Beheading Mystery Sword swiftly attacked Kou Zhong. His left hand, constantly changing from a fist to a palm and vice versa, shot out toward Xu Ziling; powerful and dauntless without equal.
Clashing noise lingered on faintly. Without yielding a single step, Kou Zhong successively took Ba Fenghan's three sword strikes. The opponent's sword potential suddenly changed; sometimes it opened wide, another time it closed tight. The sword style changed delicately: rolling, sweeping, slashing, cutting; the technique was mysterious and unusual, so that Kou Zhong was completely shrouded inside the sword's power.
The other hand alternated between stable as the bridge and nimble as the horse, striking from a distant and attacking from near, so that Xu Ziling was unable to coordinate his attack with Kou Zhong's to besiege him.
The most formidable thing was that he was able to divide his mind into two different xinfa, so that he appeared to be two different persons, who were able to use different strategy to deal with the two boys.
For a while, on this approximately three, four zhang diameter mountain peak, the sword qi rose high into the air, murderous aura filled the atmosphere.
Seeing how heroic and brave Ba Fenghan was, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's spirit was greatly aroused. They were abut to counterattack with all their might when Ba Fenghan suddenly spun around so that with his left hand he now dealt with Kou Zhong's Moon in the Well, and with the Beheading Mystery in his right hand he attacked Xu Ziling wildly; immediately the two boys' offensive was put under pressure.
By the time they steadied their footing, Ba Fenghan let out a thunderous shout, his left palm and his right sword moved together, becoming a fantastical mix of sword ray and palm shadow, like howling wind and torrential rain the left and right hands moved alternately, attacking the two boys that they were trapped in the disadvantageous position and could only react passively.
Kou Zhong raised a mouthful of qi, he flashed across while his saber hacked ferociously.
At first the saber seemed to be splitting an empty air, but by the time the Moon in the Well dropped, it was as if Ba Fenghan's Beheading Mystery Sword was delivered right into the saber path that the sword had to meet the saber head on.
Vortex of qi like a torrential flood burst forth, shaking Ba Fenghan that he was forced to take half a step sideways.
Ba Fenghan roared in laughter and said, "Now that was an interesting saber strike.”
‘Bang!'
Xu Ziling seized the opportunity to punch; Ba Fenghan lost his momentum, he was forced to meet hard with hard.
Even with Ba Fenghan's ability, he was forced to open wide his defense that he was unable to maintain his dominance with powerful attack like before.
Kou Zhong won over Ba Fenghan's right position. When Ba Fenghan retreated swiftly with the intention of regrouping and coming back stronger [orig. ‘return in a swirl of dust'], the Moon in the Well changed into a streak of yellow light, swift as a thunder, fast as a lightning it shot toward Ba Fenghan's right flank. The saber had not arrived, the vortex of qi already blasted him.
First, Ba Fenghan's left palm chopped down an empty space, forcing Xu Ziling to back off; and then he swung the sword backhandedly while twisting his body to evade Kou Zhong's Moon in the Well. Just like before, he exerted a hundred percent of his power, yet he did not seem to be as dauntless as before.
Suddenly Ba Fenghan retreated backward before advancing forward again; the sword following the person, he took the opportunity just before Kou Zhong's Moon in the Well arrived in front of him, the Beheading Mystery Sword turned into a rainbow, shooting toward Xu Ziling, who was about a zhang away from the edge of the cliff. Swift and fierce without equal, surpassing his previous attack, indicating that his retreat just now was not a sign of weakness, but a decoy.
The most dangerous thing was that the sword was covering quite a large area; Xu Ziling could not retreat, his only choice was to meet the attack head-on.
‘Pow!'
It was as if Xu Ziling already anticipated that Ba Fenghan would launch this move; he lowered his body into a horse stance, one palm struck the body of the Beheading Mystery Sword.
If this were a flat ground, the attack was brilliant, the block was wonderful; it could be said that the beauty was divided evenly between the two parties.
However, under current circumstances, when the two streams of energy collided, Ba Fenghan could move backward, while Xu Ziling absolutely must not back off.
Seeing Xu Ziling was nearly knocked off the cliff by Ba Fenghan's internal energy, Kou Zhong turned pale. But Ba Fenghan shouted, "Grab the sword!”
Xu Ziling grabbed the body of the sword, and Ba Fenghan pulled him back, away from the cliff edge.
Releasing the Beheading Mystery, Xu Ziling wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, "How dangerous! I thought Ba Xiong really wanted to kill me.”
Ba Fenghan laughed aloud. He put the sword back into its sheath and said, "How can I be that despicable? If I wanted to kill Xu Xiong, I have to do it in an upright and frank way. I was just testing Xu Xiong's real ability, and sure enough, you were really able to take what I thought to be a surefire [orig. ‘not one failure in ten thousand'] sword strike.”
And then he mused, "Your so-called Yijian Technique, which you mastered by self-study, is actually similar in shape and appearance, as well as in spirit, with Fu Cailin's Yijian Technique. Just like Xu Xiong blocking technique a moment ago, it has some kind of proactive overtone that is hard to understand. But with Yijian technique's xinfa of ‘Using the man to play the sword, using the sword to play the enemy' is quite different.”
"What is ‘Using the man to play the sword, using the sword to play the enemy'?” Kou Zhong asked.
Ba Fenghan replied, "Generally speaking, it means using the sword like a chess piece [Reminder: ‘yi' of ‘yijian' means ‘(a game of) chess'], which can be put in all kinds of situation. As soon as the enemy entered the game board, it can be arranged at one's discretion; it looks as if one can anticipate the variation in the opponent's style. But gentlemen's Yijian Method is not like that at all. For example, can Xu Xiong tell me why just now you were able to be one step ahead by sealing off the attack path of my Beheading Mystery Sword, so that I was unable to unleash the subtlety and force path of my swordsmanship as much as I liked?”
Xu Ziling's eyes lit up; he nodded and said, "Ba Xiong's analysis is unusually thorough; it was purely driven by instinct, giving me the feeling that Ba Xiong would brandish your sword and attack like so.”
Ba Fenghan sighed and said, "That is precisely the beauty of the ‘Secret to Long Life'. This Taoist School's treasure book indeed contains the mystery of life. Not only did it change your physique, it also, cell by cell, hair by hair, releases your spiritual potential. One might well ask, in the history of Wulin, who has been capable of progressing at a lightning speed like you? Being able to drive spiraling qi is even more unheard of. But I also gained considerable benefit. If I can be successful in the future, this experience of being together for ten days with two gentlemen will definitely occupy a key position.”
Kou Zhong roared in laughter and said, "Listening to you, my hands itch! We'd better fight for several rounds.”
‘Qiang!'
The Moon in the Well left its scabbard and swiftly attacked Ba Fenghan.