‘Crack!’ The door bolt[1] snapped.
The four men inside the hall saw that without any wind, the door just opened by itself.
Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling and Ba Fenghan could be considered veterans of a hundred battles, world-class martial art masters, yet they could not help shivering inwardly.
Upon self-inspection, although they were able to send out ‘forward’ force across empty air to push the door open, but definitely not the ‘suction’ force to pull the door and break the door bolt.
Just from this skill alone, they knew that the incoming person was of Ning Daoqi’s caliber.
Four pairs of eyes were able to see through the door without any barrier, toward the courtyard, which was covered in door debris.
Beautiful woman with white hair entered their vision, in stark contrast to the scene outside, creating an unforgettable impression in their mind.
The exquisite and dainty Dugu Feng entered the courtyard, holding the arm of a stooping old lady, whose white hair was speckled with gray, whose eyes were half-covered by her eyelids as if she already lost her eyesight, whose face was filled with deep wrinkles, yet it was brimming with a noble air.
The old lady was wearing black gown with white silk outer garment, her forehead was high and protruded, her cheeks were deep. The strangest thing was that her pale skin emitted some kind of pink color, which did not belong with her age.
This old lady, whose age was perhaps more than a hundred years, was quite tall; even when stooping, she was still half a head taller than the attractive and charming Dugu Feng. If her back was straight, perhaps her height would differ very little from Kou Zhong and the others.
The eyeballs inside her eye sockets appeared to be looking down at the ground, but the four men could feel her grim gaze was silently scrutinizing them.
A feeling that brought chill into their hearts.
Dugu Feng’s full-of-vitality face was still very charming, but her mouth was curled in anger; with disdain in her voice and head held up high, she said, “Do you think you can throw me off just like that? Your skill is still far too inferior.”
Kou Zhong called out in low voice, “It’s You Chuhong!”
Although he made his voice as low as possible, it still could not escape the senile-looking granny. Like a pair of arrows her eyes bore into Kou Zhong. Her high-pitched feminine voice cursed, “You dared to call laosen’s [lit. old self] name? You are asking for a beating!”
Naturally the four men’s eyes were focused on the crutch in her right hand, with which she walked step-by-step, which body was translucent like the luster of gems, because it was made of jasper, which length was approximately five chi, which shape was like bamboo cane.
This moment You Chuhong shook Dugu Feng’s hand off, as she stepped into the room. The speed of her movement would make any young, strong and agile boys to lag far behind.
‘Qiang! Qiang!’
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong drew their sword and saber, respectively, out of their scabbards.
The incoming person was the number one grand master of the Dugu Clan. If they were knocked by that jasper stick, which looked like a piece of antique rod, Kou Zhong and the others may forget about going anywhere.
Like a miracle You Chuhong’s stooping body suddenly straightened up. Without any wind her thick white hair suddenly fluttered, every wrinkle on her face seemed to radiate unusual pink ray, her half-closed eyes shot arrow-sharp light; all in all, her appearance looked extremely weird.
Among the four men, Xu Ziling was sitting facing the front door. “Back off!” he cried out in low voice. His palms struck on the edge of the table, while his body rapidly flew backward.
As Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong were also flying backward from left and right, the table spun like a big wheel as it flew toward You Chuhong.
The strangest thing was that the wine cups and wine pot on the table also spun along the rotating table, but not a single drop of wine was spilled; certainly the cups and pot would not topple down.
A look of surprise flashed across You Chuhong’s eyes. Like a spirit she flew vertically up. By the time the table arrived under her, her right foot appeared from her black gown; fast beyond human comprehension her toes touched the surface of the table.
It was only this moment that the four men saw that she was wearing red embroidered shoe on her right foot, but a green one on her left.
‘Crack!’
The four solid wood table legs shattered into cun long pieces, but the tabletop was left intact. It dropped to the ground, also without a single drop of wine spilled, as if an invisible hand had carefully lay it down on the ground.
This skill was definitely better than Xu Ziling.
Kou Zhong knew that if they let her to gain the initiative, the outcome would be desperately serious. Thereupon he let out a long laughter while he flew forward, and lightning fast, the Moon in the Well swept across You Chuhong, who was still in the air.
Intense qi power immediately filled the hall.
Although Xu Xingzhi could also be considered a martial art master, but compared to the three, he was still far behind.
When Kou Zhong was making his move, he felt a burst of explosive cyclone forming all around Kou Zhong, which cut through his body. Shocked, Xu Xingzhi knew that he had to retreat.
Obviously You Chuhong had never estimated that these three could be so overbearing; yet she remained calm without any fear. Letting out a night-owl-like harsh laughter, her body flashed in the air; not only to evade Kou Zhong’s swift and fierce blade, she even charged toward the three men.
Like an eagle claw the long pointy nails of her withered hands swept across; immediately a burst of bluish green shadow of the staff, like the luster of gems, filled the hall, enveloping the three men in the middle.
In terms of speed, power and accuracy, she has reached the ‘shocking’ level.
The most formidable thing was that each sweep of the staff carried razor-sharp qi power that was capable of cutting their body, making it very difficult to counter.
For a period of time there was continuous string of ‘Swish! Swish!’ noise like beads of pearl dropping down on a tray.
Xu Xingzhi’s inner power was lacking. Merely the sound of the wind generated by her jasper staff was enough to cause pain in his ear; with no other choice he had to retreat outside the back door.
Ba Fenghan was standing motionless; he suddenly shouted, “Cloak Staff Technique indeed enjoys a well-deserved reputation.”
Like magic the Beheading Mystery Sword in his hand turned into a sheet of sword shadow, creating an air-tight defense.
Even with his dauntless character and his power, which had progressed tremendously, he still had to adopt defensive position and did not dare to advance recklessly; thus You Chuhong’s prowess was quite clear.
On the other hand, Kou Zhong’s murderous intent flared up; adopting close hand-to-hand combat style, he charged straight into You Chuhong’s staff shadow in total abandon, as if he was staking his life against her.
With the tip of his finger Xu Ziling stabbed the tip of You Chuhong’s staff sweeping toward him. He felt a stream of razor-sharp true qi, with copious amount of irresistible force behind it, penetrating his fingers and entered straight into his system. As if he was struck by lightning he was jolted two steps back, while inwardly he was extremely shocked.
It should be noted that this moment You Chuhong was facing three martial art masters simultaneously. In term of internal power, there was no way she would be able to beat the three men’s combined power. But she was able to utilize an extremely profound footwork with exceptional qinggong, so that each time she was able to move to an unexpected position, so that even Yijian Technique could not be put to good use on her.
Were it not for the fact that his power and the strength of his meridians had enjoyed great advancement, just this one staff would be enough to make him vomit blood and sustain serious injury.
‘Ding! Ding! Ding!’ the sound lingered on faintly, increasing the sinister atmosphere this battle has generated.
Xu Ziling charged forward again to enter the battle arena.
Saber light and sword shadow, mixed with Xu Ziling’s hands and feet, attacked You Chuhong from four sides, eight directions. After their defense was steady, Ba Fenghan also changed his defensive stance into offensive.
Surprisingly this old woman’s every single move was ‘hard’ in nature, relying on powerful inner and outer energy, crushing wave after wave of the three men’s offensive. The bluish green rays flashed, as the green jade staff in her hands rolled the three inside its circle.
The sound of staff stopped abruptly.
You Chuhong flashed three consecutive times to break away from the battle arena and retreated toward the front door, while continuously gasping for breath.
Dugu Feng quickly came over and reached out to rub her back. Her apricot eyes grew big as she said, “It’s all your fault; if you exhaust laolao [maternal grandmother] that she is sick, I will kill you.”
The three men simply stared blankly, not knowing whether to laugh or to cry, but at the same time they were aghast.
This old lady with ample panache’s Cloak Staff Technique has reached perfection; it could even be said that it has reached divine stage.
In her withered hands that look like eagle talons, the jasper staff was transformed into a no-name-could-describe-it weapon. Not only it could be stiff or flexible, the stiff and flexible existed together, and it could display the characteristic of a whip, a sword, a saber, a truncheon, a spear, and all kinds of other weapon; and the changes were infinite, in innumerable succession, so that the three were unable to grasp its essence.
With such formidable moves, she was not inferior to Zhu Yuyan in any respect.
Her internal energy was deep and unmeasurable; even after the three had their power greatly enhanced, they could not gain advantage over her at all.
[1] Door bolt in those days was a horizontal bar across the width of the door, made of wood or metal.
Chapter 8 - Part 2
That's it! Is that how you repay me? Ysabel, HPC, you are welcome. Lao Qianbei, only if you are wearing embroidered shoes ... Xu Xiong, I know my own ability (or inability). But thanks.
Were it not for ‘world famous’ asthma attack, the three would more or less suffer injuries as well.
It’s just that right now they had obtained inadvertent benefit.
By going at the three men with all her strength, You Chuhong had actually helped them completing the process of strengthening their meridians, which was started by the Jade Annulus of He Clan.
Under the extreme situation of life and death combat like this, the only thing they could do was going all-out, pushing their strength to its limit, so that the meridians in their body move forward a step to join together, to achieve the perfect stage.
While the three men were severely shaken, they did not know that You Chuhong’s astonishment was in no way less than theirs.
Actually, her Cloak Staff Technique did not fear tangled battle; the more the enemies, the more she could unleash the effectiveness of the staff in borrowing force to strike the enemy. On top of that, her footwork was profound, so that facing more than one opponent was no different than fighting one-on-one; she would not have any problem.
Therefore, when she saw that the three were joining hands, she thought there would be no problem compared to if she was only facing one of them. Never once had she doubted her confidence that they would definitely suffer defeat.
In other words, with You Chuhong’s attitude of considering everyone else beneath her, she should have no problem in taking care of one of them before her asthma flared out.
But then again, dealing with three men at once, her power consumption doubled, the time between asthma attacks shortened. Therefore, compared to dealing with just one person, her chance of victory was greatly reduced.
You Chuhong suddenly took a deep breath, a blush appeared on her old face, but it quickly disappeared, and then she stopped gasping.
Taking the position of a junior, Kou Zhong saluted You Chuhong and said with a smile, “We’d better sit down and drink some hot tea. If there is any problem, let’s talk about it slowly. If Juniors did something wrong, we’ll accept your instruction.”
Naturally Xu Xingzhi and the others knew very well that Kou Zhong wanted to borrow their mouth to broadcast the information they had just drafted.
Dugu Feng crossly said, “Stop talking nonsense. Seeing that you do have a bit of skill, we’ll spare your four persons’ lives. Just hand over the Jade Annulus of He Clan, and you can go!”
Among the four, only Xu Xingzhi was at a loss; he did not understand why even after You Chuhong lost her strength and retreated, Dugu Feng was still shamelessly boasting like that.
But Kou Zhong and the others knew that she was not simply talking big.
One time Ba Fenghan had his saber broken off by her, which was a solid proof that she was indeed very formidable.
From You Chuhong’s brilliance, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling could speculate that Dugu Feng’s skill was no small matter.
In the past, Hou Xibai inferred that within the Dugu Clan, Dugu Feng was the most formidable figure next to You Chuhong. If her achievement was closer to You Chuhong’s, and she did not suffer from asthma attack, then she was definitely not a laughing matter.
Pretending to be surprised, Kou Zhong said, “If we really have the Jade Annulus of He Clan in our hands, I guarantee that we will offer it immediately, to avoid being in such a miserable situation as the target of a multitude of arrows. I really don’t understand why the two of you are willing to touch such an inauspicious object?”
Taking several steps forward, Xu Xingzhi came to Xu Ziling’s side and said in all earnestness, “I am willing to make a heavy oath on their behalf with the head above my neck as a stake that the Jade Annulus of He Clan is practically not in their hands, hence it is impossible for them to hand it over to you.”
You Chuhong and Dugu Feng exchanged a few glances; they were both stunned.
Letting out a cold snort, You Chuhong said, “Who the hell are you? What makes you think you can speak on their behalf?”
Twisting his moustache, Xu Xingzhi smiled and said, “Wanbei [junior/younger generation] Xu Xingzhi, I used to work under Fang Zetao of Jingling.”
Dugu Feng turned her gaze to Ba Fenghan; exceptionally polite, she said, “I wonder if Ba Xiong dares to personally swear an oath?”
Frowning, Ba Fenghan said, “In all my life the Ol’ Ba has never sworn an oath, simply because I feel that this kind of action is senseless and ridiculous. But the Jade Annulus of He Clan is really not in our hands. If you don’t believe me, then I can do nothing.”
Kou Zhong and the others cheered inwardly; what he said in his unique way was actually more convincing than any vows.
With a cold laugh You Chuhong said, “The why did that bald donkey [derogatory term to call a Buddhist monk] Liao Kong insist that it was you who stole it?”
With a rueful smile Kou Zhong replied, “Because we had walked straight into great misfortune. We were one step ahead in going to the Chanyuan to steal the treasure, but before we even touched the Jade Annulus of He Clan’s shadow, we were compelled to leave. We had just left, someone else succeeded in stealing the treasure. Without any choice we are forced to take the bitter herbs and had to bear this black pot on his behalf. Humph! The army came, we will fight. We are not scared of anybody.”
You Chuhong’s eyes narrowed that they became a pair of slits, but her eyeballs shot terrifyingly sharp rays as she stared at Kou Zhong and spoke sternly, “Was it Wang Shichong who prompted you to go there?”
Kou Zhong and the others understood what’s going on.
The purpose of these two’s visit was not to get the Jade Annulus of He Clan, but it was an action against Wang Shichong.
Supposing they were successful in recovering the Jade Annulus of He Clan, they would publicly return the treasure to Jing Nian Chanyuan. In this way Dugu Clan’s prestige would soar, plus they would win goodwill and support from Shi Feixuan’s side.
But more importantly, they would ascertain the relationship between Kou Zhong and Wang Shichong, with the hope that they could use this fact as the proof that Wang Shichong was the mastermind behind all these things.
It was the key point that all major powers who were involved in this power struggle wanted to exploit.
Grabbing his head, Kou Zhong said, “What does it have to do with Shangshu Daren?”
You Chuhong took a step forward. A very dense murderous aura immediately enveloped the four men. “Still playing dumb?” she scolded harshly, “If it wasn’t Wang Shichong, how could you, a bunch of rookies, know that the Jade Annulus of He Clan was hidden at Liao Kong’s place?”
Xu Xingzhi was the first one unable to withstand her enormous momentum and had to take two steps back. Xu Ziling quickly moved in front of him to shield him.
In that moment the murderous spirit permeated the hall.
Kou Zhong putting an act by sighing dramatically and said, “It’s a misunderstanding! The one who told us the Jade Annulus of He Clan’s whereabouts is Yin Gui Pai’s Shangguan Long, not Wang Shichong. At that time we thought he only wanted to use this information in exchange of his dear life; who would have thought that the dirty scoundrel was laying up a trap for us? This time the boat really capsized in the gutter, so that we had to take his mother’s tumble.”
You Chuhong stared blankly for a moment. The murderous aura was greatly reduced.
At this point, a long laugh came from the roof of a building some distance away from the courtyard, “If that’s the case, why did you hide and do not dare to see me, Wang Bo?” a voice asked.
Hearing Wang Bo’s name, everybody, including You Chuhong, was emotionally moved.