Book 23 Chapter 9 – There’s A Way To Reverse The Rotation Of The Sky
The burnt vessels were sinking one by one, leaving only a small amount of smoke slowly rising to the sky. Under the starlight, the hundred or so Jianghui Navy fleet of warships and cargo ships were berthing on both sides of the river. It was impossible to guess what their next move would be.
The Shaoshuai Army, composed of Jiangnan younger generation troops, have been evacuated safely, only they had to swim away, because all seven warships have been wiped out completely, and have to be written off as lost assets to them.
Kou Zhong and Luo Qifei stayed behind in a nearby forest, to watch Jianghuai Army’s movement from a distance. Chen Changlin originally wanted to stay to watch the outcome, but because he suffered loss due to Du Fuwei’s wrath, Kou Zhong had Bu Tianzhi send him off so that he could recover in time.
Luo Qifei whispered in his ear, “Altogether we destroyed twenty-three of their cargo ships, and damaged three warships and seven light boats. This battle’s outcome is not bad at all.”
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “Too bad this kind of battle’s outcome is not enough to stop Old Du from attacking Jiangdu. I just hope that Old Du would examine Gu Jun’s spear; otherwise, this time we are ruining the enterprise for the sake of one basketful.”
Suddenly Luo Qifei shook; he said, “The ships are starting to move!”
Focusing his attention, Kou Zhong looked up. He saw Du Fuwei’s command ship was sailing downstream, but then made a sharp turn; unexpectedly they returned to where they were coming from. One after another the other ships followed suit.
The two looked at each other. They both saw the excitement in each other’s eyes.
Finally Du Fuwei was duped.
Precisely because he suspected that the man attacking him was Shen Lun that he canceled his trip to Jiangdu. Without first removing this threat, Shen Lun, how could he dare to attack Jiangdu at the risk of facing danger from both sides?
※ ※ ※
You Niaojuan stopped about two zhang away. His eyes fell onto the bloodstain in front of Xu Ziling’s knees; laughing demonically, he said, “I have indeed guessed correctly that, you, this stinky kid is really an arrow at the end of its flight, it was practically a false bravado. Ol’ You only need to pocket you, you are nearly crawling on the ground.”
Inwardly Xu Ziling thought that You Niaojuan, you have come just in time, thereupon he deliberately provoked him to make his move. Having this ‘brutal life’ [not sure, 残生], he spoke in displeasure, “Old You, you have fallen into the trap again! I spat this blood to deceive you. If you don’t believe me, just pull the single-legged copper man from your back and pound it on Laozi to give it a try. Ha! You are a stupid, pathetic mother thief.”
You Niaojuan noticed that Xu Ziling’s expression looked spiritless and haggard, yet his mouth was still hard and aggressive like that; he could not help feeling stunned. And then an evil grin appearing on the corners of his mouth, he wrinkled his face until every single line was prominent, and with a howl of laughter he said, “Good kid, you are really quite something! In this kind of plight you still refuse to die. I just want to see what are you going to do? You have the cheek to speak conceited nonsense.”
With a loud roar and lightning speed he sent a punch over empty space.
Xu Ziling was amused inwardly; You Niaojuan sending a punch from a zhang away, clearly he was testing the water, which showed his paranoid innate character.
However, although he was internally injured, this punch was not a small matter. A biting cold qi power that toppled the mountains and overturned the seas surged over, with a pulling force hidden within. Evidently, although on the surface this punch carried torrential momentum, the goal was still to capture Xu Ziling alive.
Xu Ziling felt Wanwan’s delicate jade palms pressing on his back; a stream of swiftly moving, unfathomable, seemingly empty yet solid, yin and soft in nature, yet abundant and unstoppable, fantastic true qi like a tidal wave burst into his meridians.
Immediately Xu Ziling felt his entire body was full of energy, he felt as if this uncontainable stream of astonishing demonic true qi was leaking out of his body, his five viscera and six bowels could not be protected, he could not help extending his fingers toward You Niaojuan to poke remotely.
‘Chi!’
Like a tidal torrent a surge of qi power flowed along the Yangming meridian and Taiyin meridian on the outside and inside of his right hand and burst forth, passing through Quchi, Hegu, Sanjian, Erjian, Yunmen, Shaoshang, various acupoints, so that all of them became intolerably yin and cold, until finally it shot out from the Shangyang acupoint of the second finger, piercing toward the enemy.
In that instant, he grasped the principle of the Tian Mo Da Fa’s true qi flow and its passage through the acupoints and arteries and veins, which was indeed very different from the ‘Secret to Long Life’. Other than Ren and Du, two main meridians, the meridians that the Demonic Qi was using did not differ much from the ‘Secret to Long Life’. However, the main emphasis was on the twelve auxiliary straight passages, which were Taiyin lung passage, hand’s Yangming large intestine passage, foot’s Taiyin spleen passage, hand’s Shaoyin heart passage, hand’s Taiyang small intestine passage, foot’s Taiyang urinary bladder passage, foot’s Shaoyin kidney passage, hand’s Jueyin pericardium passage, hand’s Shaoyang three truncal cavities passage, foot’s Shaoyang gall bladder passage, foot’s Jueyin liver passage, and foot’s Yangming stomach passage.
Starting from the Taiyin, ending on the Jueyin, relying mainly on the Ren and Du, two main meridians, it flowed in a cycle, like a circle with no beginning and no end. Although the direction of the flow could vary, it could still be searched through the arteries and veins, following the hand’s three yin, from the viscera to the hand; or from the hand’s three yang, which was from the hand to the head. From the foot’s three yang, from head go down to foot; from the foot’s three yin, from foot going to the abdomen. Ten thousand changes not departed from this cardinal rule.
It was as if Wanwan leaked a bit of Tian Mo Zhen Qi to Xu Ziling.
Xu Ziling’s heart was moved, he suddenly thought of one possibility to avoid his predestined fate this time.
‘Wham!’
The finger wind violently pierced the fist power.
The strangest thing happened.
Wanwan’s jade palm pressed on his back suddenly became as cold as ice and snow, while at the same time it generated a sucking force a lot more brilliant and mysterious than You Niaojuan’s pulling force, so that unexpectedly most of You Niaojuan’s power was pulled over, but was suddenly pushed out just before it entered Xu Ziling’s meridians.
Xu Ziling was aware of the peculiarity of the Tian Mo Da Fa, he was waiting for precisely this moment. By way of Tian Mo Da Fa’s totally different way of circulating qi along the meridians, the moment it cycled back, he seized the opportunity to borrow part of Wanwan’s true qi. Because Wanwan wanted to control the true qi within his body, while she had to deal with You Niaojuan, whose demonic skill was outstanding, unexpectedly he managed to conceal it from her.
You Niaojuan’s countenance changed immediately. His punch turned into a palm, with which he drew a circle, while flying backward at the same time in an extremely sorry situation.
Positioned between the two, Xu Ziling had to admire You Niaojuan, not only for his profound demonic power, but also for his fast and brilliant ability in meeting a contingency; unexpectedly as soon as he knew the situation was bad, he changed his move instantly, by withdrawing his qi power, changing from disregarding everything in head-on confrontation to dispersing the power and fleeing away. It was such an extremely ingenious move. Otherwise it would be difficult for him to escape unscathed.
The upper part of You Niaojuan’s body swayed before he was able to steady his footing. His face became extremely ugly, his eyes shone with ominous glint, as he spoke sternly, “Kid, who are you? What’s your relationship with Zhu Yaofu [(older) female demon/witch]?”
Wanwan’s palm left Xu Ziling’s back; she withdrew all her true qi, but she did not know that a stream still remained in Xu Ziling’s body, silently battering his blocked meridians.
He was hiding the true qi in his yongquan acupoint on the sole of his foot, and then released it a strand by a strand to heal the injured acupoints and channels.
This moment there was nothing he liked better than talking nonsense to stall for time; therefore, he sighed and with calm smile said, “If I tell you that Zhu Yuyan, Zhu Yaofu is my archenemy, I wonder if you, Old You, would believe me?”
Stunned, You Niaojuan asked, “Didn’t you just use Tian Mo Da Fa?”
Remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, Xu Ziling replied, “At its highest level, demonic schools’ big method [Da Fa] are all singing different tune but using the same skill, able to control the true qi as one wishes, with countless changes, more and more emerge. ‘Immortal Print’ method is not inferior in any respect to Tian Mo Da Fa; no wonder you, Old You, could misunderstand.”
Wanwan’s delicate hand was pressing on his back again, while Tian Mo Qi gushing into his body.
You Niaojuan was a little discouraged; half believing half doubting, he asked, “Then who are you?”
Xu Ziling smiled and said, “You want to know? It’s easy. Just before reaching the nether world, I will tell you.”
Laughing evilly, You Niaojuan said, “All right! Let me see if you really have that kind of weigh.”
The single-legged copper man appeared in his hand.
Xu Ziling pushed out both palms.
Greatly astonished, You Niaojuan said, “Is your martial art can only be put to use sitting down on the ground?”
While speaking, the single-legged copper man in his hand made two rapid rotations, and the moment it gained enough momentum, and was about half a zhang away from Xu Ziling, it struck down at full force.
The objective of this strike was to kill the enemy in one shot; the momentum was greatly different to his previous attack just a moment ago. The single-legged copper man produced whistling noise like a violent storm scraping against the canyon walls; it also seemed like piercing through the sky above and the earth below. Although it was released in such a short distance, in terms of speed and angle, the copper man still carried subtle changes, so that it was difficult to know when it would hit, and where it would strike; it was a clear that this vicious man, who was listed among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way, did not carry his title in vain. If he had not suffered internal injury, perhaps even Wanwan would not dare to meet his full-strength strike head-on.
But Wanwan also displayed her reaching-universally-shocking-level skill.
Her Tian Mo Qi burst into Xu Ziling’s Yangming and Taiyin, two passages, and then like the Great River separated into its tributaries, it went straight toward his ten fingers. Without him being able to control it, Xu Ziling’s both hands clawed the empty air in front of him to remotely control the opponent’s copper man pounding toward him.
You Niaojuan suddenly fluttered lightly, as if he had no strength and was feeling unwell. On the contrary, his copper man has become heavier than a thousand catty, yet it was difficult to advance a single cun. However, this was purely his feeling; for a spectator on the sideline, there was no difference at all, his copper man was still striking down like a gale onto Xu Ziling, who was still sitting cross-legged on the ground.
Xu Ziling, who was as the center of the two combatants pitted themselves against each other in demonic power, felt his breathing became rugged, his entire body felt aching all over, his skin and flesh felt about to burst, his eardrums hurt so much. Other than the noise produced by the copper man, which sounded like ten million ghosts of those who died unjustly wailing and screaming in their strange howling sound, he could not hear anything else.
Xu Ziling closed his eyes to relieve the unbearably tremendous force pressing down on his eyelids.
Tian Mo Zhen Qi was suddenly withdrawn, and then was released again. One suck and one spit, in just the blink of an eye, it made sharp difference in the outcome of the battle.
You Niaojuan felt as if he was trying to push a ten-thousand-catty heavy boulder with all his strength, but suddenly the boulder became as light as a feather. The pain and discomfort of such a wrong usage of strength could be easily imagined.
You Niaojuan almost tumbled forward; aghast, he quickly reduced thirty-percent of his strength. In this frightening moment, the Tian Mo real power rolled back to meet his copper man.
‘Boom!’
Xu Ziling changed his claw into palm, heavily slapping the copper man’s yellow shiny bald head.
A spectator who was not involved the battle would not know the subtlety and mystery of these various changes.
Qi power was raging.
You Niaojuan only took a step back, the copper man was changing again; it struck five times in a row with increasing strength, swift and severe to the extreme point, showing that he had the qualification to become Zhu Yuyan’s match.
Xu Ziling suddenly opened his tiger-mouth and laughed aloud, “With Immortal Print technique, you can’t kill me, no matter what. Don’t you get it?”
Putting his finger together into a palm chop, he sliced left and right. No matter from which angle You Niaojuan’s copper man was striking, he was always one step ahead in chopping it with his palm, producing a series of extremely irritating ‘Bang! Bang!’ noise.
While You Niaojuan was admittedly amazed and greatly puzzled, Wanwan’s fragrant heart was in turmoil as well. Since the battle began, Xu Ziling has always been under her control; if she wanted him to punch, he would punch, if she wanted him to raise his hand, he would raise his hand. But these several palm chops were Xu Ziling’s own moves, which, after absorbing the Tian Mo Qi from her, he transmitted it via meridians and acupoints that she could not understand, from yin and soft to yang and hard.
To a very large extent, it could be said that under the circumstances, she and Xu Ziling were life and death partners who shared both the honor and the disgrace; if she presumptuously retracted her true qi, while Xu Ziling would definitely die under You Niaojuan’s copper man, she would be affected as well; her feet was already too deep in the mud, she could not stop even if she wanted to.
Plus this should not have happened.
Basically, she was borrowing force to counter the force; she was a great expert and was extremely skillful in playing with the Tian Mo Qi to follow her heart’s desires. Yet even after self-examination, she had to admit that she never encountered something like this, where after receiving her true qi, the other person was able to use it for his own benefit, and in a flash was able to transform it into his own. It was indeed such a marvelous skill.
It wasn’t clear whether Xu Ziling’s ‘He Shi Bi Shen Gong’ [divine skill/power from Jade Annulus of He Clan] has been trained to such level, simply by adding a slight alteration, he was able to treat You Niaojuan like the evil qi of the Jade Annulus of He Clan that could destroy the heart and split the lungs, and Wanwan was like Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan in the past.
Relying on the true qi he borrowed earlier, Xu Ziling pulled Wanwan’s innate true qi, but did not flow it through the ‘twelve straight passages’ but diverted it through his ‘Secret to Long Life’ passages, and changed it naturally to become his own true qi, which could subdue the enemy, while also healing his internal injury; one move, two gains. The delight in his heart was difficult to describe.
Being hacked down by his palm, You Niaojuan let out strange cry repeatedly. The most irritating thing was that no matter how he changed his move, the opponent was always able to move one step ahead by cutting it. And the palm chop was always heavier than the previous one, the moves were increasingly more exquisite, every strike was like the divine stroke of a pen in a miraculous hand.
With a sudden long whistle, Xu Ziling stooped down and shot out off the ground. His eyes shot strange light, with a twist of his waist he attacked You Niaojuan in one move, executing an extremely fierce counterattack.
Finally You Niaojuan caught a glimpse of Wanwan behind him; his countenance changed dramatically and he screamed wildly, “It’s so infuriating!” Swinging the single-legged copper man, he parried Xu Ziling’s fist, and then flew backward and disappeared behind a bend on the plank walkway, but his voice was still heard from far away, “The time my injury is healed will be the time of your, this pair of Yin Gui dog man and woman, death.”
Xu Ziling turned around to face the beautiful Wanwan, who was standing within his reach. Shrugging his shoulders in such an elegant manner, he said, “You failed to kill me again! Would Miss like to keep trying?”
Two clumps of red cloud, which made her look even more tender and beautiful beyond comprehension, flew across Wanwan’s sparkling and translucent, penetrating jade cheeks. Stomping her foot, she said, “You, this dead little thief wicked scoundrel, tricked me into pouring so much of my heart’s content. You must compensate me.”
Stunned, Xu Ziling stared blankly at her.
Smiling sweetly, Wanwan said, “You, this kid, really have some ability; just now you were mentioning Immortal Print technique, was it Shi Feixuan who told you that?”
Xu Ziling came to his senses; the touching image of Wanwan revealing her heart’s content just now was still fluttering in his mind, so that he had to constantly remind himself that she was callous and ruthless. Sneering, he said, “You should know that between you and me, there is nothing to say.”
Helpless, Wanwan smiled indifferently and said, “Almost forget that you are a stubborn kid. All right! You don’t want me to ask, then I won’t ask. Where are you heading now? If you refuse to tell me, I will follow closely behind you like a diao xue gui [lit. hanging-boots ghost]. I want to see if you have appointment to see Shi Feixuan, I will be jealous.”
Xu Ziling felt a big headache; frankly speaking, if Wanwan did not look for him to fight, it could be considered his good fortune. On this kind of high mountain, big mountain ridge, where the plank walkway was the only way to go, practically there was no way he could cast her away. And if that happened, perhaps he would not even be able to sleep.
Smiling wryly, he said, “If I told you, would you leave me alone and we go our separate ways?”
Wanwan moved forward a little. Three more cun, and she would be in his bosom. Only then did she stand charmingly; looking up at his heroic, outstanding face, she spoke softly, “How could I do anything that will make you unhappy? Just by listening to your exchange with You Niaojuan a moment ago, I know what you are going to do in Sichuan!”
Turning her tender body around, Wanwan gracefully started to walk leisurely in the direction of Sichuan.
The only thing she left behind was her intoxicating fragrance.