Book 13 Chapter 12 - Matchless Demonic Skill
The first to arrived 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.
Although I did not intentionally stop at a cliffhanger (this part happens to be right in the middle of chapter), but I thought you might love the anticipation ...