大唐双龙传 [Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan] by Huang Yi

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[Abhay]

Thanks Foxs...looking forward for some action now.

[LuDongBin]

XL aka Spiderman? Has Li Xiuning seen thru KZ's disguise and deliberately cast those lovey dovey eyes towards Chai Shao? Thks foxs.

[foxs]

Bocah, truth be told, I am too lazy to format it properly, because it involves putting spaces and center-justifying the marker. Jaya, Ysabel, ycb, HPC, you are welcome. Lao Qianbei, I don’t know whether this is good news or bad news for you, but this episode spans several chapters, so you’ll have to hold on to your beer for quite a while. Abhay, hopefully you’ll enjoy the next several updates. DongBin, maybe you are right, Huang Yi ‘borrowed’ the idea from Marvel. On Li Xiuning, I don’t think so, I believe it is a case of unrequited love.

---

With this sudden change, while the thieves were still unclear of what happened, four more men received his punches and died.

Whether it was a kick or a punch, Xu Ziling’s vortex of hot power shot out freely. The strangest thing was that his victims were not thrown back; rather, they suddenly dropped down to the ground, their faces did not even show any bruise.

Two enemies rushed in from the left side, the flickering sabers in their hands matched their loud shout and violent hiss, as they rapidly came to attack.

Like a ghost Xu Ziling darted in between the two, his body flashed, his shoulders subsequently slammed onto the two. This time, learning from experience, he was using hard, ferocious force. The two men’s shoulder bones shattered immediately, the sabers in their hands were spun around and flung to the side, their bodies were thrown toward a dozen or so thief troops that were rushing toward Xu Ziling, so that the enemy ranks were immediately tumbling down in confusion.

By this time, he was only about twenty paces or so from Luo Fang and his men. One after another the nearby thieves left Luo Fang and the others to charge toward Xu Ziling.

Xu Ziling sent out a punch across an empty air, the violent vortex of hot energy shot straight toward a man who seemed to be the leader of those dozen or so men charging toward him.

‘Bang!’

As if he was swept away by a storm or a gigantic wave, his entire body were lifted off the ground, and then like a kite with cut string he crashed onto two of his companions behind him. The three men rolled on the ground like a gourd, their muscles and bones shattered.

The rest of the men had never seen such a powerful long-distance punch like this; they were scared and flew away in all directions.

With Xu Ziling diverted most of the enemy, Luo Fang and his men’s momentum was greatly boosted; they charged forward that the opponents suffered a crushing defeat, while trying to move toward Xu Ziling.

Another group of about forty enemies came to attack Xu Ziling, giving him an enormous pressure. Yet Xu Ziling was by no means cowardly and panicking; his spirit has entered the ‘no-victory, no-defeat’, the ‘still-water’ realm.

Amazing things happened.

All of a sudden, he was able to clearly grasp the situation of the entire battlefield.

That is not to say that he knew every little detail of everything happening; rather, by means of different levels of his vision and hearing, he was able to grasp the variation of what’s true and what’s false in his surrounding, both near and far, thereby he could determine his advance and retreat.

It was an unprecedented feeling.

Prior to this, he could only deal with the most critical thing in front of him. But now, even though the enemies were swarming at him from all directions, his perception was extended beyond the crisis he was facing. Not only was he aware that the enemies on the hill were advancing toward him, he was also aware that Luo Fang and his men had again fallen into heavy siege of the regrouping enemies after his attack.

Xu Ziling let out a long whistle and soared into the air. When he landed, it was precisely by Luo Fang’s side, while at the same time he formed a saber with his hand, and fast as lightning swept it across the flashing sabers of the thieves, who were raining their attack toward Luo Fang and his men.

The man did not even have any chance to evade, so forget about turning back the saber to block. Looking helplessly he was cut by the palm saber at his chest, was thrown back and died.

With the same manner Xu Ziling subsequently stepped a dozen times around, immediately the opposite side suffered a crushing defeat and was thrown into a mess.

Xu Ziling was able to clearly sense the strong or weak point of every single one of the enemy’s attack, his countermeasure matched their situation perfectly.

It was a very subtle feeling.

Just like the limpid water in the well that can reflect anything. On the surface, the opponents in front of him appeared to carry torrential momentum, but in his eyes, there were gaps and flaws everywhere. Basically this situation did not even worth him using the Yijian Xinfa.

This moment a broadsword came sweeping across, carrying with it a fierce whistling noise; the saber qi was threating, it was the fiercest saber Xu Ziling ever encountered since the battle began.

Xu Ziling cheered inwardly. His palm hacked down, it hit the blade of the opponent’s saber, sending the vortex of hot energy toward the enemy. The saber wielder groaned miserably, the saber fell down, his mouth spurted out blood, he staggered and fell back.

Apparently this man had quite a status among the bunch of thieves; as the crowd saw that he could not take even one palm strike from Xu Ziling, they were terrified and followed him fleeing in all directions.

Xu Ziling forgot that he was in disguise; without thinking he came over to Luo Fang and asked in concern, “Are you all right?”

Luo Fang was astonished, “I am all right,” he replied, “May I know En Gong’s [benefactor] honorable surname and great given name? Your kindness in saving our lives, our Flying Horse Ranch will definitely pay you back.”

Xu Ziling just realized his faux pas. This moment the bunch of thieves had run away one after the other, the Ranch’s fighters came over, they all looked at him with grateful eyes.

Assuming a bold and uninhibited manner, Xu Ziling laughed aloud and said, “Rioting thieves and bandits, every single one deserved to be punished. As for my name and who I am, it is not even worth mentioning. It would be best for you to immediately return to your unit, I have not killed enough people.”

With another long laugh he ran toward where the enemy’s forces were concentrated.

※ ※ ※

As Dou Wei’s staff was smashing his head from the back, Chai Shao made his move at the same time. Like two streaks of lightning the long and short arm-protector steel truncheons separately shot toward Kou Zhong’s face and chest. It was filled with murderous intention, bold and powerful to the extreme, and extremely ruthless. His qi power tightly covered the opponent, so that whether Kou Zhong wanted to strike back or run away, he would have to go all-out first to face this attack.

Although Li Gang was one step late in launching his attack, he also took an unfair advantage by attacking from the side. The pair of swords in his hands swept across Kou Zhong’s neck and his waist, with incomparable ruthlessness; a move so vicious that people would find it difficult to associate his attack with his usual air of an elegant Confucian scholar.

Only Li Xiuning took a half step back. The tip of her sword was still exuding sword qi, to prevent Kou Zhong from breaking the siege in that direction, but she did not join the foray.

If it were the former Kou Zhong, this moment he would be at a loss to know what to do. Even though he might not necessarily suffer immediate defeat, injury would be hard to avoid. Fortunately, after surviving near death experience with Wanwan, where he reaped profit from a disaster, he learned to develop the vortex of qi, which no one from ancient times had ever learned, his martial art took a step – which could not be imitated, forward, so that it was not just a case of ‘self-improvement by diligent study’.

This moment, just like swimming fish, he weaved in and out among the siege, and then brandishing his saber in ferocious hack. ‘Swish! Swish! Swish!’ three consecutive chops, yellow glow filled the air, unexpectedly he hacked Chai Shao’s two arm-protector steel truncheons and Dou Wei’s steel staff.

Chai Shao and Dou Wei’s hearts turned cold.

Originally they had ninety-percent confidence of their own moves, but under Kou Zhong’s fantastic shenfa, they felt as if the opponent was clearly in front of them, but suddenly he turned into a disembodied ghost so that they were completely off in trying to seize his position.

It was a very serious problem.

It should be noted that when martial art masters exchanged blows, they must constantly estimate changes and adjust their moves accordingly. On the surface it appeared to be a simple problem, but it really contained a myriad of knowledge.

Kou Zhong was able to fully use his fantastic shenfa within about three chi of space, so that the opponents could not correctly predict and determine his position. In other words, it was akin to suddenly lose their target; how could they not be in great shock? Immediately they were at a loss.

Under the flourishing yellow glow and the criss-crossing saber qi, Chai Shao and Dou Wei met Kou Zhong’s Moon in the Well head-on.

‘Dang! Dang! Dang!’ With three shocking explosions, like an astonishing cyclone of ice the unmatched fantastic vortex of qi flowed through the point of contact of the saber blade and their weapons, and burst into their bodies, straight toward the bottom of their abdomens.

The two men had never expected Kou Zhong to be this formidable, their entire bodies, from head to toe, were severely shaken.

Chai Shao’s power was still two notches above Dou Wei’s; he only staggered two steps back before managing to steady his footing. With a stifled grunt the latter was jolted backward.

Seeing the unfavorable situation, Li Xiuning waved her delicate hand to create a sword pattern pressing down on Kou Zhong.

Kou Zhong opened his tiger-eyes wide open, flashes of lightning shot out. With unspeakable calmness he casually turned his saber backhandedly to pare between Li Gang’s two swords, and then striking up followed by cutting down, ‘Dang! Dang!’ Li Gang was immediately routed, his pair of swords bounced up and down, so that his line of defense was wide open, while at the same time he felt the opponent’s hard-to-resist vortex of qi burst in, straight toward his heart and spleen. His soul flew away and scattered, he ran away backward.

“Don’t come!” Chai Shao shouted, stopping his own men, who were standing outside the arena, from entering the fray, while he flashed into Li Gang’s position to mend the siege. He coordinated his double arm-protectors with Li Xiuning’s offensive, his expression looked extremely heavy.

Such a formidable foe, he had never imagined it in advance.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud. Unexpectedly he bent his back and bumped himself against the retreating Dou Wei, not only to temporarily widened the distance so that it would be hard for Li Xiuning’s sword force to reach him, Chai Shao’s attack also fell on empty space.

Under this situation, if it were before the battle, Dou Wei would have brandished his staff to block, so that if Kou Zhong did not die, he would definitely suffer serious injury. But presently Dou Wei was making every effort to dissolve Kou Zhong’s fantastic qi invading his channels, so that his current power was only about fifty-percent his usual strength, plus he was still overcoming the backward momentum of his retreat earlier. Therefore, if he forced himself to fight, other than he did not have any confidence of breaking Kou Zhong’s true qi protecting his body, if the opponent’s back, which was brimming with vortex of qi, crashed onto him, how could he stay alive?

In great shock, Dou Wei did not dare show-off; he hastily sidestepped Kou Zhong’s body.

Actually, Kou Zhong himself did not expect that in these several clashes, he was able to take the initiative and full control of the situation, so that advancing he could attack, retreating he could evade; he could not help feeling so pleased. “Stop!” he shouted.

Li Xiuning and Chai Shao were afraid he might take the opportunity to kill either Dou Wei or Li Gang; thereupon they followed his order and held their weapons.

‘Qiang!’

Kou Zhong’s saber went back to its scabbard, but he himself still carried the aura of an unsheathed saber, so that others did not dare to belittle him.

His gaze swept the crowd with his awe-inspiring might radiating all around; with his intimidating body shape and expression, which did not match his fake face’s smiling expression, he spoke nonchalantly, “Gentlemen should have known that if I meant harm to the Princess, I would not need to hide the head and show the tail. That being the case, let us all sit down and drink some tea, and have a nice chat!”

None of Li Xiuning and her men was not stunned.

[ycb5959]

Thanks, fox. Made my weekend!

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Laoren]

Thanks foxs. Don't worry, I am happy with the fights.

[LuDongBin]

Better to enjoy the fights than to try understand the ladies' intention. Thks foxs.

[Abhay]

Thanks Foxs.

[BocahTuaNakal]

no problem, foxs. me and the rest of the guys still enjoy your TL

thanks

[徐中銳]

The man did not even have any chance to evade, so forget about turning back the saber to block. Looking helplessly he was cut by the palm saber at his chest, was thrown back and died.

With the same manner Xu Ziling subsequently stepped a dozen times around, immediately the opposite side suffered a crushing defeat and was thrown into a mess...

I'm getting old, mass-killings (even if fictional) saddens me.

Perhaps I'll become a monk before the other Xu

[foxs]

ycb, Jaya, Lao Qianbei, Abhay, you are welcome. DongBin, don't! (Don't try to understand women, that is ... ) Bocah, I copy and paste the file you sent me to the Unabridged Thread, and sure enough, the formatting is gone. Xu Xiong, agree. Lives are cheap ...

---

Book 10 Chapter 3 – You Hoodwink Me, I Cheat You

Xu Ziling squatted by a brook. He washed his hands first, and then scooped the water with his hands and delightedly drank two mouthful of fresh water.

The refreshing creek water poured into his throat, greatly rejuvenating his mind and spirit, while not too far away the sound of killing and the hard battle was still heard, and on the other side the hoof beats sounded like a distant rumbling of a thunder. But in that instant everything seemed to be detached from him.

The three cuts on his arm, left shoulder and right leg still hurt a little bit, but the cuts were more or less healed; they no longer bled.

In his mind he still remembered vividly how under the enemy’s heavy siege he killed a lot of the enemy leaders. And then using the divine escape he easily got out of the siege by hanging from tree to tree.

The thieves’ forces were clearly more than several thousand strong, plus their martial art masters were as numerous as clouds, so that the Ranch’s fighters who met the enemy head-on were repeatedly caught in bitter struggle.

Right now, the only way he could help the Flying Horse Ranch to get out of this disaster was to find the location of the Four Big Bandits’ main force first, and then utilizing guerilla warfare he would kill their Commander-in-Chief. In this way he would completely frustrated enemy’s morale and disrupt their troop disposition.

His mind made up, Xu Ziling shot the divine escape and leaped to the top of a towering old tree by the creek, to survey the battlefield situation.

※ ※ ※

Chai Shao laughed coldly and said, “If Sire does not die, we will accompany you drinking hot tea and chatting!”

Reaching out to pull Li Xiuning’s lily-white hand, he quickly withdrew.

Watching that, Kou Zhong’s heart was burning with anger; he stood blankly on the spot, unaware that Li Gang and Dou Wei had also moved away.

“Release the arrows!” Chai Shao thundered.

Amidst the ‘swish, swish!’ noise, the Li Clan’s warriors on the eaves and in the garden pulled their bows and crossbows and shot arrows toward Kou Zhong.

Chai Shao also let go of Li Xiuning’s hand. Fast as lightning, his two arm-protectors shot toward Kou Zhong, carrying with them an extremely swift and fierce power.

Even if he were able to, it would still be very difficult for Kou Zhong to block this well-coordinated salvo of arrows with the Moon in the Well in his hand, to say nothing of he still had to deal with Chai Shao’s shooting arm-protector steel truncheons, which were suffused with powerful qi.

In that instant Kou Zhong regained his senses and soared straight up to the air just before the arrows penetrating his body. Li Xiuning cried out tenderly. The moment the arrows, darts and arm-protectors hit an empty space, her body followed her sword, tailing Kou Zhong to the air.

The sound of crossbows being reloaded echoed from all directions, indicating the second salvo of arrows was about to be launched.

Kou Zhong was unable to borrow more strength; he had nothing in the air he could use as a shield. At the same time he had to deal with Li Xiuning’s attack from below, while a concentrated arrows might come any time. Even Ning Daoqi, Bi Xuan and martial art masters their caliber would be at a loss to know what to do.

Nevertheless Kou Zhong remained calm without any fear. The divine escape in his left hand shot like lightning toward the peak of an old tree on his left. Just before Li Xiuning’s sword reached him, he changed direction sideways and disappeared into the distant darkness.

Watching this, Chai Shao and the others could only stare blankly, but nothing can be done.

※ ※ ※

Raising his qi, Xu Ziling sped along, and stopped only after going over a hill.

Many different trees were growing thickly at the foot of the hill, with a small river flowing gently in the middle. Far ahead he saw the small village that he saw earlier from the top of the cliff.

Just now when he was surveying the battlefield situation, he found out that the main force of the thieves scattering in all directions were all centered on this small village. Feeling strange, he decided to come over to look.

Currently the small village was as quiet as a ghost town, he did not feel anything unusual at all. After a short contemplation, he decided to run down the slope of the hill. But as he almost reached the village, suddenly an alarm went off in his heart; a feeling similar to when he felt someone was watching him from a boat docking by Yangtze River outside the city of Baling. He could not help feeling surprised.

Could it be that someone was hiding inside the house over there?

From time to time the sound of battle was still resounding from all directions, reminding him that the battle was still raging, and it was growing in intensity.

After taking a deep breath, filled with great confidence, Xu Ziling walked over to the gate of the biggest and tallest house in the village. Reaching out, he knocked the door three times.

‘Creak!’

The wooden door opened to the inside, while a sword swiftly and fiercely stabbed onto his chest.

This sword strike was not simple at all. It looked like just one strike, but it actually contained endless attacking attribute and countless changes and follow-up moves. The most formidable aspect was that while the tip of the sword was vibrating and shaking, it sent out seven, eight sword qi in succession, ‘Chi! Chi!’ continuously, enveloping all the vital acupoints around Xu Ziling’s chest and abdomen with suffocating power.

Xu Ziling had a feeling like the one he had when he was confronting Yang Xuyan, plus because he was in the open while the enemy was hidden, temporarily his eyes were filled with dots of sword tip, and his breathing could not flow freely.

When it looked like he was about to be injured by the sword, Xu Ziling’s slender hands suddenly shot up in front of his chest, his ten fingers opened up like a blooming flower, each finger carried a subtle change, and each moved gracefully beyond belief in different angle, to meet the sword tip in such a narrow space.

‘Ding! Ding! Dang! Dang!’

Amidst the continuous sweet sound like tinkling pearls on a jade tray, Xu Ziling neutralized the opponent’s swift and fierce sword move while standing steadfastly, without moving a single step.

‘Bang!’

The door closed again. But Xu Ziling was able to see the sword wielder was none other than Shang Xiuxun wearing tight warrior outfit.

Although he felt strange on why Shang Xiuxun was not in the battlefield leading her troops but stayed here instead, but Xu Ziling was relieved because this beautiful Ranch Master was still safe and sound.

While he was about to raise his voice to call, thunderous sound of hoof beats came from both ends of the village. Xu Ziling’s mind was churning at the speed of light; he flew back, leaped onto the roof of the building across the street, and lay prostrate motionless, calmly waiting for the upcoming change.

※ ※ ※

Leaving the Green Ring Courtyard, Kou Zhong leaped onto the top of a bell tower. He felt like crying, both from grieving and bitterness of his heart, which were extremely unbearable.

Previously he thought that he could get over Li Xiuning easily, but when he saw Li Xiuning obediently let Chai Shao pulled her tender lily-white hand, Kou Zhong realized what important place she occupied in his heart. Since she already had Chai Shao protecting the flower, why would she bother minding him, an outsider?

A breeze came, rippling the pond water, distorting the image of what was at the bottom of the pond.

Kou Zhong sighed. He made up his mind to no longer pay attention to Li Xiuning, as he flew toward the Castle’s wall. Apparently he decided to vent up his heartache and grievances on those hapless low-class bandits.

※ ※ ※

The hoof beats stopped suddenly.

The two groups of riders stopped at the entrances to the village and jumped down their horses. Most of them spread out to guard the exits, while only about twenty people boldly entered the village.

From his high vantage point, Xu Ziling looked down and saw that other than four men wearing white bands on their heads holding torches high above their heads, the rest of the people all dressed differently. All carried the air of martial art masters. Apparently they were the leaders of the thieves.

The four men taking the lead looked even more distinct. Most likely they were the Four Big Bandits, who ran amuck the Yangtze River region, whose terrifying names spread out in all directions. Their age appeared to range between thirty and forty years.

Xu Ziling could not help shuddering in fear, while thinking inwardly that no wonder Shang Xiuxun was hiding in here. Because of intelligence failure, they thought the incoming enemy was only one team several thousand strong, while the fact was that the Four Big Bandits were going on an all-out attack, with the objective of seizing the Flying Horse Ranch in one move. The strange thing was that in this time of turmoil and chaos of war, how did the Four Big Bandits obtain such a great magical power and find out that Shang Xiuxun was hiding in here?

The bandits stopped in the middle of the village. One of the four leaders laughed aloud and said, “I am Xiang Batian; Jianghu friends who love to joke bestowed me the title ‘not even a blade of grass grows’ as my nickname; all because they don’t understand me at all. The fact is that I am a man who loves and cherishes flowers; if Shang Changzhu don’t believe me, just try giving yourself to me for three days, I guarantee that you will be able to correct the notion of the gravely-mistaken people all over the world.”

The other thieves immediately roared in laughter; a laughter brimming with obscene overtone.

Xiang Batian’s profile and outward appearance really made others did not dare to give a compliment. He was a fat man, short in stature. Not only his body was short, his limbs were also sort and stubby. He had a pot belly, and a flat, gourd-shaped head that looked like it grew out directly from his fat shoulders.

But his eyes, which were so narrow that he appeared to be eternally squinting, were gleaming with demonical, unusual blue flashes, so that people would know that not only he was an expert in internal martial art, the path he took was that of the heretical school of martial arts.

In his hands he was holding a pair of flickering silvery light steel rings with sharp teeth on the edges, strengthening the impression that he was a dangerous and mysterious person.

Nobody knew how many people had died under his ‘Soul-snatching Tooth Ring’.

※ ※ ※

[LuDongBin]

Agree, foxs. This is much better ... fight on guys!

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[Abhay]

Thanks Foxs!

[ycb5959]

Thanks, foxs!

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[Laoren]

Thanks foxs. Enjoying the fights.. go go go.

[criticalmind]

Thanks foxs. Just finished a week long marathon of all 9 books. All the names are starting to make sense again

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.