Book 10 Chapter 2 – Debut of the Divine Skill
Leaving the gorge area, Xu Ziling raised his qi to speed along among the trees, while from time to time shooting the divine escape to alter his angle and direction, as well as to increase his speed, sort of like a kid who had just received a fun new toy, which he enjoyed and loved very much that he could not bear to let it go.
He felt as if the Flying Divine Escape has become a part of his body. The nimble and free-flowing true qi was the ingenious link between he and the divine escape, enabling him to manipulate it like ‘what the heart wishes, the hand accomplishes’.
It was a little bit like using a long whip; he was even able to use the divine escape to forge ahead in a roundabout way [orig. going round the curves and skirting the corners], so that he was able to go through the forest like a ghost, without any obstruction at all.
In fact, he was almost ‘flying’ freely like a hawk; whenever his toes pushed on the tree trunk or horizontal branches, he would get enough force to propel him forward, so that he was flying across the woods without his feet ever touching the ground. This kind of joyous feeling was indeed the most fresh and exciting experience he ever felt in his entire life. The most wonderful thing was that because he was using the spiraling power, the divine escape automatically spun as it flew toward the target, so that not only it shot faster, the strength also increased tremendously as well.
Right this moment, the wind-borne sound of battle was starting to enter his ears, and it was growing more intense by the minute.
Recalling that the Four Big Bandits killed and burned everywhere, making the common people live in utter misery, Xu Ziling could not stop righteous indignation from filling his heart, so he flew toward the sound of the fighting at his top speed.
※ ※ ※
By the time Kou Zhong slid down to the ground, sound of the wind sprang up everywhere; he already fell into a heavy siege.
Dou Wei and Li Gang blocked his escape route, while fast as lightning Li Xiuning also arrived; together with the two men they formed a triangle, with Kou Zhong in the middle.
While Kou Zhong was groaning inwardly, Chai Shao landed by Li Xiuning’s side. Laughing proudly, he said, “Friend came here easy; if you are able to leave easy, will our Li Family have any face to see our Jianghu friends?”
If Chai Shao was not present, Kou Zhong would have simply revealed his identity and explained the purpose of his visit, and this matter could be resolved. But now that he came face-to-face with his rival in love, unexpectedly an indescribable fire rose up in his heart, no matter what he refused to get away from this situation in such a stupid and cowardly way.
It’s just that he was caught off guard because he never expected that Chai Shao might hide to protect Li Xiuning in secret.
Sound of the wind sprang up everywhere, more than a dozen Li Xiuning’s personal guards showed themselves up the parapets and between the building and the trees, forming a ring around him so tight that not one drop of water could trickle through. Most had a bow or a crossbow in their hands.
Li Xiuning’s sword was pointing to the vital acupoint on his chest, bursts of chilling sword qi were pressing on him. She spoke coldly, “Which side does Sire represent?”
‘Qiang!’
It was only now did Chai Shao pulled a pair of arm-protector steel truncheon, one long, one short, from his back. The long one was approximately three chi, the short one was about a chi and a half; both were glittering gold, extremely dazzling to the eyes.
He was moving in such a confident and at ease way, which was pleasant to look at, but at the same time his imposing manner was quite intimidating. Somehow, this has aroused Kou Zhong’s eager-to-win, striving-to-excel, strange state of mind even more.
Dou Wei was wielding a heavy steel staff, which he held horizontally in front of his chest, practically cutting off Kou Zhong’s rear right side’s escape path, making people felt like wherever he was going to run to, he would have had to stake everything he had.
Li Gang was armed with a pair of sword, but the degree of sharpness of his sword qi was a notch below that of Li Xiuning’s; hence it could be said that among the four people besieging Kou Zhong, his martial art was the weakest.
Before they fought, Kou Zhong was already certain that Chai Shao’s martial art was superior to Li Xiuning’s, because as soon as he appeared, the besieging net’s pressure immediately multiplied several folds, so that Kou Zhong did not dare to rashly run away.
Abruptly sucking in a mouthful of true qi, Kou Zhong pressed down the anxiety in his heart, returning to the moon-in-the-well placid condition. Using the technique taught by Lu Miaozi, he applied his internal energy to tighten up his vocal cords, so that his laughter became sharp and shrill, “This time I came blindly here, indeed there is something I’d like to tell you. Would Princess Ning be interested to hear?”
As Li Xiuning’s eyes met his, her heart was suddenly filled with a familiar feeling. “Have we met before?” she asked in astonishment.
Letting out a cold snort Chai Shao said, “If Sire is willing to throw your weapon down and have your hands tied, we would listen to whatever it is you have to say.”
Remembering Chai Shao’s arrogant manners toward him and Xu Ziling with arrogance the other day, and how his expression showed contempt as he looked at the two boys, Kou Zhong’s anger flared.
Especially now that he was standing side-by-side with Li Xiuning in an intimate manner, like they were a couple of ‘talented man and beautiful woman’, a match made in heaven, it would be strange indeed if Kou Zhong’s heart was not filled with hatred out of jealousy.
He was even considering going all-out, breaking with siege with all his strength, no longer care about Li Xiuning’s affair, to see what kind of ability this kid had that he dared to protect Li Xiuning.
Li Gang spoke in heavy voice, “If friend is unwilling to have your hands tied and waiting to be captured, don’t blame the saber and sword for not having any eyes.”
Kou Zhong sighed and said slowly, “I only want to say something, and then I’ll leave immediately. Would Princess Ning step aside and talk to me?”
Dou Wei laughed toward the other men and said, “This guy thinks that we are just the same as him, an idiot!”
Hearing that, Li Xiuning and Chai Shao looked at each other and laughed.
Originally Kou Zhong was going to persuade using all possible arguments to uncover Yuan’er’s conspiracy, but seeing Li Xiuning and Chai Shao looking at each other with lovey-dovey eyes, instantly he threw this thought at the back of his head. Worse yet, he saw Li Xiuning’s limpid-autumn-water like touching beautiful eyes cast a sincere look full of deep passion; immediately he had a hard-to-understand feeling as if he was being cheated.
‘Ring!’
As the Moon in the Well left its scabbard, Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “If you want to fight, then let’s fight! But don’t you ever regret it!”
Li Xiuning and the others immediately felt his forceful, overbearing saber qi; hastily they hastened their own true qi to resist.
Chai Shao asked in surprise, “Friend’s skill is out of the ordinary; definitely you are not a nobody in Jianghu. Why until now still insist on being sneaky by not daring to reveal your name and surname?”
Kou Zhong’s sharp gaze fell on Li Xiuning’s pretty face, which wound around his dreams and pulled away his soul; he said indifferently, “Isn’t Princess Ning’s future husband being superfluous? If I can reveal my name and surname, wouldn’t I already say it early on?”
The four people’s countenance changed greatly.
It should be noted that presently Chai Shao’s identity was kept a secret, because he was tasked to protect Li Xiuning in secret. If Shang Xiuxun found out, the relationship between the two sides would immediately turn awkward.
However, this was not an unresolved matter, they could always explain. The frightening thing was if Kou Zhong were Li Mi’s man, it would mean that their real strength has been exposed to the enemy.
A murderous aura flitted across Li Xiuning’s pretty eyes; she said coldly, “How do you know his identity?”
Actually, it was tantamount to admitting to Kou Zhong that Chai Shao was her future husband. Although Kou Zhong was already aware of this fact, he still felt as if the pit of his stomach was struck by a thunder, making him so angry that he nearly vomited blood.
Smiling wryly, he said, “There are a lot of things in this world that are difficult to explain. But I am definitely not related to either Li Mi or the Ranch. If Princess can be sensible and agree to have an earnest talk with me, I can guarantee a valuable information in return, and then I will immediately leave.”
Chai Shao shook his pair of long and short arm-protector steel truncheon; murderous aura immediately pervaded the air. Laughing casually, he said, “Do you think you can leave that easy? If you don’t throw down your saber and surrender immediately, you’ll see real trouble under my hands!”
Dou Wei, who was standing at Kou Zhong’s side, also shouted, “Since you have the guts to come, don’t be gutless by wanting to run away.”
Kou Zhong sighed inwardly; if this moment he changed his mind and introduced himself, it would appear that he was afraid of Chai Shao, which, even if he had to be killed, he would never do. Thereupon he nodded and said, “Sword and saber indeed don’t have eyes. Gentlemen, please be careful.”
With a sudden gust of wind Dou Wei’s heavy staff smashed toward Kou Zhong’s head from behind, practically pulling open the curtain of battle.
※ ※ ※
Xu Ziling flew through the sparse forest, and saw outside the forest, torch flames at the prairie illuminate the sky. A group of more than a hundred thieves wearing red band on their heads was besieging a group of twenty or so Ranch’s warriors in close combat. Surprisingly he recognized one of the warriors as Luo Fang.
On the hilltop at his left, a dozen or so men were standing; other than one man, who presumably was the leader, the rest were wearing red band on their heads, so they were very easy to recognize.
Obviously Luo Fang and his men had fallen into disadvantageous position; they fought strenuously in circular formation. In the middle of the circle, seven or eight men were either lying on their backs or on their stomachs; apparently they had received injury and thus lost their strength to continue fighting.
On the thieves’ side, there were quite a number of casualties as well; it was indeed an intense battle.
Xu Ziling had no time to think why Luo Fang and his men fell into such perilous situation. He soared to the air and threw himself in the middle of the thieves’ formation. Before his feet even touched the ground, two men were kicked and died on the spot.
Chapter 1 - Part 2
With this sudden change, while the thieves were still unclear of what happened, four more men received his punches and died.
Whether it was a kick or a punch, Xu Ziling’s vortex of hot power shot out freely. The strangest thing was that his victims were not thrown back; rather, they suddenly dropped down to the ground, their faces did not even show any bruise.
Two enemies rushed in from the left side, the flickering sabers in their hands matched their loud shout and violent hiss, as they rapidly came to attack.
Like a ghost Xu Ziling darted in between the two, his body flashed, his shoulders subsequently slammed onto the two. This time, learning from experience, he was using hard, ferocious force. The two men’s shoulder bones shattered immediately, the sabers in their hands were spun around and flung to the side, their bodies were thrown toward a dozen or so thief troops that were rushing toward Xu Ziling, so that the enemy ranks were immediately tumbling down in confusion.
By this time, he was only about twenty paces or so from Luo Fang and his men. One after another the nearby thieves left Luo Fang and the others to charge toward Xu Ziling.
Xu Ziling sent out a punch across an empty air, the violent vortex of hot energy shot straight toward a man who seemed to be the leader of those dozen or so men charging toward him.
‘Bang!’
As if he was swept away by a storm or a gigantic wave, his entire body were lifted off the ground, and then like a kite with cut string he crashed onto two of his companions behind him. The three men rolled on the ground like a gourd, their muscles and bones shattered.
The rest of the men had never seen such a powerful long-distance punch like this; they were scared and flew away in all directions.
With Xu Ziling diverted most of the enemy, Luo Fang and his men’s momentum was greatly boosted; they charged forward that the opponents suffered a crushing defeat, while trying to move toward Xu Ziling.
Another group of about forty enemies came to attack Xu Ziling, giving him an enormous pressure. Yet Xu Ziling was by no means cowardly and panicking; his spirit has entered the ‘no-victory, no-defeat’, the ‘still-water’ realm.
Amazing things happened.
All of a sudden, he was able to clearly grasp the situation of the entire battlefield.
That is not to say that he knew every little detail of everything happening; rather, by means of different levels of his vision and hearing, he was able to grasp the variation of what’s true and what’s false in his surrounding, both near and far, thereby he could determine his advance and retreat.
It was an unprecedented feeling.
Prior to this, he could only deal with the most critical thing in front of him. But now, even though the enemies were swarming at him from all directions, his perception was extended beyond the crisis he was facing. Not only was he aware that the enemies on the hill were advancing toward him, he was also aware that Luo Fang and his men had again fallen into heavy siege of the regrouping enemies after his attack.
Xu Ziling let out a long whistle and soared into the air. When he landed, it was precisely by Luo Fang’s side, while at the same time he formed a saber with his hand, and fast as lightning swept it across the flashing sabers of the thieves, who were raining their attack toward Luo Fang and his men.
The man did not even have any chance to evade, so forget about turning back the saber to block. Looking helplessly he was cut by the palm saber at his chest, was thrown back and died.
With the same manner Xu Ziling subsequently stepped a dozen times around, immediately the opposite side suffered a crushing defeat and was thrown into a mess.
Xu Ziling was able to clearly sense the strong or weak point of every single one of the enemy’s attack, his countermeasure matched their situation perfectly.
It was a very subtle feeling.
Just like the limpid water in the well that can reflect anything. On the surface, the opponents in front of him appeared to carry torrential momentum, but in his eyes, there were gaps and flaws everywhere. Basically this situation did not even worth him using the Yijian Xinfa.
This moment a broadsword came sweeping across, carrying with it a fierce whistling noise; the saber qi was threating, it was the fiercest saber Xu Ziling ever encountered since the battle began.
Xu Ziling cheered inwardly. His palm hacked down, it hit the blade of the opponent’s saber, sending the vortex of hot energy toward the enemy. The saber wielder groaned miserably, the saber fell down, his mouth spurted out blood, he staggered and fell back.
Apparently this man had quite a status among the bunch of thieves; as the crowd saw that he could not take even one palm strike from Xu Ziling, they were terrified and followed him fleeing in all directions.
Xu Ziling forgot that he was in disguise; without thinking he came over to Luo Fang and asked in concern, “Are you all right?”
Luo Fang was astonished, “I am all right,” he replied, “May I know En Gong’s [benefactor] honorable surname and great given name? Your kindness in saving our lives, our Flying Horse Ranch will definitely pay you back.”
Xu Ziling just realized his faux pas. This moment the bunch of thieves had run away one after the other, the Ranch’s fighters came over, they all looked at him with grateful eyes.
Assuming a bold and uninhibited manner, Xu Ziling laughed aloud and said, “Rioting thieves and bandits, every single one deserved to be punished. As for my name and who I am, it is not even worth mentioning. It would be best for you to immediately return to your unit, I have not killed enough people.”
With another long laugh he ran toward where the enemy’s forces were concentrated.
※ ※ ※
As Dou Wei’s staff was smashing his head from the back, Chai Shao made his move at the same time. Like two streaks of lightning the long and short arm-protector steel truncheons separately shot toward Kou Zhong’s face and chest. It was filled with murderous intention, bold and powerful to the extreme, and extremely ruthless. His qi power tightly covered the opponent, so that whether Kou Zhong wanted to strike back or run away, he would have to go all-out first to face this attack.
Although Li Gang was one step late in launching his attack, he also took an unfair advantage by attacking from the side. The pair of swords in his hands swept across Kou Zhong’s neck and his waist, with incomparable ruthlessness; a move so vicious that people would find it difficult to associate his attack with his usual air of an elegant Confucian scholar.
Only Li Xiuning took a half step back. The tip of her sword was still exuding sword qi, to prevent Kou Zhong from breaking the siege in that direction, but she did not join the foray.
If it were the former Kou Zhong, this moment he would be at a loss to know what to do. Even though he might not necessarily suffer immediate defeat, injury would be hard to avoid. Fortunately, after surviving near death experience with Wanwan, where he reaped profit from a disaster, he learned to develop the vortex of qi, which no one from ancient times had ever learned, his martial art took a step – which could not be imitated, forward, so that it was not just a case of ‘self-improvement by diligent study’.
This moment, just like swimming fish, he weaved in and out among the siege, and then brandishing his saber in ferocious hack. ‘Swish! Swish! Swish!’ three consecutive chops, yellow glow filled the air, unexpectedly he hacked Chai Shao’s two arm-protector steel truncheons and Dou Wei’s steel staff.
Chai Shao and Dou Wei’s hearts turned cold.
Originally they had ninety-percent confidence of their own moves, but under Kou Zhong’s fantastic shenfa, they felt as if the opponent was clearly in front of them, but suddenly he turned into a disembodied ghost so that they were completely off in trying to seize his position.
It was a very serious problem.
It should be noted that when martial art masters exchanged blows, they must constantly estimate changes and adjust their moves accordingly. On the surface it appeared to be a simple problem, but it really contained a myriad of knowledge.
Kou Zhong was able to fully use his fantastic shenfa within about three chi of space, so that the opponents could not correctly predict and determine his position. In other words, it was akin to suddenly lose their target; how could they not be in great shock? Immediately they were at a loss.
Under the flourishing yellow glow and the criss-crossing saber qi, Chai Shao and Dou Wei met Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well head-on.
‘Dang! Dang! Dang!’ With three shocking explosions, like an astonishing cyclone of ice the unmatched fantastic vortex of qi flowed through the point of contact of the saber blade and their weapons, and burst into their bodies, straight toward the bottom of their abdomens.
The two men had never expected Kou Zhong to be this formidable, their entire bodies, from head to toe, were severely shaken.
Chai Shao’s power was still two notches above Dou Wei’s; he only staggered two steps back before managing to steady his footing. With a stifled grunt the latter was jolted backward.
Seeing the unfavorable situation, Li Xiuning waved her delicate hand to create a sword pattern pressing down on Kou Zhong.
Kou Zhong opened his tiger-eyes wide open, flashes of lightning shot out. With unspeakable calmness he casually turned his saber backhandedly to pare between Li Gang’s two swords, and then striking up followed by cutting down, ‘Dang! Dang!’ Li Gang was immediately routed, his pair of swords bounced up and down, so that his line of defense was wide open, while at the same time he felt the opponent’s hard-to-resist vortex of qi burst in, straight toward his heart and spleen. His soul flew away and scattered, he ran away backward.
“Don’t come!” Chai Shao shouted, stopping his own men, who were standing outside the arena, from entering the fray, while he flashed into Li Gang’s position to mend the siege. He coordinated his double arm-protectors with Li Xiuning’s offensive, his expression looked extremely heavy.
Such a formidable foe, he had never imagined it in advance.
Kou Zhong laughed aloud. Unexpectedly he bent his back and bumped himself against the retreating Dou Wei, not only to temporarily widened the distance so that it would be hard for Li Xiuning’s sword force to reach him, Chai Shao’s attack also fell on empty space.
Under this situation, if it were before the battle, Dou Wei would have brandished his staff to block, so that if Kou Zhong did not die, he would definitely suffer serious injury. But presently Dou Wei was making every effort to dissolve Kou Zhong’s fantastic qi invading his channels, so that his current power was only about fifty-percent his usual strength, plus he was still overcoming the backward momentum of his retreat earlier. Therefore, if he forced himself to fight, other than he did not have any confidence of breaking Kou Zhong’s true qi protecting his body, if the opponent’s back, which was brimming with vortex of qi, crashed onto him, how could he stay alive?
In great shock, Dou Wei did not dare show-off; he hastily sidestepped Kou Zhong’s body.
Actually, Kou Zhong himself did not expect that in these several clashes, he was able to take the initiative and full control of the situation, so that advancing he could attack, retreating he could evade; he could not help feeling so pleased. “Stop!” he shouted.
Li Xiuning and Chai Shao were afraid he might take the opportunity to kill either Dou Wei or Li Gang; thereupon they followed his order and held their weapons.
‘Qiang!’
Kou Zhong’s saber went back to its scabbard, but he himself still carried the aura of an unsheathed saber, so that others did not dare to belittle him.
His gaze swept the crowd with his awe-inspiring might radiating all around; with his intimidating body shape and expression, which did not match his fake face’s smiling expression, he spoke nonchalantly, “Gentlemen should have known that if I meant harm to the Princess, I would not need to hide the head and show the tail. That being the case, let us all sit down and drink some tea, and have a nice chat!”
None of Li Xiuning and her men was not stunned.