Book 61 Chapter 7 – Demonic King’s Dowry
Book 61: Chapter 7: Demonic King’s Dowry
Shi Zhixuan let go of Xu Ziling, took three steps back, and spoke indifferently, “Ziling doesn’t need to thank me, the one I am saving is myself, not you at all. Frankly speaking, since Qingxuan arrived at Yu He An, I couldn’t stay away from her for even half a step, do you think I will allow you to be killed?”
Smiling wryly, Xu Ziling said, “You are eavesdropping on our conversation again. You know that Qingxuan is willing to give herself wholly to marry me down, someone who is not worthy of her, right?”
They were in the banyan tree garden at the southeast corner of Yu He An, Yang Xuyan and the others had already fled long ago.
Shi Zhixuan smiled and said, “I am so happy that I want to cry, because I suddenly had an idea and thought of a way to untie the tight knot between me and Ziling, furthermore, it is one move, two gains.”
At once Xu Ziling forgot their plan to send punitive force gainst him; greatly astonished, he said, “How can there be any solution to this kind of thing, and it is one move, two gains even more?”
Shi Zhixuan’s pair of eyes flickered with the flame of wisdom, after staring at Xu Ziling for half a day, he said, “The method is extremely simple, as long as I pass on to you the Bu Si Yin Fa, all problems will be like bamboo splits when it meets the knife’s edge. Just consider it as the dowry I am giving to Qingxuan!”
Xu Ziling was dumbfounded, “What?” he said.
Shi Zhixuan cheerfully said, “Even someone as smart as Ziling, I am afraid you may not be able to guess what I am thinking at the moment, so listen to Ol’ Shi telling you the details. The reason why time and again I have bad thoughts about you is because until this moment I still have the ability to destroy you. However, if you master Bu Si Yin Fa, even if I want to kill you, I will have the heart but not the power, based on my conduct, I will cut off this thought, it will no longer wind around in my bosom.”
After a short pause, he continued, “I don’t want to kill you, naturally I don’t want to see the situation just now repeating itself, to let others kill you. Only by mastering the Bu Si Yin Fa will you have the chance to escape and save your life under heavy siege, and not let Qingxuan to live as a widow.”
Hearing that, Xu Ziling was dumbstruck. The Demonic King’s conduct was indeed exceeding all expectation. Smiling wryly, he said, “Listening to the tone of Senior’s voice, it seems that in just a few words I can learn the Bu Si Yin Fa. But please forgive me for being dull-witted, I’m afraid I will fail your expectation.”
Shi Zhixuan spoke proudly, “The man that my daughter looks upon, how much lacking can he be? Other people can’t do, it will definitely not pose any problem to you, Xu Ziling. Earlier you nearly lost your life in Ge Suwen’s hands, simply because you don’t understand that the ultimate of life is death, the extreme of death is life, when thing has come to its end, it will turn around.”
Hearing that, Xu Ziling was unable to make any sense of the matter. Although his understanding of Bu Si Yin Fa could not compare to Yang Xuyan or Hou Xibai, he had to put a lot of thought into it to understand the secret of transforming death into life, but he never thought of the wonderful key that Shi Zhixuan just said, he did not know how to apply it in martial arts even more?
Tranquil and calm, Shi Zhixuan laughed and said, “Ge Suwen’s saber technique is not under Kou Zhong’s, plus he had a plan, he had a strategy. Like in the situation just now, he did have the ability to put Ziling to death, however, were it not for you were in a strained situation left and right, how could he have any chance of success? The Bu Si Yin Fa created by Ol’ Shi is precisely the gongfa [skill technique] to make the situation just now will never appear. The cycle of heavenly law, when the yang reaches its extreme, the yin is born, when the yin vanishes, the yang is restored, when the life ends, it is death, when the death ends, naturally it is life, this is heaven and earth principle, does Ziling understand?”
Laughing coldly, he said, “Although Xuyan’s innate talent surpasses others, and he heard the complete formula of Bu Si Yin Fa from An Long, but after I created the Bu Si Yin Fa, even Ol’ Shi had to train for more than ten years before I could go so far as to master it completely; who does he think he is?”
Xu Ziling said, “According to what Qianbei [the senior] said, could it be that Bu Si Yin Fa unexpectedly a method that can make true qi to be used endlessly and will never be exhausted?”
Shi Zhixuan nodded and said, “This is only part of the skill. With Ziling’s Long-Life Qi, as long as I pass on the profound way how Bu Si Yin Fa works to you, I guarantee that you can link it up and fuse it in a short period of time, and will master Xu Ziling-style Huan Mo Shenfa even more. At that time, I won’t be able to do anything to you, but you still won’t be able to do anything to me either. Wouldn’t we, two father-in-law and son-in-law be able to get along peacefully?”
And then his countenance sank, and he spoke with solemn expression, “I know that you attach great importance to brotherhood and friendship. But for Qingxuan, you have the responsibility to save your life and escape when you know you can’t deal with it, to prevent her from the painful loss of her husband. As for Qingxuan’s safety, no need for you to worry even more, I, Shi Zhixuan, definitely will not allow anyone to harm her the slightest bit.”
Xu Ziling felt that Wanwan still had not revealed the secret of Duke Yang’s Treasure-house to him, otherwise since presently Shi Zhixuan loved the house and its crow [idiom: love me, love my dog], and with his disregarding-everything attitude, he would have given him a warning in this respect.
He could not help asking, “Qianbei once said that the strengths that we think we can rely on the most are precisely our weaknesses and flaws, practically we are unable to withstand a single blow. What exactly does it mean?”
Shi Zhixuan stared fixedly at him; after quite half a day, he sighed softly and said, “If I say it frankly, it will be akin to I am rebelling against the holy school, betraying the holy school, hence I can only tell you that you have no hope of success in Chang’an. The best way is to leave immediately, but I also know that Ziling is not going to listen to me.”
All of a sudden, he broke into a big smile and spoke cheerfully, “Ziling get ready, I’m about to make my move against you. Only in actual combat can you understand the principle of life and death cycle.”
‘Qiang!’
Kou Zhong drew the Moon in the Well hidden inside his robe, his spirit immediately became one entity with the treasured saber in his hand, there was no distinction between that other person and me. The heaven and the earth expanded overhead and under his feet, reaching the infinite distance of the extremity of the heaven and the end of the earth. Bi Xuan’s covering-the-heaven-enveloping-the-earth Yan Yang Da Fa [Big Method of the Flaming Sun] could no longer trap and lock his spirit. It was like he broke away from the stocks and chains in the prison; the feeling was extremely touching.
The scorching heat dissipated, replaced by not-even-half-a-drop-of-water-in-the-air, dry-and-suffocating nothingness feeling that was hard to endure.
From external breathing, Kou Zhong changed to internal breathing, Ning Daoqi’s two sentences ‘creating without possessing, succeeding without self-confidence’ welled-up from the bottom of his heart. At this moment, he finally understood Song Que’s ‘forgetting the saber’ realm.
Kou Zhong that has been fused with the Moon in the Well in his hand advanced and formed an integral whole with the heaven and the earth. Not only there was no saber, there was no man even more. The only thing remained was the spirit of nothingness after the heaven, earth and man combined.
Wearing a high-collared, long-sleeved, oversized robe with golden thread trim ‘Wu Zun’ [martial art venerable] Bi Xuan, his feet did not touch the ground, burst out of the separated curtain of the tent, and flew above Kou Zhong. Both hands turned into a series of countless exquisite, amazing and mysterious palm method, but no matter how it changed, the hollow of the palms were always facing each other, as if all the mysteries of the universe, of the heaven and earth, were entirely in the palm of his hands; and there were many superficial changes but no departure from the original stand [idiom], all mysterious changes were directed at Kou Zhong.
Kou Zhong let out a long whistle, the Moon in the Well rose up and split the air to meet Bi Xuan.
Under Bi Xuan’s able-to-startle-heaven-and-earth, make-ghosts-and-deities-sob mysterious-move enormous pressure, his only option was to face the attack with all his strength. Furthermore, he knew that Bi Xuan did not leave any leeway, he strived to determine victory or defeat within a few moves and to put him to death.
If it was the Kou Zhong before witnessing the decisive battle between Ning Daoqi and Song Que, Bi Xuan might have prevailed, but this Kou Zhong was not like the previous Kou Zhong, he had ample strength to fight back.
Kou Zhong’s saber strike did not create any wind, his true qi was all stored inside the treasured saber, including his whole-hearted and whole-spirited power, and the essence, spirit, and qi after heaven, earth, and man, three worlds combined.
‘Peng!’
Qi power collided, creating a muffled-thunder-like blast that made people’s guts trembled, their hearts chilled.
The two men passed each other in the air, in the blink of an eye saber and palm exchanged more than ten times of you attacked and I defended, I defended and you attacked – swift and fierce moves.
After Kou Zhong landed, he staggered, but fast as lightning, he turned around. Just like Song Que, he was driven by the Moon in the Well in his hand. Drawing a saber momentum in a graceful and impossible-to-faut arc, he met the grandmaster of this generation inspiring awe outside the border before his eyes.
Bi Xuan appeared at the point where the blade was pointing, the clothes on his entire body and his long fair appeared to be fluttering against the wind, dancing wildly and brushing randomly, creating a strange, hard to believe – scene.
It was actually not possible, yet the fact was so.
Kou Zhong’s one-hundred-percent confidence continuously disappeared and was beaten, immediately it turned into miscalculation with flaws everywhere.
Bi Xuan’s Yan Yang Da Fa’s formidable power was indeed without equal, the most frightening thing was the qi field he generated with him as the core, which could simulate various air currents that affect the changes of the battlefield.
Kou Zhong became attacking following the wind, Bi Xuan even created a qi field that sucked him over. Kou Zhong’s blade was one step ahead in sensing that the momentum of following or going against the wind might reverse and change at any moment following Bi Xuan’s intentions. If he was still using the same move, the moment the following or going against the wind was reversed, it would be the moment he would lose his life under Bi Xuan’s hands.
Bi Xuan sent out a punch, his fist expanded continuously in front of Kou Zhong, making him feel that his spirit had fallen under control of this terrifying opponent.
Kou Zhong immediately performed his wonder method of exchanging true qi, he suddenly stood still, motionless like a mountain, the saber was pulled away, the back of the saber rested on his left shoulder, he dropped his waist and took a horse stance, unexpectedly he launched the move ‘No Attack’.
Using no change to respond to ten thousand changes; this was precisely the only way to resolve it.
Bi Xuan let out a long laughter and said, “Outstanding indeed!”
He suddenly pulled back his fist, intersected it with his left hand to form an ‘X’ [orig. oblique 十 (ten) character] to protect his chest, and then spun like a spinning top, darting to the left and right.
Immediately the airflow in the surrounding area changed, burst by burst of violent hurricane attacked Kou Zhong from four sides, eight directions.
Kou Zhong realized that he was trapped in the eye of the storm, it was difficult to maintain his motionless momentum, unexpectedly his pair of eyes closed, his saber slashed out.
The saber qi brought by the Moon in the Well miraculously smashed the stream of force reaching his body.
Bi Xuan appeared about a zhang to his left, his two hands closing in, he sent out a burst of qi power, like a waterfall pounding against his head, his face. Every move was indeed a killer move.
Kou Zhong’s feet moved in strange steps, changing naturally, he altered the hacking down momentum to a horizontal slash, immediately becoming ‘Square and circle’.
‘Boom!’
Meeting the power, Kou Zhong staggered backwards, it was not until nine paces later that he finally stood still, the five viscera and six bowels, as well as the blood and qi within his body surged over, his liver and intestines were about to split, until he spurted out a mouthful of blood and then the pressure began to lessen.
Bi Xuanyi also swayed backward. Although he did not withdraw even half a step, he could not seize this opportunity to pursue and attack either, and thus giving Kou Zhong a chance to catch his breath.
Kou Zhong hung his saber down to point at the ground. With the other hand he wiped the bloodstain from the edge of his mouth. The divine light in his pair of eyes shot out, he stared fiercely at Bi Xuan, smiled and said, “Shengzhe wants to kill me, it’s not that easy, is it?”
Bi Xuan’s countenance was like ancient well without any ripple, so serene that it was rather frightening, but the murderous aura in his pair of eyes were flaring greatly. He spoke indifferently, “How long does Shaoshuai think you can endure?”
Kou Zhong raised the saber in his right hand and pointed it at Bi Xuan from a distance. Immediately the murderous aura between the heaven and the earth seemed to be completely absorbed by the saber. The blade made a hissing sound of the qi power splitting the air; letting out a long laughter, he said, “If what I trained was not the Long-Life Formula Qi, this time I would have undoubtedly died, but my Long-Life Qi gives me the ability to resist injury and to go on longer than Shengzhe. Just like Shengzhe thought you had taken Ba Fenghan’s life, yet the fact proved that Shengzhe was wrong. Now Shengzhe has this question, this is precisely a mistake over a mistake.”
Immediately Bi Xuan’s pair of eyes narrowed, his pupils shrank.
Kou Zhong knew psychological warfare technique, he finally opened a gap in Bi Xuan’s originally no gaps to be found – mind. Under the pull of his qi, he let out a long whistle, the Moon in the Well split the air to strike.
Bi Xuan was over three zhang away, but Kou Zhong seemed to, through the Moon in the Well – be able to grasp Bi Xuan’s most subtle movements and reactions accurately, without the slightest bit of error.
The Moon in the Well was no longer the Moon in the Well, and Kou Zhong was not Kou Zhong either. After the man and the saber merged, they sublimated into another level of existence. After obtaining the saber, forgetting the saber.
He even sensed the shock in Bi Xuan’s heart, and then he could no longer sense Bi Xuan.
Bi Xuan was still standing there, but Kou Zhong could no longer grasp him. The scorching storm that could melt the iron and transform the pot rolled out from Bi Xuan’s direction, hitting every cun of his skin that was facing Bi Xuan’s body. Such terrifying qi field, compared to the Tianmo Qi field, it was like another nightmarish scene.
His saber momentum and fighting spirit were constantly weakened, by the time he reached the distance where he could fight with Bi Xuan, he would become unable to withstand a single blow.
Kou Zhong could no longer sense the heaven and the earth, so he and the Moon in the Well also separated, the saber was still a saber, the man remained a man.
Kou Zhong suddenly stood still, spun around like a whirlwind, turning his back on Bi Xuan, the saber chopped on the empty air.
Shi Qingxuan was sitting on the bluestone at one side of the courtyard, unable to take her eyes off, her gaze was fixed on the grass, a faint smile hanging on the corner of her mouth. There was a basket of herbal medicine that she picked and collected by her side, she appeared to be in a leisure mood and contented, good looking and delicate.
Xu Ziling came to her side and squatted down, he followed her gaze, but could not find anything that might attract her attention, such as an ant or a beetle. Astonished, he said, “What is Qingxuan thinking? You look so entranced.”
Shi Qingxuan rolled her eyes at him with a thousand tenderness, a hundred charms, she spoke mischievously, “I am thinking of Xu Ziling! You think I would think about other things?”
Xu Ziling leaned over toward her sparkling and translucent, snow-white little ear. Pressing down his voice, he spoke cheerfully, “I’m not a thing at all, and Qingxuan is not thinking of me either.”
Shi Qingxuan blissfully bit his ear happily and responded, “Just consider you know yourself. Do you like to talk to me like this? I can keep you company to the end.”
Subjected to the touching feeling of Shi Qingxuan’s affectionate, fondly-attached-to-him, Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, “I’m afraid he is eavesdropping again.”
Shi Qingxuan’s jade countenance sank, she said, “He!”
Xu Ziling nodded and said, “Don’t be troubled because of him. What was Qingxuan thinking just now?”
Shi Qingxuan reached out to wrap her arm around his neck, rested her chin on his broad shoulders, her breath smelled like orchid, she whispered softly in his ear, “Longing is some kind of torture, so I have to find something to do, which is better than thinking of what you are doing at this moment, whether you run into danger, and when you are going to come to see me?”
Xu Ziling hugged her tightly; remembering the near-death experience in the ambush outside the nunnery gate just now, he felt that this moment was even more precious. Blurting out, he said, “Qingxuan, how about coming back to Xing Qing Palace with me? Kou Zhong has been complaining that I did not take you to see him.”
Pulling herself away, Shi Qingxuan sat upright, scrutinizing him with rapt attention, sighing lightly, she spoke in a low voice, “Let me settle his affairs first?”
Staring blankly, Xu Ziling asked, “How are you going to settle it?”
Shi Qingxuan hung down her butterfly [sic, not cicada, but probably a typo] head, the tone of her voice flat, she said, “Three more days, and it will be the anniversary of Niang’s death. I am going play the flute tune that Niang composed for him. He used to listen to it all the time.”
Xu Ziling was shocked, “Absolutely not!” he said.
Stunned, Shi Qingxuan looked at him.
Kou Zhong’s mind was entirely focused on the chopping-down Moon in the Well, the saber’s momentum changed from fast to slow, his highly concentrated spirit enabled him to completely steer and control the speed of the chop to such an extent that he successfully repeated Song Que’s style in pulling his saber during the decisive battle against Ning Daoqi that day, each movement was a repetition of the previous movement.
He finally understood Song Que’s realm at that time.
At this moment, he already forgot Bi Xuan behind him, forgot the astonishing qi field, stream of power rolling wildly, brushing off against his back, so much so that he forgot victory and defeat, his spirit integrated with the heaven and earth transformation to become one. Obtaining the saber and then forgetting the saber.
The true qi within his body was instantaneous and endless, just like the heaven and the earth without any extreme boundary.
Letting out a long whistle, Kou Zhong slashed his saber across behind him.
It was a completely natural reaction, like the torrential rain falling from the sky, the mountain flash flood bursting out of the dam.
‘Bang!
The Moon in the Well chopped Bi Xuan’s full-strength punch attack.
Bi Xuan floated back; Kou Zhong fell five steps back. Standing still with the saber across his chest, he laughed aloud and said, “I’m not bragging, right? How could it be easy to kill me?”
The qi field dissipated.
Everything returned to its original state, the beginning of spring filled the park, on the Tao Chi the breeze was still, the waves were quiet.
Bi Xuan put his hands behind his back, throwing his face back, he laughed in response and said, “Of course it’s not easy to kill Shaoshuai, otherwise there is no need for me, Bi Xuan to make my move! Shaoshuai’s saber technique is miraculous, something that I rarely see in my life, which makes me cannot help but feeling admiration for talented people. If Shaoshuai is willing to return to Liangdu and no longer get involved in Chang’an’s affair, I can make the decision to let Shaoshuai leave safely.”
Kou Zhong smiled and said, “This kid nearly forget that Shengzhe is someone who can make decision on behalf of the Great Khan Xieli. I would like to ask one more thing, Shengzhe summoned me to come to die, did you receive Li Yuan’s acquiescence?”
The refined light in Bi Xuan’s pair of eyes exploded in a flash, he spoke indifferently, “Currently Shaoshuai have your hands full managing your own affairs, you are still interested in paying attention to these branches and knots [fig. side issue]?”
‘Qiang!’
Kou Zhong’s saber returned to its scabbard, remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, he said, “I never thought that until such a time, Shengzhe still want to conceal it from me. It could be seen that Shengzhe has no absolute certainty of killing me, hence you are afraid I would know the truth.”
The murderous intent in Bi Xuan’s pair of eyes was flaring greatly, but the tone of his voice still maintained some kind of inexplicable tranquility that could make people’s heart tremble. He spoke softly, “When I made my move earlier, my intention was to test Shaoshuai’s ability, just like before attacking its prey a wolf must disturb the enemy, confuse the enemy in order to achieve the goal of knowing the enemy. Now Shaoshuai’s strengths and weaknesses are within my, Bi Xuan’s grasp, the next time I am making my move, I will not give Shaoshuai a chance to breathe again, Shaoshuai, please be careful.”
Inwardly, Kou Zhong shivered greatly. If what Bi Xuan said was true, then for him, everything bodes ill, no positive signs, because just now he had done everything he could, given his all, yet he still narrowly suffered defeat, unable to gain the slightest advantage, yet he had more or less offered all the skills that he kept at the bottom of his chest. The inferior situation next time they met could be easily imagined. With his status as a grandmaster, Bi Xuan should not have lied to him on this matter.
Even though he was fully aware of this, Kou Zhong was still without the slightest bit of fear. Composing himself, he calmly cupped his fist to salute and said, “Shengzhe does not need to hold your hands, please!”