Ysabel, Jaya, HPC, Spy, you are welcome. Chow, Im kinda torn in this. On one hand, I agree about giving out spoilers, but on the other hand, I do not wish to curb the readers enthusiasm on this story.
Book 12 Chapter 3 Tiele Eagle
Astonished, the three men stood up. As soon as they were able to see what it was, they were all stunned.
Under the moonlight high above their heads, they saw that it was a small boat with pointy bow and stern. There was a bamboo pole stuck in the middle of the boat, and there was an octagonal palace-style lantern hanging from the pole. But other than these, the boat was totally empty; not even half a shadow of ghost was seen.
The strangest thing was that the boat seemed to be driven by somebody swimming underwater, because even sailing through the winding river, around the most dangerous sharp bend, it was sailing smoothly, and was still moving toward them; it was extremely creepy.
Blowing out a mouthful of cold air, Kou Zhong said, This is called the non-spirit dont do along with ugly spirit. The outcome of this is definitely not something we can hold in our hands.
Staring at the empty boat, which was still around three hundred chi away, Xu Ziling spoke in heavy voice, There must be someone steering the boat underwater, why havent you thought of a way to evade?
Reaching out to grab the oar, Ba Fenghan said with a cold laugh, I dont care who he is, I, Ba Fenghan, dont believe in ghost. I want to see what kind of trick he is going to play.
This moment Kou Zhong steered their boat toward the left bank; who would have thought that as if it had eyes, the empty boat immediately changed its course as well, still sailing swiftly straight toward them.
Sweeping the bank with his gaze, Kou Zhong said, There must be an ambush on the shore. If we get separated, well meet again at Luoyang.
The strange boat was only about sixty chi away, and still rapidly approaching.
Ba Fenghan shouted, he threw the oar in his hand with all his might.
The two boys fixed their gaze at the flying oar. Like a streak of lightning the oar flew across the twenty chi distance, very close to the water surface. The water split, cutting about a chi deep groove on the water, like a big white water dragon shooting toward the small boat. It was an amazing use of strength, which made people gasp in amazement.
Xu Ziling grabbed the other oar and moved back to the stern, where he plunged the oar into the water. Their boat immediately sped up; if the opponent hid on one side of the boat, they would seize the opportunity to crash onto it.
Under the three mens six eyes gaze, the empty boat sped faster than the oar Ba Fenghan threw, chi by chi, cun by cun, the distance was diminishing constantly. The empty boat did not show any sign that it was going to evade the collision.
Bang!
The oar and the bow of the boat collided and exploded into splinters of wood filling the whole sky; evidently the energy Ba Fenghan was using was the hard, rigid type.
The water splashed into the boat.
The three immediately felt something was not right.
It was too easy.
Right this moment, the three felt strange sensation on their feet.
Enemy below the boat! Kou Zhong roared.
Ba Fenghan laughed aloud. He gathered his entire strength and concentrated it at the soles of his feet. The boat suddenly slid about a zhang sideways.
Bang!
A column of water rose up more than twenty zhang into the air from the original position of the boat, and then the water rained down again.
Having a clear grasp of the enemys position underwater, Xu Ziling threw the oar with a spiraling energy into the water.
With both palms Kou Zhong struck the surface of the water behind the boat, splashing the water everywhere. Propelled by the reaction force, the boat flew swiftly upstream like a runaway horse on the plain, and in an instant it passed the empty boat, which, by this time, was sinking down, leaving the smashed up palace-lantern above the water, scattering the flames floating on the surface of the water; it was such an extremely strange scene.
All three mens eyes were focused on the spot where the enemy was supposed to be hiding, yet they did not hear any noise of the oar hitting the enemy, while the boat continued sliding rapidly away.
They felt strange sensation on their feet again.
Kou Zhong roared wildly. The Moon in the Well left its scabbard hanging on his back. Leaping off the stern, his saber hacked down into the water; he went so deep that even his arm entered the river.
Underwater, the Moon in The Well went sideways and collided with the oar, creating a dull thud as the two streams of energy clashed.
It was the most vulnerable point, where the saber had just collided with the head of the oar.
Bang!
As if he was struck by lightning, Kou Zhongs entire body was jolted backward. Hastily he seized the chance to somersault twice, returning to the boat. Even after his feet touched a solid surface, he still staggered two steps backward. After taking a deep breath to suppress his churning qi and blood, with changed countenance he said, Who is it?
Underwater, the oar made a few turns before disappearing down into the river.
Ba Fenghan drew his Beheading Mystery sword. Returning to his calm demeanor in facing the enemy, he smiled and said, Well find out soon!
Before he even finished speaking, a streak of dark shadow shot out from the water about ten zhang away, carrying water with it that water droplets filled the whole sky, like a shooting star it flew toward their boat along the surface of the river. Such speed seemed to be beyond physical limitation.
Although the three men knew the enemy would pursue them, they were still unprepared mentally to see this kind of speed with this kind of astonishing power.
Before they even had any chance to see clearly the enemys appearance, a powerful, unequalled force pressed down violently. Tens of millions dots of energy, as sharp as knives, following the strong wind, attacked the three men; chopping, piercing, cutting and slashing silvery droplets stormed in that they were powerless to guard against it.
It the first time that the three encountered this kind of internal energy,
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong shouted at the same time. One sword and one saber filled the air with a net of sharp lights, just like opening up an umbrella, to meet the attack from above.
Xu Ziling lowered his torso in a horse stance and sent his punch upward; a burst of vortex of qi shot out from the only hole in the center of the virtual net created by the sword and the saber, straight toward the enemy.
The man had his back to the moon, so that his back was suffused with the golden light from above, while the front part of his body was kept in the dark, giving the impression that he was in an indescribable state between the good and the evil.
Boom!
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong staggered back and fell, the protecting net dissipated.
While blocking the opponents monstrous-without-equal storm, although the two managed to jolt his powerful qi back, like a needle concealed in silk floss, the enemys droplets of qi flowed via the sword and the saber to penetrate the two mens body. In shock they hastily circulate their internal energy to neutralize it.
Such a strange internal energy, they had never encountered it before.
The man was about to launch the second round of attack when Xu Zilings vortex of energy arrived.
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhongs combined assault, which managed to jolt him back, was definitely not a small matter. Although the enemy was formidable, it was quite strenuous for him to cope. And now that a vortex of energy arrived, he did not dare to be careless, and thus was forced to change his offense into defense. His palm met Xu Zilings blade-sharp vortex of qi.
Boom!
The vortex of qi dispersed.
The man let out a stifled grunt and flew toward the shore.
Thump!
Xu Ziling fell sitting down on the deck, while spurting out a mouthful of fresh blood.
Ba Fenghan and Kou Zhong had just diffused the droplets of energy invading their body; promptly four palms moved together to strike the water surface behind the boat. While the water splashed, the bow of the boat rose up to the air, the keel cut the waves as the boat flew against the current.
As if by prior agreement, all three of them cast their gaze toward the terrifying, overpowering enemy.
The man landed on a large rock by the river. Turning around, with his hands behind his back, he threw his head back and laughed loudly, The hero of youth, no wonder you can make Laofu [old man] suffer the pain of losing my son. Qu Ao wont accompany you much longer!
With eyes opened wide and mouth agape, the three watched Qu Aos shadow gradually became smaller and smaller, until finally it disappeared behind a bend in the river.
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With one hand on the rudder Kou Zhong wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said, Turns out its him; no wonder people say that his martial art skill approaches Bi Xuans!
Wiping the bloodstain from the corner of his mouth, Xu Ziling stood up and said with a smile, Since Qu Ao already made his move, Zhu Yuyan cant be too far behind. Gentlemen, do you have any suggestion?
Ba Fenghan slowly returned his sword into its scabbard. This is inevitable. Other that the troops arrive we fight, the water arrive we build earthen embankment, what else can we do? he said proudly.
But Kou Zhong sat down and shook his head, If we only flaunt reckless courage, I have no doubt that we will die tonight. We have multitude enemies, few friends [an idiom from Mencius], plus among the enemies, there are at least three, four people who could defeat us easily. This is called know yourself, know your enemy [idiom from Suntzu].
Ba Fenghan was dumbstruck and unable to reply. He pondered silently that in terms of resourcefulness and the ability to act differently under different situations, he was no match to these two boys.
Standing erect at the bow of the boat, Xu Ziling stared fixedly ahead, while circulating his qi and regulating his breathing. The river breeze blew that his clothes were fluttering in the wind. There was a calm, magnificent, proud-and-aloof-above-the-crowd, moving charisma surrounding him. Remaining tranquil and calm, he said, The reason Qu Ao was able to intercept us a moment ago must be that as soon as he received the information about us, because of his eagerness to avenge the death of his son, he immediately rushed over to act alone, leaving the rest behind.
Letting out a cold snort, Ba Fenghan said, I am sure that when we appeared to snatch the boat, the female demon Bai saw that from her hiding place; therefore, she immediately dispatched flying pigeon or similar method to send information to Qu Ao and the others.
Kou Zhong joined in, Therefore, if we abandon the boat and go ashore right now, the enemy will momentarily lose our track. Plus we are turning the table, from being in the light, we are now in the dark, so that we will be able to seize the initiative.
Obtaining tacit understanding, the three looked at each other, and then sent out their strength to their feet at the same time.
The boat immediately disintegrated and slowly sank into the river.
The tree soared into the air and flew toward the dark forest at the right bank of the river. An instant later they disappeared without any trace.
The river returned to its tranquil condition. The surface of the water flickered with the reflection of the bright moonlight.
Not long afterwards a big ship sailed swiftly along the river, its hull pushed the waves over the place where the boat sank, as the ship continued its voyage downstream.
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