Book 13 Chapter 12: Matchless Demonic Skill
Book 13 Chapter 12: Matchless Demonic Skill
The first to arrive were Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan, two men. Having achieved their purpose, they did not have any interest in watching Shang Xiufang’s singing skill or even Qu Ao and Fu Qian’s duel.
Yin Gui Pai has always conducted their business in secrecy. Even if some people had the intention to deal with Yin Gui Pai, they had no way of finding any Yin Gui Pai bandit to know where to start. Unexpectedly now someone managed to force and defeat an important figure, who was in charge of the intelligence gathering of the entire northern area of the country. In such an impossible situation, quite naturally snatching him away alive would be their highest priority.
If they could extract from Shangguan Long information about all aspects of Yin Gui Pai operation, they, along with everybody else who were the enemy of Yin Gui Pai, would be able to use this intelligence to strike back, not remaining passive like right now.
The third to rush toward the garden was Song Shidao. His intention was identical to Kou Zhong, three people. They all knew that if there were other Yin Gui Pai people present, they would definitely prevent them from taking Shangguan Long alive.
However, as he was following Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan closely, Qu Ao overtook him. From a room in the lower level he darted over, and although he started later, he managed to get in front of Song Shidao, and caught up with Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan. Noiselessly he raised both palms to strike the two men’s backs.
From the roof of the multi-story building on the other side, Bian Bufu swept down, with a ten-thousand-catty thunderbolt power he pounced on Kou Zhong.
Bian Bufu and Qu Ao were both top-tiered martial art masters. The two of them attacking together, the momentum was shocking to the extreme.
Song Shidao’s sword already left its sheathe, he shot toward Qu Ao, who had just flitted past under him.
Seeing it would be too late to stop him, Ba Fenghan fell back a little, his left palm pressed on Xu Ziling’s back, his right hand drew the Beheading Mystery Sword, turning it into millions of sword rays, and each ray reflecting the light from the lanterns all around him, just like a big ball of fire that was constantly flashing brightly, exploding from his hand, curbing and shrouding Qu Ao’s offensive power completely in it.
Such sword skill has reached a universally shocking stage.
The most amazing thing was that Ba Fenghan seemed to already anticipated Qu Ao’s sneak attack from behind, and thus was at the ready to strike back. This has certainly come as a surprise to everybody.
This moment Kou Zhong had just sent out a stream of finger wind, hitting with a piercing blow the space between Shangguan Long’s eyebrows, who was still kneeling and panting for breath. Bian Bufu’s astonishing qi power was already pressing on top of his head, blowing on him that his clothes fluttered up, and his breathing became impeded.
Kou Zhong cursed inwardly, while realizing the difficulty he was facing.
Based on Bian Bufu’s brilliant insight, he should have known that Shangguan Long did not have any chance of victory, only defeat. Yet obviously he waited until this moment to make his move. Naturally his objective was to wait until Kou Zhong exhausted his true energy, the moment his acute spirit was drained, and then eliminate him in one fell swoop.
And this ‘devil head’ knew that Kou Zhong would not be willing to withdraw, so by letting Kou Zhong’s plan on capturing Shangguan Long to go smoothly, and then taking advantage of this moment to make his move, naturally his chance to kill Kou Zhong would be increased tremendously.
Fiercely clenching his teeth, Kou Zhong summoned the rest of his energy, the Moon in the Well met Bian Bufu’s pair of silver hoops head-on.
While Kou Zhong was facing the critical juncture between life and death, Xu Ziling, borrowing the power imbued by Ba Fenghan’s palm, shot like an artillery shell, and just before Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well clashed against Bian Bufu’s pair of silver hoops, he cut off Bian Bufu’s path of attack.
All these high-speed actions were accomplished in a few blinks of an eye; even if anybody else had the intention, they simply did not have time to intervene.
Ba Fenghan and Qu Ao were the first to be locked in a fierce hand-to-hand combat. Palm and sword came and went, force and qi clashed against each other, the sound lingered on.
Afterwards Qu Ao withdrew; he quickly retreated to evade Song Shidao’s sword coming down on him from high in the air.
Ba Fenghan stood straight like a mountain, pointing the Beheading Mystery Sword to Qu Ao, he laughed aloud and said, “Qu Ao, your acute spirit has already dwindled, your confidence has gone. Later on, don’t let Fu Qian seize the opportunity to slaughter you.”
By the time Song Shidao landed by his side, Xu Ziling has already hacked his palm down on Bian Bufu’s silver hoops for eighteen times in a row, while both of them were still in the air.
Twice has Bian Bufu suffered losses, and both times it was because he made an error in judging the enemy, resulting in the lost of decisive opportunity.
The first mistake was that he thought that before Xu Ziling arrived, he would be one step ahead of him in taking care of Kou Zhong, so that at least he would have saved Shangguan Long.
Who would have thought that Ba Fenghan’s palm has enhanced Xu Ziling approaching speed several folds, so that he was forced to change his move to deal with him first.
The second mistake was that he did not anticipate that Xu Ziling was able to control the speed of his spiraling energy; sometimes fast, but quickly became slow, or from fast, it suddenly turned slow, so that he was caught off guard and did not know how to deal with it. The risk elevated to a dangerous level, and it entailed an extremely strenuous effort from him.
When martial art masters were facing each other, one mistake was enough to be fatal, let alone two in successions.
Were it not for his demonic power, which, although it has not reached Zhu Yuyan or Wanwan’s ’heaven boundary’ level, it has already reached the ‘earth boundary’ level, he was able to send out and retrieve at will, Xu Ziling would have taken his life early on.
Upon self-introspection, Bian Bufu realized that with his power alone, it would be difficult for him to deal with the two boys at once. Thereupon he made prompt decision: as soon as his feet touched the ground, he soared back up into the air toward the roof of one of the multi-storied buildings, and disappeared without any trace.
This moment Ba Fenghan has already retreated toward Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling. Letting out a loud roar, the three caught Shangguan Long in the middle, and then, under Qu Ao’s hateful eyes, they carried him off, turned and left abruptly.
Qu Ao’s gaze turned toward Song Shidao, whose sword qi was aimed at him from a distance. Astonished, he said, “This Xiongtai’s swordsmanship is indeed not bad; I wonder what is honorable surname and great given name?”
Song Shidao knew that Qu Ao would definitely vent all his anger and resentment to him, yet he remained calm without any sign of fear; laughing leisurely, he said, “It’s better for Qu Laoshi [teacher/old master] not to know, so that in making your move you won’t have any misgivings.”
Nodding his head, Qu Ao said, “Very well!”
Mad laughter suddenly rang out.
Qu Ao was about to go all-out when this majestic-sounding, resonant laughter shook the heavens; even the entire Tingliu Pavilion seemed to be shaken.
No one was not emotionally moved.
This person’s laughter carried strong qi, obviously his qigong has reached the pinnacle.
Qu Ao’s countenance was slightly changed as well. “Who’s there?” he shouted.
The laughter stopped abruptly.
The person’s voice seemed to come from an exceedingly remote place. “I am Fu Qian,” he said, “Qu Laoshi is indeed like Fenghan Xiong said, your acute spirit has already dwindled; Fu Qian will fight a one-sided battle. Why don’t you pick another day for the duel? Tonight while the romance is in the air [orig. wind, flower, snow and moon; trite poetry subject], we’ll enjoy Miss Shang’s ultimate art in peace and quiet. Qu Laoshi, what do you think?”
The crowd roared in laughter.
Turned out Fu Qian has been here earlier.
※ ※ ※
Triumphant over kidnapping Shangguan Long, the three men dashed out of Man Qing Yuan from the back, and ran along the ridges of the roof, heading toward the south of the city.
Their destination was the Jingnian Dhyana Hall located at the southern suburb.
Their plan was that as soon as they obtained necessary information from Shangguan Long, they would immediately head toward the Dhyana Hall to look for the Jade Annulus of He Clan.
They were all in the highest state of alert.
Since Bian Bufu had made his move, naturally Wanwan could be lurking somewhere nearby, so of course they had to be vigilant.
Yin Gui Pai has always been a despot, there was no way they would easily let others capture their man like this.
Kou Zhong was leading, Ba Fenghan carried Shangguan Long, and Xu Ziling brought up the rear.
They randomly jumped down side lanes, or entered some residential buildings and got out the other way, altering their escape route indeterminately, so that others would not find them easily.
After traveling for three li, the tall southern wall of the city was in sight, so far no one was trying to stop them.
The three were happy, but were baffled as well.
With Wanwan and Bian Bufu’s ability, how could they watch helplessly as the three walked away?
The only explanation was that Wanwan was not in Luoyang, and Bian Bufu realized that alone, he did not have enough power to deal with the three.
Kou Zhong was leaping toward the roof of a magnificent looking residential building, but suddenly he jumped back down to the ground and led the other two slipping away from the other direction.
Behind him, Ba Fenghan knew something was not right, “What’s the matter?” he called out.
While his feet did not stop running, Kou Zhong replied, “There’s a woman ahead.”
“Is it female demon Wan?” Xu Ziling asked.
Kou Zhong hesitated, “It didn’t look like her,” he said, “Wanwan has never worn a veil.”
In the blink of an eye the side lane ended.
The three of them simultaneously heard a tender and soft humph of a female voice resounding in their eardrums.
Even with their guts, they could not stop chilliness from creeping into their heart.
It should be noted that they were rushing at full speed, yet the opponent was still able to send her voice into their ears. Merely this skill has already reached the ‘universally shocking’ level.
Kou Zhong made a somersault sideways over the top of the wall of the building to their left, and then he darted across some unknown family’s rear garden, and leaped onto the closest roof of the building inside the courtyard.
Like his shadow the other two followed closed behind him and onto the back of the roof.
The three stopped suddenly.
They looked toward the roof of another building ahead.
Under the slanting moonlight, they saw a woman, wearing plain and simple, yet elegant and beautiful, clothes and ornaments, her face was hidden inside thick veil, was standing against the wind, facing them.
A strange, indescribable feeling appeared in the three men’s heart. They knew that with the opponent’s qinggong, there was absolutely no chance for them to escape.
Her slender figure was graceful; her hair was tied in a bun on top of her head. Although they could not see her flowery countenance, they could feel her elegance and charm that drew people to come to her.
Merely her standing posture had some kind of feeling that would cause people not want to turn their eyes from her; it was also full of extremely subtle tempting insinuation.
In this way, without the need to expose her jade countenance, this woman was still able to exude such a powerful charm, which, even in their dream, the three had never thought about.
Ba Fenghan’s tiger-eyes shone with sharp flashes; setting down Shangguan Long slowly, he spoke in heavy voice, “Has ‘Empress Yin’ Zhu Yuyan come in person?”
Although Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong had already guessed that it was her, yet this moment hearing Ba Fenghan spoke out her name, they could not help feeling numbness on their scalp.
Another tender shout rang in the three’s eardrums. Even with their skill, they felt sharp pain as if their eardrum was pricked with a needle.
Zhu Yuyan suddenly vanished, while at the same time the three felt violent whooshing in their ears, like the sound of the howling wind of the storm.
The howling wind seemed to be growing in intensity like tidal waves; suddenly the whole world seemed to be full of the dreadful sound of the gale’s angry roar.
Yet all around, they saw the world was as peaceful as before. Hence they knew that Zhu Yuyan was playing her trick on them.
By the time the sound of the howling wind turned into the sound of thunderstorm, the three were overcome with terrifying feeling as if they were right in the eye of the storm, with howling wind and torrential rain all around them; their bodies felt clammy, their footsteps faltered. It took supreme willpower just to keep their balance.
Such a devilish skill, certainly it was unheard of.
The raging waves crashed onto the shore, the storm surged up violently.
The three were completely at a loss as how Zhu Yuyan could make them feel such an illusion.
They really felt huge waves, taller than the city wall, were crashing down on them with astonishing power.
Xu Ziling was the first to react.
This time it was not an illusion, but Zhu Yuyan, taking advantage while their mind was under her control, was launching a surprised attack.
In this critical junction between life and death, Xu Ziling calmed down. Although his eardrums were still confused by the demonic noise, his perception was as calm as the moon in the well, he did not miss everything that was going on around him the least bit.
With a cold shout, his spiraling energy shot out, in the shape of a fist that moved toward the nucleus of the toppling-the-mountain-and-overturning-the-seas ‘gigantic wave’ that was crashing down on them.
The gigantic wave suddenly turned into a deep and immeasurable vortex, trying to suck Xu Ziling into it.
But the demonic noise wreaking havoc in his eardrums suddenly vanished, indicating that this acclaimed-to-be the number one martial art master of the demonic school must exert all her strength to be able to fully use this demonic noise; if it weren’t like this, probably even Ning Daoqi would be defeated under her hands.
This moment the three already lost the key moment.
Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan regained their senses at the same time. They both drew their saber and sword, and separately attacked Zhu Yuyan, who appeared from the end of the roof slope, from left and right.
A lily-white hand, which surpassed snow and outshined frost, which beauty could be regarded as extraordinary, stretched out from inside the oversized robe sleeve; delicate, slender, which grace was superior to jade, fingers delivered abstruse, difficult to understand, complex movements in the night sky.
This moment Xu Ziling could not hold himself; he was being pulled by her Tian Mo Gong that his body was swiftly flying toward her, while in horror he realized suddenly that the movements of Zhu Yuyan’s delicate fingers unexpectedly faintly controlled his quite-possible attack route, and it was as if he was delivering himself to her to be slaughtered.
If Wanwan was a deep and immeasurable pond, then Zhu Yuyan was a vast and boundless ocean.
Wanwan’s demonic skill already has myriad changes, so that it was impossible to defend effectively.
But Zhu Yuyan’s Tian Mo Da Fa [great method of the devil] has reached the following-one’s-heart’s-desire’, the omnipotent, the acme-of-perfection level.
Xu Ziling was quick-witted by nature; he already sent out his spiraling energy in the opposite direction. Immediately his body lightened, and he broke away from Zhu Yuyan’s concentrated Tian Mo Gong’s gravitational field.
A gentle, beautiful, and sweet-sounding sigh rang in Xu Ziling’s ear. By the time Xu Ziling realized something was not right, a burst of demonic energy, which seemed to be there but not exactly there, was already encroaching the meridian on his right hand right when his spiraling energy was coming to an end.
Xu Ziling had superior ability and wisdom, he had already guessed that she might do this trick, thereupon he spat out a burst of his own spiraling energy.
The two streams of true energy met at the Jianjing acupoint [on the shoulder].
Zhu Yuyan’s demonic energy was immediately burst more than half, but there is still one stream of sharp-needle-like swimming energy, which managed to enter his body.
Xu Ziling grunt in pain and staggered back, while spitting out a mouthful of fresh blood. ‘Bonk!’ he fell sitting down below Shangguan Long, who was lying on the roof ridge.
‘Huh?’ Zhu Yuyan exclaimed in surprise, obviously she was extremely shocked that after receiving her full blast of energy, he still did not lose his life.
Meanwhile Ba Fenghan’s Beheading Mystery Sword and Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well arrived at the same time.
Letting out a tender sigh, Zhu Yuyan withdrew her lily-white hand into her sleeve, and then like moving clouds and flowing water she met the two’s attack. Left and right, her sleeves swiftly brushed away, heavily whipped the blade of their weapons.
Actually, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan have already given their all, within less than ten paces of distance they already changed their moves many times, with the purpose of preventing Zhu Yuyan from grasping their momentum path.
Who would have thought that Zhu Yuyan floated to the left and shifted to the right, so that they practically could not grasp her position, and were thus from taking the initiative, they fell into the passive side.
What appeared to be light brushing of the pair of water-and-cloud sleeves, in their eyes were irresolute like gliding bird or leaping fish, with no track to be traced. In just a short period of time they were being whipped by her head on.
This moment Xu Ziling took a deep breath and sprang up; sending out his power via his legs, he shot up to the air, his pair of hands turned into layer upon layer of palm shadows shooting toward Zhu Yuyan.
‘Bang! Bang!’
After two explosive noise of qi clashing against each other, Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan were jolted from head to foot, and fell down to the left and right.
Were it not for the fact that Zhu Yuyan had to divide her power to strike the two at the same time, perhaps just like Xu Ziling earlier, they would have sustained injuries and spurted blood.
Originally Zhu Yuyan was determined to kill one of them, but she did not anticipate that the injured Xu Ziling would attack again. Her fragrant heart could not help feeling greatly surprised.
Meanwhile Kou Zhong and Ba Fenghan regrouped and attacked again from both sides.
Zhu Yuyan let out a tender laughter, both hands turned into myriad sleeve shadows, completely shrouded all three.
For a period of time the sound of clashing qi rang out continuously.
And then the tree men simultaneously hit empty air. Zhu Yuyan already broke away from the three’s toppling-the-mountains-and-overturning-the-seas offensive. Floating away toward the roof ridge, she grabbed Shangguan Long’s belt and lifted him up as if he had no weight at all.
The three stood side-by-side on the roof spine, all with disheveled hair, and were in such a sorry state.
From behind the veil Zhu Yuyan swept the three with her gaze once; and then she sighed and said, “I’ll let you three live two, three days longer! Right now I need to preserve my strength to heal my man. You may go!”
Ba Fenghan smiled slightly and said, “Such a beautiful speech. But just now you, Zhu Hou [Empress Zhu], has tried with all your might but failed to defeat us. That is an indisputable fact.”
Zhu Yuyan spoke softly, “I don’t care if it is a fact of not a fact, I’ll leave it up to you to decide! Goodbye!”
With a slight sway, she was already far away, carrying Shangguan Long with her, and disappeared into the depths of the splendid light of the City of Luoyang.
With a mortal-danger-escape-alive feeling the three did not dare to tarry too long; they quickly slipped away.