As they were still thinking about it, Xu Ziling struck the pole with his palm, grabbed it, and slid down the pole. With unequalled ferocity his qi pressed down on the heads of the six Tiele warriors guarding around the pole.
This time, even if they wanted to kill the beauty tied on the pole, they did not have the ability to do so.
Amidst the tender shout, the outstanding Tiele beauty has arrived on the platform. But the wooden post suddenly disintegrated into cun-size fragments.
It was only then did the enemy realize that it was the handicraft of Xu Ziling's palm. Even more, they now realized how formidable Xu Ziling's palms were.
But the realization came too late.
The beauty in yellow was suddenly loosened from the pole, but as she was falling backward, Xu Ziling caught her. Soaring at an angle to the sky, he let out a long whistle, calling out to Kou Zhong, who had just caught up with him on the stage, to leave together.
With Kou Zhong leading the way and Xu Ziling carrying the woman in yellow, they ran for more than twenty li at a stretch before reaching a small hill and came to a halt.
Setting down the lady in yellow on the grass, Xu Ziling knitted his brows. "That's weird,” he said, "Her acupoints must be sealed; but no matter how I sent my qi to stimulate her blood flow, she remains unconscious.”
Copying him, Kou Zhong also squatted on the ground. As he reached out to push aside her beautiful hair, the two boys were dumbstruck.
My Niang! How could there be such a classy, stirring beautiful woman like this in the world? If behind her closed eyelids she had beautiful eyes that matched her exceptional flower-like countenance, then those beauties like Song Yuzhi, Shen Luoyan, Shan Wanjing and the likes would have to yield to her somewhat.
Staring at her figure, which was as elegant as the undulating mountains and rivers, her skin and flesh, which was as sparkling and translucent as the snow, so smooth and supple [orig. brimming with elastic energy], Kou Zhong breathed a mouthful of cold air and said, "Beauty that is capable of causing the downfall of a country is probably no more than this. No wonder those two troops were fighting a life and death battle over her.”
Xu Ziling took a deep breath and said, "Looking at her jet-black hair, her snow white skin, I feel like this is how the beauty of the nature ought to look like. I have never seen such beautiful, captivating hair and icy muscle; so beautiful that it is almost unnatural.”
Kou Zhong responded in amazement, "You are right. But when I see beautiful women, usually my heart warms up, how come just now there was a chill in my heart?”
Xu Ziling looked at her from head to toe, but was unable to find on this incomparably well-proportioned figure anything that was enough to spoil her perfect and without the least bit of blemish body; on the contrary, the more he looked at her, the more he felt that she had a hard-to-describe, the kind that borders magical, out-of-this-world, beauty.
Kou Zhong sighed and said, "Could it be that she is basically not a human? Looking at her along, looking at her across, she looks more like a fairy than human; how could a human be this beautiful?”
Xu Ziling's voice turned cold, "You seem to forget why you squatted down to examine her!”
It was only then did Kou Zhong remember that he was supposed to find a way to unseal her acupoints. Embarrassed, he said, "It was because her beauty is too shaking to the core. Huh? How come your countenance is so unsightly?”
Touching his face, Xu Ziling pondered and said, "Perhaps because when I was trying to unseal her acupoints just now I used too much true qi!”
Kou Zhong secretly signaled Xu Ziling with his eyes, but his mouth said, "That must be it!”
Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong were connected at a deep level; standing up, he said, "Let me look around to see if there is any enemy pursuing us. You stay here and think of a way to wake her up!”
How could Kou Zhong not understand his meaning? He also stood up and said, "It's better for us to look together!” Reaching out to Xu Ziling's shoulders, he sent his true qi into Xu Ziling's channels.
The two boys distanced themselves from the peerless beauty for at least thirty zhang before Kou Zhong said in low voice, "Extremely not right. Before, even after fighting with all your might, your countenance would not turn white suffused with green, and only after I transmitted my true qi the green disappeared.”
Xu Ziling nodded and said, "This woman not only has scary beauty, even her person is very scary; I seem to hit the right spot, but how could there be any acupoint sealing technique that we cannot unseal? Could it be that the person sealing her acupoint is stronger than Ba Fenghan? That's impossible.”
Kou Zhong replied with a wry smile, "If the person sealing her acupoint was Qu Ao? Don't forget that Qu Ao is just a tad inferior to Bi Xuan.”
"Have you come across Qu Ao?” Xu Ziling blurted out.
Kou Zhong was upset, "If I have come across Qu Ao, do you think I would still be alive and debate with you in here whether we should help this siren [see chapter title's footnote]? Ay! Such a beautiful siren, she made me feel that even if I was killed by her, I would be most willing.”
Noticing Xu Ziling's ferocious stare, he busily added, "Those bunch just now are Qu Ao's men; that guy wielding a sword, and his skill in using the sword is not bad, called himself Qu Ao's third disciple Genggehu'er. The other side was Duba Village. Just listening to the name, I know they are not good people.” [Reminder: duba means sole hegemony/domination.]
Frowning, Xu Ziling said, "Why would they fight over this siren?”
Kou Zhong shook his head, indicating that he had no idea. Wrapping his arm around Xu Ziling's shoulders, he took him down the sloping hill and said, "Looking at her eerie beauty, I was having a panic-stricken feeling. Perhaps femme fatales are this kind of touching rarity. Tell me, have you ever imagined that there are women more beautiful than Shan Wanjing, Shen Luoyan, Li Xiuning, and the likes?”
Xu Ziling shook his head, indicating that he had not. Agreeing with him, he said, "Our only option is: if everything else fails, retreat! Huh? How come you are walking slower and slower?”
Kou Zhong sat down dejectedly. Holding his head in his hands, he said, "Xiao Ling! Tell me! Supposing we are actually good people who acted like thieves, that Miss is blameless, but because we are overly suspicious, we let her be captured back by Tiele people, or perhaps be eaten by wild beasts, would there be peace in happiness in our conscience?”
At a loss, Xu Ziling also sat down on another rock at the bottom of the hill; he said, "But how do you explain why my face was turning green then?”
Kou Zhong asked, "Before you rescued her, did you clash with any formidable opponent?”
Xu Ziling nodded, "I encountered that Tiele beauty who wields double-dagger,” he replied, "But she is not yet qualified to injure me.”
"Qu Ao's martial art is strange,” Kou Zhong said, "Take Genggehu'er for example, he was able to use strange technique to enhance his strength. Perhaps that Tiele beauty injured you surreptitiously. Therefore, there is still the possibility that we wrongly accused her as a siren.”
Taking a deep breath, Xu Ziling said, "She is either a weak woman who does not know any martial art, or her martial art skill is so superior that we can't even detect the true qi within her body. Ay! I don't know how to deal with her either.”
Having a second thought, Kou Zhong said, "According to reason, this can't be a trap set for us, because how could she know that we were going to rescue her?”
"But why do we feel that something is not right?” Xu Ziling mused.
Kou Zhong rose up and said resolutely, "Let's come back to take a look first before we talk further.”
The mysterious, captivating beauty was still lying without moving on the grass. This moment the black clouds have already past, the stars filled the sky, her brilliance was even more mysterious and enchanting.
Suddenly there were wolves howling in the distance, it was unclear whether they smelled the reeking of blood from the battlefield and thus were flocking there.
The two boys hid behind a bush, hesitating.
Since their debut, it was the first time that they were caught in this kind of dilemma, where there was no room to advance or retreat.
Staring at her undulating, alluring soft breasts, Kou Zhong spoke softly, "Looking at her face, she could not be more than twenty. Even if her Shifu was Bi Xuan or Fu Cailin, it's hard to imagine that her power cultivation is deep enough that she is able to conceal it from us.”
Sneering, Xu Ziling remarked, "Unless she is another Shi Feixuan … heavens …!”
The two boys were shaken. It was indeed a possibility.
Kou Zhong said in low voice, "My granny! If she is a direct-line disciple of Yin Gui Pai sent out to have a duel with Shi Feixuan, everything becomes clear.”
Xu Ziling spoke in heavy voice, "That possibility is high. Ren Shaoming is Qu Ao's son, Evil Monk and Amorous Nun are Yin Gui Pai people; otherwise, why would they tie her to a post and just waiting for us to rescue her?”
Kou Zhong nodded, "That must be it,” he said, "Let's go! I want to see how long she is going to lie down over there.”
Nonetheless, the two boys were only speaking without actually doing it; they did not leave.
Suddenly a wolf was howling nearby. The two boys' heart was still on the woman in yellow, they jumped in fright immediately.
Several hungry wolves were running up the hillside. Seeing the woman in yellow, immediately their eyes brightened and rushed over toward her.
The beautiful woman remained motionless. The two boys were unable to hold back; they rushed out to drive the hungry wolves away.
After so much hard work, they finally assembled a stretcher from tree branches and vines. It was a cumbersome process, but in order not to touch her body, even if they had to spend more time, they would still have to do it.
They were very much in fear. With utmost care and full alert, they finally managed to move her soft, as if it had no bones, and alluring body onto the stretcher. Only then did they breathe a sigh of relief.
Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, "Let's bring her back first and talk about it later!”
The two boys lifted up the stretcher, and then ran as fast as they could.