If he had had his men coming with him, he would not have stuck in this bad situation. Just now for the second time he had gone all-out in his attack, hoping to inflict serious damage to Kou Zhong using his school's unique qi cultivation technique, the ‘nine-section shake'; but once again he was giving Xu Ziling the opportunity to attack.
By this time he had more or less have a feel on the two boys' totally different techniques, yet there was some kind of subtle method within it that enable the two boys to blend their internal energy seamlessly. He was fully aware that just now he was barely able to neutralize Kou Zhong's yin energy with his yang power; this moment he could not immediately use his yin power to deal with Xu Ziling's apparent yang energy.
While he was thinking of dodging the attack, he suddenly discovered that a fantastic sucking force was hidden within the gust of wind generated by Xu Ziling's palms. If he dodged, the opponent could easily pull the qi back; not only the momentum would increase, it would also continue on endlessly, until it drained the opponent's strength completely.
His shock truly need not be mentioned. Immediately he roared, "How dare you!” Flicking his wrist, the whip lashed out to the hollow of Xu Ziling's palms.
Xu Ziling screamed and spurted out a mouthful of fresh blood. Like a kite with its string cut he flew over Susu, straight toward Kou Zhong.
Li Zitong struggled hard just to take half a step forward; lifting his sleeve to cover his face, he prevented Xiang Yushan and the others, who were standing about a dozen steps away, from seeing that finally he was unable to suppress his boiling blood and he spurted a little bit of fresh blood.
Up to this point, the three combatants have not even fought for ten moves yet, but everybody had already overwhelmed with the intensity of the close combat that they felt as if the sun and the moon has lost their light.
Kou Zhong was still rolling away that very soon he would hit the Baling Bang people watching on the sideline; unexpectedly he bounced back, caught Xu Ziling, and the two of them fell sitting down on the deck together.
In this short contact, as short as a flash of lightning or a spark of the flint, the two boys' true qi blended together like water and milk, flowing from each other and thus their internal injury was immediately seventy or eighty-percent healed.
Li Zitong lowered his sleeves. Still in daze, he fought hard to stand steadily.
Susu threw herself toward the two boys, bawling loudly.
Xiang Yushan, Big Sister Xiao and Yun Yuzhen unblinkingly kept their gaze on Li Zitong, ready to deal with him. Everybody could see clearly that for Li Zitong to knock down the two boys, he had to pay a bitter price.
Li Zitong was still hesitating whether he should just disregard his face and call for his men to come over to provide reinforcement when Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, helped by Susu, proudly stood up.
Kou Zhong shook the broadsword in his hand and shouted, "Li Zitong indeed has a bit of skill; let us fight again for a hundred rounds.”
Hearing the ample qi in Kou Zhong's voice, Li Zitong was inwardly shocked at how formidable the internal energy cultivation from the ‘Secret to Long Life' was; suddenly he moved toward the port side of the ship. His sharp gaze swept across everybody's face, he laughed aloud and said, "No wonder Old Du held such a high regard on you, you are indeed a great material that Ol' Li could not help feeling fond of your talent. Let's drop this matter here and now; I wish you all safe journey with favorable wind and favorable current.”
He had been rolling about in the black way [criminal world] for many years, he knew how to raise something up and when to put it down. Realizing that it was difficult to capture the two boys alive, plus the fact that Li Mi has issued a decree against them, he thought how much longer would you survive? This moment he'd better win their favor, in case they'd meet again in the future. Besides, this way he would avoid inciting enmity with tremendously powerful Baling Bang.
In addition, he had another thought: if they did not die, after several years, they would consider themselves to be top-notch martial art masters. This kind of enemy, one was already too many, let alone two. Therefore, he dispelled the idea of summoning his subordinates and thus creating more enemies.
Xiang Yushan and the others were stunned; this did not seem like Li Zitong's usual style.
Li Zitong cupped his fist, soared into the air, and returned safely to his ship.
Watching the two ships sailed away, they were finally convinced.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling embraced Susu, they cheerfully shouted, "We won! We won!”
By the time Yun Yuzhen and Big Sister Xiao entered their room to see them, Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong were lying on the bed, Susu was sitting on a chair by the bed, the three of them were chatting amiably. The room was filled with infinite warmth.
The two women sat on the chairs on the other side. Big Sister Xiao laughed tenderly and said, "Turns out you are really that formidable, even Li Zitong was beaten and ran away.”
Kou Zhong put on a modest act and said, "He simply sounded out the difficulties and retreated to avoid defeat!”
Xu Ziling was puzzled, "How did Li Zitong know that we are on board?”
Yun Yuzhen replied, "Yushan is investigating this matter right now, trying to find the possible mole.”
Big Sister Xiao said, "This matter cannot be easily resolved; based on Li Zitong's character, even though on the surface he spoke good words, he might secretly inform Li Mi, and thus borrow someone else's knife to kill you.”
Susu still had lingering fears, "I was scared to death! Xiao Zhong spurted that much blood!”
Staring at Kou Zhong's pale face from the loss of blood, she went on, "Are you sure you are all right?”
Kou Zhong sat back and said with a laugh, "I am really all right. It's just that it will be difficult to treat Shan Xiaoge's injury tonight.”
"Let's wait until you are fully recovered before talking about it!” Susu said.
Big Sister Xiao said, "Tomorrow morning we will arrive at Jiangdu, I hope there won't be any mishaps tonight.”
Giggling, Kou Zhong turned his attention to Yun Yuzhen and said, "I want to go back to my room to sleep.”
Yun Yuzhen's pretty face blushed slightly; she angrily said, "You want to sleep, what does it have to do with me?” In her heart, however, she recalled the powerful, elegant and brilliant tactics with which he dealt with the valiant, insufferably arrogant Li Zitong. Compared to the useless Dugu Ce in dealing with Du Fuwei, she could not help making the decision who was superior and who was inferior.
Kou Zhong sprang out of bed and said to Susu, "Let Didi walk Su Jie back to your room to rest.”
Big Sister Xiao cast Kou Zhong a suggestive glance full of foxy charms; she said in a straightforward manner, "I have just got here, and you are going to sleep?”
Inwardly Kou Zhong was very happy, knowing that due to his performance just now, this coquettish woman has had a whole new level of respect for him; even her manner was different now. He said with a giggle, "After I take care of Su Jie, why don't Dajie come to my room to have a heart-to-heart chat?”
Yun Yuzhen was jealous, but just now she was being too harsh; it would be hard to turn around and withdraw her previous remark.
Big Sister Xiao laughed jovially that she looked like a flower trembling at the tip of a branch; she said, "This Miss must train you, this reckless kid, that internal injury necessitates that you must avoid wine and sex. I still want you to go deal with Yuwen Huaji, I don't want to harm you.”
Susu's pretty face immediately blushed deep red; she glowered at Kou Zhong.
Kou Zhong was greatly embarrassed; he said with a bitter smile, "Dajie is truly forthcoming!”
Susu pulled Kou Zhong away and out of the room.
With only Xu Ziling, Big Sister Xiao and Yun Yuzhen left, the room temporarily quieted down.
Big Sister Xiao looked at Xu Ziling's handsome, magnificent appearance; she suddenly had a strange thought: she was quietly pondering that if this young martial art master was maturing a little bit more, with his aloof and cool temperament, his trim and straight posture, he would be an outstanding character who will make any woman fall in love with him. It's just that his interest toward women was unlike Kou Zhong, who was always full of zest; however, this same exact quality was what attracted other people the most.
She could not help teasing him, "Xu Gongzi's and Zhong Shao's personalities are so different, how could you get along so well?”
Xu Ziling was still lying on the bed practicing his internal energy, he really wished the two women would leave him alone; therefore, he snappily replied, "Perhaps because we have been together since childhood! We are already accustomed to yield to each other.”
Yun Yuzhen was curious, "So you never had any disagreement?” she asked.
Xu Ziling was growing even more impatient; he replied randomly, "Of course we have disagreements, but when the anger subsides, we don't have any problem anymore.”
Hearing the tone of his voice, the two women knew it was time for them to excuse themselves.
Xu Ziling breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking about the last few days, he realized that in terms of ideas and actions, the differences between him and Kou Zhong were growing bigger and bigger; he sighed.
Supposing Kou Zhong really wanted to recruit soldiers and buy horses, to fight over the world and become the emperor, would he or would he not help him?
No one knew better than him about Kou Zhong's amazing strength. Not only his intellect surpassed others, his resourcefulness outstanding, his manner of speaking also exceptional, his method slick and sly. No matter how Xu Ziling mocked and ridiculed him, reproached him and blamed him, this kid did not get angry at all. His eloquence was like torrential tide, he knew how to see the wind and set the helm, so that it would be difficult for anybody to get really angry at him.
Kou Zhong was naturally born with charisma and magnanimity of a leader; given enough time, perhaps even Li Mi, Du Fuwei and the like would even be put to shame by him.
On the other hand, after practicing the ‘Secret to Long Life', Xu Ziling's desire for fame and profit, his admiration for women, were quickly pushed back that he became more and more indifferent.
All he wanted to do right now was to find a less-travelled scenic spot, where he could wholeheartedly lock himself up for an in-depth study of martial arts, to see what kind of level he could climb to in the end.
There was a knock on the door, followed by Yun Yuzhen's voice, "Can we chat for a moment?”
Albeit unwilling, Xu Ziling simply could not be rude to anybody; helplessly he replied in affirmative.
After shutting the door, Yun Yuzhen sat on the bed. Looking down, she examined his more and more manly countenance. "Do you really dislike me, your Beautiful Shifu?” she asked softly.
Xu Ziling and Yun Yuzhen stared at each other for half a day; finally he let out a wry smile and said, "If you have ever been cheated, how do you feel? That night, when Yun Bangzhu and Dugu Ce were chatting and fooling around, the two of us were hiding in the corner, before we decided to flee.”
"Ah!” Yun Yuzhen exclaimed. She was blushing so bad that even the tip of her ears turned red. At a loss to know what to do, she said, "So that's how it is, no wonder Kou Zhong was being disrespectful to me earlier, and you look down on me. But I want you to know that I have my own difficulties; such a big gang, without a strong backer, it would be very easy for us to be taken over by others.”
And then, with a hopeful look on her face, she said, "After our business in Jiangdu is over, I can arrange a hiding place for you, I guarantee it will be safe.”
Xu Ziling sensed that she had the intention to recruit the two of them to strengthen her Jukun Bang. His heart was moved; he speculated that the reason Kou Zhong disregarded former enmity and teased Yun Yuzhen was most likely because he wanted to get the Jukun Bang under his banner, to become what he called ‘our troops'. Otherwise, when he was talking about Yun Yuzhen earlier, he would not have mentioned the ‘by hook or by crook' aspect.
Kou Zhong has grown to become more and more formidable.
Yun Yuzhen stretched out her lily-white hand to caress his cheek; she said softly, "Just give it a serious thought!”
Xu Ziling waited until her hand touched the door latch before he suddenly asked, "How was Kou Zhong being disrespectful to you?”
Yun Yuzhen's pretty face blushed; still thinking that Xu Ziling was jealous, she irately said, "He is so bad; do I need to say more?” And then she hurriedly went out.
Xu Ziling closed his eyes; suddenly his heart felt uncomfortable.
Kou Zhong was lying.
He said he was only touching Yun Yuzhen's hand; it appeared that he was only testing Xu Ziling's reaction to this matter.
If his reckoning was correct, Kou Zhong was going to do anything necessary to have Yun Yuzhen acknowledging her allegiance to him.
The one Kou Zhong loved was Li Xiuning, definitely not Yun Yuzhen.
This was what he called dealing with the enemy by hook or by crook.
Suddenly Xu Ziling felt that the gap between him and Kou Zhong was growing.