smile and said, “Long Feiye, tear off his clothes!”
Without a sound, Long Feiye hauled Gong Beichen upright and flew towards Gu Qishao. It happened so fast that Gong Beichen didn’t even have time to retaliate with the poison hidden in his palm. In the end, he threw the stuff at Gu Qishao’s face! It was a packet he’d pulled out of his sleeve in haste, but he didn’t realize it was aphrodisiac powder. Both Gu Qishao and Han Yunxi recognized it by scent alone. The two of them glanced at Long Feiye with identical thoughts in their heads.
Would that thousand-year-iceblock face melt under the effects of this potion?
Gu Qishao evaded Gong Beichen and wiped his face before glancing at Han Yunxi, “Poison lass, stop staring! Qi gege’s the one that got poisoned, so hurry and get me an antidote!”
He couldn’t whip out cures instantaneously like she did. Despite being immune to hundreds of poisons with his physique, he still had to feign otherwise in front of Han Yunxi. By now, it’d become habit. Since Bai Yanqing wasn’t here, he’d missed a trial and could keep on pretending to play the fool, lazily avoiding his work and swaggering through life. In any case, Long Feiye had the buffoon in his hands all covered.
He was a man of bigger and greater things!
Han Yunxi reacted to Gu Qishao’s poisoning with an especially radiant smile. “If you rip off his skin, I’ll treat your poison.”
Crumpled in a corner, Gong Beichen’s complexion turned green.
Gu Qishao laughed out loud. “Poison lass, Qi gege’s liking you more and more these days!” Then his smile turned vicious as he headed for Gong Beichen.
Gong Beichen was already suffered from severe internal injuries after taking two of Long Feiye’s kicks. He crawled to his feet and turned to flee, but Gu Qishao caught up and grabbed the hem of his scarlet robes. With a jerk, he tore it in half.
Ignoring the fact that his favorite robes were now ruined, Gong Beichen used lightness techniques to take to the skies while shouting, “Someone come and stop him! Hurry and block him!”
The arrow-less archers quickly came to form a circle around Gu Qishao, hemming him in.[2] Han Yunxi smiled and watched the show while dangling Cang Qiuying in her hands. Long Feiye simply looked expressionlessly towards the peak, thinking to himself.[3]
Although Gu Qishao just wanted to slack off, he ended up helping out most of all. Thorny vines flew out of his sleeves and quickly caught Gong Beichen, wrapping around his body before harshly jerking him back to earth. The archers had no other weapons on hand and could only advance towards Gu Qishao with their empty bows. Finding them a nuisance, Gu Qishao had his vines shoot off their thorns at the archers. Unable to avoid them in time, they were hit and soon poisoned.
Gong Beichen could deal with the thorny vines’ poison, but couldn’t escape from their prison. In a flash of insight born from desperation, he hacked through with his sword and escaped. If Gu Qishao didn’t have the Moye sword spirit inside him, his martial arts wouldn’t stand a chance against Gong Beichen.
This seriously pissed him off!
He dashingly lifted his hand and summoned more thorny vine seeds, which exploded into the dirt as countless vines reaching for the skies. Soon enough, they had surrounded Gong Beichen again.
Gu Qishao aggressively ordered, “Strip him for this old man!”
As a result…
1. I’m assuming he didn’t count the three Honored Elders here since they’ve technically retired from sect matters.
2. Again, I don’t get what this does? Couldn’t GQS just fly away?
3. Our three heroes have made a successful turn playing the kind of strong evil villains who toy with and humiliate their weaker victims for personal amusement! C l a s s y.