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

[CFT]

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.

Tanzhi shentong anyone?

[akolaw]

Tanzhi shentong anyone?

my 2 cents.

Tanzhi shentong reminds me how we play marble ball when we were a kid, we hold our fist lightly and swing our index finger to the ball to hit another ball. So this is a technic in swinging our figer not a sequence of movement. (See Yang Guo's explanation to Li Moksau and both Yang and Huang use the technic to shoot stone} while Xu give me an impression that he is move in with hand gesture as if he is dancing.

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs! More fights on the way! Yes!!!

[BocahTuaNakal]

naah, just let it go, foxs.
it's still very enjoyable.
thanks

[徐中銳]

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...

I'm sure I've felt like Kou Zhong, but since I won't remember—am over such grief and jealousy of the past.

Right now, for me (at least), all's well

[chualot]

Thanks foxs.

[foxs]

DongBin, girls can fight too, you know. Ysabel, Abhay, ycb, HPC, Jaya, Chua, you are welcome. Lao Qianbei, Sky, more to come. Critical, are you saying that you reread the whole thing? But it’s nearly 1000 pages long on MS-Word document. CFT, Akolaw, interesting. But I do agree with Akolaw, that Xu Ziling did not ‘flick’ his fingers. Bocah, Xu Xiong, shhh … tap, tap … don’t cry …

---

Xu Ziling, who was lying low on the back of the roof slope, suddenly felt an overwhelming and intense murderous intention, which he himself did not understand. Upon further reflection, he realized that it was because of the verbal insults were directed to Shang Xiuxun.

Standing next to Xiang Batian was a thick and solid, sturdy man, with a criss-crossing pair of wolf-teeth clubs on his back, the flesh on his face grew without restraint, and a big wart grew on his forehead, which made him appeared uglier. The man laughed wildly and said, “Changzhu recklessly went out to battle, your defeat is guaranteed. But if you are willing to give yourself to serve us, to be our companion in bed, naturally everything can be discussed.” His talk was even more obscene.

The thieves roared in lewd laughter again, filled with arrogance.

Xu Ziling suddenly remembered that spy.

If there were no spies playing their tricks, how could the thieves know Shang Xiuxun’s whereabouts? They would not know the Flying Horse Ranch’s strength, and thus the Ranch would not take such a beating in such a short period of time.

However, as long as the Ranch was able to steadily defend the mouth of the gorge on both sides, they still could not be considered lost.

Another bandit leader laughed eerily and said, “One bed one companion. Fang Sandi’s [third (younger) brother] proposal is amazing. It’s just that Shang Changzhu is a virgin; even if in her heart she is a thousand times, then thousand times willing, but in the presence of so many people, naturally her tender face is blushing bashfully, so she is speechless! Don’t you think my, Mao Zao’s perception on women’s heart is thorough enough?”

This person’s figure was tall and thin, a picture of a bad demon scholar; he had a pair of double apostrophe thin moustache above his lips [orig. eight character (八) shaped], and a horsetail whisk stuck on his back. His attire was nondescript [lit. neither fish nor fowl]. Just by a single glance one would have been able to guess that he must be the ‘scorched earth for a thousand li’ Mao Zao, who ranked second among the Four Big Bandits.

The one who spoke earlier, the man with a wart on his forehead, the one he called the third brother, must be the ‘chicken and dogs won’t remain’, Fang Jianding.

The one Xu Ziling paid particular attention to was the only one who had not spoken yet, who ought to be the leader of the Four Big Bandits, ‘the ghosts weep the deities cry’, Cao Yinglong.

This person looked majestic; he had a pair of big ‘catching-the-wind’ ears, his forehead was covered in deep wrinkles, his cheekbones high, his cheeks sunken, his eyes appeared half-open half-closed, giving others deep impression. But his overall appearance was not as loathsome as the other three; he appeared a bit like an old pedant who does not like to talk.

In his left hand he held a spear forged entirely from refined steel; it appeared to weigh at least forty or fifty catties.

‘Ding!’

Xiang Batian raised both hands up and struck his pair of ‘Soul-snatching Tooth Ring’, creating a clear and crisp sound. The dozen or so of his men standing behind him immediately fanned out to do house-to-house search. Some even leaped onto the roof to act as a lookout.

For the next few moments, the continuous sound of doors breaking and windows shattering was heard. The murderous intention in Xu Ziling’s heart was rising as he quietly gathered his power.

※ ※ ※

With the aid of the divine escape, Kou Zhong dove through the Inner Castle, flying over the houses and leaped over the buildings, in the direction of the outer city wall. As he was passing the courtyard where he caught sight of Yuan’er and that outside ghost’s tryst the other night, he had an idea and turned toward it.

He faintly heard voices from the building, but saw no lantern light.

Kou Zhong crouched low in the courtyard. After going through a fierce battle of conflicting thoughts within himself, he still could not bear to let it go. Leaping onto a tree by the house, he looked in through the window.

From this angle, he was able to see Yuan’er’s lover [lit. male adulterer] from the other night and another man sitting on the chairs by the window, facing other people, who were out of his line of sight. But listening to the conversation, he determined that there were no less than ten people in that room.

With the lesson he learned last time, Kou Zhong knew that the lover’s skill was quite outstanding, so he hastily employed the inner breathing from the ‘Secret to Long Life’, while at the same time suppressing the brilliance of his eyes.

He heard someone said, “The most brilliant aspect of our entire operation this time is the coordinated attack from the inside and the outside, and thus catching them off-guard. Moreover, with Gongzi [young master] personally presiding over it in secret, we need not worry that the Flying Horse Ranch will not fall into our hands.”

The lover laughed aloud and said, “Chen Laoshi [lit. teacher] ought to stop flattering me. I, Li Tianfan, am merely a small fry who waves the banner and cheers from the side. The one holding the command flag is Shen Junshi [military strategist/advisor].”

Kou Zhong’s scalp went numb instantly; it was only then did he realize the seriousness of the situation.

Military Advisor Shen was, naturally, Shen Luoyan. Li Tianfan was Li Mi’s son, also Song Yuzhi’s betrothed. Just the fact that these two people were sitting in this meeting was a strong and powerful indicator that Li Mi did not spare any effort to seize the Flying Horse Ranch and deal with Li Xiuning at the same time.

Sure enough, Shen Luoyan’s warbling sweet voice came from inside, “Gongzi is too modest! Luoyan is ashamed and dare not accept the honor. Right now it’s only the hai hour [between 9-11pm], Shang Xiuxun has become the fish in Cao Mengzhu’s [alliance master/leader] net, we should also hear news from the Inner Castle.”

Li Tianfan sneered and said, “Shang Xiuxun has always been a lone flower admiring itself; she has no regards toward the people of the world. In terms of ability and wisdom, how could she match Shen Junshi? While we still have a bit of time, it would be best if Shen Junshi could give us more details on our coordinated operation.”

This man struck the right note, proving the adage that tiger father would not begot dog child; apparently he was a very capable leader.

Kou Zhong was seriously considering killing this son; if he succeeded, wouldn’t Song Yuzhi’s engagement be annulled immediately? Or else, if Li Mi succeeded in capturing Luoyang, Song Yuzhi would have to immediately marry into the Li family.

He already lost Li Xiuning; if Song Yuzhi was married to someone else, and the Song Clan and Li Mi became family, it would be a big blow to Kou Zhong, both in his public, as well as his private lives.

Thinking to this point, his heart was boiling, but his mind was still as cold as ice.

The most important thing right now was to get a feel of the strength of these people inside. Just one Shen Luoyan was already difficult to deal with, not to mention Li Tianfan, who was even more formidable. If he was not careful, he might even lose his life here.

Ay! If only Xiao Ling were here. Now he only wanted to be the knight in shining armor [orig. hero who rescues the beauty]. If he by any chance could win her heart, nothing could be more ideal than that.

※ ※ ※

‘Bang!’

The wooden door burst open.

A man burst into the house where Shang Xiuxun was hiding. Xu Ziling was storing up his power and waited. The moment the Four Big Bandits made some unusual move toward Shang Xiuxun, that would be the moment he would also make his move.

The Four Big Bandits looked shocked as they turned to look at both the front and rear doors of the house. Not because they heard any particular noise, but because there was no sound from the inside, not even footsteps.

This did not make any sense at all.

The man who entered the house was not an ordinary fighter. Even if the entire Flying Horse Ranch was inside the house, they could not possibly subdue him in just one move.

Xu Ziling was surprised as well; he forgot to make his move.

Cao Yinglong, who thus far has not spoken yet, suddenly said coldly, “Men! Smash the whole house to pieces for me!”

The crowd of bandits behind him thundered their acknowledgement and moved out immediately.

The martial art masters among the bandits, who were standing guard on the surrounding roofs, also had their attention focused in this place. They all held their torches high, so that the entire village was aglow.

Fang Jianding shouted harshly as he stepped out from among the crowd. Storming up the stone steps, with both palms he struck the wall next to the door.

At first the wall did not show anything unusual, but then the eaves above started to shake like in an earthquake, followed by the entire wall started to crumble and ruptured inward, slightly exposing the situation inside the hall, before it got covered by collapsing roof, the broken tiles and the rising dust.

The crowd of bandits broke in thunderous cheers and swarmed toward the house like a pack of hungry beasts sniffing the blood of their prey.

Witnessing Fang Jianding’s formidable palms, Xu Ziling thought that if he was using the pair of wolf-teeth clubs on his back, it would definitely a total annihilation [orig. sweeping away a thousand armies]. But this has aroused his fighting spirit even more.

This moment he heard gusts of wind from the building to his left. The martial art masters on the bandits’ side were swarming toward his hiding place. Xu Ziling sighed inwardly. Momentarily putting aside his intention of killing the bandits’ leaders, his gaze quickly scanned his surroundings, near and far, trying to find a new hiding place.

In a side garden of a house just outside the range of the torches’ light, he saw a small brick structure – approximately two zhang square – that looked like a shed where people put their junks. Quickly sliding down the roof, he went to hide in there.

The wooden door opened easily. Before he was able to see anything clearly, he heard a soft rumble of mechanism from the underground. But because of the incessant noise outside from the house coming down, the other noise was kind of drowned, so that he would not have to worry that the people outside would hear it.

Xu Ziling quickly closed the door. As expected, the room was filled with miscellaneous farming tools, but the middle of the room was empty. A slab of floor slowly sank down, exposing a dark and deep tunnel underneath.

Xu Ziling immediately remembered Lu Miaozi, the number one master craftsman under the heavens.

※ ※ ※

Shen Luoyan was about to speak when a bird cry was heard from a roof on a distance. Li Tianfan immediately said, “Li Xiuning has fallen into the trap, everything proceeds as planned.”

Kou Zhong knew that they received the signal Yuan’er transmitted from the Inner Castle; he could not help smiling wryly inwardly.

Could he really ignore Li Xiuning’s safety?

Let alone this matter had direct relation to his endeavor for hegemony over the land under the heavens!

[徐中銳]

Xu Xiong, shhh … tap, tap … don’t cry …

Oh, no more pains from my own teenage-unrequited-loves. However, it's most unjust that they who I once adored are now matronly ! We should cry over that ? Or have tears for how Asian men, indeed, age slower than our womenfolk ??

[Abhay]

Thanks Foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Laoren]

Thanks foxs. Am disappointed, no fights in this chapter.

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs!

Surprised to see SLY in this chapter. Looking forward to her reunion with the boys. They always have such great chemistry!

[ycb5959]

Thanks!

The traditional Chinese seems to love giving weird nicknames to each other

chicken and dogs won’t remain

the ghosts weep the deities cry

scorched earth for a thousand li

[k1nk4]

thanks foxs!

u-u

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[LuDongBin]

Girls who can fight and scheme at the same time .. that's deadly .... thks foxs.

[foxs]

Xu Xiong, interesting theory. Abhay, Ysabel, Jaya, kink, HPC, you are welcome. Lao Qianbei, IMHO, fight every chapter is boring. Sky, I know, I know, she is your favorite. Ycb, indeed. But then, those were my literal translation. DongBin, .

---

Book 10 Chapter 4 – Display of Prowess

Xu Ziling leaped onto the beam and hid himself in the little space between the beam and the roof, suppressing the refined qi within his body, while activating his inner breathing, and quietly waiting for what would happen below him.

The noise from the collapsing wall was still continuing. Xu Ziling saw eight people came out of the tunnel in single file.

‘Bang!’

He knew that the building outside was completely gone. But naturally the bandits outside could not find anybody inside, because Shang Xiuxun had moved her troops over here.

The Third Manager Tao Shusheng’s voice was heard below, “I wonder what is Liu Zhishi doing? How come he has not arrived to lend us a hand?”

“Shut up!” Shang Xiuxun coldly snapped, “Liu Zhishi and his troops must avoid the enemy’s main force to come here according to our plan. This ruse to mislead the enemy is not working. Who told us to miscalculate the enemy’s strength? Now we have no room to advance or to retreat.”

“Someone’s coming!” Big Sister Fu’s voice was heard.

Everybody hastily held their breath and calmed their qi.

Outside, the sound of broken doors and shattered windows was still resounding. Xu Ziling peeked down, and saw the eight people have divided themselves into four groups, with each group looking out from one window on each side of the building.

Shang Xiuxun and Big Sister Fu were standing behind one window, Tao Shusheng occupied one window alone, the other five people appeared to be Shang Xiuxun’s personal guards.

Xu Ziling could imagine that Shang Xiuxun’s troops must have fallen into an ambush, and this group of people must have fought their way out of the siege while protecting Shang Xiuxun, and reached this small village, which was designed by Lu Miaozi, from which they sent out a signal to Liu Zongdao to lead his troops over here to rescue them. Who would have thought that for some unknown reason, the Four Big Bandits had clear information of their whereabouts and personally pursued them? And now they were trapped in this predicament.

Tao Shusheng suddenly turned his head around to look at the other people. After making sure that everybody’s eyes were focused on the outside, his right hand swiftly reached into his pocket and took out something. When he started to move his hand to throw that thing outside, Xu Ziling no longer care about anything, he shouted in low voice, “Stop it!”

The eight people inside the shed were greatly shaken; they all looked up to the beam. Tao Shusheng hastily put that thing back inside his pocket without anybody noticing.

Shang Xiuxun and the others knew very well that there was someone up there, but they did not dare to make any noise.

Xu Ziling stuck out his head and called out softly, “I am absolutely not with the thieves, and I don’t have any ill-intention. I am coming down now!”

Shang Xiuxun was indeed a capable Commander-in-Chief. She knew this mysterious person’s power was definitely not inferior to hers; even more, his internal energy was incomparably strange, if she had to fight with him, they would only alarm the bandits. Thereupon she waved her people to make some room to show him her good faith.

Xu Ziling slid down along the pillar. But before his feet touched the ground, Tao Shusheng rushed one step forward and stretched out his finger to jab on his chest.

The finger created a loud swishing noise.

Shang Xiuxun wanted to stop him, but it was too late.

Xu Ziling knew that Tao Shusheng was afraid he might expose him as the traitor; letting out a cold laugh, unexpectedly he let Tao Shusheng’s fingertips jabbing on his chest, but fast as lightning his right palm shot out.

Tao Shusheng was greatly delighted, thinking that even if you have your true qi protecting your body, it would be hard to resist my fierce finger power. Who would have thought that as soon as his finger touched Xu Ziling’s skin and he was about to send out his power, a burst of strange and incomparably hot true qi had already penetrated his own body via his fingertip, straight toward the meridians in his hand? Not only it neutralized and scattered his own true qi, it still had enough power to burst into his channels.

Tao Shusheng’s entire body shook; while his soul flew away and scattered, Xu Ziling’s right palm changed from slapping to sweeping, it swept his lower abdomen.

Tao Shusheng slumped down immediately, but Xu Ziling quickly grabbed his belt and gently set him down on the ground.

Originally, he thought that at least he would have to use eight to ten moves, but had never expected that there was such a strange powerful qi in the world that he would succeed as soon as he and the enemy met face-to-face.

Including Shang Xiuxun, everybody was dumbstruck. Nobody expected that based on Tao Shusheng’s power, he would be this easy to be subdued by the opponent. Fortunately, this man did not seem to bear any evil intention and only sealed Tao Shusheng’s acupoint to make him temporarily lose consciousness.

Shang Xiuxun raised her sword and pointed to this majestic looking man, brimming with wild and free charms. “Who the hell are you?” she shouted coldly.

Focusing his power in his ears, Xu Ziling listened carefully for any activity near and far; he knew that the bandits have temporarily moved their troops elsewhere to search, hence he heaved a sigh of relief.

Looking deep into Shang Xiuxun’s beautiful eyes, he assumed a heroic, uninhibited manners as he said nonchalantly, “Just now your humble servant blindly spoke out and alarmed everybody. Does Changzhu know the reason?”

Shang Xiuxun coldly sized him up and down several times; she also looked at Tao Shusheng who was lying on his back under his feet. She spoke indifferently, “If friend won’t state your identity clearly first, we can forget about having a civil conversation.”

Xu Ziling stepped back to where Tao Shusheng was originally standing. He said, “As soon as Changzhu sends someone to search your respected subordinate’s pocket, you will understand what I am talking about!”

Startled, Shang Xiuxun stared at him for a moment. Her pretty eyes shooting sharp gleams, she said in heavy voice, “Is friend saying that he is the traitor?”

Just by hearing this, Xu Ziling knew that she has already had doubt, but she merely did not dare to affirm that he was indeed the traitor! Because this month happened to be the month where it was Tao Shusheng’s turn to assume the heavy responsibility of intelligence gathering.

Xu Ziling replied indifferently, “Just now I saw him about to throw something like fireworks or flares out of the window. Huh! Someone’s coming!”

The sound of something splitting the air suddenly arose in all directions.

※ ※ ※

Open country by the pasture at the mouth of the gorge.

Kou Zhong was hiding on a tree, focusing his attention on Li Tianfan, Shen Luoyan, and the others, a total of fifteen people’s activities. Looking at those wearing the Ranch’s uniform, he saw one whose body shape, as well as appearance, looked a lot like the old man Shang Zhen. He even dressed like Shang Zhen, so that unless one was very familiar with Shang Zhen and was scrutinizing him at close distance, one would not be able to tell that this old man was a fake. Otherwise it would be very easy to pass off fish eyes for pearls [i.e. fake from the genuine].

This moment the man was lifting up his tobacco pipe and puffing smoke like swallowing clouds and blowing out fog; even Kou Zhong was very impressed.

The other people were dressed as Shang Zhen’s personal guards. To Li Xiuning and those outsiders, especially with Yuan’er covering up on the side, it would be strange indeed if they were not deceived.

The most formidable part of this scheme was that Li Xiuning was lured away from the Castle, plus although Li Xiuning had the power, she could not bring a large number of her men to go to a meeting. If the fake Shang Zhen plus Li Tianfan, Shen Luoyan and their numerous martial art masters rose together in rebellion, their chance of success would be quite high.

The one posing as Shang Zhen was actually the one they called ‘Teacher Chen’. In terms of martial art skill, he was second only to Li Tianfan and Shen Luoyan. In addition, there was also a thirty-something man surnamed Bai and a thin man called Ma Fang, who seemed to be the martial art experts within this group. The former had double axes on his back, while the latter had a sword hanging from his waist. The other dozen or so men appeared to be between twenty and twenty-five years old, and all of them had protruding taiyang acupoint [on the temples]. Just by looking at their skill in climbing the mountain and scaling the ridges while they stole into the pasture, it was clear that these people were not ordinary fighters.

Shen Luoyan looked cold and detached; it looked like she lost a bit of weight, but was still very beautiful. She wore a hat to conceal her long hair, and was dressed in a man’s clothes, which increased her attractiveness.

From time to time there was the sound of horse neighing breaking the tranquility of the pasture.

Right now all the Ranch people were concentrated on both entrances to the gorge and in the Castle, the pasture was left with only about a dozen guards, which was akin to leaving it unguarded at all. Plus this place was part of sparse forest near the eastern gorge, and it was very late at night with only the hazy moon and dim stars providing illumination. If anything should happen here, nobody would know.

The entire plot was so perfect [orig. seamless heavenly clothes].

The only flaw was Kou Zhong.

Shen Luoyan was still briefing her men on the timing and the method of their operation when Li Xiuning arrived.

Kou Zhong applied more power to his eyes and looked at the direction of the Green Ring Courtyard. He saw seven [sic] figures appeared at the edge of the sparse forest. Li Gang and Dou Wei took the lead, followed by Li Xiuning and Yuan’er in the middle, and Chai Shao and another young martial art master closing the rear; they quickly came near.

Kou Zhong had a thought; he quietly slid down the tree.

※ ※ ※

[LuDongBin]

Long buildup to a climax ... thks foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs