Chapter 191 Blade Duel at Cang Lin 7
Si Yanran had studied her ancestral hidden dart skill since she was young. She came from quite a famous family. Ten years ago, she had married Gong Sun Gan, who was old enough to be her father, for three reasons—better standing in the martial world, wealth, and naturally because she was also interested in Thousand Dawn Spire's skill that was never revealed to outsiders.
Over the decade, Si Yanran had not only perfected her ancestral hidden weapon skill, she had also assimilated Thousand Dawn Spire's kung fu perfectly into her original internal energy. Currently, her power level might not rival the leaders of the other bigger schools, but facing off against the leaders of smaller schools like the Sea Sand Clan or Green Sea Blade House, she could more than handle herself.
She could undeniably be named as one of the best.
And Feng Bujue, with the aid of the Body Enhancement Spell, was definitely not weaker than the best fighter. Of course, he depended not on Qinggong or internal energy but the buff given to him by the game. His speed, actions, and reactions could catch up to Si Yanran, but in terms of fighting skill and experience, he was much weaker than Si Yanran.
For the attack that was aimed at Feng Bujue, if he was a real wuxia expert, he would have been able to avoid the dart while coming up with a retaliation. But Feng Bujue could do nothing other than focus on avoiding it. He needed more time and probing to come up with the next plan of action.
One could say this was the uniqueness about Chinese martial arts. An opponent like K3-Red Iron was powerful, yes, but that power was exemplified through obvious elements like strength, speed, energy, and so on.
But in the eastern wuxia world, the standard to measure an expert was ambiguous and vague. The so-called 'expert', 'unrivalled', and 'best' were very broad terms. In terms of the ranking on paper, no one could tell for sure that those at the front of the ranking would not be defeated by those behind them.
A powerful and tactical skill could enable a person who was weaker in internal energy to win against those far stronger than he was; a thick pool of internal energy could enable a normally weak elder to split a boulder with his bare hands. Lee Xunhuan's flying knives, Lu Xiaofeng's finger, Chu Liuxiang's Qinggong… and so on—no one would be concerned with issue of 'who was stronger physically or who was faster in a race'. This romance unique to the Eastern culture was the allure of the wuxia world.
After all, Feng Bujue had not fought an opponent who utilized this kind of kung fu before. What Si Yanran would do next and what she could do, he could not predict. Therefore, he could only act carefully and react accordingly.
His method was not wrong. Si Yanran's attack had two changes depending on whether her opponent could to evade or counter. If Feng Bujue had taken a risk, he would be in danger.
There was a white flash. Si Yanran had just fired her darts, but she was already prepared with her next attack. She might be a woman and use a small weapon, but her kung fu was both powerful and sharp. When she attacked, there was the sound of wind and thunder. Another three powerful darts were shot. They were aimed below Feng Bujue's throat, at the three acupoints on his chest—Tiantu, Zhigong, Canzhong.
Si Yanran's follow up attack was surprising. Based on her stance, one could not tell where she was aiming. If a martial artist was her opponent, after evading her first dart, based on their experience, they would think that Si Yanran's follow up attack would aim at one's lower body or the four limbs. But if they really thought that way… then they would have fallen for her trap. If they moved even half a millimeter forward, the following three darts would take their life.
But Feng Bujue… did not think so much. If the match between wuxia experts was a match of chess, then at this moment, Si Yanran was playing Chinese chess while Feng Bujue was playing western chess.
Your 'pao' might cross the Chu He, but I would block with my pawns. You tried to aim my king, but in western chess, the queen is there to help the king…
It's impressive that you could prepare several moves ahead, but unfortunately, we are playing completely different games.
Therefore, Feng Bujue once again made a move that was hard to be read by his opponent. He was focused. He did not make any evasion until the darts had completely left Si Yanran's hands. He only moved his body then. Even though he barely escaped, he did evade the attack.
Si Yanran was surprised by the power level shown by Feng Bujue. This was the first time that Si Yanran had met someone who would react like that in a fight. In the past, whenever her opponent faced this skill, they would move forward, compelled by their experience, but some of them were able to discern the trajectory and come up with an emergency solution due to the depth of their kung fu. Feng Bujue's solution looked like one made by a person who did not know kung fu, but then he possessed the speed to avoid the attack at the last moment.
With suspicion, her movement slowed. Si Yanran had not stopped her attack, but her ease had disappeared. At the moment, she was thinking, If this kid can survive my twenty moves, there is no telling who might win this match… and all of his friends look like they came from unorthodox schools as well. If they are all like this kid…
Of course, that was merely her thought; the fight still continued. After Si Yanran threw her darts, she closed the distance between her and Feng Bujue. While her opponent had not steadied himself, she channeled her internal energy and attacked with her palm.
This Gentle Wind Palm Strike looked normal, but actually, it was very dangerous. An adhesive Qi pooled around the user's palm, and should the opponent react with their own palm strike, Si Yanran's hidden energy would seep into her opponent's body and attack her opponent's dantian. It would be too late for her enemy to pull back then. If the opponent had weaker internal energy, the energy within their dantian would boil. The best scenario was having their kung fu neutered, and the worst scenario would be death.
But the development was as such… In that instant, a golden mirage appeared, and Si Yanran's palm strike on an invisible wall that was as large as a door. This defensive effect was none other than Death Poker's special effect, Shield Card.
When Si Yanran rushed toward him, Feng Bujue had already realized that something was not right. I can deal with long-ranged attacks, but the close-quarter combat skills of these wuxia experts are not to be trifled with. Earlier, that Ye He took my skill with his bare hands, and I was the one who lost Life Points. Now that this woman is actively coming toward me, I can't fight her physically!
Therefore, Feng Bujue summoned his sorcery weapon and did not hesitate to use its special effect. His match with Si Yanran was fast as lighting, and it had only taken about ten seconds. Feng Bujue's teammates had arrived to aid by then.
The first to arrive was not Xiao Tan, who had the highest speed, nor Passing Rain, who was the best fighter. Instead, it was Atobe-sama. Once he saw there was a fight, he was excited. After all, he was the player with the highest level in this group, and he was a 'professional player'. How could he allow himself to be mocked by Feng Bujue all day? He had to do something to impress his teammates.
Atobe-sama used the skill given by his title, Obvious Ambush—Lighting Strike.
———
Name: Lightning Strike
Skill type: Active
Consumption: 300 Stamina Points
Effect: Morph into a moving light and assault the target at a high speed with a powerful slash. Will appear two meters behind the target, facing away from them after the skill ends. (Cooldown is five minutes, and the user has to be armed with a cold-steel, bladed weapon. Can only be activated when the user is within two to twenty meters of the target. Cannot phase through a solid obstacle.)
Remark: If you run into an enemy much weaker than you and wish to kill them with a flashy and clean method, this is the perfect solution.
———
Atobe-sama's weapon was a large fan about sixty-five centimeters. The fan's bones were made from iron and the pleats from steel. When opened, the edge of the fan was extremely sharp. This weapon, when placed in this scenario, was probably very uncommon.
This weapon was a perfect match for Atobe's skill. Normally, if he used this weapon in combat, he would be too slow. But with the speed buff from his skill, as long as he was holding something that he could lift, he could rush and cut at his enemy with high speed.
Si Yanran was made confused by Feng Bujue's unpredictability. Then, from the corner of her eyes, she saw the flash of a blade. Another enemy was already rushing at her. She panicked and chose to leap backward to evade.
Who knew her instinctual reaction was the perfect answer to Lighting Strike? The weakness of Lighting Strike was that as long as the target was about to move away before the user got close, the skill would miss.
Naturally, when Atobe-sama reached Si Yanran's original location, the skill effect ended. He did not hit anything and stopped. At the same time, he heard the sound of wind cutting coming from behind him, and two darts were coming his way.
Si Yanran's battle tempo was thrown into a mess by these people. She did not know what to do next. Like Feng Bujue, she had to take this more carefully. As she leaped through the air, she bent her body backward and shot two darts right at Atobe-sama's back. Since she had nothing to lose, why not?
But to her surprise…
Kiang kiang!
Her darts connected…
Since Atobe-sama was standing between Si Yanran and Feng Bujue, the latter could not help him block the darts even if he wanted to. But thankfully, as a 'professional player', Atobe had quite good equipment. The metallic sound was not from the darts cutting into his spine but the darts knocking against his armor…
The darts dropped to the ground, and Atobe-sama staggered several steps back and almost tripped. Even though the darts did not drill through his armor, he was not wearing Echo Armor with a Damage Mitigation effect, so the impact from the darts still travelled to his body and cost him sixteen percent of his Life Points.
After Si Yanran landed, she became even more confused. In her eyes, the players all appeared like young warriors. They wore standard cloth armor, and it did not appear like the cloth was covering up any metallic armor. Yet, with the sound earlier and the darts that bounced off, they obviously knocked into something hard…
The highest form of Golden Bell Aegis… Qi Defense? Si Yanran thought. But how is that possible? This kid looks more like a scholar than a fighter. How powerful could his external energy be? Even if he has trained Golden Bell Aegis before, he would have to assume the horse stance to survive my darts. But he obviously didn't do that. So why did the steel darts fail to harm him?
At this point, Si Yanran was already thinking about retreating. If all five of them came from the same school, no matter what kind of strange kung fu they were using, her specialty of hidden weapons was made useless. If this was a close-quarter fight, there were five of them and one of her—how could she win?
But the problem was… even if she surrendered, her enemies might not let her go. This was her fault for underestimating her opponents. Since she had failed to kill them… if she continued the fight, she might be the one dead. If she ran, the news that she had killed Wang Ao would eventually be exposed. She would die anyway, and her name would suffer from the affair.
The more she thought about it, the more despairing she fault. Her face ashen, anger burned up her heart. She bit on her lips and decided to put up one last stand.
At that moment, someone arrived, and it was none other than Wang Tanzhi, who held a short blade.
Actually, Xiao Tan did not think much of it. He merely wanted to get close to the enemy before making any moves. It did not cross his mind that Si Yanran was cornered, and thus, she focused all of her power on this enemy that was closest to her. Several punches headed toward Xiao Tan. Before they connected, there was already this explosion sound in the air. This move might not be as tactful as Si Yanran's previous move, but in terms of pure damage, it was enough to send a player back to their log-in space.
Xiao Tan was unlucky, but it did not mean that he was weak.
At the last moment, a breathtaking calmness crossed his eyes. He activated Shadow of the Evil Bat, and Xiao Tan's body split into two. Two shadows flitted across Si Yanran and left her in the dust.
Si Yanran's full powered punch missed. The punch caused the dust in the area around her to burst into the air. She stood where she was in shock. Her head slowly turned around to look at Xiao Tan, who had materialized several meters behind her. She gasped in shock.
What is this? Could it be 'Tian Luo Di Wang Si', who they claimed has gone obsolete?
While she was still recovering, Passing Rain's Holy Seal sneakily arrived, slashing at Si Yanran's neck.
"Stop!" This roar was like a thunder in broad daylight as it issued from the alley.
At the same time, Passing Rain's blade was hit by a pebble. This hit was not enough to make her lose Life Points, but the vibration numbed her arm and halted her movement.
Si Yanran recovered and immediately jumped away. The light of hope burned in her eyes. Even though it was unclear who had come to help her, there was a change in the current situation.