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

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Jayariyin]

Kapok is also a type of Cotton.

Cotton-like material came from the seed pods of Kapok Tree.

[spynet]

Thanks foxs!

[wangxiaohu]

Kapok is also a type of Cotton.

Cotton-like material came from the seed pods of Kapok Tree.

Thanks Jaya for the explanation...

[LuDongBin]

Thks foxs.

[chualot]

Thank you foxs.

[foxs]

Xiaohu, I was about to respond, but I noticed Jaya has beaten me to it. Kapok – Ceiba pentandra. Ysabel, Spy, DongBin, Chua, you are welcome.

---

Book 24 Chapter 7 – Meeting The Beauty Again

Xu Ziling heard Shi Qingxuan’s voice first. Following the direction of her voice, he happened to see a flash of her powdery back, which quickly vanished.

He did not know why Shi Qingxuan was so sure that the ‘scar-faced hero’ was he, but she spoke by focusing her voice into a thread and transmitted it into his ear, making him feel greatly awkward, because what she said was, ‘After casting Hou Xibai away, go immediately to the Da Shi Si [great stone temple] outside the city to see me!’ It was that split second when he was hesitating that her trail was swiftly moving, like a fantasy which appeared real – this beauty [orig. jade person], whose flute skill was famous throughout the world, already disappeared into the stream of people.

It was a situation where both sides’ inner feelings were in sincere cooperation. For Xu Ziling, abandoning Hou Xibai just like that was a difficult problem involving morality and justice. Not to mention Yang Xuyan and An Long’s side had tremendous power, so losing Hou Xibai as powerful helper was really not a wise thing to do.

The most annoying thing was that if Da Shi Si was inside the city, he still needed to ask people for direction; if it was outside the city, he did not want to waste time. Either way, he still needed Hou Xibai’s, this old horse who knows the way home – help.

‘Dong dong ka ka’, the sound of the drums pulled his mind back from Shi Qingxuan. Hastily he leaned over and spoke in Hou Xibai’s ear, “I made contact with Shi Qingxuan; quickly slip away!”

Slightly startled, Hou Xibai turned toward one of the beauties, cupped his fist and sighed in admiration, “Drummer beauties are even more marvelous; regretfully Zaixia is burdened with an urgent matter. Would it be possible for Fan Da Xiaojie to allow Zaixia to come to your esteemed Gang’s Zongtan [lit. head altar, i.e. headquarter] to apologize and pay my respect?”

Not only his movement was confident and at ease, pleasing to the eye, it also carried some kind of restoring-harmony feeling; immediately he excited the crowd of girls that they laughed like ‘a stem of flower trembling randomly’.

The remaining six girls were still beating their drums and dancing, while the outstanding beauty stopped. Her right hand on the drum skin, her left hand gently rested on her small curvy waist, as she appeared to be staring longingly, appeared to be happy, while standing charmingly in front of the two men. Her beautiful eyes swept the scar-faced guest, Xu Ziling, first, and then, disinterested, she turned her gaze toward the elegant, graceful gentleman, Hou Xibai. Lightly stomping her tiny boot, she spoke tenderly, “You, this man, are really hateful, I don’t know where to look for you. And this time you still want to find an excuse to slip away?”

Her voice was tender, soft, and sweet sounding, carrying some kind of attractive magnetism. Even though Xu Ziling was preoccupied, he still wanted to listen more of what she had to say. On top of that, her unrestrained, without suspicion, and bold style was able to make any man’s heart unbearably itchy.

Perhaps, in all his life of showing passion to the fragrant and cherishing the flower, this was the first time that Hou Xibai felt regret; smiling wryly, he said, “Fan Da Xiaojie, please don’t misunderstand! How could I, Hou Xibai, go back on my words? What’s more, I am making an appointment with a beauty. It’s just that this Xiongdi’s father is critically ill; hence Zaixia must accompany him home. His Die is just like half a Die for Zaixia, Da Xiaojie, please be magnanimous.”

The beauty’s pair of wonderful eyes immediately turned toward Xu Ziling’s face; skeptically she let out a tender humph and said, “If you want to lie to me, you ought to find a bit more pleasant-to-listen-to story. Your so-called Xiongdi does not look the least bit anxious or mournful; just now the two of you seemed to be strolling along the lantern market. Who would believe you?”

Xu Ziling had no choice but to press down the glum in his heart, and lie for Hou Xibai, who was actually the best in placating a beauty in a roundabout way; he spoke heavily, “Xiaodi has just received Hou Xiong’s news, and only then did I understand about my humble father’s life-threatening illness. Ay! One’s time on earth is merely several dozen winters and summers; Xiaodi has always regarded life and death lightly, but to be able let him, the Senior, to have his son pay his last respects, is indeed our duty as sons and daughters to repay our parents’ kindness. Ay!” Lying to this point, Xu Ziling was no longer able to continue; hence he had no choice but to sigh again.

The beauty rolled her wonderful eyes, and shouted in low voice, “Stop beating the drums! Listening to it makes my heart distracted, my thoughts in turmoil.

The group of girls evidently regarded her as their leader; hence they stopped immediately.

From disbelief, the beauty became half-believing, half-doubting. Her jet-black eyebrows frowning lightly, she said, “Are you from Chengdu? Where do you live?”

Like a quick sword cutting through tangled hemp, Hou Xibai decisively pulled Xu Ziling’s arm and said, “No time to lose, we, two brothers must leave immediately. Excuse us!”

The beauty stuck out her pert, elegant silky breasts, while viciously said, “If I don’t see you tomorrow, I, Fan Caiqi will cut your untrustworthy tongue for a snack to accompany the wine.”

Finished speaking, she grudgingly stepped aside to make way.

Knock! Knock!

Chen Laomou’s voice responded from inside the room, “Come in!”

Kou Zhong pushed the door and came in. Seeing Chen Laomou got up from his bed and scooted to sit at the edge of the bed, he apologetically said, “Sorry for waking Mou Gong up! But if you just take a look at this, I guarantee you won’t blame me.”

He handed over the book written by Lu Miaozi on mechanism and smart device to Chen Laomou.

Chen Laomou did not immediately look at the treasured rare book being stuffed in his hand; he stared at Kou Zhong, as if he was in daze, for half a day before he nodded his head and said, “Laofu is quite old, and I have seen with my own eyes I don’t know how many persons who have changed. Take Yun Yuzhen, for example, she became so formidable that in the end Xiao Bu and me were forced to leave her. Although you, these two kids, are getting more and more formidable, you still maintain that kind of innate character; Xiao Ling is at home wherever he is, you are still cynical.”

Laughing involuntarily, Kou Zhong said, “If you, Mou Gong, tell your evaluation on us to Li Mi, Xiao Xian, and the others, no one will agree with you.”

Chen Laomou laughed aloud and said, “You are well aware of what I, Chen Laomou, said. Contending for hegemony over the world is also some kind cynicism. It means you are unwilling to bow under both the existing and conventional powers, to surrender your personal goal.”

Grabbing his head, Kou Zhong said, “What is my goal? Frankly speaking, I don’t think that becoming the emperor is an interesting matter. Therefore, even if I obtain the final victory, most probably I will ask someone else to sit on that scalding-butt seat.”

Chen Laomou shook his head and said, “Your goal is absolutely not to become the emperor; rather, you want to be able to move unhindered over the world, to change impossible things to become possible.”

Kou Zhong stared blankly for half a day. He sighed and said, “No one knows me like Mou Gong; how did you figure it out?”

Proud of himself, Chen Laomou said, “This is called the profound skill of observing people. Those who want to be the emperor must have enormous appetite for power, putting emphasis on the distinction between superior/subordinate. Take Xiao Xian for example; although he put up the appearance of a proper, virtuous person, the fact is that his words and actions, his bearings are brimming with royalty, feudal-aristocrats style. Not wearing the dragon robe is just one kind of trick. How can he be compared to you, who are casual in everything? Were it not for your subordinates, who are organizational and managerial experts, like Xuan Yong, Ren Meimei, Xu Xingzhi, and the others, your Shaoshuai Army would just be like a sheet of loose sand.”

Kou Zhong delightedly patted his old shoulder and said with a smile, “You know what material I am made of, and I also know what material you are made of; why not flip over the thing in your hand to take a look?”

Chen Laomou looked down and saw the cover of the book had five characters written on it, ‘Study of Mechanism and Smart Device’; a slight scorning smile appeared on his face. Opening the first page, he read the preface, which contained a disclaimer, ‘The study of mechanism is a study attacking the heart of the underlying principles. A heart has the heart’s character; an object has the object’s character. In short, it is a study about the intrinsic order of the heaven and earth’s nature, nothing is excluded, nothing is not contained. Knowing the first, not knowing the second, it is merely a small path, a small technique.”

Chen Laomou was an expert in the study of smart device; he was emotionally moved immediately. “Who wrote this?” he asked.

Kou Zhong reached out to turn to the next page for him, at the end of the preface, there awe-inspiringly appeared Lu Miaozi’s signature, three eye-catching characters.

Shaken, Chen Laomou exclaimed, “My Niang!” And then he turned back to the first page to continue reading.

Kou Zhong spoke in low voice, “I have read this ghost thing more than a dozen times, still I only know one and understand half [idiom: a smattering of knowledge]. Mou Gong, you …” Realizing Chen Laomou seemed to hear but not react to his words, Kou Zhong quietly left and lightly closed the door behind him.

The water of the river gently lapped the hull of the boat sailing in the night. The moon was hanging low on the horizon. Kou Zhong suddenly felt incomparably relaxed. Once again life was brimming with fascinating meaning.

Life was a constant struggle. Concerning him, would the end be a pain or happiness?

Hou Xibai climbed over a small hill and pointed ahead, “That is the Da Shi Temple.”

Following his finger, Xu Ziling looked ahead, and saw among the ancient cypress covering the sky like bamboo cage to cultivate green onion, bathed by the bright light of the moon, surrounded by red walls, with the pagoda inside high up in the sky – was the majestic, towering multi-story temple.

Hou Xibai suddenly heaved a deep sigh and said, “Does Ziling Xiong also feel that Yang Xuyan’s choice of this temple as the place where he, pretending to be Shi Shi, meet Qingxuan, is very strange?”

Astounded, Xu Ziling said, “Perhaps he anticipated that Miss Shi would meet me first, so he selected this location.”

Shaking his head, Hou Xibai said, “I dare say that there must be a reason behind this, but I am not sure if I ought to tell you?”

At a loss, Xu Ziling said in bewilderment, “If Hou Xiong have secret trouble, there is no need to tell me.”

Hou Xibai appeared to make up his mind. “Telling Ziling Xiong is a bit more appropriate,” he spoke resolutely, “The reason of my hesitancy was because this matter involves Shi Shi’s secret. Since childhood, I was an orphan, rarely did I tell others about the load on my mind; especially anything concerning Shi Shi and Hua Jian Pai, I never revealed it to anybody else.”

Xu Ziling was silent, pondering inwardly whether this orphan was like Cao Yinglong, whom Shi Zhixuan skillfully trained into a master.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[foxs]

Jaya, Ysabel, you are welcome.

---

Hou Xibai looked up at the moon in the night sky, and then looked down in contemplation. He spoke slowly, “Although Shi Shi only taught me the xinfa of Hua Jian Pai’s martial art, but from time to time he made references about Bu Tian Ge’s martial art. The so-called ‘Bu Tian’ [repairing (or filling the void of) the heaven] is filling in the inadequacy of the heaven, which, when developed to the pinnacle, will be considered by the self-proclaimed orthodox school as outside the heretical, demonic way, the filling-in-the-inadequacy-of-the-heaven as a conduct in defiance of the natural order. Ay! Who would have thought that following that principle is actually low, while going against it is actually noble?”

Listening to that, Xu Ziling’s heart shivered slightly. Hou Xibai would always be the disciple cultivated by the present day demonic person Shi Zhixuan. When speaking about any theory concerning demonic schools, the tone of his voice was extremely cynical and indignant, completely different from his usual warm, scholarly language.

Hou Xibai suddenly spoke in embarrassment, “Ziling Xiong must not take any offense. When speaking about this issue, I don’t know whether because it is constantly repeating in my mind, subconsciously I always emulate the tone of Shi Shi’s voice when he was talking about this.”

Changing the subject, Xu Ziling wondered aloud, “How come Da Shi Temple is completely without lights? Even if all the monks have gone to bed, shouldn’t there be some kind of Buddha lantern, incense stick and candle, or something like that?”

Hou Xibai said, “I was about to tell Ziling Xiong, because Da Shi Temple’s Zhuchi offended a certain extremely-hard-to-deal-with figure from the demonic school, all the monks of the Temple are temporary taking shelter at the neighboring temples and monasteries to avoid disaster. As long as the dispute has not been settled, they absolutely do not dare to come back.”

Stunned, Xu Ziling asked, “Who is so overbearing like this? Unexpectedly Bashu’s Wulin of the same way only sit and watch, but remain indifferent?”

Hou Xibai was about to answer, a dot of light appeared inside the temple. Xu Ziling shouted in low voice, “Hou Xiong, please stay here, Xiaodi is coming in.”

Swiftly, but carefully, Xu Ziling turned over the courtyard wall. This moment the lantern light suddenly disappeared again. He had no choice but to rely on his memory on where the last time he saw the light, while taking off his mask in passing.

The scale of this famous temple was really not small. From the Shanmen [monastery main gate] Hall, there were the Tianwang [lit. heaven’s king] Hall, Qifo [lit. seven Buddhas] Hall, Daxiong Baodian [Hall of Great Strength, the main hall of a Buddhist temple containing the main image of veneration], Zangjiang Lou [library tower], and so on; there were layer upon layer of temple halls. Although it was not as complicated as the structure of Jing Nian Chanyuan, the design was elegant, as well as imposing and majestic.

Next to the complex of temple halls, which looked like a disposition of troops, a tall tower rose up from among the millions of bamboo trees, the exterior was imposing.

At this time Xu Ziling could not help but a bit regretful that he did not ask Hou Xibai clearly who the formidable demonic school figure was, unexpectedly this person was able to make the monks here emptying the temple to avoid disaster.

It should be noted that generally, all famous and ancient Buddhist temples would have outstanding martial art masters in-house to take up the responsibility of guarding the temple, plus all the monks in the temple ought to, more or less, know martial art, not too mention Wulin masters of the same principle in the area usually had some kind of relationship with the Temple; they could not possibly just sit and watch without doing anything.

Therefore, the situation before his eyes right now could be considered highly unusual.

Listening to the tone of Hou Xibai’s voice, this person could not possibly be An Long; he must be someone that Xu Ziling did not know. So much so that it might the person ranked among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way that even Cao Yinglong did not know.

He had never tried wandering randomly in a temple where there was no one in it; the feeling was extraordinarily novel. In the study of architecture, the Xu Ziling of today was already unlike the General Lu Meng of the southern state of Wu [model of self-improvement by diligent study]. Following his steps, he took a casual observation, and was able to grasp the architecture of this famous ancient Buddhist monastery. He could feel even more the graceful, pondering, doing-the-utmost zeal and spirit of the religious men conscripted in establishing the temple. Whether it was the gate, the window, the eaves, and the arch, everything was carved with plumage, flowers and plants, and all kinds of decorative motif. The ridge of the temple was decorated with clay model of strange birds and exotic beasts; vivid and lifelike.

The temple buildings were connected to each other by long corridors, with large obelisks standing in large numbers, symmetrical left and right. A moment later, he reached Luohan [Arhat] Hall, where the light previously appeared. Momentarily his breathing stopped. Before his eyes there was a forest of statues, filling the mail hall with marvelously shocking scene.

The statues spread across the main hall, and were divided into two groups. On the center were several dozen of revered Buddhas and Bodhisattvas, positioned in such a way that they brought the focus of attention to the thousand-arm Guanyin right in the middle of the hall. Not only the precious likeness was stately, the shape of each hand and the object it was holding was different from each other, producing the impression of it possessed great magical power and exuded unbounded strength.

The five hundred Luohan were spread all around, facing the statue at the center, forming north-south and east-west pathways in the middle. It was as if Xu Ziling was transported into a different-from-reality world of gods and Buddhas. Under the moonlight penetrating into the hall, the statues near him looked to be meticulously and elaborately crafted. Whether it was standing, leaning, sitting, or lying down, all poses were different from each other, they looked like real person, their expression was lively; it was hard to tell whether they were just statues or real persons.

By the time he reached the front of the thousand-arm Guanyin, surrounded by the layer upon layer, row upon row of Luohan statues all around him, he felt as if he had fallen into a maze of statues formation; it was such a strange feeling that no word could describe even one out of ten thousand.

There was a small candleholder under the thousand-arm Guanyin seat. In just one glance Xu Ziling was able to recognize that the candleholder’s style was identical to the one being used by Shi Beauty at the Fu Dong Migong [good fortune cave labyrinth].

Shi Qingxuan’s moving voice rang out from behind, “Would Xu Gongzi please light the lantern?” her voice was gentle.

Pressing down the urge to turn around, Xu Ziling fetched the flint stone by the candleholder and lit the candle.

A dot of light leaped to become a flicker of fireworks, lighting up the center of the Luohan Hall, increasing the strangeness of the already bizarre atmosphere.

Shi Qingxuan’s voice came from his right, “We might as well play hide-and-seek here!”

Xu Ziling was standing nailed to the ground. Like a child who was scared of being scolded by his mother he confessed, “Miss, please do not take offense; I still have Hou Xibai coming with me, Xiaodi did not cast him away according to Miss’ instruction, but there is a reason behind it.”

Shi Qingxuan maintained her silence, and then she showed herself from behind the thousand-arm Guanyin, her face was covered in heavy gauze, she spoke indifferently, “Things of the world, there is none that does not fall between the two universes of principal and secondary causes [Buddhist doctrine of karma]; he wants to come, let him come! It’s not a big deal. The most important thing is that you, this good person, have come!”

In the presence of this jade person, although Xu Ziling had thousands of words to say, he did not know where to start.

After going through hard-pressed danger one after another, fooling around with his fate everywhere, unexpectedly she suddenly appeared within his reach, without wasting any time. A burst of emotion consisting of a hundred different feelings, which he could not explain one by one, like a torrential flood broke out from deep within his heart, overwhelming him with the urge, which he experienced only the first time in his life – to draw this woman into his embrace.

Naturally he could only keep this impulse in his heart.

The feeling Shi Qingxuan was giving him was hot and cold, varying indeterminably, as if she wanted to keep a certain distance with you; it was hard to pin down. Although it did not reach the state where she wanted to keep people a thousand li away, at the very least there was the impression that she was not easy to get close to.

After sucking in a mouthful of deep breath, Xu Ziling spoke calmly, “This time Miss came to Chengdu, was it because you received your esteemed father’s message?”

Unconcerned, Shi Qingxuan replied, “Qingxuan only have Niang and never have Die. Are you trying to warn me that it was just a sinister plot concocted by An Long and Yang Xuyan? Humph! Those two muddled eggs have the impertinence to slight Bi Xiuxin’s daughter. I will definitely make them leave and pack their food before they finish eating. But you indeed have some ability, having just arrived in Chengdu, yet is able to find so many things.”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling was flabbergasted; he was speechless, knowing that he himself had been slighted by Shi Qingxuan. In vain had he been worried for nearly ten days.

Shi Qingxuan smiled and said, “An Long originally wanted me to meet him at his old shop. Luckily I came across you outside the door, thereupon I asked them to come here to settle everything at the same time. I assume you have not forgotten that you told me that you are willing to carry all the burden and responsibility for me. A real man’s word worth one thousand in gold, you can’t say that it does not count.”

Hearing that, Xu Ziling’s scalp went numb. “What burden Miss wanted to hand over to me to carry?” He resigned himself, realizing that he would never know how to deal with the particular style with which this beauty worked.

As if she was recounting some trivial thing, Shi Qingxuan spoke leisurely, “First of all, I want you to deal with Shi Zhixuan’s ghost scroll for me. Whether Xu Gongzi wants to rip it up and throw it away, or perhaps wants to give it to someone else, I don’t really care.”

While Xu Ziling was still in shock, Shi Qingxuan already handed over a roll of sheepskin scroll.

Unusual changes followed.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[Lance23]

Thanks foxs belated but happy lunar new year!

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[LuDongBin]

Thks foxs.

[wangxiaohu]

Hmm, strange...... Cannot post new reply from Chrome on Android... Anybody here also use Android Chrome?

Thanks foxs, so SQX is aware of YXY's plan.. hmm....

[spynet]

Thanks foxs!

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs.

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[foxs]

Ysabel, Jaya, DongBin, Spy, Sky, HPC, you are welcome. Lance, in some parts of the world, the celebration is until the 15^th of the month (full moon), so you are not late. Xiaohu, I am using Google Chrome (not on cell phone), and so far no problem.

---

Book 24 Chapter 8 – Battle for the Print Scroll

The moment Xu Ziling was about to take the collected works of demonic way’s two sects’ great accomplishment, recording the pinnacle skill of the present age, the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’, from Shi Qingxuan’s hand, a beam of yin, incomparably cold, brimming with sinister, damaging yin flavor – qi energy was striking down on the vital part of his back like an iron rod. If he evaded it by moving to the side, Shi Qingxuan would bear the brunt. Left with no choice, Xu Ziling was forced to hunch his back, ready to receive the strike.

At the same time, from behind the statue of Buddha on the left, a large beam of glittering light rolled up; it poured down like a shower on the two, in concert with the sneak attack on Xu Ziling’s back, like a seamless heavenly clothes.

If not for unusual situation where Xu Ziling’s mind was enraptured by the idols inside the temple, no matter how brilliant the enemies were, he would not be this distracted that he only sensed the attack when it nearly arrived. The other reason was that he was relying on Hou Xibai to be on guard outside, hence his vigilance was naturally reduced. However, this moment it was already too late to be sorry, hence he could only give it his all to receive the arriving tidal wave.

In this moment of life and death, divine light suddenly flashed in Xu Ziling’s mind; a Luohan statue that left a particularly deep impression on him appeared in his mind.

That Luohan, remaining calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, was stretching out his muscles and bones, in a wonderful pose of lowering and raising his head, and bending and stretching to the greatest extent; at that time he was wondering if it was some kind of a stance in the martial art training. This moment, where life and death was hanging on a thread, he suddenly had a flash of understanding. Laughing aloud, he continued stooping over, but the instant the enemy’s qi was about to reach his body, he suddenly flung everything aside, and stretched out his limbs just like the pose of that statue. Wonderful thing happened.

The true qi invading his body could no longer seek certain vital acupoint to be attacked, but dispersed throughout his entire body instead, and then it was distributed into the four limbs of his body. Just like the flood, although it was intense, but because there are enough river courses to clear the way, it will not overrun. Of course, if the opponent’s punch exploded solidly on the back, naturally it would be difficult to avoid injury. But now the opponent was simply sending a punch power across empty air, plus the fist was at least two zhang away, with the intention of catching Xu Ziling off guard. Unexpectedly, the amazing move that he comprehended at the last moment was more than enough to deal with it.

The entire course of events happened in just the blink of an eye. By this time Yang Xuyan’s signature Phantom Sword has started to rain down on him.

From behind came An Long’s surprise cry; obviously he never expected that Xu Ziling did not flee, did not evade, but received his attack head on, so that he was at a loss.

If Xu Ziling dodged the attack by moving sideways, then Shi Qingxuan would at least receive a little bit of injury, giving Yang Xuyan the opportunity to snatch the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’ away.

Just with a slight difference like that, the two men’s counting-their-chickens-before-they-are-hatched plot has fallen apart.

But Xu Ziling and Shi Qingxuan have not escaped danger yet. Although using skillful hands of extraordinary stroke the former managed to withstand An Long’s fierce attack, yet in order to neutralize the opponent’s true qi invading his body, momentarily his entire body was paralyzed, his meridians felt like bursting, and he was powerless to help Shi Qingxuan countering Yang Xuyan’s terrifying sword strike.

But Shi Qingxuan appeared to have already anticipated that Yang Xuyan would come out like that. The instant the sword light reached her body, she spun around and using the scroll as a flute, she thrust it up to meet the sharp light of the sword, which appeared like an exploding fireworks, head on.

Xu Ziling abruptly raised a mouthful of true qi, and instantaneously the qi power was restored. At this time, An Long already launched the lotus steps. Scrambling to the blind spot on his right side, he used two fingers like a fork to pierce his eyes, while down below, his right leg silently kicked to attack his groin; it was sinister to the extreme point.

It was the first time that Xu Ziling encountered such a crafty and mysterious footwork. The originally ordinary attack, feign on the top and real on the bottom, immediately shed its mortal body and exchanged its bones to become difficult to ward off. If it were Kou Zhong in Xu Ziling’s place, quite possibly when his saber technique could not be unleashed, he would dodge the attack first, and then An Long could leisurely help Yang Xuyan to deal with Shi Qingxuan. Luckily Xu Ziling was quite adept in close, hand-to-hand combat, so that although he was fully aware that the opponent’s skill was above his, he still clenched his teeth and executed his marvelous footwork; first, he staggered a little, and then he blocked the top and sealed the bottom.

The fantastical sword dispersed, Yang Xuyan recoiled awkwardly, revealing his back-of-a-tiger-and-waist-of-a-bear, the white-horse-heroic body tightly wrapped inside black cloak, black clothes. If he did not pull back, it could be guaranteed that the sheepskin scroll, along with Shi Qingxuan’s jade hand, would be twisted and broken at the same time. If that happened, not only he could not get the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’, in the future it would be difficult for him to escape Shi Zhixuan’s revenge.

Although he was the unequalled assassin that everybody in the world was scared of, he had some kind of innate and heartfelt reverence toward Shi Zhixuan. Since he knew that Cao Yinglong was rescued, even if he had gargantuan guts, he would not dare to touch even half a strand of Shi Qingxuan’s hair.

Only by obtaining the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’ would he have the hope of breaking away from Shi Zhixuan’s clutch.

‘Bang!’

An Long withdrew his right hand attacking the enemy’s two eyes, but down below his kick solidly hit the edge of Xu Ziling’s sealing-the-bottom palm.

His heart filled with murderous intent, this kick was launched in full strength; nearly sixty-year cultivated demonic power, without the slightest bit of reservation, was sent out with the intention of killing the enemy once and for all.

Suddenly he felt as if the sole of his foot was heavily stabbed by a sharp awl, followed by a vortex of strange, strong and swift energy rushing in, digging into his vigorous demonic power directly, so that at the point of contact with the edge of the opponent’s palm, it splashed and discharged to all directions, and the true qi – able to invade the enemy’s system, was severely diminished by half. It was only now did he know that the marvelous power from the ‘Secret to Long Life’ did not become a legend in vain.

An Long grunted in pain; unexpectedly he could not even borrow a fraction of strength to continue executing the lotus steps. Without being able to continue, he had no choice but to evade sideways. Seeing Xu Ziling was jolted so that he flew backward, he could only sigh for the lost opportunity.

This moment Yang Xuyan was about to reorganize his offensive; while rushing to grab the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’, the sound of cutting fan came from behind, hence he knew that his martial brother of the same master but different school has arrived to attack. Anger welling up in his heart, he launched the Phantom Sword Technique with all his strength to meet the enemy behind him.

Shi Qingxuan pulled the jade flute with her left hand, producing the illusion of a puff by a puff, appearing there but not really there, what is true and what is false is difficult to distinguish – dark green shadows, rolling toward An Long, whose footings were still slightly chaotic. At the same time, she threw the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’ in her right hand to the air, toward the successfully somersaulting Xu Ziling, while shouting tenderly, “Catch! Quickly go!”

‘Bang!’

An Long crash hard onto the sitting down Buddha image with benevolent look, concentrated eyes, which immediately exploded into powder. But the collision enabled him to borrow a little bit of reaction force to sidestep Shi Qingxuan’s flute shadows entangling him. Curling his body into a ball, he shot out, swift like shooting star – toward Xu Ziling, who was still flying about two zhang off the ground, and was trying to snatch the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’. If he could shoot his internal energy out of his five fingers to chase after the scroll across the empty air, it would really be not much different than if he snatched it using his hand.

From his high elevation looking down, Xu Ziling was able to see everything clearly. He saw the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’ being thrown toward him was slowing down suddenly, as if it was being pulled back by an invisible thread. Finally he focused his attention to the air, and cried inwardly, ‘Bad!’ Being able to think fast in an emergency, he turned his hand over to push upward, his qi power knocked against the beam, and he dropped down fast. But he was still a hair too late.

An Long’s demonic skill was really brilliant, indeed it greatly exceeded his expectation; he was really worthy to be ranked among the Eight Major Martial Art Masters of the Demonic Way.

An Long pulled back his five fingers, the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’ flew toward him, closing in rapidly toward his fat body, which was flying up to meet it. He could not help but was greatly delighted.

While success was within his grasp, suddenly the flute made a sound. It was not that Shi Qingxuan’s refined and elegant attitude of mind suddenly opened up and she played a tune; rather, she sent her true qi through the pipe that it resonated and produced a tone. The jade flute’s true energy stabbed from below and went straight up, ferociously knocking the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’ over.

And thus, with such a fraction of hairbreadths difference, the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’ was knocked sideways, and was thrown into the middle of the surrounding Luohan troops disposition.

Xu Ziling used his unique school’s ability of taking a breath in the air to the fullest; he changed direction from dropping vertically down to moving horizontally sideways, to chase after the ‘Immortal Print Scroll’.

Letting out an angry snort, An Long made a somersault, but the very moment he was about to chase after with all his strength, he was already rolled into the phoenix-dancing-in-the-sky, the elegant-and-amazing-without-equal dense flute shadows from Shi Qingxuan’s hand.

This moment, Yang Xuyan was barely able to withstand Hou Xibai’s main assault, which came with Yangtze River’s momentum, whose folding fan’s offensive came round after round like the unceasing torrent of the Great River, while he still could not find any loophole or any gap that he could exploit.

The Phantom Sword Style’s most formidable aspect was in fusing the true and the false together, a technique relying on deceiving the eyes of the opponent, forcing the enemy to reveal the gap; hence victory could be determined in every moment.

Who would have thought that Hou Xibai’s folding fan was opening and closing swiftly in myriad changes? Moreover, the way he exerted his strength was very peculiar; whether it was pushing, sweeping, tapping, or striking, the timing and the angle of attack were as accurate and as precise as plucking the guzheng [long zither], while accumulating countless strange-move, wonderful-stance in secret – at the same time, so that even with Yang Xuyan’s skill level, he was put into the situation where he lost the initiative and could only counter every move. Momentarily it was difficult for him to counterattack.

Hou Xibai’s Fan of Beauty has already reached the transforming-the-rotten-into-magical realm. It was brimming with creativity overtone of changes born of his heart’s desire, like-a-heavenly-steed, soaring-across-the-skies [i.e. unconstrained style], while also carrying some kind of confident and at ease style, which differed greatly from his own ruthless, strict sword move. Even though Yang Xuyan really wished to decide this opponent’s fate by the blade of his sword, inwardly he could not help applauding and admiring Hou Xibai’s skill. He thought that under different circumstances, this battle would definitely be a delightful occasion.

‘Tchak!’

Yang Xuyan launched the skill that was usually hidden at the bottom of his trunk; his sword fantastically shook, producing three sword-flowers in triangular formation [orig. 品 character], forcing Hou Xibai to raise his fan horizontally to block.