Although Wanwan gained the upper hand, the shock in her heart was no less than Xu Ziling's.
Her Tian Mo Gong [see Book 10 Chapter 6] has reached the level where she could send out and pull back at will, it could be hard, it could be soft, in countless permutation. Other than her benevolent master Yin Hou [Empress Yin] Zhu Yuyan, although Yin Gui Pai has never lacked capable persons, nobody else has been able to reach this level in such a young age as she was.
Moreover, from their previous contact she had more or less grasped that Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling's fantastic true qi originated from the ‘Secret to Long Life', not only it has spurred her to strive in unleashing her power, it also gave her the confidence that she would be able to kill Xu Ziling in one fell swoop.
Who would have thought that as the Tian Mo true qi stabbed Xu Ziling's arms, it was locked down rigidly by his spiraling energy, so that it could not go pass the jianjing acupoint on his shoulders, and thus her grand plan of attacking straight into his heart and arteries and veins has become an empty dream?
Moreover, just now without sparing any energy, she unscrupulously blew out her true qi to pierce Xu Ziling's eyes; who would have thought that he was able to evade? Therefore, how could she not be shocked?
Meanwhile Wu Yan, three men, had already withdrew. Yellow glow flashed, Kou Zhong's Moon in the Well hacked down on her head, carrying with it a powerful vortex of qi, brushing against her clothes that it created rustling noise.
Based on Wanwan's ability, although she was confident that she would be able to fend off Kou Zhong's saber strike, she did not have any confidence that she would be able to deal with Shang Xiuxun, Shang Peng, Shang He and Liang Zhi, four people's joint attack.
Right now the image of Xu Ziling's cold laugh just a moment ago was still reeling in her heart. Abruptly raising up her Tian Mo Gong, she retreated backward toward Wu Yan.
Her sleeves raised up.
‘Bang!'
Kou Zhong's eyes shot a strange light; his saber came down on Wanwan's intersecting sleeves blocking his strike, but Wanwan's sleeves felt solid, yet empty at the same time, so that not only he was unable to exert his strength to push further, he also felt a strange stream of sucking energy, making him feel that if he continued pushing forward, he would fall into an immeasurable danger.
Although Kou Zhong's guts surpassed others, he did not dare to advance prematurely, and thus in his shock he pulled his saber back and withdrew in such a sorry state.
In the meantime, Shang Xiuxun, four people, attacked from all directions.
Shang Peng and Shang He, two veteran martial art masters worked together to attack Wanwan's left flank. Four hands hacked down using the edge of their palm like sabers coming together as if it was one person with four arms, flowing swiftly like quicksilver in an incomparably powerful offensive toward her.
Shang Xiuxun charged forward from behind retreating Kou Zhong, her sword weaved a network of blade shadows closing in straight toward Wanwan's face. Her sword qi created sharp whistling noise, not at all inferior to Kou Zhong's saber strike a moment ago.
Liang Zhi's sword came from the other side, heavy and precise, it looked clumsy, but actually brilliant, inside the deep and powerful strike there hidden light and easy move. With a seemingly irregular pattern he practically sealed Wanwan's escape route on this side.
By this time Wanwan's delicate back was only about half a zhang away from retreating Wu Yan, but she suddenly moved faster.
Wu Yan thought that it was a good opportunity that he must not miss; instead of retreating farther, he advanced quickly, and with all his might he hacked his saber onto the back of her head. As he saw that his strike was about to hit its target, Wanwan suddenly swayed away slightly with a superhuman speed so that his saber struck down on her shoulder.
Wu Yan was cheering inwardly, but then to his shock he felt as if his saber did not hit a solid object, instead, it slipped over her shoulder and continued moving down. His soul flew and scattered away, his nose suddenly sniffed an overflowing fragrance. This demoness with peerless beauty had already crashed herself into his bosom.
By the time Shang Xiuxun and the others cried out inwardly, the sound of shattering bones and splitting flesh continuously filled the air. Blood oozed out of Wuyan's eyes, nose, ears and mouth, as he died a violent death on the spot.
Wanwan spun around to evade the three-pronged attack. She whirled behind Wu Yan's dead body, and then with her back against the not-yet-fallen-to-the-ground Wu Yan, her two sleeves swiftly fluttered forward.
A Ranch warrior and another Jingling general were immediately hit by the sleeves and were thrown backward. Their weapons flew away from their hands, their blood gushed out, their lives have been taken away.
Wanwan pushed Wu Yan's dead body with her head swiftly backward toward Shang Xiuxun, four people, who, by this time, had their spirit discouraged. And then using her qi, she shook the corpse that it flew toward Shang Xiuxun, along with her two sleeves attacking from the left and right.
At this point of the battle, although it had been only a few blinks of an eye, she had already killed five people; evidently her formidability was utterly shocking.
Although Shang Xiuxun hated her to the bone, she was aware that Wu Yan's dead body was imbued with Wanwan's Tian Mo power, plus she was unwilling to damage her subordinate's body, thereupon she helplessly pulled her sword back and sidestepped.
‘Bang! Bang!'
Powerful qi collided.
Liang Zhi was brushed by her that he spun around and tumbled sideways. He crashed onto Feng Ge's old chest, who was about to charge forward.
Feng Ge let out a painful grunt and fell down to the ground, unexpectedly he was unable to crawl back up.
Wanwan's seemingly simple sleeve-brush actually contained the marvelous power of Tian Mo. First, she sucked the power from Liang Zhi's saber that not a drop remained. And then using her own qi, she turned it back against Liang Zhi, while hiding within it a spiraling energy. If Liang Zhi did not crash onto Feng Ge, he would suffer internal injury to some degree; but now, that energy was passed on to Feng Ge.
Naturally Feng Ge had never imagined that Wanwan would have this kind of amazing move; immediately he received internal injury and fell down to the ground.
From the original twenty-four people besieging Wanwan, the number was suddenly down to eighteen; five dead, one injured, yet no one has been able to harm half a strand of Wanwan's hair.
Wanwan brushed away Shang Peng and Shang He's sleeves. It was such an impressive move that people were gasping in amazement. Before she even touched the opponents' two pairs of hands, suddenly her sleeves turned into a blur; what is true and what is false was difficult to tell.
The two old men's storm was like casting stone into the ocean; it could only cause a small ripple. Afterwards the four hands tightened together; unexpectedly the hands were wrapped solid by the sleeve, which was then pulled by Wanwan that the two old men crashed against each other.
Xu Ziling, who by this time was still soaring in the air, was able to see everything clearly. He saw Wanwan's sleeve suddenly grew about half a zhang longer. Turned out a white ribbon was flying out of her sleeve. First it passed through the two old men's four hands, and then when it returned, it wound around the two pairs of hands and tied them together.
Xu Ziling instinctively knew the situation was far from good. Still high up in the air he accelerated his fall.
Wanwan looked up. Her out-of-the-world beautiful face appeared to be angry, yet it also appeared to be amused, as she cast Xu Ziling a sidelong glance, before moving sideways to dodge him, dragging the two old men along that they stumbled and fell, without the slightest bit power to strike back.
Shang Xiuxun cried out tenderly, raising her sword in a rescue attempt, when suddenly she realized that using the ribbon, Wanwan was controlling the two old men to crash against her. In her shock she quickly leaped back.
‘Bang! Bang!'
Luo Fang and another Ranch warrior had their weapons struck by Wanwan's sleeves. They spurted blood and fell down, no longer had any power to continue fighting.
Kou Zhong also knew that the situation was deteriorating. Like a swimming fish he swayed and flashed behind Wanwan's back and to the side, and then brandishing his saber he chopped on her waist.
Stream by stream Tian Mo true qi attacked the two old men via the ribbon. With each attack the two old men spurted mouthful by mouthful of blood. They were completely under Wanwan's control just like puppets; whether moving sideways and crashing forward, it was entirely Wanwan's decision. Such a tragic scene, making people could not bear to witness.
‘Crash!'
A Ranch warrior failed to evade, he was knocked by the two old men that he flew about a zhang away and died on the spot.
This moment Xu Yang attacked Wanwan from the side; with great difficulty he used his tobacco pipe to block her fragrant sleeve. But Wanwan's leg flew up and kicked him on the lower abdomen, sending him flying away.
Fortunately Kou Zhong's Moon in the Well happened to arrive at this precise moment, forcing Wanwan to divide her strength to deal with it first; otherwise, this kick would definitely take Xu Yang's old life.
Like a living serpent, the ribbon shook the two old men off; it then rolled back and shot out to brush away Kou Zhong's Moon in the Well.
‘Pow!'
The Moon in the Well was swept away.
Shang Peng and Shang He, two veteran martial art masters, spurted their last mouthful of blood, as they followed the ribbon flying out in separate directions, knocking against a Jingling general and a Ranch warrior, who were about to attack, sending them to the ground with heavy injury.
The ribbon made a circle in the air before it flew to wrap itself on Kou Zhong's neck.
Since his debut, Kou Zhong has gone through several hundreds battle, big and small. But he has never encounter any adversary whose martial art skill has reached perfection like Wanwan, who was able to change unpredictably.
No wonder the other day Lu Miaozi said that if right now they came across Zhu Yuyan, they would only deliver their lives.
As a matter of fact, Tian Mo Gong's most formidable feature was its ability to follow the practitioner's heart's desires, and thus was able to injure the opponent under any circumstances, something that no one cannot guard against. Besides, if the opponent was completely blind as to the changes in her move, how could he decide whether to attack or to retreat and defend?