Book 10 Chapter 2 - Debut of the Divine Skill
Leaving the gorge area, Xu Ziling raised his qi to speed along among the trees, while from time to time shooting the divine escape to alter his angle and direction, as well as to increase his speed, sort of like a kid who had just received a fun new toy, which he enjoyed and loved very much that he could not bear to let it go.
He felt as if the Flying Divine Escape has become a part of his body. The nimble and free-flowing true qi was the ingenious link between he and the divine escape, enabling him to manipulate it like ‘what the heart wishes, the hand accomplishes'.
It was a little bit like using a long whip; he was even able to use the divine escape to forge ahead in a roundabout way [orig. going round the curves and skirting the corners], so that he was able to go through the forest like a ghost, without any obstruction at all.
In fact, he was almost ‘flying' freely like a hawk; whenever his toes pushed on the tree trunk or horizontal branches, he would get enough force to propel him forward, so that he was flying across the woods without his feet ever touching the ground. This kind of joyous feeling was indeed the most fresh and exciting experience he ever felt in his entire life. The most wonderful thing was that because he was using the spiraling power, the divine escape automatically spun as it flew toward the target, so that not only it shot faster, the strength also increased tremendously as well.
Right this moment, the wind-borne sound of battle was starting to enter his ears, and it was growing more intense by the minute.
Recalling that the Four Big Bandits killed and burned everywhere, making the common people live in utter misery, Xu Ziling could not stop righteous indignation from filling his heart, so he flew toward the sound of the fighting at his top speed.
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By the time Kou Zhong slid down to the ground, sound of the wind sprang up everywhere; he already fell into a heavy siege.
Dou Wei and Li Gang blocked his escape route, while fast as lightning Li Xiuning also arrived; together with the two men they formed a triangle, with Kou Zhong in the middle.
While Kou Zhong was groaning inwardly, Chai Shao landed by Li Xiuning's side. Laughing proudly, he said, "Friend came here easy; if you are able to leave easy, will our Li Family have any face to see our Jianghu friends?”
If Chai Shao was not present, Kou Zhong would have simply revealed his identity and explained the purpose of his visit, and this matter could be resolved. But now that he came face-to-face with his rival in love, unexpectedly an indescribable fire rose up in his heart, no matter what he refused to get away from this situation in such a stupid and cowardly way.
It's just that he was caught off guard because he never expected that Chai Shao might hide to protect Li Xiuning in secret.
Sound of the wind sprang up everywhere, more than a dozen Li Xiuning's personal guards showed themselves up the parapets and between the building and the trees, forming a ring around him so tight that not one drop of water could trickle through. Most had a bow or a crossbow in their hands.
Li Xiuning's sword was pointing to the vital acupoint on his chest, bursts of chilling sword qi were pressing on him. She spoke coldly, "Which side does Sire represent?”
‘Qiang!'
It was only now did Chai Shao pulled a pair of arm-protector steel truncheon, one long, one short, from his back. The long one was approximately three chi, the short one was about a chi and a half; both were glittering gold, extremely dazzling to the eyes.
He was moving in such a confident and at ease way, which was pleasant to look at, but at the same time his imposing manner was quite intimidating. Somehow, this has aroused Kou Zhong's eager-to-win, striving-to-excel, strange state of mind even more.
Dou Wei was wielding a heavy steel staff, which he held horizontally in front of his chest, practically cutting off Kou Zhong's rear right side's escape path, making people felt like wherever he was going to run to, he would have had to stake everything he had.
Li Gang was armed with a pair of sword, but the degree of sharpness of his sword qi was a notch below that of Li Xiuning's; hence it could be said that among the four people besieging Kou Zhong, his martial art was the weakest.
Before they fought, Kou Zhong was already certain that Chai Shao's martial art was superior to Li Xiuning's, because as soon as he appeared, the besieging net's pressure immediately multiplied several folds, so that Kou Zhong did not dare to rashly run away.
Abruptly sucking in a mouthful of true qi, Kou Zhong pressed down the anxiety in his heart, returning to the moon-in-the-well placid condition. Using the technique taught by Lu Miaozi, he applied his internal energy to tighten up his vocal cords, so that his laughter became sharp and shrill, "This time I came blindly here, indeed there is something I'd like to tell you. Would Princess Ning be interested to hear?”
As Li Xiuning's eyes met his, her heart was suddenly filled with a familiar feeling. "Have we met before?” she asked in astonishment.
Letting out a cold snort Chai Shao said, "If Sire is willing to throw your weapon down and have your hands tied, we would listen to whatever it is you have to say.”
Remembering Chai Shao's arrogant manners toward him and Xu Ziling with arrogance the other day, and how his expression showed contempt as he looked at the two boys, Kou Zhong's anger flared.
Especially now that he was standing side-by-side with Li Xiuning in an intimate manner, like they were a couple of ‘talented man and beautiful woman', a match made in heaven, it would be strange indeed if Kou Zhong's heart was not filled with hatred out of jealousy.
He was even considering going all-out, breaking with siege with all his strength, no longer care about Li Xiuning's affair, to see what kind of ability this kid had that he dared to protect Li Xiuning.
Li Gang spoke in heavy voice, "If friend is unwilling to have your hands tied and waiting to be captured, don't blame the saber and sword for not having any eyes.”
Kou Zhong sighed and said slowly, "I only want to say something, and then I'll leave immediately. Would Princess Ning step aside and talk to me?”
Dou Wei laughed toward the other men and said, "This guy thinks that we are just the same as him, an idiot!”
Hearing that, Li Xiuning and Chai Shao looked at each other and laughed.
Originally Kou Zhong was going to persuade using all possible arguments to uncover Yuan'er's conspiracy, but seeing Li Xiuning and Chai Shao looking at each other with lovey-dovey eyes, instantly he threw this thought at the back of his head. Worse yet, he saw Li Xiuning's limpid-autumn-water like touching beautiful eyes cast a sincere look full of deep passion; immediately he had a hard-to-understand feeling as if he was being cheated.
‘Ring!'
As the Moon in the Well left its scabbard, Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, "If you want to fight, then let's fight! But don't you ever regret it!”
Li Xiuning and the others immediately felt his forceful, overbearing saber qi; hastily they hastened their own true qi to resist.
Chai Shao asked in surprise, "Friend's skill is out of the ordinary; definitely you are not a nobody in Jianghu. Why until now still insist on being sneaky by not daring to reveal your name and surname?”
Kou Zhong's sharp gaze fell on Li Xiuning's pretty face, which wound around his dreams and pulled away his soul; he said indifferently, "Isn't Princess Ning's future husband being superfluous? If I can reveal my name and surname, wouldn't I already say it early on?”
The four people's countenance changed greatly.
It should be noted that presently Chai Shao's identity was kept a secret, because he was tasked to protect Li Xiuning in secret. If Shang Xiuxun found out, the relationship between the two sides would immediately turn awkward.
However, this was not an unresolved matter, they could always explain. The frightening thing was if Kou Zhong were Li Mi's man, it would mean that their real strength has been exposed to the enemy.
A murderous aura flitted across Li Xiuning's pretty eyes; she said coldly, "How do you know his identity?”
Actually, it was tantamount to admitting to Kou Zhong that Chai Shao was her future husband. Although Kou Zhong was already aware of this fact, he still felt as if the pit of his stomach was struck by a thunder, making him so angry that he nearly vomited blood.
Smiling wryly, he said, "There are a lot of things in this world that are difficult to explain. But I am definitely not related to either Li Mi or the Ranch. If Princess can be sensible and agree to have an earnest talk with me, I can guarantee a valuable information in return, and then I will immediately leave.”
Chai Shao shook his pair of long and short arm-protector steel truncheon; murderous aura immediately pervaded the air. Laughing casually, he said, "Do you think you can leave that easy? If you don't throw down your saber and surrender immediately, you'll see real trouble under my hands!”
Dou Wei, who was standing at Kou Zhong's side, also shouted, "Since you have the guts to come, don't be gutless by wanting to run away.”
Kou Zhong sighed inwardly; if this moment he changed his mind and introduced himself, it would appear that he was afraid of Chai Shao, which, even if he had to be killed, he would never do. Thereupon he nodded and said, "Sword and saber indeed don't have eyes. Gentlemen, please be careful.”
With a sudden gust of wind Dou Wei's heavy staff smashed toward Kou Zhong's head from behind, practically pulling open the curtain of battle.
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Xu Ziling flew through the sparse forest, and saw outside the forest, torch flames at the prairie illuminate the sky. A group of more than a hundred thieves wearing red band on their heads was besieging a group of twenty or so Ranch's warriors in close combat. Surprisingly he recognized one of the warriors as Luo Fang.
On the hilltop at his left, a dozen or so men were standing; other than one man, who presumably was the leader, the rest were wearing red band on their heads, so they were very easy to recognize.
Obviously Luo Fang and his men had fallen into disadvantageous position; they fought strenuously in circular formation. In the middle of the circle, seven or eight men were either lying on their backs or on their stomachs; apparently they had received injury and thus lost their strength to continue fighting.
On the thieves' side, there were quite a number of casualties as well; it was indeed an intense battle.
Xu Ziling had no time to think why Luo Fang and his men fell into such perilous situation. He soared to the air and threw himself in the middle of the thieves' formation. Before his feet even touched the ground, two men were kicked and died on the spot.