Book 12 Chapter 5 – Battle Over The Table
Wanwan, like a fairy, who did not feed on human world’ smoke and fire, descending from the heavens, elegant and supple, walked over to the three men’s table, which was leaning against the corner of the restaurant, and sat down in an easy and relaxed manner on the empty chair between Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan.
Her beautiful eyes, which aroused wild and fanciful thoughts more than in a dream, swept the three men’s faces, until it finally stopped at Ba Fenghan’s. A faint smile, which was more gentle and natural than a ripple, escaped from the corner of her mouth as she spoke in her sexy contralto voice, “Ba Fenghan, how are you?” [Reminder: in Chinese, ‘how are you’ is ‘are you well/good’ (ni hao).]
Ba Fenghan’s tiger-eyes flashed with cold light as he swept his eyes around at the staring, bewitched eyes of the other diners, before he suddenly exploded, “What are you looking at?”
The other diners felt stabbing pain as if their eardrums were pricked with needles; they work up with a start and hastily lowered their eyes.
The waiter, who was about to greet Wanwan, was scared and withdrew.
It was only then did Ba Fenghan turn his eyes to Wanwan, laughed aloud and said, “There’s a beauty honoring me with her presence, how could I, Ba Fenghan, be not good? [see my note above]. Only I don’t know whether Miss Wanwan has just arrived in town, or whether your lotus self has been around for a while in here?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling maintained their calm-and-unruffled-in-the-midst-of-chaos bearing; they did not appear to be troubled by Wanwan suddenly paying them a visit. While actually, they focused their attention to hear what Wanwan was going to say in response to the question.
It should be noted that presently the City of Xiangcheng, or any other cities for that matter, was in a tight-security, very high alert situation. Unless one knew some invisibility technique or was relying on brute force to charge into the city, one could forget about sneakily slip into the city without anybody noticing it.
Therefore, if Wanwan replied that she had just entered the city, there was a very high possibility that she was colluding with Xiangcheng’s city master, plus it was very possible that she was the enemy stalking them in secret outside the city just now.
However, her other answer would be more troubling: how could she, without being a clairvoyant, have predicted that they would come here and thus was waiting for them here?
Wanwan’s lucid and elegant like a fairy’s jade countenance was as calm as still water; her gaze slowly swept Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling before her cherry lips spat out the answer, “Ba Xiong’s question is very odd; under current circumstances, what difference does it make if I arrived here earlier or later? Plus the real problem you are facing right now is actually only one: unless the three gentlemen can fly to the sky to escape, you won’t be able to fly off the palm of nujia’s [lit. woman, humble self-reference by young female] hand. The question you should ask is: why does nujia has time to casually chatting with you?”
Giggling, Kou Zhong said, “Why you have time to chat, we do not have time to ask. Ha! I almost forget to tell you: we are never afraid of empty-word threat; if you have the ability, bring it on and let me see!”
“Pfft!” Wanwan stifled her tender laugh; her manner looked extremely enchanting as she cast Kou Zhong a sideways ‘thousand-tender, hundred-charm’ glance and said, “You don’t seem to have heard the saying, ‘those who come bore ill-will, those who are benevolent don’t come’ …”
Suddenly Ba Fenghan’s palm struck the table, jarring the bowls and the plates while cutting her off at the same time. His eyes shot an unprecedented terrifying light as he thundered, “Everybody else get lost! I am going to kill!”
The diners, waiters and the proprietor were scared sh1tless; they scrambled out in confusion that in the blink of an eye the spacious restaurant was empty except for the four people.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were well aware that Ba Fenghan deliberately created a scene so that the people in the restaurant would notify Xiangcheng authority, so that Wanwan’s people could not attack them unscrupulously.
Wanwan clearly did not expect Ba Fenghan would use this move; her phoenix-eyes turned cold, obviously her fragrant heart was in fury.
Without looking at her at all, Ba Fenghan said, “Cut the crap; let me see how much weigh Zhu Yuyan’s conceited disciple really weigh.”
Throwing his head back, Kou Zhong chuckled loudly and said, “If I, Kou Zhong, am not mistaken, just now outside the city it was you, female demon Wan, who followed us around like a hanging-boot ghost. And now you are afraid we might suddenly slip away from the city, hence you came here executing a stalling tactic, all because your helpers have yet to arrive. Am I right?”
Wanwan recovered her no-wind, no-wave calm demeanor. Her sparkling-and-translucent-like-superior-jade skin appeared to glow with a hard-to-describe luster; she sighed gloomily and said, “You are courting death!”
The three immediately knew she was about to attack. While they were about to launch a preemptive attack, the entire table suddenly slid sideways to crush Ba Fenghan.
At the same time Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong sensed that under the table, Wanwan’s bare feet were flying toward them.
In the split second, as quick as a flint’s spark, before the edge of the table crashed onto the pit of Ba Fenghan’s stomach, Ba Fenghan’s right palm, with unbelievable speed, chopped down on the table’s edge.
The solid wood table broke; the two halves of tabletop caved in, but the side closest to Wanwan was sent by Ba Fenghan’s skillfully applied force that it flew at an angle, aiming toward Wanwan’s throat.
‘Bang! Bang!’
The two boys separately blocked Wanwan’s kicks.
They were already wary of Wanwan’s Tian Mo Gong with its unpredictable changes; therefore, they retained some strength to guard against unexpected follow-up attacks.
Wanwan laughed tenderly; her tender body, along with the chair she was sitting on, flew backward, so that the half the tabletop flew only a hairsbreadth away from the tip of her nose, and failed to inflict the least bit of damage on her.
The plates, bowls and wine cups, which were originally on the table, fell down to the floor.
‘Crack! Crack!’ Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong simultaneously applied their inner power to shatter their chairs and flew backward to dodge two streams of powerful, swift and fierce, wind coming out from Wanwan’s fingers.
Xu Ziling was still sitting steadily on his chair. While sending out a punch over the empty space, he took advantage while the table was falling to the floor, the tip of his toes caught one of the saucers on their way down and then sending out his spiraling energy, the saucer spun out at an oblique angle with astonishing speed toward Wanwan’s knee.
If she were hit, it could almost be guaranteed that none of Wanwan’s kneecap would stay intact.
This close range battle across the table was a hundred times more dangerous than any battle the four of them had ever encountered in all their lives. It was swift beyond comprehension, and was both a battle of strength and a battle of wits, where myriads of changes happened in such a short period of time.
The Beheading Mystery Sword and the Moon in the Well Saber left their scabbards.
Wanwan soared to the air. With the tip of her toes she kicked the saucer shot by Xu Ziling. The saucer immediately changed it direction, with an even faster speed it spun to cut Ba Fenghan’s face.
With a long laugh Xu Ziling sprang off the chair, made a somersault in the air, and fast as lightning he flew up feet first toward Wanwan, who was about to escape by crashing through the roof.
Kou Zhong also leaped up at an angle, the Moon in the Well turned into a streak of yellow light, shooting straight toward Wanwan.
Ba Fenghan turned his head sideways to evade the splitting-the-air flying saucer, but because of this he was delayed a fraction of a second and thus missed the distinguished meeting of dragon and phoenix in the air.
Wanwan let out a cold snort. As if she was catching butterflies, her palms fluttered in the air, creating thousands of palm shadows, in full display of her formidable Tian Mo Gong.
Almost simultaneously Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong felt as if the space, approximately a zhang in diameter, with Wanwan as the center, suddenly collapsed that they had nowhere to apply their forces.
If it were during the days before they spent ten days in hard training on the mountain, this moment the two boys would be undeniably at a loss, and just like in the battle at Jingling’s Duba Mansion’s garden, they could only withdraw to save their own lives.
However, after ten days of vigorous sparring with Ba Fenghan, the two boys have made tremendous progress, both in terms of knowledge and experience, as well as in skill and power. They knew that if they withdrew right now, Wanwan’s concentrated Tian Mo Gong would attack Ba Fenghan in full power.
Xu Ziling quickly withdrew his kicking right foot; in a calm and measured manner he drew a small circle, his movement was so perfect as if it was carved by the Heaven, without the jaggedness of a hatchet or a chisel, so that Wanwan, who was in a life and death combat against him, could also feel the mystery of mysteries he exuded.
Like a tornado the spiraling energy rolled out, but it was spinning in the opposite direction, so that the seemingly collapsing space suddenly solidified again, which was then punctured by Xu Ziling’s scorching vortex of qi, which then continued on toward Wanwan’s flat, without-an-ounce-of-extra-fat, belly.
Xu Ziling suddenly attained a flash of inspiration; he understood that by using the most innovative move he had ever thought of in all his life, he had penetrated Tian Mo Shen Gong’s secret.
Space can’t possibly collapse.
Chapter 5 - Part 2
Because Tian Mo Gong’s special characteristic was that it had some kind of ability to absorb the opponent’s power and use it for its own purpose, whenever any true qi met with Wanwan’s devilish skill, its power was greatly reduced as if it was wilting away, leading up to the illusion of the collapsing space.
But when Xu Ziling suddenly pulled back his full-powered right kick and changed the direction of its rotation, Wanwan was caught off guard and was unable to absorb his energy. Furthermore, he was able to break the Tian Mo shield of qi, which Wanwan had trained to the highest, i.e. forty-ninth, level, and continued the attack toward her.
Witnessing what had just happened, Ba Fenghan screamed wildly, “Good!” Like a furious dragon the Beheading Mystery Sword shot up to attack Wanwan.
Just before the force from Xu Ziling’s foot made contact with Wanwan, Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well also made a changed as well, from stabbing it turned into sweeping chop, hacking Wanwan’s extremely small waist.
Along its trajectory, the Moon in the Well constantly altered its angle and direction, as well as its speed and strength, as it chopped wildly, as if an invisible enemy was wrestling it in the air.
This saber strike was also the pinnacle of Kou Zhong’s lifelong effort.
The purpose of each change was to make Wanwan unable to grasp, and therefore unable to weaken its spiraling energy.
Yet Wanwan remained calm without the slightest bit of fear. The thousands of palm shadows converged back into two, with the right palm blocked Xu Ziling’s foot power, and the left hand withdrawn inside her sleeve, and the sleeve brushed against Kou Zhong’s chopping Moon in the Well.
‘Bang!’
When the force from the foot collided with Wanwan’s jade palm, which was so delicate that it appeared as if he used a bit more strength he would be able to shatter it if he crush it in his grip, unexpectedly his power dissipated, and its direction altered, so that with an even higher speed it swiftly shot toward Ba Fenghan, who was dashing upward.
In shock Xu Ziling withdrew his power. Wanwan seized this opportunity to increase the momentum [orig. push the wave and add to the billows], by adding her powerful heart-destroying, lungs-splitting Tian Mo qi, as if ten sharp needles were mixed into Xu Ziling’s withdrawn spiraling energy, without he be able to do anything about it.
‘Wham!’
Like a steel whip the soft sleeve rammed onto the blade of the Moon in the Well.
Immediately Kou Zhong felt his arm was about to split. Not only his own force was deflected sideways, Wanwan also added a generous amount of her power that, like a snake, coiled and wrapped around his qi, and pulled him toward the combined forces’ line of action.
At the same time Wanwan’s snow-white bare foot flew out from underneath her skirt, if Wanwan succeeded in pulling Kou Zhong to this position, her foot would hit him right on his groin, and thus destroying the out of the ordinary martial art skill he obtained from the ‘Secret to Long Life’.
No one understood the fantastic skill resulted from the ‘Secret to Long Life’ better than she did. Because no one had a more ‘intimate’ contact with the two boys than she did.
Also, only she understood how terrifying these two boys actually were.
Over time, these two boys would become out-of-the-world martial art masters of Ning Daoqi, Bi Xuan’s caliber. Killing them one day earlier was definitely better than killing them a day late.
‘Bang!’
Ba Fenghan was the first to meet the flowing-smoothly-and-swiftly column of spiraling qi that Wanwan borrowed from Xu Ziling to kill him. With a muffled grunt he was thrown sideways.
Xu Ziling pushed with the tip of his right foot, while originally he wanted to withdraw his power, and changed it into a forward push, while also changing the direction of the spiral.
It was a totally brilliant move.
Wanwan’s mistake was that she neglected Xu Ziling’s true qi directed against her, which was like a part of his body and thus capable to respond to changing circumstances. As soon as it detected Wanwan’s sinister method, it immediately held on [orig. reining in the horse at the edge of the precipice] and changed from pull to push.
The dozen or so streams of Tian Mo needle-like energy returned intact into this beautiful demoness’ body.
Kou Zhong also altered his saber strike; exploded into a ball of saber light, each strike carried a short, pulsing spiraling energy, to meet Wanwan’s Tian Mo power and dissipate it. In both defense and offense move, like snowflakes the saber light floated toward Wanwan’s left flank.
Meanwhile Ba Fenghan was thrown toward the wall farthest away from the battle. Using his toes to make contact with the wall, he ricocheted back like a bullet. The Beheading Mystery Sword in his hand moved in a large arch, it slashed toward Wanwan’s delicate back.
Wanwan immediately fell into the perilous situation where she was facing three-pronged attack at the same time.
As the sword qi arrived at her back, Wanwan spun around, pulled her sleeves back and rolled them to her elbows, exposing her pair of whiter-than-snow, superior-to-frost, jade arms, which fantastically flashing indeterminately into countless arm shadows, making she looked exactly like thousand-arm Guanyin [Goddess of Mercy] in a marvelous demonic [Tian Mo] dance.
Her originally sparkling-and-translucent-like-jade slender jade arms were glowing with eerie color and luster, so that the onlookers were even more dazzled and stunned.
A continuous sound of clashing qi rang.
In that instant, Wanwan successively blocked a kick, a saber and a sword.
Ba Fenghan’s sword came last.
First, one after another Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were shaken by Wanwan’s Tian Mo Gong that they were thrown backward. Right this moment, the blade of Ba Fenghan’s no-stronghold-he-could-not-overcome sword was pared down by Wanwan.
Like a shattering mountain rock the powerful qi splashed out at the impact of the palm and the sword.
Using the jade finger of her left hand Wanwan burst Kou Zhong’s sphere of saber, while with her right palm she parried Xu Ziling’s powerful kick. In all honesty, she was forced to use up her entire strength. Plus Ba Fenghan was shrewd and ruthless.
In terms of skill and strength, he was slightly above Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling. This one sword strike was sent not only with the condensed essence, qi and spirit that had been trained to perfection, it also carried the dauntless, overpowering, and matchless confidence.
It was only this moment that Wanwan understand why Ba Fenghan was acclaimed as Tujue’s most outstanding martial art master after Bi Xuan.
The instant her tender and delicate palm hacked down on the blade of the sword, Ba Fenghan felt his entire body was swaying; he felt lightness as if his meridians were completely ruptured. Knowing the seriousness of the situation, he withdrew half of his power to protect his body, while at the same time borrowing the reaction force from the impact to fly away.
At first Wanwan tasted the sweetness in her throat, but then she vomited a mouthful of fresh blood from her cherry lips, while feeling the residue of the impact force was still trying to spin her around. Quickly she jumped upward, broke the roof, and disappeared beyond the gaping hole on the ceiling.
‘Bang!’
Kou Zhong crashed onto a chair, which immediately disintegrated, so that he landed on his butt on the floor.
Xu Ziling was not so lucky; he was thrown straight toward the window, shattering the frame, and landed on the alley behind the restaurant.
Compared to the two, Ba Fenghan’s escape was the least awkward; he managed to land safely on his feet, and immediately cried out, “Let’s go! Other trouble is coming!”
Crawling back up, Kou Zhong also heard the sound of hoof beats outside, coming toward the restaurant. He knew that if they did not leave now, they would be caught in another bloody battle in the city.
Chapter 5 - Part 3
The three men crashed through the city walls, slipped out of the city, and ran to the north. After speeding along for more than ten li, Ba Fenghan told them to stop in a forest. He said, “Now even I have to admire in complete prostration to Ziling’s extraordinary instinct. I wonder if Ziling currently still have the feeling that someone is following us like before?”
Xu Ziling seldom received such a heartfelt commendation from Ba Fenghan; his handsome face blushed slightly, he shook his head.
Ba Fenghan was delighted, “That means we have temporarily broken away from this female demon Wan; this woman’s martial art skill is so high, it surpasses Bian Bufu’s.”
Acting as if he was still under much trepidation, Kou Zhong said, “Just now the difference between victory and defeat was really a hairsbreadth; fortunately she was alone, otherwise I am afraid we would suffer a calamity!”
Ba Fenghan sat down, leaning on a tree, “Let’s sit down and rest for a moment,” he said, “We still have a long way to go.”
After Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling sat down on his left and right, he went on, “Demonic school people very seldom working in team, simply because of lack of trust between each other, plus the process of their training can be considered individual top secret; therefore, they are used to leave home to make their way in the world alone. This should not be surprising to us.”
“Fortunately so,” Kou Zhong remarked, “Luckier still, we had the ten-day training up the mountain, so that we developed tacit understanding among us; otherwise we could forget about injuring her.”
Xu Ziling said, “I wonder if this would provoke Zhu Yuyan to come out?”
Ba Fenghan said, “By that time we will be in Luoyang already. The problem at hand will be dealing with the Tiele Eagle Qu Ao. Just like me, this man was born among the horse thieves, so he is adept in the art of tracking and pursuing. If we do not alter our conduct slightly, sooner or later he would definitely catch up with us.”
“What would be a feasible solution?” Kou Zhong asked.
Ba Fenghan replied, “The art of tracking is nothing more than examining traces, sniffing smells, looking far, and listening to the wind, four major methods. Examining traces involves looking for vestiges our target may leave behind; for example footprint, snapped branches and leaves, stepped over flowers and plants, and so on. Expert trackers such as Qu Ao or even me, Ba Fenghan, whether day or night, in just one glance will be able to see minute details like that, therefore, no trace can actually be hidden.”
Hearing that, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other in dismay; they both mused inwardly that no wonder that time Ba Fenghan and Fu Junyu were able to continuously follow behind them.
Ba Fenghan went on, “Next one is sniffing smells. Human bodies have open pores that constantly send out odors, which will linger long before dissipating. Unless you are in running water, the scent will be attached to the flowers, plants and trees you are passing through. Those with superior tracking skill have a sense of smell which is more sensitive than a dog’s, so with just one sniff we would know.”
Kou Zhong was puzzled, “Why didn’t you tell us earlier?” he asked, “We could apply our power to shrink our pores, so that our qi would not leak out, hence we would not need to expose our whereabouts, at least in this aspect.”
Ba Fenghan smiled and said, “Frankly, because it was unnecessary. I did not wish to tell you about this either, because there is no guarantee that one day we won’t be standing in opposite sides. When that day came and I had to track you, it would be very, very difficult.”
Kou Zhong was stunned. “You are frank enough,” he said, “But why did you change your mind now?”
“The reason is very simple,” Ba Fenghan replied, “Because there are currently too many enemies looking for us. Yin Gui Pai and Qu Ao in one group, Li Mi and the Great River Alliance in another group. And then there are the disciples and subordinates that Bi Xuan sent out. Any one of these groups has enough strength to annihilate us, enough power to make us at our wits’ end. Therefore, we absolutely must not reveal our track. Under these circumstances, how could I remain selfish?”
Xu Ziling asked, “Is ‘looking far’ referring to climbing to a higher plane and looking far and near from high vantage point?”
“Exactly,” Ba Fenghan replied, “It sounds simple, but each time it was surprisingly effective. If we have sufficient number of people, we could send each one to different peak to keep watch, it would be difficult for the enemy to evade the tracker’s eyes and ears. Therefore, if we want to reach Luoyang alive, we must make a plan to counter these three points, absolutely must not hasten up recklessly toward Luoyang.”
And then he added, “As for listening to the wind, it’s only useful when we are near the target, plus the target must be somewhat inferior to the tracker. Those with superior martial art skill will be able to hear the rustling of the clothes from several li away; thereby they will be able to pinpoint the exact location of the target. All horse thieves, regardless of their martial art skill, are expert in listening to the wind. Just by identifying the changes of the wind, they will know where the enemies are. But this technique is more suited to plains or deserts; it’s not suitable for terrain like we have now.”
Kou Zhong said, “You are the expert in this, what should we do?”
Ba Fenghan smiled and replied, “In current situation, we may have successfully broken away from the Twin Malevolent of Changbai’s people; at least we have left them far behind, hence we can put them aside for now. Tuoba Yu, Shixiong and Shimei, ought to be in similar situation. Therefore, the most worrisome right now are Qu Ao and Yin Gui Pai’s people. If my guess is correct, they must be on their way to come here at full speed.”
Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, “I don’t know how many branches and twigs we broke, how many flowers and plants we treaded along the way here, wouldn’t that mean if the enemy was following our track, they could be here anytime? What are we doing tarrying in this place?”
Ba Fenghan laughed and said, “If they are able to come so quickly, just now that female demon Wan would not have employed delaying tactic by trying to hold us there.”
Kou Zhong was anxious to get to Luoyang as soon as possible; he urged, “You seem to have answer for everything, why don’t you quickly tell us your countermeasure?”
Ba Fenghan replied, “First, let us set two different routes, leaving clues [orig. spider’s thread and horse track] along the way just like we did, so that the enemy can follow our track, but they will have to split their forces to pursue along two different trails. And then after reaching certain point, we will make our pores vanish, to prevent our bodies’ qi from leaking out, plus we will be careful in treading the path; step on the rocks, the tip of the trees, or perhaps along a creek to escape. And then we’ll meet again somewhere else. By that time the enemy’s forces would have been scattered everywhere while they suddenly lose our whereabouts. I guarantee that they will be at a loss to know what to do.”
Slapping his thigh, Kou Zhong said, “That is certainly a brilliant scheme. But the enemies definitely know we are heading to Luoyang. As long as they set up sentries on high places, won’t that mean we still cannot cover our tracks?”
Ba Fenghan laughed and said, “Looking far technique is only effective during daytime; during the night its efficacy is lost big time. Besides, this method requires a lot of manpower, and they don’t really have too many martial art masters who could see in the dark as well as under the bright sunlight. Qu Ao, Changshu Mou, and other masters their caliber will never be sentinels on the mountain top waiting like a dumb bird! Therefore, we can hide by day and come out at night; we can even take the opportunity during daytime to train, to preserve and nurture our spirit, so that we can move again at night. I guarantee the enemy won’t even grope our shadows.”
After laughing aloud, he went on, “Enough chatting, let us now look at two possible escape route! Remember that you can only leave traces of one person; this way it will confuse them even more as to which of us take which route!”
Listening to this, the two boys slapped their thigh and exclaimed in praise.